Council adopts Title 25 objective design and development standards with minor edits to encourage articulated facades

The Santa Barbara City Council introduced and adopted an ordinance Feb. 4 establishing Title 25, the city’s new objective design and development standards (ODDS), and approved related amendments to the Title 30 zoning ordinance. The measures create a measurable, graphic-based set of standards that applicants can use to qualify for a streamlined, ministerial design review process for multiunit residential and mixed-use projects.

City planners said the ODDS project began with a $300,000 grant from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and a multi-year public engagement effort. Rosie Dicey of the City of Santa Barbara’s planning staff presented the ordinance framework and said the standards were intended to increase predictability and implement state law that permits streamlined approvals when projects meet objective, measurable standards. Dicey said the city will revisit the program after it has been in use: staff proposed a status review after either 10 projects or two years, whichever comes first.

Opticos Design principal Tony Perez, the project consultant, described the document as form-based standards drawn from an inventory of Santa Barbara building types and streetscapes. Perez said the standards differentiate “house-scale” and “block-scale” buildings, and require designers to choose building frontage types and architectural style groups so facades and public realm relationships are predictable and consistent with local character. Perez said the standards include mechanisms for limited relief when specific site constraints prevent strict compliance.

The standards cover five geographic objective-standard zones where multiunit development is allowed, list allowable building types, set ground-floor frontage rules (stoops, porches, shopfronts, etc.), and present six massing modules and three style groups (craftsman, Spanish/ Mediterranean family, and contemporary variants). The city removed a broader allowance for a “contemporary” style in some areas following public and commission input; the council also made a late edit lowering an articulation trigger so long facades must show more composition earlier — the threshold for additional articulation was changed from 80 feet to 60 feet in council action.

City staff said the ODDS approach implements elements of the housing element and follows principles in state law (including Senate Bill 35 and the Housing Accountability Act) that require objective standards for streamlined ministerial review. Staff advised that the objective process is optional; applicants may still seek the city’s traditional discretionary design review if they prefer.

Council debate acknowledged both the objective’s goals of predictability and the risk of producing an overly prescriptive rule set. Council members and planning commissioners who participated in the work group told the council that the standards were deliberately thorough to meet the state’s requirement that standards be objective, measurable and defensible. The planning commission and the Architectural Board of Review had reviewed drafts during the preparation process, and staff included numerous graphics and examples to guide applicants.

Council member Sneddon moved to adopt the staff recommendations; Mayor Pro Tem Freeman seconded. Council also instructed staff to correct a drafting error in Attachment 3 (remove an erroneous strikethrough) and to implement the council’s direction to change the long-facade articulation threshold to 60 feet. The motion passed unanimously.

Staff said the Title 25 standards will replace an earlier, limited objective standard the city adopted to implement SB 35 and will repeal the earlier resolution. Staff also noted that the standards do not change underlying allowed density or intensity under Title 30; rather they provide a clearly measurable path to review for qualifying projects. Compliance findings for the objective route are limited: the design review body must find the project meets Title 25 standards and does not create unmitigable public-health or safety impacts.

Dicey and Perez told council the city will monitor implementation and return with a status report and any recommended amendments after the earlier of two years or ten projects, allowing staff and stakeholders to adjust the standards based on real-world use.

The council’s action adopts a package of municipal-code changes directing staff to publish Title 25 standards and to accept objective-design applications. Several commissioners and members of the public praised the work group and urged continued collaboration between staff, boards and the design community during implementation.