Title
Public Hearing to Consider Draft Amendments to Alameda Municipal Code Section 30-7 Off-Street Parking and Loading Space Regulations to improve environmental quality in Alameda and implement the City of Alameda Climate Action and Resiliency Plan and Transportation Choices Plan. The proposed amendment is exempt from the requirements of California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Sections 15061(b) (3), where it can be shown with certainty that the proposed amendments will not have a significant effect on the environment
Body
To: Honorable President and
Members of the Planning Board
From: Brian McGuire, Planner
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report recommends a comprehensive set of amendments to the City of Alameda Off-Street Parking and Loading Space Regulations to implement adopted actions, programs, and strategies calling for the changes in the City of Alameda Transportation Choices Plan, City of Alameda Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP) and the City of Alameda 2015-2023 Housing Element.
The proposed amendments are attached as Exhibit 1. The current regulations, for comparison purposes, are attached as Exhibit 2.
Staff is recommending that the Planning Board and the community review the draft amendments and provide direction for any additional changes that should be made before the ordinance is presented to the City Council. Staff can then return to a future Planning Board meeting with the final draft ordinance for final Planning Board consideration and recommendation.
BACKGROUND
Section 30-7 of the Alameda Municipal Code (AMC) establishes requirements for off-street parking areas in new development for the storage of private automobiles and bicycles by project occupants or visitors,
National and regional studies have shown that these types of off-street automobile parking requirements can significantly increase the cost of housing, can undermine efforts to increase transit use and other environmentally sensitive modes of travel, and undermine efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change and the global climate crisis. A study by the City of San Diego <https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/legacy/planning/programs/transportation/mobility/pdf/111231sdafhfinal.pdf> of 21 affordable housing developments found that 39 percent of the parking, or over 400 spaces, were unused - at a cost of between $12 and $30 million. A study by TransForm <http://database.greentrip.org/>, a Bay Area transportation advocacy group, found over 28 percent of parking spaces at 80 multi-family residential buildings around the San Francisco Bay Area were unused - a waste of over 1 million square feet and nearly $200 million in construction costs. UCLA Urban Planning Professor Donald Shoup estimates that on a typical construction site in Los Angeles, parking requirements reduce the number of units in an apartment building by 13% <http://shoup.bol.ucla.edu/HighCost.pdf%22%20%5Cl%20%22page=2>. Finally, research by UCLA’s Institute of Transportation Studies <http://www.its.ucla.edu/research/rpubs/manville_aro_dec_2010.pdf> found that “when parking requirements are removed, developers provide more housing and less parking, and different types of housing: housing in older buildings, in previously disinvested areas, and housing marketed toward non-drivers. This latter category of housing tends to sell for less than housing with parking spaces.”
In recent years, the City of Alameda has taken incremental steps to address the negative impacts of the AMC Section 30-7 on housing affordability and the environment.
• In 2007, the City Council amended the parking regulations to reduce the number of spaces required for development on the Park Street and Webster Street commercial corridors in recognition that the City does not want to encourage demolition of existing commercial buildings to construct parking lots and the City does not want to encourage addition of automobile curb cuts across the Park Street and Webster Street sidewalks, which would significantly degrade the pedestrian experience on Alameda’s two main commercial corridors.
• In 2014, the City Council adopted new off-street parking requirements for Alameda Point, which established maximum parking requirements instead of minimum parking requirements. The Alameda Point Transportation Demand Management Plan recognizes that the City’s goal is to manage transportation at Alameda Point and that to effectively manage automobile use at Alameda Point the city should restrict the amount of private parking allowed and maximize the use of public parking facilities, which can be effectively managed through parking pricing and revenues reinvested in the streetscape and improved transportation choices.
• In 2018, the City Council adopted the City of Alameda Transportation Choices Plan. The goal of the Transportation Choices Plan is to reduce congestion at the estuary crossings and on-island corridors by increasing transportation options for Alameda residents and Alameda business employees. The Transportation Choices Plan identifies changes to parking requirements as a high priority, near-term project. It states that abundant free parking encourages driving and disincentivizes a mode shift to transit, biking, and walking for those that have those options available to them. (Transportation Choices Plan, p. 78, Project #8.)
• In 2019, the City Council adopted the City of Alameda Climate Action and Resiliency Plan (CARP), which showed that 70% of Alameda’s greenhouse gas emissions come from the Transportation sector, primarily private automobiles. The CARP sets aggressive targets for greenhouse gas emission reduction and calls for eliminating minimum parking requirements in order to encourage mode shift and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. (CARP, pp. 32-33). To accelerate electrification of remaining vehicle trips, CARP Action T6 (pp. 29) calls for requiring new developments that do provide parking to install electric vehicle (EV) charging stations for residents and/or customers.
DISCUSSION
Amendment Objectives: Staff’s goal in preparing the draft amendments is to achieve the following major objectives:
• Update the off-street parking requirements to reflect current City of Alameda policy objectives and current (2021) market and development conditions in Alameda.
• Establish an equitable approach to the provision of parking for people with disabilities in new projects.
• Establish citywide requirements for electric vehicle (EV) charging facilities in new projects.
• Establish citywide transportation demand management requirements for new projects.
• Create a more user-friendly and less confusing set of regulations that will be easier for the public to understand and for staff to implement, and result in fewer waivers and exemptions than are currently being requested with the current regulations.
Major Changes:
Purpose and Intent. Section 30-7.1 Purpose and Intent is amended to update the intent and public purpose of the regulations, which were revised to read as follows:
a) To implement City of Alameda climate change, transportation, affordable housing, economic development, and historic preservation policy objectives established by the City of Alameda General Plan, Climate Action and Resiliency Plan, and Transportation Choices Plan;
b) To relieve automobile congestion and provide for the safe, efficient, and equitable use of the public street network by pedestrians, bicyclists, transit, emergency vehicles, and automobiles; and
c) To reduce the environmental impacts such as air pollution, urban heat island effects, and greenhouse gas emissions generated by automobile use.
Maximum Off-Street Parking Requirements. Section 30-7.6 Schedule of Required Off-Street Parking is revised to replace the existing minimum off-street parking requirements with maximum off-street parking requirements. With the proposed standards (Exhibit 1, Section 30-7.4), the project proponent or user will be able to identify the amount of parking that is needed for the proposed use of the site, given its location in the City, the nature of the use, and/or the configuration of the property. A maximum standard is proposed because the City of Alameda seeks to avoid too much off-street parking provided on any given site due to the impacts of large parking areas on the environment, the transportation system, and the cost of development in Alameda, which has limited land resources.
The maximum standards proposed in Section 30-7.4 (Table A) generally reflect the maximum parking requirements established by the Alameda Point parking ordinance, which has been in effect since 2014, and the amount of parking that has been approved for residential and commercial projects in Alameda in recent years.
In recent years, it has been rare for project proponents to propose, and the City to approve, the amount of parking required by the current ordinance minimum. The current minimums are simply too high to reflect current 2021 parking needs. As a result, applicants have requested and the Planning Board has consistently granted parking waivers, parking reductions, and Development Plan amendments to approve reduced parking requirements for new office buildings in the Harbor Bay Business Park, new hotels in the Business Park and on Park Street, new businesses on Park Street and Webster Street, and new residential developments citywide. With very few exceptions, all of the developments approved by the Planning Board over the last 5 to 6 years have required waivers from the current ordinance, but each of those projects would be consistent with the maximum parking requirements proposed in Exhibit 1.
The draft amendments include a process to allow the Planning Board or Zoning Administrator to increase the maximum limit for a particular project, upon issuance of a use permit, if all of the following determinations are met:
• Reasonable parking and transportation demand management measures are being implemented to reduce the need for the additional off street parking;
• The additional parking demand cannot reasonably be accommodated through contract or other arrangement such as shared parking or reciprocal parking agreements making use of other available off-site parking;
• The additional spaces reflect parking demand that exceeds that which is common for this use as categorized in Table A, owing to unique characteristics of the users or the activity that result in a high level of automobile parking demand; and
• The additional parking will enable or facilitate positive environmental or other benefits which outweigh adverse effects, such as additional traffic and congestion, danger to public safety or deterioration of travel conditions for pedestrians, cyclists or users of public transit.
Minimum Off-Street Parking for People with Disabilities. One of the stated intents of the proposed amendments is to provide for the safe, efficient, and equitable use of the public street network by pedestrians, bicyclists, transit, emergency vehicles, and automobiles. Meeting this objective requires the acknowledgement that some people are more dependent on access to parking than others. Ensuring an adequate supply of parking for people with disabilities is critical to ensure safe, efficient and equitable access.
To address the need for an adequate supply of parking for disabled people, Section 30-7.5 of the draft amendments maintains a minimum standard for the provision of parking for individuals with disabilities. To determine the minimum requirement, the amendments rely on the California Building Code which establishes a minimum standard as a ratio of the total number provided. In Exhibit 1, the minimum standard is the CBC ratio based on the maximum allowed in the code. For example, if the project is permitted to have a maximum of 100 spaces per the ordinance, then the project must meet the CBC requirement for 100 spaces, even if the project proponent has decided to only provide 60 spaces. In other words, the minimum number of disabled parking spaces required will be based on the maximum number of spaces allowed, not the actual number of spaces provided.
To recognize that in some locations, such as Park Street Historic District and Webster Street, it is not possible or not desirable to provide any off-street parking, the ordinance exempts certain projects that provide no parking and maintains the ability for the Planning Board to waive the requirement for the minimum number of disabled parking spaces. In no circumstance are the CBC standards able to be waived.
Minimum Electric Vehicle Charging Requirements. Currently the AMC does not include any standards for EV charging in parking lots and garages. The CARP recognizes the lack of standards as an obstacle to the City meeting its greenhouse gas reduction goals. The City has been negotiating inclusion of EV charging on a project-by-project basis, but the results of that approach have not been consistent or adequate. The 2019 California Green Building Code Update (Title 24, Part 11) increases requirements for electric vehicle charging infrastructure in new construction.
The proposed standards are modeled on reach code standards developed by the City’s own consultants with Peninsula Clean Energy, Silicon Valley Clean Energy, and the Statewide Program’s team to establish new construction EV requirements which are more in line with local EV adoption trends, tailored to Alameda’s needs while providing flexibility for the builder and keeping construction costs as low as possible.
Transportation Demand Management Requirements. The draft amendments include a requirement for transportation demand management (TDM) for any large scale project that will result in a significant increase in vehicle trips on Alameda public roadways. The provisions apply to any discretionary development project that requires Design Review, Development Plan, Subdivision Map or other discretionary permit that generates a net increase of over 110 vehicle trips on the adjacent public rights of way. Any project that meets these criteria will be conditioned to the following requirements:
• Include a TDM program, similar to the programs that have been adopted for all major projects in Alameda since 2006. The specifics of the program for each project will depend on the project, but TDM programs for prior projects in Alameda have included requirements for participation in the Alameda Transportation Management Association, annual fees for supplemental transit services, and AC Transit easy passes for all project residents or employees.
• Unbundle the cost of parking from the cost for the housing unit in residential projects of ten (10) or more units. All off-street parking spaces will be leased or sold separately from the rental or purchase fees for the individual units for the life of the units, such that potential renters or buyers have the option of renting or buying a unit at a price lower than would be the case if there were a single price for both the unit and the parking space(s). The proposed provisions are modeled on the provisions adopted for Alameda Point in 2014.
Minimum Bicycle Parking. The draft amendments simplify and include modifications to the bicycle parking requirements to make long term bicycle parking more usable for those unable to lift their bicycle off the ground and accommodate more non-traditional bicycles such as cargo bikes and adult tricycles.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The proposed amendments are exempt from further review pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3), where it can be shown that the proposed amendments will not have a significant effect on the environment. The proposed amendments are intended to improve environmental quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the City of Alameda Climate Action and Resiliency Plan. Furthermore, a loss of parking or a reduction in parking is not considered an impact to the environment under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
CLIMATE IMPACT
The proposed amendment is recommended in the Climate Action and Resiliency Plan and consistent with the Plan recommendations.
RECOMMENDATION
That the Planning Board review and comment on the draft amendments and provide direction on any further changes or information that the Board would like to consider before making a recommendation on the draft amendments to the City Council.
Respectfully submitted,
Andrew Thomas, Planning Building and Transportation Director
By,
Brian McGuire, Planner
Exhibits:
1. Proposed off-street parking requirements
2. Existing off-street parking requirements