The Sunset Hills Board of Aldermen unanimously passed an ordinance changing the procedure for amending the city’s Unified Development Ordinance at its Dec. 12 meeting.

Under the new ordinance, anyone who wants to amend the city’s zoning code must now first run it by a member of the Board of Aldermen, a member of the Planning and Zoning Commission or the city administrator. From there, the city administrator or a member of one of the aforementioned groups can petition for the amendment.

“The process will remain the same, the change will only impact who can petition,” City Administrator Brittany Gillett said. “Essentially, it will be noticed as a public hearing, then go to Planning and Zoning and then the Board of Alderman. Prior to the various commissions (and) boards hearing the petition, staff and the City Attorney work to ensure the petition is legal, written properly and doesn’t interfere with other sections of the UDO.”

Before this ordinance was passed, any interested party – a resident or, more typically, a developer – could propose an amendment to the UDO and have it go through the whole process. Limiting who can petition an amendment not only saves the city time and resources but ensures that the amendment is in line with the city’s goals.

“Clearly identifying those with the power to initiate such a change will ensure their proposed text amendment change represents a holistic solution to benefit the city versus the benefit of one interested party,” City Engineer and Director of Public Works Bryson E. Baker said. “It makes it a little more formal and it makes sure that either the City Administrator, P and Z or the board are the ones to initiate it and feel it is a good change to our UDO. A lot of these text amendments that are made to our UDO affect the entire city even though somebody might be wanting a text amendment for something specific.”

The ordinance was brought up twice at the meeting, first during public hearings. No one from the public in the audience had anything to say, however, so it closed promptly.

The conversation was picked back up during new business as the proposal was on the agenda again. It was the first reading of the bill, though staff requested a second reading prior to the meeting’s start. After it was read for the first time, Ward 4 Alderman Lindsay Hof made a motion to suspend the rules for a second reading and Ward 1 Alderman Ann McMunn seconded.

Before the vote to suspend the rules took place, however, Ward 4 Alderman Fred Daues asked Ward 3 Alderman Cathy Friedmann, “an expert on UDO in his mind,” what she thought of the ordinance. She replied that it was “a great idea” and the board turned their focus back on the motion.

In a roll call vote, the aldermen voted unanimously in favor of the rule suspension, and the bill was read a second time. After the second reading, the board again voted unanimously in favor of the bill, passing it into an ordinance.