Label
Zoning & Planning Committee
Title
Approving and adopting the M-5-19 2019 UpTown District Master Plan Update as an amendment to the Toledo 20/20 Comprehensive Plan for the City of Toledo, Ohio; and declaring an emergency.
Body
SUMMARY & BACKGROUND:
This request is for the review of the 2019 UpTown District Plan Update, prepared by the Toledo Design Center in conjunction with the UpTown Association and Toledo City Plan Commission staff. The Core Planning Team started reviewing the area in November of 2016, and in the spring of 2017 they held four (4) public forums to discuss how to proceed with the plan. The Toledo Design Center professionals and interns engaged in detailed visioning, including extensive meetings with the stakeholders that led to numerous possibilities for planning sustainable growth.
The planning area of the UpTown District Plan encompasses 250 acres bounded by
Collingwood Boulevard to the west, Woodruff Avenue to Franklin Avenue to the north with Jackson Street and 10th to the east, and back to Washington Street for the southerly border. Directly to the north of UpTown is the Old West End Historic District, to the east and south is the Downtown Overlay District and Warehouse District. The Monroe Street Corridor starts at 14th street and runs north to Collingwood Blvd and is encompassed in the UpTown Urban Neighborhood Overlay but is excluded from the district since it has an overlay.
In an effort to gather feedback from stakeholders and their organizations, the planning team conducted interviews, meet monthly with the UpTown Development Committee to discuss the progress of the new plan. Once the draft was finalized, there were two public meetings held within the UpTown District planning area. The meetings were held on March 7th and 13th with approximately 80 people in attendance.
The current Master Plan for UpTown was adopted in 2013 and since then several reinvestments have been made in the neighborhood to include stakeholders taking their own initiative with the creation of the Village on Adams (VOA) in 2014. The major renovations took place at the Toledo School for the Arts, the Toledo Club, and Mercy College. A major relocation occurred with the Cherry Street Mission moving into the old Macomber High School.
Several new developments have occurred since 2013 with the largest being the completion of the multi-million dollar Neighborhood Health Association Clinic that transformed two city blocks. Two smaller developments that were completed are the UpTown Green Park that covers 2.5 acres of green space in the district and the ProMedica Ebeid Institute. An up and coming project is the major renovation to the Downtown Toledo-Lucas County Main Public Library.
Since the inception of the UpTown District Urban Neighborhood Overlay (UNO) and the appointments to UpTown District Architectural Review Committee (UDARC), twenty-two (22) applications have been received and reviewed by the UDARC to include three zone changes, and a local historical designation of a property located at 443-447 10th Street by a local developer. The zone changes were considered down zoning since the properties were zoned industrial and were changed to commercial or mixed commercial and residential zoning to allow for compatible reuses of the existing structures.
The UpTown District is viewed as more trendy with local shop owners, artists, and locally owned restaurants. The assets identified in the planning process are the strong music scene and organized street events. The obstacles identified is the sub-par lighting, lack of bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and buildings not being restored and put back in to use to assist with sustainability of the neighborhood, and the major challenge is uncoordinated parking resources.
The Master Plan Update shows the current land use in the UpTown District is broken down into percentages in the new plan showing the commercial properties being at 52% and the lowest showing industrial properties at .5%. There is strong potential for converting the commercial properties to mixed use commercial and residential zoning if properties are restored and converted either by the current entities or sold to new owners wanting to invest in the Downtown area. Currently, the mixed use percentage in the UpTown District is at 4.5%.
The new plan lists out the future implementation strategy and has six (6) Priority Projects for the UpTown District Master Plan:
• Improve connectivity converting one way streets to two way streets along with constructing a cycle way separate from bike lanes on the main roads.
• Highlight Adam’s Street as a premier arts district.
• Increased market rate housing.
• Two community projects for a new park located on Washington and the reuse of the Jefferson Center.
• Monroe Street Enhancements.
• Strengthen Uptown Association by collaborating with the Village on Adams, ConneToledo, and Downtown Toledo Development Corporation.
The framework for the new master plan has key elements that include protecting and redeveloping existing structures, focus new construction on corner properties first, enhance Adams Street with new lighting, street trees and furniture. Develop gateways at Adams, Michigan Street, Franklin, and Ashland, and convert Jackson, 11th Street, and 14th Street to two-way streets to improve connectivity.
The 20/20 Land Use Plan that was adopted for the UpTown vicinity reflects the recommendations from the 2011 Toledo Downtown Plan. The recommendations from the Toledo 20/20 Comprehensive Plan for the UpTown neighborhood area are as follows:
(167) Toledo 20/20 recommends for the Downtown:
• Converting Monroe and Washington to two-way with landscaping.
• Creating entertainment and niche commercial development.
• Enforcing aggressively the commercial building code.
• Encouraging educational facilities downtown.
• Changing the street system to two-way streets.
• Encouraging more museums downtown.
These recommendations are consistent and compliment the initiatives that are proposed for the UpTown District Plan.
The Plan as an amendment to the Toledo 20/20 Comprehensive Plan was submitted to the Toledo City Plan Commission for its review and recommendation. This matter was considered by the Toledo City Plan Commission at its meeting on June 13, 2019 and the City Plan Commission recommended approval.
On July 17, 2019, the Zoning and Planning Committee of City Council considered the Plan and the committee voted to forward to the full Council with a recommendation of approval the request to adopt the Plan as an amendment to the Toledo 20/20 Comprehensive Plan.
Summary
NOW, THEREFORE, Be it ordained by the Council of the City of Toledo:
SECTION 1. That the 2019 City of Toledo Uptown District Master Plan Update as an amendment to the Toledo 20/20 Comprehensive Plan for the City of Toledo, Ohio, be and the same is hereby approved and incorporated into the Toledo 20/20 Comprehensive Plan. A copy of the Plan is on file with the Clerk of City Council's Office.
SECTION 2. That the Secretary of the Toledo City Plan Commission be and he hereby is directed to revise the official 20/20 Comprehensive Plan of the City of Toledo to conform with the City of Toledo 2016 Downtown Toledo Master Plan as an amendment to the Toledo 20/20 Comprehensive Plan as approved in Section 1 above.
SECTION 3. That this Ordinance hereby is declared to be an emergency measure and shall be in force and effect from and after its passage. The reason for the emergency lies in the fact that same is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety and property, and for the further reason that it is required to provide for the orderly development of the area and to protect the land values in the area.
Vote on emergency clause: yeas _____, nays _____.
Passed: _________________, as an emergency measure: yeas _____, nays _____.
Attest: ________________________ __________________________________
Clerk of Council President of Council
Approved: _____________________ __________________________________
Mayor
I hereby certify that the above is a true and correct copy of an Ordinance passed by Council ________________________.
Attest: ________________________
Clerk of Council