SACRAMENTO RAILYARDS SPECIFIC PLAN Draft October 12, 2016 Prepared for: Railyards Ventures, LLC Prepared by: SACRAMENTO RAILYARDS SPECIFIC PLAN City of Sacramento / Draft October 12, 2016 Prepared for: Railyards Ventures, LLC Prepared by: INTRODUCTION 1 Redevelopment of the Railyards area, a balance; multi‐modal connectivity; urban 244‐acre site in downtown Sacramento, offers centers with jobs, housing, shopping, a unique opportunity to reinforce and services, and transit; and advanced green implement the City of Sacramento’s (City) building practices. This Sacramento Railyards 2035 General Plan vision to be “the most Specific Plan supersedes the existing livable city in America.” The Railyards area Railyards Specific Plan, last updated in 2007. has the potential to expand the role of the The project site has the same Plan Area, with Central City as Sacramento’s regional slight adjustments to the boundaries of the destination for employment; commerce; 2007 Plan. sports and entertainment; shopping; housing; The Railyards Specific Plan is the overarching government; and education, culture, and policy document that guides development tourism. Additionally, the City intends‐ within the Railyards Plan Area, but it works intends to create a transit‐oriented mixed‐use together with three other documents that district as an integral extension of the Central provide specific guidance on matters relating Business District. The General Plan to urban design, development regulations, emphasizes the following six themes, which and permitting: the Railyards Design create the basic framework for updating the Guidelines, the Railyards Special Planning Railyards Specific Plan to match the City’s District Ordinance (SPD), and the Central current goals and policies: Shops Historic District Ordinance. The Railyards Design Guidelines document, Making great places; which provides design guidance in written Growing smarter; and graphic form for private and public Maintaining a vibrant economy; projects undertaken in the Railyards, aims to promote the improved aesthetic and Creating a healthy city; functional quality of the Railyards Living lightly‐reducing our “carbon community. footprint”; and The purpose of the SPD is to implement the Developing a sustainable future. planning principles, goals, and policies of the Specific Plan by establishing necessary By focusing on regional employment procedures and standards through zoning. opportunities, cultural destinations, and The Historic District Ordinance will identify high‐quality residential neighborhoods, the contributing resources and character‐defining Railyards Specific Plan advances the policies features and utilize development standards, of the General Plan, which calls for improved pursuant to Chapter 17.604 (Historic land use efficiency and reduced GHG Preservation) of the Sacramento Planned emissions through a healthy jobs‐housing Development Code. In the interest of making Sacramento Railyards Specific Plan 10/11/2016 1-1 City of Sacramento 1 INTRODUCTION these documents as concise as possible, there A. Plan Area is very little overlap among them. As such, parties who are interested in developing The following sections describe the regional properties within the Railyards Plan Area and local settings of the Railyards Specific must consult each of these four documents Plan Area. prior to design and construction. 1. Regional Location The Railyards Specific Plan defines clear parameters for the future development of the As shown in Figure 1‐1, the City is located in Railyards area. Implementation of this Plan the north‐central part of California, will create a unique mixed‐use development approximately equidistant from the coastline consisting of regional destinations, and the Nevada state line. In addition to commercial uses, office development, hotels, being the state capital, it is also the largest city sports, entertainment and retail uses, with in Sacramento County as well as the county high‐density residential neighborhoods that seat. The city covers approximately provide opportunities to live and work in the 100 square miles and, as of 2015, is home to 1 Central City and are supported by urban over 480,000 people. parks and plazas. This chapter of the Railyards Specific Plan provides a description of the Plan Area, an overview of the development plan, and a description of the planning process that was followed to produce the document. 1 DOF. E‐1 Cities, Counties, and the State Population Estimates with Annual Percent Change—January 1, 2014 and 2015 1-2 Sacramento Railyards Specific Plan 10/11/2016 City of Sacramento INTRODUCTION 1 Source: AECOM Figure 1-1. Regional Location Sacramento Railyards Specific Plan 10/11/2016 1-3 City of Sacramento 1 INTRODUCTION 2. Plan Area government offices, the Richards Boulevard industrial district, and the historic Alkali Flat The 244‐acre Plan Area is located immediately neighborhood. A key element of this Plan is to north of the Central Business District, east of knit the surrounding areas to the new districts the Sacramento River, south of North B Street and neighborhoods in the Railyards and and west of the federal courthouse and the allow for the downtown circulation grid to Alkali Flat neighborhood. Figure 1‐2 shows extend northward connecting to Richards the various neighborhood districts Boulevard and the River District. surrounding the Plan Area. Figure 1‐3 shows the Plan Area and the distribution of ownership on the Railyards site. The site sits between the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers, where the initial settlement of the City of Sacramento was founded in 1849 along the banks of the Sacramento River. The Railyards is in close proximity to Old Sacramento, Downtown, Chinatown, the federal courthouse and local Source: AECOM Figure 1-2. City of Sacramento Neighborhood Districts Map 1-4 Sacramento Railyards Specific Plan 10/11/2016 City of Sacramento INTRODUCTION 1 Source: AECOM Figure 1-3. Plan Area and Ownership Plan, Design Guidelines, SPD, and Central B. Planning Process Shops Historic District documents, adopted in 2007. Previous studies for the Railyards Area and 1. Community Outreach and Land Use its immediate surroundings include the Plan Evolution Sacramento Central City Community Plan, which was adopted on May 15, 1980 and last Since 2002, the City has performed significant updated March 2015; the Central City Urban community outreach to determine how best to Design Guidelines, adopted in 2009; the plan the Railyards. In 2004, the City Facility Element of the Railyards Specific Plan conducted a Visioning Process for the and the Richards Boulevard Area Plan, which development of the Railyards Area, which were adopted by the City Council on consisted of a series of public workshops to December 1994; the River District Specific generate community input on the Plan, adopted in February 2011 and redevelopment of the Railyards area. The superseded the Richards Boulevard Area results of the visioning exercise helped to Plan; and the Railyards Special Planning inform the planning process for the Railyards District provisions in the Zoning Code, project. The majority of participants expressed adopted in 1999 and last updated in 2013. A a preference for higher‐density housing, much more extensive public process was ground‐floor retail, affordable units, and live/ conducted since the completion of the 1999 work space. They indicated a preference for a Specific Plan, which led to the revised Specific 24‐hour mixed‐ use district that would not “close down after 5 p.m.” In terms of Sacramento Railyards Specific Plan 10/11/2016 1-5 City of Sacramento 1 INTRODUCTION transportation, the participants expressed a historically been isolated from the City. desire for a walkable and bikable community Now the opportunity exists to increase with close access to transit. the integration of the area from all points, not just downtown, into a more seamless During the course of the next three years, patch of the City fabric. several other community outreach efforts were made to further guide the development Create a dynamic 24‐hour mixed‐use, of the Railyards. A community workshop was urban environment that provides a range held by the City and the thenr develope in of complementary uses, including May of 2006 to get additional feedback. cultural, office, hospitality, sports and Participants expressed interest in providing entertainment, retail, health care, pedestrian and street connectivity; providing educational, and open space; and a community facilities, such as schools, day‐ mixture of housing products, including care facilities, better recreational spaces, and a affordable housing. mix of housing types and affordability; Connect the Railyards with Sacramento’s preserving the Central Shops; sustainability; downtown office, retail, tourism, establishing destination places, such as residential, and government centers, as museums and a performing arts theater; well as Old Sacramento, the River District celebrating railroad and cultural history; and area, and the adjacent Alkali Flat ensuring high quality design. These neighborhood, using pedestrian and community outreach efforts resulted in bicycle connections, roadways, and public significant refinements to the plan from 2002 transportation routes. to 2007. The community’s desirable attributes Connect the Railyards to the Sacramento are still retained as part of the 2016 updates River waterfront, and allow for hotel, made to the 2007 Plan. public open space, residential