The Cedar Park Planning & Zoning Commission voted in favor of repealing and replacing the city's zoning ordinance during a May 16 meeting, and the recommendation will now go on to the Cedar Park City Council for consideration.

In November 2014, Cedar Park City Council approved a comprehensive plan to guide growth and future zoning decisions. A year later, the city began working with Kendig Keast Collaborative, a planning consultancy, to update the city’s zoning code, said Director of Development Services Chris Copple.

Since then, City Council created a Zoning Ordinance Advisory Committee and executed a public outreach campaign for feedback from stakeholders. The goal was to make the zoning code more user-friendly and also up-to-date with the needs of a growing Cedar Park, Copple said.

"This is a lot of great, great detail in here, and I appreciate a lot of input from everybody," said Eric Boyce, a Planning and Zoning Commission member.

Amy Link, the assistant director of development services with the city, explained key changes to the ordinance. One is the consolidation of zoning districts. There currently are 32 zoning districts; the proposed code contains 23. Land uses were updated for residential, non-residential and temporary uses, including revised alcoholic beverage regulations, which were updated to comply with state codes.

Requirements for building materials have been adjusted and reorganized, so each type of building will be required to be constructed with a certain percentage of primary materials and secondary materials. For example, a semi-urban home’s façade will need to have at least 75 percent primary material, like masonry, and a maximum of 25 percent secondary material, like treated wood.

P&Z Commission Member Audrey Wernecke voiced concerns during a discussion of the requirements for façade treatments.

"I'm going to beat this horse to death, but y'all are being too strict," she said.

Some regulations were relocated to other code chapters, such as the restrictions on livestock and fowl, which were moved to the animal control ordinance.

If approved by City Council, the code in place will be repealed and replaced by the new zoning ordinance.