Resolution Number 16-09-20-01RESOLUTION NO. 16-09-20-01
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN
JUAN CAPISTRANO, CALIFORNIA, INITIATING A GENERAL PLAN
AMENDMENT STUDY RELATING TO THE LAND USE ELEMENT,
QUASI-INDUSTRIAL LAND USE, AND MINI-WAREHOUSING
PERMITTED FLOOR AREA RATIO
WHEREAS, Municipal Code Section 9-2.307 requires that the City Council
initiate consideration of all General Plan Amendments by the approval of a
resolution directing the Department of Planning Services to conduct an
appropriate General Plan Amendment Study; and
WHEREAS, the applicant , America Real Estate Company, for a proposed
U-Haul self-storage facility, requests a General Plan Amendment to change the
floor area ratio specifications in the Quasi-Industrial Land Use designation .
Among other things, the applicant requests that existing warehouse/storage
facilities in the City's Quasi-Industrial Land Use designated areas be allowed to
expand internally as self-storage facilities if they are already exceeding the
current maximum floor area ratio; and
WHEREAS, Staff recommends further study of the proposed General Plan
Amendment request to allow staff to assess the proposed amendment's
compatibility with San Juan Capistrano's General Plan land use goals and
policies, pursuant to City policy and Municipal Code regulations; and
WHEREAS, the proposed initiation of a General Plan Amendment Study is
statutorily exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15262 because this is a
planning and feasibility study and not the approval of any General Plan
Amendment or land use entitlement.
NOW THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN JUAN
CAPISTRANO DOES HEREBY RESOLVE AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. The City Council finds and determines that the proposed
initiation of a General Plan Amendment Study for the project described in Exhibit
A, attached hereto, is statutorily exempt from the requirements of the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15262
because this is a planning and feasibility study and not the approval of any
General Plan Amendment or land use entitlement.
Section 2. The City Council hereby initiates a General Plan Amendment
Study relating to the proposed change in the Land Use Element, Quasi-Industrial
Land Use designation, and floor area ratio specifications for mini-warehousing
depicted and described in Exhibit A, attached hereto and incorporated herein by
1 9/20/2016
reference. The City Council also refers the matter to staff for study and analysis
and to the Planning Commission for a recommendation. The City's action to
initiate this General Plan Amendment Study shall not be interpreted as an intent
to adopt such an amendment.
Section 3. The documents and materials associated with this Resolution
that constitute the record of proceedings on which these findings are based are
located at San Juan Capistrano City Hall, 32400 Paseo Adelanto, San Juan
Capistrano, California 92675. The City Clerk is the custodian of the record of
proceedings.
Section 4. If any provision of this Resolution is held invalid, the remainder
of this Resolution shall not be affected by such invalidity, and the provisions of
this Resolution are severable.
PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 20th day of September 2016 .
2 9/20/2016
August5,2016
Joel Rojas
Development Services Director
32400 Paseo Adelanto
San Juan capistrano, CA 92675
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G 'R .0 U P
REAL ESTAT E CONSULTI NG
Re: UHAUL addition of Self Storage Space:
Request for General Plan Amendment Initiation:
Dear Mr. Rojas:
This firm represents U-Haul for purposes of new entitlements at the San Juan Capistrano location.
We want to thank you and your staff for meetings to discuss the unique situation with the addition of the
new Self-5torage facility In the U-Haullndustrtal building located at 33033 Camino Capistrano .
As we noted in our meetings, we are proposing no exterior changes to the existing Industrial building
which Is zoned Commercial Manufacturing (CM) and a land use designation of Quasi-Industrial.
Our proposal consists of the Installation of a number of Interior storage units that are somewhat
temporary in nature. Temporary In that they are separate from the existing structure and can easily be
disassembled and removed, thus, restoring the existing structure to its current state.
These small storage units will be Installed inside the existing building. The units will be fully independen~
non-habitable, stand-alone structures. The Individual units will not contain individual lighting or have
available electrical outlets. The units will be similar to a large closet. All of the units will be locked unless
they are being accessed by the renter.
'The renters will be able to access the upper level storage units via mezzanine flooring between to the
units. In the old generation of this type of storage assembly, the upper storage was accessed via a rolling
stair.
The old storage concept leads to inefficient use of space, damage to customer's property and potential
injury to customers. Today's state of art concept of a two level storage system stacks an upper level on
top of a lower level. Instead of a rolling stair, the upper units are accessed by an aisle In between the
rows of storage units via lift or elevator. To illustrate, see concept sketch below.
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UNIT UNIT UNIT UNIT
. CONCEPT DJ~AWING
It has come to our attention that the City General Plan contains language that would preclude and limit
the Increase in Interior storage, thus in Floor Area Ratio, even though no changes were being made to the
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phi IIi p@prsgrp. biz EXHIBIT A
Page2
August5,2016
building exterior, therefore we respectfully request that a General Plan text change amendment be placed
in the specific zoning category that would provide for a higher floor area ratio for purposes of storage.
We recommend the following text be added to the Quasi-Industrial Land Use description and table within
the City's General Plan Land Use Element
"Existing mini-warehousing uses/buildings wHhin the Quasi-Industrial Land Use Designation that are
nonconforming with respect to the maximum allowable floor area ratio (FAR) may exceed the 0.40 FAR
when the following conditions are met: No expansion of the building footprint and shell will be allowed
(Interior modifications only), the land use wilt be restricted to mini-warehousing, all Municipal Code
requirements shall be met, Including but not limited to parking, conditional use permit requirements, and
all development standards established by the 2:oning district. Such modifications may not exceed a
maximum 0.85 FAR. A mini-warehouse is a structure or building, the interior of which has been
partitioned or sectioned off Into Individual storage units or compartments and are individually rented or
leased. A mini-storage or self-storage facility shall be deemed a mini-warehouse. "We clearly recognize
that we are a very unique situation where our additional storage design creates, by definition, additional
square footage not recognized by the normal rules that define a true floor area ratio.
We look forward to working wHh you on this interesting project.
Respectfully,
The PRS Group
Phillip R. Schwartze
President