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HomeMy WebLinkAbout0615 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION REGULAR MEETING TUESDAY - JUNE 15, 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 7:02 p.m. He indicated the meeting was starting a couple of minutes late due to the parking situation. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Commissioner Beaty led in the pledge of allegiance. III. ROLL CALL Members Present: Sabby Jonathan, Chairperson Paul Beaty Cindy Finerty Jim Lopez Members Absent: Sonia Campbell Staff Present: Steve Smith, Planning Manager Bob Hargreaves, City Attorney Phil Joy, Associate Planner Tonya Monroe, Administrative Secretary IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Consideration of the June 1 , 1999 meeting minutes. Action: It was moved by Commissioner Finerty, seconded by Commissioner Lopez, approving the June 1 , 1999 minutes. Motion carried 3-0-1 (Commissioner Beaty abstained). V. SUMMARY OF COUNCIL ACTION Mr. Smith summarized pertinent June 10, 1999 City Council actions. VI. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None. MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JUNE 15, 1999 .r VII. CONSENT CALENDAR None. Vill. 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. A. Case No. CUP 96-30 Amendment No. 1 - CITY OF PALM DESERT, Applicant Request for approval of an additional 120-space parking lot south of the Palm Desert Soccer Park located at the 42nd Avenue westerly terminus, and permission to use a P.A. system for emergency use. Mr. Joy explained that this additional parking lot was a result of a severe parking shortage that existed at the soccer field this past year. He coaches a couple of teams and was the brunt of most of the complaints that occurred. Council directed staff to construct a parking lot south of the fields and he saw that things were kind of lagging behind in the construction so he volunteered to take this on. It was advertised for a public hearing and as a result there were a few concerns voiced from adjacent residents. Staff met with a small group of homeowners adjacent to the park over on Portola Country Club and defined the issues and hopefully worked out a solution. Namely, that the northerly 200 feet of the property line of Portola Country Club they would construct an eight foot high wall to be completed at the time of the parking lot and if no additional wall was constructed within two years as part of a future housing project, then the City would go ahead and build another 200 feet of wall also. Two hundred feet would carry it down to the first residence at Portola Country Club and tie in with their wall. The other issue was the emergency use of the P.A. system. That was defined as relating to lost children, blocked fire aisles, and medical or public safety situations. The speakers would be on top of the snack bar. The last condition would be that the additional parking lot would be posted that it would be closed at 9:30 p.m. (not a.m. as on the draft resolution). He asked for any questions and recommended approval. 2 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JUNE 15, 1999 Commissioner Lopez asked who would oversee the use of the P.A. system. Mr. Joy said it would be the soccer league. Chairperson Jonathan opened the public hearing, noted that the applicant was the City, and asked if anyone wished to speak in FAVOR or OPPOSITION to the proposal. MS. LEE BALINGER, 74492 Azurite Circle East, stated that their lot is immediately adjacent to the soccer field. When Mr. Joy said that the soccer people would regulate the P.A. system it frightened her because they made it very clear to them that it was a park, not just a soccer field. She asked what would happen when other people came in and who would be responsible for the P.A. then. Mr. Joy explained that the P.A. system would be located within the snack bar facility and would not be available to the public. Ms. Balinger asked for clarification that it was never open to private parties that might use the P.A. system. tow Mr. Joy said it would not be. Ms. Balinger asked if it would be under lock and key. Mr. Joy said it would. Chairperson Jonathan reminded the audience that there was a mechanism within the city that if there were any kinds of problems with the usage of the soccer park particularly, the City was sensitive to the surrounding residents or various individuals and had a built in mechanism to deal with problems. He felt they would find the City and the users very responsive and asked them to speak up. He asked if anyone else wished to comment. MR. HENRY PRESTON, 79780 Camelback Drive in Bermuda Dunes, stated that he represented the Palm Desert Soccer League as the Risk Manager for the organization. He wanted to address the issue of the P.A. system that was requested in that with a park of this size, with his past experience, a P.A. system went hand in hand with such a large area of land to oversee and manage people that were there on Saturdays. They had up to 3,000 people coming and going in the park .... 3 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JUNE 15, 1999 1 ..l and they had issues they were responsible for such as inclement weather where they had to make announcements if such conditions existed, the same as with golf courses. They had issues of emergency phone calls coming into the park requesting to contact a parent, a player, family or something like that. They make announcements when people block the fire lanes or there is a parking problem and additionally the lost children issue. That was the request to have the P.A. system at the park at this time. Another alternative, instead of the snack stand, was to control it in the storage room which only had access by the Board members, thus they would limit the use of the "hot dogs for sale for 29 cents" by the children in the snack stand. Those were the comments he wanted to make. He said hopefully the P.A. system could be adjusted so it wouldn't interfere with the neighbors or businesses in the area. Chairperson Jonathan indicated the use of the P.A. system would be limited, according to the conditions of approval, to emergency usage, so as Mr. Preston indicated, it would not be utilized for announcing hot dog sales or that kind of thing. Mr. Preston said that was right and was why he suggested that the system transmitter be located, and he was talking about something out of Radio Shack, not some big elaborate P.A. system like at the High School, they were talking about something very small where they could just get out immediate announcements. In order to avoid any abuses, he suggested locating the transmitting microphone in the storage room where they keep their supplies as opposed to in the snack stand where there were student and community workers that might have access to it on Saturdays and abuses could occur. Mr. Joy recommended that the transmitter be located in the storage facility for those types of reasons. Chairperson Jonathan asked if the P.A. system as Mr. Preston envisioned it would be limited to three or four months that the league was in operation in terms of games and even then mostly or almost only on Saturdays and during the day as opposed to evenings. Mr. Preston said yes, probably just limited to Saturdays throughout the season which runs a full ten weeks. 4 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JUNE 15, 1999 Mr. Joy said there might be some tournaments during the spring time and he could envision the use at that time also. Chairperson Jonathan said that typically if it was used at all it would be used for a few months on Saturdays only during the day. Chairperson Jonathan closed the public hearing and asked the commission for comments. Commissioner Finerty said she would move for approval with the recommendation that the P.A. system be placed in the storage facility. Action: It was moved by Commissioner Finerty, seconded by Commissioner Beaty, approving the findings as presented by staff. Speaking to the motion, Chairperson Jonathan said he just wanted to make it clear that the reason there was inadequate parking was that there was an unanticipated doubling up on two or three fields during the recreational season with the younger teams. They actually put two games per field and in particular during the changeover period when one team was finishing and the next one was tow starting. There was demand on parking that hadn't been anticipated, so most of the time parking was more than adequate. The overflow was typically required on those particular occasions. He called for the vote. Motion carried 4-0. Move by Commissioner Finerty, seconded by Commissioner Beaty, adopting Planning Commission Resolution No. 1928, approving CUP 96-30 Amendment No. 1 , subject to conditions as amended. Motion carried 4-0. IX. MISCELLANEOUS A. Case Nos. CUP 99-5/CUP 89-3 Amendment #2 - ONE EL PASEO LLC, Applicant Request for clarification of a condition of approval for Planning Commission Resolution No. 1926. Mr. Smith said that as he indicated under summary of council action, Mr. Swajian filed an appeal and the matter would be before the council on the 8th of July. In the interim Mr. Rasmussen asked for a clarification on Condition 5 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JUNE 15, 1999 No. 4 which was imposed at the Commission's last meeting. In listening to the tapes and the secretary talked with the Chairman, the condition was worded that L.G.'s could be open for brunch on Sundays on holiday weekends. The request at this point was to clarify that condition to allow L.G.'s to be open for brunch on weekends and federally recognized holidays and that would occur when the offices on the site were not open. They wouldn't have both the brunch and the office use going at the same time. Staff recommended that the Planning Commission amend the condition accordingly. He noted that Mr. Rasmussen was present to discuss it with the commission if necessary. Chairperson Jonathan asked if this action required that the public hearing be opened. Both Mr. Smith and Mr. Hargreaves shook their heads no. Chairperson Jonathan indicated it would just be a minute motion then. He asked for discussion from the commission. Upon questioning by Commissioner Lopez, Mr. Smith indicated that Condition No. 4 of Resolution No. 1926 was Amendment No. 2 to the original conditional use permit which was done in 1989. Chairperson Jonathan clarified that it was Condition No. 4 that would be modified. Mr. Smith ' concurred that it was what they were discussing. It was further clarified by Chairperson Jonathan that what staff was proposing was that the condition be changed to include basically every weekend on Saturday and Sunday, and federal holidays which could fall on a Monday or Thanksgiving on a Thursday, Christmas or Hanukkah, etc. Mr. Smith said that was correct, but with the proviso that it would not occur when the offices were open. Chairperson Jonathan asked if that would be in the condition as well. Mr. Smith concurred. Chairperson Jonathan asked if the applicant had comments. MR. SAM RASMUSSEN, the owner of the property from San Diego, California, said that on the weekends this project had over 300 parking spaces and the other two buildings would be virtually unused. He had a meeting with L.G. and he didn't want to serve lunch or morning brunch, he just wanted to serve what would be called an early dinner brunch and that type of scenario that was off hours and would not overlap with any of the other uses. He was an excellent restaurant operator and it would enhance the business and enhance the community to have that type of brunch available on the weekends with the vacant parking lot and that was their request. For the federally marketed 6 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JUNE 15, 1999 holidays so to speak, the Thanksgivings, the Christmases. Obviously the rest of the buildings would be shut down and that was their request. Commissioner Finerty asked what time L.G.'s would open. Mr. Rasmussen asked for what point in time. Commissioner Finerty said Saturday and Sunday. Mr. Rasmussen said that currently he did not serve brunch right now, he was just serving dinners. He wanted the ability in the long run to, when the project was not being utilized, just to serve a brunch. He wondered if that was 1 :00 p.m. or 2:00 p.m. He said he wasn't exactly sure, but it was on days when the office complex was closed so regardless of when he opened, it wouldn't impact the parking because the buildings were essentially shut down. Commissioner Finerty indicated that Mr. Rasmussen didn't know what time he �.,., wanted to open. Mr. Rasmussen said no, that he had no firm brunch plan at this particular point in time, but wanted to have the ability to do that if there was interest from his clientele to do that. Chairperson Jonathan asked for discussion or a motion. Commissioner Beaty said he would move for approval. Action: It was moved by Commissioner Beaty, seconded by Commissioner Lopez, approving by minute motion a clarification to Condition No. 4 of Resolution No. 1926 to allow L.G.'s Steakhouse to be open for brunch on weekends and federally recognized holidays when offices on the site are closed. Motion carried 3-1 (Commissioner Finerty voted no). B. Discussion of Portola Corridor Land Use Mr. Smith said that staff looked at the Portola Corridor between Highway 1 1 1 and Fred Waring Drive as was requested at the last meeting. There were a number of lots that front onto Portola that very likely would lose a great deal 5... 7 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JUNE 15, 1999 i of their residential quality of life when the street widening occurred. Street widening in that area would range from 14 to 20 feet which in a number of cases would take them right up to the garage. Staff was recommending that Planning Commission direct staff to initiate a general plan amendment for those properties in that area which might be additionally impacted by future roadway widenings on Portola and if they did so this evening, staff would try to come back to public hearing on that amendment--probably in October. Chairperson Jonathan asked if there were any questions for staff or discussion. Commissioner Finerty moved that commission direct staff to initiate the general plan amendment. She thought it sounded like a good idea. Action: It was moved by Commissioner Finerty, seconded by Commissioner Beaty, directing staff by minute motion to initiate a general plan amendment for property located on the east and west sides of Portola Avenue between Fred Waring Drive and Alessandro Drive. Speaking to the motion, Chairperson Jonathan concurred that it was an appropriate direction for staff to explore. Mr. Smith said quite a bit of it they would anticipate going to office professional, but there were some sites they would have to look at to see what would be best. Chairperson Jonathan called for the vote. Motion carried 4-0. X. COMMITTEE MEETING UPDATES A. ART IN PUBLIC PLACES - (No meeting) B. CIVIC CENTER STEERING COMMITTEE - (No meeting) C. DESERT WILLOW COMMITTEE - (June 15, 1999) Commissioner Finerty indicated that the committee met today and it was basically informational items to make the committee aware of that staff needed to investigate and report back at a later date. D. PROJECT AREA 4 COMMITTEE - (No meeting) 8 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JUNE 15, 1999 E. PALM DESERT/RANCHO MIRAGE MONTEREY AVENUE CORRIDOR PLANNING WORK GROUP - (No meeting) F. ZONING ORDINANCE REVIEW COMMITTEE - (No meeting) XI. COMMENTS 1 . Chairperson Jonathan noted that at the last meeting he advised commission that as Chairman he was invited to a meeting with Council and all committee chair people to communicate and bring everyone up to date. One of the possibilities that came up at that meeting was providing commission and/or council with an update, he guessed by staff, and since the commission has approved a lot of projects that were on the table that haven't been built, so it would be kind of an update as to what's been approved and if the city is aware of what the plans are, as well as what is coming up. Some of the things that go first to Council for some reason or to staff that were a little way off. It was kind of a big picture kind of discussion. They have had that on +�.. occasion in the past, although it has been a few years, and that could take the form of a study session, they've had joint dinners with the council, and he asked if that was something the commission was interested in. Commissioner Finerty said she would be interested in the annexation issue and where we're going. Chairperson Jonathan was sure that would be on the agenda. Chairperson Jonathan asked if they preferred to do that as more of an informal approach with staff bringing them up to date at a study session dinner or if they preferred to meet with Council. Commissioner Finerty said she would like to meet with the council and hear it straight from them as opposed to getting staff's interpretation of what they think they heard. Chairperson Jonathan said they have done that in the past and at one point they were doing that annually. He said he could make that request to the Mayor. Commissioner Lopez said he would like that. Commissioner Beaty concurred. Chairperson Jonathan said that with the concurrence of the commission he would contact the Mayor and suggest that they do something like that. He said it might even be after the summer because he knew the council members were gone a lot and some of their meetings were canceled. *AV 9 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION JUNE 15, 1999 2. Commissioner Beaty said he had a question for staff. Some time ago a business came to the commission and asked for permission to park golf carts on the sidewalk and it was denied. That individual was doing so anyway and it was kind of a slap in the face to him personally. They said no he couldn't do that; that individual asked if they could park in the parking lot and commission said no. They were openly going against the Commission's wishes and he wondered what the City was doing. Mr. Smith asked if Commissioner Beaty was referring to the Highway 111 site. Commissioner Beaty said President's Plaza right next to Pete Carlson. Mr. Smith said there were active discussions ongoing and the City was having similar problems with the location at Boardwalk that backs up onto Cook Street in that area. Commissioner Beaty didn't like when the commission sat at the meeting, took testimony, then denied a request and it was still occurring. Commissioner Beaty also asked whatever happened with the clothing store out by the Lucky's shopping center. Mr. Smith said he thought they have seen reluctant compliance. Commissioner Beaty thanked staff for the information. S t XII. ADJOURNMENT It was moved by Commissioner Finerty, seconded by Commissioner Beaty, adjourning the meeting by minute motion. Motion carried 4-0. The meeting was adjourned at 7:29 p.m. ST HEN R. SMITH, Acting Secretary ATTEST: 1 PAUL R. BEATY, Vice Chaiiyerson Palm Desert Planning Commission /tm i i 10