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Council introduces zoning amendment to adopt objective design standards for multifamily and mixed-use projects
Summary
Council members heard a detailed presentation on proposed objective design standards (Zoning Code Amendment 24-01) intended to speed multifamily review and set uniform, verifiable design criteria. The council moved to introduce the amendment for future adoption and public input.
The Inglewood City Council on Jan. 14 introduced Zoning Code Amendment 24-01, a proposed amendment to Chapter 12 of the Inglewood Municipal Code that would establish objective design standards citywide for new multifamily and mixed-use developments.
Bernard McCrumbie, planning manager in the Development Services Department, presented the proposal and described objective design standards as rules that "involve no personal or subjective judgment by a public official and are uniformly verifiable by reference of an external and uniform benchmark." He said the standards were developed with consultants from the Arroyo Group and with input from the planning commission and stakeholders.
The amendment would apply to new multifamily construction and mixed-use developments with two or more housing units, projects in transit-oriented-development (TOD) plan areas, and remodels that increase floor area. McCrumbie said the standards are intended to create a checklist staff and applicants can use, which he said could compress review time "from about 10 weeks to 2 to 3." The proposal includes objective criteria for site planning and access, building modulation and articulation, materials and finishes, entries, residential privacy, outdoor dining, open space requirements, exterior lighting, walls and fences, noise, loading and trash areas, utilities, parking structures and frontage standards.
The amendment includes an administrative adjustment mechanism: projects that cannot meet a particular objective standard may apply for a discretionary adjustment that would be administratively reviewed and require findings to be made. McCrumbie said the standards were modeled in part on recent downtown projects the city considered desirable, including developments referenced in the staff report.
Council members moved to introduce the amendment and to waive additional readings as permitted; the motion carried on a recorded vote. The item was opened for public comment but no substantive public testimony was received on the amendment at the hearing. Staff materials and the full draft standards are available in the staff report and attachments on file with the City Clerk's office.
If adopted at a later meeting, the standards would change the objective criteria used to evaluate qualifying residential and mixed-use projects and could affect the development review timeline for projects in Inglewood.
