Item 4: Ordinance Concerning State Motor Pool Site

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Measure 37: 2. Council asked whether this pending item would be subject to the proposed Measure 37 value-added charge. Staff response: If the council approves this Metro Plan amendment and zone change on February 26, 2007, the request will be approved before a value-added ordinance is adopted. At the time this question was posed, a draft ordinance was before the council. As the ordinance was drafted, the value-added charge would apply to applications pending when the value-added charge takes effect (normally 30 days after passage), but the charge would not apply to applications that had been approved prior to the effective date of the value-added ordinance. Trip generation estimates: 3. Council asked whether the trip generation estimates provided by the applicant might actually underestimate the potential volume of traffic potentially generated by the proposal, which specific uses were used in the estimates, and whether other uses were more likely. Staff response: The applicant's estimates assume that allowable uses under a High Density Residential (HDR) designation would likely be ground floor retail with 2 additional floors of residential uses; and that allowable uses under a Commercial designation would likely be ground floor retail with one additional floor of office. These are relatively modest development scenarios. However, staff found that these are reasonable assumptions, given site characteristics and the land uses most likely to occur on the site. In the applicant's assumptions of development scenarios, the most likely retail uses to occur are "specialty retail uses." The definitions and rates used in these assumptions are based on trip rates from Trip Generation, 7th Edition, published by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). The rate used for calculating retail trips is based on the ITE's "Specialty Retail Center” (land use 814) which is described by ITE as follows: “Specialty retail centers are generally small strip shopping centers that contain a variety of retail shops and specialize in quality apparel; hard goods; and services, such as real estate offices, dance studios, florists and small restaurants." A "Shopping Center" (land use 820) is a related use. However, such uses are typically characterized by at least 100,000 square feet of single story gross leasable area. There are also more intensive retail uses that could display higher trip generation characteristics (e.g. fast food, convenience store); however, such uses rely on significant volumes of pass-by traffic. The staff findings (Exhibit A of the ordinance) and the applicant's submittals note the site constraints which limit development of this size and intensity, such as the size of the parcel, its configuration, its relatively isolated location away from major travel corridors, ingress/egress limitations (frequent train service disrupts the High and Pearl Street accesses), and the space requirements for parking, landscaping, etc. Based on this, staff concluded that the applicant's assumptions are reasonable, given the site's characteristics. In addition, although these are modest development scenarios, the estimated traffic volumes are still high enough to trigger review under E.C. 9.8670, Traffic Impact Analysis Review (TIA). The assumed development scenario under High Density Residential would generate 119 pm peak hour trips, as compared to 155 pm peak hour trips under a Commercial development scenario. One threshold for a TIA is the generation of 100 or more pm peak hour trips. Therefore, both of the applicant's assumed development scenarios reflect the greatest intensity of development that could occur without further City review of traffic impacts. Through the TIA process, the City can require mitigation of impacts to transportation facilities to avoid any reduction in functional classification or performance standards. For these reasons, the change in Metro Plan designation and zoning would not result in levels of traffic that would reduce the functional classification or performance standards of adjacent transportation facilities.