Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Planning And Development topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council clears path to streamline design review, assigns major reviews to planning commission
Summary
Council voted unanimously to amend the Sonoma Municipal Code to clarify review authority and simplify design-review procedures, with planning commission to review major design-review applications going forward.
The City Council unanimously approved ordinances amending Title 19 of the Sonoma Municipal Code to clarify which bodies review design and historic preservation items and to simplify the design-review process for applicants. The council took the votes after the Planning Commission recommended the changes earlier this year.
Community Development Director Jennifer Gates said the amendments remove duplicative historic-preservation references, update definitions (including "new construction" and "multifamily development"), and narrow the projects that must undergo full design review. The changes shift larger-scale design-review responsibility to the Planning Commission and create a clearer two-tier system (major and minor design review), while expanding the list of projects that are exempt.
The council also directed staff to continue requiring historic resource evaluations where an overlay or eligibility question exists until a citywide survey of historic resources is completed. Councilmember comments focused on making objective standards clearer and on timing for the citywide survey; Gates said the city will release a request-for-proposals to complete that survey.
Both ordinances passed on unanimous roll-call votes. Councilmembers and developers in the audience described the changes as helping to make the entitlement process more predictable while retaining protections for historically significant places.
