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2525 North Main Street January 14, 2019 Page 11 being studied in greater depth as the update process continues, with direction on the potential land use designation of the area expected within the next year. Amendment Application Currently, the zoning designation for this site is Professional (P) which permits a variety of business uses that aim to create a professional business environment and prohibits residential uses. To allow the construction of a multi -family residential development on this parcel, an amendment application (zone change) is required. Staff is recommending that a zone change to a Specific Development No. 93 (SD -93) designation be conditionally approved subject to staff recommended changes to the project. The SD designation will allow a residential development and will ensure consistency between zoning and the General Plan, assuming the associated general plan amendment is approved (Exhibit 4). When considering a zone change it is important to look at the surrounding land uses and economic factors. The jobs to housing balance is evaluated by comparing project -generated jobs and housing units to forecasts of employment and housing, in addition an imbalance in the ratio can indicate air quality and traffic problems associated with commuting. Based on SCAG profiles and projections, Santa Ana is a jobs rich area with 2.06 jobs per housing unit. SCAG considers an area as balanced when the jobs -housing ratio is 1.36, therefore providing more housing would reduce the ratio to 2.05. Furthermore, in the second quarter of 2018, the City's office occupancy rate was 13.4 percent, which is higher than the neighboring central cities of Anaheim (10.4%), Orange (11.5%) and Tustin (10.9%) and the County as a whole (12.6%). Therefore, the change from Professional to Specific Development would not be. a significant impact to professional office districts. In addition, use of the site for residential development is supported as the location has elements to make the site a viable residential development. The elements include having regional access to freeway and transportation systems, the site is within close proximity to educational, cultural activities, employment centers, and retail and commercial shopping opportunities. Furthermore, several nearby properties and properties along Main Street are designated as Specific Developments. The property would be developed at a higher density than the nearby single- family residential uses. However, multi -family uses are often used in planning and zoning practice to buffer higher Intensity uses like commercial or industrial uses from single-family residential uses and multi -family and single-family uses are more compatible in nature to each other. The Specific Development No. 93 (SD -93) is established for the purpose of protecting and promoting the public health, safety and general welfare of the City and its residents. This new zoning designation for the site is crafted to be consistent with the proposed project. If the zone change is approved, a series of site-specific objectives, policies and development standards will be used to guide the development of the project. Specifically, the SD -93 document includes a 75E-279