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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/14/2001 BAKERSFIELD Alan Tandy, City Manager Sue Benham Staff: John W. Stinson Mike Maggard AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT URBAN DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Meeting of Monday, May 14, 2001 1:00 p.m. City Manager's Office - City Hall 1. ROLL CALL Called to order: 1:04 p.m. Present: Councilmembers David Couch, Chair; Sue Benham; and Mike Maggard 2. ADOPT APRIL 2, 2001 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Adopted as submitted. 3. PUBLIC STATEMENTS 4. DEFERRED BUSINESS A. Site for High Speed Rail Station - Comments by Herman Ruddell Discussion and Committee direction to staff and/or recommendation Herman Ruddell stated the Downtown Business and Property Owners Association (DBA) Board met and are requesting, through the Urban Development Committee, the City join with the DBA in recommending three sites: Golden State Avenue near M and Q Streets, Truxtun Avenue near Union Avenue or S Street, and Seventh Standard (the Airport option). Jack LaRochelle expressed concerns with one point in the DBA's recommendation letter: "This recommendation is for on-the-main-line direct service, the highest and best level of service, and is made without site preference." He explained that the study by the Kern Transportation Foundation was much more open and showed an indirect type of service (Italian option), where the High-Speed Rail main line would more than likely be outside of metropolitan Bakersfield, and have a siting to come into Bakersfield. He expressed concerns with the DBA recommendation as it seems to preclude the downtown site at the Amtrak Station. Staff feels the study done by the Kern Transportation Foundation is adequate and it keeps options open. There are three sites identified and a letter sent to the High Speed Rail Authority indicated a downtown site was preferable. ~o,~,~ ~~ ~, ~, ~oo, F~L[ C~?¥ URBAN DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Monday, May 14, 2001 Page -2- Committee member Maggard has spoken with Assemblyman Dean Flores who seems to prefer a location at Minter Field. Politically it is very important for the City and County to unite on a preferred site and make that position known, or the State legislators may be making the decision for us. He expressed this issue should be on the agenda for the next Joint City/County meeting to list and prioritize the site options which serve this area best. It was discussed that the County has requested the joint meeting of the City and County be rescheduled for July 23rd and have a single item, URS Greiner Study, on the agenda. The City is hosting and staff will contact the County regarding the need to meet on the High Speed Rail site issue. B. Discussion and Committee recommendation on construction dust control in Brimhall Estates area The Development Streamlining Task Force has had two meetings, which were attended by interested parties and residents from the affected area. The Task Force is working to identify solutions to control construction dust. There are some constraints involving the regulatory authority of the Air Pollution Control Board, which has rules and regulations that preempt City regulation. Other cities are being contacted for information. Research is continuing regarding regulation limits (exempt by State law) for agricultural properties. At the next Task Force meeting, work will begin on proposed ordinance language. As soon as the information is complete, staff will report back to the Committee. Roger Paulson spoke regarding the construction dust issue. C, Discussion and Committee recommendation regarding Transportation Impact Fees Marian Shaw provided an update. OnMay 4th staff met with representatives of the Building Industry Association (BIA) to discuss increasing the Transportation Impact Fee Program by the Construction Cost Index, as allowed by the Municipal Code. There have not been any increases since the program began in 1997. Staff proposes to raise both the underlying facilities costs and the fee schedule by 6.78%. This will enable the City to give more Transportation Impact Fee credit back to developers who build facilities on the Impact Fee List, as well as collect a fee more in line with actual costs. The Building Industry Association representatives have agreed and will present the proposed increase information to their Legislative Committee, who will report their recommendation to the BIA board for action at its May 24th meeting. Committee Chair Couch would like to have the ordinance include a structure for fees to raise or decrease to reflect the Construction Cost Index once a year with Council approval to simplify the process without having to renegotiation each time. NegOtiations may still be necessary to decide the projects to be included on the list. Committee member Maggard asked staff to have dialog with the BIA and others who need to approve the fee schedule changes, so everyone is operating with the same information. URBAN DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Monday, May 14, 2001 Page -3- 5. NEW BUSINESS A. Discussion and Committee recommendation regarding ordinance amending the Planned Commercial Development Zone to allow for combined zones Stan Grady explained, typically, with a PCD there is a site plan which shows the building pad location, the landscaping around and on the site, any unique features for the front of the buildings, and the elevations. If a developer has this information when he applies for a general plan amendment and zone change, they can get the PCD and this becomes the zone. The site plan review for the building permit has to comply with these plans. The proposed ordinance will allow a developer who wants a general plan amendment to request a PCD or a PUD to get a zone change with a combining or overlay zone and be able to get a C-1 zone with a PCD or a C-2 zone with a PCD. When coming for a building permit, the site plan review process instead of coming to the Development Services Director would be before the Planning Commission. This will allow a developer to get a zone designation and shop for tenants and go directly to the Planning Commission for approval. Committee Chair Couch expressed he would still like the site plan to come before the City Council for final approval, with the hearing occurring previously at the Planning Commission level, which would provide a Planning Commission recommendation to the Council. The Committee unanimously approved forwarding the proposed ordinance with above change to the Council. B. Discussion and Committee recommendation regarding new zone for commercial development - Grady Stan Grady gave an overview of the five commercial zone districts: (C-O) Professional and Administrative Office; (C-1) Neighborhood Commercial; (C-2) Regional Commercial; (C-B) Central Business; and (C-C) Commercial Center. The Central Business zone was drafted for the downtown while the Commercial Center zone is used for property within the Downtown Redevelopment Project Area. The C-O, C-1 and C-2 zones are used for new development with C-2 being the dominant retail commercial zone. The reason for proposing to add an addition zone is two zones do not accUrately reflect the kind of development projects that are occurring. The name "Regional" being attached to a C-2 does not reflect the way in which they are used. The C-1 was intended to be the kind of zone that had the least impact, no drive-through windows, etc. Staff is proposing a new zone be created with a C-3 zone designation. Change the name of the C-2 to a Community Commercial zone and shift out the more intensive uses such as big boxes to the new C-3 zone. The C-3 will become the Regional zone. There were concerns expressed regarding developers/owners of existing property with C-2 zone designations if the City changed it by ordinance, they may no longer be able to URBAN DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Monday, May 14, 2001 Page -4- complete their development as planned. Several options were suggested such as, a sunset provision, using tiers with the existing C-2 zone, creating a zone between C-1 and C-2, or including a provision in the ordinance that a conditional use permit would be considered as long as the use is still appropriate for the site. The Committee directed staff to forward the proposed ordinance to the Planning Commission with all of staff's recommendations to protect existing C-2 zoned property and return with a recommendation to the Urban Development Committee. C. Discussion and Committee recommendation regarding City/County drilling requirements - Grady There has been a request from Oxy Resources California LLC for the City and County to have the same drilling requirements. Currently, City standards recognize we are in an urban environment and there will be homes built, and not a rural environment where distances and separations are great enough to accommodate a less restrictive method of providing for oil drilling sites and operations. If the City were to adopt the County's standards, we Would be putting these operations too close to sensitive uses. Diesel powered oil rigs run 24 hours a day and drilling at night both create noise. The reason the City has the current regulations in place, is an oil rig exploded twice and blew oil all over cars, houses and yards in the neighborhood. This brought up a study on appropriate regulations in a city, followed up with an environmental impact report. The regulations were drawn up with input from oil developers, such as Chevron and Texaco's divisions of oil and gas, and residents of the neighborhood whose houses were sprayed with oil. Staff is recommending cleaning up a few inconsistencies in the ordinance, but not changes differing from the original study and environmental impact report. The proposed ordinance changes will be brought to the Committee for referral to the Planning Commission. D. Staff report and Committee recommendation regarding halfway houses, rehab and boarding facilities - Hardisty Staff has pulled information from the Community Licensing Agency's website, which shows the facilities that are in Bakersfield, but the information may not be complete. Information is being gathered from other sources for verification. The City has limited authority depending upon the type of use and licensing issued by the State, which may preclude the City's involvement. The City has some authority on the unlicensed facilities, but not the State licensed facilities. Concern was expressed regarding facilities becoming heavily concentrated in some areas of the City. Staff was directed to prepare a report for the Committee on the guidelines for facilities and authority of the City. URBAN DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Monday, May 14, 2001 Page -5- 6. COMMITTEE COMMENTS Committee member Maggard spoke regarding open space and media coverage, which has · raised concern about motorcycles being allowed free access everywhere. He requested to meet with staff before the next open space meeting. 7. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 2:35 p.m. Attendance staff: Assistant City Manager John Stinson; Economic Development Director Donna Kunz; City Attorney Bart Thiltgen; Interim Public Works Director Jack LaRochelle; Development Services Director Jack Hardisty; Planning Director Stan Grady; Deputy City Attorney Carl Hernandez; Deputy City Attorney Andrew Thomson; and Public Works Civil Engineer Marian Shaw. Others: Herman Ruddell, DBA; Mike Russo, DBA; Franklin Gordon, Attorney for homeowners in Brimhall/Allen; Dr. Roger Paulson, DVM. Brimhall/Allen homeowner; Steve Moses, Brimhall homeowner; Cassie Daniel, Bakersfield Association of Realtors; Roger Mclntosh, Mclntosh and Associates; Jimmy Yee, Yankee Communications; Leslie Kirk, Channel 23 News; Carlos Gonzales, Channel 23 News; Kerry Cavinagh, The Bakersfield Californian; and James Burger, The Bakersfield Californian. cc: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers S:~John\UrbanDeV2001\UD01 May 14summary.wpd