HORACE, N.D. – May 10, 2021 – The City of Horace, North Dakota, has contracted with Michigan-based engineering and planning firm Giffels Webster to complete a comprehensive review, re-write and re-formatting of its zoning and subdivision ordinance. The goal of the project is to align the city’s development ordinances with the recently adopted Comprehensive Plan, while also converting it to a user-friendly, illustrated format making its regulations easy to understand.
When the City of Horace adopted its Horace 2045 Comprehensive Plan, in May 2020, it laid out a vision for the community’s future as, “a community with a high quality of life and expanding economic opportunities which embraces its historic heritage and protects the environment, while carefully planning for future development and utilizing the proximity to the metropolitan area as an asset and a positive economic driver.” The plan calls for organized growth, strong neighborhoods, a diverse economy, connected mixed-use center, public spaces and supports this plan with specific goals.
One of the key tools for implementing the goals of a comprehensive plan is the city’s zoning ordinance. A zoning ordinance aligned with a city’s goals can help guide development facilitating the high quality of life called for in the Horace 2045 plan. Horace is among the fastest-growing cities in North Dakota, and this makes it imperative for the city to have in place the ordinances that will lead to the type of well-designed, highly livable community called for in the plan. The project is beginning with an audit of the current zoning and subdivision ordinance, which will be followed by a series of amendments to the current code. As part of the audit process, a community survey of the current ordinance will be available on the project website, www.HoraceZoning.com, through mid-June. Once the amendments have been finalized by the Horace City Council, the Giffels Webster team will convert the ordinance to the company’s Clearzoning® format.
This new format will make it easier for citizens, business owners, real estate developers and public officials to quickly access important zoning information. Homeowners determining what is allowed on their properties or experienced developers looking to site a new development can all find zoning codes confusing and intimidating. Giffels Webster’s Clearzoning product visibly upgrades online versions of municipal zoning codes by reformatting them into a more user-friendly, understandable format with color graphics, links to key information and searchable words and terms.
Barrett Voigt, City of Horace community development director, stated, “The City is really excited about this project! Not only will a new zoning and subdivision ordinance be able to create a better framework to ensure that the development that the community envisioned in the comprehensive plan is implemented, but we will be using a new ground-breaking format that uses the most current technology to provide the public with information in a really intuitive and user-friendly format. With our current demand for growth, this will be an extremely important tool for the community.”
“Clearzoning improves customer service and enhances the user experience in both print and online platforms. Upon completion of this project, the City of Horace’s new interactive zoning map and subdivision and zoning code will be available online even when the city’s offices are closed,” said Rod Arroyo, partner and director of community planning at Giffels Webster. “Key sections will be hyperlinked and illustrations and graphics will enhance the user experience. This sends a positive message to residents, local business owners, and those interested the development in the city.”
For more information on the Master Plan and the Subdivision and Zoning Ordinance, visit www.HoraceZoning.com or contact Community Development Director Barrett Voigt at bvoigt@cityofhorace.com.
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About Horace, North Dakota
The City of Horace is one of North Dakota’s fastest-growing cities. It was named 2019 City of the Year by the North Dakota League of Cities. Horace is a city committed to fostering the identity of the current community while ushering in a new wave of advancements and innovation for the future. For more information about the City, please visit www.CityofHorace.com or call 701-492-2972. For the latest news, follow City of Horace on Facebook.
About Giffels Webster
Giffels Webster is a collection of experts — civil engineers, landscape architects, planners, GIS specialists and surveyors — who choose every day to make communities better. The Michigan-based firm serves public, private and institutional clients throughout the United States with their infrastructure and land development needs.
Since its inception in 1952, Giffels Webster has evolved to offer a broad scope of services centered on helping clients achieve their project or programming goals, including civil engineering, municipal consulting, planning, land development consulting, landscape architecture, traffic engineering and GIS data creation and management. For more information, visit www.giffelswebster.com.