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CHC Minutes-2006-09-06MEMORANDUM October 2, 2006 TO: Dave Adams, City Manager William Cunningham, Interim Planning Director FROM: Teri Delcamp, Historic Preservation Manager Cultural Heritage Commission Secretary SUBJECT: Cultural Heritage Commission Actions of September 6, 2006 This memorandum summarizes the actions taken by the Cultural Heritage Commission at a special meeting on Wednesday, September 6, 2006. No action is required unless the City Council wishes to hold special review of an item. However, applications related to the item considered at this meeting were considered by the Planning Commission at a later date. Aspects of the Planning Commission’s action were then appealed, and the City Council will consider the appeal on November 7, 2006. A. CALL TO ORDER Chair Porter called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. B. ROLL CALL Present: Lorie Porter, Chair Tony Forster, Vice-Chair David Belardes Jess Andrews Ed Nunez Don Tryon Absent: Janet Siegel (excused) Staff: Teri Delcamp, Cultural Heritage Commission Secretary Molly Bogh, Planning Director C. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None. D. OLD BUSINESS 1. Consideration of Site Plan Review (SPR) 06-01, Zoomars (continued from August 22, 2006); an application to expand an existing animal petting farm within the Los Rios Specific Plan area, partially within the Los Rios Street National Register Historic District, located at 31791 Los Rios Street (Applicant: Omar & Carolyn Gonzalez) Teri Delcamp made the staff presentation and Dave Adams, City Manager 2 October 2, 2006 recommendation that the Commission approve a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND), conditionally approve SPR 06-01, and recommend approval of the conditional use permit and variance to the Planning Commission. The CHC continued the project to this meeting because the four members of the CHC who were present at the previous meeting were equally divided on the project, centering on the issue of the proposed fence down River Street. Ms. Delcamp reiterated staff’s position that the proposed fence does not comply with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards or the Los Rios Specific Plan. The issue of access easements in River Street is a private issue between the adjoining owners, but staff does not recommend approval of a project that conflicts with private easements. If the CHC intends to approve the proposed fence, then the CHC will need to state in the motion the specific findings for how the fence complies with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards. Carolyn Gonzalez, applicant, spoke in favor of the project and specifically addressed the issue of the proposed fence. She thanked staff and Ilse for all of their efforts. She said that safety is an enormous factor because there are conflicts between pedestrians and vehicles in River Street. She loves River Street and wants to preserve it for pedestrians. Tony Prumli, Zoomars property manager, spoke in favor of the proposed fence. He lives at the site and knows there are security issues at night. People go there after hours, and there has been graffiti, animal illnesses of unknown origin (they control the feeding during the day, but can’t at night). Pam King, Zoomars manager, lives on site and sees and hears what goes on overnight. She is concerned that a child will get hurt if the fence is not approved. She said it would not be too much of a problem for the Itos to change the way they do things so that the fence can be installed to help protect the children. Stan Wylazlowski, Chamber of Commerce, spoke in favor of the proposed fence. The Chamber held a mixer at Zoomars recently. He witnessed cars speeding up River Street to drop off passengers for the train and agrees it is a safety issue. Omar Gonzalez, applicant, said that they recently installed a video surveillance camera. In response to a statement made by Sherri Ito, the nursery has more than 10% of their deliveries on River Street based on the videotapes. He said that the City had sent Gil Jones a letter stating that the license agreement had been canceled, and said that the Itos had previously asked the City if they could put a fence in River Street. Dave Adams, City Manager 3 October 2, 2006 Monica Mukai, neighboring Los Rios Street property owner and business owner, read a letter into the record asking the CHC to approve the project as proposed. The applicants have the community at heart and will uphold historic preservation goals as they implement their project. Issues of safety and property rights are important. The Native Americans walked, not drove, on River Street. Sherri Ito, Ito Nursery, spoke in opposition to the proposed fence. The Ito family has owned their site since 1959. The nursery business has been there since 1970 and has not changed its business operations on the site. The mini-farm opened in about 1990, twenty years after the nursery opened. Zoomars has fed ex deliveries, school buses, cars and service providers who use River Street. About 10% of Ito’s deliveries are on River Street, with the rest off Paseo Adelanto. She is concerned about safety too, but they need to have access off River Street because their site has two lots that run parallel to Los Rios and Paseo Adelanto. Ilse Byrnes spoke in support of staff’s recommendation to eliminate the fence down River Street. She submitted the nomination for the Los Rios District to be on the National Register of Historic Places which was a five year process. She distributed copies of 1860 and 1875 maps showing River Street. The street is historic and needs to be maintained as a street. Boots Leon asked about the gate at Los Rios and River Streets, and if there is also a fence, how emergency access will be provided. Staff responded that OCFA had sent the City a letter stating they did not intend to access River Street in emergencies. Douglas Ito, Ito Nursery, stated that if the proposed fence is approved for the project, then they would want to do the same and extend their business use into River Street on their side of the fence. Commissioners asked several questions of individuals: In response to Commissioner Tryon’s question regarding school buses at Zoomars, Carolyn Gonzalez said they don’t have school buses, but they occasionally have vans pull into their site from Paseo Adelanto with disabled individuals. In response to Commissioner Tryon’s question regarding whether a sliding gate at River and Los Rios Streets would improve the situation, Sherri Ito said that there just needs to be a gate that goes all the way across River Street to preclude pedestrian access at night – right now, there is a gap at the end of the gate that people walk through at night. Dave Adams, City Manager 4 October 2, 2006 Commissioner Nunez asked the Itos whether they had wanted a fence in River Street. Sherri Ito said they had in the past, but that issues including the storm drain manhole near Paseo Adelanto, the access easements and utility easements made it complicated so they dropped the idea. In response to Chair Porter’s question about truck deliveries and other questions about the truck parked in River Street, Sherri Ito said they receive deliveries on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. They have perhaps up to 9 deliveries a day in the busy season, and 10 a week during the rest of the year. The truck parked on River Street is intended as a visual and physical deterrent to vehicles thinking they can get out at the Los Rios end of River Street. They have parked the truck there for years. At the conclusion of public comments, Chair Porter commented there are two focus areas for their consideration: 1) design, style and colors of the project, and 2) the proposed fence down River Street. The issue for both of these focus areas is whether they are consistent with the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards and comply with the Los Rios Specific Plan. Chair Porter suggested discussion and a straw poll on the first aspect of design, style and colors. All of the Commissioners were in general consensus regarding the overall design, style and colors. However, Chair Porter said she does not agree with the two proposed freestanding signs on Los Rios Street. Carolyn Gonzalez clarified that the signs will be wood, and that they could modify the sign on Los Rios at the top of River Street so that it does not advertise Zoomars. The Commission then discussed the proposed fence down River Street. Commissioner Tryon said that while he understands the request, it is in conflict with the Ito’s business operation. Also, to talk about River Street as a “path” is misleading; historic ways were wide to allow for walking, horses, carriages and eventually cars. Commissioner Nunez commented that it appears the City has made some changes and perhaps the approval of the fence would “force the City to do things to right the wrongs”. He also said he called the State Office of Historic Preservation but their staff were unable to advise him regarding the fence. Commissioner Andrews said that River Street needs to be left visually open. While safety is important, other decision-makers address that issue and it is not the CHC’s issue. Dave Adams, City Manager 5 October 2, 2006 Vice- Chair Forster said he is in favor of the proposed fence, and that the safety issue cannot be ignored. He said he didn’t “care about the historic designation” of River Street because the Los Rios Historic District would not be removed from the National Register because of a fence. Commissioner Belardes said that we have compromised the entire historic district with enlarged homes, additions, relocations, etc. and that it is not fair to deny these applicants. He gave a brief overview of the history of River Street, bridges being washed out, and the new Del Obispo bridge being built so River Street was not needed to get across the creek and was abandoned as a public street, etc. He knows a lot of the history of River Street and invited the applicants to contact him. Chair Porter said she knows the Jones’s had vandalism too and she would love to see the animals fenced off and safe. She wishes that the Itos would remove the truck parked in River Street and that changes could be made to pave over the City storm drain manhole, provide a lockable gate/five foot fence at Los Rios Street, install “no trespassing” signs at Paseo Adelanto and mark a pedestrian way in the street. However, if a fence is installed down River Street, everything will start to encroach into it and there will be no more River Street. People will not see it anymore, as either a path or a street, because it will just look like two adjoining private properties. This would not be in the best interest of the Historic District, the City or the owners in the Los Rios area. After due consideration, Commissioner Tryon moved, and Commissioner Andrews seconded, adoption of a resolution to approve SPR 06-01 with the elimination of the proposed fence in River Street, and a suggestion that staff require elimination of one of the proposed free-standing signs on Los Rios Street. The motion failed due to a tie vote of 3-3 (Belardes, Forster and Nunez opposed). Planning Director Bogh suggested that the CHC consider a new motion to approve the project, but exclude action on the proposed fence. The project will go on to the Planning Commission, which will also be considering the fence as part of the overall project. Commissioner Belardes moved, and Vice-Chair Forster seconded, adoption of a resolution to approve all aspects of SPR 06-01 with the exception of the proposed fence in River Street, subject to Resolution No. 06-9-6-1. The motion was approved unanimously. Dave Adams, City Manager 6 October 2, 2006 E. NEW BUSINESS None. F. INFORMATION ITEM None. G. COMMISSION/STAFF COMMENTS None. H. ADJOURNMENT Chair Porter adjourned the meeting at 6:30 p.m. cc: Bill Huber, Assistant City Manager Teri Delcamp, Historic Preservation Manager Sandy Kell, Administrative Secretary CHC Members CHC Minutes File Douglas Dumhart, Economic Development Manager