The More You Know: Format Updates
Today, I'd like to return to our series on the proposed zoning code updates. Let's talk about the code's new format.
I know that sounds super boring, but it is important. The improvements in this aspect of our zoning code may be the most critical of all with big benefits for both residents and professionals.
Early in the update process this year, the Planning Commission and community members strongly agreed that the format of the current zoning code was frankly, horrible. Planning Commission members have said that it is likely among the worst in Michigan.
You might ask, what could be so bad? Here is a quote from the 2012 Downtown Vision Plan.
โ๐๐ฏ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต๐ถ๐ฏ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ต๐บโ๐ด ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ถ๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ถ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ-๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ถ๐ช๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ฏ-๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ง๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ถ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐บ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ญ๐ถ๐ด๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฆ๐น๐ต, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐บ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ ๐ข๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.โ
So, as far back as 2012, community leaders have known that our zoning code format was outdated and not very usable.
In addition to what the Downtown Vision Plan said, there are some other big shortcomings.
It is organized in a way that requires you to read the section for each zoning district to determine where a particular โuseโ is allowed (rather than identifying permitted uses by district via a table.)
I wanted to see where duplexes are allowed today so I had to closely read 35 pages. It took about 30 minutes and Iโm still not sure I got it completely right.
Other important regulations are buried in dense text. I have spent over a year following the zoning code update process and reading the current code is not easy.
The few tables that do exist donโt really help. I had to get out a ruler and draw lines to make sense of columns that donโt line up.
The document isnโt searchable electronically. I had more luck by printing out the whole thing (108 pages) and putting it in a binder and flipping through it.
Here is what I see with the updated format:
โข ๐๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ป, ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ, ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ
โข ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฒ๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป ๐๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ฒ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฐh ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐
โข ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ด๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐๐ผ๐ป๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ฑ๐ถ๐๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ ๐ฐ๐น๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐น๐ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐บ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ถ๐บ๐ฝ๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป
โข ๐๐ฒ๐ ๐ถ๐ป๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ๐บ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐ถ๐ ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐น๐ ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ผ๐๐. ๐ ๐น๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฑ๐๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ๐ ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐น๐ฑ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ผ๐๐ ๐ฏ๐ฌ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐ผ๐ป๐ฑ๐. (๐ง๐๐ฟ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐ธ๐ฒ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐บ ๐ถ๐ป ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐บ๐ฒ ๐ฝ๐น๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐).
โข ๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ผ๐ฝ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ, ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ผ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐น๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ฟ๐ผ๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐น๐ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ถ๐น๐น ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐ท๐๐บ๐ฝ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐น๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป ๐๐ถ๐๐ต ๐ต๐ผ๐๐น๐ถ๐ป๐ธ๐
If Council does not pass the updates the Planning Commission has negotiated over the last year, we do not get any of the benefits of form and function of the new format. It's that simple. Everyone seems to agree on the value of the new format, but if the update is not passed we do not get the added value.
Before last year, I had never really thought much about this stuff, but as a property owner I now understand that a zoning ordinance shapes and reflects the city we want to be. The current code is clunky and outdated and in need of a good refresh. As it is now, it is truly not in the best interest of the community we have built today. After years of work by dedicated volunteers, I donโt see how anybody could say that we donโt need updates.
Last week there were many who were willing to set aside some rather serious misjudgments by the Mayor and a Councilmember in order to reduce division and turn the page.
I think the same arguments could be made about the zoning code. A truly good faith effort has been made to suggest updates to our outdated code. We've been through a repeal vote, dozens of public meetings and thousands of hours of study and discussion.
After months of accommodation and delay, it is time to pass this common sense and reasonable update to the zoning code. Then perhaps we can move forward as a community.