AgdaPkt 2012-05-21 - Laserfiche WebLink

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8.A. - Page 1 RE PO RT To the Honorable Mayor and City Council From the Cit Mana er May 21, 2012 SUBJECT Amendments to the Downtown Precise Plan RECOMMENDATION Hold a Public Hearing and adopt a Resolution (Attachment 1) to amend Book II - Development Regulations of the Downtown Precise Plan (DTPP). BACKGROUND On January 24, 2011 the City Council adopted the Downtown Precise Plan. The plan has worked as hoped and is considered by both staff and the development community to be a success. Over the past year the City successfully reviewed and approved several projects efficiently and quickly because of the Plan. The global economic recession is still causing difficulty in the leasing of ground-floor retail spaces. Nationwide, retail activity has been in decline over the past few years, and Redwood City is not immune to this problem. Ground floor vacancies in the Downtown core have dropped from a high of 30% in July of 2010 to approximately 20% today. The rate is still above industry standards of 5% to 10%. Adding flexibility to the Plan by allowing a broader range of uses in select areas and for limited situations will better enable Downtown to remain active during economic fluctuations. Business attraction efforts by the City's Economic Development staff focus on active commercial uses, such as bakeries, furniture sales, and apparel that strengthen the vitality and business mix in the downtown. The addition of active, rather than inactive, uses encourages pedestrian activity, provides the incentive for longer visitor stays, promotes a lively street atmosphere, and adds to the visual interest of the street. Staff's analysis of sales tax generators indicates that there are significant gaps in the City's retailing in areas such as furniture and apparel. These are businesses staff continues to target in its outreach and promotional efforts. It is worthwhile to note that in discussions with owners of such businesses that there is simply not yet the volume of foot-traffic for them to make the move at this time. However, they do acknowledge that as housing and other uses take hold in the downtown, that there would be the market for them.