So this has been a long process to get us here, but I'm very excited about what we're doing tonight.

As we all know, we're getting through the land use code update, and it's been right about 40 years since the last time it's happened, so we're very excited to try to get this one passed.

And ideally, it's not another 40 years to be through this again.

But everyone knows the reason we're here tonight.

Uh it's a joint work session between City Council and our planning commission.

We have a few, we have one agenda item, but a couple of things within that agenda item.

Just a few things before we get started, because we're gonna get right into the presentation.

It's a big room here.

Uh there's 13 of us here tonight.

I think Chair Thomas.

So we actually speak loud.

I could try to speak louder.

Okay, I'll do that.

I could also just hold this.

Well, that doesn't do anything in here.

Yeah, uh, I'll speak loud.

There's a lot of us here tonight.

So there's a few things we want to make clear.

First and foremost, we're not voting tonight.

This is not a city council meeting or planning commission meeting.

There's no vote to be taken tonight.

Uh we're working, this is a work session.

We're trying to get through a couple things tonight.

The other things are because there are a lot of us, uh, we want to make sure we don't start speaking over each other.

There is natural stopping points in the presentation, but really uh what we want to make sure is when we start discussing things, let's be very respectful of one another.

Let's be very respectful of who's speaking and who has the floor.

I promise if you put your hand up, I will call on you.

I will try to do so in the order that I see them go up, but let's not speak over each other.

Let's try to be respectful.

And the last thing is let's try to be brief.

There's a lot of us tonight, and if we all take up the microphone at any given point, it's gonna be a very long night.

So, with that, let's just remember those as we start, and I will hand it right over to Seth, because I think we're all ready to go.

Okay, uh mayor, members of the council of planning commission, thank you very much for your time this evening.

Uh Phil Pfeisler of the city's planning and building department.

Um, I'm joined here with team members from administration from planning and building, as well as our consultant team with Clary and Associates.

Uh, and we're um thrilled to bring this item to this joint work session this evening.

Uh the primary purpose of this workshop is to determine and discuss and determine whether or not modifications are needed to the draft land use code specifically for the old town area and then two sustainability topics that were brought up in council's um August 18th meeting.

Um so what we are proposing, we'll give up some very brief background, kind of seen that before, but then we'd like to have some slides on the old town mixed use districts as well as the working group recommendations from their meeting held last week.

Um we'll then stop with a question for planning commission and council for the discussion.

We expect this would probably be the bulk of the meeting, most likely, and then we'll have um a slide on each of those remaining topics along with a council uh question.

Um as a background, um, we've seen this a lot, but you know, this is a major implementation project of the legacy lafayette comprehensive plan.

Um overall, it's uh that's our guiding document.

It's all we're also considering other city plans like our multimodal transportation plan, wildlife plan, and so on.

Um, we're also looking to make the new code more user-friendly, easier to understand, more predictable, um, both in development outcomes and process.

Um after restarting the project in late 2024, um, Clarion and uh Elizabeth's team did uh code assessment.

Um they looked through all of our regulations and looked at the work that staff had previously completed, and then with that in hand, we moved to drafting the code in three sections, what we called modules.

Um we we called it at the time a transparency first approach.

So we as we got the code language, we basically released it out to the community to the working group and so on.

So it was kind of a concurrent review with staff and the community.

And then once that full code was developed, we went out for community-wide engagement, and now we are in the middle of the adoption process.

Um council and planning commission um may recall that during um city council's May 19th meeting.

Uh council opted to defer um several of the land use code items um and kind of pull it out of the code for more analysis, more engagement.

Um, two of those were neighborhood serving commercials, so this is um allowing small-scale commercial and existing residential areas, um, as well as building height allowances, so incentives for allowing additional height for additional community benefit.

Um, those were pulled out.

Um this was these were probably two of the of the most discussed uh throughout the project.

Um, but um there wasn't necessarily consensus at the end of the day, and so ultimately council pulled those out for further study.

Um and then during that conversation in in um uh on May 19, um, staff recommended there was some discussion around um um changing the building heights for old town.

We recommended further study on that as well.

Um the old town mixed use.

Um so the planning commission during its public hearings they have public hearings in June and July requested as part of that this joint workshop with council to reevaluate that OTX or Old Town mixed use zoning.