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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/12/1996, 1 - DOWNTOWN PHYSICAL CONCEPT PLAN STUDY SESSION Resolution No. 8165 (1993 Series) , RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO ADOPTING A CONCEPTUAL PHYSICAL PLAN FOR THE CITY'S CENTER AS A LONG RANGE VISION FOR THE DOWNTOWN AND A GUIDE FOR PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN THE DOWNTOWN WHEREAS,A Conceptual Physical Plan for the City's Center, hereinafter referred to as the "Downtown Plan", has been prepared and presented by the Council appointed Downtown Plan Committee; and WHEREAS, the design decisions incorporated within the Downtown Plan are the product of ideas generated both by the Committee and by a representative panel of citizens who interacted with the Committee during the 15 month plan development process; and WHEREAS, the Downtown Plan has subsequently been reviewed and evaluated by staff, the Planning Commission, the Architectural Review Commission, the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Cultural Heritage Committee, the City Traffic Engineer, and the public; and WHEREAS, the City Council has received comments and recommendations, which Will be considered at each .step of implementation, from those who have reviewed and evaluated the Downtown Plan; THEREFORE, the City Council resolves as follows: SECTION 1. Environmental Determination. The Council hereby approves a Negative Declaration for the Downtown Plan, finding that the plan will not have a negative impact on the environnient, and noting that individual public and private projects in the downtown shall be subject to CEQA requirements for environmental review at the time of proposal. SECTION 2. Plan Adotion, The Council hereby adopts A Conceptual Plan for the City's Center, including approved modifications as recorded in the minutes of this meeting and attached as the "Summary of Recommended Modifications to the Downtown Plan." SECTION 3. Implementation. The City Council directs appropriate staff and commissions to incorporate relevant components of A Conceptual Physical Plan for the City's Center in;o all City documents affecting future downtown development, specifically: 1. Design concepts proposed in the Downtown Plan should be considered in the update of the Architectural Review Guidelines. R-8165 2. Appropriate parts of the Downtown Plan should be incorporated into the update of the Land Use,Housing,Circulation,Open Space,and Parks and Recreation elements of the General Plan. 3. The Zoning Ordinance should be updated consistent with downtown development policies as amended into the General Plan. 4. The Parking Management Plan and the Bicycle Facilities Plan should be updated to address key transportation concepts presented in the Downtown Plan. 5. The City projects and related property acquisitions specified in the Downtown Plan should be considered as part of the City's capital improvement program. 6. Individual public and private projects in the downtown will be subject to CEQA. requirements for environmental review at the time of proposal. 7. To ensure the plan remains current, the Planning Commission will review the Downtown Plan every two years and submit a report to the City Council on the status of the plan, including any recommended text or graphics revisions to keep the plan current with changes in economics, transportation technology, retailing, community tastes, and any other variables which may affect the vision of the downtown over time. On motion of Council Member Ravva . seconded by Council Member Romero . and on the following roll call vote: AYES: Council Members Rappa, Romero, Roalman, Settle, and Mayor Pinard NOES: None ABSENT: None the foregoing resolution was passed and adopted this 4 th day of May . 1993. Mayor g Picard ATUEST: F D Clerk Diane. R. bladwell MEETING DATE: 41110411 city of San US OBISp0 -/ -9 5 Majis COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT �"NUMBER: a From: Arnold Jonas, Community Development Director Prepared by: Whitney McIlvaine,Associate Planner Subject: Bi-annual Planning Commission Review of the Downtown Plan CAO RECOMMENDATION: Concur with Planning Commission recommendations to: 1. Initiate discussion with property owners in the vicinity of the Marsh and Higuera Street intersection (Downtown Plan Areas 13 and 14) to identify feasible acquisition and improvement projects; 2. Modify the plan to show the Court Street parking lot redeveloped with a substantial public park/plaza with any mixed-use building as incidental to the park and available for community uses such as child care; and 3. Add a footnote to property development standards in the zoning regulations to indicate that additional setbacks may be required to comply with provisions of adopted City plans, such as the pedestrianways described in the Downtown Plan. 4. Continue to review all capital improvement projects for consistency with the Downtown Plan and to include Downtown Plan implementation in the Capital Improvement Program. DISCUSSION City Council resolution (No. 8165) adopting the Downtown Plan includes a provision requiring the Planning Commission to review the plan every two years and report to the Council regarding the status of plan implementation and any recommended text or graphic revisions necessary to ensure the plan remains current. On June 28 and again on August .23, the Planning Commission reviewed the status of Downtown Plan implementation. Implementation accomplished so far is summarized in the attached Planning Commission memo. The Commission's recommendations for ongoing and additional implementation are listed above under CAO RECOMMEBNDATION. Marsh and Higuera Street Intersection The Downtown Plan states that this area should become a landscaped entry into the downtown. To accomplish this, the plan recommends acquiring property near the creek for parkland/open space use; additional landscaping; realignment of portions. of Archer, Pacific, and Walker Streets; an entry arch or similar landmark on Marsh Street;.and a tourist information facility. Please refer to the text of the plan for Areas 13 and 14. 4 A7 �►� ��i�I����p �d�U city of san'h-.41s OBISp0 COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT The Planning Commission agrees that improvements in this area should be given a high priority in implementing the Downtown Plan, and therefore recommends that the City contact affected property owners to determine what improvements are most desirable and feasible in the near future. No change to the plan's text or graphics would be necessary. Court Street Redevelopment The Downtown Plan states that the Court Street parking lot should be redeveloped with a mixed- use building and a public park/plaza. The poster site plan shows the park area as incidental to the building. The Planning Commission is recommends that relationship be reversed so that the park/plaza is the dominant site feature. Some change to the plan's text, graphics, or both would be necessary. Building Setbacks The Downtown Plan calls for a system of pedestrian walkways at the interior of selected blocks and shows space for pedestrians and landscaping between buildings and the creek. In most cases, zoning regulations would allow a building to occupy the entire lot in the downtown area. So that the regulations are consistent with the plan, the Commission recommends a footnote be added to the setback standards indicating that requirements may be modified when necessary to comply with adopted City plans, including the Downtown Plan. This could be accomplished as part of the next round of zoning ordinance amendments. CONCURRENCES Public Works and Finance Department staff note that acquisition of the Matthews property along Higuera Street below the Marsh and Higuera Street intersection is consistent with the Downtown Plan and Planning Commission recommendations. FISCAL EWPACT Initiating a discussion with property owners in the vicinity of the Marsh and Higuera Street intersection will involve more staff time than allocated in the budget. Improvement proposals may involve public works expenditures. Any redevelopment of Court Street will have fiscal impacts that will have to be addressed in conjunction with a specific proposal. Amending the zoning regulations to cross reference design standards in other plans will have no immediate fiscal impact. There may be maintenance and improvement costs in the future if the Council decides to accept pedestrian ways as public easements. There will be costs associated with printing text and graphics changes to the Downtown Plan. oM11jj$W1§ city of San .-AIS OBISPO COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT ALTERNAUM 1. Approve no additional implementation or revision of the Downtown Plan at this time. 2. Approve different implementation and/or revision of the Downtown Plan than that recommended by the Planning Commission. Attachments . Planning Commission staff report - June 28, 1995 - including Council resolution adopting the Downtown Plan and plan text Downtown Concept Design Committee December 21, 1995 RECEIVED Ron Whisenand Development Review Manager DEC 2 71995 City of San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 CfTY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO C(Aa INITY MEMOPa ENT RE: Court Street Park and the Concept Plan for Downtown San Luis Obispo Dear Ron: The Design Committee for the Downtown Physical Concept Plan has discussed the proposed Court Street Park and submit the following comments for City Council Consideration. While the Committee certainly realizes the positive character that parks generally have,it is the committee's unanimous opinion that Osos/Court Street block in the San Luis Obispo is a valuable urban resource which would be underutilized if wholly devoted to a park. The committee is opposed to this use for the following reasons: A. A park in this location runs counter to the discussion and evaluation given to this area in the preparation of the Downtown Design Plan. • The Downtown Plan calls for a"bi-polar"open space system along Monterey Street with one focal point at Mission Plaza and the other at the County Court House-this proposed park will dislocate the earlier planning and approvals given to Monterey as an urban/pedestrian street faced by buildings. • The Plan calls for the area to be mixed-use, including office, retail and housing,to increase the vitality of the downtown.The Plan supported the County's decision to stay downtown by providing professional office space nearby. This is one of the most accessible areas to commercial and cultural facilities in San Luis Obispo. Commercial development will enhance this access. A park will only be an amenity for those already in the downtown. • The kind of open space most successful in the downtown is that of Mission Plaza and the new courtyards at Copeland Downtown Center. This block should have a space similar to the Downtown Center populated by the people who will be shopping and working(and possibly living on the block. • The loss of parking(this is the most heavily utilized parking lot in the downtown)must be carefully . orchestrated with the addition of new parking in the block across Palm Street from City Miall or the multi-transit center. Implementation will be critical. • Development of this park may inhibit development of other open space systems called for in the design concept plan. It will divert capital from other more established and,we believe,more desirable park systems—see plan. • The design plan calls for infill of the urban core. A park in this location will make the downtown more diffuse and cause development to spread to perimeter areas to achieve the same square footage of retail, office and housing development. Alternatives which reduced sprawl were considered carefully in the development of the concept plan. • A major park at this location may prove to be a depressing influence on the adjacent retail areas-since parking will be removed and replaced by a large passive space. �—/0 Park: Page 2 B. The location of a park here will not add significantly to the economic vitality of the downtown. • Economic activity is essential to a vital downtown. We need more business square footage devoted to office and retail uses,not less in the core area. • This site is the only assembled block of land under one ownership available for development in the downtown and should be utilized for a mixed-use project to the maximum extent allowed by zoning. Such development will bring new income and sales tax to the City with related economic multiplier effects. • Development of the park will be underutilization of taxpayer dollars. It will be cheaper and more effective to augment Mission Plaza along San Luis Creek and the Monterey Street frontage adjacent to the County Court House rather than developing at Court Street. • This block has a land value of between$40 and$60 a square foot,if developed,which could provide income to the City for other beneficial projects. C. A park in this location has not been designated in eAsting General Plan elements. • This area is not designated in the Park and Recreation Element of the General Plan which supports the downtown concept plan. • The Land Use Element designates this area for core area commercial uses—retail and office. This designation is supported by a studies on office requirements in San Luis Obispo and by meetings of design team members with County staff. • The Housing Element calls for housing in the Core area above retail. This is further supported by the soon to be released core area housing study as well as the physical concept plan D. Cost-Benefit to the City of San Luis Obispo • This will be an expensive new park to maintain by the City relative to the private walkways and courts proposed in the Downtown Concept Plan which would be maintained by the adjacent owners. • Additional policing will be involved to insure that the park is not used for undesirable purposes. It will not be particularly self-policing since it is relatively large and has few buildings or uses fronting on the area. • The open spaces called for in the Concept Plan will be more cost effective,less space consumptive and more available to multiple uses because of their adjacency to the government and entertainment centers along Monterey Street. • Should this site be developed as a park, equivalent space will have to be found elsewhere in the community for the office and retail uses thereby encouraging sprawl. The Court Street area is already served by utilities,transportation, as well as police and fire services. The relative costs to the City for development will be low compared to other areas that have lower densities and are in more remote locations. We strongly urge you to support the concepts defined in the Downtown Physical Concept Plan as orignially approved by both the Planning Commission and the City Council. On Behalf of the Design Committee Andrew G.Merriam, AIA,AICP SLOpark ���►►������ii►���III�IIIIh�i1°°�� IIII cityo san huis oBispo 990 Palm Street/Post Office Box 8100 • San Luis Obispo,CA 93403-8100 November 9, 1995 Mayor Allen Settle and Council members Bill Roalman, David Romero, Kathy Smith and Dodie Williams Re: Update of the Conceptual Physical Plan for the City's Center Dear Mayor and Council Members: The five member design team who authored the Downtown Concept Plan recently became aware of the need to reprint the plan as the city's supply of plans has been exhausted.Team members spoke with staff and agreed to snake changes in the document which reflect text changes made by the City Council during the adoption hearings and, further,to revise the plan to reflect the physical changes which have actually occurred in the downtown since the plan was originally prepared. The design team then met to thoroughly review the plan.We.wanted to determine if we were still satisfied with the original tenets of the plan;both ours and those of the broad based community resource team that was appointed to generate ideas and to respond to the ideas of the design team.We concluded that the plan continues to reflect good solid planning concepts which the city should use to guide development in our downtown. Last week our team met with John Dunn and Arnold Jonas to obtain specific information about text changes and any forthcoming physical changes that we may not as yet be aware of.From this meeting we learned that the Planning Commission had recently proposed a change of use for the so-called "Court Street block" from retail commercial with housing above to an open park. We understand that this recommendation was forwarded to the City Council and that your Council endorsed the change. The design team believes that this is a significant mistake.We are requesting that the City reconsider its action. We would be pleased to meet with you at a study session to discuss the importance of this matter. We are concerned that we were not informed of the Planning Commission review or that the City Council would be considering the recommended change. As you recall, the process used in the review and approval of the Plan was very thorough and exhaustive.We believe that any substantial amendments to the Plan should involve the same thoroughness,public notification and public involvement.That was not done in this case. It seems to us that as citizen-authors we would like to have been present to explain the logic and the basis of our original conclusion.The ideas that were integrated into the Concept Plan and supported by the community resource team and the city department heads were not frivolous.We believe that it is essential to the integrity of the plan that the plan Q be changed until the matter of the-appropriate use of the Court Street block is given its proper consideration. We look forward to hearing from you on this matter. Sincerely, for The Downtown Concept Plan Team: Charles Crotser, Rodney Levine,Andrew Merriam, Pierre Rademaker, Kenneth Schwartz. /O The City of San Luis Obispo is committed to include the disabled in all of its services, programs and activities. ��Z V� Telecommunications Device for the Deaf(805) 781.7410.