Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All right, let's call to order the City of Marysville Planning and Historic Preservation Commission regular meeting of August 26. Roll call, please.

Commissioner Kroger, absent. Commissioner Diehl?

Here.

Commissioner Sutton? Here. Commissioner Langsdorf? Here. Commissioner Dowst is absent. Vice Chair Mahler? Here. Chair Bramer?

Here. All right, close.

Not at this time.

Good evening, Mr. Chair and members of the Planning Commission. Yes, tonight the item you have before you is the first conditional use permit application that we've received since the Planning Commission and City Council. approved a modification to the zoning code after the adoption of the general plan and specific plan last year to allow by conditional use permit automotive related uses in the MUC or mixed use commercial zone. And so the property owner, Mr. Ramirez, And the Abu Moore Family Trust have been patiently waiting to apply for this permit while we went through that process. They had improved the property, which was a former automotive use and put quite a considerable amount of improvement into the property. to what it looked like before, and then come to find out that the zoning had changed on the property. And so they worked with staff to kind of go through that process to modify the zoning to allow these on a case-by-case basis. So these uses will come before you as a full use permit that only the Planning Commission can consider and approve. And so the reason for that is because in the specific plan update, this area was envisioned at some point in the future. uh to be more of a mixed use corridor and so until that time uh the commission and the council felt that on a case-by-case basis where we can take a look at impacts of proposed uses and precedents that they may set that we can look at these again on a case-by-case basis and the commission can approve or deny those permits um so so the first one uh is um uh john luke's uh smog shop it's a california smog shop check station with limited automotive repair um inside the staff report uh is uh is information about the proposed site and the site plan for the proposed project and i'll go through that here tonight in a short powerpoint presentation which we also made you copies on your dais So the property is about a third of an acre. It has an existing building on it. They're not proposing any new buildings or new construction. So it has about a 1,776 square foot building, has two automotive bays. It's been in existence there for about 40 years. They already have parking spaces. And again, this was changed from the light industrial zone prior to the downtown specific plan to mixed use commercial. There are proposed uses, which would all be indoors, would be a California smog check station, emissions diagnostic, the normal stuff you would have in a smog check station. They could also do some minor automotive repair in that location as well. The applicant is here tonight and he'll kind of explain that a little more, but really this is intended to be for a smog check and just very light automotive repair. if they wanted to come back and do something a little more heavy related they would either have to come back for a minor use permit which is a staff level approval if it was something similar in nature but maybe more a little more intensive or they would have to come back for a full use permit to be considered by the planning commission And so in the conditions of approval, we've excluded some heavier automotive-related uses, auto body, radiator repair, spray painting, powder coating, the list of things that are up on the right-hand side of the screen. So those have been conditioned that they cannot do those at this time. But they could come back in the future for a use permit modification or a minor use permit if they wanted to do something more intensive or if John Luke's smog shop moved and some other use came in and wanted to do something a little more intensive, that would trigger a modification or a minor use permit. As shown in the screen, this is a depiction of the zoning map for the area, so it is in that mixed-use corridor zone. It's surrounded. It's right on the border of the area that's not in the downtown specific plan, so it's right on the Uh, the ramirez street is actually the boundary of that plan. So everything to the east is still in the general plan. Uh, but everything to the west is in the specific plan. As you can see, there's a number of different zonings in that area, including mixed use neighborhood and B street corridor and some other miscellaneous or some other uses in the specific plan. In the neighborhood, there's a mix of uses there. There's quite a few automotive-related uses, but there's also some residential uses in that immediate zone. So it's sort of a transitional area, if you will. Uh, so, uh, the development standards for that area, um, are, uh, pretty straightforward, uh, and, uh, really, uh, this, this, uh, proposed use meets all the, the development standards of the area, uh, in terms of floor, floor area ratio, setbacks, parking and everything else. They all either fall below, um, what is, uh, the maximum allowed or they meet those development standards, um, as proposed in their site plan. This project is, because it's not building anything new, it's using an existing building, it would fall under the class three categorical, excuse me, a class one categorical exemption, which would be for operating and leasing of a building, an existing building, as opposed to constructing something new. So it is eligible for that categorical exemption. In order to approve a use permit the Planning Commission always has to make certain findings Which we as explained in the staff report we feel that this proposed use and this application has has done It has to be consistent with the general and specific plan. The site has to be adequate for the proposed use It says they have plenty of room to conduct their business as proposed The streets have to be adequate for traffic This is a relatively low-intensity use, so there won't be a lot of traffic associated with it. So Ramirez and the other streets in the area are well-equipped to handle any additional small amount of traffic related to the use. The site and the building has complemented neighbors. Again, this is sort of a transitional area, so there's a mix of existing automotive uses, like a carburetor shop and other things in the area. And it and it won't it shouldn't impact any residential uses in the area and because it's a smog shop It really is You know with minor automotive use it's a relatively quiet automotive use so it Should not have any impact on any residential uses in the in the area and then also it asked the final finding is that it It cannot be detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of the community. It is mainly indoor work and testing, but we've conditioned the proposed use to include things like the use of chemicals and other things, which they'll explain they don't use very much of. Those would have to get appropriate permits from Yuba County Environmental Health and meet other requirements of the fire department and other things so that it does not have any impact on health, safety, or welfare. uh... so there's a a list of conditions of approval uh... in the staff report others twenty conditions uh... most of these are standard in nature such as indemnification uh... and other uses uh... around other conditions uh... mainly to condition it to be what the application is proposing and to obtain necessary permits to allow that to happen and for it not to have an impact on the environment. I have passed out to you tonight a letter from the property owner, not the applicant who is here, but Francis Abue, Abue, sorry, I'm going to butcher this last name, Abue Moore. And he may be here, he was on his way here to the hearing tonight. But they had a number of concerns about some of the conditions, the indemnification condition, the environmental condition. improvements before occupancy and noticing of violations and probably the biggest one is future property rights. And so, you know, when we receive an application, that's number five on their list. So when we receive an application for a use permit, the commission grants a use permit or considers that use permit for what the applicant is applying for. And so in this case, they applied for a smog check station with limited automotive repair. And again, if they wanted to expand that, it's not that they can't. They just have to go through a either an over-the-counter permit or a full modification to that use permit. So it's not that they can't do that. It's just that the planning department and the planning commission generally don't approve use permits for everything under that use permit category for that specific application. They're very specific to what you apply for as the permit you get for that intended use. And so I think the... The property owner wanted a little more flexibility, which we can accommodate, but it's through an additional permitting process. So with that, if you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer it. And again, the applicant with John Luke's smog station is here. If you wanted to say anything about your project, you go up to that.

I just had a question. I'm not sure if I missed. The Matt Moore person, did you send out a survey or comments in the area? Is that how this Matt Moore came forward?

No, he's the property owner.

Oh, the property owner.

Okay, sorry, I missed that part. And he's trying to get here this evening, so he's the one that wrote that letter. Okay, gotcha. But we normally notice everybody within three feet of the property that this hearing was taking place, and so we did not receive any response from anyone.

Okay, thanks. I'm assuming you're not going to have a dyno, or are you going to sign up for a dyno? No. Okay. I know. Well, he probably knew it wasn't me, but usually you run the car and you turn the wheels. Thank you.

I notice that there's quite a bit of asphalt in front of the property there. Is there going to be cars parked there overnight? Visually, how's that going to be, or how's that going to be kept in terms of the appearance of the property? Right. So, you know, my only concern is that, you know, because it's a transitional neighborhood, I just want to make sure that basically you're a good neighbor. In other words, there aren't cars out there for sale signs. Someone's got their personal car there or there's, I mean, we're not always involved in every detail of that, but we just want to make sure that there's somehow, you know, there's decorum there and that it's an attractive facade, so to speak, even though it's in a light industrial area. We just want to make sure that, like I said, that you're a good neighbor and that, that debris doesn't pile up or something that's unsightly for the neighbor across the street that we're going to have to deal with later at some point anyway. It makes sense. Right. Well, thanks. I'm glad you clarified that.

the application is also conditioned that it can only be uh you know cus vehicles that are his customers so it can't and and vehicle sales and that and storage vehicles is actually expressly prohibited by this application

The signs that he says he has some ideas on, I presume you guys have seen them, and they're going to go through the regular process with staff and going to be taken care of that way, correct?

Yeah, they submitted it as part of, just to show us in their application, and that goes through an over-the-counter sign permit, and it's compliant. That's fine. It's compliant, so.

Okay, that's all we're concerned about. You're dealing with staff on that part of it, and we're just, okay, thank you.

I have a quick question. Have you uh um got under contract with a lease on this property i'm assuming because there's a lease sign out in front of this property okay so it's not signed yet so okay so um these conditions from the property owner those are a lot of those concerns are not conditions because a lot of this stuff i can see being on the lease Instead of between us and in the store. So if we go, no, we're denying this. You think it's going to affect him coming to a lease or you guys agreeing to a lease? No, so like say this condition number one, the identification where he wants kind of the primary responsibility to fall on you. But I'm going, no, it's the property owner. Whatever is between you and the property owner is its own contract, the lease. So in the lease, he can make you more responsible than him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I don't want, you know, after looking at this, that you haven't signed the lease yet, is it going to fall through if some of this stuff, if we go and dial... This is what we agreed to in the planning commission, is these conditions, take it or leave it, and he's pulling out now. Is it going to... Okay.

Okay. Okay, okay.

I just didn't want like all of a sudden this thing that falls falls. Yeah, but what we're saying on in our conditions, these are standard conditions. You know, to me, it's either take it or leave it. Yeah, yeah, for all that, for all these 20 conditions that we have under our staff report.

One point is, so the use permit rests with the property owner, so it's not the property of the applicant. So if John Luke decided to move his business six months from now, the property owner could go and try to recruit a new smog business, and he would still have the right to put that there. So it rests with the property owner, not the applicant. Okay.

Mike, I have a question or concern about the precedent that we're being asked to set by the property owner that, you know, there's a process we have that goes through the city and whose responsibilities in that. And it seems like he's asking us to give him some special consideration that other property owners don't have. I mean, I'm just kind of perplexed at why he's asking us to get him off the hook when it's really between him and the leasee.

Yeah, as Chair Brimmer stated, I think a lot of these would lease negotiations between the tenant and landlord um not really all the city too much you know condition number one for example is that what that is is in place for and it's on all of our permits is so that if um you know a neighbor who didn't like this sued the city uh to invalidate the permit um basically have two choices there one is uh the the the applicant or property owner would pay for our legal costs to defend that permit until it was Adjudicated and if they didn't then we then it would the permit would automatically without any action be denied and that's a standard on all of every permit that we We offer, so it's not really a liability thing in between a tenant and a landlord. It's it's well. This permits granted, you know, there's, there's a. It's a, it's a legal procedure to grant the permit and if somebody challenges it, the city does not defend. Property owners from legal challenge that we ask that the property owners make that defense. and or pay for that defense and if they choose not to then the permit is denied okay A lot of the conditions, you know, are also permits that really are not like environmental. You know, they have to go get a hazardous permit from Yuba County Environmental Health. If they just have minor chemicals there or lubricants to lube the dino or something like that, it's going to be very easy for them to get that permit. It's just we require that they get that permit.

Okay, I'm going to open up the public hearing. Okay, close public hearing. Back to the commission. Any last? Most of my concerns were answered under the conditions six and seven. I didn't want it to be a big junkyard there at the end of the day, so I'm glad that you got those conditions in there.

I move we approve.

All right. We do a roll call.

Commissioner deal. Satin. Commissioner Langsdorf. Approved. Vice Chair Mahler. Chair Bramer.

Approved. Motion passes. Thank you. That's it. That's it. So it's approved. All right, do you have an update on the architectural review board meetings? Yes, sir.

We had two architectural review board meetings since the last planning commission meeting. On the 30th, we had one, two, three, five items that were approved by the architectural review board. One was for a home, my major design review permit for a home. Sorry. One was for a home site, one was for a couple businesses. Most of these were historic preservation in nature. a lot of minor design review permits in each category so so those were all approved by the by the architectural review board and the appeal period is passed so they would not be appealed to the planning commission And then we had another architectural review board meeting on August 6th, which was for the Hopsing Association on Elm Street, approved their new meeting facility with a very decorative design. brick perimeter wall and ceremonial gate and moon gate that the Opsing Association is is planning to do so very nice project that the architectural review board approved and again in the appeal periods passed and so that would not be coming to the Planning Commission at this point so those were the two architectural review board meetings that were it were Other items that could be of interest to the Planning Commission, actually on Monday night we have an item actually not going to the, or excuse me, Tuesday night, not going to the Planning Commission, but going to uh... the city council on urgency basis uh... as you know uh... the uh... caltrans is uh... undertaking starting next year the s are seventy safety project uh... through marysville and as part of that project they are relocating uh... there or they are impacting uh... three billboards are owned by out front media uh... staff is working with caltrans and out front media to convert those uh static billboards at this point there's three of them to convert those into two electronic billboards and the planning or excuse me the council is going to consider an urgency ordinance on monday night uh excuse me tuesday night uh to enable that to happen to to create a very specific section in the code that would allow this to happen to essentially facilitate the the safety project to reduce the amount of billboards in town and then convert those into more slightly electronic billboards in that location the The item would then come back to the council in October to essentially Consider a financial agreement with outdoor media for a revenue share of the revenue coming off of that sign the sign would also provide the city with Continuous One one out of nine slides it would provide us with a continuous ability to put up public service announcements and the like so that that item will be is going to go directly to Council for consideration it will not come back to the Planning Commission and With one exception, and that is if it is challenged in court, then it would be converted to a non-urgency ordinance, and that would come back for planning commission consideration. But at this point in time, we're planning on that urgency ordinance that would enable us to do this in that location. What what three signs are they but I'm figuring this the one under so there's there's there's on North rabbinic Junction on each side of the bridge there are on the NORTHBOUND DIRECTION, THERE ARE TWO BILLBOARD SIGNS, AND THEY'RE ON UP RAILROAD RIGHT-AWAY. AND THEN IN THE NORTHBOUND DIRECTION, THERE'S ONE SIGN BEFORE YOU GET TO THE BRIDGE. SO IT WOULD BE CONVERTING THOSE INTO ONE SIGN IN EACH DIRECTION, BUT IT WOULD BE A SMALL ELECTRONIC BILLBOARD. IT WOULDN'T BE LIKE THE BIG ONE YOU SEE AT OLIVERST AVENUE AND SR 70. THAT'S A VERY LARGE ONE. THIS WOULD BE A SMALLER ONE. Yeah, so on the south side of the train tracks, there's two signs. And on the north side, there's one sign. So it's going to take those three and convert them to two. There'll be one on each side. I can show you after the meeting if you like. Yep, exactly. Yes, so it would... Right now they have static signs, which, you know, you just... And so convert these into electronic. And... But it would be only these 2 signs so we're not doing something that would allow signs citywide it's just this location and it's it's going to be you'll see them for a couple years because the the highway project has to be done first and then they put the signs. Yes, they'll be coming down for the duration of the of the project. So, and then in terms of upcoming Planning Commission items, we have, at the September meeting, we're going to be having two, at least at this point in time, we have two items on the agenda. We have a tentative parcel map to divide a property into, it has two homes into two separate lots in Marysville. And then we have a... modification of the conditional use permit for the core charter school. That also will be on September 23rd. We have a number of events happening in the community in August and September. Most of these have happened already in August, but at the end of the month, there's a... in three days there's a bruise blues and barbecue at the yuba sutter fairgrounds there is a in september we have a possible ribbon cutting for the chinese museum on the 10th of september we have the the annual cattle drive from yuba city and marysville across the fifth street bridge uh and uh a sod busters uh event at cotton rosser arena on the 11th on the 12th we have the stampede at the cotton rosser arena on the 19th we have the brew fest at bryant field and on the also on the 19th we have the boots buckles and brew at uh on d street between uh first and second street in the Guess I'll cover October and October we have the taste of Yuba Sutter at the fairgrounds. We have the a As we did last year, we're gonna be having another Developer luncheon to try to get folks interested in proposing projects here in Marysville I know a number of you participated in that last year. You're all welcome Actually, you're all welcome to any of these events, but in particular this one it would be great if you could come and That's going to be at FM Booth's facility from 11.30 a.m. to 1.30 p.m. on the 22nd. We have a Trunk or Treat event at City Hall sometime in October and the annual Scariesville event on the 31st for Halloween. A lot of stuff happening in the next couple of weeks. And with that, that concludes staff's report this evening.

All right, thank you. Any commissioner comments?

Mike, I'm not sure, but the grocery store seems like it's getting really close. Is the hotel also starting right after this, or do you know?

We are working on some financial items with the hotel to ensure that it happens, and so that's sort of in process right now. The grocery store will be opening shortly, and we're hopeful that the hotel will start construction sometime in the next 120 or 160 days. But it's very difficult to finance hotels right now. We're working through some issues with them.

And then I had a separate question across the street. Ellis Lake improvements. I know we've been in the works for a while now. Getting close to taking off for breaking ground, I should say. I'm going to... Maybe Ellen knows...

I do believe that they had a bid opening, and that should be starting quite soon. Yes, they had a bid opening, had a couple of them in the last month, and I think that was one of them starting soon.

Great, thank you.

We are, sorry, I should have mentioned we are trying to schedule, and Ellen will be contacting the members of the ARB for a potential ARB meeting on the 10th, if you're available. So, yes.

I'm shooting for...