Consider how far we’ve come with the UDO: Eleven months and seven public drill-down meetings; pages and pages of resident comments submitted via Decatur Next; 22 hours of open house sessions in which residents came by, explored the draft-in-progress, asked questions of city staff, and provided comments; four Open City Hall exploratory topics; and finally, two recent evenings of city commission work sessions, in which they reviewed the latest (though incomplete, pending legal review of some items) version of the Unified Development Ordinance draft.

”Materials Download presentations from the commission work sessions here (20.3mb .pdf, includes both nights), and the incomplete draft version of the code they reviewed (v.02, 19.6mb .pdf) here (Completed draft due for release by October 6).

Put it all together and what emerges are the details for how we’ll wrap up the process. Here’s what to expect:

1. The city commission made a few things explicit in their review sessions: There will be no changes to the base development standards (setbacks, lot coverage, FAR, building heights, etc.) in R60 or R85; and there will be no changes to the zoning map associated with the UDO’s adoption.Whatever your zoning is today, it will remain so following this process.
2. Should High Performance (Green) building standards remain part of the adopted ordinance, they will be delayed until 9 months following the effective date of the UDO.
3. Another draft (Version.03), incorporating all input from the city commission and city attorney, will be released by Monday, October 6, and will be reviewed in another commission work session that evening.
4. See this post for remaining dates.

That’s the latest. Stay tuned for specific meeting times and thanks, everyone, for the time you’ve invested. It’s been hugely helpful.