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2012 - February 22Planning Commission Meeting Minutes February 22, 2012 Pagel of 8 Planning Commission February 22, 2012 City of Orange Wednesday 7:00 p.m. PRESENT: Commissioners Buttress, Gladson, Grangoff and Steiner ABSENT: None STAFF PRESENT: Leslie Aranda Roseberry, Planning Manager Anna Pehoushek, Principal Planner Robert Garcia, Associate Planner Gary Sheatz, Assistant City Attorney Sandi Dimick, Recording Secretary ADMINISTRATIVE SESSION Chair Steiner opened the Administration Session of the Planning Commission Meeting at 6:51 p.m. Chair Steiner stated there were 2 items. He asked if there had been any opposition received on the CHOC Helistop Agenda item. Associate Planner Robert Garcia stated there had not been any received. There was one inquiry noted in the Staff Report, which was from the Airport Landing Commission regarding airport notification. Chair Steiner noted that the report provided was very large. Mr. Garcia stated the report had not been printed as double sided. Commissioner Gladson stated it felt like an EIR. Chair Steiner stated that with the proposed helistop there would be a significant increase in landings and air traffic. Planning Manager Leslie Aranda Roseberry stated there had been a lot of discussion regarding the analysis of that situation. The information provided concluded that there was no added hazard and after many discussions, the CHOC representatives had brought in people who knew what the City was asking for, to provide them with information and assurances on that situation. The conclusion was that the increase in hazard to the City taking into account the per flight, flight hours and flight routes was very small. The City was looking at crash hazard. Chair Steiner asked when the helistop project would be operational. Mr. Garcia stated the applicant thought it would be in September. Chair Steiner stated the other item for consideration was the General Plan Annual Report that would be presented by Principal Planner Anna Pehoushek. Ms. Pehoushek stated she would present information on any changes that had occurred in the last year. Chair Steiner asked if there was anything further to discuss. Planning Commission Meeting February 22, 2012 Page 2 of 8 Commissioner Buttress stated on the CHOC item in reading the information regarding the CHOC Foundation interests, there were statements that there would be limited access by high profile donors to the helistop and flights; the number of these visits and flights had not been defined and she asked Staff what that number was? Mr. Garcia stated CHOC's statement had been that there would be no increase in the number of those types of flights; however, he had not known what that number was. Commissioner Buttress stated she would ask that question to the applicant. Chair Steiner asked Assistant City Attorney Gary Sheatz if Mike Merino would be re- joining the Planning Commission upon his return to the states and in the interim would there be a re- appointment. Mr. Sheatz stated Mike Merino had tendered his resignation from the Planning Commission and although he had not seen the letter, it was a resignation. Upon his return, if he sought to be on the Planning Commission, it would require a reappointment. The City Council could appoint a new member and upon Mr. Merino's return, if the City Council chose to re- appoint him, it would require a resignation by the new member. Once a Commissioner resigned, it was a resignation. There had been situations in the past where a Commissioner had been asked to resign and that Commissioner could not understand the reasoning for that request and fought the request to be removed. The term for a Commissioner was a 4 year term and their position on the Planning Commission was an appointment by a City Council member and their term could be longer or shorter at the pleasure of the City Council members. Chair Steiner stated his appointment had been initially proposed as a 6 month duty and had been longer. He was enjoying his return to the Planning Commission and thanked the Commission for re- nominating him as the Chair. There was no further discussion. Administrative Session adjourned @ 7: 01 p.m. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION None REGULAR SESSION Chair Steiner opened the regular Session of the Planning Commission Meeting with a review of the City's appeal process. Planning Commission Meeting Consent Calendar: February 22, 2012 Page 3 of 8 (1) APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM THE REGULAR SCHEDULED MEETING OF February 6, 2012 Commissioner Gladson made a motion to approve the minutes from the Planning Commission Meeting of February 6, 2012, with corrections noted during the Administrative Session. SECOND: Commissioner Buttress AYES: Commissioners Buttress, Gladson, and Grangoff NOES: None ABSTAIN: Commissioner Steiner ABSENT: None MOTION CARRIED Planning Commission Meeting February 22, 2012 Page 4of8 COMMISSION BUSINESS: (2) GENERAL PLAN ANNUAL REPORT California Government Code Section 65400 requires that cities submit an annual report on the status of their General Plan and progress in its implementation to the Governor's Office of Planning and Research and Department of Housing and Community Development by April 1 st of each year. NOTE: Final Program Environmental Impact Report (EIR) No. 1815 -09 for the Comprehensive General Plan Update was certified on March 9, 2010 and prepared in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act. The implementation activities identified in the subject report are addressed in the General Plan EIR. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Receive and file 2011 General Plan Annual Progress Report for final acceptance by the City Council. Principal Planner Anna Pehoushek presented a project overview consistent with the Staff Report. Chair Steiner stated in reviewing the documentation in some depth, there was some significant implementation of more than a dozen significant activities and actions over the last year. He wanted to congratulate the City's Staff for their hard work. The General Plan Update was certified on March 9, 2010, and all the activities throughout the year had been consistent with the EIR. Chair Steiner opened the item to the Commission for discussion or action. Commissioner Buttress stated she wanted to remind everyone that was listening to the presentation that the report was an annual report that they were mandated to file with the State. Commissioner Grangoff made a motion to receive and file The General Plan Annual Report. SECOND: Commissioner Buttress AYES: Commissioners Buttress, Gladson, Grangoff and Steiner NOES: None ABSTAIN: None ABSENT: None MOTION CARRIED Planning Commission Meeting NEW HEARING: February 22, 2012 Page 5 of 8 (3) CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT NO. 2822 -11 AND MITIGATED NEGATIVE DECLARATION 1826 -11 — CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF ORANGE COUNTY (CHOC) HELISTOP The proposed project provides for the addition of a helistop that would be located on the CHOC Children's Hospital South Tower. The existing helistop on the CHOC Children's Hospital North Tower would be retained in commission as a secondary helistop to accommodate overflow. LOCATION: CHOC campus bisected by La Veta Avenue NOTE: The proposed project provides for the addition of a helistop that would be located on the CHOC Children's Hospital South Tower. The existing helistop on the CHOC Children's Hospital North Tower would be retained in commission as a secondary helistop to accommodate overflow. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Adopt Planning Commission Resolution 10 -12 allowing a helistop to be located on the CHOC Children's Hospital South Tower. Associate Planner Robert Garcia presented a project overview consistent with the Staff Report. Chair Steiner opened the item to any questions for Staff. There were none. Chair Steiner invited the applicant to address the Commission. Fred Talarico, address on file, stated he was a representative for CHOC. He stated that they had read the Conditions of Approval and the Staff Report and they were all acceptable to them. He would not go over anything in detail, as it was all included in the documents. The proposed project would provide another service to the children of Orange County. When he had begun work on the project to its presentation tonight, he described it as there were not really any new sick children, it would be that children that had been going to other locations would now have a new site available to them. The new helistop would provide for a fast and effective way to get children to the hospital. Commissioner Buttress stated because of the fact that they would have the capability to divert children to CHOC, she asked if that had been the reason for the 10 times increase in flights? Planning Commission Meeting February 22, 2012 Page 6 of 8 Mr. Talarico stated basically what they had done was to analyze a worst case scenario. It had not been that they would anticipate an increase of 365 flights; that number was the most flights that they would be able to handle. They also had to anticipate what the hourly flights would be in a situation where there was a mass emergency somewhere and how many children they would be able to accommodate. That was where the numbers had come from. Commissioner Buttress stated in reference to the utilization of the helistop for high profile donors and board members; the visits and flights were noted as a few. There was not a concrete number for those situations and when speaking with Staff on the issue she had been told that CHOC had not defined that number and that it would remain the same is it currently was. She asked what that number was. Mr. Talarico stated that he believed the highest number of those types of visits in one year had been 5. They had a wonderful program called Radio Lollipop and it was a program that Ryan Seacrest put on; with such a major donor they would want to provide for a visit for that type of donor. It had been approximately 5 a year at the most and he had not anticipated an increase in that number. Chair Steiner stated the donors paid for CHOC and he would think that CHOC would want to show them their incredible resources, and the visits were beneficial. CHOC was a tremendous resource for the county and it held a place in their hearts and it was an incredible asset to the City of Orange and the children. He asked if the south tower would be opening sometime in September. Mr. Talarico stated they were ahead of schedule and completion of the tower was anticipated for September. Once the new building was under hospital control, they would go through a barrage of tests and they anticipated the first patients in the hospital in April of next year. Chair Steiner asked if the helistop on the north tower would remain in place. Mr. Talarico stated yes, if there were ever a major disaster it would remain there for that type of use. Commissioner Gladson stated she understood Mr. Talarico to be the expert on the environmental documents and in line with the questions that were asked by her colleagues, the mitigation measure spoke of a friendly neighbor guide approach and she asked how that measure would work in terms of nuisance prevention. Mr. Talarico stated they had brought the Air Transportation Service, a private company that serviced CHOC; they brought them in to meetings with staff and they had been hospital carriers for several years. The object of the flight situation was to utilize existing routes that worked, and they would basically be coming straight over the freeway and into CHOC. If they received complaints CHOC would go back the transportation service Planning Commission Meeting February 22, 2012 Page 7 of 8 and relay that information to that agency to have it remedied. They had very highly trained professionals flying the helicopters. Commissioner Gladson asked if there was a complaint or an issue would there be a remedy that Staff would be able to work with CHOC to alleviate any concerns or issues that might arise? The plan if she read correctly, and it was a worst case scenario, but that there was the potential for 1 /2 of the trips to be in the very early morning hours that could disturb residents and she wanted to clarify how that would work? Mr. Talarico stated they had been under construction for several years and during that time issue's had come up, with St. Joseph's and CHOC's construction occurring they had worked hand in hand with City Staff to ensure that any concerns that came up were handled very quickly. There was a tremendous amount of respect by CHOC for the Staff of the City of Orange and it was a cooperative arrangement. Commissioner Gladson stated she concurred with her colleagues and on the Chair's comments about their affection for CHOC, but the reality was that the site was near some residential areas and the fact that CHOC had a positive track record was favorable. She wanted to understand how the mitigation measures would work and she wanted the members of the public to know that there was a system in place that would assist with all of that. Mr. Talarico stated there were no issues currently and if concerns arose they would be addressed. Chair Steiner brought the item back to the Commission for further discussion or a motion. Commissioner Buttress made a motion to adopt PC 10 -12, CUP No. 2822 -11 and MND No. 1826 -11- Children's Hospital of Orange County (CHOC) Helistop, subject to the conditions contained in the Staff Report. SECOND: Commissioner Gladson AYES: Commissioners Buttress, Gladson, Grangoff and Steiner NOES: None ABSTAIN: None ABSENT: None MOTION CARRIED Planning Commission Meeting (4) ADJOURNMENT: February 22, 2012 Page 8 of 8 Adjournment to the next Planning Commission Meeting scheduled for Monday, March 5, 2012. Commissioner Grangoff made a motion for adjournment to the next regular scheduled meeting of the Planning Commission on March 5, 2012. SECOND: Commissioner Buttress AYES: Commissioners Buttress, Gladson, Grangoff and Steiner NOES: None ABSTAIN: None ABSENT: None MOTION CARRIED Meeting Adjourned @ 7:24 p.m.