On June 19, 2001, the City Council initiated the Downtown Urban Design Study by approving the award of consultant contracts to ELS of Berkeley and to Keyser Marston of San Francisco. On July 10, 2001, the City Council approved appointment of a Stakeholders Advisory Committee to participate in the planning effort. On February 12, 2002, after six workshops and one public forum, the Stakeholders Advisory Committee voted unanimously to approve the Downtown Urban Design Plan and forward it to the City Council with specific recommendations for implementation. On March 25, 2002 the Planning Commission considered the Urban Design Plan and unanimously recommended to:

• Approve the Plan in concept
• Direct staff to work with the Planning Commission and the Redevelopment Agency to prepare appropriate amendments to the Downtown Specific Plan, the Zoning Code and Map, and the Redevelopment Area Plan, and to undertake the necessary environmental review
• Evaluate the residential units adjacent to the parking structures in more detail
• Consider alternative building heights and height transition along Charles Street
• Look into relocation of the Downtown Plaza to a more central location
• Conduct a massive community outreach program.

Attached is the Downtown Urban Design Plan recommended by the Stakeholders Committee. The Committee’s specific recommendations for implementation are included in the letter of transmittal, which is bound into the document. Staff recommends in accordance with the Planning Commission with the exception of the study to relocation the Downtown Plaza.

The City Council established as a priority study issue for 2001 the evaluation of permitted residential densities for the area north of Washington Avenue in the 1993 Downtown Specific Plan, with the intent that higher densities be considered. On June 19, 2001, the City Council concurred with a staff recommendation to expand the North of Washington Study to include reevaluation of the entire 1993 Downtown Specific Plan, and authorized award of contracts to ELS of Berkeley and Keyser Marston of San Francisco to provide consultant support in urban design and land economics, respectively. On July 10, 2001, the City Council approved appointment of a Stakeholders Advisory Committee to work with the consultants and the staff in the preparation of the Downtown Urban Design Plan (Attachment A lists the members of the Committee).

The Stakeholders Advisory Committee immediately held an organizational meeting, followed by six workshops on a monthly basis. By September 2001, the group had agreed on a long-range vision for Downtown Sunnyvale. By November, they had reviewed a draft plan prepared by the consultants. Although ten minutes was reserved for public input at each workshop, the Committee felt the need for more extensive public participation, and therefore held a Public Forum on December 6, 2001, devoted entirely to public testimony on the draft plan. On February 12, 2002, the Committee voted unanimously to approve the Downtown Urban Design Plan and forward it to the City Council with specific recommendations for implementation.

Policy C1.2 Encourage nodes of interest and activity, such as parks, public open spaces, well planned development, mixed use projects, and other desirable uses, locations and physical attractions.

Attached is the copy of the Downtown Urban Design Plan which was adopted by the Stakeholders Advisory Committee. Included in the front of the document is a Letter of Transmittal presenting the Committee’s specific recommendations for implementation, which are responsive to the public testimony they received. A full presentation of the Plan and the Letter of Transmittal will be made at the public hearing.

Consideration of the Urban Design Plan is essentially mid-way in a process that could result in an update to the Downtown Specific Plan and other regulatory tools (e.g. the zoning map and code and the Redevelopment Plan). The Urban Design Plan sets forth a vision for restoring the area as a traditional downtown, which serves and provides identity for the entire city. The Plan is conceptual in nature, and cannot control or direct development until it is translated into the implementation mechanisms cited above. Conceptual approval of the plan provides the context, or envelope, around which further environmental review and public outreach will occur. Council may give conceptual approval to all or portions of the Urban Design Plan. Conceptual approval does not commit the council to implementing all, or any, of the changes presented in the Urban Design Plan. The implementation process will require approximately nine months to complete, will require a thorough environmental impact report, and will involve substantial additional public notice and outreach. Council retains the authority to modify any aspects of the Urban Design Plan as further outreach and analysis are accomplished.

The Planning Commission specifically requested that other, more central, locations for the plaza be considered. In March 2000 the City Council approved the Mozart development project, which also included the location for a downtown public plaza. Staff has proceeded with design studies including a community-wide design charrette, hiring a consultant in 2001 to assist in plaza design, and recently a community workshop on consultant generated design concepts. Other locations may be more desirable because of their central locations, but these locations are not necessarily available or cost effective; staff considers the currently designated site a good site for a plaza. The Urban Design Plan recommends a second location for public events in front of Macy’s (at the foot of Murphy Avenue). If Macy’s agrees to their property being used for this purpose, another location will be available in the center of Downtown for large special events.

There is no direct fiscal impact of the adoption of the Downtown Urban Design Plan in concept. Preparation of an Environmental Impact Report will incur costs of approximately $150,000 outside of current operating budgets. Staff time to manage a consultant contract and update the Specific Plan and zoning can be handled with the Policy Planning budget in Community Planning Program. Council direction to proceed with an implementing will affect how many other policy studies can be accomplished in 2003.

Attachment B sets forth the extensive citizen participation and notification process during the preparation of the Plan. Notice of the Planning Commission and City Council public hearings has been published as follows:

1. Approve in concept the Downtown Urban Design Plan recommended by the Downtown Stakeholders Advisory Committee, and direct staff to work with the Planning Commission and the Redevelopment Agency to prepare appropriate amendments to the Downtown Specific Plan, the Zoning Code and Map, and the Redevelopment Area Plan, and to undertake the necessary environmental review. Staff is specifically directed to work with the Planning Commission to evaluate the proposed reductions in permitted density and height for residential development in the 100 block of Charles Street, 400 and 500 block of Washington Ave., and the 400 block of McKinley, and the proposed increases in permitted height of buildings fronting on Mathilda Avenue.
2. Approve in accordance with the Planning Commission action: Alternative 1 plus

• Evaluate the residential units adjacent to the parking structures in more detail
• Consider alternative building heights and height transition along Charles Street
• Look into relocation of the Downtown Plaza to a more central location
• Conduct a massive community outreach program.

3. Approve in accordance with Alternative 2 deleting the study to relocate the Downtown Plaza.
4. Approve in concept the Downtown Urban Design Plan as described in Alternative 2 with additional specific direction to the staff.
5. Do not approve the Downtown Urban Design Plan recommended by the Downtown Stakeholders Advisory Committee.

Staff recommends Alternative 3.

Prepared by:
Robert Paternoster
Director, Community Development Department

Approved by:
Robert S. LaSala
City Manager

1. Membership of Downtown Stakeholders Advisory Committee
2. Citizen Participation in the Downtown Urban Design Plan
3. Downtown Urban Design Plan
4. Draft Minutes of Planning Commission meeting of March 25, 2002