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HomeMy WebLinkAboutUpdate on Manor Care Parking on Country Club 08/25/2005CITY OF PALM DESERT DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT STAFF REPORT REQUEST: Update on Manor Care Parking on Country Club Drive SUBMITTED BY: Steve Smith, Planning Manager DATE: August 25, 2005 CONTENTS: Background and Discussion Background and Discussion: This is a follow up to the report of July 14, 2005. July 13, 2005 the applicant filed an application to add 31 parking spaces onsite. Included in that application were grading details needed to locate the parking spaces over existing retention areas. The applicant's landscape architect has been in contact with City landscape personnel and a plan consistent with the parking lot tree ordinance will be forthcoming. Once the grading and landscape issues have been reviewed, staff will approve the site plan modification to add 31 spaces. In the interim, Manor Care has established a required offsite parking program at the Oasis Church west of the site. A van shuttles employees between the sites. This program appears to have been fairly successful in that the observed number of vehicles on the street, on most days, is significantly less than was noted previously. Submitted by: St ve Smith Planning Manager Approval: Homer Croy ACM for De to ent Services (WpdocS\tm\Sr\mdnorcar.CC2 ) Department Head: 1�^'1 Lt--� Phil Drell Director of Community Development Approval: Carlos L. Orte City Manager REQUEST CITY OF PALM DESERT DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT STAFF REPORT Update on Manor Care Parking on Country Club Drive SUBMITTED BY: Steve Smith, Planning Manager DATE: July 14, 2005 CONTENTS: Background and Discussion Solutions Background and Discussion: City Council requested staff to investigate the on -street parking occurring on the north side of Country Club Drive in the area of the Manor Care facility. March 4, 1986 Planning Commission approved a request by Manor Care to construct a 180-bed skilled nursing facility with 64 on -site parking spaces. The March 4, 1986 report notes that the required parking is 45 spaces (one space per four beds). The environmental assessment submitted by the applicant specifies a maximum of 46 employees on site at any one time. Over the years parking spaces have been added so that presently there are 89 spaces on site. Tuesday, June 28, 2005 at 10:30 a.m. Planning staff conducted a parking survey which showed that there was a total of 95 vehicles parked at the facility (81 on site, 12 on the street, and two in the red zone on the west side of the building). There were 11 vacant spaces on site, most in the front area. At 1:00 p.m. that day 16 vehicles were counted parked on the street. Public Works Department advises that as soon as the end of August, 2005, a bike lane will be installed on Country Club Drive which will prohibit street parking. June 23, 2005 Planning staff, along with the Director of Public Works, met with Michael Murphy, an engineer representing Manor Care. Mr. Murphy had a site plan which would provide for an additional 31 on -site parking spaces (120 total on site). This plan is to be submitted before July 14, 2005. Staff Report Manor Care Parking Page 2 July 14, 2005 June 29 and 30, 2005 staff spoke with Dr. John Gallick and Mike Foster of Manor Care and advised them of the likely future loss of street parking and attempted to gain an understanding as to why parking demand is so high at this facility. Mr. Gallick and Mr. Foster indicated that Manor Care provides a very high level of personalized care to their residents so, therefore, staffing was higher and that the residents receive a lot of family visitors. They both expressed a willingness to work with the City to correct the situation and reiterated their request to purchase some of the adjacent property from the RDA. Staff noted that there were signs around the site which read "Orthopedic Care Unit" and "Reserved for Out Patient" and asked if outpatient services were provided on -site. Mr. Gallick and Mr. Foster indicated that they were licensed by the State for outpatient service, but that it was a very minor contributor to the parking situation. If there is outpatient service provided at the facility, then that would be a violation of the use permit. In any case, the street parking problem will disappear with red curb and appropriate enforcement. Solutions: 1. Work with Manor Care to achieve an acceptable design for its expanded parking lot. 2. Establish a parking reduction program which could include employee car/van pools and outpatient vans. 3. Code action to address outpatient activity. Submitted by: Steve Smith Planning Manager /f ME. ACM for Services Dep ent Head: Phil Drell Director of Community Development Approval: Carlos L. Ortega City Manager (wodX3VM%rQ moo• Ca) PRELIMINARY MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING JULY 14, 2005 Mayor Crites responded that these comments could be made later in the meeting under Oral Communications. Councilman Spiegel moved to waive further reading and adopt Resolution No. 05-59, approving Parcel Map No. 32930. Motion was seconded by Ferguson and carried by a 5-0 vote. V. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: Update on Manor Care Parking on Country Club Drive. Councilmember Benson stated that the last time this issue came up, Manor Care indicated that adding Occupational Therapy to the facility increased the parking, but now they are saying it did not increase. She said she felt it was important that Manor Care not continue to rely on Country Club Drive for its parking and that parking is taken off of that street as soon as possible. Mayor Crites said the last time he was at Manor Care, there were seven or eight cars parked in red zones. There were six cars parked on the grass in various places, and there were two or three parked behind other vehicles. He said he was convinced it would have been impossible for the Fire Department or any other emergency vehicles to access that facility. He felt it would be a mistake to remove the parking from Country Club Drive before Manor Care irons out the parking situation. He said he would like to direct staff to place a high priority on either fixing this or else looking at what the City's obligations are under Manor Care's permit for occupancy, etc., because this is an unsafe situation. MR. DON CLARY, representing Manor Care, said they had requested that this matter be taken off calendar at this time because of actions they have been taking to alleviate the problems on Country Club Drive. He noted the letter dated July 12, 2005, indicating they had just recently filed a new site plan to add 31 new parking spaces. In addition, they were finalizing arrangements with the Palm Desert Oasis Church down the street in order to obtain more spaces. Manor Care employees had also been instructed to park off the street. He said they had been talking to the Planning staff to make sure they are aware of those efforts, and he asked that this report be removed from the Agenda at this time. Councilmember Benson said she would like to see a time limit on these mitigation measures, and she felt the City had been more than reasonable over the years in trying to get the problems resolved. 7 PRELIMINARY MINUTES REGULAR PALM DESERT CITY COUNCIL MEETING JULY 14, 2005 Mayor Crites suggested that this matter be continued to the next City Council meeting of August 25, 2005, at which time Council would be able to see what progress had been made by the facility in rectifying these issues. Councilman Spiegel stated that one side of Country Club Drive is currently red -curbed, and the other side (where Manor Care is located) will have a bicycle lane in the near future; therefore, there will be no parking allowed on the street in that area. He suggested that staff look at installing "No Parking" signs and ask the Police Department to provide enforcement. Councilman Spiegel moved to continue this matter to the meeting of August 25, 2005. Motion was seconded by Ferguson and carried by a 5-0 vote. VIII. RESOLUTIONS A. RESOLUTION NO. 05-60 - A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA, DENYING A CHANGE OF ZONE FROM PR-7 TO PC-2 FOR 3.22 ACRES; A PRECISE PLAN OF DESIGN, TENTATIVE TRACT MAP, AND A NEGATIVE DECLARATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT FOR A MIXED USE RESIDENTIAL (33 SINGLE-FAMILY LOTS) AND COMMERCIAL (30,550 SQUARE FEET) NEIGHBORHOOD COMMERCIAL CENTER PROJECT ON 8.63 ACRES AT THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF MONTEREY AVENUE AND COUNTRY CLUB DRIVE, 73-100 COUNTRY CLUB DRIVE Case Nos. C/Z 04-06, PP 04-32. and TT 33120 (Robert Mayer Corp. c/o Larry Brose, Applicant). Councilman Kelly moved to waive further reading and adopt Resolution No. 05-60. Motion was seconded by Spiegel and carried by a 4-0-1 vote, with Mayor Pro Tern Ferguson ABSTAINING. B. RESOLUTION NO. 05-61 - A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA, REQUESTING THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (CALTRANS) AND THE CALIFORNIA TRANSPORTATION COMMISSION (CTC) INITIATE ACTIONS TO RELINQUISH ROUTE 111 AND ROUTE 74 TO THE CITY OF PALM DESERT WITHIN ITS CITY LIMITS. Mr. Ortega stated he had received telephone call from Senator Battin, who indicated he would include the Cities of Palm Desert and Indian Wells in the same request if there were no objections. HCR ManorCare 74-1i.^ Countrc Club t)ricc Palm Desert, (;alrtorma 92261 760-341-0261 760-779 1 W Fax 07/ 12/2005 Hon. Buford A. Crites, Mayor Palm Desert Civic Center 73-510 Fred Waring Drive Palm Desert, CA 92260 HCR •ManorCair Re: ManorCare Facility - 74350 Country Club Drive, Palm Desert,CA Dear Mayor Crites: ManorCare has been informed that an informational report has been scheduled for the City Council meeting on July 14, 2005 relating to street parking in the area of our facility. For the reasons stated below, ManorCare respectfully requests that this matter be taken off calendar at this time. ManorCare has noted that there has been increased parking on Country Club Drive in front of our facility. Some time ago, in response to this situation, ManorCare initiated the development of a new site plan that will provide an additional 31 parking spaces on the site. Our representative, Mr. Michael Murphy, has already met with the City's planning staff to describe our proposed plan. We are now incorporating staff's input and are in the process of completing and submitting this plan. In addition today, we are submitting the grading plans for additional parking. We believe that this plan will resolve these parking concerns. However, in order to further address any issues that may be of concern, we are also directing our employees to park off the street and completing arrangements with the Palm Desert Oasis Church which is located at 74200 Country Club Drive, Palm Desert to obtain an additional 20 parking spaces at times when the Church will not be using them. We believe that our instructions to our employees, the implementation of our parking plan and/or the securing of the additional leased space will certainly resolve any parking concerns. We would therefore appreciate the opportunity to complete the necessary discussions with the planning department and to finalize these plans (as well as our lease agreement with the Church) so that a complete description of the situation can be provided to the City Council at the appropriate time. We are doing our utmost to expedite these efforts and believe that they will be completed shortly. Just as ManorCare takes pride in the high quality of care that we provide to our patients, we are equally proud of our corporate citizenship. We and our employees are happy to be an important part of the Palm Desert community and look forward to continuing our positive relationship with the community in the future years. We thank you for your coop ration in this m ter. Very t ly y16 s, Debbie Burger, Administtrator 1 Sz :z ad s i inr Sail VO '183S30 wive 3013j0 S,N83i:) 03A An HCK Manor Cat (,onyam