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Planning commission reviews housing-element rezones, objective design standards and cultural inventory; requests further study
Summary
The commission held a public hearing on the housing element rezones and a package of objective design standards required for state certification. Staff described new zones and overlays to add capacity; public commenters and commissioners requested additional study of massing, historic-inventory implications and traffic impacts.
Planning staff presented proposed rezones and objective design standards implementing the city’s housing element update and asked the commission for comment during a public hearing. The hearing covered two principal actions: a rezoning (creating a new Residential Medium High 2, RMH2, zone allowing roughly 15–20 dwelling units per acre on specified parcels) and a housing-overlay rezoning in several smaller clusters that staff said could allow up to 24 dwelling units per acre.
Staff presentation and state timing Brian McCarthy, a city planner, told commissioners the housing element work began in 2022 and has been refined over several rounds of review with the planning commission, City Council and the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD). He said the City Council adopted the latest version in September 2024 and that HCD has issued conditional approval pending the rezone actions. "The housing element was started, I believe in 2022," McCarthy said, summarizing the multi-year process.
McCarthy explained the rezones were intended to provide zoning capacity required by the…
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