City of Foster City Objective Development Standards for Multi-Family and Mixed-Use Development

Objective design standards often require the use of industry best practices and technical terms to translate personal experiences of a place (e.g., “community character”) into quantifiable measures. As a result, these standards can be challenging for community members and decisions-makers to envision – or for planning professionals to articulate.

Urban Planning Partners and Van Meter Williams Pollack teamed up to work with Foster City to develop objective design standards for multi-family and mixed-use developments. The standards address site development, buildings, and landscape and also Foster City’s unique waterfront setting.

To guide community discussions, Urban Planning Partners created a “Data Walk” activity, allowing residents to explore and provide feedback on ten housing projects in Foster City. Stakeholders could engage either in person—by scanning QR codes at each site—or digitally through an interactive map, all at their own pace. Each stop featured a short video highlighting key design elements and prompting open-ended feedback. Participants could respond via text, surveys, or physical handouts. Additionally, we developed an "ODS 101" video to provide context on the project's origins and objectives.

The project included preparing objective design standards in a new chapter of the City’s zoning regulations, related zoning regulation amendments in numerous other chapters, checklist for developers, and a users’ guide with additional photos and graphics to explain the standards.