HomeMy WebLinkAboutMOTION FAILIED for Modification of the General Plan - ZoningI AB
CITY -OF HUNTINGTON BEACH
City'Council Interoffice Communication
To: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
From: Connie Boardman, City Council Member;
Date 'March 17, 2004
Subject: H-ITEM FOR APRIL 5, 2004, CITY COUNCIL MEETING` ^
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ZONING CHANGE
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STATEMENT OF ISSUE:
The vacant land on Nichols across from the Rainbow Disposal plant extending up to the
intersection to Warner Ave currently has a zoning of residential. I believe this to be an
inappropriate zoning for the site given its proximity to the Rainbow Disposal transfer
station. If homes were ever built here, the residents would experience impacts from a
large volume of truck traffic traveling down Nichols to Warner from very early in the
morning throughout the day, as well as impacts from odors caused by the trash
processing at the Rainbow site. Mitigation such as double -paned windows and air
conditioning would not really, in my opinion, solve these problems, as many people like
to have their windows open to enjoy the mild climate here in Huntington Beach.
Housing on this site would be simply incompatible with the use immediately across the '
street. Therefore, I wouldlike the Council to start the process of changing the zoning on
the site to commercial or industrial.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Council directs staff to begin the modification of the general plan and the process
required to change the zoning on this site from residential to either commercial or
industrial.
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xc: Ray Silver
Bill Workman
Connie Brockway
Howard Zelefsky
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Good evening, Mayor Green and councilmembers. My name is Norman
Furuta and I'm here to speak in opposition to Item H-2a. I'm actually here on
behalf of my mom, who is the owner of the parcel that is the subject of H-2a.
My grandfather bought the parcel back in 1912, just before the state passed
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the Alien Land Act which would have made it illegal for him as an alien
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immigrant to buy land in California. Except for a few years during World
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War II, our family has lived there and farmed that land, until my father died in
1995. My mother continued living there until it became too difficult to
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maintain it by herself, and has been trying to sell the land since the Summer
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of 2001. The parcel has been zoned RM15 or medium density residential for
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at least the past half century.
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As you probably know, my mother entered into a contract to sell the land to
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Greystone Homes for a townhome development project. Greystone's
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development plan, which it submitted to the city, fully addressed all the
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concerns set forth in Item H-2a regarding the volume of traffic on Nichols
Street and the impact of odors from the trash processing facility at the
Rainbow site across the street. The city's planning department found that the
traffic and odor issues were of "less than significant impact" and that the
development plan adequately addressed these matters and that no further
analysis or environmental studies would be required.
In anticipation that the sale to Greystone would go through, Mom had to
purchase and move to a condo taking out a short-term mortgage, which she
had planned to pay off with the proceeds from the sale of the farm. In the
meantime, my mother is paying two sets of property taxes and the new
mortgage, with Social Security being her only source of income. She thought,
however, that she would have these payments only for a short while, until we
learned that Greystone was terminating the sale.
Her contract with Greystone fell through we believe due to opposition from
Rainbow Disposal to "for sale" residential development on our pBevel
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address this concern, we have since engaged in discussions with ,oper of a�orcl�cble
of apartments for rent, with whom we have reached agreement in principle to
sell. Rainbow Disposal has assured both the prospective buyer and us that it
would not oppose apartment development on our parcel. We believe that all
parties, including the City and the region with its severe affordable housing
shortage, stand to benefit from seeing this sale go through.
Since the City's Planning Department has already found that development
plans for residential housing on this parcel can adequately address the issues
of traffic and odor from Rainbow's facilities, my mom cannot understand
why you would find it necessary to direct your staff to look again at these
issues. Rezoning the parcel to either commercial or industrial use would
seem to raise even more difficult issues of incompatibility. You should note
that the entire eastern boundary of our parcel abuts directly with existing
medium density residential housing. There is existing multi -family housing
that comes right up to our property line, without even so much as a street or
sidewalk separating us along part of that boundary. If you rezone this parcel
to commercial or industrial, it seems you'd be trading some minor,
mitigatable issues identified in H-2a, with much more serious issues of
incompatible use in the future.
Mom's concern is: if you pass Item H-2a, you will be making her land
unmarketable for probably more than a year due to the uncertain status of the
zoning. No residential developer will buy it with its RM 15 zoning in question
and no commercial or industrial buyer will either, unless and until it is
rezoned.
In closing, I note that over the last century our family has experienced some
remarkable interactions with the government regarding our farm, beginning
with Grandfather's struggle to acquire it before a government action made it
impossible for him to buy. I would ask you not to take government action
tonight that would make it impossible for my mother to sell. ,