The City is committed to providing suitable, safe, inclusive, and affordable housing for the Roseville community. Affordable housing is important to the health of the community and the local economy. When members of the community can afford to live in the same community where they work, it improves commute traffic, increases investment in the local community, and improves an employer’s ability to attract and retain employees.
Objective Design Standards for Qualified Affordable Housing Projects
On April 21, 2021, the Roseville City Council adopted a resolution to establish Objective Design Standards (ODS) to streamline the construction of qualified affordable housing projects. The ODS were adopted in order to comply with State housing legislation. Qualified projects that comply with the ODS are subject to a non-discretionary ministerial permit process and can bypass the standard design review process and proceed directly to building permit and engineering permit review. A qualifying project is a housing development project where at least 20% of the units are affordable to lower income households (see Zoning Ordinance Chapter 19.74.010(D)). Projects that meet the ODS standards will not be subject to a public notification and hearing process.
What are the Objective Design Standards?
The ODS are intended to be quantifiable and/or objective development and design standards for site design, architecture, and landscaping for qualified affordable housing projects. State law allows cities to develop standards that are unique to their jurisdiction, so Roseville tailored the new ODS to support high-quality development that will be compatible with the City’s existing Community Design Guidelines. Developers will be required to self-certify that they meet the requirements at the time they apply for the building and engineering permits, which will then be reviewed and confirmed by City staff. The adopted ODS can be found online here and the application form can be found online here.
How do I find out about these projects if I won’t get a notice/there is no hearing?
Design plans for qualified affordable projects using the ODS process will be posted on this webpage. As there is no discretionary or hearing process for these applications, project review is limited to ensuring compliance with the ODS checklist. If you have questions about development activity in your neighborhood, please call 916-774-5285 or email [email protected] for further assistance.
Background
Two pieces of legislation, Senate Bill 35 (SB 35) and Assembly Bill 2162 (AB 2162), were respectively adopted in 2018 and 2019 to respond to the State’s affordable housing crisis. Both SB 35 and AB 2162 require cities to provide a streamlined review process for qualified affordable housing projects. To meet this requirement, the City’s Development Services – Planning Division developed quantifiable design standards, referred to as Objective Design Standards (ODS), to review new, qualified affordable housing projects through a ministerial (i.e. “over the counter”) permitting process. The ODS are a “checklist” of minimum requirements that a project would have to meet in order to use the streamlined process, which are based on the City’s existing Community Design Guidelines.
Internal City departments and divisions, as well as affordable housing developers with a history of working in the City of Roseville, reviewed the Objective Design Standards. Comments received from these stakeholders were incorporated into the proposed guidelines. Early notification of the intent to develop the ODS was posted on the City’s Housing Element Update website and communicated as part of the various public updates on the Housing Element Update’s progress. On March 8, 2021, an update announcing the March 25, 2021 Planning Commission hearing was posted to the Housing Element website, and the update was publicized via Facebook, Twitter, and the City’s newsletter. Notification of both the Planning Commission and City Council hearings were posted in the Roseville Press Tribune, on the City’s website, and the Roseville Coalition of Neighborhood Associations (RCONA) website.
Current ODS Projects