City of Catoosa wants to simplify its zoning code in a major overhaul, but still asks for public input before finalizing its draft.
The city is forming a unified development code, or UDC.
"The unified development code is going to take some existing documents which includes our zoning code, subdivision regulations, and our engineering design criteria, and put it into one document," Catoosa's community development director Jody King said on Jan. 21 during the second and final open house on the proposal. "It's going to really help cut out some out of the conflicting language, terms, definitions, and bring that entire process into a single document that's easy to navigate."
>>>Click here to see the current draft of the new building bureaucracy
What King said the city is leaning towards is "a more small-town feel" with future development.
"Instead of building giant box buildings and chains, we are going to start looking at how buildings fit together," he said. "That way, they have this form that's appealing and pleasing but also interacts well with the public realm."
Business owner Joe Edwards is skeptical not just of the new plan, but the city's outreach in general.
"To my knowledge, they're not really letting the public know and the citizens of Catoosa know when they're doing stuff like this," Edwards said, explaining that he only found out about the Jan. 21 meeting from a Facebook friend. "This is big."
WATCH: 'More small town feel': Zoning overhaul in the works for Catoosa
However, King champions the new layouts as reflecting popular opinion.
"Most people are going to see more freedom to use their property," King said. "You're going to see developers have more opportunity to develop vacant land in ways that they couldn't previously develop."
The public comment period continues through Feb. 2. King invites anyone concerned to visit his office during the day at City Hall.
The final draft of the UDC will be up for a planning commission vote Feb. 23 and a city council vote March 3.
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