CLEARLAKE, Calif. – The Clearlake City Council provided authorization to staff on Wednesday to negotiate an agreement with Price Consulting Services to prepare an update of the city's zoning code as well as develop a design review manual.
The fee is not to exceed $85,000, which City Manager Joan Phillipe said will be paid for through use of bond proceeds and without impact to the city's general fund.
Wednesday's authorization continues momentum in the lengthy process to update documents that direct the city's growth and development.
An update of the 2040 general plan is nearing completion; Phillipe said a key to successful implementation of the new general plan is updating the zoning code.
Price Consulting Services completed an update of the housing element within the city's zoning code in June for compliance with state housing laws.
Phillipe said Gary Price, who is the city's contract planner, also helped facilitate the update of the general plan.
“I think it is absolutely imperative that we continue on the path to update our documents,” Vice Mayor Gina Fortino Dickson said, adding in her experience as a planning commissioner, issues with inconsistencies in the zoning code were abundant.
She said addressing the task with someone familiar with the city “is a step in the right direction.”
Updating the zoning ordinance will focus on recent land use, and design policies and programs in the draft general plan update.
Phillipe said Price's collaborative work with staff in understanding the shortcomings of the zoning code should help create a practical and internally consistent code.
She expects that updated code will be much easier to administer by staff and understand by decision makers and the public at large.
The process, Phillipe said, is lengthy and will provide ample opportunity for public comment and participation.
She said updating the documents is imperative in that the current general plan is 30 years old and does not reflect changes in land use. Nor does it accommodate for modern technology – for example, telecommunication cell towers.
The design review manual is to be prepared as a companion document to the zoning ordinance, which, as a separate document, will allow for easier amendment as community needs and desires change.
It will describe critical design aspects for the physical development of the city, such as architecture, building materials, parking, sign appearance and landscaping design.
Phillipe said although design standards and guidelines can be established in the zoning code, that approach sets the city design direction in stone.
She said as the city evolves, design perspectives can change and having to amend the zoning code every time there is a change in city design perspectives is cumbersome and expensive.
“The manual is intended to provide more flexibility for designing projects, which can more easily change and evolve with ever-changing community views; it creates more flexibility in decision making and can become a dynamic planning tool the city can use to more cost-effectively change over time,” Phillipe said.
Phillipe said the work will be funded through housing bond proceeds with the nexus being to address, facilitate and streamline the process to meet mandated housing requirements for affordable housing.
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Clearlake City Council gives go ahead for negotiations with firm to complete zoning code update
- Denise Rockenstein
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