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Commission leans toward lower residential height limits while keeping main-street districts taller
Summary
After extended debate using local projects as examples, the Planning Commission signaled support in informal straw polls to lower low- and medium-density residential height limits to 35 feet while retaining 40-foot limits in central commercial and community zones; residential high-density drew mixed views.
Commissioners spent significant time debating whether to keep the current 40-foot maximum or return to a 35-foot standard in residential zones. Several residents warned that taller, flat-roofed buildings read as visually overwhelming on the village’s hillsides; one resident said returning heights to 35 feet would help keep buildings “to the scale of what’s going on in the village now.”
The planner explained state law allows an additional story for qualifying affordable housing projects, and commissioners repeatedly discussed how that statutory bonus would interact with any local maximum. As one planner summarized, the bonus is defined in statute as an additional “story” rather than a fixed-foot increment, and it must meet state definitions to apply.
By informal straw poll, the commission agreed to keep community and central commercial districts at 40 feet while indicating support from several members to reduce R1 and R3 (low and medium residential) to 35 feet. Residential high-density produced mixed preferences: some members favored keeping 40 feet to maintain viable development options while others preferred 35 feet to preserve village character. No formal zoning vote or amendment was adopted; staff were asked to reflect the straw-poll direction in the next draft and to note how statutory affordable-housing bonuses would be handled.
