Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Use Code topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Planning commission recommends lowering proposed 70% commercial minimum to 50% in planned‑commercial code changes
Summary
The commission reviewed a proposed land-use code amendment to planned commercial (Title 10 Chapter 15) and voted to recommend that the City Council set a 50% commercial minimum (rather than a council-proposed 70%), retain a 20% residential minimum and allow a 30% flexible allocation.
The Planning Commission on March 13 recommended that the City Council modify a proposed land-use code amendment for the planned commercial zone: instead of raising the commercial minimum to 70 percent, the commission supported a 50 percent commercial minimum, with a 20 percent residential minimum and a remaining 30 percent flexible allocation.
Planning staff explained the proposed amendment responds to City Council direction. Under the current code the planned commercial zone requires a minimum of 20 percent commercial and 20 percent residential (the remaining percentage can be negotiated). Some council members asked staff to increase the commercial minimum because many recent planned-commercial applications had substantial residential components. The draft amendment staff circulated raised the commercial minimum to 70 percent.
Commissioners expressed concern that a rigid 70 percent minimum would make certain vertical mixed‑use projects (retail with apartments above) infeasible, because those projects allocate square footage differently than horizontal commercial/residential mixes. The commission discussed measurement methods (horizontal ground coverage versus stacked/vertical floor area) and asked staff to clarify how the percentage would be calculated.
During the discussion commissioners also supported staff language clarifying that site-plan approvals accompanying a zone change will specify the agreed percentages and that exceptions may be considered for vertical mixed-use projects. The commission voted unanimously to recommend a code amendment that sets a 50 percent commercial minimum, 20 percent residential minimum and 30 percent flexible allocation, and also to support proposed revisions that cap certain building heights at 35 feet where the current draft had allowed 55-foot heights in some commercial zones.
Staff will forward the commission’s recommendation to the City Council for consideration; planning staff indicated the redlined draft includes additional procedural language aligning site-plan approvals with legislative zone-change actions.
