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10/11/2010 Attachment 1.A the same extent as the New General Plan, the City hereby rejects Alternative 2 from further consideration. 3. Alternative 3 - -- Increased Housing Alternative a) Findings. Alternative 3, which would increase the availability of housing in the Plan area, but reduce the level of non - residential development by lowering the maximum FAR under certain land use designations in the general plan, and changing the land use designations for certain areas in Redwood City, as discussed at pages 5 -24 to 5 -33 of the Draft EIR. b) Explanation. Like Alternative 2, Alternative 3 would establish lower maximum FARs under several land use designations as compared to the proposed New General Plan. Specifically, Alternative 3 would lower the maximum FARs for the Commercial — Regional, Commercial — Office Professional /Technology, Mixed Use — Corridor, Mixed Use — Neighborhood, and Mixed Use — Live /Work land use designations from 1.0, as proposed by the New General Plan, to 0.8. Like Alternative 2, Alternative 3 would also change the proposed land use designations for certain areas, allowing some new residential development that would not otherwise be permitted, but reducing the level of permitted non - residential development. Specifically, Alternative 3 would change the land use designations in several areas from Commercial - Office Professional /Technology to Mixed -Use — Corridor. These re- designations would reduce the level of non - residential development permitted in these areas by reducing the maximum allowable FARs on these parcels from 1.0 to 0.8. At the same time, these changes would permit some new residential development in these areas that would not be permitted under the proposed New General Plan. Finally, Alternative 3 would preserve the existing `Open Space' general plan land use designation for the "Abernathy Site" (located on the north side of U.S. 101 adjacent to Redwood Creek), thereby precluding any new development on this site. The New General Plan, by contrast, would permit some new residential and non - residential development on this site by re- designating a substantial portion of the site as `Mixed Use — Waterfront,' while continuing the existing Open Space designation for the remainder of the site. While Alternative 3 would be expected to generate 0.5 percent more housing and 0.4 percent more population growth than the New General Plan, it would be expected to generate 2 percent fewer jobs and 4 percent less non - residential growth than the New General Plan. Alternative 3 would implement the same transportation and infrastructure improvements as would be implemented under the New General Plan. Alternative 3 would be expected to result in slightly less severe direct impacts relating to aesthetics, biological resources, groundwater recharge, groundborne vibration, traffic, and energy usage, as compared to the proposed New General Plan. (DEIR at p. 5 -34 to ATTY /RESO /RESO.2055 /ATTACHMENT1.A 36 #15059 10/13/10 MUFF # 601