What's a FAR ZOTA?
Floor Area Ratio Zone Text Amendment (FAR ZOTA)
City Council is set to have a second reading of a proposed Floor Area Ratio (FAR) Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment (ZOTA) on September 24th. The proposed ZOTA would increase the allowable size and height of a building in relation to the square footage of its lot in Zones R-3, R-4, and R-5, which allow multi-family housing.
The applicable zones were created in the 1970s. In the intervening years, as land within the Urban Service Boundary has been developed, development options have been significantly reduced. This has placed pressure on our Urban Service Boundary, contributed to the rise in property values, and contributed to a significant shortage of affordable housing, especially in what is called Middle Housing, housing that fills the gap between single-family homes and multi-story apartment buildings. Examples of these are townhomes, duplexes, and fourplexes.
The proposed ZOTA would allow increased density, which is one of the primary goals of the recently updated Comprehensive Plan. It would also provide an incentive to develop smaller parcels of land.
The proposed ZOTA does raise some concerns. There could be a negative impact on the neighborhoods currently within those zones, with larger buildings being out of scale with existing properties. Also, developments with increased density in low-income neighborhoods could accelerate the trend of involuntary displacement of low-income residents.
This is the first of a number of ZOTAs that aim at increased density that are likely to be proposed as part of implementation of the updated Comprehensive Plan. There is broad agreement that we need to continue to grow. In accommodating growth, the challenge for our community is to balance the need to protect our rural land and the need to maintain the quality of life in all our existing neighborhoods. Each ZOTA needs to be considered with that balance in mind.
