There will be a special joint Windsor Town Council and Windsor Planning Commission meeting on June 30 that will be a study session for the Multi-Family Residential Objective Design Standards being considered by the town.
According to the agenda, State Senate Bill (SB) 35 went into effect in January 2018, requiring local jurisdictions who have not met their Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) requirements to use a streamlined ministerial review process for qualifying multi-family housing developments. Because the town has not met its current RHNA housing unit requirement of 440 units, SB 35 applies to the town. This means that a project that complies with SB 35 would go straight to building permits, with no discretionary review by the planning commission or town council.
The agenda also states that the state legislature has taken a number of additional measures to increase residential development — specifically multi-family residential — and reduce obstacles to housing production, making it more difficult for jurisdictions in California to deny a multi-family housing project or to decrease the density of a proposed multi-family development, unless the application fails to meet clear and objective standards defined within the General Plan, Zoning Code, Specific Plan or adopted design manual.
While Windsor does have objective development standards, such as required setbacks and building heights, which are part of the town’s zoning ordinance, the town does not currently have objective “design” standards. This means that at present, multi-family projects proposed under SB 35, or other streamlined ministerial processes, would not be held to the same design criteria and policies that other similar projects would through the town’s discretionary review process. To ensure that these projects are designed to fit in with the character of Windsor, it is necessary for the town to adopt and incorporate objective design standards into the zoning ordinance.
In November 2019, Windsor was awarded $160,000 in grant funding to create multi-family residential objective design and development standards. The project was initiated in April 2020 with research, stakeholder interviews with local developers and a community workshop series. The workshop series, which ran from August 2020 through October 2020, included online surveys to gain an understanding of the ideas and expectations from the community regarding multi-family residential design.
On Nov. 4, 2020, the town council and planning commission held a joint study session and received a presentation regarding the development of Multi-Family Residential Objective Design Standards. At that meeting, city staff received direction from the council and planning commission on what they would like to see in the draft.
The draft Multi-Family Objective Design Standards were prepared and were available for public review and comment from May 27, 2021 through June 24, 2021.
The purpose of this joint meeting is to give an overview of the draft Multi-Family Residential Objective Design Standards that were developed. Staff is requesting that the council and commission consider any comments received and provide final comments to staff for the development of the final Multi-Family Residential Objective Design Standards.
Public hearings for adoption of the standards with the Windsor Planning Commission and Windsor Town Council are anticipated to occur later this summer.
The special Joint Windsor Town Council and Windsor Planning Commission meeting takes place on Wednesday, June 30, at 6 p.m.
To view the proposed draft standards, go here.
If you would like to provide public comment, submit them via email to the council and planning commission by noon on the day of the meeting:
to*********@to***********.com
pl****************@to***********.com
Members of the public can participate in the meeting by visiting:
https://zoom.us/j/99330662935 or by dialing 877-853-5247 and
Enter Webinar ID: 963 3066 2935
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.
