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Commissioners ask staff to add review of objective design standards to 2026 work plan
Summary
After expressing concerns that recent projects have strained Los Altos’ objective design standards, commissioners asked staff to add an investigation of those standards to the draft 2026 work plan and to bring the issue to council for consideration.
Several Planning Commission members told staff on Jan. 15 they are concerned the city’s objective design standards are becoming out of date and that recent projects have generated numerous waiver requests.
A commissioner raised the issue during the work-plan discussion, saying recent projects included proposals that the commissioner did not feel the commission was “proud to support.” Several other commissioners agreed and asked how the commission should proceed. "I’d like to endorse what [the commissioner] just said," said Joe, who urged the group to take up the topic in subsequent meetings.
Staff advised that the item could be added to the draft work plan as an investigatory or scoping task rather than a binding commitment, and that any formal change to objective standards would require council action and the zoning-code path with two readings. Stephanie (staff) said she would update the draft work plan to add the item and circulate it to commissioners and confirmed the commission’s recommendations would be forwarded to council in February.
Context and next steps: Commissioners noted objective standards were last updated in 2021 and discussed whether to hire consultants or use internal staff to develop revisions. The commission did not take a formal vote on changes to the standards at the Jan. 15 meeting; the item was added to the draft 2026 work plan for future consideration and possible council review.
