03-22-2004 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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m John Tiautz March 1.2004 Page 2 In order to best serve the neighborhood, we believe it is critical that the development proposal provide for convenient pedestrian-oriented access and food-oriented uses that take advantage of the pond area to provide an enjoyable setting for casual dining. Based on this perspective, and to provide clear direction, staff has developed a set of specific parameters for the development of this site for retail rather than office uses. We have considered yourconunents regarding the mix and types of uses proposed, as well as your concerns regarding site layout and amenities that are critical, from your perspective, to ensure a successful retail use of the site. We also desire a successful development, and to that end we have identified a numl of key elements for plarming this site that we believe ate critical to your gaining City acceptance of a proposal: 1. Focus on the Stormwater Pond as an Amenity. Treatment of the stormwater pond as an amenity rather than a necessary evil was one of the primary selling points for the overall Stonebay concept. To that end, a variety of features including sidewalks, trails, stone walls, an overlook, and substantial landscaping were incorporated into the pond design. The City clearly has an expectation that the non-residential uses either end of the pond will take advantage of this amenity. It has become clear that the degree to which the pondcan become an amenity relies to a great extent on the uses. The westerly portion of the site would work quite well for office uses, which would have windows and views overlooking the pond, and it would similarly work for a restaurant use. However, it appears that there are inherent difficulties with orienting retail uses to take full advantage of the pond, since such uses rely on parking adjacent to the front facade, vehicular access on all 4 sides, and a ‘back door* for secondary access. The interior divisions within the strip retail building you have been proposing so far, as well as the circulation for the drive>thru, seem to preclude any effective or meaningful orientation toward the pond. In addition, the focus to date has been toward providing a pond amenity at the southwest comer of the site, near Highway 12. We would suggest Aat such an amenity would be more appropriately locatednesrer Kelley Parkway at the northeast comer of the pond, farthest away from the traffic on Ifighway 12. The elements of design we believe are critical to an acceptable retail development orientation to the pond include: a) Omit all vehicular access between the building and the pond b) Move the amenity feature further from Highway 12. c) Provide and design for retail uses that will benefit from a pond orientation.