Our use-based zoning policy does less to regulate performance and interaction between varying uses than it does to impose an outmoded taxonomy of building types and an often confusing framework of zoning code requirements. Let's instead institute a flexible zoning policy that allows for more vibrant neighborhoods with a mix of uses that better fit each area and promotes infill development in keeping with each neighborhood's character and economic development needs.

The city recently combined its planning and development services departments, which is a great cost-saving step toward streamlining their complementary operations. However, we did not include our city's Community and Economic Development or Neighborhood Services Departments in this reorganization so that they too could easily provide input. Our city planners are tasked predominantly with overseeing the application of our city's cumbersome general plan, which is a one-size-fits-all framework voted on each year by the city council, while at the same time working with our urban villages to meet their unique needs. The plan often requires major exceptions, which are not always easily created -- planners often must create task forces, special cross-functional teams, or hire expensive outside consultants to work outside of the constraints. This however can sometimes prove cumbersome, especially as it often requires city council intervention.

One such example of a needed overlay that superseded our pre-existing code to promote infill development resulted from the Downtown Phoenix Urban Form Project of 2008: http://phoenix.gov/pdd/pz/dtplan.html. Other examples are our city's various targeted redevelopment districts and regional development plans. Most of these projects are great, even if some require updating.

So let's remove the barriers and let neighborhoods determine what they would like to see, particularly in our older "inner ring" communities that seek to attract redevelopment and infill growth.