City holding public hearing Tuesday on zoning rewrite

Apr. 20—The long-awaited zoning and land-use ordinance proposal will finally be available for review, comments and questions at a 5:30 p.m. public meeting Tuesday at Decatur City Hall.

City Director of Development Dane Shaw said the ordinance with zoning and land-use maps will be available for public review.

Shaw said Planning and Building department officials will be on hand to answer questions. They want the public to submit written comments at the meeting, so there will be comment sheets available.

The city started working on a new zoning ordinance after approval of the One Decatur comprehensive plan in 2018.

The City Council hired consultant Clarion Associates, of North Carolina, that year to lead the rewrite for $195,000. Multiple issues delayed the effort, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Planning Department personnel changes.

Decatur still operates under an ordinance created in the early 1950s that includes regulations on where slaughterhouses and ice plants can be in the city. While many of the regulations have changed with the times, rules governing those defunct operations remain on the books.

Planning Commission chairman Kent Lawrence said there are major changes included in the zoning rewrite that will be of interest to Decatur residents, although new regulations on short-term rentals aren't in the proposed zoning and land-use ordinance.

"That (short-term rentals) will come later," he said.

However, Lawrence said the new zoning ordinance will regulate accessory, or detached, structures. This includes not allowing short-term rentals in detached buildings.

Lawrence said the ordinance would also regulate the size of accessory structures, which has been an issue in the city.

"Right now, there's no regulation of size," he said.

The accessory structure regulations are intended to deal with situations such as one in 2017.

That year, a Southwest Decatur resident built a roughly 20-foot-tall metal storage building in his backyard behind his home. At the time, home values in his neighborhood were over $250,000.

The homeowner's neighbors complained, but he refused to remove the building. They went to the city, but city officials couldn't remove the building because it met 5-foot setback requirements.

The proposed zoning ordinance also makes changes for parking lots, including the number of parking spots required based on the size of the business, Lawrence said.

He said another regulation in the proposed new ordinance would prevent residents from using their front yards for parking their vehicles.

The ordinance also regulates how wide a driveway and paved parking area can be in a yard, he said.

The proposed ordinance includes changes to the sign regulations, which have been controversial since they were adopted in 2002. Setbacks on signs would also change, Lawrence said.

Shaw added that the ordinance also gives the city's director of development the discretion to disallow a sign "if it just doesn't work for safety." He said there must be a "visibility triangle" in which the sign doesn't block a driver's views from different directions.

Shaw said a new zoning map is part of the proposed ordinance. This map cleans up many of the city's zones, he said.

For example, Shaw said there are some residential zones with light industrial areas still in them even though these areas no longer include industries.

Shaw said the city will accept written comments at the meeting and for the following two weeks on the city's website. City officials and Clarion will then review the comments for possible changes.

"If nothing major happens, we plan to present the zoning rewrite to the Planning Commission at its May 21 meeting," Shaw said.

Shaw said the plan is for the proposed zoning ordinance to then move to the City Council in June. An ordinance must be presented for two readings and a public hearing before the City Council votes on whether to give it final approval.

— bayne.hughes@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2432