Title
Del Monte Master Plan Six Month Review
Body
BACKGROUND
On September 22, 2014, the Planning Board recommended that the City Council approve the Del Monte Master Plan (Master Plan) and Development Agreement for the 11.06 acre property located at 1501 Buena Vista Avenue.
On December 16, 2014, the City Council agreed with the Planning Board's recommendation and approved the Master Plan and Development Agreement.
In response to a suggestion from the adjacent neighborhood organization "PLAN Alameda", the Master Plan includes a requirement that within six months of the approval, the Planning Board will hold a public hearing to review progress on implementation of the project, including the:
· Wind River property acquisition for the Clement extension,
· Neighborhood parking study, and
· Affordable housing development.
Pursuant to the Development Agreement, the Planning Board will also be holding a public hearing annually to review implementation of the Development Agreement and Master Plan.
This report serves as the one-time six-month review required by the Master Plan.
DISCUSSION
Since the December 2014 approval of the Master Plan, City staff and the Tim Lewis Communities (TLC) team have maintained a regular schedule of meetings to ensure that the project commences as envisioned in the Master Plan and Development Agreement. Those on-going efforts include:
Jean Sweeney Open Space Park: Pursuant to the Development Agreement, in January, TLC transmitted $300,000 to the Recreation and Parks Department. The payment represents the first installment of the $2 million contribution towards the design and construction of the park. The Recreation and Parks Department is using the $300,000 to prepare construction drawings and documents for the future 22-acre park.
Marina Shores and Clement Avenue Extension: Pursuant to the Development Agreement, City staff collected $36,000 from Lennar Homes to fund a share of the signals needed for the Clement Avenue extension. Pursuant to its entitlements, Lennar is currently constructing at their cost the portion of the Clement extension and cycle track from Entrance Road to Hibbard Street.
Clement Avenue Extension: Since December 2014, the City staff and TLC have maintained an on-going series of discussions with Wind River about the Clement Avenue extension. Wind River and TLC are currently in on-going negotiations over purchase price for the land necessary to construct the extension.
Wind River has also begun discussions with City staff about Wind River's desire to re-entitle the fifth office building that was originally planned but never constructed on their property, pursue potential lot line adjustments on the Wind River property, and design access to the new Clement Avenue extension from the Wind River property.
From staff's perspective, the ongoing discussions between Wind River, TLC and the City staff have been productive and will ultimately result in improved access through the area, improved public waterfront access, and improvements which will support future operations at the Wind River campus, the Del Monte site, and elsewhere in the Northern Waterfront.
Affordable Housing: Pursuant to the Master Plan and Development Agreement, the Del Monte project is required to construct 55 affordable housing units. The Master Plan includes a detailed sequence of actions that are necessary to provide all 55 units concurrent with the provision of the first 308 market rate units.
Consistent with the Master Plan, the 24 moderate-income units will be interspersed throughout the 308 units in the Del Monte Building. The 14 low-income units and 17 very-low income units will be provided in the 31-unit senior affordable housing project proposed for the corner of Sherman and Buena Vista.
As described in the companion report on the 31-unit senior housing project, the affordable housing plan for the 55 units is being implemented as described in the Master Plan.
Neighborhood Parking Study: The Del Monte Transportation Demand Management Plan includes a neighborhood parking monitoring plan to identify if the Del Monte development impacts on-street parking in the adjacent neighborhood. Three monitoring studies were slated to occur. The first study is intended to provide a pre‐development baseline of parking conditions. Two follow up studies will be conducted, one upon first occupancy at the Del Monte Warehouse building, and a final study two years after the final certificate of occupancy permit is issued to identify the potential impact of the Del Monte project on nearby residential on-street parking supply.
In spring 2014, TLC and their transportation consultants, DKS prepared a draft scope of work for the first neighborhood parking study. The scope identified the area to be surveyed and the times to conduct the survey. The proposed scope was then reviewed with representatives from the neighborhood and City staff. After incorporating the requested changes, DKS conducted the initial pre-development parking inventory counts on two consecutive weekday nights between midnight and 4:00 AM in April.
The initial results are being reviewed by the neighborhood representatives, DKS and city staff to ensure that the results provide an accurate baseline for the future studies. The initial results showed that the average parking occupancy observed for the study area as a whole was just under 80 percent. Typically, the "effective capacity" of a parking facility is reached at 80‐85 percent occupancy, meaning that parking is well‐utilized but drivers do not have to cruise around excessively to find a space. However, the parking occupancy rates by block vary considerably, ranging from 43 percent to 96 percent average occupancy. About three quarters of the blocks were at 75 percent occupancy or above. Nine of the blocks were observed to be 100 percent full on one of the data collection days. The highest occupancy rates were seen along Pacific Avenue, on Bay Street between Lincoln and Buena Vista, and along Stanton Street.
Conclusions: In conclusion, staff believes that TLC, the adjacent neighborhood representatives, Wind River, Lennar, and city staff have all been working well together to ensure communication and coordination between all of the interested parties and to ensure that the Northern Waterfront develops in an orderly manner consistent with the Northern Waterfront General Plan Element, and the Del Monte Master Plan and in a manner that supports existing and future neighborhood residents and local businesses and employers.
PUBLIC NOTICE AND COMMENTS
Property owners and residents within 300 feet of the project's boundaries were notified of the public hearing and given the opportunity to review and comment on the proposal. No comments have been received as of May 6, 2015.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
An Environmental Impact Report (EIR) was adopted for the Northern Waterfront General Plan Amendment (GPA) and a Subsequent Mitigated Negative Declaration (SMND) was prepared for the project pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). A Mitigation Monitoring program is required to ensure that the identified environmental impacts are lessened or eliminated. No further environmental review is required to accept this status report.
RECOMMENDATION
That the Planning Board hold a public hearing and accept the six month review.
Respectfully submitted,
Andrew Thomas
City Planner