Comprehensive Plan - Draft Changes
Comprehensive Plan - Draft Changes
First, thank you! This page is made available to assist you in performing a streamlined review of the proposed mixed use related changes in the City’s Comprehensive Plan. We appreciate your willingness to visit, and to take the time to review material. We also appreciate any feedback you may have.
The City of Meridian Comprehensive Plan is the City’s vision and guide for the future. Adopted by the Meridian City Council in 2019, it is a long-term policy document for the community with guiding visions and policies relating to new development, redevelopment, city programs, and services. This page is dedicated to draft changes.
Mixed Use Changes
Areas designated as Mixed Use in Meridian’s Comprehensive Plan are critical in providing opportunities for goods and services to Meridian residents and stakeholders. They are intended to offer more housing choice and more access to common services closer to homes. Mixed Use areas should be designed as open, integrated, and safe, and be of reduced impact on the community from otherwise distinct and segregated land use types.
These areas are not intended only for large box stores, multi-family, multi-story office parks, or drive-throughs on major roadways. In fact, and as a whole, these uses are less important for Meridian residents living in these areas and close by, than opportunities for convenient access to other goods and services such as daycares, gyms, martial arts, professional offices, bistros, and other desired routine services. Having a diversity of uses is intended to reduce long-distance trips for neighborhood and community residents, and to provide opportunities for social experiences in plazas, parks, and on pathways with friends, families, and colleagues where greater time can be spent in these areas.
In summary, mixed use areas are intended to be healthy, enjoyable communities with balanced benefits and impacts to the community.
Note: the draft revisions to Mixed Use designations are not intended to modify the vision of the plan. These changes are intended to better communicate the needs and expectations of the Comprehensive Plan, and to improve and streamline the review of development related activity.
These changes do not:
- exclude or restrict allowed uses (they do seek a greater variety of uses);
- include changes to the Future Land Use Map; or
- revise the range of residential densities currently allowed.
Context for Draft Changes
Purpose: To ensure that mixed use areas are supporting the City in providing a healthy balance of dynamic services, shopping, and diversified housing within desirable destination centers. Proposed mixed use text changes are intended to improve project design consistency, clarify expectations, reduce risk through entitlement, and to ensure a more transparent development review process.
Need: The City of Meridian needs sustainable developments that are vibrant through a variety of economic conditions and market trends. Most of the remaining undeveloped areas of the City are not planned for traditional, discrete commercial of office uses, but instead many carry Mixed Use designations. All of the City’s future “commercial” services are intended to occur in these mixed use areas. Changes to the existing Mixed Use text are essential to ensure that new developments are providing thoughtful and intentional live-work-play opportunities for residents and stakeholders (now or later), and that reduce the need for local trips by supporting jobs, services, and activities closer to home.
Review and Comment
We have prepared a series of surveys, separated into sections, to allow for review in pieces. Each section contains two questions, one multiple choice and one open ended response. These are the same questions for each section; if you wish to comment on all sections without completing the individual surveys, see the contact section below and send an email.
Please review the draft revisions for each section prior to completing the survey. For a complete document with all changes, see the Complete Changes section below. If you have difficulties viewing changes in the Word version of files, save them first.
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Survey Links by Section |
Revisions by Section |
Note: All changes are shown in Strike through (remove), and Underline (add) format. Text without these formatting elements are existing unless otherwise noted.
Complete Changes
The following complete list of changes is made available for those wishing to make a more comprehensive review.
For more detailed comments or to discuss revisions, please reach out to Brian McClure at 208-884-5533 or bmcclure@meridiancity.org
Development of Performance Standards
The methodology for the performance standard changes (generally the coverage requirements for land use types) are based on constraints in the actual data itself, and in examining variations for theoretical project ranges by City Staff.
Existing constraints include the existing residential minimums, the remaining areas (from 100%), and how that could be split among other land use needs. Generally smaller and less dense mixed use designations intended for neighborhoods had higher requirements for residential coverage (with less density), and more non-retail commercial, where larger projects more attractive for regional uses, have more retail and less residential coverage (densities may be high). Another critical factor here are the additional allowances for increased retail or residential, and other criteria such as public uses, constrained to 100% coverage area. The emphasis with scenario modeling was ensuring realistic preservation of the products often missed but needed by the community, regardless of whether it happens right away or waits until rooftops are there to support. Finally, variations in hypothetical projects were reviewed to understand the range of flexibility to ensure opportunities for market influence, while still preserving spaces required for healthy neighborhoods, healthy roads, and a healthy city.