COUNTY ANNOUNCES PUBLIC WORKSHOPS TO HELP DEFINE DESIGN STANDARDS FOR FUTURE COMMERCIAL/MULTI-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT IN FOUR COMMUNITIES
(PLACERVILLE, CA) – El Dorado County will host the first round of public workshops for the Commercial and Multi-Family Residential Design Standards Project during the month of February. Two workshops will take place in each of the four unincorporated communities included in the project: Cameron Park, Diamond Springs/El Dorado, El Dorado Hills and Shingle Springs.
"We invite residents, business and property owners, workers, and other community members to attend a workshop session in their community to learn about, discuss, and share input on the project," said Tiffany Schmid, Planning and Building Director. The workshops will provide participants with the opportunity to help define the community's expectations for commercial and multi-family residential development and preferences for design standards topics and concepts as well as architectural themes," she said.
The community-based planning project will result in comprehensive design regulations and supporting guidelines for commercial and multi-family residential projects in the communities. The standards will address all aspects of building and site design on private property, and document architectural themes rooted in the community and El Dorado County's building tradition. They will also provide conceptual site designs to demonstrate how the standards can be applied to the different kinds of sites present in the community, and include performance standards that assess a development's conformance with the standards.
The Project has two components. The first will focus on the development of design standards for Shingle Springs, the Project's prototype community. Based upon the approach developed for Shingle Springs, the second component will involve the preparation of design standards/guidelines for the remaining three communities.
The County is undertaking the Project to implement El Dorado County General Plan policy direction to prepare design standards/guidelines for the communities that are developed in collaboration with community members and seek to identify, maintain, and enhance the community's character and unique identity. The Project is being led by El Dorado County planning staff, the County's Community and Economic Development Advisory Committee (CEDAC), and the Project's consultants, De Novo Planning Group and Page & Turnbull.
"By defining the community's aesthetic preferences for commercial and multi-family residential development, the community can achieve greater certainty that future development will positively contribute to communities' character and identity," said Martti Eckert of De Novo Planning Group. "The Project builds upon the County's previous efforts to create and implement a community-based planning process framework utilizing the approach described in the County's Community Planning Guide," he said.
Upon their adoption, the design standards will help simplify and expedite the discretionary development project review process. This streamlined process will reduce development project costs and encourage development that will benefit the community, including residential projects that satisfy the unmet demand for multi-family housing.
The Project began in August 2019 and is expected to be completed by winter 2022 for Shingle Springs and summer 2022 for the remaining communities. The Project will include additional participation opportunities at upcoming Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission meetings and future workshops.
The schedule and locations for the individual public workshop sessions are as follows:
Shingle Springs
Location: Park Community Church, 3901 Wild Chaparral Drive, Shingle Springs
Session 1: Tuesday, February 4, 6:00 pm-8:00 pm
Session 2: Saturday, February 8, 10:00 am-12:00 pm
Cameron Park
Location: Cameron Park Community Services District (Assembly Hall), 2502 Country Club Drive, Cameron Park
Session 1: Tuesday, February 11, 6:00 pm-8:00 pm
Session 2: Saturday, February 15, 10:00 am-12:00 pm
Diamond Springs/El Dorado
Location: El Dorado County Public Safety Facility (Community Room), 200 Industrial Drive, Diamond Springs
Session 1: Tuesday, February 25, 6:00 pm-8:00 pm,
Session 2: Saturday, February 29, 10:00 am-12:00 pm
El Dorado Hills
Location: El Dorado Hills Fire Station #85 (Conference Room), 1050 Wilson Boulevard, El Dorado Hills
Session 1: Tuesday, February 18, 6:00 pm-8:00 pm
Session 2: Saturday, February 22, 10:00 am-12:00 pm
For additional information on the workshops and/or the project, contact Aaron Mann, Senior Planner, at (530) 621-6565, or Anne Novotny, Planning Manager, Long Range Land Use Planning Unit, at (530) 621-5931 or email the project team at cmfrdesign@edcgov.us.
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