TheReview_July_Aug_2021

Think Positively Sometimes, ordinances are written or amended around the mindset that the community needs to prevent certain bad behaviors or undesired land uses. While this is sometimes justified, local officials must also ask themselves if their zoning ordinance is enabling good design. A zoning ordinance will never live up to its potential if it doesn’t, at a minimum, enable the kind of development that the community supports. As an experiment, test your ordinance yourself. Design a rough sketch of a project that you would like to see in your community and review it against your zoning ordinance to see if you’d be able to approve it. Is it even permitted? Would the site design require a PUD? A special land use permit? A variance? How long do you think it will take to approve? If you find yourself digging through your zoning ordinance, seeking out obscure provisions, technicalities, and creative interpretations to make it work, your ordinance might feel like an obstacle to good development and good design, rather than a guide for it. If this is the case, it may be time to work on some amendments.

Andy Moore, AICP, is an executive at Williams & Works. You may contact him at 616.224.1500 or moore@williams-works.com.

An ADU on the second story of a detached garage.

JULY / AUGUST 2021

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THE REVIEW