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PC19-456RESOLUTION NO. PC 19.456 A RESOLUTION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MENIFEE RECOMMENDING THAT THE CITY COUNCIL DENY SPECIFIC PLAN NO. 2016.246, WHICH ESTABLISHES THE ALLOWED LAND USES, DEVELOPMENT STANDARDS AND DESIGN GUIDELINES FOR A PLANNED RESIDENTIAL, COMMERCIAL, AND BUSINESS PARK DEVELOPMENT KNOWN AS THE MILL CREEK PROMENADE ON A TOTAL OF 58.51 GROSS ACRES ON THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF HAUN ROAD AND GARBANI ROAD Whereas, on November 7, 2016, the applicant, Sherman & Garbani, LLC and Sherman and Haun, LP, filed a formal application with the City of Menifee for Specific Plan No. 2016-246 ("Project") to establish a Specific Plan on the property as identified as APNs 360-350-006, 360-350-01 1, and 360-350-017; and Whereas, on August 14, 2019, the Planning Commission held a duly noticed public hearing on Specific Plan No. 201 6-246, considered all public testimony as well as all materials in the staff report and accompanying documents, which hearing was publicly noticed by a publication in the Press Enterprise, a newspaper of general circulation, an agenda posting, and notice to property owners within 300 feet of the project boundaries as well as both single family neighborhoods north of the project, and to persons requesting public notice, and continued the project to September 11, 2019 in order for staff to provide findings recommending denial of the Specific Plan; and Whereas, on September 11, 2019, the Planning Commission held the continued public hearing on Specific Plan No. 2016-246 which was not required to be re- noticed because it was continued to a date certain; and NOW, THEREFORE, the Planning Commission of the City of Menifee resolves as follows: Section 1: Consisfe ncy with the General Plan. The project is not consisfe nt with the General Plan, Specific Plan (if applicable), and applicable General Plan objectives, policies, and programs. !nconsistencv with the General Plan The Generat Plan land use designation for the project site is Economic Development Corridor - Southern Gateway (EDC-SG). ln general, areas designated EDC are envisioned to develop primarily as nonresidential uses, with residential uses playing a supporting role. The Specific Plan would allow for a mixed use project that would develop more than sixty percent of the 58.51 acre site with townhouse or single family residential neighborhoods. As such the project is primarily residential with non- residential uses playing a supporting role. Therefore the project is inconsistent with the General Plan. The primarily residential project is located adjacent to EDC-SG designated property to the south and east and would not be compatible with the intent of the EDC-SG which envisioned the Southern Gateway to be developed primarily with Business Park uses. Planninq and nd Use Government Code Section 65589.5. Page 2 of 5 Specific Plan No 201 6-246 September 11,2019 Section 65589.5 of the Planning and Land Use Government Code states that when a proposed housing development project complies with applicable, objective general plan, zoning, and subdivision standards and criteria, including design review standards, the City is required to make specific findings under this section of the Code. lt has been determined that the project does not comply with the Genera! Plan and therefore Section 65589.5 is not applicable to the project. However, it should be noted that the project would generate adverse significant and unavoidable impacts specifically, under the environmental categories of Air Quality, Greenhouse Gases, Transportation/Traffic and Noise upon the public health and safety unless disapproved. These direct impacts generated by the project are based on objective standards including the South Coast Air Quality Management Plan and City's General Plan and are discussed in the Environmental lmpact Report prepared for the project. Consistencv with Housinq Element The Project site is not identified in the City's Housing Element as a Housing Opportunity Site for residential. The Housing Element did not assume the site would contribute any dwelling units needed to meet the City's Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA). Therefore denial of the Project would, not conflict with any density range or housing opportunity anticipated in the Housing Element. Section 2: Consisfe ncy with the Zoning Code. The project site is currently zoned EDC-SG and the project is not consistent with the intent and vision of the General Plan land use designation of Economic Development Corridor- Southern Gateway. The provisions of the EDC-SG District zoning allow for areas designated EDC to develop primarily as nonresidential uses, with residential uses playing a supporting role as provided for in the General Plan. ln contrast, the proposed Mill Creek Promenade Specific Plan does not implement the intent and vision of the EDC-SG as its provisions would result in the development of sixty percent of the project site with primarily residential uses. As such the Specific Plan is an unacceptable alternative to the EDC-SG Zoning Ordinance and is inconsistent with the EDC zone. Section 3: Surrounding Uses. Approval of the Specific Plan will create conditions materially detrimental to the public health, safety and general welfare or injurious to or incompatible with other properties or land uses in the project vicinity. The Specific Plan is located at the southwest corner of Garbani Road and Haun Road and is surrounded by single-family residences to the north, industrial uses or vacant land to the south and east, and vacant land to the west. Environmental impacts resulting from the implementation of the Specific Plan have been analyzed in an Environmental lmpact Report (EIR). The EIR determined that the project would generate significant and unavoidable Page 3 of 5 Specific Plan No 201 6-246 September 11, 2019 impacts under the categories of Air Quality, Greenhouse Gases, Transportation/Traffic, and Noise which are materially detrimental to the public health, safety and general welfare and injurious to and incompatible with other properties and land uses in the project vicinity including residential neighborhoods north of the project site. The Planning Commission found that the project benefits did not outweigh the significant and unavoidable impacts of the proposed project; and therefore, the adverse environmental effects are not considered acceptable. Therefore, the project will create conditions materially detrimental to the public health, safety and general welfare and injurious to or incompatible with other properties and land uses in the project vicinity. Section 4: Compliance with CEQA. Processing and denial of the Specific Plan are in compliance with the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act. An Environmental lmpact Report (EIR) has been completed for the project which determined that the project would generate significant and unavoidable impacts under the categories of Air Quality, Greenhouse Gases, Transportation/Traffic, and Noise. More specifically, the project would have the following impacts: Air Quality The project would result in significant and unavoidable impacts relating to operational NOx emissions during operations that would exceed applicable South Coast Air Quality Management District regional thresholds of significance during operations even after implementation of mitigation measures and no feasible measures have been identified to reduced to levels that are less than significant. Further, the NOx exceedances would also cause significant and unavoidable impacts because the project would not be consistent with the Air Quality Management Plan, which would result in a cumulatively unavoidable significant adverse impact. Greenhouse Gases The proposed Project will contribute to global climate change by its incremental contribution of greenhouse gasses. Even with implementation of the recommended mitigation measures identified in Section 4.4.7 of the Air Quality Section, the project exceeds both the SCAQMD screening threshold of 3,000 MTCO2e (Project = 1 1,385.63 MTCO2e) and the interpolated SCAQMD 2022 Target Service Population threshold of 4.56 MTCO2e/SP/year (Project = 7.7 MTCO2e/SP/year) for projects. Thus, exceedances of applicable SCAQMD regional thresholds are considered significant and unavoidable, and the operation of the proposed project would create a significant cumulative impact to global climate change. Project-related GHG emissions are therefore considered to be significant and would result in an unavoidable significant adverse impact on globa! climate change. Noise The existing noise setting of the proposed project site will be permanently altered as a result of implementation of the proposed Project. Offsite traffic Page 4 of 5 Specific Plan No 201 6-246 September 11, 2019 activities are forecast to make a cumulative contribution to significant noise along four affected roadways: . Tupelo Street - Bradley to Sherman Road . Garbani Road - Sherman to Haun Road. Bradley Road - south of Craig Avenue. Sherman Road - Tupelo Street to Garbani Road Mitigation is available consisting of installing noise barriers or interior noise reducing modifications to existing homes however this mitigation cannot be enforced. As such, the Project will contribute significant and unavoidable offsite cumulative noise impacts and as such will cause an unavoidable adverse noise impacts in the project area. Transportationff raffic lmplementing the proposed Project will generate a substantial number of new trips that are forecast to require modifications to the area and local circulation systems. With implementation of the proposed circulation system improvements the project will not cause a significant adverse impact to the circulation system. With implementation of the identified offsite roadway improvements, the long-term, project specific and cumulative circulation system impacts will not be significant if these improvements are completed prior to when the traffic is actually generated. However, given the uncertain nature of the timing of all improvements, an unavoidable significant adverse transportation impact will result from implementation of the proposed Project. ln order to allow for the approval of the project, a Statement of Overriding Considerations was prepared for the EIR listing possible benefits provided by the project; however, the Planning Commission has considered these benefits against the significant and unavoidable impacts generated by the project and has determined that the benefits listed in the Statement of Overriding Considerations do not outweigh the potential significant unavoidable adverse environmental impacts. As such, the Planning Commission recommends that the City Council deny certification of the ElR, pursuant to a separate Resolution. NOW THEREFORE, the Planning Commission of the City of Menifee hereby recommends to the City Counci! the following: 2 1 That the City Counci! determine that the "Findings" set out above are true and correct. That the City Council finds that the facts presented within the public record and within the Planning Commission Resolution provide the basis to deny Specific Plan No. 2016-246, and that the Council deny said Specific Plan. Page 5 of 5 Specific Plan No 201 6-246 September 11,2019 PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this the 11rH day of September, 2019. n, Chairman Attest: ie Roseen, Deputy City Clerk Approved as to form: Ajit Assis Attorney l, Stephanie Roseen, Deputy City Clerk of the City of Menifee, do hereby certify that the foregoing Planning Commission Resolution No. PC19-456 was duly adopted by the Planning Commission of the City of Menifee at a meeting thereof held on the 11 of September 2019 by the following vote: STATE OF CALIFORNIA COUNTY OF RIVERSIDE CITY OF MENIFEE Ayes: Noes: Absent: Abstain: ) )ss ) Phillips, Thomas, Kanrvin Diederich, Madrid None None ilan,enoseen,cMC Deputy City Clerk 'MEN t FeET* O6.