Full Agenda Faces Planning Commission Monday

LOADED AGENDA - A LONG NIGHT
The Costa Mesa Planning Commission meets again Monday, June 13, 2016 in City Council Chambers beginning at 6:00 p.m. and it faces a full agenda, HERE.

CONSENT CALENDAR
In addition to the minutes of an earlier meeting, the Consent Calendar contains an item, HERE, that is considered routine.  This is the vacation of excess right-of-way at 671-673 W. 17th Street at the corner of West 17th Street and Pomona Avenue.

CAMPAIGN SIGNS CHANGES
Public Hearing #1, HERE, is an amendment to the Zoning Code affecting portable signs, including campaign signs and is a result of concern about how signs were handled during the 2014 election and also as a result of recent Federal Law.  The proposed change now refers to campaign signs as "Non-Commercial Portable Signs".  The big changes are the times and days campaign signs are permitted to be displayed.  Previously they were permitted in public right-of-way only on the weekends.  The way I read this ordinance, signs that otherwise meet the criteria established by the code may now be displayed any time, any day during the six-week period before any election and must be removed no later than 10 days following the date of the election.  And you thought we had been infested with these signs before!

SHARED PARKING ON PAULARINO AND RED HILL
Public Hearing #2, HERE, is a request for a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) for properties on Paularino Avenue and Red Hill Avenue for shared parking at the two sites.  One 12,000 square foot building will be demolished to provide parking space.  The staff recommends approval.

ARTS AND LEARNING CONSERVATORY ON AIRWAY AVENUE
Public Hearing #3, HERE, is a Conditional Use Permit for Arts and Learning Conservatory and shared parking requirements at 3184 Airway Avenue, Suite A.  Those who follow this stuff may remember this site... it was the subject of some controversy the first of the year.  The Berean Community Church that occupies the site is moving and this activity will replace it.  The staff recommends approval.

LIVE ENTERTAINMENT AT THE BARLEY FORGE
Public Hearing #4, HERE, is a another amendment to the CUP for the Barley Forge microbrewery at 2957 Randolph Avenue for live entertainment daily until 11:00 p.m.  The staff recommends approval.

SELF-STORAGE AND FOOD ON BRISTOL
The final item on the agenda, Public Hearing #5, HERE, is interesting for a couple reasons.  This is a rezone and planning application for a 774-unit self-storage facility and 5,000 square foot food court building at 375 Bristol Street, the site of a current automotive center.  This site backs up to the small golf course on the east side.  I recall one of the justifications for the replacement of the automotive center with self-storage was the increasing number of high density homes with little or no storage available onsite.  An interesting sidebar is that there is a project a short distance away also on Bristol  - around a mile, adjacent to the Newport Mesa Unified School District Headquarters - in the planning stages in which an existing storage facility is going to be demolished and replaced with homes.  Very curious.  The staff recommends approval of this project.