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As a first step, the team will review background ordinances, plans, and related materials to prepare for initial meetings in October 2018 with Town staff, decision-making bodies, a to-be-assembled Special Project Committee, and other community stakeholders. These meetings will help shed light on how well current regulations are working and how they can be improved moving forward. The project team will tour Addison with Town staff to see how key land use issues are playing out in practice.

The project team will review and evaluate the current zoning, subdivision, and sign regulations in detail. The team will prepare a report that outlines the major issues to be addressed in the update project, based on the team’s independent review and also stakeholder feedback. The assessment will incorporate potential new approaches for Addison based on national and local best practices. An annotated outline will be prepared showing how a revised, unified ordinance could be organized, and serving as a roadmap for the remainder of the project.

Phase 1: Zoning Districts & Uses

This phase will update the zoning districts, including dimensional standards (building setbacks, height standards, lot coverage, etc.), and land uses allowed by right or by review in each district. This material will reflect the Town of Addison Comprehensive Land Use Plan and other area-specific planning efforts.

Phase 2: Development & Design Standards

This phase will include standards that address the look and feel of new development and redevelopment, such as landscaping, parking, connectivity, building design, and drainage.

Phase 3: Administration & Procedures

This phase will address all review and approval procedures in Addison related to land use and development, along with enforcement procedures, and rules for nonconformities. Existing procedures will be reviewed and updated accordingly to promote efficient and predictable decision-making.

Phase 4: Signs

This phase will update the Town’s sign regulations. Recent court decisions have prompted communities across the nation to re-evaluate their sign laws to ensure they are content-neutral.

After all four phases have been drafted and reviewed by staff, stakeholders, and the general public, the team will revise and stitch together the individual phases into a single Consolidated Draft, which will undergo another round of meetings and review.

After receiving input on the Consolidated Draft, the project team will create a final Adoption Draft UDC that will be considered for recommendation by the Planning and Zoning Commission and approval by the City Council.

As a companion guide to the new UDC, the team will prepare an Executive Summary that describes the project, compares the existing and proposed ordinances and summarizes all major changes. This material will be presented by the project team during a series of public hearings to inform and educate decision-making bodies and to solicit additional public input