Repeal Planned Developments (Chapter 17.64 ~ Development Code)

For those of you who received a Notice in the mail:
The City Council is proposing to repeal Chapter 17.64 of the Development Code, which pertains to Planned Developments (PDs). The letter you received is required by the state and the language it contains is also required by the state. Repealing the Planned Development code chapter would have an effect on all of Sandy, but the effect is fairly minimal. The biggest effect would be if you owned an undeveloped (or underdeveloped) property and you were planning to submit an application to develop it as a PD and exceed the maximum density of the base zone, which is only allowed through the PD process. With the PD chapter repealed, you would no longer be able to propose a PD or exceed the maximum density, but you could still propose a standard subdivision that meets the base zone density requirements (and other applicable requirements in the Development Code). According to our City Attorney, if you own property in an existing  Planned Development, repealing the PD chapter will have very little, if any, effect. For undeveloped property, the only change is that the property owner can’t develop the property with multi-family (if not allowed under the base zone) or exceed the applicable density limit, which were only allowed with an approved PD. So unless the owner was planning to develop multi-family in a single-family zone and exceed the density limit, it should not affect the owner. For existing uses, the base zone still applies, so as long as the owner is using the property in a manner consistent with the base zone, for example a single-family dwelling in a single-family zone, they are still a conforming use. Overall, the effect is minimal on both developed and undeveloped properties in the current PD zones.