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Residents urge Warrenton board to revisit R‑3 zoning, request March work session
Summary
Two residents urged the Warrenton Board of Aldermen to schedule a work session to review how R‑3 (high‑density) zoning currently functions, arguing incremental changes to dimensional standards have made smaller and attached housing harder to build on serviced parcels.
Two residents urged the Warrenton Board of Aldermen on Feb. 17 to open a focused review of the city’s R‑3 high‑density residential zoning, saying a series of rule changes has made the district less able to accommodate smaller homes and attached housing.
At public comment, Michael Schlenther of Timber Drive said R‑3 was intended to “absorb housing demand intentionally on land already served by streets, water, sewer, fire protection, and schools,” but that policy shifts over time — higher minimum house sizes, expanded setbacks, a 35% lot‑coverage cap and changes to how multifamily uses are permitted — have left the district unable to support smaller homes and incremental multifamily development as originally planned. “R 3 still exists on paper as high density, but, today, its dimensional structure makes smaller homes, attached housing, and incremental multifamily much harder to build on serviced parcels,” Schlenther said.
Clifton Wolf, who gave his address as 434 Highway U, supported the call for a review and described having previously invested in water and sewer easements to enable coordinated growth. Wolf said past board actions created “unexpected hurdles to development” that the city did not intend and asked the board to consider allowing multifamily housing already engineered for subdivisions to continue, or to allow a mix of single‑ and multifamily housing in preexisting R‑3 developments.
Mayor (presiding official) responded that staff would begin proposing dates and indicated a work session could be scheduled in March; board members verbally agreed to have staff circulate possible dates.
Why it matters: Both speakers argued the way R‑3 is enforced affects where housing gets built and the city’s long‑term infrastructure and tax base, saying limits on density on already‑served parcels can shift growth outward and increase pressure for rezoning. Their comments requested a formal review that could result in revisiting dimensional standards, creating an overlay for fully serviced parcels, or other changes.
What’s next: The board instructed staff to start identifying March dates for a work session to examine R‑3 zoning and related dimensional standards. The board did not take any final zoning action at the Feb. 17 meeting.
