IOWA CITY – Meeting minutes for the Iowa City Planning and Zoning Commission from August 2nd, 2023 show that the city planning department is considering several significant updates to the city’s Title 14 Zoning Code. The goal of the proposed changes is to “improve housing choice, increase housing supply, and encourage affordability” and primarily focuses on existing single family zones with additional changes to some multifamily, commercial, and design provisions.
A summary of the proposed changes is below.
Part 1 – Housing Types
1a. Allow duplexes and attached single-family uses throughout RS-5 and RS-8 zones
1b. Provisionally allow up to 6 side-by-side attached townhome-style multi-family homes on a single lot in RS-12 zones
1c. Allow multi-family uses on ground floors in commercial zones by special exception and provisionally allow multi-family uses in CC-2 zones.
1d. Regulate assisted group living uses more consistently with multi-family uses.
Part 2 to 3 – Design Standards
2a. Eliminate a multi-family design standard that requires a masonry, stucco, or dressed concrete base of a minimum of 2 feet.
2b. Allow attached single-single family and duplexes in mid-block lots so long as garage frontages do not exceed 60% of building wall
2c. Reduce side street parking setbacks for townhome-style multi-family units
3a. Reduce residential lot sizing standards and bring more existing lots into conforming status.
3b. Allow an additional bedroom for all residential uses outside the University Impact Area.
3c. Reduce barriers for the construction and use of accessory dwelling units (ADUs) including allowing stand-alone ADUs, removing parking requirements, and allowing their use on rental occupied lots.
Part 4 – Affordable Housing Incentives
4a. Create a 20% density bonus for including affordable housing units in 20% of a development, in addition to a 5 foot height or 15% setback bonus.
4b. Expand parking requirement reductions for affordable housing to all zones, instead of only Riverfront Crossings and form-based zones.
Part 5- Fair Housing
5a. Create a defined process to request reasonable accommodations from the zoning code for housing persons with disabilities.
5b. Zone community service – long term housing as a residential use.
Read the full amendments in the meeting minutes.
City planning staff say the process for the amendments began in 2016 when the Iowa City Council adopted the Affordable Housing Action Plan. Following an update to that plan in 2022, the city’s current strategic plan prioritized addressing affordable housing actions. A housing development analysis conducted in the same year found that Iowa City’s housing supply would be unable to accommodate 3,700 expected new residents. According to their presentation, city staff believe the zoning amendments will reduce some of the barriers for generating more diverse and cost-effective housing types. A belief with an important caveat: zoning is one of many challenges in the affordable housing shortage.
The proposed amendments to Title 14 are reflective of a growing movement in US cities and states against exclusionary single-family housing zones. Many see the movement as a reckoning with racial discrimination, housing affordability, and climate crisis. Notably, in 2018, Minneapolis adjusted city code to allow duplexes and triplexes by right in all single family zones. Similar laws were passed in many additional cities and statewide in Oregon (2019), California (2021) and Washington (2023). Many of these laws allow up to four units per lot in former single family zones with little restrictions. Iowa City’s proposal to allow only duplexes subject to a minimum lot size of 8,000ft² for RS-8 and 10,000ft² for RS-5 (change 3a) is somewhat conservative in comparison.
Under the current Iowa City zoning code only 6.1% of RS-5 and RS-8 lots allow duplexes. Proposed change 1a to allow duplexes throughout blocks, rather than only corner lots, would bring eligibility to 23.9% of RS-5/RS-8 lots. Adding change 3a which reduces minimum lot sizes brings the total of duplex eligible RS-5/RS-8 lots within the city to 42.6%. However, city staff anticipate the effects of many of the amendments will primarily be seen in new developments, rather than existing lots.
Two changes that appear more likely to impact existing parcels are provisional multifamily use in CC-2 commercial zones (1c) and the reduction of requirements for accessory dwelling units (3c). Under existing code, multi-family uses are only permitted in CC-2 zones by special exception requiring proposed developments to gain approval from the city Board of Adjustment. The update provided in change 1c would allow multifamily uses in CC-2 without the special exception process so long as the use is located above the ground floor. According to meeting minutes, city staff are seeking to encourage mixed use development in underutilized commercial corridors and nodes.
Change 3c reducing regulations on accessory dwelling units (ADUs) attracted a range of criticism during the public comment session of the August 2nd meeting of the Planning and Zoning Commission. The provision that would allow ADUs on renter-occupied lots proved most controversial. Many public participants, including former Mayor Jim Throgmorton, felt that allowing ADUs on rental lots would provide a destructive incentive for developers to purchase and convert single-family homes into expensive student rental properties in close-in Iowa City neighborhoods. The presentation by city staff notes that only 0.5% of eligible lots contain ADUs since becoming legal in 2005 and that change 3c grew out of recommendations from AARP, the Housing Action Committee, and the Johnson County Livable Communities Group.
Beyond concerns for the impact of rental ADUs in historic neighborhoods, the Title 14 amendment drew supportive comments from a variety of community sources such as the Housing Trust Fund in Johnson County, Greater Iowa City Area Homebuilders Association, and the Iowa Valley Habitat for Humanity. After the public comment session, the Planning and Zoning Commission engaged in a short debate. Two motions ultimately emerged, first, to support passage of all amendments except change 3c regarding ADUs, and second, to defer change 3c to a later meeting to provide time for city planning staff to consult with neighborhood associations. Both motions passed five to none, sending the remaining amendments on to the Iowa City City Council.
The Gazette of Cedar Rapids reports that a public hearing regarding the Title 14 amendments will be held on during City Council’s meeting on September 19th at Iowa City City Hall. Council meetings begin at 6pm.