Zone Text Amendment (ZTA) to
Amend the City’s Zoning
Regulations to Establish Objective
Design and Development Standards
for Mixed -Use and Residential -Only
Projects in Nonresidential Zones
City Council
May 23, 2023
COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
Recent Changes in State Law
Assembly Bill 2011 (AB 2011), the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022. AB2011 takes effect on July 1, 2023.
• Establishes streamlined, ministerial review for Mixed -Income and 100% Affordable Housing.
• Projects are required to create construction jobs that pay the prevailing wage.
• Projects must meet specified affordability, labor, and environmental requirements.
AB 2011 Eligibility Requirements
• Multifamily housing development project – at least five units, in a z one where office, retail, or parking are a principally permitted use . • Not within 500 feet of a freeway.
• Cannot be on a site or adjoining a site most recently or currently used for industrial use.
• Must meet commercial corridor width requirements for mixed -income projects.
• Satisfy SB 35 eligibility criteria in Govt. Code Section 65913.4(a)(6)(B) - (K).
Potential 100% Affordable Project Sites
Potential Mixed -Income Project Sites
Implementation Issues
• Regardless of whether the City approves the proposed ordinance, projects will continue to be submitted for streamlined ministerial reviews. • The Burbank Municipal Code (BMC) has subjective design and development standards, none of which address mixed -use and multi -family residential projects in nonresidential zones .
• Current development -related standards in all zones are zone -specific and were written assuming extensive discretionary review.
• Specific Plans with objective design and development standards are currently being prepared and will not be ready by AB 2011 effective date of July 1.
Necessity for Zone Text Amendment
• AB 2011 is similar to Senate Bill 35 (SB 35), which created a streamlined ministerial approval process for certain housing projects . • The City may only evaluate streamlined ministerial review projects against objective design and development standards in effect at the time of application submittal .
• City needs a robust set of objective standards for projects subject to the streamlined, ministerial review processes per AB 2011 and SB 35 projects .
• If adopted, same standards would apply to mixed-use projects that are already permitted with Development Review and a CUP.
Analysis – ZTA Approach and Strategy
• Goal is to create standards that apply to future multifamily and mixed -use projects based on the latest state housing and land use mandates. • Strategy is to preserve local control with standards that are tailored to meet local needs while complying with state mandates.
• Where possible, replicate existing zoning code regulations or reflect their intent.
• BMC non -residential use table will be amended to account for mixed -use and multifamily residential uses as permitted through streamlined ministerial review or through CUP in applicable zones.
Analysis - Use Table
• BMC Section 10-1-502 to be amended as shown below:
Multifamily Residential -Only Development
Standards in Nonresidential Zones
• Development standards and language that are not consistent with the definition of objective standards in state law have been modified or eliminated.
• Proposed regulations draw from existing standards in the Multiple Family Residential and Commercial zones to protect neighborhoods. • Refines existing regulations to better integrate a residential use into the urban context of commercial corridors.
• New standards address aspects where current code is lacking, including but not limited to: building frontage design, buffering, open space flexibility and parking structure visibility and screening.
Multifamily Residential -Only Development
Standards in Nonresidential Zones
• The ZTA will establish development standards regulating lot coverage, privacy requirements, buffer areas from residential zones, modulations and step-backs in facade, open spaces, parking requirements, and more. • The goal is to promote contextual sensitivity and avoid projects that fit poorly into the surrounding commercial corridor, nearby residential properties, pedestrians and motorists.
• Planning staff is looking to avoid the ministerial approval of poorly designed developments.
Existing vs. Proposed Standards
• Flat Façade
• No modulation or materials requirements
• Parking garage dominates at sidewalk level
• Poor pedestrian experience
• Parapets at the top create additional bulk
• Required modulation/plane break in façade creates
interest
• Variety of materials required
• Balconies provide private open space
• Required visibility/transparency into the building at ground floor
• Parapets are offset from the edge of building
• Maximum lot coverage
For illustrative purposes only For illustrative purposes only Existing vs. Proposed Standards
• Encourages appropriately located Rooftop Common Open
Space (50% of roof)
• Minimum number of amenities depending on unit count
• Requires side setback of 5’-0” to allow air and light • Allows for canopies to provide shade and protect from elements
• No objective standards for residential, so can only apply commercial standards
• Rooftop decks not addressed
• No amenities required
• No required setback on sides
For illustrative purposes only For illustrative purposes only Existing vs. Proposed Standards
Proposed standards
require building
separation:
Existing standards:
____________ For illustrative purposes only
For illustrative purposes only
Existing vs. Proposed Standards
• In order to protect privacy, new standards include measures to address these concerns • Minimum landscaping requirement
For illustrative purposes only
Existing vs. Proposed Standards
For illustrative purposes only
Mixed-Use Development Standards
• There are no existing development standards specific to Mixed -Use projects.
• Intent is to ensure contextually appropriate design that protects the privacy of adjacent residentially zoned properties.
• Includes performance standards to address, noise, shadow, and light impacts to protect the residents that may occupy the project in the future as well as adjacent residential uses.
Mixed-Use Development Standards
• Standards will allow for greater flexibility in building design by allowing horizontal and vertical mixed -use.
• Protect the residents that may occupy the project in the future by identifying identifies incompatible uses and prohibits them from being part of mixed -use developments.
What Does This Mean For Residents?
• ZTA will protect nearby residential uses
through operational requirements,
residential buffers and open space
requirements.
• Through establishment of development
standards that could be applied to AB
2011, SB 35 and certain CUP projects.
• ZTA provides for flexibility in building
design.
• ZTA allows for identification of
incompatible uses.
Current regulations do not address privacy
concerns associated with new residential
development
What Does This Mean For Residents?
• Rejection of the ordinance would not
change the state’s mandated
requirements to approve through a
streamlined, ministerial review of AB 2011
and SB 35 projects.
• Approval ensures we attempt to ensure
compatibility of these projects along the
corridors through new standards, where
BMC currently has none.
• Rejection would only prevent the City
from being able to impose objective
development standards on these projects
and protect adjacent residential uses.
Current regulations do not address privacy
concerns associated with new residential
development
• The proposed Zone Text Amendment is compatible with the objectives, policies, general land uses and programs
specified in the Burbank 2035 General Plan and BMC.
• ZTA is consistent with 28 General Plan Land Use and
Mobility related goals and policies .
• ZTA will promote context sensitive design adjacent to single -family and multiple -family residential zones.
Findings for Approval of a Zone Text Amendment
• Planning Commission
Considered the item on April 24,
2023.
• No decision was made. Commission
voted 2-2.
• Community Meeting held on
May 10, 2023.
• Concerns about height of buildings
and impacts on adjoining
neighborhoods and parking
requirements.
Planning Commission Review and
Community Meeting
Pursuant to California Government Code Sections
65912.114(o) and 65912.124(o), a local government may
adopt an ordinance to implement the provisions of
California Government Code Title 7, Division 1, Chapter
4.1, Article 2 (Affordable Housing Developments in
Commercial Zones) and Article 3 (Mixed-Income
Housing Developments Along Commercial Corridors
(enacted by AB 2011), and the adoption of such
ordinance shall not be considered a “project” subject
to the requirements of the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA).
Environmental Assessment
• City Objective Design and Development Standards
being drafted for future City Council consideration .
• Ongoing engagement through the Specific Plan
updates for those focused geographic areas.
Ongoing Efforts
• Helps to maintain local control and avoid incompatible projects from being approved by -right.
• Identifies important objective design concepts that need to be either refined or incorporated into a set of objective design and development standards.
• Establishes objective design and development standards that facilitate the anticipated infill projects and help protect existing neighborhoods where there are none.
• Enables the City to efficiently process future projects submitted through various state -mandated streamlined
ministerial reviews and applicable entitlements.
Conclusion
Recommendation
INTRODUCE AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK AMENDING TITLE 10, CHAPTER 1 (ZONING) OF THE BURBANK
MUNICIPAL CODE TO ESTABLISH OBJECTIVE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT
STANDARDS FOR MIXED-USE AND RESIDENTIAL -ONLY PROJECTS IN NONRESIDENTIAL ZONES.
Contact
Amanda Landry, Senior Planner
[email protected]
Greg Mirza -Avakyan, Associate Planner
[email protected]
Joseph Pangilinan, Assistant Planner
jpangilinan@burbankca .gov
Additional AB 2011 Eligibility Criteria
• Must be Adjoined by urban uses for 75% of the perimeter of the site. • Cannot require the demolition of a development with one to four dwelling units.
• Cannot require the demolition of a listed historic structure. • If vacant, cannot be:
• Built on a site that contains tribal cultural resources. • Within the very high fire hazard severity zone.
• Cannot require the demolition of housing that is:
• Subject to a recorded covenant restricting rents to affordable units. • Rent-controlled.
• Occupied by tenants in the last 10 years.
Additional AB 2011 Eligibility Criteria
Per Govt. Code Section 65913.4(a)(6)(B) - (K), Project Site Cannot be:
• (B) Either prime farmland or farmland of statewide importance. • (C) Wetlands.
• (D) Within a very high fire hazard severity zone.
• (E) A hazardous waste site that is listed on the Cortese List, unless cleared for residential development.
• (F) Within a delineated earthquake fault zone.
• (G) Within a special flood hazard area subject to inundation by the 1 percent annual chance flood (100 -year flood).
• (H) Within a regulatory floodway.
• (I) Lands identified for conservation.
• (J) Habitat for protected species.
• (K) Lands under conservation easement.