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Attachment 3LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 A P P E A R A N C E S: Los Gatos Planning Commissioners: D. Michael Kane, Vice Chair Charles Erekson Matthew Hudes Tom O’Donnell Town Manager: Laurel Prevetti Community Development Director: Joel Paulson Town Attorney: Robert Schultz Transcribed by: Vicki L. Blandin (510) 337-1558 ATTACHMENT 3 LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 P R O C E E D I N G S: CHAIR BADAME: As we move to Item 8, I will be recusing myself from this item due to a perceived conflict of interest. My business location is within 500’ of this project application. Vice Chair Kane will preside and maintain order, and I will return for Item 9. VICE CHAIR KANE: We will now consider Agenda Item 8. It’s 212-216 North Santa Cruz Avenue, Conditional Use Permit Application U-16-001, Architecture and Site Application S-16-002, requesting approval of exterior modifications to an existing commercial building, and approval for a new fitness studio, SoulCycle, with group exercise classes on property zoned C-2. This is APN 529-04- 085. May I have a show of hands from the Commissioners who have visited the site? Commissioners, do we have any disclosures to provide? Ms. Puga, I understand you will be presenting the Staff Report this evening. JOCELYN PUGA: That’s correct. Good evening, Commissioners. The Applicant, SoulCycle, is requesting approval for exterior modifications to an existing commercial LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 building, and approval to operate a fitness use with group exercise classes on property zoned C-2. The Applicant is proposing to merge three of the existing four tenant spaces into one 3,589 square foot space with an adjacent 805 square foot space to remain. The first part of the proposal is a request to modify the storefront to a more modern style with architectural elements such as white metal panel, matt gray panel, court space and wood elements. The consulting architect reviewed the plans, visited the site, and had no recommendations for changes. The consulting architect did comment that while the proposed renovation of the building is more modern in treatment, by maintaining the stucco surround and existing cornice it will provide a relationship with the buildings along North Santa Cruz Avenue. The second part of the proposal is a request to operate group fitness with exercise classes. The Applicant is requesting to operate from 5:30am until 10:00pm Monday through Friday, and 7:00am until 9:00pm Saturday and Sunday. The commercial building has 11 parking spaces on site, credit for 14 parking spaces in the Parking Assessment District, and is proposing to create two new LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 parking spaces at the rear of the building. The proposed use requires 24 parking spaces and reserves an additional three parking spaces for the future adjacent tenant. Staff has recommended Conditions of Approval regarding the maximum number of clients, instructors and operation hours. There is one Desk Item before you this evening that contains a public comment that was received after the distribution of the Staff Report. This completes Staff’s presentation and we are available for any questions. VICE CHAIR KANE: Are there questions from the Commission for Staff? Commissioner Erekson. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: Thank you for your great report, as usual, on this item. This is a parking related question. With the remaining 805 square feet that would be in the building, it gets divided into two spaces, this one and the remaining one, so there is three spaces left that are associated with that. Will that cause any limitations on what can go into that space that we should be sensitive to? JOCELYN PUGA: Right now that’s calculated for one per 300 square feet for a retail use. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: Thank you. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 VICE CHAIR KANE: Ms. Puga, we have a letter from a citizen, Ms. Caldara, and she points out that, number one, this has been our third cycle application I think in as many meetings, and we are thinking about and learning about the parking issue. The provision has been 68 people, or 68 parking spots in transit, and when I think about a cycling class arriving with 68 people—I think they said there are 57 bikes, but I counted 61, maybe the others are being reserved—when these folks arrive the other class will be coming out, and until the other class is gone the arriving people, presumably within these limits, have no place to park. My point is that this can run up to, as she points out, 114 spaces needed for that 15 minute period. Does Staff think that we need to reexamine parking codes regarding high-turnover businesses that are unique to this, like indeed the cycle business? That’s my question. JOEL PAULSON: I’ll answer that. This did come up at the last hearing over at the Lester Lane site. Staff has brought this up to the Town Manager and we’ll be discussing this probably sometime in the near future, either with Council or the Policy Committee, to get direction from them LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 6 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 on whether or not the code should be amended for this type of use. VICE CHAIR KANE: It would seem we might need to rethink that. The second point that the lady makes in her letter, which I found very interesting, is that the parking spots I guess in the back, she says, are not compliant with the Town’s Parking Code, as they lack the U-shaped interval between each stall, so I guess that means just single lines, as opposed to the big ol’ horseshoes that come out. And she says that she assumes all work shall conform to all applicable Town ordinances, and that prior to final inspection the tenant will be required to bring these spaces into compliance. I didn’t know that they weren’t, and maybe it is that they’re not. That will be one of my questions. But she says if they are not in compliance, and if the U-shaped is the compliance, that will reduce the total amount of spaces by at least four. I don't know if this is accurate or not, but it can’t be ignored. Are those spots currently not in compliance? JOCELYN PUGA: Currently the spots are single striped, so they’re not in compliance. Town Code requires new parking spaces to be double striped, so as part of the Architecture and Site Application the Planning Commission LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 may condition that these existing parking spaces are brought up to code and double striped. It’s a conversation the Staff has had with the Applicant and believes that the parking spaces can be double stripped without losing parking spaces, as the Desk Item had suggested. JOEL PAULSON: I’ll offer a little bit of further reasoning to the effect. The parking spaces are measured, whether it’s a single stripe or the U, from the center of that. So basically those stripes will go away, a U will go around them, and we’ll have the same width as they currently have, so no parking spaces will be removed. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Puga. Other questions for Staff? Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I just want to understand that last answer. If you’ve got a single line and you measure it from single line to single line, you’ve got one measure. If you have a double line and you measure it from the middle, you get a different measurement, and to the extent that you don’t count from the middle to the second line you lose space for the parking, and that occurs on both sides, right? JOEL PAULSON: I’ll try to further clarify. You have a single stripe that’s, let’s say, 4” wide. The parking space is to the center of that stripe, so you have LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 a width that goes into the stripes. When you do the U around that, the stripe is removed but the U is expanded. The dimension that the Town Code uses is to the center of those Us, so you don’t actually lose any distance at all over the single stripes. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: The second line of the U, however, you’re saying that’s not farther than if I only had a single line? JOEL PAULSON: It is farther, but we’re still measuring from the center of the U, so those points don’t change. It’s just a U, and if I were an artist I’d try to try to draw it up for you really quick, but I am not, but I will see what I can do maybe during the public testimony. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: You’re not an artist and I’m not following real well. I’m not going to beat a dead horse; just one more question. So when two cars now park next to each other and we have the double lines on each side, you’re saying there is no difference in that dimension, the width, than if it were a single line? JOEL PAULSON: Correct, based on how we measure the double lines. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Depending on how you measure the double lines? LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 JOEL PAULSON: No, because of how we measure the U-shaped lines. They’re measured from the center of the U. Mr. Schultz is going to attempt to draw something up and we’ll have that later. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: When a lawyer draws something, I’m worried. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Hudes. COMMISSIONER HUDES: Just to clarify for my understanding, when considering a CUP does the Town require parking spaces to be brought up to code? I know that we could, but does that generally happen? JOEL PAULSON: I don't know generally that this is an issue, because many businesses over the years upgrade their parking lots and so they have predominantly caught up to all having the U-shaped lines, so I don’t have a good comparison for you, frankly, but I think it would be appropriate here to require the U-shaped striping, which is what is proposed for the two new spaces that they are creating. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Erekson. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: I have a question that I assume will probably be for Mr. Paulson as opposed to Ms. Puga, after he finishes his drawing. Or you did the drawing for Commissioner O'Donnell. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 This particular use is classified as retail, correct? It’s a retail use. JOEL PAULSON: This is a group exercise class use, yes, so it’s not a strictly retail use. There is a retail component, as I understand it, and Ms. Puga can (inaudible). COMMISSIONER EREKSON: No, but I’m talking about how we would classify it in the code. There are definitions in the code, so it has to be fitted to one of those definitions, correct? JOEL PAULSON: Not explicitly, because there are uses that don’t fit in: office, personal service, retail. This is one that requires a CUP. There is not a specific definition for what group fitness classes are. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Refresh my memory. So then what do we use to calculate parking requirements? JOEL PAULSON: From a parking perspective we do use the retail, because that is the base use that we use to calculate those. The one per 300 is how we derive how many students and/or instructors you can have on the site, based on the number of parking spaces, in this case onsite and in the District. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: I’m just trying to be sure I understand. So we will condition a use that is a common LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 use, not one defined in the code specifically, so it’s one that we make up outside of the code, but we will use a defined use in the code to determine the parking, because we don’t acknowledge it in the code and therefore aren’t explicit about what we use? Then if they have, let’s say, 10’ of square footage devoted to retail and the other use is not noted in the thing, then the only option we have is to use the retail guidelines for determining the parking? JOEL PAULSON: We use the retail guidelines for determining parking, because they’re the most restrictive in that district. The one per 300 is for retail, personal service and other uses, so that’s why we typically use the one per 300 for parking, because it is the most restrictive and requires the most parking. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: Okay. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: The fact that it’s the most restrictive does not mean that it has been designed for the particular use, does it? JOEL PAULSON: That is correct. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: And in fact what we’re doing now is trying to draft something to cover the situation, because we’ve run into it at least twice before, one with really bad results, one of which we’re waiting LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 for. So in lieu of having any factual evidence to support the parking, we’re going to use the most restrictive, even though not drafted for the use, is that right? JOEL PAULSON: Based on our current code, that is what we’re using. I’m not sure if the Town Attorney has any further input. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Let me just add before he does. I want him to have the whole picture when he does. The use permit language of course is not restricted to just the parking. The use permit requires certain conditions, and among the conditions is the use is essential or desirable, the proposed use will not impair the integrity or character, and the proposed use is in harmony with the General Plan and the purpose of the Town Code. So if we, for example, were to believe that the retail parking is not applicable, because of the unfortunate information we’ve now had over the last several months, we might say that the retail parking is the retail parking, but in this case the grounds for the use permit might be found against it. I guess that’s a question. VICE CHAIR KANE: Town Attorney. ROBERT SCHULTZ: That certainly could be part of your deliberations if that’s what you find. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 13 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 VICE CHAIR KANE: Other questions of Staff? Thank you, Ms. Puga. I’ll now invite comments in the public testimony portion of the hearing, and allow the Applicant ten minutes to address the Commission, but I have no idea who the Applicant is or who the speaker will be. Would you turn in a speaker card, please? State your name and address, please. ALAN COOKE: My name is Alan Cooke, and my address is 609 Greenwich Street, New York, New York. VICE CHAIR KANE: You’re from New York? ALAN COOKE: I am. VICE CHAIR KANE: Welcome to Los Gatos. ALAN COOKE: I’m pleased to be here finally. I run a design team at Soul Cycle. I work for Soul Cycle and been employed there for about five years. We have been looking for a location in Los Gatos for almost that entire time that I’ve been at Soul. We’ve been really excited about bringing our business and our brand to this community. We think we will do very, very well and also add a very bright spot to a very amazing retail corridor that already exists here on Santa Cruz Avenue. I just want to give you guys some quick background on what Soul Cycle is. It sounds like you LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 14 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 already may have some familiarity with what spinning is, but we offer a 45-minute indoor spinning class. We are a pay-per-class model; we do not offer membership. Each class is roughly $30 a class. Our riders are all walks of life, and our intent is simply to improve personal fitness and create a community via the riders who participate in our classes. I can speak a little bit about the façade. Our design aesthetic trends more to the modern and contemporary look, as you guys have noted from our presentation. We’ve been very successful in delivering similar façade applications at past locations, and also in very rich and historic districts. We feel very strongly that our façade and our proposed renovation will add the level of diversity that is consistent with the guidelines that are set forth by the Town. That being said, I would be more than happy to answer any questions that you guys have. I can go on and on about the business, or our aesthetic, or how we operate, and what have you. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you, Mr. Cooke. Questions for Mr. Cooke? Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I assume that you have locations all over the United States? LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 15 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ALAN COOKE: We do, mostly the east and west coast. We’re centrally located in the New York metro area and here in San Francisco, as well, and southern California in Los Angeles. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Are you located in any place that is comparable to a suburban location like Los Gatos is? ALAN COOKE: Sure, we are. To name a few, I would say Short Hills, New Jersey. We’re also located in Larkspur in Marin County here; at the Country Mart. We’re in Palo Alto at Stanford Mall. We’re located in several small communities in the metro area of New York as well: Scarsdale, Rye Ridge, Bronxville, communities that are similar and that have a very historic character and a downtown character. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: The purpose of my question—and thank you for that answer; that’s helpful—is my experience, at least recently, has been that with operations like yours we’ve used parking requirements that seem not to fit. We’ve done two recently; one remains to be seen, but at least is in a shopping center, so I’m hopeful. Another is located in a very small what somebody might call a strip center, and it has parking pouring out all over the LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 16 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 neighborhood, and that nevertheless is in compliance with our Retail Parking Ordinance; therefore we’re concerned. Now, you’ve had an opportunity I guess to see the same letter we got this afternoon. The writer of that letter raises what I think are credible points based only on my experience here. How do you anticipate being able to handle the volume of turnover traffic and parking that you will have? ALAN COOKE: As you can imagine, this topic has been raised at almost every single hearing where we’ve been required to require a CUP or some other conditional use. It’s interesting, and we see that same argument raised by folks like Mrs. Caldara where they say why don’t you look at the worse case? If you’ve got 55 bikes and you’re running classes back-to-back, your total load is going to be double the number of bikes. What we’ve found in practice and actuality is there are a lot of factors that bring that overall load down. I can only be anecdotal, however, several of the factors are the fact that classes simply aren’t full. We’re not necessarily running a full class. We could look at worse case, but the reality is our utilization generally speaking in this type of neighborhood is not 100%; it’s going to be best case somewhere between 75-80%. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 17 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 You get a lot of rideshare, you get people who are walking, and you get people who are using businesses that are sprinkled throughout the rest of the downtown who will walk from a parking space that may be remote. You could get people riding bikes; obviously there is a lot of bike traffic here in Los Gatos. So there are multiple factors. I’d also like to point out that for the purpose of our application we could only apply the code that is written, and that’s what we’ve done. Now, that being said, the parking field that’s directly behind the space includes almost 125 spaces, plus or minus, which as I understand it is one of the largest parking fields behind a retail storefront group here in the Town, so we think that considering our proposed location within the existing downtown fabric we have a great opportunity to use a very large parking field. The spaces that we’ve included for analysis are those that exist on the property itself, and we are proposing to add a couple of spaces that are completely within the property lines themselves. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Commission Hudes. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 18 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER HUDES: Thank you. I just wanted to drill down a little bit more into the math. Is it correct that the maximum is 57 students? ALAN COOKE: That’s correct. COMMISSIONER HUDES: And five instructors? ALAN COOKE: It’s five employees: one instructor, four employees. COMMISSIONER HUDES: But there could be five people in addition to the 57? ALAN COOKE: That’s correct. COMMISSIONER HUDES: So that would be 62? ALAN COOKE: Correct. COMMISSIONER HUDES: And I understand the Town Code calculation, but from a business perspective how do you get from 62 to 24 spaces? There are 24 spaces, correct? Twenty-four plus three for the vacant, on page 5 of 7, C, Parking. ALAN COOKE: You know what? I’m not prepared to answer that question. I can only assume that that is a calculation rooted in the code itself. COMMISSIONER HUDES: I understand the calculation of the 24, but from a business perspective could you maybe explain how you get from 62 to 24, or if 24 isn’t the correct number, what is the correct number? LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 19 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ALAN COOKE: In terms of the spaces that we actually need to run our business? COMMISSIONER HUDES: Exactly. ALAN COOKE: I got it. Like I said, I think, without being too anecdotal, we’re going to see a slight reduction in our overall utilization. So if we have 57 bikes, and we have four plus one employees, we need a total of 62 spaces. I would say that plus or minus for each class you’re looking in the vicinity of 40-50 spaces realistically, so from a practical perspective, although we’re applying the code and we’re looking at what we’re legally obligated to provide, we have that, plus we have some amount of additional parking as a function of that field. We have done some, again, anecdotal studies to see how much parking is available in that field at any time of day, and we do believe that given how we structure our classes throughout the day that we’re going to be very, very much in the clear for this particular location. COMMISSIONER HUDES: Thank you. COUNCIL MEMBER JENSEN: Thank you. Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: You stated two things, among others, but two things. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 One, your typical use is more like 75% than 100%. On the other hand, you’re asking for 100%. The other thing you’ve said is that you have 62 people there at any given time if it’s 100%. You have five people that work for you, so I assume they’re going to be there a lot. Then you’ve got to hope that you fill pretty much the number of bicycles you have, and then you’re going to have turnover. I understand your answer when you say I looked at your ordinance and that’s what they require for retail. You also may know that I’m concerned whether that’s the right thing we ought to be using, so I guess I’m asking you for your best argument on the total number of spaces, considering your turnover, that you’re going to need. So if you have, for example, 50 people cycling and 50 people coming in immediately thereafter, I can think of the old silent movies, what it would look like. I would assume you need some breathing space to allow that coming and going, but we don’t have that. So I’m wondering, because it is quite possible that we may not be satisfied with this, and so I’m asking you for any suggestions you have on how we could feel better about the traffic impacts, the parking impacts, which you will have unless you’re wildly unsuccessful, and based on what we’ve done in the LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 21 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 last two applications. Could you defend something, or agree to some reductions? ALAN COOKE: I would rather not offer a reduction or give you guys an exact figure. I’d much rather stick to what we’ve been asked to do relative to the code. But I understand the concern; I understand what you guys are asking. I think the best argument in this specific case is to look at, practically speaking, what is available for this location in the buildings that abut the parking lot immediately behind this location. I’d also go on to say that most of our classes, and most of the classes where we receive the highest amount of utilization, whether it be closer to 80% or 100%, occur very early in the morning and very late in the evening, and especially very early in the morning. Most of our classes start at 6:30-7:00 o’clock. We don’t have very much retail presence. A lot of the retail businesses downtown are opening around 10:00 o’clock or what have you, so we’re making the best use of that parking lot when it is completely empty, and that’s also something that we’ve seen in other locations as well. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: We are all intimately familiar with that parking lot, because we live here. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 22 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ALAN COOKE: Right. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: You’re asking for hours that go to 10:00pm on Monday through Friday. You ever look for a parking spot at 7:00 o’clock on almost any night? We have restaurants in town. If we have 50 students of yours at 7:00pm, 8:00pm, 9:00pm—and I don’t know whether you close at 10:00 or your last class is at 10:00; I guess you close at 10:00—have you any reason to believe that that’s going to work? ALAN COOKE: In the past when we’ve had businesses of ours that have had issues, our request is always to ask for hours that will allow us to create a class schedule to accommodate what’s happening in reality. So whether we run a class at 10:00pm is yet to be determined, but we want the flexibility, or we’re requesting the flexibility, to be able to structure classes that will actually work, both for our business and with the Town. Many of the locations that I mentioned earlier, Short Hills, Rye Ridge, Bronxville, they all have very similar business hours. There are a lot of restaurants that are adjacent to our space, and we’ve curated our schedule in those locations to make sure that it’s actually working. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 23 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 We do get direct feedback from our riders relative to parking. If people can’t show up, people are late for class, that’s a big problem for us as well, so we have to be mindful of that as well for the success of our business. VICE CHAIR KANE: Mr. Cooke, I want to play with you. I think you’re modest about your class attendance. Ms. Caldara attends your class in Palo Alto, which by the way is located at a giant shopping center with thousands and thousands of parking spaces, and she says, “If they publicize this facility the way they publicize that facility, and they’re very good at it, you will get back- to-back classes, full classes for very busy periods of the day.” I’m just saying this is what she said. I think Commissioner O'Donnell said what, unless you’re wildly unsuccessful? I don’t think that’s your goal. I do appreciate your appreciation for the language on parking; you’ve referenced that a couple of times. I’ve picked out some other language from the Town’s General Plan. Are you familiar with this? ALAN COOKE: Roughly, yes. VICE CHAIR KANE: Lots of good stuff in there. There’s a provision, Policy LU-9.2, which is regarding commercial industrial services. “Maintain a variety of LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 24 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 commercial services using the strong downtown commercial area combined with Los Gatos Boulevard and strong neighborhood commercial centers to meet the shopping needs,” emphasis added, “of residents to preserve the small town atmosphere.” It goes on to talk about preserve the character of downtown. It goes on to talk about meeting the shopping needs. It goes on to talk about, “…goods and services from local residents while maintaining existing town identity, environment and commercial vitality.” Now, I don't know what they do in Short Hills or Scarsdale—well, I used to, but not anymore—but what we’re doing here is trying to preserve a downtown commercial shopping/restaurant/dining experience, and we haven’t had 57 bicycle people, and if you are wildly successful they’ll be coming in from all over, and there’s a question about are we going to preserve the shopping experience? Folks are going to come in, ride the bicycle, get sweaty, go home. I’m not sure we’re getting a good fit is my concern, and having read the General Plan to pull all those things out, do you have a comment? ALAN COOKE: Two things that I want to point out. Number one, I failed to mention that we do have a retail component at the front of our store. A significant part of our business is selling retail apparel, and we’re LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 25 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 including the amount of transparent storefront that we are to display our merchandise. We do get a lot of walk-ins, people who aren’t riding, simply to shop our fitness apparel that has also been somewhat successful. The other thing that I’ll mention, in a lot of similar neighborhoods relative to impact to local business and preserving what the code sets out to preserve is that the partnerships that we seek to create with other local businesses tend to be very strong. We do a lot of local partnerships, including ridesharing. We do a lot of trading and that sort of thing, plus as a function of the fact that we are bringing the amount of people we may bring on a daily basis, a lot of times we find that that patronage will flow over to the adjacent businesses. So I would argue that we would in essence promote the ability or the success of the local businesses by simply driving that traffic. It’s interesting, if I could go on, I could give a better example. Okay. VICE CHAIR KANE: We’re from New York, and what you just said is we’re significant retail. You just put yourself in formula retail. You’re not significant retail compared to the revenue on the bicycles, right? You’re not formula retail, are you? No, you’re not. You don’t want to be. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 26 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ALAN COOKE: Okay. VICE CHAIR KANE: So not significant retail. You’ve got gym apparel, but the main business is the money you make on the cycles? ALAN COOKE: Correct. VICE CHAIR KANE: The Town Attorney is going crazy, but I thought I heard formula retail, which is a whole nother set of hurdles you might not be familiar with, so I apologize. Other questions? Commissioner Hudes. COMMISSIONER HUDES: Thank you, and I hope you appreciate the concerns that are being raised about parking. I think as a town and a community we’re trying to do everything we can to keep the downtown vibrant. There are a few of these left. I grew up in New Jersey as well, came from a town that did have a vibrant downtown. I’m familiar with Short Hills, and I think it’s a little bit different kind of a layout. The concern that I have is about an extreme parking situation that would crowd out the other businesses during certain hours, and it’s not all the hours. If we reach a point where we’re not going to approve this, I would ask whether you would consider varying the occupancy by hour? Then I’ll ask Staff whether that’s something that LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 27 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 is feasible as well, because certainly at 5:30 in the morning, or 6:00, until certain times that maximum occupancy I don’t think would be a problem, but at other times I think there could be a significant issue with crowding out other parking. Would you consider variable occupancy by hours? ALAN COOKE: We would consider it. I would strongly prefer not to, and would restate what I stated earlier, and that is give us the opportunity to adjust our class schedule to realistically respond to what is happening. The first, if you call it a concession, that I would make is that we would like to look at the spacing between classes, as Ms. Caldara pointed out first, rather than a potential blackout period, just to allow a smoother transition between classes, and we may be able to go from there. COMMISSIONER HUDES: Thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Other questions? Seeing none, thank you, Mr. Cooke. We’ll open the public portion of the hearing, and afterwards you’ll have five minutes to respond. I invite comments from members of the public. If you’ve not already turned in a speaker card, please do so LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 28 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 at this time. When you’re called to speak, remember to state your name and address for the record and adjust the microphone so that you can speak directly into it. You’ll have three minutes to make your comments. When the yellow warning light comes on, you’ll have 30 seconds left. I have a card from Maria Ristow. Ms. Ristow. MARIA RISTOW: Hi, Maria Ristow, 85 Broadway. You did cover a lot of my concerns, and as you know, two weeks ago when you were considering another studio I wasn’t able to make the meeting, but I had sent in a letter with kind of a sense of incredulousness that we don’t really have on the books a realistic way to deal with fitness studios. When we say one space for every three participants… I mean I belong to a gym. I’ve never driven there, I am one of about four or five people who ride their bike there, so I know people don’t walk and bike to the gyms usually, which is insane. I’m not sure exactly how we can deal with this; I think the Town is going to have to look at a different parking formula. But another thing is these fitness studios can take it upon themselves to tell their attendees you’re sitting in class, two out of three of you don’t get a LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 29 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 parking space, so take your fitness level up a little and ride your bike or walk, or Uber or carshare. But to say there’s a field of parking behind us, I know from experience that that lot is absolutely jam packed at lunch time and it’s jam packed in the evening, and it will be a problem if their attendees can’t park and are late for class, but it will also be a problem for everybody else if they get there and have the spaces. I think if we’re going to approve a business that says we get 19 spaces for up to 57 participants, you know that that’s not going to work. One suggestion I have is several CUPs on a variety of issues have had six-month follow ups where there’s a set of conditions, and then the applicant comes back and you evaluate in six months how it worked. I don't know if it’s possible to say can you limit yourself to 30 bikes right now and let’s see what happens, and if it’s not an issue, or if they have a program the shows people are doing something other than filling up another lot, that you can add bikes if it’s not an issue. I don't know how big their other studios are, but it seems like right now we’ve got fitness studios opening up every other month. It’s the new nail salon, which from a health perspective, yay, but I think this is not going to LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 end, and as long as we’re sitting here saying we don’t know what to do about it, well let’s approve this one; we don’t know what to do about it, let’s approve the next one, I think some thing can be put in place on a Conditional Use Permit, even if the Town says this is enough parking. Let’s have bike racks put out there for at least 20 bikes. There are bike racks downtown, but not nearly enough if we’re expecting people to get there in a way different than a car. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you, Ms. Ristow. Questions? Seeing none, Mr. Morimoto. ED MORIMOTO: Good evening, Ed Morimoto, 460 Monterey Avenue, and let me say I’m delighted to be speaking about something other than the North 40 for a change, but as such I’m probably not as prepared as usual, so I’ll apologize if I ramble a bit. I had just realized that this was on the agenda, and actually through a number of weird intersections with my personal interests in life, it seemed appropriate for me to speak. My only significant time outside of the San Francisco Bay Area has been the 12 years I lived in New York. I actually happened to live literally around the corner from the original SoulCycle location on the upper west side. My office looked down upon the Tribeca location, LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 and so as far as the type of business that I might want to be in my town, Los Gatos being the place I’ve lived longer than anywhere else, I have nothing but positive things to say about it. To the comment about is this the type of business that fits the character of our downtown, I live relatively close to the site, and I guess to the point that was made actually on one of the earlier agenda items, I think that our downtown to a certain extent should be reflective of our time, and if I look at just the amount of yoga pants and spandex that I see walking up and down the downtown, I have a hard time saying that something like this is not in fact in character with our town. But actually, the thing I wanted to speak most about, as this has become a very big discussion around parking, and Ms. Ristow kind of stole my thunder, is also in my time in New York I also happened to be there during the renaissance of cycling as a form of transportation, and during that time there was a controversial policy passed around bicycle parking for buildings and commercial areas within the city. I think this is a little bit like that in the sense that I agree with Ms. Ristow as a person who uses a bicycle to get around town, we do have a relative paucity of bicycle parking, and it seems hard to image a case where LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 32 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 we shouldn’t be thinking about this more, given that we’re talking about a potential parking shortage for a stationary cycling studio on a section of Santa Cruz Avenue that happens to have very wide sidewalks and potentially has space in the rear where there could be also more bicycle parking. So although I don’t like the if you build it, they will come kind of argument, perhaps this is an opportunity for us to say maybe if we build it, maybe they will come. When we think about parking, the conversation is not so much exclusively about cars but really the multi modes of transportation I think that we would all like our town to use for establishments like this. Thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Questions for the speaker? Ms. Lee Quintana. LEE QUINTANA: Lee Quintana, 5 Palm Avenue. Vice Chair, I would ask you to read the beginning of the Zoning Code that deals with Conditional Use Permits. I don’t remember the statements exactly, but it’s that you may approve a Conditional Use Permit if, and it goes on and it give the reason why we have Conditional Use Permits in the first place, that for different certain uses there may be impacts that are not associated with uses that are permitted by right, and those should be able to be either LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 33 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 conditioned adequately in the Conditional Use Permit or the Conditional Use Permit should not be approved. Some of the previous speakers put forward some possible solutions, but my concern is how do you monitor that to make sure that what you are proposing does actually work by the time that you bring it back for reconsideration? And if you find somehow that you can monitor that and it doesn’t work, what happens to the business? Are they forced to close, or are we still going to have them? Parking in the downtown is a very big problem, and I would encourage people to walk and to ride bikes, but the reality is that a lot of people don’t. The parking issue to me is something that until we get the public to use bikes and walk more, then we do have to deal with the parking issue. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Questions for Ms. Quintana? Seeing none, thank you very much. I have no other speaker cards at the moment, so I invite Mr. Cooke back to talk to us for five more minutes. ALAN COOKE: You’d like me to speak first? VICE CHAIR KANE: As opposed to who? ALAN COOKE: No, I thought you guys were going to ask me some questions. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 34 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 VICE CHAIR KANE: You have five minutes to rebut whatever has been said or whatever additional information you’d like to add. ALAN COOKE: Joey McCarthy, who is our landlord, just pointed out something very important, and that is that if we were to… He understands it a little bit better than I, and I’d love for him to speak. VICE CHAIR KANE: I’ll need a speaker card. JOEY McCARTHY: There are three stalls per bike. It’s not one per 300 is a key factor here. The way the parking is calculated is not per square foot; it’s per bike. Does that make sense? JOEL PAULSON: Staff can weigh in now and during their time. It’s the backwards calculation of we start at one per 300, they have so many parking spaces, and so they can have so many students at one parking space for every three students and one for every instructor. That is true, but the starting calculation is you have X parking spaces based on the one per 300. VICE CHAIR KANE: Did that come off their time? Okay. JOEY McCARTHY: We have 19 spaces times 300 square feet, 5,700 square feet, and the space is only 3,800 LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 35 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 square feet, so it’s almost providing twice the amount of parking that retail requires. JOEL PAULSON: If I can weigh in again, that’s not accurate. The 3,800 square foot space would require roughly 13 spaces for that site, and then you have another 800, so it’s 16 parking spaces they do have, because they are on the Parking District. They have additional spaces in the Parking Assessment District, so they have additional credits above and beyond that, and I will do an actual calculation, because the total square footage is 4,397 onsite. JOEY McCARTHY: That’s for the building. So it’s 3,800 for the space, right? And we have 24 stalls provided. JOEL PAULSON: If the entire four tenant spaces were retail, the parking requirement would be 15 parking spaces. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. None of that came off the Applicant’s time, did it? All right. Go ahead, Mr. McCarthy. JOEY McCARTHY: On 3,800 square feet we’re providing 24 parking stalls, correct? JOEL PAULSON: They are using some of their excess parking that they have in the District to increase LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 36 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 the number of the stationary bicycles that can be in this business. JOEY McCARTHY: And that’s how the downtown works, and if you look in the Staff Report that’s how the number of parking stalls that are required are calculated. So that’s the rules of downtown. A lot of buildings don’t have any physical parking on their property; it’s all in the District. So we have parking stalls on our property and we’re using parking in the District. Does that make sense? VICE CHAIR KANE: Well, the compliance with the code makes sense, yes. We’re saying maybe the code doesn’t make sense for the compliance and it’s time to make a change. We’re going to have 50-100 people looking for parking spots in an area where you can’t currently, allegedly, find a parking spot. That’s our concern. JOEY McCARTHY: So can we put anything in the building? VICE CHAIR KANE: I mean that’s going to be a mutual concern with a lot of angry customers. JOEY McCARTHY: Can we put anything in the building then? That’s just in essence saying that we can’t develop it or can’t occupy it. VICE CHAIR KANE: No, I don’t think that’s what we’re saying. I’m asking you where we’re going to put the LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 37 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 other 50-100 cars? And I’m going to withhold my comments and withdraw that one. Are there questions from the Commissioners? Commissioner Erekson. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: To Vice Chair Kane I would request that you give the Applicant his five minutes to rebut, and then we ask questions of them, in fairness to the Applicant. JOEY McCARTHY: I think the point here is that we’re providing the adequate parking per the code, and the use that is going into this building is perfect for this building, because of the onsite parking that we have that really isn’t attainable anywhere else in the downtown. And we also have parking stalls in the District, so when you do the analysis that’s in the Staff Report, we have adequate parking and we’re following the rules of downtown and developing in the downtown, so I don’t see any reason why you would not approve it if we’re abiding by the code. VICE CHAIR KANE: Questions for the speaker? You have additional time. ALAN COOKE: I’m not sure that I can add much more than you guys have already stated, but I would say for us as SoulCycle, as a business, as an applicant, treat us fairly. We’ve done our best to follow the guidelines of the LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 38 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 code, and as Joey demonstrated, we’re providing above and beyond what a retail tenant would be required to provide at that location. We should keep in mind that we’re going to see riders come from a varying number of means. We’re not going to have 55 people showing up in a car. It will vary; that is the reality based on what we’ve seen at all of our locations. If there is truly a significant parking issue downtown, as some people have pointed out, and if this lot is in fact over-parked, I please kindly request, don’t let SoulCycle be where the buck stops if this is a problem that has been identified previously. Give us an opportunity to open and operate our business as we’ve presented and in compliance with the code. If there is an opportunity later on down the road for us to participate in improving how the code may change or be applied in the future, let that exist at that point. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Questions? Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Before filing your application did you check what we had done in the last couple of months on two applicants who wanted to have a somewhat similar use? LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 39 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 ALAN COOKE: We did not. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: And so you didn’t check what we said in the past about the difficulty with this use? ALAN COOKE: We did not. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Are you aware of any similar use in downtown? ALAN COOKE: I am not. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: Other questions? Seeing none, I’m going to close the public portion of the testimony and return to the Commissioners for questions, comments or a motion. Commissioner Hudes. COMMISSIONER HUDES: I had some questions for Staff about parking, and I don’t know which way to go with this. First question is about the field behind the store. How does that factor into this, and related to that, are there other ways to accommodate parking requirements for this kind of a business? JOEL PAULSON: The field of parking is I believe a public parking lot behind the Applicant’s site. The Applicant does have spaces on their property, which is the 11+2 that they’re adding—and Ms. Puga can jump in and correct me whenever I go astray. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 40 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 The parking requirements are required to be provided onsite, and in downtown typically that’s either onsite and/or in the Parking Assessment District. In this case the property has credits for the Parking Assessment District, which are 14, and so they have a total allotment with the 11 existing, and the 2 they’re going to do, and the 14, of 27 spaces onsite. The spaces in the parking field behind or on the street are not used to calculate parking that’s provided for this specific site. COMMISSIONER HUDES: So the possibility of a business using more than 27 spaces, the 24+3, that is not including space that may be available, or it is including that space? JOEL PAULSON: The 27 total spaces? COMMISSIONER HUDES: Correct, are some of those 27 in that field? JOEL PAULSON: Some of those would conceptually be in that field, because the Parking Assessment District takes into consideration the public parking lots, correct. COMMISSIONER HUDES: So you’ve calculated the fraction that they could occupy in that field? JOEL PAULSON: They have credit for 14 spaces in the District, not necessarily in that parking field. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 41 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER HUDES: Other question I had is, is the three spaces per bike reasonable? JOEL PAULSON: That has been the ratio that the Town has used for a number of not just fitness classes, but any group classes, whether that’s art classes or cooking classes, and so that is something that has been raised, as has been raised this evening, but at the last hearing for sure, and at that meeting there was a condition placed on that, that after one year of operation they came back to be reviewed to see if there were any additional modifications to that use permit necessary, but we are also pursuing the opportunity to get further guidance from Council on whether or not we should modify that requirement and create a different ratio. COMMISSIONER HUDES: So it’s the position that it is reasonable, but there are some challenges to it, and we’re thinking about raising it and studying it further, is that correct? JOEL PAULSON: We will be studying that issue, and it has been raised as a concern, however, the Applicant and Staff’s analysis is based on what we currently use for this type of use. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 42 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER HUDES: Just one other question. Within the context of a CUP, is it possible to vary the occupancy by hour? JOEL PAULSON: It is possible. Enforcement of that, depending on the variation that you’re looking at and the varying times, could become challenging, but that is something that could be placed in the Conditions of Approval. COMMISSIONER HUDES: Thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Erekson. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: I don’t have questions for Staff, but I have some comments to make. I’m going to say things that are obvious, but it’s to lead into some other things. We need to be able to ensure that when we make decisions that we are contributing to maintaining the economic vitality of the downtown area, as that plays an important role in the overall economic vitality of the Town and what this community can achieve, what it can do for its citizens, and the quality of life that is represented in the Town of Los Gatos. Part of maintaining economic vitality is to be responsive in a timely manner to changes in business structure, business opportunities, types of businesses, and LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 43 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 so forth. So while I would not have described it in as colorful a language as Mr. Morimoto, I think he captured the essence in his description of an emerging type of business that has the potential—and is important—to contribute to the vitality of the Town, so it is precisely the kind of business that should be located in the Town to help meet that kind of goal. Now, that being said, I’ve been on the Planning Commission for eight years. In the first couple of years that I was on the Planning Commission we were asked to consider Conditional Use Permits for wine bars, and this is wine bar version two for me. Why I say that is because we all came to the conclusion that wine bars were an emerging type of business and that it contributed positively, but we didn’t have a definition in the Town, or guidelines, for wine bars. We had study sessions about it, we dealt with the issue, and we kind of winked and said well we don’t want to punish people who apply, so we moved it forward and approved them in good faith. As a Planning Commissioner I voted for that, assuming that somewhere in less than seven years we would actually have a modification to the Alcohol Policy in this town that would help us deal realistically LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 44 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 with a positive business that is attracted to and comes to this town. I’m not optimistic about the fact that in a timely manner that will allow the Town to be responsive to what I consider a good business line being added to the Town, that we will get a reasonable resolution to what is a parking issue for this. That’s where I am with this issue, so my position at this point in time is—and I do this reluctantly—I suppose what the Applicant and the landlord will consider punishing them, because I think we can make, and I would be happy to make, the findings. I suggest we can make the findings that it does impair the integrity and character of the zone, and that it would be detrimental to the public health, safety and general welfare of the community, because we had public testimony from the Applicant himself that they predict they will need 40-50 spaces and they only have 24 for this use. My reason for wanting to deny this is I would fully anticipate that the Applicant would appeal the decision to the Town Council, so the Town Council will have to deal with this rather than us, even though I actually agree to some extent with the Applicant and the owner of the property that they’re meeting the code, and therefore we really probably may or may not have a basis on which to LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 45 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 deny it, given that they are complying with the code, which is effective, but we need to get the Council to help us be a little bit more responsive to changes that need to made to make it possible for good businesses that contribute to the economic timeliness in a shorter period of time than seven years. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I appreciate those comments. I think they’re very considered and I agree with most of them. Were you to ask me what I didn’t agree with, I couldn’t tell you, but I know there was a lot there. Joel Paulson said for this type of use, and of course that’s the question: What is this type of use? It’s not really retail, it just isn’t, and yet that’s what we use. We use parking for retail, and it’s not retail. So we say what are we supposed to do then? The good news is this is a use permit. We can deny a use permit when we believe that the situation is not adequate. I don’t want to deny this. I think this use could be quite good for downtown, but I will tell you right away I also don’t want to be sitting around and talking to people with the parking that will occur from this use. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 46 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 I would rather see if the Applicant could do anything to temper the use. As Commissioner Erekson has said, we should have better rules that apply to what appears to be a change in the business community, and a good change. We don’t, and we haven’t had it now for a number of years. We’ve only seen two of these recently. One of them, from the neighbors at least, is a disaster, and yet it “complied” with the retail. The other one is in a shopping center; maybe it won’t be so bad. With knowing that, we have to look at this and say can we satisfy the use permit requirements? I can’t. So as a Commissioner I have two choices. I can either make a motion to deny the application, stating the reasons for that, or I can invite the Applicant to come up with something that will ameliorate these changes. We’ve been told that maybe they’re only going to have 75% or 80%. Well then, don’t ask for 100%. That helps me right away. But the spacing between the classes is looking for a disaster I think in those periods of time. Something can be done on that, scheduling of the classes. I can understand people wanting to make money, but that’s not our problem. So we can continue this matter, except that I’ve gotten no signal from the Applicant that LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 47 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 they would consider on their own volition making any changes, so I think Commissioner Erekson is right. Were we to deny this, the Town Council will have an opportunity to do what they want. So I throw that out. We’ve closed the public comments of the public hearing, nevertheless, were the Applicant to do something different to his application I’m sure we would entertain a continuance. That not being the case, I’m prepared to make a motion if anybody wants to say something. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Hudes. COMMISSIONER HUDES: I have some further comments. This to me is a high order problem. I think it’s the kind of problem that we want to see where we think there’s going to be a business downtown that is very successful and vibrant, and maybe even a little bit different than what has existed before, thereby drawing other elements of business into downtown. For those reasons I would like to see a way for this to work. I think that there are some possibilities that have been raised that I think would be very important to pay attention to. One would be the nature of the classes and the hours and potentially varying the class size by hour, and LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 48 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 being sensitive to the highest parking times in the downtown. I also think the arguments about spacing between classes are reasonable as well. But also, I’d really love to hear a plan from the Applicant in terms of how to encourage students not to use parking spaces but to find other means to use the facility, and to use the creativity that they have to come up with some ideas about encouraging students not to drive to these classes. Also, I think the idea about bike racks and other things would be very positive as well in terms of addressing the kind of issues that this application presents. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: My preference at the moment would be to continue this matter for a reasonable period of time, whether that two weeks, three weeks, whatever it is, to give the Applicant at least an opportunity, if the Applicant wishes, to address some of the problems we’ve raised. The Applicant may decide that this isn’t fair, or that economically they can’t do it, and that’s their privilege. But as I said, I think this could be a good use for downtown and I would not want to recommend that we deny LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 49 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 it out of hand. So what I would like to do at the moment is move to continue this matter to a date certain to allow the Applicant to see if he wants to make any changes in the plan. We’d have to reopen the public hearing, because comments could come in from both sides. But that would be my motion. VICE CHAIR KANE: Well, Commissioner, let’s go for a date uncertain and have it be resolved (inaudible). COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Well, they have to notice. As you know, if we do it to a date uncertain, they have to renotice, and I think it would be better to pick a date. If they need an earlier date than we pick, we could deal with that, but to renotice… Counsel. ROBERT SCHULTZ: Before we get there, I would suggest if that’s the will of the Commission to just reopen it for that specific question and ask if the Applicant would like a continuance to try to work through these issues. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Okay. ROBERT SCHULTZ: If the Applicant doesn’t want that, then we don’t have to worry about a date. VICE CHAIR KANE: Can the Applicant come back up to the microphone, please? I’m reopening the public hearing to ask you one question. Would you be interested in LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 50 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 continuing this matter along the lines that have been suggested to a date uncertain? ALAN COOKE: I think we would be open to continuing if we could get better guidance on what you guys think would be an appropriate number of bikes, or if you have specific suggestions around the hours. Otherwise, I would suggest that we move to City Council. VICE CHAIR KANE: Okay. The problem in the past with specificity is it gets us in trouble. ALAN COOKE: Yeah. VICE CHAIR KANE: We’re looking for your best judgment to comply with the concerns that we’ve addressed tonight on the parking, and also on whether or not it fits. ALAN COOKE: Sure. VICE CHAIR KANE: There’s nothing else like that in town. Does that maintain the character? But hang on; I look to my Commissioners for comments on what I just said. Maybe they don’t agree. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: Well, we’ve said a number of things, so you’ve heard them, I know, one of which was suggested was hours. We have certain hours that are more intense with parking issues downtown than other hours, so that’s something that you could explore. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 51 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 We’ve also talked about the number of bicycles, and you’ve said, maybe I’m not hearing you correctly, but notwithstanding your intention to get 100%, it’s your experience that that doesn’t always happen and maybe you could accept a lower number. Now, I wouldn’t want that… No, that’s something else that could be explored. I think if in this interval of time you have a chance to look at the two applications that we’ve already had before us you might be better advised as to the problem we’re really dealing with. So as much as we’d like to see your use downtown, I think if you could educate yourself as to the particular problems you’d have, you’d realize the difficulty we have. As the Chair says, we can’t give you specifics and you come in and say I’ve addressed the specifics, therefore you’re approving it, but I think—and some of my fellow commissioners may have more things to say—if you feel that you have a better opportunity by just simply going to the Council, we’re not going to take that personally, so you make up your mind. ALAN COOKE: I think our fear is that we delay here to a later date, only to have the same exact conversation, when the people who are ultimately going to LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 52 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 decide the specifics around the parking lie with the Town Council. Our hope here was that we would be viewed fairly given the existing code, which we’ve done our very best job to do, and I think we’re at odds there. Like I said, we would be happy to continue here if we could get a better level of guidance on what you guys think specifically would be acceptable, and if we can’t get that, then I would suggest we just move to Council. VICE CHAIR KANE: Commissioner Erekson. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: A question for the Vice Chair before you close it. Is it permissible to ask the Applicant a question at this moment? VICE CHAIR KANE: To what end? I don’t want to reopen a dialogue. Give me an idea of where we want to go. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: I wanted to ask a specific question of them that would help inform me on whether to provide guidance to the question that he has posed. VICE CHAIR KANE: Okay. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: Presently in your business plan you have 57 bikes. How far could you reduce the number of bikes without jeopardizing the integrity of the business plan? ALAN COOKE: Fifty-five. LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 53 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 COMMISSIONER EREKSON: Thank you. VICE CHAIR KANE: So let’s go back to where we were. Do you think there’s a point in continuing this, or would you like a decision? ALAN COOKE: Like I said before, I think unless you guys can give some specifics or very specifically state how many bikes you would allow per parking stall, as an example, then I think we would just defer to the Council. VICE CHAIR KANE: And you just said 55 is your break even? ALAN COOKE: Correct. VICE CHAIR KANE: You’ll need a full house. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. I look to the Commission for comments or a motion. I’m closing the public hearing. Commissioner Erekson. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: The reason for asking my question is I got an answer that I think would suggest to us there’s no reason for continuing this matter. VICE CHAIR KANE: It’s a good question. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: I respect the answer, but I just wanted to be sure that we weren’t doing what they were suggesting we might be doing, and that’s just LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 54 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 continuing it for the sake of continuing it, and then dragging on what would be the ultimate decision. VICE CHAIR KANE: Thank you. Commissioner O'Donnell. COMMISSIONER O'DONNELL: I have a motion. We have before us an Architecture and Site Application and a Conditional Use Permit Application. My motion will be to grant the… I don't know if you can split them. I’ll ask for advice of Counsel. They both go together. My motion then would be to deny the applications on the basis that it is not a retail use, and it is not consistent with the downtown’s desire and the General Plan’s desire of retail uses. I could not make the finding that it is categorically exempt. The recommendation is that it’s categorically exempt because of existing facilities. I think it’s a total change of use. It goes from retail to whatever this use is, which is not retail, so I couldn’t make the finding necessary for categorical exemption. I couldn’t make the finding that it is essential or desirable to the public convenience or welfare, because the parking would be so bad. I can’t make the finding that the use will not impair the integrity and character of the zone, because this is a retail zone and this is not a retail use. I cannot make the finding that the property is in harmony LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016 Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue 55 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 with the various elements or objectives of the General Plan and the purposes of the Town Code, for reasons previously stated. Based on that I would move to deny the applications. VICE CHAIR KANE: Do we have a second? Commissioner Erekson. COMMISSIONER EREKSON: I’ll second. VICE CHAIR KANE: Discussion? Let’s call the question. All those in favor? Opposed? The motion is successful, 3-1 with Commissioner Hudes voting nay. Mr. Paulson, are there redress rights? JOEL PAULSON: There are appeal rights. Anyone who is not satisfied with the decision can appeal that decision to the Town Council. Forms are available in the Clerk’s Office. There is a fee for filing the appeal, and the appeal must be filed within ten days.