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HomeMy WebLinkAbout0117 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING TUESDAY - JANUARY 17, 1995 7 :00 P.M. - CIVIC CENTER COUNCIL CHAMBER 73-510 FRED WARING DRIVE i..r * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I . CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Jonathan called the meeting to order at 7 : 00 p.m. II . PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Commissioner Fernandez led in the pledge of allegiance. III . ROLL CALL Members Present: Sabby Jonathan, Chairperson George Fernandez Robert Spiegel Carol Whitlock Members Absent: Paul Beaty Staff Present: Ray Diaz Gregg Holtz Bob Hargreaves Tonya Monroe IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: � Consideration of the January 3, 1995 meeting minutes . Action: Moved by Commissioner Whitlock, seconded by Commissioner Spiegel, approving the January 3, 1995 meeting minutes as submitted. Carried 4-0 . V. SUMMARY OF COUNCIL ACTION: Mr. Diaz summarized pertinent January 12, 1995 city council actions . VI . CONSENT CALENDAR None. VII . PUBLIC HEARINGS A. Case No. CUP 94-15 - DRAGAN P. RANKOVICH, Applicant Request for approval of a conditional use permit to allow the operation of a 2816 square foot billiard room with eight pool tables and beer and wine �, service at 72-990 E1 Paseo, Suite No. 2, in the PC(3) S.P. zone. MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 Mr. Diaz stated that staff was recommending approval of the � conditional use permit with the conditions setforth. He said there were some letters received in opposition; the one received today related to the type of customers that might frequent this establishment, but those were issues that should not be entered into as far as the conditional use permit was concerned. The conditions set forth in the resolution called for a limitation on the hours of operation from 11 : 00 a.m. to 2 : 00 a.m. , a maximum of eight pool tables, and required to comply with all city, state and federal regulations as far as the beer and wine and other activities were concerned. The operator was also required to monitor the parking lot to prevent loitering or creating any surrounding businesses . If commission wanted, it could modify condition 4 to include that the operator provide to the city a monitoring program to be approved by the city. Staff recommended approval . Commissioner Spiegel noted there were currently two billiard parlors in the city; Mr. Diaz concurred. Commissioner Spiegel said there was one recently approved near San Pablo and Highway 111; Mr. Diaz identified it as St. George ' s . Commissioner Spiegel asked about hours of operation for St. "'� George' s; Mr. Diaz stated that he did not have that � information but thought they closed at 12 : 00 a.m. +�•r� Commissioner Spiegel questioned if the proposal should be allowed to remain open until 2 : 00 a.m. ; Mr. Diaz recalled that in regard to St. George' s hours, it had a situation where the facility was closer to the residential area than this one, but they could impose the 12 : 00 a.m. condition and indicate to the applicant that if after six months or one year there haven't been any problems, then they could come in and request the additional two hours . Commissioner Spiegel asked if there had been any problems to staff ' s knowledge with the two facilities currently operating; Mr. Diaz replied that it was his understanding that the city had not received any complaints regarding St. George' s or Hotpockets . Chairperson Jonathan asked if the surrounding businesses ' hours were until 2 : 00 a.m. ; Mr. Diaz replied no--he said that while their hours of operation were not controlled, he believed they closed before 12 : 00 a.m. Chairperson Jonathan opened the public testimony and asked the applicant to address the commission. MS. JEANETTE KATALANO, a partner in the Apache Coral, stated that she wanted to clarify that this would be a � � 2 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 �' billiard club, not classified as a "pool hall" . They were in the center with Max's and the Dollhouse and she felt their hours were until 2 : 00 a.m. which was why they adopted their hours . They did not want to interfere with any other person' s business . She said they received a letter from the Dollhouse which stated that their proposal would bring people of a lower caliber to the center which would interfere with ladies going to the salon and their establishment, which was not true. She said that she intended to be in the establishment operating the business with Mr. Rankovich. It would be a higher end billiard club and would cost in excess of $100,000 to put the best tables that Brunswick had to offer, the Gold Crown tables, and they would have centennial balls on request, which were the most expensive. She felt it be a class "A" number 1 business . There would be carpet, tile, the walls would be papered--it would not draw the lower class people � that the businesses were inferring--it would be very nice. She stressed that it would be a higher-end family oriented business . They intended to serve beer and wine, which she felt any business did and they would not establish a kitchen operation. If in the future a liquor license was required, they would apply for it. � Commissioner Spiegel asked if they were serving any food; Ms . Katalano replied that if they had a happy hour, but it would just be items that could be served--nothing would be cooked on the premises and no kitchen would be installed. Commissioner Spiegel asked what the prices would be to play; Ms . Katalano replied approximately $8 . 00 per hour for the tables . Chairperson Jonathan asked if anyone wished to address the commission in FAVOR or OPPOSITION to the proposal . MR. JOE BRANDT, the landlord and a partner of the Columbia Center, said that he took a parking count at 2 : 00 p.m. and there were 70 empty parking spaces and right now there were 38 empty parking spaces . He also had a letter with signatures from all the tenants in the center, except the Dollhouse, stating that they were aware of the billiard parlor and they felt it would bring in customers . He noted that two years ago the building burnt down and since then he had not had a tenant in there. He was hopinq the center would not be a "ghost town" . The tenants did not feel there would be a parking problem and were welcoming it. He wanted to �" 3 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 ,� $ state as a partner that the business would improve the "� center and Palm Desert. Chairperson Jonathan closed the public testimony and asked for commission comments . Commissioner Spiegel stated that the only question he had was hours of operation, but if the other commissioners felt 2 : 00 a.m. was acceptable, he would not object. Commissioner Whitlock said that she did not have a problem with the 2 : 00 a.m. if the other businesses in the center had the same capability. If the Dollhouse and Max' s Opera Cafe were under those guidelines, she saw no reason to restrict the billiard club, but if their hours were different, she would like them all to coincide. Mr. Diaz stated that all the other businesses in the center could stay open until 2 : 00 a.m. --they had the ability to, but chose not to. He indicated that if the commission approved the 2 : 00 a.m. closure and if at any time there was a problem, then they would be back here to defend it and they could go through a re-hearing and cut their hours of operation. He <� said that all of the businesses in the center could stay open until 2 : 00 a.m. '� Commissioner Whitlock stated that since this was a conditional use permit, if there was a problem, it could be brought back to the commission at any time; Mr. Diaz concurred. Commissioner Fernandez agreed with comments made by Commissioner Whitlock on the hours of operation and noted that if there was a problem, the item could be brought back and addressed in six months or a year. Chairperson Jonathan felt that this was a good location for a billiard club; it was surrounded by restaurants, restaurants with entertainment, a coffee house and was an ideal center for the use. Action: Moved by Commissioner Spiegel, seconded by Commissioner Whitlock, approving the findings as presented by staff . Carried 4-0 . � � :� +r�ri% 4 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 �' Moved by Commissioner Spiegel, seconded by Commissioner Whitlock, adopting Planning Commission Resolution No. 1676, approving CUP 94-15, subject to conditions . Carried 4-0 . B. Case No. CUP 94-14 - MONTEREY PARTNERS, LTD. , Applicant Request for approval of a conditional use permit to allow the operation of a limited menu fast food restaurant, without drive-thru, in 2100 square feet of an existing building in the Plaza de Monterey center at the southeast corner of Monterey Avenue and Country Club Drive. Mr. Diaz stated that as part of the staff report the commission had a copy of a plot plan of Plaza de Monterey which identified the location of the restaurant and location of parking spaces where the parking study was done by staff. In terms of this particular use, it appeared that as far as parking problems that would be related to this use, parking could be provided within the existing vacancies of the center. However, there were numerous letter received '�' relating to existing problems as far as commercial parking on Sagewood Drive, excess trash and odors emanating from the existing facilities . Commission had various ways of dealing with this application in that regard: 1) commission could say that there were numerous problems there now--when those problems were solved, they could come back; 2) if the existing problems were resolved, then the permit was approved; or 3) commission could condition the present facility to resolve the present problems . As indicated in the staff report, there was ample parking. As far as the odor complaints were concerned, they contacted the Southern California Air Quality Management District; they indicated that the letters received were not sufficient to generate an inspection by them. He said that if people had complaints, they could call SCAQMD at 1-800-CUT-SMOG. As far as this particular use was concerned at this particular center in and of itself, staff did not believe it would generate a problem. He recommended that if the commission was going to approve this facility, that it do so with the conditions set forth in the resolution without modification. Commissioner Spiegel asked if the existing restaurants, particularly the Kenny Rogers, did not need a conditional use permit because they were under the 20� guideline for a � 5 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 shopping center. Mr. Diaz stated that was correct. He noted � that one thing that staf f was looking at now was the question of whether to require a conditional use permit for all restaurants as a result of what had occurred here or not. Commissioner Fernandez asked as far as the trash situation was concerned, if the city was enforcing it at this time to solve the problems . Mr. Diaz said that the trash at the existing facility, which was a problem they had and in researching it today, they found that when they had a complaint it was promptly solved two or three days later by the code department. The trash was not picked up immediately. He said that staff had not had the opportunity to contact Waste Management to see if there was an ability to pick up daily, or if the problem was solved because they already pick up two or three times a week and it would have been solved any way. He said that a neighborhood restaurant should have a good relationship with surrounding residential areas and this center was not doing its part, not only with the trash but with the odors . He noted that the smell of roasted chicken could smell good at first, but it would not be appealing every day for a number of hours . These were things that could be corrected and should be--there wasn't � the same situation with the proposed restaurant. He felt this might be the time to get something done because they � couldn't before. Commissioner Spiegel noted that there were questions about illegal parking; he asked if the police department had been contacted. Mr. Diaz said that staff was talking to the police department--he noted that the problem with people parking in the red no parking zone was they were not being ticketed. They were contacting the police department on that, but one sugqestion was to have the fire department issue citations--they were looking into that also, but it had not worked in the past. As far as the sheriff ' s department was concerned, they had problems with available man-power. Mr. Diaz suggested that a community service officer could enforce the no parking zone. He felt the word would spread very quickly, but right now it was not being enforced as diligently as the city might wish. Commissioner Whitlock said that if they were going to adopt the conditions as recommended, that it pertain to Wendy' s only about delivery hours, she asked if they could implement that same type of program for the rest of the center' s delivery hours . She asked why they should just restrict � Wendy' s delivery hours and not the rest of the center that � � 6 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 '�' was part of the problem. Mr. Diaz stated that the city could not at this point impose other delivery hours on the rest of the center because those issues were not before the commission. As part of the original approval of the center, the city did have delivery hours identified and they had been adhered to. He believed that with regard to the rest of the center, there was not a problem with deliveries . The problems that he had heard about which were brought to him dealt with parking in front of Lucky' s and other areas and circulation (getting in and out of the center) . He felt that a special zoning ordinance for that center could be adopted, but he did not believe that delivery hours were a problem, nor were delivery hours for Wendy' s a problem with the operator. Commissioner Spiegel noted that in his report, Mr. Diaz indicated there would be additional street lights, street widening and extensions . Mr. Diaz stated that there was a , traffic signal proposed at the driveway immediately to the east, but because the commercial center at the northeast corner of Monterey and Country Club was not approved, they were probably about 18 months away from having that traffic signal installed. Commissioner Spiegel asked if there was any way to speed that time up; Mr. Diaz did not feel a nexus `�" could be established on this particular applicant. He explained that nexus meant a condition of approval that the city could place on the applicant to solve a problem that the applicant was causing. If the problem was there now, then it was not something they were causing. The signalization fees had been paid by the developer to the north and this developer. They could not require that condition, but they could say that until that signalization was in place, the proposal would not be appropriate. They did not want to make the situation worse. Chairperson Jonathan opened the public hearing and asked the applicant to address the commission. MR. BILL CARVER, 72-955 Deergrass in Palm Desert, stated that the one thing that was left out of the discussion was that this was a permitted use within the zone. This was a restaurant that brought the total restaurants within the center to about 12�, where the city ordinance was 20� . He said he had no problem with the conditions of approval that had been suggested by the staff with respect to Wendy' s . What he didn't like was the "blackmail" that was qoing on with respect to the rest of the center. If the city had come to him with their �..t 7 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 problems and indicated how they wanted to work with it, '� they would have been happy to do that, but he was not about to stand in front of the commission and tell them he would accept conditions 2 or 7 . Regarding number 7 , which had to do with instigating a program implementing a program to mitigate existing odors from the center, he said that he had no capacity as the landlord to be able to do that with his tenants that were in possession. He could do it with Wendy' s and any new tenant, but he was in no position to go to an existing tenant and tell them they had to do certain things . They had signed a lease with him. Second, with respect to taking their center only and saying that it was the only center in Palm Desert that was going to require a conditional use permit for any restaurant that goes in did not make sense to him. If there was an odor problem, that was one thing. He asked about a Subway sandwich shop; would he have to come back to the commission for every restaurant going into the center? Would he have to come back to the commission for every tenant going into the center? He felt that was a requirement that was beyond the scope of what should be given to them by right of their zoning. They had not put anything into the center that would require a conditional use permit except for the service station � that initially went in and now they wanted a new ordinance that would say that a restaurant would require a conditional use permit within their center and no other center in the city of Palm Desert. He did not think that was right. He said he would try to mitigate every possible thing he could; trash was the big thing they could "get their teeth into" because they have control over the trash. What they have been doing with their restaurants was having additional pickups for those trash containers that were near restaurant operations . He said a center such as theirs that was inviting the public to it was a weekly deposit place for the neighbors that stayed there all weekend long--they came with their trash Sunday night on the way home from their condos and threw their trash into those bins . They were collecting from the surrounding neighbors every week in the trash receptacles . It was the same thing with ciqarettes emptied into the parking lot from ash trays . Those were things that happened in a center that was available to the public. It was hard for them day in and day out to keep those things under control . They tried hard but that was beyond their control � sometimes . He said they could do something about the 8 � MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 �,., trash, particularly at the corner of Sagewood and Country Club Drive. He felt it should not have been put there, but the result of that going there was the staff saying it was the only place they could put it because there were too many objections from the property owners to the rear because of the trash area being too close to their homes, so they had to put it out there. He felt that was a bad choice and they should never have gone there. He felt there was plenty of room in the back and they had one trash area there already and they could have doubled the size. He said they would try to do those things but did not like the way it was being presented to him. He said he had the people from Wendy' s in the audience, but staf f said that Wendy' s was not the problem, the center was . He said he would appreciate it if commission would look at this as a Wendy' s application and not a shopping center application. Commissioner Spiegel said that he knew Mr. Carver wanted to be a good neighbor, but the commission received quite a few letters from area neighbors that were not happy with certain things in his center. One issue was trash, and he said that he appreciated Mr. Carver taking care of that. Another issue �.r was traf f ic and he suggested that the city should do a better job with the police department to make certain people weren' t parking wherever they wanted to, but the third issue was a real problem to him because he used that center and it was the odor. He felt that needed to be controlled. He said it was not under planning' s jurisdiction to control odor; that was under the state' s control and the Air Quality Management District, but he was sure that Mr. Carver as the owner of the center would like to have that control so there weren't complaints and it didn't smell like chicken and chinese food to the neighbors behind the center. He hoped something could be worked out in that direction. He asked if Mr. Carver had spoken to the chinese restaurant, Kenny Rogers, or the Philly Steak place; Mr. Carver replied no because their lease was set up in a way that he did not have those rights--their new lease form would have those rights and he would have that included. He felt that if the three tenants and himself got together to talk about the problem to try and come up with solutions that were economically viable for them and himself he felt they could make some headway. Commissioner Spiegel felt they would be better off dealing with Mr. Carver than with AQMD because they could close them down. He agreed that Mr. Carver was being held up with Wendy' s because of the problems in the center and he felt it was unfortunate that �.. g MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 there had not been a communication between him and the � neighbors prior to Wendy' s . Unfortunately the problems did exist, and the objective was for everyone to be happy. He felt the question was how to solve the problems . Mr. Carver agreed. Commissioner Fernandez asked if Mr. Carver had spoken to any of the neighbors . Mr. Carver said that Mr. Diaz and he canvassed that area and saw everyone there at one point or another. Mr. Diaz concurred, but clarified that it was a few years ago when the center was being built was the last tim he had been out there. Commissioner Fernandez suggested that Mr. Carver have a meeting with the neighbors and some good solutions might be arrived at. Mr. Carver said that they were required to notice 12 property owners, but they noticed everyone within Sagewood and had 112 notices printed which went out to everyone. Everyone was aware of what they were trying to do and what the problems were; they were not trying to keep it a secret and to make it a meaningful meeting, he would have to encourage the tenants to join him--it could not just be him talking about the problems because he did not necessarily have the wherewithal or the ability to cure some of the issues, but he was sure he could work something out with them. Commissioner Fernandez felt that getting them involved sometimes that solved a lot of problems . � Chairperson Jonathan noted that while the Wendy' s conditional use permit was before the commission, the commission did have to look at where the applicant was fitting into the existing location and if the applicant would add or in some way detract from the existing situation. That was why he was focusing on the center and not just on Wendy' s . He asked why the landscaping was not being maintained in the center, particularly on the corner of Country Club and Monterey, which was initially presented as a focal point. Mr. Carver said there were two reasons : the big one was gofers--they planted gazanias and it seemed to be one of their favorite foods . They tried to change some of the plant material that they had been using there, but they wanted to keep it low along the frontage as far as corner was concerned. They had help from Eric Johnson, a city employee, and they had done the interior parts and were starting on the exterior or border parts of the property. Eric came up with some plant material he felt would be rodent resistant as well as water tolerant. Chairperson Jonathan said that there was an effort to bring the landscaping back to what was approved; Mr. Carver concurred. Chairperson Jonathan said that when they discuss Wendy' s his concern wasn't so much parking, because 10 `� MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 �► he felt there was adequate parking, as much as it was circulation. He felt the real problem in the center was not finding a parking space, but in moving the car around. He asked if there had been any consideration given to a new circulation plan or restriping to mitigate the flow of traffic in the center. Mr. Carver replied that every solution they worked on because of the shallow depth of the center eliminated a lot of spaces . They had one way aisles right now and once they went to two way aisles they lost so many spaces that it did not make sense to do that. Chairperson Jonathan felt that one thing that would help would be eliminating some of the illegal parking. He said he lived near there and used the center quite frequently and often people parked illegally in front of Lucky' s . He said that was a narrow street and when someone was inconsiderate enough to do that, it forced anyone coming by to go around them and there wasn' t room within the lane, so they were forcing the person into the opposite lane of traffic, which was a dangerous situation and often caused all sorts of traffic jams . He asked if something could be done about that. Mr. Carver said that a problem in designing these things was that if they made it wide enough for someone to park there and two cars to go by, they would park there. Do you make it a little inconvenient so they won't necessarily �r do it, or make it 35 feet wide. He thought it was 30 feet and felt it seemed to be enough to get two cars by and someone parked. If it was any wider, there would be problems . Most were double widths that had 24 feet between � aisles when the parking was there, but he did not know what the answer was--if it was too wide, they would park and if too narrow, there was the problem described by Chairperson Jonathan. He said there was also a problem with the speed bumps, but there was no other way to slow people down. Chairperson Jonathan said his final concern was when he goes by the center daily, the trash problem was embarrassing. He said he did not know whose fault it was, but it had to be the worst location at Sagewood and Country Club for trash. He said that at night and in the morning that bin overflowed on almost a daily basis . What people saw was trash. That was something he felt was solvable and he felt if it took two trips a day or some other extreme measure like the trash being hauled off site, there were solutions and one had to be feasible. In some way there should be a way to prevent the trash from being so visible. Mr. Carver said that one of the thoughts he had was to double the size of the bins and have two bins at that location. Chairperson Jonathan agreed that there looked like there would be ample room for two. Mr. �""` 11 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 � � � � ;� Carver said that if the trash truck could get lined up with � it, it would work. MR. DON BACK, 40-783 Preston Trail in Palm Desert, stated that Desert Empire Food was the Wendy' s operator in the Coachella Valley and he acquired the restaurants in 1993 from an operator in Orange County. They were based in Palm Desert and it was a family owned business and they were looking to expand and grow. He said they were proposing a 2100 square foot walk-in restaurant. Wendy' s was the upper end of the quick service restaurant segment. They catered to a different demographic then most of his competitors . They had more families and older people, so their adds and facilities veered more in that direction. They generally did not have playgrounds and had carpet instead of tile floors . Their menu offered healthy and premium type products in terms of fresh meat, fresh salads and potatoes . When they took over the restaurants a year and a half ago, they were what Wendy' s considered an "F" operation. Because of the demographics they catered to, they were particular about their restaurants . They could not afford to have trash blowing around, messy seats, and :'> things like that because when dealing with an older � demographic of people, they would not want to worry ,�i about their clothes getting dirty or walking through garbage to get to a restaurant. Wendy' s had a sparkle program and he distributed a copy to the commission. He said it was an inspection program and since they took over the restaurants, they remodeled them and improved the operations and in the first quarter of 1994, they became Wendy' s sparkled certified, which meant they were within the top 35� of Wendy' s across the country. He said they shared many of the same concerns . They would not tolerate trash around the bins and it violated the health code. He agreed with staff that if necessary, they would be happy to put in another trash bin if they had a problem. He said the same was true on the issue of odor. Basically because of the Wendy' s process, which was significantly different than many other restaurants because they did not use frozen beef and used lower cooking temperatures . As a result the smell was dramatically less than that of a Burger King, because it used a charbroiled system. He said that on the smell and smoke, there essentially wasn't any. He said they had to test their exhaust systems to make sure they were working because if they weren't it was ; di f f icult to tell because it did not f ill up with smoke. � 12 � MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 �r He felt it would be concurred by the AQMD that Wendy' s, because of its process, was extremely clean in comparison with other restaurants . He said there was a proposed rule from AQMD called an 1138 which had to do with restaurant emissions/odors that would be in place that they were working on throughout Southern California. That was something they had discussed with them in terms of ineasurements and he was confident they would not have a problem. He said they also tried to talk to some of the residents in the area, including the president of the homeowners association and gave them his home phone number. If there was a problem, he wanted to hear from them. He had no trouble working with the neighbors and one reason he liked this site was because it had been vacant for quite some time. He felt that empty store fronts were a sign of decline and this was an opportunity to fill a space that had been vacant for some time. He said they were well over 200 feet away from neiqhbors and there were buildings between their site and any resident. This building did not have a back door, so for any deliveries the truck would park out in the parking lot by Country Club Drive. There were no lift gates, palettes, or fork lifts that could create a disturbance. From their standpoint it was a �,.. good site for a Wendy' s . Wendy' s normally did not cause massive traffic jams and was usually an impulse purchase. That was why signage was important. Over the last year and a half they had received numerous requests ' for them to locate in Palm Desert. Chairperson Jonathan said he was concerned about the deliveries and where the trucks would park while carting food in and out and the frequency of deliveries . Mr. Back replied that they generally received deliveries three days a week; in most cases it was around 6 : 00 a.m. They could arrange with the delivery company any time they wanted--it was more of a scheduling issue. He envisioned them parking up toward the front where the trash bins were located in the parking lot by Country Club Drive. They would have a ramp that would go out toward the sidewalk. Chairperson Jonathan noted that deliveries would have to be during non-business hours, they could not be doing that with customers there; Mr. Back concurred and said it was something they would have to do before they opened. He said it usually took about 20 minutes to unload. Chairperson Jonathan noted that condition number 4 specified that the hours be between 7 : 00 a.m. and 10 : 00 a.m. and 6 : OQ p.m. and 9 : 00 p.m. only. He said he had a problem with both of those. He said he would not like to see �"" 13 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 � � � the deliveries extending past 8 : 00 a.m. because the center � was busy at that time and he would like to eliminate night time deliveries entirely. He asked if Mr. Back would be comfortable with a morning limitation of 7 : 00 a.m. to 8 : 00 a.m. Mr. Back said he had no trouble eliminating the evening hours because they wouldn't cart supplies past customers that were eating, but he would like 6 : 00 a.m. to 8 : 00 a.m. or 5 : 00 a.m. to 8 :00 a.m. Chairperson Jonathan asked staff what the delivery hours for Lucky's were and the rest of the center; Mr. Diaz replied he did not know, but this could be conditioned to be the same. Chairperson Jonathan said he did not have a problem with the 6 : 00 a.m. to 8 : 00 a.m. hours and it could be a condition and if there was a problem, the hours could be revised. Mr. Back concurred. Chairperson Jonathan asked if anyone wished to speak in FAVOR or OPPOSITION to the proposal . MR. BILL WILLIAMS, 72-756 Willow in Palm Desert, stated that he was president of Billy' s Phillys Steaks . He said the Mr. Carver was his landlord at this location and at a location in Las Vegas . He stated that he had concerns about the parking problem in the center. The traffic flow was horrible and there were many near miss � accidents in front of his store. He felt that stop ,,,� signs or speed bumps were needed because people were flying through the center. Down at the other end where Wendy' s was talking about locating and where Kenny Rogers was already located, if commission did not feel there was a parking problem, why would Kenny Rogers rent property from the Foundation for the Retarded for parking. He said there was definitely a parking problem there and trash as well . He felt the trash on that corner was a tremendous eyesore and the people that collected the trash did a horrible job--whatever landed on the ground stayed there. He felt that the comment by Wendy' s saying that they would police it regularly was not true, because they would have to do it themselves because the drivers wouldn't do it. He was really concerned about the parking, although he was at the other end of the center. His experience of Wendy' s and the traffic they drew would make it virtually impossible. He was surprised there were not more tenants present and Lucky' s told him they would have representation at the meeting. He was also amazed about the comments on smell because he had only received compliments and if they didn't smell it, it wouldn't � sell . From a personal point of view, when he purchased � 14 � MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 �irr the business it was a chicken franchise (Mississippi Jacks) and through some problems lost his exclusive and a few days later Kenny Rogers was put in; he was now going to lose another 25$ of his business because 25� was hamburgers and he could not compete with Wendy' s . His concern was that because it was an impulse business, if people couldn't find a parking space they would keep on going. Chairperson Jonathan closed the public testimony and asked for commission comments . Commissioner Spiegel stated that he was surprised more people weren't present because of the number of letters received from the Sagewood residents . As stated earlier there were three problems : traffic (that he challenged the city to take care of by giving someone a ticket if they parked in a red zone) ; as far as the Wendy' s location, he was over there quite a few times when Roy Wilson had his campaign headquarters there, and around that particular area there was always a lot of parking. Not around Kenny Rogers, not in front of Lucky' s, not around Billy' s Phillys, but around that section there was a lot of parking. He did not see parking or Wendy' s as a major problem. He saw parking for the center w�r and parking in the red zone as a major problem. The city should address that through the county police department and the fire department and work to get that corrected. As far as the odor was concerned, he felt it was Mr. Carver' s ` responsibility to see that it was corrected, even though it wasn't in their lease. The city could not do anything about it, it was up to the Air Quality Management District, and he would request that the planning department send copies of the letters to the SCAQMD with comments from the commission to help Mr. Carver eliminate the odors . As noted earlier, it smelled great at first, but if living there a person would not want to smell it all the time. He felt that needed to be corrected and challenged Mr. Carver to work with the tenants to get the problem corrected. The third issue was the trash, which was intolerable. No one liked it and it had to be resolved. He felt that working with Waste Management would resolve that problem. With those things being taken care of, he did not have a problem with Wendy' s . Commissioner Fernandez concurred. He did not have a problem with Wendy' s . Trash and deliveries were concerns because of traffic, but delivery hours were acceptable from 6 : 00 a.m. to 8 : 00 a.m. `�" 15 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 `� Commissioner Whitlock stated that she supported Wendy' s as � well and the comments from the other commissioners regarding traffic, odor, trash, etc . She commended Commissioner Spiegel for being so forceful in his comments and trying to move this forward and was in favor of Wendy' s . Chairperson Jonathan concluded that the commission was inclined to retain condition numbers 2 and 7, but item number four regarding the delivery hours should be limited from 6 : 00 a.m. to 8 : 00 a.m. only. Commissioner Spiegel said there was no mention in the conditions about people parking in the red zone. Chairperson Jonathan asked if that wasn't a challenge to be enforced. Commissioner Spiegel agreed, but wanted to make sure it was taken care of . Mr. Diaz felt that should be handled through design in the future and if the center operator or major tenant which controls said they could not live with that design, then the city would have to say they had to live with the design or they wouldn't locate there. Staff would contact the fire and police departments to send people out there. As far as the trash, one problem in Palm Desert was alluded to by Mr. Carver in that they did have requirements for trash pickup, and he had already had one conversation � with the environmental conservation officer with regards to � settinq up a mechanism to enforce mandatory trash pickup. The planning department felt that if there was meaningful enforcement of the mandatory trash pickup it would solve the problem of folks dropping trash at shopping centers and it would eliminate some of the people who just dumped their trash in the desert. If commission would like and so instructed staff, they would bring that to the attention of the environmental conservation officer as to exactly where the city was in that arena because dumping trash on people' s property was like putting someone in jail who had been robbed. He felt there should be adequate trash facilities at this center, but he could understand Mr. Carver' s concerns about weekenders putting their trash in those bins . Chairperson Jonathan stated that when talking about code enforcement, it wasn't going to happen because he and others had complained about the trash at that center. He did not know what "teeth" code enforcement had; if there was any teeth in the ordinance he did not know why code enforcement had not gone to Kenny Rogers and told them that the next time they saw trash they would be closed down. One closure and there would not be a further trash problem at that site. He :; said he would like to add a condition that would double the � 16 � MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 �rr trash bins on Sagewood and Country Club and that might take care of the problem. Code enforcement was aware of the problem and it was still there; the problem did not seem to get solved. Mr. Diaz stated that there were two problems : the amount of traffic being generated by the one use and the other was the amount of trash generated by semi-conscientious visitors because they were the ones dumping trash in other people' s facilities . Chairperson Jonathan felt the cause did not matter; if the center operator or the Kenny Rogers operator had a problem with other people using bins, he had to take care of that--he could not look at a full bin and say it was not his problem because other people were dumping trash there. He noted that in Big Bear there were public dumping bins; unless the city was prepared to have public dumping bins located throughout the city, they could not look at a problem like Sagewood and Country Club and say it was no one' s responsibility to fix it. Mr. Diaz clarified that he did not mean that no one had to fix it, but felt that if everyone had to pay and there was a meaningful way for Waste Management to make sure that everyone paid, people wouldn't bother taking their trash and dumping it into someone else' s bin or throwing it out into the desert. As long as people don' t have to pay and there was no way to force them to make that payment, then there would be this problem. He didn't �rr know how much weekender trash was being dumped, but felt it was a problem citywide and it was a different issue that needed to be addressed. He asked for clarification on conditions 2 and 7; Chairperson Jonathan stated that they ` would stay as written and suggested a condition number 8 that required the doubling of the trash area on Sagewood and Country Club. He asked for a motion. Action: Moved by Commissioner Fernandez, seconded by Commissioner Whitlock, approving the findings as presented by staff. Commissioner Spiegel felt this did not take care of the traffic problem and any center could have up to 20� of its space for restaurant use. With Wendy' s the Carver center would have about 14� . Based on the city' s judgement early on, this center fell considerably below the top of the standard. Also, there was enough parking around the Wendy' s area. There wasn't enouqh around Kenny Rogers but that didn' t come before the planning commission. Commissioner Whitlock noted that this was a conditional use permit for Wendy' s, not for the parking problem for the center. They couldn't condition Wendy' s for the center' s parking problem. Commissioner Spiegel concurred, but it was like holding Mr. Carver up with a gun by saying that there is a real odor � 17 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 ;;� ',r problem in the center, so Wendy' s can't go in until it' s � solved, but maybe that was what had to be said. Mr. Diaz stated that with the odor problem, commission could instruct staff to send the letters to AQMD and follow that up with AQMD for some enforcement. With the parking and circulation situation, some of the problems might be solved when the signal went in. Chairperson Jonathan stated that they did not have to accept poor circulation or parking. For future development they could do a better job, but in this center that problem would not go away. He noted that there were still vacancies in that center, so the problem would only get worse. He felt that Wendy' s was an acceptable use and that some of the suggestions made earlier made sense and the commission could request the police department and/or fire department to come in there once a month for the next couple of months and spend a couple of hours and visibly write a few tickets . He felt that would significantly reduce the parking in the red zone problem. Within the conditions of approval they could start working on the odor problem and step up that effort by notifying AQMD. Chairperson Jonathan asked for the vote; the motion carried 4-0 . Moved by Commissioner Fernandez, seconded by Commissioner , Whitlock, adopting Planning Commission Resolution No. 1677 , � approving CUP 94-14, subject to conditions as amended. ,,,� Carried 4-0 . Moved by Commissioner Spiegel, seconded by Commissioner Whitlock, instructing staff to forward the letters to AQMD, send a letter to Sagewood residents telling them what was being done, and to work with the police and fire departments on the parking problem. Carried 4-0 . VIII . ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None. IX. MISCELLANEOUS None. "� .� 18 � MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JANUARY 17, 1995 �rrr X. ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT ADVISORY COMMITTEE UPDATE Mr. Diaz noted that the EDAC would now be administered by the community development department and discussed the city' s reorganization. XI . COMMENT5 Chairperson Jonathan asked about the status of the Altamira project--he noted there was a trailer and sign on the property. Mr. Diaz stated that he would check into that; the last he heard the project was at a stand still . Chairperson Jonathan asked i f there was a Comp USA locating in the Desert Crossing center; Mr. Diaz said he could find out. XII . ADJOURNMENT Moved by Commissioner Spiegel, seconded by Commissioner Whitlock, adjourning the meeting to February 7 , 1995 by minute motion. Carried 4-0 . The meeting was adjourned at 8 : 34 p.m. �%' � � ° � �� ° �� RAMON A. DIAZ, Sec ary ATTEST: � 5ABBY JONA AN, Chairperson Palm Deser Planning Commission /tm 'r""' 19