PLANNING COMMISSION STUDY SESSION
TO: Planning Commission
FROM: Ursula Luna-Reynosa, Community Development Director
BY: Nicolle Aube, AICP, Associate Planner
SUBJECT:
title
TENTATIVE TRACT MAP NO. 18157/CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT NO. 17-042 (ELLIS AVE. CONDOS)
REQUEST:
To demolish an existing liquor store, residence, and portion of a former car wash to permit a one-lot subdivision and development of a four-story mixed-use building including 48 new condominium residences with 891 square feet of commercial space and three levels of subterranean parking.
LOCATION:
8041 Ellis Avenue (North side of Ellis Ave., between Beach Blvd. and Patterson Ln.)
body
APPLICANT:
Jeff Herbst, MCG Architecture, 111 Pacifica, Suite 280, Irvine, CA 92618
PROPERTY
OWNER:
Tahir Salim, THDT Investment, Inc., 1307 W. 6th Street, Suite 202, Corona, CA 92882
BUSINESS
OWNER:
N/A
STATEMENT OF ISSUE:
To introduce a proposed subdivision and mixed-use development proposal at a 0.95 acre site (Attachment No. 2).
PROJECT PROPOSAL:
The project proposes a one-lot subdivision to develop a four-story mixed-use building including 48 new condominium residences with 891 square feet of ground floor commercial space and three levels of subterranean parking via the following entitlement requests:
Tentative Tract Map No. 18157: to consolidate three existing parcels into one approximately 0.95 acre parcel for condominium purposes (Attachment No. 3).
Conditional Use Permit No. 17-042: to permit the development of a mixed-use building including 48 condominium residences and 891 square feet of ground floor commercial space (Attachment No. 4).
A total of 128 parking spaces are proposed with five spaces provided for the retail tenant, 24 spaces provided for guest parking, and 99 spaces provided for residents. Access to the site is proposed via one driveway off Ellis Avenue.
The proposed building will consist of six one bedroom units and 42 two bedroom units. As required per the Beach and Edinger Corridors Specific Plan (BECSP) and Huntington Beach Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance (HBZSO) Section 230.26 - Affordable Housing, 10% of the proposed units are required to be designated for sale at affordable income levels. Thus, 4.8 of the proposed 48 units are required to be designated for sale at affordable income levels. The applicant proposes to provide five affordable units on-site in order to comply with the Affordable Housing requirement.
The two existing buildings, a liquor store and a residence, will be demolished in order to construct the proposed four-story building with three levels of subterranean parking. The north side of the project site was formerly utilized as part of the Metro Car Wash located at 18400 Beach Boulevard. Metro Car Wash has ceased operations and the owner of 18400 Beach Boulevard is currently constructing a new car wash on the property. The proposed condominium project and new car wash do not have any overlapping elements and are entirely separate projects.
Adjacent uses include a hotel and commercial center to the north, multifamily residential to the east, mixed-use commercial/residential to the south, and a car wash and drive-through restaurant to the west. Further east of the site, beyond Patterson Lane, are single family homes and a church.
Background: In 2010, the City adopted the Beach and Edinger Corridors Specific Plan (SP14). The goal of SP14 was to transform the current development of commercial strip centers lined with surface parking lots and generally low-rise commercial buildings to a pattern of centers and segments characterized with clusters of shops, activity, and varying intensity. These new active areas would include a mix of homes, offices, and commercial uses oriented to alternative modes of transportation including walking and bicycling. Along the Beach Boulevard corridor near Ellis Avenue, the development of a “Town-Center Neighborhood” segment would feature the City’s widest range of contemporary housing types and possibly a wide mixture of uses.
In 2015, the City Council amended SP14 to decrease the total number of residential units allowed from 4,500 to 2,100, increase setbacks, increase minimum parking standards, require upper story setbacks, require a commercial component in all residential buildings, and permit residential subject to approval of a CUP. Other amendments related to auto dealers and civic and cultural uses were also approved. Out of the 2,100 Maximum Amount of New Development (MAND) units currently permitted, approximately 1,900 have been constructed.
CEQA:
On December 8, 2009, the Planning Commission certified Program Environmental Impact Report (EIR) No. 08-008 for the proposed Beach and Edinger Corridors Specific Plan. EIR No. 08-008 concluded that potential impacts can be mitigated to less than significant levels with the exception of impacts to air quality, cultural resources, noise, population and housing, public services, recreation, transportation/traffic, and utilities and service systems, which would remain significant and unavoidable. The Planning Commission certified EIR No. 08-008 as adequate and complete with modified mitigation measures, findings of fact, and a Statement of Overriding Considerations. The City Council also adopted a Statement of Overriding Considerations prior to action on the GPA, ZMA, and ZTA on March 1, 2010.
The project applicant has completed Air Quality/GHG Analysis, Traffic Impact Analysis, Preliminary Hydrology Report/WQMP, Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment (ESA), and a Geotechnical Investigation (Attachments No. 9-14) to ensure the project will comply with the BECSP Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program. All potentially significant effects of the project have been analyzed pursuant to the BECSP Program EIR and can be mitigated pursuant to applicable mitigation measures adopted for the BECSP Program EIR (Attachment No. 8). Therefore, pursuant to Section 15182 of the CEQA Guidelines, the proposed project is covered under the program EIR and no further environmental analysis is required.
PLANNING ISSUES:
⁻ Consistency with the General Plan and all applicable requirements of the Municipal Code.
⁻ Compliance with the applicable Beach and Edinger Corridors Specific Plan requirements and other regulations including architecture, parking, access and circulation, building form and massing, and provision of open space.
⁻ Compatibility with surrounding land uses.
PUBLIC HEARING DATE:
The Planning Commission public hearing is tentatively scheduled for May 28, 2019.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Vicinity Map
2. Project Narrative received and dated May 1, 2019
3. Tentative Tract Map No. 18157 received March 7, 2019
4. Site plan, floor plans, and elevations received April 23, 2019
5. Preliminary Grading Plan
6. Parking Management Plan received and dated April 22, 2019
7. Sustainability Narrative received and dated September 21, 2018
8. BECSP Mitigation Monitoring Checklist
9. Air Quality/GHG Analysis
10. Traffic Impact Analysis
11. Preliminary Hydrology Report
12. Draft Water Quality Management Plan
13. Phase 1 ESA
14. Geotech Investigation
15. Republic Will-Service Letter