Columbia, MO Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)

The M-DT district is to encourage a mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented district - with a secondary focus on land uses. Property frontages and façades are part of the public realm, literally forming the walls of the street-space and are therefore subject to more regulation than the other portions of the private property. The principal regulatory sections of the M-DT district are the regulating plan, the building form standards, and the urban space standards, described below:

(a) Purpose and intent.

(1) The regulating plan. The regulating plan applies M-DT regulations to individual properties in the district. It is public space master plan with specific information on development parameters for each parcel and shows how each lot relates to the street-space and the surrounding neighborhood. The regulating plan also identifies additional regulations and/or opportunities for lots in specific locations, as well as place-specific exceptions to the building form standards.

(2) The building form standards. The building form standards (BFS) are coded street frontages. They establish basic parameters governing building form for different locations shown on the regulating plan in order to shape the street-space through the site and form controls on buildings. Their secondary intent is to ensure that the buildings are coordinated to form a functioning, sustainable, block structure throughout the district. They describe the buildable