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Home My WebLink AboutRP 84-01; TWIN INNS RESORT; Redevelopment Permits (RP)APPLICATION^UBMITTAL DATE: JANUARY 6, ^8 4 M|U: 0^ STAFF REPORT DATE: February 22, 1984 TO: Design Review Board FROM: Land Use Planning Office SUBJECT: RP 84-1 - TWIN INNS - Request for a Redevelopment Permit to refurbish the Twin Inns restaurant, construct 161 hotel units and 11,025 square feet of retail space on property surrounded by Carlsbad Boulevard, Elm Avenue, Grand Avenue and Washington Street in Sub-area 5 of the V-R zone. I . RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the Design Review Board ADOPT Resolution No. 030 recommending DENIAL of RP 84-1 to the Housing and Redevelopment Commission based on the findings contained therein. II. PROJECT DESCRIPTION The applicant is requesting a Redevelopment Permit for the Twin Inns property located as described above. The project will encompass the entire block bounded by Carlsbad Boulevard, Washington Street, Grand and Elm Avenues with the exception of the existing doctor's office and tackle shop on the northwest corner of the block. This site has an area of 3.66 acres. The majority of the property is vacant at the present time except for the portion occupied by the Twin Inn buildings and its parking lot. The existing Twin Inns restaurant will be refurbished and a portion of it will be used as a check-in office for the hotel portion of the project. One hundred sixty-one hotel units will be located in a three story building which will be constructed around the perimeter of the property and down the middle of the project. These buildings will not exceed a height limit of 35 feet as defined by the City's ordinance. A banquet room and clubhouse facility for guests staying at the hotel will be located at the southeast corner of the property. Approximately 11,000 square feet of retail space is being proposed on the first floor of the portion of the building fronting on Grand Avenue. As shown by the site plan, the project will be oriented inwards around two central courtyards. One of the courtyards will have a swimming pool and spa while the other will have two tennis courts and a large grassy area. One hundred fifty-two parking spaces will be located in an underground parking garage. People will be able to obtain access to and from this garage from Carlsbad Boulevard or Washington Avenue. The applicant proposes an additional eighty parking spaces along both sides of Washington Street. These parking spaces would eliminate a large portion of Rotary Park and require that the applicant obtain a lease from the AT&SF Railroad to use this property for parking. The applicant is also requesting that the City vacate Washington Street since it will essentially become a driveway for the project parking. If the City vacates Washington Street it will become a one way private driveway from Elm Avenue to Grand Avenue. The project as proposed would necessitate the relocation of the North County Transit District bus stop from its present site adjacent to the property on Grand Avenue. III. ANALYSIS Planning Issues 1) Does the proposed project conform with the requirements of the Zoning Ordinance? 2) Does the proposed project conform with the goals of Sub- area 5 of the Village Redevelopment Area? Discussion This staff report is based on a rapid review of a revised site plan that was submitted on Friday, February 17, 1984. There is a possibility that other problems may exist, but staff has not had the time to fully review the revised plan. Staff believes that this project should be scheduled for a later hearing date, but the applicant wished to have the project presented at this hearing. At this time there are a number of Planning and Engineering concerns that have not been resolved. Staff can not recommend approval of this project until these items are resolved. As mentioned previously, this project is proposing the use of Washington Street as a private driveway to provide access to surface and subterranean parking. This would require that the City vacate Washington Street as a public street. Staff believes that Washington Street is an integral part of the downtown area traffic circulation system. East bound traffic on Grand Avenue, particularly buses, now using Washington Street to gain access to Elm Avenue would be shifted to State Street. At the present time. State Street has diagonal parking. The City's Traffic Engineer has advised that streets with diagonal parking have an accident rate of two to four times that of streets with parallel parking. Additional traffic, especially buses, will intensify this problem. This additional traffic would also tend to destroy the much devised pedestrian orientation of State Street. -2- This project also proposed a driveway 45 feet to the north of the intersection of Elm Avenue and Carlsbad Boulevard. This driveway is too close to the intersection and poses a hazard to vehicles turning right from Elm Avenue onto Carlsbad Boulevard. As proposed, the parking for this project does not comply with the City's- parking requirements even with a 15% reduction for shared parking. According to the plan submitted by the applicant this project is only 10 spaces short. However, a number of the parking spaces in the underground parking garage and parking lot adjacent to the Twin Inns do not comply with City standards and should be eliminated for safety purposes. The landscape plans for this project provide for a minimal amount of landscaping in the parking areas. As normally required staff would recommend that a few planter inslands be provided to break up the long rows of parking, these islands would eliminate a number of parking spaces. In addition, 80 of the required parking spaces for this project are located in the AT&SF Railroad right-of-way (Rotary Park area). All of these parking spaces would be eliminated if the' railroad should fail to approve or subsequently renew a lease allowing parking in the railroad right-of-way. Most if not all of these parking concerns could probably be resolved by an expansion of the underground parking garage. In conclusion staff strongly recommends that this project either be denied or the applicant be directed to work with staff and return to the Design Review Board when all of the major issues have been resolved. This site is very important to the City as a whole and to the redevelopment of downtown Carlsbad. Staff feels that given additional time these issues can be resolved. IV. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW The Land Use Planning Manager has determined that this project will not have a significant impact on the environment and, therefore, has issued a Negative Declaration on February 10, 1984. ATTACHMENTS 1) Design Review Board Resolution No. 030 2) Location Map 3) Background Data Sheet 4) Disclosure Form 5) Reduced Exhibits 6) Exhibits "C" - "F" and "I" - "J", dated January 6, 1984, Exhibits "A", "G", and "H", dated February 17, 1984 MH:bw 2/17/84 -3- BACKGROUND DATA SHEET CASE NO: RP 84-1 APPLICANT: Twin Inns REQUEST AND LOCATION: Redevelopment Permit to refurbish the Twin Inns, con- struct hotel units, banquet facilities and 11,000 square feet of retail space. LEGAL DESCRIPTION: A portion of Tract 96 of Carlsbad Lands according to Map No. 1661, filed March 1, 1915. APN; 203-174-6 & 7 Acres 3.66 Proposed No. of Lots/tJnits ••' GENERAL PLAN AND ZONING Land Use Designation Central Business District Density Allowed Density Proposed Existing Zone V-R Proposed Zone V-R Surrounding Zoning and Land Use: Zoning Land Use Site V-R Restaurant NortJi V-R Restaurant Soutdi V-R Conmercial East V-R Commercial West V-R Conroercial PUBLIC FACILITIES School District Carlsbad Water Carlsbad Sewer Carlsbad EDU's _____ Public Facilities Fee Agreement, dated December 31, 1983 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT X Negative Declaration, issued February 10, 1984 E.I.R. Certified, dated Other, LOCATION MAP TWIN INNS f RP 84-1