RULE 9 | ELIMINATE SINGLE-USE ZONING FROM ICT ORDINANCES
- Holly Terrill
- Aug 27
- 5 min read
WALKABLE WICHITA: LESSONS FROM JEFF SPECK
BY RAMI STUCKY
Wichita’s City Commissioners in the 1920s had an idea, one shared by many other city leaders across the nation. Wichita was going to create a zoning ordinance. It was a decision that would profoundly impact the city’s walkability. Before the advent of zoning in the 1920s, a city or urban area might develop in a “helter-skelter, village-like, indiscriminate manner.” [1] This meant that an individual could build a repair shop next to a residence. Apartment buildings could be built right on the lot line of an adjacent property, depriving it of light, air, and privacy. Churches could be next to loud factories. For several Wichitans, this was not ideal. Some were concerned about their property values. Why purchase land and contribute to the growth of an 80,000-person city when your neighbor might later be a filling station or industrial plant? [2] Even something as innocuous as a grocery store could impose upon a “fine residence district.” [3] Others were interested in Progressive Era reforms. Sufficient access to light, air, and protection against nuisance was a “human right,” argued the Wichita Beacon in 1922. [4]
To fix this issue, Wichita’s commissioners implemented a plan that divided the city into several zones. Zone A was restricted to single and two-family residences, churches, schools, and libraries. Zone B permitted apartments. Zones Cs and D were reserved for commercial and light industrial uses. Industries that made loud noises, created dense smoke, or released foul odors were confined to Zone E. For the most part, they were all distinct from one another. Fertilizer plants, glue factories, gunpowder factories, incinerators, rock crushers, and sauerkraut factories were located as far from residential and retail districts as possible. [5] Commercial houses were no longer interspersed within residential areas. Instead, the ordinance relegated them to the corners of main arterial roads.
The zoning ordinance, which passed on March 14, 1922, solved a problem. It also created a new one, impacting the walkability and density of the city for a century to come. Just look at the issues that arose in the year of its passing alone. One individual was denied the opportunity to build a three-floor apartment house that would accommodate 24 families. [6] A group of developers was turned away when they realized College Hill did not permit apartment living. [7] A warrant was issued for the arrest of a shop owner who was operating a store at 1937 McCormick, a property that was in Zone A. [8]
Sometimes the zoning ordinance caused problems for longtime inhabitants. The property owner of a parcel at the intersection of Green Street and Douglas Avenue declined to renovate their dilapidated storefront due to zoning restrictions. The ordinance required any new building to be located 30 feet from the sidewalk. The proprietor lived in a bungalow in the back of the lot, so new construction would encroach on their living quarters. Plus, they could not rebuild it as a store since it was located in a residential area. [9] After a fire destroyed George Drake’s grocery store at 107 West Funston, the zoning ordinance prohibited it from being rebuilt as well. [10]
Wichita’s zoning ordinance has undergone expansion since its implementation in 1922. It still protects Wichita’s residents as it was originally intended. However, it also comes with the same problems that were first seen more than a century ago. As urban planner Jeff Speck notes in Walkable City Rules: 101 Steps to Making Better Places, “if nothing is close to anything different, and the only connection is a single fat roadway, then the population is automatically conscripted into driving.” [11] What has resulted is that a “city of neighborhoods” has been replaced by a “city of zones.” [12] Say a Wichitan wants to visit, or even open, a restaurant. The current ordinance prohibits the existence of a restaurant in 74 percent of the city’s available land area. Furthermore, much like it did in the 1920s, it relegates such businesses to main intersections on the periphery of residential areas. The placement of microbreweries or indoor recreation and entertainment centers is even more restricted.
“Mix the uses,” Speck argues. [13] The elimination of single-use zoning, the implementation of more specific zoning, and the expansion of mixed-use development would help address this issue. The Wichita Zoning Code explicitly defines the “Central Business District (CBD)” as a zone designated for “mixed use.” [14] However, such zones do not need to be exclusively downtown. The developer who owns the land at the southeast corner of Central and Oliver is hoping to rezone the property as a “CBD.” This allows for the construction of a building with commercial properties on the ground floor and residential units above. “Planned Unit Developments” (PUDs) are another special type of zoning district that can be granted. This has led to the construction of Uptown Landing on Douglas and Hillside, a development featuring apartments adjacent to coffee shops and situated directly above a restaurant and other commercial spaces. [15]
Such developments and zone changes enhance walkability by integrating dense housing with retail and commercial spaces. Wichita’s zoning laws have been in effect for over a century, dividing the city into distinct district areas. Without losing sight of the benefits of zoning, it is about time to address its limitations.
[1] “Objections Are All In,” Wichita Beacon, March 6, 1922, 12.
[2] “Wichita Zoning Plans Discussed,” Wichita Beacon, January 19, 1921, 9.
[3] “The Inquiring Reporter,” Wichita Beacon, December 10, 1921, 2.
[4] “Protecting Human Rights,” Wichita Beacon, February 7, 1922, 16.
[5] “Zone Ordinance To Be In Effect Within a Week,” Wichita Beacon, March 15, 1922, 4; “Wichita City Commission Passes Zoning Law,” Wichita Eagle, March 15, 1922, 9; “We’re Zoned,” Wichita Eagle, March 16, 1922, 4.
[6] “He Can’t Put 24 Families on 50-Foot Lot,” Wichita Beacon, March 19, 1922, 7.
[7] “Factories The Need,” Wichita Beacon, March 25, 1922, 10.
[8] “First Warrant Is Issued Under Zone Ordinance,” Wichita Beacon, August 28, 1922, 5.
[9] “$25,000 Building First Victim of Zone Ordinance,” Wichita Eagle, March 18, 1922, 5.
[10] “Grocer Burned Out Tuesday Morning But Zoning Ordinance Bars Rebuilding,” Wichita Eagle, March 28, 1922, 10.
[11] Jeff Speck, Walkable City Rules: 101 Steps to Making Better Places (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2018), 21.
[12] Speck, 20.
[13] Speck, 12.
[14] “Wichita-Sedgwick County Unified Zoning Code,” September 25, 2009, https://library.municode.com/ks/wichita-sedgwick_county_unified/codes/unified_zoning_code?nodeId=WIDGCOUNZOCO.
[15] “Wichita Zoning” (City of Wichita GIS, November 21, 2024), https://ict-opendata-cityofwichita.hub.arcgis.com/datasets/cityofwichita::wichita-zoning/about.
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