body,date,page,text,path
PlanningBoard,2019-02-11,1,"APPROVED MINUTES
REGULAR MEETING OF THE
CITY OF ALAMEDA PLANNING BOARD
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2019
1. CONVENE
President Sullivan convened the meeting at 7:00pm
2. FLAG SALUTE
Board Member Saheba led the flag salute.
3. ROLL CALL
Present: President Sullivan, Board Members Cavanaugh, Curtis, Mitchell, Rothenberg,
Saheba, and Teague.
Absent: None.
4. AGENDA CHANGES AND DISCUSSION
Staff Member Thomas said that Item 11-A has been added to the agenda per the
Board's request.
5. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
*None*
6. CONSENT CALENDAR
*None*
7. REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS
7-A 2019-6535
Approve a Resolution Finding that the Harbor Bay Entities have Demonstrated Good
Faith Compliance with the Terms and Conditions of Development Agreement, DA-89-1.
This Compliance Review is not a project under CEQA
Staff Member Thomas gave introduced the item. The staff report and attachments can
be found at:
https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3850403&GUID=1C7AF3A1
4AF3-47BF-A488-4C82DC7B6992&FullText=1
Dan Reidy, attorney for Harbor Bay Isle Associates and Harbor Bay Business Park,
explained the history of the development agreement.
Board Member Rothenberg asked if the property being transferred to the City was free of
debt.
Mr. Reidy said it is free and clear with no encumbrances.
Approved Planning Board Minutes
Page 1 of 7
February 11, 2019",PlanningBoard/2019-02-11.pdf
PlanningBoard,2019-02-11,2,"Board Member Cavanaugh asked if the original ferry terminal site was owned by someone
else.
Staff Member Thomas explained that there are two parcels. One parcel along the
waterfront, which would be dedicated to the City. He said Mina Patel purchased the other
parcel closer to the road.
President Sullivan asked how many uncommitted lots are left in the business park.
Mr. Reidy said they are all owned by someone. He described potential plans for different
undeveloped parcels. He said infrastructure requirements and funding would continue
beyond the end of the development agreement. He said new development fees would now
apply to future applications for parcels not already in the pipeline.
Staff Member Thomas explained that assessment districts that fund park maintenance will
be ongoing.
President Sullivan asked whether HBIA homeowners could get sucked into any problems
with BCDC because of how the agreements are structured.
Staff Member Thomas said the settlement agreement that runs with the land and are not
tied to individuals.
Board Member Teague asked if they could add a condition to the resolution that it
becomes effective upon the transfer of the remaining parcel be recorded.
Staff Member Thomas said that they could add that condition.
Board Member Teague made a motion to approve the staff recommendation with
the condition that the resolution become effective upon successful transfer of
Parcel 4 (map 6024) to the City of Alameda. Board Member Mitchell seconded the
motion. The motion passed 7-0.
7-B 2019-6536
Planning Board Recommendation that the City Council Accept the City of Alameda 2018
General Plan and Housing Element Annual Report and Adopt Recommended General
Plan Text Amendments to resolve conflicting language between the residential density
standards in the 1991 Land Use Element with the residential density standards adopted
in the 2012 Housing Element to bring the General Plan into conformance with state
housing law. The amendment also includes clarifications regarding business park
development standards. The review of the annual report and Land Use Elements are
exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act
Approved Planning Board Minutes
Page 2 of 7
February 11, 2019",PlanningBoard/2019-02-11.pdf
PlanningBoard,2019-02-11,3,"Board Member Teague suggested possibly altering the resolution to acknowledge that
they did pass something before and are accepting revised wording.
Staff Member Thomas gave a presentation. The staff report and attachments can be
found at:
https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3850404&GUID=EFD031D8-
EA8A-4B1E-BADC-C94639684127&FullText=
Board Member Curtis said morning traffic heading to the Posey Tube is gridlocked
because of the merging of Atlantic Avenue, Buena Vista Avenue, and Eighth Street into
Webster Street and not from the freeway on ramp backing up into Alameda. He said all
these new units will make the problem much worse. He asked where all the cars would
go. He said this is a safety issue.
Staff Member Thomas said they included the Transportation Choices Plan Annual Report
to accompany the housing update. He said the region is growing rapidly, but not the
roadway network. He said that is a conscious decision and the region is trying to use other
modes to move people more efficiently. He said our population in Alameda has grown
slowly, but the number of people working and commuting has increased more significantly.
He said people are starting to use other modes besides single occupancy vehicles.
Board Member Mitchell asked if now is the right time to make preliminary
recommendations around climate action while the climate plan update is being finalized.
Staff Member Thomas said they do not have to wait to start putting good ideas in the land
use regulations.
Board Member Mitchell said the congestion he faces is regional and not a direct product
of what he is seeing in Alameda.
President Sullivan said her observations are different. She said Otis Drive at 5pm is one
problem area. She said that doing these updates in a piecemeal fashion would not
increases costs dramatically or slow things down.
Board Member Curtis listed a number of streets that are facing bad traffic on the island in
the mornings already, near where much new development will be placed.
Board Member Teague pointed out a discrepancy in the breakdown of housing units in
the report. He asked what happens is a city does not meet its RHNA, would it be added
to the next cycle's numbers.
Staff Member Thomas said that issue is yet to be determined by state legislation.
Approved Planning Board Minutes
Page 3 of 7
February 11, 2019",PlanningBoard/2019-02-11.pdf
PlanningBoard,2019-02-11,4,"Board Member Teague observed that there is a whereas in the resolution referring to
section 2.3 of the land use element when none of the proposed changes deal with that
section. He asked how the revised 2.2 terminology should be handled given they passed
language previously.
Staff Member Thomas said they can accept the revised language as complying with the
previous approval, or they can adopt the language as a new action. He said staff just
needs to know if the changes are acceptable to the board before being brought to the
council.
Board Member Teague asked how the need to deal with traffic is handled in the General
Plan. He said they are approving lots of housing and it all needs to address the
transportation impacts together rather than treating them as separate issues.
Staff Member Thomas said he will put the Transportation Choices Plan can be added to
the next agenda. He said that work plan is the appropriate place to deal with traffic issues.
President Sullivan asked if her understanding was correct that the state does care about
traffic and only cares about the buildings.
Staff Member Thomas said the state has made clear that we must build more housing. He
said they change the environmental quality act to not consider traffic delay as an
environmental impact.
Board Member Teague asked if the requirement to monitor Measure A should be in the
report.
Staff Member Thomas said that due to state laws they have essentially worked around
Measure A's limitations. He suggested that it probably should not be in the charter any
longer, but would require voter approval.
Board Member Rothenberg said that California's net zero plans could be included to
address some of the desire to address climate change goals.
Board Member Cavanaugh asked what is the definition of a living unit.
Staff Member Thomas explained that the definition hinges upon the kitchen and inclusion
of an oven.
Board Member Cavanaugh said very small market rate units could potentially meet the
low income unit requirements. He said transportation should be the first priority and come
before dealing with the units being added. He suggested light rail or buses that could use
the Fruitvale bridge without getting stuck in vehicle traffic.
Approved Planning Board Minutes
Page 4 of 7
February 11, 2019",PlanningBoard/2019-02-11.pdf
PlanningBoard,2019-02-11,5,"Board Member Saheba said he does not see how the findings in this report will lead to
meaningful resolutions will be adopted to address the affordable housing issues.
Staff Member Thomas said the funding of affordable housing is the most difficult issue
cities face. He said it is difficult to find agreement given the many funding priorities of the
city.
Board Member Saheba said including the affordable housing dollars raised and some
historical data on the issue will help focus energies on actions that have positive impact.
Staff Member Thomas explained some of the fees and costs imposed on developments
and how they relate to each other. He said that this might be a good time to review them
all together to make sure they are allocated in the right ratios.
Board Member Mitchell said that it would help to have a better understanding of the various
fees before reviewing a project and asking for specific concessions from developers.
Board Member Teague suggested that the wording from the draft resolution with one
addition is effectively what was approved in November and could be recommended to
council as such. He said the change is to strike the whereas regarding 2.3 and include the
wording for the residential density exemption for Measure A provided by the City Attorney
to address ongoing changes in state requirements.
President Sullivan said they would now provide comments on the General Plan Annual
Report.
Board Member Teague suggested a correction for a typo. He said every link in the report
is broken due to the new city website. He said referencing population growth from a point
in time when the Naval Air Station was open at its peak is not useful. He said the traffic
data referencing a time with the Navy's trips also does not provide practical help since the
traffic patterns were so different from today's more traditional peak hour patterns. He said
the weekday commute times and especially at the crossings are the main concern, not
total trips in a 24 hour day. He said our zoning for units and not considering unit size when
dealing with impact fees makes it harder to build workforce housing. He said the land use
element update paragraph does not fit with the section in which it is included. He said we
do in fact practically give an automatic density bonus and the inclusionary housing
breakdown should change to require a larger change to give a bonus. He said we should
address the inability to add ADUs on multifamily units. He said the report should
acknowledge that Measure A is impacting our ability to deliver housing. He said he would
add workforce housing to the second bullet point in the conclusions. He said an additional
bullet should be added to significantly mitigate traffic impacts of new housing.
President Sullivan said homelessness for 204 people should not be our lead issue in the
report, but rather it should be workforce housing. She corrected a typo in the report.
Approved Planning Board Minutes
Page 5 of 7
February 11, 2019",PlanningBoard/2019-02-11.pdf
PlanningBoard,2019-02-11,6,"Board Member Mitchell said he is okay referencing California building code guidelines
such at net zero instead of including specific items. He said that homelessness is a very
serious issue facing Alameda and should not be buried.
Staff Member Thomas reviewed his notes from the board input: clean up typos; start using
1996 as a reference point for the data rather than 1990; no need to wait for the climate
change plan to include changes; add a discussion of the workforce, affordable by design,
and affordable housing issues and how they are financed; scalable impact fees based on
unit square footage.
Board Member Teague made a motion to move the report forward with dramatic revisions
such that in the draft resolution strike a portion of the second sentence after ""endorse the
Housing Element Annual Report"" and the 2nd-4th whereas clauses. Board Member Curtis
seconded the motion.
Board Member Mitchell asked how the motion relates to Staff Member Thomas' list of
input.
Staff Member Thomas said he has time to make the changes and bring it back to Planning
Board one more time before it goes to Council.
*The motion on the floor was withdrawn.*
Board Member Curtis made a motion to table the item until the next Planning Board
meeting. Board Member Teague seconded the motion. The motion passed 7-0.
8. MINUTES
8-A 2019-6540
Draft Meeting Minutes - January 14, 2019
President Sullivan said the sentence on page two where it said she ""closed the public
hearing"" makes it sound like the discussion was shut off. She said it should read ""with no
further public comment.""
Board Member Curtis made a motion to approve the minutes. Board Member
Rothenberg seconded the motion. The motion passed 7-0.
9. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
9-A 2019-6534
Planning, Building and Transportation Department Recent Actions and Decisions
The staff report can be found at:
ittps://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3850402&GUID=95EF72D7-
9A49-4122-863E-86F902DDE511&FullText=
Approved Planning Board Minutes
Page 6 of 7
February 11, 2019",PlanningBoard/2019-02-11.pdf
PlanningBoard,2019-02-11,7,"Board Member Teague said he wished to pull the food truck item. He said his reading of
the code says the Planning Board must approve the use permit.
10. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
10-A 2019-6537
Future Public Meetings and Upcoming Planning, Building and Transportation Department
Projects
Staff Member Thomas gave an update on future agenda items. He said the Council upheld
the board's decision on the Harbor Bay hotel project.
President Sullivan detailed the upcoming community outreach efforts the Planning Board
requested to address outstanding questions regarding the Marriott hotel project.
11. BOARD COMMUNICATIONS
Board Member Teague said he was unable to find the North Park Street design guidelines.
He said it would be good to be able to find a link to all of the final Planning Board
resolutions.
11-A 2019 6550
Alameda City Charter Review
Board Member Teague said the subcommittee should consider moving Measure A into
the zoning code.
12. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
*None*
13. ADJOURNMENT
President Sullivan adjourned the meeting at 9:13pm.
Approved Planning Board Minutes
Page 7 of 7
February 11, 2019",PlanningBoard/2019-02-11.pdf