1 | Case No. PZ-19-00124 Updates to Zoning Code 2019 - High Occupancy Housing Land Use | ||||||||
Zoning Code Manager Dan Symer and Comprehensive Planning Manager Sara Dechter gave a presentation to Council. Ms. Dechter provided background on the High Occupancy Plan and the challenges of the past zoning requirements. Mr. Symer presented the proposed updates. The slides in the presentation included:
Councilmember Whelan asked if the need for long-term parking for students addressed in this plan. She stated that the parking plan works well for transit in town but does not offer the option of long-term parking for residents. She stated that she hoped that NAU would help with the long-term parking issue. Ms. Dechter stated that NAU has provided some of that parking at some of their further away parking lots, but they have not been utilized. Vice Mayor Shimoni asked if the Hub was at 0.3 ratio and if it takes in account street parking. Mr. Symer stated that it does not and added that the Standard’s ratio is at 0.65. The Hub is half as high as the Standard. Ms. Dechter stated that there is very little Hub parking on the street due to Park Flag and that the developer has offered to house cars on the NAU campus for those who did not get parking in the on-site garage and last year there were about 50 spots available for parking. Vice Mayor Shimoni asked about negotiations regarding incentives in parking. Mr. Symer spoke about the various incentives. The first option is one-to-one parking with incentives to bring the number of parking spots down. The concept is being explored in perpetuity and has a maximum incentive of a 20% reduction in spots for bus passes and 10% reduction for bike racks. He also stated that the code is in support of development of four, five, or six bedrooms and that the City could better incentivize smaller developments with less bedrooms. Vice Mayor Shimoni asked staff to address that in the future and stated he is in support of moving forward. Deborah Harris addressed Council stating that the greatest concern in the Southside is parking and that parking enforcement is a large issue. Councilmember Odegaard stated that he is in favor of moving the discussion forward. He asked if there is anything staff needs clarity on. Mr. Symer stated that he only needed clarity on the parking. Councilmember Aslan stated that he is supportive of Option 3. Mayor Evans asked when parking behavior will change because the reality now is that people bring cars to their residences. She is not for any parking reduction incentives. She stated that tandem parking does not work at all for apartments and she stated that smaller projects should not get parking reductions. She said that she believes that there should be a residential parking permit for smaller, tighter neighborhoods. Councilmember McCarthy stated that he is curious about the number of parking spaces versus the number of bedrooms and he would like to see staff look into that. He suggested having only permit parking on the streets in the HOH areas and in areas like the Southside. He stated he is open-minded about parking reduction incentives, especially if there is transit available and the developer is wiling to purchase transit passes for residents. Community Development Director Dan Folke asked if this issue should be addressed with the Zoning code, with ParkFlag, or should an ordinance be created. Councilmember McCarthy asked if this issue should be added as an expedited F.A.I.R. item. Councilmember Whelan stated that she would like to see parking permits for the streets and the high-density housing units should be at a lower ratio with smaller units having an increase in the ratio. She would like to see developers push transit and added that multi-modal transit is an important piece as well as parking enforcement. Councilmember Odegaard stated that he is not supportive tandem parking and that should be changed. Councilmember Aslan addressed the timeframe about parking culture. He stated that he believes that if you take parking away, people will leave cars at home. He stated that he is in favor of making car use less necessary. Mayor Evans stated that she does think that is the case and that increasing transit, sidewalks, grocery stores, bicycle safe lanes, etc. would decrease the dependence on cars. Councilmember McCarthy asked if the parking spaces that the Hub residents rent are counted and what the utilized ratio is. Mr. Symer stated that it is about 0.4 and that the residents can park overnight in the area. However, he added, there potentially was some Plaza de Vieja parking overflow. Ms. Dechter added that there is no way to enforce the use of spaces when there is free public parking and that staff recommends Option 3. She added that some of the smaller complexes use parking areas as social spaces. |
|||||||||
Moved by Councilmember Charlie Odegaard, seconded by Councilmember Jamie Whelan to continue the meeting in accordance with the Council Rules of Procedure. | |||||||||
Vote: 6 - 1 | |||||||||
|
|||||||||