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The Fun’s Begun:
Big Opening Night Turnout

Feb 08, 2010

Monday night provided a great start for our zoning update “charrette”. More than 70 citizens showed up to help kick-off the four days of meetings and planning.

Introduced by Mayor Jay Allen, Susan Henderson, project manager for the PlaceMakers consulting team, provided a 20-minute introduction (3.2mb .pdf) to the regulatory approach the team will use. Then, Jennifer Hurley, also on the consulting team, led the group through a table exercise designed to help citizens test some of what they heard in Henderson’s presentation.

For an overview of the night’s activities, click on the video below.

The introductory presentation reiterated the key points of form-based coding: Form-based codes differ from conventional coding in that they focus on the look and feel of structures as they relate to streets, sidewalks, and other components of the public realm. They are tools for creating connectivity and community. The organizing principle of conventional codes, on the other hand, is separation. They define zones according to building uses – residential, office, retail, industrial, etc.

The kind of form-based code that will be customized for Fitchburg can be adjusted according to the intensity of development desired for a particular zone. Rural areas, for instance, will have a different mix than more urban areas. So flexibility is built into the code. No development approach is forbidden. It’s just assigned an appropriate place.

The week’s discussions will include test applications of a code customized for Fitchburg. And that’s where the second part of the Monday-evening opening event came in.

Groups were directed to tables with maps of specific areas and asked to consider appropriate development intensities for sites in those sectors. What should remain essentially working farms? Where might there be opportunities for grouping residences? How about mixing in retail or multifamily units? Where would that be appropriate for Fitchburg?

The discussion revealed hopes and concerns – plus questions to address during the next few days. By Wednesday night, when the team posts ideas in a public “pin-up,” many of the Monday night questions will be explored in images, making it easier to decide what works and what doesn’t.

For a look at the week’s day-by-day schedule, go here. Then follow and comment on each day’s events on these web pages. Reports on each session and images produced by the team will be posted daily.

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Charrette Team Tours Area
Day Two: Listening, Clarifying →

  • Our Task: To Code for Growth
    In Line with our Values

    We need rules that ensure our future growth is as inspired as the goals we've set out.

    That’s the simplest way to explain our ambitions to augment Fitchburg’s current zoning code to bring it in line with the City’s new Comprehensive Plan. That 2009 Plan is based on core principles of Smart Growth and on long-term sustainability on three levels – economic, environmental, and social. And the fact is, says Fitchburg Mayor Jay Allen, “our current zoning code does not adequately accommodate the values we want to shape our future.”

    Old-style zoning, created in an era when the object was to protect neighborhoods from dangerous industrial practices, focused on segregating building uses – offices, retail and residences – to keep people safe from noxious industry. But with the rise of the automobile, this seemingly practical approach began to super-size, devouring land out of proportion to our rate of population growth and creating ever-greater separation between the things we do and need.

    That’s taken its toll on our environment, our budget, our free time and our ability to be a real community. But now we have the chance to do something about it.

    Icon of Streetscape      

    Over the coming months, we’ll be exploring a new approach to zoning – one that focuses more on how buildings are arranged and less on how they’re used – to broaden our existing code to better foster the kind of growth envisioned in our Comprehensive Plan. We’ll look at setbacks and building frontages, the widths of streets and sidewalks, the interplay between private space and public space and the appropriate mixes of use in selected spots – all with an eye towards neighborhoods where residents can, if they choose, accomplish many daily tasks on foot.

    Through all of it, we’ll be customizing the code addition to the things we value. So the process will involve a lot of discussion about achieving the right look and feel in the right place.

    That means the process is committed to the same sort of public involvement as the process that created the Comprehensive Plan. At the heart of this effort is a public “charrette,” a multi-day collaborative workshop in which everyone is invited to join with a team of expert consultants to establish key components of any new zoning designation.

    That workshop will take place February 8-12. “All issues,” says the mayor, “are on the table, and anyone who wishes to participate in the process will have that opportunity. Together, we’ll look at ideas, ask questions, develop answers, come up with options, and choose the best direction. By the final night we will have a consensus on the first draft of this new addition to our code.”

    It’s a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” says the mayor, “to create the tools we need to handle new growth without over-extending City services.”

    Check this site often to keep up with the process. Not only will you find an ongoing overview of where we are, you’ll also have opportunity to weigh in on the different issues being discussed.