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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/22/1999 (2)• CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH Planning Commission Minutes April 22, 1999 Study Session - 6:00 p.m. CommissionersTucker, Ashley, Selich, Kranzley and Hoglund were present Commissioners Fuller and Gifford were excused STAFF PRESENT: Sharon Z. Wood - Assistant City Manager Patricia L. Temple - Planning Director Robin Clauson, - Assistant City Attorney Rich Edmonston - Transportation and Development Services Manager Ginger Varin - Executive Secretaryto Planning Commission • Public Comments: None Posting of the Agenda: The Planning Commission Agenda was posted on Friday, April 16, 1999 • Public Comments Posting of the Agenda • City of Newport Beach Planning Commission Study Session Minutes April 22, 1999 SUBJECT: Discussion of Procedural Rules for Study Sessions Chairperson Selich thanked Commissioner Tucker for his assistance in providing suggested language that has been reviewed by the Assistant City Attorney. The procedural manual has been placed in draft form and is to be considered tonight. The following was read as the suggested study session guidelines. During a study session, the Planning Commission may also become informed about a major project proposal within the City or its sphere of influence. At the study session, the Planning Commission may, (1) receive information about important aspects of a project, such as its environmental and traffic impacts, proposed design features, site plan and intensity of development, (ii) ask questions or make comments about the project, and (iii) hear from, or suggest input be sought from, interested parties. No approval of any type may be given at a study session and none may be inferred. No question, comment or suggestion by any member of the Planning Commission, positive or negative, will be deemed to create any indication the Planning Commission will approve or disapprove a project. No official action may be taken at a study session.' • Chairperson Selich noted that this language or a portion thereof should be placed on the agenda that the Chairperson reads before the start of each study session, to remind those attendees that these are the guidelines that the Planning Commission is working under. Commissioner Kranzley noted that this is worded very well and sends the message that the study session is informational only. He suggested that any agenda that goes out for the study session should have this same language on it. Commissioner Tucker commented that under the caption of time of meeting that a separate section for study session guidelines be inserted. Assistant City Attorney Clauson noted that a more appropriate place for this verbiage might be as an additional section under conduct of meeting. Those changes can be made with a reference under the time of meetings. Concluding, she noted that if the Planning Commission wants to have this set for the next meeting, she would make the changes and bring it back in this format. The Planning Commission agreed. «r. 0 2 INDEX • City of Newport Beach Planning Commission Study Session Minutes April 22, 1999 Discussion of the Banning Newport Ranch Project Commissioner Kranzley recused himself. Mr. Mike Schlesinger, Project Director for Taylor Woodrow Homes at 24461 Ridge Route Drive, Laguna Hills presented the following on the Newport Banning Ranch Project. He noted this is a continuing dialogue that has taken place over the past year with the citizens of Newport Beach such as the Chamber of Commerce, homeowner's groups, interested neighbors and the Orange Coast Board of Realtors. a. Taylor Woodrow Homes has developed local projects such as Castaways and Windover Bay as well as others on the Newport Coast. It is part of an international company founded in 1921 and has been in the United States since the 1930's. He continued, noting the company's design and construction qualities and experience in environmental restoration projects. b. Referencing the exhibits, he proceeded to point out the boundaries of the 412 acre project and commenced with his presentation: • Upland mesa area is a large part of the project (2/3 of the total land • area) • Bluffs- along NewportShores and Coast Highway • Identification of large arroyos on the south side as well as in the northern area of the project. • Lowland areas (120 acres) consist of the northwest comer of the property and are representative of the degraded wetlands and the existing oil operations on site. • City's zoning for its portion of this land is for about 15% of the whole area and forms the eastern edge of this proposed project. (60-65 acres in size) This proposed project encompasses 1,750 homes which includes multi - family apartments, townhouses as well as a range of detached products; a 70,000 square foot village plaza, a 75 room coastal resort; a school site of about 10 acres; and over 200 acres of open space which includes both active and passive parks, green belts and 120 acres of habitat restoration areas. c. Public Benefits - what this community will become after years of government review, construction and population. • Bring the site's natural resources into the community by identifyng natural features - wetlands, bluffs and arroyos need to be repaired, enhanced, replanted and stabilized • Orient community inward to create a "sense of place ". • Create an inter - connected community with an accessible open • space system. INDEX • City of Newport Beach Planning Commission Study Session Minutes April 22, 1999 Provide flexibilityin residential neighborhood design. • Design roads to reinforce connection to community's open space, to be circuitous, and to discourage through traffic. • Provide a balance of community amenities, including an elementary school. Homes will be diverse and a texture of different types of roofs and architecture. • Proposed roadway (Bluff Road) would be built from an intersection with Coast Highway northward to 17th Streetwith connectionsto 16th Street and 15th Street as well, subject to the traffic study. Bluff Road would be a four -lane road and is not proposed to extend north of the intersection at 17th Street. The Orange County Transportation Authority will be updating its traffic model and it will be the basis for a traffic report to be prepared and integrated into an EIR for the project. • Trail system along the top of the bluff parallel to Coast Highway and north along the Newport Shores Channel to the school and park area and northwards to the wetland restoration. There will be anothertrail along the edge of the channel. • Wetland (120 acres) restoration is to include a restored tidal influence and an extension of a willow forest and marshes. The . maintenance of this restoration is yet to be determined d. Question and answers Question by Commissioner Hoglund: Are you proposing the trails actually circuit the entire property, would homes back up to the park or will there always be public access at all points along the bluff? • The bluff itself will have public trails access from the school site along Newport Shores Channel back along Coast Highway. • There is always public access along the top of the bluff. Whether there is a street or a home, there is a 40 -ft strip of land that runs along the top and is used for the public trail. Question by Commissioner Hoglund: When will this process start? • Based on May 28th date, the EIR will be out towards September which will include traffic analysis. Question by Commissioner Ashley: Have you performed a fiscal impact analysis? • A fiscal impact analysis is planned for this summer before the EIR comes out. Question by Commissioner Ashley: Will there be all single family attached and multiple family residential homes and no single family detached homes in the project? • • There will be fifteen different products ranging from multi - family INDEX • City of Newport Beach Planning Commission Study Session Minutes April 22, 1999 apartments to condo projects, with the majority of the products as single family detached homes, Question by Commissioner Ashley: On the 70,000 square foot plaza - how large do you anticipate the food store will be? • Village Plaza - hope to attract a 35,000 square foot market. Question by Commissioner Ashley: Do you have any church sites reserved in the master plan? No church sites are reserved but they are considered an allowed use with a conditional use permit anywhere within the project. Question by Commissioner Tucker: Have you done a wetlands delineation at this point? How many acres are designated as wetlands? • Yes, and according to the Army Corps of Engineers standards, there are 118 acres consisting of the lowland wetland about half of which is classified as degraded wetland. Question by Commissioner Tucker: Where is your process with the Army Corps right now? • We have met with the Fish and Wildlife Service and made this presentation to them along with a more detailed wetland restoration program. Meetings have also been held with the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach about their potential involvement in the project. No official submittal has been made to date. Question by Commissioner Tucker: As part of the traffic study, what is the sense of how the traffic will be distributed? • Traffic distribution will be covered in the traffic analysis yet to be prepared. Question by Commissioner Tucker: According to the City Master Plan of Streets and Highways, will this project have two connections to Coast Highway? No, it is proposed to have one way in and out off Coast Highway. We will have to prepare an amendmentto the Master Plan. Question by Commissioner Tucker: Will there be a lot of small lot development? • Density will consist of 10 detached products from 6,000 square feet to 2,500 square feet. The high density is within 11 acres of area and will have up to 28 units per acre; the medium high density will be lower than 18 units per acre and is within 23.6 acres. The balance of • the project is all medium density that is a maximum of 6.5 dwelling INDEX • City of Newport Beach Planning Commission Study Session Minutes April 22, 1999 units to the acre and is within the balance acreage. Question by CommissionerTucker: How are you dealing with parking on the streets? • Streets will be 28 feet wide in some places with turnouts for parking and alleys to retain the street frontage. Question by Commissioner Tucker: The commercial site of 5 acres, is the key 5 acres or are you going to expand the size of the site to accommodate 70,000 square feet? • The size is an estimate at this point. The actual area is included with the coastal resort so it is actuallymuch larger. The goal with the retail center is to provide commercial retail space for existing residents and visitors as well as serve as the front entry of the project off Coast Highway. Question by Commissioner Tucker: Since 60 of the 160 residential acres are within the City, the planning process needs to coordinate with the TPO. . The project will be thoroughly scrutinized under the TPO and the County model. Question by Commissioner Selich: This property is within the sphere of influence of the City, is it your intent to have it ultimately annexed to the City? • Annexation by City - that is the goal. Question by Commissioner Selich: Why did you decide to process this through the County as opposed to do a pre- zoning and pre- annexation agreementwith the City? • This area of land has significant habitat environmental issues in biology. The City has experience in dealing with the resource agencies, but from a staffing, workload ability; this is a large project which is more commonplace in the County. We have invited the City to be a complete part of the process at the Environmental Impact stage, getting the some information and at the same time that the County gets. The Local Coastal Program is a document that both jurisdictions are going to have to buy off on completely, The annexation timing will tie in with the Coastal Commission review of the project and is viewed as one annexation. There will be concurrent processing in City and County. • INDEX • City of Newport Beach Planning Commission Study Session Minutes April 22, 1999 Question by CommissionerSelich: What is the sequential process and where are you now? • The EIR is being prepared and should be complete for public review in September 1999 and will assess all the impacts of the proposed project. Hopefully it will be processed concurrently by the City and the County. Question by CommissionerSelich: What entitlements are you expecting to achieve? • Amendments to both the City and County General Plans are necessary to cover the changes to Park and Open Space plans as well as the changes in the Circulation plans. Since the site is within the regulatory jurisdiction of the California Coastal Act, a Local Coastal Program will have to be certified hopefully in the last part of the year 2000. Tract maps, street plans, subdivision plans will be done with construction slated to begin early in the year 2001. Question by CommissionerSelich: Are you planning on doing a Planned Community Text or a Specific Plan as an intermediate step? • The implementing action plan acts like a PC text, which gets approved as part of the -CP. • Question by CommissionerSelich: How will the annexation occur? • The latest will be the day before Escrow closes on the first house that we would want to affect the annexation. The earliest really ties into the Coastal Commission review of the project. We hope to have an agreement about when to annex but not necessarily affect the annexation prior to Coastal Commission review. We look upon this as one annexation. Question by Commissioner Selich: Do you anticipate having a Development Agreement with the City? We are hoping to have a Development Agreement that will lay out the terms of the annexation and deal with any other issues that are unique to the local environment and insure the development beyond the life of the zoning itself. The DA will be submitted as soon as the EIR is done so that it will be reviewed concurrently with the Local Coastal Program and any General Plan amendment. Question by CommissionerSelich: Will the tract maps be done after the annexation or will they be done under the County jurisdiction and annexed later? • We haven't planned it one way or the other at this time. Question by CommissionerSelich: Do you have a processing diagram? • Yes. (proceeded to review exhibit on the wall) INDEX . City of Newport Beach Planning Commission Study Session Minutes April 22, 1999 Question by Commissioner Selich: In the General Plan Amendment you will be processing, have you reviewed the City's General Plan in terms of goals and objectives the City has and how that will be incorporated or where you are in conflict with what you are proposing, and is it addressed in your EIR? A major portion of the EIR is related to the proposed land use and any variances between the existing General Plan policy. Question by Commissioner Selich: -Where is the school site? Are you proposing to swap land with them? • School site of about 10 acres in size is at the extension of 17th Street and is subject to review by the school district. There is a vehicle to follow in addressing their overall school planning needs for this side of town. Question by Commissioner Selich: Please expand on the recreational uses in the wetland area. • Within the area of tidal influence in the south half of the restoration area there is an opportunity for a small dock to be put in on the edge of the park. People could come down and launch their • kayaks and use them to paddle around the channels. The park is public and would be accessed through the willow forest. Question by Commissioner Selich: What is the expected remaining life of the oil operations? • The life of the remaining oil operations is subject to daily fluctuations based on oil prices. At some point they will play out, we don't know if it is ten years or fifty years. In anticipation, we will provide underlying zoning in those oil areas, such as open space and /or residential. Question by Commissioner Selich: Is it your intent to analyze the entire project with the TPO or just for the acreage that is in the City limits now? • The entire project will be analyzed pursuant to the City's Traffic Phasing Ordinance. Question by Commissioner Tucker: The park you referred to, will it be an active park with lighted fields? What is the concept? • One park that is about five acres in size will be active uses. Whether it is lighted or not, is unknown at this time. It will be offered for dedication and will be fully improved. Other parks on the property will serve the new residents coming in and will be scattered and be private. • INDEX • City of Newport Beach Planning Commission Study Session Minutes April 22, 1999 Question by Commissioner Tucker. Are you planning on building these houses in the City and paying the fees to the City, or are you planning on building them in the County and then annexing them to the City? • The timing of that has to be worked out as part of the Development Agreement as to who will get the monies (County or City). We have no plans right now, one way or the other. Chairperson Selich thanked the speaker for the presentation. ADJOURNMENT: Afive- minute recess was taken. The meeting was continued to the regular meeting that started at 7:15. RICHARD FULLER, SECRETARY CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH PLANNING COMMISSION • • INDEX Continued