Item 2: Ordinances on Minor Code Amendments (MiCAP Remand)

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1 The city adopted the following to address whether Ordinance 20418 will significantly 2affect a transportation facility: 3“Due to the minor nature of these amendments, the amendments do not affect 4the provision of safe, convenient and economic transportation systems and do 5not significantly affect any transportation facilities.” Record 30. 6 Petitioner and the city have very different views about the likely impact of the 7Ordinance 20418 increased off-street parking requirement. Petitioner believes that with 8additional off-street parking places it necessarily follows that additional cars will be 9introduced into the South and West University Neighborhoods that would otherwise not 10travel to and through those neighborhoods. The city (and intervenors-respondents), on the 11other hand, believe that the students who now share the multi-bedroom apartments that only 12require a single off-street parking space per apartment are in most cases already bringing 13their cars to school, and the effect of requiring more off-street parking spaces will be to 14provide an off-street parking space to park cars that, for the most part, would otherwise be 15traveling the streets of the South and West University Neighborhoods anyway. Under 16petitioner’s theory, the additional parking spaces equal an additional car for almost every 17parking space; under the city’s and intervenors-respondents’ theory additional parking spaces 18will not significantly add new cars and simply would reduce the congestion that is generated 19when the cars owned by apartment residents are driven around in search of one of the limited 20supply of on-street parking spaces. 21There is not a great deal of evidence to support either theory, but intervenors- 22respondents cite some testimony that lends some support to their position. Record 705-06, 13 23846-47. Given (1) the lack of evidence that the additional parking spaces that will be 24required under Ordinance 20418 will materially increase the total number of vehicle trips in 13 We also note that while we have rejected petitioner’s contention that the amended stepped-up maximum building heights will necessarily decrease the density of development, petitioner fails to recognize that that aspect of its position in this matter, if true, likely would reduce the transportation facility impact of Ordinance 20418. Page 26