Burbank Downtown Development Standards

This project evaluated the potential for revised zoning to accommodate residential, mixed-use, and live-work development in commercial and light industrial areas in Downtown and along two corridors, from economic and land use policy perspectives.

Goals

• New development standards for mixed-use commercial/residential, live-work, and all-residential development in commercial and light industrial areas.
• Explore the use of a form-based zoning code or hybrid code in lieu of a conventional zone code.

The Compass Blueprint program enabled the funding of a study in order to remove the barriers to implementing the City’s 1977 Burbank Center Plan. Burbank’s zoning regulations did not readily accommodate mixed-use buildings, which impeded the development envisioned by the Plan.  This project created new Development Standards within the Downtown district to ensure that new development in Downtown results in high-quality architecture, encourages pedestrian activity and provides appropriate transitions in scale and use between different parts of Downtown. The Standards are also intended to accommodate many types of mixed-use, live/work and residential development regardless of whether they are modified through the Planned Development process.

Results

• Developed new regulations to implement the Burbank Center Plan
• Provides design guidelines and new standards for land use within the Downtown area
• Establishes new parking and open space requirements for unique Downtown area
• Illustrated prototypes for building development