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PC MINS 19790109M I N U T E S City of Rancho Palos Verdes Planning Commission Regular Adjourned Meeting January 9, 1979 Ca44 The meeting was called to order at 7:40 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 30942 Hawthorne Boulevard, by Chairman Hughes. PRESENT: Bacharach, Brown, McTaggart (late arrival), Hughes ABSENT: Hinchliffe Also present was Assistant Planner Keith Turner. Associate Planner Gary Weber was not present due to illness. APPROVAL OF MINUTES On motion of Dr. Brown, seconded by Mrs. Bacharach, and unanimously car- ried, the minutes of the meeting of December 12, 1978, were approved as presented. On motion of Dr. Brown, seconded by Mrs. Bacharach, and unanimously car- ried, the minutes of the meeting of December 26, 1978, were approved with the following amendment: page 1, paragraph 9, line 2, should read "...re- location of the sewer would be..." Mr. Turner suggested changing the order of the agenda, unless someone was in the audience to speak on Code Amendment No. 5. After ascertaining that there was no one present to speak on Code Amend- ment No. 5, on motion of Dr. Brown, seconded by Mrs. Bacharach, and unani- mously carried, the order of the agenda was changed, making the review of the proposed rest home the first item of business. PRELIMINARY CONCEPT REVIEW Mr. Turner said the applicant would Proposed Rest Home on Crestridge be presenting his pr6ject. He ad- vised the Commission to keep away from detail and avoid direct compari- son with the application which was recently approved. He said staff had not and would not spend a great deal of time reviewing the application at this point and, therefore, may not be able to answer all questions. Mr. Hughes said the purpose of this work session was for the Commission to gain a general overview of the project and give its initial reaction to the applicant. He said there would be no conceptual approval of the pro- ject, that it was only an effort to make the whole process move more smooth- ly both in the interest of the City and for the applicant's benefit. Mr. McTaggart arrived at 7:45 p.m. Lester Barron, 923 N. Lucile, Los Angeles, applicant, said statistics indi- cate that the "over 65" group was about to double in numbers. He said age groups in institutional facilities have increased, that people are living longer. Bob Benson, 441 East lst Street, Long Beach, architect, reviewed the plans. He said he attempted to build a three -separate -building concept with the following objectives in mind: 1) limit the grading as much as possible; 2) save the trees; and 3) keep the buildings as low profile as possible. He said they put bridges connecting the central building because of the age of the future residents. He reviewed the proposed parking, the ser- vice road and access. He said the structures were proposed to be two story and showed the preliminary elevations. He said the center building contained the central kitchen, storage, office, recreational facilities, lobby area, craft room and shop, etc. He said there was a central open patio area in the residential areas. He said they may put a living type room or small recreation room in the residential buildings. He said the existing structure would be used for storage and structural problems, they would eliminate it. He vators in each of the buildings and balconies for struction proposed was wood frame. that if it presents more said there would be ele- each unit. He said con - L. Barron said the level of care proposed was supervised care, only for ambulatory patients. Paul Barron showed two different drawings of proposed rooms and said each room was large enough for two beds. He said the room sizes were 208 square feet and 360 square feet and that State requirement for two people in a room was 180 square feet. He said there were no individual kitchen facili- ties proposed. L. Barron said an older person has different needs and that a small room was more desirable. He said the rooms proposed were similar in design to those in Pasadena, except the proposed rooms were larger. Mr. Hughes said the outermost structure was shown as 27 feet above finished grade. He asked the height from Crestridge. Mr. Benson said about 51 feet. He said the air conditioning/heating unit would not be on the roof. He said construction materials would be stucco facade with wood, the and glass, with dark interiors and earthy tones. P. Barron distributed brochures of the Pasadena facility and copies of his presentation to the Commission. He discussed the residency require- ments and said the Admissions Committee would be made up of an administra- tor, nurse and physician who would be working with them. He said they proposed a 'snack bar which would be open 24 hours per day and that resi- dents would be able to have guests for dinner. He discussed the parking, noting the average age of the residents would be in the 80s. He said they were proposing one parking space for five beds and that resident parking would be limited to ten cars. He reviewed the survey of other facilities and the parking ratio used for each. He discussed the design in relation to view obstruction. Mr. Turner said staff was not concerned with view obstruction. He said it would be routinely analyzed, but was not a concern. RECESS At 9:10 p.m. a brief recess was called, at which time Mr. Turner left the meeting. The meeting reconvened at 9:17 p.m. with the same Commission members present. Paul Barron discussed density and potential impacts and felt the traffic generated by this type facility would be minimal. Lester Barron said they were proposing a van or station wagon for resident transportation and that, in addition, there would be staff cars available for emergency purposes. He said the monthly rates proposed were $500-800, but that they were trying to work the budget with a $450-650 range. He said they were proposing 160 private rooms and 18 double rooms for a total of 196 residents. Mr. Hughes felt the project looked crowded, and that there may be a view obstruction problem because of its location on a promontory. He suggested perhaps more grading or lowering the roof lines or reducing the number of units. He said it appeared very dense. He felt the design was two drive- ways on each side, two square buildings with another square one in between on a square lot. He did not feel the design fit in with an area said to be a semi -rural neighborhood. Mr. Hughes advised the applicant that if he contacted Dr. Brown's home- owners association to speak with someone other than Dr. Brown, because it was the City Attorney's opinion that if Dr. Brown became involved from a homeowners association standpoint, he would not be able to vote on the issue. 1/9/79 PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES -2- Dr. Brown said it was important to speak to the people directly involved. He felt the areas of concern listed by staff in the report were still the major areas of concern. Mrs. Bacharach was concerned about it looking like a monument from Penin- sula Center. She said she would also like the floor plans later to see some living type room in the residential buildings. She also was concerned about the inside balconies as she felt that area would be a noise trap. Mr. McTaggart felt the density was too high, that the unit size was not large enough, that the parking was going to be a problem in the area, and he was concerned with the view situation. He felt the necessary informa- tion on the existing structure should be obtained before public hearings begin. He was concerned with the project layout, and felt consideration should be given to the Code re the plumbing layout and access for the handicapped. Mr. Hughes explained that there was no way to stay within the height limit without reducing the structures to one-story if they are to be attached. The applicant was advised to explore other alternatives with the staff. RECESS At 10:45 p.m. a brief recess was called. The meeting reconvened at 10:53 p.m. with the same members present. CODE AMENDMENT NO. 5 Height Variation Mr. Hughes reviewed the staff report and Commission discussion ensued. A subcommittee composed of Mrs. Bacharach and Dr. Brown was formed to look again at cumulative effect and address the word "significantly". The sub- committee is to report back to the Planning Commission at its next regular meeting. The Commission felt the compatibility issue should be taken up at a later date. COMMISSION REPORTS The Commission discussed the League meeting coming up in February. They felt the course offered at the Univer- sity of California at Berkeley was more useful, and asked that staff inform the Commission as to if and when this course would be held. ADJOURNMENT At 11:38 p.m. it was moved, seconded, and carried, to adjourn to Tuesday, January 23, 1979, at 7:30 p.m. 1/9/79 PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES -3-