HomeMy WebLinkAbout2001-04-23 Ordinance 4690follows:
ORDINANCE NO. 4690
ORDINANCE OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALO ALTO
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) ON AN
EXTENDED INTERIM BASIS PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE
SECTION 65858 BY AMENDING AND EXTENDING ORDINANCE
NO. 4685 ADDING SECTION 18.41.037 TO THE PALO ALTO
MUNICIPAL CODE TO TAKE EFFECT IMMEDIATELY
The City Council of the City of 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 retail and neighborhood-
serving uses in the Midtown Shopping District on January 16, 2001
and February 20, 2001. It adopted interim Ordinance 4676 on an
urgency basis on January 16, 2001 and modified and extended it by
adopting Ordinance No. 4685 on February 20, 2001. The Planning and
Transportation Commission held a noticed public hearing 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. 4676 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
weI if the interim ordinance is not extended pursuant to
Government Code Section 65858 limiting new non-neighborhood serving
businesses in the Midtown CNdist while the City completes s
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 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, and leads to a decline in quality of life. Because
existing retail and neighborhood-serving uses depend upon a
010424 c1 0090824 1
, I
concentration of such uses to maintain their own economic
viability, continued loss these uses would seriously jeopardize
the entire shopping dis
SECTION 2. Ordinance 4685 of the City of Palo Alto is
hereby extended and amended to read as follows:
Section 18.41.037 of Chapter 18.41 of the Palo Alto Municipal Code
is hereby added to read as lows:
18.41.037
Requlations.
Midtown Shopping District Ground Floor
The regulations in this Section 18.41.037 apply to the
ground floor of that part of the Midtown Shopping District as 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 faci 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) Personal services;
(6) Retail services, excluding liquor stores;
(7) Reverse vending machines, subj ect to regulations
established by Chapter 18.88 of this code;
(8) 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 18.41.037.
(b) Conditionally Permitted Uses. The following uses
may be conditionally allowed subject to issuance of a conditional
use permit in accordance with Chapter 18.90 and paragraph (e) of
this Section 18.41.037:
010424 cl0090824 2
, t
(1) Ambulance services;
(2) Automobile service stations, subject to site and
design review in accord with the provisions of Chapter 18.82;
(3) Churches and religious inst utions;
(4) Convalescent facilities;
(5) Financial services;
(6) Mortuaries;
(7) Medical offices, professional offices, travel
agencies, and insurance agencies, none of which may exceed 2,500
square feet in total floor area. No conditional use permit shall be
granted unless the City makes the additional findings in Section
18.41.037 (e) , (including the finding that the office is
neighborhood-serving) .
(8 ) Private clubs, lodges, or fraternal organizations;
(9 ) Private educational facilities;
(10) Utility facilities es~ential 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;
(14) Commercial recreation;
(15) Outdoor recreation service;
(16) Recycling centers.
(c) Prohibited Uses.
(1) Residential uses of any nature on the ground floor.
(2 ) Administrative office uses and general business
office uses (other than neighborhood-serving travel agencies and
insurance agencies), other than those lawfully in existence on
January 16, 2001.
010424 c10090824 3
(d) Exception for Continuation of Practice or Business
An existing ground floor office may be replaced with another office
if (i) the new tenant or Owner will continue the existing business
or practice; or (ii) a conditional use permit is issued for the new
office use.
(e) Additional Conditional Use Finding for New Offices.
No conditional use permit shall be issued for any new office use on
the ground floor unless, in addition to the findings required by
Chapter 18.90, the City finds that the proposed use will be
neighborhood serving, that it will be conducted in a manner that
will enhance and strengthen the Midtown Shopping District as a
neighborhood resource, and that it will not diminish the retail
strength of the District.
(f) Definition of Neighborhood-Serving Use. A
neighborhood-serving use is one that primarily serves individual
consumers and households rather than 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,
including neighborhood residents, rather than the provider of the
goods or services travelling off-site.
(g) Pedestrian Design Features Required. On any site
or portion of a site adjoining a designated pedestrian sidewalk or
pedestrian way, new construction and alterations to existing
structures shall provide, as determined by the architectural review
board, the following features intended to create pedestrian or
shopper interest, to provide weather protection for pedestrians,
and to preclude inappropriate or inharmonious building design and
siting:
(1) Display windows, or retail display areas;
(2) Pedestrian arcades, recessed entryways, or covered
recessed areas designed for pedestrian use with an area no less
than the length of the adjoining frontage times 1.5 feet;
(3) Landscaping or architectural design features intended
to preclude blank walls or building faces.
The specific nature and requirements of pedestrian design features
shall be determined by the architectural review board under the
standards of Chapter 16.48. The designated pedestrian sidewalks
and pedestrian ways are shown on Exhibit C attached.
(h) Exclusion of Certain Office Buildings. 711, 719
and 721 Colorado Avenue, and 689 Colorado Avenue, buildings not
010424 cl 0090824 4
fronting on Middlefield Avenue, designed and used for office
purposes, and not well suited to other uses are exempt from the
provisions of this Section 18.41.037.
SECTION 3. 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 no possibility
that this project will have a signi cant fect on the
environment, and because this ordinance falls within the exception
to CEQA set forth in Section 15268 of the CEQA Guidelines.
SECTION 4. Effective Date. This ordinance was passed by a
four~fifths vote after a public hearing pursuant to Government Code
Section 65858 and shall be effective immediately.
SECTION 5. Expiration Date. This ordinance shall remain
in effect unt March 2, 2003 unless prior to that date it is
repealed or modified by the City Council.
SECTION 6. Independent Authority. This ordinance is
adopted under the Council's authority under the Charter 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
ATTESA7J _ . £y.
~.~
City Clerk ~
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
Senl Asst. Clty Attorney
THIS DOCUME.NT IS CERn FlED TO BE AN
OflDfI\JAJ\JCE DULY PASSED BY THE COUNCIL
OF THE CrfY OF PALO ALTO AND
THP,~!.~t~.:. f!R POSTE~~rQ COUNCIL ' CHA",J,.R., ON • / (WllliiN tS
DAYS ;:::': ITS PAS SAG )
'" GC'!'i', (or declare) under penalty
c~.,)· '." ,:1,:1 the foregoing is true
fjjj~
010424 c1 0090824
APPROVED: ~ ;I
~-~
5
EXHIBIT A
A. The City of Palo Alto rea rmed in its
Comprehensive Plan a goal of fostering "an enhanced sense of
Community with development designed to foster publ life and meet
ty 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. Bas 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. Two of the Neighborhood Centers, Edgewood Plaza and
Alma Plaza, are developed under site-specific PC Planned Community
zoning regulations. However, Midtown and Charleston Center operate
under the CN Neighborhood Commercial standards adopted by the
City in 1978.' Both centers are valued neighborhood and city
.resources, containing anchoring supermarkets and drug stores and a
mix of associated neighborhood-serving businesses. However, the CN
district allows uses which are not neighborhood-serving in certain
rcumstances. Charleston Center is addressed in a separate
ordinance.
D. 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. .
E. 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 significant extent, from the well-
010424 cl 0090824 6
financed and often highly profitable businesses that typify the
Silicon Valley. These concerns are willing and able to pay high
rents to locate within the Neighborhood Centers which are intended
to serve 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 or "business
to business" uses .
. F. 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 can adversely effect those that remain. Unless the CN
standards are changed to protect neighborhood-serving uses in
Midtown, they will be displaced by non-neighborhood serving uses.
G. 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.
H. In response to the Comprehensive Plan and citizens'
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 comprehensive update
of 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
district 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.
010424 cl 0090824 7
~
~ .... .c .... -s
r-l
....
2
'5 c ._ (J)
.::;0
000> Cic
E 0>Q. -.::::: .5 g. (J).5.c "E.o(l,) -Ec: o 3: -00
g-
z'5
o~
10
iii'
z o>~ o.5a
E.513 ._.0 __
lDEiii 1: 0._ _00
D
D:\Gloria I\GJS\Fe\CnDistricIMidtownExoI689Colorado.ai
The Cit), 01'
Palo Alto
>. ro '-1::2
~ c 0(3
(0) :s .5
E.!'l a.a.
-s:: 0 0 2 O)..s::
c .5 en
~.~
EB
0"0 o~
z-oro
-(J) ..... c .s::
a.
(5 .s
0)
.5
~
::J .c
c:t)
0')
0')
.".. -
This map is a product
of the
Cio/ of Palo Alto GIS
Cf>
r--..J
f1 1511'
TIlls doculnenllS a _hie represanlaUOn only of best available sources.
The City ofPaJo AUo .assumes no responslbitity Dr any errors.
Interim
CN Combining Distridt
at Midtown Shopping Center o
--
Interim CN
Combining
District Overlay
Interim
CN Combining District Overlay
at Midtown Shopping Center
(1993 building footprints)
Exhi bit C