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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08.12.99 Minutes CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO SPECIAL PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES MUNICIPAL SERVICES BUILDING 33 ARROYO DRIVE August 12, 1999 TAPE 1 CALL TO ORDER / PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The meeting was called to order at 6: 10 p.m. ROLL CALL / CHAIR COMMENTS MEMBERS PRESENT: Commissioner Baldocchi, Commissioner D'Angelo, Commissioner Meloni, and Vice Chairperson Sim MEMBERS ABSENT: Commissioner Romero**, Commissioner Teglia* and Chairperson Honan STAFF PRESENT: Planning Division: Thomas C. Sparks, Chief Planner Susy Kalkin Mike Lappen Adam Lindgren Richat-d Harmon Sgt. Mike Massoni City Attorney: Engineering: Police Dept.: AGENDA REVIEW Chief Planner Sparks stated that it is appropriate to take comments from the Commission and the public for the General Plan public hearing. He noted that the purpose of the hearing is to receive comments and there will be a chance for discussion after the staff presentation is given. He added that formal responses will be given after the comment period has ended in a Final EIR. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS - None Jackie Williams, 242 Longford Drive, questioned a letter received from the school boat-d in regard to an increase of 14, 000 students in the area. Chief Planner Sparks stated that it will be addressed during the workshop. Ms. Williams stated that the school board is meeting at 7:00 p.m. that same evening. She noted that she could go to the school board meeting and she will return to the Planning Commission meeting. PUBLIC HEARING - AGENDA ITEMS 1. General Plan Update City of South San Francisco Citywide Public comments on the draft General Plan EIR. Rajeev Bhatia, Consultant from Dyett & Bhatia, gave a PowerPoint presentation. Public Hearing opened. G:\File Cabinet\Old PC\working\minutes\1999\081299 .doc Page 1 of 6 Tim Cremin, Baker & McKenzie, speaking on behalf of two clients, one developer interested the propelty located on Gellelt Boulevard and Westborough and the other applicant in the Bay West Cove area. He noted that they are concelned with implementing policy 3.11-1-3, which is relative to development on the Gellert and Westborough site. He noted that the policy calls for a specific plan and it restricts development on slopes. He mentioned that the site can be developed as the current general plan has it and the eat"lier design plans show. He noted that the General Plan and Design plan for the City contemplate a mixed use development and a commercial use on that property. He noted that there are ways of addressing slope concerns. He noted that they were concerned with the Bay West Cove Specific plan being altered as it currently exists. He added that they were concerned with the treatment of commercial use under the business commercial designation, and this is a significant use in the Bay West Cove Specific Plan at"ea. He noted that the General Plan mentions that it is a secondary use and would like a clarification if the intent is to maintain the existing Bay West Cove Specific Plant. Chief Planner Sparks stated that the two letters referred to by Mr. Cremin were given to the Planning Commission at the meeting because they were received on Wednesday. Fred Etzel, representing X - tra Oil, stated that he had comments on the mitigations of the land use element, and what mitigation is designed to recognize the land use changes proposed by the General Plan would have significant adverse impacts on some of the businesses in the community. He noted that the mitigations are not as adequate as they could be. Jackie Williams stated she is concerned about the land use of the Sena Vista School site. She noted that the school district would like to have the EIR and General Plan revamped for them. She wanted to know if it would be left as a school site. Clarke Funkhouser, representing Charles Sime and other property owners of Sign Hill, stated that the review process provides protection for all patties on this site. He added that the General Plan does not consider areas in the site that are not impacted by slope and by environmentally sensitive items, such as butterflies and the endangered species on that site. Lastly he noted that the General Plan does not allow any future responsible utility of the large parcel of land. He noted that the General Plan, as it is written, limits the options of the property owners. Del Schembari, San Bruno Mt. Group, asked if the area North of the Shellmound, at Terrabay and the Point, should be shown as open space and not commercial. He added that the City Council voted that it should be open space and it should be left as they voted. Pubic Heating closed. Commissioner D'Angelo asked if the was any consideration to the EI Camino conidor under the land use and transportation element. Mr. Bhatia stated that they have been summarized in the Draft EIR. Commissioner D'Angelo wanted to know why EI Camino was not included in the list of the areas that see more congestion. Mr. Bhatia stated that it is because the Mission Road extension is patt of the General Plan. Commissioner D'Angelo stated that EI Camino should not be deleted because it is a major attery in the City. Commissioner Meloni asked if a policy in regard to the slope on Gellelt was dictated because of the seismic problems. Chief Planner Sparks stated that the purpose of the hearing is not respond to patticulat- issues but to take comments. Commissioner Meloni stated that he would like to know why the policy was put in the General Plan. Chief Planner Sparks added that everyone can provide comments on the EIR until the comment period ends on August 20th. Commissioner Baldocchi asked why the EIR was being recommended to the City Council before all public input has been received. Chief Planner Sparks stated that the schedule had been set and there was a problem with OPR distributing the EIR. He noted that OPR formally starts the review process, and this is what set back the schedule 4 days. He added that the Commission is not the body that will peIform the final celtification, so it is not a significant issue. G:\File Cabinet\Old PC\working\minutes\1999\081299 .doc Page 2 of 6 ADMINISTRATIVE BUSINESS 2. Items from Staff a. General Plan Update "VVorkshop City of South San Francisco Citywide Review Economic Development and remaining elements of the General Plan. * Commissioner Teglia alTived at 6:30 p.m. Consultant Planner Lappen and Director of ECD Van Duyn presented the staff repOlt. ** Commissioner Romero arrived at7:05 p.m. Commissioner D'Angelo observed that the General Plan is a 20-year plan and asked if they have looked at one way streets. Director of ECD Van Duyn recalled that they have discussed one way streets. He added that there are some issues that the Commission might want to add to the General Plan and they can make a policy recommending it to Council. Commissioner D'Angelo asked why high-density housing is proposed if the roadways are congested. Director of ECD Van Duyn stated that staff is looking at the Downtown, Linden and Airport conidor and how they can take advantage of underutilized property. He noted that they are providing transportation that would serve offices and residences. Commissioner Baldocchi asked if the General Plan was trying to minimize industrial uses in the East of 101 area. Director of ECD Van Duyn stated that this is not being done and not all industrial uses are affected by this. Consultant Planner Lappen continued with a presentation of Chapters 5, and 7-9. . Public input Richard Cook, Parking Company of America, noted that they object to specific at"eas on the General Plan, and would like to know when the changes would be done. Chief Planner Sparks stated that they would address the issue of the regional commercial center later in the evening. Fred Etzel, representing X-Oil Company, he noted that the Commission has the opportunity to enhance the economic development of the City through transit oriented development. He directed the Commission to pages in the Draft General Plan and suggested the following changes. · Page 3-22, policy 3.3-1-13 shows that it is for a BART station out of the City limits and the words transit oriented development are in that policy. TAPE 2 · Page 3-29 is in regard to a BART station within the City limits that has the language Big Box retail. He noted that big box retail is not a transit oriented development. He noted that Costco generates retail tax dollars but it has to be in the right place. He added that the proposed Costco would have % of the 16-acre site devoted to parking. He noted that they should locate high density residential in the vicinity of the BART station. · Page 6-19; last line, in regard to TOT taxes being a flexible source of economic development being funded. He noted that hotels at"e revenue generators and are also transit oriented uses. He added that fiscalization of land uses allows the cities and counties to focus on the land uses allowed in their cities and how they impact their general fund. · Page 6-3, tape 6.1.1 attempts to show on an annual per acre basis the net fiscal impacts of various land use types. He added that the table does not take into account the indirect cost in revenues associated with land uses. He pointed out that residential development is a net fiscal loses for the City and according to the table it is $3,000 per acre per year. He brought to the Commission's attention to the top of the table and noted that it shows that big box retail G:\File Cabinet\Old PC\working\minutes\1999\081299 .doc Page 3 of 6 generates $30,000 per acre and per year. He noted that hotels generate $112,500 per acre per year and it is 4 times greater than big box retail. He encouraged the Commission give some consideration to transit oriented development around the SSF BART station. Jackie Williams, 242 Longford Drive, noted that the new figures the School District will be using for new housing is 1 student per 2 units. She added that the school district is not considering opening the school. She noted that something should be done now with regard to the school site. She added that she wanted to keep the schools zoned educational facilities. Kenneth Fitzhugh, Crager & Associates representing the Sime family, noted that the property is being downzoned from 1 unit per acre to 1 unit per 20 acres. He added that this was a significant impact and the property is designated as open space in the new general plan. He noted that the EIR process handles the environmental impacts and that this propelty should not be downzoned in order to accomplish the goals of protecting the environment. He also mentioned that the property should be developed by leaving alone the environmentally sensitive areas and cluster the housing that can be built in an area that is not sensitive. He noted that the Simes have owned the propelty for 10 years and anticipated that it would have some value after owning it for a period of time. He asked the Commission to reconsider the density that is the Draft general plan. Mike Valencia, -Golden Gate Produce Terminal, noted that he would like to know if the public is going to receive responses to their comments. Chief Planner Sparks stated that the issues will be addressed at the conclusion of public comment. Recess taken at 8: 15 p.m. Recalled to order at 8:20 p.m. Elaine Bill, Country Club Park, noted that she owns propelty on Sign Hill and that it is being downzoned. She noted that it is being rendered useless and is against the proposed change. Commissioner Baldocchi commented that Daly City is putting a hotel and some commercial retail uses near their BART station. She noted that it is being done in other cities. She added that page 5-15, which has a comment in regard to marketing accessibility to Sign Hill, concerns her because the neighbors' need to have some type of protection. She noted that before the growth of the park is encouraged the safety of the neighbors should be resolved. Commissioner Teglia noted that the trees on Sign Hill are not indigenous and they have not been burned for some time. He added that Sign Hill needs to be cleared and some natural trees need to be allowed to grow. He added that he is in favor of residential use near the San Bruno BART station and that the noise level does not concern him as much. He asked if the 10% left of open space include Sign Hill and the California Country Club Golf. Chief Planner Sparks stated that the 10% covers those two areas. Commissioner Teglia suggested that somehow the City encourage open space in residential areas and preserving the school properties as educational facilities with the open space designation. Commissioner Meloni would like to see commercial retail or community retail in the vicinity of the BART station on the ECR cOlTidor. He noted that this cOlTidor is a good oppOltunity to enhance the area and encourage residents to shop in their City. Commissioner Baldocchi agreed with Commissioner Meloni and also noted that there needs to be more creative ways of having the uses that are needed in the City. G:\File Cabinet\Old PC\working\minutes\1999\081299 .doc Page 4 of 6 Commissioner Romero noted that he sees potential for Big Box retail in the area but not for a large area. He questioned if the proposed Costco would be a potential for the development for the at"ea. Commissioner Meloni was concerned with having small uses and a big box retail store next to eachother just like the San Bruno Costco. Commissioner Teglia noted that a hotel would be good in the ECR corridor mixed with high density to achieve a transit village. He stated that this needs to be researched with greater detail. Commissioner Romero agreed with Commissioner Teglia in regard to a transit village and that it should be studied further. Commissioner Teglia asked if San Bruno Mountain, The Point, should be open space. Chief Planner Sparks stated that the Specific Plan for TelTabay is the governing document in terms of land uses. Chairman Pro Tern Sim asked if there was a possibility of creating a linear park around the San Andreas Fault area. Chief Planner Sparks gave responses to some comments given by staff. He noted that the business commercial land use category now explicitly allows retail uses, which would address a number of questions with regard to the Produce Market. He noted that on page 4 there is language that makes them conforming for as long as they want to be at the site. He added that this does not remove the need for better access to that area and that language is not being removed. He related that the Fuller O'Brien is being left with retail uses if appropriate. He noted that the proposal is that there will be a radius around it to SUPPOlt commercial uses for employees. He added that a proposed change is to preserve potential retail commercial within the City to remove the mixed use designation around the northern SSF BART terminal. He added that there is some residual land left from the Costco proposal to consider a hotel or commercial uses. He addressed the schools issue, and added that the Commission is limited in regard to the School District's projections. He noted that there is a significant interest in having zoning and designations that will give the Commission and the City Council an oppOltunity to examine any development that takes at those sites. He added that Sign Hill is not a simple issue and that the Commission might want to ask Council for their advice. Consultant Planner Lappen went through the redlined strike-out document that was distributed to the Commission. He noted that the bulk of the changes would be in chapters 2 and 3, and staff would make sure that the document is entirely consistent. He added that staff included stronger language for childcare services, and also softened a lot of the mandates in a policy. He added that the business commercial designation was amended to allow regional retail centers. He noted that wording was changed in regard to the towncenter area, regional commercial area, San Bruno BART area, and the SSF BART area. Assistant City Attorney Lindgren added that their office is not recommending any changes to the CUlTent General Plan designation for the Terrabay Point area because the City Council rejected the proposed development. He added that the density for development proposed in the General Plan for Sign Hill is a designation that was listed and he would work with staff in regard to that change. Chairman Pro Tern Sim asked for a broad stroke concept of better design. Consultant Planner Lappen stated that there are various things in the General Plan that pin point some of the things the Commission wants to do. He noted that the Economic Development element looked at overall strategies to improve particular areas in the City. He noted that the ECR corridor has overall designs that would improve the street. Commissioner Teglia was concelned about page 6, section 5.21-1 that talks about City spending its resources to acquire existing parks from the School District. He noted that this does not bring any benefit to the community except the change in ownership. He added that the City should preserve the existing character and spend the resources to improve the community. Mr. Bhatia stated that the City could acquire surplus propelty and the site would then be subject to the Naylor Act. He noted that at the time the School District considers a school site surplus property then the City can consider it as an appropriate site. The Commission entered into a discussion on how their recommendation to Council on the General Plan was on August 19th and they also would be hearing Costco that same night. They concluded that these were two major G:\File Cabinet\Old PC\working\minutes\1999\081299 .doc Page 5 of 6 projects and that the final Commission recommendations could be scheduled for the next regular meeting at which time they could either continue the meeting or make a final recommendation. Commissioner Romero stated that he would like to see revisions on the land use map to visualize the changes. Chief Planner Sparks stated that staff may be able to display a map but it may be difficult to print color maps. Commissioner Baldocchi asked Assistant City Attorney Lindgren if is appropriate to put a moratorium on new developments. Assistant City Attorney Lindgren stated that moratoriums are adopted by ordinances and Council's can and some times do use moratoriums to hold particular types of developments while they are contemplating specific changes to their planning law. He added that it was a tool that was available to the City during the General Plan update process. Commissioner Teglia mentioned that he would not be in attendance at the September 2nd meeting and suggested that at the next meeting the Commission discuss scheduling additional General Plan meetings when everyone is in attendance. 3. Items from Commission - None 4. Items from the Public - None 5. Adjourn Motion Romero / Second Meloni to adjourn the meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 9: 15 p.m. ~~c~~ Thomas C. Spat"ks f ' Secretary to the Planning Commission City of South San Francisco ~ :I' Ith Honan, Chairperson lanning Commission City of South San Francisco NEXT MEETING: Regular Meeting August 19, 1999, Municipal Services Building, 33 Arroyo Drive, South San Francisco, CA. TCSlbh G:\File Cabinet\Old PC\ working\minutes\1999\081299 .doc Page 6 of 6