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WHEREAS, on December 18, 2014, the City Council approved Resolution No. 2014-226, adopting the Fresno General Plan which includes general goals, policies, and objectives that apply for the City of Fresno as a whole; and WHEREAS, members of the Tower District community expressed a desire to update the existing 1991 Specific Plan and associated design guidelines to update objectives and policies to encourage consistent and compatible development of future residential and commercial uses; and
WHEREAS, on May 27 th, 2021 the City Council approved Resolution No. 2021- 147, establishing the Tower District Specific Plan Implementation Committee and requiring membership to consist of seven members; and
WHEREAS, California Government Code Section 65913.4 establishes objective design standards to require “a design standard that involve no personal or subjective judgement by a public official and are uniformly verifiable by reference to an external and uniform benchmark of criterion available and knowable by both the development applicant or proponent and the public official prior to submittal;” and WHEREAS, City staff, along with community involvement, intend to update the existing Design Guidelines to comply with applicable state law to establish objective design standards to accompany the Tower District Specific Plan.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Council of the City of Fresno as follows:
1. The Council, pursuant to Fresno Municipal Code Section 15-4902-B hereby initiates the Tower District Specific Plan Objective Design Standards (Exhibit A)
Objective Design Standards Project Description
In June of 2005, the Tower District Specific Plan Design Guidelines were adopted.
These guidelines were established to assist property owners and developers by clearly describing what is expected of projects in the Plan Area, assist the Implementation Committee by guiding development in the neighborhood commercial mixed-use area, and to assist the Planning and Development Department by outlining requirements for projects and minimizing conflicts with existing plans.
California Government Code Section 65913.4 defines objective design standards as “a design standard that involves no personal or subjective judgement by a public official and are uniformly verifiable by reference to an external and uniform benchmark of criterion available and knowable by both the development applicant or proponent and the public official prior to submittal.” The City is required to update the existing Design Guidelines to comply with applicable state law to establish objective design standards to accompany the Tower District Specific Plan. This update may result in text amendments to Chapter 15 of the Citywide Development Code.