Laserfiche WebLink
Ms. Ott stated that she does not disagree about making space for people to bring their cars <br />to visit the Downtown but offered a sort of balance. She indicated that the City wants folks <br />to come in and enjoy the Downtown, but if the City does not take steps from the economic <br />development standpoint to keep Downtown interesting, dynamic, and vibrant, to bring in <br />new and different kinds of businesses, and to create more traffic to the Downtown with the <br />draws it has to pull people in, finding the parking space for folks who want to drive may not <br />be a sufficient draw without the energy and dynamism in the Downtown to attract them <br />there. <br />Commissioner Allen stated that as she thinks about vibrancy in the Downtown, she also <br />thinks about two things it needs that work together: (1) The plaza is fabulous in that <br />proposed location, and the City should do whatever it takes to get it. (2) On the other hand, <br />that plaza will generate more than 20 potential car needs. She expressed concern that if <br />the City does more and more of this, as more vibrancy is created, more parking will be <br />needed. She indicated that vibrancy includes both parking and amenities, and parking is <br />an amenity. She further indicated that what she hates to do is give one amenity — the plaza <br />— and take away another amenity — future parking. <br />Commissioner Allen stated that she is struggling with this and causes her to begin to ask <br />the question of where the PDA and Mr. MacDonald are going: Should the City be <br />committed to potentially look at a plaza as a Park and Recreation capital funding? She <br />noted that it is a plaza for leisure and recreation, and in that sense, the City should begin to <br />prioritize a certain amount of money that would potentially be flagged in the Parks and <br />Recreation budget that could help offset this plaza and put it back in that parking in -lieu fee <br />fund. She stated that what the City is essentially doing is weighing that plaza as a <br />mini -park, essentially like what San Francisco is doing with its little "parklets" that it has all <br />over the city now. She indicated that she does not know how they are funded but that she <br />is imagining that it would be from its Park and Recreation funds. She questioned if there is <br />a way for the Commission and the City Council to think about build that park it that way. <br />Mr. Dolan indicated that if the majority of the Planning Commissioners have the same <br />concern, the Commission can certainly pass on that concern as a body. He noted that <br />there are two things that need money, and more money is needed for both than what the <br />City has, so a choice has to be made. He stated that the City has current park projects that <br />it is trying to fund that also affect the vibrancy of the Downtown: Bernal Park is nearby but <br />it is a major community asset; and there is also Lions Wayside Park, which is a real project <br />integral to the Downtown that is going to happen and is in need of funding. He indicated <br />that staff is more comfortable with what it is proposing, but that it would be appropriate for <br />the Commission to pass along that recommendation to the City Council to consider if it so <br />desires. <br />Commissioner Posson noted that with respect to this issue of fees, even if the proposed <br />changes do not require the City to fund the offset of in -lieu fees, nothing precludes the City <br />from putting in additional funding. <br />Mr. Dolan stated that was correct. <br />PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, January 8, 2014 Page 9 of 13 <br />