Starkville’s overall comprehensive planning process should yield a code rewrite that makes building rules easier to follow for small- and large-scale developers, officials said.
Aldermen approved a $219,973 contract for services with the Walker Collaborative LLC last week, and the Tennessee-based firm, along with multiple contractors located across the Southeast, will develop a long-range plan for the community.
Planners will visit Starkville and perform a variety of analysis core aspects of the city — infrastructure, economy and housing, for example — and develop a strategy for growth into the next decade. The city has also tasked the Walker Collaborative to develop a new subdivision and zoning ordinance, one that will be “unified and simplified,” according to the company’s proposal.
Specifically, the group could identify new types of districts; remove or combine obsolete areas; and denote specific use standards and design provisions necessary to implement the comprehensive plan.
The code’s formatting is expected to be more user-friendly than existing rules, said Community Development Director Buddy Sanders, with the addition of visual elements — charts, graphs and other visual cues — and the removal of redundant text.
“We want to make it easier not only for developers, but also for someone that wants to put an addition onto their house or someone who wonders if you have to have a permit to build a fence,” he said. “We want to make it easier to achieve desired outcomes.”
Both processes to develop the comprehensive plan and write a unified code will feature public input session and require final board approval.
Sanders estimated comprehensive planning could take eight to 18 months, while the code overhaul could last three to four months.
Many of Starkville’s development codes are based on trends and practices from decades ago, Mayor Parker Wiseman said. A rewrite is needed not only to meet modern standards, but also because of the influx of new development the city is experiencing, he said.
“Development trends are just like fashion — there’s a natural course of change that takes place over time. Most of our development codes have an origin that dates back over a generation and have been minimally changed since then,” Wiseman said. “There have been multiple changes in development trends since then. Every time there’s a new trend, however, doesn’t mean you rewrite everything. Instead, it may mean something in your regulations does not fit the practice that’s occurring in the market.”
Eliminating duplicity, modernizing rules and making codes easier to follow should provide the biggest immediate impact for developers, Sanders said.
Two problems Sanders expects process to address: Starkville has more than 20 zoning designations — almost one zone for every 1,000 residents — and a subdivision ordinance rooted in the 1970s.
“I take the Steve Jobs approach — simplicity is good. Right now, you have to look all over the code of ordinances just to figure out what to do to build a simple commercial building,” he said. “Starkville is lucky it had form-based codes in place before (the recent wave of commercial development). Typically, it’s 10 years before you see their real effect, but it’s two to four years with the pace of development we’re having now.
“When all the area around (The Mill at MSU and the Cotton Mill Marketplace) is developed, people will be looking for other places. By that time, the updated code will be in place,” Sanders added. “We have the chance to shape the rest of Starkville for the better as it develops more quickly than other Mississippi communities.”
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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