CNU launches codes project

Thousands of local codes nationwide prohibit small lots and blocks, narrow streets, shallow setbacks, a mixture of uses, and other elements of pedestrian-scale neighborhoods. This reality makes it difficult for new urbanist developments to gain entitlement and raises their cost and risk. In response, the Congress for the New Urbanism launched a project designed to help communities understand and approve new urbanist codes. Ellen Greenberg, CNU director of policy and research, is managing the project. Two books — one for a general audience and the other for practitioners — are planned, according to Rick Bernhardt, a CNU member involved in the project and director of the Metropolitan Planning Department in Nashville. The first will be a new urbanist code “primer” describing the impact that zoning can have on a community and the difference between conventional and new urbanist codes. It will also have a “how to” section. The second book (probably accompanied by a compact disk) will be more comprehensive and detailed and also include numerous specific codes of various types, Bernhardt says. The codes project may have a third component that examines and explains internal project-specific codes (e.g., the urban and architectural codes governing Seaside, Florida), Bernhardt says. CNU rejected the idea of creating a single model code, Bernhardt says. Each code should be tailored to the specific needs and characteristics of an individual community — therefore a model code might do more harm than good if municipalities adopt it without revisions, he explains. The code project is designed to give officials and citizens the examples and understanding necessary to create their own ordinances. As many as 15 CNU members will be volunteering their time on this project, Bernhardt says. As of mid-June, the CNU did not have funding for editing and publishing the books. A foundation grant is being sought. The preliminary timetable calls for completion of a draft of the first book by the end of 2001.