AGENDA REPORT
REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
DATE: 5/15/2019
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Community Development Department
SUBJECT:
Title
City Council consideration of Precise Plan Modification 2018-0011, for the review of a 4,462 sq. ft. restaurant with a drive-through service for Raising Cane's on 1.46 acres in the proposed C-3 (General Commercial) Zone (located at 1215 E. Ontario Avenue). (Applicant: Ruben Gonzalez, PM Design Group) - (NOT AN ADVERTISED PUBLIC HEARING)
End
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommended action
That the City Council affirm the Planning and Housing Commission's action granting PPM2018-0011, based on the findings contained in the staff report and conditions of approval.
Body
ANALYSIS:
The precise plan modification application is for the review of a new 4,462 square foot restaurant with a drive-through service on 1.46 acres located at 1215 E. Ontario Avenue. The project site is part of a larger 2.17 acres that also contains an existing Del Taco restaurant with a drive-through service. The project site contains a vacant 13,969 square foot commercial building that was occupied by Fresh and Easy Market. The market closed in 2015 and no permanent use has been reestablished in the building.
The applicant is proposing to demolish the existing commercial building and replace it with a smaller 4,462 square foot restaurant with a drive-through service for Raising Cane's. Outdoor dining is also proposed at 764 square feet. Walk-in service is accessible from the building entrances located on the south and east sides of the building. Drive-through service begins on the east side of the building and transitions to a dual drive-through lane that wraps around to the north side of the building. A preview menu board is located at the northeast bend of the drive-through lane with the order board located at the northwest bend before approaching the pick-up window. The dual drive-through lanes accommodate 20 car stacking spaces from the preview menu board and 28 car stacking spaces from the order board. The drive-through stacking lane from the order menu board exceeds the city's stacking requirement of six cars by 22 stacking spaces.
To accommodate the drive-through service offered by the restaurant, the applicant submitted a request to change the zoning of the property from C-2 (Limited Commercial) to C-3 (General Commercial). Unlike the C-2 zone, the C-3 zone allows drive-through establishments. The change of zone is being considered concurrently with this request as CZ2018-0002. The site design for the restaurant building complies with the development standards of the C-3 zone, which requires a minimum front yard setback of 10 feet and no setback from interior lot lines. As proposed, the building is set back approximately 80 feet from the front property line adjacent to Ontario Avenue. It is also set back approximately 75 feet from the north (rear) property line and 30 feet from the west (side) property line. It is worth noting, the project site is approximately 170 feet from the closest residents located north beyond Rimpau Park. Additionally, the north property line of the project site contains a seven-foot high block wall.
The project site has access from an existing driveway on Ontario Avenue. The driveway allows vehicles to enter right-in or left-in from the center street median and vehicles can exit right-out. No left-out movements are allowed due to the street median design. The project is proposing a new driveway located near the west property line to allow another right-out location. This driveway is an exit only and not an entrance. This driveway has a narrower width than the main driveway to prevent vehicles entering from Ontario Avenue.
The site design also includes a by-pass lane that wraps around the building should a patron decide not to enter the building or drive-through lane. The by-pass lane allows a patron to circulate forward on the site without disrupting on-site circulation.
Queueing Analysis
At the request of the Planning and Housing Commission a queueing analysis was performed for the restaurant. The analysis collected data from three different Raising Cane's restaurant located in the cities of Laguna Hills, Orange, and Riverside. None of the sites have dual drive-through lanes, but they were selected for the analysis because they have similar site characteristics as the project site. The analysis observed the number of vehicles in the drive-through lane every 15 minutes within the lunch (11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.) and dinner (4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.) peak hours at each site on a typical weekday and Saturday.
Raising Cane's typical service time in the drive-through lane is 2.5 minutes from the menu board to the pick-up window, with a vehicle being processed through the order board, pay window, and pick-up window every 35 to 40 seconds during the peak periods. Based on the on-site observations done at the other three restaurants, the drive-through queueing capacity for the Laguna Hills and Orange sites is 7 to 9 vehicles. The drive-through queueing capacity for the Riverside site is 10 to 13 vehicles. The analysis indicated that the average number of vehicles in the drive-through queue for the Raising Cane's in Corona is estimated to be 9 vehicles during the peak times. As stated, the number of car stacking spaces from the order menu board is 28 spaces. The total number of stacking spaces from the pick-up window is 34. The restaurant should have enough stacking spaces within the drive-through lane to accommodate the restaurant's peak business hours.
The project site shares on-site parking with the Del Taco restaurant. Both restaurants require a total of 74 parking spaces and 75 spaces are being provided.
Operating Hours
The restaurant's operating hours for walk-in and drive-through service will be from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
Architecture
The new single-story restaurant building resembles contemporary architecture that features a combination of stucco and plaster walls with brick and standing seam metal awnings. The roofline incorporates tower elements and parapet walls that alternate in height to help delineate and enhance entrances and screen rooftop mechanical equipment from view at ground level. The primary colors of the building are brick red and brown with white and black accent colors. The height of the building is 23.5 feet which is below the 30-foot height limit established by the C-3 zone.
Development of the proposed project would fulfill several General Plan policies including Policies 1.1.1, 1.1.2, 1.1.3 and 1.11.1 which all encourage and emphasize having a community that contains a diversity of land uses that supports the needs of Corona's residents and help maintain Corona as a self-sustaining city. The project also fulfills General Plan Policy 1.4.4 which encourages the adaptive re-use of economically underutilized commercial sites that are within existing urbanized areas.
COMMITTEE ACTION:
The Infrastructure Committee at its meeting on January 3, 2018, discussed the potential land use change on the project site and the possibility of having a Raising Cane's restaurant occupy the site, which is a business not currently located in the city. Since the closing of the Fresh and Easy Market in 2015, the property owner has had difficulty securing another market tenant for the site or another retail use that would fit in the building. Finally, in 2017, the owner was able to secure a letter of intent from Raising Cane's to construct a new restaurant on the property. The Committee was not opposed to the land use change.
STRATEGIC PLAN:
Not applicable.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The applicant paid $11,001.75 in application processing fees for the precise plan modification.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
Per Section 15070 of the State Guidelines for Implementing the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Section 6.01 of the City's Local Guidelines, a Negative Declaration was prepared for the project because the Initial Study showed that there is no substantial evidence, in light of the whole record before the City, that the project may have a significant or potentially significant adverse effect on the environment.
PLANNING AND HOUSING COMMISSION ACTION:
The Planning and Housing Commission, at its meeting of April 22, 2019, a continued public hearing for PPM2018-0011, considered the subject matter and took the following action:
Motion was made, seconded (Shah/Siqueland) and carried unanimously, that the Planning and Housing Commission adopt the Negative Declaration and Resolution No. 2529 granting PPM2018-0011, based on the findings contained in the staff report and conditions of approval. The minutes of the Planning and Housing Commission meeting are included as Exhibit 4.
PREPARED BY: JOANNE COLETTA, COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
REVIEWED BY: KERRY D. EDEN, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER/ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES DIRECTOR
REVIEWED BY: MICHELE NISSEN, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER
SUBMITTED BY: MITCHELL LANSDELL, ACTING CITY MANAGER
Attachments:
1. Exhibit 1 - Locational and Zoning Map.
2. Exhibit 2 - Site Plan for PPM2018-0011.
3. Exhibit 3 - Planning and Housing Commission Staff Report.
4. Exhibit 4 - Draft Minutes of the Planning and Housing Commission meeting of April 22, 2019.
APPLICANT INFORMATION
Applicant: Ruben Gonzalez, PM Design Group,38 Executive Park, Suite 310, Irvine, CA 92614