Bloomington City Council OKs New Zoning Regulations

In a unanimous vote at their Dec. 18 meeting, the Bloomington City Council approved the new Unified Development Ordinance (UDO), a major step in the nearly 2-year process to update the city's zoning code.

The UDO, as amended by the Council, will be reviewed by the city's Plan Commission at their next meeting on Jan. 13.

The Plan Commission will also be responsible for recommending a map that will convert the current zoning districts to new ones that align with terminology used in the new UDO. As an example, the current Residential Core (RC) district will be renamed Residential Small Lot (R3). In addition, some new zoning districts, including Residential Urban (R4) and Mixed-Using Student Housing (MS), will need to be added to the map.

A few highlights of the new UDO:

• The option of a payment-in-lieu of building affordable housing is eliminated for planned unit developments (PUDs). However, for other types of development, payment-in-lieu is still allowed. The new UDO clarifies that a timeline should be set for implementation of payment-in-lieu definitions and procedures, and that these procedures should be publicly available.
• Duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes are prohibited in core residential neighborhoods, but are allowed in other residential zones.
• Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are allowed as a by-right use, rather than a conditional use.
• Signs protruding from downtown storefronts will be allowed.

Click here for more information about the Council's UDO changes.

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