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IREPORT <br /> To the Honorable Mayor and .C..ity Council <br /> FrOm the C~ty Manager <br /> <br />Subject <br />Ordinance Amending the Redwood City Zoning Ordinance to Add Section 52, Planned <br />Community District or P-District <br /> <br />Recommendation <br />The Planning Commission recommends this Ordinance amendment to the City Council. <br /> <br />Background <br />As part of the on-going effort to change the way Redwood City approaches the planning <br />process, and to get ahead of the curve in terms of development requests, staff began <br />looking at different planning tools used by other communities. One of these tools was the <br />Planned Community or 'P' District, in which the land use regulations are specified in a <br />Precise Plan rather than in a conventional zone designation (e.g. R-l, CG etc). This has <br />been used for some decades in Palo Alto and Mountain View and is a tested approach. <br /> <br />As the Council knows, the General Plan is at the top of the hierarchy of planning <br />documents. Then come plans that deal with specific areas of the city- Specific Plans and <br />Area Plans. Finally, the Zoning Ordinance implements these Plans. <br /> <br />Conventional zoning creates standardized land use categories that are then applied to a <br />variety of areas throughout the city. As an example, Redwood City has a zone called <br />General Commercial (CG). The requirements of this zone are the same everywhere in the <br />City. However, the CG zone has been applied to areas as varied as: <br /> <br /> · Pete's Harbor and Marina Shores <br /> · The shopping center at Woodside and Broadway <br /> · Parcels fronting on El Camino Real and Woodside Road <br /> <br />In some areas the standardized zone approach is effective; in other areas, the <br />standardized zoning provisions may not fit well with what the city is planning for the area. <br />The advantage of a Precise Plan is that it allows the city to fine-tune the land-use <br />regulations for a particular area to accomplish the city's objectives. For example, a Precise <br />Plan for an area of downtown could: <br /> <br /> · Mix both residential and commercial uses in the same area but not have this mix <br /> in other areas where it would not be relevant or helpful. <br /> · Fine-tune the list of permitted retail uses to limit it to only those retail uses that <br /> the City has determined are appropriate in a walkable downtown <br /> · Create special pedestrian-oriented sign regulations appropriate for a walkable <br /> <br /> <br />