MO 2000-021 to 2000-025 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

City Council Staff Report May 9, 2000 PD-99-5/A-98-7 Page 3 of 4 The existing church building will continue to be used for office space for church employees and for classrooms for Sunday school and daycare during services. The existing sanctuary will be used for the Sunday school for the elementary and middle school aged children. Other uses which are already at the site are Bible studies and other meetings which relate to religious teachings or the administration of the church. The former Faria Brothers building will be used as a youth center and will provide a place for middle and high school students to relax and have fellowship meetings two nights a week. DISCUSSION The original proposal presented at the October 28, 1999 Planning Commission hearing was very different than this proposal. It called for a seating capacity for 1,250 worshippers located along the eastern property line, adjacent to single-family homes. At the October hearing, the Commissioners expressed concerns about the impact of the project on the neighborhood. Their concerns focused on six different aspects of the proposal: parking lot lighting, proximity of the new building to residential properties, roofing materials, adequacy of parking, impact on traffic, and the impact of freeway noise on the neighborhood. The original proposal is detailed in the attached October 28, 1999 staff report. The applicant has been very accommodating in addressing the Planning Commission's concerns. The applicant has reduced the seating capacity of the sanctuary significantly, from 1,250 seats to 807 seats. This is a substantial change to the original seating objectives of the church. This change in capacity in turn helped to address the parking and traffic concerns of the Commission. The decision to put tile on the roof instead of metal also represents a significant cost to the church. Moving the building from the western property line to the eastern property line addresses the Swenson Street neighbors' concerns about the building's proximity to their property, and it also serves as a barrier to reduce the impact of the freeway noise on the neighborhood. Given the positive response of the applicant to the Planning Commission's concerns, the efforts of the church to work with their neighbors and the improvements to the site that will occur as a result of this project, the Planning Commission and staff recommends approval of this proj ect. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW The project was reviewed pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and a Negative Declaration was prepared for the first proposal. The Initial Study concluded that the rezoning and Planned Development would not have a significant impact on the environment. The changes to this project presented at the March 23, 2000 Planning Commission meeting fall within the issues analyzed for the previous proposal, and would actually reduce any potentially significant impacts, therefore an amended Negative Declaration was determined to be unnecessary. .3