3B Public Hearing 2007 0507 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Draft Excerpt of Minutes April 12, 2007 Planning Commission Meeting Page 2 of9 (recommendation to City Council). She also noted that antIcIpating approval of the rezone application, the applicant has filed a Conditional Use Permit application, which is currently under staffreview. Acting ChairNice Chair Reed invited questions from the Commissioners. Commissioner Abero requested clarification of the quarter-mile area on the map designating nearby arterials, which Secretary Pollart provided. Commissioner Collier commented that she is concerned that Faith Fellowship has been told all along about concerns over their current location in regards to parking and weekend operations. She also noted that neighbors have been complaining regularly to the City Council and Planning Commission and others. In Commissioner Collier's opinion, the church has done everything they could to relieve that situation, but it has not been enough. The City approved that site in late '90s, when the congregation was small, but complaints about parking began emerging not long afterward, including complaints about when, where and how long congregants were parking, and how much traffic they brought to a tight comer. Now, she said, they want to move to an area with virtually no weekend traffic, and the site meets six out of eight criteria. Collier views that area as one of the best places to put a church because the church would be the only traffic- generator, the site is surrounded by parking lots for businesses that are closed on weekends. Thus, even if onsite and street parking were insufficient, there is a lot of parking around, and businesses already have agreed to do parking swaps with the church. The back-and-forth and conversations over the last year or so have led the church on a "garden path with no end." She hopes that the City did not have this end - denial - in mind. She believes that meeting six of eight compliance points is "pretty dam good." Commissioner Nadine referenced a communication from Mr. MacDonald's office. She's hearing that the peak times are Sundays and after hours when no commercial activity is taking place in the industrial area. However, the architectural design she saw shows 10 offices and at least 12 classrooms. She asked whether this was being set up for later modification into perhaps a private school or day care. Secretary Pollart said that would be an issue discussed in conjunction with the application for a use permit. However, she added, at this time church officials have indicated there is no proposal for a school. If they were to get a use permit approval, and later decided to have a school, they would have to come back to modify the use permit for a school use. Acting ChairNice Chair Reed invited the applicants to begin their three-part presentation. Gary Mortara, senior pastor, asked those in the audience to stand to show their support of the application; most of those present came to their feet. He said the supporters would not speak, and would handle themselves in an orderly fashion. He said the Manor Boulevard neighbors like the church - except for about three hours on Sunday mornings, due to the parking problems and traffic generated by the three services now held to accommodate the large congregation. The restaurant across the street has even threatened a lawsuit. The exponential growth of the church, he said, is a wonderful thing, but they realize that it presents a problem. They began looking for properties, and found the one on Catalina. Talking with the staff and understanding that the proposal would probably be workable, they followed staffs advice. We were canceled in June