Attachment 3LOS GATOS PLANNING COMMISSION 4/27/2016
Item #8, 212-216 N. Santa Cruz Avenue
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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?
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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
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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%.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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,
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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?
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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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
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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.
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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
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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
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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.