Title
Recommendation to City Council on Proposed Development Code Amendment Revising Rezone Criteria
Recommended Action
Not referred to a committee.
Report
Issue:
The draft Comprehensive Plan as recommended by the Planning Commission and now being reviewed by the City Council would consolidate land use categories in the Plan. Specifically, it would reduce the number of categories from over 30 to about 15. In addition, the draft Plan would add a specific Plan policy regarding rezone criteria. The City staff proposed a development code amendment revising the rezone criteria, including a new provision describing the relationship between the proposed more general Land Use Map and the specific land use districts of the zoning code. (Note, 'rezones' are amendments of the zoning map depicting which property is within each land use zone or district described in the development (zoning) regulations.) (File 13-0117)
Staff Contact:
Todd Stamm, Community Planning & Development, Principal Planner, 360.753.8597
Presenter(s):
Todd Stamm, Principal Planner
Background and Analysis:
Until 1994, Olympia's Comprehensive Plans included future land use maps that were general in nature. For example, the 1988 Plan's Future Land Use Map included 14 land use categories. In contrast, the City's zoning code included 19 zones plus various 'limited' and 'planned development' designations. When Olympia updated the Comprehensive Plan and zoning in response to the Growth Management Act of the early 90s, the City decided to include a more detailed Future Land Use Map in the Plan with over thirty land use categories with specific boundaries. The subsequent new zoning map 'mirrored' this detailed Plan map. The result of this approach has been a reduction in regulatory flexibility. Instead of the City or property owners being able to propose zoning map changes in response to changing circumstances, nearly any change in the zoning map must be accompanied by an amendment...
Click here for full text