Murrieta staff seek citywide Objective Design Standards update, cite grant deadline and ADU guidance

Murrieta planning staff presented a proposed, citywide update to the Objective Design Standards (ODS) at the Planning Commission’s April 22 workshop, saying the changes are needed to align local rules with recent state housing law and to give developers clearer design direction for emerging product types such as lane‑court clusters, duplex airspace lots and accessory dwelling units (ADUs).

“Tonight we’ll be providing you a workshop presentation and it’s our first update to the city's objective design standards,” said Dennis Watts, senior planner with the city planning division. Watts and city planner Carl Steele walked commissioners through the ODS structure, current geographic map and the types of projects staff are seeing in the field.

The ODS document, Watts said, currently applies to the downtown specific plan, the Transit‑Oriented Development overlay and multifamily/mixed‑use zones. Staff propose removing the limited applicability map and expanding the standards to cover single‑family zones, duplexes and ADUs so that the city can apply consistent, ministerial design rules to any project that state law now allows.

“The state's looking for ministerial approval,” Watts…