Item 28 - Public Hearing - ZOA No. 20204-01 South Coast Technology Center

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ZOA No. 2024-01 for South Coast Technology Center at 3100 West Lake Center Drive August 6, 2024 Page 5 development of an office/industrial park ("Lake Center Business Park"). Lake Center Business Park consisted of 33 acres of land with an allowable build out of 970,120 square feet. On July 18, 2005, the City of Santa Ana City Council adopted Ordinance No. NS-2684, approving Zoning Ordinance Amendment (ZOA-2005-01), which amended SD-58 and modified the standards to conditionally permit private recreational fields and trade schools within the boundaries of the Lake Center Business Park. At the same public hearing, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 2005-046 approving various entitlements to facilitate a trade school use and to allow a private recreational field at 3100 W. MacArthur Boulevard. The Lake Center Business Park was constructed in the mid- to late-1980s, in compliance with the original development plans approved by Ordinance No. NS-2089 consisting of three, three-story office buildings that have been occupied by office uses since. The business park did include a vacant parcel, approximately 5.58-acres in size, located at the southwest corner of Lake Center Drive and Susan Street (APN: 414-261- 01), originally entitled for 320,000 square feet of additional office construction, but which was never constructed. As a result of the changing market trends in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, demand to lease the offices has declined leading the ownership to seek redevelopment opportunities of the office park. On September 11, 2023, the applicant submitted for Development Application (DP) No. 2023-03. The applicant worked with City staff to address various complex site plan concerns, such access for fire apparatus. Project Analysis Zoning Ordinance Amendment Pursuant to SAMC Section 41-593.1, the purpose and intent of a specific development (SD) designation is to provide a tailored and flexible zoning approach to address specific and exceptional circumstances associated with certain parcels, while protecting and promoting the public health, safety, and general welfare of the City and its residents. These circumstances may include unique characteristics, historical significance, or specific community needs that deviate from the standard zoning regulations. Moreover, SD designations protect and enhance the value of properties by encouraging the use of good design principles and concepts; encouraging, securing, and maintaining the orderly and harmonious appearance, attractiveness. and aesthetic development; providing a method whereby specific development plans are based on the general plan; and by recognizing the interdependence of land values and aesthetics and providing a method to implement interdependence. For this specific proposal, the applicant is proposing to amend the SD-58 to allow limited industrial uses, as well as establishing development standards specific to those limited light industrial uses as detailed in Table 2.