The Grand Rapids planning department is outlining the directions of a new zoning ordinance. The city will adopt the new ordinance in 2027.
The last zoning ordinance was passed in 2007. In the two decades since, the code has been repeatedly amended, making it difficult to navigate, said Kristin Turkelson, planning director for the city.
“You shouldn’t have to call a planner to determine how you can construct your fence. That’s not to say you can’t call a planner to ask that question, but you shouldn’t have to,” Turkelson said.
Leslie Oberholtzer, principal with consulting firm Codametrics, presented to the Grand Rapids Committee of the Whole at its Tuesday meeting. The city has contracted with Codametrics to develop Zone GR, the code rewrite project.
“We’re looking at stable neighborhoods and hoping to protect those stable neighborhoods,” Oberholtzer said. “But also looking at our housing needs and housing goals, and making sure that we can allow those neighborhoods to evolve and grow.”
The new zoning ordinance should both be easier to understand and navigate, Oberholtzer said.
The planning department will begin drafting the new code this summer, drawing on the Bridge to Our Future community master plan adopted in 2024. A directions report, published in May, called for a code which would encourage more infill housing and higher density. Grand Rapids will need roughly 14,000 new housing units by 2027, it stated.
Oberholtzer asked the commission to provide feedback on the report, which she called a “jumping off point.”
The new code should also allow for more “missing middle housing,” the report states, like duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, and courtyard apartments in areas zoned low-density residential.
The plan will also permit higher building heights in commercial areas to increase density, as well as allow light manufacturing and research purposes in areas identified as activity centers.
Grand Rapids already has a fairly walkable urban pattern, Oberholtzer said, and the plan calls for business facades to be more engaging for sidewalk traffic. The direction report emphasizes walkability, planning to reduce or eliminate parking requirements for new buildings.
“At the same time, parking requirements can sometimes make or break a business, whether it’s that they need to provide more parking, and they don’t have the space to do it, and they can’t afford to move into a place, or whether it’s parking that’s needed, we sometimes call it ‘teaser parking’ to make sure that people can actually get to a business,” said Oberholtzer.
The code overhaul will look at changing parking requirements geographically, depending on factors like transit access.
It will also focus more on building types to make it easier to navigate, with diagrams and tables to make the zoning codes transparent.
“Right now, the focus of the ordinance is on what is the size of the property, how many dwelling units per square foot is permitted, where now we’re really wanting to focus on what is the appropriate style of building based on the number of units or the use which is contained in thing building,” Turkelson said after the meeting.
The Zone GR project will present the draft code to the planning commission, city commission, and the greater public at the end of 2026. During the writing period this summer, Turkelson said the Zone GR team will work with an advisory committee of regular code users.
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