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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2022-03-23 - Minutes - HPC-PC rr r CITY OF RANCHO CUCAMONGA r air�rr r Historic Preservation Commission and Planning Commission Agenda March 23, 2022 MINUTES Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91729 7:00 p.m. The regular meeting of the Historic Presentation Commission and Planning Commission was held on March 23, 2022. The meeting was called to order by Chair Dopp 7:00 p.m. A. Roll Call Planning Commission present: Chair Dopp, Commissioner Morales, Commissioner Boling and Commissioner Daniels; Commissioner Williams. Staff Present: Serita Young, Assistant City Attorney; Matt Burris, AICP, LEED AP, Deputy City Manager-Community Development, Interim Planning Director; Jennifer Nakamura, Deputy Director of Planning; Mike Smith, Principal Planner; Brian Sandona, Principal Civil Engineer; David F. Eoff IV, Senior Planner; Elizabeth Thornhill, Executive Assistant. B. Public Communications Chair Dopp opened public communications. Renee Massey spoke about the discussions with staff and property owners about development standards on Camino Predera. She expressed her thanks for taking this matter seriously and for staff continuously working with the community. Complimented Mike Smith, Principal Planner and Tabe van der Zwaag, Associate Planner, for doing a wonderful job organizing and leading discussions at workshops. She provided notes and a worksheet on three areas of disagreement; building heights, side setback and front setback for the Commissioners to review. Chair Dopp closed public communications. C. Consent Calendar Cl. Consideration to adopt Regular Meeting Minutes of March 9, 2022. Motion to adopt by Commissioner Boling, second by Vice Chair Williams. Motion carried unanimously 5-0 vote. D. Public Hearing Dl. LOCATED AT THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF ROCHESTER AVENUE AND ARROW ROUTE — CORE 5 INDUSTRIAL PARTNERS - A request to construct a 49,745 square-foot industrial/warehouse building on a vacant 2.43-acre parcel within the Neo Industrial (NI) District. APN: 0229-021-97. Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), the project is exempt under CEQA Section 15332 — In-Fill Development Projects (Design Review DRC2021-00320 Vincent Acuna, Associate Planner, presented Commissioners with a Staff Report and presentation (copy on file). He mentioned a revised set of Conditions of Approval were given to the Commissioners on the dais that contain red lines to Item #5. It pertains to the project Community Facilities District (CFD). He said the intent of the condition has not changed the project and it will still be required to join CFD. He mentioned it clarifies and expands the language regarding joining CFD. Commissioner Daniels asked about the NE corner on the Exhibit Site Plan and asked what it is. Vincent Acuna replied it is a transformer pad. Commissioner Daniels mentioned parking spaces not being adjacent to any entrance to building. It seems they are trying to meet the requirement, and that is how they met it. He expressed he likes the project, the way it looks and has no difficulty with it,just the comment on the parking. Commissioner Boling stated for clarity, the box north of the transformer is a trash enclosure bin. Possibly those parking spaces make it easy access for sanitation to get to the bin and pull a truck in. Vincent Acuna clarified that north of the transformer is not a trash enclosure bin, it is a parking space. Trash enclosure is located to the right of truck queuing space from Arrow. Commissioner Daniels stated that is where the electric vehicle charging station is located. He said those would be better suited in the parking area. Vincent Acuna stated the parking stalls could be elsewhere, if the building was redesigned, but it cannot be located within the existing configuration of that rear parking area. Commissioner Boling asked why install three EV charging stations in a separate secluded parking lot that has virtually no access to the building itself for employees. Vincent Acuna replied there is direct access to the building from that parking lot. Chair Dopp asked if the northern part of the building goes directly against the property line. Vincent Acuna answered there is a 5 ft. separation between the building and property line. Chair Dopp asked if staff is comfortable with northern elevation. Vincent Acuna answered yes. Chair Dopp opened public hearing. John Kelly, Applicant, mentioned they have looked at adding EV stations at that office corner. He said they do have a site plan the architect has worked up that will allow for two additional EV stations but has not presented to Vincent at this time. They are working towards it. Chair Dopp asked was there any consideration to moving that parking lot to be contiguous with the rest of the parking by switching the square footage from the east to the west in the warehouse. HPC/PC MINUTES— March 23, 2022 Page 2 of 7 FINAL John Kelly answered they came up with the best solution at the northwest corner. They did not want to push building right up to the property line. Commissioner Daniels wanted to clarify, just east of where the transformer is, there is a door, would it be accessible to employees. John Kelly answered it could serve both. It could be accessible from outside as well. Chair Dopp closed public hearing. Commissioner Boling expressed his appreciation to the applicant. It's a nice-looking project. This is a showcase area. This project reflects the hard work you and staff did. It is appreciated. Commissioner Daniels concurred with Boling and expressed he likes the project. They did a very good job. It will be an asset to the community. Commissioner Morales expressed it is a nice-looking building and liked that they double the size of the landscaping to 24% because Arrow/Rochester will be important to the visual effect corridor of our city. It is good for that corner. Nice project. Vice Chair Williams concurred with her fellow Commissioners. Likes the glazing on the front. It does not feel as much like a big industrial building. Glad to have it on board. Chair Dopp commented that some of these smaller warehouse types are actually good for the city from an economic development perspective. They could come in and do good things for us. He appreciates more of a mid-size compared to some of the big warehouses in the area. He also thanked Vincent for his staff report. We did get a letter from the public requesting further CEQA review. He is comfortable with CEQA exemption. Motion to adopt by Vice Chair Williams, second by Commissioner Boling, with the proposed change to Condition of Approval #5. Motion carried unanimously 5-0 vote. D2. LOCATED ON THE NORTH SIDE OF FOOTHILL BOULEVARD, BETWEEN RED HILL COUNTRY CLUB DRIVE AND THE PACIFIC ELECTRIC TRAIL— PACIFIC SUMMIT FOOTHILL, LLC - A request to allow for a second, one (1) year time extension of a previously approved Tentative Tract Map (SUBTT16605M) and the first time extension of associated entitlements related to the project which include: Design Review DRC2012- 00672, Variance DRC2016-00207, and Tree Removal Permit DRC2012-00673 to subdivide 24.19 acres into 6 parcels for the development of 175 attached condominium units (Sycamore Heights project) within the Mixed Use (MU) District, located on the north side of Foothill Boulevard, between Red Hill Country Club Drive and the Pacific Electric Trail. APNs: 0207-101-13, -17, -24, -25, -31, -34 and -41, and 0207-112-09 and -10. Staff finds the project to be within the scope of the project covered by a prior Mitigated Negative Declaration certified by City Council on October 4, 2017 (State Clearinghouse SCH#2017071010) by Resolutions 17-098 and 17-099 and does not raise or create new environmental impacts not already considered in the Mitigated Negative Declaration (Time Extension DRC2021-00440). Mena Abdul-Ahad, Assistant Planner, presented Commissioners with a Staff Report and presentation (copy on file). HPC/PC MINUTES— March 23, 2022 Page 3 of 7 FINAL Commissioner Daniels mentioned the tentative tract map can have three more extensions. He said on the project development, if it does not get developed by October 2024, he asked what the maximum time period would be. Serita Young, Assistant City Attorney, clarified they are allowed up to six years of tract map extension requests under state law. Chair Dopp opened public hearing. Chad Stadnicki, Applicant, explained there are a lot of parts to this project. He said they are nearing the completion of the technical details and are in the process of bringing builder on board. He said the extension will allow them the time to complete those efforts. They are hopeful to get the project started later this year. Chair Dopp asked what is left to complete to move the project forward. Chad Stadnicki replied that they have been processing the grading plans through Engineering and public improvement plans are in the final stages. He said Architectural plans need to be completed for construction. Chair Dopp closed public hearing. Motion to adopt by Commissioner Boling, second by Commissioner Daniels. Motion carried unanimously 5-0 vote. E. General Business El. Discussion Regarding Moratorium on New Service Station Development and the Measures Taken to Alleviate the Need for Interim Ordinance No. 980. Mike Smith, Principal Planner, presented Commissioners with a Staff Report and presentation (copy on file). Mike provided Commissioners with an informational report on interim moratorium of gas stations. Commissioner Daniels suggested marketing analysis to be done to determine how many gas stations would be appropriate in the city. Matthew Burris, Deputy City Manager, stated that a market analysis could provide insight on what the market might look like. We are thinking about larger scale approaches or strategies such as distance requirements or some cities have limited the number that can occur at key intersections. Market studies could be helpful information for a specific development. Commissioner Daniels mentioned late last year the Governor indicated by 2035 vehicles sold in California would have to be zero emissions. Would a developer want to develop something that would be obsolete in 15 years. Matthew Burris answered there is still demand for gas station development. HPC/PC MINUTES— March 23, 2022 Page 4 of 7 FINAL Commissioner Daniels stated there are some stations with underground tanks that are leaking and contamination to the soil could be tremendous. He asked if service station owners walk away from it because of the expense, where does that leave the City and the property. Mike Smith answered it could leave it undeveloped for decades. Commissioner Daniels suggested there should be some type of mechanism to foresee that kind of problem. Serita Young, Assistant City Attorney, added she is not sure there is a mechanism to prevent or foresee the problem but there are specific actions and remedies that the City can take under brownfield laws. They are complicated and involves a lot of procedures, it just takes time. Commissioner Boling mentioned with regards to market study, often times when projects come forward, perhaps staff taking on the liaison type role to help ensure the applicant is moving down the right path. Instead of requiring it, maybe just suggesting such a market study could be done officially. He said in other jurisdictions, we start seeing industry trends where gas and fuel service stations are either built or rebuilt and seems to be a trend to add drive thru car washes, who bring their own issues to the neighborhoods such as traffic, noise, pollution, lights so we need to be mindful to those considerations. He said there are a number of gas stations, looking at their proportion of sales of alcohol, likely drives the Police calls for service. Definitely need to look at overlaying those ABC Licenses and liquor stores, not just service stations for offsite sales. Matthew Burris appreciated Commissioner Boling for mentioning this. In some instances, gasoline sales are more of a mechanism to having a convenience store and accessory car wash and shared how important alcohol sales are for making their profit margin. The fuel sales are not really the primary use in terms of business operations. He said maybe we can look into if there is anything we can do on the code side to inform regulations with some marketing analysis. Commissioner Boling mentioned in the case of other industries like hotels, Keyser Marston does plenty of studies to determine what the absorption rate is for hotel rooms. He said it should be done for service stations. Matthew Burris added that the reactivation of the gas station at Arrow/Archibald is reactivating as a gas station because there was nothing else anybody could do with it once it was a gas station. Perhaps we fast forward to 2036 and nobody is buying gasoline powered vehicles anymore. Might have a lot of brownfield sites across the city 20 years from now. Commissioner Daniels asked if the only potential use of that station was another station. Jennifer Nakamura, Deputy Director of Planning, explained the station at Arrow/Archibald had been vacant for 10+ years. It experienced a leak and it was a brownfield site. She said when the developer came in with a proposal to reactivate that gas station, it required a General Plan Amendment because that site was identified in the General Plan as housing. One of the findings made for the General Plan amendment was that it was not an appropriate site for housing but there was really no other good development options because it had previously been a gas station. HPC/PC MINUTES— March 23, 2022 Page 5 of 7 FINAL Commissioner Morales stated it was a lot of good information in the report. He said it is clear that safety impact is significant. Vice Chair Commissioner asked what kind of calls the Police get from the gas stations. Mike Smith answered it is part of their follow-up evaluation to find out what those calls are. Chair Dopp asked what the future of gas and service looks like in terms of transportation. It will be interesting. He does have mixed feelings about gasoline cars and the impact they have and also the consequences of electric vehicles. They are still not affordable for many people. The demand is increasing for electric cars. Not sure if he is comfortable with the City of Petaluma's decision to ban gas stations out right. He said moving forward, we have to be more deliberate as a City at both the Council level and Planning Commission in terms of thinking about how the sites will look like 10-15 years from now. Hopefully, innovation occurs, and charging does not take 1 hour. Those are real considerations. It seems to him for every gas station down the line, one more site takes future revenue opportunities away from the City. He asked given that we are looking at gateway intersections, has there been considerations to identify key intersections around the city and banning gas at those specific parcels. Mike Smith answered that they are preparing draft standards. Some of the standards relate to proximate intersections. Also, a minimum size at the site is required. Serita Young, Assistant City Attorney, mentioned it's difficult to regulate specific parcels because Planning and Zoning laws require uniformity. She explained we would not be able to say; "on this parcel, in this zone you can't do this, but everywhere else in that particular zone can do that". A means to narrow it down where uses can go within a specific zone and that will apply uniformly throughout an entire zone. Chair Dopp asked is it fair and legal to place extra restrictions on those intersections relative to maybe other parts of town. Serita Young answered that would go back to imposing regulations within a specific zone on particular parcels that you are not doing with other parcels within the same zone. With no further discussion, Chair Dopp thanked staff for the updated and report will be filed. F. Director Announcements - None G. Commission Announcements Commissioner Morales and Chair Dopp mentioned they attended the League of California Cities Commissioner Academy in San Ramon. Expressed it was very productive and appreciated the opportunity to attend. Chair Dopp suggested having legislative updates by a Commissioner (if a Commissioner would like to take it on) or staff member from time to time. If there is a key piece of legislation moving through from Sacramento that will have an impact on what the Commissioners do, it would be good to be informed and updated. HPC/PC MINUTES— March 23, 2022 Page 6 of 7 FINAL Serita Young mentioned she can start sending E-alerts to the Commissioners. Also, they provide other forms of advice letters to staff. She will leave it up to Jennifer or Matt if they would like to forward those advice letters to the Commissioners as needed. H. Adjournment Motion by Vice Chair Williams, second by Commissioner Boling to adjourn the meeting, motion carried unanimously, 5-0 vote. Meeting was adjourned at 8:35 p.m. Respectfully submitted, ElWabeth Thornhill Executive Assistant, Planning Department Approved: HPC/PC Meeting April 13, 2022. HPC/PC MINUTES— March 23, 2022 Page 7 of 7 FINAL