Politics
Changes to design review are finalized
The City Council unanimously passes policy that will give more authority to city planners.
By Jason Wells
CITY HALL — The final version of Glendale’s design review overhaul took a slightly less restrictive form Tuesday after supermajority support on the City Council over the required use of on-site temporary frames for proposed second stories couldn’t be reached.
Instead, the council unanimously passed a version that would leave that decision to the discretion of the city’s Planning Department.
It was a concession that made those who had originally pushed for the stronger option of an overhaul — which gives more authority to city planners and curtail the authority of the city’s two Design Review boards — uneasy.
“Trust is great as long as this City Council is here. What worries me is other City Councils,” Councilman Frank Quintero said.
He, along with Councilmen John Drayman and Dave Weaver, had supported the mandatory use of temporary frames as a way to allow neighbors of a proposed second-story addition to gauge its potential girth.
But Mayor Ara Najarian and Councilman Bob Yousefian refused to support the requirement for all homes, arguing the added cost would punish project applicants in areas where second-story homes are predominant.
Instead, Najarian said he was prepared to support a system where the temporary frames, also known as “story poles,” would be required for second stories proposed for hillsides, but not in all neighborhoods.
“That is something that has to be left to a planning director’s discretion,” Najarian said.
It became clear the mandatory frames wouldn’t make it onto the books since the zoning code amendments required at least four votes, or a supermajority, and so in the spirit of getting what has been nearly a yearlong process of discussion and development finalized into a set of codified changes, Drayman conceded to the less strict option.
But in doing so, he promised proponents of mandatory story poles that he would be back to fight for the requirement if it was found to have merit.
Tuesday’s 5-0 vote swings the pendulum of review power back to the city’s Planning Department nearly 20 years after homeowners associations fought to place review authority for single-family homes under the purview of Glendale’s two Design Review boards.
Over the years, criticism from those associations over how the two review boards were supposedly ignoring the issue of neighborhood compatibility for proposed projects fueled the current change.
The new, two-step process erases a Design Review board’s ability to see a proposed project an unlimited amount of times — in the process morphing its design into something neighbors reject, and eventually appeal to the City Council.
Now, the Design Review boards will have the ability to send a proposed project back for redesign only once. After that, it can either reject it, approve it with conditions, or approve it fully.
The overhaul also includes a host of other procedural changes — such as the elimination of an appeals panel and greater planning staff input early in the process — that has been vetted over numerous, labor-intensive discussions between city officials, potential stakeholders and the council.
It has also seen a complete reconstitution of both review boards and the syncing of their terms with the council members who nominate them to their seats.
“I think there were no losers, but the city won,” Najarian said after the vote.
The new rules will take effect in 30 days, during which time city planners will finalize other reports on what could exempt certain projects from design review. The Planning Department is also developing a set of design guidelines that would be implemented into the new process.
JASON WELLS covers City Hall. He may be reached at (818) 637-3235 or by e-mail at jason.wells@latimes.com.
Instead, the council unanimously passed a version that would leave that decision to the discretion of the city’s Planning Department.
It was a concession that made those who had originally pushed for the stronger option of an overhaul — which gives more authority to city planners and curtail the authority of the city’s two Design Review boards — uneasy.
“Trust is great as long as this City Council is here. What worries me is other City Councils,” Councilman Frank Quintero said.
He, along with Councilmen John Drayman and Dave Weaver, had supported the mandatory use of temporary frames as a way to allow neighbors of a proposed second-story addition to gauge its potential girth.
But Mayor Ara Najarian and Councilman Bob Yousefian refused to support the requirement for all homes, arguing the added cost would punish project applicants in areas where second-story homes are predominant.
Instead, Najarian said he was prepared to support a system where the temporary frames, also known as “story poles,” would be required for second stories proposed for hillsides, but not in all neighborhoods.
“That is something that has to be left to a planning director’s discretion,” Najarian said.
It became clear the mandatory frames wouldn’t make it onto the books since the zoning code amendments required at least four votes, or a supermajority, and so in the spirit of getting what has been nearly a yearlong process of discussion and development finalized into a set of codified changes, Drayman conceded to the less strict option.
But in doing so, he promised proponents of mandatory story poles that he would be back to fight for the requirement if it was found to have merit.
Tuesday’s 5-0 vote swings the pendulum of review power back to the city’s Planning Department nearly 20 years after homeowners associations fought to place review authority for single-family homes under the purview of Glendale’s two Design Review boards.
Over the years, criticism from those associations over how the two review boards were supposedly ignoring the issue of neighborhood compatibility for proposed projects fueled the current change.
The new, two-step process erases a Design Review board’s ability to see a proposed project an unlimited amount of times — in the process morphing its design into something neighbors reject, and eventually appeal to the City Council.
Now, the Design Review boards will have the ability to send a proposed project back for redesign only once. After that, it can either reject it, approve it with conditions, or approve it fully.
The overhaul also includes a host of other procedural changes — such as the elimination of an appeals panel and greater planning staff input early in the process — that has been vetted over numerous, labor-intensive discussions between city officials, potential stakeholders and the council.
It has also seen a complete reconstitution of both review boards and the syncing of their terms with the council members who nominate them to their seats.
“I think there were no losers, but the city won,” Najarian said after the vote.
The new rules will take effect in 30 days, during which time city planners will finalize other reports on what could exempt certain projects from design review. The Planning Department is also developing a set of design guidelines that would be implemented into the new process.
JASON WELLS covers City Hall. He may be reached at (818) 637-3235 or by e-mail at jason.wells@latimes.com.
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