Loading...
11/15/1998GRAND TERRACE PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES OF SPECIAL MEETING NOVEMBER 9, 1998 The special meeting of the Grand Terrace Planning Commission was called to order at the Grand Terrace Civic Center, 22795 Barton Road, Grand Terrace, California on November 9, 1998 at 7:30 p.m. by Chairwoman, Fran Van Gelder. PRESENT: Fran Van Gelder, Chairperson Doug Wilson, Vice -Chairman Matthew Addington, Commissioner Don Larkin, Commissioner Patrizia Materassi, Community and Economic Development Director Raul Colunga, Planning Intern Craig Neustaedter, Traffic Engineer Consultant Pat Peterson, CEDD Secretary ABSENT: Mary Trainor, Commissioner ALSO PRESENT: Ali Yasin, Applicant Pat Howard, Applicant's Contractor Hossein Zand, Applicant's Engineer 7:30 P.M. CONVENED PLANNING COMMISSION WORKSHOP Call to Order Roll Call LU-98-67 ALI YASIN, OWNER OF ARCO QUIKSTOP 22087 BARTON ROAD, GRAND TERRACE Director Materassi explained this special meeting was called to discuss a land use approval sought by applicant, Ali Yasin. He owns the property and ARCO Quikstop at the southwest corner of Barton Road and Michigan St. Planning Commissioners were asked by Director to review applicant's request to relocate pump islands and to discuss on- and off -site circulation issues relating to these changes. She explained no revisions are to be made to the original site and architecture approval in 1996, for the station expansion. Further, she said applicant was required by AQMD to exchange fuel tanks. During that process staff asked applicant to address the following pending issues of his expansion approved in 1996: 1) right of way dedication on Michigan St. to facilitate planned street improvements and 2) demolition of the existing monument sign in the right of way and installation of a new sign in conformance with code. Director told Commission Members applicant has signed the grant deed allowing dedication of his property along Michigan from the southern property line to and PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Page 2 November 9, 1998 including the corner at Barton Road. She said when his wife also executes the Grant Deed the matter will be scheduled for the City Council to accept the dedication. The way will then be cleared for commencement of the street improvement process. Director Materassi said applicant's willingness to dedicate the land indicates his desire to move forward in compliance with the terms and conditions of his expansion approval from 1996 (SA-95-14). Applicant proposes to relocate the service station pump islands at a diagonal vs. the current perpendicular placement, to facilitate the diagonal placement of a new monument sign in the future and alleviate traffic congestion in and out of the facility. In addition, applicant's contractor and engineer asked Commissioners to allow the only proposed driveway entrance/exit on Barton Road to be widened to facilitate better traffic circulation within the station and allow better ingress/egress. Commissioner Wilson and Director discussed the drive aisle width between the proposed monument sign (at the southwest corner of Barton Road and Michigan St.) and the eastern -most pump island. City standards require a minimum of 18' for two- way traffic. In this case there is 15' maximum width available. There was general consensus that the eastern -most drive aisle should be one-way traffic entering on Barton Road and existing on Michigan St. Commissioner Larkin suggested "Do Not Enter' signs for the eastern -most drive aisle only to avoid conflicting traffic circulation. All other drive aisles will be of sufficient width to accommodate two-way traffic. Commissioner Addington asked if additional traffic conflicts on Barton Road will be created by allowing two-way traffic at the other pump islands in addition to Barton Road ingress and egress. His idea was to restrict the station to one-way traffic from the Barton Road entrance. City traffic engineer consultant, Craig Neustaedter, said the proposed modifications will not create any conflicts that don't already exist. The proposed changes are somewhat of an improvement to the existing circumstances. He said it would be very difficult to enforce one-way traffic for all pump islands. Commissioner Larkin asked about the time line for replacement of the monument sign at the southwest corner of Barton Road and Michigan St. Director Materassi responded that ideally it would be immediately. However, she said she did a site inspection along with the Director of Building and Safety/Public Works. They determined it would be very difficult to determine the exact placement of the monument sign, given the fact the street dedication had not been done and the street improvements plans are still pending. The tank replacement project, pump island relocation, station expansion, monument sign relocation and street improvement plans all have a very complicated inter -involvement. It is probably better to wait until the street improvement project. Director Materassi said applicant is requesting the Barton Road driveway be wider than shown on the site plan to facilitate safety and ease traffic ingress/egress on Barton Road. Driveway expansion will need to be toward the west property line, as far away from the Michigan St. turning radius as possible. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Page 3 November 9, 1998 Chairwoman Van Gelder asked if applicant is planning to begin the station expansion soon. Director Materassi said applicant has told her "yes". The Chairwoman said due to the complicated inter -relation of the issues it seems the logical place to begin is with the street improvements, and asked Director when the street improvements may begin. Director Materassi said Measure I funds are earmarked (until July, 1999) for these street improvements. Pursuant to applicant's 1996 expansion approval he needs to submit street improvement plans and a letter to the City committing to a specific participation percentage of the total project cost. The City requests a minimum of 10% cost sharing by applicant. Commissioner Larkin asked applicant where the gasoline delivery trucks enter the station. Mr. Howard answered that the trucks enter the station to deliver fuel from Michigan St. The new tank receptacles are near the west property line. He said at least 20' additional driveway will be needed to facilitate moving traffic into the station from Barton Rd. to be sure vehicles do not back up onto the street in a bottleneck. There was a discussion about signage at the service station. Director Materassi said an alternative to a monument sign at the Barton Rd./Michigan corner would be two monument signs; one at the west side of the property on Barton Rd. and the other on the south property line on Michigan St. The current sign however cannot be reused as it is not up to code. Mr. Howard said applicant proposes to submit a cost proposal of the street improvements without the Davis -Bacon Act. He does not want to participate in a project using prevailing wage. Director Materassi said she will look further into the issue of using Measure I money to see if it must be a prevailing wage project. However, it is very unlikely that this can be waived. Mr. Howard said submittal of the street improvement plans hinges on the City telling him what type of street signal switching system is needed for the intersection of Barton Rd. and Michigan St. Traffic engineering consultant Neustaedter said normally the developer/applicant is conditioned to provide street improvement plans, including signal modification plans. Those plans are required to be developed in accordance with CalTrans specifications, which specify such details as the type of pole to be provided, where loop detectors should be located, etc. Vice-chairman Wilson recapped by saying because of the unusual circumstances of this project there is an order of magnitude situation to be determined. The City is not designing the improvements or new signal system but rather setting parameters. Once the project is set forth in verbiage then plans can be prepared. Mr. Howard said applicant will submit street improvement plans but he wants additional signalization information. Applicant wants to commit to a specific dollar figure of participation as soon as possible. Commissioner Larkin asked if applicant would have a problem with moving the existing monument sign right now. Mr. Zand responded that it would be difficult to do an exact placement right now since the street improvements are not yet done. Secondly, to move the monument sign now would place it too far back out of public view and hurt PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Page 4 November 9, 1998 business. Applicant feels he needs the identity of the ARCO sign in plain view. Chairwoman Van Gelder said she would like to see the street improvements done as soon as possible. She has no problem with the proposed diagonal placement of the pump islands. She said she would trust staff s judgment with regard to allowing the Barton Road driveway to be extended toward Michigan to facilitate better and safer ingress and egress. Vice-chairman Wilson concurred that for safety reasons it is important that staff work with applicant regarding the driveway width. Director suggested the wording "Applicant to work with public works and traffic engineer regarding width of the Barton Road driveway; width of the driveway to be to their satisfaction." Commissioner Addington suggested a condition which would require applicant to remove the existing monument sign and build one of the two new signs at this time. He said his concern is that the existing sign will be in the right of way once the grant deed is recorded. There was no consensus. Vice-chairman Wilson suggested a possible solution to Commissioner Addington's concern about having the private ARCO sign in the public right of way; the City could choose to hold the deed and not record it until the new monument sign is in place and the old one is demolished. Director Materassi said the goal of the City is to do street improvements as soon as possible as the Measure I monies are available this year. She said she wanted to get the street dedication recorded as soon as possible. Director Materassi said applicant should be required to submit monument sign plans, and stake and prepare the irrigation and electrical for the planter area which will surround the new monument sign when it eventually moves. These preparations should be done as a condition to approval of the pump island relocation, and before the station is paved and reopened. Mr. Howard said Mr. Yasin wants to put forth a good faith effort by installing the electrical and irrigation for the planter area around the new monument sign but it is imperative that the old sign be left in place until the street improvements begin. During the interim applicant will order the new monument sign for the corner. Commissioner Larkin asked how long it will take to build the new monument sign. Mr. Howard said it will be at least six weeks before he could start on the sign. He said at this time he does not have confirmation of availability of a monument sign from ARCO, as they are specially made. Commissioner Larkin suggested a condition requiring applicant to take the old monument sign down in 12 weeks, or when the new monument sign is finalled, whichever comes first. He felt applicant would work more expeditiously if there is a deadline imposed. There was a lengthy discussion involving all Commission Members, Director, applicant, his engineer and contractor about the time line of the street improvements in relation to ordering and placement of the new monument sign. Director Materassi summarized as follows: PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES Page 5 November 9, 1998 a. Applicant to complete an irrevocable right of way dedication immediately; b. Applicant to submit sign plans within 12 weeks; c. Irrigation and electrical futures to be installed for the new monument sign; and d. Demolition of the old sign to happen when street improvements are complete. Chairwoman Van Gelder asked that the minutes reflect applicant's willingness to pay 10% of the actual City street improvement costs. The Chairwoman asked the planning secretary to read back the conditions: 1. Applicant to submit street improvement plan including signal modification plan at his own cost. 2. Applicant to submit monument sign plans within 12 weeks. 3. The old monument sign to be demolished at the start of construction of street improvements. 4. Applicant to complete irrevocable offer for right of way dedication. 5. Pump island modification is approved based on the simultaneous installation of irrigation, electric and concrete planter box for the future monument sign. 6. Staff will work with applicant to adjust the Barton Rd. driveway width to facilitate maximum circulation and avoid traffic congestion on Barton Rd. entering and exiting the service station, to the satisfaction of Public Works and City Traffic Engineer. 7. Eastern most drive aisle in the station to be 15' wide to accommodate southbound one-way traffic. One way "do not enter' signs to be posted at the south end of the eastern most drive aisle. Chairwoman Van Gelder asked applicant if he understood all of the conditions. Both he and Mr. Zand acknowledged understanding. Chairwoman Van Gelder thanked Mr. Yasin for his cooperation. MOTION PCM-98-35 Commissioner Larkin made a motion to accept the conditions specified. Commissioner Wilson seconded the motion. MOTION VOTE PCM-98-35 4-0-0-1. Motion carried. Commissioner Trainor absent. 9:00 P.M. SPECIAL PLANNING COMMISSION/SITE AND ARCHITECTURAL BOARD MEETING ADJOURNED. NEXT PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING TO BE HELD ON NOVEMBER 19. 1998. PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES November 9, 1998 Respectfully submitted, Pa rizia Materassi Community and Economic Development Director 11-23-98: pp c:\office\wpwin\wpdocs\planning\min utes\11-09-98.min Page 6 Approved by, Fran Van Gelder Chairperson, Planning Commission