The city of Riverside is in the process of amending its zoning map, with the hope that it will speed up commercial development and make it easier on staff to administer the zoning code, city officials said.

The current zoning code and map — used since 1995 when Riverside was incorporated into a city — is outdated and too complex for the city to use with all of the updates that have been made to it in the last 17-plus years, according to City Manager Bryan Chodkowski.

The number of zoning districts would decrease from 23 to nine in the new Unified Development Ordinance.

“There’s too many zoning codes,” Chodkowski said. “The point of this was to make it more usable for staff, citizens, businesses and interested developers.”

A new proposed district is urban core, which is based on a property’s appearance, regardless if it is residential or commercial.

That proposed district is in the Center of Flight across the street from the National Museum of the United States Air Force. The city owns about 22 acres contiguously as well as other pieces of land in that area.

Bob Murray, the city’s director of planning and economic development, used The Greene Town Center in Beavercreek as an example of urban core because there are “a lot of uses, but a standard theme. Everything looks the same.”

“Almost anything is allowed as long as it is not affecting your neighbor or disturbing the properties around you,” Murray said. “It’s set up to regulate what it looks like and not what it’s used for. It really puts the imagination of the developer to work. They have more possibilities in creating a successful development than they do in any other way we can think of. That’s the intent.”

The other eight proposed districts are: four residential, including one multi-family; two business; industrial; and campus/institutional. The city is 7.9 square miles.

Chodkowski said the proposed changes will “expedite development that we know is coming,” referring to the McDonald’s relocation near the Airway Shopping Center and other retail centers in the city where ownership has recently changed hands.

“At the end of the day, will it create development? No,” Chodkowski said. “But it will speed development along for us.”

Don McMahan of McMahan’s Mobile Home Park, 3324 Valley Street, believes the new proposal will have a positive impact on the city.

McMahan’s, a family-run business since the early 1950s, owns 70 acres of land and there are currently about 250 homes on the property.

“We know the city of Riverside needs money the same as other communities,” McMahan said. “They’re willing to make the effort and take the step to make Riverside attractive to people coming in. They’re doing everything right, and we like that. We want to be a part of the business side of that because we want to expand and develop.”

The city has been working on this proposal for the last two and a half years, and it has cost about $6,000 to print and send out notices to property owners.

“The vast majority are not going to be impacted at all,” Chodkowski said. “As a matter of fact, property owners will benefit from the standpoint that they’ll now have more options available to them within their proposed district to change their business. There are many more options than what you could do before.”

Chodkowski said he expects the new proposed zoning changes to be voted on by City Council in October after the city’s planning commission meets next month and prepares a final recommendation. If it is passed by council, the changes would take effect the first quarter of 2013.

The planning commission held a public hearing last week and more than 100 people attended. City Council also will schedule a public hearing on the map amendment.