Brentwood planning commission recommends objective design standards, asks staff to rename 'furniture zone'

The Brentwood Planning Commission on March 17 voted to recommend that the City Council adopt text amendments to the municipal code to create objective design standards for residential and mixed‑use development, a package staff and consultants said is intended to streamline ministerial housing approvals while preserving Brentwood’s character.

Consultant Drew Watkins of JZMK Partners told the commission the revisions add 42 definitions and reorganize the draft into six chapters to increase clarity and reduce subjectivity. "The purpose of objective design standards is to streamline the housing development and review process and provide clear expectations to the development community," Watkins said.

The draft removes a previously listed "contemporary" architectural style, tightens roof‑material and color specifications, clarifies noise attenuation language and adds landscape standards including ember‑resistant zones and a higher minimum for non‑planted landscape areas. Staff and consultants said the ember‑resistant (defensible) zone language references existing state and local codes and is intended to align with best practices for structures in high‑fire areas.

Commissioners pressed for specifics on scope and enforceability. Commissioner Gerald Johnson asked whether a five‑foot ember‑resistant space would be required “around every home”; staff and the consultant said the ODS references municipal and county codes and that defensible‑space requirements are applied consistent with code and fire‑hazard area designations. A staff member cited California Public Resources Code section 4291 in discussing defensible‑space norms.

Several commissioners praised the document’s organization and the new definitions. One commissioner recommended leaving room in the adopted resolution for staff to make minor, non‑substantive edits prior to city council review; another pointed out a typographical/run‑on sentence in the staff report that staff agreed to correct.

The commission also approved a single, non‑substantive modification to the draft resolution: renaming the document’s "landscape furniture zone" to "buffer zone" to reduce public confusion about the term. The motion to recommend adoption of Resolution 25‑015 (the ODS amendments) with that modification passed by recorded vote.

The commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council for consideration; staff said the ODS is intended to move through council with the clarifications and minor edits discussed at the commission meeting.