City of Elk Grove City Council Staff Report
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AGENDA ITEM NO. 9.2 CITY OF ELK GROVE CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT AGENDA TITLE: A public hearing to consider Amendments to the Old Town Elk Grove Special Planning Area Design Standards and Guidelines – Old Town SPA Triennial Update MEETING DATE: September 10, 2014 PREPARED BY: Gerald Park, Senior Planner DEPARTMENT HEAD: Darren Wilson, PE, Interim Planning Director RECOMMENDED ACTION: The Planning Commission (5-0) recommends the City Council find the proposed Amendments to the Old Town Elk Grove Special Planning Area Design Standards and Guidelines exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations Section 15061(b)(3) (General Rule); and introduce and waive the full reading, by substitution of title only, an Ordinance amending the Old Town Elk Grove Special Planning Area Design Standards and Guidelines (SPA). Background: The Old Town SPA planning document was originally established by Sacramento County in 1985. Pursuant to General Plan Policy HR-5-Action 2, the Old Town SPA was comprehensively updated and adopted by the City Council in August 2005. As part of the updated SPA, Section I(L) requires a triennial report to the City Council that summarizes development activity in the SPA and identifies possible updates to the SPA in response to changing conditions. The intent of the triennial review is to sustain a current and effective SPA. 1 Elk Grove City Council September 10, 2014 Page 2 of 11 The first triennial review was initiated in July 2008 and completed in May 2010. Through the culmination of ten public workshops, several major updates to the Old Town SPA were completed that included the addition of vision statements; revising the permitted and conditionally permitted land uses; modifying the standards and guidelines for hardscaping, parking, signage, and architecture; and revising the application requirements for outdoor seating, outdoor display, and outdoor performance venues. As a major update was completed in the 2010 triennial review, the current triennial review focuses on fine-tuning the SPA through minor revisions. Two public meetings were held as part of this review, with the first meeting conducted on November 14, 2013 at the Elk Grove Library. The first public meeting was to introduce the triennial review and to solicit input from business owners, residences, and the general public regarding potential updates to the SPA. Specific topics included the design review process, sign regulations, and permitted uses in the Old Town district. Other topics raised by the meeting participants included parking, code enforcement, and public safety. On May 27, 2014, a second public meeting was held in conjunction with the Old Town Foundation’s monthly meeting to review the draft revisions that were made to the SPA. The intent of the joint meeting was to capture a larger group of Old Town business owners that would be affected by the revisions. Only one comment was received relating to renumbering of the parking standards. Other comments received were generally associated with concerns unrelated to the SPA revisions such as public safety relating to crosswalks and landscape planters, intersection and streetscape improvements, and enforcement of sign regulations. Planning staff informed the meeting participants that the concerns will be forwarded to Public Works and Code Enforcement, and an update for addressing the concerns will be brought back to the Old Town Foundation in the future. PLANNING COMMISSION REVIEW: The Planning Commission reviewed the proposed changes at its regular meetings on July 17 and August 21, 2014. At the July 17th meeting, staff presented the proposed revisions to the SPA. One combined public comment was received from two representatives of the Old Town Foundation (Mr. Tal Crump and Mr. Howard Sihner) in support of the 2 Elk Grove City Council September 10, 2014 Page 3 of 11 proposed amendments to the SPA. After receiving the public comment, the Commission deliberated and continued the matter to the August 21, 2014 meeting in order to allow staff to clarify the signage approval process for new monument and building signs, and to incorporate the Planning Commission’s requested revisions consisting of the following: • Increase the proposed maximum area for awning and/or canopy signs from 50% to 75%; • Adding the approving authority to “Table 1 – Design Review Application Types”; and • Adding “automotive body accessories” to the proposed Commercial – Automotive Accessory Services land use category. At the Planning Commission’s August 21st meeting, staff presented the subsequent revisions and the Commission voted 5-0 to recommend approval of SPA amendments to the City Council. ANALYSIS: As mentioned, a total of two public meetings were held with the first meeting focusing to solicit input for changes to the SPA and the second meeting to review the proposed SPA revisions and receive any additional changes to the SPA. In addition, all proposed SPA revisions were consolidated and the draft SPA document containing the amendments was posted on the Planning Department's Old Town webpage for public review and comment. SPA Revisions All proposed revisions to the SPA are provided in Exhibit A of Attachment 1 in redline/strikeout format. The proposed revisions were a result of comments received from the two public meetings and by the Planning Commission. No comments were received from the online public review posting. Most of the revisions consist of either clarifying or relaxing the existing development standards. Table 1 below provides a summary of the proposed revisions that staff believes are substantive and contribute to refining the SPA. Revisions that entail clarifications, including the deletion/addition of certain text that does not change the substance of a goal, standard, or guideline are not included as part of Table 1, but may be 3 Elk Grove City Council September 10, 2014 Page 4 of 11 reviewed in Exhibit A. Non-substantive revisions for such items as misspelling, grammatical corrections, renumbering, picture deletions/ additions, etc. can also be reviewed in Exhibit A. Table 1 – Summarization of SPA Amendments Topic Page(s) Additions/Revisions Section I – Processing 1. Application and Fees 3-4 a. Reduced the number of applications types from four to two by merging the Type 1 and Type 2 Design Reviews and the Type 3 and Type 4 Design Reviews. b. Revised Table 1 by merging the Design Review types as stated above. The Design Review application requirement for landscaping, change of copy or face on an existing sign, and new building mounted or freestanding signs have been removed. (Section I(D)) 2. Design Review 5 Added landscaping to the list of exemptions. Exemptions (Section I(H)) Section III – Land Use 3. Permitted Uses 12-13 Table 2 in the SPA has been revised as follows: (Table 2) a. Added the following three new commercial land uses to the Table as “permitted” uses in the Commercial District. • Commercial – Automotive Accessory Services • Commercial – Indoor Recreation • Public Parking Facilities b. Renamed “Places of Assembly” to “Assembly Uses” 4 Elk Grove City Council September 10, 2014 Page 5 of 11 Section IV – Site Design Standards & Guidelines 4. Parking 23-26 Standards a. Added exemption of parking requirements for outdoor seating related to restaurants, delis, coffee shops, and similar uses. b. Reduced the parking requirement standards for commercial uses and added Table 6 with the new commercial parking requirements. (Section IV(D)) 5. Signs 26-35 Added “Sign Permit Requirement” subsection (Table 7) that specifically states that a completed sign permit application will need to be submitted to the City for review and approval for new monument and building signs identified in Table 7 in the SPA as subject to a sign permit. The subsection further states that a change of copy of an existing sign is exempt from the sign permit requirement. Table 7 in the SPA has been revised as follows: Building Signs a. Increased overall aggregate building sign area ratio from 1.5 square feet to 2 square feet per foot of building frontage. b. Added maximum area and height standards for building wall signs consisting of a sign area of no more than 75% of the street frontage length and a maximum height of no more than 25% of the building facade. c. Increased the maximum area for awning and canopy signs from 25% to 75% of the surface valence or vertical surface area. d. Removed entrance signs from Table 7. Directional Signs e. Added maximum area and height standards for directional signs consisting of a sign area no more than 4 square feet and a maximum height of no more than 4 feet. 5 Elk Grove City Council September 10, 2014 Page 6 of 11 Appendix 1 6. A Guide to Color, 64-74 Added color chip palettes to Appendix 1 to Sites, and provide examples of various appropriate colors. Architectural Periods – California Paints In addition to the summarization of the proposed revisions provided in Table 1, further analysis is provided below for the following section areas: Application Processing, Land Uses, Parking, and Signs. Application Processing The Old Town Design Review process has been streamlined by reducing the number of Design Review types from four to two. The reduction consists of merging the Planning Director's approval level Type 1 and Type 2 Design Reviews, and the Planning Commission's approval level Type 3 and Type 4 Design Reviews. Thus, the merging would result in having Design Review Types 1 and 2, which are approved by the Planning Director and Planning Commission, respectively. In addition, the landscaping and replacement of plant materials, change of copy or face of an existing sign, and new building mounted or freestanding signs would no longer require an Old Town Design Review application. The landscaping component has been added to the Design Review Exemptions section (Section I(H)) in the SPA.