1 STAFF REPORT
DATE: June 27, 2023
TO: Justin Hess, City Manager
FROM: Patrick Prescott, Community Development Director VIA: Fred Ramirez, Assistant Community Development Director, Planning David Kriske, Assistant Community Development Director, Transportation
Scott Plambaeck, Planning Manager
BY: Marcos Fuentes, Senior Transportation Planner
Amanda Landry, Senior Planner
Greg Mirza-Avakyan, Associate Planner
SUBJECT: Adoption of a Resolution to Establish City Objective Design and Development Standards and Adopting Chapter 1: Complete Streets Objective Development Standards
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK
ESTABLISHING CITYWIDE OBJECTIVE DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN ALL DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS, ADOPTING CHAPTER 1:
COMPLETE STREETS OBJECTIVE DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS, AND DECLARING CATEGORICAL EXEMPTION UNDER CEQA (ATTACHMENT 1).
BACKGROUND
State Laws
The State of California has established programs for mandated streamlined ministerial reviews and approval for many different types of housing development projects. The programs include the Affordable Housing and High Road Jobs Act of 2022 (Assembly Bill 2011), relating to housing. Amongst other provisions, Assembly Bill ( AB) 2011 makes certain multifamily housing development projects a by -right use subject to streamlined, ministerial review on sites within a non-residential zone where office, retail, or parking is the principally permitted use and for mixed- income housing along commercial corridors, if the projects meet specified affordability, labor, and environmental requirements.
Qualifying projects are exempt from California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)
COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
2 requirements and must be processed within 90 days for projects that have 150 housing units or less and within 180 days for projects that exceed 150 housing units. Although AB 2011 allows jurisdictions to review these projects , the review is limited to verification of compliance with objective design and development standards within the prescribed limited timeframe.
AB 2011 is just one of numerous State housing bills adopted in recent years , such as 2017’s Senate Bill (SB) 35 (adding CA Govt. Code Section 65913.4) and 2019’s SB 330 (Housing Crisis Act of 2019), which imposes new State-mandated streamlined ministerial review and approval processes for housing projects on local agencies and limits local review to verification of compliance with objective design and development standards. In response to this onslaught of State-mandated housing law changes , the City is actively studying and updating the Burbank Municipal Code (BMC) through a series of interim development ordinances, moratoriums, and amendments to tailor local ordinances to accommodate development projects in locations where such projects were not previously allowed by-right. As part of this effort, the City must update related objective design and development standards that can be enforced under streamlined ministerial review processes.
One such effort includes the City Council’s recent response to AB 2011 by amending BMC Title 10, relating to objective design and development standards for mixed-use and residential-only projects in nonresidential zones. This amendment provides the City with local objective zoning regulations applicable to housing and mixed- use projects in nonresidential zones to ensure the City’s values continue to be reflected in new development and to preserve a degree of local control. However, beyond zoning and land use regulations, additional objective standards are necessary to address matters such as pedestrian safety, utility capacity and connectivity, and life safety.
Complete Streets Plan
For instance, in 2020, City Council approved the Citywide Complete Streets Plan (Plan), an actionable long- range transportation planning document that aims to improve safety for all road users in the City by, among other things, establishing policies, guidelines, and performance measures for Citywide street improvements , i dentifying priority projects within certain Focus Areas, and identifying benchmarks for ways in which the City can improve safety, mobility, sustainability, health, transportation equity, connectivity, and economic vitality to build better neighborhoods and develop responsibly in the future. It seeks to integrate all modes of transportation into the City’s street network in an equitable manner while ensuring the safe transit of pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicles. However, as a long-range planning document, the Plan provides a visionary framework to guide the drafting of public an d private development standards that satisfy the Plan’s goals . As written, the Plan does not establish objective development standards on its own , and therefore it is currently unenforceable in streamlined ministerial review projects.
The proposed Resolu tion will establish Citywide objective design and development standards that address matters falling outside the strict scope of land use regulations, which are necessary for responsible growth and development throughout the City. The proposed Resolution includes the first chapter of these Citywide objective standards, which will require certain improvements in the public right-of-way that fulfill the Council’s 3 Plan and are complementary to the recently approved objective zoning standards for new multifamily and mixed-use residential standards in nonresidential zones.
As with other City efforts responding to State wide preemption of local housing development standards, t ime is of the essence to adopt these objective standards to preserve as much local control as possible before new State laws take effect (such as AB 2011’s effective date of July 1, 2023), and before new projects are submitted under State- mandated streamlined ministerial review procedures.
DISCUSSION
With the introduction of State laws that require the streamlined and ministerial approval process for qualifying multifamily , mixed-use, and other housing development projects, City planning staff anticipates an increase in applications for all types of streamlined ministerial reviews for sites throughout the community. However, through the course of processing the first seven of these applications, staff h as found that many of the City’s existing regulations established in codes and planning documents outside of the City’s Zoning Code, which were traditionally applied through the discretionary review process, are not currently written as objective development standards and are therefore unenforceable in a streamlined ministerial review process. As noted above, streamlined ministerial reviews are limited to a verification of compliance with the City’s objective design and development standards that are in effect at the time the applications are submitted, and such applications must be processed in very short timeframes.
Resolution Establishing Citywide Objective Design and Development Standards
To provide more certainty to the public and ensure responsible development throughout the community, the City may adopt Burbank -specific objective design and development standards by resolution to supplement the objective land use and zoning standards outlined in State law and BMC Title 10. Under this framework, the Citywide objective standards are intended to be a collection of standards across different disciplines, which may include, but will not necessarily be limited to, standards for street improvements (inclusive of bicycle and pedestrian amenities ), traffic and civil engineering standards, publicly accessible open space, fair share utility upgrades and connection requirements, and life safety standards. The collection of these standards will be in the form of separate chapters adopted by City Council resolution that identify objective development standards for each of these different categories of improvements. Collectively, these objective standards are intended to address the City’s vision for the integration of new development into the larger community character while protecting and preserving existing neighborhoods. The proposed Resolution establishes the first chapter in these objective standards relating to public right of way improvements , including bicycle and pedestrian amenities, associated with new development projects.
The development of the proposed Citywide Objective Design and D evelopment Standards resolution, and future amendments thereto, is a collaborative effort among City Departments, including Community Development, Public Works, Parks and Recreation, Fire, Burbank Water and Power, and City Attorney’s Office.
Chapter 1: Complete Streets Objective Development Standards:
4 Staff has developed the first chapter of the proposed Complete Streets Objective Design and Development Standards (CSODS) to implement the Complete Streets Plan, as well as the complete streets policies of the Burbank2035 General Plan Mobility Element. Staff identified this category of improvements as the City’s first priori ty because the Council has identified roadway safety for all users as a top City goal, and because private development has traditionally been a major catalyst for roadway infrastructure improvements.
To address this issue, the proposed CSODS translate the detailed goals, policies, and guidelines of the Complete Streets Plan into objective development standards that can be implemented by public and private housing development projects regardless of whether the project is subject to ministerial or discretionary City review. The CSODS apply to all housing development projects that involve direct improvements into the public right-of-way, except for projects in single-family residential zones unless otherwise stated.
The CSODS prescribe standards for various roadway improvements that support safety, including sidewalk width and orientation, pedestrian crossings, intersection designs that are reconstructed to slow vehicle traffic, protected bike lane improvements, and equestrian safety improvements. Applicable standards are based on whether a project is situated within certain locations or along certain street classifications identified in the Complete Streets Plan (such as Pedestrian Priority, Bicyclist Priority, or Equestrian Priority Streets). Implementation of CSODS by private development, including development subject to mandated streamlined ministerial review, will ensure that development is constructing street improvements that support the Complete Streets Plan and build better neighborhoods regardless of the type of City approvals required.
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT
Adoption of the proposed Resolution is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15301(c) as the proposed regulations relate to minor alterations of existing streets and sidewalks, and potential additions of bicycle paths and equestrian bridle paths, that involve negligible expansion of use and do not create additional automobile lanes. Adoption of the pro posed Resolution is further exempt from CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3) because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that this action will have a significant effect on the environment. All projects for which the proposed Resolution will apply will undergo their own independent CEQA review for which any environmental impacts for the individual projects will be identified.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no significant fiscal impact to the City’s General Fund by adopting the proposed Resolution. The proposed CSODS will ensure that future development pays for and builds their fair share of right -of-way infrastructure improvements that are a direct result of the proposed development and that are required to implement the General Plan Mobility Element complete streets goals and policies . The CSODS will provide greater assurance that new infill development projects will be complementary to existing land uses while also protecting and preserving existing neighborhoods. Compliance with the CSODS would be undertaken at the time that development applications and plan check reviews are submitted and applicable fees paid by future project applicants. Further, the 5 proposed Resolution does not introduce additional discretionary review procedures that would necessitate additional staff time or consultant resources or otherwise require funding from the General Fund. CSODS streamlines the project development process by explicitly defining for developers the standards that will support and implement complete streets goals and policies.
CONCLUSION
By approving the CSODS through adoption of the proposed Resolution, the City Council will set a framework for staff and applicants to work together to build a safe, beautiful, and thriving community by establishing objective design and development standards that can be applied to housing development projects, including projects subject to State mandated streamlined ministerial review processes, that currently do not fully implement the City’s General Plan Mobility Element complete streets goals and policies.
This effort will help the City of Burbank to achieve several goals:
A. To provide the Burbank community, as well as the City’s decision makers an opportunity to identify important objective design concepts that need to be either refined or incorporated into a set of objective design and development standards.
B. To maintain as much local control as possible and protect existing residential neighborhoods by implementing consistent design language and thoughtful development standards to facilitate the anticipated infill projects and help protect existing neighborhoods.
C. To establish detailed requirements and criteria to achieve and implement the goals of the Burbank2035 General Plan's Mobility Element and the Complete Streets Plan in the City of Burbank.
D. To align new developments with the Complete Streets Plan goals and policies that promote and support multimodal transportation safety design guidelines throughout the City.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 – Proposed Resolution