The Doña Ana County Planning and Zoning Commission will host a series of public meetings beginning this week to solicit public input on the latest draft of the Viva Doña Ana Comprehensive Plan and the Unified Development Code (UDC).
Each meeting will be held at 9 a.m. on a Thursday in the Commission Chambers of the Doña Ana County Government Center. The meeting schedule is as follows:
June 11, 2015 – Work session and public input for the second draft of the Doña Ana County Comprehensive Plan
June 18, 2015 – Public hearing to recommend adoption of the Doña Ana County Comprehensive Planto the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners
June 25, 2015 – Work session and public input on the draft Unified Development Code
July 9, 2015 – Public hearing to recommend adoption of the Unified Development Code to the Doña Ana County Board of Commissioners
- Background
- One of the projects within the Viva Doña Ana planning initiative is a county-wide Unified Development Code (UDC) that will also be available to municipalities throughout the County for their use. This code is a single document that includes all development-related regulations such as zoning, subdivision, and development standards. It will reflect the diversity of the region including the rural environment, the many types of colonias, the post-1930’s suburban development, and the different scales of municipalities.
- Many are asking if this is a “green development” code, and the answer is both yes and no. There are no requirements for energy standards within the UDC, nor are there requirements to build compact, mixed use neighborhoods. All of the existing zoning districts currently in use will continue to exist. However many of the existing districts are combined to allow greater flexibility and simplicity. In addition, the existing Village districts are evolving into what is known as form-based districts, since they were originally developed to reflect the historic character of the villages throughout the County they are already based upon this model.
- Goal
- The primary goal of the new code is to update, simplify, and map zone as much of the County as is publically supported. The UDC is the tool that will be used to implement the vision established through the new Comprehensive Plan. There are many laborious, duplicative, and unclear processes within the current body of ordinances and a primary goal of this process is to simplify that complexity.
- It is not often that a jurisdiction has the opportunity to completely update its development regulations. Through the upcoming process, we need as many people from the development, builder, and professional communities to give input as possible. We need to know what currently isn’t working and any ideas you have for solving problems that currently exist.
- Form-Based Standards
- Conventional zoning regulates land development with the most emphasis on controlling land use. Form based zoning regulates land development with the most emphasis on controlling form and less emphasis on controlling land uses (although uses with negative impacts, such as heavy industry, adult businesses, etc. are still regulated). Urban form features regulated under form-based standards include the width of lots, size of blocks, building setbacks, building heights, placement of buildings on the lot, location of parking, etc.
- The Village standards are currently only available in areas that were platted prior to 1930. This has effectively served as a historic preservation code and is by nature form-based. However, with the limitation tied to historic plats, it has been unavailable in the rest of the County. The new code will make these standards that produced regionally beloved places like Mesilla, Doña Ana, and La Mesa available to new development as well.
- Walkable Neighborhoods
- One of the basic principles in the new UDC is that the towns and villages of Doña Ana County were historically structured as a series of walkable neighborhoods. Walkable neighborhoods require a mix of land uses (residential, office, and retail), public spaces with a sense of enclosure to create “outdoor rooms” like plazas, and multi-modal transportation design.
- Rural-Urban Character
- The form-based zones within the UDC are designed to create complete human habitats ranging from the very rural to the very urban. Where conventional zoning categories are based on different land uses, the Village zoning categories are based on the intensity of their character. All categories within the Village districts will allow some mix of uses.
- Conventional Standards
- The suburban standards of the current code will remain in place, with new names and some simplification. These standards will be available for zoning and subdivision requests of new property, as they are now.
Information from Doña Ana County