Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout8.1 - 2025 Parking Garage by the County Page 1 of 4 STAFF REPORT CITY COUNCIL DATE: May 15, 2018 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers FROM: Christopher L. Foss, City Manager SUBJECT: Parking at East Dublin Bart and Actions to Assist the County in Construction of a Parking Garage Prepared by: Linda Smith, Assistant City Manager and John Bakker, City Attorney EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The City Council will receive a report on the status of efforts to increase parking availability at the East Dublin BART station, including the County’s proposal to construct a parking structure on one of its parcels in the Transit Center. The County garage would serve to replace the originally planned a BART parking garage expansion on BART property. The City Council will consider waiving a provision of t he Annexation Agreement between the City and County of Alameda that would require the County garage to obtain site development review from the City and exempting the project from development impacts fees pursuant to existing City policy that allows waivers for public agency projects. STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Receive the report and adopt the Resolution Waiving Site Development Review and the Application of Development Impact Fees for the Proposed County of Alameda Parking Structure in the Dublin Transit Center. FINANCIAL IMPACT: There is no direct financial impact associated with this report. DESCRIPTION: Recently, the City Council asked Staff to bring back a report to discuss East Dublin BART parking and related actions that BART has taken related to pa rking at the East Dublin/Pleasanton BART Station. In addition, Staff wishes to update the City Council on efforts taken by the County of Alameda to construct a parking garage near the East Dublin BART station. In July 2017, the BART Board, on a 5 -4 vote, requested its staff develop a hybrid parking strategy for its Dublin/Pleasanton BART stations. This strategy included Page 2 of 4 implementation of a stacking system to park vehicles on the current Dublin surface lot at the BART station, as well as use of private lots for shared parking in Dublin and Pleasanton. The BART Board requested a report back in six months on efforts to realize this option. At its February 22, 2018 BART Board Meeting, the Board decided to table the hybrid parking strategy as it had learned that the County was pursuing an option to construct a parking garage on one of its remaining parcels adjacent to the BART station. On April 30, 2018, the State announced that it had awarded $20 million in grant funds to Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority (LAVTA) from the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program (TIRCP) to fund a second garage to be constructed and operated by Alameda County. The propose new parking structure could provide up to an additional 650-700 new spaces for an estimated $30-31 million and would sit just north of the existing BART-owned structure on the Dublin side of the station on a site commonly referred to as D-1 in the Eastern Dublin Transit Center. The costs of the structure and the number of spaces would be a continued consideration by the County in the development of the site. Figure 1: Dublin Transit Center (D-1 Location) Assemblymember Catharine Baker (Assembly District 16) played a critical role in securing $20 million for the structure. She has been working with County Supervisor Scott Haggerty over the last several months on the parking garage plan. It is the City’s understanding that additional funds will be sought from other regional transportation agencies to fill in the funding gap. City staff has provided technical assistance to the County on the feasibility of operating a parking facility at this location, including financial feasibility, and evaluating site access and off-site improvements to be provided by the County on Campus Drive, as well as providing details on setbacks and development standards. City Staff will continue consulting with the County should it be necessary. Figure 2 below is illustrative of the possible site plan for the D -1 site and is currently under evaluation by the County. This option below is a five-level structure with 570 spaces that would take access from Campus Drive off of Martinelli Way and allow for the balance of the D-1 site (approximately 1.2 acres) to be developed by the County at Page 3 of 4 a later date. Should the County desire to increase the number of spaces above this amount, another deck/floor of parking would be necessary. Figure 2: Possible Site Plan for County Garage Applicability of Annexation Agreement - Site Development Review In general, the County of Alameda is exempt from the City’s land use rules when it pursues the development of County governmental projects. Thus, the County can develop County governmental projects within the City limits without complying with the City’s General Plan, zoning, and other ordinances and policies that would otherwise govern the development. However, the County of Alameda has agreed to comply with certain City land use policies in developments it pursues on its remaining properties. The City and the County of Alameda are parties to a 1993 agreement referred to as the “Annexation Agreement” (Attachment 1) that governs development of the County -owned land that was formerly federal property (part of Camp Parks). In the Annexation Agreement the County agreed that any governmental uses of the Camp Parks Property and certain other property would require a general plan conformity determination from the Planning Commission and would be subject to “site development review in accordance with” the City’s Municipal Code. (Annexation Agreement, § 10.a, 9.a.) The proposed garage is a governmental use on the “Camp Parks Property” and therefore the Annexation Agreement requires a general plan conformity determination and site development review under Chapter 8.104 of the Munic ipal Code. Because the requirement that the County obtain site development review is purely contractual, the City Council can waive the requirement. The general plan conformity determination is required by state law (Government Code section 65402) and cannot be waived. (Note: a determination that the proposed garage is not in conformity with the City’s General Plan will not prevent the County from proceeding with the proposed project.) In order to Page 4 of 4 facilitate the speedy development of a new parking garag e to serve the patrons of the East Dublin BART station, Staff would recommend that the City Council partially waive the Annexation Agreement’s site development review provision and limit the review of the project to consultation with the Community Developm ent Director. City Staff and County Staff will enter into a letter agreement that details the scope of the consultation. Exemption from Development Impact Fees In addition, Staff proposes that the City Council consider waiving the applicability of the City’s various development impact fees. Resolution 123-13 establishes uniform exemptions from those various fees. One of those exemptions allows the City Council to waive development impact fees for development constructed by public entities where the City Council finds that that the waiver is in the interest of the public health, safety and/or welfare. Staff believes that the City Council could find that the development of the County-owned garage will improve the public health, safety, and welfare by delivering a safe, convenient, and economical facility to serve BART patrons that would otherwise use personal vehicles for commuting long distances or park their vehicles on City streets and private property in the surrounding areas. More specific findings ha ve been included in the attached Resolution. (Attachment 2) California Environmental Quality Act The County of Alameda will be the lead agency under CEQA for the proposed parking garage, and it will complete some form of environmental review prior to pr oceeding with the project. The City anticipates that the County will tier off of the Transit Center Environmental Impact Report, which analyzed campus office development for the site of the proposed parking garage. The City Council’s proposed actions to waive the provision of the Annexation Agreement and to waive the application of the City’s development impact fees are merely regulatory actions that will not of themselves cause a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, the actions are exempt f rom CEQA under the general rule (Guidelines section 15061(b)(3)) that CEQA only applies to projects which have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. NOTICING REQUIREMENTS/PUBLIC OUTREACH: A courtesy copy of this item was se nt to Assemblymember Catharine Baker's office and to County Supervisor Scott Haggerty's office. ATTACHMENTS: 1. Waiving Site Development Review and the Application of Development Impact Fees for the County Parking Structure ATTACHMENT 1 RESOLUTION NO. xx - 18 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN * * * * * * * * * WAIVING SITE DEVELOPMENT REVIEW AND THE APPLICATION OF DEVELOPMENT IMPACT FEES FOR THE PROPOSED COUNTY OF ALAMEDA PARKING STRUCTURE IN THE DUBLIN TRANSIT CENTER WHEREAS, the Alameda County Surplus Property Owner owns an approximately 2.45 acre parcel of land near the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station known as Transit Center Site D-1 (“Site D-1), which site is designated in the City’s General Plan for Campus Office development ; and WHEREAS, the County of Alameda (“the County”) intends to build a County-operated, up-to- 700-space parking garage to serve patrons of the BART station (“the Project”), which project has not yet been designed; and WHEREAS, the Project has been awarded a $20,500,000 grant from the State of California’s Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program based on the Project increasing transit ridership and thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions; and WHEREAS, given the significant benefits arising from the Project to the City’s residents, BART patrons, and the environment, the City intends to facilitate the development of the Project to the greatest extent feasible; and WHEREAS, the City, Alameda County Surplus Property Authority, and the County are parties to that certain Agreement . . . Regarding Property Tax Revenues Upon Annexation, Provision of Services and Other Matters, dated October 6, 1992 (“the Annexation Agreement”); and WHEREAS, under state-law principles of sovereign immunity, the County is ordinarily not subject to the City’s land use regulations, but subsections 9.a and 10.a of the the Annexation Agreement provide that County governmental uses proposed on Site D -1, such as the Project, “shall be subject to site development review in accordance with CITY’s zoning ordinance; and WHEREAS, the City of Dublin’s development impact fee programs (§ 1.g of Reso. No. 123-13) allow the City Council to waive the application of development impact fees to development constructed by public agencies if it finds that the waiver is in the interest of the public health, safety and/or welfare; and WHEREAS, in order to streamline and facilitate the processing of the project, for the r easons identified above, the City Council desires to partially waive and not apply the site development review requirement and desires to waive the application of development impact fees to the Project. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Dublin hereby waives the requirement in the Annexation Agreement that would require the County of Alameda to obtain a site development review approval from the City prior to proceeding with the development of the proposed parking structure on Site D-1. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the County shall, in lieu of obtaining site development review, consult with the City’s Community Development Director on the Project’s design prior to carrying out the Project. The scope of the consultation shall be defined in a ATTACHMENT 1 letter agreement between County staff and City staff that addresses, among other things, architectural treatment, circulation, and landscaping. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the City Council finds that waiving the application of the City’s development impact fees to the Project woud be in the interest of the public health, safety, and welfare because the Project will benefit the environment by increasing transit ridership and ther eby reducing vehicle miles traveled and greenhouse gas emissions and the community by reducing BART-patron parking on surrounding streets and private property and on that basis does hereby waive the application of development impact fees to the project . BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the foregoing waivers are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) because they are regulatory actions that will not of themselves cause a significant effect on the environment. Therefore, the actions are exempt under the general rule that CEQA only applies to projects which have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 15th day of May 2018, by the following vote: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: ABSTAIN: ______________________________________ Mayor ATTEST: _______________________________________ City Clerk 2962242.1