City Council adopted a new zoning ordinance, which went into effect January 1, 2023. The Rochester City Council voted 7-0 to adopt the Unified Development Code (UDC) as the City's new zoning ordinance at the September 7, 2022 City Council Meeting (watch a recording of the meeting). The previous UDC had been in place since 1995.
A zoning ordinance regulates the manner in which private property can be developed. The Unified Development Code will modernize zoning standards to reflect the goals of the Comprehensive Plan. New organization, graphics and simplified language will make the code easier to interpret for everyone. A primary objective of this project was to create a truly unified development code which houses all of Rochester's development regulations while creating consistency and predictability for residents, neighborhoods, developers, and business owners.