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01-10-2012 - General Plan Amendment No. 11-01Zone Change No. 11 - No 2 Staff Report (2).docCity of West Covina Memorandum A G E N D A ITEM NO. 2 DATE: January 10, 2012 TO: City Manager and City Council FROM: Jeff Anderson Planning Director SUBJECT: GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT NO. 11-01 ZONE CHANGE NO. 11-01 APPEAL OF PRECISE PLAN NO. 11-02 APPEAL OF TREE REMOVAL PERMIT NO. 11-04 APPEAL OF VARIANCE NO. 11-08 APPEAL OF TENTATIVE TRACT MAP NO. 71595 NEGATIVE DECLARATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT LOCATION: 1607 West Covina Parkway (Southeast corner of West Covina Parkway and West Garvey Avenue South – Civic Center) APPELLANT: Peichin Lee (CGM Development, Inc.) RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the City Council adopt the following resolutions: 1) A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WEST COVINA, CALIFORNIA, CERTIFYING OF THE NEGATIVE DECLARATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT FOR GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT NO. 11-01, ZONE CHANGE NO. 11-01, PRECISE PLAN NO. 11-02, TREE REMOVAL PERMIT NO. 11-04, VARIANCE NO. 11-08, AND TENTATIVE TRACT MAP NO. 71595, PURSUANT TO THE CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT OF 1970, AS AMENDED A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WEST COVINA, CALIFORNIA, APPROVING GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT NO. 11-01 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WEST COVINA, CALIFORNIA, OVERTURNING THE DECISION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION AND APPROVING PRECISE PLAN NO. 11-02 AND TREE REMOVAL PERMIT NO. 11-04 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WEST COVINA, CALIFORNIA, OVERTURNING THE DECISION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION AND APPROVING VARIANCE NO. 11-08 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WEST COVINA, CALIFORNIA, OVERTURNING THE DECISION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION AND APPROVING TENTATIVE TRACT MAP NO. 71595 Staff further recommends that the City Council introduce the following ordinance: ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF WEST COVINA, CALIFORNIA, APPROVING ZONE CHANGE NO. 11-01 DISCUSSION: On November 22, 2011, the Planning Commission voted 2-1 to deny the proposal to construct a 55,674-square foot, four-story professional/medical office building project located at 1607 West Covina Parkway. On December 1, 2011, the applicant filed an appeal of the Planning Commission action to the City Council. The public hearing was continued from the December 20, 2011 Council meeting. It should be noted that staff originally recommended approval of the project to the Planning Commission, and therefore the same staff recommendation is being presented to the City Council. The Planning Commission reasons for denying the project are discussed later in this report. Should the City Council decide to uphold the Planning Commission’s decision for denial, the appropriate resolutions are also attached to this report. The Planning Department has been working in collaboration with Community Development Commission (CDC) staff. While the Planning Department has worked on the physical development of the site, CDC staff has focused on the sale of the property, licensing of the parking lot, negotiations with Los Angeles County and the provisions of the Disposition and Development Agreement. Project Description: The project involves a total of five entitlements: A General Plan amendment to change the land use designation from “Public Facilities” to “Service and Neighborhood Commercial”; A zone change from “Public Building” to “Neighborhood Commercial”; A precise plan for the physical development of the site (including a tree removal permit); A tentative tract map to create an approximately 29,000-square foot lot and to subdivide it into 39 office condominium units; and A variance to deviate from the City’s parking requirements. The project would be located in the northwesterly corner of the Civic Center; in the area north of the Library and to the west of the existing surface parking for City Hall. The proposed project is located north of the one-way lane that connects the library parking lot to the City Hall parking lot. The project would not affect the lawn area between City Hall and the library or the recessed courtyard area adjacent to City Hall. The project includes the removal of the parking lot north of the library and removal of trees and berms on the north side of the library. The proposal is consistent with the General Plan. The proposal also includes the redesign of the existing parking lot south of the library owned by Los Angeles County. The existing lawn area between the parking lot south of the library and the LA County Health building would be removed to allow for the expansion of the parking lot that is under the County’s jurisdiction. The applicant is proposing to construct a four-story professional/medical office building. The building would be comprised of 39 office units. Each floor would provide ten office units, except the fourth floor where nine units are proposed. A 218-space surface parking lot is proposed immediately to the southeast of the building to serve the development. The building has been designed with one circular tower at the main entrance of the building (facing the parking lot) and one semi-circular tower facing the corner of West Covina Parkway and Garvey Avenue. Both towers will provide an entry to the building. The towers are designed with anodized aluminum trim and blue glazing. An aluminum canopy will project from the towers. The top of the towers will feature a metal aluminum railing above the glass system. A tentative tract map is proposed to create an approximately 29,000-square foot parcel for the office building and subdivide the site into 39 office “air space” lots for condominium purposes. The subdivision design requires the approval of a “Condominium” map due to the shared ownership of the lots. A Property Owner’s Association (POA) will be formed and CC&R’s (Covenants, Codes, and Restrictions) created to regulate the POA. The Association would be responsible for maintaining all common areas, building and structures, and parking lot. The proposed building complies with professional office parking standards. However, the applicant is requesting approval to allow the building to be occupied by medical uses which require more parking than a professional office uses. Therefore, a variance from Municipal Code parking standards is being requested. The City does not restrict uses in a building reviewed for medical office uses, except in cases where parking requirements for uses exceed provided parking. In medical buildings throughout the City, other types of professional offices are allowed as long as parking is adequate per the City’s parking requirements. Parking: The applicant is requesting to deviate from the required number of parking spaces to accommodate the proposed 55,680-square foot medical office building. The project as designed would require a total of 261 parking spaces and 218 parking spaces are proposed. As such, the applicant is requesting a parking variance. A parking survey was conducted (July 18 – 28, 2011) to determine the parking demand at the City Hall surface parking lot and top deck of the parking structure. The surface parking lot has a total of 308 parking spaces while the top deck has a total of 316 parking spaces. The survey indicated that the peak hour for parking is noon. At such time, the overall demand is 79 percent, indicating that there was excess parking at the peak hour. The project has the potential of increasing the demand of the surface parking lot of City Hall due to the proximity to the proposed project but it appears that adequate parking is available at the City Hall parking lots on most days. The parking lot north of the library currently provides 100 parking spaces while the parking lot south of the library provides 42 parking spaces (142 total). The 100 parking spaces north of the parking lot would be removed to be replaced by the 218 parking spaces for the office building. As part of this development, the applicant would remove the 42 parking spaces south of the library and construct a new parking lot with 129 parking spaces. The specifics of the construction of the parking lot would be under the County’s jurisdiction. Landscape Revisions: The development of the professional/medical office building will require the removal of the vegetation and grading of the site north of the library. This area currently includes large raised berms, (approximately 30 feet in height) that are densely planted with various sized trees, shrubs and ground cover. Plans submitted by the applicant indicate that a total of 114 trees will be removed and 13 trees around the perimeter of the proposed development will be retained. In addition, the applicant has indicated that a total of 19 trees would be removed in the area south of the library along with the existing raised planter boxes and lawn area to accommodate the new surface parking lot for library staff and patrons. A total of 133 trees will be removed for the new building and expanded parking lots. The applicant has included a revised conceptual landscape plan in their submittal that indicates a total of 150 trees will be planted in the two areas. The plans indicate that 118 trees will be planted in the area north of the library and 32 trees will be planted in the County-owned area south of the parking lot. (It should be noted that the construction of the parking lot and installation of trees in this area will be under the County’s jurisdiction, not the City’s.) The conceptual landscape plans indicate that of the 118 trees planted in the area north of the library, 30 would be 36-inch box trees and the remainder of the trees would be 24-inch box trees. The applicant has also indicated that they are proposing to plant (or provide for) 50 additional trees to be planted at City parks or other City properties. Mitigated Negative Declaration Revisions: An Initial Study was prepared and noticed for this project pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). A Mitigated Negative Declaration of Environmental Impact Report (MND) was prepared. Following the end of the comment period for the environmental review the applicant raised concerns regarding mitigation measures for Biological Resources, Transportation and Traffic, and Mandatory Findings of Significance. Based on consultation with the environmental consultant, substitute mitigation measures have been included in the MND and as part of the Negative Declaration of Environmental Impact Resolution. Attachment 1 provides more detailed information on the proposed substitute mitigation measures. These substitute mitigation measures are included in the Negative Declaration Resolution. PLANNING COMMISSION REVIEW AND ACTION: The Planning Commission held a public hearing regarding this matter on November 22, 2011. At the conclusion of the hearing, the Commission voted 2-1-1 (Commissioners Redholtz and Stewart voting “yes”, and Commissioner Sotelo voting “no”, and Commissioner Holtz abstaining) to deny the precise plan, tentative tract map and variance as well as to recommend denial of the general plan amendment, and zone change to the City Council. In denying the project, the Commissioners cited concerns with the proposed parking variance and overflow parking issues that could create problems for City Hall and the library, concern that the development was not consistent with the original intent of the Civic Center, and concerns that the uniqueness of the site would be lost forever. Commissioner Sotelo was prepared to vote in favor of the project because the proposal would generate jobs, generate revenue for the City and the trees removed would be replaced. FISCAL IMPACT: The sale of the parcel will provide $700,000 in proceeds to the City. There may be some sales tax generation to the City depending on the type of businesses that occupy the building. Also, the project will generate approximately $183,000 in annual property tax increment. _______________________________ _______________________________________ Prepared by: Fabiola Wong Reviewed/Approved by: Jeff Anderson, AICP Senior Planner Planning Director Attachments: Attachment 1 – Mitigated Negative Declaration Revisions Attachment 2 - Draft Negative Declaration of Environmental Impact Resolution Attachment 3 - Draft General Plan Amendment Resolution for Approval Attachment 4 – Draft Zone Change Ordinance for Approval Attachment 5 – Draft Precise Plan Resolution for Approval Attachment 6 – Draft Variance Resolution for Approval Attachment 7 – Draft Tentative Tract Map Resolution for Approval Attachment 8 - Draft General Plan Amendment Resolution for Denial Attachment 9 – Draft Zone Change Resolution for Denial Attachment 10– Draft Precise Plan Resolution for Denial Attachment 11 –Draft Variance Resolution for Denial Attachment 12 –Draft Tentative Tract Map Resolution for Denial Attachment 13 - Planning Commission Minutes, dated November 22, 2011 Attachment 14 - Planning Commission Staff Report, dated November 22, 2011 Attachment 15– Planning Commission Resolution No. 11-5448, denying General Plan Amendment No. 11-01 Attachment 16 – Planning Commission Resolution No. 11-5449, denying Zone Change No. 11-01 Attachment 17 – Planning Commission Resolution No. 11-5450, denying Precise Plan No. 11-02 Attachment 18 - Planning Commission Resolution No. 11-5451, denying Variance No. 11-08 Attachment 19 - Planning Commission Resolution No. 11-5452, denying Tentative Tract Map No. 71595 Attachment 20 – Letters in Support Attachment 21 – Letters in Opposition Attachment 22 – Appeal Letter from Applicant