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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1981/03/23 - Minutes - Adjourned March 23, 1981 · CITY OF RANCHO CUCAMONGA CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Adjourned Meetin~ 1. CALL TO ORDER. An adjourned meeting on the General Plan by the City Council was held in the Lion's Park Community Center, 9161 Base Line Road, on March 23, 1981. The meeting was called to order at 7:07 p.m. by Mayor Schlosser who led the flag salute. Present: Councilmen James C. Frost, Jun D. Mikels, Michael A. Palombo, Arthur H. Bridge, and Mayor Phillip D. Schlosser. Also present: City Manager Lauren M. Wasserman; Deputy City Attorney Robert DoughertT~ Community Development Director Jack Lam; City Planner Barry Hogan; Senior Planner Timothy Beedle; and City Engineer Lloyd Hubbs. 2. REVI~ AND DISCUSSION OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES SUPER-ELEMENT. (l Mr. Hogan presented an overview. He said the intent of this Super-Element was to encourage the identification and management of the City's diverse natural resources. He said there were five areas for consideration: (1) Land Resources (2) Water Resources (3) Plant and Animal Resources (4) Open Space (5) Energy Included in this element are two mandatory general plan elements: Open Space and Conservation. Also, an optional Energy Element is included. Mayor Schlosser said he had a comment regarding Water Resources. He said he wanted to see us protect areas that are capable of replenishing ground water supplied. He said we had the Cucamonga and Chino rain water basins below us, and he hoped we would put enough water back into the ground so we would not have to transport our water from hundreds of miles away. Councilman Frost commented whether energy conservation as it applies to building standards should be handled during the General Plan process or to handle later ~ith modifications to the building standards. Mr. Hogan said that Council would get into details in how to implement the energy conservation element through a specific ordinance rather than through the General Plan. Councilman Mikels pointed out that at a recent SCAG meeting, they had reviewed some regulations that had been promulgated from the State Energy Commission specifically designed to modify the Uniform Building Code to provide standards for energy reten- tion, etc. He said he has not followed this along to know what has happened, but that the matter may be taken out of the city's hands. He said the changes which were suggested by the Energy Commission would increase the cost of a house by approxi- mately $7,000. Councilman Frost said we should go on record stating that we have not done enough at this point and want to actively pursue doing more in energy conservation. Councilman Bridge said he would like to see the city become more active, along with others, to make a mandatory utilization of on-site disposal because a tremendous amount of water is sent down the lines to the Chino area when it should go through our own purification into our own basin. He recommended that the City Engineer get with the General Manager of the Cucamonga County Water District to see what could be done. City Council Minutes March 23, 1981 Page 2 Councilman Mikels had a questions on page 195 of the draft General Plan starting He asked how we were going to regulate and implement the following: Demolition of existing housing stock and replacement with new residential construction shall be undertaken only when it can be demonstrated that renovation/rehabilitation is less energy efficient based on a life- cycle cost analysis which considers the embodied energy of the existing structure. He said he felt this should be deleted from the text. Council concurred. Motion: Moved by Mikels, seconded by Palombo to approve the Environmental Resources Super Element. Councilman Frost recommended that on page 174 the section after the asterisk should a~so be deleted from the General Plan. Section states "*particularly from residents in the hillside area. Council concurred with this deletion. Mayor Schlosser opened the meeting for public hearing. * Doug Hone, 7333 Hellman Avenue. He said he had concerns as to the overall plan as to the compatibility of the actual water capabilities. He said he would like to see other street landscaping requirements which required less water. There being no further comments from the public, the Mayor closed the public hearing. Motion to approve the Environmental Resources Super-Element to include the changes on page 174 and 195 was carried unanimously 5-0. 3. REVIEW AND DISCUSSION OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND SAFETY SUPER-ELEMENT. Mr. Beedle gave an overview of the Element. He said the intent of the Element was to identify potential hazards, or hazard areas, both natural and man-created, and to regulate land development to minimize the impact of a given hazard. Nine areas are considered: Geologic Hazards Seismic Hazards Flood Hazards Fire Hazards Noise Air Quality Crime Prevention Emergency Services Miscellaneous Hazards (wind and eucalyptus windrows) He said that within this Super-Element were sub-elements of land use, circulation, housing, public facilities (parks and recreation), and community design. Councilman Mikels stated that the section on page 224 of the draft General Plan, second paragraph from the bottom of the page, "Any major subdivision, emergency facility, or other type of structure that attracts numbers of people, is open to the general public, or provides essential community services should not be per- mitted within a Fault Hazard Special Study Zone, as shown in Figure V-3." He stated that this language would apply more appropriately to the Alquist-Priolo Zone only, and there was nothing for the other inferred fault areas. It was agreed that staff should come back with a revised policy to include the Alquist-Priolo Zone and to add another section to address the inferred fault area. Councilman Frost said that when referring to future locations for fire stations, there should be the same type of disclaimer added as we did with parks and schools, that it does not mean the location is owned by the Fire District. City Council Minutes March 23, 1981 Page 3 Mayor Schlosser opened the meeting for public hearing. * Jeff Sceranka expressed that there was further need to investigate the Red ttill Fault. Local geologists claim there is a problem while others claim there is not. He felt a determination should be made. There being no further comments from the public, the public hearing was closed. Motion: Moved by Palombo, seconded by Mikels to approve the Public Health and Safety Super-Element with the following changes: - Staff come back with revised language for Inferred Fault Area and Alquist-Priolo Zone. - Disclaimer added to fire station locations. Motion carried unanimously 5-0. Mayor Schlosser called a recess at 8:15 p.m. The meeting reconved at 8:30 p.m. with all members of the Council and staff present. 4. CONTINUATION OF THE REVIEW AND DISCUSSION OF LAND USE AND DEVELOPMENT SUPER- ELEMENT. Mr. Hogan stated that there were other components to this element which the Council must consider. These included the Housing, Circulation, Public Facilities (parks and recreation and trails), and community design. In the original plan by Sedway/Cooke, the residential holding capacity was 54,611 dwelling units. However, the Planning Commission reduced this to 52,168. This would mean a total estimated population of approximately 140,000. The meeting was turned over to Mr. Beedle who went over the housing programs. Mr. Beedle stated that the State Department of Housing and Community Development completed their review of our Housing Element with two main suggestions: 1. To clearly define the existing and future housing needs of the community. 2. To spell out in detail, programs which the City will use to strive to meet the identified housing needs. Mr. Beedle said most of the home programs that ask for city participation on a level where major commitments have been tied into the Community Development Block Grant. This would be asking for a commitment in these areas. He said we are now within an Urgan County Block Grant Program with the County of San Bernardino. He said San Bernardino County commits 30% of their block grant funds toward housing. Each city can participate at their own level. Although we don't have exact numbers, we are probably looking at the same type of commitment when we get our own entitlement classification which is anticipated to begin in 1982. Councilman Frost said there were a lot of budget implications included. He asked if we adopted this, could we live with these budget requirements? Mr. Hogan said there were budget considerations and if Council wished to consider the housing program as recommended by the Planning Commission in its present form, there will be certain commitments that Council must make in the area of housing during 1981-82 which would have to be taken up as budget considerations during the budget process. Councilman Mikels stated that we have a three year Block Grant contract which was signed in June 1978. We have precluded use of our population as an entitlement city until that three years expire. Mr. Beedle said at the time this cycle ends which would be June of 1982, they will begin another three year period. Its our estimate that we will be qualified to begin our own three year Block Grant cycle at that time, In July 1982 we will trans- C[tv Council Minutes March 23, 1981 Page 4 fer from County operation to City operation. On another subject, Councilman Frost said that the disclaimer by the school districts -- in some instances the school district does own the land. He said some type of adjustment has to be made in those cases. Councilman Frost recommended that the last sentence on page 73 of the draft General Plan be deleted which reads, "In order to prevent a situation where workers cannot find nearby housing and must therefore commute longer distances, the City shall encourage the increase in the amount of residentially developable land~ He said when the need occurred, a future City Council could add this, but for a written stated policy at this time, he felt it should not be there. Council concurred. Mr. Hogan presented the issue on the Industrial Area. He said there was particular concern when the Planning Commission was considering revisions to the Industrial portion. The Planning Commission added under the Section General Industrial (rail served) the following statement~ "Through the Industrial Specific Plan, greater definition of uses will be established within this Land Use category in the area east of Haven, south of Arrow Highway, and north of Seventh Street. Examples of uses allowed within this area would include forge shops, steel milling facilities, plastic plants, steel fabrication facilities, welding shops, wood working plants, and heavy machine shops." Mr. Hogan went on to say that there should still be greater delineation for the particular area that this is addressed to. Specifically the area south of Arrow down to the existing Atchinson, Topeka, and Sante Fe Railroad. He said most of the uses which he read in the added section were already operating in this area. He said perhaps Council would want to consider amending the Land Use Map to indicate this area as heavy industrial. It would more appropriately reflect the existing uses that are there. He said he recommended in implementing this that the text of the Genral Plan remain the same, and the specifics of what kinds of uses could be developed and how they are to be developed would be addressed in the Industrial Specific Plan. Councilman Palombo suggested that the boundaries for this area be dropped to Fourth Street and then the whole area could be considered as heavy industrial. Mayor Schlosser opened the meeting for public hearing. Those addressing Council were: * Paul Mindrum. He said there are areas south of the railroad tracks that should be considered heavy industrial. * Ben Wick, had ten acres at Rochester and 8th Street. He said he moved here because it was zoned heavy industrial. He encouraged Council not to be bothered with the title "heavy industrial." He said it does not mean a "dirty city." He encouraged Council to consider expanding the heavy industrial area as far as possible. * Dean McGinnis, General Latex and Chemical Company, had eleven and half acres north of Jersey Boulevard. He said he located here because it was a heavy industrial area. To change this would create some problems. He said chemical operations are clean, but need to be zoned heavy industrial. * Doug Hone, Chamber member, said the Chamber has not been able to have a Board meeting on this issue. He questioned changing the zone when there was a company the size of Ameron within this boundary area. * Betty McNay, realtor, cautioned the Council that heavy industrial users did not want to be placed in an area with light users, nor the other way around. City Council ~inL~s March 23, 1981 Page 5 Mr. Lam said that if this change were approved, it should be referred back to the Planning Con~ission for consideration. He said they did not consider the option of designating this area heavy industrial. He said there was a discussion about heavy industrial users recognizing the character of the area. But it was to be handled through the Industrial Specific Plan and the conditional ose permit pro- cedure. Councilman Bridge said this area was looked upon by those on the incorporation committee with a great deal of favor because of the potential revenues which would be received from this area for the city. He felt as much area as possible should be zoned for heavy industrial. But, that we should be selective about the types of uses which came into the city. He felt this should go back to t~e Planning Commission for consideration. Motion: Moved by Bridge, seconded by Palombo to return item to the Planning Commission for consideration of a heavy industrial designation for the area. Mr. Dougherty said that once the Planning Commission considers this, the Council is still free to make any kind of determination it wishes. Mr. Sceranka, a Planning Commissioner, was asked if, in his opinion, the Planning Commission had considered this item. Mr. Sceranka explained what the Planning Commission had considered. He said they did consider heavy industrial uses in the general industrial (rail served) category, and determined they were permitted under the existing general plan terminology and so recommended it be adopted by Council. He said Council's consideration of what to call it: general industrial (rail served) or heavy industrial, doesn't require the Planning Commission going through the whole process again. In his viewpoint, its just a terminology issue and does not see why the Planning Commission needs to go through it again. He said the Council understands the issue, and they would simply be going over the same issue to determine what to call it. The City Attorney asked Mr. Sceranka, is it your opinion then that in affect the Planning Commission has considered the subject matter of which has been discussed. Mr. Sceranka said they have considered the subject matter of heavy industrial use in the general industrial (rail served) area. Mr. Dougherty said that based upon what Mr. Sceranka has said, and if the Planning Commission has considered the subject matter, then the Council does not have to refer the matter back to the Planning Commission. Councilmen Bridge and Palombo both withdrew the motion. Motion: Moved by Bridge, seconded by Palombo to change the designation of land use within the orange boundaries from general industrial (rail served) to heavy industrial and to remove the double asterisk section made by the Planning Commission on page 44 of the General Plan under General Industrial (rail served). Motion carried by the following vote: AYES: Frost, Mikels, Palombo, Bridge. NOES: None. ABSTAINED: Schlosser (his business was located in the area). Motion: Moved by Bridge, seconded by Palombo to refer back to the Planning Commission for consideration other areas which should be included in this same classification. Motion carried unanimously 5-0. Council directed staff to bring back revised language for the heavy industrial section of the General Plan. City Council Minutes March 23, 1981 Page 6 * Sharon Romero. Requested that Council consider the section, Community Design. She said the Advisory Commission spent considerable time discussing this and came up with many suggestions. She said this has not been discussed at any public meeting, and felt the issue should be addressed before 10:00 p.m. so people could add~ess the issue. Council concurred with her. Mr. Hogan said what information was included in the general plan now should be adopted now. He said it would be difficult to incorporate major revisions in the text now, but Council could come back at a later time for an amendment. Or, they could removed this from the general plan since this section is not a require- ment. The Planning Commission felt it was better to have something now than nothing at all. Motion: Moved by Frost, seconHed by Palombo to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried unanimously 5-0. Meeting adjourned at 10:20 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Beverly Authelet Deputy City Clerk