3A Public Hearing 2008 0219 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Board of Zoning Adjustments Regular Meeting December 6, 2007 Minute No. 2007-23 Page 4 of 16 hearings, "eyes were rolled, because they really knew the decision they were going to make" prior to the vote. He wondered why this application had not been brought before the Board in the very beginning. He believed that staff had not given the applicant the proper information they needed to correctly follow the application process. He asked that the Board "hear" what would be said as opposed to "listening" when one did not "hear the substance that comes out of what's going on tonight." He asked that each member "vote your vote. Step out of your comfort zone." Peter MacDonald, attorney, agreed that he had spoken with Member Marr and he stated that the City's website had not provided the information they needed to mail their information to each Board Member. There was no other site in the City that could accommodate this congregation of more than 1,500 members. In his opinion, a high-level staff person decided that he did not want a church to locate in an industrial district, because churches were incompatible with industrial uses. He believed that staff's decision "was a decision in search of a rationale since June, 2006." Many Bay Area cities have had successful experiences with churches in industrial districts. Traffic and parking associated with church services occurred at off-peak times and parking capacity was freed up for industrial uses during the weekdays. Large congregations could no longer afford to build architectural edifices and they could not fit into residential neighborhoods. Catalina Court was an ideal place for the church. He challenged the parking requirements, as calculated by staff. The church was substantially equivalent to an "Entertainment Assembly," which was allowed. He stated that, according to the United States code, "it is unlawful for a government to impose or implement a land use regulation in a manner that treats a religious assembly on less than equal terms with a nonreligious assembly.. . Freedom of expression and freedom of religion are more important than economic development." Dave Mortara, church member, stated that he was in charge of the parking lot and traffic control. He handed out photos taken of traffic at their present location on Manor Boulevard and at the proposed location at Catalina on a Sunday morning. Three services were currently held at 8:15, 10:00 and 11:55 a.m. with the 10 o'clock service the most attended and with the most parking and traffic issues. The photos were taken every five minutes that spanned a 20 minute period before and after the 10 o'clock service, and they showed the traffic that the nearby residents had to contend with. Many attendees had to park in the neighborhood as far as five blocks from the church. Photos of Catalina Street taken at the same time on the same morning showed a virtual ghost town. Besides the 188 parking spaces on the Catalina site, 80 to 100 off-site parking spaces were available on the street, along with parking that would be available in the parking lots of the neighboring industrial users in exchange for their customers using the church's parking lot during the weekday. Neighbors on Doolittle had expressed concern about traffic and overflow parking on Sunday. To address those concerns, the traffic/parking crews would steer their members from heading west towards Doolittle. The Board had the following questions for the speaker (Mr. Mortara): • Member Sidari stated that he lived in that area and had driven through that traffic. The Catalina area would not be as traffic free as the photos currently showed if the church relocated there. Did he have a plan to control the church