Local residents continued to express concerns over the new Plan ELC Zoning regulations during the commercial zoning workshop held Thursday evening.
Amongst the concerns raised regarding potential changes through the new regulations were fears of a potential reduction of parking in downtown Emporia, specifically Commerical Street. Lyon County Zoning and Floodplain Manager Sam Seeley and City Zoning Specialist Joe Foster both expressed the regulations would never lead to a reduction of any kind in the Emporia community.
Seeley says if anything they would simply relocate and expand parking to a less congested area in order to provide a more “pedestrian area” in downtown.
Seeley adds, there appears to be a common misconception that the new regulations would essentially lead to major changes of existing structures or businesses. He says this is simply not the case as the regulations would only apply to new developments and not pre-existing ones.
Furthermore, Foster explains the new regulations are more focused on form rather than fit. Essentially this means the new zoning standards would accommodate existing structures and not hinder them as they look to ensure that any new business or development would aesthetically blend in with the pre-established landscape.
He says this differs greatly from their current land-based system.
Seeley also tells KVOE News not only will the new regulations take this approach, but they will also reduce the number of zoning designations in commercial areas significantly. The regulations will then impose a series of new designations including flex high, flex low, commercial, agriculture, public, green space, residential and mixed-use.
The zoning workshops will now take a week off before the final workshop which will be held on Thursday, Dec. 5 from 6-8 pm inside City Conference Room 1AB at White Auditorium. That meeting will focus on residential zoning.
For more information, visit www.lyoncounty.org and click on the Planning and Zoning link under the government drop-down tab. You can also find Lyon County KS Planning/Zoning and Floodplain Management on Facebook.
