Title
PLN18-0562 - Planned Development Amendment, Final Development Plan, Design Review, and Zoning Text Amendment - 2331 North Loop Road - Applicant: John Lipp on behalf of the Friends of the Alameda Animal Shelter (FAAS). Public hearing to consider a Planned Development Amendment, Final Development Plan, Design Review, and Zoning Text Amendment for a new approximately 12,000 square foot two-story facility for FAAS that would have indoor boarding for up to 37 animals, adoption and veterinary services, administrative offices, and community events. The project is located in the C-M-PD (Commercial Manufacturing, Planned Development) Zoning District. The City previously certified/adopted a Final Environmental Impact Report for Harbor Bay Isle (EIR) and Addendum to the EIR (collectively, Previous CEQA Documents) in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). None of the circumstances necessitating further CEQA review are present, thus the City can rely on the Previous CEQA Documents.
Body
To: Honorable President and
Members of the Planning Board
From: Andrew Thomas
Acting Planning Building and Transportation Director
Date: June 10, 2019
BACKGROUND
The Friends of the Alameda Animal Shelter (FAAS) is proposing to build an approximately 12,000 square foot, two-story facility on an approximately 0.45 acre vacant lot at 2331 North Loop Road. The site is located where North Loop Road takes a turn towards the south, creating an irregular, almost triangular-shape lot. The site abuts the Bright Horizons Day Care to the north, four single-family homes on Ratto Road to the west, and the VF Outdoor service facility to the south.
FAAS has managed the City’s open-intake animal shelter at 1590 Fortmann Way since 2012, and is planning to expand its operations by moving its administrative offices and adoption services to the proposed facility on North Loop Road. The proposed animal shelter will house FAAS’ administrative offices, provide indoor shelter for up to 37 animals (dogs, cats, and rabbits), and be used to host animal adoptions and community events. The site will also include off street parking, landscaping, and outdoor dog runs on the ground floor and roof top. FAAS will continue its intake and shelter of new animals at the Fortmann location, and will monitor the health and sociability of newly accepted animals until they are deemed ready for adoption, at which point they will be relocated to the new North Loop Road facility. The new facility will also provide veterinary services for animals under care and up for adoption.
This project requires the following entitlements:
• Planned Development Amendment to reduce the required setbacks for the property due to the unusual shape of the lot and existence of a public utility easement along the southern third of the property.
• Final Development Plan and Design Review for site plan and architectural approval.
• Zoning Text Amendment to allow animal shelters with outdoor animal runs as a conditionally permitted use in the C-M, Commercial-Manufacturing Zoning District.
• Subsequent Use Permit approval by the Zoning Administrator after the Zoning Text Amendment becomes effective.
ANALYSIS
Site Constraints
The subject site is irregularly shaped and the existence of a utility easement bisecting the southern third of the site makes compliance with the PD regulations a challenge. The project site’s irregular shape is caused by the orientation of North Loop Road and the presence of a knuckle in the road along the property’s street frontage. This knuckle causes the southern portion of the lot to be wider than the northern portion. Sheet A1-0 of the plans (Exhibit 1) shows the location of the minimum required setbacks on the property. The majority of the building envelope is located in the southern, wider, portion of the lot. However, EBMUD has a twenty-foot (20’) public utility easement (PUE) across the middle of this area that prohibits structures. The PUE is for EBMUD to access equipment located on the lagoon parcel directly west of the project site. The building envelope at the northern portion of the lot is only twenty-four (24’) feet at its most narrow point.
Proposed Development Plan (Site Plan)
The layout of the project is influenced by site constraints such as the shape of the parcel and presence of easements. A new driveway curb-cut is proposed at the southern end of the property and parking will be along a landscaped area on the southern property line. The building is situated on the upper two thirds of the lot and has a rectangular footprint. The outdoor dog run is located at the north of the property, directly adjacent to the shared property line with the Bright Horizons day care center. To maintain a rectangular footprint, the building is located within the required setbacks that necessitate a Planned Development Amendment. Table 1 compares how the proposed project relates to the PD regulations:
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Table 1: Development Regulations |
|
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Standard Regulations: |
Proposed: |
Compliance: |
|
Maximum Building Height |
35 ft. |
30 ft. |
Complies |
|
Maximum FAR |
0.5 to 1.0 |
0.57 |
Complies |
|
Maximum Building Coverage |
40% |
30% |
Complies |
|
Minimum Landscape Coverage |
30 % |
32% |
Complies |
|
Minimum Setback from Non-Residential |
10 ft. |
6 ft. 8 inches (at closest point) |
PDA required |
|
Minimum Setback from Residential |
35 ft. |
23 ft. |
PDA required |
|
Minimum Setback from North Loop Road |
25 ft. |
8 ft. 2 inches (at closest point) |
PDA required |
|
Parking |
30 spaces |
7 spaces onsite 23 spaces offsite |
Complies with Shared Parking regulations |
Planned Development Amendment
The Planned Development (PD) regulations for the Harbor Bay Business Park were adopted in 1981. The PD regulations prescribe minimum setbacks, height limits and other development standards that apply to all property located within the business park. As the business park developed over the years, individual sites have obtained approval of Planned Development Amendments (PDA) by the Planning Board to modify the development standards to fit the project.
Under the PD regulations in AMC 30-4.13.m, changes in the permitted minimum lot area and width, building height limit, maximum main building coverage, or yard requirements require a PDA. Staff is recommending approval of a PDA that would establish the site plan on Sheet A1-0 of Exhibit 1 as the required building setbacks for the lot. The site plan represents the most efficient use of the lot’s irregular shape, while accommodating the building, parking, and areas associated with animal shelter functions.
Despite the need for a PDA for reduced building setbacks, the proposed site plan is sensitive to the adjacent neighbors and neighborhood access. To the west of the site are four single family homes that abut the project site. The project provides a twenty-three (23’) setback from the homes, providing a total building separation of over forty-feet (40’) building to building. The setback area will be a “sensory garden,” which is an outdoor landscaped area with trees to offer a nice buffer between the two uses. Furthermore, the new building’s exterior wall is thirty-feet (30’) tall, which is no taller than the maximum height of two-story homes in the residential neighborhood. FAAS also discussed the project plans with the homeowners and there were no objections. These factors combined justify the PDA for a twenty-three (23’) rear yard setback. In terms of connections to adjacent open space, pedestrians currently use the vacant site as access between the lagoon and the shoreline. The proposed site plan will provide an improved walkway that will allow pedestrians to continue passing through the property.
Parking
The total floor area of the building is 11,899 square feet. The Harbor Bay Business Park Planned Development regulations require two and a half parking spaces per one-thousand square feet (2.5 per 1,000 SF), therefore the project is required to provide 30 parking spaces. The project is proposing seven parking spaces on-site. FAAS also has an agreement to use the parking lot across the street at 2100 North Loop Road to accommodate the remaining 23 spaces. Per AMC Section 30-7.7 Separate or Combined Use of Facilities, shared use of off-site parking facilities is permitted if the parking lot is located within one-thousand feet (1,000’) walking distance of the project site. The proposed parking arrangement is suitable for the animal shelter because the use does not generate a substantial volume of vehicular traffic. The offsite parking across the street is also appropriate when the facility is hosting community events. Furthermore, street parking is available along North Loop Road. AMC Section 30-7.7 also requires signage at the off-site parking facility to inform users of the shared use, and a minimum 7-year joint access and parking agreement. Staff recommends as a condition of approval compliance with all the requirements set forth in AMC Section 30-7.7.
Building Design
The proposed two-story building has a footprint of 5,799 square feet and a second floor of the same size. The form, massing and modern architectural style of the building is consistent with other office and flex space developments built and under construction along North Loop Road. The exterior of the building will be clad in red brick veneer, with windows evenly spaced across all the elevations. Upper floor and lower floor windows are also vertically aligned. Windows will be surrounded by metal fins to provide depth. Half of the front façade is recessed 20 feet due to the knuckle of North Loop Road, which results in reducing the apparent massing of the building while adding articulation and visual interest.
The height of the building is thirty feet (30’) as measured from grade to the top of the roof parapet. On the southern end of the roof there is an approximately 975 square foot outdoor dog run area and an approximately 950 square foot, ten foot (10’) tall pavilion that provides cover for a portion of the dog run, in addition to storage space, and access to the roof. The pavilion is centered on the roof and setback away from the edge of the building.
Landscaping
The aggregate area of new landscaping is approximately 6,200 square feet, which makes the project subject to the City’s Bay Friendly and Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance (WELO). The project applicant will be required to provide a completed WELO Landscape Document Package, which ensures water usage is optimized for native landscaping and approved prior to issuance of building permits.
The area between the building and western property line, shared with the residences, will be landscaped with a “sensory garden” that features five Cajeput Trees and planting areas that have a plant palette that includes Lavender, Yarrow, Purple Sage and Common Thyme. The area between the building and North Loop Road on the east side of the property will feature planting areas with a plant palette that includes plants such as Crepe Myrtle trees, Dwarf Matt Rush, Monkey Flower, and Common Thyme. The dog run on the north side will have artificial turf ground cover to allow for routine maintenance and cleaning to help avoid accumulation of animal waste.
The driveway, drive aisles, and parking spaces are all proposed to have “grass-crete” ground cover, which is a ground cover that is made up of open concrete pavers with grass planted between openings in the pavers. The benefit is that the concrete pavers allow for an all-weather and dustless surface, consistent with AMC Section 30-7.16 (Surface Improvement of Parking Lots), in addition to a largely permeable surface that greatly reduces stormwater runoff.
Zoning Text Amendment
Currently, the project site’s C-M-PD (Commercial Manufacturing, Planned Development) zoning district only permits animal shelters by right when located at least two-hundred feet (200’) away from a residential zoning district. Meanwhile, veterinary clinics and veterinary hospitals can be located within two-hundred feet (200’) of residential zones with the approval of a use permit. The intent of these regulations is to protect residential land uses from the noise and odor generated when animals are housed in outdoor pens and are unsupervised for the majority of the time. The project is directly adjacent to and shares its east property line with four single family lots within the R-1-PD Zoning District, and therefore is within two-hundred feet of a residential zone.
FAAS plans to board all animals in indoor pens and only utilize outdoor runs when supervised by employees or volunteers. Staff is recommending a Zoning Text Amendment that would allow indoor animal shelters and supervised outdoor runs with the approval of a use permit in the C-M zoning district. The use permit process will allow the City to review proposals to ensure FAAS provides adequate soundproofing and air ventilation so the indoor animal shelter will not generate noise and odor nuisances on nearby homes, and the operation of the outdoor runs will not result in prolonged or excessive noise and odor. Additionally, the AMC grants the Planning Board authority to review approved use permits in instances of alleged violations of conditions and to modify or revoke use permits as warranted. With these provisions in place, animal shelters with supervised outdoor runs could be operated near residential uses with the threat of nuisances minimized.
Staff is recommending three Zoning Text Amendments, proposed new text is underlined and deleted text has strikethrough (Exhibit 2):
1. Add a definition for the term “Animal Shelter” in the Definitions section (AMC 30-2), as follows:
“Animal shelter shall mean a facility operated for the purpose of impounding or caring for seized, stray, distressed, homeless, abandoned, or unwanted animals.”
2. Clarify uses permitted in the C-M zoning district (AMC 30-4.10.b.2.ii) by removing the undefined terms “kennel” and “pounds,” and leaving the newly defined animal shelters.
“Veterinary clinics, veterinary hospitals, and animal kennels, shelters, or pounds, provided that no such use shall be located within two hundred (200′) feet of any R District unless allowed under a Use Permit and provided, further, that all outside pens or runs shall be screened from all adjacent lots and streets by solid fences or walls no less than six (6′) feet in height,”
3. Add animal shelters and supervised outdoor runs to Uses Requiring Use Permits in the C-M zone by amending AMC 30-4.10.c.3., as follows:
“3. Veterinary clinics and/or veterinary hospitals and animal shelters, including supervised outdoor runs within two hundred (200′) feet of any R District only upon a finding by the Planning Board that sufficient air conditioning and soundproofing will be provided to effectively confine odors and noise so as not to interfere with the public health, safety, and welfare. No outside pens or unsupervised runs shall be permitted,”
Public Art
FAAS also anticipates meeting the project’s Public Art obligation by placing art sculptures in the landscape areas. All public art and their placement will be subject to approval by the Public Art Commission prior to the issuance of building permits.
Conclusion
The site has several physical encumbrances that make its development difficult without adjusting the Planned Development. The proposed site layout makes good use of the limitations of the site layout. The building design is complementary to the surrounding office park while featuring articulation and design details that also make its design unique. The Zoning Text Amendments required to approve the project will allow for beneficial public services while still ensuring proper review and protections for neighbors.
The Zoning Text Amendments require adoption by the City Council; once they become effective, the applicant will apply for approval of the required Use Permit prior to issuance of building permits.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The City previously prepared and certified/adopted the Final Environmental Impact Report for Harbor Bay Isle (EIR) and the Addendum to the EIR (together, Previous CEQA Documents) in accordance with CEQA, which contemplated development of the entirety of the Harbor Bay Business Park. None of the circumstances necessitating further CEQA review are present, thus the City can rely on the Previous CEQA Documents.
RECOMMENDATION
Approve the Planned Development Amendment, Final Development Plan, and Design Review, with findings and conditions set forth in the draft resolution (Exhibit 3), and recommend the City Council adopt by ordinance a Zoning Text Amendment to define “animal shelter” and enumerate animal shelters and supervised outdoor runs as uses requiring a use permit in the C-M zoning district.
Respectfully submitted,
David Sablan, AICP
Planner II
Exhibits:
1. Plans
2. Draft Zoning Text Amendment
3. Draft Resolution
4. Supporting Environmental Documents