PC 092519 - Laserfiche WebLink

Mr. Tassano said he would not be as concerned with traffic exiting because they are sitting within the parking lot; he would look more at the impact to the entrance. In the memo, staff was trying to convey that they're trying to address the delays experienced from Chick-Fil-A, which can have over 400-feet of stacking with vehicles waiting in a long queue. Staff is trying to work with Chik-Fil-A to help ensure they mitigate the existing issue, as required by their conditions of approval. Staff also considered Chik-Fil-A's queuing and the impact to In-and-Out Burger, which also has a relatively long queue, however, they do not interfere with each other. Although, staff also doesn't want vehicles backing out and exiting onto Owens Drive or onto Johnson Court. The largest concern is trying to avoid creating more of an impact to the City's roadways because vehicles are currently sitting in long queues that are backing up onto the roadways. Whatever the solution proposed, it will likely need to include a monitor on site to alleviate the congested queuing. Independent of the project being reviewed tonight, it is the City's goal to fix the existing congestion in this location. Chair Allen inquired whether there is a good solution and whether it is a problem that can be fixed. She said if there is no solution, it impacts all vehicles visiting these and the surrounding locations. Commissioner Balch agreed and said the City is challenged because the Commission understands this project is inherently different than Chick-Fil-A and the queuing issues that have arisen, however, they're all in the same general vicinity. Mr. Tassano agreed, and said he believes there are solutions, and thinks they just need to re-route their traffic. The congestion becomes worse throughout the Chik-Fil-A and In-and-Out parking lots, but they have to find a solution which prevents the traffic from spilling onto Owens Drive to the point that City staff might look to closing the Johnson Court. Staff previously looked at this as an option, but one of the difficulties is that it is a public roadway and if it is closed, they would have to give that property back to Prudential, who was the property owner at the time, and trying to give land back now would be relatively difficult. Although Staff explored doing this, it is not currently a viable option because it's a convenient access which would be difficult to eliminate, so they are looking at Chick-Fil-A to help mitigate their impacts. Commissioner Brown expressed his hesitations because after visiting the site at Chick-Fil-A, he said there needs to be a way to solve the existing problem. The safe way to get to Chick-Fil-A is past BevMo since it avoids that entire area. Given the size of that property and how much of the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) is covered by the building, he could not see any obvious solution. He also said it would not be appropriate for the Commission to review the current project based on this existing issue, but it is a problem. Commissioner Balch referenced the memo provided by staff, which talks about closing the area out of the Larkspur Landing driveway and creating a median island that would be impassable. He understands it is a condition for this project to pay for it and it appears that the applicant is willing to do so. He asked if that has any negative impact to the Larkspur Landing Hotel exit and asked if they were amenable to the change being proposed, given that he thinks it would significantly impact them, as well as Tommy T's located on the other side of the street. Mr. Luchini responded that the Larkspur Landing representative he communicated with, who he believed was the hotel's General Manager, was in full support of the proposed project with Planning Commission Minutes Page 5 of 19 September 25, 2019