Objective Design Standards Phase 2

The City is updating its existing Objective Design Standards (ODS) for multi-family and mixed-used residential development! This update will implement Housing Element Programs and support compliance with recent state housing laws. The project is creating standards that govern building form, design, site layout, and more.

Upcoming: Planning Commission and City Council.

The most recent draft of the ODS document will be reviewed by the Planning Commission on Monday, August 3, 2026, which will offer its feedback to staff and may choose to recommend adoption at that hearing. If so, the Council is tentatively scheduled to review the document at its regular meeting on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, and may choose to adopt the new ODS code section and conduct a first reading of the ordinance at that meeting. If so, a second reading would be held on Monday, September 21, 2026, and the ordinance would go into effect 30 days later on October 21, 2026. 

Past Meetings

On June 8, 2026, the Council voted to bifurcate the ODS adoption process. This is because five sections of the ODS document can be viewed to conflict with state law governing no net loss of residential density. However, because the City will be rezoning sections of the downtown as part of the Housing Action Coalition (HAC) lawsuit settlement, the conflicting sections can be adopted in conjunction with the rezoning. In order to get the majority of the ODS provisions in place as soon as possible, staff recommended bifurcating the adoption process. The majority of the document will go through the adoption process over the summer (2026), while the remaining sections will be adopted into the ODS code in late fall (2026). 

Previous ODS reviews include the following:

As directed by City Council at its January review of the ODS, the Design Review Commission (DRC) ODS Working Group reconvened, along with the Council's liaisons to DRC. The group reviewed the updated draft and discussed outstanding elements to be resolved. The group was able to complete its work at the March 12th meeting and therefore cancelled the March 19th meeting date. The DRC ODS Working Group voted to recommend that the Planning Commission recommend the draft ODS as modified to City Council for adoption. 

The City Council (Council) reviewed the draft ODS document at its regular January 12, 2026, meeting and offered staff and the consultant a range of feedback and suggestions. The Council suggested that the DRC ODS Working Group meet again to review these changes, as well as to discuss some of the larger items to be resolved, before the draft ODS returns to PC and Council for review and adoption. Materials from the meeting can be found HERE (Staff Report, Item 14.a.) and HERE (Display Boards and HERE (minutes). 

The Planning Commission (PC) reviewed the draft ODS document and display boards at its regular December 15, 2025, meeting. The PC offered feedback in the form of a few small changes, then voted to forward the document to City Council for review, with a recommendation of approval. Materials from the meeting can be found HERE (Staff Report, Item 7.a.) and HERE (Display Boards), and HERE (minutes).

The Design Review Commission's (DRC) working group has meet through the fall and presented its efforts at an open house and special DRC meeting on Thursday, November 20, 2025. Materials from the meeting can be found HERE (Staff Report) and HERE (Display Boards), and HERE (minutes).

The DRC discussed the project on July 28, 2025 and established a working group that is now coordinating closely with staff and the consultant to draft updated objective design standards. Materials from the meeting can be found HERE, video of the meeting can be found HERE, and minutes can be found HERE. 

On June 23, 2025, City Council, Planning Commission, and Design Review Commission kicked-off the project with a joint meeting to discuss project goals. At the meeting, the Council directed the DRC to work with staff to develop updates to the existing standards. The meeting agenda and report can be found HERE, the staff presentation and audio can be found HERE, and minutes from the meeting can be found HERE. 

Get Involved!

Please check back regularly for updates and additional materials. 

Questions and comments? Please email Senior Planner Arly Cassidy.