Before the Columbia Planning and Zoning Commission held the first public hearing to begin an official review of a 400-plus-page zoning code revision, the city planning staff had received a stream of more than 200 written comments suggesting changes or asking questions about the document.

That stream quickly became a flood of public comment at the Oct. 20 hearing, which was supposed to cover all six segments of the zoning code rewrite that was one result of the �Columbia Imagined� planning process that concluded three years ago. Instead of checking off all six segments, commissioners were just finishing up the first two segments as the clock approached 1 a.m.

Four public meetings � taking a cumulative 24 hours � later, the process is nearing the end.

�It�s been a grind,� said City Development Services Manager Pat Zenner. �We have reviewed a massive amount of work� during a �very elongated public hearing process.�

Another handful of zoning commission work sessions and public hearings are scheduled between now and Jan. 5, when the commission is expected to make a recommendation to the city council to approve or reject the zoning code revision.

FINDING BALANCE

Public involvement and interest in the zoning code review continues to intensify. The Columbia Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday unveiled its local agenda for city government for 2017. One of the seven priorities listed �the need for clear, consistent and equitable regulations for city staff to implement.� Chamber officials said the zoning code review was one aim of that priority and echoed criticism among developers, Realtors and banking officials who worry increased regulation on building and development could stymie growth.

Mayor Brian Treece said the revised zoning code, officially known as the Uniform Development Code, is an attempt to �strike that balance between flexibility and predictability� when it comes to applying regulations.

�Everybody wants clear and consistent rules to follow except when they don�t want to follow them,� Treece said, wondering how many interactions with city planning staff involve requests for exceptions � perhaps to the point that �the exception has become the rule.�

The city council on Nov. 21 approved extending a moratorium on downtown development until March 31 or until a new zoning code is adopted. City officials also still are waiting to receive zoning code review and recommendations from two city task forces that are weighing in on the rapid growth of high-rise student apartment buildings throughout downtown.

Meanwhile, a group of 23 property owners is seeking to downzone 37 parcels in the Benton-Stephens neighborhood from R-3, which allows multifamily housing, to R-1 zoning, which allows single-family housing, in an attempt to preserve the character of their neighborhood and thwart even more multifamily apartment complexes � and to take advantage of special neighborhood protection standards that could be part of the zoning code revision.

Those standards were the main focus of a lengthy and contentious Planning and Zoning Commission work session Thursday as commissioners struggled to find consensus on proposed regulations to protect the residential character of neighborhoods while also allowing property owners to redevelop properties they consider investments.

Zenner said the process to review the new zoning code might be �a little more painful� than some communities experience because Columbia�s code hasn�t been overhauled since 1964. He said the majority of the change is in how the code is structured as well as how properties and buildings can be used. Some portions of the proposed regulations seek to codify longstanding policy and practices.

�It�s been tweaked here and there and cobbled together� over the years, Zenner said. �I won�t diminish the fact that this is significant. There is a lot of change here. ... This impacts their livelihood, their property, their investments.�

A primary feature of the new zoning code is the move to downtown form-based zoning that incorporates a set of rules that focuses on guiding the way buildings are constructed rather than how they are used. That concept stemmed from the Columbia Imagined communitywide �visioning� process in 2008 that led to a new comprehensive plan for community growth and development two years later.

As a result, the city council awarded a $150,000 contract to Clarion and Associates and Ferrell Madden to help revise zoning and subdivision codes. Since May, the Planning and Zoning Commission has hosted nearly 30 public meetings to gather input on the new code.

A THOROUGH REVIEW

Commissioner Anthony Stanton has commended the large crowds that have attended and stayed through long meetings to offer opinions as the commission attempts to address �the gunslinger mentality of development downtown.�

While city staff insist the zoning revision process has been underway for at least a few years and that there have been multiple opportunities for public input, the current draft under review only has been available for a few months, said Heather Hargrove, co-chairwoman of the Columbia Chamber�s government affairs committee.

�We want to give it the attention it deserves to make sure it�s in its best form possible before being voted on,� Hargrove said. �There�s no doubt that it needs to be revisited. There�s no argument there.�

The six segments of the proposed zoning code cover myriad regulations, including general zoning provisions; subdivisions; parking and loading; tree preservation and landscaping; special rules for mixed-downtown development, or M-DT rules; a new table of permitted uses; the length of time required to develop a preliminary plat; rules for continuing nonconforming use of property; and neighborhood protection standards.

The Planning and Zoning Commission will meet Thursday to wrap up discussion on potential amendments to the segment pertaining to neighborhood protection standards. Commissioners also will receive a sheet from Zenner listing all of the proposed amendments to date.

The commission meets again Dec. 15 for a work session and special public hearing to receive additional comments on all segments and to make final recommendations for amendments. Zenner said the Jan. 5 meeting will be a work session and regular meeting � along with a final public hearing � leading to a final recommendation to the city council.

Developers, property owners, bankers and business leaders have assailed the zoning code revision on several fronts. Bankers have said some of the new regulations for downtown would make them reluctant to make loans for new projects. Developers have warned the new code would increase costs for builders and buyers � and thus discourage investment in the growing community.

Others have called many of the code�s provisions �an assault� on property rights and warned of the �unintended consequences� of higher costs and cumbersome rules prompting owners of smaller properties to sell their property to big developers.

Commissioner Tootie Burns has said more than once that she was not in favor of throwing out the proposed revision as some speakers suggested.

�There�s a lot of good in this document,� Burns said.

SEEKING STRICTER PROTECTIONS

Pat Fowler, a homeowner in the North-Central Arts District, has advocated for even stricter neighborhood protections. She said the north-central neighborhood was �the most mixed-use section in our city,� with single-family homes, churches, a brewery, lumber yard, funeral home, art gallery, railroad, child care centers and three homeless shelters.

Those building uses are �in scale� with each other and with the scattering of single-family homes and duplexes, unlike the Brookside apartments at College Avenue and Walnut Street that brought an influx of new residents � mostly students � to the area. Fowler said the character of the neighborhood changed dramatically in 2012 when the Brookside on College student apartments opened.

She referred to issues caused by �725 unsupervised young people� and said that only two homes on nearby Hubbell and St. Joseph streets currently are occupied by homeowners who were there when Brookside opened.

�We�re not making up worst-case scenarios,� she said. �They already exist.�

The neighborhood protection standards being considered would change the way property can be redeveloped into multifamily housing as well as commercial use. Realtor Paul Land recently presented the commission with a list of 50 commercial properties that adjoin R-1 and R-2, which allows for single-family or duplexes, single parcels. If the proposed neighborhood protection rules are adopted, the commercial properties would have to meet new property line setback, height and other restrictions to redevelop after a fire or similar disaster.

Land called the proposed changes �a recipe for disaster� and asked whether the proposed code is �really a better code than the one we have.� Land said what other developers and property owners have expressed: many homeowners moved to R-1 and R-2 properties knowing a commercial property was next door.

The downzoning request by Benton-Stephens property owners is unrelated to the ongoing zoning code review except for the additional protections that might come with a new zoning code. All the properties currently are zoned R-3, which allows for multifamily apartment complexes. R-1 would preserve those parcels as single-family lots.

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

Rita Fleischmann and her husband, Peter Norgard, spearheaded the group effort to rezone from R-3 to R-1. Fleischmann called it �a unified stand� to preserve the residential character of the neighborhood.

�We reject the recent and rapid trend towards throwaway housing that resembles nothing like the neighborhood Benton-Stephens is,� Norgard wrote in a letter to the city�s planning staff.

Benton-Stephens residents gathered Tuesday night for a public information meeting on their request in the lobby at City Hall. City planner Steve McIntyre said there�s precedent for downzoning, but not for upzoning from R-1 to R-3.

�It�s certainly a neighborhood preservation issue,� McIntyre said.

Jenny McDonald, who owns one of the lots seeking rezoning, said the neighborhood has �been hit pretty hard� by redevelopment of R-3 lots as multifamily buildings.

�Columbia doesn�t have that many old homes left. Some of us aren�t ready to give up,� McDonald said. �We�ve had a lousy culture of preservation � not a lot of incentive� from the city �to preserve things.�

The rezoning effort was too late to have an effect on a proposed six-plex, two-story townhome apartment development on Windsor Street between Ripley and Williams streets. Mark Stevenson, a partner in the townhome project and owner of other R-3 lots in the neighborhood, said he bought a number of properties �with future redevelopment in mind.�

�There are thousands of students who would like to live closer to their classrooms,� he said.

His wife, Carol, said R-3 zoning makes the property more valuable because of the multiple options for use.

�People do not realize they are losing property values,� she added.

Norgard said the rapid development of student housing was �alarming.�

�We bought into the neighborhood not to make money but to have a place to live,� he said. �The neighborhood wants to remain a neighborhood, not a college dormitory wasteland.�