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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCouncil Drctn - Drive-Through RestaurantsCITY OF PALM DESERT DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT STAFF REPORT REQUEST: CITY COUNCIL DIRECTION REGARDING DRIVE -THROUGH RESTAURANTS WITHIN THE CITY OF PALM DESERT SUBMITTED BY: Ryan Stendell, Director of Community Development DATE: January 28, 2016 CONTENTS: City Council Meeting Minutes of January 22, 2015 Recommendation By Minute Motion: Provide additional direction to staff related to the discussion of drive -through restaurants. Executive Summary This agenda item is brought forward in response to Mayor Bob Spiegel's request during the January 14, 2016, City Council meeting. Drive -through restaurants are currently permitted only near Interstate 10 interchanges in the Freeway Commercial Overlay Zone (FCOZ) areas. This item has been previously discussed by the City Council at the January 22, 2015, meeting. The Council directed staff to study the issue of drive -through restaurants through the General Plan update process. The General Plan process is likely to be at the City Council for public hearings in April/May 2016, and will contain recommended strategies. Backqround In March 1997, the City Council established a special overlay zone around freeway interchanges. This overlay zone allows conditional uses that are appropriate for a freeway setting, such as drive -through restaurants, car washes, gas stations, convenience stores, mini warehouses, and recreational vehicle and boat storage. The precise areas in which drive -through restaurants are permitted have changed over the years as underlying zones were changed, subsequent projects were entitled, and master plans were approved. Presently, drive -through restaurants are allowed as conditional uses on master planned sites larger than five acres in the areas shown in red below: Staff Report Drive -Through Restaurants Page 2 of 2 January 28, 2016 Anal►►sis Staff has discussed the issue of drive -through restaurants with the General Plan Technical Working Group (TWG), and believes there will be reasonable ways to expand the FCOZ in the future. However, staff and the TWG are not recommending drive -through in the City's Commercial Core (HWY 1111El Paseo) due to the pedestrian -oriented environment being planned. Fiscal Analysis There is no fiscal impact relating to staff's request. Submitted By: Ryan Stendell, irector of Community Development A roval. n M. Wohlmuth, City Manager MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING JANUARY 22, 2015 Because City staff was in control of those funds, they were dispersed in a way used only for safety. Therefore, if staff remains in control of traffic safety, police dispatching, etc., it will work out to the benefit of the City where staff can manage how the course will be handled from a safety perspective, and the YMCA receives the funding it needs to get going. The interesting thing is that not only did the event cost more to produce, the YMCA was able to garner more than originally anticipated or budgeted in revenue from sponsorships. Mayor Weber and Councilmember Harnik agreed it was a great event. Councilman Jonathan stated that for a first-time event, everyone worked very hard on it, including staff members and other volunteers. The sponsorships that were acquired were very successful, because if the numbers are divided at the Gold Level of $5,000, Silver Level at $2,500, and the T-shirt listing for $100, one will notice there was quite a number of sponsors that were involved. For the most part, he expected 100% of them to resign because they were extremely happy, which was a foundation to build upon. Mayor Weber called for the vote and the motion carried by a 4-0 vote (AYES: Harnik, Jonathan, Tanner, and Weber; NOES: None; ABSENT: Spiegel). XV. CONTINUED BUSINESS None XVI. OLD BUSINESS A. REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL DIRECTION REGARDING POTENTIAL EXPANSION OF AREAS IN WHICH DRIVE -THROUGH RESTAURANTS ARE PERMITTED WITHIN THE CITY OF PALM DESERT. Councilmember Harnik noted Mayor Pro Tern Spiegel asked to have this on the agenda, but he's not here. She asked if it was appropriate to continue the item until he was present. Mr. Wohlmuth explained it was at the discretion of the City Council if it wanted to continue the item until Mayor Pro Tern Spiegel was present. It is also an option of the Council if it wanted to provide direction to staff and/or hear the staff report, and still continue the matter after it heard the staff report. Councilman Tanner said he would like to hear the staff report, stating there are people in the audience that would like to speak to the matter as well. 12 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING JANUARY 22, 2015 Ms. Aylaian stated this issue was before the Council at the request of Mayor Pro Tern Spiegel who asked to have Drive -through Restaurants placed on the agenda. Most recently, the Council debated this issue in August 2013, but at that time, the City was undertaking a plan to develop a strategic plan visioning its growth and how it wanted to situate itself 20 or 30 years from now. The Council ultimately decided the issue should be addressed by the large group of residents, business owners, and policy makers who were participating in the strategic plan. The strategic plan was completed and two elements that came from it was economic development and the other was land use, open space, and housing. The group indicated that it was essential the City develop a comprehensive General Plan Update and that the update focus on land use along the Highway 111 corridor. In particular, they indicated there needed to be a balance of business types, architectural styles, and eye toward how the City was going to grow in the future in its commercial core. Because the issue of drive -through restaurants is tied into all areas of the City and there is interest in having them along the Highway 111 corridor, it was recommended this issue be held off until it can be considered as part of the General Plan Update. Since the strategic plan and since that direction was considered, staff has embarked on the update of the General Plan, stating it was a 1 Y2-year process and they were six months into it. The subcommittee includes two Councilmembers and two Planning Commissioners, and they are currently considering a number of elements dealing with land use, economic development, aesthetics, and City image. Therefore, drive -through restaurants would be considered as part of the General Plan Update. She said this matter can be left as is, following the last directive to staff, which was to address it as part of the General Plan Update. Or the City Council could give policy direction to either proceed with an Ordinance to allow drive -through restaurants throughoutthe City or a specific zone with staff proceeding accordingly. However, staff recommends that any change of the Ordinance be done in a deliverable manner, because it will require a fair amount of studying, stating there are issues affecting traffic circulation, business development, and negative impacts on surrounding businesses. Staff also wants to look at health impacts, traffic circulations, air quality, and aesthetics. She said whatever direction Council wished to pursue, staff was ready, but they would like policy guidance. She acknowledged it will take a while for staff to work through any changes in the Ordinance and return with something that was representative of the high quality of development in Palm Desert. She displayed a map of the north side of Palm Desert, because the south side was purely residential and she didn't see it changing. She proceeded to outline and explain what the color --coded areas on the map respresented as follows: The three areas shown in red are the locations where drive -through restaurants are currently permitted; other types of drive-throughs such as banks and pharmacies are permitted in other areas in the City. She said the map only showed drive-throughs for restaurants, stating the idea was to have them close to the 13 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING JANUARY 22, 2015 interstate and overpasses. In conclusion, she said the Ordinance has changed on a couple of occasions as master plans for different developments have been approved; therefore, shown now are essentially the parcels on which drive-throughs are currently allowed within the City. She offered to answer questions. Councilmember Harnik stated that after hearing the comprehensive staff report, she was in favor of looking at this issue after the General Plan Update process. Councilmember Harnik moved to, by Minute Motion, direct staff to: Option 3) Study drive -through restaurants as part of the ongoing effortto update the General Plan, focusing on the economic, aesthetic, traffic circulation, and health impacts of these restaurants — prepare Zoning Ordinance Amendments, if any, at conclusion of the General Plan Update process. Motion was seconded by Tanner. MR. DICK SHALHOUB, Owner of McDonald Restaurants in the Coachella Valley, especially in Palm Desert. He thanked the Council and staff for all the work, stating this issue has been discussed for years and he was glad to see that finally the City was honing in on the matter. He said City staff and members of the community have been working on this for a long time, but to this date and to his knowledge, no one has ever talked to someone who has a drive -through restaurant. Therefore, he suggested that might be a proper way of getting the proper information to filter through the stuff that comes up. He said the development of the downtown core is so essential and very important to the next 25 or 30 years. He said he had a sizable investment of children in Palm Desert, so he will be here for a long time. The addition of a drive -through enhancement would support everything he did in Palm Desert, stating they can make the development so appealing that one would not even know there's a drive -through restaurant there; he is willing to provide his plans as discussed previously. Lastly, to put an end to a rumor floating around, whether or not a drive -through is permitted at his current location, he said they will remain and rebuilt. He offered to answer any questions. MR. DAVID FLETCHER, Covered Wagon Trail, Palm Desert, stated that as a resident of Palm Desert, he encouraged the City Council to try to make this happen, stating fast-food restaurants should be able to provide that service to the residents in the community. Councilman Jonathan said he understood there are merits to drive -through restaurants and he wasn't objectable to them on face value, but he appreciated Ms. Aylaian's report, because there are competing interests in terms of traffic circulation, aesthetics, etc. He was glad this issue was being revisited, but the competing benefits versus any adverse consequences 14 MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING JANUARY 22, 2015 associated with drive -through restaurants had to be analyzed. Perhaps, if nothing else, identify additional areas that may not be in such sensitive portions of the City. Mayor Weber agreed it was time to revisit this issue because things had changed a lot since drive -through restaurants first came around, stating they are now planned carefully and didn't look like a 70's drive -through. Mayor Weber called for the vote and the motion carried by a 4-0 vote (AYES: Harnik, Jonathan, Tanner, and Weber; NOES: None; ABSENT: Spiegel). B. CONSIDERATION OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF HEALTH AND RELATED INSURANCE BENEFITS FOR COUNCILMEMBERS. Human Resources Manager Lori Carney noted the staff report and offered to answer questions. Councilmember Harnik noted Mayor Pro Tern Spiegel asked for this item to be placed on the agenda, and he requested that it be continued. She said it would be courteous to continue until he is in attendance. Councilmember Harnik moved to, by Minute Motion, continue this item to the meeting of February 12, 2015. Motion was seconded by Tanner and it carried by a 4-0 vote (AYES: Harnik, Jonathan, Tanner, and Weber; NOES: None; ABSENT: Spiegel). XVII. PUBLIC HEARINGS A. CITY COUNCIL REQUEST FOR REVIEW OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION'S DECISION RELATED TO A LARGE FAMILY DAY CARE USE PERMIT FOR A MAXIMUM OF 14 CHILDREN LOCATED AT 74085 FAIRWAY DRIVE — PROJECT IS EXEMPT FROM PROVISIONS OF THE CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT (CEQA) PER SECTION 15301 (CLASS 1, EXISTING FACILITIES) OF CEQA GUIDELINES, Larae Familv Dav Care Use Permit 14-188 (Samantha Clark, Applicant) (Continued from the meeting of January 8, 2015). Principal Planner Tony Bagato stated he will briefly highlight the status since the last meeting, also noting the published recommendation on the agenda has been changed with a new resolution being proposed today. The discussions at the last meeting involved a potential mid -block crosswalk and whether or not it was legal to install one. In that research, staff concluded it is legal to install a crosswalk. However, an engineer study is needed to ensure all the safety measures are in place if the City were to do that. If that were the case, staff would recommend that the crosswalk be marked. However, traffic studies have shown that they are less safe than leaving it 15