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office and residenti~1 are most likely to choose offices.1 Any proposal to increase the housing supply would certainly conform to many of the policies of the housing element. The value of housing has to be weighed against re- directing office uses to locate in other locations in the downtown or elsewhere in the City Having office workers in the downtown helps support downtown businesses. Does the City want to limit this customer base and replace it with downtown residents which may be smaller in total numbers? We may want to do this, but it will need to be thought out very carefully. Planning Options If the Council wishes to change the land use to promote more housing in the downtown, then it could do so in several ways. First, it could direct staff to immediately prepare an "area plan" as part of the General Plan Amendment to look at housing in and around the downtown. This could be done with an Interim Study ("IS") Zoning District or not. -The "IS" Zone is a special zoning district which would essentially put a moratorium on all new development in the downtown so as to give staff enough time to study the various land use issues, and prepare a recommendation. The advantage of such an approach is that it gives staff some time to review the land-use policy without worrying about pending development in the area. However, it does delay development and any resulting benefits for the downtown. Moratoriums are generally feared and disliked by property owners as they tend to prevent normal market transactions regarding all properties in the affected area. Second, staff could also study this issue as part of the upcoming General Plan process and not apply the "IS" zone. One advantage to this approach is that development could be on- going in the downtown during this process. However, it will take some time to complete the area plan. An area plan with broad public input will take approximately 4 t06 months. Finally, Council could also direct staff to immediately prepare an amendment to the "CA" zoning district, not only for 500 Arguello, but also for the entire "CA" district in the downtown. The CA district is a major zoning district in the downtown that does not permit housing uses. It mainly serves as an area for office uses on the fringes of the downtown. - Amending the "CA" district could have the potential of adding approximately 200 - 300 housing units in the downtown2. It could also have some negative effects staff haven't even thought about. This could be done in approximately 4 months and then staff could commence on the downtown area plan. ._.~. 1 Appraisers indicate that office use supports a higher land value. 2 There are approximately 30 acres of "CA" zoned land in the downtown. Assuming an average of 20 units per acre, thé zone could have a maximum potential of 600 units. However, given market and existing conditions it is most likely that a more realistic estimate might be 200 - 300 units, and this assumes that developers would choose to build residential over office uses. In the entire downtown there are about 250 units. - r.