Though the Land Use Control Board recently approved the proposed
Memphis and Shelby County Unified Development Code, at least one city
division doesn’t approve: Memphis Light, Gas & Water.
The proposed development code updates the almost 30-year-old zoning
ordinance and incorporates all the amendments since then in one central
document. It also includes some substantial changes, such as allowing
for a greater variety of housing, in part to stimulate redevelopment in
the city’s urban core.
“It’s all an academic exercise if it didn’t do anything to help
urban revitalization,” project manager Don Jones said at a meeting in
April. “We have been on a cycle of sprawl since the current ordinance
was adopted, if not before. We need to encourage development inside the
beltway because that’s where the infrastructure is.”
General standards for different zones dictate lot sizes, how far
houses or buildings are set back from the street, the width of streets,
and other measures. According to Jones, the greatest change to the code
replaces many of the suburban standards of the current document with
more urban standards, including more flexibility for
pedestrian-friendly and mixed-use developments.
“Developments that are more urban in nature are more focused on the
pedestrian, and those that are suburban require a car to get around and
are much less walkable,” said assistant city attorney Tommy Pacello.
“In the 1980s, we were operating under a much more suburban
mindset.”
The new unified code would also remove some of the barriers to
infill development.
Not everyone is happy with the changes, however. At last week’s Land
Use Control Board meeting, Alonzo Weaver, vice president of engineering
and operations at MLGW, voiced the utility’s concerns about the
proposal.
“The current draft does not address our needs,” Weaver said.
“Although the unified development code mandates underground utilities,
it does not provide an easement for them. Because we are not provided
designated technical space in the street design, parts of citizens’
front yards will now become utility easements.”
The Office of Planning and Development is scheduled to meet with
MLGW officials before the proposal goes to the City Council and the
County Commission.
