TITLE
Recommendation to declare ordinance amending and restating the Downtown Shoreline Planned Development District (PD-6), read and adopted as read. (District 2)
DISCUSSION
The Aquarium of the Pacific is planning a project titled the “Pacific Visions Expansion” that will consist of a 23,330-square-foot addition to the existing Aquarium facility. The primary feature of this expansion will be a two-story, sixty-five-foot-tall wing containing a new changing exhibit gallery and a large media-based immersive theater. The project also involves construction of a new front entrance, lobby space, a ticket booth, and an expanded retail gift shop (Exhibit A - Plans). Plans and construction will be targeted to meet the US Green Building Council’s LEED “Gold” certification level, with plans to bring the project to LEED “Platinum” status if funding is available.
The project includes a large architectural art feature on the façade of the addition, consisting of a digital ink display. This display will be used to show images of marine animals and environments, along with other images related only to the Aquarium, and to display the Aquarium logo. This display is intended to serve as an art piece, to draw attention to the Aquarium’s environmental programs.
The Downtown Shoreline Planned Development District (PD-6), which serves as the zoning document for this area, prescribes an arbitrary size limit of 150,000 square feet for an aquarium in this area. This project would exceed the 150,000-square-foot size limit, and since a larger overall project already was analyzed by preceding environmental reports for the Queensway Bay Master Plan, PD-6 can safely be amended to remove this limit and allow the Aquarium to expand to meet its needs. The California Coastal Commission also must approve any amendment to PD-6 following City action.
On June 17, 2010, the Planning Commission approved the required entitlements for the addition and architecture, and for the digital ink displa...
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