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Planning Department readies Market Octavia neighborhood plan for public hearings
Summary
The Planning Department briefed the commission on the Market Octavia Neighborhood Plan, a multi‑year Better Neighborhoods effort proposing tailored height districts, parking maximums, public‑benefits fees and historic‑resource surveys; staff asked the commission to set a notice/initiation schedule so formal hearings can begin.
Planning Department staff presented an informational preview of the Market Octavia Neighborhood Plan on Sept. 7, outlining the outreach, policy goals and next steps toward a formal adoption process.
John Bilovitz and plan manager Anne Marie Rogers described the plan area, which covers over 2,300 lots and roughly 22,000 residents, and framed the project as a long‑range, transit‑oriented effort to guide housing, transportation and streetscape improvements. The draft plan updates land‑use controls into three new zones (DTR, NCT and RTO), offers tailored height limits that step down from Market Street, and emphasizes design guidelines to preserve neighborhood character.
A key shift in the plan is replacing universal parking minimums with parking maximums in transit‑rich areas, an approach staff said would encourage transit use and free up ground‑floor space for active retail. Rogers explained a proposed Market Octavia development impact fee to fund public improvements — a public benefits package that would pay for new open space, transit and other neighborhood infrastructure.
Staff also described an expanded historic resource survey to run concurrently with final adoption, explaining that potential historic areas would receive interim protections while the inventory is completed. A monitoring program was proposed to track parking, housing and transit indicators after adoption.
Staff recommended the commission set a hearing schedule to initiate formal adoption steps. Materials including the code amendments, general‑plan changes, public‑benefits package and EIR certification materials were to be released to the public and commissioners prior to the initiation hearing; staff proposed an early fall hearing calendar to begin the formal adoption process and said multiple hearings would be scheduled to allow full public review.
