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q.A-1 <br />REPORT <br />To the Honorable Mayor and City Council <br />From the City Manager <br />January 27, 2003 <br />Subject <br />Ordinance amending Section 18.253 of the City Code relating to Transportation Impact <br />Fees <br />Recommendation <br />Approve the recommended amendment to add Section 18.253 A.8, which would allow <br />traffic fee exemptions as an incentive for development in the Downtown Area. <br />Background <br />In April 2000, the City Council approved Article XV, Transportation Impact Fee, to <br />provide for the financing of street, mass transit, and pedestrian improvements in all of <br />Redwood City, except Redwood Shores. <br />A study had been prepared that detailed the projects, their financing, and the fees to be <br />paid. The fee calculations are based on PM peak hour trips. <br />The revitalization of the Downtown is the highest priority for the City Council, but the <br />Transportation Impact Fee could be a substantial barrier to enticing new development <br />downtown during this economic downstream. This recommended Ordinance <br />Amendment would exempt all uses, except office, from paying the Transportation <br />Impact Fee until July 1, 2006. The area of exemption is within the area bound by <br />Veterans Boulevard, Maple Street, El Camino Real, and Brewster Avenue. The <br />Downtown Area Plan focuses heavily on the creation of housing and an enhanced retail <br />environment downtown. This exemption seeks to create an incentive for such <br />development in the next four (4) years. <br />The "loss" of Transportation Impact Fees will be more than made up with <br />Redevelopment Agency money to be spent on pedestrian, transit, and traffic <br />improvements in the Downtown. Some of the improvements anticipated are Winslow <br />Street, the Caltrain /Sequoia Station link to Downtown, and pedestrian improvements <br />throughout Downtown. The incentive will primarily be for new residential and retail <br />uses, not office; and since much of the ground floor retail space exists, it would not be <br />subject to the fee anyway. <br />The exemption is anticipated to be an incentive for new retail and housing. The <br />proposed Ordinance would require approval of the land use by July 1, 2005, and <br />substantial construction must be undertaken by July 1, 2006, to obtain the exemption. <br />-1- <br />