Commission gives staff direction to pursue form‑based objective design standards for downtown master plan

The City of Lincoln Planning Commission on Sept. 17 directed staff to continue work on a downtown master plan that would pair a master plan with objective design and development standards (ODS), and to pursue further community outreach before finalizing any streamlined review categories.

Efren Sanchez, senior planner with the community development department, said the ODS and master plan are intended to create a more walkable, mixed‑use downtown by removing certain zoning barriers and creating predictable, objective standards. "Master plan establishes clear intended outcomes, cost, and time efficiency," Sanchez said during the presentation, explaining that a form‑based approach focuses on building form — height, setbacks and relationship to the street — rather than separating uses by traditional zoning.

Staff described the concept of building‑type standards for ODS that would define objective criteria for particular building types — for example duplexes, fourplexes, cottages and small apartment buildings — and allow development that meets those standards to proceed through a ministerial, nondiscretionary process. Sanchez and commissioners repeatedly emphasized the need for robust public outreach to ensure community priorities are reflected before the city uses objective standards to streamline approvals. "Once we get that kind of consensus of what this should look like and what these categories are that can be streamlined, ... it doesn't stop someone from coming forward with a triplex or some other thing that ends in one of these categories," a staff speaker said, noting that projects outside the objective categories would still use the standard discretionary review process with public hearings.

Commissioners asked whether the ODS would limit building types, how public input would be preserved under a streamlined system and whether the streamlined standards would be flexible enough for design variety. Commissioners also referenced the wider statewide context of efforts to speed housing production and noted benefits of clearer, objective rules for predictability and lower project costs.

Sanchez said staff will continue outreach and bring more refined proposals back to the commission and to Council. The discussion included references to jurisdictions in California that have adopted similar objective design standards (Marin County cities, Santa Barbara, Davis, Folsom, Fremont and others), and commissioners asked staff to take care that the public retains meaningful opportunity to comment during the process. There was no formal vote on policy changes; commissioners provided direction to staff to proceed with further public engagement and to return with more detailed code proposals.