On January 9, 2018, the City Council authorized the Community Planning and Building Department to initiate an update of the Residential Zoning Code and Design Guidelines, as well as the Commercial Zoning Code. Staff is providing the City Council with a progress report on the project and an opportunity to provide input early in the process.
Planning Commission workshops were held in January and April 2018 to discuss the project. At the April workshop the Planning Commission made the following recommendations on subcommittee membership:
Residential Subcommittee – Chair LePage and Commissioner Bolton
Commercial Subcommittee #1 (Use Permit Voting and Business Uses) – Chair LePage and Commissioner Locke
Commercial Subcommittee #2 (Hotel Cap, Housing Density, and Historic District) – Commissioners Lehman and Wendt
The Commission recommended three subcommittees, with one devoted to residential land-use and two devoted to commercial land-use. The commercial subcommittees will be split by topic as identified above. It is recommended that the subcommittees consist exclusively of Planning Commissioners. The subcommittees will meet with various community members, stakeholders and experts throughout the process as a means of public involvement. Staff is requesting that the City Council appoint the ad hoc subcommittees as recommended by the Planning Commission in a public Open Session.
The staff report from the April Planning Commission workshop includes an overview of the topics that will be considered as part of the update project (Attachment 1). The City Council may provide input and make recommendations on this list of items. This update process will be an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of the City’s current land-use regulations and determine what, if any, changes should be made. According to state law, all amendments to the Zoning Code must be consistent with the City’s General Plan. For this reason, the General Plan may need to be amended to be consistent with some of the proposed Zoning Code amendments.
Once the Planning Commission has completed its work, the proposed code amendments (and potentially General Plan amendments) will be brought before the City Council for adoption. Once adopted by the City Council, the amendments will then go before the California Coastal Commission for certification as an amendment to the City’s Local Coastal Program. The project will be completed in phases. Some amendments will be ready for adoption within a few months, while other more complex issues will take longer.
SPECIAL TOPICS:
Hotel Cap: General Plan Policy P1-17 prohibits the creation of any additional motel units within the City. This Policy was drafted in 1983 as part of an update to the City’s General Plan. In 1984, the City adopted Ordinance 84-14, which was for a comprehensive Zoning Code update that included a prohibition on new hotel units. The primary focus of the Zoning Code update at that time was to address perceived issues regarding the number of resident serving businesses versus visitor serving businesses.
The City currently has a numerical cap of 948 hotel units, and as stated in the General Plan, there is approximately one hotel or motel room for every three residential dwelling units in the City. It has been 34 years since this cap was established, and as such, the City Council may consider increasing the cap as part of this General Plan/Zoning Code update. Increasing the cap could potentially allow for the construction of a certain number of new, more modern hotels, and would also increase the City’s tax revenue. A drawback is that it could potentially increase the impacts associated with additional tourism. Additionally, there are challenges associated with establishing a new numerical cap and selecting who is permitted to construct new hotel units. Staff is seeking the City Council’s guidance on this and whether it wishes to study this issue as part of the update process.
Transient Rentals: The City’s Zoning Code prohibits transient rentals (period less than 30 days) in the Single-Family and Multi-Family Residential Zoning Districts (CMC 17.08.060). The Zoning Code does not, however, explicitly prohibit transient rentals in the Commercial Zoning Districts. One issue with allowing transient rentals in the Commercial District is that it impacts housing supply, as landlords may find it more profitable to rent their units on a transient basis. Another issue is that it undermines the purpose of the hotel cap. While there are certain distinctions between a hotel and a transient rental, both are very similar in their core function. Staff is seeking the City Council’s guidance on this and whether it wishes to study this issue as part of the update process.