Drafts of the city’s proposed new Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance (SALDO) and its proposed new zoning ordinance are available online for public review and comment.

The drafts can be accessed by clicking a link labeled “library” at alltogetheraltoona.org.

Comments are due by July 18, according to officials at czb, the consulting firm that created the drafts and whose representatives spoke about the proposals recently to the city planning commission.

The ordinance revisions are a followup to czb’s recently completed comprehensive plan, also created by czb.

Matt Ingalls, czb’s director of urban planning and design, said the primary objectives for the SALDO and zoning ordinance include creation of a streamlined and easy-to-understand process for project reviews, one that generates more “by-right” administrative approvals that don’t need to go to the planning commission or zoning hearing board; along with a process that “threads the needle” by demanding high standards while still being business-friendly.

The revised ordinances should allow good projects that meet high standards to get speedy approval, Ingalls said.

The ordinances should also create opportunities for more types of housing in different zoning districts, Ingalls said.

The proposed new ordinances are designed to conform with both the city’s “legacy” values and its “aspirational” values, as expressed in the comprehensive plan, reflecting residents’ comments during the plan’s development, Ingalls said.

The legacy values are resourcefulness, self-reliance and grittiness, he said.

The aspirational values are entrepreneurship, inclusivity and boldness.

The proposed new SALDO and zoning ordinance are also designed to abide by principles that governed the comp plan’s development: that the city in its attempt to grow should have “skin in the game” — investing locals’ own money; that development should abide by those high standards; that risk-taking should be embraced; and that the city’s strengths and assets should be protected.

The revised ordinances will be much easier to use for design and engineering professionals and developers than the current ordinances, according to planning commission Chairman Dave Albright.

“The old system had things all over the place,” Albright said.

Thus, in working to find zoning requirements for a project, users had to go to one section for parking requirements, another section for signage, another for setbacks and lot coverage, another for lighting and others for other aspects of the project, Albright said.

Under the revised ordinances, users will be able to find all that information within sections that cover all or most of the issues related to their particular project — for example, within the zoning district in which the project is located, he said.

“It flows much better,” he said. “It’s more user-friendly.”

It will not only help design and development professionals like himself — Albright is an architect — but also business owners, who will be able more easily to get a sense of the scope of what they’ll need for approval, he said.

Those users will be able to navigate the regulations more easily, said Codes Director Rebecca Brown.

czb will make a presentation to City Council on the draft ordinances, and those ordinances will go before the Blair County Planning Commission for review.

A public hearing on the proposed new ordinances must be held before council adopts them.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.