When the student housing boom started in downtown Columbia and the surrounding areas, some City Council members and their cronies rushed to halt construction and “save” our downtown. Some people even sued the city for issuing building permits. To stop the construction, Columbia passed “interim” C-2 zoning regulations. The rules limited building heights, added additional parking requirements, and made the approval process political until a more permanent fix could be created.
Skip forward a few years to 2017, when the city passed an underfunded rewrite of the Development Code (the UDC or UDO as it is sometimes referred to now). The number of regulations in the new code has more than doubled and was supposed to streamline the development process – and make it less expensive.
But, almost eight years in, it’s time to admit the UDC isn’t working and is instead limiting growth and causing some of the highest home inflation in the country.
The new code was designed to encourage “development by right,” allowing more administrative approval and the use of form-based zoning in the downtown area. By-right development, in contrast to planned district development, is intended to make the development process less political by limiting the City Council’s involvement in the process. Planned district development is also more costly and time-consuming for both the developers and city staff.
The new code was to encourage more development by making the process less costly and cumbersome. Unfortunately, the City Council at the time was still using its influence to force projects to be approved as planned developments as opposed to a by-right zoning request. The approval process has eased very little in recent years, and there is more development by right, but it’s a result of a more favorable attitude with City Council members and not the code itself. A more favorable attitude may be a result of the council recognizing that our city is falling further into an affordable housing crisis.
There are several additional reasons the UDC is deepening the affordability crisis. I’ll focus on just a few.
It severely limits density growth in the central city. These areas contain zoning and other characteristics that, for years, have facilitated more dense development. However, the new UDC was used to slow density increases by implementing neighborhood protections. Neighborhood protections dictate the density a property owner could add based on their neighbor’s current use. Since 2017, this has reduced the number of homes in an area that has historically provided greater affordability.
Other limitations in the UDC have stalled development and created more costs, such as the inability to develop across property lines under common ownership, a reduction in the allowable slope of a lot, and limitations on the length of a building. These stipulations have added cost, reduced density, and limited critically needed home and apartment creation.
Columbia is no longer a small town; it’s the fourth-largest city in Missouri. The city will continue to grow, and that is important for everyone. If a city isn’t growing, it’s dying.
The UDC passed in 2017 placed too many restrictions on new and infill development, exacerbating a housing crisis that will only worsen with time unless corrective action is taken with the code. In addition to the UDC, the council and city commissions have played a part in limiting growth and inflating costs. But all of that is in the past.
I now plead with the current city leaders to find a way to improve the UDC, streamline the approval process, reduce costs, aid development, and in doing so, provide greater housing affordability at all income levels.
Brian Toohey is the chief executive officer for the Columbia Board of REALTORS.
