STARKVILLE — For the eighth time, the city is working to revise the Unified Development Code, this time with 20 revisions, with the biggest adjustments directed at the city’s sidewalk process.
At a work session on June 2, City Planner Daniel Havelin presented the proposed changes to the code to city aldermen.
“We have been discussing the update for the sidewalks for some time now,” Havelin told The Dispatch in an email. “We feel now is the best time to fine-tune the sidewalk requirement. The proposed changes are based on the City of Starkville Bicycle and Pedestrian Network Master Plan study that was conducted in 2021. Our goal is to make the requirements for constructing sidewalks more predictable and purposeful.”
The UDC currently requires sidewalks in all newly platted subdivisions and with any development or redevelopment within the sidewalk development zone, or any construction project greater than $50,000 in that zone.
Currently, Havelin said, the process for installing a required sidewalk in the city begins with determining if the owner of a property can comply with the normal sidewalk plan. If the owner cannot comply, their only option is to request a variance, go through two public hearings and then get approval to either build in an alternate location or pay a fee in lieu of building the sidewalk.
Under the new proposed process, property owners who cannot comply with the normal sidewalk ordinance can go through an administrative adjustment process, where staff members like Havelin and city engineer Cody Burnett will designate an alternate location or a fee in lieu of construction without going through two public hearings.
The two public hearing process will still exist for those who want to go through it to get modified versions of those recommendations and a variance granted.
“Generally, what we found out is that most people when they start out the variance process, they already agree to do the (fee) or agree to do the alternate location,” Havelin said. “Just as staff, we couldn’t say ‘go ahead and do it.’ So the new proposed process beefs up the administrative adjustment section.”
Havelin also proposed a change to the sidewalk zoning map in the Unified Development Code, splitting the current map into two different maps, a sidewalk area map and a new sidewalk development zone map. Havelin said this would help with addressing developments and subdivisions with less confusion.
Other proposed changes to the development code include special exceptions for gas stations and convenience stores in certain zoning districts that are mainly residential, changes to restrictions on structures in floodways, requirements for grading, time limits on temporary storage containers and more.
Havelin reminded The Dispatch these revisions are currently still a draft and two public hearings must be held before revisions are approved.
The first public hearing for the changes happened at an aldermen meeting on Tuesday, but there were no comments from citizens during the hearing. A second public hearing will be on June 20.
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