Mixing residential, commercial and office space, next to each other and even vertically in the same multi-story buildings, is now a permanent option for land use in Pima County.

The new ordinance takes effect Aug. 21. It was approved last month by the Board of Supervisors.

It is the first step toward what Arlen Colton, Pima County’s director of planning, foresees as broad-based policy of moving away from the traditional suburban community model. The new ordinance n 2006-45, amending Chapter 18.51 of the code for CI-1 light industrial/warehouse zoning n allows between 20 percent and 50 percent of any commercial development to be dedicated to residential use, by waiving existing buffering and screening requirements for adjacent housing.

Print this story Email this story Post a Comment ADVERTISEMENT

“We want to follow the more enlightened communities that want to move away from single-use zoning that forces people to get into their cars for anything at all,” Colton said. “This is our chance to at least offer options for something different.”

The guidelines move beyond the usual zoning variance request. They were prompted by the zoning application for Passages of Tucson, a planned multi-use commercial and office center to be constructed on unimproved industrial property east of Vail, north of Interstate 10 and State Route 83.

“I feel like it’s important to make this a rule rather than an exception because this is the way be need to be growing if we’re going to grow smart,” Colton said.

Beyond the change to the light industrial zoning rules, he said the next step will be revising the commercial code, too.

“We’ve been looking for ways to integrate smart growth into traditional zoning code because what we have now is bad for the environment and bad for the community,” Colton said.

As more commercial property is acquired and down-zoned for residential use, Colton said the distances between residential and commercial developments are being exaggerated.

“The saying is that retail follows rooftops, but available land for retail is moving farther and farther away from the rooftops they’re supposed to serve. This makes for bad growth by creating problems with traffic, emission and time wasted,” he said.

Under the new commercial code that will be presented to the board of supervisors later this year, commercial property down-zoning will not only permit mixed commercial and residential use, it will require it.

“The way it works is we’re adding a use, but taking one away,” Colton said. “If you’re developing the property, it will either be all commercial or commercial and residential. Entirely residential development on commercial land won’t be allowed.”

Sonoran Institute spokeswoman Wendy Erica Werden said, “I think anything that takes us back to traditional neighborhoods is a good concept.”

Noting that higher fuel prices and increasing commute times are already burdening families, she said, “being able to walk to the store or even to work can improve people’s quality of life and that should be a welcome option.”

The City of Tucson is moving forward with its own plan for including mixed use in its zoning code. Planning Administrator Jim Mazzocco said city’s version is being reviewed by the Planning Commission’s infill subcommittee. Rather than setting a standard for large-scale projects in new subdivisions, the city’s mixed-use zoning will focus on introducing mixed-use projects to neighborhoods and arterial streets.

“What we’re looking at is a kind of flexible zoning district,” Mazzocco said, that would allow for two- and three-story buildings and pedestrian-friendly sidewalk storefronts, with parking at the side or rear of the structure. It would also incorporate standards for buffers and screening to permit construction of small-scale mixed-use adjacent to existing single family residential homes.

He said he expects a draft ordinance to go to the Planning Commission and City Council in October.

E-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com. Contact Philip S. Moore by e-mail at pmoore@azbiz.com or call

(520) 295-4238.

E-mail comments for publication to editor@azbiz.com. Contact Philip S. Moore by e-mail at pmoore@azbiz.com or call (520) 295-4238.

© 2006 Inside Tucson Business. All Rights Reserved