CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
MEETING DATE: May 18, 2016
PREPARED BY: Sheldon S. Ah Sing, Contract Planner/Leslie Little, Assistant City Manager/ Community Development
APPROVED BY: City Manager
Title
SITE REVIEW: MONTEREY - LEAL: GRANADA HOTEL THE PROPERTIES, IDENTIFIED BY ASSESSOR PARCEL NUMBER(S) 726-14-030, -029, -031, -026 AND -025, ARE LOCATED ON THE SOUTHWEST CORNER OF MONTEREY ROAD AND EAST 1ST STREET.
END
RECOMMENDATION(S)
RECOMMENDATION
Review of Planning Commission action approving a Conditional Use Permit and Architectural and Site Review for a 60-room hotel with commercial and retail on the first floor.
BODY
COUNCIL PRIORITIES, GOALS & STRATEGIES:
Ongoing Priorities
Protecting the Environment
Maintaining fiscal responsibility
2016 Focus Areas
Planning our Community
Developing our Community
Enhancing our Services
REPORT NARRATIVE:
Site Description
The project site includes five parcels (totaling 1.09 acres) at the southeast corner of Monterey Road and 1st Street within the Downtown area. The site is currently developed with two single-story commercial buildings (9,750 & 3,795 square feet). To the rear of the building is a public parking lot with 65 parking spaces, connecting between 1st and 2nd Streets. The applicant’s actions comply with the milestones contained in the Purchase and Sale Agreement between the City of Morgan Hill Successor Agency and Leal Vineyards, dba Granada Hotel, Inc.
Project Description
The proposed project will demolish the existing on-site Downtown Mall and former Techcon office structures and related surface parking areas and construct a 67,940 square foot, four-story building and ancillary services parking area, hotel customer drop-off parking areas and landscaped areas. For more detail on the project, see the Planning Commission Staff Report (April 26, 2016-Attachment 1), the applicant’s operational summary (Attachment 2), and the project plans (Attachment 3).
Planning Commission Discussion
On April 26, 2016 the Morgan Hill Planning Commission reviewed and approved (5-0-0 with Spring and Toomes absent) Site Review, SR 16-01/Conditional Use Permit, UP, 16-01/Environmental Assessment, EA-16-01, effectively completing entitlements for this project. The Planning Commission approved a muted white (not brilliant white) project color, required development of a Parking Management Plan for the project and directed the applicant to plant trees/shrubs or provide other noise attenuation material in the area to the rear of the proposed hotel where trash and servicing occurs.
In addition the applicant provided evidence that he has secured tow plots on Monterey Road, between Wells Fargo Bank and Noah's Restaurant, to provide parking for 50 vehicles. The applicant proposed to provide full valet parking service for the hotel and Markethall restaurant.
The Downtown Specific Plan requires projects of major significance to complete site review before the Planning Commission or the City Council. Since the use permit required Planning Commission action, the entire project was reviewed and acted upon by the Planning Commission. Since this project will have such a significant impact upon the future of the Downtown, and was the subject of the "Opportunity Sites" RFP, it has been forwarded to the City Council for final review and presentation.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: Inform
Because of the location of the project in the Downtown, this has been submitted to the City Council for information and review. The Planning Commission took action on the project, which was a part of a duly noticed public hearing on April 26, 2016. The proposed project has been the subject of numerous email updates and local and regional newspaper reports. The project was also discussed with the Morgan Hill Downtown Association on May 12, 2016. The project, along with all proposed new public and private projects planning Downtown, was also evaluated in the Hexagon 2016 Parking Capacity Assessment. That study was scheduled for discussion before the Morgan Hill Planning Commission on April 12, 2016 which meeting was noticed by city-wide email, to the community as well as strategic partners such as the Chamber of Commerce and the Downtown Association.
ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS:
The applicant is moving quickly to prepare construction and engineering plans in order to be in a position to catch this current window of economic opportunity, and to avoid any construction delay between purchase, demolition and construction. The developer has requested that the City re-consider the performance and milestone schedule contained in the Purchase and Sale Agreement and allow an early acquisition of the property. The applicant proposes to recycle and re-purpose much of the material from the structures on the site, avoiding pure demolition and landfill. A separate action and discussion regarding this request to expedite sale of the site will appear on the Successor Agency Agenda.
PRIOR CITY COUNCIL AND COMMISSION ACTIONS:
1. The Council chose to exclusively negotiate with the project proponents for their proposal in June 2015 and agreed to the sale of the property on September 2, 2015.
2. On April 26, 2016, the Planning Commission adopted resolutions for the Design Review and the Conditional Use Permit with the added conditions regarding noise and a parking management plan.
FISCAL AND RESOURCE IMPACT:
The City administers land use entitlement processes on a cost-recovery basis with fees collected from applicants to cover the cost of services. Application fees were collected to cover the cost of processing these applications. This project represents total private investment of $16 million and the potential for the City to receive between $250,000 and $300,000 annually in transient occupancy tax revenue.
CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act):
Project, Description of CEQA requirements
The Project was reviewed by Environmental Assessment, EA-16-01
LINKS/ATTACHMENTS:
1. April 26, 2016- Planning Commission Staff Report
2. Project Proposal and Letter of Justification
3. Project Plans