Fairfield council to take up zoning reforms

FAIRFIELD — The Fairfield City Council is about to take up a few ordinances designed to make it easier to build homes in the city.

At the council’s next meeting on Aug. 22, it will hear the first reading of a set of ordinances dealing with zoning setbacks and non-conforming lots and uses. Fairfield City Administrator Aaron Kooiker said the proposed changes to the ordinances will give property owners greater flexibility by reducing restrictions on newly built homes, or additions to existing homes.

“We want to take some of these lots in town that are difficult to build on and make them easier to build on,” Kooiker said.

Fairfield City Engineer and Public Works Director Melanie Carlson said one of the changes relates to minimum setbacks from the street. For instance, if there is an empty lot on a street that is otherwise full of houses, the empty lot will have the same setback as the rest of the houses on the street.

Carlson said one point of emphasis in the proposed code is making it easier to build on corner lots, which have special restrictions. Current code requires homes on corner lots to essentially have “two front yards,” and this limits where homes can be placed on the lots. Carlson said the proposed changes will remove that requirement in some parts of the city.

“There will still be some restrictions, but it won’t be as restrictive as before,” Carlson said. “We’re hoping this will allow someone to build on some of the empty corner lots we have in town.”

Another change relates to restrictions surrounding building a new home on a lot that previously had a home. Carlson said the changes will make it easier for property owners to rebuild without so many restrictions on the footprint of the new house.

“I’ve heard people complain that they don’t want to tear down a house that’s in bad shape because the current code won’t let them rebuild on the lot,” she said.

Carlson said she and the council have wanted to bring up these proposed changes for a few years. The city’s economic development committee had this on its agenda in late 2019, but after the pandemic hit in 2020, the city stopped having public meetings, and the issue was put on the back burner.

“Our code was written in 1982, and was designed to make sure everyone had a yard and a backyard,” Carlson said. “That’s not the way cities are now. Some areas are more dense, and people want to live that way. We’re in an economic time where people want to fix up what they have rather than build on the edge of town, and our code needs to be updated to reflect that process. I think this is what citizens want to see.”

Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com