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Home My WebLink About7/26/2011MINUTES OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION JULY 26, 2011 CALL TO ORDER: Vice Chairman Lee called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. in the South Coast Air Quality Management District/Government Center Auditorium, 21865 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, CA 91765. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Commissioner Torng led the Pledge of Allegiance. 1. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Jimmy Lin, Tony Torng, Vice Chairman Kwang Ho Lee Commissioner Nelson arrived at 7:07 p.m. Absent: Chairman 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 June 28, 2011. (Continued from July 12, 2011) C/Lin moved, VC/Torng seconded, to approve the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of June 28, 2011, as corrected. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Lin, Torng, VC/Lee NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSTAIN: COMMISSIONERS: Nelson ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Chair/Shah 4.2 Minutes of the Regular Meeting of July 12, 2011. (Continued to July 26, 2011) JULY 26, 2011 PAGE 2 PLANNING COMMISSION 5. .3 7 C/Torng moved, C/Nelson seconded, to continue the minutes of the Regular Meeting of July 12, 2011, to the next scheduled meeting. AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Lin, Nelson, Torng, VC/Lee NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Chair/Shah OLD BUSINESS: None NEW BUSINESS: None CONTINUED PUBLIC HEARINGS: 7.1 Development Review No. PL 2010-316 — Under the authority of Development Code Section 22.48, the applicant, Robert Tsay and property owner, Barry Duan requested approval to construct a new 12,290 square foot single family residence on a 1.36 gross acre (59,433 square foot) lot. The subject property is zoned Rural Residential (RR) with a consistent underlying General Plan land use designation of Rural Residential. PROJECT ADDRESS PROPERTY OWNER APPLICANT: 3015 Wagon Train Lane Diamond Bar, CA 91765 Barry Duan 3012 Aviano Court Chino Hills, CA 91709 Robert Tsay 112 N. Earle Street San Gabriel, CA 91775 AP/Alvarez presented staffs report and recommended Planning Commission approval of Development Review No. PL2010-316, based on the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the resolution. C/Nelson suggested that if the Commission is not to take under consideration during its deliberation any approvals or denials by "The Country Estates" architectural committee, why would the Commission need to hear that the committee had approved a project. CDD/Gubman responded that this information can be taken under advisement just as the Commission would take under advisement testimony from any other member of the public that would express support or opposition to the project. So by JULY 26, 2011 PAGE 3 PLANNING COMMISSION knowing that The Country Estates Association has approved the project under their jurisdiction, it may help to give an indication that those living in the neighborhood have reviewed the project and are comfortable with its compatibility and compliance with their neighborhood standards as they perceive them. C/Lin referred to Condition #11 and asked if a 60 pound load was correct. CDD/Gubman responded that he did not know if the correct answer was 60 PSI or if the standard was completely incorrect. In any case, the applicant needs to comply with the building code and change the condition to "all balconies shall be designed to meet the minimum live -load requirements under the California Building Code." C/Lin felt the applicant would find it difficult to make the turn from the driveway into the first garage door and, in his opinion the driveway should be moved closer to the western edge of the property. VC/Lee opened the public hearing. Robert Tsay, architect, agreed with C/Lin and said he would reconsider the design with his client. C/Lin told Mr. Tsay he felt it was a good design but as a traffic engineer, he is concerned about the drivers' safety. VC/Lee closed the public hearing. C/Torng moved, C/Nelson seconded, to approve Development Review No. PL2010-316, 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 NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Chair/Shah 8. PLANNING COMMISSIONER COMMENTS/INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: JULY 26, 2011 PAGE 4 PLANNING COMMISSION 9. STAFF COMMENTSIINFORMATIONAL ITEMS: 9.1 Public Hearing dates for future protects. CDD/Gubman stated that there were no items scheduled for the August 9, 2011, meeting and asked that tonight's meeting be adjourned to August 23, 2011. There are two items tentatively scheduled for that meeting: 1) a Daycare Center at the Diamond Hills Plaza (H -Mart Center),which would actually be a re -occupancy of the former daycare on Cold Spring Lane at the south end of the center; and 2) a new home at 1925 Derringer Lane in The Country Estates. CDD/Gubman updated the Commission regarding the ongoing situation at 22909 Ridgeline which was first brought to the Commission's attention last month with a comment about the excessively high retaining walls and other deviations that were occurring on the construction site. "The Country Estates" Homeowners Association independently hired a surveyor to verify the foundation and building pad elevations and found that the pad elevations were higher by two feet than what the civil engineer of record certified the grades to be for the pad and other grading elevations on the site. Staff and the City's grading inspector met with the project manager/property owner last week and the property owner has been working with the homeowners association dealing with the internal enforcement issues as well. The property owner has acknowledged that they have made errors and their project engineer made an error in having the site surveyed to certify the grading elevations. The property owner is now agreeing to remedy all deviations on the site and will be lowering the building pads to the elevations per the approved grading plan in addition to reducing the height of the retaining walls to the maximum heights to which the approved plans limited them. This comes as a significant expense to the property owner; however, he was relying on the certifications of the civil engineer of record for the site. Although there were some things that occurred on site that were knowingly done without authorization, there were some site conditions based on relying on the project engineer. The property owner will be doing a significant amount of work to return the site conditions to be in exact compliance with the approved plans. 10. SCHEDULE OF FUTURE EVENTS: As listed in tonight's agenda. JULY 26, 2011 PAGE 5 PLANNING COMMISSION ADJOURNMENT: With no further business before the Planning Commission, Vice Chairman Lee adjourned the regular meeting at 7:35 p.m. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this 23rd day of August, 2011. Attest: Respectfully Su itted, --, -"- Anv Greg Gubm Community Development Director Kwang Ho Lee, Vice Chairman