Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout11.01 Killefer Square Apartments 1 - Staff Report1. SUBJECT Mitigated Negative Declaration No. 1844 -15, General Plan Amendment No. 2017 -001, Tentative Tract Map No. 0046 -17, Major Site Plan Review No. 0850 -15, Conditional Use Permit No. 3064 -17, Variance No. 2248 -17, and Design Review No. 4870 -15, for a 24 unit multi - family residential development involving adaptive reuse and rehabilitation of the historic Killefer Elementary School and construction of a new three story building at 541 N. Lemon Street. 2. SUMMARY The applicant is requesting a General Plan Amendment to change the subject property's existing General Plan designation from Public Facilities and Institutions (PFI) to Low Medium Density Residential (LMDR, 6 -15 du/acre) for a 24 unit multi - family residential development with surface parking and residential amenities on a 1.7 acre site. The project includes adaptive reuse and rehabilitation of the historic Killefer Elementary School. Six residential units will be located in the historic school building. Eighteen units will be located in a new three -story building. The application includes a Conditional Use Permit to request a third story for the new building in the R -3 zone and a Variance to request the elimination of covers /carports for required parking spaces and private outdoor space for the six units in the historic school. The project was agendized for the July 10, 2018 City Council meeting. The applicant requested and received a continuance to the August 14, 2018 Council meeting. 3. RECOMMENDED ACTION 1) Adopt Resolution No. 11106 certifying Mitigated Negative Declaration No. 1844 -15 and associated Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program for a new 24 unit multi- family residential development involving adaptive reuse and rehabilitation of the historic Killefer Elementary School and construction of a new three -story building at 541 North Lemon Street 2) Adopt Resolution No. 11107 approving General Plan Amendment No. 2017 -001, Tentative Tract Map No. 0046 -17, Major Site Plan Review No. 0850 -15, Conditional Use Permit No. 3064 -17, Variance No. 2248 -17, and Design Review No. 4870 -15 for a new 24 unit multi- family residential development involving adaptive reuse and rehabilitation of the historic Killefer Elementary School and construction of a new three -story building at 541 North Lemon Street 14. FISCAL IMPACT _ I None. 5. STRATEGIC PLAN 2e. Create an environment to attract, retain and expand economic opportunities. 3c. Support and enhance attractive, diverse living environments. 5b. Expand and strengthen processes and practices related to protection of cultural resources. 16. GENERAL PLAN IMPLEMENTATION Land Use Element Goal 1.0: Meet the present and future needs of all residential and business sectors with a diverse and balanced mix of land uses. Policy 1.3: Provide a range of housing densities and types to meet the diverse needs and lifestyles of residents. Policy 1.4: Ensure that new development reflects existing design standards, qualities, and features that are in context with nearby development. Goal 5.0: Maintain and enhance the vibrant, transit - accessible, pedestrian friendly, and livable character of Old Towne's neighborhoods and commercial areas. Policy 5.2: Promote adaptive reuse of historic structures for residential, office, or commercial purposes. Circulation and Mobility Element Goal 9.0: Provide a safe pedestrian and bicycle environment. ITEM 2 08/14/18 Cultural Resources Element Goal 1.0: Identify and preserve potential and listed historic resources, including buildings, structures, objects, sites, districts, and archaeological resources citywide. Policy 1.3: Provide long term assurance that potential and listed historic resources will be used, maintained, and rehabilitated in conformance with Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties with Guidelines for Preserving, Rehabilitating, Restoring, and Preserving Historic Buildings (Secretary's Standards). Policy 1.4: Encourage alternatives to demolition such as relocation, architecturally compatible rehabilitation, adaptive re -use, and new construction. Goal 4.0: Identify and preserve archaeological and cultural resources. Policy 4.5: Encourage private development to celebrate the cultural history of the community through project design. Urban Design Element Goal 5.0: Maintain Old Towne's identity as the only authentic and intact historic downtown in Orange County. Policy 5.3: Require infill development to be compatible with the scale and appearance of neighboring historic structures and to comply with all applicable historic preservation design and development standard and Secretary of the Interior Standards. Goal 6.0: Encourage contextually appropriate infill development projects and property renovations. Policy 62: Ensure that new infill development contributes positively to the quality of the surrounding corridor or neighborhood, including the potential to provide additional park space and minimize the visibility of on -site parking. Housing Element Policy Action 7. Facilitate infill construction. Policy Action 26: Preservation of historic structures. Implementation Program Implementation Program I -1 of the General Plan Implementation Plan calls for consistency between General Plan and zoning designations to be established. ITEM 3 08/14/18 7. DISCUSSION and BACKGROUND Project Overview The project involves adaptive reuse of a historic school property for a multi - family residential development of 24 one- and two - bedroom units. In order to accommodate multi - family residential development on the property, the existing General Plan designation of Public Facilities and Institutions is requested to be changed to Low Medium Density Residential. The major project components consist of: • Rehabilitation of the Killefer Elementary School with six multi - family residential units and common amenities. The school is a historic resource, listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its architecture and its cultural significance as a site of school desegregation in the Cypress Street Barrio. Rehabilitation will be completed in conformance with the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties (SOI Standards). • Construction of one new three -story building with 18 multi - family residential units at the northwest corner of the site. The design of the new building is intended to complement the Spanish Colonial Revival style of the historic school with a plaster finish, clay tile roofing, and wrought iron railings. • Construction of a surface parking lot with 58 parking spaces in the location of the existing surface parking lot on N. Lemon Street. An additional four guest parking spaces will be provided in the northeast corner of the site with access from N. Olive Street. Detailed information on the project's compliance with development standards, architectural design, rehabilitation/preservation, and landscaping is contained in Attachment 6. General Plan Amendment Presently, the project site has a General Plan Designation of Public Facilities and Institutions (PFI). This designation is intended for institutional uses, such as schools, hospitals, or civic facilities, and is inconsistent with the property's existing Multi - Family Residential (R -3) zoning. The requested General Plan Amendment to Low Medium Density Residential (LMDR) would allow the proposed multi - family residential project to proceed. Without the General Plan Amendment, a stand -alone multi - family housing project would not be permitted. The proposed LMDR designation is consistent with the General Plan designations of surrounding properties. The density range for properties under LMDR is 6.1 to 15.0 dwelling units per acre. The proposed project density is 14 dwelling units per acre. The amendment also creates consistency with the existing zoning, as required for compliance with state planning law. Adaptive Reuse and Compatibility of New Construction with Historic Property The adaptive reuse and rehabilitation of the historic Killefer Elementary School will be completed in conformance with the SOI Standards. The rehabilitation preserves existing historic ITEM 4 08/14/18 materials and features, including the plaster finish, wood windows and doors, tower entry element, and covered arcade and stage around the courtyard. Missing features will be restored, including the clay tile roof and decorative tile surround at the entry, based on evidence from historic photographs. Six new residential units will be created within the existing classroom partition walls and are designed to use existing historic doors and windows. Interior classroom features, such as chalkboards and in -built cabinets, will be preserved. Because the classroom partition walls and interior features will remain in place, the form, features, and materials of the classrooms could be restored, should the building change use at a later date. The new building is placed at the northwest corner of the property to preserve the public view of the historic school from N. Lemon Street. This view is a significant character - defining feature of the historic school and a community landmark for the Cypress Street Barrio. In conformance with the SOI Standards, the project's site plan retains the historic open space and views around the historic school. The new building is also set back from N. Olive Street by approximately 80 feet to avoid impacting views of the historic school in the streetscape to the east. The palette of materials for the new building, including the plaster finish, clay tile roof, and wrought iron balcony railings, also reflects the Spanish Colonial Revival style of the historic school. Compatibility of Proiect with Neighborhood The project's site layout is intended to limit effects on the surrounding neighborhood. The new building is located along the north property line, immediately adjacent to the parking lot of the Richland Continuation High School. The height and mass of the building are located at a substantial distance from the residential properties to the south. The building is positioned at a diagonal to the closest residential neighbors to the northeast, and on the north side of the building, screen walls are provided at the sides of the balconies to limit views to the adjacent properties to the west. Obscured glass will also be used on the lower portions of windows on the second and third floors to limit the potential for privacy impacts to neighboring properties. The building design draws from the Spanish Colonial Revival style architecture of the historic school. This style, with its variations in massing and palette of materials including plaster finishes and clay tile roofs, was particularly popular in the 1920s and 1930s. This time period is within the period of significance for the adjacent Old Towne Historic District (1888 - 1940), and the style of the new building complements and reflects historic architectural styles that are typical of the adjacent Historic District and the surrounding neighborhood. Conditional Use Permit for Third Story The applicant is requesting approval of a Conditional Use Permit to allow construction of a third story in the R -3 zone. The new building is 31.5 feet tall, which is under the 32 -foot height limit that is permitted in the R -3. The zoning code limits buildings to no more than two stories in the R -3 zone. However, the applicant may request additional height or stories through a Conditional Use Permit (CUP). ITEM 5 08/14/18 The third story on the new building allows the new construction to be concentrated at the northwest corner of the property, leaving the large area to the west of the historic school for parking and open space. It also allows the new building to have a relatively narrow street - facing frontage on N. Lemon Street to better reflect the rhythm of the residential building frontages on N. Lemon Street. The floor -to- ceiling heights of the three stories have been compressed to the greatest extent feasible to reduce the visual impact of the third story and to ensure that the total building height does not exceed the 32 -foot maximum allowed in the R -3 zone. As described above, the design of the proposed new building is compatible with the character of the historic property and the surrounding neighborhood. Variances for Private Open Space and Covered Parking The applicant is requesting two Variances for the project: 1) Elimination of the private open space required for each unit in the historic building 2) Elimination of the covers /carports for one parking space per unit Killefer Elementary School is a historic resource, designated in the National Register of Historic Places. In order for a project associated with a historic resource to be in conformance with the SOI Standards and cause a less than significant impact to the historic resource, it must maintain and preserve the important historic, or character - defining features, of the property. The National Register designation for Killefer Elementary School identifies the property's character- defining features as including the public view of the school from both N. Olive Street and N. Lemon Street. Under the zoning code requirements for open space in the R -3 zone, each unit must have a private fenced patio or balcony directly accessible from the interior of the unit. Providing direct access to private patios from the units in the historic school would require cutting new door openings in the building, resulting in the loss of historic materials, and potentially eliminating the use of the raised arcade around the courtyard as the project's circulation system, consistent with its historic use. The enclosures required for the private patios would substantially change the open landscaped character of the courtyard and former play areas around the school. These changes would not be in conformance with the SOI Standards and would likely result in a significant impact to the historic resource. In lieu of private open space, the applicant has provided seating areas around the historic building that will allow residents the benefit of a passive outdoor amenity without impacting the historic school. Under the zoning code requirements for multi - family residential parking, at least one parking space per unit is required to be covered. The view of the school and its courtyard and play area from N. Lemon Street is identified as a character- defining feature of the historic property. It is also an important community landmark that has characterized the northern portion of the Cypress Street Barrio since the school's construction in 1931. Providing covered parking on this property would result in at least 24 carports or garages between the historic school and N. Lemon Street. The historic view of Killefer Elementary School would be substantially obscured from N. Lemon Street. This change to the site would also not be in conformance with the SOI Standards and may ITEM 6 08/14/18 result in a significant impact to the historic resource. Therefore, no covered/carport parking is being provided. The presence of the historic building on the property and the desire to preserve its character - defining features provide the special circumstances required to grant Variances for these components of the project. Strict application of the zoning code in this case contradicts and impedes the City's and community's goals for high - quality preservation and adaptive reuse projects for important historic properties. Granting of the Variances promotes preservation of the historic building while allowing the property to be developed for multi - family residential use, similar to the rights enjoyed by nearby properties. Environmental Impact/Mitigation The analysis contained in the Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) determined that implementation of the project may result in potentially significant environmental effects without mitigation to the following environmental factors: Cultural Resources, Tribal Cultural Resources, Geology /Soils, and Noise. Incorporation of the mitigation measures into the project results in a reduction of significant impacts to less than significant levels. During the public review period for the MND, the City received one comment letter from a responsible agency, South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD); public testimony from the Old Towne Preservation Association (OTPA) during the Design Review Committee meeting on March 21, 2018; a comment letter from the Orange Barrio Historical Society (OBHS); and three emails from neighboring residents. Responses were prepared for all comments and are incorporated in the MND. Public Notice A City Council public hearing notice was published in the Orange City News on June 28, 2018. In addition, 234 notices were mailed to owners and residents of properties within a 300 -foot radius of the perimeter of the project site and those requesting notice. Hearing notices were also posted at the project site and at City Hall and City Library posting locations. Staff received one email from a resident expressing opposition to the scale of the project (Attachment 7). Planning Commission Hearing On June 4, 2018, the Planning Commission conducted a public hearing for the proposed project. The Commission adopted Planning Commission Resolution No. 17 -18 for Mitigated Negative Declaration No. 1844 -15 (including Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program) and Planning Commission Resolution No. 18 -18 for General Plan Amendment No. 2017 -001, Tentative Tract Map No. 0046 -17, Major Site Plan Review No. 0850 -15, Conditional Use Permit No. 3064 -17, Variance No. 2248 -17, and Design Review No. 4870 -15, recommending approval to the City Council by a vote of 3 -1 (with one Commissioner absent). ITEM 7 08/14/18 Key topics of discussion by the Commission included the adaptive reuse of the historic school and preservation/rehabilitation of historic features, traffic generation and parking, the layout of bedrooms and bathrooms in the units, and the requests for the CUP and Variances. There were 12 public comments at the public hearing, most expressing opposition to the project. The representative from the Old Towne Preservation Association expressed concerns about the new building, but supported that the project would rehabilitate the historic building and prevent further deterioration. The comments included the project's size, parking, number of bedrooms and unit layouts, potential obstruction of views, compatibility with the neighborhood and potential effects on neighbors, and the need to secure and preserve the historic school from further deterioration. Planning Commission minutes are provided as Attachment 5. City Council Hearing The project was agendized for the July 10, 2018 City Council meeting. Prior to the hearing, the applicant requested a continuance. The continuance was granted by the Council to a date certain: August 14, 2018. Because the continuance was to a date certain, no additional public noticing was required. 18. ATTACHMENTS I 1. Resolution No. 11106 for Mitigated Negative Declaration No. 1844 -15 (including Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program) 2. Resolution No. 11107 for General Plan Amendment No. 2017 -001, Tentative Tract Map No. 0046 -17, Major Site Plan Review No. 0850 -15, Conditional Use Permit No. 3064 -17, Variance No. 2248 -17, and Design Review No. 4870 -15 3. Planning Commission Resolution No. 17 -18 for Mitigated Negative Declaration No. 1844 -15 (including Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program) 4. Planning Commission Resolution No. 18 -18 for General Plan Amendment No. 2017 -001, Tentative Tract Map No. 0046 -17, Major Site Plan Review No. 0850 -15, Conditional Use Permit No. 3064 -17, Variance No. 2248 -17, and Design Review No. 4870 -15 5. Planning Commission Minutes, June 4, 2018 6. Planning Commission Staff Report, June 4, 2018 (including Vicinity Map, Site Photos) 7. Emailed Comments • Dan Graupensperger, Resident 8. Mitigated Negative Declaration No. 1844 -15 and Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program 9. Project Plans Date Stamped June 21, 2018 10. Applicant Request for Continuance from July 10, 2018 Council Hearing N: \CDD\PI-NG\Applications \General Plan Amendment \GPA 2017 -0001 Killefer Square \CC \CC Staff Report - Killefer 2018- 08- 14.doc ITEM 8 08/14/18