AgdaPkt 2007-03-26 - Laserfiche WebLink

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7A Page 5 available on Main Street. At this time, it appears that some leakage may already be unden.~lay, in that se~~eral new restaurants and retail tenants have located on Main Street within the last two years, while fewer new tenancies have occurred on Broadway. This has also been an unusual time for Redwood City's Downtown in that 85,000 square feet of new retail space was brought into the Downtown market with the completion of On Broadway. Currently, there are about six vacant storefronts on Main Street between Broadway and Middlefield Road. Staff has heard that some of these vacancies may be filled within the next year. Recommendation: City Council has concerns about Main Street uses and staff recommends the following (in order of preference): 1. Leave the Precise Plan as is (allow ground floor retail or office uses on Main Street); or 2. Allow offices on the ground floor on Main Street but limit office uses to 30% of the entire Main Street parcel frontage. Currently, approximately 20% of the Main Street frontage is in office or other non-retail use. Non-retail uses would still be required to provide aretail-like shopfront. !n this way, there could be limited offices on Main Street; or 3. Allow office uses on the ground floor of Main Street, but only certain types, such as those in design-related fields such as architects, interior designers, and similar uses; or 4. Disallow office uses on Main Street by determining that the limited number of remaining vacancies on Main Street does not threaten the retail viability of Broadway. Further determine that the historic character of Main Street is as a retail area and that the existing historic building stock with its associated smaller tenant spaces allows for special local one-of-a-kind businesses that the existing larger tenant spaces on Broadway do not support. Monitor the impact on Broadway via six- month inventories of vacancies on Main Street and Broadway; or 5. Make office uses conditional. Signs in the Downtown: How will the City cads enforce illegal signs in the Downtown? Response: Currently, sign code enforcement is carried out on acomplaint-only basis. Code enforcement staff has been reduced over the past five years due to budget constraints. Even though there is limited sign code enforcement, the Downtown Precise Plan sign section, together with the proposed new sign ordinance, has specific Standards and Guidelines for high quality signage. These regulations will specify what is allowed more clearly and should discourage misunderstandings as well as the installation of signs which may not conform to our Standards and Guidelines. The City is also investigating the use of "volunteer community enforcers" which could assist in identifying code enforcement needs for signs in the downtown.