[Source: Tom Beal, Arizona Daily Star] -- The city of Tucson wants to give urban neighborhoods a chance to create their own zoning rules — a tool it hopes will protect the character of residential areas as it tries to repopulate and redevelop older parts of town. Critics say any additional layer of regulation would thwart the city's professed desire to fill in vacant and underdeveloped areas by driving builders from the city. They warn that with the recent passage of Proposition 207, property owners can claim a monetary loss from new zoning that limits development. The Neighborhood Preservation Zone would allow areas with a common style of development, or those threatened by what they consider inappropriate development, to create a plan for ensuring neighborhood compatibility that has the force of zoning law.A land-use code amendment allowing the zones is set for a public hearing before the city's Planning Commission on Feb. 7. The first zone attempted under the ordinance is expected to be in the Jefferson Park Neighborhood, north of the University of Arizona, where an invasion of student-packed housing on residential streets provided the impetus for a re-examination of neighborhood planning. Citing the city's inability to prevent "minidorms" — along with its plans to lure apartments, condominiums, and mixed-use developments to the transportation corridors that border older residential areas — a group of neighborhood leaders formed the Neighborhood Infill Coalition and lobbied the City Council and the Department of Urban Planning and Design for protection.
[Note: To read the full article, click here. Photo by Jerry Peek.]
