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Home My WebLink AboutAGENDA REPORT 2023 0517 CCSA REG ITEM 09B SUPPLEMENTAL MOORPARK CITY COUNCIL SUPPLEMENTAL AGENDA REPORT TO: Honorable City Council FROM: Shanna Farley, Principal Planner DATE: 05/17/2023 Regular Meeting SUBJECT: Consider Presentation on the Zoning Code and Zoning Map Update CORRESPONDENCE RECEIVED Subsequent to the distribution of the City Council Agenda, the attached correspondence was received regarding the Zoning Code and Zoning Map Update. Attachment: Letter dated May 17, 2023, from Joseph Fiss (Referenced attachment refers to Comment No. 23 (stamped page 373-400) not included with submitted comment letter) Item: 9.B. SUPPLEMENTAL 1 ATTACHMENT TW LAND PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT, LLC VENTURA (CORPORATE) SANTA BARBARA 1068 E. Main Street, Suite 225 903 State Street, Suite 202 Ventura, CA 93001 Santa Barbara, CA 93101 Ph: (805) 698-7153 May 17, 2023 Honorable City Coun cil City of Moorpark 799 Moorpark Av e . Moorpark, CA 93021 SUBJECT: City of Moorpark Draft Zoning Code Review Dear Honorable City Council: SANTA MARIA/ORCUTT 195 S. Broadway Street, Suite 209 Orcutt, CA 93455 VIA EMAIL On beha lf of MB Pla za East LLC and MB Pla za West LL C, we appreciate the opportunity to review and comment on the City of Moorpark Draft Zoning (Deve lopment) Code Update, in general, and specifica ll y as it relates to the Mixed-Use District (MUD) Zoning Designation. Unfortunately, we cannot attend the City Council Study Session in person . We have previously provided the Community Development Department a markup of the Draft Zoning Code and detailed summary comments and recommendations, which have been forwarded to the City Council for this study session. Many of our comments are preferences and editing suggestions, however there are severa l points, noted be low, we wou ld l ike to emphasize and encourage the City Counci l to reconsider. P. 92: Drive Through Restaurant Prohibition. We oppose this change. This was never really an issue in Moorpark. Prohibiting Drive Through Restaurants in mixed-use districts makes all existing drive-through restaurants legal non -conforming and creates a competitive disadvantage. No new drive -through restaurants would be permitted. This may be appropriate for smaller sites; however, Mission Bell Plaza is a large site where we would like to create a horizontal mixed-use village . Modem drive - through re staurants (including coffee shops, bakerie s, doughnuts, etc.) provide a valuab le service to th e community. We do agree there should be high standards for architecture and site planning for the se uses. We would support requiring a discretionary permit for Drive - Through Restaurants to guarantee these high standards and add appropriate conditions of approval. www .twlandplan.com 2 Honorable City Council City of Moorpark May 17, 2023 Page 2 of 3 P. 99 and 117: Publicly Accessible Recreational Areas. We Vigorously Oppose This Standard. This is a new type of standard and a bad idea. This standard creates all sorts of future prescriptive easement and liability problems for private property owners. Developers should not be required to provide a privately owned and maintained publicly accessible park/open space in addition to the amenities already provided. Developments will be required to contribute to park fees for the benefit of the community. P. 111-112: Development Requirements: We recommend restoring some of the code's Residential Planned Development language, s pecifically something like: "Development Standards. Development standards, including but not limited to building height, minimum lot size, parking, stepbacks, and setbacks for t/:,e R P D cORe mixed-use zones, shall be consistent with the standards and requirements set forth in this title, unless modified by the city council. 11 Such language would allow flexibility in design when approved by the City Council and result in better projects . This type of code language ha s historically resulted in developers and decision makers working together to design and develop Moorpark's high quality residential developments. P. 115: Stepbacks and Fa~ade Modulation. We recommend eliminating the stepback and far;ade modulation provisions . These types of requirements are an outdated and unnecessary way of avoiding "cookie cutter" development. These standards create unusable space at the cost of innovative design. We encourage the City to promote good design and high quality development through flexible design standards and thoughtful design review through the Planned Development process. P. 194: Relief from parking requirements: We s upport this concept. We recommend "relief" be restated as "Consideration of alternative parking provision s ". "Relief" sounds like one must prove a hardship. We recommend also building alternative parking provisions into the Planned Development process for new projects. P. 276: Zoning Ordinance Amendment pre-screening. We oppose this requirement. A developer should be able to propose a specific plan or zoning ordinance amendment with a project proposal, especially with the zoning ordinance being so new. The public and other stakeholders should be allowed to propose changes to the Zoning Ordinance without burdensome requirements. The pre -screening process was put in place because a General Plan Element can only be amended four times per year, so the City needed 3 Honorable City Counci l City of M oorpark May 17, 20 23 Page 3 of 3 a too l to bundle them together and cons ider them the all owab le four tim es per year. Thi s process is not necessary for Zoning Ordinance Amendments. We are in the process of preparing setback and massing stud ies for a pote ntial r esid ential deve lopment of a portion of M iss ion Be ll Plaza to create a horizontal mixed -use vi ll age community. Th is study wi ll hel p show how such a project could be deve loped within the standards of the proposed development requirements. Although t he Genera l Plan and Zon i ng encourage h ig her de nsity projects, we are find i ng that a cost -effect ive de velopment cannot be built at these h ig her dens ities g iv en , pr imar il y the parking requirements, but also the step-backs and fac;:ade modulation requirements. W e encourage the City to consider crafting reasonab le and flex i ble development standards i n order to ach ieve the goal of deve loping high quality, h igher density, wa lkable, attainab le, residential deve lopments. Shou ld you have any questions regarding this letter proposa l or require additiona l i nformation, p lease do not hesitate to give me a ca ll at (818 ) 621 -7619 . I may also be e- ma il ed at jfiss@tw landp lan.com. I look forward to th e opportun ity to work w ith you and th e rest of the team on thi s ver y exciting project. Josep h Fiss Director o f Planning & Ent it lements Attachment: Apr il 10, 2023 Letter to Commun ity Deve lopment Department 4