Form-Based Code Overlays

Purpose

The City of Ventura recently adopted its 6^th Cycle (2021-2029) Housing Element in January 2022. There were several new housing sites that were identified in the Housing Element, one on Telegraph Road and a few on Johnson Drive. These sites will be rezoned to allow housing, but have limited development regulations and do not include sufficient design standards to ensure that buildings will be high quality and well-designed. The Form-Based Code Overlays are being developed to be placed on these sites to provide objective design standards to achieve the community’s design goals.

Public Draft

The public draft of the Form Based Code Overlay has been developed based on the feedback received, using the current form-based codes and an example, as well as examples of objective design standards from other communities. The public draft is available for public review and comment from March 13, 2023 until April 9, 2023. Comments or feedback on the public draft can be sent to [email protected].

• Public Draft of the Form Based Code Overlay

Design Review Committee Workshops

The Public Draft of the Form Based Code Overlay will be reviewed by the Design Review Committee (DRC) at a Special Meeting on Wednesday, March 29, 2023 at 6:00pm in the Community Meeting Room at City Hall. 

A workshop was held with the DRC on August 31, 2022 to kick off this project and garner preliminary feedback. Materials from that workshop are listed below:

• August 31, 2022 workshop recording
• August 31, 2022 workshop PowerPoint Presentation 
• August 31, 2022 workshop Menti Poll Results   

Form-Based Codes

The City of Ventura currently has several form-based codes throughout the city. These existing codes are being used as the basis for the overlays. Below are the existing form-based codes:

• Downtown Specific Plan (PDF)
• Parklands Specific Plan (PDF)
• Saticoy Village Specific Plan (PDF)
• UC Hansen (The Farm) Specific Plan (PDF)
• Midtown Corridors Code (PDF)
• Victoria Avenue Corridor Plan and Development Code (PDF)

Next Steps

The Form Based Code Overlay is scheduled for a Special Meeting of the DRC on March 29, 2023. After the close of the public comment period, all public comments and feedback from the DRC will be reviewed and adjustments to the draft will be made as needed. The Form Based Code Overlay will then go through the adoption process which includes review and recommendation by the Planning Commission (tentatively May)  to the City Council (tentatively June) for a decision on the overlays. 

To participate in the process, please feel free to review the above materials and provide your comments, feedback, and/or questions to us.