Alameda Planning Board Meeting - July 24, 2023
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
Alameda Planning Board Meeting - July 24, 2023
The Alameda Planning Board met on July 24, 2023, at 7:00 PM in City Hall. President Ruiz, Vice President Hom, and Board Members Teague, Cisneros, Curtis, and Sahibba were present. The board considered two major items: adoption of revised Objective Design Review Standards and a recommendation to rezone 1715 Lincoln Avenue from commercial to residential.
Consent Calendar
- May 22, 2023 Minutes: Approved with one abstention (Vice President Hom, who was not present for that meeting).
- June 26, 2023 Minutes: Approved with two abstentions (Vice President Hom and Board Member Teague, who were not present).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Non-Agenda Public Comment: Christopher Buckley, an Alameda resident, suggested that when the planning board reviews documents with multiple revisions, subsequent changes should be highlighted (e.g., double strikeout/underline) for clarity.
- Item 5A Public Comment: Mr. Buckley, representing the Alameda Architectural Preservation Society (AAPS), raised concerns about the revised Objective Design Review Standards. He noted missing redline changes, urged that the guide to residential design be preserved for raising buildings, and argued that the lower floor height should match the upper floor (not the proposed 7-foot-6 minimum). He also requested that provisions for continuing horizontal lines from neighboring buildings be included.
Discussion Items
-
5A: Objective Design Review Standards – Staff presented amendments based on prior board direction, including merging multifamily and single-family standards into one document, exempting facades within 5 feet of a property line from articulation requirements, clarifying balcony standards (minimum 60 sq. ft., 5-ft dimension, 25% recess minimum 15 inches, 50% railing transparency), and adding a wayfinding program for campus-style developments. Board members discussed:
- Board Member Teague questioned the use of architectural grade plywood, the definition of balconies, and the removal of a catch-all architectural feature item. He suggested the resolution should supersede all previous versions rather than listing specific dates, and that individual unit balconies should be specified.
- President Ruiz questioned the maximum plate height of 7-foot-6 for upper stories and the requirement that raised buildings must relocate street-facing entrances to the new lower floor. He proposed a compromise: if a building is raised more than half the existing floor height, the entrance must move to the lower floor.
- Board Member Cisneros asked about non-illuminated directional signs and requested clarification on floor-to-ceiling measurements.
- The board agreed to remove the second paragraph of principles on page 21 (requiring new buildings to match original architectural elements of altered buildings).
- A motion to adopt the standards with amendments (including changing plywood to material, clarifying aluminum siding, adjusting massing language, and adding the half-height threshold for bungalows) passed unanimously.
-
5B: 1715 Lincoln Avenue Rezoning – Staff recommended rezoning the property from C-1 (Neighborhood Business) to R-5 (Medium-Density Residential) to conform to the General Plan. The property is a former single-family home that was converted to commercial use, but its current zoning requires ground-floor retail, which is incompatible with the residential designation and has resulted in prolonged vacancy. The applicant (Nick Portolese of Portman Enterprises) experienced audio issues and could not present, but the board proceeded. Board Member Teague supported the rezoning, noting it aligns with the General Plan and housing goals. The board voted unanimously to recommend the rezoning to City Council.
Key Outcomes
- Item 5A: The board adopted the amended Objective Design Review Standards (6-0). Key amendments include: specifying individual unit balconies, removing the requirement to match original architectural elements on altered buildings, changing "architectural grade plywood" to "architectural grade material," clarifying aluminum siding allowances, and adding a provision that bungalows raised more than half the existing floor height must relocate the entrance to the lower floor. Staff will finalize formatting and graphics.
- Item 5B: The board approved a resolution (6-0) recommending that the City Council rezone 1715 Lincoln Avenue from C-1 to R-5, enabling the property to be used as a residence and addressing housing needs (45 of 669 required building permits issued as of July 1, 2023).
Staff Communications
- The board noted the August recess. Future items include annual reports on development agreements, a possible office building project in Marina Village, updates to the subdivision ordinance and zoning code, and work on the inclusionary housing ordinance. The Hilton Garden Inn at Harbor Bay is moving forward through building plan review.
Meeting Transcript
Thank you. Roll call, please. President Ruiz. Here. Vice President Hom. Board Member Teague. Here. Sahibba. Present. Are you here? Cisneros? Here. Curtis. Here. We have a quorum. Thank you. So move on to do we have any agenda changes? No agenda changes by staff. Thank you. Moving on to non-agenda public commons. Do we have any speakers list? Yes, we do. Christopher Buckley. Yes. Christopher Buckley, Alameda Resident. Would like to make a recommendation when the planning board is reviewing documents that have gone through various revisions. It would, you know, one, it's good to have red lines showing the previous revision, as we've often seen. But if there's multiple revisions, it would be good if the subsequent revisions are highlighted in some way, like using double strikeout, double underlining, the attorneys know how this works, or maybe shading text that represents changes from the previous iteration. That's just a suggestion. Thank you. Thank you. Any other speakers? No, that's it. Thank you. Now let's move on to consent calendar. Do we have a motion? I I have a question for the attorney. Yes. On a consent calendar, we normally do it all at once, but one of the items I have to abstain on. So how do we do that? You could either um call it off the agenda and note your abstention then, or you could let the board know that you're planning to abstain on a certain item, and then we can just take it all at once noting your vote. Okay. Um further, maybe taking two separate votes. Um do we have to can we do it as two separate consent items, or do we have to do it as call the item? I think we could do two separate votes. One vote for there's two separate items, right? Yes, there's two items. I think what we could do if uh President Ruiz is open just to call the vote for the first item and then call the vote for the second item. Thank you. That's proceed as such.
openpublica.com