Posted by Anne Decker on Jul 29, 2019
Form Based Zoning can make the Greater Lima Region a more desirable place to live.
The country's first city-wide zoning code was the result of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in New York City in 1911 which killed 146 people. Our own Tim Stanford told us that, more than a century later, there are now more than 30,000 zoning codes around the country. "There is no national standard for zoning. It is local. Zoning becomes the rules by which we live together." 25 years ago Form Based Zoning was created. "One of the goals of Form Based Zoning codes is to create places. And more importantly, places where people want to live. It's designed to create neighborhoods that are walkable. Buildings match their environment so they don't stand out. The outdoor spaces are seen as an extension of the interior space; it's like creating outdoor rooms. Form Based Code is also a community vision, so the people who are going to be living with the code are coming up with it. When you look at an area like the Greater Lima Region, the problem is that for decades, people have been moving away. That people have been making a choice that if they go live somewhere else, their lives will be better. So, how can we change? How can we make the area livable and desirable? Imagine the Greater Lima Region as one community where the cities, the villages and townships are revisioned as neighborhoods, districts and corridors. The Form Based Code can unite a region with a concept of principles and practices to build communities where people want to live and to get to a shared community. By engaging in a broad regional dialogue, using the language of the Form Based Code, we can create places where our children and grandchildren will want to live. We can create order, beauty and a future."
 
Also at Monday's meeting, the following members exchanged their red badges for blue badges: Chris Hughes, Ben Swartz, Scott Cockerell, John Guagenti and Craig Kupferberg.
Esther Baldridge announced that this quarter's Rottery proceeds will benefit the Abilities Playground project. She says so far, $100,000 of the $1.25 million needed has been raised.