DECATUR, Alabama (WAF) – The Decatur City Council added amendments to a new zoning ordinance during Monday’s city council meeting.

Decatur’s current zoning ordinance was written in the 1950s.

City Council President Jacob Ladner says outdated rules make it difficult for Decatur to keep up with its neighbors.

“It just makes it more modern, again the attempt to make it easier for citizens and developers to understand and just get us to 2024,” Ladner said.

Ladner says the old ordinance was written before some of the city’s projects existed. That’s why a development group was hired to write a new one; to address current issues.

Decatur resident Andrea Hoffmire read the 400-page ordinance and has concerns.

“Is there anything where there should be a measure, rather than some things where it just says ‘more’… How much more,” Hoffmire said.

She thinks the council has been moving too quickly, but appreciates the delay Monday’s amendments caused.

“What we’re still left with is the fact that the public doesn’t understand what’s in this document,” Hoffmire said.

Councilman Billy Jackson made it clear that he will not vote to approve this ordinance until the city hires a full-time planning director.

“The demographics of our city are changing dramatically,” Hoffmire said. “And if we don’t start engaging and communicating to all citizens in a way that reaches them where they are, then we will be paying for it for generations to come.”

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