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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/02/2007...~_ B A K E R S F I E L D ~-- "' f2S Zack Scrivner, Chair Staff: Rhonda Smiley Harold Hanson For: Alan Tandy, City Manager Ken Weir AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Thursday, August 2, 2007 - 1:00 p.m. City Manager's Conference Room -Suite 201 1501 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield CA The meeting was called to order at 1:04:14 PM 1. ROLL CALL Committee members present: Councilmember Zack Scrivner; Chair Councilmembers Harold Hanson and Ken Weir Staff present: City Manager Alan Tandy; Assistant City Manager John W. Stinson; Management Assistant Rick Kirkwood; Assistant to the City Manager Rhonda Smiley; City Attorney Virginia Gennaro; Associate Attorney Michael Richards; Public Works Director Raul Rojas; Development Services Director Stan Grady; Civil Engineer Ted Wright; Associate Planning Director Jim Eggert Others present: Linda Vernon, Bakersfield Association of Realtors; Cassie Daniiel, Home Builders of America; David Bratchon, Automotive Radiator; Jerry Armstrong, City Auto Group, Inc.; Stephen Montgomery, Abate Motorcycles; Kevin Burton, Young Wooldridge, LLP; Steven Teglia, Chamber of Commerce; Vickie Martinez-Tate, Auto Source America; James Geluso, Bakersfield Californian; Bob Decker, McMillin Land Development; Cal Rossi, McMillin Homes; Donna Carpenter, Sikand Engineering; Bart Nieland, City Auto Group; Lyn Espericueta, California Auto Sales; Jay Gauttier, Bakersfield Auto Sales; Dave Dmohowski, Premier Planning Group; Amity Addrisi, KBAK / KBFX; James Bratchon; Dianne Hardesty, Bakersfield Californian; Ron Leavitt, CUDL; James Tate, Auto Source America; Patricia Tate, Value Car; Danette Romero, Camera Ads:; Suzanne Grant, KUZZ; Araceli Herrera, CGA Motors; Carlos Herrara, CGA Motors; Darryl Tucker, SunCal Cos.; Roger McIntosh, McIntosh and Associates 2. ADOPT JUNE 14, 2007 AGENDA SUMMARY REPORT Ado;p~ted as submitted. Planning and Development Committee August 2, 2007 Page 2 3. PUBLIC STATEMENTS Dave Dmohowski, of Premier Planning Group, asked that the Committee refer to staff Senate Bill 375, and requests that the City take a position of opposition. City Manager Alan Tandy advised Mr. Dmohowski that the City has sent correspondence in of opposition on this bill. 4. DEFERRED BUSINESS A. Discussion regarding the Electronic Message Signs -Grady /Movius Development Services Director Stan Grady gave an overview of the memorandum provided by staff which addresses the use of electronic signs. Because of the difficulty enforcing the existing ordinance, staff is proposing that should the Committee allow electronic signs, they would consider set backs in residential areas, and allow only the electronic message pylon signs for shopping centers and stand alone retail stores of 50,000 square feet or larger. City Manager Alan Tandy added that if efforts are made to control the brightness or duration of the electronic signs in the community, it will become very expensive and costly to monitor. Committee member Harold Hanson expressed concerns of lewd or pornographic content that may be displayed on electronic signs. City Attorney Ginny Gennaro advised that the City can not regulate based on content, and suggested that the City continue to enforce the ordinances that are currently in place. City Manager Tandy clarified that with regard to applying the definition of lewd content, the only difference between the existing ordinance and what is proposed would be one has motion and the current sign would be static. Therefore, there would likely be no difference between what might be considered a depiction of a lewd act as defined by the existing or proposed ordinances. Committee member Weir motioned to follow the staff recommendation to allow electronic signs with the conditions noted above. The committee agreed with all ayes. A draft of the ordinance will be provided by staff at the first Committee meeting in September for further consideration. B. Discussion regarding Temporary Signs -Grady /Movius Development Services Director Grady discussed the memorandum summarizing the workshop held with the Greater Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce, City staff, and new and used auto dealers. The memorandum divides the issue in two parts: 1) Used car dealers expressed interest in pennants, pole banners, feather banners, flags and balloons; and 2) New car dealers expressed interest in pole banners and balloons. All other Planning and Development Committee August 2, 2007 Page 3 signs would conform to the City's current requirement for special event permit. Staff is suggesting that if the Committee is inclined to modify the ordinance to accommodate some aspect of these types of signs, that the ordinance be amended to allow just the pole banner signs, which will provide for the ability to distinguish the used car lot. All other signs will be required to go through a process to use a special events permit. Committee Chair Zack Scrivner advised that during the meeting at the Chamber of Commerce, a request was made by the manufacturer's dealerships to allow, in addition to the pole banners, a banner or balloon on each vehicle to advertise a sale. Assistant Planning Director Jim Eggert stated the New Car Dealer Association requested the following be allowed: - Large banners of 72 square feet in size; - An 80 square foot banner used between trees and poles; - 16 inch balloons per car; - Extend the event period from five times a year to six times a year; - Increase the advertising days from 45 to 60 days; and - Allow windshield and under hood advertising. Mr. Eggert pointed out that lending institutions and credit unions use banners indicating financing rates. Staff suggested that the dealerships use reader boards that can provide a number of uses for advertising, become permanent, and have the ability to change out when new promotions arise. Mr. Eggert also noted that pole banners can accomplish the same task. The use of these items would not require a change to the current ordinance. Comments were raised by used car dealers requesting the City to set its objectives and modify, not limit the use of streamers and pendants when amending the current ordinance. Mr. Grady responded that at the time the sign ordinance was written, consideration was given to aesthetics, the amount of clutter, and the image it projected of the City. Mr. Grady also added that the Committee would have to decide whether or not there is a change in circumstances that would warrant amending the ordinance. Several business owners of auto dealerships spoke in favor of the enforcing the City's current ordinance, and suggested that other businesses take into consideration how the signs and banners obstruct views and clutter neighborhoods. City Manager Tandy recommended that staff provide renderings of different versions of intensity, from modest to extreme, and share them with the Chamber and Committee to base a decision. Committee Chair Scrivner concurred with the recommendations and requested the issues Planning and Development Committee August 2, 2007 Page 4 be deferred to next meeting in September. Committee Chair Scrivner also requested a special meeting be held at the Bakersfield Chamber of Commerce (facilitated by Steve Teglia) with local auto dealers and staff to review renderings before the next Committee meeting. C. Discussion regarding Motorcycle Parking -Rojas /Walker Public Works Director Raul Rojas reported completion of 14 motorcycle parking spaces, at ten selected locations, for motorcycle riders in the City. The current locations are being monitored to determine if additional spaces are needed. Mr. Rojas advised that the City does not have much on street parking outside of the downtown area. Most other parking is located on private property. D. Discussion regarding County Response to Requested Changes to Transportation Funding Task Force -Tandy City Manager Alan Tandy gave an overview of the County's response to staff's requested changes to the structure and organization of the task force: Staff should perform support function and should not be members of the Advisory Committee. -The County agreed with this request. However, County staff will be present at Committee meetings to facilitate answers to technical questions. 2. Instead of creating a formal Advisory Committee by appointing specific groups to formally participate, invite all citizens with interest in the issues to attend, allowing equal status for all and not excluding anyone. -The County agreed to this suggestion. However, the County will continue to support the participation of directly affected key stakeholders that can serve the dual purposes of being a source of technical information and formal dialogue. 3. Meetings should be scheduled "as needed'; rather than by set meeting dates. -The County agreed to this request. 4. City and County staff should schedule and allocate time for all agenda items in order to keep the meeting duration reasonable and to keep them on schedule. -The County agreed to this request. 5. The Word "Emergency" to be removed from the title, revising it to "Transportation Funding Task Force': -The County agreed to this request. Planning and Development Committee August 2, 2007 Page 5 6. The purpose of the task force is to identify funding sources for projects, rather than to "author a transportation plan': - The County responded with eight functions they want the Committee to perform which include financial, highway planning, identification of priorities and design standards. 7. Evening times are necessary, not only because City Councilmembers have day jobs, but because it would also allow members of the public to attend sessions. A 6:00 p.m. start time is preferred for those reasons. -The County agreed to this request. Committee member Ken Weir expressed concerns that the County has taken the initiative to assemble a stakeholders group against opposition from the City. While he concurs that the stakeholder group holds an interest in what is going on, he does not concur that this is an all inclusive list and certain people would be excluded. Committee member Weir would like this item to be included on the next Transportation Funding Task Force agenda. Committee Chair Scrivner seconded that motion. In response to item number six, he suggests that the Committee make a recommendation to both the City and County to formally adopt State Route 58. Committee Chair Scrivner asked if an agreement on a specific plan line of the South Beltway to be the Route 58 needs to be adopted by both the City and County. City Manager Tandy advised that whether the roadway is the future Route 58, just the South Beltway or another parkway type of street, is a separate issue. The specific plan line needs to be finalized and adopted by both agencies before aright-of-way can be preserved. The designation of that alignment as Route 58 must go through the City, County, Kern Cog, and ultimately, be adopted by Cal Trans. Public Works Director Rojas added that in the end, Cal Trans will make the ultimate decision on the make up of Route 58 and where it will be. Staff is requesting consideration of an official adoption of Alternate 15 with the South Beltway to be designated as Route 58. Committee Chair Scrivner recommended that this issue be agendized for the next Transportation Task Force Meeting. In addition, he would like to agendize the Advisory Committee, timed agendas, and defining the focus of the Committee. 5. NEIIIV BUSINESS A. Discussion regarding Transportation Impact Fees -Tandy City Manager Tandy discussed the relation of Item 3, and part of Item 4 in the 9-Point Program that Council adopted to generate highway funding. Item 4 is a broad scale update in the Transportation Impact Fees themselves, which requires that the projection model used by Kern COG Planning and Development Committee August 2, 2007 Page 6 be made functional and up to date. Item 3 was necessary as an interim measure to deal with the General Plan Amendments (CPA's) and Environmental Impact Reports (EIR's) that are in process. City Council and Kern COG have retained the services of Parsons to provide the model projections. The process may take several months to complete. Base on the adoption of the policies by Council, staff inserted a generic condition on all impacted GPA's and EIR's, with the numbers to be determined. Staff discussed an early collection methodology at the time of mapping, based upon the proximity within two miles of any of the TRIP Projects or the Westside Parkway. Staff received opposition to the idea of an early fee collection, and that the idea would prove problematic from a lending perspective. The City concurred with their position and withdrew this method. The City is currently in the process of notifying each party of the change. Staff's recommendation for the interim fee increase on the pending EIR's and GPA's is to add $2,865 per dwelling unit as an additional fee, and to apply that to commercial, in accordance with the same formula and mechanism used in the current Transportation Development Fee Ordinance (TDF) and process. The fee was calculated by taking the grid of the two mile buffer area, projecting the potential number of lots that will be developable within that grid, and dividing the need by the number of lots. An equivalent commercial rate is based on the current TDF standard number. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) mandates a realistic funding plan and a Logical Termini Cost before monies are allocated for TRIP projects. The funding plan consists of performing preliminary engineering work on all TRIP projects and comparing the projected cost to the earmarked reviews and the matching revenues. FHWA is currently reviewing the City's plan. City Manager Tandy provided the following summary to explain the logic behind the TRIP/Westside Parkway Mitigation Fee Program: Be/tways Earmark -Represents the four categories of projects and the Westside Parkway. The TRIP money came out as four distinct and separate batches of projects. The monies are dedicated exclusively to those projects and cannot be moved or substituted between earmarks. 2. TRIP Earmark Plus Local Match -Identifies the funds allocated for each project under the four Beltway Earmarks. Planning and Development Committee August 2, 2007 Page 7 3. FHWA Required Logical Termini Costs - A premised upon how FHWA reviews the financial plan, and determines release of funds based on a logical termination point. 4. Additional Costs to Complete Trip System- Represents the monies needed to get the projects to their idealized end termination point. In order to complete these projects to their real end termination point, the City will need a total of $928 million from a combination of $353 million FHWA Required Logical Termini and $574 million in Additional Costs to Complete TRIP System. These two sources include $240 million in right- of-way costs. Committee member Ken Weir asked staff to consider making the fee applicable to development in general instead of the recommended two mile radius. Staff concurred. Several members of the audience opposed the interim measure, and feel staff's recommended model is an arbitrary mitigation measure requiring conditional approval. City Manager Tandy replied that the measure is premised based upon a bond issuance that is paid back by developer fees. Committee Chair Scrivnerproposed atwo-tier system; 1) A fee that covers $353 million for any development that occurs within logical termini point; and 2) A fee that covers $574 million for any development that occurs outside of the logical termini point. Committee member Weir asked the Development community to come back to staff to discuss the fee, and bring back an acceptable proposal to the Planning and Development Committee for a special meeting. The Committee agreed to continue the discussion at a special meeting set for Wednesday, August 8, 2007. 6. 7. COMMITTEE COMMENTS None ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 5:09:36 PM cc: Honorable Mayor and City Council members