AgdaPkt 2000-07-24 - Laserfiche WebLink

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CJIlS- REPORT To the Honorable Mayor and City Council From the City Manager August 28, 2000 Su~ect . REPORT 1 - Zoning Ordinance: Definitions, Uses, Development Standards. and Map Amendments Interim Urgency Ordinance to modify and expand the definitions, uses, development standards and changes to the zoning map related to commercial and industrial zoning regulations in the Zoning Ordinance. Recommendation 1, Introduce an Interim Urgency Ordinance adding and amending definitions, uses, development standards, and changes to the zoning map in the Zoning Ordinance. 2. Direct staff to take the issues to the Planning Commission for their recommendations to the City Council regarding amending the Zoning Ordinance definitions, uses, development standards, and changes to the zoning map. The Planning Commission, will hold a Public Hearing on the subjects and make recommendations for amendments to the Council. Background . On July 24, 2000, the City Council introduced (and on August 14, 2000 adopted) an Interim Urgency Ordinance placing a pause on development for a period of 45 days on office development and conversions on parcels one acre or larger in the CG, CG-R, CB, and CN districts throughout the City (except the Bair Island Study Area). In so doing, the City Council directed staff to prepare Interim Development Standards which address the major issues in the commercial and industrial districts relative to office development and conversion. Staff has prepared recommendations for the City Council to focus on areas of the City where offices are an allowable use, and on areas where a variety of uses and balance of uses are intended. Since July 24, new information has been published related to the increase in the monthly rents per square foot of premium office space between the first and second quarters of 2000. The information, presented in Attachment 1, shows the rapid rate of change, and by inference, the demand for more land for offices and more conversion of land in non-office use to office use. Ultimately, the demand for offices will be satisfied because buyers of office land can out bid other users of land such as retail, housing, nonprofits (daycare, private schools, non-profit housing developers, etc.), unless local governments require a balance of uses within their jurisdictions. The substantial increase in office rents and the actual rent for premium office space in Redwood City of $7.75 per square foot (third highest in the region after Palo Alto and Menlo Park) indicates that the impacts of office development (additional jobs, and high peak period traffic and attendant air pollution, displacement of other land uses where permitted) will be greater than previously considered. ..~_-.4 .~....T