There’s a new Land Development Code soon to be proposed to the City Council, but first it needs to go through a rigorous public hearing. To kick things off, Ferrell-Madden and Associates will be holding an informational meeting at the Gateway Building downtown at 7:30 p.m. They will also be making a presentation to the City Council at their regular Tuesday meeting.
The Land Development Code is basically the Heart of Peoria Plan codified into Peoria’s zoning ordinance. There will be many presentations over the next couple of months — to developers, to commissioners (zoning, planning & growth, Heart of Peoria, Ren Park), and to the public, to try to get constructive input that will strengthen the code before it goes before the City Council for adoption.
Well I just got back from this.
Here is what it isn’t… it is NOT form based code for the rest of us. Unless you are in the Prospect, Sheridan-Loucks, Warehouse District or Rennaisance park areas you are still under the old zoning regime.
This new code is going to introduce a whole new group of grandfathered properties. The city would be wise to immediately introduce a freeze on all zoning changes in those 4 areas until the code is finalized.
Well, that’s not exactly true. The form-based areas are certainly more specific, but the Land Development Code is still different than the old zoning code for the rest of the Heart of Peoria. It’s just more generalized. But it still allows for mixed-use and has general guidelines regarding setbacks, heights, etc., that maintain the character of the neighborhood. I’ve got a copy of the code if you want to see it. I think it will be up on the city’s website soon, too.
They essentially rewrote the existing zoning code into a more easily referenced document with some simplifications for commercial districts. So yeah in that sense it is different. As Pat Landis explained to me it is essentially the same zoning code that exists presently. It is not form based code for the rest of us. As I said some simplifications were made with regards to commercial zoning but for residential, essentially no changes were made. They did incorporate some infill provisions so that people could build in various vacant lots but that is it.
The 4 form districts DO have the entirely new code, which worth reading.
I do have the CD C.J. One annoying thing I see so far is that there are no maps, other than those for the form districts.
Cool. I’m glad you’ve got the CD. I think you’re overly-minimizing the changes that were made to the HOP outside of the form districts. Or maybe I’m giving them too much weight, I’m not sure. No, it’s not form-based code for all 8,000 acres of the Heart of Peoria, but neither one of us expected that, right? I mean, based on the charrettes, we knew it was going to focus mostly on the form districts (Sheridan, Main, Prospect, and Warehouse). I didn’t think the “infill provisions” (§4.1.5) were trifling. Also, they’ve added two new districts that apply to all of the Heart of Peoria, not just the form districts: Neighborhood Commercial (CN) and General Commercial (CG) — see §3.1.2, §4.2.1, §4.2.4ff. There are also prohibitions listed specifically in §5.3.3(E)(4) that are beneficial to older neighborhoods. There are also provisions for adding new form districts in the future, and I’m sure they will be forthcoming — it’s my understanding that the Uplands Long-Range Planning Committee is looking at developing a form district for our neighborhood. So, I guess I see the Land Development Code as a step in the right direction. I think we agree and are just saying the same thing different ways.
Keep in mind that if Form Based Code is adopted for the rest of the HOP area, it means reduced use controls and increased form controls. I still think there is hesitation on the part of many property owners to allow for duplexes, triplexes and such to intermingle in the single-family areas.
It does prevent incompatible infill— such as “snout houses” in an area of front porches and detached garages.