Title
Discussion and Proposed Scope for Neighborhood Center Work Item
Report
Issue:
The Planning Commission has review of Neighborhood Center regulations on their Work Plan for this year. Tonight's discussion is about the public process timeline and preliminary scope of work.
Staff Contact:
Presenter(s):
Amy Buckler
Background and Analysis:
Neighborhood Centers are small walk and transit-friendly business clusters within residential neighborhoods that serve the day-to-day retail and service needs of local residents and foster community interaction.
Comprehensive Plan Update Goal GL21: Neighborhood Centers are the focal point of neighborhoods and villages (See related policies in Attachment 3)
The City has had a policy of encouraging the development of neighborhood centers for over 20 years, but these have not developed as described in the Plan. This is a problem because Olympians say they want small-scale business destinations in neighborhoods. Residents across the city have consistently expressed desire for "a place like the San Francisco Street Bakery" close to their home. Also, convenience destinations within a 20-minute walk or a quick transit ride from home are essential to achieving community-wide goals to reduce our environmental impact and carbon footprint, improve human health, and foster healthy and resilient neighborhoods.
During their 2013 Retreat, the Olympia Planning Commission toured the 17 Neighborhood Center areas identified on the Future Land Use map.
Afterwards, they discussed potential reasons why development of these centers may not be occurring as envisioned. As a result, the Commission placed a review of potential barriers, possibly including certain regulations, on their work plan. Tonight's discussion is about the preliminary scope of work and public process timeline.
PROCESS & TIMELINE
A proposed public process and timeline is included as Attachment 5. Staff is currently interviewing property and business owners in existing neighborhood center/retail areas, and developing an online survey to be noticed broadly throughout the community.
OUTCOME & SCOPE
Project Goal: Articulate a clear process & regulations/ incentives for how neighborhood centers can be developed as outlined in the Comprehensive Plan.
Project Scope: Identify barriers to development of neighborhood centers, and potentially make some code changes to improve the regulatory tools.
NOT included in this scope:
· Comprehensive Plan goals or policy (however, see Attachment 4 regarding a potential City Council action on October 7, 2014)
· Visioning or master planning for specific neighborhood centers
· Regulations for the neighborhood centers located within master planned Urban Villages or Neighborhood Villages (these areas all have approved master plans)
Potentially included in scope:
Based on research to date, the following may need further review at Public Hearing. The final staff recommendation will be based on public input through interviews and surveys:
· Whether a master plan process is realistic for neighborhood centers that are infilling established neighborhoods? Including potentially removing the "Neighborhood Center" code in OMC 18.05 and focusing instead on the "Neighborhood Retail Zone" code in OMC 18.06.
(See Attachment 4 regarding the policy basis for this option.)
· Allowed uses
· Size of neighborhood center areas, buildings and park/civic green
· Which set of design review criteria should apply to neighborhood centers (or neighborhood retail)? (While we do not have time this year to establish new design criteria, there are existing design criteria which could be applied.)
· Recommendations to City Council regarding other ways to incentivize development of small-scale 'neighborhood centers' that could be explored in the future.
Neighborhood/Community Interests (if known):
Neighborhood centers were revealed as a high priority for local residents during the public process for both Imagine Olympia and Sustainable Thurston.
A briefing for the Coalition of Neighborhood Association Steering Committee on April 14, 2014 confirmed the above priority, while also revealing there is confusion about the difference between "Neighborhood Centers" and "Neighborhood Retail" in the Code. There is also concern about the mass and scale of buildings in centers as well as size of centers themselves within existing residential districts.
Options:
Review the proposed public process timeline and other materials attached. Following a briefing from staff at the meeting, provide staff with guidance for next steps.
Staff has the following specific questions for the Planning Commission:
1. Any comments or concerns about the Public Process & Timeline outlined in Attachment 5? Or the preliminary scope of work outlined above?
2. Any comments or concerns regarding staff recommendation to City Council outlined in Attachment 4?
3. Should staff begin to communicate that the Planning Commission plans to hold a Public Hearing on this matter on November 17, 2014?
Financial Impact:
Included in base department budget