1B MARIPOSA COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES OF October 17, 2008 Regular Meeting Meeting Called to order at 9:00 a.m. Commissioners Present: Gary Francisco, Norm Ross, Bob Rudzik, Skip Skyrud, Paul DeSantis 1. REGULAR BUSINESS: 1A. Pledge of Allegiance 1B. Approval of Minutes of October 03, 2008 Corrections: None On motion of Commissioner Ross, seconded by Commissioner Francisco, the Planning Commission approved the Minutes of October 03, 2008. Motion carried by the following vote: AYES: 5 (Francisco, Ross, Rudzik, Skyrud, DeSantis) NOES: 0 1C. Persons wishing to speak on any item of interest within the subject matter or jurisdiction of the Commission that is not on the agenda. None. 2. PUBLIC HEARINGS: Commissioner Skyrud explained the Planning Commission’s public hearing procedures. 2 A. Land Division Application No. 2007-135, Stephen P. Allison, applicant. Prior to presenting Land Division No. 2007-135, Skip Strathearn noted the following changes to the staff report: Circle page 2 reference to be removed. Strathearn then presented Land Division No. 2007-135, Strathearn explained that this Land Division is a proposed division of a 206.30 acre parcel into12 parcels of 5.00 and 35.00 acres each. The property is located at 5260 Carleton Road and is known as APN 014-140-078. Strathearn concluded that it was staff’s recommendation that the Planning Commission adopt a resolution adopting a Mitigated Negative Declaration and approve Land Division No. 2007-135 with the recommend findings and amended conditions. Clarifications: Francisco questioned Strathearn as to which of the lots involve the cultural resources that were found and the location of the dam that was mentioned in the report. Strathearn pointed out the location of the dam on the map. Francisco asked Strathearn if there is any evidence of riparian activity. Planning Commission Meeting Date: 10/17/2008 1 Strathearn replied that yes there is riparian activity and the mitigation measure addresses that issue on circle page 20, condition of approval number 34. Strathearn went on to say that the cultural resources surveys are confidential and he can only give very general information not specific, but went on to say that the cultural resources are located within the proposed setbacks. Skyrud asked if the County has a stream alteration agreement on Carleton Road. Strathearn stated that the County did not have steam alteration agreements when Carleton Road was created. A discussion regarding sub standard roads and the requirement of bringing Silva Road up to standard road condition with Skyrud asking if any traffic counts had been done on the sub standard portion of Silva Road. Strathearn stated that the latest traffic counts in that area do not show much activity. He said that if Public Works deems that the project will have an impact on the road they can require improvements. Strathearn informed the Commission that this subdivision will not have an impact to the sub standard portion of Silva Road and that Public Works has recommended that the road frontage requirement be waived. Skyrud then asked if that portion of Silva Road could be abandoned by the County. Sarah Williams explained that when a project is submitted to the Planning Department staff evaluates what is submitted and what the project is. The proposed project does not have access onto Silva Road. Williams remarked that at this time it is not appropriate to talk about abandoning Silva Road because it provides a potential through connection. The applicant is providing a dedication of this portion of Silva Road, which is a public benefit. Williams said that she spoke to Dana Hertfelder, Public Works Director, to confirm that he supports the recommendation to waive the frontage improvements for this project and he said that he did. Strathearn reminded The Commission that the new General Plan standards require County Roads to meet minimum standards with the respect of new development. Strathearn stated that if someone came in with even a parcel map on lot 12 they would have to improve Silva Road to the adequate standards. Francisco asked Strathearn about the traffic impact on Cole Road and upper Silva Road. Francisco wanted to know if Cole Road is up to County standards and have there been any traffic counts for Cole Road? Strathearn took a moment to review the staff report. Skyrud announced that the Public Hearing scheduled for 9:30am will take place as soon as the discussion for this project is completed. After reviewing the staff report, Strathearn stated that Public Works has Cole Road scheduled for improvements from Darrah Road to Silva Road. Planning Commission Meeting Date: 10/17/2008 2 Public Portion of the Hearing: Opened. Dick Seaman, agent for the applicants, addressed questions The Commission had regarding the 4 to 1 length to width ratio on lot 2. Seaman feels that lot 2 has the appropriate width that was needed for the usable length of the property. Rudzik asked Seaman if there is a suitable building site on this lot? Seaman said there is definitely a building site on lot 2. Seaman stated that all the lots have had full perc tests, wells dug and septic disposal conditions met. He also stated that the Public Works improvement of Cole Road will be started in the spring of 2009 and that this subdivision will not be completed until mid 2009. Seaman thanked Strathearn for his hard work on this project. Francisco questioned Seaman about the report from the Fish and Game Department, circle page 67, where they recommended that on site soils should be analyzed. Francisco asked Seaman his opinion of that recommendation. Strathearn answered Francisco’s question by stating that the waving of the preliminary soils report issue was addressed in detail in the initial study and referred Francisco to circle page 45. Strathearn stated that the soils issue is also addressed on circle page 49 in the water quality section of the staff report. Seaman stated that the soils report is a non issue at this point. Skyrud informed everyone that there is a US Department of Agriculture Mariposa County Area Soils Survey available at the Resource Conservation District Office for review and it includes a soil map of the entire County. Skyrud wanted it noted that there is soils information available to the public. John Walters, who lives across the street where the pond area is at Silva Road and Carleton Road, spoke to his concern about the water way during the heavy rains when the ponds fill and spill over Carleton Road into the proposed project. Cathy Boze, Agricultural Commissioner, stated that she had not seen the staff report but did question if controlling invasive species had been addressed in the report as she is in the process of doing a survey of noxious weeds. Strathearn stated that the environmental report did not include noxious species and there is no condition for approval for that issue. Boze stated that other projects such as the Taylor project and Silver Tip did contain conditions for this issue so she felt that there was precedence set. Williams answered that the Taylor project was a 160 acre project with a significant existing problem and the potential of spreading the noxious weeds as additional grading was going to be done for Planning Commission Meeting Date: 10/17/2008 3 the project and by four different owners. The project also bordered Federal Land and there was grazing and potential for impacts on surrounding agricultural lands. Skyrud asked staff to add the Agricultural Commissioner to the Send Out for Comments List for all subdivisions. A discussion ensued as to the proper protocol for adding an agency to the Send Out for Comments list with a determination that the Board of Supervisors could make that decision and would see the request when the Minutes for this meeting are presented to them. Public Portion of the Hearing: Closed. Deliberations: Rudzik commented that he recommends the staff recommendation that the Commission grant the waiver on the 4 to 1 ratio. Rudzik also recommends the staff condition of approval that a declaration be recorded that access to Silva Road will be denied to lots 9-12 until Silva Road comes up to County standards. Rudzik also recommended the staff changes on circle page 12; condition No. 2 be removed. On motion of Commissioner Rudzik, seconded by Commissioner Ross the Planning Commission adopted a resolution adopting a Mitigated Negative Declaration approving Land Division No. 2007-135 with the recommended amended findings, amended conditions and mitigation measures. Motion carried by the following vote: AYES: 5 ( Francisco, Ross, Rudzik, Skyrud, DeSantis) NOES: 0 Skyrud announced that the Public Hearing for the Land Conservation Act Cancellation Application scheduled for 9:30am would be presented directly after a short recess. Break: 10.06am Reconvened: 10:16am Skyrud announced that the Appeal for Castaldi scheduled for 10:30am would be held directly after the Land Conservation Act Cancellation Application is heard. 2 B. Land Conservation Act Cancellation Application No. 2008-89; Mariposa Revival Center/Frank Long, applicants; Frank and Francis Long, property owners. Sarah Williams presented Land Conservation Act Cancellation Application No. 2008- 89, Williams explained that this Land Conservation Act Cancellation is a proposed cancellation of a 6.97 acre portion of Mariposa County Land Conservation Act (Williamson Act) Contract No. 17, a 3,280+- acre contract. The property is located off Highway 140 in Mariposa, just West of Spring Hill High School, and known as APN 012-180-032. Planning Commission Meeting Date: 10/17/2008 4 Skyrud asked Williams that if the cancellation is granted and the applicant decided not to do anything else with the property, would there be a requirement for him to do a zoning amendment putting the property into Mountain Home zoning? Skyrud questioned if there is a County requirement to change the zoning or would Long just have a non conforming AE piece of property.