Attachment 3
EMERYVILLE PLANNING COMMISSION
STAFF REPORT
Agenda Date: April 28, 2022
Report Date: April 21, 2022
TO: Planning Commission
FROM: Community Development Department
Miroo Desai, Senior Planner
Chadrick Smalley, Economic Development and Housing Manager SUBJECT: 58Fifty Shellmound Life Sciences Tower
(UPDR21-004)
PROJECT 5850 Shellmound Way
LOCATION: (APN: 49-1493-6)
OWNER: Shellmound Christie Corporation
5850 Shellmound Way
Emeryville, CA 94608
APPLICANT: CA/SCC 5850 LS, JV, LLC (Mike Lee)
130 East Randolph Suite 2011
Chicago, IL 60601
PROJECT A third study session to review a proposed 14-story, 265-foot-high DESCRIPTION: building accommodating 385,740 square feet of life science use (“Research and Development”), six townhouse residential units, and approximately 2,300 square feet of ground floor retail/amenity space at 5850 Shellmound Way. The project includes demolition of an existing 61,000 square foot office building.
GENERAL Mixed Use with Residential and Major Transit Hub PLAN:
ZONING Mixed Use with Residential (MUR); Transit Hub Overlay (TH); and DISTRICT: Pedestrian Priority Zone (PP)
ENVIRONMENTAL
STATUS: To be determined
Planning Commission Staff Report
58Fifty Shellmound Life Sciences Tower (UPDR21-004)
April 28, 2022
RECOMMENDED
COMMISSION 1) To hear a presentation of the proposed project.
ACTION: 2) To provide direction and comment to the applicant and staff
PROJECT BACKGROUND
The Planning Commission reviewed this proposal at study sessions on August 26, 2021 and February 24, 2022. (See Attachment 1 for August 26, 2021 staff report and Attachment 2 for February 24, 2022 staff report). One of the key policy questions that the Planning Commission needs to address is regarding the mix of uses.
As the project parcel size is between 1 and 5 acres and is in the Mixed Use with Residential (MUR) Zone, the proposal needs to include a mix of uses, one of which must be residential, as required by Section 9-3.303(b)(2)b of the Planning Regulations. A single use may be allowed with a conditional use permit provided that the following finding can be made in addition to the regular findings required for a conditional use permit:
That the applicant has convincingly demonstrated that it is infeasible to develop a project with a mix of use groups on the site. (Section 9-3.303(c)(1))
Economic Development and Housing Division staff worked with a consultant to peer review the applicant’s analysis of the feasibility of housing on this site and presented the results to the Commission at the February 24, 2022 study session. The majority of the Commissioners indicated that they understood the conclusions of the applicant’s and City’s consultant’s analyses, that a large residential development is not financially feasible on this site at this time, but stated that at least some amount of housing should still be considered as part of the proposal.
It was suggested that a few townhouse units could be located on the ground floor and would therefore not require elevators.
At this time the applicant has put forward a revised proposal that incudes townhouses as described below.
As the project requires a General Plan Amendment (GPA), the City Council will also review this issue and provide input at a study session scheduled for May 17, 2022. The reason for the GPA is that the General Plan Land Use Map shows a revised location of Shellmound Way that is approximately 150 feet north of the existing location, and the project has not been designed to comply with the relocation of Shellmound Way as shown in the General Plan. This issue is discussed below under “Staff Comments and Discussion”.
Revised Project Proposal
The project proposes a 14-story, 265-foot-high building accommodating 385,740 square feet of life science use (“Research and Development”), six townhouse residential units, and approximately 2,300 square feet of ground floor retail/amenity space at 5850 Shellmound Way (see Sheet 18 of Project Plans dated April 4, 2022, Attachment 3).
Planning Commission Staff Report
58Fifty Shellmound Life Sciences Tower (UPDR21-004)
April 28, 2022
The two-level townhouses are each approximately 1,377 square feet and will all be Below Market Rate (BMR) units with four allocated to be Very Low-Income units, and the remaining two to be Low-Income units. These are currently being conceived to be rental units.
These townhouse units are sited along the bicycle-pedestrian path along the northern property line and will be of wood construction and a separate building from the life science building. The 265-foot steel frame building will cantilever over the 27-foot tall townhouses (See Sheet 20). See Sheets 19 and 28 for townhomes elevations.
The other changes to the proposal include a slight increase of Research and Development space by 7,650 square feet and the elimination of 10,000 square feet of clinic and medical office space, while the lobby and retail/amenity square footage remain roughly the same size. The parking count has been reduced by 22 spaces (409 spaces versus 431).
The remaining features of the project remain similar, with the building lobby occurring off Christie Avenue as does the entrance to parking and loading. Loading occurs within the building on the ground floor and 409 vehicular parking spaces are provided on six levels of parking. Sheet 25 illustrates typical floor plans whereas Sheet 20 provides a north-south sectional view of the parking structure and townhouse units. The building reaches a roof height of 240 feet with an additional 25 feet accommodating mechanical support equipment. Since the building would have continuous exterior cladding from the ground to the top of the mechanical level, it would appear to be 265 feet tall, although the “official” building height would be 240 feet, as measured to the top of the roof. Sheet 17 provides an illustration of heights of surrounding high-rise buildings and a shadow study is provided on Sheet 30.
An amenity 15,000 square foot terrace for tenants is provided on the fifth level above the parking structure (see Sheet 25) and approximately 19,150 square feet of open space is provided on the ground level in the form of a plaza at the corner of Christie Avenue and Shellmound Way (see Sheet 18).
The design of the building is preliminary at this time with renderings of the massing shown in Sheets 26 to 29. The potential cladding for the life science building is an aluminum and glass curtain wall system, while a custom perforated metal system is contemplated for the garage cladding.
CONFORMITY TO GENERAL PLAN AND PLANNING REGULATIONS
General Plan
Shellmound Way Relocation: General Plan Land Use Map shows a revised location of Shellmound Way that is approximately 150 feet north of the existing location. The project would need a General Plan Amendment as the project has not been designed to comply with the location of Shellmound Way in the General Plan. This issue is discussed further below under “Staff Comments and Discussion”.
Planning Commission Staff Report
58Fifty Shellmound Life Sciences Tower (UPDR21-004)
April 28, 2022
Land Use: The General Plan Land Use Diagram (Figure 2-2) classifies the project site as “Mixed Use with Residential”, which is described as (Section 2.4): “One or more of a variety of residential and non-residential uses including but not limited to offices, retail and hotel. On larger sites, a mix of residential and non-residential uses is required; on smaller sites, a single use may be permitted.” The project provides a mix of commercial uses and now provides residential as one of the uses. Please see further discussion under Zoning District below.
Planning Regulations
Zoning District
The base zoning district for the site is “Mixed Use with Residential” (MUR), which allows for a variety of commercial uses as well as multiunit residential use.
The site is also in the Transit Hub (TH) overlay zone where all parking requirements are reduced by 50% and in Pedestrian Priority (PP) which calls for wider sidewalks. This is further discussed below.
Use Classification: The proposed life sciences use is classified as a “Research and Development” Industrial use type which requires conditional use permit in the MUR Zone, and the proposed six townhouses are classified as Multi-Unit Residential, which is allowed by right in this zone.
Mix of Uses Required: As the parcel size is between 1 and 5 acres, a conditional use permit and mix of uses, one of which must be residential, is required by Section 9-3.303(b)(2)b of the Planning Regulations. The regulations do not specify the proportion of the mix between residential and non-residential uses, and it is up to the discretion of the Planning Commission to determine whether the proposal qualifies as “mixed use”.
Floor Area Ratio (FAR)
The Floor Area Ratio for the site is 3.0 and can be increased to a bonus FAR of 6.0 with a conditional use permit and the provision of increased affordable housing impact fee and community benefits. The proposed FAR for the project is almost exactly 6.0 (388,090/64,682).
The project will require 100 bonus points for FAR.
Height
The site falls within the 75/100+ foot height district, which can be increased to a bonus height of over 100 feet with a conditional use permit. The proposed height of the building is 240 feet. The project therefore will require 100 bonus points for height.
Residential Density
The maximum residential density for the site is 85 units per acre and can be increased to 170 units per acre with a conditional use permit. Based on a 64,682 square foot (1.48-acre) site, the Planning Commission Staff Report
58Fifty Shellmound Life Sciences Tower (UPDR21-004)
April 28, 2022
permitted base density calculates to 126 units and 252 units with bonus points. The proposed density of 6 units on 1.48 acres calculates to 4.05 units per acre, which is permitted by right and requires no bonus points.
Bonus Points
Pursuant to Section 9-4.204, the project requires 100 bonus points, the greatest of the number of points required for FAR (100), height (100), and residential density (0).
For non-residential project components, such as the proposed life sciences tower, pursuant to Section 9-4.204(d), the applicant will need to obtain half of the bonus points (50) by paying an additional affordable housing impact fee. As such, the applicant will need to pay an additional 100 percent of the affordable housing impact fee at the time of building permit issuance. For reference, the current affordable housing impact fee is $4.83 per square foot, so the applicant would need to pay $9.66 per square feet to obtain 50 bonus points if the building permit were issued today. This calculates to approximately $3.75 million. The actual fee required will be whatever is in effect at the time that the building permit is issued.
The remaining 50 bonus points must be earned through the provision of community benefits, pursuant to Section 9-4.204(e). Possible benefits include additional public open space, zero net energy, public improvements, utility undergrounding, and a contribution to the City’s small business fund. The applicant has not yet specified exactly how the remaining bonus points will be obtained and has suggested providing additional public open space and public improvements.
Parking and Loading
Vehicular Parking: Typically research and laboratory businesses need space for laboratory and office on a half and half basis, and the City has used this criterion for other such projects including the recently approved BMR Emeryville Center of Innovation project.
As the site is in Transit Hub (HB) overlay zone, all estimated demands for parking are reduced by half. Therefore, the estimated parking demand for Office is 1.2 spaces per 1,000 square feet; for Research and Development it is 0.75 space per 1,000 square feet; for Multi-Unit Residential units the estimated demand is 0.5 spaces per unit.
Section 9-4.404 (c) requires that, for all non-residential uses with area-based estimated parking demands, the first 1,500 square feet be subtracted from gross square footage of the use. Allowing for this exclusion brings the Research and Development square footage to 384,240 (385,740- 1,500).
The estimated parking demand for the office space (192,120 square feet) is 231 spaces (1.2 spaces per 1,000 square feet of office space (192,120 x 1.2/1000); and for Research and Development space the estimated demand is 144 spaces (0.75 spaces per 1,000 square feet (192,120 x 0.75/1000). The estimated demand for 6 townhouse units is 3 (0.5 x 6). This brings the total estimated parking demand of 378.
Planning Commission Staff Report
58Fifty Shellmound Life Sciences Tower (UPDR21-004)
April 28, 2022
There is no minimum parking requirement and the maximum allowed is 10% more than the estimated demand. So, the maximum parking permitted is 415.8 or 416 spaces.
The applicant is proposing 409 spaces and therefore complies with the City’s regulations.
Bicycle Parking: The project will trigger one short-term and one long term bicycle parking space for every ten automobile parking spaces indicated as the estimated parking demand. As the estimated demand is 756 spaces, 76 long term bicycle parking and 76 short term parking spaces will be required. (Note that there is no Transit Hub Overlay reduction for bicycle parking since the intent of this overlay zone is to encourage alternative transportation such as bicycles.) A bicycle parking room (presumably for long term parking) is indicated on the ground floor, although its design and number of bicycle parking spaces is not indicated. The applicant is not showing provision of any short-term bicycle parking spaces at this preliminary stage.
Loading: The project will trigger 2 medium loading spaces and 1 large loading space. The plans show three medium sized loading spaces and one large loading space and therefore comply with the City’s requirements.
Open Space
Section 9-4.303(a)(3) requires new commercial buildings or additions that exceed 100,000 square feet to provide a minimum area of common open space and/or Privately Owned Public Open Space (POPOS) that totals at least five percent of the gross floor area. Included in this requirement, the developer must provide a minimum area of POPOS that totals at least one percent of the gross floor area. For the proposed project (385,740 square feet of commercial space) this equals 19,287 square feet of open space, including a minimum of 3,857 square feet of POPOS.
Sheet 31, “Building Area Summary”, shows 19,150 square feet of open space on the ground floor and 15,000 square feet on the fifth level, which should be sufficient to meet the requirements.. However, a portion of the ground floor open space appears to be in the public right of way. The applicant needs to provide clarification whether 3,857 square feet of open space (POPOs) will be accommodated entirely on its property.
For Multi-Unit Residential uses, the open space requirement is 60 square feet per unit, consisting of 40 square feet of private open space (balconies, decks, patios, etc.), and 20 square feet of common open space. If it is infeasible to provide private open space, common open space may be substituted for private open space at a 2:1 ratio. Thus, if no private open space is provided, 100 square feet of common open space per unit is required (20 + (40 x 2)). Therefore, if the six townhouse units have private open space, a total of 120 square feet of common open space is required (6 x 20), whereas if the townhouse units do not have private open space, a total of 600 square feet of common open space is required (6 x 100), At this time, open space for the housing units has not been indicated.
Planning Commission Staff Report
58Fifty Shellmound Life Sciences Tower (UPDR21-004)
April 28, 2022
Sidewalk Design Guidelines
Pursuant to the Emeryville Design Guidelines provisions for sidewalks in Pedestrian Priority Zones, the project is required to provide a 12-foot wide sidewalk with a minimum 8-foot clear pedestrian pathway and a 4-foot landscaped area (including a 6-inch curb). In addition, Christie Avenue is a Green Street that requires a minimum of 15-foot sidewalk. The project complies with these dimensions, although some of the sidewalk will be on the applicant’s property and will therefore require a public access easement for 24/7 public use (see Sheet 18).
Stormwater and WELO Plans
The project will need to submit stormwater plans and show compliance with Water Efficient Landscaping Ordinance (WELO).
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
A traffic report and visual simulations will be prepared for the project. At this time, we do not have enough information to determine the project’s CEQA status.
STAFF COMMENTS AND DISCUSSION
Shellmound Way Relocation and Pedestrian-Bicycle Path
In 2007, prior to the adoption of the General Plan, a traffic analysis was conducted for the Powell-Christie area which recommended that Shellmound Way be relocated about 150 feet to the north of its current location in order to improve circulation in the area, provide simplified access to the property at 5801 Christie Avenue, and create a larger development parcel south of Shellmound Way. When the General Plan was adopted in 2009, it included this relocation of Shellmound Way.
During 2017-2018, the Planning Commission held three study sessions on a residential proposal at 5850 Shellmound Way. On January 25, 2018, the Planning Commission recommended amending the General Plan to modify the location of Shellmound Way such that it is consistent with its existing configuration.
On March 5, 2018, the Bicycle/Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) recommended that the proposed General Plan Amendment include an east-west pedestrian and bicycle path in the approximate location where the General Plan currently shows the relocated Shellmound Way.
The City Council considered the proposed General Plan Amendment on March 6, 2018, and continued the item, directing staff to bring back a General Plan Amendment that includes the path as recommended by the BPAC. The applicant for the 5850 Shellmound Way residential project incorporated the General Plan Amendment into its proposal, to modify the location of Shellmound Way such that it is consistent with its existing configuration, and to add an east-west pedestrian and bicycle path in the approximate location where the General Plan currently shows the relocated Shellmound Way. The applicant also offered 10 feet along the northern property Planning Commission Staff Report
58Fifty Shellmound Life Sciences Tower (UPDR21-004)
April 28, 2022
line to be dedicated for this path with the anticipation that an additional 10 feet would be added in the future from the adjacent City-owned parcel to the north, to allow for construction of a standard 20-foot pedestrian and bicycle path.
Staff advised the applicant that the current project should include this General Plan Amendment and provide 10 feet to accommodate this new bicycle pedestrian path. This is shown on Sheet 18 of the attached plans, which actually show a 20-foot path because that much width is required for fire department access.
Development Coordinating Committee Comments
The project was reviewed at the April 13, 2022, Development Coordinating Committee meeting.
Outlined below are staff comments discussed at the meeting.
Staff from the Building Division and Alameda County Fire Department indicated that they did not foresee a code issue for the concept of two separate buildings built with different materials.
The Committee unanimously agreed that the inclusion of BMR townhomes was a good addition to the proposal and had a potential to create a unique alley that would be lined with residential development on both sides after the adjacent City property is developed with a housing project along the north edge of the pedestrian-bicycle path. A suggestion was made that, with the right treatment such as a shaded canopy, the alley had the potential of creating a unique open space.
Increasing the height of the cantilever was also suggested as a way of creating some relief at the pedestrian scale and providing an opportunity for rooftop open space for the townhouse units.
There was discussion on the adequacy of the passenger drop off/loading proposed off Christie Avenue. Use of bonus points to fund potential public improvements in the Shellmound/Christie/Powell loop area was also discussed.
Next Steps
As the project includes a General Plan Amendment that requires City Council approval, a study session has been scheduled for the May 17 City Council meeting.
ISSUES TO BE CONSIDERED
1. Mix of Uses
The project is primarily a Research and Development building with six townhomes.
Does the Commission feel that this mix of uses is appropriate for the site?
2. Bonus Points
Does the Commission have any suggestions for the type of community benefits that the project should provide to obtain bonus points?
Planning Commission Staff Report
58Fifty Shellmound Life Sciences Tower (UPDR21-004)
April 28, 2022
3. Design and Other Issues
Does the Commission have any comments on the preliminary design and concept?
PERMITS AND PROCESS
Permits Required: The project will require a conditional use permit for a development of one to five acres in the MUR Zone, for a Research and Development use in the MUR Zone, and for bonus FAR and height. A design review permit for new construction will also be required, based on an evaluation of the project’s conformance with the Emeryville Design Guidelines.
Process: Regardless of comments received at the study session, the project will need to undergo a permit review process. Submission of a formal application and additional project information and analysis may raise issues not identified in this report. These will be identified and addressed in the staff report when the project is brought back to the Commission for a hearing and decision.
RECOMMENDATION:
After hearing a presentation from the applicant and receiving public testimony, staff requests that the Planning Commission provide comment on the issues noted above and any other issues identified by the Commission.
Attachments:
1. August 26, 2021, Planning Commission Study Session Staff Report (with attachments)
2. February 24, 2022 Planning Commission Study Session Staff Report (without attachments)
3. Project Plans dated April 18, 2022.