AGENDA REPORT
REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION
DATE: 08/05/2020
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
FROM: Community Development Department
SUBJECT:
Title
City Council consideration of CUP2019-0007, a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) application, to construct a 3,761 square foot restaurant with drive-through service for Raising Cane’s proposed on 1.29 acres located on the north side of Parkridge Avenue and west of Main Street in the Commercial Retail (CR) District of the North Main Street Specific Plan. (Applicant: Chris Costanzo, Costanzo Investments, LLC.)
End
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommended action
That the City Council:
a. Take no action, thereby affirming the Planning and Housing Commission’s action granting CUP2019-0007, 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:
Conditional Use Permit 2019-0007 (CUP2019-0007) is an application to establish a 3,761 square foot restaurant with drive-through service for Raising Cane’s. The project site is 1.29 acres and is part of a proposal for a new commercial center on 4.49 acres located on the west side of Main Street and north of Parkridge Avenue. The zoning of the project site is Commercial Retail (CR) of the N. Main Street Specific Plan (SP99-01) and the General Plan designation is General Commercial (GC).
Site plan
The site plan for the proposed restaurant is shown in conjunction with other commercial buildings proposed as part of the new commercial center. The restaurant site will occupy 1.29 acres of a 4.49-acre commercial site that also includes two additional freestanding buildings for additional restaurants and a carwash. The carwash building is 3,596 square feet and the other restaurant building is 5,182 square feet. These buildings are located to the west and northwest of the restaurant pad for Raising Cane’s and will share driveway access into the center and parking. The restaurant pad is adjacent to street frontage on Parkridge Avenue and Main Street. The building is set back 22 feet from the property line along Main Street and approximately 165 feet from Parkridge Avenue meeting the minimum 10-foot building setback requirement of the specific plan for both streets.
The Raising Cane’s restaurant will provide dine-in service, which also includes a 432 square foot outdoor dining area and drive-through service. The indoor area has a seating capacity for 72 seats. The outdoor area has a seating capacity for 32 seats. Dual entrance into the drive-through lane originates at the southeast corner of the site and travels north toward the restaurant building. The dual drive-through lanes eventually merge into a single lane after the order menu boards and before the pick-up window, which is located on the east side of the building, facing Main Street. The drive-through lane exits into the center’s main 30-foot wide drive aisle giving patrons the option of exiting to Main Street or Parkridge Avenue. The dual drive-through lane has a queueing capacity for 18 vehicles from the order menu board and a total queueing capacity of 23 vehicles from the pick-up window. The design exceeds the Corona Municipal Code’s minimum stacking space requirement of six vehicles from the order menu board.
A trash enclosure is shown in the parking lot south of the restaurant. The applicant is coordinating with Waste Management to have trash pick-up occur during non-operating hours to avoid trash pick-up activities interfering with the operations of the business.
Operating Hours
The restaurant intends to operate between the hours of Sunday through Thursday between 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m., and Friday and Saturday between 9:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. These are standard operational hours for other Raising Cane’s locations including the one that is currently under construction on East Ontario Avenue in Corona.
Elevations
Each business that will be occupying the site will be constructing a building that reflects its company’s own brand in terms of design and colors. This is allowed by the North Main Street Specific Plan which encourages diversity of form and design between buildings. The Raising Cane’s building 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 exterior are brick red and brown with white and black accent colors. The building’s overall height does not exceed 20 feet. The building’s overall look is compatible with the other buildings proposed on the same site as all three buildings have a contemporary look with similar types of materials and neutral color palettes with dark accent colors. The buildings also conform to the architectural guidelines of the North Main Street Specific Plan for commercial development in terms of materials, colors, and overall design.
Access, Circulation, and Parking
Vehicular access to the commercial site will be provided from Parkridge Avenue and Main Street via a 30-foot wide driveway proposed at each street frontage. Both driveways will have full turn-movements from the streets. Main Street has a two-way left-turn center lane that will allow for left turns in and out of the project site. Parkridge Avenue will be restriped to include a left-turn pocket in the center lane in front of the project driveway to allow for left turns into the project site. Left turns out of the project site will also be allowed on Parkridge Avenue.
The internal circulation consists of a central 30-foot wide drive aisle that extends from the Parkridge entrance to the Main Street entrance, which will provide access to each parcel within the site. The access and drive aisles will be shared among the businesses who will be occupying the site.
Per Corona Municipal Code (CMC) Section 17.76.030, restaurants are required to provide parking at a ratio of one space per 100 square feet of floor area. The project will share parking and access with the restaurants planned in the 5,182 square foot building proposed to the northwest. Based on the total building square footage intended for restaurants on the 4.49-acre site, the required parking is 99 spaces and 104 parking spaces are provided resulting in five excess spaces. Parking for the carwash is provided entirely on the carwash pad and not shared with the restaurants.
Landscaping
The development’s overall conceptual landscaping includes a variety of drought tolerant trees, shrubs, and groundcover that not only enhance the site but are also functional. Accent palm trees will be installed along both street frontages while the parking lots will have canopy type trees for shade and the buildings will be enhanced with accent trees. The main drive aisle and drive-through lanes will be lined with screen shrubs to help delineate each pad area and provide a buffer for headlights. Screen shrubs will also be installed between the streets and parking spaces for headlight buffering purposes. The on-site landscaping overall complies with the CMC and North Main Street Specific Plan for commercial developments.
Signage
The North Main Street Specific Plan permits commercial centers that are less than 15 acres in size to have one pylon per street frontage. Each pylon sign is allowed a maximum sign height of 30 feet, maximum sign width of 15 feet, and a maximum sign area of 220 square feet which applies to the entire sign structure and not just the message area. One 20-foot high double-sided pylon sign with an overall size of 200 square feet is proposed on the Main Street frontage. A second identical sign is proposed on the Parkridge Avenue frontage. Each sign contains four tenant panels to accommodate the future users of the buildings. The sign cabinets will be internally illuminated during the nighttime hours. To reduce glare during the nighttime, the sign is conditioned to have an automatic nighttime dimmer installed.
Public Improvements
The project site is associated with Parcel Map 37747, which is being reviewed in conjunction with this CUP. PM 37747 creates the 1.29 acres for the restaurant site in addition to two other parcels for the two additional buildings planned within the commercial center. Therefore, the public improvements required along Main Street and Parkridge Avenue adjacent to the overall 4.49 acres will be done simultaneously. Main Street along the commercial center’s frontage is required to be widened by 20 feet to provide an overall right-of-way width of 100 feet, which includes 80 feet of paved roadway from curb to curb and parkways on both sides of the street. This widening will allow the construction of a third southbound lane on Main Street as this section of the street currently has only two southbound lanes. The required improvements include approximately 16 feet of paved roadway, curb and gutter, and a 10-foot wide parkway which includes a 6-foot wide sidewalk and tree wells.
The section of Parkridge Avenue along the center’s frontage is required to be widened by 14 feet to provide an overall right-of-way width of 88 feet, which shall include 64 feet of paved roadway from curb to curb. This widening will allow for the construction of an additional westbound lane on Parkridge Avenue as this section of the street currently has only one westbound lane. The required improvements include 23 feet of paved roadway, curb and gutter, and a 12-foot wide landscape parkway which includes a 6-foot wide sidewalk.
Additionally, the applicant is required to repave portions of Main Street to the satisfaction of the Public Works Department where trenching will occur for the installation of the 8-inch sewer line and water line within Main Street.
Also, a left-turn pocket is being added just beyond the intersection of Parkridge Avenue/Cota Street to allow a left-turn onto the project site, and the turn lanes on Parkridge Avenue/Main Street will be lengthened to accommodate more vehicle stacking space.
• The southbound left-turn pocket on Main Street at Parkridge Avenue is being increased from 105 feet to 220 feet in length to accommodate more stacking of vehicles.
• The eastbound left-turn pocket on Parkridge Avenue at Main Street will be increased from 85 feet to 230 feet in length to accommodate more stacking of vehicles.
• The westbound left-turn pocket on Parkridge Avenue at Main Street will be increased from 90 feet to 115 feet in length to accommodate more stacking of vehicles.
Traffic Impact Study
A Traffic Impact Study (TIS) was prepared by LSA Associates (June 2020) to analyze the traffic generated by the entire commercial development proposed on the 4.49 acres, which included the project site for the restaurant and drive-through service. The commercial center project was exempted from performing a Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT) analysis because the project is considered a local-serving retail project that has less than 50,000 square feet of total building area.
The land uses anticipated on the 4.49 acres are expected to generate 2,356 total daily vehicle trips, with 40 total trips in the A.M. peak hour and 189 total trips in the P.M. peak hour. The intersections and roadway segments analyzed in the study are expected to operate at a satisfactory Level of Service (LOS) D or above at the time the project is in operation, which is anticipated to be year 2021. The City’s General Plan considers collector, secondary, and major arterials that operate at LOS D or above as acceptable level of service. The analysis took into consideration the roadway improvements that will be completed as part of the project including the widening of Main and Parkridge adjacent to the project site.
The stacking analysis for Raising Cane’s was taken from a previous queuing analysis (Kimley Horn, April 2019) prepared for the Raising Cane’s facility that is currently under construction at 1215 Ontario Avenue in Corona. Based on the previous analysis done at other Raising Cane’s restaurants, the maximum queue observed was 16 vehicles on a typical weekday and 17 vehicles on a typical weekend. The proposed site plan for Raising Cane’s on the applicant’s project site provides an approximate queuing space for 23 vehicles in the drive-through lane from the pick-up window. Thus, sufficient on-site vehicle queue storage is provided in the drive-through lane for the new Raising Cane’s facility on the project site.
Consistency with the General Plan
The restaurant is consistent with the General Commercial designation of the General Plan that is established on the project site, which is intended for general commercial type uses. Also, the proposed use is consistent with the General Plan land use goal and policies established for the North Main Street area because it contributes to the revitalization and enhancement of the North Main Street corridor as a vital center for professional offices, entertainment, and retail activity with supportive commercial uses.
COMMITTEE ACTION:
Not applicable.
STRATEGIC PLAN:
Not applicable.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The applicant paid $6,547.00 in application processing fees for the Conditional Use Permit.
ENVIRONMENTAL ANALYSIS:
The project is categorically exempted from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because it qualifies as a Class 32 Infill Development project under Section 15332 of the CEQA Guidelines. The project qualifies as an exemption from CEQA because it is consistent with the project site’s General Commercial designation of the General Plan and Commercial Retail zoning, is less than five acres, has no value as habitat for endangered, threaten, or rare species, and would not result in any significant impacts relating to traffic, air, water quality, and noise, and the site can be adequately served by all required utilities and public services. Therefore, a Notice of Exemption was prepared.
PLANNING AND HOUSING COMMISSION ACTION:
At its meeting of July 6, 2020, the Planning and Housing Commission considered the subject matter and took the following action:
Motion was made, seconded (Hooks/Siqueland) and carried unanimously, that the Planning and Housing Commission adopt Resolution No. 2544 granting CUP2019-0007, 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: ROGER BRADLEY, ASSISTANT CITY MANAGER
SUBMITTED BY: JACOB ELLIS, CITY MANAGER
Attachments:
1. Exhibit 1 - Locational and Zoning Map
2. Exhibit 2 - Site Plan for CUP2019-0007
3. Exhibit 3 - Planning and Housing Commission Staff Report
4. Exhibit 4 - Draft Minutes of the Planning and Housing Commission meeting of July 6, 2020
APPLICANT INFORMATION
Chris Costanzo, Costanzo Investments, LLC., 17 Corporate Plaza Drive, Ste. 250, Newport Beach, CA