ZA FULL PACKET 2012-01-30 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Minor Exception No. 2011-02 January 30, 2012 Page 3 A total of 555 parking spaces are required for the various office uses and massage school while only 505 are provided. Section 41-632(3)(g) of the SAMC gives the City the ability to grant a parking reduction through the minor exception process of up to a maximum of 20 percent of the required parking spaces. As the proposed request is to allow a reduction of nine percent (50 parking spaces}, a minor exception is the appropriate application for this project. Minor exceptions from off-street parking requirements are governed by Section 41-638.1 of the SAMC. Minor exceptions may be granted when it can be shown that the following can be established: • That the shared use of required parking stalls between two or more independent uses will not result in a conflict between parking for one use and parking for another due to differences in time of primary utilization of parking. • That the granting of a minor exception will not substantially increase difficulties of vehicle maneuverability or traffic congestion on the project site. If these findings can be made, then it is appropriate to grant the minor exception. Conversely, the inability to make these findings would result in a denial. Using this information staff has prepared the following analysis, which, in turn farms the basis for the recommendation contained in this report. In analyzing the minor exception request, staff believes that the following findings of fact warrant approval of the minor exception. To analyze whether or not the number of existing parking spaces within the parking structure is adequate to support the Schaal, CDM Smith, a traffic engineering firm, prepared a parking study far the school. The study evaluated the parking patterns and demands of five existing NHI campuses in California in order to identify an expected parking demand for the Santa Ana campus. Whereas a typical shared parking analysis would analyze the various uses on the site to determine the peak parking demand based on the different peak times of the different uses, this type of analysis was not performed for the school because the building is dedicated to office uses. NHI plans to offer similar educational services found at its existing campuses at the proposed Santa Ana location. The CDM Smith parking study revealed that, based on an analysis of other campuses such as the Emeryville and Studio City locations, which would be most similar to the Santa Ana campus, the peak parking demand for the proposed school would be only 40 spaces. The 40 spaces figure was derived by considering several factors: Identifying a student enrollment factor of 63 percent, which is a consistent rate with their other campuses; using an attendance rate of 80 percent; and considering alternate modes of transportation (carpools, transit, bike andlor walk} that students are expected to reach campus. The projected 40 parking space demand would be less than the 70 spaces available to the school for their use (Exhibit 5}.