City of Palos Verdes Estates
Multifamily and Mixed-Use Objective Design Standards
A document for applicants, reviewers, and decision-making bodies alike to know beforehand what design requirements apply to a proposed multifamily or mixed-use development seeking ministerial approval.
An architectural conditions report helped develop overarching design goals and objectives that foster Palos Verdes Estates (PVE) character in new projects. The report included findings from site tours, a study of built-form patterns and architectural styles achieved through modeling existing multifamily, mixed-use, and commercial buildings in PVE, and review of existing City documents.
PVE design character was determined to be three architectural styles: Spanish Revival, Craftsman, and Contemporary. The document is broken into two themes with attendant measurable design standards. The first “Site and Massing,” addresses big picture building orientation and massing requirements and is based upon the analysis of best-practice built form patterns seen in the community. The second, “Architectural Style”, quantifies characteristics and details of the three most prevalent styles. Together the two themes help ensure that new projects relate directly to the context of their surrounds.
Rather than having a chapter for the design standards and a separate chapter for a checklist, the ODS document layout incorporates the design standard, an illustrative diagram, and the checklist for applicants and City staff on the same page. Applicants, as part of the submittal process, will utilize the "Applicant Checklist" column to note a project's compliance with the design criteria. Reviewers will use the same checklist to provide a more streamlined and expedited design review of proposed projects and independently determine compliance, thereby approving or denying a project based on the ODS.