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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-21-2006 NAHMINUTES PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING CITY OF LAKE ELSINORE 183 NORTH MAIN STREET LAKE ELSINORE, CA 92530 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2006 CALL TO ORDER: Chairman O'Neal called the Regular Planning Commission Meeting to order at 6:02 PM. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL PRESENT: COMMISSIONERS: O'NEAL, GONZALES, FLORES, ZANELLI ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: MENDOZA Also present were: Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz, Plannuig Manager Weiner, Deputy City Attorney Santana, Engineering Manager Seumalo, and Office Specialist Herrington. PUBLIC COMMENTS (Non-agendized items Chairman O'Neal said he had no requests to speak. CONSENT CALENDAR Chairman O'Neal said there were some corrections to the minutes. Commissioner Flores noted that a correction needed to be made on Agenda Item No. 1 on page 5. He did make a comment which was left out. He asked to please include the comment. Chairman O'Neal wanted his last name coxxected on page 17. Kristine Herrington said she made the correction to Chairman O'Neal's last name and apologized about the misspelling, she also noted she coxxected Applicant Hectox's last name to Zubieta. Agenda Item No. Page of PAGE 2 -PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES -November 21, 2006 1. Minutes a. Regular Planning Commission Minutes of October 17, 2006 MOVED BY FLORES, SECONDED BY ZANELLI AND PASSED BY A VOTE OF 4-0 TO APPROVE THE BALANCE OF CONSENT CALENDAR. PUBLIC HEARING ITEMS 2. Commercial Design Review No. 2006-11 For Lake Elsinore Chrysler, Dodge, ee Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz provided a brief overview of the proposed project and said Planning Consultant Couxy could not attend the meeting. Therefore, Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz requested Planning Manager Weiner review it with the Commission and answer questions. Planning Manager Weiner provided an overview of the project. This project is for the construction of a new 29,632 square foot automotive dealership and related improvements. The 10-acre project site is located at the Southwest corner of Avenue 12 and Auto Centex Drive. The automobIle dealership (identified as Lake Elsinore Foxd) was approved approximately one (1) year ago. The approval included a Mitigated Negative Declaration, Commercial Design Review, Conditional Use Permit, and Variance. The Variance allowed fox the reduction of the required parking and landscape setbacks along Auto Centex Drive and Avenue 12. At this time, the applicant is requesting a revision to the Commercial Design Review application in order to allow for modifications to the previously approved parking and landscaping areas, as well as a reduction in the size of the building from 72,000 square feet to 29,000 square feet. It should be noted that Conditional Use Permit and Variance Approvals will remain as is, as they were approved a year ago by the Planning Commission and the City CouncIl. The proposed dealership will consist of vehicle display areas, sales and service areas, as well as offices, xestrooms and other customer and employee areas. Vehicle access to the site is provided via two (2) driveways off of Auto Centex Drive. One hundred and thirteen (113) parking spaces will be provided on site. Approximately eight (8) percent of landscape area is provided on site which meets current minimum Lake Elsinore Municipal Code requirements. This requirement will increase after formal adoption of recently modified landscaping regulations, however it will not affect this project. Agenda Item No. Page of PAGE 3 -PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES -November 21, 2006 The exterior design of the buildings will incorporate both plaster and split-face concrete block. The storefront window frames will be clear anodized frames with tinted blue glass. Light, noise and traffic issues have been addressed through the original Mitigated Negative Declaration and included Conditions of Approval which set mechanisms to control impacts on these and other items. Applicant Adrian Colinski stated his name and address. He agreed with the Conditions of Approval. He wanted to ask the City for a sales tax reimbursement and discuss the amount. Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz clarified that the xeimbarsement request is fox the public improvements to Auto Centex Drive and this will be brought to the City CouncIl at the same time as the project is brought forward fox approval. Chairman O'Neal had no comments to speak on this item. Vice Chairman Gonzales had no comments to speak on this item. Commissioners Flores had no comments to speak on this item. Commissioner Zanelli had no comments to speak on this item. Chairman O'Neal opened the Public Hearing at 6:08 p.m. Chairman O'Neal stated that Mx. Cartier of Lake Elsinore Ready Mix was ]ate in his request to speak. However, he could speak after the Public Hearing. Planning Commissioners Comments Commissioner Zannelli had no questions. Commissioner Gonzales asked Project Engineer Eric Maxkeson what was being done about the problems behind the Chevy Dealership with regards to all of the houses on Avenue 12. Eric Maxkeson, Project Engineer said to mitigate light and glare, they axe providing directional lighting. There is a 6 foot screen wall at the top of the slope in order to screen the property from the residential neighborhood above, and will be providing a light shielding at all of the perimeter lighting. Most of the lighting is located at a minimum of 15 feet ox in excess of 15 feet from the property line. Therefore, all of the lighting will be directed away from the street. Commissioner Gonzales asked Mx. Maxkeson if Avenue 12 is a paved street Mx, Maxkeson said yes it is. Agenda Item No. Page of PAGE 4 -PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES -November 21, 2006 Commissioner Gonzales said he had no comments. CommirsionerFlore.r had no comments. Chairman O'Neal asked staff fox color swatches and said he did not receive them. He would appreciate receiving them. Chairman O'Neal said the west face design is flat. He is concerned about the rear of the property. Can it be screened? He does like the saw tooth design on the side. Planning Manager Weiner asked the applicant to elaborate on the screening. He didn't know if there was going to be a lot of screening at that elevation. He asked that the applicant enhance the elevation to add some elements in order to reduce the visual impact to the street. Chairman O'Neal said he would be more comfortable with the design if the applicant would do that. He asked if it was possible to use the logos of the Dealership on the back side. He said it is pretty flat and unappealing. He doesn't want the applicant to spend a lot of money but would like the applicant to do something that makes it a little more interesting. Adrian Colinski spoke fox the Developer. He said the westerly facing fagade axe the openings fox the service bays and there is not a lot they can do with the building axchitectarally but they had the landscaping easement that extends from the regular run along Avenue 12 about fifteen (15) additional feet out and plan on landscaping that out to a higher degree. Chairman O'Neal said he is concerned with what will be above the bay doors because that is what you axe going to be able to see. You may not be able to see the bay doors as much as the flat face that is just a stretch of split face. It would be nice to have some kind of enhancement there. He said he does like the Chrysler logo but could there be some kind of relief stripe across it to make it more interesting. Mx. Maxkeson said they knew they were dealing with a utilitarian look, specifically on the back side of the building. Therefore, they added banding of split face and precision block, not just textare but also color contrast to give more visual interest to the back of the building. Chairman O'Neal said this would be good. It was not apparent on the drawings. Mx. Maxkeson agreed with Chairman O'Neal that as they developed the exteriors that something had to be done across the back of the building, even though it was a utilitarian function, they wanted to give it some visual interest. Agenda Item No. Page of PAGE 5 -PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES -November 21, 2006 MOVED BY FLORES, SECONDED BY ZANELLI AND PASSED BY A VOTE OF 4-0 TO APPROVE RESOLUTION NO. 2006-123, A RESOLUTION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF LAKE ELSINORE, CALIFORNIA, RECOMMENDING TO THE .CITY COUNCIL ADOPTION OF FINDINGS THAT THE PROJECT KNOWN AS LAKE ELSINORE CHRYSLER, DODGE, JEEP IS CONSISTENT WITH THE MULTI-SPECIES HABITAT CONSERVATION PLAN (MSHCP) LOCATED AT THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF AVENUE 12 AND AUTO CENTER DRIVE MOVED BY FLORES, SECONDED BY ZANELLI AND PASSED BY A VOTE OF 4-0 TO APPROVE RESOLUTION NO. 2006-124, A RESOLUTION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF LAKE ELSINORE, CALIFORNIA, RECOMMENDING CITY COUNCIL APPROVAL OF COMMERCIAL DESIGN REVIEW NO. 2006-11 FOR THE DESIGN, CONSTRUCTION AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE LAKE ELSINORE CHRYSLER, DODGE, AND JEEP AUTOMOBILE DEALSHIP LOCATED AT THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF AVENUE 12 AND AUTO CENTER DRIVE Chairman O'Neal requested Robert Cartier to address the Planning Commission. Robert Cartier of Lake Elsinore Ready Mix said he has had a business in the area fox almost sixty (60) years. He noticed there wasn't a very large participation at the various Planning Commission and City Council meetings which he thinks axe very important. He stated that the largest business they have in the valley is education. There axe almost six thousand (6,000) students in high school and he thought it would be wonderful if the Planning Commission would make a formal invitation to have the students in Govexnxnent, Civics, and History classes attend some of the meetings. It would derive great benefit from learning how City Government and the Planning Commission was conducted. After the students leave high school, they might not have the opportunity to Team what takes place in City Government. It would be a wonderful opportunity, and he wished the Planning Commission would make a formal notification to the schools to invite them to the meetings to see how the City Government is run. Agenda Item No Page of PAGE 6 -PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES -November 21, 2006 Chairman O'Neal thanked Mx. Cartier. BUSINESS ITEMS 3. Planning Commission Compensation Director of Community Development Preisendanz provided an overview of the proposed Planning Commission Compensation. Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz said Section 2.24.070 (Compensation) of the Lake Elsinore Municipal Code (LEMC) states that, "Council shall from time to time, by resolution, fix the compensation of the Planning Commission". Planning Commission compensation was adopted in 1984, which set the compensation at fifty (50) dollars per meeting. In order to increase the compensation, the City Council would have to approve a resolution specifying the amount to be paid. He did some comparable compensation benefits paid to other Planning Commissioners in neighboring cities. City of Muxxieta has no compensation ox benefits, City of Temecula pays fifty (50) dollars per meeting, City of Perris pays one hundred (100) dollars per meeting. Regarding health insurance, the City provides a maximum monthly allowance of one thousand fifty (1,050) dollars towards health insurance premiums. If the actual monthly health insurance pxemiuxn exceeds the monthly allowance, the difference is paid by the employee. The four (4) allowed health insurance providers under PERS axe Blue Shield, Kaiser, PERS Choice and PERS Case. They all have various pxemiutns associated with them. Kaiser, which is an HMO, is nine hundred and thirty seven (937) dollars a month fox employee plus two (2) dependants which would require a zero (0) addition into that payment. Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz brought before the Planning Commission an example of what one health insurance company policy would cost and also what the City pays fox each employee. Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz further stated that then there is a request to the Council as to what amount the Planning Commission decides on to be paid per meeting, and health insurance allowance. Planning Commissioner Comments Commissioner Flores said he thought the Commissioners should have an increase in pay. He understood that recently, the CouncIl had an increase in their pay. He thought the Agenda Item No. Page of PAGE 7 -PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES -November 21.2006 Planning Commissioners should get half of the pay that Council receives which is one hundred (100) dollars per meeting. Regarding health insurance, he believes they should submit what they have and allow Council to decide if health insurance would be beneficial. He asked Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz to submit a health package and please report back as to what the cost would be. He also thanked him fox the information, and did a good job. Commissioner Gonzales agreed with Commissioner Flores and said he can't change his health insurance because of a pre-existing condition with his wife. Commissioner O'Neal said that was not necessarily true. Commissioner Gonzales said he did not want to change over because if he is no longer on the Planning Commission, he would have a problem getting the previous health insurance back. Commissioner O'Neal agreed Commissioner Zanelli said he does not have any comments, he is refixed and it does not impact him one way ox another. Chairman O'Neal -said he believes higher compensation is due. He said they provide a professional service, and should get paid a professional wage. In addition to that, he would like to see health benefits extended to the Commission if they would like to have them. If they do not want them, they don't have to participate. If the Commissioners use the insurance, it is an expense the City should pay fox. This is also a nice prerequisite fox anyone that resigns and new Commissioners come in, they will be working hard but they will also be rewarded fox their hard work. It could be a recruiting tool. Currently, we have good Commissioners, but in the past, we have had trouble getting good candidates fox these positions. If the job is worthwhile fox future candidates then they would be more willing to participate. He said he supports both the increase in pay and the health benefits. Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz also wanted to mention that employees get vision and dental but this proposal didn't include that. He didn't know if the Commission wanted him to go to propose that. Commissioner O'Neal said personally speaking; he did not want it to go to that point He didn't know how the rest of the Commission felt about it. Commissioner Flores agreed with Commissioner O'Neal. He did want to know if Council had the visual benefits. Agenda Item No. Page of PAGE 8 -PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES -November 21, 2006 Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz said yes. Commissioner Flores said if they want to include it on their behalf, so be it Coxnmissionex Zanelli agreed with Commissioner Flores. Commissioner Flores reiterated that he would like the compensation to be half of what the City CouncIl gets which is one hundred (100) dollars per meeting. Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz said he would bring a resolution forward that recommends a pay increase to tone hundred (100) dollars per meeting and compensation at the rate that the employees axe paid per the PERS Program with the contracting agencies fox Southern California. Commissioner Flores asked Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz who would be making the presentation and when would it be presented to Council. Duectox of Community Development Pxeisendanz said he would do the presentation and would take direction from the Commission and how they would like him to present it. Commissioner O'Neal said he would address the Council on this particular item, type something up to present it to them and follow up with Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz to put on the Agenda. Commissioner Flores agreed that it would be good if Commissioner O'Neal could present this to CouncIl. Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz said he would follow-up with Commissioner O'Neal as to when it will be put on the Agenda. 4. Schedule joint Planning Commission/Public Safety Advisory Commission (PSAC) on December 13.2006 Commissioner O'Neal said 3:00 p.m. is not a good tune fox him. Commissioner O'Neal asked the other Commissioners what time they would like the meeting to start. All of the Commissioners said they were flexible. Commissioner O'Neal said 4:00 p.m. would be a better time to have the meeting. Agenda Item No. Page of PAGE 9 -PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES -November 21, 2006 Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz said he would coordinate with Information and Communications Manager Dennis to accommodate a 4:00 p.m. meeting. He said this is a request of City staff, with the Planning Commission and the PSAC to participate in a Joint Study Session to discuss the Lakeshore Drive Overlay District and current issues thereof relative to the General Plan Update at 4:00 - 6:00 p.m. at the Cultural Centex. Commissioner O'Neal thanked Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz fox changing the time to 4:00 p.m. Commissioner Zanelli requested documentation on the subject material so it can be reviewed before the meeting. Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz said he would prepare a staff xepoxt which will include sections of the code that refer to the Lakeshore Overlay District, as well as recreational zoning district, commercial zones in that area, and any pertinent information related to code enforcement and lake management. He will provide the xepoxt to Commissioners. MOVED BY ZANELLI, SECONDED BY FLORES AND PASSED BY A VOTE OF 4-0 TO SCHEDULE A JOINT PLANNING COMMISSION/PUBLIC SAFETY ADVISORY COMMISSION (PSAC) MEETING ON DECEMBER 13, 2006, WITH A TIME CHANGE TO 4:00 P.M. INSTEAD OF 3:00 P.M. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS Engineering Manager Seumalo spoke about the following items. • Engineering Manager Seumalo said regarding our capital improvement update; Railroad Canyon Road is moving along slowly. Cal Trans is not allowing the contractors to backfill the retaining wall. That is why you axe not seeing work there until the full wall is coxed. He said they were hoping Cal Trans will allow in segments. Even with this hold up, we were hoping the project would be completed by late December. These axe external influences on the project and not the responsibility of the contractors so it will not affect their working days. • The Grand Ortega intersection widening and signalization project has been advertised fox bidding and staff anticipates to take it to Council on December 12 with construction beginning in early January. He said he believes it is a four (4) month project so they axe hoping to have it completed by the end of April. Therefore there will be a widened intersection and signalization at that location. Agenda Item No. Page of PAGE 10 -PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES -November 21.2006 • The Lincoln Street Paxk is cuuxxently in construction. It is moving along nicely. • Regarding the City park construction, there is a proposed xestroom facility upgrade to conform with ADA requirements as well as constmction of a kitchen facility. This project is in advertisement and is anticipated to go before the City Council December 12. • By mid December there will be a City Wide Sidewalk Improvement project going on. It is in design now and it is funded with CDBG and SB821 giant money. • The Police Chief had a concern about the traffic patterns in front of the Corman Leigh project on Lakeshore Drive across from Stater Bxos. There is insufficient traffic striping so our traffic engineer is looking into putting an edge line and directing traffic into the existing two (2) travel lanes, discouraging them from creating their own third (3"~ travel lane. • Also, he said he is not sure if the Commission has heard complaints about this but apparently people axe turning left into the Costco and Lowes shopping center in the right in right out driveway. Staff is talking with Cal Trans to see if we can get channelizexs which axe the vertical posts that axe adhesive to the payment, installed. If Cal Trans denies that, we axe hopefully close to getting an Encroachment Permit to install lane widening beneath the bridge at Central Avenue. Part of that project will construct a physical median in that area to prevent traffic from turning left. Commissioner Flares asked Engineering Manager Seumalo regarding Lakeshore Drive, in front of Stater Bxos, what was the time factor. Engineering Manager Seumalo said by the last week of November ox the first week of December. The request went to our Traffic Engineer late last week and he needs to investigate the plans, the responsibility of Coxman Leigh to install ox not to install the stripe and field the investigation itself. Commissioner Zanelli asked Engineering Manager Seumalo if there will be widening of Riverside in the near futare so that it can accommodate two (2) left tarn lanes because the traffic is backing up all the way to Home Depot. Engineering Manager Seumalo said the answer to the question is unknown. It is going to be a developer driven improvement. Staff can go to Cal Trans and identify the issue and hope fox action but it's not likely. He said he knows that the City Council is considering Acquisition of State Route 74 which then the answer would be yes. The project would go on the Capitol Improvement Plan. It would go on unfunded but identified as a project. Agenda Item No. Page of PAGE 11 -PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES -November 21, 2006 Engineering Manager Seumalo said they will talk to Cal Trans about the congestion and that receiving lanes/merging lanes was supposed to help the situation but it actually did the opposite. Therefore, staff will go to Cal Trans, identify the issue and hopefully get some action. Commissioner O'Neal commented about the traffic problem on Gunnexson. He said because of the stacking on Collier, there is a huge amount of cars that run in that dixecuon and then the way the lights axe set, traffic from the opposite direction has to wait until traffic is gone. Therefore, you end up sitting on Gunnexson waiting to turn left. Engineering Manager Seumalo said the spacing of the signals axe so fax apart that the beneficial gap that is provided by a red light is lost because the differential speed in the vehicles. Commissioner O'Neal said the speed of the cars on Gunnexson is incredibly fast. STAFF COMMENTS Planning Manager Weiner wished the Planning Commission a Happy Thanksgiving. Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz had two (2) items to discuss. • Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz indicated that the K-Mart building is still on hold. The plans axe still in plan check. We have a hold on the project. We have a parcel map on that site that has been submitted. There are outlying parcels along the street and we axe looking at that in relation to parking. We axe having issues with the amount of parcels that can be developed out there with relation to parking and shared parking. • There are two (2) manufactured homes located at 316 & 318 Townsend, they are side by side. They are located in a valley. They were brought to Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz attention by a couple of people in the community regarding one (1) in relation drainage, (2) the architecture of the manufactured homes. He said they notified the applicant today. The homes have been set there. They axe very simple boxes, they have T1, 11 siding on them, they have asphalt shingling on them. They have called the applicant and told him these homes need to be built per Planning Commission approved plans which is stucco, wainscoting, architectural shingles, etc. He wanted to let the Planning Commission know that they have the applicant on notice. The grading was approved by the City of Lake Elsinore, there is an offsite easement that needs to be recorded in order fox all of the drainage to occur and ttansfex onto adjacent property and that is still pending. Those two (2) homes axe on our radar. Agenda Item No. Page of PAGE 12 -PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES -November 21, 2006 Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz said Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Deputy City Attorney Santana said happy Thanksgiving and have a happy holiday. PLANNING COMMISSIONER'S COMMENTS Commissioner O'Neal had two (2) comments. Commissioner O'Neal said he thinks Mr. Cartier's public school participation is an excellent suggestion and he encourages staff to prepare invites or place phone calls and cordially invite them to any Planning Commission meeting, big or small. • Commissioner O'Neal said Planning Consultant Coury made a suggestion to Engineering Manager Seumalo who related it to Commissioner O'Neal and said they wanted to meet with all of the Planning Commission in a closed session about future projects and then they talked about whether it was a violation Brown Act, which it is. Therefore, Commissioner O'Neal suggested to Engineering Manager Seumalo about having a review committee from the Commission, perhaps two (2) people who could meet with staff and report back to the Commission. Vice Chairman Gonzales and Commissioner Zanelli said they would be more than happy to volunteer to sit on the committee. Commissioner O'Neal requested to set up meetings with Vice Chairman Gonzales and Commissioner Zanelli with staff on a monthly basis regarding any large projects. Also, he wanted to request meeting minutes. Engineering Manager Seumalo said he appreciated the Commissioner's support for this idea but he formally apologizes to Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz and Planning Manager Weiner fox not clearing it with them first. Commissioner O'Neal apologized to everyone and said he didn't mean to step on anyone's toes. Director of Community Development Preisendanz said no apologies were necessary, it was something they discussed and he thought it was a good idea to get the Commissioners included, have a study session, and have Commissioners in fox meetings to show them what is going on in the City. Commissioner O'Neal asked Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz about Pancake House (IHOP). Agenda Item No. Page of PAGE 13 -PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES -November 21, 2006 Community Development Pxeisendanz asked Planning Manager Weiner to give feedback on this. Planning Manager Weiner said the last conversation he had with IHOP was over a month ago. They talked about site design fox the building. They designed the building with the most aesthetically pleasing elevation facing the adjacent cemetery. Planning Manager Weiner indicated that staff asked that they modify the design in order to have the most aesthetically pleasing elevation be towards the street and they said they would modify the entry to the site. Planning Manager Weiner said (IHOP) would be completed in about 30 days. Commissioner O'Neal asked Director of Community Development Pxeisendanz about what was going in at the corner where Seven Eleven (7-11) was going to be. Community Development Pxeisendanz said that McDonalds which is on the other side of the driveway is moving forward. The developer was talking about a steakhouse fox the corner site, but he didn't mention who he was in discussions with. Commissioner Zanelli wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and would see everyone in a couple of weeks. Commissioner Flores would like to see a steak restaurant come in, looking forward to the Pancake House, and now that McDonalds is coming in, he can't wait to have breakfast there. He wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and will see everyone around Christmas. Commissioner Gonzales wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. He had breakfast at McDonalds that morning. He also wanted to know what kind of construction was going on Hunt Avenue. Community Development Pxeisendanz said he didn't know and he would follow-up with him to find out what is going on. ADJOURNMENT THERE BEING NO FURTHER ADJOURNED THE MEETING AT 6:52 PM O'N YfAN O'NEAL 21, 2006. ~% Agenda I[em No. Page of PAGE 14 -PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES - November 21, 2006 Respectfully Submitted, Kristine Herrington Office Specialist III ATTEST: Rolfe Pxeisendanz, Director of Community Development Agenda Item No. Page of