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08/04/2005 I Community and Economic Development (ILHORNIA Department 22795 Barton Road Grand Terrace GRAND TERRACE PLANNING COMMISSION California 92313-5295 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING (909) 824-6621 August 4, 2005 The regular meetinq of the Grand Terrace Planninq Commission was called to order at the Grand Terrace Civic Center, 22795 Barton Road, Grand Terrace, California, on Auaust 4, 2005, at 7:05 p.m., by Chairperson Douq Wilson. PRESENT: Doug Wilson, Chairperson Matthew Addington, Vice Chairperson Brian Whitley, Commissioner Tom Comstock, Commissioner Tom Schwab, City Manager Gary Koontz, Community Development Director John Lampe, Associate Planner Jeff Gollihar, Planning Technician Michelle Boustedt, Planning Secretary ABSENT: Robert Bidney, Commissioner 7:05 P.M. CONVENE SITE AND ARCHITECTURE REVIEW BOARD/ PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING • Pledge of Allegiance led by Vice Chair Addington • Roll Call PUBLIC PARTICIPATION: Patricia Farley- 12513 Michigan Street Ms. Farley commented about value is placed on comments during the meetings. Ms. Farley had attended a meeting with regard to concern of a project being approved because it was part of what was a specific plan. The project she was referring to was the Miguel's project and feels that it is part of the.Town Square Specific Plan. Ms. Farley feels that the research that she feels she has to perform is taking up a lot of her time and feels that she does not make wild accusations. 1 . Richard Rollins- 22377 Barton Road Mr. Rollins had concerns with regard to security issues for the new Senior Housing project. Mr. Rollins feels that it is very important to have security, should the project come through, and feels that security cameras should be installed where the tuck under parking will be located. Mr. Rollins is in the hopes that the Senior.housing moves forward and is approved. Cynthia Bidney- 12219 Pascal Mrs. Bid ney is concerned for the future of Grand Terrace. According to the General Plan, there are stipulation of open space areas .and the general well being of the children, recreation and parks. ITEMS: 1. GPA 05-01, SP-05-01 SA-05-14, E-05-16: A proposal to develop 120 units of multi-family senior housing, a 6,500 square foot community senior center, and a four acre passive park. APPLICANT: Corporation for Better Housing LOCATION: South side of Grand Terrace Road, east of Mount Vernon Avenue: 22627 and 22645 Grand Terrace Road. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend approval of General Plan Amendment GPA-05- 01, Specific Plan SP-05-01 to the City Council. Approve Site and Architectural Review SA-05-14, and Environmental Assessment E-05-16 subject to the Conditions of Approval. Planning Director Koontz: Thank you. I would like to do this presentation a little differently than we usually do it. I will be making some comments and introductions. At that point, I would like to turn the presentation over to the Applicant in which they have put together a power point presentation that will be considered relatively high quality that can explain the project much better than we can at this point. Following that I would like to receive a couple of comments from Tom Schwab, our City Manager on the history of this project and the City's involvement in it, then I will take it back and we will get into the details and recommendations. With that, the project before you is a proposal to develop 120 senior units on approximately 6 acres of land including a 4 acre park and a new community senior center of about 6,500 square feet. The site lies along Grand Terrace Road. We've got Mt. Vernon here, and there's about 200 feet along here before you get to the property line. The General Plan for the area right now is low density residential for the site itself. We have low density residential up on the top and on the bottom along Brentwood. Then we've got medium density residential which is the Highlands Apartments over to the west. We have Terrace View Elementary School which is public over to the east, and immediately north is an odd piece of property that occurred when the realignment of Grand Terrace Road and Mt. 2 Vernon occurred. The City currently owns this property. There is a series of Edison power lines that currently traverse this entire area which makes a lot of this area pretty much unusable because of the easements. The zoning for the area is R1 7.2 which is single family residential with a 7,200 square foot minimum. We have the same zoning down below, we have R3 which is the high density where the Highlands Apartments are, and we have the R1-20 which is 1/2 acre density off to the north of the project. The site itself right now going back to the General Plan because it is designated right now as low density residential we are proposing a new density designation on the general plan of medium high density residential, which is a maximum of 20 units per acre. The project proposed on this site is 20 units per acre. As we go through the project, we have written a description for the new land use designation in the General Plan for the medium high density residential designation which says its is multi family, it is senior oriented only and requires a specific plan of land use. The Specific Plan'is essentially the implementing zone underlying this project. If you would like to approve this project, the zone would be specific plan for the Blue Mountain Villas Specific Plan. The project itself has three components. The east side is the senior residential area. It's a three story building; you've got the school over here. In.the middle here you've got a new senior center. The existing senior center sits the site approximately in this area; we will be moving that facility and constructing a brand new senior center in this area. The west side is a four acre passive park. - As you recall about a year or so ago, we had a presentation and you had approved an environmental assessment for the master plan of the entire Petta Park which was essentially a passive park. Many of those components are still in that park. So, we've got the three components and are identified specifically in the specific plan which will also give to you in a moment. With that, I would like to turn it over to Mary Silverstein, the applicant who will give us a power point presentation. Mary Silverstein, Executive Vice President Corporation for Better Housing Good evening. We are a non-profit developer and are based in Sherman Oaks, California. We were formed in 1995, so this is our tenth anniversary, and thus far, we have developed roughly over 1100 units in 16 projects that are up and operating. We have 6 new projects that are currently under construction. First, I want to start with just a little.bit of our experience in senior housing within California. These slides give you pictures of some of our locations throughout California, beginning with Westminster and Bellflower. This gives you examples in Cudahy and San Jose. And this in Temecula. Notice in Temecula, the landscaping that runs in between the units and the lighting that you see for the landscaped area is something that we will replicate in our, coming project in Grand Terrace. This gives you an example of some of the interiors. Shown here, is the Bellflower senior center which is very similar, slightly larger, but very similar in its style of what we're hoping to do in Grand Terrace. And then Don Hotel, which is in Wilmington. This is a special project under construction in Simi Valley and consists of senior condos for sale. Now,_what have showed you before are all rental projects and just to clear up an mystery of a 3 question that I was asked earlier this evening, the project that we are proposing in Grand Terrace is also a rental project. With me this evening, I have representatives of our development team, I am going to ask them to either stand up or raise their hands. From our office is Ben Lingo and Rob Tidd. On behalf of our Architect, John Cotton Architects is Liz and for those of you who saw the drawings that are around the room and the model, Liz made that. Our landscape architect on behalf of RHA Landscape Architects and some of you may know Randy. On behalf of Randy we have Camillo Arellano. And then our civil engineer is in the audience and that is John Ziegler and then not able to join us tonight is David Leonard who helped draft this specific plan you have in your hands. We spent a great deal of time conducting market research and it could not have been accomplished without the help of volunteers from the Grand Terrace Senior Center. Joann Johnson and her team Flo Elliott, Don Bartee, Hazel and Don Davis, Dottie and many, many more had direct input on what we are going to present to you this evening. Chair Wilson: Excuse me for a moment, let me interject, Joann Johnson was also part of the General Plan Task Force. Mary Silverstein - Thank you for pointing that out. . She is a busy woman. And it is really amazing working with this team, because they are extremely opinionated in a really good way. They were very clear on what they wanted to be accomplished with their new senior center and they had some very major concerns that they raised, they did not hesitate to voice them, and we believe that we have met them. Also, in our audience we have Bill Timmons. We fondly refer to him as "our man in the street". Bill Timmons has gone door to door and many of you may have met him asking people for their input and we have incorporated that as well, and it's been very valuable, but most important, we would not have been here if it wasn't for the staff, because the staff have been incredibly supportive of this project and have dedicated a lot of time, energy and hours to where we are tonight. In particular, Gary Koontz, obviously, Tom Schwab,.and Steve Berry and Jo Verhelle. The plan is to move the senior center into the existing parking lot and continue operation while construction is occurring. The picture of the community room is confusing to me because I have been.there many times and it.is never empty. This is a very busy place, especially if you go there at lunch time or during bingo. We are proposing to put in a new senior center, 6,579 square feet and will be a state of the art facility plus 120 villas and roughly a four acre landscaped park. This is the facility, and want to point out the changes that occurred because of the committee at the senior center. This community room is much larger than what they are currently using, and will contain a movable stage. The purpose of that is to integrate the activities that are currently happening in the neighboring school. And to bring them into inter-generational activities that will happen in the new center. There is a wall of windows that will overlook the landscaped area. 4 There is an area for storage which will have a back entry that goes directly to the street. This is a very important room that we had not focused on, and the reason why it is so important is because the County currently delivers lunches Monday through Friday. There are very large refrigerators and freezers that stores this food, and it's very important that this is not only easy but very functional because it happens very quickly and suddenly the place fills up with very hungry people who expect to get served immediately, and it happens Monday through Friday. The Kitchen counter will be granite along with a new stove, new cupboards for storage. The chairs will be able to be placed there for dances, so that there will be plenty of room. The arts and crafts room will contain a sink so that the painting classes will be able to rinse off their paint brushes. There will be a TV and Pool room along with a unisex bathroom. The center will also have new men's and women's bathrooms. The women's bathroom will have four stalls unlike the two stalls that are currently in the existing center. The men's bathroom will accomodate five persons. The library will be a brand new addition and will contain hardwood floors. The library will also have a wall of.windows that will overlook the passive park area. The finishes in the space will be travertine in the community room, lobby and kitchen area. The TV Pool room will have Berber carpet and in addition, the library will have hardwood floors and will be beautiful and quiet. The office space will also contain a wall of windows that way Joann and her team can continue to overlook all of the things that are happening inside. There will be a new office to allow for additional functional space. It's been fun coming out and working with the senior team and we feel that the project itself is a very senior friendly design with direct interior access to the senior center, and that's with the intent that with your really hot days, the residents don't have to go outside, but rather have access through nice hallways. The environment will contain many security features such as a gated entry to the villas and there will be a resident manager and an assistant manager on the site. There are conveniently located elevators at various ends of the development and a spacious community room within the development itself, which is separate from the senior center which allows a separate overflow. The landscape design has gentle sloping pathways and lots of benches under shade trees and will be very colorful. The interior amenities are critical with central air conditioning and all of the utilities will be covered with the rents. The apartments will contain granite counter tops, Whirlpool appliances, vertical blinds, upgraded wall to wall carpet, extra closet space and balconies. Parking will consist of 182 spaces. Residential parking is 122 spaces with 45 tuck under spaces and 77 surface spaces. Because of the input of the seniors there will be lots of trees around that surface space so that it will provide shade. Parking adjacent to the senior center consists of 60 spaces including 4 handicap spaces with a ramp area. Chair Wilson - while we are on the subject of parking spaces, will the spaces be undersized or full sized spaces? 5 Mary Silverstein - There will be a few compact spaces, but it really is focused on larger spaces. Construction details will be Spanish Mission style with shades of Mediterranean and Craftsman. It will have a stucco exterior with mansard tile roof and gables. Multi plane roof lines and mouldings around the windows and doors. The wrought iron details include fence and lattice detail. I would like to turn the mike over-to Camillo, and then I will come back. Camillo Arellano-Project Manager RHA Landscape Architects Good evening my name is Camillo Arellano, and I will be walking you through the landscape of the entire project. This is basically an overall of the entire site. The primary thing being that we want to vegetate the site. Obviously, most of you who live nearby are tired of the dirt and vandalism that has occurred and other issues. I think by creating a passive park that can be functional and can eliminate a lot of those problems. Around the east and south side of the perimeter, we have some low canopy evergreen trees for shading and for screening. Along the perimeter we have some colorful as well as different evergreen trees. . The interior of the park will have quite a combination of color. The fragrances, textures, will easily be interactive. The entrance onto the site will contain courtyard areas and at the entry there will be colorful trees and shade trees to provide not only a variation of color but also some needed greenery. The entry of the park will contain an elaborated main entry that will not only be gated but will bring you into what I call a heritage garden. The whole theme of the park is in essence to celebrate the heritage of the City and the history that exists here. This area can be an area that can be emphasized to celebrate that via a sculptural element of some type and a small orchard that is representative of the citrus grove areas that used to exist here. There will be a series of pathways both large and small with benches and trees to take advantage of some of the sites that can be appreciated here. Large turf areas for either events that spill out from the senior center itself or for when there are some larger events that include public or interactions with the school next door. Further to the west side of the park, will lead to a labyrinth design with seating and canopy trees for shade,and a variety of ground cover, shrubs and turf areas. One area that will allow for community to come together for the holiday season. This will be an area for a holiday tree. A nice large cedar or pine can be used for this purpose. The area will contain a large seating area, as well as a paved area. Some examples of the plant material that may be used include jasmine, rosemary which can also be used for other parts of the garden for the purpose of cooking. Lantana attracts butterflies, and provides color and mondo grass is a decorate sort of grass that will also be utilized. Other examples of other small ground covers will be used throughout the site. Carpet roses will be great for cutting. Evening primrose will be idea for groundcover. Low to -- medium shrubs that will be used in the parking areas to give color will be coral bells, day 6 lilies, princess flowers and bush morning glories. Bougainvillea, purple fountain grass and red hot pokers will also be used for color. Accent trees that may be used will be bottle brushes, as well as black locusts and some other varieties may include crepe myrtles. Chair Wilson - are you recommending that the citrus trees bear fruit for picking? Camillo Arellano - that can go either way, if you use something that can be edible it can be used by the senior community, if it's desired that they won't be using it for that purpose then we could use more sour than others that will not be edible. Other examples of trees for shade trees can be the African Sumac, which is an ideal evergreen low canopy tree and provides very little mess with a lot of shade. Cedars can be used as a holiday tree as well at the labyrinth area. Mary Silverstein - I would like to emphasize that because the landscaping is much thicker than what is shown here, not only will the trees grow, but there are more plants that are intended that this is not a full representation of what it will look like later, but I asked the artist not.to put it too many plants or else you wouldn't get the full feel of what the project will look like. I would like to thank the staff and the people who were involved in getting us to this point, but I also want to mention that my predecessor, Dave Ferguson laid a lot of the ground work for where we are today. Dave Ferguson was the Executive Director for the Corporation for Better Housing and I am trying to follow in his footsteps. Many of you knew Dave personally and he was an incredible man and his time was cut short and he made a really big impact on a lot of folks, and because of that, we would like to do something to commemorate his life and the library that we have talked about a little bit here this evening will be dedicated to Dave Ferguson, it will be known as the Dave Ferguson library. I will turn the mike back over to Gary. Gary Koontz-Okay with that, I would like to turn it over to Tom Schwab the City Manager for a few comments on the history of the project and the City's involvement. Tom Schwab - For those of you that don't know me, my name is Tom Schwab, I am the City Manager for the City of Grand Terrace. Actually, typically in a Council Meeting, I know most of the faces in the audience, but I am glad to see that there is probably a third of the people that I have not seen before, so welcome to the Planning Commission Meeting. I want to give you just a little bit of the history of how we got here. We have a redevelopment agency that was developed just after we incorporated in 1978. One of the things under redevelopment law requires that we set aside 20% of the income that we get, which is property tax from the redevelopment agency must be used for affordable housing. Up until this time, we have been spending our money on affordable single family home projects in two components; we have been doing affordable housing improvement loans where we gave people that qualified housing loans to install roofs, fences, to paint their houses to do home improvements. We found that it was helpful but we were not spending enough of the money. One of the caveats under the 20% set aside is that once you receive - the money, you have five years in which to spend or commit that money or you'll lose that money to the County in which case they could use the money for anything they want, and it 7 does not have to be spent within our City, it can be spent anywhere within the County for any type of housing projects. We have been able to not lose any money to the County. We have always been able to - spend it or obligated it within the five year period. One of the biggest programs that we ' have done was our single family programs. We purchased houses whether they were repos or whether they were trust deed sales or just private sales. These were homes that were in disrepair and sometimes, if you get a VA repo, it would take us two years before we could go through the process of getting a VA repo back from the government and so the neighborhood suffered during that period of time. If anyone knows anyone about real estate today, you cannot even by a repo now for $300.000 so the program doesn't work anymore. One of the things that we have been looking at doing for some time is a senior project. We actually had another site identified at one time to do a senior project and we did buy some land towards that end. One of the things that happened about a year ago is that Wayne Webster owned the parcel right next to the senior center. When Mr. Webster passed away, I don't believe that he had any family, his heirs were actually friends of the family and they came to us and asked us if we would like to buy the property. We were not sure at first whether we wanted to buy the property so we first checked with the school, and we asked the school if they needed the property because they are next to the school. The school was not interested and they felt they had enough acreage for the elementary school and had no plans for expanding. We bought the house from Mr. Webster's heirs, and it was with that we thought that we could develop a senior project on that site because the senior center is also there which could be a benefit. Dave Ferguson was referred to me by another City Manager where he had done a project in their community and they were very impressed with not only the work that they do, but because you can build a good project but what's more important than building a good project is managing that project. Mr. Ferguson took me to many places around Southern California, and I looked at, projects that were new and old, and the projects that were ten years old looked as good as the projects that were two years old, which is a function of them taking care of the project and properly managing a project which is something that is very important to me because it's going to reflect on us and it's going to be a partnership between us and Corporation for Better Housing. The project is going to be $18 to $20 Million Dollars. Approximately half of that will come from the redevelopment agencies set aside funds. Right now, this is going to be the very first senior project that we've done in the city that has been done by the redevelopment agency. To this date, we have not done any projects that specifically focuses on our seniors. One of things that I want to talk about that wasn't mentioned earlier is that in the process of building this senior housing project, our first goal is going to be serving the residents of Grand Terrace. This money came from you and it's $9 Million in property tax that was paid for by our residents, so the first group of people that we hope to serve are our residents of Grand Terrace. The second group of people that we would like to serve is relatives of residents of Grand Terrace. If you live here and you have a Mother, Father, Aunt, or Uncle or somebody who you would like to see live here so that they could be closer to you, we would like to be able to give those people priority. Once we have served our own residents, then we will open up to serve other people. i The one thing that surprised me when I went to the Goldware Housing Project, which is a project in Riverside, which is also next to the senior center, it's next to the Gosky Center, it seemed to have a very good marriage to have those two things close together, because 8 those residents could walk over-to the senior center, and not having to drive. That is one thing that impressed me and that perhaps we should think about doing that here to have the senior center part of the housing. It also gave us a opportunity to use our housing funds to help create a new senior center, as well as 120 units of housing. I am very excited with CBH to build this project. It's not been decided yet whether we're going to allow 55 to be the number or 60-62 or 65, so it just depends. But I think one thing about this senior facility that all of us hope one day to join that special interest group which is senior citizenship. If you don't make it, the other alternative is probably not good either, so we're all going to be in that special interest group, so one of these days, maybe all of us will have an opportunity to live there. I just wanted to give you a little bit of history on where that money comes from, half of the money is coming from our tax dollars, and we have a combination of tax credits, private investor money that's going to also be involved. Thank you. Gary Koontz-1 will go through the engineering details quickly and summarize. Two driveways will be provided: a northeastern driveway which is an access point to the resident parking area which will be gated and secured. At the tend of the parking area is a hammerhead turnaround which meets the standards of the County Fire Department. Although we could not get a letter out of the County Fire Department, because we've discussed that in the passed, they are just too busy to write letters any more, the applicant did have conversations with them and we've gone through the issues and we're comfortable that the Fire Departments requirements are being met. The second driveway will serve as another entrance area for visitor parking, the senior center, and the park guests. The site falls in a general southeast to northwest direction toward the northwest corner. There is a hill where the Webster House used to be. The hill is approximately 28 feet - higher than the lowest point on the property. It averages a 3% grade. The site is being cut into this hillside, where the hill is being lowered about 10 feet. The whole area is going to be anywhere from 7 to 8 feet below the surrounding properties. The building itself will be 65 from the wall to the property line. The east property line contains the slope with the school towering over the senior center. There will be a retaining wall running along the area at a variable height. The maximum height will be 7 feet high and will drop into a 2 to 1 slope which will be landscaped into the parking area. The entire site drains into the northwest corner. It has been made clear that we will need to meet the water quality requirements. The storm water and the water quality management plan. We spent a-lot of time with the engineer on this. All of the drainage from the site of the urban run off areas will tie into a series of swales. As the Commission recalls, one of the best management practices for dealing with urban run-off is to run it through grassy swales, well, we've got a park, so we've got swales. We are very comfortable that they met their water quality management programs and they have had some delays getting the grading plan to us cause they wanted to make sure that these swales were exactly the right length to handle the storm water. The grading itself in the park, as you can see is a little bit more gentle to allow for the walkways. Everything will be ADA compatible hardscaped, with no real slopes on the sidewalks to make sure that they are compatible. One of the issues is what's happening with traffic. Our traffic engineer took a look at the project and he indicates that at full operation which includes the senior housing at full build out and the senior center in full operation and the park being used at the same time, will be a maximum daily one way trip generation of 594 trips. Of that, 34 will be morning peak and 9 42 will be evening peak. In his letter dated July 9, 2000, he determined that these peak operating trip generation rates that do not warrant a significant impact to the circulation system. If you have questions concerning traffic, Harry Persaud, our traffic engineering group in the audience who will be happy to answer any questions on that. _ As part of this project, we are required to comply with CEQA, and an initial study was prepared. A determination was made that this project is subject to a mitigated negative declaration. There were certain potential impacts that were identified but mitigation measures were applied that could reduce all of those impacts below a level of significance. There is also as part of this a mitigation monitoring plan that we have provided to you which essentially takes all of the mitigation measures of the project and applies them to the monitoring plan. All of the mitigation in the mitigated negative declaration is also a condition of approval in the site and architectural review program. So everything complies and is all tied together. With that, staff would like to make a recommendation that the Planning Commission recommend approval of the proposed project under GPA-05-01, SP-05-01 to the Planning Commission and approve SA-05-14 and E-05-16 subject to the conditions of approval and as called for in the attached resolutions and ordinances. Thank you. Doug Wilson-Thank you. Any questions of Staff or the presenters before we open up the public participation? Matt Addington-One question regarding the traffic. I know right now, the closest intersection of Grand Terrace Road and Mt. Vernon Avenue we have a four way stop. Does any of this extra traffic warrant a signal? Harry Persaud-TEP Traffic Engineer We did do an analysis, and it does not warrant a signal. Tom Comstock-I have a question. As I was reading through the material, I noticed that they had specked out to complete the opposite side of Grand Terrace Road with curb and gutter and sidewalks, that's going to be throughout the length of the project is it not? Gary Koontz-what we are requiring that right now there are some improvements down in here that were done when we improved that intersection, but what we are looking at is building out the full length with curb, gutter and sidewalk, all the way up to the end of the project. Tom Comstock.- Okay, did I read it wrong, and are we talking about the side of the street that the project is on and not the opposite side of the street? Gary Koontz - the side of the street that the project is on was fully improved about a year ago using the Community Development Block Grant Funds. We're looking at finishing out the entire street from the intersection up to the school. Tom Comstock- One other question for Mr. Schwab, how do we get on the list for that? I r have some people that I know that might be interested. 10 Tom Schwab-We're taking an interest list at the City Manager's office which is (909) 430- 2245. To add your name to the interest list. Once it gets closer to the time where they begin doing some leasing, they will begin making calls from that list. Tom Comstock-1 would like to make an ex-parte communication. I am a pastor in the community and I had a visitation with Bill Timmons. He came by to show me the project and he was trying to get some of the pastors in the community interested in this and I did inform him that I was on the Planning Commission. We talked very general things, nothing specific, but I want to make known that ex-parte communication. Chair Wilson-under the Brown Act, we get to have an opportunity to consult with various people in relation to these things just to gain information and get a feeling of what the community wants is a reason why we are on this committee. Pedestrian access to services: I am involved at this point with the employer that I work for in a project that is 770 units plus with 20 acres worth of apartments. One of the things that was brought up albeit it was in the desert, a different climate, the discussion was four months of the year, you certainly did not want to go out of your house and walk anywhere. But what about pedestrian access to services in the community. Is there a plan that we can count on eventually through the General Plan and facilitate some pedestrian access to the main part of our community from this development? Gary Koontz-if you're looking at pedestrian access being sidewalk access, from the park area and from the senior center, you do have a sidewalk that goes down both sides of Mt. Vernon Avenue down to downtown. So we have linked the downtown by sidewalk all the way to the school now on both sides of the street. Doug Wilson-Thank you. You're pointing out something that when a question was asked in relation to the General Plan, that's part of what you're General Plan functions is. That's how we try to integrate different features in. projects into a General Plan scenario. So we understand how the whole community works. This is an integral part of what we talked about. In the drainage, I love the concept of first flush, is what they call it in the industry. First flush water being screened and brought back out into the storm drain system so we don't have a lot of contaminates in it. Unfortunately, some of the water actually does get stored. How we deal with nuisance water, what we call enough rain to make enough mess but not enough to really generate a 100 year storm. Gary Koontz-1 would like to have the applicants engineer possibly his landscape architect respond to that. Doug Wilson-Thank you. I think that's the end of the comments for me. We do have request to speak forms. Our first request to speak is from Daniel Berliner. Please state your name and address. Daniel Berliner 22624 Brentwood Good evening, my name is Daniel Berliner, and I live right behind where your putting your buildings. We're a little disappointed, because of those of us who border the dirt patch, nobody ever talked to us. Two years ago, I think we talked about where the passive park 11 was discussed and Mr. Berry assured us that none of us would have our views affected. If you put up a three story building, I am going to look out my bedroom window at a three story building, rather than what I currently have is a beautiful view. Now I noticed that there is a lot of things that are coming from out of town. The developer is from Sherman Oaks. I just assume that they put this in Sherman Oaks. Mr. Timmons who came around is from Riverside, why don't we put it in Riverside. Mr. Timmons did not come to our door. He was out in front of our home, and if it were not for my wife seeing him going out and questioning him on what was going on, he would have never discussed anything with her. And again, we're adjacent to the area. Also, he came during the week, during the day. Most of us are working, so again, it was not discussed with the local residents that this is going to affect the most. It may have been discussed with the City and everyone else. I started reading articles and seeing what was going on, and a little disappointed, I guess the development funds are for a specific need. I would have thought that it would have been great to use those for the passive park that was again assured us a couple of years ago. Mr. Timmons also said that, I'm going to quote here, this is out of one of the articles, your talking about 120 plus seniors who would otherwise have to leave town. Why? Are their kids throwing them out? They live on the street? Just kind of curious. If they are not living here now, they are out on the street or us; it's not going to affect the current residents of Grand Terrace. In technical sense of the word, I consider myself a senior because I am over 55 years old also. But again, I think there's a lot of mistakes being made here. We as residents who are most directly affected until about six weeks ago weren't even aware that this was going on, or there was anything happening. Nobody ever told us. If you're looking for more revenue in the City, sorry folks, you're not getting it from seniors. They are on limited income. If you want to get more money, we ought to get this Sav-On store built that's been going on for many years. That's another thing, a lot of these projects that we've watched over the years that drag on and drag on and drag on. The Sav-On store is an example and nothing ever happens with them. This thing seems to be on a fast track. Eight months from the time we've ever even heard anything about it until their doing .construction. Now from what I've seen here tonight, I'm blowing smoke. I think the decision has already .been made and again, I don't think as you folks have said, you're looking for public comment, it's too late, this public comment should have been going on six, eight, ten months ago when this was even considered. If you folks were considering this in buying property, why not as Mr. Berry did the first time around, I'm sure is a proponent in this, I'm very disappointed in the assurances he made to us, not being fulfilled, but when they decided to put the speed humps on Brentwood, I'll give the City a lot of credit, it invited all of us the residents of the street to come down and talk about what we can do, it was like time trials,for the Indy 500 down Brentwood. And the speed humps have helped a little bit, but quite frankly, their not the answer either, I'm sorry to say, but it's better than what we had before. When there was a discussion was that they were going to do something with that dirt patch, they came to us and said, hey, here's some thoughts, and I'm also disappointed cause don't see some of my neighbors here who were very vocal when that discussion was going on, and they wanted to make sure that there weren't going to be a distraction from their view. From what I am looking at and from the drawings that I am seeing, your building is going to start at my property line and I get to look at a building now rather than a beautiful mountain scene. I guess all I can do is say thank you. I've lived here for 19 years and this is how I get thanked by the City. I appreciate the time. Thank you. 12 Patricia Farley 12513 Michigan Street My concerns with this project and other projects that are being proposed and being approved is that the bottom line is you need to have and respect the zoning. And that's one of the things that when people buy property here, they buy a residence, you want them to maintain it, and keep it nice, then you change the zoning on them without them even knowing it. You put a huge trucking company right in the middle of residences and that isn't even according to zoning. Now, what you're doing here, I have nothing against seniors, but you are re-zoning this area, and you are not considering the circulation through Grand Terrace and how all of these projects your approving are affecting each other and circulation through the City and that is illegal. That's why I'm upset, every time you take one little project like this and you approve it irregardless of what your doing to the whole community and irregardless whether or not people are properly informed. You have several places that the City is proposing to have high density residential areas; you want to change them that needs to be talked about in a public hearing before you ever start plunking stuff like this down. The Sav-On is a good example. What happens if you re-zone this and then the developer ends up not doing it, they go bankrupt or something. Now, you've re-zoned it and what are you going to do, put in a bunch of apartments? From a long time. ago, residents were concerned about all the .apartments being built in Grand Terrace, and Mr. Berry is asking for special fees against rental properties because of all of .the problems it's causing for needing more code enforcement. Now, what I see is this redevelopment agency, people didn't realize how damaging it is to our City. The fact that they are clocking up debt that we will have to pay in higher taxes and bonds, it requires that they take 20% of all of this money that maybe we really didn't need all of it, not if it was going to trash our community, we have to provide 20% in low income high density housing and it's forcing things on that are not necessarily in the best interest of our community. I have a mother that I'm living with at home and I see the City putting in trucking and trash and buying property and tearing down the house and then they own it and then their trying to re-zone it. That's because redevelopment bought it.. That's not fair. We were told that we need all of this redevelopment because we don't have enough money to have police and things like that. Now, Mr. Schwab is saying our tax money is paying for the senior housing. Well, I rather you pay for police officers first. I am a special ed teacher and I think that there's lot's of positive things that can happen between senior citizen centers and elementary schools, but when your saying that you don't have to put traffic signals, forget about cross walks, for the kids, forget about all the cars, forget that.the senior citizens not only would have to walk to the market we have now, but-lets look at what your proposing in the other parts, your proposing the market to be even further down, how far do you want the senior citizens to walk to the market. You can't take one project like this, you have to look at our city as a whole, and come to an agreement and I'm tired of all of this piece meal stuff. Doug Wilson-Patricia can you wind it up for us? Patricia Farley- Yes. I want to point out that condos that you do allow to be develop should be on property people own. If you have all of these rental units, now you're going to charge them for the extra code enforcement so they can inspect the senior apartments, also you have proposed this project in different places in Grand Terrace, so are we going to go around and change the zoning, and then once that did work, then we're going to change this. There's no good plan, it's very frustrating to me. Thank you. 13 Kim Hathaway 22988 Vista Grande Way I have been a citizen here since 1960. There are so many issues tonight on the table about this project, it would take me an hour to tell you all of the things, all of the reports I read, all of the people I have spoken to, the people like the gentleman before whose neighbors are so unhappy that unfortunately that don't seem to be able to have the time or energy to come and try to fight the project. .I am here before you tonight to express concerns that me and my neighbors have regarding this proposed senior housing project. First, we are not against senior housing and we are not against the need for a senior center and a secure place for our seniors to live. We just feel that it has a proper place which is not out at the top of the hill. The fact that this happens to be a three story venue. A three story venue in the City of Grand Terrace has no place aesthetically. I love these renderings. This company has done a wonderful job in presenting this. It's beautiful. A's a beautiful facility I would love to see our seniors have that center right on the piece of property they have now, developed into a passive park. That would be fabulous. The neat thing about this picture is that it dwarfs everything else in the City. You don't see the school anymore and you don't see the homes that are around it. Secondly, the fact that you have to do this project, not only do you have to change the zoning you basically have to create a zoning for the purpose to propose the change in this - area from an R1 7.2 single family low density residential area to an R3 20-25 Medium density is preposterous. The new zone proposed allows for 20-25 units per acre for which believe right now is 12 acres per unit. Now as I see it and all of the reports I've read, I have about a stack of 4 inches of reports that I have been combing over for the last few months cause I wanted to be sure I understood what was happening here to be fair to everybody involved. When you have a six acre parcel and four acres of that is a beautiful passive park with the senior center, and two acres are 120 units of apartments, three stories high, now I'm not the best mathematician, but when I figure out that's 60 units per acre. Now it doesn't matter to me that they are stacked on top of each other. I just think this is crazy. This is more than an R3 20 zone. Now the people living on Brentwood, .I have great compassion for them. My street happens to go up through Grand Terrace Road, turnoff to the left and I live on the bluff. So I drive pass this every single day. Now, not only are these people going to tower over them and their back yards and their going to lose all of their privacy, but their also going to lose their views as the gentleman said earlier, and I ask you is this fair or right? Obviously, they weren't contacted the way he said, and nobody that I know of on the street of Grand Terrace Road or my street has been visited by anybody in this committee and asked how we feel about having that there or the traffic. I don't understand an engineer saying that there is no traffic on this street. Because obviously, he hasn't been there when school is in. The citizens of Grand Terrace Road and Vista Grande Way have asked numerous times for speed bumps on Grand Terrace Road to slow down the cars and the traffic and it's been %y ignored. I'm thrilled that Brentwood got them. But when school is in session, when they - have meetings or programs at the school, it's a one lane street. You can barely get down. My husband has been continuously flipped off continuously by Mom's unfortunately that 14 have children in the car because he's trying to get down the street and so are they and there is no room. I have sat at my stop sign at the corner of Vista Grande Way and Grand Terrace Road, I timed it one day, and ten minutes before I could make a right hand turn to go down to the stop sign at the top of the hill at Mt. Vernon and Grand Terrace Road. Ten minutes before I could even turn onto the street because of the cars picking up children and the school buses, and this happens in the morning also. So I don't know where they get this idea that there is no impact on traffic. My street is zoned R1-20 very low density. Where does that three story 120 unit belong out in that neighborhood? Now, I have been told that this will enhance our property values, but somehow I have trouble believing this. Since 90% of these units that are available has been marked by the Grand Terrace Zoning code and I quote "very low to low income type housing". Fortunately, for our seniors.that live here that won't qualify for the very low housing will qualify for the 10% that's left over, which is 10% of 120 is only 12 units out of 120, that they will qualify to live in. That's pretty sad to me. That's market value, that's what they will be able to live in. Any time you put low-income housing and apartments in a neighborhood, the property value does not increase. This is not fair to the citizens and property owners in Grand Terrace. I understand that part of the reason for the three stories in this project is to be able to provide an elevator for the seniors. And I am all for that, but I am telling you I think a two story building which would be much more appropriate if you have to do it, should still have an elevator for our seniors, irregardless. They should not have to climb the stairs. In a General Plan and report by a task force appointed in Grand Terrace in the year 2000, this report is the open space element it calls for this parcel which is known. as the Susan Petta Park to be a heritage and youth park. I would love to see this stay that way. This study also calls for the senior center to be located near the center of town on Barton Road in another part of one of my other reports that I read subject housing element certification strategy in June of 1997, it states "to purchase 12 acres on the south side of Barton Road to include senior housing and a senior center located near the Terrace Retirement Hotel." Now why have we tossed out this wonderful General Plan and this Specific Plan? Why isn't this site being considered? Several reports that I have read. name this area as the Senior Housing area, why because it is more centrally located for our seniors that some day may not be able to walk three miles or two miles into town or drive their cars, and would be down town where it would be feasible for them to walk to the beauty salon, the grocery store, post office and new drug store that we're going to get some day. If you must put these units in that area, why can't we take baby steps? Why can't we cut it in half and do 60 single story units. That would be my dream. If we can't do single story, .let's do two stories, which would be a lot more aesthetically pleasing. I know that I have a friend that came before the Planning Commission to put a second story on her garage and was denied because it was not aesthetically pleasing to the neighborhood. I ask you, is three stories aesthetically pleasing in a city that doesn't have anything like that. I don't think so. If we have 60 units, 75 units, that's 60-75 units for our seniors that we don't already have, and it could be a fabulous and beautiful place. I thank you for your time this evening and your consideration and listening and I hope that you are hearing us. 15 Doug Wilson-I would like invite the City Manager to address a couple of the items if you would feel so inclined. Tom Schwab-I wrote a couple of notes because there were certainly some things that were said that were inaccurate. They talked about the trucking company on Michigan Street. That particular company pre-dates the incorporation of the City. We have been a City for 26 years. That company had probably been there 10 years longer than, if not more. This particular funding source can only be used for housing. To think that the money could be used for police or some other programs is not the case. The fact about building low income housing, this City knew that affordable single-family low income housing was not going to be acceptable to this community. All of these years, the City has done single family homes for rehabilitation projects that fit in to our existing neighborhoods. We have not built one single low income housing project. This is going to be our first project. When someone says it's "low-income", I say it's affordable, and it's affordable for seniors. If you look at the average demographic of a senior, most seniors by definition are moderate income. Most of them live on Social Security and a small pension, so this provides an opportunity where one of these individuals can live in an apartment for $500 to $800 depending on what their circumstances are, I don't consider someone who can afford $500 to $800 a low income person. These are affordable units. When you look at the dollar amount, these are not necessarily poor people, these are.people; seniors that are living off of Social Security and small pensions. A lot of people most certainly won't want to live there, but I have had a lot of people here in Grand Terrace who have expressed an interest - to where they have a house, they don't want to clean 1,700 square feet any more for either themselves and their spouse, or for themselves if they are a widow or widower. realized that we are changing the Specific Plan zoning, we would have to change the zoning•anywhere that we would put this in the City of Grand Terrace because the zoning for 20 units to the acre does not exist. If the issue is that you don't want to mass these units all to the east, one of the reasons that the condos are massed to the east, is to try to preserve as much of the views and to try to preserve as much of the parkland. If it was our desire to try to do a residential campus style apartment complex, you could use up the entire six acres and you could make it two story and it would be feasible, but some of the other aspects of the particular project would be lost. If for some reason, that we pass this particular project and it doesn't get built, the City owns the land. So no one else is going to build the project, and no one else is going to do anything that the City does not desire to have there, or would want to put there. can tell you that in every single project that we have developed in the 21 years I have been here, every single neighbor next to the project said "do not build that next to my neighborhood, because that used to be an orange grove, and I liked the orange grove and your going to ruin my neighborhood and my property values." If we were going to put this particular parcel on Barton Road next to Reed and La Paix Streets, instead of the people from Brentwood, it would be the people from Reed and La Paix. I understand that when you build a project in a neighborhood, in a vacant space, it's going to create a change that people don't want, and that's going to be anywhere in this community. When Pico Park i was built, there were people standing at the podium saying "please don't build the park, right there, build the park five blocks away so that I can walk to it." The problem is, we don't have a 10 acre parcel that we're growing alfalfa on five blocks away from your house, 16 so unfortunately, for those people we built Pico Park right where it's at, and the people that lived in that neighborhood were not happy about it, but it's been there a lot of years and I think they probably learned to live with it. So no matter where we put this, there's going to have to be a zone change. We're not creating a new zone that you can go somewhere else in Grand Terrace and take this new zoning and apply it to someplace and do a zone change. This is a zone change that is being created under1he specific plan. The specific plan itself will create this new zoning. This doesn't mean that there will be a spot in another,part of town that you can do 25 units to the acre. This is specifically for this, and in order for this zoning to be applied somewhere else, they would also have to do a specific plan amendment in order to do this. Doug Wilson-There was a question from the audience that stated why would .we put something like this on the top of the hill, why would we not put a building like this at the top of the hill? My question is, are we supposed to be putting down in the industrial portion of the area? Tom Schwab-I understand the comment that this is a multi-family type project in a residential zone. There is some proximity to the Highlands Apartments, and obviously Brentwood is a single family neighborhood next to a school. If this were a market rate apartment complex, being utilized for anybody, and not for a senior project, we wouldn't be having this discussion because I wouldn't support a project that was just a market rate project for families in this particular location. If you were to go and visit these projects during the day and in the evening, there is very little activity going on in these project. If you go to Goldware, which is the nearest one next to the Gosky Center in Riverside, it almost looks like there's only half of the units are occupied, even though 100% of the units are occupied. There's very little activity, and most of these units have one senior citizen living in it. If you go into the parking lot, there's probably about 100 spaces and there's not 50 cars. So it is a low intensity use that if I thought was going to be injurious to the neighborhood, but I wouldn't be recommending it, but regardless of where we put this, there's not one single parcel in this community that if we proposed to put this, whoever lived next to it, wouldn't be here with similar comments, because anything that you build is going to create change and it's difficult for people to want to have something different. INAUDIBLE. Tom Schwab-I was asked that question if I lived in your house, I would welcome that project. INAUDIBLE Tom Schwab-No I'm serious. If I had to choose between a school, park, I would take the senior project because of the intensity of use is less than those other projects. I'll trade you my house for yours. Doug Wilson-speaking to the age restricted access of this project, what is the actual description? Tom Schwab-We haven't determined that yet, it's going to be a policy decision that needs to be made, legally it could be as low as 55. 1 think 55 might be a little too low. I'm thinking perhaps 60-62, but that's a decision that hasn't been made. 17 Doug Wilson-It does make a lot of difference in relation to what the project is about. Let's go ahead and open the balance of the public hearing for anyone that would like to come to the podium and speak regarding the project and if you don't have to have a speak for to do that, you can just state your name. Anita McGhouy 22415 Barton Road Most of you know me for doing leasing at the Stater Bros. Center. Obviously I would much prefer that the seniors were over in Town Square where it was originally planned with the library and near the Terrace rather than competing with the City for tenants. First of all, I would like to thank you for letting me speak more than three minutes, a lot of us don't feel like you've heard us and your willing to listen to us. I have nothing against seniors and the project is beautiful, I have a problem with the Specific Plan with one project, the general plan change for one project and spot zoning in general. A negative declaration for CEQA is not in order for a six acre parcel. My understanding is it should be for a five acre parcel or less. Typical example of things to get approved are Miguel's can have a restaurant that slides along Barton Road depending on the Planning Commission. One night it's part of the Town Center Project and therefore, it's okay to put off some of the parking onto the Town Center Project and the driveways, and another night its, oh my gosh, 'it's less than five acres and therefore not subject to CEQA. So as a leasing agent and a property owner for the owner of the Stater Bros. Center who pays over $50,000 a year in property taxes to the City. I want to say that where you see all of the special things going on, the City is the Developer and the City is the Owner. And the City is making it extremely difficult for other private property owners and other developers,.builders to come to town because the rules change, and the rules only change when your in tight with City. contacted the City within the last two weeks, and I asked for a form. A piece of paper. asked it to be either mailed, emailed or faxed. The staff was too busy. It had to do with a _tenant request with the Stater Bros. Center which they supposedly care about us keeping our tenants there under a KEEP Program for keeping tenants. I was told there hadn't been much demand for this program and if I wanted to process the paperwork, I would have to pay the City employee money to process the paperwork. So there is not a level playing field in this town, and if the Planning Commission is willing to listen to us, maybe you can help us all. Nordelle English 22600 Brentwood I'm probably going to.make an unpopular 'statement with my neighbors, but I have lived over on Brentwood Street for five years and I personally think that this is going to be good for the neighborhood, not necessarily of the three story unit. I don't particularly agree with that, I would like.to see a lower unit, maybe a two story unit. My husband and I spend a tremendous amount of money every year because of the debris that flies over into our yard and to our pool that has clogged our filters. We have field rats come in from the back and my cats drag them in every morning. I am also tired of the weeds and the debris, and our backyard especially. 18 I am concerned about that 12 foot easement that Southern California Edison has because we do have a nice fence with. a nice view. I don't foresee a chain link fence behind my house and I am hoping that they can integrate something with Southern California Edison to build this project to integrate the neighborhood fences to something where we do not lose all of the view. I understand that it is only two houses on our street that were supposed to lose a view and mine is not one of them which I am glad of it. I am very selfish to that extent, but I do want a park back there and a one story or two story senior center would be desirable and that is pretty much my comments. Doug Wilson-Let me ask the Community Development Director in relation to the chain link fence, because I know we had a discussion about that before in relation to the previous park planning. We know that there is an existing Edison easement that runs along the back side there, and it is because there are volts that exist there and long before we did everything underground there were poles. And there are actually still poles in lots of places. So I guess the question becomes what's going to happen back there in so far as the fencing? Gary Koontz-1 would like to refer to the landscape architect who designed the plans for that question. In general though, we have been aware of that. In the beginning of the project, we sat down with the developer and informed him of that and we didn't want this to be an alley that collected garbage and what not. We told them that as they go through the park design and assuming it gets approved, they need to work with Edison and try to come up with a solution that deals with the area and allows the access that Edison needs. But at the same time, it would be aesthetically pleasing. Bill Hays De Berry Street am listening here and kind of wondering as to who Mr. Schwab works for. By his own words, he says there isn't any place in this community that would want that in their neighborhood. So what that's telling me is by his own words this shouldn't be in this community. There's nobody here that wants it and if you gentleman work for this community, you will listen to Mr. Schwab and you will listen to these folks that have said we don't want this here. Mr. Schwab even admits that there is no place in this community that it is welcome. So I would appreciate it that you would take his words to heart and not approve this project. Virginia Harford 11825 Arliss Way I am for this project, I think it's a wonderful idea. A community needs to look out for it's senior citizens, because we're the ones that built it. One of the things that bothers me about your plan, is you talk about shade trees. Have you been to the senior center? We have about 12 trees with one shade tree. One spot where you can park in the shade. So you're going to tear down all of those trees and your going to destroy those two big trees that are over on the other side. If you don't that's wonderful. Anyway, that is my concern. Joann Johnson 12723 Mt. Vernon 19 I cannot ever answer all of the concerns of the people who are opposed to this project. There is no way on earth I could do that, but I guarantee that there is a need for senior housing in Grand Terrace. I have worked at the'senior center since 1987 and the calls that get at the information and referral office probably average at least once a week for senior (- housing in which I have to send outside of Grand Terrace. I know that there is a need. know that the City is required to have so many low to moderate income facilities and I know that this would certainly fit that bill. I am all for it, even though I have butterflies about the process. Thank you. Vic Pfenninghousen 12364 Pascal I have some positive information tonight. I want to thank the City Manager for setting the facts straight. I want to thank the City Staff. The company that has worked on this project for the seniors and citizens of Grand Terrace, and I think it's a wonderful idea. Bill Timmons 11687 Queensboro -Riverside I am the former chairman of the Mayor's Commission on Aging in Riverside and President of Senior Friendly Communities of America and the independent consultant on this issue. I want to clear up a couple questions that have happened. One of them is a survey of the Grand Terrace area. I personally knocked on every door on Brentwood. Most of them were not at home. One day it was in the morning, and it was only 105 degrees out, and the next time it was 107 in the afternoon, hoping to get people in transit. Out of that group of people who answered, there were three or four who were not happy. One fellow who was very unhappy, Scott Newhouse said he had heard about this terrible thing and he did not want to talk about it. I said, would you like to see pictures and drawings and blueprints? An hour later he was volunteering to become a trainer or some sort of coordinator in the center. He loved it. But I have here, Armando Trujillo, Scott Newhouse, Ann Stewart, Ann Will, and we have a petition of over 100 other residents of Grand Terrace who support this thing and in specific, "We the undersigned have viewed the preliminary plans and hereby support approval of the proposed development by the City of Grand Terrace Planning Commission and the City Council. We have those signatures available. Another point that came up is that this project could come up was that this could be an economic liability to the community. I deal with this kind of thing in different communities, I dealt with the Goldware Center in Riverside. Statistically, the average income for your retired person in America according to Federal statistics is $47,000 per year. A lot people get very upset with this number in saying it's way too high. We talked to Dr. John Husing who is an expert in demographics in this area. We got it down to a comfortable $35,000 per year. That is an enormous economic impact. If you were to multiply $35,000 a year by 120 units. You are talking approximately $4 Million Dollars that will be spent statistically, in the 6.2 mile radius in Grand Terrace. That means, donut shops, barber shops, beauty salons, restaurants, gas stations, etc. So that's roughly $3.5 Million dollars. That is a substantial economic impact, as far as I am concerned. Another point which I have heard voiced here a number of times here is that why Grand Terrace. There is no place else to go. As the Chairman of Mayor's Commission on Aging, Vice Chaired the task force on housing. We did a one year study and found that in the City of Riverside alone, there are three thousand people on waiting lists for senior accommodations. That figure right now is four thousand and by the year 2010, will go to 20 10,000, if we don't do something fast. I do not have the exact statistics for Grand Terrace, but we have a waiting list of approximately 40 people called in who are saying that I want in here. One person.who may be here, I talked to the other day said "If we can't find a place for my Mother, she will have to go to Riverside or San Bernardino away from the family. 83% of seniors surveyed nationally, want to stay in their town, their church, their community, their family. They don't want to have to go some place else. I appeal to you to develop this project in a sense of a moral obligation. Every religious community in the world has somewhere in it's holy writ that you will care for your elders. We as a community have to do that. I talked with most of the pastors in this church and they agree. That as religious bodies and communities, we have a moral obligation, whether Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, what ever, to take care and to provide for our elders in their frail years. Thank you. Doug Wilson-Mr. Timmons before you leave, can you speak to the question of three story units? Can you tell us what the general layout of this type of building is usually? Bill Timmons-Actually we're not talking about a three story unit, if you're talking about a three hundred story unit, it's the same, you walk into a little box, you push the button, and you go up. So aside from people with acrophobia or afraid of being in high places, it's no different on the ground floor really, than on the top floor. Doug Wilson-So other than the fact that it might be in the way of somebody being able to see their existing view, we're talking a stacked flat apartment, basically, where they stack one, two, three on top of each other. Bill Timmons-It is a problem, there is no question about that. People are going to be inconvenienced. I have about 63 trains that go by my bedroom every day, 120 feet from my pillow. I get used to it. Ben Lingo CBH Development Team Mr. Timmons had addressed briefly the three story configuration, they are stacked flats as he indicated as was indicated by Mr. Koontz. The portion that the building will be on does sit below grade. What the three stories allowed us to do was to retain the open area to build the passive park. If you look at the footprint as it currently exists, it's a 90,000 square foot building, so we have roughly a 30,000 square foot print on three stories. If we were to go to two stories, we would be looking at a 45,000 square foot print. If we were to take roughly half of the design of the building and put it on the park, we see that it really renders the site without a park and that was something that we really struggled with long and hard. A lot of direction came from City Manager and City Staff who took the time to come to a lot of different senior project. The City Manager did not go to just one or two, he went to many senior projects that we've built and that other people have built and really did his homework. It was.one of the things that we struggled with, but the fact that the majority of the units are up against the school and that fact that it allowed us to give us the economies of scale, to build the park, to build the enhanced senior center and to increase the size of the senior center, we felt that the risks were worth it and we could then mitigate the inconvenience of having a three story building and we feel that a four acre open passive acre hopefully mitigates any inconvenience that the residents have. A lot of thought went in to this, and this was not a three story building to forsake the neighbors, that's not the intention. We will be owners and operators of this project for at least 65 years and will be in 21 and a part of the community. We are hoping to do this in the most positive fashion possible and I am hoping that when the four acre park is said and done and the beautiful 6600 square foot senior center will be a testament to the commitment to this City and our investment of time and resources guarantees the financing,etc. I just wanted to make that point that the three story was not a half hazard decision. It is something we worked on for months and what we see I believe is the most efficient design possible for this project and gives us the greatest amount of open space. Thank you. Tony Petta 11875 Eton Drive I've listened to the arguments both ways. I own property in the general area. And perhaps I should be concerned. But I'm not. Perhaps my background is the reason for it. I watched Planning Commissions from day one of this City and I have watched Planning Staff from the same period of time, and sequentially, each time Staff and Planning Commissions have gotten better. Now, the most visible sign in Grand Terrace, is I love Grand Terrace. And the reason that you see this is because somebody is doing something good for Grand Terrace. I think that the reason is that Planning Staff throughout the years, 27 years, and Planning Commissions and City Councils throughout the years have done something right for this City, otherwise, people wouldn't say that I wouldn't ever leave this City unless absolutely have to. There is a reason for it. So I have to go on the basis of a track record, and the track record of this City has been great. Now let me point out that I knew the first City Manager of this City very well. He and I worked together for many years and he was labeled by the Chamber of Commerce as the Architect for this City. Based on that beginning, this City is a great City and I love Grand Terrace._ Now let me point out that this is probably one of the very few Cities where in 27 years there have only been two City Managers. I have already mentioned the first and the second is City with the Commission. And he was the understudy of the great"Architect of this City. Now, when I say I come from a different background, I think of the track record of this City. There has been so much talk going into this project and what appears to be something that is out of place. It probably would be out of place if it was in the middle of Barton Road and Mt. Vernon or in that vicinity because all you have is buildings all around, but here you have an addition to the grounds where the project is going, you have a four acre park and it would not stand out like it would stand out in the middle of the City. So this apparently is what Staff has been thinking about, and the Planning Commission and these. individuals or professional are thinking. I am not a professional in this business, but I have to go on the basis of what the professionals have done before and frankly, I like what they did and I love Grand Terrace, and even though it may seem to appear to be negative, I support this project. Jim Seeley 22325 Barton Road I am the Executive Director of the Terrace. I met the Planning Commission the last time they met, and I just want to let you guys know that I am also very supportive of this project and I have never met Mr. Petta, I have overheard the people in the room telling me who he was and what he has done for the City, which I was very pleased to hear. I take care of a lot of the seniors in this community. I have almost 100 residents in my building, plus their families and friends. I have a lot of outside people that come into this community that come 22 into our building for outside activities. We support the senior center and activities during the month and we support things that go on in that project where our residents participate in some of them. We have a lot of upcoming events in the City that we're planning on participating in, and I just want to let you guys know that I think that this is a great thing, and I know that there is a concern about what happens when they can't be there, well that's what I have three Inland Empire Communities for. When they can't live in this particular setting that is what the assisted living is for. It gives them the next step. Right now we don't have something in between their home, their private homes and us. From us it goes to skilled nursing or beyond. This is a great thing because there isn't enough of this. To the people who say, I'm sorry that a couple of people are going to lose their view, I apologize for that but in the greater good of humanity, I have to say that having a place for our senior population to live because we need to take care of our seniors because not enough of it is being done. When someone says that they don't want it to be in their backyard, by God, if you have to put it in my backyard because I would love it next to my building too. I'm not saying that it's the perfect place for it, cause Mr. Petta made a beautiful point that a park in the middle of that intersection running down would not be, the place for it. But where it's at now and where it's proposed, and what it's going to do for the City is the best thing that I have seen. Thank'you. Doug Wilson-Are there any others that would like to stand and come to the podium and address this particular issue? Matt Addington-Before you close the Public Hearing, I would like to ask for some additional input. The reason being is as a surprise to Mrs. Farley, I have voted against City projects in the passed. I have voted against private projects in the passed all because the residents were against them. I have counted tonight. I have five nays and I have six yeses for this -" project. Based upon all of this, the speeches from the noes were a lot more passionate from the speeches from the yeses. I am decades away from ever being able to use this facility. I am one of the youngest people on this Commission. I am looking for input to make a decision. I have not made my decision tonight, and I am looking at this audience and I noticed that barely half of you have spoke here tonight. I would very much like another 10 to 15 people come up and let us know you are a resident of this town and whether you are for or against it to help me make up my mind. Doug Wilson-Thank you. While we are waiting for people to come up, I would like to address one item and that is some folks have expressed some angst with regard to how the Sav On project is progressing. I can tell you out of personal experience that there are time when developments don't go forward for economic reasons. And there are a lot of reason why projects don't go forward, but in this particular instance, there has been plenty of participation by Staff and by the people on the other side of board that actually are interested in the property that made arrangements, but sometimes there's this unexplained circumstance that takes place called economics that influences the start of a project, and in this case, that is our understanding..And so we have had some ground breaking and so on, but at this time, it is completely up to the developer. That is the way with several things. Many projects that have come across our desks, so to speak have not made much .progress? That doesn't mean the people aren't interested in doing it, sometimes it takes an extended process to do some of the things they need to do in so far as subdivision and so on. Or even architectural plans or whatever. You have changes in your plans just as these people do and that's what happens sometimes. So that's the explanation of why some of the projects have not gone forward. 23 INAUDIBLE Doug Wilson-My understanding is that there are arrangements that have been made by the developer but they are currently not to the point that they can break ground yet, so that's exactly where it stands at this point. Gary Koontz-Tom would you like expand on that? Tom Schwab-Sav On is coming. And the reason I can tell you that is because they are paying the developer $14,000 a month in rent, starting two months ago, so they are paying rent, and they want to get the project started. It.is my understanding that they open bids on the 26th of August. We have given them every approval that they need, they can pull a grading permit and start building tomorrow, and we don't control that. There was one . statement made saying, how come this seems to be moving along at a faster pace, and there's a couple of reasons for that. One is that the land assembly is done. We control the land, so there is no issues about trying to negotiate with land owners, and the other is the Developer and the City are.financial partners, so we're providing most of the financing, so it .takes a few of the question marks and'the variables out of it, so that's the reason why this project can move along at a faster pace. Helen Waller 22005 Vivienda Avenue have lived here for 46 years now, with the same house and the same telephone number. would like to argue with this man here about deciding on the basis of a person's passion. think probably most of us as senior citizens are not really the kind of people who get up and sing and dance for what we want. We hope by now that we have learned to be a little more deliberate and intelligent and not just worry about ourselves. There are many of us who need this housing, and many of us who want it, and I am one. By you basing your decisions only on the people who get excited, I feel sorry for you. Thank you. Gladys Hernandez Loma Linda have never spoken in the public in English. I want to say that I really am impressed with how this Country cares for seniors. My Son lives on the corner of Sisken and Paradise and my children are very successful. They have a good living and want me to live near them. I think that this project is really something that would help me to stop with worry, because even when I will be living in my low income, I know that I will be able to live in a nice place, and very good environment, and this is something really great. I am grateful for this project and I know that there are many seniors like me around that would like this project too. Thank you very much. Robert Stewart 11677 Mt. Vernon live on the west end of this .project. One question for the engineer, how high will these units be above the school. How much are they going to stick up higher than the school? Right now the school is quite a bit higher than the existing area right now. That was one of the things. Personally, Mr. Addington, I am for the project, my wife is for the project and we signed the petition, so I think you ought to look at that petition that was brought by the 24 consultant. There is a lot of people here who have signed the petition and may not want to get up and say anything. Doug Wilson-Thank you. We will answer your question, frankly, the little 8 1/2 x 11 that we have, I couldn't read them if my life were at steak in so far as the elevations were, or I would tell you what the height was, so I would have no problem with that. But we will answer your questions. Russell L Carter 11744 Holly Street I live about a block away from the new Senior Center, and we can't wait to move in. I only wish that there were two bathrooms and we love Grand Terrace. Doug Wilson-Do we have the answer again in relation to the elevations. John Ziegler Civil Engineer- CBH About one hundred from southeast corner, the contour of the adjacent property, which is the school, is about an elevation of 1100. Maybe it's the school itself, but the school might be four or five feet higher than that cause there is a slope, I don't know exactly what the schools building elevations are. The floor of the tuck under parking is 6, so that's 14-16 feet below the elevation of the floor of the school. The roof of our buildings are probably about the same as the roof of the school, or I would say maybe 6-8 feet higher. Doug Wilson - So you could'say that the third floor tier of the floor is the same height is the floor of the school. Any further comments or questions from the public. If there isn't any further comment or questions, I would like to close the public hearing and bring it back to the Commission for action. Matt Addington-Going back to one question that wasn't answered yet, we were going to bring in the landscape architect for the rear fencing area. Camillo Arrelano Landscape Architect-CBG Our understanding is that we're proposing to put a wrought iron fence around the entire park. And we would like to propose a wrought iron fence as close to the property lines of each of the southern properties as possible. Matt Addington-Does this current wrought iron fence give the current residences an option to remove their fence, whatever it may be and have a view fence. Camillo Arrelano-No, at this time it is not. It's just going to be a fence proposed as close to their property as possible. Matt Addington-so the residents would have to keep their fences up. Camillo Arrelano-That's correct. Unknown for CBH 25 To help address that, the fence-that we've built on our property, we couldn't have it encroach on to the adjacent property owners, so the fence that we build on our property, if somebody had the inclination to take their fence down, that would be up to them. There will be a fence there that will surround the entire property and will be wrought iron and I believe that the design call for decorative pilasters. So as the developers, we are definitely building a wrought iron fence but as far as what the owners of the adjacent property owners do with their fences will be up to the individual property owner. Tom Schwab-To the Chair, how does that work with the easement there, because I don't think you can build next to their fence because there is an Edison Easement. Unknown for CBH On our land, there will be a wrought iron fence. Now, if Edison currently has a chain link fence, it is our intention....if there is no fence then the wrought iron fence would be on our property and the easement would have to be left clear for their access. We have no plans on erecting a chain link fence, nor will we ever. There will be a wrought iron fence on property line, and as far as I am concerned, that's to allow Edison to gain access to their easement. Doug Wilson-As experience dictates just because you have. an easement doesn't mean that you can't have a fence on it, you just have to allow access to it. Mary Silverstein In discussions with the Staff, we intend to discuss with Edison on whether we can put that fence directly at the edge of the adjoining properties, and we have on Staff a gentleman who is in the audience, Robb Tidd, who has been very successful in the passed in working with such easements. We took him from a Title Company, he was a senior Title Escrow Officer, formally with First American Title and this is not new to us. So it's just like we recently negotiated a joint use agreement with his tremendous assistance and made it so that we created a driveway that was jointly used by a residential project and a new project we're proposing in Santa Paula. So for us to enter into negotiations with the likes of Edison is not new to us, and it is our intention to open those discussions. Doug Wilson-Thank you. Let me just say out of personal experience. My house is on Observation Drive and there is a 100 foot wide easement that goes over the California Aqueduct, or whatever version it is. When that project was being construct, as it turns out, was the superintendent on the portion of it. And the question came up, can you build a fence in that area.. A fence was constructed along my side yard but I thought that it would be a interesting thing to ask the State Water Resources Board if it could be demolished considering the fact that it was taking up a portion of my view and I figured that it should at least stop at the easement line. I was informed by the State, that because of the nature of the easement, which most of them are set up this way, it is possible for you to put a fence on there, now if they ever have to maintain it, they will tear it down, but they will not but it back up for you. That is usually the way those kinds of things are set up, so it's not that unusual for fencing to encroach on to an easement, but you have to endure the idea that somewhere down the line, it may be taken down and left on the side of the road for you. Tom Comstock-Mr. Chairman, just to be clear on this, you're entering into negotiations with Edison would be to incorporate the easement and you would maintain, I am assuming you 26 would plant it with some kind of plantings and then maintain it and it would not be an alley back there with rats and debris and all kinds of stuff.. Mary Silverstein-Thank you asking that question. The intention is that it would expand the open space. The entire area would be landscaped and one of the concerns earlier was about all of the debris that grows back there as well as leaves and things would not be an issues. Kim Hathaway Mr. Chairman I know for a fact that there are more than several.people who are against the project and for whatever reason don't wish to come up and speak, I don't know if it's appropriate to have a show of hands. But the other thing that very much concerns me, is that I am very active in this community and have many friends sitting in. this room that seniors. And I'm very sad that this seems to be such a division in our City right now. Nobody is against these seniors. I'm not and I know that the other people that are against this project are not against the seniors. This is not a personal thing against seniors. I think anybody that knows me, knows that. And the main concern is the three stories. The gentleman that spoke earlier that said that it would stick out like a sore thumb in the middle of the City is absolutely right, if it was a three story building. A three story building anywhere in this City is going to stick out like a sore thumb. So I don't.want this division, this makes me very sad and it concerns me terribly. And I care about the seniors, I care about the fact that we need to take care of our seniors. I'm very sad that I lost my parents twenty three years ago, I wish they were still here and they could live there too. I just don't happen to think it's the correct place and if you decide it's the correct place, we're hoping that you will at least consider only two stories. Thank you. Doug Wilson-Let me speak very quickly in relation to a balanced community because when we originally looked at the General Plan, and it's been pointed out here that it has been 27 years. Before that the City was subject to. County Zoning. Some of the things that you may not be happy with may not have a thing to do with the City. It may have been something that somebody else thought it was a neat idea when the County was the governing body for this area. A balanced community means that we service not only seniors, but families and those families could be single mothers with children. It's just a whole regiment, if you could see what we looked at during our General Plan Task Force review, you've got quite a cornucopia of people who live in this community, so the whole concept of a balanced community become a ticklish item. I have one question and I would like the City Manager to possibly address this and that is if were to act as the devil's advocate here and asked about the 20 to the acre, can you tell me how 20 to the acre works in relation to the park that is on this project and why all of that needs to work together to justify the 20 unit per acre requirement. Tom Schwab-I think it's like probably a lot of projects that have come before. There was general knowledge to us that there is an issue in that area about trying to preserve views as much as possible. We would have like to have tried to build that entire project on Mr. Webster's parcel cause I believe that a couple of houses behind Mr. Webster's parcel never had a view. Whether they got a view once they torn down the home and the apartment, I really don't know, so.we try to mass it as much as we can to the east, and part of that got the three stories. If two stories was something of.an interest, as I have mentioned the footprint of that building is going to increase by 50% and it's going to spread out over that 27 parcel and it will be less dense in that one area, but it's going to move further to the west .and create a little more impact to the parcels on Brentwood to the west. Doug Wilson-when you say that the footprint would have to increase, you're talking about economics, correct? Tom Schwab-I would imagine that there are some economics involved, but when you talk about building a three story building, and I'm not an engineer, maybe the engineer would be able to talk about that. When you build a three story building you would have to build the footings and everything on the bottom to support the three stories, so I don't know if it's an economic decision, you would have to ask the engineer. If he built a two story building whether he. can structurally make it less strong because you only have to. support two stories that would be a question for the engineer. Our goal was to try to keep it as further to the east as possible to allow as much open space and to create the least obstruction as we could for the residents. Tom Comstock- I have a couple of comments, in some of the questions that were mentioned tonight, one of them was about seniors having to walk three miles to go to Stater Bros., can we address the transportation issues. I am assuming that there will be shuttles that are available and could we have someone address that please? Mary Silverstein-in both the Staff Report and in the Conditions of Approval, there's a notation about transportation, and I apologize if I mispoke, it talks about how, when. a project is required to provide public transportation in the form of a shuttle of sorts and access to some kind of a bus. I happen to know that the senior center is already an established stop, so that infrastructure is essentially in place, and it is our intention to enhance that to make sure that there's plenty of public transportation that is available. I also was here a couple of weeks ago when the equivalent of the Dial A Ride was here talking about their new proposal that will also accommodate the needs of the Grand Terrace Senior Center. INAUDIBLE Tom Comstock-I was just quoting what had been mentioned by the comments that two of the residents had made. Tom Schwab-I can follow up on that. In all fairness, in today's paper, they made an announcement that Omnitrans discontinued what's called Omnilink which would probably serve this project better, that particular service is going to end as of September the 3rd, however, they did agree to expand what.they call "access" which is like a dial-a-ride but will only be available for seniors and handicap. That service is being reduced, and the one caveat and they did mention it in the paper, that we asked Omnitrans that once some of these facilities are built, that they come back and re-evaluate the service. Right now, on Omnilink, which services Grand Terrace and South Colton, we're only serving 177 rides per month, which averages out to $72 per ride, and the fare is $1.25, so a $70 subsidy did not make economic sense. So that transit system that you are talking about is going away. Gary Koontz-As part of Condition Number 13 reads that the project shall provide alternative service such as private shuttle bus service or access to mass transit routes. 28 Tom Comstock-I just wanted to make sure that the public was aware that there was going to be plenty of transportation for the seniors if they didn't want to walk to Stater Bros., or wherever they wanted to go to get a cup of coffee. The next issue I wanted to talk about was regarding the traffic along Grand Terrace Road and certainly, my daughter has just graduated from the sixth grade and I know of the traffic and it is very difficult. I want to point out that Grand Terrace Road is going to be widened out to the full 60 foot width with curb and gutter on both sides along the length of this project from Barton Road to the easterly portion of this project. Certainly that will help to mitigate and cause the traffic to flow much easier. If this project would not go in, then that street would not be widened and it wouldn't help the traffic. So it appears to me that the project is doing what it's supposed to do and the Developers are doing what they are supposed to do to.help that traffic to flow better through that corridor coming down Grand Terrace Road. One of the leasing agents/realtor in town mentioned about the CEQA Guidelines. Perhaps staff could answer this question, to get a negative declaration, this project is six acres, the question was on the guidelines that you could only get a negative declaration on five acres or less, can you address that issue? Gary Koontz-If your looking at categorical exemptions, you cannot categorically exempt anything that's over five acres. This is not a categorical exemption, we did the CEQA analysis, you can have any size project, and having what the land use is, the intensity is, and the potential impacts, you can have a mitigated .negative declaration. I have seen many projects much larger than this; .Mr. Wilson, you have seen them too, where much larger projects are subject to negative declarations. Doug Wilson-It's not unusual at all for a focused EIR or a focused environmental review. Many project are a candidate for a mitigated negative declaration, and all that means is that there have been enough mitigations addressed for impacts that have been identified and that it satisfies CEQA requirements. So it's set up within the Ordinance so to speak. Tom Comstock-Next question that I would like for someone to address. As I read through the packet, one of the reasons that this is chosen as-an ideal location is because of the interaction that can happen between the students at the school and the seniors in doing intergenerational things, can we address that just a little more, maybe talk a little bit more about that. I would like to have a little more information about that so that we can present it publicly. Bill Timmons- I met with the principal of the school there and I asked him what the impressions of the project were. And he took off in a number of directions, all positive, one of which was the intergeneration projects like tutoring and after school programs, but he said it's a very positive thing and we can do it. I asked him'if there were any negatives of this project and this school side by side, and he did not think of any. But he is looking forward to that and we'd hope that he would be here tonight, but he will be here next week to speak. Tom Comstock-So the benefits then range not just from private tutoring but after school projects and things along that fine. Ben Lingo CBH Development Team 29 We currently operate a couple of communities in California where we have intergenerational activities one of actually under construction which the project itself is intergenerational with a common community room. I've also been developing a project in Ventura that has a Kindercare next to, a senior community center. We have found fantastic programs, not only with mentoring between the seniors and the children, but also we see vice versa, we see perhaps the seniors taking or helping the children learn to read or mentoring. We also see the opposite, we see the kids teaching the seniors computers and internet. We have had extreme success with some of these programs which has been fantastic. We are able to bring seniors in to family projects, and families into senior projects, or in some cases like this, the intergenerational connection already exists, and we have had phenomenal success with this. Tom Comstock -The last thing that I would like to bring out publicly on this, but the State requiring our City to have.a certain number of low to moderate income units to be able to qualify. I think the public needs to hear all of that and why it is so important for us as a City that we can measure up or meet the guidelines that the State is setting forth and how this will greatly benefit us in that regard. Gary Koontz-A while back, you approved a housing element update. Well we have been fighting for the last two years to get it approved by the State Housing Department, and it's been a nightmare,. the entire issue is focused on them wanting us to provide better assurances that we can provide affordable housing. John Lampe-As you may remember the State of California has mandated that we update our housing element periodically. As part of that, the State acting through local governments such as SCAG allocates certain housing quotas in all of the different cities within the State. This particular project will help the City of Grand Terrace meet those obligations, It is important because it is State Law and the cities are required to do. It provides for needed housing in the communities of the State of California. There are a lot reasons why this important. Tom Comstock-Is there a financial benefit for the City by meeting up with those guidelines? Gary Koontz-Not really. It's basically a legal mandate in which all should do their fair share. And it gets back to the comments of a balanced community. Doug Wilson We should also add gentleman, that we'are not the only city in the State that has this problem meeting the quota, it's Statewide. Tom Comstock-I'm just curious as to whether the State would penalize the City. John Lampe-At the present time there are no penalties that I am aware of. Brian Whitely-1 have a question, I note that in the discussion tonight, I heard very little opposition to the proposed park or the community center itself. It seems as though the opposition has focused primarily on the.housing portion of the development. In my view, the park and the community center would be a valuable addition to the City. The density of the housing portion is 120 units. How critical is it for the density to be at a 120 units to make 30 this a viable project. My sense is without the overall development occurring, the City is not going to be in a position to have this park or the new and updated community center. Mary Silverstein-At issue is economies of scale. What we're able to provide because there are 120 units as what you see before you. If it gets scaled back on a pro rata share if you will, it's going to require more money from the City. We are able to make this happen because we are dealing with tax credits and with taxes and bonds; the combination that are designed for housing that's provided at these levels. You can cut it back, but it's going to completely change the formula, and it's going to completely change the equation if that answers your question. Gary Koontz-We've had discussion in the passed about. how many units it would take to allow for on site management, there is a certain economy scale there that if you were to hit a certain number of units less, you cannot afford to have onsite management. Mary Silverstein-That's absolutely correct, and in fact, this project not only provides a resident manager, but an assistant manager, and that's possible because there are 120 units. Doug Wilson-That may have answer my question of three story versus two story. MOTION MADE: Commissioner Comstock made a motion to approve GPA-05-01, SP- PC-32-2005: 05-01, SA-05-14, E-05-16 and submit the project to the City Council for approval. Chair Wilson seconded the motion MOTION VOTE PC-32-2005: Approved 4-0-1-0 Commissioner Bidney Absent 2. SA-05-15 E-05-17: Applications for a Site and Architectural and Environmental Review to construct a new single story, 6,527 square foot office building, on a 31.5 acre lot located in the M2 Industrial Zone. APPLICANT: Southern California Edison, Represented by Pickard Architects LOCATION: 22200 Newport Avenue,Grand Terrace, CA. APN: 275-201-02. RECOMMENDATION: Open the public hearing, receive testimony, close the public hearing, and approve SA-05-15 and E-05-17 with Conditions. Planning Technician Gollihar greeted the Commission and presented his staff report. The Applicant, Southern California Edison, represented by Pickard Architects is requesting approval to construct a new single story 6,527 square foot office building and a covered parking area on a 31.5 acre lot located at 22200 Newport Avenue in Grand Terrace. The site currently resides as the existing transfer station at 22200 Newport Avenue with approximately 32,000 square feet of existing buildings on that 31.5 acre lot. 31 The General Plan Designation for the site is Industrial, with an M2 Zoning Designation. The properties to the north of the subject site are Zone R1-7.2 and to the south they are Zoned R3 and R2. To the east is the Interstate 215 Freeway, and to the west is Terrace Road that overlooks the City of Colton. The subject site fronts Newport Avenue and is approximately 60 feet off the road and is directly acrossed from the Grand Royal Mobile Home Estates. This project is consistent with the City's General Plan and Zoning Ordinance. The- surrounding area categories were low and medium density residential. There is an existing retaining wall that will be extended for the parking area, and for new building and parking area. The area is relatively flat. At present, service trucks park in the area. Some of the concerns with this particular site is that it does meet some of the regulations for the Stormwater pollution prevention plan and Best Management Practices. Southern California Edison is presently working on getting those documents together. A letter was provided to each Commissioner.to indicate what they will try to provide. The landscaping for the parking area meets the Zoning requirements. Because this area is such a large area and acrossed , from a residential area, the Building and Safety Department are requiring sidewalk, curb, and gutter and street lights along the entire distance of Newport Avenue, as well as landscaping and screening across from the residential areas. The floor plan shows the parking area will be. located to the south and the west of the building. The building will consist of offices, restrooms, and testing areas for electronic components. The building will be a general metal building and will be similar to the existing buildings. With the screening along the bottom portion of the public right of way, requirements of street trees and ground cover will be required to soften the building appearance to the nearby residential areas. Planning Technician Gollihar concluded his staff report. Chair Wilson asked Jf SCE owned the power poles that needed to be moved from one of the main roads in Grand Terrace. Planning Director Koontz replied that the poles are owned by Southern California Edison Vice Chair Addington had a question with regard to the grading plan. Is the drainage going into Newport Avenue, or will it go west into the open space area towards Colton. Planning Technician Gollihar replied that the flow based on the grading plan will travel to the north down to the south and back across the east where there is an existing catch basin and will be channeled off to an existing storm line that dumps out onto Newport Avenue at the end of the roadway. Chair Wilson opened up the Public Hearing. 32 Mohammed Verudi-Architect Mr. Verudi explained that the. building will be a one story type of structure. The structure - will be compatible with the.existing building. Vice Chair Addington asked where the drainage was going to go. Mr. Verudi replied that the drainage will go into an existing storm drain that has been servicing the area thus far. Steve Reneboo-SCE Mr. Reneboo stated that he is the project manager for the facility. Vice Chair Addington asked Mr. Reneboo with regard to a letter that he had written which states that SCE would like continuation of the approval process from the City's Planning and Building and Safety Department. Was it his request to have the item continued to a later meeting. Mr. Reneboo replied that he wanted to have the item continued and had just received an email with regard to receiving the final plans within two months. Planning Director Koontz replied that Staff has no problem with conditioning the plans. The SWPP needs to be completed prior to construction and the water quality plan should be done before operation starts at the facility. If the Commission so desires to see the plans, the application can be continued, otherwise the plans can be reviewed and approved at Staff level. Commissioner Comstock feels that the current landscaping is an eyesore. Mr. Comstock is in the hopes that the landscape be improved drastically. MOTION PC-33-2005: Motion was made by Vice Chair Addington to approve SA-05-15 and E-05-17. Commissioner Whitley seconded the motion. MOTION VOTE PC-33-2005: Approved 4-1-1-0 Chair Wilson voting No Commissioner Bidney Absent ADJOURN SITE AND ARCHITECTURE REVIEW BOARD/PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING 10:05 pm CONVENE PUBLIC WORKSHOP SESSION • Information to Commissioners Planning Director Koontz passed a letter to the Commission with regard to the office project next door to City Hall. The architect has been difficult to deal with, and at this point the staff is not allowed to comment on the plan. Commission is more than welcome to speak to Mr. Koontz with regard to the letter. 33 Planning Director Koontz announced the Planning Secretary's pregnancy. ` ADJOURN PUBLIC WORKSHOP SESSION 10:10 PM NEXT PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING TO BE HELD ON SEPTEMBER 15. 2005 Respectfully Submitted, Approved By, Gary Koontz, Planning Director Doug Wilson, Chairman Planning Commission 34