It’s important to understand city’s land use and zoning rules
From time to time, neighbors and community members ask our planning commissioners questions such as: “How can you allow such a dense development next to me?” Or, “How can you support a building that tall next to smaller homes?”
When the Concord Planning Commission reviews an application for a development project, we look at the proposed application through the lens of the already established and codified development standards for that particular land. If the proposed project is designed to be compliant with the objective development standards for that land, we have very little discretion to reject it.
Due to California’s Housing Accountability Act, we cannot deny a housing development application that is compliant with all zoning and development standards – unless as proposed it would have a specific, adverse impact upon the public health or safety. That would mean a significant, quantifiable, direct and unavoidable impact, based on public health or safety standards or policies. This is a high legal bar to surpass to deny a housing project.
When I have explained this to some folks in the past, it’s apparent that not all community members are familiar with our city’s General Plan, land use and zoning regulations. Often, it’s clear that community members haven’t reviewed the zoning or development standards of land nearby that may be developed or redeveloped at some point, until they receive a notice in the mail about a newly proposed development.
To avoid being surprised, I’d urge you to review the local zoning where you live. You can view zoning for any parcel/address in the city at the interactive GIS map available at http://maps.cityofconcord.org/publicgis. Once you locate a zoning designation, you can review the development standards in Title 18 of the Concord Municipal Code available at https://www.codepublishing.com/CA/Concord/. The development standards specify building heights, lot coverage, setbacks, etc.
If you’ve never looked into zoning or development standards before, it can be a bit tricky to navigate. There’s a lot of information and it may not be obvious how to proceed. If you’re interested in learning about the zoning and development standards in your area, city staff is also well-versed and happy to assist you. Stop by the Permit Center at Concord City Hall, Building D, 1950 Parkside Dr. or call 925-671-3107 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday.
Jason Laub is Chief Operating Officer at RAD Urban and is a City of Concord Planning Commissioner. Email questions or comments to jlaub.concordplanning@gmail.com