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The Fort Wayne Plan Commission on Monday took the first step toward changing the zoning and development rules for most of downtown.
The commission unanimously approved starting an attempt to rezone much of the city’s core and a separate process to change the zoning rules governing downtown development.
Sherese Fortriede, a city planner, told the commission the plan was an effort to make it easier to invest in the downtown, especially as the $120 million Harrison Square project takes shape.
The public-private project includes a Courtyard by Marriott with parking garage, a condominium/retail building and a city-owned ballpark. It was touted as a catalyst project for the rest of downtown.
To take advantage of that and other investments, Fortriede said it is important to have proper zoning rules in place. The city already rezoned the area for Harrison Square to its core downtown district.
The city hopes to rezone much of the downtown into this district, or a slightly less dense variation, and away from other commercial and industrial zoning.
The rules are more conducive to a downtown, she said, because they ease parking restrictions and allow for multiple uses. They also allow buildings to be closer to the street, creating more of a dense urban feel. But the rules aren’t perfect, which is why the city also plans to take a closer look at its zoning laws. For example, Fortriede said the city probably shouldn’t allow anyone to just build more surface parking lots downtown when there is already ample parking.
City Councilman Tom Smith, R-1st, who also is on the plan commission, said he fully supports the city’s plan. He said the city has to do everything it can to make sure Harrison Square is as beneficial as possible.
“This makes perfect sense,” Smith said. “We’ve got to make downtown as user-friendly as possible.”
While Fortriede showed the commission a tentative map of the zoning plan, she said its boundaries have not yet been set. She said previous city-sponsored rezoning plans have had no opposition from existing property owners, as new rules would not curtail an existing business from continuing or expanding.
The city hopes to work on the new zoning ordinance over the next several months. Fortriede said the city plans to have two public meetings on the plan in August, and she hopes the plan commission will be ready to meet officially on it in September with approval by the City Council in October.
In other business, the commission gave unanimous conditional approval to a plan to a 14-unit housing complex on 1.72 acres to cater to people ages 55 and older. The company, Yellow Retirement, built a similar complex near State Boulevard and Reed Road, and wants to build this facility near Winchester Road and Ardis Drive.
During last week’s public hearing, several people spoke out against the development because it will bring increased traffic and noise to the area, and one even attacked the company’s signature yellow color. J.R. Parent, company president, acknowledged it will be a challenge, but he said he looked forward to showing the neighbors that he builds a quality product that will be an asset for the area. He said he hoped construction would begin this fall and it would be open by summer 2009.
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