Subject:
Title
Discussion of Potential Zoning Amendments, as Follow-Up to Code Create
Body
BACKGROUND SUMMARY:
The Town’s Zoning and Subdivision Ordinances were updated and adopted as a new Chapter 18 on October 23, 2023, and effective January 1, 2024. That updated code can be found at <https://www.viennava.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/4738/638379086972230000>.
Throughout the update process, known as Code Create Vienna, topics were identified as “pinned” items. For various reasons, the Council, working with staff, determined that those topics could not be addressed during Code Create, but would potentially be addressed at a future date after the code adoption.
The intention of this discussion is to review those “pinned” items, and any others that may have emerged, to receive guidance from the Council on which of these items to advance for additional zoning amendments.
OVERVIEW:
Throughout the Code Create process, the zoning and subdivision ordinance was recognized as a living document that will be reviewed and updated regularly. In the interest of having an updated and easier-to-use code completed by the end of 2023, some items were “pinned” for future discussion. The staff has prepared a summary list of those “pinned” items for the Council to review.
Attachment 1 provides a chart with the following:
• A space for Council’s priority assessment
• Identification of the Article, Section, or Figure within the new Chapter 18 to which the comment is related
• The topic of the comment
• The suggested change
• The source of the suggestion (member of the public, Planning Commission, Councilmember, Staff, Board or Commission, zoning consultant)
• Staff comments
The Council’s priority assessment is organized into three options:
Ø High interest
Ø Low interest
Ø Not in favor
Some of the “pinned” items are straightforward and not particularly complicated. For those items, assuming Council’s support, they can move relatively quickly through the zoning amendment approval process as no additional research or analysis is needed.
Other items are more complicated and may require additional research, analysis, outside expertise, and/or work sessions. Examples of such topics include parking standards, lighting standards, accessory dwelling units, amendments to the Church Street Vision overlay, standards for wireless facilities, and revising fines and penalties.
In addition, staff have identified some minor edits or information from the previous code that were inadvertently left out and should have been carried forward into the new code. Although many of these items are minor, they still require a public hearing to revise since the code was adopted.
SUMMARY/STAFF IMPRESSIONS:
Staff looks forward to a discussion of the provided list, and of any other topics the Council may wish to raise and seeks guidance on items that staff would bring back to Council. The Council may wish to distinguish between near-term relatively easy amendments and those that require more research and policy development. If the Council makes such a distinction, staff can return relatively quickly with easier items. For the more-complicated items, staff would welcome Council’s setting priorities for the sequence of such items, so that staff can provide the appropriate focus on each item while still carrying out our other responsibilities. Staff would also welcome the Council’s identifying items that it does not wish to pursue.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended Action
The Council provides guidance to staff on the priorities of the identified “pinned” items.