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HomeMy WebLinkAbout6/12/2012MINUTES OF THE CITY OF DIAMOND BAR REGULAR MEETING OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION JUNE 12, 2012 CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Lin 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/Farago led the Pledge of Allegiance. 1. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Frank Farago, Jack Shah, Tony Torng, Vice Chairman Steve Nelson, and Chairman Jimmy Lin. Also present: Greg Gubman, Community Development Director; Natalie Tobon, Planning Technician; and Marcy Hilario, Administrative Coordinator. 2. MATTERS FROM THE AUDIENCE/PUBLIC COMMENTS: 3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA: As presented. 4. CONSENT CALENDAR: 4.1 Minutes of the Regular Meeting of May 22, 2012. VC/Nelson moved, C/Shah seconded, to approve the Minutes of the Regular Meeting of May 22, 2012, as presented. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Farago, Shah, Torng, VC/Nelson, Chair/Lin NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: None 5. OLD BUSINESS: None 6. NEW BUSINESS: None 7. PUBLIC HEARINGS: 7.1 Conditional Use Permit No. PL2012-124 — Under the authority of Diamond Bar Municipal Code Section 22.58, the applicant, Saul Jaffe and the property owner, Golden Tree Group, Inc., requested Conditional Use Permit approval to permit the expansion of an existing emergency veterinary clinic. The subject property is zoned Office Professional (OP). JUNE 12, 2012 PAGE 2 PLANNING COMMISSION PROJECT ADDRESS Fa a*-] a 2 V" a 109IT"T I 19-a APPLICANT: 938 and 944 N. Diamond Bar Boulevard Diamond Bar, CA 91765 Golden Tree Group, Inc. 1225 W. Lincoln Avenue Anaheim, CA 92805 Saul Jaffe 618 W. Baseline Road Claremont, CA 91711 PT/Tobon presented staffs report and recommended Planning Commission approval of Conditional Use Permit PI -2012-124, based on the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the resolution. C/Torng asked staff to correct the total floor area of the clinic mass to 6744 instead of 6754. C/Lin asked what kind of business is located in the unit intended for the expansion and PT/Tobon responded that it is currently vacant. C/Lin said he found it interesting that the establishment was closed during the day. PT/Tobon responded that the only time the clinic is open during the day is during the weekend Saul Jaffe thanked the Commission for its time and said that he had experienced a good relationship with staff through this process. The clinic looks forward to expanding its space. C/Shah asked the applicant why the clinic had only a night operation and Mr. Jaffe responded that East Valley Emergency Pet Clinic is owned by a group of veterinarians who practice in the area and this clinic supplements their current daytime practices and provides emergency services when the day clinics are closed. The doctors trade off taking calls at night which provides a good regional service. VC/Nelson asked if the clinic takes in wildlife and Mr. Jaffe said he does not know because he is not an operator of the clinic but his understanding is that the clinic serves small pets and some exotics. Chair/Lin opened the public hearing. With no one present who wished to speak on this item, Chair/Lin closed the public hearing. JUNE 12, 20.113. . PAGE 3 PLANNING COMMISSION C/Torng moved, C/Farago seconded, to approve Conditional Use Permit No. PL2012-124. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: NOES: COMMISSIONERS: ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Farago, Shah, Torng, VC/Nelson, Chair/Lin None None 7.2 Development Review No. PL2011-515 — Under the authority of Diamond Bar Municipal Code Section 22.48, the applicant, Pete Volbeda and the property owners, Raymond and Vivian Obiamalu, requested Development Review approval to demolish the existing residence and construct a new 15,049 square foot single family residence on a 1.08 gross acre (47,045 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: APPLICANT: 2234 Feather Rock Road Diamond Bar, CA 91765 Raymond and Vivian Obiamalu 2234 Feather Rock Road Diamond Bar, CA 91765 Pete Volbeda 180 Benson Avenue, Unit D Upland, CA 91786 PT/Tobon presented staffs report and recommended Planning Commission approval of Development Review No. PL2011-515, based on the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the resolution. C/Farago pointed out a typo on Page 4 on the Site and Grading Configuration paragraph, with respect to "trips to move soil offsite" - "off-site" should be changed to "on-site." C/Shah asked if the proposed parking was to accommodate eight, nine or ten cars and PT/Tobon responded ten cars. C/Shah referred to Attachment No. 2, Section F -F, which spoke to compaction and said he did not understand the relationship between the poor compaction and importing the soil. It appears to him that very little soil is being removed and a lot of soil is being imported to the back of the property. Pete Volbeda said that originally the project contemplated adding on to the home but during investigation it was determined that the first 10 feet of the side is not properly compacted to 90 percent. The site shows that the front yard now JUNE 12, 2012 PAGE 4 PLANNING COMMISSION has a slope and all of the steps have cracked over an inch and the house has movement as well. In addition, the lot has two cross slopes, one downhill and one in the opposite direction. The way the house was built put the north side roof very close to grade which results in a lot of problems with animals and mold issues. Another issue is the sewer ejection pump which has failed. By constructing a basement, the existing 10 feet of non -compacted fill area will be absorbed. So rather than re -compacting the 10 feet it will be removed and used for the back of the lot. In addition, the front door of the house will be level (instead of built on a hill) with the street which means much less chance of sliding and moving. Further, the house has been stepped more toward the rear yard to accommodate the existing down slope to minimize the import. Chair/Lin referred to Sheet No. 8 and asked where the garage is located to which Mr. Volbeda responded that it was located on the left side. Chair/Lin asked how high the highest fill would be and Mr. Volbeda responded that eight feet would be the maximum. Chair/Lin asked if Mr. Volbeda conducted any drainage calculations to make sure the drainage pattern would not accelerate a runoff. Mr. Volbeda said the site is quite interesting. There is a swale at the rear of the property which is off-site and leads to a lower drainage area. The existing drainage area has a pipe on the north side of the property which runs in an easterly direction. The pipe is clogged and the project will create swales on the north side of the property to take that drainage and divert it back to where it was currently intended to go, to the offsite swale at the rear of the property. The rip -rap will disperse the water so that it goes back into the same swale. Therefore, the drainage pattern will not be changed. In fact, every attempt is being made to keep it away from the neighboring property to the east. Chair/Lin opened the public hearing. With no one present who wished to speak on this matter, Chair/Lin closed the public hearing. VC/Nelson said that despite the extensive use of California Peppers, all he has to say about this project is "wow." And thank you for selecting Diamond Bar to build this project. C/Shah moved, VC/Nelson seconded, to approve Development Review No. PL2011-515, based on the Findings of Fact, and subject to the conditions of approval as listed within the draft resolution. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Farago, Shah, Torng, VC/Nelson, Chair/Lin NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: None JUNE 12, 2012 PAGE 5 PLANNING COMMISSION 8. PLANNING COMMISSIONER COMMENTS/INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: VC/Nelson asked if there was an update on the Ralphs vacancy and CDD/Gubman said he has no news to report. Ongoing deal points are being negotiated between the tenant and the property owner. C/Shah asked if the new office building by HIVlart was fully occupied and CDD/Gubman said there was a lot of interest in the condominiums and believed they were sold out. C/Farago asked for an update on the delayed Shell gas station construction project on Diamond Bar Boulevard and CDD/Gubman stated that the City's Prosecutors Office is filing civil charges against the property owner with the City as Plaintiff due to the ongoing nuisance that has resulted from their failure to complete the project. There has been an ongoing progression of events that needed to lead up to the filing of civil charges, one of which was that the City Council needed to pass an ordinance that assured the City's ability to recover its legal fees. The ordinance had a 30 -day curing period and became effective the beginning of this month. C/Shah asked who the property owners are and CDD/Gubman responded Frydoun Sheikhpour and Rosa Tahmasebbi. 9. STAFF COMMENTS/INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: CDD/Gubman stated that due to lack of agenda items for June 26 the next Planning Commission meeting will be held on July 10, 2012. On June 21, the City will conduct a public scoping meeting at Pantera Park at 6:30 p.m. The meeting is part of several measures the City is taking to implement the Housing Element that was recommended for adoption by the Planning Commission last spring and ultimately adopted by the City Council and certified by the State of California. One of the required implementation programs described during the Housing Element adoption processes is the need to rezone sufficient acreage in the City to meet the low and moderate income housing obligation for the Southern California region. As indicated in the Housing Element, the City selected and the State Department of Housing and Community Development accepted the City's findings for considering the area surrounding Diamond Ranch High School as the study area that the City will study for rezoning. He referred to a graphic showing the 78 acre parcel that encircles Diamond Ranch High School which includes two designated development sites. The City will go through the EIR process to identify the environmental issues and to disclose those issues, and craft zoning regulations so that one or the other of the shaded areas would ultimately become the high-density residential housing site. The purpose of next Thursday's scoping meeting is to introduce this effort to the surrounding community and to solicit comments including what issue areas they believe should be included in the EIR. The City will produce a Comprehensive Environmental Impact Report covering all of the mandated impact study areas described in CEQA. As part of this JUNE 12, 2012 process, the City needs to go to the neighborhood and ask for any information they may have being familiar with the immediate area so that staff is sure to cover all of the topics in the EIR. Staff expects this to be a controversial project as anything involving affordable housing or high-density housing tends to be in communities such as Diamond Bar. Therefore, the City wants to be sure that it is reaching out to the neighborhood, informing them of what is being considered and ensure that they are aware of the pending decision-making process so that when the public hearings commence with the Planning Commission and ultimately with the City Council, the residents have been provided ample opportunity to express their views and to learn more about the project in order to participate in the decision-making process. Chair/Lin asked if there was a concept plan included in the EIR process and CDD/Gubman responded that when there is an actual development project that would be the case. This is only for rezoning the land to go from what is basically an Agricultural zone which allows one house per parcel, to 490 residential units. To rezone from a very low density to what will be the highest density classification, the City is able to, in at least a preliminary stage, analyze the traffic impacts, potential air quality impacts and conduct on-site surveys to evaluate the biological, geological and other physical impacts that may affect the property. Normally, when the City does a zone change it does not have to do such an extensive environmental review process; however, the way California law is written, for the purposes of zoning for affordable housing, the City needs to eliminate as many development obstacles as possible to facilitate such a housing project, and for that reason the City is obligated to do a lot of the "heavy lifting" CEQA-wise so that those questions are resolved and should a developer come forward in the future to build the housing, they will have full disclosure of what will be required to develop the site. VC/Nelson asked if the CEQA process would assume maximum buildout for purposes of the EIR so that when someone comes to the City with a subsequent and more specific project they would not generate additional impacts that would require another EIR. CDD/Gubman responded staff is studying the site to fulfill the City's and the EIR entire obligation for low-income housing on this site, so the subsequent developer would be expected to build out to the maximum number of units permitted and the City will, through development standards that go hand-in-hand with the zone change with the mapping, cap that at 490 units. The City wants to make sure that a developer builds all of the required units on the site because if they fail to do so the City is then obligated to find other parcels in the City to rezone. VC/Nelson asked if a Tentative Tract Map would be the next step and CDD/Gubman said that would be so if the developer planned to do "for sale" type housing. However, the City would expect an apartment complex type development to occur at the site, so it would more likely mean that only a Development Review application will be required. JUNE 12, 2012 PAGE 7 PLANNING COMMISSION Chair/Lin asked if the site abuts Chino Hills and CDD/Gubma ' n said that the site does not. On the north side of Scenic Ridge Drive, the condominium complex is in the City of Pomona and across the freeway is Phillips Ranch in the City of Pomona. Farther down Scenic Ridge Drive, one enters the City of Chino Hills. All of the west side is Diamond Bar. C/Shah asked how the City could expect someone to build to the maximum density on the site, to which CDD/Gubman responded that the City cannot force anyone to develop at all. The City is only obligated to rezone the land so if it is never developed it does not matter to the City because the City has satisfied its legal requirement to create the zoning. If a developer comes forward and elects not to maximize the number of units, that will put the City in a difficult position because as previously mentioned, the City would have to rezone land elsewhere to pick up the slack. If a developer did not intend to maximize the number of units, the City would likely work out a development plan that still provides expansion area for a subsequent phase. C/Lin said that he presumed the application was filed by the City of Diamond Bar for this CEQA process and if the owner rejected or opposed the application, what would happen? CDD/Gubman stated that the City can rezone any property in the City without owner's permission. In this situation, although the City of Industry is not the applicant or the sponsor of this project, they have given Diamond Bar permission to enter the property for the purpose of conducting the environmental studies. 9.1 Public Hearing dates for future projects. 10. SCHEDULE OF FUTURE EVENTS: As listed in tonighfs agenda. ADJOURNMENT: With . no further business before the Planning Commission, Chairman Lin adjourned the regular meeting at 7:44 p.m. to July 10, 2012. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this 10th day of July, 2012. Attest: Respectfully Submitted, Greg Gubman Community Development Director 1' Steve 'thairman Nelson, Vice