AgdaPkt 2005-10-03 - Laserfiche WebLink

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¿/-!- 4- ATTACHMENT 1 Response to Questions from the Third Study Session (August 22, 2004) 1. Provide the three things that make a Downtown Plan a success and the three things that make it fail. Michael Freedman will address this question in his opening comments. 2. What is the economic consultant's basis for believing that the furniture business is under represented downtown? The economists were not recommending that furniture stores, typically large buildings, be located in downtown. They were suggesting home furnishing sales. Sales of home furnishings occur in smaller spaces, are more compatible with a traditional downtown, and this sector is under-represented in downtown Redwood City. 3. If a business that is currently operating in the proposed 'arts district' is no longer a permitted use under the Precise Plan (in planner parlance it is 'legal non-conforming') can the business expand? If yes, to what extent? This is a good question. Staff will make a recommendation to the Planning Commission in the draft Precise Plan and this recommendation will be forwarded to Council for consideration. 4. What building heights are necessary for developers to break even on projects? If a project was reduced by one story, how much would the City have to subsidize the project to reach the break even point? The answer does depend on the type of construction planned for any given site. However, for a prototype downtown site and product, the 8-story level is the "break even" number of stories. If the building height was lower than this, the project would not be feasible without City subsidy, as it does not meet the developer's minimum profit requirements (15%) for this type of construction. The removal of one floor would bring the developer's return on investment to approximately 13.3%. For the prototype site and product this would mean a required City subsidy of $1.75M. 5. What residential developers are looking at developing in downtown? Overten different residential developers have expressed interest in developing in downtown in the past six months. Most have been considering market rate condominiums although some non-profit developers are also seeking sites, and one at least is considering senior housing. Some have focused on a particular site; others have looked at multiple locations. We have not listed the names here because this might interfere with negotiations they may be pursuing. 6. How will the plan deal with design guidelines? Provide a couple of examples. We think that this will be most effectively answered in the draft plan that will be reviewed by the City. Staff will make proposals which the Planning Commission will review and make recommendations to Council. 4