pf09-033 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

"The SEH team, especialiy Bob Kost and Mike Darrow, have brought enthusiasm, straight talk and insightful proposals to the table as the City of Mason City works to rewrite a 25-year-old set of development regulations. We asked them to provide us a new code that would reflect the latest thinking in form-based and `smart' codes and the goals found in the community's new comprehensive plan. We are seeing the emergence of a user- friendly, graphically illustrated document that has reduced 22 separate zoning districts to 6 new "Z" districts. Who knew zoning could be this fun?" � �, ._, �,i� �_ i;�� llit�•� ��i ( ii�., ?� ,.:� / � SEH . Community Involvement Zoning is one of the most critical determinants of the built environment. Our approach to public involvement focuses on educating the public and stakeholders so that they understand the strengths and weaknesses of the existing code as a basis for comparison to the proposed changes. Planning staff, applicants, commissioners, elected officials and other stakeholders should have the opportunity to understand the intent of specific sections of the ordinance. The participation process should also include opportunities to make meaningful choices that will help to shape the final product. Options for citizens can range from being informed through newsletters and newspaper articles to attending public meetings to completing a survey or e-mailing questions or comments to City staff. Our team is prepared to engage the public through "information blasts" e-newsletters, posters and/or a guest lecture series that could be posted on the City's website for later viewing. In addition to the project website, information blasts and updates, SEH will also make information related to the Roseville Zoning Update available on the social networking site of Facebook and Tweeter. We have found that these two methods are a uniqiie way of keeping people inforrned about the process. Finally, we will conduct a total of fourteen (14) stakeholder meetings with City Council rnember and Planning Commissioners at the beginning of the process as well as at the end of the process. By updating City Council and Planning Commissioners at the beginning and end of the process on specific zoning issues and new arnendments, we have found that the amendment. process is much easier to gain political support. Our Approach To ensure that this process is conducted in a timely fashion and within budget we will rely on the City's planning staff to be instrumental in our efforts. Our combined partnership will occizr througtiout t.he process with information sharing, combined project workloads, technical meetings held at our downtown office and shared community engagement activities. This combined effort and utilization is the only way to ensure that this project stays on schedule and within budget. Based on our discussion with your staff, we envision that City staff will provide updates related to the administration aspects of the ordinance. Our role will be to quickly establish the most appropriate type of code (Form-Based, Smart Gode or Form and Function). The type of approach will be determined based upon a completed RFP and fixrt.her discussions with staff. our approach to roseville � Fage 3 •