Ventura Municipal Code § 24.595.080 Regulating plan and transect zones

This article establishes the zones applied to property within the city and adopts the regulating plan for the Midtown area as its zoning map. (Formerly 24M.102.010)

The council hereby adopts the Midtown regulating plan (hereafter referred to as the “regulating plan”), as shown in Figure 1-1 (Section 24.595.100), as an amendment to the zoning district map authorized by Section 24.105.040 (Adoption of zoning district map).

A. Transect Zones Established. The area within the regulating plan boundaries (the “Midtown Corridors Area”) is subject to this Midtown Corridors Development Code, and shall be divided into transect zones that implement the Ventura general plan. The transect zones described in Section 24.595.090 (Transect zone descriptions) are hereby established, and shall be shown on the regulating plan for the Midtown Corridors area.

B. Interpretation Zone Boundaries. If there is uncertainty about the location of any zone boundary shown on the regulating plan, the location of the boundary shall be determined by the director as follows:

1. Where a zone boundary approximately follows a lot line, alley, or street line, the lot line, street or alley centerline shall be construed as the zone boundary, as applicable;

2. If a zone boundary divides a parcel and the boundary line location is not specified by distances printed on the regulating plan, the location of the boundary will be determined by using the scale appearing on the regulating plan; and

3. Where a public street or alley is officially vacated or abandoned, the property that was formerly in the street or alley will be included within the zone of the adjoining property on either side of the vacated or abandoned street or alley.

C. Transect Zones, Subzones and Overlay Zones. Each of the six basic transect zones represents a spectrum of development characters and intensities. Within T4, for example, these range from the almost exclusively residential, quiet neighborhood interiors, to more active and mixed-use neighborhood activity centers, or neighborhood edges abutting larger, busier streets and transit corridors. Similar systematic variations exist in each zone. In order to describe these important differences, and to create a regulatory structure with some precision, a number of subzones may be defined.

The use of subzones enables development standards that subtly increase or decrease the intensity and urban character from one area to the next, encouraging a seamless transition from street to street and block to block. This tool also allows the standards to be calibrated to existing neighborhood characteristics on adjacent land that are intended to be preserved, protected or extended. The two basic zones defined in this code are subzones T4.5 and T5.2, as described in Article 3 of this chapter.

To provide an even finer level of precision and subtlety the technique of “overlay zones” is added. Overlay zones are applied to specific areas of the regulating plan, modifying selected development standards of the underlying transect zone. For instance, such an “overlay zone” would modify some combination of the allowed building height, or allowed frontage types, or specific setback requirements within the overlay area as designated on the regulating plan, while leaving the other standards of that zone intact. Four overlay zones are defined in this code, as described in Article 4 of this chapter. (Formerly 24M.102.020)

TABLE A: Transect Zone Descriptions. This table provides a generalized transect for Ventura. A detailed description of the transect refinements used in this development code is in subsections A (General Urban Zone (T4.5)) and B (Urban Center Zone (T5.2)) of this section.

Note: T1, T2, T3 and T6 are shown above for reference, and are not applied to the Midtown Corridors area by this development code.

A. General Urban Zone (T4.5).

[Figure]

The general neighborhood zone (T4) consists of a balanced mix of residential and neighborhood-serving commercial and civic uses within a walkable setting. This is the predominant existing urban condition in Ventura to the west of Mills Road – specifically the Westside, Downtown and Midtown and Pierpont communities – in which the neighborhoods include walkable streets, reasonably scaled blocks, and building types that generally relate well to the pedestrian. In addition to these mostly pre-1950 neighborhoods, the T4 condition is envisioned by the general plan as the preferred pattern for most future new neighborhood development in the city.

The T4 “base zone” has been identified as T4.0, and is the quiet neighborhood interior environment, prototypically characterized by single-family detached houses, porch and fence frontages, and narrow neighborhood streets with low traffic speeds and volumes. Such conditions are typical of the neighborhoods north and south of Main Street and Thompson Boulevard, from their origins on the west side of town easterly to 5-Points. The T4.0 zone is expected to be formalized as a zone when those areas are coded, as part of a future Midtown community plan and code process.

Because the character of T4 within the Downtown specific plan is unique, T4.1, T4.2 and T4.3 have been used to describe and regulate various Downtown neighborhood areas, and T4.4 to describe the neighborhood edge condition along portions of Thompson Boulevard. Those subzones have been highly customized to the unique conditions of the Downtown, and are thus not well suited to describing future development along the Main and Thompson Corridors as they pass through Midtown. T4.5 is created herein for that purpose, and is applied to portions of the Midtown Corridors with and without overlay zones.

The design intent of the T4.5 zone is to encourage mixed-use and higher density residential infill development within the areas mapped on the regulating plan, to achieve the goals of the general plan, the Midtown By Design plan and the Midtown Charrette plan. Those goals include:

1. Providing new commercial and civic amenities along the corridors, within pleasant walking distance of residences in the adjoining neighborhoods;

2. Providing housing at higher densities to help reduce the city’s rate of expansion into farmland and natural open space;

3. Creating a living environment that can be effectively served by transit, which will provide Venturans with a new and sustainable lifestyle alternative;

4. Ensuring that the scale and character of new development is compatible with the existing adjoining neighborhoods.

Certain overlay zones are provided to modulate that scale and to ensure compatibility with adjacent neighborhoods; see Article 4 of this chapter.

B. Urban Center Zone (T5.2). The prototypical T5 zone for Ventura is characterized by mixed-use buildings set close to the sidewalk – many with ground floor commercial uses and higher density housing or office uses on upper floors – streets with wide sidewalks and street trees in tree grates, and abundant and managed curbside parking. Building heights will typically be in the two-through-four-story range.

The corridor area near Five-Points, where Main and Thompson meet one another, is identified in key planning documents – including the general plan, and the Midtown By Design and Midtown Charrette documents – as a more intense “activity center” – with a greater emphasis on commercial use. Accordingly, the portion of this area north of Thompson Boulevard is classified as T5, urban center.

The 5-Points corridor area has greater block and lot sizes than the rest of these corridors, and is thus able to accommodate larger buildings and denser parking configurations. It also has preexisting zoning that allows building heights up to six stories, and the adjacent Community Memorial Hospital facilities are of that scale already.

Accordingly, the subzone T5.2 urban center is defined for this area. See Section 24.595.120, allowing buildings and streetscapes that are more urban in character than the rest of the corridors, with buildings up to six stories in height. Certain overlay zones are provided to modulate that scale and to ensure compatibility with adjacent neighborhoods; see Article 4 of this chapter.

[Figure] [Figure]

(Formerly 24M.102.030)

The following is the regulating plan for the Midtown Corridors Development Code. The regulating plan is the coding key for the Midtown Corridors Development Code.

[Figure]

(Formerly 24M.102.040)