MINUTES
LIVINGSTON PLANNING COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING
FEBRUARY 25, 2019
A special meeting of the Livingston Planning Commission was held in the City Council Chambers on February 25, 2019. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. by Chair Ranjeet Jhutti.
ROLL CALL
Commissioners Present: Chair Ranjeet Jhutti, Vice-Chair Bob Wallis, Commissioner Francisco Mendoza-Gonzalez, Commissioner Steve Bassi, Commissioner Adanan Bath, and Alternate Commissioner Jason Roth
Commissioners Absent: None
Staff Present: City Planner Randy Hatch and Sr. Administrative Analyst Filomena Arredondo
Others Present: David Blevins, Mr. and Mrs. Blaine Yagi, and others in the audience
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
The pledge of allegiance to the flag was recited.
INTRODUCTION OF NEWLY APPOINTED PLANNINC COMMISSION MEMBERS
Chair Jhutti introduced the two newly appointed Planning Commission Members, Adanan Bath and Steve Bassi.
Commissioner Bath said he has been on the Planning Commission in the past and he is very excited to be back and help the City grow.
Commissioner Bassi said he was born in Merced County and raised in Livingston. He feels fortunate to have this opportunity to represent the City and help take the City in a new direction.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Chair Jhutti opened and closed the public comment period at 7:05 p.m. as there were no public comments.
Continued Public Hearing – Adoption of the Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND) and the Mitigation Monitoring/Reporting Plan for the Arco am-pm proiect; approval of Site Plan and Design Review 2018-03 and Conditional Use Permit 2018-01
This is a continued Public Hearing from the Regular Meeting on January 12, 2019. Applicant, Raja Chandi Group, is proposing to build a new Arco am/pm 3,800 sq. ft.
convenience store with car wash and vacuum stations; 2,500 sq. ft. quick serve restaurant (QSR); truck fueling with 3 fuel dispensers; vehicle fueling with 10 fuel dispensers; and standalone 2,800 sq. ft. restaurant. The site is located on the southwest comer of Campbell Blvd. and Hammatt Avenue, Livingston, CA, APN#: 023-060-001. The property is zoned C-3, Highway Service Commercial, and has a General Plan designation of HC, Highway Commercial according to the official zoning map of the City of Livingston and the 1999 Livingston General Plan.
City Planner Hatch explained the Arco am/pm project was not yet ready to move forward. The applicant has concerns on some of the City’s conditions of approval.
He explained the issues of concern are related to the percentage of intersection improvements the project would be responsible for. The applicant produced a traffic study which analyzed current conditions, current needs, mid-term needs and long term needs and it showed that there are some needed intersection and interchange improvements. The traffic consultant analyzed the approximate cost of that, but more importantly their proportionate share. City staff feels that the fair share analysis that the traffic consultant, Kimley Hom, did is proper, defensible and fair, but the applicant feels it was overstated. City staff went to Council for direction. Council came back with what staff believes is a very generous counter proposal supplementing some of the intersection/interchange improvements by having it grant funded from State SB1A Funds and some Measure V Funds. Staff conveyed this information to the Arco representatives and is awaiting their response.
Planning Commissioner Mendoza-Gonzalez asked if staff has discussed coming up with some sort of reimbursement agreement.
City Planner Hatch said that was staffs initial proposal as part of a response to their comments.
Chair Jhutti asked at what stage staff is going to notify the surrounding property owners about this development.
City Planner said they have been notified already. Public hearing notices were mailed out and published in the newspaper, on the City website and on the City’s bulletin board and that is why staff has to put this item on the agenda and then continue it so that if anybody wants to track what is happening, there is a clear path.
City Staffs suggestion is to continue this item to the next regular Planning Commission meeting on March 12, 2019, at 7:00 pm. If Arco is not ready to move forward by then, the item will not be continued again. If the applicant and the City come to an agreement and the project moves forward, the public hearing will have to be re-noticed in the newspaper.
Following discussion, it was moved by Vice-Chair Wallis, seconded by Commissioner Mendoza-Gonzalez to continue the public hearing for the Arco am-pm project to the Regular Meeting on March 12, 2019. Motion carried 5-0 by the following roll call vote:
AYES: Chair Jhutti, Vice-Chair Wallis, and Commissioners Mendoza-Gonzalez, Bassi, and Bath
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
REPORTS
Planning Commission
Chair Jhutti
• Asked City Planner Hatch to talk about the lighted crosswalk at the intersection of Barcelona Drive and F Street.
City Planner Hatch explained that Chair Jhutti’s request was forwarded to City Manager Ramirez who then contacted Public Works Director Chavarria. Mr. Chavarria shared with Mr. Ramirez that his department had already identified the need for a lighted crosswalk at that intersection and that it was scheduled for installation once the hardware arrived.
• Expressed the need for a stop sign at the “T” intersection of Lilac Lane and Robin Avenue to stop Robin traffic. Just last week there was an accident between two vehicles on that intersection. He is concerned that in order for traffic from Lilac to safely proceed right or left they have to enter the intersection significantly into Robin in order to see if it is safe to proceed. An all-stop would allow all directions of traffic to stop, look and proceed safely.
Alternate Commissioner Roth
• Agrees with Chair Jhutti on the need for a stop sign at Lilac Lane and Robin Avenue. He has taken that route a couple of times and you cannot see with the trees restricting the view, so you have to pull out a ways which is a hazard.
Commissioner Bassi
• He also thinks there’s a need for a stop sign at Lilac Lane and Robin Avenue. The issue there is that the road becomes two lanes going north from Lilac towards F Street. You are right into the road at that point and the residence south of Lilac is impeding the vision for cars that are coming northbound, so it is a traffic issue that needs to be corrected.
Vice-Chair Wallis
• A similar situation occurs at Peach and Vierra where one has to extend into Peach to see the traffic in order to safely proceed right or left.
City Staff
City Planner Randy Hatch
• Noted that after the appointment of the two new Planning Commission Members, Council directed staff to amend the code so that a second Alternate Member be appointed to the Planning Commission. The City Attorney will start working on the Ordinance changes and take the item back to Council in March.
ADJOURNMENT
The Special Meeting was adjourned by consensus at 7:42 p.m. to the Regular Meeting on March 12, 2019. APPROVED: March 12, 2019
Chair, RANJEET JHUTTI
Secretary of the Planning Commission, RANDY HATCH
The written meeting minutes reflect a summary of specific actions taken by the Planning Commission. They do not necessarily reflect all of the comments or dialogue leading up to the action. All meetings are digitally recorded and are an official record of the meeting’s proceedings. Digitally recorded verbatim minutes are available upon request and may be obtained at Livingston City Hall.
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