Commission withdraws code amendment as staff advances Unified Development Code rewrite

At the Nov. 20, 2025 meeting the Josephine Planning and Zoning Commission approved staff’s request to withdraw a proposed code amendment (case CLCA250002A) that would have allowed preliminary engineering to be accepted at the time of preliminary plat for all development types.

City Planner Miguel explained that, after consulting the city engineer and given upcoming work to create an entirely new development code (UDC), the amendment would duplicate future efforts and is better handled as part of the comprehensive rewrite. Miguel said the project team expects to kick off the UDC in December, aim to publish materials for review in January, and try to wrap consultant work by March because the assigned consultant is retiring.

Miguel clarified that projects already submitted or vested under current regulations will continue to be reviewed and acted on under existing standards; he cited the Exxon Sonic site plan as an example of an application expected to be considered under the current code and offered to provide a briefing on that project before the next meeting. A motion to withdraw case CLCA250002A was made, seconded and adopted by the commission.

Commissioners asked when the new code would be ready and whether ongoing site plans would be affected; Miguel replied that nothing ongoing will stop and that submissions up to the date the council adopts a new code will be vested under old rules. Staff said the next meeting will likely include multiple plats, the Exxon Sonic site plan and one or two zoning cases, and that plats must be acted on at that meeting to avoid automatic approvals.