Let's do this.
Ready, ready?
Mm-hmm.
All right, good evening,
and welcome to the Thursday, February 8th, 2024,
regular meeting of the Walnut Creek Planning Commission.
At this time, I'll ask our commission secretary
to please call the roll.
Commissioner Reiser?
Here.
Commissioner Natee?
Here.
Commissioner Leisak is absent.
Commissioner Pickett?
Here.
Commissioner Anderson?
Here.
Vice Chair Strongman?
Here.
Chair Ward?
Here.
Thank you very much.
Next, on the agenda, we have public communication.
The public communication portion of the meeting
is reserved for comment on items not on the agenda.
This means comments which are not about
the RISE modification to their CUP application.
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.
Additionally, I would like to remind everyone
not all speech is protected and that I will not tolerate or allow hate speech
during public comment at any meeting that I chair. Hate has no place in our
community and our words must reflect our community commitment to equality and
inclusion for all. At this time do we have any members of the public who would
like to comment? All right seeing none we'll move on to our next agenda item
which is public hearings. Chair Ward if I can interject. Yeah. Thank you. So related to item
for a on the agenda which is up right now I have a business related conflict
conflict of interest within proximity of the subject site I've consulted staff
and council and confirm that I'm obligated to recuse myself from this
application great thank you very much for disclosing that and so we will
excuse you at this time you could leave the dais it would be great all right
while we're waiting for a commissioner riser to leave the chambers we'll start
by asking if any other member of the Commission has had any ex-party
communications related to items on this evening's agenda and I'm seeing only no
head nose nose for that so thank you all right so moving on our first project is
the rise at 1380 North California its conversion of 20 hotel rooms to
residential rental units application number Y to 3-097 the address is
1380 North California and the APN 178 160028. So let's start with a staff
presentation. Good evening commissioners. My name is Simmer Gil, associate planner
with the city. We are here tonight to consider the modification to the
previously approved conditional use permit that approved the six story mixed
use building at 1380 North California Boulevard and the application number is
Y23097. The applicant Dave Balducci and Mark Loper, I believe Dave Balducci is on his way
and Mark Loper is here tonight as am I to answer any questions that you may have after this
presentation. And just to orient you with the site, the six-story building is located at the
corner of Cypress and North California Boulevard. It does include two levels of ground floor parking
that provides 148 parking stalls and the surrounding area consists of a mix of
retail, office, and restaurant uses. And here is the background as part of the
original conditional use permit that was approved in 2017. The Planning
Commission determined the maximum allowable density of 146 dwelling units
per acre for the site with a condition that 20 units operate as hotel rooms. The
approval included 9,600 square feet of ground floor retail space and 77
residential units located on the upper floors as residential uses are not
allowed on the ground floor in the pedestrian retail zone and prior to
planning Commission's approval the City Council also reviewed and supported the
mixed use project and anticipated the hotel portion of the project if not
feasible could be converted to residential units and so tonight the
applicant is proposing or requesting the Planning Commission to consider a
modification to the previously approved use permit modifying condition number
two to convert the 20 hotel rooms to residential rental studio units and that
will result in 97 residential units on site. No exterior or interior changes are
proposed and no new floor area is proposed or the density will not be
increased beyond what was determined for this site. And here is a quick look at the existing
ground floor level floor plan which does consist of retail space and a separate entrance along
Cypress Street that leads to the rental units and hotel rooms through a first floor lobby.
And currently the hotel guests they do check in at the residential lobby's front desk. When the
The lobby is unattended, the hotel guests go into the lobby and there is a kiosk that
they can use to verify them electronically.
Here is the second floor plan.
The 20 hotel rooms are spread across floors 2 through 5 and there are a total of 5 rooms
on each floor.
Each room is approximately 444 square feet and they are all street facing units along
North California Boulevard.
and no interior exterior changes are proposed
or will be required and all the hotel rooms
are already equipped with kitchens.
So basically this project is simply reclassifying
the rooms to studio units.
So just to go over the reasons for the proposed change
is that the leasing for the hotel room
and residential units started early last year in 2023.
And since then the hotel portion of the building
has seen very low occupancy.
The applicant has stated that the hotel
has proven to be financially infeasible
since it's not renting well.
And even during the busier summer months,
the maximum occupancy scene was 50% or even lower.
And in contrast, 90% of the residential units
have been leased, so it is demonstrating a higher demand
for residential units at this location.
And this project does continue to comply
with the city's general plan,
the specific plan, the zoning ordinance,
and is also vested under the Housing Accountability Act
as it was designed to meet the city's objective standards
at the time when it was approved,
such as floor area ratio, height, and density.
And conversion of these units will remain
within the maximum density allowed onsite,
and no expansion is proposed,
and the parking onsite is also sufficient
for the residential uses,
as well as the ground floor commercial uses.
And this property is also included
in the city's housing element site inventory,
which did recognize a density of 142 dwelling units per acre.
And the housing element also highlights this property
as an example of the city facilitating the redevelopment
of non-residential sites
into higher density housing projects.
And finally, the project will also add 20 new units
to the city's housing stock,
and it is consistent with the goals set
in the housing element.
Staff does support the request tonight as the existing mixed use building will be retained on site
and even with the conversion it will continue to comply and
with that staff does recommend that the Planning Commission approve the conditional use permit
subject to the conditions of approval and
That is all I have for my presentation, but I believe the applicant does have a short presentation as well
Thank you. Right, thank you very much. That was very informative. At this time, does the commission any Commissioner questions?
Okay
Quick one the I didn't see in the approved CUP a
Any criteria for what infeasibility?
economic infeasible meant
Was it just you know presentation by the owner and?
Correct. It was based on what was presented in the business plan staff did ask for actual verification or
Rate the occupancy rates data sheets
The applicant was hesitant to share it. However, I did request the applicant to bring that information tonight
Appreciate that. Thank you
Okay, do we have any other excuse me Commissioner questions at this time, okay
Excuse me, good evening
Commissioners, I'm not gonna use the whole 15 minutes.
Thanks, first off, thanks everybody for coming here.
I recognize that we're the only regular agenda item
and so I appreciate the commission and staff's time.
I also just wanna thank Ms. Gill and staff
for their hard work on this project.
They process this application quickly and thoroughly
and the staff report and presentation were very thorough.
So I wanna make just a few points
and then walk through the pictures that I brought
and show and talk a little bit about how these units
are really ideal to be converted into residential.
First, as staff mentioned,
your recently certified housing element
calls out the conversion of these 20 units
to full-time residential as one of the concrete ways
that Walnut Creek can meet its Rina goals.
These units are ready to be occupied immediately,
meaning new residents can start living in a walkable
and transit-friendly part of Walnut Creek
without the months or years that it would otherwise take
for a project to be constructed.
Another way of thinking about this and reframing it
is that these 20 new units are basically
a standalone project that can be occupied immediately.
A little bit about hotels since 2017.
So we did a little bit of research and since this project was originally entitled in 2017,
one hotel has come online and another one is under construction.
Each of these are about a mile or less from the project site.
And those two hotels have a combined unit key count of 284.
Focusing on the units themselves, they're affordable by design, which means that by
by virtue of being a little bit smaller
than some of the one and two unit bedrooms
they will rent for lower,
which means that more people will have an opportunity
to move to this part of Walnut Creek.
The project sponsor will also make
an approximately $208,000 payment
into the city's affordable housing fund.
So the project is going to be contributing
to Walnut Creek's long-term supply of affordable housing.
And you'll see in a moment when we go through the slides
that these units were frankly designed to be studios
and not hotel rooms.
And even after there's a condition put on in 2017
that they be hotel rooms, they were built
with the intent that hopefully at some point
they could be long-term residential uses
instead of hotel rooms.
There are washer dryers.
There's a full kitchen with a stovetop oven,
a dishwasher and a fridge.
There's ample closet space
and nice bathrooms with good furnishings.
So can I use this?
Okay.
This is a building,
I think we had nearly identical pictures
in staff's presentation.
And the stack of windows starting at the second floor,
the five windows going from the second up to the fifth floor,
those are the studio units or the hotel units.
This is a view of the unit backed up to the window.
You can see that there's plenty of room
for a bed and a living area.
This is the opposite view.
You can see really nice generous window which gets good light.
This is the desk and kind of media area.
You can tell that it's large enough to accommodate a computer,
pretty big TV, books, all that kind of fun stuff.
This is a view of the kitchen area.
You can see there's a sink, the oven, and the stove top.
I believe one of those drawers on the bottom pulls out
and that's where the washer dryer is.
You can see plenty of cabinet space above as well.
This is the fridge, it's big.
I would like a fridge this big in my house.
Washer, a washer dryer, stacked washer dryer
which allows for more compact use,
but obviously that's not something
that one normally sees in a hotel room.
And I don't have a photo of this,
but to the right of this picture is the closet.
And finally, this is the bath.
It's a shower, but they're very nice furnishings,
and again, they were built with the intent
that somebody would be a long-term renter here.
So that's it for our presentation.
We're here and available to answer any questions.
again thank you very much for your time. Thank you very much. Did you say there was
a dishwasher in the unit or just the washer dryer? Dishwasher yes there is a
dishwasher. It's just it it's so fancy.
All right so now are there any questions from commissioners for the applicant?
Commissioner Pickett come on back. Just a couple. Can you tell us what the square footage of
these units are?
Pardon me.
They're about 450, a little under.
They're 444 square feet each, which in my experience
is actually pretty big for studio units.
OK.
How big is the closet?
I mean, it isn't in your picture.
As you said, Dad, it looks like really small.
Is there a way to pull up the floor plan?
This is Dave Balducci with the ownership team.
And he can answer that question.
Sure.
As Mark mentioned, these weren't designed as studio apartments
before they became hotel units.
Through the city council process,
they were negotiated to become hotel units.
But these units also meet the storage requirements
for regular apartments with, I think,
Chip was reminding me, the 4 by 8 off-site storage.
So the whole project has storage for 97 units in the project.
Okay, so this has, so it has the storage units that they're needed somewhere else in the building.
Correct, they're in the hallways.
And the small, but just, I mean, if you have coats and shirts, there isn't a lot of room for them.
We've had no complaints these are designed to be studio apartments.
Okay, have you had any long-term rental, vendors in there?
Well, we're maxed out to 30 days.
30 days, as long as you're here, and since you were the original, you're gonna, you're gonna,
I was here when this was approved, so yeah, but I forget give us a little background on how these ended up being hotel units
You'd mentioned something about City Council
Yeah, yeah, sure so
Yeah, this will have to be the abbreviated version and I don't have all the I don't remember the exact number of hearings
the city staff first referred this project to City Council to see if it was
Compliant with the specific plan and the general plan and whether or not it needed an amendment
City Council ultimately determined
that it did not need any amendments to go through.
In that process, and I think there was three hearings,
it was proposed that we could try these as hotel units
and we agreed conditionally so long as they were successful
and we had determined success as 75% occupancy
and the first staff report granted the authority
remove them to the planning department, but at this hearing, in the final hearing,
it was passed that they were just hotel units, and if you wanted to change them,
come back here and talk to you all. So, and I would add they've never been at
75% or above. Yeah, and just look at the plan. I didn't see any other studios, so
these would be the only studios in the building, and otherwise you have one or
two bedrooms, so now you have a mix of studios, one and two. So we designed the
project this way, given the geometry and the layout,
that this is where the studio's best fit.
And then after the project didn't change,
it was just the use of these changed.
And then you are paying a fee of affordable housing to the?
Yeah, we're paying, it's $208,000 and some change.
It's based on, I think, $23 or $24 a square foot,
and there's close to 9,000 square feet.
Great, thank you, that's one of my questions.
Thanks.
Hey, do we have any other commissioner questions?
No, okay.
All right, so at this time, let's see if any member
of the public wishes to provide public comment
regarding this item at this time.
I don't see anybody here in the chamber.
So there's nothing to respond to for the applicant,
that's fine.
So I'm gonna close the public hearing at this time.
and let's bring it back to the commission.
And a lot of side chatter going on here, guys.
Kind of.
Bring it back to the commission
for comments, questions, or deliberation.
Maybe I'll ask the city attorney,
how concerned are we about not making
the specific finding with regard to the low occupancy rate
and the reason for the conversion?
Should that be in the resolution or is it okay as it is?
to the findings for this item relates so the,
or the municipal code lays out the findings
for a proposed change with the CUP.
And so the resolution does include the facts
that as staff recommended that we believe
the commission can use those to make the findings.
The commission can supplement that with the,
understanding of the occupancy rate, but as it is prepared,
we believe there is some sort of findings for making it,
the findings required for the proposed change.
Great, all right.
Thanks for confirming that, I appreciate it.
All right, so seeing no comments, questions,
or deliberation, at this time I would entertain a motion
with regard to the proposed resolution.
I'll move the resolution as presented.
Second.
Okay, that was exciting.
Okay.
Are we gonna have a duel here or?
All right, I pick Vice Chair Strongman
as the winning seconder of that motion.
All right, so we have a motion and a second, two seconds.
So can we please record the vote?
Commissioner Reiser's recused.
Commissioner Nating?
Yes.
Commissioner Lisek is absent.
Commissioner Pickett?
Yes.
Commissioner Anderson?
Yes.
Vice Chair Strongman?
Yes.
Chair Ward?
Yes.
Motion passes.
All right, thank you.
Thank you very much to the applicants and staff
for your excellent presentation.
We appreciate it.
All right, this time I'm gonna move along
to agenda item number five,
which is commission considerations.
Do we have anything to consider other than this category?
I believe not, right?
No?
All right, do we have any commission member
and staff reports or announcements?
No staff reports by staff, but I have a comment.
All right, go ahead.
I have one more meeting here.
And I have been serving, I've mentioned this before,
but I have been serving on Transpac for 15 years or something
and I'll be gone.
And so somebody is going to need to step up to be the...
And I don't know, I don't even know what the process is.
I was at a trip, my last Transpac meeting this morning,
Kevin Wilk was there and he,
I'm not sure if the city council appoints it.
I think when I got appointed, I just said I'd do it
and everyone said okay and I did it.
So I don't know if there's a formal process for it,
but just alerting people that that is a vacancy
in behalf of City of Walnut Creek and Transpac.
So can you look into the process,
if we're supposed to appoint one of our own to that
or if the City Council's gonna take care of that
upcoming vacancy or just tell us what to do?
I'll look into that, thank you.
Thank you, I appreciate that.
All right, any other announcements?
All right, with that, it is 6 22
and we're gonna adjourn the meeting.
Thank you very much everybody, much appreciated.