August 29 – SUPERIOR – The Planning Commission began rewriting the city’s zoning code on August 21.
As a municipality in Wisconsin, the city is required to have a zoning ordinance to guide and regulate development in the community.
“The form, context and how regulatory that is, is up to you as a community,” says Stephanie Falkers of SRF Consulting.
Falkers served as an advisor on the development of the city’s Comprehensive Plan 2040. The plan was adopted in 2022 and will serve as a guideline for rewriting the zoning plan regulations.
“There are some good things about going through this process of ordinance updates,” Falkers said. “… In essence, it’s our opportunity to implement the goals of the comprehensive plan. We’ve gone through that process. We’ve established new goals for the community. We’ve engaged the community. The zoning ordinance is our primary regulatory tool for implementing the goals of the comprehensive plan.”
The consultant said the process also allows the city to respond to changing development trends and needs, and ensures that rules and regulations are aligned with community goals.
“Zoning is a scary word for a lot of people … because it’s rules, it’s regulation,” Falkers said. “It’s hard for a lot of people to understand, so this is an opportunity to educate.”
During the founding meeting, the commissioners shared their goals for the city’s new zoning plans.
Commissioner Lindsey Graskey said she would like to gain insight into the changes to the city’s entrance as the Blatnik Bridge is rebuilt.
Plans for the bridge project include the Superior interchange from Hammond Avenue to State Highway 53. The change would eliminate access to Highway 53 at Grand, Clough and Catlin Avenues, and access to Hammond and Tower Avenues would be via a roundabout at the main bridge structure.
“On paper it looks very intense, but I want us to try to reflect that or adapt that, bring that to life a bit more and get out into the city so that people aren’t held back by that change,” Graskey said.
Commissioner Garner Moffat said he is a “very strong supporter of form-based codes” and would like to see the use of standardized smart code language to make the regulations easier for developers to understand. However, he also said he would like to see stronger neighborhood identities emerge as a result of the changes.
Moffat said area plans could be useful for areas such as the Blatnik Bridge as an access route into the city.
“I’m nervous about rezoning the entire city at once,” Moffat said. He suggested going into neighborhoods and working on the zoning in each neighborhood.
Commissioner Brian Finstad agreed that focusing on one area of the city at a time would make the task less daunting and less likely to lead to rash decisions.
Commissioner Ann Porter said Superior’s abundance of wetlands requires consideration of wetland maps, as wetlands can make it more difficult and expensive to develop property.
Mayor Jim Paine said one of his top priorities is to “eliminate segregation.” Superior’s current zoning code separates the types of uses allowed in each zoning district.
“I’ve never agreed with the concept that you live in one neighborhood, work in another and shop in a third,” he said. “That’s what differentiates cities … every neighborhood should have parks and businesses and places to work, and you should be able to shop, buy food, go to church, take a kid to school.”
Falkers said the committee will spend the rest of the year focusing on the existing code and what works, and will examine the character and context of the neighborhood to establish the framework for the zoning code update.
The plans include an online survey, neighborhood walks, focus groups and tactics to gather public input, as well as four additional meetings with the Planning Commission.
Once a draft is ready, the public will be invited to comment on the changes. The goal is to have a final version ready in about a year.
“We want to make sure we go deep and understand the bigger picture that we’re trying to paint,” Falkers said.
