Subject: CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
INITIATION
COUNCIL DISTRICT: City-Wide
Planning staff recommends placing the item captioned below on the City Council Agenda of May 29, 2001 under Item 2, "Consent Calendar - Public Hearing Set by Council":
Adoption of a resolution initiating proceedings on a series of ordinances of the City of San Jose to consider the rezoning of properties from the current zoning to A Agriculture, CP Commercial Pedestrian, and OS Open Space as a result of the newly adopted Zoning Code to further implement the San Jose 2020 General Plan; setting a public hearing on August 7, 2001, 7:00 p.m.; and referring the ordinances to the Planning Commission for its recommendation and comments.
BACKGROUND
With the adoption in December of the
comprehensive rewrite of Title 20, the Zoning Code, Codthe
City Council Initiated Rezoning Program was presented before and
approved conceptually approved by
the Council as part of the an iImplementation
pProgram associated with
the updated Code. This of the Comprehensive Zoning Code Update
Program, which was adopted
December 2000which included implementation
program included the rezoning of properties by reference (old
district to new district), and a) as well as a City Council
Initiated Rezoning Program. The rezoning of
properties by reference took care of much of the property rezoning needs in the
City; however, not all the direct references from old to new zoning district are the right fit because
they do not reflect/support existing land uses and/or General Plan land use
designations. For example, the direct
reference from R-1-B-6 to R-1-5 on some lands designated Non-Urban Hillside
perpetuates an inconsistency between the zoning district and the General Plan
land use designation. The City Council
Initiated Rezoning Program could resolve these inconsistencies.
The goal of the As was presented
to the Council (City Council Agenda November
14, 2000, Item 15a), theInitiated rRezoning Program is to aspect
of the program was to involve the rezoning rezone of
individual properties to an appropriate zoning district that
reflectss
existing current land uses
and/or current General Plan land use designations. Theis rezoning program fits with the
overall goal of the Zoning Code Update program aim
is to better align create a truly useful tool,
the ZZoning CCode, that can
effectively zoning districts
and regulations to use
to implement the City's San
Jose 2020 General Plan.
The City's blueprint for development is the San Jose 2020 General Plan including its Land Use/Transportation Diagram, which assigns every property a particular land use designation. All rezonings and subdivisions must conform to the General Plan, and in the case of subdivisions, the assigned density of the land use designation. One of the key tools available for implementing the General Plan is the City's land use regulations, or zoning. In the past, there have been inconsistencies between the General Plan land use designation and zoning district. These inconsistencies send a mixed message to property owners and developers about the development potential for a given property. In order to facilitate development consistent with the City's plans and policies, the conflict between zoning and General Plan needs to be eliminated.
Staff has identified the major key inconsistencies between the General Plan and zoning. Most of these have been long-standing; however, with a new Zoning Code with districts specifically aligned to General Plan land uses and density, the City now has the opportunity to rezone those areas so the General Plan designation and zoning district are consistent. The City Council Initiated Zoning Program is the mechanism for making such changes.
Planning staff is proposing to bring forward the City Council Initiated Rezoning Program in several phases. The first phase of the rezoning program includes areas that have a General Plan designation of Agriculture or Non-Urban Hillside, and some of the areas within designated Neighborhood Business Districts (NBDs). Subsequent phases will include the remaining NBDs and areas with General Plan land use designations of Rural Residential, Urban Hillside, General Commercial, Neighborhood Community Commercial, Industrial Park, Light Industrial, and Heavy Industrial. The subsequent phases involving the commercial and industrial land use designations require more in-depth analysis of existing land use compared to the General Plan designation to determine the appropriate zoning district.
Additionally, staff is proposing to bring forward the subsequent phases of the rezoning program through initiation by the Director of Planning instead of the City Council. Public hearings would still be held before the Planning Commission and City Council. By having the Director of Planning initiate the remaining rezonings, approximately four weeks can be eliminated from the process, resulting in earlier effective dates for the rezonings.
The proposed ordinance is to approve Phase I of the
Rezoning Program. This phase would
rezone particular properties or areas to make the zoning district consistent
with the existing use or with the plans for the areas. The areas to be considered under this phase
are properties located within the San Jose 2020 General Plan
designated areas of Agriculture, Non-Urban Hillside and a few NBDs. This will constitute the first phase of the
conceptually Council-approved Rezoning Program with subsequent phases to
follow.
The areas included in the first phase of the City Council Initiated Rezoning Program are located within the south Coyote Valley designated as Agriculture on the San Jose 2020 General Plan, the Lincoln Avenue, West San Carlos Street, and Willow Street NBDs, and the areas with a Non-Urban Hillside General Plan land use designation. These area are part of the first phase because of the severity of the existing inconsistencies between the zoning district and General Plan land use designation, development pressure, and available resources. Current budget resources available to accomplish this first phase of rezonings include a $50,000 reserve left from the larger Zoning Code Update Program. Staff anticipates utilizing these resources for non-personal costs, including public noticing and outreach, to complete the first phase of rezonings.
The San Jose 2020 General Plan currently designates approximately 1,700 acres of land in the south Coyote Valley Greenbelt for Agriculture. The intent of this land use designation is to preserve the land for agricultural purposes thus reinforcing a permanent greenbelt between San Jose/the North County cities and the South County cities. With the adoption of the new Zoning Code, the Agriculture zoning district was modified to require a minimum lot size of 20 acres, consistent with the General Plan land use designation of Agriculture. The land use regulations have also been modified to reflect a truly agricultural district.
The current zonings for properties with a General Plan land use designation of Agriculture in the Coyote Greenbelt are R-1-5 and R-1-1. These are single-family residential districts with minimum lot size requirements of 8,000 square feet and one acre, respectively. Clearly, these residential districts are in direct conflict with the General Plan land use designation of Agriculture and Coyote Greenbelt, and if built, would thwart the realization of a true greenbelt.
The General Plan land use designation that dominates the City's hillsides is Non-Urban Hillside. This land use designation is used for most hillside areas above the fifteen percent slopeline. Hillside areas above the fifteen percent slopeline have pervasive geologic conditions not conducive to urban development and provide critical watershed and natural habitat areas. The Non-Urban Hillside land use designation is intended to keep urban development out of an area not suitable for such development as well as protecting the City natural resources and enhancing the open space character of these lands.
Although much of the area with a Non-Urban Hillside designation is outside the City's corporate boundary, those areas within San Jose are zoned primarily for single-family residential use with a range of minimum lot size requirements, with some areas zoned for agriculture. All of these zoning districts are inconsistent with the General Plan's Non-Urban Hillside designation. The current residential zoning districts suggest the potential to subdivide property at a density in excess of what the General Plan would allow in the Non-Urban Hillside designation through its slope density formula. Additionally, both the agricultural and residential zoning districts would allow a variety of uses inconsistent with the open space objectives of the Non-Urban Hillside designation.
As part of the update of the Zoning Code, the OS Open Space district was modified to support the intent of the Non-Urban Hillside General Plan land use designation. The development standards as well as the use regulations are designed to be consistent with the Non-Urban Hillside General Plan designation. The minimum lot size is based on the slope density formula as found in the San Jose 2020 General Plan, and the regulations support uses appropriate for hillside open space areas. By rezoning to Open Space, these hillside lands within incorporated San Jose are protected from inappropriate residential development as well. These proposed rezonings further support the City Council and public's support of the Urban Growth Boundary and policies restricting inappropriate development in the hillsides.
Neighborhood Business District
General Plan Designation
There are eight Neighborhood Business Districts designated in the City's San Jose 2020 General Plan, including Lincoln Avenue, West San Carlos Street, Willow Street, Santa Clara Street, Alum Rock Avenue, Story Road, The Alameda, and Japantown. These areas are older commercial areas, typically with a neighborhood orientation and physical pattern of development consistent with a pedestrian orientation.
As part of the update of the Zoning Code, the commercial zoning districts were redesigned to support three different patterns of commercial development including pedestrian serving (CP Commercial Pedestrian), neighborhood serving (CN Commercial Neighborhood) with a greater orientation towards the automobile, and regional serving (CG Commercial General) which is primarily oriented towards the automobile and a regional customer base. The redesign of the commercial districts resulted in three commercial districts that have different development standards (e.g., setbacks) and some variation in use regulations primarily associated with auto-oriented uses.
In most cases, the more appropriate commercial zoning district within the NBDs would be the C-P Commercial Pedestrian zoning district. The C-P Pedestrian Commercial zoning district allows for a more pedestrian-oriented land use and urban development pattern. As described in the San Jose 2020 General Plan, the NBD designation applies to commercial areas which function in their neighborhoods or communities as central business districts, providing community focus and identity through the delivery of good and services. The C-P Commercial Pedestrian zoning district includes setback regulations that reflect the typical pattern of development already found in these areas (e.g., the buildings are built up to the sidewalk). The CP Commercial Pedestrian district also permits mixed residential/commercial uses which also reinforces existing patterns of development and use. By contrast, the CN Commercial Neighborhood development standards require buildings to be set back from the sidewalk allowing for a pattern of development less supportive of the pedestrian than the CP Commercial Pedestrian district and more oriented towards the automobile. Th CN Commercial Neighborhood district is designed to support the larger neighborhood shopping centers, typically located along major arterials, that serve a larger neighborhood population. The mode of transportation to these centers may be by foot; however, car travel is typical to accommodate larger shopping trips and/or a greater distance traveled from the home.
Planning staff proposes to move forward with rezonings on three of the eight NBD's at this time: Lincoln Avenue, West San Carlos Street, and Willow Street. The identification of the three NBD's was based on the incidence of zoning and General Plan inconsistencies, development pressure in the area, and staff and program resources. These three NBD's have active development along them and in order to support and enhance such development activity, staff proposes rezoning these areas to eliminate any conflicts with the zoning that may stifle development. An example of an NBD and why it will be included in a subsequent phase is the Story Road NBD. The Story Road NBD has a mix of the three commercial zoning districts that reflect the existing use and pattern of development. At this time, there the inconsistencies between the existing zoning and General Plan land use designations are few, and the development activity along this thoroughfare is such that it can be accommodated under the current zoning.
Lincoln
Avenue Neighborhood Business District
The Lincoln Avenue NBD
includes Lincoln Avenue between Coe Avenue on the north and Minnesota Avenue on
the south. All the properties fronting
Lincoln Avenue are currently zoned C-N Commercial Neighborhood. All of these properties would be proposed to
be rezoned to the C-P Commercial Pedestrian.
West San Carlos Street
Neighborhood Business District
The West San Carlos Street
NBD includes West San Carlos Street extending from Highway 17/Interstate 880
east to DuPont Street. Properties
located within this NBD that are within the City are primarily zoned C-N Commercial
Neighborhood and C-G Commercial General.
These properties would be proposed to be rezoned to C-P Commercial
Pedestrian.
Willow
Street Neighborhood Business District
The Willow Street NBD includes Willow Street between Prospect Street on the east and McClellan Avenue on the west. Within the Willow Street NBD, all the properties fronting Willow Street, with the exception of two properties, are zoned C-N Commercial Neighborhood. All these C-N zoning districts would be proposed to be rezoned to the C-P Commercial Pedestrian zoning district.
If the City Council initiates the proceedings for
the City Council Initiated Rezoning Program, public outreach will consist of
notification to and meetings (as appropriate) with the property owners and
business owners in the affected areas, and public hearings in front of the
Planning Commission and City Council.
This
memorandum has been coordinated with the City Attorney’s Office.
JAMES R. DERRYBERRY DIRECTOR