Title
PLN23-0367 - Approval of Development Plan, Use Permit, and Universal Design Waiver and recommending the City Council approve a Development Agreement - Applicant: Catellus/Brookfield Properties. Public hearing to consider approval of the West Midway Development Plan, Use Permit to exceed maximum off-street parking requirements, and Universal Design Waiver, and recommending City Council approval of the West Midway Development Agreement for the construction of approximately 478 housing units, 10,000 square feet of non-residential uses and associated infrastructure and open space on approximately 26 acres of land located between West Tower Avenue, West Midway Avenue, Main Street and Pan Am Way in the Main Street Neighborhood Specific Plan area at Alameda Point. Pursuant to Public Resources Sections 21166 and 21083.3 and Sections 15162 and 15183 of the CEQA Guidelines, no further environmental review is required
Body
To: Honorable President
and Members of the Planning Board
From: Andrew Thomas
Planning, Building and Transportation Director
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The West Midway project is identified as a priority housing project for the City of Alameda Housing Element. As described in Housing Element Program #1, the West Midway project is one of three critical projects to the City’s commitment to construct 1,482 housing unit over 8 years on City owned land at Alameda Point. In addition to the 478 units provided by the West Midway project, the West Midway project provides critical infrastructure and site preparation services for the adjacent RESHAP project, which includes 309 supportive housing units reserved for very low-income, low-income, and transitional households.
Staff is recommending approval of the draft resolution (Exhibit 1) in support of the West Midway Development Plan (Exhibit 2), Use Permit, Universal Design Waiver, and Development Agreement (Exhibit 3). The necessary CEQA findings for the West Midway project are supported by a CEQA Checklist prepared for the project (Exhibit 4).
BACKGROUND
On March 21, 2017, the City Council approved the Main Street Neighborhood Specific Plan which establishes the City’s specific development policies and standards for development of the area bounded by West Tower Avenue, Pan Am Way, and Main Street (the “Main Street Neighborhood”). One of the primary objectives of the Specific Plan is to facilitate the consolidation and rebuilding of the existing supportive housing that is currently scattered across 34 acres of the Main Street Neighborhood in 70+ year old deteriorating housing (the RESHAP project).
In 2018, the Planning Board and City Council approved a Development Plan and Development Agreement for the RESHAP project for a 9-acre site at the corner of West Midway and Main Street.
In 2020, the City of Alameda issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) and selected the development team of Catellus Development Corporation and Brookfield Properties for the development of approximately 26 acres of residentially zoned land (the “West Midway” project area) immediately adjacent to the RESHAP project within the Main Street Neighborhood Specific Plan area. The RFP and the subsequent Exclusive Negotiating Agreement (ENA) requires that the Catellus/Brookfield West Midway project fund the necessary infrastructure improvements and site preparation costs for the adjacent RESHAP property to provide for the construction of the West Midway project’s very low- and low-income inclusionary units within the RESHAP project.
In 2021, City staff, RESHAP, Catellus and Brookfield made the determination that relocating the RESHAP campus from Main Street at the eastern edge of Alameda Point to Pan Am Way near the center of Alameda Point resulted in a better, more integrated site plan for Alameda Point and for RESHAP.
In September 2022, the Planning Board and the City Council held public workshops to review the initial site plans for the West Midway project and the new location of the RESHAP campus. In September, the Commission on People with Disabilities reviewed the Universal Design Ordinance waivers being requested by the West Midway project.
In November 2022, the City Council approved Alameda Housing Element 2023-2031. Housing Element Program #1 commits the City of Alameda to take all necessary actions to facilitate and expedite the construction of 1,482 housing units on Site A, the RESHAP project site, and the West Midway project site.
DISCUSSION
Pursuant to the requirements of the Main Street Neighborhood Specific Plan (Specific Plan) and the Alameda Municipal Code (AMC), the West Midway project requires Planning Board review and approval of a Development Plan, a Use Permit for a parking waiver, a Universal Design Waiver, and a recommendation on the draft Development Agreement for the West Midway project. On June 20, 2023, the City Council is tentatively scheduled to hold a public hearing to consider the Development Agreement and a Disposition and Development Agreement for the conveyance and development of the approximately 26 acres of City owned West Midway property.
West Midway Development Plan: The West Midway Development Plan (Exhibit 2) provides a plan for construction of approximately 478 housing units, 10,000 square feet of non-residential space, and a grid of internal streets, bikeways and alleys on 26 acres of City-owned land immediately adjacent to the RESHAP project. The development plan is consistent with the Alameda General Plan, Main Street Neighborhood Specific Plan, and the applicable Alameda Point Zoning Ordinance policies, standards, and development densities.
Affordable Housing. The Alameda Point Settlement Agreement with Renewed Hope requires that the City ensure that 25% of all new housing at Alameda Point be deed restricted for very low-, low- and moderate-income households. Per the Settlement Agreement, the 25% is comprised of 10% at or below low-income units and 15% at or below moderate-income units. The West Midway project and the RESHAP project together will satisfy this requirement as follows: the combined projects will provide 587 total new units (478 new units at West Midway and 109 new units at RESHAP), requiring 147 affordable units (59 new units at or below low-income and 88 new units at or below moderate-income). The RESHAP project will provide 107 new units at or below low-income, leaving a need for 40 new units at or below moderate-income. The West Midway project will include 40 units that will be deed restricted for sale to moderate-income households with household income between 80% and 120% of the area wide median income (AMI). If the number of affordable new units on the RESHAP property exceeds 107, then the number of moderate income units on the West Midway property may decrease accordingly, ensuring that together this requirement is satisfied.
The Specific Plan requires that six percent of the units in a development be deed restricted to very low-income households, 10 percent be deed restricted to low-income households, and nine percent be deed restricted to moderate-income households. For the West Midway project, this requirement would yield 29 very low-income units, 48 low-income units, and 43 moderate-income units. As noted, the West Midway project will include 40 moderate-income units, and the RESHAP project will provide 107 new units at or below low-income. Of these 107 new units, at least 29 would be very low-income units and the remaining 78 would be at or below low-income, more than satisfying the need for 48 low-income and an additional 43 moderate-income units when combined with the 40 moderate-income units in the West Midway project.
The West Midway project is responsible for constructing RESHAP’s new infrastructure and for the demolition, site preparation, surcharging, and rough grading for the 8 acres of City owned land at the corner of West Midway and Pan Am Way that will be conveyed from the City directly to the Collaborating Partners for the RESHAP campus, with projected costs for the infrastructure and the site preparation work in excess of $20 million. The provision of infrastructure and site preparation services is critical for development of the RESHAP project. The West Midway project’s construction obligations for the RESHAP project will be established in the Disposition and Development Agreement between the City and Catellus/Brookfield.
Workforce Housing. The West Midway project includes, in addition to the 40 moderate-income units, 43 “affordable by design” units designed for “work-force” households with incomes between 120% and 180% of the AMI. The 43 units represents 10% of the market rate units. The initial sale of these units will be limited to households within the target income range, but these units would not be deed restricted. Therefore, buyers will be able to sell the homes at a future date without limitations on the sales prices or the income of the subsequent buyers. The West Midway workforce housing program is required by, and consistent with, the Main Street Neighborhood Specific Plan.
Neighborhood Design. The West Midway project is designed as five neighborhoods of three and four story condominium and townhome type buildings. Other than the workforce housing, all residences face the street or a pedestrian paseo, and are served by private garages accessed from a rear alley. The buildings range in size from buildings with just two units (the Duets) to buildings with up to 11 units. In some cases each residence is comprised of vertical spaces from the garage up to the roof and in other models, the living spaces of one unit may be above or below the living spaces in a separate unit (the condo buildings). The West Midway project will be constructed in phases, anticipated to occur over the next eight years. Per the AMC Section 30-37 Design Review Regulations, the applicants are required to submit architectural plans for each building to the Planning Board for Design Review approval, prior to issuance of building permits.
The Main Street Neighborhood Specific Plan allows for four story buildings of up to 40 feet unless the Planning Board grants an exception to those requirements. The West Midway development plan is proposing four story buildings of up to 50 feet. The Main Street Neighborhood Specific Plan states that the “The Planning Board may grant an exception to the building height as part of the Design Review application if the Board is able to make a finding that: (1) the exception is necessary and appropriate to provide for an ample ceiling height for well-designed ground floor commercial or institutional space in vertically mixed-use buildings, or (2) the exception is necessary and appropriate to improve the architectural design of the building.” Staff believes that a Planning Board finding that the exception to 50 feet for a four story building is necessary and appropriate to improve the architectural design of the building and the architectural character of the entire project. A four story building with four 10 foot floors results in an unattractive box-like building with fewer opportunities for incorporating architectural details that can create visual interest, and staff believes that the overall design of the neighborhood is improved and becomes more interesting with the addition of the four story buildings up to 50 feet in height and the resultant visual interest in a mix of building heights that helps break up the visual monotony that arises from uniformly-sized buildings. This finding has been added to the draft resolution of approval, but per the Specific Plan, the Planning Board will need to make a similar finding when the four story designs are submitted for Design Review approval.
Universal Design. Similar to all the other townhome projects in Alameda, the West Midway project is requesting a waiver from the 100% visitability standard and the 30% universal design standards required in AMC Section 30-18 Universal Residential Design. Section 30-18.5 authorizes the Planning Board to grant a waiver of these requirements if certain findings can be made. Similar waivers were approved for the Site A townhome units, the Alameda Marina townhome units, the Boatworks townhome units, and the Grand Street townhome units. The West Midway project provides approximately 15% universally designed units (30% is the requirement) and approximately 50% visitable units (100% is the requirement).
The Commission on Persons with Disabilities reviewed and commented on the requested waivers in September 2022. The Commission expressed their frustrations regarding the inherent conflicts between townhome development and the universal design ordinance goals and the need to revisit certain provisions of the ordinance. Staff is recommending the proposed waivers because meeting the requirements with a townhome design requires addition of more land for more ground floor living space or an elevator. Both of these options add significant costs to the cost of each residential unit.
Commercial Corner. The project provides for a 7,500 to 10,000 square foot commercial development at the corner of Pan Am Way and West Tower Avenue, which is directly across the street from the Almanac Beer Company. The plan proposes a two-step process for the development of the corner. The first step would be the creation of a temporary commercial establishment. The second step would be construction of a 7,500 to 10,000 square foot commercial structure. Pursuant to the draft Disposition and Development Agreement, the first step is anticipated to be completed by 2026 and the permanent building is anticipated to be constructed by 2031. If these milestones are not met, the City will retain ownership of the property.
Infrastructure and Transportation. To support the redevelopment of Alameda Point, the RESHAP project, and the 478 units at the West Midway project, the West Midway project will be constructing all new sewer, storm water, power, and communications facilities and new curb, gutter and sidewalks in support of the 8 acre RESHAP project and the 26 acre West Midway project. The infrastructure plan provides a grid of streets, bikeways, and pedestrian paseos that intersect the site, connect the West Midway project to the RESHAP project, and connect the two projects to the adjacent NAS Historic District to the west and to Bayport neighborhood and greater Alameda to the east. The Development Plan extends north-south streets Orion Street, Ardent Way, and Skylark Street from Site A through the project site, and the plan includes a new east-west street that would bisect the site and provide access from Main Street on the eastern edge of the site to Pan Am Way on the western edge of the site. The new east west street is off-set at Orion Street to discourage speeding through the neighborhood.
To encourage active modes of transportation, the project will be constructing a shared bicycle and pedestrian trail through the middle of the site from Main Street to Pan Am Way, a Class 1 Bike Trail on the Main Street frontage, a raised two way bike trail on the West Midway Avenue frontage, and continuation of the raised one way bike ways on Orion Street. The bicycle and pedestrian network connects four small internal publicly accessible parks on the site to the larger regional parks at the Seaplane Lagoon and a larger community park planed for the next phase of Alameda Point just north of West Midway Avenue. Pursuant to the DDA, the West Midway project will be contributing $2.5 million to the construction of the Main Street Neighborhood public park planned for the area just north of West Midway Avenue.
The project site is served by AC Transit Line 96 and is within walking distance of two ferry terminals with direct access to Oakland and San Francisco. Pursuant to the Alameda Point Transportation Demand Management Plan, the West Midway project property owners will pay annual assessments to fund supplemental transportation services for the residents of the project. As members of the Alameda Transportation Management Association (ATMA), the residents will receive transit passes, electric bicycle rebates, and other transportation services. As Alameda Point continues to grow, the services provided by the ATMA to the residents of Alameda Point will increase.
Use Permit to Exceed Maximum Parking Spaces. The applicant is proposing 478 townhomes with an average of 1.57 parking spaces provided in private garages for each unit. Some of the townhomes are designed with traditional two car garages, some are designed with two car tandem garages, and some are designed with one car garages.
Section 30-7 of the AMC establishes a 1.5 parking space per multi-family unit maximum, but allows the Planning Board to grant a use permit to exceed the 1.5 parking space maximum if specific findings are made. The four required findings are included in the draft resolution granting the exception and are summarized below (AMC Section 30-7.3.e.):
• Transportation demand management measures will reduce the need for the additional off-street parking. The West Midway project will comply with the Transportation Demand Management Plan for Alameda Point (TDM Plan). The project will be added to Community Facilities District 17-1 and will be contributing annual funds to support the Alameda Transportation Management Association, which provides transit passes to all households at Alameda Point, electric bicycle rebates, and other transportation demand management services.
• The additional parking demand cannot reasonably be accommodated through formal arrangements such as shared parking or reciprocal parking agreements that make use of other available off-site parking because adjacent residential developments have limited public parking opportunities and nearby public facilities such as the public parking for the shoreline park and Ferry Terminal are not suitable for shared parking for the West Midway residential project residents.
• There are unique characteristics of the users or the land use activity that result in a high level of automobile parking demand. Market rate townhome buyers include a large percentage of families and extended families as compared to the residents of nearby multifamily rental buildings, which are typically smaller households and single person households. The 1.50 parking ratio reserved for “Dwelling unit” does not distinguish between townhomes, duets, and other mid-rise housing products and high-rise multi-family apartments. Townhomes typically have a higher parking demand per unit than multi-family apartments. Townhomes typically are larger than multi-family apartments, which generally corresponds with more occupants per unit, and results in a higher parking demand per unit than multi-family apartments. The larger family households result in a higher level of automobile demand. The townhome product is typically three and four bedroom homes, whereas the nearby rental buildings are mostly one bedroom, studios, and a small number of two bedroom units.
• The project provides positive environmental, social, or other community benefits that outweigh the adverse effects of additional parking, such as improving public safety, or improving and/or preserving access for pedestrians, cyclists or users of public transit. The West Midway project will be providing funding on an annual basis to support transit and alternative modes of transportation to reduce automobile generated greenhouse gas emissions. The plan also includes extensive bicycle facilities, protected two way bikeways, and separated one way bikeways throughout the project to support active transportation.
Development Agreement: The West Midway project is designed to be constructed over an eight year period. Per the AMC, development plans and use permits must be vested with a building permit within two years. For these reasons, most land use entitlements for large projects that will be constructed over many years are accompanied by a Development Agreement which provides certainty that the project can be constructed over an extended time without changes to the underlying laws, conditions and requirements governing the project. To strengthen the public planning process, encourage private participation in comprehensive planning, and reduce the economic costs and risk of development, state law (Government Code section 65864 et seq.) authorizes development agreements if certain findings can be made.
A detailed schedule of construction milestones will be included in the DDA for the project, which is the agreement between the City and Catellus/Brookfield for the phased conveyance and development of the City owned property. Per that DDA schedule, it is anticipated that work on the infrastructure plans and permits will begin immediately upon the approval of the DDA this summer. Site preparation and infrastructure for the first of four RESHAP buildings are anticipated to be completed in 2024 and for the second RESHAP building in 2025. Furthermore, per that schedule, work on the infrastructure for the first phase of the West Midway infrastructure is anticipated to begin in 2024 and continue through 2031, and the first West Midway homes are anticipated be under construction in 2027, with new homes being constructed through 2031.
The Development Agreement ensures that:
• The City’s approval of the development plan will be vested for more than two years. The Development Agreement extends the life of the West Midway project approvals for the term of the DA and DDA.
• The Developer’s construction of the West Midway project will comply with the project approvals.
• The City will process subsequent approvals required for the West Midway project (such as design review and subdivisions maps) in accordance with the project approvals.
• Future changes in City codes, regulations, standards or fees that conflict with the project approvals will not apply to the development of the project, absent a health or safety impact or conflict with federal or state law. All existing 2023 codes, regulations, standards, and fees must be followed by City and Developer, but new codes, regulations or standards that conflict or prevent development of the project that are approved after approval of the Development Agreement will not be applied to the project.
MUNICIPALCODE/POLICY CROSS REFERENCE
The West Midway project implements the General Plan Housing Element and is consistent with the General Plan Land Use Element and Main Street Neighborhood Specific Plan, as well as the Regional Sustainable Communities Strategy, Plan Bay Area 2050.
CLIMATE IMPACT
The proposal is consistent with the City’s Climate Action Plan and the Regional Sustainable Communities Strategy.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Pursuant to the streamlining provision of Public Resources Sections 21166 and 21083.3 and Sections 15162 and 15183 of the CEQA Guidelines, no further environmental review is required because the West Midway project is consistent with the development density in an adopted Specific Plan for the area; the environmental impacts of the development of the area consistent with the Specific Plan were considered in the APP FEIR adopted by the City Council on February 4, 2014, in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); the West Midway project is consistent with the development density of, is specifically listed in, and implements the City of Alameda’s Housing Element adopted on November 15, 2022; the environmental impacts of the Housing Element and the development of the sites included in the Housing sites inventory were considered in the General Plan Update EIR adopted by the City Council on November 30, 2021; and as documented in the project CEQA Checklist, the West Midway project would not result in new or substantially more severe significant impacts than identified in the APP FEIR due to changes in the project, changed circumstances, or new information and there are no new or considerably different feasible mitigation measures or alternatives from those identified in the APP FEIR that would substantially reduce one or more significant effects that the project proponent declines to adopt; and the West Midway project would not result in significant impacts that: (1) are peculiar to the project or project site; (2) were not already identified as significant effects, cumulative effects, or off-site effects in the General Plan Update FEIR; or (3) were previously identified as significant effects; but are determined to be substantially more severe than discussed in the General Plan Update FEIR.
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt a resolution (Exhibit 1) approving the West Midway Development Plan (Exhibit 2), Use Permit, and Universal Design Waiver, and recommending City Council approval of the West Midway Development Agreement (Exhibit 3).
Respectfully submitted,
Andrew Thomas, Planning Building and Transportation Director
Exhibits:
1. Draft Resolution Approving West Midway Development Plan, Use Permit, and Universal Design Waiver, and Recommending City Council Approval of West Midway Development Agreement
2. West Midway Development Plan
3. Draft West Midway Development Agreement
4. CEQA Checklist and West Midway Project MMRP