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Small Zoning Code Updates Can Achieve Big Results

By conducting a "code audit," local leaders can examine a community's zoning code and, if needed, propose, pursue and efficiently implement targeted change


By Samantha Kanach

AARP Livable Communities connects local leaders and nonprofits with livability experts who can help public officials and residents advance their community's goals and implement positive change.

The following examples are the result of examining and making incremental, targeted updates to local zoning codes. 

INDIANA: Evansville

Establishing Complete Streets 

spinner image Complete Street in Evansville, Indiana
The intersection of Main Street and 2nd Street in downtown Evansville, Indiana, and the cover of the November 9, 2021, issue of the Evansville Courier & Press.
Courtesy images

Complete Streets are streets designed in a way that they are safe for all users, including drivers, pedestrians and bicyclists.

Talking the Talk

spinner image 6 circular icons showing illustrations representing terms used in zoning and land use planning
Illustrations from CNU

For a quick introduction to zoning and its origins, see Zoning is a Key Ingredient for Community Change and Improvements.

Check out Livable Lingo: A Zoning Vocabulary List of words, terms and phrases used in planning and land use dialogues and documents.

Complete Streets policies instruct a community to consider the needs of all users when creating or renovating a roadway, and then determine if and how those needs can be met.

AARP Indiana was an integral partner in the city of Evansville, Indiana’s first Complete Streets ordinance, which passed in October 2021. Early in the process, the team was involved in community engagement efforts that gathered public input and built bipartisan support around the policy. (Read the ordinance.)

Later, AARP Indiana and the Congress for the New Urbanism helped review the draft ordinance and made recommendations (that were accepted) to set a timeline for the sidewalk width improvements and add the Complete Streets-related updates to the city’s zoning and subdivision code.  

VERMONT: Burlington

Advancing Missing Middle Housing 

spinner image Missing Middle Housing examples in Burlington, Vermont
Examples of Missing Middle Housing in Burlington, Vermont. The presence of multiple front doors on a house is a clue that the home is a multiunit dwelling.
Photos by Kelly Stoddard Poor, AARP Vermont

Upon completion of the code audit conducted by the Congress for the New Urbanism, AARP Vermont has been working with the city of Burlington, Vermont, to enable Missing Middle Housing by, among other measures, distinguishing middle housing types (duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, etc.) from large multifamily housing (such as large apartment building); allowing middle housing types in residential zoning districts; and simplifying the development review process.

spinner image Cover of Discovering and Developing Missing Middle Housing

Find the Missing Middle

Download or order this free, award-winning, 36-page, photo-filled publication.

To help the community understand the housing type, AARP Vermont partnered with Opticos Design, (Missing Middle Housing experts and co-author with AARP of Discovering and Developing Missing Middle Housing) through the AARP Livable Communities Technical Advisors Program.

AARP Vermont and Opticos Design led walking tours so people could see how well Missing Middle Housing fits into single-family neighborhoods. In addition, Opticos demonstrated how existing residential lots can efficiently host a house-sized structure that contains more than one dwelling.

MISSOURI: Kansas City

Legalizing ADUs

A code audit by AARP partner WGI, Inc., identified that accessory dwelling units, which are secondary homes or apartments that are created by homeowners on their single-family residential property, were not a defined use in the city’s zoning code.

To promote housing affordability, variety and aging in place, AARP Missouri helped advocate for legalizing ADUs in Kansas City, Missouri, which amended its zoning code in September 2022 to allow ADUs. Consistent with AARP Missouri’s recommendations, the standards do not require additional parking spaces, which many studies have found aren’t needed and limit the ability of property owners to create ADUs. 

Scroll down for more about ADUs.

COLORADO: Denver

Supporting Group Housing

After conducting a code audit, the Congress for the New Urbanism recommended that group living facilities be allowed in more parts of Denver, Colorado, and that the code be updated to increase from two to five the number of unrelated people who can live in the same home. The changes enhance the ability to build shared housing for older adults. When opposition arose about the changes, community education and outreach work by AARP Colorado presented information and answered questions about group housing. The updated code remains in place.  

Putting People Over Parking 

spinner image Golf cart parade in Cutler Bay, Florida
A scene from the Holiday Golf Cart Parade, held annually in December.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE TOWN OF CUTLER BAY

To encourage the creation of more senior housing, the town of Cutler Bay, Florida, a member of the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities, reformed its zoning code to reduce the number of required parking spaces from two spaces per apartment to one. Research found that many households had or needed only one car (or no car) due to the area’s safe walkability and public transit options. Reducing the number of parking spaces reduces the amount of space needed, reduces both construction and housing costs and prioritizes the preservation of green space.

Zoning and the AARP Community Challenge

spinner image KY-Lexington-guides
An ADU guide for Lexington, Kentucky (left) and one by AARP Livable Communities for readers nationwide.

The AARP Community Challenge provides grant funding for quick-action projects that build momentum for long-term change.

Having updated its zoning code to diversify its allowed housing stock, the city of Moro, Oregon, used a 2022 grant to create pre-approved ADU plans that residents could use for no cost.

In 2018, the city of Lexington, Kentucky, used a challenge grant to build community support for ADUs by hosting an ADU design competition, which provided a cash prize for a winning student and winning professional designer. The awarded home plans and runners-up were featured in the city-published Homeowner’s Guide to Accessory Dwelling Units. (Learn about the Lexington guide. Get free, award-winning AARP publication The ABCs of ADUs.)

Samantha Kanach is a consultant for AARP Livable Communities. Trained as urban planner, she works with the AARP Livable Communities Technical Advisors and Rural Lab programs to support AARP state offices and communities they serve. 

Free AARP Publications About Housing and Zoning

Page published May 2023

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