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PC Minutes 1995-04-04ARROYO GRANDE CITY COUNCIL AND PLANNING COMMISSION APRIL 4, 1995 The Arroyo Grande City Council and Planning Commission met in a Special Session with Mayor Dougall and Chairperson Keen presiding. Council Members present are Souza, Brandy, Lady, and Fuller. Planning Commissioners present are Tappan, Deviny, and Beck. Commissioners Soto, Carr, and Hatchett are absent. Interim City Manager Rick TerBorch, Planning Director Doreen Liberto - Blanck, and Assistant City Attorney Tim Carmel are in attendance. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS - None Mayor Dougall and Chairperson Keen gave opening statements regarding the aspects of this special meeting. Planning Director Liberto - Blanck gave a overview of the purpose of the meeting from staff's perspective and spoke briefly regarding the first item, Business Friendly Attitude. Business Friendly Attitude Council Members and Planning Commissioners agreed that everyone in the City is involved with conveying a business friendly attitude. Staff was commended on the significant inroads that have been made, but it was agreed that continuation in an upward direction was necessary. Some of the concerns /comments mentioned were: • Lack of areas in the City to attract perspective light industrial businesses. Re- zoning of existing land in the City and annexations may be helpful. • Streamlining the process by making sure the applicant is aware of conditions. Being sure the applicant knows up front what his fees will be or at least an "good" ballpark or the structure he can apply. The Planning Department should have this information available of all other City fees for the applicant. • Go over present fees, adjusting where feasible, keeping in mind the "burden" of the applicant balanced with the "care" of the citizens. Traffic Mitigation Fees and Signalization needed to be looked into more carefully. • Having someone personally "walk the applicant" through the process. • Additional staff and cross - functional training to achieve long term financial improvement. • Being sure applicant knows time frame from when he begins to approval and including appeal time, if that was necessary. • Study the General Plan and Development Code for possible amendments. • Being sure the applicant knows what conditions to expect and staff will be prepared to stand by those. 1 1 1 1 1 1 Arroyo Grande City Council and Planning Commission Page 2 April 4, 1995 • Deferment of fees until business gets established. • Looking at perspective applicants considering revenues that will be generated. Development Application Process Planning Director Liberto - Blanck gave a brief presentation on this item. Discussion was held by the Council Members and Commissioners and comments /suggestions were: • The City cannot sit back and wait for business to come; the City must reach out to attract business and have incentives to offer. • Application processing time should be reduced. • Applicants should have no "surprises ", but know as much as feasible at the beginning: how long process will take (including appeal time); how much City fees will be (with allowance of "structure" information); what the applicant is responsible to do in the process; and so forth. • Agricultural areas in the City should be reviewed to determine whether it is timely to change the land use designations. • Annexation policies should be revised. • The Planning Director should be given more authority to approve projects. City Development and User Tees Planning Director Liberto - Blanck gave a brief presentation on this item, handing out a List of City Fees (as of 4/4/95) to the Councilmen and Commissioners. Comments and suggestions by Council Members and Commissioners were: • Fine tune the Development Code and General Plan to cut down need for interpretations. • Staff will bring back report to the Council requiring fees to cover costs. Signs and Sign Ordinance Planning Director Liberto - Blanck spoke on this item and then discussion was held. Comments and suggestions by Council Members and Commissioners were: • Code Enforcement is definitely needed. • Sign Ordinance needs to be amended. • Inventory signs which would be impacted by proposed new sign ordinance, before adopting new sign ordinance. • Enforcement should balance business friendly attitude with necessity for firm enforcement. Arroyo Grande City Council and Planning Commission Page 3 April 4, 1995 • Direction is needed from City Council to the Planning Commission regarding what is a sign and what is architectural enhancement. Code Enforcement Interim City Manager Rick TerBorch gave an overview of the Code Enforcement item, stating the position will be self funding through fees collected. Chief TerBorch also said 70 to 80% of code violations are residential. Comments and suggestions by Council Members and Commissioners were: • Proactive code enforcement is needed. • Staff should return with alternative options for Code Enforcement. . The consensus of the Council Members and Commissioners was that the joint meeting helped to clarify issues and more meetings of this kind are needed. Items F through L on the Agenda will be covered at the next joint meeting. Mayor Dougall expressed his thanks to the audience for attending the meeting. The Mayor further stated that there was a lot of talent within the community and help from the citizens to implement the suggestions made this evening is needed. CITY COUNCIL /PLANNING COMMISSION /CITY MANAGER /DIRECTOR'S ITEMS AND COMMENTS - None WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS - None ADJOURNMENT There being no further business before the City Council adjourned at 9:15 P.M. to City Council's Planning Commission adjourned at 9:15 P.M. to ATTEST: Nancy Brown,* ommission Clerk Council and Planning Commission, the City next regular meeting on April 11, 1995. The the next regular meeting on April 18, 1995. A. K. "Pete" Dougall, Mayor Jol , een, CI . 'rperson 1 1 1