REPORT TO PLANNING COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
3402 El Camino Real Mixed Use (The Deck) Project
Report
BACKGROUND
The applicant is requesting to rezone a 2.27 acre site located at 3402 El Camino Real from Thoroughfare Commercial (CT) to Planned Development (PD) to allow the development of a residential mixed-use project (PLN2017-12578). The PD zoning is required to allow residential use as well as project specific setbacks and design standards. The proposed development would consist of a four-story mixed-use building supporting 9,919 square feet of commercial floor area, 66 apartment units, 15,392 square feet of private amenities, 58 surface parking spaces and 130 garage parking spaces.
The project site is on the south side of El Camino Real between Flora Vista Boulevard and Nobili Avenue and was previously developed with a 21,600 square foot shopping center that was damaged by a fire in 2016. That shopping center contained a mix of commercial businesses including a restaurant, karaoke club, dance studio, office, and general retail. The remnants of the building were demolished and removed from the site in April 2017. A 2,450 square foot stand-alone restaurant, “Ju Ju Bee” was undamaged by the fire and remains in operation on the subject property. The project would include demolition of the existing restaurant and removal of six non-heritage trees.
Commercial land uses are located to the north, east, and west of the site. Immediately to the south of the property are multi-family residential uses. A four-story multifamily residential development abuts the project site to the west and a two-story apartment complex abuts the site to the south. Two single-story residences abut a portion of the border on the southeast side of the project site.
The project site is located within the El Camino Real Precise Plan Area, however the project is proceeding prior to completion of the El Camino Real Precise Plan community outreach process. At the April 18, 2017 City Council hearing on the El Camino Real planning process, the City Council gave direction to continue processing four zoning amendment applications, including the subject project, prior to the conclusion of the community outreach process.
DISCUSSION
The primary issues evaluated for the project are consistency with the General Plan, quality of architecture, measures taken to address community concerns through the project’s public review process and the provisions for vehicle circulation.
General Plan:
The project site is located within the El Camino Real Focus Area and has a land use designation of Community Mixed Use. The General Plan objective for this designation is to support the redevelopment of the El Camino Real corridor from low-intensity, automobile-oriented uses to higher density mixed-use development that provides new residential capacity while also retaining commercial uses to serve both current and future residents. The proposed mixed-use project with a density of 29 dwelling units per acre (DU/AC) and 9,919 square feet of commercial use, would be consistent with the uses and density supported by the Community Mixed Use designation and would help to implement the General Plan vision for the El Camino Real corridor.
Architecture:
The proposed structure is a four-story building with ground floor retail along El Camino Real and a second floor parking garage with an active recreation space above. The architecture of the proposed project is a contemporary style with the building façade incorporating the use of plaster, stone, horizontal wood siding and wire metal railing in a modern aesthetic. The commercial area has a glass store front elevation spanning the width of building. Outdoor seating in front of the commercial space would provide an amenity for the retail component and activate the streetscape on El Camino Real. The building massing is consistent in scale with adjacent commercial and multifamily residential development along El Camino Real. As envisioned by the General Plan for developments along El Camino Real, the building would be located closer to the street while keeping parking behind to encourage a robust atmosphere along the major corridor. The three-level residential component would be located approximately 100 feet back from El Camino Real above the ground floor parking garage to reduce potential visual massing along El Camino Real.
The project proposes a complete street treatment along the frontage consisting of a 10 foot sidewalk and a four foot wide tree lined planter strip adjacent to the curb. The project would add 58 new trees to the site to offset the loss of six non-heritage trees. Larger 36” box trees would be planted in the planter strip that separates the sidewalk and the vertical curb.
Community Concerns:
The applicant conducted an outreach meeting on August 22, 2017 at the Santa Clara Central Park Library and approximately eight community members attended. At the meeting, the community generally expressed support of the project with concerns focused on the four-story height, loss of commercial space, construction noise, noise from dumpster service, delivery hours, and accessibility. The four-story height of the project has not changed because the General Plan encouraged mixed use project to go up to five stories and most the surrounding buildings are two to four stories tall. The current proposal would not provide the same amount of commercial space that previously existed on the site. To respond to community desire for more commercial space and to improve the project façade fronting on to El Camino Real, staff discussed with the applicant the possibility of adding commercial space above the ground floor retail along El Camino Real in place of some of the second floor parking shown in the current plan. The applicant however was not interested in increasing the amount of commercial square footage in the project and the project as proposed would meet the requirements of the existing Community Mixed Use General Plan designation by providing commercial space at a 0.10 FAR.
The applicant made minor changes to the proposed plan in response to the community input. The applicant relocated the trash enclosure and located the loading zone towards the front of project site to address community concerns with new noise and activity adjacent to existing residential uses. The applicant proposes to use best practices and operate construction work only within the hours permitted in the Conditions of Rezoning Approval.
Circulation and Parking:
The project site has one combined access via a two-way driveway entrance from El Camino Real on the east side of the proposed building. Surface parking is available for all users along the east and south perimeter of the property. Garage parking provides spaces for commercial patrons as well as project residents. The applicant proposes a partially unbundled parking arrangement with 66 assigned parking spaces for the residential component and the remaining 188 spaces available to visitors and patrons. Four electrical vehicle parking spaces are available in the garage and an additional six would be pre-wired for future electrical vehicle spaces should there be demand.
Pedestrian access from El Camino Real is through the center and on either side of the building to get to the commercial stores and apartments. All pedestrian paths will be designed to Building Code and will be ADA accessible. There are 40 bicycle parking spaces available in the subgrade storage room and there are six short-term bicycle parking spaces located on the west side of the building, available to commercial patrons.
A Traffic Operations Study and Transportation Demand Management (TDM) report were prepared and included as Appendix E of the MND. The traffic operation report studies the trips generated by the proposed use and analyzes the proposed TDM program to reduce vehicle miles travel (VMT) in accordance to the City’s Climate Action Plan requirements. The proposed project will generate 38 net trips during the AM peak hours and 50 net trips in the PM peak hours. The proposed TDM plans (Table 4 in Appendix E) includes a transportation coordinator, transportation information packet for new residents/employees, bicycle storage, on-site ride matching assistance, on-site fitness center, free month-long-trial transit passes, and ride sharing resources among other options. The proposed TDM will be monitored and reported to reduce the VMT by 20 percent in accordance to the City’s Climate Action Plan requirement.
General Plan and Zoning Conformance:
The project site is currently designated as Community Mixed Use in the General Plan. This land use designation allows a residential density of 20-36 dwelling units per acre and requires a minimum commercial component of 0.10 Floor Area Ratio (FAR). The project is within the intended density range and commercial floor area at 29 dwelling units per acre and a commercial component at 0.10 FAR. The project is also consistent with the following General Plan policies:
General Land Use and Residential Land Use Policies:
• 5.3.1-P2: In that the applicant conducted public outreach through mailings and a community meeting to involve neighboring property owners in the design of the project.
• 5.3.1-P9 and 5.3.2-P4: In that the project provides on-site facilities and amenities (fitness room, courtyard, and a pool) for active and passive recreation for the residents.
• 5.3.1-P13 and 5.3.2-P2: In that the project provides a residential density consistent with the Community Mixed Use designation along the El Camino Real mixed-use transit corridor.
El Camino Real Focus Area and Discretionary Use Policies:
• 5.4.1-P9: In that the project provides active uses such as outdoor seating and open space along the street frontages.
• 5.4.1-P16: In that the project incorporates a landscape plan that facilitates the implementation of streetscape improvements along the El Camino Real.
El Camino Real Focus Area and Transition Policies:
• 5.5.2-P3: In that the project proposes landscape buffer between properties east and west of the project site. The project implements the complete street streetscape with a four foot park strip and additional landscape behind the sidewalks on El Camino Real.
• 5.5.2-P4: In that the project proposes increased building and landscape setbacks from adjacent residential and commercial uses.
The project site is currently zoned Thoroughfare Commercial (CT) and this designation is intended for commercial uses along a major highway such as the El Camino Real. The CT zoning district does not permit residential uses as contemplated by the General Plan. The El Camino Real Focus Area promotes a mix of residential and retail uses along a tree-lined pedestrian-oriented corridor. The proposed rezone to PD would allow a residential component on the property, allow the Council to consider flexibility in design standards for on-site parking, and would implement the General Plan mixed-use vision of the El Camino Real Focus Area better than the current CT zoning. Permitted and conditional commercial uses proposed within the PD would be consistent with the Community Commercial (CC), Neighborhood Commercial (CN), and General Office (OG) zoning districts, with the exception of nurseries, preschools, mortuaries, lodges or clubs, which would be prohibited.
Approval of the project would provide an opportunity to locate a mixed use development with 66 apartment units with 9,919 square feet of commercial space in a designated Priority Development Area (PDA) in Santa Clara. The rezoning to PD would allow a project that is consistent with the vision of the General Plan for Community Mixed Use designation and the El Camino Real Focus Area.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no impact to the City for processing the requested application other than administrative staff time and expense typically covered by processing fees paid by the applicant.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
A Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) was prepared and a Notice of Availability was circulated for a 30-day period from March 5, 2018 to April 5, 2018 in accordance with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirements. The Community Development Department received three comments at the time of preparation of this report. The comments received from Santa Clara Valley Water District, California Department of Transportation, County of Santa Clara, Roads and Airports, and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority include recommendations for work within the Caltrans Right-of-Way, additional existing and merging study at Lawrence Expressway and El Camino Real, sidewalk improvement, bicycle parking, and description of existing flooding condition. A response to comments was prepared and included in this report as Attachment 7. Comments received after April 6, 2018, will be provided at the Planning Commission meeting of April 11, 2018 for consideration.
The MND examined environmental impacts associated with the proposed project development and identified potential air quality, biological, cultural resources, geology and soils, traffic and hazardous materials impacts. The MND also identified mitigation measures that would reduce all potential impacts to less than significant levels. A detailed discussion of the potential impacts and mitigation measures to be applied to the project are specified in the MND and would be implemented through project conditions of approval and the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program for the proposed project.
PUBLIC CONTACT
A notice of public hearing of this item was posted in at least three conspicuous locations within 1,000 feet of the project site and mailed to property owners within 1,000 feet and additional residential properties beyond 1,000 feet of the project site. A notice was published in the Santa Clara Weekly on March 28, 2018. Planning staff received two written comments in opposition from members of the public. The opposition is based on the lack of open space and the scale of the proposed three- to four-story structure. Comments received after to April 6, 2018 will be provided at the Planning Commission meeting of April 11, 2018 for consideration.
The applicant conducted an outreach meeting on August 22, 2017 at the Santa Clara Central Park Library
ALTERNATIVES
1. Adopt a resolution recommending to the City Council adoption of the Mitigated Negative Declaration and Adoption of the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program for the 3402 El Camino Real Mixed Use (The Deck) Project; and
2. Adopt a resolution recommending to the City Council approval of the rezone from Thoroughfare Commercial (CT) to Planned Development (PD) to allow a mixed-use development of 66 apartment units over 9,900 square feet of commercial space
3. Adopt a resolution recommending to the City Council denial of the proposed rezoning, maintain a commercial designation for the site; or
4. Adopt a resolution recommending to the City Council approval of the rezone from Thoroughfare Commercial (CT) to Planned Development (PD) to allow a mixed-use development of with 66 units, additional open space and an amount of commercial space greater than 0.10 FAR.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
1. Adopt a resolution recommending to the City Council adoption of the Mitigated Negative Declaration and Adoption of the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program for the 3402 El Camino Real Mixed Use (The Deck) Project; and
2. Adopt a resolution recommending to the City Council approval of the rezone from Thoroughfare Commercial (CT) to Planned Development (PD) to allow a mixed-use development of 66 apartment units over 9,900 square feet of commercial space.
Staff
Prepared by: Steve Le, Assistant Planner
Reviewed by: Gloria Sciara, Development Review Officer
Reviewed by: Andrew Crabtree, Director of Community Development
Reviewed by: Alexander Abbe, Assistant City Attorney
Approved by: Manuel Pineda, Assistant City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. Reserved
2. Mitigated Negative Declaration (previously distributed and available at www.santaclaraca.gov/CEQA)
3. Mitigated Monitoring and Reporting Program
4. Project Data and Maps
5. Resolution for Adoption of the Mitigated Negative Declaration and Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program
6. Resolution for Recommendation of Council Approval of the Rezoning
7. Conditions of Rezoning Approval
8. Public Comments
9. Response to Comments on MND
10. Project Justification
11. Development Plans