Board Meeting: Proposed Urban Design Guidelines

At the September THD board meeting, Jeff Joslin, Director of Current Planning, presented to the Board the process for developing the proposed urban design guidelines. The planners are in the third phase of the project and are currently meeting with the various neighborhood groups throughout the City. The Board urged Mr. Joslin to reach out to the neighborhoods through community workshops. The Board shared their concerns with Mr. Joslin, how the Guidelines were more subjective than the planning code, and there were questions about how the proposed urban design guidelines fit in with the residential design guidelines. There were concerns about transparency and that the proposed guidelines do not fit into the N. Beach Neighborhood Commercial District.

THD’s comments included:

1. Public outreach and consultation with community and neighborhood organizations must be conducted..

2. The deadline for comments needs to be extended

3. Conformance with the General Plan should be demonstrated

4. A statement of General Plan urban design should be attached to and more explicitly integrated into the UDC;

5. The respective roles of the UDC and the Residential Design Guidelines need to be clarified;

6. A wholesale rewriting of the RDG is not necessary

7. A “one-size-fits-all” guideline approach should be avoided

8. A more representative mix of illustrative examples should be used

9. Illustrative examples should be matched to the guideline, rationale, and range of means they are intended to illustrate

10. The Waiver Provision must be deleted.