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HomeMy WebLinkAbout0302 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING TUESDAY - MARCH 2, 1999 .. 7;00 P.M. - CIVIC CENTER COUNCIL CHAMBER 73-510 FRED WARING DRIVE � * * � �. �. * �. � «. � � .� * �. �. ,� * * � * � � * � * �. �. .� * * � .� .� ,� ,� * * * � * ,� ,� I. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Jonathan called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Commissioner Finerty led in the pledge of allegiance. III. ROLL CALL Members Present: Sabby Jonathan, Chairperson Paul Beaty (arrived at 7:06 p.m.) Sonia Campbell Cindy Finerty Jim Lopez � Members Absent: None Staff Present: Philip Drell, Director of Community Development Bob Hargreaves, City Attorney Steve Smith, Planning Manager Mark Greenwood, Transportation Engineer Tonya Monroe, Administrative Secretary IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Consideration of the February 16, 1999 meeting minutes. Action: It was moved by Commissioner Finerty, seconded by Commissioner Campbell, approving the February 16, 1999 minutes as submitted. Motion car�ied 4-0. V. SUMMARY OF COUNCIL ACTION Mr. Drell summarized pertinent February 25, 1999 City Council actions. �... MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 a�r VI. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None. VII. CONSENT CALENDAR A. Case No. PMW 98-31 - SUNLITE DEVELOPMENT INC., Applicant Request for approval of a parcel map waiver to adjust the east property line of Lot 33 to the east 1 1 feet (from golf course) to allow a larger buildable lot at 108 Netas Drive within Bighorn. Action: It was moved by Commissioner Campbell, seconded by Commissioner Finerty, approving the Consent Calendar by minute motion. Motion carried 3-0-1 (Chairperson Jonathan abstained). VIIt. AWARDS/PRESENTATIONS ..� A. REQUEST FOR ADOPTION OF A RESOLUTION COMMENDING GEORGE FERNANDEZ FOR HIS CONTRIBUTIONS AS A PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSIONER. (Resolution to be presented at a future meeting.) Chairperson Jonathan asked if staff would like all commission members to be present to vote on the resolution. Staff concurred. Chairperson Jonathan explained that this would allow all members to sign the resolution and recommended that this item be continued until later in the meeting to allow time for Commissioner Beaty to arrive. Commission concurred. IX. PUBLIC HEARINGS Anyone who challenges any hearing matter in court may be limited to raising only those issues he/she or someone else raised at the public hearing described herein, or in written correspondence delivered to the Planning Commission at, or prior to, the public hearing. r 2 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 �.. A. Case No. PP/CUP 99-2 - MAINIERO, SMITH & ASSOCIATES, INC., AND THE DAMONE GROUP, LLC, Applicants Request for approval of a precise plan/conditional use permit for a 60-bed single story senior assisted living complex and Negative Declaration of Environmental Impact as it relates thereto on 3.77 acres at the southeast corner of Monterey Avenue and Hovley Lane, 73-055 Hovley Lane. (Commissioner Beaty arrived at this time.) Mr. Smith noted that plans were on display. He explained that the request was for a 60-bed single story senior assisted living complex. The project would be Iocated at the southwest corner of Hovley Lane and Monterey Avenue. The site in question had dimensions of 277 feet along Hovley and 616 feet along Monterey. Along the south side of the property there was a CVWD well site. Toward the east it was adjacent to Monterey Country Club. On that southerly property limit there was an existing row of tamarisk trees, �` 15-25 feet in height. Along the east side of the proposal were ten single family residential dwellings/single story homes of approximately 16 feet in height. To the north were more single family homes that fronted onto streets running north off Hovley. To the west across Monterey Avenue was the city of Rancho Mirage and that property was vacant and currently zoned residential. The property in question was zoned Planned Residential, five dwelling units per acre. Zoning Ordinance Section 25.24.025 C permitted institutional facilities with the approval of a conditional use permit, hence the hearing tonight. The goal of the applicant was to obtain approval, construct and operate a 60-bed senior assisted living facility to serve persons with Alzheimer's disease and other memory impairments in a homelike environment. The facility would provide resident bedrooms which would each contain a closet and separate bathroom facility. The common elements would include a sweet shop, barber shop, two dining rooms, two libraries, two TV lounges, and numerous other facilities. The facility proposed to take its main access from a driveway on its north limit off of Hovley Lane. There was a secondary emergency access provided from Monterey Avenue at the southerly limit of the property that would be gated for fire/emergency access only. Mr. Smith showed the location of the building on the site and indicated that the facility's front would face westerly toward Monterey Avenue. The driveway on Hovley r.,, would run southerly and to the west side of the building providing access to 3 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 a�r the main entrance on the west side and access to a proposed 20-space parking lot located at the south end of the site. He indicated that four additional pa�king spaces were provided to the northwest of the building and two additional spaces were provided to the southwest of the building for a total of 26 parking spaces onsite. The code requirement for a 60-bed facility was 15 parking spaces. The colored rendering on display provided an indication of the design of the building. Main roof sections were hip roofs to a maximum ridge line of 20 feet. There was a tower element on the westerly elevation facing Monterey Avenue which had a total height of 30 feet. Code permitted a maximum of 24 feet in the PR zone. Code also permitted towe� elements to as much as 49 feet under certain circumstances. He said it basically came down to whether the tower element was less than 10% of the overall floor area. The proposed tower was less than 10% and it was proposed at 30 feet as permitted by code. On page 3 of the staff report were the various setback requirements of the ordinance and those proposed. For the setback from Hovley Lane, code required 20 feet and the proposal was for 160 feet. From Monterey the requirement was 32 feet and provided was 46 feet. From the south, 135 feet was proposed and from the east 20 feet was proposed. A residential care facility was a permitted conditional use in the PR zone-- •� institutional facilities. This was consistent with such other uses as churches, public and private schools, and other residential care centers. Generally they tried to locate them on the edge of residential areas so that they could se�ve as a buffer to single family residences. The proposed project complies with all the zoning requirements, but staff still had concerns with the proposal. Specifically, staff was concerned with the location of the main parking lot, the closeness of the building to the residential units to the east and the height of the building relative to the residences to the east, specifically the lots at the south end of Calafia. Staff's proposal was to send the matter back to the applicant and: 1) ask him to take the 20 parking spaces currently shown at the south end of the site and disperse it throughout the west end of the site; 2) the 20-foot setback to the east which might be appropriate for a single family home, staff had concerns with a 30,000 square foot building that close, hence staff was requesting that it be moved further to the west an additional ten feet; 3) the site dropped from Hovley Lane to its south limit some 17 feet; the proposal was to establish the finished floor at 21 1 but some of the homes at the south end of Calafia have their finished floors at 209 or 208 so effectively the project`s finished floor would be above their finished floor by as much as th�ee feet. Staff was suggesting that the finished floor be lowe�ed to be no higher than the adjacent residential unit to the east in that if this site was � 4 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 r... developed with single family homes, the grading would have been stepped. That was what staff was suggesting--that they go to the lowest point or that they step the building. It didn't matter how they got there it was just that the building should not be higher than the adjacent pad. As indicated on page 5 of the report, as of the writing of the report last week, staff had received correspondence from 13 area residents. Since then more were received and most if not all were faxed to commission members throughout the afternoon. Staff indicated ihat there was another piece of correspondence received at the meeting from Mr. Charles Smith on Glenwood Lane and that had not been copied or circulated but he passed it along to the commission for review. He explained that basically he took a look at the correspondence received up until the staff report preparation and tried to bring the concerns into focus and then tried to respond to those issues which were raised and to come up with appropriate conditions which could be imposed on the project. Many people felt it was an inappropriate use in the zone and would result in a negative economic impact on their single family homes. As noted previously, it was a conditionally permitted use. The CUP process allowed the City to impose appropriate conditions on the design and operation to mitigate identified �"' impacts. The project had been designed with large landscaped areas and generous street setbacks and should provide an attractive entry to Hovley Lane. The building would help to buffer the residences to the east from noise generated by traffic on Monterey. The vacant lot currently provided none of this protection and in fact created a blow sand problem. The facility had been designed with one story to maintain a residential scale and the applicant indicated it would be maintained at an extremely high level. All of these factors should result in a positive impact. Security--neighborhood residents expressed concern that residents of the facility would wander off and become a danger to themselves and to traffic in the area. The applicant advised that the facility would have a state of the art security system and additionally the site would be enclosed with a perimeter fence. Staff was urging the applicant to use wrought iron to maintain a view corridor into the setting. Third, there was a concern over the lack of legal notice, that the legal notice was not distributed to a wide enough area. They were mailed to all property owners within 300 feet of the site pu�suant to Municipal Code requirements. Staff mailed 108 notices and five were returned as undeliverable. They were sent first class mail. Also, considerable correspondence was received so word of the project did get out. Fourth, residents expressed concern that employees and/or visitors would park in front of their homes. As noted earlier, the code �, requirement was 15 parking spaces and they were providing 26 on site. The 5 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 ..� applicant indicated that during the day on weekdays there would be 15 employees available on site and that would stii{ leave 11 parking spaces available for visitors. On weekends there would be 9 or 10 employees which would leave 15 or 16 spaces available. Mr. Smith clarified that the residents of this facility would not have access to automobiles nor would they have their cars parked on site. Existing traffic problems in the immediate area would be exacerbated by additional traffic created by this use. Fifth, Public Works advised that by Labor Day of this year a traffic signal would be operational at the intersection of Monterey and Hovley. It was not contingent upon any action on this project and was out to bid at this time and was proceeding. That was a separate issue, but should address some of the concerns relative to traffic. He noted that Southwest Community Church in the near future would be relocating to their new facility. Lastly, he indicated staff performed a traffic analysis on this project and concluded that in fact it would generate less traffic than would a similar 19 lot tract of homes if they mirrored the tract immediately to the east. They would see 51 fewer trips per day based on the ITE Trip Generation factors for this versus a 19-lot tract. Sixth, noise problems from ambulances, fire trucks, visitors, employees, delivery vehicles and trash trucks. Staff agreed that trash trucks had the potential for creating �■,r headaches and the project would be conditioned so that trash collection would only occur between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. weekdays. Staff also agreed that the location of the parking lot had the potential to create impacts on the residences on Calafia and staff was suggesting the relocation of those parking spaces. Sirens on emergency vehicles using Monterey were irritants and something the applicant was very interested in because sirens tended to disturb the residents of the facility. There would be a concerted effort by the City and by the applicant to get the Fire Department to at least limit the use of sirens on Monterey and particularly when they were riding into this facility. Delivery vehicles were also an issue. Their size and year of production could be limited consistent with residential districts. This was a residential district and the size of vehicles could and would be limited as would the year and make of the vehicles. Delivery hours could and would be restricted to 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays. Staff was given to understand that at a meeting held by the applicant last Thursday evening there was some concern with respect to roof-mounted equipment being screened. It was a city requirement that it be screened. In this instance it was being proposed in a well on the roof and it could be screened and staff could assure commission that the working drawings would be examined for complete compliance with that requirement. There was concern expressed that visitors and/or residents might ' � 6 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 r.. peer over the existing property line wall along the east side. Staff was suggesting the planting of pyracantha to discourage that activity. A resident at Monterey Country Club was requesting the wall at the south property line be a minimum of eight feet in height and that could be conditioned. He noted there was concern about parking lot lighting. He indicated that staff was requesting that the parking lot be relocated but they could also require that the lighting be no higher than the top of the wall so that it wouldn't spill over into the adjacent residences and that was a city ordinance--they could not have light spillover. In conclusion he indicated that additional correspondence was received today. He had an opportunity to read through it and thought for the most part the concerns were somewhat similar which he addressed previously. He said there might be some that were outside of what he covered and he would be pleased to review them specifically. The modifications suggested by staff to relocate the parking, lower the finished floor and move the building to the west were presented to the applicant last week and they indicated they would need more time to do the changes to show to staff, so the staff �ecommendation was to continue the matter to a date certain at the end of the public hearing. The date would depend upon when the applicant could provide ""' the revised drawings. Chairperson Jonathan explained that he would open the public hearing, ask the applicant to give his presentation, then ask for testimony in favor of the project, testimony in opposition of the project, and then rebuttal comments from the applicant. He noted that the applicant had requested a continuance and staff was recommending that the matter be continued. Whether the matter was voted on tonight or continued would be up to the commission and it appeared that there was a reasonable likelihood that the matter would be continued, but that should not deter the audience from making comments tonight and if the matter was continued, they would have further opportunity to comment. Chairperson Jonathan o�ened the public hearing and asked the applicant to address the commission. MR. DAVID LUTICH, Development Manager for The Damone Group, LLC, stated that they were the developers/builders of the assisted living project. He thanked Mr. Smith and the planning staff and other city departments for their ongoing assistance with their project. On behalf �, of The Damone Group and the ultimate owner, Alternative Living 7 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 .r Services, they appreciated the opportunity to present their assisted living development to meet the needs of older adults in the Palm Desert community. He informed commission that last Thursday evening they conducted a neighborhood meeting, which was customary for them, to introduce the project to the local neighbors to try and solicit any input or comments that they might have. As a result of that meeting, as well as some of the comments Mr. Smith had garnered from cor�espondence, they were happy to make the adjustments that were recommended and asked for a continuance in order for them to do them. In most instances there was a wider gap between the neighborhood meeting and the planning commission meeting. Unfortunately, the timing was such that they were unable to act as quickly as they would ordinarily have liked. There seemed to be a lot of interest with the neighborhood meeting, however, they only had 17 people in attendance. He was glad to see all that could attend this evening's meeting and he looked forward to hearing their comments so they could be in a position to respond. He clarified that the proposal was for a 60-bed assisted living residence that was designed to cater to the needs of older adults who suffer from memory impairments such .r as Alzheimer's or related dementia. In some instances they were physically frail, in some instances they weren't they just have a certain level of confusion and need 24 hour supervised care. These were residents that didn't have intensive medical needs, in which case a nursing home would be the appropriate housing setting. These were residents ihat have a need with assistance for activities of daily living such as bathing, dressing, etc., in a supervised setting. They called it "high touch, low tech." They designed a single story building to incorporate residential characteristics and hopefully to appeal to respective residents and the adult child who were typically the decision makers in terms of placing a resident in one of these environments. He stressed that this would be an upscale residence and the monthly rates would range anywhere from 53,500 a month and up. The total cost of the residents would exceed S7 million and again, it was a very market driven product so it was incumbent upon them to maintain the best curb appeal as well as service within the building to attract these residents. He indicated he didn't want to repeat everything said by Mr. Smith and felt Mr. Smith did a nice job in terms of presenting the dynamics of the project but he wanted to give the commission some background in ; terms of who The Damone Group is, who the ultimate owner and � 8 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 �. operator is and an idea of a typicai resident profile. As The Damone Group they are the developer/builders of the assisted living project. They have been working with the ultimate owners/operators Alternative Living Services for more than ten years and have built more than 50 buildings on behalf of Alternative Living Services throughout the country. They have more than 25 buildings currently in development with Alternative Living Services, who recently changed their name to All Terra, and they have more than 17 years of experience in the assisted living industry and was currently the nation's largest provider of assisted living. They have specific experience in that they are an industry pioneer in creating this particular concept in this particular residential setting which is a freestanding purposely built building designed to cater to the needs of older adults with memory impairment. Many other providers would have an Alzheimer's wing as it relates to their building. This was designed from the ground up with features specifically designed to cater to this type of resident. An example would be each of the wings contained very small intimate neighborhoods. Each neighborhood was color coded to provide ""' orientation for the residents to get to their particular room. That was just one of the many examples of how the building was designed from the ground up. Alternative Living Services' mission was to provide these homelike environments for older adults that promote choice, independence, and aging with dignity. Alternative Living Services builds its assisted living residences in high end communities such as Palm Desert because they strongly believed that older adults have the right to live in very nice residential settings. In terms of the typical resident in one of these buildings, in most instances ihey are 75 years and older. They may or may not be physically frail and they have low medical needs. They suffer from confusion or memory impairments such as Alzheimer's, but they were not crazy people or mentally disturbed people. He thought some of the initial reaction was that this was going to be a hospital or psych hospital. It wasn't. It was a social residential setting designed to have the residential characteristics to create a home for one's Mom and Dad to live. The residents typically paid for their care from their own funds. What they have found as a general rule was that more than 70% have lived within or have an adult child that lives within seven miles of the residents. They were drawing from the community in terms of the residents. The residents didn't drive so it �,,,, created a lower traffic impact as it related to other uses. In conclusion, . g MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 .r they looked forward to providing these types of services to the community of Palm Desert. He believed they offered an attractive project that complimented the residential character of the neighborhood with a low traffic impact, a single story building nicely landscaped and provided an opportunity for an inter-generational program within the community. In terms of the staff recommendations, as it related to the finished floor elevation, they were in the process of making that change to bring the finished floor elevation two feet lower. In terms of moving the building they were in the process of making that change as well. In terms of dispersing the parking, they were in the process of making that change. Regarding deliveries, they had no objection to limiting certain sizes of trucks between normal business hours, however, these residents would require medications and it was important that they get medication deliveries outside normal business hours and that would typically be done in a car so it would be very non intrusive. He asked that that be conside�ed in terms of that condition. In terms of the gates surrounding the building, typically when they designed these buildings they wanted them to Iook like a residence and typically there wouldn't be that type of gate in front of a residence. As mentioned, they have .r security procedures in terms of the alarming of the building. The building was alarmed internally. If someone were to exit the building without entering the appropriate key pad entry, an annunciation would take place inside the building, not outside the building, so it wouldn't be heard by the neighborhood. The staff was highly trained to redirect the resident back into the building. The building had features that provided natural wandering paths within the interior courtyards to mitigate wandering. As well, on exit doors what typically happened with respect to fire codes there would be barred doors which would have a 15 second delay where if a resident pushed, it would not open immediately and then they would be redirected away from that particular door. The point being that their preference would be that the gate be a condition if for some reason there was an issue with respect to wandering; however, their experience had been that through the training of their staff that hasn't been an issue in other locations. He asked for any questions and noted that their engineer was also present to answer any engineering questions. Commissione� Finerty asked if this would be a Medical certified facility. .rr 10 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 a.r Mr. Lutich indicated that typically the state did not provide funding for this type of facility. What they had mostly experienced was private pay. In some instances there might be an opportunity. As an example, in Minnesota there was some opportunity for some state funding, but they didn't typically anticipate that when coming into a particular marketplace. Commissioner Finerty asked if that meant they wouldn't be applying for certification. Mr. Lutich replied that they would always try to help anyone who has a need in terms of placing their family member in a building, but they didn't buiid based on the fact that they were anticipating gaining that type of subsidy. Commissioner Finerty noted that Mr. Lutich indicated the fees would be 53,500 a month and up and asked how much higher "up" could be. '�" Mr. Lutich said he didn't set the rates, he was just trying to give the commission a sense of what the charge would be for a residence like this in other locations. Chairperson Jonathan asked Mr. Lutich if he had a representative present who could answer that question. Mr. Lutich explained that he used to work for Alternative Living Services as their Chief Financial Officer for four years and he was also a Regional Director for more than 20 residences in Wisconsin and Minnesota and the process was that once the building was built, there would be a market determination at that time as to what the rates might be. He thought they would be very close to S3,500 per month. Commissioner Lopez noted that Mr. Lutich said they operate approximately 50 across the country. Mr. Lutich clarified that they have built more than 50 and Alternative Living Services actuaily operated more than 350 throughout the country. �.. 11 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 � Commissioner Lopez asked how the average size of those facilities compared to the proposed facifity. Mr. Lutich said the average size was 52 beds and for this particular resider►t need they ranged anywhere between 40 and 60 beds. Commissioner Lopez noted that Mr. Lutich said that most of the folks who come to visit live within the community or within a seven-mile radius. Mr. Lutich said that has been the experience of Alternative Living Services. Commissioner Lopez asked if 26 parking spaces for this particular project were enough to handle not only the employees, but the visitors of the community as well. Mr. Lutich said that through their experience it has been adequate. They would rather take that part of the site and attribute it to landscaping as opposed to parking. They found that typically a ratio of ari one space for every two bedrooms had been adequate. Commissioner Lopez asked about the staffing. Mr. Lutich indicated that the Resident Manager was typically a registered nurse. They were onsite during normal business hours and on call 24 hours per day. The next staff was a Health Care Coordinator in charge of the daily health care monitoring as well as the assessments for each of the residents. In addition, there were care givers for providing the hands-on care on an ongoing basis. Also, there was a Life Enrichment Coordinator in charge of scheduling all the activities within the residence as well as activities outside in the community. There was also a Dietary Director in charge of the meal preparation as well as minimal dietary staff. A Community Services Representative was in charge of outreach into the community in terms of building a referral source network and there was ongoing maintenance staff. The care givers provided the hands-on care, did the light housekeeping, served the meals and it was designed so that they were an extended member of the family and they were providing all these cares as if they were providing them in their own home. ' rr/ 12 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 �.. Commissioner Campbell noted that Mr. Lutich said only 17 people attended the meeting last week. She asked if Mr. Lutich was aware that a letter was circulated asking residents not to attend the meeting. Mr. Lutich said he heard something to that effect but had not seen the letter. Commissioner CampbeH indicated that was probably why more weren't there. Chairperson Jonathan said he didn't see the conditions of app�oval (staff indicated they hadn't been prepared yet) but Mr. Lutich indicated that the use fo� this facility would be for memory-impaired patients and asked if Mr. Lutich had any objections to a condition of approval that would limit this facitity to that type of a client versus someone who suffers from other mental health deficiencies. Mr. Lutich said he hadn't been asked that question before and he would have to check with their operations group, but the intent of the use if ``"' it was a conditional use permit would indicate it was conditioned for memory impaired residents. Chairperson Jonathan stated that he didn't mean to put Mr. Lutich on the spot and he didn't have to make a commitment, but there certainly was a concern that what is approved, if it was approved, that it be the same use 10 or 20 years from now. Mr. Lutich said that Alternative Living Services was in the business of assisted living and they didn't have any other type of use. Chairperson Jonathan said he understood that, but noted that they might not always be the owners/operators and part of the commission's job was to look to the future. The parking was an issue as to whether it was adequate or not. He said that perhaps for the normal day to day usage 26 spaces might be right, but he was sure there were special times that required more intensive use of parking accommodations such as holiday times when people come to visit or if there was a program and kids were being brought in from the schools or from volunteer organizations to put on a performance. He could think of all sorts of situations where they would need a whole lot more than 26 parking ,r,,, spaces and asked if it might be feasible, and he was sensitive to the greenbelt 13 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 � and the preference to green areas as opposed to cement and asked if it was possible to design a situation so that there was a flat green area that would accommodate special parking usage situations. Mr. Lutich thought that the way the site was designed now, and they were being asked to disperse the parking that was along the southern edge of the site, they could create something that would be visually appealing but still allow for overflow parking if that would be something required. He had no aversion to that. Chairperson Jonathan said that without making a commitment, Mr. Lutich thought that might be feasible. Mr. Lutich concurred and said he would be happy to look into that. Chairperson Jonathan indicated he would ask for testimony in favor, then testimony in opposition and then they would give the applicant a final opportunity to respond. He also mentioned that there were quite a few people in the audience and thanked them for taking time out of their day to help them .,r in this decision making process. He asked that they be considerate of everyone here, asked that they try to not be overly repetitive and to try and stick with the planning issues--those elements or aspects of the application that would affect them directly and personally and the commission was very interested in hearing their thoughts. Finally, he asked that the comments be limited to no more than five minutes and he would try not to be rude, but if he found someone wandering or taking too long, he would remind them of the game plan. He asked if anyone wished to speak in FAVOR of the project. There was no one. Chairperson Jonathan noted that several people submitted cards requesting to speak and he would start with those. If a resident failed to provide a card, they shouldn't worry because they would have an opportunity to offer comments as well. Chairperson Jonathan asked if there were any questions before getting started. A Mr. Kevin Winter spoke from the audience with a question regarding parking requirements. Chairperson Jonathan indicated that Mr. Winter would be given an opportunity to come up to the microphone so that his comments would be on the record. Chairperson Jonathan invited Mr. AI Gernsbacher to address the commission and requested that everyone repeat their name for the record, spell their last name, give thei� address and if they wanted they could point out where their residence was in relation to the proposed development. ' � 14 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 � MR. AL GERNSBACHER, 40-640 Posada Court in Palm Desert, stated that he had very strong objections to the planned conditional use of this lot and he would like to ask Mr. Smith, who referred to the fact that he had received mail in rather a large quantity, he wanted to know the preponderance of what those replies were--if they were negative or positive. Mr. Smith said negative. Mr. Gernsbacher asked for a percentage. Mr. Smith said he believed it was 100%. Mr. Gernsbacher indicated that Mr. Smith had adequately addressed his opinion and he had strong objections to the project and felt the fact that they were allowing 15 parking spaces for the employees, visitors and the staff was absolutely ludicrous. He asked how in the world they expected a 60-bed facility to accommodate those people with 15 " useable parking spaces was ridiculous and he said maybe he should smoke some of the stuff they were smoking. He wanted to go very adamantly on record that he opposed this with every fiber of his being. Chairperson Jonathan asked the audience to refrain from applause and other types of comments so that they could get through the hearing quicker and thought that it was clear the sentiment that people had and the commission was very interested, but they could certainly do without comments about what people were smoking. He thanked the audience and asked Mr. Whit Markowitz to address the commission. MR. WHIT MARKOWITZ, 40-885 Avenida Calafia, stated that his property was right behind the proposed development. The proposed footprint of the building at this point was 15 feet away from the wall of his property. His home was one of the closest and there was only one other property two doors down where the building would also come within 15 feet next to the wall of the property. Given the size and nature of the proposed project, it would clearly impact his property and a number of his neighbors. He opposed the granting of the conditional use permit for the following reasons. First, the proposed project would r,,, be detrimental to the public health, safety and welfare and would injure 15 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 .� properties in the vicinity for the following reasons: 1 ) traffic due to increased traffic from deliveries, visitors and employees; 2) increased noise due to commercial and industrial HVAC units on top of the building, industrial kitchen ventilation units, truck deliveries and alarms, odors emanating from the property from trash dumpsters, kitchen ventilation, the residences were situated directly downwind from the facility so that would make it very difficult for them to enjoy their evenings and othe� times outside in their backyards when the breeze comes by and he could imagine a kitchen serving 180+ meals per day would have some odor coming out of it. Privacy would be another issue. Since employees, visitors and the general public would have access to the area directly behind his rear wall and his neighbors, he felt he wou{d have fittle or no privacy. He thought when a single family residence was located behind a home, people respected each others . privacy and don't peer over the walls, but when they have visitors of some of the residents of the facility and employees, he thought there was more interest in looking over to see how other people live and he thought there was a lack of consideration in terms of their privacy that would occur. Property value--residences in the immediate neighborhood .r1 have homes in excess of 5250,000 and the value of his property would certainly increase (decreasel. He talked to several appraisers in town who said if a facility like this was next to his property it would be considered more like a commercial or institutional facility and could have a negative impact on the value of his home. According to the city's zoning regulations the purpose of the conditional use permit was to insure that special consideration was taken so that a particular use was properly located. He wanted to emphasize that. He felt this project was not properly located for the reasons he stated. If the commission looked at similar facilities in the neighborhood, and there were a number of them popping up on Country Club, he believed there were three going up on Country Club within one mile, all along a major thoroughfare such as Country Club and was near other facilities similarly situated. With the exception of the corner of Monterey and Country Club, everything else along there was residential from Monterey Country Club up past Sagewood and the Hovley area. In general, the Southwest Community Church which operated under a conditional use permit had already impacted the community in a variety of negative ways and a lot of them had headaches from it. He was sure it was a wonde�ful facility and had heard a lot of wonderful things about it, but it was a pe�fect example ' � 16 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 ... of how things that have a conditional use permit got out of hand in terms of traffic and other issues. Therefore, he opposed the granting of the conditional use permit. However, in the event that the Planning Commission decided to grant the conditional use pe�mit, notwithstanding the adjacent homeowners' public comment opposing the development, he asked that the Planning Commission at a minimum consider the following: in terms of setbacks, require substantial setbacks, perhaps th�ee or four more times the requirements by the city from the residents on Calafia. This was a 31 ,000 square foot building which was huge. He knew that the staff report and applicant represented that it is a residence because it is one story but there was nothing about a 31 ,000 square foot building that is a residence. It was an institutionai type facility. It was huge and one of the things he asked since there was a chance it would be continued, was that perhaps the applicant should come out and stake out the property both in terms of the footprint of the building and do something to show them where the height of the building would be so that the residents could be sufficiently informed to come to the commission and give them direct """ feedback after they see the size of the building. He thought some people didn't have any idea how big this building would be. With respect to landscaping, he asked that the applicant be required to provide extra landscaping utilizing mature plants, shrubs and trees that would act as a buffer with �espect to the size of the structure and this would inc�ease privacy. He thought there needed to be something taken into consideration about the view because one of the things these homes enjoyed was a beautiful view of the mountains. He conceded that nothing was built there right now and if there were single family homes there their view would be impacted, but he believed from the drawings he had seen and from the staff he talked at the Planning Department that their views would be more impacted by this structure than a single family residence. In terms of noise and odor he requested that the applicant be required to install dampers or similar type devices on all HVAC units to eliminate noise from the commercial and industrial grade units and a similarly installed device on kitchen units to insure that odor outside the building was completely eliminated. He said he didn't know if that was possible, but he heard someone talk about it the other night at the meeting that there might be some device that could be installed on kitchen ventilators so there wouldn't be a great deal of `, smell. In terms of building elevations, he asked that the applicant be 17 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 .�i required to redesign the site so that the elevation of the facility was well below the elevation of the homes on Calafia given the size of the facility and the height of its roof lines. They were saying it was now two feet below his property line and a little less in terms of some of the other property owne�s, but it was still ha�d for him to envision what this would look like and if there was a way for them to stake it out and show the residents the heights of the roof, that would be extremely helpful in giving them an idea. Some people might not be as opposed to the project as they are now--he didn't know if he would be. In terms of site layout, he asked commission to require the applicant to eliminate all walking paths, service entrances, access and parking at areas along the rear of the project to minimize privacy and security concerns. Right now they proposed some walking paths that were designed along the back of the property and a service entrance that was represented to them the other night that would be directly behind the building. He showed the commission on the map the location of that service entrance for deliveries and where they would park. He said his concern was both having a parking area along the side right there and that people could get in there and park, hop the fences and break into �■�ii houses a lot easier than if there were homes there. Also, having walking paths back there would contribute to people walking and being back there and disrupting their lives more so than if one or two families lived there which would normally abut them. Finally, in terms of construction if they were to be granted this conditional use permit they would have to limit the hours of construction operations and have substantial controls in terms of dust control which he was sure was in the zoning regulations or governed by the building permit. He hoped that the commission would consider his concerns in connection with the proposed facility. He had made his single largest investment in buying a home in Palm Desert. He bought a home here because he liked what he saw here in terms of growth and development. Current developments appeared to be well planned and properly placed; however, he felt the applicant's proposal would be inappropriate for this location. He felt it was a wonderful concept and product, but they had chosen the wrong site and if anyone knew anything about real estate, it was all about location, location, location. That was why a lot of them bought where they did. He urged the Planning Commission to review and consider the zoning regulations concerning the intent and purpose of residential districts which stated that residential districts are intended � 18 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 �r... to achieve the following purposes: to reserve appropriate located areas with sound standards of public health and safety, to insure adequate privacy and open space for each dwelling, to minimize traffic congestion by preventing the construction of buildings of excessive size, to protect residential properties from hazards, noise and congestion c�eated by commercial and industrial traftic and eliminate odors and other objectionable influences to insure that structures and uses are compatible in each category for the purpose of family living. Therefore he didn't believe the proposed project met the intent of the residential zoned district. MR. JEFF BRANDT, 40-635 Posada Court, about four blocks east of the proposed location, stated that prior to moving to beautiful Palm Desert he was an administrative partner of a licensed board and care facility. He averaged about 90 residents per month and he did that for ten years. Not just licensed for ages 55 and older, he also handled light Alzheimer's patients. They referred to them as residents. He asked the ` commission to keep in mind that they started out as light Alzheimer's patients. Once they became very impaired, the administ�ator or owner of the facility had to make a decision to move the resident to other facilities. Since they were governed by the dollar, it was something they didn't like to do, something ihey held on to not wanting to do it, and in which case many times they found residents wandering into the streets, or into residential areas in this case. His particular facility was located in a commercial district. Even though it was in a commercial district the residents still found their way to �esidential areas outside. He noted the facility was located in the city of Encino. In this case there was a facility that was strictly going to be in a residential area. He heard the developer mention that he would like to have a state of the art ability to monitor �esidents leaving the facility. Mr. Brandt wanted the commission to know that he too had a state of the art ability to monitor residents. It was a people business and they had people not located in an area where they needed to be to be able to monitor these people, therefore, his conclusion was that they would leave the facility one way or another. He heard them propose a fence around the facility. He wasn't quite sure these residents would like to see a building with a fence around it of any kind. He questioned whether the city would like to see a building located in a residential ir.� district with a fence around its perimeter. There were some serious 19 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 design flaws that were stated but one not stated yet was that there was an emergency entrance/exit located on Monte�ey. It was his opinion that motorists heading northbound on Monterey, possibly southbound, might see this location and decide to turn into it. He felt it would be an emergency exit creating emergencies. He thought one of the questions commission might have was where to put this faci{ity. He felt it should be put in a commercially zoned situation or similar situation as stated by some of the residents. They exist on Country Club. He was sure there were other frontage or highway locations looking to be redeveloped that might be a better location for it. One of the reasons was that these commercially zoned areas would be able to handle the influx of commercial purveyors. Traditionally there would be a meat company, dairy company, dry canned goods company, maintenance supplier, deliveries by pharmacies which he had heard the developer speaking as an operator say that he would like the commission's consideration as far as the hours of a pharmacy. They would also have a podiatrist, maybe two. There would be beauticians and family members. The developer speaking as an operator wanted to work closely with the ambulance companies to alleviate the sirens. That would be a tough one to do. It just stressed to him that this needed to be in a commercial district where it was commonplace to have ambulances and was understood that if they located their residence near a commercial district they we�e subjecting themselves to all sorts of possibilities. Not one of the residents at this meeting ever felt they we�e going to be subjected to a commercial situation. Parking was addressed. Many of these people were private payers and they would have private help. That was another consideration for parking that had not been considered. He said the commission could okay this project with 26 spaces. He personally felt they needed about 50. If they okayed it the way it was presented, he thought they could park cars within the drive itself which would further eye pollute the surrounding area. He felt this project needed to be in a different location, primarily in a commercial zone. Even then they would not be able to alleviate many of the situations that would occur in a facility like this and it was his.hope that the commission would see it in the same way. He thanked the commission for their consideration. t MS. ANNE AZZU, 40-529 Clover Lane, stated that her home was north of the proposed development and she had concerns regarding traffic, 20 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 � especially in the findings where it says there would be a less than significant impact when no traffic analysis was done. What she meant by traffic analysis was in the form of a traffic impact study. She requested a formal traffic impact study to be done on the site showing the existing and future traffic impact on the adjacent area utilizing ITE Manual Sixth Edition, the one adopted by CVAG. Chairperson Jonathan asked if Mr. Greenwood wished to commeni. Mr. Greenwood stated that the Public Works Department had not been asked to do a traffic evaluation on this project. Chairperson Jonathan noted that there were some staff comments regarding traffic impact. Mr. Greenwood indicated the comments were not from the Pu6iic Works Department. MS. EVA WELSH, 40-724 Clover, explained that her home was north and east a block from the subject site. She thanked the Chairperson, Commission and staff for all the wonderful work that had been done in Palm Desert. She felt they had done an outstanding job and that Palm � Desert was the finest city in the Coachella Valley. She tF►ought that most people would agree with that, however, she had some issues with the existing conditional use permit. She pointed out that within the last several months she had occasion to work with a developer out of Seattle who developed and operated assisted tiving facilities. They started in Palm Springs and worked east through Cathedral City, Rancho Mirage, Palm Desert, La Quinta and finally ended up in Indio. The reason for that was ihey found there was such an over supply either of land that was in the process of being considered whether it was a conditional use permit or whatever, or was actually under construction. She had delivered over to the city today a survey from that developer which showed, and she had an arrow pointing to it, it showed a negative or over supply of 37 and that was just based on a ten-mile radius. The site in question was in lndio because they had to go that far out to be able to find any cause to have it merit an assisted living facility, and ihen it only merited it if they looked to the west of that 114 units. It was just one facility but they backed off. When they did this study, it didn't take into consideration anything other than assisted living. It did not take in Alzheime�'s, skilled nursing, any other types of dementia or the Portofino project at the corner of Country Club and Portola which was 711 rooms, so that would make it show a i�,, tremendous ove� supply in the entire area. Based on just that one 21 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 � reason, she asked why they wou{d need to have a conditional use permit on Hovley for a facility of this type when there was so much tand involved in Palm Desert. She said it was her further understanding that it was in the making where they were considering annexing north of 1-10 and felt there was too much land and it would be a terrible injustice to have two conditional use permits within a half mile of each other on Hovley. The residents had been tremendously impacted by the project by the one conditional use permit, but they were living with it and they appreciated the traffic signal. She didn't know that it would be a complete answer to the traffic problem. Ms. Welsh informed commission that she has been in the valley for 22 years in real estate from Palm Springs to Rancho Mirage and presently had an office in Rancho Mirage. She had been a developer and knew a little about the process. She wasn't up to date on it today, but she knew how much time and trouble a developer went through to get something passed. She was involved in the development on Clancy Lane in Rancho Mirage called Mission Ranch and that went on for three and a half years but felt like a lifetime. She wasn't at the meeting to try to stop someone from making their living or operating their business, but this was a business and she believed when she bought on Hovley that it was going to be a really pretty 60 foot wide residential street with cul-de-sacs and pretty homes and it was an option for those that chose there not to live within a gated community. Some people wanted to be behind gates, but some of them really enjoyed being outside of a gated community. It had been developing so nicely she felt it would be a shame to have it commercialized and really feft this was definitely commercializing it. She didn't see a need to have two conditional use permits within half a mile. She aiso sent a letter to the commission on February 12 wherein she stated that the project would affect the values of property in her estimation. There was a facility now, The Carlotta, and it definitely had impacted nearby developments--Primrose and Sandcastle. She noted today that the commission also received a letter from an MAI Appraiser Michael Scarcella who addressed this particular situation and he stated that he discovered a development known as Primrose located adjacent to The Carlotta in Palm Desert. It had an initial absorption rate well below market. Additionally, values in this project appeared to be lower than similar quality units of a similar size in other locations. That was mildly putting it, especially with the people on the east side of this project and directly to the �orth of this project. It was gaing to be 22 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 +�.r. devastating to them and not just to them, but to all of Hovley from Portola to Monterey because it has been considered to be residential and it would affect everyone there and she really felt that if this was to not be dismissed tonight, and she implored the commission to totally dismiss this, if they didn't she felt that every resident on Hovley and all of the cul-de-sacs inc(uding Casablanca at the end of Hovley should be notified of any further Planning Commission and/or Council meetings because she didn't think they were aware of it. With the over supply of the area, she was wondering who would be occupying the units at 53,500 pe� month not covered by insurance. It seemed to her around the last election time in Pa�m Desert that there was a lot of conversation around the fact that the median age range was the 30's and that sort of implied young people with beginning families. If that was so and it was a six-mile radius that they we�e saying people come from, if they were becoming that young it was another thing she wanted to mention. In the event that the Planning Commission went ahead with the project, she asked that they put up a 12-foot wall on Hovley and have the main entrance on Monterey. She thanked the commission and hoped they �'" took this under great consideration. She also asked if they as homeowners would want to have it directly next door to them a�d felt it would totally impact their lives, not just emotionally, not just financially, but also physically and it was the old adage that the one most biggest investment that people make in a lifetime is their residence so she asked the commission to excuse them if they got a little emotionalty crazy about it. They didn't really mean to be rude and appreciated everything that they do and really hoped the commission took this under great consideration. MR. STUART SWIDLER, 40-751 Hovley Lane, stated that his home is just a few hundred feet from the proposed mental project. He (ived at the corner of Hovley and Clover Lane. For the record, he said he was the one who wrote the letter asking people in the area not to attend the builder's meeting. His reasons were set forth in the lette� and he would be happy to answer any questions about it after he finished if it was necessary. He had been a real estate broker for 35 years and had lived � in the Hovley area for ten years. He held before the commission a residen�tial agreement and purchase agreement for residential sales and ` listings. During his years he has seen these documents evolve from a � ,r,�, simple one page form to more ihan �8 pages as they exist today. The 23 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 primary purpose of these documents was to protect the buyer and seller--to divulge as much as possible. They required so many signatures and initials that many of their clients requested that the brokers fiil thern out on their behalf, but they couldn't do that. The documents contained page after page of agency disclosures, flood and earthquake disclosures, foreign status, smoke detectors, water heater strapping, neighborhood noise, annoyances, encroachments, easements, asbestos, led paint, etc., all for the purpose of offering the buyer and seller the utmost protection from something they don't know about. In addition to that it is suggested that the buyer have an independent home inspection, a termite report, a roof inspection, a septic tank inspection, etc., and then the buyer might request a home warrantee to offer the utmost in protection. The Real Estate Commission, the California Association of Realtors, local authorities and some very astute attorneys drew up these documents over the years but what if they forget to include something. No where in these papers or documents did it warrant or suggest to the unwary buyer that if he purchased a lovely home with a manicured lawn in their neighborhood on an R-1 � zoned property that adjoins PR-5 zoned property that he might in the � future reside next to a mental facility. PR-5 was shown in the letter from the commission. One of the PR-5 zones was already built with houses and the other was Monterey Country Club. He asked everyone in the room if they were conscious of the fact that a PR zone could be conditionally changed so that a mental facility is allowed. He said this was an outrageous injustice. He asked if the Real Estate Commission should warn the innocent prospective buyers of the Century Home development and other builders in the area that they may have a mental hospital at the entrance of Hovley Lane. The Damone Group, an out of state developer, had a pure affront to ask to build and operate a mental facility located in the backyard of Hovley residents in one of the busiest non traffic light intersections in the desert. It would still be just as busy when they get a light. In their letter of Feb�uary 8, the Damone people sent a letter to Hovley residents in an attempt to down play the disastrous effect their commercial projeci would have on the residential neighborhood and they told them they planned to build a 31 ,000 square foot single story building--31 ,000 square feet catering to the needs of frail older adults suffering from Alzheimer's disease. He asked how old, how frail and who set the guidelines and who would police the �� guidelines. Thirty-one thousand feet 131 ,000) was the size of 15 of 24 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 �.. their homes joined together under a common roof; 31 ,000 feet was the size of a grocery store; 31,000 feet would most certainly forever blight their neighborhood. The commission would hear stories from other neighbors who have loved ones who had Alzheimer's. One of his own experiences was witnessing a dear friend who suffered from this dreaded disease recently and he died. The man during his lifetime was among the kindest, most docile human beings on earth. When stricken with Alzheimer's he beat his wife of 20 years into unconsciousness on at least two occasions and frequently escaped from his around the clock attendants. He ran out into the street nude looking for his high school sweetheart. He stated he wasn't trying to be funny. The man was very wealthy and had the best nurses and guards that money could buy and yet he managed to escape frequently. Unfortunately Alzheimer's patients often did these things and most decidedly would do so on the streets where their children and grandchildren play. They would feel much safer if a jail was on the corner. At least when the convicts escaped they got out of the a�ea as fast as possible. Mental patients ` would stay right on the street walking onto Monterey, endangering their own lives and the lives of passersby. He said they were all sympathetic with people with mental impairments but they must be cared for in an area commercially zoned and large enough so that they could enjoy extensive grounds on which to stroll away from dangerous traffic and children at play. The Damone Group would have them believe that there is no traffic impact because none of the 52 or 60 residents would be driving. He asked if they were supposed to buy that trumped up argument. He asked if the three round the clock personnel shifts drove automobiles, if the doctors did, if hundreds of visitors drove. He asked about the kitchen supply trucks, the restaurant supply trucks necessary to serve more than 200 mea�s a day, the garbage trucks, tF�e maintenance trucks, the exterminators, the cleaning crews, the gardeners, the parking lot maintenance crew, restaurant and food inspectors, city medicai inspectors, state medical inspectors, the ambulance vehicles, and so on. The Damone Group proposed to run a small hospital and restau�ant no matter what fancy name that gave it and they had the gall to expect them to believe that traffic would be tess than that of 15 or 20 homes. He said anyone who believed that would be a good prospect for their mental hospital. He said they have decided to invade their residential neighborhood and cause them to live `, in an uncomfortable environment and sit by helplessly while their homes 25 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 � � � ..r� would become virtually worthless, all in the name of a money making commercial enterprise that goes by the peaceful sounding name of Clara Bridge. He thought the name Clara Bridge rang with a false sense of tranquility. He asked if they thought the name was chosen accidentally. He said he respectfully asked the commission to run The Damone Group out of Dodge and to let them sell their absurd comme�cial schemes to their own neighbors in Michigan. MS. FRAN JONES, 40-696 Clover Lane, stated that she had a petition of 80 plus peaple who lived right around the proposed building. (She submitted it to the secretary.) She informed commission that she has a sister in an Alzheimer's home and she was a very sweet lady and they loved her and she had another sister visiting her from Minnesota. Last summer she went to see her sister Vi. A couple of months later her son called and told her that Vi and a little gentleman friend who also has Alzheimer's and who were both in wheel chairs got out of that facility and were cruising down the highway. Fortunately no one was hurt, but it happened. � a �1 MR. JAMES MAZORAS stated that he had heard enough that he could not say anything more himself, except for one thing. The government was made up by the people and for the people and the commission had been selected to hetp represent them. He even knew how much they made a month and that was beside the point. They were in a position that they swore to and they only had to realize one thing--how the residents felt. He lived close by where this project was going to be built. He was a former adminisirator of a health center, the Cosby Center in Oakland California that had 60 beds. They averaged one death every 48 hours. He asked if they could imagine what he went through during that period of time. He lasted fo� about one year and a half and then had to get out of there before he ended up in some other convalescent hospital himself. His past experience had been as a developer. He developed the Palm Springs Golf and Tennis Club in Palm Springs. He found out one thing. When they had a neighborhood that is called a residential area it shoutd be kept that way. Don't put in a grocery store or service station or a health facility. There was always a better place fo� that. He said they should give these people a break p and not lock them up on this main street because if their sickness didn't � kill them, he would bet them any money that car fumes would. They � 26 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 �r. have enough cars going up and down Monte�ey right now and it was out of control. He knew it wasn't Palm Desert's fault because on the other side of that highway, and it wasn't Monterey Avenue any longer but a super highway, but it took him to get from Hovley to Country Club as much as 20 minutes and he was on call. He was a notary republic and an officer of the court and he was begging the commission to take this into consideration because their job was to protect the people and they had been appointed to take care of the people and they had asked for that appointment. He said they should regard it as a big crown on their heads and thanked them for listening to alt of the residents tonight. MR. WAYNE WELCH, Avenida Estrada, stated that they would be impacted by this project in many ways. Most of which had been mentioned, but he would say a few things that hadn't been mentioned. If they had 19 residences along that street, they would have 19 driveways, not one serving the facility in a commercial way. Secondly, if people were gaing to pay 53,500 and up for a stay there, they would �' have nice long cars, some of them limousines. They would have to provide large parking spaces. He has had a lot of experience with this kind of facility and he was an Episcopat priest for 25 years, and still was, and he currently volunteered at the Eisenhower medical hospital. He wanted to convey one point and that was that AlZheimer's people and their kin unfortunately came in all shapes and sizes and some of them were huge. In his experience with these homes he had been verbally abused, spontaneously. A clergyman came in love, but he couldn't always expect to be received like that. He had been physically assaulted by them. If they had a building 31 ,000 square feet they would have a PA system in it. lnevitably someone would leave the door open no matter how well insulated. Residents would hear exercise classes, performances they don't necessarily want to hear, movies they didn't want to attend, all of these things needed restrictions. He asked if they had thought about how a PA system would work in a residential area. He was in his yard tistening to a page from a school that came over the air just because the wind was blowing a certain way. He had heard the Marriott pages from time to time and the music at their pool. He asked if they had thought about these things and really considered giving Mr. Kaufman back his view or how Mrs. Jones was affected by ,�,,,, the odors f�om the kitchen. He asked if they had really thought about 27 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 compensating residents who back up to this faciiity for the loss they would suffer in their property. He said they could be assured that the people developing this property would be making enough money from it so that they would live on properties well buffered from such a facility. They would not make the mistake that they had made buying property where a sudden change in zoning diminished their lots. MR. JAMES BROWN, 40-780 Avenida Calafia, stated that he was just on the other side of the wall from the proposed complex. He said he would be very brief. Eve�yone had said objections. They were going to probably now hear rebuttals to those objections. He thought that the number one thing was that as they listen to �ebuttals to objections many of them become argumentative and he didn't mean that the developer was going to argue with them that they were wrong, but they were going to find things to say to try and mitigate all of the numerous things going on but they couldn't predict tomorrow, next month or next year. They did the best they could and the Planning Commission did the best they could but they had an opportunity sitting right in front of them. They didn't have to listen to 80 or 200 or 400 complaints of real estate vafues dropping. They didn't know they were going to drop. They couldn't tell them they weren't going to d�op, but if and when they do, the commission will have participated in helping that happen and he didn't believe they wanted to do that. He didn't want it to happen but there were many issues. They could eliminate the entire problem. The property was zoned residential. They should leave it residential and when it came time for a develope� to build the 15 or 18 homes that would comfortably fit there it wouldn't look like it was part of the neighborhood, it would be part of the neighborhood. MS. ANNETTE LEWIS stated that they resided in the second house on Avenida Calafia and their property would be backed up to this p�operty. She stated that she and her husband coauthored a letter and she had been over to the Amdahl facility in Rancho Mirage that used to be called Ardan and she implored the commission to go over to the facility and see what is going on over there to see how that has impacted that area, see how many beds they have vacant and see how many people died in the last mo�th. She knew of four. She felt that putting this project in a �esidential area was not the thing to do and would impact her privacy, view, noise and things like that in her backyard when she 28 MINUTES PAIM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 i... wanted to enjoy her pool. That was why they bought there--so that they could enjoy thei� pool and the desert. She asked the commission to do some strong thinking on this and not give into this thing. There were other places in the sand where they could build in Palm Desert. Within a two or three-mile radius they had all these assisted living places coming in--Eisenhower and Marriott. She asked the commission to get real and go to the Carlotta and see what happens. MR. SAMUEL RODRIGUEZ, 40-800 Avenida Calafia, said that when they moved out here seven years ago they picked out a home and the realto� said they cou(d have a house down the block and then two weeks later said they could live farther up the street with the same plan but for 52,000 more because of the view of the mountains. The value of his house did go up because of that view. Now they were going to take away that view and automaticaiiy that was going to cost him 52,000--just like that. Environmental�y, he guessed they had conducted an environmental impact report. Just the fact that there was noise was detrimental. There would be increased traffic from cars and trucks and �'° that meant smog. Mr. Smith said this was a residential area--if it was, then they should keep it that way. The developer said they would meet the needs of the older community and people had a right to live in a nice community, but so did they. They were not as old and they also had a right to live in a nice community and he thought this p�oject would hinder that. He wasn't against them providing facilities for olde� people to live, but there was plenty of space for them to locate. He said it might not sound like much, but they had a roadrunner going in and out of their backyard every couple of weeks and if they built there they woutd take that roadrunner away. He felt it was a lovely site to see right in their backyard. Being an elementary school principal in the Palm Springs Unified School District, he worked over in Cathedral City, but he resided he�e and every day the students said the pledge of allegiance and it ended with "in justice for all" and they taught that this was a nation where they elect representatives who were supposed to listen to the people. They have a student council and they came to his office once in a while asking for things and he listened and they talked it over to see what was best for them and the rest of the kids in the school. He was asking the commission to act responsibly and (isten to the wilt of the people. He said he was prejudiced because he was with the will ,,,,�, of the people and wanted the commission to listen to them. The 29 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION � MARCH 2, 1999 developer made a fot of promises and that was just what they were, a lot of promises. The commission asked about Medical/Medicaid. In Minnesota they did this, in Wisconsin they did that, but here in California they didn't know. They would keep up the landscaping. That was a promise but they didn't know if it would be kept. Maybe two or three years fram now it would look run down because they decided they didn't want to pay the gardener enough because they weren't making enough money. A lot of promises had been made and would be made after he got his chance to rebut and that was all they were, promises. They in the neighborhood knew what they had and they liked it, loved it, and it was a nice residential neighborhood and he wanted to keep it that way. MR. JERRY WILEY, 40-900 Avenida Est�ada in Palm Desert, said he had a couple of questions for the developer if that was okay. Chairperson Jonathan said that was fine, but the developer would probably address the questions when he had a� opportunity to speak. Mr. Wiley noted that he and his wife moved here a couple of years ago and they had been coming to this valley for about 20 years. They could have bought in Pa1m Springs or La Quinta but didn't do so. They chose Palm Desert because of the area. The residential area they bought in was off of Hovtey and they had been impacted by the Southwest Community Church which the Pla�ning Commission was quite familiar with. The church was there before they were and they bought knowing the church was there. There had been some impact on their life style and he couldn`t sit and not say anything about this proposed development. The Planning Commission did not have to grant this change. These people were there to make some money and then once they made the money then the homeowners in the area were there to pay the consequences. His recommendation was to vote tonight, not to ca�ry this matter over to another meeting to give the developer more time to respond to the things that had been addressed. He urged them to vote no and listen to the will of the homeowners. MR. KEVIN WINTER, 40-686 Via Fonda, stated that he brought pictures with him of the neighborhood to give the commission an idea of what the traffic was like. He said he moved from San Jose where he worked 30 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 7 999 �a. directly across the street from a facility similar to this. They called that one St. James Place. They put it in an industrial part vf town across from the San Jose Arena where the Sharks play. It had a devastating impact even on the commercial/industrial warehouse area. There were police and ambulances the�e continuously. He didn'i know what went on in the place and didn't want to know. It was a lot rougher than the bar he worked in. He said he was with the people as far as his vote went. He thought the Lucky's store was the only 31,000 square foot building he wanted anywhere near his house and that was about the size of the facility. That was a one story building as weil. One story could be 15-18 feet tall and still be one story. He said he just wanted to share with the commission that even in an industrial area a facility iike this had its problems. It was a unique facility and had problems they weren't aware of or what they could be in for. MR. JACK MENZIA, 40-780 Centennial Circle, stated that he and his wife �eside there. As he sat and listened to the presentation by Mr. Lutich the first question that came to mind was that knowing full well "�'` that a project such as this would require a conditional use permit and the support of the commission, why they would have the audacity to even make such a request to put in an establishment or business or building as was being proposed in this residential area. He didn't know if the developer, owner or business folks had been asked to provide an explanation as to why they would have the audacity to even attempt this project in this residential area, but he thought it was a question that needed to be asked and as taxpaye�s they needed an answer to that question because to him it was very obvious that this type of venture should be in a commercial area. They would not get the �esistance shown this evening if the building was attempted to be constructed in a commercial area. He heard constant reference to patients suffering from Alzheimer's. It was stated that this facility would attend to these folks, provide them excellent care which was commendable, and his question was if the facility would specifically be restricted to patients with Alzheimer's. He knew very well that in the very broad category of memory impairment there were a variety of canditions, ailments and illnesses that were included. Some were very peaceful and tranquil and some were not. His question to the commission or developer was specifically what other conditions or diseases or types of patients would �,,,�, be housed in this facility and not let them as a general public be 31 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 ` convinced when they left this evening that they would be dealing with, or be concerned about or fearing strictly patients who were suffering from Alzheimer's. He said he had to chuckle when there was �eference made to attempts being made to control sirens from ambulances and fire trucks and also attempts to control the year, make, size and models of the delivery trucks that go in and out of the facility. He said he wasn't being facetious. He wanted to know how on earth they were going to control the size, make and model of a delivery truck when they were delivering towels or food or picking up rubbish. That must take the ultimate power and wanted to know how they obtain the power to do so. When they considered a project like this whether as a taxpayer of a person sitting in a very critical position like the commission, one of the obvious questions for all parties concerned was what were the benefits. From his point of view it seemed to be a four-part question pertaining to 1) the promoters, whose motives were very clear and they were profit driven and had a singula� motive a�d purpose--to make profit off the citizens or city or the area known as Palm Desert. Their benefit was very clear. For the patients, if the care provided to these individuals as stated by the applicant, if they received that type of care obviously that was a direct and great benefit for them and they were deserving of good care so they too would benefit as patients. For the city of Palm Desert he wasn't sure what the benefit would be but he was assuming that if the commission would even consider approving this type of project down the road somewhere there had to be benefits for the city of Palm Desert, whether in the form of i�creased revenues, through taxes or some other form. He didn`t know, but if they even considered this type of approval he could only assume that they would have the very specific response to that question of what were the benefits and why would they approve such a proposal. Lastly, when they thought about the benefits for the citizens, the homeowners, the taxpaye�s, the residents of Hovley Lane and the surrounding areas, he didn't know of any benefits although the commission might but based on what he had heard this evening he had not been able to glean from any of the comments any singular benefit to himself or to all his neighbors, taxpayers and homeowners at the meeting. Clearly the people who would be impacted most and the people who probably should receive the greatest amount of benefit f�om this type of proposal were being completely ove�looked. The economic impact and the quality of life were two things the commission should take inta serious 32 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 �.. consideration if they allowed this proposal to get out of the chambers that evening. Clearly the benefit for the homeowners, taxpayers, and people they represent was nonexistent. Finally, he lived on Centennial Circle and unless he was mistaken, he represented the eastern portion of the street. No one to his knowledge who had spoken this evening lived beyond him in an easterly direction. As the commission knew, they lived on the street just east of the Southwest Community Church. They had a marvelous congregation, marvelous purpose and no objection whatsoever, but he could tell them that it had impacted their quality of life. They knew the chu�ch was there when they bought two years ago, no problem, and they tolerate it. On Saturday evenings, Friday evenings, particularly on Sundays, they have to be extremely careful when he and his wife back out of their driveways or with their friends who are visiting because the cars had literally taken over Centennial Circle and Hovley Lane East and West. On Sunday when services were wel!-attended they were literally trapped in their cul-de- sac. It just confused him greatly that they as a council or commission � as was previously stated by someone else would even consider granting another conditional use permit in addition to the church on Hovley Lane. The church would relocate and they understood that. If the commission granted this conditional use permit, he was really concemed what would happen next to the vacated site where the Southwest Community Church was located. He said that maybe the commission had already made a decision of which he was not aware or maybe the facility would be torn down and homes would be built, he didn't know, but if there was another consideration for a conditional use perrnit in addition to the church, he was greatly cvncerned that the commission had lost sight of what their basic mission was and that was to protect the residents. It didn't make sense at all that they in an area that has been described as a beautiful residential area would be impacted by two facilities that the commission app�oved unde� the auspices or the conditions of a conditional use permit. Again, he chose to live on Centennial Circle off of Hovley Lane. It was not a gated community. They chose not to live in a gated community for the reasons ihat were stated. They liked the sense of community they have. The cul-de-sacs were warm friendly areas populated by people with the same basic philosophies and concepts of living in the beautiful desert. If they wanted to live behind walls they would. They chose not to. In closing � 33 MINUTES PALIUr DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 he asked that this issue not be allowed out of these chambers this evening and to stop the project now. MS. ANN KiM, 40-075 Clover Lane, informed commission that they have lived in Palm Desert for 22 years and at this address for more than ten. The only thing she wanted to mention was that the desert was a beautiful place, but it was also a place with plenty of space. The�e were options. Palm Desert was a beautiful place to live and in the future she thought there would be a lot of development and rather than building on that corner there were plenty of other places they could develop. MS. STARLENE MILLSPAUGH said that she had one point that hadn't been touched on. Everything else said was exactly how she and her husband felt. They don't want this facility in their neighborhood. She had been in the health care business for 25 years. She worked at Eisenhower for 12 yea�s. The ratio of staff to patient really concerned , her for this facitity. If they had 60 patients, Alzheimer's and mentally impaired, parking for 25 cars and a staff of less than 15, she had witnessed in her own career that as Alzheimer's patients digress they need one on one care. She had seen patients come to the hospital for one reason or another, falling out of bed breaking a hip, and they have literally had to be strapped into bed to keep them from hurting themselves or others if they didn't have a personal care giver. She asked if that meant that as these patients' health deteriorated that they would be strapped into beds or if they would bring in more help to take care of them on a one on one basis because she knew from personal experience that a staff of less than 25 for this kind of patient and that encompassed people that take care of the cleaning and whatever else, she asked what the ratio of actual care giver was to the patients and how many people were actually involved in the daily care and supervision of these people. They would wander off and get out. They would hurt themselves and were very violent if their health was in the final stages of Alzheimer's. They could not be controlled or held but literally required some physicai force to keep them from hurting themselves or others and that was a real concern of hers. She thought that hadn't been made clea� to them but had been in her mind since the proceedings began. She thanked the commission for listening. 34 MINUTES PAIM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MQRCH 2, 1999 �... Chairperson Jonathan asked if the appiicant wished to readdress the commission. Mr. Lutich said he would try to address as many of the issues as he could. First, the question was asked how they could have the audacity to propose this project in Palm Desert and he also felt that spoke to what they perceived as the need for this type of project in this community. As he mentioned before, Alternative Living Services' philosophy was that older adults have every right to live in a residential setting just like anyone else. As it related to this particular site, he understood there was a woman who gave some information to assisted living residences in the area and agreed that assisted living for frailer adults was over bedded in the Palm Desert area and that was not what they were proposing here. They were proposing a residence designed specifically to cater to adutts with memory impairment and �elated dementia in a freestanding purposely built building which they believed was a market that was under served in the Palm Desert area. � Alternative Living Services has an extensive market research department that does similar anaiysis to what was desc�ibed earlier and that was their conclusion and the reason why they were proposing to build here and why they were proposing to build in this �esidential setting. That was ALS's philosophy. ALS had built more than 365 residences throughout the Midwest and they were building them in California as well. Comments had been made with respect to the residential character of the building. He said he wasn't there suggesting that they saw very many 31,000 square foot residences. What he was saying was that this was not an institutional setting. This was a residential setting for these older adults. They walked in and saw living room furniture. They didn't see a nursing station. They saw a fire place and residentially scaled room sizes. The way the building was designed was to basically house neighborhoods in two different buildings joined by a town center in the building which created the tower. That town center was for the residents and their families to congregate in the middle of the building in a safe and secure environment. As it refates to the parking and adequacy of the parking, that ratio was something they have experienced to be adequate in the past and there were industry- . wide studies that also supported that. Their experience has been that i it hasn't been a problem. When they talk about maximum staffing, they r.,, have 15 staff on site, not all of whom would drive and park a vehicle 35 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION , MARCH 2, 1999 on the site, so they had to conside� that some of the care givers were dropped off and picked up and even then assuming they would take the full 15 spaces, that has been adequate for them in the past. There were questions about being detrimental to public health and safety as related to noise. As the staff �eport indicated, they would make every effort to screen and mitigate all the noise as it fefates to the air handler systems, etc., on the roof. They were located away f�om the single family residential area and were in a lower pitched section of the roof and they would bring in screening there. As it relates to privacy along the back wall, again, any recommendations the commission required that would be adequate to the neighbors to screen that they would be more than happy to comply with. A comment was made that these buildings were more app�opriate in a commercial setting and comparisons were made to buildings/projects underway and the Marriott project, MBK project, Portofino project, those were all multistory 85,000 plus square foot residences and he didn't think they were comparable to this particular residence. ALS's philosophy was that older adults shouldn't be "imprisoned" in a commercial area. There was a lot of concern with respect to the safety and concern of the residents and their tendency to wander, the care of the �esidents and there were comparisons made to other facilities. He couldn't comment on other facilities, just on his experience and knowledge of Alte�native Living Services who was the premier provider of these types of freestanding residences that cater to this particular adult population. They have specifically trained staff. They take every p�ecautio� as it relates to the building. The building was closed 24 hours a day and doors were not left open so there wouldn't be any noise emanating from the building as it relates to that particular setti�g. Security of the residents was paramount to Alternative Living Services and they take every training and every precaution to insure the fact that wandering didn't take place or if someone did exit the building that they were escorted back into the building as quickly and safely as possible. Regarding discussion about the emergency entrance off of Monterey, that was proposed as a Fire Department requirement. Any mitigation that could be made regarding the concern that people might pull into that a�ea they would be happy to respond to. In terms of staffing ratios, industry standard for this type of care was one to seven from a resident to care giver ratio and that was the ratio Alternative Living Services used for their buildings. As someone progressed with the Alzheimer's disease, they could 36 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 � � become combative and Alternative Living Services with an RN on staff and in the building and a hea(th care coordinator, they make every attempt to try and mitigate that with both the family's involvement as well as a personal physician. In a situation where someone becomes a danger to themseives or others then they would be considered for discharge to another setting that would be more appropriate for that type of behavior. Someone said it would be in the best interests of Alternative Living Services to keep them longer for the all mighty dollar, but it was quite the opposite. This was a market driven environment where the adult child was coming in and they didn't want to see residents that were combative or endangering their family members so it was definitely a concern that Alternative Living Services as an operator would share. There was a comment about one death every 48 hours at another residence. What they had experienced as the average length of stay for this type of resident was two years, so they were perhaps experiencing one death a month. There was a question relating to sirens coming in and out of the building. If there was an emergency situation in most instances there was a nurse on staff. If it was after �` hours the nurse was on call and they would be able to instruct and provide immediate care on the scene and typically they would try to work with local groups to bring someone in a non siren type situation and that was what they would make every attempt to do. He asked if there were any questions from the commission or if he missed any. Chairperson Jonathan thanked the applicant and closed the public hearing and asked the commission for comments. Commissioner Campbell stated that she would like to see this matte� continued to the next meeting. (There were many loud comments from the audience made at this time.) Commissioner Finerty thanked everyone for their comments, letters and participation. She said there were many references made to Southwest Community Church and they all knew the church was there first and then came the �esidents. This situation was different because now they had the residents there and now they had another conditional use permit. She felt they needed to give the nod to the residents. She sympathized because she had a situation near where she lived where Palm Springs Mortuary wanted to put in r., a satellite office next to where she lived and not one of the 247 homeowners 37 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION b MARCH 2, 1999 thought it woufd be a good idea. She personally woutdn't choose to live next to an Alzheimer's facility nor would she choose to live next to a mortuary office. She believed that the property values would be negatively impacted as stated and as written in letters. She had a father-in-law whose second cause of death was Alzheimer's. He did become violent and they had to address the issue of restraints and medication to mitigate it. It appeared that escape was inherent in this disease. She listened to everyone and agreed with them that another site would be more appropriate and she believed that a continuance was fruitless and would move to deny the CUP. Commissioner Lopez also thanked everyone for participating a�d taking the time to w�ite the lette�s. His conce�ns we�e very much in line with theirs. He had valid concerns regarding parking, safety, the well being of the individuals the�e, the impact to the community and he felt there we�e other areas this would fit better in. He too believed a continuance would not be in the proper order tonight. Commissioner Beaty said he was somewhat offended because he lives right across the street from The Carlotta and it wasn't a bad neighbor. He bought his home after The Carlotta was built and there were a few things he didn`t like but would accept. But as stated, he would yield to neighborhood concerns. They were there first and he would go along with Commissioner Finerty and Commissioner Lopez. Chairperson Jonathan thanked everyone fo� attending and fo� taking time out of their personal schedule to write and to be at the meeting and that included the applicant. He said he was a little embarrassed by his co-citizens and felt there had been some comments that verged on being rude and he wanted the applicant to know it wasn't representative of our community. He thought some of the people were just very emotionally involved in the issue and that was understandable. He noted that the applicant was a guest to our community and they welcomed him here during his stay and hoped he knew that some of the comments made were not representative of our overall community. Chairperson Jonathan stated that the concerns had tremendous validity. Whether they could be mitigated or not he didn't know. 6ased on some of the comments they heard tonight, they could create a Taj Mahal or a 1,000 square foot facility, but if it had the word "Alzheime�" attached to it . he didn't think they were going to find compassion tonight. Again, he was sorry and was a little embarrassed by his neighbors. He heard almost no 38 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 �1r.. compassion fo� the need for this type of facility. He understood why they wouldn't want it in their backyards and that was reasonable, but why not a comment here or there about how we need to take care of our aging population and why not at least consider that issue. As to why they had the gall to apply--because it was a potentially permitted use in the residential zone. The commission was there not to consider a change of zone. He explained that within a zone certain zones were allowed under that zoning. They had certain uses disallowed �nder the zoning and then they had in between uses that required special permission like the church and like the care facility. There were certain uses that could only be permitted in a residential zone after a process like this one. This project was proof that it works because the appticant has the right to pursue the application and the residents have the right to express opposition. The only way this type of use could be permitted in a residential zone was through the granting of a conditional use permit which required this whole procedure. If there was a disagreement with the findings, they had the right to appeal the decision. It was a very fair process and hopefully the people who administered the process did so fairly. He said he would have the same concerns if he lived there and he thought they were �`" valid. The question in his mind was whether or not they could be rriitigated or not. In other words, if the applicant were to do everything that addressed the concerns if that would satisfy the people. From what he was seeing he had his doubts. The other concern was the greater good of the city. There was a need for this type of facility, but could it be accommodated elsewhe�e. He thought the answer was probably yes. He said he was struggling and was trying to be sympathetic to the applicant and to the need for this type of facility, but on the other hand he thought there were options as to where to locate this type of facility. He asked for further discussion or a motion. Commissioner Finerty moved to deny the CUP. Mr. Drell clarified that the motion should be to direct staff to prepare a resolution of denial with the proper findings for adoption at ihe next meeting. Action: It was moved by Commissioner Finerty, seconded by Commissioner Lopez, instructing staff to prepare a resolution of denial for adoption at the meeting. Chairperson Jonathan asked if there were any comments. Commissioner Campbell stated that she would still like a continuance and felt the facility was needed and would perhaps be needed by the residents, their parents or family ,,,,,, members. She felt the applicant should have the opportunity to address staff's 39 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 concerns and the concerns expressed by the residents. (During Commissioner Campbell's comments the audience interrupted with loud conversation and comments.) Chairperson Jonathan addressed the audience. He pointed out that they were being rude and that the comrnission sat for more than two hours and not only heard their comments but listened to their comments. It was impolite of them to not even listen while they were having discussion amongst themselves. He had to tell them that in all his years on the commission he had never been that embarrassed by his neighbors. He asked that they please respect the commission like the commission respected them and to allow them to have their discussion without having to yell over their comments. He asked Commissioner Campbell to continue. Commissioner Campbell felt the developer should be given the opportunity to add�ess the concerns. As stated earlier by Mr. Markowitz, she would like to see what the impacts would be from the height of the building if it was to be built there and thought the developer should be given the opportunity to do that and address the concerns. Chairperson Jonathan asked if there was any other discussion. There wasn't and Chairperson Jonathan called for a vote. Motion carried 4-1 (Cvmmissioner Campbell voted no). Chairperson Jonathan explained to the audience that the application had been denied but the actual resolution would be adopted at the next meeting. At that meeting they would not open the public testimony so it would just be the formality of the vote of denial. Chairperson Jonathan again thanked his fellow neighbors for taking their time to be with thern and for sharing their feelings and thoughts. One of the �esidents came to the microphone and thanked the commission for their kind and courteous patience. X. CONTINUED BUSINESS A. CONTINUED AGENDA ITEM VIII: AWARDS/PRESENTATIONS Request for adoption of a �esolution comme�ding George Fernandez. I Chairperson Jonathan noted that this item had been continued from earlier in the evening and asked for a motion. 40 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 2, 1999 ... Chairperson Jonathan noted that there was a switch for the committee liaisons between Commissioner Finerty and Commissioner Lopez. Commissioner Finerty would now be the primary liaison and Commissioner Lopez would be the secondary one. D. PROJECT AREA 4 COMMITTEE - (No meeting) E. PALM DESERT/RANCHO MIRAGE MONTEREY AVENUE CORRIDOR PLANNING WORK GROUP - (No meeting) F. ZONING ORDINANCE REVIEW COMMITTEE - (No meeting) XIII. COMMENTS Commissioner Beaty thanked and commended Chairperson Jonathan for the good job chairing the meeting. Commissioner Finerty and the rest of the commission concurred. ,,,,,� Mr. Hargreaves commented that assisted living facilities were protected to some extent by the Federal Fair Housing Act against discrimination because of their housing of disabled people. He had a case out of Escondido that discussed how that actually sorted out and the way it worked out was they had to have legitimate planning reasons for denying these types of applications. He said he had a copy of the case if the commission was interested. XIV. ADJOURNMENT It was moved by Commissioner Beaty, seconded by Commissioner Finerty, adjourning the meeting by minute motion. Motion carried 4-0. The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m. "''�—�. � �� � _ . - �l I = � � � 'L�. ,�.......: PHILIP DRELL, �ecretary " ATTEST: , ' ' � `�. SABBY JONA N, Chairperson Palm Desert Plan ing Commission � 42