We Get Letters: Speak Up on SB 9

Help shape Pasadena! Please share your opinions with the City for two hugely important meetings this week that will have permanent impacts on our city. 

1. On Monday, December 6 at 4:30 PM, the City Council will consider an interim urgency ordinance pertaining to the construction of multiple units on single-family zoned parcels pursuant to State Senate Bill 9 (SB 9). This City ordinance could define various development standards for SB 9-related projects. 

SB 9 goes into effect January 1st. It will allow for single-family zoned lots to be split (if each subsequent lot can be 1,200 square feet or more), and for up to two dwelling units (of at least 800 square feet each) to be built on each subsequent lot, with just a four foot setback from side and rear property lines. Note that SB 9 carves out Landmark Districts and other designated historical landmarks as an exemption, in recognition of the civic and cultural importance of preserving historically significant architecture and neighborhoods. Also note there is no affordability component to SB 9. 

Among the City’s considerations for the interim urgency ordinance are: a prohibition on short-term rentals of duplex units developed via SB 9; a prohibition on ADUs and Junior ADUs in conjunction with projects that would both split a lot and develop duplexes; landscaping requirements to ensure sufficient open space; requirements to retain existing trees or plant new ones;  potential affordability requirements; and more. 

What do you think? Please share your opinions and concerns with City Council by emailing correspondence@cityofpasadena.net prior to the start of the meeting. Specify you’re writing about the “Interim urgency ordinance re SB 9.” For more information, you can read the City Staff Report here. 

2. Do you ever wonder how and why certain developments get built in Pasadena? Then you should be paying close attention to — and sharing your opinions on — the Specific Plans update process going on right now. 

The City is listening. This is when your voice can make a real difference! 

So please make your voice heard at the Wednesday, December 8, 6:30 PM Planning Commission meeting, at which City Staff will present an update on the Central District Specific Plan. 

The Central District is a huge area that includes City Hall and the Civic Center, Old Pasadena, Central Park, the Playhouse District,  Paseo Colorado, South Lake Avenue, and Arroyo Parkway from the 210 down to California Boulevard. 

If you care what happens in these parts of the city, then you care about the Central District Specific Plan. It will revise the standards that regulate future development in the entire area. 

Do you care about street trees? Pedestrian-friendly setbacks from the street? Building height and density (including right next to residential neighborhoods)? How about parks, paseos and open spaces (such as the open space at the corner of Lake and California by Peet’s and Einstein Bros. Bagels)? Do you care about the basics of how buildings are designed, including the breaking up of masses for visual interest, and ratio of windows? Do you have opinions on parking requirements? Do you cherish Pasadena’s mountain views from certain vantage points? 

If so, then please chime in on what you want to see in the Central District. You can either send public comments for Wednesday’s meeting to htam@cityofpasadena.net, or provide up to three minutes of live public comments during the meeting — click here for instructions.

 You can also click here to review the lastest draft plan. 

John Latta, Erika Foy & Glenn Camhi (President, Vice President, and Secretary respectively of the Madison Heights Neighborhood  Association)