HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-02-20 Ordinance 4684follows:
ORDINANCE NO. 4684
ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO
PRESERVING AND SUPPORTING NEIGHBORHOOD-SERVING
USES IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD COMMERCIAL (CN) DISTRICT
AT CHARLESTON CENTER (PORTIONS OF THE 3900 BLOCK
OF MIDDLEFIELD ROAD) ON AN EXTENDED INTERIM BASIS
PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 65858 BY
AMENDING AND EXTENDING ORDINANCE NO. 4675 ADDING
SECTION 18.41.035 TO THE PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE
TO TAKE EFFECT IMMEDIATELY
The City Council of the City 6f Palo Alto does ordain as
SECTION 1. Findings. The Council finds and declares that:
A. The Council held noticed public hearings on an
interim measure to conserve and promote neighborhood-serving and
retail uses in the Charleston Center on January 16, 2001 and
February 20, 2001.
B. The Council hereby reaffirms and incorporates by
reference findings A through H of Ordinance No. 4675 adopted
January 16, 2001, which findings are attached hereto as Exhibit A.
C. Based on the findings set forth in Exhibit A and the
record before the Council, the Council finds that there is a
current and immediate threat to the public health, safety or
welfare if this ordinance is not adopted pursuant to Government
Code Section 65858 limiting new non-neighborhood serving businesses
in the Charleston Center CN district while the City completes
zoning ordinance update. If an interim ordinance is not adopted,
additional non-neighborhood serving businesses and other uses may
enter into long-term tenancies in the Center, limiting the ability
of businesses to provide needed neighborhood-serving retail stores
and services to City residents. This displacement of retail and
service uses imposes a hardship on local residents, particularly
those with reduced mobility, increases already serious traffic
congestion, exacerbates an already significant surplus of jobs over
housing, arid leads to a decline in quality of life. . Because
existing retail and neighborhood-serving uses depend upon a
concentration of such uses to maintain their own economic
viability, continued loss of these uses would seriously jeopardize
the entire shopping district.
D. It is the intention of the Council to review this
matter further at another publ hearing on or before April 30,
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, ,
2001 and consider modifications to this Ordinance. If the Council
does not confirm, by a four-fifths vote, its adoption of this
ordinance, or a modi on of it, by that date, this ordinance
will be of no further force and effect.
SECTION 2. Ordinance 4675 of the City of Palo Al to is
hereby extended and amended to read as follows:
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(k) and shown on Exhibit B attached. "Ground floor" shall
mean the first floor which 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 lowing
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 s ces, 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
insurance agencies that meet the standards of Section 18.41.035(g)
below. '
(6) Personal services;
(7) I services, excluding liquor stores;
(8) Reverse vending machines, subj ect to regulations
established by Chapter 18.88 of this code;
(9) Neighborhood bus ss 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.
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(b) Conditionally Per.mitted Uses. The
may be conditionally allowed, subject to issuance
use permit in accord with Chapter IB.90:
lowing uses
a conditional
(1) Ambulance services;
(2) Automobile service stations, subj ect to site and
design review in accord with the provisions of Chapter 1B.B2;
(3) Churches and religious institutions;
(4) Convalescent facilities;
(5) Fin~ncial services;
(6) Mortuaries;
(7) Neighborhood-serving offices over 2,500 square
feet in total floor area. No such conditional use permit shall
be "granted un s the City makes the additional findings in
Section 1B.41.035(f).
(B) Private clubs, lodges, or 1 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;
facil
0 ce
(11) Liquor stores;
(12) Temporary parking facilities, provided that such
shall remain no more than five ;
(13 )
(14)
(15)
(16 )
(c)
(1 )
(2 )
uses
Farmer's markets;
Commercial recreation;
Outdoor recreation service;
Recycling centers.
Prohibited Uses.
Residential uses of any nature.
Administrative office uses
(except neighborhood-serving
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and general business
travel agencies and
010222syn 0090784
insurance agencies) other than those legally
Charleston Center on January 16, 2001.
existence at
(d) Certification of New Neighborhood-Serving Office
Uses. Any office use fi occupying space at the Center on or
after January 16, 2001, shall obtain a written ermination from
the Director of Planning and Community Environment that it
quali 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
space at any time.
(f) -Additional Conditional Use Permit Findings for Offices
over 2,500 Square Feet. Before approving a conditional use permit
for neighborhood-serving offices larger than 2,500 square feet
total floor area, the City shall find that the proposed use will be
neighborhood serving, that it will be conducted in a manner that
wi enhance and strengthen the Center as a ghborhood resource,
and that it will not diminish the retail st~ength 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
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-s
SECTION 3. CEQA Exemption. The Council finds that this
project is exempt from the provisions of the Environmental Quality
Act ("CEQA") because can be seen with certainty that there is no
possibility that this project will have a significant effect on the
environment, and because this ordinance Is within the exception
to CEQA set forth Section 15268 of the CEQA Guidelines.
SECTION 4. Effective Date. This ordinance was passed by a
four-fths vote after a public hearing pursuant to Government Code
Section 65858 and 1 be effective immediately.
SECTION 5. Expiration Date. This ordinance shall remain
effect until March 2,2002, provided that prior to April 30, 2001
the Council holds a public hearing and reaffirms its a'doption or
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010222syn 0090784
modification by a four-fifths vote. If the Council does not do so,
the ordinance shall expire on April 30, 2001 and be of no further
force and effect.
SECTION 6. Independent Authority. This ordinance is
adopted under the Council's authority under the Charter of the City
of Palo Alto as well as pursuant to Government Code Section 65858.
INTRODUCED AND PASSED: February 20, 2001
AYES: BEECHAM, BURCH, EAKINS, LYTLE, OJAKIAN, WHEELER
NOES:
ABSTENTIONS:
ABSENT: FAZZINO, KLEINBERG, MOSSAR
ATL ~ City~~' Q~
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
0{F'""-;;,:;, ~
THIS DOCUMENT IS CERTIFIED TO BE AN
ORDi~"N·'CF DULY PASSED BY THE COUNCIL
')F r;.< "'l.T·( or: PALO ALTO AND
n·;' , .E:fi. ros! l.NlJ.E ~OUNCIL
GH.4';::; ii:',: ON 0« Q . (WITHIN 15
Dt\YB OJ: rrs PJiSS .GE)
"I cermy (or dcc~nre) under ponalty
of perjury that tho foregoing is true
and correct."
tl~OI Palo.~
at;&Pllloe
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APPROVED: ~ Ma~
5
and
EXHIBIT A
The Council finds and declares that:
A. 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 li 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
Dist cts ... " and Policy L-11, "promote increased compatibility,
interdependence, and support between commercial and mixed use
centers and the surrounding resident 1 neighborhoods."
B. 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:
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
(Comprehens Plan, p. L-18.)
C. A "neighborhood-serving use" is one that primarily
serves individual consumers and households, rather than other
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 ients travel, instead of the provider travelling
o ·site. .
D. The City is experiencing an unprecedented sustained
demand for office space from businesses which are not neighborhood-
serving and instead primarily serve other businesses. The demand
for office space comes, to a large extent, from the well-financed
and often highly profitable businesses that typify the Silicon
Valley. These enterprises are willing and able to pay high rents
to locate within the City's residential areas. As a result,
buildings which had been used for neighborhood-serving uses have
been removed from the retail space market and converted to office,
"business to business" uses. This has led to a significant
decrease in neighborhood-serving businesses in Neighborhood
Centers.
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010222syn 0090784
E. Charleston Center is a Neighborhood Center. It
operates under the CN Neighborhood Commercial standards rst
adopted by the City in 1978. Whi the zone was intended to
accommodate uses of a moderate size serving the immediate
neighborhood, was not at that time necessary to exclude non-
neighborhood-serving uses in order to assure space for a variety
of neighborhood-serving uses. It now is.
F. The Center consists of two parcels under a single
ownership. It is an important neighborhood and city resource,
containing an anchoring supermarket and a mix of associated uses,
most if not all of which are neighborhood-serving businesses.
G. The Neighborhood Centers are relatively small.
Charleston Center has approximately 50,000 square feet of built
area and serves a large residential area. The City has a number of
other commercial districts zoned for businesses that· are not
neighborhood-serving.
H. In response to the Comprehensive Plan and izens'
concerns about replacement of neighborhood-serving uses with
offices that do not serve the neighborhood, and in some cases do
not serve consumers at all, and as part of the comprehens update
of the zoning ordinance, the City's Department of Planning and
Community Environment is studying modi cation of CN standards to
better implement the intent of the Comprehensive Plan and the
district self. It is very likely that "neighborhood-serving"
us~s will more fully defined and other uses limited in the CN
District when the zoning ordinance update is completed. However,
that comprehensive zoning ordinance update will not be completed
within the next twelve months.
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010222 syn 0090784
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