Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

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Hello and welcome to the July 9th Planning Commission meeting. Will the Secretary please take the role?

Yes. Commissioner Anderson?

Here.

Commissioner Moran is absent. Let us know ahead of time. Commissioner Count?

Here.

Commissioner Strongman?

Here.

Commissioner Kwok?

Here.

Vice Chair Kloth? Here. And Chair Needing?

Here. Thank you. Do we have anything on the consent calendar?

I don't think so.

We do not. Okay. Okay. There are two opportunities for the public to provide comment. The first is for each item on the agenda when the agenda comes up or right now, which is a comment that is within the purview but not on an item on the agenda, which we only have one tonight. Okay. Are there any public comments on items not on the agenda? Seeing a lot of shaking hands. Okay, perfect. So now I'd like to go with item number four. Oh, pardon me. Any ex parte communication Also, lots of head shaking. So with that, let's move on to item number four, which is the public hearing. We have one item, which is Project YCD Architecture Conditional Use Permit Application number Y2661, located at 1402 Newell Avenue. And it sounds like we also have a presentation from staff as well.

Thank you. Good evening, planning commissioners. My name is Jessica Gonzalez, senior planner, and tonight I will be presenting the conditional use permit for YC plus D. Getting started with the project location, the project site is an existing single story building located at 1402 Newell Avenue. The site is zoned Central Retail. I have included a portion of our zoning map on the screen showing the project site. As you can see, the area is surrounded by a mix of zoning districts, including Broadway Plaza, Pedestrian Retail, Central Retail, and Office Commercial. And so as such, the surrounding uses for the site include various offices, commercial, and retail uses. Just some more project context. I've included some photos of the building on this screen. The photo on the left side shows the building side facing Newell Avenue. The photo on the right side shows the proposed project location and tenant space. So some understanding on the application. YC plus D is an architectural firm that proposes to occupy one of the three existing tenant spaces at the building. A conditional use permit is required to allow office use on the ground floor in the central retail zoning district. As such, they have applied for a CUP. Some details on the proposed use. The proposed use is a professional office with administrative tasks, office work, and occasional in-person meetings. Proposed hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed on the weekends. The tenant space is roughly 1,000 square feet, and they do anticipate having approximately eight employees. I've included the existing floor plan for the entire building on the screen. So here again is the existing floor plan with the proposed tenant space highlighted. The proposed tenant space was previously occupied by a medical office. So here's the proposed floor plan showing the changes that will be made. Interior work for the office includes really just breaking up the tenant space to provide for small conference rooms and work areas. Aside from the interior tenant improvements shown on the screen and parking restriping, no other exterior changes were proposed. Getting into parking, as I mentioned, the previous tenant use was medical office, and that had a parking requirement of six spaces for that unit space size. The proposed professional office use would only require four spaces. As such, the change in use reduces the overall required parking for the site from 17 spaces to 15. And so under our parking ordinance, required parking is only triggered when the change of use increases the required parking by 10% or more. As such, no parking is required because the change of use actually reduces the required parking. Nevertheless, 21 parking spaces are available for the building through the 10 spaces on the parking lot and some additional offsite parking agreements. So in order to approve the conditional use permit, the Planning Commission must make the standard findings shown on the screen. As noted in the staff report, staff believes the findings can be made. As I mentioned, there is no additional required parking and there were no health or safety concerns identified. Additionally, in order to allow office in the central retail zone, the Planning Commission must make two additional findings, which are shown on the screen. One is that the site is not suitable for retail use, and the other is that the proposed use is compatible with the area. As noted in the report, the main building entryways do not face new wall making the building suboptimal for retail use based on lack of visibility. Additionally, the site is surrounded by existing offices and the office commercial zone making office a compatible use with the area. So for those reasons, staff does recommend that the Planning Commission move to adopt the draft resolution approving the conditional use permit under application Y26061, allowing YC plus D to occupy 1402 Newell. That does conclude my presentation. I'm available for any questions.

Thank you. Perfect. Thank you so much. Does anyone have any questions for staff?

Thank you for your presentation. I'm curious, do the other two medical offices on the building obtain a CUP when they moved in?

So I did some research on this site. Unfortunately, I was not able to find any old conditional use permits. It looks like the construction date, I believe, was in the 1950s. So I believe, you know, I'm not sure when those uses were established, but they could be legal nonconforming uses.

Okay. Follow-up question. Do we know if there was ever any retail in this building?

Not that I'm aware of.

Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions?

How long has that front medical, what used to be medical, been vacant for? We'd have to defer to the applicant for that. Okay.

Sorry.

No, that's fine. Any more questions before I open up the public hearing? Okay. Yes.

Just interested about the South Newell area specific plan. I wonder how many other little plans we have tucked away, but clearly this complies with that. But is this something we need to update at some point?

Yeah, I think not to sound like a broken record, but as we enter deeper into our general plan update, this is absolutely something that our team can look at and if we want to craft policies that re-examine our specific plans.

Thank you.

Seeing no more questions, thank you so much for that presentation. I'd like to now open up the public hearing. You mentioned the applicant is here. Yes, and they do have a presentation that I'll pull up. Okay, fabulous. I believe you have 15 minutes. We're getting there.

Yay.

If you could instate your name. Thank you so much.

Thank you so much. Hello, everyone. Is it on? Oh, yes. Oh, it is. Okay. And then this is advanced. Okay. Thank you to everyone here, the commission. Thank you for the opportunity to present to you, describe, give you some context about who we are and what we do as an architectural practice. I'm here representing YC Plus D. I am Yan Chen. I'm... the owner and one of the principal architects with the practice. And here with me is Dara Duragi, who is my partner and also a principal architect with the firm. We have been in practice for about nine years now here in Walnut Creek. We work in a diverse range of projects. ranging from the very small to very large ground up construction. Currently, we are primarily working in education sector. We do a lot of projects all along California, up and down California, with projects in Shasta, Lake County, Sacramento, and here in in the East Bay as well, and then down in Bakersfield and Los Angeles County. So we do projects all over California. So as you can see here, this is a sample of the types of projects that we've been working on recently. I'm going to move on to the next slide. What you see here is our current office. When I started the practice in 2017, I was a solo practitioner, started the business within my home office. That was 2017. In 2021, Dara joined the practice. In 2023, we moved downtown to an industrious co-working space where we have currently two suites that we occupy. As you can see here, our day-to-day operations involve designing and collaborating with each other. our consultants and clients and meet with consultants and clients through virtual meetings and occasionally we do host some meetings in-house but very infrequently. And as you can see here, we're in two offices. We're kind of bursting at the seams. And so earlier this year, late last year, we decided to look for commercial office kind of opportunities in the downtown area. We do enjoy being in downtown Walnut Creek. And we live in Walnut Creek. want to have our establish our business here. And, you know, we like the downtown vibrant, you know, sort of the vibrancy of the downtown and the opportunity to allow our younger staff coming from other areas of the Bay and a little bit beyond to take advantage of being in a vibrant downtown environment for their day-to-day, you know, in their day-to-day life. We are mostly in office. We do not, you know, work offsite frequently. Just because of the nature of our work, we do a lot of collaboration on large projects as a team, and so it behooves us to come together as a team in person. So this is an opportunity for us to find a space to give ourselves a little wiggle room, and also allow us the opportunity to grow the business as we move ahead. Let's see. So, again, really appreciate Jessica's presentation and recommendation. And with that, I'll take any questions you may have. Perfect. Thank you so much.

Any questions for Commissioner Kwok?

All right. Thank you so much for the presentation. It's very informative, and I can tell you put a lot of love into the plans, especially since it looks like you designed it yourself. So how exciting. Give me a second. So I think you mentioned you're currently in downtown.

Yes, yes. We're in Industria's co-working space, which is on the second floor of, above Lululemon and, I mean, it's, yeah, Broadway Plaza, basically. Oh, Senior Plaza. Yeah.

And what do you like about the place that you're looking at?

Again, we like being downtown, the proximity to all the amenities and shops, giving our team members and ourselves the opportunity to walk around you know, during the day when we need to take some fresh air breaks and really just, you know, take advantage of being in close proximity to all the shops and restaurants and really just the vibrancy of the downtown environment. And I think that's a really big plus for us to draw talents from over the Bay Area and beyond. And, you know, we live in Walnut Creek. We're about 15 minutes commute, depending on the traffic on Ignacio. And we, you know, tell when we interview, you know, younger staff member sort of candidates to join us, we really encourage them to look at Walnut Creek as, you know, a place to come and, you know, grow and grow. Yeah, so we like being downtown. And yeah, do you have anything? Would you like to add anything?

Sure, and it's a central location for us too. So what Yen said, it's very close to all different amenities across. It's the main draw. Thank you. Thank you.

Any other questions? Commissioner Andrew, no, you're fine. Sorry, I need to put my glasses on.

I just want to say I was glad you showed the current space. I was looking at your design for the new space thinking it was actually pretty tight. But then I realized looking at what you're showing here.

We're in a tighter space now.

Was that, you know, my first job in an architectural office was in 1970 and my last one was I think in 1976. So I couldn't figure out where you're going to put all these giant drawing boards. And I noticed that there weren't any.

Times have changed. We're in the digital age now. It's like a good plan.

Yeah. I just had a super quick question when I was reading about the parking. Are you leasing spots at Broadway Plaza?

Yes, yes. So currently, that's our parking arrangement for all the employees, and it is one of the perks. that we provide and we do want to continue that as even after we move to the new space got it so do you have so you if i read it if i read the staff report you have broadway plaza adjacent adjacent to and then the lot next door which is the same owner so you have multiple places to park

Broadway Plaza, yes. So it's Broadway Plaza and then across the street, close to Apple Store. Yeah. Yes.

Yeah. We do have two lots.

Yeah, so there's multiple places for your employees or, frankly, civil engineers.

Yes. Exactly.

To MEPS to come over. Okay. Nothing. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thank you.

And then are there any cards for public speakers? Nope, I have nothing.

Perfect. Thank you. So you do not need to come back up to talk because we do not have any public speakers. So with that, I would like to close the public hearing and bring it back to the commission for any conversation, considerations, questions.

Yes.

I totally support the project, but I would like to chime my... that we do need to rethink these zonings and special districts because all they need is a building permit. It's been medical probably since the 50s, or offices since the 50s, so why are we trying to force retail into 1,000 square feet? But the only retail that would work there is a pot shop. which is not legal in the city of Wallach Creek.

Thank you, Commissioner Strongman. Commissioner Anderson, yes.

It seems like, you know, the reason for the CUP is, you know, is it really, you know, not suitable for retail and, you know, is it okay to have an office there? on the first floor. And I've worked about two blocks away from here for two decades. And I'm not sure I even knew there was a building there. So I don't really think it's good for retail. Yeah. It's just not the place to do it.

So I'd like to make a motion. Yes. For approval of Walnut Creek Planning Commission resolution, oops, for a conditional use permit application number Y26061, Professional Business Office, YC&D Architecture on 1402 Newell Avenue.

Second.

Let's take the roll. All right. Commissioner Anderson? Yes. Commissioner Cowan?

Yes.

Commissioner Strongman? Yes. Commissioner Quok? Yes. Vice Chair Klopp?

Yes.

And Chair Needing?

Yes. I just had one little side comment. I don't think... it's generally well known what they're referring to when they say industrious. So I don't think people know that in Broadway Plaza there's a second floor live work space that's very flexible. Like if you have meetings, you can have a membership there, you can have office space. It's a very interesting concept and I don't think it's very well known. But that's why they know already this area and they have parking already in Broadway Plaza because they're upstairs there. But it's a cool space, really cool space.

Well, the one thing I would like to say is that this commission is especially gracious and thankful for local businesses. So I just the fact that you live and work in this city. So we thank you for continuing to choose Walnut Creek. And you're sending all of your amazing and talented employees to the retail, which we worked really hard on, which is Broadway Plaza. which we're very, very proud of. So I just want to thank you for that and commend you for that. Okay, any commission, thank you. Any commission considerations?

I think you, did you attend something? Yes. Well, I don't know whether it's a report or a consideration, but yes, I attended the Transpac meeting this morning as the planning commission representative for Wilmot Creek, and my mic is not on. Thank you. I attended the Transpac meeting this morning, and it was actually a very instructional meeting sort of foundationally for me to understand how the CCTA executive director was there and to understand how CCTA was founded based on a tax measure that was passed in 1988, which was Measure C, and then subsequently replaced by Measure J in 2004. And that has oversight of all the funding and gives CCTA its authority to be sort of the orchestra leader of all the multiple planning, or excuse me, transportation organizations and systems within the county. So that tax measure expires, Measure J expires in 2034. So CCTA is in the process of doing public information gathering, et cetera, to set the plan for the next So it will involve significant personal outreach by them as an organization, public outreach, things in the news, et cetera, to ask about transportation issues and transportation planning. There are surveys that are up on the CCTA website for any person to give input. And their goal is to have that plan developed by 2028 so that it can be then formatted into a legislative packet that would go to the voters to replace then Measure J in that next iteration. So I just want to put that on everyone's radar that that's going to be a really important thing for us all to support given what we hear about transportation in our community and the concerns. and what the next 25 years is gonna look like with changes in technology, work patterns, traffic patterns, building patterns, et cetera. So that is my report.

Any other reports before I bring it to the staff? I forgot to ask you, do you have any considerations?

Oh, I'm so sorry. Just a comment, not a commission consideration.

We're on commission consideration.

Yes. um so i just wanted to say thank you to uh staff and the city for uh hosting the joint commission meeting um for the walnut creek 2050 because similar to ccta's plan for the future our general plan update is really crucial and having not just the planning commission but all of our commissions together i thought was very helpful to hear everyone's different perspectives and also to understand what the plan is going forward for all the different community input that's needed. So I just wanted to say thank you for that.

Any other Commission considerations or Commission member staff reports announcements?

I will chime in for announcements. I'll piggyback off of that thank you. So thank you for your thank you. I do want to just highlight for you all that on July 21st, we will also be doing a study session with the city council on the general plan update. And then in case anyone is interested, all throughout August to September, we're going to have a bunch of different community pop up activities. So off the top of my head, I know we're at the Locust Street Festival. We will be at I think Broadway Plaza has something called Once Upon a Time Fair Festival. I'm sorry, I'm still learning the ropes here. And then we'll also be at the Shadelands Farmer's Market. So a couple different dates throughout those next two months. And of course, we have a wonderful website. If anyone wants to check it out or if anyone in the city or the community is reaching out to you, please refer them to walnutcreek2050.com or .org. Either one will get you there. And so lots of good information there and you'll have more opportunities to provide some input. And then my last thing for you all is just to let you know, we don't have any items for the July 23rd meeting. There will be a more formal cancellation, but I because I have that information now, just wanted to give you the heads up. But in August, we do have trending projects for both meetings.

And that's all I've got. Perfect. Thank you. And now we will adjourn at 6.27 p.m. Thank you.