3B Public Hearing 2007 0507 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Chai.r William Perras Apri19,2007 Page 2 Staff Report The Planning Staff report rai~es severa] pOlential problems to which there arc good answers: 1. Arterial access: The building is located on Faralloll A venue. Farallon Avenue is a major street with extra width, including a middle tUI11 lane. All of the City General Plan mars, and Mapqucst, show Farallon A venue \vith double width as if it is an arterial street. FaralIoll Avenue connects to all major artclials in the area (Doolittle, Wicks, .Merced, Manor, Lewelling, Marina, and so on. Those arterials have ready connection points to 1-~80 and 1-238. The site could not have beller access. (Attachment 2, Map of Street System) 2. Potential conflict with hazardous materials uses: Paul Gantt, President of Safety Compliance Management, lnc., and a former Fire Chief, wiH he at the Planning Commission public hearing to testify to the compatibility of church uses with light industrial uses. (Attachment 3, Mr. Gantt's education and background) Hazardou~matcrials arc systematically regulated under the huilding code and numerous other statutes, with the most hazardous materials subject to second and third levels of containment. The building code put the onus on the user of hw.ardous materials to provide a system that offectively prohibits migration of hazardoLlS materials off that particular property. There are virtually no locations other than residential neighborhoods that are not within 500 feet of businesses that have Hazardous Materials Business Plans. Virtually all cities in the Bay Area allow' churches in light industrial zone!>, so Uwre is plenty of experience with this issue. In fact. Mr. Gantt is a member or Crosswinds Chmcl1, a 3000 member congregation located in an industrial zone in Dublin. Moreover, if chun:h uses are incompatible with light indlLstrial uses, why did the City just rezone 196 properties, mustly ill industrial locations, to the AO District? If proximity to industrial uses is fatal to proposw w;sembly uses, then the AO district only pretends to allow churches in San Leandro. 3. Loss of Industrial Base: The General Plan docs express concem about encroachment of incompatihle residential am] rctailllses into industrial areas. Rut a church use does Dot displace industrial uses the way residential and retail usc~ do. The church use fits within an existing industrial building, with primarily tenant improvements on the inside, The building is amenable to return to industrial use when the church UilC moves on. which frequently happens. The Somar Area, like much of San Leandro, is designated for future study. But, "future study" should not be used by the City to i::rcate a de facto moratorium on uses which are compatible with light industriall1scs, The iRsue is compatihility of this use at this location, and that is what the conditional use permit processes are for. 4. Other Compatibility Issues.