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PC - 01-23-08CITY OF ROSEMEAD PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING MINUTES January 23, 2008 CALL TO ORDER: The regular meeting of the City of Rosemead Planning Commission was called to order by Chairman Lopez at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Rosemead City Hall at 8838 East Valley Boulevard, Rosemead. Chairman Lopez led the Pledge of Allegiance. Commissioner Vuu delivered the invocation. ROLL CALL: PRESENT: Commissioner Bevington, Cam, and Vuu, and Chairman Lopez ABSENT: Vice - Chairman Kunioka EX OFFICIO: Bermejo, Everling, Gonzalez, Trinh, and Yin 1. EXPLANATION OF HEARING PROCEDURES AND APPEAL RIGHTS: City Planner George Yin explained the public hearing process and the right to appeal Planning Commission decisions to the City Council. 2. PUBLIC COMMENTS Chairman Lopez asked if anyone would like to speak on any items not on the agenda, to step forward. Ms. Marlene Shinen of 8447 Drayer Lane, South San Gabriel, stated that she attends the Rosemead Traffic Commission, Planning Commission, and Community Development Meetings because the decisions that Rosemead and neighboring cities make affect her family, home, neighbors and quality of life. She stated she lives on Drayer Lane and it has already been partially annexed by the City of Rosemead, which was done without the knowledge of the residential community until it was too late. She stated it was an unincorporated area mess; uninhabited, no. She also said that when the County realized this uninhabited region actually voted, the annexation was stopped immediately. She stated on June 25, 2007, Mayor Pro Tern Nunez spoke directly to her about annexing South San Gabriel into Rosemead, stating she would have better services. She said he went on to other South San Gabriel residents expressing his intent to annex South San Gabriel to bring in low income housing. She stated it's a matter of trust that she needs, and as City Officials, they have an accountable responsibility to the people, especially to stable family homeowners. She said this is an era of fast development with Federal approval of imminent domain. It is reckless ruling to drastically change the character of residential neighborhoods. She stated it is evident Todd Kunioka takes seriously his responsibilities as Planning Commissioner. She Rosemead Planning Commission Meeting: January 23, 2008 Page 1 of 8 continued to state he listens, hears, comes prepared, is well thought out, intelligent, and our Vice - Chairman as well. She stated that he is on the agenda to lead the Pledge of Allegiance and it's a major failure of the city to approve a schedule change of this commission meeting knowing he is unable to attend. Especially after he expressed that he scheduled his work days so that he could be present for these important planning commission meetings, she said. She stated she expressed why she is here, what her concerns are, why she's watching the General Plan, why she respects the Commissioners, and she really thinks we need to take time to consider the responsibilities that these men have and is really sorry to say he should be here. Chairman Lopez stated the meeting was rescheduled for Wednesday since Monday was a holiday and Tuesday was the City Council meeting. He stated this is rare and most of the time they try to abide by the fact that some of them can't be there. Ms. Shinen stated she was at that Planning Commission Meeting and they just bypassed it being rescheduled. Chairman Lopez stated he had to give up a night of working and chose to be here since Todd wasn't going to be here, because most of them have agendas other than just they do here. He stated he thought it was important to still hold that meeting and that they all wish Todd was there, but sometimes it happens. He stated, again, we made the decision to keep this meeting. He said he brought up to either cancel it or hold it and we thought it was important to continue because of our General Plan, so we thought we would just keep the meeting for tonight. He said, again this is very rare; normally we'd cancel, but we thought it was important to have this meeting today. Mr. Jim Flournoy of 8655 Landis View Lane, a resident, stated he wanted to follow up on the reports from the last meeting. He stated that so far there are three (3) reports out of the six (6) and those results were that two (2) are disastrous and one (1) looks like it is okay. He said these reports are important and questioned where the other reports are. Mr. Flournoy then showed a map of the way things used to be done in 1994 before Northridge Earthquake. He stated there were only two choices then which were rock (blue on the map) and soil (red on the map). He stated in Northridge, they had a lot of freeways that fell that were not near the earthquakes like Santa Monica, the 10 freeway. He then said that Santa Monica City Hall had an event. He stated it may be in the codes, but the people doing these projects didn't do it. He showed the Elysian Park Fault and pointed out the City of Rosemead, which was in the red zone. City Planner Everling stated Mr. Flournoy should address his comments to the Planning Commissioners instead of the audience. Mr. Flournoy stated they didn't address this fault in their report, they just left it out. He said they also left out the other fault which is called the Elysian Park Fault, and not only can they not find two reports, but the ones they did find left out major faults that affect the City of Rosemead. He stated he would not go through all of them tonight because it gets worse before it gets better. He said we've got to get these reports in before we grant Occupancy Permits to these projects. Chairman Lopez asked if anyone else would like to speak and then moved on to Item 3 on the Agenda. Rosemead Planning Commission Meeting.: January 23, 2008 Page 2 of 8 j 1 3. PUBLIC HEARINGS A. Tentative Parcel Map 069924 — 4800 Delta Avenue and 8417 Mission Drive Presentation: Associate Planner Sheri Bermejo Staff Recommendation: Continue project till February 4, 2008 City Planner Everling stated with this particular application for Tentative Parcel Map 069924, Public Hearing notices were sent out for this project with the date of Monday, January 23, 2008 when it should have stated Wednesday, January 23, 2008. He said he spoke to the City Attorney on this matter and has been advised to request a continuance for this hearing but only after we receive public comment. He then requested that the Commission continue the project to the February 4, 2008, Planning Commission Meeting. Chairman Lopez opened to Public Comment. None. MOTION BY COMMISSIONER LOPEZ, SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER VUU TO CONTINUE TENTATIVE PARCEL MAP 069924 TIL MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2008. Vote results: YES: BEVINGTON, CAM, KUNIOKA, LOPEZ AND VUU NO: NONE ABSENT: VICE - CHAIRMAN KUNIOKA ABSTAIN: NONE Lopez declared said motion duly carried and so ordered. B. Conditional Use Permit 05 -1034 and Zone Change 05 -223 3658 North Walnut Grove Avenue and Southern California Edison right -of -way between Marshall Street and Olney Avenue. Presentation: Associate Planner Sheri Bermejo Staff Recommendation: ADOPT Planning Commission Resolution 08 -02 and recommend ADOPTION of the Negative Declaration and APPROVAL of Rosemead Planning Commission Meeting: January 23, 2008 Page 3 of 8 Conditional Use Permit 05 -1034 and Zone Change 05 -223 to the City Council, subject to the conditions outlined in Exhibit "B ". Associate Planner Sheri Bermejo gave her presentation and stated that both the applicant and architect are available to answer any questions the Planning Commissioners have. Jonathan Wang, stated he's been a member of the First Evangelical Church and local community. He said he is the coordinator of this project and have been working with staff for 2 '/z years to get to this day. He continued to say today staff received a letter from the Rosemead School District regarding school questions of the Negative Declaration. He stated he understands the city doesn't have enough time to review the letter of comment. He stated he concurs with staff recommendation to continue their project in order to give him time to work with the school district and find out exactly what their concerns are and review all needed additional environmental study. He said the second issue he has is about the hours of operation. He continued stating that in his application, they focused on the peak hour which is Sunday morning and subsequently their traffic study was addressed only for that period. He stated they have been using the parking lot on Friday nights since the beginning of the church. He stated after reviewing the conditions of approval, he understands that the church will be losing street parking on Marshall Street. He also said they're between 80% and 90% parking capacity on Friday nights. He stated he feels if the conditions of approval are limited to Sundays, they will very quickly run into problems on Friday so that's why they're requesting consideration to extend the overage an hour on Friday night between 6:00 pm — 11:00 pm or 7:00 pm — 10:30 pm. He stated he understands it will acquire a revision of the traffic study and they're willing to wait to get the official traffic study. Dennis Mc Donald of 8810 Olney Street, a resident, stated not only does he live down the street from First Evangelical Church, but he's also the President of the Board of Trustees for Rosemead School District. He stated beside him was Fred Mascorro who is also a board member. He said you have our letter of 14 things from our Land Use Attorney and they believe the Negative Declaration was based on just a summary look at the different things it might impact such as the school in that area. We agree with the Planning Commission and the owner that we need a continuance and we need to sit down and look at it closer and maybe get an EIR. He stated we need to address all the things that will impact that entire area. He stated they were going to put permanent structures in the back of their property and the L.A. County Fire Department said there wasn't enough water in the area and that they'd have to spend almost half a million dollars to run a line down Walnut Grove Avenue so they decided not to do that. He stated they allowed the school to put up relocatable buildings. He continued stating the Church doesn't even address the water possibilities that they have enough to build a structure almost as big as our school. He stated they concur with the concurrence. Mr. Jim Flournoy of 8655 Landis View Lane, a resident, stated that this church has had a good relationship with the community. He stated there are always people driving down the street exiting the church off Walnut Grove Avenue and he sees expanding the exit on Marshall Street which would be nice so that people could get out on side streets. He questioned if the North Campus has two exits or if there was just an exit on Marshall Street. Chairman Lopez stated they're proposing two exits. Rosemead Planning Commission Meeting: January 23, 2008 Page 4 of 8 Mr. Flournoy said they just word that the trail on the General Plan through the Edison right -of- way is on a second tier approval from Rivers and Mountains Conservatory for a grant to fund that trail. He said he thinks the Sierra Club Group as well as the City of Rosemead put in a grant as well. He stated he would like to see that the trail is maintained and accessed. He stated if there isn't parking during the week, it would be a great place for a dial -a -ride. He also suggested that the parking lot could be used during the week by the public and the First Evangelical Church could use it on Friday nights and weekends. He stated that parking is going to be a real problem in Rosemead. He stated that the continuance is a good idea. He stated we need to look at the issues the school brought up. He stated this project is categorically exempt. He stated to keep in mind that if there wasn't being a parking structure built, we wouldn't be here. Chairman Lopez opened the public hearing to those IN FAVOR of this application: ►7 MC Chairman Lopez opened the public hearing to those who wished to OPPOSE the application: Guadalupe Loera of 8549 Marshall Street, a resident, stated she is not in opposition but would like to voice her opinion as a resident of 30 years. She stated her concern is what is going to happen in the parking lot when it's not in use. She said she heard from the Staff Report that there would be security, but she's concerned with loitering if it's not really supervised. She stated it's a relatively quiet area without high volume traffic and is concerned with traffic around 11:00 pm on Friday night. She continued to say that Sundays were perfect because they could now have visitors parking on the street since there would no longer be church- goers taking up their on- street parking. She stated her concern is the supervision of the lot when it's not in use and the possible graffiti or loitering that can occur. Chairman Lopez asked the Commissioners if they had questions for staff Commissioner Bevington stated he has not read the 14 page letter from the attorney, but he hasn't seen any documents from Edison granting the church a use permit or anything stating there is a long term agreement with the First Evangelical Church allowing them to use the property. He said we do not know if Edison has even agreed to any of this. He stated his second issue is that the parking layout proposed over this lot is totally improper. He stated it's set up in two phases and phase one is strictly to meet the parking requirements of this present meeting. He continued stating phase two presupposes more parking spaces and he thinks in order to protect the Edison parking lot, the phase one part should be restricted to a center strip or something else leaving a 40 or 50 -foot landscape buffer on each side of the parking to the resident's houses that are there along side. City Attorney Yin questioned staff about the parking lot. He also questioned Rule 27 of the Fire Department. Associate Planner Bermejo stated staff forwarded the proposed satellite parking lot plan to the L.A. County Fire Chief and we got his signature before we brought the project to Planning Rosemead Planning Commission Meeting: January 23, 2008 Page 5 of 8 Commission. She stated the main parking lot is proposed for passenger type vehicles. Vans that would be utilized for transportation between the two sites will be parked on the Church's lot and not in the satellite parking lot. She stated that in the audience, Mr. Michael Orduno from Southern California Edison was available to answer any questions. Mr. Michael Orduno of Southern California Edison stated they do have a long term agreement with First Evangelical Church which was executed approximately three years ago. Commissioner Bevington stated we need that document. He said we cannot grant a use for a piece property if we do not have any evidence of an executed agreement. Associate Planner Bermejo stated that there is a copy of the document in the application file in the Planning Division, however, it was not attached as an exhibit in the staff report. Commissioner Bevington stated he thinks the Planning Commission needs to see it and the City Attorney should approve that it grants permission. Associate Planner Bermejo stated okay Chairman Lopez closed the public hearing to the public and opened the public hearing to the Commissioners. City Planner Everling stated staff is requesting a continuance for this project to an unspecified Planning Commission date to give staff and the applicant time to work on these newly identified environmental and other issues prior to the project moving forward. He stated when the project is ready to come back, we would definitely re- notice the project and revise the staff report. He also stated that the document containing the long tem agreement between Southern California Edison and First Evangelical Church will be attached to the updated staff report. MOTION BY COMMISSIONER BEVINGTON, SECONDED BY CHAIRMAN LOPEZ TO CONTINUE CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT AND ZONE CHANGE 05 -223. Vote results: YES: BEVINGTON, CAM, KUNIOKA, LOPEZ AND VUU NO: NONE ABSENT: VICE- CHAIRMAN KUNIOKA ABSTAIN: NONE Lopez declared said motion duly carried and so ordered. C. General Plan Amendment 07 -05 Zone Change 07 -228, Conditional Use Permit 05 -1013, Planned Development Review 07 -02 Zone Variance 07 -349 Design Review 05 -127, and Tentative Tract Map 069258 — 9400 -9416 Valley Boulevard. Rosemead Planning Commission Meeting: January 23, 2008 Page 6 of 8 Presentation: Associate Planner Sheri Bermejo Staff Recommendation: Requesting that this item be tabled to a future Planning Commission Agenda. MOTION BY COMMISSIONER VUU, SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER CAM TO APPROVE TENTATIVE PARCEL MAP 069924. Vote results: YES: BEVINGTON, CAM, KUNIOKA, LOPEZ AND VUU NO: NONE ABSENT: VICE - CHAIRMAN KUNIOKA ABSTAIN: NONE Lopez declared said motion duly carried and so ordered. 4. CONSENT CALENDAR — These items are considered to be routine actions that may be considered in one motion by the Planning Commission. Any interested party may request an item from the consent calendar to be discussed separately. A. Approval of Minutes — January 7, 2008 MOTION BY COMMISSIONER BEVINGTON, SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER VUU TO WAIVE FURTHER READING AND ADOPT CONSENT CALENDAR. Vote results: YES: BEVINGTON, CAM, KUNIOKA, AND VUU NO: NONE ABSENT: VICE- CHAIRMAN KUNIOKA ABSTAIN: NONE Chairman Lopez declared said motion duly carried and so ordered. 5. MATTERS FROM THE CHAIRMAN & COMMISSIONERS Chairman Lopez stated along Ramona Avenue between Rosemead Boulevard and Walnut Grove Avenue there is shrubbery adjacent to the 10 freeway. He also stated also he stated they don't take care of their grass, their trash, etc. Rosemead Planning Commission Meeting: January 23, 2008 Page 7 of 8 City Planner Everling stated if it's along the right -of -way of the freeway that it would be Cal Trans who takes care of that. Chairman Lopez stated we need to get a hold of Cal Trans because it looks trashy. He also said where they park their vehicles, it looks trashy. He stated they don't take care of their grass or their trash. 6. MATTERS FROM THE PLANNING SERVICES ADMINISTRATOR AND STAFF City Planner Everling stated regarding Items 6A and 613, he had a chance to meet with Don Anderson from Code Enforcement who said he would work with L.A. County Sheriff in taking a look at the Cal Poultry site regarding the severity of on- street parking and about the possibility of citing vehicles for double parking in the street. Chairman Lopez stated there is a parking lot but it seems that these people just want to park in front, buy their chicken, and leave right away. City Planner Everling asked the Commissioners if they would like to attend the UCLA Planning Commissioners Seminar. They commissioners expressed their interest in attending the conference 7. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Lopez adjourned the Planning Commission Meeting at 8:05 p.m. MOTION BY COMMISSIONER VUU, SECONDED BY CHAIRMAN LOPEZ TO ADJOURN UNTIL THE NEXT REGULARLY SCHEDULED PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING. M E /AG Rosemead Planning Commission Meeting: January 23, 2008 Page 8 of 8