The following update is from Monica Savino of the Dignowity Hill Historic District:
Hey All-
I want to bring to your attention a very important project going on right now that will effect all of us living in Historic, RIO, and Downtown, Neighborhood Conservation Districts, and those who own designated Landmarks. AND those who are interested in designating their neighborhood, portion of as part of any of the above cited districts or a landmark.
OHP has been working with various stakeholders and DSD as a task force in the process to update those UDC ordinances that effect their purview. The draft will be available to the public soon before it goes on the road to City Council and I would urge each of you to make a point to review it when that copy is made public. Again, I don’t have a date but want to get you in the loop now. In the meantime, I can give you a synopsis of what’s being addressed. If any of you want more specific info, please feel free to reply to me directly.
OVERVIEW
- Streamline review process and optimize public participation
- Improve consistency, predictability, and effectiveness of review
- Shorten length of public meetings, reduce commission burnout
- Align with 2020 UDC Update Cycle or other process (CCR, policy change, etc.)
STEPS TAKEN
- Worked with task force to recommend policy changes
- Public input will also inform the recommendations prior to any proposed amendments (me: and this is where you come in!)
- Subcommittees formed to review the following issues:
- HDRC and administrative review process
- Non-owner landmark designation process
- Neighborhood-level infill design standards
- Downtown and RIO
- Other clarifying amendments and minor process improvements.
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To give you an example of subjects we’re discussing for HDRC/Admin topic, there’s talk of increasing the size and configuration of HDRC. Maybe larger with alternates, maybe creating a separate review group for smaller projects, non-conforming work, or other criteria. Also, there’s discussion about expanding the Administrative Review authority (staff approval) that would increase the range of work able to be processed through an Administrative CoA and how to effectively include public comments.
Non-owner landmark designations might have different method for “petitioning” a neighborhood for a building or place landmark along with higher standards of significance.
The Neighborhood Infill topic is very involved as you can guess. There’s talk of application worksheets that will address design criteria such as massing, scale, and context areas, and a new process that will address the problem of infill that requires rezoning. What comes first, the chicken or the egg? What might happen is some sort of hybrid chicken-egg that puts OHP in the driver seat for design related criteria before zoning approvals are given. This isn’t the same as HDRC review but something geared for the zoning process. It’s still in the works and for that reason the Neighborhood Infill group will continue to meet in the coming months to hopefully have a robust yet efficient process in place for next year.
Same with Downtown and RIO – lots of details and work need to be done. And there are other items and concerns we’ve been discussing with the intention of making the submittal processes in OHP more responsive to neighborhoods, consistent, and efficient for all participants.
So . . . If you have a specific topic interest or general interest, have questions or want to keep up with the process, please let me know so that I can keep you in the loop. This UDC revision is a very important activity that happens only once every 5 years and the revisions will effect all of us. I encourage you to get involved.
Cheers,
Monica S.