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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996/12/11 - Special Workshop Minutes - PC-HPC December 11, 1996 CITY OF RANCHO CUCAMONGA JOINT CITY COUNCIL AND PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES Special Meeting A. CALL TO ORDER A special meeting of the Rancho Cucamonga City Council and Planning Commission was held on Wednesday, December 11, 1996, in the Tri-Communities Conference Room of the Civic Center located at 10500 Civic Center Drive, Rancho Cucamonga, California. The meeting was called to order at 5:06 p.m. by Mayor William J. Alexander. Present were Councilmembers: Paul Biane, Rex Gutierrez, Diane Williams and Mayor William J. Alexander. Present were Planning Commissioners: Bill Bethel, Rich Macias, Larry McNiel, Peter Tolstoy and Chairman E. David Barker. Also present were: Jack Lam, City Manager; James Markman, City Attorney; Jerry B. Fulwood, Deputy City Manager; Rick Gomez, Community Development Director; Joe O'Neil, City Engineer; Shintu Bose, Deputy City Engineer; Brad Buller, City Planner; Larry Henderson, Principal Planner; Bill Makshanoff, Building Official; Susan Stark, Finance Officer; Suzanne Ota, Community Services Manager; Chief L. Dennis Michael, Rancho Cucamonga Fire Protection District; and Debra J. Adams, City Clerk. Absent was: Councilmember James Curatalo B. ITEMS OF DISCUSSION B1. DISCUSSION OF ITEMS OF MUTUAL INTEREST Mayor Alexander stated a commitment was made for both bodies to get together and talk and that is why everyone was here today. Councilmember Biane stated it was his impression the agenda would list more specific topics for discussion because of the discussion that took place at the last Council meeting. Councilmember Gutierrez stated he hoped they could talk about the General Plan, and specifically Foothill Boulevard, 4th Street and areas on the east side of town regardless of which plan it falls under to make sure that the City is moving in the same direction. He stated he hoped to find out what the City's timing is on these issues. He stated he did not feel it was appropriate to hold up on any zoning changes until this is resolved. He felt there were some areas where growth should continue and some areas where growth should stop. He stated it may be where the General Plan does not need to change at all. He indicated he would like a deadline or a time line as to when these changes will be made. City Council/Planning Commission Minutes December 11,1996 Page 2 Mayor Alexander stated he had sent out a memo in June regarding the General Plan and wanted to make sure everyone had seen it. Councilmember Gutierrez inquired if the Planning Commission had had any special meetings to discuss the General Plan. Chairman Barker stated they had not had any special workshops, but have discussed projects on Foothill which involved the General Plan. He felt the Foothill Boulevard Specific Plan should also be looked at. He felt there were some words in the Plan that could be deleted, i.e. "Industrial". He stated the Planning Commission has a workshop scheduled to take a field trip to better view this area. Councilmember Gutierrez felt the entire Foothill Boulevard area should be looked at, and felt there should be a subcommittee of the City Council and Planning Commission to work on this with a report to come back in February or March. He stated he was also concerned about economic development and felt this should be looked at. He felt Eljwanda, north of Base Une, should be totally residential, and hoped this could be discussed in January. He felt now was the time to start planning for the next four or five years what the future will be. Mayor Alexander suggested that signage should be looked at and improved upon because it was difficult to locate a business. He felt this might also help the businessman. He also felt other land uses should be looked at and stated he did not agree with multifamily residential. Commissioner Tolstoy inquired if the Mayor also wanted to change the zoning for multifamily residential. Mayor Alexander replied yes. Commissioner Tolstoy inquired if Councilmember Gutierrez was wanting to make the zones less dense. Councilmember Gutierrez replied yes. Chairman Barker suggested Brad Buller, City Planner, give a bdef overview of the legal requirements to change the General Plan. Brad Buller, City Planner, stated every City in the State of California is required to have a General Plan. He stated every General Plan is required to have a Housing Element, and every Housing Element is reviewed by a mu~ude of jurisdictions who are asking "are you in fact carrying your responsible fair share for meeting what California is supposed to be providing as far as mix of housing", He stated the mix of housing does several things to bring about a balanced community. He stated you want the type of housing to bdng about the type of business you want in your City. He felt there were certain businesses that are looking for a range of housing because their employment types are such they would like to find housing, such as apartments, for a specific salary range for their employees. He stated the General Plan tries to outline in broad terms a housing strategy. He stated there is also a certain amount of money set aside for certain types of housing under the Redevelopment Law. He stated all of this together makes up a general direction for the City's housing and zoning. He stated the last time the Council looked at housing mix, the original General Plan called for about a 55/45 percent mix, which means 55% of the housing stock when built out would be single family detached. The other 45% would be attached. He pointed out the City's philosophy was at one time pretty high on the attached end of housing. He stated when this analysis was done, they pointed out that the City was about at 60/40 and the Council said they would like to be at 75/25, which is more consistent with other cities in the State of California. He stated toward that end it went through a sweep of General Plan hearings both through the Commission and the Council and adopted some zone changes that brought about some redesignations or rezoning of property. He stated it is not unusual for cities to study their General Plan, and that the last time Rancho Cucamonga did this, it took two of his staff, full time, almost six months to complete the work on this. City Council/Planning Commission Minutes December 11, 1996 Page 3 Mayor Alexander asked if there was a way for neighboring cities to "share" the housing mix requirements if one has an over abundance of one type of housing over another. James Markman, City Attorney, stated there have been discussions at SCAG and at the League of Cities to revise the housing element requirements. He stated under present law, there are very narrow circumstances where a City can actually share their low cost housing money with neighboring cities. He stated as of today, the housing element law does not allow you to look to neighbors to meet your fair share for your housing requirements. Councilmember Biane stated in trying to attract white collar workers, businesses are finding that current distribution fadlilies and their techniques they use require fewer employees than when the City's General Plan was put in place as far as its balanced element between industrial, retail and otherwise, and asked if this would possibly affect the City's projected housing needs. He stated that was something else to consider for changes to the housing element as the business environment changes. Brad Buller, City Planner, stated they are considering the types of businesses in the City as it relates to planning the type of housing needed for the City. Commissioner Tolstoy pointed out that because of the size of the City's industrial area, it is desirable to have adequate housing for the various levels of employees. He felt this was very important. He stated that comments from previous businesses moving into the City found this concept appealing because the idea of having an employee base is what they were looking for. Councilmember Williams stated this is one of the City's marketing tools when they are looking for industrial/manufacturing tenants. Brad Buller, City Planner, stated he would like direction from the Council if they would like for staff to bring them and the Commission back information on how they are progressing with the housing mix through a memorandum. He stated he would then touch base with the Council and Commission for their input if they felt it was time for another meeting to talk about this issue a little further. Councilmember Gutierrez felt the staff does a good job at marketing the City. He added he is concerned that people are getting treated well at the City and that possibly a subcommittee of the City Council and Planning Commission should work on this. He felt the City should be very friendly and pro business. He commented he would also like to see a subcommittee for economic development and the Foothill Boulevard Specific Plan as was previously discussed. Mayor Alexander felt this could be looked at on December 18 when the Council discusses the subcommittee appointments and suggested the Planning Commission could select someone at one of their future meetings. Chairman McNiel suggested that possibly some of these topics brought up could be combined into one subcommittee. Chairman Barker pointed out that the Council had brought up the issues of the Foothill Boulevard Specific Plan, economic development, multj-family/residenljal and sign ordinances, and felt these issues should be prioritized so that the Planning staff will know what to look at first so they can schedule their staff to look at all of these subjects. Councilmember Biane agreed and felt Brad Buller should get the City Council information on the cost and the staff time involved to go through this entire process. Jack Lam, City Manager, stated the scope of everything should be identified including a time frame and cost, put in priodty order so that everything gets accomplished. City Council/Planning Commission Minutes December 11,1996 Page 4 Commissioner McNiel felt there should be a subcommittee of both bodies identified to work on the issues brought up. Brad Buller, City Planner, suggested that two members of the City Council and Planning Commission meet before the Planning Commission's January 22, 1997 meeting to figure out how this process will take place. The Council concurred it would be very helpful to discuss signage throughout the City. Commissioner McNiel stated he agreed that sandwich board signs really do help to promote business. Jack Lam, City Manager, stated he felt there were some shopping center owners that would not allow sandwich board signs to be placed by their tenants. Commissioner Barker felt an overall philosophy of the sign ordinance should be given to the City Council first. Councilmember Biane felt there was enough direction given to Brad Buller so he could discuss this at the Planning Commission's January 22, 1997 meeting. Councilmember Williams wanted to clarify what exactly was meant by economic development - was everyone referring to be more business friendly or that the counter help at City Hall needed to get customer service training. Councilmember Biane stated he did see where there needed to be a subcommittee to discuss this first. Councilmember Gulierrez stated he felt the Council and Planning Commission really do need to work together as in returning phone calls and better communication in general. He pointed out there would be some tough limes ahead and wanted to work together with the Planning Commission. C. COMMUNICATION FROM THE PUBLIC No communication was made from the public. Commissioner Tolstoy stated at the last meeting the Planning Commission got direction from the Council not to drop standards. He stated the Commission would be discussing standards with Lewis Homes at their meeting tonight and wanted to make sure this was still the Council's desire. Councilmember Williams stated she did not think standards should be lowered, but that economic limes should also be considered which would allow for more flexibility by the Planning Commission. Mayor Alexander stated the Planning Commission has made developer's successful because of the standards set in Rancho Cucamonga. City Council/Planning Commission Minutes December 11, 1996 Page 5 D. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Moved by Willjams, seconded by Barker to adjourn. Motion carried unanimously, 4-0-1 (Curatalo absent). The meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, City Clerk Approved by Planning Commission: January 8, 1997 Approved by City Council: February 5, 1997