As city heads into comprehensive plan process, new zoning law concept could be part of the discussion

The City of Batavia is just beginning what will be a nearly two-year process to review and rewrite its comprehensive plan, and one topic of discussion that will certainly come up is whether -- or to what degree -- should the city adopt what's known as "form-based codes."

Form-based codes move community planning and development away from complex regulatory zoning codes and into a planning document that sets the parameters of what a community wants to be. A community is still divided into zones -- commercial, residential, industrial, for example -- but the form-based code sets the vision for the kind of structures that should be encouraged and what the outcome of new construction or remodeling should be.

An increasing number of communities throughout the United States are going to a form-based code process and Felipe A. Oltramari, director of planning for Genesee County, and Derik Kane, a senior planner with the county, presented a seminar Wednesday night for a handful of community planners on form-based codes.

City Manager Jason Molino attended, as did Matt Gray, a member of the city's Planning Board.

"This is one direction we could go in," Molino said. "It may not be, but that's a discussion you need to have to see if there is a consensus in the community."

The comprehensive plan process is built around the idea of gathering input and feedback from members of the community who care enough and engage enough to ensure their voices are heard. Consultants will be hired -- the city has a $100,000 budget for the comprehensive plan process -- and many meetings will be held, where views and visions will be aired.

The city's current comprehensive plan was drafted in 1997. The city is currently collecting bids from consultants to help with drafting a new plan. Soon, the planning board will review those bids and make a recommendation to the City Council. Meetings, hearings and reviews will begin once the contract is awarded.

Molino expects the city will hear concerns about how difficult the current planning process is. It's already a common complaint, that it's too hard to develop either commercial or residential real estate, that the regulatory process is cumbersome, arbitrary and too much is left open to interpretation.

Form-based codes are designed to fix those issues, which are so common to traditional zoning regulations.

Gray, owner of Alex's Restaurant as well as three restaurants in Raleigh, N.C., has some experience dealing with Byzantine planning methods. He's also been on the other side now for a few months, trying to make decisions about development applications.

"Form-based codes will help developers and the inspection department administer new building," Gray said. "From that angle, I think it will facilitate a much quicker and better-understood design. Period."

One outcome that has been consistent for communities that have implemented form-based codes is developers are more attracted to those communities. It's economically beneficial for them to build where the planning process is clear, concise and simplified. 

A form-based code could help increase interest in the city's Brownfield Opportunity Area sites, all of which are already drawing some degree of developer interest, Molino said.

"Everything we've done and tried to begin (regarding) redevelopment of the BOA sites is about making it easier for the developer to come in and start redevelopment," Molino said. "This may dovetail right into that. This may be our perfect transition into what else we can do."

Form-based codes are a favorite planning tool of new urbanism's acolytes.

New urbanism promotes more mixed-use communities with a density of structures that is less car-oriented and tailored more toward pedestrians and bicyclists.

A form-based code does not necessarily have to lead to a community vision that follows the goals of new urbanism, but it can help in that process.

A key concept of form-based codes is something called the "transect," a word borrowed from the world of natural environment planning. A transect is a gradient between the lowest land -- sea level, up to the mountains, and all of the changes in environment and microenvironments in between. 

In a form-based code environment that takes on a large geographical area, a transect is planned between the very rural to the very urban.

The idea is to find the right form base for each point on the continuum of the transect. Those zoning areas are written into the code, based on what the community wants. The process that uncovers these wants, dreams and desires and concerns is known as the charrette.

Gray thinks a form-based code could help the City of Batavia.

He's seen firsthand what sprawl does to a community, which is why he and his family returned to his hometown after living in Raleigh for a while.

"We couldn't take the commute anymore," Gray said. "It took 40 minutes to get to work and it really wasn't that far."

If a form-based code implemented along new urbanism's lines helps spur greater commercial and residential development Downtown, that could help alleviate the traffic congestion building up on the west side of the town, Gray said.

Whether Batavia adopts a form-based code, either for the whole city, or just a portion, such as Downtown, will really be up to the community members who participate in the comprehensive plan process, Molino said.

As it proceeds, there may be no demand for form-based code, or people may decide that the current code is good enough even as complicated as it is, or perhaps some new idea pops out.

"A form-based code isn't the only option," Molino said.