TO: LAND USE CONTROL BOARD

RE: SLOWING A RUSHED APPROVAL PROCESS

Land Use Control Board:

I am writing to ask that the Land Use Control Board postpone its hearing on the proposed new zoning map and the completely-rewritten Unified Development Code. More time is needed to allow me and fellow Memphians to review the 300+ pages of the new zoning map and dense code that is proposed by the Division of Planning and Development.

The complete UDC document was released for public comment on March 31 and it is scheduled to come before you on May 14. Six weeks is not enough time to review the entirely rewritten text, nor to engage in dialogue with DPD. Their release seems hurried and poorly done—it has no page numbers, scant table of contents, and the text is not properly searchable, i.e. “special use permit” gets several hits, but never on the regulations, which were located after unnecessarily long digging in article 23.3 (also numbered as 23-7), and “residential corridor” gets no hits but must be addressed somewhere. DPD's document is unreliable and unprofessional.

We ask for a re-release of the document with:

• page numbers

• a more detailed table of contents

• text that is fully searchable

• 90 days from the date of re-release before LUCB presentation to review the contents and engage with DPD to discuss reasonable modifications

We share many of the same goals as DPD, and our requests are always geared toward compromise, such as:

1) Single unit semi-attached housing has never been allowed in many of these neighborhoods, so its introduction should be restricted to corners only, with one street being a connector. If, at the next 3.0 update in less than three years, the introduction of duplex-style units into single-family districts proves to have increased home-ownership, we can expand the usage; if, instead, it has introduced corporate investors who do not maintain their properties, the damage will have been restricted.

2) The new use "cottage courts" allows 3 or more buildings on a lot originally developed for one home. To make them fit, the new buildings are turned sideways to the public street. A cottage court does not follow the pattern of existing homes with similar front, side and rear yards. There are locations where this use is appropriate, but it should not be allowed, as proposed, anywhere, anytime and with no public notice and no input from neighbors. Administrative approval is not appropriate; neighborhoods are entitled to public notice and a public hearing when housing is introduced that does not match the long-established character and style.

3) "Pocket neighborhoods," another new use that, by definition, requires at least three acres, proposes administrative approval of land uses, street patterns, lots and open space—as if it were a planned development. This should not be allowed by right, without public notice or a public hearing and without an opportunity for citizens to appeal to their elected officials. Such approval should remain with the elected City Council and not DPD administration.

We share DPD's goals: bringing density to the city's core, expediting and streamlining the permit process, and improving enforcement of the code. Please help Memphis citizens have the time to understand DPD's rezoning map and new regulations in the UDC by postponing action on the map and UDC document until DPD provides its materials in a professional manner for 90-day review by affected citizens and neighborhoods.

Thank you,

YOUR NAME

YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Send to the Land Use Control Board, copying the mayors, city council, county commission and us:

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