Moline is “flipping traditional zoning on its head” by creating a new downtown building code designed to guide and spur the redevelopment of historic Moline Centre and its Mississippi riverfront. A final draft of a new downtown form-based code could be ready for a Moline Plan Commission public hearing as early as the end of […]
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Moline is “flipping traditional zoning on its head” by creating a new downtown building code designed to guide and spur the redevelopment of historic Moline Centre and its Mississippi riverfront.
A final draft of a new downtown form-based code could be ready for a Moline Plan Commission public hearing as early as the end of the month. Once approved by the Moline City Council, developers eager to grab opportunities created by the construction of the new Interstate 74 Bridge will have a clear roadmap to follow to do so.
“We’ve really been working on drafting this ordinance since June of last year,” Moline Community and Economic Development Director Ryan Hvitlok told the QCBJ. “So we’re kind of very close to the end here.”
The public process to create the new form-based code, known as Form for the Future, actually began in January 2022 with an open house for residents.
The city’s efforts along the way have been guided in part by Leslie Oberholtzer, a principal of Codametrics, which is a group of urban planners and designers who say they “help communities create places that people love, places that inspire care and stewardship, places that will last, places for everyone.”
Moline also hired the public engagement firm All Together to “get out there in creative ways and tell the story of the project and get public feedback,” Mr. Hvitlok said. Last summer, that firm organized a number of weekend events downtown to interact with Moliners and ask what they wanted to see downtown.
Stops included a Bass Street Landing concert and a Friday night at Mercado on Fifth. All Together also set up at places like Lagomarcino’s at 1422 Fifth Ave. to talk to people who work, live and visit downtown Moline as well as conduct online surveys.
“We like our downtown,” Mr. Hvitlok said of the results of those surveys. “We have one of the more walkable downtowns in the Quad Cities and we want to continue that.”
City leaders learned that via a vision preference survey – where respondents were shown a series of pictures and asked what they liked and didn’t like. “Basically, what we heard is that people wanted to continue the traditional look of downtown,” Mr. Hvitlok said. “They did not want to see the more modern look.”
New focus in building code
Walkability and livability also were the focus and looks definitely matter under the new form-based code model. “It’s very, very heavy on the form of the building, hence the name form-based code,” Mr. Hvitlok said.
For instance, the draft code requires building fronts where people walk to be “activated with windows, and potentially storefronts and things like that,” he said. So no blank walls will be allowed – murals don’t count – and windows or projections and recesses will be required to provide visual interest.
“Again, the intent is to really keep a vibrant streetscape,” he said. Parking also would be confined to the side or rear of buildings. “Walking by a giant parking lot is not necessarily the nicest thing.”
Effort to spur redevelopment
City leaders also are counting on the revised code to not just guide investors but encourage them to choose Moline. “Developers before they even really pick up the phone and say, ‘I’m interested in your community,’ they’re doing their due diligence,” Mr. Hvitlok said. That includes visiting the city’s website to look at its ordinances.
“With these folks if you don’t have a clear ordinance they usually make a pitch to their funding board and if they can’t clearly say ‘this is what the city is going to expect of us and this is what it’s going to cost’ they oftentimes will just skip past your community,” he said.
Moline development leaders also hope the form-based code will encourage more investment by protecting and promoting the things that make Moline’s downtown attractive, welcoming and livable.
Moline Centre’s recently hired Manager Kirk Marske told the QCBJ: “The goals of this form-based project align with the purpose of the Moline Centre program, including improving and enhancing the physical appearance of downtown Moline, embracing the historic qualities and character of the district, and striving for a broad mix of businesses.
“Moline Centre is a historic, vibrant, downtown business district, and the city’s Form for the Future project merges the past with the future for a consistent, sustainable development pattern,” he said. “This project not only benefits the merchants already operating in Moline Centre – it also incentivizes other business owners and entrepreneurs to seek opportunities in Moline’s downtown.”
New metrics for developers
What exactly is a form-based code?
“It flips traditional zoning on its head,” Mr. Hvitlok said. Traditional zoning relies on the proposed use of the property and it segregates zoning districts by specific uses. That means, he said, “residential is over there, commercial is over here and light industrial is over there.”
Under a form-based code, use is still important, “but really what’s more important is how does the building really interact with the street,” Mr. Hvitlok said.
In that way, the new form of zoning being created for the downtown represents a dramatic change from the old B2 zoning for the area. The old code is “very open” and it doesn’t include a lot of specific requirements.
There’s a lot of flexibility in the old code, “but it’s almost flexible to a fault,” Mr. Hvitlok added.
The old code is subject to interpretation, which can create perceptions of inequity as well as present challenges for staff reviewing projects “because there’s not really a metric,” he told the QCBJ. “There wasn’t anything that said: ‘Here’s a list of building materials that you can use and this is what you should do.’”
The new code provides one by dialing down to specifics, including a detailed list of allowed primary and secondary materials, including such prohibited products as thin veneers, unfinished concrete, glass block, metal siding, plastic panels and synthetic stucco.
Looks aren’t the only reason to discourage those materials. The downtown is a “vibrant urban neighborhood so people are walking by and you want those stronger materials at the ground level where people are going to touch them,” Mr. Hvitlok said. “They’re going to lean up against the building.”
That can lead to unsightly, even dangerous results. “Currently along River Drive where we have a lot of urban traffic you see some of the stucco crumbling down on the bottom of the building,” he added.
More clarity in requirements
For all its requirements, however, the process was also designed to make sure the new code is flexible enough to allow for things like new and better materials, “so we have several fail-safes built into the code,” Mr. Hvitlok said.
That includes a speedy design exception process that is less stringent than a variance and the developer or owner doesn’t have to show hardship before winning approval.
Under it, the city can quickly review a checklist of proposed materials and requirements, and staff can get back to developers faster. They also are empowered to push projects ahead if the changes the developer requests are relatively minor.
So while the form-based code is the opposite of the “hodgepodge” old code, Mr. Hvitlok said, it still will retain plenty of wiggle room for developers who want to bring new things to Moline.
He also stressed that the new form-based code is being created with the help of an advisory committee of architects, engineers and others who have reviewed the draft and added their input. The city also shared it with some developers. At press time, Mr. Hvitlok had not yet received any responses.
The city also already is urging potential developers who are being asked to help create a master plan for dozens of acres of downtown vacant riverfront land to review the draft of the form-based code to ensure their plans comply with the new form-based code’s requirement.
The city council also has reviewed the document several times as did the Moline Project Management Team, a public-private group created by the city in 1991 to review development projects; the Moline Plan Commission and Renew Moline.
Regardless of when it receives final approval, Moliners won’t have to wait long to see the code in action.
“A perfect example right now is that we’re working with Renew Moline and Bush Construction with their development of the JCPenney building,” Mr. Hvitlok said. “We’re excited because this is likely to be the first project out of the gate with form-based code.”
