FAIRMONT– A joint work session with the Fairmont City Council, Fairmont Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Appeals took place Monday afternoon at the Southern Minnesota Educational Campus. The purpose of the session was to start looking into updating the city’s zoning code.

City Administrator Cathy Reynolds said she estimates it will be a year long process to get through all of it.

The session was led by a team of professional community planners from MSA. One of them, Kate Eiynck, said that they would begin by review existing conditions and then inform, outreach and engage.

On Monday those present were given a brief overview on what exactly zoning is and why it’s important. Eiynck also acknowledged that as the city recently updated its comprehensive plan, by statute, the zoning code needs to be in line with it.

Michael Lamb, another staff member of MSA, said the goal was to be more streamline with the codes. He said that while there are many types of zoning codes, Fairmont has what’s called Euclidean zoning codes, which are single use or separate use zones, like residential, commercial and industrial.

“They’ve been separated in the past for a reason because industrial is somewhere you don’t want to live next door to. There’s health and safety, air quality and noise that you want to separate from,” Lamb explained.

He shared some of the history of zoning codes, which were first established in 1926, and said that Fairmont’s first zoning code came in 1934.

Moving to the comprehensive plan, Lamb said, “that is the basis for us to start this work. That is an adoptive policy for land use and development in the city so we really have to follow that. It’s an important piece of how we’re operating from a starting point.”

He spoke about accessibility and the need for a variety of housing options. He brought up the mixed use neighborhood in the comprehensive plan and said the code doesn’t really address it right now.

“I know you’ve been dealing with some of these larger community issues and we’ve heard about different potential developments. We want to help you understand how we can take the code and that can support investment and development,” Lamb said.

Lamb said they had a smattering of interviews with people, some from Fairmont and some not, looking for key thoughts and concerns when it comes to the code.

“Some things we’ve heard over the last couple of weeks are there are some technical issues, enforcement issues, cultural issues… lakes need more protection. Water quality is a major concern for the community,” Lamb said.

Other concerns mentioned were the city’s updated rental housing ordinance, the challenges and expenses downtown to bring up the code and enforcement.

After an hour, the meeting wrapped up. Reynolds said the goal of updating the city’s zoning code is simplification so it’s easier for everyone to understand, not only for the community, but for staff and developers as well.

Staff from MSA said they’ll continue to work on the updates and there will be another joint meeting sometime after October.