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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-27-92Planning Commission proceedings are taped recorded and on file in the office of the Planning Dept. MINUTES ARCADIA CITY PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING Tuesday, October 27, 1992 The Planning Commission of the City of Arcadia met in regular session on Tuesday, October 27, 1992 at 7:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Arcadia City Hall, 240 West Huntington Drive, with Chairman Tom Clark presiding. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ROLL CALL: PRESENT: Commissioners Amato, Daggett, Hedlund, Huang, Clark ABSENT: None MINUTES Commissioner Daggett corrected the votes on page 5 of the minutes presented. It was moved by Commissioner Amato, seconded by Commissioner Daggett to approve the Minutes of September 23, 1992 as amended. The motion passed by voice vote with none dissenting. OTHERS ATTENDING: City Attorney Michael Miller Planning Director William Woolard Senior Planner Corkran Nicholson Assistant Planner James Kasama Secretary Silva Vergel Commissioner Hedlund abstained from the next item, since he has worked with the firm and is financially involved. PUBLIC HEARING Z 92 -002 400 S. Baldwin Ave. Santa Anita Fashion Park Regional Shopping Center The Hahn Co. and Santa Anita Realty Ent. (owners /developers of the site) Consideration of a zone change to rezone an 8.2 acre portion of Santa Anita Race Track parcel No. 949 from R -1 (Single - family Residential zone) and S-1 (Special Use) to C -2D (General Commercial Zone with a Design Overlay). The rezoning would allow the use of a portion of the existing race track parking lot for expanded mall parking. The staff report was presented. In response to questions by Commissioner Daggett, staff explained that the R -1 zoning will disappear. The public parking was to aid the developer to develop the project. The City will have the right to designate this area as special parking for events such as parking buses, etc. There will be no physical barrier separating this parking area from the other areas. Staff received new legal description which will be included and the staff report will be amended to reflect the new legal description. Arcadia City Planning Commission 10/27/92 Page 1 Mr. Woolard said that the Police Department has taken attendance counts over the past few years at the race track and they have found ridership is an average of two persons per car. The public hearing was opened. William Doyle, The Hahn Co., 10204 Jeraback, San Diego, said that they are in agreement with all of the conditions in the staff report. No one else spoke in favor of or in opposition to this item. MOTION It was moved by Commissioner Amato, seconded by Commissioner Daggett to to close the public hearing. The motion passed by voice vote with none dissenting. Commissioner Amato said that building a Nordstrom would be to the best interest of the City and Commissioner Daggett agreed. In response to questions by Commissioner Daggett, staff said that there are a couple of options with regard to access from Baldwin Avenue and noted that the construction of the new fire station would not be affected by the proposed development. Commissioner Huang said that since the increase will not affect residential properties, he was in favor of the proposed development. Chairman Clark said that this will be a nice addition and the City needs it. MOTION It was moved by Commissioner Amato, seconded by Commissioner Daggett to recommend approval of Z 92 -002 and file the Negative Declaration and find that the project will not have a significant effect on the environment subject to the conditions in the staff report. ROLL CALL: AYES: NOES: ABSTAIN: Commissioners Amato, Daggett, Huang, Clark None Commissioner Hedlund Commissioner Hedlund abstained from the next item, since he has worked with the firm and is financially involved. PUBLIC HEARING TA 92 -005 400 S. Baldwin Ave. Santa Anita Fashion Park Regional Shopping Center The Hahn Co. and Santa Anita Realty Ent. (owners /developers of the site) The staff report was presented. Consideration of a text amendment to Ordinance No. 1425 and Resolution No. 4185, to revise the boundary of Parcel ( "Boundary of Building Envelope & Special Height Zone ") to allow for the proposed development of a new Nordstrom department store building. A portion of this new building would be located west of the current boundaries where mall buildings are permitted. Arcadia City Planning Commission 10/27/92 Page 2 Staff explained that there will be no net additional square footage since the addition on the west side and the deletion of square footage on the north side zero each other out. The public hearing was opened. William Doyle, The Hahn Co., 10204 Jeraback, San Diego, said that they are in agreement with all of the conditions in the staff report. No one else spoke in favor of or in opposition to this item. MOTION It was moved by Commissioner Amato, seconded by Commissioner Huang to to close the public hearing. The motion passed by voice vote with none dissenting. MOTION It was moved by Commissioner Huang, seconded by Commissioner Amato to recommend approval of TA 92 -005 and file the Negative Declaration and find that the project will not have a significant effect on the environment subject to the conditions in the staff report. ROLL CALL: AYES: NOES: ABSTAIN: Commissioners Amato, Daggett, Huang, Clark None Commissioner Hedlund PUBLIC HEARING CUP 90 -019 16 E. Live Oak Ave. Lang Lampert Architects for Ralphs Grocery Co. Consideration of a revision to the proposed new supermarket that was approved under CUP 90 -019 to allow the alley access to be closed by a chain -link fence whenever the loading dock is being used. The staff report was presented and the public hearing was opened. Christine Lampert, 199 Technology St., Irvine, said that she would like to stress the fact that they tried very hard to design the "perfect" store and they can only achieve that by closing off the alley. It was very difficult to have the square footage desired by Ralphs and still keep the alley open. This is a tight lot and with the location of the trash and the loading dock it was difficult to provide Ralphs with their desired square footage, thus the request for closing off the alley. The new store will offer comfort for customers. Their design is the same foot print that was approved by the Planning Commission a year ago. George Meeker Jr., 1025 Singingwood Dr., said that he is representing his father who was unable to attend. They own the properties to the east and closing the alley would severely affect the businesses there. Their tenants have always had access from the alley. When this property was sold to Ralphs by his grandfather, approximately 50 years ago, Ralphs agreed that they would never close the alley and they have a letter which states that and are trying to locate it. He said that the applicant states that the alley will be closed only during loading and unloading of trucks, but in his experience trucks are there from 7:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. When there is a truck there, it is hardly possible to drive one car through. Once the alley is closed, it will severely inhibit businesses on their property. Arcadia City Planning Commission 10/27/92 Page 3 Carlio Piumetti, 521 Columbia Rd., said that he owns the business at 38 E. Live Oak, and closing the alley would be detrimental to his business and jeopardize small businesses in the area. They depend on the alley access and many of his customers use the alley to get to his store. Tom Romero, 11158 Lynrose, spoke against the proposed closing of the alley. He felt that if they switch the location of the loading dock and the trash enclosure it would solve all their problems. He said that presently trucks come up Myrtus and get in by the alley and if they close the gate, the trucks would have to go around to Santa Anita and make a left turn from the center line which would be very hazardous. Adolph May, 735 Plymouth Rd., San Marino, said that he is the owner of May's Dept. Store, and he is concerned with the safety of his customers and employees if the gate would be closed. He indicated that his store has a U.S. Post Office and they have that because of easy access to their store. A lot of senior citizens come to his store and he felt that closing off the alley is very upsetting. He said that closing off the alley might be a convenience for Ralphs but is certainly an inconvenience for many other people. Margie Totten, 2061 Elkins Pl., said that she is involved with the Bargain Box, which is close to the subject site and said that at the back of their store, their parking lot is chained and was afraid that closing the alley would make people use their parking lot. Helen Dahistrom, 270 W. Palm, said that she is the owner of Arcadia Depot Travel at 34 E. Live Oak. She said that closing off the alley would leave only one access to the stores and was concerned of what would happen during an emergency or a crisis and said that they would be left with only one exit. She noted that the alley is very narrow with houses on one side and parked cars on the other. She said that maybe if they stated the hours that they would like to close the alley, they could live with it. Rosemary Plamandon, 6 W. Orange Grove, said that she is the property manager for the Meeker properties on Live Oak, and that some of their tenants are present to speak against the closing of the alley. She talked with the tenants who were unable to attend and their feelings were unanimous against closing the alley. Arcadia Self Defense and the Kumon Math School have children that come in the afternoon and they are concerned about their safety, some of whom ride their bikes to this location. Some of the other stores are concerned about the loss of business and customers. She stated that she talked with the Wells Fargo Bank Manager who was unable to attend tonight. The Manager said that they have a very small parking lot and with the walk -up ATM, they are afraid that closing off the alley would cause a lot of disruption for their customers, many of whom are elderly. Chairman Clark asked that if any person has new remarks and comments to approach and not to repeat the same issues. Irma Tibi, 52 E. Live Oak, said that she is the owner of the gift shop and that the trucks are there at different times of the day and to close the alley whenever there is a truck would be a real inconvenience. Jeff Brewer, 1100 W. Artesia, Compton, representing Ralphs explained that this will be a 10,000 sq. ft. expansion including both the sales and storage areas. They are not opposed to deleting the fence but cars would not be able to go through the alley when the trucks are there, depending on which dock is utilized. Presently, there is only room for one car to get by if there is a truck. If the alternate plan of providing the 20' easement around the truck was used, it would critically inhibit the sales area that Ralphs desires. If they cannot agree on the loading dock design and location, this expansion may not take place. They are adding outside trash enclosures and revising the parking lot. He said that they can give the shop owners anticipated times of delivery and that they are a curfew store and will not be delivering items after midnight. In response to comments by Commissioner Daggett, Mr. Brewer said that they are not required to provide a right -of -way if they do not want to. If they chose to use the bay on the left there will be at Least 10' -12' and only when the right hand bay is used the alley will be blocked off. Arcadia City Planning Commission 10/27/92 Page 4 No one else spoke in favor of or in opposition to this item. MOTION It was moved by Commissioner Daggett, seconded by Commissioner Amato to close the public hearing. The motion passed by voice vote with none dissenting. Commissioner Huang stated that his children go the math school there and closing off the alley would increase safety problems and was concerned about the loss of business for the merchants and their economic vitality. Commissioner Hedlund was opposed to closing off the alley but that the alley does stop at Ralphs parking lot. He thought that the gate should either be open or closed. He did not think that emergency vehicles would be able get through to the other side. He said that the Commission should keep in mind that no one has the right to go across Ralphs property. He wondered how the City can legally force Ralphs to keep the parking lot open. Commissioner Amato was also against the closing of the alley. In looking at the letter by Mr. Meeker, it seems that the letter could be held as a covenant, thus Ralphs would not be able to close the alley and would have to provide access. Commissioner Daggett wondered if Ralphs could close off their parking lot to through traffic even if the neighbors were able to use their parking lot for many years. He agreed with Commissioner Amato but wondered how they could enforce and require Ralphs to keep their parking lot available to through traffic since it is privately owned. He was disappointed that they could not design something to fit the large lot. Mr. Miller was at the City Council meeting study session in the Conference Room of the Council Chambers. Since the Commission needed Mr. Miller's legal advice, he was asked to join the Commission meeting. Staff said that at present, the public right -of -way stops at the easterly portion of Ralphs parking lot but that there has been an opening there for many years. Under the CUP that the Commission approved, they imposed a condition that Ralphs maintain the 20' access for through traffic. Under the current conditions there is not a CUP for the present store and Ralphs can close the alley if they chose to do so. The condition applies only to the new store. Mr. Miller said that the issue that it has been open for many years and whether that created a right to access, is something that the private property owners could pursue in court and is not something for the Commission to decide. The argument is that they would have a prescriptive easement and that is an easement which has evolved over time to require the property owner to maintain it open because in fact it has been open for years. The issue of a letter seems to be a private thing that the City does not have any reference to. That letter could give them certain rights. The City Council requested that Mr. Miller rejoin them in their meeting. Chairman Clark wanted to uphold the decision made in August and did not want to close the alley. The Commission requested a recess until Mr. Miller could rejoin the Commission for legal advise. There was a 15 minute recess. MOTION It was moved by Commissioner Hedlund, seconded by Commissioner Amato to re -open the public hearing. The motion passed by voice vote with none dissenting. Arcadia City Planning Commission 10/27/92 Page 5 Mike Miller referred to a paragraph in Ms. Lai s letter stating "according to the City Attorney, Mike Miller, Ralphs has the right to lose the alley access presently because it is their property." Mr. Miller asked for documentation of that statement and remarked that he did not recall making that statement. He has been unable to review th staff report and did not want to offer any opinions until he has had the opportunity to review them and di uss them with the Planning Director. He suggested continuing the hearing to the Commission's next eeting and asked that Mr. Meeker search for the letter which was signed 50 years ago regarding access t ough the parking lot. Judie Lai, Lang La pert Architects, 199 Technology, Irvine, said that according to Mr. Kasama, Mr. Miller had made that sta ement. MOTION It was mov • by Commissioner Hedlund, seconded by Commissioner Amato to continue the public hearing for CUP 90 -019 to the Commission's November 10th meeting. ROLL CALL: AYES: NOES: Commissioners Amato, Daggett, Hedlund, Huang, Clark None AUDIENCE PAR ICIPATION None MATTERS FROM OUNCIL None MATTERS FROM COMMISSION It was noted that Commissioner Huang would not be in town in November. MATTERS FROM STAFF None ADJOURNMENT 9:00 p.m. ff rr r / • 7 Secretary, Arcadia Planning Commission Arcadia City Planning Commission 10/27/92 Page 6