Staff recommends that the City Council hold a public hearing and introduce an Ordinance (Attachment 1) approving Zoning Text Amendment AT-23-004. These amendments will establish objective design and development standards for zoning districts that allow multi-family and/or mixed-use residential development, add definitions related to the objective design standards, and update other zoning district chapters to remove existing design standards for consistency.

The proposed zoning text amendments associated with AT-23-004 are included in Exhibit A (Clean) and B (Red-lined) of Attachment 1.

Approval of the amendments is exempt from environmental review in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3), which is the general exemption for projects with no potential for a significant effect on the environment. As a series of text amendments, it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the amendments will have a significant effect on the environment.

The Planning Commission recommended approval of Zoning Text Amendment AT-23-004 with modified language to the City Council at its July 20, 2023, meeting on a 4-0 vote.  Attached to this staff report are the Planning Commission Staff Report (Attachment 2), Planning Commission Desk Item (Attachment 3), Draft Planning Commission Meeting Minutes (Attachment 4), and Planning Commission Resolution (Attachment 5).

The proposed amendments are in alignment with the following:

Goal C. Strategy 5. Promote housing development for all income levels in the community by updating the zoning ordinance to include objective standards for new multi-family residential development in order to streamline the review of applications for housing developments, and update the Housing Element, to facilitate the development of affordable housing.

Goal C. Strategy 15. Continue to review development permitting processes to streamline service and improve efficiency and develop a communication plan to disseminate modifications to staff and customers.

Currently, most housing development projects are subject to a review process with the Planning Division. Depending on the project scope and zoning district, projects must be approved at the Zoning Administrator, Planning Commission, or City Council level, prior to the Building Permit process. Projects are evaluated based on conformance to applicable goals and policies in the General Plan, a specific plan (if applicable), and the applicable performance standards and design criteria in Title 18 of the Union City Municipal Code. Some of these existing guidelines and requirements are considered subjective because they allow interpretation by the decision maker. Through recent state legislation, the State has dramatically limited a jurisdiction’s ability to apply subjective design criteria to housing developments. As a result, the City can now only rely on objective design and development standards, which do not involve subjective judgment, for certain types of housing development projects.  

Union City received funding under the Senate Bill (SB) 2 Planning Grants Programs to update planning requirements to accelerate housing production and streamline the approval of housing development. The City is utilizing funds from this grant to develop objective development standards that will be implemented through this Zoning Text Amendment (AT-23-004). By incorporating consistent and objective development standards into the City’s Zoning Ordinance, development projects in multi-family and mixed-use zoning districts will be required to comply with these criteria, even if a discretionary review process is not required per state law. The proposed amendments will continue Union City’s practice of maintaining a standard of high-quality design for new projects, while easing and streamlining the process for applicants, and complying with state requirements.

A.          Zoning Ordinance Amendments

The objective standards are proposed as a new section of the Zoning Ordinance, within Chapter 18.24: General Development Regulations, which will be re-titled from its prior title, Bulk Regulations, for clarity, as part of the project. The standards will apply to all zoning districts that allow multi-family and residential mixed-use development; and will replace existing design criteria. The standards will also apply to standalone nonresidential development in these mixed-use districts.

A high-level summary of the amendments is included below. For a more detailed review, see Exhibit A (clean) and Exhibit B (red-lined) of Attachment 1.  

1.  General Development Regulations (Chapter 18.24)

The vast majority of new standards established through the Objective Development Standards project are incorporated into a new section (Section 18.24.050: Building and site design standards) of Chapter 18.24. All standards in this section are objective, meaning they would not be subject to interpretation by an applicant, staff, or decision maker. To assist with understanding and clarifying the standards, figures are incorporated into the Zoning Ordinance language (see Exhibits A and B).

The standards focus on different areas of site development and building design. This includes standards for entrances, roofs, building articulation, façade design, windows, tenant spaces, amenities, vehicular and bicycle parking design and placement, open space, and pedestrian circulation. 

Standards are included for specific building types to differentiate features of townhomes, stacked flats, and mixed-use buildings with ground-floor retail, and standalone nonresidential development. There are also specific standards that apply to different locations, such as along Mission Boulevard, within the Historic Alvarado District, and within the Station District to achieve specific design objectives and promote the vision, or unique existing character, of these neighborhoods and streetscapes as outlined in the 2040 General Plan. 

2. Definitions (Chapter 18.08)

Amendments to Chapter 18.08 include adding definitions for terminology used in Chapter 18.24 to better clarify and codify certain design specific terms. For example, definitions for terms such as “cornice” and “loggia” are included. Figures are also included in this chapter to show different architectural features since those terms are often better understood through graphic representation. 

3. Zoning District Chapters

Amendments to individual zoning district chapters are proposed for consistency with the new objective development standards in Chapter 18.24. This includes amendments to all chapters which allow multi-family or mixed-use residential development. The district chapters include: 

• Chapter 18.26 Marketplace Mixed Use (MMU) District
•  Chapter 18.27 Village Mixed Use (VMU) District
•  Chapter 18.32 Residential Districts
•  Chapter 18.35 Corridor Mixed Use Commercial (CMU) District
•  Chapter 18.37 Station East Mixed Use Residential (SEMU-R) District
•  Chapter 18.38 Station Mixed Use Commercial (CSMU) District
•  Chapter 18.100 511 Area District 

Each district has existing design and development criteria, some of which are objective, and others which are subjective. As part of the Objective Development Standards project, these existing criteria were evaluated to determine the design intent of each requirement. Where appropriate, these requirements were used to create the new objective standards in Chapter 18.24. As a result, the old design criteria are being removed as part of the amendments (as shown in Exhibit B). However, the intent of the old criteria, to promote and enhance the unique character of specific areas within the City through high-quality design, is implemented through the new objective standards in Chapter 18.24. 

Further amendments are included specific to the multifamily residential (RM) zoning districts in Chapter 18.32 to address a program in the 2023-2031 Housing Element. This program (HE-1.I) requires the City to review development standards that may be constraints to future development in the RM zoning districts (RM 1500, RM 2500, and RM 3500). Potential constraints identified through the development of the program included standards for height, lot coverage, setbacks, open space, and parking for studio units. Amendments are included to these standards to allow increased development intensity, reducing potential barriers to multi-family housing development in these districts.

4. Off-Street Parking and Loading (Chapter 18.28)

As part of the Objective Development Standards project, new bicycle parking standards were created for all project types. In contrast to some of the other proposed amendments, these bicycle parking standards will apply to projects citywide, not just those located in multi-family or mixed-use zoning districts.

5. Miscellaneous Amendments (Chapters 18.04 and 18.36)

Additional amendments to Chapter 18.04 General Provisions and Chapter 18.36 Commercial Districts are required for consistency with the objective development standards amendments.

B.     Public Outreach

1. Planning Commission and City Council Introduction

The project was introduced to the Planning Commission on August 18, 2022 and to the City Council on September 13, 2022. An overview of objective development standards, an analysis of existing conditions where the objective standards would be applied, and a summary of upcoming actions was provided at both meetings. A link to the staff report and attachments for the City Council meeting is included below:

Coversheet (novusagenda.com)

2. Community Outreach 

In fall 2022, extensive outreach efforts were conducted with community members and stakeholders to explore design and development standard options for consideration. This included reaching over 100 community members at in-person events at the Farmer’s Market, Running Dead Fun Run, and the Halloween Carnival. An online survey was also conducted and over 600 responses were received. For more detailed information on the City’s community outreach efforts, please refer to the Community Outreach Summary linked below:

https://www.unioncity.org/DocumentCenter/View/10214/Union-City-ODS-Outreach-Summary-52023_reduced

3. Planning Commission Study Session 

A Planning Commission study session to review the draft objective development standards was held on June 15, 2023. The Commission provided feedback to staff which included questions and comments regarding the draft amendments. Necessary edits were incorporated into the amendments to address the comments. Additional revisions were also completed to add standards or clarify the intent of specific standards, based on further analysis by staff.  

C.    Planning Commission Hearing

The Planning Commission reviewed the proposed amendments at a public hearing on July 20, 2023. For a detailed overview of the Planning Commission discussion, see attached Draft Meeting Minutes labeled Attachment 4.  The Commission also considered a Desk Item prepared by staff (Attachment 3) concerning questions and comments from Commissioner Lew regarding the proposed amendments. The Desk Item provided responses to questions regarding figures, the relationship between updates to Development Code definitions as part of the Industrial Districts amendments and the Objective Standards project, and minor formatting corrections. The Commission voted 4-0 to recommend approval of the proposed amendments as modified by the Desk Item and as discussed by the Planning Commission, to the City Council.

No fiscal impacts to the General Fund would result from adoption of the proposed zoning text amendments. The Objective Standards Project is funded under the SB2 Planning Grants Program. Proceeds from this grant covered both consultant costs as well as staff time to prepare the objective standards and related text amendments.

Consistent with the Planning Commission recommendation, staff recommends that the City Council hold a public hearing and introduce an Ordinance (Attachment 1) approving Zoning Text Amendment AT-23-004 and find that the amendments are exempt from CEQA in accordance with CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3).