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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning Comm min 1991/01/09 Tape: 316 side: 2 MINUTES OF A REGULAR BUSINESS MEETING OF THE CITY PLANNING COMMISSION OF CHULA VISTA, CALIFORNIA Council Chambers 7:00 p.m. Public Services Buildinq Wednesday, January 9, 1991 ROLL CALL COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Grasser Horton, Commissioners Carson, Casillas, Decker, Fuller, and Tugenberg cOMMISSIONERS ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Assistant Planning Director Lee, Environmental Review Coordinator Doug Reid, Contract Planner Miller, Community Development Director Salomone, Sr. Community Development Specialist Buchan, Sr. civil Engineer Ullrich, Assistant city Attorney Rudolf PLEDGE OF ~T.T.~GIANCE - SILENT PRAYER The pledge of allegiance to the flag was led by Chair Grasser Horton and was followed by a moment of silent prayer. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS Chair Grasser Horton reviewed the composition of the Planning Commission, its responsibilities and the format of the meeting. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Meetings of September 26, October 24, November 12 and November 14, 1990 MSUC (Decker/Carson) 6-0 to approve the minutes of September 26, 1990. MSC (Carson/Decker) 3-0-2 (Commissioners Casillas and Fuller abstained) to approve the minutes of October 24, 1990. MSC (Carson/Fuller) 3-0-2 (Chair Grasser Horton and Commissioner Tugenberg abstained) to approve the minutes of November 12, 1990. MSC (Carson/Fuller) 3-0-2 (Commissioners Decker and Tugenberg abstained) to approve the minutes of November 14, 1990. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS - None MINUTES -2- January 9, 1991 ITEM 1: PUBLIC HEARING: DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT EIR-90-10 ROHR OFFICE COMPLEX Contract Planner Deborah Frischer noted the Draft Environmental Impact Report had gone through its 45-day circulation with the State Clearinghouse from November 20, 1990, to January 4, 1991, and was presently in the local public review period time which began November 26, 1990. comments had been received from the U. S. Department of Interior Fish & Wildlife Service, california Department of Conservation Division of Mines & Geology, CALTRANS, city of Chula vista Department of Parks & Recreation, city of Chula Vista Public Works/Engineering Department, Sweetwater Union High school District, and Chula Vista city School District. The Resource Conservation Commission discussed the Draft EIR in their meeting of January 7, but made no recommendation on the report; however, they asked that the public hearing be left open until they could get some additional answers to some questions before making recommendation on the Draft EIR. Ms. Frischer continued by giving a brief description of the project. She noted the "F" & "G" Street Marsh is a component of the Sweetwater Marsh National wildlife Refuge and considered a ' e sensitive estuarln environment, providing habitat for many types of plant and animal species including species listed as endangered by state and federal agencies. The project would include a berm and detention basin on the western portion of the property to protect the marsh from runoff and to physically separate it from the project. A 6' high chain link fence was proposed to be located near the toe of the western-facing slope of the berm. Diana Richardson of Keller Associates, the preparers of the EIR, noted the Draft EIR was not a decision-making document, rather was intended to provide guidance to the city of Chula Vista decision makers in their consideration of approval of the proposed Rohr office complex. All of the comments received would be responded to and all necessary changes would be made as a result of the comments and incorporated into the Final EIR. Ms. Richardson noted that implementation of the mitigation measures and approval of Alternative 3 would eliminate the parking shortage impacts by providing adequate parking to meet city minimum requirements for the proposed use. However, none of those alternatives would eliminate the impact to raptor foraging habitat, which is considered a significant incremental impact. Ms. Richardson stated there were potentially significant impacts both to circulation and parking which could be mitigated by a variety of measures including, for the circulation impacts, a contribution of funds toward improvement of impacted intersections. These funds would be proportional to the project's percentage of impact which varied from 2% to 50%; in most cases, less than 6%. -3- January 9, 199~ MINUTES The funds would go into a yet-to-be-established benefit assessment district which would be a fund bank for necessary traffic circulation improvements in the western and bayfront portion of the city. This measure was created due to the cumulative nature of traffic circulation impacts as described in Section 10 of the Draft EIR. Regarding the parking deficiency impact, the applicant would be required to either provide additional permanent off-site parking, reduce the size of the building, or limit the number of employees consistent with the City's employee-based parking standards. Ms. Richardson noted the comments received from the various agencies would be responded to in the Final EIR. Referring to the letter from a member of the Resource Conservation Commission, Ms. Richardson said there was no guarantee that the Rohr employees would be transferred from the current plant. In order to analyze the worst-case condition, the EIR assumed that these new employees could all be new employees, especially if the building were sold or leased later. There was also a question as to how the building would be used. Rohr has provided the city with a letter stating the intended uses. chair Grasser Horton asked for comments or questions by the Commissioners. commissioner Decker, referring to Table 1-1, page 6-10, regarding the predator management program, suggested closing the parking lot when Rohr was closed to keep people out. Mr. Keith Merkel, biologist, explained predator management programs are specific to the site on the resources to be protected. In this specific situation, the predator management program is specific to the Bayfront resources, not specifically the Rohr site. Rohr would be a participant in the program which is focused on the entire bayfront, not just the Rohr site. Commissioner Fuller noted that full-time enforcement staff of two more officers would be funded by revenues generated by the project and other development within the bayfront to conduct the predator management program. She asked if this was included in the EIR and project since it was the beginning of management for the entire bayfront project. Mr. Merkel answered in the affirmative. He said they anticipated a two-person staff requirement for the overall project. Rohr happened to be the first participant in a much larger program. Upon Commissioner Fuller's query, Mr. Merkel answered it would start with two officers, but there may be more and some part-time specialists. Two is anticipated to be the minimum number. MINUTES -4- January 9, 1991 Commissioner Decker questioned the "human pet presence impacts," since it was an office building. Mr. Merkel answered it was an office building, but there would be lunchroom facilities outside and people would feed dogs and cats at the location. Commissioner Carson, referring to a letter from Chula vista Elementary Schools, questioned why 162 new elementary children would be generated from the project, since it was an office building. Diana Richardson answered it would be an indirect generation of students from new employees. Commissioner Carson asked if the employees would be from the ' n present structure of the Rohr Corporatlo , or if Rohr would be closing some buildings and transferring employees. Ms. Richardson stated the draft EIR assumed that because there would be no guarantee that they would be all transferred employees from the campus next door, they could be all new employees from a different area. The EIR assumed the worst-case position because they had no guarantee that all these employees would be transferred. Although Rohr had indicated to city staff they would be transferring employees over, there was no guarantee to do so in the future. Commissioner Fuller stated that the first letter from Kate Shurson, · i Chula Vista Elementary School District, indicated the relatlonsh p between non-residential development and student enrollment had been clearly recognized by the State Legislature through authorization of collection of school fees. A joint study sponsored by the five South Bay School Districts prepared earlier this ~ear..b~ SourcePoint further documents and demonstrates this relationship Based on this study, the proposed 211,500 sq. ft. of office space would generate approximately 162 new elementary age children. She said she wanted to see a copy of that report, and asked how they had arrived at those figures. Commissioner Casillas noted the applicant may be required to pay fees they should not be paying, based on those figures. Several inconsistencies were brought out by the commissioners regarding the height of the building and the ADT estimate. Chair Grasser Horton asked if the traffic projection assumption was before or after total completion of SR 54. Dan Marum, from JHK & Associates, answered the assumption was what the benefit would be on the total completion of SR 54 in the year 1992, about a 15% benefit on some of the east/west streets in the northern portion of chula vista as a result of the connection to I-5. -5- January 9, 199~ MINUTES commissioner Decker noted there would be a significant change in traffic patterns, and asked if an off-ramp onto "E" Street had been considered. Mr. Marum answered the off-ramp would be reconfigured as a new intersection at Bay Boulevard and "E" Street. There would be a direct connection into Bay Boulevard for the traffic that would be coming down to Rohr. commissioner Decker said it had been projected there would be a eduction in traffic volumes on "E" Stree~ o? ~s_mU~ana~.15~ r ........... t for ~art of the last ln~ercn g o i n e io currently conducting an after-study; had done extensive before-work study on many east/west and north/south arterials immediately south of 54. They had a good data base of ,,before" conditions. They will prepare a report on the impacts of the opening of 54 which currently exchanges traffic only to and from the north at I-5 and doesn't allow the exchange to and from the south yet. They assumed a full interchange at that location for the EIR. Commissioner Tugenberg suggested that the EIR address the traffic impact at the Intersection of Woodlawn and "F". He said it was practically impossible to make a left-hand turn (going east) from Woodlawn onto "F" Street between 4 and 6 p.m. Commissioner Tugenberg asked why consideration wasn't given to EastLake Industrial Park and the E1 Rancho del Rey office Park rather than San Ysidro and National city. commissioner Decker noted that Dr. Gordon Snow of the Department of Conservation pointed out there was no geology section in this EIR, and he felt there was some sort of seismic liquefication, etc. contract Planner MaryAnn Miller said that would be responded to in the Final EIR. Commissioner Carson asked how much it costs the city to retain the biological trained construction monitor to monitor the grading, and · ' e out of the fee that Rohr pays, or out of tax. dollars. ~f ~t c~m ....... --=~,,Ann Miller responded that the Clty._wo~ld contract ~l~=~.~"~ --={h{]~tv f making sure the monitoring assume t~e overs±± ~e~p~,~T-7?iA~. ~ran additional cost to the was taking place, DU~ 1~ applicant. Commissioner Casillas asked if 200 sq. ft. per employee was a standard figure used for office buildings, and what was going to be done with the building. Ms. Miller stated that would also be addressed in the Final EIR. -6- Januar 9 1991 Upon Commissioner Casillas' query, Ms. Miller answered the most recent figure for the maximum number of employees was 1,184 total employees. This being the time and the place as advertised, the public hearing was opened. Ian Gill, Starboard Development Corporation, 1202 Kettner Boulevard, San Diego, representing Rohr Industries as t~eir clarified that for now and in the future, this project developer, · was anticipated to be one of relocation. There were approximately 1200 employees from three critical business groups within Rohr-- commercial business, government business, and new technology--which would be relocating into this new facility. Mr. Gill stated they would like an opportunity to work with Keller's consultant to give them more information that might be helpful in determining the appropriate trip generation factor. Mr. Gill stated the higher 200 sq. ft. per occupant number relates to the fact tha~ there is ? cafeteri~ in the building, which is actually a combined cafeteria and audItorium space for employees, and other support spaces within the facility that in fact are not just primary office space. Applying the city's parking standard to what would actually be more like the number of occupants in the building and the real usable office space, the number of spaces as proposed in the alternate in the EIR of 760 should more than comfortably accommodate a ratio of more like 5 spaces per 1,000 rather than the city's minimum of 3.3. Commissioner Tugenberg asked if Mr. Gill could clarify if the 1200 were resently on-site at the Rohr facility in ~hula employee~ .... P ...... ~ ~n the affirmative. It would be a ~l~ct vista. Mr. ~li~ an~w~ ~ . transfer. Long-term there would be some d~molltion of e~l~lng buildings on the campus and probably conversion to some additIonal parking or some other use. No one else wishing to speak, the public hearing was closed. Chair Grasser Horton directed staff to take the comments and written communications and incorporate that into their final EIR. Commissioner Fuller reminded staff that they would like staff to request from the chula Vista school District a copy of the report referred to in the letter from Kate Shurson. -7- Januar 9 1991 MINUTES ITEM 2: PUBLIC HEARING: PCM-91-03: CONSIDERATION TO CHANGE THE NAME OF CENTER STREET, LOCATED IN THE MONTGOMERY AREA, TO REED cOURT - city Initiated Staff proposed changing the name of Center Street located in the Montgomery area since it is relatively short in length, consisting of only one city block compared to the more extensive central Chula vista Center Street. It was noted that the western edge of the Montgomery area Center Street is bordered by a small drainage ditch within which an abundance of reed-type plant growth is visible. Staff recommendation was to adopt a motion recommending that the name of the Montgomery area Center Street be changed to ,'Reed Court." Mr. Carpenter noted that on December 5, 1990, the Montgomery Planning Committee voted 6-0 (McFarlin absent) in favor of the proposed street name change. This being the time and the place as advertised, the public hearing was opened. No one wishing to speak, the public hearing was closed. MSUC (Tugenberg/Carson) 6-0 to recommend that the city Council change the name of Montgomery area Center Street to Reed Court. ITEM 3: REPORT: SELECTION OF PLANNING cOMMISSIONER TO SERVE ON THE 1991 GROWTH MANAGEMENT OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE Assistant Director of Planning Ken Lee noted a representative from the Planning commission should be selected to serve on the 1991 Growth Management Oversight Committee. Commissioner Fuller had served for the past year, and it was anticipated there would be between nine and ten meetings, every other week. Chair Grasser Horton asked Commissioner Fuller if she would like to continue serving, commissioner Fuller answered in the affirmative. MSUC (Carson/Decker) 6-0 to nominate Susan Fuller. OTHER BUSINESS - None D_DIRECTOR'S REPORT Assistant Planning Director Lee recommended that instead of having their normal workshop on January 16 to have a presentation from the San Miguel Properties on a Saturday morning followed by a field trip of the property. The Commissioners agreed; Commissioner Tugenberg, however, noted he would be out of the Country. -8- Januar 9 1991 MINUTES cOMMISSION COMMENTS commissioner Tugenberg noted he had gotten some books regarding architecture. He had met with Ken Baumgartner of McMillin, who had met with the Water District, and they are going to have a competition among the art colony to come up with a design for the water tank on East "H" Street. Commissioner Casillas gave a brief report on the Blue Ribbon committee rewrite of the Housing Element. He said they would be finishing the work toward the end of the month and would probably come before the commission sometime in February, maybe in a workshop setting. Commissioner Decker noted he had the complete book of birds of North America on compact disks, if any of the Commissioners were interested in looking at any of the birds included in their reports. They could look at it on his color monitor, along with the bird calls. commissioner Tugenberg noted he would be out of the Country during the month of January; he would be back February 1. commissioner Carson said she thought there was an ordinance violation on a sign at the old woods Appliance on Third. The whole wall was painted with a big sign and arrow "Smog Check Across the Street." Assistant Planning Director Lee said he would turn it over to Zoning Enforcement. The Planning and Building & Housing Departments are in the middle of a sign abatement program and are very active. ADJOURNMENT AT 8:15 p.m. to the Workshop Meeting of Saturday, January 19, 1991, at 9:00 a.m. in Conference Rooms 2 & 3. Nancy R~ple~, Sedretary Planning Commission (pcl-9-91 .MIN)