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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2013-09-05CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE ON DEVELOPMENT AND TRANSPORTATION Meeting Minutes September 5, 2013 CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 5:04 p.m. in Room 1600 of the City Hall Ross Annex ATTENDANCE The following Committee Members were present: Vincent Sarmiento, Michele Martinez, David Benavides (5:12 p.m.) Staff present were: Jay Trevino, Planning & Building Agency Executive Director; William Galvez, Interim Director /Public Works Agency; Ryan Hodge, Assistant City Attorney; Jason Gabriel, Principal Civil Engineer; Karen Haluza, Planning Manager; Jason Kwak, Senior Plan Check Engineer; Matt Foulkes, Senior Management Analyst; Taig Higgins, Acting City Engineer; Rosa Barela, PBA Executive Secretary. PUBLIC COMMENTS — None AGENDA ITEMS APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE JUNE 4, 2013 MEETING Approved by a vote of 2:0 (Benavides absent) (Taken out of agenda order) 3. OVERVIEW OF CITY'S TRANSIT VISION PROJECTS Jason Gabriel provided an overview of the Santa Ana Boulevard Grade Separation and expansion of the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center ( SARTC). Mr. Gabriel noted the Santa Ana Boulevard underpass would reconnect neighborhoods, improve pedestrian circulation, bicycle and vehicle safety at the railroad crossing which will be developed in conjunction with the SARTC Master Plan to provide for future Fixed Guideway expansion and discussed the timeline for the project. Mr. Gabriel discussed outreach meetings with the Logan neighborhood, the construction of a shoefly for the railroad, the detour of Santa Ana Boulevard, acquisition of adjacent properties, funding, environmental documents, the SARTC Transit Village and the Street Car. (Benavides arrived to the meeting at 5:12 p.m.) Chairman Sarmiento discussed the possibility of demolishing the existing train station and using as potential developable new land for something that is more compatible. Staff noted they received community feedback indicating they would like the building to stay. Jay Trevino noted the project is not yet in the environmental stage and if the council would like to study alternatives, staff is able to do that. Chairman Sarmiento requested that alternatives be presented and noted as the environmental process begins and that a consultant from Cordoba and a representative from OCTA come to a future meeting and brief committee on what they are doing. 4. RFQs UPDATE — YMCA AND 3RD & BROADWAY PARKING STRUCTURE Mr. Trevino requested item be continued to a future meeting and will bring back at the appropriate time. 2. ELECTION OF VICE CHAIRPERSON Motion by Committee member Benavides and seconded by Chairman Sarmiento to appoint Committee member Martinez as Vice Chair. 5. GENERAL PLAN UPDATE Mr. Trevino provided a brief overview on the General Plan Update noting that staff has begun work and shared some initial thoughts. The first step staff proposes is Scoping and Vision to engage the community early and receive input on what the Scope of Work should be with the second step to continue community engagement, update the General Plan and Zoning Ordinance, and the sign and parking codes. Vice Chairwoman Martinez noted the community outreach meetings need to be done in a strategic and effective way as we're starting the process with the Strategic Planning discussion and to make sure when we have outreach meetings the community is aware that they are all connected. Noted she is glad staff is bringing this forward to integrate into the Strategic Plan. Chair Sarmiento commented on the allocation of resources, to be intelligent on the number of outreach meetings in order to receive maximum input from the community for good and precise information. Mr. Trevino noted the executive staff met on three occasions to focus on these points -- the inter - connectedness of the Specific Plan, the vision plan, transit plan, and economic development as they relate to the City's Strategic Plan. Vice Chair Martinez noted the priority of updating the sign code and parking code adding she would like for it to be completed within two years and to include a health element component in the General Plan. She also suggested as we move forward with the Strategic Plan and some of these goals that this item be added to future agendas each time they meet to make sure we are aligned all the way through from this committee to other committees and continue to review with staff to make sure we are moving in the right direction. Development & Transp. Council Committee Minutes 2 September 5, 2013 6. HOUSING ELEMENT UPDATE Mr. Trevino provided an update on the Housing Element including the schedule noting the draft Housing Element document will be released for public review in October 2013 then go to Planning Commission on December 9, 2013, and to City Council for approval on January 7, 2014 in order to meet the State deadline of February 12, 2014. Mr. Trevino mentioned the recent adoption of the Emergency Shelter Ordinance (SB2), and in April 2014 with the adoption of the Harbor Corridor Plan, will meet and comply with our goal of 407 housing units. Vice Chair Martinez asked that prior to bringing Housing Element Update to full council, to bring back some of the key components or new components of the housing element such as wellness and how we're going to meet the new housing demand and type of housing stock to meet those numbers. Mr. Trevino noted he will bring at a future meeting the most important pieces in the current Housing Element which would be the Housing Opportunity Ordinance, Harbor Plan, and new components including health and wellness policies, smoking in multi - family projects, affordable housing, affordable housing for artists or veterans or other groups the committee would like staff to consider. Staff will bring back to the committee to obtain feedback prior to it being finalized and approved by Council. 7. ADAPTIVE REUSE OF COMMERCIAL BUILDINGS FOR RESIDENTIAL PURPOSES Mr. Trevino noted in July, Vice Chair Martinez and staff toured several urban adaptive reuse projects in downtown Los Angeles. Mr. Trevino also noted staff has been reviewing the City of Los Angeles Adaptive Reuse Ordinance, staff has done a preliminary review of applicable properties in Santa Ana adding staff has received a development application for one project, and noted that the best approach is to use an existing provision in the Building Code Section 104.11 "Alternative Materials, Design and Methods of Construction" which means there is a flexibility provision built in the building code. Jay noted staff received an application for one project and will be handled using Section 104.11 and use as a case study. If we want to develop an ordinance like Los Angeles, we can do that after learning about some of these projects. Staff will use the flexibility in building code and if needed amend parking and zoning code as appropriate and encourage a diverse unit mix. After learning from the case study it will then be determined if an ordinance should be adopted, what type of buildings would this apply to, the diversity of the units, and parking will be a major policy issue. Committee member Benavides went on the tour along with Mayor Pro Tern Tinajero in August noting he sees tremendous opportunity and potential with some of our buildings that are underutilized noting he would like to make sure we put everything we have to allow for these projects to move forward. Development & Transp. Council Committee Minutes 3 September 5, 2013 Chairman Sarmiento noted his familiarity with adaptive reuse adding it is a good approach and noted concern on amending the code at some point. He noted he is glad that staff is being flexible. Mr. Trevino noted staff has done some preliminary review of buildings that are likely candidates for adaptive reuse. Staff will come back to committee and will move forward on processing projects in the pipeline. COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS — Chairman Sarmiento • Requested that the seating be reconfigured • Requested that the Saddleback Inn property be added to a future agenda noting the Council is aware that the Elks will be taking the title of the parcel for a long- term lease and was approached for direction on what we would like to see. ADJOURNMENT — 6:24 P.M. A::2� J6YIM. Trevino Executive Director Planning & Building Agency J MT: rb N:000ndl UmmTevel & Transp C000 -05 -13 Devel & Transp CC Minutes Development & Transp. Council Committee Minutes 4 September 5, 2013