Zoning Administrator Hearing

City of Sunnyvale Meeting Minutes Zoning Administrator Hearing Wednesday, September 16, 2020 3:00 PM Telepresence Meeting: City Web Stream TELECONFERENCE NOTICE CALL TO ORDER Michelle King, Zoning Administrator, called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. PUBLIC HEARINGS SPECIAL DEVELOPMENT PERMIT: To demolish an existing restaurant building and landscaping to allow for a new surface parking lot with associated site improvements including new landscaping and site lighting for Costco Wholesale. The project requests a deviation to exceed the maximum number of parking spaces combined with the Costco site and to maintain legal nonconforming bicycle parking. Location: 1210 Kifer Road (APN: 216-27-053) File #: 2020-7365 Zoning: MXD-1 (Flexible Mixed-Use I for the Lawrence Station Area) Applicant / Owner: David Babcock & Associates (applicant) / Costco Wholesale Corporation (owner) Environmental Review: A Class 11 Categorical Exemption relieves this project from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) provisions. Project Planner: Cindy Hom, 408-730-7411, chom@sunnyvale.ca.gov Ms. King inquired with Cindy Hom, project planner, if there were any additions to the staff report. Ms. Hom gave a presentation that stated the basic overview of the project and the reasons for the staff recommended additional Class 1 bicycle spaces. Ms. Hom stated that staff recommended approval of the project per recommended conditions. Ms. King opened the hearing to the applicant and asked if they had any additional comments. Dave Babcock, applicant, gave a brief history of the project. He stated that they had done their best to incorporate as many of the Lawrence Station Area Plan City of Sunnyvale Page 1 Zoning Administrator Hearing Meeting Minutes September 16, 2020 guidelines as possible. He stated that the addition of the pedestrian walkway and landscaping were part of this. Mr. Babcock also stated that he felt that they had addressed new issues that had arisen during the current application. He stated that he felt he had misinterpreted the bicycle parking issues. He said that the bicycle racks currently on site were not being used and that additional bike lockers would be wasted space. Mr. Babcock stated that they had nothing against bicycle riding. He said that they had taken a survey of warehouse managers in Northern California and found that not many employees rode bicycles. He further stated that they wanted to meet the spirit of the recommended condition PS-1 and asked that the Class 1 requirement be changed to Class 2. Ms. King opened the hearing to public comment and asked if anyone wished to do so. Joey Mariano, Senior Office Assistant, stated that there were no callers. Ms. King closed the public comments. Ms. King stated that she appreciated Costco's position on employee bicycle habits, but asked that they accept the condition for the five additional secured spaces. She suggested that possibly Costco could get creative and have the spaces inside the building. Mr. Babcock inquired with the Gerardo Fuentes, applicant, if he felt this was possible. Mr. Fuentes stated that Costco had done this before as an alternative to the Class 1 enclosure in other instances. He stated that they could come up with and indoor rack for employees specifically. Ms. King stated that having spaces inside the building would meet the intent of the condition. Mr. Babcock stated he was okay with this. Ms. King closed the public hearing. ACTION: Approved subject to the findings and conditions of approval located in the staff report with a modification to condition PS-1 to accommodate bicycle parking inside the building. City of Sunnyvale Page 2 Zoning Administrator Hearing Meeting Minutes September 16, 2020 Proposed Project: VARIANCE: to allow the replacement of an electrical panel board and add additional equipment to be located between the street and face of the building. Location: 623 W. Fremont Ave. (APN: 202-06-001) File #: 2020-7250 Zoning: R-1 Applicant / Owner: California Water Company Environmental Review: A Class 3 exemption relieves this project from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) provisions. Project Planner: Cindy Hom, (408) 730-7411, chom@sunnyvale.ca.gov Ms. King inquired with Cindy Hom, project planner, if there were any additions to the staff report. Ms. Hom gave a basic overview of the project. She stated that staff recommended approval of the project per recommended conditions. Ms. King inquired if the applicant wished to ask questions or make a statement. Hass Adada, applicant, stated that the equipment was old and needed replacing. He said he agreed with the conditions of approval. Ms. King opened the hearing to public comment and asked if anyone wished to do so. Seeing no one, Ms. King closed the public hearing. ACTION: Approved subject to the findings and conditions of approval located in the staff report. ADJOURNMENT Ms. King adjourned the hearing at 3:33 p.m. City of Sunnyvale Page 3