REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Public Hearing: Action on Early Consideration of a General Plan Text Amendment to allow a greater Floor Area Ratio than currently allowed in the Regional Commercial General Plan designation for the 3.86-acre property located at 4949 Great America Parkway [Council Pillar: Promote and Enhance Economic, Housing and Transportation Development]
Report
BACKGROUND
On February 27, 2020, SC Hotel Development LLC filed a project development plan application for General Plan Text Amendment for the 3.86-acre property located at 4949 Great America Parkway. The project site is currently developed with an 8-story hotel (Hilton Santa Clara) and a surface parking lot. The existing General Plan designation for the site is Regional Commercial and the site is zoned Commercial Park (CP). The proposed General Plan Text Amendment would allow a greater Floor Area Ratio (FAR) than currently allowed in the Regional Commercial General Plan designation. The increased FAR would then allow the replacement of the surface parking lot located behind the existing Hilton Hotel with a new hotel building housing a parking structure and additional hotel rooms.
Through the early consideration process, the Council can direct staff to continue processing the General Plan Amendment (GPA) application, or the Council can preemptively deny the proposed GPA request as inconsistent with the City's General Plan goals and policies. Should the Council provide direction to continue processing the application, staff would complete the review process for the proposed General Plan Text Amendment, including environmental analysis of the proposed project consistent with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Direction to continue the review process in no way obligates or commits the Council to ultimately approve the proposal.
The goal for the early consideration process is to minimize costs and work associated with the review of a GPA applic...
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