Updates to Pulaski County’s Unified Development Ordinance were finalized by the county commissioners Monday.
Community Development Commission Executive Director Nathan Origer explained the goal is to make continuous improvements to keep the ordinance up-to-date. “We’ve made changes the last two years,” he explained. “I don’t think you’re going to see us coming back every year now. We’re going for, maybe, every two to three years, so that it doesn’t get to be such a process that nobody can keep up with it. But we had enough changes through the course of the year we saw, between keeping up with new trends and seeing the same requests for the same variances from the board of zoning appeals, that we thought maybe we should look into this a little bit more closely.”
Some of those changes include the addition of guidelines for breweries, distilleries, and wineries. Specifications were also put in place for short-term rentals, such as those using AirBnb.
A section dealing with urban agriculture was also added, allowing for non-profit community gardens, as well as indoor and outdoor urban farms. Other changes allow for the possibility of minor manufacturing in the A-1 district, and update some of the standards for campgrounds and RV parks.
The updated ordinance also corrects some errors in the county’s zoning map, in the area of State Road 14 and County Road 600 West in Jefferson Township. Specifically, a parcel owned by Carol Gutwein was changed from A-2 to A-1, while a new parcel was created out of land owned by Roger Ward, and rezoned from A-1 to A-2.
Origer said the change would keep any future developments away from the highway, as well as neighbors’ properties. “I know he’s talked about some potential development, but last I had spoken to Roger he did not have any firm plans,” Origer explained. “But he wanted to be able to have the flexibility without running afoul of the ordinance.”
The Pulaski County Commissioners unanimously approved the changes to the Unified Development Ordinance. The updates take effect January 1.
