PC Minutes 1998-03-031
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ARROYO GRANDE PLANNING COMMISSION
MARCH 3, 1998
The Arroyo Grande Planning Commission met in regular session with Chair Lubin presiding.
Present are Commissioners Haney, Rondeau and Greene. Commissioner O'Donnell is absent.
Also in attendance are Community Development Director Doreen Liberto - Blanck, Associate
Planner Bruce Buckingham and Deputy Public Works Director Craig Campbell.
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
The minutes of the regular meetings of January 20, 1998 and February 3, 1998 were approved
as prepared on motion by Commissioner Haney, seconded by Commissioner Greene, and
unanimously carried.
ORAL COMMUNICATIONS - None
PUBLIC HEARING ITEMS - None
NON - PUBLIC HEARING ITEM - PRE - APPLICATION REVIEW, 30,000 COMMERCIAL
CENTER; APPLICANT: JOSEPH DE LUCIA; LOCATION: CORNER OF WESLEY
STREET AND EAST BRANCH STREET.
Community Development Director Liberto -Blanck briefly reviewed the staff report dated March
3, 1998. She noted that in 1988 the Guidetti Square project was approved for a 30,000 square
foot commercial center on 2.5 acres. Subsequently, the applicant did not act on the project and
it expired. In 1989 a Conditional Use Permit for a 3,500 square foot commercial building on
an 8,000 square foot lot with shared parking was approved on the corner property, however, that
project has also expired. Mr. Joseph DeLucia is now considering developing a similar project
to the one approved in 1988. He submitted the 1988 approved plans as part of the Pre -
Application Review in order to obtain input from the City. He proposes retail commercial uses
along West Branch Street, and professional office uses on the back portion of the property. She
noted that the Village Improvement Association is supporting the project.
Ms. Liberto - Blanck advised that Mr. DeLucia does not have an option on the 8,000 square foot
corner property owned by Dolores Dana. He has identified buildings on the site, and has
indicated he is discussing a joint project with Mrs. Dana. She stated that the Staff Advisory
Committee and Architectural Advisory Committee have reviewed the application, and comments
from both meetings are outlined in the attachments to the staff report. She stated staff has
recommended that the applicant consider providing a plaza area and outdoor patio dining area
to make the project more pedestrian friendly. It is felt that this project could increase the
number of visitors to the Village and improve pedestrian circulation in the Village. In addition,
the Public Works Department requested the applicant to consider providing access to Le Point
Street from Wesley Street, or some type of access in back of the project. She commented that
since there is a potential for access to Le Point Street, staff noticed property owners along the
route and within 300 feet of the property.
Ms. Liberto -Blanck referred to questions listed in the staff report for the Commission's
consideration and input.
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March 3, 1998
After staff's presentation, Chair Lubin opened the meeting for public comment.
Kim Hatch. Pults and Associates. representing the applicant, briefly reviewed a sketch of the
layout of the project and described changes made from the original project. He stated they are
trying to tighten up the site and make more of a plaza area as requested by staff. Also, a new
corridor was created between the new building and the building in the middle. Also proposed
is a new alleyway or roadway that ties into the site. He stated the color of the roofs downplays
the fact that they are metal roofs. He noted that a metal roof is appropriate for the scale of the
project. He further stated they have dealt with all of the courtyard issues and the easement
across the back for access. Mr. Hatch pointed out that this is a very preliminary design at this
time.
Fred Baur, 3000 Jatta Road. Arroyo Grande. stated he owns the property known as Hart Acre,
and he was concerned about the possible connection of Wesley to Le Point Street. Community
Development Director Liberto -Blanck advised that at this time the Public Works Department was
considering some kind of connection to Le Point, however, what they are asking as part of this
project would just be an alleyway.
Kirk Scott. 520 Via Vaquero, stated he would like to applaud the proposed project because it
would bring more people to the Village and help increase the economic viability of this area.
He referred to the General Plan Visioning Workshop, held on February 28, 1998, stating the
one item that had the overwhelming consensus of the people of Arroyo Grande was to maintain
the rural charm of the Village to assure it becomes a thriving, more pedestrian oriented area.
He questioned the design of the project in its current form, stating he has some concerns about
the architecture of the proposal and the fact he does not believe it meets the Village Design
Guidelines. The guidelines call for a similarity to the existing structures in both design and in
scale. He pointed out that the previous proposal showed a two to two and a half story building
in the back. This concept is not in keeping with the called -for similar scale and single family
homes that abut directly to the property, nor is the proposed architecture in keeping with the rest
of the Village. It was his feeling that going back to some old architectural concepts for the
exteriors would blend in a much better manner with the existing Village than what is being
proposed.
Mr. Scott commented his major concern is the traffic. He stated it was pointed out in the EIR
for the Central Coast Town Center that once that project is completed, the intersection of West
Branch, Grand Avenue and Traffic Way will fall to a Level F in service, and in his opinion
projects are blindly approved with no regard to the impact of traffic or collecting proper traffic
mitigation fees. He requested that this Commission strongly recommend to the City Council that
the existing traffic problems, and the new traffic problems created with other developments be
dealt with before creating any other developments or further exacerbate our already critical
circulation problems.
Don Selvey. P. 0. Box 74, Pismo Beach, stated after looking at the plans he sees a lot of
improvements with the plans submitted tonight vs. the previous plans. The character of the
Village has a variety of small buildings, each one different. The addition of the building to the
north helps the Village because it does not give as much space between the existing Village
buildings and this project. He stated there is a lot of potential to this site and, in his opinion,
this project is not utilizing that potential.
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Mark Miller. 120 Hart Lane, asked if the alleyway will go through his property. Community
Development Director Liberto - Blanck stated, basically, it would not really connect to Hart Lane.
Mr. Miller stated the parking lot is there for their Bed and Breakfast.
Bill Hart. 2000 Huasna Road, asked if Le Point Street is going to be continued through between
the parsonage and the building? He stated he is encouraged that the property is being developed
and the developer is trying to keep the charm of the Village. His concern is the plans he saw
only showed two entrances to the center; one was off of Wesley behind the auto body shop and
the other one came in off of Hart Lane. Both seemed to be about the same size and would haul
about the same amount of traffic. He pointed out that Hart Lane and Amanda's are both private
driveways and they are only about 20 feet wide. He noted that some of the property owners
could be heavily impacted and are interested in what is going to happen here. Ms. Liberto-
Blanck clarified that the project before the Commission tonight is just a Pre - Application Review
and no formal application has been filed. She stated if and when a formal application is
submitted, more information will be available and a traffic analysis will be provided. This is
a conceptual plan; the reason notices were sent to the property owners was to get early input
from the public. Mr. Hart commented he is concerned about traffic on Hart Lane because he
does not think it can handle any significant traffic at all, and he is concerned for his neighbors
that Le Point Street would be extended. It is a City policy at this time that Le Point Street not
be extended and that traffic would continue on private alleys and driveways from Nevada Street
through Wesley Street.
Harley Boos. 121 Nevada Street. stated he owns the Arroyo Grande Veterinary Clinic, and he
would be impacted in either case. He commented that if this does go through Hart Lane, he has
parking that is right off of Hart Lane and he is concerned about the ingress and egress of traffic.
If there is traffic flow cutting through the back of his property, it would impact the parking that
he currently has there. He stated he would like to see something happen with that property,
however, the traffic going through will impact his business considerably.
Joe DeLucia, 1042 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, developer of the project, addressed some of
the issues brought forward. He stated that originally the project did not have any connectors
coming through either Le Point Street or Hart Lane. There is a deed restriction on the property
that goes across the 48 inch water main from Lopez Lake. In looking at the title report and
learning of the deed restriction, it was realized that the City did have a right to put a road across
the property that was not in the original project. The City asked for several things and the
developer has attempted to accommodate those requests. The 24 foot wide "alley" that is
proposed will provide for truck deliveries for the retail stores. Also communicated with Amanda
next door have taken place to possibly develop something that would assist her in having
deliveries come onto our property and somehow back up to a shared area in the back. The idea
is to develop Hart Lane as a pedestrian friendly area to allow people to park on the project
property and transverse through the rest of downtown via Hart Lane and /or Branch Street. He
commented that at first they had a very negative reaction to this idea of putting a road through
the property because of the cost, etc., however, they felt that eliminating the impact of traffic
going out on to Grand Avenue and by creating an area where traffic could be maintained inside
would be a significant factor.
Mr. DeLucia explained the reason the buildings are not as close together as the rest of the
Village is the fact that the City asked for more of a courtyard /pedestrian friendly area with
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March 3, 1998
perhaps a restaurant or some sort of an area with outside seating. With regard to the quality of
the project and the finishes, Mr. DeLucia stated that the investors involved in this project are
long term County ranchers who provide long term ownerships of property and like high quality
projects. Relating to traffic issues, Mr. DeLucia noted they have tried to mitigate some of the
impacts coming down to Branch Street already, and with regard to the levels of the traffic of this
site, it is felt that there had been previous intensifications on this site that have since been
diminished such as the Catholic Church and several other uses. He commented they have a
relatively short window to get the overall feelings of the community and the City, which is one
of the reasons they have filed a pre - application review. They have been to Public Works and
the Architectural Advisory Committee, and this proposal is a reflection of their input.
Hearing no further comments from the audience, Chair Lubin reserved further comments to the
Planning Commission.
Commissioner Greene commented he had spent considerable time studying the old plan, and he
feels that the new site plan presents new issues that he is not yet prepared to speak to in detail.
His general observation is this is a significant improvement over the old site. plan because it
seems to address some of the concerns of staff and, in his opinion, will enable the City to
benefit from the kind of pedestrian friendly malls that San Luis Obispo has. He commented that
the original plan seemed to mass the buildings in a way that was inconsistent with the traditional
look of the Village. He observed that the project will create more vehicular problems for the
City, and at this point it is too early to determine whether those problems are outweighed or
mitigated by the benefits. The traffic will be completely directed to Wesley, which means there
will be some traffic that will, by necessity, use Larchmont and Vernon to get into the project,
and care needs to be taken so as not to impact those streets. He further stated he was glad to
see the driveway on Branch Street was eliminated. As far as the look of the project,
Commissioner Greene stated he prefers a look that is not distinguished from the Village, but is
more consistent and compatible with the Village environment. He further commented that the
parking spur shown between Building D and the corner property, unless it is specifically
designed for handicapped parking, in his opinion, might be surperfilous and could be deleted;
landscaping, greenery or some area that is pedestrian friendly could be added in this area to give
more open space. He stated it was his feeling that the 1988 plan did not take into consideration
enough native plants and drought tolerant vegetation, and he would like to see some effort made
to utilize this type of planting in a fashion that blends in with the hillside behind the site.
Commissioner Haney distributed some notes he had prepared regarding the project. He stated
he was a little frustrated because he only had the previous plans to review and he felt the
Commissioners and the public would have appreciated being able to review the changes to the
plan in more detail before this evening. He commented he believes something very significant
and very major needs to be done in the Village area to retain it as a significant shopping
destination point, particularly in view of the 360,000 square feet of commercial space that is
going to be developed in the Central Coast Town Center. There is no question that shopping
traffic, and traffic overall, is going to decline in the Village area. Therefore, this particular
project will be one of several that we need in order to make a substantive additive to the Village.
He stated he supports development of an appropriate mix of uses for this and other sites in the
Village area.
With regard to traffic, Commissioner Haney stated he was involved in the EIR process for the
Central Coast Town Center and the buildout of other projects in the area, and the designation
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for the intersection where this project is proposed is D, E and F, depending on whether it is
today or when the other projects are built out. His concern is that the community is not dealing
with the traffic problems. Nothing has been done in the Village to pull additional traffic, trucks,
etc. off of East Branch Street, which has been talked about for a good 20 years or maybe longer.
He highlighted a list of unresolved traffic problems which, in his opinion, are very critical. He
referred to this project, the proposed Arroyo Linda Project which will be using the northbound
on ramp at Grand Avenue as one of its primary access points to Grand Avenue. He stated he
is not in favor of deferring these traffic problems to the future and it is important that they be
dealt with today. If it means postponement or deferral of a project, he does not like to see that,
however, he is also unwilling to just wave projects through and pile problem after problem on
to our traffic circulation system. Also, he feels additional study needs to be done on the issue
of access from Wesley to Le Point Street, and the overall circulation needs of the Village and
the residents on adjacent streets must be considered.
Commissioner Haney addressed comments with reference to the previous project layout and
design. He stated, in his opinion, the massing of buildings and density along East Branch Street
is too intense and is not compatible with what exists there now. He likes the idea of pulling the
plaza back further inside the project, however, he does not care for the metal roofs in the
Village area and favors the Village materials such as stone, brick and dated facades. He
commented that the ample parking is one of the most viable draws of this project.
Commissioner Rondeau stated he has reviewed the plans of the previous project and, at this
time, all the Commission can do is talk in generalities as to what they would like and what they
don't like. He suggested continuing this item to a later date when more up to date information
is available for review by the public and the Commissioners.
Chair Lubin stated he is definitely in favor of a project on this site. The development of the
Village and the opportunity to bring additional foot traffic to the Village is extremely important.
He indicated he also has a significant concern about traffic and how it is mitigated through the
parking, alleyway, the Le Point issue and the parking lane issues, and he believes all of these
traffic issues have to be recognized prior to any project being approved. Also, street
continuation processes and how that affects neighbors' properties needs to be taken into
consideration. He stated he doesn't believe the metal roofs are appropriate for the Village, need
to stay within the Village Design Guidelines and develop a concept that continues the Village,
bringing to the Village a successful project and also enhance the Village itself. He further stated
he would like to see a project that looks like and continues the Village. He agreed with other
Commissioners regarding a better presentation, including full color drawings and some image
of the project being presented so the Commission will have a feel of what we are talking about
and how it will blend in with the Village area.
Community Development Director Liberto -Blanck requested input from the Commission on
whether or not there are additional environmental issues that need to be addressed that have not
been identified in the staff report. Are there additional environmental issues; are there concerns
regarding preparing an expanded initial study rather than a focused environmental impact report?
There was some discussion about how the project could provide better pedestrian access; were
there any comments about the retention basin and joint uses on that, and what is the
Commission's feelings about the fiscal impact analysis.
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March 3, 1998
Chair Lubin stated he is very much in favor of expediting anything that can be expedited,
however, not at the expense of the issues that are important to a project and, in his opinion, the
issues that have been discussed tonight are extremely important to this project.
Commissioner Haney stated it would be difficult at this time to make some kind of delineation
between a focused EIR or whether it may be necessary to make an expanded initial study. He
stated the traffic and drainage are the major issues in terms of environmental issues impacting
the project at this time. He further stated, in his judgement, the traffic issue is beyond an
expanded initial study.
With regard to a fiscal impact analysis, Chair Lubin stated he sat on the Fiscal Impact Analysis
Committee and helped design the guidelines, and this project is an ideal project for a fiscal
impact analysis. He further stated he doesn't believe the Commission has enough information
to make any decision on the retention basin. He commented he does have some concerns about
the environmental issues and if staff could show that those issues could be handled in an
expanded initial study, then he would be in favor of that; if not, then he would favor a focus
EIR.
Hearing no further discussion or comments, Chair Lubin closed the item.
NON - PUBLIC HEARING - TENTATIVE TRACT NO. 2217, STREET NAMES;
APPLICANT: COKER ELLSWORTH; LOCATION; 590 EAST CHERRY AVENUE.
Associate Planner Bruce Buckingham stated that in February 1997 the City Council approved
Tentative Tract Map No. 2217 located at Cherry Avenue and Branch Mill Road. There were
two street names shown on the tract map which were not approved, consequently the applicant
has requested approval of street names for that tract as listed in the staff report dated March 3,
1998. The street names were approved by the Staff Advisory Committee, and staff recommends
approval of the street names as proposed by the applicant.
There being no further discussion, on motion by Commissioner Greene, seconded by
Commissioner Haney, and unanimously carried, street names for Tract No. 2217 were approved
as proposed.
PLANNING COMMISSION /COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR ITEMS AND
COMMENTS.
A. Update of Projects. Community Development Director Liberto -Blanck briefly reviewed
various projects that will be coming before the Planning Commission and Council.
Commissioner Haney referred to the notice of a Draft EIR for the Woodlands Specific
Plan, and inquired about the impacts to the City. Ms. Liberto -Blanck commented that
this is a fairly significant project. Staff has not yet had the opportunity to review the
EIR, however, in her opinion water, traffic, air quality and cumulative impacts will
definitely be some of the impact issues. She further stated it will be up to the City
Council to direct staff to make comments to the County on the project.
The Planning Commission indicated their support to approach the City Council for
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direction to staff to review and comment on the EIR. Ms. Liberto -Blanck stated this
item could be placed on the next agenda for a recommendation to the Council for staff
to attend meetings on the Woodlands Specific Plan EIR.
B. General Plan Update. Ms. Liberto -Blanck briefly reviewed the General Plan Visioning
Workshop held on Saturday, February 28, stating it was quite successful, and the
consultant will have results available in approximately two weeks.
WRITTEN CORRESPONDENCE - None
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the Commission, on motion by Commissioner Haney,
seconded by Commissioner Rondeau, and unanimously carried, the meeting was adjourned at
9:00 p.m.
ATTEST:
Pearl L. Phinney, Commission Clerk
AS TO CONTENT:
Doreen Liberto - Blanck, AICP ,0 ------4
Community Development Director