Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

I'd like to open the planning commission meeting for December 19. We first item would be the the roll call, I believe. Present. Here. Here.

It's a little hard to hear you. Thank

you. Alex and Rachel will be absent this evening.

Okay. Okay. Next would be the approval of minutes. Think we have what? One or two sets of minutes to approve. Just one set of minutes, commissioners. There

were two, I think. Are there two? Two sets. Two sets. October 17.

Can we move to approve both at the same time, or do they need to be individual?

You can move to approve both and then vote individually. Yes.

I will move to approve both sets of minutes that were in our packet. I don't have the dates. Oh, I will.

10/17/2024 and 11/07/2024.

Thank you.

I'll second.

Okay. It's been moved and seconded to approve the meeting minutes. All in favor?

Aye. Motion

carries. Next item on the agenda is the consent calendar. I don't believe we have any consent items.

There are no consent items.

So the next is the Brown Act. This is an opportunity for anyone wishing to address the commission on an item not on the agenda to do so. We can't take any action on it, but we can certainly receive your comments and pass them on to staff if need be. So do we have anyone wishing to address the commission under the Brown Act?

We do. Cordell would like to address the commission regarding the Brown Act.

Hey, Cordell.

So good evening, chair Harrison. Commissioners, I am Cordell Handler, and I am a Richmond resident. So once again, I will remind the planning commission to direct staff to to let the applicants tell us what about their projects because I've been getting a lot of concerns from the neighborhood councils and they're saying, why didn't the applicant didn't come to us? And I said I have said it a number of times in my communications. I said that applicants must talk to the Neighborhood Council.

For example, if you recall when I had mentioned about the Aspire Making Waves expansion, the Fairmead Hilltop Neighborhood Council, they were not aware of the project. They weren't aware of it. And I'm like and I communicate with them and they were like, they didn't come to us. And I'm like, that to me, that's just like bad timing because all the applicant had to do was, like, communicate with the neighborhood council, you know, like, get their feedback because one of the concerns that was mentioned was about the traffic because if you go up, like, on Robert Miller Driveline on any given afternoon, presto, traffic would be congested. And it's like it's getting worse.

So in the future that that anytime when projects are being considered before it comes to either planning commission or design review board, the applicant must talk to neighbor councils and, you know, get our input. So that's just for food for thought.

Thank you. Anyone else wishing to address the public under Brown Act? Is there anyone online?

Is there anyone online who'd like to address the commission regarding the Brown Act? Please do so by raising your hand. Seeing none.

Okay. Then we'll move on to the new business item number one, the Keller Beach sanitary sewer relief application. Can I have a staff report, please?

Yes. Thank you, and good evening, planning commissioners. My name's Matt Newbomber, recently hired senior planner. I've been here for about eight months. And it's my pleasure to present this item before the commission tonight. This is for the Keller Beach Sanitary Sewer Relief Application. Specifically it's a public hearing to consider a relief request to connect a new single family dwelling to the Keller Beach Sanitary Sewer Line per section eight of ordinance number three dash 23. Alright, so before launching into the presentation I just wanted to provide a quick overview of what will be covered. So I'm going to go and provide some background information on a few different subject matters. I'm going to provide a very high level overview of the Keller Beach sanitary sewer line.

Also provide some background information on the various ordinances that have been adopted by the city council over the past three years that established the moratorium that's currently in place. Also provide some background information on the single family dwelling that was approved by the historic preservation commission. I'll then follow that up with and highlight how the project qualifies for the relief request And that will be followed by staff analysis and a thorough overview of the findings that have to be made to support this request. And of course we'll follow that up with a formal staff recommendation. All right.

So regarding the Keller Beach sanitary sewer line, so there is an image here. And I do apologize. This is the same image that was in the staff report. It is a bit blurry. But it does this is the best image I could show that shows the location of the actual sewer line. And if you're looking at this image, there's a red line that signifies the location of the Keller Beach sewer line. This was constructed in 1959. It's approximately 5,400 linear feet in total length. It's located off Keller Beach within the San Francisco Bay. And it's submerged during average tides.

Approximately two ninety parcels are connected to this existing sewer line. Back in November 2021, the city actually received a commission study and assessment on the Keller Beach system. The study indicated that the Keller Beach sanitary sewer line had reached the end of its useful design life. That study also indicated that vehicular access to the beach was challenging. Limited walkability was also mentioned within this assessment due to existing terrain and development of private property.

And restricted work periods due to ocean tides were all mentioned within this specific assessment report that all contribute to the limited sustainability of the sewer line. As a result, the city council adopted a total of four ordinances over the past three years establishing and extending a moratorium on the issuance of building permits requiring sewer connections to the Keller Beach sanitary sewer line. On your screen, you'll see a whole host of ordinances, four in total. I'm not going to go into detail into each one but I will go into a little bit more detail on ordinance number three twenty three. That's the fourth bullet point.

That's the ordinance that's currently in effect. So this specific ordinance was adopted by the city council on 04/04/2023, and it was an interim ordinance establishing a twenty two month and fifteen day extension of the urgency ordinance number two dash two three. This ordinance again is currently in effect until Tuesday 02/19/2025. Just give me one second. There is and the most important thing and and why we're here tonight is section eight of ordinance number o three dash two three states that any person who has applied for a permit from the city to construct a project requiring a Keller Beach sanitary sewer connection on or before 02/21/2023 may submit to the Planning Commission an application requesting relief from the moratorium currently in effect.

And that's why we are here tonight. The applicant does meet this criteria that I just mentioned. On screen, you'll see that the Historic Preservation Commission approved the single family home in 10/13/2020. Those entitlements are active and remain valid today. The applicant also submitted a building permit on 09/26/2022 and paid the associated building permit plan check fees on January 7 01/17/2023 so they do qualify for the relief request.

Staff has verified that only two properties meet the requirements outlined in section eight of ordinance number o three dash two three in order to pursue relief from the current moratorium. We did coordinate directly with the deputy director of public works. That's Robert Armijo. And Robert indicated that due to the fact that there's only two single family homes that actually qualify for this relief request, that it would have a negligible impact. Therefore, the deputy director of public work has determined that the Keller Beach sanitary sewer line would have the capacity to accommodate the new sewer connection without affecting stability or service to existing users.

The deputy director's findings are included as an attachment to the staff report. There's a two page memo and that's attachment two to your staff report. There are specific findings that need to be made in order for the Planning Commission Commission to approve this relief request. And those findings are summarized in Section eight of Ordinance three-twenty three. Finding number one talks about the applicant's reasonable investment backed expectation.

In this particular case, the applicant has invested over $50,000 in professional services. And those include a variety of services, architectural engineering services, geotechnical services, city permit fees, all of which add up over time. The money invested reflects the applicant's commitment to develop a single family dwelling at the subject site. So we find that finding number one can be made. Finding number two talks about the applicant's reasonable economic use of the subject property.

In this particular case the subject site is located in the RL2 zoning district. Single family dwellings are an allowed and permitted use within the RL2 zoning district. In fact, I previously mentioned that the Historic Preservation Commission approved that permit back in, I believe, 2020. So granting the relief request would allow the applicant to construct a new single family home on the vacant lot, thereby allowing them to enjoy reasonable economic use of the subject property. Finding number three talks about the timing and impact of adding the Keller Beach sanitary sewer connection.

And staff also finds that we can make this particular finding. The applicant anticipates beginning construction in April 2025. That construction is anticipated to last approximately for twenty four months. The deputy director of public work has again evaluated the connection and determined that the addition of one single family dwelling to the Keller Beach sanitary sewer line would have a negligible impact on the existing sewer system. Therefore, we feel like this finding can't be made.

And lastly, the last finding, finding number four is if the impacts to the proposed project are reasonable under the circumstances. As noted, deputy director of the public works determined that the addition of this single family home would have a negligible impact. Therefore, the Keller Beach sanitary sewer has the ability and capacity to accommodate this limited new connection without affecting stability and service to the existing users. So with that, staff would recommend that the Planning Commission adopt resolution number 20Four-eleven approving the proposed relief request subject to conditions. I would like to note that the applicant, Mr.

Steven Parker, is in attendance tonight and is prepared to address the Planning Commission. We also do have Robert Armijo who is participating via Zoom if there's any technical questions regarding the Keller Beach sanitary sewer line. One last thing I forgot to mention within this PowerPoint presentation is that we did send a public notice to all property owners within 300 feet. I received one phone call from an interested member of the public just looking to learn more about what was being proposed. They did not object the project that's going before the committee tonight.

Additionally, we did notify the Point Richmond Neighborhood Council we did not receive any feedback. So this concludes the staff presentation. I'd be happy to answer any clarifying questions that you may have. Thank you.

Thank you. Any questions for staff? I

have one. Did you say they thought it would take twenty four months to complete construction? Correct.

Correct. And

the applicant just wanted to make sure I heard that correctly.

Yeah. That was accurate. Twenty four months.

I'll open the public hearing if the applicant wishes to address the commission. If not, that's fine too. It's up to you. Turn your mic on. You need to turn your mic on.

Again, good evening, and I'm glad that we have a quorum here with the Planning Commission. Thank you for being here. And thank you to the planning staff. This has been a very fun process. It's been filled with lots of design ideas. And I finally started my project with intention of housing a younger family. I bought this ten years ago. So now it's just me. So I've downsized the house a little bit. My neighbors have all been very supportive.

They would like to see that my grass gets replaced with a house. So I've got support from my next door neighbors, my neighbors across the street, and then also several other neighbors who have been very supportive in their conversations with me. So I want to also thank the planning staff for working really hard to help me get to this place to get my approval. And I had some help with this by an attorney who is not here, but I'll say thank you, Richard. And so I'm very appreciative of being able to start construction.

It will not be a twenty four month construction bill. Yeah. But it'll ideally start sometime when we have a dry season, which may be March or April of next year and should wrap up in about ten months. Any questions at all?

Does anybody have a question for the applicant? Thank you very much.

Alright. Thank you. Appreciate it.

Is there anyone else wishing to address the planning commission on this item? No one in the audience. Is there anyone online?

We've got one, individual who's raised their hand to address the commission. I will allow them to speak now. You will have up to three minutes.

Good evening, Planning Commission. I'm signing in from a state of California device not representing the state, but coming here with knowledge, technical knowledge, and questions about the project. So I'm a new neighbor in the vicinity of the subject site, and I have concerns about traffic planning, storm water drainage, creep, and seismic concerns of separation distances between the proposed building and existing buildings. So I'm wondering if that's part of this review at all.

No. We're strictly addressing whether or not the property can be connected to the sewer system through a variation from the ordinances controlling that. So we're not looking at the actual building project itself.

Oh, will those considerations be taken into account in future council hearings?

Those hi. This is Avery Stark, acting planning, manager. Those items were all considered as a part of the deliberation and the approval of the project, when it was reviewed and considered by the HPC and subsequently the DRB. And so those matters and concerns regarding the architectural design issues of soil erosion and design have all been considered and evaluated by planning staff and technical staff to confirm that they will be feasible to move forward in producing construction plans, which they have already done and submitted to the building department for review and design approval.

Thanks for that. And is there a time period or grace period with in which new residences can review those documents and oppose the project at all?

That time period had passed when that application had been heard by the, HPC back, in 02/2020. So that time period has passed. But you are certainly welcome to view the documents via a public records request, which can be made by the city clerk's office.

Okay. Thank you for that information.

You're welcome.

My time's almost up. Good evening.

Thank you. Do we have anyone else wishing to address the commission on this item? Seeing no one, then I'll close the public hearing and bring it back to the commission for possible action.

I'll make a comment and commend the staff for a really straightforward and clear depiction of the issues. And also, I really appreciate the clear presentation of the findings. I don't have any questions or comments other than that.

Thank you very much. Is somebody willing to make a

motion? I

can make a motion. So I'm at a conclusion. Oh, thank you. So I would like to make the motion that the Planning Commission approve the planning application number PLN24273 subject to recommended conditions of approval in the resolution, and that we allow this applicant to connect to the Keller Beach Sanitary Sewer System.

I second.

Okay. There's no further discussion among the commissioners. Do we need a roll call vote on this? Or okay. Could I have a roll call vote, please?

Chair Harrison? Yes. Vice chair Burbaker? Yes. And secretary Timmins?

Yes.

Okay, the item passes. Best of luck with your project. Okay, next on the agenda is holdover item number two, the CPSA emergency housing. This item is strictly for action by the commission to take action on the resolution of denial. It's really not a public hearing at this point.

So I intend to open the public hearing. The applicants, should this denial go forward, the applicants can appeal this to the city council. And I need to make that appeal by 01/02/2025. It's actually the fastest route for getting this thing resolved one way or another. So I'm open to the commission wishes to make any further discussion. If not, we can take action on this item, which would be to adopt this resolution. Maybe

I think I'd just like to make a comment that this is the third hearing, I believe. Fourth. Fourth. Fourth hearing for this project. It's been a difficult project to hear and a lot of comments and passion on both sides of the project. I will say that, again, the staff agenda report is well put together. The findings, I think, are conclusive. And I think it's a good job of presenting all the issues. So thank you for that, staff.

Yeah. Challenge has always been getting the applicant and the neighborhood to really dialogue with one another. And I'm hoping that happens in the near future so that this project can be resolved one way or the other. At this point, I think we'll just take action on the item. Do I have a motion to adopt the resolution? Just adopt this resolution 2406.

So I move we adopt resolution number 2406, denying the planning application PLN twenty three three sixty.

Is there a second? Second. Okay. We have a motion and second. No further discussion needed, I think, at the commission. Can I have a roll call vote, please?

Chair Harrison?

Yes.

Vice Chair Burbaker? Yes. Secretary Timmins?

Yes. Thank

you. And, again, the applicant, or anyone can appeal this decision by the Planning Commission to the city council. It needs to be done within ten calendar days. However, with the holidays that fall in this period, the final date for filing an appeal with the city city clerk's office is January 2. And if you need further clarification on that, perhaps staff could help you clarify if you seek to appeal this to the city council.

Okay. That takes us to comments from the commission or staff? Any comments from staff?

Again, Matt has gone home. But you've met Matt Neubauer, I think, maybe once prior. But he's our senior planner that's been with the city for about nine months. And I'd also like to introduce you to Nino and Nora, who are our new recently hired planning technicians. They have been with us now for, Nora, for three weeks.

Almost

three weeks. And Nino for, it was a month, a couple days ago.

Great. Welcome to the city. Welcome aboard. Yeah.

Thank you. And then our senior planner, Michelle Morris, who will be coming to us from Oakland, be starting with us on January 6. And our planning division will oversee long range advanced planning ordinance updates.

Sorry. Could you repeat that?

We

we will receive an update for long range planning?

Yeah. So our new senior planner, Michelle Morris, will begin with us January 6, and she will begin to oversee long range planning, advanced planning. And so she'll begin I'll introduce her in the new year to you all as well.

Yeah. Would be interesting. We've been looking at that specific plan for the Hilltop area and there was an interesting article in the paper about something being approved to go in there, which I would be curious her input or her oversight insight on that.

Yes. The department does plan to propose a memo to provide to the public regarding the updates to the Hilltop specific plan in the beginning Is of the new

it possible to ask for a staff update to the commission on the status of Hilltop and also include that item in it? It would be excellent if you could figure out a way to make a presentation. I think we're all quite interested in what's happening there. And to make sure that there's no conflict and I understand there's probably not but no conflict with the plans that have been developed or are being developed for the long range that this new effort is not going to impede that in any way.

Yes, I can certainly bring this item back. We could look at maybe the second meeting of January, which would be for the '20

That'd be great.

Second, just as an update and discussion. And, yes, there is an application that is in for 46 townhomes spread across five buildings off Garrity Way, which is right adjacent to the recent hotel that this body approved, I believe, earlier this year. So, yes, the the goal would be to yes. We can certainly discuss those items and their alignment with the with the proposed plan.

Great. An update on that would be very Okay, I don't think there's anything else on the agenda. Happy holidays to everyone and we'll see you in the first of the year. Thank you all.

Thank you, commissioner.