City Council Meeting with Planning Commission on Zoning

The Falls Church City Council will meet in joint session with the City Planning Commission Monday, Sept. 21 to discuss the ongoing rewrite of the City’s zoning code.  The two bodies will start by hearing from the Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee.  

The City’s effort to update its zoning code started in 2007 with input from the consulting firm Clarion Associates on a comprehensive review, update, and rewrite of the City’s zoning ordinance.

The City website states that ”while parts of the City’s 1950′s era suburban-type zoning ordinance were updated over the years, it needs to be comprehensively updated and rewritten to work better for a City that is built-out, urbanizing, and redeveloping. The revisions are intended to make the City’s zoning ordinance more clear, concise, current, creative, flexible, and comprehensive.”

Recently, the construction of homes on smaller-than-standard lots has received criticism from a number of parties in the City, giving more impetus to complete the zoning rewrite. 

The Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee (ZOAC), according tothe City website, “was created to provide citizen oversight of the City’s effort.”  The ZOAC will meet monthly through the end of 2009.

The City plans to release a final draft of the revised zoning code this year for public comment.

Additional information on the zoning code rewrite is available on the City website.

Following discussion of the zoning code, the City Council will discuss an amendment to the City towing ordinance, prompted by recent complaints of  ”predatory towing.”

The joint City Council-Planning Commission meeting begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Training Room, Level G, City Hall.  City Council meetings are rebroadcast on Fridays starting at noon on RCN Cable Channel (2), Cox Cable Channel (12) and Verizon Cable Channel (35).