Monday, February 2, 2009

Zoning Ordinance Update

After a brief delay due to technical problems, the Consulting and City Staff is happy to begin releasing the proposed zoning ordinance update material. This morning's update includes the proposed zoning map, existing zoning map, and Vision 2020 Future Land Use Plan map. Each map thumbnail below brings up a zoomable map. Viewing the maps will require the Flash plug-in.






Three Guiding Principals were identified for this project. Each of these principals will be addressed in the zoning map and following code language. The principals are:

  1. Allow for compatibility and coordination between the Zoning Map and the Vision 2020 Comprehensive Plan.
  2. Establish precision land use control tools.
  3. Embrace a modern and user-friendly approach to land use control.

The included proposed zoning map should show a high level of coordination between the Vision 2020 map. However, one important concept is that the Future Land Use Plan is intended to be abstract and serve as a comprehensive guide. By contrast, zoning must regulate land use with exact geographic precision. Therefore, subtle differences exist between the two maps. Moreover, elected officials should be free to consider a variety of factors when translating the abstract lines in the Future Land Use map to zoning issues.

An entry will be posted each day this week leading up to the first public hearing scheduled for Monday, February 9th at 6:30 pm in the Whitehouse Council Chambers/Municipal Court.

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