Executive Summary
Council is being asked to consider requests from the Steering Committee regarding potential expansions to the scope of the Design Traditions 1.5 project. Some of these expansions would impact the project’s schedule and the duration of support from the City’s consultant Nore Winter. This report is staff’s summary of the Steering Committee’s request based on minutes and videos from previous meetings. Members of the Steering Committee will be available at the hearing to help clarify the request.
Staff Report
At their March 1, 2022 meeting, City Council approved a professional services agreement with Winter & Company to provide for the “Design Traditions 1.5” project (DT-1.5). The moniker of “1.5” was discussed at some length by Council as a way to convey that the project’s scope of work was not a complete redo of the existing Design Guidelines, but rather a focused update and refresh of what already existed. As part of their March 1st action, Council also voted to establish a Steering Committee to work with staff and the consultant throughout an estimated 12 to 18 month process which would ultimately yield updated guidelines for Council to consider. On April 5, 2022, each Councilmember appointed one community member to this Steering Committee.
On April 13, 2022, the Steering Committee held its first meeting to kick off their involvement in the project. The Committee continued to meet on a monthly basis, including participation in community workshops, Planning Commission meetings, and City Council meetings. On August 29, 2022, the Steering Committee began holding their meetings in public and have continued to do so ever since.
At their November 3, 2022 meeting, the Steering Committee adopted several items related to the organizational structure of the body including election of a Chair (Victoria Beach) and Vice-Chair (Doug Schmitz), increasing the frequency of meetings as close to weekly as possible, and expanding the breadth of discussions related to the Design Guidelines to include both specific and general matters. The Committee also noted agenda items they wished to address in the near future, including the California housing mandate, development of a landscape ordinance, standards for man-made materials and several more. The approved minutes from this meeting provided by the Committee Chair have been included as Attachment 1.
At their November 18, 2022 meeting, the Committee requested staff prepare a report seeking Council direction on potential expansions to the scope, schedule, and contracts related to the DT-1.5 project. The draft minutes from this meeting provided by the Committee Chair have been included as Attachment 2. This expansion would also provide leeway for the Steering Committee to thoroughly explore some worthwhile Citywide topics which are adjacent to the DT-1.5 project (housing, etc.). It was noted by a member of the Committee that this direction from Council should include prioritization of the work being undertaken by the Steering Committee and clarification of Council’s expectations for when the updates to the Design Guidelines should be completed relative to these additional topics.
The following is a summary of matters that the Steering Committee has requested direction from the City Council on:
At their November 18, 2022 meeting, members of the Steering Committee stated a need to ask Council for a mission statement, given the conversation surrounding an expansion of the project’s scope. Members of the Steering Committee noted that guidance from Council was needed to define what the role and duties of the Committee are, and what tasks they are supposed to undertake. Attached is a proposed charter/mission statement that was prepared by Chair Beach, and Vice-Chair Schmitz for the council to consider (Attachment 3).
- Expansion of Noré Winter Scope – Additional Deliverables
The Steering Committee has identified some additional deliverables which could help to make the overall design review process more clear while also ensuring applicants better meet the intentions of the Design Guidelines. The Committee would like to work with Noré Winter on the development of these materials as an addition to the original scope of his services, to be completed at the same time as the Design Guidelines. Currently, Nore’s scope of work already includes creating a “next step” list of these types of deliverables that the City would pursue as part of a work plan after the Design Guideline update is complete. These suggested deliverables are:
- Process map/tool – This deliverable would spell out how to navigate design review in the City for applicants, and serve as a tool to set expectations early in the application process.
- Key Guidelines Checklist – This deliverable would be a document that applicants and their development team (e.g.: architects, designer, etc.) would complete as part of an application package. The purpose of the checklist is to have the applicant team explain how the proposed project would be consistent with the key principles of the newly adopted Design Guidelines.
Early in the project, it became apparent that landscaping will be a key item in the update of the Design Guidelines. Although briefly mentioned in the existing guidelines, it appears there is not enough emphasis on the relationship between landscaping and residential design. To that end, the Steering Committee has expressed interest participating in the drafting of a technical landscape ordinance as part of the DT-1.5 project, in addition to updating the Design Guidelines. A landscaping ordinance, which would implement philosophies of the Design Guidelines, would be housed in the Carmel Municipal Code, much like the Zoning Code. This ordinance surely needs to be written at some point, whether alongside updates to the Design Guidelines or shortly after their adoption. Regardless of the timing of this ordinance, the entire DT-1.5 team, which includes the Steering Committee, City Staff, and Winter & Co. suggest the addition of a licensed landscape architect to the project team to assist with its drafting in collaboration with the City Forester.
With the State’s mandate to plan for 349 new units of housing to be built in the next eight years, it is likely that second stories will play a key role in the City’s Housing Element update. In response to that, the Design Guidelines will need to account for more mass and volume in the downtown commercial areas where many of these second stories will likely go. Currently, the scope of the DT-1.5 project recognizes this coming influx of units, and includes updates to sections of the Design Guidelines relating to bulk and mass in both the commercial and residential areas. As discussed at each community workshop, this could include new tools such as the “bulk plane” concept, or other revisions to how volume is calculated. Again, this work is already in Noré Winter’s scope. Given the large number of units anticipated in the downtown area, the Steering Committee would like to take a deeper, more technical look at things like how the available downtown space can best be planned to create housing opportunities, determining actual available space for second story additions, evaluating if the amount of available space can support the required number of units without impacting the character of downtown and ultimately the design characteristics of those additional future second stories.
- Exploring Other Regulatory Documents
Given the importance of design and character in the Village, it is no surprise that many of the City’s regulatory documents and ordinances overlap at some point with the Design Guidelines. Examples of these documents include the City’s General Plan (including the Housing Element), Municipal Code, Forest Management Plan, Local Coastal Plan, Landscaping Ordinance, and ADU Ordinance to name a few. With this in mind, the Steering Committee has expressed the desire to spend more time exploring these key documents to determine the amount of overlap and how updates to the City’s Design Guidelines might affect or possibly necessitate updates to those adjacent regulations. Where there is found to be an overlap, the Steering Committee could recommend changes to ensure greater consistency between the City’s various regulatory documents.
- Downtown Masterplan (Clarification only)
Members of the Steering Committee have requested clarification from Council regarding the DT-1.5 project’s relationship to the concept of downtown masterplan, which has been discussed at previous City Council retreats. The Committee members would like direction from Council as to whether their work on the DT-1.5 project should somehow incorporate the potential for a downtown masterplan. The Steering Committee is not requesting to do work on the downtown masterplan, simply seeking clarification on this topic.
Project Schedule and Contract Impacts
When initially presented to Council in early 2022, the DT-1.5 project was targeted for adoption hearings to take place in March/April of 2023. Since then, given the volume and quality of input received from public involvement, the schedule has been extended to plan for adoption hearings in May/June of 2023. It should be noted that this timeline is based off of the original scope of the project, not the additional work discussed in this staff report. Currently, Noré Winter has confirmed his availability to support the City’s efforts through June of 2023. However, given is other commitments and a pending retirement, Noré has stated that it is unlikely he will be able to work with the City past the middle of next year. At the November 18, 2022 Steering Committee meeting, Nore’ shared that his scope already includes preparation of a “next steps” document which would be produced at the time of adopting the updated Design Guidelines. This document, which would contain some of the items listed in this staff report, would serve as a work plan for the City to complete additional items adjacent to the design review process, but in the near future. Nore’ also stated at the November 18th meeting, that expansions to the scope of the original DT-1.5 project would likely prevent his firm from being able to support the project to the end.
In addition to impacts to the schedule, expansions of the project scope for Winter & Co. would require an amendment to the existing Professional Services Agreement. This would likely include supplemental funding. The amount of added funds is unknown at this point, as it would be based on the specific tasks for Winter & Co. and whether or not they could fit them into their schedule between now and June, 2023.