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Home My WebLink AboutPC Meeting 10-18-18 (Reso 2831-2018) - 490 S Airport RESOLUTION NO. 2831-2018 PLANNING COMMISSION, CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO STATE OF CALIFORNIA RESOLUTION MAKING FINDINGS AND DENYING THE USE PERMIT MODIFICATION REQUESTS FOR E-PLUS KARAOKE STUDIOS, INC. TO EXTEND HOURS OF OPERATION UNTIL 2:00 A.M. SEVEN DAYS A WEEK AND SELL HARD ALCOHOL AT 490 SOUTH AIRPORT BOULEVARD. WHEREAS, Michael Chang (“Applicant”), operates the E-Plus Karaoke Studios, Inc. located at 490 South Airport Blvd, which consists of approximately 900 square feet of cafe space and eleven private karaoke rooms (“Project”); and, WHEREAS, Applicant seeks approval of a Use Permit Modification to allow extended hours of operation of the café and the karaoke studios and the sale of hard alcohol on the premises; and, WHEREAS, the Applicant’s original Use Permit (UP09-0029) was approved in 2010, and the Applicant was restricted to obtaining a Type 41 “On-Sale Beer and Wine for Bona Fide Public Eating Place” license from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) to serve beer and wine only in the café portion of the business, and WHEREAS, the Applicant was granted a Use Permit Modification (UPM12-0001) in 2012 to serve only beer and wine in both the café and the karaoke rooms; and WHEREAS, in 2015 the applicant obtained a Type 47 license from ABC that allowed the sale of all types of alcoholic beverages, including hard alcohol, without City approval and in violation of the existing conditions of approval; and WHEREAS, a Use Permit Modification must be processed in the same manner in which the original permit was processed and approved pursuant to Section 20.450.012 of the South San Francisco Municipal Code; and WHEREAS, one of the required findings to approve or conditionally approve a Use Permit is that the proposed use will not be adverse to the public health, safety, or general welfare of the community, nor detrimental to surrounding properties or improvements, and the inability to make one or more of the findings in the affirmative is grounds to deny an application pursuant to Section 20.490.004 of the South San Francisco Municipal Code; and WHEREAS, the South San Francisco Police Department has conducted over 300 security inspections of the business since the Use Permit Modification approved in 2012 permitted beer and wine in both the café and karaoke rooms; and WHEREAS, the Police Department has responded to service calls regarding stabbings, assaults, fights both inside and outside the premises, and property vandalism, including but not limited to stabbing incidents on Sunday, August 2, 2015, between 1:30 a.m. and 2:00 a.m. and on Tuesday, March 7, 2017, at 2:00 a.m.; and WHEREAS, the request to extend the café hours within the current operating hours is determined to be categorically exempt from environmental review under the provisions of CEQA Guidelines Section 15301, minor alterations to operation that involve negligible or no expansion of use beyond that existing at the time; and WHEREAS, related to the request to extend the karaoke studio hours and to sell hard alcohol, under the provisions of CEQA Guidelines Section 15270, CEQA does not apply to projects which a public agency rejects or disapproves and a Use Permit Modification denial is exempt pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3) under the “general rule” that CEQA only applies to projects which have the potential for causing a significant effect on the environment; and, WHEREAS, the Planning Commission held a duly noticed public hearing on October 4, 2018, which was continued to October 18, 2018, to consider the Use Permit Modification and take public testimony. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that based on the entirety of the record before it, which includes without limitation, the California Environmental Quality Act, Public Resources Code §21000, et seq. (“CEQA”) and the CEQA Guidelines, 14 California Code of Regulations §15000, et seq.; the South San Francisco General Plan, General Plan EIR; the South San Francisco Municipal Code; the Project application; Use Permit Modification application; all site plans, and all reports including attachments, minutes, and public testimony submitted as part of the Planning Commission’s October 4, 2018 meeting which was continued to October 18, 2018, and Planning Commission deliberations; and any other evidence (within the meaning of Public Resources Code §21080(e) and §21082.2), the Planning Commission of the City of South San Francisco hereby finds as follows: A. General Findings 1. The foregoing recitals are true and correct and made a part of this Resolution. 2. The Exhibit attached to this Resolution, including the Conditions of Project Approval (Exhibit A), is incorporated by reference and made a part of this Resolution, as if set forth fully herein. 3. The documents and other material constituting the record for these proceedings are located at the Planning Division for the City of South San Francisco, 315 Maple Avenue, South San Francisco, CA 94080, and in the custody of Chief Planner, Sailesh Mehra. B. Use Permit Modification 1. The City’s General Plan Land Use Designation for the site is Business Commercial, which promotes a broad range of business and commercial uses, including visitor- oriented and regional commercial activities. 2. Section 20.490.004 of the South San Francisco Municipal Code authorizes the Planning Commission to deny an application for a use permit modification if the proposed use will be adverse to the public health, safety, or general welfare of the community, or detrimental to surrounding properties or improvements. 3. Allowing the karaoke studios to be operated until 2:00 a.m. seven days a week would be adverse to the public health, safety, and general welfare of the community because the 2015 and 2017 stabbings occurred on a Sunday and Tuesday around 2:00 a.m. 4. Allowing the sale of hard alcohol would be adverse to the public health, safety, and general welfare of the community because the applicant obtained a ABC Type 47 license without City knowledge or approval and sold hard alcohol on the premises from approximately December 2015 to June 2017 in violation of its conditions of approval. 5. The applicant is required to retain security camera recordings for at least 30 days but during a 2016 hit and run investigation, the applicant’s camera video surveillance system only retained recordings for five days. 6. The applicant is required to have at least two security guards present whenever the karaoke studios are open, but as recently as September 22, 2018, the Police Department found only one security guard working while customers occupied several of the karaoke rooms. 7. Since the applicant was permitted to sell beer and wine in the karaoke studios in 2012, the South San Francisco Police Department has conducted over 300 security inspections of the business and responded to service calls when the applicant impermissibly extended hours of operation for karaoke studios and sold hard alcohol. 8. The Police Department has on-going safety and security concerns at the premises in light of previous calls-for-service for fights on premise after allowed hours of operation, burglary and vandalism of the business, and the lack of Police Department approved security guards present during business hours as required under existing conditions of approval. 9. Because of the history of non-compliance with the existing conditions of approval and the occurrence of multiple safety and security-related incidents at the site that have resulted in public injury and property damage, the proposed Use Permit Modification to allow extended hours of operation of the karaoke studios and the expansion of alcohol sales to include hard alcohol would be considered to be adverse to the public health, safety and general welfare of the community and the surrounding properties. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Planning Commission of the City of South San Francisco hereby makes the findings contained in this Resolution and denies the Use Permit Modification requests to extend the hours of operation of the karaoke studios until 2:00 a.m. seven days a week and to expand alcohol sales to include hard alcohol. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this Resolution shall become effective immediately upon its passage and adoption. * * * * * * * I hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was adopted by the Planning Commission of the City of South San Francisco at a regular meeting held on the 18th day of October, 2018 by the following vote: AYES: Chairperson Nagales, Vice Chairperson Murphy, Commissioner Wong, Commissioner Faria, Commissioner Shihadeh NOES: ABSTENTIONS:_ _ ABSENT: Commissioner Tzang, CommissionerEvans Attest_/s/Sailesh Mehra__________ Secretary to the Planning Commission