CapstoneProject

Court Street btw 5th & Mission Av

San Rafael Parking Lot Landscape Ordinance &

Guidelines Capstone Project Final Report

Alicia Yballa | LEED AP, BD+C

Dominican University of California BUSX 8030, Spring 2012

Bob Brown, Project Mentor 30 April 2012

San Rafael Parking Lot Landscape Ordinance & Guidelines ii

San Rafael Parking Lot Landscape Ordinance & Guidelines iii

Table of Contents

San Rafael Parking Lot Landscape Ordinance & Guidelines ............................. 1

Introduction and Background ..................................................................................................................... 1

Justification, Description & Goals .............................................................................................................. 1

I. City of San Rafael Climate Change Action Plan ............................................................................................................. 2

II. San Rafael General Plan 2020 .......................................................................................................................................... 2

III. Scope – Concepts for Inclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 3

Learning Objectives ...................................................................................................................................... 3

Process & Project Summary ........................................................................................................................ 4

Deliverables and Outcomes ......................................................................................................................... 7

Recommendations ......................................................................................................................................... 9

Timeline ............................................................................................................. 11

References .......................................................................................................... 12

Appendix ............................................................................................................ 18

Dedication .......................................................................................................... 19

Alicia Yballa | LEED AP, BD+C

Dominican University of California BUSX 8030, Spring 2012

Bob Brown, Project Mentor 30 April 2012

San Rafael Parking Lot Landscape Ordinance & Guidelines 1

San Rafael Parking Lot Landscape Ordinance & Guidelines

Introduction and Background

Parking lots are the interface where private business enterprise meets the public realm and are an opportunity for urban forestry to heal visual blight and address the environmental impacts of these auto infrastructure features. This project is aimed to develop a Draft Parking Lot Landscape Ordinance and set of Guidelines for adoption by the City of San Rafael for the sustainability elements of San Rafael’s Climate Change Action Plan, as derived from the General Plan for 2020. It involves working closely with City Staff and Stakeholders, and will be taken forward to the Design Review Board, City Council and Planning Commission. It is an opportunity to be proactive in the application of sustainable ideology and to practice environmental stewardship at a level that has long-term implications in the Community that we live.

Justification, Description & Goals

“Parking requirements cause great harm: they subsidize cars, distort transportation choices, warp urban form, increase housing costs, burden low income households, debase urban design, damage the economy, and degrade the environment. Off-street parking requirements also cost a lot of money, although this cost is hidden in higher prices for everything except parking itself.” Don Shoup, UCLA Prof. of Urban Planning


An update to San Rafael’s existing Parking Lot Landscape Ordinance serves to implement the recommended programs within the City’s Climate Change Action Plan. After adoption of the Ordinance, I expect to develop an accompanying set of Landscape Guidelines for Parking Lots. It will have sections, which will include maintenance and vegetation, provide direction to resources for trees, plant lists, structural soils, low impact design (LID) for stormwater management, cool paving and electrical vehicle charging station design, as well as provide diagrams and tables to assist City Staff in enforcement and clarification for compliance by applicants.

I. City of San Rafael Climate Change Action Plan1 The ordinance addresses issues in three of the four components in San Rafael’s Climate Change Action Plan:

A. Our Environment. Inventory tree and vegetative cover to establish citywide goals and strategies to increase carbon sequestration and shade to address pollution and heat island effect.

B. Our Buildings. Reduce dependency on non-renewable resources by developing guidelines to achieve water conservation in landscaping with LID stormwater practices and zone-appropriate, water-wise plantings.

C. Our Lifestyles. Promote energy savings from transportation by participating in regional efforts to encourage widespread availability of charging stations and requiring the installation of electrical conduit for the infrastructure of electric vehicle charging stations.

II. San Rafael General Plan 2020 The ordinance addresses specific issues within the General Plan including:

A. Neighborhood component.2 Screening to reduce visual impact, provide security and landscaping for pedestrian safety through site design and well-landscaped parking lots.

B. Community Design component.3 Provide shade to reduce thermal gain from pavement and shade cover for vehicles. Reduce air pollution and emphasize the use of trees to soften the appearance of parking lots.

1 “City of San Rafael, Climate Change Action Plan,” p 7-11. 2 “San Rafael General Plan 2020,” p 63-127. 3 Ibid., p 129-141.


Include maintenance requirements within the two-year maintenance bond.4 C. Conservation5 and circulation6 components. Encourage renewal energy alternatives by

requiring the inclusion of pre-wiring for electrical vehicle charging stations to encourage development of alternative fuel infrastructure.

III. Scope – Concepts for Inclusion Concepts for inclusion were determined after researching existing parking lot landscape ordinances and guidelines throughout the state of California provided by the League of California Cities’ Housing, Community & Economic Development Public ListServ and in MuniCodes for each municipality. San Rafael City Staff aided in the review of existing regulations, City needs and the process for ordinance adoption. Scope of the project was limited to an update of the existing Ordinance 14.18.130 – Parking facility dimensions and design (see Appendix: Existing City of San Rafael Municipal Code Requirements). A summary of the preliminary research findings revealed eight distinct concepts for inclusion: shade, screening, design, tree soil preparation/planting area, stormwater management, cool paving, maintenance and electric vehicle infrastructure. The concepts were further divided between the Ordinance and Guidelines based on whether or not a specific issue would be mandated versus recommended. Stakeholders provided input and guidance to define this division.

Learning Objectives

To learn about Urban Forestry in its application to Sustainability Practices.

To learn about the Planning process.

To apply best management practices for stormwater management contextually in planning infrastructure for parking lots in San Rafael.

To understand how electric vehicle charging station infrastructure can be incorporated.

To determine achievable requirements for the rehabilitation of existing parking lots.

To understand Stakeholders’ viewpoints and how Stakeholders are involved in the process.

To understand the feasibility of applying regulations versus making recommendations and the implications these may have on parking counts.

4 This 2-year maintenance bond no longer exists in current regulations. 5 Ibid., p 285-303. 6 Ibid., p 155-195.


To learn the process of developing an ordinance.

Process & Project Summary

Research criteria were based on meeting program requirements for the San Rafael Climate Change Action Plan, derived from the General Plan for 2020, documents I found to be in harmony with each other and with the principles and foundations of Sustainability Practice. The initial research findings were kept in a relational database format in FileMaker Pro for ease of search, sorting and analysis, the primary key being each municipality. There were some revelations and some surprises. Most municipalities had an existing ordinance for parking lot landscaping, ranging from very simple, almost rudimentary, to the City of Davis, which were accompanied by a detailed set of Guidelines, master list of trees, and planting/irrigation specifications.

It is important to note that the General Plan 2020 for San Rafael was written in 2004. Although written in very general terms, some program recommendations within the plan are no longer

congruent with current practices in the Planning Department. Annual, rigorous review of these documents assures alignment of efforts. On a positive note, this can be evidence that, although small

and incremental, change and, hopefully impact, has taken place.

Early in the process, it became clear that trees, for growth potential/success, shade, maintenance, aesthetics, carbon sequestration, and stormwater management are the governing factor in any landscape ordinance. Concurrent with a thorough literature research on these topics, I began a photo documentation of existing trees in existing parking lots – what works and what doesn’t. The literature and field studies yielded the same findings, i.e. the majority of trees and landscaping in parking lots in San Rafael are not working. This lack of success is multi-factorial including lack of maintenance, inappropriate tree species or installation, soil compaction, damage by automobiles or vandalism, improper pruning, etc. This lack of success is mostly attributable to a lack of understanding of what trees and vegetation need to survive and a lack of placing value on the importance of trees and landscaping in an urban environment.

The practical application of Sustainability Practices in an urban environment requires that the Community, as a whole, place value on the importance of Nature. This is compounded by the lack of resources for implantation and enforcement, resulting in minimizing the impact an ordinance of

any kind may have.

Bob Brown chose and assembled the stakeholders for input. Stakeholders included: three landscape architects, one of which is also an arborist and on the Design Review Board for San Rafael, Jeff Kent, two commercial real estate developers, the San Rafael City Engineer for the Department of Public Works, the San Rafael Community Development Director, the San Rafael Principal Planner,


and Sandra Sellinger, founder/director of Marin ReLeaf. Preliminary findings were presented in a Policy Choice Matrix and PowerPoint presentation. (see Appendix: 120201 Policy Choice Matrix and 120128 Stakeholder Presentation #1) The dissension amongst the stakeholders was remarkable, but most surprisingly apparent between the landscape architects. Although motivated to ‘do the right thing,’ they all had different levels of knowledge on the same topics. It is difficult to make an evaluation on one meeting, however it appeared that one commercial real estate developer was outspoken in his motivation about the cost of complying with regulations over doing the right thing for the environment. Unexpected ,was that the City Engineer had little experience and limited knowledge of state-of-the-art concepts for paving materials and general landscape design for LID stormwater management.

Stakeholder viewpoints remain crucial in the decision-making process because buy-in is necessary for compliance of the ordinance and ultimately the overall success of the goals to mitigate climate change. It is important to seek to understand the perspective of the Stakeholders, as cost is likely to override any desire to ‘do the right thing’ and an equitable compromise may be difficult to find. A step in

the right direction would be to educate Stakeholders and the Community in Sustainability.

We regrouped offline to redirect our efforts in response to Stakeholder input. I expanded my research: added shade studies using various-sized canopy trees, performed field studies of landscape islands in parking lots, studied soil volume for tree success, composed a photo documentation of successful (but mostly unsuccessful) parking lot tree plantings, compared the use of permeable paving with structural soils and suspended pavement in relationship to trees, did cost comparisons and much more.

What the findings revealed were not expected and this shifted our timeline. I adjusted the research to pursue the answers to the questions the findings had brought up for my Project Mentor. Figuring out what the right questions are can be the most difficult task. We had a special meeting offline with Jeff Kent for guidance from his progressive work with Santa Clara County. This meeting brought the importance of the relationships between tree success, stormwater management, permeable paving, and the upcoming changes in the National Pollutant Discharge and Elimination System, NPDES7, permitting (see Appendix: National Pollution Discharge and Elimination System General Permit for Discharges from Construction Activities). We added Terri Fashing, Stormwater Program Administrator for the Marin County Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program, MCSTOPPP8, to the group of Stakeholders (see Appendix: Stormwater Quality Manual for Development Projects in Marin County).

7 “NPDES Construction General Permit” 8 “Stormwater Quality Manual for Development Projects in Marin County; Guidance for Applicant.”


It is critical to figure out the right questions and to ask a lot of them. Be ready and flexible to adjust the scope of the project when the answers dictate a shift. Expect resistance to change.

Even if well within the process, recognize the gaps in resources and the need to invite the proper Stakeholders to the game to cover all the bases.

Conversations with Terri Fashing revealed incongruences between the new permitting requirements for NPDES and the requirement for shade trees in parking lots that this parking lot landscape ordinance would mandate. Specifically, the soil specifications for stormwater management would preclude the growth of trees in this substrate. The new NPDES permitting requirements will be significantly more stringent than the current regulations and will mandate removal of impervious surfaces with ratios of impervious to pervious surfaces of 2:1. The reality in San Rafael is that the majority of parking lots that this landscape ordinance will apply fall below the 5,000sf/25 spaces thresholds where the NPDES permit requirements would kick in. We therefore aligned our recommendations with these new requirements by encouraging the same ratios in the design guidelines and making reference to the NPDES permit requirements for projects above the thresholds.

In addition, tree planting in the interior of parking lots, now being unfavorable for success, is recommended at the southerly and westerly perimeters of the lots where soil volume is favorable for growth potential and solar conditions provide maximum shade to asphalt surfaces and vehicles.

The greatest lesson learned is that ‘timely coordination’ between agencies makes compliance for applicants and enforcement for regulators feasible, ultimately fulfilling the overarching goal of climate

change mitigation. Without coordination, all the hours put in to write this ordinance would be nullified in less than half the time it took to put it all together. Working together by being flexible

in our approach and ideas builds positive relationships between agencies.

New findings and recommendations were presented in a Policy Choice Matrix and PowerPoint presentation at a second Stakeholder meeting. (see Appendix: 120424 Ordinance Policy Matrix, 120424 Stakeholder Presentation #2, 120424 Recommended Tree List for Ordinance)

Stakeholders overriding motivation is about practical feasibility. Closest to this pulse is City Staff, on the front lines.

It is important to listen well and really hear your Stakeholders because responding to their input by asking and answering the ‘right’ questions weakens the dissension and allows for productive debate

resulting in resolutions that are less about compromise and more about reaching common goals toward Sustainability in a holistic manner. Pursuit of Sustainability can be viewed as utopian. Pausing to allow for consensus closes the gaps and brings us closer to living sustainable lifestyles.


Deliverables and Outcomes

As part of the course of his work, Bob Brown will draft the updated Ordinance and submit it for review together with several others in the works. I will attend and assist him with presentations to the San Rafael Design Review Board, Planning Commission and City Council for adoption of the Ordinance. After adoption of the ordinance, I will develop a set of Guidelines to accompany the Ordinance to aid City Staff in enforcement and clarification for compliance of the regulation by applicants.

Concurrent with this Capstone Project, Bob Brown as my Project Mentor, we were also classmates in Master Class #39 for the Environmental Forum of Marin, EFM9. This arrangement allowed for enhanced accountability and an opportunity for additional presentations for feedback from a contingency well aligned in Sustainability Practices – essentially dry runs, although only general concepts were presented to EFM, saving technicalities for the Stakeholders. This alerted me to any adverse reactions to our proposals and helped to instruct our angle of presentation to the Stakeholders. My background in Landscape Architecture, as a steward of the landscape, and Bob’s expertise in Planning was a well-rounded team for technical knowledge and process.

Deliverables and outcomes are listed below and can be found in the Appendix.

Deliverable Outcome 1 Sustainable

Practices Certificate

Program Intake Interview

In retrospect, it is satisfying to find that my initial goals have been fulfilled in the classroom work and that this project is well aligned with my interests, skill set and learning objectives of the program.

2 EFM Project Proposal

The project proposals for EFM and the Capstone Project were written by Bob and me, respectively, slightly different with respect to the requirements of each program. It was the beginning of my learning of the differences of perspectives between the disciplines of Planning and Landscape Architecture. The project remained well aligned with the initial proposals, with only minor shifts in scope dictated by research and field study findings in the process.

3 Stakeholder Presentation #1

This presentation was the first opportunity for many of the Stakeholders to learn about some of the sustainability issues involved in parking lot construction. Response to feedback and input from Stakeholders helped to define the scope of the project by focusing the research to address their concerns. It made me aware of their gaps in knowledge about sustainability and where the next presentation could help to educate them.

9 www.marinefm.org


Deliverable Outcome 4 Policy Choice

Matrix This matrix was the working document given to stakeholders, at the Stakeholder Presentation #1. It provided the framework for our project team to work within and is the summary of existing regulations and guidelines that initially defined the scope. It also acted as a reference for Stakeholder input.

5 Research Findings

Response to Stakeholder feedback redirected the research and determined the need for tree canopy shade and field studies. These studies caused an adjustment in the expected outcome of the ordinance. The photo documentation, hard numbers of the costs and shade canopy calculations were definitive contributors to the outcome of our recommendations for the Ordinance. Key was input from MCSTOPPP regarding the new NPDES permitting requirements and the effects this would have on tree success. This required further analysis to help answer technical questions that came up for us and would likely be asked by the Stakeholders. At this stage, Bob was ruminating on the shift in our recommendations, as these were different than what he had expected due to the research, field study findings and stormwater management requirements. Further analysis also shifted the timeline.

6 EFM Project Update

This timely submittal helped to formulate the initial recommendations for the Ordinance and helped to keep the project on track and within the timeline. It laid out the next steps in our process and delineated the concepts for inclusion between the Ordinance and Guidelines.

7 EFM Final Presentation

Another timely submittal helped to formulate the final recommendations for the Ordinance. It is the Research Findings significantly pared down (sans technical jargon) and gave the project a good feel for the direction of the final presentation for the Stakeholders.

8 Master Tree List Database

This Master Tree List is a database compiled from the nine Bay Area Counties and can be sorted on any criteria. It is a rich and valuable resource of trees in any public landscape in San Rafael and will be provided in the Guidelines. Previous to this, there has not been a tree list as comprehensive for San Rafael.

9 Ordinance Policy Matrix

After much mashing, this Ordinance Policy Matrix is composed of the recommendations that will be presented at the Stakeholder Presentation #2. The recommendations are further delineated between Ordinance and Guidelines.


This submittal is the edited Research Findings post-analysis and presents the rationales for the recommendations in the Ordinance Policy Matrix.

11 Recommended Tree List for

Ordinance

This Tree List will accompany the Ordinance and is specific to trees recommended for parking lots in San Rafael.


In the grand scheme, the outcome of applying these regulations and recommendations to parking lot landscapes will reduce heat island effect, conserve energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, address water quality and quantity for stormwater management, capture particulate matter pollution, create safe pedestrian environments, and make for a more beautiful San Rafael. By providing specific, thorough and clear regulations and guidelines, compliance to achieve a sustainable community will be more likely.

Recommendations

The factors that brought this project together made it a most valuable experience – Bob as the Project Mentor, his established relationship with the City of San Rafael, his access to the Stakeholders, his expertise in planning, our concurrent enrollment in EFM Master Class #39, a well-defined project with a scope and timeline aligned for both programs and the City’s need for our contribution. This set up a framework that will most likely ensure a successful outcome: the adoption of an updated parking lot landscape ordinance for the installation and rehabilitation of parking lots to increase tree cover, reduce thermal gain, maximize tree growth and carbon sequestration, improve aesthetics, and slow filter and absorb rainwater. I am fortunate to have gained some insight on the process of regulations and what goes behind it, i.e. a tremendous amount of research. I am much clearer on the delineation between the disciplines of Planning and Landscape Architecture and now understand the utmost importance of working together to understand the perspectives of each. In this process, I appreciate the position of City Staff as they are, more often than not, uncomfortably sandwiched between the Regulators and the Applicants, otherwise known as the Community. The most profound lesson is that being a steward for the environment means different things to different people and that there are huge gaps in knowledge about Sustainability – it will therefore remain a nebulous word.

The City is resource poor and enforcement of regulations is illusory. City Staff begs for clarity in the regulations. In the creation or updating of ordinances, this cannot be achieved without the broadest knowledge base of the existing regulations. An understanding of relationships between agencies is essential and vastly complex, so I may only offer humble recommendations. Is it possible to get all these people at the same table for the purpose of understanding respective perspectives? My first recommendation would be to standardize the Sustainability knowledge of the factions by having them interact in a playing field such as the Environmental Forum of Marin. Secondly, is coordination, i.e. coordination between the actions of each of the agencies – more communication and less adversarial politics.


There is a distinct delineation between the disciplines of Planning, Landscape Architecture and Architecture. Although conceptual overlap inherently exists, in practice, this delineation has been considerably blurred. My strongest recommendation is for both parties to step back and regain

respect for the distinction that separates them. This would be a generative step toward progressive thinking and could result in holistic resolutions that would make Sustainability a feasible reality.

The work of this project has provided the ingredients for a draft parking lot landscape ordinance, which Bob will submit along with several others in the works as part of a package. I expect to attend and assist with presentations of these Drafts to the Design Review Board, Planning Commission and City Council, so the process will continue . . .

In closing,

“So many citizens say parking is a fundamental right. Instead, as a car is private property, parking should have private, not public solutions, leaving city governments to focus on public transportation.” Peñalosa, SF Supervisor


Timeline


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Appendix SUBMITTALS & DELIVERABLES

110720 Sustainable Practices Certificate Program Intake Interview

111226 Environmental Forum of Marin Project Proposal


120201 Policy Choice Matrix

120302 Research Findings

120307 Environmental Forum of Marin Project Update

120316 Environmental Forum of Marin Final Presentation

120419 Master Tree List Database

120424 Ordinance Policy Matrix


120424 Recommended Tree List for Ordinance

GUIDELINES

Best Management Practices for Tree Planting

City of David Tree Planting and Irrigation Detail

Existing City of San Rafael Municipal Code Requirements

LEED Options

Marin County Stormwater Ordinance

Marin County Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program; Stormwater Quality Manual for Development Projects in Marin County

National Pollution Discharge and Elimination System General Permit for Discharges from Construction Activities

SAMPLE GUIDELINES


Dedication

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

Bob Brown, AICP

Documents

CapstoneProject