REPORT TO PLANNING COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
Study Session on the Draft El Camino Real Specific Plan
Report
BACKGROUND
Over the past few years, the City has been developing a Specific Plan to implement the City's General Plan goals and policies for the El Camino Real corridor. The Specific Plan will provide detailed guidance for the development of future land uses including urban design elements to implement the City's General Plan vision for the transformation of the corridor from low intensity, automobile-oriented uses to a more urban, mixed-use environment supporting a significant residential population. This vision was established in 2010 with the adoption of the current General Plan, and several residential or mixed-use projects were subsequently developed along the corridor, but without a Specific Plan, they did not follow a cohesive set of design principles and the community was frustrated by their lack of input into the City's policies for the corridor. The City Council directed staff to initiate the preparation of the Specific Plan with a focus on community engagement in order to address these concerns.
Following a two-year community engagement process, a full draft of the Specific Plan was made available for review and comment on the City's El Camino Real website in May 2020. On September 30, 2020, a community open house was held via Zoom to review the Draft Plan with the Community and receive feedback. The Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the El Camino Real Specific Plan was made available for a 45 - day public comment period beginning on December 10, 2020, and which ended on Monday, January 25, 2021.
DISCUSSION
The planning frameworks are the impetus of the Specific Plan, are reflected throughout the elements of the Specific Plan, and include:
* Focus development at key activity nodes
* Respect the character of adjacent neighborhoods
* Create memorable public open spaces
* Enhance connectivity along and across the corridor
* Improv...
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