City Council Minutes 1999 05 04 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Guidelines are being applied and everyone seems to agree that this is not acceptable. He agreed with Sisk that this Ordinance is a work-in-progress. He suggested that the City, the residents, and the business community begin reviewing various options for downtown over the next 6-12 months. Howard stated that he believes that, for now, this Ordinance presents the best compromise for the community. He felt that the Ordinance now offers enough flexibility to allow Council to evaluate alternative parking arrangements. Sisk asked Light for the effective date of the Ordinance, if it is passed tonight. He stated that the moratorium expires on May 17, however, he believes that the Ordinance will not go into effect until June 7. He questioned whether an application received during the interim would be subject to the Commercial Development Design Standards & Guidelines. Light replied, probably not. He explained that it is unlikely that an application that comes in between now and June 7 would move forward to a hearing. Secondly, the Ordinance has been legally pending for six months, therefore, staff would apply the new rule to any applications filed. Keany expressed concern for the areas excluded from the square footage calculations and asked Wood if there is an average percentage of unusable space in a building. Wood replied that the Ordinance does provide some exemptions to the square footage requirements. He did not know if there was an average of unusable space in a building. Keany disagreed that the Ordinance provides some exemptions. He read from Section 17.20.025, paragraph B: 'this area measured for this purpose of Section shall include all floor areas defined.' Light replied that the net effect of the changes to the Ordinance would be that, for downtown, you would count all areas except vents, courts, and non-inhabited areas either below ground or in attics. He explained that this is from a definition offloor area that is cited in Section 17.08.165, which defines floor areas as all areas except vents, courts, and uninhabited areas below ground or in attics. The Ordinance would also change how floor area is measured for projects subject to the Commercial Development Design Standards & Guidelines. Currently, the Commercial Development Design Standards & Guidelines say simply gross building floor area. The Ordinance would change that to also use the same definition as used for downtown. He explained that on page 3, the proposal is to amend an existing section of the Code to say that all those items listed there that are exempted, such as balconies, spaces occupied by heating and utility equipment, would be replaced with a simpler definition for downtown. This definition would say 'count all area except vent shafts, courts, and uninhabited areas below ground or in attics.' That definition would be used for all areas downtown and for all commercial projects subject to the Commercial Development Design Standards & Guidelines. He explained that, in Subsection C, the primary area where that will continue to apply would be industrial areas.