Purpose
The City of Ventura recently adopted its 6th Cycle (2021-2029) Housing Element in January 2022. In order to provide enough housing in the city, several sites were identified as suitable for housing in the Housing Element, one on Telegraph Road and a few on Johnson Drive. These sites will be rezoned to allow expanded housing opportunities, as is required by the Housing Element. The proposed residential and mixed-use overlay zone development code provides sufficient and objective design standards to ensure that buildings will be high quality and well-designed and will achieve the community’s design goals.
Planning Commission Review (May 24, 2023)
The Planning Commission will review the proposed overlays at a regularly scheduled public hearing on Wednesday, May 24, 2023, at 6:00 pm in the Council Chambers at City Hall. The Final Draft of the proposed regulations was amended based on the feedback received during the public draft period. The Final Draft of the overlay, with tracked changes from the last version are included below:
- Overlay Zones Final Draft
- Overlay Zones with Tracked Changes from Previous Public Draft
Design Review Committee Workshops (March 29, 2023)
The Public Draft of the Overlays was reviewed by the Design Review Committee (DRC) at a Special Meeting on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. The DRC reviewed the public draft of the Overlays that was developed based on the feedback received, using the current form-based codes as well as examples of objective design standards from other communities. The public draft was available for public review and comment from March 13, 2023, until April 9, 2023. Materials from the DRC special meeting are listed below:
A workshop was also held with the DRC on August 31, 2022 to kick off this project and garner preliminary feedback. Materials from that workshop are listed below:
Next Steps
The Overlays are scheduled for a regularly scheduled meeting of the Planning Commission on May 24, 2023. The Planning Commission will make a recommendation to the City Council, followed by two hearings at the City Council (tentatively July) 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 at [email protected].