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HomeMy WebLinkAboutDRB 2019-03-19 #2Comm SAN RAFAEL THE CITY WITH A MISSION ent— Plannina Division Meeting Date: March 19, 2019 Case Numbers: ED18-106, UP18-045 Project Planner: Ali Giudice 415-485-3092 Agenda Item: I2 REPORT TO DESIGN REVIEW BOARD SUBJECT: 1201 Fifth Avenue — Request for a Use Permit and Environmental and Design Review Permit to allow demolition of a 12,000 square foot bank building located on a 28,719 square foot lot and construction of a 70,000 square foot, 140 -room hotel building with 87 on-site parking spaces and associated guest amenities. A Use Permit is required to allow hotels in the 5/M R/O zoning district and to allow a height bonus of 12 feet above the allowable height of 42 feet. Environmental Design Review is required for all major projects; APNS: 011-212- 03; Fifth/Mission Residential/Office District (5/M R/O) Zoning District; Geoff Forner,Applicant; 1201 Fifth Avenue, LLC, Owner; Downtown Neighborhood. BACKGROUND On March 5, 2019, the Design Review Board (Board) reviewed a formal application for the hotel project at 1201 Fifth Avenue. The majority of the Board supported the project and noted that the project design is greatly improved from its original submittal. While the Board felt the project was appropriate in design and incorporated elements that reflected development within the downtown, there were some consensus items that the Board felt the applicant should address. These items include the following: • The building's end elevations need attention. • Need to refine Landscaping with respect to plant species and need to add additional landscaping • Need to. address ridesharing drop off areas The applicant has made the requested revisions to the plans. The following is a list of those revisions along with staff comments: The buildings end elevations have been revised to include larger windows, therefore expanding the glazing on the end elevations. The applicant has indicated that they looked at a few possible solutions and this approached was the most feasible. Staff is seeking the Board's input on this item. Specifically, did the applicant provide the attention to this elevation that the Board was seeking. Landscape plans have been updated and now identify proposed plant species within the planter areas. In addition, the applicant has increased the number of plants to be installed. The applicant is exploring loading and rideshare drop off areas. This will involve ongoing coordination with various City departments. In addition, individual Board members made additional comments that were not identified as consensus items but were addressed by the applicant as follows: • West entry has been revised to include an entry feature and a well-defined patio area: • Planter along B Street has been terraced. Project plans previously showed a planter height of up to 9.5 feet along B Street. The revised plans now show a stepped planter with maximum height of 4.5 feet. Staff believes the applicant has adequately addressed comments made by Board members at the March 5th meeting. • Bioretention planter within the upper garage has been reduced in size;the adjoining parking space is now slightly wider to allow space for door opening. • The applicant is committing to explore the retention of existing mature street trees rather than removing and replacing as has been proposed. However, they have stated that this may be difficult given the amount of grading that will be needed for the underground parking. NEIGHBORHOOD CORRESPONDENCE On March 5, 2019, the Board continued this item to the next regular Board meeting of March 19, 2019. As such, public notice was not required. However, the motion incorrectly stated March 20th as the next Design Review Board meeting. For this reason, the City provided a courtesy notice to property owners and occupants within 300 feet of the site to assure those in attendance were notified of the correct meeting date. In addition, staff corresponded with at least one person in attendance who noted that they would contact others that might be interested in attending this meeting. As of the printing of this report staff has not received any additional correspondence. CONCLUSION The applicant has submitted revised plans to respond to the Boards recommended changes. Staff is seeking the Boards comments regarding the adequacy of the response and a recommendation to be delivered to the Planning Commission. EXHIBITS 1. Applicant's Response Letter, March 11, 2019 2. Reduced Project Plans Full-sized plans have been provided to the DRB members only. = cc: Tom Monahan, 1101 Fifth Avenue, Suite 300 2 - - - 1201 FIFTH AVENUE, LLC 1101 FIFTH AVENUE #300 SAN RAFAEL, CA 94901 March 11, 2019 �,, fael Community Development Department Alicia Guidice 1400 Fifth Avenue San Rafael, CA 94901 RE: AC San Rafael — Response To Comments From DRB March 5, 2019 Meeting Ms. Guidice, This letter is on behalf of Monahan Parker Inc., the Manager for 1201 Fifth Avenue, LLC. It was our pleasure to present to the San Rafael Design Review Board the evening of March 5. The Design Review Board's comments were collectively very positive, with the exception of a few minor modifications. We have analyzed all comments from the Boardmembers and the public, and have addressed them in the attached submittal. Items of modification include: Enhanced pedestrian experience at B Street frontage: Improvements include a stepped -planter along the B Street window line to better interact with the pedestrian level. 2. Enhanced entrance experience at the rear of the building: The rear of the building -has been modified to enhance a sense of entry by the addition of an awning over the entry, an enlarged entry door, and modification of flatwork and planters to better guide guests and visitors to the lobby entrance. Added architectural interest to the Southern and West faces of the building: Both the Southern and Western building ends have been revised to enhance architectural elements. 4. Planter at Upper Parking Level: Based on Boardmember concern that a parked car's doors would be in conflict with the biofiltration planter, the centered planter at the parking level has been revised to allow for sufficient vehicle clearance to the parking space directly to the North. 5. Landscape Clarifications a. Street trees have been coordinated with both the architectural and landscape plans. We propose 8 street trees, each of 36" box. Five trees are on 5' Ave. and three trees on B Street. b. We addressed and reconfirmed the inability to retain the existing street trees and redwood trees due to anticipated foundation construction activity. The large subgrade garage has resulted in an impact to these trees. c. The plant list has been further clarified to define exact species of plant in each planter. Additionally, as result of meetings with Department of Public Works, and the March 51 Design Review Board Hearing the following will further clarify the Applicant's proposal for loading zones, trash removal, passenger drop-off, guest parking, employee parking, valet operations and staff shifts. 1. Deliveries, Loading and Trash Removal A Commercial Loading Zone is provided on the ground floor parking deck for van and other vehicle deliveries. Recent trends in urban deliveries/transport result in the utilization of Sprinter vans. These mid-size vans are smaller, quieter, more agile and more fuel efficient than large box trucks. A second loading zone is provided on 5' Avenue for trash pick-up. Final curb -cut details have been finalized with Marin Sanitary to accommodate side -loading trucks for bin removal. This is now acceptable to Marin Sanitary. 2. Short Term Passenger Drop -Off The Courtyard parking circle accessed off of Fifth Avenue acts as short term parking, or passenger drop off, outside of the public right-of-way. This location is also an option for Uber/Lyft/Taxi or private car drop-offs. Additional guest arrival is directed through the Southern outdoor courtyard, and into the building Lobby via appropriate signage, and an accentuated rear entrance. Additionally, the project is requesting to convert three parking spaces on B Street, and one space on Fifth Avenue, as passenger loading for taxi drop-offs. Lastly, the lower level parking garage can be utilized for passenger drop-offs, both in the Westbound direction and the Eastbound direction. The valet lower garage is designed to accommodate through traffic, in the case an Uber were to enter the lower garage. The two easternmost parking spaces within the lower garage can also be used for short-term drop-off/parking. 3. Parkin • Parking is calculated by San Rafael Municipal Code per the following methodology: 1 space per hotel room: .. 140 -1.0 FAR reduction in parking: -61 1 space per manager: 1 -1-space per 2 employees: 6 - F&B, 1 space per 50sf 21 Subtotal 107 -Downtown Zoning Dist. Reduction -21 Total Required 86 The Project provides 16 spaces on the upper parking level, and 71 on the lower level or a total of 87 spaces. As noted by Marriott in the attached letter dated March 4, 2019; hotels of this size & setting typically require 0.3 parking space to key ratio, which in this case would equal 42 spaces. This parking demand accounts for all Staff and visitors, as well as guests. AC San Rafael proposes 87 parking spaces, or 0.62 parking spaces per key; over twice the average amount of parking provided on other successful properties. Marriott endorses the parking supply, the parking/circulation layout of the proposed project and does not foresee any impact on local streets or parking supplies. Trends of urban select -service hotels which are close to transit, an Uber-ride away from the Airport, and close to Downtown commerce are typically accessed by taxi. The era of car rentals is passing, and both business and leisure travelers are utilizing alternative modes of transportation much more frequently. AC San Rafael will typically be used by corporate business travelers, who most frequently use Uber/LyWTaxis for transportation. BioMarin and other Downtown corporate centers will be large users of the hotel. Many are within walking distance. Additionally the Hotel's close proximity to Downtown restaurants, shops and entertainment encourage hotel guests to walk to nearby restaurants, Farmer's Market, etc., rather than utilizing cars to travel elsewhere. Overall, the parking demand of the Hotel is anticipated to be well below the proposed supply. Due to ample available nearby parking, and the strong tendency of hotel guests to utilize taxis/Ubers, it is anticipated the garage will rarely, if ever reach capacity. The City of San Rafael's Parking and Wayfinding Study notes that during the peak hours of the week (1:00-3:00pm, weekday) there is a surplus of 268 parking spaces in nearby (0.2mi) City -Owned parking garages. As noted in previous submittal letters, the hotel experiences low occupancy during these times of the day. As the Hotel demand increases in later hours of the day, the Downtown parking availability grows as office and retail users depart the Downtown. As noted above, the lower level garage is to be managed by a parking attendant to maximize efficiency. California Parking operates numerous valet -operations in all settings, and has thoroughly analyzed the garage for operational functionality. They confirm that this layout is typical of valet garages, and do not anticipate any issues with circulation onsite or on adjacent public streets. The garage will rarely reach capacity. In addition, if the garage were ever to reach capacity, there is ample parking located within the Downtown garages. Additionally, recent meetings with D.P.W indicate D.P.W's support of a valet staffed parking facility. 4. Staff Parking / Staff Transportation Many of the staff are expected to come from East San Rafael, which is a walkable/bike-able commute for many. As noted by W -Trans in the submitted Traffic Study, the transit -oriented Downtown location encourages staff to utilize public transportation, or many of the alternative modes of transportation available, such as SMART Train, Golden Gate Transit, numerous bike paths and routes, which are all in close proximity. Bike parking has been provided in the hotel garage for guest, staff and visitor use. Staff will be encouraged to utilize public transportation via vouchers and other incentives given by management staff. The Hotel staff typically are assigned to three shifts; 6:OOAM-2:OOPM, 2:OOPM-10:OOPM and 10:00PM to 6:OOAM. These off-peak shift changes .ensure traffic is not -affected by any Staff who choose to drive.a vehicle. The Hotel is anticipated to have a peak shift of (12) staff members and (8) parking spaces in the NW corner of the lower level garage will be designated for staff parking. The project is requesting a Parking Exemption to allow for tandem parking to be monitored by on-site valet parking attendant. This allows for the garage to meet City Parking requirements for quantity of on-site parking spaces. We request the parking and circulation to be reviewed at the Planning Commission no later than April 23, 2019. I am happy to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you omas Monahan -7 President Monahan Parker Inc.