Several
factors will determine the level of success for Yorba Linda's new
Town Center mix of restaurants, retail and office uses, with adequate
parking among the key planning elements.
City
Council members are currently grappling with the question of whether
or not a parking structure will be built to provide sufficient spaces
for new and existing businesses in the roughly 24 acres devoted to
commercial and public uses in the long-awaited project.
Initially,
Zelman Retail Partners, the council-chosen developer for Town Center,
proposed only surface parking for the area, based on the city's
required parking ratio of five spaces per 1,000 square feet of
commercial use, according to a report from Pam Stoker, the city's
economic development manager.
But
concerns expressed by city staff, council members, local businesses
and residents led the council to hire Irvine-based Urban Crossroads
to prepare a parking analysis for the entire Town Center, Stoker
reported.
The
resulting analysis, presented to council members recently, says
“additional parking strategies” are needed to address a
deficiency in the current and proposed number of spaces, which “could
be accomplished” by constructing “an on-site parking structure.”
The report did not mention size or number of levels.
The
deficiency, according to Urban Crossroads, is 316 spaces during the
week and 245 spaces on the weekend, based on a formula developed for
“shared parking” by businesses during different peak times of
operation, with a total 1,122 spaces needed on weekdays and 1,039 on
weekends.
“For
example,” the Urban Crossroads report noted, “parking supply
needed for office uses during the morning and mid-day hours could be
utilized by the restaurant and retail uses in the evening hours and
weekends when office demand is low.”
And
importantly, the report emphasized, “A successful development
combines sufficient parking opportunities where visitors park once
and walk to multiple destinations.”
The
shared parking figures do not include residential uses or those at
the fire station or First Baptist Church, which are considered
private. Also excluded is parking at the Stater Bros.-anchored
center on the eastside of Lakeview Avenue.
Additionally,
the Urban Crossroads report shared a famous observation from the
Urban Land Institute, which has done other reports for the city:
“...shared parking has been a fundamental principal of downtown
parking from the earliest days of the automobile.”
Interestingly,
the report predicted peak weekday parking demand would come during
Decembers at 1 p.m., with peak weekend demand also coming in
Decembers but at noon.
The
parking needs were figured on Town Center's proposed uses with the
following square-foot totals: 125,605 for the Zelman Shopping
Center; 50,800 for other retail and commercial; 17,700 for general
office; 14,000 for restaurants; and 6,800 for the Bank of America
with drive-thru window.