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w~ted to continue :o allow :efecom uses but to 'control their
<br />form" in order to maintain a storefront or residential character
<br />in the central business district. The new ordinance provisions
<br />preserve pedestrian acrivitT' and sa£ety on the street.
<br /> Adanta's ~Digital [ndustr7 Ordinance" requires ground floor
<br />retail in thc central business district -as well as areas otc the city
<br />designated as Special Public Interest (SP[) districts. The city
<br />identified the lack otc acr. ivi .fy generated at street level as the most
<br />important issue. The city tried to keep the ordinance simple. It
<br />requires that ground-floor uaes with street frontage be limited to
<br />retail, office, residential, or civic uses. Switching Facilities are
<br />prohibited tcor a minimum depth otc20 feet from any' building
<br />facade along the public sidewalk. Racicot explained r. Mr, if the
<br />developer has to keep 20 feet of retail in front, the firm will
<br />probably keep the entire ground floor as retail because of the
<br />way the buildings are configured.
<br /> The vagueness of the ordinance makes ground-floor retail a
<br />requirement not only for telecommunications uses, but also for
<br />ali other uses in downtown Adanta. Telecom hotels simply
<br />generated the ?olirical will to enact the ordinance. For instance,
<br />a developer cannot build a pa~king structure without active uses
<br />on the ground floor, which will have a positive impact on Future
<br />downtown development.
<br /> Orb. er cities have adopted similar restrictions on ground-floor
<br />uses of telco hotels, tn WasbS. ngton, D.C., regulations ~ar an
<br />"electronic equipment futility' prohibit the locadon otc
<br />telecommunications activities on the ground floor of buildings
<br />located within commercial districts. In addition, telecom hotels
<br />may use only 20 percent of a bui[ding's floor area. Without the
<br />restrictions, teico hotels can locate anywhere in a commercial
<br />zone. (See Jackie Spinner, "D.C. Limits Technolog7 'Hotels',"
<br />!X/ashingron Post, October 20, 2000.)
<br />
<br />Location
<br />Telco hotels can be beneficial to cites if they are located in
<br />districts wida compatible land uses. Therefore, one method of
<br />regulation is to focus on the iocadon of telcos. Clustering telco
<br />hotels into specified districts can lessen the negative impacts
<br />they might otherwise have on surrounding land uses. San Jose
<br />welcomes the low amount of traffic generated by relcos as~retie£
<br />otc trot:tic congestion in certain districts. Phoenix is working tO
<br />hcilitatc and assist telco hotels with their relocations in order to
<br />reduce the disruption to the city5 stree~ as telcos dig them up
<br />to lay cable each time a new tenant locates in a hotel. Phoenix
<br />provides a~skstance through joint-venture trenching by financing
<br />fiber-optic lines in certain parrs of the city. They usually identify
<br />and target employment growth areas as locations for fiber-
<br />optics. The goal is to provide sufficient bandwidth, for re[co
<br />hotels in a method that is beneficial to both the city and the
<br />individual business az fewer streets are cur up and telco hotels
<br />save on otherwise costly connections.
<br /> Another way to reg-ulare the location of telco I;uildings is to
<br />require special review on a case-by-case basis in disteicrs that are
<br />most sensitive to the effects o£ telecom hotels. San Jose restricts
<br />Communications Service Exchanges to three industrial districts
<br />and requires conditional use permits with special review for
<br />these uses. Sacramento drafted an interim emergency ordinance
<br />to control the development of tetco hotels within irs central
<br />business district. The ordinance states, "lA] Planning Director's
<br />Special Permit shall be required co establish or expand any
<br />telecommunications use in the Central Business District or in
<br />the R. Street Corridor that occupies more cmn 25 percent of the
<br />net square footage o~' ~t building."
<br />
<br /> Zoning Definitions--Sacramento
<br />Tetecommunlcarlons uses shall mean a use devoted to ]
<br />
<br />one or more of the following:
<br />
<br /> · A reit?hone service?rovider, whether wireless or
<br /> non-wireless, digital or analog, or otherwise
<br /> . where customer's or subscriber's lines are joined
<br /> or connected to switching equipment o£
<br /> connecting customers or subscribers to est..b,
<br /> Other.
<br />
<br /> · Data Center: A location housin~ one or more
<br /> large computer systems and related equipment,
<br /> concerned with building, maintaining or
<br /> processing data and providing other data
<br /> processing serviette. . .
<br />
<br /> · Server Farm: A group otcnerwork servers that are
<br /> housed.in One location.'
<br />
<br /> Dayton, Ohio, has focused ir~ attention on the first floor otc
<br />buildings located in the central business district, which rep'resenr
<br />the city's greatest concern related to celco hotels, according to
<br />John Gower, downtown ptanaer in the city's Department of
<br />Planning and Community Development. The planning staff is
<br />considering minor text amencLments to the zoning code in order
<br />to require conditional use hearings For [elco hotels r_har would
<br />locate on the ground floor in one of the buildings [ocated in the
<br />city's central business district.
<br />
<br />Parkln9 and Traffic Dernand~
<br />~or cities faced with heavy critic con§esdon and inad.eq~are
<br />?arking~ the lac~ of h~man activity within telco hotels can
<br />provide relief co busy streets. Classifications such as office and
<br />industrial uses base parking requirements on gross floor area or
<br />square footage. Because of the small humber o£people who
<br />work in telcos, relatively few spaces are needed for parking.
<br />Washington, D.C., requires that teicos provide one space per
<br />1,800 square feet in dommercial districts and one per 3,.000
<br />square feet in industrial districts~ In San Jose, the off-street
<br />parking standards for the "communication service exchange" are
<br />~one per 250 square feet of office/meeting/technician work
<br />space, plus one per employee, plus one per 1,000 square feet of
<br />space..de'~oted to computer equipment space."
<br />
<br /> Additional Resources
<br />
<br />Branson, Ken. "No Vacancy: Telco Hotels Can't Go Up
<br /> . Fast Enough." X-C~ange magazine, April 1999.
<br /> www. x-changemag, com/arricles/941 bigd.hrml.
<br />
<br />Kline, Kelly, and Jim Schutz. "Gemng in on the Ground
<br /> Floor," ?lanning, August 2001.
<br />
<br />Leung, Shirley. "L.A. O~cials lv[ull Scaling Back Limits
<br /> on Downtown-Tetco Hotels." Wall SrreerJournal,
<br /> November. 8, 2000.
<br />
<br />Skelley, Catherine. "Telco Hotels." Urban £and, May
<br /> 2000.
<br />
<br />Young, Shown, "No Vacancy." Grid, January/Februar7
<br /> 2000.
<br />
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