Agenda - Planning Commission - 09/03/1996

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means, earninga living locally or commuting to jobs in the region. The characteristic rural attitude--"nobody can tell me what to do with my land" is stronger. For locals, the flexibility to run small businesses out of their home properties is critical. Under its previSus zoning, many such businesses were illegal. Hillsdale now Mlows a wide variety of business uses in its rural district. Small-steele home occupations are allowed by right. For more intrusive businesses, the landowner must go through a permitting and site plan review process to show the proposed use will not negatively affect neighbors. The process has one tier for large-scale projects, which undergo a thorough and compre- hensive review, and au easier and quicker one for small projects. Allowing home-based businesses enables people with young children to work at home, reduces automobile commuting, and adds economic value to rural land. If these home-based businesses become more successful, they normally would be forced to relocate to commercial zones. Hillsdale allows them to expand where ~aey are, as long as their expansion can meet compatibility criteria. This solution is often preferable to forcing such businesses into single-use office developments, industrial parks, or commercial strips. Other towns with which I have worked have also instituted flexible use regulations in their rural areas, often coupled with limits on the footprint size of buildings. They can allow a small well-screened auto body shop, but keep out Wal-Mart. They also have restricted commercial uses along highways to protect downtown business districts, while encouraging higher densities and mixed uses in their village centers. When Hill~dale was considering how to channel growth into its hamlets, hamlet residents complained that they did not want all the new development "dumped" in their neighborhoods. They envisioned new development looking like the suburban sprawl and strip development that the previous zoning had mandated. To respond to that concern, illustrated design guidelines for hamlet development were added to the new zoning law. These guidelines follow many new urbanist principles and are intended to ensure that what is built in the hamlet or village will reinforce, rather than detract from, the community's historic character. (Three volumes illustrate the clustering and conservation density principles discussed above. Alt were reviewed in "Zoning Reports," March.) When the owner of the small supermarket fronting on the main street in the town center wanted to expand it (under the old zoning), he faced the obstacle of needing variances because the building could not comply with the suburban strip corn mercial requirements.The existing building would have - Rural Zoning Principles In the last issue of Zoning News, I examined the need for. new models ofrurat zoning a~d suggested ' · ' · some di~ectibnsfor reform. These can be summarized in the flollowingprinciples: 'T/' I~pa~ct ii' i~r~' i~iSiS'it~ il~iii tile.' 'Ru3'al l~fid-fise }egula~iions aha'l~you(bf hi~l'gii- &-d'3il[ige~: SigniF~ntly highe?'d~risiiies should permit a wide variety of uses with impact criteria to should be allowed within these limited areas, provided ..that assist a review board in determining whether to allow a use in a public water and sewer services are available. ' particular location..This maintains the rural tradition that 6. Development should satisfy illustrated design ~tandards that landowners have flexibility in land use as long as they do not maintain local community character. When eve.ryt.hin.g was negativdy affect their neighbors' or the commutiity, built by local builders using local materials, towns had a specter 2. Density is more impo rtant than lot size. Although 10w densities' look and feel. That distinctiveness of place is gradually being are appropriate outside settlement centers, large minimum lot lost to a standardized form of development found throughout sizes consume the landscape faster than small lots. Therefore, suburban America. Illustrated design standards for streets, lot land-use controli should separate density from lot size, allowing layout, site plans, arid buildings maintain the traditional small- very small lots as long as overall density guidelines are main- rained. This is usually done through some form of clustering. 3. Designis more important than density. The impact of development and its profitability for the landowner are not simply a "numbers game." Attractive, well-planned low-density development may be more profitable than high density, especially in rural areas. Well-planned compact village developments.fit iri better with historic town character than low-density sprawl Open space protection and good site design are often more importanr than density to both the landowner's bottom line and a town's arcractiveness. 4. The countryside should remain largely u~developed, but not by destroying the land's economic value. With a choice of uses, landowners can make a living on their land without having to sell it for residential developrdent. Regulations should provide se~,eral options that combine protection of open space with compatible development, including mixed housing types, mixed uses, and density incentives. In some markets, transfer or purchase of development rights may be needed to compensate rural landowners for density reductions on their land. 5. Development should generally be concentrated in and near existing or new village centers, following the traditional pattern town feeling. 7. Review boards need written Criteria that enable them t6 say yes to what fits into the community and no to what does not, while conditioning approvals to ensure that standards a~e implemented. Instead of apptying rigid use and bulk requirements, review boards should have both clear design' standards and flexibility to workwith applicants aha neighbors to come'up with plans that fit the town. They also should have sufficient authority and resources to ensure that plans are properly implemented. 8. Small-scale projects need less complicated review than large- scale ones. Elaborate review ~s necessary for large complex projects, but there is no need to subject three-lot subdivisions or small sho ps to the same process. However, even small-scale development should satisfy design standards. 9. Land-use regulations should be simple enough to understand, but adequate to fulfill their objectives. They should be clear, flexible, and understandable. They should be strict on important design princtples but flexible on use regulations, while imposing on landowners the minimum burden necessary to achieve commumty goals. Illustrations should show the development patterns and options allowed.