By Alicia Venter | Peoria Times
Starting next year, municipalities with more than 150,000 residents must allow for the conversion of up to 10% of the existing commercial, office or mixed-use for multifamily residential development or “adaptive reuse” without zoning changes or public hearings, in accordance with recently signed House Bill 2297.
This, alongside a handful of other provisions detailed in the bill, require the city of Peoria to update its zoning ordinance, the Planning and Zoning Commission stated during its meeting on Nov. 14. The commission approved for the proposed zoning ordinance changes, including updating existing definitions and inserting new regulations regarding adaptive reuse and multi-family residential reuse, to move forward to city council for a decision.
The state legislation imposes regulations on no more than ten percent of existing commercial, office, employment or mixed-use buildings within a city. With this cap of ten percent, and alongside the other criteria, the ability of Peoria to choose buildings for this adaptive reuse is “very limited,” Lorie Dever, deputy director of planning, said. The process would not require public hearings.
