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Montclair council adopts updated general plan and zoning ordinances after debate over drought rules and street design
Summary
After public testimony and extended council debate over drought-tolerant landscaping and possible street-design changes, the Montclair City Council adopted a comprehensive General Plan update and two implementing zoning ordinances, recorded in the meeting as passed by 3-2. Staff said specific street redesigns and water measures will be handled project-by-project.
The Montclair City Council adopted a sweeping update to the city's General Plan and two implementing zoning ordinances on Dec. 16, 2024, concluding a public hearing and a round of council questions and staff clarifications. Council members approved Ordinance No. 24-19 (Arrow Highway mixed-use specific plan) and Ordinance No. 24-11 (corridors code and zoning map updates); the transcript records the key vote as 3-2.
The adoption implements the land-use and regulatory goals the council previously finalized in the General Plan update and the city's Climate Action Plan. Bruce Col, a resident who participated in the plan process, urged the council to support the document, telling members that voting against it would be “a middle finger to the residents” who drafted proposals and attended outreach meetings.
Opposition on the dais centered on climate and street-design concerns. One council member said the plan and its implementing code did not go far enough to require drought-tolerant landscaping and expressed worry that some corridor cross-sections could narrow streets in ways that complicate driveway exits and on-street parking. That member said those concerns were the principal reason for a no vote.
City Manager Star and consultant Michael Diaz responded that the General Plan is a visionary document and that specific street and project designs will return to the council for review. Diaz told the council that the Plan's corridor design standards are intended to provide flexibility for property owners who choose to redevelop and that mandatory changes are typically implemented at the project level, during public project review. Star also said the Climate Action Plan contains sections addressing drought and water-conservation measures and that the city will comply with applicable state mandates.
Council members pressed staff on examples and timing. Staff cited recent site projects and potential redevelopment parcels along Arrow Highway as illustrations of how the zoning changes could facilitate mixed-use redevelopment, and they noted that a program-level environmental impact review (often called a program EIR) can reduce regulatory uncertainty for future projects.
The record shows the council moved the ordinances for adoption, read their titles aloud, and took an electronic vote. The transcript reports two ordinances by number and title and records the adoption tally. The council then handled consent items; one member recused themself on a grant-writing-services contract (consent item C2) because of a relationship with a competitor, and the remainder of the consent calendar was approved.
What's next: staff said project-level design proposals (street sections, precise landscape treatments and zoning adjustments for specific parcels) will be brought back to the Planning Commission and the council for site-specific review. The council scheduled an adjourned meeting for Dec. 17 to complete remaining calendar business.
Quotes used in this article come from speakers recorded in the council transcript, including Bruce Col and council members, and from staff responses by City Manager Star and consultant Michael Diaz.
