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CITY OF monte sereno

objective design standards

On Tuesday, January 18, Monte Sereno’s City Council unanimously voted to adopt citywide objective design standards. These objective design standards complement the City’s existing design guidelines and will be applied to all ministerial review projects. Monte Sereno is a single-family bedroom community where neighbor privacy and high-quality architectural design were identified throughout the process as primary concerns by both community members and decision makers.

To address these issues, M-Group worked with City staff and a City Council Ad Hoc Committee to develop standards. New standards were prepared for landscaping, window design, and architectural detailing to increase privacy between adjacent parcels and ensuring the design character of residential development. Existing subjective design guidelines were also evaluated and made objective where possible.

Monte Sereno has successfully adopted design standards to guide future design review, but there is still work to be done as jurisdictions respond to state legislation regarding ministerial review. M-Group is currently also working on developing objective standards for Los Gatos, the unincorporated communities of Alameda County, and Calistoga.