Table of Contents

Form-Based Zoning

The city’s zoning code includes a mapped optional form-based code (Appendix D §1.1 et seq.). It includes seven transect zones all with different permissible land uses, form standards, building frontage types, façade design standards, parking standards, and landscaping standards (Article VI).

Grayfields Reuse and Redevelopment

They city's form-based code includes an Infill Growth Sector designation intended to facilitate infill and grayfield projects (§2.8).

Instructions for these areas also apply to sites surrounded by substantial pre-existing development. (Re)development must adhere to an Existing Community Plan , or if the site is more than 40 acres a new plan must be created (§4.1).

As part of a form-based code, projects must conform to Gulfport’s Transect Zones (§4.2) and Community Types (§4.3). The transect zones feature standards, including density, but most standards are to be defined in the Existing Community Plan, including most requirements for Civic Space (§4.7), Parking (§4.8), and Architecture (§4.9).

Additional standards that may be added by the Existing Community Plan include delineation of a primary and secondary transportation grid, as well as standards for retail frontage, sidewalk retail, “building of value” designation, and more (§4.10).

Inclusionary Housing

The city's Smartcode offers two incentives for the voluntary provision of affordable housing (§5.9.3).

Lots in transect zones T4 through T6 within designated Density Bonus Receiving Areas may build an additional 25 percent of the by-right density allowance in exchange of building an equal number of certified affordable housing units within one half-mile of the site. Units must be distributed throughout mixed-income neighborhoods or buildings and must comply with architectural design standards.

Lots in transect zones T5 and T6 may build one additional story in height in exchange for providing 8 units per site acre of certified affordable housing.

The code provides for the certification of affordable housing units for participation in the incentive programs (§1.7.1.4). Units must be made affordable for at least 30 years to those at 80 or 100 percent of AMI.