Last night, the Decatur City Commission approved all 8 zoning ordinance changes.

Here they are, with the votes in parenthesis – C2 next to R60 transitional standards (4-1, Commissioner Boykin dissented), Standards for downtown multiple dwellings (4-1, Commissioner Boykin dissented), Parking ordinance changes (5-0), “Special pedestrian area” expansion (5-0), Accessory dwelling units (5-0), Home based businesses (5-0), Light manufacturing (5-0) and Gardens and Livestock (5-0).

This has been a long and very involved process.  Thanks to all Decatur residents who served on the Zoning Task Force for all their hardwork.

I hope the Decatur City Commission members eat Wheaties before tonight’s meeting.  (Sorry, the organic equivalent to Wheaties!)

Tonight, the commission holds another work session at 6:30p regarding a potential wide-scale annexation and then will take up approving/denying the zoning changes recommended by the Zoning Task Force to a pile of things such as parking, accessory dwellings, urban gardening, etc etc.  Aren’t you tired just reading about this?

If not, and you love a good Powerpoint presentation with maps and setback mockups, I suggest you click HERE and check out this rather succinct wrap up of the zoning changes.

As for annexation, no new news yet, but the agenda does reference a “report” that I’ve asked about and whether it’s been updated since the last meeting.   The commission is still scheduled to vote on a potential annexation on December 17th, while the school board will vote on their recommendation next Tuesday, December 11th.

If that wasn’t enough, the commission is also scheduled to vote on budgeting the temporary move of the Police Department (to 250 East Ponce – you can read more about that HERE) and Municipal Court (to the Callaway building) while renovations are made to the Beacon Hill complex.    If approved, Deputy City Manager Hugh Saxon’s letter states a move-in date to these temporary locations of late January/early February.

Rendering above showing “30’ minimum setback between facing commercial and residential properties, measured from the residential property line” courtesy of the ZTF presentation

Ok.  Let’s take the Zoning Ordinance Update Task Force’s recommendations one-by-one.  Hopefully we’ll get through them all by the time of the city commission meeting next week!

First up, a long-time favorite topic among DMers – parking!  Decatur’s parking ordinance has long been criticized as outdated and many simply would point to the numerous parking exemptions the Zoning Board of Appeals has had to make the past few years as proof.

Proponents on either side of various parking battles continued to state that ultimately updated parking standards were necessary.   For years the city asked for patience, as the 2010 Strategic Plan was created followed by the Zoning Task Force to tackle the issue and provide the recommendations.  Now, they’re finally here.  I give you the proposed updates to Decatur’s parking standards.

Here’s my attempt at a summary of the changes.  Let me know what I’ve missed by scouring the detailed docs on the city’s website.

Grandfatherd Parking

• Currently allowed – New uses and all expansion of existing buildings are required to meet the current parking regulations.
• Recommendation – Allow uses of a building to change or an expansion up to 10% without being required to meet current parking regulations.

Mins and Maxs

• Currently allowed – Retail – 1 space per 200 square feet, Restaurant – 1 space per 100 square feet, Office – 1 space per 400 suqare feet, Bowling Alleys – 5 spaces per alley, fraternity and sorority houses – 1 space per bed, and so on…
• Recommendation – 1 minimum requirement (1 parking space per 500 square feet) and 1 maximum requirement (1 parking space per 200 square feet) for ALL commercial uses.  1 minimum (1 parking space) and 1 maximum (2 parking spaces) per dwelling unit.  Also, shared parking shall count towards required spaces.

Shared Parking

• Currently allowed – 50% of parking can be “shared” within 300 feet.
• Recommendation – 80% of parking can be shared within 1,320 feet and 50% can be shared for residential within 300 feet.  Off-site shared parking must have “complementary uses and operating hours” and must be zoned commercial or institutional.

Decatur Planning Director Amanda Thompson sends in this announcement…

After over a year of study and deliberation the Zoning Ordinance Update Task Force (ZTF) will be presenting their final recommendations for consideration to the Planning Commission on Tuesday, November 27, 2012 at 5:30 p.m. and to the City Commission on Monday, December 3, 2012 at 7:30 pm. The proposed recommendations can be found at http://www.decaturga.com/index.aspx?page=641

Based on the direction of the 2010 Strategic Plan the proposed recommendations encourage community gardens, allow for shared parking in commercial areas, update regulations dealing with accessory dwellings and provide new standards for transitions between residential and commercial properties.

Thank you for your past participation on Open City Hall and at the public meetings held throughout this year. The task force members encourage you to attend these final hearings to share your thoughts and if you have written comments please email them to 

We’ll likely go into more detail on these recommendations in the coming days, but for now I thought everyone would like to know the info was available for their perusal and/or intense analysis.

Still have lots to say about Decatur’s potential zoning changes and can’t make any upcoming commission meetings?  I hope you took today and/or tomorrow off from work!

Until 2pm tomorrow you can provide feedback on seven different changes the Zoning Ordinance Update Task Force is looking for feedback about on the Open City Hall website.

Here’s a list of the seven proposed changes.  Click through to read through more detail and to provide your opinion.

• Home Businesses – Should the City modify the current home based business definition and standards as proposed?
• Downtown Parking – Which distance do you think would work best to allow businesses in downtown Decatur to secure parking for its customers and employees?
• Design Standards- Do you believe these standards provide a reasonable transition between downtown commercial properties and single family homes? If not, how would you add to or revise them?
• Accessory Structures – Which option do you think will work best for Decatur – Option A or Option B?
• Urban Gardens – Should the City adopt the following definitions of gardens? Should the City allow the below gardens in the following zoning districts?
• Light Manufacturing – Should the City adopt the proposed changes?
• Pedestrian Area Expansion – Should the City extend the current special pedestrian area as shown on the map?