75C - PH - FIRST AND PACIFIC PROJECT

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GPA No. 2016 -02, AA No. 2016 -02 & TTM No. 2016 -02 April 11, 2016 Page 6 The City's Housing Element, adopted in 2014, identifies a need to redesignate areas of the City to support future housing developments, with the project's proposed density consistent with the density range identified by the document. The project site and surrounding area is currently designated by the General Plan Land Use Element as a General Commercial (GC) land use district. The district applies to this area because of the current mix of commercial land uses, including offices, retail stores, motels, eating establishments, and uses of a similar commercial nature. However, the residential nature of the proposed development requires establishment of a new land use designation for the property of Urban Neighborhood (UN) to be consistent with the provisions of the General Plan. As additional applications for residential or mixed -use projects are received by the City in this area, a comprehensive amendment to change the area's land use designation from General Commercial (GC) to Urban Neighborhood (UN) may take place. If approved, the project would support several goals and policies of the Housing Element. First, the project would be consistent with Goal 2, which encourages diversity of quality housing, affordability levels, and living experiences that accommodate Santa Ana's residents and workforce of all household types, income levels and age groups to foster an inclusive community. Second, the project would support Goal 4, to provide adequate rental and ownership housing opportunities and supportive services. Further, the project would be consistent with several Housing Element policies: Policy HE -2.4 to facilitate diverse types, prices and sizes of housing; and Policy HE -2.6 to provide an affordable component within eligible ownership housing projects. Amendment Application The subject parcels are located in the General Commercial (C -2) and Single- Family Residence (R- 1) zoning districts. The C -2 zoning designation allows for a variety of commercial uses, while the R -1 district allows primarily residential land uses. Because the project proposes a residential land use, staff recommends approval of an amendment application to change the property's zoning designation from C -2 and R -1 to Specific Development (SD) No. 90 (Exhibit 9). Staff has also analyzed the separate 0.16 -acre parcel and has found that the current nonconforming residential land use and current commercial zoning are not ideal options for the site. In order to allow flexibility in the future use of this site, while maintaining its legal nonconforming status, staff is recommending that this parcel also be included in the zone change action for the project. This action will allow the site to remain as -is indefinitely as well as allow a potential merger into the proposed development site at a later date. The Specific Development zoning designation allows flexibility of uses and development standards that are tailored to a unique or specific project. Because the standards contained within the standard zoning code would render the proposed project unfeasible, establishing the SD zoning designation is recommended to facilitate the proposed project. 75C -10