Municipalities in Butler County will receive new guidance on how to model their zoning ordinances, or even new zoning rules.

County commissioners on Wednesday approved a new subdivision and land development ordinance, or SALDO, with mostly minor changes to better reflect state law, make clear ambiguous rules or terms, and incorporate best practices shown elsewhere in the state.

Mark Gordon, the county’s chief of economic development, said Wednesday that the SALDO serves both as a model for communities with zoning ordinances and as substitute ordinances for municipalities that don’t have their own.

“Many municipalities in the county have their own subdivision ordinance that typically patterns after the county ordinance,” Gordon said. “There’s also a group of municipalities here in the county that don’t have a subdivision or land development ordinance — mostly small boroughs, more of the rural areas — and as a result, when there’s development done in those communities, the county acts on their behalf utilizing the subdivision and land development ordinance.”

The county’s SALDO was previously updated in 2012, and throughout 2021 the county planning commission, with the help of a consultant, worked on improving the ordinance. Gordon said the county also worked with communities and the public, garnering input and incorporating it into the update.

“We also went out and solicited input from professional engineers and survey firms that do the work here in the county representing developers and representing the residential, so we’ve incorporated all of those results, scrutinized the existing SALDO and, essentially, what we presented was a streamlined” ordinance, he said.

The 2022 SALDO update, according to Gordon, includes many “administrative” updates, allowing for clarity and consistency with the state Municipalities Planning Code, which governs which restrictions communities may place on zoning.

Updates to the ordinance, according to a summary of changes provided to the commissioners, include the addition and subtraction of various definitions, edits to the SALDO’s stated purposes and the consolidation of different requirements into a single section.

Additionally, the new changes include changes to lot size ratio requirements, requiring compliance with municipal stormwater management ordinances and revisions to parking space requirements depending on the use of the land.

The new ordinance also explicitly states it has the force of law only when the municipality doesn’t have its own rules.

Commissioners unanimously approved the ordinance, which Gordon said will be sent to the municipalities and posted to the county’s website.