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Home My WebLink About3/21/2023 Item 7a, Nguyen Kimmie Nguyen < To:E-mail Council Website Subject:Item 7a, Downtown Flexible Density This message is from an External Source. Use caution when deciding to open attachments, click links, or respond. Hello City Council, Thank you for considering this important item on your agenda. I support this effort by the City to provide more housing in our Downtown. The Planning Commission heard many great suggestions from public commenters about how to make this pilot program more impactful and effective for our community. Those suggestions included:  extending the program expiration date, since a longer time horizon will allow more property owners to weather the high construction costs and interest rates they're currently seeing;  expanding the program area to all of Downtown Area, not just the Downtown core, since very few of the eligible parcels are not likely to see redevelopment (they are already highly productive commercially, or have been redeveloped in the last 10-15 years);  allowing eligible projects to utilize the State Density Bonus program; and  reducing the parking requirements. I am writing specifically to support the further reduction of parking requirements for Flexible Density homes. Downtown is one of the best served areas for non-vehicle transportation, and the City Council has consistently supported recent measures to increase walking, biking, and transit in this area. The average parking space is 200 square feet - and 200 square feet is no small matter when land prices are as expensive as they are in SLO. Smaller parking requirements make it much easier for housing projects to pencil out and allow builders the option of providing different living configurations or important amenities instead (common rooms, open space, gym facilities, dog runs, bike storage). While not a panacea for our housing crisis, I hope this pilot will see success as one important piece of the puzzle. Thank you for considering allowing more people to enjoy the benefits of living Downtown. Best, Kimmie Nguyen 1