Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-14-1982 Planning Commission Minutes CITY OF SARATOGA PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES Date: Tuesday, December 14, 1982 - 7:30 P.M. Place: Community Center Meeting Room, 19655 Allendale Avenue, Saratoga Type: Regular Adjourned Meeting Routine Organization Roll'Call Present: Commissioners Crowther, Hlava, Nellis, Schaefer and Siegfried Absent: Commissioner Bolger I. Consideration of Text Revisions to the General Plan Elements Staff briefly presented the items'the Commission was to act on during the Regular Adjourned Meeting. Staff indicated that there had been a tie vote on Action Program 13 for Planning Area C. C0~mission Crowther asked why this was.being br~uqht UP again since -'~he~Com~isSion'had.~dopted ~t ~re~iousty. be~ore!'.the tie..vQte.= Staff indicated that the ~ction program was reconsidered after the Commission read the Deputy City Attorney's memo on the action programs. The Commission determined that the action program should be forwarded to the City Council as written with the Comment that the reconsideration of the action. program ended in a 3-3 vote and since there was not a full Commission present this vote could not be changed. Commission Crowther wanted the letter from his home- owners group that requested the specific wording of the action program to -be sent to the City Council. Commissioner Hlava also wanted.~o Send her con~ents that she felt that policy was inappropriate for Plan~'~ing. Area C, which she represented on the GPCAC, since the Northwestern Hillsides are not in Planning Area C. Commissioner. Cy0Vther felt it should be in Area C'.s action'-pr'6~"s~ce'~ea"A-~is.dire~ly -ad'~ce~?. ~6' ~rea.~--"a~d-"would'- 'b~ '.a'~~d~'' b~""'~h~' ~appene~. in the hillsides. Discussion on the revisions to the text of the General Plan Elements then followed. Commissioner Crowther felt that the medium density single-family residential category should be broken down into more · specific categories that reflect the thre~ different zoning cate- gories thus making it clearer to people using the plan. The terms Medium ~ensity Single-family Residential M-10, M-12,5 and M-15 were. suggested as categories. Con~issioners Nellis and Siegfried asked what impact this would have on staff. Staff responded the General Plan Map will have to be modified. to reflect the more detailed categories, the text of the land use element would have to be modified, and other text portions would hav~ to be modified to reflect the precise densities. Discussion then fol'iowed on the need for the proposed change. Commission Crowther indicated that the change should prevent con- fusion. The Commission then requested staff to report back to the Commission if the proposed change would work toogreat a hardship on staff. Commissioner Crowther indicated that references to the P-D category in the text should be eliminated since that category w~s. He also indicated a concern-with the wording regarding schools as uses allowed in residential ~eas..since it seemed to discourage such use. Discussion of school uses then followed. Commissioner Crowther then suggested ~hat a school site playground be designated as open space to preserve it. Commissioner Nellis ~uestioned the need for this since school sites are already Planning Commission Page 2 Meet'~ng Minutes - 12/lz 2 designated as Community Facilitie~ and would require General Plan Amendments anyway to be used for other purposes. Further discussion followed on designating school sites-.itas'=.open space. The Commission decided not to adopt a policy proposed by Commissioner Crowther to have the City designate school sites as open space to preserve outdoor recreation areas. Commissioner Crowther indicated that he was concerned that Pierce Road was'designated as an arterial road since the Specific Plan states that the road should be kept in its rural state. Staff explained that Pierce Road is an arterial because of its function as the major thoroughfare in the area and that it did not necessarily have to be widened to serve that purpose. Commissioner Crowther wanter to make clear that Pierce Road and Mr. Eden Road were not in the same category as other arterials. Staff indicated that the circulation element describes where and what the roads do but the policies of the plan govern how they will be developed. Discussion then returned to the issue of how school uses should be described in the residential category on page 126. Various wordings of the text were explored until Chairman Schaefer and Commissioner Siegfried suggested "In residential areas it is understood that other uses such as public .'schools can be allowed." Commissioner Hlava moved that the .text amendments as proposed in the .Staff Report dated Dece~er 2, 1982 with.the corr~ct~ons'~ad'e by ~ Commission' sh0ul~. be ~~opt~_. Commissioner Siegfried seconded the=motion · ~'~.~.aSS'~d '~hnan~oU~ly. C0.mm. iSS~i6he~-~.~egf~ie~..'=th~n mo~e~' t~" split the Medium Density 'Single Family Residential category into three categories: Medium Density Single-family Residential M-10, M-12-5 and M-15. Commissioner Crowther seconded the motion which passed on a 3-2 vote with Commissioners Hlava and Nellis opposing. Commissioner Crowther then brought up the point that the General Plan Map shows Multi-family Residential to be a density of 7 units/ gross acre yet the text of the proposed land use element indicates a maximum density of 14.5 units/aCre and thought that this was too high. He commented that this category should also be broken down. The Commission decided this issue should be brought to the attention of the City Council when they consider .the General Plan. Discussion then followed on John and Helen Kahle's request to have a policy in the General Plan to allow historic structures to be converted to bed and breakfast establishments. Staff indicated that the Kahles had made this request at the Commission's May 4, 1982 meeting and that several .Commissio'ners visited the site on May 6, 1982 but no action was taken by the Commission. Staff also explained that one of the reasons for developing an ordinance to allow such bed and breakfast establishments was to make the maintenance of such structures economically viable. The Commission then directed staff to prepare the wording of the policy while the Commission reviewed the Hazard Overlay Map. II. Hazard Overlay Map Staff briefly described the contents of the proposed Hazard Overlay Map. Commissioner Crowther suggested that the Fire Hazard category be renamed Extreme Fire Hazard consistent with the wording used by the fire districts and Commission agreed that this should be done. The Cor~aission then took a closer look at the map. Commissioner Crowther then had some questions on the 100 year flood areas shown on the map. ..Staff indicated that the flood areas were taken from the flood insurance rate map developed by the Federal Government. Staff then presented the following' policy relative to the Kahles' request: "The City shall adopt on ordinance to allow historic single family residential structures to. be conditionally used as bed and breakfast establishments if such structures are designated as heritage resources by the City and are adjacent to a major arterial." · ..,~C~o-mmissioner Hlava moved that this policy be adopted and Commissioner Nellis seconded the motion which passed unanimously. Planning Commission Page 3 Meeting Minutes - 1~' 3/82 Discussion then returned t'olthe Hazards..Overlay Map,. Commissioner C~owther indicated that he felt"m0re'shouldj'.be.'done with'~ .... geologic hazards on the map, Staf.f indicated that the areas shown on the map were only areas the City had geologic studies on and were not meant to comprehensively define geologic hazards, In response to a question by Commissioner Nellis staff indicated this was the first time a Hazards Overlay Map has been prepared by the' City, Discussion then ensued on whether the Berrocal Fault should be shown on'the map, Staff stated there was a note on the map which indicated that map users should not just depend on the map for hazard information and 'other studies may be required, Co~mmissioner Crowther suggested that the CoUnty's map done by Jim Burkland could be used to provide information on.geologic.hazards, .: Con~issioner. Nellis inquired whether this map was required by law, Staff indicated it was not, Commi~ssioner Nellis indicated he was concerned about the ramifications Of the map in terms of City lia- bility if the map did not show something that needed to be shown, Commissioner Crowther indicated that the City could use the County's map as a.base and overlay '.that map' with the study areas covered by the City Geologist, Con~issioner Nellis indicated he wanted to know if the City Attorney had a problem with such a map, Commissioner Siegfi'red stated that a Hazard Overlay Map be more specific if it is to be called that and perhaps the County's map could be used as a base, The other option was to do nothing by way of a hazards map rather than have an incomplete' map, The Commission expressed a desire to see the other.County maps, Staff indicated a preference for u~ing the information currently in the Geotechnical Study of the G~neral Plan since the City has not been able to have the'City GeologiSt review new information that goes into the plan and was leery of using maps that he has not reviewed, The Commission indicated that the City Geologist should look at the County's maps, The consensus of the Commission was that.~.~they ~anted.to..-See...thej.ma~s'and indicated..that .the.!'Ha~ards Overlay Map.'in its..pEes~nt~"foEm was no~'Sufficient. III, Adjournment Commissioner Siegfried moved to ad=journ the meeting, Commissioner Nellis seconded the motion which passed unanimously, ~.~icha~l F~ores Assistant Planner