HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-04-23 Ordinance 4689follows:
ORDINANCE NO. 4689
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. 4684 ADDING
SECTION 18.41.035 TO THE PALO ALTO MUNICIPAL CODE
TO TAKE EFFECT IMMEDIATELY
The City Council of the City of Palo o 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. It adopted interim Ordinance 4675 on an urgency
basis on January 16, 2001 and modified and extended that ordinance
by adopting interim Ordinance 4684 on February 20, 2001. The
Planning and Transportation Commission held a noticed public
hearing on the ordinance on March 28, 2001. The Council held an
additional noticed public hearing on April 23, 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 limiting new non-neighborhood serving
businesses in the Charleston Center CN district is not extended
pursuant to Government Code Section 65858 while the City completes
its zoning ordinance update. If the interim ordinance is not
extended, additional non-neighborhood serving businesses and other
uses may enter into long-term tenancies in the Center, limiting
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, and . leads to a decline in quality of Ii
Because existing retail and neighborhood-serving uses depend upon.
a concentration of such uses to maintain their own economic
010426 c10090823 1
viability, continued loss of these uses would seriously jeopardize
the entire shopping district.
SECTION 2. Ordinance 4684 of the City of Palo Alto 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) Permitted Uses. Notwithstanding the provlslons 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
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, subj ect 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.
010426 cl0090823 2
(b) Conditionally Per.mitted 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 site 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 s 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 facil ies, provided that such
facilities shall remain no more than five years;
(13)
(14)
(15)
(16 )
(c)
( 1)
(2 )
office uses
010426 cl 0090823
Farmer's markets;
Commercial recreation;
Outdoor recreation service;
Recycling centers.
Prohibited Uses.
Residential uses of any nature.
Administrative of ce uses
(except neighborhood-serving
3
and general business
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
t 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 will not diminish the retail strength of th~ 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.
SECTION 3. CEQA Exemption. The Council finds that this
project exempt from the provisions of the Environmental Quality
Act ("CEQA") because it can be seen with certainty that there no
possibility that this project will have a significant effect on the
environment, and because this ordinance falls within the exception
to CEQA set forth in Section 15268 of the CEQA Guidelines.
Effective Date. This ordinance was pas by a
four-vote after a public hearing pursuant to Government Code
Section 65858 and shall be effective immediately.
010426 cl0090823 4
SECTION 5. Expiration Date. This ordinance shall remain
in effect unt March 2, 2003 unless repealed or amended by the
Council before that date.
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: April 23, 2001
AYES: BEECHAM, BURCH, EAKINS, KLEINBERG, MOSSAR, OJAKIAN,
WHEELER
NOES: LYTLE
ABSTENTIONS:
ABSENT: FAZZINO
ATf!J4w .~
City Clerk ~
THIS DOCUMENT IS CERTIFIED TO BE AN
ORDINANCE DULY PASSED BY THE COUNCIL
OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO AND
THEREAt-fER POSTEDJf",mJ£pUNCIL
CHAMBERS ON ~~ Q. (WITHIN t5
DAYS OF ITS PASSAGE
"1 certify (or declore) under penalty
of perjury that the foregoing is tru.~
and correct."
,5 7 DI ClJ/tb. .
Oat 8. Placlit ' Signatu e
010426 cl0090823 5
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 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."
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
(Comprehensive 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 clients travel, instead of the provider travelling
off-site.
D. The City is experiencing an unprecedented sustained
demand for office space from businesses which ~re 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 wi thin 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.
010426 cl 0090823 6
E. Charleston Center is a Neighborhood Center. It
operates under the CN Neighborhood Commercial standards first
adopted by the City in 1978. While the zone was intended to
accommodate uses of a moderate size serving the immediate
neighborhood, it was not at that time necessary to exclude non-
neighborhood~serving uses 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 citizens'
concerns about replacement 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 comprehensive update
the zoning ordinance, the City's Department of Planning and
Community Environment is studying modification of CN standards to
better implement the intent of the Comprehensive Plan and the
dist ct itself. It is very likely that "neighborhood-serving"
uses will be 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.
010426 cl 0090823 7
,. 'i ... ;.~
-,-
CN District Charle~ton' Center
o eN Zone
Deslgnatio~.
.~.'-'
CN District . .
Chale/ston Shopping Center
'(1993 bUilQing f90tprints), .
. .
J-&;!
o " (') .... . >~ ....
to-
l"'+
o