Kalamazoo, MI Zoning Overlays & Bonuses: Downtown Design Guide (2026)

Zoning Ordinance § 6.1C adopts the Downtown Design Standards and Guidelines by reference and requires every development within the DDA District, the area the Kalamazoo Downtown Development Authority governs under § 2.3G of the Zoning Code, to follow those design and development regulations. The same subsection extends that requirement to the Southtown Design Review District, defined as all parcels bordered by E. Walnut Street to the north, Portage Street to the east, Stockbridge Avenue to the south and S. Burdick Street to the west, except structures used solely as single-family, duplex or multifamily residential buildings.

Before any building, structure or property in either district is constructed, developed, renovated or rehabilitated, the owner, builder, contractor or developer must submit the project proposal to the City Planner. An Administrative Review Committee, made up of staff from the City of Kalamazoo and the Downtown Development Authority, then assigns the project as a Tier I or Tier II project under the Standards & Guidelines; Tier II projects go on to the Downtown Design Review Committee established under § 11.5, and any Tier II project needing site plan review also goes through the Site Plan Review Committee under § 8.3H.

The City Commission may amend the Standards & Guidelines by resolution, but only after the Planning Commission first reviews the proposed changes and reports its recommendations. Copies of the Standards & Guidelines are kept available to the public at the City Clerk's office, the Department of Community Planning and Development, and the city website. Because § 6.1C works by incorporating a separate design document rather than printing numeric standards in the ordinance itself, a developer cannot rely on the Zoning Ordinance text alone and must obtain the current Standards & Guidelines before designing a downtown or Southtown project.