Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
A rewrite of Shawano’s zoning code will go before a joint meeting of the Plan Commission and Common Council next week, ahead of an open house for the public the week after.
The new code would put a premium on landscaping for any new development proposed in the city and would toss the “legal nonconforming” designation for properties that don’t fit in with the zoning in their neighborhoods.
One of the flaws in the city’s existing code, according to city officials, are a number of areas where existing property uses don’t match their zoning. In particular, two large areas near the downtown are zoned two-family residential but consist mostly of single-family homes.
Those areas would be mostly rezoned single-family under the new code.
“There was a concern about the number of homes in this area that were being converted to rental properties,” City Administrator Brian Knapp said.
Multi-family already in that zoning would remain and would be considered legally conforming, but no new multi-family properties would be allowed in that zoning.
Knapp said there is no specific number or percentage, but many properties in Shawano do not conform to their current zoning.
“I think there’s probably a lot of it, because it appears that Shawano hasn’t had real strict zoning code enforcement,” he said.
Knapp said property owners should be pleased that the new code eliminates the legal nonconforming status.
“Even though it may not be consistent with the zoning code for that district, they can continue to make improvements, they can continue to use it as it is,” he said.
“Under legal nonconforming, if you had a fire for instance and it cost more than 50 percent of the value to restore it, you couldn’t do that. You had to tear it down and reconstruct to conform with the existing code,” Knapp said. “There’s a lot more flexibility with this approach.”
One of the first points of major discussion for the zoning code rewrite steering committee when work on the rewrite began nearly a year ago was the lack of landscaping on many properties in the city.
The new code would set a score for landscaping on site plan maps that proposed developments would have to meet. They would get points toward that score for various types of landscaping included in the site plan.
The requirement would only apply to new development and to those portions of existing properties that are significantly remodeled or expanded.
The new code will be much more detailed, replacing the 56-page old code with a 248-page document, which includes many more charts, graphs and tables than the old code.
The existing code was last adopted in October 1983. Though it has been frequently amended, this is the first complete overhaul in 31 years.
The city hired Vandewalle and Associates for the project, which was budgeted at $50,000.
The proposed code will go before the Plan Commission and Common Council at a joint meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 127 S. Sawyer St.
It will be presented to the public at an open house at from 4-6 p.m. Oct. 9 at City Hall, followed by another joint meeting.
There will be a public hearing before the Common Council and possible adoption of the code on Nov. 12, with another public hearing Dec. 10 on the new zoning map that will accompany the code.