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Developers and residents press council committee to advance 'Let's Build More Housing' zoning reforms
Summary
Multiple developers and neighborhood organizations urged the Planning & Economic Development committee to advance the "Let's Build More Housing" zoning amendments (item 6.4), saying the changes would reduce costs and make duplexes, fourplexes and small multifamily units easier to build; some residents warned the code rewrite is large and called for more time to review.
Speakers representing neighborhood developers and housing groups pressed the committee Thursday to support proposed zoning reforms known as the "Let's Build More Housing" package.
Jason Jones, principal of TechTown Development and a REED cofounder, said the draft amendments under item 6.4 would allow small local builders to deliver more dwelling units by right, reduce the need for costly zoning consultants and speed production of neighborhood housing. "Please pass zoning," Jones said in his allotted 30 seconds.
Other REED members and local developers repeated those points during the general public comment period. Chase Cantrell, a Bagley resident and REED board member, urged the committee to schedule a public hearing on item 6.4 and said the changes “give our resident builders a fair shot” to deliver housing the city needs. Britney McGee of Apparatus Development and David Alade of Century Partners said the current code adds time and cost barriers that small developers cannot always absorb.
At the same time, several callers — residents and neighborhood associations — urged the council not to rush a 179–181 page overhaul and asked for clear documents to be posted online so day-shift workers can review the changes. One caller described the code as “a 179 pages” and asked the committee not to move the item to a vote today; the chair reiterated that today’s session was informational and that the vote would occur next week at formal session.
What happens next: Committee members said they would reserve fuller discussion of item 6.4 for a later point on the agenda and for a reconvened meeting with neighborhood and community services present; the committee did not vote on the zoning package at this session.
Sources: public testimony during general comment and the committee’s agenda remarks.
