The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink About2003-05-05 Ordinance 4787follows: ORDINANCE NO. 4787 ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AMENDING TITLE 18 OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE TO ADD SECTION 18.41.035 PRESERVING AND SUPPORTING NEIGHBORHOOD-SERVING USES IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD COMMERCIAL (CN) DISTRICT AT CHARLESTON CENTER (PORTIONS OF THE 3900 BLOCK OF MIDDLEFIELD ROAD) The City Council of the City of Palo Alto does ordain as SECTION 1. Findings. The Council finds and declares that: A. In January 16, 2001, February 20, 2001, and April 23, 2001, the City Council adopted Ordinances 4675, 4684, and 4689, respecti vely, to conserve and promote retail and neighborhood serving uses in the Charleston Center. The last of these ordinances expired on March 2, 2003. When these ordinances were adopted, it was anticipated that they would be replaced by new, comprehensive, neighborhood commercial standards as part of the zoning ordinance update. This has not happened. B. Over the 24 months they were in effect, the interim ordinances provided valuable protection to neighborhood-serving uses. At the request of City staff, the Planning and Transportation Commission initiated consideration of adopting these measures on a more permanent basis. The Planning and Transportation Commission held a noticed public hearing on February 12, 2003 to hear and consider public comment. The Council held a noticed public hearing on April 14, 2003. C. The City of Palo Alto reaffirmed in its Comprehensive Plan a goal of fostering "an enhanced sense of Community with development designed to foster public life and meet City wide needs." (Goal L-2, adopted July 1998). To implement that policy, the City adopted Policy L-10, "maintain a citywide structure of Residential Neighborhoods, Centers, and Employment Districts ... " and Policy L-11, "promote increased compatibility, interdependence, and support between commercial and mixed use centers and the surrounding residential neighborhoods." D. Basic to the City's land use pattern is the availability of shopping and services within walking distance of residential neighborhoods. (Goals L-3 and L-4.) The Comprehensive Plan identifies four Neighborhood Centers: 1 030507 syn 0091199 small retail centers with a primary trade area limited to the immediately surrounding area; often anchored by a grocery or drug store and may include a variety of smaller retail shops and offices oriented toward the everyday needs of surrounding residents (Comprehensive Plan, p. L-18.) E. The Neighborhood Centers are small, and conversion of some of their ground floor commercial space to non- neighborhood serving uses not only removes valuable neighborhood serving uses but also can adversely affect those that remain. Unless the CN standards protecting neighborhood-serving uses are maintained in Midtown, they may be displaced by non-neighborhood serving uses. F. The City has zoned a significant portion of its land for non-neighborhood serving uses. It has substantially more jobs than housing, and use of CN district properties for non- neighborhood serving uses worsens this jobs/housing imbalance at the same time that it leads to loss of quality of life in the neighborhoods and increases in driving. SECTION 2. Section 18.41.035 of Chapter 18.41 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code is hereby added to read as follows: 18.41.035 Charleston Center Ground Floor Regulations. The regulations in this Section 18.41.035 apply to the ground floor of the Charleston Center as defined in section 18.41.030(1) and shown on Exhibit A attached. "Ground floor" shall mean the first floor that is above grade. (a) Per.mitted Uses. Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 18.41.030, 18.41.050 and 18.94.030(b), only the following uses shall be permitted without a conditional use permit: (1) Accessory facilities and uses customarily incidental to permitted uses; (2) Animal care, but excluding boarding and kennels; (3) Day care centers; (4) Eating and drinking services, except drive-in and take-out services; (5) Neighborhood-serving offices that do not exceed 2,500 square feet in floor area. "Neighborhood-serving offices" are medical offices, professional offices, travel agencies, and 2 030507 syn 0091199 insurance agencies that meet the standards of Section 18.41.035(g} below. (6) Personal services; (7) Retail services, excluding liquor stores; (8) Reverse vending machines, subject to regulations established by Chapter 18.88 of this code; (9) Neighborhood business services. Uses lawfully existing on January 16, 2001 may be continued as non- conforming uses but may only be replaced with uses permitted or conditionally permitted under this Section 18.41.035. (b) Conditionally Permitted Uses. The following uses may be conditionally allowed, subject to issuance of a conditional use permit in accord with Chapter 18.90: (1) Ambulance services; (2) Automobile service stations, subj ect to si te and design review in accord with the provisions of Chapter 18.82; (3) Churches and religious institutions; (4) Convalescent facilities; (5) Financial services; (6) Mortuaries; (7) Neighborhood-serving offices over 2,500 square feet in total floor area. No such conditional use permit shall be granted unless the City makes the additional findings in Section 18.41.035(f} ; (8) Private clubs, lodges, or fraternal organizations; (9) Private educational facilities; (10) Utility facilities essential to provision of utility services to the neighborhood, but excluding construction or storage yards, maintenance facilities, or corporation yards; (11) Liquor stores; (12) Temporary parking facilities, provided that such facilities shall remain no more than five years; (13) Farmer's markets; 3 030507 syn 0091199 (14) Commercial recreation; (15) Outdoor recreation service; (16) Recycling centers. (c) Prohibited Uses. (1) Residential uses of any nature; (2) Administrative office uses and general business office uses (except neighborhood-serving travel agencies and insurance agencies) other than those legally in existence at Charleston Center on January 16, 2001. (d) Certification of New Office Uses. Any office use first occupying space at the Center on or after January 16, 2001, shall obtain a written determination from the Director of Planning and Community Environment that it qualifies as a neighborhood- serving use, as defined in Section 18.41.035(g), before occupying its premises. The applicant shall submit such information as the Director shall reasonably require in order to make the determination, and the Director shall issue the determination within 30 days of receiving a complete application. Failure to submit the required information shall be grounds for determining that a business is not neighborhood-serving. (e) Center-wide Limit on Office Space. No more than 7,850 square feet of total floor area at the Center shall be occupied by office space at any time. (f) Additional Conditional Use Per.mit Findings for Offices over 2,500 Square Feet. Before approving a conditional use permit for neighborhood-serving offices larger than 2,500 square feet in total floor area, the City shall find that the proposed use will be neighborhood serving, that it will be conducted in a manner that will enhance and strengthen the Center as a neighborhood resource, and that it will not diminish the retail strength of the Center. (g) Definition of Neighborhood-Serving Use. A neighborhood-serving use primarily serves individual consumers and households, not businesses, is generally pedestrian oriented in design, and does not generate noise, fumes or truck traffic greater than that typically expected for uses with a local customer base. A neighborhood-serving use is also one to which a significant number of customers and clients travel, rather than the provider of the goods or services travelling off-site. 4 030507 syn 0091199 SECTION 3. CEQA Exemption. The Council finds that this project is exempt from the provisions of the California Environmental Quality Act ( "CEQA") because it can be seen wi th certainty that there is no possibility that this project will have a significant effect on the environment. SECTION 4. Expiration of Interim Ordinances. As provided therein, interim Ordinance No. 4783, which extends interim Ordinance No. 4781, shall be of no force and effect upon the effective date of this ordinance, provided, if the effective date of Ordinance No. 4786, titled ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AMENDING TITLE 18 OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE TO ADD SECTION 18.41.037 PRESERVING AND SUPPORTING GROUND-FLOOR NEIGHBORHOOD- SERVING USES IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD COMMERCIAL (CN) DISTRICT AT MIDTOWN SHOPPING DISTRICT (PORTIONS OF THE 2600, 2700 AND 2800 BLOCKS OF MIDDLEFIELD ROAD, 700 BLOCKS OF COLORADO AVENUE, MORENO AVENUE, AND SAN CARLOS COURT), is later than the effective date of this ordinance, then interim Ordinance No. 4783 shall expire on that effective date. SECTION 5. Effective Date. This ordinance shall be effective on the thirty-first day after the date of its adoption. INTRODUCED: April 14, 2003 PASSED: May 5, 2003 AYES: BEECHAM, BURCH, FREEMAN, KISHIMOTO, KLEINBERG, LYTLE, MORTON, MOSSAR, OJAKIAN NOES: ABSTENTIONS: ABSENT: APPROVED AS TO FORM: -.~~ 5 030507 syn 0091 199 ~ J ." 0;0 . ~. E:.a ~i ~i iii it gg l'Ia H ~. EXHIBIT A eN District Charleston Shopping Center (1993 building footprints) o ;i ~~~----------------------------------------------~ D;\G loria d\G IS \F E \C nDistrictC harlestonC enter.ai or .pdf