Sacramento’s Groundbreaking Zoning and Policy Reform

Collaboration between Opticos and the City of Sacramento is underway to enable Missing Middle Housing citywide as part of a broader effort to increase the supply of lower-cost, attainable housing. The City of Sacramento took a monumental step forward when the City Council adopted the 2040 General Plan on February 27, 2024.

Town of Sebastopol Adopts Objective Design Standards

Opticos Design is proud to announce its significant contribution to the newly adopted Objective Design Standards in Sebastopol, Sonoma County, California.

Bringing Middle Housing to Washington Cities and Towns

Opticos Design recently produced a Toolkit for the State of Washington to help bring more Middle Housing to cities and towns as part of their “Planning for Housing” initiative

Design Thinking | Marin County Objective Design Standards Shared Zoning Toolkit

The Marin County Objective Design Standards Toolkit resulted from a multijurisdictional collaborative effort to address State law requirements and facilitate ministerial approvals for housing projects. This article was originally published in the American Planning Association, California Chapter – Northern Section newsletter authored by Stefan Pellegrini, AICP, Opticos Design Principal and Jillian Zeiger, AICP, Senior Planner at the County of Marin.

2023 Missing Middle Solutions and Car-Free Urbanism Road Tour

Opticos is hitting the road! Come join Daniel Parolek at one of his upcoming speaking events to discuss all things walkable urbanism-related, including the state of Missing Middle Housing applications around the world, including Opticos’ latest Missing Middle Scans and Deep Dives™, a County-wide Zoning Toolkit for Marin County intended to deliver much-needed housing options, and Housing Plans for various cities including Modesto and Sacramento, California, the latest updates on the implementation of Culdesac Tempe, the county’s first car-free community built from scratch and Prairie Queen, the country’s first 100% Missing Middle Neighborhood which utilizes the Missing Middle Neighborhood Kit™. There will be some frank discussions about existing barriers for implementing walkable urbanism, why we have not made more progress enabling it, and what organizations are leading the way in these conversations.