Planning staff defend new MCD employment zone; commissioners press daycare question

Jake McQueen and other planning staff described the purpose of the MCD zone as concentrating employment uses and providing design flexibility. "Its purpose is to promote and provide design flexibility for development that supports a concentration of employment uses," McQueen said, and staff emphasized that MCD "does not allow residential uses" and excludes daycares and instructional facilities when applied on separate properties.

Several council and planning commission members questioned that exclusion. One commissioner asked whether an integrated daycare inside an office building could be considered accessory, and staff replied that if a daycare was integrated into an office building it "could potentially be considered an accessory use," but a daycare on a separate parcel would not qualify as accessory and would require a text amendment to the ordinance. Commissioners urged staff to consider a text amendment to allow accessory daycare where appropriate, and staff agreed to evaluate that option alongside the master-plan work.