PLANNING AND DESIGN COMMISSION City of Sacramento …

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City of Sacramento 915 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814-2671

www.CityofSacramento.org

STAFF REPORT September 8, 2016

To: Members of the Planning and Design Commission

Subject: Review and Comment on the Railyards Specific Plan Amendment related to the Major League Soccer Stadium and Bicycle Network

(P15-040)

Location/Council District: Generally east of Sacramento River, south of City Water Treatment Plant and North B Street, west of 12th Street, north and west of the Alkali Flat neighborhood, north of H Street between 5th and 7th, and northwest of 5th and I Street

APNs: 002-0010-023-0000, 002-0010-027-0000, 002-0010-028-0000, 002-0010-044-0000, 002-0010-049-0000, 002-0010-052-0000, 002-0010-054-0000, 002-0010-056-0000, 002-0010-058-0000, 002-0010-061-0000, 002-0010-062-0000, 002-0010-063-0000

Council District 3

Recommendation: Staff recommends the Commission provide review and comment on the proposed Major League Soccer sports complex and the proposed amendment to the 2016 City Bicycle Master Plan.

Contact: Teresa Haenggi, Associate Planner, (916) 808-7554 [email protected] Compton, Senior Planner, (916) 808-5260 [email protected] Rich, Railyards Project Manager, (916) 808-2519 [email protected]

Applicant: Jay Heckenlively, Downtown Railyard Ventures, LLC Owners: Downtown Railyards Ventures, LLC

3140 Peacekeeper Way, McClellan, CA 95652 (LLC Members: Larry D. Kelley, Denton Kelley, Jay Heckenlively, Frank Myers, and Alan Hersh) City of Sacramento, 915 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 State of California, 455 Golden Gate Ave. #8, San Francisco, CA 94102 SMUD, P.O. Box 15830, Sacramento, 95852

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Item # 10

Railyards Specific Plan Amendment (P15-040) September 8, 2016

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Summary Staff is seeking review and comment from the Planning and Design Commission on two entitlements required for the Sacramento Railyards project:

I. Site Plan and Design Review for a major league soccer sports complex; II. Amendment to 2016 City Bicycle Master Plan; and

All documents related to this project are provided on the City’s website at:http://www.cityofsacramento.org/Community-Development/Planning/Major-Projects/Railyards-Project/Sacramento-Railyards

Entitlement Background: In June of 2015, an application was submitted for the Railyards, including a request to modify the land use plan to allow for a soccer sports complex and a major medical center. Due to the complexity of the proposal, different aspects of the project have been presented to the Planning and Design Commission for review and comment on five occasions, including a joint commission meeting with the Preservation Commission.

Public/Neighborhood Outreach and Comments: Staff sent a hearing notice to owners of properties within a 500-foot radius of the project site and to various neighborhood groups and associations, including the Alkali and Mansion Flat Neighborhood Association, Dreher Tract Neighborhood Association, River District, Preservation Sacramento, Downtown Sacramento Partnership, Midtown Business Association, China Mall Committee, Old Sacramento Business Association, Sacramento Housing Alliance, Walk Sacramento, and Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates.

Staff received one correspondence from a property owner in the Creamery Development who expressed concerns about the noise level of construction and operation of the Sports Complex. (See Attachment 4.)

The applicant is conducting an extensive outreach effort, which will continue throughout the entitlement process.

Environmental Considerations: The City Council certified an environmental impact report (EIR) as part of its approval of the Railyards Specific Plan in 2007. Amendments to the Railyards Specific Plan, Design Guidelines, and Special Planning District, and the Kaiser Permanente and MLS sports complex project proposals for development will be evaluated in a Subsequent Environmental Impact Report (SEIR) that includes a complete project description, identification of potential significant effects, mitigation requirements, and an evaluation of alternatives. The draft SEIR has been circulated for a public review period which ended July 27, 2016. Certification of the SEIR is required before approval of any project component.

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ENTITLEMENT DISCUSSION

I. Major League Soccer (MLS) Sports Complex

Project Description. The MLS sports complex would be constructed initially with seating for 19,621 attendees and the capacity to accommodate concerts with an attendance up to 21,500 people. The sports complex could be expanded to a maximum of 25,000 attendees over time. The seating bowl of the sports complex would include general seating, standing room decks, and premium seating including suites. The seating areas would be accessed via a concourse area that would surround the seating bowl. There is an entry at grade via the 8th Street plaza and on the north side.

Sports Complex Site Plan and Design Review

The Planning and Design Commission has heard several components of the MLS sports complex including:

March 24, 2016: General Plan Amendments and Rezones May 12, 2016: Specific Plan, Design Guidelines and Special Planning District June 30, 2016 (Joint Commission Meeting): Stadium design August 11, 2016: Noise variance, event parking, 10th Street extension, and

shifting the stadium to the north.

For the purposes of this Review and Comments, staff will address security fencing at the proposed sports complex and continue the discussion on shifting the stadium site to the north.

Future Planning and Design Commission Meeting will include MLS-related items, such as parking lot conditional use permit and lighting.

Shifting the Sports Complex

In response to recent discussions, the applicant team submitted a revised site plan that shifts the sports complex structure approximately 40 feet to the north towards North B Street. The revised site plan proposed to shift the stadium to the north and to reduce the structure’s footprint by an additional 10 feet on all sides of the stadium. These modifications result in an additional 10-foot increase of space on the east and west sides of the site, and 50 feet of additional space on the south end, thus placing the structure farther away from the Alkali Flats neighborhood.

Staff believes this new siting is beneficial to the stadium and the overall Railyards site because it provides a fully contained loading and staging area with sidewalks, thereby minimizing pedestrian conflicts with service and delivery vehicles. The full site plan is provided in Attachment 1.

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Figure #: South Side of Sports Complex Site with Stadium Shifted to the North

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Gates and Security Fencing

The proposed sports complex has two primary gates and fencing systems. One is a fixed arrangement that consists of permanent fencing around the perimeter of the stadium structure with access at permanent gates that lead into and out of the stadium. The second proposed gate and fencing system is temporary and generally placed at the outer edges of the site. The temporary fencing will be used to block off the plaza area and take tickets at specific entry points.

A third permanent fencing system only occurs at the southern end of the stadium where the delivery and loading area is, and at northern portion of the site that abuts private property just north of the 10th Street extension. The primary function of this permanent fencing is to secure the site.

While staff understands the need to create a safe and secure site for event attendees, staff’s attention regarding gates and fences is focused on three areas discussed below.

Limits Access to the Plaza. The temporary fencing around the stadium site during events may limit the use of the plaza area and forego opportunities to create a vibrant quasi-public space that would activate the area around the stadium before, during and after events.

Creates a Bottleneck at the Temporary Gates. According to the plans, security precautions and event tickets will be processed at the temporary gates. Event attendees will be on the outside of the perimeter fence waiting to get in. This has potential to create a back-up of pedestrians which may cause pedestrian/bike/vehicle conflicts.

Materials of Fencing. It is important that the materials of both the permanent and temporary fencing are of good quality to ensure a level of upkeep and quality to the site which will insure the stadium is a valuable asset to the community. The most current version of the security fencing plan does not indicate the materials to be used, though earlier versions included chain-linked fencing.

Staff believes that quality materials such as tubular steel fencing are necessary to retain the high quality of experience and design that the MLS stadium strives to achieve. Also, staff would like the applicant to explore ways to rely on the permanent gates and fencing for security, thus leaving the plaza active and safe.

The gate and fencing plan is found in Attachment 2.

II. Amendment to the Bikeways Master Plan

The 2016 City Bicycle Master Plan was developed to serve the recreational and transportation needs of the public. This document was adopted by the City of Sacramento on April 11, 1995 and has since undergone several updates and revisions, the most current update was approved on August 16, 2016. The current master plan bikeways within the Railyards is based on the 2007 Sacramento Railyards approvals.

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PROPOSEDCENTER OF PITCH(X = 0, Y = 40, Z = 0)

0 8' 16' 32' 64' 128'

SCALE: 1/32" = 1' - 0"

PROPOSED SITE PLAN : OPTION 3A

- STADIUM FOOTPRINT REDUCED BY 10' ON ALL SIDES- STADIUM SHIFTED 40' NORTH- GAINED 50' ON SOUTH, 10' ON EAST, 10' ON WEST

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ADA PATH

LANDSCAPEMITIGATION22'-0"

EVENT LEVEL

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SOUTH PARK STREET

100% SDCENTER OF PITCH(X = 0, Y = 0, Z = 0)

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ATTACHMENT A: MLS Site Plan



0 8' 16' 32' 64' 128'

SCALE: 1/32" = 1' - 0"



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ATTACHMENT 2: Perimeter Fencing and Gates

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Base Information Source: Sacramento Grid 2.0 Preferred Bicycle Network

RSP Area

Sacramento Railyards Specific Plan Update . 150286

Figure 2-15Bike Plan

SOURCE: AECOM, June 6, 2016

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ATTACHMENT 3: Bicycle Plan

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Teresa Haenggi

From: Teresa HaenggiSent: Tuesday, August 30, 2016 8:30 AMTo: Teresa HaenggiSubject: FW: Railyards Comments

From: Charles Pickrell <[email protected]>Date: August 14, 2016 at 1:34:23 AM PDT To: [email protected]: <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>Subject: Rail yards project amendment for MLS

Dear Mr. Compton,

I have just recently purchased a new home in the Creamery subdivision. I have just learned from your report that the new MLS stadium will also host concerts that will drive very high noise levels in the Creamery subdivision and next to the KCRA studios.

I would ask that the city make alterations to the development plan for the stadium to mitigate this permanent noise pollution that will reduce our quality of life for families and negatively impact our property values. Changes could be made to the stadium, or the introduction of physical sound barriers between the stadium and the residential areas just to the south of it.

I would also like to state that I'm concerned the proposal mentions a 10th street extension into the Rail Yards that will drive significant amounts of traffic into this residential neighborhood without displaying diagrams of this requested extension, a traffic study, and impact to street parking for local residents. Stadium visitors will likely want to use street parking here and walk two blocks to the new stadium.

Finally there is a request for a construction noise variance to allow building for 16 hours a day, six days a week for the duration of the entire construction period. According to the draft EIR this will include pile-driving supports for the stadium. Again this will make it nearly impossible for families and businesses to function with these significant noise levels for 16 hours non-stop. I urge you to look into alternative solutions to mitigate this construction noise pollution.

Sincerely,

Charles Pickrell 916-479-1177

Planning and Design Commission Report http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=21&event_id=2848&meta_id=475002

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ATTACHMENT 4: Comment Letter

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