The agenda of the May 5 meeting of the Windsor Town Council isn’t terribly long but has several important items, relating to the drought and this year’s fire conditions, housing and zoning codes and more.
The meeting will start with a pair of proclamations, one denouncing anti-Asian racism and violence and another declaring May 16 through 22 National Public Works Week.
This will be followed up by a briefing update on loud car noise from Windsor Police Sergeant James Percy and a presentation from PG&E on this year’s outlook for Public Safety Power Shutoffs and Overall Wildfire Safety Efforts.
There will be a public hearing for an ordinance amending the development standards of the Neighborhood Center Commercial (NC) Zoning District and increasing the maximum building height from 35 to 45 feet. According to the board packet, NC and Community Commercial (CC) zoning districts both allow residential development within a mixed-use project up to a maximum density of 16 dwelling units per acre. However, the maximum building height allowed in the CC zoning district is 10 feet higher than the NC zoning district. Because of lower maximum height limits, projects in the NC zoning district may have difficulty reaching the upper limit of the allowable density range, which in turn may detract from the town’s effort to provide an adequate housing supply.
Three-story buildings are typically needed for a project to reach a density of 16 units per acre, and there are challenges to designing a three-story mixed-use building with a 35-foot height limit. Assuming a ground floor commercial space with a ceiling height of 12-15 feet, plus two residential stories that are 10 feet tall, the building height would be already be 32-35 feet. Additional height would be needed to accommodate gabled roofs and/or parapets to hide rooftop mechanical equipment.
The planning commission approved the proposed changes in an April 13 meeting.
On the regular calendar, there is a single item, a voluntary 20% reduction in water use and encouraging all water users to increase water efficiency, due to the drought emergency that has been declared by the state and county. The actions the town will be asking residents to take include:
- Apply irrigation water only during the evening and early morning hours to reduce evaporation losses;
- Inspect all irrigation systems, repair leaks, and adjust spray heads to provide optimum coverage and eliminate avoidable over-spray;
- For irrigation valves controlling water applied to turf grass, vary the minutes of run-time consistent with fluctuations in weather;
- Reduce minutes of run-time for each irrigation cycle if water begins to run-off to gutters and ditches before the irrigation cycle is completed;
- Utilize water conservation incentive, rebate, and giveaway programs to replace water- guzzling plumbing fixtures and appliances with water-efficient models;
- Take advantage of the free information available from the town on how to use water efficiently, read a water meter, repair ordinary leaks, and how to apply water efficiently to the landscape.
The next meeting of the Windsor Town Council takes place on May 5 at 6 p.m. If you would like to provide public comment, submit them via email to the council by 4 p.m. on the day of the meeting: to*********@to***********.com.
Members of the public can participate in the meeting by visiting:
https://zoom.us/j/95927977565 or by dialing 877-853-5247 and
Enter Webinar ID: 959 2797 7565
The meeting will be live streamed at:
https://www.townofwindsor.com/721/Agendas-Minutes-Videos
The meeting can also be viewed on Comcast Channel 27
and AT&T U-verse Channel 99.
