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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 06/07/2001 CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO REGULAR PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES MUNICIPAL SERVICES BUILDING 33 ARROYO DRIVE June 7, 2001 TAPE 1 CALL TO ORDER / PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The meeting was called to order at 7:30 p.m. ROLL CALL / CHAIR COMMENTS MEMBERS PRESENT: Commissioner Honan, Commissioner Ochsenhirt, Commissioner Sim, Commissioner Teglia, and Vice Chairperson Romero, Chairperson Meloni MEMBERS ABSENT: Commissioner D'Angelo City Attorney: Police Dept.: Bldg./Fire Prevo Thomas C. Sparks, Chief Planner Steve Carlson, Senior Planner Mike Lappen, Senior Planner Norma Fragoso, RCD Manager Kimberly Johnson Sgt. Mike Newell Mike 0' Connell STAFF PRESENT: Planning Division: AGENDA REVIEW ORAL COMMUNICATIONS CONSENT CALENDAR 1. Approval of Regular Meeting Minutes of April 19, 2001 and May 3, 2001 Commissioner Honan abstained from and corrected the April 19th minutes to read that staff present Ray Honan was not in attendance. Motion Sim / Second Romero to approve the Consent Calendar. Approved unanimously. PUBLIC HEARING-AGENDA ITEMS 2. Sprint PCS/The Alaris Group/Talin Aghazarian-applicant Sellick Park/City of So. San Francisco-owner Appian Way UP-OI-023 and Categorical Exemption Class 32 Section 15332 In Fill Development Project Use permit allowing a private wireless communication facility at SELLICK PARK. (Continuedfrom April 19, 2001) S:\Minutes\051701 RPC.doc Page 101'9 Senior Planner Carlson presented the staff report. The commission had expressed concerns at the April 19th meeting and directed the applicant to conduct a neighborhood meeting, return to the Park and Recreation Commission depending on the outcome of the neighborhood meeting and then return to the Planning Commission on June ih. The applicant with staff in attendance conducted a meeting at Sellick Park on Wednesday, May 9th. Sent out 380 notices which were also the same notices that were utilized for the April 19th meeting. Verified that the people who spoke at the April 19th meeting were also noticed. They happened to be on the same list. At the neighborhood meeting, there were approximately 12 neighbors, Councilwoman Matsumoto, who is in the audience this evening, 2 Park and Rec Commissioners, Harry Gidwani, Richard Garbarino and City staff to include Barry Nagel, Director of Parks & Recreation, Tom Sparks, Rich Bordi and myself. Applicant had their own staff including their Radio Frequency Engineer, Project Engineer and Site Specialist. They looked at 3 different alternatives and handed out graphics as well as photo simulations and reviewed all those different options. Had the option sites for the equipment cabinets staked out in the field for touring. After some extensive discussion of the options, the applicant's representatives, especially the RF Engineer, discussed the RF study and answered questions. Their staff report is included with this staff report. The consensus after a 45 minute review was that the applicant's preferred alternative, Option 2, was acceptable to most of the folks there, because it provided much better screening. It is not a vault. The vaulting option which is not in your packet, was a lot more involved in terms of disruption to the park. In order to get a vault in the park would have to crane in equipment for installation and repairs. There was some opposition to the antenna in the park. Wanted the park to remain just a park. The proposed project, the lightpole, is still basically the same. The equipment cabinet is still the same height and dimensions other than it has been located slightly to the west in an area of much greater density of landscaping. The RF study concluded not health risk. The area of concern is within an 8-foot area in front of the antenna panels. Since the nearest panel is 32-feet in height at its lowest point above ground, no one would come in contact with any of the radio waves of concern. Still require that a sign be posted on a pole for workers replacing lightbulbs of the potential health risk. The City has agreed to maintain the landscaping that the applicants will install. The Park and Recreation Commission informally reviewed Option 2 and determined it acceptable. Option 2 is compatible with the adjacent residents and recommend that the Planning Commission give favorable consideration to Option 2. Talin Aghazarian, Alaris Group/Sprint PCS, gave presentation. Regarding the vaulting issue, it cannot be done. The only location that this would be possible would be the south comer. The cable run is too far for the antenna. Very large cranes are needed to put the vault into the excavated ground which needs access and there is access. Option 2 is the preferred design for their equipment and the antenna location was not changed. This is the best location for their antennas which will be painted to match the existing lightpole. Commissioner Teglia Aren't there other options for undergrounding the equipment? Locationwise or just getting it done. Talin No. As I spoke of before, the cable run is too far of a distance. Commissioner Teglia What is wrong with the location nearby the antenna? Talin It is at an excavation and there would be possible erosion to the soil. The cranes have to be very close to the area where you are vaulting and need access for that. The road does not go all the way to where the equipment is being proposed. Commissioner Teglia A lot of the smaller trucks with cranes on the back can get the equipment in there. Talin It is a very large crane and heavy vault to be set into the ground. It is a whole piece. Commissioner Teglia. There isn't a build on site option. Talin Not that I'm aware of. Commissioner Honan Read in the report that the City would be collecting money for this site. Where S:\Minutes\051701 RPC.doc Page 2 0[9 is the money going? Does it go to the City, the parks or the homeowners association? Senior Planner Carlson Normally it goes into the General Fund, but do not know. Commissioner Teglia Part of the Telecommunications Ordinance actually encouraged siting telecommunication facilities on City property so the City could benefit from the revenue. The leases are fairly lucrative and generally a General Fund item. 110re income for the City. Chairperson Meloni Is the system able to be shut down when the City workers have to change the lights? Does it stay running? Are we putting our employees at risk? Senior Planner Carlson One way is to post the sign. It can be shut down, but it has to be coordinated with Sprint unless there is an alternative method of putting in the lightbulbs. The question would be best answered by Rich Bordi. Vice Chairperson Romero Is the equipment cabinet going to be behind the trees? Senior Planner Carlson It is out on the flat area, 25 yards away from the other site in a gully. The north and west of the site that was looked at. Down below the path. Vice Chairperson Romero There's going to be landscaping further around the existing landscaping. Senior Planner Carlson Yes. Vice Chairperson Romero That satisfies the concerns I expressed last time. The alternative is much better. Motion Honan I Second Sim to approve by unanimous voice vote. ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS 3. Items from Staff a. HOUSING POLICY STUDY SESSION Chief Planner Sparks asked for a brief break to set up. Norma Fragoso gave staff report and powerpoint presentation. Chairperson Meloni inquired about self certifying. The text of the law mentioned the self certifying but it wasn't really clear how it was defined. Got the sense that if you self certify your housing element the state would except that, but that doesn't seem logical considering what they are saying in the law. Norma Fragoso asked Chief Planner Sparks to respond. Chief Planner Sparks This is a tentative answer. SB910 has been amended since what Norma took her description from was produced. Now rather than $1,000.00 per unit they have absolute numbers like $100,000.00 for a city under x population. We don't know precisely what it might say, but for purposes of self certification at least as the current legislation is read that's fine you can go ahead and do that but the presumption is then if you are sued you have blown it. You go in with a rebuttable presumption that you are not in conformance which is the reverse of the way it is now. Start out on the defense. Guilty until proven innocent and when you have your gas tax rebates at issue. It is a high risk proposition so probably most jurisdictions are not going to risk that. Norma Fragoso explained ABAG charts for affordable housing. Summarized City Council's review and highlighted the policies and the directions that they have asked staff to pursue in moving forward with our housing element. Chairperson Meloni Housing Trust Fund is going to be a fund where developers will be required to put in monies to build this fund up. The idea is for the City to then build the housing or supply the loans to rehabilitate. Norma Fragoso Yes. Either the City could use those funds directly or make loans to the developers. It would work very much like our Redevelopement Agency Low Mod Housing Fund does now. S:\Minutes\051701 RPC.doc Page 3 0[9 Chairperson Meloni has there been any other talk at the state level about the jurisdiction being able to use monies in another jurisdiction in order to meet their housing needs. Norma Fragoso Recently, there has been some movement, for instance the emergency shelter arena. It is possible to use Redevelopment funds for a project that is located in another locality if you can demonstrate that a certain number of people from your locality will be able to access services there. Chairperson Meloni The reason I ask is this question is because of the state law SB910 talks about the ability to that. It sounds like there was an agreement between another two jurisdictions that are talking about this. Norma Fragoso Believe that is correct and furthermore the jurisdictions must be contiguous in order to do that. The idea was that something on the border between two cities that could serve both rather than a city 50 miles down the peninsula. Commissioner Ochsenhirt Yesterday I had the pleasure of lobbying at the State Capital with our Representatives on exactly this issue housing. SB910 is a hot issue up there. A current bill being passed around as of yesterday, relating to the tax credit, that number is to be 2% on the gasoline withholding. Norma Fragoso Exactly, those numbers and specific language seem to change from week to week. My definition is about two weeks old. Commissioner Ochsenhirt My other questions is on the legal aid agreements made. Brought out that the Redevelopment area whether private or public action. How's that fair to the City's jurisdiction when comes to a private matter. Norma Fragoso It's not at all fair. Don't know how they ever managed to come to that agreement. That was a result of a direct suit against the City. Commissioner Ochsenhirt Next question is relating to the Mission Chestnut. We have been waiting for a while. Glad to hear that construction is finally going to begin? Norma Fragoso Yes that is correct. These Federal projects take forever. The funding was allocated a year and it takes six months for working drawings on a project this size and another six months for the HUD reviews and final approvals. The site acquisition just occurred. Closed escrow last week. The final bid is in and should get authorization from the Feds by the end of this month. Commissioner Ochsenhirt Great news! Our seniors have been waiting. Next question is about the development or approval that has been given to the developer at Hillside and Linden. There has been nothing seen at that site since the developer got his approval. Is there a time limit or is there anything we can hold him accountable for to get started with this project? Norma Fragoso asked Chief Planner Sparks if he had a response regarding Ping Hsu (Hillside and Linden project). Then stated we have legal counsel to answer. Assistant City Attorney Johnson The latest was that the developer had difficulty obtaining an engineer that would qualify for the City's grading permit requirement in terms of insurance and indemnity. Once they obtained the engineers and the geotechnical experts the grading permit has been approved approximately 3 or 4 weeks ago. Should start seeing some activity out there shortly. Commissioner Ochsenhirt Is there a time period that any developer would have where his permits would expire? Chief Planner Sparks Yes depending on the nature of the permit. Subdivisions and Use Permits both have a Development Agreement so they probably do not have a formal expiration. Assistant City Attorney Johnson Not unless they have Vesting Tentative Map or other maps that would expire during the interim of the Development Agreement. Typically the Development Agreements have an expiration period of 10 years. Commissioner Ochsenhirt When such an agreement is made and we have someone who is willing to add an affordable or ABAG requirement to the development, does that put any other restriction or S:\Minutes\051701 RPC.doc Page 4. of 9 bonding to a certain time period. Assistant City Attorney Johnson Typically when we negotiate the Development Agreement, you may recall the Terrabay Development Agreement, we did put in some certain timing criteria for the development of the residential properties and the coming on line of the affordable units. It all depends on the scope of the development and the developer spacing of the project and how we can incorporate the residential portions into that if it's a mixed development and also the funding of the development. Chief Planner Sparks If you like we can review that particular one and get a summary back to you of where we are. Commissioner Ochsenhirt 1'm satisfied. Commissioner Ochsenhirt The next comment is on the Housing Mitigation first and it follows into a direction to proceed part of the presentation, in particular the item relating to Rent Control Ordinance or Rent Arbitration Mediation Board. Having been at the study session with Council, there was a vote taken and 4 to 1 in favor of not supporting any type of Rent Control Ordinance. Surprised to see it on the direction to proceed list. Following that comment I do agree some kind of mediation and arbitration might be necessary in particular situations. However we do have a countywide conflict management which was spoken about at that housing workshop. So to develop a new board or even consider an ordinance to pertain to this type of matter would be the wrong direction for our city to go in. We only need to look at the city of San Francisco to find that rent control is a disaster for all involved. Just wanted to make a statement on that. Final comment when we say direction to proceed and it states that City Council would require that 25% of all residential development to be affordable. As we know affordable is inadequate word to use because what does that mean. Does the City say that 25% of all residential developments citywide to be moderate, low moderate or very low moderate would be more appropriate when talking about direction to proceed? Norma Fragoso To clarify, there is in the Redevelopment Law the 15% requirement of which 9% are to be affordable to low income and 6% to very low income. Council's direction was that we keep a comparable balance within our 25% so that approximately 13% would be low and 12% or 10% would be very low. A comparable ratio of the 9 and 16% was the specific. What is affordable is a good question. Staff would be developing standards of affordability that would include not only household size and income but also size of the unit and provide some parameters for fixing the cost of a for sale unit or a rental unit. Basically the assumptions we use are that affordable housing costs no more than 30% than one's income. We arrive at that number of what is an affordable sales price by backing into it by starting with 30% of one's income depending at what their household size is. In the future, we will be specifying that formula in writing and bringing that back to the City Council for their review and approval. Commissioner Ochsenhirt Thank you that's all. Commissioner Teglia Talking about low and moderate income the definition. The City is going to put together formulas to define that. Norma Fragoso The State and Federal government have formulas that provide the criteria for maximum income levels at certain ranges. Where the City has some leeway is to determine, for instance, it depends on the project is it a one bedroom, a two bedroom or a three bedroom project. The cost of those units would be different based on the size and based on household and their particular incomes. Commissioner Teglia For instance, it's not counting bedrooms it's counting units. A three bedroom and a one bedroom are each one unit? Norma Fragoso Correct. Commissioner Teglia asked about the definition of the 30%, 50% and 80% median incomes. Norma Fragoso Those are federal limits. Commissioner Teglia If you are at median income, what is your definition are you moderate? Norma Fragoso Moderate is 120% of median. You can consider 100% moderate. Still falls under the S:\Minutes\051701 RPC.doc Page 5 0[9 low and moderate housing need category. 120% then goes to market rate. Commissioner Teglia From the numbers and considering what our current rents are for apartments in South City, a lot of our apartments are close to hit the affordable housing targets. Talking more rentals than talking for sales. The 50% and 80% are somewhat doable with what our current market rate is. True or not true. For a single person what is affordable per month rental. Norma Fragoso Don't have that specific number. But for a single who is very, very low income at the maximum of $17,850.00, the federal government establishes their affordable rents at approximately $450.00 to $500.00 a month at that income level. It's 30% of their income. Commissioner Teglia Projects such as Greenridge, qualify as low income. Norma Fragoso Those are actually low and very low. In Oreenridge we are looking at 2,3 and 4 bedroom units in the 30% to 50% median ranges. The rents are $350.00 to $650.00 approximately. Commissioner Teglia The Legal Aid requirement, projects like Greenridge, some of the units we already have, already come on line. If we were to do some redevelopment downtown and lose some the existing units, do those new units qualify as a one to one replacement? Norma Fragoso Yes, they do. Commissioner Teglia We actually have the ability and leeway to lose the downtown units and still stay in compliance for that settlement. Norma Fragoso That is correct and in fact we are currently in compliance for that very reason. We have lost units and some of the projects I have identified seem to count as replacement. Commissioner Teglia My last concern other than rent control is the requirement that all parcels be developed at their maximum density. That is in itself a definition of poor planning. You cannot maximize one particular property without taking into account the surrounding neighborhoods. Things that the City is lacking such as parks, open space and proper emenities. Most recently application or study session that comes to mind was the up in Westborough. Massive and completely out of character with the area. Would think there are some other more creative ways to try to hit these targets without putting in a blanket we will develop the maximum. Don't think the residents in the neighborhoods will put up with that. Vice Chairperson Romero Surprised at the ABAG allocations for the county. Our allocation is 1330, San Bruno is 378 and Daly City which is significantly bigger the South San Francisco is 1323. Looked at the formula that this allocation is calculated by. It is based on housing increases and anticipated job increases. Daly City is anticipating significant increases in jobs, but little in housing. Their increase in jobs is a lot more than ours. They seem to be getting a benefit by generating jobs but not supplying the housing to go along with those jobs. We've been aggressive in providing housing. We do have anticipated job growth. Seemed like the housing and job increases are equal. Yet it seems we are being penalized for that. We are being required to provide more housing than Daly City eventhough they have more job requirements. Norma Fragoso I'll let Tom respond to this. Chief Planner Sparks The numbers are less bad than they were with the publication of the first draft of the ABAG allocations. The formula then was weighted more strongly than it is now toward requiring housing for jurisdictions that are creating large numbers of jobs. We rank very well on that scale. We have created a lot of jobs and anticipating creation of quite a few more. The initial cut from ABAG weighted that more heavily than it does now, so our current numbers are reduced down from that. This was the one that was accepted by consensus by ABAG. Won't dispute your arguments but regardless this is where we are and these are targets. Norma Fragoso These are numbers that were tweaked over a long period of time, result of a year long process of negotiations. Vice Chairperson Romero Is there a possibility to satisfy the allocation requirements by considering S:\Minutes\051701 RPC.doc Page 6 01'9 second units or in-law units to count toward satisfying these requirements. It is a separate unit and would enable people to have a secondary source of income if they are retired. Additional housing supply and smaller units more affordable. Norma Fragoso Believe you are correct. In addition, HCD will accept acquisition and rehab. The in- law unit would be a new unit. So anything new counts. If the City buys and rehabs that would count because the City maintains them at affordable levels, and finally any unit that has a deed restriction and rent regulatory requirements or sale restrictions would count as well. Vice Chairperson Romero Need to find alternatives to create solutions. This may be one. Norma Fragoso You are absolutely right. Notice the chart that in the 167 units that we have produced only 74 are new construction. The remainder are acquisition and rehab or units where agency financing assisted the rehab and now have deed restrictions on their affordability over the long term. This is a very cost-effective way. Commissioner Sim Commend the City Council and Norma for this wonderful study. Do you have a planning process plan to engage the business community at large? You ultimately have to have a buy in of the community. Norma Fragoso Ultimately, when the Housing Element is developed, there will be as series of public hearings as required by law and perhaps a Community Advisory Group that would be an option for City Council to appoint such a body. There is an extensive public hearing process and that Housing Element also comes to the Planning Commission for adoption. Commissioner Sim Also concerned with the density. Were the housing to be a maximum density, need to see the context. Obviously the intent is to build as much as possible, but need to have an ordinance where there is flexibility to look the context. Share Vice Chairperson Romero concern about the numbers. Commissioner Honan As of right now we cannot build East of 101 ? Norma Fragoso No housing East of 101. Commissioner Honan That is up in the year 2010. When that restriction is lifted, won't our numbers be changed? Norma Fragoso The requirement of the Airport is in perpetuity. Eventhough we may no longer be receiving any money that should we develop housing at any point even beyond this time period we would be required to pay those funds back. So it precludes housing development East of 101. In terms of the numbers changing, every 10 years the General Plan must be revamped and at that point it is possible that ABAG could come back and relook at those numbers. Unlikely that it would happen in less than 10 years. Chief Planner Sparks If the restriction East of 101 should be lifted, not aware that the ABAG modeling is sophisticated enough that it actually considers available space. It's a rather gross measure that looks at population, job creation, housing creation and it is relatively simple. Norma Fragoso In terms of the unavailability of land, HCD response is that the unavailability of land is not a reason to not meet obligation. Not considered an acceptable excuse and your Housing Element would not be certified. Assistant City Attorney Johnson to Commissioner Honan HCD replied to some of the City's comments in terms of the East of 101 area and one of the approaches to be creative would be to rezone the East of 101 to residential. ABAG looks at the numbers irrespect of the present zoning and assumes that City's will rezone appropriately to meet the numbers. In terms of the East of 101 area, development for residential property out there is very limited because of the prior uses of the property. The State and Federal laws prohibit residential development and many of the parcels in the East of 101 area limit any residential alternative uses such as childcare and other type things like that because of the prior S:\Minutes\051701 RPC.doc Page 7 0[9 contamination on the property. Wouldn't be able to use that property for housing even if we were to convert the zoning to residential. Commissioner Honan Agree that rent control is a disaster. We need the Arbitration and Mediation Board. Renters need somewhere to turn when they need help. Strongly agree with City Council. Norma Fragoso To clarify my chart. Eventhough it said direction that does not mean that the direction was for rent control. Council did not support rent control at this time or the near future. Commissioner Ochsenhirt States that Council did not support rent control, but why was it even on this action plan checklists? Norma Fragoso It's to clarify that their direction was not to pursue rent control, but to look at mediation and arbitration. Chairperson Meloni HCD will accept in-law units towards affordable housing? Norma Fragoso I believe that is correct. Chairperson Meloni Is that all new in-law units or existing in-law units? If it is existing, this town would go along way to meet our affordable unit count. Norma Fragoso Good point. Will have to take a look at that. Chairperson Meloni The jurisdiction I work for is in that position right now. Already asked that question the answer was not clear as to whether existing units or new in-law units could be counted as affordable housing. Norma Fragoso If it is existing unit or a new unit the true criteria would be that afford ability factor. Just because it is an in-law unit is not in itself sufficient. It would need to meet certain levels of affordability and it would require that it be deed restricted or have some type of regulatory agreement that binds the affordability and perpetuity. Chairperson Meloni If a person were to build a house with a granny unit, how would an individual go about saying that this is a granny unit and want to rent it at a certain rate? Norma Fragoso Record a regulatory agreement with the deed of trust that says this is the specific rent and it will be offered to someone within this income range and that would be tied to the deed of trust. Chairperson Meloni The in-law option of making the developer put in the unit would be more cost effective than the City getting a 6% fee of what (we don't know yet) and putting it into a trust fund. When would we make up these units? Would the City be able to make up those units? Is there an availability of land? Norma Fragoso Absolutely right. The in-law option in itself is not going to produce any significant numbers of units. It's a little extra cash where you can help out a project here and there. It's put in place because sometimes you need a little wiggle room. The Housing Trust Fund money is not going to produce any significant numbers of units. Chairperson Meloni The number of units should be very closely looked at and kept at the very minimum. Can't make up the units. Chairperson Meloni to Assistant City Attorney Johnson mentioned the East of 101 projects the ability to build residential. Are you talking strictly a residential zone or a combination commercial and residential zone? Assistant City Attorney Johnson The restriction is not based on zoning, but based on prior land uses, where there is lead contamination of the soil. Both the Federal and State governments very strictly regulate any future uses on that contaminated property. Even if it has been remediated to where it is no longer presenting a true hazard. Limit the continuous uses. Chairperson Meloni I don't disagree. The reason, however, the East of 101 would not have been completely contaminated. Gave an example in San Francisco which was industrial and has been built on. Assistant City Attorney Johnson I don't say that it can't be done. The bulk of the property out there S:\Minutes\051701 RPC.doc Page 8 0[9 has levels of contamination has been remediated to the extent where dealing with lead contamination has very strict regulations and continuous remediation would be required. Chairperson Meloni I think we need to be able to come up with the units and be able to meet these numbers. Commissioner Sim Further, the city of Emeryville and the Port of Oakland area are developing housing. Would like to see that possibly in our city in the East of 101. Norma Fragoso Will make notes of comments and look into this. Commissioner Teglia Asked Norma to clarify the residential building in East of 101 was precluded perpetuity. Is it not, it is a definite agreement with an expiration on it. Assistant City Attorney Johnson Recalls the agreement, but does not recall the specifics of the agreement. Commissioner Teglia Believe back then it was Shearwater that was being built. Chairperson Meloni Agree with Commissioner Teglia, because I brought that up when talking about the General Plan. At that time, we were told there was a date, not 10 years from now. Commissioner Teglia It was 10 years from the original inception. The thought was that nothing could be built in 10 years anyway. Definitely something to look at. Chairperson Meloni Thanked staff for a very informative study session. Norma Fragoso Thank you for your consideration. 4. Items from Commission Assistant City Attorney Johnson Will be on vacation July 7 through July 21,2001. Assistant City Attorney Adam Lindgren will be covering the July 19,2001 meeting. 5. Items from the Public 6. Adjourn MotionIRomero SecondlSim The meeting was adjourned at 9:06 p.m. ~('-~ Secretary to the Planning Commission City of South San Francisco ~ft~~ Michael Meloni, Chairperson Planning Commission City of South San Francisco NEXT MEETING: Regular Meeting June 21,2001, Municipal Services Building, 33 Arroyo Drive, South San Francisco, CA. TCS/pc S:\Minutes\051701 RPC.doc Page 9 of9