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Kiernan Business Park Specific Plan Section I Summary Page 1 Section I Summary A. Summary The Kiernan Avenue area represents an important economic resource to the City of Modesto. The Specific Plan area consists of approximately 614 acres located adjacent to the City of Modesto’s northern border, east of Highway 99, and south of Kiernan Avenue partly in a portion of unincorporated Stanislaus County and partly in the incorporated City. The intent of the Specific Plan is to provide for the development of new Business Park and industrial uses, a medical campus in the vicinity of Kiernan Avenue, and mixed use and medium high density residential. Due to its location adjacent to Highway 99 and North Modesto, the Kiernan Avenue Area is a prime job-creating location. The Kiernan Business Park Specific Plan will assist in implementing Modesto’s long-range objectives to enhance its local economy, generate jobs for residents, and create a better jobs/housing balance. The Kiernan Business Park Specific Plan serves as a tool to guide the orderly development of land within the Plan area. has been prepared in compliance with Article 8, Section 65450 of the California Planning, Zoning and Development Code. It is intended to augment the City of Modesto General Plan, the City of Modesto Redevelopment Plan and the City of Modesto Zoning Ordinance in guiding the systematic implementation of land uses with the Plan Area. B. Project Location The Specific Plan area encompasses 614 acres located adjacent to the northern boundary of Modesto. As shown in FigureI-1, the site is directly east of and in close proximity to Highway 99. North Modesto is approximately 30 miles south of Stockton, 70 miles south of Sacramento, and 80 miles east of Oakland. Nearby Central Valley communities include Salida, Riverbank and Manteca to the north, and Ceres, Turlock and Merced to the south. The Plan area generally forms a rectangular block bound by Kiernan Avenue to the north, a line even with Stoddard Road ---PAGE BREAK--- Kiernan Business Park Specific Plan Section I Summary Page 2 and parallel to Dale Road to the west, a line even with American Avenue and parallel to Dale Road to the east, and Pelandale Avenue to the south. The Fleur de Ville residential subdivision to the north of Pelandale Avenue is not part of the Plan area. Figure I-1: Kiernan Business Park Specific Plan Location ---PAGE BREAK--- Kiernan Business Park Specific Plan Section I Summary Page 3 The site enjoys a number of amenities and location advantages including close proximity and excellent road access to local and regional activity centers. Highway 99 connects Modesto and the Specific Plan area with other Central Valley cities including Stockton and Sacramento, and to a network of highways leading west to the San Francisco Bay Area. Both Kiernan and Pelandale Avenue extended, which roughly frame the Specific Plan area, are planned future expressways. Additionally, the Specific Plan area’s location in north Modesto, regarded as the prime location for business and light industry in the City of Modesto, is in close proximity to similar uses and would provide future users of the site with an established and well regarded location identity. Although all of the Specific Plan area is within the General Plan Boundary, portions of the area are outside the existing City limits and only the lands east of Dale Road and the 88 acre area east of Dale Road are within the City of Modesto’s existing Sphere of Influence. The Sphere of Influence is defined by Section 56076 of the Government Code as “a plan for the probable physical boundaries and service area of a local agency.” The General Plan anticipates the expansion of Modesto’s Sphere of Influence to include the Planned Urbanizing Area boundaries as presented in the General Plan Growth Strategy Diagram. This expansion would include the Specific Plan area in its entirety. Figure I-2 shows the City Limits and Sphere of Influence boundary in the project vicinity, as they existed in March 1997. ---PAGE BREAK--- Kiernan Business Park Specific Plan Section I Summary Page 4 Figure I-2: Sphere of Influence and City Limits, 1997 C. Existing Land Use Information As shown in Figure I-3, the Specific Plan area lands, as well as surrounding lands to the north and east, are predominantly in agricultural use and rural in character. The rural portions of Stanislaus County are part of the flat, rich agricultural lands that characterize much of the Central Valley. The vicinity south of the Specific Plan area is predominantly urban and includes low-density residential neighborhoods, and regional and neighborhood commercial centers. Immediately to the west and adjacent to the Specific Plan area is Landmark Business Center, generally perceived as a prime industrial location in north Modesto. ---PAGE BREAK--- Kiernan Business Park Specific Plan Section I Summary Page 5 Figure I-3: Existing Land Use The 614 acres comprising the Specific plan area are divided into approximately 40 parcels, ranging in size from less than one acre to 40 acres. While the majority of the Specific Plan area is used for agricultural purposes, the Kaiser Medical Campus, the Bank of Stockton, residential and limited commercial and light industrial uses are present. Among agricultural uses, orchards (over 300 acres) predominate, followed by vineyards (over 100 acres) and pastures (over 35 acres). Row crops are grown on a small number of parcels. Most parcels in the Specific Plan area in agricultural use also include single-family homes and/or structures related to agricultural production. Non-agricultural uses in the Specific Plan area include limited commercial, light industrial and institutional uses. Commercial uses include a winery and produce market located on a 28-acre parcel west of Quinturn Road, a nursery and landscaping service at the northeast corner of the intersection of Bangs Avenue with Dale Road, and a restaurant at the southeast corner of the same intersection. Light industrial uses include a drilling ---PAGE BREAK--- Kiernan Business Park Specific Plan Section I Summary Page 6 company located in the southeast portion of a 37-acre parcel fronting Pelandale Avenue, and a welding company on a 10-acre parcel fronting Kiernan Avenue near American Avenue. The two parcels fronting Dale Road between Bangs and Pelandale Avenues are developed with churches. Non-agricultural uses are primarily concentrated to the west and south of the Plan area. Small ranchette single family residences are located along Morrow Road east of the Specific Plan area. Retail and office development is concentrated around the intersection of Sisk Road, Pelandale Avenue and the Highway 99 access ramps. This development includes a retail center south of Pelandale Avenue opposite the southwest corner of the Specific Plan area. Office and light industrial development is concentrated in Landmark Business Center and Greenleaf Business Park to the west. Residential development occurs south of the Specific Plan area in Fleur de Ville and neighborhoods south of Pelandale Avenue. Unincorporated lands to the north and east are similar in character to the Specific Plan area and are primarily in agricultural use. ---PAGE BREAK--- Kiernan Business Park Specific Plan Section I Summary Page 7 Figure I-4: Kaiser Master Plan ---PAGE BREAK--- Kiernan Business Park Specific Plan Section I Summary Page 8 A Medical Campus, with a 1,425,000 square foot medical center and hospital on 49 acres, and a 39 acre business park with medical and non-medical uses is planned on the west side of Dale Road. The first phase of the hospital is complete. See Figure I-4 for the Land Use Plan Diagram adopted with the approval of the medical campus and related business park. The plan locates an approximately 23.2 acre Mixed-use (MU) area directly east of Dale Road from the medical campus on Dale Road. The plan locates an approximate 15.9 acre Medium High Density Residential (MHDR) area east of the MU area. D. Summary of Preparation Process The area was added to Modesto’s General Plan as part of the comprehensive update of the General Plan approved in 1995. The site is located in the Kiernan/Carver Comprehensive Planning District (CPD) of the General Plan, and is designated Business Park west of American Avenue and Village Residential east of American Avenue. In 1997, the City Council approved the Kiernan Business Park Specific Plan, which includes the area west of American Avenue. The Kiernan Business Park Specific Plan was a City–initiated 614 acre Specific Plan developed in response to the need for an attractive and economically viable business park located in a strategic area close to State Highway 99. The business park is planned to contain a mixture of office and light-industrial uses, as well as regional commercial uses on Pelandale Avenue. At the time the Specific Plan was adopted, portions of the area were within the City and portions were outside the City limits. The Specific Plan includes areas both east and west of Dale Road. At the time the Specific Plan was approved, 86.40 gross acres on the east side of Dale Road were within the City boundaries and 67.50 gross acres were outside the City boundaries. All areas were within the City’s Sphere of Influence. In 2004, Kaiser Foundation Hospitals received approval for a medical campus and Mr. Ron Malik received approval for a related business park on the west side of Dale Road. The approval allows the development of a 1,425,000 square foot medical center on 49 acres and a 400,000 square foot business park (Cornerstone Business Park) with medical and non-medical uses on 39 acres. The approvals included ---PAGE BREAK--- Kiernan Business Park Specific Plan Section I Summary Page 9 Specific Plan amendments and the adoption of findings and the certification of an EIR. The final amendment also realigned a planned collector street, Health Care Way (an extension of Technology Drive) to the north of its planned alignment at Dale Road. In 2009, Chopra Development Enterprises received approval of an amendment to the Specific Plan to redesignate 39- acres of property located on the east side of Dale Road, between Kiernan Avenue and Bangs Road, from Business Park (BP) to Mixed Use (MU) and Medium-High Density Residential (MHDR), modify the circulation plans, incorporate MU and MHDR Design Standards and Guidelines, and establish facilities plans for the area bounded by Kiernan Avenue, Dale Road, Bangs Road and American Avenue. These amendments to the Specific Plan have been supplemented by an approved Facilities Master Plan (FMP), Infrastructure Financing Plan (IFP), and the formation of a Community Facilities District (CFD). The approvals included the adoption of findings and the certification of an EIR.