City Announcement———— below. Notations inclosed in brackets are not part of the City announcement.
Comments Sought on Draft Multifamily Objective Design Standards for Commercial and Mixed-Use Areas
[The standards will apply to all areas in Piedmont when multifamily housing is considered.]
Published October 7, 2022 by the City of Piedmont
Piedmont’s Planning & Building Department has published draft updated multifamily development design standards for public review and comment. The draft standards, officially called the Piedmont Multifamily Objective Design Standards, or “MODS,” would govern new development in existing commercial and multifamily zones.
[As Piedmont is currently proposing multifamily use in other zones, such as the Public Zone and Commercial Zone, the MODS criteria will be paramount to staff’s ministerial decisions on permitting development of multifamily structures without public input.]
[Piedmont’s City Attorney’s opinion has stated density in all zones is not controlled by voters. making these standards important for the exclusionary ministerial permitting purpose. As applied by the City to the Commercial Zone and Public Zone, both are zoned for single-family use, as all of Piedmont, opening the Single-family Zone to multifamily high density usage ]
[ The City of Piedmont is proposing multifamily high density dwellings within Piedmont’s Public zone, which includes parklands and municipal properties, because the Public zone permits single-family residential dwellings and density can be increased without voter approval. The design standards (MODS) would apply in all areas where housing is proposed for multifamily use. The new design standards are subject to implementation for: Piedmont Public properties, Commercial, and Single-family zoned properties. ]
This project is separate from Piedmont’s Housing Element update and began in 2019, when the City applied for an SB2 planning grant to fund development of the standards. The purpose of objective design standards is to ensure new multifamily and mixed-use development aligns with and enhances the character of Piedmont’s neighborhoods.
[ Single-family residential zoning is contiguous to all Public, Commercial, and Multifamily use zones in Piedmont.]
These standards would apply to proposed developments in Piedmont’s Zones C and D, where mixed-use and multifamily development is already allowed. These areas constitute less than 5% of total land in Piedmont.
[The City Attorney’s opinion does not separate uses or limit residential uses in a particular zone. The recently devised Mixed Use Zone was never approved by Piedmont voters as required by the Piedmont City Charter. The City Attorney’s opinion notes density increases are allowed because single-family zoning is permitted, announcing voters do not control density.]
The standards are intended to help maintain privacy and mitigate other possible impacts to neighbors and surrounding single-family properties. They provide specific guidelines for design elements like:
- Setbacks, building placement, and façade design
- Size, placement, and materials for windows and outdoor spaces like balconies and decks
- Location and visibility of parking areas
Objective design standards are required by State laws, including > SB 35 (2017) and SB 330 (2019). The purpose of these laws is to streamline the review process for multifamily properties statewide, with the goal of easing development of housing that is affordable to both owners and renters at all income levels. Piedmont’s draft standards support this goal while ensuring new development will not compromise existing community character.
[The standards will be applied ministerially without neighborhood input.]
The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the draft standards this winter, likely in December or January.
The timeline as set by the City Planning Department states acceptance of public comment on the draft standards through November 21, 2022. Community members can email comments to Piedmontishome@piedmont.ca.gov.
[If comments have not been sent by November 21, 2022, responders are welcome to send their comments after that date addressed to the Piedmont Planning Commission via the Planning Director Kevin Jackson, ]
kjackson@piedmont.ca.gov.
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Additionally, comments may be sent to members of the Piedmont City Council, as the matter will be considered by the Council on a future Agenda.
To send comments to the City Council as a whole, email citycouncil@piedmont.ca.gov or send via U.S. Mail to the following address:
Piedmont City Council, 120 Vista Avenue, Piedmont, Ca 94611