Title
PLN16-0291 - 951 Marina Village Pkwy - Administrative Use Permit - Applicant: Milton Folas for Prosperity Investments. A public hearing to consider a Use Permit to allow the operation of a fitness center at the Marina Village Shopping Center. The proposal also includes allowing the fitness center to have extended hours, operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The property is located at Marina Village within the M-X, Mixed Use Planned Development District. This project is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA Guidelines Section 15301 - Existing Facilities.
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CITY OF ALAMEDA
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
ADMINISTRATIVE USE PERMIT
ITEM NO: 3-B
PROJECT
DESCRIPTION: PLN16-0291 - 951 Marina Village Pkwy - Administrative Use Permit - Applicant: Milton Folas for Prosperity Investments. A public hearing to consider a Use Permit to allow the operation of a fitness center at the Marina Village Shopping Center. The proposal also includes allowing the fitness center to have extended hours, operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The property is located at Marina Village within the M-X, Mixed Use Planned Development District. This project is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA Guidelines Section 15301 - Existing Facilities.
GENERAL PLAN: Community Commercial
ZONING: M-X, Mixed Use
PROJECT PLANNER: David Sablan, Planner I
PUBLIC NOTICE: A notice for this hearing was mailed to property owners and residents within 300 feet of the site, published in local newspapers and posted in public areas near the subject property. Staff has not received any public comments on this proposed project.
EXHIBITS: 1. Site and Floor Plans
RECOMMENDATION: Approve the project with conditions.
PROPOSAL SUMMARY:
The proposal is a use permit to allow a fitness gym within an existing pad building at the Marina Village Shopping Center. The facility will provide a private gym with exercise equipment and personal training services for customers that purchase a gym membership. The gym will have four to five employees working with one to three employees per shift. The applicant estimates approximately thirty to forty customers will access the facility each day. The applicant proposes to operate the business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
FINDINGS:
1. The location of the proposed use is compatible with other land uses in the general neighborhood area, and the project design and size is architecturally, aesthetically, and operationally harmonious with the community and surrounding development. The proposed fitness gym will not propose any exterior alterations to the existing pad building with the exception of new signs, which will adhere to the City of Alameda’s Sign Ordinance and the Marina Village Shopping Center Sign Program to ensure compatibility with the existing shopping center.
2. The proposed use will be served by adequate transportation and service facilities, including pedestrian, bicycle and transit facilities. The location of the fitness gym proposal is fully developed and does not require additional service facilities. The Marina Village Shopping Center has adequate parking for existing tenants and the proposed fitness gym use. The change of tenant space from bank to fitness gym does not result in an increase in required parking that exceeds the current capacity of the Marina Village Shopping Center.
3. The proposed use, if it complies with all conditions upon which approval is made contingent, will not adversely affect other property in the vicinity and will not have substantial deleterious effects on existing business districts or the local economy. The fitness gym will not generate any off-site impacts such as noise, odor, smoke, light, or vibration at any time of its operation. Operating between the hours of 10:00 P.M. and 7:00 A.M. will not have an adverse impact on neighboring properties. The use of the tenant space for a fitness gym does not result in a lack of retail tenant spaces in the vicinity.
4. The proposed use relates favorably to the General Plan. The project is located within the Community Commercial General Plan Land Use District. General Plan Guiding Policy 2.5a dictates that retail business and service areas, which includes Community Commercial, promote retail business and services space to enable Alameda to realize its full retail sales potential and provide Alameda residents with the full range of retail business and services. The project will not impede the City’s ability to realize its full retail sales potential, particularly in the City’s West End. The project will help the Marina Village shopping center provide for a full range of retail business and services.
1. Compliance with Plans. Any modification on this site shall be in substantial compliance with the use permit application submittal dated May 31, 2016, by Milton Folas, on file in the City of Alameda Community Development Department, except as modified by the conditions listed in this report.
2. Changes to Approved Plans: This approval is limited to the scope of the project defined in the project description and does not represent a recognition and/or approval of any work completed without required City permits. Any changes to the approved scope of the project shall be submitted to the Community Development Department for review and approval.
3. Vesting: The Use Permit approval shall expire two (2) years after the date of approval or by July 19, 2016 unless authorized construction or use of the property has commenced. The applicant may apply for a time extension, not to exceed two (2) years. An extension request will be subject to approval by the Zoning Administrator and must be filed prior to the date of expiration.
4. Sign Permits: The applicant/developer shall obtain required permits for signs that are compliant with the Marina Village Shopping Center Sign Program.
5. Noise: The applicant shall ensure that all operations are conducted in conformance with the Noise Ordinance. Complaints from neighbors shall be cause for a public hearing to modify or revoke this Use Permit.
6. Revocation: This Use Permit may be modified or revoked by the Zoning Administrator, pursuant to Alameda Municipal Code Section 30-21.3d should the Zoning Administrator determine that: 1) the use or conditions under which it is being operated or maintained is detrimental to the public health, welfare or materially injurious to property or improvements in the vicinity; 2) the property is operated or maintained so as to constitute a public nuisance; or 3) the use is operated in violation of the conditions of the Use Permit.
7. Indemnification. The Applicant shall defend (with counsel reasonably acceptable to the City), indemnify, and hold harmless the City of Alameda, the Alameda City Planning Board and their respective agents, officers, and employees from any claim, action, or proceeding (including legal costs and attorney’s fees) against the City of Alameda, Alameda City Planning Board, and their respective agents, officers, or employees to attack, set aside, void or annul, an approval by the City of Alameda, the Community Development Department, Alameda City Planning Board, the City of or City Council related to this project. The City shall promptly notify the Applicant of any claim, action, or proceeding and the City shall cooperate in such defense. The City may elect, in its sole discretion, to participate in the defense of said claim, action, or proceeding. No judicial proceedings subject to review pursuant to California Code of Civil Procedure Section 1094.5 may be prosecuted more than ninety (90) days following the date of this decision plus extensions authorized by California Code of Civil Procedure Section 1094.6
Environmental Determination
The Zoning Administrator has determined that this project qualifies for a Class 1 Categorical Exemption and no additional environmental review is necessary pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15301(c) - Existing Facilities because the project consists of the operation of an existing structure that involves a negligible expansion of use beyond what is existing.
Use Permit
The Zoning Administrator hereby approves the Use Permit with conditions.
The decision of the Zoning Administrator shall be final unless appealed to the Planning Board, in writing and within ten (10) days of the decision.
Approved by: Date: ___