The last time Cincinnati's zoning code was completely rewritten, drive-through restaurants were rare, cell-phone towers didn't exist and one-car garages were standard.

        That was 1963. Almost 40 years later, Cincinnati's zoning code has become a hodgepodge of regulations on everything from automated teller machines to sexually oriented businesses.

ZONING FORUMS

The Cincinnati Planning Department is holding a series of forums on the new zoning code over the next month.     City planners will present the changes in the code, and gather neighborhood-specific questions, comments and concerns. The code does not include maps, which will come later in the process.     All forums begin at 7 p.m. The schedule:     • Today, McKie Recreation Center, 1655 Chase Ave., Northside.     • Tuesday, Bond Hill Recreation Center, 1501 Elizabeth Place.     • April 3, Westwood Town Hall, 3017 Harrison Ave.     • April 4, Corryville Recreation Center, 2823 Eden Ave.     • April 8, Sayler Park Recreation Center, 6720 Home City Ave.     • April 10, Price Hill Recreation Center, 959 Hawthorne Ave.     • April 10, Victory Neighborhood Services Agency, 2615 Melrose Ave., Walnut Hills.     • April 11, South Fairmont Community Center, 1631 Queen City Ave.     • April 23, Carnegie Center of Columbia Tusculum, 3738 Eastern Ave.     • April 24, Camp Washington Recreation Center, 1201 Stock St.

        City officials hope a complete revision will create a simpler, easier-to-use zoning code. A draft of the new code was unveiled Wednesday in the first of a series of public sessions.

        “For years, we've heard developers and even neighborhood groups tell us our code is far too complicated, and it's slowing down redevelopment in our neighborhoods,” said Don Mooney, chairman of the Planning Commission.

        One of the goals of the new zoning code is to promote home ownership.

        “I personally think that over the years — and this goes back 20 or 30 years — the zoning code seemed to favor multifamily development rather than single-family home ownership, and that is something we're paying the price for,” Mr. Mooney said. “Most urban neighborhoods in Cincinnati aren't the suburbs, and that's something we should have recognized all along.”

        For example, the new code reduces the minimum lot size for a single-family house from 5,000 square feet to 2,000 square feet — allowing more “infill” houses on vacant lots in high-density neighborhoods such as Price Hill and Mount Adams.

        Neighborhood business districts also get special attention in the code revision. But instead of providing a uniform set of regulations for all 14 major business districts, the code for the first time makes distinctions between pedestrian-oriented districts (such as Hyde Park Square) and auto-oriented districts (such as Glenway Crossing in Westwood).

        The code also makes changes to:

        • Hillside districts: Unique in Ohio, they were initially intended to prevent landslides, but “have become more about controlling views than about building on hillsides,” said Steven A. Kurtz, the city's zoning administrator. The new code will still protect front-and-back views in places such as Mount Adams, but not side views.

        • Administrative hearings: By making the code simpler, the city hopes to reduce the number of hearings — speeding up the process and requiring fewer hearing examiners. “If nothing else, that's going to build in some consistency,” Mr. Kurtz said.

        • Buffer yards: The new code puts an end to transitional, or “T” zones, the sometimes unwieldy designations which buffered different uses such as residential and commercial districts. The new code requires landscaping and screening to minimize conflicts between different uses.
       

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