Zoning & Design Guideline Committee Kicks Off Work MV2040 General Plan Implementation

Zoning and Design Advisory Committee
Tuesday, May 20
6:00 pm
Mountain View Room
Mill Valley Community Center
180 Camino Alto, Mill Valley

The City of Mill Valley has appointed a group of civic leaders, residents and business owners to a new committee that will recommend updates to the City’s building standards and design guidelines for multi-family residential development proposals and mixed-use (commercial and multi-family residential) development proposals.

The City currently has limited development standards specific to commercial and multi-family zoning districts, and utilizes its Single Family Residential and Commercial Design Guidelines in the evaluation of mixed-use and multi-family projects.

The panel, dubbed the Zoning and Design Advisory Committee (ZDAC), is set to hold its first meeting on Tuesday, May 20 at 6 p.m. in the Mountain View Room of the Community Center. Community members are encouraged to attend.

The ZDAC will focus its efforts on identifying development standards for multi-family residential development, such as lot coverage and setback and parking standards, as well as design guidelines, such as building mass and form, and sustainable design for mixed-use and multi-family projects. The committee will update the Planning Commission and City Council on its progress in late summer/early fall 2014 and then submit its work to the Planning Commission and City Council for final review and adoption. M-Group and Karen Warner Associates, the same consultants who assisted the City in the preparation and certification of the 2009-2014 Housing Element, will support the ZDAC and City staff throughout the process. The goal is to present ZDAC recommendations outlining multi-family and mixed-use building standards and design guidelines to City Council by late 2014.

In April, Mill Valley Mayor Stephanie Moulton-Peters and City Manager Jim McCann appointed the following nine people to the ZDAC:

• Ken Wachtel, City Council Liaison
• Ricardo Capretta, Planning Commission Liaison
• Chris Skelton, Planning Commission Liaison
• Bruce Dorfman, Chamber of Commerce Liaison
• Michael Dyett , Planner/Resident At-Large and ZDAC Chair 
• Dan Kelly, Resident At-Large 
• Burton Miller, Architect 
• Jim Parrinello, Resident At-Large
• Stephanie Wickham Witt, Realtor

The formation of the ZDAC is a major step in the City’s efforts to implement the ideas agreed to in the recently adopted Housing Element, which is one of required components of the General Plan, the City’s road map for development through 2040. The City Council adopted an updated General Plan in October 2013, the City’s first General Plan update since 1989.

Separate from the work being done by the ZDAC, policy-related modifications and additions to the Zoning Ordinance to address requirements of current state law and affordable housing regulations will be developed directly by the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission will also develop and recommend to City Council regulations and policies regarding:

• Condominium conversion regulations
• Affordable housing and Density Bonus policies
• A potential Zoning Overlay for affordable housing projects
• Inclusionary Housing regulations
• Special Needs Housing Zoning Provisions

“We are anxious to commence the efforts and we believe this approach will allow substantial engagement of the community in the process and will permit a two-pronged focused approach to accomplish the multiple tasks,” Interim Planning Director Vin Smith wrote in a May 6 staff report to the Planning Commission on the subject.

All ZDAC meetings are open to the public and will be publically noticed. In addition to ZDAC and Planning Commission meetings, these policy and Zoning Ordinance recommendations will be considered by the City Council at a noticed public hearing later this year. 

For More Information:

Click here for more information on the ZDAC and to keep track of its progress, upcoming meeting dates.

Click here to sign up for email notifications related to this topic (select MV2040 News and MV2040 Events).

May 20, 2014 Meeting Materials can be downloaded below.

Meeting 1 Agenda

ZDAC Workbook

Memo: Update on Housing Element Implementation

Design Guideline Format Overview

Brown Act Summary