The purpose of this agenda item is to provide a general overview of the draft changes to the City’s zoning use classifications and parking requirements, which are housed in the Development Code Chapter 2 – Zoning Regulations and receive City Council consensus prior to bringing the changes forward for consideration and action.

Overall, the purpose of the changes is to modernize and clarify the application of the zoning use classifications and parking requirements while better protecting the existing quality of life for Sugar Land residents. 

On November 13, 2018, the Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended approval of the draft changes, and - pending feedback from the City Council tonight - staff will bring forward the first reading of Ordinance No. 2149 in February for City Council’s consideration to adopt the changes to the Development Code.

Background

The Development Code is the official document that ensures safe, orderly, and efficient development throughout the City, in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan, by providing for the public health, safety and general welfare of citizens. The Development Code provides the basis for the review of projects submitted by a property owner wanting to alter or develop property within the City of Sugar Land. Components of the Development Code include zoning, sign, subdivision, building, airport zoning, and flood damage reduction regulations.

In a continual effort to ensure the City’s development regulations meet the needs of its residents and businesses, this update to the zoning use classifications and parking requirements is being proposed. Although City Council has periodically adopted targeted amendments to the Code, in 2013, staff began the first comprehensive review since the Development Code’s original adoption in 1997. In 2015, City Council adopted Phase 1 of this Development Code Update.

This update ensures the City's zoning regulations will continue to protect residents’ quality of life. These recommended changes will not remove protections currently in place, do not change the character of our existing zoning districts or City, nor do they remove safeguards that are currently in place. Rather, they enhance the quality of life for residents and businesses by permitting additional compatible uses, placing additional restrictions and regulations on certain uses, and continuing to protect single-family residential neighborhoods from undesirable encroachment. No changes to the existing restrictions on multi-family / apartment development are included or recommended.

Summary of Draft Changes

The draft changes to the zoning use classifications and parking requirements constitute Phase 2-A of the Development Code Update project. City staff has spent the last three years examining the existing Code, evaluating established businesses in the community, and reviewing best management practices. Additionally, staff hired a consultant to assist with the conversion of the permitted uses table and evaluate best management practices by benchmarking other cities. The recommendations being presented are based on this work. Phase 2-A of the Development Code Update focuses primarily on Chapter 2, Zoning Regulations, and seeks to achieve the following goals:

1. Modernize the zoning use classification tables by replacing the current use classification matrix (which is based on the 1987 SIC economic-based system) with a land use based system which considers land use impacts;

2. Consolidate parking requirements and other regulations which are currently dispersed throughout the Code into the zoning use classification tables for ease of use;

3. Formalize and codify commonly placed restrictions and conditions; and

4. Revise permitted and conditional uses and parking requirements based on experiences in applying the Code for over 20 years, including for example:

• Better categorizing uses so that it is clear to residents, business owners, and the development community which uses are permitted in each zoning district;

• Within commercial zoning districts, clarifying permitted and conditional uses where they are in character with and similar to other uses in each district;

• Better reflecting parking demand in the parking requirements to ensure uses are neither under - nor over-parked;

• Basing parking requirements on constant definitive measurement units (i.e. square footage of a building) rather than on undependable units that can change over time (i.e. number of employees). 

In addition to the goals listed above, this update also includes changes to other sections of the Development Code for consistency with the changes to the zoning use classification and parking tables (Sec. 2-71 and Sec. 2-91). This includes changes to Chapter 1, additional sections in Chapter 2, Chapter 9, and Chapter 10.

Planning and Zoning Commission Review

The Planning and Zoning Commission held a workshop at each of their five meetings from August 14 through October 9, 2018, to review the draft zoning use classification and parking tables changes and changes to the other Development Code sections. Overall, the Commission concurred with staff’s recommended changes. The Commission asked staff to modify or look further into a few items, including for example: evaluate the parking recommendation for Places of Worship; consider permitting Golf Courses in the BR (Brazos River Conservation) district; and correcting a few typos in the use definitions. A "Summary of P&Z Feedback" can be found on the project webpage at www.sugarlandtx.gov/DevCodeUpdate. This document summarizes the Commission's comments and recommendations, as well as staff's responses. The Commission held a public hearing on October 25, where one resident spoke on matters unrelated to the draft Code changes. On November 13, the Commission unanimously recommended approval of the draft changes.

Public Input

Throughout Planning and Zoning Commission review, staff has carried out an extensive public information campaign to educate the public about the draft changes to the Development Code and the process for the update. This information campaign included:

• A project webpage, which was regularly updated;
• Several social media posts on multiple platforms (Facebook, Instagram, NextDoor, Twitter);
• Multiple emails to Sugar Land’s primary employers, active developers, and retail landlords;
• Development of and posting an educational video; and
• An Online Town Hall, posted from August 16 to October 16.

As a result of this public outreach:

• Numerous people visited the project webpage. This was the best way of reaching people – there were over 1,000 visits to the homepage, with almost 900 of them being unique page views;
• Two residents inquired about the draft Code changes. Both residents sought to better understand the breadth of the Code changes. Staff directed these residents to the extensive information posted on the project webpage and did not receive further contact;
• Two commercial developers / owners provided positive feedback on the draft changes;
• Three residents commented on the Online Town Hall, all three of which were not directly related to the draft changes;
• One resident spoke during three P&Z meetings, including the public hearing on October 25, primarily on topics unrelated to the draft changes; and
• Multiple people commented on these social media platforms, however, the comments were not directly related to the draft Code changes nor did anyone express concerns about the draft Code changes.

Educational Materials

The project webpage – www.sugarlandtx.gov/DevCodeUpdate - contains a great deal of information related to the draft Development Code updates, including:

• Links to P&Z meeting videos and PowerPoint presentations;
• Summary of P&Z Feedback;
• Draft Residential Districts Permitted Uses and Parking Schedule (with P&Z changes);
• Draft Nonresidential Districts Permitted Uses and Parking Schedule (with P&Z Changes);
• Summary of Additional Development Code Changes;
• Redline of Additional Development Code Changes; and
• Links to relevant existing Code sections.

Due to the nature of the changes being recommended for the permitted uses and parking schedules, a “redline” version of the Code would not be an effective tool for demonstrating the changes being proposed. Therefore, staff also provided two tools to help show the changes from the existing permitted uses tables to the draft tables. A description of each of the tools is included below:

• Equivalency Table - This table is used to see how existing uses are converted to new uses. Existing uses are listed by SIC number and the equivalent New Uses are listed next to the Existing Uses.

• Comparison Table – This table is used to determine how a New Use would have been classified under the SIC classification system. New Uses are listed in alphabetical order by major grouping (i.e. Institutional, Office), and Old Uses are listed next to them. Additionally, this table compares where the “Old” use was permitted and where the “New” uses is permitted, by zoning district. Finally, the Comparison Table compares the previous parking requirements with the New parking requirements.

Workshop

As stated above, the purpose of this workshop is to provide a general overview of the draft changes to the City’s zoning use classifications and parking requirements, which are housed in the Development Code Chapter 2 – Zoning Regulations and receive City Council consensus prior to bringing the changes forward for consideration and action.