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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 288 Amending Saratoga City Code Concerning Parking Requirements 2012_03_21ORDINANCE NO. 288 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE SARATOGA CITY CODE CONCERNING PARKING REQUIREMENTS THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SARATOGA DOES ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS: Section 1. Findings. The City Council finds and declares as follows: a. The City of Saratoga's Village business district has long been recognized as an area that has a mix of businesses that included cross section of retail, service, restaurant, and personal service industries that contribute to our residents' quality of life. b. The City's Village Design Guidelines and Village Improvement Project both contain numerous goals to create a vibrant downtown where the mix of retail and service based businesses exist. c. A nationwide economic recession has reduced the demand for many retail goods resulting in retail business failures and increasing retail space vacancies in the Village. d. There is surplus parking capacity in the Village and this capacity can be used to attract new uses to the Village to promote a more diverse economic climate. e. The General Plan designates the downtown Village area as CR - Retail Commercial. General Plan Land Use Policy LU 7.1 states, "The City shall consider the economic impacts of all land use decisions on the City." Accordingly, relaxing the parking requirements would provide greater flexibility in attracting tenants and/or promote greater investment in individual properties which would be consistent with Policy LU 7.1 and the City's goals to revitalize the Village. f. The Circulation and Scenic Highway Element of the General Plan states under Goal CI.7.0a, "Provide adequate parking for non-residential uses to minimize intrusion into adjacent neighborhoods.' CI.7.1, states, "Review on -street parking policies and utilization in the Village area" as a policy. The proposed amendment is consistent with the Circulation Element of the General Plan in that the proposed amendment relies on a review of current utilization of parking in the Village. g. Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act, the extension amendment is exempt under CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3), where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, the activity is not subject to CEQA. 1 Section 2. Adoption. The Saratoga City Code is hereby amended by adding the text shown in bold italics (example) and deleting the text shown in strikeout (example) in the sections listed below: 15-35.020 General requirements and regulations for off-street parking spaces. (k) Surplus parking in C -H district: Notwithstanding any other provision of this Code, for applications deemed complete between after March 1, 2006 and February 28, 2012, no off-street parking shall be required of any new, altered, or enlarged site or structure in any C -H district until such time as a total of forty-one thousand eight hundred fifty square feet of gross floor area beyond that existing on March 1, 2006 ("surplus floor area") has been constructed or otherwise allocated as set forth below in the C -H districts. This provision shall be administered as follows: (1) Allocation procedure: Surplus floor area shall be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis, based on the date that the application submittal is deemed complete by the Community Development Department; (2) New site or structure: The amount to be deducted from the surplus floor area for a new site or structure shall be the gross floor area calculated using the methodology for determining gross floor area in subsection (e) of this Section; (3) Alteration that increases floor area: The amount to be deducted from the surplus floor area for an alteration to an existing site or structure that increases the gross floor area of that site or structure shall be the difference between the new gross floor area and the existing gross floor area determined in accordance with subsection (e) of this Section; (4) Change in use that does not increase floor area: The amount to be deducted from the surplus floor area for a change in use to an existing site or structure that does not increase the gross floor area of that site or structure shall be determined as follows: The number of parking spaces required for the change in use, as determined by the off-street parking space requirements prescribed in Section 15-35.030, shall be multiplied by four hundred fifty square feet (450 SF) to determine the "changed use area". The number of parking spaces allocated to the prior use shall be multiplied by four hundred fifty square feet (450 SF) to determine the existing parking credit. The amount to be deducted from the surplus floor area shall be the changed use area minus the existing parking credit. For example: if a change in use requires four parking spaces, then the changed use area is equal to one thousand eight hundred square feet. If the previous use required one parking space, then existing parking credit is four hundred fifty square feet. The surplus floor area to be deducted would be one thousand three hundred fifty square feet; (5) Exception for parking districts: Notwithstanding subsection (4), above, no deduction from the surplus floor area shall be made or required for any change in use or alteration to an existing site or structure within a City parking district that does not increase the gross floor area of that site or structure; 2 (6) Removal of allocation: Allocation of surplus floor area to an application shall be removed at such time as the application is denied or withdrawn and, for applications that are approved, upon the expiration of that approval. If an application is modified by the applicant or the approval in a manner that changes the gross floor area associated with the application, the allocation shall be adjusted accordingly; (7) Allocation monitoring: The Community Development Department shall monitor and maintain an account showing the amount of surplus floor area that has been allocated pursuant to this Section and the amount that remains to be allocated; and (8) Projects in excess of available allocation: Any proposed new, altered, or enlarged site or structure in any C -H district that would add more gross floor area than the remaining surplus floor area shall comply with the off-street parking requirements set forth in subsection (a) of this Section and elsewhere in this Code as to the excess floor area unless the applicant applies for and pays the costs of a parking study to be completed by the City Traffic Engineer and that study is approved by the Planning Commission and determines that excess parking capacity is available in the C -H districts and recommends that the amount of surplus floor area be increased at least by an amount that would accommodate the proposed new, altered, or enlarged site or structure. Section 3. Severance Clause. The City Council declares that each section, sub -section, paragraph, sub -paragraph, sentence, clause and phrase of this ordinance is severable and independent of every other section, sub -section, paragraph, sub -paragraph, sentence, clause and phrase of this ordinance. If any section, sub -section, paragraph, sub -paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this ordinance is held invalid, the City Council declares that it would have adopted the remaining provisions of this ordinance irrespective of the portion held invalid, and further declares its express intent that the remaining portions of this ordinance should remain in effect after the invalid portion has been eliminated. Section 4. Publication. This ordinance or a comprehensive summary thereof shall be published once in a newspaper of general circulation of the City of Saratoga within fifteen days after its adoption. [The Remainder of This Page is Intentionally Blank] 3 The foregoing ordinance was introduced and read at the regular meeting of the City Council of the City of Saratoga held on the 7th day of March, 2012, and was adopted by the following vote following a second reading on the 21st of March, 2012: AYES: Council Member Manny Cappello, Emily Lo, Howard Miller, Vice Mayor Jill Hunter, Mayor Chuck Page NOES: None ABSENT: None ABSTAIN: None ATTEST:/`�� p Crystj/Morrow CITY CLERK APPROVED AS TO FORM: Richard Taylor CITY ATTORNEY Chuck Page MAYOR, CITY OF SARATOGA, FORNIA 4