[Massplanners] budget for a zoning rewrite? sample rfps?

[robert leavens]

Erika and All,

Before I retired from the Town of Dracut, we had just finished the master
plan and were looking forward to starting to make significant amendments
(ie. an overhaul)  to the Dracut Zoning Bylaw. I received estimates from
$75k to $125k for revamping the zoning.  A lot of Dracut's zoning bylaw was
that it was not well organized and specifically did not comply with MGL,
particularly 40A, Section 3.  We talked about amending in phases vs. the
whole bylaw at once, as the latter can be very controversial.  If changes
are made to use and density and dimensional tables, in particular, it can
get very contentious on the town meeting floor.  One of the keys is to have
public sessions to educate the public as much as possible.  Yes, the public
likely will be a minimal crew, but you can bet the development community
will be there!

The other issue we discussed is having a team approach to overhauling the
zoning.  Planners to work on the text, attorneys to work on the legal end
and specialists to address specific areas of the zoning bylaw.  In Dracut
we discussed having our transportation consultant advise on the parking
bylaw and link the parking bylaw to the Institute of Transportation
Engineers (ITE) or another professional group.  The parking bylaw made
little sense to any of us in town hall.  With more and more drive-thrus,
there is less need for parking spaces. Next time you drive by a Dunkin'
Donuts, you'll see the point!   Also, with more and more housing within a
walk to a transit station, with Uber available and other transportation
options, parking space requirements have been eliminated in some
communities.  I know when I worked in Winchester, which has two train
stations within an easy walk to downtown, we were considering eliminating
the two space requirement for residential uses.  Clearly there needs to be
a clause in the parking requirements that addresses the location and
proximity to public transit.

Sign bylaws have always been a headache and some businesses are at the
mercy of their landlords, who want to give more benefit (and bigger signs)
to their biggest tenants.  Again, a traffic consultant may be helpful as
there are studies on sign size and travel speeds and what one
can actually read traveling at 60+ MPH.  The goal is to be fair and
reasonable in the options for signs, while not impeding the visibility to
the road.

Erica, best wishes in getting Billerica's bylaw funded, finding several
good consultants and working with the community to getting the bylaw
amended.

Hope this information has been helpful.

Betsy Ware
Planning Consultant

On Tue, Aug 9, 2022 at 10:32 AM Erika Jerram via MassPlanners <
massplanners at masscptc.org> wrote:

> Hi all – I was wondering if anyone could share RFPs and or order of
> magnitude cost information for a consultant to do a complete zoning
> overhaul.  Our zoning is outdated and needs a thorough review.
>
> Thank you in advance for your thoughts.
>
> E
>
>
>
> Erika Oliver Jerram | AICP
>
> Director of Planning and Community Development
>
> Town of Billerica
>
> Office:  978.671.0962
>
> Cell:  781.879.8026
>
> www.town.billerica.ma.us
>
>
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