Akron and Cuyahoga Falls will be looking to change their zoning codes next year to align with the Merriman Valley Schumacher Area Master Plan.
"The zoning code actually determines the form and the character of the city, and it's actually a reflection of our values and aspirations," Akron city planner and architect Daniel DeAngelo said. "The thing is right now our zoning code is not a very good reflection of our values and aspirations, and that's why we're not getting the results that we want."
The cities will be looking to change their zoning codes in the Merriman Valley to a form-based code, which will ensure development in the area follows residents’ goal to preserve green space, DeAngelo said.
Form-based codes promote affordable housing, help small businesses, promote walkability and encourage revitalization. Form-based codes also allow communities to have more uses. In the past, zoning codes were written so each sector of the community's life (work, school, park, retail, home) were separate. Form-based code allows for a mix of uses in one space, so community members could walk to school, restaurants, grocery stores, etc. The new zoning code will help residents' goal of helping the Merriman Valley become a gateway community to be realized.
“If you own the land and you have development rights, you are allowed to build as many houses or housing units that are on there – we’re not going to take away your rights, because we’re not allowed to do that," DeAngelo said. "But you will be constrained to build on a smaller footprint of land.”
Changing the cities' zoning codes is taking steps to make the master plan a reality, DeAngelo explained.
"All those beautiful images from the master plan, you know those are going to be really hard to achieve under our current zoning code," DeAngelo said. "Some of them aren't actually allowed under our current zoning code, and developers can still keep building the way they have been building for 100 years under our current zoning code."
The big changes will be in Akron's zoning code, as the zoning code in Cuyahoga Falls is already partially form-based code, DeAngelo said.
"I'm mostly talking about Akron, because Cuyahoga Falls actually has a much better code," DeAngelo said.
Officials from both cities say form-based code will also promote affordable housing and encourage revitalization, as well as fixing walkability and safety issues in the valley.
“Form-based code requires sidewalks to be built when the developments are being built," DeAngelo said.
Currently, the Merriman Valley isn't built to be pedestrian friendly, DeAngelo said.
"If you're a pedestrian and there's not sidewalk, if you're in a wheelchair, the environment that we're building right now is not really part for you," DeAngelo said. "And so that's part of what's built into a form-based code is thinking about everybody equitably."
The new code will help the valley become safer, more equitable and more environmentally conscious, DeAngelo said.
"The results will be that we'll have a more walkable place, a place that accommodates all types of transportation, not just cars, safer and more equitable for everybody," DeAngelo said.
After the new zoning code is implemented, developers will have to align their plans with the look and feel of the community per the code.
"It's going to now have new rules at play. It's going to have to have the look and feel of what we're talking about here tonight, and just doing that is going to absolutely create a better environment for your workforce," Cuyahoga Falls Community Development Director Diana Colavecchio said. "People will want to work there. People will want to dine, shop, whatever it is you're doing there."
The new zoning codes will apply to new development projects, redevelopment projects and projects making substantial changes to existing properties.
"If you're an existing property owner and you want to put a new roof on your building, fine. That's great. Take care of you're building," DeAngelo said. "It's when you want to substantially change the form and character of your building that you'll have to meet the new code."
Although the cities are working together on this project, future development will be different in each city, Colavecchio said.
“Most of that commercial acreage is in Akron," Colavecchio said. "Most of that residential acreage is in Cuyahoga Falls.”
The good thing about form-based code is that it can be tweaked along the way, Colavecchio said.
"We'll be going back to the drawing board after we get our code to start piecing together what we want these homes to look like, what we want the connectivity with the trails between these communities to look like," Colavecchio said.
Once a few development projects finish in the valley under the new code, DeAngelo is confident that more will come.
"The great thing is that once people see the results of the code, then it kind of does build some momentum," DeAngelo said. "Then the larger projects kind of start coming."
Before major changes can be made in the valley, the cities will need to invest in better infrastructure to support development projects.
"They need sidewalks. They need roads. They need the roads redone. They need new sewers. They need whatever," Colavecchio said. "Truly, we're going to have huge infrastructure discussions before we get to most of this."
These changes are going to take years, Colavecchio warned.
"Those infrastructure improvements will take time. They're not going to happen overnight," Colavecchio said. "Will those take decades? I don't know, we'll see."
Until the new zoning code passes, Akron and Cuyahoga Falls are taking two different approaches to development in the valley.
"People still come forward and want to develop in the valley, but what we've been doing in Cuyahoga Falls is telling them, 'There's the door. We're not talking to you. We're not developing in the valley. Have you not been reading the newspaper?'" Colavecchio said.
In Akron, however, developers will still be able to develop in the valley per the current zoning code, DeAngelo said.
"If somebody came tomorrow and wanted to build something, we have to follow our current zoning code," DeAngelo said. "We can strongly encourage them to follow the code that we're going to be enacting, but you know legally we don't have the right to stop them from developing."
The goal is to have the new zoning codes in front of both city councils next year.
