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HomeMy WebLinkAboutRDA Minutes 1997-10-08 Chairman Joseph A. Fernekes M I N U T E S Boardmembers: James L. Datzman Redevelopment Agency Eugene R. Mullin lohn R. Penna Municipal Services Building Robert Yee Community Room October 8, 1997 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN CALL TO ORDER: (Cassette No. 1) 7:03 p.m. Chairman Fernekes presiding. ROLL CALL: Boardmembers present: Datzman, Mullin, Penna, Yee and Fernekes. Boardmembers absent: None. AGENDA REVIEW AGENDA REVIEW Executive Director Wilson stated there were no changes to the Agenda. CONSENT CALENDAR CONSENT CALENDAR 1. Motion to approve Minutes of the regular meeting of_ Approved. .... 9/24/97. ~6~O ~ Motion to confirm expense claims of 10/8/97. ~6~O,~ Approved in the amount of $20,138.58. M/S Mullin/Penna - To approve the Consent Calen- dar. Carried by unanimous voice vote. PUBLIC HEARINGS PUBLIC HEARINGS 3. Public Hearing - Consideration of Precise Plan PP- Chairman Fernekes opened the Public Hearing. 97-062 and Negative Declaration No. ND-97-062 to allow a phased development of 145,941 gross square Chief Planner Harnish related: these are the last feet of commercial office and research and develop- remaining parcels in the Gateway; the Gateway ment space in three buildings; Phase 1 to consist of borders on Corporate Drive and Gateway Blvd. and one two-story, 48,647 square foot building, with Forbes runs in the back end; this is 7.8 acres with related parking and landscaping for Coulter three buildings under 50,000 sq. ft; Phase 1 is the Pharmeceuticals in accordance with SSFMC Chapter first 48,000 sq. ft. and this will be built for Coulter 20.57 for 6000, 630 and 650 Gateway; Conduct Pharmeceuticals; on the third building there is no Public Hearing; Motion to approve Negative Decla- tenant proposed, it is just a preliminary plan; staff ration No. ND-97-062 and Precise Plan PP-97-062 has worked with the applicant on the design because  there were questions from the Design Review Board; based on the findings and conditions in the sta ,qo ~ -- report, the plans represent the redesign which is consis- tent and staff is pleased with the project as pro- posed; there were preliminary discussions on park- ing and landscaping; while the site plan does meet 10/8/97 Page 1 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN PUBLIC HEARINGS PUBLIC HEARINGS Public Hearing - Continued. the minimum standard of the specific plan for park- ing there is concern, for it is not under research and development, so staff is recommending that only the first two buildings get approved and see how they go; there are several areas for outside equipment and parking depending on the particular use that we would like to monitor and look at the third building and determine if the parking is adequate and reduc- ing the size of the third building if there is a parking problem; the applicant does not represent the kind of intensive use as other uses would be and in staff's opinion the parking is adequate and because they meet the minimum standards it is appropriate to approve the first two buildings and monitor it; staff is recommending approval under the findings and conditions and the building at 630 Gateway should be deleted and approve the others. Chairman Fernekes invited anyone to come forth that wished to speak for or against the use - no one did and he closed the Public Hearing. Discussion followed: Boardmember Datzman ques- tioned if the police conditions for uniform security 24 hours a day, Cable TV and sufficient parking close to the structure and monitoring of the facility; he stated these conditions are not unique and are similar to other facilities; is it understood that is part of the present project and will take place; Chief Planner Harnish stated the applicant agrees with the conditions; Mr. Paul Pardiff, representative of the owner, Hines, stated he wanted further discussion about a 24 hour uniform guard; they were somewhat unclear on that requirement and want to discuss it more; Boardmember Datzman asked if Mr. Pardiff had discussions with the Police Department; Mr. Pardiff had not; Boardmember Datzman felt it was clear and personally wanted an answer; Chief Plan- ner Harnish suggested, if the applicant would prefer a continuance of the matter, staff can address that issue and bring it back to the Agency in two weeks and approve the project with that condition and if this Police Department feels there should be a modi- fied approach, staff can bring that back; Board- member Datzman said that will be satisfactory to him; Boardmember Yee asked the Director of Public Works if the sewer connection fee condition will be based on the amount of water used; Director of Public Works Gibbs answered in the affirmative; 10/8/97 Page 2 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN PUBLIC HEARINGS PUBLIC HEARINGS Public Hearing - Continued. Boardmember Yee stated there are two charges, one is the annual fee based on the amount of water used, the connection fee is up front and he wants to make sure the language is current; yes, the connection fee is $50.00 right now; but is that right; the language should be changed; Boardmember Yee stated the Council has been working on the east of 101 trans- portation study and the idea is to reduce con- gestion now and in the future as development takes place, so what can we do, as in this case, to make the developer cooperate and be aware we are going in this direction and not ignore the master plan, maybe certain language should be put in; Executive Director Wilson stated, if you recall when we had Hampton Inn, who is an immediate neighbor, if a shuttle was established they would participate and we could develop language, the business would not run it to the Airport, but we could do that; Boardmember Yee stated, but the idea is to make all the employers sensitive to the traffic and to do ev- erything to take advantage of the City's goals rather than say let someone else do it, but we need to have M some sort of language before we approve it; his other concern is that we are part of the C/CAG Congestion Management Plan and there is no way for Boardmember Yee to know whether this project falls into the guidelines that triggers the Congestion Management Plan that meets the C/CAG review so, do we look at that aspect of it; Chief Planner Harnish stated, he did not believe we have to go through that review because this project is an im- plementation of a project approved some time ago and the assumption of the land use of the growth already includes this project and the Gateway is being a lower entity than assumed; the Congestion Management Plan looks at the employment and growth that will be developed; Executive Director Wilson knew there were factors on impacts and probably we will continue this because of the bugs; Boardmember Yee stated in looking at the Negative Declaration it tells him there must be a traffic study made and if we continue this he wants to see the copy of the study; the bottom line in the traffic study, is this project more than 300 vehicle trips in any time during the a.m. or p.m., that is the ques- tion; if we are part of the C/CAG Congestion Man- agement Plan then we could look at the guidelines before we assume no impact; Executive Direc- tor Wilson stated they do have a more comprehen- 10/8/97 Page 3 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN PUBLIC HEARINGS PUBLIC HEARINGS Public Hearing - Continued. sive study they will share with the Agency; Vice Mayor Mullin spoke of Silicon Valley's inability to deal with mass transit, yet they have huge parking lots, but no congestion management plan; we ac- commodate the single family auto and we are run- ning at cross purposes and not handling the traffic; it is a problem that has been continuing, particularly in the south bay analysis and in this area we could have smaller parking lots for we are inviting cars and we say, don't take your cars; perhaps the Agen- cy should rethink our Codes for this type of devel- opment; Chief Planner Harnish stated staff probably should look at the parking standards, because most are based on generalized assumption, for driving habits have changed over time and the Price Club and WalMart have over built their parking lots, but the point is well made that we are trying to get people out of their autos and into transportation, but at what point can you start over allowing only a certain amount of parking spaces and people use car- pools or shuttles or mass transportation; this issue will be dealt with in the general plan; Vice Chair -- Mullin stated the situation has to be dealt with; Chief Planner Harnish stated there are cities that limit or prohibit parking areas being developed in conjunction with office buildings, but have an ag- gressive mass transit plan; Boardmember Yee noted the joint meeting with the Planning Commission last week and it is very important for both bodies to develop a comprehensive strategy to develop for the transit problems, and shuttles are just a piece of it; Councilman Penna stated that brings in another element - quality housing and he wants the down- town to be looked at for higher density and housing that would fit for the kind of people working here and who would live here; 630 Gateway is being eliminated because of a concern over the adequacy of the parking, for there is no tenant identified for the building; there is a tenant for the first building, an option on the second and staff wanted to hold the third building until we can determine the parking layout is right because we may have to reduce park- ing and negotiate; Mr. Pardiff stated if they have to have 24 hour security, they will do it even though he thinks buildings like this don't require it; this was -- required by the police for another development because if security was not provided it would in- crease the demands on the Police Department; Genentech has their own 24 hour security; Mr. 10/8/97 Page 4 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN PUBLIC HEARINGS PUBLIC HEARINGS Public Hearing - Continued. Pardiff responded - they have been working with Coulter for quite a period of time, who are making significant progress in a drug for cancer, and their timing is extremely sensitive and there have been significant attempts to get to this stage for approval; if there is a condition of approval for 24 hour security, that will be done; Coulter is planning to have security and we will coordinate it; as it relates to traffic we have someone on board and they have completed studies and the Negative Declaration addresses that together with mitigations that Mr. Pardiff believes were limited to a restriping issue that we will implement if necessary; on the parking the lease document we have with Coulter has a level of parking lower than what we are achieving accord- ing to the Code; we are providing more parking than the City requires, but the applicant is not asking for it; as the owner of the property Hines, as a condi- tion of approval, that the shuttle service will go through together with schedules to promote use of transit and discouraging single occupancy autos; Hines is a leader in establishing programs for high occupancy vehicles and reducing congestion and pollution; Boardmember Yee stated, unless the traffic engineer or if, there is a review of the traffic report and an explanation of the traffic you will generate on the project - will not trigger a C/CAG requirement, he cannot vote on this; is the Agency going to have a meeting next Wednesday; Board- member Penna cannot attend a meeting next Wednesday; Executive Director Wilson stated the language has to be changed on the sewer which won't be easy, and the second is the TSM issues, he appreciates what Mr. Pardiff said about the shuttle service, and we may need broader language and Boardmember Yee wants to review the traffic study; Boardmember Yee stated he did not need to review the traffic study, but is concerned with information in the study; Executive Director Wilson stated the Director of Public Services will answer that and we need to go back and ask the P.D. about the standard policy of 24 hour security by the P.D., for it was said, at their discretion and they have the authority to modify that; he is looking for the consistency of the conditions posed on this industry; he thinks the Vice Chair's issues on strategy are a longer issue that we need to address along with the strategy of the east of 101 and we need to verify whether we are triggering the trips; it seems all of that could be 10/8/97 Page 5 AGENDA ACTION TAKEN PUBLIC HEARINGS PUBLIC HEARINGS Public Hearing - Continued. wrapped up if we focus and we continue this to next Wednesday due to the tight nature of the project and the few meeting dates left to the end of the year; Boardmember Yee stated he only has 3 or 4 more Wednesdays left; Boardmember Penna stated con- cern over parking and security for he will not be at the meeting; Executive Director Wilson stated Wednesday there will be a closed session for the City Attorney and the second item is an overview of the Sutter/Hill Orange Avenue Project, and one of the pressures is to accommodate Kaiser for an over- view; Boardmember Datzman asked if they could proceed with this issue tonight; Boardmember Yee stated he will not be able to vote for it, it doesn't make sense for this is an important issue and we will be ignoring the Congestion Management Plan; Vice Mayor Mullin concurred; etc. M/S Mullin/Yee - To continue the meeting and hold a Special Meeting on Wednesday, 10/15/97, 6:30 p.m., City Hall, Council Conference Room, 400 Grand Avenue, for Item No. 3. Carried by unanimous voice vote. Executive Director Wilson stated, due to the lateness of the hour, if the Council did not have questions on the MOUs on the Council agenda the special meet- ing and Closed Session of the Council will not be held. There was concurrence of the Agency. ADJOURNMENT: Time of adjournment was 7:45 p.m. RESPECTFULLY SUBMI'I'FED, APPROVED. l~arbara A. Battaya, Clerk Josel~ A. l~ernekes, Chaqfman Redevelopment Agency Red~,elopmen~ t Agency City of South San Francisco City of South San Francisco entries of this Agency meeting show the action taken by the Redevelopment Agency to dispose of an item. Oral ~mmunications, arguments and comments are recorded on tape. The tape and documents related to the items are on in the Office of the City Clerk and are available for inspection, review and copying. 10/8/97 Page 6