Two
interesting actions regarding Yorba Linda's long-awaited Town Center
merit attention.
Both
involve the project's parking plans that most stakeholders agree will
have a significant impact on the success or failure of the area's
proposed business ventures.
First,
two parcels from the 27 city-owned downtown properties scheduled to
be sold to the City Council-selected developer, Zelman Retail
Partners, have been dropped from the sale list that, with pricing, is
still under negotiation.
Instead,
they'll be retained by the city for a four-story parking structure
located partially on parcels owned by the city and partially on lots
owned by the Successor Agency to the city's disbanded Redevelopment
Agency. The council is the “successor agency.”
The
successor agency properties, at 4862 School St. and 4861 and 4863
Valencia Ave., are near the center of the area targeted for new
development, facilitating a key “park once, walk to multiple
destinations” strategy.
The
state-mandated dissolution of redevelopment agencies in 2012 required
cities to address future use or disposition of agency-owned
properties by adopting a Long Range Property Management Plan.
This
city's plan originally identified the land now proposed for the
parking structure as part of the 27-parcel package to be sold to the
Zelman group. Now, an amended document has been sent to the state
noting the total 11,905 square feet properties will be used for
parking.
Eliminating
the parcels from the Town Center land sale will result in a gross
loss of $128,000, according to a report from Pam Stoker, the city's
economic development manager. Eight per cent of that would have gone
to the city and 92 percent to other taxing entities.
Second,
the council established a “parking in-lieu fee” to help pay for
the city-owned and maintained parking structure. The fee is
voluntary, since it will only be paid by owners and developers who
choose not to provide the required parking spaces for their projects.
“As
proposed, the Town Center public parking structure may include
approximately 429 spaces. Should every space be accounted for through
the in-lieu program, at a one-time fee of $5,000 per space, then the
program could potentially generate $2.1 million,” Stoker noted in a
separate report to council members.
A
city-hired consultant concluded that parking in-lieu programs provide
flexibility, operate as an economic development tool and facilitate
otherwise infeasible projects, Stoker explained.
The
programs also allow better urban design and can be used to partially
offset the costs for providing the parking, Stoker added. At present,
planning and design for the structure “is in progress.”
An
earlier study concluded Town Center needs 1,122 spaces weekdays and
1,039 spaces weekends, leaving a deficit of 316 spaces weekdays and
245 spaces weekends at build-out, based on existing and planned
parking, not including the structure.