The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink AboutRCC MIN 2005/02/21MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE RESOURCE CONSERVATION COMMISSION February 21, 2005 Ken Lee Building Conference Room 430 "F" Street MEETING CALLED TO ORDER by Chair Doug Reid at 6:01 p.m. ROLL CALL/MOTION TO EXCUSE MSC (Jasek/Thomas) to excuse Commissioner Juan Diaz. Vote: (5-0-0-1) with Chavez absent. MEMBERS PRESENT: Chair Doug Reid, Vice-Chair John Chavez (6:05 p.m.), Commissioners Teresa Thomas, Stanley Jasek, Pamela Bensoussan and Tracy Means STAFF PRESENT: Steve Power, Environmental Projects Manager Mary Venables, TEP Associate Planner Linda Bond, Recording Secretary APPROVAL OF MINUTES: December 20, 2004, January 3, January 31 and February 7, 2005 December 20, 2004 Minutes Page 4, third paragraph, revise as follows: "Commissioner Bensoussan thought that designation through the City's ordinance on the °^^^^'' '°~~°' ^' `~^ ^«''^^^^e historic permit level of designation would afford an extra level of protection..." MSC (JaseklThomas) to approve the December 20, 2004 minutes as revised. Vote: (6- 0-0-1)with Diaz absent. January 3, 2005 Minutes Page 3 under 'Commission Comments', add the following sentence at the end of the first paragraph: "She pave information on companies that make historically accurate reproduction windows to Ms. Tessitore-Lopez." Page 4, third paragraph, revise as follows: "She further indicated that the report ~ stated that tti'.c ' • •''' ~^ `~~ ~trc:c^~~ ^f :`;c •^ ^^^'' ~ ~`~,o~+ that it would be cost effective and ..__._ __ _.._ ~ tl] .. p~vpv.a~-~ vvipv~u benefit the Project Areas and the developers." Revise the last sentence in the same paragraph as follows: "She felt that the City should felt'-erg take input from the three Boards to work out the details for implementation." Page 4, second paragraph under 'Discussion': Change "mini" to "municipal" and "pride-wise" to "time-wise". MSC (Jasek/Thomas) to approve the January 3, 2005 minutes as revised. Vote: (5-0-1- 1)with Means abstaining and Diaz absent. RCC Minutes - 2 - February 21 2005 January 31, 2005 Minutes Page 2, sixth bullet, revise as follows: "Lack of Cummings Initiative consistency' Page 3, first paragraph under COMMISSIONER COMMENTS, revise as follows: "...Ms. Nancy Lytle (Assistant Planning Director)~per the Citv Attorney, informed him that..." Page 4, third paragraph, revise as follows: "..the completed draft Environmental element was not available at the last meeting..." MSC (Chavez/Jasek) to approve the January 31, 2005 minutes with changes as requested. Vote: (6-0-0-1) with Diaz absent. February 7, 2005 Minutes The Commissioners questioned the motion regarding certification of the General Plan Draft EIR and asked staff to listen to the tape again. MSC (Bensoussan/Thomas) that the RCC continue the item until the meeting of March 7, 2005. Vote: (6-0-0-1) with Diaz absent. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS: None. NEW BUSINESS 1. IS-04-034 -Sycamore Estates, 1655 Sycamore Drive Ms. Mary Venables (TEP Associate Planner) reported that the 2.1-acre project site is located in southwestern Chula Vista north of Main Street and west of I-805. There are two existing residential structures on the site. The infill project is fora 10-lot subdivision for the construction of 10 single-family dwellings. It does require demolition of the two existing structures, but it has been determined that they have no historic significance. There are no sensitive biological resources present on the site. Staff Recommendation: That the RCC determine that the Initial Study is adequate and recommend that the Negative Declaration be adopted. Commission Comments Commissioner Thomas wanted to know the difference between VCP and PVC sewer pipe. Ms. Venables indicated that the VCP is older pipe that is being replaced by PVC pipe. Chair Reid noted that there are 5,000 cubic yards of import to the site for fill. Where is the fill coming from? Ms. Venables didn't know...that has not been identified yet. MSC (Thomas/Chavez) that the Sycamore Estates project Initial Study has been determined by the RCC as adequate and recommend that the Negative Declaration by adopted. Vote: (8-0-0-1) with Diaz absent. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW COORDINATOR COMMENTS: None. RCC Minutes - 3 - February 21 2005 CHAIR COMMENTS Chair Reid asked if staff had any idea when the 700 Forms would be coming out from the Clerk's office? Mr. Steve Power (Environmental Projects Manager) did not know, but he would check. Chair Reid asked if the Commissioners would be available on the 21St of March fora 4:00 p.m. meeting? Commissioner Bensoussan recommended that Linda Bond (Recording Secretary) conduct a poll of the RCC members via email. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Commissioner Chavez asked for a summary table per the minutes of January 31 of the EOS Subcommittee items that were developed to the General Plan. Much of what was discussed did not appear to have been included in either the General Plan or the EIR. Does anybody know when staff intends to respond to that request? A lengthily catalog of items was developed, and he had asked staff for a summary to include where it was in the General Plan, where it was in the EIR or if it wasn't in either, why not? Mr. Power indicated that Paul Hellman (Environmental Projects Manager) is developing that, and he would check what his end date is. Commissioner Chavez asked that Mr. Hellman contact him because he would like to have the summary table prior to the General Plan being heard on March 22. Chair Reid thought that should be on the agenda for the next meeting. Commissioner Bensoussan had made a request at previous meetings that the RCC have a general discussion on the GPU placed on the agenda prior to the finalizing on March 22"d. Even though the RCC had two meetings on the Draft EIR, the GPU was not discussed. Commissioner Chavez stated that the public input process in this City could use some improvement. He found that GPU Draft EIR to be severely deficient and would have voted against it. Including comments in back or the front of the Draft EIR may not always be an adequate action on the part of the Commission or the part of the City particularly for a General Plan, which is going to be in place for 25-35 years. He would like to have a discussion among the RCC about when and where it may be appropriate to do something other than to have a list of comments that gets appended and buried somewhere in the EIR. He suggested a discussion among the Commissioners and staff on steps regarding how EIRs are assessed and processed in the future. Commissioner Thomas agreed with Commissioner Chavez. She requested a joint meeting of the RCC and the Environmental, Open Space and Sustainability Subcommittee (FOSS) where both could make motions. That would permit us to put together a much more economically, sustainable and environmentally sustainable General Plan. The EIR is inadequate for traffic and for water. We have not been able to have closure as an FOSS, and we really need to have that closure. Chair Reid stated that the comment period on the Draft EIR is over, and the Final EIR is being prepared. A different motion now would not be a comment on the Draft FIR. Commissioner Thomas stated that what we recommended needs to be polished up in both the documents, but especially in the GPU because that discussion is still open. The GPU, if that's done right, would make whatever projects and other kinds of plans and goals the City has so much easier to achieve. RCC Minutes - 4 - February 21 2005 Commissioner Chavez thought that the RCC should be very specific with recommendations to staff about the content of the meeting regarding the GPU. The RCC could address similar or same issues, invite the EOSS to appear and participate as public comment so, if they have anything they would like to carry forward, the RCC could do that for them. Commissioner Bensoussan thought that would be a more acceptable format. She recommended that the RCC should make it a policy to accurately reflect the number of members of the public that attend RCC meetings. There should be a sign-in sheet. If nothing else, a head count for the record. Also, she had asked on several occasions to receive an update report on the status of the CLG, which was recommended in the historic evaluation document. She does not want that document to be shelved and ignored, and wants to be re- assured that it's being worked on. Commissioner Means asked to be excused from the March 7, 2005 RCC meeting. ADJOURNMENT: Chair Reid adjourned the meeting at 7:10 p.m. to a regular meeting on Monday, March 7, 2005, at 6:00 p.m. in the Ken Lee Building Conference Room, 430 "F" Street, Chula Vista, CA 91910. Prepared by Linda Bond Recording Secretary (J:\Plan n i ng\RCC\2005\RCC022105Mins. doc)