Council holds visioning workshop on land‑development tools; staff asked to scope top priorities

Planning Director Paul Anthony briefed the council on a visioning workshop March 16 that sought local priorities for changes to land‑development regulations. "Today is really more of a visioning session," Anthony said, listing five areas staff wanted council feedback on: adjustments to the 2‑for‑1 workforce housing bonus, third‑story stepbacks, limits or caps on short‑term rentals, basement regulation changes and a comprehensive design‑guideline update planned for FY27.

Amy Kushak of the Jackson Poll Conservation Alliance urged the council to require community benefits for large projects and to use regulations and incentives to support small, locally owned businesses and workforce housing. "If we want different outcomes, our land‑development regulations need to reflect that," Kushak said during public comment.

Councilors debated multiple tools and tradeoffs. Proposals included breaking large downtown projects into separate buildings to preserve daylight and views; limiting lot aggregation; treating new hotels or condo‑hotels as conditional uses; protecting small businesses by requiring replacement of lost service spaces when redeveloping; and creating incentives for green building and arts spaces. Several councilors urged staff to examine nonconforming‑use rules and consider ways to reduce the economic pressure to tear down older buildings.

Anthony said some tactical items are already on staff’s FY26 work plan and that planning staff would return with scoping, timelines and possible draft amendments. Council members asked staff to prioritize items that can reasonably be completed this fiscal year and to identify which issues require longer, comprehensive planning work.

The session produced no formal votes; staff were asked to summarize top two priorities for inclusion in FY26 or FY27 work plans and to bring written options back to council and the planning commission.