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AGENDA BILL Agenda Item No. 7(B) Date: April 2, 2013 To: El Cerrito City Council From: Melanie Mintz, Environmental Services Division Manager Yvetteh Ortiz, Engineering Manager Subject: San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan Update and Amendment to Professional Services Agreement with Moore Iacofano Goltsman, Inc. ACTION REQUESTED Receive an update on the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan and adopt a resolution authorizing the City Manager to amend the Professional Services Agreement with Moore Iacofano Goltsman, Inc. (MIG), in an amount not to exceed $422,000 to complete the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan, Complete Streets Plan and Programmatic Environmental Impact Report. BACKGROUND The El Cerrito Redevelopment Agency undertook development of the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan jointly with the City of Richmond beginning in 2007 to develop a shared vision for the future of San Pablo Avenue, identify improvements for the Plan area, and adopt regulations that can be consistently applied in the Plan area to achieve the vision. Moore Iacofano Goltsman, Inc. (MIG) was selected as the consultant to support the cities in this effort and prepare the Plan (Redevelopment Agency Resolution No. 563). City staff and the consultant worked collaboratively on the Plan along with members of the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan Advisory Committee (SPAAC) and through Planning Commission, Design Review Board and general public meetings. A draft Specific Plan was completed in 2009 along with an Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND). Based on comments received, a second draft was completed in 2010. On March 7 2011, at a City Council Study Session, Council directed staff to do further revisions to the Specific Plan to deal with open issues, expand the parking study and economic analysis, create more location-appropriate density, height and land use strategies to better reflect the priorities of the City Council, and better align the plan with contemporary land use and transit standards. A detailed Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Feasibility Analysis and Parking Study was then completed, with funding from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC). A presentation to City Council on November 21, 2011 resulted in a number of recommendations, including that the Plan allow increased height and densities near the BART stations, more flexible parking requirements with lower minimums, and a more flexible approach to mixed-use, including allowing ground floor residential throughout the Plan area. With this new ---PAGE BREAK--- Agenda Item No.7(B) Page 2 information in hand, new potential development numbers were evaluated and it was determined that the project warranted a full Programmatic Environmental Impact Report (EIR) consistent with the California Environmental Quality Act. The recommended amendment includes three major tasks: revision of the Specific Plan and preparation of an Environmental Impact Report, completion of a San Pablo Avenue Complete Streets Plan, and development of a Multimodal Capital Improvement Program. ANALYSIS Environmental Impact Report: Preparation of an EIR will provide City Council and the public with an analysis of the potentially significant environmental impacts of the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan and its alternatives, and provide the means by which to reduce or avoid those impacts. Furthermore, preparation of an EIR will result in streamlining the ongoing implementation of the Specific Plan, as future private and public development projects that are consistent with the Specific Plan and that fall within the scope of the EIR will require no further negative declaration or EIR. The proposed scope for this task will rely as much as possible on information already collected in the previous Mitigated Negative Declaration, but will also necessitate developing optimum new development numbers. Particular emphasis will be placed on maximizing TOD opportunities at the City’s two BART stations, collecting updated information including current traffic counts, and doing analyses and identifying appropriate mitigation measures based upon the new proposed development numbers and in consideration of changed regulatory requirements. The contents of a Specific Plan, its EIR, and the data, analyses and studies overlap extensively. Furthermore, the detailed analysis of the EIR will support, facilitate and guide future development in the Plan area. San Pablo Avenue Complete Streets Plan: A limitation of the draft Specific Plan was due to constraints imposed on the Plan by the City’s existing Level of Service (LOS) standards for signalized intersections. Any impact on LOS above what is allowed in the City’s General Plan would have triggered the need to prepare an EIR. As such, proposed densities were established that resulted in impacts below those that would have triggered the need to prepare an EIR, but also below the development numbers needed to achieve City, Regional and State goals and policies related to increased transit access and walkability; greenhouse gas emissions reductions as required and proposed by AB32 (California’s Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006), SB375 (Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008), and the City’s own draft Climate Action Plan; and consideration of economic feasibility for real estate development. Development of a Complete Streets Plan as a part of the Specific Plan would enable the City to develop new multimodal LOS standards to help realize its TOD and multimodal vision and goals. In the time since the draft Specific Plan was released, City staff successfully secured a grant to complete such a plan for the San Pablo Avenue Corridor. Completion of the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan and Complete Streets Plan simultaneously has numerous benefits and synergies including cost savings and implementation value as the analyses and data needed for both Plans and the EIR ---PAGE BREAK--- Agenda Item No.7(B) Page 3 overlap and influence each other. Further, the ability for the City to adopt integrated LOS that supports current and future multimodal mobility needs is not only supportive of the City’s goals for reducing vehicle-miles traveled and achieving a balanced transportation system, but makes pursuing TOD a more economically feasible path. Multimodal Capital Improvement Program: In reviewing and taking a fresh look at the Specific Plan, and in recognition of increased development and City Council interest in TOD as both an environmental and economic development strategy, staff has identified other strategies to assure that the Plan’s products best situate the City to be ready and competitive to attract high-quality development. One of those strategies is to have a comprehensive Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for future transportation improvements. The City, in partnership with BART, is currently in the process of requesting funds from the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA) Measure J Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Access Improvements at El Cerrito Plaza and del Norte BART Stations project to complete a Multimodal CIP within a half-mile of both BART stations. Results of this funding request will not be known until May 2013. If funded, the CIP will identify and provide conceptual design of specific bicycle, pedestrian and transit access improvements that would support mode-shift and Transportation Demand Management strategies that will enable reduced parking requirements near the BART stations. Completion of the Multimodal CIP will also put the City and BART in a competitive and ready position to begin applying for capital funds to build public access improvement projects to realize both near-term benefits as well as to prepare for successful TOD. Additional and concurrent tasks that will be completed as a part of the proposed amendment include: • Overhauling the existing draft Specific Plan to have a stronger focus on placemaking, emphasizing the strategic importance of the areas around the two BART stations, and to have a more useable format • Developing a hybrid Form Based Code which will include a regulating plan, public realm standards, and private realm standards with design guidelines and character-based development standards to achieve both development flexibility and assure that future development contributes to establishing a unique character and sense of place along San Pablo Avenue • Updating the financing strategy • Integrating recent and concurrent projects, plans, policies and funding programs into the Plan, including upcoming BART Station Modernization Plans, new BART TOD Policies, the City’s Climate Action Plan, Plan Bay Area and One Bay Area Grant, Caltrans Complete Streets, update of the West County Plan for Routes of Regional Significance and the potential redevelopment of the City’s Mayfair Block. • Providing additional community engagement and plan approval support. Staff is recommending MIG to continue and complete this work because of their extensive background in El Cerrito and Richmond as the consultant for both cities’ most recent General Plans and their in-depth knowledge of the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan planning process and environmental studies to date. Additionally, MIG was just ---PAGE BREAK--- ---PAGE BREAK--- Agenda Item No. 7(B) Attachment 1 RESOLUTION 2013–XX RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EL CERRITO AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO AMEND THE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AGREEMENT WITH MOORE IACAFANO GOLTSMAN, INC. (MIG) IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED $422,000 TO COMPLETE THE SAN PABLO AVENUE SPECIFIC PLAN, COMPLETE STREETS PLAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT WHEREAS, the City’s Redevelopment Agency “Agency” undertook the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan jointly with the City of Richmond to develop a shared vision for the future of San Pablo Avenue, identify improvements for the plan area, and adopt regulations that could be consistently applied in the plan area to achieve the vision; and WHEREAS, the “Agency” selected Moore Iacafano Goltsman, Inc. (MIG) as the consultant to prepare the Plan (Resolution No. 563); and WHEREAS, an initial draft San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan and Administrative Draft Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration were drafted in 2009 pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act; and WHEREAS, the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan has been on hold due to a variety of local and regional factors and to address public comments received; and WHEREAS, at a March 7, 2011 Study Session, the City Council recommended doing further San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan revisions, including conducting additional Transit- Oriented Development parking and economic analysis and refining the height, density and land use recommendations to better reflect City Council priorities; and WHEREAS, additional analysis has indicated that with the anticipated revisions, an Environmental Impact Report for the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan is required pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act; and WHEREAS, development of a San Pablo Avenue Complete Streets Plan within the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan will enable the City Council’s goals for San Pablo Avenue and successful, feasible Transit-Oriented Development; and WHEREAS, City staff successfully applied for funds to complete a San Pablo Avenue Complete Streets Plan; and WHEREAS, proceeding with a re-drafting of the San Pablo Avenue Specific Plan and Environmental Impact Report simultaneously with the Complete Streets Plan will yield a more complete Plan that supports the City’s goals. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of El Cerrito that it hereby authorizes the City Manager to amend the Professional Services Agreement with Moore Iacafano Goltsman, Inc. in an amount not to exceed $422,000 to complete the San Pablo ---PAGE BREAK--- Agenda Item No. 7(B) Attachment 1 Avenue Specific Plan, Complete Streets Plan and Environmental Impact Report. I CERTIFY that at a regular meeting on April 2, 2013, the City Council passed this resolution by the following vote: AYES: COUNCILMEMBERS: NOES: COUNCILMEMBERS: ABSENT: COUNCILMEMBERS: IN WITNESS of this action, I sign this document and affix the corporate seal of the City of El Cerrito on April X, 2013 Cheryl Morse, City Clerk Approved: Gregory B. Lyman, Mayor