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9.A. - Page 3 <br /> Responding to this community input, staff drafted a series of recommendations to be <br /> discussed at the Planning Commission meeting of January 20, 2015. After hearing <br /> community discussion, the Commission directed staff to return with an ordinance and <br /> provide additional information on floor area limitations. <br /> At a fifth public meeting on March 3, 2015, staff returned to the Planning Commission <br /> for a final recommendation on a draft ordinance and environmental review. A summary <br /> of the recommendation is listed on page 1 of the report with further discussion on the <br /> Planning Commission Recommendation on page 5. <br /> ANALYSIS <br /> Defining Hillside Areas <br /> The first step in the process of updating Hillside Regulations is defining exactly where <br /> the new regulations would apply. This is actually a complex determination for several <br /> reasons: <br /> • Redwood City's hillside areas have a variety of slopes and zoning districts in <br /> close proximity to each other. Flat lots are immediately adjacent to sloped lots, <br /> and slope gradually increases and decreases throughout the hillside areas. <br /> • R-1 (Single Family Residential) and RH (Residential-Hillside) zoning districts <br /> share boundaries and intermix in sloped neighborhoods. Some of the more <br /> steeply sloping lots in the City are zoned R-1. See Attachment 3 for an illustration <br /> of the varied slopes within the hillsides. <br /> • R-1 and RH zoning districts currently have several different development <br /> regulations. <br /> Responses at the second community workshop were generally not supportive of basing <br /> regulations on the RH Zoning District only. Including R-1 regulations as part of the RH <br /> district regulations generally is problematic, as most of the flatland single-family <br /> neighborhoods are zoned R-1 as well. For the purposes of regulation, staff and <br /> Planning Commission recommend generally applying hillside regulations to lots with an <br /> average slope of 15% or more regardless of the zoning district. <br /> Initially, this study examined all lots with an average slope of 10% or more. An analysis <br /> of lot slopes shows no natural break point; the greater the slope, the fewer parcels <br /> affected, in a gradual and directly correlated way. Further analysis indicates that many <br /> lots considered "typical" in Redwood City have slopes between 10 and 15%; using 10% <br /> as a threshold may affect more parcels than what was originally intended. Over 1,200 <br /> lots would fall within the 10% - 15% category, many of which are located outside the <br /> traditional "hillside" area west of Alameda de Las Pulgas. Defining sloping lots as lots <br /> with an average slope of 15% or more appears to adequately capture areas of concern <br /> and focuses the regulations in traditional hillside areas. <br /> Page 3 of 10 <br />