Agenda - Council - 05/09/2017 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Councilmember Kuzma said the original plan was dated and this Plan is progressive, flexible, and market -driven to help define the vision. Councilmember Riley agreed the Plan is market -driven and that two areas of concern is changing floor -to -area -ration (FAR) in response to market requests and parking structures. He said the market will not dictate that and if we push structured parking the result will be the City constructing a ramp instead of developers. He said flexibility and strict adherence to FAR does not sound very flexible and should be reviewed. Community Development Director Gladhill said staff will work with the Planning Commission to acknowledge community impacts and market, adding it is important to balance between requirements and what will work. He said a ramp is not a new topic and this Plan will not solve all parking concerns but we want to study how parking could work in order to communicate the benefits to developers. Chairperson Bauer said he was concerned that if we have a vision then it should be followed. He said the Planning Commission wanted to stress the need for shared parking so it was incorporated into each of the developments. He acknowledged structured parking may require some City dollars as developers will not pay for an entire ramp if they only use a portion. Planning Commissioner Anderson said we should consider shared parking from the beginning for cost sharing as he does not want to see us bottleneck with nowhere to park. He said we have to consider either constructing higher or allowing for the capability to go up if needed. Councilmember Riley said he wished we had the problem of not having enough space because we have nothing but space. He said structured parking costs $50/square foot and the market will not support that because land costs now range between $6-$12/square foot. He commented that shared parking with Northgate Church works well. Chairperson Bauer agreed, stating a theater generally uses parking in the evenings and could be another shared parking option. Community Development Director Gladhill said it is fair to assume proformas, ROI, tax base, etc. to identify the funding gap and frame any vision in that context. Acting Mayor LeTourneau commented that flexibility will be important. Councilmember Williams asked if staff wants structured parking studies included in the Plan. Community Development Director Gladhill said the Plan is a broad policy document and based off this direction we will lay out system plans, one being parking districts and/or parking ramps, and that staff is looking for feedback to kick off system plans, including parking strategies. He said this direction will establish how we make requests and bring contracts forward. City Council Work Session / April 25, 2017 Page 3 of 8