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Zoning Code / Overlav District <br />While there are numerous approaches to refining existing zoning codes to address areas <br />that will experience new growth or redevelopment, the process is often arduous. Lake <br />Elmo should consider a two -pronged strategy that could provide the City with the most <br />efficient means to an end. <br />The first aspect of this approach suggests that the Old Village is an entity that should not <br />be treated as a collection of disparate pieces but instead as a whole. Using this <br />assumption, the City could develop an overlay district that would have the flexibility to <br />allow changing uses within the district while preserving its scale and character. Like <br />Grand Avenue, where housing and retail sit side by side — and where housing <br />sometimes becomes retail in the same building (which is, by the way, also the case on <br />Lake Elmo's historic Main Street), it is the preservation of the whole that trumps the <br />single use considerations. <br />The second aspect of this approach directly addresses the urban form of the Old Village. <br />Often referred to as "form -based zoning,' this method of zoning speaks to the <br />architectural character of buildings and relationship to the public realm. An early <br />example is on the Toronto waterfront, where the City was far more concerned with how <br />buildings addressed the street, provided activity at grade, created plentiful fenestration <br />and so forth, than they were with the particular land use within the building. <br />Together, these strategies could provide the City with a simple means to reinforce the <br />character of the Old Village while remaining flexible to accommodate changes in the <br />marketplace. <br />III-9A-t 3 <br />