Title
PLN17-0380 - 2350 Harbor Bay Parkway - Applicant: Ram Hotels. Public hearing to consider a Zoning Amendment to allow construction of a hotel at 2350 Harbor Bay Parkway
Body
CITY OF ALAMEDA
Memorandum
To: Honorable President and
Members of the Planning Board
From: Andrew Thomas
Assistant Community Development Director
Date: January 22, 2018
Re: PLN17-0380 - 2350 Harbor Bay Parkway - Applicant: Ram Hotels. Public hearing to consider a Zoning Amendment to allow construction of a hotel at 2350 Harbor Bay Parkway
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The applicant, Ram Hotels, is requesting approval of a final Development Plan and Design Review to construct a 100 unit, 4-story hotel on a vacant lot located at 2350 Harbor Bay Parkway. As described in more detail below, staff has determined that in addition to the Development Plan and Design Review approvals, a Zoning amendment is also required for the project to proceed.
Because a Zoning amendment is required for the project to proceed, staff is recommending that the Planning Board make a recommendation to the City Council on the proposed Zoning amendment. If the City Council approves the Zoning amendment, the applicant may continue with the next step, which is to return to the Planning Board for approval of the Development Plan and Design Review applications. This report does not address development plan and design review issues; these issues will need to be addressed a later date, if the Planning Board recommends, and the City Council approves, the Zoning amendment.
At this time, staff is requesting that the Planning Board make a recommendation on the Zoning amendment.
Background
The site is located at 2350 Harbor Bay Parkway in the Harbor Bay Business Park immediately adjacent to the Bay Trail and San Francisco Bay. Due to the close proximity of the property to the San Francisco Bay, any development of this property requires approval by both the City of Alameda and the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC). All decisions by the City must be consistent with the City’s General Plan, the Alameda Municipal Code (AMC), and the 1989 Development Agreement between the City of Alameda and Harbor Bay Isle Associates (HBIA). All decisions by BCDC must be consistent with the San Francisco Bay Plan policies and the Settlement Agreement between BCDC and HBIA, as amended.
The hotel, parking, and associated landscaping will be located on a 50,958 square foot parcel owned by the applicant. A smaller 14,837 square foot parcel owned by HBIA is located between the applicant’s parcel and the Bay. The City’s Shoreline Park is located on both sides of the parcel. The City’s Shoreline Park parcel and the HBIA waterfront parcel are both zoned Open Space. The applicant’s parcel is zoned Commercial Manufacturing/Planned Development (CM/PD).
The current proposal is the second application submitted by this applicant for a hotel on this site. On July 13, 2015, the Planning Board approved a 99-room, 5-story hotel on the property. After receiving a call for review and an appeal, the City Council held a public hearing on September 1, 2015, and upheld the Planning Board’s decision.
Before BCDC could schedule a public hearing on the proposal, a lawsuit was filed claiming that the City’s approval of the application was in violation of the 2014 zoning amendment for the property. The parties chose to “toll” the lawsuit until BCDC took action on the project. (“Tolling” refers to an agreement between the parties to place a lawsuit on “hold”, until a future date or future action is taken. In this case, the parties agreed to toll the lawsuit until BCDC made a decision on the project. The logic of the tolling agreement was that if BCDC did not approve the project, the City Council decision would be rendered moot. Under the tolling agreement, if BCDC approved the project, the tolling would be lifted and the parties would proceed with the lawsuit.)
On February 16, 2017, BCDC held a public hearing on the first application and failed to achieve the necessary majority vote to approve the project. Two weeks later the BCDC Board voted to deny the project. The BCDC action effectively terminated the applicant’s 2015 proposal for the site and terminated the lawsuit filed against the City of Alameda.
In late 2017, that applicant redesigned the proposal and submitted a new application to the City of Alameda for consideration.
Analysis
Zoning Analysis:
Given that BCDC staff determined that a hotel use is inconsistent with the Settlement Agreement Third Amendment and that the current zoning limits the site to uses consistent with the Third Amendment, staff has determined that a rezoning of the site is necessary to permit a hotel on this property.
Under the original Settlement Agreement between HBIA and BCDC, the subject site was to be developed as the Harbor Bay Ferry Terminal. The site was originally zoned Open Space to ensure consistency between the site zoning and the original Settlement Agreement. The Open Space zoning district allows marinas and restaurants. When work began on the Ferry Terminal, it was determined that the waters in front of the site are too shallow for a ferry service. Therefore, the Ferry Terminal was ultimately constructed at its current site near deeper water. At that time, the Settlement Agreement between HBIA and BCDC was amended to limit use of the site for restaurant use.
On March 15, 2013, HBIA and BCDC executed a third amendment to their Settlement Agreement (Third Amendment) to allow a limited number of uses other than a restaurant, such as private offices and mixed use buildings with restaurants on the ground floor. Since uses such as private offices and mixed use buildings are not permitted in the Open Space Zoning District, HBIA then requested that the City amend the zoning designation for the site to allow for private offices and mixed use buildings consistent with the Third Amendment.
On January 21, 2014, the City Council approved an amendment to the Zoning Map to change the zoning on the property from Open Space to Commercial Manufacturing/Planned Development (CM/PD) consistent with the zoning for the rest of the Business Park. Hotels are a permitted use under the CM/PD zoning; however, the City Council’s 2014 ordinance included site-specific requirements stating that any development of the site must be consistent with the Third Amendment. (The Council’s 2014 Ordinance is attached as Exhibit 1.)
The February 10, 2017, BCDC staff report to the BCDC Board of Commissioners recommended approval of the hotel, and explained that waterfront hotels are consistent with the Bay Plan policies, but also stated that the hotel use is not consistent with the specific wording of the Third Amendment. Since the Third Amendment was approved at the BCDC staff level, BCDC staff stated that if the BCDC Board wished to approve the hotel, staff would further amend the Settlement Agreement again to allow hotels. Since the BCDC Board did not approve the hotel, the Settlement Agreement has not been amended since the Third Amendment.
Conclusions
Given that BCDC staff has determined that a hotel use is not consistent with the 2013 Third Amendment and that the City Council’s 2014 Zoning Ordinance Amendment (Exhibit 1) for the site requires consistency with the Third Amendment, staff recommends that the 2014 zoning amendment be amended to explicitly allow a hotel on this property consistent with the CM/PD Zoning and eliminate the reference the BCDC Third Amendment.
At this time, the Planning Board’s role is to make a recommendation to the City Council on the policy decision as to whether a hotel should be allowed on this site. The Planning Board has two options to consider:
Option #1: Allow Hotels on this Site. In the event that the Planning Board wishes to allow future hotel development on this waterfront property, then the 2014 zoning amendment should be further amended to specifically allow such hotel uses. Exhibit 2 includes a draft ordinance that clarifies that the site is zoned consistent with the rest of the Business Park and does not have any special conditions prohibiting hotels.
If the City Council approves this amendment and the Planning Board approves a hotel on this site, the applicant would still need to work with BCDC to achieve BCDC Board approval of the proposal and a Fourth Amendment to the Settlement Agreement to allow hotel uses. If they are unable to achieve these two objectives, then they will not be able to construct the hotel.
Unfortunately, BCDC has informed the applicant that BCDC will not consider their new proposal and a fourth amendment until and unless the City of Alameda approves a new hotel proposal on the site. Therefore, the City must make a policy decision on the hotel use without knowing if or whether BCDC will ever allow a hotel.
Option #2. Do not Allow Hotels on this Site. In the event that the Planning Board does not wish to make this site available for hotels, it would not recommend to the City Council approval of the draft ordinance. Maintaining the existing zoning on the site effectively prohibits a hotel use on the site, because it refers to the Third Amendment, which does not allow hotel use on the site.
Staff is recommending option #1 above. Staff remains convinced that a hotel use on the waterfront is an appropriate use of private waterfront land and that hotels are a compatible and appropriate use within the Harbor Bay Business Park. From staff’s perspective, a hotel with publically accessible ground floor spaces and waterfront patios and seating areas is a good use of the site and preferable to the use of the site for private offices, which is permitted under the current zoning for the site.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
An Environmental Impact Report was prepared for the development of the Harbor Bay Business Park Planned Development. The Environmental Impact Report considered the environmental impacts of full development of the Business Park at a density and intensity that far exceeds the actual density and intensity that has been implemented with the development of the Business Park over the last 20 years.
Pursuant to Section 15162 and 15163 of the CEQA Guidelines, no additional environmental review is required for this zoning amendment. The draft amendments would not change any of the physical development limitations (e.g. height limits, setbacks, lot coverage, Floor Area Ratio) that apply to the property. The proposed amendment would simply allow the development of the site for a commercial hotel; whereas the current zoning already allows development of the site for a comparable sized commercial office building.
Further, there have been no significant changes in circumstances that require revisions to the previously certified Environmental Impact Report. The subject property is currently vacant and it has no habitat value for any endangered, rare, or threatened wildlife species. A habitat assessment and survey of burrowing owls conducted by WRA Environmental Consultants concluded that no burrowing owls are present on the site and that the site provides poor quality habitat for burrowing owls. In addition, allowing use of the site for a hotel would result in fewer peak hour automobile trips than a commercial office building. Lastly, the Alameda Airport Land Use Commission and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) deemed that the prior, taller hotel was consistent with airport land use regulations upon the FAA issuing a Determination of No Hazard to Air Navigation for the proposed location and 5 story height of the prior hotel.
RECOMMENDATION
That the Planning Board recommend that the City Council approve a Zoning amendment to allow use of the site for hotel use (Exhibit 2).
Respectfully submitted,
Andrew Thomas
Assistant Community Development Director
Exhibits:
1. 2014 City Council Ordinance
2. Draft Ordinance