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HomeMy WebLinkAboutA001 - Council Action Form dated March 7, 2017 ITEM # 29 DATE: 03/07/17 COUNCIL ACTION FORM SUBJECT: ZONING TEXT AMENDMENT TO REFORMAT THE MIXED USE PARKING STANDARDS FOR DOWNTOWN AND CAMPUSTOWN BACKGROUND: City staff has identified a needed clarification regarding Parking Standards for the "Mixed Use Development" parking requirements in Downtown and Campustown. The City has required parking with every residential use in these areas, but a change in formatting from 2010 appears to indicate no parking is required for a residential use within a mixed-use building. This change in formatting with no specified intent to change the meaning at the time has caused confusion recently amongst the development community on what standards are applicable. The City has established parking rates within Table 29.406(2) Minimum Off-Street Parking Requirements for all uses with the City. An excerpt of the table is on the next page for reference to the standards. The parking requirements are based upon the type of use and its location within either the Campustown/Downtown (CSC/DSC) base zones or any of the other base zones. The CSC/DSC zoning districts have no required parking for most commercial and restaurant uses, in recognition of these two areas as older commercial districts with public parking and a pedestrian orientation, as having a lower need for on-site parking compared to newly developed areas of the City. However, both CSC and DSC require parking for household living units at a rate of 1 space per bedroom. This standard has been in place since the new zoning ordinance was adopted in 2000 and all CSC/DSC development with apartment dwellings have provided parking at a rate of at least 1 space per apartment unit. Of concern to staff is the labeling of parking requirements for Downtown and Campustown for "Mixed Use Development". A mixed use development is not a defined use type and has no specific parking standards. The City calculates parking for all sites based upon each principal use on a site, regardless of configuration of the site or building. However, the labeling of the table for CSC and DSC suggests that no parking for any use within a mixed use development is required, even for apartments. From tracking all the ordinance changes to the table, it appears that with Ord. #4030 creating CGS zoning standards and Ord. #4036 for changes to grocery store parking requirements created the formatting issued that now exists. Staff believes this reference should be cleaned up to reflect the intent of the requirements to have no parking for commercial and to have parking for apartments, so as to avoid confusion for customers. 1 Excerpts of Table 29.406 (2) PRINCIPAL LAND USE ALL ZONES EXCEPT DOWNTOWN DOWNTOWN AND AND CAMPUS TOWN SERVICE CAMPUS TOWN SERVICE CENTER ZONES CENTER ZONES APARTMENTS DWELLINGS 1.5 space/RU; for one-bedroom units 1 1 space/RU spaceibedroom for units of 2 bedrooms or more 1.25 space/bedroom for units of 2 bedrooms or more in University Impacted (O-UIE and O-UIW) 1 space/residential unit for an Independent Senior Living Facility AUDITORIUMS, THEATERS, Greater of 1 space/5 seats or 10 Greater of 1 space/4 seats or STADIUMS AND ARENAS spaces/1,000 sf, with a minimum of 20 10 spaces/1,000 sf, with a spaces minimum of 20 spaces RETAIL SALES AND SERVICES- 1 space/300 sf NONE GENERAL SIT-DOWN RESTAURANT 9 s aces/1,000 sf NONE MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT Mixed-use development parking shall be �— determined as the sum of parking Mixed-use development requirements of the individual use parking shall be determined as components the sum of parking requirements of the individual use components ""Proposed change is to copy the language used for all other zoning districts This table has been reformatted a number of times since its inception in 2000. There was an immediate amendment in 2000 to correct a mistake that actually required commercial parking to eliminate that references, residential was not changed. It was not until 2006 that the City created a distinct CSC zoning district and columns for CSC/ DSC were added to the table to distinguish them from other zones. The original 2006 (#3872) formatting with two columns left the rows empty within the DSC/CSC column where specific differences were not identified. It was in 2010 that the formatting of the column changed and the empty rows had the word "NONE". At no time did the ordinances leading to these format changes specify that parking requirements were being altered in relationship to mixed use development. The Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed the text amendment at its January meeting. Two members of the public, Scott Renaud and Kurt Mackey, spoke against the proposed ordinance believing that parking is not required for apartment dwellings in Campustown and the current format of the Zoning Ordinance supports this idea. Much of the discussion revolved around the need to have parking with development in Campustown. Ultimately, the Commission voted 4-1 to support staffs recommended clarification of the parking standards in Downtown and Campustown Service Center. The Commission also made a motion (5-0) requesting the City Council initiate a study of parking in Downtown and Campustown to consider potential changes to the requirements. ALTERNATIVES: 1. The City Council can adopt the proposed amendment to clarify the parking requirements for mixed use developments in the Downtown and Campustown Service Centers by adding language that clearly indicates, "mixed-use 2 development parking shall be determined as the sum of parking requirements of the individual use components". 2. The City Council can recommend alternative language regarding parking requirements in the Campustown and Downtown Service Centers for mixed-use developments. 3. The City Council can decide to retain the existing language and not require any parking in the Campustown and Downtown Service Centers for mixed-use developments. CITY MANAGER'S RECOMMENDED ACTION: The proposed reformatting will help to clear up any confusion about parking requirements for mixed use developments and is consistent with the intent and practice of the City for the past 16 years. All the information gathered to date indicates the City Council never intentionally eliminated parking requirements in the Campustown or Downtown Service Centers. Consequently, the inclusion of the term "none" in Table 29.406(2) regarding parking standards in the Campustown and Downtown Service Centers was an error. Therefore, it is the recommendation of the City Manager that the City Council adopted Alternative #1 to clarify mixed use parking requirements in the Campustown and Downtown Service Centers. 3