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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/06/2003 B A K E R S F I E L' D ~ ~ ~'~~ David Couch, Chair Alan Tandy, City Manager Sue Benham Staff: John W. Stinson Mike Maggard AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT SPECIAL MEETING PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Monday, October 6, 2003, 1:00 p.m. City Manager's Conference Room 1. ROLL CALL The meeting was called to order at 1:06 p.m. Present: Councilmembers David Couch, Chair; Sue Benham and Mike Maggard 2. ADOPT SEPTEMBER 8, 2003 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Adopted as submitted. 3. PUBLIC STATEMENTS Lorraine Unger spoke regarding the Air Pollution Control District meeting on Thursday, October 9th at 1:30, at 2700 M Street, regarding hearing on air pollution mitigation fees. Committee Member Maggard said he would be interested to see if someone from staff could attend the meeting, as they will be discussing the monies to be collected and whether the funds stay local or migrate to the Fresno District Office. 4. DEFERRED BUSINESS 5. NEW BUSINESS A. Discussion and Committee recommendation regarding Minimum Park Size and Park Credits for Gated Communities Development Services Director Jack Hardisty provided background information. In the mid-80's the City adopted a park standard, which required new development to provide 2-~/~ acres of parkland per 1,000 population. The calculation was based on existing public parks and did not include private parks, trails, parkways, public open space, bicycle/equestrian trails, golf courses or AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING Monday, October 6, 2003 Page 2 other private recreational facilities. Although not included in the baseline measurement for public parks, the City's ordinance does allow some partial credit for trails and private parks as deemed appropriate. It seems the City now faces two different expectations. One is the ability to get credit toward required public parkland by substituting private recreational and open space land, and the other is to acquire even more conveniently located neighborhood parks and begin requiring community parks. If the City wants community parks, neighborhood parks, smaller parks, open space and trails intergrading into future developments, it may be time to reevaluate the baseline standards and the requirements to provide them. Community parks are in the General Plan as part of the park system, but the General Plan only authorizes the diversion of neighborhood park funds for development of community parks when they serve the same neighborhoods. The Development Services Director spoke regarding whether parks in gated developments should be given park credit. There may be certain standards that justify such a credit, and the existing ordinance provides authority to determine when that might be appropriate. However, staff does not view a private recreational facility within a gated subdivision for the exclusive use of its residents as providing the same community benefit that a public park provides in regard to flexibility and use of parkland and activities. Some parks are better suited for soccer and others for baseball, basketball, or other activities. Committee Member Benham explained her idea was to give the developer more flexibility, but not take away from the public park concept. Steve DeBranch spoke regarding creating incentives for the development community to go beyond providing just the standard minimum park. Committee Member Maggard spoke regarding the differences between the southwest and the northeast where you can drive a long way before there is a park. He would like to modify the ordinance to accommodate designing walkable communities. John Cicerone spoke regarding large gated communities versus gated subdivisions. Large gated communities with park amenities relieve the stress on the public parks system and there should be a consideration for the gated communities with limited age requirements, as they have different recreational needs. Pauline Larwood spoke regarding the need for beautification and flexibility in the design of communities, because she would not like to see all gated communities with block walls in the northeast. AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING Monday, October 6, 2003 Page 3 Committee Chair Couch wanted to add the issue of allowing smaller two or three acre parks and requested staff to explore the issue of maintenance of the smaller parks becoming the responsibility of homeowner associations. City Manager Alan Tandy suggested staff meet with the different interested parties to define the scope of consideration and direction before this issue goes before the Planning Commission for their review. The Committee unanimously referred the issue to staff. Staff will meet with the interested parties, including NOR Parks and Recreation, developers and the BIA and report back to the Committee by the end of the year if possible. B. Discussion and Committee recommendation regarding Zoning Process- Big Box Centers Development Services Director Jack Hardisty explained the City can regulate commercial use based on size or impact on land use planning, but cannot have regulations that relate to certain businesses by name, such as 'q'arget." Committee Chair Couch stated he referred this issue to the Committee to get started with a review, because if this is the new reality of commercial development, City ordinances may not cover several applications. The City might need to adopt standards to site these developments appropriately. For example, should they be required to locate at intersections on arterials, or at least require three or four streets around the development for proper traffic circulation? Committee Member Benham requested a review of design standards. For example, loading docks should not face a street, or provide a design or wall to screen the docks from public view. Committee Chair Couch requested staff to provide information on the size, location and number of empty big box centers in Bakersfield over 75,000 sq. ft. Committee Member Maggard requested staff to review the authority the City has to require certain standards of maintenance for parking lots, landscaping, and buildings for those big box centers that are left empty, as well as those that are coming back into use that have deteriorated. Staff will review and bring the requested information back to the Committee. C. Discussion and Committee recommendation regarding Joint City/County Planning Commission Committee Chair Couch explained he referred this item to the Committee because a letter was received from the Smart Growth Coalition regarding formation of a joint city/county planning commission and he wanted to provide an answer. AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING Monday, October 6, 2003 Page 4 Development Services Director Jack Hardisty expressed there has been some concern regarding planning in the metropolitan area. While it is true improvement can always be made, having two planning commissions meet together may not result in improvemenll. The secret of success in making the community better is agreement between the City Council and Board of Supervisors and the adoption and application of policies to improve planning guidelines. The City Council cannot delegate their authority over land use decisions. The same is true of the Board of Supervisors. The City Council and the Board of Supervisors are the responsible entities for how their jurisdictions are governed. It is permissible to have the Planning Commissions .meet together, but the City Planning Commission must make their decisions/recommendations to the City Council and the County Planning Commission to the Board of Supervisors. Due to jurisdictional issues, each Planning Commission must vote separately. The City and the County are not the entities that would form a joint city/county planning commission, even if the current Planning Commissions were dissolved. If requested, the State Legislature has the authority to form a joint planning commission and delegate the Council and Board's authority over land use decisions to another commission, because it takes a State Legislative Act. Once a planning commission is formed by the State, that commission would have authority over all land use decisions for the jurisdictions it serves, and it may not be possible to change the legislation once it is enacted. Pauline Larwood, Smart Growth Coalition, asked if there is some type of committee mechanism that could be formed from each Planning Commission for the metro area. Committee Member Maggard expressed neither the members of the City Council nor the members of the Board of Supervisors have met and agreed there should be uniform standards of development throughout the Greater Bakersfield area. If both the City Council and Board of Supervisors want to make joint uniform development policies, then both Planning Commissions could simply implement the policies. City Manager Alan Tandy explained this has been discussed in the past and although the Board members have changed, the County indicated their development standards are very close to those of the City with a limited number of variances and exceptions. Development Services Director Jack Hardisty stated the City and County have been working together on some standards, such as billboards, sewer service for new development and refuse collection and progress has been made. AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE MEETING Monday, October 6, 2003 Page 5 The Committee Members agreed establishing uniform development standards in the Greater Bakersfield area is a worthy goal; however, the Committee Members did not recommend forming a joint city/county planning commission as they would not consider delegating the Council's authority over land use decisions to another joint entity. Committee Chair Couch requested staff to respond to the letter from the Smart Growth Coalition explaining the reasons for not recommending a joint city/county planning commission. 6, COMMITTEE COMMENTS Committee Member Maggard commented on the growing issue of overnight parking by semi-trucks in shopping center parking lots, examples were at the northeast corner of Mt. Vernon and University and the lower deck of East Hills Mall. 7, ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 2:35 p.m. Attendance-staff: City Manager Alan Tandy; City Attorney Bart Thiltgen; Assistant City Manager John Stinson; Assistant City Manager Alan Christensen; Development Services Director Jack Hardisty; Planning Director Stan Grady; and Parks Supervisor Ken Trone Attendance-others: Pauline Larwood, Smart Growth Coalition of Kern; Stephan DeBranch, Castle & Cooke; Brian Todd, BIA of Kern County; James Burger, reporter, The Bakersfield Californian; Lorraine Unger, Sierra Club; Cai Rossi; John Cicerone, Mountain View Bravo; Colon Bywater and Dave McArthur, NOR Recreation and Parks District; and John, video camera, Channel 17 cc: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers S:~JOHN\Council Com m ittees~p&d03oct06sum mary.doc