Title
PLN19-0477 - Design Review Study Session - 2390 Mariner Square Drive - Applicant: Banner NorCal Developer, LLC. The Planning Board will hold a study session for a new, six-story self-storage building and outdoor storage for boats and recreational vehicles with associated landscaping and fencing. The proposed building is approximately 72 feet in height at its tallest point and approximately 110,844 square feet in size. The project is located within the M-2, General Industrial (Manufacturing) Zoning District. The proposed building is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15332 - Infill Development.
Body
To: Honorable President and
Members of the Planning Board
From: David Sablan, Planner II
Date: January 27, 2020
Executive summary:
The purpose of this study session is to give the project applicant, Banner NorCal Developer, LLC, an opportunity to present their initial design and development concept for this 1.24 acre site to the Planning Board and the community at large.
Banner’s plans (Exhibit 1) illustrate the site plan and proposed building design. The plans are for discussion purposes only.
The study session provides an opportunity for the Planning Board and community to review the initial plans and provide the applicant and staff with direction for revisions to be incorporated into the future Design Review and Use Permit plans for Planning Board review. No action or decision is required by the Planning Board is at this time.
BACKGROUND
Site Location and Constraints
The property at 2390 Mariner Square Drive is a triangular 1.24 acre parcel located at the northeast corner of the Mariner Square Drive and Marina Village Parkway intersection. The site is undeveloped and currently used as an outdoor storage yard. A number of factors constrain the use of the property. The property is irregularly shaped and has several encumberances that dictate site design. The Posey Tube runs under the project site and CalTrans has a fifty foot (50’) wide easement prohibiting development that runs through the center of the property. East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) has a twenty-four inch (24”) underground water line that runs along the south property line in addition to an underground 60” sewer interceptor along the east property line that connects nearby sewer trunk lines to a pump station north of the project site. Additionally, the project site is located within the FEMA 100-year flood plain, which requires elevating the finished floor above the flood elevation, making the building taller than if it were built in a non-flood zone.
Surrounding Uses
To the west of the project site, across Mariner Square Drive, is an office park. To north of the property is another outdoor storage yard that has above ground silos that are approximately eighty-five feet (85’) tall. Barnhill Marina is on the same property as the above ground silos. To the east of the project is a portion of the neighboring storage yard and the Extended Stay America hotel. To the South of the project, across Marina Village Parkway, is a vacant industrially zoned parcel. Directly south of the property, but north of Marina Village Parkway there is a public right of way easement that the City maintains. The Posey Tube entrance building is approximately 265 feet south of the project site, while the estuary and bay trail are approximately 500 feet north of the project site. There is diagonal street parking in front of the project on Mariner Square Drive.
Proposal Summary
The applicant is proposing a six-story self-storage facility, approximately 110,844 square feet in total floor area, along with landscaping and parking improvements. The total overall height of the building will be 72’4” at its tallest point and 67’ at its shortest point. The project will also have an outdoor area for boat and RV storage. Pursuant to AMC Section 30-4.12, self-storage uses are permitted uses in the M-2 zoning district and this zoning prescribes a maximum height limit of 100 feet. The proposed project will require Design Review approval for the building architecture and a use permit for the proposed outdoor RV and boat storage.
DISCUSSION
Site Layout
Due to the lot’s irregular shape and the presence of easements, the building envelope is defined on three sides by the aforementioned CalTrans and EBMUD easements. The only suitable location for the building is an irregularly shaped 18,474 square foot area in the eastern half of the property. The western half of the property is proposed to be used for parking, drive aisles and outdoor storage areas for boats and RVs. Despite the site constraints, the proposed plan maximizes the use of the site without the need for variances other than a parking exception as further discussed below.
Building Design
The proposed six-story building will be one of the tallest buildings in the vicinity. The combination of site location and building size will make the building a prominent feature when viewing Alameda from the estuary, as demonstrated through submitted renderings (Exhibit 2). The proposed building has a contemporary architectural style and utilizes a base-main body-cap system for building organization.
Building Base - The base of building is fifteen feet eight inches (15’8”) tall, just under two full stories, and clad in metal siding. The metal siding has horizontal grooves, spaced approximately 8” apart. There are eleven ground floor storage units accessible from the exterior through eight foot (8’) tall roll up doors. An interior loading area is also accessible from the exterior through two larger fourteen foot (14’) tall doors.
Main Body - The main body of the structure extends up from the base to the top of the fifth floor, approximately fifty-five feet (55’) above grade. Starting at the bottom of the third floor, each floor is demarcated by a white metal band. The main body’s siding is metal panels with vertical grooves. Each panel is uniform in height, but of different length and color that creates a random pattern in Linen White, Ash Gray, and Old Town Gray. The body also includes between four and five feet of the second and sixth floors for a truncated version of the patterns found on floors three through five. Banks of faux windows are placed around the building, either in-line on the third and fourth floors or inline on the third through fifth floors.
Building Cap - The building’s cap consists of the sixth floor and parapet and is clad in metal siding with vertical grooves. The top of the parapet features aluminum coping painted Slate Gray.
Corner Treatment - The southwest corner of the building has a tower-like feature that has large ceiling to floor windows wrapping around the first and third through fifth floors. The siding will match the horizontal metal siding of the rest of the building’s base.
Mariner Square Drive Interface
The project site is located within the FEMA 100-year flood plain and the finished floor height of the building must be at least one foot (1’) above the base flood elevation. This will require raising the grade for the building footprint approximately four to five feet. As a result of raising the site, retaining walls are located around the boundaries. Most prominent is a three foot and six inch (3’6”) retaining wall along Mariner Square Drive behind a five foot (5’) wide landscape buffer. A six foot (6’) tall, as measured from the raised project side, decorative screening fence will sit atop the retaining along Mariner Square Drive.
However, from the abutting sidewalk the decorative screen and retaining wall combo will be approximately nine feet (9’) tall. The rest of the site will be fenced by an open six foot (6’) tall wrought iron fence. The decorative screen’s purpose is to screen the boat and RV storage areas from the public right of way. Mariner Square Drive is considered the pedestrian and bike connection between the Cross Alameda Trail, which is approximately a half mile south of the project, and the bay trail to the north of the project. The overall height of the wall/screen is about nine feet (9’) as viewed from the sidewalk, which could be imposing over pedestrians and bicyclists. The proposed plant palette between the sidewalk and wall/screen, if properly maintained, does a good job of lessening the visual impact of the wall/screen.
Two existing curb cuts along Mariner Square Drive will be used for vehicle access. Traffic will enter the site through the southernmost driveway and travel one way north through the site and exit back onto Mariner Square Drive at the northernmost driveway. Gates are proposed at both driveways to restrict access.
Landscaping
Landcaping will feature prominently over the proposed EBMUD easements along the south and east boundaries. However, plant selection is limited to decorative shrubs because trees are prohibited over the utility easements. The five foot (5’) landscaped buffer between public sidewalk and the decorative fence/retaining wall will feature the same species of shrubs, which can grow to between six feet (6’) and eight feet (8’) in height.
Parking
The project will require a parking waiver as part of the future Design Review approval. Alameda Municipal Code (AMC) Section 30-7.6 does not have a specificed parking requirement for self storage facilities. Instead, projects shall utilize the most similar use specified on the list. Which would be “Warehouse, storage,” 0.67 spaces per 1,000 square feet of floor area. The off-street parking requirement for the project is 75 spaces, which the site cannot accommodate.
The applicant prepared a trip generation study that looked at the traffic and parking demands of similar self-storage facilities (Exhibit 3). The study found that self storage facilities do not generate significant amounts of traffic, nor have as great a need for off-street parking as the “Warehouse, storage” classification from AMC Section 30-7.6. Customers do not frequently visit their storage space, and the number of on-site staff will be no more than two concurrently. Additionally, the interior of the building will have indoor loading berths for customers offloading their items going into storage. Therefore, the applicant is proposing five total off-street parking spaces. The rest of the parking lot will be dedicated to boat and RV parking, with capacity for four boats, ten standard RVs, and two smaller RVs.
Bike Parking
Likewise, the City’s bike parking requirements are not appropriate for the project. Per AMC Section 30-7.15, the project is required to provide 14 short term bike parking spaces, and 2 long term spaces per public entrance. Self-storage customers are unlikely to bike to the site. Two bike racks, for a total of 4 short-term bike parking spaces, are proposed at northernmost point of the parcel. There are also two proposed bike racks along Mariner Square Drive on the public right of way side of the gates.
Planning Board Discussion
Staff and the applicant would like feedback for the entire project, but are specifically seeking direction on two issues:
1. Building Design. The proposed building is tall and very visible near a City gateway. Staff is looking for Planning Board feedback on the overall design and specifically on methods used to break up the large walls and add visual interest to the building.
2. Retaining Wall/Decorative Screen along Mariner Square Drive. The project includes a wall along Mariner Square Drive. Staff is looking for direction on whether the proposed landscaping is an adequate means of lessening the impact of the wall/screen, or if modifications, such as limiting the screen portion to only the boat and RV storage area, would be preferred.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Staff has determined that this project would qualify for a categorically exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15332 - Infill Development. On a separate and independent basis this project also qualifies for CEQA exemption pursuant to Section 15183 (projects consistent with General Plan and Zoning).
RECOMMENDATION
Hold a study session and review and comment on the Design Review and Use Permit application for 2390 Mariner Square Drive (Exhibit 1).
Reviewed by,
Andrew Thomas, Planning, Building and Transportation Director
Exhibits:
1. Project Plans
2. Building Renderings
3. Final Parking and Trip Generation Evaluation, dated October 8, 2019