Designed to pave the way for slightly taller buildings and other development changes in Lompoc, a list of potential code revisions will move forward to the City Council with the Planning Commission’s support.
During its final meeting of 2024, the Planning Commission unanimously signed off on staff’s proposal to update certain land use designations and standards in the city’s general plan and zoning code. Many of these amendments remove or revise specific constraints on residential projects and other developments.
Some are tied to city initiatives, while others were drafted to comply with a state agency’s mandate, Planning Manager Brian Halvorson explained at the Dec. 11 hearing.
“One of the things the state wanted is … to see a little more [residential] density,” said Halvorson, who described staff’s recommended code adjustments as based on commitments the city has to the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD).
In early December, the Lompoc City Council adopted a housing element update, which staff submitted to the HCD for review, according to the staff report. To meet the HCD’s certification requirements, the city needs to increase residential density in certain areas, including Old Town Lompoc.
“The Old Town, as we know, is not just a commercial area … it’s also an area that allows residential,” Halvorson said. “So the state honed in on that designation, and wants to increase the amount of residential floor that is allowed in that designation.”
One of staff’s proposed land use amendments would increase the allowable residential floor area in the Old Town Lompoc area from about 50 to 75 percent.
The proposal includes various code adjustments aimed at increasing Lompoc’s housing density, including revisions on maximum building height limits (currently 45 feet) in Lompoc’s commercial and mixed-use zones.
“In order to get the capacity that was described in our housing element, the state wants tall buildings,” Halvorson said. “This is a pretty small change, from 45 to 50 feet tall.”
Before the Lompoc Planning Commission voted on the amendments, Planning Commissioner Steve Bridge asked staff for clarity on a revision that removes single-family residential as an allowable use in the mixed-use zone.
“That one makes me feel nervous,” Bridge said. “It’s going to be up to interpretation.”
Bridge raised an example of a commercial developer proposing to build a caretaker’s unit (defined as a permanent residence to house an on-site caretaker), detached from a commercial building in the mixed-use zone, and asked whether or not the request would fly under the single-family home ban.
“If it was detached, but it was a caretaker, we’d probably rely on our city attorney to give us an interpretation,” Halvorson said. “I would say, at face value, that even if it was detached, … we probably would allow it.”
With a 3-0 vote, the Planning Commission ultimately greenlit staff’s list of amended land use standards and definitions, which will be reviewed by the City Council for final approval.
This article appears in Dec 19-29, 2024.