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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/23/19771 1 JI, M I N U T E S ADJOURNED MEETING OF THE CITY COUNCIL CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1977 - 7:30 P.M. COUNCIL HEARING ROOM, CITY HALL ROLL CALL Councilmen Present: Ron Dunin, T. Keith Gurnee, Jeff Jorgensen and Steve Petterson and Mayorc'•Schwartz Absent: None City Staff Present: J.H. Fitzpatrick, City Clerk; R.D. Miller, Administrative Officer; Allen Grimes, City Attorney; Dan Smith, Senior Planner; Terry Sanville, Associate Planner, and Glen Matteson, Planning Assistant. 1. The City Council held a public hearing on the recommendation of the Plan- ning Commission to rezone properties in the Edna Airport and Johnson Avenue area in order to have rezoning conform to the recently adopted General Plan of the City and to receive proposals for future changes to the City's General Plan. Terry Sanville, Associate Planner, presented the recommendations of the Planning Commission to the City Council with attached maps showing present zoning and the proposed zoning to conform with the General Plan. He stated that the Planning Commission feels their recommendation is the best zoning for these two portions of the City, and with a few noted exceptions Terry Sanville stated that the staff agreed with the Planning Commission. He continued that in May and June the Planning Commission reviewed the zoning plan for their neighborhoods. Over 20 hours was spent in workshops and hearings discussing the rezoning plan. All meetings were attended by the public. The major changes in zoning proposed for this part of the City included: 1) the Edna -Islay expansion area at the southeast tip of the City would be zoned R -1 -SP for homes with a requirement for a specific plan before development, 2) the mobile home park zone would be applied to existing mobile home parks and to an undeveloped area north of the Chumash Village Park on South Higuera, commonly known as the KSLY property, 3) the A/C zone for agriculture and conservation would be applied to land along the freeway, the hills south of South Street, Islay Hill, much of the undeveloped hillside at the eastern edge of the City and some areas along San Luis Creek and the railroad, 4) the newly defined S combining district for special considerations would be added to some properties along the railroad tracks because of train noise and to some other properties because of flood threat or airport hazard, 5) new service commercial zones would be created on both sides of South Higuera, south of Prado Road; the "SP" (Specific Plan) designation would be added to the CH zoning east of South Higuera, 6) Monterey Street Motel Row would be rezoned from Retail Com= mercial to Tourist Commercial, 7) in the north end of Johnson Avenue between Monterey and the freeway some apartment zoning would be lowered; Professional office zones would replace apartment zones along California Blvd., 8) in the Johnson area south of the High School some residential zoning would be lowered and some would be raised. These would be limited generally to a strip along Johnson between the High School and County General Hospital, an area across the tracks from the Amtrak Station and the.Laurel Lane - August Street area, 9) Terrace Hill would remain zoned for houses but the Specific Plan designation would be added, 10) schools, parks, and hospitals would be zoned at public facilities, 11) neighborhood commercial, CN zoning would be used where this type of u ge- existed on Laurel Lane and other locations. Terry Sanville stated that the Planning Commission had spent a lot of time trying to determine the most appropriate zoning. In some cases they had proposed zoning which might require amendments to the City's General Plan. In other cases they wanted to satisfy the desires of the residents in a specific area and were recommending zoning which would permit less density than allowed by the General Plan (e.g. R2 versus R3-)• The previous City "Atrorney_determined that the City could zone property to a lower density and still be consistent with the General Plan. Terry Saville stated that after these general comments he now wished to review some specific problem areas brought up at public hearings held by the Planning Commission. City Council Minutes August 23; 1977 Page 2 Item a: The Breakers Restaurant property located at the southwestern tip of the City with access from Calle Joaquin, the entire hill was currently zoned C -T Tourist Commercial while the General Plan showed all of this area to be agricultural conservation. The Planning Commission felt that the zoning of the Breakers Restaurant and parking lot should remain CT and they recommended that the General Plan be amended to show these facilities as tourist commercial. The rest of this area should be zoned AC10 because of steep slopes, visability, ' problems of access and providing adequate sewer and water service. Staff stated that they could not support the Planning Commission's recommended zoning of the Breakers Restaurant property. Rather than creating a precedent for isolated hilltop commercial development and spot zoning the staff would recommend that the existing restaurant be zoned AC and become a legally non- conforming use. As a nonconforming use it would remain on this site indefinitely but could not be expanded. If it burnt down it could not be replaced. However the City could rezone the property to allow its reconstruction if that occurred.. City Council discussed with staff the difference of opinion between the Plan- ning Commission and staff dealing with the Breakers Restaurant property. Mayor Schwartz asked if anyone in the audience wished to speak on this problem, no one appeared before the City Council. Mayor Schwartz closed the public input. On motion by Councilman Dunin and seconded by Councilman Petterson, that the City Council accept the recommendation of the Planning Commission and retain the C -T zoning of the Breakers Restaurant and parking lot and.rezone the balance of the property to Ac -10 with the Planning Commission to initiate the necessary general plan revision. Motion carried. AYES: Councilmen Dunin, Petterson, Gurnee and Mayor Schwartz NOES: Councilman Jorgensen ABSENT: None . 1 B. Terry Sanville, presented the problem dealing with the KSLY property located east of Higuera Street, next to the Dennis Transfer building, north of the Chumash Village Mobile Home Park. The existing zoning of this area was a mixture of R1 CH -S and CH. The upper slopes of the South Street hill were Rl. =- The General Plan shows most of this arm as AC. A small area directly adjacent to Chumash Mobile Home Park was medium density residential. After much dis- cussion the Planning Commission recommended: 1) that the upper part of South Street hill be zoned AC -40 2) the lower portions of the KSLY property next to Chumash Village be zoned R2MH and 3) the frontage property on Higuera Street be zoned CH -S. The R2MH zoning would allow mobile home park development on parts of the property where slopes are less than 30 %. Terry Sanville stated that the City Staff supported the Planning Commission's recommendation. Mayor Schwartz asked if anyone from the public had any input on this problem. Clell Whelchel, property owner, asked that all the Dennis Transfer property stay as CH -S. Terry Sanville stated that this was the Planning Commission's action. Mayor Schwartz declared the public input closed On motion of Mayor Schwartz, seconded by Councilman Jorgensen, that the City Council accept the Planning Commission's recommendation for this property but change the R -2 MH to R -2 -S. Motion carried on the following roll call vote: AYES: Councilmen Jorgensen, Petterson, and Mayor Schwartz NOES: Councilmen Dunin and ;Gurnee ABSENT: None 3. Terry Sanville brought to the Council's attention the problem dealing with the Bonetti Property on the east side of Higuera Street south of Prado City Council Minutes August 23, 1977 Page 3 Road recommended in the General Plan for C -H zoning designation. The Plan- ning Commission felt the property should be zoned to CH with a "SP" Specific Plan designation. Mayor Schwartz opened the discussion to public input. Don Smith submitted a letter to the City Council urging that this property be kept in the A/C agricultural designation as it was some of the finest agri- cultural land in the area and with water available it was very productive and should be ideal for high value crops. He felt that this was one of the best parcels of farm land within the City limits. Mayor Schwartz declared the public input closed. On motion of Councilman Dunin; seconded by Councilman Petterson, the City Council accept the recommendation of the Planning Commission and change the zoning on the Bonetti property to CH -SP. Motion carried on the following roll call vote: AYES: NOES: ABSENT: Terry Sanville of a parcel of parcel of land presently zone Councilmen Dunin, Petterson and Mayor Schwartz Councilmen Gurnee and Jorgensen None brought to the Council's attention a problem in the Edna Area land east of the railroad, south of Orcutt Road, the last within the City at that point stating that the property was i to manufacturing use and was being recommended for proposed zoning to R -2 medium density. He continued that the Advanced Planning staff ' objected to the proposed rezoning as they felt it was premature due to its distance from areas within the City and its isolation from other areas of development. He felt there was a poor circulation problem getting down Bullock Lane and that the parcel was surrounded by active agricultural developments -and he felt that this property .should stay in that classification until developed. Farther, that a development and rezoning to a more intense resi- dential use would ohly put more pressure on the farm land adjacent to this development to annex and to develop to City standards. The staff recommended that the City Council refer this back to the Planning Commission for more study and that an interim zoning of A/C be placed on the property until it had been completely analysed by the Planning Commission. Tom Maple, representing Meyer, Merriam and Associates, stated that they would strongly protest any action to zone this property to A/C rather than the recommendation of the Planning Commission to the R -2. He stated that the main reason for the protest was that they felt there had been a breach of good faith on the part of staff because for seven months the Planning Staff and the architect firm had been meeting and negotiating during which time there was no objections to the planning concepts proposed by City staff and now they had changed their minds and demanded that the property be zoned to A /C. While the architectural firm agreed that anyone could change their mind, they felt that after all these months and several thousands of dollars in development costs, it had become a serious matter. Their further argument was that A/C was not an appropriate zone for the property and they stated three reasons supporting their argument that the R -2 zoning was most appropriate: 1) a rezoning to A/C was not consistent with the 1977 General Plan; 2) environmental concerns which had lead to reversal of previous staff recommendations for R -2 zoning while important, were not important enough to warrant the present change recommendation for A/C zoning. According to the City Engineer there was no accident history at the Bullock Lane / Orcutt Road intersection and the theoretical traffic capacity of the_..street.and.intersection would not be exceeded when the subject property was developed to an R -2 density. Deficiencies which existed because Bullock Lane was a long dead -end street and not looped to other streets in the area were not created by this development of the subject property. The deficiency existed now with the development which was located J City Council Minutes August 23, 1977 Page 4 on Bullock Lane and should be corrected in any case. Also, there was adequate classroom space at either Pacheco or Sinsheimer School to handle students generated by medium density development of the property. Student population projections by the school district for the neighborhood indicated no need for additional classrooms until 1981. Park facilities were adequate to serve present population with development at medium density on the property. In addition, the specific proposal for the property included a recreational building, swimming pool and private and semi- public outdoor play and recreation areas. As far as growth inducement was concerned, this could not occur in this area without further annexation. Development of the property would probably cause some adjacent property owners to want or expect annexation in the future but they all must recognize that annexation was always the prerogative of the City government and its constituents, not the land owners. It must also be recognized that the decision to annex this particular parcel was made 17 years ago during which time its owners had been paying taxes towards service they had so far not received.- He concluded by saying that their clients had in good faith been- working with City planning staff since January, 1977 in an attempt �)o insure development of a plan that was consistent with existing City policies. His firm had always submitted their proposal on the basis of medium residential development as shown on the adopted General Plan and at no time did the City staff object to the proposed R -2 density for this land and R2jwas recommended by staff to the Planning Commission; who in turn, so recommended to the Council. It had only been in the last two weeks that the City staff had changed their minds after seven months of planning meetings, etc. In fact they were preparing to go to the City's A.R.C. for architectural review and approval. He felt that the City staffs reversal on this rezoning at this time was unfair, as the property owner had expended great sums to appease staff objections and now found they were recommending a zoning of lesser density. Art Shaw, attorney for Meyer, Merriam & Associates and the property owners, 1 stated this property had been a part of the City for 17 years, paid taxes for all that time to the City, and he felt that the City Council had.some responsi- bility to allow the property owner to develop his land when it was consistent with the City Council's adopted General Plan. Allen Righetti, property owner adjacent to this property, stated he was opposed to the proposed development to medium density residential. He felt this proposal would put pressure on adjacent farm lands to develop also and would force land assessments to go higher on the basis of highest and best use which would be development and not agriculture. Jean Anderson, Bullock Lane, also opposed to housing development as she felt land should be allowed to continue in farming. On motion of Councilman Dunin, seconded by Councilman Petterson, that (1) the parcel of land be referred to the Planning Commission for restudy of their recommendation in view of development proposals; and (2) request the City attorney to investigate what legal rights the prcpery owner has to proceed with R -2 development of his property. Motion carried on the following roll call vote: AYES: Councilmen Dunin, Petterson and Mayor Schwartz NOES: Councilmen Gurnee and Jorgensen ABSENT: None Mayor Schwartz declared a recess at 9:30 p.m. Meeting reconvened at 9:40 p.m., all Councilmen present. ISLAY HILL AREA (Extreme south end of City along Southern Pacific right of way). Mr. Stern objected to the proposal to zone this large parcel of land to R -1 SP as he felt that it should remain devoted to agricultural uses. Mrs. Stern also urged Council to change this large parcel to agricultural uses. On motion of Councilman Gurnee, seconded by Councilman Jorgensen, that Council 1 1 City Council Minutes August 23, 1977 Page 5 refer the R -1 -SP area in the southeast end of the City to the Planning Commission for restudy of possible zoning to A/C or other consistent zoning designations. Motion lost on the following roll call vote: AYES: Councilmen Gurnee and Jorgensen NOES: Councilmen Dunin, Petterson and Mayor Schwartz ABSENT: None On motion of Mayor Schwartz, seconded by Councilman Dunin, the following ordinance was introduced: Ordinance No. 715 (1977 Series), an ordinance of the City of San Luis Obispo amending the official zone map of the City (to rezone property in the Edna /Airport Neighborhood). Introduced and passed to print on the following roll call vote: AYES: Councilmen Dunin, Petterson and Mayor Schwartz NOES: Councilmen Gurnee and Jorgensen ABSENT: None JOHNSON AVENUE NEIGHBORHOOD Orcutt Road - Laurel Lane: Existing land use included NCR Office, service station and egg distributor. Existing zoning as "M" and the General Plan showed the area as medium -high density residential. The Planning Commission recommended that the City Council initiate an amendment to the General Plan to show this area as commercial and zone it accordingly as they felt that the existing uses should not be made non - conforming as they had not created any problems in neighborhood. The City Advance Planning Staff supported the Planning Commission's recommendation to zone property to "CH" or %N". On motion of Councilman Gurnee, seconded by Councilman Jorgensen, that no action be taken on this area, leaving it zoned "M" until the General Plan could be amended and then have the Planning Commission rezone to CH. Motion carried, all ayes. COUNTY HOSPITAL PROPERTY The Planning Commission recommended that the existing Hospital and parking lot be zoned "PF" (public facilities) and the balance of the County owned land remain zoned R -1 but it should be noted that this recommendation of the Plan- ning Commission did not preclude the County government from expanding their facilities. If expansion of County facilities did not take place, development would be R -1 residential. Mary Beth Schroeder, Wilding Lane, supported the recommendation of the Planning Commission to rezone all undeveloped County property for single family residential use. Burgess Moore, Flora Street, urged Council to follow recommendation of Planning Commission and zone all unused County property to R -1 single family homes. On motion of Councilman Gurnee, seconded by Councilman Dunin, that Council accept recommendation of Planning Commission and zone "PF" all those existing public facilities at the County Hospital site on Johnson Avenue and all unused areas to R -1, low desnity residential. Motion carried on the following roll call vote: AYES: Councilmen Gurnee, Dunin and Petterson NOES: Councilman Jorgensen and Mayor Schwartz ABSENT: None 2. There being no further business to come before the meeting, Mayor Schwartz adjourned the meeting to 12:10 p.m., Wednesday, August 24, 1977. City Council Minutes August 23, 1977 Page 6 APPROVED: November 1, 1977 ,06;.'H. . atrick, City Clerk 1 1