The City of Oakdale has determined that all new development shall compliment and enhance the physical form of our community.  It is our expectation that new development will address issues of community, place and identity through the thoughtful placement of neighborhoods, open spaces, streets and land use.

Within Oakdale neighborhoods, housing for all residents will include low density, single family residences as well as sites appropriate for medium and high density residential developments, offering multifamily, attached housing products.  Multifamily housing, because of increased densities, often generates large, bulky buildings and large parking areas, with a corresponding decrease in usable outdoor open space.  If not properly designed, these larger buildings and open parking areas can dominate the site with the leftover areas offering the important open space and activity areas serving the outdoor needs of the people who live there.

In 1995, following adoption of a new General Plan for the City, the Oakdale Planning Commission and City Council acknowledged that property owners, developers, and builders would best be able to meet the City’s expectations for enhancing its community design if these expectations were clearly identified through adopted principles or standards.  The Commission and Council considered and adopted by Resolution a set of design principles to guide the future expansion and development of Oakdale’s urban form.  These design principles, based upon the nationally-recognized Ahwahnee Principles Toward More Livable Communities, are identified as Oakdale’s Specific Plan Design Principles.

This document has been prepared to identify the design expectations embodied within the City’s Specific Plan Design Principles specifically addressing the development of new multifamily residential developments.  The text and illustrations contained herein give a clearer picture of the design expectations of the Planning Commission and City Council in actual application. 

As part of each multifamily development application, particularly a planned development or site plan review, each developer or builder will be asked to complete a self-certification checklist responding to the question of how their proposal conforms to the City’s design expectations as identified herein.  City staff will review the self-certification checklist and provide a summary report to the Planning Commission including any recommendations for modifications in order to achieve design expectation compliance.  The Commission may simply accept the report from City staff, or make additional recommendations as necessary and forward said report to the City Council for their review and concurrence.

A developer or builder should expect City acceptance and approval of specific design and architectural plans when these expectations and design applications have been incorporated into the design for their particular multifamily development.  Alternative design applications that achieve the design approaches will also be considered by the City.  Drawings and photos are provided as illustrative examples and are not intended to limit or illustrate all possible solutions to every situation.

While this document is not intended to represent “mandatory” requirements, it does graphically portray the principles for a high quality multifamily residential development that are clearly expected by the City of Oakdale.  While these design guidelines and expectations provide for increased flexibility among a number of different design concepts, the expectation that each developer comply with the overall intent of the design expectations is not optional.

A printed copy of the City of Oakdale's Multiple Family Design Expectations is available for view or purchase at the public counter in the Community Development office. Cost for purchasing a printed copy is $15. You may also view and download a PDF version of the Multiple Family Residential Design Expectations by clicking on the link provided below.

City of Oakdale Multiple Family Residential Design Expectations

You will need to have Adobe Reader installed on your computer to view this file. Click on the Adobe icon at the bottom of this page to download the program for free. For more information on the City of Oakdale's Multiple Family Design Expectations, please contact us at (209) 845-3625.