REPORT TO PLANNING COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
Action on Catalina Townhouse Residential Development Project at 1375 El Camino Real
Report
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The applicant, SCS Development, is proposing to develop a 54 unit townhome development, including eight live/work units, on a 2.23 acre property bounded by Civic Center Drive to the north and El Camino Real to the south.
The site is located in the El Camino Real Focus Area and would generally align with the land use and transition goals and objectives set forth in the General Plan, with the exception of the size and usability of the proposed common open space area.
Based on the General Plan analysis, staff recommends that the project is approved with 52 townhouse units with a condition that the common open space area be enlarged by approximately 1,475 square feet, which is the approximate size of the footprint of two of the proposed townhouse units. Staff finds that the current proposed project has inadequate common open space and, based on input from the City’s design consultant, finds it reasonable to propose that an additional 1,475 square feet of common open space be added to the proposed development.
BACKGROUND
The applicant is requesting a rezoning of a 2.23 acre site from Thoroughfare Commercial (CT) to Planned Development (PD) and approval of a Vesting Tentative Subdivision Map to subdivide three existing lots into 10 lots (PLN2017-12726 and PLN2017-12728). These entitlements together would allow the development of a 54-unit residential townhouse project, including eight live-work units
The project site is on the north side of El Camino Real between Lincoln Street and Monroe Street (1375, 1385 and 1399 El Camino Real) and was previously developed with four commercial buildings occupied with automotive related businesses. The City recently approved demolition of the commercial structures to avoid potential nuisance concerns. Multi-family residential land uses are located to the north of the site across Civic Center Drive and to the south across El Camino Real. Commercial land uses are located to east and west of the site.
The project site is located within the El Camino Real Precise Plan Area for which the City is currently in the process of preparing a Specific Plan. The City Council previously gave direction to discourage new rezoning applications within the Plan Area prior to the completion of a substantial portion of the Specific Plan community outreach process. However, following discussion at the April 18, 2017, May 9, 2017, and May 23, 2017 City Council hearings, the Council determined that the proposed application may move forward for Council consideration independent of the Specific Plan preparation process.
Following discussion of the potential need for additional resources to support the City’s architectural review process at the City Council - Planning Commission dinner in 2016, staff selected two projects, including the subject project, to use as test cases for a third-party architectural review program. The project was reviewed by a the architectural firm Urban Field Studio (UFS), which made recommendations to staff regarding the project architecture and site design (attached) and which are referenced in the following discussion.
DISCUSSION
The primary issues for the project are consistency with the City’s General Plan and Zoning, the quality of the project architecture and site design, responses to community input, and the design of circulation and parking.
General Plan Conformance:
The project site is designated Community Mixed Use as part of the El Camino Real Focus Area in the General Plan. This land use designation allows a residential density of 20-36 dwelling units per acre and a minimum commercial FAR of 0.10. The General Plan vision for the 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”.
As proposed, the Project will include eight live-work units, satisfying the minimum FAR requirement. However, in accordance with El Camino Real Focus Area Policy 5.4.1-P2, new development under the Community Mixed Use designation is permitted for exclusively residential uses if it meets the minimum requirements for the Medium Density Residential land use classification. The Medium Density Residential land use classification supports residential development at a density between 20 and 36 dwelling units per acre, consistent with the density supported by the Community Mixed Use designation, but without the commercial requirement. By allowing the development of 54 units on a 2.23 acre site, the project is within the intended density range at approximately 24 dwelling units per acre.
The project is also consistent with the following General Plan policies:
General Land Use Policies:
• 5.3.1-P2: Encourage advance notification and neighborhood meetings to provide an opportunity for early community review of new development proposals.
• 5.3.1-P26: Support a community‐initiated planning process so that existing neighborhoods can participate in developing more detailed plans for street, landscape and pedestrian facility improvements.
The allowance for a planned development zoning is consistent with the site’s General Plan land use designation and addresses the site’s unique dual street frontage condition. The applicant conducted public outreach through mailings and a community meeting to involve neighboring property owners in the design of the project.
El Camino Real Focus Area and Mixed Use Land Use Policies:
• 5.3.4-P8: Encourage building heights of up to five stories in large mixed‐use developments along arterial street frontages, with the potential for taller buildings north of the Caltrain corridor.
• 5.3.4-P9: Encourage ground‐level windows and building entries that support a visual connection to activities.
• 5.4.1-P11: Locate parking at the side or rear of parcels and active uses along street frontages.
• 5.4.1-P16: Facilitate the implementation of streetscape improvements consistent with those illustrations in Figures 5.4‐2.
The ground floor live/work units and residential units along El Camino Real orient toward the public sidewalk. No parking will be located on the El Camino Real project frontage. The project incorporates a landscape plan that facilitates the implementation of streetscape improvements along the El Camino Real.
Transition Policies:
• 5.5.2-P3: Implement site design solutions, such as landscaping and increased building setbacks, to provide a buffer between non‐residential and residential uses.
The project includes a landscape buffer between the commercial properties to the east of the project site. The project would implement the complete street streetscape with a four foot park strip and additional landscape behind the sidewalks on El Camino Real.
As proposed, the project does not substantially advance the following open space and recreation General Plan policies:
• 5.3.1‐P9: Require that new development provide adequate public services and facilities, infrastructure, and amenities to serve the new employment or residential growth.
• 5.3.2‐P4: Encourage indoor and outdoor private and common spaces as part of all new residential developments, including clustering of units to maximize open space opportunities where appropriate.
• 5.9.1‐P14: Encourage publicly accessible open space in new development.
• 5.9.1‐P18: Promote open space and recreation facilities in large‐scale developments in order to meet a portion of the demand for parks generated by new development.
The project would provide a 2,068 square-foot on-site amenity space that would include playground equipment, seating area, and turf area. General Plan policies call for an adequate amount of common open space areas within new development. The typical provision for common open space areas in this type of development varies from 100 to 150 square feet per unit (e.g. 5,400 to 8,100 square feet for a 54-unit project). The proposed area is not adequate in size to accommodate multiple uses beyond a small play structure and a single picnic table. This space is not adequate to facilitate community gathering and interaction between residents that could support a sense of neighborhood. Large-scale development should provide on-site open space and recreation facilities in order to meet a portion of the demand for parks generated by a new development. While the project will be responsible for in-lieu Parks and Recreational Land fees, the project should provide sufficient on-site facilities as well. On-site facilities could also potentially reduce the in-lieu obligation if the standards in the Park Ordinance were met.
Based upon the recommendations of the City’s design consultant, the amount of common open space area within the development should be increased by eliminating two of the proposed units or by utilizing an alternate unit type. The project currently includes 2,068 square feet of common open space. Staff recommends that the size of the open space area is increased by the approximate square footage of the footprint of two of the proposed townhouse units, or 1,475 square feet, for a total open space area of approximately 3,543 square feet. With a reduction of two units, the project would still conform to the General Plan density and would provide greater opportunity for on-site amenities.
Zoning Conformance
The project site is currently zoned Thoroughfare Commercial (CT). This Zoning designation is intended for commercial uses along a major highway such as the El Camino Real, but not consistent with the General Plan vision for future development of the corridor in that 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 residential development on the property and would implement the General Plan Community Mixed Use designation. 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.
Architecture and Site Design:
The project would consist of six three-story buildings each containing nine townhouse units. Each unit would have three bedrooms and three bathrooms and range in size from approximately 1,615 to 1,940 square-feet. Each unit would include a two-car private garage and an additional 14 guest spaces would be provided as uncovered parking. Eight of the 18 units that would front on El Camino Real are proposed as live/work units. The architecture of the proposed buildings is Tuscan style and incorporates stucco, wood, and stone veneer finishes, and clay barrel tile roofing.
Staff discussed the design consultant’s recommendations with the project applicant including increasing the commercial presence of the proposed live/work units fronting along El Camino Real and creating greater identity for individual units through architectural design.
In response to these recommendations, the applicant indicated that the live/work units will be utilized at the discretion of the homeowners as either living space or office and so a more commercial design would not be appropriate. As initially proposed by the applicant, the spatial design of the live/work units would be the same as the other regular units, but the live/work units would be differentiated by the incorporation of a glass storefront façade element. Initially the project depicted a single roof form for each building. In response to the consultant’s recommendation to give each individual unit greater identity through architectural design, the applicant revised the plans to break up the long roof line so that not all units in a building share the same roof.
The building massing and three-story design 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 new buildings would front onto the street, and parking and garage doors would be located within the site interior so that front doors are prominent along El Camino Real to encourage a pedestrian atmosphere along the major corridor. Setbacks of varying depths would be provided along El Camino Real, along with patios eight feet in depth in front of each unit. 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. Civic Center Drive will be reconfigured to include a five foot sidewalk and four foot wide planter strip.
Circulation and Parking:
The project site has two vehicular driveway entrances on Civic Center Drive, with no vehicular access along El Camino Real. Two-car garages are provided for each of the 54 units and 24 of the units utilize tandem garage design. As the use of the site is residential, the tandem parking is anticipated to be functional as residents will be familiar with their garage design and able to manage their household parking needs. The proposed conditions of approval require that the garages be accessible for two-car covered parking at all time and that they be wired to allow for electrical vehicle charging. Pursuant to the Zoning Code, at least ten percent of the total required parking spaces would be provided to visitors. Based on the required 108 garage spaces, 11 guest spaces are required. Fourteen guest parking spaces are provided in the center of the site and will also be utilized for patrons of the live/work units.
Pedestrian access from El Camino Real is through the center of the site between buildings 5 and 6. Pedestrian paths are also located between and around all of the individual buildings. All pedestrian paths will be designed to City Building Code requirements and will be ADA accessible.
Conclusion:
Approval of the project would provide an opportunity to locate a residential development 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 the Community Mixed Use designation and the current land use principles for the El Camino Real Focus Area. The requested PD zoning is required to implement the General Plan designation and policies applicable to the project site that support new mixed-use development including commercial and residential land uses. As currently designed with 2,068 square feet for the total project, the project does not include adequate common open space area, as it contributes 38 square feet of common open space per a residential unit. Residential land use policies within the General Plan state the need for common open space in all developments and support clustering of development to maximize open space opportunities. For comparison, other South Bay cities have strong open space standards. For instance, Mountain View’s Residential Design Guidelines stipulate that 45% of the footprint of a project should be dedicated towards landscaping and common open space. In addition, Sunnyvale has a standard of 400 square feet per unit of usable open space. This standard combines private and common open space available. Hayward has a standard of 100 square feet per unit of common open space for a project of this size. While some of the comparable cities listed do not have solely common open space standards, as they combine their private, common, or landscaping standards, the magnitude of their standards are substantially higher than what is currently proposed by the applicant. Staff concurs with the City’s design consultant that the project’s common open space should be increased by approximately 1,475 square feet as a condition of the project approval. This would be approximately equivalent to the footprint of two of the proposed townhouse units.
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 February 23, 2018 through March 27, 2018 in accordance with California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requirements. The Community Development Department received three comment letters from Valley Transportation Authority, Caltrans, and the County of Santa Clara Department of Environmental Health. Responses to the comments are included in the final IS/MND (Attachment 2).
The MND examined environmental impacts associated with the proposed project development and identified potential air quality, biological, cultural resources, and noise and vibration 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 April 25, 2018. Planning staff has not received written comments from members of the public during the preparation of this report. Comments received after April 6, 2018 will be provided at the Planning Commission meeting of May 9, 2018 for consideration.
Community Outreach:
A project community meeting was held on September 7, 2017 at the Senior Center. Approximately 20 members of the community attended the meeting and expressed general interest in the project along El Camino Real and concern about potential traffic impacts from added housing units. Community members did not raise specific concerns related to the design of the project.
ALTERNATIVES
1. Recommend adoption of the Mitigated Negative Declaration and Adoption of the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program for the Catalina Residential Development Project;
2. Recommend approval of the rezoning from Thoroughfare Commercial (CT) to Planned Development (PD) to allow development of 52 townhouse units, including 8 live-work units, with an additional 1,475 square feet of amenity and open space and approve the Vesting Tentative Subdivision Map to subdivide one lot into 10 lots.
3. Recommend denial of the rezoning from Thoroughfare Commercial (CT) to Planned Development (PD) to allow development of 54 townhouse units, including 8 live-work units, with amenity and open space as proposed by the applicant and deny the Vesting Tentative Subdivision Map to subdivide one lot into 10 lots.
4. Recommend approval of the rezoning from Thoroughfare Commercial (CT) to Planned Development (PD) to allow development of 54 townhouse units, including 8 live-work units, with amenity and open space as proposed by the applicant and approve the Vesting Tentative Subdivision Map to subdivide one lot into 10 lots.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
1. Recommend adoption of the Mitigated Negative Declaration and Adoption of the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program for the Catalina Residential Development Project; and
2. Recommend approval of the rezoning from Thoroughfare Commercial (CT) to Planned Development (PD) to allow development of 52 townhouse units, including 8 live-work units, with an additional 1,475 square feet of amenity and open space and approve the Vesting Tentative Subdivision Map to subdivide one lot into 10 lots.
Staff
Reviewed by: Andrew Crabtree, Director of Community Development
Approved by: Deanna J. Santana, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. Reserved for Summary of Planning Commission Action
2. Mitigated Negative Declaration/ Initial Study
3. Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program
4. Project Data and Maps
5. City’s Design Consultant Memo
6. Resolution for Adoption of the Mitigated Negative Declaration and Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program
7. Resolution for Recommendation of Council Approval of the Rezoning
8. Resolution for Recommendation of Council Approval of the Tentative Map
9. Conditions of Rezoning Approval
10. Conditions of Vesting Tentative Subdivision Map Approval
11. Development Plans