Sacramento Adopts One of the Most Progressive Missing Middle Strategies in the U.S.

Since our last update on the City of Sacramento, the Sacramento City Council unanimously adopted the Missing Middle Housing Interim Ordinance, becoming the first in California to allow multi-unit housing in every neighborhood. The Missing Middle Housing (MMH) Interim Ordinance is the outcome of a multi-year, comprehensive Missing Middle Housing Study led by Opticos in partnership with Cascadia Partners, Unseen Heroes, and Bill Lennertz. The Ordinance went into effect on October 17, 2024, and includes innovative tools like the sliding scale FAR to incentivize smaller, incremental housing that is more attainable for its community.  

CNU32 Cincinnati Recap: Envisioning and Implementing Change Through Place Types

Tony Perez, Senior Associate at Opticos Design, led a Place Types exercise at CNU32 Cincinnati on May 15, 2024. The exercise followed presentations and discussion about best practices for using Place Types, led by Peter Park and Lisa Wise.

MMH Scan™ Supports Adoption of Middle Housing Standards in Knoxville

The Knoxville City Council recently adopted Middle Housing Zoning standards informed by Opticos’ Missing Middle Housing Scan. The Council’s aim is to expand housing options while preserving neighborhood character. Developed in collaboration with community input and Opticos Design’s consultation, these standards aim to facilitate the construction of diverse house-scale housing types within Traditional Neighborhood Residential zones.

Objective Design and Development Standards: More Housing, Great Places

Objective Design and Development Standards (ODDS) have been getting a lot of attention lately as laws are passed across the country seeking to streamline new housing developments. Requirements by states to include ODDS in local zoning codes mean big changes to the way many communities currently regulate and review development.

Objective Design and Development Standards: Empowering Planners to Enable Great Places

In our first post, we introduced Objective Design and Development Standards (ODDS), wrote about its origins, its impact on housing production, and shared some common opinions about ODDS. We called for Planners to use ODDS to engage in housing production, placemaking and community design to a greater extent than they often do now. Here are some ways we think Planners can do just that.