FARMINGTON -- Farmington City Council will consider an ordinance Monday night to add a new residential zoning classification to allow homes with zero-lot lines.
The ordinance would amend the city's zoning code to add an R-3 District. According to the ordinance, an R-3 District would provide suitable areas for medium density residential development. R-3 Districts could be used as a buffer or transitional zone between incompatible development zones.
The amendment defines a zero-lot-line house as a residential lot in which the structure comes up to or very near to the edge of the property line on one side. Types of houses that would be suitable in the new R-3 District are rowhouses, garden homes, patio homes and townhomes.
Permitted uses in the new zone are single-family detached dwellings, zero-lot line and townhouses, essential governmental facilities and services. Multi-family developments are not permitted uses.
The district is intended to mainly provide single-family residential use on small sized, medium density lots of at least 5,400 square feet with zero-lot lines on one side and a 10-foot setback on the other side. An R-3 zone would have a 20-foot front setback requirement, a 20-foot rear setback requirement and require 35 feet for lot frontage. It allows a maximum of eight units per acre.
Melissa McCarville, city business manager, said a zone to allow zero-lot lines was proposed by developer Tom Sims as a possible way for him to develop about five acres at 65 N. Double Springs Road.
A request to rezone this property on Double Springs Road from single-family residential to multi-family was withdrawn from the Planning Commission's consideration on April 23 after many residents in the area voiced their opposition to the request.
"This was proposed as a compromise with the developer to come up with something less dense," McCarville said. "This is what he suggested."
McCarville said other cities in Washington County allow zero-lot lines as permitted uses within some of their zoning classifications. Farmington's R-3 designation would be exclusive to zero-lot lines, she said.
The zone will fall under all requirements for residential subdivisions in Farmington, including a drainage plan, streets, curb and gutter and sidewalks. A developer would have to submit a preliminary plat for approval before proceeding.
Farmington Planning Commission discussed the new zone at its July work session and held a public hearing on the ordinance at its July 24 meeting. No one from the public made any comments about the zone or asked questions. The Commission then unanimously voted to recommend the new zone to the City Council.
Robert Mann, Planning Commission chairman, said the commission felt it made sense to have a separate zone for zero-lot lines to reduce the number of developers asking for setback variances for lot lines. This way, developers who want to use zero-lot lines would have to request for the property to be rezoned to R-3.
In some cases, the only way someone can build on a piece of property is to have zero-lot lines, Mann said.
He added, though, the Commission will be "very particular" about rezoning property to R-3.
"Not everyone can come in and ask for zero-lot lines," he said.
General News on 08/09/2017