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Planning board outlines Saddler Road overlay: staff to draft form-based template and impervious-surface approach
Summary
Planning Advisory Board members reviewed a proposed Saddler Road overlay that would combine form-based design standards, sign and lighting controls, parking changes and an approach to impervious-surface limits; staff will draft an MUA-based template and present it to the board in two weeks.
The Planning Advisory Board met May 21 at City Hall to continue drafting a Saddler Road overlay that members said aims to steer commercial redevelopment toward a more walkable, landscaped mixed-use corridor.
The chair opened the workshop and asked staff and the subcommittee to focus on core items including impervious-surface limits, parking, signage, building heights and annexation. Staff outlined a tentative approach for impervious-surface rules: "You can use what you have existing, but no more than that as long as your storm water is contained on-site," a staff member said, summarizing the group's earlier discussions about not penalizing properties that already exceed current thresholds while preventing further expansion of impervious area without mitigation.
Why it matters: the overlay would change how redevelopment is incentivized along Saddler Road — offering property owners flexibility on uses or densities in exchange for meeting form-based design standards and stormwater controls. Members repeatedly cited commercial redevelopment and connectivity as the project's primary goals and discussed trade-offs between increasing allowable impervious coverage for redevelopment and protecting neighbors from additional runoff.
On form and uses, the board discussed mirroring elements of the city's MUA/MU8 standards and the 8th Street Small Area Design Standards: building placement, pedestrian landscaping and architectural articulation. One committee member said a draft sketch and a short list of principles would help the Planning Board and City Commission give early feedback before detailed text amendments are written.
Annexation and utilities factored into the discussion. Members noted that county parcels are often developed under septic rules and that access to city water and sewer is a primary incentive for property owners to agree to annexation and come under the city's zoning and overlay standards.
The group also debated parking and ground-floor commercial requirements: several members favored removing parking minimums to reduce surface parking and increase landscaped areas, while others recommended mandating ground-floor commercial on larger parcels to protect the city's tax base.
Decisions and next steps: staff will prepare a draft Saddler Road overlay template adapted from MUA/8th Street standards with strikethroughs and additions for the subcommittee to review at a meeting in two weeks. A committee member will prepare a sketch plan for visual context. The subcommittee plans to bring a high-level update to the Planning Board and then seek preliminary direction from the City Commission (dates discussed included July 22 and August 12). There were no formal votes taken at the workshop.
The subcommittee concluded with a schedule for follow-up: draft template from staff, member sketches, and a focused next meeting to zero in on impervious-surface thresholds and other priority items.
