Archives: FAQs

Petaluma’s Downtown evolved on the southwest bank of the Petaluma River from its relationship with riverfront trading, commercial and industrial uses on the northeast riverbank, and agricultural commerce. Suburbanization and auto-centric industrialization diverted development outside of the downtown area to its adjacent neighborhoods, with residential neighborhoods, commercial buildings, and business parks. The City has continued … Continued

Per IZO Section 11.035 (Implementing Zoning Ordinance), sites and structures located in the municipal parking assessment district are exempt from the requirement to provide off-street parking facilities. The municipal parking assessment district does not include a provision to collect revenue from new uses or buildings within the district.

Traffic and parking studies have been requested. These studies will be reviewed for adequacy by City staff, including CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act) planners, prior to being made publicly available and will be fully incorporated into the project’s Planning review process.

The parking and loading standards contained in IZO (Implementing Zoning Ordinance) Chapter 11 would not be modified by the Overlay and would continue to apply to all uses and buildings as under existing conditions.

Like the proposed Overlay, amending Chapter 12 to add a process to exceed FAR (Floor to Area Ratio) would require an amendment to the General Plan to increase the FAR limit from 2.5 to 6 for all parcels classified as Mixed Use. Similar to the reasons stated in response to #9 above, applying such an … Continued

The MU2 (Mixed Use 2) zone applies to 3 areas of the City: 1) the downtown, excluding the downtown area that extends into the CPSP (Central Petaluma Specific Plan); 2) parcels abutting Petaluma Boulevard North to West Street and Petaluma Boulevard South to roughly the location of the AMF Boulevard Lanes; and 3) the Silk … Continued

The City regulates planned unit developments in Chapter 19 of the IZO (Implementing Zoning Ordinance). A required finding to adopt a PUD (Planned Unit Development) is that the PUD would conform to the General Plan. This finding could not be made unless the General Plan was first amended to increase the maximum allowable Floor-to-Area Ratio … Continued

IZO Section 24.070.A (Implementing Zoning Ordinance) provides the following regarding variances: “The purpose of variances is to allow variation from the strict application of the terms of this Zoning Ordinance where, by reason of the exceptional narrowness, shallowness, or unusual shape of a parcel of property; or by reason of exceptional topographic conditions, or other … Continued

The review and potential adoption of the Overlay is being considered ahead of the General Plan Update. The consideration of a General Plan amendment to allow the zoning overlay are informed by the City’s work on the General Plan Update. If there is concern regarding the timing, it is possible for the Planning Commission and … Continued

The City has not adopted a development moratorium that would prohibit the submittal of Planning land use applications proposing development activity. Therefore, the City must respond to all land use applications that have been submitted. The Statewide Permit Streamlining Act (1977) sets forth various time limits for the review of discretionary permit applications, and while … Continued