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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015/09/23 - Workshop Minutes- PC-HPC THE CITY OF RANCHO CUCAMONGA WORKSHOP MINUTES OF RANCID CUCAMONGA THE PLANNING COMMISSION September 23, 2015 - 4:30 PM Rancho Cucamonga Civic Center RAINS ROOM 10500 Civic Center Drive Rancho Cucamonga, California L CALL TO ORDER Pledge of Allegiance 437 p.m Roll Call Chairman Wimberly X Vice Chairman Oaxaca X Munoz X Macias X Fletcher X Additional Staff Present Candyce Burnett, Planning Director; Jeff Bloom, Deputy City Manager/Economic and Community Development: Tom Grahn. Associate Planner: Donald Granger. Senior Planner, Betty Miller, Senior Engineer; Lois Schrader. Planning Commission Secretary: Rob Ball, Fire Marshall; Jennifer Palacios, Office Specialist 11 11 IL PUBLIC CONENIUNICATIONS This is the time and place for the general public to address the Historic Preservation Commission or the Planning Commission on any item listed or not listed on the agenda. State law prohibits the Historic Preservation Commission or the Planning Commission from addressing any issue not previously included on the Agenda. The Historic Preservation Commission or the Planning Commission may receive testimony and set the matter for a subsequent meeting. Comments are to be limited to five minutes per individual or less, as deemed necessary by the Chair, depending upon the number of individuals desiring to speak. All communications are to be addressed directly to the Historic Preservation Commission or Planning Commission, not to the members of the audience. This is a professional business meeting and courtesy and decorum are expected. Please refrain from any debate between audience and speaker, making loud noises,or engaging in any activity which might be disruptive to the decorum of the meeting. None PLANNING COMMISSION WORKSHOP MINUTES � RANCHO ANC O SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 CUCA.MONGA Page 2 III. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION PRE APPLICATION REVIEW DRC2015-00802-CHARLES JOSEPH ASSOCIATES-A review of the site plan and elevations for a proposed 183-unit, multi-family apartment complex on 4.45 acres of land in the Mixed Use(MU) District, Foothill Boulevard Overlay District (FBOD), located at the northeast corner of Foothill Boulevard and Hermosa Avenue; APNs: 1077-601-13 and 1077-601-14. Tom Grahn, Associate Planner gave a brief PowerPoint presentation (copy on file). He noted the single-family house on a parcel to the east should be obtained by the applicant if possible to be included in the development as this would be difficult at a later time. He said the Mixed Use standards will be reviewed by the Council in October and once the standards are adopted, the old standards would no longer apply. He referred to Exhibit E of the staff report. He said the new standards for the General Plan and the Development Code should be in place by the time of a full submittal. In response to ' Commissioner Fletcher, he said the old home could be dedicated to a future use or redevelopment of the site. He noted the poor condition of it and that it could be a lost opportunity. He noted it is not considered a historical home or site. He said the current owners are not cooperative and a rehab would be very expensive. He said it could be used for a shared drive approach and pedestrian access. He said it could be used as a home or for a commercial use as it has in the past. The applicant was represented by Jonathan Cornelius (Vice President of Fore Property Company), Serafin Maranan (Architects Orange), Jennifer Easton (Architects Orange) and Chuck Buquet of Charles Joseph Associates. Chuck Buquet, Charles Joseph Associates, said this is a work in progress with a preliminary design. He said the contemporary design was brought forward with a previous project. He assented that the site does not show two uses and they need to work through this. He noted that tandem parking was approved for Empire Lakes. He said they will get a parking study for this development. He said they are ok with how the parking is currently shown. He said a good faith effort has already been made to the single home owner and he did not believe an acquisition is likely to happen. He did not agree that a drive aisle on the east side is justification for the acquisition. Jonathan Cornelius gave a brief company history. He said they perform a parking distribution analysis so tenants are not inconvenienced and they regularly provide tandern parking at their developments. He said it works fine if it is managed well and parking is assigned. He said they are fine with the parking ratio as it is and they have done it many tunes. He said they are not set in stone with the more urban look that is pushed toward the street. He said the current restriction of only allowing single-story buildings within 100 feet of existing homes leaves them few options for parking. He said with respect to the required mix of uses, there is the concern of not enough demand for PLANNING COMMISSION WORKSHOP 1 MINUTES j�ANCI IU SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 CUCAMONGA Page 3 retail/commercial uses. He said they are open to creating a flex space that could be residential at first and then could be converted to commercial later if the demand changes. Serafin Maranan of Architects Orange said the buildings along Foothill Boulevard could have a commercial/storefront look. He said the main 4-story building is an elevator building. He said there are 2-story/double loaded carriage garages with a living space above on the 2nd floor. He said these units break up and soften the parking field. He said the clubhouse/fitness/leasing space is in the building along Foothill Boulevard and the fitness area is about 2.000 square feet. 1L1r. Cornelius said the fitness space is of legitimate size and not a token. He said they are attempting to activate the streetscape along Foothill i.e.generating activity. He said the owner of the single home is not a willing seller, so they are not hopeful. ' Mr. Buquet said with respect to Exhibit E. the land use mix is the only problem:the other items will be provided later. Mr. Serafin said the green area in the courtyard is over 6.000 square feet of open space. Jeff Bloom. DCM Economic/Community Development said this is a chance to make the bridge to new ideas. He said the Commission has seen this concept in their field trips. He said with respect to tandem parking, we need to look at how it is applied. He appreciated the breakdown on the chart(Exhibit Q. He suggested the Commission look broadly at this. He suggested an agreement that will not hold this developer hostage later. He said some landholders have high expectations about the worth of their property. He said community activity is important and to plot out what is in the vicinity of this site. He said there is lots of latitude on the architectural style, as many are looking for more variety in the City's architecture. Chairman Wimberly said there is an opportunity to play with the concepts and step out of the box with this one. Vice Chairman Oaxaca said this would be innovative for us: a bridge project. He said this one is more important to the City than others because it is on an important corridor. He said we need to evolve. He said it is unfortunate we may not be able to incorporate the single-family parcel to the east. He said he would like to see more of the mixed use spirit. He said he is not totally comfortable with the size of the structures. He said for mixed use he is looking for a more pedestrian friendly design within and with continuity along the corridor: they need to facilitate movement to the transit options. He said there is a timing challenge in that we are in transition as a City. we are working on future standards. He expressed concern about the parking as we do not want a problem later. He said he wants a greater assurance that this works in real life for the residents. guests and family. He said he does not want to make changes in the standards just for this PLANNING COMMISSION WORKSHOP ' MINUTES J.' '. RA;:ciio SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 C UCAMONGA Page 4 project. He said with respect to the contemporary design he would like to see a better visual in context. He said he wants to know we are making a good decision. Commissioner Macias said he likes the more modern architecture: he welcomes it. He said he is not too bothered by the single use issue: he believes achieving the correct density is more important to get transit in place. He said he likes the concept of the bottom floor design to appear to have mixed use development. He said the residential use would affect transit more than commercial. He suggested the applicant continue their discussions with the private property owner. He noted that as a child he observed Route 66 and recognized it as being very unique and totally inconsistent in design. He said he does not see the VIP Route 66 as being a trap because it has a multitude of things included in it. He said it varied from historic elements all the way to the space age in design. Commissioner Fletcher expressed concern about urban development in this location. ' He said Foothill Boulevard is a mess and we need to create identity: we are losing our sense of identity. He said the Route 66 theme is more historic than urban and placing this contemporary architecture next to Villaggio is not consistent. He said TOD and this architecture is more appropriate to the south in the golf course area (Empire Lakes). He said he prefers the Tuscan/Mediterranean style. He said the development should be in conformance with the General Plan. He said the store front space sounds too small a space. He said the parking may be a problem. He said tandem parking is ok as long as there are enough spaces. He said he has a concern about urban massiveness on Hermosa/Foothill: it doesn't fit and needs a more historic presence as it is in line with the local wineries. Commissioner Munoz said the architecture is ok, he is not opposed to more contemporary design as long as it provides lots of horizontal and vertical movement. He said it needs more natural materials. He said he is tired of the old stuff and has no problem with contemporary if it is well done. He said the parking is a real problem as there is no location for the parking to spill out to. He said with assigned parking and similar reduced parking arrangements. we tend to manage for about a year and then we have problems. He said one developer came back to us a year later asking for more parking on the streets. He said they will not be able to do that here. He said so far they are doing a good job. Chairman Wimberly said that if this is a TOD, the area needs to be more pedestrian friendly especially at the corner. He said that the density component and parking is not there yet. He said he looks forward to seeing their modifications. He said when they ' see the applicant again and as they work with staff he would like to not see variances or General Plan amendments: he wants it to be there without creating new rules. PLANNING COMMISSION WORKSHOP MINUTES RANCHO SEPTEMBER 23, 2015 CCCANONGA Page 5 L1r. Cornelius said their submittal will come in behind the City adoption of their new standards. IV. ADJOURNMENT 5:50 p.fn. 1. Lois J. Schrader, Planning Commission Secretary of the City of Rancho Cucamonga, or my designee, hereby certify that a true, accurate copy of the foregoing agenda was posted on September 17. 2015, at least 72 hours prior to the meeting per Government Code Section 54964.2 at 10500 Civic Center Drive, Rancho Cucamonga. ' If you need special assistance or accommodations to participate in this meeting, FE please contact the Planning Department at (909) 477-2750. Notification of 48 hours prior to the meeting will enable the City to make reasonable arrangements to ensure accessibility. Listening devices are available for the hearing impaired. INFORMATION FOR THE PUBLIC TO ADDRESS THE PLANNING COMMISSION The Planning Commission encourages free expression of all points of view. To allow all persons to speak,given the length of the agenda, please keep your remarks brief. If others have already expressed your position, you may simply indicate that you agree with a previous speaker. If appropriate, a spokesperson may present the views of your entire group. To encourage all views and promote courtesy to others, the audience should refrain from clapping, booing or shouts of approval or disagreement from the audience. The public may address the Planning Commission on any agenda item. To address the Planning Commission, please come forward to the podium located at the center of the staff table. State your name for the record and speak into the microphone. After speaking, please sign in on the clipboard located next to the speaker's podium. It is important to list your name, address and the agenda item letter your comments refer to. Comments are generally limited to 5 minutes per individual. If you wish to speak concerning an item not on the agenda, you may do so under"Public Comments." . Any handouts for the Planning Commission should be given to the Planning Commission Secretary for ' distribution to the Commissioners. A copy of any such materials should also be provided to the Secretary to be used for the official public record. All requests for items to be placed on a Planning Commission agenda must be in writing. Requests for scheduling agenda items will be at the discretion of the Commission and the Planning Director. PLANNING COMMISSION WORKSHOP ' MINUTES Rh, RANCHOSEPTEMBER 23, 2015 G(:r~k>io.cn Page 6 AVAILABILITY OF STAFF REPORTS Copies of the staff reports or other documentation to each agenda item are on file in the offices of the Planning Department, City Hall, located at 10500 Civic Center Drive, Rancho Cucamonga, California 91730. These documents are available for public inspections during regular business hours, Monday through Thursday, 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., except for legal City holidays. APPEALS Any interested party who disagrees with the City Planning Commission decision may appeal the Commission's decision to the City Council within 10 calendar days. 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