Memorandum

City of Lawrence

Planning & Development Services

 

TO:

Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager

 

FROM:

Michelle Leininger, Area/Neighborhood Planner

 

CC:

Scott McCullough, Director of Planning and Development Services

 

Date:

February 15, 2008

 

RE:

Possible Oread Overlay District

 

Overlay districts are tools for dealing with special circumstances or accomplishing special zoning goals as long as the goals and needs are known. As the name implies, overlay districts are "overlaid" on base district classifications to modify or supplement the regulations of the general base district regulations. In the instance of conflicting requirements, the stricter of the conflicting requirement shall apply.

 

The current Land Development Code offers seven types of overlay zoning districts which include:  the Aerospace Overlay District, the Floodplain Management Regulations Overlay District, the Historic District Overlay, the Historic Landmark Designation, the Planned Development Overlay District, the Major Transportation Corridor Overlay, and the Urban Conservation Overlay District.  Two of the overlay districts that may be able to be utilized for the Oread area include the Historic Overlay District and the Urban Conservation Overlay District and 51% of the property owners would have to be in agreement with the zoning to do either of the overlay zonings.  Each district has specific criteria to qualify for the zoning designation.  Which criteria can be met helps to determine which type of overlay zoning that would be available to use.  A survey and inventory research help to demonstrate how the area meets the criteria. The survey and research required for the Historic Overlay District is much more detailed than for the Urban Conservation Overlay District. Currently there are two areas that are Historic Overlay Districts in the Oread Neighborhood.  One district contains 22 properties and the other contains 123 properties.  These districts do not have design guidelines but each district and their environs are subject to state law review.

 

The following are the criteria for the two overlay districts:

-        Historic Overlay District

The Commission shall, after such investigation as it deems necessary, make a determination as to whether a nominated site, structure, object or area qualifies for designation pursuant to one or more of the following criteria:

§         Its character, interest, or value as part of the development, heritage or cultural characteristics of the community, county, state, or nation;

§         Its location as a site of a significant local, county, state, or national event;

§         Its identification with a person or persons who significantly contributed to the development of the community, county, state, or nation;

§         Its embodiment of distinguishing characteristics of an architectural style valuable for the study of a period, type, method of construction, or use of indigenous materials;

§         Its identification as a work of a master builder, designer, architect, or landscape architect whose individual work has influenced the development of the community, county, state or nation;

§         Its embodiment of elements of design, detailing, materials, or craftsmanship that render it architecturally significant;

§         Its embodiment of design elements that make it structurally or architecturally innovative;

§         Its unique location or singular physical charac­teristics that make it an established or familiar visual feature;

§         Its character as a particularly fine or unique example of a utilitarian structure; including, but not limited to farmhouses, gas stations, or other commercial structures, with a high level of integrity or architectural significance;

Any site, structure, object, or area that meets one or more of the above criteria, shall also have sufficient integrity of location, design, materials, and workmanship to make it worthy of preservation or restoration. 

-        Urban Conservation Overlay District

A UC district shall be a geographically defined area that has a significant concentration, linkage or continuity of sites that are unified by physical development, architecture or historical development patterns. To be eligible for UC zoning, the area shall comply with the following criteria:

§         the general pattern of development, including streets, lots and buildings, shall have been established at least 25 years prior to the effective date;

§         the area shall possess built environmental characteristics that create an identifiable setting, character and association;

§         the designated area shall be a contiguous area of at least five (5) acres in size. Areas of less than five (5) acres may be designated as an UC Overlay District only when they abut an existing five (5) acre or greater UC Overlay District.

 

As part of the rezoning process, design guidelines would be drafted to address any regulations for the district in addition to the regulations of the base district.  These can be anything from setbacks to parking to aesthetics and could help the neighborhood meet the identified goals. Use can not be regulated with design guidelines but can be conditioned as a part of the rezoning process.

 

 

 

 

 

Various cities thought the country use overlay districts to address a variety of issues and many of them are conservation type overlays.  Some examples are given below:

-        Overlay or specific districts around the university areas:

§         Manhattan Kansas, Kansas State University; UO University Overlay District

§         Austin Texas, University of Texas; University Neighborhood Overlay District

§         Bloomington Indiana, University of Indiana; University Village Overlay District

§         College Station Texas, Texas A&M University; Northgate Districts

§         Ames Iowa, Iowa State University; West University Impacted District

 

-        Neighborhood conservation overlay districts:

§         Chapel Hill North Carolina; Neighborhood Overlay Districts

§         Boulder Colorado; Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District

 

The Oread Neighborhood has a neighborhood plan that was adopted in March 1979.  This plan is 29 years old and while the goals may still be relevant, the plan no longer accurately reflects the conditions of the neighborhood and the recommendations may have changed based on the neighborhood changing over time.  A neighborhood plan should be the foundation and guidance for more specific planning efforts in a neighborhood.  A neighborhood plan would confirm neighborhood goals and give recommendations for achieving the goals of the plan.  Also the plan could give assistance with the information needed to meet the criteria for an overlay district and give direction on what the overlay district should accomplish.

 

In summary, staff believes that an updated neighborhood plan should be completed before an overlay district and design guidelines are initiated.  It is possible to utilize an overlay district for the Oread Neighborhood as long as the criteria for one of the districts could be met.  It may be of greater benefit to the neighborhood to do an Urban Conservation Overlay District because of the lesser amount of research required to meet the criteria.  Along with the research required to prove that the area would meet criteria, drafting of design guidelines for the area and moving through the public approval process is necessary.