3A Public Hearing 2007 0319 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Draft Excerpt of February 22, 2007 Planning Commission Meeting Page 40f6 (February 1-20). In summary, Secretary Pollart indicated that staff is seeking a Planning Commission recommendation to forward to City Council to: . Adopt the Negative Declaration . Adopt of an ordinance amending the Zoning Code for Articles 3, 5, 13 and 17 . Rezone the areas identified with the Assembly Use Overlay . Amend the Zoning Map accordingly. Chair Perras opened the public hearing. Peter MacDonald, 400 Main Street, Pleasanton, spoke on behalf of Faith Fellowship Church. He identified himself as a former urban planner and former city attorney who now practices land use law. He indicated that it is unusual for a church to contact him, because they rarely require the services of land-use attorneys. Mr. MacDonald said that he had met with parishioners, and is "shocked" by the process they've found themselves in. They have been involved in it for a year already, and it appears there is another year to go. Mr. MacDonald suggested that there may be potential for better decisions if the City engages in parallel process rather than linear process for some of the necessary approvals. By way of background, he said that Pastor Gary Mortara has built a thriving congregation of 1,500 people that has outgrown their church site. The facilities, located in a residential area, have become inadequate and parking is insufficient, so they began looking for another location. In early 2006, they found an ideal building in an IP District in San Leandro. It is a 46,000-square-foot building with 188 parking spaces, all situated on 3.65 acres with good access via freeway and nearby roads. They talked to the neighbors, who indicated that they would welcome the church, in part because the church's busiest times are off-peak days and hours - Sundays and evenings - when businesses tend to be closed. Mr. MacDonald suggested that rational land use planning, which he called the purpose of the whole process, would consider this a real improvement in the neighborhood that is not only compatible but meets the needs of the user perfectly. He noted that Valley Business Park in Pleasanton at one time had four operating churches and never had a problem with them. He said it is a very functional land use for the way churches operate now, especially with larger congregations. He said that Pastor Mortara and his committee met with the City Manager and the city planners in March of 2006. After getting direction from staff, they filed a complete application for rezoning to light industrial (from industrial park), and to add assembly use as a conditional use. It is now nine months later. Mr. MacDonald said that the problem is with the process. He contends that the proposed assembly ordinance before the Planning Commission was created in a vacuum, and that it does not include the very parcel that started the whole process. He suggested that the City could and should address this ordinance together with the rezoning of the parcel that initiated the process. By doing it sequentially, he said, the church faces four different processes before they can occupy the church, including another CEQA evaluation, another rezoning, and an assembly overlay process, followed by the whole procedure of applying for a conditional use permit. He described this scenario as inefficient, as "process gone crazy." He suggested that the Planning Commission continue this item, have staff incorporate the Faith Fellowship parcel in the proposal, and come back to the Commission so the decision would not be made in a vacuum. If the site is vetted, neighbors are noticed, and criteria ofthe ordinance and the circumstances ofthe site all came together, it may be that the ordinance itself would improve because at this time it does not address the "real world" that it will face the first time out. It would streamline the process. Also, he pointed out that if it has been fully vetted, it would be possible under the assembly overlay ordinance to do an administrative conditional use permit, because all the