REPORT TO PLANNING COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
Action on the El Camino Real Specific Plan, General Plan Amendment for the creation of four new General Plan land use designations, creation of the El Camino Real Zoning Districts, and an Environmental Impact Report and Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program.
Report
COUNCIL PILLAR
Promote and Enhance Economic, Housing and Transportation Development
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Following a two plus-year community engagement process, the City has developed a Specific Plan to implement the City’s General Plan goals and policies for the El Camino Real corridor. The El Camino Real Specific Plan is a long-range planning document that provides detailed guidance for future land uses, urban design elements, and El Camino Real right-of-way design concepts. The Specific Plan represents the implementation of the General Plan’s goals and policies for the El Camino Real Focus Area and establishes the land use and development regulations for the Plan Area. Adoption of the Specific Plan will establish more fine-grained land use designations, provide more detailed land use policy than currently in the General Plan and provide objective design standards to regulate new development projects.
BACKGROUND
The Specific Plan Area is just over 250 acres and extends the entire 3.2-mile length of the El Camino Real corridor between the western City limits and Lafayette Street. There are approximately 2,500 existing residential units along the corridor and 2.2 million square feet of commercial uses.
The City of Santa Clara 2010-2035 General Plan identifies nine geographic Focus Areas within Santa Clara, of which the El Camino Real is one. The Focus Areas are intended to accommodate a significant amount of the City’s growth and to directly support the City’s quality of life and economic vitality. The General Plan vision for El Camino Real is to transform this Focus Area from a series of automobile‐ oriented strip‐malls to a tree‐lined, pedestrian‐ and transit‐oriented corridor with a mix of residential and retail uses with an emphasis on mixed‐use and higher‐intensity development.
Planning Process
In May 2014, Bay Area Metro (formerly the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG)) awarded the City of Santa Clara grant funds from the One Bay Area Grant Program to fund the development of the Specific Plan and an Environmental Impact Report. The El Camino Real corridor was eligible for this program as it is located within a Priority Development Area (PDA). PDAs are established as regional priorities for walkable, transit-served development in Plan Bay Area, a regional planning document.
After receiving the grant award, the City of Santa Clara conducted a competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) process to select an urban design consultant firm. In April 2017, the City engaged the services of Raimi + Associates, to assist City staff with the preparation of the Specific Plan, including conducting community engagement activities, and the associated Environmental Impact Report (EIR).
From there, the Specific Plan planning process kicked-off with the formation of the El Camino Real Community Advisory Committee (ECR CAC) in January 2018 and the development of a website for the planning process and an existing conditions report and market analysis.
Community Engagement
Community engagement was an integral part of the El Camino Real Specific Plan process to produce a final plan that is supported by the community and various stakeholders in Santa Clara and that provides a clear vision for the ongoing development of the corridor over the next 20 to 30 years. The community engagement strategy was designed to ensure that citizens and stakeholders participated throughout the planning process and included the following variety of engagement activities:
§ 3 Community Workshops
§ 5 Pop-Up Events
§ 2 Online Surveys
§ 8 El Camino Real Community Advisory Committee (ECR CAC) Meetings
§ Virtual Community Open House
Central to the outreach process was the input received from the El Camino Real Community Advisory Committee (ECR CAC), which was an advisory and non-voting body that was approved by the City Council on January 23, 2018. The members included representation from a broad and diverse range of backgrounds and perspectives including, but not limited to, local residents, businesses, community organizations and regional stakeholders. The ECR CAC met eight times over the length of the planning process to inform the development of the Specific Plan by providing guidance on the results of the public workshops and other engagement activities and providing direction of the plan at key moments in the process. The Specific Plan was shaped through this stakeholder input. Meeting materials, including meeting summaries, from the community engagement activities conducted over the life of the process can be found on the El Camino Real website under community engagement.
Community Desired Outcomes
The community identified desired outcomes for the Specific Plan, which were used to set the Specific Plan’s overall planning framework and supporting area-wide policies, design standards and guidelines, and implementation actions:
1. More parks, plazas, and open space
2. Landscaping and street trees
3. More walkable environment
4. Better mobility and connections
5. More transportation options
6. Efficient and shared parking
7. Compatibility with adjacent neighborhoods
8. Local and regional destination
9. Diversity of uses
10. Balanced approach to housing
11. Beautification
12. Green building and sustainable infrastructure
13. Support health and wellbeing
DISCUSSION
The primary issues for the Planning Commission to consider in evaluating the proposed Specific Plan are its consistency with the General Plan and the strength of the Plan’s policies and standards to implement the Plan vision. The Planning Commission, and subsequently the City Council, have the opportunity to review these policies and standards and identify areas where they may be enhanced, modified or further developed to address City objectives and priorities. Input and recommendations from the Planning Commission will be forwarded to the City Council for their consideration and direction from the City Council will be incorporated into the final, adopted version of the Specific Plan.
General Plan
The General Plan vision for El Camino Real is to transform this Focus Area from a series of automobile‐oriented strip‐malls to a tree‐lined, pedestrian‐ and transit‐oriented corridor with a mix of residential and retail uses. The following are the goals for the El Camino Real Focus Area as provided in the General Plan:
§ 5.4.1‐G1 - An economically viable mix of uses along El Camino Real that attracts upscale retail uses.
§ 5.4.1‐G2 - High quality design that respects the scale and character of adjacent residential neighborhoods and historic resources and creates a walkable environment.
§ 5.4.1‐G3 - Concentration of higher‐intensity commercial and residential development at key intersections with Regional Mixed-Use designations.
§ 5.4.1‐G4 - Pedestrian, bicycle and transit priority for mobility in the El Camino Real Focus Area.
The Specific Plan as proposed achieves these goals by adding additional land use designations that provide a greater differentiation of land uses and a stronger correlation to specific types of development, and establishing more detailed land use policies requiring commercial uses to be focused in key locations where they will be most viable and support destination shopping and placemaking, providing design standards to direct new development and improve the interface between new and existing land uses, and providing a concept for the improvement of El Camino Real right-of-way for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit riders.
Additionally, the Specific Plan boundary aligns with the boundary depicted in the General Plan with the exception of the addition of property at the north west corner of Civic Center Drive and Lincoln Street and City Hall.
Specific Plan
The Specific Plan sets forth land use, urban design, and transportation policies that balance the community’s wants and needs organized to achieve an overarching vision of a future El Camino Real Corridor that is:
• mixed-use;
• multi-modal;
• anchored by vibrant shopping destinations and public open space with new homes for a range of incomes and life stages;
• designed to respect the scale and character of adjacent residential neighborhoods;
• an attractive and engaging pedestrian environment with wider sidewalks and street trees; and
• protected or separated bicycle lane for bicyclists and enhanced bus stops and boarding for transit riders.
The desired outcomes, listed above, are defined in Chapter 2, Vision and Framework, of the Specific Plan and set the stage for the overall planning framework, policies, design standards and guidelines, and implementation actions.
Land Use Framework
Currently the El Camino Real is predominantly a series of automobile‐oriented strip‐malls with building heights generally at one story and surface parking located at the street edge, resulting in approximately 70% of the existing land being dedicated to surface parking. Many of the properties are also relatively shallow, and close to single‐family neighborhoods, limiting the potential for high‐intensity development. Given these challenges, the strategy of the land use framework is to focus more intensive development at key nodes or “Activity Centers” with the “in-between” areas being a less intensive mix of commercial and residential uses.
Adoption of Plan will change the General Plan Land Use Designations along the entire corridor to include the following new designations:
§ Regional Commercial Mixed Use (55-100 dwelling units per acre; 0.20 FAR of commercial required) - applied to the larger shopping centers or activity centers and would support the most intensive uses.
§ Corridor Mixed Use (45-65 dwelling units per acre; commercial allowed but not required) - a medium density designation applied to the larger sites in the in-between areas.
§ Corridor Residential (dwelling units per acre; commercial allowed but not required) - a lower density designation for sites with the most sensitive interfaces.
§ Ground Floor Commercial Overlay - is applied to sites in the in-between areas where commercial uses are likely to be most viable and support pedestrian activity.
§ Public/Quasi-Public - applied to City Hall and includes a variety of public and quasi-public uses such as government offices, schools, and childcare centers.
The estimated build out associated with the proposed land use designations of the Specific Plan, through the horizon year of 2040, would include the development of 6,200 housing units in addition to existing conditions, and a reduction of approximately 395,000 square feet of commercial space, when compared with the existing General Plan land use designations. These growth projections are focused on sites with anticipated redevelopment and did not include sites such as recently constructed housing developments or the Santa Clara Town Centre (Target shopping center). The expected commercial uses in the Specific Plan would be retail and services uses and not office uses, even though that use is permitted.
Retail
The City’s General Plan currently supports approximately 2.2 million square feet of retail development, spread out along the corridor. Following the recommendations of the City’s retail consultant, Keyser Marston Associates (KMA), who supported the planning effort, the proposed plan would support a reduced amount of retail development, 1.8 million square feet, which would be more concentrated at focal locations that would act as shopping destinations and minimize the designation of retail on sites where it would not be economically viable. The planned amount of retail is significant, comparable to the amount that would be provided in a large, regional shopping center.
The retail market demand analysis conducted by KMA examined key factors that will affect future retail development opportunities in the Specific Plan. The factors included: retail market trends; demographics of the Trade Area; performance of existing retailers within the Specific Plan area; attributes of the properties within the Specific Plan area to accommodate new retail development; and the strengths of competing retail centers that serve the trade area.
The Trade Area for the Specific Plan extends two miles from the corridor, but does not extend north of Highway 101 and does not include the automobile retailing that dominates the north side of Stevens Creek Boulevard, and does extend into a small portion of the adjacent Sunnyvale.
With respect to retail market trends, internet sales have had a significant harmful impact on certain segments of retail, including department stores, apparel, and electronic stores. But, restaurants, entertainment, fitness centers and other service-oriented retail have remained strong until the COVID pandemic significantly affected those sectors. Grocery stores have remained strong both before and during the pandemic. Going forward, it is expected that the “experience” sectors will slowly recover, grocery stores will generally remain strong and internet sales will continue to erode the sales of many brick and mortar stores.
Retail within the Specific Plan area is doing well with respect to retaining high occupancy rates, but sales volumes are less than industry standards. There are no remaining large sites (approximately 20 acres) to accommodate the development of large anchor tenants and many of the remaining retail properties are small and shallow relative to current market requirements. The last large site on El Camino Real, Santa Clara Town Center, which was redeveloped in 2014 with a 140,000 square foot Target department store, a Sprout’s Farmers Market, and a total shopping center square footage of 280,000 square feet, but no residential. Currently, no site of comparable size is readily available.
The Trade Area is largely built-out, but is expected to grow by 15,000 residents by 2032, which will provide some additional support for new retail sales within the Specific Plan area. Opportunities are constrained by competition, including the recently expanded Valley Fair Mall and Santana Row. The leakage analysis indicates that the two market segments with growth opportunities are grocery stores, and eating and drinking establishments.
Given the prevailing market trends and site attributes, the market study concluded that the best approach to strengthening the retail base of the Specific Plan area is to: 1) support the intensification of retail development at major intersections, with grocery anchors being a target; 2) encourage the repurposing of existing retail space to local-serving tenants, such as ethnic restaurants, gyms, and services; 3) reduce the number of properties for which commercial use is a requirement; and 4) develop a strategy to retain and strengthen existing commercial businesses. These specific recommendations on how to position new retail along the El Camino Real corridor has not changed in the context of the post pandemic environment.
Affordable Housing
An objective of the Specific Plan is to promote a range of housing options and affordability levels to realize the vision for a mixed-use, mixed-income community along the corridor. As such, this Plan includes an inclusionary housing policy that goes above and beyond the City’s Affordable Housing Ordinance to promote the provision of units at deeper levels of affordability along El Camino Real. Specifically, within the Plan area, the inclusionary requirement will be that 15% of the new units be designated as affordable rental units with a mix of units affordable for extremely low, very low, low, and moderate-income households such that the average household income across all affordable units does not exceed 80% of Area Median Income (AMI). This represents a deeper level of affordability than required by the citywide ordinance which requires 15% of units be affordable at an average of 100% of AMI.
Open Space
Many valuable open space amenities can be found just outside the El Camino Real corridor, but the corridor currently lacks its own public open spaces. The Specific Plan seeks to create new public and publicly-accessible, privately-owned open spaces that promote gathering, enjoyment, and a broad range of active uses. Adding public open space within the corridor will be challenging given that the City’s primary tool to obtain open space is to require as part of a new development project that a portion of the site be made open space and the corridor is composed primarily of smaller parcels. While all new residential development will be required to contribute toward parkland per the City’s Park and Recreational Land Ordinance, unique to the Specific Plan, new commercial development within the Regional Commercial Mixed Use land use designation (Activity Centers) will be required to provide 10% of the site area for these commercial sites as new publicly-accessible privately-owned open space. The specific size, exact location, and configuration of such urban park or plaza sites will be finalized through future development. With redevelopment per the Specific Plan, in the future, the corridor will include new open spaces that may be more traditional public parks or smaller publicly-accessible, privately-owned opened spaces.
El Camino Real Right-of-Way
The vision for the right-of-way of El Camino Real is to transform this auto-oriented arterial into a multimodal “complete street” designed to accommodate all travel modes. Complete streets provide safe mobility for all users, including bicyclists, pedestrians, transit vehicles, and motorists regardless of age or ability. The proximity of the Plan Area to the Santa Clara Caltrain and future BART station presents a unique opportunity within Santa Clara to promote transit trips by improving the multimodal functionality of the corridor.
The Plan establishes concepts for both interim and final configurations for the El Camino Real right-of-way that give greater support for bicycle and transit use than what exists today. On average, only 31% of on-street parking spaces are utilized along the corridor, providing an opportunity to remove on-street parking to accommodate a separated bike lane. While most of El Camino Real has unused on-street parking capacity, some locations rely on their on-street parking as their on-site parking is non-existent or very limited. In the interim, on-street parking will remain for those few sites that rely on it until such time as they redevelop. Those properties include the three properties on the northeast corner of El Camino Real and Main Street, Diver Dan’s on the north side of ECR, and Grand Prix Powersports on the south side of El Camino Real.
In both right-of-way configurations, the curb to curb dimension of El Camino Real will remain the same, as will the center median. Both configurations take advantage of the removal of on-street parking, coupled with the Caltrans restriping that occurred last year and which narrowed the travel lanes, to add a bike lane. Wider sidewalks will also be added through land dedication upon redevelopment of each property.
In the interim condition, a bicycle lane is added in place of the on-street parking. The bike lane would be separated from vehicular traffic by bollards, except at bus stops where there would be a break and buses would share the space with bicycles. In the ultimate configuration, the bicycle lanes would be separated by a median and would not share space with buses. In the ultimate condition bus stops would be served through a bus boarding island, meaning the busses would stop in the travel lane to load and unload eliminating the need to pull in and out of traffic and increasing bus efficiency. This ultimate buildout would be implemented as redevelopment occurs along the corridor.
Objective Design Standards
Chapter 4, Development Standards and Guidelines, establishes objective design standards and guidelines for new land development to achieve the future vision for El Camino Real. These standards and guidelines apply to all new development in the El Camino Real Specific Plan Area, as well as public improvements and extensive renovations to existing structures. They build on basic design standards or regulations, such as setbacks, height limitations, parking requirements and signage regulations already contained in the Zoning Ordinance by providing more detailed and specific requirements specifically for development within the El Camino Real Specific Plan area.
While the Specific Plan was originally drafted with a traditional, design guideline approach, in response to recent changes to State Law, the Specific Plan has been redrafted to establish objective design standards wherever appropriate. The Housing Accountability Act and the Housing Crisis Act require expedited processing of qualifying residential projects and make it difficult to deny or reduce the density of housing projects that meet locally adopted objective standards, such as those set in the Zoning Ordinance. Objective Standards involve no personal or subjective judgement by a public official and are uniformly verifiable by reference to an external and uniform benchmark or criterion available and knowable by both the development applicant and public official prior to application submittal. As the City will thus potentially need to increasingly rely on objective standards for the review of projects where we are precluded from a discretionary design review process, adding objective standards is important to align new development with community objectives.
A primary motivation for the preparation of the Specific Plan was to establish design standards that would address and improve the interface between new development and adjacent single-family neighborhoods. Throughout the Specific Plan process, the community continued to voice this concern. The Specific Plan accordingly includes objective standards for neighborhood transitions to ensure that new development provides appropriate and sensitive transitions in height and scale to existing neighborhoods with the goals of preserving neighborhood character and protecting light and privacy. These transition standards limit building heights and require taller buildings to step down toward existing neighborhoods. Other design requirements or policies, such as deeper setbacks, encouraging house-form building types and varied rooflines, and required landscaping, will also help to buffer existing homes from new development.
The Specific Plan will also provide objective standards to address the following topics within the El Camino Real corridor:
§ Building Height (maximum, interface, transition)
§ Landscape setback areas (including a build-to requirement)
§ Sidewalk width
§ Private Open space (shared and individual) - amount, dimensions, visibility, amenities
§ Publicly accessible private open space - dimensions, accessibility, amenities, lighting
§ Ground floor commercial use at specific locations
§ Block size
§ Maximum limits on a building façade length without a break
§ Minimum amounts of building façade articulation - architectural elements and rhythm
§ Requirement for differentiation of vertical façade elements
§ Window design requirements
§ Variation in building materials
§ Building entries (location, frequency and architectural treatment)
§ Commercial space - minimum depths, façade transparency, interior heights, grease traps, awnings, etc.
§ Live/work space - minimum dimensions, façade treatment
§ Parking access
§ Passenger pick-up locations
§ Pedestrian circulation path dimensions, materials, etc.
§ Driveways and curb cuts
§ Private street design standards (dimensions, street trees)
§ Utility locations
§ Screening of storage and service areas
§ Limitations on parking and garages along project frontages
§ Signage
§ Fences
Commercial Space Requirements
The draft Specific Plan establishes requirements for new spaces to promote their successful utilization, including requirements for interior column spacing and façade transparency, as well as provisions to support the use of adjacent outdoor use for outdoor dining, including design standards for awnings, planters and railings. The standards also directly support future food service uses by requiring that new commercial spaces have access to grease traps and venting. While such measures may add costs or require a particular design approach, they are important to insure that future commercial spaces are well utilized and contribute to a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly environment.
Green Building Measures
The draft Specific Plan supports the incorporation of green building measures, recognizing that new construction will need to comply with CalGreen standards for new construction, requiring that all buildings be built with solar-ready electrical systems and integrated stormwater catchment and treatment systems. The draft Specific Plan further encouraging a variety of additional measures, such as solar water heating, green roofs, passive ventilation, heating and cooling, indoor water reuse, stormwater harvesting, and the use of district stormwater management systems. The City is further developing green building requirements, including a requirement for building electrification, through a separate adoption of a Building “Reach Code” that will be applicable citywide.
Community Benefits
The Specific Plan includes a Community Benefits policy whereby developers could gain additional development rights in exchange for voluntarily providing additional benefits to the community, above those otherwise already required by City ordinances or the Specific Plan. Community benefits that could be provided in such an exchange include greater amounts of affordable housing, bicycle and pedestrian amenities or public art. As drafted, these would be implemented through a Development Agreement giving the City the discretion to determine the appropriate level of community benefits required and the amount of bonus received in exchange for providing these benefits.
Creation of the ECR Zoning District
As a part of the Specific Plan planning process, the City is proposing to create three new zoning districts that align with the three land use designations of the Specific Plan: Regional Commercial Mixed Use, Corridor Mixed Use, and Corridor Residential. Uses allowed in these zoning districts include residential and commercial uses, and a provision for existing uses to remain until such time as properties redevelop. The zoning districts each have development standards for the maximum height, density, setbacks, and common and private open space. Rezoning property within the Plan area with the new zoning districts will be a subsequent action once further community outreach is conducted. Once the new zoning districts are approved, they will be available for use should a property owner wish to rezone. Pursuant to Assembly Bill (AB) 3194 (2018), housing development projects in conformance with the General Plan can avoid rezoning if they adhere to all development standards of a zoning district that is consistent with the General Plan. (A “housing development project” under AB 3194 is an all-residential project, or a mixed-use development where at least 2/3 of the square footage is residential.) As such, the creation of these new zoning districts will facilitate a streamlined process, whereby residential projects can be approved through the City’s architectural review process.
ALUC Review
The El Camino Real Specific Plan was referred to the Airport Land Use Commission (ALUC) for review as the Plan affects property within the Airport Influence Area (AIA) of the San Jose International Airport. At the March 24, 2020 ALUC meeting, the County Airport Land Use Commission found the El Camino Real Specific Plan to be consistent with the policies of San Jose Airport Comprehensive Land Use Plan (CLUP), in that the El Camino Real plan area is outside of the airport safety zone and the noise contours of the airport area. The ALUC did recommend that a policy be added to the Specific Plan that states any new development on property within the AIA shall be required to dedicate an avigation easement to the San Jose International Airport.
Conclusion
The draft El Camino Real Specific Plan, accompanying zoning districts and project EIR have been prepared through an extensive community-based planning process which has provided a significant amount of time for discussion of the various components of the Specific Plan. The Specific Plan will provide a land use policy framework to support the development of a mixed-use, multi-modal corridor anchored by vibrant shopping destinations and public open space consistent with the City’s vision and the goals and policies set forth in the General Plan.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was prepared for the El Camino Real Specific Plan and related approvals (the “project”) in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The EIR analyzes program-level impacts of the El Camino Real Specific Plan. The EIR and Notice of Availability (NOA) were circulated for a 45-day period from December 10, 2020 to January 25, 2021 in accordance with CEQA requirements. The EIR provides a comprehensive analysis of the potential environmental impacts for the project.
The EIR found that any potentially significant impacts can be mitigated to a less than significant level. The mitigation measures are included in their entirety as a part of the proposed Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program (MMRP). A detailed discussion of the potential impacts and mitigation measures to be applied to the project is specified in the EIR and would be implemented through the MMRP for the proposed project.
During the Draft EIR comment period a total of eleven comments were received. None of the comment letters identified a new significant impact, or have provided substantial evidence that the CEQA analysis is otherwise inadequate. Responses to the Draft EIR comments, as well as minor text changes and clarifications, in the form of a Final EIR, were made available to the public through the City’s website on April 19, 2021, and have been forwarded on to the commenters on the Draft EIR.
The environmental impacts of redeveloping an existing commercial corridor and state highway were analyzed at a program level. It is intended for the Final EIR to be used by developers as a starting point for the environmental clearance of their individual development proposals, which will further facilitate redevelopment of the area.
FISCAL IMPACT
Funding for the development of the El Camino Real Specific Plan and Environmental Impact Report (EIR) comes from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) grant awarded to the City of Santa Clara in the amount of $910,000. When the Council approved the Funding Agreement with MTC, the City agreed to a 12% match, or $109,200 of the total project costs, which funds came from the Capital Improvement Projects Budget.
The proposed change in land uses would significantly increase land values, as well as demand for services, having both positive and negative fiscal impacts upon the City.
On the whole, implementation of the Specific Plan is expected to have a relatively minor net fiscal impact to the City and will provide housing necessary for Santa Clara’s ongoing economic vitality.
COORDINATION
This report has been coordinated with the City Attorney’s Office.
PUBLIC CONTACT
The notice of public hearing for this item was posted within 300 feet of the project site and mailed to property owners within 300 feet of the project site. Newspaper notice of this item was published in The Weekly on April 15, 2020. The full administrative record is available for review during normal business hours by contacting the Planning Division. At the time of this staff report, there has been no public input submitted to the City in support or opposition to this item.
Additionally, public contact was made by posting the Planning Commission agenda on the City’s official-notice bulletin board outside City Hall Council Chambers. A complete agenda packet is available on the City’s website and in the City Clerk’s Office at least 72 hours prior to a Regular Meeting and 24 hours prior to a Special Meeting. A hard copy of any agenda report may be requested by contacting the City Clerk’s Office at (408) 615-2220, email clerk@santaclaraca.gov <mailto:clerk@santaclaraca.gov>
ALTERNATIVES
That the Planning Commission adopts Resolutions recommending that the City Council:
1. Adopt a resolution approving and certifying the Final EIR prepared for the El Camino Real East Specific Plan (SCH # 2019059029), including CEQA Findings.
2. Adopt a resolution approving the El Camino Real Specific Plan, a specific plan consistent with CA Government Code Sections 65450-65457.
3. Adopt a resolution approving a General Plan text amendment creating the Regional Corridor Mixed Use (55-100 DU/AC; 0.2 Commercial FAR); Corridor Mixed Use (45-65 DU/AC); Corridor Residential (16-45 DU/AC); and Ground Floor Commercial Overlay land use designations, and amending the General Plan Land Use diagrams for Phases II and III to reflect the land use designations in the El Camino Real Specific Plan.
4. Adopt an ordinance amending the zoning code to create the El Camino Real Zoning district.
5. Provide direction to staff to make modifications to the Specific Plan and/or Zoning district for City Council consideration.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
That the Planning Commission adopt Resolutions recommending that the City Council:
1. Adopt a resolution approving and certifying the Final EIR prepared for the El Camino Real East Specific Plan (SCH # 2019059029), including CEQA Findings.
2. Adopt a resolution approving the El Camino Real Specific Plan, a specific plan consistent with CA Government Code Sections 65450-65457.
3. Adopt a resolution approving a General Plan text amendment creating the Regional Corridor Mixed Use (55-100 DU/AC; 0.2 Commercial FAR); Corridor Mixed Use (45-65 DU/AC); Corridor Residential (16-45 DU/AC); and Ground Floor Commercial Overlay land use designations, and amending the General Plan Land Use diagrams for Phases II and III to reflect the land use designations in the El Camino Real Specific Plan.
4. Adopt an ordinance amending the zoning code to create the El Camino Real Zoning district.
Staff
Reviewed by: Andrew Crabtree, Director, Community Development Department
Approved by: Deanna Santana, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. El Camino Real EIR PC Resolution
2. CEQA Facts and Findings
3. El Camino Real EIR MMRP
4. El Camino Real Specific Plan PC Resolution
5. El Camino Real General Plan Amendment PC Resolution
6. El Camino Real Land Use Plan
7. El Camino Real Zoning Districts Ordinance
8. El Camino Real Zoning Districts PC Resolution
9. Web link to Draft Specific Plan Document and EIR
10. Public Comments