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Greenville Development Code
Council Approves Development Code Rewrite
In February 2021, Greenville City Council adopted the GVL2040 Comprehensive Plan. The long-range plan includes recommendations on future land use with a focus on neighborhood preservation, affordable housing, mobility, open spaces and economic development.
The City’s current development code is incompatible with those recommendations, so in June 2021, Council approved the contract to revise the City’s development code.
Phase 1: analysis and diagnosis
Through Fall 2021
The first phase is focused on understanding the city's development rules and processes, assessing what is working and what is not and landing on a proposed approach for writing a new development code.
City Council received an assessment of the existing development review and permitting system in September 2021. September 13, 2021 City Council Work Session (PDF)
phase 2: drafting the new development code
winter 2021 to spring 2022
This phase involves drafting the new development code and using small area development plans to test key parts of the code to make sure it works for specific community requirements while aligning with the aim of GVL2040.
phase 3: revisions and adoption
summer to winter 2022
The draft development code will be shared with the community, feedback will lead to adjustments along the way and the code will be considered for adoption.
The formal adoption process will involve public hearings and official votes by the Planning Commission and the City Council in the fall of 2022 with final adoption expected by the end of 2022.
- What is a development code?
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A development code regulates construction and building projects.
This may include new construction, substantial rehabilitation or renovation to existing properties, or any significant changes to any individual property. Among other things, it can regulate building height, distance between a building and its property line, property use and housing density.
A development code almost always includes a section specifically about zoning, which establishes different development rules for different parts of the community.
- Why is the city’s development code being updated?
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As the community’s goals evolve over time, its development code also should change. The City of Greenville rewrote its comprehensive plan in 2019 and 2020. This new plan, GVL2040, includes ambitious goals for Greenville. Now the accompanying development code can be updated, to help bring the GVL2040 goals to fruition.
- What can (and can't) the development code do?
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Development codes generally govern the use of a property and the physical characteristics of what is on that property. But there are many things about the property that cannot be regulated in the development code. For example, the development code cannot govern who owns a property or who lives in a house or apartment.
- Who is rewriting the development code, and how are they doing it?
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The City has hired a team of consultants led by czbLLC, who also helped the City with GVL2040. The consultants will draft the new development code based on a variety of inputs, including the goals of GVL2040, and feedback from:
- Developers, builders, and business owners who are regulated by the code
- Neighborhood residents and representatives who live with the long-term results of development and redevelopment
- City staff who must implement the code
City Council will ultimately approve the new code, and public hearings will be held before the Council can take a vote.