Picture by Fayez Closed Account. on Flickr

Mayor Tim Sbranti recently shared his vision for Dublin, CA, during the annual State of the City address. The focus of the Mayor’s speech was the “Changing Landscape in Dublin.” In his speech, Mayor Sbranti noted that everyone is feeling the financial pinch, including the City of Dublin. Although the City is in better financial shape than most other cities, Dublin still needed to make some difficult cost reductions. The City is nevertheless moving forward with numerous park and public works projects such as Fallon Sports Park, the Historic Park, and the Dublin Sports Grounds renovations.

Where exactly is Downtown Dublin? Mayor Sbranti again explained that it is the area bound by I-580 to the south, Amador Valley Boulevard to the north, Village Parkway to the east, and San Ramon Road to the west. The Downtown Dublin Specific Plan will segment the downtown area into three districts. Each district will have a specified mix of retail, restaurants, high-density residential, and office space. While current guidelines have assigned a type of use to each parcel, new guidelines will give property owners flexibility within each district to adjust use based on market demand. These changes should motivate property owners to move quickly on projects, so they may lock up their preferred zoning options. The City can always relax the zoning restrictions at any time to adjust to market demand as well, but these changes will have to be made through a process whose details remain to be seen.

To fund the parks, sidewalks, and other enhancements in Downtown Dublin, the City is creating a Development Pool of additional square footage for the entire area. Property owners will have the option to renovate or rebuild, as long as the size of the new building does not exceed that of the current building. Property owners can always request additional square footage from the Development Pool if they wish to increase density and, in turn, profitability. In exchange for the additional square footage, property owners must either build certain public improvements or pay into a fund earmarked for those improvements. The amount of additional square footage from the Development Pool should stay fixed, so property owners will, in theory, race to start projects before the cap is reached. As an added incentive to boost economic activity in Downtown Dublin, the City of Dublin will not require public improvements or payment into the special fund for any additional square footage requested over the next few years. Of course, the City is always free to raise that arbitrary square footage cap as needed and fulfill any public works obligation on the property owner’s behalf if necessary, but such changes will have to be made through a process whose details remain to be seen.

Mayor Sbranti commended the City of Dublin for taking an active role in stimulating the local economy. The streamlined permit process made it possible for Tria Beauty to move into Dublin within 3 weeks and allowed the Buffalo Wild Wings expansion to be completed in time for the college football bowl season. Dublin has also created a Sales Tax Reimbursement Program whereby large businesses can recover most, if not all, of their expenses on building renovations and tenant improvements. This program has already brought Graybar Electric, New Home Inc., and a Hyundai dealership to Dublin. To attract new restaurants, the City of Dublin is partnering with the Dublin San Ramon Services District (DSRSD) to reduce the water and sewer hookup fees significantly. These hookup fees can be around $250K for an average sized restaurant and thus making opening new restaurants in Dublin prohibitively expensive. After months of negotiations, this much needed hookup fee reduction remains elusive.

Dublin is still seeing its share of residential development. While developers have been building toward the upper end of the residential density range for many years, they are now focusing almost exclusively on lower density single family homes. At one point, Sorrento East was expected to have 900 homes with mostly townhomes and apartments. Mayor Sbranti noted that Regent Properties is now looking to build mostly detached homes in Sorrento East, but plans for more apartments on that parcel are still going forward.

Mayor Sbranti concluded his annual State of the City address by saying that Dublin is well positioned for strong growth once the economy improves and that he expects Downtown Dublin to be a smashing success.