Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

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yeah oh yeah all right h oh mind all right everybody hello uh the time is  now 7:42 and uh this meeting is now called   to order um thank you everyone uh who might  be watching for your patience we had some it  

difficulties so there'll be a little bit  of a different uh style of presentation   tonight uh we won't be able to show the slides  on the um uh on the presentation uh on kjem uh   but you can get the slides by going to the uh  meeting agendas and minutes page on the city   website uh where the slides slideshow has been  posted um and so you can pull it down yourself   there there anything that I missed Sherry  okay all right thank you um moving right   along uh if you would please stand and follow  commissioner Austin in the Pledge of Allegiance United States ofice all right thank you commissioner Austin  uh next item can we please have a roll call   yes commissioner Austin here Brown here Rose here  Sheffer here sheath here bashani here Cher sahira   here thank you next item on the agenda is the  approval of the minutes uh from the regular   meeting on February 12th of 2025 if there are no  Corrections I'll entertain a motion to approve   I move to approve second we have a motion in  a second uh hearing no Corrections uh we can   now take a Voice vote all in favor say I I any  opposed I abstain we have an abstention from   commissioner Rose Iain as well and commissioner  Brown oh sorry um uh so with that uh the motion  

is approved all right next portion of the agenda  moving right along uh we have now arrived at the   public input portion of tonight's meeting so  at this time uh citizens who wish to discuss   any items that are not on the agenda may speak  to the commission uh and as a reminder we can't   discuss any of these things but we can uh take  it under advisement and and ask for future   agenda items uh does anyone in the audience  wish to speak during this portion of the meeting all right hearing nothing uh the public  input portion of this meeting is now closed and   we'll move on to public hearings so tonight we  have one public hearing item on the agenda uh it's   ph1 which is a request to amend uh conditional  use permit cup 2016-04 the subject property is   at 162 and 164 West Pomona Avenue with hop secret  Brewing Christopher Thomas as the applicant and   this amendment would allow the business to expand  its hours and operations to an additional adjacent   tenant space I believe we have the staff report  from from assistant planner Austin Arnold go ahead   yes thank you chair good afternoon Commissioners  uh tonight we do have an amendment to conditional   use permit cup 2016-04 to allow a micro Brewery  that offers beer sampling within a Tasting Room   to expand its hours as well as its business  operations into a portion of their adjacent   unit uh 164 West Pomona Avenue and the applicants  Mr Christopher Thomas and his partner Kai are here   with us tonight so the subject property is Lo at  at 164 West Pomona Avenue this is on the Southeast   corner of Primrose and West Pomona Avenue and it's  located in the pd12 plan Development Area 12 Zone  

and I'm sorry next slide as a bit of background  um the existing micro Brewery um was approved   by the Planning Commission on April 13th 2016  and it allowed for incidental retail sales for   on-site beer tasting and off-site sale for an  ABC type 23 license for a beer manufacturer um   it totals 2217 ft in total in size um and with  that retail sales uh for incidental it allowed   for on-site Brewing packaging and distribution  of beer and on-site retail sales or a tap room   as they call it for a beer tasting and offsite  I'm sorry sales for off-site consumption and   that Tap Room um was limited to 434 Square ft um  the the city of Monrovia defines incidental retail   sales as no more than 20% of the total floor area  and so it currently equates to 19.5% and has 17 seats and as the committee may know  the uh I'm sorry the commission the   monroi municipal code specifically section 17.44% um and it is directly adjacent to uh multif  family complex Moda um directly adjacent to   the West um additionally um the Cup's existing  conditions does require an amendment to their   cup if any expansion is proposed which brings  us to tonight's item next slide um they are   requesting an amendment to their Cup this would  include an expansion of 935 square ft into the   rear portion of an adjacent unit again at 16 4  as you can see in the image um hopefully when   people at home can see on the computer at 162  is located on the right hand side of the image  

and 164 is on the Le hand side of the image and  they're also proposing to modify their hours of   operation next slide so here we have the existing  site plan um this is the current operations of the   site it's located within Hami Park Hami Park is  28 Industrial condu Windows accumulating of 105   total parking spaces four of which are adaa um  and it was designed as a shared parking concept   so there are 56 assigned spaces and 49 shared  visitor spaces of that total 105 as you can see   in the image um in yellow um the subject site  specifically for hop secret is at 162 they're   proposing to expand into just the rear portion for  that 935 square ft at 164 West Pomona Avenue next slide so here we have the existing floor plan  as I stated briefly earlier the existing micro   Brewery is 20 just over 2200 square ft it includes  manufacturing office restrooms and a mezzanine   their retail sales is uh as shown in its current  configuration for their Tap Room is 434 Square   ft they are planning to redesign this portion  and knock out a small wall or SL entrance into   the 164 unit as shown in the red Lins um and  again into 164 and there are currently alcohol   barriers separating The Tap Room area from the  manufacturing space next slide so the proposed   floor plan um would expand the total to 3,152  square ft The Tap Room expansion um only equates   to an additional 187 Square ft um that compared  to the total square footage would still equate   to only 19.7 so still under 20% % of the total  Flo area the rest of the space accounts for just  

additional manufacturing space that they need  to continue their operations um this includes   748 square feet of mostly dry and Cold Storage you  can see there's a small cold storage box in there   for products that have already been finished  or need to be kept at a certain temperature   additional alcohol barriers would be proposed in  this location mimicking what they already have   on site again to separate off and as you can see  in the image on the right hand side the proposed   redesign tab room um would still remain at their  17 seats and still at 434 Square ft so again   with a combined total of 620 21 square feet for  their Tap Room which again equates to 19.7 next Slide the applicant is proposing to slightly  modify their hours they're currently open from   4 to 10 p.m. Monday through Wednesday 4 to  11 Thursday through Saturday and 3 to 9:00   p.m. Sunday their proposed hours are going  to be just 4 to 11 Monday through Friday   and 10 to 11 Saturday and Sunday so a minor  change on their proposed hours next slide please now with regards to parking as I indicated  Hami Park was initially designed for industrial   uses typically parked at 1 per 500 um this  was specifically done through a shared parking   concept as I mentioned so splitting it up between  assigned spaces and shared visitor spaces now   once the pd12 zoning standards became in place uh  shortly thereafter um it provided Provisions for   incidental retail sales without the requirement  of additional parking um however at the time again   this was 2016 initial concerns were raised at the  original hearing and because the Gold Line hadn't   yet been established and we didn't know how big of  an impact uh the transit oriented area was going  

to be for pd12 um they required a parking study  to best potential demand of the area and in the   study that was reviewed current OCC occupancy uses  and overlapping hours with other businesses when   The Tap Room would be open the study concluded  that the micr brewery would have minimal impacts   and since its opening nine years ago hop secret  has not had any reported parking issues to the state next slide please now although no  additional parking is requ requ ired for   the incidental retail sales um staff did  request that the new owners provide an   independent parking survey um which reviewed  visit I'm sorry which reviewed occupied visitor   spaces during overlapping hours between 4  and 5:00 p.m with the adjacent businesses   within Hami Park um as well as their peak  hours of operation typically between 930   I'm sorry 7:30 and 9:00 p.m. so staff also  confirmed that the majority of spaces in   hamy park are still light industrial office  uses this was done look searching um current   business license applications um so majority of  the business are still open between 900 and 5:00   P p.m. Monday through Friday and the survey  results showed that there would be a current   minimal impact um it counted with a Max of 15 cars  in the parking lot between Monday and Friday and a   Max of 10 cars during their peak hours when the  other businesses would be closed so given that   no changes occurring during the overlapping hours  between their current existing hours of operation   and the proposed hours op operation that one over  hour laap um overlapping hour um is no change so   staff believes that the proposed expansion would  not create any significant impacts to the parking   it's also important to note that the Gold Line  has now been finished um now recently the a line   um we do have a parking ride lot directly  adjacent to this site which accounts for   additional 126 spaces as well as the LA metro  parking area which has additional spaces as

well with uh next slide please with regards to conditions of approval um  staff did uh request updated and consistent   um conditions with other Brew breweries that  have been previously approved um specifically   we're limiting their hours of operation as  newly proposed again that's 4 P P.M to 11:   p.m. Monday through Friday and 10: a.m. to 11:  p.m. Saturday and Sunday the approved floor   plan is still integral part of this approval any  expansion would require another amendment to their   cup to be back before this Commission for review  and approval now if they propose any additional   seats or tables um that would not expand um then  they could go back to DRC for review um and the   DRC May refer that back to Planning Commission if  needed the new combined total um again would be   specific to the 621 squ F feet total of their Tap  Room um allowed as a maximum of 20% of combined   areas as an incidental use and then those areas of  use again are limited to a total of 20 2531 ft for   the micro Brewery and The Tap Room would equate  to 621 total square F feet um it should be noted   that this was duly noticed with a public hearing  for both postcard and the newspaper we have not   received any comments up to this point as far as  I'm aware um that does conclude my presentation   um I myself as well as the applicants  are here if you have any questions thank you thank you very much and I didn't say  before but uh excellent work rolling with   the it difficulties and thank you for making  the slides available to everyone so we could   all follow along and get that key information um  do we have any questions from the commission for

Austin all right not seeing anything so uh  since this is a public hearing um uh this is   a time in place for public input uh regarding  ph1 uh we'll accept testimony in the following   order uh the applicant if they wish to speak  uh then persons in favor persons with concerns   and then the applicant will have a chance to  respond and um just some reminders uh please   come to the podium and state your name that's  all you have to say and uh address your your   comments and questions to me um so we'll take uh  input from the applicant if they wish to speak and if not we can move on to persons in  favor if we have anyone in favor anybody opposed all right hearing nothing no rebuttal is  necessary so the public testimony portion of the   hearing is now closed any other comments or  discussion or questions from the commission   I think it's pretty pretty good project um I'm  dating myself I was here when the original one   came through and um we did have some concern and  uh we're finally getting the development around   it I think that there's sufficient parking as  um Austin presented with the city's parking   parking ride and the Gold Line and then all the  um additional um The Living Spaces the apartments   that are going in I'll have public parking related  to them it shouldn't be an issue and I'm want to   make a motion to approve cup 2016-04 amended  with conditions as presented in the staff I   just wanted to say one thing before we move to  that I was here too when we approved this and  

with everything that I'm seeing closing down I'm  so happy to see a business that is growing and   doing well so that that makes me happy and feel  good so congratulations to you guys now Austin   my apologies for not looking around so I move to  approve as presented excellent we have a motion   do we have a second second all right we have a  second from commissioner vashan uh let's move   ahead to a roll call vote please all right  commissioner Austin yes Brown yes Rose yes   Sheffer yes sheath yes Lani yes chair STA and  yes all right with that the motion carries all   right congratulations and chair if I may just  like to read the appeal language and that is   um that decisions of the Planning Commission  may be appealed to the city council if filed   in writing to the city clerk within 10 days and  appeal fees do apply thank you thank you very   much all right with that the public hearing  portion of tonight's meeting is finished and   we will move on to administrative reports of  which we have one A1 which is a request uh GPC 202-20 one but um so 02 to determin conformance  with the general plan and sqa applicability for   an acquisition of property by the city  of Monrovia applicant and I believe we   have uh planning division manager John  Mayer on deck for the staff report so   go ahead thank you chair and good evening good  evening Commissioners um yes I'm here to present   the general plan Conformity finding for the  city's proposed acquisition of the Anderson  

House museum at 215 East Lime Avenue and just  for reference I'm on the title page of the   slides show here about to go to slide two I'll  give you some background um the Anderson House   museum is a designated Historic Landmark number  149 and one of monov his earliest Sur surviving   homes built in 1886 it represents the city's  early residential development and provides a   tangible connection to monrovia's past slide three  the Monrovia Historical Society uh currently owns   and operates the museum and since 1979 it has  served as an important historical and educational   resource offering the community a glimpse  into life in morovia in the past um however   the Historical Society has struggled to keep up  with the Museum's long-term maintenance needs   next slide several critical repairs are needed  in order to ensure the long-term preservation   of the structure including a New Foundation  um the house currently sits on the ground and   needs a stabilization uh plaster and wallpaper  replacement due to age and wear upgrades to   plumbing and electrical systems to bring them  to Modern standards Ada access improvements   to ensure accessibility for all visitors and  without these repairs the buildings can will   continue to decline making preservation efforts  essential next slide on February 18th 2025 the   city council unanimously approved the acquisition  of the Anderson House Museum just to ensure its   long-term preservation there were two options  considered one was relocation to re recreation   park this was rejected due to the high cost and  the environmental concerns uh the second option   was a preservation on site which was approved  by the council and seen as the most feasible   and beneficial option slide six so the decision  to preserve the Anderson house in its original  

location uh was based on uh three key factors  maintenance historic uh maintaining the historic   Integrity keeping the home in its original setting  near City Hall and Oldtown Monrovia preserves its   historic context avoiding relocation costs moving  the house would have been an expensive and could   have caused structural damage and this option  also ensures Contin Ed public access the museum   will remain open for Community engagement  and education next slide so the uh planning   commission's role in all this is uh now that  the city council has approved the acquisition   the planning commission's role is to review  the transaction for General plan Conformity as   required under California government code section  65402 this review ensures that the acquisition   aligns with the city's land use policies and  preservation goals before proceeding next slide the property is designated public quasi  public pqp in the general plan the Des   this designation is intended for public and  Community serving institutions such as museums   government facilities and educational spaces and  the acquisition the acquisition aligns with Goal   number nine of the land use element preserving  historical residences and neighborhood character   next slide please architecturally uh the the  Anderson house is a stick style Victorian home   featuring uh intricate wood details decorative  Eaves and period appropriate interiors and also   um historically it's also historically significant  do it through its association with John Anderson   and early monobia setler who played a role in  the city's development next slide community of   benefits Beyond its architecture the museum  serves as a long-standing historical and   educational resource hosting school programs  Community tours and historical events with   this acquisition the city will ensure that the  museum remains an active and valuable part of  

manova's cultural heritage next slide as part  of this acquisition the city of Monrovia will   assume full ownership of the Anderson House  Museum and be responsible for its maintenance   preservation and long-term care however the uh  the minovia Historical Society will continue to   play a key role in operating by giving tours  acting as dosant and maintaining the period   displays within the home this partnership will  ensure that the home remains accessible to the   public while benefiting from the city's  stewardship next slide this acquisition   qualifies for seqo exemption specifically class  25 covers the acquisition of historic resources   for preservation purposes in class 31 this covers  the rehabilitation or maintenance in compliance   with the Secretary of the Interior standards  for preservations these exemptions mean that   no further environmental review is required  finally based on these findings uh presented   staff recommends that the Planning Commission  find that the acquisition in Anderson House Museum   conforms to the movia general plan this concludes  my report I'm happy to answer any questions of the commission thank you thank you very much John uh  question commissioner Rose I um yeah just a I'm   I'm just curious who owns the home now do we it's  it is owned by the the minovia Historical Society   Okay so we kind of purchasing it from ourselves  this the the I guess I just don't the group is   donating the property to the city so that it  can take care of it oh okay they're a separate   entity not part of the so when so when we say  purchase no it's not really a purchase they're   just turning it over to us okay that's where  I was a little confused yeah thank are there   other I think I kind of asked this at the last  meeting when we were talking about uh another  

property acquisition are there other examples  uh where the city has acquired a property for   historic preservation reasons and taking on the  upkeep and maintenance and whatnot I believe it's   this is done in a similar way as the Historic  Museum at recreation park so it's going to be   maint owned and maintain and operate in the same  way so in that case the city owns that property   the Historical Museum and and foots the bills  for rehab and maintenance maintenance and upkeep   of that that's right facility as well okay other  questions commissioner auson so is the acquisition   similar to like the property acquisition at  the pocket park or the small park behind the   Chick-fil-A Starbucks is that a similar type of  acquisition where they give the land over and   we acquire it and put it in the city's name  that's my understanding yeah okay thank you other other questions from members of the commission all right uh just a point of  clarification um should we open this up   for uh public comment yes we should very good  all right so uh seeing no other questions from   the commission um this is the time and place  for public input regarding ar1 and we'll accept   testimony uh persons in favor persons opposed and  then the app no there is no applicant uh it's the   city the city will have a chance to to respond  um uh do we have anybody wishing to speak in favor seeing no one do we have anybody opposed no need for any rebuttal  have any other questions come into  

our minds in the meantime so can I  ask so the purpose of our review is   just to determine whether it conforms  to the general plan right that's it yes okay um yeah maybe just another comment to um  commissioner Brown and Commissioners Rose you   weren't here at the last meeting but we did talk  quite a bit about historical preservation and how   that fits in with the goals of the general  plan so it was some discussion that we had   at the last meeting but you're welcome to ask  any other questions of staff that you might have all right so seeing no other questions no comments  no other debate uh I'll entertain a motion if   we have one I can move that uh we um find out  the proposed acquisition of real property is   in Conformity with the general plan  as presented in the staff report so   I move to approve second all right we have a  motion a second please let's take a roll call vote commissioner Austin yes Brown yes Rose yes  Sheffer yes Chief yes bashani yes chura yes all   right with that the motion carries all right uh  that completes our administrative report section   and I think we can move on to the community  development director report uh yes thank you   chair um thank you guys for being here this  evening I have a very short report I wanted to   follow up first and foremost on the packet that we  distributed at the last meeting which was the uh   draft environmental document for the property  located at 347 um Highland place that's the  

the subdivision for the proposed three lot um new  units um the public review period for that project   is still occurring the last day is actually Monday  March 17th so we'd like to announce that at the   commission um with with the the P at the closing  of the public um input section session uh staff   takes in all the public comments and we will be  producing the city will be producing a response   to comments before that document and project goes  before the commission so I do anticipate it's will   be several months maybe one to two to three months  before it comes to the commission but the project   will be noticed before it comes to the commission  and that's important to note as well and then   lastly just I wanted to give the commission an  update regarding our um the effort involving   the potential inclusionary housing ordinance  the city council has been actively studying   this topic um thinking about um where it  should the ordinance should be applied   um what the trigger should um be for the the  provisions um the city council conducted their   last study session last week on March 4th and  um recommended directed staff actually to begin   the public hearing process so staff anticipates um  having that ordinance before the commission at the   April 9th meeting now there's a lot of information  to for the commission to digest and So within the   next um day or two I will be um sending you the  materials that are posted on the city's public   website for your review um and we'll work through  this together okay um ju just a question on that   so the Planning Commission hasn't been directly  involved in those particular study sessions of  

course can watch them online um just a request  if you can summarize maybe some of the key ground   that was covered um there as part of the uh the  presentation Andor staff report when we consider   the ordinance absolutely absolutely I will do my  best to break it down in a very digestible format   I think there have been three study sessions right  that is correct a lot of ground covered yes sh   were those actually taped they were so we will  be I will be providing you with links to the   PowerPoint links to the videos any supplemental  documentation feas the feasibility analysis and   I hope you'll find that the last study session I  think was the most comprehensive and most um easy   to understand if you're looking to understand just  the concepts of inclusionary housing that would   that those were highlighted in the September 2024  study session I'll make sure I um we make that   very clear and you'll provide all those materials  to us ahead of time for absolutely great okay uh   thank you so much was that the end of your report  yes thank you thank you very much um all right any   other questions or comments from the commission or  reports from commission members or announcements all right seeing nothing uh I believe we can  proceed to adjourn uh our next regular meeting   is scheduled for April 9th uh of 2025  uh this meeting is now adjourned at 8:13

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