What Happened?
Conventional zoning limits municipalities’ ability to modernize communities demanding increased walkability, mixed-use construction and improved resource management. As a result, innovative forms of zoning have arisen that adjust regulations to meet the evolving needs of the community, such as performance-based zoning.
The Goal
The Atlantic’s CityLab recently investigated performance-based zoning strategies taking shape in California’s Bay Area. In Fremont, for example, the city is developing a new public transit station and hope to build around the stop to better accommodate a vehicle-less population. Rather than set strict guidelines for how the space can be used, officials are starting the project by setting specific goals:
- Number of new jobs created
- Number of new and affordable homes built
- Strict standards for a low carbon footprint
If these aspirations are met, the space can be built however developers see fit. Basically, the government defines the ends of each new project, and developers determine what means will best meet them. This creates less oversight of the development process but more control over the impact of the end product. Building off the establishment of green building standards from LEED, new developments are judged by their performance rather than specific use categories.
Hybrids
According to the Municipal Research and Services Center, many aspects of pure performance zoning are being incorporated into local zoning practices, creating hybrid approaches that establish some basic zones and use performance standards to address compatibility issues. Officials are able to use performance standards to limit undesirable impacts of new developments while allowing a greater mix of uses in the community. These hybrid systems are more flexible than traditional zoning while preserving some of the predictability of more conventional zoning.
New Zoning in Havana
Havana, Florida, saw a need for modernizing zoning practices once its tobacco industries declined and a local railway was abandoned. The city started to accommodate more small businesses and companies in the tech industry. The city was able to rebuild its economic image by adopting a performance-based zoning ordinance to effectively nurture new developments, the Havana Town Manager Susan Freiden reported.
Havana’s performance-based zoning approach eliminated the need for rezoning and public hearings during development. The system created levels of performance for projects to achieve, and standards each land use must meet. Because there are less restrictions on how the land can be used, and more emphasis on the performance of the final product, the Havana community now enjoys:
- Less involvement of local government to handle land use disputes
- Reduced time it takes to approve, start and complete a development project
- Boost in economic development by taking out unnecessary formalities and procedures
- Cut in citizen complaints over disagreeable zoning restrictions
Why Zoning Matters
According to the EPA, modernizing zoning practices is a vital component to smart growth in cities. The federal agency argues local governments face a plethora of barriers in the way of smart, sustainable growth that can be overcome with new strategies such performance-based zoning.
Zoning In On Growth
Gov1 has reported on several new zoning strategies that address a variety of community concerns such as aging populations.