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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPC Min 1998-04-08 e CITY OF SEAL BEACH PLANNING COMMISSION AGENDA for APRIL 8, 1998 7.30 P.M. * City Council Chambers 211 Eighth street, Seal Beach, CA 90740 Next Resolution: 98-11 I. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE II. ROLL CALL III. AGENDA APPROVAL By Motion of the Planning Commission, this is the time to: (a) Notify the public of any changes to the Agenda; (b) Re-arrange the order of the Agenda; and/or (c) Provide an opportunity for any member of the Planning Commission, staff, or public to request an item is removed from the Consent Calendar for separate action. e IV. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS At this time, members of the public may address the Planning Commission regarding any items within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Planning Commission, provided that the Planning Commission may undertake no action or discussion unless otherwise authorized by law. ~ CONSENT CALENDAR Items on the Consent Calendar are considered to be routine and are enacted by one motion unless prior to enactment, a member of the Planning Commission, staff or the public requests a specific item be removed from the Consent Calendar for separate action. 1. Approve Planning Commission Meeting Minutes of March 18, 1998. VI. SCHEDULED MATTERS 2. Review Municipal Code Review of Commercial Uses in C-2 zone. e The City of Seal Beach complies WIth the Americans With Dlsabililies Act of 1990. If you need assistance to attend this meeting, please telephone the City Clerk's Office at (562) 431-2527 at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting Thank you. City of Seal Beach Planning Commission * Agenda of April 8, 1998 e VII. PUBLIC HEARINGS VIII. STAFF CONCERNS IX. COMMISSION CONCERNS X. ADJOURNMENT e e 2 The City of Seal Beach complies with the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. If you need assistance to attend this meeting, please telephone the City Clerk's Office at (562) 431-2527 at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting Thankyou. City of Seal Beach Planning Commission * Agenda of April 8, 1998 . APR 22 1998 AGENDA FORECAST CUP 98-7 * 118 12th St. La Forte's major addition. CUP 97-1 * 12147 Seal Beach Blvd. * Yucatan Grill HV 97-4 * 519 Ocean CUP 98-8 * 110 Electric * Remodel MAY 06 MAY 20 JUN 10 JUN 23 JUL 08 JUL 22 AUG 05 AUG 19 SEP 09 SEP 23 OCT 06 . OCT 20 NOV 04 NOV18 DEC 09 DEC 23 VAR 93-1* 212 MAIN ($7300 final in-lieu pmt) . 3 The City of Seal Beach complies with the Amencans With Disabilities Act of 1990. If you need assistance to attend this meeting, please telephone the City Clerk's Office at (562) 431-2527 at least 48 hours in advance of the meeting. Thankyou. ' . . -- '. . CITY OF SEAL BEACH PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES of APRIL 8, 1998 PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Chairman Brown called the regularly scheduled Planning Commission meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. in City Council Chambers. The meeting began with the Salute to the Flag. ROLL CALL Present: Chairman Brown Commissioners Larson, Hood, Yost Also Present: Department of Development Services Barry Curtis, Associate Planner Joan Fillmann, Executive Secretary Absent: Commissioner Law Lee Whittenberg, Director Craig Steele, Assistant City Attorney MOTION by Larson; SECOND by Yost to excuse the absence of Commissioner Law, which was due to illness. MOTION CARRIED: AYES: ABSENT: 4-0-1 Larson, Yost, Brown, Hood Law AGENDA APPROVAL MOTION by Hood; SECOND by Yost to approve the Agenda as presented. MOTION CARRIED: AYES: ABSENT: 4-0-1 Hood, Yost, Larson, Brown Law ORAL COMMUNICATIONS There were no oral communications from the audience. CONSENT CALENDAR MOTION by Hood; SECOND by Yost to approve the Consent Calendar as presented: 1. Approve Planning Commission Meeting Minutes of March 18, 1998. MOTION CARRIED: AYES: ABSENT: 4-0-1 Hood, Yost, Larson, Brown Law 1 i' . . e City of Seal Beach Planning Commission * Minutes of April 8, 1998 SCHEDULED MATTERS 2. Review Municipal Code Review of Commercial Uses in C-2 zone. Staff Report Mr. Curtis presented the staff report. He explained the subject of uses in commercial zones came under discussion at a previous meeting during a request for a tattoo parlor. Tonight's discussion is intended as a workshop to consider uses and zones. Mr. Curtis prepared a conceptual reorganization of the City's commercial zoning standards and a matrix consisting of the City's seven commercial zones. If a use is allowed in one of the zones, it is marked with a "C" (Conditional Use Permit required) and/or an "R" (allowed by right). If a space IS blank the use is not currently allowed. He added other uses he felt the Commission should consider including. Mr. Curtis explained he reorganized the way the municipal Code deals with commercial zones based on his discussions with various Planning Departments in the State. Currently five separate sections exist in the Code, each section dealing with one specific zone. He proposed consolidating all the commercial zones into one portion of the Code. He thought this would be more user friendly. Parking and landscaping standards would be covered in separate sections. Commission Questions to Staff Chairman Brown asked if the proposed reorganization would keep the zoning law text the same? Mr. Curtis said yes, noting he had pulled other items out of the zoning ordinance and placed them in the commercial standards. He recommended changing the names of the zones, to have all the commercial zones begin with the letter "Co: Formeriv LC CO C-1 C-2 MSSP Proposed CL (Limited Commercial) CO (Professional Office) CS (Commercial Service) CG (Commercial General) CS-MS (Main S1. Specific Plan) Chairman Brown noted the matrix consolidated much of the text and requested clarification on the new proposal. Mr. Curtis explained this is a conceptual first look at consolidating five sections into one matrix. Commissioner Hood asked if the City's municipal code, especially the zoning chapter, is on computer? Mr. Curtis said yes. Commissioner Larson asked why Mr. Curtis felt the need for this reorganization? Mr. Curtis explained he has been looking at ordinances written in the last six years. The ones easiest to read are those with a consolidated approach. For example, an applicant wanting to establish a restaurant comes to the City looks at the commercial standards and sees all the zones at one glance. He doesn't have to know in advance what use is allowed in what zone. Commissioner Hood asked for a map delineating the planning districts. Mr. Curtis said the Planning Department has a map showing the seven zoning districts, and another showing the five Council districts. He then explained where the seven zoning districts were. The Commission asked if the seven zoning districts followed the five Council districts? Mr. Curtis said no. 2 . . e City of Seal Beach Planning Commission * Minutes of April 8, 1998 Commissioner Larson asked about definitions and how they could be shown on a chart? Mr. Curtis said the definitions section of the Code will be completely redone. He felt it should be moved from being the first chapter of the zoning ordinance to t}1e last chapter. His thought is to hyperlink as much of this material to the index so that people will be able to use computers to find material. He would like to see this done in the next two years. Commissioner Yost said anything that makes the City code more user friendly and more accessible to more people is a definite step in the right direction. Chairman Brown said his concern is that when material or text is moved, changed, consolidated et cetera, something could get left out accidentally or changed accidentally. "In these days of limited budget, before you go out on a major project like this....". Mr. Curtis said his thought is to do this over a fair amount of time. The most important thing right now is for the Planning Commission to review the uses and approve those. If the Commission likes the concept, staff would begin reorganizing the entire zoning ordinance in a manner similar to this presentation. Staff would be careful with the details of this work and try not to leave anything out. Staff would like to give the Commission and City Council this work a little at a time and "... use you not only as people who make the decisions but also as proofreaders and people who go through it as lay people and see if it makes sense to you". Chairman Brown asked if this is on a computer? Mr. Curtis said yes, it's on Word Perfect? It's not on the Web. He would like to get the zoning code on the Web as soon as possible. Commissioner Hood said Acrobat would capture it. Mr. Curtis said the way in which the Code is typed in is not typed in as word processing text but rather is typed like a typewriter on a computer; it doesn't translate well into any HTML that he's used. Staff would like it to be a living document that people could search through. As its set up right now, it's not conducive to searching. Commissioner Yost commented on the writing style of the Code, reading from Section 28-1401, cited the following as an example of verbose, confusing writing: "Where any property used for commercial purposes has a common property line with property zoned for residential purposes, there shall be provided a solid masonry or concrete block wall not less than six feet in height at such property line except where a wall of a building is on such property line, no separate block wall need be provided". Mr. Curtis said if the Commission desires to go forward with reorganizing and rewriting, staff will look at rewriting the zoning section to be more clear, concise and understandable, Chairman Brown suggested the Planning Commission review the 60 - 70 uses. Commissioner Yost suggested postponing such a review because the Planning Commissioners received their packets on Monday (instead of the usual Friday) and spent Tuesday at the CA Coastal Commission hearings; he had not had a lot of time for review. Chairman Brown felt the Commission should at least look at them and comment on content of the matrix. Regarding Residential Board & Care facilities, Councilperson Patty Campbell asked Mr. Curtis to get her information on the number of board and care facilities in the City, where they are located, how many residents they have and who operates them. The City Council recently sent a letter to Senator Quentin Kopp recommending a limit on the distance between such facilities, no closer than 1000', as they tend to cluster and cause neighborhood problems. The Planning Commission discussed and recommended changes to the uses listed in the matrix. PUBLIC HEARINGS There were no Public Hearings on the Agenda. 3 , .) . . e City of Seal Beach Planning Commission * Minutes of April 8, 1998 STAFF CONCERNS Mr. Curtis asked the Chair for more clarification on what the Commission wanted when the matter of commercial uses was brought back to the Commission next month. Chairman Brown said he would like to see the definitions include things that staff looks at when considering an application: intensity of use, number of vehicle trips per hour, number of anticipated customers per hour, amount of noise generated, amount of trash generated. Mr. Curtis asked said these items would vary, depending on the scale of the use. Did the Commission want the thought process? Why a CUP is required, Le. because it would have these impacts? Chairman Brown said he envisioned something like "This is the LC zone and the uses appropriate in this zone are those that have medium amount of noise...". Mr. Curtis read from the first page of his report and asked if this is what he wanted elaborated on? Chairman Brown said yes, and to take it further by outlining the number of employees, customer trips, amount of noise - more quantitative. Mr. Curtis said he felt these should be tied to policy statements rather than be put in the Code, as it would allow changes to be made more easily. COMMISSION CONCERNS Commissioner Yost said he is looking in District 3 for a new Planning Commissioner to replace him when he moves to the City Council. Chairman Brown congratulated Commissioner Yost on winning the recent election to become the new City Councilman for District 3. ADJOURNMENT Chairman Brown adjourned the meeting at 9: 10 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, (\~ '--\ 0 0.-. ) - - Joan Fillmann Executive Secretary Department of Development Services APPROVAL: The Planning Commission Minutes of April 8, 1998 were approved by the Planning Commission on April 22, 1998. -*" 4