STAFF REPORT
DATE: March 15, 2022
TO: Justin Hess, City Manager
FROM: Patrick Prescott, Community Development Director By: Fred Ramirez, Assistant Community Development Director – Planning Shipra Rajesh, Associate Planner
SUBJECT: Adoption of an Ordinance Amending Sections of Title 10 of Burbank Municipal Code Pertaining to Definitions, Standards for Single Fam ily Residential Zones, and Nonconforming Structures ; and Adoption of a Resolution Amending Fiscal Year 2021- 2022 Citywide Fee Schedule, Project No. 21-0004984
RECOMMENDATION
1. Adopt AN ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK AMENDING TITLE 10, CHAPTER 1 (ZONING) OF THE BURBANK MUNICIPAL CODE TO
UPDATE STANDARDS AND DEFINITIONS PERTAINING TO SINGLE FAMILY
RESIDENTIAL ZONES AND CONTINUATION OF NONCONFORMING
STRUCTURES, (Zone Text Amendment; Project No. 21- 0004984) (Attachment 1) ; and
2. Adopt A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK AMENDING ARTICLE III, SECTION 1, OF THE FISCAL YEAR 2021 -2022 CITYWIDE FEE
SCHEDULE TO REVISE FEES RELATED TO SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENTIAL PROJECTS, Project No. 21-0004984 (Attachment 2).
SUMMARY
Council Action
On February 8, 2022, the City Council held a public hearing to introduce an ordinance amending Title 10, Chapter 1 (Zoning) of the Burbank Municipal Code (BMC) to update standards and definitions pertaining to single-family residential zones and continuation of nonconforming structures, Project No. 21-0004984. At the public hearing, the City Council considered staff’s recommendation and the public comments. A fter deliberation on the Project request, the Council decided to continue the deliberation to a later date for additional discussion on the Project.
COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
2 The City Council considered the Project for the second time on February 15, 2022, and to respond to some of the concerns raised by the public, the City Council made a motion to introduce the ordinance on February 15 th, 2022, and directed the staff to conduct an informational community meeting on the proposed updates to single-family development standards and report back to the Council after getting feedback from the public.
Vote at first reading:
AYES: Schultz, Talamantes, Springer, Anthony and Frutos.
NOES: None.
ABSENT: None.
Community Meeting
The informational community meeting was held on February 28, 2022, from 6:00 PM to 8:10 PM. During the meeting, staff provided an overview of the proposed updates to the regulations on single- family R-1 and R -1-H zones. Additionally, staff explained in more detail the reasons for the proposed updates to the existing single-family regulations and the resulting benefits to Burbank homeowners seeking to add onto, remodel, or construct a single-family residence.
After the staff presentation, the meeting was opened to the members of the public to ask questions and provide feedback from 6:40 PM until 8:10 PM and staff was able to respond to all the verbal questions as well as some of the written questions during the meeting.
Approximately 24 people attended the meeting. Some spoke in favor of the changes others expressed concerns that the changes would undermine the i ntent of the R -1 development standards. The questions/comments that were raised during the meeting generally related to staffing issues and staff training, requests for specific number s of active planning entitlements, and pricing of planning entitlements.
The questions from the meeting that directly related to the proposed updates to single- family development standards can be broadly categorized into topics , which are discussed below. All the questions and comments from the community meeting are listed in Attachment 3 and a FAQ based on these questions was prepared and posted on the project website (Attachment 4).
General Questions/Comments
• Why is there such an extended processing time under the current regulations, and what changes to the planning review process will happen under the proposed updates?
Staff Response: The current timeline for Single-Family Special Development Permit (SFSDP) discretionary review process is around 12 to 16 months. This review involves a two-step process. As a first step in the SFSDP review, projects are reviewed for compliance with design guidelines contained in the neighborhood compatibility checklist, and public notices with information on the project including a decision date 3 and appeal period are mailed out to the residents and property owners within a 300- foot radius of the project site. The neighborhood compatibility checklist only applies to projects that are required to be processed under a SFSDP. These projects have more standards they must comply with than projects that do not require a SFSDP. The second step is plan check review. Only after the completion of initial SFSDP review, which includes the end of a 15-day appeal period can a homeowner initiate the plan check review process. The plan check review process is when detailed co nstruction plans, grading plans, and any structural engineering work is reviewed before the issuance of any building permits.
The extended timeline results from the two-step process of the SFSDP, which begins with planning staff’s review a project submi ttal and the communication of any plan corrections to comply with applicable development standards and verification of the applicant’s compliance with the neighborhood compatibility checklist. The resulting extended review is affected by the ambiguous or s ubjective regulations that the proposed R -1 update are intended to address, which currently create confusion, disagreements on interpretation, and as a result applicants have difficulty revising projects to comply.
The proposed update to single- family re gulations will maintain the intent of the established design guidelines by codifying them as objective development standards that will be applicable to all single- family residential development projects . The objective standards will provide greater clarity on what is expected as these standards are measurable and will be easily understood by applicants , which will facilitate a streamlined ministerial review of all single-family residential development projects.
Moreover, the proposed updates will eliminate the first step in the process SFSDP review and allows all existing and proposed objective development standards to be reviewed in one step, during building plan check. T he uniform applicability of the updated regulations will reduce the review time by allowing homeowners to apply for plan check review. This means the plans need only be reviewed once for conformance with existing and updated, objective development standards that will not be applicable to all new single-family construction, additions, and remodels. It is anticipated that this one step process will result in shorter average planning review time of 3 to 8 months.
Furthermore, the proposed R -1 updates will ensure that all single -family residential development projects that propose construction of new dwellings that are at or below
0.35 FAR and 3,000 square foot floor area, additions that are not visible from the street regardless of the size, as well as additions that are under 500 square foot in area no longer have to go through the Single Family Special Development Permit process.
The current SFSDP permit process has exempted some projects from review under objective development standards and neighborhood compatibility checklist requires because they were below the FAR, square footage, and visibility thresholds, which have resulted in smaller structures that still reflect massing and design that does not maintain neighborhood compatibility. Approval of the proposed amendments , would ensure that all single-family residential additions, remodels, and new structures would 4 be subject to the same regulations that focus on addressing bulk and mass, increasing the compatibility of new residential development projects with the surrounding neighborhood.
• What is the effect of the proposed updates on ADU regulations ? What is the difference in processing time for ADUs and other single -family development projects?
Staff Response: ADUs are exempt from the City’s single- family residential development standards. Regulations for ADUs are prescribed by the State law and the City’s regulations as adopted in BMC Section 10- 1-620.3 through Section 10- 1- 620.7. Per State law, all ADU applications must be reviewed by a local jurisdiction within 60 days of the receipt of a complete application. Additionally, all code compliant ADUs are required to be approved ministerially as a part of the City’s plan check review and building permit process.
Under the current single-family regulations, the timeline for obtaining a building permit for single-family residential development projects that are subject to Single Family Special Development Permit (SFSDP) and the associated neighborhood compatibility discretionary review process is around 12 to 16 months. The proposed amendments would result in a ministerial review process for al l single -family residential development projects would eliminate a two -step process by allowing projects that comply with applicable objective development standards to go directly into plan check review. The streamlined process is anticipated to result in a reduce timeline of 3 to 8 months to complete the review of a single-family residential project.
• What is the impact of the proposed increase in driveway width within the front yard on the landscaping?
Staff Response: The proposed updates will allow a 20 feet driveway within the front yard area of a single family residential zoned lot where the garage is located towards the rear of the lot, which will accommodate parking area for an additional car on private property rather than placing an additional demand on the availability of limited parking on the existing public street . Under the current code, the minimum required landscaping in the front yard area in 55%. This requirement is being maintained under the proposed code update to ensure that minimum required landscaping is provided on all single-family R-1 and R-1-H lots. Expansion of the driveway width in the front yard area of the lot is contingent on compliance with the minimum required front yard landscaping. Additionally, the updates do not propose any changes to the width of driveway approach, which remains unchanged to ensure maintenance of existing area for on-street parking.
• What is the impact of the proposed increase in the maximum plate height on the mass and bulk of a dwelling, views, and privacy?
Staff Response: The two feet increase to the maximum plate height will have a negligible impact to the mass of a dwelling, because the existing maximum 30-foot limit to the top of the roof height will be maintained. Additionally, an increase in the top of the plate height will be offset through the required upper story stepback and plane 5 break modulati on standards that would be uniformly applicable to all single- family residential development projects under the proposed updates. Furthermore, the additional objective development standards, including a top of the roof height limit for front porches of 12-feet, new requirement for 20 percent opening (windows and doors) in the street facing façades of a dwelling, and the application of a maximum size of the second floor that is limited to 85 percent of the first floor area will regulate mass and bulk of new single-family dwellings and additions, and mandate designs that creates a sense of transition in height and massing from the adjacent dwellings and relates to the scale of adjoining residential properties. Moreover, the overall maximum height will remain 30 feet and the resulting two structure can still provide for sloped roof forms that can be designed between he proposed 8 feet distance for a building with a top of plate height of 22 feet and a maximum roof height of 30 feet to top of roof.
The proposed updates also include objective development standards on a screening requirement derived from the neighborhood design guidelines that will be applicable to all two-story single-family residential development projects, ensuring maintenance of privacy between adjoining dwellings. The updates do not propose any changes to the existing Hillside Development Review process, which has been established to protect the views of homeowners in the designated hillside area of the City. Nothing in the current or proposed code restrict the construction of a second story addition through the single -family residential zones, but the new standard would provide a privacy requirement for any addition that is closer to 15 feet from a side property line.
• How can the city guarantee that the proposed objective development standards will deliver the intended result of regulating mass and bulk? Staff Response: The proposed objective development standards are derived from the existing neighborhood compatibility design guidelines that were established with the intent to regulate mass and bulk of new single- family dwellings, remodels, and additions (Attachment 5). Instead of picking from a menu of items within the various categories of the neighborhood compatibility checklist, t he proposed update will capture all the concepts in the design guidelines as clear objective development standards that will be uniformly applicable to all single-family residential development projects and continue to regulate the mass and bulk of new development within the City’s single-family residential neighborhoods.
FISCAL IMPACT
The proposed ZTA will allow the processing of single- family projects without a SFSDP discretionary review and approval process. The decrease in revenue resulting from elimination of SFSDP discretionary process is not anticipated to have a negative fiscal impact on City’s budget because more projects will be ready for submittal through the City’s plan check review and building permit process. The resulting permit issuance in a shorter time frame is anticipated to result in more building permit fees and post construction, more property tax resulting from upgraded properties that are reassessed at a higher valuation. Moreover, the ZTA will result in a decrease in the staff time that is devoted towards processing SFSDP discretionary projects freeing up existing staf f 6 resources to undertake additional pending work that will also facilitate more project intake and additional City fees from application and permits as well as economic development.
CONCLUSION
Staff recommends approval of the Zone Text Amendment and adopt ing the Ordinance amending Title 10, Chapter 1 (Zoning) of the Burbank Municipal Code to update standards and definitions pertaining to single-family residential zones and continuation of nonconforming structures, Project No. 21- 0004984. Staff also recommends adopting a Resolution amending Fiscal Year 2021- 2022 Citywide Fee Schedule to revise fees related to single-family residential projects.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 – Ordinance
Attachment 2 – Resolution for updated fee for single-family residential projects Attachment 3 – Questions from Community Meeting held on February 28, 2022 Attachment 4 – Frequently Asked Questions
Attachment 5 – Objective Development Standards and Corresponding Design Guidelines