Are you listening, Chicago? Detroit looking to ease complicated zoning rules

Chicago's West Side

Chicago's fifty feudal lords, collectively known as the City Council, take note. Chicago's arcane zoning laws need to be relaxed and aldermanic prerogative needs to be abolished.

Even Detroit is wising up.

From the Detroit News:

City planning officials are on the hunt for designs to revive Detroit’s neighborhood main streets while hoping to ease bureaucratic hurdles that often stand in the way.

Detroit this week is putting out a call to urban planners, architects, preservationists and designers for "Pink Zoning Detroit," an initiative that sets out to transform the city's complex land use rules and speed new development in its commercial corridors by reducing red tape.

The project, funded by a $75,000 grant through the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, will have three multidisciplinary teams put together visions for walkable, mixed-use activity in three commercial sites in Detroit. Later, the concepts will be tested against the city's zoning ordinance and building code to identify roadblocks and work with city departments and others to identify strategies for reforms.

It's hoped the process will ultimately spur regulatory change to make revitalization of the city's neighborhood main streets easier, said Maurice Cox, director of the city’s Planning and Development Department.

From my post at Da Tech Guy:

I walked its streets--the tragedy of Detroit

Related entry:

(Photos) South Works site, 24 years of Chicago failure