Recent Block 18 and DSP Land Use Applications

File Number	Brief Description	Hearing/ Decision	Date
2002-0612	Allow Low-Medium Density Zoning in the 300 Block of  East Washington and McKinley Avenues	Council/ No Change	6/15/2004
2002-0612	Adoption of Downtown Specific Plan and Title 19 Zoning Code Amendments.	Council/ Approved	10/14/2003
2002-0568	Initiation of General Plan Amendment Study for Block 18	Council/ Approved	9/12/ 2003
2002-0612	Certification of Program Level Final EIR and Modification to General Plan for development intensities and height in the Downtown Specific Plan area.	Council/ Approved	6/17/2003
1998-1120	SDP and GPA for mall development and ertification of a project level Final EIR. (Expired, due to inactivity)	Council/ Approved	3/1999

Project Data Table

Block 18 of the DSP	EXISTING	PROPOSED
General Plan	Mixed Use	Mixed Use
Zoning District	DSP 18	DSP 18
Subject Site Size	36.73 acres	36.73 acres
Gross Floor Area (s.f.)	Commercial-1,007,876 Office-202,000 Housing-300,000* (200 units) Total: 1,509,876	Commercial-Same Office-300,000 Housing-450,000* (300 units) Total: 1,757,876
Floor Area Ratio (gross sq. ft./gross area)	94.3%	109.9%
Percent of Land Use Type(based on floor area)	Commercial-66.7% Office-13.4% Housing-19.9%	Commercial-57.3% Office-17% Housing-25.7%
Density (units/acre)	5.5	8.3
Building Height (ft.)	75 (Cinema 80)	Same
No. of Stories	5	5

*Assumption of 1500 sq. ft. per housing unit including living area, lobbies, hallways, etc.

PLANNING COMMISSION HEARING

At the Planning Commission public hearing of June 28, 2004, testimony was given from the applicant and 12 members of the public.   The Planning Commission deliberated on issues in the staff report and testimony pertaining to financial benefit, land use appropriateness, housing need, office market demand and voted 5-0 to increase Block 18 to 282 housing units and maintain its current entitlement of 202,000 square feet of office.  The recommendation also includes a revision to Blocks 4, 6, 9, and 13 for a net reduction of 82 housing units and inclusion of the traffic mitigation measure in the Final EIR.

DISCUSSION

Description of Proposed Request

For the purposes of this report all actions associated with the request (General Plan Amendment, Downtown Specific Plan Amendment, and associated text changes to the Title 19 of the Sunnyvale Municipal Code (SMC)) are collectively referred to as a GPA.  The original General Plan Amendment initiation by Forum was to review Block 18 development intensities only; however, the City Council later directed staff to explore corresponding reductions in housing units in the Downtown Specific Plan area. The study allows the City to address any opportunities particular to the site that would further advance the Downtown Specific Plan’s objectives of facilitating redevelopment and revitalizing the downtown.  As part of this directive Staff has reviewed maximum dwelling unit counts for blocks that had previously had sections changed that were not accounted for in the adopted final DSP and has also presented an alternative for additional reduction of units from Very High Density residential blocks in the DSP.

The proposed GPA is a legislative (policy) action that addresses intensity of development (i.e. “how much”). The action does not include review of design details such as site plan, architecture, open space, specific land uses, etc. (i.e. “how well”).  A subsequent application (Special Development Permit) will be required for a site specific project and will be reviewed at separate public hearings.

The proposed Forum initiated GPA is to increase the Block 18 residential development potential from 200 housing units to 300 housing units and to increase the office development potential from 202,000 square feet to 300,000 square feet.  Although the General Plan was recently modified to its current intensity levels, the Forum Development Group (GPA petitioner and Redevelopment Agency Master Developer for Block 18) believes the site's individual merits were not considered thoroughly and the increased intensity is crucial to the viability of proceeding with a redevelopment project for the Town Center Mall site.

Block 18

	Existing General Plan	Proposed General Plan	Increment
Office	202,000 sq. ft.	300,000	+ 98,000
Commercial	1,007,876 sq. ft.	Same	Same
Housing	200 units	300 units	+100
Height	75 feet (80 ft cinema)	Same	Same

Environmental Review

As part of its Downtown Improvement Program Update June 17, 2003, the City has already analyzed the environmental effects of buildout of the Downtown Specific Plan in a Program EIR.  The analysis concluded that significant and unavoidable impacts to regional air quality and the transportation system would occur with buildout of the plan.   The City Council made Findings for a Statement of Overriding Social/Economic Consideration required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) at the time of the EIR certification and approval of DSP.  The adopted DSP was approved at an overall intensity less than the original EIR review of impacts.  This subsequent project is within the increment of previous EIR analysis and includes an Addendum to the Final EIR demonstrating that the proposed GPA requires no major changes to the analysis of environmental effects in the EIR (Attachment 7 Addendum to the Final EIR).   Approval of the GPA requires consideration of the Final EIR in conjunction with the proposed addendum and affirmation of the Statement of Overriding considerations adopted June 17, 2003.

     Excerpt of Table 1.1 Attachment 7 (Development Intensity for Environmental Review)

     *Note totals do not reflect current recommended 82 housing unit reduction

Additionally, a traffic mitigation measure that was previously identified as infeasible for a southbound right turn lane at the intersection of De Anza Boulevard and Homestead Road in Cupertino has been reconsidered and submitted for inclusion into the Final EIR's mitigation monitoring program.  The conceptual design from the City of Cupertino includes an additional southbound right turn lane that requires expansion of the existing curb to curb width for the new lane and replacement of landscaping removed for construction.  No significant environmental effects pertain to the mitigation.

General Plan Amendment

Setting:  Block 18 is a centrally located 36-acre sub-district within the larger 103-acre Downtown Specific Plan.  The subject area is also located within Sunnyvale's only Redevelopment Project Area.  Block 18 is generally defined as the area between Mathilda Avenue and Sunnyvale Avenue and between Washington Avenue and Iowa Avenue. 

The nearby uses to the subject site range from new high-intensity five and six-story office buildings to the northwest and one-story single-family homes towards the southeast.  Existing commercial uses also frame portions of the site.   The long-term land uses for the Specific Plan area surrounding the site envision the following (Attachment 2):

• Mathilda Avenue- Very-High Density Residential
• Washington Avenue- Office and Mixed-Use Residential/Commercial
• Sunnyvale Avenue- Commercial and Low-Medium Density Residential
• Iowa Avenue- Office and Low-Density Residential

Objective/Purpose:  Objective of the petitioner is to increase the development potential of Block 18 with the hope of facilitating redevelopment of the site. 

The purpose of Block 18 within the Downtown Specific Plan is to contribute substantially to invigorating the downtown as a whole by becoming the commercial core’s regional retail/entertainment anchor and hub of activity. Block 18 is expected to integrate with the existing and future land uses of Town & Country, Mozart Office buildings, Historic 100 block of South Murphy Avenue, and the multimodal transit station. The vision for the DSP includes: added vitality through an infusion of 24-hour uses, redevelopment of a decaying commercial core (Town Center Mall), augmentation of city revenues, increased connectivity, and establishment of a sense of downtown identity that is compatible with Sunnyvale's community character.

General Plan Consideration:  The following topics were the subject of the Forum General Plan Amendment review:

§    Market Context	§     Fiscal Impact
§    Appropriateness of Location	§     Environmental and other Impacts
§    Job/Housing Ratio	§     Community Character

The evaluation includes a review of the General Plan Goals and Policies in the following General Plan documents: (Detailed Goals & Policies List Attachment 1)

·     Land Use and Transportation Element	·  Housing and Community Revitalization  Sub-Element
·      Fiscal Sub-Element	·   Recreation Sub-Element
·     Community Design Sub-Element	·   Downtown Specific Plan
·      Noise Sub-Element	·   Socio-Economic Element

Other Housing Unit Options for DSP Blocks

In addition to the Forum initiated GPA for Block 18, Council expressed an interest in examining total housing units in the whole of the DSP area and to have staff make recommendations on where corresponding decreases could be considered.   Initially, staff reviewed the existing maximum unit counts and acreages of all residential blocks in the DSP with a focus on the eastern portion of the DSP where compatibility with the neighborhood has been a concern.  Due to the split zoning approval of the Blocks 4, 6, and 13, Staff discovered that the table outlining development intensities was inconsistent with the text description in the DSP.    In addition to these inconsistencies, Block 9 was identified as having a typographical error.  

Staff's recommended changes to maximum housing unit counts for Blocks 4, 6, 9, and 13 results in a net reduction of 82 units for the whole of the DSP (1,999 reduced to 1,917 housing units).  A detailed explanation of the density and acreage inconsistencies is contained in Attachment 6.   If the Forum GPA request for 100 additional units is approved in conjunction with the proposed revisions the resulting change would be a net gain of 18 units for the DSP as a whole.