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Home My WebLink About04/06/2021 Item 14 - Justesen 3765 S. Higuera St., Ste. 102 • San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 p: (805) 543-1794 • f: (805) 543-4609 www.rrmdesign.com a California corporation  Lenny Grant, Architect C26973  Robert Camacho, PE 76597  Steve Webster, LS 7561  Jeff Ferber, LA 2844 April 2, 2021 San Luis Obispo City Council 990 Palm Street San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 RE: April 6, 2021 General Plan Status Report City Council Meeting: Processing an Airport Area Specific Plan (AASP) Amendment for 120 Venture Lane Dear Council Members: I am writing to request your support to greatly expand the City’s affordable housing stock for our local workforce. RRM Design Group is working with Matt Wade, who is developing the 650 Tank Farm Road mixed-use project, on a new mixed-use project at 120 Venture Lane in the Manufacturing (M) Zone (corner of Venture and Vachell Lane, see attached A1). The project will include rental apartment units, but also have a commercial component to provide services to on-site residents as well as others in surrounding neighborhoods. The City’s Zoning Regulations for many years have allowed mixed-use projects in the Service Commercial and Manufacturing zones with a use permit review. However, the project site is in the Airport Area Specific Plan (AASP), which does not explicitly list mixed-use projects as an allowed use. Therefore, an amendment to the AASP would be necessary to allow a mixed-use project to be developed at this site. We envision 120 Venture Lane to be a predominantly income-qualified affordable and workforce mixed use project with rental apartments, providing a residential product that is severely lacking in San Luis Obispo. The project is planned as a high-quality, residential neighborhood with amenities and on-site management. To move forward with the project, we ask for the Council to direct staff to process the application through an amendment to the AASP, use permit, architectural review, and CEQA clearance. We believe this project advances many of our City’s top priorities: 1. Housing Equity – Provides more rental/affordable apartments for our workforce, who are largely stuck in lower-wage jobs and currently commute from outside our community to work. San Luis Obispo has not prioritized this type of housing and needs to incorporate it into its housing mix. 2. Housing and Homelessness - Implements the City’s 2021-2023 major goal of Housing and Homelessness by providing more affordable and workforce housing. 3. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion - Implements the City’s 2021-2023 major goal of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion by providing more housing options to lower income, minority service workers who work in the City, but cannot afford to live here. This puts an enormous financial and social burden on family units and perpetuates the segregated nature of housing availability. 4. Sustainability - Implements the City’s 2021-2023 major Climate Action, Open Space, and Sustainable Transportation goal by minimizing carbon impacts from commuters who work here but cannot afford to live in the City. Carbon impacts from commuting is one of the largest contributors to the production of greenhouse gases (GHG). 5. Gateway - Creates a more compatible visual entry and land use for this key “gateway” location to a large residential neighborhood (Avila Ranch). AASP Amendment for 120 Venture Lane April 2, 2021 Page 2 of 2 6. Airport Compatibility - The forthcoming updated Airport Land Use Plan (ALUP) will designate the site in the Zone 6 safety area, which is unrestricted for residential project densities deferring to the City’s base zoning category’s limits. This eliminates density conflicts with the ALUP and the City’s Zoning Regulations. Background: In the fall of 2020, we submitted a pre-application to the City. Following this initial project review, City staff advised us that they would not recommend moving ahead with our request due to concerns with exceeding the General Plan build-out thresholds. Staff has deferred the decision to proceed with this AASP Amendment to the Council. Direction from the City Council is needed to process our requested AASP amendment at this time because of two General Plan issues at work, each with different considerations; they are: 1) The first consideration is the absolute number of units that the City has planned for in the General Plan. This relates to having adequate water supply and other critical public services for the service population. 2) The second relates to the growth management ordinance or rate of growth. The primary concern relayed by staff relates to the first issue. The subject site is not in the Housing Element inventory and has not been calculated into the General Plan build out supply. Thus, this site represents potentially additional residential units beyond the General Plan buildout, if all other residential and mixed-use sites in the current land use/housing elements were developed to the densities assumed. While calculating build-out caps is not an exact science, staff does not feel comfortable recommending action on a project that was not included in the City’s projections and might exceed the build-out caps in the General Plan. Without direction from the Council now, a residential mixed-use project would need to wait until the City updates the Land Use and Housing elements in the 2028 Housing Element update cycle. In the meantime, 120 Venture is a manufacturing zoned site at the key entrance to the Avila Ranch neighborhood. It will likely develop with an allowed manufacturing use before the next Housing Element update cycle, which may not be the best fit for this key location. In truth, perhaps it would have been advantageous to have planned and rezoned this site and the adjoining 10-acre Melton parcel (currently zoned Business Park) during the Avila Ranch process. Of course, it was not part of the Avila Ranch land holdings so it likely was not considered or possibly even feasible. Your guidance at this time is deeply appreciated. Thank you for your consideration of our request. I will be available at the April 6th City Council meeting to discuss our request and answer any questions. Sincerely, RRM DESIGN GROUP Erik Justesen Chief Executive Officer/Principal Attachment: Site Plan VENTURE LANE A1#1931-01-LP20 15 MArch 2021AVILA RANCH SITE PLAN 120 VENTURE (PROPOSED SITE)