AgdaPkt 2005-12-05 - Laserfiche WebLink

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¿'¿-/ REPORT To the Honorable Mayor and City Council From the City Manager December 5, 2005 Subject Initiation of process to establish an Active Community Parkland Standard for Redwood City. Recommendation The Parks and Recreation Commission (Commission) recommends that: 1) Council adopt a resolution of intention, directing the Planning Commission to consider an amendment to the 1990 General Plan to establish an Active Community Park Land Standard of 3 acres/1 ,000 residents, and 2) By motion direct staff to develop a nexus study for the purpose of considering a Park Development Fee Ordinance in Redwood City. Background The Commission presented the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department Strategic Plan, to Council on September 27,2004. A major focus of our presentation was the Commission's desire to work on increasing the amount of active community parkland available to residents and identifying mechanisms that would finance this increase. At that time, the specific actions contemplated were included under Objective A2 of our plan: . Develop and implement a standard for developer contribution to Redwood City community parkland, . Develop a fee that residential and commercial developers would pay in lieu of onsite land dedication. The first step in achieving this goal is to establish a "park acres per 1,000 residents" standard for Redwood City which requires an amendment of the City's Strategic General Plan. The City's current General Plan, Land Use Element (L 11), states, "That park land should be provided in quantity and locations so as to be available for the use of all Redwood City residents equally." However, the lack of specific quantification in the Land Use Element still means that as each new development is brought forward the amount and type of park land has to be negotiated as part of the Planning process. We found that among 12 Peninsula cities surveyed, Redwood City and Burlingame were the only ones that did not have a quantified standard and associated park development ordinance. The Parks and Recreation Commission feels strongly that we need to insure that the residents of Redwood City do not lose ground, with respect to park acres per 1,000 residents as new developments are built. Just having a standard does not mean that the developer will comply with the Commissions recommendation for adding active community parkland to their proposed development. There needs to be choices or a system in place to provide a developer with alternatives in complying with these standards. For example, if a requirement for development of active parkland or a fee in-lieu of development were in place, compliance with an active parkland standard could occur by giving choices of dedicating land or paying an appropriate fee, or a combination of land and fee that would be seen as a way to mitigate the impact of the proposed development on Redwood City's parkland inventory.