Novato Planning Commission Meeting - February 10, 2025
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
Novato Planning Commission Meeting - February 10, 2025
The Novato Planning Commission held a public hearing and voted unanimously to recommend that the City Council approve zoning text amendments to bring the city's municipal code into compliance with state housing laws regarding emergency shelters, community care facilities, residential care facilities for the elderly, and alcoholism or drug abuse recovery or treatment facilities. The meeting began with approval of the consent calendar, including draft minutes from several previous meetings, with certain commissioners abstaining from votes on minutes for meetings they did not attend.
Consent Calendar
- Approved meeting minutes of December 18, 2023; March 25, 2024; April 22, 2024; May 13, 2024; July 8, 2024; and December 16, 2024. Commissioners Tiernan, Crockett, and Dawson abstained from votes on specific minutes for which they were not present (May, July, and December for different commissioners).
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public spoke during the public comment period for non-agenda items or during the public hearing on the zoning amendments.
Discussion Items
- Staff presented proposed amendments to Chapter XIX (Zoning) of the Novato Municipal Code, implementing Housing Element Programs 4A and 4E. Key changes included:
- Emergency Shelters: Allowed in the General Commercial (GC) zoning district (e.g., shopping centers along Redwood Boulevard) with objective standards: 300-foot minimum separation from other shelters, maximum 50 beds (or lower based on building code), staff parking ratio of one space per staff on shift, minimum 275 sq. ft. intake area, on-site management and security, maximum stay of 180 days in any 12-month period, and dark-sky-compliant lighting at 3 foot-candles at ground level.
- Community Care Facilities, Alcohol/Drug Recovery Facilities, and Residential Care for the Elderly: Facilities serving six or fewer persons are permitted by right in all zones that allow family dwellings (including A, C, MU, RR, RVL, R1–R5, R10, R20) and are treated as equivalent residential uses subject only to underlying development standards. Facilities serving seven or more require a use permit (discretionary review) in the same zones where group homes were previously allowed (AG, C, and single-family residential districts).
- Commissioners asked clarifying questions about the eight statutory objective standards for emergency shelters, noticing requirements (600-foot radius for use permits, no notice for six-or-fewer facilities), and the lack of historical proposals for emergency shelters. Staff noted that no emergency shelter projects have been proposed in recent years and that the city’s current shelter capacity is filled by Homeward Bound.
- Staff commented that the CEQA exemption was appropriate because the Housing Element’s environmental review already considered these programmatic changes.
Key Outcomes
- The Planning Commission voted 7–0 (Commissioners Tiernan, Heath, Engdahl, Derby, Dawson, Crockett, and Chair Havel all in favor) to adopt a resolution recommending that the City Council approve the zoning text amendments as presented. The motion was made by Commissioner Tiernan and seconded. The item will now go to the City Council for final action.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening. Welcome to the Nevada Planning Commission meeting of January 27th, 2025. First meeting of 2025. If you'd please stand with me and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Do a quick roll call. Commissioner Tiernan. Hi. Here. Commissioner Heath. Here. Commissioner Ingdahl. Here. Commissioner Derby. Here. Commissioner Dawson. Here. Commissioner Crockett. Here. Commissioner Howl is here. All right. So before we get started, we need to have ratification of the final agenda. So moved. Second. All right. Quick vote. Commissioner Turning. Aye. Commissioner Heath. Aye. Commissioner Ingall. Aye. Commissioner Derby. Aye. Commissioner Dawson. Aye. Commissioner Crockett. Aye. And I as well. Next up on the agenda is public comment. This is the opportunity where somebody can comment on something that's not on tonight's agenda. I'll take a moment to see if anybody's here to speak. Seeing none, I will close that and move on to the next item, which is our consent items. Now we have a series of minutes to approve here, and I think we can do that in one single motion because it's a consent item agenda, so we're approving that list of consent items. Move the consent calendar. On that question, there's at least three of them I need to abstain from, the last three. So I'm on voting and consent calories along as I've identified as abstaining from May July and December. And I have to stay abstain from the December one as well. Okay. Commissioner Turner, your May, July, and December, the last one. December.
openpublica.com