Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/8/2012MINUTES OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION MAY 8, 2012 CALL TO ORDER: Vice Chairman Nelson called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the City Hall Windmill Room, 21810 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, CA 91765. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: C/Torng led the Pledge of Allegiance. 1. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Frank Farago, Jack Shah, Tony Torng, and Vice Chairman Steve Nelson. Absent: Chairman Jimmy Lin was excused. Also present: Greg Gubman, Community Development Director; Grace Lee, Senior Planner; Natalie Tobon, Planning Technician; and Stella Marquez, Administrative Coordinator. 2. MATTERS FROM THE AUDIENCE/PUBLIC COMMENTS: Gail Charette spoke about her concerns regarding Fall Creek condominiums. 3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: As presented 4. CONSENT CALENDAR: 4.1 Minutes of the Regular Meeting of April 10 2012. C/Torng moved, C/Farrago seconded, to approve the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of April 10, 2012, as presented. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Farago, Torng, VC/Nelson NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSTAIN: COMMISSIONERS: Shah ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Chair/Lin 5. OLD BUSINESS: None 6. NEW BUSINESS: None 7. PUBLIC HEARINGS: 7.1 Conditional Use Permit No. PL2012-86 — Under the authority of Diamond Bar Development Code Section 22.58, the applicant Matt Jeng and the property owner Country Hills Holding, LLC, requested Conditional Use Permit approval. to permit a tutoring center. The tutoring center will offer classes Monday through Saturday with hours that are adjusted in accordance with the school year. The subject property is zoned C-2 (Community Commercial) with an underlying General Plan designation of General Commercial. Approval of a Conditional Use Permit is required to operate a business offering tutoring services. PROJECT ADDRESS: 21349 Cold Spring Lane Diamond Bar, CA 91765 . PROPERTY OWNER: Country Hills Holding, LLC c/o Sarofim Realty Advisors Co. 8115 Preston Road, Suite 400 Dallas, TX 75225 APPLICANT: Matt Jeng 713 W. Duarte Road #G303 Arcadia, CA 92007 PT/Tobon presented staff's report and recommended Planning Commission approval of Conditional Use Permit No. PL2012-86, based on the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the Resolution. VC/Nelson opened the public hearing. Matt Jeng, applicant, explained that the business was started about one year ago and due to growth of the business, he is seeking this location to accommodate all of his high school students who. are preparing for the SAT's. This will be a one instructor to one or two students to provide a more private tutoring atmosphere. C/Shah asked if the school would provide only SAT classes and Mr. Jeng responded that it was SAT preparation. Mr. Paul, owner, said the school caters to SAT, ACT and AP exam preparation for high school subjects and standardized testing. MAY 8, 2012_ PAGE 3 PLANNING COMMISSION VC/Nelson asked the applicant if he had read staff's report and. if he -concurred with the Conditions of Approval to which the applicant responded affirmatively. VC/Nelson closed the Public Hearing. VC/Nelson questioned the future use parking accommodations and CDD/Gubman responded that there is still a significant surplus of parking well beyond the minimum parking requirement for the square footage in the shopping center. Staff is confident that retail or other uses should continue to be comfortably accommodated in the future. C/Torng said he has made frequent visits to the site and noted an abundance of parking. onded, to approve Conditional Use Permit C/Torng moved,. C/Shah sec No. PL2012-86, 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: I AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Farago, Shah, Torng, VC/Nelson NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Chair/Lin 7.2 Conditional Use Permit No. PL2012-44 — Under the authority of Diamond Bar Municipal Code Section 22.58, the applicant Matt Jeng and the property owner Country Hills Holding, LLC, requested Conditional Use Permit approval to permit a fitness studio. The subject property is zoned Community Commercial (C-2) with an underlying General Plan land use designation of General Commercial. I PROJECT ADDRESS: 2753A Diamond Bar Blvd. Diamond.Bar, CA 91765 i PROPERTY OWNER: Country Hills Holding, LLC c/o Sarofim Realty Advisors Co. 8115 Preston Road, Suite 400 Dallas, TX 75225 f APPi ir.ANT. Matt Jeng MAY 8, 2012 PAGE 4 PLANNING COMMISSION PT/Tobon presented staff's report and recommended Planning Commission approval of Conditional Use Permit No. PL2012-44, based on the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the draft resolution. C/Shah asked for clarification with respect to, the maximum number of students per class, the age group and whether they would be driving. PT/Tobon explained that the parking. was calculated with the maximum number of students anticipated at the center. Classes are for adults 18 and over. C/Shah asked if the class times overlapped which PT/Tobon responded that they do not overlap; C/Torng said he was curious why there was no noise abatement condition or is the room sound proof. CDD/Gubman responded that there is no stated condition in the resolution. It is presumed that there are rules and regulations pertaining to the conduct of tenants within the center that the tenant would be contractually obliged to conform to and the property owner would need to deal with any tenant disputes. C/Torng may wish to direct his question to the applicant for further` details. C/Shah said he felt there was potential for some overlap and asked if the parking could be accommodated or whether there should be a condition to look at the situation in six months or so. PT/Tobon` reiterated that according to staff's report there. is a surplus of about 150 parking spaces so there should be plenty of parking available at the shopping center. CDD/Gubman said if the Commission wished to add a condition for a six month review, they could do so at the conclusion of the public hearing. VC/Nelson opened the public hearing. Matt Jeng, applicant, stated that with respect to sound and noise, there is actually a revised floor plan design with a vestibule to separate the area and block the music because there is a residential area toward the rear of the building so that all of the noise goes toward the parking lot. Richard.Yeh, representing the property owner, said he is very cognizant of the noise issue from a property management perspective and the owner has put. -a lot of sound, proofing in the demising wall that separates the. ....Zumba space from the space next door, a shoe retailer. The opposite wall. is a CMU exterior wall so there should be no sound penetration into the. 'adjoining tenant's space. In addition, he required the tenant to place a vestibule. around the rear door to prevent any sound attenuation from the rear door and asked the tenant to place a glass wall near the front` of the MAY 8, 2012 PAGE 5 PLANNING COMMISSION store to create an extra barrier and prevent sound from going out the front of the space. C/Shah asked if the CMU wall was an eight inch CMU wall and Mr. Yeh said he would not want to misquote the facts. C/Shah asked if the wall separating the tenant spaces went all the way to the roof and Mr. Yeh responded that it did and that there is a drop ceiling on both sides of the demising wall. VC/Nelson told the applicant that the Commissionwas obliged to take noise issues into consideration when deliberating on such matters. VC/Nelson closed the public hearing. moved to a rove Conditional Use Permit, No. PL2011-44, C/Shah pp Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the Resolution with the addition of a Condition that staff check into the parking within six months to assure there is no problem. C/Torng asked C/Shah to consider adding a condition, regarding the sound wall. C/Shah ` said if the Commission wants to address that issue it would have to include a maximum decibel level and most likely the tenant will have to comply with the law. The legal requirement is that the noise level should. not exceed a certain Diamond, Bar threshold. If there is a problem the i Sheriff would have to address the matter. C/Torng asked for staff's,input. CDD/Gubman responded that C/Shah is correct. Noise levels are regulated in the City's Municipal Code and there are measurable criteria that can be used to determine whether or nota violation has occurred. If. the Commission wishes to add a condition fora follow up review, staff can review any calls for service or any enforcement issues related to this matter which may lead to the imposition of additional mitigation or conditions to help relieve the concern. C/Torng asked C/Shah to amend his motion accordingly., C/Shah asked staff to explain what kinds of business are next door to the proposed site and PT/Tobon responded that on one side there is a shoe store and on the other side is a hair salon. nth review condition to address .noise C/Shah agreed to add the six mo considerations. C/Torng seconded the amended motion. VC/Nelson asked what Zumba .is and how loud. the music actually plays and whether this is something that is really a concern. � JeannieLin, 860 Sunset Place explained that Zumba is a dance fitness - that provides fun, fitness and weight loss.. It is music fitness and the music is loud and she will make sure that the business conforms to the noise MAY 8, 2012 L_ regulations. She said.she is passionate about this business and wants to bring something clean and healthy to Diamond Bar and she will make sure the business is well-run and clean. and that there are no complaints. She will make sure .that the space is sound proofed so that noise does not bother the neighboring tenants. She has lived in Diamond Bar for many years and knows that the hair salon next door, is looking forward to this new business and the synergy it will bring to the center. She also believed the business would be very compatible to the shoe store next door. C/Shah asked if men were allowed to participate and Ms. Lin said she would love to have men participate. VC/Nelson asked if Ms. Lin was comfortable with C/Torng's amendment to the motion that the City reviews the parking and noise issues. Ms. Lin said she would have no problem because her number one concern before she leased the space was to make sure there was plenty of parking and good sound abatement. VC/Nelson called for the question. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Farago, Shah, Torng, VC/Nelson NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Chair/Lin 8: PLANNING COMMISSIONER COMMENTS/INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: C/Shah said he was looking forward to the City Birthday Celebration this Saturday. C/Torng said he too looked forward to the City's Birthday Celebration and the Friends of the Library beer garden. corner fundraiser for the Library.This year the City presented Commissioners with the best T -Shirt he had ever received. 9. STAFF COMMENTS/INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: CDD/Gubman reported that the May 22 meeting has been canceled and the next regular Planning Commission .meeting will be held on June 12.. There are two items pending for the agenda which currently consists of a new single family residence on Feather Rock. in."The Country Estates" as well as the annual review of the City's Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) for fiscal year 2012/13. 9.1 Public Hearing dates for future projects. MAY 8, 2012 PAGE 7 PLANNING COMMISSION 10. SCHEDULE OF FUTURE EVENTS: As listed in tonight's agenda. ADJOURNMENT: With no further business before the Planning Commission, Vice Chairman Nelson adjourned the regular meeting at 7:36 p.m. to June 12, 2012. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this 22nd day of May, 2012. Attest: Respectfully Submitted, i Greg Gubman Community Development Director Jimmy L Chair an