By BECKY KISER
Hays Post
“There’s always a transition no matter what,” acknowledged Hays Director of Public Works Greg Sund, “and the Neighborhood Conservation Zones are in there to make the transition as easy as it possibly can be.”
The city of Hays is updating its zoning and subdivision regulations for the first time since 1974. After more than two years of work, the result is a new user-friendly Unified Development Code (UDC) and a revised zoning map.
Both documents were approved by the Planning Commission following public hearings and recommended for approval to the city commission.
Major changes to the revised Hays zoning map include new Neighborhood Conservation (NC) Zones. Sund called it “a really innovative approach to zoning.”
“It takes all of the existing residential areas of town and puts them in specific zones so they are protected in whatever the zoning allowances were before the (new) law is adopted. Oftentimes when you go through a complete rewrite (of zoning codes) like we’re going through now, a lot of properties can be dropped into what’s called a non-conforming condition. By doing these Neighborhood Conservation areas…it keeps all of their zoning the way it is and all of the abilities they have, plus it also gives them some of the extra-added benefits of the Unified Development Code (UDC),” Sund explained.
Commissioner James Meier asked if “somebody comes in and buys several properties–a half block or a full block whether it has existing housing on it or not–say, the development on (west) 33rd Street that’s happening right now, and it’s in a Neighborhood Conservation district. Say they want to make some change to it that doesn’t fit that current NC district. So then that’s gonna have to go through rezoning and this map is going to change, right?”
“If they want to change the use of the area, it would have to be rezoned,” Sund answered. “The Neighborhood Conservation protects the people that are using it for what it’s historically been used for. But if you want to change it, you need to involve the neighbors and ensure they have opportunity for input–things like that.”
Another new zone that has been established is Mixed Use.
“If someone wants to make changes that aren’t allowed in their current zone, we would be happy to look at establishing some of the Mixed Use zones to promote more variability,” Sund said. “We want to encourage development.”
“Absolutely,” agreed Vice Mayor Shaun Musil.
The new Residential General (RG) zone will “push together a lot of those zones that are more separate in the current code,” Sund said, “and it makes far more options for development in the future. We don’t have R-1, R-2, R-3, R-4. We’re pushing them into the Residential General zone.”
The current zoning map includes properties that are undeveloped and unplatted but zoned 30 or more years ago, according to Sund, which would revert back to Agricultural zones. “It doesn’t make a lot of sense to have a zone of Industrial if the property owners don’t really ever intend to do anything with it. And if they ever do, we can come back and look at rezoning it again. It’s easier for the current zone to match what the use is instead of projecting something on a property owner they don’t want.”
“It was pretty common the way zoning was done 30 years ago, being proactive and setting zones anticipating where the city wanted to develop and how to develop, ” Sund added.
City commissioners will consider adoption of the new UDC and the revised zoning map as recommended by city staff and the Planning Commission during their meeting Thu., Aug. 25. A representative of the project consultant, Kendig Keast Collaborative, will attend the meeting.
The commission meeting will start one hour late, at 7:30 p.m., to allow city officials to participate in the annual Campus-To-Core event welcoming college students to Hays.
The Aug. 25 agenda can be seen here.