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HomeMy WebLinkAbout8.1 PLPA 2010-00015 ZOA Shared Parking G~~~ o~~ U~ ~ i9~ d='=~• ~az STAFF REPORT ~~~~1 PLANNING COMMISSION ~~~~~/l IFOR ~ DATE: June 15, 2010 TO: Pianning Commission SUBJECT: PUBLIC HEARING: PLPA-2010-00015 Zoning Ordinance Amendments (Legislative) - Amendments to Title 8 of the Dublin Municipal Code (Zoning Ordinance) related to Shared Parking including a rnodification to Chapter 8.76 (Off-Street Parking and Loading). Report prepared by Marnie R. Waffle, Senior Planner EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: As part of the 2009/2010 Goals and Objectives, the City Council established goals to review parking standards and examine the City's Zoning Ordinance requirements to streamline entitlements for businesses seeking to locate in the City of Dublin. As part of this effort, the City Council has adopted Zoning Ordinance amendments related to Indoor Recreational Facilities, Large Family Day Care Homes, Eating and Drinking Establishments, and Outdoor Seating. Currently proposed is an amendment to Chapter 8.76 (Off-Street Parking and Loading Regulations) as it relates to shared parking. Shared parking occurs when two or more uses are located on the same site and share a parking lot. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the Planning Commission: 1) Receive Staff presentation; 2) Open the public hearing; 3) Take testimony from the public; 4) Close the public hearing and deliberate; and 5) Adopt a Resolution recommending C~ty Council adoption of Zoning Ordinance Amendments to Chapter 8.76 (Off-Street Parking and Loading Regulations) as it relates to shared parking. I ~~I ~ J`~ III J(Ylt~.~~.,~._. a.~i.. 'I Submitted By: e~vi ed By: Marnie R. Waffle J Baker Senior Planner Planning Manager ~.M ~~~,~.qr.~, ~ COPIES TO: File 1 ITEM NO.: • + Page 1 of 5 G:IPA#120101PLPA-2010-00015 ZOA Shared ParkinglPC 06.15.101PCSR 06.15.10.doc DESCRIPTION: As part of the 2009/2010 Goals and Objectives, the City Council established goals to review parking standards and examine the City's Zoning Ordinance requirements to streamline entitlements for businesses seeking to locate in the City of Dublin. On April 20, 2010, Staff presented an informational report to the City Council on shared parking. The City Council directed Staff to prepare Zoning Ordinance Amendments that would al4ow shared parking to be reviewed through the Minor Use Permit process. Amendments are proposed to Chapter 8.76 (Off-Street Parking and Loading Regulations) as it relates to shared parking to modify the permitting process from a Conditional Use Permit approved by the Zoning Administrator to a Minor Use Permit approved by the Community Development Director. ANALYSIS: Chapter 8.76 (Off-Street Parking and Loading Regulations) of the Dublin Zoning Ordinance contains parking requirements for all Use Types. When two or more Use Types are located on the same site and share a parking lot, the amount of parking required is the sum of each Use Type. The Zoning Ordinance does not contain a shared parking standard: When the sum of each Use Type is more than the amount of parking provided on the site, adjustments or reductions may be granted. These adjustments include compact car substitution; motorcycle space substitution; off-site parking; parking exceptions (10% reduction); parking reductions for an individual use; parking reductions for, shared parking; and parking variances. A brief discussion of each type of parking adjustment is included below. • Compact car substitution is allowed in parking lots with 20 or more parking spaces. It is commonly used in newer shopping center designs and has the potential to yield additional parking due to the reduced size requirements of a compact car parking stall. Up to 35% of the required parking spaces may be provided with compact stalls. • Motorcycle parking is allowed in parking lots with 40 or more parking spaces. In such cases, one regular parking space may be replaced with motorcycle parking for every 40 required spaces. • Off-Site Parking is allowed with the approval of a Conditional Use Permit by the Zoning Administrator when the required number of parking spaces cannot be provided on the same site as the approved use. • Parking exceptions may be granted by the Community Development Director for up to 10% of the required parking spaces due to unusual design situations. • A Parking Reduction for an Individual Use is allowed with the approval of a Conditional Use Permit by the Zoning Administrator when the Applicant believes the number of parking spaces required for their use is not applicable because the use would function differently than the generic Use Type and associated parking standards contained in the Zoning Ordinance. • A Parking Reduction for Shared Parking is also allowed with the approval of a Conditional Use Permit by the Zoning Administrator when two or more adjacent Use Types, by their nature and operating times, would not conflict with one another. Shared Parking reductions are the most common parking reductions requested and typically occur in commercial shopping centers or light industrial zoning districts. The process to approve a parking reduction for shared parking is the subject of this Staff Report. 2 of 5 • A Parking Variance is allowed with the approval of a Variance by the Zoning Administrator, Planning Commission or City Council for all other requests to deviate from the required parking standards. This option is rarely, if ever, used as the other parking exceptions have been found to be adequate to accommodate requests for parking reductions. This report focuses on shared parking which occurs when two or more Use Types are located on the same site and share a parking lot. Shared Parkinq Shared parking occurs any time two or more Use Types are located on the same site and share a parking lot such as in a shopping center. As noted above, the Dublin Zoning Ordinance does not have a parking standard for shared parking and requires that the sum of all Use Types be provided. However, when the amount of parking provided in a parking lot is less than the required sum of all Use Types, a request for shared parking can be made. A shared parking request is subject to review and approval of a Conditional Use Permit by the Zoning Administrator if all of the following conditions are met: • The Conditional Use Permit findings can be made. • A sufficient number of spaces are provided to meet the greatest parking demands of the participating Use Types and to ensure that there will not be a parking deficiency. • Satisfactory evidence is provided that the Use Types, by their nature and operating times, will not conflict with each other. • Overflow parking will not adversely affect any adjacent use. • Additional documents, covenants, deed restrictions or other agreements as may be deemed necessary by the Zoning Administrator are executed to assure that the required parking spaces provided are maintained and that uses with similar hours and parking requirements as those uses sharing the parking facilities remain for the life of the documents, covenants, deed restrictions, or other agreements. Recent Zoning Ordinance amendments modified the approval process for shared parking requests associated with Indoor Recreational Facilities. Under the new process, the Community Development Director reviews shared parking through the Minor Use Permit process. Further discussion on the Minor Use Permit process is provided below. Conditional Use Permit As noted above, a shared parking request is currently subject to review and approval of a Conditional Use Permit by the Zoning Administrator. The following is a discussion of the current Conditional Use Permit process. In order to determine whether sufficient parking is provided to meet the greatest parking demands of all Use Types so that there will not be a parking deficiency, a parking study is conducted and a report prepared by a registered traffic engineer. The traffic engineer evaluates the nature and operating times of the Use Types affected to determine peak demand periods. Parking counts are conducted during peak demand periods to determine whether sufficient parking is available to meet the greatest parking demands of all Use Types and whether overFlow parking would be an adverse impact. The data is presented in the traffic engineer's report. 3 of 5 Following the completion of the parking study, a public hearing is held before the Zoning Administrator to determine whether to grant a Conditional Use Permit for shared parking. A Staff Report is prepared along with a Resolution recommending either approval or denial of the shared parking request. A public notice is published in the newspaper 10 days prior to the public hearing and mailed to all property owners and tenants within 300-feet of the project site. The cost to the Applicant for the City to process a Conditional Use Permit request for shared parking is a flat fee of $750. This flat fee amount covers approximately 6 hours of Staff time to process the Conditional Use Permit request. The cost associated with any additional Staff time is covered by the City. In addition to the application fee, the cost associated with preparing a parking study is charged to the Applicant. The cost of a shared parking study varies depending on the scale of the project and the scope of work. Parking studies could range from $3,000 - $15,000. When a shared parking request is associated with a Use Type that is subject to approval of a Conditional Use Permit, the shared parking request is processed concurrently with the land use application that is subject to a Conditional Use Permit. However, not all shared parking requests are associated with conditionally permitted uses. In such cases, while the Use Type is permitted by-right, a Conditional Use Permit would be required for the shared parking request. Minor Use Permit Recent amendments to the Zoning Ordinance modified the review and approval process for shared parking requests when associated with an Indoor Recreationaf Facility. The following is a discussion of the current Minor Use Permit process. Shared parking requests are commonly associated with Indoor Recreational Facilities. Recent amendments to the Zoning Ordinance established a Staff level approval (Zoning Clearance) for Indoor Recreational Facilities and a Staff level approval (Minor Use Permit) for shared parking requests associated with such facilities. These amendments replaced the Conditional Use Permit process for shared parking with the Minor Use Permit process. A Minor Use Permit for shared parking for an Indoor Recreational Facility is reviewed by Staff for compliance with the Chapter 8.76 (Off-Street Parking and Loading Regulations). A parking analysis is prepared to evaluate parking demand, the operational characteristics of affected Use Types, and overFlow parking. A public notice is mailed out to all properties within 300-feet of the project 10 days prior to a decision being made by the Community Development Director. The Community Development Director's decision is appealable to the Planning Commission. While the Minor Use Permit process for shared parking does not eliminate the need for a parking analysis or reduce the cost to the Applicant to perForm such an analysis, the new process has resulted in faster processing times for Applicants and reduced Staff time in reviewing and approving requests for shared parking. Proposed Amendments The amendments proposed to Chapter 8.76 (Off-Street Parking and Loading Regulations) are limited to section 8.76.050.F, Parking Reductions for Shared Parking (Attachment 1, Exhibit A). The proposed amendments would allow for all shared parking requests to be reviewed and approved through the Minor Use Permit process. 4 of 5 CONCLUSION: As part of the 2009/2010 Goals and Objectives, the City Council established goals to review parking standards and examine the City's Zoning Ordinance requirements to streamline entitlements for businesses seeking to locate in the City of Dublin. Currently proposed are amendments to Chapter 8.76 (Off-Street Parking and Loading Regulations) as it relates to shared parking. Recent amendments to the Zoning Ordinance allow shared parking to be reviewed and approved by the Community Development Director through the Minor Use Permit process when shared parking is associated with an Indoor Recreational Facility. The Minor Use Permit process has resulted in faster processing times for the Applicant by replacing the public hearing process with a staff level approval process. The proposed amendments to Chapter 8.76 (Off-Street Parking and Loading Regulations) would allow for all shared parking requests to be processed as a Minor Use Permit subject to approval by the Community Development Director. CONSISTENCY WITH THE GENERAL PLAN, SPECIFIC PLAN AND ZONING ORDINANCE: The proposed amendments to Chapter 8.76 (Off-Street Parking and Loading Regulations) are consistent with the General Plan, applicable Specific Plans and the Zoning Ordinance in that the amendments are limited to modifying an existing process for reviewing and approving shared parking requests for uses which are consistent with the General Plan, applicable Specific Plans and Zoning Ordinance. The proposed amendments do not change any land use designations or zoning designations. NOTICING REQUIREMENTS/PUBLIC OUTREACH: In accordance with State law, a Public Notice was published in the Valley Times and posted at several locations throughout the City. To date, the City has received no objections regarding the Project. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW: The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), together with the State Guidelines and City Environmental Regulations require that certain projects be reviewed for environmental impacts and when applicable, environmental documents prepared. Staff is recommending that the Project be found exempt from CEQA per CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3). The Section 15061(b)(3) exemption is based on the general rule that CEQA applies only to those projects that have the potential to cause a significant effect on the environment. The adoption of this Ordinance is exempt from CEQA because the Ordinance does not, in itself, allow the construction of any building or structure, but it sets forth the regulations that shall be followed if and when a shared parking reduction is requested. This Ordinance of itself has no potential for resulting in significant physical change in the environment, directly or ultimately. ATTACHMENTS: 1) Resolution recommending City Council adoption of Zoning Ordinance Amendments to Chapter 8.76 (Off- Street Parking and Loading Regulations) as it relates to shared parking, with the draft Ordinance attached as Exhibit A. 5 of 5