Spring Street Mixed-Use Project
On tonight’s Planning Commission agenda is an item titled the “Spring Street Mixed-Use / Affordable Housing Density Bonus Project - recommendation to the City Council regarding Rezoning, Development Plan including hotel rooms and an affordable housing density bonus, and a conditional use permit for a winetasting room.” This is the project planned for 1745 Spring Street at the southwest corner of Spring and 18th Street—across 18th from the Paso Market Walk.
You might recall in 2019 that this property was first presented by Tobin James as a community park, transferring ownership to the City of Paso Robles. To refresh your memory, you can read more about this in a November 27, 2019 story from Paso Robles Press, titled “James Donates Land for Park to City”. When this mixed use project first appeared, there were inquiries asking what happened to the park. All we heard was that the deal fell through during negotiations.
This is an interesting project: a mixed-use building with 3,346 square feet of commercial space including a winetasting room, 16 hotels rooms, and 8 residential units. One of the residential units is being restricted for a very low-income household. Per the staff report, because of this one unit:
“The project includes 1 residential unit restricted to a very low-income household (17% of the allowed density units), which qualifies the project to a 50% density bonus and 3 concessions consistent with California Government Code Section 65915.”
I had comments regarding this project during a previous review almost a year ago (September 18, 2023), and my comments can be found ‘here’ accompanying the item on tonight’s Planning Commission agenda. Since then, I find the document more clear as to the requested concessions—but it’s still not a simple project plan and I have some reservations.
Per the staff report:
The applicant has requested a 33% density bonus of 2 units (for a total of 8 residential units) and an exception from the City’s height standards and an exception to its parking requirements both as concessions as follows :
1. Height exception for portions of the building exceeding 36 feet (“Height Concession”)
2. Parking reduction of 5 parking spaces to address the deficit of required onsite parking spaces for the project (“Parking Concession”).
Also requested is the application of a Resort/Lodging zoning overlay. A hotel like this would not be allowed in the existing T3 zone, so this zoning modification is required for this hotel development to go forward. Also provided by the Resort/Lodging overlay is a reduction in parking requirements. The city staff calculates the development requires 45 parking spaces to be compatible with T3 requirements. In the Resort/Lodging zoning overlay, the development would only require 26 parking spaces.
1 space/hotel room ………………………………………………………………………………………… 16
1 space/hotel staff on the largest shift ………………………………………………………… 2
1 space /1,200sf of hotel amenities open to the public ……………………………. 0
1 space/400sf nonresidential space …………………………………………………………….. 8
+ 1 space/1-bedroom residence ………………………………………………………………… + 0 (mixed use shared parking)
= 26 parking spaces
The project includes only 21 onsite parking spaces (a deficit of 5 spaces).
So each hotel room will have a single parking space, but I understand that the 8 residential units will be sharing space with those available to the commercial business uses. It’s not clear to me yet if those hotel room spaces are restricted and marked for hotel guests only.
With a deficit of 5 parking spaces and a potential for 8 residential units to be left with no parking at any time, that leaves the possibility of from 5 to 13 vehicles needing a place to park on adjacent streets.
It’s an interesting project. It surprises me how many concessions are allowed for just the inclusion of a single 1-bedroom very low income apartment.
Personally, I would not rent an apartment that did not have an assigned parking space. But I know that others might, and that other apartment renters may not own a car. I still have my reservations about how well this parking situation will work.
I recommend attending the Planning Commission meeting tonight to watch and listen to the discussion. I hope to get there to watch in person. Or you can watch it from home on YouTube, tonight live or at a later date.
