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City planning staff recommend taller limits on some downtown streets and wider tower spacing; council asks for workshops
Summary
Planners recommended raising certain downtown height limits (Front Avenue to 75 feet, limited 110‑foot gateway allowances), widening tower spacing from 50 to 80 feet, and revising FAR bonuses; council favored staged workshops with commissions and stakeholders and asked staff to pursue targeted public engagement.
City planning staff presented updated recommendations March 17 for the downtown core zoning overlay, proposing a mixed‑height approach that raises maximums in some corridors while preserving lower limits in the historic core.
Community Planning Director Hillary Patterson and senior planner Sean Holm described two years of work by a 14–18 member downtown core working group and stakeholder outreach including about 250 survey respondents. Staff said the priorities that emerged included protecting view corridors and the historic character of downtown while allowing a degree of increased height in non‑historic corridors to capture redevelopment potential. Key recommendations presented included increasing Front Avenue’s maximum from 45 to 75 feet (with bonuses for design), allowing 110 feet in limited east gateway blocks, holding Sherman Avenue’s historic core to 45 feet, raising tower spacing from 50 to 80 feet, and increasing upper step‑backs from 10 to 20 feet.
Senior planner Sean Holm showed 3‑D visualizations and shadow studies (July, October, December) to illustrate potential impacts of the recommended changes. Kevin Jester, a longtime resident and working‑group member, summarized stakeholder priorities such as pedestrian protection, storefront engagement and historic‑feature requirements.
Council members repeatedly urged a staged process: several asked that staff hold small, topic‑focused workshops that include the three commissions (Planning & Zoning, Design Review and Historic Preservation) before any public hearings or code drafting. Multiple council members suggested including property owners and downtown business representatives in those workshops and exploring FAR bonuses tied to public amenities such as public restrooms and historic preservation measures.
Patterson said staff’s near‑term next steps are to refine FAR bonus calculations, test base-plus‑bonus scenarios by street, and coordinate workshops with commissions and stakeholders. No formal action was taken; council provided direction to pursue workshop‑style engagement and return with refined code language and options.
