To: Honorable Mayor and Members of Town Council
Through: David L. Corliss, Town Manager
From: Tara Vargish, PE, Director, Development Services
Title
Discussion/Direction: Removal of Design Review Board and Reallocation of Board Responsibilities
Body
________________________________________________________________________________
Executive Summary
The Design Review Board (DRB) was established by Town Council in 2010 with adoption of the Downtown Overlay District (DOD) to review certain land development applications within Downtown. Since that time, amendments to the Municipal Code and refinements to the Town's development review process have shifted some applications to administrative review and larger downtown applications to Town Council for final decision.
At its July 7, 2026, meeting, Town Council directed staff to research dissolution of the DRB and options for reallocating its responsibilities. This memorandum summarizes the Board's history and current authority and presents three potential review models. The options range from largely retaining the existing downtown public-hearing thresholds, with the Planning Commission replacing the DRB, to processing downtown applications under the same thresholds used elsewhere in Town.
Under all three options, the Downtown Overlay District standards would remain in effect, landmark alterations would continue to be reviewed by the Historic Preservation Board, and major applications would continue to receive Planning Commission and Town Council review. Council direction is requested regarding dissolution of the DRB, application thresholds, decision and appeal authority, variance procedures, treatment of pending applications, and any transitional provisions.
Please see the staff memorandum for the full discussion.
Possible Motions
The following motions are provided to assist Council. Each may be amended to include additional direction concerning height requests, variances, appeals, pending applications, or transition procedures.
Option A Motion
“I move to direct staff to prepare an ordinance dissolving the Design Review Board and implementing Option A, under which the Planning Commission replaces the Design Review Board while the existing 10,000-square-foot downtown review threshold generally remains in place.”
Option B Motion
“I move to direct staff to prepare an ordinance dissolving the Design Review Board and implementing Option B, under which qualifying downtown projects below 10,000 square feet are generally reviewed administratively and projects at or above 10,000 square feet receive Planning Commission recommendation and Town Council decision.”
Option C Motion
“I move to direct staff to prepare an ordinance dissolving the Design Review Board and implementing Option C, under which downtown applications follow the same administrative and public-hearing thresholds applicable elsewhere in Town while remaining subject to the Downtown Overlay District.”
Transitional Procedures - this may be added to any motion:
“I move to also direct staff to provide for transitional procedures to allow for: (temporary or permanent inclusion of downtown property owners in the Planning Commission for a set period of time through ________________, OR to have the 2 downtown property owners from the current DRB serve in a temporary capacity on the Planning Commission for a downtown project public hearing.) ”
Alternative Direction
“I move to direct staff to prepare an ordinance dissolving the Design Review Board and reallocating its responsibilities as follows: ______________________________.”
Attachments
Staff Memorandum