The Ione City Council and Planning Commission held a joint session workshop on Jan. 13 to discuss two draft ordinances.

One involved architectural provisions in historic downtown, while the other ordinance involved street naming.

Public comment on possible architectural provisions focused on keeping costs down for applicants, both property owners and tenants who want to make improvements to their buildings in the central business district, according to City Manager Kim Kerr.

The district is defined in the draft land use element for the general plan update as Main and Jackson streets between South Ione and South Sacramento. Members of the public commented on their desire to see improvements, reduce the number of steps for applicants to get their approvals and tie minor improvements to a one-step process, Kerr said.

The city council and planning commission echoed the comments from the public and provided direction to staff to develop a process for simple staff review of minor changes that meet certain criteria, as well as develop a palette manual that indicates the types of doors, windows and trim that are acceptable for the different architectural styles. It was further determined that minor projects that might need public noticing requirements would go through a hearing in front of the planning commission with the required public noticing requirements.

Staff was directed to bring back an ordinance that reflects these items and identifies the central business district as the historical district and exempts residential property from these standards.

The street naming ordinance is to assist with changing a current street name to a new name and establishing a process. No public comment was presented and staff was directed to bring the ordinance to the city council at its Feb. 3 meeting.