Agenda - Planning Commission - 02/03/1998

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zoning as yielding more predictable results than performance zoning, in part because prescriptive provisions seem simpler to administer and less open to interpretation. Yet current ordinances increasingly employ performance measures to offer flexibility in mixing uses, clustering development, and mitigating impacts of specific uses. The following discussion highlights the most significant findings of this survey. The Search for Certitude. Communities that previously employed some form of performance-based zoning as a central tenet in their land-use policies have since dropped that approach in favor of more conventional zoning practices. This decision resulted from complaints about the lack of predictable outcomes from applying performance measures. Fort Collins, a stalwart of performance zoning since adopting its Land Development Guidance System in 1981, completed a comprehensive revision of the ordinance in April 1997, thus eliminating the option of negotiable planned unit developments. Such developments accounted for more than 90 percent of the community's new construction. The revision also shifted many performance criteria from negotiable guidelines to mandatory requirements. The action came after years of mounting pressure by concerned citizens and public officials. Many considered the uncertainties over land use on parcels of property that had yet to be developed. Concern also arose over the redevelopment, or infill, of in-town parcels for uses some de.emed incompatible with the neighborhood. The new ordinance provides assurances through its straightforward list ofzonitag districts that cites specific permitted uses and its requirement that either a hearing officer or the planning and zoning board rule on all permits. Bob Blanchard, director of current planning for Fort Collins, refers to the new ordinance as "a hybrid," since it retains many of the design and amenity incentives of the old ordinance within the format of conventional zoning districts and regulations. Lake County, Illinois, in suburban Chicago, is in the process of revising the Kendig-formulated performance-based ordinance adopted in 1988. The new ordinance will unify a traditional zoning approach with subdivision, sign, and other regulations. Sheel Yajnik, principal planner for the Lake County Department of Planning and Development, claims that performance zoning worked well in situations that allowed, for example, some mixed-use development in residential neighborhoods. The flexibility of the regulations, however, raised concerns over the unpredictability of land-use decisions, especially in regard to commercial and industrial uses. "The safeguards are there," says Yajnik, "but the fact that specific uses and site design requirements are not locked in caused concerns." Hardin County, Kentucky, dropped its flexible zoning provisions, adopted in 1984, when a court ruled that the county's non-mapped policy plan and negotiation-based zoning decisions gave property owners too little assurance about their development rights. As a rural county seeking control over development, but abhorring xTpical zoning, Hardin County created a single zone that allowed considerable latitude for Douglas R. Porter h president of the Growth Management Institute in Chevy Chase, Maryland. He would like to express appreciation for the cooperation of local planners in the nine sample communities and to Chuck Bohl, a planning student at the University of North Carolina, who conducted an initlal survey of performance-based systems for this report. defining appropriate types of uses. This new arrangement was contingent upon neighborhood determinations of compatibility. Although it might have been possible to establish guidelines for neighborhood reviews, the successful experience with land-use regulations changed attitudes toward zoning, allowing the county to adopt the previously rejected practice of traditional zoning. Largo, Florida, also revised its performance-based ordinance to conform more closely to conventional zoning. Its comprehensive development code, adopted in 1983, allowed a considerable amount of flexibility for choices of uses. It also employed impervious surface and floor area ratios instead of required setbacks, minimum lot sizes, and building height limits. Adapted from Kendig's ideas, the ordinance used buffers to mitigate impacts of uses on surrounding uses. Largo reverted back to conventional zoning because the city is almost completely developed and zoning regulations must address more site-specific concerns associated with redevelopment. As planning director Rick Goss puts it: "Now everyone's a neighbor." Residents have an interest in assuring compatibility of proposed development with existing uses. Neighborhood and corridor plans are now underway in Largo, with the new ordinance providing more assurances for neighborhood input and mitigation of development impacts. The flexibility offered by performance-based zoning would inevitably create anxiety in jurisdictions with growing populations. In Fort Collins and Largo, both maturing cities, the expanding cadres oflongtime residents assured a constant watch over development proposals, leading finally to desires for more protection from unexpected consequences of development. Although performance criteria and standards supposedly provide such protections, they were perceived as unreliable in application. Frustration with Complexity. Another problem that surfaced was the complexity of decision-making procedures required by performance-based ordinances. Although performance criteria and standards provide a framework and discipline for decisions, they also require analyses of the conformance to those measures and the extent of impact mitigation necessary for specific development proposals. They do not allow the typical yes/no decision of conventional Euclidean zoning..In addition, zoning administrators found that the rationale underlying the performance measures was difficult for laypeople, public officials,'and even planners to understand and accept. Such was the case in Queen Anne's Cpunty, Maryland, which in 1987 adopted a performance-based ordinance fi~odeled after Kendig's proposals. Like ordinances elsewhere, its provisions included floor area ratios, impervious service ratios, open space multipliers, and natural resource multipliers. There were also different provisions for buffering requirements for each zoning district. County planners found that a typical subdivision plat might require two to three pages of mathematical formulas to determine appropriate densities and open space reservations. The provisions also required a considerable amount of day-to- day interpretation which, if not rigorously recorded, led to varying results and inevitable conflicts. The system was difficult to explain to developers, citizens, and county officials. Over time, adjustments made to simplify provisions or resolve issues seemed to make matters worse because it was difficult to track relationships among the different ratios and multipliers. Incidentally, the county's planning director, Steve