17.42.130 Criteria and standards for residential hotel conversions.
A. Purpose. The purpose of this section is to provide for the orderly conversion of existing hotels which have primarily nontransient occupants to residential hotels designed to provide long-term residential use for families and the work force that are affordable and to provide needed transitional housing opportunities. The standards herein are established to ensure that such use shall provide a suitable living environment for the tenants of the residential hotels, be compatible with surrounding land uses and protect the public health, safety and general welfare.
B. Use Permit Required. Residential hotel conversions shall be permitted only for a hotel legally operating before January 1, 2000, which can demonstrate that it is no longer economically viable as a fully transient hotel in the R-4, multifamily residential district and C-1, commercial or retail business district of the city. These conversions shall only be permitted in these underlying zones provided a use permit is first approved pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, a conversion agreement between the owner and the city is approved and executed, and compliance with the Uniform Building Codes (UBC) is achieved. The conversion agreement shall be designed to lessen the impact of the conversion removing visitor-serving units from the community, as set forth under subsections D through L of this section. For those hotels located in the C-1 zoned areas that have been constructed prior to January 1, 2000, residential hotels are conditionally permitted uses and are only allowed above the ground floor, except that, for such a hotel with only a single floor, a residential hotel is a conditionally permitted use which may occupy up to fifty percent of the square footage of the single floor.
C. Resident Manager. An on-site resident manager shall be required and shall be responsible for ensuring that applicable occupancy and income restrictions listed in the conversion agreement are enforced.
D. Affordability and Residency. As a condition of approval of any use permit and prior to the issuance of any building permits for such project, the owner(s) of the property shall be required to execute and record a notice against the property in a form approved by the city attorney agreeing to restrict rents of the residential hotel lodging units to a level affordable to low and moderate income households. The term “low to moderate income households” as used in this section shall mean households having an income not exceeding one hundred twenty percent of the median family income for the county of Monterey. Minimum affordability standards shall require that rents for these units shall not exceed thirty percent of the maximum income level of said low to moderate income households as set forth by the California State Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) as adjusted on an annual basis during the life of the project.
E. Conversion Agreement. The property owner(s) will be required to execute and record a conversion agreement with the city of Marina designed to lessen the impact on the city of the conversion eliminating visitor units, to include the following:
1. Payment of a mitigation fee to amortize the change in use;
2. Limitations relating to provisions to ensure that the rooms remain available for lower income households, which may include compensation for reasonable expenses of the city or an alternative agency delegated by the city for monitoring compliance with these provisions, and other provisions of the agreement and entitlements;
3. In order to avoid overcrowding and impacts on services, limitations on the maximum size and occupancy of each unit.
F. Site Development Standards. This chapter recognizes residential hotels as a special class of residential development to provide needed affordable and transitional housing opportunities. In order to provide a living environment consistent with the needs of the tenants of the residential hotels and in order to preserve locally recognized values of community appearance, the following site development standards shall apply, along with minimum common area facilities determined through the city’s normal process of hearings and consideration.
G. Minimum Lot Area. The minimum lot area shall not be less than sixteen thousand square feet.
H. Maximum Size of Each Unit. The maximum size of each dwelling unit shall be not more than five hundred square feet as per the UBC.
I. Open Space. Projects having thirty or more units shall be required to provide a total minimum of one thousand square feet of common usable open space.
J. Private Storage Space. Each unit within the project shall have at least fifty cubic feet of enclosed, weatherproofed and lockable storage space at a single location. This space shall be in addition to interior closet space provided within a unit.
K. Parking. For every dwelling unit there shall be no less than one parking space. The use and assignment of these parking spaces shall be clearly defined in the conversion agreement and lease agreement. Provisions for guest parking and bicycle parking/racks shall be required as part of the conversion agreement.
L. Site Design Review. Residential hotels in Marina shall be subject to site and architectural design review approval pursuant to Chapter 17.56. (Ord. 2020-07 § 2, 2020; Ord. 2008-06 Exh. A, 2008; Ord. 2004-04 § 1 (Exh. 2), 2004; Ord. 2004-03 § 1, 2004)