Chapter 16.45 — TRANSPORTATION IMPACT FEE FOR NEW NONRESIDENTIAL

DEVELOPMENT IN THE STANFORD RESEARCH PARK/EL CAMINO REAL CS ZONE

The goal and purpose of this chapter is to assess new nonresidential development in the Stanford Research Park/El Camino Real CS zone so as to assure that such new development collectively bears full responsibility for the capital expenditures needed to provide capacity improvements at eight intersections identified herein, through establishment of a transportation impact fee.

(Ord. 3894 § 1 (part), 1989)

For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions shall be in effect:

(a) "Area" means Area 8, the Stanford Research Park/El Camino Real CS zone, as shown in EIR Figure A-7.

(b) "Capacity improvement" means any physical change designed to improve the level of service of an intersection or street segment.

(c) "Change of use" means the replacement of an existing use by a new use, or a change in the nature of an existing use, but not including a change of ownership, tenancy, or management where the previous nature of the use, line of business, or other function is substantially unchanged.

(d) "City" means city of Palo Alto.

(e) "Development" means a habitable building, whether or not in use.

(f) "EIR" means the Citywide Land Use and Transportation Study Draft Environmental Impact Report, September 1988, certified by the city council on March 6, 1989.

(g) "Fee" means transportation impact fee.

(h) "Fund" means the Stanford Research Park/El Camino Real CS zone area fund.

(i) "Gross square feet" means gross floor area, as defined in Section18.04.030 of this code.

(j) "New development" means (i) a nonresidential development that is constructed on a vacant site or sites on which there was never a previous development; or (ii) any resultant increase in gross square feet when a nonresidential development replaces all or part of an existing or previous development on a site; (iii) any additional gross square feet added to an existing nonresidential development.

(k) "Previous development" means a habitable building that was present at any time on a site but which has since been removed.

(l) "Site" means a parcel of land consisting of a single lot of record, used or intended for use under the regulations of Title 18 (Zoning) as one site for a use or a group of uses.

(m) "Use" means the conduct of an activity, or the performance of a function or operation, on a site or in a building or facility.

(n) "Designated intersections" means those eight intersections listed in Section16.45.060(a) to which capacity improvements will be made and paid for by the fee collected pursuant to this chapter.

(Ord. 3894 § 1 (part), 1989)

The EIR Final Addendum, February 1989, pages VI.12 through 22, showed that new nonresidential development in the area will create additional commute period vehicular traffic that will travel through, among others, the designated intersections, which are already operating at level of service "E" or worse, or will be so after adding projected traffic from the new development. The city defines congestion as beginning at level of service "E" and considers an increase in traffic under these conditions to be a significant adverse impact. The EIR final addendum showed that specific capacity improvements are necessary to mitigate the demonstrated significant traffic impacts of the new development.

(Ord. 4642 § 29, 2000: Ord. 3894 § 1 (part), 1980)

Data developed for the EIR showed that new development in the area will generate from sixty to ninety percent (average eighty percent) of total new commute period traffic from all nonresidential areas in the city at the designated intersections. Areas 2-7 and 9 studied in the EIR will each generate from zero to fifteen percent of such traffic at the designated intersections (City Manager's Report CMR:154:9, 2/16/89). On the basis that the area is projected to generate almost all of such traffic at the designated intersections, and that the shares of Areas 2-7 and 9 are too small to calculate for purposes of assessing the fee, such new development in the area will be assessed the full cost of capacity improvements at the designated intersections.

(Ord. 3894 § 1 (part), 1989)

(a) This chapter shall apply to the following development in the area:

(1) New development of a nonresidential use of two hundred fifty square feet or greater on a site;

(2) Any existing development of two hundred fifty gross square feet or greater on a site that undergoes a change in use from an exempt use as described in the following subsection (b), to a nonresidential use.

(b) This chapter shall not apply to the following development or uses in the area ("exempt uses"):

(1) An on-site cafeteria facility, recreational facility, credit union, and/or day care facility to be provided for employees and/or their children and not open to the general public;

(2) An accessory hazardous materials storage facility required to comply with Title 17 of this code; provided that such facility does not, in itself, generate new employment;

(3) A thermal storage facility provided for the purpose of energy conservation, provided that such facility does not, in itself, generate new employment;

(4) Residential development;

(5) Temporary uses of less than six months' duration;

(6) Any development that replaces all or part of the square footage of an existing or previous development on a site, whether or not the existing development is in active use, provided that the resultant increase in gross floor area on the site is two hundred square feet or less;

(7) Development for which a building permit has been issued on or before the effective date of the ordinance enacting this chapter (September 6, 1989);

(8) Retail service, eating and drinking service, personal service, or automotive service when the total additional square footage is 1,500 square feet or less. This exemption shall apply only when the additional square footage of new development does not exceed 1,500 square feet. New development that is larger than 1,500 square feet shall pay a fee for all square footage, including the first 1,500 square feet.

(Ord. 4763 § 1, 2002: Ord. 3894 § 1 (part), 1989)

(a) Capacity Improvements at the Designated Intersections and Estimated Cost Thereof. The following capacity improvements were identified in the EIR (pages IV.B-50 through 85) and in Chapter 4.3, Section 5(a) of the Environmental Impact Report for the 1998-2010 Comprehensive Plan.

Capacity
Intersection Number and Name Est. Cost ($)**
Improvement*

Page Mill
Add southbound right-

B-5 turn lane; restripe 1,072,469 Expressway/Hanover northbound approach Street Middlefield Add north- and south- C-1 Road/Oregon 1,212,617 bound left-turn lanes Expressway Add additional westbound lane on Arastradero at Foothill Expressway/ new Miranda to provide 4,598,554 Arastradero/Miranda two left-turn lanes and a right turn lane at Foothill Page Mill Add right-turn lanes all D-2(a) Expressway/El 7,807,133 approaches Camino Real

Total Estimated Cost of Capacity Improvements $14,690,773

Notes:

• Full descriptions of the capacity improvements are contained n Chapter 4.3, Section 5(a) of the EIR for the 1998-2010 Comprehensive Plan.

** The estimated cost of the capacity improvements reflect the EIR estimates, revised in accordance with current rates, as set forth in a report

entitled "Estimated Cost of Capacity Improvements for Stanford Research Park/El Camino Real Service Commercial (CS) Zone," prepared by Korne Engineering, June 2001.

(b) Estimated Development. Approximately 1,794,000 gross square feet of new development is estimated to occur under the zoning regulations established for the area. This figure represents the realistic, long-term, maximum development potential of the area, taking into consideration the existing roadway network, the planned capacity improvements and the planned transportation demand management program.

(c) Calculation of Fee. In order for new nonresidential development in the area to bear proportionately the cost of the identified capacity improvements, such new development shall pay a fee of $8.20 per gross square foot of development, determined by dividing the total estimated cost of $14,690,773.00 by the total permitted new development of 1,794,000 square feet. This fee shall be adjusted annually on July 1 by an amount equal to the change in the construction cost index for the preceding year, as determined by the Engineering News Record, the McGraw Hill Construction Weekly.

(d) Payment. The fee shall be paid in full to the city building inspection division prior to issuance of the building permit for the development. If no building permit is required for a change of use, the fee shall be paid in full prior to issuance of a certificate of use and occupancy.

(e) Special Fund. There is established a special Stanford Research Park/El Camino Real CS Zone Fund into which all fees, and any interest thereon, collected pursuant to this chapter, shall be deposited in a separate capital facilities account in a manner to avoid any commingling of the fees with other revenues and funds of the city. Upon receipt and entry to the accounting records for the fund, such moneys shall be considered committed to the designated improvements or alternative improvements in accordance with subsections (f) and (g) hereof.

(f) Use of Fund. The moneys in the fund shall be eligible for expenditure only for the capacity improvements at the designated intersections, as direct expenditures, or reimbursements if improvements are constructed prior to deposit of moneys into the fund, or for alternative improvements or alternative intersections that are determined by the chief transportation official, subject to the approval of the city council, to provide adequate feasible alternative mitigation of those impacts addressed in the EIR that are proposed to be mitigated by the capacity improvements in subsection (a) hereof. In no event shall fund moneys be used for regular road maintenance. The priority for spending moneys in the fund among the eight intersections shall be determined by the chief transportation official.

(g) Budget Approval. The uses proposed for expenditure by the moneys in the fund shall be reviewed annually by the city council along with its review of the capital improvement program, and fund moneys shall be appropriated for such expenditure in the manner provided for adoption of the annual budget by the charter of the city.

(Ord. 4744 § 1, 2002: Ord. 3894 § 1 (part), 1989)

(a) All remedies provided for in this chapter shall be cumulative and not exclusive.

(b) Violation of any provision of this chapter, including, but not limited to, converting an exempt use to a use to which this chapter applies, without tendering the appropriate fee to the city, is a misdemeanor punishable as provided in this code.

(c) Each person or entity is guilty of a separate offense for each and every day during any portion of which any violation of any provision of this

chapter is committed, continued or permitted by such person or entity and shall be punished accordingly.

(d) Any person or entity violating any provision of this chapter, including, but not limited to, converting an exempt use to a use to which this chapter applies, without tendering the appropriate fee to the city, may be liable civilly in a sum not to exceed five hundred dollars for each day in which such violation occurs.

(e) Persons employed in the following designated employee positions are authorized to exercise the authority provided in the California Penal Code Section 836.5 and are authorized to issue citation for violations of this chapter: development services director, director of planning and development services and their designees.

(Ord. 5494 § 3, 2020: Ord. 5400 § 2, 2016: Ord. 3894 § 1 (part), 1989)

If any provision or clause of this chapter or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held to be invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity shall not affect any other chapter provision, and clauses of this chapter are declared to be severable.

(Ord. 3894 § 1 (part), 1989)