← All Walnut Creek Meetings

Planning Commission

June 8, 2023 · Planning Commission

Transcript

Warning: This transcript is automatically generated by machine and may contain errors, including misheard words, misattributed speakers, and omitted passages. Always listen to the audio or video recording before assuming the transcript correctly reflects what was said. Do not rely on the transcript alone for quotation, reporting, or any other purpose where accuracy matters.
Check, check one, two.
Okay, good evening and welcome to the Thursday,
June 8th, 2023,
regular meeting of the Walnut Creek Planning Commission.
At this time, I'd like to ask
our Commission Secretary Chip Griffin
to please call the roll.
Thank you, Chair.
Commissioner Reiser.
Yes, here.
Commissioner Needing.
Here.
Commissioner Lezak.
Here.
Commissioner Pickett.
Here.
Vice Chair Strongman.
Here.
Chair Ward.
Here.
Commissioner Anderson is on vacation will not be with us tonight we have six
we have quorum thank you all right next up on our agenda is the consent calendar
and I do not believe we have anything on it is that correct the secretary has
nothing to move to okay thank you very much all right so with that we'll move
on to our third item which is public communication the public communication
portion of the meeting is reserved for comment on items which are not on the
agenda under the Brown Act the Commission cannot act on items raised
during public communications but may respond briefly to statements made or
questions posed request clarification or refer the item to staff now just to
reiterate this is the time for comments on things other than the Calicroft
project or the 1532 to 1556 Mount Diablo CUP application I also did want to take
just a moment to comment in light of some unacceptable anti-semitic remarks
that were made at Tuesday's council meeting.
I wanna remind everyone that not all speech is protected.
I'm probably the biggest fan of the first amendment there is,
but I will not tolerate or allow hate speech in any form
at a meeting that I am chairing.
I don't think it has a place here
and it has no place in our community.
So with that in mind,
if there's anyone who would like to address the commission
and have a public communication for items
not on the agenda if you could please approach now okay is there anyone online
who is raising their hand I see no electronic hands okay excellent all right
so with that we'll move on to item number four which is public hearings and
I'd like to start first by asking if any member of the commission has had any
ex-party communications related to items on this evening's agenda I'm seeing
chair somebody just walked in you may was locked out okay you have a comment
on an item that's not on the agenda not on the agenda okay then come on up you
good afternoon my name is nails the lander I'm a field representative of the
NorCal Carbers Union I speak on behalf of the working-class construction
workers of the community it is important that any future construction has area
standards by area standards I'm a prevailing wage health care local hire
and have skilled apprentices. Workers need to be paid prevailing wage so they
can make enough money to take care of their families. Especially with the cost
of living in the Bay Area increasing as their inflation goes on. Contractors
should have health care for their workers. Construction sites can be very
dangerous and accidents can happen all the time. When construction companies
don't have to include health care coverage, who do you think pays for their
medical? Their answer is we all do to taxes. Just so they can have more profit
the end. All future projects should also utilize local hire. We want workers to be able to
work in their own communities so they can get back to their families and be able to raise their
children. Too many workers are out driving for hours to get home. Now it hurts the families,
time with the families, but it also adds to way more traffic on the roads. We can include
apprentices, we should also include apprentices on all future projects from apprenticeships
that teach professionalism of their trades. Having trained apprentices makes job sites safer,
produces quality work, job sites are on budget, and on time. We should also want future projects
to be safe, workers to be taken care of, and be successful that the community of Walnut Creek
can utilize and enjoy. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much. Okay, is there anyone else
who has comment that is for an item that is not on the agenda? All right, excellent, thank you.
All right. So let's go back to item four, public hearings. We've established that no member of the
commission has had any ex parte communications. And so I think our first project is why I believe
most of you are, if not all of you are here at the Shadeland secure space Cali craft project,
and we're ready for a staff presentation by Brittany Lenore.
Good evening, commissioners, Brittany Lenore, assistant planner with the community development
department. Thank you. So before I begin, I did want to bring to your attention that we did
receive correspondence after the agenda was published, including a petition in support of
the project with approximately 1,500 signatures. About 700 of those were from Walnut Creek zip codes
and about 250 of those signatures were from the project zip code. In addition, we did receive
another individual correspondence from Kevin Burke in support of the buildings and the current
layout on the site. So this project is a continuation from the March 23rd, 2023 planning
commission meeting and it is the Shadeland Secure Space Cali Craft project at 2700 Mitchell Drive.
So before we go into the topics that the planning commission requests us to look at, I did want to
quickly provide a summary of the project. And so the project site is currently developed
with one-story buildings that have previously been used for manufacturing accessory office
uses. Those buildings will be demolished, and the site will be redeveloped with three
new buildings, an approximately 1,000-square-foot office, accessory to the 15, 155,000-square-foot
storage building, and a two-story microbrewery.
And so the brewery will be occupied by Cali-Craft, and that is an existing tenant of the existing
building.
The site will also be developed with a new dog park, new landscaping throughout the site,
and redevelopment of an existing community garden.
This project also includes a temporary layout for the microbrewery to continue operating
during the site construction.
And so this project was previously presented
to the Design Review Commission for a study session
on September 7, 2022, and is now being considered
by the Planning Commission tonight.
It was continued from March 23.
So if the commission does decide to certify
the Mitigated Negative Declaration, approve
the conditional use permits, minor use permits,
and tree removal, then this project
will go on to the Design Review Commission
for final design review.
And then from there, staff will work
with the applicant to process any administrative use
permits for alcohol sales and any possible temporary activity
permits in the future for any events.
And so as previously mentioned, this project
was presented to Planning Commission on March 23.
The commission was generally supportive of the project,
but continued the item to allow time for staff
and the applicant team to analyze the possibility
of switching the buildings,
to study the economic impacts of a new storage building
on office availability and the business park in general,
to do a noise impact analysis for Cali Craft,
specifically looking at the noise exposure
to the adjacent residential neighborhood
across the Contra Costa Canal and to do neighborhood outreach.
And so staff went through current regulations and ordinances
to look at ways to switch the buildings
and we're not able to find a reasonable route.
This project was first presented to staff
in August of 2021 as a preliminary idea
and has always been in compliance
with the conditional use permit findings
for a storage building,
which required it to be 300 feet from residential.
And so to switch those buildings,
staff would have to ask the applicant team
to basically request to not be in compliance with the code
when they are currently in compliance with the code.
And that would require either a rezoning of the property
or a zoning text amendment.
Both of those would require city council action.
And at this point of the project development
and entitlement, it would make the project unfeasible.
So except for Cali Craft,
The existing buildings have been vacant
for approximately three years.
It's a unique shaped lot.
It's located behind a school and is an older building.
So all of these make it very difficult to lease out.
The previous tenants were all manufacturing uses
and the demolishing of these buildings
will not have an impact on office availability.
This project will end up creating jobs
specifically for Cali Craft because it would allow them
to occupy their own building and expand their operations.
So Philip Olt, who is the Director of Noise and Air Quality
for First Carbon Solutions is here through Zoom
to explain the noise impact analysis in further detail,
but I did want to quickly summarize a few points.
So onsite noise measurements were taken
throughout the site and offsite,
and anticipated noise levels do comply with city standards.
Staff and the applicant team have worked together
to add conditions to further address that noise,
specifically having any live music be inside only
to end by 9 p.m.
And that any amplified music will include no drums.
And so, staff did provide the applicant team
with a list of property owners
within 300 feet of the project,
which is consistent with the mailings
that we do for public hearings.
and that was used to pass out flyers
for the neighborhood outreach.
You can see on the screen that image to the right
is the flyer that was sent out.
That was sent out through the mail as well as, you know,
walked around the neighborhood and passed those out.
The neighborhood meeting was at Cali Craft's
outdoor seating area and it did include a Zoom option.
And Mike is here with Insight Property Group
to explain more about that after my presentation.
And so, in terms of the environmental analysis, an initial study was done and the project
was determined to require mitigated negative declaration and that was prepared and went
through all necessary noticing requirements and no comments were received during that
noticing period.
As part of the MND, mitigation measures were identified to reduce the project's potential
impacts, many of which were related to construction activity, and the clarification on the noise
component of the projects did not trigger any Appendix G thresholds, and so no additional
mitigations were identified or necessary for this in terms of CEQA.
And so for reference, the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program lists all those mitigation
measures and those are included as Attachment 11C and also the IEL is here through Zoom
and Liza is here in person from First Carbon Solutions if you have any additional questions
on the MND or MMRP.
So staff does recommend certification of the Mitigate Negative Declaration, approval of
the conditional use permits, minor use permit and tree removal subject to all conditions
outlined in the draft resolutions.
So as I mentioned, Insight Property Group and First Carbon are both here and ready with presentations as well.
But I'm available for any questions you might have for staff, so thank you.
Great, thank you very much. That was an excellent presentation for us. Are there any commissioner questions for Brittany right now?
Commissioner Pickett.
In reading the documents, I was a little confused about the
requirement of the eight foot sound wall it's referred to in your staff report and it's referred to in some of the
Attachment 11 e I don't know I think first carbon did that
but I didn't see where it was a requirement is it required or inferred by approval of the
Findings and the documents that support that or is it not proposed to be a requirement of the project
so it's required in the municipal code under the fences and wall section, so when there's a
commercial use next to a residential use at eight foot sound attenuating wall is required okay so despite by code it'll be
installed yes great thank you any other okay go ahead commissioner Lisa set a
quick one I think we had some interest in some feedback from economic
development on the you know the demand for storage space and you know they're
they're feeling I understood that they might be able to provide some
feedback. Are they here tonight? Did they provide any feedback for your staff
report in response to our comment? Yeah, so Angela is here with our Economic
Development Department. She can speak on that. Okay, is that part of your
presentation now? Yeah, okay. Well, we don't have a specific slide to address
that, but she's here to speak on it. Okay, thank you. Good evening, Madam Chair and
commissioners Angela sway economic development project manager to your
question it it sounds like you had posed the question if there is a need for
storage space or if yeah I mean this was one of the comments that came out of the
previous hearing staff was directed to come back and get some feedback I'm
assuming that's why you're here the question had to do with the uses within
within the shade lands area and specifically trying
to understand, you know, this is a CUP for a, you know,
storage space and the site would be giving up
the future possibility of other uses.
And so we're trying to understand, you know,
the economics of the storage space and the demand for that
and why that was a preferred higher best use
than some alternative space like the office use,
which I think we generally understand is not in high demand
right now, but that was the original zoning purpose
of this particular area, and we're just looking
for some additional feedback or guidance
from economic development of why this change should happen
within an area that it really wasn't intended to be.
Understood, and thank you for this opportunity
to address that question.
So as stated in the staff report there and as Brittany had alluded to, this site is actually
challenged in terms of kind of its layout and its location.
And in fact, although traditionally or historically it had been an office site, more recently
it was kind of light manufacturing, but in reviewing and having tours to the site for
or light manufacturing, again, there were challenges
just because of the age of the building,
the layout and just, you know,
older kind of stock and quality of the building.
So in terms of existing office inventory,
it has not been counted as office inventory
for the past few years on the market.
And then in terms of other uses, again,
there's challenges with the existing building and the site,
and it would actually take quite a bit financially
to scrape it and repurpose it for office use.
And in terms of the types of uses that have come out
when this property was marketed,
quite a few folks toured different types of uses,
and again, there was very little interest
or no interest in moving forward as an office
or light manufacturing.
So storage use, there seems to be a need
or at least a desire for them to locate here
and it will activate the space.
Okay, well thank you for that, that's fine.
Thank you.
Other questions?
Anybody else?
Commissioner Starman.
Question for Brittany.
Thank you for the presentation.
Can you list the specific changes to the plans
from March to now?
There's been no changes to the plans.
Is there any changes to the operational plans
from then to now?
There has been changes in terms of
moving the live music inside.
So that's been the major change,
but otherwise the hours are the same as previously noted
and other operational characteristics are the same.
Thank you, no questions.
Okay we're good all right. Okay so now I'm gonna open the public hearing and
the applicant has 15 minutes to do their presentation at this time. Good evening
Madam Chair, commissioners, Mike Diacos, Insight Property Group. Very good being
here once again this evening. I want to thank the Commission as well as staff
for providing us the opportunity to take another look at the comments and
concerns that we had at the initial hearing and address solutions before the
Commission tonight. The last two and a half months since the initial hearing
have been very productive. First Carbon has prepared a very detailed reanalysis
of the noise studies that were previously done. Those results are very
favorable towards the project. I briefly, just for a few minutes, want to discuss
the community outreach of this component of this project, which was very
important. In terms of the formal process that we took and noticing and so forth,
we sent mailers to every single property owner within a 300-foot radius of the
project. Uh, sort of concurrent with that. My colleague, Brian Sornson, as
well as Blaine Landberg from Cali Craft conducted boots on the ground
community outreach, uh, visiting 20 neighbors homes to the north of our
project. I don't think they caught 20 families on that particular evening,
but they probably had conversations with about 10 and they were able to
discuss the project a little bit further. Neighbors concerns as well as
formally in person, invite them to a community outreach meeting, which was
held at Cali Craft roughly 10 days after that after those meetings. Um,
insight attended the meeting. Cali Craft, uh, was present as well as about 10
neighbors attended the meeting as well. Um, obviously, um, I want to say this.
The community outreach meeting was was very positive. I think generally what
we found is our neighbors to the north really like the project. Um,
they certainly appreciate the design, uh,
and the detail that went into the buildings.
They liked the layout of the various uses. This is a mixed use project.
They liked the layout, uh,
specifically the community benefit component of the dog park as well as the
community garden. So they very much like this project, um,
which was positive. I think obviously noise was a topic of discussion.
Um, and again, that was actually a very positive conversation as well. Uh,
sort of at the outset of the meeting, um,
several neighbors actually, uh, spoke, um,
to, to insight as well as Cali craft.
And they're very thankful for how quiet Cali crafts been the last two and a half
months since that hearing ended. Um, and,
and I remember Blaine sort of stood up and he was very much appreciative of
those comments. And he said, well,
That's interesting you say that because the last two and a half months have been the busiest time the company's had all year.
So really, really what's the reason for that?
And it's a credit to CaliCraft because they made one minor, fairly minor operational adjustment where they've shifted live music from outside the building to inside the building.
And it's made all the difference in terms of sound levels.
CaliCraft has historically conducted live music inside the building.
COVID hit. The rebound program went into effect and a lot of that live music
was shifted outside because frankly, Cali Craft, like any other business in
their industry during that time was trying to stay afloat. So it was very
noisy during COVID again. So now fast forward to today. All the live music's
been shifted inside. And, um, the comments that we had from our neighbors
at that meeting were very positive on noise levels. So the question really
becomes as well as a commission as as from a neighbor standpoint how do we
know that the last two and a half months isn't just a fluke right I mean how do
we know after the Planning Commission hearing that you know how do we know
five years down the road ten years down the road twenty years down the road that
Cali Craft and the property owner insight are going to maintain the
standard and it's really through a condition of approval which we're
willing to agree to. And this was self imposed by Cali Craft. Um, they're
willing to agree to a condition of approval that all live music going
forward is now gonna be played inside the building. And we've heard it from
neighbors. Um, the noise studies that first carbon is going to be presenting
certainly support that. And we think that's really gonna make a huge
difference for many years to come from a noise perspective. Um, there was
additional comments on this being a mixed use project on site plan layout
where the various uses are gonna lie on site. Um, sort of hand in hand with that
comment. Um, and this is a good concern. And actually, this is one that wasn't
discussed at our last hearing is Children's safety. So sort of the way
Cali Craft lays out now is they have a small interior building with with a bar
um, tables and chairs. And then they have a deck with more tables and chairs.
And then a sea of parking lot, uh,
which have a bunch of tables and chairs as well that are actually roped off.
But there's concerns from the neighbors about children playing in that parking
lot. Cali Craft is a very family oriented business. Uh,
children are welcome at the business and there's just concern about safety
issues. This is nothing new from Cali Craft.
it's always been a concern from them operationally,
it's what I could speak for Blaine,
it keeps him up at night,
and they've done all they can to maintain a safe business.
But I want to say this with the design of the new buildings on site,
we're now designing a nearly 9,000 square foot microbrewery building,
which is roughly four times larger than the space that Cali Craft occupies today.
So there's going to be more space for families to congregate,
socialize and hang out.
We're designing a significant outdoor patio area
with an awning that's gonna be enclosed
from the drive-outs as well as the parking lots
on both sides.
So this is now a more confined space.
It's gonna create much safer conditions
for children to play.
The last comment that we received was regarding trees
and whether we're gonna be removing trees from the property.
the answer is yes, we're going to be removing 36 trees, um,
none of which are highly protected. Uh,
but we're replacing those trees with 53.
So 118 total trees will remain on site. Um,
then in terms of horizontal landscaping,
the current design,
we're actually going to be increasing horizontal landscaping on site by 15%.
I want to focus just on the, the, uh, floor plan to the right.
Basic first floor plan of Cali-Craft, this will be the new building again, roughly 9,000 square feet.
And the blue sort of rectangle that you're seeing is where the live music going forward as a condition of approval.
Which for the neighbors, a condition of approval that's binding on the project.
But that's going to be a condition of approval that all live music is going to be played inside going forward.
I briefly just want to discuss demand for self-storage in this market so as
developers when we look at markets that are healthy to develop in we look at one
and two mile radiuses because most of our customers don't travel far for their
storage needs so we look at shade lens as a way to pull customers because
there's demand for it there's one existing facility right now in shade
lens that's 96% occupied and was built in the early 90s. We're seeing most of
of our clientele coming from the residential space,
but we're also seeing an uptick from office users
as well that are downsizing space.
Walnut Creek right now has some of the highest self-storage rents
in the country, and it's because of lack of supply.
So from a demand perspective, it's off the charts.
I could speak a little bit further on that on Q&A,
and happy to do so.
But from a demand perspective, that
very much evident in this town. Great. Thank you very much. Do we have more
presentations? Yes, we have Phil all who is the first carbon solution.
Good evening. Thank you so much for allowing me to come, Madam Chair and
commissioners, and share this presentation with you. Of our additional noise analysis that we
performed, I believe we've got a PowerPoint presentation to go along with
terrific. Thank you. So, I'm just going to quickly present just the next few minutes
an overview of the additional noise analysis that we performed in addition to the CEQA
level analysis that we performed for the ISMND and try to help clarify the additional steps
we took to analyze potential impacts. So, first of all, I'll begin by just going over
of the background, and again, you've heard most of this
already this evening, so I'm not gonna spend too much time
on that, and then I'll get into the details
of what the noise study entails, what we covered,
what we did with the noise measurement documentation
for current conditions, modeling assumptions we did,
trying to be as a conservative analysis as we could,
again, addressing what did we, you know,
would the project succeed, any sequent noise threshold,
but then also looking at the concerns that were raised
with the last hearing in regards to just annoyance
noise levels.
Is there a potential for that?
Would someone might consider them to be
annoyance levels in their home and things like that.
And then I'll go over the conclusions for the analysis.
So the concerns that were raised again,
this has already been talked about already tonight.
So I don't need to go over this too much,
but just the potential of those issues.
And we're going to try to outline how those,
each of those were addressed in this noise analysis.
Again, this is the CaliCraft event proposal that's been reiterated that the outdoor, they're
not going to be having any more outdoor live music events, but it will be all live music
events will be indoors, assuming up to 50 events per year.
This also does include the arts and crafts shows that would be held outdoors in the parking
lot areas, that those do count toward that 50 event maximum, and we analyze the potential
impact of that.
I'll describe that in a few subsequent slides with the timeframe and again the no amplified
acoustic.
It would include amplified acoustic music but no drums.
So the study went into further detail than what we covered in the CEQA level analysis
by going down and taking an ambient noise monitoring measurement throughout the, on
the project site.
I'll describe that in the next slide.
We, again, covered in this noise analysis
the report that you have there in front of you,
the construction and vibration noise analysis for CEQA,
the project traffic noise impacts under CEQA
and the guidance for that.
And we then delved into even a more,
kind of tried to analyze
what a reasonable worst case scenario would be
for the combined stationary source operational noise impacts
of the project and again, looking at is there a potential
even for annoyance level impacts for the project.
So the noise measurement study, we went out
and took noise measurements during a permitted
live music event at the site under existing conditions.
Music was being played at the orange dot,
kind of in the middle of your screen there.
And the noise measurement,
the first noise measurement was taken at the red dots there
to document what the noise levels were
approximately 50 feet from the noise event
and the speaker system that was there.
And then we also took noise measurement
along the nearest residential property line
while that live music event was continuing.
And those are the results of each one of those measurements.
And we can discuss those if you have any questions
about any one of those.
We considered the required eight foot sound wall,
but we also included in our analysis,
just what the noise levels would be
even without the sound wall.
And then we also considered,
would there be any additional noise impact
in relationship to potential noise reflection
from the three story self-storage building?
And again, we analyzed what the additional arts
and craft events, people in the parking lot,
mainly talking, things like that,
what that could add to the potential noise operations
of the project.
Again, you've seen this, the live music events
will be performed inside.
We analyze this considering the condition
that all doors and windows for this,
the open seating area could be open for cooling
or people coming in and out,
and assume that they could all be open at the same time.
Again, trying to analyze
what that reasonable worst case could be.
And I should add in there
that we did not even analyze the noise reduction
that would be achieved with that outdoor patio covering.
We just assumed that it would just be free open space
outside those doors and windows.
So this again provides a very conservative analysis.
We can go to the next slide there.
Do you need a little more time?
We took a bit of time to get your PowerPoint up,
so we can give you another minute,
but we can wrap up in that amount of time.
All right, I'll just jump to the noise impact analysis
here then.
Thank you.
The noise impacts there, the combined noise levels
at the property line, even without a sound wall,
are gonna combine to be 51 decibels,
which is below the 65 decibel threshold.
But again, with an eight foot sound wall,
that's gonna be reduced to 48 decibels.
Again, well below the 65 decibel threshold.
And if we can go to the next slide, in fact, let's just summarize some of the details of what I analyzed there.
And then noise thresholds, we looked at that real quickly as well.
EPA's guidance is like 55 outdoors.
If the noise levels are below 55 outdoors, it's not going to cause annoyance.
And if it's below 45 indoors, that would not cause annoyance.
So we looked at that as well.
And the next slide shows the result of those.
So the combined noise levels for exterior noise levels
at the nearest property would be 48 decibels exterior.
And then, assuming even with the windows of a home open,
would provide a minimum 15 decibel reduction
exterior to interior, would result in 33 decibel interior
noise levels on a daily average.
But then we took it one step further and said, well,
what about even if there were maximum noise levels?
And the next slide shows what the maximum noise level impact
could potentially be, would be 55 exterior
and 40 interior with those for each of those scenarios.
So again, the summary shows that there's not going to be
an annoyance level even at the exterior of these homes
or even at the interior of the home
for any of those conditions.
We did consider the sound bouncing off
the three story building,
but due to the distance of that structure
from the Cali Craft facility,
and then adding the distance from that,
those would be reflected off of that wall too,
the residences, the most it could add
would be less than one decibel
to the combined noise levels, that reflective noise.
We did also look at what a 12 foot sound wall would do
compared to an eight foot sound wall,
and the minimal, it would be less than a three decibel
reduction, approximately two decibel reduction,
which is not even an audible reduction
in outdoor noise levels.
It's a three decibel reduction, or a change in noise levels
is what's required to be an audible change in noise levels.
That's the quick summary there, and happy to answer any
questions that you may have.
Great, thank you.
Brittany, is that our last presentation here?
Do we have another person?
No, that's not.
Okay, I lost track of how many there were,
so thank you for that.
Thank you, Phil.
Hang on, because we might have some questions for you.
Happy to.
Commissioner's questions for the applicant or their folks.
Commissioner Pickett.
I'm not sure, this is really in your realm,
but it is noise related.
What about the installation of speakers outside
that will take the inside music to the people in the patio?
Was that considered or talked about,
or should I ask the applicant that question?
We did consider that.
And those outdoor speakers are not,
from what we understand, those are not
going to be reproducing the noise levels of the interior live
music events to be the outside.
There would be more for announcements
of your tables, readies, or background music
that is playing quietly.
So those noise levels, we consider those already.
And they are more than 10 decibels
below what these maximum noise levels are going to be.
And so they would not even add a decibel
to any of these calculations.
That's just the mathematics of noise addition there.
So they don't pipe the indoor music outdoor.
They're separate.
That's correct.
Thank you.
The only speaker system that will be accompanied
or that will be part of the live music,
will be located on this stage where that image
that showed the location of the live music events,
that's where those speaker systems will be located.
Yes, the little blue square there, blue rectangle.
Okay, great.
Any other commissioner questions?
No, awesome, okay.
All right, thank you very much for that presentation.
We greatly appreciate it.
Now is the time when we have public comment,
and so we have some dilemmas here
because we have a lot of folks here,
and it's very important to us that everybody be heard.
But on the other hand, we have a lot of people here.
We very carefully read all the materials that we were given,
including the letters, the petitions,
and the 90-page addendum that arrived
on our doorstep this morning.
So we have read and considered all of that.
We have noted a great deal of enthusiasm
for dogs, kids, beer, dogs, kids, and beer.
And most importantly, the sense of community
and a place to go that a lot of you have expressed
in those written communications to us.
So the first thing I'm gonna do is,
in light of the number of people here,
and if there's no objection from any of my fellow
commissioners, is reduce our public comment time
from three minutes to two minutes.
so we have enough time for people to speak.
And I'm also wondering if we can try and have
maybe a few people representing the opinions of the many
that are here so that we don't have a whole lot of
what she said, yeah, you know,
kind of for a long period of time.
So I'm really trying to balance our desire
and your right to address us and to speak your opinion,
but also acknowledge that we have already received
and heard the opinions of a great deal of people.
So with that, and then there may also be people here
who would like to, who are not in favor of this project
and would like to present that information to us.
So we wanna make sure that those voices are heard as well.
So with that, why don't we try a few, see how it goes,
maybe we can talk to everybody and I don't know.
I want people to be heard and I want to acknowledge
There's a lot of people here.
And how many cards do we have?
We have six.
Six cards.
And how many people do we have online with hands up?
If you're online and you're going to speak to this project,
can you please raise your electronic hand?
Here on Zoom.
There's two.
Chair, would it be appropriate to pull the chamber,
how many are in favor of and how many are opposed?
Yeah, I think we should do that first to start.
And it should be noted.
There's quite a few people holding yellow cards out there right now, so there's more
than your six.
All right, so bring them all on up.
And while we're kind of organizing them, if people who want to speak, if you could start
lining up on my left, which is along the window wall here.
And while we're doing that, I guess once you're not moving anymore, no injury zone.
Alright, so maybe if we could bump people with small people with them to the front of
the line, because sometimes they have less patience for hanging out.
And shout out to the guy in the back with the kid in the baby carrier, because I've
been you, so thank you, thanks for coming.
Alright, so before we begin, let's do a little straw poll.
How many of you are here to share your enthusiasm for this project and your love of dog's beer
and et cetera?
Show of hands.
Okay.
So that's a good, most of the people here, applicants can raise their hands too.
We know you're in favor.
Okay.
There you go.
Okay.
And if we could get a show of hands of people who are here to speak, not in favor of the
project.
That would be great.
All right.
So I'm seeing no one.
Is that correct?
All right.
All right, so it's okay, you don't have to out yourselves.
And online we have, we don't really know
because we have two hands raised.
Okay, excellent.
All right, so why don't we give it a,
we'll give it a beginning shot here.
You get two minutes, you don't have to use
the whole two minutes.
And keep in mind that we love your enthusiasm
but we have in fact read all the materials
that you gave us before, so first up, let's go.
And may I please state, please state your name
before you start.
Yeah.
Hello.
I'm Patricia Wynn.
You want to say your name?
Bye.
Okay.
And I'm super excited for the expansion.
We have two kids.
Our little one's in the back
and we're part of a huge mom's group
in Wanna Creek, about a thousand of us.
And we have been talking nonstop
about how excited we are for the new space.
Do you want to say anything?
Bye.
Okay, that's it.
Thank you.
Thank you very much. All right next
Good evening, madam chairperson vice chairperson council members. Thank you very much. My first time here at
Council chambers I moved here in 2010. We live about two miles from Cali craft
We are frequent there very much is just a tremendous community resource
One of the first places that she came. This is my daughter Sloan. My name is Brett Stewart
Thank you, and it's where we go. I live behind my in-laws, Mike and Mary Jo Leary.
We celebrate birthdays, we celebrate, you know,
retirements, we celebrate all sorts of things. It's a community resource. I've had clients, hosted client meetings there.
We appreciate the outreach that Cali Craft and Insight has done,
and we hope that this project does get approved because we want to keep supporting it.
It's a tremendous resource for us.
When I compare this to our city to Bend, Oregon,
which has 35 microbreweries, about the same size,
we just want one, and we want this one.
Thank you.
Great, thanks very much.
All right, let's keep the line rolling here.
Hello, I'm Jordan Kilberry, and this is my son Lennox.
He's five years old.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today
in support of Calicraft.
Calicraft is a really special place for me and my family,
not just because they make great beer,
because they have a real sense of community.
I feel that there's a lot of amenities
in that immediate area for Walnut Creek.
Like we usually end up at the farmer's market
on the weekends and then head over to Cali Craft
and wrap up there.
It's adjacent to the Canal Trail.
If you ask Lennox what the best bike ride is,
it's on the Canal Trail ending at Cali Craft.
He's a big fan of that
and he wanted to come out and show his support.
We're really excited for the new project.
Think it's another feather in their cap that they're adding some more
Public amenities like the dog park and the garden. So we're really looking forward to seeing that
Final product. Thank you very much
Great. Thank you. Thank you both for coming
All right front of the line. Thank you for letting the the small people go in front of you. I appreciate that
Thanks to the Planning Commission again. I'm Doug wing long time on the creek resident 1406. We've seen us
But I'm here today not as a consumer of the beer and the time and Calecraft,
but as a worker in Shadelands. My work is, I'm a consulting engineer, firm has been there over 30 years
in Shadelands. This is a great amenity for people that work in Shadelands.
I can remember times when there was almost nothing out there. We had some development across
the way where the old Safeway was, Rocco's,
Now that was one of the first great amenities. The manatees the orchards are great, but especially
calicraft it's on our
Microsoft Outlook is a place to reserve for a meeting. We have work events there
retirements
Celebrate different things. It's a great amenity for businesses in the business in the shadeless business park and so again
It's a great thing to prove and there's plenty of office space, but more amenities make that office space more valuable. Thanks
Thank you very much, all right, next up.
Hi there, yes, my name is Neil Hannon.
I've got a little bit of a repeat there.
So I've been a, me and my family have been a part of the Walnut Creek community, having
grown up on Wigot Lane and being around for the last 20 years, so very close to Cali Craft.
Our family attended Foothill and Northgate High School.
Why this is relevant is because I grew up in the area and I remember how kind of unsuccessful
Shadelands has been over the years.
As a gentleman in front of me mentioned,
the previous Safeway facility, there
was a USPS facility, both of which
have been, I think, a successful improvement
over the last 10 or 15 years or so.
Additionally, the introduction of ARF.
And then unfortunately, in the past, some of the nighttime
illicit activities that took place in Shadelands,
which I did happen to see growing up.
And I'm a huge proponent of this project.
I've seen over the last couple of decades
shade loons change for the better.
A big improvement and I'm excited to see it continue
to grow to provide for the community,
which includes the families, the nearby families,
other nearby communities, what else?
Cyclists, I'm a big time cyclist, a runner,
the communities that get involved,
that utilize the facility, not just for consuming beer,
but for supporting us.
I mean, I think you guys have all been there.
We have, I think we all have a good time there.
The dogs, the children.
I'm a big proponent for bringing the facility,
bringing the community closer together.
I've seen it increase over the last couple decades
and I'd like to see it continue to grow.
And I think that Cali Craft is in alignment
with that growth as well as secure space,
providing a place for additional storage
for the surrounding community.
Big proponent of it, support it.
Go Cali Craft and secure space.
Thanks very much for your comment.
Hi, good evening.
My name is Megan Molo.
I'd like to start off to say that small business
representation has always been the pinnacle of what
makes Walnut Creek a thriving town.
I'm a part of a local small business myself.
It's called CareQuest that helps seniors find assisted living
when they can't live anymore.
Our community relies on us, and we
are there every day to support our neighbors, our friends,
and families that need our help.
The sense of community is something that we all rely on
and are proud for this very reason.
I support Cali Craft as a thriving small business
which has the opportunity to bring a community together
just as we all are here today.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
All right, next up.
Hi, my name is Rocco Biali.
I am Rocco's Ristorante Pizzeria in Walnut Creek
and I'm here to speak on behalf of advocating
the expansion and the redevelopment of the Kellycraft facility as everybody
here knows that area of Walnut Creek the eastern part has long been a topic of
revitalization. I was a former board member on the Chamber of Commerce and
shade lens has been a target for lack of a better word for revitalization and I
think that Blane's project is a go. That area of Walnut Creek the shade lens and
whole eastern part needs a social gathering component, life music, the beer, the food.
You know technically if you think about it, Kelly Craft is in a weird way a competitive
mind but I view them as an ally. I go to Kelly Craft quite often and I just am advocating
wisdom nothing but success and hope the boat goes their way. Thank you.
Thanks, Rocco. All right. Next up.
Hi there. My name is Paul Culbertson.
I've been a Walnut Creek resident for about 15 years now.
I'm also the owner of Sci Gate Brewery in Concord.
We just opened up about two years ago.
Obviously, here to express my support of Cali Craft.
I have two young children and having lived in Walnut Creek
with two young children and obviously being a craft beer lover.
I frequented Cali Craft.
So I have much the same sentiment as a lot of these people
from that kind of community gathering place
and family kind of environment
that a place like Cali Craft brings.
So I just kind of wanted to,
more from the perspective of someone who's done
a lot of research, both professional
and maybe not professional,
a lot of market research in the area.
There's a lot of places you can get great craft beer,
but there aren't a lot of places like Cali Craft.
It's something very unique.
Before I had my two kids,
I would have to go out to Berkeley or Oakland
Livermore or San Francisco to get that kind of experience, that kind of feel.
When Cali Craft opened now I could get that right here at home, which is great
right around the same time my daughters were born so couldn't travel that far
anyways. So just want to say having having a business like Cali Craft with
the success they've had they've been ultra scrappy in their current location.
I've got to know Blaine and a lot of his team and they're all great and so you
this opportunity for them to invest in the community and grow right here in
Mona Creek is pretty special and definitely something to be celebrated so
thank you. Thank you very much. All right next up. Good afternoon. My name is
Christian. I've been a resident of the Contra Costa area for 17 years and the
last seven years being absolutely special having a paragraph here. I'm also
Also, I'm owner of a brewery in Chile.
And the sense of community that I see in this area
has been the factor to invite me to actually
journey in this business.
So if you guys approve this project,
you will bring in a lot of people happiness
and a lot of more business into this community.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Next up.
My name is Barry Blackiston.
My wife and I moved out here from San Francisco in 1989.
Put our boys through school here,
Bancroft Elementary, Foothill Middle, and Northgate.
And it's nice for when they come home now, my sons,
who are living on the East Coast,
to be able to go out and have beer with them.
And Cali Craft is our beer of choice
and our place to go together.
And it's a great time, absolutely a great time.
There are three things I think are important
When you put together a business of this type,
one of the, and I know a lot of you are thinking location,
location, location, that's not it.
That's what I'm talking about.
But what we have here is staff.
Staff is very important.
Staff at Cali Craft is knowledgeable.
They're friendly.
They're helpful.
If you don't know what beer to buy, you ask them,
and they'll sit down and explain it to you.
And then you find one you like, or you use a sampler,
and it's a great way to learn how to drink beer.
Another thing that's very important I think is the memory loss.
But no, I think that the next thing that's really important is the product itself.
And the product itself at Callicraft is as good as I've had.
The beer is good.
It's reasonably priced.
I think it's well thought out and well planned and well made.
and I think that's really, really key
and really, really important.
And the last thing is the ownership and management.
The management of Kallicraft is excellent.
I know them quite well.
I've gotten to know Blaine real well over the last years.
We've been coming there now since 2016.
So we've been there in and out for a long time.
And it's a great place to go.
It's a great place to make new friends
and to drink with old friends.
And I think that the things they do
in addition to the beer, I'll get it real right now,
things they do in addition to the beer like the food trucks
and the snacks that you can have with your beer
are first rate and I think that's what makes me proud
to go there, proud to know these people.
Thank you so much.
Thank you very much.
Hello, my name is Carol Vogel.
My husband and I moved here.
We bought our home 43 years ago.
When we bought our home, it is on Savannah Circle,
which backs up to the Cali Craft or shade lens.
We were assured that shade lens
was strictly research and development.
Well, time has passed and we understand that
and we're moving with the times.
For the last four or five years,
we've been very unhappy because of the noise
that has come from Cali Craft.
The music on the weekends,
we could hardly have people in our backyard
entertaining them without being inundated with other people's
music from Calicraft.
So we were very up, and when we heard
that they were going to make this expansion,
we were very upset, extremely.
Oh, no, here comes more.
We are now, after the outreach that has gone on
and the folks at the, who own the property,
as well as Calicraft have given assurances of the noise
levels, which is very concerned to us and the neighbors along our street, the noise
levels and the lights and all of it combined. We've been given assurances that that is not
going to be the way it has been. It is going to be improved. And with that, we are now
in favor of the project. So thank you very much.
Great. Thank you very much for your comment. Appreciate that.
Hi Chairman and Vice Chair. I respectfully request three minutes because I wrote it all down and timed it.
I'm the owner of the property. Okay. All right. So it may be an extra minute. Carry on. Okay. My name is
Claudia Hanson Wentworth and I'm the co-owner of 2700 Mitchell Drive. I've been a resident here
for 30 years. All three of my kids went through the Walnut Creek School District and I believe
Walnut Creek to be a wonderful community. A bit of background. This 1960 manufacturing
assembly plant was purchased in the downturn in 2011 and we proceeded to build a company,
Quick Mount PV, that manufactured solar mounting systems for rooftops. It was a rising industry
in a downturn. This brought about jobs and life into a dwindling business park. For this
took a lot of vision, bootstrapping,
alone from the SBA, where we were able to secure the site
to grow the company.
Since then, in an industry-wide roll-up,
the choice was to sell or be squashed by bigger companies,
so we sold in 2019.
I also served on the Shadelands steering committee
for nine years, including working on the PBID
and strategizing how to bring Shadelands back to life
after this downturn, which left more than 50% of Shadelands
vacant.
It was a major blight in the making, it was a real problem.
The Shadelands committee worked closely with the city
to help turn Shadelands around and make it a viable location
as a workplace life space for the community as a whole.
2700 Mitchell is not an office building.
It is a small amount of office space
to support a manufacturing facility
which was grandfathered in by the prior owner
and original builder Varian Technology.
This building is over 50 years old and is outdated for any current day, viable use,
which will ultimately need to be torn down.
Over the 12 years as a property owner, we have helped blame Grow Cali Craft and
to create a work family community oasis, a safe place to relax and enjoy life.
Please know that in supporting Cali Craft as a tenant,
this has been a monthly financial loss for us as owners.
The intention was to keep life in the building and
shalends while making sure that Cali Craft would not lose its standing as a community destination place as
We put the building on the market. It has been close to three years since then and we have now been in escrow for close to
two years with these potential buyers
They are potential buyers and they are diligently working with the Planning Department going back and forth
Perfecting these plans the difficulty for us as owners is that if this doesn't pass these buyers will likely
likely go away. And it will then be difficult to rationalize sustaining this monthly loss
around Cali Craft and then back to the drawing board for the planning department, which takes
additional years to then move forward again, leaving less desirable options for us to pursue
in the interim. You have a golden goose in your hands right now. With insight, they are
here to be part of the community and help build a wonderful shade lens, including public
bathrooms, dog parks, a beautiful Cali Craft. They're not developers to flip it
for profit. They are a vetted and committed to Walnut Creek community and
will help move forward the visions of Shadelands. This is my wholehearted
belief that this is the absolute best of best solutions and insight is the best
developer for the property in keeping with this community's vision of a
workplace life space. Thank you. Thank you very much. Welcome. Hello, my name is
Michael Spears. I'm president of East Bay Investment Group. I represent Claudia and
Stewart. We were engaged three years ago to find the highest and best use for the
site and to fit within the confines of the zoning. We went to market. We've had
to answer some of the questions that you've had to be more direct about what
that involved. We had numerous potential buyers. They were all developers. We
had no owner users and all of the uses other than self-storage use, and this is
before we engaged insight, require a general plan amendment and a change in
the zoning. We brought all the stakeholders, the different
participants that are here today, but from economic
development and from the planning department, walked
through the building, showed them what we had and that there
was no viable alternative other than the building being torn
down and based upon the interest that we have, what were their
recommendations and the very strong recommendation was to
stay within the four corners of the zoning. We had one use that was within
the four corners of the zoning, and that was self storage. So then we went out
and found what we believed was the best developer to take an eight acre site,
and it would do the best job in working with the community to position that
not just for self storage, but what other vision might they have to then be
successful in a night like tonight. We were not required to do a brew pub, but
this was all part of the element of picking the right developer that would
be creative and work through the process and now we have an opportunity to save
20-some jobs and to create an extra 20 jobs because we picked a developer one
that we believed that could do the job and two very few developers are in it to
to build and then hold long-term.
That's what you have with InSight.
If you don't approve this,
you're gonna lose that opportunity
because that is a very rare situation.
And I humbly ask that you approve.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Next up.
Hi, my name's Mike Mueller.
I'd like to request 20 minutes.
Just kidding.
I'm sorry, the answer's no.
I gotta make this really quick.
Lifelong resident, I went to Montecito School
as an elementary, Park Mead as middle.
Los Alamos, I was supposed to go to Del Valle.
They closed it, I ended up going
to Los Alamos class 77.
We love Cali Craft, we've been going there
since almost the beginning.
We love the live music, we go on a Friday night,
it was just usually some guy in a guitar,
absolutely wonderful place to wind down.
I hear a lot about community.
It's been mentioned quite a lot.
I want to throw a little bit different spin.
We have seen everything at Cali Craft, bridal showers,
birthday parties.
We've all had birthday parties at Cali Craft.
We've seen just everything.
I've seen a, I don't want to call it a memorial,
for somebody's small dog that passed away at Cali Craft.
All of these people, I also am a mountain biker,
I'm a road biker, I've brought people in.
All of them are their own separate community.
Cali Craft has a sense of community,
but they also foster any community that's brought to them.
And that's, I think, one of the most beautiful things.
When this new plan goes into effect, oh, I forgot.
Contra Costa Fire Department, Local 1230,
has held two fill the boots.
Those are fundraisers for muscular dystrophy at Cali
Craft.
They've also done pint nights for first responders.
that's a whole community in itself.
So I look at the new plans, I love the new plans,
it's gonna make it bigger,
they're not gonna lose a sense of community,
they're gonna be able to accept even more community
and build that.
And that's all I have, thank you.
Thank you very much.
All right, last of our live speakers, you are up.
Hard to follow that.
Good evening, I'm Ted Caddigan.
I've lived in Walnut Creek since I was three years old,
Bancroft-Foothill, Northgate alum,
currently live in the Carriage Square neighborhood,
which is conveniently a quick walk
or bike ride to Cali Craft.
I have two daughters, 11 and eight.
They're always asking to go to Cali Craft.
And as a good dad, I say yes.
They want to go because they meet their friends.
They tend to make new friends there.
They have great relationships with the staff.
They've got to know them over the years.
Cali Craft's just a great family-friendly environment,
which is huge for parents like myself.
They're a great community partner.
I've seen them donate beer at school fundraisers,
and their beer is good stuff.
And I didn't know it until they arrived to our neighborhood.
But our neighborhood desperately needs the Cali Craft.
It's great for the community.
and I'm excited for them to grow and prosper.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
OK, Chip, I understand we have two people online,
or possibly more, who would like to speak.
I see two.
I could get them up here.
That'd be great.
The first step will be, the name on it is She's Kelly Crafty.
Are you there?
Hey, yes.
We are here.
I wasn't sure what this was going to look like.
or audio only so I'm assuming it's audio only long time residents grew up in the
area as well a lot of people have said this I just wanted to add part of the
community aspect of it that really won our hearts from back in 2018 after the
campfire we have family they were affected by that had lost their homes and
it was as everyone knows a tragic event and Cali Craft stepped up to brew a
a beer called Resilience, and it was not only delicious,
but all of the profits, I believe, went to the support
for the survivors and victims of the campfire,
and we just thought that was amazing and awesome
on all levels, and so that gained our trust and support.
They were new to us at that time, like, this is amazing.
And we are about a mile away.
We can walk or ride our bikes there.
I know this isn't Q and A,
but I love the little passage over the canal trail
and access to the facility from the canal trail.
Hopefully that doesn't change.
And hopefully they do have bike racks.
And I guess that was all I wanted to say.
Go for it, let's do it.
Great, thank you very much for your comment.
Appreciate it.
Chip, one more.
Okay.
We have Shanti Peterson.
Hi, can you hear me?
Yes, we can hear you.
Hi, thank you for letting me speak.
I'll be really quick.
I'm a Bay Point resident.
I drive 20 minutes to just get to Cali Craft.
I work in Walnut Creek at Meals on Wheels Diablo region.
They've been incredibly supportive and generous
for our annual gallus.
On behalf of my husband, my son, we are family there.
They are our family.
It is a safe space for us to go
where I know we are absolutely welcome.
They always show our best interest first and foremost,
and they give so much back to the community
that I really think it's time we show our appreciation
to them and back them up in this.
And Calvin, you wanna say, I love CaliCraft?
I love CaliCraft.
That's it, thank you so much for your time.
Thank you for your comments, much appreciated.
All right, last call for people either in the chambers
or online to make public comment
with regard to the Cali Craft Brother.
Actually, we do have one more and it is Blaine Landberg.
Blaine, you're muted still?
I got him.
Okay.
Am I muted now?
Hello.
We can hear you now.
All right.
I just wanted to thank the city and the council
for all the support over the years.
It's been a pleasure and really my life's work
to be able to create something
that actually means something for people
and creates a sense of community in the city.
And after our last meeting,
I think that us being able to reach out
to our local residents, especially Art and Carol
and all the people that were like really right next to us
to understand how we can be the best neighbors we can be
but also like drive the community forward.
I just want to thank you all for doing that.
I'd like to thank my staff, and then most importantly,
I'd like to thank all the customers
and all our fans that have been there over the years
and supported us.
And I just can't be watching this from Italy
at 3 a.m. in the morning.
It has been incredibly moving for me.
I just want to thank everybody for what you've done
and hopefully the project goes through.
Thank you.
Thank you, Blaine.
Appreciate it.
Okay, well seeing no additional speakers,
I think the applicant has an opportunity
to respond to public comments,
but I think maybe Blaine just did that.
Are there any responses or anything else?
Okay, thank you.
So with that, I'm going to close the public hearing now
with regard to this item and bring it back to the commission
for any comments, questions, deliberation,
or maybe even a motion.
I'll start.
Okay.
Maybe I'll finish.
I just want to thank the applicant
for such a thorough job of addressing the concerns,
not only of the commission,
but most importantly, the neighbors.
That to me was incredibly impressive
as was the community outpouring,
the outpouring of support that the community came forth with.
It was quite touching.
And to see that kind of enthusiasm
behind a business, a local business is very, very cool.
With that, unless I see some head shakes
of anybody that I'll go ahead and move it along.
Okay, with that I move to adopt the draft resolution
certifying the mitigated neg deck,
mitigated monitoring and reporting program.
I move to adopt the draft resolution and attachment two,
approving the conditional use permit for the storage use.
I move to adopt the draft resolution attachment three,
approving the conditional use permit
to establish a microbrewery,
along with a minor use permit
to allow the temporary offsite parking.
And I move to adopt the resolution
approving the tree removal permit for 36 trees.
With that, so moved.
Okay, so I think we need separate.
We want to do the environmental one separately.
Yeah, the last three we can do together,
but I would suggest that the commission
take the environmental resolution separately first.
The first two?
The first one.
Just the first resolution.
The mitigated NAGDAC and the.
Okay, we have a motion and a second.
Commission secretary, can you please record the vote for us?
Commissioner Reiser.
Yes.
Mr. Strongman.
Yes.
Mr. Pickett?
Yes.
Mr. Lizak?
Yes.
Mr. Needing?
Yes.
And, who did I miss?
Chair Ward.
Chair Ward.
Yes.
Okay, thank you.
Okay, so now we, I would like to entertain another motion
for the remaining resolutions.
Steve, you were doing so well.
As I said, can I say so move for items two through five?
Yes, I think so, is that okay?
Yeah, it's attachments two, three, and four.
So moved.
I second.
OK, we have a motion and a second.
Let's record the vote again, please.
See if I can get it right this time.
You're doing great.
Commissioner Reiser?
Yes.
Commissioner Neating?
Yes.
Commissioner Lozak?
Yes.
Commissioner Pickett?
Yes.
Commissioner Strongman?
Yes.
And Chair Ward?
Yes.
Motion carries.
OK, excellent.
Congratulations.
All right, congratulations and thank you all for coming.
All right, we do have another agenda item,
so I don't know if y'all are totally interested in this.
You're welcome to quietly exit the chambers, if not.
But thank you.
Why don't we take like a two-minute recess
to let people exit and have a great thank you.
Thank you very much.
Okay. We're back. We're back from our break. Thank you, everyone. And it's now time for
our next project that we're considering, our next agenda, our public hearing, which is
the Mount Diablo mixed use project conditional use permit. And I believe we're going to start
with a hopefully brief staff report by Samar Gil.
do we want to mention any ex parte?
Oh, I thought we did that for everything all at once.
Oh we did.
Has anybody had any additional?
Okay, we're all good, all good.
All of the other presentations are all open.
All right, so while it's coming up, just as a reminder,
this is an item we considered trying to move to consent,
but we're not going to, we're gonna,
it's a continuation of a conditional use permit
that we've previously considered.
So there really is no change to anything
than the timing of it. Hopefully we'll get our PowerPoint up but if not we're
gonna we're gonna move along anyway. Okay excellent. We see it. Thank you. Good
evening commissioners. My name is Simmer Gill, Associate Planner with the City. We
are here tonight to consider the mixed use project that will be located at 1532
Mount Diablo Boulevard and this is at the corner of Locust and Mount Diablo
Ablow Boulevard.
This project did come before this commission in 2020,
and a conditional use permit was approved
to set the residential density for this project
and also to establish the parking,
and a minor use permit that allowed a valet parking
program for phase one of the project,
and also a subdivision map that approved the 30 condo units
for phase one project, part of the project.
So the entitlements have expired and that is the reason we're back here tonight
however, the scope of the project does remain the same and there's been no changes the applicant is requesting the Planning Commission to reconsider and
re-approve the subdivision map and the conditional use permit tonight and
The applicant Dave Balducci and his team are here tonight as am I to answer any questions that you may have after this presentation and
And just to orient you with the site,
the project is located in the city's downtown core area
at the northeast corner of the intersection
of Mount Diablo Boulevard and Locust Street.
The site is composed of two properties,
each representing different phases of the project.
The phase one site, which is 0.1 acres in size
and is bounded by Mount Diablo Boulevard
and Commercial Lane, see there?
And phase two is 0.36 acres in size
and it's bounded by Mount Diablo Boulevard and Locust Street.
The site consists of a surface parking lot and an existing 7,000 square foot retail building
that is currently occupied by Sweet Green and Veggie Grill, and that is on the Phase
II site.
Existing access to the site is provided from Commercial Lane, and access is provided from
Commercial Lane and also from Mount Diablo Boulevard and Locust Street.
And here is the proposal that consists of three separate buildings.
This project will be developed in two phases.
Building one that you see here, which is also phase one, is a four-story building with about
10,000 square feet of ground floor retail and 30 residential condo units that will be
located on the upper floors.
A rooftop open-air restaurant and landscaped deck area is also proposed.
And the new underground parking garage will be accessed from commercial lane.
The second phase that is indicated in the purple and red on this exhibit would be two
separate buildings with a public paseo that's separating the two.
And at the corner of Mount Diablo is the two-story, 9,000-square-foot commercial building, and
then the four-story building with 7,000 square feet of ground floor retail and 12 condo units
will be sit right behind, which is identified as the red building.
no rooftop activation is proposed
on either one of the buildings on phase two.
And just a little background,
this project was approved by this commission in 2020,
and all the adopted resolutions
are included as attachment 11 of your packet tonight.
The project was delayed due to the pandemic
and increased financing costs.
However, the site development permit is ready to be issued.
The building permit had minimal comments
and that is actually the reason we're here tonight
because if the permit would be ready to be issued,
we wouldn't be here tonight.
But because they had some comments
that needed to be addressed.
In the meantime, the entitlements expired
and it was oversight by the applicant
and they didn't request the one year extension.
The entitlements listed on the slide have all expired.
Again, the scope of work does remain the same.
And all of the plans and the reports
that are included in the agenda packet
are the same that the Planning Commission reviewed in 2020.
The Design Review Commission approved the design
for this project, and that design review is still valid.
The applicant tonight is requesting
a re-approval of this previously approved project.
And that would, again, include a subdivision map for phase one,
a conditional use permit to allow
residential development, and set the density
for this project, a minor use permit
to allow parking reduction associated with the valet
parking.
And the project also includes an exception
from the specific plan's average building setback,
which requires 15 feet along Mount Diablo Boulevard.
And please note that all of these entitlements
that are listed here do apply to both phases of the project
with the exception of the subdivision map,
which is only for the phase 130 condo units.
So before I get into the proposal,
the site is located in the city's downtown core area
within the Mount Diablo specific plan.
And that is identified as an opportunity site.
And together these two properties were planned
for a mixed use development to contain
about 20,000 square feet of commercial space,
36 residential units, and 124 stalls of underground parking.
The specific plan also envisions 20 foot wide paseo
and a 1,000 square foot plaza
that's indicated in the red circle on this exhibit.
and the proposal before you tonight
meets the intent of the specific plan
as it includes 42 residential units,
approximately 25,000 square feet of commercial space
and 121 parking stalls in an underground parking garage.
And a paseo along both phases of the project.
The applicant does represent both ownership groups
on a phased approach.
Phase one would be constructed first followed by phase two
and they would chair the garage ramps on phase one
side of the site, and additional underground parking stalls
once phase two is developed.
And other elements of the specific plan would be split,
the idea being that phase one development
would not prohibit phase two from completing the vision
of the specific plan.
The use permits to allow a residential use
and establish appropriate density and parking applied
at both phases tonight.
Phase two would have to return to design review commission
for final building design once phase two buildings
are developed and to planning commission
for approval of a tentative map.
And but the use, the density and also parking requirement
and the sidewalk width exception would,
the reduced sidewalk width would be entitled
for phase two tonight as well as phase one.
And here are renderings of what the phase one building
would look like once it's complete.
Illustrated here is a portion of the public paseo on the phase one site
Which is showing half of the paseo and half of the plaza
the other half will be provided once phase two is complete to provide pedestrian connectivity to
the other two buildings and
the underground parking garage takes access off of commercial lane as indicated with the red arrow and
The green dots are pedestrian access points on the ground level that lead towards the garage and uses above
The green dot towards the bottom is for residents which leads to a lobby and the access to the
residential floors on the second, third, and fourth floor and also to the underground parking.
And then the green dot that you see up top on the right that's closest to Mount Diablo
Boulevard that would lead to an elevator and will provide direct access to the rooftop
outdoor deck and restaurant.
And then the green dot that you see to the left, to the top left, it provides access
between the ground floor retail space and the underground parking garage.
And pedestrian seeking access along commercial lane would use the walkway that ranges four
to six and a half feet in width and it connects to both the elevators on commercial lane from
Mount Diablo Boulevard and is shown with the arrows.
This walkway is recessed underneath a second story and behind the alley right of way.
So the next few slides will have a lot of text and a lot of information, so no nice
graphics.
So please bear with me.
As mentioned earlier, this planning commission will set the density for this project as part
of the use permit.
The pedestrian retail zone is strictly commercial zone, so does not allow for any residential
uses unless allowed by a specific plan.
And in this case, a specific plan does allow the planning commission to set the density.
The proposed 42 units across the combined site results in an overall density of 54.75.
And this is in line with the range that's allowed in the multifamily special high general
plan designation, which is really only found in the core area.
And given that the density falls within the appropriate downtown range, staff does support
the proposed density and again the project hasn't changed so the density
that's being proposed tonight was previously approved. So now the second
part of the use permit is to establish the residential parking. Given the
complexity of the project, the findings in the draft resolution do explain the
parking request in great detail so it's more clear. And at project completion the
underground parking garage will provide for 121 parking stalls across both
phases, 65 of those stalls are required for the commercial component, which is one stall
per 300 square feet in the pedestrian retail zone.
Which means 56 stalls would then be provided for the residential component of the project.
So tonight is up to this commission to determine the residential parking requirement.
And so what is typically required and are 56 stalls sufficient or appropriate?
So in the next few slides I will just show you what the project would require in other
areas of the city for some context.
So if this project was located outside of the core area or downtown area, it would require
80 parking stalls for the residential use based on the bedroom count.
And this does represent the highest or more stringent multi-parking requirement in the
city.
And then on the opposite side, we have the north downtown and west downtown specific
plan and they were evaluated and approved with a lesser standard.
The rationale behind that was that the dense areas such as the traditional downtown and
core area have good transit service.
So the parking requirement in the core areas was developed to avoid any oversupply and
encourage shared parking between multiple uses with different peak parking demands.
And the area also promotes walking, biking, and public transit, which does align with
the intent of the PR zone in which this project site is located in.
And by utilizing these standards of the West Downtown and North Downtown specific plan,
the residential parking requirement would be 38 stalls for the 42 units, which seems
to be more in line with the site.
I would also like to add that the thinking around the topic of parking has changed over
the years and continues to change at the state and local levels, and in the past few years
we have seen that the state has reduced parking requirements for projects in dense areas and
near transit. In fact, the market rate projects that include affordable units were reduced
to .5 per bedroom, and then in 2020 the parking requirement was completely eliminated for
100% affordable projects. And then at our local level, the city's rethinking mobility
plan does encourage alternatives to constructing parking spaces and also
recognizing that the existing residential parking requirements are too
high. And the two specific plans that I have already mentioned so reducing the
parking standards will align with the vision of the state trends. So these two
specific plans were mostly recently adopted a few years ago they were
adopted by City Council and they do share similar neighborhood
characteristics as the subject site and reflect both the direction by the state
and by the city's rethinking mobility plan. Staff does believe it's a most
appropriate comparison to assist when making the determination rather than the
less dense areas in the city that are outside of the core area for this
project. And even with the similarities with other projects in the core area the
project does find a good balance between both standards and a lens in the
middle. And if you want to use another comparison, the residential portion of
this project in the north downtown and west downtown specific plan would require
0.90 stalls per unit. This project in less dense areas of Walnut Creek would
require 1.9 stalls per unit. And with state density bonus law permitting
housing projects as low as 0.5 stalls per unit, the project does propose 1.33
stalls per unit again it lands right in the middle between similar downtown
projects and those areas that are less dense and now moving on to the parking
the overall requirement for parking would be 121 stalls for both phases of
this development and these are striped self park stalls however phase one will
be constructed first and the underground garage under phase one could only
satisfy parking requirements through use of the valet parking program. If you do
approve the minor use permit tonight we're essentially approving the valet
parking so temporarily that it would count towards meeting the parking
requirements for phase one. Once phase two is built the underground garage
could meet parking without the need of the valet program. And because it's being
built in phases the question is how do we split the 56 residential stalls
stalls between both phases.
Well, the 30 units that make up the Phase 1 site represent 71% of the total unit counts.
There's a lot of information.
And 71% of the 56 total residential units equates to 40 stalls.
So the request requiring the 40 residential stalls of Phase 1 and 16 for Phase 2.
You can see here that phase one would require 67 stalls between commercial and residential
uses and could accommodate 70 with valet, resulting in a temporary surplus of three
stalls during the program usage.
A consideration that the commission is making tonight when reviewing the valet parking is
whether or not the valet program impedes on off-site or on-site circulation.
The applicant did prepare a trip generation report, which is included as attachment seven
and a queuing exhibit, which is included as attachment eight.
Again, these are the same studies
that you reviewed in the past when we approved this project.
The study included the phase one ground level retail,
30 residential units, and the rooftop restaurant
as causes for these trips.
Worst case scenario, which was the PM peak hour,
42 inbound vehicles are expected and 28 outbound vehicles
are expected.
And that does equate to one inbound vehicle every 1.4
minute, and one outbound every two minutes.
And here is the garage ramp with the valet queuing area.
The drop-off area is shown in blue on this exhibit.
And it is ADA accessible.
Once people drop their car off, they
will follow the ADA path of travel
to either side to access a elevator or stairway.
The drop-off area can accommodate up
to seven vehicles waiting for valet service
and the 25 foot wide garage ramp leaves 16 feet
for vehicles to exit after considering the cars
waiting to be served.
And you can see the pickup area outside the garage ramp
entirely in the green areas shown on this exhibit.
And according to the study, a valet service
with three employees can service three cars
every three minutes or 60 cars in an hour.
Based on that service rate, the queue can accommodate up to seven cars, and the report
did conclude that the garage ramp would not exceed the capacity, so it will not cause
a backup on commercial lane.
Outbound vehicles do queue differently so as not to block the garage ramp, and given
the lesser service rate of 28 outbound vehicles, the study also concludes that the pickup area
will not block the garage ramp or any pedestrian access points.
The study also doesn't foresee any spillover.
However, staff did include a condition of approval
at the previous commission hearing,
which is included for any overflow problems
should they occur.
And for these reasons, staff does support the valet program.
And again, the valet parking layout remains the same
as what you have seen and approved in the past.
Okay, so now we went over density,
residential parking, and the valet.
so we move onto setbacks.
The setback in the specific plan were implemented
to be measured from the building to the face of the curb,
and this was done for design flexibility,
so the project could incorporate landscaping, benches,
and any unobstructed sidewalks.
The project provides appropriate setbacks
with the exception along Mount Tiablo.
The applicant does provide a setback of 10 feet, eight inches,
and the specific plan does allow this commission
to approve a sidewalk that's less than the required
15 foot along Mount Diablo.
For context, the project to the east,
which is 1500 Mount Diablo,
it does contain a similar setback
exception along Mount Diablo,
but when that project was approved,
an unobstructed sidewalk of no less than eight feet
in width was required and approved.
So this proposal is actually two feet eight inches
wider than the neighboring site.
And the downtown area typically requires
10 feet wide sidewalks and a majority
of the project exceeds that requirement.
And the proposed project was designed to extend
and widen the existing sidewalk
to the east along Mount Diablo towards Locust Street,
which ensures a landscape planter remains in the design
to buffer the sidewalk from the busy traffic
on Mount Diablo Boulevard.
Can you not hear, I'm sorry, am I not clear?
Oh, we're all good.
just got a little so in summary the project meets the requirements of the
specific plan and fulfills the vision of a public paseo and public plaza on site
and activates the rooftop with a restaurant and garden and also provides
for 42 housing units that increases housing supply in the city as required
by the general plan and the proposed density is right in line with typical
projects that are found in the core area where the density is encouraged and so
tonight staff does recommend that the Planning Commission adopt the two draft
resolutions before you tonight which includes a conditional use permit to
allow residential use in a commercial zone, set the residential density at 42
units, set the residential parking requirement at 1.33 or 56 stalls and
allow for a sidewalk with with along Mount Diablo of 10 feet and also allow
a valley parking program and with that staff does recommend approval of the
tentative map for phase one for 30 residential units and the 10 commercial
units and that is all I have for my presentation but I will be happy to
answer any questions thank you great thanks so much appreciate that very much
Any commissioner questions? No? I think we're good. Alright I'm gonna open the
public hearing which gives the applicant 15 minutes for your presentation but all
but one of us were here in 2020 so we're and Simmer did a great job so yeah yeah
I apologize for bringing this back here we also recently built 1380 North
California which is the other specific plan multi multi apartment project in
specific plan. We started that one over a year after getting a conditional use
permits but I guess it was the building permit. We were working hard towards the
end of the year to pull that permit and close the construction loan. We've now
negotiated a term sheet and our intent is to build this project as soon as
possible. Great. Well thanks so much. We really appreciate that. All right. So is
there any member of the public who wishes to make a comment at this time?
Okay. Is there anybody online? Is it about this project? Okay. Come on up. Fill out a
yellow card. No, you can leave it there. It's fine.
Hi. My name is Natasha Paulsen. Natasha Marie Paulsen. I just wanted to present myself.
Is there a proper way to present myself at this time? I have been here before, but unfortunately
I'm not sure if you know him.
Ralph Hoffman passed away,
and he really wanted to be mayor.
He was running for it,
and he wanted to be president one day
that I was his caregiver,
but he did pass away.
So is there a proper way to present myself?
No, you're doing great.
Is there anything further you want to tell us?
Oh, yes, about this project.
I did want you to know that I do approve this project.
I think that it's an amazing project
that you're doing a really good job here in Walnut Creek
that keep up the good work and I do approve.
Thank you.
Great. Thank you very much for your comment.
Okay. Do we have any other members of the public?
Either online or?
We do not. Not online.
Great. Seeing no additional speakers, I'll give the applicant an opportunity to respond.
You're good? Okay. Excellent. So with that, I'm going to close the public hearing
and bring it back to the commission for comments, questions, deliberations or possibly a motion.
We're ready to go. Looking at you, Steve.
Sorry, Commissioner Lizek has them. I just want to say that to recognize publicly we all appreciate
Ralph Hoffman and his contributions to to the city and and his attendance at
many a planning Commission and other council meetings
So just wanted to respect respect that that public comment. Thank you. Thank you. I would agree with that
He's very much missed. We we always enjoyed having him at our meetings
Commissioner pick it. Yeah, I
When we saw this project before I was the only dissenting vote
And since the project hasn't changed, my opinion hasn't changed.
But I still think it's a good project, but I feel compelled to be non-hypocritical and
continue to vote no.
All right.
Well, you will have the opportunity to do that shortly, I believe.
So are there any other comments, questions, or perhaps a motion?
I just have a quick question of clarification.
There's no CEQA approval here, and that's because there was some kind of an amendment
to an EIR back when at 2010 or something.
And that CEQA is still valid for this project.
Nothing else has changed.
So there's no CEQA needed for this, right?
Correct.
Thank you.
And there was an NOD.
I can clarify that.
So in 2020, there was an EIR addendum,
which did include the additional residential density
that's being proposed and the commercial
because it went a little beyond
what the specific plan allowed.
So that was the purpose of that.
And yes, the NOD was posted, the Notice of Determination,
and there's nothing changing about the project,
so we didn't have to redo that aspect of the project.
Great, thank you for that.
All right, since I got the mic,
I'll go ahead and make the motion.
It's a motion to approve the resolution
for the tentative map and the second resolution
for the conditional use permit and minor use permit.
Second.
Okay, thank you.
I see we have a motion and a second.
Commission Secretary, can you please record the vote?
Again.
Commissioner Lizak.
Yes.
Commissioner Reiser.
Yes.
Commissioner Needing.
Yes.
Commissioner Pickett.
No.
Vice Chair Strongman.
Yes.
And Chair Ward.
Yes.
OK.
Motion carries, 5-1.
Great.
Thank you very much.
I need your consistency.
No hypocrisy here.
OK.
Next, let's move on to item number five,
commission considerations.
Do we have any particular considerations?
None from staff.
With the exception of, I believe I mentioned
that the next meeting, June 22nd will be canceled.
All right, thank you for that.
Do we have any commission member
and staff report or announcements?
Okay, I would only say that I'm wearing purple today
in honor of my daughter Josephine,
who's graduating from Northwestern this weekend,
And I am just super proud of her, so I just wanted to say that.
Also that she's my last of three to graduate from college,
so I was an empty nester before, but now I'm even jollier
about the whole thing.
So we'll be off to Chicago next week.
And we're just, like I said, incredibly proud of her.
If there are no more announcements or brags
or anything else about kids, grandkids, or anybody else,
Let's adjourn this meeting at seven, oh dear, 48.
That clock's a long way away.
Thank you very much everybody, appreciate it.
Nice job, that's the under.
It's funny.
It's the under.