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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/26/2010MINUTES OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION OCTOBER 26, 2010 CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Torng called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the South Coast Air Quality Management District/Government Center Auditorium, 21865 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, CA 91765. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: C/Lee led the Pledge of Allegiance. 1. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Kwang Ho Lee, Steve Nelson, Vice Chairman Kathy Nolan and Chairman Tony Torng. Absent: Commissioner Jack Shah was excused. Also present: Greg Gubman, Community Development Director; Grace Lee, Senior Planner; David Alvarez, Assistant Planner; and Stella Marquez, Senior Administrative Assistant. 2. MATTERS FROM THE AUDIENCE/PUBLIC COMMENTS: None 3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: As Presented. 4. CONSENT CALENDAR: 4.1 Minutes of the Regular Meeting of October 12, 2010 — Continued. Chair/Torng said he commented on CAMTC licensing (Page 5) and C/Lee asked to have a disclaimer added to his comments about 200 establishments (Page 6). CDD/Gubman said staff would listen to the tape and make the necessary add itions/corrections. 5. OLD BUSINESS: None 6. NEW BUSINESS: None 7. PUBLIC HEARINGS: 7.1 Conditional Use Permit No. PL 2010-263 — Under the authority of Diamond Bar Municipal Code Section 22.58, the applicant requested approval to operate a 2,271 square foot music school within Golden Springs Plaza, an existing 52,460 square foot shopping center. The subject property is zoned Regional Commercial (C-3) with a consistent underlying General Plan land use designation of General Commercial (C). OCTOBER 26, 2010 PAGE 2 PROJECT ADDRESS: PROPERTY OWNER: APPLICANT: PLANNING COMMISSION 20657 Golden Springs Drive, Suite 212 Diamond Bar, CA 91765 Golden Springs Plaza, LLC 18856 Amir Road, Suite 6 Walnut, CA 91789 Esther Cho 1716 Brea Canyon Cutoff Walnut, CA 91789 AP/Alvarez presented staff's report and recommended Planning Commission approval of Conditional Use Permit No. PL 2010-263 to allow a music school, based on the findings of Diamond Bar Municipal Code Section 22.58, subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the resolution. There were no ex parte disclosures. Chair/Torng opened the public hearing. Esther Cho asked to relocate her music school from Rowland Heights to Diamond Bar. Ms. Cho has been in business for 28 years and has another small school in Walnut. Ms. Cho believes the school will help the community and will bring a lot of people to the shopping plaza as well. Chair/Torng asked the applicant if she read staff's report and agreed with the conditions of approval. Ms. Cho responded affirmatively. Chair/Torng closed the public hearing. VC/Nolan moved, C/Lee seconded, to approve Conditional Use Permit No. PL 2010-263 to allow a music school, based on the findings of Diamond Bar Municipal Code Section 22.58, subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the resolution. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Lee, Nelson, VC/Nolan, Chair/Torng NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Shah OCTOBER 26, 2010 PAGE 3 PLANNING COMMISSION 8. PLANNING COMMISSIONER COMMENTS/INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: Chair/Torng told the Commission that he participated in the Site D community workshop, and took part in the walking tour of Site D. The site tour was informative, and he hoped the tour would help people understand the site. 9. STAFF COMMENTS/INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: 9.1 Public Hearing dates for future projects. CDD/Gubman pointed out that the Commissioner's packets contain the flyerfor the 2011 Planners Institute that will be held March 9-11 in Pasadena. In the not too distant future, staff will send out an email asking if Commissioners are interested in attending. CDD/Gubman stated that on Saturday, October 16, Walnut Valley Unified School District held its community workshop for the Site D Specific Plan. The workshop began at 8:30 a.m. with a site awareness tour, a walk through the Site D property with participants stopping at key points to make observations in their workbooks. Following the tour, the 67 participants returned to Castle Rock Elementary School and concluded with a discussion about concerns, what the neighborhood residents would like to see developed on the site, listing issues and ideas for the Site D Specific Plan. The ideas were collected by the facilitator who is in the process of preparing his report to the School Board at a special meeting on November 9, which will illustrate the top issues and the top preferences/visions for development. The School Board will likely schedule a follow up board meeting to decide whether the members wish to modify the specific plan application based on the input provided by the community. Following that event, there will be a City Council meeting to give the School Board the opportunity to convey any proposed changes to the plan and the City Council will direct staff accordingly on what the next steps in the process will be, which could include some reconfiguration of the land use plan or drastic changes to the plan, etc. The next City Council meeting is scheduled for November 16. However, at this time, staff does not believe that there will be enough time after the November 9 School Board meeting to properly digest all of the information that will be presented to the City Council. Most likely, there will be no direction from the City Council until December 7. CDD/Gubman announced that next week is the California Chapter of the American Planning Association's annual conference in Carlsbad. He will attend three of the four days. SP/Lee and PT/Tobon will also attend one to two days of the conference. Staff will report back to the Planning Commission on what took place at the conference. OCTOBER 26, 2010 PAGE 4 PLANNING COMMISSION CDD/Gubman stated that the Shell Station project at Diamond Bar Boulevard at Palomino Drive is back in business and the property is in a presentable appearance while there is work in progress. The architect and the property owner are making progress with the City's Building Official to get the plans and construction schedule moving forward. Staff hopes this project will be completed in the next four to five months. Staff believes concerns about blight and/or abandonment of the project have been set aside and staff is encouraged the project will be completed. 10. SCHEDULE OF FUTURE EVENTS: As listed in tonight's agenda. ADJOURNMENT: With no further business before the Planning Commission, Chairman Torng adjourned the regular meeting at 7:23 p.m. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this 14th day of December, 2010. Attest: Respectfully Submitted, Greg Gubman Community Development Director