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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning Commission Minutes 2003/11/12 MINUTES OF THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION OF CHULA VISTA, CALIFORNIA Council Chambers 6:00 p.m. Public Services Building Wednesday, November 12, 2003 276 Fourth Avenue, Chula Vista ROLL CALU MOTIONS TO EXCUSE: Present: Hall, Madrid, Hom, Felber Absent: Castaneda, Cortes, O'Neill Staff Present: Luis Hernandez, Deputy Planning Director Michael Walker, Associate Planner Dave Hanson, Deputy City Attorney I MSC (Hom/Felber) (4-0) to exuse Commissioners Castaneda, Cortes, and O'Neill. Motion carried. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE/SILENT PRAYER INTRODUCTORY REMARKS: Read into the record by Commissioner Hall APPROVAL OF MINUTES: October 8, 2003 MSC (Felber/Madrid) (4-0) to approve minutes of October 8, 2003 as submitted. Motion carried. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS: No public input. 1. PUBLIC HEARING: Consideration of a Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS 03-04) and the following applications filed by the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church for a church complex located at 345 Anita Street: a. PCC 04-14; Conditional Use Permit to construct and operate a multi-purpose facility in the church complex, and allow an increase in building height from 28 feet to 32.5 feet. b. ZAV 03-04; Variance to reduce the required front yard setback from 15 feet to 5 feet. Background: Michael Walker, Associate Planner stated the proposal consists of a Conditional Use Permit and Variance to construct and operate a multi-purpose facility Planning Commission Minutes - 2 - November 12, 2003 for the Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. The church complex is currently on two separate parcels; the northern parcel is developed with the church, and the southern parcel is comprised of three contiguous parcels that will be consolidated. The southern parcel is currently developed with a 4,000 sf multi-purpose building, a rectory, and a two-car garage. These structures will be removed and replaced with a new two-level 12,050 sf multi-purpose facility and new parking area with 9 new parking spaces to be added to the existing 15 spaces, for a total of 24 parking spaces. The project will also incorporate landscaping and street improvements. The main level of the multi-purpose facility includes a 260 seat auditorium, restroom facilities, storage areas, an office, classrooms and a kitchen facility; the lower level will be a basement used for storage. The activities conducted in the church sanctuary include daily and Sunday mass, and the activities in the new multi-purpose facility include fellowship after mass, religious education and other church functions. The hours of operation for the church complex range from 7:30 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. on Sundays and 8:00 a.m. to 7:45 p.m. M-Sat. The church was previously built under County of San Diego zoning regulations and the sanctuary current has a seating capacity of 548 seats with 65 on-site parking spaces. The parking/sanctuary seating ratio was established during a previous remodel of the church in 1990, which took into consideration on-street parking within the church's vicinity. The parking requirements for multi-use complexes such as, schools, campuses with auditoriums, or similar facilities, is based on the facility that creates the highest parking demand. In this case, the church sanctuary creates the highest demand. The new facility will have a maximum of 260 seats and requires 74 on-site parking spaces. Based on historical operation of the church complex, staff believes that sufficient parking will be available for the project, furthermore, activities conducted in the church and new facility will not occur concurrently. The other part of the proposal is a request to increase the 28 foot height limit in the R-2 zone to 32.5 feet, which is the highest element of the facility. The second part of the application is for a variance to reduce the front yard setback from 15 feet to 5 feet. The building setback requirement will allow a more efficient use of the property. The proposed 5 foot front yard setback will allow the multi-purpose building to maintain a 30-foot setback from the curb. The Engineering Department does not anticipate the need to widen Tremont Street in the future and in the unlikely event that it did need to be widened, only the landscaping and street improvements would be removed. Mr. Walker pointed out a correction to the staff report, which reads, "... the project will Planning Commission Minutes - 3 - November 12, 2003 provide other on and off-site improvements including... a 4-foot widening of the alley along the southern boundary... .". This is incorrect; the applicant will not physically widen the alley, but will provide an additional 4 feet between the property line and the rear parking stalls to meet the 24-foot vehicle back-up requirement. Mr. Walker further stated that a community meeting was held and the project was duly noticed, and no oppositions to the project were raised. Staff Recommendation: That the Planning Commission adopt the Mitigated Negative Declaration IS 03-04 and Resolution PCC 04-14/ZAV 03-04 approving the project. Commission Discussion: Commissioner Felber inquired why the noticing radius for the meetings were so different. Mr. Walker explained that the noticing radius for the community forum was an approximate 2,000 foot radius, however, for the public hearing tonight, staff followed the standard 500 foot radius surrounding the project site. Cmr. Felber expressed concern with the language in staff's report that reads, "...AII activities conducted in the church and multi-purpose facility will not be held concurrently." He indicated that, in his opinion, this language is too restrictive because it is very conceivable that there would be an activity going on in the auditorium and in the classrooms at the same time. Cmr. Felber inquired if in figuring the capacity and parking needs, it was taken into account how many people from the surrounding neighborhood walk to church. Chris Dameron, Joe Dameron Architects, 5111 Santa Fe Street, San Diego, CA stated that a survey was conducted, which concluded the percentage of people that walked or were dropped off at church was very close to the same ratio of3.5 people per car. Cmr. Felber stated that since there is a potential for higher density housing in the southwest, he inquired if there was room for growth in the congregation. Public Hearing Opened 6:30. Planning Commission Minutes - 4 - November 12, 2003 Father Vesga, 845 Anita Street, Chula Vista, CA stated that the church has no boundaries and primarily serves a Spanish-only speaking community, which some of the parishioners come from far away, therefore, even if there were to be higher density housing in the future, the impact would not be significant and the facility could accommodate them. He stated that only 2 of the 7 services conducted during the weekend are full. Public Hearing Closed 6:35. Luis Hernandez, Deputy Planning Director addressed Cmr. Felber's comments on the restrictions on concurrent uses in the multi-purpose facility. He clarified that the auditorium is considered the assembly area and it does not mean that the classrooms or office cannot be in use while the auditorium is in use. The larger generator of parking, in this case, the church sanctuary, is used to establish the parking requirements. The self-imposed restriction on concurrent use is something that the applicant provided as part of the project description. If the applicant desires to modify that language now or in the future, the CUP could be modified with proper analysis of the conditions. The intent of the non-concurrent use is primarily to avoid having a wedding reception and mass at the same time because the two activities would draw a significant number of people for two different activities. The seating capacity for the sanctuary is the basis that was used for figuring the parking requirement. Cmr. Felber stated that perhaps a better definition would be to say "major concurrent events" instead of "concurrent events". Cmr. Hall asked for direction on how to proceed with making any changes to the language as recommended by Cmr. Felber. Dave Hanson, legal counsel, stated that the two conditions (the concurrent use and also the condition referencing 260 persons at one time) that are in the Mitigated Negative Declaration are a result of the analysis conducted by the Environmental Review Coordinator. Mr. Hanson further stated that since the Environmental Review Coordinator is not present at tonight's meeting to respond to the issues that have been raised, he recommended that the Commission continue this item in order to allow the Environmental Review Coordinator to be present to respond to those issues; otherwise, he would recommend that the Planning Commission not engage in modifying the MND. For clarification purposes, it was explained to the applicant that it was their choice whether to move forward and have the Commission's approval tonight with the conditions as stated in the staff report and MND, or to continue this item to another hearing date. Furthermore, if at any time in the future, the applicant wishes to modify their CUP, it can always be brought back to the Commission for consideration. The applicant elected to move forward and have the Commission's final decision Planning Commission Minutes - 5 - November 12, 2003 tonight. MSC (Felber/Hom) (4-0-3-0) that the Planning Commission adopt the Mitigated Negative Declaration IS 03-04 and Resolution PCC 04-14/ ZAV 03-04 approving the project. Motion carried. ADJOURNMENT at 7:00 p.m. to the Planning Commission meeting of December 3, 2003. ~ - Diana Vargas, Secretary to ~n~ng Commission