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.
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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
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