AgdaPkt 2014-01-13 Interview, Closed and Regular

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9.A. - Page 1 REPORT To the Honorable Mayor and City Council From the City Manager January 13, 2014 SUBJECT Inner Harbor Planning Update RECOMMENDATION Accept staff report on the status of the Inner Harbor Specific Plan BACKGROUND In June 2012 the City Council held a study session on the Inner Harbor to begin to understand a process to create a vision for this area. In March 2013, the City Council approved the recommendation to form a fifteen - member Task Force to create an Inner Harbor Specific Plan. Since June 2013 that Task Force has met five times. ANALYSIS The Task Force is supported by a project manager and the consulting firm of MIG, which is preparing the Specific Plan, and ESA, which is preparing the Environmental Impact Report. The initial meetings provided the Task Force members and public the opportunity to present ideas and images of places and uses where land and water meet. Beginning in October, the consulting teams presented technical studies ranging from General Plan intents to sea level rise to jurisdictional roles. The technical studies form the basis of the eventual EIR, but they also provide the fundaments for the Task Force to move from a universe of possibilities to a finite and definable Plan. On January 14, the Task Force will begin the process of folding the technical reports into the making of the Specific Plan. In November 2013 all of the draft technical reports were provided to the Task Force so they could begin reading and digesting the information. The technical reports identify a number of constraints to development of the area. Sea level rise is potentially the most interesting of constraints, in that there is a range of solutions for addressing the condition, depending on the recommended uses for the area the Task Force recommends to the Council. The City Council has the ultimate say in the Plan. It is clear from the technical reports that left unaddressed the impacts of sea level rise by end -of- century will daily inundate much of the study area. Assuming the information is clear and enables the Task Force to narrow the parameters of development and use of the land and water within the Plan area, the environmental consultants will be able to begin the critical path elements of the EIR, specifically the Traffic and Transportation analyses, with the goal to release the Draft EIR in August 2014.