CEDAR RAPIDS — City officials in Cedar Rapids are seeking public input as they prepare to update the zoning code.
The effort is being called Rezone Cedar Rapids, and people can provide feedback online at www.cityofcr.com/rezone.
The Rezone initiative aims to overhaul the rules for how land can be used and developed, what can be built where, how buildings are used and how they look.
The website includes a short visual preference survey with choices about aesthetics, development opportunities, neighborhood characteristics and how the public right of way surrounding buildings is used.
Identifying unique characteristics of different neighborhoods and parts of town, and deciding how those areas should function, look and how people move about them are key aspects of the effort.
As part of the initiative, the city is to consider moving from a traditional zoning model, in which uses such as residential and commercial are separated, to a “form-based zoning code,” which focuses more on how buildings interact with the street and each other.
People can provide feedback over the next year. Officials hope to adopt a new code in fall 2017.