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Home My WebLink About0321 � __ _ ___ . - _ . .. �� MINUTES ... PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION .� . TUESDAY - MARCH 21, 2006 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * I. CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Lopez called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. II. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Commissioner Tschopp led in the pledge of allegiance. III. ROLL CALL Members Present: Jim Lopez, Chair Cindy Finerty, Vice Chair Sonia Campbell ' Van Tanner ' Dave Tschopp ... Members Absent: None Staff Present: Phil Drell, Director of Community Development Bob Hargreaves, City Attorney Tony Bagato, Assistant Planner Ryan Stendell, Assistant Planner Mark Diercks, Transportation Engineer Tonya Monroe, Administrative Secretary IV. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Request for consideration of the March 7, 2006 meeting minutes. tio It was moved by Commissioner Finerty, seconded by Commissioner Campbell, approving the March 7, 2006 meeting minutes. Motion carried 5-0. V. SUMMARY OF COUNCIL ACTION Mr. Drell summarized pertinent March 9, 2006 City Council actions. �..� MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISS{ON MARCH 21. 2006 .rr VI. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS None. VII. CONSENT CALENDAR None. VIII. PUBLIC HEARINGS Anyone who challenges any hearing matter in court may be limited to raising only those issues he, she or someone eise 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 Nos. PP/CUP 05-05 and VAR 05-04 - ERNEST RAMIREZ, Applicant (Continued from March 7, 2006) Request for approval of a precise plan of design and conditional use permit to allow a new Jiffy Lube oil change �., facility with a variance allowing a reduction in the required "daylight triangle" setback from 43'8" to 24' and a variance allowing service bays to front onto a public street for property located at 74-180 Highway 111. Mr. Bagato reviewed the staff report and recommended approval. Commissioner Finerty asked for clarification. The service bays front on Cabrillo. Mr. Bagato said that was correct. Commissioner Finerty asked why they couldn't front east instead of west where there wasn't a street. Mr. Bagato said they looked at having two drives on Alessandro and the building would have to be pushed closer to the property line, and then there would have to be 24-foot drive aisles on both sides which would make a less desirable site design and wouldn't provide enough landscaping to meet the code. Gas stations and uses like this needed to provide 20% landscaping. Staff beiieved by pushing the building closer to Highway 111 and keeping a lot of the storefront architecture there would enhance the site. Also providing the landscaping closer to Alessandro and Cabrillo and closer to the residential area would work better. He said the other plan wasn't welf designed. 2 '� MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 21. 2006 ... Mr. Drell explained the other issue was in their system. They drive through the building and people coming from behind exit fonNard. They don't back out. Mr. Bagato indicated thaYs why there would be two driveways, which would take up a lot of land and asphalt. Commissioner Tschopp asked how important it was to have a drive-through. In old gas stations there are bays, you drive in and then back out. It looked like there was plenty of room to back out. Mr. Bagato said that was something they discussed early on and the applicanUJiffy Lube felt it was very important to them. The applicant could comment on that as well, but it was something they talked about early in the process. Chairperson Lopez o ene the public hearing and asked the applicant to address the Commission. MR. GEORGE PETTIS, 36167 Date Palm Drive in Cathedral City, came forward. He said Jiffy Lube's general contractor and architect were also present for any specific questions relating to design. To answer Commissioner Tschopp's questions, they were fortunate , enough that their business was good so they have multiple customers ' at any time, so they stack the cars. They might have two in the bay at � any one time and they perform service on both of those cars in the bay. In order to facilitate this, they come in and drive out. If they were pulling in and backing out, that would back up traffic into that area. Then they would have traffic backing up into the residential street. By allowing it come in on the residential street and go off onto Cabrillo, they would facilitate traffic patterns much quicker. He asked if there were any specific questions on design. Commissioner Finerty noted that Mr. Pettis said there could be finro cars in the bay, so there was a potential of six cars in three bays. Mr. Pettis said potentially. That was the extreme. Commissioner Finerty said it was potential enough that they didn't want the cars to back up. Mr. Pettis said he certainly wouldn't want it and didn't think the City's traffic people would want people to back out, especially with the entrance coming in on the residential street. As part of this they were removing the driveway on the frontage road. That driveway was going � 3 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 21. 200fi ..� away to force the customers off the Highway 111 visual and onto the other streets. That was requested by City staff. Chairperson Lopez asked if anyone wished to speak in FAVOR or� OPPOSITION. MS. DEANNA GALE informed Commission that she works at the adjoining property next door. She had a question regarding how the in and out traffic would effect Cabrillo Avenue and the traffic flow on Cabrillo, because it gets quite congested as it is at times. With the potential to have six cars pulling out onto that street, it could present a real traffic jam. If they had been there to see how it flows, it gets � pretty backed up at times. She thought that would be a real issue there. I ; MR. JOHN MORGAN, the property owner to the east, J & E i Automotive, said he has been there for 30 years now. One thing he I needed to bring up was the water runoff. When it rains, the water icomes down his driveway from Highway 111 toward Alessandro and i he needed to be sure to have it open on both sides of the building for � the water runoff. Otherwise, it would go straight into the building. They � � needed to make sure there was a natural water runoff there also. He � was okay with the Jiffy Lube next door and it was fine. He had problems with the previous owner blocking it off and things of that nature. ThaYs why he was glad he was gone. But they needed to be sure to get that in there. i As far as design, he didn't see any other way to do it. He thought it � was probably a pretty good design. But they definitely had to have some water runoff. He asked about a wall between their two properties. He asked if there was going to be something between the finro. Chairperson Lopez asked if there had been any conversation regarding a wall. Mr. Drell presumed there would be a six-foot block waff. Mr. Pettis said there wasn't anything there right now. Staff indicated that it could be added. 4 � .. . . . . , ,�h,__ _ MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 21. 2006 .�.. Mr. Pettis asked if staff understood about the water runoff. Right now if they looked, it goes where the Texaco used to be and they still needed to have it open. Back in the day thaYs how they built � buildings. They were down in a hole. i ; Also, he has called the City over the past six months on every windy day because his shop fills up with sand, including today. There was ' nobody coming out putting up anything around the property at aIL There was just dirt and sand blowing and that needed to be handled. There was no one else wishing to speak. Chairperson Lopez asked if Mr. ` Pettis wished to come forward to speak to the concerns. ° Mr. Pettis said regarding the blow sand, it had been treated and he ` shouldn't be having any more issues with it. He noted that there was . an abandoned Texaco station there. After some months, they took the ' sign down and stripped it. They went through architectural review and , eventually took the building down and was vacant. He reiterated that it had been treated and he shouldn't have any more issues with that. � He said the were comfortable with whatever the Commission wanted � ... y them to do with the side wall. If that needed to be repaired or ' replaced, he didn't know who actually owned the wall or if there was joint ownership, but they would work with their neighbor to correct that. He said Ernie Ramirez is their contractor and he would address the drainage issue. ' � MR. ERNEST RAMIREZ, 12188 Central Avenue in Chino, California, '_, said they spoke with their neighbors regarding concerns with future � drainage. They would present their drainage plan through their design � engineer, who had also been made aware to look at his concerns to ' make sure they don't cause any problems and alleviate some of his � problems. As long as it goes through the process and City engineering is okay with the layout and drainage pattern, he thought they would be okay. But they were certainly considering what he's mentioned. Chairperson Lopez noted that there was a question about the traffic and the impact on Cabrillo. Mr. Diercks didn't see it as a major impact. With three bays, they were probably talking about maybe four cars per bay and 12 cars an hour. That was a minimal impact on the street. � 5 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 21. 2006 .r Chairperson Lopez closed the public hearing and asked for Commission comments or action. Commissioner Campbell liked the design of the building, which would camouffage the bays. Also, the design of this building right on the comer would complement the building on the southeast corner, the One EI Paseo building, because it was also massive in height. She moved for approval. Commissioner Finerty thought with the potential of six cars in three bays at any time that was the clear reason as to why Jiffy Lube preferred the bays facing west and not east. Facing east would comply with our ordinance. She thought this lot was too small for this use and that belief was substantiated by the request for finro variances in order to make the project work. She thought our ordinance for the service bays not fronting on public streets was in the best interests of our city and believed it was a terrible precedent to set for a resort city to allow the project to move forward as is. She would definitely take a different look if the applicant was willing to have the bays face east, which would also comply with our ordinance. Commissioner Tschopp said it was a difficult lot and was such a great improvement over what was there that he thought it would work very well. He � also sent his compliments to ARC. He thought they did a tremendous job making sure they got a very nice looking building on that corner. Again, it is a difficult lot and he believed the way Jiffy Lube works it will not have a negative impact on the neighborhood or on the access/egress from the service bays. Commissioner Tanner concurred with Commissioner Tschopp. He thought it would be a tremendous improvement. He has been in the Coachella Valley a long time and he could tell them that when a gas station was there, there were more than 12 cars an hour coming out on Cabrillo. He for one liked the project and would definitely be in favor as presented. Chairperson Lopez thought ARC did a great job and also complimented the architect for the amount of time and effort that went into the project itself. , Obviously, they tried to convert the existing gas station and went through all the different changes, but said the end product was one that is very attractive. He liked the curve and the look of the building itself. He thought it made very good use of that corner that has long been a gas station. The landscaping of the area to the north looked great, so it would definitely be an 6 � MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 21. 2006 � improvement to whaYs been there before and was utilizing the best they could do with this pa�ticular location. He thought there was a need to add a condition pertaining the wall between � the two properties. He thought they should add a six-foot block wall on the east side of the property to the conditions. Commissioner Campbell ' suggested that since it wasn't just for Jiffy Lube that it should be shared by j the adjacent property owner. Mr. Drell informed them that they couldn't � require it to be shared because the neighbor isn't asking for any permits. Typically in these situations people doing the development build the wall. Commission concurred. Mr. Drell asked if the wall would present any drainage problems there, although the construction of a wall would be ! consistent with the resolution of the drainage issue. Commissioner Tanner ; commented on the schematics being consistent also with the design plans. ' Mr. Drell agreed. He said it would be integral to the architecture. i 1 Commissioner Campbell questioned if Jiffy Lube wanted a wall if there ' wasn't a wall there now and if there had never been a wall, just a fence that � had been torn down. She asked if they should put in a condition requiring them to install a wall. Commissioner Tschopp asked if they could modify the condition to state a wall acceptable to the City staff, whether six feet or four `� feet, something of that nature. Mr. Drell said yes. Commissioner Tanner asked if the wall was even something that J & E wanted. Mr. Bagato said that if anything, J & E would like a small retaining wall. It could be an open condition to be worked out with the neighbor. He just wanted something small because of the drainage. Mr. Drell said maybe something just high enough to screen cars in the parking lot. Mr. Morgan said something to divide the properties and he would I maybe like a gate. There would be times they might need them to do t repairs to go back and forth. He said that he was absolutely right about the tra�c situation at Texaco with the traffic going left and right and this would be much better. � Mr. Drell said the wall would be mutually agreed upon between the two parties. Commissioner Tschopp said that would be as approved by City staff. Mr. Drell said that was correct. � i Mr. Morgan said he was mostly concerned about the drainage of the water. It needed to go around his building like it has since 1957.. ... 7 i � � MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISStON MARCH 21. 20�6 � .r Commissioner Campbell said the additional condition was included in her motion. Chairperson Lopez asked for a second to the motion. Action It was moved by Commissioner Campbell, seconded by Commissioner Tschopp, approving the findings as presented by staff. Motion carried 4-1 (Commissioner Finerty voted no). i I It was moved by Commissioner Campbell, seconded by Commissioner Tschopp, adopting Planning Commission Resolution No. 2381, approving Case Nos. PP/CUP 05-05 and VAR 05-04, subject to conditions as amended. Motion carried 4-1 (Commissioner Finerty voted no). B. Case No. PP/HPD 06-03 - RICK SOMERS CONSTRUCTION, INC., Applicant Request for a recommendation of approval to the City Council of a precise plan of design to allow a 10,521 square foot single family home within the Hillside Planned Residential zone for property at 623 Indian Cove within the Canyons at Bighorn. ,�, Mr. Stendell reviewed the staff report. He recommended that Planning Commission recommend to City Council approval of the project. He noted that new Fire Department conditions were distributed and asked that they replace the ones that were included in the draft resolution. Commissioner Tschopp asked for confirmation that the existing pad was already rough graded to a 28,000 square foot pad as part of the Bighorn development prior to the hillside development plan. Mr. Stendel{ concurred, saying that was why it exceeds the 10,000 square foot maximum currently in place. i Chairperson Lopez opened the public hearing and asked the applicant to address the Commission. MR. TYLER GAULLUADET, 2413 Camino Del Mar in Del Mar, ' California, came forward. He said he was present to answer any questions. � 8 +�' i I MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 21. 2006 .r. There were no questions. Chairperson Lopez asked if anyone wished to speak in FAVOR or OPPOSITION to the proposed project. There was no one and the public hearing was closed. Chairperson Lopez asked for Commission comments or action. Commissioner Campbell moved for approval of the project incorporating the new Fire Department conditions. A ti n: It was moved by Commissioner Campbell, seconded by Commissioner Tschopp, approving the findings as presented by staff. Motion carried 5-0. It was moved by Commissioner Campbell, seconded by Commissioner Tschopp, adopting Planning Commission Resolution No. 2382, approving Case No. PP/HPD 06-03, subject to conditions as amended. Motion carried 5-0. C. Case No. TPM 34614 -VENTURE COMMERCE CENTER, Applicant Request for approval of a tentative parcel map to map a 4.53- " acre parcel into one parcel for condominium purposes for property located at 73-700 Dinah Shore Drive. Mr. Stendell reviewed the staff report and recommended approval, subject to conditions. Commissioner Tschopp commented that the parcel map vicinity map showed the property in the wrong location. Mr. Drell assured him that staff would make sure the final map got corrected. Chairperson Lopez opened the public hearing and asked the applicant to address the Commission. MR. MARK PERRY, 600 Bel Air Avenue in Mill Valley, Califomia, came forward. He said this project was already approved last June and the conditions of approval addressed street widening and some other issues at that point in time. This was just to allow them to put together the condominium plan. ... 9 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 21. 2006 .r There being no questions for the applicant, Chairperson Lopez asked if anyone wished to speak in FAVOR or OPPOSITION to the project. There was no one and the public hearing was clo ed. Chairperson Lopez asked for Commission comments or action. Action: It was moved by Commissioner Tschopp, seconded by Commissioner Campbell, approving the findings as presented by staff. Motion carried 5-0. It was moved by Commissioner Tschopp, seconded by Commissioner Campbell, adopting Planning Commission Resolution No. 2383, approving Case No. TPM 34614, subject to conditions. Motion carried 5-0. D. Case Nos. VAR 06-01 and PP 03-22 Amendment #1 - SURESH C. SHAH, Applicant Request for approval of a variance to allow a fire access stairway/ladder structure one foot five inches (1'5") from the east property line and an amendment to Precise Plan 03-22 removing Community Development Condition No. 16 and modifying Public Works Condition No. 14 removing the `� requirement for a recorded easement for emergency access with the adjacent property to the east. Mr. Drelf explained that an agreement had been reached between the two property owners and the applicant withdrew the request. No action was necessary. A_ ction: None. Letter of withdrawal received and filed. E. Case No. TPM 34211 - WILSON JOHNSON CRE, INC., Applicant Request for approval of a tentative parcel map to subdivide 83.2 acres into 22 parcels for property located between Portola Avenue and Cook Street north of Gerald Ford, more particularly described as APN's 653-280-035, 653-390-091 and 653-390-071. 10 .rr MINUTES PA�.M DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION IV.�g�r�F� 21. �OOf� � Mr. Dreil explained that the applicant requested a continuance to allow continuing discussion on conditions between the applicant, Public Works Department and the City Manager. He said that Mr. Stendell was present if the Commission wished the staff report reviewed at this time. The Commission declined. Chairperson Lopez opened the public hearing and asked if anyone wished to speak in FAVOR or OPPOSITION. (There was no one present.) Chairperson Lopez left the public hearing o�� and asked for Commission action. Action: It was moved by Commissioner Finerty, seconded by Commissioner Campbell, by minute motion, continuing Case No. TPM 34211 to April 4, 2006. Motion carried 5-0. IX. MISCELLANEOUS None. r.. X. COMMITTEE MEETING UPDATES A. ART IN PUBLIC PLACES Commissioner Campbell reported on the last Art in Public Places Committee meeting actions. B. LANDSCAPE COMMITTEE Commissioner Finerty stated that the meeting was canceled. C. PROJECT AREA 4 COMMITTEE Commissioner Finerty reported that she did not attend the meeting, but the agenda indicated updates. � 11 MINUTES PALM DESERT PLANNING COMMISSION MARCH 21. 20Q6 1� COMMENTS � XI1. Chairperson Lopez noted that the next meeting was April 4 and asked if everyone would be present. Commission concurred. ADJOURNMENT It was moved by Commissioner Tanner, seconded by Commissioner Campbell, adjourning the meeting by minute motion. Motion carried 5-0. The meeting was adjourned at 6:43 p.m. --_--.�. � �� ,9 �� . � . . .. � ✓ �.n, �' \ � � .� a PHIL DRELL, ecretary r ATTE T: �-�� ' JAMEB� LOPEZ, �rperson Palm esert Plannin C mmission �. /tm ..r 12 .r