Planning Commission Meeting Update

August 1, 2007                  Wednesday                                7:00 p.m.

CALL TO ORDER/PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 

ROLL CALL:      Commissioners Dan Carpenter, Michael Multari, John Ashbaugh, Amanda Brodie, Diana Gould-Wells, Vice-Chairperson Charles Stevenson and Chairperson Carlyn Christianson 

ACCEPTANCE OF AGENDA:  

PUBLIC COMMENT:   

PUBLIC HEARINGS: 

1.        Downtown Core.  R/TA 50-06: Review of Zoning Regulations amendments recommended to implement new General Plan policies and programs relating to building heights and intensity limits in the downtown core; City of San Luis Obispo, applicant.   (Continued from 7-25-07) (Michael Codron) 

On a 6-1 vote (Multari), the Planning Commission forwarded a recommendation to the City Council regarding the draft downtown building height ordinance.  The August 1st special meeting was the third Planning Commission meeting on the height ordinance.  During the previous two meetings, the Commission heard public testimony from approximately 50 speakers and received written comments from over 30 individuals.

The Planning Commission’s recommendation reflects the public testimony, the recommendations of staff and the consensus building approach employed by Chairwoman Christianson to work through each section of the ordinance and develop agreement before moving on to the next.  The results are summarized below: 

1.  Performance Standard a. was modified to increase the average floor area maximum from 1,100 square feet to 1,500 square feet.  If at least 60% of the floor area of the building is devoted to housing (excluding parking) there would be no floor area limitation. 

2.  A new Performance Standard was added to address building height limitations on sloping sites. 

3.  A new Performance Standard was added to specify a minimum setback for building portions above 50 feet.  The standard ensures that upper building walls will generally not be visible to pedestrians on the sidewalk along the building’s street frontage. 

 4.  A Policy Objective for historic preservation was made into a Performance Standard.  As recommended by the Planning Commission (and previously recommended by the Cultural Heritage Committee), projects on sites with historic buildings must provide for the preservation or adaptive reuse of those buildings in a manner consistent with City policy to be eligible for increased building height. 

5.  The Planning Commission added LEED and SLO Green Build ratings as alternatives to meeting the requirement for tall buildings to exceed California energy efficiency requirements (Title 24) by 15%. 

6.  After augmenting the Performance Standards as described above, the Planning Commission reduced the number of Policy Objectives required for approval of buildings between 60 and 75 feet to “at least two,” where four objectives had previously been recommended.  The Commission is also recommending a finding for approval of buildings between 60 and 75 feet that would require the Commission to determine that the “public benefits associated with the project significantly outweigh any detrimental impacts associated with additional height.”  The Commission also recommended that in weighing potential public benefits the Commission shall consider objectives related to affordable and workforce housing, economic vitality, historic preservation and open space preservation to be especially important.

7.  Policy Objective c. was modified to require residential density greater than or equal to 36 units per acre with average floor area not to exceed 1,100 square feet, increased from 800 square feet. 

8.  Additional minor changes were made to the formatting and content of the proposed ordinance. 

The City Council is tentatively scheduled to consider the Planning Commission’s recommendation on Tuesday, September 4th. 

The meeting ADJOURNED at 11:00 p.m. to the regular meeting of the Planning Commission scheduled for Wednesday, August 8, 2007, at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber of City Hall, 990 Palm Street.