Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Uh, I'm going to call to order our regular meeting of the planning commission on today on Tuesday, March 19th. And Commissioner Kurza is going to say the pledge for us. Okay, if we can get a roll call, please. Yes. Commissioner Anderson, here. Commissioner Coransza, present. Commissioner Heath, here.

Commissioner Hughes, here. Commissioner Schmidt, yes. Vice Chairperson Vandenikov, here. Chairperson Keane, here. All present. Can I get an approval of the agenda, please? I'll make a motion to approve it. I'll second. Commissioner Schmidt, yes. Commissioner Hughes, yes. Commissioner Anderson, yes. Commissioner Coransza, yes. Commissioner Heath, yes. Vice Chairperson Vandenikoff, yes. Chairperson Keane, yes. Motion passes 70.

Okay. Uh so it is time for public comment. This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the commission on any matter not on this agenda and over which the commission has jurisdiction. Is there anyone who would like to speak? Is there anybody online? No. Okay. We'll close public comment then. Um can we uh get somebody to make a motion to approve the consent calendar? A motion. Second. So that was Hughes and Heath, correct? Yes. Okay. Commissioner Hughes, yes. Commissioner Heath, yes.

Commissioner Anderson, yes. Commissioner Coran, yes. Commissioner Schmidt, yes. Vice Chairperson Bandikoff, yes. Chairperson Keane, yes. Motion passes 70. Okay. And now we are ready for our presentation. Next party. Just kidding. It's a public hearing so we need exparte. Thank god I have Jeff sitting right next to me. Any exparte? Commissioner Coransza?

No exparte. Commissioner Schmidt. Um, I saw this with other members at the development review committee last two weeks ago. Commissioner Randy, whose name I just forgot, no experte. Commissioner Heath, no experte. Commissioner Anderson, no experte. Vice Chairperson Vandenoff, no experte.

And no exparte for me either. Okay, now we're ready for our presentation. Thank you. Please give me just a moment to load it up. You're doing a great job, chair. For those in the audience, we we've recently switched roles of chair. So, we have a chair in training that has a that Yeah, they're doing How long do I get to how long do I get to be chair in training? I Is there a time limit?

Yeah, I just think it's a funny banter. So, I had to I had to share with the audience.

Well, the humor is part of my leadership tactics. So, you know, All right, commissioners. I am ready. I'm Xandria Fowler and I am a planner with the community development department and the item that you have before you this evening is the Carlton Hotel remodel. The permit number is use 24-0019. The project is located at 6005 El Camino Rial which is at the corner of El Camino and Traffic Way. The land use designation is downtown. The zoning district is downtown commercial and the project site is approximately 0.45 acres. The existing site um is comprised of a three-story 52- room hotel with restaurant and a um combination cafe and bakery and conference space. And it was uh it was created and looks the way that it is right now since 2005. And I'll give you a little bit of history and background into the hotel. So, it was originally built in 1929 as a uh two-story building with commercial space on the ground floor and hotel uses on the upper floor. It was renamed to the Carlton Hotel in 1931. Between 1968 and 1987, it was actually senior housing and then for about a decade it remained um vacant and deteriorated. It changed property ownership in 1999 and that applicant um submitted a conditional use permit request to add a third story addition

and to add 26 additional guest rooms on the third floor. And that is the hotel that you see today. The proposal that is before you this evening is a remodel of the hotel involving modification of the exterior facade and interior uses on the first and second floor. On the first floor, the proposal adds nine guest rooms. Would involve the conversion of the restaurant space into a market distillery. would convert the cafe, bakery, and lobby into a separate bar and restaurant and a separate bakery and would also involve the conversion of a conference space into a speak easy. The second floor proposal, excuse me, the second floor modifications include the addition of two guest rooms and that involves um basically uh dividing an existing large corner suite into two guest rooms and then converting a fitness room that's on that second floor into a guest room and then that fitness room would be re relocated down to the first floor. The applicant is also requesting a modification of the parking uh standards for this particular project. And I'll talk about that a little bit more later. Here is the proposed site plan and floor plan for the first floor. And let's see if my Oh, yay. My cursor is working. So, I'm going to start you off with the area that's shown here in the light gray. Starting from the back of the property. So this would be the alley. Here's traffic way to orient you and El Camino. And so right now as the space exists, this area right here is all restaurant, kitchen, and back of house. And as I mentioned previously, it's about 15,000

square feet in size. And so what the applicant is proposing to do is to utilize the back half of this space for guest rooms. So the first set of guest rooms would start here which is about halfway through the trafficway frontage going to the rear of the property and coming along the alley. And then the portion the front part of traffic wrapping around to El Camino would be um the proposed market distillery and the proposed restaurant area over here continues on. The speak easy would be located in the center of the first floor. Moving past the hotel lobby which is existing and no uh major changes are proposed there. Um the cafe space right now which is a cafe and bakery combined would have a wall put in here so that the bakery could be standalone utilizing the existing entrance that it has right now off of El Camino. And then the bar restaurant would have access into what is basically the cafe right now. and be able to come directly into the lobby as well. Moving on to the proposed second floor, utilizing my cursor again, right here is that corner room where you can see lightly underneath that would be converted into two separate rooms. So, right now the entrance to the suite comes in right here and then you come into this space. And so, they're proposing to have two separate entrances down this corridor. So, one would come here and you would have a guest room on the corner. And then the other corridor would come here and you would have a guest room here. And then this is the location of the existing fitness room that would be converted into a new guest room. And it would front out onto the patio area like uh several other rooms on the second floor currently do.

So, when the third floor addition was originally approved in 2000, a condition was added to the conditional use permit that was um authorized that requires any increase in the number of guest rooms or changes to the building elevation or frontage to be reviewed by the planning commission through a conditional use process. Additionally, in the downtown commercial zone, hotels require a conditional use permit to be approved. And the requested parking modification that the applicant is asking for also requires a conditional use permit. And so what you're looking at this evening is um possibly approving a conditional permit. conditional use permit that would address the additional guest rooms that are being requested, changes to the exterior elevations and the building frontage as well as the parking modification. So, moving on to talk about the traffic way facade changes and particularly the ground floor guest rooms. The applicant is proposing ground flooror guest rooms in response to changing restaurant trends and market conditions. The existing restaurant, kitchen, and back of house space is approximately 15,000 square feet combined, and securing long-term tenants due to the size of the restaurant space has been a challenge for the previous and the current owner. Additionally, structural changes with the floor plan elevation difference between the sidewalk and the interior of the restaurant space makes it difficult to create smaller traffic way frontage t um facing tenant spaces. And by that um on the traffic way when you're at the corner of El Camino traffic way the elevation as you're walking down traffic way actually slopes down. And so that building right there if you were to have tenant spaces coming out. There's actually significant elevation changes which makes it very difficult to carve that space into individual tenant spaces because the interior floor is actually elevated inside because it was just one single use.

Um, remodeling downtown buildings provides an excellent means of maintaining and reinforcing the character and image of the community that the community desires. Renovation when done well can increase property values in the area and inspire other properties and owners to make similar efforts. And we have seen that already on Intrada and El Camino where a lot of new businesses have been coming through and investing and that makes other new businesses want to do the same. um on the structure on a structure of of significance like this particular one uh to the community in the downtown care and effort should be taken to complete the renovation in a manner that respects the original design character of the structure um in accordance with our downtown design guidelines. And with that in mind, the applicant has prepared uh two traffic wave frontage ground floor design options for your consideration. Their objective was to balance the privacy needs associated with the ground floor guest rooms while maintaining active pedestrian engagement along the traffic way frontage. So the first option that they provided is basically called design option A and for the ground floor guest rooms um they are proposing to utilize glass block for those guest rooms where the existing storefronts are to incorporate a green wall art between the windows. install metal metal planters below the windows and motorized byfold storefronts with metal planters for the market distillery which would be located on the corner portion of that traffic wayside. For design option B, the slight change is with uh the windows for the uh ground floor guest rooms. So, in that case, they're proposing to include glass with art installations, uh, a green wall between the windows, again, metal planters, um, below the

windows, and a motorized biffold storefronts with metal planters for the market distillery. And I'll utilize my cursor here to see if I can highlight for you if it will let me. There we go. Okay. So, uh, looking back at option A, here's the glass block. that would be located within the existing storefront window bays for the back half of the traffic wayside. And then I'm going to just drop down here because the uh zoom is blocking the other one um since it's the same for both proposals. And then this area, this just shows um one example of how the byfold storefronts would look if they were open facing traffic way. Um, and then as you can see, they create kind of a little awning space that's right here. And, uh, could have the flexibility of having indooroutdoor accessibility or just allowing, um, the activities of the street to enter into that space and vice versa. On March 7th, the design review committee recommended reviewed the project and recommended approval of conceptual design A with some modifications. Those modifications included replacing the storefront windows with geometric glass blocks and adding a seasonal canvas or rotating ex exhibition of art along traffic way frontage for the ground floor guest rooms. So, in some ways, it's kind of a combination of the two proposals that were originally there where option B had art added to the glass windows. Um, and then this combination recommendation by the DRC is to have the glass block with the potential for art to be on it as well. Um, the DRC also directed part of the recommendation was to direct the applicant to work with staff to design a brow line along the trafficway frontage to create design symmetry if the final design necessitated the removal of the

awnings to accommodate the replacement storefronts. And so, um, I'll do my best to kind of show it here again with the cursor. So, right now you'll see right here we go at the very top of these windows um the existing storefronts all have black canvas awnings on them and the design elevation shows them remaining at some level um in this particular um cons in the particular concept, but they would need to be removed to accommodate the biffold um doors, bfold storefronts um on the other portions. And so some of the conversation that was had during the DRC review was um how does that uh symmetry work along the lines of the building where along the El Camino Rial side you have those same awnings that won't be altered whatsoever but on this side you have the potential for them to be in some places but not in all places. And so that's where that direction was coming from the DRC. Additionally, their recommendation included allowing for the restoration of the existing projecting sign with an alternate light source consistent with the historic context, excluding um sorry, and I'll pause right there. So, at the corner of traffic and El Camino, there is a projecting neon sign that's there. And one of the things that came up in the discussion with the DRC is that that sign is not consistently lit properly. And so, their recommendation was to allow the applicants to find some alternative new technology that would mimic what it looks like as if in a neon sign, but would provide something that is more stable and consistent. Um, so that it can really highlight that sign and the building. Um, one of the things that the applicant proposed, um, and it's discussed in the staff report was the potential for a

parklet along traffic way. And the discussion at the DRC based on the complexities of actually making that feasible, not impeding traffic or safety vehicles turning onto trafficway from El Camino Riale. Um, drainage issues, again, the side the street slopes down significantly. So, how do you structurally make that all work out? Um, the DRC's recommendation was to scrap that from the project concept at this time. Um, and the applicant was okay with that. So, the the main reason why they were proposing that was just again to um excuse me, provide as much activity and activation on that side of the street if a portion of it wasn't going to be for your typical commercial uses. And then lastly, um the um DRC recommended that the applicant work with staff to remove or identify any alternative landscape plan and plant pallet if the proposed green wall does not work due to environmental conditions associated with irrigation maintenance constraints or lack of sunlight. So, part of the concern that um was expressed during that review, and let's see if my cursor will cooperate with me again up here, is with these uh green wall art designs that they're proposing. The traffic side of the building is typically pretty shady. And so, it could be difficult to maintain and have plants consistently thrive and do well in that particular area. And so the DRC wanted to make sure that there was that flexibility um to have the applicant um work with the staff to identify, you know, alternative plants or an alternative approach if necessary. Um so then that way we're consistently having something that looks attractive and inviting in the area and is properly maintained.

Uh moving on to the signage. Uh the historic um projection sign that we talked about a little bit and the roof mounted signage will remain. Um any new or replaced wall, window, suspended or awning signage will be consistent with the previously approved master sign program and any applicable standards in the municipal code. The DRC recommends, as we talked about before, that the neon projecting sign be restored with an alternative light source that's consistent with the historic context. And all of this has been reflected in the conditions of approval. Um, moving on to parking. Historically, parking has not been required for the hotel property. It wasn't until the third floor edition that took place in 2000 that parking was first required for this site and it was only for the hotel use at that time. At that time the um parking ratio uh calculation for the hotel use was 32 parking spaces and the planning commission approved a parking modification to require 25 parking spaces and that was eventually accommodated by the um applicant in an offsite parking location which is directly across the street from traffic and they have a long-term uh agreement over there to maintain that parking. They don't own that land but it's a long-term lease agreement that they have for the parking spaces there. The applicable parking ratio um for the project as proposed now is a one additional parking space per guest room and one additional space per 10 guest rooms. So that brings us to a total of 12 additional guest uh excuse me 12 additional parking spaces would be required for the um proposal as it is being requested right now. Um the planning commission can approve a parking modification with the conditional use permit when the following findings have been met.

The first is that the characteristics of the use or its immediate vicinity do not necessitate the number of parking spaces, type of design, or improvements required by the standard ratios listed in the municipal code. And second, that the reduced parking will be adequate to accommodate on-site all parking needs generated by the hotel. The applicant has provided statements to staff based on their experience that the parking proposed is adequate to meet the needs of staff of their staff and guests based on standard occupancy rates. Additionally, staff has included a conditional use permit requiring a parking agreement based on the city's reviewed parking plan to address the ongoing availability of off-site parking. um has been added to uh the staff has been added for the potential approval of this project. And staff spent quite a bit of time talking with the applicant about this particularly because parking can always be a sensitive issue. Um and they've basically expressed that with the exception of uh very high peak events such as the tamalei festival when there's a lot of people coming to town that they're if they have enough vacancy that they are able to provide the parking spaces um accommodate the parking in the lot that they have. Um in the past they've also tried having valet parking so that they could move cars around and it just they found out that it just wasn't needed. there wasn't that much of a demand for it. And so they're fairly confident that the proposed that the existing parking that they have with the lease agreement that they have um will be adequate to accommodate these additional guest rooms and and staff is fairly confident with that too. Um since this project come through, I've been independently going through and kind of monitoring looking on the weekends and in the evenings how full that lot is. um and uh seeing like if there's really any

spillover and I haven't seen anything. Now again that's antidotal right now. We're not in the peak of summer or things like that but it does appear that there is adequate parking that's there and staff is also um confident that with the provisions that we have in the condition of approval that if there is a an issue that we can revisit that and address the parking and there's always the option to bring that back to your commission um if additional parking does need to occur for that site. So that moves leads me to my recommendation. And so the recommendation is that the planning commission adopt the draft resolution approving conditional use permit use 24-0019 allowing the remodel of the Carlton Hotel to add 11 additional guest rooms on the ground floor and the second floor and a parking modification subject to the findings, determinations, recommendations, and conditions of approval. And I would also like to note that um staff is recommending one minor edit, well not minor, but one edit to your draft resolution and it would be where the now therefore be it resolved. And I'd like to read what that addition would be. Now therefore be it resolved that the planning commission of the city of Atascadero California makes the following findings, determination and recommendations with respect to the proposed conditional use permit and parking modification. So right now the resolution that's in your stack report just leaves out and parking modification and so that would be the only addition with that that concludes staff's presentation and there is a representative from the applicants team in the audience to also address any questions that you may have. Any questions for staff before we hear from the applicant?

Yes, Commissioner Kuranza. Okay, thanks chair. Yeah, I um I'm curious uh because I have no doubt there has been a lot of talk back and forth and some driving around and looking at anecdotal data for parking. I have no doubt that's happening like because it's intrinsically a motivation for everybody who lives here in the downtown, let alone making sure this project is going to work for everyone. Um and so where would they be adding parking if it was required? And like is that even feasible? like can can you share any light on that?

Yeah, so the applicant's representative may be able to address this a little bit more, but I will start off with it. Um there's obviously no space on the site. The property is completely built out um edgeto edge um along the property line. So there's no physical way that they could add parking um to the particular site. So it would have to be an off-site location. Um there are other lots in the downtown area within walking distance that they could make arrangements with. Um there are several buildings and um places that have kind of and it's the situation that they have right now where they have a daytime tenant that is office use in that area that uses the parking mainly during the daytime and then they have access to it in the evening and on the weekends when that business is closed. And so I would assume that they would be looking for other options like that. um the exact location of that. We haven't had that conversation, but if that is something that your commission was interested in, we could definitely explore that more with the applicant and have them include that level of detail in their parking plan of what the alternative locations could be for if additional off on off-site parking was necessary. And my other question to staff is around the whole bofilic design. I really appreciated looking at the different options and seeing what the DRC was coming up with that kind of blend of the one and two. And I mean personally I think plastic plants are a little in my mind but again I also don't think dead plants are the better alternative. So yeah, I was just curious like with that is there, you know, is there anybody who's going to be supporting help with that to make sure that at the biggest push we can use plants that are fitting for that area or looking even across the street at the Jew and just some of the other other plants that seem to do well. I mean, I I

definitely think this is possible that you don't have a very glaring high sunspot, which I think is to its advantage. So,

yeah, I think our proposal would be that they be live plants. I don't think there would be um a plastic plant proposal. I think that if plants did not work out for some reason, there would be a different treatment um on the facade and it wouldn't necessarily be a green wall. I think the planters will be able to maintain plants in there. And so it might be a different choice of plant that has a trellis feature that a plant grows up rather than um something that is attached to the wall or something that is hung from above if the planter situation seems to work better. So I think our intent is live plants. They give us sort of shade and shadow that change throughout the day and they give us a little bit of movement to maintain um some of that sort of pedestrian interest along there. And then um but if they really didn't work out, we would come up with a different scenario.

Commissioner Hughes, so have any of the other businesses close by gotten the chance to chime in because the parking could drastically affect I mean most of them are all right off the front of El Camino there and it's already I mean you go during peak hours it's already pretty uh wouldn't say destruction derby but um it's kind of going that way. So, have any of the other businesses been involved in this uh conversation?

So, all of the properties um within 300 foot radius of the project site have been notified. Um they received two notifications, one for the DRC review and then one for the planning commission review. At DRC, we did have one member of the public show up and voice support for the project. Um my recollection is that he is a uh property owner within that area. Um, and we've also had some calls from some of the other developers who have been interested in following along to see what's happening because as I mentioned before, kind of that um, synergy of development. Um, they're very curious to see what happens with this particular corner and what may happen throughout the rest of the downtown. Um, we did have one call from uh um from the owner of the um TA trolley and uh she was asking some questions about uh the parking and wanted to know um basically you know what was the parking situation and I explained to her that they were proposing a parking modification to um keep continue to utilize the um off-site parking that they have currently and she was pleased to hear that cuz Her concern was that there's a a small lot behind the Carlton that goes down that alley that they would be taking over that space and I explained to her that that was not part of this proposal. Um, but that's basically the only public feedback that we've had from this point so far with the two public notifications and postings of the site. There's also been some uh media coverage about some of the hotels that are happening um in this area as well. So, um it's always a little disappointed to not see more public engagement, but then maybe that means that everyone's okay with it. Not sure. Um but that's been the feedback that we've had so far.

Okay. I did. Yeah. Also just want to point out that there's a there's some significant investment going on in the Carlton with the new owner. Um he's breathing a lot of new life into the building, not just in sort of the downstairs remodel, but a refreshing of all the rooms and looking for um a larger sort of branding under a boutique model. Um, I believe that he is hoping to pair some of this remodel during our downtown infrastructure enhancement project, which is a small project that's going to start hopefully this summer. Um, but that will create a little bit of disruption in the downtown and we're trying to minimize that as much as possible. So, the more that we can pair these types of projects together and allow them to overlap to minimize continued disruption, the better.

Yeah. because across the street I mean they had to do a lot of investments in parking behind the businesses and seems to be kind of um down there I would hate to create a situation where we have overflow parking being the reason that people are like oh I don't not going to go to that restaurant because A or C you know it's I just wouldn't want to negatively affect him and it's one of those things that uh sometimes you don't know there's a problem until you got 10 people that are upset so that's just my main concern on that any other questions Yeah. I just I just wanted to say Zandre Zandrea. Did I say that right? Yes.

Thank you. I'm nervous about mispronouncing people's names sometimes. Um I just wanted to say what a wonderful proposal. It was it was very well uh presentation was done very well. Thank you so much. You did very you can tell the staff put a lot of work into this. So thank you. Uh, I just wanted to ask about um how the changes in the down downtown downtown enhancement program would affect parking that area because that'll be adding some parking especially in that area. And my main concern is you're going to have bars and restaurants and and transient uh people moving around at night and uh then you're going to have people coming and dropping off luggage for staying in the evening. Is there going to be any uh traffic control in that area for for people like that? I know that the valet area has been kind of taken over for parking.

Yeah, I'm not sure that there's um necessarily a enhanced traffic control plan um just for the downtown in general. Our downtown infrastructure enhancement project will bring um hundreds more spaces into the downtown area and create sort of traffic calming. Um so I don't think there's a concern at this point with the parking and traffic flow. Well, I know that'll that'll actually help, I believe. But as far as um that being a kind of a a choke point for traffic, um is there any concern with that with you know just being the the height of use would be sort of early evening? Um, just to expand on what Kelly was saying regarding the this this came up this conversation came up a little bit when we were discussing the parklet concept on traffic and uh with our public works staff talking about kind of the maneuvering and with all the other changes that will be happening. So that particular section of El Camino isn't having a lot of the traffic changes for the um enhancement plan that's going on there. those changes are happening north and south of that area um because you've got the turn lane onto traffic way and again that area right there is pretty limited in what else you can do. It's pretty constricted. Um and so right now the way that applicants or not applicants the way that guest or um patrons get back and forth is there's a signaled section that we that you're utilizing to cross the street from trafficway where the parking is located right now to where you're at for the hotel. Um, beyond that, if anyone is using street parking, they may be already on that same side of the street and so they're not navigating that area. So, a long traffic way going underneath the freeway bridge. There's no parking on the side of the road there. So, you most likely wouldn't have anybody any pedestrians walking that way unless it's someone coming from the residential area that's coming to the area, but they're most likely not a hotel guest. So, they won't be traveling with luggage in that particular area. Um there's no plans to

uh change or alter the vehicle drop off location that is existing right now. So typically when guests are coming for check-in, they would bring their vehicles there, unload their luggage, and then they move their vehicle over to the parking space so that they can stay there for the rest of the evening um while they're enjoying the rest of the downtown or the hotel. So I hope that addresses your question. Some if not, feel free to probe me a little bit more and all. It it's it's simply uh you know I I drive that area quite a bit and it's it's a little tight.

So um I my main concern is that you know with the hustle and bustle of the evening you know people go in they have a couple drinks and they're pulling out in traffic. You're going to just see a lot of fender vendors going on in that area. I do like the idea that it's we've got this traffic calming nature about the downtown enhancement project. So people will be traveling slower anyway. Uh, I just think it's uh it's going to be one of those those things we'll have to wait and see and hopefully we don't have too many uh problems down the road, but I think I think it's it's been planned out very well. I'm glad we got um the parklet taken off because I thought that would be a it would be nice if we had a wider road, but thank you.

Good question. Yes. Uh just to clarify on the parking, the um alleyway or the alley street behind the Carlton, that area is not being proposed as an alternative for parking. Correct. That area is not being proposed as an alternative. Thank you.

Any other questions or comments? Is the applicant here tonight? If you'd like to come up and um speak, you may have to turn the microphone on. Oh, I'm also going to move over um Kamal, who is the um new owner of the hotel, who is joining us online as he is having some surgery tomorrow to um to correct an injury from skiing, I think. Um so, he might chime in as well. That'll be great.

Yeah, Kamal. Um I'm going to sort of act as MC for our team. I'm Tom Sprinkle. Um we're the architects involved with the project. Um, Kamal um has a surgery scheduled tomorrow morning. Um, he's really disappointed he can't be here.

I don't know if you guys can hear me, but I'm Kamal Patel. I'm the applicant and apologies I can't be here in person. I have a surgery, so I'm not able to I have to keep my leg elevated essentially ahead of my surgery tomorrow. Um, but I really am uh, you know, happy to invest in Atascadero and really appreciate the collaboration with the staff over the past um, few months. um on this project and excited to bring it to fruition. Um Tom Sprinkle who who's just speaking there is there in person and uh been there in person for all the meetings and unfortunately this one I was not able to be there in person and Rob uh Polichek our interior designer is also available virtually as is our construction manager Larry Pace. Um and just I know there were some questions about parking. Um, I've worked with um Jim Lewis and I took a a walk actually or not, we took a I took a walk with Jim or with Lauraai to check out the parking situation. I have worked with um I have discussed parking with the neighbors to try to make sure there's adequate parking and um empirically since we've had the property over the year, we haven't had uh issues with our guests finding parking. We were sold out on Saturday and it worked out fine. We have tried valet in the in in the past and I was thinking about bringing it on board, but um there just isn't a demand for that. But um I appreciate all the concerns and and and thoughts around it and obviously want to collaborate with any any issues around that. Um obviously it's uh my incentive to make sure that our hotel guests are able to find parking and and find it safely. So, I just want to mention that I have been working with um the surrounding businesses and and discussing that uh with them to make sure that everybody's kind of understands what's on board and understand if there's concerns, but as of right now, we haven't seen it a demand concern um with respect to finding uh parking spaces. Um I'll hand over to Tom who will who's there in person and can um but I'm available as is our interior designer and construction manager with any questions that may that may come about. Thank you so much.

Thanks. Come on. Uh, chairperson Keane, members of the planning commission, thanks for allowing us to come and present tonight. Um, this project is um a really exciting project for the city of Atascadero. I think the idea that um the city is collaborating with this family-owned um hotel year um and hotel property um is is really refreshing to see. Um just to to backtrack a little bit, you know, the the impetus for most of this is the um food and beverage space um on the ground floor being just too big and oversized. And what we what we're trying to do is rebalance that. Um, our company does a lot of hotel design work and this this FNB program as we call it is way bigger than we would ever see on a 50 key hotel. Um, so that um isn't necessarily a bad thing, but Kamal and his um family have been trying to lease the space since they purchased it. They've had no takers. um it's just too big and we all know um how uncomfortable it is to walk into a a big a big restaurant where you know there may be 20 people there but it still feels empty, right? So um I think that's part of it. Um I think the you know that kind of um uh corner has a lot of foot traffic but maybe not enough um and then it's just is is not able to sustain a restaurant of that size. So rebalancing that um groundf flooror program is a lot of the impetus behind this. The other is to add guest room keys which will you know have a lot of positive effects on the on the balance sheet for the hotel. Um I think it'll also you know bring more people downtown. Um create more employment opportunities um kind of activate that corner and activate the um restaurant and the and

the retail that we're proposing there. So focused with the city, we've worked with the city for months now on that corner. Um uh keeping the activation that was there when the hotel was first built. Um so we've got we can go through in detail what the uses are proposed there, but essentially it's um more food and beverage outlets than what are there currently, a small market. Um and really kind of opening it up. So right now the the glass is tinted along there. You can't really see inside during the day, only at night. um we wanted to open that up and then with the remainder space is add those remaining uh nine guest rooms to the ground floor and that's kind of been the driver and we've been going through a lot of programmatic changes. We thought if we move the fitness from the second floor to the first floor that again creates more activity there where where um the public is um and it gives us opportunity to put another key on the second floor and also make a bigger fitness room and we're really thinking as more of a wellness center. There's a small treatment room um there for um spa treatments, that kind of thing. Um the other um um enhancement will be the um new meeting space um more event space and community gathering space will be incorporated on the ground floor. So, you know, business groups or private, you know, birthday parties or whatever it is, there's a, you know, kind of a a proposal to add a um enhance the meeting spaces there, but then also create this sort of internalized speak easyy space um that could also be reserved for private events. I think um yeah, I think Kimal um hit the parking pretty good. I think the other thing to note is, you know, restaurants and um bars have you typically have pretty high parking demand. Um and by reducing the size of the restaurant and bar space in the hotel, we're reducing that parking

demand as well. Um you know, as as Kamal said last weekend, um Saturday they were sold out. No one had had any parking problems. Um the same thing I understand will happen this weekend. Um and they just haven't had those issues. It hasn't really been a problem. Um, and with that, I'd like to just uh be available for any questions. Any questions for the applicant? Good. Commissioner Anderson,

um, with regards to the change in the business model, uh, are you going to be expecting an increase in staffing or a decrease in staffing? because I know on the hotel side we've seen the decrease in hotel staffing over the years because of the the difference in uh type of uh type of uh quality that's being given. So do you have any idea of how the staff is going to be managed as far as when they come to work where they're going to park or they're going to be uh set aside parking for staff that kind of stuff? Um well, first of all, I think the the staff um numbers will increase from where it is currently because all of those public spaces are closed. Um which I think is a great employment opportunity for the city as well. Um and Kamal, I don't know if you have a specific parking plan, but the you know the the required number of parking spaces is set to also include staff. So, typically those parking um requirements include, you know, employees and guests and, you know, everyone who's coming in and out of the property and they'll be in this in the same lot across the street or, you know, maybe they I mean, ideally they live here and they walk to walk to work, right? But not always the case.

That's always ideal. Walk when you can, right? Yeah. Our staff typically public transit, you know, I think that's also the other popular way to get to work.

Our staff will park sometimes they park in the lot, but frankly a lot of times around the perimeter of our building there's um or there's just spaces that are just convenient or closer. Um so a lot of times they'll they'll park around the building. Some of them use public transportation. Um we will have um a little bit more staff because occupancy loads will increase. But my understanding is a long time ago when the Carlton had big restaurant running, they had they probably would probably won't have that much staff because I think they were running um some fairly complex uh when they would get to the point of utilizing all all the space for a short period of time. our staffing needs will increase. Not, you know, not by multiple, but it will maybe it'll go up, but I think um generally our staff, they sometimes use a lot, but a lot of times they'll just park public parking that's closer than the lot itself.

Okay. Well, thank you. Um, I just wanted to make a little note that in Paso they're dealing with um with parking of staff for for the local businesses and they ended up putting in paid parking to prevent staff from from taking up all the spots in front of the shops and it's been kind of a little thorn in their side because they're rolling around on that. So, um I would suggest that you have designated staff's parking set aside so that uh your your clients can can have the pre premium parking spots. Thank you, Commissioner Heath.

Uh, yes. Question I have, um, do you have any projection on the number of seats for your restaurant or bar occupancy or speak easy occupancy as far as what you're projecting for guests? Um could you bring um Xandria the um ground floor plan up again and then maybe um Rob you might have those more um current numbers you could maybe address the the individual occupancy that we're projecting for each of those spaces. See Rob on Yeah, there was a um ground floor plan in your presentation that there it is. Um, can you let Rob into the meeting? He's he's online.

Hello everyone. Um so in regard to the question of occupancy what we're doing basically is maintaining the existing occupancy per code uh particularly for where the speak easy is which was the old gourmet restaurant. Uh and this so this plan would always you know maintain the occupancy load so we're not having to deal with any kind of code issues. Uh we're reducing the size of the bakery. Um, I think we have like about 30 seats in the new bakery plan. This is bit of an older plan. Um, and then bar loun, the bar restaurant. I think we have like between 30 and 40 seats as well. So, we're definitely under um occupancy loads for all the spaces including the um distillery.

Okay. Thank you. Go ahead, Commissioner.

Um, I think I just want to comment and say that um, this project is is going to complete a synergy in downtown area and uh, other people there'll be more traffic, foot traffic around the town because people might try to go eat at L Plaza. It might be full. We'll come over here. They'll go there. So there won't be as much vehicle movement in the in the downtown there in terms of the traffic itself. And so I I think this is a a wonderful project that is kind of helping complete this energy that we need that we haven't had and why the restaurants besides the building uh the restaurant size uh in the past has been large but there u just wasn't a working synergy and now that that's going to be completed with this and uh everyone's going to be very successful because of it. Thank you,

Commissioner Coranza. Yeah, I I think that my fellow Commissioner way over there, Commissioner Anderson actually,

yeah, brought up the uh not that far down. Um I like both of your questions, but yeah, I was thinking about just this whole dynamic of like parking for who? Like I I didn't think through that piece as much. And you know, I'm even seeing some of the in our packet, at least it wasn't on the presentation for everybody because there's lots of different things to look at, but the public market and market spaces inspiration. So, I know um it brought a smile to my face because I know a few of these in particular and how that's rolling out um to the nitty-gritty of like behind the scenes with some of these marketplaces and it's amazing. It's incredible and lots of work. Um, particularly the maker space, it's locally made. Um, because it's not always the same employees, if you will. It's people are rotating. Whereas Paso Market is the same businesses. There might be some wine events, there might be some art events and things. Um, but more rotation with the other two that I mentioned. So, I was just I was just curious like if we were as a commission to consider this whole parking thing change at all from what is proposed tonight, like maybe it's a question for Mr. Patel or yourself or Robbie, but um you know, is there is there any give to talk about that in actuality without hindering you guys in the project because I understand that you've thought through a lot of this. So,

well, I'm I'm also just going to jump in a little bit as well, just as a reminder that none of the uses on the ground floor in downtown require parking. So, it's the city's policy and it's written into our code in order to encourage these types of uses that none of these in downtown require parking. So, we're really talking about potential parking spaces for the additional 11 hotel room units. Um, that's really the only thing that would trigger parking in this area. Um, we hope to have a parking problem someday. Um, we hope that we become that popular and I think we're actually on track to do that. Um, there is a lot of surrounding parking that people don't always see as well. Parking behind where rack and tour room is and the record store and the artery is usually available and open. Um, our city parking lot, I've come on evenings and it's not very full. I know it's a little bit of a walk away from some of those uses, but there's a lot of parking available there. Um, there's a lot of parking still available on the movie theater site when there's not movies going on or maybe there's not an event going on. So, there's a lot of parking and as be as our downtown builds and becomes more popular, those fringe spaces won't feel so far away and people will be able to fill those in. There's the um the Mechanics Bank parking lot that's available for public use by agreement. There's the Bank of America parking lot that they have verbally said people can park in. So, we actually have a lot of parking opportunities that are underutilized and it's there's more eyes on the street and more people walking around those fringe spaces will feel a little bit better. Um, we did add that condition in for a parking management plan and so that would allow staff over time to approach um any operator or owner of the Carlton and say we are noticing that there is an issue and we want to redesign a parking program to make sure that it works. So where parking modification plan is is that in a condition of approval?

It is a condition of approval. And so that allows us because it's a condition on the CUP that would give us um some level of authority to come to the Carlton and say we're we're noticing this issue either with employees or with overnight guests or something of that nature and we need to work together to figure out a solution. Maybe the city knows of a private um property owner that we can reach out to that might have overnight parking spaces or we can find a lot that is farther away where employees can park. Um and if we can't work that out then it is a condition on the use permit so we can come back in a public setting and discuss what those options might be if we can't uh facilitate a solution through that method. So um we do believe that through that condition we have the ability into the future to sort of manage and make sure that the parking situation can be um handled and allow for that vibrancy and not maybe run into some of those passo issues where most it's mostly employees parking in the prime parking spaces.

Could you go to the conditions of approval and just show us that because I I've read through them but I must have not seen those three words. It's condition number six and it states before issuance of a building permit the applicant shall submit to the community development department a parking agreement to ensure the availability of the required parking spaces for the life of the project. And and I think we had actually modified that condition and it didn't get printed in your staff report. So um we probably would recommend then a sentence that required um the staff and the applicant to develop a parking management plan that could be reviewed. um should the parking uh situation um impact negatively impact downtown.

Okay. Well, thank you. I know it's a touchy subject and I'm not here to throw a wrench. This is an amazing project. Yes. And we are advocates for the whole community, which you know, some may not be here for said reasons of being with their families and work and some may just not have noticed that this project was on the map tonight and they wish they would have commented. So, thank you guys. Um, I guess this is more for staff than the applicant. Is there any other questions or comments for the applicant? Thank you so much. Thank you all.

Um, I'm going to go back to staff because I have a question. Um, with the downtown enhancement plan, is are those is there going to be any limitations on parking overnight in those side parking? Not that I'm aware of. They will just be city spaces. And can you tell me the number of spaces approximately that we're adding with that? I can text fill and check. Okay. But it's like over a hundred, right? Yeah. Yes. And that's beginning this summer. Yeah, we're hoping to go out to bid within the next month and then construction start in June. And about how long do you think that project will take?

Honestly, we hear it's going to take about 18 months. Okay. That does not though mean that um we're going to restrict traffic flow and that it's going to be um really disruptive for the full 18 months. But we don't have parking issues now. And we're adding all of this parking which will help with any, you know, few offsite parking spots that the Carlton or other downtown businesses might need overnight because we're not putting any restrictions on those parking spots currently. Correct. Okay. I also wanted to make sure that we open it up to public comment

just in case anybody in the audience would like to speak. Um, so, uh, if there's anyone in the audience who would like to speak on this issue, um, you can step up to the microphone. Please state your name for the record and limit your comments to three minutes.

Just making sure it's on. All right, great. My name is Deon Haggy. Good afternoon. Uh, I just want to confirm that the park lid is not in this. It was in the agenda, and if that's not, I'm not going to speak on behalf of that. Um, I'm in favor of this project. Um, I think the restaurant location needs to be revamped for sure because that is a location that uh restaurants go to die. If you've noticed last two years, if you've been here for the last 10, 15 years, um, I think revamping the whole Carlton is a good idea. Uh, parking is a situation, but I think that it is benefit to the hotel owner to have parking for their guests because that's the last thing you want is a guest upset that there's nowhere to park. That's why I don't like going down to LA. Um, I'm all supportive of it and uh the only thing I do want to bring up to you guys is the uh tight current turning from El Camino to trafficway. If you're pulling a trailer or anything like that, you will knock over those planners that that's why I'd be against the parklet in that that situation. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Any other public comment? Okay, I will close public comment and bring it back to the commissioners for discussion. Yes, Vice Chair Vandenoff.

Thank you. Um, just a clarification for the comment parklet's out so you don't have to worry about that. Um, I do have quite a bit bit of history with this building and also the frontage since I actually designed the all the street improvements around the Carlton. So, I know how narrow it is because I made it that way. Sorry. Um, I am very much in favor of the project. Now, my personal opinion is that the rooms will generate less traffic as far as parking requirements than that gigantic restaurant that was there. Um, of course, nobody has been able to fill that place for a long time. When it was open though, um, when it was first open, it was pretty vibrant and it was very, um, had a lot of foot traffic. So, that would have created a lot more traffic and parking issues than a few extra rooms. So, I don't think that's going to be an issue. Um, and I think that overall, um, the layout that they've they've brought, um, I think it's going to really improve and create some more synergy in the downtown area. And I pretty excited about, uh, things that are that are happening down there. That's my comments.

Yes, Commissioner Schmidt. If there are no other comments, I'd like to make a motion. Commissioner comment. I normally agree with everything Kelly says, but when she says we we we she would like to see us busy enough to have a parking problem, I want to be busy without the parking problems. Let's go for that. Thank you. Maybe electric bikes will get us there. There you go.

Any other comments? We were looking that way. I know Commissioner Kurans has got to get another comment in. Well, the uh Thank you. Thank you. So, I was just curious about this whole parklet thing because I know for sure there's zero tolerance for traffic way to have it. Um that's not my intent, but when Mr. Patel brought up earlier the valet and how it's not even a needed service. I was like, "Okay, well then they're folding into the traffic calming plan that's already in action with the city that we've done the downtown enhancement. Is there any was there any talk of a parklet on that side by where the valet?" I I just was curious. Well, that

it's a bumpout and nobody goes in the bumpout. So, yeah. just so a as a uh you know the way it was designed originally that yes it was for ballet but it was also drop off so that was where people would pull in check into the rest to the hotel take their bags into the room and then move their car over to the parking lot so that was never a consideration that's why the the vegetation is in the center of the road to do more traffic calming that way maybe in the future it could be like a a rental electric bike spot Okay. Okay. I'm done. Wait, Commissioner Schmidt for some real talks.

I guess I want to say something now. Um, and I understand what's going on with the design of the street in the Bel community real. However, if the island would be taken out in the middle, then sidewalks could be bigger adjacent to the buildings, there is a a 118 foot rideway along that frontage with the additional 18 feet being on the other side. And if you look on the other side, there's large sidewalks in that area. So despite that um I really u proud to to make a recommendation to the planning commission to approve the resolution of the planning commission of the city of Atascadero California approving a conditional use permit US240019 to allow the remodel of the Carlton Hotel to add 11 addition additional guest rooms on the ground floor and the second floor and a parking modification subject to the findings and conditions that have been presented to us.

Would you like though to include that develop a parking management plan if necessary? Yes. And to include that additional language, but uh we were told it's already in the in report. It actually needs to just be modified a little bit for specificity. So, I think we talked about adding a sentence under condition six that would require um staff and the applicant to develop a parking management plan that would address any parking needs for the project. That would also be uh revisited if needed to be if the parking uh became a a negative effect on

Yes, we can add that language in. And then I also wanted to make sure we just got on record modifying that portion of the uh resolution to not just say findings for a conditional use permit, but findings for conditional use permit and the parking modification that we discussed earlier on. So change. Thank you. Thank you. I'll second Victoria paper scissors. I'll also forgive Jeff for the original plans.

Okay. Commissioner Schmidt, yes. Commissioner Hughes, yes. Commissioner Anderson, yes. Commissioner Coransza, yes. Commissioner Heath, yes. Vice Chairperson Vandenikov, yes. Chairperson Keane. Yes. Motion passes 70. Good luck with your project. We look we very much look forward to it.

Um. Yes. And thank you, Mr. Patel. What? Thank you, everyone. Oh, yeah. Good luck with your surgery. I hope it goes well.

Thank you. I appreciate the collaboration with the city on this. Thank you so much. Um, okay. So, commissioner comments and reports. Um, Commissioner Kuranza and I went to the planning commissioners academy in Long Beach. Um, and we just kind of wanted to give you a little summary on that. We learned a lot. Um, a lot of what we learned is that we're doing a lot of things right in our planning commission and that we're pretty awesome. Um, no. Like s like we Kelly and I got stuck listening to this gentleman from Certino and it was terrifying. Like it was terrifying. Um, we also met with we met with some other cities that were sort of similar to ours and sort of rural kind of around our um, population. and we thought like it would be really fun to sort of talk with them a little bit more because the issues that we have are not very similar to, you know, the Bay Area or the LA area. It's it's a it's a totally different animal. Um, but we also learned about SQA and um how to run a meeting, which I don't know if y'all can tell, but I already rock at, so I aced that one. um uh how to get along with staff, like what goes on behind the the um the scenes. Um which is also really great because they sort of went over it and I had Kelly sitting next to me. And what's great about our city staff is that y'all y'all can go to them anytime you want. Like you can schedule a meeting, you can ask questions, which it sounds like not every planning commission has. So, like I said, we learned a lot, but a lot of what we learned is that we are incredibly lucky. We're doing a lot of things right, and we're awesome. Anything to add, Commissioner Crownson?

I just really appreciated there's one community development director who did these things called 211s, like meetings that as part of their planning budget to comply with the Brown Act for more engagement with commissioners. And it was a way of having some room to breathe that's not just at the end of a meeting when we all maybe want to go home and have dinner or go to our family where it's like you get to breathe and have like a coffee date with the development director and support some economic development ideas or feed off of what's already happening and staff's working on. So I just would be in proponent of that going forward. I have spoken with Phil about letting us know when there's some background information that we need to know so that we can schedule meetings with him, but I would also encourage all the planning commissioners to meet with Phil or Kelly or Xandria. Um, you know, like maybe once a month or something and just sort of get a feeling for what's going on because they know so much and every planning person I've met will talk about it for as long as you want them to talk about it. Um, so, uh, which is great. It's really great because they know things about things that I didn't even know were things. So, it's it's really fantastic. But I would encourage you all if you haven't I remember I scheduled a meeting and I went in there and it was just supposed to be Phil, but then Kelly came in and then another planner came in and like soon I had like the whole department there answering all my questions and it was really great. So, I highly encourage you to go bother them every once in a while. I just want to second how awesome Phil is. I I had one meeting early on with him and he was like an encyclopedia. There's like curio cur curious questions about the general plan. It was like he literally like book like oh 4.2 like

and he gets so excited. So excited. Yeah. Yeah. Um any other uh commissioner comments or reports? Uh, we have no director, but is there a standin director's report?

There is. Um, we have, I think, a smaller subdivision project coming to you at your next hearing. Um, it's a pretty small subdivision project, but it's a little bit unique because they're utilizing one of the new state laws. So, we will be discussing that at the next planning commission hearing. Um, I know we keep promising it, but um, for sure we are trying to make the, uh, April 16th date for our objective design standards. We are working on getting our graphics uh really dialed in and a couple checklists so that you can see how it's actually going to work with the public and with developers. And so that might be a little bit of a heavy meeting. Um we'll have some additional snacks available probably for you and make sure that you guys can make it through. It's it's a lot of content to get through. Um but we will help you along with that. And we're also having our uh general plan update meeting at city council next Tuesday. So they will be reviewing the draft preferred alternative map. So this is the map. It's not it's not the final decision, but this is the map where we start doing all of the things. So it's the proposed redefined zoning and general plan designations for the city. We're changing a lot of our general plan designations into place types. They're all very different from what they are today to get a better feel and vision for what we want certain parts of the city to be. So, I would highly encourage anybody who wants to to attend that city council meeting. You'll hear a lot of comment from the public. There's been a lot of people interested in what's going to happen with their particular property and then what's going to happen overall with how El Camino is going to look, what kind of heights we're going to be at, and that that's a little bit farther detail, but it does feed into the vision that the council will be reviewing next Tuesday. That'll be virtual and in person if you can attend in either one of those ways and listen to what the council and public has to say about that. Dennis, did you have a question?

Will that map be published before next Tuesday? So, I believe that the staff report will be published tomorrow and the map will be part of that staff report. if I don't know what resolutions it's at in the in the agenda packet. Um if something needs to be at higher resolution, um we'll check it out tomorrow and we'll probably post it on our general plan update website in a little bit higher resolution so that you can really zoom into areas of the city. Okay. Thank you. And I think that um is a good amount of information to leave you with. Fantastic. Then I'm not asking, I'm just adjourning. I'm adjourning uh this meeting and our next regular meeting will be on April 2nd, 2024. We'll see you all back here.