Just two Columbia residents voiced concerns Monday night over parts of the proposed Unified Development Code.
Tim Ironwood spoke against the development of multi-residential property, saying he wants to preserve the character of the Benton-Stevens area in particular.
Property manager Tim Waid warned the council that one part of the proposed code would take power away from R-3 homeowners. Waid argued this would happen by allowing the City Council to override certain zoning laws by the East Campus Majority Housing Association called an overlay.
“That is not how the law was written. That’s not how our group came together,” Waid said. “We believe that we, the neighborhood, have the power to dictate and tell ourselves how our overlay should be created.”
The Unified Development Code would be the most comprehensive replacement of zoning law in the city since the code was amended in 1964. The code is also intended to be more user-friendly by streamlining the code and using more images and graphs. The Planning and Zoning Commission incorporated 150 public comments into the language of the proposed code.
The construction of several high-density student complexes downtown angered some local residents and has increased pressure for zoning reform in Columbia. The zoning for many of those buildings, called C-2 zoning, was originally intended to pave the way for the creation of a few residences above retail establishments.