Good evening and welcome to the July 10th planning commission meeting with the secretary
call the roll. Thank you, chair. Commissioner Moran? Here. Commissioner Cownd? Here. Commissioner
Strongman? Here. Commissioner Kwok? Here. Commissioner Klop? Here. Vice chair Knighting? Here. Chair Anderson? Here.
All is present. We have quorum. Item one or item two rather is consent calendar. Do we have anything
on the consent calendar tonight?
Staff has nothing to recommend.
Okay. And we will pass on to number three,
public communications.
There are two parts of the meeting this evening
where the public gets to comment.
One is during each individual hearing, if they have comments
on that particular item, or if they have a comment on something
which was within the jurisdiction
of the Planning Commission but not on tonight's agenda that they wish to speak on they can you
can do that now regardless of when you speak if you would fill out a speaker card that would
be helpful to us anybody wish to make a public communication at this time does not appear so
then i will go on and ask the if anyone has any ex parte communications to disclose seeing none
Move on to item four, which is the public hearing for Ellia's restaurant.
Requesting a planning commission approval of a conditional use permit to extend alcohol
sales and service until 12 a.m. with consumption permitted until 12.30 a.m., seven days a week.
Ms. Gill.
Hello.
Good evening, Chair and Commissioners.
My name is Simmer Gill, Senior Planner with the City.
We are here tonight to consider the conditional use permit for Elliott Restaurant and Bar
that's located at 1520 Locust Street.
And the conditional use permit is to serve alcohol past 11 p.m. at this establishment.
The applicant representing the project, Guy Houston, is here tonight.
And from the city, we have Lieutenant Slater and myself to answer any questions that you
may have after the presentation.
And I also wanted to point out that the draft resolution attachment one of your agenda packet
has been updated to follow the notice of appeal procedures in the muni code.
We staff had missed the 10 day appeal period date, so the additional language is added
in red font on pages one and 11 of attachment one.
And just to orient you with the site, Elia Restaurant is a 3,000 square foot restaurant
with a 239-square-foot outdoor patio area right in front of the restaurant.
It is located between two other similar establishments, Vanessa's Bistro and Limon.
And the surrounding area consists primarily a mix of commercial uses, primarily restaurants
and retail.
And there is a mixed-use multi-family development, the Lyric Building, located right across the
way.
The site is zoned pedestrian retail, which does permit restaurant uses by right.
And a use permit is required to serve alcohol past 11 p.m.
And here is a look at the floor plan.
As you see, the entrance is the seating area for the public with the bar to the left.
As you go down to the back of the restaurant, there is a stair that leads to a mezzanine
area that has a upstairs dining area.
However, the upstairs is only for special events or for reservations only, the public
could access the ground floor.
And then there's the outdoor patio dining area that has 20 seats.
It is currently being used for the sale of service of alcohol and the sale of food.
However, there is a operator's permit that's required now under the outdoor dining program
which was adopted in September of 2024, and that is included as a condition of approval as part of
this agenda packet and attachment one. And just to go over some background, on June 13th of 2023,
ELLIA began its operations with a AUP serving alcohol from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. seven days a week
under a type 47 ABC license, and between 2023 and early 2024,
Elliot did receive multiple notices of violation
from the Walnut Creek Police Department due to late night alcohol service and
also associated incidences that did occur
past the 11 p.m. cutoff time. So on August 22nd of 2024, the planning
Commission did review those incidences and those violations and made changes to
Ellia's AUP essentially seizing their sales and service of alcohol to 930 p.m.
and seizing the alcohol consumption till 10 p.m. and this was a 90 day
probationary period that gave Ellia an opportunity to come into compliance and
And it ended on December 3rd of 2024.
And since then, even during that time, Elia did make operational improvements, such as
staff training, website and signage updates on alcohol policy.
And so on December 4th of 2024, the Community Development Department, as well as the Walnut
Creek Police Department, did determine that Elia has been successfully operating in compliance
and had there have been no noted violations.
So as a result of that, the original hours of alcohol sale service and consumption ending
at 11 were reinstated for this business.
And following that, January 27th of this year, the applicant applied for a conditional use
permit so they could extend the alcohol hours past 11 p.m.
is a full-service restaurant and bar, which operates from 10 a.m. to midnight
seven days a week. Alcohol is served in the indoor and outdoor seating area of
the restaurant. The applicant is aware that they would need a operator's
permit moving forward to have any type of service related to food or
alcohol in that area. And the restaurant also has indoor live entertainment that
takes place from Thursday through Saturdays and they also have a third
party security service on site those days. And the proposed hours are midnight
will be the end time for alcohol sales and service and 1230 a.m. would be the
end time for alcohol consumption. There is signage on site that's posted or all
of the exit and outdoor dining areas so I think here I said it should be posted
It is currently posted on site, so they are following this.
As well as there's a condition of approval but currently all employees are required under
state law to be certified and trained to have the RBS certification.
And since the hours were rolled back in September of 2024, Elia has made several operational
updates that are still in effect.
is having an on-site manager that oversees the operations, monitor alcohol
service and live entertainment to make sure all the the noise is within the
acceptable noise levels of the city. Signage updates which is posting having
alcohol policy posted at the bar as well as marketing updates on the website and
the menu really highlighting or focusing more on the the the food service of the
restaurant rather than the alcohol component of the business. And the Walnut
Creek PD did confirm that Elia is operating in compliance with the AUPs
and there have been no reported violations. And before you are findings
that are required in order to approve a conditional use permit to serve alcohol
all past 11 p.m.
And these findings are outlined and addressed
in the attachment one resolution of your packet.
And here are additional alcohol findings
for the Planning Commission's consideration.
The project does comply and meet all of these findings,
and staff does support the proposed conditional use permit
because it does meet the findings
there's been no nuisance or activity that have have required any police calls
or incidences. And with that staff does recommend that the Planning Commission
adopt the draft or updated draft resolution approving the conditional use
permit to allow alcohol sales and service till midnight and alcohol
consumption till 1230 a.m. for Elia restaurant. And the Walnut Creek PD
does support the CUP. However, there's a condition, I believe it's condition number two, that
the CUP shall take effect on September 5th of 2025. And the reason for that is because
by September 5th, there will be a complete, completed a full year of compliance of operations
since the hours were rolled back, back in September of 2024. And that is all I have,
but I'm happy to answer any questions. Thank you.
Any questions of staff? I have a quick question. It closes at 12 but the
consumption goes until 1230. That's correct. Is that kind of a common thing
or just to get kind of people out the door? Yeah because if they're serving the
last glass of alcohol at 1059 right sorry 1159 so they give them at least a
a half hour to finish their drink so that they can.
Sure.
Even if it's closed.
Yeah.
OK.
That's the only one.
Thanks.
Mm-hmm.
Any other questions?
Commissioner Cone.
And how does this compare with the surrounding restaurant
times?
We have, I did look into that, and there's approximately 13
other conditional use permits that we've
given to establishments that serve alcohol past 11 p.m.
And three of them were some recent ones,
original Joes, Luna C Lounge, and the pinstripes.
And they all serve alcohol till 12.30 a.m.
Okay, so this is not the only one?
It's not uncommon.
Right, right, okay.
And then I think just to reiterate
for the public to understand,
if we approve this resolution and it is found
that the restaurant is having issues?
What are the ramifications of that for the restaurant?
Yeah, there's a condition of approval for that as well.
If there are issues again, as there were in the past,
then Walnut Creek Police Department
and the Community Development Department will take action
and bring the project, bring Elia back
before this commission to either modify or revoke
if needed permit, if it's not in compliance
with the conditional use permit findings.
Great, thank you.
Sorry, one more.
Just so I want to be clear.
The outdoor patio is allowed to serve alcohol or is not.
And if it is not, they needed another outdoor permit.
So prior to September of 2024,
it was a part of the AUP, it was allowed.
they were allowed to serve alcohol and food.
Since September of 2024,
the outdoor dining program has taken effect
and all businesses or establishments in the PR,
as well as the, I believe the downtown core area
of Walnut Creek, all of the establishments now require
a outdoor dining permit,
not just for the alcohol component,
but also for the food, just for service of that.
And I have brought this to the applicant's attention
so they will be applying soon.
They do have some time till September 5th,
but they have already gotten the application form
and that's also a condition
in the draft resolution tonight.
So tonight we're taking up the question of insight.
It's all indoor, correct.
Got it, okay.
Thank you.
Mm-hmm.
Any other questions?
No, thank you very much.
Thanks.
applicant can speak now for up to 10 minutes if you wish. Certainly won't
take 10 minutes but Guy Houston here represent Elliott restaurant tonight and
want to thank staff for doing a great job and we've worked with the police
department to craft this. We talked about the the date that it would be
effective but the bottom line is Elliott hasn't had a violation since last 4th of
July and so a lot of education for them but also education for their patrons.
There was an expectation from some patrons on what they could and what they
couldn't do and so now we we understand the rules and there's been more than a
year of compliance and so we appreciate Ms. Gill for doing a fantastic job and
the police department for bringing this here tonight and we ask for your support.
Any questions from the applicant?
I will note that we have a number of these kind of applications over the past few years,
and some of them have come with, you know, a history of noncompliance, and not all of
them have responded effectively to that, so it's good to see that everyone's happy with
that.
All right.
Is there anyone in the public who would like to speak on this matter?
It doesn't look like we have any.
There is five minutes allowed for you to rebut any speakers that have come, but if you have
no further comments, I will unclose the public hearing and bring it back to the planning
commission for any questions or discussion or motions.
I just would like to actually echo what you said in gratitude for the owner, the city
the police department all working together to resolve this.
This was a very concerning set of circumstances
when they came to the planning commission last year,
and it was not an easy choice for the planning commission
to cut back hours of service for alcohol for our business.
We care very much about our businesses,
but you heard the concern, you responded to the concern,
you made the changes, and clearly,
the success is in the pudding.
I mean, no violations and support,
both from the city staff and the police
for you going forward.
So I just want to thank you.
I know that took work.
Thank you.
Any other comments, questions, discussion, or a motion?
I'll do it.
I would like to make a motion
that we adopt draft resolution number XXX,
conditional use permit number Y25007,
Elia's extended hours of operation
for alcohol sales service and consumption
at 1520 Locust Street as amended.
I'll second.
Discussion on the motion.
Now we do call the roll.
Okay, Commissioner Klop.
Yes.
Commissioner Kwok.
Yes.
Commissioner Moran.
Yes.
Commissioner Cownd.
Yes.
Commissioner Strongman.
Yes.
Vice Chair Knighting.
Yes.
And Chair Anderson.
Yes.
The ayes have it.
All right, thank you very much.
I think you can do the applicant and the staff.
The second hearing is on guarding the Taco Bell
drive-through at Rossmor proposed,
a conditional use permit for the development of a 1,495
square-foot eating and drinking establishment on a 12.4-acre
site located at a 1960 Tice Valley Boulevard
in the Rossmore Shopping Center.
And we have a staff report.
My name is Gerardo Victoria.
I'm an Assistant Planner
in the Community Development Department.
Good evening, Planning Commissioners.
The project before you today
is the Taco Bell Drive-Thru Restaurant
at the Rossmore Shopping Center.
So just some site context.
This is the Rossmore Shopping Center right here.
The star is where the new Taco Bell will be located.
This is Rossmore Parkway right here.
This is Tice Valley right here.
The nearest residential area
is located to the north up here.
And the Rossmore community is located
a little bit further south down here.
The general plan designation for the site is general retail.
The zoning designation is a plan development 2189.
The existing site at the Rossmore Shopping Center
has a mix of uses, restaurants, banks, and retail.
It's approximately a 12.4 acre site,
as I stated, surrounded my mix of uses,
residential and so forth.
The project description is a proposed construction
of a 1,495 square foot Taco Bell restaurant
with a drive-through and a takeout service
at the shopping center.
As you can see right here,
this is where the new Taco Bell will be located.
It's gonna have new outdoor seating,
new landscaping and new lighting.
The drive-through restaurant with the uh, excuse me, the Taco Bell with the drive-through
restaurant was contemplated in the past in the plan development 2189.
As you can see here, the context of a site just a little bit more where Tice Valley Boulevard
is.
Rolling Hills Drive and Rossmore Parkway here.
So the site layout.
So the new Taco Bell is about 1,400 square feet with a drive-through.
existing shopping center has 537 parking stalls. 35 are proposed to be
removed which will leave the shopping center with 502 stalls, which they are
still conforming to the parking standard in the zoning, which calls for a ratio of
4.0 per 1,000 square feet. Even with removing the 35 stalls, they're at 4.2.
This area right here, the tenant control area that is controlled by Safeway, that
is an agreement not between Safeway and Taco Bell, that is an agreement between
the Rossmore Shopping Center and Safeway. External access to the site is via the
Rossmore Parkway here and the internal access is through the Rossmore Shopping
Center. As we all know, you cannot come down Rossmore Parkway and make a left
onto the site. The building layout, so just a bit of a housekeeping issue. This is the
most updated floor plan right here. It has not changed. You see this area is for nine
seats inside the restaurant only. This is the outdoor dining area right here. And the
drive-through is obviously located right here through this area. So the project is before
you tonight for your consideration on the two conditional use permits for the drive-through
and the takeout service window and the design review which includes the new landscaping,
the new lighting, color, and materials.
It went to the design review commission as a study session on June 4th and the DRC made
their recommendations.
These are the conditional use permit findings for the project as outlined in your draft
resolution.
So the design review made numerous recommendations.
The first one was to save the two London Plain trees and remove additional parking as necessary
per code.
The applicant considered the comments and adjusted the project to save the two London
Plain trees, which I'll get to in the landscape plan.
Save the two London Plain trees, the parking and the circulation issues stemming from the
Safeway tenant agreement cannot be adjusted further.
The existing parking layout must remain.
Another comment was to prioritize the circulation patterns for safety, contact Safeway to design
around the opening.
In response to the DRC comments, the applicant will plant additional landscaping between
the drive-thru entrance lane and the parking exit to provide a more intuitive circulation
pattern.
And also to reconsider the tower, reconsider the color scheme and the signage to be more
compatible with the residential neighborhood.
So the applicant considered the comments but made no changes to the tower height as it
conforms to the height requirements in the zoning.
The applicant has upgraded the primary wall color to match the existing Rossmore Shopping
Center.
In response to the DRC comments on the signage, the applicant removed one sign that was facing
east and will have one sign on the tower that is facing away from the residential neighborhood.
So the one sign that is remaining is facing the Chevron gas station.
When they first came into the Design Review Commission, they had three signs, now they
only have one.
So just some major designs on the architecture for the Taco Bell.
This is the proposed new color scheme right here.
This is the north elevation, which is facing the drive-through.
And this is the south elevation, which is the entrance, which is facing the Chevron
gas station.
So some upgrades, the horizontal fiber cement hardy reveal panels that are purple and cyberspace
located here and here.
And the artisan v-groove horizontal fiber cement siding in cedar gray here.
So this is what they came to the design review commission and this is their new color scheme.
The Black Magic stucco color has been removed and replaced with the cyberspace.
I will admit, I didn't know what cyberspace color was, so I looked it up.
It's like a charcoal neutral blue.
And then the one sign that's facing on the entrance that's facing the Chevron gas station
still remains.
Just a little bit bigger.
These are the further elevation drawings.
As you can see, this is what's proposed today, here and here.
This is what was proposed at the Design Review Commission.
The sign has been removed.
And here.
So, the lighting and the signage, as I stated, it's going to be one new internally illuminated
wall sign facing the Chevron gas station that's 45 square feet.
Their previous one was 31 square feet, but it still conforms to the Ross Morris Shopping
Center Master Sign Program.
They are building, not building, but placing four new light poles throughout the site,
one right here, another one right here, one right here, and one right here.
There's two existing already here and down here.
Directional signage will be located throughout the drive-through, and we have the wall sconces
and the LED wall lights.
And this is the signage, the one new sign that's staying.
the landscape plant. It's over 5,000 square feet of new landscaping, a new
bioretention basin area located here. So at the Design Review Commission meeting
the applicant proposed to remove two London Plain trees that are outlined
here in green with the yellow stars. These are now stained. It's been since
revealed that this one out this London Plain tree outlined in red is in poor
health the city arborist went to the site on June 9th and determined that the
tree is in fact in poor health and has authorized removal of this tree right
here. The applicant is proposing four new trees located in blue right here. And
this tree proposed for removal that's in poor health is tree number 17 in your
plan set. So staff anticipates the use to use a secret determination from the
and mitigated negative declaration by council.
Notice of determination number 216-135,
no mitigations were necessary
against that mitigated negative declaration
and staff also anticipates using
the categorical exemption 15303 new construction.
So staff recommends move to adopt the draft resolution
approving the secret determination,
the conditional use permits and the design review.
and staff is available for questions or comments.
The applicant is also here, Mr. Greve.
Let me start that off.
Go back to the landscape plan, yes.
So with the removal of the tree marked in red,
Yes.
How visible will the, I think it's the east elevation,
be from the Rossmore Parkway as you drive in?
Is that I notice there's a couple of other trees nearby is it screened by the other trees or yes
These two trees right here. The London Plains are big. It's screening that
This I'll show you
This is the east elevation screening that well those trees are actually off to the right in the is that they're right here
They're located right here
so it's so that that
East elevation is not particularly visible from
Rossman Parkway
This east elevation, I mean you could see the building. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thank you
Any other questions
Mr. Clark. All right. I just wanted to clarify the the tree removal with respect to the arborist report
so when I read the city arborist report
my understanding was the arborist had gone out there because
The city was under the impression that the tree marked in red had died
So, if I'm reading the report, rereading it again, what the artist actually found was
it was not infected, but actually in poor health.
Okay.
All right.
Thank you.
Other questions?
This is Strongman.
Yeah, I have some questions about the circulation of the drive-thru, if you could bring that
back up.
Let me get this one right here.
And what's the left turn?
There's a left turn at the top, right there.
This one?
Yeah.
is, so there's five parking stalls controlled by Safeway,
one, two, three, four, and then five right here.
This is so this car could go out,
or if somebody makes a left and thinks, oh, no,
they could just come in there.
And moving actually through the drive-through,
if I read the blueprints correctly,
the, I guess the squawk boxes to talk to the,
make your orders are two different places
in the line up there?
Yes, so the drive-thru lanes, one is for a pickup order
and one is to actually place your order.
The outside lane is to place an order
and then the inside lane is to pick up your order.
There's the takeout windows only gonna be located right here.
Whether you're picking up or you're placing an order,
you still pick it up from this window.
There's also the takeout service window
that's located in this area.
So someone can drive in here, park, and go to this window
and pick up their order also.
If they don't want to stay in the drive-through.
So you basically, you will drive in, place your order,
stop your car, get out, and go pick it up?
No.
You drive in, place your order.
If you haven't ordered, you drive in,
place your order like a regular drive-through,
and then you pick it up at this window.
If you've already placed an order
and you don't want to park, you come into this drive-through
on the inside lane and you just keep it moving
until the end of the drive through lane over here
and pick up your order.
Okay.
A new way of doing it, sorry.
Thank you.
Any other questions?
Which account?
Yeah, so a little bit more about the circulation.
There were some community concerns, I think,
about pedestrian safety and access.
And so if you could talk about
where it is that people walk on here,
I know that there's the ADA sections,
if you could point that out for the public.
There's a new sidewalk right here.
So that would be, that's not existing.
That would be added.
Yes, the sidewalk right here.
This is still existing, but this is the new sidewalk.
Okay, so they could, from that street,
they can walk up that sidewalk,
and then the door is on that side?
Yes, the front door is located right here.
And that's also the side that the outdoor seating area is?
Yes.
Okay.
So they wouldn't have to cross where the cars are turning.
And cars can't come in on that side anyway,
they can only go out.
Yes. Right?
And then the signage is right here on this tower
that's oriented towards the gas station,
away from the residential area up here.
Thank you.
Commissioner Moran.
Could you go back to the outside color scheme really quick?
This one? Yeah.
The ones on the bottom came to the design review.
Yes. And the ones on the top
are the changes that were made. Yes, correct.
So we went from more of like a deep purple
to a more vibrant color.
Yes, they call it bold purple, yes.
Forgive me, I did not watch the design review
committee meeting. Can you just maybe walk me through why that was why we're
looking at the the new color versus the old color? Was there a thought process
behind that? So there was some concerns with the black color up here. I think
they wanted to conform it more towards the Rossmore Shopping Center, this bold
purple chip. Do you remember exactly? Yeah there's there's also concern of
location and that it was in the Rossmore Shopping Center and who the who the
target audience is and that those the black and purple colors didn't really
speak to that primary audience or nor did it did it match anything that's
that's already in the shopping center as far as color scheme.
Real quick follow-up question.
Is there bike parking?
Yes, there is.
They have one bike rack, which is conforming to the zoning
code, one bicycle stall per 1,500 square feet.
Let me see if I could find it.
It is located, I believe, right here somewhere.
Okay, thank you.
Plus the Rossmore Shopping Center
has additional bike installs also.
Commissioner Kwok.
Mr. Rado, if you could go back to the interior floor plan.
I just wanted to orient myself how it looks with respect
because I'm having a little bit of trouble
visualizing the building and where it is
with respect to the driveway and the front entrance.
So is the driveway, for example,
if we were looking on the upper right
where the floor plan is, do the cars pass on the backside?
which would be the top of the picture?
Yes, this is north, so they pass through here.
This is where the drive-through window
is located right here, and so that's like right here.
And so then the side that faces the chevrons
at the bottom of the picture?
This is the entrance right here.
That's where the walk-in is.
Where the outdoor patio is, yeah.
Got it.
Okay, thank you.
Commissioner Bob.
Thank you.
Thank you for all the work getting this together.
And I will just say I am a Rossmore resident.
I'm very familiar with this shopping center.
I was excited to see that there had been modifications
made in the color scheme to be more compliant
with the shopping center,
but I'm personally having trouble seeing how this is,
the shopping center colors in my mind
are more beige and gray and whatever.
So I just wasn't, they're softened,
but just not quite maybe as much as I thought
they might be in feedback so.
They did soften this color right here.
Cedar gray from worldly gray
that matches the Rossmore Shopping Center.
That was one of the concerns.
They have addressed it.
They are matching the standards,
the design review standards from the city.
So.
I think the dark pillar is the thing that's hard.
I mean, I see they softened it to gray instead of black,
but I'm just trying to figure out how that will look.
So thank you.
Vice Chair Neeve.
I don't know if this is a now or later,
but I don't know if the applicant brought Kimley Horn.
Where's Mr. Reeve?
Was it the applicant that hired Kimley Horn
or was it the city to do the queuing analysis and traffic?
Oh, it was the applicant, I'm sorry.
It wasn't the city, yes.
Should I ask for that after the applicant does their application there?
Yes.
Okay.
Yes.
I'm going to ask you a little traffic engineering.
I understand, well, actually, I'll ask that question to the applicant.
So it sounds like for the queuing study there was three sites that were taken.
To be honest with you, when I kind of looked at it, I was a little bit, I figured that
that Kilmahorn would have chosen also Danville,
but I think Danville has a drive-thru also,
and it's behind, it's in front of residential also,
so that's why, so that's question number one,
but I'm wondering if, because that's a Gandina,
and this is not, so that's question number one.
So if I'm understanding correctly,
the concern from the residents,
it's about safety, the additional driving.
So what I'm seeing here is that we took three different,
we took breakfast, lunch, and commute peak hour dinner
in order to get the queuing of how the tail
is going to be of all the drivers.
And I think there was only one instance,
it sounds like the site is able
to handle nine vehicles stacked up.
And there was, but technically the queuing is eight,
but it can handle because the pickup windows so far
that it fits that additional.
So if I'm not mistaken in using
other similar sized restaurants,
in this area, that's how this queuing was built.
Yeah, so speaking to the applicant regarding the the queuing analysis usually
Taco Bell sites are
I wrote it down. I think it's like six to seven for vehicles and they've provided nine. Yeah, which is more than enough
but
I'll let Mr. Greave
When he comes up here for questions, he can he can he can speak to that. Perfect. Thank you
For the questions of staff mr. Strongman yeah one last question was uh
Question about the target audience of this restaurant.
What is the target audience?
As part of their business plan, I don't think they have a target audience, honestly.
Okay.
Thank you.
But Mr. Guido probably has an answer to that.
Okay.
Anything else?
No.
Thank you very much.
I invite the applicant to come and speak.
You have about 10 minutes to present.
Thank you, guys, for having me tonight.
My name is Henry Grieve, representing Diversified Restaurant Group in Taco Bell.
So this is our site plan we just saw, a little bit more simplified.
This is showing the trees.
Gerardo went over what the tree plan looks like a little earlier.
I don't want to be repetitive and hold you guys up.
I would rather answer important questions that you guys have for, you know, me and the
rest of my team.
about the site planning constraints, the Safeway protected area, Gerardo touched on this a little
bit. The landlord and Safeway have an agreement in place about what is and what is not Safeway's
protected area and we don't have much as a tenant that we can do to go around this.
That is essentially out of our hands or our control.
the central sanitary easement. There's no building allowed over the existing sewer main run.
It's a foundational issue and a retention issue. This essentially left our plans and our site plan
to only work in this position. We went back, you know, I'd say probably about 15 times with different
site plans over the entire process and we landed on this one and this is the site plan that works
and I'm you know pretty sure that this is the only site plan that works.
The protected trees concerns have been addressed. Gerardo talked about that a little bit.
The drive aisles can't really be changed. The property of the south which is the chevron
has its own entity. The landlord is not part of that. So we don't have much
control over how we, you know, work with them. So more traffic, the project
was approved in 2019 for a 2,000 square foot fast food restaurant. You know, we're
we're planning a 1,400 square foot restaurant here.
Jardiv touched on the parking.
Like he said, we're in full compliance
with the parking of the center
and we meet all of those regulations.
The traffic circulation, we are hoping and the data
we've seen says that you'll be entering the center
rather than going down the Rossmore Drive or Parkway,
more often than not.
So driving through the center
is the more likely path of travel.
And then the queuing, the traffic queuing
that we talked about a little bit earlier
with the car stacks.
Yes, we do have room for nine cars in the stack.
And we think and we hope that we can have
more than six cars in our stack at any time. That's what we see at restaurants that we work with
in restaurants that we run as a comparison, but obviously if we have to go over that we have the
wiggle room to do so. We don't expect this to be, you know, a super busy Taco Bell to be completely
frank. This is going to be a smaller town Taco Bell with some feel to it. The trees, we talked
talked about that, we made all of the changes that were recommended to us.
The signage, we were told that we had too much signage, so now we only have one sign
facing the Chevron.
The building colors now match the rest of the center in response to that dark gray.
Starbucks has the same color scheme, and Starbucks has a drive-thru as well, and so does Safeway.
Building exhaust. There were some concerns over the smells that the building might give off.
Our response is that all of our food is already comes cooked. It's sous vide beforehand. So,
you know, if you don't like the smell of fresh tacos, then I think that's on you.
The hours, we've adjusted our hours until midnight per the request of the review commission.
and then the trash. Our update is that, you know, we can move it around and we can adjust
as necessary. We don't see this being an issue, you know, we do this at all of our restaurants.
So yeah, thank you guys for taking the time.
Questions of the applicant.
Talked about changing the hours. Is that different than the business plan you put in the packet here?
I believe it was one o'clock previously and now it is midnight.
Yeah, same for Friday and Saturday night. What was that? Same for Friday and Saturday night?
I believe so, yes. Okay. Mr. Kwok. All right, thank you so much for coming to give us the
presentation. I was hoping to understand a little bit more about how Taco Bell, how this proposed
Taco Bell would interact with the community, because my understanding is when I first read
by the proposal, I thought, oh, it's very interesting.
But the color scheme is also very striking.
And the impression that it gives me
is quite different than what I was expecting
for Taco Bell in the area.
So if you could speak a little bit more
to the types of customers that you anticipate
having at the Taco Bell, maybe it would help me understand
the business plan a little bit better.
Sure.
Yeah, we service to everyone in the community from ages 15
to 95. That's our target audience, you know, we want people to eat at our
restaurant, we want people to enjoy it. So that is our business plan. And then
speaking to the design of the Taco Bell, you know, we have conformed with the
colors of the center. You know, we'd like to keep a little bit of kind of the
Taco Bell feel and that's where the purple comes into play. We don't want it
to be, you know, everything just mute. I think, you know, businesses should have
their own touch would you be open to adjusting the business hours even so
that it closes earlier than 12 midnight I think we would entertain it and we
would talk about it and get back okay all right what what do you recommend
well it's just because the the benchmark for the the business hours was to set to
match to Safeway which was 12 a.m. and it wasn't really set on anything in
in terms of the expected customers at Taco Bell itself.
So for me, I just wanted to understand the benchmark
for that.
It seems a little bit more like a reference
to a separate business entirely,
rather than what Taco Bell expects its customer flow to be
throughout the week.
Yeah, I think when we're talking about business late night,
more often than not, it's gonna be a lot of the delivery
and the pickup business is what we see
and most of our talkables.
Okay, so then that kind of plays into the mobile order
pickup aspect of the drive-through,
where if people are ordering Cian DoorDash
or whatever other mobile apps are being used,
then the restaurant is kind of intended to help serve
as a pickup point for people that might be delivering
to other parts of the city?
Okay.
Yeah, it could be, right?
It's hard to tell or to know ahead of time
what the full use of the restaurant is, right?
We don't know the exact share of, you know,
true drive-through customers to mobile pickup orders,
to customers that come in, right?
That's why we kind of wanted to give the customer
any of the options, right?
There's a pickup window, there's a mobile pickup window,
there's a drive-through option.
There's an option to sit outside,
there's an option to sit inside.
So like I said, we're trying to service everyone.
Okay, I appreciate the thoughtful answers.
Yeah. Thank you.
Could we go back to the elevation of the east elevation?
Which elevation would you like?
The east elevation, I think you refer to it
as the back of the building.
In a sense, this doesn't really have a back
since the front faces the parking area and the back,
actually is what you see as you drive in
to the Prosmark Parkway.
So yeah, the one on the lower left or an upper left.
It's, I'm wondering if, I'm right now,
yeah, I was one of the upper left without the sign.
Basically it's a blank wall and a blank tower.
Right.
And it looks like a utility door,
a metal door or whatever there.
And that's the first impression
that people have of Taco Bell coming in.
Right.
Did you consider doing something there?
Well, we did have our Taco Bell signage
and we were told to take it down.
There's something more architectural.
As I say, it's blank.
Right, and I think that part of it was
that they didn't want as much signage
and they wanted to be more conforming to the center
was the problem.
If we felt like we were being told to put more pizzazz
and more of our touch as Taco Bell on the building,
We would have loved to do that,
but that wasn't what we heard as much
at the last meeting, so.
Okay, thank you.
Any other questions?
Mr. Count.
So can we go back to the circulation map?
So I am less, I don't live over there,
so I'm less familiar, but I did drive through the area
and tried out the Starbucks drive-thru
to get a sense of if there's these multiple drive-thrus
going, right?
So yeah, at the Starbucks drive-thru,
with not very many cars, they were stopped at the one.
Cars in front of me were stopped at the menu where you order.
And there's plenty of space in front of them, right?
They're sort of taking their time to order.
And that meant, with only two cars in front of me,
I was already sticking out into, I don't know where, right,
towards the gas station.
and cars can enter that drive-thru from both sides.
So I guess I'm thinking so similarly over here,
if it backs up, where is it backing up into?
Are the cars coming from both sides in a similar fashion
or do they?
So yeah, I hear your concern.
Like I said, we are set to have nine cars in the stack.
we never expect to have more than six.
The one thing that might help you
kind of understand our point of view is that
we have the fastest time complete
in all of the QSR industry with less than three minutes
order to the time you get your food.
To make a generalization,
more people probably use the drive-thru at Starbucks
than at Taco Bell.
So we feel really comfortable about this.
This isn't a store we feel like we're gonna, you know,
have people flowing in and out of the door of.
I'm just gonna be frank, right?
We don't think that this is gonna be that type of store.
And we don't expect to be overflowing with traffic.
That'd be amazing, but I don't think
that's the intent with this store.
So just in terms of the direction of the entrance.
So they would come in.
You only got one choice to go in.
So that's where the overflow would be up in that corner.
But can you turn into the drive-through entrance,
turn right or left into it?
So are you saying when you're leaving the drive-through,
or are you entering?
When you're coming in, entering.
So you can turn right into the drive-through?
But if you were to drive up Rossmore Parkway,
turn left at the entrance after the Taco Bell,
and you turn left?
You could do that.
So it could back up, if it were to back up,
you could back up in either direction in that.
Yeah, but in my mind and when we were laying this thing out,
we had our buffer, right, of three cars.
Plus, it would probably take another two cars
to be pushing into that Safeway area,
was our thought process.
Right.
So that would put us at double what we'd ever
expecting to hit the all-time high, essentially.
And we feel pretty good about that,
not affecting the center.
Okay, and then when people come
with the mobile order parking,
they would park and they'd walk across
where most cars come in.
Park how you would at any, you know,
if you're going to pick up any food, right?
You walk up to the door, it's in a cubby
or whatever we end up doing, right?
Grab your order, walk back to your car.
Gotcha, okay, thank you.
Yeah, Mr. Clark.
Another question.
So, listening to the responses,
I'm starting to get the impression that
it sounds like a majority of the customers
will be arriving by car, mostly for mobile order pickup.
And so I'm thinking about the color scheme
in terms of how Taco Bell intends
to kind of be situated in the area.
So if, because when I see the dark colors,
it makes me think, I initially thought,
oh, this was gonna be a dine-in restaurant,
sit-in restaurant, but with the nine tables
in the inside of the building
and a large part of the parcel devoted to the drive-through,
it kind of seems to me like Taco Bell's trying to be
as unobtrusive as possible,
especially during the night hours
where the dark colors can't really be seen.
So it's not meant to be more like a draw
for the community to die in,
but rather as a place to pick up food and go.
Yeah, I'm Gerardo.
Can you pull up that lighting package that we have?
That might help a little bit to kind of show
what we're adding to what was a dark parking lot.
So we're planning to have lights on all these parts.
So down there in the left-hand corner up on the right,
when you're coming off Rossmore Parkway,
a light dividing the drive-through,
and then five different lights on the Taco Bell.
So there should be more light here
than there ever was in the parking lot, is the thought.
Okay, all right, thank you.
Yeah.
Any other questions?
Commissioner Moran.
quick one yeah you alluded to this and you said you know you've got the mobile
drive-thru dine-in because you kind of don't know yeah what's gonna come but is
there any sense you know just in the industry in general or other Taco Bell's
that I don't know if you're you know involved with about the percentage just
generally you know I know we're moving into the dine in the app culture and so
forth. But can you just talk about that a little bit?
Yeah, 100%. You know, I think COVID changed a lot of things
for everyone. And I think that this industry changed a lot
during COVID. So we've seen a big uptick in, you know, app
usage, as well as drive throughs, you know, people more
often than not, now want to pick up their food, go back to
their house, enjoy their food, you know, in the presence of their family. Right.
So, and, you know, if that's someone picking up for them or them picking it
up, that's what the trends are showing. Right. It's been pretty steady since
COVID. But, you know, we don't really build new Taco Bells now without a
drive-thru. Or I would imagine less seating these days than maybe. Yeah, less
less seating for sure. But it's, you know, we, it's still a big part of our
restaurant. If you had to, I don't want to put you on the spot, but you know what's
the general, how many, if you got a hundred people in a day, how many people
are doing the mobile, how many are driving through, and how many are sitting
down? It's really, it is really tough to say, it really just depends on once
you're open, you know, what happens, right? We've got stores that are, you know, in
the 90s for delivery, and then there's stores in the that are in the 90s for
sit down. So you really don't know. You can try to make all these grand
predictions and guesses on what you think is gonna happen, but until you're
actually there and you've been operating for six months or a year, there's no way
of telling. Thank you. Yeah. Alright, thank you very much. Thank you guys. I'll open it to
public to comment if you wish to comment. You can fill out a speaker card, but if you
haven't done that yet but you can come forward to the podium. You have two minutes to speak.
Going once. Okay. Hello everybody. I had a question that didn't get asked and that was
they were closing at midnight but I was just wondering if the drive. Excuse me can you
introduce yourself first? Pardon me? Can you introduce yourself? Sure. My name is Jeff Shane
and I live at 1930 Old Oak Drive, lived in the neighborhood for 13 years with my wife
and two kids. So I was wondering what time the drive-thru closed. Is that open
till midnight or is that? Well we'll ask that one. Okay. We hope the Planning Commission will
not approve Taco Bell's request for a drive-thru restaurant in the Rossmore Shopping Center.
This section of the shopping center is already congested with cars and pedestrians.
Many of the pedestrians are senior citizens with limited mobility and this additional traffic would
seem to pose a safety hazard. The adjacent section of Rossmore Parkway is crowded with
overflow parking from adjacent businesses and this will likely add to the congestion.
Further, Taco Bell is not an upscale
or even a mid-level restaurant,
and we don't want it in our neighborhood.
As I'm sure you all would also,
many of you would have that same feeling
if you lived a few hundred feet
from a fast food restaurant in Walnut Creek
that has historically been very
anti-fast food restaurants.
Thank you.
other speakers. Hello, Jonathan Bates. I'm at 1995 Honey Locust Court. I am the closest house to this
Taco Bell. I've lived there 25 years and of all 25 years we've gone to almost every planning meeting
here and when the JCC was there we know what's going on in our neighborhood and honestly our worst
nightmare is about to come true. If these guys have their way we get a Taco Bell and they're going to
want that drive-through open until 2 a.m because that's what they advertise. I'd like to point out
a mistake on one of your slides. Safeway has not been open until midnight since before COVID.
They are not open until midnight. They're open to 10 p.m at the latest. Not even on weekends,
is it midnight? So if you're going to compare, let's say 10 p.m. A couple of other concerns
Apart from the clock wasn't reset when you spoke, you have a minute and 10 seconds. Okay.
Apart from what it's going to do to my property value, I can't predict, but I can only think it's
bad. Number two is I already have a big problem with trash. It blows up the valley and it blows
in my yard. I get trash from crumble. I get trash from the Safeway. Now I'm going to get a ton of
the trash from Taco Bell.
The reality of the Taco Bell drive-through is people go to
Taco Bell, they order their food, they eat it in the car.
Half the time, they drop it right out of the car, and it's
going to end up on my fence or in my yard.
I'm not happy about that.
So I'd really like you to deny this request.
I'd also like to get a quick review of any enhanced
security in the shopping center.
There's one security guard uniformed with one car right now.
That's all they have.
I would suggest we increase that number with a drive-through
that they're going to lobby to keep open until midnight.
This is going to be a problem.
Anyone else?
I'm the wife of John.
I live at 1995 Honey Logist Court, Karen Bates.
We've been there for 25 years.
And I just wanted to comment that when
they say that they're matching the Starbucks,
we came to the meetings when they built the Starbucks,
and we asked that they camouflage it somewhat.
So they put the stone on it.
It looks nice.
And there are plants, and there's like a rack where
Ivy can grow up the side of the building.
This is so hideous.
There's a reason they don't make purple and black buildings
in America, purple and black, and the towers.
I don't understand why I know it's corporate,
but why that can't be modified.
If it has to go in and I'm just very worried
that when we invite people to our neighborhood,
we'll have to say turn at the taco bell
and it's going to be that ugly, awful taco bell
and just the fact that we would be saying that
is going to lower our property values
and it just does not fit in
with the feel of our quiet Ross Moore shopping center.
thank you. Any other speakers? Hi I'm Terry McDonald a 1928 tortoise place myself and
my family my young children been there 28 years. Everyone seems to forget we are
the homes right behind the Safeway there. We have one way to egress is Old Oak
drive. No one brought up, but there has been issue at the Chase Bank. Senior
citizen, unfortunately, actually drove through the front of it. Our, my children
and I, we bike ride and we walk our three dogs. There's a lot of issue. Again, a
drive-through for a Taco Bell is ridiculous in that area. And again, they
say about heating the food up. Yes, there's gonna be smell from the machinery
the refrigeration everything as well. But the safety is a big major concern. When I
purchased 28 years ago, I was not with children, I was not married at the time,
the real estate even said you've got to be extra cautious. It's an area there is
families, there is seniors, we respect that and it's a wonderful community, but
that's going to cause an additional element coming in. And again, the trash,
the people at midnight. We have that park right there at Old Oak Drive. There's a
lot of people that are there. They're doing illegal activity. I've had to call
the cops. We'll take a walk in the evening. It's very, very, not a good
element as far as to add another fast food place. I don't think that the drive
through has been taken into consideration. Again, midnight or at 2 a.m. is
is ridiculous.
That shopping center, even at midnight,
if you recall, that Safeway did have an armed robbery.
I guess they stole, according to next door, alcohol
and everything, that was something that came up,
I guess, within the last six months or a year as well.
Again, this is not the place for a Taco Bell.
Again, you can talk even to the owners.
I've spoken to El Jardine.
It's another restaurant in the shopping center,
and they were shaking their head.
They could not believe that the city council
of Walnut Creek would impose something like this.
Again, we can ask your consideration.
Again, there is children.
I've got my two young sons as well.
They would have loved to be able to speak.
It's not a place for this.
So I can ask you to please reconsider
to use it for some other use.
Thank you.
Can I ask you, excuse me, I have a question.
I have a question.
ma'am even if there's a security safety issues there what I don't understand is
why you think apparently that Taco Bell would exacerbate that as far as for
security as far as 12 a.m. or 2 a.m. to have people coming in and out the hours
the hours and also too like I said it's not really meant for again the drive
through that is going to be chaos. Does anybody want to see pictures of the
Chase Bank? And I know the senior citizen got hurt. I don't know the whole
particulars of it, but it was disgusting. The whole entire storefront of Chase
Bank was smashed in. So again, this is going to be chaos with regards to the
drive-through and everything. And I told you there was one neighborhood person.
She's not here this evening. She actually is another court up. She got hit badly
just driving our Old Oak Drive right by the Chevron Station.
She got hit by, again, unfortunately was a senior, but they pulled out.
It's not a good location to have any type of drive through.
It's gonna be chaotic.
Thank you.
Any other speakers on this matter?
If you do wanna speak on this matter, you might kind of cue up, please.
You might cue up behind the current speaker so
that we don't have to wait between each person.
Hello, Planning Commission.
My name is Anne Hatanaka.
I live at 1982 Sunun Court in the community
right behind Safeway.
I hope you've been to Tice Valley.
Our community is a small, quaint community.
There's a lot of families there.
It's not a community that is a destination.
It's for folks who actually live and reside there.
We decided to move to Tice Valley because of the ambiance.
It is an ice valley.
Compared to our sister neighborhoods
east of the freeway, we're not a thoroughfare.
We don't have freeway access.
We don't have a treat boulevard or a dictation
valley boulevard.
We often see bikers driving through and riding their bikes
through Tice Valley.
So what I'm asking the commission to understand
is that this is a really unique community
and we have a nice ambiance,
and so we hope that whatever development there might be
that you would approve would fit into the nature.
27 foot towers painted black on a building
definitely is a statement.
It's a brand for a retailer.
And I understand the retail community,
we all have brands that we associate with,
but maybe this brand really doesn't fit into our community.
If you look at where the other Taco Bells are situated,
they're all situated near a freeway entrance
and a freeway exit for ease of access.
I think there was even some comment
that there may be only takeout for this retail site.
So I don't know, in a year or two,
would there be a viable business
and will we be ending up with an empty building
that we have to look at because it couldn't sustain
either the rent or the taxes or whatever.
So please consider our pleas and keep our community
the great community that it is and unique.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Good evening.
My name is Bettina Unno.
I live at 1984 Sunan Court.
And I've been a resident at our house
in our nice little neighborhood for 33 years.
So I've seen the Rossmore Parkway develop over the years.
And I do want to say that I have witnessed
so many different accidents occurring there.
We see, because we are near Rossmore,
we do have a lot of elderly people living there.
And I've seen fender benders,
people driving on the wrong side of the road.
I've just witnessed several accidents
And there are people riding their golf carts
down to the Safeway.
And so I really feel that having the Taco Bell there
will really be a dangerous spot.
I don't think we need any more junk food,
unhealthy foods coming to Walnut Creek.
And I feel bad for El Jardin, which we should be supporting.
We should be supporting small local businesses
that make authentic Mexican food,
not frozen sous vide food coming in from who knows where.
Also, I'm concerned because you say
that you don't expect high volume business,
then why are you spending all this money
to construct a building, make new driveways, tear out trees,
yet you can't really say that this is going
to be a viable business.
If you look at the Taco Bell that was set up in Moraga,
which I feel is very similar to our little neighborhood
behind the shopping center.
They have since closed due to slow or no business.
Also, as Ann stated earlier,
we are not a freeway or main thorough way
like Ignacio Valley or Treat Boulevard.
And so the people who come
to our little neighborhood live there.
People aren't out there to shop.
They're just there to, excuse me, not to go out to the fast food restaurants.
So I just want to thank you for listening, and I hope you do not approve of the Taco
Bell.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
Last call if anybody else would like to speak.
Sorry.
You got more cards?
I have some cards here.
They might be from the applicants group, I'm not sure, but Blanca.
Hi everybody.
so my name is Blanca Bohorquez I live here in Guarner Creek at Thirteen
Hunter door apartment 203 so I coming to I would like to open one a talk over
from here because my first job is by the V I work in a by the V I'm
pastry chef over there so but you know what I call it furnace to get expensive
for everything.
So I'm single mom, so I need two jobs.
And then for here, it's too close for my other job.
So now if you open one restaurant here
and you want to create another Taco Bell,
so I'm moving from here.
Because my other one, I need to dry for the minutes,
because part of it is a lot of traffic.
It's a lot of traffic.
Every day, I spend a lot of time.
I spend a lot, and so, it's so tired every day
when I go to my other Taco Bell.
Please think about it for everything.
For me, that's more better because I live in here,
and then I work in here in my other job.
So for me, that's more good for me, okay?
Thank you. Thank you.
Another card, and there's no requirement to speak,
but I'm just reading the names on the cards.
If you'd like to come up, let us know.
Yavani Rodriguez.
Hi, everybody.
My name is Giovanni Rodriguez, and I am the director
of operations with DRG.
So we hear all your concerns.
And we want you to be open.
I know you guys have something against Taco Bell,
but our brand is diversity restaurant group.
And we take pride in the communities that we are.
This is why these designs wanted to comply with everything.
Our team takes pride in what they do.
We do have systems in place for cleaning the parking lot every hour.
Making sure that our training is up today with everybody that's working there.
We listen to anybody's suggestion in our community.
Then how can we improve and make things better?
So again, we're not just stackable.
The brand is diversity restaurant.
We do have a scholarship for the students that work with us.
We also have a charity that's called DRG,
where our employees, there's by our employees.
So again, it's not just talkable, it's DRG.
And I want you guys to take that in consideration.
Thank you.
Ombre, is it Ondre or Ombre?
And again, there's no requirement.
Hi, my name is Embry, and I'm the neighbor of Blanca.
I think that it's really important,
and I know that you guys don't like really Taco Bell,
but I feel it's really like you can't
come for any Taco Bell.
Maybe you already had a bad experience
with one Taco Bell before,
but that's not why you can't come for any Taco Bell.
Like me as a worker, I Taco Bell, as a shift leader,
I try always to take care of it,
then we have fresh food,
and compared to other fast food restaurant
like McDonald's, Jack in the Box,
we have, I feel, the freshest food
because we always try to have fresh vegetables,
fresh meat, and we're always trying to take care of our
consumer, and for the drive-through, for the cleaning,
for the outside, we clean every hour, I'm trying to clean
every hour for our consumer who come in the drive-through,
and also inside, have like a space, you know,
where it's clean and they can be like at home, basically.
You know, that is really good.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Any more cards?
No, that's it.
Any other speakers on this matter?
If not, I'll ask the applicant to go one more.
All right.
Welcome.
My name is Gio Vani, Solly Gun,
and thank you guys for hearing us out.
I have had a wonderful experience with DRG.
I've provided, I've had a lot of training.
They provided a lot of training.
I've trained myself, a lot of employees
that have gone on to college,
learned leadership skills with us.
We have a program like Yavani said,
which is called DRG Cares.
We help families in need, employees that work for us,
single moms, any issues.
We've had somebody who had issues with rent.
The company gathered everything up,
helped them, they're doing well now,
but through our DRG program, DRG Cares, they were helped.
We also have a scholarship program,
which helps our employees
that are looking to go on to college or higher education.
We help them with scholarships, depending on,
we even sometimes go as far as placing them
in work within the company, you know?
So they do a lot of things that help
not only the employees but the community as well.
We have something called an MIC routine,
which is like a 360 cleaning routine
for all of our managers, shift leads, employees.
Our parking lots are clean, you drive by a Taco Bell,
you'll see somebody cleaning, you know?
right time you'll see somebody out there picking up trash in the you know in the
parking lot making sure the windows are clean the bathrooms are clean we have
a plan in place for that we do I do hear you guys out I hear your concerns but in
the places that I've been I've been in multiple Taco Bells in different areas
like Hillcrest Martinez Concord and I feel like the community has embraced us
we have a lot of customers that come through drive through specifically
single moms, parents, coaches, people that are on the go and they just want to pick
up a burrito and something to drink because they're on their job to San
Francisco. I've had a ton of people come through drive-thru from all walks of
life so we don't have a particular group that just just that particular group is
gonna go to Taco Bell. It's very diverse so anyway those are my two cents and
thank you guys for hearing us out okay. If you haven't filled out a card if you
pick one up in the you got a card okay thank you all right and I will ask the
applicant if you'd like to make any comments on the issues that have been
raised. Excuse me, if the applicant is being on behalf of the applicant you have
five minutes. Okay so I'm Cody Fisher I'm the director of construction. You direct
your comments here. Okay I'm the director of construction. We heard the concerns in
the last meeting about the color scheme landscape and trees we really went back
and tried to do everything in our power to be a partner right and make the
the necessary changes.
The color scheme really does match what's there.
I think the pictures don't show it as well.
The beige, it's not a black, it's a gray.
So we've really tried to incorporate and meet those.
In terms of the landscape,
we've really tried to save the trees.
The one tree that's in need is Tree 17.
And then in terms of the landscape,
we're doing well beyond that.
We have landscape all around the building.
we do have Gladys like Starbucks for Ivy and places like that.
So we're doing everything we can to be a partner and be a part of the community and be a part
of the center and address the needs that you guys are bringing up.
So it's just what I want to address.
Thank you.
All right.
I'll bring it back here if there are questions for the applicant or the staff or discussion.
I just recall when one person speaking asked for clarification on the hours of the drive-through,
does that match the hours of the restaurant?
The question was the hours, what are the hours of the drive-through?
Does that, and my modification is, do they match the hours of the restaurant?
They match, yes.
Okay, thank you.
Yeah, and the Starbucks is open until midnight.
Thank you.
Do you know about the Safeway?
Whether that is also- Sorry, the Safeway is what I meant.
It's open until midnight.
midnight and so is our proposed midnight for the Taco Bell. Yeah okay. It says
online that it's midnight. So just within our draft resolution on page 4 it
says the proposed hours for the eating and drinking establishment are Sunday
through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m. The dining room area will close at 12
a.m. daily with only the drive-up takeout window open until 2 a.m. So I
I think if it's different than that, we would need to make the changes to the draft resolution.
That's correct.
The original business plan did have that, and the drive-thru opened until 2 a.m., with
the dining room area closing at 12 a.m., but as Mr. Greve stated today, they are closing
both at 12 a.m., and the business plan would be updated to reflect that.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
Commissioner Kwok.
So, going back to the color scheme, I understand that the design review commission did suggest
to work to see if the color scheme could blend in with the shopping center more.
If we were, because I was thinking I know the shopping center is more of a brown, beige,
light color, it blends in well with the hills in the summertime because the hills tend to
be a nice golden, grassy color.
And so if we were to suggest a color scheme, that in place of the cyberspace, we use colors
that are more in the beige or golden color scheme, is that something that's workable?
Because I know that the Taco Bell that's up from where I live is a much more yellow and
orange scheme.
Why don't you come to the podium?
I have a question for you as well.
Yes, so the Taco Bell, I'm sure you're referring, is probably an older design Taco Bell, correct?
Yeah, so it's just an older design.
It's what corporate wanted back then when it was built.
And as a franchisee, we don't have as much say over what we can do.
We're given panels in colors of what we're told we're allotted and allowed to do.
And we, you know, tried to do that to the best of our ability to meet what we were told
in our previous meeting and try to conform to the center.
Okay.
So just so I understand, this is a franchise arrangement?
Yes.
Okay.
Talk about franchisees.
Talk about franchisees.
Yeah.
We are a diversified restaurant group which is the talk about franchisee of Taco Bell
Corporation.
Understood.
Thank you for the clarification.
Yes.
I want to ask, so we have at least a conjecture
and supported by some evidence
that Safeway doesn't close at midnight.
And if it turns out that it does close at eight o'clock
or 10 o'clock, would that cause you
to rethink your closing time?
I think that closing time is just gonna be subject to,
is it super busy on a Wednesday night?
Maybe we close earlier, right?
Maybe on a Saturday, we feel like it should be open
midnight. I think it's a day by day, case by case basis. And we were under the
impression that it was midnight. So, and your your proposal is that dining room
and the store, the entire store would close at midnight. Yeah, that's the plan.
Okay. And we've already, you know, we came down from two in the morning,
initially, down to midnight. So, we felt like we were making a pretty strong
uncompromised clothing two hours earlier,
and this center's most likely gonna be a lot of pickup
at that time, right?
Like you guys said, it's a little bit older of a community,
right?
So you're probably not gonna have a whole lot of people
walking around and doing stuff at midnight over there.
So it's gonna be heavy mobile order and heavy delivery.
Do you know that the closing times of other stores
in the shopping center?
Of other, what stores?
I mean, besides the safe way in the Starbucks?
No, I do not.
Those are the drive-throughs.
Okay, any questions yet?
All right, thank you.
Thanks.
And I'll open it up for discussion.
Question or needing.
So many thoughts.
Do you think it'd be possible to open up sheet C5.0?
Or no?
up C5.0? Is that the site plan? Yeah. That's a site plan. It's just a site
plan. Like a white one. So the reason I wanted to bring that up to just, well
because I have engineering my brain right now, I wanted to quickly, I just
want to make sure I understand for the, yeah I don't know if there's any way to
make that guy bigger. So here's what I'm seeing with the existing on the right
which is kind of perfect. There's always a safety concern whenever you open up or
you create driveways of any sort to a main driveway. So that that's like
engineering 101. So what I'm seeing here is that at least one positive thing is
is that we don't have another opening
directly to Rossmoor Parkway.
So we're keeping the two existing.
The other thing that I'm seeing is that the safest thing
from a traffic perspective,
I don't know if the traffic and city traffic engineers here,
but stop signs are the best because it forces you to stop.
It's not a light, there's no confusion, you have to stop.
So on another positive note,
I'm seeing that there is a physical stop,
once you pick up your food.
You can't just decide, you know what?
I was just kidding.
I'm going to do an order and run.
There's a stop there.
There's also a stop if you enter in.
So on both ends.
The other part that I was kind of,
because I'm hearing everything about Chase, which is awful,
because I have very small kids, preschool and a first grader.
So, there was in this existing area,
there was a directional drive aisle
that is where the building is going now,
because I was trying to figure out,
are we adding, how is the flow being added?
And so essentially, if you can imagine,
since there was an in and out two directional
where that building is,
essentially we're almost splitting it up
between an island so that you have the same,
what we're adding in is that additional stop
if people make the oopsie off Rossmore Parkway.
So that's kind of what I'm,
the only other thing, correct me if I'm wrong,
but things that usually slow down cars,
especially coming in from Rossmore Parkway,
Are we adding in a new directional crosswalk
on the west side?
Do I see that to the existing island?
Where it says below the utility easement on the page left.
That right there, is that new?
Because that would be an added safety element
that would naturally, and to be frank,
When cars turn in, there's an acceleration.
There's a linear length that you need
to accelerate to higher speeds.
And so if that crosswalk is actually new,
then it's going to slow people down,
especially if it was even a crosswalk that had a light,
so it kind of lights up when people are driving.
Do you guys see that?
I'm gonna have him move that,
see if we can see the paint on the if there's a stop bar there. Because I don't
you know like right to the right of the ten-foot utility easement. I can't tell
if that's exist yeah that guy can't tell if it's existing is existing cuz then
and I and I would pose this one thing that you could do to slow people down
because you would they would have something else to go into if because the
applicant is saying right according to their traffic engineer that everything
would be accessed from internally so that means to the right of Chevron you
could add something there just if somebody is crossing to slow people down
this is why I was hoping like there was some sort of like Kim Lee horn was
frankly here to be able to answer some of these questions because they would
looked at this when they were looking at the queuing. So that was the, so if there
is truly more than, sorry, I don't even know what point I'm at, but the other
point for the little squawk boxing that you were talking about, Commissioner Strongman,
there is, I did like that the fact that there's a queuing length of one, two, three
cars behind it because you can kind of see those cars to the left and then from
a safety perspective if they were to if they were to then cue up more that like
what you were saying in theory they would stop at the in front of the trash
bin so I suppose you would you could cause up a jam for people trying to back
out of those parking spaces. But at least it's not queuing up into a fast like
main thorough way. So that's kind of like what I'm trying to figure out is like is
this going to be safe? So those are kind of the some of the items that I'm
looking at. Obviously I can see there's a ton of landscaping and you have
your sustainability with your treatment that's needed, frankly, by law. The one
comment I will make about architecture is that the box form is very, box with
flat, is it a TPO roof, is very modern versus traditional roofs and more. Now
I'm not saying to go to that roof but you look at the Starbucks there's a lot
a stone, and I went to go check some of the other Taco Bells that were, that the
applicant choose to use as part of their queuing, and you look at the 4674
Clayton Road, and they have this beautiful Spanish tile along the front
of the Taco Bell with these Spanish embezzlement almost like cornices on
on these arched, so I think that there is a way
to not have it be a hideous building.
With regards to the tower, I saw it,
so I think it might look like a tower,
but it doesn't seem, when you actually look
at the architectural elevations,
there's only one item of the building
that the parapet is to 27 feet high,
which is less than a three-story townhome,
but the rest of the height to the parapet is 20 feet.
So that's kind of nice to know that it's not towering,
because I heard a lot of that feedback, right,
of like, we don't want anything in that tower.
So the first thing I wanted to do is kind of measure
what the two elements of the building was.
So the majority of it is a 20-foot height to the parapet,
which is essentially if you were taking like,
it's essentially it's a two story townhome
if you think about it with 10 foot plates.
The one thing that I would,
since architecture is being spoken about a lot,
I frankly don't see how this building emulates the other.
I understand that from a branding perspective
that everyone has their own brands.
I think it would be nice, instead of the hardy board,
to potentially add some of those stone elements
that kind of draw out Starbucks,
if it is going to have that modern frame.
But anyways, I just wanted to touch on safety,
architecture, my thoughts and staff.
If I'm reading the engineering drawings incorrectly,
like please correct me.
Did you have any questions in that for the applicant
I'm not sure, I'm not sure, I'm just, I wanted to kind of have the discussion with the team here.
I will officially close the public hearing at this point and ask for other comments.
Commissioner Clark. Could I please ask that you move the slide deck to the page
that the staff report says what the Planning Commission's being asked to do
tonight? You mean the recommendations? What are we being asked to approve? There
ago. Thank you. Oh wait, no. There it is, thank you. And I asked this just to clarify
what the Planning Commission's role is. We need to look at the CEQA
determination, the continual conditional use permits, and the design review. And
so while there's a lot of discussion about what business is going into the
shopping center that is really the business of the shopping center and not
of the planning commission so I just wanted to get us focused on what is the
task at hand here thank you. That's correct. Commissioner Strongman.
Clarification if we get to a vote with a motion what hours are we approving this
applicant? I was actually looking at the resolution to find where that is
mentioned. Yeah that's where I was reading from the resolution it's on page
4. If there are some inconsistencies there that whoever makes the motion has
the may make the hours. Yeah because attachment 3 says 2 a.m. and so does the
resolution. Yeah. Yeah. I think as far as the hours are concerned I would probably
because at 2 a.m. going from 2 a.m. to midnight is already the applicant has
mentioned is already a pretty big compromise in terms of the business
prospects and so I think starting with having the the drive-through close at
midnight when the rest of the restaurant closes may be good but one of the
thoughts I have is because it seems like this restaurant is designed more to serve
the people that are ordering by mobile app,
as well as people that might be stopping
because they have late night jobs,
they're working the odd shifts,
not the nine to five like I work.
And so those are customers who stand to benefit
from this Taco Bell.
So if we suggested midnight closing of the drive-through,
I wonder how many people would be cut off
if they were to get Taco Bell later
because they needed to get a meal on their way to work,
the odd shifts.
I do like the staff report.
It was very helpful to understand how this application
fits into the rest of the general plan,
how it stands to benefit the community.
And how it adds to the vitality and diversity of businesses
in Walnut Creek as economic development
is one of our values that the city council is focusing on
for this two year cycle.
So we seem to be, the kind of the open question seems to be, to require the services cease
at midnight or to be lost something further.
Seems like the applicant has indicated, you know, that midnight can work for them.
you know, that, you know, whether something earlier,
they don't know yet whether, you know,
they're gonna be sitting around twiddling their slums
between 10 and midnight or not.
But at least midnight seems,
seems perhaps a reasonable compromise.
Commissioner Count, yeah.
Just looking at, looking at Google Maps
and seeing that the other hours of the other businesses.
So it is showing Safeway as midnight, closing every day.
And then Mountain Mikes that's there,
closes at midnight on Friday and Saturday,
and 10 PM on the other weekdays.
So it would not be the only restaurant
that's open till midnight.
I did not find anything that's open till 2 AM, so midnight
does seem like a closer match to the rest
of the existing businesses.
Look, to say, I think that the,
I wouldn't want it to,
I know that we're now in the design review body,
but that is not particularly our expertise.
So I'm not inclined to second guess the design review
and they made some suggestions.
I think the – there was a response to the suggestions, perhaps, in terms of the colors
and minimal one, but, you know, it went from black to a lighter black and from purple to
a bolder purple, but, you know, there was some movement there at least.
So I think the sense I'm getting is that the key thing is the hours and that that change
we might take the staff recommendation.
So I'll invite a motion.
So I would make a motion to adopt this resolution.
Resolution number XXXX conditional use permit
and design review application number Y24-71
at 1960 Tice Valley Boulevard.
with the condition that, it's on page four, right?
Yeah.
Okay, where is it?
There's a couple of references
under number two on page four.
Okay, that the dining room will close at 12 a.m. daily,
same as before, and then the drive up and take out window
will also close at midnight.
All right.
So for clarity, that was the store closes at midnight?
Yes, at midnight, 12 a.m.
All right.
Second.
Any comments on the motion?
If not, why don't you call the roll?
OK, there is a motion to approve with a condition of approval
for the hours till midnight on a daily basis.
Commissioner Kwok?
Yes.
Commissioner Strongman?
Yes.
Commissioner Moran?
Yes.
Yes.
Commissioner Kownd?
Yes.
Commissioner Klop?
Yes.
Vice Chair Knighting?
Yes.
And Chair Anderson.
Yes.
Motion carries.
Thank you.
All right, thank you all.
Concludes that hearing item.
And we'll move on to item five,
which is commission considerations.
Any considerations that we should be considering?
Can I finish the strong one?
Yes, since this California State Legislature
has decided to amend or reform CEQA,
who would really appreciate a tutorial
and what the changes are and how it impacts us
on a daily basis.
Once you figure it out.
So would we, yeah.
They're fairly, you're speaking of AB 131 and SB 232.
AB 131 and SB 132.
There are some basic or general things that they do,
but there's also some other language in those bills
that we need to get our arms around.
And when we do so, we can either discuss it at a meeting,
or I can distribute some information.
Maybe we'll start with that.
Thank you.
We're working on a summary right now.
Okay, thank you.
Any other considerations?
Move on to number six, commission member
and staff reports or announcements.
Yes, I have an update from the Transpac committee.
Oh, thank you.
So I attended the Transpac meeting today,
which is a regional subgroup
of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority.
And the topics on the agenda today
were looking at the processes underway
for considering projects for the clean air work.
There is currently a bidding process for requests
for the next fiscal year.
And interestingly enough,
the Walnut Creek Bikeway Project was approved
in this last year, but apparently is not fully funded.
So there's some work in that area.
So just so you know that our county is continuing
to try to create more clean air.
There also, as I reported last month,
is work going on collaborating across the Contra Costa
Transportation Authority areas and with county connection
to look at options for expanding the free bus
rides for students.
And so they're looking at actually a potential six month
expansion after the fall program that usually goes on.
And the last, I think, most important thing
is there is a integrated transit plan that's being developed
which really is looking at creating a unified vision
for transit services throughout Contra Costa County.
The group that's working on this
goes across multiple agencies
and is currently on sort of a lunch and learn tour
where they're going to all the different local meetings
to try to present the drafts and what they're thinking.
and the results of the analysis they've done,
I think of interest to us is that there are some
recommendations about Ignacio Valley corridor
and looking at transit lanes in that area,
which may or may not be in keeping with what we want to do.
So just to be aware, and I'm in touch with Matt Redmond
to keep him abreast of that group's activities as well.
So.
question the bikeway project could you elaborate just a little bit of what
those are the words this is the Walnut Creek bikeway project is that the one
along Olympic Boulevard there was a fairly detailed plan to connect the
ironhorse trail to the lumber and a loop so
I'm feeling very fortunate that Matt Redmond agreed to help me figure out what the heck
they're talking about because it's all new to me but it's interesting because I
I've really been advocating for the other members to get their planning commissioners
or transportation commissioners there, and now there are three of us.
So I started with one, and now there are three.
So I have buddies.
Awesome.
It started a trend.
Yep.
Okay.
Very good.
There's no other items.
We stand adjourned.
Thank you all very much.
Okay.
I don't think these people decided they were only saying happy things.