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Planning Commission Regular Meeting Minutes December 15, 2011 Agenda No. II -I2 Page 7 of 9 uses belong in a commercial center. She said it may be far - fetched, but she gave an example of a fraternity building on the former Lucky's grocery store site on East 14th Street and Juana Avenue. Vice Chair Abero also specifically cited DA -5, the area behind the downtown BART station between Martinez and Alvarado Streets. It's pretty much vacant property now, she said, but adding Assembly Uses would open the door to something such as a mega - church. While she doesn't object to them, she said that Southern California has faced issues of mega- churches going bankrupt. If a mega- church built on that DA -5 property failed, she worries what might come next. She pointed out the limited possibilities when Target vacated its store at Hesperian and Lewelling Boulevards. Now, she said, San Leandro is one of the few U.S. cities with two Wal -Mart stores. In response to Commissioner Crow, Senior Planner Livermore said that no Commercial Districts along the East 14th Street corridor currently have Assembly Uses as either permitted or conditionally permitted uses. Following studies in the North Area, she added, some segments were designated for pure commercial activity, while residential use was combined with the commercial and retail uses in other segments. For instance, she said that DA -1, which had been the Commercial Downtown (CD) District, excluded Assembly Uses. At one time, she continued, Assembly Uses were conditionally permitted in residentially zoned districts only. In response to Commissioner Fitzsimons, Senior Planner Livermore said there's a difference between Assembly Uses from zoning code and building code standpoints, so in terms of zoning, City Hall (and the Council Chambers) wouldn't be considered an Assembly Use. Commissioner Rennie said that it also strikes him as odd to designate DA -5 for conditionally permitted Assembly Uses. Senior Planner Livermore explained that when the downtown area zoning designations changed in connection with the adoption of the Transit Oriented Development (TOD) Strategy, some of them previously had residential zoning designations that included conditionally permitted Assembly Uses. She said that staff would be open to amending its proposal to make Assembly Uses conditionally permitted in NA -2 and SA -2, eliminating DA- 5 from the recommendation. Commissioner Crow agreed that DA -5 is more valuable for housing or commercial development than any Assembly Uses and asked if staff would be willing to eliminate the proposed Assembly Uses from NA -2 and SA -2 as well. He said these uses make more sense in DA -3 and DA- 3(PD). Senior Planner Livermore said that the Planning Commission could make such a recommendation to the City Council. She also pointed out that at this time, DA -2, DA -3 and DA -4 already conditionally permit Assembly Uses, but DA -1, DA -5 and DA -6 do not. Commissioner Crow withdrew his original motion. Motion to Add as Conditionally Permitted Uses: • Assembly Uses to NA -2, SA -2 • Cultural Institutions to DA -3 Crow /Dlugosh: 7 Aye, 0 No [Note: Commissioner Crow moved (and seconded by Commissioner Dlugosh) to make a negative recommendation to City Council regarding staffs proposal to eliminate Commercial Recreation and Entertainment Activities as conditionally permitted uses in IG, IL and IP Districts. After further discussion, he withdrew and restated the motion.] Commissioner Rennie said that he doesn't favor completely removing or completely retaining these uses in the industrial areas. He stated that a zoning change at this time, if any, should be more targeted. It should be more nuanced. Further, Commissioner Rennie isn't convinced that the