Agenda #: 5.7
Meeting Date: June 4, 2024
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
FROM: Daniel Fox, City Manager
TITLE: FIRST AMENDMENT TO CONSULTANT SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH TORTI GALLAS + PARTNERS TO DEVELOP CITYWIDE
OBJECTIVE DESIGN STANDARDS.
STRATEGIC
GOAL: Safe, Sustainable & Healthy Community
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve, and authorize the City Manager to sign, the First Amendment to the Consultant Services Agreement with Torti Gallas + Partners to prepare Citywide Objective Design Standards.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
The total not-to-exceed amount set forth in the First Amendment is $185,000. Sufficient funds for the preparation of citywide objective design standards were allocated within the General Plan Update Fund (103) as part of the FY 2023/24 Adopted Budget.
BACKGROUND:
As discussed during the joint City Council/Planning Commission study session in March, recent State housing legislation, including Senate Bill 35 and Senate Bill 330, established mandates for cities and counties to streamline the review process for multiple-dwelling housing, including mixed-use developments. Consequently, local agencies are now required to limit their review of qualifying housing projects to objective standards. The legislation defines “objective standards” as standards that involve no personal or subjective judgement by a public official and are uniformly verifiable by reference to an external and uniform benchmark or criterion.
In addition, Program H-8 of Diamond Bar’s certified 6th Cycle (2021-2029) Housing Element commits the City to update the Development Code (Title 22 of the Diamond Bar City Code) to include objective standards as part of its broader obligation to minimize constraints on housing supply and affordability.
Presently, Diamond Bar applies a combination of objective and subjective standards to analyze housing projects through its implementation of the Development Code and the Citywide Design Guidelines. To bring Diamond Bar into compliance with State law, as well as implement its Housing Element programs, the City must proceed with the formulation of solely objective design standards (ODS) to govern the development of multifamily housing, for both exclusively residential projects, as well as mixed-use development proposals. The standards will then be utilized by staff as the basis to approve or deny such projects.
DISCUSSION:
For this effort, it is recommended that the City retain Torti Gallas + Partners (TG+P) under an amendment to the Consultant Services Agreement for the Town Center Specific Plan (TCSP). TG+P already completed detailed objective design standards for the Town Center planning area, which will be a key component of the forthcoming Specific Plan document. As a result, TG+P will be able to adapt many of the architectural design criteria from the Specific Plan so that they can be applied to all multifamily and mixed-use zoning designations Citywide. Utilizing the TCSP consultant team for this expanded effort would also enable staff to review the draft document more efficiently, because the formatting, terminology, definitions, content and illustrations would be carried over to the Citywide ODS.
Neal Payton, FAIA will continue serve as principal-in-charge and project manager in developing the ODS. Mr. Payton has been hands-on in all aspects of the TCSP, carefully monitoring the budget to keep it within the not-to-exceed total, and is consistently accessible and responsive to staff. Mr. Payton is also a skilled communicator, and his presentations to the Planning Commission, City Council and the public have been very informative and effective in conveying complex information in a manner that is easy to understand.
TG+P will subcontract with Sapphos Environmental (Sapphos) to perform the environmental analysis in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Sapphos is currently preparing the EIR for the TCSP, and thus also has an established working relationship with staff.
Scope of Work
Five tasks comprise the proposed scope of work, which are summarized below. Further details regarding the scope of work are provided as Exhibit A of the proposed agreement (Attachment 1).
Task 1: Project Coordination and Management. This task includes identification of the primary issues to be addressed as part of the project, including initial meetings, data collection, and establishing communication channels. It also includes ongoing collaboration with the City staff throughout the project.
Task 2: Preparation of Objective Design Standards. This is the core task where different types of multifamily and mixed-use buildings are defined along with their design elements. It includes:
• Researching existing architectural styles in the City. • Identifying stakeholder groups and conducting meetings to gather feedback. • Defining various building types, frontages, and style options. • Creating a user-friendly document showcasing these design options.
Task 3: CEQA Documentation. The Scope of Work provides for the preparation of an Addendum to the General Plan EIR. Preparation of an Addendum to the EIR assumes that the Objective Design Standards would not result in new or substantially more severe impacts beyond those that were evaluated in the EIR for the City General Plan 2040.
Task 4: Development Code Amendments. TG+P will prepare the Development Code amendments in applicable City Planning Commission resolution and City Council ordinance formats for public hearings. More broadly, this task provides for early engagement with the Planning Commission and City Council to present and discuss the draft ODS so that the final product presented at the public hearings accurately reflects the feedback and direction provided by these bodies.
Task 5: Final Zoning Code Amendments. Should the City Council direct staff to make final revisions to the Development Code amendments following the public hearings, TG+P will respond to that direction and prepare a final version of the ordinance for second reading to reflect final City Council action.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has approved the attached First Amendment to the Consultant Services Agreement as to form.
PREPARED BY:
REVIEWED BY:
Attachments:
1. 5.7.a First Amendment to Consultant Services Agreement with Torti Gallas + Partners
2. 5.7.b Exhibit A - Scope of Work