 There's about 40 buttons and dials in there, so we're just trying to find the right one Okay All right, well welcome to everybody tonight. Thank you for coming. We don't normally get to see One or two people so this is a nice crowd and we're glad to see that everyone got notice and is here to To be participating our meeting tonight So we're gonna go ahead and start our August 1st planning commission meeting if we can start with the roll call Please Commissioner Ruth here commissioner Newman here commissioner, Kristen thin commissioner. Wilk here chair welch here Okay, now we'll do the pledge of allegiance Great, thank you So I have to do a little reading here tonight's a meeting as cable cast live on charter communications cable TV channel 8 and AT&T you verse channel 99 and is being recorded to be replayed on the following Monday and Friday at 1 p.m On charter channel 71 and Comcast channel 25 Meetings can also be viewed from the city's website at the WWW city of capitol.org Our technician tonight is Victor Herman and if you could help us out and put your phones on Vibrate or science that would help us out and so because of this topic that is drawing some interest tonight We have a card system you can see in the back and I'll just go ahead and talk a little bit about it right now The card system is designed just to get us through the process Maybe a little faster while allowing all of you to have an opportunity to express your thoughts and concerns So there's a three card three color system there the green card is a one-minute card So if you think you can state your thoughts within one minute, that would be great The yellow card is a two-minute card and then the orange card is a three-minute card And so what what will happen is we get to the item that you would like to talk about tonight? I will call on the green cards first and then the yellow cards and then the orange cards and Then our citizen over here Chloe she or Sean somebody's gonna have a timer for us So we'll keep us on track so that way everyone gets an opportunity to speak and we can move through the meeting and get out Here to relatively sense of time so with that We'll go ahead into additions and deletions of tonight's agenda We have had additional materials for item for B For the 120 Monterey Avenue in terms of public comment That's come in and evil that public comment has been shared with all of you and is available at the back Thank You Katie and When the kids consent calendar or we have some items are continued tonight or? Yes, and they're noticed as continued for or listed as continued for item 3a 3a, okay Okay with that Well, this time is our public comment time for you to speak to us on items that are not on tonight's agenda So if there's someone out there that would like to speak to the planning Commission That's an item that's not on tonight's agenda. This is your opportunity will give you Three minutes to come up and speak to us. Is anybody like to? Speak about an item not on the agenda tonight. My name is Dave Fox I live at 320 McCormick and The item I'd like to speak about is the size of the units that are proposed out on 41st I feel it may be the planning Commission or the city council might tell the Proponents that it's a little out of size for our city. It's going to increase our our population by 10% And it won't bother me because I live on McCormick But anybody that lives near that mall They're going to be so impacted by traffic And I just they're going to spend a bunch of money on Plans and stuff and maybe if the city gave them a little direction that maybe that's not going to work Maybe they should tone it down a little bit. I think that'd be great. Thanks, Mr. Fox in Marlon Marlon Geyer that you're talking about he's talking about the size of the units what units I Talking about the amount of units not the size. This is you're talking about the mall Right, okay, so the good thing about that is we're going to have plenty of opportunity We have not seen anything yet on that so there are some discussions about it But you'll have plenty of time to we're going to have a lot of discussion. I think the room will probably look like this tonight All right, thank you, Mr. Fox. Is anybody else who would like to speak tonight on an item not on the agenda? Okay, not seeing anybody will bring it back any commissioner comments. I have a comment I'm gonna want to pull consent off the consent calendar item C And I think there's going to be some also some debate over item a under public hearings So I'm wondering maybe if we should change the agenda and get right to 201 Monterey as in and moved That rest of the stuff so you're asking to rearrange and put Monterey first the top Well, I don't know if I think we can maybe get the Saxon one out of the way fairly quick What what is the flavor of the group here? Well, I can say I'm gonna want to pull a consent consent item Yeah, I think we should do that shorter items first that even though yeah, maybe we can just get them so they're not waiting and Okay, so item C On 3c. Is it the one you're talking about? It's the 1404 38th Avenue. So you like to pull that item when we get there discuss that yes, okay So I'll move a and B on the consent agenda Okay, so we have a motion to approve consent counter a and B second We're a little bit ahead of it, but oh, we're still a commission comments Oh, yeah So why don't we wait till we get down and I think we'll be there real quick. Is there any other commission comments? How about staff comments any staff? I know staff comments evening. Okay, so now I'll go back and we'll ask for a motion for consent And we have a second for a and B a is being continued, right? So Well We have a motion for a and B all those in favor. Hi. Hi. So it looks like everyone's in favor and we pulled item C and so We'll move that Under item for a so is that okay? Or do you are you set up in your presentation to do? 1404 38th Avenue now would be easy to do that first. Yes, we can do that Okay, so we'll do item C first So now we'll open up the public hearing portion of this meeting and we're gonna Take item 3c and put that under initial under item for public hearings Good evening planning commissioners the application before you is for 1404 38th Avenue. It's a new bouldering gym and fitness studio It includes a conditional use permit a design permit and a sign permit and it's in the coastal zone The property is immediately south of Kings Plaza And it was formally used as the pickup warehouse for the former orchard supply hardware The current The applicant is applying for special signage with the sign permit that requires approval by the planning commission the current zoning code does not have standards for for parking or for use of this type of Application so It requires a third-party evaluation for parking the city contracted Kimley Horn and associates to review the on-site parking The evaluation found that the change in land use from a retail warehouse to a bouldering gym and fitness center would result in an increase in Am and PM trips they concluded that the proposed parking of 53 spaces and 22 bicycle spaces is expected to have sufficient on-site parking the design permit has a Is an aluminum frame window front entry that replaces the current metal roll-up door There are no proposed changes to the floor area of the building The first sign being proposed is a wall sign right above that front entry. It's a 48 square foot wall sign That's less than the 90 square foot maximum allowed here It faces 38th Avenue a monument sign is also being proposed in the community commercial zone they are allowed to be up to 60 square feet in area and 8 feet tall and Currently the sign is proposed as 24 square feet Monument signs may typically not be displayed in conjunction with wall signs on the same frontage This is why the applicant is requesting special signage for commercial sites located in the geographically constrained areas In order to make this approval the planning Commission would have to Find make the following findings that special signage is necessary and appropriate for the subject commercial site In order to allow the site and and the businesses located there to can be competitive and that the signage is not a Special privilege and won't cause any adverse impacts on the surrounding area The building is Setback approximately 145 feet the applicant is requesting a wall sign and monument sign both of which are proposed to face the same frontage In addition to the building setback the combined sign area for both signs is 72 square feet Which is under the 99 90 square feet maximum allowed for the single wall sign The commercial sites in Kings Plaza, which is adjacent to this site on Facing Capitola Road and 41st Avenue have a mix of wall signs and monument signs for the plaza through a master sign program the special special signage here does not apply or adverse sorry The total sign area for both signs is 72 square feet as stated Which does not exceed the 90 square feet allowed for a single wall sign on the building? The signs are externally illuminated with lights directed towards the sign faces as to limit impacts on the surrounding properties The special signage consideration for the use of two signs is for the use of two signs on the same frontage The signs comply with all other standards in the community commercial zoning district staff recommends the planning commission review the application and approve the amendment sorry approve the Application for the CUP design permit and sign permit based on the conditions and findings Okay, any questions for staff? I have a question. So where is it required that a third-party? Need to be involved for a parking assessment. Can't that be done by staff? so Within our code when there is no standard for a type of use We require that a third-party consultant be hired and this has been consistent with other applications for yoga studios and workout Facilities throughout Capitola because we haven't had a standard So it's so can you quote a paragraph in the code that? Where it's required because it was again, that's my that's one of my big issues I got two issues with this And if it's required and there's nothing you can do we have to spend all this money or have the Applicants spend all this money then fine. We should probably re-evaluate that as a as a requirement, but Well for the city, you know we in order to review a conditional use permit We need to make sure that any impacts are mitigated So it is our responsibility to make sure that there's adequate parking on the site and that it not overflow Into the residential neighborhoods that surrounds it. So when we don't have the information we need We are we do have the ability to ask when somebody applies for a conditional use permit They actually when they give us give the city you put down their deposit It's stated that there may be additional Study is necessary and that the applicant is required to pay to take care of the costs associated with their application Thank you The other question is that Is the applicant here that would like to speak you would you like to come up and speak or? Well, let me ask there are any questions of the applicant. I just have a question of the conditions is all nothing for the app Nothing, okay, you're fine. Okay with that if there's anybody else who would like to comment on the bouldering Jim 38 no, it's not seeing we'll bring it back to the commission for discussion So Since I pulled it so I have two issues one. We just brought up which is the parking analysis now The notion of that we need we need an independent consultant we once again hire Kim Lee horn To do what seems to be a straightforward Staff Analysis, I mean I read the report they reference a document that and a standard that I would think if the staff member could look up I just think it's unfair For something so straightforward to require the applicant to Pay for an independent analysis of this and I would recommend that we return those fees Yeah, I Don't know So so that I'm opposed to I just don't know what with legal ability we have to do that I think that probably have to go back to it. Yeah, so I I support the staff did here Mainly because the use that the health Industry uses tend to And when you're in a transition area between a commercial and a residential area, and you've got a health use There's just a history of some of those places Having parking issues And so I think that taking that seriously in this application was it was a wise thing to do and Requiring an outside review. I Understand your concerns. I will say that this is not unusual to require this when it's something outside The scope of our staff but Hearing your concern I Guess are you trying are you making a motion if you want to make the putting on the wave of motion? We can see But that happens and it would then would have to go to I don't think we have a power to do that Well, I don't know that the motion would fly but I Guess it's something we could have staff look into I don't So Something that could be effective to address this issue Is that if you would like staff within the new zoning code update to look at fitness centers in particular? In the parking requirements and make sure that they're included within the updated zoning code and that we have Standards included but our practice has been and I can Give you several examples bar fitness Orange theory those are two that in my time here at Capitola that have had to do parking studies They're part of a mixed use development in which In order to make sure that those uses could be accommodated on site But I do think there's room for improvement on If you'd like us to make sure that we have specific standards within our zoning code update That would be the appropriate place in which to include the standards So I won't make a motion if I don't have a sense that there's any backing. I don't think you're gonna get backing that was my my thought but There you know, there isn't a pill process. I guess the applicant hearing the concern you could appeal it and See what happens would probably be the best line of action It's all I know it's been a standard practice for us to to go to the third party on these side I agree. We hate to put those Additional fees on applicants. So I understand that concern, but I mean, it's it's not a trivial amount. So I Just you know, I just hate to burden these applicants with this with what appeared to me now Maybe Ed has indicated that no it was it was a legitimate analysis that needed to be had but And if that's the case and then I will throw my concern but to me it seemed well We'll let you keep your concern, but at least it stated so what's the other issue? The other issue, all right, I'll find I'll move on to the other issue since I'm not getting any support on this one my other issue is the Condition 15 which requires a landscape plan And the Mutant Municipal Code specifically 1757 070 already requires that the monument sign has to have landscaping the notion of requiring an additional landscape plan and even mentions the irrigation system plan and whatnot I just don't think condition 15 is warranted and I'd like to have a hold Okay, that one is something I think that we have the ability to discuss and work on here I would I would just say that it's pretty standard practice on residential homes all the way through it requires that anybody else like to Have some discussion on I Think those things are absolutely necessary when we have a new project in use We start for going landscape plans and parking studies to stop the overflow under residential areas We're on a path that's not gonna work We're gonna have this city hall filled every time we have a project if that's the kind of things we allow to happen. I Just thought this was a pretty straightforward case and and these These things seem to be just Just added burden on the applicant. Well, they absolutely are burdens But I you know just this is Well, I know this into the the commission's been here for a number of years. It's very standard that all projects have the Landscape plan even before you can move into your residence You have this we're talking about a sign the monument sign and it's already clear that the monument sign Has requirements for landscaping in the code so they require an additional landscape plan seems redundant I think they should be happy to get two signs here because Yeah Once again, I am not getting any support So I'll withdraw my concerns this this center has been kind of pushing the envelope on the number of signs already and We now we have another one where there's going beyond what the code really provides for and so You know, I think we're helping the applicant in that regard assuming we approve this, right? So I guess I can call ask for a motion to I'll entertain one from anybody that would like to throw something out there. I Move step of approval with the conditions having been met. Okay, so I have a motion a Second, okay any more discussion Peter. Do you have anything else? Okay, so we have a motion second all those in favor Hi, hi all those are put in your post. No, it passes. Okay Thank you, okay, so now we'll move to the original item for a 207 Saxon under public hearings Staff presentation, thank you chair Welch 207 Saxon tonight we have an applicant proposing to reconstruct a 487 square foot historic garage in the R1 single-family residential zoning district Existing residents at 207 Saxon Avenue is an historic one-story one-story single-family home with a non-conforming Historic detached garage located in the rear yard yard shown here on the right Here's a site plan showing the location of the garage in relation to the historic home As well as the five-inch rear setback and two-foot side setback, which are non-conforming Because the detached garage is historic Non-conforming in terms of setbacks and located in the appealable area of the coastal zone This very small project requires a design permit conditional use permit and an appealable Coastal development permit as well as a variance for the side and rear setbacks and to exceed the non-conforming structural Alteration limit the new garage when completed will be in the same location as the existing garage will look exactly the same Historic projects like this require conditional use permit So architectural historian Leslie Dill reviewed the project for consistency with the Secretary of the Interior's standards For rehabilitation and found that with a few modifications It would preserve the authenticity of the structure and the site And then in terms of the variance staff supports the variance because Sorry, I'm not gonna show the two findings like we usually do here The special circumstances under finding number one is that the reconstruction would allow the historic garage to maintain its Relationship with the historic residents on the property thereby preserving the authenticity of the site and Two that it's not a special privilege because multiple adjacent properties have garages and accessory structures located in their rear and side yard setbacks shown here in yellow So with that staff recommends the Planning Commission approved project 18-0278 based on the conditions of approval and findings Okay, thanks Matt. I'll bring it to the Commission for staff any questions for staff I guess I do have some questions So that so he's pointing a new pad right brand new currently. There's nothing there and he's gonna poor foundation. No foundation currently So I read the the Historical report and I noticed this statement saying that being that This garage was built after 1919 it is not built during a time of significance And from that I take it that this is not a historical garage Do you have any comment on that? I think it can be associated with the specific historic period That's generally how they talk about it in terms of they talk about it in terms of relating it to certain historic periods of building within the city So that just meant it couldn't be classified age-wise. It's definitely historic and that it's very old hundred years old But it didn't it wasn't associated with a specific period Well, so I'm confused then as to how what's the criteria specifically for establishing that a lean to is historic I think you'd have to ask the historian Well, and again, we read the report and what I got out of it is is is not Built during a time of significance. Hence I'm reading that is not really that historic I mean they go by the you know the sandborn maps which show the locations of buildings on the site at different times during, you know, the early 1900s 1920s that time period and one of the things in terms of authenticity is the relationship of His structures of that age in relation to each other on the site And that's something that's supposed to be preserved under the secretary of the interior standards so if it's old and it has a Established relationship to the the more historic main home There by extension. It's it's an important historic element of the property Thank you So and I just add that, you know, we have I believe five different lists of historical type buildings within capitolah and all of them have different methods for being on that list and I I know that the historical building A year time frame is is pretty lean it for for those type of homes. So Anybody else have a discussion? Any other questions, right? These are just questions. Okay, any other questions for staff? Okay, at this time. Well, uh, is the applicant here with the applicant like to speak good sir I think you can hear me Good evening council Our family has been involved. Please Oh, I'm sorry. John Nicholson. Okay. I'm one of the co-owners of 207 Saxon. Okay, been a family home for almost 60 years and Our family first became involved On Saxon Avenue in the 1930s when my mother's family had a summer home that they traveled to by horse and carriage So we've been we've been there a while right? Um, I'm basically here to answer any questions. You may have thank you. Mr. Nicholson any questions from the applicant No, okay. Thank you. Mr. It looks like we have no questions. You don't need to do thank you. You can leave it right there Appreciate that I will say that mr. Nicholson was an ideal historic homeowner in terms of historic preservation really enjoys Living in a historic house on on depot hill wasn't interested in changing it Just wanted to rebuild it the way it was. Um, but you know for the stable foundation and structure Right, totally understood and we appreciate you trying to preserve that Okay, uh, any anybody else in the audience that would like to Talk on this matter Okay, not seeing none. I'll bring it back to the commission for discussion So I've got a couple of comments again if you want me to jump right in you're you're welcome to jump in This is your opportunity So I uh There was a a letter that came in from a neighbor, right that Requested that it be a two-foot setback on the back as well as the on that's currently on the side Since he's pouring a new foundation anyway Uh, I would think that would be worth considering um That and the fact that again in my opinion, it's great that he's rebuilding it the way it The way it is, but I'm not sure there's a There's that strong of a case that this is historic and so Uh, moving it, um a foot and a half. Um, I don't think would be that big of a burden And uh, and I wouldn't object to the vinyl windows either Okay Go ahead Courtney, would you like to I was just if we could pull up the map the This one? Yeah Just in response to peter's I I Disagree I think that the the complaint came from the neighbor the neighbor's Uh structure sits on the property line and I don't see why he would have to move his proposed structure to appease When everybody else seems to be right on the property lines That's my Very good Anybody else This is a case where uh, I know that our chair has often He had things to say about the historic rules And I haven't always been favorable, but this is a case where it's working to the benefit actually of the applicant And uh make sense to me. I mean I read the neighbor's uh concerns, but I'm at favor I would agree I I often often have concerns about the secretary of interior standards this being a garage and having gone and looked at it today I would agree with uh commissioner christensen that it's right on the the neighbor that also had concerns is also on the property line their gutters basically aren't right at that fence line, so Um, you know, it's a shared area and this is one of the really the only advantages I can see in some of these times of this Having the historic thing and and talk about fees the applicant had to pay an additional fee to have the historian Architectural historian do a review of this as well And and so that money could pay off in the sense that Moving it forward really puts in disproportion to where the house is and would cause an inconvenience there So in this case, I would support um The uh stack ref staff recommendations on uh the document. So how are the house? I'll move approval Okay, we have a motion Emotion second all those in favor Hi hi and Any opposed? I really like tonight Okay, thank you sir. Good luck Okay, that moves us to uh item 4b, which is I assume is I don't see anybody leaving other than Mr. Nicholson right now, so I assume that's why you here while you're here And so we would like all of you that would like to speak have that opportunity So a couple things. I'll go back over the card system. We do have a card system in the back The green is a one-minute card the yellow is a two-minute card and the orange is a three-minute card So if you like to speak if you could grab a card And uh, we'll call them green first in yellow and then orange and try to allow all of you to have your voice Secondly just in the interest of transparency My daughter works for the applicant that's applying tonight Not on this project and um, so we reached out. I had we had the city attorney Reach out to the california fair Practice commission to looked in political practice commission to see if that would be a conflict of interest and they deemed that it was not a conflict of interest For me to participate One two this meeting tonight also and the reason why we're here is to get input The applicant's getting input as a conceptual review And we are as a commission are not taking any action on that on this tonight as far as approval This is just a time for The applicant to get insight from the community Which are those folks that chose to come tonight and the letters that we Received already and then some insight from what the planning commission themselves Have looked at so I just want to make sure those two items were out there and let me see if I have anything else I think That should do it. So with that we'll have a staff report Um, good evening commissioners and chairperson welch. I wanted to let you know that um, we have reached out to our um, it Heather hagerty will be She's here. She's setting up our overflow room in the community room So that will have more chairs set up and a comfortable situation for all those to participate So very soon we'll have a live stream going in the next door room and available seating for everyone to make This a more comfortable seating for everyone. So we'll you'll be informed when that room is ready And with that I'll Matthew Orbach will be presenting so great. All right. Thanks, katie Oh and the room is ready. I just got the thumbs up. So if anyone would like to Have a more comfortable seat. There'll be live streaming right next door and you can when it's time for public comment You can come and get in line during the appropriate um with your card, so Feel free to go next door and Get a comfortable seat right across the lobby Don't forget to grab a card on your way out And just so everyone knows about in terms of when public comment will occur I'm going to give a presentation The appling is going to give a presentation Then we'll take public comment and then it'll go back to the planning commission for their discussion. So Just so you know where public comment is in the order of things. All right. I think the the movement stops I'll go ahead and start here So tonight the app again is seeking guidance on a preliminary Development concept for a five story 88 room hotel with 92 on-site parking spaces at 120 Monterey street In the cv central village zoning district with a vs visitor serving overlay zone The conceptual review process provides an opportunity for a developer to receive early feedback on a concept prior to submitting a full application This evening. I will introduce the project. Then give the applicant the floor for presentation Following the presentation the planning commission will discuss each of the items. They are requesting guidance on The proposed site is located in the capital of village between the intersection of Monterey avenue and capitol avenue and esplanade park The site is along a major pedestrian thoroughfare between the beach parking lots and the beach It is one of the last undeveloped sites within the capitol village In the past decade the city has focused numerous long-range planning discussions on future redevelopment of the 120 Monterey avenue site And created goals policies and actions within the 2014 general plan Specifically incentivizing a hotel at the site through increased floor air ratio and height Action lu 7.3 states that hotels in the village may be developed with a maximum floor air ratio of three if authorized by the city council To approve a request for an increased floor air ratio the city council must find that one The additional floor air ratio results in a superior project with substantial community benefit To the project enhances economic vitality and three the project is designed to minimize adverse impacts to neighboring properties General plan policy lu 7.5 Establishes a hotel guiding principles Any new hotel proposed on the site of the former capitol theater must be consistent with the following The design of the hotel should respect the scale and character of neighboring structures and enhance capitol's unique sense of place The hotel should contribute to the economic vitality of the village and support an attractive active and engaging pedestrian environment The maximum height of the hotel should remain below the elevation of the bluff behind And the bluff behind the hotel should remain legible as a green edge with existing mature trees maintained on site The hotel design should minimize impacts the public views of the beach and village from depot hill And parking for the hotel should be provided in a way that minimizes vehicle traffic in the village and strengthens the village as a pedestrian oriented destination This could be achieved through remote parking shuttle services and valet parking arrangements A new zoning code was adopted by the city council in 2018 But it is pending adoption by the california coastal commission before it goes into effect inside the coastal zone Therefore the new code does not yet apply to this site The property owner has indicated that they plan to submit an official application for a hotel once the new zoning code is adopted by the coastal commission Typically a project is reviewed under the development standards in the code at the time of application However, at the request of the applicant, this conceptual review will be analyzed under the 2018 zoning code This will allow the applicant the opportunity to continue working on the conceptual design in preparation for an application submittal once the code is certified The general plan guidance on the proposed hotel site was included in the 2018 zoning code within chapter 17.88 Incentives for community benefits This chapter identifies allowances for an increased flurry ratio of three An increased height on the site in conjunction with the property owner providing community benefits All applications seeking these increased incentives within chapter 17.88 require conceptual review by both planning commission and city council The applicant will be required to submit an updated conceptual review after coastal commission certification of the code If they ultimately seek the incentives included in the updated zoning code The future application would also be required to include additional analysis on community benefits Also as drafted the new code will require story polls on the site during the required conceptual review So with that i'll get into the brief overview of the project The proposed site is less than one acre with a floor area ratio of three The maximum flurry is three times the size of the property The flurry ratio of the proposed hotel is 75 900 square feet, which is a floor air ratio of 2.62 This does not include the underground parking garage, which is located below grade and is not visible from the street The architectural style of the hotel is california spanish also known as spanish revival Which is reminiscent of mission style architecture found throughout coastal california The style utilizes deep set windows tile wood trim textured stucco finish ornamental metalwork and incorporates courtyards patios and a plaza The first level would serve the street frontage with the main hotel entry and a bar and lounge located along monoray avenue The first story includes the front desk banquet room two meeting rooms Boardroom kitchen and the entry to the underground parking garage off of el camino media The second story has 37 guest rooms a pool and a pool deck. It also connects to the proposed public plaza The third story has 26 guest rooms a garden the upper pool deck and a seating area with a fire pit Fourth story has 15 guest rooms with no additional hotel amenities And the fifth and final story has 10 guest rooms and an elevator mechanical feature The building ranges from two to three stories along the front facade on monoray avenue with the height of the building ranging from 26 to 38 feet As the building increases in height the massing decreases In addition the building steps back further from the street at each level after the second floor as shown on this slide The fifth story is step back 85 feet from the street and is 56.5 feet in height The elevator mechanical room on the roof of the fifth floor extends to a height of 58 feet The top of the bluff behind the hotel as presented by the applicant is 63 feet So the highest point of the proposed hotel is five feet under the bluff In terms of parking the capitol and municipal code requires one space for each guest room for hotels With additional spaces for owners and employees determined by the planning commission The proposed 88 room hotel includes 92 on-site guest parking spaces in an underground parking garage 45 of which are provided via mechanical lifts and the utilization of 25 to 50 parking spaces in the upper beach and village parking lot For employee parking oversized vehicles and large events City of capitol is in lieu parking fee program Which was established for new hotel uses in the village is contained in administrative policy i33 The program allows eligible hotel developments projects to purchase off-site parking spaces from the city in lieu of providing on-site parking An applicant for an eligible hotel project may request to purchase any or all of the allotted 56 spaces designated for the program In order to approve an application for in lieu parking the city council must make the following findings The proposed project is consistent with the city's local coastal plan and the coastal act Off-site parking for the proposed project would reduce traffic impacts and provide a design more consistent with the historic character of the village And the proposed project will help to facilitate the city's economic development goals This conceptual plan also provides three possible scenarios that could serve the village and hotel to help mitigate vehicle traffic impacts from the proposed project Circulation option one shown here would make Monterey avenue a two-way street leading to a roundabout at the esplanade Circulation option two would reverse traffic on esplanade And circulation option three would leave the circulation pattern as is These concepts have not been analyzed by a traffic engineer to assess the benefits and shortcomings of each option Prior to investing in circulation studies the applicant would like guidance on whether there are preferred options Or if there are any options that should not be studied So that'll conclude my first portion of the staff overview of the project In summary the applicant is going to be requesting guidance on the following areas design massing and articulation height parking traffic circulation and public benefits I have slides for each of these that I can bring up later after they give their presentation that we take public comment Great. Thanks matt. Any questions for staff? On number one if they're designed massing and articulation just exactly what do you mean by articulation? I think it's the How the levels are set off from one another But like the stepping yeah the height, okay Okay, any other questions for staff? Okay, not seeing any questions. We'll have uh, I guess applicant jesse you're gonna Good evening. Uh, thank you for having me here. My name is jesse bristow. I was swanson builders I'm a development project manager And uh, I just want to thank the planning commission for hearing us tonight. We really appreciate it and thank you for your public service So how we'd like to start tonight essentially with this conceptual project is Obviously, there's community input and there's city goals and there's project goals for for us as a builder So when we look at this project from swanson stand point of view, it it could be a legacy project This could be a landmark hotel Um, it's something that could be monumental for the village and be a be an attraction But also at the same time we have to take into consideration the design and the cost to build And then also we need to understand those operations and how an operator can work down at the village per the general plan requirements and you know requirements under a full service hotel The other points that need to be considered for the city of capitol is that it could be a great economic driver for the village uh, but we also need to look at the village impacts and But again, this is a project that could support the local businesses in the village and the city of capitol. So we're here tonight Wanting to get feedback and looking to see, you know, how can we Come to something that The community wants the city wants and what we can do as a builder And so if if this isn't the project that you can support, you know, what can we do? You know, what is something that you could support? So that's something we'd like to get back Um from this meeting tonight So we like to start off with the history of the capitol hotel. Um, there's a beautiful mural mural to the left of us This was the historically hotel. It was 160 rooms and as you heard, we are proposing 88 rooms and um, so It's always been a discussion for the community of how can we kind of bring this back as we'll discuss in the general plan Or something that is, you know Is that echoes it So the original hotel had has 160 rooms. It was I believe was built in 1904. It might have been a little bit earlier It was the centerpiece of the village until it burnt down. So, um, ever since that That time period It then operated as a cinema for about 50 years And it's currently being utilized as a private parking lot for Village and beach access So over time there's been a lot of different iterations of this project in 1995 There was a different architecture firm that that was working towards that in 2009 That was one of Swanson's first proposal And in 2010 was where it was really engaged with the community with the general plan update So the general plan had four focus areas, uh, and one of those areas being the village And for that community meeting there they were held over two days There's a hundred plus people and uh, we did a village charrette. Uh, well not me, but our firm so And from the takeaway of that as you see the the project on the left in in 2010 The the scale was too big. The three stories was not accepted For the street facade, you know, it wasn't to scale it didn't It didn't line up with the existing buildings in the village. So here we are about nine years later And we've taken the feedback that was given from those community meetings and adopted in the general plan And it's been applied to this hotel. So again, we're trying to maintain that human scale That exists in the village and then the massing for a full service hotel to actually operate is a step to the back towards the cliff So we'll go over the concept with which matt kind of already did a little bit, but um, so this is at The view from Monterey at the split and as we discussed, you know, we're going with a more traditional architectural style Something you'd find along the california coast and you can find it In in the village, uh, it We wanted to keep the massing in the scale in line with the britannia arms and similar to what you find at Salza's ice cream. So You know, when you're walking around enjoying the village it you can go buy it without Thinking it is a hotel that steps back further This is the viewpoint from capitol and monterey This is the viewpoint from capitol and and monterey And um, again, you know, we're trying to draw the draw the line towards the beach Be be similar in scale to uh to the neighboring buildings There's one architectural feature in the middle of the the front facade that allows for two suites Um, but again, you know, we feel that this design the style provides articulation that is compatible with the village here's an aerial view and um, as you can see and as matt discussed every floor goes up it steps back And we're trying to push it towards the bluff. Um, and one of the public benefits that we want to provide As part of this hotel moving forward is doing Kind of a reconstruction for the bathrooms and for the junior guard facilities So we're not taking them away, but we want to reinforce it We want to provide a public plaza along the deck that is Open to the public and adds to the to the bandstand Which people can utilize during, you know, the winter ice skate and um, you know, the lifeguards can use it whatever However, the community sees fit, but that would be belong to the community and be part of the esplanade park It would just um have a connection to the hotel users So the project summary, um, estimated 75,000 square feet We have 1,400, uh, square feet of meeting room space 2,000 square feet of Of banquet room 88 rooms. We have a bar lounge for just under 4,000 square feet a pool Public plaza and courtyard parking spaces. We have 92 on site and We're thinking we would probably try to allocate 25 to 50 in loose spaces from the city And the reason why we're providing these these meeting rooms in the banquet rooms Is it really helps with the shoulder season for full full service hotel? And we've met with with local business groups In capitol and one thing that they found it's very challenging to find meeting spaces within the city They often have to go to santa cruz or go to watsonville to hold events to host people When in reality they should be able to show off the beauty of the village and we're hoping to to provide for that and again as the uh, the hotel height bluff which which matt did uh, Did go over and just highlighting that we're trying to maintain that human scale at steps back as every floor Goes up. Um, it is 56 and a half feet 56 eight inches Give or take at the top of the hotel and we do have a elevator mechanical room For the elevator and and today Realistically that elevator it could be a roomless one or one that's based underneath the elevator at the base This is just conceptual, but if it is to exist we'd like to apply architectural features To mask it so it's not an eyesore um And again from the streets 56 feet, but from the slope of the bluff. It's at about 46 feet so Again, this massing and scale can be a little concerning, but it already exists in the village today And just because it's not one hotel under one hotel operator It is present and it's on the opposite side and it's the venetian and it's the harbor lights And the top of the harbor lights we estimate from the beach line is about 53 feet and they're doing the same exact thing It all steps back to maintain that human scale maintain that relationship with the beach and that's what we want to do That's what we want to emphasize and and still make it feel like a village So as matt discussed with the circulation options Uh the split at monoray one of the options that we're recommending and we've discussed with public works And of course need to be further studied, but perhaps we can contribute To to working on a roundabout at the at the end of monoray. We make monoray a two-way street Convert the split to a roundabout where people who are utilizing the beach Junior lifeguards drop off whenever you're trying to get to that end of the beach instead of having to go through Stocked in and onto the espionade. It's a shorter pickup and it could direct that That destination traffic from bay avenue onto capitol and from monoray and with the the reverse traffic option This was presented to city council. I think about 10 years ago, but it was never the the trigger wasn't pulled so to speak and But essentially again all that busy traffic comes off of bay and comes off of monoray instead of having it come off Opal cliffs and cliff cliff drive on the other side. It's coming directly from the freeway access So hoping to alleviate some of that that's coming towards the espionade and to the potential hotel And then afterwards can go towards those businesses And again option three It would be as is we would hope to implement a port could share because per the general plan To offer valet services to help mitigate some of that traffic So people pull up Offload and the valet takes it either to the upper parking lot or down below to the parking garage So currently as it stands it's a 26 space parking lot that exists today and during the busy season In peak season there's an average of six and a half trips per parking space So for every car you have two trips you're having an entrance and an exit and so People go to that parking lot because they know they can park there for the day and they utilize it The benefit of the hotel is that what we're trying to promote and accomplish is a long-term visitors So instead of having someone just visit for four hours and leave and adding to traffic we're having someone stay for four days we're having them stay for the week and for the weekend and Economic studies show that people who visit for a day spend way less than people that go on a long-term visit So that's the idea. We have people here frequenting the Businesses and enjoying the beach and not having to hop on highway one to go back over the hill to go back to You know 101 to go down south wherever they came from to visit the village So our parking Right now there's conceptually 67 stalls and then we added stackers Which I believe gave us 24 spaces Which bumped us up to oh, I'm sorry, but bumped us up to 92 total And we try to purchase or hope to purchase 25 to 50 spaces And again, you know, there has been concern that those spaces are utilized during the summer They're full by 10 o'clock. It's it's a sought after area to to park And so when the our hope is is that we can work with the city and some type of parking agreement Where we have an an extra Surplus of parking at the time or during the shoulder season We don't see a reason why we can't offer those as public parking At the same as we offer public parking at the site now So, you know, there's there's some flexibility there and some partnership there to help call some people's concerns So the the general plan As matt discussed it called it said appropriately designed to enhance the vitality And so us as a builder and as a developer, we've Been invested in this project for over 10 years And we've been waiting for the general plan to call for this project Which it does and we've been waiting for the lcp plan to allow something Of this of this character and so Today's that day or we're inching towards it with the lcp adoption in the zoning ordinance update so policy land use 610 village hotel consider the establishment of appropriately designed new hotel And to enhance the vitality of the area So what we're trying to do and what we felt we've accomplished is we're trying to maintain the human scale at the street level we're providing the california spanish architecture and The whole idea of this hotel this scale and and this design is to cater to a larger number of visitors For the economic benefits to the village and the local businesses So we understand the concerns of the size, but there are obviously trade-offs for for economic vitality policy land use 7.5 Design the hotel should respect the scale and character of the neighboring structures Which we've tried to do at that street level We understand this is a larger project than people are used to But we're trying to maintain that that feel and look of the village as it exists today The hotel should contribute to the economic vitality of the village and support active alternative Uses engage in pedestrian environment. We want to have people park and stay long term create that walkability We also want to as we'll discuss we want to try to do a bike share program either with the independent operator Or such as jump or or line bike And also we're willing to provide a system in From the hotel same as the dream and they offer their own rental bikes as well The maximum height of the hotel should remain Below the elevation of the bluff and maintain that that green that green area and you know To our best efforts that that is what we're doing. We're not exceeding the bluff there is a buffer and Again, we're we're trying to fit all the boxes here that the general plan is asking of us Hotel design should minimize impacts of public views of the beach and the village from depot hill We're not exceeding The bluff line at depot hill you can still look down onto the village and as we step it back It creates a better viewpoint down onto the village Parking for the hotel should be provided in a way that minimizes vehicle traffic in the village and that's through Offsite parking shuttle and valley parking and we're trying to do all of those things We would offer all those items and that's one of the Reasons why this hotel has so many rooms is because you need a higher room count To provide a full service hotel full service hotel has the valley parking it has shuttle It has different different bike programs so action land use 7.3 the the floor area ratio of 3.0 and Is in the code as well it's for the community benefits with which matt went over a little bit But we are providing a public plaza addition to the esplanade park with improvements to the junior guard facilities Community meeting space within the village. We are we're proposing a bar lounge To encourage hotel users to frequent the existing restaurants We don't want to provide a competing restaurant Into the village and so we would just have a a bar lounge with a pantry kitchen Which would also support potential catering events The parking program as spaces become more available We offer them to If we have a surplus we'd offer them to the public So we bring up the fair fill in in suites Because it's a similar product that exists in capitol today and and it was a project that was a little scary To the community and it's now settled. It's now part of 41st avenue and it operates very successfully today Has 84 rooms. It's three stories at 41st and it steps back to four stories Has a pool at fitness center and a meeting space and this year they have a 90 occupancy 2018 then a 88 occupancy and 89 occupancy and when we've reached out to local hotel operators That is very high that shows that there's a demand and that there's a need for something else The additional community benefits. It's utilizing a vacant site Or keeps visitors exploring the village on foot Promotes visitors to capitol village provides a meeting space activates village during the off season And the public facilities beach plaza restroom and the upgrade to the junior guard facilities The economic benefits we estimate that this project could generate 1.3 million dollars in tot tax And there are percentages that are allocated to the early childhood education Which would be four and a half thousand dollars a year and then five a little over five thousand dollars per year To local business groups. So that is direct revenue to the general fund of just under 1.3 million dollars for public services For firefighters for police for whatever the city needs to use So we think there's a great economic benefit that could be taken advantage of here for the city Additional economic benefits year-round tourism for capitol and the village merchants converting day trips to long-term visitors Additional sales tax revenue at nine percent for the bar and lounge And the creation of 200 plus construction jobs in 40 long-term hotel jobs So Again, you know at the beginning of this presentation. We asked is this a design a concept that something planning commission Could support, you know the community General plan calls for it and we're trying to meet those standards. And so If this doesn't work, we'd really like to know what will and we appreciate your feedback. Thank you Thank you, jesse any questions for jesse for you have some yes You mentioned the concept of possibly sharing the parking in the upper parking lot with the city. Yes Parking plan I can't quite figure out how that work if if the if the visitors are using your parking then where are your Employee so that's just going to park Oh, I think that but you mean the sharing between our visitors and our employees or for the public. No, you you mentioned that You could work out a possible Compromise with the city where the public could use those in loose spaces. Yeah at certain times Yes, but whenever they came available I think we'd be able to allow them to either park under the hotel or at the at the upper parking lot Whatever became available if there's a surplus of okay Is the large eucalyptus tree behind Britannia arms scheduled to be removed Not to my knowledge I'd have to look at the parcel map, but we've done a lot of Sure It's not on the rendering. Yeah, sorry. I don't have it on the rendering but so we've looked at We've explored options of actually building the hotel against the bluff and that is not feasible It's also very expensive. So there is an existing brick Historic, I don't know if it's historic but an older brick Brick retaining wall that goes up about nine or 10 feet Essentially in this design we would reinforce it But the hotel would have no relationship with the bluff physically at all So we we do own the bluff technically the parcel goes up, but we eucalyptus tree isn't on the bluff Okay, then no, we I don't think we'd own it. So we wouldn't remove it We have no intention of removing any any trees I don't think that is our tree, but any of the trees on the bluff. We have no intention of removing The roundabout concept. Yes, I noticed the palm tree is gone Yes Well, you know, that's an iconic feature in Capitola. Well, I'm I'm sure we could work around it Uh, what are the banquet room capacities and the meeting room capacities? Uh, I'm not a firefighter. DJ over 2000 square feet for the banquet room. Um, I'm not sure about that one. I would guess maybe I don't know 50 to 100 people. I'm not sure Okay, can those be those rooms be utilized by non hotel guests? Absolutely. So you can have conferences Absolutely. That's the intent things like that. Absolutely. Yes. Okay. So where would those people park? So, uh, the the the idea is that during the busy season would mainly be hotel operations during that slower fall season Spring winter season. That's when companies usually do retreats and things like that Or conferences. I know some happen in the summer, but the idea is that the majority of the parking would be for the During the shoulder season cars would directly park under and any overflow would be for those events So will Swenson own and operate the hotel or will they sell it? We may own it, but we would not operate it. We are not we're not a hotel operator Okay Is the swimming pool absolutely absolutely necessary? Um, I think that's you know open to opinion, but um your point taken Okay. Thank you. Sure Do you have a question? Yeah, I have a couple. Um One concern that one of the um One of our citizens raised in the materials we got was Had to do with the flood plain. Mm-hmm. So you're doing subterranean parking In an area that's below the flood plain and what's your plan for that? Sure. So uh downtown Santa Cruz Is in the flood plain? Uh, we have a lot of buildings. We've done a lot of garages. It's um a practice that's Pretty common. Um, it happens throughout San Jose and San Francisco. It's just the technology's gotten better But um when it comes to that, uh, garage, it's it's essentially it's a big bathtub Except it's meant to keep keep out the water. But in a flood event, it's meant to take on water It's meant to mitigate you're supposed to flood the garage Usually there's two pumps in the garage if one fails the other one kicks on and that water gets pumped into the sewer system I mean downtown Santa Cruz Got flooded in 1955 and maybe once again, but capitol In that area gets flooded almost every year every winter. Yeah, and so in an event Are you speaking of a rain flood? Or are you speaking of a ocean flood ocean? Sure, so in in the terms of an ocean event The entrance to the the hotel is on Camino Medeo. So that is the highest point There's about a two to four foot slope from the corner of botanical arms to the top So it's at the highest point. So it's you know, it's held off as much as it can All right. So in that event, uh, I'm sure the rest of the village will still like the other half will be under water But ocean water would go into the garage. It's intended to flood. That's that's how they're designed and in and Perhaps it acts as a mitigation because it's going to flood first before it floods other areas But that's how it would work in a rain event as well So but I I think in a rain event the idea is for it to flood and pump it out into the sewer system My other question and you might not be able to answer this yet Kind of follows up on on commissioner ruth asked about what your plans are for the ownership of the hotel And my question is when do you know if when you come through with an application? You would be looking at a subdivision so that it could be a condominium style Hotel much like seascape or sure, so um Two responses that a coastal commission does not want to see that type of product They want to see a hotel and they want to see visitor serving uses and they want it to be accessible to To everybody so when you when you privatize it in a sense of that way to ownership It's a no-no in their in their viewpoint Also, it's the sea. I'm sorry. Is this a seascape resort? The seascape resort so that was done in the 60s So after the the housing crash those are financially tricky to fund Banks do not like those because there's an ownership percentage and there's a lot of debt And it's it's not something banks would approve. That's why you don't see them today So your answer is that it's not really contemplated. No Yeah, you mentioned that if the parking garage underground parking garage filled with water or had Water in it you'd pump it into the sewage system. Yeah sanitation district doesn't allow that Coast coast you can't pump storm drain water into the sewage system I think in a catastrophic event you can uh coastal commission directed us saying that that's where it has to go because of the The contaminated oil they don't want it going back out to the ocean from from drip pans or from cars You might want to check with sanitation district policies. Sure. Thank you commissioner wilk or christianson you have questions for I've had a question. Um, what was I wanted to clarify why it was 88 rooms Sure. Yeah, so We we've met with a few hotel operators and and again the the services that the general plan calls out for us to provide And uh, which requires a hotel of this scale, which would be full service So to have a fully functioning full service hotel Just short of having a restaurant. You need close to 100 rooms Um, we we've reached out to some operators that are very excited about this project us, you know In comparison to other hotel opportunities. We've looked at and this is an established market. It's obviously a destination It's a beautiful area. Um, this is the one that that they want us to keep them Up to date, but they've said if you can get as close to 100 rooms as possible. That's what's feasible Thank you, but is there was there a reason? Um, the proposal of the underground garage As opposed to maybe helping fund a parking structure. Is there um, is there any preferred reasoning behind that? Uh, I don't I don't think so. I think, um I mean one Well, it depends on the type of structure, but Every floor you go up in a parking structure the cost becomes Almost exponential. It's that's definitely certain if you go one floor or two floor floors down Um, I don't know if we would be able to partner with the city to do a parking garage in that time span Um, I I'm not sure if jesse nickle wanted to speak to that In general, you really want to have the parking jesse nickle from very swanson senior vice president You usually want to have the parking you usually want to have one parking space per room Is a general rule of thumb Once you know and you're going to have valet off-site as well and so you'd have So it's important to have that relationship between on-site parking and the room Thank you, but you know We don't have it in the makings to I mean financially. It's really challenging. This project is very risky So for us just even like sell this to our CEO is a challenge So, you know, so we're just we're doing something that's economically viable We think we could work and try to meet all the guidelines that are set forth among us and today and tonight It's just about listening being an active listener and what the community wants and maybe a hotel is not appropriate there Thank you Commissioner welke. Do you have anything to ask? Um, I was just curious about the water credit Issue heavy heavy how hard to be where is that still an obstacle or do you think you have a path to So this the city of capitol, I believe has 5.3 acres foot acre of Of water credits This hotel realistically would need a probably about 15 or 16 Um, the offset, uh, we would purchase them from soquel water creek district They currently have a surplus of I want to say 30 to 50 water credits Um, but but again, it's it's expensive to do that so So you still have a lot of work to do is that what you're saying to to work? Well, I haven't we we haven't pursued allocating water credits if this is something that um Is not supported. Um, you know that that pathway can become very expensive So we want to make sure this is something that is welcomed before we pursue that But it is it is possible. They're available for purchase today for for future development. So you don't feel it's an insurmountable object Or obstacle No, I don't think so Okay, that's all the questions the commission has we're going to open this up for public questions Comments, so we're going to start off with the thinker. Yes, we're going to start off with the green cards the one minute card So if you can line up over here to my left, uh, we'll do that and We're going to try to keep you right on time. So We'll try to keep this moving along. I don't know how many of you really want to speak tonight So I may prompt you politely to wrap up your discussion if you're going over but the light system Sean Is going to help us try to keep uh, keep you on track as well You'll see a yellow light and then a red light come on And uh, so we appreciate this Again is conceptual. It's is the applicants mentioned. They're they're trying to get more community input And we appreciate it because often it's just the five of us trying to fill the input And so this is great that we've got such an outpouring of the public. So with that, we'll go ahead and start off May I have a few come up and just state your name? And uh, and let us hear your comments. My name is pitter fox. I live on McCormick Avenue Which is the first street that doesn't have Parking restrictions So even on the average day, we have all the clerks all of the waitresses and waiters Parking on our street. That's it's typical. We're used to it You know, we usually accommodate them as best we can but every time we park and re-park We've got to get the trash can out to hold our spot um I took the sandy light and history class at cabrillo and From the beginning of capitol parking has been an issue and I Don't i'm not Disagreeable with this idea of the hotel I think it scales a little bit big Um, I think the underground parking is completely wackadoodles because I've been here in winter storms And and I don't know you guys check out if there's a insurance company that would even take the liability We could have dark humor see the Mercedes and the tesla is being pulled out It that would be a shame, but I I can see that they could go that way That's that's what they can work out the primary thing is parking and I tried when we did it five years ago when we had the big thing at jade street park and tried to do the general plan a tiered structure the tiered structure at the end of bay avenue by the freeway that's usually just a A public works drop-off spot if there was a big structure there with some Buses that that would that might be a good spot for it because otherwise in the village There is no way and if they take spaces from our parking area Uh, that's not going to help anyone out. Thank you mrs. Fox. Thank you Please leave your card in the white box. Oh, I should have mentioned that the white box there is for your car. Thank you Sure, my name is mark. I live in the village a newer resident, but I happened to walk through the parking lot and Obviously traffic and parking seems to be the biggest issue. I think everybody that I know of is seems to be an advocate of A hotel and the necessity of the economics for the city. I think it's great um, but as I walk through I notice that The people who are supposed to be looking out for the good neighbors are charging Handicap parking You park there as a handicapped person. There's a couple of spots. They charge you for parking And to me a good neighbor wouldn't do that I understand they may or may not require handicapped parking and they provide it would have you but a good neighbor wouldn't do that The other is is the the underground parking as proposed is going to include a number of lifts The only way for that to happen in a real world scenario is for there to be enough depth And what I've seen in other projects in other areas is that depth hasn't been allowed And so the lefts the lifts are installed, but they're never used because you can't get the height out of them to acquire two vehicles So the promise of the number of spaces and what have you has to be taken into consideration. I'm out of time. I just Thank you mark. Yeah, I appreciate Hi, my name is jago mccloud. These are my kids Amani and eland who you can see is in his junior guards outfit from representing capitol it today up in santa cruz My wife laura and I moved here about 15 years ago And chose to raise our family here And as we spend time at the beach I've looked up at the hotel or the apartment building at the end of cliff and grand and wondered How did that happen? And it occurred to me as this momentum built that there was a moment much like this when that happened and This is more than about traffic or parking This is about the service vehicles that come around corners and People that don't live in this neighborhood coming in quickly that are late to drop off laundry Our kids already go through the village and there's tremendous amount of traffic there It's too big. It's obnoxiously close to the bluff. It doesn't seem like it's aligned With the the goal set out in the general plan And it doesn't seem like it's even close. So please Don't be the group that lets the next thing Happen like that. Thank you, mr. McLeod and mcLeod family My name is michael clark. I've been a property owner in the village for too many years and uh First of all, I want to say on the design I I think it's spectacular and I think they've gone to a great deal of effort to to make it comfortable for the village the the Not only this will this present great economic benefits for The merchants in the off-season It'll increase their their business and their sales tax revenue But the big thing Is the potential of over a million dollars a year in room tax revenue which is Free free revenue. You don't have to share that with anybody The city gets it all and That can go a long way to solving other problems throughout the whole city Not just the village And I think the city has a lot of needs there. I think it's a great project. Thank you, mr. Clark Good evening. I'm denison or and I live close to the village here as do most of the people in this audience here We don't drive to the village We we walk to the village where people who live are but we're vastly affected by Parking and circulation in the village And if you look at the geographics of the village itself It's 75 of the land in this village is allocated to the automobile. That is the problem Before you discuss a hotel you have to resolve the issue of trying to park more people in this village And that has to be resolved before there's any issue. The real answer is is we started it We have we have remote lots That can be double decked you put people up there and you shut them down the village It makes everybody's pedestrian experience so much better including the people who live here If we can find a way let's close. Let's close the village down to parking during the summertime Park everybody up there have Barry Swinson If he wants a hotel there build a second or third story of a pacific code And let let the people who live here Enjoy the village as well as anybody at bits here. It will be a much more inviting place as many cities have done this The the biggest hotel in Santa Monica Very similar to what's being proposed here has remote parking Nobody parks at that hotel and they are very successful. You do not have to park people in this thing It's certainly cheaper to park people up the hill than it is to dig a hole underneath this hotel So think about the parking circulation before consideration of this hotel. Thanks Dennis Some of you may want to go get a yellow card instead of your green card I don't want to be disrespectful up here, but all right come on Hi, I'll stay within my one minute. Um, my name is linda wadley. My husband tim and I Live right in the village. We moved here about seven years ago to retire in this little slice of paradise We're still able to see the ocean from our house, but that could soon be be gone I just feel that the I think they put a lot of work into this plan But I just think it's way too big. It's just out of line out of place I'm not opposed to a smaller hotel or a bed and breakfast Maybe with a restaurant we all could enjoy but this project just seems out of place I think it would change the look and the feel of our sweet charming village And I can't even imagine how long the construction would take and what a nightmare that might be And if you live anywhere near Monterey Avenue already and you see everybody cutting through to get to the freeway and through the village Can't even imagine take that times 89 people with the room and their families So, um, anyway, I just want to say those are our feelings and, um Thank you for hearing me out. Thank you. Ms. Wally Nancy fricker at 110 Saxon and I want to say she said that very well I agree with a lot of what she said I may have missed something but it seems to me that nothing's been discussed about the water usage And I know water has been a big concern in our area So that's an added Issue. So I was wondering about that Great. Thank you, Nancy Any more yellow cards? I'm sorry green cards My name is Barbara Muti and I live at 920 Capitola Avenue up from the village And um, some issues that were discussed in 2010 that I don't think anybody brought up this time is the increased sewage from this project And how the sewage system over at the end of the esplanade Spews out or however it's handled It's a pulsation if there's if the sanitation district is able to accommodate that much extra sewage the other thing is the uh If there's is the pool going to be on the roof Second floor. I was just wondering about the the people who live behind the hotel added noise If there's the plaza and just added noise around the area for residents who live near it Thank you, Barbara Mr. Fox you can come on up too quick issues from looking at the the photo um If you were standing up on Deepo Hill and you were looking down into the village You can currently see the beach pretty easily But if you see the way the building is stepped back from the cliff, you're not going to have that view anymore Because that building stuck way out And it's going to trap your view the second item Is they've stated they're going to be 40 employees Where are those 40 employees going to park? That's it. Thank you, mr. Fox Any more any more green cards? Seeing none. We'll move into the two-minute timeframe. We'll bring the yellow cards up Carol stern. I live on Balboa avenue and I bought here seven years ago and um First I want to thank all of you for protecting the jewel that Capitola has become and protection is a key word One week ago the mercury news named capitol as one of the nation's most unspoiled vacation spots Capitola's ranked fourth In a list of unspoiled vacation spots in the united states Unspoiled vacation spots is defined as a place that does not cater only to tourists but maintains its reputation and its spirit To bring another hundred cars 250 people Into the village is just wrong Look at these photos that I have taken on a saturday july 13th between two And four p.m. The beach is packed umbrellas You couldn't put another hundred umbrellas there what It strips away bringing a project of this magnitude strips away the quality of life that all of us local people Here enjoy And this should not be a trade-off for economic vitality More is not better The one thing that I heard this gentleman speak about Was that it would be better if people stay here for four and five days Because they wouldn't be commuting driving, but do they this is a democracy Everyone who comes here for one day from san jose or from modesto or from turlock They have the right to come here too for one day And enjoy the beach and not just Block it off for those people Who can stay for a week? Thank you mr. Stern, okay We have a paid paradise Thank you. Okay, please look at the pictures Any more yellow cards? Okay, we're on to the three-minute cards at orange cards Before I start could we open the doors a little bit? It's very very hot back here Good evening planning commissioners and staff. It's uh Nice to be here to see again. Usually I watch you on television I have been here since 1972 and so I've seen a lot of changes And this particular development is like one that we've fought in the past People talk about the crest apartments the three-story apartments on park avenue The hotel proposal for city hall That led to the vision capital Meetings that said they wanted to capital to stay pretty much the same and not be overdeveloped which Which the city has had proposals forever for Multi-story buildings on capitol avenue and so forth The size is way too. By the way, I'm speaking on behalf of some citizens from depot hill that couldn't be here tonight And also citizens on my street on 42nd avenue that couldn't be here tonight The size is too big for the village We had a discussion Last year a year before on whether we were going to allow three stories in the village and we said no two stories is fine I think what we envisioned for the hotel site was maybe three stories, but not five We have to go back to the general plan discussions There was a report that was turned into the city For the hotel property But not all of the things that are in the general plan were agreed upon by the general plan committee As ed may remember The plan was submitted by the planning director at the time and the city manager made additions to it without consulting with the general plan committee So some of these broad other Things that you're looking at were not agreed to by the by the general plan committee They weren't aware of it And the city council did approve the general plan But it didn't have that information either at the time that there were things that were added by the city manager And if you'd like to know what they were I'd suggest you ask him I worked at a hotel for five summers when I was in college and after college in graduate school It was 135 room hotel with banquet facilities cafe restaurant Excuse me So I have some familiarity with what it needs in terms of parking and this isn't going to work. I don't think It's a nice proposal. It's attractive, but it needs to be much much smaller We cannot eliminate more parking in the village. We've done that before over the years We used to have more parking and little by little we have decreased it and I've always opposed those We cannot Decrease it anymore As you know in the summertime with the junior guards the traffic is impossible And I can't imagine having this kind of a huge development there with all the problems that we have already in the summertime It's terrible in the summertime down there. A lot of locals don't even go down there because of it So Community benefits, I would say community benefits would be paving 41st avenue paving claire street and paving fan mar That's what I'd like to see. That's what we need So what will work retail housing office small restaurant with parking on site that'll work And we don't sell ourselves out for the money So I know you won't do that and the council won't do that. Thanks. Stephanie. Thank you very much On the sanitation district also We'll not want that extra water because they when we had the flood in the village That water all went down into the to the um live live oak Center and it overflowed the live oak center And we got fined a million dollars by the regional water quality control board because it flooded into maran lake Since then they have they have added a a larger Containment area, but it still won't won't handle what could happen from this. Thanks. Thank you Hi, I'll be very brief probably not three minutes. Uh, marianne angelo and um, my family owns four properties on lawnway And years ago that was parking and that was taken away and made a park a park And the property owners at that time were told that don't worry You'll always have parking on the street and little by little that has eroded as we all know It's pretty difficult. We do of course have the to our exemption permits, but you can't find a spot So you go and you don't move and you walk and that's okay Most things are within walking distance that we need Um, that was my first point is to represent those property owners I happen to be personally so that's my family who owns that I personally am renting a place on monorail Um, and I represent molly and mickey ording who own 218 monorail avenue And at night I can open the window and I can hear the beach I can hear the ocean I can hear the crashing waves if I open my window and there's a hotel under me I'm going to hear the air conditioner. That's what I'm going to hear in the summer. We all know that and um Coming from fresno, california where we built a lovely Shopping center called river park next to freeway 41 you drive down freeway ward 41. And what do you see? You don't see a flat roof If you're on that bluff what you're going to see are air conditioning units And you're certainly going to hear them if you live on depot hill anywhere on depot hill because they make a lot of noise um And I agree with the fact that it will obstruct the view of the beach and so many people whether they're day use visitors or residents Walk along That's not grand grand avenue and cliff avenue and take photographs and look at the sunset and um I just Don't think you're gonna like what you see and I do appreciate because my husband's a developer in fresno I appreciate the amount of time and effort that they took and to try to find something that will work I just I don't think a three-story anything is going to work. I think it's going to have to be small It's going to have to be a really small boutique hotel with on-site parking really small And that's it. Thank you. Miriam any Kathy Howard on columbus drive um I just wanted to address a few things right now I know that down in the village many of the restaurant people um their employees Do come in from out of town. They aren't all Santa Cruz employees So there's a parking issue that happens with that and um besides the skateboards or whatever goes through The parking is just gone. We don't have parking. They say they're going to have shuttle parking or valet parking from where My question is from where is there another lot that could Be used as parking where they could bring them in that might be a viable solution to do that um We already have so many people here that is really good. It's good for the economy But the one thing that really stands out to me is what is the character of capitol? And we have been chiseling away at that You know, what makes the beach area down there around the palm trees and stuff really nice is that there's some open space And that open space is what opens it up enough to feel like it's a larger space than what it is um So I would like to see that character same stay the same I do appreciate the amount of work that went into it the designs beautiful But saying that I don't want another dream in in capitol on our cliffs You know, I remember santa cruz dream in before it got built there It changed the whole character of what it is. We have to have business We need to have the income. It does help the economy But not at the expense that it changes everything so much that we don't have character here anymore Um, the other thing is is um, I heard the comparable with fairfield in which is on 41st The reason why that was so supported was because it's on 41st and that's commercial area It isn't our personal area. I don't think we should leave out the people who live in live oak or other areas That do spend money here You can go down there any morning at seven o'clock and on and find people who come in serve for a couple hours and leave That is the dream of the people who have lived here who have homes here To maintain that kind of thing and I just think that the scale should at least be dropped back to three story I do Appreciate what they want to offer us, but it's way too large for this small city. Thank you. Thanks, kathy We have any more orange card. Anybody else would like to Speak Okay Hello I'm nails kissling and I've lived here long enough that I qualify as a historical artifact And uh, this project just has too many twos There's just too many twos It's too massive. There's too much water demand too many parking spaces lost Too many more tourists than too much added traffic and congestion This thing is too massive It's going to leave a permanent impact on the visual capitolah that we all love and the quaint capitolah that we all voiced a strong opinion for during vision capitolah One of the top responses that came out of vision capitolah Is to maintain an existing scale and charm of the village do not over build The second too much is too much water demand. Where's this water going to come from to support this project? We're all being told to conserve water and we're all being told that we're over drafting the aquifer Hotels use a lot of water There's too many parking spaces are going to be lost The developer proposes to eliminate up to 22 village street parking spots around the hotel Another 50 parking spots are going to be eliminated from the upper public parking lot and designated for hotel employees to use That's crazy Then there's too many more tourists I heard earlier, you know, you can't fit any more tourists on our beach in the summertime You know, how many more visitors do you want to try to fit on the beaches in our restaurants? And how many more tourists can our infrastructure support? It's just too much Lastly it's too much added traffic and congestion You know, all of us that live here. We all know how crazy it is to try to drive through the village You know, I think if you're gonna support this hotel I think the spenson builders should drive 25 laps around the village between three and five o'clock Yeah, see how long that takes You know, this project is simply too much Please do not support a project of this scale with such harmful impacts to capitol This is the capitol that we all know and we all love Capitol it should be about us. It should not be about them Thanks Nils Okay, do we have anybody else that would like to speak? So what's going to happen is we're going to be back to the commission and we'll have a discussion and some input for the applicant and We're going to stop all public inputs. I'm going to give you one more chance. This is your opportunity Here you go. Look I saw you back to the green card all except green yellow red. I don't just come on up Larry Abbott ball from El Camino Bidio that entire area is going to be severely impacted and we will lose our views But more importantly, you're faced with a really interesting and almost historical decision the whole flavor of historic capitol is going to be in your hands So it's going to change it. It will be the centerpiece. I believe of of capitol and You know, it is a much, you know, I have self-interest which is I yeah, I liked it when the I liked when the when the movie theater was there. Okay, so so but but you know, you obviously know this But it is a severe thing and it will change capitol, you know, right from the bottom up and you know, I am again You know concerned about what's going to happen on El Camino Bidio. Thank you. Thanks And Marie Weiss, I have junior guards and support capitol wholeheartedly I think if the hotel is actually a great idea at a smaller scale My concern would be these meeting rooms and banquet rooms. Let's be honest. These are beach weddings So now we've got every weekend for six months of the year being filled up for weddings That's what's going to happen. It'd be happy if it wasn't but that's what's going to happen So imagine what we're going to do every weekend now Just think about it. Thank you, miss white Okay, anybody else out there Well, we appreciate your comments and I appreciate that they were civil and I'm sure that the applicant got some notes and we'll bring it back to the planning commission for comments So who would like to Start we'll start. We'll start with Mission or Ruth I've lived in Well, you have something to say Oh, no, no, I'm just going to make my comments I've lived in capitol for 55 years Uh, I can recall in the wintertime you could shoot a cannon down the uspinod not hit anyone That's how it's changed The one thing I love about this community Is that when people perceive a threat to the village they circle the wagons And we get these great turnouts for these meetings This project and I I think you guys will agree that It assumes that it qualifies for those additional density bonuses Because it meets those four Criteria and the four criteria. I don't know if you guys recall them up there Respect for the scale and character of the neighboring structures and enhances capitol is unique sense of place Contributes to the economic vitality Minimizes impacts on the beach and village and the parking should minimize vehicle traffic now I can't assume That you're meeting those criteria And if you don't meet those criteria, then you're only allowed 58,000 square feet and you're only allowed 27 feet in height So perhaps in between there there could be a happy medium Because I don't think this project meets those criteria to allow that kind of density bonus Uh, I would like to see the architectural style reflect something of an historical vein Uh Something along the lines of the old hotel victorian italian gothic I find this design Looks like southern california Any beach community in southern california, and I don't think it fits the unique character or enhances the character of capitol I counted 46 parking spaces in the lot on your property Not 26. I was down there today and counted each individual lined space There are six off street parking spaces that Front or on street parking spaces that that front the property So I'm assuming those would all be lost. So that's a total of 52 parking spaces And if we're going to take another 25 to 50 in the upper parking lot We're looking at somewhere from roughly 75 to 102 public parking spaces lost that accommodate visitors in the village I'm not sure how we offset that kind of loss for people that want to come here unless they park in the neighborhoods where there's unrestricted parking While there's no traffic counts available for this concept, obviously We know it's going to have a huge impact and your first two options of making the Esplanade two-way or making it one way on the other end and eliminating our palm tree Which when you come down Monterey avenue down the hill that is like the focal point for the beach and village Uh So I think we need to Work out something where you do use the in lieu parking and perhaps even maybe Some kind of structure in the parking lot where people could check in drop off their luggage and a shuttle Serve so they don't even have to drive their vehicles into the village might be something reasonable that might work So I'd like to see a substantially smaller proposal Something that more closely reflects the historical site Reflects the old hotel. I think if you could do something like that, I don't think you'd get any argument from this community They want to see something like that restored down there, but not Just overwhelm the village Uh, I know the far You have an option to go to 3.0 if you can meet those benefits Uh for me personally when that was brought forth in the general plan I was voice concerned about it because I saw it as an end run around the zoning requirements And the findings are very subjective. I mean You could ask a hundred and people and get a hundred different answers because there's no way to measure those findings So I'm concerned about The density the height I'm not sure how a pool would be utilized, but I think the noise would carry up onto depot hill I think some height and design variation that That fronts along el camino medio because those people that have those homes on el camino medio looks like right now They're going to be looking at blank walls with windows in them even though they vary in heights and I would like you to consider reducing or eliminating the conference room space and uh I'm not sure with With with that particular use and I think the lady was correct and saying it's going to be utilized all the time Because it's such a desirable place to have a wedding I think it could overwhelm the village So my opinion is There's probably some tremendous economic benefits. I mean those are pretty obvious But for me personally, I'm not willing to sell the soul of the village for economic benefits So that's my So I'm gonna keep my comments Brief and not try and be comprehensive tonight Just touch on a few things. First up. It's great to see the passion and interest of the community We we come here once a month and it's often very lonely It's kind of a nice welcome change So you kind of might have got the idea that I was the chair of the general plan advisory committee Over a three-year period and that we put in a lot effort And the hotel was one of the bigger issues that we dealt with there was 41st and there were some others but We put a lot of time in and mayor ex-mayor harlan is correct that What ended up in the general plan it might not be completely what was discussed like But uh in In my view the design Uh of this project complies fairly well with at least what we tried to accomplish In the general plan process. I think the developer made a great effort to To follow the guidelines and I I know this is personal commissioner ruth doesn't like the design He wants a different style, but you know, I personally am fine with the design part of the building I'm fine with the height of the project um The concern I have I'm going to talk a little bit about change because uh changes are constant and Capitola was one thing in 1890 and it was something different in 1920 And it was something different when I came 50 years ago and it's going to be something different 20 years from now. So those of you who want to freeze Uh It's a point in time. Uh, that's that's not gonna happen That has never happened that never will happen. So we can't be afraid of Things changing if we do it, um intelligently, but What's changed for me from the time that the general plan Went into effect and now is I'm maybe my perceptions wrong But I think the congestion in capitol has increased astronomically over the last few years It may have to do with highway one I don't know what it is, but I can walk into down to my office a lot faster most days than I can drive and I'd have to pick uh It just everyone knows this the congestion Is uh has increased markedly and The problem with this project for me Is not the design and style and even size. It's the traffic circulation congestion issue And I don't think the developer has really tackled it in a viable way yet. Um The ideas that were have kind of been thrown out in a very preliminary way Our ideas that we actually started studying at various times and it's never really gotten anywhere So I don't know what the answer is. I'm I'm hopeful that technology is the answer and I haven't ever gotten much traction with this before, but I've I've been saying that the autonomous vehicle is going to revolutionize Us in ways that we don't really even realize right now And building large parking structures, for example, we may turn out to be Waste the time and money because we're not quite sure. I mean Well, we all know how fast things are changing and that's one area where the biggest companies in the country are throwing half of their resources into figuring it all out and so You know, maybe a smaller product right now Would satisfy enough people. I kind of doubt it but I'm thinking more that the answer is uh Some changes in the future due to technology that make The ability to have a hotel in that location in the capitol of village work So that's that's my thoughts at this point Thank you and commissioner newman commissioner christensen um I agree with um commissioner newman I With considering the concept of the Proposal of the hotel just the way it looks I think it needs to be fine-tuned in many areas. Um But I think that I like how This conversation is bringing up The existing problem with congestion in capitol um the the pictures that One of the speakers gave us was very Telling of what a typical weekend is in capitol. Um I hear the developer saying that the people will stay that the cars will stay underground um, I I think it just more points need to be addressed of how Of how the hotel will remedy the congestion and And the community itself. Um at the second point I I have is um The homeowners of on Camino medial That entire side of the hotel as it's addressed in the renderings I'm fairly concerned about it seems to be a big blank stark wall um, if you pull up the Overall plan plan view of the hotel That's the view right there And that's it. Um, there's not really even a sidewalk addressed Not that anybody would be walking necessarily in front of the garage, but Just enhancing the community space on that road at least not just having it be blank and sterile but generally speaking I agree pretty much With commissioner newman and Yeah Thank you commissioner wilk so I use the general plan as my bible as to whether or not How I should evaluate this and it seems to me we're backpedaling a little bit on it um Just like the applicant they used something that was worked on very hard and A lot of outreach and we have a general plan and so I say okay. Well Does this meet that general plan now? There's a lot of issues, but in terms of whether or not in one of the vice presidents of this once and just mentioned Oh, well, they want some insight as to whether or not even to have a hotel Well, I would think that the general plan says yes We want a hotel there and the only question is how big now any hotel is going to have the issue of traffic and sewage and water credits and all those things and I think those are hurdles that may kill this thing. I mean water is Is a huge issue around here Sewage was brought up as well. Those issues alone may Dictate how large this can be but I'm assuming that you guys can Figure that out and I don't think you have yet, but I'm assuming those are obstacles to be overcome not things that will kill the project outright um I've been the treasurer of this town up until the beginning of this year and so forgive me if I say I like the The financial benefits that alone. I think is enough to get the far credit because We are facing a pension crisis and if you like capital the way it is We're going to need more money because our pension burden is increasing every year and it's starting next year So if you want to talk to the and this will probably come up at the city council, so I won't belabor it, but The financial issue is a real one and it needs to be considered seriously I mean we have a we have a Rainy day fund to bridge the gap, but it's only a bridge and this would be a long term Issue that would help that so With regards to the design again, I assumed that We wanted a hotel. So I was kind of going into the details a little bit One of the issues about pedestrian friendly and and massing issues associated with What you want a good urban planner to approve You have a long stretch of The a long Monterey avenue where there is no doorway. I mean you have that that whole bar there if there was like an entrance to the bar A doorway that would make it I guess at least according to standard urban planners Designs that would be it would be more pedestrian friendly and more towards Something that you'd like in a small village I don't have a particular preference on the traffic circulation I think any one of those if it made It made sense I mean The I guess the third one where you just leave the traffic as it is and just put more traffic through the village That's probably the least beneficial But either reversing the flow or having the roundabout. I think either of those could be studied and and might be worthwhile I again in terms of Meeting community benefits. I think the meeting rooms until I heard about the the Wedding thing. I thought that was a benefit. No, I'm not sure about that But the increased village Increased village businesses. I mean I've heard city planners and councilmen saying, you know, when you have an empty an empty shop or It's it's like a smile with it with with with the missing tooth. So we want a vibrant village. We want to have Not empty empty Villages empty housing. I'm sorry. I can't speak but anyway I think this will help create a nice vibrant village. So I like that The notion of an off-site parking structure Maybe that's something that would Would calm a lot of people's concerns because obviously parking is a big issue and former mayor Norton brought up the notion of of having a off-site parking Maybe that's something you'd want to look into Overall, I think you've made a a decent attempt to meet the Requirements of the general plan And so from that standpoint, I would think this would be worth considering further okay Before I I kind of give my Perspective and obviously this is very subjective. It's there's a lot of subjective issues, but there are some very Realistic issues that the community brought out tonight and really this is this is for you folks To go back and decide where you want to go with this and whether it's feasible whether it pencils it out We we can't really do that for you. You've heard some of the concerns And so I appreciate the community coming out because often as Commissioner Newman stated it's lonely here and you you depend on us to try to make some of these Opinions for you and so we appreciate you coming out and doing that And I can't add a lot to some of those that's already being given The the issues of water and sewer those are just issues I personally I think that you face as a company any business that would have to go in there So I don't really have those concerns either. It's going to work for you for you. It's not but I'll kind of go through the the guidance that you requested through the steps As far as it goes back to the general plan we've been talking about A hotel for many years now and and while I know commissioner newman was the chair of that I don't know how much was changed specifically about the hotel I do know as we wrote the rewrote the zoning code The planning commission took this into Consideration and what the hotel would be why be like and that's why we Said that you there must be this green belt above the bluff and Unfortunately for some of you unless you looked online you didn't see all the drawings because there were some renderings that Identified from depot hill for example what it would look like and it and it really doesn't Block the view of the ocean from depot hill. Oh, do we do we have that one? Yeah, so it blocks it blocks part of the you see from I'm sorry from the Well, you can have we can we can discuss this but it You if I live on I just happened to live on depot hill. I know that bench. I know that stairway I do it every single day practically so When you look at that view, it's an obstructive view to that part of the ocean where You can see sometimes where the junior guards are but you can't honestly always see the ocean from that area So I don't know that it's going to obstruct the view that much it's going to obstruct the view from El Camino media without a doubt So I see those concerns the design massing and articulation Are subjective For me, I don't I don't have a real big concern My thought is the community is going to weigh in enough to help Them come to some type of understanding of how many rooms it's actually going to be and what that massing is going to be The height like I said, I don't have a real heartburn over the the height of the hotel Um Parking is something that you know, I used to be on the traffic and parking commission before we finally Abolished it because we weren't getting anywhere It was mentioned by many people. It's been the issue in capitol long before I was born here in 1958. So That's something that is always going to be an issue here But I think the traffic circulation and the discussion of parking how we do that I I have never been an advocate if you go back in history and look at My position on the traffic and parking commission of adding Additional parking a high-rise parking area. I never felt it should be the residents of capitol as Responsibility to pay for more tourism to come to this town and either tourism will support it or it won't and by that I mean There's going to be enough tourism that's going to pay for parking that would pay for an additional parking structure But I didn't believe it should be the taxpayers burn to pay for more tourism I also believe that On as this picture shows there are certain days that the beach is just overwhelmed and there's not enough room for more tourism But having said that Parking for the hotel. I think um can be somewhat subjective Swinson owns that parking lot today. It's not a publicly owned parking lot Obviously they make bucks off money off of that opening up to the public and it's not just sitting there as a vacant area But they have no responsibility to provide that parking And so if we look at the number of cars that go in those spots, I think maybe some of the Confusion or maybe the discussion about how many parking spots are there some of those are leased out if i'm not If i'm not Correct, so that some of those are already leased spots in that way. Maybe that's why the 26 are already designated for visitor spots but That already Takes part of the parking that the hotel would have to use in the process now whether They can get insurance and whether it gets flooded in the basement. I leave that up to them That's for them and their risk management group to figure out what would happen with the cars under there The parking circulation the traffic circulation, I think Um, I think the option of reversing it absolutely would not work If we had cars trying to make left turns on the stockton off the espionade if we reversed it The traffic we backed up on the espionade for never because forever because they'd never be able to make that left turn So I don't see how that would work. Um, having it turn around the island and I know that I would I obviously I think it was a mistake leaving the palm tree because the palm tree is not going anywhere So either way having that as a turnaround down there Um, I don't know that that couldn't work. It's a possibility Matt could could we bring up option three where it's a current system? So I I don't know. I've I've been looking at on how we could make it somewhat feasible regardless of the size I don't want to I'm not saying that it's going to be the 88 room But regardless of size we have to figure out traffic flow and how they get there But if you look at where the stop sign is on the espionade as you cross over to Monterey We're currently coming down Monterey You're directed to make a right turn because it's a one-way street If we allowed that to come through just long enough with a limit line For a car to make a left turn into The parking area will come in a medium. Does that make sense to you? I don't know if you can do it with your aerial But it would allow it to both ways either you come around the espionade or there's room We may have to take part of the bulb out of the Sidewalk there, but there's room to add at least one or two cars Maybe to come across the stop sign to make a left turn into the valley or parking area That's one consideration Let me see if I what other notes I had obviously, you know is mentioned about Throwing throwing out the character of capitol for the economic value And I personally don't know that we're throwing out the character by adding the hotel I think it would be actually the cent one of the centerpieces I don't know that it makes us southern california or or not. That's again a subjective thought I think having a hotel always always if you live here You have people asking you where can I stay the hotel? So your choices are the quality in it by the freeway which God bless them. It's a it's a place for people to sleep But I don't always recommend friends to stay there and then we have the fairfield and And then it gets spread out. So I think we desperately could use a hotel in the community I think in the village would be great the size and scale I don't you know, it's something that we're going to leave up For the community for you now this just so you know this goes to the city council And you have your same opportunity to go speak at the city council when they do the presentation there Again, they're just trying to get feedback But the public benefits was mentioned about they'd rather see money spent on Fan mar being paved Monterey being paved Claire is being paved all of us. I would agree with that But from where I also happened to be on the finance committee before I got kicked off So and part of that was because I have a very conservative view towards our city finance And I I think that um, you know, we have a very small budget 14 and a half million dollars a year for the whole city So where do our city council members choose to spend that money? We may agree or disagree But we desperately need a way to take care of both our purrs obligation and Our infrastructure within the city and you know, it was mentioned by one of the members that came up from the community members that came up and spoke about um this You know, obviously the the t.o.t. And what that money would add it's it's add to our community. This is money that's it's It's it's not free. It costs somebody to come here tourism pays for it Which means tourism is helping to pay for Supporting our community because right now it's you and I paying for Supporting all the tourism in in this community I would love to see a way to Have the tourism that comes which you know if you've lived here long enough You know that it's one of the great benefits is because it is a tourist destination spot But I would love to see tourism help pay for Some of our public works members who you know this weekend spent the there saturday and sunday trying to fix water problems that happened because of Busted irrigation lines due to the war to war phrase signs and so on who pays for right now it's you and I paying for that so I would love to see a hotel personally that would help Bring some character opportunity for some of our friends family and other people to enjoy our little village And also help offset some of those costs. So those are some of my perspectives I think there's some benefits to all of it. I really like that you took into consideration our junior guard They're part of our community. I like how that part Fits into the hotel. So With that I Did anybody have anything else they would like to add Again, we're not we're not taking any action formal action tonight as a commission The biggest part was for the applicant to hear your concerns and I think Um That was well stated and I think from the letters we received and I'm sure we pass those on to the applicant as well The letters we received They're very consistent and probably there's no surprises the the concerns were Outlined in our general plan as well. So With that I think I will bring that to a close. Oh, I was wondering if the applicant wouldn't have any further questions of us Okay, that's a good point. Do you have anything you'd like any more clarifications? Uh, nothing to clarify unless jesse is anything No, we just we really appreciate your time. We know it's a late night and we want to thank the public We understand you're very passionate about this and thank you for coming out and we'll see you at the city council meeting And can I ask I I should know that date already, but I don't do we know when they're coming to the city council meeting? We do um august Second august 22nd august 22nd the city council will be receiving the presentation. So You can come and state your thoughts and concerns On that date as well, and I'm sure they would appreciate that any Discussion from staff No, um great discussion. I think there was some clear direction on a future application and No further discussion from staff Okay, and I guess that moves us to the director's report. I appreciate you folks coming tonight And I appreciate your input. I know that the applicant does as well. So thank you very much and thank you for Uh being congenial in the process There's no director's report this evening. No directors any commission comments As you leave tonight, I will tell you that uh national night out is tuesday august 6th. So Jade park at five o'clock go get a burger and meet our Great police officers and other members of the community. So thank you And with that we're adjourned