Fort Collins, CO. Zoning Moratorium (1994)
Topics: Traffic/Sprawl | Zoning Regulations
A city ordinance that allowed Fort Collins to establish a six-month suspension of the processing of retail superstores (stores 80,000s.f and bigger). Has the basic “whereas” clauses that could be adapted to other communities. The moratorium lays out its objectives, including “develop appropriate criteria for regulating the size, architectural design and functional aspects of such superstores to ensure that they are not disruptive to surrounding development.” This ordinance was not designed to stop superstores, so community groups should use it for background only. A moratorium should have a work plan, and that work plan can talk about what criteria a community would establish for independently assessing the impacts of a store, to allow the community to approve applications which have positive impacts, and deny applications that have adverse impacts which cannot be substantially mitigated.
