3B Public Hearing 2007 0507 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

Draft Excerpt of Minutes April 12, 2007 Planning Commission Meeting Page 80f9 business owners in the area, no one came to the neighborhood and asked the homeowners about the impacts they would have. Ed Jaramillo, 2209 Belvedere Avenue, reiterated Ms. Sanchez concerns about traffic and congestion, which are problematic even without the church. Parking is another concern. The building site does not appear to have adequate parking, so church members would park at other private industrial sites nearby, and if those sites decided against allowing church parking, the vehicles will spread into the residential community. He believes this move would just shift the parking problem from the Manor to Marina Faire. Sharon Collins has lived in the Marina Faire area for 43 years. She does not understand why, if the City is having financial problems, it would consider using property that could produce tax revenue and put in a church instead. She also wonders if this might set a precedent for opening other industrial areas giving way to churches, thus losing more tax money. With no other speakers coming forward, Acting ChairNice Chair Reed invited a motion to close the public hearing. Motion to Close Public Hearing, with Proviso That Applicant Returns to Speak Dlugosh / Collier; 5 Ayes, 0 Noes Pastor Mortara said they would work with Marina Faire and whomever necessary to make it feasible for everybody. He emphasized that they will do everything they can to work with the community. Acting ChairNice Chair Reed opened the meeting to Commissioners' discussion. Commission Nardine returned to the issues of parking and traffic. She appreciates the fact that there is a neighborly agreement between the church and existing business, but that would not be binding if a business were sold, and the new owner might not want church members to park there. Some of those businesses, she noted, do work three shifts. Businesses on Merced, Pike and Wickes were not invited to give input, and she is not sure that they want weekend traffic, which might create a need for additional security and policing. Commissioner Collier said that she took her children to the area to learn to park and drive, because no one was in the area. She finds it no different now than it was 20 years ago. There is still no one down there on the weekends, not even parking, she said. On a Friday afternoon, she saw about 15 cars parked at about 3:30 p.m. No one was parking on the streets. She takes this route as a shortcut from North San Leandro when she drives to the Manor, because there's no traffic. People probably would come in to the church from Lewelling down Wickes to Farallon and never even hit Doolittle. They also could go from Farallon to Catalina and help revive Marina Faire, which would be delighted to have business any day of the week, because there's no foot traffic and no car traffic at this time. In comparison to Davis Street, she noted, traffic on Doolittle is not a problem. It can be busy, but the traffic moves. In addition, there are many alternate ways to get to the Catalina/Farallon site.