ZCC waits for Committee hearings to begin; work continues on sign controls and tools to aid public understanding

ZCC Regular Session

On June 2, City Council adopted a resolution authorizing the Committee of the Whole to hold public hearings on the Zoning Code Commission’s Preliminary Report. The Charter Amendment requires hearings to begin within 45 days, although ZCC Chairman Alan Greenberger does not expect any substantive Council discussion until the fall. In the interim, Councilman Bill Green requested a zoning analysis service that would allow residents, business-owners, and community development representatives to request information on a specific property. “Letting people see what is permitted under current zoning and how new zoning would change that for a particular address will take away the mystery,” Green said. Director Eva Gladstein agreed. “The tools are available to do it now, but we will add this service to make it more accessible,” she said. ZCC staff, working groups, and consultants will also continue work this summer on sign controls, aiming to have draft regulations available in September.

The ZCC internal working group on signs has been meeting twice a month for about nine months to strengthen understanding of existing controls and develop a framework for consultants to draft new regulations. The current sign regulations are complicated and scattered throughout the zoning code, so for the Preliminary Report, consultants pulled them together into a single chapter without proposing any changes to allow time for the working group to make recommendations. The working group consists of ZCC members and staff, and representatives from L&I, the Planning and Arts Commissions, Law, Commerce, and Streets. Other stakeholders have been invited to the group to provide input as well, including representatives from SCRUB, the sign manufacturing industry, the outdoor advertising community, and CDCs. The ZCC Civic Engagement Committee is planning two rounds of public outreach on signs, starting once draft regulations are available in the fall. The ZCC would like to submit a revised chapter on signs to City Council in the spring of 2012.

Public participants questioned why the Historical Commission was not part of the sign working group and requested earlier community input, noting that existing regulations are complex and controversial and that three bills related to signs are currently before City Council. A representative from the Crosstown Coalition wants the ZCC to ask City Council for a moratorium on signs until the benefit of the working group’s analysis is available.

Irv Ackelsberg from the Germantown Community Coalition supported Councilman Green’s suggestion for an address-by-address zoning information service. Mr. Ackelsberg spoke about what he called the “unintended consequences” of the new zoning code on a property in his community that is currently protected from an unwanted concentration of certain retail uses by an overlay district. ZCC Chairman Greenberger reiterated that ZCC staff will provide a zoning analysis service so that such cases are brought to light, but cautioned that the Commission has to consider questions about how zoning is used in general. “We have to be sure zoning is the right method for achieving an end,” he said.

Questions about the transition from the old code to the new were also clarified. Eva Gladstein explained that the transition period will last six months. During the first three months, the old code will still be effective. In the next three months applicants will have a choice of using either all old or all new regulations. On the 180th day, the new code only will be in effect.

Mr. Greenberger adjourned the meeting, stating that the ZCC will announce the date of the public hearing of the Committee of the Whole as soon as it is scheduled. The next meeting of the ZCC will be held September 14.