 Okay, perfect. It's 1030. And I am calling this meeting of the zoning administrator to order. So we'll go to the second item, approval of minutes. Good morning, everyone. Good morning. So the minutes of December 7th are approved as submitted. And item 2.2, December 21st, 2020 draft minutes. The minutes for December 21st are approved as submitted. And then we will go to item 3, public comments. And we are now taking public comments on item 3, non-agenda matters. This is the time when any person may address matters not listed on the agenda, but which are within the subject matter jurisdiction of this committee. If you're attending in person and you would like to make a comment, please raise your hand. Is that a comment on non-agenda items? So not about Stonehouse? You mean not about last meetings? About the scheduled item? I guess. I'm calling about, first of all, I want to know why we didn't have a meeting like this a year ago when this was planned. I mean, when we could have given some feedback on the idea of how this was, you know, what was going to be there before was all built. Is this regarding Stonehouse? Okay. So this part of the meeting is not for that. This part of the meeting is to comment on something other than that. If you have a comment, if not, then we can. On what? Something that is not Stonehouse. On the items I went through them. So we will open the public hearing for when we get to that item on the agenda. Do you want to wait till we get to that item? Okay, I see. Yes, we'll wait. We're out of order. Okay. So you can go ahead and close the public comment period there. Do not appear to be any public comments. I'm closing the public comments and now we are going on item 4.1, Zoning Administrative Business Statement of Purpose. I have to read these two paragraphs. The Zoning Administrator is appointed by the Planning and Economic Development Director and has the responsibility and authority to conduct public meetings and hearings and to act on applications for minor or reduced review authority projects or entitlements, such as land use permits. A determination or decision by the Zoning Administrator may be appealed to the Design and Review Board, Cultural Heritage Board, Planning Commission, or City Council as applicable to the decision. All actions taken by the Zoning Administrator may be appealed within 10 calendar days. If the final day of the appeal period falls on a non-business day, the appeal period will be extended to the next business day. For this meeting, that day is Monday, January 29. And then item 5, Consent Items. We have no Consent Item today. And item 6, we are going to the Schedule Item. Item 6.1, Public Meeting Sonoma Stonehouse in Conditional Use Permit, Located at 3555 Highway 12, File Number CUP23-06, and Project Planner Bislash Lashnur is going to present. Thank you, Zoning Administrator Shikawi, and good morning everyone. The project before you is Minor Conditional Use Permit Application for Sonoma Stonehouse in, Located at 3555 Highway 12. The proposal is for a 14-room boutique hotel, which falls under the land use of lodging. The proposed business hours are from 9am to 4pm. Guests would check in at 3pm and check out at 9am. At least one on-site staff member would be there 24-7, and there would be a remote 24-hour management team. The building will have official quiet hours from 10pm to 7am, and there are no major construction or architectural changes proposed to the site. Here's the aerial view of the site, and here again for some context, it's located on Highway 12. The general plan land use designation is Retail and Business Services, and it is in a plan development district, which allows hotels and lodging with the approval of a Minor Conditional Use Permit. Here is the site plan. There's adequate parking on-site, as well as exterior lighting, as you can see all around. The exterior lighting is located at about, I believe, 15 or 16 feet along the walls. And here is the floor plan for the first floor. This floor plan was pulled from the Athena House, which was the previous use located at Stonehouse, but again there's no major architectural changes proposed to the current layout. And here's the second floor plan, as well. Staff is able to make all of the required findings for a Minor Conditional Use Permit. The proposed hotel use supports the general plan's goals and policies related to economic vitality by locating retail and business uses along major regional and arterial corridors. The building initially operated as a hotel when it was originally constructed in 1909, and therefore the site is physically suited for the type density and intensity of the proposed use. The building is already designed for a hotel use. And various city staff, including traffic engineering and engineering development services, fire, building, and planning have all reviewed the project plans, and the project has been conditioned appropriately for safety and circulation. The project is also categorically exempt from CEQA, because the project is located within an existing structure involving a negligible expansion of use. The building has been previously used for hotel and motel uses. There are no unresolved issues as a result of staff review, and staff has not ever received any public comment for the project. It is recommended by the Planning and Economic Development Department that the Zoning Administrator approve a Minor Conditional Use Permit to allow the operation of a 14-room boutique hotel, which is under the land use lodging, at 3555 Highway 12. For any questions or comments, this is my contact information. Yeah, thank you for your time. Thank you. Does the applicant have any presentation or? I believe the applicant is available via Zoom. I'm surprised. Hi. Yep, I'm here. This is Janet Miller with Thompson Builders, the applicant for the project. Good morning. Do you have any comments that you want to add to this last presentation? I don't think so. I think her presentation covered everything. Very good. Thank you. Great. Okay. I have a question. I don't know which one. I hear something about outdoor lighting. Are those proposed ones or existing ones? Those are existing. Okay. So, no new outdoor lighting is being proposed? Yeah, the existing outdoor lighting is adequate. Okay. So, now I will open for public comments. If you're attending in person, you wish to make a comment. Go ahead and raise your hand. Yes. All right. Whichever one of you would like to go first, if you could please if you could state your name. Yeah, if you could please state your name for the record. Perfect, sir. And I live on Massimo Circle right behind the U.S. Stonehouse. As I said, first of all, I'm wondering why this meeting wasn't held a year ago when the proposal was made or whenever the building was purchased to put a stonehouse in there, put an inn in there. I've been living there 42 years and there has never been anything in there that would cause any disruption of our homes. Are you talking about putting in lighting? I don't know how that would affect our homes, the lighting in the back. The noise even now, I wish I had taped the noise that was going on there right now. In mowing the lawn, I could hear that in my house. In my house. I don't know. I have no clue. I mean, they destroyed the front of the building. It was sandblasting after God knows how long and then I don't know what they did to it now. It still doesn't look like it did before. It looks like hell. I notice a lot of the other neighbors, and I'm surprised they're not here, were pissed off about what they did to the building. I don't know how they had this got some kind of a permit for that historic building. I mean, it's ridiculous. Why would they put it in there? Why wouldn't they put in there something with low traffic and public access? I don't know how they're going to enter that building. To come up, you can't enter the parking lot. It's just a shitty idea, as far as I'm concerned, putting that building back there. And as I said, I don't know why we weren't able to voice our opinions before they started this. Right now there's a sign up front for sale. What does that mean? What does that mean to the owners that are there now? They want to get rid of it. They think it's a lousy idea. They're going to sell it as an in. And then, also, I've heard that they're planning on a 16 room hotel next to it. I mean, what is this? It's not a commercial area. When it was a hotel in 1909, my street wasn't there. And neither were any of the streets behind it. I mean, that's saying that that is built for a boutique as garbage. It's the same now as it was in 1909. That's insane. Anyway, I'll let my partner talk. He also was behind the stone house. Partner, my next door neighbor. May I? I'm sorry. May I ask your name? What was that again? Roy Tashara. I live at 124, Massimo. Thank you. And sir, go ahead. Yes, my name is Greg Hamblin, and I live at 128 Mossmo Circle. So it's interesting to find out the 1909, that's the last time it was a hotel. So that was right after they built it. Anyway, I've lived at my house for 37 years, and we've been dealing with this building ever since I've lived there. And when we moved in, there wasn't a light at Brush Creek. They put that in, which was quite an ordeal, because you should be able to make a left turn. And then they developed across the highway, I think it was young America, and they built that big, they call it the sound wall, that block wall. Well, all that does is increase the decibel level. So like Roy said, I'm surprised, they've been working on the place now for maybe six months. I thought we would have been notified of that, because it's been at least six months that they've been doing construction there. So to me, I know you're entitled to have some, I mean, it's their building, they're entitled to have some kind of business there. It just, the one thing that impacts us now is now that all these trees have been cut down, and the warehouse fell over, collapsed, and they tore down the gas station. The sound just keeps, the decibel level keeps getting higher and higher. I was hoping that at least they could build some kind of a sound wall, break wall around the existing property line. Maybe a CMU wall, something of that nature. Five years ago, we couldn't even hardly, you wouldn't be able to see that the stone house from our house, now that all the trees have been cut down, it's quite a bit different. That's all I've got. We're just venting. I wish we'd have known that they were, you know, they would, they would start on it, right? Usually, because I was in construction for 45 years in San Francisco, and we'd impact neighbors sometimes, and usually with your, within 500 feet, you're notified of some construction, but we weren't here, unfortunately. Okay. Can I speak again? The time is over. You have just your limit, so I'm closing the, I imagine you're going to tear the building down now. No, there was three minutes, so I'm closing the public comment period, and okay, I have some questions, and I can answer some of your questions about what was happening there and the sign, okay? But I don't want to have back and forth questions, because we close the public comments. That's a law that we have to go by, okay? You mean what you say is what's going to have to be done? It has to go in order, okay? So let me finish. Can you bring back the shared screen for the land uses? So as Planner said, the zone for that area is commercial, and it's zone for commercial, but they are proposing falls between the zone, the powerpoint, the shared powerpoint that shows the land use, and about sandblasting and the paint, the applicant or the owner did not reach out to the city, so unfortunately, they painted it without letting anyone know, and we got lots of code enforcement and calls to the city, and I'm glad we were able to contact them and ask them to remove that paint, and they did sandblasting, but what the applicant did there, it did without obtaining any permit and reaching out to the city, so it was illegal done. And right now, they are having this entitlement to put the hotel there. They have to go through the process, and different divisions they have reviewed that. You had concerns about entering the site, our traffic division have reviewed that site, and they had no comments and concerns about entering and exiting the site. And about frontage improvement, I don't know what they are doing there. Have you talked to the applicant to see what's happening in the front? Not about the front, but just in general, regarding the whitewashing of the building. I don't know, Shannon wants to speak more on... And we're doing landscape, minor landscape. Hi, so we were whitewashing, but I think I spoke with somebody at the city, it wasn't... There is no requirement to get that work permitted, because it's just painting, and it's not officially designated a historical building, even though it is an old building. But we did receive a lot of background regarding the painting, and so we wanted, you know, then started with the sandblasting in order to correct it, and because, you know, we love the building and want it to look good, and want everybody in the community to like it too. And then with the work that's going out in the front, it's landscaping. It's not major construction, and we... It is in the process, it's not done yet, but we hope that when the landscaping is done, it's going to look really good, and that everybody's... It's going to be a add to the neighborhood, and not in eyesore, which it has been for the last couple of years with the weeds and being overgrown, and we want it to look really pretty and really good for everybody. I have to correct... I said that there was a required permit for the painting, your correct painting does not require any permits. I have to correct that, am I wrong? And there was question about why you didn't hear about this project, so we don't get involved if someone buys or sells the property. The city only gets involved when there's a new proposed land use, and the application was submitted for this proposed use on March 2020, so we received the application and we started reviewing it, and you get notified when the project goes to the public hearing like this. When someone buys the property, we are not in charge of letting the neighbors know who has purchased, like that's not requirement of the zoning. I think also Suzy Murray, the supervisor is available, and let's see if she has any comments, because she has some background on this project. Is she available? Yes, she's available. She was just trying to find the buttons to click, so I do have a little background, and Monet is correct that there is no permit required for painting the building. Any exterior changes structural or architectural would trigger a design review process. So I also heard some other comments, and Monet, I don't know if you want me to address them. There were comments about the historic structure, the lighting, the noise. Do you want me to comment on that stuff? Sure, go ahead. Go ahead, thank you. Thank you. So the project plans were reviewed as Sachinor explained by our traffic engineering division, and they looked at access to and from the site for the size of the hotel, and there have been no concerns raised. It's still safe. Monet also addressed the public process. For the public meeting, all that's required is the notice that you receive, but there is a 10-day appeal period. So if you are opposed to this, there is a process for that, and you can contact the planner to make sure that she's or she can escort you through that process, and appeal applications are also available online. As far as the upcoming, you know, addition of an additional 16-room hotel, there has been some discussion about it, but the city has not received a formal application about that. So tough to comment on that one. We don't really know what they're planning to do at this point. Lighting, we have a lighting ordinance that requires the lighting to be shielded, meaning not spill onto other properties. So all their lighting fixtures will be directed down. So they should not be, there should be no light spill over onto your properties, certainly not above the site. And there's also, there's a noise ordinance. So that noise ordinance, and if there's a problem with it in the future, you can certainly call in code enforcement. But there's a noise ordinance that allows the average noise, I think it's over a 15-second period, for up to 55 decibels from 7am to 7pm, 50 decibels from 7pm to 10pm. And then of course, it goes to quiet time from 10pm to 7am, it's 45 decibels. They are required to adhere to that, as is every other property adjacent to residential uses in the city. The project, the site is not, it's been, it has been determined that that building, it has the potential to be listed on the federal registry, but it is not. It has not, nobody's done that yet. So it is a historic building. And I think in hindsight, as far as I know, the applicant took it upon themselves, not in the direction of the city, to sandblast the building and try to remove the paint. I think that in hindsight, they may actually have regretted that, not realizing the love for the building and its historic character. So I hope that answers everything that I heard, and that's the background I know, and I'm sorry that I'm not available in person. Thank you, Suzy. I appreciate it. Is there anything else the applicant has to mention? I think that's everything. Thank you. Okay. So I reviewed this project today. I totally forgot about lighting. I would ask such noor to add the condition that any proposed outdoor lighting complies with the ordinance, because they have to make sure they are shielded and pointing downward. So we will add the condition about lighting, about noise. I believe we can add the condition also to make sure that the applicant has to comply with the noise ordinance. And beside that, I do not see any issues, and I'm going to approve this application, this use permit. And please note, this action is final unless appeal is final within the city clerk's office, within 10 calendar days of today's decision, pursuant to zoning code section 2062-030, that day will be January 29th, correct? Mark, I believe it's at 29th, 10 days from today, and with that, this meeting of the zoning administrator is now adjourned.