31D - CUP - 1666 N MAIN ST - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

Variance No, 2016 -04 May 9, 2016 Page 5 The applicant is requesting approval of a variance to allow a reduction in parking required by the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance. Pursuant to SAMC Section 41- 1652(c)(2), new parking spaces are not required for converted uses within existing buildings. However, new residential units require two additional spaces per unit. The entire site currently contains 145 parking spaces. Pursuant to the SAMC, 20 additional parking stalls would be required for the 10 units in the new buildings, bringing the total required parking to 165. The project proposes 113 parking spaces, resulting in a deficiency of 52 spaces, or a 32 percent reduction in required parking. Approval of a variance application is required due to the Adaptive Reuse Ordinance's parking requirements for new residential units, regardless of the existing parking spaces provided when the project was originally constructed. To analyze whether the existing parking on the site could accommodate the proposed adaptive reuse and new construction, and therefore substantiate the variance request, the applicant hired the traffic engineering firm Park Green to provide a parking analysis for the project, The study also surveyed other projects developed by Meta Housing and the actual parking demand for their projects in an effort to provide a realistic parking demand for the project in Santa Ana. Based on its analysis, the parking study indicates that the 113 parking stalls proposed for the project are sufficient to meet the needs of the community and visitors to the site (Exhibit 8). At a rate of 1.95 parking spaces per unit or 1.05 parking spaces per bedroom, the Santa Ana Arts Collective project will provide approximately 30 percent more than the average parking ratio per residential unit at other Meta Housing residential developments. Typical parking ratios for Meta Housing's specialized; family - oriented affordable housing communities range from as low as one space per unit to 2.26. The Meta Housing projects that provide over two parking spaces per unit feature primarily two and three - bedroom units, The Santa Ana project, with just fewer than two parking spaces per unit, will provide approximately half of its floor plans as two- or three - bedroom units. The parking analysis further supports the 1.95 parking space ratio per unit due to the project's proximity to multiple transit lines and its location on two significant commercial corridors (Seventeenth and Main streets), thus reducing the average individual vehicle trips per household. To supplement the parking analysis, Meta also provided a survey of 18 of their affordable housing projects in other jurisdictions. The survey includes weekday morning, weekday evening, and weekend morning parking inventories (Exhibit 9). The survey indicates that for some of the projects with the lowest parking space ratios per bedroom, the parking vacancy rates were the highest, All projects surveyed had available parking during all the survey times, with vacancy rates ranging from four to 73 percent on Monday evenings, 12 to 68 percent on Tuesday mornings, and three to 68 percent on Saturday mornings. The Grove at Sunset Court in the city of Brentwood, a recently - completed Meta Housing project that is in a suburban, greenfield setting near two transit lines, provides 2.02 parking spaces per unit and 1.01 spaces per bedroom unit. This project experienced parking vacancies ranging between 17 and 32 percent. The Santa Ana Arts Collective will provide the highest parking space ratio per bedroom out of any Meta Housing project and is located on a site that is served by four transit lines and is completely surrounded by commercial land uses. Based on the parking analysis prepared by Park Green and the Meta Housing parking vacancy site surveys, staff recommends approval of the variance application. 31 D -7