CITY OF SAN JOSÉ, CALIFORNIA Department of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement 801 North First Street, Room 400 San José, California 95110-1795				Hearing Date/Agenda Number P.C. 11/28/01 Item 3.g.
				File Number PDC 01-05-058
STAFF REPORT				Application Type Planned Development Rezoning
				Council District 7
				Planning Area South San Jose
				Assessor's Parcel Number(s) 462-18-007
PROJECT DESCRIPTION				Completed by: Bill Scott
Location: Northwest corner of Monterey Road and Capitol Expressway
Gross Acreage: 32.9	Net Acreage: 32.9			Net Density: N/A
Existing Zoning: A(PD) Planned Development		Existing Use: Indoor Movie Theatre; Outdoor Drive-in Movie Theatre and Flea Market
Proposed Zoning: A(PD) Planned Development	Proposed Use: Indoor Movie Theatre; Outdoor Drive-in Movie Theatre; Flea Market; Tire Sales and Installation and Self-Storage Facility
GENERAL PLAN				Completed by: BS
Land Use/Transportation Diagram Designation Communications Hill Planned Community; Combined Industrial/Commercial				Project Conformance: [x] Yes [ ] No [ ] See Analysis and Recommendations
SURROUNDING LAND USES AND ZONING				Completed by: BS
North: Industrial			IP Industrial Park and IP(PD) Planned Development Industrial
East: Union Pacific Rail Road/Monterey Road			N/A
South: Capitol Expressway			N/A
West: Gasoline Service Station/ Mobile Home Park			R-MH Residential Mobile Home Park; CO (PD) and A(PD) Commercial
ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS				Completed by: BS
[ ] Environmental Impact Report found complete [ ] Negative Declaration circulated on [x] Negative Declaration adopted on October 15, 2001				[ ] Exempt [ ] Environmental Review Incomplete
FILE HISTORY				Completed by: BS
Annexation Title: Monterey Park No. 95				Date: July 27, 1981
PLANNING DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDATIONS AND ACTION
[x] Approval [ ] Approval with Conditions	Date: _________________________			Approved by: ____________________________ [ ] Action [x] Recommendation
APPLICANT OWNER
Mark Darley 150 Pelican Way San Rafael, CA 94901

PUBLIC AGENCY COMMENTS RECEIVED	Completed by: BS
Department of Public Works See attached memorandum.
Other Departments and Agencies See attached memorandum from Fire Department.
GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE
None Received.
ANALYSIS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

BACKGROUND

The applicant, Sywest Development, is requesting a Planned Development rezoning from A(PD) Planned Development to A(PD) Planned Development to allow: (1) the addition of a 3,391 square foot tire sales and installation facility; (2) the construction of a 92,600 square-foot self-storage facility with two manager's living units and 3) the construction of storage facilities to serve flea market vendors at the existing 32.9-acre Capitol Theatre/Flea Market site located at the northwest corner of Monterey Road and Capitol Avenue.

The original Planned Development Zoning approved by the City Council in 1992 (File No. PDC91-01-008) allowed the addition of the now-existing 16-screen indoor movie theatre and brought the legal nonconforming six-screen outdoor movie theatre and flea market into conformance with the Zoning Code. Planned Development Permit (File No PD96-11-087) and Planned Development Permit Amendment (File No. PDA92-01-008) were approved by the Director of Planning to allow wireless communication antennae atop two of the outdoor movie theatre movie screens.

Tire sales and installation has occurred in the flea market parking lot without benefit of permits. Based on a complaint, Code Enforcement staff issued a Compliance Order to discontinue the tire operation and to remove unpermitted portable containers used for the storage of tires and flea market vendor merchandise. On December 14, 2000, the Hearing Appeals Board issued a Notice to Correct directing the applicant to bring the property into compliance with the Zoning Code. This Planned Development Zoning is intended to bring the tire sales and installation operation and the vendor storage facility into conformance with the site’s Zoning requirements.

Uses surrounding the site include miscellaneous industrial uses to the north; the Union Pacific Railroad tracks and miscellaneous commercial uses to the east; an apartment complex to the south, across Capitol Expressway; and a mobile home park and commercial uses to the west, across Snell Avenue. A six-lane drive extends from Hillcap Avenue to provide access to the site.

Project Description

The proposed project includes three separate elements as described below:

Tire Sales and Installation. The applicant is proposing to add “tire sales and installation” to the list of allowed uses allowed by the Planned Development Zoning and to construct a six-bay masonry building to house the tire operation on a 3,391 square-foot area located between the flea market parking lot, the flea market and the self-storage facility. Access to the tire service area is provided through a 26-foot wide driveway extending from the flea market parking lot.

Self Storage Facility. The applicant is proposing to construct a 92,600 square-foot self-storage facility on approximately 3.8 acres at the northeasterly corner of the project site. The facility consists of six one-story buildings containing 750 storage units, a two-story 2,100 square foot office and two manager’s living units. Access to the facility is provided via a 26-foot wide two-way driveway extending along the northerly side of the flea market parking lot from the entry at Hillcap Avenue. The front of manager's office is oriented to face west toward the site's entry at Hillcap Avenue. Building G forms an "L" to frame the northerly and southerly perimeter of the storage facility. A 20-foot landscaped setback is proposed along the easterly property line. A ten-foot wide landscape strip provides a buffer between the self-storage buildings and the flea-market parking lot.

Flea Market Storage. Three concrete buildings totaling 14,802 square-feet and containing 71, one-story storage units are proposed along the perimeter of the flea market area to provide vendor storage.

PUBLIC OUTREACH

The Negative Declaration and public hearing notice for this proposal were mailed to property owners and residents within a 500-foot radius of the project site. Staff has been available to discuss the project with interested members of the public.

ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW

An Initial Study was prepared for this project and a Draft Negative Declaration was circulated for public review and adopted by the Director of Planning, Building and Code Enforcement on October 15, 2001. The primary environmental issues for this project involve the tire operation which includes the disposal of approximately 100 used tires per day. To eliminate the potential fire hazard associated with tire storage, the applicant is not proposing to store tires on the site, but will remove them at the end of each day and ensure that they are disposed of in conformance with all applicable regulations. No other hazardous materials are to be used on the project site. Activities associated with the proposed tire operation (including tire removal, wheel balancing, and the exchange of lead balancing weights) have the potential to increase pollutant runoff from the site. The project includes enclosed vehicle work bays and the installation of inlet filters in storm drains in conformance with the City's Post Construction Urban Runoff Policy. Based on this mitigation, the Negative Declaration for the project concludes that the project would not result in any significant environmental impacts.

GENERAL PLAN CONFORMANCE

The proposed uses are consistent with the San Jose 2020 General Plan Land Use/Transportation Diagram designation of Combined Industrial/Commercial.

ANALYSIS

The primary issues associated with the project are compatibility of existing and proposed uses on the project site and parking.

Compatibility of Uses

The proposed self-storage facility is a low-intensity use with minimal traffic that is not expected to conflict with the existing flea market and theater uses. The proposed buildings are oriented so as to internalize the self-storage activity and separate it from the flea market and theater uses. Its location at the northwest corner of the site adjacent to existing industrial uses further ensures that the facility will be compatible with existing uses on the site and in the project vicinity.

The storage buildings in the flea market area will serve the needs of the vendors without the visual blight associated with the prior portable storage containers. The buildings are located along the perimeter of the site, visually screening the large expanse of asphalt covering the outdoor theater and flea market area. Canopy trees and other landscaping proposed along the site’s perimeter will further screen the site and soften views of the proposed storage buildings.

As indicated above, the tire sales and installation facility has been designed to mitigate environmental concerns associated with the prior operation and to avoid conflicts with pedestrian activity on the site. A fence will provide a barrier to separate pedestrian traffic from vehicles accessing the tire facility. Staff will condition the facility at the Planned Development Permit stage to ensure that the facility operates in a manner that is compatible with the pedestrian-oriented flea market use.

Parking

The Flea Market’s 897 seller spaces will be reduced by 228 spaces to accommodate the proposed storage buildings and tire facility, thereby reducing the parking demand associated with the flea market. Both the tire and the self-storage facilities propose to provide parking to serve these facilities. The vendor storage units are not expected to generate a need for additional parking. Based on this analysis, staff concludes that the proposed project includes adequate parking to serve the proposed uses.

CONCLUSION

Based on the above analysis, staff concludes that the modifications to the site proposed in this Planned Development Rezoning are consistent with the General Plan, will result in no significant environmental impacts and are compatible with surrounding uses.

RECOMMENDATION

Planning staff recommends that the Planning Commission approve the subject rezoning for the following reasons:

1. The proposed rezoning is consistent with the San Jose 2020 General Plan Land Use/Transportation designation of Combined Industrial/Commercial.

2. The proposed rezoning will benefit the existing and surrounding industrial uses.

3. The proposed rezoning is compatible with surrounding uses.