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(UPDATED 4/11/13) The Council approvals of the Specific Plan and related actions took place in June 2012, and became effective in mid-July. The final Specific Plan is available below, and the Final EIR is available on the EIR sub-page. New development proposals in the Plan area are now required to adhere to the Specific Plan regulations (note: a few projects submitted prior to the Specific Plan effective date are still being reviewed under the pre-existing regulations). In addition, the City is considering implementation of public space improvements on an ongoing basis through the 5-Year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) process.
As individual development proposals are submitted, the City will make web pages for larger projects. Currently, the following projects have their own project page:
All pending applications can be monitored via Planning Commission agendas.
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The Specific Plan became effective as of July 12, 2012. The version provided below has incorporated all changes/corrections made by the City Council in June 2012.
In Spring 2012, the Planning Commission and City Council reviewed and recommended/approved the Specific Plan, as described in more detail below.
Planning Commission Review/Recommendation - April 30, 2012
The Planning Commission held a special meeting on Monday, April 30 to review and provide a recommendation on the Final Specific Plan, EIR, and associated actions. After receiving public input, the Planning Commission deliberated and recommended that the City Council approve the Specific Plan and related actions, with some recommendations for edits. For more information about this meeting, please see the following:
City Council Review/Action - June 5 and 12, 2012
The City Council reviewed the Planning Commission's recommendation in a public hearing on Tuesday, June 5. At this meeting, Council approved the El Camino Real/Downtown Specific Plan and associated Final EIR, General Plan Amendments, Zoning Ordinance Amendments, and Rezonings, and also amended the City's Master Fee Schedule to Add a Specific Plan Preparation Fee. On, Tuesday, June 12 the City Council conducted second readings of ordinances, as required by law. For more information about these meetings, please see the following:
- June 5, 2012
- July 12, 2012
In Summer/Fall 2011, the Planning Commission and City Council provided detailed recommendations and direction to improve and refine the Draft Specific Plan. The City Council direction has been comprehensively reviewed by staff, and is being used by staff and the consultant to prepare the Final Specific Plan, to be released in Winter/Spring 2012. The consolidated City Council direction is available for review in a summary list and an annotated matrix, the latter of which includes preliminary staff analysis/discussion. Key elements of the Council/Commission direction included:
- Downtown Parking
In response to concerns from some downtown stakeholders, the Council directed that mixed-use buildings not be permitted on parking plazas, in order to preserve more surface parking. The Council also directed that Parking Plaza 2 be included as a potential parking garage site and that parking garage height be consistent with other buildings and preserve the village character of downtown.
- Phasing of Downtown Public Space Elements
In order to ensure that the proposed Santa Cruz Avenue sidewalk extensions and Chestnut paseo and market place are successful and do not negatively impact existing businesses or the Farmer's Market, the Council directed they be implemented in a phased approach, with future temporary installations used to evaluate whether they should be permanent.
- Building Height/Bulk
The Council directed that changes in the height and massing requirements be made in some areas in order to limit the perception of building size at the street edge.
- Bicycle Improvements
Building on recommendations from the Bicycle Commission, the Council directed that bicycle routes (shared auto-bike) be upgraded to dedicated bicycle lanes wherever feasible.
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City Council |
| Date |
Topic |
Documents |
| October 4, 2011 |
El Camino Real (other than ECR SE) review; review and wrap-up |
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| September 20, 2011 |
Non-geographic topics (public benefit, FIA, bicycle/pedestrian network) |
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| September 13, 2011 |
Downtown and El Camino Real (other than ECR SE zoning district) review |
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| August 30, 2011 |
Introduction/overview; Council review process; Station Area and ECR SE review |
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Note: City Council email correspondence is available publicly via the City Council Email Log |
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Planning Commission |
| Date |
Topic |
Documents |
| August 22, 2011 |
Review/Wrap-up |
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| August 4, 2011 |
El Camino Real |
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| July 28, 2011 |
Downtown |
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| July 21, 2011 |
Station Area |
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| July 11, 2011 |
Overview/Background and Public Input |
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The Draft Specific Plan was released for public review in early April 2010. The draft plan builds on the extensive community outreach conducted in 2009.
Please see the EIR sub-page for more information about the Draft and Final EIRs and the earlier Notice of Preparation (NOP).
The project FIAs were originally released on August 16, 2011 and have informed the Planning Commission and City Council's review. The FIAs supplement fiscal analysis conducted throughout the planning process.
The Community Workshops represent the core of the Specific Plan process. The workshops were aimed at facilitating useful community and stakeholder input, refining previous findings, shaping specific alternatives, and helping disparate community elements and stakeholders arrive at points of common agreement. The Specific Plan workshops built on the four workshops conducted during the 2008 Vision Plan (Phase I) process.
For more information, please see the Community Workshops sub-page.
Phase II has been aided by a task force, the Specific Plan Oversight and Outreach Committee ("the Committee"), which was charged with the following primary tasks:
- Provide advisory input and recommendations to the consultant and staff regarding the outreach process and concept plans (i.e. alternatives) and programs; and
- Reach out to other community members and help bring them into the broader planning process through participation in the Community Workshops and other planning activities.
For information about Committee meetings, please see the Specific Plan archive page
Committee Members and their affiliations are listed below.
- Bicycle Commission: Bud Kohn (formerly John Fox)
- Environmental Quality Commission: Douglas Scott
- Housing Commission: Patty Boyle (formerly Elizabeth Lazensky)
- Parks and Recreation Commission: Kristi Breisch
- Planning Commission: Henry Riggs
- Transportation Commission: Charlie Bourne (formerly Reginald Rice)
- El Camino Real/Downtown Area Resident: Elizabeth Weiss
- El Camino Real/Downtown Area Resident: Vacant (formerly Todd Temple)
- El Camino Real/Downtown Area Resident: Vacant (formerly Tom Hilligoss)
- At-Large: Vincent Bressler
- At-Large: Charles Catalano
- At-Large: Ben Eiref
- At-Large: J. Michael Gullard
- At-Large: Clark Kepler
- Chamber of Commerce - Business Owner: Rick Ciardella
- Chamber of Commerce - Property Owner: Bill Frimel
- Development Community: Jeff Warmoth
- Stanford University: Steve Elliott