The Denver Daily News reported on May 24 (emphasis added):
After five years of what at times has been an excruciating process to update the city’s more than five-decade-old zoning code, the City Council tonight will finally introduce the new code on first reading, paving the way for an extensive public comment period…
The new code focuses on three areas: taking a context-based approach that organizes neighborhoods by their unique characteristics; a form-based approach that translates written language into graphics and tables; and organizing the overall language to simplify the code, such as placing all procedures and definitions into specific sections…
The new proposal also organizes districts by their contexts: suburban, urban edge, urban, urban center and general urban. Other contexts considered are downtown neighborhood and special contexts that need to be treated differently due to the unique nature of the zone districts.
The proposal is also form-based by translating zoning information into simple diagrams and graphics. And planners have proposed allowing for building on smaller lots, which they say will encourage smaller houses that will increase affordable housing options throughout the city…
Neighborhood groups appreciate the focus on stabilizing Denver’s stable neighborhoods, including maintaining the character of the neighborhoods…
See also:
Denver: Neighborhood Types at a Glance
Seeing Like a State: Planning Gone Awry in the 20th Century
Take small steps. In an experimental approach to social change, presume that we cannot know the consequences of our interventions in advance. Given this postulate of ignorance, prefer wherever possible to take a small step, stand back, observe, and then plan the next small move…
Grasping the Sustainable Northampton Vision: We Need Pictures
James Kunstler: “Traditional town planning produces pictorial codes that any normal citizen can comprehend. This is democratic and ethical as well as practical. It elevates the quality of the public discussion about development. People can see what they’re talking about. Such codes show a desired outcome at the same time that they depict formal specifications. They’re much more useful than the reams of balderdash found in zoning codes.”
Video and Slides: Joel Russell Presents Form-Based Zoning
Joel Russell’s Introduction to Form-Based Zoning, as Presented to the Northampton Design Forum, 1/26/10 (PDF, 10MB)
Video: Zoning Revisions Discusses Making Core Urban Neighborhoods More “Conforming”, More Dense (4/22/10)
Zoning Revisions Committee Releases Synthesis of Comments from March 17 Forum
Case Study: Brooklyn Neighborhood Rezones to Combat Out-of-Scale Development
Special Bay Ridge District Rezoning: Proposed Zoning (as approved)
The rezoning proposal seeks to:
- Preserve neighborhood scale and character by rezoning to lower density and contextual districts and further fine-tuning those districts to reflect the context of midblocks with a detached character, those with both detached and semi-detached building types, and the blocks lined predominantly with limestone rowhouses;
Scrape-Off Redevelopments Provoke Backlash in Denver Neighborhoods
Our Ad in the May 6 Gazette: “How to Avoid Classic Infill Design Mistakes”
Knoxville Infill Housing Design Guidelines: Lessons from Experience
Portland Infill Design Strategies: Best Practices for Context-Sensitive Infill Design