The City of Redmond is in the process of rewriting its Community Development Guide (RCDG). As part of this rewrite effort, the city recently established a temporary Code Rewrite Commission (CRC) to review proposed zoning code updates to ensure consistency with the mission and guiding principles of the RCDG rewrite.
The commission is comprised of three residents, two planning commissioners and two business representatives (one of which is Steve Nolen, an associate principal at TSI, a Northwest Hub sponsor). Commissioners will analyze materials prepared by staff and city consultants and hold public hearings to obtain community input. CRC meetings are open to the public and are scheduled for Monday nights at 7 p.m. in the council chambers at Redmond City Hall, 15670 N.E. 85th St., beginning Sept. 14.
The RCDG is one of the city's primary tools for regulating development. Development regulations range from the land uses allowed on a property, to building setbacks from the street and adjacent properties, to the amount of parking required on a site. While the RCDG has been modified over the years, it has not received a thorough rewrite since 1978. The primary goals of the rewrite are to create a regulating code that is more understandable, simpler to administer, and more effectively achieves the goals and policies of the comprehensive plan. To access the existing RCDG, click here.
The rewrite project was identified and approved through the 2009-2010 Budgeting by Priorities process. It commenced in January 2009 and will continue through 2010, with the goal of final adoption by spring 2011. The project comprises two phases. The first phase of the project—evaluating the current RCDG, determining the scope of the rewrite and developing a set of guiding principles for the rewrite—finished in June 2009 (the rewrite itself commenced the following month). The newly formed CRC will help gather feedback on the second phase of the project.
In November the CRC will begin considering the first two topics of the rewrite: Development Standards (exterior lighting, fences, utility standards, subdivision regulations, concurrency, construction specification and design standards for streets and access, and design requirements for water and wastewater system extensions) and Miscellaneous Uses (adult entertainment, landfills, temporary uses and non-conforming uses). Both of these topics are anticipated to be introduced to the CRC at its meeting on Nov. 2.
For more information about the RCDG rewrite project, click here.
