Midcoast Design Review Standards Update

About the Project 

In Summer 2018, the County’s Coastside Design Review Committee (CDRC) initiated discussions through Special Open Study Session meetings for the purpose of updating the current Design Standards for the Midcoast.  Through these meetings, which are open to the public, the CDRC established the following goals for the update process:

• Expand the CDRC’s purview to non-residential structures in the Midcoast (e.g., Commercial, Industrial)
• Create a separate MidCoast Commercial Zoning District for the areas currently zoned C-1 in El Granada, Moss Beach and Montara, including purposes, performance standards, and permitted uses.
• Combine and update residential and commercial design review standards, including those regulating:
  • Building styles
  • Building height measurement
  • Landscape standards
  • Site design standards
• Update CDRC operational procedures

The CDRC established the following Mission Statement:

To establish new and updated design standards for Residential, Multifamily, Mixed-use, Commercial (nonresidential), Commercial- Recreation, Light-Industrial, Agricultural (near residential), Planned Unit Development (PUD), and El Granada Gateway development, that complements state regulations, area character and the surrounding natural setting to have a more harmonious Coastside community design aesthetic.

The update process will require changing applicable policies of multiple zoning regulations (i.e., County Design Review (DR) Zoning District Regulations, including the “Standards for Design for One- and Two-Family Residential Development in the Midcoast”), as well as the “Community Design Manual” and the Local Coastal Program. 

Roles in the MidCoast Design Standards Update Process

Co-chairs: Beverly Garrity (Montara Rep) and Katie Kostiuk (Architect) 
Documentarian: Bruce Chan (Landscape Architect)
Members: CDRC

To contact the CDRC members by email, please send email to cdrc@smcgov.org with “Input on the Midcoast Design Review Standards Update” in the subject line. (Please note that communication may not contain information that violates the Brown Act, i.e., discussion regarding specific projects.)

See CDRC Roster and Membership Information.