AgdaPkt 2006-07-24 - Laserfiche WebLink

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6A Page 2 Major Findings Downtown Investment: Recently, the City, the Redevelopment Agency, and private developers have made significant investments to spearhead the revitalization of Downtown Redwood City. The City is also developing a Downtown Precise Plan which will aim to bring in housing within the downtown core as the next major push of the City's efforts. Generally, the plan boundaries are Brewster Avenue, Veterans Boulevard, Maple Street, and EI Camino Real. The subject site is not located within the Downtown Precise Plan boundaries. Allowing the introduction of a stand-alone residential use outside the downtown core, like 333 Main Street, diminishes the City's commitment and the importance to a successful downtown having residential development happen in the core of the downtown. General Plan: The applicant's proposal represents a significant change in land use forthis neighborhood. The City has been working on a General Plan update for the past several years. The process has included a number of community oriented meetings throughout the City which were hosted by the Planning Commission, in addition to substantial research by staff and consultants. Neither the public, consultants nor staff have proposed land use changes in the vicinity of the subject site that would include residential. Aside from this proposal, the Planning Commission has also not suggested residential development in this area in the context of past General Plan Land Use discussions. In fact, there are no residential land uses in this entire "swath" of the City as bounded by US 101, Veterans Boulevard, Whipple Avenue, and Woodside Road. Zoning: The applicant is proposing a Zoning Map Amendment to allow commercial, residential, and mixed use development. Amending the zoning of only the subject site could constitute a "Spot Zone." since it is a completely new introduction for residential land use that lacks context with the surrounding uses. Context: An island of housing amidst the existing uses on the 300 block of Main Street is out of context and does not support the City's Nice Places policy. It is apparent that the parcefization pattern and "super-blocks" of the area around the subject site are of a substantially different development pattern than the tight street grid of the downtown area. They also contain different land uses, none of which are residential. Not all new housing is going to be downtown or within walking distance of the train and grocery stores. However, when new multi-family housing is built outside of downtown, it should be located at appropriate infilllocations in and near existing residential areas or in places where an entire new neighborhood can be created. --