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La Mesa council adopts objective design standards for multifamily housing to streamline review
Summary
The council amended Title 24 and adopted objective design standards that set measurable site, building and landscape criteria for multifamily projects (3+ units), enabling ministerial staff review with limited administrative exceptions; council required a one-year progress report.
The La Mesa City Council voted unanimously on Sept. 9 to adopt objective design standards for multifamily housing and introduced an ordinance amending Title 24 of the municipal code.
Planning staff member Santos explained the standards implement state housing law requirements by providing clear, measurable criteria governing building materials, colors, massing, site layout and landscaping for projects of three or more units that require design review. “What they do is they provide clear measurable standards that regulate things like building materials, colors, shapes, layouts of buildings, size and massing,” Santos said.
Under the adopted approach, applicants will complete a checklist and qualifying projects may be approved at the staff level through a ministerial review rather than a discretionary design-review board hearing; the standards include up to four administrative exceptions for flexibility and additional allowance for projects that provide deed-restricted housing. The standards emphasize site design, building articulation to avoid “cookie-cutter” boxy façades, and retention of mature trees and drought-tolerant plantings.
Council members praised staff engagement with the community and the clarity the standards provide; one member called the standards “one of the best” among neighboring cities. Staff requested and council directed that the planning commission return within one year with a progress report on implementation.
What this means: Developers of qualifying multifamily projects will follow a clearer, more predictable checklist-based process. The checklist aims to speed permitting while preserving local design goals; substantive departures will still require discretionary review.
