April 22, 2008

TONIGHT! City Council To Consider Zoning Changes Impacting The Harbor Area

Take Action Now: Click here to send a letter!

The Redondo Beach Chamber is urging the City Council to take additional steps before rendering a final decision on zoning changes that impact the harbor area.

It is critical to avoid making poor planning decisions based on negative public perceptions that were created by such past developments as the Village, Seascape and Pier Plaza projects.

The Harbor Enterprise operating costs continue to increase while revenues have been stagnant or are in decline, yet the solutions are complex and involve both economic and political issues.

The Chamber is also asking that the Mayor and two Council Members meet with the principles of at least the four major leaseholders (Decron, Portofino, Port Royal and Marina Cove) altogether to discuss such critical issues as:

1. What are the economic and/or legal ramifications of adopting an overall development cap that would allow far less total building square feet than the development standards?

2. What level of investment in leasehold improvements would occur under a scenario where the potential capacity could not be fairly shared amongst all leaseholders?

3. Rather than simply doing what maybe political tolerable, should a new Environmental Impact Report be completed which possibly could be partially/wholly funded by the leaseholders?

Reality is a majority of the land leases will not expire for another 20 years or more and without strong support from those leaseholders most capable of investing the millions required to upgrade and improve the Harbor-Pier Area the likelihood of anything positive happening significantly decreases.

Consequently, if nothing much actually happens Redondo Beach will simply fall further behind the neighboring beach communities in attracting reinvestment to its coastal commercial district.
 

In fact it is expected that much more redevelopment will be occurring in nearby Downtown Hermosa Beach including additional hotel rooms which would attract visitors away from our Harbor-Pier Area and
result in less transient occupancy taxes to the City’s General Fund.

The Chamber believes that residents and businesses alike wish see something special happen in the Harbor-Pier Area, however for the City Council to make the best decision possible this process should not be rushed or dictated solely by politics.

Nobody supports over-development in the Harbor-Pier Area which is why extra care must be taken to adopt proper zoning regulations that will allow something special to happen and attract our residents and visitors back to our waterfront.
 

Take Action Now: Click here to send a letter!

April 7, 2008

City Council To Consider Chamber-Supported Zoning Changes

The Chamber urges the business community to attend the upcoming City Council meeting regarding the Planning Commission’s recommended amendments to the General Plan, Harbor/Civic Center Specific Plan, Coastal Plan and Zoning Ordinance.

Click here for a copy of the Planning Commission Resolution.

The Chamber believes the recommended amendments represent a fair and reasonable compromise. The Planning Staff and Commissioners did an admirable job formulating a win-win solution for our community.

The economic vitality of the Harbor-Pier Area is not only critical to the financial success of the Harbor Enterprise, but also for the numerous citywide services funded by the City’s General Fund.

Over the last 20 years the Harbor has seen stagnant to declining revenues while expenditures have greatly increased making it essential to turn these negative trends around.

The recommended amendments are a critical component to accomplishing all of the City Council’s Strategic Plan Goals. “Enhancing and revitalizing the Harbor and Pier area” will “Expand economic opportunities” and “Enhance financial viability” of the city. General Fund revenues derived from a revitalized Harbor-Pier Area will also help “Improve public facilities and infrastructure”, “Enhance public safety and emergency preparedness services” and “Enhance the livability of our community”.

Specifically, the recommended amendments keeps in place the long standing and very restrictive Floor Area Ratio (FAR) development limit of 0.35 adopted in 1992 and only allows incremental increases up to a 0.65 FAR by building new hotel, office and usable public open space. It should be noted that a 0.65 FAR is still well below the Single-family residential limit of up to a 0.80 FAR.

Why is this issue important to you?

If adopted these incremental increases will benefit the community in the following ways:

- Usable public open space can create a more attractive environment for both residents and visitors to enjoy year round.
 

- Offices can create high wage job opportunities which in turn generate sales tax revenues by filling empty restaurant seats during the weekdays as well as increases hotel business and transient occupancy taxes.
 

- Hotels generate significant amounts of transient occupancy and sales tax revenues to the City’s General Fund, yet minimum traffic impacts.

However, it should be recognized that although the recommended amendments are a vital step towards revitalizing the Harbor-Pier Area, significant investments and desirable developments will also require financially viable lease amendments and extensions. The current pro-active efforts of the city will need to continue for the appropriate revitalization to be realized.

Redondo Beach Floor Area Ratio (FAR) Comparisons

The Harbor-Pier Area Maximum FAR of 0.35 (1) is the lowest for Commercial Zoning Districts and only slightly above the most restrictive for Parks, Recreation and Open Space.  In fact, the Harbor-Pier Area Maximum FAR is half the aggregated Citywide Maximum FAR (see chart below).  Consequently, the Harbor-Pier Area total development potential is only 5% of the Citywide total of 16.3 million square feet (2) yet it accounts for 10% of the total commercial and industrial land area.

*FAR or Floor Area Ratio is a typical development standard used to control the maximum building density permitted for a specific parcel, district or the entire city as is the case for all commercially zoned land in Redondo Beach. Contrarily, arbitrary buildout caps are not commonly used to control the maximum building density for either a specific district or the entire city.
 

(1)   Harbor-Pier Area Maximum FAR is per the Harbor/Civic Center Specific Plan and the pre-Heart of the City zoning standard that states “Cumulative development on the entire master leasehold area within the CC-1, CC-3, CC-4, CC-5, and CC-6 zones is limited to a maximum floor area ratio of 0.35” which excludes the Crowne Plaza Complex, Pier, Seaside Lagoon & Mole B-Unleased Portion.
 

(2)   Citywide total development potential for commercial and industrial space was 16,334,192 square feet per the General Plan as adopted on May 26, 1992 (see Table 1, Page 2-5) and the Harbor-Pier Area total development potential for commercial space would be 788,900 square feet per the pre-Heart of the City zoning (see Note 1).