HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015/03/31 - Agenda Packet - Action THE CITY OF RANCHO CUCAMONGA
DESIGN REVIEW COMMITTEE
14.40►) AGENDA
C
„RANCHO GA MARCH 31 , 2015 - 7:00 P.M.
Rancho Cucamonga Civic Center
Tri-Communities Conference Room
10500 Civic Center Drive
Rancho Cucamonga, California
I. CALL To ORDER I ACTION
Roll Call 7:00 P.M.
Regular Members: Richard Fletcher X Francisco Oaxaca X
Candyce Burnett_ Donald Granger X
Alternates: Ray Wimberly_ Frances Howdyshell_
Lou Munoz
II. PROJECT REVIEW ITEMS
The following items will be presented by the applicant and/or their representatives.
Each presentation and resulting period of Committee comment is limited to
20 minutes. Following each presentation,the Committee will address major issues
and make recommendations with respect to the project proposal. The Design
Review Committee acts as an advisory Committee to the Planning Commission.
Their recommendations will be forwarded to the Planning Commission as
applicable. The following items do not legally require any public testimony,although
the Committee may open the meeting for public input.
A. ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND TENTATIVE TRACT MAP A. The Committee
SUBTT18936 - STORM WESTERN DEVELOPMENT INC—A request to recommended the
subdivide 8.32 acres of land into 17 lots(Lots 1-16 for residential purposes project move forward
and Lot 17 for an existing church) for a site located within the Very Low to the Planning
VL Zoning District(.1 -2 units per acre)of the Etiwanda Specific Plan for Comw.ssion for
( ) 9 (� P ) P review.
a site located on the south side of Carnesi Drive and east of Etiwanda
Avenue - APN: 0227-061-03 and 82. Related cases: General Plan
Amendment DRC2013-00961, Etiwanda Specific Plan Amendment
DRC2013-00962, and Variance DRC2014-00219.
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'�-`%`% DESIGN REVIEW COMMITTEE AGENDA
LW. MARCH 31 , 2014
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UCAMONGA •
III. PUBLIC COMMENTS
This is the time and place for the general public to address the Committee. State law
prohibits the Committee from addressing any issue not previously included on the
Agenda. The Committee may receive testimony and set the matter for a subsequent
meeting. Comments are limited to five minutes per individual.
The meeting was attended by approximately 50 community members from Cross and
Crown Lutheran Church and residents from the surrounding neighborhood. The church
members were generally in favor of the modified project layout presented by the
applicant. Residents to the north expressed opposition and submitted a petition signed
by 86 residents. Their concerns included:
• removal of a portion of a wall along the south side of Carnesi Drive;
• a perceived reduction of neighborhood cohesion;
• an increase in traffic; and
• a perceived loss of property value due to smaller lot size.
The residents felt the applicant should be required to redesign the project with access
from Etiwanda Avenue through the Cross and Crown Church parking lot.
IV. ADJOURNMENT 17:52P.M.
The Design Review Committee has adopted Administrative Regulations that set an
11:00 p.m. adjournment time. If items go beyond that time, they shall be heard only with
the consent of the Committee.
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DESIGN REVIEW COMMENTS
7:00 p.m. Tabe van der Zwaag March 31, 2015
ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AND TENTATIVE TRACT MAP SUBTT18936 -
STORM WESTERN DEVELOPMENT INC — A request to subdivide 8.32 acres of land
into 17 lots (Lots 1-16 for residential purposes and Lot 17 for an existing church) for a
site located within the Very Low (VL) Zoning District (.1 - 2 units per acre) of the
Etiwanda Specific Plan for a site located on the south side of Carnesi Drive and east of
Etiwanda Avenue - APN: 0227-061-03 and 82. Related cases: General Plan
Amendment DRC2013-00961, Etiwanda Specific Plan Amendment DRC2013-00962,
and Variance DRC2014-00219.
Background: The applicant, Storm Western Development, Inc., submitted an application
for the subdivision of 8.32 acres of land into 17 lots. Sixteen lots for residential purposes,
and with Lot 17 providing the new boundaries for Cross and Crown Lutheran Church,
which is located on a portion of the project site (Exhibit I). Cross and Crown Lutheran
Church, located at the southeast corner of Etiwanda Avenue and Carnesi Drive
(Exhibit B), is selling a portion of their property to the applicant, which was originally
master-planned for expansion of the educational program of the church.
The application includes General Plan and Etiwanda Community Plan Amendments to
change the land use and zoning designations from Very Low (VL) Residential (.1-2 DU
per acre) to Low (L) Residential (2-4 DU per acre) and a Variance for property line walls
that range in height from 7 to 11 feet along the rear property lines of all 16 residential
lots. House product for the lots is not a part of the project scope and will be submitted at
a later date.
Project Overview: The project site is vacant with the exception of Cross and Crown
Lutheran Church at the southeast corner of Etiwanda Avenue and Carnesi Drive and a
perimeter wall along Carnesi Drive. The site is currently zoned Very Low (VL) residential
and is within the Etiwanda Specific Plan area. The narrowness of the site precludes
developing a double-loaded street with lots that meet the 200-foot lot depth requirement.
The applicant has requested to change the zoning designation to Low (L) Residential,
which requires 100-foot lot depths. The existing single-family residences to the east
were developed prior to incorporation of the City and are within the Low (L) Zoning
District (Exhibits A and C). These existing lot sizes average approximately 7,500 square
feet, below the 15,000 square foot average lot size required by the Etiwanda Specific
Plan. The proposed lots comply with the 80-foot lot width and 100-foot lot depth
requirements of the Etiwanda Specific Plan and range in size from 11,597 to
19,938 square feet, with an average lot size of 15,010 square feet.
The applicant believes that the zone change will allow for the creation of a
double-loaded new street that provides a density transition from the existing smaller lot
development to the east and the existing larger one-half acre lot size development to the
north. The new lots would also be compatible to the existing lots to the west, along
Etiwanda Avenue, which range in size from 15,000 and 16,000 square feet (Exhibit C).
The applicant is also requesting a Variance to permit combination walls (up to 5-foot
retaining walls) with a maximum measured height of 11 feet for all 16 residential lots.
The additional height is necessary to raise the rear yard areas of the lots in order for
them to drain to the public street and to accommodate a waste water system. The
applicant was unable to obtain an off-site drainage easement from the Mormon Church
DRC ACTION AGENDA
SUBTT18936 — STORM WESTERN DEVELOPMENT INC.
March 31, 2015
Page 2
to the south. The Mormon Church submitted a letter stating that they would rather face
an 11-foot wall than disrupt their site to install the drainage facility. The applicant has
also contacted homeowners to the east and west who will face the 7- to 10-foot high
walls along the perimeter of the project and have obtained letters of acceptance for the
additional wall heights.
Access to the project will be from Carnesi Drive. The applicant submitted a Traffic
Evaluation (Trames Solutions, Inc., August, 2104) which states that based on the trip
generation, trip distribution, and trip assignment of the project, it is anticipated that the
project will have a nominal impact on the surrounding roadway network. The
Etiwanda Avenue/Carnesi Drive intersection would expect to have 7 additional trips in
the morning and 10 additional trips in the evening because of the proposed project. The
project is expected to add less than 100 trips per day to Carnesi Drive. The additional
delays because of the proposed project are very minimal and are not anticipated to
result in a significant traffic impact. The City's Traffic Engineer has reviewed the
submitted traffic evaluation and concurs with the conclusions of the study that the
proposed project will only have a minimal impact on Carnesi Drive and the nearest
intersections.
Meeting History: The project was originally deemed complete for Committee review on
April 1, 2014. Since that date, the project has been reviewed by the public at two
neighborhood meetings on April 14, 2014, and June 19, 2014, by the Design Review
Committee on May 6, 2014, and at a Planning Commission Workshop on
August 27, 2014.
Neighborhood Meeting #1: The applicant held a neighborhood meeting on
April 14, 2014, at 6:00 p.m. at the Four Points Sheraton, with approximately 80 persons
in attendance. Three main issues were raised at the meeting:
• The property owners to the east were in opposition to the previously proposed
street connection to Pinon Street. These property owners stated that opening up
Pinon Street, which currently dead ends into the project site, would greatly increase
traffic due to vehicles looking for a shorter route to Etiwanda Avenue (Exhibit A).
• The property owners to the north (along Carnesi Drive) were in opposition to the
demolition of the wall along the north side of the project site (south side of Carnesi
Drive) to develop a public street to access the project site (Exhibit D).
• The property owners to the north were also in opposition to the proposed land use
change from Very Low (VL) (25,000 square foot average lots) to Low (L)
(15,000 square foot lots)(Exhibit C). The residents stated that it would increase
traffic and decrease their property values. They also indicated that they did not want
smaller lot homes facing their larger lot homes to the north.
Design Review Committee Meeting #1: The project was reviewed by the Design Review
Committee on May 6, 2014, at 7:00 p.m. The Committee recommended that the project
be redesigned taking the concerns of the community into consideration. The meeting
was attended by approximately 30 residents from the Toll Brothers neighborhood, which
DRC ACTION AGENDA
SUBTT18936 — STORM WESTERN DEVELOPMENT INC.
March 31, 2015
Page 3
is north of the project site. The Toll Brothers residents were in opposition to the project
taking access from Carnesi Drive and the proposed General Plan and Etiwanda Specific
Plan amendments. The residents stated that the wall along the south side of Carnesi
Drive defined their community and removing it would negatively impact the aesthetics of
the neighborhood and that changing the land use would lower their property values. The
residents felt that the project should take access through the property of the church from
Etiwanda Avenue.
Neighborhood Meeting #2: The applicant held a second neighborhood meeting on
June 19, 2014, at 6:00 p.m. at Etiwanda Gardens, with approximately 100 persons in
attendance. The developer presented an updated layout which reduced the amount of
wall to be removed along Carnesi Drive from 642 to 60 feet. The new layout created a
cul-de-sac off of Carnesi Drive with an Emergency Vehicle Access (EVA) gate instead of
a through connection to Pinon Street and relocated the 4 lots facing Carnesi Drive to
facing the new interior street. The Toll Brothers residents remained in opposition to the
new layout, not wanting any portion of the wall removed in order to provide access to
Carnesi Drive. The residents insisted that access should be taken from
Etiwanda Avenue through the church property. The church members in attendance
raised concerns that accessing the site through the church parking lot would potentially
encumber the future expansion plans of the church.
Planning Commission Workshop: The applicant held a Planning Commission Workshop
in the Tri-Communities Room of City Hall on August 27, 2014, at 8:20 p.m. At the
Workshop, the applicant outlined the advantages and disadvantages of 4 potential
layouts of the project site (Exhibits E — H) and how they arrived at their decision to move
forward with Layout #2 (Exhibit F), which takes access from Carnesi Drive with a
cul-de-sac design. They felt that Layout #2 addressed the concerns of the property
owners to the east, who were opposed to the project directly connecting to Pinion Street,
and, the property owners to the north, who were opposed to the project removing the
wall along Carnesi Drive and having smaller size lots homes facing their larger lot
homes. Layout #2 provides a cul-de-sac with an emergency vehicle access gate, rather
than a direct connection to Pinon Street, reducing the linear feet of the wall removed
along Carnesi Drive from 642 to 60 feet and reorients the lots facing Carnesi Drive to
face the new project street.
The Commissioners commented that while the original layout (Layout #1 — Exhibit E)
had many positive features, Layout #2 (Exhibit F) addressed many of the concerns
raised by the neighboring property owners. The Commission observed that Layout #3
(Exhibit G), which was designed to meet the current Very Low (VL) zoning requirements,
required the removal of more linear feet of wall along Carnesi Drive, created lots that
were over 30 percent larger than and almost twice as deep as the lots to the north and
eliminated the opportunity for an emergency vehicle access gate to provide a second
access point to the existing development to the east. The Commissioners commented
that Layout #4 (Exhibit H), which takes access from Etiwanda Avenue through the
church parking lot with a double cul-de-sac, created an awkward street layout with
multiple flag lots and greatly encumbered any future expansion of the church. The
Commissioners concluded the meeting outlining that the applicant's next step would be
to submit the layout they wished to move forward with for staff review.
DRC ACTION AGENDA
SUBTT18936 — STORM WESTERN DEVELOPMENT INC.
March 31, 2015
Page 4
Correspondences: Staff has received letters in opposition to the project from the
property owners to the north of the project site. The letters outline the residents'
objections to the removal of the wall along the south side of Carnesi Drive, stating that
the wall was constructed by the developer of their homes, Toll Brothers, and that the
removal of the wall would negatively impact their property values and diminish the
cohesiveness of their neighborhood. The residents are also opposed to the proposed,
zone change, stating that the reduced lot sizes would increase traffic and lower their
property values. Letters of support were received from members of the Cross and Crown
Lutheran church outlining why they are selling the property and that the developer has
modified the design of the project to address the concerns of the residents.
Staff Comments: Staff supports the proposed layout (Layout #2 — Exhibit F), the related
General Plan and Specific Plan Amendments to change the land use to Low (L)
Residential and the Variance for the increased wall heights. The proposed layout is the
best compromise when balancing the future expansion plans of the church, concerns of
the surrounding residents, and good site planning.
Without the land use amendments, the required lot dimensions would negate plotting
houses on the both sides of the new public street and would require that an equestrian
trail be plotted adjacent to the existing non-equestrian lots. The amendments allow for
good street design, livability, and transition in density. The lots meet all other
requirements of the Low (L) Development District of the Etiwanda Specific Plan,
including lot depth (100 feet), width (80 feet) and average lot size (15,000 square feet).
The average lot size is 15,039 square feet, with the lots ranging in size from
10,014 square feet to 28,150 square feet.
Staff believes that the applicant has addressed many of the issues raised by the
neighbors. The applicant has modified the original proposed connection to Pinion Street
with a cul-de-sac, reduced the amount of wall to be removed along Carnesi Drive from
642 to 60 feet, and moved the lots facing Carnesi Drive to the interior Street. As
discussed at the Planning Commission Workshop, the three alternative layouts each
create design and neighborhood compatibility issues which negate Staff from being able
to support these layouts.
Major Issues: None.
Secondary Issues: None.
Staff Recommendation: Staff recommends that the Committee review the proposed
project (Layout #2 — Exhibit F), provide input as necessary and forward the project to the
Planning Commission for review and action.
Design Review Committee Action:
The Committee recommended the project move forward to the Planning Commission for
review.
Members Present: Fletcher, Oaxaca, Granger
Staff Planner: Tabe van der Zwaag