Planning Board weighs design rules for single-family homes

After more than a month of fine tuning, Burbank community development staff presented a draft of proposed guidelines and design rules for single-family homes to the Planning Board.

Though several board members told staff during a study session on Monday that the list of 45 design guidelines was a good start, there was a consensus among board members that more work needs to be done to ensure that residents are able to modify their homes while maintaining the aesthetic atmosphere of the various neighborhoods around Burbank.

Carol Barrett, assistant community development director for Burbank, and John Kaliski, a consultant hired by the city to prepare the guidelines, explained how the policy would work.

Kaliski said that in order for a homeowner to modify or rebuild their house, at least 30 of the 45 guidelines would need to be met for the project to move forward.

Some of the proposed guidelines include appropriate setbacks for homes and garages, roof types, building heights, materials used in the project and even the color of the house.

Barrett said the community development department will host a workshop in October so residents can review the draft guidelines.

Kaliski said that the point of having someone meet a certain number of required guidelines is to encourage residents to think about what design elements are important to them.

“It’s not necessarily to tell them to do this or not to do that,” he said.

However, Christopher Rizzotti, board chairman, said he was concerned about the guidelines, saying that the city would be overstepping its bounds if they were adopted.

Rizzotti added that finding the best design guideline for the various neighborhoods in the city would be difficult to do.

“I just don’t want to pigeonhole our city, our residents and potential home buyers into something that is inflexible and hard to work with,” he said.

Kaliski said there are three ways residents would be able to go about moving forward with their project.

If the modifications to the home are so minor that it would not affect the integrity of the neighborhood, the project would be approved.

Should the project involve constructing a new house or a full tear-down makeover, then the homeowner would need to meet the appropriate number of guidelines.

However, if a homeowner does not meet all the guidelines and still wants to move forward with their plans, they could appeal their project to the Planning Board.

Burbank officials have been working to adjust its single-home design code after many residents in the community voiced their disapproval of overly large homes being built around the city.

In March 2015, the city passed a temporary ordinance known as the Interim Development Control Ordinance, which restricts what residents can and can’t do if they are building a new home or doing a full tear-down makeover.

The ordinance is effective through March.