Laguna Beach staff pitches faster, more objective design-review process; council and advisory bodies urge caution on exemptions

City staff outlined proposed changes to Laguna Beach's design-review process on Oct. 27, proposing an urgency ordinance to speed review of routine work and a parallel comprehensive zoning-code update to create objective design standards for certain projects.

The proposed urgency ordinance would exempt narrowly defined ministerial projects from discretionary design review and create a new “zone clearance” path for projects that plainly meet objective code standards. Staff also proposed shifting some work from the Design Review Board and Planning Commission to an administrative design-review process that would remain callable up to those bodies. Staff said the changes respond both to new state housing laws such as SB 9 and to long internal delays that have strained planning staff and the city budget.

The proposal starts with three broad pieces of work, staff said: (1) short-term “efficiency ordinance” changes to design-review triggers, (2) a longer-term comprehensive zoning-code update to add objective design standards (for multifamily and potentially some single-family projects), and (3) changes to how public-works projects are processed.

“Has a lot to do with state law, has a lot to do with recent changes that guide us towards more objective design standards,” city staff member Jane said in the presentation, noting state statutes and the city's own housing element as drivers. Staff explained examples of items proposed for exemption or administrative review: small additions and repairs that do not exceed about 16 feet…