Title
Draft Meeting Minutes - May 23, 2022
Body
DRAFT MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING OF THE
CITY OF ALAMEDA PLANNING BOARD
MONDAY, MAY 23, 2022
1. CONVENE
President Asheshh Saheba convened the *meeting at 7:00 p.m.
*Pursuant to Assembly Bill 361, codified at Government Code Section 54953, Planning Board members can attend the meeting via teleconference.
2. FLAG SALUTE
Board Member Alan Teague led the flag salute.
3. ROLL CALL
Present: President Saheba and Vice President Ruiz, and Board Members Hom, Cisneros, Rothenberg, and Teague.
Absent: Board Member Ron Curtis.
4. AGENDA CHANGES AND DISCUSSION
None.
5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
None.
6. CONSENT CALENDAR
6-A 2022-2046
Consideration of General Plan Conformity for the Vacation of an Excess Portion of Everett Street Approximately 116-feet Northeasterly of Blanding Avenue. The proposed vacation is exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15301 - Existing Facilities, and Section15061(b)(3), because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the proposed street vacation will have a significant effect on the environment.
This item was moved to the Regular Agenda Items per Board Member Teague’s request.
7. REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS
6-A 2022-2046
Consideration of General Plan Conformity for the Vacation of an Excess Portion of Everett Street Approximately 116-feet Northeasterly of Blanding Avenue. The proposed vacation is exempt from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15301 - Existing Facilities, and Section15061(b)(3), because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the proposed street vacation will have a significant effect on the environment.
Staff report and attachments can be found at:
<https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5653524&GUID=097BA14D-9BCF-4BC0-A8AB-A08300D394CD&FullText=1>.
President Saheha opened public comment.
There were no public speakers.
President Saheba closed public comment and opened board discussion.
Board Member Teague moved for approval of this item and explained that he wanted it pulled since it was directly related to Regular Agenda Item 7-1.
Board Member Teague made a motion to approve the Draft Resolution as written and Board Member Rona Rothenberg seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken and the motion passed 6-0.
7-A 2022-2047
PLN22-0097 - Zoning Text Amendment - Applicant: Kiva Confections. Public Hearing to Consider a Recommendation to the City Council to Introduce an Ordinance Amending Alameda Municipal Code Section 30-10 (Cannabis) to Add the North Park Street Maritime Manufacturing (MM-NP) District as a Location Where Cannabis Industry (Manufacturing) is Conditionally Permitted. The proposed amendments are exempt from the requirements of CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3), where it can be shown with certainty that the proposed amendments will not have a significant effect on the environment, and Section 15183, projects consistent with a community plan, general plan or zoning, each of which provides a separate and independent basis for CEQA clearance and when viewed collectively provide an overall basis for CEQA clearance. No further environmental review is needed.
Allen Tai, City Planner, introduced the item and gave a presentation. The staff report and attachments can be found at
https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5653525&GUID=C61D2924-CCF9-44E9-9E89-850CE578B9A0&FullText=1.
President Saheba opened the board clarifying questions.
Board Member Rothenberg asked for clarification in the wording of the original ordinance and discussed her interpretation.
Staff Member Tai said her interpretation was correct and explained how the Cannabis Industry was different. The dispensary portion was fulfilled and done.
Vice President Teresa Ruiz wanted to know why the North Park Street Maritime Manufacturing District (MM-NP) wasn’t included in the original ordinance and she also wanted to know the location of Kiva’s distribution center.
Staff Member Tai believed that the distribution center was on North Loop Road. He then explained that MM-NP was a small district and staff didn’t see that as a potential district.
Board Member Xiomara Cisneros asked if there were walkable public transportation locations near the location. She also wanted to ensure there would be a ventilation system so there wouldn’t be in any type of odor that would be put out by this work.
Staff Member Tai discussed where some bus stops where nearby. He then explained that this was a zoning question and the question about odor would come up during the Use Permit Stage.
Board Member Hanson Hom asked about the Land Use of the location, he was curious if the Zoning District would allow an accessory use such as a retail outlet.
Staff Member Tai said that was regulated in the Cannabis Regulations and a retail outlet would not be permitted not even with a Use Permit.
President Saheba opened public comments.
Betsy Mathieson would love to have seen a map of the MM-NP district, she asked for clarification on how far that district went.
Staff Member Tai shared a map and explained the North Park Street zoning district.
Craig Abruzzo, Chief Counsel for Kiva Brands, spoke on behalf of the owners and employees of Kiva and hoped the board would approve this amendment. He then discussed the history and type of work Kiva did. He also spoke about the type of work the district already allowed and how Kiva would fit in the area.
President Saheba closed public comments and opened board discussion.
Board Member Teague made a motion to recommend that the City Council adopt this change to the ordinance and Board Member Hom seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken and the motion passed 6-0.
7-B 2022-2048
Public Workshop to Review and Comment on the April 2022 Draft Housing Element and the proposed Zoning Code Amendments to Accommodate the Regional Housing Needs Allocation for the Period 2023-2031 in Compliance with State Law
Andrew Thomas, Planning Building and Transportation Director, introduced this item and gave a presentation. Staff report and attachments can be found at
https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5653526&GUID=4AC7A08F-7BA2-48CE-8888-6887AF1B848E&FullText=1.
President Saheba opened board clarifying questions
Board Teague asked for explanation about Table 1 on page 36. He wanted to know if there was a better table.
Director Thomas explained that this was a table required under State Law and then discussed the estimates. He said the most important table was in Appendix E, Page E-4 “Housing Sites Inventory”. He then went into detail about the table in Appendix E and how the city was planning on meeting the RHNA (Reginal Housing Needs Allocation).
Vice President Ruiz asked why the historic redlining map was removed.
Director Thomas explained that the map could be added back and discussed why some things had been removed due to confusion. People wanted to know more about what was being done about affirmably furthering Fair Housing.
Board Member Hom asked about state laws that govern by right housing and the restrictions on moving portable housing. He wanted Director Thomas to expand on that. He also asked about public concerns regarding increasing densities in the R-2 through R-6 zones. He also wanted clarification that the densities were eliminated from the shopping center districts.
Director Thomas discussed the concerns that increasing density would replace low-income housing with market rate housing. He went into rules and regulations that would prevent that from happening. Director Thomas then discussed the density and height increases that were planned in the R1-R6 zones and what things were staying the same. He concurred that the densities had been eliminated from the shopping center districts.
Board Member Cisneros wanted clarification on the size of housing units near transit sites.
Director Thomas explained that the policy tracks well with projects that were multi-family. He further explained that the townhomes projects were the larger units. Alameda was looking for and needed smaller higher density units.
Board Member Teague asked why they didn’t clarify the Stakeholder Consultations. He also had questions about Table C-9 that Alameda would lose “employed People by 2040”, he wondered if it was a typo. He then questioned how they determined that units were simply vacant. He then gave a suggestion of updating the information on rent.
Director Thomas said that they could clarify the Stakeholders. He then clarified that the statistics were from ABAG (Association of Bay Area Governments) and he could double check those. For vacant units he would need to check with the consultant who did the research, but that Alameda did have a large number of vacant units.
Staff Member Tai added information about how vacant units were determined.
Board Member Hom asked for clarification about the density increases in R3- R6
Director Thomas said that had been the proposal since at least April.
Board Member Rothenberg asked if there were any margin in error for counting in the
R-1 Zone.
Director Thomas answered that the best way to monitor that was through the Annual Report they had to provide to the state.
President Saheba opened public comments.
Paul Foreman discussed his issues with the way this agenda item was noticed and how the board was handling this issue. He thought it was against the Brown Act and the Sunshine Ordinance and he believed these workshops were a sham.
Kellen Gauthier pointed out that Santa Clara was a transit location due to the most popular buses using it and wanted to know if that street could be effected by higher densities then. He also believed that infrastructure needed to be addressed before the any new housing was added to Alameda so that people would have better ways off the island in case of an emergency.
Donna Fletcher wanted a way to visualize these Zoning Amendment changes and their physical impact when they are applied. She gave ideas of sample drawings and mock ups to let people truly understand these changes.
Betsy Mathieson discussed the changes that staff was aware of and how staff had tried to work on outreach. She said that no one said that upzoning was a given and felt that there was misleading information on RHNA. She felt that changes should have been in the draft months ago.
Carmen Reid felt that Housing and Transportation should go hand in hand. She wanted them to consider more Affordable Housing and smaller units in the transit areas. She also supported AAPS’s letter and recommendation and wanted everything to go back to City Council for more Public Comment.
Drew Dara Abrams appreciated the fine tuning done to the draft by City Staff. He really appreciated the Program 4 that opens R1-R6 zones to multi-family housing and the increased densities. He was glad to see the compromises in height for Webster St.
Zac Bowling commended Alameda for their diligence in coming with an updated Housing Element with the seriousness it deserves. He was happy with where the Housing Element had landed and commended Alameda again for following the law and tackling these changes that needed to happen.
Chris Buckley, Alameda Architecture Preservation Society, pointed out that some of their comments had not made it onto the May 23rd draft. They were surprised by the reversal of the densities. They still felt that they were overkill and unnecessary to meet the RHNA numbers. He clarified comments made about changes to the R1 zone and transit overlay districts.
Alex Spehr discussed a survey she personally had done that showed that many people wanted in order; housing distributed across the island evenly, upzone shopping centers, upzone Webster and Park, updzone Bay Farm, and build on the golf course. Some did say that they didn’t want any more housing but the majority of people who took her survey are ready for more housing.
President Saheba closed public comments and opened board member discussion.
Board Member Teague brought up the issue of Measure A. He said unless he heard from the City Attorney’s Office that they fully concur with the staff’s overriding of Measure A then he would not be able to vote for this, which depressed him. He then discussed issues with the Universal Design and how to make it work. He gave suggestions on parts that needed to be deleted since they were mentioned in other places. He also gave suggestions on updating information that was out of date or no longer applied.
Board Member Rothenberg agreed with the comments about updating outdated data and the concerns about Universal Design. She gave suggestions on how to make it work better and possible exceptions or variances.
Vice President Ruiz pointed out that under the Education Campaign it had some negative political connotations and should be reworded. She also agreed with public comment about the diagrams in Appendix D, it needed to be clearer.
Board Member Cisneros also agreed about updating data and gave suggestions on what was needed. She also felt that 3rd goal about homelessness needed to be reworded to reflect the many factors of homelessness. She wanted to see clarification on incentives and ways to help overcome obstacles in building housing. She liked the public comment about having visuals.
Board Member Hom discussed the concerns about increasing density and how the RHNA was pushing these changes. He also agreed with having visuals so people can really see and understand these changes. He was interested in seeing more about the proposed changes for the shopping centers. He added that they needed to go in with their best foot for with HCD and had questions about the wording around HOAs.
President Saheba wanted to know more about what the next steps were.
Director Thomas thanked everyone and discussed next steps.
8. MINUTES
8-A 2022-2044 - Planning Board Draft Meeting Minutes - February 28, 2022
Vice President Ruiz wanted her comments be added to page 5, she had said consider the balance of open space and the retail space between Block 10 and future phases.
Board Member Teague asked for clarification about reviews to the AMC.
Staff Member Tai explained the process.
President Saheba opened public comments.
There were no public speakers.
President Saheba closed public comments.
Vice President Ruiz made a motion to approve the minutes as amended. Board Member Cisneros seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken and the motion passed 5-0 with Board Member Teague abstaining due to his absence at this meeting.
8-B 2022-2045 - Planning Board Draft Meeting Minutes - March 14, 2022
Board Member Teague made a motion to continue these minutes to the next meeting so that the section on No Net Loss could be expanded on. President Saheba seconded the motion and a roll call vote was taken. The motion passed 6-0.
8-B 2022-2040 - Draft Meeting Minutes - March 28, 2022
President Saheba opened public comment.
Board Member Rothenberg made a motion to approve the minutes as is and Vice President Ruiz seconded the motion. A roll call vote was taken and the motion passed 5-0 with President Saheba abstaining due to his absence at the meeting.
9. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
9-A 2022-2038
Planning, Building and Transportation Department Recent Actions and Decisions
Recent actions and decisions can be found at
<https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=5653521&GUID=A58DDD2F-6CAE-4D67-A3D4-AC6274CCF958&FullText=1>
No item was pulled for a review.
9-B 2022-2039
Oral Report - Future Public Meetings and Upcoming Planning, Building and Transportation Department Projects
Staff Member Tai said over the next few months the staff would be working on bringing forward the Zoning Text Amendments. He then discussed and explained Alameda Municipal Code’s Call for Review process.
10. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
None
11. BOARD COMMUNICATIONS
Board Member Rothenberg discussed keeping the meetings on Zoom going forward. She discussed the merits continuing virtual meetings and asked for the board and staff’s thoughts.
Staff Member Tai agreed with the merits of virtual meetings and discussed that zoom meetings had high attendance. He discussed what City Council was looking into hybrid type meetings.
12. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
None.
13. ADJOURNMENT
President Saheba adjourned the meeting at 9:20 p.m.