David Wallace, Community Development Director Elizabeth Dunn, Deputy Planning Director

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1 General Plan Update Steering Committee Meeting Summary North Redwood Boulevard Planning Study Concept Plan Alternatives West Wing Auditorium at the Hamilton Community Center, 503 South Palm Drive, Novato June 10, 2009 STAFF PRESENT: David Wallace, Community Development Director Elizabeth Dunn, Deputy Planning Director Hans Grunt, Principal Planner CONSULTANTS PRESENT: Joanna Jansen, DC&E Ben Noble, DC&E Isabelle Minn, DC&E Call to Order Chair Gail Wilhelm called the meeting to order at 6:38 p.m. Public Comment for Items Not on the Agenda Seven members of the public gave comments which are summarized below: Marla Fields, Chair of Green Planning Initiative of Sustainable Novato, spoke about the Grow Smart Bay Area meeting hosted by Greenbelt Alliance, which has identified Novato as a case study for smart growth. Leslie stated that most people do not know that these meetings are occurring, and that there is concern about the loss of the lumberyard site. She stated that there would be a loss of town character if intense development occurred. Ralph Greenwood stated that it is important to see the commercial retail perspective and would like the plans to focus on the maximum uses of retail to create revenue for the City. It may be 10 to 15 years for these areas to be ready for change. Susan Tremble? mentioned that there was no mention of the meeting in the Novato Advance and was disappointed. A community member stated that he felt it was imperative to address water needs and to maintain Novato s small town character. She felt that the development proposed along North Redwood Boulevard will be drastic change to the character of Novato. Kim Kaselionis, Chamber of Commerce, mentioned that the area only covers 2 percent of the Novato area. She stated that it is important to generate sales tax, and to keep in mind that commercial water use is probably less than residential use. Roger Bergstrom from Hamilton is concerned that the City has not been able to maintain its existing affordable housing commitments. Houses are leaving the existing program and the City is allowing them to go to the open market. He feels this is inappropriate. Dave Wallace, the City s Community Development Director, stated he was happy to hear public input, and that the purpose of tonight s meeting is for the Steering Committee to hear a variety of opinions. The North Redwood Boulevard planning process was discussed by the City Council at its June 9 meeting, as part of the Council s consideration of the Redevelopment Agency budget, which is funding the North Redwood Boulevard process. The City Council requested that the North Redwood Boulevard Planning Study be agendized for the July 21 meeting for a discussion of the planning study and the overall General Plan process. At the meeting, the process, alternatives, community engagement, and the work products will be discussed with the Council. There could be changes to the next steps described in DC&E s presentation, depending on the Council s input. The dates for the next steps are still uncertain but the City Council is very interested in the process. DC&E Presentation: Alternatives, Workshop #2 feedback Ben Noble of DC&E began the presentation. To begin, he asked for show of hands by people who had also attended the May 27 community workshop. Approximately half of the attendees raised their hand. Mr. Noble stated that some of the content of the presentation will be familiar since tonight s presentation is an abbreviated version of 1

2 the May 27 presentation. He gave an overview of study area, the process and where we are today. The Planning Study is to be completed in the fall of A conceptual map of a preferred alternative, which will look similar to alternatives maps prepared for the May 27 workshop, will be developed, and will be accompanied by policies and design guidelines. The City Council meeting will be on July 21. The Council will receive summaries of all the input received, including from the Steering Committee and Design Review Committee. Noble stated that the process of considering the alternatives is just beginning. The process to date has included a review of policies, a Steering Committee meeting, and two community workshops. As part of the presentation, Noble provided a sample of the comments received at the first Steering Committee meeting. Isabelle Minn of DC&E provided an overview of the components of the four alternatives, and Joanna Jansen, also of DC&E, provided an overview of the fiscal impacts of the alternatives. Ms. Jansen summarized the main points of consensus from the workshop, including the fact that most groups chose Alternative B as a starting point, while one group chose Alternative A, and one chose Alternative D. It was clear that all groups were interested in a narrowing of the boulevard. Committee questions Q: Gail Wilhelm requested an additional alternative be considered. She did not think that the current four alternatives reflect the community survey that was completed in January A: Ms. Jansen stated that the Committee is welcome to suggest an additional alternative if that is the consensus of the Committee. Q: The Existing Conditions Report showed that there is market demand in Novato for an additional home improvement store. Has that been considered for the North Redwood Boulevard area? A: Community input from workshops and the Steering Committee has not indicated support for a large home improvement store in the Planning Study area, but the Steering Committee could discuss this idea further if they desire. Q: Were existing businesses were asked about their interest in relocating? A: The Redevelopment Agency has spoken to some businesses about relocation. The current focus is to develop a vision for the future of the area. An important next step will be to talk to businesses and to work to keep the businesses that want to remain in Novato. Public Comment Home Depot would wipe out local businesses and should not be considered. Narrowing North Redwood Boulevard would have a negative impact on traffic. Roundabouts should not be considered. The North Redwood Boulevard planning area should be expanded to encompass plans for the Commons at Mt. Burdell. The North Redwood Boulevard process should include consulting with businesses in the area. There is no land available to relocate the light industrial uses currently in the North Redwood Boulevard area. Families who live in the area will need places for their children to play, similar to the Marion Street lot, not narrow strips along the railroad tracks. Both of the last two General Plan Updates revealed strong community support for maintaining Novato s small town character. This is an incredible opportunity for the corridor. The magnificent cork oaks in the existing North Redwood Boulevard median should be preserved. There is a need to have two lanes of traffic in each direction. 2

3 Diagonal parking is a must. There is a need to have greater intensity of uses, but vertical mixed use doesn t work. Increased intensity is okay, but it needs to be designed right. The Millworks project, with a vertical wall 5 feet from street, is a problem. The bus depot/transit terminal is very important and should continue to be located in the area. The North Redwood Boulevard/Grant Avenue intersection is very important North Redwood Boulevard divides Grant Avenue and there is a need to flow across the street. Preserve resident-serving businesses in the Vallejo subarea. This planning effort is an opportunity of lifetime. Retail is very important for the continued fiscal health of the City. Minimize disruption of current retail. The concept of small town character should be defined. What is a Lifestyle Center? The area between Olive Avenue and San Marin Drive should be retail interspersed with housing or should have housing over retail. Retail without housing will cause more traffic. It will be difficult to add housing along Grant Avenue and on North Redwood Boulevard in areas that are already developed, since it is difficult from real estate development standpoint. There are many successful examples of mixed use. Legislation currently being implemented requires updates to the General Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable Novato encourages the plan to include mixed use, easy access to transit, traffic calming, bicycle pathways, and integration of parks and open space and supports workforce housing, affordable housing, flexible zoning, and smart infill. People need not be afraid of development. The Downtown Association is thrilled that the area is being looked at, including a narrowing of the street and bridging between neighborhoods. Novato needs to keep the dollars in town, to bring anchor tenants to town. The plan should make Grant Avenue stronger. Existing affordable housing like Creekside offers homes for non-profit staff, Head Start teachers, and grocery store clerks. Kids play together there and can walk to school. Without affordable housing, workers would live farther away, contributing to pollution. The City should support additional affordable housing. The renderings of the linear green in Alternative A present an attractive idea for the corridor. The North Bay Water Reuse Authority has indicated that there will be additional water supply coming into the area and reclaimed water coming to Hamilton. Existing local businesses have advocates, such as shoppers at existing businesses. Plans for SMART, including the path, should be included in the North Redwood Boulevard plans. Affordable housing is important. It is essential to check in with existing businesses regarding change. Keep current businesses. Keep the existing trees in the median. High density does not mean high rise. European towns are charming and desirable because they are walkable and attractive. This is good for the environment. This project is about redevelopment. The participants at the first community workshop were not representative of what people want. The City is getting too many hotels. Business should not be asked to relocate. 3

4 The Tresch Galleria on North Redwood Boulevard offers one level of living about commercial space and is attractively designed. If more than two stories are necessary, the upper stories should be stepped back. The plan should accommodate recreation to serve the residents and workers if new, more dense development. Downtown Novato needs practical businesses in addition to specialty store. Keep businesses in the Vallejo sub-area. Talk of moving businesses and this is very upsetting. Local small businesses support each other. It would be ideal to get a theater, nice restaurants, and create a place where can walk downtown. The second workshop was immediately after the Memorial Day weekend and some people were out of town. At the first meeting, the concept of a park and green space in the area was discussed. The town should include a cinema and comedy club. There is a need to build parks and small town cinema. The survey results showed there was concern about economic sustainability, economic stability, retail, and the need to have sustainable city, economically. While the idea of the small town feel was included, it was not the main point. Steering Committee meetings could start with a statement of the mission of the Steering Committee. On pages 11 and 12 of the top results from the survey, there is reference to job creation and economics. On page 15, it shows that while building more housing was not a priority, economic growth was. People should be more positive about what is wanted and have open minds about what could happen. Traffic studies should be conducted. Ron Gerber [Novato s Redevelopment Director] should be consulted. Novato is a tax-poor community and needs tax money. The community is looking at losing police or parks. Novato used to have several lumberyards, hardware stores, and now has very few. Commuters should be part of the picture. Some people could live here rather than commute from out of town. Committee discussion and input on N. Redwood Blvd. Planning Area Concept Plan alternatives Q: Is mixed use viable? A: There are many examples of successful mixed use in other communities, and it is believed that it could be successful here. Each of the alternatives presented is believed to be viable. Q: What is a Lifestyle Center? A: The term is used to refer to a one-story, outdoor mall, similar to the shopping center at Corte Madera but also the retail area along Fourth Street in Berkeley. Q: Is there drop dead date for the project? At what point are final recommendations? A: The outcome of the North Redwood Boulevard project is a planning study which would be accepted by the City Council, not adopted. Land use designations and policies suggested by the Planning Study would then be incorporated into the General Plan as part of the ongoing GP Update. The final decision rests with City Council. Q: Is there a drop dead date for the process of reviewing the alternatives with the Steering Committee? A: The plan is for the input to be received from the Steering Committee at tonight s meeting, which will then be forwarded to the Planning Commission, Design Review Commission and the City Council. The current schedule does not include another Steering Committee meeting on North Redwood Boulevard. 4

5 Q: How aggressively will this plan be pursued? Does the City have the ability to assist existing business to relocate? The area at the north end has been rezoned from commercial to retail for decades and nothing has happened. Is the City planning to get more aggressive? A: Dave Wallace, Community Development Director, explained that the City is not looking at moving out existing business. The intent of this process is to develop a vision for what could happen if a property owner wants to leave and to give property owners options for what to do with their land. The discussions have focused on that area north of Trader Joe s because those there are large vacant parcels there which could be redeveloped without disrupting existing businesses. The City Council, acting as Redevelopment Agency, would make decisions on changes in the redevelopment area. The City Council wants to hear from the Steering Committee on this issue. The Committee discussed two of the major components of the North Redwood Boulevard Conceptual Alternatives in the following order: North Redwood Boulevard Configuration Retail and Service Ms. Jansen clarified that while the plans show building footprints, the designs are not intended to be very specific, but to give an idea on various design concepts. The desire is to receive input on land uses. She also explained that it is not necessary for the Steering Committee to select one alternative in its entirety, and that a future plan could mix components of the different alternatives or additional components not currently in any of the alternatives. General comments The alternatives are too specific. The committee s recommendations should be very general, providing ranges and parameter but not specifics. The committee should give direction on issues such as narrowing the ROW and keeping trees. Many variables will need to be considered. The committee s direction to the City Council should be more general and should give leeway to designs in the future. Let market or other conditions determine and shouldn t lock into what we want in specific locations. Instead of coming up with an alternative, the group may want to come up with a vision statement to pass on to the City Council. The alternatives give a real sense of how large and how much development is anticipated. They show much more than is appropriate for Novato. Can accomplish goals of retail, housing redevelopment and mixed use without going to this extent. It is important to remember that the change will take time. These are alternatives for what the area will look like in 25 years. The recommendations should include enough housing and economic sustainability, as well as green space. The priority is to emphasize retail space. It would be nice to have large green space, possibly along North Redwood Boulevard. This could provide space for a farmer s market. Pedestrian friendly desirable. Entertainment and recreation are important. There needs to be enhancement of the corner of Grant Avenue and Redwood. North Redwood Boulevard Configuration Concern about losing trees in existing median. There should be a minimal removal of trees, while providing enough traffic flow. The transit facility should be kept along North Redwood Boulevard. The current roadway configuration is strange. It would be best to straighten out North Redwood Boulevard. The median should stay intact if possible. The plan should maintain two lanes of traffic in each direction. Supports Alternative A without the side road. There should be two lanes of traffic in each direction and a Lifestyle Center at the north end of redwood. If it is like Corte Madera, a Lifestyle Center will compete with Grant Avenue. There is a need for a park. 5

6 North Redwood Boulevard is a vestige of 101, which is why it is extremely wide. While it is important to save trees, there is a need to bridge both sides of town. Four of six groups acknowledged this at the meeting. People won t use a linear park, and doesn t help the divide. The concept of side streets for local traffic is similar to the Panhandle in San Francisco. Four of six groups chose Alternative B and five groups had retail in the northern end, showing concern for fiscal issues. The additional width could support a new park space. We shouldn t recommend tearing down existing structures. It isn t necessary to have a linear green throughout the street. This could be on the northern end only. A hybrid would include the linear green in the north but the parking from Alternative B at the southern end. It is important to preserve trees. There is too much asphalt. The North Redwood Boulevard ROW is a community asset that is owned by the City. The ROW could be converted to a unique greenway where special events could be held. Trees have a finite life. This will be a major thoroughfare. The idea of festivals isn t feasible since it won t be possible to close off the street. Don t want to see the North Redwood Boulevard area narrowed, nor development within the former ROW of the boulevard. RETAIL Ms. Jansen explained that the Lifestyle Center would not necessarily compete with Grant Avenue, since it is envisioned to contain different types of retail. The Lifestyle Center will not compete with Grant Avenue. Could see Grant Avenue as walking street in the future. It is important to emphasize retail, especially between the railroad tracks and North Redwood Boulevard. General agreement on support for a hotel. Not sure about the hotel the community already has the Days Inn and a new hotel proposed at the Commons at Mt. Burdell. The public has made it clear that retail and service are very important. The emphasis should be placed on those uses. Support for a Lifestyle Center, along with a hotel. It is important to clarify that we are not moving anyone. The plan is not pushing existing business out. A service commercial office park should be included on the east side of tracks. Parking in the back of the Lifestyle Center means that retailers will focus to the rear. It is important to ensure that there is street side access. There is concern with losing some services. The plans eliminate important community-serving businesses. Development adjacent to Trader Joes would use the store s parking area, and there is not excess of parking there. Some alternatives show parking areas but it doesn t seem as if there is enough. (Ms. Jansen clarified that all alternatives retain existing parking and include sufficient new parking to meet the City s current parking requirements.) We still have not answered question about where the downtown is. A large Lifestyle Center detached from Grant Avenue would change the focus of the downtown. The plans don t include bowling, which was expressed as a desired use. Development shouldn t be more than two stories. It is important to include goods and services. Support for traditional anchors at each end of North Redwood Boulevard with smaller retail along North Redwood Boulevard between a Lifestyle Center and this corner. There needs to be retail along North Redwood Boulevard. The Tresch Galleria is an example of what could be envisioned between Grant Avenue and Olive Avenue. The Lifestyle Center is good idea would like to see family activity there. The plan should include an ice or roller skating rink, or a bowling alley. 6

7 An anchor store is a necessity to bring people from outside the area. The Lifestyle Center on North Redwood Boulevard will change the character of Novato. It will be like another Corte Madera. Like idea of anchor stores, and would like retail to be on the west of the RR tracks. Also support entertainment type retail such as a comedy club. There needs to be a parking structure on the Grant Avenue end of the Boulevard. We need to put aside the notion that we can t preserve the small town character and have the retail. A hotel is viable and could be a destination where people can come explore Novato. Include satellite parking, as cities like Santa Barbara and Charleston do, and hide the parking structures, with portals off street. The concept is to have pods of parking instead of mammoth structures. Support for some two- and three-story mixed use. Variety in massing could make the street aesthetically interesting. Fourth Street in Berkeley is also a Lifestyle Center. The Corte Madera Center is not in keeping with the small town idea. The scale of Fourth Street and Tresh Gallery are more in keeping with the idea. Would like to see no more than two stories above retail. We need to have strong entertainment component, including a recreational component. This would include gyms, a theater or other entertainment. At 10:00, the Committee decided to adjourn the meeting and directed staff to consider scheduling a second meeting to discuss the remaining components: Office Housing Civic and Open Space Preference was expressed for a Wednesday night meeting. Outreach Efforts: Art, Wine and Music Festival and Visioning Workshop Ms. Jansen explained that there will be a booth at Art & Wine festival. Attendees are welcome to come to the booth. Each Steering Committee member received a button saying Ask me about the Novato General Plan Update and several fliers for the upcoming July 15 Visioning Workshop. Adjournment Chair Gail Wilhelm adjourned the meeting at 10:00 p.m. 7

CHAPTER 3 PLANNING GOALS

CHAPTER 3 PLANNING GOALS AND PUBLIC INPUT INTRODUCTION This portion of the Algonac Master Plan is intended to outline a course for action in achieving the community s vision for the future. Throughout