HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Mail Packet - 10/6/2020 - Memorandum From Paul Sizemore Re: Land Use Code Amendment Follow-Up To Council Budget Work Session
Community Development & Neighborhood Services
281 North College Avenue
P.O. Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522.0580
970.416.2740
970.224.6134- fax
fcgov.com
Planning, Development & Transportation Services
MEMORANDUM
DATE: September 30, 2020
TO: Mayor Troxell and Councilmembers
THRU: Darin Atteberry, City Manager
Kelly DiMartino, Deputy City Manager
Caryn Champine, Planning Development and Transportation Director
FROM: Paul Sizemore, Interim CDNS Director
RE: Land Use Code Amendment Follow-up to Council Budget Work Session
Bottom Line
This memo provides additional information on recent and pending Land Use Code amendments
as follow-up to the Council Work Session discussion on September 22, 2020.
Background
The Fort Collins Land Use Code was originally adopted in 1997 and has been regularly updated
to reflect the vision and policy direction of Council, changes to the regulatory environment,
and to clarify and improve development regulations and processes. Amendment of the code
can be as simple as rewording and reorganizing, or as complex as the addition of new
standards. Most of these amendments are completed in-house by City staff; however, some
larger scale amendments with impacts across divisions require consulting support and
are vetted through the Budgeting for Outcomes process. A convenient way to categorize the
types of amendments that the code may undergo is to organize them into three tiers with
differing levels of complexity:
I. Regular Cleanup Items
II. Targeted Policy Amendments
III. City Plan Alignment/Land Use Code Audit Recommendations
This memorandum describes recent and pending Land Use Code amendments in each of these
three categories and discusses some of the challenges and potential strategies for
implementing larger scale amendments that are not currently resourced in the proposed
2021 budget.
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Regular Cleanup Items
For the past several years the City has initiated one annual “Cleanup Ordinance” to address
minor code amendments that are identified in the course of delivering services. Consistent with
this process, this year we will have one clean up ordinance. City staff have compiled and
developed amendments for 28 changes that will be captured in this ordinance. These changes
reflect clarifications, reorganization of existing standards, and corrections.
City staff have been discussing these changes with Planning and Zoning Board during their past
two work sessions. It is anticipated P&Z will provide a recommendation at their October public
hearing on the draft ordinance. With the P&Z recommendation this ordinance will be scheduled
for City Council regular hearing for a decision in November or December of this year.
Targeted Policy Amendments
Certain amendments to the Land Use Code are the result of specific policy direction from
Council, usually around a particular topic that has been subject to planning efforts or policy
discussions. These amendments fall outside of the scope of regular clarification or process
improvements and are usually managed as a distinct project with their own public process and
timeline. Some examples of recent amendments that fall into this category include 2019
amendments to Planned Unit Development Overlay regulations and amendments implementing
provisions of the Downtown and Old Town Neighborhoods plans. The following is a summary of
active policy amendments:
Manufactured Housing Communities: The most recent example of this type
of amendment was the adoption of a new Manufactured Housing Community zone
district in August of 2020. This amendment directly aligns with Council’s “Mobile Home
Park Preservation and Resident Protections” priority item. The next phase of this
process is to bring forward the associated rezonings to apply this zone district to existing
communities.
Oil & Gas: With the adoption of Senate Bill 19-181 in April of last year, local
governments are being extended new land use authority to regulate these activities.
Planning and Environmental Services staff are actively involved in the Colorado Oil and
Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) rulemaking process and will be exploring
regulatory approaches and resulting Land Use Code amendments with Council at a work
session anticipated in January or February of 2021. These amendments align with
Council’s priority to “Mitigate impacts of oil and gas encroachment into the Growth
Management Area.” Staff anticipates that these code amendments will be ready
for Council consideration in summer of 2021.
Outdoor Lighting: Another amendment being developed is to update the City’s outdoor
lighting standards to minimize light pollution, eliminate light glare, reduce light trespass,
and conserve energy. These potential updates to development standards have been
drafted over the past year with the assistance of a task force and extensive stakeholder
engagement. Beginning in November of 2020 draft amendments will be presented to
and discussed with stakeholders, boards, and commissions. Staff anticipates the
amendments will be considered by the Planning and Zoning Board in December, with
Council consideration in January or February of 2021.
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City Plan Alignment/Land Use Code Audit Recommendations
City Plan identifies a wide range of implementation strategies to help achieve community goals
and priorities, many of which may require changes to Fort Collins’ development standards and
processes. The 2019 version of City Plan emphasizes the community values of livability,
community, and sustainability. Specific guidance in the plan encourages the City to incentivize
and maintain more affordable and attainable housing, diversify the types of housing available,
promote mixed-use and transit-supportive development along key corridors, and address the
changing dynamics of employment and industrial land. After the adoption of City Plan in 2019,
staff initiated an audit of the Land Use Code to identify areas where the Land Use Code could
more effectively align with City Plan guidance.
Land Use Code Audit Background
While Fort Collins regularly updates Land Use Code standards, most changes are relatively
minor. This Land Use Code Audit takes a more comprehensive view of land use regulation
to ensure that local development standards are advancing the community’s goals and
adequately responding to changes in social and market conditions. Prior to the 2019 audit, there
had not been a similar effort to evaluate the Land Use Code since its initial adoption in 1997.
Specific objectives for the Land Use Code Audit were:
Identify targeted updates to the Land Use Code that support City Plan implementation
Explore and document how the City Plan goals and priorities are being addressed by
peer communities within their development codes; and
Identify characteristics of contemporary development codes that could be applied to
improve the usability and functionality of the Land Use Code.
The Land Use Code Audit reflects the results of discussions with City staff and stakeholders
who use the Land Use Code on a regular basis—e.g., local architects, planners, and landscape
architects, builders, and housing organizations—as well as a thorough outside review of the
current Land Use Code completed by Clarion Associates.
Budgeting for Outcomes (BFO)
Reorganizing and amending the Land Use Code as recommended is a complex project that will
require an organizational commitment of staff time and financial resources to retain consultant
support. Prior to COVID-19, staff anticipated submitting a Budgeting for Outcomes (BFO) offer
for the 2021 budget to begin this work. The offer would have requested $175,000 to complete
Steps 1 and 2 above. An additional $90,000 in State grant funding from Home2Health was
earmarked to support housing-related code updates (total funding: $265,000). Due to the
impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, the draft offer for Land Use Code Amendments was not
included in this year’s budgeting process. Staff plans to request funding for this work in future
BFO cycles and continues to monitor grant opportunities.
Housing Ad Hoc Committee and Housing Strategic Plan
Discussions about land use, zoning, and how they relate to housing supply are an important
component of the Housing Strategic Plan and the work being undertaken by the Housing Ad
Hoc Committee. In the coming months there will be extensive discussions and strategy
development for the Housing Strategic Plan that may help prioritize specific recommendations in
the more comprehensive Land Use Code Audit. Staff anticipates that guidance from this
process will help inform future decisions about funding requests and assigning tasks from the
Audit to work plans. If high priority action items are identified that would require implementation
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funding prior to the next budget cycle, staff is prepared to initiate mid-cycle budget requests as
directed by Council.
Next Steps
October 8: Ad Hoc Housing Committee Meeting on housing types and zoning
November: Board and Commission outreach on outdoor lighting amendments
November/December: Council consideration of Regular Clean Up Amendment
January/February 2021: Council consideration of outdoor lighting amendments, Council
Work Session on oil and gas regulatory and siting options
Summer 2021: Council consideration of oil and gas related code amendments
2022 Budget Process: Propose budget offer and strategy to implement Land Use Code
Audit recommendations
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