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COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS <br /> <br />Senior Planner Rice indicated the presentation would cover an overview of policy standards, a <br />review of areas with special development standards, a discussion of current commercial <br />development standards, and sign regulation and enforcement. He noted setbacks and landscaping, <br />parking, circulation, and architectural standards would be illustrated through both case studies <br />and slides. Rice then pointed out on a City map the areas where commercial development <br />standards applied including six areas such as Downtown Santa Ana that had special standards. <br /> <br />Associate Planner Joe Edwards outlined the benefits of applying landscaping and setback <br />requirements, and showed slides demonstrating both desirable and undesirable applications. <br /> <br />Councilmembers discussed issues relating to setbacks including but not limited to: ridding clutter <br />in the public right-of-way particularly newsracks, levels of enforcement relating to setback <br />standards, and ways to encourage maintenance of setback areas. <br /> <br />Councilmember Mills inquired as to progress made by staff in using volunteers for Code <br />enforcement. <br /> <br />Planning Commissioner Maggie Brown suggested an incentive program be developed for well- <br />maintained properties. <br /> <br />Edwards outlined the benefits of high-quality parking standards and showed slides demonstrating <br />the City's current requirements and previous standards that resulted in inadequate parking for strip <br />centers with restaurant facilities. Rice indicated current standards were based on gross floor area <br />rather than net leasable area, and also noted allowances were made to accommodate differences <br />between small and large projects. <br /> <br />Edwards reviewed the benefits of good circulation standards. Development Engineer Lucado <br />discussed the characteristics evaluated (access, circulation, parking, loading, and safety hazards) <br />by Public Works staffin site plan review. Edwards showed slides demonstrating unsafe <br />conditions resulting from poor circulation. <br /> <br />Councilmembers discussed several sites with circulation problems. Uptegraff indicated staffs <br />objective was to ensure new projects met Code requirements. She commented that existing <br />projects where conditions could not be changed were granted leeway. <br /> <br />Rice reviewed the benefits of quality architectural standards and showed slides demonstrating <br />both "bad" and "good" architecture. Planning Manager Adams commented that the subjective <br />nature of architecture made application of standards particularly difficult. <br /> <br />Councilmembers discussed the economics of more stringent architectural standards. Mayor Pro <br />Tem Richardson pointed out that one of Santa Ana's unique characteristics was its diverse <br />architecture and opined that motifs of like architecture found in newer cities might not be as <br />appropriate in Santa Ana. <br /> <br />CITY COUNCIL MINUTES 53 MARCH 2, 1995 <br /> <br /> <br />