Tipp City is initiating a comprehensive update to the Tipp City Zoning Code, Subdivision Code, and Restoration District Guidelines; the first comprehensive update since 1993.To assist in this process, the city has hired a consulting team led by Wendy Moeller, AICP, of Compass Point Planning in Cincinnati.  Ms. Moeller will have assistance from the rest of the team that includes Chris Papakirk, ASLA, of TOPOS Studio, a landscape architect and planner with expertise in urban design, and Tom Breidenstein, AICP, an attorney from the Law Offices of Thomas W. Bosse, who will provide legal review and assistance.

The general purpose for updating the codes and guidelines is to streamline the regulations and make them easier for residents and businesses to understand while also modernizing the regulations to include some of today's best practices in zoning and subdivision standards.  Additional goals for the project will be identified during the initial task of the project as city staff and the consultants work with interested parties, residents and business owners to determine what they would like to see in the new regulations.  The city anticipates that the process will take approximately one year to complete and it will include an extensive program of public outreach that will include a review committee, public meetings to engage all of the citizens of the city, public meetings with the various boards at the city (e.g., City Council, the Planning Board, the BZA, and the Restoration Board), interviews with stakeholder groups (e.g., neighborhood associations, business owners, commercial developers, etc.), in addition to updates through this newsletter, postings to a web page the city has established for the project at www.tippcityohio.gov/CodeUpdate.cfm, email blasts, and postings at social network sites such as Facebook.  The city wants to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to provide input into the update of the codes that will carry the city forward for the next ten to twenty years.  Additional information and dates on forthcoming meetings will be made available in late December or early January as the initial meetings are scheduled.

As stated earlier, the process to update the codes and guidelines should take approximately one year and is divided into four main tasks. Task 1 is the Project Initiation Task and began with the signing of the contract. This task will include initial meetings with various groups to define the process and identify initial goals for the update. Task 2 is the Evaluation Task and will involve the consulting team reviewing the existing codes in great detail and preparing an evaluation report that will identify key issues or problems with the existing regulations, propose solutions to address the issues, diagnosis the existing codes on a section-by-section basis, and suggest an outline for the new codes and guidelines.  Task 2 will end with the distribution of the report to the public well in advance of a major public meeting where the city and the consulting team will be looking for feedback on the proposed direction of the new codes and guidelines.  The city anticipates that the public meeting at the end of Task 2 will take place in late March or early April. Task 3 is Drafting Task where the consulting team will draft the new regulations in sections for review and feedback from the review committee, city boards, and the public. This task will take place throughout the summer and early fall of 2012 with a target completion date of October 2012.  Task 4 is the Adoption Task and involves the public hearings required to adopt the new codes and guidelines, which should take place after December 2012.

Please continue to monitor the city's website, this newsletter, and other sources of information for more details on this process as we move forward. If you have any comments on the process, or want to be on the email distribution list, please forward them to Matt Spring at springm@tippcity.net or at 937-506-3172.