Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: CONSENT CALENDAR (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: SECOND READING AND ADOPTION OF AN ORDINANCE OF
THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF COTATI AMENDING
TITLE 17 (LAND USE) OF THE COTATI MUNICIPAL CODE
TO ESTABLISH OBJECTIVE DESIGN STANDARDS FOR
MULTIFAMILY PLEX HOUSING AND SINGLE FAMILY
HOUSING AND TO MAKE UPDATES TO FACILITATE
HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
Date: August 27, 2024
Written by: Autumn Buss, Associate Planner
Recommendation
It is recommended by the Community Development Department that the City Council adopt an ordinance amending Title 17 of the Cotati Municipal Code to establish objective design standards for multifamily plex and single-family housing, and to make updates to facilitate housing development.
Background
On July 9, 2024, the City Council held a public hearing and introduced the ordinance amending Title 17 of the Cotati Municipal Code to establish objective design standards for multifamily plex and single family housing, and to make updates to facilitate housing development. At that meeting, the Council made several revisions to the ordinance to be incorporated before the second reading.
Analysis/Discussion
The attached ordinance reflects the revisions made by the City Council at the July 9, 2024 public hearing. A redline version of the specific revisions made is also attached to this staff report. A summary of the revisions is as follows:
• Remove references to street and driveway width limits in Sections 17.39.030 and
17.39.040 as these are redundant with standards set forth elsewhere in the Code. • Allow application of plex housing architectural design standards to structures containing up to four dwelling units in other types of projects that include 10 or more units. • Remove limitation on facade width for plex housing structures and replace with requirement to incorporate a horizontal offset of at least 36 inches in depth for every 50 feet of continuous facade length.
• Require plex developments of five or more units to provide solid waste dumpsters in enclosures, rather than individual solid waste bins.
• Allow duplexes to receive Design Review approval by the Community Development Director, rather than the Planning Commission, as is currently the case with single family homes.
Financial Considerations
Except the staff time needed to prepare the draft ordinance, there are no direct financial impacts to the general fund associated with its adoption.
Environmental Issues
The proposed amendments to the Cotati land use code related to housing development are consistent with and implement the goals, policies, and objectives of the 2015 General Plan and the 2023-2031 Housing Element. Given this staff finds that the proposed ordinance conforms to CEQA Guidelines Section 15183, which provides a streamlined review of the environmental impacts of the project by tiering from the program level analysis prepared for the Cotati General Plan and its certified EIR. Section 15183 of the CEQA Guidelines mandates that projects which are determined to be consistent with the development expectations established by existing zoning, community plan, or general plan policies for which an EIR was certified, shall not require additional environmental review, except as might be necessary to examine projectspecific significant effects which are peculiar to the project or its site. This focused analysis should be limited to potential environmental impacts of the project not anticipated or analyzed in the Cotati General Plan’s program level EIR. Staff finds that all adopted mitigating General Plan policies and mitigation measures identified in the 2015 General Plan EIR will address any potential environmental impacts of the proposed code changes. Further, project-specific environmental analysis of any future proposed housing development proposed under the amended Code will be required and will allow project-specific impacts not previously identified or anticipated to be addressed.