Laserfiche WebLink
DRAFT <br />said it excluded residential, was because residential was already part of the base; it was <br />already taken care of. She added that even with the discussion on BART, it was clear <br />they were thinking that BART, even if it were never built, would be counted in terms of <br />the cap. <br />Commissioner Allen reiterated that she thinks the Commission is setting the wrong <br />precedent for future Councils. She indicated that she sees the big picture with a <br />three -fold impact: <br />1. This is essentially a huge giving -away of rights to develop an additional <br />900,000 square feet of land in Hacienda without the community gaining <br />anything. Unlike California Center where the community gained the right to meet <br />the City's RHNA needs, the community is not getting anything from this change. <br />If an acre is worth a million dollars, these 50 or 70 acres could be a $70- million <br />dollar deal, and the Commission needs to think about that as a City and not just <br />give up that right. <br />2. This sets a dangerous new precedent and is not consistent with any of the <br />previous decisions around residential, excluding the decision on the Verona <br />project. All the other five residential properties that were built had the cap shifted <br />because the properties were being used for residential and not commercial. So <br />the cap has been used, and that is why the cap is there, and the cap is no longer <br />being used. Allowing this one exception leads to a precedent beyond this <br />Commission. <br />3. Finally and probably most important, making this decision for the other properties <br />is inconsistent with the City's community of character and the voice of its citizens. <br />The community has been clear that growth and traffic congestion are two of its <br />biggest concerns. Traffic is not a big deal on this project; it is clear that it is has a <br />minimal impact of a few seconds at a few intersections. But there are other <br />impacts to the City. Even with the housing cap being overturned, citizens expect <br />the City to honor the spirit of that vote and carefully manage growth. The City <br />cannot control RHNA and needs to live with it, but it can control how the cap is <br />managed. That is a trigger that the Commission has a choice to use or not use, <br />and the Commission should manage it, not by counting projects where land is <br />going to be residential and not business when they were approved for business. <br />It should count against cap as the land is not being used anymore and should not <br />go into a pool. <br />With respective to competitiveness, Commissioner Allen stated that she also believes <br />Hacienda should be kept very, very competitive; however, dealing with it with this <br />proposal and the reason we are discussing it today is the wrong way to keep Hacienda <br />competitive. She indicated that it should be dealt with by revising floor area ratios, and <br />as has been done in the past to keep Hacienda competitive, done above board in a <br />thoughtful way with a message of keeping competitive, rather than doing it like a little bit <br />of a back -door deal by taking property, putting it back into a pool, and not counting it <br />DRAFT EXCERPT: PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES, 8/28/2013 Page 8 of 11 <br />