Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

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All you I got to go. Welcome to the January 22nd Wall Creek Planning Commission meeting. Uh would you call the role? Yes. Uh, Commissioner Moran here. Commissioner Count here. Commissioner Strongman here. Commissioner Klopp here. Chair Anderson here. Commissioners Quac and Vice Chair Knighting both phoned in that they will not be attending tonight. Thank you. So, we have a quorum. Even better. Uh, do we have anything on the consent calendar?

Uh, staff has nothing to recommend to move to the st to consent. Uh in that case we'll move on to item three which is public communications. Uh there are two chances that you have to speak a member of the public and one is uh at the hearing for any particular item you get to speak at each of those. The second one is if there is something you wish to speak on that is not on the agenda but is within our jurisdiction you can speak at this time. Uh [clears throat] and if so I just come to the podium microphone. If no one wants to do that then we will move on. Uh disclosure of exarty communications. Anybody have any communications to disclose? All right. Moving right along then uh get to the first public hearing and this is uh Pacifica Veterinary Hospital um for conditionally use permit. We have a staff report on that. We do have a staff report and perhaps some visual aids. There we go. Okay. So, good evening planning commissioners. My name is Gerardo Victoria, assistant planner, community development. The project before you today is the Pacific Vet Hospital located at 1079 Boulevard Way. Just some site context for you. Here, hold on. Here is Boulevard right here. This is Boulevard Circle. The tenant space with the star. That's where the business will be located. The adjacent business is an automotive shop. The site is surrounded by retail at this

location, retail across the street, and a chiropractic and salon offices or businesses located at this location. The general plan designation is general retail. The zoning is community commercial. Pet hospital uses are permitted with approval of a conditional use permit. So, the business plan calls for 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Thursday. They will be closed Friday, Saturday and Sundays. Uh the layout are uh MRI rooms, equipment rooms, control rooms, and offices. No overnight boarding of animals are allowed at this location. No walk-ins are allowed. The facility is entirely enclosed and two to three hospital staff will be at the location during hours of operation. So this is the site plan. So, the tenant will be located at this right here. It's about 5,000 square feet of tenant space. Uh, this is the adjacent business, the automotive shop. Over 30 parking stars are located here and north over here. Uh, the space is building an enclosure, a six-foot enclosure for the chiller right here. And it is located right here. the floor plan. They enter through here. This is where the uh MRI is located here. In this room right here, you have the control room and equipment room located here. The chiller located on the exterior of the building is located here. The arrow that's pointing diagonally is because of the picture over here was taken a little bit in a diagonal fashion. So, this is the location of the chiller right here. Excuse me. The enclosure is going to be located here.

So the standard conditional use permit findings do apply as outlined in the draft resolution that have that has been provided to you. Staff recommends move to adopt a secret determination 15301 existing facilities and approve the conditional use permit based on the findings outlined in the draft resolution to allow the Pacific Vet Hospital at 1079 Boulevard Way. I am available for any questions or comments. The applicant Kira Connory is also available for any questions or concerns or comments. Questions for staff. Mr. Strongman. uh what is going on with the second floor of that building?

The second floor has been subleasased to the automotive uh business as an office for them. Okay, thank you. And I noticed that there is street parking, but when I drove past it the other day, the parking was full. Yes. Yes. So, go ahead.

No, that's fine. Okay. And I question is okay as long as they have I guess three or four spaces reserved for their employees and I guess the van it should be okay. Correct. So they did submit a parking study that showed that for their two to three employees at a time they need two to three stalls plus one additional for the shuttle and they are adequately parked. Um, the space or excuse me, the use allows one parking stall per 250 square ft of rentable floor area, but because the previous use had the same parking requirement, they they're not uh they don't need to show additional parking stalls.

Will they be marking those spaces specifically for their for the the vet hospital? Correct. As the parking analysis stated, uh they will have to Note those. Thank you. Questions? Um, just a follow-up question to that. I thought I read that the they they had seven parking spaces that were allocated to them. Yes. Uh, total seven to them and they're outlined here, I believe, in green right here. The the space shares 14 with the auto body shop and then the rest are all for the auto body shop. But uh because of the parking analysis, they're only required to have uh four total, but they're providing seven. So

So if they provide seven that are you can only park there if you're using the hospital, then that's fewer parking for everybody else. And the parking lot's currently been full. I I I don't think it's going to be I I don't think the parking will be assigned. It's just they've met the parking requirement and and I see. Okay. Gerard didn't mention it, but the there's there's customers do not go to the site. This is an annex from the hospital in Lafayette. So, just the pet owners are will not be here. So, Gotcha. It's just the staff and the van. Okay. Thank you. Any questions? Commissioner Moran,

forgive my thank you. Forgive my ignorance about the MRI chillers, but is it like a air conditioning unit that I'm kind You know what I mean? Like outside, right? Makes noise. Um, the applicant's here. She can shed light on that burn. Can you hear me from here? No. [laughter] Yes. Uh, the chiller is like a heat pump or an air conditioning unit. So, it it has a fan that helps cool the MRI machine itself. Um, so that runs outside 24/7. Um, yeah. So, but very similar to an air conditioner. Oh, I'm sorry. My name is Kira Connory. I'm an architect with MD Architects.

Thank you. Any other questions of staff? Okay. Um that completed your staff report. Yes. Right. Then I will invite you actually to stay there if you wish. Um you or anyone else from your group can make a 10-minute presentation if you wish to add to uh what's been said. Uh I don't have a presentation to add to Gerardos today. I just wanted to be here to thank the commission for considering the project and to answer any questions that that anyone might have. Um let me let me start that then. Yeah. Um I'm curious about the first floor. Um that the

the space aside from the uh what's proposed there the rest of the space is not occupied now. Is that correct? Correct. they are uh leasing the space with the intent of just using it for the MRI scanner and the support spaces, the control room and the equipment room um as a supplement to the services that they have at their main hospital. Okay. So, so if I'm if I'm an employee bringing Phto in to get get uh scanned, um I would come in through the through the entrance, the red there, and then go around and up to the left into the small office space and

correct. Yeah, you sort of uh you go up to the control room door and you would pass through the control room before going into the scan room. So what I'm curious about is um if that other tenant space is occupied later on um will there be that there would have to be some changes made or some restrictions on um or some easements [laughter] I guess across that space to to be able to continue to get animals across there.

Uh it's all a single tenant space. Uh so the the lease agreement uh with the landlord is for this and the second floor as a single leased space. So uh they wouldn't they wouldn't use part of the first floor for another purpose if if I'm understanding your question. So the veterinary hospital is in fact leasing the entire both floors. They are currently leasing both floors. So they have complete control over who might Yes. be occupying that space and what they might be doing. Yes. And whether they like animals.

Yeah. They're um they're subleasasing one office room on the second floor to the neighboring auto shop to for their sort of secretarial uses. Um but uh Pacific Veterinary leases both floors from the landlord. Yeah. Do you know if there's any, you know, plan? Is it just be simple renting to for for office space or I don't think they have any uh other plans to subleasase anything to anyone else. I think the auto shop sub lease was just a matter of neighborly convenience. Okay. Because they had the space available and they needed some extra space. Yeah.

Okay. Anyone else questions? Commissioner Klopp. Hi, thank you for coming. Um and I I'm um uh wondering if you're able to answer this question. Um it relates to safety. Uh so MRI machines are extremely high risk. I'm a nurse healthcare person. Um, and so I am making an assumption, but I just want to validate it,

that they have a machine in a trailer on site uh in Lafayette right now and it's being moved to this location or a a device will be placed in this location. So, they already know how to work with an MRI, but will the training process and the safety process uh be consistent and be in place?

Yes. Um they no longer currently have the trailer. They they had the trailer previously. It was removed and uh the lease on it was ended. So it the trailer is no longer in the equation, but they are familiar with uh general MRI safety protocols as a business and will be observing those and training staff as needed for the the new machine that'll be going into this space. Yeah. One more question. Strongman. Um, do you know how many um MRIs they'll perform per day? Uh, that I do not know. I could certainly find out from the business owner if if that's of interest to the committee.

I I guess I'm looking at how many trips between this place and Lafayette will take place per day. Um, I think it varies from what I've heard so far from their general business plan, but I don't have a specific number that I can share. Okay. Thank you. Is it um do do most veterinary hospitals I know you're the architect out there, but I'm perhaps you can tell me. Um do do most veterinary hospitals have MRI facilities?

No, it's less common for for veterinary. It's becoming a more common service. Um and so more businesses are looking to add them or to create practices that have them. um they they do bring in a lot of money for the the practices. So, it's a it's a draw in that sense, but they are, you know, very serious, expensive pieces of equipment to purchase and maintain.

Would there be any indication that that uh it might be helpful to the veterinarians around the area um to be able to to use this facility or to to um you know, bring their animals from other veterinary hospitals? Oh. Um I don't know. Uh that hasn't come up in our conversations about the business plan with the client, but um it seems like a possibility, but not necessarily a specific intent with this project.

Okay. uh just to to staff would if that if that were to be the case where they decided there was a demand for you know bringing you know animals from other hospitals um would there be an additional approvals or would be required to deal with that? I I don't think so. It would just be um and in fact I I would market that if it was me. Um just to provide that service for different veterinary clinics around. Okay. I I we don't think it would change anything that planning staff would do. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? All right. All right. Very much. Thank you.

And uh now [clears throat] I'll ask for any public comment on this matter. anybody in the the few people out there representing the public want to come and speak that's fine if not and I don't see any movement uh we'll pass on and um uh the applicant of course has five minutes to respond to the comments that were not made but um you're willing to pass that on we'll just get on bring it back to the close the public hearing and bring it back to the commission Commissioner Count.

Uh, I'm ready to make a motion. Uh, Mr. Chair, I move that uh we approve um the resolution for the conditional use permit application number Y 2569 um and finding it exempt from SQA as well. Second. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion about the motion? If not, would you call the role? Okay. Commissioner Count, yes. Commissioner Strongman, yes. Commissioner Moran, yes. Commissioner Klopp, yes. Chair Anderson, yes. Motion carries.

Thank you. And uh we will move on to the next item, which is um Stereo 41 conditional use permit for alcohol sales and service past 11 p.m. Staff report. Thank you. Good evening, commissioners or comm Good evening, chair, members of the commission. Uh, Simmergill, senior planner with the city, and I apologize. I'm getting over a cold, so if I if I need to repeat anything, please let me know. Um, so tonight before you is a conditional use permit uh for Stereo 41. They're requesting uh to extend their alcohol hours. and the applicant and owner representing the project, uh, Victor is here tonight. And from the city, we have Lieutenant Drew Olsen, uh, with the Walnut Creek Police Department, um, and of course myself to answer any questions you may have after this presentation. And just to quickly orient you with the site, uh, Stereo 41 is located at the corner of, um, I guess I'll try using this as well, a commercial and Bonanza. And this is the building right there. Um it is a 3,000q ft² building and it is surrounded by uh similar commercial retail restaurant type uses. A site is zoned pedestrian retail. Um, restaurants are permitted by right in this zone and a conditional use permit is required um as the request is to serve alcohol beyond uh 11 p.m. Uh just to quickly give you a little background uh the project or the restaurant is currently operating under a administrative use permit which does allow the restaurant to serve alcohol till 11:00 p.m. 7 days a week. And uh this was approved um in 2025. And then in 2024 prior to that um the applicant

has submitted a design review uh essentially to remodel and um add on some new areas to that existing space. Uh so by the time everything was completed, the business didn't really start operating till November 13th of 2025. And uh currently Stereo41 is operating as a full-ervice restaurant under a type 47 alcohol business license which does allow um beer, wine, and distilled spirits. And uh the hours of operation are 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. 7 days a week. Alcohol is served both in the indoor and outdoor dining areas of the restaurant. And the um the outdoor dining permit does limit alcohol service until 11:00 p.m. uh 7 days a week. So um that the outdoor dining area or alcohol service in that area is not affected by this use permit and they'll stay in place as is. And the uh current security measures in place uh requires a certification and training of all employees under the RBS program. And there is a uh manager on site to really oversee all operations um 7 days a week. And there are security cameras installed throughout the restaurant as well. So tonight uh the applicant is requesting to extend the alcohol hours for Friday, Saturdays only. Uh so the sales and service uh will be till 12:30 which is essentially a last call uh letting uh customers know that there will be no alcohol service beyond 12:30 um a.m. And then uh the consumption would be allowed till 1:00 a.m. And here's just um a closer look at the site photos and floor plan. Um so as mentioned earlier the um cup tonight um is only for the indoor dining area. So the request to extend alcohol hours were

only applied to the um sorry the indoor dining area and um the photos you hear see here is the top is the entrance of the building and the photo here is um taken from commercial lane. This is essentially the outdoor dining area behind. If you go in through this door here and I believe you can also access the outdoor dining area from the entrance to the left side. And before you tonight are these uh findings, conditional use permit findings uh that will need to be made in order to approve this project. And here are additional conditional u um alcohol findings that are required to be made. And all of these findings are addressed and outlined in your draft resolution attachment one. And I'm happy to go over any of them or elaborate if needed. So, uh, tonight staff does recommend that the planning commission moved to adopt the draft resolution approving the conditional use permit allowing the alcohol sales and service till 12:30 a.m. and consumption of alcohol till 1:00 a.m. on Friday and Saturdays only. And with that, I do conclude my presentation, but happy to answer any questions.

Questions for staff? Commissioner CL. Oh, I'm still on. Sorry. [clears throat] Um, thank you for the presentation. Uh, hope you're feeling better soon. Thank you. Um, the one question I had or or comment I had was uh I appreciated the concept of limiting this hour extension to just Friday and Saturday. If I reme remember correctly, there's a provision that after a year of performing well on the Friday Saturday, it can be expanded to other days of the week by an action of just the chief of police and the community development director. Am I right in That's correct. And that's actually condition number four. Um, and it's on page five of attachment one.

Perfect. Um just to follow up on that the if that if that provision were not in there then after a year [clears throat] um in order to do that they would have to come back to the commission. Is that correct? That is correct. and typically deputizing the development director and the police chief to

typically that is the process that we follow. But given that there have been no calls to service um in the last few months uh for this business and they have other business the owner has other businesses operating in Walnut Creek that have not received any calls for service. Um we've provided this condition obviously um after further review at that time one year from today we we can then make that call. So just trying to streamline the process if we can for businesses that are in good operations. Thank you questions. Commissioner K.

Um I appreciate uh that there are business owners of multiple businesses that that have such a an excellent track record um and that that was taken into account um with this plan. Can you just for the purposes of the public to understand talk about what it looks like if there are any issues um over the coming year after if this is approved? So, this is operating under if this conditional use permit is approved tonight, it would operate allowing the alcohol extended hours only on Friday and Saturdays. And of course, one year from this, if they were to extend the hours of operation, um, they would need to come into the city offices, submit an updated operating plan, and at that time, the Walnut Creek Police Department, which I can also let the lieutenant elaborate if needed, but they will review that and check the records to see if there's any calls for service or there's been any activity that would um require either a obviously a rejection of that condition or um having them come before this commission.

Other questions? Thank you. Um I don't know if the uh police would like to give a quick presentation of what you've learned. No. Okay. They've been good citizens, I think. [laughter] Then I will uh uh let the is the applicant here. Victor. Victor, do you like to make a presentation or tell us anything? Can you come up?

I'll come. Thank you. Can you hear me? Yep. Okay. Um I I didn't come prepared with a presentation, but um just here to field any questions if you guys had any. and uh thank you for you know taking the uh the application for the CP and I I appreciate it. Name Victor. No, my name is Victor. Victor Gabin. [laughter] Good to meet you. Sorry. Um is the uh you see any difficulty in right now the outdoor dining and the indoor close at the same time? No. [clears throat] A situation where you're closing two hours earlier on the outdoor. Sure. um how that transition takes place.

So, right now, we close them both at the same time just because we're not open past 11 anyways. Um in the future, uh what we'll end up doing is just shutting that area down at, you know, 10:00 probably, which is normal dining clo that's like when our kitchen would uh technically close if we were open till 11 anyways. Um, and then moving all of our operations exclusively indoors at 11:00. So, so by the time 11 rolls around, there probably should be nobody there.

Most people don't want to be be outside. You know, we our restaurant has a uh full-time DJ as well. That's inside. So, no one wants to stand outside of the space anyways. So, very good. Any other questions? I do. Um, thanks for being here. Uh, I have yet to uh darken the doorway, but I'm looking forward to it. But can you just Is it Is it more of a restaurant? Is it a bar? Is it

Yeah. So, I the best way I can describe it is it's basically a restaurant with a really good sound system and a well-curated playlist. It's a restaurant. We have a bar. Um, our the majority of our business is the food sales. It's like 80% 70 or 80% of our business. So, you know, and with the addition of the late night hours, we will also have food until around midnight. So, I I see the split being, you know, still pretty heavily in in the favor of food.

Thank you. Yeah, appreciate it. Good. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Um, there any member of the public who wishes to speak on this matter? Seeing none, uh, bring it back to the commission. Any comments? [clears throat] No [snorts] comments whatsoever. Very chill group tonight. [laughter] Um, I guess, Mr. Chairman, I'll make for a motion. I'll make a motion.

Mr. I'd like to uh move the approval of the conditional use permit application number Y25087 stereo 41 extension of hours for alcohol sales service and consumption on Bonanza Street. Second. Okay. There's no further comments on the motion. Call for the roll. Are we ready? Commissioner Klopp, approve. Commissioner Strongman. Uh yes. Commissioner Moran. Yes. Commissioner Count. Yes. Have we missed anybody besides the chair? Chair Anderson.

Yes. Okay. Motion carries. Very good. Thank you very much. [clears throat] And uh Okay. Are there any commission considerations we should take note of? I I have a couple staff announcements. Okay.

Um if we want to get to that. Um we have an upcoming meeting where we'll have some bring some food. Uh it could be a long one. We we'll have Mitchell Town Homes. Um and we'll have the Porsche dealership and we'll also have a um potentially I think we're we're I think it's going to stay on the agenda, a mobile trailer over at the Children's Hospital. We recently approved and special use permit for one. They want to do another one. It's much smaller one, much smaller space. Uh, and also, thank you, Commissioner Ken. You brought a Today she she asked me about the League of Cities Planning Commission Academy.

Uh, it is March 11th through the 13th. It's at the Anaheim Sheridan. Uh, I know in past years that the city had budget to send commissioners, but um, oh, how time changes. Um, however, we are a a member of the League of Cities, which brings down the registration fee dramatically from 1,700 to 700. So, that's make if you do register, make sure you register as as a city commissioner. City won't creek. And that is all I have.

Uh, any other commission comments or uh announcements, reports? If not, then we go to the ever popular item seven, adjournment. Okay, we are adjourned until February 12th. Thank you all.

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