City adopts Infill Overlay District
Incentive plan OK’d in hopes of spurring development
The Yuma City Council unanimously adopted an overlay district and incentive plan that officials hope will encourage infill development of vacant and underused parcels and dilapidated buildings.
The designation of an Infill Overlay District and the incentive plan were part of the resolution consent agenda while the zoning code text amendment was part of the adoption of ordinances consent agenda during last week’s regular meeting. Infill development has been a topic of discussion among the council and staff for several years. A staff report noted that in 2016, the council directed staff to develop incentives to encourage infill development.
“As government budgets become ever tighter, the city must have options to accommodate growth within the long-established part of town where the infrastructure network already exists,” the report reads.
Staff highlighted a variety of benefits related to infill development, including making better use of urban land while reducing consumption of agricultural land; reducing the time, money and air pollution associated with commuting; renewing older neighborhoods and housing stock; and making better use of existing infrastructure and lower costs of public services such as transit, sidewalks, water and sewer, school and public safety.
Per state law, staff first identified an Infill Overlay District and a plan outlining the incentives. The boundaries of the district generally follow the redevelopment element in the city’s General Plan.
Areas can be designated
as infill incentive districts if they contain a large number of vacant older or dilapidated buildings; a large number of vacant or underused parcels of property, obsolete or inappropriate lot or parcel sizes or environmentally contaminated sites; the absence of development and investment activity compared to other areas in the city; a high occurrence of crime; and a continuing decline in population.
“The key to successful implementation of infill development is flexibility of zoning, design standards and fees for both new construction and renovation of existing buildings,” staff said in the report.
Several city departments collaborated in identifying potential incentives available for development within the Infill District. The “Infill Incentive Toolkit” provides expedited zoning or rezoning procedures, expedited processing of plans and proposals, waivers of municipal fees for development activities as long as the waivers are not funded by other development fees, and relief from development standards.
“These incentives will help lessen the burden of development and encourage developers, business owners and potential homeowners to seek property within the infill area,” the report says.
In other action, the council adopted an ordinance rezoning about .32 acres from General Commercial (B-2) District to Low Density Residential (R-1-6) District. The properties are located at 653 and 661 S. 5th Ave.
A zoning code text amendment updating the list of truck routes within the city was introduced to the council.
Several items were continued to future meetings, including a request to amend the city’s 2012 General Plan to update Chapter 6: Redevelopment Element. This item has been continued until the Aug. 2 meeting.
Proposed landscape regulations, appearing under the resolution agenda and introduction of ordinances, have been continued until the July 19 meeting.
A public hearing on the Old Town South Subarea Revitalization Plan 2016 Implementation Strategy has been continued to the July 19 meeting to allow more comment.