Zoning Administrator

- Good afternoon, everyone. My name's Michael Cass. I'm the Assistant Community and Economic Development Director with the city, and I am serving as zoning administrator this afternoon. It is Thursday, June 18th at 4:01 PM. First, I would like to start with a civility statement. So, as your appointed governing body, we will treat each other and the public with patience, civility, and courtesy as a model of the same behavior we wish to reflect in Martinez for the conduct of all city business and community participation. This includes respect for everyone's First Amendment right to voice their opinion on matters within the city's subject matter jurisdiction, even if that opinion is different from our own. The decisions will be made for the benefit of the Martinez community and not for personal gain. Next, I'd like to open up public comment for items that are not on today's agenda. Again, this is for non-agenda public comment is limited to matters that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the zoning administrator and which are not action items listed elsewhere on the agenda. If you would like to speak, please use the raise your hand feature at the bottom of the screen. Okay, hearing none. We will now move on to public hearing item number one for 310 and 314 Embarcadero Street for a conditional use permit. Salmana, if I could please have a staff report and presentation. - Thanks, Michael. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Salmana, and today I'll be presenting on 310 and 314 Embarcadero Street, conditional use permit for a freight and transportation station land use. The project is comprised of two parcels, 310 and 314 Embarcadero Street. The zoning here is light industrial and the general plan designation is Marina Waterfront. The cumulative lot size is 5.01 acres. So, 310 Embarcadero contains 1.04 acres, and 314 Embarcadero contains 3.97 acres. The existing use is vacant, but previously, this has been used as a storage yard and vehicle dispatch for Cablecom, and prior to that, this was used by the Martinez Sanitary Service, which was a recycling facility. Surrounding this property is East Bay Regional Park District open space, the Granger Wharf residential neighborhood, and industrial uses to the south. The applicant is proposing to establish a freight and transportation stations land use at the subject site. The freight and transportation land use is a facility designed for the storage, handling, and distribution of goods and materials, as well as the transfer of passengers and cargo between different modes of transportation. Diesel Direct would be the first business to occupy the subject site, but the CUP would be applicable to all future freight and transportation station businesses in the future. The site is divided into three yards, each separated by a fence. The applicant is proposing a chain link fence. There is a chain link fence currently around the perimeter of the property, so that's existing legal non-conforming, and the proposed chain link fence would require a variance. To provide some description of the project, Diesel Direct operates a mobile-to-mobile fleet operation which delivers diesel to offsite customers, and yard two would serve as a primary staging site for their operations and approximately 50 employees, including office staff and truck drivers. All activities are to occur offsite. Trucks would arrive at the site empty and leave empty. There would be no fuel storage or transfer fuels between units on site. There's no vehicle maintenance repair or washing performed on site. And all mechanical upkeep is handled at offsite facilities. There would be a total of 15 trucks, resulting in about 25 truck trips per day, staggered between the hours on the PowerPoint, so that's 5:00 AM and 8:00 AM, 1:00 PM and 4:00 PM, and 9:00 PM and 12:00 AM. So the proposed use requires a conditional use permit in the light industrial zoning district and must comply with the industrial performance standards... Sorry. Per the Martinez municipal code. As part of the project, the applicant has provided a vehicular circulation and entryway narrative, which states that access to the property would be provided via existing driveways, and only one of those driveways would be in use right now, off of Embarcadero Street. The subject site contains sufficient area to accommodate truck parking, staging, turning movements, and queuing entirely on private property. This allows vehicles to enter and exit the subject site in a forward direction without backing onto public streets. Loading, unloading, and equipment staging activities would occur within the interior of the subject site. Truck arrivals would occur throughout the day rather than all at once during concentrated peak hours, and their staff has placed conditions of approval on the project to ensure that operations are consistent with the above. So, as I mentioned previously, there's an existing legal non-conforming chain link fence on the property, and the applicant intends to apply for a variance to legalize a non-conforming chain link fence and for the new proposed chain link fence on the property. The applicant is proposing a modular office unit. This would be a temporary structure on wheels and is not subject to design review, but a building permit would be required for this structure. There's also a Central San easement on the property, and so staff has incorporated Central San comments and conditions of approval, which include no structures are permitted within this easement. The applicant has also provided a spill prevention, stormwater protection, and environmental controls plan, which they use for a similar facility in Richmond, and we've incorporated a condition of approval that requires implementation of this plan, routine vehicle inspections, and compliance with applicable environmental regulations. So, DAF is also recommending a time-limited approval. The property owner has stated that they've struggled to attract tenants to the subject site despite a good faith effort to do so because of current market conditions and land use restrictions. The site, as it stands vacant, is attracting a number of ongoing security and nuisance related issues, so staff is recommending a condition of approval that limits approval of the CUP to 10 years, with the option to renew the CUP. This is due to potential waterfront revitalization. So, the limited time approval provides the city with the opportunity to reevaluate the use and compatibility at that time. This would allow the city to assess effectiveness of the conditions of approval, and ensure the operation continues to function in a matter consistent with the public health, safety, and welfare. So, moving on to lighting. Lighting is one of the concerns raised by the residents, that I'll mention a bit more later, but it's one of the concerns raised by the Granger Wharf residents. So, as part of this project, there's no modification to the current site lighting. We have included a condition of approval that if there are any future changes to lighting, the applicant must submit a lighting and photometric plan to the city for approval. Any current lighting should be downward directed, fully shielded, and facing away from the residences. That's also incorporated as a condition of approval. There are industrial performance standards that this land use must comply with. Staff's analysis of the use is that it does not include activities that are typically associated with significant on or offsite impacts and is not expected to generate excessive noise, vibration, glare, odors, dust, air emissions, or hazardous discharges discernible beyond property boundaries. The land use is generally consistent with the general plan, particularly because no new development is being proposed and the time-limited approval does not preclude future implementation of the city's long-term waterfront vision. Staff is also requiring a landscaping plan and graffiti abatement. So, prior to or after the publishing of the agenda, staff received comments and conditions of approval from the fire district. So, staff has incorporated these additional recommended conditions of approval shown on the screen. So the first would be that prior to issuance of any required permits, the applicant shall obtain a land development permit if required by the fire district due to the site's location within a local responsibility area. Any proposed new buildings or structures shall be designed and constructed in accordance with fire district requirements, including applicable fire and life safety standards. The second is apparatus access roads and gates shall be shown on the land development permit plans and approved by the fire district. And then lastly, upon establishment of each tenant, the tenant shall coordinate with the fire district to obtain any required business inspection prior to commencing operations. So, these aren't in the conditions of approval, these are staff's recommended additional conditions of approval. So, we've included in the packet two public comments that were received prior to the publishing of the agenda, and these public comments were in support of the project with conditions, which staff has incorporated into the project conditions of approval. There were additional concerns. We also received additional public comment after the publishing of the agenda with regards to some of the operations at the site and regarding lighting. So, staff just wants to reiterate that to address the public concerns, we are requiring exterior lighting to be fully shielded and directed away from nearby residential properties, including the Granger Wharf neighborhood, with light poles limited in height to minimize light spillover. This project is also subject to the Industrial Performance Standards of the Martinez Municipal Code, which prohibit excessive noise or other operational impacts that are discernible beyond the property boundaries. In addition, there's a condition of approval that limits vehicle idling, and requires compliance with applicable industrial performance standards. All activity is going to occur on site, with access provided by existing driveways, and there's a 10-year time-limited CUP. So, there are findings that staff has to make for the conditional use permit, and staff finds that the proposed freight and transportation station use is consistent with the LI zoning district, and can operate in compliance with the Martinez Municipal Code and all applicable industrial performance standards with the conditions of approval proposed for the project. So staff is recommending that the zoning administrator conducts a public hearing and adopts Resolution number 26 dash... (attendant speaking indistinctly) - Resolution number 26-12, approving a request from Diesel direct to consider a conditional use permit to establish freight and transportation station land use located at 310 and 314 Embarcadero Street in the light industrial zoning district, assessor's parcel number 373-011-010-7 and 373-021-001-4, subject to conditions of approval. Thank you. - Great, thank you very much, Salmana. I appreciate the thorough presentation. I do have a couple questions, but I'm gonna first let the applicant make their presentation, and then I'll circle back with questions that I have. Great, do you wanna open it up for the applicant? And there are multiple individuals from the applicant team present. Whoever wishes to speak from the applicant team, if you could please use the raise your hand feature. (attendees speaking indistinctly) - Okay, Jim, do you wanna unmute yourself? - [Jim] Yeah, no worries. Okay. I think that's better, thank you. So, my name's Jim Stephens with Kolega Real Estate. I'm a co-applicant on this proposed project. My partner Stu Grundle's here as well to answer your questions, as well as Michael Din from Diesel Direct. Just wanted to thank staff. Salmana, Brandon have been really great to work with on this application. Super professional, thorough, and they got us to the hearing on the scheduled time we were all hoping for. So, that's really appreciated. Honestly, doesn't happen that often. So, hat's off to you. And it was also really important for Diesel Direct, I should say, because they're on a deadline, and they really want to get on this site as soon as possible. You know, through this process, we were able to do a neighborhood meeting. We enjoyed meeting with our neighbors, Nancy Flynn and Robert Manzani, our next door neighbor, and Kevin Bacon as well, and it was great to get to know them and hear their concerns, and our intention is to be a good neighbor, so, we want to remain in communication with them, and Diesel Direct does as well. So, you know, in addition to that, I think we're backing that up with a, you know, healthy list of conditions of approval which are gonna, you know, we're gonna adhere to, and they really stemmed directly from the neighborhood meeting relating to the lighting. You know, Nancy wanted the 12 foot high light poles. If we do a lighting plan, it's gonna require us to install more light poles than if we did a 15 or 18 foot high standard, but we're fine with that, 'cause we wanna, you know, listen to folks' comments. Shielding the lighting, the circulation, keeping the cars queuing on our property, not on the street, as much as we can, we're on board with all of those things. We want to be, like I said, a good neighbor, clean up the graffiti, activate the property, eliminate the crime that's been occurring on the property, and, of course, avoid all the obnoxious things like dust, noise, all those other things that are outlined in the conditions. The one thing I would request some consideration on is the time limitation on the conditional use permit. I would ask if we could extend that to 15 years and make that an administrative approval. There's some reasons for that. One is quality tenants like Diesel Direct look for lease terms that are typically five or seven years or more. So, if we look down the road in five years, we may not be able to secure a quality tenant, 'cause they want more lease term than we can comfortably offer them given this conditional use permit limitation that we have. You know, this can also affect our long-term financing, 'cause lenders are only gonna look at the term under which you can actually deliver your property to your tenants. And the last thing I would say is the real driver for redevelopment of this property is gonna be redevelopment at the marina. That's gonna be what goes first, and we don't have control over it. We'd support it, we'd love to see it happen, and Stu and I are developers, and we'd love to find a higher and better use, you know, for the long term, but that's just not really in our control. So, anyway, I would kindly ask your consideration on that. Other than that, we're very supportive of the conditions, and I thank you. - [Michael] Hello, this is Michael with Diesel Direct West, one of the ones co-applicating for this. I just wanna say it has been a pleasure working with everybody, and just some feedback that we've received over the last few years as a company. We work with the California CHP for the hazmat. We have the Richmond facility that's getting audited once a year from Coupa and stuff, and from my feedback I get, everyone's always so pleased to work with us. We have everything in order, we have everything ready to present to them. They never have to ask us questions. They are always so ready just to come see the facility. It's always cleaned up, it's always nice. We don't leave it trashy, you know, tore up. We take care of everything. We keep everything to a standard. A minimum standard in terms of placement of, you know, where the trucks can be versus where they can't be, and accessibility, and just everything like that. So, I know for the CHP out of the San Jose area has always been really pleased, and the Sacramento CHP officer who does our inspections for our DOT and our truck inspections is always so excited to do 'em. They'll call us if they need a quota. They'll literally call us at the beginning of the month, "Hey, I got a couple trucks and places I need to hit. You guys mind if we come through?" You know, and we, "Absolutely, come on through if you guys need it. You know, get some inspections done, do what you need to do." And we've never failed one yet or had any bad complaints against us for any of our facilities. So, I just would like to throw that out there as well. - Great. Really appreciate that, Jim and Michael. I do have a couple questions for you. So, it sounds like you've done your due diligence and read through all of the conditions of approval. Besides your comment regarding the request for a potentially longer period of time, are there any other conditions of approval that you have issues or concerns with? - No, I think- - Okay. - [Jim] Can you hear me? Sorry. - [Michael] No, I don't. Yeah, I don't have any that I can think of. - Okay. And then couple other questions. This one's probably more for Michael. So, read through the information about having equipment on site to address potential spills, which hopefully would be few and far between, if they happen at all. Can you speak a little bit in terms of what fire suppression equipment you would plan to have on site? - [Michael] So, every one of our trucks has a specific fire extinguisher for the unit that it's in. So if we have a bigger truck, we have one of the 30 pound fire extinguishers, and so on and so forth. So, we have fire extinguishers in all vehicles. We usually have fire extinguishers about every 20 to 30 feet around the perimeter as needed, wherever we can affix them to and stuff, and then we keep a supply of extra extinguishers usually in the CONEX, which is... One of those two CONEXes is gonna be provided for the storage area, that sort of stuff. Cintas comes out and does annual reviews of all of our fire extinguisher stuff. Aside from that, that's really the only method we have, and the building itself is going to be away from all of it also, with its own set up, so. - Okay. And do you know offhand, and if you don't, it's okay, what classification of fire extinguisher you have? 'Cause there's ones that are just the traditional class A, which is just for traditional combustible materials. There's class B which is more for flammable liquids. Do you know what type? - [Michael] Yeah, so we have... Usually, generally, we have class A, B, C fire extinguishers, and then we also have, a couple of our units have the... It's like the foam extinguishers, I think it's a class D. B, class B. It's for gasoline and grease and oils. So again, it just, it depends on the size of the vehicle, but we usually have anywhere between A through D readily available. - Okay, I appreciate that. For Jim, so the request for the conditional use permit is to establish freight and transportation station land uses in each of the three yards that you're establishing. And of course, Diesel Direct is identified now for yard two, and there's a lot more information there. And I know there's a need for some level of flexibility because waiting for approval before you can lock in who the potential business and operator would be for the other yards, and or you might choose to establish a different use that's allowed in the zoning district in either of those two yards. Assuming that it would be a freight and transportation station land use, there's 15 vehicles that were identified for yard two, what are you envisioning for the other yards? - [Jim] Yeah, I mean, it's difficult to say. I mean, I don't have a tenant in hand that I can share with you right now. So, you know, I think we anticipate similar uses, but I can't say that for certain until we have, you know, a proposal. - Okay, I appreciate that. I will have other questions for you, but I do wanna open it up and allow members of the public to speak. But before doing so, I just wanted to put out on the record that I have been out to the site, walked around the site. I also walked on the adjacent residential street and have spoken with a number of the current property owners and individuals that reside on that street and had some conversations with them, including two of the individuals that submitted public comment letters that were attached to the packet. I also wanna put out on the record that after the staff report was published, Salmana referenced some additional public comments that came in, including two from Nancy, one of which was even forwarded to me earlier today. I just wanted to put on the record that I have read those communications. But at this point, I would like to open it up for members of the public. If you'd like to make any comments, please use the raise your hand feature at the bottom of the screen. Okay. Seeing none, I will now go back to the applicant team. I do wanna specifically speak to the comment that I received earlier today from Nancy in regards to the light fixture that currently is not in operation on parcel three. Jim, do you have any objections to just me making it abundantly clear that that light fixture needs to either be removed and or modified to ensure that there's not light pollution going off site? - [Jim] No, we can make that a condition. - Okay, I appreciate that. Question, actually, for Salmana. In the applicant's narrative, which I believe was attached as exhibit C, there are, I believe, two sentences that have strikethrough in them. Can you clarify that? - Yeah, so in those sentences, the applicant was mentioning other potential uses or other proposed uses, so I wanted to remove that from the scope of these approvals and limit this approval and review to just the freight and transportation station land use. So, I removed those from the scope of the narrative. - Okay. And Jim, are you comfortable with that and concur with that? - [Jim] Yeah, I mean, I think it's... As I understand it, we're just talking about the conditional use permit, so as long as... I mean, I think all the neighbors understood that what I described in yard one and three is possible, but I think as it relates to the conditional use permit today, I think that's okay. - Okay, I appreciate that. Okay, Jim and Michael, do you have any other final comments that you wish to make on this application before I deliberate on my decision? - [Jim] I don't have anything to add at this time. - [Michael] Nothing at this time. - Well, at this point, I will close the public portion of the meeting. Again, I just want to thank staff and the applicant team and the neighbors for everyone working together on this project. I think when everyone works together, we end up with a successful solution, and I am optimistic and hopeful that the positive neighbor relationship will continue as long as the tenant is occupying the space. So, really do appreciate that. It definitely makes my decision easier. So, I am prepared this afternoon to approve the project through the adoption of resolution number 26-12, as recommended by staff, with a series of modifications that I'd like to make. So, first I would like to add a condition of approval indicating that each vehicle will be equipped with a fire extinguisher to address fire safety related matters, which Michael indicated is done anyways, so I appreciate that. I'm gonna be neutral on the fire class of the fire extinguisher, with the understanding you'll do what works best based on the size of the vehicle. Secondly, I am going to add a condition of approval, this is a standard requirement anyway, that each business will be required to obtain a city business license. Third, I don't feel comfortable having it open-ended in terms of the maximum number of vehicles that could be on the site, particularly since site two is fleshed out, but lot one and lot three are not. But based on the information that the applicant indicated, that you're anticipating something similar, where there's 15 vehicles in lot two, what I do wanna do is have a condition of approval that there would be a maximum of 50 vehicles on the site, which how I would look at it is it's 15, 15, 15, and a little bit of a margin of error. You could do slightly less on one and slightly more with others, but as a maximum. Next, I would like to make a clarification, exhibit C in the resolution actually attaches the public comment letters. I'd like to remove the public comment letters and not have them as exhibits. However, I wanna make sure that the sentiments of those letters and the comments are captured as conditions of approval. Many of them actually are already included as conditions of approval, such as the requirement related to lighting in a photometric plan, providing contact information, et cetera. But in Robert Manzani's letter, there is also some comments in regards to removing the brush and debris along the property line, removing or pruning the trees and shrubs at the northwest corner of Embarcadero, and removing the fence slats that are either broken or covered with graffiti. I'd like to add those in as actual conditions of approval. Next, I'd like to include a condition of approval for the light in lot four that Nancy referenced in her email, That that either be removed or replaced with a new light fixture that is subject to review and approval by the city subject, similar to what is mentioned with the other existing lighting condition of approval that staff recommended. Next, for exhibit C, I'd like to rename it so it's the project narrative and plans rather than just calling it out as plans. Next, let me make sure I captured everything, there are a number of conditions of approval that are written that are specific to Diesel Direct. I'd like to change that where it really is saying that each of those conditions, it's for all of the freight and transportation station uses, and that would be a consistent change throughout, 'cause it is not just for them, it will be for the other businesses as well. Next, in the indemnification condition of approval number eight, I'd like to say the property owner's applicant and business owners will indemnify the city. Third, the onsite, it's actually addressed. For condition of approval number 18, which is the landscape plan, which would be subject to review and approval by the planning division, just specifying predominantly using native and drought tolerant species. Condition of approval number 21, which is about removal of temporary structures upon termination of the use, I'd like to say that that's for temporary structures, including the modular unit. And then finally, in regards to, well, adding the conditions of approval that staff recommended during their presentation, specifically the ones from the fire protection district. And then finally, in regards to the 10 year timeframe. So, I've given this a lot of thought, and this is what I would be comfortable doing. I am comfortable with an administrative extension from 10 to 15 years without a public hearing if the majority of the neighbors on the adjacent street submit a letter of support, and that way, you would not go through the formal public hearing process again for the extension. Alternatively, you can request the extension. So, really looking for a happy medium between what staff recommended and what your request is, with the goal being that, as you've done so far, continuing to be a good neighbor. So, at that, staff will work to refine the resolution and get that sent out to the applicant next week. There is a 10 day appeal period from today in which my decision can be appealed to the planning commission by anyone. And again, I wanna thank you for your due diligence and everyone working together on this project. We are excited about bringing a new business to Martinez, particularly in a site where there's been some challenges in the past because of not having any tenants currently there. And then, again, just encourage you to continue to be a good neighbor. Thank you so much. At that, I will adjourn today's meeting at 4:36 PM.