Buffalo, New York‘s 62-year-old City Code is getting a dramatic overhaul.
The Brown administration on Thursday will present to the Common Council a new code – and this one runs just 322 pages, with plainer language and easy-to-understand graphics.
“It’s the DNA for the entire city,” said Brendan Mehaffy, who heads the city’s Office of Strategic Planning.
Called the Green Code – its formal name is the Unified Development Ordinance – the document was written to bring direction, uniformity, clarity and simplicity to zoning and land planning for the city’s 94,000 parcels in 24 neighborhoods, districts and corridors.
“Every square inch of this city is addressed by what we are putting in front of the Council,” Mehaffy said.
The Green Code would also overhaul the city’s land use plans for the first time since 1977.
It incorporates the University at Buffalo’s 20/20 Plan, Buffalo State College’s Master Plan and the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority’s most-recent analysis of bus routes.
Updates to planning documents for brownfields, vacant parcels and the waterfront also add to the project’s complexity.
[Photo credit: Storm Cunningham]