2/6/2018 City of San Juan Capistrano Agenda Report F1a TO: FROM: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council %enjamin Siegel, City Manager SUBMITTED BY: PREPARED BY: Joel Rojas, Development Services Director Art Bashmakian, Contract Planner DATE: SUBJECT: Consideration of Initiation of an Amendment to the Forster Canyon Planned Community Comprehensive Development Plan 81-01, adding an overlay of "SFR" (Single-Family Residential) to allow a 7.29-acre potential school site to be developed with up to 47 singlefamily units (CA 17-008) (Applicant: Capistrano Unified School District. Property Owner: Pacific Point Development Partners, LLC.) RECOMMENDATION: Initiate a study for a Proposed Amendment to the Forster Canyon Planned Community Comprehensive Development Plan 81-01 (COP 81-01) that would allow up to 47 residential units (6.5 units per acre) on a 7.29-acre site that is designated in the COP as a potential school site. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The Applicant, the Capistrano Unified School District (CUSD), has submitted a request (Attachment 1) for the City Council to initiate a study for a proposed code amendment to amend COP 81-01. The proposed amendment would add an overlay of "SFR" (Single Family Residential) to a 7.29-acre undeveloped property that currently has a land use designation of Public Institutional (PI). The subject property is located at the northeast corner of Camino Las Ramblas and Avenida California, bounded by Avenida California on the west, Camino Las Ramblas on the south, Via de Agua on the east and a slope embankment on the north (Attachment 2). The proposed overlay would allow the property to be developed with a maximum of 47 single family residential units with access to the property taken from Avenida California (Attachment 3). This equates to a maximum density of 6.5 units per acre, which is considered Medium High Density (5.1-8.0 units per acre) by the City's General Plan.
Page 2 of 5 On September 19, 2017, the City Council denied a request by the Applicant to initiate an amendment to COP 81-01 that would have allowed the same undeveloped 7.29-acre site to be developed with up to 131 residential units (18 units per acre). Following this action, the Applicant conducted a neighborhood outreach program, which included two community meetings with area residents. As a result of feedback received from area residents, the Applicant has submitted a new COP Amendment initiation request that includes a much lower unit count. Given that the proposed residential density has been substantially reduced in response to previous community concerns and is now more consistent with the residential densities of existing adjacent neighborhoods, staff is recommending that the City Council initiate a study of the current proposal. The San Juan Capistrano Municipal Code provides that a private party must petition the City Council to initiate an amendment to the City's Land Use Code. Since the land use regulations in an approved COP function as the Land Use Code for properties subject to the COP, an amendment to a COP is considered a Land Use Code Amendment. An action by the City Council to initiate a code amendment shall not be interpreted as an intent to adopt such an amendment. Should the City Council decide to move forward with the initiation, staff would begin the required environmental review process for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), and project review with the Design Review Committee and Planning Commission. The Planning Commission's recommendation on the matter would eventually be presented to the City Council for a final decision. DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS: The subject site is currently vacant and is designated as PI (Public Institutional) in COP 81-01 to accommodate an elementary school. The property is owned by Pacific Point Development Partners, the current developer of the Pacifica San Juan residential development project. CUSD has the option to acquire the property, as described in the following section. According to CUSD, based upon recent calculations of student generation rates, the additional homes in the Pacifica San Juan area will not generate a sufficient number of students to warrant the construction of a new school on the subject 7.29-acre site. Rather, CUSD states that students from this development can be accommodated on existing campuses. Therefore, CUSD is proposing that the City allow residential development on the subject site, with the stipulation that the existing Public Institutional designation be retained as the site's base land use designation. A CUSD Board Resolution related to the disposition of this and other District properties, is provided as Attachment 4. The overlay designation is sought instead of an outright land use designation change to preserve flexibility.
Page 3 of 5 History of the Site The General Plan's land use designation of the site was High Density residential (18 units/acre) until 1981. On March 3, 1981, the land use designation of the site, together with an area encompassing nearly 400 acres, was changed to Planned Community (PC) with the adoption of COP 81-01. The approved COP set forth the development blueprint for the 400 acres, which at the time included 75 single-family homes, 560 town homes, 25 acres of limited industrial use, a 7.8 acre site for Public Institutional use and 27 acres of public park use. Since 1981, portions of the 400-acre planning area have been purchased by separate entities, various projects have been approved within the planning area (i.e. Pacifica San Juan residential development), and the COP has been amended several times. Records show that the subject site, along with some adjacent area totaling 9.8 acres, was originally envisioned to be developed with a 5-acre public park and a 4.8-acre single-family attached product totaling 32 units. However, in 2003, the COP was amended to state that CUSD has the option to acquire the 9.8 acres of property for a possible future school site. In 2005, when Final Tract Map No. 15678 was recorded, the area designated for the school site became Lot 1 at 7.29 acres, and the remaining slope area (2.51 acres) became Lot E and is part of the Pacific Point HOA Common Area. Since 2003, the site's designation has been Public Institutional (PI) to accommodate a future elementary school that would serve the area. The PI designation allows educational uses, public or private, including child day care centers, pre-schools or nursery schools. Other allowable uses within the PI designation include churches, temples, synagogues, convents, monasteries, religious retreats and other places of worship. The list also includes public and semi-public buildings, services and facilities, parks, community centers and cultural centers. As part of the City's Housing Element adoption process in 2014, the subject site, along with two other sites outside of the area, were identified as potential candidates for rezoning to allow Very High Density residential development (up to 30 units per acre) in order to meet City's Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA) allocation mandated by State law. This would have allowed the 7.29-acre subject site to be developed with up to 218 units. On January 21, 2014, the City Council agreed to rezone the two sites outside of this area (Ventanas and Groves sites), but not the subject site due to strong neighborhood opposition. At that time, the City Council determined that the subject site was unsuitable for Very High Density residential development, and instead designated a different site for Very High Density residential (the current City Hall property) in order to satisfy the City's RHNA requirements. In doing so, the Council removed the subject site from the list of potential sites for Very High Density development (18.1-30 units per acre). The current proposal of 6.5 units per acre is considered Medium High Density residential by the City's General Plan. The current COP has a maximum unit cap of 416 residential units for the Pacifica San Juan portion of the Forster Canyon COP. Should the City Council ultimately approve the proposed code amendment, the maximum unit cap in the COP would also need to
Page 4 of 5 be increased. In addition, as part of the applicant's request for establishing a residential overlay on the subject property, the applicant will be seeking to amend some of the development standards identified in COP 81-01, including a request to allow three-story structures within the 35-foot height limit. This is because COP 81-01 currently limits the number of stories in residential districts to two stories, with the exception of the Garden Residential District within the Pacifica San Juan residential development. The determination of the exact zoning text modifications would be part of the study process that would occur if the City Council approves the initiation. Surrounding Neighborhood The attached location map (Attachment 2) identifies the surrounding residential neighborhoods, which consist of the existing Belle Cliff and Belle Haven neighborhoods within Pacifica San Juan (3.3 units per acre) to the north, detached single-family homes (2-3.5 units per acre) to the northeast and single-family homes within the City of San Clemente to the south. To the southwest is the Cancun Racquet Club, a residential development totaling 40 units on a 4.01 acre lot (1 0 units per acre) and to the west is the Capistrano Pointe Apartment Community, consisting of 274 units on a 15.33-acre site (18 units per acre). To the northwest is the undeveloped Pearl District within Pacifica San Juan that is approved with a density of 5.6 units per acre. Conclusion Should the City Council elect to move forward with the initiation of this Code Amendment, staff would prepare a draft Amendment based on the more detailed entitlement applications that would be subsequently submitted by the applicant. The submitted development applications would then become the basis for studying and drafting a potential amendment to the current COP. A complete CEQA evaluation of the proposal would also be performed using an independent third party consultant, including the preparation of an Initial Study to determine the appropriate CEQA document for the proposed project. After preparation of the CEQA document, the proposed code amendment/entitlement application package would be presented to the Design Review Committee and Planning Commission for review. The Planning Commission's recommendation on the proposed amendments/entitlement applications would then be presented to the City Council for final consideration at a duly noticed public hearing. Depending on the CEQA analysis, this process is estimated to take six months to one year to complete after the detailed entitlement applications are submitted by the applicant. FISCAL IMPACT: The cost for processing the code amendment and related project entitlement applications, including staff time, professional studies and environmental services, would be charged to the developer deposit paid by the applicant.
Page 5 of 5 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT: The request to initiate a code amendment has been determined to be statutorily exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) under State CEQA Guidelines (Cal. Code Regs., 15000 et seq.) section 15262. Under this exemption, a project involving only feasibility or planning studies for possible future actions which an agency has not approved, adopted, or funded does not require the preparation of an EIR or negative declaration. Here, the action before the City Council merely directs staff to undertake a study to determine the feasibility and potential impacts (including environmental impacts) of the applicant's requested code amendment. Undertaking this study is not a commitment to adopt this or any other code amendment, and the study itself will not lead directly to the implementation of any specific project. The action would only direct staff to study and review the potential of a possible future amendment. Undertaking this study will have no legally binding effect on later activities. Further, and for the same reasons as discussed above, the request to initiate the study is exempt from further CEQA review under State CEQA Guidelines section 15061 (b)(3), which exempts projects that have no potential for causing a significant effect on the environment. COMMISSION/COMMITTEE/BOARD REVIEW AND RECOMMENDATIONS: Not applicable. NOTIFICATION: Stephen P. Sandland Capistrano Unified School District Property Owner - Pacific Point Development Partners Property Owners within 1,000 foot of the subject site Property Owners beyond 1,000 feet from the subject site but within the Pacifica San Juan Development Anna Turek City of San Clemente ATTACHMENT(S): Attachment 1 -Applicant's Request including Applicant's Traffic Report Attachment 2 -Aerial Map of the Project Site and surrounding area Attachment 3 - Applicant's Conceptual Site Plan Attachment 4 - Resolution from the Capistrano Unified school District Attachment 5- COP 81-01