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PAC Minutes and Reports SANTA ANA HEIGHTS PROJECT AREA COMMITTEE Meeting notes for minutes Oct. 3 2007 (Subject to change) In attendance: Barbara Venezia, Tim Stoaks, Jayne Jones, Richard Moriarty, Rick Dayton, Gary Hall, Gary Golson, Ted Bosley Excused: Ted Nichols and Mary Slouka 1. Approval of minutes from August PAC Meeting Gary Hall moves to approve minutes. Rick 2nds. Approval of the minutes. 2 Welcome and introduction of Guests: Mario Mainero, George Britton, Keri Bullock, from RSG, Dave Marshall from County, Police Chief John Klein can’t be with us tonight so Captain Jim Kaminsky, Patrol Division Commander Lieutenant Steve Koudelka, Patrol Division will be here in his place, Evelyn Hart 3. Public Comments: (3 minutes or less) none Staff and Committee Reports 4. Mario Mainero/ George Britton: Overview of the County run projects (Kline Dr. Orchard St. Park, Bristol St. Sidewalk,) (10mins) Orchard St. Park This project is slated for a start date to break ground in January 2008. This project is currently under budget. ************** Kline Dr: George Britton will show us detailed drawings of the street and identify the sections of property that needs to be allocated for the two phase project here. The County has split this project in two. One part will be undergrounding and one part will be the road improvement. The reasoning behind this is that the undergrounding approval process takes longer and we don’t want to hold up the quick progress already made on the road improvements. Also if we get consensus on one and not the other, we can still move ahead. Note: if we do not get 100% consensus from residents on any phase, that project is canceled and has no chance of revival at the County level. We could petition Newport Beach down the road after annexation, but there will be no RDA funding, thus it probably will never happen. On the Undergrounding side of this overall project, the county council stands firm in it’s assessment that it can not pay for the private hooks to homes. That would be at the expense of the homeowner. PAC has argued that the County set a precedent when they did pay for hook ups on the Bristol St. undergrounding. The argument is going no where. BV has asked Mario to look into two alternative payment options other than to pay for the hookups outright. One would be to place the cost on the homeowner’s property tax bill over a period of time to be determined. The other option the homeowner would have to prove financial hardship to the County and then a lien would be placed on the property and at time of sale, the County would be reimbursed. The County’s redevelopment consultants from the Rosenow Spevacek Group (RSG) have had informal conversations with some of the owners on Kline Drive and are in the process of trying to follow up with those owners who did not respond to initial contact letters. The goal is to get together with the owners personally in the coming weeks to ensure that there is full support for the project. In addition, County engineering staff members have continued to refine the project’s cost and time estimates. PAC member Gary Golson has been trying to make contact with neighbors via phone, email, as well as just knocking on doors to help RSG in this process. If we have not heard from you, please contact Keri Bullock at RSG. She may be reached at kbullock@webrsg.com or (714) 541-4585, ext. 114. *********************** Bristol St. & Irvine Ave Widening Report as per notes from Javier Soto Special note: Item 24 on the BOS agenda next Tuesday is the letting of the contract for the widening of Irvine Ave. in SAH. This was approved last Tues. For the Bristol Street Sidewalk project, the project was advertised in June and the bids were opened on August 1st with the contractor Sully Miller as the low bidder at $417,784. The project is scheduled to be awarded on October 11th with start of construction in early December. The number of working days stipulated for this contract is 100 working days (5-months). As you know this project will include the under-grounding of the overhead SCE and Mpower utility lines. For the Irvine Avenue Road Widening project, the project was advertised in June and the bids were opened on July 25th with the contractor Griffith Company as the low bidder at $6,457,959. The project is scheduled to be awarded on October 2nd with start of construction in November. The number of working days stipulated for this contract is 300 working days (60 weeks). As you know this project will include the landscaping of the existing stockpile area north of the Irvine/Mesa intersection. ********************************* BV has asked Mario to look in to what the County plans for the properties the RDA still owns on the East Side of Santa Ana Hts. like the temp fire station location. Here is what he reported back: Apparently, the interim fire station property is actually comprised of three parcels owned by the OC Development Agency. County staff will check to see if the City has removed their improvements from the property this week or early next. It seems to be the intention of Orange County Development Agency (OCDA) to sell the parcel when it is vacated. Newport Beach has zoning jurisdiction over the property and will probably be requiring OCDA to assemble it with some other remnant parcels OCDA owns in order to sell it. George Britton is working on this for OCDA. He can be reached at (949) 584-6237. Larry Stansifer at Housing and Community Services is the County contact. George Britton had more to report on the history of this property and RDA property in the area. As I indicated in our meeting with the PAC members, I know some of the background about the property that has been used as Newport Beach's temporary fire station. Five lots make up the PACC - Professional Office Commercial Consolidation District. PACC District regulations are contained in Chapter 20.44.060 of the Newport Beach Zoning Code (Santa Ana Heights Specific Plan). The five lots are sandwiched between Bristol to the north and Zenith Avenue to the south. Existing commercial is to the west. An office building is located to the east. An annotated Assessor Parcel Map is attached. OCDA owns three of the five lots. They are vacant other than the temporary fire station. The other two lots are in a single ownership (Leon R. Long) and have single family homes on them. Earlier contacts with the owner of those lots (by staff and by a series of potential developers didn't get anywhere.) I think, but am not sure, that Mr. Long was the owner at that time. The PACC regulations require that all five lots be consolidated for new development. This requirement was a reaction to a nearby office building that was built just prior to the specific plan (early 1980's) and that was almost built around a single residential lot whose owner was holding out for more money. Over the years, no one has managed to put all five lots together. In about 1990 the regulations were modified to expand the potential uses to include retail and service commercial in the hope that market forces would lead to a consolidation. At that time condemnation was considered to acquire all lots (OCDA had that authority then) but was ruled out as being too expensive. Needless to say, we were happy when Newport Beach wanted to use the property for its temporary station. Normal Board policy on properties in Santa Ana Heights has been to sell them to someone interested in developing consistent with the specific plan. However, the property is not worth much unless the other two lots are involved in a development proposal. >From a planning perspective, not consolidating all lots is a bad idea. Obviously, from a real estate perspective, the consolidation has been a problem for 20+ years. ******************************************** BV has also asked if the Airport Slope area that we have been discussing for years has been transferred from Caltrans to the County as promised and when they will landscape that area to prevent further landslides when it rains on Bristol St. Mario reported that he is still talking with County CEO Tom Mauk on the subject. 5/ BV & Dave Kiff report updates: Mesa Birch Park, Undergrounding (5 min) Undgergrounding Patrick Arceniega is working on obtaining the easements needed for the underground project. He had to send them back since their exhibit maps are the County assessors’ maps. The agreement for the transmission lines is still at the City Attorney's office and he hasn’t had time to follow up. AT&T will be starting up their design work for the district. Also, the pavement requirements are done. Mesa Birch Park_ Dave Kiff will be taking the Mesa-Birch Park bid award and design to our October 9th council meeting. That should still allow us to break ground in November. The bids came in at $357K, which is good. But with a 10% contingency and the previous design fees, we're a bit over our $378K allocation from the County. ************************************** 6/ Chief Klein Speaks to PAC (10 minutes) Chief John Klein to PAC could not be with us this evening and his dad is ill. In his place, Captain Jim Kaminsky, Patrol Division Commander and Lieutenant Steve Koudelka, Patrol Division Captain Jim Kaminsky gave us some background on Chief Klein and talked a little about the former Chief. The Police Dept. is very competitive with other police departments in OC in regards to compensation, staffing, and technology. Problem Oriented Policing Program or POP, was explained a program of problem solving. When you and your neighbor have a chronic issue, this addresses the problem. This program deals with a nuisance that has escalated to a chronic level. For example a noisy renter that is constantly noisy at the same hour each day or night, or an intersection that is consistently unsafe. The PD gathers data from the public and their goal is to solve these sorts of problems. They urged us to call the police whenever there is a problem, even if you don’t think it is important. They are very transparent at the police dept and are willing to explain what they do. Jim Kaminsky’s number is 949 644 3720 and will be posted on the website. Lieutenant Steve Koudelka, Patrol Division is the watch commander for this area. You can also call Steve 949 644 3730 and if he is not working when you call will get back to you. 949 644 3717 is the Dispatch number and feel free to call or email Lt. Koudleka at skoudelka@nbpd.org. The city is now currently patrolling the West Side. The question was raised when WSAH calls 911 who do they get? Right now those calls are routed to Irvine and this will be changed as of Jan. 1. When the City of Newport Beach re wires the system you will get Newport Beach Police. Andi Querrry will be in charge of neighborhood watch at the Police Dept. The Newport PD has a volunteer program and it’s an offshoot of the citizens police academy program and is a 10 week course that is open to all citizens and the officers urged us to volunteer and look into this program. *************************************** 7/ Evelyn Hart Speaks to PAC about Oasis Senior Ctr. Project. (10 minutes) Former Newport Beach Mayor Evelyn Hart was on hand and made a brief presentation to PAC regarding the plans for the new Oasis Senior Center. Evelyn is Pre s of the Friends of Oasis and our own Vice Chair Tim Stoaks has joined her efforts regarding this monumental project. Evelyn is speaking with groups and community organizations around the city to broaden awareness for this project. The Oasis Center is located at 800 Marguerite in CDM there are approx. 10 000 people who go through the center each month and they have about 4000 members of Friends of Oasis. They have run out of room at the current center for parking, exercise and other programs. This re build will be a 20 million dollar project and the city owns the land. The city will come up with 10 million and The Friends of Oasis is raising the additional 10 million. Evelyn also explained that Sat. is open house at Oasis and she handed out invitations. The architect will be there with designs and you can see what is planned. It will be a healthy center for all are growing older. Hoag is also a partner in this project. *********************** 8. Development Committee - Rick D. (10 mins) Update on the Fairview project: County council has determined an interpretation of the parking code and it has viewed the 81 spaces as a requirement for this project not the 71 as the applicant had asked for. ********* Date: 09/24/07 Brandon Nichols Staff Planner, City of Newport Beach 3300 Newport Blvd. P.O. Box 1768 Newport Beach, CA2-4048 (949) 644-3206 fax: (949) 644-3229 RE: CNB UP2007-009 Remodel/Addition to ARCO Station at 2100 S. Bristol Street Dear Mr. Nichols: The PAC Development Subcommittee has reviewed the re-submitted ARCO plans that you sent on 9/14/07. PAC still has the following concerns with this project: 1. there is still a tremendous amount of congestion at the corner of Bristol Avenue and Birch Street caused by the small size of this site, the existing poor site circulation, and also by the close proximity of the drive to Carl’s Jr. from Birch Street. The addition of painted traffic arrows as shown on the Site Plan will not make this confused and congested circulation system work efficiently. Drivers will tend to ignore painted arrows and park at any convenient pump, their orientation more a function of the drive they enter from the street, the availability of a vacant pump, and the location of the filler caps on their vehicles. 2. The addition of the convenience store will only exacerbate the present congestion problem. The additional tandem parking spaces, with or without the striped clear zones between the spaces, will not be used by patrons in the convenience store. Customers will leave their cars parked at the pump, go into the store to make their purchases, and return to their cars. Customers will not drive around the building and re-park in order to use the convenience store. One need only visit similar existing ARCO stations with convenience stores at the corner of Fair Drive and Fairview Avenue, or at the corner of Del Mar Street and Old Newport Blvd. to see that this is the case. PAC feels that the changes to the Site Plan have failed to address either the existing congestion problem or a much increased congestion problem should a convenience store use be allowed on this small site. These proposed changes will not keep this project from becoming a tremendous traffic snarl that will have extremely negative affects on circulation for both Bristol Avenue and Birch Street, especially during the lunch hour. For these reasons PAC is still opposed to this project and recommends denial of the Use Permit for the additional convenience store use. Thank you for the opportunity to review this project again. Sincerely, Richard Dayton cc. PAC members, incl. Barbara Venezia, PAC Chairperson Dave Kiff, City of Newport Beach Assistant City Manager Mark Esslinger, County of Orange *********************************************** 9. Code Enforcement – BV (3 mins) Code Enforcement Update October 2007 Orchid Street I know everyone is curious about the case filed against property owners on Orchid Street. The case was originally dismissed because of insufficient details on the charges brought against the parties. However, the case has been resubmitted and filed. An arraignment is set for November 8th at Harbor Court. West SAH I am the new contact for West Santa Ana Heights. I have taken over as your contract enforcer for the County. Please submit any complaints in writing and include your contact information. Water Quality It is officially the “wet season” now. Rain water washes off everything so please pick up after your pets including horses. All construction sites must be prepared for a rain event at all times. Proper BMP’s must be in place and maintained (i.e. sandbags and fences). Code Enforcement Tip Do not leave accumulated debris in your front yard or driveway. This includes items out for collection more than one day before trash day. If you have arranged for an agency to pick up items for donation then please have those out on the day of collection only. Garages must be clear and accessible for parking of at least one vehicle. Do yourself a favor and clean out your garage. You will appreciate it when it’s raining and you can get in and out your car without getting wet. Water Quality Tips Adjust your sprinklers!!! It’s the rainy season and there is no point in watering your lawn twice. Contact us for more information on satellite based smart irrigation. It will save you money and conserve water too. Refrain from fertilizing or using pesticides on your yard at least 2 days prior to a rain event. Shannon Levin Code & Water Quality Enforcement Officer 3300 Newport Blvd Newport Beach, Ca 92663 shannon@city.newport-beach.ca.us 949-644-3213 10. Trails/ Arena Subcommittee - Jayne J., Mary S., and Dave K. (10 mins) Arena Update from PAC member Jayne Jones Keeton Kreitzer is currently acting as overall project manager to oversee the Arena project through the City's approval process and, subsequently, the CDP through the Coastal Commission process. He will be meeting with Rosalinh to discus the next steps to complete the plan preparation and environmental review process before proceeding to the Coastal Commission. City Staff and Contracted Engineers met with the resources agencies last month. Based on that meeting, the City will be preparing a "mini" Resource Management Plan (RMP) to specifically address the proposed equestrian facilities because a portion of the site is located within the Orange County Nature Preserve designated area. Such facilities, as it currently stands, are not addressed in the State's and/or County's planning program for the area. As a result, we will update the environmental document to address the RMP and re circulate the proposed MND before proceeding to the Newport Beach Planning Commission and City Council. Once the project is approved, we will proceed with the CDP approval process with the Coastal Commission. Once Keeton has met with Rosalinh to discuss the changes to the scope of work and project management responsibilities. They will also embark on the preparation of the RMP. After it is established who will prepare the RMP and the timing of that document, a revised schedule will be prepared. Here is an email that we need to discuss. -----Original Message----- From: Portia Arutunian Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2007 9:38 PM To: 'rdstable@aol.com' Cc: Bill Reiter; 'dkiff@city.newport-beach.ca.us' Subject: UNB Trail Maintenance Hi Jayne, We have been receiving many complaints lately about the horse manure on the trails within the UNB Nature Preserve. Can you tell me what your policy and schedule is for removing the horse manure within the Preserve? Thank you. Portia Arutunian Park Ranger II Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve (949) 923-2294 Jayne and the equestrians are meeting with Portia and will discuss this issue. Meeting adjourned at 7:30 PM |
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