MXU Project-Level Land-Use Requirements
Current ordinance
Appendix A, Section 49 — Mixed Use (MXU) District. The Comprehensive Plan sets a target mix for MXU areas, but the current code does not clearly say whether each large development must provide its own share of that mix or whether a developer can rely on unrelated land elsewhere in the MUSA.
Proposed rule
Each MXU Master Development Plan must provide the required mix of land uses within the land covered by that plan. A developer may not count unrelated property outside the approved Master Development Plan toward its commercial, high-density housing, open-space, or infrastructure requirements.
Separate parcels may share those requirements only when they are included in the same approved Master Development Plan and the required land uses, phasing, infrastructure, and development obligations are legally secured before the first phase is approved.
A residential phase may not use land that the approved Master Development Plan reserves for commercial, high-density housing, public use, parks, open space, or other required uses.
Approval of one phase does not reduce or eliminate the land-use obligations assigned to later phases.
Why change it
This prevents a developer from using the wider MUSA as a reason to avoid providing the commercial, higher-density housing, or other uses required within its own project. Each large MXU development must carry its own share unless several properties are truly planned and legally bound together as one project.
Implementation
Amend Section 49 so the land-use mix applies at the Master Development Plan level. Cross-reference the PUD flexibility rules so a PUD may change where uses are arranged within the plan, but may not eliminate a required use or shift that obligation to unrelated property. Planning Commission public hearing → Council adoption.
Plain-language principle: Every large MXU project must carry its own share of the mixed-use plan.