Planning Commission Presentation

October 24, 2006

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Big Box: Keeping Pace with Austin A Common Sense Update for Austin’s Land Development Code

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How Big is Too Big?

• When Austin’s Land Development Code was drafted, the average retail store was 2,000 square feet.

• Today’s big box stores can be more than 100 times that size with buildings over 250,000 square feet and more than 20 acres of paved parking. Impacts are much larger and affect a greater area.

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Big Box Policies in Other Cities Summary

• Store Size Caps are in place or proposed in 23 US cities, including Santa Fe, Rockville, Hailey, North Beach, Boxborough, Ashland and in the countries of Norway and Ireland.

• Formula Business Restrictions are in place or proposed in 18 US cities including San Francisco, Chicago, Sanibel Island, Pacific Grove, Bristol and Sausalito.

• Economic Impact reviews are in place or proposed in at least 10 US cities and 3 states including Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Carbondale, Bennington, Brattleboro, Vermont, California, New Jersey.

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Cities That Have Store Size Caps

Brookside - Kansas City, MO North Beach - San Francisco, CA Agoura Hills, CA Ashland, OR Belfast, ME Bennington, VT Boxborough, MA Bozeman, MT Charlevoix, MI Easton, MD Hailey, ID Homer, AK Madison, Wisconsin Mt. Shasta, California North Elba (Village of Lake Placid), NY 5 Northhampton, MA Rockville, MD Santa Fe, NM Skaneateles, NY Taos, NM Walpole, NH Warwick, NY Westford, MA Coconino County, Arizona (Flagstaff) Ravalli County, MT Talbot County, MD Tuolumne County, CA Ireland (applies nationwide) Norway (applies nationwide)

Cities That Have Formula Business Restrictions

Arcata, CA Bainbridge Island, WA Bristol, RI Chicago, IL (under consideration) Calistoga, CA Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA Coronado, CA Nantucket, MA Ogunquit, Maine Pacific Grove, CA Port Jefferson, NY Port Townsend, WA San Francisco, CA San Juan Bautista, CA Sanibel, FL Sausalito, CA Solvang, CA York, ME 6

Cities That Have Economic and Community Impact Reviews

Impact reviews are now in place in the following cities, regions and states: Los Angeles, California Mt. Shasta, California Bennington, Vermont Brattleboro, Vermont Santa Cruz, California Carbondale, Colorado Greenfield, Massachusetts Homer, Alaska Middletown, Rhode Island Cape Code Region, Massachusetts State of Vermont State of California (enacted, awaits governor's signature) State of New Jersey (proposed) 7

Why We Need A Common Sense Update:

• City laws have not been updated to keep pace with new big box developments, which can be over 1200 percent larger than traditional retail operations and may have very different impacts than a traditional store. • Under the current code, a 24-hour 250,000 square-foot supercenter, with over 20 acres of paved parking, can be legally built

without any public process

under the same zoning as a 2,000 square-foot mom-and-pop store.

• Major retail projects should include a guaranteed public process to allow input from affected residents and businesses and to help the city make informed decisions about potential costs, benefits, location and other factors.

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Size Does Matter: Hard Facts About Economic Impacts

• Big Box does not grow the sales tax rate - it displaces it from existing businesses. Retail activity is the result of, not the cause of, economic growth. • Big Box national chains keep less money in Austin.

• Big Box = Bigger Costs to Cities - Increased traffic - Street and road maintenance due to truck traffic on access roads - Water and sewer service - Public safety - Social costs for low wage, uninsured employees 9

The Proposed Code Change for Big Box Retail

• DOES provide a common-sense, business-friendly tool to assess the impacts of large-scale commercial developments and make sensible planning decisions for our city.

• DOES help the city maintain a healthy, balanced retail economy.

• DOES NOT ban big box developments or create unreasonable obstacles to their construction.

• DOES NOT negatively affect sales tax revenues.

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What the Big Box Ordinance Does:

• Ensures a public process for major commercial developments by requiring a Conditional Use Permit for projects larger than 50,000 square feet in a single-occupancy building. Conditional Use Permit regulations are already part of the city code; they are used to permit a project not allowed under existing zoning, on the condition that it will be compatible with the area and will not adversely affect public health, safety, or welfare. • Expands the notice range to include all registered neighborhood associations within one mile of a proposed project and requires a large informational sign to be posted at the proposed site.

• Allows the city to weigh economic and community impacts of large commercial projects under existing Conditional Use Permit regulations. 11

What Kinds of Economic Information Might Be Considered Under a Conditional Use Permit?

“...Measures that the Land Use Commission determines are required for…the preservation of public health, safety or welfare.”

• Estimated costs to the City for additional public safety, infrastructure and traffic expenses.

• Anticipated positive and negative effects on local businesses • Estimated net gains/losses for property tax and sales tax revenues.

• Anticipated costs for public health care and housing for workers if wages do not meet the Family Security Index (FSI).

• Architectural renderings to show consistency with commercial design standards. • Plans for the re-lease, re-use or sale of vacated structure to prevent abandoned big boxes from undermining commercial areas. Note: City staff routinely provides similar economic information when it is considering the use of incentives for projects.

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Conclusions

• To maintain a healthy economy, big box retail needs to keep pace with Austin’s focus on mixed use, diverse, sustainable development plans.

• Austin’s Land Development Code has not been updated to address massive changes in the retail landscape.

• A Conditional Use Permit for future big box retail gives the city a tool to assess a project’s economic and community impacts.

• Conditional Use Permits are reasonable, legal, business friendly and make common sense. 13

Supporters of the Big Box Ordinance

• Austin Independent Business Alliance (325 member businesses representing more than 6,000 employees) • Austin Neighborhoods Council • Austin Central Labor Council • American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) 1624 • The Austin Area Human Services Association (65 member organizations) • Liveable City • Over 100 individual community leaders • 59 percent of Austin residents say they are concerned with the increasing number of big box stores in Austin (2004 poll, Opinions Analysts). • 71 percent said the Austin City Council should do more to promote the interests of local businesses over those of national big box chains (2004 poll, Opinions Analysts)

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