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e e Variance No. 2004-18 February 28, 2005 Page 2 The zoning designation for the site is General Commercial (C2) Third Street and Arterial Commercial (C5) facing First Street. General Plan land use designation is General Commercial (GC) with a area ratio of 0.5. facing The floor Surrounding land uses include retail uses to the west and south; single- family residential and commercial uses to the east; and multi-family residential uses to the north (Exhibits 1 and 2) . Project Description The applicant is proposing to construct a 3,881 square foot, single story addition to the rear of a 23,373 square foot attached building within the 100,305 square foot Santa Ana Downtown Plaza. The building is currently occupied by FAMSA, an international department store that sells furniture, appliances, electronics and gift items. The existing Floor Area Ratio (FAR) for the center is 0.28. With the addition, the FAR will be 0.29 (Exhibits 3, 4 and 5). The applicant also proposed to re-stripe the existing parking lot, replace deteriorated or missing landscaping and remove an illegal monument sign. Architecturally, the applicant proposes an addition that will match elements of the existing building, including the height, exterior finish and decorative tile detailing. Analysis of the Issues The Santa Ana Downtown Plaza, built in 1986, is a mixed-use center that includes several restaurants, medical offices and a variety of retail and service uses. At the time of construction, the center complied with the applicable development standards and exceeded the number of parking spaces required. Due to the City's periodic amendment of its code, the center is non-conforming as it no longer complies with the current parking, setbacks, landscape and sign standards. The Santa Ana Municipal Code (SAMC) allows the expansion of non- conforming buildings when the total floor area of the proposed expansion does not exceed 10 percent of the existing building. Since the proposed addition is 3.9 percent of the existing building area, it is within the allowance for expansion of a non-conforming building. In the case of rehabilitation or expansion of a non-conforming building of less 55A-4