Over to You, City!

We have officially submitted our rezoning application! And don’t be silly – of course it didn’t go as smoothly as expected. One of these days, I will know better.

A couple of Thursdays ago, I hauled 10 lbs and $120 worth of paper down to City Hall for my 11 AM appointment, including:

• 80 sheets of 24 x 36 plans (5 sets)
• 2 sets of 11 x 17 plans
• 3 sets of 8.5 x 11 plans
• letter to Mayor and Council
• completed Rezoning Application forms
• plus a check for $2150
• and a flash drive with PDF versions of all of the above

At this required appointment, a staffer takes a first pass to check for completeness before your application wends it way through the various departments. I suspect this is ultimately a time saver for everyone, although it left me with a feeling that I’m navigating my way through a labyrinth with more dead ends than ways through. In reality, there is simply a lot for a first timer to wrap one’s head around and get right.

Turns out we were missing the “average proposed grade” calculation and a line indicating such on elevations and sections. We were also missing a label for the setback distance between the main structure and the accessory building.

I was told to come back again when I had corrected these omissions. I grumbled that there would be no celebrating that weekend, and grumbled louder that I had to haul the giant roll of paper back home; reprint and repeat. The patient staffer assured me that it would be quicker next time because she’d already checked everything else.

So Mark A made the requested changes, I reprinted the five affected sheets in the various sizes and quantities, reassembled the sets, and made a second trip down to City Hall the following Tuesday after work.

One thing that I thought to ask at this second appointment was about the Development Permit Application. From what I understood, the Rezoning Application is required for a change in use to a property; for example, from single family to two-family. A Development Permit Application is also required for any requested variances; for example, moving parking from the rear to the front yard. I had  been told by my planner contact that they would review both applications at the same time. Was there a separate application and fee for the Development Permit piece? Oh, yes, in fact there was. Fortunately, I was able to fill out the second application on the spot, and add the extra $750 to the $1400 check I was already writing for the rezoning.

I’m happy to report that this time, our application was accepted and the 6-8 month  processing time clock has officially started ticking!

I feel a muted celebration is in order as we await the first round of comments. We already know that adding a suite to a duplex is not allowed in the current zoning, and the staffer pointed out as much. Our proposal is well aligned with the more current Official Community Plan (OCP). Still, there is a possibility that the city will recommend rejecting our proposal on the basis of existing zoning, and we will have to appeal to City Council to vote against city staff recommendations, but in line with the OCP. We’re building exactly the same square footage as we would build if we were not adding a suite, and by adding the suite, we are adding housing diversity and affordability in an extremely efficient manner – all key goals of the OCP. So we’ll see.

And here’s a fun feature: I can track the progress of our application (and any other application) with the City’s Development Tracker app:

We can expect comments within a few weeks. Stay tuned!