Fairness or flexibility? Wright City debates direction for zoning regs

Adam Rollins, Staff Writer
Posted 12/21/21

A proposal to adjust Wright City’s zoning rules last Thursday became a debate over the principles of “rigid” fairness or “subjective” flexibility in local …

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Fairness or flexibility? Wright City debates direction for zoning regs

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A proposal to adjust Wright City’s zoning rules last Thursday became a debate over the principles of “rigid” fairness or “subjective” flexibility in local government.

At issue was a revision to the city’s rules for special zones called “planned development areas,” where builders have greater flexibility to mix different types of property uses and lot layouts to make best use of the landscape and provide features that serve a whole area. Despite the goal of flexibility, members of the Wright City Board of Aldermen on Dec. 9 debated whether the rules were still too rigid or cause undue hassle for builders.

Alderman Ramiz Hakim pointed to several requirements in the rules for planned development areas that he said were too specific, such as certain setback distances or needing 15 percent of total land area set aside as common ground. Hakim proposed that such numbers shouldn’t be strictly required, and should instead be adjusted to best meet the needs of individual projects.

“As a city, if we want to be more attractive, we want to make it easier to build homes here, not more difficult,” Hakim commented. “The less regulations we put on it, it allows for more flexibility.”

But Mayor Michelle Heiliger countered with the concern that making the rules looser and open to negotiation would introduce the risk of city officials making arbitrary decisions or showing favoritism.

“I agree we want to be attractive and be willing to work (with developers), but we have to have a standard. We can’t just say we’re not going to have any specific standards because we want to be flexible,” Heiliger said. “Because then what happens is you’re doing one thing for one guy, and you’re not doing it for somebody else.”

City Attorney Paul Rost pointed out that the city’s zoning ordinance does allow aldermen to modify zoning requirements when it’s reasonable to do so. However, he said city leaders would be wise to have default rules.

“You don’t want to approve planned development areas on a site-by-site (assessment). ... Because if you’re ‘not feeling it’, or you just don’t like the person who’s asking for it, then that’s going to get you in trouble,” Rost said. “You have to be consistent in how you approve these things. Everybody gets the same breaks as everybody else.”

Hakim also noted that the process to create a planned development area starts with the appointed city administrator, and that elected officials don’t get directly involved until much later. Hakim said he prefers to have the mayor involved right away, so that an unelected person can’t act as a gatekeeper to block projects.

City Administrator Jim Schuchmann acknowledged the concern, but said he doesn’t have any power to approve or deny projects. He said his only role is to ensure developers have submitted all the plans and information that’s required by city ordinance, and to give them advice about the elected government’s vision for development.

And, Schuchmann added, having one person who is readily available to meet with developers adds expedience to the start of a project, while taking time to set up meetings with elected officials can cause delays. The administrator said it’s his practice to immediately inform the mayor and at least one aldermen when a new project is discussed.

Representatives of two area development firms agreed that they like having a dedicated city staff member to contact at the start of a project.

“When I have a developer approach me on a property, my first call is to the planning and zoning director, which in Wright City would be (the administrator),” said a representative of Bax Engineering. “He gives you the do’s and don’ts and whether or not you’re following code, and he gives you advice on how you should approach the city (board). Then, in the meantime, we would sit down with aldermen ... and get feedback, then make a formal submittal.”

Aldermen eventually agreed to pass the rule changes for planned development areas, “rigid” rules and all, with an agreement to revisit elected official participation and other adjustments at a future meeting. The rules were approved by a 3-0 vote, with Hakim abstaining.

Wright City Board of Aldermen, Planning and Zoning

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