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HomeMy WebLinkAbout7-27-93Planning Commission proceedings are taped recorded and on file in the office of the Planning Dept. MINUTES ARCADIA CITY PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING Tuesday, July 27, 1993 The Planning Commission of the City of Arcadia met in regular session on Tuesday, July 27, 1993 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, Huang, Clark ABSENT: Commissioner Hedlund MOTION It was moved by Commissioner Amato, seconded by Commissioner Daggett to excuse Commissioner Hedlund from tonight's meeting. The motion passed by voice vote with none dissenting. MINUTES It was moved by Commissioner Amato, seconded by Commissioner Huang to approve the Minutes of July 13, 1993. The motion passed by voice vote with none dissenting. OTHERS ATTENDING: Mayor Pro Tem Dennis Lojeski City Attorney Michael Miller Acting Planning Director Donna Butler Assistant Planner James Kasama Secretary Silva Vergel PUBLIC HEARING MP 93-007 Consideration of modifications for a two-unit 25 Lucile St. residential project. James Marshall The Staff report was presented and the public hearing was opened. James Marshall, 1445 Oak Meadow, said he is in agreement with all of the conditions in the staff report. Tony Clayton, 22 Lucile, welcomed any development, since the property is an eye sore. Jim Kuhn, 125 Wheeler, the architect of the project remarked they will plant trees and bushes along the east of the driveway. In response to questions by Commissioner Huang, Ms. Butler indicated conditions 4 a and b pertain to trees and landscaping along the east property line. Arcadia City Planning Commission 7/27/93 Page 1 MOTION It was moved by Commissioner Amato, seconded by Commissioner Daggett to close the public hearing. The motion passed by voice vote with none dissenting. The Commission thought it was a nice project. MOTION It was moved by Commissioner Daggett, seconded by Commissioner Amato to approve MP 93-007 subject to the conditions in the staff report. ROLL CALL: AYES: Commissioners Amato, Daggett, Huang, Clark NOES: None ABSENT: Commissioner Hedlund Chairman Clark noted that there is a five working day appeal period. PUBLIC HEARING TA 93-002 The Staff report was presented. Consideration of a text amendment to the commercial and industrial zones (C -0, C -1, C -2, C -M, CPD-1, C-C & M -1), the multiple family zones (R -2 & R -3) and the special use and public use zones (5-1 & S-2) of the Arcadia Municipal Code to amend the storage regulations and to include regulations for the collection and loading of recyclables. Commissioner Daggett thought the ordinance should be more definitive regarding size requirements.. He commented it was odd that the commercial and multiple family uses had several paragraphs of regulations to comply with and public and special uses have only one sentence of regulations. In response to comments by Commissioner Daggett, staff said the special use is the race track. The public use would include schools which the City has no jurisdiction over. As far as City properties such as parks, City Hall, Police Department and the Public Works Yards, the City tries to adhere to its own standards. Ms. Butler said it would be difficult to set size limits, since trash bins can come in various sizes. Depending on the number of times trash is picked up weekly and whether it is commercial or manufacturing a different size of trash container may be needed. She remarked that if the proposed ordinance does not work, it can always be amended. Some businesses may want to locate their recycling centers inside the building like the City Hall where each department has bins for white paper, there are a couple of newspaper bins and some departments have bins for cans. Basically this ordinance requires gates for the recycling area. Staff said these requirements were derived from the existing trash enclosure regulations. He indicated if there is no ordinance, the State's Model Ordinance will take effect on September 1, 1993. The proposed ordinance requires an enclosure whereas the State's does not. The public hearing was opened. No one spoke in favor or in opposition to this item. Arcadia City Planning Commission 7/27/93 Page 2 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. MOTION It was moved by Commissioner Daggett, seconded by Commissioner Amato to recommend approval of TA 93 -002 to the City Council. ROLL CALL: AYES: Commissioners Amato, Daggett, Huang, Clark NOES: None ABSENT: Commissioner Hedlund AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION None MATTERS FROM COUNCIL Councilman Lojeski said at the next Council meeting, Mr. Freedman will be presenting cost estimates for the downtown revitalization. He invited the Commission to attend. He said they will be discussing public improvements and relocation projects. He said a petition has been circulated by the Highland Homeowner's Association as a result of the home which was approved at 1863 Oakwood. Chairman Clark said the petition was mailed to the residents and it suggested prohibiting tuck -under parking and limiting the height limit from the garage to the top of the roof to 30'. Councilman Lojeski said the City will be taking over the armory site next month and it will be used primarily for storage until asbestos tests have been conducted since some reports have indicated there are some. He remarked the County will be clearing the Santa Anita Debris Basin in August. Ms. Butler explained they will be removing sediments and placing it on the existing filled area in the southerly portion of the site. Access to the site will be by way of Santa Anita and Elkins Avenues. They will be watering things down to reduce dust. Councilman Lojeski said Mayor Ciraulo, Messrs. Duckworth and Lopez and he met with Sierra Madre's officials with regard to improvements on Orange Grove. He went on to say that on August 10th, the Library Committee will be meeting to discuss the plans and invited the Commission to attend. He said the County has two large properties in the City; the arboretum and the County Park which they are having difficulty maintaining. The Council has informed them the City will take over services for both, if the County relinquishes its rights. The County Supervisors, however, did not want to give up the golf course but were willing to give up the County Park. On July 13th, Supervisor Gloria Malign suggested keeping smaller parks and reducing the arboretum's funding by 100 %. Arcadia City Planning Commission 7/27/93 Page 3 Commissioner Daggett remarked the County takes the revenues from the arboretum and distributes it to other projects. In response to comments by Commissioner Amato, Mr. Miller said it is possible that the parks would revert back to the State. Councilman Lojeski said there is a developer who has approached the City to develop the properties to the north of the hotels and it is encouraging to see that even in these bad economic times, developers are interested in Arcadia. He remarked the mall ear. He said the management at the race and track is 1 looking at different ways of October and Nordstroms in one year. revenues. Commissioner Huang wondered if the redevelopment area could be extended to include the race track and the mall? Mr. Miller said even though it is a good suggestion, it is premature and it would be difficult to expand the redevelopment area because the City would have to make findings of blight and he did not know whether they can successfully do that. Councilman Lojeski said when the redevelopment area was being discussed and its boundaries set, consideration was given to extending it all the way to the mall site but the Council at that time did not choose to do so. There was a 5 minute recess. The meeting moved to the Conference Room of the Council Chambers. MATTERS FROM COMMISSION Planning Commission discussion on Downtown Revitalization Commissioner Daggett presented a plan of the downtown area with some proposals for development north of Huntington Drive on Santa Anita. He said the Commission is comprised of many professionals with different expertise. He said recently the Commission has been averaging one meeting a month indicating that they have nothing to do. He suggested on the Tuesdays where they do not have anything on the agenda, they meet and use their combined expertise to help the Council with the plan for the downtown. He said they can prepare a booklet which can help the Council in determining what types of uses would be best in this area. He went on to say their suggestions would be free to the Council and would not cost the City anything. He presented a plan comprised of one big block with Santa Anita on the west side, First Ave. on the east side, Huntington Dr. on the south side and Santa Clara on the north side, and with one of its entrances into the complex from Huntington Dr., where Steerburger is presently located. This area is approximately 360,000 square feet as compared to the mall without the major stores which is approximately 500,000 square feet. He said naturally there would be vacancies just like there are in the mall, but it would be a nice complex of commercial uses. He remarked the Commission can give the Council some options on how to better utilize the downtown area. He said they are too late for phase I of the proposed downtown plan but hopefully the Council can benefit from their expertise in phase II of the redevelopment plan. He said their suggestions would be for conceptual plans and it would be the Council's option to accept their suggestions. Arcadia City Planning Commission 7/27/93 Page 4 Councilman Lojeski said Commissioner Daggett's suggestions of doing a complex in the above mentioned block would involve the agency acquiring all those properties and relocating all the tenants which would amount to an astounding figure. Mr. Miller said the Commission's role does not change just because of who might be serving on the board. Their duties are as prescribed by Council. The Commission should draft a letter and if Council approves it, then they can proceed with Commissioner Daggett's recommendation. The Commission should have the Council's direction before proceeding any further. Ms. Butler commented that Mr. Freedman has not presented Council with cost estimates and will do so at the next Council's meeting. After costs have been presented, then it is at the Council's discretion with regard to the next step. Commissioner Huang remarked that he will be unable to devote a lot of time to this. He noted that if the suggested complex was implemented, the majority of the business would be in that area and especially with the location of the train station, the Bonita train station and the surrounding businesses would suffer. He stated that Mr. Freedman had several workshops with community participation to educate and to develop concept plans. He thought this might take up a lot of staff time. Commissioner Daggett said as citizens of the City, he feels they are better suited to decide what would be best for their community rather than Michael Freedman. He suggested possibly meeting with Mr. Freedman, so their recommendations would be considered by him. He said the Commission's efforts will help educate the Council so they can ask the right questions from Mr. Freedman. Commissioner Amato interjected that the turn out at the first two workshops was good but it seems that it dwindled after that. Mr. Miller replied that Mr. Freedman is a consultant by the City who is paid hourly and the Council may not want to spend money on having a meeting. He wondered if some of the information might be redundant. Councilman Lojeski appreciated Commissioner Daggett's enthusiasm but wondered where the Commission has been when Mr. Freedman was doing his presentations? He said Mr. Freedman has done a very nice job and the Council is pleased. Discussion ensued on how to get Council's approval for the above. A suggestion was made to have Commissioner Daggett draft a letter to Council. Councilman Lojeski expressed concern on how this would be obtained. He thought the Commission as a whole should decide on doing this and not only one or two members. Mr. Miller said this should be set as an agenda item and it should be discussed with the whole Commission. Chairman Clark suggested preparing the letter and discussing it at the next Commission's meeting. At this meeting the Commission can be presented with the letter and the entire Commission can vote on it. Based on the Commission's vote, the letter would then be forwarded to the City Council. He thought a subcommittee should be formed with Commissioner Daggett as chairman. MOTION It was moved by Chairman Clark and seconded by Commissioner Amato to appoint Commissioner Daggett as the chairman for the subcommittee for the downtown area. Arcadia City Planning Commission 7/27/93 Page 5 ROLL CALL: _ AYES: Commissioners Amato, Daggett, Huang, Clark NOES: None ABSENT: Commissioner Hedlund MATTERS FROM STAFF Norte ADJOURNMENT 9:30 p.m. to August 24,1993 air ■111114111 Secretary, Arc. iah'"ing Commission Arcadia City Planning Commission 7/27/93 Page 6