AgdaPkt 2005-04-04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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6 • �. �.�- ,�i , and solicited input from over twenty seven community groups, and City Boards, Commissions and Committees over an 18 month period. The Draft Downtown Area Plan was completed in November 2001. . The draft was distributed to Council and Planning Commission in November 2001. The Planning Commission held a study session on the plan and subsequently staff made a presentation to the Council on the document, but no action was taken to formally adopt the Downtown Plan's recommendations. The Downtown Area Plan was originally meant to be a planning 'policy' document that would be adopted by the Council. However, after a study session by the Planning Commission and a review by the Council, no further action was taken on the Downtown Area Plan. By 2002 the City was working on implementing language for what would become Precise Plans, and since this type of plan actually made land use changes, this was considered a better vehicle for carrying out the Council's vision for powntown for the following reasons. Area Plans are created under state legislation but they are limited to broad policy discussion and do not directly change land use and zoning. The Downtown Area Plan, for instance, made recommendations for higher density housing on a number of what were called `Catalyst Sites' in the Downtown. The Council may recall recommendations in the Downtown Area Plan for up to 3,400 new housing units, at densities ranging up to 60 units per acre on these catalyst sites. An area plan can make such a recommendation but, until a subsequent action is taken to formally change the zoning, the area plan itself does not implement the recommendation. The new planning tool called "precise plans" was thought to be the betfer implementing tool. The Council formally amended the City Zoning Ordinance in 2003 to create Precise Plans. As adopted, the Precise Plan ordinance required the creation of a"P" zone that would be placed over the plan area, and the related Precise Plan itself would be the formal land use regulations for the precise plan area. By late 2003 the staff and rouncil was considering a Downtown Precise Plan that would cover a considerably smaller area (generally Brewster Avenue, Veterans Blvd, Maple Street and EI Camino Real) but that would address this much smaller area in much greater detail. The Downtown Area Plan, although never formally adopted as City policy, was reviewed by � the Planning Commission and has become a planning resource document for the Downtown Precise Plan and the General Plan. Bayfront Study In 2000-01 strong pressures for development began in the Bayfront area. In 2002 the City was reviewing applications from Abbott Laboratories, and for Marina Shores Village; and we were aware that change was likely on the site of the Century 12 Cinema. Abbott's proposal was not consistent with the existing zoning, MaFina Shore's proposal required � -2-