ReZone Syracuse

Goals

1. Preserve and enhance Syracuse's existing land use patterns.
2. Protect and enhance the character and "sense of place" of Syracuse's neighborhoods.
3. Ensure high-quality, attractive design throughout the City.
4. Promote environmentally sustainable land use patterns, transportation options, and site plans.
5. Ensure that development regulations and review processes are efficient, predictable, and transparent.

Objectives 

• Ensure the new Zoning Ordinance and Map implement the recommendations of the City's adopted Comprehensive Plan 2040, including the LUP 2040.
• Update the ordinance to incorporate principals of form-based codes, smart growth, traditional neighborhood development, transit-oriented development, and other current best practices.
• Develop and/or improve standards regulating urban design, urban agriculture, lighting, signage, landscaping, parking, site design, infill development, and vacant land management.
• Promote and facilitate Historic Preservation.
• Develop sustainable development provisions regarding the following: climate adaptation, renewable energy infrastructure, green building materials, and green infrastructure.
• Increase protection of natural resources, including open space, water bodies, topography, and tree protection.
• Streamline the development review process by creating more predictable zoning regulations.
• Update the format and structure of the Zoning Ordinance to be user friendly and include more illustrations and graphics.
• Remove inconsistencies, outdated language, and reduce the complexity of the Zoning Ordinance.
• Facilitate increased public awareness of, and participation in zoning review and processes.
• Increase ways to use technology to provide and receive information from the public.

The City of Syracuse's first Zoning Rules and Regulations were first adopted in 1922. They have been updated several times, but typically performed in a piecemeal manner, which created a document that was not easy to use or administer.

ReZone Syracuse was a multi-year initiative to update our zoning laws to better reflect the City's vision. The new Zoning Ordinance was adopted in 2023 under the Mayor Walsh Administration. After adoption and to implement the recommendations of ReZone Syracuse, the Mayor Walsh Administration established the Office of Zoning Administration and the Division of Planning and Sustainability. The functions moved from the joint Syracuse-Onondaga County Planning Agency (SOCPA) to the City’s Department of Neighborhood and Business Development (NBD).