HomeMy WebLinkAbout7-26-22 PC Agenda PacketCITY OF ARCADIA
Arcadia Planning Commission
Regular Meeting Agenda
Tuesday, July 26, 2022, 7:00 p.m.
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CALL TO ORDER
ROLL CALL
Brad Thompson, Chair
Vincent Tsoi, Vice Chair
Angela Hui, Commissioner
Domenico Tallerico, Commissioner
Marilynne Wilander, Commissioner
SUPPLEMENTAL INFORMATION FROM STAFF REGARDING AGENDA ITEMS
PUBLIC COMMENTS (5 minute time limit per person)
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Act, the Commission or Board Members are prohibited from discussing or taking action on any item not listed on the posted
agenda.
PUBLIC HEARING
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proposed items set forth below for consideration. Separate and apart from the applicant (who may speak longer in the
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the public hearing.
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1.Resolution No. 2101 – Recommending that the City Council approve Text
Amendment No. TA 22-02 (Ordinance No. 2390) amending various sections of
Arcadia’s Development Code related to new Objective Design Standards for Multi-
Family and Mixed-Use Development, updates to the Density Bonus Ordinance, and
Minor Changes to the Accessory Dwelling Unit Ordinance with a Categorical
Exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act
Recommendation: Adopt Resolution No. 2101
Applicant: City of Arcadia
CONSENT CALENDAR
All matters listed under the Consent Calendar are considered to be routine and can be acted on by one roll call vote. There
will be no separate discussion of these items unless members of the Commission, staff, or the public request that specific
items be removed from the Consent Calendar for separate discussion and action.
2.Minutes of the June 28, 2022, Regular Meeting of the Planning Commission
Recommendation: Approve
MATTERS FROM CITY COUNCIL LIASION
MATTERS FROM PLANNING COMMISSIONERS
MATTERS FROM ASSISTANT CITY ATTORNEY
MATTERS FROM STAFF INCLUDING UPCOMING AGENDA ITEMS
ADJOURNMENT
The Planning Commission will adjourn this meeting to Tuesday, August 9, 2022, at 7:00
p.m.
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DATE: July 26, 2022
TO: Honorable Chair and Planning Commission
FROM: Lisa Flores, Planning & Community Development Administrator
By: Fiona Graham, Planning Services Manager
SUBJECT: RESOLUTION NO. 2101 – RECOMMENDING THAT THE CITY COUNCIL
APPROVE TEXT AMENDMENT NO. TA 22-02 (ORDINANCE NO. 2390)
AMENDING VARIOUS SECTIONS OF ARCADIA’S DEVELOPMENT
CODE RELATED TO NEW OBJECTIVE DESIGN STANDARDS FOR
MULTI-FAMILY AND MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT, UPDATES TO THE
DENSITY BONUS ORDINANCE, AND MINOR CHANGES TO THE
ACCESSORY DWELLING UNIT ORDINANCE WITH A CATEGORICAL
EXEMPTION FROM THE CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT
Recommendation: Adopt Resolution No. 2101
SUMMARY
The Development Services Department has initiated a Text Amendment to amend and
update various sections of the City’s Development Code. The Text Amendment consists
of the following: 1) New Objective Design Standards for Multi-Family and Mixed-Use
Development to meet the requirement to streamlining housing projects under Senate Bills
35 and 330; 2) Update to the Density Bonus Ordinance to ensure compliance with recent
changes to State law; and 3) Minor changes to the Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU)
Ordinance. This Text Amendment will allow the City to implement and regulate
development in accordance with Senate Bill 330 (SB 330), Senate Bill 35 (Senate Bill 35),
the State’s updated Density Bonus law, and ADU regulations.
It is recommended that the Planning Commission adopt Resolution No. 2101 (refer to
Attachment No. 1) recommending the City Council approve Text Amendment No.
TA 22-02 (Ordinance No. 2390) and find that the Text Amendment is Exempt under the
California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) Guidelines.
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Text Amendment No. TA 22-02
July 26, 2022
Page 2 of 9
BACKGROUND
In recent years, the State has passed numerous laws aimed at addressing the ongoing
housing crisis in California. In 2017, Governor Brown signed a comprehensive housing
package with 15 legislative bills that were intended to target the state’s housing shortage
and high housing costs. In 2019, Governor Newsom signed 18 bills intended to boost
housing production. Included among these bills were Senate Bill (“SB”) 35 and SB 330.
Both bills include specific tasks that must be completed in order for local jurisdictions to
comply with State legislation and to approve certain housing proposals through
ministerial, or “over-the-counter,” processes based on objective standards for new multi-
family or mixed-use developments. The results of these laws, SB 35 and SB 330, are to
encourage cities to create quicker, more accessible pathways for housing to be built.
SB 35 went into effect January 1, 2018, and create d a streamlined, ministerial approval
process for certain qualifying affordable residential projects that provided at least 2
residential units and contained a minimum of 10% affordable units. On October 9, 2019,
Governor Newsom signed SB 330 enacting the “Housing Crisis Act of 2019.” The housing
bill is one of several bills that went into effect on January 1, 2020. The overall goal of SB
330 is to “suspend” certain local restrictions on housing development and expedite the
permitting process to address the housing shortag e in the State. SB 8 extends the date
when SB 330 sunsets from 2025 to 2030 to give the State more time to recover from the
pandemic and meet its housing production goals.
SB 330 aims to streamline all multi-family residential development, regardless of whether
it includes affordable housing by:
• Implementing a preliminary application process that “locks -in” applicable
standards at the time of application and until the project is entitled.
• Sets review time limits for the entire review process.
• Restricts the number of hearings/meetings to a maximum of five (5).
• Requires that a project is reviewed only against objective design standards,
removing discretionary review unless it is associated with another entitlement such
as Zone Change, General Plan Amendment, Planned Development, and/or
Specific Plan.
SB 35 and SB 330 are applicable only to cities and counties that have not met some or
all of their Regional Housing Needs Allocation (“RHNA”). Arcadia has not met its housing
allocation and is therefore required to implement this process to be compliant with SB 35
and SB 330. Approximately 97% of all jurisdictions across California have not met some
or all of their RHNA and are therefore subject to the provisions of SB 330 and SB 35.
In preparation for these changes, the City applied for funding through the Department of
Housing and Community Development’s (“HCD”) Senate Bill 2 (“SB 2”) Planning Grants
program. The State set aside approximately $123 million to provide funding and technical
assistance to the cities and counties as they prepare, adopt, and implement programs
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Text Amendment No. TA 22-02
July 26, 2022
Page 3 of 9
that assist in the creation of new housing. The City was awarded $155,400 to have a
consultant assist with the creation of new Objective Design Standards for Multi-Family
and Mixed-Use developments and update to the City’s Density Bonus Ordinance. Along
with this effort, the text amendment also includes minor changes to the existing ADU
Ordinance. The City contracted with RRM Design Group in 2021 to assist with this effort.
They were the same firm that also assisted the in updating all the design guidelines in
2019.
ANALYSIS
The proposed Text Amendment consists of the following changes: 1) New Objective
Design Standards for Multi-Family and Mixed-Use Development to meet the requirement
to streamlining housing projects under Senate Bills 35 and 330; 2) Update to the Density
Bonus Ordinance to ensure compliance with recent changes to State law; and 3) Minor
changes to the Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) Ordinance.
1. New Objective Design Standards for Multi-Family and Mixed-Use Development
The City has developed new Objective Design Standards with our consultant, RRM
Design Group, to provide clear expectations of the types of design, massing, and issues
the City would like to avoid such as elongated blank wall facades. The Objective Design
Standards will build off the existing design guidelines that were updated in 2019 and will
also provide clear language for developments to follow. This will improve compatibility
between new and existing housing because objective design standards allow for more
predictable development outcomes. Staff has created two different sets of design
standards for different types of housing (e.g., multi-family and mixed-use residences) –
refer to Attachment No. 1, Exhibit A.
The new Objective Design Standards will clearly communicate expectations to the
Applicants, and if an eligible project applicant complies with the standards (as well as all
applicable zoning regulations), approval could be through a staff-level administrative
process with no public hearing review if there are no entitlements associated with it such
as a Subdivision, Zone Change, General Plan Amendment, Planned Development,
and/or Specific Plan.
The new Objective Design Standards were also written to capture and regulate the most
significant and impactful design features of multi-family residential buildings. For example,
façade articulation is an important architectural design element which provides visual
interest and reduces massing. The Objective Design Standards have provisions included
to require façade articulation. Similarly, large cantilevers are typically not supported as
they create top-heavy design. Therefore, an example to help mitigate this issue is to
restrict all cantilevers to a maximum depth of four (4) feet.
Below are some examples of what changed from a design guideline to an Objective
Design Standard:
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Text Amendment No. TA 22-02
July 26, 2022
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Design Guideline Objective Design Standard
Large expanses of flat building walls
should be avoided by providing sufficient
building articulation. Vertical and
horizontal wall articulation, including
architectural indentations and/or
projections, should be consistent with the
chosen architectural style and be
integrated into the overall building design
to provide opportunity for shade, shadow,
and visual relief.
All exterior walls must have a minimum
two-foot variation in depth at least every
40 feet of wall length to provide relief along
the wall plane. In addition, all walls shall
include at least two of the following
features: windows, trellises, arcades,
balconies, different exterior material, or
awnings.
Parapets should not appear “tacked on”
and should convey a sense of
permanence. If the interior side of a
parapet is visible from the pedestrian
and/or motorist vantage point, it should be
designed to be similar to the exposed
façade.
a. Parapets shall be capped with precast
treatment, continuous banding, or
projecting cornices, dentils, or similar edge
treatment.
b. Parapet material shall match the
immediately adjacent building façade.
Garage doors facing the street are highly
discouraged.
Garage doors shall be oriented to face
away from the primary street.
Rooftop equipment should be concealed
from view and/or integrated within the
architecture of the building.
Rooftop equipment that is not able to be
concealed within the architecture of the
building shall be screened from view
behind a parapet wall or through the use
of screens. Screens must have the same
façade treatment as the structure.
To provide some flexibility, because not all projects can meet these standards depending
on the architectural style or layout, the text amendment includes a new process to waive
up to three (3) Objective Design Standards, subject to approval by the Planning &
Community Development Administrator, or designee. The purpose of this waiver process
is to ensure a project does not include any unwanted design features which are not
appropriate for the neighborhood, and to allow for some nuance while working within the
limitations created by only applying objective standards.
2. Density Bonus Update
Density Bonus is a state mandate and was originally enacted in 1979 to provide housing
developers with tools to encourage the development of much needed affordable and
senior housing. The Density Bonus Law is constantly changing and as part of this effort
the existing density bonus ordinance has been updated to comply with all the legislative
changes since the last comprehensive Code update in 2016. Some of these changes
includes increasing the terms of the affordability development from 30 to 55 years, adding
a chart that shows the state sliding scale based upon the percentage of affordable units
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Text Amendment No. TA 22-02
July 26, 2022
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at each income, as shown below, a table that lists the number of incentives/concessions,
and reduction to parking and lower parking ratios if they are located within ½ mile of a
major transit stop, as shown in the tables below and in Attachment No. 1.
A Density Bonus is determined by taking the maximum allowable density for the site and
deed restricting a certain percentage of those units for affordable housing. In accordance
with the State Density Bonus law, a density bonus will be applied based on the percentage
of affordable units provided. For example, a project that has 100 residential units and
provides 17% of those as Low Income units will receive a 30.5% Density Bonus and two
(2) concessions. This means the project will have a total of 130 residential units, 17 of
which will be restricted for low-income families.
Table 1 identifies the recent changes to the State Density Bonus law. The table shows
the percentage of affordable units required in order for a project to be granted a certain
density bonus and concessions/incentives. Table 2 identifies changes to parking
requirements for density bonus projects.
The new changes are shown in red and the strike-through language shows what the
requirements used to be in both of the tables below.
Table 1
Summary of Increased Requirements for Density Bonus and
Concessions/Incentives
Household
income category
Percentage of
Affordable Units
in Project
Density Bonus Minimum Number
of Concessions or
Incentives
Very Low Income 5% 20% 1
Very Low Income 10% 32.5% 2
Very Low Income 15%+ 35%50% 3
Very Low Income 80 – 100%^ 80% 4
Low Income 10% 20% 1
Low Income 20%+ 17% 30.5% 2
Low Income 20% 35% 2
Low Income 30% 24%+ 35%50% 3
Low Income 80 – 100%^ 80% 4
Moderate Income* 10% 5% 1
Moderate Income* 20% 15% 2
Moderate Income* 30% 25% 3
Moderate Income* 40% 35% 3
Moderate Income* 44%+ 50% 3
^ Up to 20% of units may be allocated for Moderate Income households
*For-sale units only
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Text Amendment No. TA 22-02
July 26, 2022
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Table 2
Maximum Off-street Parking Requirements
Threshold Maximum Parking
Requirement
0 – 1 bedroom 1
2 – 3 bedrooms 2 1.5
4 or more bedrooms 2.5
Rental projects with at least 11% very low-income OR 20%
low income AND within 1/2 mile of a major transit stop
0.5 per bedroom unit
Rental projects 100% affordable to low‐income households
AND within 1/2 mile of major transit stop
0.5 0 per unit
Rental project for individuals 62+ AND with paratransit
service OR bus routes within 1/2 mile of major transit stop
0.5 0 per unit
Rental project for special needs housing 100% affordable to
low-income households AND with paratransit service OR
within 1/2 mile of a bus route operating at least 8 times per
day
0
Rental project for supportive housing 100% affordable to
low-income households
0
Moderate‐income for‐sale project with at least 40%
affordable units AND within 1/2 mile of major transit stop
0.5 per unit
Affordable housing is provided based on several income levels or categories. Income
levels are established as a percentage of the Area Median Income (AMI) and are as
follows:
• Very Low Income – 50% of AMI
• Low Income – 80% AMI
• Moderate Income – 120% AMI
• Above Moderate Income - > 120% AMI
For the year 2022, the Los Angeles County AMI are:
• $63,750 for a one-person household.
• $72,900 for a two-person household.
• $82,000 for a three-person household.
• $91,100 for a four-person household.
For all the changes to the density bonus ordinance, refer to Attachment No. 1, Exhibit B.
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Text Amendment No. TA 22-02
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3.Minor Changes to the Accessory Dwelling Units
Over the past decade, the State has implemented multiple changes to the Government
Code regarding the development of Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs). The current ADU
law includes several provisions that limit a local jurisdiction’s ability to regulate m any
aspects of ADUs. The City has updated its Ordinance over time to reflect changes made
to ADU regulations, while still retaining as much local control as possible. The most recent
ADU Ordinance update was done in 2020. In the subsequent two years, staff has
identified provisions of the ADU Ordinance which require minor clean-up of language that
were inadvertently excluded from the last update and minor amendments to the
process.
These changes are not substantive in nature but aim to remove the covenant process
since the code regulations already ensures the ADU cannot be rented or sold to another
owner.
The minor changes will include the following changes to the ADU Ordinance:
•Remove the covenant process for ADUs – This process is no longer necessary
since the Development Code and the law does not allow the property owner to
convey the ADU to a separate owner. The covenant was the only mechanism to
ensure that the unit would not be sold off separately, but the ADU law has since
changed and the existing regulation in place prevents that from happening.
•Impact fees for ADUs 750 square feet or greater – The State has changed the
law to now require impact fees for any new ADU that is 750 square feet or greater.
It was previously 800 square feet.
FINDINGS
Pursuant to Section 9108.03.060, an amendment to the Development Code may be
approved only if all of the following findings are made:
1.The proposed Development Code amendment is consistent with the goals,
policies, and objectives [of] the General Plan; and any applicable specific
plan(s).
Facts to Support the Finding: The proposed Text Amendment is consistent with
the Housing Element Update that identifies goals, policies, and implementation
programs addressing housing opportunities, the removal of governmental
constraints, improving the condition of existing housing and providing equal housing
opportunities for all Arcadia residents. These goals, policies, and program actio ns
are consistent with all other Elements of the General Plan in that they further the
City’s overall goals to create a diverse, sustainable, and balanced community by
implementing strategies and programs that contribute to economic ally and socially
diverse housing opportunities that preserve and enhance Arcadia’s character.
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Text Amendment No. TA 22-02
July 26, 2022
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2. The proposed amendment is internally consistent with other applicable
provisions of this Development Code.
Facts to Support the Finding: The proposed Text Amendment would make the
Development Code consistent with State law by pausing certain local restrictions on
housing development and expediting the permitting process for multi -family housing
to address the State housing shortage. The pro posed Objective Design Standards
will not change the development standards for multi-family and mixed-use zones. The
update to the Density Bonus Ordinance and minor changes to the Accessory
Dwelling Units (ADU) Ordinance will bring both ordinances in compliance with recent
changes by State law. The Housing Element Update identifies goals and policies
addressing housing opportunities, removal of governmental constraints, improving
the condition of existing housing and providing equal housing opportunities fo r all
Arcadia residents through the Development Code. Therefore, the proposed Text
Amendment is consistent with other applicable provisions of this Development Code.
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) together with State CEQA Guidelines
and procedures require that certain projects be reviewed for environmental impacts and
that environmental documents be prepared. The proposed Arcadia Mixed-Use Objective
Development Standards and Multi-family Objective Development Standards, Density
Bonus Ordinance Update, and minor changes to the ADU Ordinance are exempt from the
requirements of CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3) because it can
be seen with certainty that they would not have a significant effect on the environment and,
thus, are not subject to CEQA review. See Attachment No. 2 for the Preliminary
Environmental Assessment.
PUBLIC COMMENTS/NOTICE
Pursuant to Section 9108.13.020.B.2 of the Development Code, if the number of property
owners to whom notice would be mailed is more than 1,000, a notice may be published in
a general circulation news publication. Accordingly, a public hearing notice for Text
Amendment No. TA 22-02 was published in the Arcadia Weekly on June 30, 2022, and
July 14, 2022. As of July 22, 2022, no comments were received in response to the notice.
As part of the public outreach effort, the proposed changes were published on the City’s
website and made available to the public on June 9, 2022. The proposed changes were
also advertised on social media, including Twitter and WeChat, and Architects/Designers
who expressed interest in this effort were notified for their input. During the public review
period, staff received comments from two designers, mostly seeking clarification on
process and also providing some comments.
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Text Amendment No. TA 22-02
July 26, 2022
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RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Planning Commission adopt Resolution No. 2101,
recommending that the City Council approve Text Amendment No. TA 22 -02 (Ordinance
No. 2390) amending various sections of the Arcadia Development Code related to
implementing Objective Design Standards for Multi-Family and Mixed-Use development,
updating the Density Bonus Ordinance, and undertaking a minor update of the Accessory
Dwelling Unit and with an Exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act.
Approved:
Lisa L. Flores
Planning & Community Development Administrator
Attachment No. 1: Resolution No. 2101
Exhibit A – Objective Design Standards for Multi-Family and
Mixed-Use projects
Exhibit B – Density Bonus Ordinance Update
Exhibit C – Accessory Dwelling Unit Ordinance Minor Changes
Attachment No. 2: Preliminary Exemption Assessment
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Attachment No. 1
Resolution No. 2101
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