AGENDA REPORT
REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
DATE: 04/01/2020
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Community Development Department
SUBJECT:
Title
City Council consideration of Precise Plan 2019-0001, for the review of the site plan, architecture, and landscaping of 15 light industrial buildings totaling 1,074,771 million square feet proposed on 74.80 acres located at the northwest corner of Tom Barnes Street and Temescal Canyon Road, east of Interstate 15, in the Light Industrial designation of the El Cerrito Specific Plan. (Applicant: Patrick Tritz, Latitude Business Park, LLC.)
End
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommended action
That the City Council:
a. Take no action, thereby affirming the Planning and Housing Commission's action granting PP2019-0001, based on the findings contained in the staff report and conditions of approval.
OR
b. Set the item for review at a subsequent meeting.
Body
ANALYSIS:
Project Site Background
The 74.8-acre project site is a former sand mine, closed in 1997 and reclaimed under the terms of a surface mine permit issued in 1978. The project site in addition to the 113.5 acres to the south was annexed to the City in 2001. The City received written verification from the Office of Mine Reclamation dated September 29, 2015, that the mine site previously operated on the project site had been substantially reclaimed in accordance with the approved reclamation plan. Since the project site is fully reclaimed from the previous mining operation urbanized development can now occur on the project site.
The zoning of the project site is Light Industry (LI) of the El Cerrito Specific Plan and the General Plan designation is Light Industry. The Specific Plan further separates the site into two planning areas, Planning Areas 1 and 2, under the LI designation. Planning Area 1 is comprised of 28 acres located along the east side of the I-15 Freeway. Planning Area 2 is comprised of the remaining balance of the site totaling 47 acres.
PP2019-0001, is associated with Parcel Map 37608 which proposes to create 13 parcels on the site to accommodate the proposed buildings. Both applications are being processed for concurrent approvals.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
PP2019-0001 is for the development of an industrial business park containing 15 light industrial buildings on 74.80 acres located between the I-15 Freeway and Temescal Canyon Road and north of Tom Barnes Road.
Site Plan
The proposed site plan arranges 15 buildings, ranging in size from 18,234 to 253,799 square feet, on the site. Most of the buildings will be located on individual parcels being created by PM 37608, except for three buildings which will be located on one parcel. The project was designed to be completed in two phases, if necessary. Phase 1 consists of Buildings 1 - 10 and Phase 2 consists of Buildings 11 - 15. A summary of the proposed buildings are provided in Table A and further depicted on the project’s site plan.
TABLE A
BUILDING SUMMARY
|
Building No. |
Building Size (Square Feet) |
Site Size (Square Feet) |
Uses |
|
1 |
163,806 |
10.05 |
Office, Manufacturing, Warehouse |
|
2 |
63,503 |
3.97 |
Office, Manufacturing, Warehouse |
|
3 |
44,749 |
3.25 |
Office, Manufacturing, Warehouse |
|
4 |
32,739 |
2.33 |
Office, Manufacturing, Warehouse |
|
5 |
22,759 |
1.99 |
Office, Manufacturing, Warehouse |
|
6 |
19,490 |
3.06 |
Office, Manufacturing |
|
7 |
36,084 |
3.54 |
Office, Manufacturing |
|
8 |
18,234 |
1.87 |
Office, Manufacturing |
|
9 |
89,366 |
4.91 |
Office, Manufacturing, Warehouse |
|
10 |
253,799 |
12.23 |
Office, Manufacturing, Warehouse |
|
11 |
46,064 |
3.70 |
Office, Manufacturing, Warehouse |
|
12 |
78,411 |
5.30 |
Office, Manufacturing, Warehouse |
|
13 |
69,189 |
18.57 |
Office, Manufacturing, Warehouse |
|
14 |
69,189 |
|
Office, Manufacturing, Warehouse |
|
15 |
67,389 |
|
Office, Manufacturing, Warehouse |
|
Totals |
1,074,771 |
|
|
Access to the buildings will be provided via private onsite drive aisles from Tom Barnes Road. The on-site access will be dedicated by access easements overlaying the parcels. Two driveways are proposed from Tom Barnes Road into the project site. The project site will not have access directly from Temescal Canyon Road or from Liberty Avenue and La Gloria Street located north of the project site.
The project is providing vehicle access to two parcels located outside of the northwestern boundary of the project site. The parcels are identified as “Not a Part” on the parcel map. The easement would allow the two parcels to have access to Tom Barnes Street through the project site, particularly through Parcel 13 which contains Buildings 13, 14, and 15. The easement would cover a portion of the parking/circulation area within Parcel 13 and the internal private roadway.
Joseph Canyon Wash is protected by a conservation easement along the front of the property. The project will provide a landscape buffer that ranges from 5 feet to 65 feet wide along the north side of the conservation easement. The on-site buffer area is required to be landscaped with native plant species.
Architecture
The architecture for the proposed buildings are proposed to be built of concrete tilt-up panels, painted in white and grey as the dominant colors and accented with indigo blue. Blue glazing, tile, and corrugated metal will be used as accents. The accents, as well as breaks in the building facades, will provide visual interest to the buildings. All of the proposed buildings would use the same palette of colors and materials and would share the same general architectural style.
The maximum allowable building height in the LI land use designation of the El Cerrito Specific Plan is 40 feet at the building setback line. Maximum height can increase one foot for each additional foot of setback, up to a maximum of 55 feet. The proposed buildings vary in height with the tallest building at 43 feet.
A condition of approval was added to the project that the developer provide rooftop mechanical screens or similar screening that are compatible with the color of the building for rooftop equipment that would be highly visible to the nearby residents to the north.
Most of the proposed buildings would be built with dock-high loading doors for the loading/unloading of materials from semi-trailers. The loading areas are oriented south towards Tom Barnes Street. The design places the buildings between the loading areas and existing residences to the north which would help with sound attenuation and appearance from Liberty Avenue.
Landscaping
The project site will on average be 47 feet lower than the residential properties to the north with the northwesterly portion of the project site being approximately 65 feet lower than the adjacent residential properties after grading. The northerly perimeter will have an extensive landscape buffer on the manufactured slope created from the on-site grading process. The project’s conceptual landscape plan shows an abundance of trees proposed within the slopes created along the west perimeter (I-15 Freeway) and the north perimeter (Liberty Avenue). The top of the slope along Liberty Street will be planted with a line of 24-inch box paperbark trees, which are evergreen trees that will maintain their foliage throughout the seasons. As such, the paperbark trees will effectively screen the rooftops of the proposed buildings from the residences on Liberty Street. The internal roadways, parking lots, and buildings will be landscaped with a variety of accent and shade trees to soften the massing of the buildings, provide parking lot shade, and enhance the entrances to each building area. The project also includes enhanced paving at the two main project entries on Tom Barnes Street and along both sides of the westerly internal roadway.
The landscape areas along the north side of Joseph Canyon Wash will include only noninvasive native plant species as required by the California Department of Fish & Wildlife.
Because Buildings 9, 10, and 11 have loading areas that are visible from Tom Barnes Street, tubular steel fencing with vine planting will be installed along the south property lines of these areas to screen the loading areas from view along Tom Barnes Street. The loading areas will be further screened by the existing foliage within Joseph Canyon Wash.
Fencing and Walls
The proposed project would use slopes and landscaping to provide a physical and visual buffer to adjacent land uses. The site is currently surrounded by chain link fencing, which staff is requiring that the applicant upgrade to tubular steel fencing or similar for areas where fencing would be visible to the public. These areas include the north perimeter along Liberty/La Gloria, east perimeter along Temescal Canyon Road, west perimeter along the I-15 Freeway, and south perimeter along Tom Barnes. Also, fences and gates that are visible from the two private roadways located within the development would also be required to be constructed of tubular steel or similar. The maximum allowable height for fencing in an industrial zone is 9 feet. No fences or gates are permitted within each parcels’ respective front yard setback area.
Because the project site will be at a lower elevation than the adjacent residences and buffered by a landscaped slope with a variety of trees, tubular steel fencing at the top of slope along Liberty Avenue was considered the most appropriate material as opposed to a solid block wall. The tubular steel fencing with the project’s landscaping provides a softer appearance for the nearby residents and prevents a canvas for graffiti.
Parking
The buildings are required to provide parking based on the parking ratios established by Chapter 17.76 of the CMC. The land uses for the project site include office, manufacturing and warehouse and are required to be parked at the following ratios.
• Office - 1:250
• Manufacturing - 1:500
• Warehouse - 1:1000 (subject to Zoning Administrator approval)
Based on the applicant’s site plan and parking table, the project requires 1,963 parking spaces. The project site provides 2,249 parking spaces.
Signage
One 15-foot high project entry monument signs is proposed at the corner of Tom Barnes Street and Temescal Canyon. Two 10-foot high directional monument signs are proposed at the two primary project entrances on Tom Barnes Street. Two additional 10-foot directional high monument signs are proposed within the project site. A 100- foot long freeway sign with the name of the business park “LATITUDE Business Park” is proposed within the slope area adjacent to the I-15 Freeway. The name “LATITUDE” is designed as individual letters that are 10 feet tall and will be lit externally by LED up-lighting.
The El Cerrito Specific Plan permits project entry monument signs at prominent street corners and at main project entrances to be no more than 5 feet in height. Therefore, the applicant’s project monument sign on Tom Barnes/Temescal Canyon will need to be revised to comply with the 5-foot height limit.
The Specific Plan allows directional monument signs at prominent entry points up to 5 feet in height with a maximum sign of 25 square feet. The applicant’s 4 directional monument signs will need to be reduced in height and size in order to comply with the Specific Plan’s sign criteria.
As it pertains to freeway signage, the Specific Plan allows one pylon sign up to a maximum height of 60 feet and at a maximum allowable size based on a formula of one square foot of sign copy face for each linear foot of freeway frontage, up to 300 square feet maximum, not including the name of the center. Each pylon sign shall allow up to 6 tenant spaces, with each panel containing only one tenant name. Although the project’s freeway sign only advertises the name of the business park and includes no space for advertising the tenants within the center; the sign is not a typical pylon design and exceeds the maximum allowable height and sign area currently. Therefore, significant changes would need to be made to the sign to comply with the Specific Plan’s sign criteria.
No building signage is shown at this time but are subject to the sign criteria in the Specific Plan, which permits signage on up to 3 sides of a building. Each side may have signage based on a formula of 1.25 square feet of sign area for each one linear foot of building or tenant space frontage.
All signs are required to be permitted prior to installation. It should be noted that the Specific Plan gives the Community Development Director the authority to review and approve the final design of the sign program, provided that the revised signs are in substantial conformance to the approved sign program reviewed with the precise plan.
Circulation Improvements
Primary access to the parcels will be from Tom Barnes Road, which is an improved public street that also provides secondary access to the Crossings at Corona shopping center. The portion of Temescal Canyon Road adjacent to the site is partially improved, and will require widening and the installation of curb, gutter, sidewalk, and landscaping with this project.
No direct vehicle access is proposed from La Gloria Street and Liberty Avenue, which are located within the unincorporated area of Riverside County on the north side of the project site. The City did receive a letter from the County of Riverside Transportation and Land Management Agency dated September 26, 2008, indicating the County negotiated an arrangement with Castle and Cooke (the prior property owner) to pay a fee in lieu of constructing the street improvements on Liberty Avenue and La Gloria Street associated with PM 29503. The County indicated the funds would be used in the future to provide some improvements to these roads or used on other roads in the adjacent area that will benefit the residents in the unincorporated county. During the public hearing at the Planning and Housing Commission meeting, the residents on Liberty Avenue requested that Liberty Avenue be improved in some capacity due to the unimproved condition of the road. Since the Planning and Housing Commission meeting, the developer has met with the residents on Liberty Avenue and with County and City staff to discuss the partial paving of Liberty Avenue. The developer has agreed to construct a paved width of 24 feet on Liberty Avenue adjacent to the residences. Paving would start at the residential driveway located at 7770 Liberty Avenue and would continue west to the residential driveway located at 7570 Liberty Avenue. The approximate length of the paving would be 1,100 feet.
County staff has agreed to the proposed paving and a condition of approval was added to PM 37608 to state:
The portion of Liberty Avenue adjacent to the residences north of the project site’s property line shall be paved to a width of 24 feet by the developer prior to the issuance of the first Certificate of Occupancy for the project. The paved road section shall be reviewed and approved by the County of Riverside’s Transportation and Land Management Agency.
Also, as a condition of approval for the project, the Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CC&Rs) being established for the project shall include language that truck traffic exiting the property shall exit southbound on Temescal Canyon Road to Cajalco Road to access the freeway. Truck traffic going northbound on Temescal Canyon Road from the project site is prohibited. This truck route shall remain in place until Temescal Canyon Road north of the project site is improved to its ultimate width in the County of Riverside.
Temescal Canyon Road is a regional facility in the County’s Transportation Uniform Mitigation Fee (TUMF) program. Recently, the County Transportation Department successfully obtained funds from the TUMF program in the amount of $3 million for the planning and engineering work associated with the widening of Temescal Canyon Road between El Cerrito Road and Tom Barnes Street from two lanes to four lanes. The County Transportation Department is considering the improvement of this road segment a priority, but also anticipates this project to be complex given the necessary right-of-way acquisitions to construct the road to its ultimate width. County Transportation will be developing a funding plan for the right-of-way acquisition and construction phase of the Temescal Canyon Road widening in El Cerrito, that will require further funding partnerships with the Riverside County Transportation Commission (RCTC) and Western Riverside Council of Governments (WRCOG) to maximize use of Federal, State and Regional funds. Once the segment of Temescal Canyon Road that extends through the El Cerrito community is complete, Temescal Canyon Road will have 5 miles of four lanes, improving the bottleneck conditions that exist today in that area.
TRAFFIC IMPACT ANALYSIS
A traffic impact analysis (TIA) was prepared for the proposed project by Linscott, Law & Greenspan (LL&G) in September 2019 and updated in November 2019 to assess the project’s impacts on the level of service (LOS) at several street intersections and roadway links. LL&G also prepared a queueing analysis to determine the amount of vehicle stacking that would be needed to accommodate future traffic turning from eastbound Tom Barnes Street onto Temescal Canyon Road and for traffic continuing eastbound into the mini-storage east of Temescal Canyon Road.
Queueing Analysis
The queueing (stacking) analysis estimated the maximum number of vehicles that would be queued (stacked) to make turns from Tom Barnes Street onto Temescal Canyon Road, and the length of the left and right turn pockets that would be needed to accommodate the vehicles waiting to turn.
The queueing analysis determined that lengthening the existing left turn pocket and/or making other changes to the Tom Barnes/Temescal Canyon intersection will allow this intersection to function acceptably. Therefore, the developer shall restripe the eastbound approach to extend the existing left-turn/through pocket into the No. 1 eastbound through lane, which will create an eastbound left-turn/through storage of 360 feet. This improvement shall be done prior to the issuance of the first certificate of occupancy for the project.
The developer is also responsible for constructing or paying the fair share cost of the following circulation improvements:
• Temescal Canyon Road and Tom Barns Street (Year 2040). Prior to the issuance of a building permit or recordation of PM 37608, whichever occurs first, the applicant shall guarantee the project’s fair share cost toward future intersection improvements which includes restriping the west leg to provide the eastbound approach with an exclusive eastbound left-turn lane, a shared eastbound left-turn/through lane, and an exclusive eastbound right-turn lane and removing the crosswalk along the south leg. The existing traffic signal is recommended to be modified to include split phasing for the east/west direction.
• Intersection at State Street at Ontario Avenue (Year 2022). This intersection is in the City’s Fee Program as a master-planned traffic signal to be installed by the City. The project’s fair share cost toward this improvement is 34.92%. The developer shall guarantee the fair share cost prior to the issuance of the first building permit for the project or prior to the recordation of PM 37608, whichever one occurs first.
• Intersection at Temescal Canyon Road at Cajalco Road (Year 2022). The developer is responsible for 100% of the cost associated with this improvement. The developer shall construct this improvement prior to project opening and shall guarantee the construction of this improvement prior to the issuance of the first building permit for the project or prior to the recordation of PM 37608, whichever one occurs first.
• Intersection at State Street at Ontario Avenue (Year 2040). The project is responsible for paying 24.43% of the cost of the improvement. The developer shall guarantee the fair share cost prior to the issuance of the first building permit for the project or prior to the recordation of PM 37608, whichever one occurs first.
• Intersection at Ontario Avenue/Temescal Canyon Road at El Cerrito Road (Year 2040). The project is responsible for 21.67% of the cost to construct. The developer shall guarantee the fair share cost prior to the issuance of the first building permit for the project or prior to the recordation of PM 37608, whichever one occurs first.
• Intersection at Temescal Canyon Road at Cajalco Road (Year 2040). The developer is responsible for 100% of the cost associated with this improvement. The developer shall guarantee the full cost of this improvement prior to the issuance of the first building permit for the project or prior to the recordation of PM 37608, whichever one occurs first.
The proposed project complies with the requirements of the El Cerrito Specific Plan and the Corona Municipal Code. The proposed uses are allowed in the Light Industrial designation of the Specific Plan. However, a condition of approval was added to the project to state:
The City will not issue a building permit for the project until an amendment to the El Cerrito Specific Plan is approved to prohibit cold storage warehouse uses in Planning Areas 1 and 2 (Light Industry). If, in the future, an owner of property within PA1 or PA2 desires to have cold storage warehouse uses permitted as an allowed use in PA 1 and PA 2, an amendment to the specific plan would be required along with any additional analysis that may be required under the California Environmental Quality Act.
This condition was placed on the project in response to some of the comments regarding transport refrigeration units (TRUs) being used in the project, but not analyzed in project’s air quality modeling. The applicant is not proposing cold storage warehouse for the project and therefore TRUs were not analyzed. The condition would result in a zoning restriction on the property that would not allow cold storage warehouse. However, if a future property owner desires to have cold storage warehouse additional analysis under CEQA would be required before the use is allowed on the project site.
COMMITTEE ACTION:
Not applicable.
STRATEGIC PLAN:
Not applicable.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The applicant paid $16,381.75 in application processing fees for the Precise Plan.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
Per Section 15070 of the State Guidelines for Implementing the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Section 6.02 of the City’s Local Guidelines, a Mitigated Negative Declaration was prepared for the Latitude Business Park project. Per CEQA Guidelines Section 15206 (b)(2)(E), the industrial project is considered statewide, regional or area wide significance and was submitted to the State Clearinghouse (SCH#2020019017) on January 7, 2020. The 30-day review and public comment period at the State Clearinghouse ended on February 5, 2020. A Notice of Intent to have the City Council adopt the MND was published by the City on March 11, 2020.
The Initial Study identified that the project’s potentially significant effects to the environment are capable of being mitigated to less than significant. Therefore, based on the mitigation measures identified in the Mitigated Negative Declaration there is no substantial evidence, in light of the whole record before the City, that the project may have a significant effect on the environment. The Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration are recommended for adoption with PM 37608, which is being reviewed concurrently with PP2019-0001.
PLANNING AND HOUSING COMMISSION ACTION:
At its meeting of February 24, 2020, the Planning and Housing Commission considered the subject matter and took the following action:
Motion was made, seconded (Siqueland/Hooks) and carried unanimously, that the Planning and Housing Commission adopt Resolution No. granting PP2019-0001, 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
SUBMITTED BY: JACOB ELLIS, CITY MANAGER
Attachments:
1. Exhibit 1 - Locational and Zoning Map
2. Exhibit 2 - Site Plan for PP2019-0001
3. Exhibit 3 - Planning and Housing Commission Staff Report
4. Exhibit 4 - Draft Minutes of the Planning and Housing Commission meeting of February 24, 2020
APPLICANT INFORMATION
Patrick Tritz, Latitude Business Park, LLC., 2518 N. Santiago Blvd., Orange CA 92867