City Council candidates discuss downtown zoning
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Council candidates' views on Columbia issues
there are permitted uses and non-permitted uses, and then there are conditional uses. But the city really needs to decide What you need to know before you how they want the downtown to be used and how they want go the polls on Tuesday the downtown to look. And once we've done that I think we Candidates discuss 911 tax, policing at final public forum really need to take a look at the zoning ordinances and take a look at the kinds of uses. They were put in in the '60s, and so there are uses in the downtown area that I don't think really belong in the downtown area. Things like gas stations, other permitted uses that we'd really like to exclude if we want a walkable environment where we have people that are lingering and enjoying the restaurants and entertainment of the downtown area." Third Ward candidates Karl Skala: "The city has already embarked on an effort to revise them in a couple of ways. One is several, several years ago, we started the process to contract for and produce a comprehensive plan, which was supposed to use growth management principles to eventually get to zoning revision and subdivision revision. Some of the zoning code ordinances have not been revised since 1964, so we’re long overdue for that kind of thing. Additionally, we were asked by the City Council to take a look at the C-2 zoning in particular, triggered really by the potential for private development in high density residential downtown with the Niedermeyer property. And then there was a proposal for an abeyance, a six-month abeyance on demolition downtown. So, that kind of triggered an interest in C-2 zoning. Classically, Planning and Zoning has recommended that the city carefully consider when it grants C-2 zoning, particularly when it comes to high-density residential like student development because of the unique impacts it has. So, Planning and Zoning and several other groups are, in fact, looking at C-2 rezoning, and there are several suggestions on the horizon, one of which might be an overlay, another of which might be to go back to a system whereby it was a conditional use permit for high-density residential only." Gary Kespohl: "City Council has asked the stakeholders, the Community Improvement District, the Downtown Leadership Council and the surrounding neighborhoods to give their opinion on zoning downtown. I attended a CID meeting last Thursday, and they think zoning is OK the way that it is. I think it should be reviewed, and maybe some changes be made to certain areas of the zoning, certain zoning categories." Fourth Ward candidates Daryl Dudley: "The city has to embark on revising them, but it’s going to take a large group
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3/31/14 12:21 PM