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PC MINS 20120214 Approved Februa 8 0 2 CITY OF RANCHO PALOS VERDES PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES REGULAR MEETING FEBRUARY 14, 2012 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chairman Tomblin at 7-07 p.m. at the Fred Hesse Community Room, 29301 Hawthorne Boulevard. FLAG SALUTE Commissioner Emenhiser led the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance. ATTENDANCE Present-, Commissioners Emenhiser, Gerstner, Leon, Lewis, Vice Chairman Tetreault, and Chairman Tomblin. Absent: None Also present were Community Development Director Rojas, Associate Planner Kim, and Code Enforcement Officer Peterson APPROVAL OF AGENDA The Agenda was unanimously approved as presented, COMMUNICATIONS Director Rojas reported that at their last meeting the City Council approved the proposed code amendment to allow an open space hazard boundary line to be adjusted up to 100 feet, as recommended by the Planning Commission, The City Council also directed staff and the Planning Commission to no longer pursue a code amendment to establish a floor-area-ratio requirement on residential properties. He also noted the selection Planning Commissioners to fill the three current vacant seats is scheduled on the City Council's February 21$t agenda, Director Rojas distributed two letters for agenda item No, 1, two letters and six photos for agenda item No. 6, and two letters for agenda item No. 4. COMMENTS FROM THE AUDIENCE (regarding non-agenda items): None CONSENT CALENDAR 1. Ancilla a Residential Zone Text Amendment (ZON201l.-00089): Commissioner Gerstner moved to approve the Consent Calendar, seconded' by Commissioner Emenhiser. PC Resolution 2012-02 was adopted (4-0-1) with Commissioner Lewis abstaining and Vice Chairman Tetreault absent. CONTINUED BUSINESS 2. View Restoration Permit No. 2010-00010 Director Rojas noted that staff was recommending this item be continued to the February 28th Planning Commission meeting, however staff was requesting the item actually be continued to the March 13, 2012 meeting. The Commission unanimously agreed to continue this item to the March 13, 2012 meeting as requested. PUBLIC HEARINGS 1 Heiqht Variation and Site Plan Review HEIGHT VARIATION AND SITE PLAN REVIEW (ZON2011-002§.0 31003 Rue Langlois Associate Planner Kim presented the staff report, describing the existing residence and the proposed remodel. In regards to neighborhood compatibility, she explained that the general architectural style of the building will remain, showing several diagrams of the existing and proposed residence. She stated that the abutting neighbors to the north submitting concerns regarding the north fagade of the proposed residence, however staff does not feel the proposed project will appear bulky or massive as explained in the staff report. She noted that many times when a neighbor has a concern with bulk and mass staff will recommend the upper floor be set back a few feet. However, in this case staff does not feel that recessing the upper floor would help since the close proximity of the two homes as well as the height difference would mean that any second story addition will be visible to the neighboring home. She stated the same neighbor also expressed privacy concerns, but explained that the windows facing both side properties are clear-story windows and staff did not feel there were any privacy impacts. She stated that staff was able to make all of the necessary findings and was recommending approval of the project as conditioned in the staff report. Commissioner Leon noted that there were quite a few submittals of the application before it was considered complete and asked staff if it is typical to have so many iterations to have a complete application. Planning Commission Minutes February 14,2012 Page 2 Associate Planner Kim explained that when the application was first submitted staff had concerns with the architectural style, bulk and mass. In order to address those concerns it took multiple submittals to get to the project before the Commission, Chairman Tomblin opened the public hearing. Jeff Wellman (applicant) explained that one of the redesigns was not at the request of the Planning staff, but rather the redesign was done to address concerns that some of the neighbors had raised. He stated he was available for any questions the Commission might have. There being no questions, Chairman Tomblin closed the public hearing. Vice Chairman Tetreault arrived and took his seat at the dais. Commissioner Lewis moved to approve the project as recommended by staff, seconded by Commissioner Emenhiser. Director Rojas explained that since no new information was submitted during the public hearing, Vice Chairman Tetreault would be eligible to vote on this item. Vice Chairman Tetreault disclosed that he had met with the applicant at his property, discussed the application, but did not obtain any information from his that was not already presented in the staff report. The motion to approve the project was approved and PC Resolution 2012-03 was adopted (6-0). 4. Code Amendment to limit the number of garage sales Code Enforcement Officer Peterson presented the staff report, giving a brief background of why the code amendment initiation request came before the City Council, and staffs recommendations on limiting the number of garage sales allowed on a residential property, Commissioner Lewis asked staff if the direction from the City Council was to have the Planning Commission approve an Ordinance or was the direction from the City Council to decide whether or not an Ordinance was appropriate, Director Rojas explained that when an initiation request is brought to the City Council and the Council doesn't think it's a good idea they will direct staff not to go forward with it; however, if they feel the initiation request has some merit they will direct staff and the Planning Commission to investigate the proposal and make their best recommendation to the City Council. Planning Commission Minutes February 14,2012 Page 3 Commissioner Lewis asked staff if a resident is required to have a business license if they are running a business out of their home. Director Rojas answered that residents are required to obtain a business license to operate a business out of their home. He also explained that when this particular garage sale problem first was brought to the City's attention he had asked the City Attorney if there was a way the City could consider a garage sale a business that is not allowed in a residential neighborhood. The City Attorney felt that the City could say that having multiple garage sales constitutes a business, however since historically the City has never done that and there is nothing in the Municipal Code that specifically regulates this, in order to successfully prohibit multiple garage sale problems she felt that it would be better to put something in the Code that is specific to garage sales, Commissioner Emenhiser asked what neighborhood the complaining party lived in, and if it was a problem that could be dealt with through the HOA, Director Rojas answered that the garage sales in question are in the Grandview neighborhood, and was not aware of an active HOA in that neighborhood, Commissioner Ernenhiser stated establishing such an Ordinance may be a burden for staff as well as a burden for the residents in order to solve an issue that was brought up by one resident or one street in the City. Commissioner Gerstner understood restricting garage sales to two per year, but questioned why requiring 90 days between garage sales, Code Enforcement Officer Peterson explained that a garage sale that takes place on a Saturday and a Sunday is considered one garage sale, and that spacing them out so that there are at least 90 days between garage sales might help address the concern that there can be two garage sales in the last weekends of December and two garage sales in the first weekends of January, thereby having four garage sales in a row. Commissioner Gerstner felt that two garage sales per year are two per year, whether spaced 90 days apart or on two consecutive weekends. If the two garage sales are on consecutive weekends, then the resident would not be able to have any more for the entire year. Commissioner Leon stated he was somewhat surprised that there is not a nuisance type of Ordinance already in the Municipal Code to deal with this type of situation, He felt that for as limited a problem that this appears to be within the City, that more restrictions shouldn't be added to the Municipal Code. Director Rojas agreed, however he explained that when this situation first came to the City's attention the code enforcement officer spoke to the resident having garage sales, explaining the concerns the neighbors were having over excessive garage sales. The garage sales seemed to stop for a few months, but eventually started up again. The Planning Commission Minutes February 14,2012 Page 4 City Attorney looked at the code and felt it may be a bit problematic to obtain a legal remedy in these situations. Therefore, the City Attorney recommended adding language to regulate the number of garage sales so that enforcement would shift to staff and administrative citations, which is much more cost effective than nuisance lawsuits through the City Attorney's office. Commissioner Leon asked if staff really thought people would register their garage sales with the Community Development Department. Director Rojas explained that staffs intent was to have language in the Municipal Code so that if a resident came to the City complaining that their neighbor was having excessive garage sales, there would be the appropriate language in the Code to do something about it. He stated that it was not staff's intent to proactively look for garage sale violations. Chairman Tomblin discussed garage sale frequencies, and suggested allowing three garage sales at a residence over a twelve month period. He also asked staff if this proposed Ordinance would cover estate sales, Director Rojas read the proposed definition of garage sale to the Commission. He also discussed an incident in the City several years ago where an estate sale was advertised and people from other cities brought items to the residence to sell. The proposed Ordinance would help regulate this. Chairman Tomblin opened the public hearing. Director Rojas noted that no speaker slips had been submitted, but did refer to a late correspondence that had been distributed to the Commission. He explained that the email was from the resident who had initially raised her concerns to the City Council, stating she was unable to attend the Planning Commission meeting. He noted that she had previously submitted a petition from other residents in her neighborhood concerned with the frequency of garage sales, Chairman Tomblin closed the public hearing. Commissioner Lewis moved to recommend the City Council not move forward with this proposed code amendment regarding the frequency of garage sales, seconded by Commissioner Emenhiser. Commissioner Lewis added that he personally does not like having frequent garage sales in his neighborhood, but did not think there was a need for an Ordinance, He suggested that the HOA could better enforce garage sale frequencies in their neighborhoods, or if there is no HOA he suggested being neighborly and talking to the resident, Planning Commission Minutes February 14,2012 Page 5 Commissioner Emenhiser asked staff if they felt this particular garage sale was a business being run from the home, or if it was truly a garage sale, Director Rojas answered that from looking at the pictures submitted to staff, it did not appear to be a business as there were just small miscellaneous items that one would typically see being sold at a regular garage sale. Commissioner Emenhiser agreed with Commissioner Lewis' comments, adding that in this case it sounded more like neighbors having a problem with one particular neighbor and did not think this should be the cause for an Ordinance that would apply to the entire City. He did not think this proposed Ordinance met the common sense threshold, and did not want to see the City suffer from regulation creep. Commissioner Gerstner supported the motion and the comments made by Commissioner Emenhiser. Vice Chairman Tetreault referred to the role of the State Board of Equalization, and asked if staff was proposing to report the excessive garage sales to the State so that they can also enforce their regulations. Director Rojas answered that reporting a resident having more than two garage sales in a twelve month period to the State is an avenue that is now available to staff or a resident. Commissioner Gerstner suggested an alternate Ordinance that simply states that there shall be no garage sales in the City that are not consistent and in compliance with the regulations of the State Board of Equalization. He felt that this would then give the City something they could enforce. Director Rojas felt this could be done, however it would not restrict the number of garage sales allowed, only require the resident to get a sellers permit in order to have more than two garage sales in the twelve month period. Commissioner Gerstner understood, but did not think most residents would want to get a sellers permit and be subject to sales tax on the items they sold, and therefore not hold more than two sales per twelve month period. Vice Chairman Tetreault asked if the City would become involved if a resident were running a commercial business from their home in a residentially zoned area, Director Rojas explained that businesses are allowed in residential zones through a Home Occupation Permit. However the Home Occupation Permit does have very specific regulations involved. Vice Chairman Tetreault asked if a garage sale would qualify for a Home Occupation Permit. Planning Commission Minutes February 14,2012 Page 6 Director Rojas stated that would be a different regulatory approach which would include qualifying a garage sale as a business, which would then be addressed through the City Business License Department. Vice Chairman Tetreault understood that the idea behind the proposed Ordinance was to only catch the residents who are completely abusing this activity and imposing real hardships upon their neighbors. He did not think the City really expects everyone to register their garage sales with the City and did not think that code enforcement would be out citing residents who do not have a permit. He questioned if, rather than have no Ordinance, the Commission may want to consider a recommendation to allow up to three or four garage sales per year. Commissioner Lewis did not think that a resident should have to request a permit from the City to hold a garage sale, however if the Commission were to start changing the proposed language he would be in favor of allowing more than two per year. Commissioner Emenhiser stated he could be convinced to allow four garage sales per year, however he still did not believe that it was the job of the City and the Municipal Code to regulate such sales, Chairman Tomblin asked staff if they had researched language to use the Home Occupation Permit process for garage sales. Director Rojas answered that an option may be that the code is written that a resident is allowed up to four garage sales per year by right, and more than four would constitute a business that requires a Home Occupation Permit, He noted that this would not regulate the number of garage sales allowed. He also suggested language that would only allow up to four garage sales per calendar year so that anything over four would be prohibited. Commissioner Leon felt that in general it was a bad idea for government to proactively create preventative laws to solve problems that don't exist. He felt that when this becomes a significant problem within the City, that may then be the appropriate time to address the problem, Vice Chairman could see arguments on both sides of this issue, noting he does not necessarily want to make the Municipal Code any larger; however, he would be more in favor of allowing a maximum of four garage sales per year. The motion recommending that the City Council not move forward with the code amendment regarding regulating the frequency of garage sales was approved, (5- 1) with Vice Chairman Tetreault dissenting. Director Rojas stated that with the public hearing closed a Resolution reflecting the Planning Commission's decision will be on the Consent Calendar at the next meeting. Planning Commission Minutes February 14,2012 Page 7 ITEMS TO BE PLACED ON FUTURE AGENDAS 5. Pre-Agenda for the meeting on Februaa 28, 2012 The Commission reviewed and approved the pre-agenda ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8.05 p.m. Planning Commission Minutes February 14,2012 Page 8