Please email this letter below to all of the addresses that follow the letter. Cut and paste the addresses into the "To" on your email. This includes both mayors, the City Council, the County Commission, the Land Use Control Board and DPD.

For guidance on interacting with the updated zoning map, see "How to use the updated zoning map."

PLEASE SEND THIS LETTER:

TO: Elected Officials and Appointed Officials

RE: Zoning suggestions, and a request for time

Elected Officials and Appointed Officials:

This letter is to make you aware of two things:

1) DPD is so rushed to meet an arbitrary deadline that they are making continuous errors that impede, not assist, public engagement, and

2) This letter also contains my zoning regulation suggestions.

We want much of what DPD wants, only instead of developing like the wild west, we're seeking a bit more caution.

For example, DPD wants to add duplex-style housing most anywhere that the dominant single-family housing style now exists. We suggest we restrict these "single unit semi attached" buildings to corners, and if the corporate landlords prove to be good shepherds, then at the 2029 update we can expand their usage; if they're bad shepherds, we'll have contained the damage without too much damage to our established and stable owner-occupied neighborhoods that anchor the others.

We will have other similarly moderate compromise suggestions if we are given time to read and digest the immense material that DPD has released since mid-April. On 4/13, Brett Ragsdale, Director of DPD, announced an updated zoning map and the deadline of 4/30 for public input. But despite the call for public input, that updated map did not allow input. We notified DPD of this error, and the map was taken down completely, then the next day it reappeared but still did not take input, and then finally, as of 4/23, it is set up to take input. DPD is allowing a mere one week for the public to get word that the map is finally working and ready for input, and one week is unfair to the citizens of Memphis. This error comes on the heels of releasing 315 pages of new zoning rules—the completely rewritten UDC, but forgetting to add page numbers and not making the document searchable, and telling Memphians to struggle through the document and give feedback by 4/30. Once we notified DPD of their errors, they added page numbers and they made the whole document searchable, but DPD is allowing only two weeks for reading, discussing and negotiating, which is clearly not enough time for 315 dense, regulation-filled pages.

Deliberate or not, this and DPD's other mistakes in this rush for legislation continue to make it more difficult for Memphians to engage in DPD's public process. Why on earth are we rushing a comprehensive re-zoning when it affects every single property owner in the city? This should be done right, not quickly.

Memphians deserve better.

We call for:

90 days from April 15 to review and understand DPD's new zoning code and updated map and to engage in dialogue with DPD for reasonable modifications.
Leaving with City Council the final authority on land use appeals. That authority should not be taken from our elected officials and given to appointed administrators
DPD has a dismal record of enforcing its regulations and we need time to understand how they justify assuming more responsibility
An explanation why DPD wants to terminate Residential Corridor designations, and why they want to allow commerce where this designation has prohibited it for decades
An explanation why DPD is changing 180 degrees after agreeing in 2024 that open space as frontage was a mistake (see the conflicted history of 2112 Jefferson)
Providing a citywide mailing to every property owner affected by DPD's zoning changes, as required by the UDC

There are, literally, hundreds more pages to review and we would like the time to do that.

Specific Zoning Requests:

I am writing directly to request the following changes in the zoning regulations. Certain new housing types should be restricted in their implementation until we can assess how corporate landlords will behave in neighborhoods that are primarily owner-occupied.

I would like to see the following changes to the RN-1 zoning regulations:

Single unit semi-attached has not been allowed in these neighborhoods so its introduction should be restricted to corners only, with one street being a connector.
Cottage court is not a single family use and should be removed from RN-1.
Fraternity/Sorority should not be allowed, even by Special Use Permit.
Respect the existing setbacks

I would like to see the following changes to the RN-2 zoning regulations:

Neighborhoods that were originally developed as single family detached homes and remain at least 50% single family detached should be downzoned to RN-1 (for example York Avenue in Central Gardens, parts of East End, Rozelle-Annesdale, etc.).
Cottage court is not a single-family use and is unlike anything previously allowed in this type zoning. They should require a Special Use Permit and be restricted to corners only, with one street being a connector, and not allowed adjacent to a single-family home.
3-4 plex should be restricted to corners, one street being a connector, with use standards that prohibit it adjacent to a single family detached home. Lot size should be a minimum of 8000 sq ft and width should be minimum 50 ft.
Respect the existing setbacks
Fraternity/Sorority should not be allowed by Special Use Permit.

I would like to see the following changes to the RN-3 zoning regulations:

Because RN-3 allows so much more density than RU-3, a neighborhood should not be zoned RN-3 until there is a study of existing conditions including existing land use, property conditions and the amount of absentee ownership.
Cottage court must require a special use permit and not be allowed adjacent to a single-family home.
Use standards for 3-4 plex should require a minimum lot size of 8000 sq ft and width minimum 50 ft, and be prohibited if adjacent to a single family detached home.
Apartment buildings with more than 6 units should require a special use permit if the site is adjacent to a single family home.
Respect the existing setbacks
Single room occupancy should not be here but should be in a commercial district, where it could help redevelop our numerous failing commercial corridors.

We need 90 days to review the newly-drafted UDC document. Some of what we want to explore:

The process for special use permit & planned development.
The justification for abandoning residential corridors
How are overlay districts like the Midtown Overlay being amended
How are the Landmarks overlay districts being amended
How are the public notice regulations for rezoning, special use permit, variance and subdivision being amended
How are the requirements for street frontage to allow subdivision lots being amended
How will the housing types be amended
How will the nonconforming regulations be amended
How will the streetscape, landscaping and screening regulations be amended
Will the planned development process remain in the regulations? What are the changes in the process including public notice?
What can be approved by administrative deviation? What is the process? Is there any public notice?

Thank you,

NAME

NEIGHBORHOOD

Send to the Land Use Control Board, copying the mayors, city council, county commission and us, all of which are here:

michael@4f.design ,

mwsharp@bellsouth.net,

benjamin.orgel@towerventures.com ,

Keith.Norman@BMHCC.org ,

brown@gillprop.com ,

lisa@ethridgeenterprises.com ,

dkthomas@gotci.com ,

jenniferbethoconnell@gmail.com ,