AGENDA REPORT
REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
DATE: 10/02/2019
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Community Development Department
SUBJECT:
Title
City Council consideration of CUP2018-0014, a Conditional Use Permit application to establish and operate a 4,375-square foot public charter school within an existing commercial building (located at 700 North Main Street) in the CR (Commercial Retail) District of the North Main Street Specific Plan (SP99-01). (Applicant: Bill Calleja of Pivot Charter School)
End
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommended action
That the City Council:
1. Take no action, thereby affirming the Planning and Housing Commission’s action granting CUP2018-0014, based on the findings contained in the staff report and conditions of approval.
OR
2. Set the item for review at a subsequent meeting.
Body
ANALYSIS:
CUP2018-0014 is an application by Pivot Charter School to establish and operate a 4,375-square foot public charter school within an existing commercial building located at 700 North Main Street in the CR (Commercial Retail) District of the North Main Street Specific Plan. The existing building is located within the Butterfield Stage shopping center that contains various commercial services and retail. Primary anchor tenants within the center are Smart & Final, Big Lots, and Burlington Coat Factory. The overall size of the center is 16.71 acres located at the southwest corner of Main Street and Parkridge Avenue.
The tenant space to be occupied by Pivot Charter School is located in the southernmost building on the site. The commercial building is approximately 41,940 square feet and is sectioned into five tenant spaces ranging in size from 1,800 square feet to 23,100 square feet. The public charter school will be 4,375 square feet. No changes are proposed to the exterior of the building. Only interior tenant improvements are required.
Operation
Pivot Charter School is a non-profit organization governed by the State of California. The public charter school offers educational services for small groups of students through a blended learning program using online curriculum coupled with on-site based support. Pivot Charter School will offer educational services for kindergarten, elementary, junior high, and high school aged students. The elementary classroom will have 11 student desks, and the junior high and high school classroom area will have 60 student desks.
The school will operate Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon; however, the students will not arrive all at the same time. Instead, the students’ drop-off and pick-up times are staggered as shown in Table A. This new information was provided by the applicant to clarify the students’ schedules.
TABLE A
Pick-Up and Drop-Off Times1
|
Students |
Drop-Off Times |
Pick-Up Times |
|
High School |
8:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. |
12:00 p.m. to 12:15 p.m. |
|
Middle School |
9:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. |
12:15 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. |
|
Elementary |
9:30 a.m. to 9:45 a.m. |
12:30 p.m. to 12:45 p.m. |
1. Pivot Charter School Circulation Patterns For Drop-Off And Pick-Up Activity (Urban Crossroads, July 2019)
Additionally, the school will offer a specialized schedule, as needed, for students who need on-site support on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Pivot Charter School currently has 130 students enrolled with an estimated growth of five students a year for the next four years, not to exceed 150 students. Many of the students engage in their on-line curriculum at home and do not attend the school site. Pivot Charter School will have approximately 11 elementary aged students, 24 middle school students, and 36 high school students along with eight staff maximum on-site on a daily basis.
The applicant provided attendance numbers from their existing Corona facility located on Green River Road. The attendance numbers show the average number of students who came to the site, by grade level, for each month for the school years September 2016 through June 2019. The highest attendance numbers that came to the supplemental site-based program for both elementary and junior high students is 10, while the highest attendance number of high school students is 28.
Access, Circulation, and Parking
The project site is provided with vehicular access from Main Street, Parkridge Avenue and Cota Street. There are four existing driveways located on Main Street, two existing driveways located on Parkridge Avenue, and two existing driveways located on Cota Street behind the center. All vehicular access points and parking spaces are shared among the tenants within the commercial buildings at the subject property. The surrounding streets are fully improved; therefore, no additional improvements are required.
The parking requirement applied to the charter school is the parking ratio established in by the city’s parking ordinance in the Corona Municipal Code for schools. The parking requirement is:
• Elementary or Junior High School: 1 space/employee
• High School: 1 space/employee, plus 1 space/6 students
Based on the number of desks that will be provided for each age group, the applicant anticipates having no more than 71 students in total on site at any given time. However, the parking ratios above do not require parking to be provided for elementary and junior high students since these age groups are not of driving age, but employees working for these two age groups are required to be provided with parking. For the high school age group, both students and employees are required to be provided with parking. Since Pivot Charter School combines junior high and high school students together in one classroom these two age groups are being parked together. As shown in Table B below, the total number of employees that will be on site is 8, and the total number of junior and high school students will be 60. In total, the school is required to provide 18 parking spaces.
TABLE B
Parking Summary for Pivot Charter School
|
AGE GROUP |
NO. OF EMPLOYEES AND STUDENTS |
PARKING RATIO |
REQUIRED PARKING |
|
Kindergarten |
2 employees |
1 space/employee |
2 |
|
Junior High and High School |
6 employees and 60 students |
1 space/employee plus 1 space/ 6 students |
16 |
|
TOTAL |
18 |
The shopping center has reciprocal access and parking that is shared among center tenants. The required number of parking spaces for the previous retail tenant was 12 spaces and the school requires a net of 6 spaces. Based on the existing uses within the center and the proposed school the shopping center is required to have 769 spaces. The center currently provides 818 parking spaces, which is a surplus of 49 parking spaces.
Circulation Patterns For Drop-off and Pick-up Activity
In response to the on-site circulation and parking concerns raised at the July 22, 2019 Planning Commission public hearing, the applicant had an analysis prepared to analyze the project’s circulation patterns during drop-off and pick-up times (Urban Crossroads, July 2019) to show how the school’s operations would impact the shopping center’s on-site circulation. Per the analysis, the students’ drop-off and pick-up times will be staggered. In a given 15-minute period, it is anticipated that there will be approximately 25 vehicles arriving to the site for drop-off and pick-up. The 25 vehicles is a conservative estimate. The drop-off and pick-up process is estimated to take up to 5 minutes per vehicle. During the 15-minute pick-up time, it is anticipated that up to 15 parking spaces in the parking area in front of the school’s suite will be utilized by Pivot Charter School (9 vehicles picking up students, 4 parked student vehicles, and 2 parked visitors). However, it is anticipated that during the majority of the school operational hours, only 6 of the 15 spaces are expected to be occupied.
In order to free up more desirable parking spaces that are located at the front of the commercial center, the applicant’s parking policy is proposing to have the 8 staff members park in the existing parking spaces located along the back side of commercial center’s main anchor tenant Burlington Coat Factory. Note that the school has not obtained landlord approval to designate this area for staff parking; however, this area is not expected to be an issue since the parking area behind Burlington Coat Factory is underutilized.
The applicant will provide 9 designated student drop-off and pick-up parking spaces. Six of the designated spaces will be located to the east of the Pivot Charter School building, perpendicular to Main Street and three spaces will be located in front of Pivot Charter School.
Students who drive themselves and park will be encouraged to utilize parking spaces located north of the school to alleviate the desirable parking spaces located adjacent to the public Charter School and the adjacent tenants. As indicated in the School Safety Plan for Student Drop off, Pick Up, and Parking, families will be provided with a Student and Parent handbook which will include the parking plan. To ensure student safety, parents are required to walk their students to their classroom. Furthermore, with the exception of elementary students, parents of junior high and high school students may drop off and pick up their students using the designated short-term parking spaces when a teacher/supervisor is present.
Signage
The proposed public charter school will be advertised on the existing pylons within the center. Although no separate signs are being proposed as part of the CUP2018-0014 application, all future signs for the public charter school are subject to review by the Community Development Department Planning and the Building Divisions in which separate permits will be required.
COMMITTEE ACTION:
Not applicable.
STRATEGIC PLAN:
Not applicable.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The applicant paid $7,482.00 in application processing fees for the conditional use permit.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
Per Article 19 Categorical Exemptions, Section 15301 (Existing Facilities) Class 1 categorical exemption of the State Guidelines for implementing the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Section 3.22 of the City’s Local CEQA Guidelines, a Notice of Exemption has been prepared for the project because the project consists of establishing and operating a public charter school within an existing commercial building located in a commercial center that is fully developed with adequate parking, access, and utilities. The public charter school will be contained entirely inside the building, and no expansion is proposed to the commercial building. Therefore, there is no possibility that the proposal will have a significant effect on the environment.
PLANNING AND HOUSING COMMISSION ACTION:
At its meeting of September 9, 2019, the Planning and Housing Commission considered the subject matter and took the following action:
Motion was made, seconded Jones/Shah and carried unanimously, that the Planning and Housing Commission recommend adoption of Resolution No. 2536 granting CUP2018-0014, 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, INTERIM CITY MANAGER
Attachments:
1. Exhibit 1 - Locational and Zoning Map.
2. Exhibit 2 - Site Plan for CUP2018-0014.
3. Exhibit 3 - Planning and Housing Commission Staff Report.
4. Exhibit 4 - Draft Minutes of the Planning and Housing Commission meeting of September 9, 2019.
APPLICANT INFORMATION
Bill Calleja of Pivot Charter School, 700 North Main Street, Corona, CA 92880