The City of Concord will host a special joint meeting of the Housing and Economic Development Committee, Planning Commission, and Design Review Board on Wednesday, April 6 at 6:30 p.m. to consider and provide input on “Objective Design Standards” for housing projects, in response to State legislation.
The overview will include:
- The project’s goals;
- Initial tasks;
- The timeline;
- Community outreach; and
- The City’s relevant design documents.
The project team, comprised of City staff and their consultant, MIG, Inc., will explore the experiences of the Committee/Commission/Board members in their review of planning projects and the implementation and incorporation of the City’s design guidelines into development projects. The project team will also seek policy direction from the group on key items.
The meeting will include an open discussion on “What housing design makes Concord look and feel like Concord?” and members of the public will be invited to provide public comment.
Because this is a special meeting, it will be held in-person only in the City Council Chamber (1950 Parkside Drive), and will not be available by Zoom, nor will it be televised.
The project intends to support Concord’s tradition of high-quality design and streamline the review of housing projects, consistent with the State Housing Accountability Act.
Background
In response to California’s housing crisis, several state laws have been enacted to bolster the State’s Housing Accountability Act, with the intent of stimulating housing production. These bills are intended to advance housing by streamlining permit processes and making it more difficult for communities to deny or reduce the density of housing projects that meet objective General Plan and zoning requirements.
The State has limited a local jurisdiction’s ability to apply subjective design standards. Going forward, the City can now only rely on the application of objective design standards for most housing projects. Objective Design Standards are those that do not involve discretion or subjective judgment and are verifiable by reference to an external and uniform benchmark or criterion.
For further details, please contact Joan Ryan, Principal Planner, at joan.ryan@cityofconcord.org or (925) 671-3370.