City Council and Redevelopment Agency Meeting: June 19, 2007

Agenda Item: 8-B  

To:                   Mayor and City Council

                        Chairperson and Redevelopment Agency

 

From:              Andy Agle, Director of Housing and Economic Development

                        Eileen Fogarty, Director of Planning and Community Development

Subject:          Concept Plan for the Village Residential, Open Space and Retail Components of the Civic Center Specific Plan

 

 

Recommended Action

This report recommends that the Redevelopment Agency:

1.      Conceptually approve the design concept plan for the Civic Center Village residential, open space and neighborhood-serving retail programs for entitlement applications;

2.      Authorize the Related Companies of California to apply for a Development Agreement, other required entitlement applications and discrete amendments to the Civic Center Specific Plan in conjunction with the proposed Civic Center Village.

This report also recommends that the City Council:

1.      Authorize staff to begin Development Agreement negotiations with the Related Companies of California regarding the Civic Center Village.

 

Executive Summary

The proposed design concept plan for the Civic Center Village (Village) component of the Civic Center Specific Plan (CCSP) reflects community and commission input and City Council direction.  The Village will enhance the Civic Center area with approximately 325 residences (affordable family housing, mixed-use and live-work), public open space and neighborhood-serving retail services.  Public benefits of the proposed project include:

  • 160 affordable residences, nearly 50 percent of the total residences;
  • public open space, including a public plaza connecting with the future Palisades Garden Walk park and a pedestrian-only walk-street through the site;
  • extension of Olympic Drive from Main Street to Ocean Avenue;
  • integrated public art; and
  • showcase sustainable design elements.    

 

Several community workshops and commission meetings were held during 2006 to consider and refine the design concept for the Village.  The community, Housing and Recreation and Parks Commissions, City Council and the Redevelopment Agency (Agency) encouraged creativity in preparing a design concept for the Village, particularly when such design creativity enhances public benefits.  Specifically, the developer-design team was authorized by the City Council to explore alternative height, setbacks, and stepbacks in the buildings and the location of public open space, rather than strictly adhering to the design parameters established in the CCSP. 

 

Information and illustrations of the community input process and proposed design concept plan are provided as Attachment A.  The proposed site plan is shown below.

 

The proposed design concept has evolved considerably since initiation of the design-oriented community input process.  The concept plan responds to input received from community workshops, the Housing and Recreation and Parks Commissions as well as many of the City staff comments raised during the extensive pre-submittal review.  The current design proposal establishes the site plan, building massing and housing and open space programs.  Detailed evaluation of all building elevations for these sites will occur with subsequent submittals.  Sites A and B have been refined, while Site C is less resolved and requires additional development and review as the project progresses.

 

Subject to the Redevelopment Agency’s (Agency) general concurrence with the design concept plan, the developer-design team is ready to submit a Development Agreement application and begin negotiations with staff.  Issues to consider in the Agency and City Council discussion of the proposed design concept plan include:

  • housing program:  massing distribution, height, setbacks and stepbacks
  • open space program: location and integration
  • pedestrian access through site
  • vehicle access points

 

There is no direct budget impact from the recommended actions in this report.

 

Discussion

Background

The CCSP sets forth a vision for the Village Special Use District as a mixed-use, urban neighborhood.  The introduction of housing into the Village District is an important objective of the Plan in addressing citywide housing needs and in transforming the Civic Center from a single-purpose district into a vibrant district with daytime and evening activity.  The CCSP programs the Village District as an urban neighborhood to achieve the desired housing program in the Civic Center, while maximizing the total area available for open space.  The CCSP identifies the area as appropriate for an urban neighborhood due to the existing urban density within the immediate area (RAND Headquarters, 1733 Ocean Avenue office building and Viceroy Hotel). 

 

The Village Special Use District is bounded by Main Street, Ocean Avenue, Pico Boulevard, and the future extension of Olympic Drive from Main Street to Ocean Avenue.  The proposed concept plan for the Village discussed in this report refers to the undeveloped portion of the Village Special Use District.

The following summarizes the history of the CCSP:

·        1993:        CCSP originally adopted;

 

·        2000:        City’s Redevelopment Agency purchased 11.3 acres of property within the Civic Center from the RAND Corporation;

 

·        2001:        City embarked on a comprehensive update to the original CCSP;

 

·        2002:        Conceptual update to CCSP approved; Village District reflected general height limit of 56 feet, but included one vertical element on southern portion next to Viceroy Hotel, with height limit of 120 feet;

 

·        2005:        Update to the CCSP adopted; Village district vertical element on southern portion of the site was reduced to a height limit of 56 feet, while maintaining the original housing program of 325 residences.

 

The following summarizes the history of the Village Concept Plan:

·        Dec. 2004:     Council provided guiding principles for Village (see Attachment B);

 

·        Sep. 2005:     Received design proposals for developer selection process, including alternate proposals that diverged from CCSP parameters; conforming proposals could not achieve the CCSP goal of 325 residences, but alternative proposals achieved 325 residences with height and massing adjustments;

 

·        Jan. 2006:      Council approved selection of The Related Companies of California as the developer of the Village;

 

·        May 2006:      Open house held for community members to meet the Village development-design team and City staff;  written comments from community members were encouraged;

 

·        Jun. 2006:      Community workshop held; participants supported flexibility in building massing and location/design of the public open space; 

 

·        Jul. 2006:       Housing Commission (HC) and Recreation and Parks Commission (RPC) reviewed preliminary Village design concepts and supported greater flexibility in CCSP design parameters; 

 

·        Sep. 2006:     City Council authorized staff and the design-development team to explore with the community, building heights to 65 feet, flexible stepbacks and  setbacks and location/design of open space;

 

·        Sep. 2006:     Community workshop held; introduced three variations on location and character of the public open space; participants supported the relocation of the public open space;

 

·        Nov. 2006:     Community workshop held; expanded on the two previous workshops and focused on the preferred concept plan; participants generally supported the development plan and open space program;

 

·        May 2007:      Joint meeting of Housing and Recreation and Parks Commissions held;  both Commissions supported design concept plan and requested that various comments provided at meeting be considered as the design progresses (see “Commissions Actions” section later in this report for details);

 

·        May 2007:      Joint meeting of Planning Commission (PC) and Architectural Review Board (ARB) held; based upon the proposed design concept, the PC and ARB recommended to the City Council that the Village project begin the Development Agreement entitlement process (see “Commissions Actions” section later in this report for details). 

 

Proposed Project Concept

The following site plan illustrates the proposed concept:

The proposed design concept fulfills the vision of the CCSP in the following ways:

·        Housing:  The proposed program achieves the CCSP goal of 325 residences by locating family housing within the interior of the site immediately adjacent to open space, mixed-use housing along the site perimeter, and live-work housing along the southern edge of the pedestrian-only street and a portion of the Ocean Avenue frontage. 

 

·        Public open space:  The integration of the open space with the residential and retail uses has been achieved by the ‘living street’ design, which includes a central plaza with a strong connection to Olympic Drive and Palisades Garden Walk and a pedestrian-only ‘walk street’ through the site from Main Street to Ocean Avenue. 

 

·        Neighborhood-Serving Retail:  Neighborhood-serving retail space (not to exceed 20,000 square feet) is proposed for corners of Olympic Drive/Ocean Avenue, Olympic Drive/Main Street and Ocean Avenue/Vicente Terrace, and at the entrance to the public plaza, enhancing the perceived safety and vitality of Olympic Drive and Ocean Avenue.

 

·        Extension of Olympic Drive: The proposal includes the continuation of Olympic Drive from Main Street to Ocean Avenue to match the alignment of the existing eastern section of Olympic Drive. The northern boundary of the Village is proposed as the southern boundary of Olympic Drive, including the sidewalk.

 

·        Public Art:  The design team includes two public artists. The artists participated in the community design meetings, and will develop their concepts as the design proceeds to a more detailed phase.

 

·        Sustainable Design: The proposed development will include sustainable elements involving building design and materials, possible onsite energy generation, energy and water use reduction strategies, and recycling of construction and consumer waste.

 

·        Diversity:  The proposed development promotes a diverse resident population by including rental and ownership housing, family housing and live-work housing suitable for artists.  The diversity of housing is anticipated to minimize or eliminate additional Housing Trust Funds investment into the Village, because the revenue from the market-rate housing will cross-subsidize the affordable housing, and finance critical infrastructure that serves the entire site.

 

Conceptual Building Design

The adopted CCSP prescribes for the Village a site plan of three buildings with 56-foot height limits containing 325 residences, setbacks between these sites, a triangular public open space adjacent to the RAND headquarters, and vehicular access from Olympic Drive and Ocean Avenue.  The proposed conceptual design includes six buildings containing 325 residences, with about 46 percent of the buildings adhering to the CCSP height limits, 10 percent of the buildings within 3 feet of the CCSP height limits and approximately 44 percent of the buildings at 65-feet.  The concept plan also includes reconfigured setbacks to alter the relationships to the street frontages, modified upper-floor stepbacks to reflect the reconfiguration of buildings, and consolidated vehicular access from Ocean Avenue.  Implementing these changes requires discrete amendments to the CCSP.  Consideration of these amendments would occur as part of the Development Agreement approval process. 

 

One of the primary design challenges has been maintaining high-quality building massing and open space while meeting the CCSP goal of 325 residences.  The following illustration is a massing diagram indicating the approximate building volume from the 2002 draft CCSP vertical element on Site C, which the proposed concept design effectively relocates to sixth floors on all sites to maintain the CCSP goal of 325 residences.

 

 

 

 

 

 


2002 draa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Building Massing Envelope and Program:  The project proposes a ‘village’ of six residential buildings with approximately 325 residences, and approximately 12,000 square feet of neighborhood serving retail located on Site A and Site C.  The following describes units, height and square footage per site:  

 

Site A:               Two condominium buildings, with ground floor retail on 3 of 4 corners;

                           Approximately 76 one-bedroom and two-bedroom residences;                     

                           Up to 65 feet high;  144,400  square feet;

 

Site B                Three affordable apartment buildings, with ground-floor live/work space;

                           Approximately 32 one-bedroom, 70 two-bedroom, and 48 three-bedroom residences, plus 10 units of live/work space intended for artists;

                           Up to 59 feet high;  193,570 square feet;

 

Site C                One condominium building, with ground floor retail;

                           Approximately 89 one-bedroom and two-bedroom residences;

                           Up to 65 feet high;  169,130 square feet;

 

The following illustration shows the range of building heights.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


To accommodate the desired housing program within the height limit, while maintaining a sense of pedestrian scale and open space, the development-design team and City staff have focused attention on articulation and design detail to vary the overall massing along Olympic Drive.  The designers provided the Site A buildings with stepbacks, balconies and off-set top floors to create volumetric variation and maintain a pedestrian scale at street level.  Further design development of all sites will be evaluated during Development Agreement negotiations.

 

Due to the critical interplay of open space and building orientation, the conceptual design for the buildings on the northern portion of the site (Sites A & B) has progressed beyond the design of the building at the southern end of the site (Site C), at Ocean Avenue and Vicente Terrace.  For that building, the conceptual design and massing is still unresolved.  However, some general approaches to building design are introduced at this stage of design conceptualization, including a strong retail presence along Ocean Avenue and an elevated courtyard oriented toward Ocean Avenue to enhance building articulation and access to light for all residences.  The building is proposed to reach a maximum height of 65 feet.  During Development Agreement negotiations, further development of the design for Site C will be a critical goal.

 

Vehicle Access and Parking: The Village is proposed to include code-required parking at approximately 655 parking spaces.  In addition, the development team has commissioned a parking study to assess the parking demand for the Village.  Vehicle access for Sites A & B is proposed from First Court alley.  The design-development team believes that additional vehicle access is needed to serve these sites, and have asked to explore vehicle access from the northern side of Olympic Drive, in a portion of the future Palisades Garden Walk.  As the future park has yet to be designed, staff is concerned that such access could limit future flexibility in the park design.  Staff is seeking the Council’s input on whether such access should be explored during Development Agreement negotiations.  Site C has a separate point of access on the current 1733 Ocean Avenue building alley.

 

Open Space and Pedestrian Access

The public open space program in the proposed concept plan responds directly to commission and community input about the desire to create space that is inviting, active, open and safe.  The concept plan locates the public open space and associated pedestrian access through the Village in the northern portion of the site, closer to Olympic Drive and Palisades Garden Walk, rather than in an interior, insulated space adjacent to the RAND and 1733 Ocean Avenue office buildings, as designated in the CCSP.  The concept plan programs a public plaza connecting the future Palisades Garden Walk and an east-west walk-street (‘living street’) as the public open space and primary pedestrian access through the site. 

 

The community and commission input also indicated a preference that interior portions of the site be designed as protected open space, for use by the families occupying the adjacent housing.  The concept plan locates protected open space in the interior of the Village site plan, and conceives this space as a series of outdoor areas that take advantage of the sloping grade, oriented toward the family housing as terraced gardens and protected play areas for families and children.

 

The community and commission input noted that the concept of relocating the open space should ensure that the total amount of open space remains the same as identified in the CCSP.  Attachment C is a comparison of total amount of open space in the original CCSP concept and the current proposal.  The comparison indicates that the total amount of open space in both concepts is similar.

 

The CCSP and the RAND Development Agreement anticipate public pedestrian access along the north side of the RAND building (from Main Street to First Court alley) via a pathway.  The current Village concept plan considers exchanging this public pedestrian access for the public pedestrian access reflected in the ‘living street’ design that provides access through the Village from Main Street, Olympic Avenue and Ocean Avenue.  With this proposed concept plan, several issues need to be studied further, including:

·        proximity of the RAND pathway to the residential play area;

·        technical aspects of extending the pathway to First Court alley, where there is a significant drop in grade;

·        safety concerns associated with pathway leading to First Court alley, which pedestrians must cross to get to Ocean Avenue.

 

The open space and pedestrian access programmatic changes in the proposed concept plan require City staff, the design-development team and RAND to study pedestrian access through the area and develop options that are consistent with the requirements of the RAND Development Agreement and the proposed concept plan for the Village.

 

Pre-Submittal Review Process

Designing within the parameters set by City Council direction, the Related Company development team has participated in a pre-submittal conceptual review with City staff involving the site plan, pedestrian and vehicle access, building massing, and design equity between building types for rental and ownership housing.  As explained previously in this report, Site C will require further resolution of massing and design elements.  Additional elements requiring City Council direction and City staff evaluation as the design progresses are vehicle and pedestrian access, and the skybridge.

The following illustration and narrative describes how the design-development team has addressed staff’s design comments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Site Plan:  In response to early staff comments regarding maintaining the broad axes which reflect the intent of the CCSP, a previous Village concept plan was revised to provide a clearer north-south axis while accommodating the more predominant design element of the east-west ‘living street’ axis.  Buildings on Sites A and B are placed along an east-west axis to take advantage of natural light and cooling conditions from the ocean breeze. The public plaza was also enlarged to reflect the community comments and enhance the relationship with the future Palisades Garden Walk across the street.  The ‘living street’ concept is intended to create an activated pedestrian street, with pedestrian access from Main Street to Ocean Avenue passing through the public plaza.   

 

Design equity among buildings: The design team responded to staff comments about maintaining visual equity among rental and ownership buildings by varying materials and redesigning facades.  A significant method for achieving visual equity is the use of materials and finish quality to be specified at the Architectural Review Board review.

 

Previous Council Actions

Previous City Council actions are summarized in the Background section of this report.

 

Commission and Board Actions

The Background section of this report discusses Commission actions during the 2006 community design phase.  In addition, four Commissions reviewed the conceptual design in advance of this City Council/Agency consideration of authorization to commence Development Agreement negotiations. 

 

The Housing Commission and the Recreation and Parks Commission held a joint meeting on May 17, 2007 to consider the design concept for the Village.  Those Commissions made the following comments:

·        Carefully consider ratio of paved areas to planted areas for walk-street and plaza;

·        Incorporate sustainability through features such as green roofs and solar cells;

·        Ensure that there is enough useable open space for the children’s play area;

·        Consider integrating affordable and market-rate residences in the same buildings;

·        Ensure that dwellers of market-rate residences have access to private open spaces adjacent to the affordable residences;

 

·        Ensure the walk-street and plaza do not have the ambiance of a “shopping mall”;

·        Include landscaping along the Ocean Avenue frontage;

·        Preserve access for emergency vehicles;

·        Ensure retail space is occupied by neighborhood-serving businesses.

 

The Housing Commission approved staff’s recommendations regarding the concept plan, while encouraging the project team to consider the Commission’s comments as the Village design progresses.

 

The Recreation & Parks Commission approved the Village concept design, and while commending the design team’s response to the Commission’s previous concerns regarding open space, requested that the following additional concerns be addressed:

·        the integration of affordable and market-rate residences in the same buildings;

·        animation of central streets by creation of comfortable environments;

·        use of rooftops as green space;

·        incorporation of a sustainable plant palette;

·        use of reclaimed storm water;

·        maximization of usable open space for families.

 

The Planning Commission and the Architectural Review Board held a joint meeting on May 30, 2007 to also review the design concept for the Village and consider whether to recommend to the City Council that the Village project begin the Development Agreement entitlement process. 

The Planning Commission and the Architectural Review Board recommended that the Village concept plan be forwarded to Council.  They discussed the challenge of achieving the CCSP’s 325-unit desired housing density without having the 120-foot height option on the southern corner of Site C that was envisioned in the 2002 draft CCSP.  Their discussion noted that redistributing this massing within the 56 to 65-foot height range throughout the site has resulted in greater massing and a loss of visual access through the site.  Motions from both the Planning Commission and the Architectural Review Board recommended that the Council should re-evaluate the relationship of height and massing to provide greater variation in building articulation and improved access to light and air.  Options discussed included increased height adjacent to the Viceroy Hotel on the southern portion of Site C, and redistribution of massing with a possible reduction of several units.

 

The Planning Commission and the Architectural Review Board recommended that the City Council authorize staff to commence negotiations of a Development Agreement with the Related Companies of California based on the proposed design concept plan for the Village, and to consider the following points during the design and negotiation process:

·        Provide bicycle lanes or paths on Olympic Drive or the adjacent park and throughout the project;

 

·        Emphasize environmentally sustainable elements and the requisite affordable housing;

 

·        If the skybridge is retained on Site A, design it as visually open as possible; use light glassy materials and provide a narrower silhouette;

 

·        Incorporate sustainable transportation elements;

·        Provide safe and friendly bicycle access through the site and to the beach and pier, bicycle and electronic cycle parking in the retail space area, and bicycle and smart/mini