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Planner urges design-forward UDO changes to cut water use, improve industrial landscaping
Summary
Planning Director Janine Restad told Aurora’s PED committee staff will pursue UDO amendments to promote water-wise industrial landscaping, screening and pilot projects; a design charrette in early August and developer input will inform code changes.
Janine Restad, Aurora’s Director of Planning and Business Development, told the Planning and Economic Development (PED) committee the city plans Unified Development Ordinance (UDO) amendments to reduce water use and improve landscaping in industrial areas. Restad said staff are balancing water conservation goals with maintaining viable landscapes and mitigating heat-island effects, noting recent site visits and research into arid-region codes.
"We need to think differently about how we use scarce resources," Restad said, describing multi-department site tours and a recent visit to the Majestic industrial campus. She described several design tools under consideration — grouped tree plantings with mixed calipers to improve survival, berming and topography-sensitive screening where industrial sites meet residences, detached sidewalks on arterials, and options such as solar canopies in parking lots as alternatives to prescriptive requirements.
Restad said staff have held developer conversations and the Development Review Advisory Board (DRAB) has offered input; developers have requested allowances for drip irrigation during plant establishment and limited turf near employee break areas. Staff noted Aurora Water’s preference for drought-tolerant species and that Kentucky bluegrass would not be favored for new plantings.
Next steps include interviews with additional developers, a design charrette the first week in August (including a mock-up at the Blue Eagle industrial site), follow-up internal staff work, and opportunities to pilot concepts with willing developers before final code drafting. Restad noted that opening code often expands scope and cautioned that the city will try to keep amendments concise.
Council members sought specifics on sidewalk configurations, safety at shift-change times, and whether oversized parallel sidewalks at certain sites had been required historically; Restad said some past approvals required wide sidewalks and staff are exploring meandering pedestrian paths paired with a narrower separated bike lane where appropriate. Council Member Bergen also raised winter ice and tree-lawn maintenance concerns; staff discussed moving trees behind detached sidewalks and designing for long-term viability.
The committee previously adopted a resolution directing staff to advance this work; staff said any formal UDO text changes would follow the charrette and additional outreach.
