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Planning commission recommends exempting covered porches, balconies and decks from residential floor‑area limits
Summary
The Saint Helena Planning Commission voted to recommend that the City Council adopt an ordinance to exclude covered and uncovered porches, balconies and decks from gross residential floor‑area calculations, finding the change exempt from CEQA.
The Saint Helena Planning Commission on Oct. 21 voted to recommend that the City Council adopt an ordinance amendment excluding porches, balconies, decks and similar structures from residential gross floor‑area calculations. The commission also found the proposal exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act under CEQA Guidelines section 15061(b)(3).
The change responds to direction the City Council gave staff on July 22, 2025, to amend the municipal code so that covered porches, balconies and similar structures are not counted toward maximum residential gross floor area. Planning staff presented the proposal as ZOA 2025‑02 and walked commissioners through edits to Table 17.16.30 (note 5) and deletions and cleanups in section 17.34.050 related to floor‑area exclusions.
Staff said the ordinance text and the staff report are included in the meeting packet and noted a correction from the code publisher: the live online code now reflects the city council action adopted Oct. 23, 2023. "If you were to look at the live code online, it does reflect the code that the city council adopted on 10/23/2023," the presenter said.
Daniel Hale of Madrona Avenue, who had submitted two written comments, told the commission he supported the redrafted resolution and thanked the city attorney for revising the language. "The redrafted resolution relating to porches is clean, understandable, and aligns with the equally clear directions from council. I urge you to endorse it," Hale said.
Commissioners had no substantive edits and several said the item was "straightforward" and ready to move forward. Commissioner discussion focused on whether the draft faithfully implemented council direction; several commissioners said they would also welcome a later broader review of how the recently updated zoning code is operating.
A motion to recommend that the City Council find the amendment exempt under CEQA Guidelines section 15061(b)(3) and adopt Ordinance ZOA 2025‑02 passed on a 4‑0 vote (Vice Chair Furdick, Commissioner Anderson, Commissioner Covell and Chair Chris Warner voting yes). The commission will forward the recommendation to the City Council for final action.
The staff report and draft ordinance are part of the public record attached to the meeting agenda.
