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HomeMy WebLinkAbout4/12/2011MINUTES OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION APRIL 12, 2011 CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Shah 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: Commissioner Lee led the Pledge of Allegiance. 1. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Jimmy Lin, Steve Nelson, Tony Torng, Vice Chairman Kwang Ho Lee and Chairman Jack Shah. Also present: Greg Gubman, Community Development Director; Grace Lee, Senior Planner; David Alvarez, Assistant Planner; Natalie Tobon, Planning Technician; 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 March 22, 2011. C/Torng moved, VC/Lee seconded, to continue the Minutes of March 22, 2011, for corrections. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: 5. OLD BUSINESS: 6. 7. COMMISSIONERS COMMISSIONERS COMMISSIONERS None NEW BUSINESS: None PUBLIC HEARINGS: Lin, Nelson, Torng, VC/Lee, Chair/Shah None None 7.1 Development Review No 2007-25 and .Tree Permit No. 2007-06 - Request for a one-year time extension of the Planning Commission's approval for a new 9,513 square foot, new single family residential project on a 51,401 gross square foot (1.18 acre) lot. The project site is zoned Rural Residential (RR) with a consistent underlying General Plan land use designation. The project was approved on February 10, 2009, with a two- APRIL 12, 2011 PAGE 2 PLANNING COMMISSION year timeframe to obtain building permits and begin construction; however, Diamond Bar Municipal Code Section 22.60.050 authorizes the Planning Commission to grant a one-year time extension. PROPERTY ADDRES: PROPERTY OWNER: 2706 Indian Creek Road Diamond Bar, CA 91765 Basant Bhatia 17753 Via San Jose Rowland Heights, CA 91748 APPLICANT: Pete Volbeda 180 N. Benson Avenue, Suite D Upland, CA 91786 PT/Tobon presented staffs report and recommended Planning Commission approval of a one-year time extension for Development Review No. 2007-25 and Tree Permit No. 2007-06, based on the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the Resolution. Chair/Shah opened the public hearing. Pete Volbeda, applicant, requested the one-year time extension and said if the extension was approved that all approvals for the development would be received within that timeframe. Chair/Shah closed the public hearing. VC/Lee moved, C/Nelson seconded to support staffs recommendation and approve a one-year time extension for Development Review No. 2007-25 and Tree Permit No. 2007-06, based on the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the Resolution. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Lin, Nelson, Torng, VC/Lee, Chair/Shah NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: None 7.2 Development Review PL 2010-289 — Under the authority of Development Code Section 22.48, the applicant, Stuart Beck, and the property owner, Hai Nguyen requested approval to demolish an existing residence and APRIL 12, 2011 PAGE 3 PLANNING COMMISSION construct a new 7,432 square foot single family residence on a 1.88 gross acre (82,015 square foot) lot. The subject property is zoned Rural Residential (RR) with a consistent underlying General Plan land use designation. PROJECT ADDRESS PROPERTY OWNER 3010 Wagon Train Lane Diamond Bar, CA 91765 Hai Nguyen 3057 Windmill Drive Diamond Bar, CA 91765 APPLICANT: Stuart Beck 2915 Redhill Avenue, Suite G102 Costa Mesa, CA 92626 PT/Tobon presented staff's report and recommended Planning Commission approval of Development Review No. PL 2010-289, based on the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the Resolution. VC/Lee asked if the City needed any special or specific requirements for plumbing for indoor pools. CDD/Gubman said there would be specific requirements for indoor pools in enclosures that would deal with moisture retention on the inner surfaces as well as, drainage and maintenance, all of which would be part of the plan check review process to ensure that all of the appropriate materials, membranes, protective coatings needed to facilitate the installation are up to code. The plumbing requirements are under the umbrella of the condition requiring that the applicant shall comply with the building codes including the 2010 California Building Code that was recently adopted by the City_ C/Lin said he assumed that this system would be connected to a sewer system rather than a septic systen. PT/Tobon responded that according to the standard conditions, one of the public works conditions is that at the applicant's full cost and expense shall construct the sewer system in accordance with the City, and sewer plans must be submitted for review and approval by the City's Building and Safety Department. C/Lin asked if the site plan typically includes a septic tank system as part of the process or is this purely an engineering review process. CDD/Gubman explained that there is an available sewer and by City Code, the applicant would need to connect to the City's sewer system. APRIL 12, 2011 PAGE 4 PLANNING COMMISSION C/Torng asked if there was any protected tree that would be removed from the landscape and PT/Tobon responded that there are no protected trees on the property. Chair/Shah asked about the cut and fill. PT/Tobon explained that the applicant will be exporting 350 cubic yards for the footing and pool. Chair/Shah opened the public hearing. Stuart Beck, applicant, said he was present to answer questions. Jen and Ting Huang, 3000 Windmill Drive, Diamond Bar, CA, asked for the Commission to consider the fact that this building would be located in front of their home because their entire 240 foot front view would be impacted by this two-story building. She asked if the building could be set back further to prevent the building from them so it would not be so close to their property. Ting Huang said that he lived in "The Country Estates" for the country view and he would not expect to have a big "apartment" in front of him. The original house was 2400 square feet and now it will be three times the size and there will be a 240 foot wide two-story building in front of him. Because the hill slopes up, the building will appear to be much taller than if he built on the other side of the property. There will be a severe impact to his family life and he does not think it is compatible with the neighborhood. The land on the other side of this is empty. He has lived for 10 years with the previous owner. Their home is a single story. They never expected to have such a big "apartment" next to them. Stuart Beck responded to the speakers that with respect to the height issues, one of the early design features presented by the homeowner was to not maximize his two-story, design element and wanted to spread his square footage out to soften the massing. The majority of the houses along the street are one-story homes. The applicant's home has 360 feet of curb along Windmill and only 86 feet along the curb is two-story with the remaining 122 feet of the house being one-story. Said another way, 64 percent of the house frontage is one story and 36 percent is two story. Many houses within "The Country Estates" are two-story from side yard setback to side yard setback. With respect to the comment about pushing the structure back farther on the site, the applicant is keeping some of the dirt and expanding the site back to the rear yard and the house was pushed back as far as possible without causing problems with the code issues pertaining to location of the house to the top of slope. So the APRIL 12, 2011 PAGE 5 PLANNING COMMISSION structure cannot be pushed back any further and the applicant is trying to do everything possible to minimize the two-story massing. Mr. Beck said he believed that this was not the neighbor's primary view because the back of the house looks out over unimpeded natural topography. The view they are concerned about is the street view that this building is impeding. Chair/Shah closed the public hearing. There were no ex parte disclosures. C/Lin agreed that the structure appeared somewhat massive across the front but not in height. The design is in compliance with the City's Codes and regulations. And while he believes it is fairly gigantic in terms of width he saw no reason to deny the application on that basis. C/Nelson said he agreed with C/Lin. He said he was not indifferent to the neighbor's concern but in terms of neighborhood compatibility, while he has served on the Commission it has approved up to a 23,000 square foot home in "The Country Estates" and standards typically range from 8,000 to 12,000 square feet. This particular project meets all of the Development Code requirements and said he felt it would be well beyond this Commission to deny this request when it is within the Code. In addition, he places a lot of faith in staff's report and analysis which states that the proposed structure is compatible. Chair/Shah said he shares the opinions of his colleagues. He understands the neighbors' concerns and he is sensitive to those concerns. He is in a similar business and can visualize that the building is massive and will be somewhat imposing but because the greater portion of the building is only a single story and since it complies with all codes and regulations the Commission has a responsibility to act within its powers while remaining sensitive. C/Lin moved, C/Nelson seconded, to approve Development Review No. 2007-25 and Tree Permit No. 2007-06, based on the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the Resolution. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Lin, Nelson, Torng, VC/Lee, Chair/Shah NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: None APRIL 12, 2011 PAGE 6 PLANNING COMMISSION CDD/Gubman stated that all Planning Commission decisions may be appealed to the City Council. An appeal of the Planning Commission decision must be filed with the City Clerk within 10 -calendar days of the Planning Commission's decisions this evening. If anyone wishes to file an appeal they are instructed to please contact the City Clerk for information about filing an appeal and obtaining an appeal application. 7.3 Conditional Use Permit No. PL 2010-355 — Under the authority of Diamond Bar Municipal Code Section 22.58, the applicant requested approval to remove an existing Edison streetlight pole located on the Diamond Bar Boulevard public right-of-way north of Tin Drive and replace it with a similar light pole equipped with cellular telecommunications antennas and associated ground mounted equipment. PROJECT ADDRESS PROPERTY OWNER: Public Rights of Way on Diamond Bar Boulevard and 760 S. Diamond Bar Boulevard City of Diamond Bar 21825 Copley Drive Diamond Bar, CA 91765 APPLICANT: Sequoia Deployment Services On behalf of T -Mobile Monica Moretta One Venture, Suite 200 Irvine, CA 92616 AP/Alvarez presented staff's report and recommended Planning Commission approval of Conditional Use Permit No. PL 2010-255, based on the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the Resolution. C/Nelson asked what happened to the antennas that had the big arms that stuck out with the big plates that look like satellites. He asked if he was correct that these antennas are completely different than what the Commission had previously considered. AP/Alvarez explained that these are antennas within the right-of-way and stated there would continue to be the type of antennas C/Nelson described in parks. C/Nelson asked for confirmation that these antennae would not affect the banners honoring service people and AP/Alvarez responded that C/Nelson was correct. C/Nelson asked if landscaping was planned around the box at the bottom of the pole and AP/Alvarez responded no, but staff conditioned the APRIL 12, 2011 PAGE 7 PLANNING COMMISSION approval to paint the equipment dark green to blend in with the vegetation. C/Nelson asked if there was enough room between the equipment and the sidewalk to plant shield material. CDD/Gubman responded that staff initially pursued the desire to landscape and screen the above -ground equipment. The problem is that there is no irrigation equipment in the area. It is all non -irrigated established landscaping so after consulting with the Director of Community Services it did not appear to be a viable option to install plant material and bring irrigation equipment from as far away as Tin Drive to sustain the material. C/Nelson asked if it was a four -foot box. AP/Alvarez responded that the vents are on the side and there are two vents on the back which are approximately seven feet back from the right- of-way and the boxes are 34 inches in height. There is one 36 inch box and one 50 inch above -ground pedestals. He showed a current location with similar boxes and pedestals on North Golden Springs south of High Knob. C/Nelson asked what it would entail if the Commission were to include a condition for vegetative screening. CDD/Gubman said it would be necessary to connect to a water line and provide a meter for this particular location. It would not be something that would be legal to tie into the homeowner's association for the Pulte Homes off of Tin Drive and but it would require pulling irrigation from an existing line either from Tin Drive or under Diamond Bar Boulevard or from Gold Rush. C/Nelson recalled that the Commission required screening for boxes on Diamond Bar Boulevard at the Pulte Homes development and wanted to make sure the City did as much as possible to screen these structures. If the City required screening for the Pulte Homes development, why wouldn't the City require the same thing for this project and CDD/Gubman said that the Commission has the authority to require that as long as it believes it is necessary to make this installation compatible with the surroundings, and in order to do that it would require that the irrigation be extended to that point. During review of this project, staff felt that the benefit of reaching the site with irrigation to serve a rather small project area wasn't really warranted so staff looked at the alternative of painting the sheet metal a color that is less objectionable. However, it is within the Commission's discretion to require additional screening or continue this matter and ask staff to look into it further. C/Lin asked if it was possible to put the pedestals underground and AP/Alvarez referred C/Lin to the applicant. C/Lin said he lives in the neighborhood and was told that the light bills for the three poles are currently paid by the Diamond Hills Homeowners Association and they may have ownership of those three poles. CDD/Gubman responded that they are Edison lights. Chair/Shah asked what would happen if someone APRIL 12, 2011 PAGE 8 PLANNING COMMISSION lost control of their vehicle and hit the box, would it impact the service? AP/Alvarez referred Chair/Shah to the applicant. CDD/Gubman asked AP/Alvarez to put up the view of the street view that highlights the location of the proposed antenna so the Commissioners can see how many light poles the project is away from Crestview. CDD/Gubman said that in addition to the signal mast, it appears the project would be on the fourth pole from the corner. AP/Alvarez said he would need to make a correction on the fourth line of the summary to indicate it would be the "third" pole rather than the second pole from Tin Drive. CDD/Gubman said it appeared that the site plan also did not include all of the streetlight locations based on the photo of the field conditions so it would necessitate an additional correction to what is in the staff report. Monica Moretta, Sequoia Deployment Services, stated that T -Mobile reviewed staff's report and the conditions of approval and T -Mobile agreed with and intends to comply with the conditions as represented without change. Regarding landscaping for the vent and boxes, T -Mobile could propose to have dry vegetation to be placed to hide the visibility from the street. Dry vegetation usually requires minimal irrigation and will basically survive with the rain once it is established without having irrigation transferred from Tin Drive to the specific location. With respect to placing these elements underground, the meter must be available for SCE to read and the vents are utilized for venting the equipment and must be placed above -grade. All of the other elements which are considered to be more massive and intrusive are placed underground. C/Nelson said that in the past when the Commission has approved these sites, they have approved them to be fake trees. Ms. Moretta said that depended on the location. C/Nelson asked if the applicant could design a box at the bottom of the pole that would include the fake foliage — no irrigation required. Ms. Moretta said that has been done. In an Orange County project, that was recently completed, there was an issue with the vines around the wall and there was a proposal to include fake vines around the wall. It can be done to mitigate the visibility of the vents and the telecom box. C/Nelson asked if the applicant could work with staff to accomplish that and asked if CDD/Gubman felt his recommendation was reasonable. CDD/Gubman responded sure, that the Commission could either condition this or the applicant could be directed to work out the details with staff, or the Commission could continue the matter to allow staff to come back with samples. C/Nelson said he was not sure he liked APRIL 12, 2011 PAGE 9 PLANNING COMMISSION the dry vegetation because that typically meant something that is non- native. Ms. Moretta said that C/Nelson was correct. Chair/Shah again asked if the service would be interrupted if someone damaged the box and Ms. Moretta said Chair/Shah was correct. The vents would not affect the service of the facility but the RLH box houses the telecom wiring, and if that source is damaged, the facility will go off- line. Typically, facility designs incorporate a microwave dish that is usually there to provide telephone services in such emergencies but in this case a microwave dish cannot be incorporated because it would be very noticeable and could not be screened within the pole. Ms. Moretta said that T -Mobile would welcome a condition to screen the equipment so that the applicant can provide additional alternatives for landscaping and screening for the above -ground equipment. C/Nelson moved, C/Torng seconded, to continue the Public Hearing for Development Review PL 2010-289 to allow T -Mobile to return with samples of landscaping and screening of the above -ground equipment, either a fake vine or oak tree. C/Lin said he was not a fan of the fake trees but felt C/Nelson's recommendation to look at options is a good decision. CDD/Gubman asked C/Nelson to amend his motion to a date certain such as April 26. C/Nelson amended his motion and C/Torng seconded the amended motion to continue PL 2010-289 to April 26, 2011. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Lin, Nelson, Torng, VC/Lee, Chair/Shah NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: None 8. PLANNING COMMISSIONER COMMENTS/INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: C/Nelson thanked AP/Alvarez for providing the existing and anticipated views of the cellular site. It is always helpful and pertinent to his deliberation as well as helpful to his colleagues. APRIL 12, 2011 PAGE 10 PLANNING COMMISSION C/Torng announced that during the recent Friends of the Library Wine Soiree, Supervisor Don Knabe announced the funding and investing in Diamond Bar's new library. 9. STAFF COMMENTS/INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: 10.1 Public Hearing dates for future projects. CDD/Gubman said that because the Library project consists of interior remodel/tenant improvements, it would not be subject to Planning Commission review. CDD/Gubman announced that the Housing Element will be heard by the City Council on April 19 with the Planning Commission's recommendation for adoption. On Thursday, April 28, the Parks and Recreation Commission will review the Citywide Parks Master Plan and if the Commission recommends City Council approval, on May 10 the Planning Commission will be asked to make a finding of General Plan Consistency/adopt a Resolution with affirmation that the Parks Master Plan is consistent with the goals and policies of the City's General Plan and to assist in that decision, staff will forward to the Commissioners, CD copies of the Parks Master Plan along with hard copies of the Executive Summary as soon as they become available to give the Commissioners sufficient time to review the documents prior to the May 10 meeting. CDD/Gubman reported on some of the Code Enforcement activities taking place in the City. During closed session, the City Council authorized staff to seek a court order to assign a receiver to deal with a severe hoarding situation on Decorah Lane. This situation was brought to the attention of the City through neighborhood complaints and further investigation resulted in City staff obtaining two inspection warrants and upon serving those warrants, discovered very severe hoarding conditions that will require a judge to issue a court order to enable the City to eliminate these conditions. The house has been red tagged and the occupant of the house is in danger because if emergency service personnel needed to come to the home they would not be allowed to enter the premises to extract persons or provide emergency care. This is also an imminent threat to surrounding residents due to the amount of combustible storage on the property. Staff is proceeding with the receivership option as the most effective tool to eliminate these dangers. CDD/Gubman stated that the Commissioners may have heard about the shooting incident in the 1100 block of Del Sol in which an individual was APRIL 12, 2011 PAGE 11 PLANNING COMMISSION shot and killed. With the property owner's consent, staff searched the premises and discovered that an auto and motorcycle repair business was being conducted inside the house which presents a number of building code and zoning violations as well as, hoarding conditions and hazmat issues with the storage of combustible and hazardous chemicals onsite. Based on that discovery, staff is moving forward to protect the neighborhood from the health and safety threat that exists at the property. CDD/Gubman reported that in addition to the continuance of the T -Mobile project on April 26, there is a room addition request on Alamo Heights in "The Country Estates" and a Conditional Use Permit for a tutoring facility (Montessori School satellite) located on Pinefalls in the industrial area. 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 8:10 p.m. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this 26th day of April, 2011. Attest: Respectfully Submitted, �o�'l Greg Gubman Community Development Director Jack Shah, Chairman /