HomeMy WebLinkAboutA005 - Council Action Form dated May 8, 2018 ITEM # 48
DATE: 5-08-18 ,
COUNCIL ACTION FORM
SUBJECT: DOWNTOWN GATEWAY COMMERCIAL ZONING DISTRICT
STANDARDS (DOES NOT INCLUDE THE ZONING MAP AMENDMENT)
BACKGROUND:
The Downtown Gateway area is a Focus Area for redevelopment identified within the
Lincoln Way Corridor Plan. The Downtown Gateway area is generally described as
propertY on the north and south side of Lincoln Way extending from Grand Avenue to
Duff Avenue (Attachment 1-Potential Rezoning Area). The Corridor Plan identified
redevelopment and repositioning of commercial properties in the Downtown Gateway
.Area to support a transition to more intense and urban development. To facilitate this
desired change of the area staff believes allowing for mixed-use residential
development and reductions in parking requirements are beneficial.
To accomplish the vision for this section of the Corridor, Staff proposes a new special
purpose zoning district for the Downtown Gateway Focus area. The proposed zoning is
a new district for the City and is not an overlay of the existing Highway Oriented
Commercial (HOC) zoning district or Downtown Service Center (DSC) zoning district
that are the current zoning districts in the area. The proposed special purpose district
includes standards based upon site size and proposed uses with specific street frontage
orientation and building requirements. The allowed uses are similar to those of the DSC
zoning district rather than the Highway Oriented Commercial zoning distinct. The
proposed changes create new categories of nonconformities for certain existing uses,
site improvements regarding parking, and for the design/setbacks of structures in some
circumstances.
City Council held a public hearing on the original draft standards at its March 6th
meeting. City Council requested additional information concerning nonconformities that
would occur in relation to the new standards and existing conditions. At the April 24th
meeting, City Council provided direction for preparing a final draft in regards to the
allowed uses, requirements for parking, and other development requirements. City
Council also provided direction on standards for apartment bedroom configurations
limited to no more than 25% of units as three bedrooms units with no allowance for four
or more bedrooms. Staff has modified the original draft ordinance from March 6th to
reflect direction from Council on April 24th along with other minor changes to reflect the
intent of the district as described by staff at the prior meetings. The complete updated
draft ordinance is attached.
COMMERCIAL USES:
Allowed uses are intended to be a more focused set of commercial uses compared to
the HOC zoning district. The allowed uses principally include office, retail sales and
services, restaurant, recreation, and entertainment uses. The intent behind the list
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of allowed uses is to focus. on the desired commercial uses while helping to insure
compatibility with any future residential that could be added to the area.
The proposed zone will prohibit the following uses that are permitted in the HOC zoning
district: vehicle service facilities (gas stations and auto repair), vehicle sales, college
and university, lodges and social clubs, catering establishments(primary use), medical
centers, wholesale trade, detention facilities, sports practice facilities, and mini-
warehouse. By prohibiting these uses it would preclude new establishments and also
make existing uses non-conforming. Funeral homes are listed as a Special Use Permit
for the district consistent with the current DSC and HOC zoning districts.
A full analysis of nonconformity status for uses, buildings, and site improvements was
provided to the Council at the April 24th meeting. Background information is available on
the Planning Division website and following is a direct link to frequently asked
questions. In general, nonconformities are permitted to continue and there are
allowances for modifications to sites and buildings with nonconformities, including
options to rebuild if damaged. However, a nonconforming use cannot be reestablished
if it has been abandoned for 12 months or more and any changes to a site or building
have to comply with current zoning requirements.
Drive through facilities are also restricted within the proposed zoning standards.
Drive through uses are not precluded in their entirety, but would have separation
requirements. The proposed spacing standard is for no more than one drive through
use per Lincoln Way street block face and no drive through uses are permitted along
Kellogg Avenue. A drive through would be precluded if any part of the property had
frontage along a block face of Lincoln Way that already has a drive through use,
regardless of the ingress/egress to the site. The drive through limitation would apply to
any type of use, fast food, banks, pharmacies, etc. Three of the 10 block faces within
the Focus Area would be able add a drive through facility.
RESIDENTIAL USES:
The proposed zoning allows for household living uses to be established only as
part of a mixed-use development. Major Site Development Plan review is required for
any residential mixed-use development. The proposed zoning standards do not
prescribe a minimum total commercial square footage requirement in combination with
mixed-use buildings. Specific tenant spaces sizes, orientation, and total square footage
in a project will need to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis to determine if a
proposed mixed-use design achieves the goals of the Corridor Plan for commercial first
development plans that enhance the commercial options for the City and are
complimentary to Downtown.
No density standard will apply to the residential development for either a minimum or
maximum. The goal is to promote smaller units at higher density and to allow for a
limited number of larger units. No more than 25 percent of the total units in a
development may exceed two bedrooms and no dwelling units shall exceed three
bedrooms.
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Short term lodging is also an allowed residential use in the proposed District. Short
term lodging may be either stand along or as part of a mixed use project.
PARKING:
The proposed commercial standards are a hybrid of standard parking
requirements .and the reduced parking standards of Downtown Service
Commercial. City Council also directed staff to allow for no minimum parking
requirements for commercial uses along Kellogg Avenue. The draft ordinance was
revised to include a separate parking table for sites with frontage along Kellogg Avenue.
The proposed parking requirements modify commercial parking standards by reducing
parking for larger sites to promote shared and common parking areas, principally for bar
and restaurant uses. Individually developed sites are subject to standard parking
requirements for commercial uses. Staff also added a fast food parking standard that is
at 9 spaces per 1,000 square feet so as to not incent redevelopment with fast food
establishments in this area.
Residential parking standards are also a hybrid of the standards used in other
parts of the City. The typical apartment standard is one parking space per bedroom.
However, Campustown and Downtown only require one space per apartment
regardless of the number of bedrooms. In an effort to incentivize smaller apartment
units and to recognize the area is highly walkable with multiple transportation options,
parking is reduced for smaller units. The proposed standards for the larger units are at
the high end of parking requirements for urban style development.
Apartment Parking Spaces Required
Studio 0.8 per unit
1 Bedroom 0.8 per unit
2 Bedroom 1.0 per unit
3 Bedroom 2.5 per unit
New parking reductions are permitted within the DGC zoning compared to other
areas of the City. There are allowances for shared parking, remote parking,- and
collective parking. Reductions of up to 25% of the parking can be approved through the
review process. The zoning district allows for recognition of on-street parking and other
remote parking options as part of the Major Site Development Plan review. Another
unique standard relates to allowing for residential parking to be utilized in a shared or
collective parking situation when at least one parking space per dwelling unit is provided
on site assigned to the residential use. Typically, shared use of residential parking
spaces is not permissible in other zoning districts. The goal of the standard is that
through the Major Site Development Plan approval process, a total amount of required
parking will be identified, but the spaces can be shared amongst all the uses and not
assigned for exclusive use by one type of user at all times.
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The parking requirements include a bicycle parking standard for commercial
uses. However, there are no mandatory bicycle parking standards for residential
uses. Staff believes that most new residential apartment development accommodates
bicycle parking and does not believe a prescribed parking standard is needed.
However, for commercial uses visitor parking is not typically addressed by developers.
Staff proposes requiring a minimum of four bicycle rack parking spaces with each
building and that larger buildings include additional parking. A reduction in vehicle
parking spaces can be accommodated with the provision of bicycle parking, with a
maximum reduction of five vehicle parking spaces.
Parking location is another design element of the District that is different than HOC
zoning, but is consistent with DSC zoning. The intent is for building to generally be
close to the street and to have parking located either to the side or rear of a building.
Therefore, parking between buildings and streets is not allowed with the proposed
zoning. Setbacks are reduced for buildings to help promote the location of the buildings
closer to the street and to accommodate parking configurations in the side and rear of
the site. However, parking between buildings and streets is allowed for certain
situations, such as minor internal streets, Grand Avenue, and Gilchrist due to their
context within the overall Focus Area.
LOT STANDARDS:
The site development standards are intended to promote property aggregation to
take advantage of increased development intensity compared to the current HOC
zoning. Existing sites and buildings will not become non-conforming based upon lot
size. Existing sites may be used in their current configuration and buildings can be
modified under the new standards. However, mixed-use residential development with
reduced parking standards will only apply to larger scale sites. The zoning district
describes these larger site sizes as an optional designation of Redevelopment
Intensification Sites.
Redevelopment Intensification sites have a minimum Lot Size is 1 acre and 100 feet of
frontage on a public street, with the exception that a site along Kellogg is only required
to have 100 feet of frontage. A 1-acre standard means that for almost all properties in
the Gateway Area that at least one additional property will need to be combined with
another parcel to get to the larger site size for mixed use. development. For
comparison, if the site size was set at 0.5 acres there would be approximately 22 out of
70 properties that could develop mixed use without property aggregation.
BUILDING SETBACKS:
The Downtown Gateway Area consists of a street hierarchy with primary streets of
Lincoln Way, Kellogg Avenue, Clark Avenue, and Duff Avenue. Secondary streets
include Washington Avenue, Sherman Avenue, Market Avenue, Commerce Avenue,
and Gilchrist Street. Additionally there are alleys within most of the block areas. Staff
proposes to differentiate setbacks based upon street type and intended design aesthetic
for the blocks.
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In most cases there are minimal setbacks required to either encourage a building to be
built up to the street, as is the case along Kellogg Avenue, or to ensure a site is
redevelopable when accounting for lot sizes and restrictions on where parking is
permitted on a site. The greatest setback is planned along Lincoln Way. This is due to
the intended larger scale of buildings along Lincoln Way and the intent to include
widened sidewalks along with redevelopment due to the narrow right-of-way width for
Lincoln Way. Setbacks for corner properties can be reduced through design review
when the buildings include specific features supportive of a pedestrian design.
There are no proposed minimum side or rear setbacks required for redevelopment
projects.
BUILDING DESIGN:
Due to the desired flexibility of uses and redevelopment options for the area, individual
design standards are difficult to apply consistently through the district. The intent is to
state base design standards and rely upon individual project review to ensure
consistency with the overall design intent for the area. The Kellogg Avenue
frontage has design preferences for storefront patterns of 25 feet for consistency with
Main Street building patterns. However, due to design options to promote gathering
areas and entertainment uses, alternative design approaches can be approved that
include high activity spaces and pedestrian friendly design features at the ground floor.
The other areas in the district do not require a storefront pattern.
Kellogg Avenue includes design standard to act as a transition to historic Downtown
with a minimum of two-story buildings, architectural detailing, high levels of glazing, and
the use of clay brick facade materials. There are no specified percentages for brick, .
but it is a required material for each building.
Properties with frontage on other streets do not have as many mandatory standards.
The design standards do require facade variation and detailing, windows percentages,
and use of clay brick without a specified percentage. Due to the intent of having
buildings as a more prominent feature of a site closer to a street it is important to
include building standards that create aesthetic interest that supports the desired
streetscape appearance for the area.
OTHER STANDARDS:
Staff proposes no maximum floor area ratio, building coverage, or density standards for
development within the district. The standards allow for a 10-story maximum building
height with an option for City Council to approve taller buildings as part of the
Redevelopment Intensification Site approval process. No base landscape or open
space percentage requirements are included within the standards. Development would
be required to comply with surface parking and front yard landscaping requirements for
conventional development; however, redevelopment with large scale buildings and
pedestrian oriented designs along streets would be exempt from most landscaping
requirements in recognition of the urban design goals of the district.
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Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed the initial draft of the DGC standards at its
February 7th meeting. The Commission voted 6-0 in support of the concepts presented
for the allowed uses, parking requirements, and development standards.
ALTERNATIVES:
1. The City Council can approve on first reading the proposed ordinance to create the
new Downtown Gateway Commercial Zoning District.
2. The City Council can propose alternative language for the proposed text
amendment.
3. The City Council can request additional information and defer making a
recommendation.
CITY MANAGER'S RECOMMENDED ACTION:
The proposed DGC zoning standards are an attempt to address the design options for a
wide range of uses, site sizes, and design priorities for different street frontages within
the Downtown Gateway Focus Area. The tradeoff of this approach is less predictability
on final outcomes as many decisions on design will not be complete until final approval
of a project.
Reuse of small sites will be permitted with staff approved Minor Site Development
Plans. Major redevelopments or mixed-use developments will be subject to the Major
Site Development Plan requirements where alternative standards may also be approved
for a project. The use of the optional Redevelopment Intensification Site process allows
for more flexibility in site design.
With City Councils approval on first reading of the proposed zoning standards,
staff will initiate a public hearing notice of a zoning map amendment to apply the
new DGC zoning to properties. With Council's direction from April 24th, Staff will
provide property owner notice to the entire Focus Area (see attachment) as the
rezoning boundary. The Planning and Zoning Commission will have a public
hearing on the map amendment rezoning on May 16th. A public hearing with the
City Council will be scheduled for May 22nd to allow time for City Council to
complete the adoption of the rezoning ordinance on three readings in June prior
to expiration of the moratorium for the area on July 2nd.
Therefore, in accordance with previous . Council direction, it is the
recommendation of the City Manager that the City Council approve Alternative #1
to approve on first reading the ordinance for the new Downtown Gateway
Commercial Zoning District.
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