|
undoubtedly continue its savvy reach for the bottom line by
<br />reducing costs for employee travel, and the country's aging
<br />population will proceed southward to warmer climates, finding
<br />temporary shelter in extended-stay facilities. This growing
<br />lodging alternative is an inevitable part of the landscape.
<br />Communities need only determine where it fits best.
<br />
<br /> But, says Fisher, the misinformation that drove the
<br />petitions included the impression that the convent would
<br />become a boarding house and "did not exactly reflect what
<br />the proposal was." Many people, he says, "didn't know what
<br />the actual use was." Jim Schwab, A[CP
<br />
<br /> Correction
<br />In "Sinking Shopping Center to Become a Wetland" (Juiy),
<br />Zoning News reported that the idea for converting the site back to
<br />wetlands came from University of Minnesota graduate student
<br />Sherri A. Buss. According to Buss, this is inaccurate. Instead, the
<br />idea emerged from her work in a graduate design seminar in
<br />landscape architecture developed by Professor Joan Nassauer.
<br />
<br />How Many Sisters
<br />Make a Family?
<br />
<br />It was all a misunderstanding, says Joliet, Illinois, planning
<br />director Don Fisher. In the end, he says, that is what caused
<br />most of the 103 people who signed a petition opposing a
<br />variation in use for a group of nuns to wish they had not. Of
<br />those signers, only four opposed the permit during the meeting
<br />at which the city council unanimously approved it on October
<br />6. Variation in use is the term of art in the Joliet zoning
<br />ordinance for the special-use permit that now allows the
<br />Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart to house up to seven
<br />nuns in their home in a single-family residential neighborhood.
<br />The zoning board of appeals recommended council approval in
<br />a 4-3 vote on September 24.
<br /> The Joliet ordinance allows up to three unrelated
<br />individuals to live in the same home in a single-family
<br />district. Three nuns already occupied the house, but they
<br />wanted to bring in a fourth sister and also allow up to three
<br />visitors at any time. The variation, says Fisher, lasts only
<br />while the nuns occupy the 3,000-square-foot house. The
<br />attached conditions state that the variation will cease
<br />whenever the Franciscan sisters leave the property, and that
<br />if the home ceases to function as a "nunnery," another term
<br />defined in the ordinance, it would revert to single-family
<br />residential use. Any other proposed use, Fisher says, "must
<br />go before the zoning board" and would require approval by
<br />the city council.
<br /> Fisher adds that if, at any time, the use becomes a nuisance,
<br />the ordinance specifies that the permit "shall be recalled for a
<br />possible revocation" by the zoning board and city council.
<br />Because of these provisions, he says, the planning staff assumed
<br />that the variation would not pose a problem.
<br />
<br />Zoning News is a monthly newsletter published by the American Planning Association.
<br />Subscriptions are available for $55 (U.S.) and $75 (foreign). Frank $. So, Executive Director;
<br />William IL Klein, Director of Research.
<br />Zoning News is produced at APA, Jim Schwab and Mike Davidson, Editors; Shannon
<br />Armstrong. Barry Bain, Jerome Cleland, Fay Dolnick, Sanjay Jeer, Megan Lewis, Marya Morris,
<br />Becki Rerzhff, Reporters; Cynthia Chcski, Assistant Editor; Lisa Barton, Design and
<br />Production.
<br />Copyright ©! 99S by American Phnning Association, 122 $. Michigan Ave., Suite 1600,
<br />Chicago, Ii. 60603. The American Planning Association has headquarters offices at 1776
<br />Massachusetts Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20036.
<br />All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by
<br />an)' means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information
<br />storage and retrieval system, ~vithout permission in writing from the American Planning
<br />Association.
<br />Printed on recycled paper, including 50-70% recydcd fiber
<br />and 10% postconsumer wasle, ~
<br />
<br />4
<br />
<br />The Plan for SoBro
<br />Christine Keyling. City Press Publishing, Inc., 209 lOth Ave. S.,
<br />Suite 222, Nashville, TN37202. 1997. 48pp. Free by calling
<br />615-244-7989.
<br /> South of Broadway (SoBro) has been a neglected "land of
<br />promise" in Nashville in the words of this report on a charrette
<br />for the area sponsored last year by a local alternative newspaper,
<br />the Nashville Scene. Many of the area's problems will sound
<br />familiar: issues of surface parking, a potential split resulting
<br />from a proposed new highway corridor, and the need to rebuild
<br />a sense of urban neighborhood character with the appropriate
<br />mixture of uses. Yet SoBro also has the unique opportunities of
<br />an area that includes the Tennessee State Capitol and life in the
<br />shadows of downtown skyscrapers. The resulting guidelines are
<br />both instructive and reasonably creative, including the emphasis
<br />on the need for a "boulevard, not a corridor."
<br />
<br />Siting Criteria for
<br />Personal Wireless
<br />Service Facilities
<br />Prepared by Kreines and Kreines, Inc., in cooperation with the
<br />Cape Cod Commission, 3225 Main St., P.O. Box 226, Barnstable,
<br />MA 02630. June 1997. 50pp. Free with $5 shipping charge for
<br />out-ojCstizte orders.
<br /> Distilling lessons and ideas from dozens of 0ther
<br />communities, the Cape Cod Commission managed to craft
<br />trend-setting standards in one ofplanning's evolving new
<br />dilemmas, the siting of wireless telecommunications facilities.
<br />This document is the result of a project the commission pursued
<br />with funding from the Massachusetts Department of Housing
<br />and Community Development. Readers with Internet access
<br />can supplement this useful handbook by finding the
<br />commission's model bylaws for such facilities on its web site,
<br />www.capecodcommission.org.
<br />
<br />CitySpace:
<br />An Open Space Plan
<br />for Chicago
<br />Ci~ of Chicago, Department of Planning and Development,
<br />Strategic Planning Division, 121 North LaSalle Street, Room
<br />1003, Chicago, IL 60602.
<br /> The Ci~ySpace Plan is the result of an intergovernmental
<br />initiative created to expand open space in Chicago. The CitySpace
<br />Project was initiated by a partnership that included the City of
<br />Chicago, Chicago Park District, Forest Preserve District of Cook
<br />County, and the Chicago Board of Education. The plan sets forth
<br />development goals, priorities, and implementation strategies,
<br />targeting land along inland waterways, vacant lots, and land
<br />surrounding public schools.
<br />
<br />
<br />
|