AgdaPkt 2020-08-10 Special Joint SA PFA

Browse Search

7.A. - Page 11 of 25 • Zoning: Downtown Precise Plan (DTPP) • Existing Use: Commercial & Residential, including Record Man, Cycle Gear Retail, Happy Donuts and a residential fourplex (114 Madison Avenue) Discussion: Of the originally submitted Gatekeeper projects within the DTPP, this is the only one that proposes only housing. There remain 302 market rate units and 199 affordable units left within the DTPP caps. Therefore, this project does not require a General Plan Amendment. The applicant has formally withdrawn their project from the Gatekeeper process and staff will proceed with evaluating this project under the remaining DTPP housing cap under a downtown planned community permit application. No Citv Council Gatekeeper action is reauired for this Droiect. The project would require a DTPP amendment due to the proposed removal of a historic resource (1322 EI Camino Real — Record Man) from the DTPP, which would require Planning Commission and City Council review and action. While this building is considered a historic resource to be preserved in the DTPP, staff has recently received a historic analysis and subsequent peer review that finds that the property does not qualify as a historic resource. The Historic Resources Advisory Committee (HRAC) reviewed current and past historic evaluations for this building at their June 11, 2020 hearing and agreed with the recent determination that the property is not historic, in line with the submitted peer review. The full application will return to the HRAC for a recommendation prior to review by the Planning Commission and City Council. FISCAL IMPACT AND RESOURCES While the City Council provided direction at prior meetings as it relates to staffing resources and workload, Planning staff continue to assess the full fiscal impacts of Covid-19 and how they affect current workload priorities. 1. Hiring Freeze - On December 16, 2019, the City Council approved two additional full-time Planning staff positions to help process complex land use applications and long range community planning initiatives. While the Planning Division did make some senior -level internal staff promotions prior to Covid-19, the economic impacts of the pandemic have resulted in a largely non-public safety hiring freeze until long-term economic impacts are better understood, likely not until later in fall of this year. As a result, these additional Planning staff positions remain vacant. In light of this, the Planning Division has fewer than expected staff resources to implement the existing and anticipated workload (see Land Use Studies and Projects Timeline, Attachment B). 2. On-call planning services - At the same meeting, City Council also approved contracts with three professional planning firms to provide on-call assistance for the Gatekeeper projects. While the Planning Division anticipates using these on-call services to help process some of these projects, the proposed revised budget for FY2020-2021 will provide greater insight into the funds and resources the Planning Division will be able to allocate to on-call contracts. While an estimate cannot currently be provided, it is possible that there will be some reduction in the anticipated available funds for these on-call contracts. 3. Grants - On November 25, 2019 and May 18, 2020, City Council approved resolutions for non- competitive grants (SB2 funds and LEAP grant respectively), totaling $610,000 in financial assistance for long range planning activities that plan for additional housing or accelerate the Page 11 of 13 City of Redwood City 1017 Middlefield Road, Redwood City, CA. 94063 Tel: 650-780-7000 www.redwoodcity.ore 61