COUNTY OF SAN MATEO

Inter-Departmental Correspondence

ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES AGENCY

DATE:

March 4, 2004

SET TIME:

9:00 a.m.

BOARD MEETING DATE:

March 23, 2004

TO:

Honorable Board of Supervisors

FROM:

Marcia Raines, Director of Environmental Services

SUBJECT:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Consideration of Revised Design Standards for Single-family Residential Development in the Midcoast.

RECOMMENDATION

1.

Amend the Zoning Regulations to enact Design Standards for One-family and Two-family Residential Development in the Midcoast.

2.

Amend the General Plan (Local Coastal Program) Visual Resources Component Policies 8.12 and 8.13a.

3.

Direct staff to transmit the aforementioned amendments to the California Coastal Commission for certification of conformity with the California Coastal Act.

PROPOSAL

The Planning Commission is recommending regulatory amendments that enact updated and revised design standards for single-family and duplex residential development in the Midcoast.

PLANNING COMMISSION ACTION

On August 27 and December 10, 2003, the Planning Commission held hearings in El Granada to consider the proposed design standards, which were drafted by the Coastside Design Review Committee (CDRC). The Commission voted 5-0 to recommend approval of the standards prepared by the CDRC.

BACKGROUND

In 2000, your Board enacted new Midcoast house size limits and established the Coastside Design Review Committee (CDRC). As a part of the subsequent Midcoast LCP Update Project, your Board requested that the newly formed CDRC take the lead in developing new Midcoast design review standards. From October 2001 to May 2003, the CDRC held public meetings and participated in community workshops to develop the proposed design standards.

SUMMARY

The key objectives guiding the CDRC's preparation of the Design Standards were to improve: (1) architectural integrity, (2) neighborhood and community compatibility, (3) integration with the natural setting, and (4) the quality of design and construction. Where possible, the Committee avoided creating new regulations in favor of better articulating the criteria contained in the existing Community Design Manual. The CDRC sought to produce a document that was: (1) comprehensive, (2) clear, and (3) user-friendly, with illustrations to provide clarification of the standards' objectives.

An alternative set of design review standards was developed by a subgroup of participants in the community workshop process. This alternative was asserted to be more flexible and less restrictive than the design standards proposed by the CDRC. The Planning Commission was presented with a full analysis of the two alternatives and chose to recommend the standards prepared by the CDRC.