(DUBLIN, CA.) – Dublin’s first Planning Commission meeting of the year on Feb. 24 is a mere 27 minutes long.
Items on this agenda include amendments made to Dublin’s zoning ordinance, commissioner and staff reports, and the election of a new Chair and Vice Chair for the commission.
Dublin’s zoning ordinance determines things like what areas and buildings of the city can be used for what purposes, rules and standards for these buildings, landscaping regulations and more.
Special Projects Manager Kristie Wheeler gives the presentation explaining the amendments staff is requesting be made to the zoning ordinance.
Photo Credit: https://dublinca.new.swagit.com/videos/376242 / Kristie Wheeler
The most significant of these amendments are the changes made to how much parking is required for different types of housing.
Overall, the required amount of parking for all types of housing has been decreased. Additionally, specifications have been added under the senior housing category to include types of affordable housing instead of just apartments.
Photo Credit: https://dublinca.new.swagit.com/videos/376242
Wheeler also proposes an amendment that adds a new chapter to the ordinance specifying that Dublin must comply with state law regarding replacement housing in the face of housing demolition and new development projects.
Finally, Wheeler shares minor language errors in the original ordinance that have been fixed.
Commissioner Guanghui Han asks Wheeler how housing with a decimal as its required amount of parking is calculated and what happens if calculations fail to land on a whole number.
“You would multiply [the number of parking spaces required] toward the number of units and depending on where you land, if it’s below 0.5, it would get rounded down.” says Wheeler. “Above 0.5 would be rounded up.”
Following the presentation, staff and commissioners have time to report on other meetings they have attended recently. The only person who has something to share, however, is Planning Manager Jennifer Byous.
According to Byous, the city council adopted an urgency interim ordinance on Jan. 20 that prohibits the establishment, expansion or relocation of firearms retail and shooting ranges. The planning commission is meant to request an extension of this ordinance on Mar. 3.
The city council also directed staff on Feb. 3 to bring forward amendments to Dublin’s noise ordinance. She goes on to clarify what exactly these amendments are meant to be.
“If you recall, [...] their direction was to look at regulations related [to] residential areas, adding hours for landscape equipment and amplified noise to the ordinance.”
Photo Credit: https://dublinca.new.swagit.com/videos/376242 / Jennifer Byous
Upon being asked for further specificity about hours by Rashid, Byous clarifies that the commission would add hours limiting things like the use of lawn mowers and leaf blowers to 7 a.m.-8 p.m. on weekdays, with different restrictions for weekends.
The topics of housing development and noise levels often go hand-in-hand, as is seen in the planning commission meeting for Union City, CA.
As is tradition for the planning commission, a new Chair and Vice Chair are elected due to this being the commission’s first meeting of the year.
Commissioner Margaret Simuro makes the first nomination, nominating commissioner Rashid for Chair.
Rashid is then voted unanimously into the position of Chair, with Rashid nominating Simuro for Vice Chair. Simuro is also passed unanimously into this position.
The meeting concludes with Byous stating that the next meeting date for the commission is Mar. 17. She also states that this meeting may be cancelled if the commission does not receive any items to discuss before then.
Much larger types of elections are going on in cities such as San Francisco, CA.
If you have any questions, please email me at madison.v@lead4earth.org or comment below.
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