Springfield City Planner Vaidehe Agwan explained stakeholders include various community organizations, including neighborhood associations, local business people and others. The May sessions are first of many expected efforts to involve members of the community in the process.
“Moving on to summer, we will be holding workshops with dates yet to be determined. We will also be having work sessions to show our progress and report on what we found out,” Agwan said.
Agwan told Springfield City Commissioners at a recent meeting that the goal of zoning codes and laws is to protect public health and welfare of citizens and align with city charter goals.
“The zoning code promotes community character by organizing land into community defined districts defined by the type and intensity of use … it is applicable to all lands within the city limits,” she said. “It has existed since the 1900s.”
Her presentation to the commission highlighted some of the significant changes over time, and she noted that in recent years there has been an increase in zoning appeals, variance and conditional use permits which reflect the need to review and revise zoning codes.
“With so many cases coming forward it makes sense to examine the current code to see where it falls sort of meeting the community’s needs,” Agwan said.
Officials believe zoning updates can increase the likelihood that development will reflect locally defined priorities to address current challenges and meet market demand. Included in the process will be efforts to make the code user-friendly, clear and equitable. It will also provide an opportunity to rethink residential densities and lot sizes throughout the city to encourage a variety of housing types to better meet the need for affordable housing.
“This has been part of many of the recent discussions of the City Commission, that housing is a need for the community. Zoning code is a tool that can help in addressing that need, but it is not the only thing,” Agwan said.
The updates are also likely to open new avenues such as administrative approvals to ease the approval process and delays for development projects.
The city has been working with a Cincinnati consultant to assess the city’s current zoning code and has established a steering committee to help advise on zoning code changes. Community involvement is important because the stakes are high, according to Agwan.
“The changes will potentially affect all property and business owners in the city,” she said.
“It’s super important you are taking this on,” Mayor Rob Rue told Agwan at the conclusion of her presentation.
“We’ve needed to do this for some time,” Assistant Mayor David Estrop said. “I didn’t realize it had been over 20 years since we’d really taken a look at the whole issue … and I’m delighted with the public input. I think we have learned a hard lesson. We’re better together, and the more people we can get involved on the front end, the less problems we have on the tail end of it.”
Information and ongoing updates on the effort to update zoning codes is available on a new webpage on the city’s website, https://springfieldohio.gov/city-new-zoning-code/
About the Author