Montpelier residents should be aware that the city council is holding another hearing on the proposed new zoning at its Wednesday meeting, which begins at 6:30 pm. The hearing will be focused on Part 2 of the zoning, the section that deals with districts, district uses and density (design review was covered last week and will not be discussed this week). The proposal is the result of many years of hard work by the Planning Commission, but it is long and complex and deserves citizen scrutiny.

One part of the proposal worth paying attention to is the new Mixed Use Residential (MUR) district, which would allow professional offices and some other commercial uses in neighborhoods that are now purely residential. These include St. Paul St., lower Liberty St., the Franklin St. area, a section of College St., and Bailey Ave. north of Terrace St. While MUR may be appropriate in some other areas in the city where there is already a commercial presence, several of us feel MUR is not appropriate in residential areas where we are trying to protect the character of the neighborhoods and prevent the loss of housing options.

There are also big changes proposed when it comes to density of districts. Low Density Residential (which includes Towne Hill) would have its density increase from 1 unit per acre to one 1 unit per one-fifth of an acre (that's more dense than the current Medium Density Residential density standard). In HIgh Density Residential, unit density is being decreased from 1 unit per 1,500 sq. feet to 1 unit per 3,000 sq. I believe that, in general, density should be increased in and close to downtown (such as in HDR), but that changes in the outer neighborhoods (such as MDR and LDR) should be less drastic than proposed.

If you have opinion or want to learn more, consider attending the council's Wednesday, June 15 meeting. If you would rather share an opinion with the council and mayor by e-mail, you can find e-mail addresses and phone numbers on the city's website.

Jan 13, 2025, 12 to 12:45 PM

Jan 13, 2025, 5 to 8 PM

Jan 17, 2025, 6 to 9 PM