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CC - PUBLIC HEARING: Introduction of an Ordinance Amending Title 17, Zoning, of the Culver City Municipal Code (CCMC), Chapter 17.320 - Off-Street Parking and Loading, as it Relates to the Standards and Requirements for Electric Vehicle Parking, Compact Parking, and Reduced Parking (Zoning Code Text Amendment, P2018-0186-ZCA).
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Meeting Date: February 11, 2019
Contact Person/Dept: Gabriela Silva/Associate Planner;
Michael Allen/Current Planning Manager
Phone Number: (310) 253-5736 / (310) 253-5727
Fiscal Impact: Yes [] No [X] General Fund: Yes [] No [X]
Public Hearing: [X] Action Item: [] Attachments: [X]
Commission Action Required: Yes [X] No [X] Date: 11/14/2018
Public Notification: (Email) Master Notification List (01/24/19); (Posted) City website (01/24/19); (Published) in Culver City News (01/10/19); Meetings and Agendas - City Council (02/06/19)
Department Approval: Sol Blumenfeld, Community Development Director (02/05/19)
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RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends the City Council introduce an Ordinance (Attachment No. 1) approving Zoning Code Text Amendment P2018-0186-ZCA, amending Zoning Code Chapter 17.320 - Off-Street Parking and Loading, to allow changes pertaining to the standards and requirements for EV parking, compact parking, and reduced parking.
PROCEDURES
1. The Mayor seeks a motion to receive and file the affidavit of publication and posting of the public hearing notice.
2. The Mayor calls on staff for a brief staff report and City Council poses questions to staff as desired.
3. The Mayor seeks a motion to declare the public hearing open and the City Council receives public comment.
4. The Mayor seeks a motion to close the public hearing after all testimony has been presented
5. The City Council discusses the matter and arrives at its decision
BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
As part of the Current Planning Division's ongoing review of dated standards or inconsistencies in the Zoning Code, staff has identified certain "off-street parking" code provisions that could be more responsive to recent trends in sustainability and mobility. The proposed zone text amendment (detailed below) updates the required quantity of Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations for a new project, increases parking efficiency by reducing stall dimensions, and where appropriate waives a portion of the parking requirement altogether at the discretion of City Council.
The following modifications to the off-street parking requirements are recommended:
1. Establishment of minimum requirements for EV charging stations at all off-street parking spaces: Currently, only projects subject to the Residential Mandatory Measures (Chapter 4) and Nonresidential Mandatory Measures (Chapter 5) of the California Green Building Standards Code are required to provide EV infrastructure to facilitate future installation of EV chargers.
2. Establishment of citywide compact parking requirements similar to the standards in Section 17.320.025 - Alternative Parking Provisions: Currently, only properties within the City's Hayden Tract and Smiley Blackwelder Parking Districts, which are identified as being parking impacted, are allowed to provide a maximum of thirty percent (30%) of the total required off-street parking as compact spaces, which must measure 7'-6" wide by 17'-6" in length.
3. Establishment of relaxed citywide parking requirements on a project specific basis by Council resolution: Currently, only mixed use development projects within the TOD District may apply for reduced parking, approved by City Council resolution per CCMC Section 17.400.065 - Mixed Use Development Standards. The current TOD District standards were adopted on January 8, 2018 as part of the recommendations of the TOD Visioning Study.
Staff presented draft amendment language to the Planning Commission during their meeting of September 26, 2018 and November 14, 2018. At the September 26 Planning Commission meeting, the Commission provided staff with the following revisions to the draft language subsequently approved at the November 14 Planning Commission meeting:
* Revise the relaxed parking language to relate to the existing in-lieu parking fee provisions, to allow for the in-lieu fee to be applied toward other mobility measures in addition to public parking facilities, to allow for a parking reduction through implementation of mobility measures as a part of the project approval, and to identify more specific criteria for consideration of reductions to required off-street parking.
* Revise the required EV spaces for multi-family residential uses to be lower and more similar to the proposed ratios for non-residential uses, and distinguish multi-family developments that have private garages from those with shared/common area parking.
* Allow compact parking percentage to apply to the entire amount of parking provided by a project or site, and require that such spaces be clearly marked/identified as compact.
The above recommendations are reflected in the draft Ordinance under consideration this evening.
Analysis
On November 14, 2018, the Planning Commission adopted Resolution No. 2018-P008 (Attachment No. 2), recommending to the City Council approval of Zoning Code Amendment P2018-0186-ZCA, related to the standards and requirements for EV parking, compact stalls, and reduced parking provisions. The additional refinements requested by Planning Commission were specific to the EV requirements for multi-family residential uses, and are as summarized below.
* The number of required EV ready spaces would be 10% of the total required parking, rather than 20 percent (Subsection O.1.a).
* The number of required full EV charging spaces would be 10% of the total required parking, rather than 2 percent (Subsection O.1.b).
* Where the number of required guest spaces is less than the minimum required number of EV spaces, the EV ready requirement shall be applied first, rather than applying the full EV charging station first (Subsection O.1.d).
Electric Vehicle (EV) Parking
Research of other jurisdictions code requirements showed many still do not have specific requirements for EV parking, or have minimal requirements, as summarized in Table 1 of Attachment No. 3. This table also includes the minimum required standards from the 2016 California Green Building Standards Code, which only requires "EV capable" or "EV ready" spaces, but does not require actual charging station(s). A desire to go further than these minimum standards in order to promote sustainability and alternative fuel technology was identified as an objective through feedback from the Planning Commission, City Council, and general public.
Of the jurisdictions with adopted standards, few required actual charging stations, but those that did ranged in the quantity of stations, from approximately two percent (2%) up to ten percent (10%) of required parking spaces, with supplemental EV ready required at approximately four (4) to twenty (20) percent. Based on these ranges, the resulting approximation for each type of EV space is 12% for EV ready stalls and 6% for stalls with EV charging stations. Further, based upon this research and feedback from the Planning Commission, the proposed Zoning Code Amendment proposes to require EV parking as shown in Table 2 of Attachment No. 3, and outlined below:
* Residential developments of four (4) or more units would be required to provide ten percent (10%) of parking stalls with full EV charging stations and ten percent (10%) as EV ready. Guest parking would provide ten percent (10%) EV charging stations and twenty (20) percent EV ready, with a minimum of one (1) EV ready space and then one (1) charging station for any development with less than ten (10) guest spaces. In addition, as directed by the Planning Commission, full EV chargers will not be required for multi-family residential developments where the parking for each unit is individually enclosed and privately accessed.
* Non-residential developments would be required to provide full EV charging stations for five percent (5%) of the required vehicle parking spaces, with a minimum of one (1) space, and EV ready for ten percent (10%) of the required vehicle parking spaces, with a minimum of two (2) spaces. Attachment No. 4 provides a few examples of how these standards would be applied to different project types, demonstrating the calculation of the required EV parking spaces.
The proposed standards conform to surveys of other jurisdictions and the amendment is consistent with recent project approvals and goes beyond the rate of 6% EV ready stalls required as a condition of approval for a recent food retail project, which mirrored the Green Building Code requirement.1 Three (3) additional projects within the transit-oriented development district and downtown also provided charging stations as part of the conditions of approval.2
Compact Parking
The Culver City Zoning Code currently only allows compact parking in the Hayden Tract and Smiley Blackwelder parking districts, up to thirty (30) percent of the required parking, and must measure 7'-6" wide by 17'-6" long. The previous Zoning Code (prior to the current 2005 Zoning Code) allowed compact parking for up to thirty percent (30%) for the first one hundred (100) spaces and up to forty percent (40%) of the remaining required off-street parking spaces, and the allowed dimensions for such stalls were 7'-6" in width by 15'-0" in length; the Code then shifted away from compact parking allowances. Although desirable to accommodate smaller vehicles while providing a benefit of maximizing the amount of parking provided within a specified area footprint, the Zoning Code eliminated compact parking provisions, which indicates allowances for this type of parking should be applied conservatively.
The survey of other jurisdictions shows compact space dimensions typically range from 7'-6" to 8'-6" in width by 15'-0" in length (Attachment 2, Table 3). The survey also shows that where allowed, compact parking spaces are typically allowed for up to twenty (20) to forty (40) percent of the required parking. In some cases, the allowance is limited to certain uses or districts.
In order to address emerging mobility related consumer preferences for more sustainable transportation options, less vehicle-centric living, and more fuel/energy efficient vehicles, which tend to be smaller-sized vehicles staff is recommending the following Zoning Code text amendments: .
Compact parking is proposed at the same dimensions allowed in the two (2) parking districts (7'-6" wide by 17'-6" in length) for non-residential uses only, for up to twenty percent (20%) of all off-street parking provided. Compact parking spaces will not be eligible for requests for further reductions in dimensions, such as through an Administrative Modification or other similar entitlement. In addition, compact spaces will also comply with the striping standards of CCMC subsection 17.320.035.I, in order to address pedestrian access and vehicle door operation between vehicles. Compact spaces will be required to be clearly marked/identified as compact spaces.
Relaxed Parking Requirements Approved by Council Resolution
The 2017 TOD Visioning Study recommended minimizing the amount of project parking within the TOD District in order to discourage auto use and encourage Expo ridership. Zoning Code Amendment P2017-0239-ZCA and adoption of Ordinance No. 2018-001 (Attachment No. 5) by City Council, amended the Mixed Use Standards and Community Benefits established for the TOD District, including the relaxation and commingling of parking requirements on a project by project basis subject to City Council approval. The proposed amendment expands the allowance Citywide in order to capitalize on existing public transit infrastructure.
Responding to the Commission concern regarding in lieu fees and Council approved parking waivers, the proposed text amendment provides the criteria for approving such a reduction (also shown on Exhibit A of Attachment No. 1), including the following:
* Consolidate the in-lieu parking provisions with parking waivers;
* Allow in-lieu fees to count as an optional mobility measure, rather than just providing funds to construct public parking facilities or allowing parking reductions through the implementation of mobility measures; and
* Base parking reduction approvals upon consideration of proximity to transit, mobility options, and other parking configurations, and/or shared parking analysis.
Staff believes that allowing in lieu parking fees as an option to required parking on site should continue to be a code provision provided such parking is transit adjacent.
Currently, within the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) District, the Council may waive by resolution a portion of the project parking based upon proximity to alternative transit. Additionally, within the parking deficient Hayden Tract and Smiley Blackwelder areas, the City has established more flexibility to allow for compact parking and other alternative parking measures. However these standards do not apply citywide.
Summary
Zoning Codes are a product of their times, and the current standards do not account for recent changes in technology, the emergence of alternative energy vehicles and changing parking needs. Therefore it is timely to modify the zoning provisions to implement new parking standards that reflect these changes to benefit the general public interest, safety, convenience and welfare of the City.
Public Notification
CCMC Section 17.630.010 requires public notification via a publication in the Culver City News, a minimum of fourteen (14) days prior to the formal Public Hearing. Accordingly, a public notice was published on January 24, 2019. In addition, the public notice was posted on the City website and distributed electronically on January 24, 2019. As of the writing of this report, staff has not received any public comments, in writing or any other form, with regard to the proposed Zoning Code Amendment, in response to the public notice.
Environmental Determination
The proposed Zoning Code Amendment (P2018-0186-ZCA), to amend Zoning Code Chapter 17.320 - Off-street Parking and Loading, is considered exempt pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the Project will have a significant effect on the environment. The Project by itself, does not result in any physical changes in the environment because it will only amend the Zoning Code to require and allow certain types of parking as part of future development, and does not result in an intensification of development beyond what the Zoning Code already currently allows. Future projects incorporating the parking types specified by the proposed amendment will be reviewed individually pursuant to CEQA as may be applicable.
FISCAL ANALYSIS
There is no fiscal impact associated with the adoption of the proposed ordinance.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Proposed Ordinance (including Exhibit A - Proposed Zoning Code Text Amendments
2. Planning Commission Resolution No. 2018-P008 with Exhibit A: Proposed Zoning Code Text Changes in "strikethrough/underline" format
3. Parking Summary Tables
4. EV Parking Ratio Calculations
5. Mixed Use Development Zone Text Amendment P2017-0239-ZCA
MOTION
That the City Council
Introduce an Ordinance approving Zoning Code Amendment P2018-0186-ZCA, amending Title 17, Zoning, of the Culver City Municipal Code (CCMC), Chapter 17.320 - Off-Street Parking and Loading.