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Council adopts technical updates to planning and zoning code; parking-minimums discussion left for future study
Summary
The council gave second reading and adopted amendments to technical sections of the city’s planning and zoning code. Several residents urged broader reform of parking minimums; council members said parking minimum policy merits a future study session but approved tonight’s technical updates unanimously.
The Costa Mesa City Council on Oct. 7 adopted an ordinance making technical updates and clarifications to Title 13 (Planning, Zoning and Development) of the municipal code. The ordinance passed on its second reading by a 6-0 vote.
The item was presented as non-controversial code clean-up and the staff report noted edits intended to clarify existing definitions and procedures. No substantive rezoning or new development standards were included in the adopted changes.
During public comment several residents urged the council to go further, specifically to remove or substantially revise commercial parking minimums and to streamline parking rules that speakers said block small businesses and slow permitting. “Parking requirements and zoning ordinances create unoccupied spaces,” said Mark Vuksevich, a Costa Mesa resident and small-business advocate, who said his examples included coffee shops and restaurants that faced barriers to opening.
David (one-name speaker) and other commenters urged removal of the commercial parking minimums entirely and recommended a future code update that would allow more flexibility for businesses. Council members said the broader parking question was outside the narrow scope of the adoption before them but invited staff to study parking-ratio alternatives and potential public-private approaches, including metered public parking and public-private parking facilities.
Mayor John B. Stephens and several council members said the council will pursue a separate study and potential code amendments to address parking and to streamline routine approvals. For tonight’s ordinance, council members noted the changes would improve clarity and administrative processing.
The ordinance adoption is effective following the city’s normal publishing process; staff said any further code overhaul — particularly for parking minimums — would return as a separate project with outreach and a study session.
