AgdaPkt 2000-09-11 - Laserfiche WebLink

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9; Þ\--IJ use of land for offices, except conditions on the design of a site when a PO (Planned Development Permit) or an Architectural Permit is required. 3. Changes to Parking Standards for offices - All Districts. As land values and office rents have continued to climb in Redwood City, there are more employees per 1,000 square feet of office area than in earlier times. When Redwood City's parking standards were written, it was assumed that there were 3.3 employees per 1,000 square feet of office area. Today this assumption is no longer valid. There are 4 to 6 employees per 1,000 square feet of office space. Some say there are 7 employees per 1,000 square feet of office space. Therefore, staff recommends modifying the parking requirement for all offices to 1 space for every 250 square feet of gross floor area from 1 space for every 300 feet of gross floor area, except for parcels within a radius of 1,500. feet of the Caltrain Station where the requirement would be 1 space per 300 square feet. The proposed standard, the equivalent of 4 spaces for every 1,000 square feet of office space, will be applied to all zoning districts. (Menlo Park requires 6 spaces per 1,000 s.f. of gross floor area in the C-4 district along EI Camino Real.) The proposed standard together with required TOM (Transportation Demand) programs should meet the demand arising from more than 4 employees per 1,000 sq. ft. of office. Palo Alto and Sunnyvale also use a parking standard of 1 space for every 250 square feet of office. Additionally, this parking standard is consistent with the parking that some members of the development community have proposed with projects, as more parking is favorable to the lessee. The situation is urgent because staff reports that as buildings convert to more intensive uses, the City is being systematically "under parked;" parking is spilling over on to City streets; double and triple parking are occurring in some employee parking lots and City streets which could impair emergency access. 4. Definitions The following definitions have been added to clarify the proposed interim measures. They are specifically described in the attached ordinance. . Administrative Office and Service Facility . Business Office . Professional Office . Floor Area Ratio . Financial Service . Ground Floor . Ground Floor Dependent Offices . Lot . Lot Area . Lot Size . Neighborhood . Neighborhood Serving . Use, "Change of'. The definitions are necessary at this time to provide clarity of purpose to pertinent Zoning Districts and to apply the recommendations regarding development standards. These definitions address the most urgent concerns regarding office "creep" into neighborhood retail and the downtown retail zones. It should be noted that the City of San Mateo adopted an Urgency Ordinance on September 5, 2000 to address this issue in their 6