The Zionsville Plan Commission met Aug. 21 to review the status of the previously proposed form-based code zoning ordinance and zoning map.
Form-based code is a set of regulations on land development to create a higher-quality city by using building form regulations to organize the city instead of focusing on land use.
The draft, previously discussed at the June and July plan commission meetings, was created by seven planning specialists at McKenna, a company based in Michigan that Zionsville hired for the project that designs economic development, zoning, form-based code, transportation, landscape design and more.
Paul Lippens, vice president of McKenna, spoke on the process moving forward, which includes resolving issues previously identified by the plan commission; creating a memorandum of amendments to forward with plan commission recommendation to the Zionsville Town Council; and getting the town council to consider plan commission recommendations and amendments.
Lippens identified solutions for the previous plan commission concerns, proposing that districts AG, NR, N-1, N-2, MU-3, I-1, I-2 and AZ would not be required to use form-based standards and that material standards be relaxed.
Form-based applicability was revised to state that new construction in those districts would be permitted to use form-based code but not required. Districts NV, N-3, MU-1, MU-2 and MUV must meet the form-based code requirements when planned unit developments are proposed.
“In the future, the town would be able to amend this section if it is appropriate, but for the purpose of moving forward, it would apply to a much smaller section of the town,” Lippens said.
Lippens also discussed other solutions for previously identified issues, such as creating overlay zones, incorporating special use districts into underlying districts and eliminating old districts.
Lippens said the next step would be to create a memo with proposed amendments for consideration before getting a plan commission recommendation to the town council.
Plan commission member Chris Lake said he Mckenna is conflating form-based code and design.
“Pulling out certain districts that do not have to follow the form-based code, but (requiring) the rest to meet the design requirements, does not really help,” Lake said. “The strict design requirements are the issue, not the form.”
Plan commission president David Franz said he agrees with Lake that the issue is the actual design of the buildings.
Plan commission member Sharon Walker said the new draft of the zoning map does not show the I-65 corridor or Ind. 267.
“With all the things that are happening and occurring in those two areas, (the map) does not even show them, and they are very important,” Walker said. “They need to be (on there) because that will affect what we do over there.”
Plan commission member Jim Hurst said they are doing the process backward.
“Maybe the comprehensive plan needs to be looked at before we get too far with this,” Hurst said.
Lippens said the goal was to get the ordinance adopted this fall.
A special meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Oct. 5 to discuss the issue further. A sub-committee meeting will be held at a date yet to be determined.
