Test 1 2 all right good evening and welcome to the Thursday March 14th
2024 regular meeting of the Walnut Creek Planning Commission I'd like to
particularly welcome our two new commissioners Molly Cobb and Stephen
clock who are here today and hopefully for the future we're so glad you're
joining us so it's nice to see you at this time I'll ask our Commission
Secretary to please call the roll. Commissioner Kwok? Oh Kwok. Yes. I'm here.
Commissioner Klopp? Present. Commissioner Reiser? Here. Commissioner Nathan? Here.
Commissioner Anderson? Here. Vice Chair Strongland? Here. Chair Ward? Here. Okay
pro tip for everybody when you're not speaking make sure you turn your mics
off. It makes it a lot easier for everybody. Alright, so moving right on to item two,
the consent calendar. We do have one item on the consent calendar. Would any commissioners
want to pull this item for discussion? Seeing only no's, the item is to approve minutes
and just as a matter of corporate principle you don't have to be present at the meeting
that the minutes were taken in order to approve the minutes. So I just want to tell you that
if you had concerns about that and at this time I will entertain a motion to
adopt the meeting minutes so many 20 seconds second okay we have a motion in
a second if there any discussion correction any comments with regard to
the minutes right sir and Anderson okay any discussion comment questions all
then I think we can call the roll. Commissioner Kwok? Yes. Commissioner Kwok?
Yes. Commissioner Reiser? Yes. Commissioner Nating? Yes. Commissioner Anderson? Yes. Vice
Chair Strongman? Yes. Chair Ward? Yes. Motion passes. Thank you. Great, thank you.
All right, at this time we're moving on to item three, public communication. The
public communication portion of the meeting is reserved for comment on items
which are not on the agenda. So this means comments which are not about the Walnut Creek
Toyota amendments to the general plan or the Chick-fil-A restaurant conditional use permits.
Those will we'll have public comment on that later in the meeting when those agenda items come up.
Under the Brown Act, the commission cannot act on items raised during public communications
that may respond briefly to statements made or questions posed. Request clarification
or refer the item to staff. Additionally, I would like to remind everyone that 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.
Alright, so are there any members of the public in the chamber who wish to make public comment
at this time?
Alright, seeing none, I would like to move on to item four, which is public hearings.
I'd like to start by asking if any member of the Commission has had any ex-party communications
related to items on this evening's agenda. Commissioner Strongman.
I received an email from Chick-fil-A which I did not answer it very well.
Okay. Anybody else?
Just to make a clarification, item 4a is the Walnut Creek mixed use special district project.
So Chick-fil-a is item four. Okay, so we're only we're only talking about ex-party communications with regard to the
4a Toyota downtown specific plan. Yes
Thank you. Okay
So does anybody have any comments about that? All right. Excellent. So at this time, um, I would like
To open the public hearing and then I would like
To move that we continue that public hearing item to april 11th, 2024
Do I have a second on that?
So moved.
Prior to making a motion, the commission
may wish to see if there's anyone who'd
like to comment on the item just because we have it
as an agenda item.
OK, all right.
Order of operations, a little bit complicated.
So I apologize for that.
So I am opening public hearing, and then I'm
requesting public comment, and then we're going to continue.
All right.
So is there any member of the public
who wishes to comment on item 4A at this time?
I see one hand.
So if you could please come up here,
give your comment card to the commission secretary
and go to the microphone at the podium.
Yeah.
All right.
And just for the planning commission's information,
the property we're concerned about is...
I'm Ron Gaddy, by the way.
And I guess for tonight,
I'm representing the Gaddy Family Trust.
and they're the owners, co-owners of 1435 Pine Street.
And I'm passing out a tax record from the county tax records.
It shows the plot map of the property.
And the reason I'm passing that around,
it's a very strategic piece of property
because anything that's gonna go in
for highest and best use for this project
or rezoning or whatever you might call it to mixed use,
which is the highest and best use that I can see personally
for the property.
We are in favor of that as long as the automotive is still
retained in that because it's such a close distance
to the BART station.
So it's within a quarter mile of BART.
It encourages pedestrian traffic, foot traffic,
by having commercial below and residential multi-family units
above.
And as a real estate broker, there's
a tremendous shortage of homes, as you're well aware,
of residential housing in California.
And this would be ideal.
And I believe state law says that if you're
within a quarter mile of a major transportation hub
that you can get affordable housing
or for one or two stories of height,
density in a project.
So the strategic part of this is that the access
comes in off of Pine Street as well as part of North Main.
But you already have a lot of traffic
coming off North Main and Broadway.
So by having the traffic funneled off of Pine Street
coming in and then assuming that there's other properties
that front North Main, it would be, what does that mean?
Oh gee, that's not enough time.
That's not enough time.
Am I the only speaker?
So I'd like to request that I have
a little bit additional time.
So my question to the Planning Commission would be,
how does this affect 1435 Pines Street?
Thank you.
And setbacks.
All right, thanks.
So we're gonna continue this item.
We keep it.
We're gonna, no, we're gonna, no, no, no, we're gonna,
we're gonna keep that.
But sir, if the, this item's gonna be continued
to April 11th, so if you'd like to return
and make additional or different comments,
you can come back and, yeah, absolutely.
Okay, thank you.
All right, do we have any more comments
with regard to agenda item 1A,
the Walnut Creek Toyota
special district project amendments to the general plan?
Go on once, go on twice.
Okay, sold.
So I'm closing public comment for agenda item 4A
and now I would like to move that we continue the item
to the April 11th, 2024 meeting.
Do I have a second?
Second.
Is there any discussion or comment with regards to that?
All right, let's vote please.
Commissioner Kwok?
Yes.
Commissioner Klop?
Yes.
Commissioner Reiser?
Yes.
Commissioner Nating?
Yes.
Commissioner Anderson?
Yes.
Vice Chair Strongman?
Yes.
Chair Ward?
Yes.
Motion passes, thank you.
All right, thank you very much.
All right, so moving right along,
we're gonna move to agenda item 4B,
which is the Chick-fil-A restaurant
at Citrus Marketplace Shopping Center
conditional use permit, tree removal
and design review application number Y23-030.
And first, we're gonna start with a staff presentation
by Simmer-Gill, our associate planner.
Good evening, commissioners.
My name is Simmer-Gill, associate planner with the city.
And we are here tonight to consider
the conditional use permit for Chick-fil-A
that will be located
the Citrus Marketplace Shopping Center at 2290 Oak Grove Road. The applicant Nate
Loveland and his team representing the project are here tonight and as am I to
answer any questions that you may have after this presentation. And just to
quickly orient you with the site, the shopping center is located at the corner
of Oak Grove and Citrus Avenue. It does consist of three parcels that are all
developed with commercial uses and the surrounding area consists of a mix of
commercial uses and there are residential uses to the north and east of the shopping center.
There are 483 parking stalls on site and the property is zoned plan development which does
require a conditional use permit for restaurants and freestanding buildings that offer takeout
services in this shopping center. And just to show you the photos of the existing building
that will be demolished. Bank of America has located to a newer location at the
corner of Oak Grove and Shadelands Drive. So why are we here tonight? The
regulations per the plan development zone allow eating and drinking
establishments with takeout services allowed by right in multi-tenant
buildings in this shopping center. And the reason we are here tonight is
because eating and drinking establishments with takeout service
That are located in freestanding buildings does require a conditional use permit and the code also requires that
parking for conditioning permitted uses such as
this use
be considered by the Planning Commission as part of the use permit and
Just some background on this project on May 17th of 2023 the Design Review Commission did
review this project as a study session and
provided comments on the initial design and site layout the applicant did revise the plans to address all of the design and
site comments that were provided by DRC and
the DRC also
provided a positive recommendation on the to the Planning Commission for the proposed use and
If the conditional use permit is approved tonight
then the project will return back to design review Commission for final design review where they will review the
building architecture, the exterior lighting, signage, and the landscaping.
And the existing building will be demolished to construct a smaller footprint,
a 5,363 square foot restaurant.
The project also includes modifications to the existing site layouts.
That will basically repave and re-stripe the parking areas.
That will result in the removal of nine parking stalls.
There will be eight tree removals and the project does include new landscaping, installation
of 20 new trees, exterior lighting, and building signage.
And here are the business operations.
Basically this restaurant's concept is dine in and take out only.
No drive-through is proposed at this location.
The hours of operation are 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., Monday through Saturday.
The restaurant will be closed on Sundays.
customer access to the restaurant is provided through the internal parking
lot. I've provided renderings here to show you what the building entrance will
look like for both the entrance off of Citrus and the from the internal
parking area. And here is a closer look at the floor plan which does show that
the customer dining area, the back of house such as the kitchen, the storage
areas, the staff areas, and also the public restrooms. And the curbside pickup
is highlighted yellow on this exhibit.
Chick-fil-A does have a door that's placed
on this north elevation where the Chick-fil-A team members
will interact with customers that place orders
through the mobile app for curbside delivery.
And the drivers are required to park,
and the team members will hand them their meals
in their parked cars.
And for the third-party drivers such as DoorDash or GrubHub,
just some examples, they are required to park
come inside the store to pick up their orders. And here's some more information
on the curbside pickup and how it operates. At least 10 parking stalls will
be designated for curbside and as mentioned earlier the customers that
ordered through the mobile app will be required to park in one of the
designated spaces and get hand-delivered meals to their car. This is part of
Chick-fil-A's business model and a example of the curbside pickup can be
seen at the target store in Walnut Creek where staff brings out the orders to the customer
in the parking lot. And provided here is an existing and proposed site layout. The existing
parking area surrounding the bank building will be reconfigured to accommodate the orientation
and use of the new building. Primary access to the restaurant would be provided through
the existing driveways, both on Oak Grove and Citrus Avenue. The circulation and access
to the site will essentially remain the same and concrete walkways will be installed along
the perimeter of the new building and tie into the parking areas and along the sidewalks
on Oak Grove and Citrus Avenue. And for improved safety, the applicant has provided internal
pedestrian connection to the adjacent restaurant panda expressed through the parking lot and
that is bubbled on the exhibit to the right. And moving on to parking, the shopping center
consists of three parcels with a shared parking agreement allowing any tenant to
park anywhere within the shopping center. The existing center has a total of 483
parking stalls and demolition of the bank building will net out 92,410
square feet of rentable floor area in the shopping center. That's requiring a
total of 419 parking stalls per the flat rate of one stall per 200 and one stall
per 250 a floor area for all of the existing uses in the shopping center.
And per the PD, the parking ratio of one stall per 50 square feet of gross floor area is
only applied to restaurants that occupy freestanding buildings, so that does create a requirement
of 108 parking stalls just for this restaurant, and brings the shopping center's total requirement
to 527 stalls.
would result in a deficiency of 53 spaces if we were to go based on this
calculation and however as highlighted parking for conditioning permitted uses
such as this restaurant located in a freestanding building is ultimately
determined by the Planning Commission as part of tonight's use permit and it
should also be noted that if this restaurant was located in an existing
multi-tenant building at the shopping center the parking ratio would be similar
to the rest of the center, and a good example of that is the Panda Express
that's located adjacent to this proposed restaurant. It is attached to another
tenant space, so therefore it didn't require a conditional use permit, and it
was parked at the same rate as the rest of the shopping center. And the
customer's dining space is 2,165 square feet of the total 5363 square foot
restaurant. So if we were to even calculate the parking based on just
dining area only, instead of the entire gross floor area of the restaurant, there
would be a surplus of 11 stalls for the entire shopping center. And in order to
aid the Planning Commission in determining the parking, I will go over
the parking demand study that was prepared by a hexagon transportation
consultant. It did assume, the study did assume full occupancy of the shopping
Center so that did include all of the vacant tenant spaces as well as the
proposed restaurant. And the study did find that the on-site parking supply is
adequate for the proposed demand and that did include the proposed restaurant.
And the demand for the Shopping Center based on the study is 349 parking stalls
during the peak demand hours and the parking during peak hours specific to
this restaurant was 55 parking spaces. And to understand the traffic generated
by the project, the city's traffic engineer did require a comparative
analysis with a similar Chick-fil-A that had no drive through, that has no drive
through and with only food pickup and delivery activity, so it would be better
for a better comparison to better reflect the total trips that this project would
generate. And based on the study, the restaurant will generate 69 warning peak
hour, 172 midday, and 142 evening peak hour trips. And the study did conclude a
decrease of 17 morning trips from the previous bank use, 72 net new day trips,
and 42 new evening trips as compared to the previous bank. So basically the bank
had a hundred midday and a hundred evening trips, and the additional trips
are are written on this slide. And please note that these trips are distributed
over a course of an hour and through various roadways that is shown in
figure 5 of the traffic study. And just to quickly recap the traffic and parking
the parking demand study prepared by the independent traffic consultant hexagon
did conclude there's more than enough parking in the shopping center even with
the addition of this restaurant and the city's engineer did review the traffic
study and did confirm there is adequate parking supply as well as access to the
site would result in minimal disruption to local traffic and circulation.
There are a total of 18 trees on site.
The project does require tree removal.
There are 12 trees being removed as part of this proposal.
None of these trees are highly protected.
They were landscape trees that were planted as part of the original development.
city arborist did review the project arborist report as well as the plans and
does did administratively support the removal of four of these trees the
remaining eight were in fair to good health so required the Planning
Commission's approval as part of this entitlement and the trees that the
Planning Commission will be considering to remove tonight are circled in red on
this exhibit and the applicant is also preserving six trees as part of the
development and those are circled green on this exhibit. And to offset the loss
of trees on site, the applicant is planting 20 new trees. There is a
landscape plan in the project plans and if you would like to look at it I
could show it at the end of my presentation but it's not a part of my
presentation tonight. And the project is exempt from CEQA under Class 32 which
is intended to promote infill development in urban areas and the
The project does meet the requirements of class 32
as it's in compliance with the zoning ordinance
and general plan policies that do encourage revitalization
of local serving neighborhood shopping centers
with new businesses.
And the building is constructed to meet
all development standards such as height,
setbacks, block coverage as well as floor area.
And the restaurant will be developed on a parcel
is less than five acres. And since this is a existing shopping center that's
completely paved and developed, there is no value as a habitat for endangered
plant or animal species. And the project will not generate any significant
effects related to traffic noise or air quality as identified in the BMT
transportation analysis. And the applicant also presented a odor fumes
data sheet to confirm that the odors will stay within the restaurant and
will not spread across the neighborhood.
As that was a concern that was raised by several neighbors.
And the noise, there will be no excessive
or additional noise impacts beyond
what's in the shopping center
as it's already established commercial shopping center
with similar uses.
And the site is currently served by all existing utilities.
So for these reasons, staff did make a recommendation
to deem this project exempt from CEQA.
And so tonight the Planning Commission has to make the three following findings to approve the conditional use permit and
The project
based on the
Analysis and all of the studies provided the project is consistent with the zoning ordinance as it was designed to meet all of the
development regulations and meet the policies of the general plan that did some that do support infill and
redevelopment of shopping centers
Vehicle access and circulation will remain the same and the proposed plans and traffic reports have been reviewed
by city planning the building
division engineering traffic engineering staff as well as external agencies such as environmental health central sanitary and the
Contra Costa Fire District and
all have found that they the plans or the project does conform to the operational and safety requirements and
And given the proximity to the residential neighboring properties, the restaurant was designed to be neighborhood serving with a dine in concept only and to minimize any issues that are typically related with drive through restaurants.
And after the applicant has also held three meetings with the surrounding community, there was a meeting with the Business Association and stakeholders of Walnut Creek.
A second meeting was with representatives
of the homeowners association for Woodlands.
And a third one was a community meeting
with over 30 residences that did attend the meeting.
I will allow the applicant to go into more detail
and recap these meetings as I was not in attendance.
And after the applicants community meeting
that was held on December 13th of 2023,
city staff did receive a collective set of comments
from members of the public expressing concerns related
to business operations, traffic, safety, and parking.
And city staff did prepare a response to these comments
and that letter is included as attachment 12
of your packet tonight.
And more similar comments were received for this project
after the public hearing notices went out
for tonight's meeting.
And a copy of all of these letters is also provided to you.
And we did receive, all of these were in opposition,
we did receive three letters of support. And with that, staff does recommend that the
planning commission determine that the project is exempt from CEQA, approve the conditional
use permit for the restaurant, approve the tree removals, and also determine that the
parking is adequate for this project. Now, with that, I do conclude my presentation,
but I'm happy to answer any questions.
Great, thank you very much, that was a very informative presentation, appreciate it.
I have to go backtrack a little bit because I didn't do my ex-party questions for the
Commission, so sorry, but I apologize for that.
So Commissioner Strongman I think has, were you done disclosing?
Essentially I received an e-mail from Chick-fil-A's office and I just responded to thank you for
the e-mail.
Okay, anybody else? Okay, Commissioner clock. I also received an email and responded. Just thanks. I'm brand new
Okay, Commissioner needing same thing I responded thank you
Anybody else? All right
I I did exchange a couple of emails with the Chick-fil-a representative and did not manage to connect or speak with her at all
I also some time ago spoke with a friend of mine who lives in the Woodlands about the project briefly
but it was prior to the project being on our agenda so those are anybody else okay I apologize
for going out of order here all right so any commissioner questions for our planner here
with regard to the project okay go ahead vice chair storman thank you some questions on the parking
it seemed just kind of curious to me,
and I'm wondering what the rationale is
for the difference between some restaurants
in a multi-tenant building versus a freestanding one.
I mean, basically you have the same functional footprint
or whatever, the same square footage or whatever,
and yet the one that's freestanding requires four times
as many parking spaces.
My first thought was, does that make sense,
and maybe I'm missing something.
Yeah, I believe when the regulations were written,
so I guess I should go back.
So this is under a plan development,
but the community commercial zone was used as an example
to determine the parking onsite.
So that's the Encina Grande Shopping Center zone,
a community commercial, so the nearby shopping center.
So we were trying to keep the parking similar
to what would be allowed there.
But there's really no written record why
at the time when, in the 70s or 80s,
when this code was written, why it was,
but I believe it was probably just to regulate
and control fast food type restaurants
or if they would have drive-through lanes,
just so they could do additional,
like consider all aspects of like traffic patterns, right?
Existing parking, the existing shopping center
will be located in.
That's what I think.
I don't know if Sang would like to add to that,
but that's what I believe.
I have nothing to add but as part of the planning commission decision,
you would be considering the parking to see if it's adequate for this project.
And it seems like there's actually kind of three competing
parking conclusions. One was, and you mentioned in the staff report, but I
think it took away actually suggested that if you applied it only to the
to the dining area, not to the the back room, then it would actually fall within
in the required parking without any changes.
Of course, this is the one, the additional one
by formula that you can describe.
And then there was a third one
which was based on the traffic study.
So as far as the, you know,
including only the dining area,
is the square footage that's contemplated to require parking.
is the formula that's provided to us.
Does it make that distinction
or does it go on a gross square footage?
So the formula that's provided
based on the entire shopping center,
which is the one per 250,
even if we were to calculate it based on that,
the parking would comply.
What the developer applicants team had requested
is since planning commissioners determining the parking,
can they at least consider
that this is a 5,300 square foot restaurant.
However, only 2,200 square foot of this
is gonna be open to the public.
So if we could take the calculation based on that,
if you wanna keep it with that number one per 50,
which is required for freestanding buildings.
So it was just a thought that when you're determining
the parking that either we could do it
based on what's already out there, the one per 250,
or if you wanna keep it consistent
for freestanding buildings that require
one per 50 square feet, a gross floor area, that's fine,
but can we do it based on the dining area?
That was a request.
Then the third option was to take the traffic study
that was done, obviously, a fairly detailed traffic study.
Yes.
And I'm not sure, you know, whether it included,
I guess it included assuming a full tenancy
in the shopping center.
That was required, yeah,
for them to assume full occupancy of the shopping center.
And I don't know if they looked at, you know,
the mix of tenets that they have now and what it might be, but essentially it takes the formula
that was used initially, kind of sets that aside and says we're going to do a traffic study that
is more detailed, has more input, more nuance, if you will, and I saw that, you know, the
staff agrees that that is a better analysis of what's needed. That is correct. So that's simply
because it's a more detailed thing and the criteria
and the techniques used seemed appropriate to the staff.
That's correct and I can also have the city's traffic
engineers with our boardmen elaborate if needed
but that is correct.
That was the purpose of the traffic study
to confirm there would be no, the parking demand,
the project would meet the parking demand on site.
Okay, thank you.
Vice Chair Strongman.
I'm sure I'm on, I'm sorry, I couldn't see that.
Is it, can I assume that if they did not, Chick-fil-A did not have the takeout,
we would not need a CUP?
That is correct.
So we wouldn't be, if they had given that up, we would not be here tonight.
That is correct because there is a caveat in the code that defines takeout services
and takeout services are basically any restaurant that provides a takeout area
us dedicated for takeout service or 20% or more of the sales would result in
off-site consumption and of course in this case that was it was obvious that
this restaurant would so it wouldn't be exempt. Thank you. One more question it
looks like the corner of Citrus and Oak Grove has been going to be changed. Could
you elaborate on that a little bit more? When you say like mean the frontage
improvements? Yeah actually the curve appears to be going out making more of a
right turn. I can have the City's traffic engineer answer that question. Good
evening, Commissioner Smidar Boardman, Traffic Engineer. So related to the
improvements at the intersection or that corner of Citrus Avenue and Oak
Grove. So City staff did request some improvements there from the applicant
and the reason for that was it is consistent with our adopted local
roadways safety plan the existing configuration in terms of the number of
lanes would not change but currently the way that that intersection that
approach is striped as you're coming from citrus let's say coming from the
treat side coming toward Oak Grove Road the right turn is almost set up like a
free right turn there's additional space there and we do have a crosswalk at that
location that connects over to the orchards that crosses Oak Grove Road at
that intersection that's that north leg that we do see is used by school
children and just users of the two shopping centers so we're asking for
improvements at that intersection in order to narrow down some lanes slow
vehicles down so they can actually pay attention to the traffic signal and
treat it fully as an intersection. Okay thank you. Thank you for your
presentation to good. All right. Do we have any other Commissioner questions
for staff? Commissioner Reiser. I just wanted to ask a quick question regarding
the traffic study. It is quite extensive. Can you speak to the level of detail
that's in it number one and number two and reading through the comments of the
neighborhood I saw more than one that that addressed the I don't want to say
veracity but the report itself with regard to comparing COVID related
numbers to average numbers today type of thing so sure definitely so just to be
perfectly transparent staff is well aware of the current issues and concerns
we've received a lot of resident feedback about the chick-fil-a located on
North Main Street. The traffic study that was prepared at the time that was done during
the recession, traffic volumes that were used for that when that study was conducted was
from 2011 or 2012. During that time, you know, there was a dip in traffic volumes, kind of
similar to what we experienced during COVID. So staff did request a pretty extensive study
as a result of this applicant and the numbers that were used were collected more recently
within a time period that was after the, you know, really, let's say like the state's timeline
for when the pandemic was ongoing and when traffic volumes were beginning to return.
We did request that Chick-fil-A provide several different sources of data for different locations
all around California, and what we did was, and it's, that is contained in the
traffic study. Those locations all include drive-throughs, but one of them
does not, and that's because that was the singular concept without a drive-through
that was open at the time. There is now an Emeryville location that has opened
since the traffic study was completed, or when those counts were taken, but that's
It's also sort of a different context than the Burbank location, which is what we found
was going to be a more appropriate application of trip generation assumptions.
I'd also like to point out that the trips generated and assumed from that Burbank location
is actually a more conservative estimate as opposed to what traffic engineers typically
use from our Institute of Transportation Engineers trip generation manual that utilizes many,
many, many locations and vast sources of data
for producing fast food with, in this circumstance,
it would be like a high turnover sit-down type restaurant.
And so staff specifically asked for something
that better reflected the actual conditions of a Chick-fil-A
and those assumptions are higher than what you would find
in that trip generation manual.
Another commissioner questions for staff.
Okay, thank you very much.
Don't go too far.
All right, so at this time I'm gonna open the public hearing
and the applicant will have 15 minutes
for their presentation.
Well, good evening Chair Ward and commissioners.
My name is Christine Cho.
I'm the Principal Development Lead for Chick-fil-A
and I'm responsible for new locations
here in Northern California.
Thank you for your time and consideration this evening
and I'd like to thank Planning Department and city staff
and especially Ms. Gill
for her thorough presentation of our project tonight.
We submitted our proposal over a year ago and since then we've been working very closely
with staff on various aspects of the project and we feel really proud of where we are now
and we feel very confident that we will be a good addition to this neighborhood.
Chick-fil-A is a quick service restaurant that began in 1946.
We pride ourselves in excellence in customer service, food quality, and community involvement.
We have been rated number one amongst quick service restaurants for nine consecutive years
with the American customer satisfaction index.
As you all likely know, we have an existing restaurant
currently on North Main Street.
That restaurant was opened in 2012,
and it's been hugely popular and receptive,
and it's one of the top-grossing restaurants
in the country currently for us.
The newly proposed Citrus Marketplace Restaurant
has been designed to serve the surrounding community
and those already traveling
along Ignacio Valley Road and Oak Grove Roads.
This is going to be one of the first restaurants in the Bay Area without a drive-through to
be well suited for this community.
We're also proposing a custom design to capture the characteristics of the surrounding area
rather than our prototype building, and we feel that it'll complement and help beautify
the center.
It's also worth noting that our restaurants often help neighboring businesses attract
customers and can very much act as an anchor tenant for a shopping center like Citrus Center.
This restaurant will be locally owned. It's locally owned by an independent owner who is
committed to the surrounding neighborhood. Our operators are in our restaurant on most days
and are very committed to community involvement. Our Citrus Center restaurant will employ about
85 to 100 residents. We are proud to be known that we hire a lot of local students for their
first jobs. These are great paying full-time and part-time positions with
flexible schedules, there's opportunities for leadership growth, there's a lot of
hands-on training and mentorship from the restaurant owner, and we're also very
proud to say that many of our California franchisees began their Chick-fil-A
journey as team members. And Chick-fil-A is also proud of our employees
scholarship program. This year we are awarding a record twenty six point four
million dollars to our team members and make it a difference in more than 14,000 team members
with these scholarships. Throughout this month our CEO has been personally traveling across
the country to award some of these scholarships and just this morning he awarded a scholarship
to a team member in Daly City. This team member was a recipient, one of the 14 recipient of
of our largest scholarship, which is a $25,000 scholarship.
And this team member is a first-generation college student.
He's a son of immigrant parents.
And in the fall, he'll be attending
University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.
This is just one of many inspiring stories
that shows our commitment, that demonstrates our commitment
to the community and to the Bay Area.
So we're very grateful for this opportunity
be here this evening and we look forward to serving this wonderful Walnut Creek community.
I have a whole team here tonight to answer whatever question that you might have for
Chick-fil-A. So thank you so much again for your consideration and I thank you for your time today.
Great, thank you very much. Don't leave yet. All right, so we have any questions for
commissioners or for the applicant? None? All right, we'll have a couple. All right,
All right, I have a question about the extended store hours.
Seems like it's open later than the rest of the shopping center.
Can you speak to that, please?
Yes.
So the store hours, we're basically
seeking approval for what is allowed in the plan
development.
The final operating hours is a decision of our operator.
This site has not been licensed yet to an operator,
but it is the owner operator that
will make the final decision.
I'm really confident that they'll
do what's best for the community.
I believe our existing Walnut Creek restaurant
closes at 10 p.m.
So our operators will work with the community
on what is right for that area.
But we are seeking what is allowed in the planned development.
But you're aware that this restaurant's a lot closer
to a residential neighborhood
than the other Walnut Creek location.
Yes, we are aware.
You're aware of that.
All right.
All right, I had a question too regarding,
as you know, the city of Walnut Creek
has a very strong anti-discrimination policy in place.
We don't discriminate against anybody listed
as a protected class in the UNRWA Act or anywhere else,
including LGBTQIA people.
And I was wondering if you're confident
in your corporate commitment
to that lack of discrimination against those populations.
All right, our corporate commitment.
Yeah.
You know, we are a restaurant that treats everyone
with honor, dignity, and respect.
and me just says, from a personal experience,
I do not experience anything but respect
within our company.
Okay, thank you for that, I appreciate that.
I think that is all my questions for you as the applicant.
Last chance here, commissioners, for the applicant.
They're gonna get another chance up here again.
So, all right, thank you very much, I appreciate that.
All right, so now is the time for public comment.
You can sit down if you'd like.
Thank you.
Now it's time for public comment.
I see there's a lot of people here.
We've done this before.
So can I just get a show of hands
of how many people intend to do public comment this evening?
Two, three, four, five, six, seven.
All right, not too bad.
All right, so I think that's enough.
You can have your full three minutes.
If there's hundreds of people, we usually shorten it
just to try to get people out at a reasonable time.
I also have a personal rule
that people who brought some children with them
to the meeting get to go first,
so that's just the way we roll with that.
Bedtimes are what they are.
So now if everyone who wants to speak
could get their speaker cards
and kind of line up in this area here
and then when it's your turn approach the podium
and speak into the microphone and please identify yourself
for the record so that we know what's up.
All right, sir, you're up.
Come on down.
You got the coveted golden ticket
because you brought your kids, so I appreciate that.
I think it's great that people can see
the way the government works or doesn't, so.
Appreciate that.
Should I begin?
You can begin now.
Hi, my name is Brian Wayne.
I am a resident of the Woodlands.
I've been there about three years.
I think that this is a very ill-conceived project
for the neighborhood.
It does not, in any way, fit in the characterization
of how we see the neighborhood for a variety
of different reasons.
Do any of you want to live within two blocks of a major fast
food restaurant?
That's not why we moved to this area.
For what might be appropriate, downtown
is not appropriate within the Woodlands.
If you look at even across the street at the Orchards,
the type of restaurants that are within there.
It's just a completely different kind of establishment, right?
Along Citrus is already congested.
Too much traffic goes through there.
There was actually an accident with one of the kids
traveling to school.
People don't stop at the stop signs.
We had to actually have citizens come out and do crossing guard
work, because the city or no one else would supply that, right?
For a couple days, a cop came out after the kid got hit
by a car, but nothing else has really changed.
There's still a ton of traffic as people use that
to cut through.
That's just gonna increase.
Also, I live behind the Woodlands
the swim club that's right there.
So I hear traffic going across the pass, right?
Oh, I've called before to complain about this
and the city doesn't do anything about it.
People race across that.
And there's never a cop there to stop them.
And you hear them, especially on the bikes
and the rest of it.
There's gonna be so much more traffic
that comes across that for like coming to Chick-fil-A.
I mean, it's a draw, people like it,
but it's not appropriate for this area.
It's just not, but also we have to bring up November,
I think last year, Stockton,
two stabbings at Chick-fil-A as well.
So I worry about crime coming in there.
I think that Walnut Creek has had some problems
with increasing crime lately.
I mean, certainly like what's happening downtown at Macy's,
some increased break-ins both within the Woodlands
and other neighborhoods that does,
I don't know that that's being appropriately addressed.
And the feeling is that that will be,
will contribute to a rise there as well.
And just anecdotally, no one in the Woodlands
wants this here.
Like everyone is upset about it.
No one is happy about this.
It doesn't fit, put a bookstore in.
Put over a sit-down restaurant, a normal thing,
like a fast food restaurant.
It doesn't make sense for Walnut Creek.
It doesn't make sense for anything other than downtown.
And it's just not in keeping with the character
of Walnut Creek.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
All right.
Next up, please.
Hello, everyone.
My name is Zir Iyer.
I also am a resident of the Woodlands neighborhood.
I also want to thank you all for being here as volunteers.
We know that this takes up a lot of your time.
But we hope you take seriously the concerns
that you've received in writing, as well as those you're
going to hear tonight.
everyone here in the Woodlands to reiterate
what the last speaker said,
we're really strongly opposed to this.
This isn't to say that we don't understand
that we live in a neighborhood
where there is a commercial area,
not far from where our neighborhood is,
but this type of a commercial space
is just not appropriate for the neighborhood
that it's going to be placed in.
Additionally, while there have been traffic surveys done,
I think there are legitimate concerns
regarding the accuracy of those statements
or the study that was done,
the study was minimal in nature,
and frankly basing the amount of traffic
off of the existing Bank of America,
which frankly was a dying bank of America
for the number of years leading into COVID.
I don't think that comparing the drive-through,
the number of visits that would be there
for a Chick-fil-A versus the bank
is actually an accurate kind of reflection
of the amount of traffic that a new Chick-fil-A would bring.
Additionally, I think we're lacking to see also
that there are other Chick-fil-A restaurants,
two within a five-mile radius,
one in one direction in Concord,
and then there's another one, as we know,
on North Main in Walnut Creek.
So there kind of seems to be this glut of Chick-fil-As
in this area for some reason.
I understand that it is a draw of a restaurant,
but at the end of the day,
I don't think any community needs to have
three fried chicken places within 10 miles.
I mean, that just seems like an overabundance.
Taking also into consideration
that across the street in the orchards,
there are two other, excuse me,
in the orchards as well as in Encina,
there are two other fried chicken places.
So, although I'm not suggesting
that people can't like fried chicken, they certainly can.
There's just a whole lot of it in our neighborhood.
I don't think that this is kind of the diversity
of businesses that also Walnut Creek
should be kind of trying to encourage to come.
And then I also wanna mention,
there are the concerns that we have,
as was mentioned by the chairperson,
about the hours of operation.
Although 11 p.m. might be what is allowed under the code
or what might be allowed based off of the city's,
you know, the municipal code,
it is inappropriate for our neighborhood.
We are very, very close.
It would be located very, very close
to a residential neighborhood.
Furthermore, all the businesses in that neighborhood
that exist, none of them are open, honestly,
probably past nine o'clock at the most, I know,
because when I've gone out to try to find something to eat,
there's nothing in my neighborhood.
And personally, that's okay with me.
I think people in our neighborhood are willing
to drive a distance to go find food,
but to have a restaurant open of that nature
with that volume of cars until 10 or even 11 o'clock
a night, I think is entirely inappropriate
for the residential nature of the neighborhood.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
All right, next up.
Hi, my name's Stephanie Jensen.
I also live in the woodlands.
Apologies if I'm nervous, but this is out of my comfort zone.
You're doing great.
Keep on.
It does mean a lot to me to come here before you guys.
Just as a mom from the woodlands, I drive all the time.
There are several schools in the traffic report.
I didn't see anything that indicated
that the foot traffic of all the kids
are the elementary schools, the junior highs,
and the high schools.
You also have new drivers, 16-year-olds on the road.
there are minimum days once a month
with all these kids infiltrating usually go into Encina
and aren't crossing over the main street.
But at 1230, you know, if there's a Chick-fil-A,
you're gonna have hundreds of kids
who are gonna wanna cross over
into those already busy streets.
As the previous gentleman mentioned with accidents as well,
it makes me extremely nervous to have something enticing
those kids over to that area
that is already extremely dangerous.
Also, I am in the car quite a bit.
I have a kid in dance, dance connection right there.
I have a kid at encore.
The traffic at certain times,
when something that should take me two minutes
to get across the street could take up to 15 minutes,
you know, throughout several times of the day.
So I also think that comparing a bank to a Chick-fil-A
and the traffic that it had, it's not comparable.
A Chick-fil-A is definitely gonna draw a different,
you know, children and other traffic into that area.
Those are my main concerns.
Thank you guys for listening.
Thank you very much.
All right, next up.
Good evening.
I am Elizabeth Schrag.
I'm a 46-year resident of Walnut Creek
and a 17-year resident of the Woodlands.
I have seen obviously over that time
lots of change in Walnut Creek.
Some I welcome, some I question.
This one I vehemently oppose,
especially because it would be situated
right at the corner of our neighborhood.
I don't know that those pictures really do it justice
to really get a sense of where it's located.
Yes, it's on major thoroughfares,
but it's literally in the neighborhood.
Without having seen all the details of the study,
I do question some of the validity of it,
comparing this particular Chick-fil-A
with one or two in Chick-fil-A's network
where there is no drive-through.
I wonder are those two Chick-fil-A's in a neighborhood?
Are they situated between five different schools
within a two mile radius?
Also from a traffic perspective,
I'll echo some of the comments from the previous speakers.
That intersection at the corner of Citrus and Oak Grove
is an issue, it's an issue today
without the influx of this additional traffic.
At school times, at commute times, there's a backup.
and it creates an issue kind of going all the way around the corner, up over the hill into Ignacio.
So I can only imagine what it would be like when Chick-fil-A or if Chick-fil-A were to fill that space.
When I first was married, I lived in Oakland for five years and moved into a neighborhood where
a McDonald's was a few blocks away and we had issues with traffic, with odor, with litter.
The difference was I moved into that neighborhood knowing that a McDonald's was there.
I chose this neighborhood in the Woodlands because I wanted to move back to be with my family because I love Walnut Creek.
I grew up here, but I wanted to live in a in a true neighborhood and live in a suburban area.
This to me is gonna make it feel very urban. I'm gonna enter the Chick-fil-A neighborhood.
That's not the kind of space I want my kids to grow up in. I love Chick-fil-A. My family loves Chick-fil-A.
I just don't want it in my backyard. So my question for you, as you consider this, is would you want this blocks from your house?
for listening. Thank you very much. Alright, next up. Yeah and if you wouldn't
mind bringing your speaker card back up there our last speaker, Elizabeth, when
you get a chance just drop the speaker card. Okay. Alright, go ahead. Thank you. Hi, I'm
Ryan Brown and I also have lived in Walnut Creek for 42 years. I went to
elementary school at Woodside, which is just down the street from where this
proposed location is. I went to Bancroft Elementary and Foothill and Northgate.
My parents also grew up here, so I'm very intimately familiar with this area.
I was riding my bike in the Shadelands when it was just trees in the Shadelands.
So I've seen it grow and I'm all for capitalism, I'm all for you know six and a half billion
dollar company coming in, polished reports, the whole nine yards, I get it, but the previous
speakers said it spot on.
I have letters here from many, many people in the Woodlands, this is where I live.
My kids are five years old, they go to school and they went to the preschool which we're
we're not even talking about in the same shopping center,
which is called Kid Time.
So we're talking about all the schools around there.
There's also half a dozen preschools in that area as well.
So I live literally around the corner,
and do I want my kids riding their bikes
and walking around where people are already using
Citrus Avenue as a thoroughfare,
if you guys know that area at all.
That's like a little shortcut for people to speed through,
get up on two wheels and cut through traffic,
especially during commuter times.
To say this isn't going to increase that by 10X is ridiculous.
I also have an issue, we can talk about lots
of different things where we don't want.
I'll say that I'm an NIMBY as well.
I don't want fast food in my backyard,
but we can talk about the ethics,
we can talk about fast food not being healthy.
The main thing is the traffic right now.
I don't think this report that came out
is accurately portraying what the Woodlands is
in the true nature of our neighborhood.
Picking a spot in Burbank that has to-go orders
is not the same thing as putting a fast food place that's
primarily geared and designed towards having takeout
from food delivery services like the Uber Eats, where people
are working on tips.
I've worked on tips before.
You want to get in, you want to get out as fast as possible.
You're not trying to delay.
So having that demographic coming in,
trying to slam orders in and out of that restaurant all day
long, to say that that's the same thing as not having
a drive-through or somewhere in Burbank is, I think,
apples and oranges.
And we really need to, that's the crux of this issue.
We need to pump the brakes a little bit.
And if we need to do another study
by an independent contractor, independent agency,
to really look at the true traffic, then let's do that.
But I can say, honestly, from everybody in the Woodlands,
we don't want chick play there.
I love fried food.
I love chicken sandwiches.
I love chicken wings.
I love all of it.
I'll go down to Monument Boulevard.
I'll go to Clayton Road.
I'll go to North Main.
We're not talking 10 miles away.
We're talking three miles away, like three miles away.
I can go get my fried food there.
And I can go to Orchards or I can go to Encina if I want to.
I don't need this literally when my kids are going to school
in the exact neighborhood and having all that extra traffic.
So forgetting all the other politics in all this
and the well-oiled machine, which is Chick-fil-A,
polishing up this presentation for you guys,
we should pump the brakes.
It's not below this decision.
And let's really look at this traffic legitimately.
And I'd appreciate that.
Let's not have this black eye on Walnut Creek right now.
Thanks, guys.
Thank you very much.
All right, next step.
Good evening everybody.
My name is Stanley Chow.
I am a Woodlands resident.
I've been a Woodlands resident since 2021.
Very happy with where I live.
It's very peaceful, very neighborly.
I can walk everywhere.
I want to get what I need.
Just a perfect place.
And then as soon as I found out
that there was a chick-fil-a being planned,
I thought, OK, well, it's going to be a ton of unwanted
attention into our neighborhood now due to its popularity,
especially amongst younger than me, high school, fresh grads,
people who tend to be, let's say, more reckless with their
driving, more careless about their driving, and just
general less regard for their surroundings.
Let's just say that.
So even just not having a drive-through.
I don't know if the team is taking into account,
like, you know, them just driving,
like peeling through the neighborhood
with loud music in the middle of night,
especially if a Chick-fil-A is opening,
it's open till 11, 11 p.m.
And I'm also thinking, you know, the time, 11 p.m.
is really just not appropriate for our neighborhood,
considering, yes, you don't have to be in your car,
but you can still loiter around in the neighborhood
in the middle like that late at night.
So I think that's really inappropriate.
And then I think about, so I think about, okay,
Citrus Ave is already a place where people,
as my fellow residents have already mentioned,
people are just peeling through.
Now add in people coming in from treat to the shortcut
to go to the new Chick-fil-A. I just
think that it's going to add a ton of extra danger,
extra noise in the middle of the night.
You already hear people driving through Oak Grove
with their loud engines.
I can't control that, but now it's
gonna probably cut through into the Woodlands neighborhood.
So I don't know if the study factors that in
and just the amount of negative attention
or a dangerous attention that's coming to our neighborhood.
And yeah, so I was there at the December 13th meeting.
I remember you, good to see you again, Christine.
I felt like that team didn't really have all the answers
to the questions that the residents had when we met them,
I felt like they were just relaying all our questions
back up to corporate or whatever.
So, you know, I really feel like
it's not a well thought out plan.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Next up.
My name is Rika Zaharia and I'm the owner
of European Delights Bakery in Citrus Plaza.
And I came here not to upset anybody, or I came with peace.
But I like to express my concern about our businesses
over there who are dying every day.
I do not live there to confront what's
going on with the traffic or something.
But I want to let you know, I signed
the contract with my landlord in 2022 to open a bakery, which I invest a lot of money in
that, and No uphill left after I signed the contract, which was a big store with lots
of traffic, two banks left and other businesses.
And it's not only me, people are coming, they love it, what I'm doing, but people around
me with the businesses, nails, haircuts, other businesses, they are dying every day.
And we need people to come in that plaza to, you know, to eat, I don't know, Chick-fil-A,
And after that, to come to eat a pastry or ice cream or something, we need to do something.
But I don't know, I do not have any solution.
But I just came to you to tell you we are struggling as business owners in that plaza.
Thank you for your comment.
I don't see anyone else in line.
Is there anyone else who would like to make a comment at this time on this item?
Going once, going twice.
Okay, all right, thank you all for your comments.
We really appreciate it.
All right, so at this time, I'd like to ask the applicant
if they'd like to come up and provide
any additional information in response
to any of the public comment that's been made.
Thank you.
Nathan Loveland, I am the one who submitted an application
for Chick-fil-A for a conditional use permit
because we have floor space for takeout service
and because we offer takeout service.
I think that was pointed out in the beginning.
And I just kind of want to mention to also that
if we weren't applying for the conditional use permit
for takeout service to have that floor space,
that this would be a restaurant authorized
by right in this area.
We would have gone right into planning,
got our approvals, got building permits,
and the store would be open today, year and a half later.
So we just want to make sure that that's,
where our heart is, to get the CUP,
to properly serve the community.
Not everybody wants to come and sit in the store.
They don't all have the time for that.
Okay, so real quickly,
I just wanna address a couple things.
We do have the traffic engineers here tonight.
They are able to speak to their studies.
Couple things I wanna highlight real quick.
We studied multiple different ways.
Traffic counts were done when school was in session.
The Burbank store offers third party takeout.
The Burbank store has all five applications up and running
for third-party takeout at that store.
When we studied per the IT manual,
we are authorized a 50% pass-by rate.
We didn't take that into consideration.
We took 100% of the counts at Burbank,
we applied them at this store, we didn't discount anything.
We also, when a trip comes into the store
and a trip goes out, those are not differentiated
whether the client was there to take out
third-party delivery or to dine in the restaurant.
A trip into a store is a trip.
So if there are third-party deliveries
happening at Burbank, which we know there are,
they're all part of our traffic counts for the store.
We know that from our community meetings
and talking to the residents,
we know that traffic is a topic here.
We've heard it from the community.
We've heard it from the city.
We've talked with the city engineer
and we have agreed to make a contribution in seed funding
to the city to go ahead
and start traffic improvements in that area,
how the city sees fit.
And that amount is $30,000 to the city
to make those improvements starting soon.
From the discussions I heard the hours,
the last thing I wanted to talk about
and talk about was the hours.
We know in this plan development
that the hours are allowed in operation till 11 p.m.
When the plan development went into place,
It was community involvement.
That's what the community asked for.
That's what went into the plan development.
To my understanding, the city does not regulate
business hours in any other part of the city,
to my understanding, is what my communication
was with the planner.
So again, that's an operator decision,
who the operator hires, the type of,
the way they can staff their building,
the way that they can adequately serve the customers.
That's gonna be their decision.
However, as was already mentioned by Christine,
we wanna be a good neighbor.
We wanna do what's right for this location
with this community.
And then lastly, I think there was some discussion
in the letters that because we offer
mobile curbside pickup in parking stalls,
because we have third-party delivery,
we were gonna be operating a de facto type
of drive-through operation coming to our property.
That's not the case.
When you come to a Chick-fil-A restaurant,
and when you pick up your meal,
whether you ordered on the app personally yourself,
you have to go in the store and pick it up.
Or there's designated parking stalls,
a team member will come out and hand you that meal.
If you're a third party delivery driver,
you have to park, you have to come to the store,
you have to show them who you're ordering for.
If we just handed out meals to everybody,
it may never get to the right person.
So either way, the cars park, they come to the store
and they pick up the meal.
And there is an area, a meal fulfillment area.
This does function to get meals ready
in a drive-through operation in order to fill the drinks,
package the meal, the food is passed from the kitchen
to the meal fulfillment area.
The meals are then fully prepared as per the receipt
and then handed to the customer.
Meals get prepared in this room
just as they go out to the dining room.
Your drinks, your bag, everything goes in.
If it's to go, it's still prepared
in the meal fulfillment area,
regardless of whether there's a drive-through.
And in this case, there is no drive-through.
Yes, there are third-party pickup
and the meals are still prepared
the meal fulfillment area to be delivered to the customer, regardless of where exactly
how and how the customer ordered.
That's all I have.
In response to the comments, I'd like to – I'll be here to take any questions, or there's
no questions for me.
Great.
Thank you very much.
We appreciate that.
You can sit down now, and if we have further questions for you, we will ask you that.
So at this time, I'd like to close the public hearing and bring the matter back to the Commission
for any comments, questions, or deliberation.
Anybody?
Commissioner Anderson.
Actually, if the traffic engineer,
city traffic engineer would come back up.
There's several comments about the traffic study,
including one that said it was cursory.
It's 160-some pages,
which seems a little more than cursory to me.
Can you address, I guess a couple of specifics,
what the study found in terms of increased traffic on citrus,
the concern about the shortcut
in folks barreling through there.
How that might be changed with this addition.
And just generally, the quality of the report
and how that compares to other traffic studies
of this sort.
Sure, so I'll actually take the second question first
and then I'd actually go ahead and defer
to the traffic consultant who's here
to go ahead and speak to the first piece.
So I will give you some background
on my professional life.
I used to prepare traffic studies just like these
for different applicants.
I also did do work for cities as a consultant,
but just to give you a heads up,
I have prepared traffic studies like this in my lifetime,
probably a few hundred easily.
So in terms of the actual preparation of the scope of work,
that was something that was a back and forth
with the applicant, where we did push very hard
to have extensive information looked into
because we knew that the traditional way
that you would prepare a traffic study like this,
which looks really at generalized assumptions
for different land uses, that we really wanted to look
at something that actually was more applicable
based on the type of use specifically as in a chick-fil-a.
And that was a specific thing that we did ask for
because of the existing location
and also because of the potential for, you know,
really thinking about this site,
would this use be regionally serving?
Does this, you know, comply with our CEQA assumptions
or thresholds that we typically apply in these cases?
So we did ask for that more extensive study.
So then to answer number one,
I'll go ahead and call up the traffic consultant.
Yeah, I'm Brett Walensky
with Hexagon Transportation Consultants.
We prepared the traffic impact analysis.
I think there were multiple parts to your question,
but the one thing that I caught was,
you wanted to know how much traffic
was going into the neighborhood on Citrus, is that correct?
Yeah, so it's about, in the PM peak hour,
It's about 14 trips and that does not include
any deductions for the bank.
So that's comparing it to the existing condition.
So just to put that in perspective,
it's about one trip every four minutes.
And as an overall estimate for Chick-fil-A,
when you look at where their traffic is coming from
and going to, we're projecting about 10%
into the neighborhood.
So what other questions do you have?
Let me add one, which was I mentioned a bunch of schools
in the area.
Yeah.
This might be an attractive afterschool meeting place.
Yeah.
How did you address the children pedestrians?
Yeah, yeah.
So all of that traffic for the schools
are in the traffic counts and the counts are done
basically while schools are in session.
They're not done during the summer,
or even on weeks with holidays,
or during inclement weather, or anything like that.
We also go out and we measure the signal timing
because you have pedestrian crossings, right?
And you got more pedestrians.
It's gonna affect the signal timing
and affect the ability of pedestrians
to get across the road
and the delays for vehicles at the intersection.
So we go out and we field time them.
So we reflect all of the pedestrian counts
like in the signal timing.
So does that answer your question?
Thank you.
If there's any other questions while I'm up here, I can.
Any other questions for the traffic consultants?
I mean, it's fun to make you sit down and go.
I can, that's okay too.
Anybody else while he's up?
Okay, we're not quite ready.
So don't go too far.
Any other questions generally while Pam gets ready?
One might be for Nathan, I believe, and then one for Simmer and one for staff.
So it was brought up by one of the speakers tonight, the concern for safety with regard
to the late hours, et cetera.
Is there, what's the protocol for Chick-fil-A with regard to safety or security at the stores?
Yeah, so Chick-fil-A does have connections to the local police department through their
security systems in the store. So any kind of safety concerns or safety issues that might happen
on site can be reported instantly to the local authorities without needing to go find you know
the proper channels to maybe make the call etc stuff like that. There are security systems, security
cameras, there's footage available to the law enforcement. Should they come and need to see
a history of that? Does that answer your question? Yeah kind of as a matter of procedure though is
is it the manager on duty that's kind of overall responsible
for safety?
I mean,
Yeah, that's correct.
The local operator who is the store operator,
they have within their staff different ways
of dividing responsibility.
We do have a operator here in the room
who has operated stores before,
if you'd like to ask them that question,
but from the security standpoint, there's surveillance,
there's other security measures in place
to make sure that not just inside the store,
but the perimeter of the store is safe, secure,
and there's no riff-raff if I may use that term
happening outside their stores.
Okay, great, thank you.
Yes, sir.
And Simmera, I mean, if I can direct this to you.
Can you look as though we documented
in the paperwork that I read,
there's a number of changes were made
between the outreach and the revised plan
as a result of their outreach
and how the plan was maybe revised.
What kind of changes were made as a result of input
from the neighborhood?
I believe the traffic study was updated
and there were recommendations made in order to,
one, put in a pedestrian or more safe crosswalk
between the, within the shopping center that was incorporated
and there's a list of others that was completed.
So I could pull that up.
And design changes were made as well I assume?
Design changes were made based on the comments
from Design Review Commission
And I actually thought I should share this cap it so you can see how it has improved.
So that was the first submittal that you see before your screen when it went for a study session.
That Design Review Commission looked at.
It was an off-shelf design, so there were a lot of comments that said
to incorporate more articulation, more architectural elements, a variation in materials.
and the revised plans before you do show
that they've incorporated wood siding.
There is stone facade and of course the stucco facade
and also the Chick-fil-A sign design has been changed.
So it doesn't look so cartoonish
if that was the word that's been stated.
So it's more in line with what's in the shopping center
and even the size complies.
There is a master sign program amendment
that's requested from the design review commission,
but it is specifically because one sign per frontage
is allowed, one on Citrus, one on Oak Grove,
but because the primary entry faces
the internal parking lot,
they wanted a entrance above that location.
And initially the primary entry was only on Citrus Avenue,
but because of DRC comments
that there should be more than one entrance,
they created the second entrance from the parking lot.
but now that there will be no signage,
so they're requesting additional sign there.
Okay.
And maybe we can just affirm with a nod.
Would it be safe to say that this is a one of a kind
for Chick-fil-A in terms of a design?
Thank you.
That was nodded in the affirmative for the record.
And then lastly, for staff, with regard to,
this is a CUP, so I imagine with other restaurants
and whatnot that we've had to make these types of,
different types of decisions on not just the operation
restaurant but things like beverage licenses and hours and things like that.
We do have the I'm a little bit concerned to be honest I share this
concern about the hour of 11 o'clock that fronts a neighborhood. We have the
ability to put some some as part of the CUP to say that it might be that. That is
correct the Planning Commission does have the authority to make any
modifications. And I'll just put it out there for my fellow commissioners maybe
under maybe a consideration might be the hours of the restaurant being open
versus delivery hours or something, some split,
might make some sort of sense,
where delivery can happen up until maybe even 11 or 10
or something, but if the restaurant itself
that might generate the traffic is a different,
just food for thought.
That's all I have, thanks.
Okay, other questions?
Commissioner Needing.
I was, I wanted to ask, one of those speakers
or residents said that there's nothing open
in that particular area past 10.
Can you tell me what the hours of all the nearby
establishments?
Are you talking just within the shopping center
or within like the vicinity like orchard?
That particular shopping center,
which is the opening of...
I mean, I don't know what the operating hours
are for all of the businesses,
but I know BevMo is open later.
and the proposed, let me-
We think it's nine.
It's actually not.
So let me pull up the conditions.
Give me one second, please.
And then while that,
the Planning Commission has made considerations
regarding hours of operation,
and we do take into consideration, to your point, revenue.
So there's been arguments been made
of why something has to be open at 11.
So my question to the applicant, to where's Nathan?
For financial reasons, is there a financial reason
of why you feel that the restaurant needs to be open
until 11?
So when we, thank you for that question
and to be able to clarify this.
So when we put in the application and we put our hours
and we document in our project narrative and description,
we automatically default to what the code allows.
So when we put in our narrative,
we looked at what the plan development allows,
we understood from our research
that the community had a lot of input
in the plan development,
and if they asked for hours in the shopping center
to be restricted to 11 p.m.,
then we said, okay, we'll put 11 p.m.
Financially is not really a concern.
I think the way we look at it is that
if there's other businesses and stores in the area
that are open till eight o'clock, nine o'clock, 10 o'clock,
Perhaps those people wanna get some food on their way home.
If we can serve them on their way home,
if the young people are maybe working after school
till 10 p.m. and they wanna come get some food
on their way home, that's who we're looking to serve.
It's not our thought, and it's not even our research
that would say we're gonna draw people
into the neighborhood at 10, 11 p.m.
It was mentioned there are other locations
that maybe the late night crowd can go to,
but in the immediate area of the neighborhood,
both in our shopping center and the shopping center
across the street.
If people are getting off work
and want a bite of food to go home,
that's who we're looking to serve.
So a secondary question to that is,
I know in high school where,
I was in high school a very long time ago,
but I do remember,
because you have nowhere to go once places close down,
you hang out in the parking lot.
So the question is, since what's been your experience
for this type of restaurant that's nestled in a neighborhood?
Have you found that students or population loiter,
or do they really just go home
because all their lights are off?
Well, I would say a little bit,
probably what we don't want is the opposite of that.
We don't want to close down store
with nobody looking at the parking lot
and people loitering in the parking lot.
If we can invite people into the store
to come have some food,
if we can get them to sit on our patio,
much easier to watch and keep an eye on.
It's much easier to monitor.
It's all under surveillance.
If the store's closed, the parking lot's not closed.
So if we can encourage people to come in
because we're open,
encourage young people to maybe sit in the booth,
sit in the table.
There's complete adults in the store
who are running the store,
running the shifts,
which do have young people.
So our perspective is let's keep it safe.
Let's get people inside where the lights are.
Let's keep them on the patio
where we can talk to them, let's serve them food,
and if they're loitering in the parking lot,
that's not what we want, that's not our ideal customer.
And if we don't have a store that's open,
we can't invite them to come get some food.
And if that starts at 8 p.m.,
that's pretty early in the evening,
maybe in the summertime when the lights are up.
The sunlight stays up long is what I'm saying.
So you've never had loitering?
I'm sure there's loitering out there.
I don't have experience with lots of parking lots
and loitering. That was a good question.
Yeah.
I go to bed early because I have very young children,
So, thank you so much.
Can I ask a question for the transportation engineer?
Sure.
And I also have an answer for your previous question, yeah.
So it's attachment nine of your agenda packet.
It is page 11.
And this is directly carried from the previous PD
that was established for the shopping center in the 1970s.
There was a rezone for the shopping center
to increase the hours of operation for the Bevmo location.
So most of the conditions were carried over
due to the sensitivity and respect to the neighborhood,
but there were some changes.
So again, page 11, it says the hours of operation
for the primary anchor tenant space,
which was the former Nob Hill, is 5 a.m. to midnight.
And that carries over to the new anchor tenant,
which will be the LA Fitness Health Club.
So they will get those operating hours.
So that's open till midnight.
And then, the hours of operation for the secondary anchor tenant,
which is Bevmo, it says 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. in-store hours.
And, of course, there's other specific, like,
off-site delivery hours that are until 2 a.m.,
but the operating hours for the business is 11 p.m.
Thank you so much.
Could you repeat those hours,
particularly for the new gym and Bevmo, please?
Yeah, for the beginning and ending, please.
Correct. For the new gym,
it will be 5 a.m. to midnight daily.
And for the proposed restaurant, it's listed as E.
It says hours of operation for all other uses
and tenant spaces in the shopping center
shall be limited to 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.
And this proposed restaurant falls under E for that.
Thank you, that's very helpful.
Thank you.
Yeah.
Do I still ask hexagon?
Absolutely.
All right, we have traffic questions.
Come on up.
She said hexagon.
It is hexagon, right?
Yes.
Yes.
I noticed, I know it's not easy to, thank you for doing an LOS and a VMT.
I know that SB 743, that changed so, but I always like seeing both.
My question to you is, there was a lot of discussion about pedestrian improvements
and safety.
And I noticed that it had to do with safety of movement
within the shopping center.
That's why you did that specific crosswalk cut through.
My question to you is, did you guys,
and I saw that you had one recommendation
of the pedestrian improvement, I can't find it now,
but I believe it was the northeast corner
of Oak and Citrus.
You discussed a radius.
that was specifically with the turn lane yes and I did notice that the am peak
hours on citrus were much higher than the PM hours and there are the schools
there so my question to you is were there any did you review the
pedestrian improvements outside of the shopping shopping center and the reason
And I ask that is because then on page 26 of the document,
it shows that all the streets in the project,
the city have sidewalks and crosswalks.
But on the south side of Oak Grove Road,
there is no crosswalk there.
And I know there doesn't need to be a four.
Yeah, yeah.
But it, and that's why I brought it up.
Because when I read it, it makes it feel as if,
No, there is crosswalks all throughout
with the directional.
There isn't, in fact.
And then when you were studying the pedestrian movement
because you noted just there being one recommendation
for pedestrian safety, were there any considerations,
especially when the school got out
for any type of the touch, you know, I'm tired.
To be able to have like the flashing beacons.
Thank you, I was trying to think of that word.
Did any of that, considering that Ignacio De La Salle's,
I got my De La Salle, Ignacio, and the Valley Verde,
if you're like kind of looking at the site like this,
that was it, those are my convoluted.
There's a lot to unpack there.
Okay, so let me start with just overall pedestrian safety
in the area.
The city has a plan to remove the slip lanes
at Ignacio Valley Road and Oak Grove Road.
And also, along the project site at Citrus in Oak Grove,
there is a kinked crosswalk.
And it's kind of funky and weird.
And it has a swept radius, which is
conducive to higher travel speeds.
And so in terms of what we recommended,
we recommended the project make a contribution
towards removing all of those right turn slip lanes,
which are not safe for, or less safe for pedestrians.
I won't call them unsafe.
Actually, if you look at the safety record
of each of those intersections, which we did,
the collision rates are actually below the state average.
Now, that doesn't mean that you can't do better
and you still can't make improvements,
but if there was a problem there and we saw it in the data,
we could have flagged it and looked into it more,
but when the rates are already below
what the state averages are,
it makes it hard to justify doing even more
than what's being done.
So for right now, we have the recommendation
for them to make a financial improvement
to remove the slip lanes, to improve that corner.
And when they improve that corner,
they will be changing some of probably the signal poles
and single mass storms so they're gonna have to update
some traffic signal equipment there.
And at that time, likely things like pedestrian countdown
heads and improvements like that will get incorporated.
And the 30K will cover that?
That is a separate contribution.
The 30K is for the neighborhood.
It's just, so the neighborhood has an existing traffic issue
related to cut-through, right?
And if you look at the amount of traffic
generated by this project, I mean, again,
it's like on the order of one, I'm sorry,
it's one trip every four minutes, okay?
So this is a small piece of the overall traffic
that's already going through there.
And rather than having to try to guess
at what improvements the neighborhood would want,
you really have to do your own study,
you have to do a comprehensive study with the neighborhood
to see what those solutions are going to be.
Because some people could want speed humps,
because they want a lower speed.
But then if you live in front of a speed hump,
you may not want a speed hump there,
because people will slow down,
you may hear screeky breaks or things, right?
Or some people may want traffic diverted around
so that it makes it more circuitous
to get through there, right?
But the people who have the traffic diverted
through their neighborhood may not want that, right?
like, hey, I didn't have the traffic on my street.
Now to try to do traffic calming,
you've diverted it to my street.
So those are very complicated things
and they have to be done
with the neighborhood all agreeing to it.
And so what Chick-fil-A has chosen to do
is to just help fund that study
so that that can be done
and they could start working towards a solution.
So that's how it's been approached.
Okay, do we have any other questions from commissioners?
Okay, so at this time I would entertain a motion
with regard to this matter.
Anybody?
I'd like to make a motion
if you came back to the findings on the screen real quick.
Thank you.
I'll never remember them.
That we, the project is exempt from CEQA
and we approve the conditional use permit for restaurant
for freestanding building with takeout services,
approve the tree removals essential for this project
and determine the parking is adequate for this project.
Hey, do we have a second?
I'll second.
All right, we have a motion and a second.
Commission secretary, can you please record the vote?
Commissioner Kwok?
Yes.
Commissioner Kwok?
Yes.
Commissioner Reiser?
Yes.
Commissioner Knating?
Yes.
Commissioner Anderson?
Yes.
Vice Chair Strongman?
Yes.
Chair Ward?
No.
Motion passes, thank you.
Okay, thank you very much.
Thank you everyone for participating
and giving us information about this.
We really appreciate it.
All right, so moving on to item five,
which I have very mixed feelings about.
This is the election of a new chair
and vice chair for our commission.
Before we do that, I just want to thank everyone
for indulging me serving as chair of this commission.
It's truly been an honor and a great experience in particular
because the staff has been so supportive
and helpful to us and you guys are the best,
I really appreciate it.
And this is a wonderful commission to serve on.
So I've been, it's been great to be chair
and I've really, really enjoyed it.
So, but my term is up as chair.
And I, so I think it's time for somebody else.
So do we have a, we're electing people to the chair, okay.
So do we have a nomination for chair of the commission?
I'm gonna preface my nomination with a thank you to you.
You've done a stellar job.
I know it's not the first meeting either too
that you've run, but professionally,
but you did an exemplary job and we appreciate that.
And with that, I will nominate Ken Strongman as chair
and Brent Anderson as vice chair, so moved.
Great, do we have a second?
If it's okay if we can do chair first and then vice chair.
Okay.
I apologize.
No worries.
All right, so can we amend that motion
to just nominating?
So amending.
And strong that it's a chair.
And I'll second it.
All right, thank you.
All right, we have a motion to second.
Can we vote please?
Commissioner Kwok?
Yes.
Commissioner Kwok?
Yes.
Commissioner Reiser?
Yes.
Commissioner Nating?
Commissioner Anderson yes vice chair strongman yes chairward yes great motion
passes thank you okay so I guess the new chair gets to deal with the vice chair
yes do we have a nominations for vice chair I'd like to nominate Brandt
Anderson. And I'll second that. Sorry, we have a roll call please.
Commissioner Kwok? Yes. Commissioner Klaap? Yes. Commissioner Reiser? Yes. Commissioner
Nating? Yes. Commissioner Anderson? Yes. Chair Strongman? Yes. And Commissioner Ward?
Yes moving along to 6 and thank you. Thank you. I'll hopefully live up to her standard. She's sat
Item 6 Commission member and staff reports and announcements. Do we have any?
Yes, so I had emailed the Planning Commission earlier about the design review standard study session that will be happening next week
So if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to staff
I'm sorry next planning commission meeting. Thank you. Thank you anything else?
And hopefully everybody have a good year and I will go to item 7. We are adjourned.