Title
Draft Meeting Minutes-November 13, 2018
Body
DRAFT MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING OF THE
CITY OF ALAMEDA PLANNING BOARD
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2018
1. CONVENE
President Sullivan convened the meeting at 7:00pm
2. FLAG SALUTE
3. ROLL CALL
Present: President Sullivan, Board Members Cavanaugh, Curtis, Teague.
Absent: Board Members Mitchell, Saheba, Rothenberg.
4. AGENDA CHANGES AND DISCUSSION
*None*
5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
*None*
6. CONSENT CALENDAR
*None*
7. REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS
7-A 2018-6173
General Plan Annual Report and Land Use Element Text Amendments. Applicant: City of Alameda. Public hearing to consider an Annual Report on the Status of the General Plan and proposed General Plan Text Amendments to resolve conflicting language between the residential density standards in the 1991 Land Use Element with the residential density standards adopted in the 2012 Housing Element to bring the General Plan into conformance with state housing law. The amendment also includes clarifications regarding business park development standards and an update to the development and demographic projections for the period 2020-2040. The proposed amendments are categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15061(b)(3), the general rule that CEQA only applies to actions that have the potential to cause a significant impact on the environment
Staff Member Thomas gave a presentation. The staff report and attachments can be found at: <https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3716309&GUID=1FBCF269-EFB7-4C72-A4E5-BD723FBF7D77&FullText=1> .
Board Member Cavanaugh asked if the discrepancy between gross and net acreage for determining housing capacity was only a typo.
Staff Member Thomas said he is not sure what they were thinking in 1991. He said state law was less precise then. He said the state has taken a much more prescriptive approach to how we treat land today.
Board Member Cavanaugh asked what was really planned and developed at the Harbor Bay Business Park in the past.
Staff Member Thomas said the original documents envisioned 5,000,000 sq. ft. of office space with 8-10 story buildings. He said the business park ended up with much more manufacturing and industrial space with much lower floor area ratios. He said the 0.5 FAR has always been applied along the waterfront.
Board Member Curtis said that when he was involved with Harbor Bay, they never planned to build any ten story buildings because the airport would preclude that possibility. He said the FAR was put in the maintain the view corridors. He said the FAR can be violated as long as parking and landscaping and other requirements remain in place to maintain quality projects.
Board Member Teague asked why a sentence explaining FAR was proposed to be removed.
Staff Member Thomas said that it was just for clarity and could be left in as a definition.
Board Member Teague asked if simplifying the General Plan language to refer to other documents can be done to prevent duplication and conflicts.
Staff Member Thomas said that was an option. He said the plan needs to have information regarding projections.
Board Member Teague pointed out other areas where the General Plan can refer to other documents like the Zoning Map. He asked a technical question regarding the Harbor Bay Business Park development agreement and looked for an interpretation of the appropriate resolutions.
Staff Member Thomas said that he believes staff has been interpreting the agreement with the same intent that Board Member Teague described.
Board Member Teague said the calculation about Alameda’s population growth since 1990 appears to be off. He asked if the RHNA (Regional Housing Needs Allocation) projections in the plan reflect recently passed housing laws by the state.
Staff Member Thomas said they did not and that we do not know yet what the next RHNA will be.
President Sullivan asked if the 325 units in the Guyton Settlement had already been built.
Staff Member Thomas said that not all the units had been built. He said the density bonus has made the Guyton Amendment less relevant.
President Sullivan asked what it is about old houses that lead to so much greenhouse gas emissions.
Staff Member Thomas said that they tend to be very energy inefficient.
President Sullivan asked if the projections accounted for the cyclical nature of the economy.
Staff Member Thomas said the demographers use sophisticated models, but are looking 20 years out and there are lots of unknowns.
President Sullivan asked if the FAR restrictions would apply to all bayfront properties, or only the ones across the lagoon from homes.
Board Member Teague asked if they could apply the 0.5 FAR to all shoreline properties if they chose.
Staff Member Thomas said that they could.
President Sullivan opened the public hearing.
Brian Trumper, Freeport Homeowners, asked that the board not change anything from the status quo that would affect the Esplanade project. He said Village 5 is having a presidents’ meeting tomorrow and most people are just learning about the hotel project. He asked that any Planning Board meeting on the hotel be delayed.
President Sullivan said the hotel proposal is not on the agenda. She said the FAR requirements are not changing for that site. She said the hotel will be on the next agenda.
Mr. Trumper expressed frustration over the process from the point of view of a “regular citizen.”
Vijay Patel said the meeting has been clarifying regarding FAR and would have a large impact on his proposed hotel.
President Sullivan closed the public hearing.
Board Member Teague said he would be willing to modify the first two items tonight, but is not ready to move forward the 2040 paragraph. He said he would be looking for changes he explained earlier to have the General Plan refer to other documents to reduce duplication. He said he wants to try and prevent the need to amend multiple documents any time a change in policy is needed. He said the intent of the 0.5 FAR appeared to apply to the shoreline properties and not the entire business park. He said he would be in support of that clarification.
President Sullivan asked if eliminating some information in the General Plan would make the document less clear. She asked Board Member Teague what, for example, he would eliminate in the low density housing section.
Board Member Teague read the clause that he would remove. He said he would be okay leaving the existing numbers. He said he would like to refer to exemptions in the zoning code. He said he did not want to call out specific sections in case the state passes new laws or we change the zoning code.
Board Member Curtis asked if these changes would cover the gap when the Harbor Bay development agreement expires.
Staff Member Thomas said the General Plan, zoning, and prior development plans will still govern the business park.
Board Member Curtis thanked staff and said his colleagues have done a great job providing feedback and flexibility on the issue.
Board Member Teague made a motion to recommend that the City Council make changes to the General Plan as specified by staff with the following changes: the FAR sentence be restored, strike the follow on clauses in the descriptions of the residential densities, rewrite the residential density exemption to be referential to other documents, under the specific mixed use drop the clause referring to x units, clarify that the 0.5 FAR for the Harbor Bay Business Park is applicable to waterfront properties.
Staff Member Thomas sought clarification regarding which properties the FAR would apply to.
President Sullivan read the original language referring to Bay Edge road.
Board Member Teague pointed on the map where his interpretation of shoreline properties would refer to, from the ferry terminal down to where the road turns away from the runway near the marsh.
Board Member Cavanaugh seconded the motion.
President Sullivan asked to see the final language when it is drafted.
Staff Member Thomas said that he will provide that information before it goes to the City Council.
The motion passed 4-0
Staff Member Thomas reviewed his notes on the projections language to make sure he understood the board’s direction.
The board briefly discussed vehicle counts and patterns for the tubes and how that is framed in the projections.
Board Member Teague said the section on projections gives the impression that there is no transportation problem on the island.
Board Member Cavanaugh said we are moving forward with the housing plans before properly evaluating the climate change and transportation issues and properly planning.
8. MINUTES
8-A 2018-6169
Draft Meeting Minutes - May 29th, 2018
Board Member Teague made a motion to approve the minutes. Board Member Curtis seconded the motion. The motion passed 4-0.
8-B 2018-6170
Draft Meeting Minutes - September 24, 2018
Board Member Teague asked staff to go back and correct the motion on the cannabis item. He said he sent the correct language with timestamps to City Council and staff to refer to.
President Sullivan corrected a typo.
Board Member Curtis asked that the corrected minutes be distributed to the board members so they can ensure their records are up to date.
No action was taken.
9. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
9-A 2018-6171
Community Development Department Recent Actions and Decisions
The staff report can be found at:
<https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3716307&GUID=F11E9A0B-86AD-4DA4-8234-4E04FFFEF5CF&FullText=1>
Staff Member Thomas said that 1557 4th St. was pulled from the list of approvals.
9-B 2018-6172
Future Public Meetings and Upcoming Community Development Department Projects The schedule of future items can be found at:
<https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3716308&GUID=F5FEC973-BE1D-4309-9217-71A883A18B84>
Staff Member Thomas said there would be an open house of the Shipways site the Tuesday before Thanksgiving from 8-10am.
10. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
*None*
11. BOARD COMMUNICATIONS
*None*
12. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
*None*
13. ADJOURNMENT
President Sullivan adjourned the meeting at 8:51pm.