Citywide Objective Design Standards

Carlsbad, CA

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At a glance

Help strengthen local control over design of future multifamily and mixed-use projects.
Due to new state housing laws and a shortage of housing in California, the state requires cities to streamline the approval process for certain kinds of housing projects and cities have less control over how many new apartments and condos can be built and when.
The city has created objective design standards for multifamily and mixed-use projects in Carlsbad as one way the city can retain some control over new development and streamline the city's permitting process to comply with new state laws.
This project does not include the Village and Barrio Master Plan area, which is being addressed in a separate project.
The projects do not include changes to existing development standards such as building heights, density or setbacks. It also does not apply to single-family or two-family residential development. It will only apply to future multifamily and mixed-use projects.

Citywide objective design standards FAQs

Objective design standards

Review the citywide objective design standards
Review corresponding amendments to the Carlsbad Municipal Code (reflecting the addition of the objective design standards)

City Council adoption
The City Council voted to adopt the citywide objective design standards on Tuesday, Sept.. 12.

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Public hearing at City Council
The citywide objective design standards were presented during a public hearing at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 29. The City Council voted to adopt the final objective design standards.

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Public hearing at Planning Commission
The citywide objective design standards were presented during a public hearing at the Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday, July 19. The Planning Commission voted to recommend City Council adopt the standards.

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Informational webinar
On Thursday, June 8, city staff held an informational webinar on Zoom to share details about the the citywide objective design standards and answer questions from the public. A recording of the webinar is available below.

Citywide objective design standards virtual webinar

What are objective design standards?

According to state law, objective design standards are standards or guidelines that can be uniformly applied without involving personal or subjective judgement by public officials or decision makers. The guidelines should be published in advance and known by both developers and public officials.

Examples of subjective design standards and guidelines could include the following:

"Doors, porches, balconies and walkways should face the streets, to the extent possible, to promote social interaction along the streetscape."
"Special care should be taken to break down a building's mass wherever possible through variation in height. Varied floor plans can be designed in such a way so that less long runs of side wall can be paired with plans that have longer runs."

In each of these cases, more detail would be needed so the standard can be uniformly applied, without relying on the subjective judgement of decision makers.