HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Statement 1979/05/15 Item 05CITY OF CHULA VISTA
COUiVCIL AGENDA STATEMEiVT
Item No. 5
For meeting of 5/15/79
Public hearing - Consideration of appeal of Planning Commission denial of request
for a General Plan amendment to change the designation of the southeast corner
ITEM T TLE of Bonita Road and Otay Lakes Road from High Density Residential to Retail
Commercial
SUBMITI~ED BY Director of Planning
ITEM E PLANATION (4/5TH'S'VOTE REQUIRED YES NO X )
BACKGROUND
1. According to Mr. Dale W. Combs, project architect and agent for the applicant,
P1A Company, Inc., the proposed General Plan amendment is the first step in a
oposal to annex, rezone, and deNelop a total of 18 acres at this location. A three
re commercial site--the subject,of this application--would occupy the corner and
nsist of 15,000 square feet of retail space, divided into fifteen 1,000 square foot
ops, and a 5,000 square foot restaurant or financial office building. The remaining
.acres would be developed with approximately 150 residential dwelling units.
2. The Environmental Impact eport on this aroject (EIR-79-7) was forwarded to
e Council on April 19.
3. An appeal from the Planni g Commission's denial of the requested amendment
the Chula Vista General Plan h s been filed, and has brought the subject matter
fore the City Council for publi hearing and consideration.
PLANNING AND ZONING INFORMATI N
1. Existing land use and zon'ng (see Exhibit B).
The territory in question is resently vacant, unincorporated and zoned County
1-(2) (Agricultural with a 2 ac a minimum lot size). The property was prezoned
8 (Agricultural with an 8 acre inimum lot size) under the City's Sweetwater Valley
ezoning Program. The Sweetwate Community Plan, as adopted by the Board of Super-
sors on August 25, 1977, design tes the property as Residential, 2 DU/acre.
P:je
IBITS -
Pla tr 2 Notification List
Minutes of Planning
her Comm. Mtg.4/18 ENVIRONMENTALDOCUMENT: Attached Submitted on 4/19/79
reement Resolution grdinance
FINANC AL IMPACT
ne
STAFF ECOMMENDATION
BOARD/
General
Lakes F
COUNCIL
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ncur with the action of the Planning Commission.
iMMISSION RECOMMENDATION
April 18, 1979 the Planning Commission voted 5-2 to deny the request for a
Plan amendment for three acres 't the southeast corner of Bonita Road and Otay
ad from ig ensi"~y~'es-i~'en etail Commercial.
ACTION is
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Form A-113 (Rev. 5/77)
AGENDA ITEM NO 5
Meeting of 5/15/79
Supplemental page No.2
2. Adjacent General Plan designations (see Exhibit A).
North - Parks and Public CJpen Space
South - High Density Residential
East - High Density Residdential
West - Retail Commercia l
3. Adjacent land use and zoning.
North - A-D-F Municipal Golf Course
South - A-1-(2) County Vacant (A-8 City prezone)
East - A-1-(2) Vacant (A-9 City prezone)
t~lest - C-C-D Bonita Centre
ANALYSIS
1. The General Plan establishes long range, general policies for the physical
velopment of the community in a, coordinated and unified manner. It is based on
reful and comprehensive surveys and analysis of present conditions and future
ends, and it organizes and balances the complex set of relationships between
ban land uses. Any proposal to amend the General Plan, therefore, must not only
based on clear and present need relative to General Plan policy, but also must
analyzed in relationship to its impact on the City as a whole.
2. Chula Vista, like the pre onderance of American cities, is already
c mmercially over zoned. The fol~owing table provides the analytical basis for
t is contention.
Commercial Zoning Analysis: City of Chula Vista
a. Territory classified commercial 601 acres 100%
b. Territory developed with commercial uses 341 acres 57%
c. Territory developed with noncommercial uses 131 acres 22%
d. Vacant commercial territory 129 acres 21%
e. Conclusion: 43% of the commercially zoned
territory of the City,of Chula Vista, or 260
acres of land, are either vacant or devoted
to the accommodation bf noncommercial uses.
f. According to the accepted rule-of-thumb,l
the 81,000 people of Chula Vista would be
served by 122 to 162 acres of commercial territory.
g. Standard of the rule-of-thumb:
Neighborhood Commercial 0.5 acres/1,000 capita
Community Commercial 0.5 acres/1,000 capita
Regional Commercial 0.4 acres/1,000 capita
Office, Highway, Visitor, Heavy
Commercial 0.1 to 0.6 acres/1,000 capita
The City has recognized this problem and, at page 24, the General Plan states:
" conservative policy is recommended in adding new land to the commercial land
s pply. It is further recommended that every effort be made to increase the efficient
u e of existing commercial uses."
1 lanning authorities on the acreage required to provide combined neighborhood
evel and community level commercial goods and services to 1,000 persons offer
he following figures:
Gallion & Eisner, The Urban Pattern, 3rd ed.
1.00 Ac./1,000 persons
William H. Claire, Handbook on Urban Planning
.92 Ac./1,000 persons
F. Stuart Chapin, Jr., Urban Land Use Planning
.75 Ac./1,000 persons
Urban Land Institute, Shopping Center Development Handbook
1.08 Ac./1,000 persons
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AGENDA ITEf~i NO 5
Meeting of 5/15/79
Supplemental page No. 3
3. According to city plannin~ principles, the General Plan designation of
~rritory for commercial developm nt should be primarily based upon public need.
~e involved property owner's potential economic gain, the real estate appraiser's
'termination of a parcel's "highest and best use," and the need to defray costly
~velopment improvements are of secondary importance and, by themselves, will not
ipport a commercial redesignation or reclassification.
4. While it must be acknowledged that the evaluation of the demand for
s all specialty uses is difficult in the absence of knowledge about specific
p oposed tenancies, staff does nod believe that the applicant has established a
p blic need for the redesignation'of the territory in question from High Density
R sidential to Retail Commercial.
5. The Bonita commercial ared presently contains 32 acres of commercially
z ned City territory. Based upon ''the aforementioned rules of thumb, this is
e ough acreage to serve the combimed neighborhood and community commercial needs
0 32,000 people. This figure far exceeds the current estimate of 20,000
r sidents in the Sweetwater Valle,.
Stated another way, the Sweetwater Valley's ultimate population of
4 ,000 people will require about X25,000 square feet of gross leasable area (GLA)
t meet its neighborhood and comm~lnity commercial needs. This conclusion is
p edicated upon the standards developed by the authors of the Community Builders
H ndbook, and supported by Gallion and Eisner in the Third Edition of The Urban
P ttern; De Chiara and Koppelman, in the Second Edition of Urban Plannin and
D si n Criteria; and Lewis Keeble~ in the Fourth Edition of Principles and
P actice of Town and Countr Plannin .
Although the Sweetwater Valley has attained only 50% of its ultimate
p pulation, the existing Bonita commercial area has a GLA of approximately
2 0,000 square feet. To this figure, the GLA of Sweetwater's unincorporated
c nters--45,000 square feet--must 'be added. The total GLA of 275,000 square
f et provides strong evidence of the Sweetwater Valley's over commercialization.
T is over commercialization is at ',least partially responsible for the valley's
3 ,000 square feet of vacant GLA.
6. The applicant's acreage is~ directly adjacent to the Bonita Centre
s opping complex and can be adequajtely served thereby. The creation of additional
c mercial acreage would promote over commercialization and would have the net
e fect of eroding the economic vitality of existing commercial districts.
7. This proposal would additionally extend the Bonita Road commercial
f ontage beyond its present easterly terminus at Otay Lakes Road. ~~Jhile the
B nita Centre as presently constitiuted manifests much order and amenity, its
fu ther extension to the east could place the Centre's land use, circulatory, and
to nscape characteristics into a state of imbalance. The continuing order of
co mercial areas is dependent upon the maintenance of qualitative, peripheral
re idential patterns, and the establishment of precise horizontal limitations.
Ex erience has demonstrated that those commercial districts which are
ch racterized by a limitless drift tend to decline.
8. The city is firmly committed to commercial development in the area which
is now vacant on the south side of, Bonita Road across from Love's Restaurant
an the !ti?otor hotel under construction there. Council has approved a specific
pl n for this 8.7 acre area calling for a combination of retail sales and visitor
or'ented uses. The 40 acre area a~ I-805 and H Street will probably be a
co bination of a specialty center end a community center and the city is also
co mitted to a major effort to revitalize the 3rd Avenue shopping area as the
ci y's primary specialty center. ~Jevelopment of areas on the periphery of the
ci y for competing kinds of uses would tend to dilute those other city programs.
9. The three acres in question represent approximately 30% of the remaining
un eveloped High Density Residential city territory in the largely Low Density
Re idential community of Bonita. These lands are well suited to high density
re idential. development, and the Hpusing Element of the General Plan encourages
th concept of heterogeneous neighborhoods, where practicable, in order to provide
re idents a choice of living accommodations and to accommodate the housing prefer-
en es of individual families and households.
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AGENDA ITEh1 NO ~
Meeting of 5/15/79
Supplemental page No. 4
10. The above commentary notwithstanding, it must be recognized that it is
ifficult to evaluate the market for a small specialty center. Further, rules of
iumb as to the commercial acreage required to serve nearby residential areas do
~t account for persons residing outside the area who use the shopping facilities
ithin the area. Thus, to a considerable degree, Chula Vista .serves as the
~mmercial center for the entire South Bay Area, including south of the border
~sidents, and the tax dollars thus generated are increasingly important in the
Est Proposition 13 era.
Discussion of Leisure Systems' study entitled, "Retail Space Demand in Bonita"
The applicant commissioned the firm of Leisure Systems to evaluate the
d mand for additional commercial development at the subject location. This portion
o the staff report discusses the report of Leisure Systems,
1. The economic feasibility sttudy, entitled "Retail Space Demand in Bonita,"
a signs a 2.5 mile trading radiusland approximately 19.6 square mile trading area
t the 3.0 acre specialty center proposed for establishment at the southeasterly
c rner of Bonita and Otay Lakes Rbads. The said trading area would encompass
B vita-Sunnyside, Bonita Miguel, Bonita Glen, Lynwood Hills, Sunny Vista, E1 Rancho
d 1 Rey, and considerable territory to the north of the South Bay Freeway.
2. By utilizing the aforementhoned assignments, the authors of the feasibility
s udy in question are able to conclude that the proposed center's trading area
'll have a population of 28,521 persons in 1981, and a need for 732,224 square
f et of gross leasable commercial area (GLA). The said authors then assume that
t e trading area will have a probable supply of 504,785 square feet of GLA by the
s id year, and arithmetically determine that the trading area's shortfall in GLA
w uld be about 227,439 square feet.
3. Although the report purports to be conservative, its findings and conclusions
a e actually based upon conjecture and extravagance. This statement is predicated
u on the following staff findings.
a. The trading area of the proposed center has been assigned even though
the precise land use and tenant mix of the center and competing centers
have not been determined. If specialty centers are developed at Bonita
Glen, E1 Rancho del Rey and the Town Centre, the trading radius of the
proposed Bonita Road-Otay lakes Road center could be far less than 2.5
miles, and the space demand for mercantile use in 1981 could be much less
than 227,000 square feet.
b. Leisure Systems' report also neglects the impact of Naval Exchanges
upon local retail trade. 'these uses siphon off about 10% to 15% of the
said trade, and therefore significantly reduce the demand for private GLA.
c. The instant feasibility study tends to spread more confusion than
light. Its text describes the involved trading area as being almost
coterminus with the Comprehensive Planning Organization's Sweetwater
Subregional Area, which will have an ultimate population of around
80,000. This subregional area covers 42 square miles and includes the
future settlement of the Otay Valley. On the other hand, where the study
evaluates competing centers and GLA, it confines its research to Bonita-
Sunnyside and E1 Rancho del Rey. It is totally silent with respect to
the regional center proposed for the Bonita Golf Course and the expanding
Town and Country Shopping Center of Sweetwater Road.
4. Notwithstanding the above commentary, staff's major concern over "Retail
S ace Demand in Bonita" is its conclusion that 28,000 residents generate a need
f r 732,000 square feet of GLA. staff's research indicates that this population
g nerates a GLA demand for 300,000 square feet--including the demand for regional
s opping services.
SUMMARY
1. Both Chula Vista and the Bonita Valley are overzoned for commercial
a cording to established rules-of-thumb, but care must be taken in applying these
r les of thumb to commercial areas which serve persons living outside the area.
AGENDA ITEM NO 5
Meeting of 5/15/79
Supplemental page No. 5
2. (Evaluation of the market for a small specialty center is difficult and
ies the rule-of-thumb indicators.
3. The existence of approximately 32,000 square feet of vacant floor area
i the Bonita area argues against'a further expansion of commercial development.
4. While the subject property is not ideally located for residential develop-
t, being at the intersection of two major thoroughfares, this can be mitigated
proper building setbacks, orientation and insulation, and by landscaping.
CONCLUSION
A 1 things considered staff feels that the arguments for denial of the application
o tweigh those for approval.
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