Title
Draft Meeting Minutes-December 11, 2017
Body
DRAFT MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING OF THE
CITY OF ALAMEDA PLANNING BOARD
MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2017
1. CONVENE
President Mitchell convened the meeting at 7:02pm
2. FLAG SALUTE
Board Member Curtis led the flag salute.
3. ROLL CALL
Present: President Mitchell, Board Members Cavanaugh, Curtis, Köster, Sullivan.
Absent: Board Members Burton, Teague.
4. AGENDA CHANGES AND DISCUSSION
Staff Member Thomas asked to move Board Communications and Staff Communications to the beginning of the agenda for some announcements.
***Board Communications***
President Mitchell read a proclamation honoring outgoing Board Member Knox White.
Mr. Knox White thanked staff for their work, as well as current and past board members.
***Staff Communications***
Staff Member Thomas summarized the work of the Planning Board in 2017, including ADU, Universal Design, and Cannabis ordinances, Main St. Plan, affordable housing, and the Transportation Choices Plan. He said the permit center did 116 million dollars in permits in 2017.
Staff Member Tai gave a presentation on the work of the permit center. He said they served 13,000 walk in customers, issued 5,500 permits, and 32,000 inspections.
5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
*None*
6. CONSENT CALENDAR
2017-5000
2018 Planning Board Regular Meeting Schedule
The calendar can be found at: <https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3268855&GUID=6C1F3922-1C9E-481F-9E23-B2133C0E14F1>
President Mitchell said that October 8th is a federal holiday.
Staff Member Thomas said he thinks they should continue the item to the next meeting because all of the dates are 2017, not 2018.
7. REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS
7-A 2017-5010
Hold a Public Hearing to Consider Design Review Approval for Block 9 at Alameda Point Site A. No further environmental review is required for this review of the project design
Staff Member Thomas introduced the item. The staff report and attachments can be found at: <https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3268859&GUID=05319180-4993-4D58-9C78-4EB87C84C583>
Bruce Feherty, COO of Cypress Equity Investments, introduced himself and gave some background on his firm.
Kevin Markarian, Pyatok Architects, gave a presentation on the design of the building.
Jessie Markmen, landscape architect, described the landscaping approach to the building design.
Board Member Sullivan said all the trees in the design do not get very tall and asked if there were plans to plant taller trees at key locations.
Mr. Markmen said the street trees in the master plan would have much larger trees.
Board Member Sullivan said she was concerned that some of the trees in the plan would not do very well in such a windy location. She asked that the grasses be green and add some color to the boxy design. She asked who the customer would be for this building.
Mr. Feherty said that they are doing smaller units for people starting out with lower rents. He said that other buildings at Site A would have larger units that could cater to families.
Board Member Sullivan asked what type of retail was planned for the project.
Mr. Feherty said that they are too early in the process to know the answer.
Board Member Curtis (inaudible)... asked if the 1 to 1 parking ratio would be sufficient for the project.
Mr. Feherty said they only recently became involved in the project.
Sue Xi, project manager, said they have a ferry terminal very near by and want to have a sustainable project. She said they will have unbundled parking and manage it more efficiently.
Mr. Feherty said they are treating the project like a transit oriented site. He said they are trying to build a more affordable by design product. He said each parking space would cost $45,000 to create.
Board Member Köster asked about the reduction in the open space requirement.
Staff Member Thomas said that there is not a per unit open space requirement and that the entire Site A project would meet its open space requirements.
President Mitchell opened the public hearing.
Austin Lee said that a continuing horizontal element connecting the windows would better reflect the base’s Art Moderne aesthetic.
Karen Bey said she supports the project. She said the retail should complement the other retail at Site A.
Rose Magno said the traffic would be horrendous. She said the developers should help build new infrastructure to get off the island. She said the buildings look like public housing.
President Mitchell closed the public hearing.
Board Member Sullivan asked what, in today’s dollars, they expected to charge for parking.
Mr. Feherty said it would probably be around $50 or $75 per month.
Ms. Xi said they are considering a system where you would take a ticket and could pay bay the day, week, or month in order to most efficiently utilize the space.
Board Member Köster said he likes the butterfly roof and that the design breaks the building into three separate buildings. He said the (W. Atlantic) elevation was not quite there yet and needed some refinement. He said we could add some extra details to play up the Streamline Moderne elements to tie the building together. He asked how the parking garage would be separated from the resident courtyard.
Mr. Markmen said that the wall would be solid and they are considering using a bamboo treatment in front of the wall.
Board Member Köster said he would love to see a larger, or second rooftop terrace.
Board Member Curtis said he has concerns about parking and the garage entry. He said they did a good job designing a nice building that would, as far as is possible, keep construction costs and rents down.
Board Member Sullivan said she is most concerned about the parking. She said the (W. Atlantic) side looked a little too utilitarian. She said she wished it had more emphasis on families. She said she wished it was not a rental building because she is concerned that we are becoming a city of apartment buildings. She said bamboo is not allowed where she lives on Bay Farm because it is invasive. She asked if they would put in root guards or have a bamboo that would not spread.
Mr. Markmen said they would definitely be aware of that issue and use clumping bamboos with deep root guards.
Board Member Cavanaugh said he liked the project. He suggested making more use of the rooftop space. He said he is concerned about the parking as well.
President Mitchell said there is a lot of potential in the roof deck. He echoed Board Member Sullivan’s concerns about the choices of trees and grasses, wanting to make sure whatever is planted can thrive. He said that we are building this project for the future, not twenty years ago, and the parking should be adequate. He said the garage door walkway could use some further attention.
Board Member Köster asked staff to put the parking and transportation issues brought up in context of plans for the project area.
Staff Member Thomas said the project is consistent with our parking requirements. He said there is a shared parking lot within a block of this site. He said Site A is putting 10 million dollars toward a new ferry terminal that will be two blocks away. He said every unit will come with transit passes. He said people have shown a willingness to use alternative transportation if given the options.
Board Member Sullivan said there is more than just commute hour driving in town and asked what is being done to accommodate those needs.
Staff Member Thomas said they required the project have retail on the ground floor in order to provide services. He said Alameda Landing is nearby and will be well served by transit.
Staff Member Ott said they have all the funding in place for the ferry to be built in 2019 and operational in 2020.
Board Member Curtis said the young people will be throwing parties and asked where all those people would park.
Staff Member Thomas said they could use the nearby public parking lots or on street parking.
Board Member Curtis said that this is a great experiment, but if we are wrong, people will be fighting over parking.
Staff Member Thomas said that people will be able to drive, but they need to provide options in the context of a growing region that is not building more freeways or widening roads.
Staff Member Ott explained the parking management plan for the base. She said they want to keep control of the parking in the public control in order to respond to changes in demand in the future. She said the strategy is based on data from other cities which have been successful.
President Mitchell pointed out that areas which have residential mixed with their retail, unlike South Shore, do not have vacancies.
Staff Member Thomas summarized potential conditions to add to the resolution consistent with the board’s comments. He said they could add conditions regarding the tree, grass, and bamboo selection. He asked if the board would like to see the front elevation and/or the treatment of the garage elevation come back to the board or if they would like to just give direction to staff.
Board Member Köster said he would like to see the front elevation come back for final approval. He said he would also like to see a perspective of the interior courtyard.
Board Member Mitchell said he is comfortable with the garage entrance treatment being dealt with at the staff level.
Staff Member Thomas suggested that they could approve the resolution and require the outstanding elements come back for final approval.
Board Member Cavanaugh said he would like to see more options for the rooftop.
Board Member Curtis said that the longer we delay the developer, the more uncertainty and cost concerns there are for completing the project.
Staff Member Thomas said they can approve the resolution with conditions to bring the front elevation, courtyard details, and rooftop options back for review before permits are issued. He said that would give the developer the certainty they need for financing and final planning to move forward.
Board Member Köster made a motion to approve the resolution with the conditions to bring back for final approval the final designs for the front elevation, interior courtyard, and rooftop options. Board Member Curtis seconded the motion.
Board Member Sullivan said she still had reservations about some of the landscape selections.
Staff Member Thomas suggested that they bring the landscape design back with the other items.
Board Member Köster accepted the suggestion to add a condition of approval to bring the landscape plan back for final review before issuing building permits. The motion passed 5-0.
8. MINUTES
8-A 2017-5002
Draft Meeting Minutes - October 9th, 2017
Board Member Köster said on page 4 he wanted to name the Park Merced project as the one where residents get a monthly $100 rideshare voucher included in their rent.
Board Member Sullivan made a motion to approve the minutes with Board Member Köster’s amendment. Board Member Köster seconded. The motion passed 4-0-1 (Cavanaugh).
9. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
9-A 2017-5005
Zoning Administrator and Design Review Recent Actions and Decisions
Staff Member Thomas gave a brief report. The staff report and plans can be found at: <https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3268857&GUID=B8E1DA78-6489-49C4-8625-D5617C081BD7&FullText=1>
9-B 2017-5009
Future Public Meetings and Upcoming Community Development Department Projects
Staff Member Thomas said they have provided an updated calendar of future agendas and are trying to see if they can schedule a joint meeting with the Transportation Committee for January. The schedule can be found at: <https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3268858&GUID=30D3A7EB-3117-4CB3-ABA6-81AAEC228B25>
He said the Harbor Bay Hotel would be coming back in January and starting the process over.
Board Member Köster asked if BCDC would make an approval first this time.
Staff Member Thomas said BCDC would wait for an approval from Alameda before considering the project again.
Board Member Cavanaugh asked what the reason was for the denial.
Staff Member Thomas said BCDC decided the project was not consistent with their policy, but that it is a large board and a strange meeting.
Staff Member Thomas said that the city would cover the lodging and conference costs for any members that wish to attend a planning academy conference in Monterey in April. He said he also included some information about running efficient meetings and new California housing laws in the packet.
10. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
*None*
11. BOARD COMMUNICATIONS
Board Member Curtis wished the board a happy holidays and new year.
12. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
*None*
13. ADJOURNMENT
President Mitchell adjourned the meeting at 8:40pm.