I forget the other question.

All right.

Welcome to the uh September 11th regular meeting of the Walnut Creek Planning Commission.

Yes.

Commissioner Moran.

Yep.

Commissioner Cound.

Here.

Commissioner Strongman.

Here.

Commissioner Quok.

Yeah.

Commissioner Klopp.

Here.

Vice Chair Needing?

Yeah.

And Chair Anderson.

Thank you.

Okay.

Do we have anything on the consent calendar today?

Nothing on the consent calendar.

Anybody in the audience like to add anything to the consent calendar?

Okay.

Public communications.

This is one of two times when you may speak to us.

One time is when your actual hearing comes up that you want to speak on.

This time right now is for items that you might want to address that are not on the agenda that you might want to bring to our attention for a later agenda or for some information.

Does anyone wish to speak at this time for the public comment?

Thank you very much.

And we'll move right on to the one public hearing we have tonight, the Taiwanese American Culture Center of V Spay, design review and conditional use permits.

Oh I'm sorry.

It's not doesn't have a number.

Okay.

Thank you.

All right, and I'll ask for a staff report.

Great.

Thank you, Commissioners.

If it's okay, I'm gonna present from my desk here today.

Thank you.

Um good evening, everybody.

Uh we are here uh to consider the Taiwanese American Culture Center.

Uh, that will be located at 1755 uh Sunnyvale Avenue.

Um the applicant tonight is requesting a design review and uh a few conditional use permits for the proposal.

Uh the applicant Cyril Chung, who is also the architect of this project along with their team is here tonight, as am I to answer any questions that you may have after the presentation.

Just to orient you with the site, uh this area is uh zoned single family residential.

There are three parcels uh that will be merged as there are 50 existing parking stalls on site and there is an existing church uh facility as well as some detached um like a social hall as well as office building, all for the uses of the church facility.

Um after the merger, all the parking stalls will be shared among uh all users of the site, and the surrounding area consists primarily of single-family homes.

Here are uh photographs and a aerial image of the existing site.

As you can see here, the East Bay Formation United Methodist Church, that will um remain as part of this project, the pastor's home in the back of the site, and uh there is an existing uh social hall building, which will also remain, and then the building that you see fronting Sunnyville next to the church, which I have identified with the arrows, uh, will be um demolished as part of this project, and the new community center will be located in this place.

Uh so as mentioned earlier, the 3,000 square foot office building that's fronting Sunnyville will be demolished for construction of the 4,500 square foot one-story community center uh building uh which will offer Taiwanese uh cultural classes for adults and after school program for K through eight students, as well as memorialize or legalize an existing uh church that's been operating on sites.

The project also includes uh widening of the existing driveway, relocation of existing ADA stalls, and new public walkways, and uh new landscaping and trees as well as new signage.

And just to go into the uh business operating plan, the Taiwanese American Culture Center will operate from 9 a.m.

to noon Monday through Fridays.

The activities include cultural enrichment and language uh uh classes or other such classes uh that are tailored for adults and seniors, and the after school program will be tailored for K through eight students, operates from 2 to 5 p.m.

Monday through Friday.

Uh there is a pickup and drop-off area that will occur by the parking stalls nearest to the courtyard, and I will show this in the upcoming slides.

The activities offered again are language and dance classes, arts and crafts, and other group activities.

The applicant is anticipating 20 students and four teachers.

And the existing church operates only on Sundays.

So tonight, the planning commission will be considering several conditional use permits, the cultural institution use, which defines the community culture center, the after-school program, as well as legalizing the existing existing religious assembly use and the design review for the community center building to basically essentially the site layout and the building design as well as the new landscaping.

And the proposed signage and the existing parking on site does comply.

However, had some further comments to really enhance the landscaping plan, increasing the tree size to 24 inch box, provide more site lighting details, use hardscape landscape details to really create a connectivity between the buildings on site as well as an acoustic study for the HBAC and mitigations of any potential noise impacts from that HVAC equipment.

Also to consider a taller fence or wall to conceal the proposed equipment and to enhance the blank wall along the street facing elevation with either a design element such as transom windows or enhance the landscape plan or incorporate some sort of public art feature that would celebrate the culture, the Taiwanese culture.

And here you see a look at the existing site layout as well as the proposed.

Essentially, as you can see, the overall site will remain the same.

The site will still continue to access from the existing driveway on Sunnyvale.

The change is essentially in the blue where the driveway will be widened to comply with current code requirements as well as new five-foot wide walkways that are leading from the sidewalk to the new building along both the west and the east sides of the site.

Moving on into the parking, as mentioned earlier, there are a total of 50 parking stalls on site.

The anticipated parking for all uses required on site is listed on this slide.

And as mentioned earlier, the church community center and the after-school program are operating at separate times.

So there will be no overlap in the hours of operation, or and that of course would not result in any parking demand on site.

And here's the floor plan, which does feature double entry doors that open into a central lobby, providing access to that large library auditorium space and classrooms.

And to the left of the entrance is the layout, which includes offices, storage areas, and restrooms.

And the I wanted to highlight the mechanical equipment and trash enclosure that's located in that fenced-off area along the east corner of the site.

It is highlighted blue on this exhibit.

And design review commission did request an acoustic assessment to verify that if the noise generated from this equipment would result in any impacts.

So an acoustic assessment is included as attachment six of your packet tonight.

And it did conclude that the equipment noise levels will not exceed the 65 dBA threshold, which is the acceptable noise or applicable in the residential area.

And I also wanted to point out the design review commission also stated that in order to conceal this trash enclosure area as well as the equipment.

So the applicant is proposing a seven-foot-tall stucco wall as well as a metal gate to conceal that from view.

And moving on to the building elevations, this is the north building elevation that's going to face Sunnyvale Avenue, which is street facing.

But per DRT's comment, the wall has been revised to add two new window openings as well as a 33 foot wide public art mural.

The mural does use mountain imagery to reflect Taiwanese cultural identity.

However, after discussion with the public arts manager, the public arts manager did point out that they would like to see an art piece that's that can live beyond the scope of the project.

If this hopefully this project continues to flourish, but if you know there were a new tenant to move into this building in the future, should have something that has the image should be something that's neutral and mountains, I believe, kind of fit well with any type of use.

So the again, this is a very preliminary design.

So this will be the um the public, they'll work with the public arts manager to finalize this design further.

And here is the south elevation.

This is the front entrance facing the internal parking lot, it consists of a glass storefront windows with a sloped roof.

The exterior facade consists of gray and white stucco, and the this was intentionally placed on the entrance of the building, was intentionally placed to be on the south side to really maintain a low profile from the neighboring residences, and here is the west elevation that's facing the existing building, and east elevation that's facing the closest residential property.

Um the R8 zone requires a five-foot side yard setback.

The applicant has provided a 15-foot setback from this building to the property line along the east, giving the sensitivity closer to a residential property.

And there is a requirement in the Walnut Creek Muni Code that does require that when there's a non-residential use, which is classified as a commercial or community use in this in this instance, that an eight-foot tall masonry wall is required.

The applicant tonight is requesting a waiver, and I believe that addendum has been provided to you today.

The applicant is essentially asking for the waiver as they're indicating that it is a low noise generating use compared to some more active commercial uses, such as a fitness center or a restaurant that would be located to next to residential properties, and that's probably really the intent of the Muni code as well.

That when there's a commercial use, abutting residential uses to kind of buffer that noise or that type of activity.

But in this case, we we see that's given that the hours of operation are till 5 p.m.

The latest at 5 p.m.

shouldn't be a concern.

And staff has also staff supports the request, and we have in the past also allowed these type of approvals, but of course it's under the discretion of the Planning commission.

But the code does say this requirement may be waived or the height reduced if the commission makes the finding that that such eight-foot fence or wall is not necessary for the protection of such adjoining properties, and here are some renderings, really showing the way this new community center will fit within the context of the site.

Here's a closer look.

Again, to the right on the top is to the right is the church.

And I believe they incorporated a crosswalk, so there's a little more connectivity.

Some more renderings again, how it relates to the existing neighborhood.

And now moving on to the landscaping plan.

The applicant is proposing two new 24-inch box olive trees, or I believe there's three tree species that they've uh provided in their landscape palette.

So of any of those trees, if there's a preference by the commission, you can state so.

But the reason for the change was because the design review commission said to up the size of the trees from a 15 gallon to 24 inch box and change the species.

And again, I think the applicant could go into more detail on that.

And there are three existing trees on site that will remain.

One is uh the street facing Diodore Cedar tree that's right in the front, uh facing Sunnyville.

And this project does comply with the city requirements and does qualify for a class 32 CEQA exemption as it is an in fill development, and uh the project was designed to meet the city's uh design standards.

The project also meets the zoning standards such as floor area ratio, building height setbacks, and parking standards, and um the attachment one draft resolution that's been included as part of the packet really um outlines or addresses all of the findings that are required to approve the three conditional use permits tonight, and if needed, I could elaborate, but I'm just gonna move on for now.

Um so tonight uh staff does recommend that the planning commission adopt the draft resolution determining the project is exempt from CEQA as well as approving the conditional use permits and design review for the proposed community center.

And with that, I do conclude my presentation, but I am happy to answer any questions.

The um the conditions on the conditional use permits do they restrict the hours to the hours listed, or is it just um uh so flexibility with that?

There's a little flexibility, and again, this is case by case, but the reason we added that it needs to comply to exhibit B, which is the business operating plan, and if it's if they make minor adjustments or changes, we can call it substantially compliant and allow them to make those changes.

However, we've seen in the past sometimes if we don't add that condition, we've had businesses really change the operating hours, increase the student count, or um go from K through eight through high school students, so like a really a change, you know, or alteration that could impact what we're approving tonight.

So in that case, they would have to come back before this commission for a modification, but if it's minor changes, and that's why the conditions are the applicant could reach out to us if there's minor adjustments, which we can approve administratively.

Otherwise, it would have to come back to this commission for changes.

Commissioner Qualk.

So I just wanted to clarify.

In the staff report, it did mention uh one of the design elements was the lighting preferences between the two styles.

Yeah, could you speak a little bit more to that?

Yes, I think I have that slide.

So if you see candidate one is the upper slide at the top, and candidate two, they gave two options is the bottom one.

The difference is uh this candidate one is really what complies with the city's design guidelines, which really uh because it minimizes glare and light spill and also provides a soft illumination versus the other one, it kind of spreads out, spreads out further.

So um, so that's what we've stated in the report.

There's not really a conditional use, sorry, a condition of approval, but um there is a condition of approval that says that the lighting should be pointed downwards, and based on what they've given us in these images.

Uh I believe candidate one really meets that requirement.

Okay, thank you.

Mr.

Strongman uh the applicant has requested the variance on the fence uh if we should grant that how where do we work that into our resolution so it will be we could strike out the condition um of the condition number three and we can have it to read the applicant may construct a seven foot tall wood fence um along the east property line in lieu of the required eight foot um tall wall uh we could just add that as a condition there's no really specific I mean we can we could modify their uh modify the mission can adopt the resolution as well yeah thank you and second question is it appears from the drawings that the improved landscaping does not extend to the church nor to the new lighting to the church is that the way it is or can we have that extended to the that is what's being proposed uh but again the applicant will come up and have a presentation so maybe we can save that question for a minute okay thank you thank you no questions questions of staff all right I have a quick question.

I'm sorry I don't know if it's better served by the app but in the uh attachment for the business plan I I know we're not looking at it right now but there the drop off section I'm just curious about the flow I stole it from you uh the it kind of looks like you drive in you drop off and then there's no roundabout necessarily but you if if I'm driving I have to go through what looks like the parking lot and then kind of jog back around right like um for instance at Heather Farm, right?

The new building there's a just you just drive off drop a kid off and you're on your way but we look like we're driving through the parking lot and I just want to clarify that that's correct.

So during my conversation with the applicant it was my understanding that they would park the vehicles and then walk the children to the um area but I see what you're saying there's like the squared off red area that's showing a drop-off zone so I will have the applicant really elaborate that sounds good thank you get ready.

Uh the only other thing I had that wasn't already covered was that I noticed um a note about seeking city guidance about the outdoor play area on the grass.

I was wondering if you had any um responses to that.

Yeah it's not a requirement it was just a question that was raised by city staff that if there's kids there they want to get out of the community center and go outside is there a place that you can have them so they have a grassy area in the back and I believe is it enclosed there's a section of it that's enclosed.

Yeah there's a fence around it so that that would probably be sufficient.

Nothing further than I will uh open the public hearing and the applicant has 10 minutes to present.

Commissioner what do you mean then your country one start the whole thing four years ago four years ago so thank you for the CD commissioner concita our project is that been very tough job for me.

I'll have to raise every penny of it.

No given any fun fun any foundation anything but we figured that uh we do something for the purpose of this mission.

Please speak into the mic thank you.

So when I start this whole thing I want our reason it is we want to create a permanent home for East Bay, Taiwanese American.

We have a swim mission.

We want transport, passan, Taiwan is culture, heritage, which including our value, our democracy system for the generation to come.

Not only that.

We want to translate, transport this heritage mission to the surrounding American community.

Number three, we want to use this building to foster opportunity for the United Methodists of Taiwan who have been there for almost 50 years ago.

So because of this mission, I guess the people, November 15, 2021.

So this is my mission, our mission, our teamwork, and I'm really hoping the commission would grant us permission to build this building.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Well, good evening, commissioners.

My name is Ciro Chang.

I am the architect of the Taiwanese American Culture Center of Us Bay.

It's my honor to stand in front of you today to present this very exciting project for our community, and hopefully for one extreme as well.

So Dr.

Ko has been an inspiration and a very important person in this process.

He has gone through some of the goals that he wants we want to achieve in front of you.

There is a sizable Taiwanese community here in the East Bay, and unfortunately, there is no place that they could call their permanent home.

So we want to build something for them that could last for the next 40-50 years for the older generation as well as for the younger generation to enjoy.

So I'm not gonna go through the technical aspect since Mr.

Gill has covered most of them.

I'm gonna give you some background of how we come up with the concept today.

Dr.

Cole has gone through some of his goals, so I'm not gonna repeat this.

So the building itself is very simple, right?

Basically, there is the main auditorium or library, which could be partitioned off to create two additional classrooms, and then there are two permanent classrooms.

There is an administration office, and then there is also an office for the pastor.

Just one thing I want to clarify is that this project is not being funded by the church.

We have very good relationships.

And that is to answer your question, one of the questions.

How comes the landscape does not extend over to the church side?

Is that our site is actually limited to this eastern portion, and um there is no indication from the church whether they want to improve the site as well.

So the most we could do is try to improve our site as much as possible, and then the church could decide later on whether they want to do something uh to improve the site as well.

So hopefully that answer your question.

Um aesthetics.

We understand our building is in the middle of the residential neighborhood.

So aside from uh trying to create a distinct style, uh, we want to blend in well and be respectful, respectful to the peacefulness, the quietness, and the building scale of the neighborhood.

Uh, we also know that our building is right next to the church, uh, even though it's not associated with it necessarily.

We want to create a building form that uh share a similar palette scale and building form as well.

And of course, lastly, is um where do we draw our inspiration and the next few slides will show you uh we want to draw inspirations from the Taiwanese geography as well as from our local California geography because this building is called Taiwanese American Cultural Center, right?

We want to find something that could uh create that link between the two different cultures.

Um the overall strategy of the building is to divide up the building into the street side, the north side, and then the interior side.

We believe that is important again because it is in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

We want to be respectful, we don't want to create a scene or too loud that the neighbors could complain.

So the inspiration that we got is mountains and forests.

As you can see, just the position between the north and then the south elevation.

And I'm gonna explain this a little bit more.

Mountains and forest, why?

Well, on the upper left-hand side, you see Mount Diablo, which is right in the middle of or next to Warnut's Creek.

And then in Taiwan, it is a very mountainous uh island nation.

There are lots of mountains.

Um this particular uh photo is called Ali Shan.

It's one of the most uh famous tourist attractions in Taiwan.

So we thought there are some parallels between what we have here and what is in Taiwan, and then the slides at the bottom uh showed obviously the old uh redwood forest that we have in California, as well as similar forests.

I mean not redwood but cedars in Taiwan.

So we thought we could use this as an inspiration to create the building form and the overall aesthetics of the building.

So as you can see on the north side, basically uh it is supposed to be a little bit more rugged and more solid with punch windows that will fit well into this residential neighborhood, quieter and more subdued tone.

Uh the scale, the walls have been scaled down to fit the neighborhood, versus the south side, which is warmer, um, uh more transparent, more active, and and more welcoming.

And uh we use uh timber lumbers uh columns on this side to kind of it's a suggestion suggestive of you know the tall trees that we could find in California as well as in Taiwan.

Um so that's kind of the inspiration, and and we hope that this distinction could basically uh show our respect to the neighborhood that we want to brand in.

We want to be a good neighbor, and also give this building a its own kind of distinctive uh style.

Um, so as you can see again, these are the uh just the position of the north and the south elevation.

I apologize, I don't have the um the elevation before where we don't have this mural.

So, as part of the public arts requirement, as well as to break up the long 45 feet long facade.

Uh, we propose doing a mural.

We are going to set up a special arts committee uh within our organization in the process of uh uh soliciting artists to do this.

So, what you see here is basically just a very preliminary uh concept.

Uh we are still exploring what we could uh do on this particular uh wall.

And then this is just an interior shot of the uh auditorium.

And um I'm not gonna spend too much details on this.

These are some of the things that we have addressed that we hear from the design uh review committee.

Um I will let you ask a question if uh if anyone is particularly concerned about any of these, but we believe our documents have addressed all of this, breaking up the north wall, uh, the plant species, the acoustical concern, uh, the drop-off area.

Uh by the way, the drop-off area, yes, it it works exactly like you mentioned.

Um you probably have to draw someone, go to the street and come back.

Uh and it is done because uh uh we are very constrained in terms of parking lot.

Basically, there's not much room for us to expand uh the parking lot without reducing the parking spaces.

So this is the pro compromise that we are uh taking right now, and hopefully that would uh work with you.

And um we create a crosswalk, we have side lightings on both sides, so it's it creates a little bit of visual connection between the church and our building.

As mentioned, the the two buildings basically operate independently.

Um, but we do think that such a little bit of gesture could help create a visual connection between the two buildings, and then uh on the east side, uh, regarding the fence, there is actually an existing, probably a 12 foot tall uh hatches in in pretty good condition.

And um that's why in the original submit, so we did not propose uh doing a fence there.

We believe that the hatches itself uh not only does it look fairly pretty, it it actually does serve the function of providing privacy to both sides of um properties.

Um so that kind of concludes my presentation.

Uh I want to show you an animation, it's just a single one-minute clip.

So it's gonna be real fast.

Um do we have audio?

Okay.

Thank you.

That concludes our presentation today, and I hope that we could earn your endorsement tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

Questions for the how we can.

Oh, um, can I take a introduce?

We have Kelly, uh and then Jeannie.

And um, Vice President.

Hi, nice to meet you contact.

This is a part of now I want to pass on to her.

Okay.

Hi, nice to meet you.

Hi, everyone, nice to meet you.

My name is Kelly, and it's a blessing to be part of this uh project.

And to me as a first generation Taiwanese American, I would like to take this opportunity hopefully to grant your permission to have this project um approval for us to build because it is a it is uh an honor to be part of this community, and then we hope once we ground it in this place and we're gonna invite all different culture to enjoy um Taiwanese American, and for us it's uh it's a win-win situation, and then I'm just happy that I have this opportunity to be part of it.

Thank you.

Jeannie is the C um construction manager.

Hi.

Um my name is Jeannie Wang.

Um I'm the construction project manager, and I'm second generation Taiwanese.

So my parents are from Taiwan.

I was born in the US.

And um I'll be working very closely with uh all subsequent coordination for design and uh pre-construction permits, everything that's needed so we can build a very beautiful and successful project here.

I'd like to introduce Kathy Rai.

Come on.

Hi, I'm Kathy Rye.

I'm a uh registered professional engineer and also certified lead accredited professional.

So we want to create something and build something that Walnut Creek, the city can point to and say, hey, this is how we want to maintain climate ordinance because I did go through your ordinances.

I'm looking to um in the DD phase, use um engineered wood, um cross laminate crest laminated timber and mass timber, which is not only engineered wood, it's more dimensionally stable, but it's also more sustainable because it basically takes younger trees, but it also creates really clean, beautiful surfaces.

And um, those are the types of sustainability components that I plan to.

I'm also a licensed general contractor, so with this integral integrated process, we would also like to explore um it putting in more sustainable features.

So welcome feedback anytime.

Um, and thank you for listening.

Yeah, I'm also second generation Taiwanese American.

Um I'm a third generation builder.

My grandfather, his brothers, and his cousins built some of the wealthiest parts of Taipei.

So I am invoking my inner grandpa.

Thank you for welcoming us.

That's right.

From Pittsburgh.

Also, my friend.

So yes, he I have a face to keep up here.

Questions?

Richard Count.

First of all, I just want to say congratulations for all that you've accomplished so far.

I mean, that's a tremendous amount of work, fundraising, community building, planning.

It's just a beautiful thing that you have done all of this here in Walnut Creek for the community.

So thank you for that.

Yes.

Um and I wanna say I'm the design is just so beautiful.

Um I love the the mountains and the trees and the the natural light coming in.

Um so I guess my questions would be um two things I think just from one thing that was just said around sustainability.

Um I know there's like lead certifications and things like that.

I don't know if that's something that you're you're seeking with this building um as far as sustainability.

Um and then my other question is just more around the program, how you came to determine um, you know, that this would be an after school program for elementary school kids and um sort of which schools are they coming from?

Do you already have a partnership with um local elementary schools that these kids would come from?

Let me say what we wanted to do with up the school up the school program, actually offer this from uh uh twelve to Monday through Friday, and Saturday we want to open the center to the gong up.

Uh for so-called uh Taiwan Center, which you teach the dot, Mantuin, Taiwan and Taiwan history.

This is open to that's a Saturday.

Of course, Sunday is for church use, no Sunday school and uh church going.

So there is no overlap at all.

Another thing I want to mention this because this is fun I'd recommend my daughter, my team member, the daughter, they are second generation.

Yeah, this is uh would not only want to serve Taiwanese America, you want to serve American people.

Very strongly.

She said, We will have to offer trip to the uh American school.

Feel really good.

This is my second generation suggestion.

I feel so good.

My daughter, second generation suggestion.

Thank you.

And um I'd also like to add, I mean, it's so beautiful beautiful uh, you know, the vision, but and there's there's actually a lot of potential for other things.

There's a there were you know, a lot of different there are some activities that don't have a home, including like a Taiwan youth uh summer camp.

So I don't know if if it's possible we can expand programming, you know, as it's feasible for different ages, different um activities, maybe different outings, especially field trips for for schools to come to the center, but also for for people in the community to go visit Taiwan or to to learn about Taiwan or to come, you know, celebrate with us.

Thank you.

Yes, I I uh also am um excited about the building and gratified to see the work that's gone into planning for it.

I had a specific question about um entitlement to build.

So for example, I have experience working with a church that gave land to develop affordable housing.

What is the relationship that gives you the authority to build on your site with the church?

Is there a lease, a partnership agreement?

I mean, it's just a good one.

To answer your question, we will uh draft a lease and then sign with the UNC, so that will guarantee us uh 40 or 50 uh usage of that building.

Yes, okay, good.

Thank you.

So renew we got as far as it's true.

And you'll be here to make sure it's renewed in the turn.

We'll have to take care of our cost, yeah.

Right.

Right.

Um another thing I really want to say is something about this.

My lead up on this on the day one, I want to have this beauty completely by soda panel.

So sort of energy.

I don't want I want to minimize the fist cost, you know, physical, right?

So that uh in the future beauty, when the operation beauty, there's hardly the NFC cost.

It'll be hundred percent offered by soda piner.

We also want to install uh uh s storage.

So that uh, you know, in the evening we don't have the soda soda energy, so we want to generate a 60 from the one and it is storage.

We also want to use hip hop, so it would be very very modern, and uh for this again, not only for the feature gener uh operation, but also do it good for the environment.

We don't have any nature, yes.

Thank you.

Commissioner Cork.

So um I have a question about the lighting options that we're looking at.

Do you have a preference between the two options that were in the presentation?

It were up to you.

But you talk about the site lighting.

The the the light the lighting that would unite the yes, the site.

The uh the lighted books.

Um we I actually I don't have a particular preference.

I think either one will work well with the building.

Um we're looking for something that is relatively simple in design, and I believe these both of these uh will work.

So we're not necessarily in favor of one or the other.

Uh it it I mean we were looking forward to your uh recommendation.

Okay, all right.

Thank you.

I'm also part of the international dark sky movement, where um there have been numerous studies to um highlight how we want to limit the lighting at night time because it affects wildlife, it affects the plants, and we want to be as kind as possible.

So if we can choose the downward facing one with Zero's permission and the board's permission, um that's what I would try to nudge it towards in terms of um being kind to nature, being kind to the sky, um it because city lights travel hundreds of miles, and that is part of the movement we are trying to minimize it.

Just want to confirm that's candidate one listed on this plan.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Um, just to confirm, because I sorry, beautiful presentation.

Um to you also.

Everybody.

It takes a lot.

Um what I was gonna ask was for I wanted to quickly discuss the waiver.

Um so in lieu of a solid masonry, the idea is to do wood.

Or green hedge.

Green edge of work.

Okay.

Um, and shorters, um, in lieu of eight, it's seven feet tall.

Yeah, yes, can I correct?

Yeah, the reason it's for the seven feet is because that's under the code um seven feet is allowed by right.

If it's any taller than seven feet for a wood fence, the way our code reads that requires a minor use permit to get taller fences.

I know I know, but since I mean we're before the commission, I mean, you can make a call.

Um the thing that um usually when fen fences are done for privacy reasons, but also um speaking of um sound attenuation, I looked at the equipment.

The equipment with the pad goes no higher than six, so it's far below the eight and the seven.

I mean, that must have been a big deal for the for the DRC to require that.

Um and then the last question I was gonna ask is um normally when we're doing um when I do site lighting, I usually have a photometric design to kind of see the mid-max and the average.

I completely agree with you.

The first thing that came to my mind was you have safety.

There's there's different regulations, right?

Of building lighting versus lighting and parking lots, right?

But you also don't want to disturb the neighbors.

So, um it w was there and is there an understanding of the placement of the lights and then the leaching out of the I don't know who we can have a conversation.

Yeah.

Because Walnut Creek does does does have lighting standards, right?

For different foot candles, right?

Somewhere on the city.

Ryan, you correct me if I'm wrong.

But I believe the photometric studies for anything on the ex not on site, but in the public.

Required.

Okay.

Not even for safety from the building department.

No, that I want to.

Okay.

I could have sworn the building official required that, but I agree with you that you don't want to have something so egregious that it then a it affects the neighbors, but you still want something to be so that you're you're safe and having design developments, residential developments, there there's like a beautiful balance where you can eat almost also use the lighting to to calculate your foot candles, even for the lighting off the building itself.

Um so that was kind of my two cents for the that was sorry sorry, that was my questions.

Okay.

Thank you.

Anything else?

Professor Moran.

Uh, thank you.

I I really like the design of the building and the thought that went into it.

Uh I didn't see the philosophy of the front facing mountains and the the back facing forests and I thought that was um really interesting and I appreciate that.

Um my question is kind of regarding the the general the community which you hope to serve.

Uh and I know that there's like a I'm looking to sample day-to-day operations and specifically uh I'm interested in the after school type programming.

What is the do you guys see it have you done any studies about the demand or the community which you might serve?

And I'm I'm I'm kind of leading the witness here because what I think is you have is a a brand new beautiful building, and I would encourage you to um think about the larger community that you could serve, right?

There's there's different STEM classes and um uh mandarin classes and so forth, but you know, they're uh it it's I I wouldn't think and I I assume that you're not limited to just the Taiwanese community in the East Bay, but just a broader community.

You know, in the East Bay, right?

With people who might be interested in sending their kids to an after school class for STEM, right?

They may not speak Mandarin or maybe they're interested in speaking Mandarin.

Uh and this is just less of a question than a comment, but if anybody wants to get up and and speak to this, but I I am curious about um the broader Taiwanese community in the East Bay and how you guys see yourselves serving them.

And I would also just encourage you to to think, you know, with with bigger goals, because you'll have a nice new building that you can bring in people, whether they speak Mandarin or Taiwanese.

You know, you've got your inner residential area, people can send their kids right down the street for every school program.

So if anyone wants to speak to that, that's great.

But um that would just be my thought.

Thank you.

As you know, I really it's not the whole thing, but uh I've been through I've been uh uh starting from one little to nothing for four cooperation in Taiwan.

So it's very important to maintain the cash flow, you know.

No, I don't hope that about it and get this beauty, don't have to go out to raise money all the time.

This is my experience.

So I mean, look at my my credential.

Anyway, one of the things we want to offer after school is this because my grandchildren, I have so many grandchildren, they all went through this after school program.

One of the things they've done is that learned robotics, then the some computer programming, and they had to pay some fee for that.

So our intention besides teaching language, so on the uh you can collect the money for for teaching uh or growing up or teaching, actually, time and government offered that kind of assistance.

But for the general after school program, we'd like to offer something that uh useful right now.

I mean, my my grandchildren just went through that from uh one sixth grade all the way to the uh high school.

They all went through this kind of program that had to pay something to render.

So we intend to offer that kind of cost.

We have four crossroads to answer your question.

I I want to make sure that maintain no uh income and cost balance.

Okay.

Thank you for the great feedback.

We actually run four uh four workshop last year, and it's about robotics.

And then um it was quickly filled up, but we set a limit to twenty-five kids only because we don't want to disturb the neighbors because it's a lot of traffic.

And then I observed that the parents they did park and then they walked the kids to the class, so that's a good sign.

And then um we could we but the thing is we could not offer too many of this because the building itself is kind of old.

So hopefully with this new building being built, we can even offer more to the local community.

Yes, we do realize there's a commercial uh residential area and then we are there to help not just Taiwanese American, but to all the residential uh residents who live around that area.

Thank you.

And uh as somebody who is involved with a number of other lead projects, um, and also the general contractor, we are open to working with certain people such as board members.

We're lucky that we have a talent of board members that have experience in demolition.

We could do it mindfully so we divert from landfill.

We have a landscaper so we can think about bioswales so that it actually makes flood control happy.

It makes the water board happy.

We plan to make a lot of agencies happy and still stay within budget.

So we're just trying to be mindful to have these conversations as early as possible with that S curve, you know, before hockey sticks up and then it gets expensive.

So it's just important to have a lot of these conversations up front.

Um we also um I got permission from the board to welcome university students to be part of this process, and if they want to even present to you, it's also an experience for them in a real world project.

So that's another extension of the education component that goes beyond Walnut Creek.

It's any university student that wants to come participate and be part of the research on what some of the best solutions and best practices are for being part of the climate change sustainability and environmental stewards.

Thank you.

Um I just wanted to clarify a detail so uh my understanding now is the cultural center is currently an existing organization without a permanent building, or are they meeting in the existing building that's going to be demolished?

I wasn't sure if I got that detail.

Well, did this particular organization was formed specifically for this new construction?

So informally there has always been a group of Taiwanese uh who are organizing these classes and whatnot, but they never have a permanent home.

They basically they are borrowing the space of the church, which is um the social hall building right next to uh right next to this building.

Uh did I answer your question?

Yes.

Yes.

So the organization itself was was founded specifically for the construction and the design of this uh new building.

All right, thank you.

Commissioner Claw.

I uh wanted to go back to the fence uh waiver and just say from me personally, seven foot seems like a reasonable uh uh accommodation, but I wanted to ask a question about the comment that was made about wood or uh greenery, um the the uh existing hedge.

My experience hedges get thin dye, don't always provide the kind of uh noise and uh privacy that we want.

So I would recommend that it be both uh a wood fence and the hedge to keep keep the hedge, but yeah, so that would be my thinking.

This question is the hedge.

I didn't uh I hope commissioner can read it outside.

Right now, they are such a beautiful green hedge about eight nine feet.

No, so beautifully and between uh building and uh next door for 70 feet.

That hedge is so beautiful.

How come we want to build another wooden hedge?

Yes, to me, it's completely not not really pretty wizard.

See the hedge.

What do we have?

It's very tall, tree.

So for this issue, uh really please asking you anybody question about go to visit us.

This very tall, very beautiful, and just so much distance between two buildings.

You see, I don't know.

Oh yeah, yeah.

Look, look, so tall.

Nine feet and all the way to Sunnyville Avenue.

The beauty of the hedge, it's there.

Thank you.

Um I just had another question come to mind when you're talking about the existing social hall, and and when I did go and walk the site, I saw the social hall and then like the sort of like playground area and then the grass, right?

Um, so is that gonna be part of your usage or is that only for the church?

Um the social hall as well as the outdoor uh play area.

Yes.

It's gonna be uh for everyone who goes to this area, so for everyone to use the social hall.

Oh, thank you.

Okay, and I will uh open the public hearing to uh, sorry, can I make a comment, please?

I have a a rendering in here, not related to this project, but it's next door.

Uh this is a new, I believe I mentioned this in my staff report as well, that there'll be a new proposed uh development next door to the east, uh the fence in question location.

Um as you can see, they're gonna put the drive aisle closest to this community center and the house, the eight and eight new houses will be set on the opposite side.

Uh but keeping the hedge uh just like Commissioner Klopp mentioned one it doesn't really classify as a as a buffer right I mean it's great it looks beautiful but once this develop it would it would be great if it could stay but with this new development coming that's not gonna stay so we're gonna need something solid to really create that separation between the two uses um if anybody in the public would like to speak on this matter um welcome to do so the view that's on the sign right so total square foot we must be more than maybe 100 funded uh 2000 square foot all beauty is only 4500 square foot so we want to hit and maybe we can join together spend the money why I have to spend money for the that's great and I did mention to the architect that he could reach out to the developer.

Not sure if that happened because in us yes anybody in the public would like to speak on this matter um can come forward and have two minutes I don't see a large crowd clamoring to do so uh with that I'll close the public hearing and bring it back for discussion planning commissioner quok all right I'm very happy to see this presentation I think it's a it'll be a great um addition to the city and to the fabric of the city as well as the social um the benefits to the community um both the Taiwanese community and the American community as for the fence I do like the seven foot wooden option I think we can go with that and for the lighting I would prefer uh the first option else Commissioner Klopp.

And before before we make a motion I actually wanted to say there was staff there was a staff oversight uh there are some standard conditions of approval for the engineering department my fellow colleague Ryan Cook brought that to my attention and he has a copy of those conditions but we would need to incorporate that into this as we're adopting this resolution tonight.

Do you know what those are I mean yes we have to call the engineer.

Thank you and I apologize that was staff's oversight is a lot of the one it's one of the yeah okay probably the important part is it's it's standard conditions.

Engineering conditions of approval they're about permits title reports sidewalk damage yeah maybe just give it a engineer yeah maybe if you be the expert do my job um erosion control which is important um engineers cost assessment which is always needed um especially since I saw that there was some site off site improvements required so no normally you need a um up bond or something when you're doing work in the in the public right of way um drainage view which that's very normal um photo oh there it is photometric study um power poles utility structures greeting drainage and storm water so uh essentially requiring overland release this is very standard for C3 so hydro modification for post-project stormwater peak flow soils report post-construction um see again c three sorry to make sure the water's clean.

I'm saying C3 like it's everybody knows that um stormwater treatment facilities, traffic control plan, which is great, especially during the construction, um parking layout, tree removals, tree protection zones, trash enclosures, um separate permitting, perfect for any other um additional agency that's required, such as the sewer district, east Bay Mud, um for water, Contra Costa, PGE, and then work hours to not disturb the neighbors, which is very very important.

Um those are the main that's the gist of it.

Just to be clear again, these are standard conditions that we go on any project like this.

Okay, if I can be added to the resolution.

Correct, but before we do that, if I can.

Um I just in talking with Simra, I understand that she's talked about these conditions with the applicant.

Um they're aware.

Thank you for bringing the conveying it up.

So I just I just wanted to see if the applicant um has any comments, or if you understand if you would like some time to review them.

No, and unless I'm mistaken, I I believe some of these um things that you mentioned will be part of the requirements for the site's development permits, which we assume will basically come after the entitlements.

Uh that is our basically that is on our agenda.

The uh basically what we're planning to do is to develop the site development permits application as well as the breeding permits application together after we obtain our entitlement.

Um, okay, so you're I'm aware of the you're aware of the conditions, okay.

So I'm sorry, the engineering conditions in the draft resolution starting with number 12 through number 22.

Is this are is what you're talking about in addition to those items on the resolution?

I'll have uh Ryan Cook come up and explain that.

Sorry, should have probably come up a little sooner.

Uh Ryan Cook, senior engineer with the city.

So the the conditions that are in the draft resolution now there's like four of them.

Um they're very basic, and I'm not exactly sure where the overlook was in those.

Uh they are basically duplicated within the revised conditions that we just provided.

Um as uh commissioner and I didn't had pointed out, it's for all pretty standard stuff.

Um there's nothing really specific to this project that's out of the ordinary, uh, mostly all related to our current permitting, stormwater compliance, um, and other standard engineering requirements.

Uh so this would be replacing the or in addition to the engineering conditions section.

I don't know if you want to pull that up on the screen of the draft.

You could either replace it or just amend it too because uh it's a little bit of uh duplication, but there's nothing conflicting.

Nothing conflicting though.

Okay, so Claire, you might need to help us word the resolution.

So we could those can be incorporated into the resolution to the extent that they don't duplicate each other.

Okay.

Go ahead.

Um, hopefully I get it right with the addition.

Um, I propose to adopt the conditional use permanent design reapplication number Y24-077.

Um, with additional engineering conditions that and the fence, I guess.

Oh, the fence and the lighting, and um option one of the lighting and the seven foot fence in lieu of the eight foot fence.

Okay, so my so just to add to that.

So my recommendation is on the lighting condition where it says the phase is downwards.

Yes, to specify that it's the number one design that is presented tonight.

And to specify that it says the downward lighting.

Correct.

Okay.

That was second, resolution with all of that.

Yeah, uh question on the motion.

You uh the fence is going to be seven foot and wood.

Would not in lieu of masonry.

Okay.

Okay.

So I do I should I repeat it?

You guys got it right.

Thank you.

Second question.

Are we not supposed to approve uh the church as well as the CUP because this was non-conforming?

That's correct.

That's one of the conditional use permits before you tonight.

Right.

The resolution would do the resolution.

It's in the it's already in there.

Yeah.

Okay.

Thank you.

We're all in there.

All right.

Any further discussion on the motion.

Okay.

So the motion did include adopting the draft resolution and exempt from CEQA and the three conditional use permits.

With the modified conditions with the fence, seven footall wood and the lighting facing downwards, but design number one as presented today.

Thank you.

All right.

Everybody understands what I got going here.

And that's the other role.

Vice Chair Needing.

Yes.

Commissioner Klopp.

Yes.

Commissioner Moran?

Yes.

Commissioner Cowond?

Yes.

Commissioner Strongman.

Yes.

Commissioner Kwok.

Yes.

And Chair Anderson.

Yes.

Thank you.

Motion passes.

7-0.

Thank you all very much.

This was a marvelous presentation.

Obviously, a lot of work went into getting this far, but also in presenting it to us so that we could understand it.

I also appreciate your response to design review that you took their their suggestions and work out, you know, a good solution to each of them.

This is uh rarely we get a project of this size that doesn't have a lot more questions with it.

So excellent job and um look forward to uh seeing it go up.

Thank you very much.

I'm sure I officially closed the public hearing.

So that we'll do that now.

Um, item five commissioner considerations or commission considerations.

All right.

Um so this past Monday I had a second working group with a sign ordinance update.

And so we um heard from the contractor about what the what had happened since we met in January.

So a survey went out to the business community asking what were the needs um regarding the sign existing sign ordinance and what they would like to see in terms of modernizing modernizing it and um adapting it to the current needs of the business community.

There were um 23 responses to this survey, and of those 23 responses, 17 were businesses and six were commercial property owners.

Um a lot of the common themes and the results of the survey, the feedback from the business community were um looking at the visibility and location of signs for the businesses.

Um looking at the A-frame signs.

So I call these standards boards, these are ones I typically see on the on the ground that are put out in front of businesses, looking at the size and the dimensions and the designs of the signs, and also looking at the process improvements uh for the applicants when they're applying for the signs.

Um so the contractor has heard our feedback and is going back to um drafting an ordinance, and so I will have an update for you next time we come back together.

Thank you very much.

Commissioner Qualk.

Uh so uh the uh Contra Costa TransPAC group uh met that's the uh subgroup of uh Contra Costa Transportation Authority that looks at our uh geographic area.

The two items on the agenda uh this week meetings were trying to figure out how to expand the class pass or bus rider program for students beyond the current sort of limited two to three month thing into a more uh expanded program.

It's it runs into barriers that are sort of inter-group agency coordination and funding.

Um so there's a lot of ideas and frustration about uh the opportunity to expand it.

So they're still tilting at windmills to do that.

Uh the second thing was a report out on the um contra contra Contra Costa Transportation Agency plans for Measure J in the next five to seven years.

Measure J is a tax sales tax um thing fund um that um is getting towards the last sort of third of its life.

Um and the projects that are underway um with current funding in our central jurisdiction are the I six eighty uh State Route four interchange.

Um there's uh work on the carpool lanes on I six eighty and uh a lot of the BART parking access improvement gates, etc.

have been funded by that as well.

So that's what's on the docket.

On that, at some point I heard that they were going to some proposed a change to the on ramp of going north on um I guess it was Lawrence Avenue way uh and that's make it a braid so that the people exiting to treat and geary would be not impacting each other.

It could be that's a project that isn't flagging in my memory right now, but it's not a measure J project.

Okay.

So I I'm I'll keep a ear out for that one.

Thank you.

Okay, yes.

Um, staff reports or commission reports.

I'll just say for the record that um we have a um planning commission meeting on October 9th, that we have two items that night.

So we have the zoning code amendment for the residential care facilities and uh retro junkie design review um application.

And then since we are nearing the holiday season, uh we only have one meeting in November and December.

So we're hoping we have a quorum because we have items on both uh agendas.

Thank you.

And with that, I will uh call it adjourned.

Thank you.

Yes.

Oh, yeah, that was right at the that was right at the beginning.

Sorry.

Okay.