Planning Commission

City of Sunnyvale Meeting Minutes - Final Planning Commission Monday, April 27, 2015 6:30 PM Council Chambers and West Conference Room, City Hall, 456 W. Olive Ave., Sunnyvale, CA 94086 6:30 P.M. PLANNING COMMISSION - STUDY SESSION - WEST CONFERENCE ROOM 1 15-0396 File #: 2015-7152 Location: Citywide Project Description: Design Guidelines for Parking Structures (Study Issue) Staff Contact: Stephanie Skangos, (408) 730-7411, sskangos@sunnyvale.ca.gov 2 15-0394 File #: 2015-7149 Location: Citywide Project Description: Appropriate Locations for Child Care Facilities (Study Issue) Staff Contact: Stephanie Skangos, (408) 730-7411, sskangos@sunnyvale.ca.gov 3 Public Comment on Study Session Agenda Items 4 Comments from the Chair 5 Adjourn Study Session 8:00 P.M. PLANNING COMMISSION - PUBLIC HEARING - COUNCIL CHAMBERS CALL TO ORDER Chair Melton called the meeting to order at 8:00 p.m. SALUTE TO THE FLAG Chair Melton led the salute to the flag. ROLL CALL City of Sunnyvale Page 1 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes - Final April 27, 2015 Present: 6 - Chair Russell Melton Vice Chair Ken Olevson Commissioner Ralph Durham Commissioner Larry Klein Commissioner Ken Rheaume Commissioner David Simons Absent: 1 - Commissioner Sue Harrison PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS/PUBLIC COMMENTS None. CONSENT CALENDAR 1.A 15-0463 Approval of the Draft Minutes of the Planning Commission Meeting of April 13, 2015 Chair Melton pulled the draft minutes and noted that for item 3, Use Permit for 787 N. Mary, the minutes should reflect as part of their recommendation to Council adoption of the Negative Declaration. Chair Melton also noted that potential study issue items would not be sent to City Council for consideration until after final selection and ranking by the Planning Commission later in the year. MOTION: Chair Melton moved to approve the draft minutes as amended. Comm. Klein seconded. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 6 - Chair Melton Vice Chair Olevson Commissioner Durham Commissioner Klein Commissioner Rheaume Commissioner Simons No: 0 Absent: 1 - Commissioner Harrison PUBLIC HEARINGS/GENERAL BUSINESS City of Sunnyvale Page 2 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes - Final April 27, 2015 2 15-0425 File #: 2014-7584 Location: 215 Moffett Park Drive (APN: 110-34-006) Zoning: MPI Proposed Project: Application for a 9.5-acre site located within Moffett Park Specific Plan area. MAJOR MOFFETT PARK DESIGN REVIEW PERMIT: To allow a second 86,400 square foot office R&D building and a new 5,000 square foot restaurant building resulting in a total of 248,460 square feet of building area on the site (59.9% FAR with LEED Gold incentive); and a new 3-level parking structure and associated site work, including requests to deviate from lot coverage and landscaping frontage width requirements Applicant / Owner: Gensler / Four Corners Properties Environmental Review: Mitigated Negative Declaration Shetal Divatia, Senior Planner, presented the staff report, and noted several corrections to be made to the staff report. Comm. Klein clarified with Trudi Ryan, Planning Officer, Condition of Approval (COA) PS-2 concerning minor or major changes, and discussed the meaning of GC-8 regarding treatment of the restaurant site if construction is delayed, and Ms. Ryan said she and Ms. Divatia would clarify it after further discussion. Comm. Durham noted the deficiency of the proposed landscaping and discussed with Ms. Divatia the amount of paving and parking, and discussed with Ms. Ryan the proposed Transportation Demand Management (TDM) program. Comm. Durham suggested having a traffic signal at the intersection of Moffett Park Drive and Borregas Avenue and LED street lights for the offisite improvement plan. Chair Melton verified with Ms. Ryan that the traffic consultant for this project was not in attendance. Comm. Simons discussed with Ms. Ryan alternatives to the proposed grasscrete, and suggested changing the language of the report to clarify when major changes to the exterior would come to the Planning Commission. Comm. Simons also suggested adding language to place Class II bicycle parking in open, visible areas, and commented on the high speed turning movements at the intersection of Moffett Park Drive and Borregas Avenue and how to mitigate those in the future. Ms. Ryan referred the Planning Commission to Attachment 8 in the report for review of the landscaping plans. Chair Melton confirmed with Ms. Divatia that specific findings do not need to be City of Sunnyvale Page 3 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes - Final April 27, 2015 made for the proposed devitaions to approve this project, and that the restaurant design is not being considered because the applicant plans to seek a restaurant franchise after entitlements are granted by the City. Chair Melton also confirmed with Ms. Divatia that the excess of lot coverage does include the restaurant, which would be a maximum of 5,000 square feet, and discussed with Ms. Divatia what the project would look like if the applicant was required to reduce the square footage to reach the 45 percent lot coverage. Chair Melton opened the public hearing. David Wilbur, with Four Corners Properties, presented illustrations and discussed features of the proposed project. He requested the flexibility to leave the wall inside the courtyard blank for recreational use such as watching projected movies. Comm. Klein inquired about the proposed placement of new trees on the site, to which Mr. Wilbur said he would need to contact the landscape architect. Comm. Klein confirmed with Mr. Wilbur that the landscape plan as discussed in the staff report is accurate. Comm. Simons commented on his concern with the appearance of the proposed grasscrete, and discussed with Mr. Wilbur whether he would prefer deferred approval of the landscape or an added condition regarding use of native California species trees. Mr. Wilbur said he would like to contact the project's landscape architect to discuss this choice. Comm. Simons confirmed with Mr. Wilbur that the courtyard wall requested to be blank will have architectural features and will not be a large monolithic structure. Vice Chair Olevson verified with Mr. Wilbur that the project will be tied in to the recycled water program for landscaping. Chair Melton discussed with Mr. Wilbur the proposed green vertical wall, and discussed what the project would look like if the Planning Commission required the applicant to trim the lot coverage to meet the 45 percent standard. Ms. Ryan noted that the landscaping plan shows that of the plants proposed not many are California natives, and commented that not all natives do well with reclaimed water. She suggested adding a condition to explore the use of native species that would do well in that environment to get the right combination of species. Ms. Ryan named the species of trees being proposed. Comm. Durham requested a break to look at the landscaping plan. City of Sunnyvale Page 4 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes - Final April 27, 2015 Richard Yang, with Four Corners Properties, after speaking with the project's landscape architect, provided an update on the landscaping plan. Chair Melton announced a recess of 15 minutes to review the landscape plan. Mr. Wilbur said he learned from the landscape architect that drought tolerant species with a preference for California native trees is ideal language regarding the plan. Chair Melton closed the public hearing. Comm. Klein inquired about staff comments on the review of the restaurant feature, to which Ms. Ryan responded that the language could be changed to say that if construction of the restaurant has not commenced prior to the final inspection of the office buildings, this portion of the site shall be landscaped as approved by the Community Development Department Director. Comm. Durham confirmed with Ms. Ryan that passenger cars as discussed in the Transportation Impact Analysis (TIA) includes pick-ups and SUVs, and Comm. Durham suggested that bike lanes on the east bound section of Moffett Park Drive have lane markings and signs added that indicate bicycles have full use of the lane. Chair Melton discussed with Ms. Ryan the purpose of maximum lot coverage. Comm. Simons moved Alternative 2 to adopt the Mitigated Negative Declaration and approve the Major Moffett Park Design Review Permit with modified conditions: 1) Pavers in parking lot area should be solid and ornamental; 2) Keep the stop signs at the intersection of Moffett Park Drive and Borregas Avenue until the future transition, at which point the problems with turning movements be mitigated; 3) Modify PS-2 to require that changes made to the final exterior building material will go to the Planning Commission for major changes and to the Community Development Director for minor changes; 4) Add to BP-22 that non-secured bicycle parking have open and visible placement; 5) For PS-5, Increase the TDM by 2.5 percent to result in a reduction of 25 percent total average daily trips and 32.5 percent peak hour trips; and, 6) For BP-13, encourage use of California native trees, and City staff evaluate whether a mix of sycamore, oak and incense cedar trees are appropriate specimen trees. City of Sunnyvale Page 5 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes - Final April 27, 2015 Comm. Klein seconded and offered a friendly amendment to change the second sentence of COA GC-8 to say that if construction of the restaurant has not commenced prior to final inspection of the office buildings, this portion of the site shall be landscaped as approved by the Community Development Director Comm. Simons accepted. Comm. Klein offered a friendly amendment to modify PS-1 to require that any added architectural detail and or landscaping elements to the large expanse of concrete wall on the parking structure be approved by the Community Development Director Comm. Simons accepted. Comm. Simons said the applicant is updating an existing building with extra square footage and a parking structure, and that some of the concerns are related mostly to the landscaping and the safety issues at the intersection, and that with review of City staff to make sure it will integrate well this will be an improvement. He said there is an issue with the free right turn if the stops signs come out, request those stay in until there is a need for changes at which time mitigation needs to be done. He said the other issues that have been changed are basically clean up and minor verbage additions to the COAs. Comm. Klein thanked the applicant for going through the process with City staff and the Planning Commission to improve this project, and applauded the applicant for attempting to reuse the existing building, which is the best possibility in terms of trying to be green. He said one issue is lot coverage, but he was able to make the findings because of the odd shape of the lot and that what is there currently is a large piece of black asphalt with quite a bit of surface parking. He said we are increasing lot coverage based on the parking structure and additional buildings and that there is a permeable area and not just one big piece of asphalt. Comm. Klein also said he understands the request for flexibility with the blank wall and he hopes working with the Community Development Director will ensure that whatever the tenant requires fits in with the vision. He said he is still worried about the restaurant but that it will be part of the second design that will come back to the Planning Commission, and noted that it will increase the size of the lot coverage. He added that this is a good project and is not a six or seven story building as seen in Moffett Park and that it is good to have this kind of variety. He said it is also good to add an onsite restaurant as many people complain that there are no places to go in Moffett Park and they have to cross Highways 101 and 237 to get to a place. He said City of Sunnyvale Page 6 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes - Final April 27, 2015 adding that capability to this area is a plus to the surrounding communities and he looks forward to this project moving forward. Comm. Rheaume said he will be supporting the motion and thanked the applicant. He said he likes the design and noted that the applicant wants to establish a unique identity and he likes that the building is not another eight story rectangular structure along Highway 237. He said he understands the lot coverage issue, but he likes the staff explanation that these guidelines were designed before parking structures were considered, and that putting the parking into a structure so there is less pavement onsite is a plus to the project. He said he can make the findings, though he is not happy with removing all of the trees onsite, but he commends staff for the recommendation to plant eight 72-inch box trees. He added that this is a nice design of an example that less is better and that the building will look much better than what is on paper. Comm. Durham offered a friendly amendment to require the latest MUTCD bicycle lane signs be used that say bicyclists have use of the full lane from Moffett Park Drive and Borregas Avenue to the east end of the subject property. Comm. Simons clarified with Ms. Ryan that this amendment is appropriate as a recommendation to the City Traffic Engineer. Comms. Simons and Klein accepted. Comm. Durham said there is a lot to like in this project, and commended staff and the applicant for coming up with a quality project. He said he likes that there will be a bike lane going in at least one direction on Moffett Park Drive, and that the Borregas bridge while making a good connector north and south over Highways 101 and 237 did impinge on the bike lanes for that section of Moffett Park. He said the green wall that will be put up on the parking structure will help to soften it, and that he has seen the green walls on Safeway in Los Altos and he was really impressed by how fast they filled in. He said he is unsure of their lifespan, and noted that they filled in much faster than what CalTrans is putting on the freeway and sound walls. He said he likes that there will be bigger trees going in and that the building is different from the glass boxes. Vice Chair Olevson said he can make the findings that the project meets the Moffett Park Specific Plan and substantially conforms to the design guidelines. He said he likes the concept of reusing existing buildings rather than demolishing and buildling anew, which will be appreciated by homeowners across Highway 237 who complain about high rises going in and blocking their view. He said he shares the City of Sunnyvale Page 7 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes - Final April 27, 2015 concern that there has to be a specific reason for deviating from the lot coverage, but the triangular shape and rectangular add on is so unusual compared to other projects that have a rectangluar lot that this justifies giving the owner and applicant some flexibility in achieving a project that meets the economic guidelines. He said the landscaping as suggested by the maker of the motion will achieve what we are trying to gain in terms of improving this site so he will be supporting the motion. Chair Melton thanked the applicant and said this project has come a long way, and that during the first study session he was not feeling enthusiastic about the project, which is a testament to the applicant working hard and taking the feedback from the Planning Commission. He said this is a nice quality project that has nice bones and that it is good to add on to an existing building rather than demolish with the noise and environmental impacts that brings about. He said the diversity of architecture in Moffett Park with this project will be a good thing, and that we have a lot of multi-story glass-oriented architecture with cube like strucutres so this project provides nice diversity. He said he was struggling with the lot coverage and the way he makes the findings has more to do with the shape of the lot rather than the trade-off on landscaping, so he will be supporting the motion. He added that this was the first time he has had to call a recess to make sure the Planning Commission had the information to come to a conclusion, which is better than continuing the project. MOTION: Comm. Simons moved Alternative 2 to adopt the Mitigated Negative Declaration and approve the Major Moffett Park Design Review Permit with modified conditions: 1) Pavers in parking lot area should be solid and ornamental; 2) Recommend to City Traffic Engineer to keep the stop signs at the intersection of Moffett Park Drive and Borregas Avenue until the future transition, at which point the problems with turning movements be mitigated; 3) Modify PS-2 to require that major changes made to the final exterior building material require Planning Commission approval, and that minor changes may be made by the Community Development Director; 4) Add to BP-22 that non-secured bicycle parking have open and visible placement; 5) PS-5, Increase TDM by 2.5 percent to result in a reduction of 25 percent total average daily trips and 32.5 percent peak hour trips; 6) Add to BP-13 encourage use of California native trees, and City staff evaluate whether a mix of sycamore, oak and incense cedar trees are appropriate specimen trees; 7) In GC-8, change the second sentence to say that if construction of the restaurant has not commenced prior to final inspection of the office buildings, this portion of the site shall be landscaped as approved by the Community Development City of Sunnyvale Page 8 Planning Commission Meeting Minutes - Final April 27, 2015 Director; 8) Modify PS-1 to require that any added architectural detail and or landscaping element(s) to the large expanse of concrete wall on the parking structure may be approved by the Community Development Director; and, 9) Recommend to City Traffic Engineer that the latest MUTCD bicycle lane signs be used that say bicyclists have use of the full lane from Moffett Park Drive and Borregas Avenue to the east end of the subject property. Comm. Klein seconded. The motion carried by the following vote: Yes: 6 - Chair Melton Vice Chair Olevson Commissioner Durham Commissioner Klein Commissioner Rheaume Commissioner Simons No: 0 Absent: 1 - Commissioner Harrison 3 15-0464 Standing Item: Potential Study Issues for 2016 None. NON-AGENDA ITEMS AND COMMENTS -Commissioner Comments -Staff Comments Ms. Ryan discussed Planning related City Council items. INFORMATION ONLY ITEMS None. ADJOURNMENT With no further business Chair Melton adjourned the Planning Commission meeting at 9:42 p.m. City of Sunnyvale Page 9