AgdaPkt 2000-07-24 - Laserfiche WebLink

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&jA ..~ Office development in Redwood City is transforming the activity and character of the commercial and industrial areas in the following ways: . Loss of potential housing sites, . Displacement of non-office commercial and industrial by offices; . Visual impacts of streets filled with offices and gateway locations with massive offices; . Increase in peak period traffic associated with office use and attendant reduction in air quality; . More intensive office use than in the past - more employees per acre on high-priced land; . Conversion of sites designated mixed use to office use. (Mixed use is general commercial with a high-density residential combining district - CG-R); . Long lasting uses (i.e., office) put into place ahead of the opportunity to re-examine land use alternatives during the current General Plan Update. a) Housing The Council has demonstrated an active interest in sites for multi-family housing to meet the rising demand for housing and has designated land along much of EI Camino Real and along Woodside Road between EI Camino Real and the Alameda de las Pulgas as mixed use - commercial and/or high-density housing. Still, since office development generates a much higher return to the landowner, the economics favor office development. Given the present choice of office, high-density residential, or mixed office/high-density residential, office development is the preferred choice from an economic perspective. If the Council prefers that the EI Camino Real and Woodside Road corridors be used for housing, then allowing offices as a permitted use is a disincentive to housing. Mr. Tim Kelly of Keyser Marston Associates, Inc. stated that, in these locations, office development has a land value approximately seven times greater than multi-family housing. In order to encourage housing, the City would have to level the playing field by either eliminating office as a permitted use or severely limiting office buildout through stricter development standards. In addition to satisfying the housing demand, multi-family housing generates fewer peak period trips than office development, which is another important consideration to the community because intersections such as EI Camino Real & Jefferson and EI Camino Real & Whipple are projected to reach capacity by 2020, unless traffic fee projects are built. 2 b) Community Character Gateways define part of the character of Redwood City. The use and appearance of gateways is a source of community identity. Unified design standards, such as required street tree planting, choice of trees, building style, marine orientation, systematic public access to waterways, and sign standards reinforce the character that already exists in many parts of the City. The time to require participation in programs, such as 2 Sources: 500 Arguello Office Development Transportation Impact Analysis, Fehr & Peers, June 2000 and Redwood City Traffic Impact Mitigation Fee Study, Fehr & Peers, February 2000, 3