HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-15-2017 Item B1 (Meyer)
Purrington, Teresa
From:Eric Meyer <frenchbicycles@gmail.com>
Sent:Monday,
To:Advisory Bodies
Subject:specialty bungalow court zoning
Attachments:IMG_0207.JPG
Hello Planning Commissioners.
As regards your review of the zoning code update:
How do we create friendly and fun smaller houses downtown? We do it with specialty Form Based Code bonus zoning for R2, R3, and R4.
and by unbundling the units from parking requirements (car habits are changing rapidly anyway). Call it a bungalow court overlay zone or a
bungalow court density bonus if you will.
See my drawing attached for a clearer idea of the following:
In SLO's downtown we have a lot of ±50x150 ft. lots. The typical density solution by developers under the current zoning code is to build a
driveway back to a carriage house with a unit over a two car garage. Alternatively developers combine 2 or more neighboring lots and build
"car court" centered three story Planned Development or condo units… (two stories over parking around a car court). These housing types
dedicate approx 40% of the land to automobile usages and destroy the people centric uses.. aka livability. Nobody knows anyone because
they all drive home and park in their garage and walk upstairs. The front doors for the humans are secondary to the car usages… and the
people are sequestered from one another. It also basically only allows 2 units per standard city lot.
BUT...
What if we could create tiny bungalow courts… with 700 square foot or smaller one bedroom units… and sell each unit separately on a tiny
1500 sq. ft. lot… but do this within our existing stock of existing lots downtown rather than having to create new lots via sprawl?
I suggest a new specialty density bonus concept for R2 (or greater) zones with a form based code housing type no larger than 700 square
feet. These would be one bedroom cottages (bungalow court) style. 1 story plus loft in the rafters where parking is not required, and the
lots are approx 1500 sq ft… There would have to be a LOT more specific language around floor area ratios, solar orientation, plate height
restriction, hardscaping coverage restrictions, height restrictions, zero lot lines, building separation, easements, ownership and especially
around rental uses, etc… which I won't detail here… but it could work and it can create four separate livable nice small homes where there
was once just one
Take one 50x 150 lot… and split it into 4 lots… keep the existing 20 foot front setback… and the 5 foot rear… leaves you with room for 4 lots
all facing sideways. See drawing attached.
I very much want to see tiny lot subdivisions and smaller unit sizes become available here in our zoning code update we are doing right
now. It could serve to house our aging senior population as well as our growing millennial population in an affordable housing typology
that they are looking for but cannot find… and one which does NOT tower over the neighbors… but instead fits into the existing pattern of
1.5 story development that SLO is known for.
Eric Meyer
see attached:
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Eric Meyer
frenchbicycles@gmail.com
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