Citizens can attend a Community Zoning Information Meeting on Tuesday to ask questions and share opinions on potential text amendments that could promote consistency – in one case with revised State requirements, in the other with elements of the City Code.

This January 27 meeting will start at 6 p.m. in City Hall’s Council Chambers (2006 Heritage Walk). During it – just like with every Community Zoning Information Meeting (CZIM) – no committee convenes, no votes are taken or recommendations made, no presentations are given, nor is there an order at which items are discussed. Instead, CZIMs provide residents with the opportunity to learn more from and offer thoughts to City staff on zoning-related matters that will proceed through the public hearing process.

A pair of text amendments are on Tuesday’s agenda.

One (if ultimately approved by the City Council) would update the timeframe for notice requirements on public hearings for things like zoning map changes, primary variance requests, as well as stream buffers and historic preservation matters. This would require that such notice be shared publicly not less than 15 days and not more than 45 days in advance. This change (from “not less than 30 days”) would match recent revisions to State requirements. 

Tuesday’s other topic of discussion is to consider removing the “Limited Food Service Restaurant” category entirely from the Unified Development Code. Doing so would align the UDC with Chapter 4 (dealing with alcohol) of the City Code, where the “Limited Food Service Restaurant” category previously was taken out. No existing Milton restaurants fall under this definition or would be affected. 

This same text amendment also would alter language referring to a “tasting room” so that it is consistent with what’s in Chapter 4.