City Council Special Meeting AGENDA ITEM NO. C.

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City Council Special Meeting AGENDA ITEM NO. C. DATE: 01/04/2019 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members SUBJECT: Transit Villages Specific Plan project Study Session (Development Services Director Desatnik) a.

The City Council may provide direction to City staff as it wishes.

1 City Council Special Meeting AGENDA ITEM NO. C. DATE: 01/04/2019 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members SUBJECT: Transit Villages Specific Plan project Study Session (Development Services Director Desatnik) a. Study Session, and discussion and possible direction to staff, regarding the Transit Villages Specific Plan project currently being prepared by Moule & Polyzoides Architects and Urbanists MOTION(S): The City Council may provide direction to City staff as it wishes. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the City Council review the presentation provided by the consultant team led by Moule & Polyzoides Architects and Urbanists, and ask questions, provide comments, and any direction to City staff it wishes, for the proposed Transit Villages Specific Plan. DISCUSSION: A) Background Information On December 15, 2017, Caltrans awarded a Sustainable Communities Grant in the amount of $600,000 to the City of Redlands to prepare the Transit Villages Specific Plan. The City selected a highly-experienced architecture and planning firm, Moule & Polyzoides Architects and Urbanists (from Pasadena, CA), to prepare the specific plan. The City Council approved the contract with Moule & Polyzoides on May 15, Work subsequently began at the end of May 2018, and the specific plan is anticipated to be completed by February 28, The Transit Villages Specific Plan will be a critical tool for implementing the new 2035 General Plan that was adopted by Council on December 5, One key feature of the 2035 General Plan is the "Transit Village Concept" (see Attachment A) in the core areas of Redlands. In the Livable Community chapter, Policies 4-P.41 through 4-P.52 are directly related to the transit villages concept, as well as Actions 4-A.96 through

2 4-A.136. Specifically, Policy 4-P.51 states, Complete a Transit Village Plan that will define: village character, design guidelines for architecture and site development, permitted and conditional uses, building setbacks and heights, yards, interfaces with the public streets and sidewalks, security measures, and transitions to existing neighborhoods. B) Purpose of a Specific Plan The 2035 General Plan already contains a number of Policies and Actions pertaining to the transit villages concept. The Transit Villages Specific Plan will be a regulating document similar to the Zoning Regulations (Title 18 of the Redlands Municipal Code) as an implementation tool for the goals and policies contained in the 2035 General Plan. A specific plan will contain detailed development standards (such as building height, setbacks, parking, etc.), types of land uses, architectural requirements, infrastructure requirements, and implementation strategies for the future development of a specific geographical area. For this Transit Villages Specific Plan project, its geographical area is identified by the draft Specific Plan Boundary (see Attachments B & C) which will clearly define the project area. The General Plan Land Use within the Specific Plan area (see Attachment D) was established by the 2035 General Plan, and the proposed Specific Plan will follow the existing land use categories. Subsequent to approval of the Transit Villages Specific Plan, all properties located within its boundary would be subject to its development standards, list of authorized land uses, architectural requirements, infrastructure requirements, etc. The zoning designation for those properties would then be Transit Villages Specific Plan. C) Overview of the Specific Plan Preparation Process The project is anticipated to require up to a total of 22 months (June 2018 through February 2020), of which seven months have been completed. An overview of the project schedule is provided in Attachment E. The scope of work has involved early public outreach, including stakeholder meetings and a series of public workshops, to initiate the preparation of the specific plan. Stakeholder meetings have been completed, and the series of public workshops have begun (discussed further in Section D below). The consultant has also completed a draft Existing Conditions Analysis within the three proposed village areas (including physical conditions, existing infrastructure, open space and parks, transit and transportation routes, parking, drainage, etc.). A sub-consultant has completed a draft market analysis, and is continuing work on studying the feasibility of a density bonus program. The series of public workshops has begun: Discovery Workshops first, followed by Alternatives Workshops to discuss potential design approaches and preliminary components for the Specific Plan area, and finally Draft Plan Workshops to review the final components of the draft Specific Plan. After the community s input has been collected, the consultant will begin preparing an Administrative Draft Specific Plan (anticipated to be in Spring 2019), which the Planning Commission and the Historic & Scenic Preservation Commission will review (anticipated in early Summer 2019). After the Administrative Draft and the Public Review Draft versions of the specific plan have been prepared, public hearings will

3 begin (anticipated to occur in Fall 2019). The Planning Commission and the Historic & Scenic Preservation Commission will make recommendations on the Public Review Draft Specific Plan in public hearings. The consultant will make final changes and prepare the Public Hearing Draft Specific Plan for final review and subsequent consideration by the City Council. D) Overview of Community Outreach In August 2018, staff mailed a public notice to all property owners and occupants within the Specific Plan area plus a 300-foot radius (for a total of 5,869 notices mailed). Numerous stakeholder meetings have been completed with land owners, business owners and business groups, neighborhood groups, and other local agencies. A total of nine (9) community workshops have been scheduled for the project, of which five (5) have been completed. Also, two final Draft Plan Workshops (one each for the Downtown Transit Village and the New York Street Transit Village) will be re-scheduled for a later date (likely to be in late January or February 2019). Summary of Community Workshops Workshop Series Workshop Date Comments Discovery Workshops Downtown Village September 26, 2018 Completed New York St. Village October 11, 2018 Completed University Village December 13, 2018 Completed Alternatives Workshops Downtown Village October 24, 2018 Completed New York St. Village November 14, 2018 Completed University Village January 23, 2019 Draft Plan Workshops Downtown Village November 28, 2018 Cancelled to be rescheduled New York St. Village January 9, 2019 Cancelled to be rescheduled University Village February 6, 2019 In addition to the community workshops and stakeholder meetings, Planning staff has provided a booth at the Downtown Market Night on Thursday evenings from 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., for a total of seven (7) events. Thus far, staff has spoken to approximately 700 City residents and other interested persons that have visited the Market Night booths, as well as handed out several hundred copies of the mailer notice and related brochures. Planning Division staff also maintains the project website ( ) that includes current information, copies of the workshop Powerpoint presentations, and summaries of all workshop comments. More than 150 persons have provided their addresses to be added to the list for future project notifications and announcements. E) Summary of Community Workshops

4 Staff has collected all comments sheets from the five completed Community Workshops, and the consultant also summarized and collated all comments (all documents available on the project website at ). Several common themes of comments have been expressed at several of the workshops, as follows: Create active, walkable, interesting streets with smaller block sizes, shade trees, outdoor dining, active alleys, and safe pedestrian crossings. Connect downtown civic uses (Redlands Bowl, Smiley Library, etc.). Provide adequate pedestrian access from the neighborhoods and surrounding areas to the future train stations (including lighting, landscape, and sidewalks). Reduce vehicle speeds on Redlands Boulevard and Orange Street. Ideas for freeway underpass crossings and improvements need refining. Concerns about parking overflowing from the station sites (particularly the New York Street station and the University station) that could affect nearby residential neighborhoods. Introduce mixed-use buildings with retail on the ground floors, and residential units on upper floors. Provide housing for a variety of income levels, introduce live/work units, and make housing available at a variety of price levels. New buildings should be designed with an interesting mix of heights and architectural styles. Building height is acceptable at three stories, and possibly four or five stories if designed appropriately. Higher-density should be in the village core areas. Six stories or more is too much for Redlands. New building character should be unique. Include mall site redevelopment, and re-establish streets in the mall site. Re-connect East State Street and West State Street. Appropriate transitions should be provided to avoid detrimentally affecting single-family neighborhoods. Introduce more opportunities for open spaces, parks or plazas, playgrounds, public art, and creative types of uses (arts & crafts, performance spaces). Complete the Orange Blossom Trail as a link between the three stations, explore the idea of a linear park type of feature. Incorporate an open water feature as a flood control measure, if feasible. Encourage the use of parking structures behind or within commercial or mixed use buildings. Concentrate parking in structures to allow for more open space areas. Accommodate future transit options such as rideshare services. F) Consultant Presentation The consultant team led by Moule & Polyzoides will provide a presentation that summarizes their work and progress to date. This will include a summary of the public comments and input received thus far at the community meetings. Aspects of the plan that will be discussed include: Building type, height, massing, and architectural design; Transportation and station access (routes, pedestrians, bicycles, etc.); Open space and landscape opportunities (e.g., plazas and parklets);

5 Public realm improvements (e.g., street trees, parkways, lighting, sidewalks); Drainage and flood control options through the plan area. This presentation will allow the City Council an early opportunity to provide comments, ask questions, discuss ideas, and provide direction to City staff prior to finalizing what will be called the Draft Plan. The consultant will ultimately put the Draft Plan concepts in writing and begin producing the Specific Plan document. ALTERNATIVES: Not applicable STRATEGIC PLAN: This item is related to Objective D-3 pertaining to the General Plan Update. The preparation of the Transit Villages Specific Plan will implement Policy 4-P.51, Complete a Transit Village Plan, contained in the new 2035 General Plan. SUBMITTED BY: Brian Desatnik, Development Services Director RECOMMENDED BY: Janice McConnell, Acting City Manager REVIEWED BY: Daniel J. McHugh, City Attorney Danielle Garcia, Management Services/Finance Director PREPARED BY: Brian Foote, City Planner/Planning Manager Fiscal Impact Fiscal Year: Appropriation Required Y/N: No Discussion: This item is a study session only, and there will be no fiscal impacts. Attachments Attachment A: General Plan Figure 4-7, "Transit Village Concept" Attachment B: Specific Plan Boundary (proposed) Attachment C: Transit Villages Boundaries (proposed) Attachment D: General Plan Land Use Map (existing) Attachment E: Project Schedule

NORTH LAKE SPECIFIC PLAN AREA

NORTH LAKE SPECIFIC PLAN AREA June 21, 2018 WELCOME Workshop Agenda Introduction Provide information about the program and introduce the team Background Information Share information about the North Lake