Council to consider Yolo County Cultural, History and Art Center site at Fifth and Oak

During tomorrow night's meeting, Woodland City Council will consider the staff recommendation to approve, in concept, the use of the Fifth Street/Oak Avenue site for the proposed Yolo County Cultural, History and Art Center and encourage the Yolo County Historical Society and the Yolo County Arts Council to pursue outside funding.

According to the staff report, city and county staff have been meeting periodically with the project sponsors, the Yolo County Historical Society and Yolo County Arts Council, in order to develop alternatives for locating a site to accommodate the Center. Staff indicates that a commitment from city and county officials is necessary because the project sponsors are facing a deadline to submit a conceptual plan and grant application for additional funds. Since the proposed use conflicts with the Downtown Specific Plan, staff believes the City Council should review this request and provide direction regarding the proposed use of the Fifth Street/Oak Avenue site. The subject property is owned by Yolo County, approximately 30,700 square feet in size, and located within the Gateway Revitalization Area of the Downtown Specific Plan (District E2).

Background (from the staff report - click the title of this story to access)

City and County staff have been meeting with representatives of the Steering Committee in order to identify alternatives for accommodating the Center. These alternatives have ranged from a 30,000 square foot facility located on a six acre site within a neighborhood or semi-rural site to a 15,000 square foot facility located within a downtown site. The latter alternative was determined to be more feasible because of the County-owned parcel described above. In addition, the County Board of Supervisors declared their intention to make the Fifth Street/Oak Avenue site available to the Historical Society as part of a local match.

City staff’s initial evaluation of the proposed use of the site was not supportive. This position was based on the inconsistency of the proposed use with the Gateway Revitalization Area of the Downtown Specific Plan. However, there are no other site alternatives available to the project sponsors and the group is facing a deadline to submit a conceptual plan and grant application that may generate a significant amount of funds for the future development of the proposed Center. The City Council and staff have been asked to reconsider this issue in view of the looming deadline, availability of the parcel and the fact that the proposed use would have a positive impact on the community.

Discussion

Although the proposed Yolo County Cultural, History and Art Center is inconsistent with the Chapter 7 Gateway Revitalization Area discussion contained within the Downtown Specific Plan it is considered a “public and quasi public building use” under the “Institutional and Government” section of the Land Use Matrix of the Plan. Since this use is a permitted use for District E, if the project were to be successful in getting the necessary funding and move forward, the Plan would have to be revised to eliminate these inconsistencies. Also, since previous City Council/Redevelopment Agency Board action has taken place to approve a MOU regarding to possible development of the Railroad property within the Gateway Revitalization Area, the need to revise the Specific Plan already exists.

Since it would be advisable to take a more comprehensive review and assessment of the Gateway Revitalization Area and if the timing was appropriate, the possible revision to the Downtown Specific Plan for the Railroad property and the Cultural, History, and Art Center could be incorporated into the overall update of the Plan. Otherwise, individual Specific Plan amendments will be more difficult to individually asses and process.

Fiscal Impact

There is no identified fiscal impact to the City at this time. If the site were to be eventually developed with the Yolo County Cultural, History and Art Center, there would be a slight reduction in possible future proposed property taxes that are based on the current Specific Plan Gateway Revitalization Area designation. This potential property tax reduction would result in a loss of potential tax increment funding to the Redevelopment Agency.

The regular joint session Woodland City Council/Redevelopment Agency Board meeting begins at 6 pm on Tuesday, April 15, at the City Hall Council Chambers (300 First Street). This item is scheduled for 6:37 pm.