3B Public Hearing 2012 0221 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Planning Commission Regular Meeting Minutes December 15, 2011 Agenda No. II -I2 Page 2 of 9 Senior Planner Livermore also reported that no comments were submitted on the Initial Study and Negative Declaration during the 20 -day comment period, but Bal Theatre owner Dan Dillman had submitted a letter (dated December 15, 2011) about the proposed changes to the Planning Commission (see attached). She summarized his concerns addressed in the letter to the Planning Commission. Commissioner Crow distributed a packet of supplemental information (see attached), including "before" and "after" zoning maps, to the other Planning Commissioners and staff that he prepared for the meeting. He noted that staff s proposal would eliminate about 80% of the space now available for Commercial Recreation and Entertainment Activities. He said he cannot see eliminating all of this space in the City as a plausible action. Commissioner Crow noted that Article 7 of the Zoning Code has strip clubs and artists' studios as permitted uses and daycare facilities and hazardous waste repositories as conditionally permitted uses. Commissioner Crow added that he can imagine a nuclear storage facility next door to a daycare center, with a strip club or sex shop 1,000 feet away. At the same time, he said, the proposals would prohibit putting a family recreation center into a warehouse. In an infill city such as San Leandro, he said, the only places to house activities such as indoor soccer fields and rock - climbing facilities, bowling alleys, go -kart race tracks, etc., would be in light industrial buildings. Referring to Senior Planner Livermore's point about Fremont being a much larger city, he asked about Santa Clara. He noted that the San Leandro Chamber of Commerce and City staff have put a great deal of effort into emulating some neighboring cities when it comes to tech - sector recruitment. He noted that commercial recreation and entertainment are conditionally permitted in industrial areas by Santa Clara's zoning code. He also pointed out that healthcare professionals San Leandro wants to potentially attract with the new Kaiser medical center in the City would want access to quality recreation, as would the highly educated professionals and "tekkies." Commissioner Crow noted the irony of having tech - sector recruitment among the reasons behind the proposal to eliminate Commercial Recreation and Entertainment Activities from the City's industrial districts. Commissioner Crow questioned whether the review of Commercial Recreation, Entertainment Activities and Assembly Uses in the Zoning Code is in fact part of a periodic process, because Entertainment Activities and Assembly Uses are particularly sensitive at this time. He cited General Plan Policy 10.05, Retail Encroachment, which seeks to protect the industrial base by limiting expansion of big box retail and other larger retail uses in industrial areas. This called for a specific action, he said, and he doesn't understand why a periodic review would not address removing big -box retail stores from among the permitted uses in the industrial areas. Commissioner Crow also cited General Plan Policy 8.07, Cultural Arts and Entertainment, which fosters opportunities for cultural, recreational and entertainment uses in the City like theatres, cinemas, art galleries and live entertainment venues The City does have the Bal Theatre and a new art gallery, he acknowledged, but the proposed changes seem counterproductive to this General Plan policy. In researching whether residents of San Leandro have an appetite for more entertainment, Commissioner Crow identified a City survey in which respondents chose live shows, concerts and skating as their top three preferences and noted the proposal would eliminate all of them from the industrial districts. Another survey asked residents how important they considered certain types of developments in the City; entertainment places received the highest responses, at 80 %, with other options being restaurants, small businesses and stores and large retail stores. Commissioner Crow said that he suspects a conclusion to make the proposed changes was drawn at some point, and then staff came up with justification for that conclusion, and he wants to know the real reasoning behind the proposal. Considering that transparency is among Mayor