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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 11/07/2002 CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES MUNICIPAL SERVICES BUILDING 33 ARROYO DRIVE November 7, 2002 CALL TO ORDER / PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TAPE 1 7:30 D.m. ROLL CALL / CHAIR COMMENTS PRESENT: Commissioner D'Angelo, Commissioner Honan, Commissioner Meloni, Commissioner Sim, Commissioner Teglia, Vice Chairperson Ochsenhirt and Chairperson Romero ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Planning Division: Building Division: City Attorney: Engineering Division: Police Department: Water Quality: Fire Prevention. Thomas C. Sparks, Chief Planner Susy Kalkin, Principal Planner Steve Carlson, Senior Planner Mike Lappen, Senior Planner Steve Kowalski, Associate Planner Allison Knapp, Consultant Planner Barry Mammini, Senior Building Inspector Kimberly Johnson, Assistant City Attorney Richard Harmon, Development Review Coordinator Sergeant Mike Newell, Planning Liaison Ray Honan, Environmental Compliance Coordinator Maurice Dong, Assistant Fire Marshall AGENDA REVIEW No Changes ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None CONSENT CALENDAR Approved 1. Approval of Regular Meeting Minutes of October 17, 2002. Motion Ochsenhirt / Second Honan to approve the Consent Calendar. Approved by unanimous voice vote. PUBLIC HEARING - AGENDA ITEMS 2. SSFUSD-owner SSF Foundation for Y outh/Rom Braschi-applicant 35 School Street UP-OI-091 and Categorical Exemption Class 1 Section 15301 Existing Facilities Denied Use Permit to allow a community recreation use (bingo) to operate during non school hours at Martin School. Associate Planner Kowalski presented the Staff Report and gave a PowerPoint presentation. S:\Minutes\fmalized\2002\11-07 -02 RPC.doc Approved on November 21,2002 Page 1 of 9 Commissioner Honan asked if the tot lot would be relocated. Staff responded that it would stay in its current location. Shirley Hoch, SSF Foundation for Youth, noted that the Foundation responded to the issues raised by the Commission at the October 1 ill hearing. The applicant conducted a community meeting, as requested, and mailed out notices to the 500 foot radius. The Boys & Girls club was also notified of the meeting. They also provided the School District with 400 notices in English and Spanish to send home with the Martin school students. The concerns were; parking issues, that all notices should be sent in Spanish, that there be detailed accounting provided as to how the funds for the Foundation have been used, and security and safety issues. The applicant added that they had contacted Parks & Recreation with regard to the little league games at Martin School field and there were no issues with the schedules. Also they submitted a parking plan as requested by the Commission. Commission discussion with staff and applicant: ~ The conditions of approval for this application should be imposed on all future bingo uses and that a six- month review be part of the conditions of approval. Assistant City Attorney Johnson noted that the Commission could determine if any other uses should be reviewed. The Commission can ask staff to review previous conditions of approval for the same type of use, but each application and its conditions are specific to the site. Sergeant Mike Newell noted that the conditions are from California Penal Code and Municipal Code. Conditions are identical for each Bingo application. ~ The Commission was concerned wi~h the amount of time required to set up, the length of the games, and the time required to clean up the site. Ms. Hoch noted that they need a three-hour setup time because players, mostly senior citizens, arrive an hour to an hour and a half earlier to socialize with other players. The Foundation has not decided if they want to serve lunch yet. The games are 3 hours long and staff leaves with the players for security reasons. There will be someone in charge of cleaning up the area after everyone leaves. ~ Chairperson Romero asked Ms. Hoch if she had a chance to review the General Plan, specifically policy 5.2- g-l. Ms. Hoch noted that she reviewed the Bingo ordinance but not the General Plan. Public Hearing opened. Those in favor of the permit were: Paul Petterson SSFHS Teacher 400 B Street So. San Francisco Wayne Bennett SSFFFY Boardmember 4123 Alpine Road Portola Valley Armando Gonzalez Security Company 713 W. Orange Ave So. San Francisco Dr. George Kozitza SSFUSD Superintendent 769 Baden Avenue So. San Francisco Pat Martinelli SSFHS Teacher 105 James Court So. San Francisco The speakers pointed out that funding is being cut drastically from public schools and that the funding that they would receive from the SSF Foundation for Youth would help them purchase materials for the students' activities. Mr. Bennett noted that the Foundation's bingo site in Redwood City donated to non-profit organizations $80,000- $100,000 last year. He added that this number would increase with two additional games in South San Francisco. A question was asked if the Foundation for Youth went through the application process with the School Board for the Bingo application. Mr. Kozitza noted that the facility was made available to the Foundation under a policy S:\Minutes\finalized\2002\11-07 -02 RPC.doc Approved on November 21,2002 Page 2 of 9 that allows a facility to be made available to a non-profit organization if it is not being used for educational purposes. They will be paying direct usage costs and in addition to this the school will benefit from the donation given to Martin school of $1,000 per month for a computer laptop lab. Mr. Gonzalez noted that his security officers are trained and would make sure that there is no one in the area that is not going to the Bingo games. They are equipped with walkie-talkies and cellular phones to call the Police Department. They also monitor the parking lot and are trained in traffic control. The Commission asked how many guards were going to be posted at the site and how many were at All Souls and the Boys & Girls Club on Orange. Mr. Gonzalez said that there is two guards posted at each of the sites and he has not negotiated with Ms. Hoch with regard to how many they will have at Martin School. The Commission suggested also having two guards at the Martin School site and that the conditions of approval reflect this change. Mr. Gonzalez noted that he is always present when they have a new job to get a feel of what is needed. Those in opposition to the permit were: Lisa DeMattei Rick Gomez HOTHRA 208 Armour Avenue 713 Linden Ave. Ste A So. San Francisco So. San Francisco Andrew Estigoy 118 Drake Avenue So. San Francisco Jackie Williams 242 Longford Drive So. San Francisco A petition was presented to the Commission that was signed by 86 residents of the neighborhood in opposition to the bingo permit. The speakers thanked the Commission for continuing the item to allow the community to have input on the planning process. Their concerns were: >- Losing a basketball court in order to reconfigure the playground to allow a parking lot. >- Traffic along Hillside Boulevard. >- Overflow parking into the neighborhood due to l40 players expected at the games. >- Security around the neighborhood and security for the children playing around cars. >- Conflict of interest with the applicant being part of the Board of Directors for the School District and those running the organization oversee welfare of schools. >- Lack of knowledge about the Foundation due to its short 2 year existence. >- Bingo will not improve the potential crime increasing their neighborhood. >- A member of the public was concerned about other City sites being considered for Bingo and causing the same problems there. Mr. Estigoy noted that the reference to local ordinance is the California Penal Code section 3.6.5 governing Bingo games. He highlighted that the SSF Foundation for Youth in their summary states that volunteers would operate the games and the penal code is specific in saying that members authorized for the permit can only operate Bingo games. Secondly, the penal code states that profits shall be only used for charitable purposes and all organizations that they donate to should be declared 501 (c) (3), non-profit, by the State of California and questioned if the organizations listed are categorized under this section or not. Lastly the Articles of incorporation noted that SSFFY was formed under 501 (c) (3) of the Code and does not see that certificate attached to prove that they are classified as a non-profit organization. He added that there are other alternatives to Bingo for fundraising and asked that the Commission research the following issues prior to approval of application. Mrs. Hoch clarified that they are a 501 (c) (3) classification and that the Police Department did a thorough investigation of the Foundation, including looking at records and potential conflicts of interest. Public Hearing closed. S:\Minutes\fll1alized\2002\11-07 -02 RPC.doc Approved on November 21,2002 Page 3 of 9 Commission discussion with staff and the applicant: ~ Commissioner Meloni asked if the Police Department had reviewed the security program. Sergeant Mike Newell stated that they had not. He added that a security plan is the Police Department's first line of defense and the guards then call the Police Department if there is a problem. This has been the case for other bingo sites in the City and has been very effective. ~ Commissioner Meloni asked Assistant City Attorney Johnson for a response to the comments by Mr. Estigoy. Assistant City Attorney Johnson clarified that penal code section326.5 (a) does not refer to federal tax guidelines but to California taxation code and it exempts and allows any organization that qualifies under section 237701a-g and 1 of the revenue taxation code. Staff has not investigated if these sections are consistent with the 501 (c) (3) corporations because it is not the criteria under State Law. Staff did investigate if the organization qualified for this type of permit a year ago. ~ Commissioner Meloni asked how many guards would be needed at the site. Sergeant Mike Newell noted that requiring two would keep it consistent with the other the other Bingo operations in the City. ~ Vice Chairperson Ochsenhirt wanted to know why Martin school was the choice and not another site. Ms. Hoch noted that the other sites mentioned are not good locations because they are not handicap accessible. Martin' multi-purpose room configuration is ideal for Bingo operations and they can also have off-street parking. ~ Commissioner Honan requested a background of the Foundation. Ms. Hoch noted that Mr. Broschi wanted to celebrate 50 years of service the public school system and founded the Foundation. It has been in existence for two years and it has a board of directors of 5 members that elect each other with an advisory board. They promote themselves by letters and ask parents for a fair share. ~ Commissioner Meloni asked if the Engineering Division had looked at the parking plan. Staff noted that they had not seen it. TAPE 2 Bertha Hernandez noted that Anne and Gerald Reed entered into the record a letter with their concerns on the Bingo application. The letter stated the same concerns already addressed by the neighborhood. ~ Commissioner Sim felt that the bingo operation would help education by its contributions to the schools and that bingo is just another way of funding the Foundation. .,... Commissioner Teglia felt that this site is challenging and bears watching. An initial six-month review also doesn't mean that there shouldn't be a subsequent six-month review. It would be appropriate to start with 2 security guards and go from there. Each operation should be considered on its own; established games with a history of no problems don't necessarily need the same conditions. ~ Commissioner D'Angelo pointed out that a Public school is not an appropriate use for gaming. He also stated that the residents want to improve their neighborhood and they feel that this would not be an improvement. ~ Commissioner Honan felt that traffic issues would be a problem because of parents trying to pick up their children and players wanting to get to the games early. She questioned if the money donated to the school would be worth a child's life lost in the parking lot. ~ Chairperson Romero noted that the trade off is for seniors to be able to play bingo or for the children to be able to play freely without danger. He noted that the general plan shows that Paradise Valley Park has 1.2 acres and is the smallest park in SSF. He added that the parks take into consideration the school sites and Martin School has 3.0 acres which is also the smallest school site in SSF. He pointed out that the General Plan shows a lack of community and neighborhood parks in downtown and a lack of traditional park facilities in the Paradise Valley area. He added that there is a Joint Powers Agreement with the City and the SSFUSD to use the school parkland. He questioned if this application will have priority over recreational programs in the future. He pointed out that guiding policies 5 .1-g-1, 5.1-g-3 in the General Plan did not support this application due s: \Minutes\fmalized\2002\11-07 -02 RPC.doc Approved on November 21,2002 Page 4 of 9 to the loss of parkland. He was also concerned with child safety in the parking lot. Motion Sim to approve the permit with considering that item #5 be added to all Bingo applications in the future. Assistant City Attorney Johnson amendment to conditions of approval should be made that there be a six-month review at which the Commission can impose additional conditions consistent with evidence and testimony received at that review. Amended Motion Sim! Second Ochsenhirt to include the comments by Assistant City Attorney Johnson. Roll Call: Ayes: Noes: Absent: Abstain: Commissioner Sim and Vice Chairperson Ochsenhirt Commissioner D'Angelo, Commissioner Honan, Commissioner Meloni, Commissioner Teglia and Chairperson Romero None None Motion failed by a 2-5 vote. Recess called at 9:20 p.m. Recalled to order at 9:40 p.m. Motion D' An2:elo to deny the Use Permit. Assistant City Attorney Johnson read into the record the findings of denial that the Commission would adopt based on but not limited to the testimony heard at the meeting. Second Honan Roll Call: Ayes: Noes: Absent: Abstain: Commissioner D'Angelo, Commissioner Honan, Commissioner Meloni, Commissioner Teglia and Chairperson Romero Commissioner Sim and Vice Chairperson Ochsenhirt None None Motion passed and Use permit denied by a 5-2 vote. 3. Richard Elmo Haskins-owner Alexandria Real Estate Equities-applicant P02-0042 and Mitigated Negative Declaration MND02-0042 (Recommend continuance to November 21, 2002) Project Title: East Jamie Court Office/R&D Project P02-0042 Project Location: Approximately 6.13 acre site located approximately one mile east of Highway 101 via East Grand Avenue, at the southeastern corner of Haskins Way and East Jamie Court. The site is bordered on the south by San Francisco Bay, on the east by the South San Francisco Scavenger Company Materials Recovery Facility/Transfer Station, on the north side ofE. Jamie Ct. by Yellow Freight Trucking, and on the west side of Haskins Way by multi-tenant office/warehouse businesses. (APN 015-102-250) Project Description: Use Permit to construct a two building office/R & D complex on a 6. 13-acre site adjacent to the San Francisco Bay. The project consists of two buildings totaling 133,000 sq. ft.: Bldg. I-two stories over a parking level (57,700 sq. ft.); and Bldg. 2-three stories (75,300 sq. ft.) in the Planned Industrial (P-I) Zoning District and a Variance to allow a reduction in parking standards from 3.3 spaces per 1,000 S:\Minutes\finalized\2002\11-07 -02 RPC.doc Approved on November 21,2002 Page 5 of 9 square feet to 2.8 spaces per 1,000 square feet. Motion Meloni / Second Sim to continue the item. Approved by unanimous voice vote. 4. Costco Wholesale Corporation-applicant Price Company-owner 479 So. Airport Blvd. UPOI-0004 and Negative Declaration NDOI-0004 The proposed project includes the development of an automated self-serve vehicle fueling facility, including 5 pump islands containing 10 gasoline dispensers (20 fueling positions), a pump island canopy, three 30,000 gallon underground fuel tanks, and minor accessory structures on a site located at the southeasterly corner of South Airport Boulevard and Belle Air Road, on property presently developed as overflow parking for the adjacent Costco Wholesale warehouse in the P-C, Planned Commercial Zone District. Principal Planner Kalkin presented the staff report with a PowerPoint presentation. Costco representative Kim Stever presented the team that worked on the project. Bruce Creager, Barghausen Engineers, pointed out that the project has changed since the Commission last saw the 2001 proposal. The layout is much more workable. He addressed issues noted at the last study session in April such as overflow queuing by relocating the station to the innermost portion of the site and adjusting driveway locations. They added some landscaping features like New Zealand Christmas trees, which flourish in the area. The existing shrubs will be complimented. They also developed additional parking that will replace the parking stalls that will be lost. They will have a total of 895 parking stalls, substantially more than required by Code. Steve Kirk, Barghausen Engineers project engineer, stated that there would be double wall tanks; they will be monitored with internal monitoring systems. He added that Costco has gone above and beyond the requirements in regards to double wall piping. There is a geo duct that provides another level of protection to the system barrier application. The dispensers have a containment system that is monitored by a vector system. This system is automatically and immediately disconnected when it detects a leak. The system can also be shut off 25 feet away from the pumps manually. He noted that MTBE is going to be phased out in 2004. The piping used by Costco has been tested and is approved for this type of usage. Commissioner D'Angelo asked what the impact ofMTBE would be on the joint seals that are not of hardened type material. Mr. Kirk noted that this is addressed by a permeability factor. He further noted that although there may be impacts, mitigations have been taken and all systems operate within the parameters set by the law. Commissioner Meloni asked for an explanation on the deadman anchoring. Mr. Kirk gave the length and width of the deadman anchors and explained that the anchoring system was designed to hold down the tanks Mr. Larry Houps addressed this question by speaking of the buoyancy calculations and how he took into consideration the concrete and soil weight, pressure from the soil around the tank and how the deadman anchors would hold down the tanks. He read a letter into the record that addressed these issues and noted that the safety factor although calculated at 1.28 by Mr. Kirk is 2.0 according to his calculations. Commissioner Meloni noted that the type of system is important because of the soils conditions on the site and questioned what is the acceptable safety factor. Chairperson Romero asked how the tanks would perform in a major earthquake. Mr. Houps noted that the tanks would sway from side to side with the earth. Chairperson Romero asked if the tanks could lurch or move. Mr. Houps noted that there would lateral movement towards the bay. S:\Minutes\fll1alized\2002\11-07 -02 RPC.doc Approved on November 21,2002 Page 6 of 9 Commissioner D'Angelo was concerned with the deadman anchors. He believed that it takes more than these to hold the tank down. Sonia Hennum, traffic consultant with Kittleson & Associates, noted that the traffic report prepared by Crane Transportation was incorrect in overestimating trip generations. She noted that gas stations are not primary trip generation uses and that they are a link trip that takes the customer somewhere else. She stated that the Costco fueling station is unique in that the customers go to the store first and then to the fueling station. This would account for trip shares, which is only one trip to the overall site including the station. She concluded that according to her estimates there would only be 30 new trips to the gas station. She added that this change in the traffic study would affect some of the conditions of approval with regard to the East of 101 Traffic impact fee. TAPE 3 Commissioner Teglia pointed out that he is having difficulty in grasping that the new station would generate only 30 new trips. He noted that on Costco sites the trips are usually underestimated and 5 years later the impacts are seen. He added that this is not a regular gasoline station but most Costco gas stations are specific destinations. Ms. Hennum noted that Costco does have a higher trip rate than any typical gas stations. Chairperson Romero asked that staff clarify the trip generation information. Chief Planner Sparks stated that estimates in transportation could be manipulated. For environmental quality analysis the City is required to be conservative and this has been consistent practice throughout City traffic studies. He stated that staff is comfortable with numbers provided in the traffic study by Crane Transportation. Should the Commission want to change the analysis, this does have implications on the Mitigation Measures in the Mitigated Negative Declaration. Assistant City Attorney Johnson noted that the additional information received is inconsistent with the numbers that were used for the Mitigated Negative Declaration. The numbers suggested by Costco's consultant would have an effect on the mitigation measures and the Mitigated Negative Declaration document in general. Staffhas not had the opportunity to review Ms. Hennun' s numbers nor their potential impact on the proposed mitigation measures. Such a change would also likely require that the document would be recirculated. Public Hearing opened. Those in opposition to the permit were: Kurt Kreiner 300 So. Airport Blvd. So. San Francisco Russ Hampton 248 So. Airport Blvd. So. San Francisco Don Mason 10 Arlington Drive So. San Francisco Kelly Hampton 248 So. Airport Blvd. So. San Francisco Jackie Williams 242 Longford Drive So. San Francisco Louis Poletti 333 El Camino Real So. San Francisco Public's concerns were: )0> This will be the closest gas station to the bay. )0> Costco says that this is state of the art material they are using and if it were true they would vault the tanks. )0> The bay will be endangered by leakage of the tanks. )0> There are issues with piping pulling away from the tanks in a major earthquake. )0> Traffic will increase in the area up to 2600 cars a day. )0> There was concern with regard to the underground tanks being overly large. )0> There is no room for lengthening a left turn lane or adding another one and this is a negative impact. )0> Original proposal was for four islands and 16 fueling stations and this proposal now includes 5 pump islands. S:\Minutes\finalized\2002\11-07-02 RPC.doc Approved on November 21,2002 Page 7 of 9 ~ There was concern on air quality in the area. ~ The opening of this gas station would put many neighboring gas station businesses in a bad financial status. ~ It will take 11 large trucks to fill the 30,000-gallon tanks and this presents a hazard. Public Hearing closed. Commissioner Meloni asked what is the safest system on the market with regard to piping. Jeff Ryan, Gettler- Ryan - SSF consultant, he noted that both flexible pipe and fiberglass pipes are state of the art material and are safe. Both types of pipe work well under earthquakes, movement of soil and water issues. They require ongoing maintenance but the system can be constructed with either material. Commissioner Meloni noted that there is an issue with the station being well maintained and all requirements met. Mr. Ryan added that the system is triple contained and in case of gas leakage there is an effective monitoring program an automatic system that shuts the station down. The key to the system is proper installation and maintenance. Commissioner Meloni questioned the anchoring system for the tanks. Bill Smith, Treadwell and Rollo - SSF consultant, noted that they did not include the anchoring system in their peer review but were in concurrence with Kleinfelder's review (Costco's consultants). They did have questions with regard to the over excavation for the canopy structure. He suggested that they be allowed time to review the document with regard to calculations and offer their viewpoint on this issue at that time. Commissioner Meloni noted that the s report asks for a certain type of anchorage and something different is being done. Commissioner D'Angelo asked if there were advantages to using smaller tanks rather than 30,000-gallon tanks at the site. Mr. Ryan noted that one advantage might be that larger tanks retain more gasoline during peak hours. They allow themselves flexibility in filling schedules and not blocking traffic lanes. Safety and structure is easier to deal with when there are smaller tanks. He added that the tank manufacturers have done a good job in making sure that their products are structurally sound given the installation conditions. Commissioner Teglia, commenting that the Transportation Demand Management Program was being applied to employees only, suggested that there might be other mechanisms that could be applied to the station operations. He noted that the price differential and queuing problems associated with Costco fueling facilities present a problem and there could be mitigation measures that the City can put on these sites. He suggested modifying hours of operation to allow customers to fuel on off-peak hours and/or offering a discount for fueling on offpeak hours. Commissioner Honan noted that she did not think that the safety factor is good enough. She noted that the risks outnumber the benefits. She concluded that the preferred safety factor is not to have gas tanks at all. Some Commissioners felt that more time was needed to review the new information presented. Commissioner Meloni noted that Costco is moving towards the cheapest installation method. He noted that the safest way to hold down the tanks is to install piers. Chairperson Romero noted that the Commission does not want to modify the engineering calculations. Motion Meloni / Second Te2:lia to deny the Use Permit. Assistant City Attorney Johnson asked that the Commission continue the item to allow staff to draft findings of denial. Amended Motion Meloni / Second Te2:lia to continue the item to November 21, 2002. Approved by unanimous S:\Minutes\finalized\2002\11-07 -02 RPC.doc Approved on November 21,2002 Page 8 of 9 voice vote. ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS 5. Items from Staff Chief Planner Sparks asked that the Commission cancel the meeting of January 2,2003 due to the New Year holiday. Motion Sim / second Ochsenhirt to cancel the meeting of January 2,2003 6. Items from Commission None 7. Items from the Public None 8. Adjournment 11:56 p.m. Motion Honan / .Second Sim to adjourn. Approved by unanimous voice vote. ~~/g;;4~ Secretary to the Planning Commission City of South San Francisco w~ ~~.4v- William Romero, Chairperson Planning Commission City of South San Francisco NEXT MEETING: Regular Meeting November 21,2002, Municipal Services Building, 33 Arroyo Drive, South San Francisco, CA. TCS/blh S:\Minutes\fmalized\2002\11-07 -02 RPC.doc Approved on November' 21,2002 Page 9 of 9