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Westminster council adopts urgency zoning ordinance raising housing-overlay minimum to 30 units per acre
Summary
The City Council adopted an urgency ordinance Sept. 10 raising the minimum density in Westminster's housing overlay from 20 to 30 units per acre to align with the city's housing element assumptions and avoid reopening site designations; the Planning Commission had earlier recommended denial.
The Westminster City Council on Sept. 10 adopted an urgency ordinance to amend the city's housing-overlay zoning, raising the minimum density from 20 to 30 units per acre and introducing a standard that staff says is necessary to match the density assumptions used in the city's sixth-cycle housing element.
Planning staff told the council the change is intended to prevent shortfalls in the city's Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) accounting and to encourage development products that will support local commercial activity. "The proposed zoning code amendment would raise the minimum density within the housing overlay to 30 units per acre," staff said during the presentation, explaining the amendment mirrors densities assumed in the housing element.
The Planning Commission voted 5-0 to recommend denial at its August hearing, a fact that drew repeated public comment and council questions. Several residents and speakers urged the council to uphold the Planning Commission's decision, citing concerns about parking, traffic and neighborhood character. Planning staff responded that the amendment would be applied only after the normal zoning-change process and additional public hearings and that the amendment itself would not change allowable uses in existing zones.
Because a regular ordinance cannot take effect immediately, staff proposed an urgency ordinance to bridge the gap between the second reading and the ordinance's effective date. Under state law an urgency ordinance requires a four-fifths vote if it increases land-use restrictions; staff said the ordinance as presented is exempt from CEQA under the common-sense exemption and aimed to avoid a lapse between moratoriums and later codified rules.
Following council discussion about maps, noticing dates and the scope of possible future site overlays, the council voted to adopt the urgency ordinance and introduce the regular ordinance for first reading. The urgency ordinance passed unanimously, and staff was directed to fix dates in the ordinance language and to return with final materials for the second reading and effective date.
