Work to update the city of Napa’s residential design guidelines, a set of local standards housing developers are recommended to follow when proposing projects, will be starting up in early 2024. And the main thrust of this update — one part of a larger $750,000 update to the city’s zoning code — will be to modify those standards to be objective, as defined by California state law. That means the standards will likely come to resemble a checklist developers can follow to get their projects approved. The update will in turn alter or remove so-called subjective standards, cutting down on the discretion governmental bodies such as the city’s Planning Commission and City Council have historically had over such projects. Several commissioners have previously expressed dismay over the state’s doing away with subjective standards.
