2nd and PCH Vote TBD, Plus Other Updates

It's the middle of the summer and developers are getting anxious about the status of the 2nd and PCH project, or so it seems from the Second and PCH website, where the date of the Planning Commission's vote is announced to be August 18th.

However, at the last sparsely populated Planning Commission meeting on Thursday, Planning Administrator Derek Burnham clarified that August 18th is the earliest the public can expect to see a vote, though it was "not set in stone."

The Planning staff has been working on responding to comments to the draft EIR (of which there are many, and many controversial, according to Burnham) and he remarked that he wanted staff to have ample time to review the final EIR and the amendments being made to it. The voting date depends on how quickly these tasks can be accomplished.

One of the two citizens who spoke on the project, Kerrie Aley, made a suggestion that the Planning Commission vote on two separate issues, the final EIR and the project as a whole, because as she said, people divide into for-or-against, but "there is no intellectual discussion of the actual EIR impacts." She also suggested to lengthen the review period of the final EIR from ten to 30 days, and expressed concern that the developer had sent out a mass e-mail claiming that the voting date would be August 18th.

To this, Durnham replied, “Just to be clear, the applicant is not in control of the schedule, and we won’t schedule meetings until we feel comfortable to move forward with EIR and recommendation."

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Though it was only a study session on this boiling summer evening, other discussion items included updates on the status of CUP license fees, alcohol CUP modifications and food trucks.

There was no agenda because there were no action items ready for the Planning Commission to vote on. Usually when this happens, the entire meeting is canceled, but there were enough projects in the works for the Commission to be informed of their status updates by the Administrator.

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In response to residents' concerns about Second Street bars, City Council has recently been offering up ideas to decrease neighborhood disruption. One of these is to change Conditional Use Permit laws.

During their June 7th regular meeting, the Council directed the Planning staff to investigate how or if CUPs could be required for all bars open after midnight, rather than only ones changing ownership. With a goal of ensuring more operational oversight for all bars concerning things like hours of operation, nuisance abatement and security, the study would determine whether the same rules could somehow be retroactively required for all late-night bars.

Durnham remarked that "it's going to take a bit of research," and considering other projects in the works, it would be "a bit on the backburner right now.”

Chairman Charles Durnin voiced the idea that instead of changing CUP rules, efforts should be made to increase law enforcement. He also recommended instituting a parking permit ordinance, so that a permit is required to park in the first two blocks from Second Street after midnight. This was an informal recommendation, but could become an agenda item in the future.

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Along the same lines, City Council recently asked the Planning Commission to see if CUP license fees could be reduced to mitigate blows to businesses should an ordinance like this be enacted. Durnham reported to the Commission that there were a couple places where fees could be lessened, or where CUPs should not be required. This would be more thoroughly addressed in the master fee resolution at the end of September.

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And finally, food trucks - in May, the Council asked about zoning ordinances, and Durnham reported last night that there needed to be no updates to existing ordinances. The issue will go straight back to Council because there are no further land use issues involved. However, Commissioner Smith expressed a need to reach out to the brick and mortar restaurants so they are aware of the food trucks' presence and do not feel threatened, and during the comment period, Melinda Cotton remarked that a food truck recently parked on Second Street took up multiple parking spaces and caused pedestrian traffic.