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Associate planner outlines small code cleanup to restore intended height-exception overlay in Fife
Summary
Associate Planner Sebastopol described a post-comprehensive-plan code cleanup focused on a height-exception overlay along Pacific Highway North, removing obsolete zones, adding a City Center North designation and limiting eligible uses to those that support increased development capacity.
Associate Planner Sebastopol briefed the Planning Commission on March 2 about a targeted code cleanup intended to align zoning lists and restore a height-exception overlay in areas along Pacific Highway North.
Sebastopol said the update removes zones that no longer exist, such as a small-lot residential zone, introduces the City Center North zone and adjusts where community commercial designations sit on the list. He described the overlay boundary roughly from Pacific Highway North to I‑5 north to 12th Street East and noted the overlay is intended to support uses that generate usable floor‑area — residential, professional office, retail sales and service, parking garages, hotels and mixed-use developments — rather than vehicle-oriented commercial uses.
When commissioners asked whether this work related to past height changes (for example, earlier increases in the public open-space zone for an elementary school), staff said it does not; the cleanup is technical and intended to preserve the original development potential the overlay was meant to allow. Sebastopol acknowledged some renaming and list-order changes were the primary edits, not broad policy shifts.
Commissioners had no major objections and staff moved on to the next agenda item after a brief question-and-answer period.
Next steps: staff will incorporate commission feedback and bring the cleanup language forward for the normal code-adoption steps.
