Palm Beach, Florida
The Town of Palm Beach is a 3.8-square-mile barrier-island community famed for its historic architecture, high-value real estate, and enviable location. Over decades its zoning code—initially adopted in 1930 and last comprehensively overhauled in 1974—had been amended piecemeal, creating inconsistencies, regulatory ambiguity, and mounting tension between tradition and redevelopment. In May 2022 ZoneCo, led by principal Sean Suder, J.D., embarked on a once-in-a-generation rewrite to align the code with the Town’s vision, address escalating pressures (including sea-level-rise risk and large-scale redevelopment), and ensure both character preservation and regulatory clarity.
From the outset, ZoneCo’s methodology emphasised deep diagnostic rigor combined with design sensitivity. The team audited the ordinance’s many amendments; identified key friction points—such as uniform treatment of the “RB” residential district despite varying lot sizes, street widths and neighborhood scale; and engaged with stakeholders to surface how redevelopment was viewed locally. For example, Suder flagged that one-size-fits-all standards in the RB district—covering parts of the North End and Midtown—produced undesirable outcomes in narrower-street, smaller-lot zones. His recommendation: subdivide the RB district into targeted “sub-areas” so standards could better reflect context rather than force conformity.
The draft code re-organised content into logical chapters, introduced plain-language purpose statements, and incorporated graphics and tables to supplement textual regulation. ZoneCo’s team emphasised that the ordinance should explain itself: simpler use tables, clearer dimensional standards, and visual aids to help applicants and reviewers alike. Residents and commissioners had voiced frustration that the existing code was hard to navigate and often opaque in application. In November 2024 the Town’s Planning & Zoning Commission reviewed the first ZoneCo-led draft, raising concerns about the pace and role of consultation, and recommending that Town staff assume a lead role in the final adoption phase.
Key reform elements included: calibrating setbacks and heights according to street width to preserve neighborhood scale; clarifying buildable areas and accessory structures; and revising use-type definitions to reflect contemporary redevelopment while safeguarding historic fabric. The rewrite therefore sought to strike a balance: providing owners and developers reasonable certainty and opportunity, while protecting community character, privacy and scale.
Implementation support was built into the project scope. ZoneCo provided transition-documents, checklists, and training materials to help Town staff shift from code-interpretation to code-application. Public-facing drafts and consultation sessions were structured to keep the community engaged and facilitate understanding of trade-offs (for instance, how lot size, street width and height interplay).
In sum, the Town of Palm Beach's zoning code rewrite, led by ZoneCo, represents a textbook example of how a highly constrained, built-out historic community can modernize its regulatory toolkit without losing its identity. By coupling rigorous legal and planning expertise with design sensitivity, stakeholder outreach and clear documentation, the project offers a replicable model for other affluent, built-out municipalities facing redevelopment pressure, climate risk and demand for transparency. For Palm Beach, the rewritten code is not merely a regulatory update—it is a forward-looking mechanism to preserve place, manage change, and provide certainty for the next generation of stewardship.