On June 4, 2002 Council approved the conceptual design of a 1.6 acre "Basic" design downtown plaza. Council directed staff to meet with Mozart and the property owners in the North of Washington area on alternative parking proposals to meet the parking needs along with an expanded size plaza.

This report describes alternative parking proposals for the North of Washington Area and summarizes the discussions with:

• Property Owners in the North of Washington area
• Sunnyvale Downtown Association
• Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce

Based on the results of the meetings with the North of Washington stakeholders, community input, and prior Boards and Commissions input, staff recommends that the City Council:

• approve the 1.6 acre size for the plaza
• approve a revised parking plan for the North of Washington Area

The City owns a 1.6-acre parcel in the North of Washington area of Downtown, intended for a public plaza. In March of 2000, the Council approved the Mozart project and the Redevelopment Agency approved a Disposition and Development Agreement with Mozart. These approvals identified the plaza site, required the construction of public parking under the plaza site and required 100 additional surface parking spaces in the North of Washington area. The result was 1.2 acres for the plaza and a 0.4-acre area for approximately 42 surface parking spaces south of the plaza site. The North of Washington property owners and businesses may have had an expectation that these 42 surface parking spaces would be provided on a permanent basis. Staff has considered the 42 spaces as interim parking that would eventually allow for a larger plaza, particularly when other sites in the North of Washington area redevelop.

During review of conceptual designs for the plaza a 1.6-acre and 1.2- acre plaza were discussed (Attachments 4 and 5). Several members of the community expressed an interest in the larger plaza. Staff indicated that the property owners and businesses in the area had not been specifically consulted about a change in the parking configuration and recommended that these conversations be held prior to Council selecting the final plaza size.

1.6 Acres: The larger plaza size is 1.6 acres. The 1.6 acres takes into account the total City-owned land on the site and provides optimal site design possibilities. The conceptual design accommodates approximately 2,700 people and associated equipment during a large community event. Community input and the April 24, 2002 Parks and Recreation Commission’s recommendation were to utilize the full 1.6 acre plaza size and maximize the open space in the downtown. The 1.6-acre plaza option would not be able to provide a surface parking lot with approximately 42 spaces.

1.2 Acres: The second size is the smaller plaza size equaling 1.2 acres with about 42 surface parking spaces located in the southeastern corner of the site. The retention of the planned surface parking spaces results in smaller plaza accommodating approximately 1,900 people and associated equipment during a large community event.

On June 4, 2002, Council approved the conceptual design of a 1.6 acre "Basic" design downtown plaza. Further, Council directed staff to meet with Mozart and the property owners in the North of Washington area on alternative parking proposals to meet the parking needs and allow for a larger plaza.

Goal: Urban Design-2

Increase open space and pedestrian-oriented environments in the downtown.

Staff met with Andy Kasik and Nick Gera, the property owners (other than Mozart and the City) in the North of Washington area on alternative parking proposals to meet the parking needs and to expand the size of the plaza. Generally the larger size plaza was determined to be desirable. Staff also met with the Sunnyvale Downtown Association (SDA), which represents property owners and businesses in the downtown. They expressed concerns on the loss of surface spaces in a central portion of the North of Washington area. They also voiced concerns regarding other overall management of Downtown parking. Staff has responded to a letter from the Downtown Association (Attachments 2 and 3), indicating steps the city is taking to address parking management and maintenance in the downtown. Staff also met with the Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce.

Staff conducted a surface parking analysis of the North of Washington Area (NOW). The goal was to identify a total of 100 additional surface parking spaces from when the Mozart development commenced (not including surface spaces associated with the Mozart site itself). Staff took into account not only total number of spaces available but also examined the overall parking program. There are four different summaries of total surface parking spaces based on different time periods. The following is a summary:

See Attachment 1 for a map of the North of Washington Parking Study Plan.

The parking plan includes the possibility of providing additional surface (on-street) parking spaces on Evelyn Avenue adjacent to the Mozart and Plaza sites. There is an opportunity to create an additional seven surface parking spaces on Evelyn Avenue between Frances and Sunnyvale. However, the accommodation of these spaces would require the reconfiguration of Evelyn Avenue, including the removal of one or more travel lanes.

The Public Works Traffic Engineering Division has initiated a separate project to reconfigure Evelyn Avenue to include bike lanes from Bernardo Avenue to Sunnyvale Avenue. The proposed scope will include changing the street configuration from two travel lanes in each direction with parking on the south side of the street (in some areas), to one travel lane and one bike lane in each direction, with a two way left turn lane in the center. The Traffic Engineering Division has analyzed the addition of surface parking on Evelyn along the Mozart and Plaza sites and believes that it would be possible to include the addition of the on-street parking as part of the bike lane project.

The Traffic Engineering Division has conducted preliminary outreach to property owners and business owners in the Downtown and property owners directly affected by the lane closure. Public comments have been generally supportive to date. Comments have been made regarding the concern of travel lane removal and the potential traffic congestion during peak hours. The Traffic Engineering Division will be completing a comprehensive traffic analysis as part of the environmental and preliminary engineering phase of the project to determine if there will be any traffic impacts associated with the removal of travel lanes. Traffic Engineering staff will be conducting additional public outreach as part of the environmental phase of the project. At that time staff will be presenting the results of the Evelyn Avenue Bike Lane project traffic analysis as well as a conceptual design. The final proposal will be brought to City Council for approval in summer 2003.

On June 18, 2002 Council

• Approved Budget Modification #32 for Plaza budget of $5,721,700 for design, construction and project administration of a 1.6 acre Basic Design Plaza.
• Directed staff to evaluate currently funded projects and provide recommendations for defunding to fund the remaining $599,654.
• Awarded a contract to Amphion Environmental, Inc., for plaza design and construction support services.

A smaller plaza would have less of a fiscal impact for this phase of the project. However, expanding the plaza size in the future would be more costly (on a square foot basis) due to general mobilization and administration costs associated with a second project.

Staff met with the property owners and downtown representatives on 6 occasions to discuss parking in the downtown. This report was included in the publication and posting of the Council agenda on the City’s official bulletin board, and the City’s web page. This report is also available at the Sunnyvale Public Library and the City Clerk’s Office.

Staff recommends Alternatives 1 & 2.

Prepared by:
Erin Megan Walters
Associate Planner

Reviewed by:
Trudi Ryan
Planning Officer

Robert Paternoster
Director, Community Development

Approved by:
Robert S. LaSala
City Manager