A. The Entertainment and Sports Center special planning district (ESC SPD) provides specific development procedures in recognition of the unique position of the surrounding property to the city's Entertainment and Sports Center. This SPD intends to further the city's goals of urban infill through facilitating and encouraging the development of the district and surrounding properties, by limiting certain uses, providing site specific development standards, and providing a streamlined approval process.
The ESC SPD will regulate uses, permit approval processes, and will regulate development standards for the physical development of the property, along with the Central City Urban Design Guidelines.
B. The goals of the ESC SPD are to:
1. Develop up to 1.5 million square feet of mixed-use development (office, hotel, retail, and residential);
2. Develop property in a manner to respond to, support, and further the unique site conditions and adjacency to the Entertainment and Sports Center;
3. Ensure on-site architectural design themes are able to be creative and forward-thinking while being compatible with surrounding developed properties;
4. Provide north-south and east-west connections from public streets into the plaza surrounding the entertainment and sports center to connect the downtown core and create view corridors and pedestrian access;
5. Provide safe, dynamic, and attractive mixed-use development to encourage 24-hour activities that support an active streetscape and strengthen connections between the waterfront, the Convention Center, the Capitol, and the Railyards and intermodal facilities;
6. Provide facilities that complement a variety of transportation modes including public transit, bicycling, walk-ing, and driving;
7. Discourage uses that contribute to visual or economic blight;
8. Promote aesthetic improvements to the area by implementing development standards and the Central City Urban Design Guidelines. (Ord. 2014-0014 § 1)