AgdaPkt 2005-04-04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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� �.�- � both General Plan and zoning amendments, and if the Century 12 site was to be considered for housing, it, too, would require both General Plan and zoning amendments. The City had not reviewed its General Plan or zoning designations in this area for at least a ,� decade and developers were ignoring both the General Plan and Zoning Ordinance when making their decisions to buy land and submit plans. There was the need for a broad look at the Bayfront area and so work was started on the Study. Initially it was going to be a formal plan requiring environmental review, but the developments were already under consideration and time was of the essence. It was decided that the document would be a planning study that would inform decision-makers but would not require environmental review or formal adoption. The first meeting on the Study was held in November 2001 and meetings on the Study continued into 2002. The study was completed in 2002 and was considered by the Planning Commission in 2002 and again in 2003. Copies of the Study were provided to the City Council but no action was taken to seek formal adoption. You may recall that the Bayfront Study included a map of the area along East Bayshore Road (covering the area generally occupied by 101 Toyota, Century 12 and the Boardwalk dealership) that suggested a split of land use between auto-oriented uses along the immediate freeway frontage, with housing in back. After further consideration it was staff's opinion that this was not a desirable mix of land uses, because of innate conflicts between housing and auto uses (noise, lights etc.). We are not asking you to make a definite policy decision on this issue at this meeting but simply pointing out the benefit of using informal studies such as the Bayfront Study as a way to inform an eventual decision. The Downtown Area Plan and the Bayfront Study were never adopted as formal Council policy but staff is using them as background for the General Plan and the Downtown Precise Plan, which are discussed in the following sections. General Plan These are the steps that have already been completed in the General Plan work program: • The Planning Commission started the General Plan process with a study session, held on January 13, 2004. • The process then went onto a number of parallel tracks, with certain elements e.g. Economic Development being developed by collaboration befinreen staff and the Chamber of Commerce; and the Open Space Element being developed in cooperation with the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department and the Parks and Recreation Commission. • Staff is currently drafting the technical backgrounds to the other elements. The General Plan consists of seven 'elements' required by state statute including: o Land Use o Circulation -3- ____ _ _ .. .__ ...�_.__ ......___.__.�.. � ._