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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report Transmittal Ltr fm PTC re AnnRep 03-15-10 JtMtgCity of Palo Alto Memorandum TO: HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL FROM: CITY MANAGER DATE: MARCH 15,2010 DEPARTMENT: PLANNING AND COMMUNITY ENVIRONMENT SUBJECT: Transmittal Letter from the Planning and Transportation Commission Regarding the Annual Report for the March 15 Joint Study Session Attached is the Transmittal Letter approved by the Planning and Transportation Commission at its March 10th meeting outlining the recommended Actions for the Council to consider based on the trends and items that have come before the Commission over the last three years. This transmittal is part of the Annual Report sent to Council on March 10 related to Item No.1 for the March 15th Joint City Council/Planning and Transportation Commission Study Session. ~~~ CURTIS WILLIAMS Director Planning and Community Environment Attachment TRANSMITTAL DATE: TO: FROM: SUBJECT: February 21,2009 Palo Alto City Council Planning and Transportation Commission Planning and Transportation Commission 2008-2009 Annual Report to Council Attached please find the Palo Alto Planning and Transportation Commission's 2008-2009 Annual Report to Council. It includes recommended Actions for the Council to consider based on the trends and items that have come before the Commission over the last three years. The main report identifies a series of Findings and Short and Long Term Actions coming out of items that came before the Commission over the last 3 years. Below, we have attempted to create an action framework for addressing key broad issues identified in the main report. 1) Re-Vision Palo Alto's Land Use; Continue to give priority to the Comprehensive Plan Amendment process and related process activities. As already recognized by the Council, the circumstances that bound Palo Alto to the vision of the existing Comprehensive have changed. The use and value of several key land use areas including (but not limited too); housing, commercial, parking, and open space have changed. The Comprehensive Plan amendment process is key to developing and then driving the re-balancing of the City's allocation of housing versus commercial interests, establishing ABA G policy, aligning the transit infrastructure and parking policy with the City's planned growth and potentially set expectations for how High Speed Rail should be planned for, if that becomes a reality . 2) Use the current challenging economic environment to position the City's land use for economic benefits to be realized in the longer term. The economic environment will likely create significant drag on public and private sector improvements for some years to come and therefore on the City's capability to pursue its vision. The canary in the mine shaft is the reduction of the value of building permits being issued between 2005 and 2009. The likelihood is high that there will be greater pressure to at least preserve and ideally increase the opportunity for land use to be a revenue generator for the City. The City has supported additional hotel projects because they generate income with minimal peak hour trip generation and other impacts. Pressure to change other land uses to create other income positive opportunities will likely increase. The City will likely have to navigate competing interests and provide leadership to test and pursue new opportunities within long standing concepts arid rules of how the City has been planned to date including but not limited to: area and housing density, the height and set-backs of structures, the mix of uses that can occupy a single project site, and the amount of parking that is required for different land uses. 3) Focus on the identity of Palo Alto. Historically Palo Alto's strength and identity has been the story of the growth and improvement of Palo Alto's neighborhoods; City improvements have largely been for the benefit of these neighborhoods or said another way, their success Transmittal 2008-2009 Annual Report to Council February 21,2009 Page 2 has been measured relative to the support of our neighborhoods. In these last three years the City has pursued with vigor the support of neighborhood grocery stores and the importance and value of Neighborhood Centers, for example. While the City of Palo Alto can speak clearly about its neighborhoods, the many large projects and policy issues that have come before the Commission in these.past three years including, the Stanford Medical Center Expansion, ABAG, and High Speed Rail among others, have driven home that the City often has difficulty speaking clearly about what benefits all of us. These projects and issues represent an opportunity for the City to explore and anchor City wide values thus strengthening the identity of the City as a whole rather than a collection of parts.