Aligning the City's Zoning with its

The Zoning Alignment Project is a key step toward ensuring that Rochester’s development regulations serve the community today, work to implement its vision for tomorrow, and always respect what makes Rochester unique.

Plan

Updating the City’s Zoning Code will help to align regulations with the award-winning Rochester 2034 Comprehensive Plan. The Plan serves as the City’s blueprint for the next 15 years, and establishes a series of policies and priorities to guide growth and development into the future.

Principles

The update process will help to bring development regulations into alignment with the City’s Guiding Principles related to placemaking, focused growth, equity, and designing at the pedestrian scale, among others.

People

The update will include numerous opportunities and avenues for members of the public to provide meaningful input into the process. As Rochester grows, its regulations should reflect who the City is, and what is important to its residents.

Potential

Rochester is the third largest City in New York and is home to a wealth of unique assets, amenities, and opportunities. Updating the City’s development regulations is a key step in leveraging these unique features and helping the City realize its full potential.

Recent Updates and Meeting Information

  • Draft Scope for the ZAP Environmental Impact Statement

    At their May 22nd meeting, the City Planning Commission reviewed the draft Scope for the ZAP Environmental Impact Statement. This is the kick-off for the public scoping process required by the NYS Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR). The community will be given 30 days to review and comment on the draft Scope. Comments can be […]

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Frequently Asked Questions

Rochester’s updated Zoning Code will be a key tool for implementing many of the policies contained in the City’s Rochester 2034 Comprehensive Plan. Effective regulations are dependent upon a careful understanding of existing patterns of land use and development, as well as an agreement as to how the policies of the Comprehensive Plan are interpreted and applied throughout the City. Click through below to see some frequently asked questions about the role of zoning, and its relationship to other City Plans and policies.

Frequently Asked Questions