Model Codes for Buildings and Streets
With the passage of HB 6107, Connecticut became the 2nd state to require the development of a statewide model form-based code.
What’s good about model codes?
Clear rules for “character.”
Design guidelines can ensure that new construction is compatible with and complementary of existing architectural character.
Money-saving guidance.
With codes that clarify which project designs will be approved, everyone will save money during the often-costly approvals process.
A free tool for towns.
Town leaders want to update their codes, but often don’t have the money or expertise. Model codes give them a place to start, at no cost.
Residents reviewing and adapting form-based codes to meet their needs. Image: Caitlin Palmer, AICP.
What about Form-Based Codes in Your Town?
Encourage your local decision-makers to support form-based codes by participating in planning and zoning processes!
FAQs
What are form-based codes? They are zoning codes that regulate the form of buildings. These kinds of codes identify options for rooflines, heights, door placement, and windows. Street-based design guidelines are also useful in that they can take into account all the different ways people use streets (including biking and walking).
What needs fixing? Our laws don’t provide clear guidance about what should be built. They don’t protect neighbors by ensuring new development will complement existing development. And they make it difficult for newcomers to understand what will be approved. The uncertainty and high cost of the approvals process is thwarting economic growth.
Does any town have these kinds of codes? Yes, and they are increasingly popular. Cities and towns all over Connecticut, including Hamden, Windsor, and Simsbury, have adopted form-based codes. The codes (pictured below) of both Canton and Hartford have won national awards. Hartford has a context-sensitive street “menu,” along with building types.
Who is developing the new model code? The Commission on Connecticut’s Future, created under the 2021 zoning reforms, is a broad coalition of stakeholders, including planners, architects, municipal officials, and construction trade, affordable housing experts, and others who are drafting the new model codes.
What about local control? Because municipalities use public participation to develop these codes, community members get to play a much more proactive role in determining how their town looks than they do with ordinary zoning codes. These are excellent tools for up-front, public engagement to develop the scale and growth of a community.
Provisions from Canton’s form-based code for a mixed-use commercial building type.
Provisions from Hartford’s form-based code for a residential building type.
RESOURCES
Our January 2022 letter to the Commission on Connecticut’s Future to frame their task (per Public Act 21-29) of developing a model form-based code.
A Smart Growth America report about how form-based codes lead to more equitable land use policies.
Our “Form-Based Codes 101” Webinar and the Form-Based Codes Institute website.
An IDEC Economic Development Journal report highlighting the advantages form-based codes bring to businesses and economic development.
Highlight: “FBCs also offer clear and precise standards that produce predictable outcomes through a streamlined and predictable development review process, which is a significant incentive to attract new investment.”
An Urban Land Institute study that emphasizes the environmental benefits for adopting form-based codes.
Highlight: “Smart growth [through tools like form-based codes] could, by itself, reduce total transportation-related CO2 emissions from current trends by 7 to 10 percent as of 2050. This reduction is feasible with land-use changes alone.”
A report explaining how adopting form-based codes advance social equity and housing opportunities.
Highlight: “Form-based codes are touted as one of the only viable ways to combat the nationwide affordable housing and environmental crises perpetuated by urban sprawl.”
Three examples from other states:
The Wisconsin traditional neighborhood model code mandated by the legislature
A Connecticut Law Review article demonstrating the importance of form-based codes for walkability and municipal design.
Highlights: “Unlike conventional zoning… [t]he physical result [of form-based coding] is a more pedestrian friendly community, mimicking the way cities and towns have traditionally developed.”
Highlight: “Form-based codes present a sensible solution to the sustainability concerns raised by conventional zoning, as they tend to promote environmentally-friendly development, civic interaction, and individual physical health.”