Agenda - Planning Commission - 01/05/2017

Home

October 25, 2016 1 Volume 10 1 Issue 20 Zoning Bulletin Zoning News from Around the Nation CALIFORNIA 1 The United States Postal Service ("USPS") has reportedly filed a lawsuit against the city of Berkeley "over a zoning ordinance that depletes the value of the Berkeley Main Post Office building and alleg- edly prevents its sale."The post office at issue is located in Berkeley's Civic Center Historic District. In 2014, following USPS's attempt to sell the building, Berkeley City Council passed a zoning ordinance restricting use of buildings in the Civic Center Historic District of Berkeley for civic and nonprofit uses. The USPS now alleges that zon- ing change"so drastically reduced the value of the property as to render a sale untenable." Source: The Daily Californian; wwwdailycal.orQ PENNSYLVANIA Penn Township commissioners were expected to finish, in late September 2016,their review of a draft zoning ordinance"that has come under criticism for its rules on shale gas drilling." On August 17, the first public hearing was held on the draft zoning laws since they were proposed in the fall of 2014. "Although they are still in draft form,they have been in effect."In addition to regulating fracking,the draft zoning ordinance"would reduce the number of zoning districts in the township and make rules in those districts more adaptable." The ordinance's proposed mineral extraction overlay district has drawn the most atten- tion,as the special zoning district"would open up more than half of the 30-square-mile township to unconventional drilling involving fracking." Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; www post-gaZette.coni TENNESSEE Nashville's Metro Council recently approved two bills that amount to "landmark action on affordable housing for Nashville." "One bill ap- proved a new three-year pilot program that will let residential develop- ers who agree to build affordably priced units compete for financial c, incentives,and grants totaling $2 million."A second bill approved will require, beginning in June, "that residential apartment developers in Nashville building five or more units include a percentage of new I: workforce units in their projects when they request a zoning variance for greater development rights, such as density or greater height." Source: The Tennessean; www.tennessean.com 12 ©2016 Thomson Reuters ii i' i.