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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-ATTACHMENT LATTACHMENT L PC STAFF REPORT DATED JULY 912019 I�VAIMa1I0Eel 1I:119 FROM AGENDA REPORT ITEM #2 JULY 9, 2019 PLANNING COMMISSION ELIZABETH A. BINSACK, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT SUBJECT: CONTINUED PUBLIC HEARING: CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT (CUP) 2018- 00018 AND DESIGN REVIEW (DR 2018-00026) AT 2541 AND 2655 EL CAMINO REAL BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION Planning Commission Public Hearing -- June 11, 2019 On June 11, 2019, the Planning Commission held a Public Hearing on a request for a Conditional Use Permit and Design Review application to demolish the existing Goodyear Tire Center and adjacent Goodyear parking area at 2541 EI Camino Real and to construct a new 16 pump Costco gasoline fuel station with canopy and related equipment at 2655 EI Camino Real. The proposed project is located within an existing larger shopping center within the East Tustin Specific Plan. (Attachment I — PC report dated June 11, 2019). At the meeting, ten (10) public speakers provided comments regarding the project. The speakers included residents, interested parties, and business owners and the majority exprPssed opposition haled upon the concerns_ Two (2) e-mails were received indicating in favor of the proposed project. The concerns of those in opposition are identified below: • Demolition and removal of existing Goodyear Tire Center • Maintenance of existing parking lot within retail commercial center, particularly the area in front of the former Ansar Gallery/Kmart space (Costco is one of two major tenants within center) • Parking and queueing conflicts with vehicles within proposed gasoline station and existing parking lot; • Increase in traffic; • Impacts to other business owners and other gasoline station operators; • Hours of operation; • Fuel deliveries — timing and frequency;. • Noise and exhaust fumes from proposed gasoline station; After receiving the public comments, the Commission continued the public hearing to their meeting of July 9, 2019, so that staff could address the concerns expressed by the public as well as questions from the Commission. Specific questions/requests from the Commission included the following: Planning Commission Costco Continued Public Hearing July 9, 2019 Page 2 1. What are the lessons learned from {Costco at The District? How do the sites compare and what are the similarities and differences between the two locations? Staff Response: Staff has prepared an exhibit comparing details of the two Costco locations within the City (Attachment A —Comparison). There are several significant differences between the two sites which includes overall site design/layout, pump capacity, total qucueing capacity and implcmentation of a defined queue management plan. Generally, the proposed site has more pumps capacity which would speed up queuing, larger underground storage tank capacity which would reduce the frequency for fuel delivery, more vehicle queuing capacity which would allow on-site queuing without impacting the City's streets system, dedicated right turn lanes on EI Camino Real and on the main shopping center drive aisle to allow through traffic (would not block thru traffic as the District location had experienced), and the requirement for additional employees to manage operation and traffic/queuing on-site. In addition, Condition Nos.1.5 ,and 2.16 of Resolution filo. 4385 would allow the City to require additional measures, if necessary. 2. Hours of Operation: How do the proposed Costco hours of operation of 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., seven (7) days per week work with the other existing businesses within the shopping center? How do the proposed hours compare to other Costco gasoline locations? Staff Response: The majority of the other tenants within the retail shopping center have hours of operation that generally range from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. McDonalds is open the earliest and closes the latest with hours of 5:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. (the restaurant portion is open until 11:00 p.m. and the drive-through is open until midnight on weekdays and until 2:00 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays). A summary of the hours for the other tenants and businesses within the center has been prepared to illustrate the varied hours for existing businesses (Attachment 6 — Hours of Operation Summary). Staff surveyed other Costco Warehouse buildings that provide gasoline and found that the proposed hours of operation are similar amongst the other stations. Costco gasoline stations located in Tustin (The District), Garden Grove, Laguna Niguel, Yorba Linda, Irvine Fountain Valley, San Juan Capistrano and all San Diego locations all operate as follows: * Monday— Friday: 5:30 a.m, to 9:30 p.m. o Saturday: 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. * Sunday 6:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Planning Commission Costco Continued Public Hearing July 9, 2019 Page 3 Staff is recommending that the hours of operation be the same as the other Costco locations. Modified Condition No.2.1 states the specified hours or operation as well as allows for a potential modification if, once operational, it is determined that no impacts have occurred. 3. Parking Lot Maintenance: The overall maintenance and upkeep of the existing parking lot needs improvement. What additional conditions qof approval can be added to the project to ensure that the parking lot is continuously maintained in an acceptable manner? Staff Response: Consistent maintenance of the Costco parking lot and more specifically, the parking lot area in front of the former Ansar Gallery/Kmart tenant space is, at times, difficult to enforce due to multiple property owners. While Costco owns and controls a larger portion of the parking lot, the parking lot in front of the former Ansar Gallery/Kmart space is owned by a different entity as is McDonalds and the smaller in-line tenants along Bryan Avenue (Attachment C — Costco Property Outline), The City's Code Enforcement Division have been actively involved in on-going enforcement of property maintenance issues such as trash, landscaping, building upkeep, etc. and has issued numerous notices, letters and citations to the former Ansar Gallery/Kmart owner since December 2018 numerous notices, letters and citations to the former Ansar Gallery/Kmart owner since December 2018. The Tustin Police Department also has been actively engaged in the homeless issues in the area, which have become more prominent within the parking lot in front of the former Ansar Gallery/Kmart space. The City's Code Enforcement Division works closely with the Tustin Police Department which has assigned an officer to serve as the City's Homeless Liaison Officer to manage the homeless and associated quality of life concerns within the City. The Liaison Officer indicated that the Ansar Gallery/Kmart space is active with both homeless and parked recreational vehicles that remain overnight and then are often moved in the morning. Face-to-face contact was made with all the homeless individuals and Tustin shelter information was provided by the Liaison Officer with encouragement to go to the shelter. Some choose to go while others choose to remain in the parking lot. One difficulty the Liaison Officer has been experiencing has been enforcement of the City's Ordinance relative to overnight camping. The tenant space is located on private property with no signage installed citing City Codes whereby the Tustin Police can enforce the Ordinance. The City Attorney and Tustin Police are currently working on resolving this matter with installation of signage in the near future. Planning Commission Costco Continued Public Hearing July 9, 2019 Page 4 To address parking lot maintenance, Condition No. 1.17 requires that all plant materials shall be installed and maintained in a neat and healthy condition. Condition Nos. 2.0 and 2.7 require that the property shall be maintained in a safe, clean and sanitary condition at all times. Condition No. 2.8 has been added that requires Costco to provide daily security patrols of the parking lot during operation of the warehouse and gasoline station. Condition No.2.9 has also been added requiring that all shopping carts be returned to the shopping cart receptacles at the close of business each day. 4. Delivery Trucks: Provide more details on fuel deliveries such as where and when they will take place. Staff Response: The proposed project includes three (3) 40,000 square foot underground fuel tanks. The proposed tanks will be larger than at other Costco gasoline stations, which, per the applicant, will result in the need for less deliveries as the tanks can hold more fuel. The overall layout of the proposed station intentionally separates the queueing of vehicles from the remote filling area to avoid any potential conflicts. Depending on the volume of fuel at each gas station sells, approximately 1-2 deliveries will take place during regular hours of operation with the remainder of the fuel deliveries taking place during the off hours when the station is closed to the public. To mitigate any potential queueing conflicts with fuel deliveries, Condition No. 2.10 has been added to limit 1-2 fuel deliveries during the regular hours of operation and to allow additional fuel deliveries to take place during off hours. Costco warehouse deliveries already take place during this time. 5. Traffic/Queuing: Are parking aisles within the existing parking lot blocked when vehicles are queuing for fuel? How do the vehicle queues and parking within the existing lot work together? Staff Response: The Traffic Analysis prepared for the project includes several queuing exhibits to assist in understanding how the vehicle queueing will function within the existing parking lot (Attachment A & 1). The initial queue management strategy would provide stacking area of 40 vehicles for a total of 72 vehicles (Attachment D). While the applicant does not anticipate peak operations to exceed capacity, two (2) alternative queue management plans have been incorporated into the Traffic Analysis to address City staff concerns when and if peak operations exceed capacity. The first and second alternative queue management plans shows that an additional 8 vehicles and 18 vehicles, respectively can be accommodated prior to affecting access to the shopping center if peak operations exceed capacity (Attachments E and F). In addition, additional 13 vehicles may queue along main drive aisle before affecting traffic flow on EI Camino. This configuration would provide up to 111 vehicles stacking on-site. Planning Commission Costco Continued Public Hearing July 9, 2019 Page 5 In addition, to avoid parking stalls being blocked when vehicles are queueing, the first row of parking north of the proposed gas station (containing 36 parking spaces) will be designated for Costco employee parking. Thirteen (13) parking spaces along the east property line adjacent to the EI Modena -Tustin Channel will also be restricted to employee parking. With these designations, impacts to customer parking spaces within the parking lot will be limited as employee vehicles will be parked for longer periods of time, limiting conflicts with vehicle queues. Fueling can also occur without impacting the vehicle queue. Statistics provided by the applicant indicate that approximately 41.6% of the gas sales at the District are from Costco members who live in the Tustin Ranch trade area; this area includes approximately 33,600 Costco member households. Based on the data gathered by the applicant, the applicant indicates that the transfer of fuel sales from The District to Tustin Ranch would be between 25% to 30%. 6. Level of Service at Analyzed Intersections: How will the studied intersections maintain a Level of Service A and B? Staff Response: The Traffic Analysis prepared for the project evaluates the performance at all study intersections, including driveways within the project. The analysis utilized the Intersection Capacity Utilization (ICU) methodology, which is consistent with the City standards. The iCU methodology assigns a LOS grade (A to F) representing the quality of intersection operations. All study intersections operate at level of service (LOS) A or B during the Weekday AM and PM peak hours. Based upon the Traffic Analysis as well as current roadway improvements taking place along Tustin Ranch Road and EI Camino Real and the provision of a designated westbound dedicated right turn lane into the site at Auto Center Drive and EI Camino Real, the proposed project is not expected to adversely affect intersection operations. All study intersections operate acceptably at LOS A and B under existing conditions and will continue to do so with the proposed project (Attachment G — Kittelson & Associates Memorandum) 7. Air Quality: What impacts (if any) will the proposed station have on air quality? Staff Response: The proposed facility includes operational characteristics that utilize the latest technology to meet all local, state, and federal regulations relative to air quality. All tanks and dispensers will be equipped with latest Phase I and Phase II Enhanced Vapor Recovery (EVR) vapor recovery air pollution control equipment technology per California Air Resources Board (GARB) regulations and associated Executive Orders, which document compliance with the GARB regulations. The Phase I EVR equipment controls the vapors in the return path from the tanks back to the tanker truck during offloading filling operations. The Planning Commission Costco Continued Public Hearing July 9, 2019 Page 6 Stage I EVR systems are 98 percent effective in controlling fugitive emissions from escaping into the environment. The Phase 11 EVR equipment controls the vapors in the return path from the vehicles back to the tanks and are 95 percent effective in controlling fugitive emissions from escaping into the environment. Fugitive emissions will be controlled to near zero from the vents with the use of the Healy Clean Air Separator Vapor Processor, which is a form of the Enhanced Stage II Vapor recovery system. Additionally, the applicant is proposing several measures to further limit emissions from vehicles waiting to fuel which includes the provision of additional pumps, a new quick key -FOB payment method, a red-light/green-light notification system for drivers and use of traffic attendants during peak times, which, together are designed to limit the time vehicles are queued. With these methods implemented, emissions are anticipated to be less than significant. Condition No. 1.12 requires the applicant to acquire all permits and approvals from the South Coast Air Quality Management District prior to the issuance of a building or grading permit and shall acquire an Authority to Construct ATC} and Permit to Operate (PTO). Condition No. 1.13 requires construction -level drawings to comply with the latest edition of the codes, City Ordinances, State, Federal laws, and regulations as adopted by the City Council of the City of Tustin. Based upon these conditions, the construction and operation of the gas station will operate within the ministerial requirements of the South Coast Air District Management District and will have a less than significant impact on air quality. Costco also submitted general information related to their fuel station operation (Attachment H). Costco indicated that the latest technology with many safety features to provide environmental safeguards are employed at the proposed site. As with the establishment of a new gas station, Costco are required and will comply with many of the local, State and federal regulatory agencies. Public Commeots Public comments have been received regarding the proposed project and they are included in Attachment K. Planning Commission Costco Continued Public Hearing July 9, 2019 Page 7 RECOMMENDATION Based upon the additional information and/or clarifications included in this report and for the findings and conditions of approval contained in Resolution No. 4385, staff is recommending that the Planning Commission adapt Resolution No. 4385, approving the project, r J Erica H. Demkowicz., AICP Senior Planner Elizabeth A. Binsack Director of Community Development Attachments: A. Comparison of The District Costco and proposed El Camino Real location B. Hours of Operation Summary C. Costco Property Outline Exhibit D. Proposed Stacking Plan E. Queue Management Plan No.1 F. Queue Management Plan No.2 G. Kittelson & Associates Memorandum dated June 24, 2019 H. Additional General Information provided by applicant I. PC Report dated 6111119 and attachments thereto J. Resolution No. 4385 K. Public Comments