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Home My WebLink AboutA036 - South Lincoln Mixed Use (S-SMD) Zoning District Text Amendment RequestITEM #:40 DEPT:P&H August 12, 2025 Staff Report S-SMD ZONING DISTRICT TEXT AMENDMENT REQUEST FOR SETBACKS AND DESIGN REQUIREMENTS BACKGROUND: On May 27, 2025, the City Council referred to staff a zoning text amendment request from Jim Gregory and Joan Stein, residents of 129 Washington Avenue (Attachment A). Mr. Gregory is the owner. Mr. Gregory and Ms. Stein are seeking to demolish the existing house and construct a new, expanded home. The property is at the northwest corner of Washington Avenue and S. 2nd Street. The lot is 60 by 170 feet. Mr. Gregory's property is zoned Special Purpose - South Lincoln Sub Area Mixed-Use District (S-SMD). This district was created in 2003, when the neighborhood was rezoned from Highway Oriented Commercial (HOC), Residential High Density (RH), and Special Purpose - Government/Airport (S-GA). The S-SMD zoning district allows for single-family homes, medium density apartments, and commercial uses. The unique zoning district implements specific design requirements intended to make newer, larger buildings compatible with older homes in the area. Staff has had discussions with the owner about the property and the zoning standards. House design concepts from the applicant are included as attachments. The proposed concept could be built within the current zoning standards with only minor adjustments to the design and there would be no loss of usable square footage. Approval of a new house could occur with or without use of the 20% alternative design flexibility allowed within the Code. Despite these comments from staff, Mr. Gregory has requested text amendments to fit the the design of house depicted in the attachments so no modifications would be required. Mr. Gregory desires the following changes for setbacks, roof design, and façade lengths: 1. Adding a line in Table 29.1003(3) allowing for street side yard setbacks to be 15 feet (in lieu of two front yards with with 25 feet of setback for all street frontages). 2. Changing Sec. 29.402(4) (in conjunction with #1) to add S-SMD to the list of exempted zoning districts that are not required to provide the same minimum front yard and street side yard setbacks. 3. Changing the 40-foot primary and secondary façade maximum to 48 feet. 4. Removing the requirement that roofs have at least one or more gable end sections, or at least two or more dormers, facing a street. 1 Although not addressed in the letter, an additional change to the depth or length standard of a recessed facade with a secondary facade would need to be changed from 8 feet to 4 feet to allow for the home design that is attached. SETBACK CHANGES: The front building setback (along Washington Avenue) in S-SMD is 25 feet (Table 29.1003(3)). (There are porch and eave projection exceptions.) The street side setback (along S. 2nd Street) is not stated in the table, but it defaults to a corner lot standard to provide the same front setback on all streets (Sec. 29.402(4)). The 25-foot minimum front setback is a convention in residential zoning districts in Ames and in cities nationwide. A number of residential districts in Ames, including Residential Low Density (RL), Residential Medium Density (RM), and Urban Core Residential Medium Density (UCRM) have the same front yard setback requirement, but have 15-foot minimum setbacks for side yards abutting public rights-of-way. Notably, the S-SMD district requires reduced setbacks along S. 3rd Street of 10-15 feet to implement a neighborhood plan to intensify development along the collector street. The house design is centered upon the 60 foot wide lot. There is 29 feet of building envelope available under the current standards. The house concept is 28 feet wide. The owner wants to build the home in the center of the lot with essentially 16-foot setbacks on each side compared to the code requirements for 25 feet along 2nd Street and 6 feet from the interior north property line. BUILDING FORM CHANGES: S-SMD (Table 29.1003(3)) contains requirements for building form intended to replicate the massing and design of historic homes in the area, including for facade width and roofs. Width: "Width of a primary facade shall be no greater than 40 ft. Width of the secondary facade(s) closest to the street shall be no greater than 40 ft." The owner would like to enclose one of the recessed porches as a three-season porch to have a longer facade. "Recessed facades must be set back at least 8 feet from the primary or secondary facade. A primary facade or secondary facade is permitted but must be separated from other primary or secondary facades along that building face by a recessed facade of at least 24 ft. in length." The current design of the building (Attachment B) has a recessed component that is set back 8 feet in part (the rear porch) but only 4 feet for the remainder (the garage). Roofs: "All buildings shall have gable roofs, with a minimum roof pitch of 6:12 rise to run. All buildings shall have roofs with at least one or more gable end sections, or at least two or more dormers, facing a street. These features match those of older existing homes in the area." 2 Mr. Gregory has a gabled end facing Washington, but he would also be required to add two dormers to the roof design along 2nd Street. These could be located anywhere along the roof. OPTIONS: 1. Accept an application by Mr. Gregory for text amendments to S-SMD consistent with the description in this report. These changes will modify for all development in the district: a. the setbacks, b. the building form width requirements, and c. the roof requirement. 2. Accept an application by Mr. Gregory for text amendments to S-SMD consistent with the description in this report, but only for single and two-family homes for: a. the setbacks, b. the building form width requirement, and c. the roof requirement. 3. Direct staff to create a text amendment for a new Exception for a Minor Area Modification process to allow for minor deviations from the S-SMD requirements by Zoning Board of Adjustment approval. 4. Take no action on the request. 5. Defer action to a future Redirection Area Sub-Area Plan. STAFF COMMENTS: The S-SMD zoning district was created as part of an implementation of an area plan for the neighborhood. The unique requirements for the district are intended to help protect existing residential development while allowing for a gentle transition to a more dense and mixed-use neighborhood. The area is designated as a Redirection Area within Ames Plan 2040 and planned for an update of the overall sub-area plan of the neighborhood some time in the future. However, a sub-area plan is not a prioritized project at this time and the scope of review and standards has not been discussed. The building form requirements are intended to mimic the historic building form of the area. The intent was to prevent buildings from having massing that overwhelms the existing character. The setbacks are larger for corner lots assuming larger buildings would be built. The roof requirements are also intended to reference the historic residential character of the neighborhood. Solar panels are allowed regardless of the roof design features, but two dormers would be required per the requirements. Two dormers does not materially changes the ability to have solar with the proposed home concept and does break up the long roof surface of the structure From staff's review of the current standards and the attached home design concept there is not a compelling problem with the existing standards that preclude development of homes in this area. The proposed changes are preferences for different 3 standards that may or may not be significant to the area. City Council did not prioritize this area in the P&H workplan for review and a new sub- area plan at its last update earlier this year. If City Council allows for a text amendment process to proceed, it would need to identify if any outreach is needed beyond public hearing notification to all the property owners of the pending change. If outreach and engagement by staff is desired by the City Council, prioritizing such a process would be needed. ATTACHMENT(S): Attachment A - Text Amendment Request.pdf Attachment B - Proposed Site Plan.pdf Attachment C - Building Drawings.pdf 4 1 Hall, Renee From:Jim Gregory <jim.g@bikesatwork.com> Sent:Tuesday, May 13, 2025 10:42 AM To:City Council and Mayor Subject:South Lincoln Mixed-Use District text amendments request [External Email] We have lived and operated our small business in the South Lincoln neighborhood for 24 years. We would like to replace our exisƟng home with a new all-electric, energy-eﬃcient house, garage, and shop powered by solar panels. The buildings would be built along Universal Design principles to allow us to live out our remaining years in this highly walkable neighborhood. Current zoning regulaƟons, however, restrict our ability to build such a building on our lot. AŌer meeƟng with the Planning Department, we request four text amendments to make it easier to build on corner lots like ours in our neighborhood. The text amendments are necessary due to development paƩerns in our neighborhood since it was rezoned from Urban Core ResidenƟal Medium Density (UCRM) to the South Lincoln Sub Area MulƟ-Use District (S-SMD) in 2004. This zoning designaƟon was craŌed to encourage the area's development as a walkable, mixed-use neighborhood while sƟll retaining it's original character. When the district's development standards were draŌed, it was assumed that the long, narrow lots common in the neighborhood would be consolidated into larger lots, their buildings torn down, and larger buildings built upon them. For that reason, the S-SMD development standards treat primary facades (those adjacent to the front yard and facing a street) and secondary facades (the porƟon of a building adjacent to a side yard on a corner lot and facing a street) largely the same. It also imposes new regulaƟons, like a maximum facade width and a minimum recessed facade setback, so the new, (presumably) larger buildings would beƩer match the character of the exisƟng neighborhood. But other than the Bridge Home projects on S. Sherman Ave and the proposed PUD on S. 4th St, no new large buildings have been built on consolidated lots. Instead, most redevelopment has occurred as either inﬁll development or improvements to exisƟng buildings on single lots. These investments have made property owners of these lots less willing to combine their lots with adjacent lots and build larger buildings. This has created a problem for "orphaned" corner lot owners like us in the district. Under the neighborhood's previous UCRM zoning, redeveloping single corner lots would be completely feasible. The secondary facades setback under UCRM regulaƟons is much lower than than primary facades (15' vs 25'). There are also no restricƟons on secondary facade width, or depth and width of recessed facades. Under S-SMD regulaƟons, redeveloping these corner lots is much more diﬃcult. Most exisƟng corner lot buildings are not compliant with S-SMD because their secondary facade setbacks are too short. This makes improvements or addiƟons to the exisƟng buildings impracƟcal--any new addiƟons would require large oﬀsets from the exisƟng secondary facade to meet the S-SMD development standards. Tearing down and replacing the orphaned corner lot buildings is also impracƟcal because the setback requirements make the buildable area too small. One corner lot in the neighborhood is so narrow that a new two-story building under exisƟng S-SMD regulaƟons could be no wider than 9' and it's secondary facade no longer than 40'. On another lot, any new building could be no wider than 19'. 5 2 To make development on the remaining corner lots more pracƟcal, we recommend the following text amendments to the South Lincoln Mixed Use District zoning regulaƟons: 1. Add "15 Ō. for side lot line abuƫng public right-of-way on a corner lot" under "Minimum Building Setbacks - Side Lot Line" in Table 29.1003(3). This change is copied from the original UCRM regulaƟons. Note that this would only eﬀect corner properƟes on S. 2nd St and S. 4th St in the neighborhood, as properƟes bordering the north and south sides of S. 3rd St are already subject to a 10' and 15' build-to line, respecƟvely. 2. Change Sec. 29.402(4) from: "Through Lots and Corner Lots. On through lots, and corner lots with two or more abuƫng streets, except lots within the RL, RM, and UCRM Zoning Districts, the required front setback shall be provided on all streets." to: "Through Lots and Corner Lots. On through lots, and corner lots with two or more abuƫng streets, except lots within the RL, RM, UCRM, and S-SMD Zoning Districts, the required front setback shall be provided on all streets." This change is necessary to allow the ﬁrst text amendment to take eﬀect. 2. Change the "Building Form - Width" secƟon in table Table 29.1003(3) from: "Width of a primary facade shall be no greater than 40 Ō. Width of the secondary facade(s) closest to the street shall be no greater than 40 Ō. Recessed facades must be set back at least 8 feet from the primary or secondary facade. A second primary facade or secondary facade is permiƩed but must be separated from other primary or secondary facades along that building face by a recessed facade of at least 24 Ō. in length." to: "Width of a primary facade shall be no greater than 40 Ō. Width of the secondary facade(s) closest to the street shall be no greater than 48 Ō. Recessed facades must be set back at least 8 feet from the primary facade. A second primary facade or secondary facade is permiƩed but must be separated from other primary or secondary facades along that building face by a recessed facade of at least 24 Ō. in length." Adding 8' to the secondary facade length makes it possible to add a main-level bedroom to an exisƟng building. Removing the secondary facade setback distance makes it possible to add an aƩached garage. 3. Remove the porƟon of secƟon "Building Form - Roofs " in Table 29.1003(3) that reads "All buildings shall have roofs with at least one or more gable end secƟons, or at least two or more dormers, facing a street." This eliminates the need to add a dormer or gable to a secondary facade, a feature rarely found in the original neighborhood's buildings, opƟmizing roof space for solar panels. These suggested amendments will encourage further development in the neighborhood without compromising its character. We urge their adopƟon. Jim Gregory and Joan Stein 129 Washington Ave Ames, IA 50010 6 3 -Jim -- Jim Gregory Bikes At Work Inc. www.bikesatwork.com 129 Washington Ave, Ames, IA 50010 515-233-6120 ~ sent from my pedal-powered computer (www.pedalpc.com) ~ 7 8 ATTACHMENT C Building Elevations & Perspective Drawings View from Washington Avenue (Facing West) View from the North (Facing South) 9 View from S. 2nd Street (Facing North) View from the Alley (Facing East) 10