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PC Minutes-2011-11-2232400 PASEO ADELANTO (949) 493-1171 493-1053 www.sanluancapistrano.org PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Tuesday, November 22, 2011 The meeting was called to order by Chairman Cohen at 6:30 p.m. Chairman Cohen led the Pledge of Allegiance. C. ROLL CALL: Commissioners Present: Commissioners Absent Sheldon Cohen, Chairman Ginny Kerr Roy Nunn Tim Neely Jeff Parkhurst Rob Williams Gene Ratcliffe, Vice -Chair Tim Neely MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL Staff Present: Grant Taylor, Development Services Director Tram Tran, Deputy City Attorney Nick Taylor, Associate Planner IL•e SAAR ALLEVATO LAURA FREESE LARRY KRAMER DEREK REEVE JOHN TAYLOR 1. Minutes of October 25, 2011: Commissioner Kerr identified concerns on Page 2, Item 1 b, Commissioner Parkhurst identified concerns on Page 2, Item 1d and Chair Cohen identified concerns on Page 2, Item 1 e. By motion duly -made and seconded, the Commission continued consideration of the minutes to the December 13, 2011 1111 11 iiiiiiiii�ii Ill Fill iiiiiiii � MONSOON 11 s PC Meeting Minutes 2 November 22, 2011 meeting. 2. Minutes of November 8, 2011: Commissioners Kerr and Parkhurst identified concerns on Page 2, Items 1 a and 1b, Development Services Director Taylor requested the minutes be continued. By motion duly -made and seconded, the Commission continued consideration of the minutes to the December 13, 2011 meeting. 3. Final Resolution Approving the Sign Program for Architectural Control (AC) 10-18, Marriott Residence Inn (Proiect Manaaer: William Ramsev. AICP. Principal Planner). By motion duly -made and seconded, the Commission continued consideration of the item to the December 13, 2011 meeting and requested that the final sign program exhibit be presented with the resolution. F. PUBLIC HEARINGS Conditional Use Permit (CUP) 10-014; San Juan Hills Golf Course; an application to install outdoor recreational lighting consisting of a Musco Light -Green Structure System light fixtures within the Open Space Recreation (OSR) Zone District, General Plan - designated 1.1 Open Space Recreation and located at 32111 San Juan Creek Road and generally located on the north side of San Juan Creek Road approximately 2,200 feet east of 1-5 (APN: 666-011-27)(Applicant: San Juan Hills Golf Club) (Project Manager: Nick Taylor). Nick Taylor, Associate Planner made the staff presentation on the project and stated that the applicant proposes outdoor recreational lighting for an existing non -illuminated driving range facility consisting of a Musco Light -Green Structure System with light fixtures mounted on the existing net poles on both sides of the range at 50 feet in height. The Musco System would feature 1500 watt metal halide lamps. Poles P1 -P5 would feature 14 -inch visors and poles P6 -P10 would feature 5 - inch visors. Three additional light poles and fixtures at a height of 25 feet would be placed between the existing parking lot and tee boxes. These would be Lithonia 11shoebox style" fixtures with 1500 watt metal halide lamps with a full shield. Lighting is proposed until 10:00 pm nightly. The project is located at 32111 San Juan Creek Road and generally located on the north side of San Juan Creek Road approximately 2,200 feet east of 1-5. Staff recommended that the Planning Commission adopt a resolution approving the driving range lighting subject to the condition that the lights do not operate past 9:00 p.m. Tom Merrell, representing the applicant, gave a Powerpoint presentation outlining how the lighting design would minimize impacts to the surrounding neighborhoods and creek corridor. Melissa McCormick, golf course manager, asked for a show of hands in the audience of those who support the project and about twenty persons raised their hands. Public Hearin Stephanie Frisch, Jeff Hollister and Thomas Hunt spoke in support of the proposed lighting project. PC Meeting Minutes 3 November 22, 2011 • Yvonne Tschaikowsky and Trevor Dale spoke in opposition to the proposed project. • Josh Singer stated he neither supported nor opposed the project but expressed the opinion that there was insufficient information to make a decision. Commission Comments a. Commissioner Nunn stated that he supports the driving range lighting, that the proposed illumination would be much less intensive than ball fields in town, and that lighting technology had improved dramatically over the last 10 to 15 years allowing much greater light and glare control. b. Commissioner Parkhurst stated that he was "torn" over his position on the project. Because the edges of the driving range will have low lighting and the center of the range will be more illuminated, the applicant will likely request changes in the future to increase lighting levels. He expressed a preference for lighting along only one side of the driving range, but acknowledged that lighting from one side wouldn't appear to be as effective. If the project is approved, there needs to be a condition that lighting levels do not exceed those reflected on the Planning Commission -approved photometric plan. c. Commissioner Kerr commended the course owners for their efforts to create a workable lighting plan and expressed support for the project. She supported the use of the Musco light system on both sides of the range, not lighting on only one side. She stated that the existing 50'-0" poles were acceptable while 100'-0" poles would be too tall. d. Commissioner Williams expressed a preference for lighting along both sides of the driving range and commended Mr. Merrell for his efforts in providing design alternatives. He expressed concern about lighting impacts in the future after the trees along the range are trimmed allowing more off-site glare and impacts to the creek corridor. For those reasons, he stated he could not support the proposed project. e. Chairman Cohen stated that while lighting technology had substantially improved over the years, a field demonstration would help confirm whether the lighting would be acceptable and noted that the prior proposed project had provided such a demonstration. He stated that while the lighting on City sports fields is significant, those fields serve a much larger part of the community and public and so, the benefits to youth and adult sports outweighs the impacts of such lighting. However, the driving range lighting would serve a much smaller part of the community with limited community benefit. The existing gaps in the tree rows will allow more lighting to be seen from off-site and for those reasons, cannot support the project. Adoption of Resolution Commissioner Kerr made a motion, duly -seconded, to adopt a resolution conditionally approving the proposed project with lighting along both sides of the driving range. The motion failed on a 2-3 vote. PC Meetina Minutes 4 November 22. 2011 AYES: Commissioners Kerr and Nunn. NOES: Chairman Cohen and Commissioners Parkhurst and Williams. Commissioner Williams made a motion, duly -seconded by Parkhurst, to deny the proposed project. The motion failed on a 2-3 vote. AYES: Commissioners Parkhurst and Williams. NOES: Chairman Cohen and Commissioners Kerr and Nunn. Commissioner Nunn made a motion, duly -seconded by Kerr, to adopt a resolution conditionally approving the proposed project. The motion failed on a 2-3 vote. AYES: Commissioners Kerr and Nunn. NOES: Chairman Cohen and Commissioners Parkhurst and Williams. The Commission asked Tom Merrell if a continuance would be beneficial or he would prefer a denial which he would have the option to appeal to City Council. He stated that all the information available had been presented to the Commission and without receiving additional direction he requested final action this evening. Commissioner Williams made a motion, duly -seconded by Parkhurst, to deny the proposed project. The motion passed by a 3-2 vote. AYES: Chairman Cohen and Commissioners Parkhurst and Williams. NOES: Commissioners Kerr and Nunn. G. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None H. NEW BUSINESS 1. Worksession; Consideration of a Recommendation to the City Council to Initiate a Land Use Code Amendment to Address Assembly Uses; (Project Manager: Omar Sandoval, City Attorney). A worksession to discuss the Title 9, Land Use Code provisions related to regulating "assembly" uses and to provide direction on appropriate amendments to Title 9, Land Use Code to clarify those use provisions. Grant Taylor, Development Services Director made the staff presentation and provided background to the Planning Commission on the recent difficulty in interpreting and enforcing the Title 9, Land Use Code provisions on "assembly uses." He noted that under Section 9-2.309 of the Municipal Code, the City Council is the decision-making authority for amendments of the Land Use Code (Title 9). However, the Planning Commission may petition the City Council to initiate consideration of a text amendment. Staff requests that the Planning PC Meeting Minutes 5 November 22 2011 Commission review the Land Use Code provisions concerning assembly and organizational uses to provide clarity as to where such uses should be permitted, conditionally permitted, or prohibited. Staff recommended that the Planning Commission consider the issues related to a Land Use Code Amendment pertaining to Assembly uses, provide direction on the appropriate amendments to the Code, and recommend that the City Council initiate the Code Amendment process. Public Comments Charles Fromm addressed the Planning Commission stating that he did not expect the City to have moved so quickly to resolve the issue and thanked the City Manager and staff. He expressed the opinion that legislation was better than litigation. He suggested the City study the ordinances for assembly uses in the City of Rancho Cucamonga for guidance. Planning Commission comments a. Commissioner Williams noted that the Code Amendment will require extensive research and needs to be forwarded to City Council to allow them to initiate the process. b. Chairman Cohen suggested that the Commission may want to create an Ad-hoc Committee to work on developing the draft ordinance amendment and he would volunteer. He stated the proposed definition in the agenda report should be "scrapped" and that the City needs to take a "big picture" view, and not focus on the circumstances of the single code enforcement case which generated the Code Amendment initiation. c. Commissioner Kerr stated that the current Code provisions for "assembly uses" are problematic; that the amendment will require research; and that she supports initiation and review of this Code Amendment. d. Commissioner Nunn stated that he supports the amendments to the Title 9, Land Use Code for such uses; that the Code needs appropriate standards and definitions; and that the "nexus" needs to be defined. e. Commissioner Parkhurst stated that he concurs with the comments of his fellow Commissioners. Adoption of Motion Commissioner Williams made a motion, duly -seconded by Commissioner Kerr, to recommend that the City Council initiate the Code Amendment process for assembly uses. The motion was approved by 5-0 vote. AYES: Chairman Cohen and Commissioners Kerr, Nunn, Parkhurst, and Williams. NOES: none. Staff updated the Commission on upcoming scheduled projects. PC Meeting Minutes 6 November 22, 2011 J. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business before the Commission, Chairman Cohen adjourned at 9:15 p.m. to the next regularly scheduled meeting for Tuesday, December 13, 2011, at 6:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers. Respectfully submitted, Grant Taylor,`bevelop ment Services Director Acting Commission Secretary