City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council adopt a resolution approving Tentative Tract
Map No. 71799, TTM P-2011163 to subdivide the property into 31 airspace units (30
residential and one ground floor retail) subject to the recommended Conditions of
Approval as stated in the proposed resolution.
PROCEDURE:
1. Mayor seeks motion to receive and file the affidavit of mailing and posting of
public notice.
2. Mayor calls on staff for a brief staff report.
3. Mayor seeks a motion to open the public hearing.
4. The City Council receives comment from public.
5. Mayor seeks a motion to close the public hearing after all testimony has been
presented.
6. The City Council discusses the matter and arrives at its decision.
BACKGROUND:
Project Description
The proposed project consists of a new 55,019 square foot 3-story mixed use
building with 8,682 square feet of ground floor commercial/retail space and two
levels of dwelling units at 15 dwelling units per level for a total of 30 units. The
Meeting Date: 2/6/12 Item Number: PH - 1
CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM: PUBLIC HEARING - Adoption of a Resolution
Approving a Tentative Tract Map to Subdivide the Property at 11957 Washington
Boulevard into 31 Airspace Units for the Development of a 3-Story Mixed-Use
Development (Retail and Residential).
Contact Person/Dept.: Jose Mendivil Phone Number: 310.253.5757
Fiscal Impact: Yes [X] No [] General Fund: Yes [] No [X]
Public Hearing: [X] Action Item: [] Attachments: [X]
Commission Action Required: Yes [X] No [] Date: 12/14/2011
Planning Commission
Public Notification: Meetings and Agendas – City Council (02/03/12); On January 12,
2012, Master Notification List; Residents, Property Owners and Business within 500 feet
of proposed project boundary.
Department Approval:
Sol Blumenfeld (02/02/12)
City Attorney Approval:
Carol Schwab (by H. Baker) (02/03/12)
Chief Financial Officer Approval:
Jeff Muir (02/03/12)
City Manager Approval:
John Nachbar (02/03/12) City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
project also includes one subterranean parking level and surface level parking. The
total units proposed includes a density increase from the base 35 du/ac of 21 units
to 50 du/ac or 30 units (an increase of 9 units) as allowed with a Community Benefit
pursuant to City Council Resolution No. 2008-R015.
The project will provide a total of 90 on-site parking spaces [four more than the
minimum required by the Culver City Municipal Code (CCMC)]. There will be 23
surface parking spaces and 12 spaces in a one-level subterranean garage for
visitors to the retail space, employees, and residential guests. The remaining 55
spaces, located in the subterranean garage, will be for the residential tenants. The
project will provide on-site amenities for residents including private balconies, a
central courtyard on the first residential level, a central common balcony access area
on the second residential level, private landscaped areas for each unit, outdoor
balcony fire places for half of the units, and private laundry facilities for each unit.
Project Enhancements
Staff has worked closely with the applicant to provide enhanced off-site and on-site
improvements which will provide amenities to the neighborhood and address
community concerns. The project will include offsite improvements including
decorative sidewalk paving, benches, new street trees, and an extra wide pedestrian
space (approximately 15 feet wide) along Marcasel Avenue. This extra wide
sidewalk includes 10 feet of public sidewalk and 5 feet of private outdoor area to be
used as outdoor dining in connection with the ground level retail. The decorative
sidewalk and new street trees will continue along the Washington Boulevard
frontage. Public bicycle parking stalls will be installed along Washington Boulevard
and Marcasel Avenue. The bicycle parking on the sidewalk will be augmented by 22
on-site bicycle parking spaces, which are 8 more than required by the City’s Bicycle
Master Plan.
Local traffic circulation improvements will include the conversion of Marcasel Avenue
to a one-way street southbound and narrowing it to 24 feet, with a right turn only at
Washington Boulevard which will address a concern of the residential community to
the north of the project by eliminating cut-through traffic. The project will include a
new 175 foot left-turn storage pocket on Washington Boulevard to accommodate
westbound left-turn trips at the intersection of Inglewood and Washington
Boulevards. This left-turn pocket will be delineated with a raised curb that will assist
in preventing the maneuver currently observed of northbound Inglewood Boulevard
traffic veering to northbound Marcasel Avenue.
The project will provide a community benefit in the form of streetscape
improvements consistent with the West Washington Area Improvement Plan (AIP).
These streetscape improvements will provide a raised, curbed planted median that City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
includes street trees, shrubs and ground covers, irrigation and lighting. The
improvements will be maintained by the developer for 30 years. The selected
community benefits will provide a much needed amenity at little or no capital cost to
the City.
On-site enhancements include an increased rear property line planter strip from the
CCMC required 2 feet to 5 feet and relocation of the subterranean parking retaining
wall 5 feet off of the rear property line in order to provide for planting of deep root
columnar trees that have significant height and spread. This wider planter strip and
tree planting will provide an enhanced privacy screen for the residential properties to
the north.
The project has also been conditioned to address some of the parking concerns
raised by the community. This includes reducing the total number of tandem
parking spaces from 24 (12 sets of two tandem spaces) to 14 spaces (7 sets of two
tandem spaces) by reconfiguring 5 parking spaces so that they are accessed head-
in from the shared drive aisle. Also, In the event that a parking district is established
for the area along Atlantic Avenue (or other streets as may be appropriate), the
applicant will provide funding to establish the parking district for one year, including
installation of parking district signs, within Culver City and within the City of Los
Angeles if so approved. Community Development staff will be facilitating the
establishment of a parking district with the Public Works Department and the City of
Los Angeles Department of Transportation.
At the December 14, 2011, meeting, the Planning Commission adopted Resolution
No. 2011-P005 (Attachment No. 2) conditionally approving the project’s Site Plan
Review, SPR P-2011162; Administrative Modification, AM P-2011159; and
Administrative Use Permit, AUP P-2011160; and recommending that the City
Council approve Tentative Tract Map, TTM P-2011163. Approval by the City
Council of Tentative Tract Map, TTM P-2011163 is required in order to subdivide the
property into 30 residential condominium airspace units and one commercial/retail
condominium airspace unit. The configuration of the condominium units will be
finalized prior to the approval of the final tract map. Because the Site Plan Review,
Administrative Modification, and Administrative Use Permit were approved by the
Planning Commission with no appeals submitted, the Planning Commission’s
decision regarding these entitlements has become final. The Tentative Tract Map is
the only item under consideration by the City Council.
DISCUSSION:
The action requested of the City Council is the consideration of the Tentative Tract
Map. Because the project is for condominium units, a one lot subdivision for City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
condominium purposes is required. The Public Works Department reviewed the
proposed condominium subdivision and found it to be in compliance with State and
local regulations. The Planning Division, in its review of the subdivision, found it to
be consistent with the General Plan and the CCMC. As noted above the Planning
Commission made the appropriate findings for the subdivision and made its
recommendation to the City Council to approve the Tentative Tract Map.
Findings
The Planning Commission recommends that the City Council approve the Tentative
Tract Map based on the findings pursuant to CCMC Section 15.10.265 findings, as
outlined below and subject to the conditions of approval set forth in the proposed
Resolution (Attachment No. 1).
Section 15.10.265 of the CCMC authorizes the City Council to approve a Tentative
Tract Map when the following findings can be made:
A. The proposed map is consistent with the General Plan.
B. The design of the proposed subdivision is consistent with the General Plan.
C. The site is physically suitable for the type of development.
D. The site is physically suitable for the proposed density of development.
E. The design of the subdivision is not likely to cause substantial environmental
damage or substantially and avoidably injure fish or wildlife or their habitat.
F. The design of the subdivision is not likely to cause serious public health
problems.
G. The design of the subdivision will not conflict with easements acquired by the
public at large for access through or use of, property within the proposed
subdivision.
Environmental Determination
Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) guidelines, an Initial
Study was prepared and a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) finding was
adopted by the Planning Commission on December 14, 2011 for the Marcasel Mixed
Use project. This Tentative Tract Map application does not propose any changes to City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
the previously approved application; no new information has become available and
no changes in the approved project have been made since the Planning
Commission’s adoption of the MND. Therefore, pursuant to Section 21166 of the
Public Resources Code and Section 15162 of CEQA, no new environmental
analysis is required for this subdivision application.
FISCAL ANALYSIS:
Development of the site into 30 residential condominiums and one commercial/retail
space will result in a projected increase in General Fund revenues based on
Property, Sales, Business and Utility Users Taxes. In addition, the project will
generate in lieu park fees of approximately $7,500 per unit for a total of
approximately $225,000.
CONCLUSION:
Staff has worked closely with the applicant from the project inception to guide its
design in order to meet Zoning Code requirements, address community concerns
and create a mixed use residential development that promotes area redevelopment
goals and is consistent good planning practice. Based on the information contained
herein and as recommended by staff and the Planning Commission, all of the
required findings can be made for the project and staff recommends approval of the
Tentative Tract Map.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Proposed City Council Resolution.
2. Planning Commission Resolution No. 2011-P005.
3. Tentative Tract Map No. 71799.
4. Vicinity Map
5. Preliminary Development plans dated November 23, 2011 (for reference only).
MOTIONS:
That the City Council:
Adopt a Resolution approving Tentative Tract Map, TTM P-2011163 (Tentative
Tract Map No. 71799) to subdivide the property into 30 residential condominium City of Culver City, California
Agenda Item Report
airspace units and one commercial/retail condominium airspace unit, subject to
the recommended Conditions of Approval contained in the Resolution.
Attachment No. 1
Page 1Page 2Page 3Page 4Page 5Page 6Page 7
Attachment No. 2Page 8Page 9Page 10Page 11Page 12Page 13Page 14Page 15Page 16Page 17Page 18Page 19Page 20Page 21Page 22Page 23Page 24Page 25Page 26Page 27Page 28Page 29Page 30Page 31Page 32Page 33Page 34Page 35Page 36Page 37Page 38Page 39Page 40Page 41Page 42Page 43Page 44Attachment No. 3
Page 45Page 46
Attachment No. 4Page 47
Attachment No. 5Page 48Page 49Page 50Page 51Page 52Page 53Page 54Page 55Page 56Page 57Page 58Page 59ffiffiF.A,,$ffiQA$
February 2,2012
Mr. Sol Blumenfeld
Community Development Director
Culver City
9770 Culver Boulevard
Culver City,90232
RE: Washington/Marcasel
Dear Sol,
I would like to address a comment made by one of the Planning Commissioners
regarding the inoeased densiq, (unit count) of our Project as a result of the vacation of a
portion of Marcasel Avenue and point out the following:
The rationale for the vacation of a portion of Marcasel
-
which was promoted by City
Staff - was two fold: First, Marcasel was over the City standard width for a secondary
street. Consequently the 2A feet of roadway easement (now improved as a sidewalk) was
not required for vehicular ffatfic and so was deemed surplus. Stafls recommendation
was that this would be best vacated and, since the fee ownership still remained with us as
owners of the adjacent property, the properly would revert to our ownership once the City
easement was vacated. The areavacaled could then be used to create a pocket park to
serve the community with added open space. Stafffelt that it would complement the
landscaped medians and other improvements that are being developed in the area.
Secondly, and most importantly, the intersection of Inglewood, Marcasel and Washington
was deemed unsafe by the various concerned Culver City departments. Indeed, as one of
the City Planning Commissioners pointed out in our Planning Commission hearing, they
were nearly in an accident as a result of cars making the illegal left turn onto Marcasel
from either the north bound traffic on Inglewood or east bound traffic on Washington.
As a consequence, we were tasked with finding a solution, in concert with Staff, to
remediating this unsafe condition. While the our collective preference was to create a
cul-de-sac on Marcasel, the Culver City Fire Department's requirements for an extra-
ordinarily wide radius for the cul-de-sac and their desire for continued access from
Washington onto Marcasel rosulted in the street configuration described in our current
site plan. The current configuration resolves the unsafe condition at this intersection
while still preventing trafhc from our Project from entering into the Oval neighborhood.
Page 60
Attachment No. 6As to the increased unit count resulting from the vacation of a portion of Marcasel I
would like to point out that owing to Culver City's zoning code, a reduced unit count in
the Project would not necessarily result in our decreasing the basic building envelope of
the Project, nor would it result in fewer parking spaces on site. Further, while trip
generation by the apartment turits in our Project was marginal, decreasing the unit count
will have no material effect
-
if any - on traffic generated by the Project. Therefore from
a building envelope and environmental perspective, a decreased unit count will have no
effect.
Decreasing the unit count would mean that we would probably combine some of our one-
bedroom units to create more two-bedroom unitso and increase the size of our smaller
two-bedroom units. The practical effect would be that we would lose some of our most
affordable units, and instead offer an increased number of higher priced two-bedroom
units. This defeats the whole concept of our Project - that is to provide new, high quality
but smaller, more affordable market-rate units into the market.
We have worked hard with Staff to make this Project both acceptable to the
neighborhood and the to the market, as well as financially viable. We have always strived
in our Culver City developments to respect and adhere to the Zonrng guidelines as well as
respect our neighbors. In this Project we have conformed to all the required setbacks,
while keeping the height of the Project well belowthe maximum height allowed as well
as providing more parking than was required by code. Unlike many Projects in the City
which are on hold, we are aggressively working towards submitting construction
drawings for Cif review with an eye towards beginning construction at the start of next
quarter, including addressing the unsafe intersection at Marcasel and Washington and the
construction of the landscaped medians in accordance with our project Community
Benefit.
As always, we have enjoyed working with the Culver City community and look forward
to this as well as future Projects in the City.
Sincerely,
Kevin Read
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