MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - On February 24th, the Meridian Township Planning Commission discussed the new Form Based Code. Planning Commissioner, David Premoe asked Meridian Township Principal Planner, Peter Menser about the history of Form Based Code.

"The idea was along Grand River Avenue from the Capitol...really out to Williamston. There would be a similar uniform look. Not everything was going to be cookie cutter, but each district would have its own identity. You generally have similar zoning provisions. The idea was to have this character as you drove through the corridor of the region," said Menser.

According to the Township memo, "The Planning Commission began discussing the adoption of a Form-Based Code (FBC) in early 2019. The FBC initiative is an off-shoot of the Shaping the Avenue project administered by the Capital Area Transportation Authority (CATA), which sought to develop consistent design and zoning policies for properties along the Grand River Avenue corridor. Shaping the Avenue was led by a team consisting of architecture, planning, and design consultants with a goal of providing municipalities along the corridor with draft form-based code ordinance language for potential adoption."

The Planning Commission has been working on refining draft form-based code ordinance language based on the ordinance presented by the consultant team. The focus is specifically on Grand River Avenue from Park Lake Road to Brookfield Drive, with the ultimate goal to extend the ordinance to other commercial hubs in the Township.

The Planning Commission and Township Board will continue discussing this topic.