Streamline Development Approvals with Objective Design Standards

Course Details

Objective Design Standards involving robust processes of engagement and community visioning provide a uniquely flexible opportunity to establish effective regulations that translate community priorities into physical development. Such standards provide a more flexible alternative to Form-Based Codes and can serve as an overlay within existing General Plans, Comprehensive Plans, and Zoning Ordinances. While primarily focused on Standards for multifamily and mixed-use residential construction, this conversation will also draw on experience using objective-based regulation to improve development outcomes for commercial and industrial development and to mediate between different land uses.

This course will explore the importance of methods to avoid adverse development feasibility impacts by Standards. If proposed standards are evaluated through a rigorous process of market analyses and real-world test fit studies, they provide a valuable level of certainty to applicants that can be balanced against clear, enhanced community requirements. An Objective Standards-based review system avoids the potential legal issues of discretionary review and is being shown to increase housing production across the State of California.

The panel brings diverse perspectives from across the United States gained from experience in cities, small communities, and state-level policy research in the public and private sectors.

Learning Outcomes

• Comprehend the impact of national best-practice alternatives to traditional zoning-based development standards on-site design, building mass, and architectural form.
• Understand how Objective Design Standards can be shaped to encourage specific development typologies and discourage others.
• Convey insights on how to develop objective standards suitable for the existing context and economic market of their community.