The Norwich Commission on the City Plan on Dec. 2 reviewed a comprehensive rewrite of the city's zoning regulations and planned to submit the draft to the city clerk on Monday, Dec. 8, beginning a formal referral and public-review process that staff expect the City Council to schedule for January.

Planning staff told the commission the rewrite is intended to implement the 2023 Plan of Conservation and Development and to clarify decades of piecemeal provisions. Dan Daniska, the city planner identified in the meeting, said the draft adds two residential zones (R-10 and R-15) to reflect older, smaller house lots and makes it easier for existing homeowners to add modest additions without seeking variances. The rewrite also replaces the "stories" standard with explicit building-height limits and updates setbacks and lot-coverage rules.

The draft renames the former "planned commercial" as "regional commercial" for highway-adjacent, regional-serving areas and clarifies industrial zone naming to emphasize production, manufacturing and research. A new government-facilities district would identify city-, state- and federal-owned properties (parks, reservoirs and large municipal parcels) on the zoning map so the city can track and update ownership annually.

Other notable changes include: a consolidated principal-use table and a new accessory-use table to show where uses are permitted and the required approval path; a Greenway/Blueway overlay to encourage public access along river corridors; a Medical Mixed-Use District around the Bacchus Hospital area to allow housing above medical uses and shared parking; expanded landscaping and parking standards (including bike parking provisions and revised parking-space dimensions); new soil-erosion, sediment control and stormwater provisions; and updated sign rules while removing private-property mural regulation because of First Amendment concerns.

Staff told commissioners that controlled-sales sections (alcohol and cannabis) were reorganized but substantively unchanged. Draft language would limit donation drop-off boxes to accessory uses at legally conforming houses of worship to address litter and safety concerns.

Asked about short-term rentals, planners said regulation of Airbnbs and similar platforms was not included in the zoning text because it is primarily a licensing and inspection function and would require additional staff and enforcement resources; that regulation, the planning staff said, should come as an ordinance to the City Council.

The draft consolidates dozens of small edits and definitions (staff estimated roughly 300 changes) following a detailed legal review by the city attorney, Mark Brant, and with formatting assistance from consultant SLR. Staff said the consultant's work is mostly document organization and that the planning office carried the substantive drafting with a small consultant budget (about $30,000; previously the city engaged consultants such as PlanMetrics in earlier work).

Planners also highlighted a placeholder zone for the North State Hospital site; the draft includes the zone now but not a mapped change because the city is pursuing a planning grant of approximately $250,000 to fund a market analysis and a roughly nine-month planning study to determine highest and best reuse for that property.

Staff told the commission the draft will be officially filed with the clerk on Dec. 8, made available on the planning department's web page, and then referred to the City Council for a public hearing and formal referral to the commission. Commissioners discussed whether they wanted paper copies; staff offered to provide hard copies to commission members after filing but said broad printing for the public would be too expensive.

The commission also proposed changes to zoning fees for text and map amendments, raising the application fee from $300 to $1,000 to better reflect legal-notice and code-update costs. In addition, staff said the draft eliminates the practice of issuing zoning "waivers" after statutory and case-law changes narrowed the authority to grant such waivers; the regulations were reworded to reduce the need for some site-plan submissions while conforming to the new statutory approach.

The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn by Frank Manfredi, seconded by Dennis; commissioners recorded a voice "Aye" and the meeting was adjourned. Staff reiterated that the draft will be filed with the clerk on Dec. 8 and posted online for public review pending council action.

What's next: Planning staff expect the City Council to accept the filing, set a public hearing, and formally refer the regulations to the commission at the commission's January meeting for comment before the council's subsequent actions.