Council Pours on Mandatory Standards for Multi-family Zones

By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

July 16 -- For many looking to build in the City’s multifamily zones, the list of standards that must be met to obtain the necessary permits just got a little longer.

After rejecting a fast-track option, the City Council voted 5 to 1 Tuesday to add a host of “enhanced” development standards -- including setbacks and roof and stair requirements -- that builders now have to meet before getting the go-ahead from the Architectural Review Board (ARB).

The rejected staff recommendation would have made the standards optional if developers
wished to have their projects largely overseen by staff, instead of requiring a full review by the ARB.

But some council members were uncomfortable with limiting the ARB’s authority by allowing the board only to determine whether a project satisfied the standards, instead of allowing it to propose design changes.

"How can the (staff) urban designer stop bad designs if they meet the massing and other criteria, because the standards don't address design,” said Council member Ken Genser, the most vocal critic of the staff proposal. “What if we have a developer who says, ‘I don't have to listen to you. I meet the standards.’

Genser also led a successful charge against a proposal by a Planning Commission subcommittee that would have required developers to hold community meetings before submitting plans to the City in an effort to eliminate potential problems at the front end of an often-lengthy process.

"I think the council is looking to shorten the process,” Genser said. “This ordinance lengthens the time for virtually every project.”

Although Genser said the list of standards -- drawn up over several months by planning staff and a consulting firm hired by the City -- were “good” and “desirable,” he worried that the smaller aesthetic details would fall through the cracks if only staff reviewed them.

"What if someone decides to add ginger bread trim?” he asked. “How do the standards protect us from that?"

Genser’s concerns were shared by others. Planning Commissioner Jay Johnson, as well as some of his colleagues on the commission, which reviews projects in multifamily zones on appeal from the ARB, argued against the change.

"If you take the design standards and put it in the hands of one design czar, it is a disservice to the city," Johnson argued.

Under the fast-track proposal, the City’s new urban planner, Stephanie Reich, would be in charge of the staff team that determines if a project meets the design standards.

Not all on the council -- who along with Planning Commissioners Tuesday also took up a consultant’s recommendations to streamline some of the City’s development and review processes -- argued against the staff proposal.

"Why have planning commission czars instead of the planning design czar?" asked Council member Pam O’Conner, who eventually voted for the ordinance. “Is it your goal to force people to build world-class projects?”

Johnson responded that “the more people who input” on a design, “the better” projects become.

The council eventually amended the item to make the standards mandatory, but kept the review process the same.

Several Council members also opposed scrapping the proposal to hold mandatory neighborhood meetings before projects begin the notoriously long journey towards permit approval.

"After thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours, we will, in effect, have done nothing to give the public more guidance before they come before the ARB," said Council member Michael Feinstein when it became obvious the meetings would become optional.

“This is a non-confrontational, low pressure setting,” said Feinstein. “It's a carrot rather than the stick approach."