Ripon Planning Commission Minutes

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Ripon Planning Commission Minutes

MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 – 6:00 PM

REGULAR MEETING

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:

The meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM with Commissioner Collins leading in the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.

ROLL CALL:

Attendee Name Title Status Arrived

George Saljian Commissioner Present

Gary Barton Commissioner Present

James West Commissioner Present

Mike Garcia Commissioner Present

Debra VanEssen Commissioner Present

Dave Collins Commissioner Present

Others Present: Planning Director Ken Zuidervaart, City Attorney Thomas Terpstra,

Information Systems Technician Robert Rankin, Planning Secretary Mitzi Johnston

PUBLIC DISCUSSION:

Chairman Saljian asked if there were any public comments. There were no public comments on items not on the agenda.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES:

Motion to approve the minutes of the regular Planning Commission Meeting of February 16, 2021

A. PLANNING COMMISSION - REGULAR MEETING - FEB 16, 2021 6:00 PM

RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Dave Collins, Commissioner

SECONDER: Debra VanEssen, Commissioner

AYES: Saljian, Barton, West, VanEssen, Collins

1. DISCUSSION ITEMS:

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Planning Commission Page 2 April 19, 2021 A. MAJOR SITE REVIEW (SR21-18) FOR DIAMOND PET FOODS

A request to construct a fourth pet food production line within the existing facility located at 942 S. Stockton Avenue.

Should the Planning Commission agree with staff’s recommendation, the following motion would be appropriate:

“The Planning Commission certifies the Final EIR (SCH 20181277) and adopts the attached findings (see attachment 4) for the project, adopts the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program (see attachment 5) and approves the Major Site Plan Permit (SR21-18) for the Diamond Pet Foods Expansion project, based on the findings and subject to the conditions of the staff report.”

Director Zuidervaart introduced the staff report into the record along with the findings. Zuidervaart explained this is a request to construct a fourth pet food production line within the existing Diamond Pet Foods facility located at 942 S. Stockton Avenue in the heavy industrial district. This expansion would increase production to 1,040 tons per day.

Zuidervaart said all of the new equipment and facilities associated with the proposed fourth production line would be located inside the existing building. The new production line will be routed through the RTO (regenerative thermal oxidation) system.

Zuidervaart said staff had a public workshop a couple weeks ago between Diamond Pet Foods, the City Council and Planning Commission to discuss the Environmental Impact Report.

City Attorney Terpstra said this Commission is not often called upon to certify or adopt an environmental impact report. The recommendation of staff is that you certify the EIR and the finding is one of adequacy. The Commission would determine that there is a good faith effort in this documentation of full disclosure of all the environmental impacts. The law requires that the certification happen before the project can be approved. This is why there is a recommendation to first certify the document and then approve the project. Terpstra said the City has complied with the CEQA requirements such as posting and noticing but also with respect to the substance of the document.

Chairman Saljian then opened the item up to public comment. He first asked the applicant if they would like to speak. They did not wish to speak at this time.

Saljian asked if there was anyone wishing to speak in favor of the project. There was none.

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Planning Commission Page 3 April 19, 2021 Saljian then asked if there was anyone wishing to speak in opposition of the project. No one wished to speak in opposition of the project.

Commissioner Collins thanked Zuidervaart for the workshop prior to this meeting and thanked Diamond Pet Foods for being there to answer any questions. Collins said he thinks that Diamond Pet Foods is a great business and they continue to do things that are beneficial to the community. Collins said he sees in the recommendation action the ability to change things if any odor problems arise.

Commissioner Van Essen said that she also found the workshop to be very helpful and said she believes the Commission was adequately prepared for this evening.

Vice Chairman Barton concurred that the EIR was thorough and then said that staff received a lengthy letter from an individual objecting to the expansion of Diamond Pet Foods and it was primarily centered around the odor issues. Barton said he has some sympathy for some of the points of view presented by the individual as he and the current Mayor both live in a neighborhood that has been impacted in the past by odors. Barton said Diamond Pet Foods is beneficial to the community. Barton said the odor has significantly decreased and he expects that this will continue to be the case and there are steps in place should that not be the case. He said if problems occur and it is not corrected, the fourth line will be taken off line until it is fixed.

Saljian said he feels the same way and he would like to thank everyone involved for the effort that went into this. He said it is a great report and thinks they are on good footing to move forward.

Motion to certify the Final EIR (SCH2018112039) and adopts the attached findings (see attachment 4) for the project, adopts the Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program (see attachment 5) and approves the Major Site Plan Permit (SR21-18) for the Diamond Pet Foods Expansion project, based on the findings and subject to the conditions of the staff report.

RESULT: ADOPTED [UNANIMOUS]

MOVER: Debra VanEssen, Commissioner

SECONDER: Gary Barton, Commissioner

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Planning Commission Page 4 April 19, 2021 B. MAJOR SITE REVIEW (SR21-15) & LOT MERGER (LM21-16) FOR HAPPY DAZE

RV

A request to construct a RV sales and service center and merge two lots totaling approximately 9.79 acres located at 752 Kamps Way and 1441 Canal Boulevard in the Mixed Use (MU) district.

“The Planning Commission approves the Major Site Plan Permit (SR21-15) and Lot Merger (LM21-16) for the Happy Daze RV Sales and Service Center, based on the findings and subject to the conditions of the staff report, and adopts the Negative Declaration (PEA21-04) for the project.”

Director Zuidervaart introduced the staff report into the record and said that this is an application to construct a 39,848 square foot building for RV Sales and Service on two parcels totaling approximately 9.79 acres in the mixed-use district. Zuidervaart said the applicant wishes to merge the two parcels located at 752 Kamps Way and 1441 Canal Boulevard. Zuidervaart said the building will be facing Kamps Way and will contain an indoor RV display area, retails sales and offices, RV parts and storage, conference room, break room and training areas. He said there will be twenty indoor service bays.

Zuidervaart described the location of where the building will sit on the lot and said that all setbacks exceed the required setbacks. Zuidervaart said the building would be approximately 35’ in height which complies with our code. Zuidervaart gave a reference of the height stating the nearby boat dealership’s building is 30 feet in height.

Zuidervaart said the remainder of the site would contain approximately 255 RV display sales parking and customer parking spaces. Zuidervaart said the customer parking makes up 56 standard spaces and 4 handicap spaces.

Zuidervaart said access to the site would be from two commercial driveway approaches off Kamps Way. There will be no driveway entrances from Canal Boulevard. One of the driveways will line up with Les Schwab’s driveway for to help reduce vehicle conflicts exiting both sites.

Zuidervaart then described the exterior of the building saying that there will be different orientations of the metal sidings along with glass panel door and windows to create architectural interest. Zuidervaart said the site will be fenced and gated with an ornamental wrought iron type fencing matching the neighboring boat dealership.

Zuidervaart said the site contains approximately 16.5% landscaping which exceeds the standard of 15% for mixed use. A landscape plan will be submitted to staff for review and approval. A lighting plan will also need to be submitted for review and approval to

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Planning Commission Page 5 April 19, 2021 ensure adequate lighting and that it will be property shielded to keep glare away from adjacent land uses and right-of-way.

Zuidervaart said signage on-site will have to comply with current City of Ripon standards and the applicant will be required to submit a separate sign application with the Planning Department for approval.

Commissioner Collins asked if there is parking on Kamps itself. Zuidervaart replied no, the applicant has on-site parking. Collins asked referring to the site plan on page 202 if the applicant could put in a gate to allow additional parking on the other side of the roundabout. Zuidervaart replied no, stating that this is not their property.

Commissioner Van Essen asked if the only two entrances and exits are on Kamps Way. Zuidervaart replied there are two entrances/exits on Kamps and there will be an emergency exit on Garrison.

Commissioner West asked if we can restrict signage. Zuidervaart replied they are not allowed to have their own free standing sign and so they will have a sign on the freeway center sign and will probably have signage on the building itself.

Applicant: Adam Lovern, RMW Architects (1718 3rd Street Suite, Sacramento) thanked the Commission for their consideration and said that he is here tonight to answer any questions.

Collins said that he was excited when he heard Happy Daze was coming to town. Collins said occasionally a RV Center may have big free BBQ’s and what are their thoughts on exceeding parking, where would the overflow go. Ronnie Radigan, Happy Daze RV, said usually offsite promotions pertain to RV shows only. They may have a grand opening but in his 25 years of experience, they have never drawn in 60 customers for free hot dogs, although it would be nice.

Van Essen asked if this was going to be the same plan type as their other stores. Radigan said this is the first one they are building. They want to better serve the customers from a customer service side. He said they want to make sure the customer is getting the full experience. He said Sacramento has eight service bays, Gilroy has five, and in Livermore, they currently have four bays. Van Essen asked if they would be keeping all the other stores open. Radigan replied yes.

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Planning Commission Page 6 April 19, 2021

Motion to approve Major Site Plan Permit (SR21-15) and the Lot Merger (LM21-16) for Happy Daze RV, based on the findings and subject to the conditions of the staff report, and adopt the Negative Declaration (PEA21-04) for the project.

MOVER: Dave Collins, Commissioner

C. MAJOR SITE REVIEW (SR21-19) FOR KAIZEN RIVER DEVELOPMENT A request to construct four buildings

totaling approximately 48,900 square feet across four consecutive parcels along Doak Boulevard between Vera Avenue and S. Acacia Avenue on approximately 3.26 acres in the M1 (Light Industrial) district.

“The Planning Commission approves the Major Site Plan Permit (SR21-19) for the Kaizen River LLC development, based on the findings and subject to the conditions of the staff report, and adopts the Negative Declaration (PEA21-05) for the project.”

Director Zuidervaart said this is a request to construct four buildings with common parking on approximately 3.2 acres in the Light Industrial district. The total square footage of all building will be approximately 49,000. He said Phase 1 will be for the two buildings on the eastern most parcels and phase 2 will be the L shaped building on the two Western parcels. The phase 1 buildings will sit approximately 30 and 42 feet from the front property line which is Doak Boulevard. They will be 20 feet from the rear property line and 10 feet from the side property lines. The municipal code allows for reduced setbacks upon approval from the Planning Commission, the Ripon Consolidated Fire District and notification of the adjacent landowners. The proposed buildings will be 25 feet in height, which does comply with our municipal code, which allows up to 35 feet. As a reference, One Church, which is the former Hockey Rink, is 35 feet tall. Zuidervaart said all buildings are intended to be leased out as flexible light industrial lease space.

Zuidervaart said the applicant intends to have one main driveway entrance off of Doak Boulevard and there will be a total of 86 parking spaces between the two phases.

Zuidervaart then gave a description of the exterior of the buildings saying they appear to be a mixture of different combinations of architectural steel sheathing on the entire building, glass panels and metal gable roof style.

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Planning Commission Page 7 April 19, 2021 Zuidervaart said there would be 14.8% of landscaping with slightly exceeds the City’s standard of 10% for the light industrial district. The applicant will need to submit a landscaping plan for review and approval.

Zuidervaart said the site does not depict site lighting but a detailed lighting plan will be required to be submitted to the Ripon Police Department and Planning Department for review and approval. He said site lighting will be appropriately shielded to direct light toward the project site in order to keep glare away from adjacent land uses and rights-of-way.

Zuidervaart then gave the locations of the two trash enclosures saying they will be located adjacent to the parking areas/drive isles and will be covered.

Commissioner West if there will be any windows on the back side of the buildings. Zuidervaart replied there will be no window or roll up doors on the back side of the building but there may be man doors.

Commissioner Van Essen asked what the timeline between the phases would be. Zuidervaart said that he would let the applicant respond to this. Van Essen asked if this building will be similar to the other building we approved by the same architecture firm. Zuidervaart replied it will be similar design features but not as much glass.

Commissioner Collins asked where the trash enclosures would be located. Zuidervaart replied they would be placed closer to Doak Boulevard away from the residences. Collins asked if these buildings would be going all the way to Vera Avenue. Zuidervaart replied there are two parcels west of this project site.

Collins asked if any of the residences behind this project are two-story homes. Zuidervaart replied yes, there are a few but added that there is an 8-foot masonry wall that separates them.

Commissioner Garcia asked if there is a center left turn lane on Doak in front of this project. Zuidervaart replied yes.

Garcia asked if there is an easement along the back. Zuidervaart replied yes, there is a 20-foot easement and the Fire Department is requesting this area be paved and available for an emergency exit.

Chairman Saljian asked about the setbacks. Zuidervaart replied the buildings meet the setbacks except on the east and west sides where they are proposing to be 10 feet from the side property lines.

Commissioner Barton asked about the monument sign. Zuidervaart said the applicant intends to have a monument sign at the entrance listing each of the tenants.

Applicant: Nick Seward (212 W. Pine Street, suite 1, Lodi) said that he also owns the adjacent site. He said the clients are excited to develop this one and they plan to start the

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Planning Commission Page 8 April 19, 2021 project as quickly as they can. He said they may start phase 2 at the same time as phase 1.

Van Essen asked what kind of tenants they intend to get. Seward replied these will be contractor suites with possibly an office but the main focus will be contractor suites. Seward said that parking always dictates what we can allow and that is why they did ample garage doors. Seward said they did a study to see how many suites they could allow for maximum use.

Saljian asked if they know the average size of the suites. Seward replied approximately 2,500 to 3,000 square feet per suite.

Collins asked what the construction material would be at the rear of the building.

Seward replied it will be corrugated or boxed rib metal around the building. He said they have tried to limit the number of openings at the back of the building. Seward said the front would have more architectural features for the complex.

Collins said that he loves the design of the last building that Seward brought to the Commission and then asked if on the corrugated material will there be any insulation or anything that would reduce sound going through. Seward replied yes, they will start out with minimal insulation and as tenants come in, they will add more as needed. Saljian asked if the exterior panels in the back are paneled. Seward replied no, they are not insulated panels at the rear or on the side. There are other ways to mitigate sound such as bat insulation or rigid foam insulation because they are more cost effective.

Proponents: Kevin Lacasse (834 Seventh St) said he is a resident of one of the two-story homes behind this project. He said the second story houses can see and hear everything on Doak. He said one concern would be lighting. Lacasse said he works at the Wine Group and they have a big metal warehouse that acts like an amplifier for sound. Lacasse asked what type of business constitutes light industrial. Lacasse said the other concern is at the 20-foot setback. He said if you look at Ace Hardware as an example, the back is where people go for their smoke breaks and that is a concern. He said with regards to lighting, there is no setback, and he is concerned about the after the fact discretion of the planning board reviewing the lighting plan. Lacasse said if they could move the setback to 2 more feet off the wall, maybe they could install a light post that directs the light toward the building.

Saljian said that if he lived there too he also would be concerned about lighting but knows that there are things that could be done to shield this. Saljian asked if this would be looked at. Zuidervaart replied they have not yet submitted their lighting plan but when staff looks at it, they have to make sure that they are going to do something that does not shed light onto the neighbor’s property. He said that is something that is addressed in the Municipal Code. Lacasse asked if it would be up to the tenant to decide how much insulation to put in or would that be up to the builder. Lacasse said there is no opportunity to put the lighting anywhere except on the building if there is a 20-foot easement. Zuidervaart replied he is correct; but added they may be able to lower the height of the lights on the wall. Zuidervaart said with regards to what can go in at this location; the Municipal Code has a list of what is permitted in the Light Industrial district.

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Planning Commission Page 9 April 19, 2021 Zuidervaart added the City also has a noise ordinance. He said each use will be looked at during tenant improvements. Lacasse asked what kind of oversight the City has with what happens outside the back doors of the building.

Seward said with regards to the back area, it was initially a comment by the Fire Department that we cannot use this space. Seward said there can be no parking and it will be fenced off. He said there will be a series of gates and that requirement will likely be incurred on the parcels to the west too. Lacasse said his concern is the employees that would use it for their smoking breaks. Seward said unfortunately he is not sure how they can control that. Seward said he does not know who the tenants will be but a tire shop would not be a tenant there. He said that they could look at different ways to mitigate sound.

Collins asked if they would be able to lower the lights on the building. Seward said that he would be working with the police department and fire department. The goal would be to try to mitigate the lighting but still meet the code.

Collins said it is an attractive building. He said he lives adjacent to a school and understands noise issues. This building could have been a two-story building. He would like to request that the developer consider doing whatever they can to insulate the back wall of the building.

Van Essen said that with the buildings being there it might actually buffer the sound from Doak Boulevard.

Saljian asked about the height of the building. Zuidervaart replied 25 feet at the peak. West asked what will happen if it gets noisy. Zuidervaart replied it would go to code enforcement.

Motion to approve the Major Site Plan Permit (SR21-19) for Kaizen River LLC, based on the findings and subject to the conditions of the staff report, and adopts the Negative Declaration (PEA21-05) for the project.

MOVER: Debra VanEssen, Commissioner

SECONDER: Dave Collins, Commissioner

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Planning Commission Page 10 April 19, 2021 D. MAJOR SITE REVIEW (SR21-13) FOR CITY OF RIPON PUBLIC WORKS

MAINTENANCE FACILITY

A request to construct a 12,500 square foot public works building on a portion of partially developed City owned property at 444 Doak Boulevard in the M2 (Heavy Industrial) district.

“The Planning Commission approves the Major Site Plan Permit (SR21-13) for the City of Ripon, based on the findings and subject to the conditions of the staff report and adopts the Negative Declaration (PEA21-03) for the project.”

Director Zuidervaart said this is a request to construct at 12,500 square foot City of Ripon public works building containing three maintenance bays, office space, locker rooms, and support spaces fronting on Doak Boulevard. The building will sit approximately 95 feet from Doak and the building will site approximately in the center of Phase 1 of the corporation yard master plan site. Zuidervaart said all other setbacks exceed the minimum. Zuidervaart said the building would be 32 feet in height at the highest ridge. The remainder of the site will be used for employee or customer parking and work fleet parking and maintenance.

Zuidervaart described the access to the site saying there will be two commercial driveway approaches from Doak Boulevard one of which currently exists. He said both will have gates behind the front parking which will secure the site at the end of each business day. Zuidervaart said there will be 40 customer/employee parking spaces, which should be sufficient for the use.

Zuidervaart then described the exterior of the building and referred to the drawings in the staff report.

Zuidervaart said the plan shows approximately 7.5% of site landscaping, which is slightly under the required 10%, and so the final landscape plan will be required to identify and plan for the 10% standard.

Zuidervaart said the site does indicate lights around the perimeter of the site and parking lot and a more detailed lighting plan will be required to be submitted to the Police Department and Planning for review and approval.

Zuidervaart said the trash enclosure is identified on the site and will be required to be covered.

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Planning Commission Page 11 April 19, 2021 Commissioner West asked if the City designed this building. Zuidervaart replied we hired an architect to work with the City.

Chairman Saljian asked if the landscape is required to be 10%. Zuidervaart replied yes and they may be able to add landscaping at the back of the site.

West asked when they plan to start the project. Zuidervaart replied they will be going through a bid process and are about 30 to 40 days out.

Commissioner Van Essen asked if this is a maintenance type building. Zuidervaart replied there are some offices but is mainly maintenance. Van Essen asked where the maintenance is currently done. Zuidervaart replied the building is located on Vera and Doak.

Zuidervaart said the additional phasing will be master planned. There will eventually be a water department, sewer department, etc.

Commissioner Barton said that he would encourage the City to try to make up the landscaping on the front of the site. If it is put in the back, no one will see it. Now is the time to do it right. Zuidervaart replied that they have already plugged in landscaping wherever they can in the front. They will have to look to see where they can add additional landscaping.

West asked if we add in landscaping in the back would we be taking away workspace and asked if we can just not do the extra landscaping. Zuidervaart replied that the City would not cut into the parking or work space. The site backs up to the wastewater treatment area. Saljian added that we want to be careful about setting precedence. We want to require the City to do what we require others to do. Barton concurred.

Motion to approve the Major Site Plan Permit (SR21-13) for the City of Ripon Corporation Yard, based on the findings and subject to the conditions of the staff report and adopt Negative Declaration (PEA21-03) for the project.

MOVER: George Saljian, Commissioner

REPORTS:

Director Zuidervaart said the battery energy storage facility is on the docket for the May or June meeting. Zuidervaart said that there are also a couple other non-residential projects that will be coming.

Commissioner Collins asked about the car wash. Zuidervaart replied the plans are currently in plan check.