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HomeMy WebLinkAboutPC Resolution 08-33 - (1081-87 Aviation)P.C. RESOLUTION NO.08-33 A RESOLUTION OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF HERMOSA BEACH, CALIFORNIA, DENYING A PRECISE DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR A 76-ROOM HOTEL AT 1081-1087 AVIATION BOULEVARD AND 1224-1226 CORONA STREET, AND LEGALLY DESCRIBED AS LOTS 42, 45 AND NORTHWEST 3.02' OF LOTS 46, 47 AND 48, SOUTHEAST 58' OF LOTS 47 AND 48, ALL OF LOTS 49 AND 50, AND NORTHWEST 50' OF LOTS 51 AND 52, HERMOSA HEIGHTS TRACT BEING LOT 14, BLOCK 84 AND PART OF LOT 7, BLOCK 88 OF 2ID ADDITION TO HERMOSA BEACH The Planning Commission of the City of Hermosa Beach does hereby resolve and order as follows: Section 1. Application for Precise Development Plan 08-5 was filed by Monday One, owner in escrow of properties at 1081-1087 Aviation Boulevard and 1224 —1226 Corona Street seeking approval of a Precise Development Plan to construct a 76-room hotel with two levels of parking providing 67 parking spaces and adoption of an Environmental Negative Declaration. Section 2. The Planning Commission conducted a duly noticed public hearing to consider the application for a Precise Development Plan on July 15, 2008, at which testimony and evidence, both written and oral, was presented to and considered by the Planning Commission. Section 3. Based on evidence received at the public hearing, the Planning Commission makes the following factual findings pertaining to the application of a Precise Development Plan: 1. . The project site is an unusually shaped assembly of eight parcels including four of which front on the north side of Aviation Boulevard, two front on the east side of Corona Street, and two parcels are landlocked to the east of 1224-1226 Corona Street. 2. The proposed use is classified as a hotel which is a permitted use in the C-3 zone, pursuant to the definition in the Zoning Ordinance, since the rooms are accessed through a common entrance, and includes a central registration and lobby area. Proposed ancillary uses include a lobby, office, and breakfast room which are intended to be use exclusively by hotel occupants and employees. 3. The site is zoned C-3 which requires a Precise Development Plan for the construction of the hotel as it exceeds 25-feet in building height, exceeds 10,000 square feet and exceeds a floor area to lot area ratio of 1:1. 4. The proposed project involves the demolition of all existing improvements and the construction of a 30,369 square feet, three-story building above a fully subterranean basement and surface level parking. The proposed building contains 76 guestrooms ranging in sizes from 270 square feet to approximately 400 square feet. 5. The parking calculation is based on requirements in HBMC Section 17.44.030(E), one space per room for the first 50 rooms and 2 for every 3 rooms over 50 rooms. For the proposed 76 guestroom project, the required 67 parking spaces are provided of which 30 percent are compact spaces as allowed by Section 17.44.100(C). Section 4. Based on the foregoing factual findings, the Planning Commission makes the following findings pertaining to the application for a Precise Development Plan. 1. Pursuant to Hermosa Beach Municipal Code § 17.58.030(C), the Planning Commission finds that the proposed development will substantially interfere with the use and enjoyment of residential uses in the area because the proposed hotel is excessively dissimilar with the existing uses and inappropriately designed in relation to the surrounding vicinity as follows: a) The close proximity of the project to existing residential uses has the potential to result in substantial negative effects to the residential uses; b) The project is designed at the 35-foot height limit over the entire building footprint which exhibits a floor area ratio of 1.9:1. The intensity and size of the development as proposed is inconsistent with the existing character of the City and other hotel projects in the main corridors previously approved by the Commission. Existing hotels in the City have a floor area ratio ranging from 0.77:1 to 1.6:1 with an average of 1.2:1 ratio. The proposed project has a floor area ratio of 1.9:1 which is 50% greater than the current average of existing hotels in the City; c) The project provides 67 parking spaces on the fully subterranean basement and surface levels to meet the minimum parking requirement of the Code, but does not include parking or available area for service and delivery vehicles, loading or short term parking for registration, all of which will require parking in the vicinity of the proposed hotel; d) The building design and architecture lacks variation and articulation and the three- story wall adjacent to residential lots is out of scale with the neighborhood; e) The project proposes 20 guestrooms to face directly north towards the residential uses on Corona Street, that will significantly impede on the privacy of those residential properties and will generate unmitigatable noise impacts; f) The proposed trash collection for the project will be accessed from Corona Street, a residential street that is not large enough to accommodate commercial trash collection, and will increase traffic congestion on the nearby residential streets; g) The lack of a left turn pocket on Aviation Boulevard increases the potential for persons accessing the site to cut through the residential streets in the vicinity and unnecessarily increases traffic intrusion onto the residential streets; h) The project will generate noise, odor and emission from the surface level parking area located directly adjacent to the residential properties to the north on Corona Street; and i) The proposed hotel use is permitted in the C-3 zone but is not compatible with surrounding R-1 zoned residential uses for the reasons stated above. 2. Due to the excessive dissimilarity and inappropriateness of design in relation to the surrounding vicinity, there are no known conditions of approval which can be imposed that could resolve such problems and achieve a reasonable level of compatibility and harmony with the existing surrounding land uses. The proposed high intensity of development limits options for mitigating impacts on residential neighboring uses and the scale of the project does not satisfactorily incorporate mitigating measures to address concerns about privacy, compatibility, circulation and consistency with the neighborhood character. The proposed project is to be developed on a relatively small and awkward assembly of properties that limits design flexibility to minimize the scale of the building in order to reduce privacy intrusion to adjacent residential uses. Section 5. Based on the foregoing, the Planning Commission hereby denies the subject Precise Development Plan 08-5 for a hotel project. Section 6. Pursuant to the Code of Civil Procedure Section 1094.6, any legal challenge to the decision of the Planning Commission, after a formal appeal to the City Council, must be made within 90 days after the final decision by the City Council. VOTE: AYES: Hoffinan, Pizer, Darcy, Allen NOES: Perrotti ABSTAIN: None ABSENT: None CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing Resolution P.C. 08-33 is a true and complete record of the action taken by the Planning Commission of the City of Hermosa Beach, California at their regular meeting of August 19, 2008, Sam Perrotti, Chairman Date pdpr1801Aviation Denial obertson, Secretary