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PC - Item 4A - Minutes of July 19, 2021Minutes of the PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING July 19, 2021 The regular meeting of the Planning Commission was called to order by Chair Lopez at 7:05 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE — Commissioner Leung INVOCATION — Commissioner Berry ROLL CALL — Commissioners Berry, Leung, Tang, Ung, and Chair Lopez STAFF PRESENT — City Attorney Thuyen, Assistant City Manager Kim, Planning & Economic Development Manager Valenzuela, Associate Planner Lao, and Commission Liaison Huang ADMINISTRATION OF OATH OF OFFICE — Commission Liaison Huang administered the Oath of Office to re -appointed Commissioners James Berry, Daniel Lopez, John Tang, and newly appointed Commissioner Lana Ung. COMMISSION REORGANIZATION — Commissioner Lopez opened nominations for Chair. Commissioner Lopez made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Leung, to nominate Commissioner Berry as Chair. Vote resulted in: Ayes: Berry, Leung, Lopez, Tang, and Ung Noes: None Abstain: None Absent: None Roll call vote resulted in 5 Ayes and 0 Noes. Chair Berry opened nominations for Vice -Chair. Chair Berry made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Lopez, to nominate Commissioner Tang as Vice -Chair. Vote resulted in: Ayes: Berry, Leung, Lopez, Tang, and Ung Noes: None Abstain: None Absent: None Roll call vote resulted in 5 Ayes and 0 Noes. 1. EXPLANATION OF HEARING PROCEDURES AND APPEAL RIGHTS City Attorney Thuyen presented the procedure and appeal rights of the meeting. 2. PUBLIC COMMENTS Rosemead Planning Commission Meeting Minutes of July 19, 2021 Page 1 of There being no comments, Chair Berry opened and closed the Public Comment period. 3. PUBLIC HEARINGS A. MUNICIPAL CODE AMENDMENT 21-02 (MCA 21-02) — MCA 21-02 consist of City initiated amendment to Title 17 ("Zoning") of the Rosemead Municipal Code by defining and establishing specific standards for live/work units in the residential/commercial mixed-use overlay zones. A live/work unit provides opportunities to integrate live and work in one space. It is designed to combine residential occupancy and commercial activity such as artist studios, professional offices, software/media offices, or small-scale retail sales of art and crafts. In addition, MCA 21-02 will modify the permit requirement for any establishment with outdoor seating in a residential/commercial mixed-use development overlay zone from a Conditional Use Permit to an Administrative Use Permit. PC RESOLUTION 21-07 - A RESOLUTION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF ROSEMEAD, COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES, STATE OF CALIFORNIA, RECOMMENDING THAT THE CITY COUNCIL ADOPT ORDINANCE NO. 1000 FOR THE APPROVAL OF MCA 21-02, AMENDING TITLE 17 (ZONING) OF THE ROSEMEAD MUNICIPAL CODE BY ADDING DEFINITIONS TO SECTION 17.04.050 DEFINITIONS -GENERAL OF CHAPTER 17.04, ADDING LIVE/WORK ASA PERMITTED USE IN ALL MIXED- USE LAND USE DESIGNATIONS IN THE CITY, ADDING LIVENVORK AS A PERMITTED USE TO SECTION 17.28.030.C.1 PERMITTED USES, ADDING SECTION 17.30.210 LIVENVORK TO CHAPTER 17.30 STANDARDS FOR SPECIFIC LAND USES WHICH ESTABLISHES DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS FOR LIVENVORK UNITS, AND MODIFYING THE PERMIT REQUIREMENT FORANY EATING ESTABLISHMENT WITH OUTDOOR SEATING IN A RESIDENTIAL/COMMERCIAL MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT OVERLAY ZONE FROM A CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT TO AN ADMINISTRATIVE USE PERMIT. STAFF RECOMMENDATION - It is recommended that the Planning Commission: 1. Conduct a public hearing and receive public testimony, and 2. Adopt Planning Commission Resolution No. 21-07 with findings, a resolution recommending that the City Council adopt Ordinance No. 1000 for the approval of MCA 21-02. Planning & Economic Development Manager Valenzuela presented the Staff Report Chair Berry opened the Public Hearing. Commissioner Lopez expressed there are positives and negatives to opening it up for the mixed-use, there are changes to how permits will be issued to restaurants, artists and those using their units to work out of and operate/sell items. He questioned if opening that door, where anyone can apply and possibly get permits to work out of their homes more often than you would in a mixed-use environment is a good idea. He stated he understands the amendment for outdoor seating and requested clarification for live/work in mixed-use developments. Assistant City Manager Kim responded that the mixed-use and live/work is not a new concept, rather decades old and many cities have incorporated live/work in their community. He added, the project is designed in a specific way to accommodate the live/work type of activity, while minimizing any potential adverse effects, so the live/work units would be generally located where its accessible to the public and will not be in an area that might disturb other residences. He also added it has been effective in many communities to create synergy and has a lot of benefits, whereas, more people are working from home, so there is less congestion, and less traffic, and allows residents to conduct their activities within a confined specific space within their site. He also said they would have to go through an entitlement process, which is at the City's discretion to determine the type of layout and howthe project is approved, which would minimize the potential adverse effect, while creating additional amenities for people to live and conduct their business within their living space. The commercial part is not open to any and every type Rosemead Planning Commission Meeting Minutes of July 19, 2021 Page 2 of 5 of commercial and is very restrictive. He then asked Planning & Economic Development Manager Valenzuela to provide examples of what type of commercial activities are allowed. Planning & Economic Development Manager Valenzuela stated a few of the uses include professional offices for architects, accountants, realtors, artists' studios, small tutoring services, and cottage food operation, provided that the orders are pre - ordered and for pickup only. Assistant City Manager Kim stated it would not be like a general retail type of store or activity where people will go shop, congregate, and spend a lot of time at, so there would not be an influx of retail type of activity. He provided an example that if you are an architect and you are seeing limited number of clients at a time, you usually conduct business by going out to the client's property. He said you may have clients come occasionally, but majority of that type of professional activity, you are doing it within a low-density office type of environment, which means you are going to be home in front of your computer, designing, so it is a very low impact type of commercial activity. Chair Berry questioned if this applies specifically for new developments. Assistant City Manager Kim stated yes, it is targeted for new development, however, there may be an opportunity where a conversion of an existing facility but that would have to go through an approval process. Chair Berry noted it would be nice to see examples of these facilities. He added that he supports residents being able to have their own home business and sees a lot of businesses going in this direction, such as ordering food online and you can pick- up, however, he is concerned about the traffic in a residential facility with something that could be high volume. Assistant City Manager Kim responded that the City allows cottage food operation in residential zones, so this type of use is already permitted. He added, for the live/work, it is not in a pure residential neighborhood per se, but it is incorporated in a mixed-use development project. The mixed-use development project is a type of development within a property that allows a mixture of commercial uses and residential uses. So, the live/work type of activity is a conduit which allow residents to conduct their small businesses in a low intensive way within a mixed-use type of project that is already approved, instead of renting an office or traveling to an offsite location. Commissioner Lopez asked if its only in mixed-use? Planning & Economic Development Manager Valenzuela replied live/work is only permitted in mixed-use. Assistant City Manager Kim added that the Garvey Avenue Specific Plan already allows live/work in mixed-use developments. Commissioner Ung asked if there has been any issues or thoughts of accessibility now that you are allowing public entities and potential clients to enterthese private residences that are live/work. She questioned if they would have to provide additional accessibility requirements or would a more lenient code be provided. Planning & Economic Development Manager Valenzuela replied for live/work units, any parking spaces or access to the commercial portion would be shared with the commercial development. She added, residential units are secured, their parking spaces, and their accessibility would be secured if it is strictly residential. Commissioner Ung noted by entering the specific units, will they have a way to accommodate accessibility such as ADA, bathrooms tend to have the path of travel from the public street to the units per se. Planning & Economic Development Manager Valenzuela responded yes, they would have to meet the ADA accessibility requirements and that would be reviewed during the plan check stages. Rosemead Planning Commission Meeting Minutes of July 19, 2021 Page 3 of 5 Commissioner Ung questioned what levels in the structure would allow for live/work Assistant City Manager Kim stated during the plan check or the project approval process, all the design elements will be reviewed and approved. The commercial portion will receive commercial occupancy and the residential portion will receive residential occupancy and those standards are different, commercial standards are different from residential. As part of a project approval, all those standards for the project would need to be checked and approved. Chair Berry opened the Public Hearing and asked if we received any public comments. Commission Liaison Huang replied no public comment was received for this item. There being no public comment, Chair Berry closed the Public Hearing. Vice -Chair Tang commented that as the evolution of time continues as well as what we have experienced in the past year with the pandemic, we all had to adjust individually as well as businesses had to adjust. He believes that we are heading in the right direction of that evolution in terms of what our code should be evolved to adhere and support those small businesses that want to thrive in our City and in our communities. ACTION: Commissioner Lopez made a motion, seconded by Vice -Chair Tang, to: Adopt Planning Commission Resolution No. 21-07 with findings, a resolution recommending that the City Council adopt Ordinance No. 1000 for the approval of MCA 21-02. Vote resulted in: Ayes: Berry, Leung, Lopez, Tang, and Ung Noes: None Abstain: None Absent: None Roll call vote resulted in 5 Ayes and 0 Noes. B. MUNICIPAL CODE AMENDMENT 21-03 (MCA 21-03) The public hearing for MCA 21-03 will be continued and re -noticed at a future meeting. 4. CONSENT CALENDAR A. PC MINUTES 06-07-21 Commissioner Lopez made a motion, seconded by Vice -Chair Tang, to approve PC Minutes 06-07-21 as presented. Vote resulted in: Ayes: Berry, Leung, Lopez, Tang, and Ung Noes: None Abstain: None Absent: None Roll call vote resulted in 5 Ayes and 0 Noes. 5. MATTERS FROM STAFF Rosemead Planning Commission Meeting Minutes of July 19, 2021 Page 4 of 5 None. 6. MATTERS FROM THE CHAIR & COMMISSIONERS Chair Berry thanked everyone for the nomination and looks forward to the new year. Vice -Chair Tang thanked Commissioner Lopez for his steadfast leadership and looks forward to Chair Berry's leadership. Commissioner Ung thanked everyone for welcoming her and is excited to participate. ADJOURNMENT Chair Berry adjourned the meeting at T34 p.m. The next regular Planning Commission meeting is scheduled for August 2, 2021, at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chamber. ATTEST. James Berry Chair Angelica Frausto-Lupo Commission Secretary Rosemead Planning Commission Meeting Minutes of July 19, 2021 Page 5 of 5