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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 1999 0901 CC REG ITEM 09ATO: FROM: DATE: CITY OF MOORPARK AGENDA REPORT Honorable City Council -11 Z. `-I (Z) TI'EM q,A. CitTY OF MOORPARK, CALIFORNIA City Council Meeting Of ACTttl v: s G��r( /lr tfr. q "1 2t Wayne Loftus, Acting Director of Community DevelopmentwyAlt7lo, Prepared by: John Libiez, Principal Planner August 24, 1999 (CC meeting of 9/1/99) SUBJECT: CONSIDER THE MOORPARK HIGHLANDS SPECIFIC PLAN PROJECT (SPECIFIC PLAN 95 -2 /SPECIFIC PLAN NO.2, GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT NO. 95 -2, AND ZONE CHANGE 95 -4); MITIGATION MONITORING PROGRAM; STATEMENT OF OVERRIDING CONSIDERATIONS. APPLICANT: MORRISON-FOUNTAINWOOD- AGOURA.(Continued from August 18, 1999) BACKGROUND The City Council initiated the public hearing on the Moorpark Highlands Specific Plan project on January 20, 1999, and continued consideration to February 3, March 3 and 17, April 21, June 16, July 7, and August 18, 1999. The Specific Plan No. 2 project and the certification of the Environmental Impact Report were recommended for adoption to City Council by the Planning Commission on December 14, 1999, subject to modifications contained within Resolution No. PC -98 -362. The City Council certified the project EIR on April 21, 1999. DISCUSSION Public testimony has been provided to the City Council from staff, the project applicant and citizens at previous meetings. The applicant has prepared revisions to the Specific Plan document to address the City Council Preferred Land Use Plan, and these changes were incorporated into the revised Specific Plan document forwarded to the Council with the June 16, 1999 Agenda Report. Evaluation of impacts contained within the Final Environmental Impact Report adequately addressed the modifications to the M:\ JLibiez \M \SP2 \StfRprtSP- 2CC9199.doc 00006.1 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT SPECIFIC PLAN NO.2 August 24, 1999 Page 2 Specific Plan design, requested by the City Council as an alternative. This Council "Preferred" alternative was considered by the Council at previous meetings and evaluated by staff and the environmental consultant for consistency with the Final EIR. The "Preferred" alternative was concluded to be consistent with the plan and alternatives assessed by the Draft EIR ,including the alternative for 658 dwelling units. Based upon the conclusion that the "preferred" plan was substantially the same as those already evaluated for their environmental impacts, the City Council "Preferred" alternative was not returned to the Planning Commission for a report or recommendation. Major application items that remain for City Council consideration and action are: 1) the Specific Plan No.2 document; 2) adoption of a General Plan Amendment to reflect appropriate changes to the Circulation and Land Use Elements for the site; technical data related to the Safety Element will be deferred for inclusion in the comprehensive rewrite of that element in the coming year; 3) a Zoning Code and Map amendment to reflect the development standards for Specific Plan No. 2 by incorporating these items within a chapter of the Zoning Code and adding the SP designator to the project property on the Zoning Map; 4) a Mitigation Monitoring Program; and, 5) a Statement of Overriding Considerations. A Development Agreement has been drafted and was scheduled for consideration and recommendation by the Planning Commission at its August 30, 1999 special meeting. It is anticipated that the Planning Commission recommendation will be returned for City Council hearing on September 15, 1999. The Mitigation Monitoring Program and Statement of Overriding Considerations will need to be adopted prior to, or concurrently with, the approval of the project. Staff and the EIR consultant have prepared the language of these documents for Council consideration at a future meeting. Council may wish staff to schedule the required resolutions and ordinances for consideration at the City Council meeting of September 15, 1999. Resolutions will be required to effect the General Plan Amendment, Mitigation Monitoring Program, Statement of Overriding Considerations and Specific Plan. Ordinances will be necessary to adopt the Zoning Amendments and the Development Agreement. The scheduling of these items is predicated upon the 000®02 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT SPECIFIC PLAN NO.2 August 24, 1999 Page 3 Planning Commission review and return of the Development Agreement for City Council consideration. Discussion Items: Council consideration of the following items and direction to staff and the applicant is appropriate at this time to facilitate the final details for the resolutions and ordinances for Council action. 1. CIRCULATION. Spring Road Configuration: The "Mission Statement Goals and Objectives" adopted by the City Council no longer includes the following goal: "in conjunction with the processing of Specific Plan No. 2, prepare amendment to Circulation Element to consider re- designation of State Route 23 to Spring Road from its proposed intersection with Walnut Canyon Road south to New Los Anqeles Avenue:" Although designation of a link between SR -23 and Spring Road as SR 23 is no longer a City goal, the alignment and design of Spring Road remains an item that City Council should discuss and direct a conclusion as part of the development of this Specific Plan. The Specific Plan No. 2 EIR included an analysis of a circulation alternative that would include the construction of the Spring Road extension as an arterial, by proposing a sweeping curve connection between Spring Road and Walnut Canyon Road, rather than the "T" intersection proposed by the Specific Plan 2 circulation plan. The construction of Spring Road extension as an arterial is also a component of the Citywide Traffic Mitigation Fee Program development. The Planning Commission recommendation as contained within Resolution No. PC -98 -362 was to not designate Spring Road as the Interim SR -23, and not to permit truck traffic along the segment of roadway from Walnut Canyon Road to High Street. The Ad Hoc Committee for SP -2 (Council members Harper and Evans) has indicated that the Spring Road 000003 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT SPECIFIC PLAN NO.2 August 24, 1999 Page 4 configuration to be designed and constructed as a part of the off -site improvements for SP -2 should implement the sweeping curve transition with Walnut Canyon Road and also include a "T" intersection for Walnut Canyon Road from the south leg to the sweeping curve of Spring Road. Construction would be four lanes with any required turn lanes, sidewalks, curb and gutter and appropriate equestrian and bicycle lanes being provided. The configuration of Spring Road proposed by the revised Specific Plan dated June 9, 1999, is as follows: a. Charles Street to Walnut Canyon Road right - of -way dedication to accommodate 4 lanes with "T" intersection at Walnut Canyon Road. b. "C" Street to Walnut Canyon Road additional dedication to be required to provide for any future option to create a transition of Walnut Canyon Road onto Spring Road via a gentle sweeping curve configuration. C. Construction from "C" Street to Walnut Canyon shall be limited initially to 2 lanes, with special design of intersection at Walnut Canyon Road to install left turn pocket and "T" intersection. The intersection design should provide for future expansion of the intersection to four lanes with a left turn pocket. d. Traffic signals are required at the intersections of Walnut Canyon and Spring Road and at Spring Road and Charles Street, for either configuration If the City Council agrees with the recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee, the final General Plan Circulation Amendment configuration related to Specific Plan No. 2 Spring Road /Walnut Canyon Road intersection will need to be revised. Provision for dedication of the alignment to create the sweeping curve connection and construction of necessary 00000/1 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT SPECIFIC PLAN NO.2 August 24, 1999 Page 5 improvements has been included in the Development Agreement. Additionally, clarification of the project signal requirements has been include in the Development Agreement. 2. SPECIFIC PLAN NO.2 DOCUMENT (June 9,1999 Revision): Substantial changes to reflect the Council's "Preferred Land Use Plan" were completed by the applicant, and all exhibits revised to reflect this Council preference. Some new exhibits were added to demonstrate potential landscape entry features, typical walls and fences, major entry wall features, street furniture and site amenities, and conceptual plot plans for 10,000 and 30,000 square foot lots. Larger setback criteria were specified for the 10,000 and 30,000 square foot lots. Animal control regulations for large lot areas implements the current Zoning Code provisions. A building density range was assigned to each Planning Area and the plan was limited to a maximum total of 598 dwelling units. The Development Agreement as recommended by the Ad Hoc Committee reflects a reduction of total on -site units to 570. Some density transfer may be permitted, subject to the overall planning unit restrictions, provided that the Planning Area ranges which defined in the Specific Plan text are not exceeded. The Affordable Housing Component originally proposed in the June 9 revision of the plan included construction of all units on -site. The applicant proposed 66 affordable units within the project (11 %), 50 for rent units to serve Very Low and Low Income families (25 units provided to families earning no more than 600 of the Median County income, and 25 units provided to families earning an income no more than 80% of the County Median income), 16 units as for sale units at no more than 110% of the County Median income. Based upon the recommendation of the Ad Hoc Committee, the Preferred Land Use Plan" which created the opportunity to develop a maximum of 598 dwelling units has been further refined to a maximum of 570 dwelling units. This is the result because of the desire to develop some of the Affordable Housing units 000005 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT SPECIFIC PLAN NO.2 August 24, 1999 Page 6 off the project site. Twenty -five (25) affordable "For Sale" units will be developed on site as follows: twelve (12) three bedroom, two bath, 1050 square feet units, and 13 four bedroom, two bath, 1425 square feet units. To accomplish this goal Planning Area 5 as shown on the Specific Plan Land Use Map will be reduced by 28 units from 130 units to 102 dwelling units. The proposed Development Agreement under Section 6.14 includes a per unit Affordable Housing In -lieu Fee of $3,580.00 per dwelling unit (paid at building permit issuance) to develop affordable units off -site. If the city Council agrees with the Ad Hoc Committee, the final Specific Plan document would need to be revised to reflect this change in the Affordable Housing Component. The applicant, consultant and staff are prepared to respond to questions and comments related to the draft revised plan. Council consideration for corrections and clarifications is appropriate. 3. HABITAT CONSERVATION PLAN: Following the completion of the City of Moorpark project review and approval process, the applicant will need to complete the final negotiations and approval processes for a Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and California Department of Fish and Game. The Habitat Plan is required by the Mitigation Monitoring Program and the conditions of approval for the project. The HCP will address the requirements for preservation, protection and promotion of the California Gnatcatcher, a threatened species, found to be resident within the lower 1/3 of the project. A draft HCP was prepared by the applicant and initial reviews by USFWS have been completed. The plan will need to be completed and in place before any permits are issued, which includes grading and /or building permits. The HCP process comprises a portion of the Mitigation Monitoring process. Upon completion of testimony and discussion, City Council may wish to continue this matter until the Development Agreement review is completed by the Planning Commission and their recommendation is forwarded for Council consideration. 000006 CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT SPECIFIC PLAN NO.2 August 24, 1999 Page 7 STAFF RECOMMENDATION 1. Accept additional testimony and continue the Public Hearing open to September 15, 1999. OOUG+� 7