Planning Commission Meeting Date: September 17, 2026
To: Members of the Planning Commission
From: Mathias Hughey, AICP, Interim City Planner
Title
Update and Discussion on the Zoning Code Update - Preliminary Recommendations Report.
Body
Action Requested:
The Planning Commission will receive an update on the Preliminary Recommendations Report on the Zoning Code Update Project.
Summary Report:
Following the adoption of the Comprehensive Plan in 2025, the City initiated the process of updating its Land Development Code (Zoning Code and Subdivision Ordinance). The consultant selected for the project, Houseal Lavigne, has completed the Preliminary Recommendations Report. A draft was presented to the Zoning Policy Advisory Committee, who provided feedback on the report, clarifying and directing the broader policy elements of the code update.
A copy of the Preliminary Recommendations Report and a copy of the Zoning Policy Advisory Committee meeting summary are available on the project website and attached here. One key element of the report is the overall organizational structure of the updated code, thought should be given to the logic and cohesiveness of the organizational framework presented.
Strategy 2 under the Access chapter of the Comprehensive Plan identifies intended outcomes and actions to achieve those outcomes specifically related to the zoning code update. The report should be reviewed for its consistency with and ability to achieve these stated policy outcomes. Relevant text is included below.
The next phase of the update project will be focused on the Zoning districts and uses, specifically on where uses are prohibited, permitted, or conditionally permitted, and what, if any, use-specific standards will be applied. Following that phase will be the development standards, which included provisions like landscaping, setback, screening/buffering, and materials requirements.
City Plans & Policies Relevance:
Strategy 2: Develop in a compact, sustainable, and fiscally responsible pattern
Growing compactly by prioritizing infill and redevelopment before annexing additional land advances Northfield's vision by preserving Northfield as a free-standing city, making development more cost effective, connecting people more equitably, and preserving valuable land and natural resources.
Outcomes
1. Short-term strategic planning sets interim goals and adopts quantifiable metrics to measure progress including measuring fiscal impact, advancing equity, and climate action progress.
2. The city increases overall density, has fewer underutilized properties and a wider range of housing types, connected by multiple transportation options reducing vehicle miles traveled, improving transit, and meeting climate goals.
3. The city supports farmland preservation in surrounding townships, reducing climate impact, encouraging food production, and maintaining Northfield's rural edge.
4. Northfield maximizes the value of existing infrastructure and extends infrastructure in a fiscally responsible and sustainable way by directing development first to infill on existing vacant land, then by intensifying uses and redeveloping property, then by developing in the identified priority growth areas, and consider orderly annexation areas beyond the priority growth areas when other locations have been exhausted.
Actions
1. Use the Future Land Use Map to guide short-term strategic planning efforts.
2. Revise zoning and other regulations to implement this plan:
3. Ensure zoning and infrastructure support environmentally and economically efficient, resilient land use development to advance this plan.
4. Incentivize infill and intensification in both commercial and residential areas.
5. Encourage accessory dwelling units and small-scale multi-family housing in all residential neighborhoods to add more housing in existing neighborhoods, add housing types, and put more people closer to established parks, schools, shopping and jobs.
6. Eliminate regulatory definitions of family and increase allowable dwelling types to reflect how people want to live while meeting fair housing requirements.
7. Include standards to facilitate neighborhood-scale commercial uses (including multi-unit housing) in all residential neighborhoods to advance this plan's goals of greater accessibility, increased housing, and reduced reliance on vehicle trips. Sites where the building to land value ratio is low indicating the site is ripe for redevelopment may offer prime opportunity for these types of uses.
8. Include tools to incentivize building more housing and more affordable housing such as density and/or height bonuses, development fee reductions or deferments, inclusionary zoning requirements and related tools.
9. Manage parking, including pricing parking, to ensure efficient use of existing parking facilities, reduce demand for surface parking, and require structured parking to be able to be converted to other uses with a positive return on investment.
10. Adopt a fiscal impact tool to measure the impact of all large developments to determine if adopted metrics are met. Prioritize developments and initiatives that meet adopted metrics, and incent innovations not previously contemplated that may have the potential to outperform the adopted standard.
11. Seek grants to reduce capital costs of projects while also budgeting for the additional costs of operations and maintenance over the lifecycle of the project.
Alternative Options:
NA
Financial Impacts:
NA
Tentative Timelines:
NA