AgdaPkt 2012-05-21 - Laserfiche WebLink

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8.A. - Page 9 ATTACHMENT 1 RESOLUTION NO. RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF REDWOOD CITY AMENDING BOOK II OF THE DOWNTOWN PRECISE PLAN WHEREAS, on January 24, 2011, the City Council of the City of Redwood City adopted the Downtown Precise Plan by Resolution No. 15087; and WHEREAS, the Downtown Precise Plan was created for the purpose of reviving the heart of Redwood City, and sets forth the primary means of regulating land use and development in the City's Downtown Precise Plan Area; and WHEREAS, during the first year of implementation a need has been identified for an update to allow for additional clarity, improved flexibility, and alternative land use designations; and WHEREAS, the global economic recession has resulted in a decline of retail activity nationwide causing a high volume of ground floor vacancies in Downtown Redwood City. For the last several years, the vacancy rate has persisted at percentages well above the industry standard of 5-10 percent. Despite continued efforts to revitalize Downtown the vacancies continue to offer the perception of pour economic health. Filling these storefronts with temporary ground floor office uses provides the City with the opportunity to address the market condition, provide a short term solution for offices that wish to locate in Downtown Redwood City, provide some activity within storefronts throughout each block, generate additional foot traffic for our street and create additional patrons for the existing businesses; and WHEREAS, limiting the Use Permit to a term of 5 years, with the possibility of one year extensions, provides the City with the assurance that these storefronts can revert back to the intended vision of vibrant entertainment and retail land uses within the core of Downtown with the return of economic conditions that will support the intended uses. Furthermore, ensuring a minimum term of 5 years for the perspective office tenant and/or property owner allows them to amortize tenant improvement costs over a reasonable period of time; and WHEREAS, establishing a methodology that turns on or off with the vacancy rate allows for the land uses to respond to the market conditions without the need for additional code revisions. Limiting the ground floor office to a maximum of 40 percent of any block face on Broadway provides the City assurances that the majority of each block will have an entertainment or retail land uses as prescribed by the DTPP, that no one block will have an over concentration of ground floor office space; and ATTY/RES0.2237/AMENDING BOOK II OF THE DTPP REV:05-10-12 VR Page 1 of 21