Recommendation to declare ordinance relating to the temporary limitation of certain construction and development activities in the R-1-L zone in the Los Cerritos and Virginia Country Club areas of the City in order to foster and promote neighborhood character stabilization in said area; declaring the urgency thereof; and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately, read and adopted as read.  (Ordinance No. ORD-15-0024)  (Citywide)
Hearing one recommendation to receive supporting documentation into the record. Conclude the hearing. Declare ordinance relating to the temporary limitation of certain construction and development activities in the r1l zone in the low Cerritos and Virginia Country Club areas of the city read adopted as red and laid over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for final reading, declaring the urgency thereof and declaring this ordinance shall take effect immediately. Citywide Communication from the City Attorney. Thank you. I'm going to turn that over now to Mr. City, attorney. Mayor, members of the city council at your meeting on July 21st, 2015, pursuant to Chapter 2150 of the Long Beach Municipal Code. The City Council voted to direct the city attorney's office to prepare a moratorium ordinance on certain residential construction in the R-1 flood zone. That ordinance is what is before you tonight. And in essence, if you pass it as written, it would create a one year moratorium period against certain large residential construction in that area of the city, which is primarily or exclusively in the eighth Council District. It would be a moratorium for a one year period. There would be certain exceptions to the moratorium, which would allow folks to do construction during the moratorium if the total amount of the construction did not exceed 1500 square feet, and there could be either new construction or an addition to existing construction. The item is here for first reading tonight, and if you have any questions about the ordinance, I'll be happy to try to answer them. Okay. Thank you. I know we have a a motion and a second already on the floor. Let me. As per per hearings, I'm going to take city comment and we'll go back to the deliberations. Any public comment on the hearing? Please come forward. Hello? Yes. My name is Polly Thomas. I live at 4121 Cedar Avenue in the. Virginia Country Club. Area. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak to you in opposition. To this. Ordinance. There are several points I'd like to make. The ordinance states one of its. Purposes is to. Promote neighborhood character. Stabilization. I'm not sure what it is you're attempting to stabilize, I guess its size based on what. The city attorney just spoke. The Virginia Country Club and the lower Cerritos areas are eclectic neighborhoods there. This is part of their charm. They have modern homes next door to Tudor homes, Spanish next to traditional and Mediterranean, right next to a California bungalow. The homes are custom homes that were built in the twenties and. Thirties, and. Some have been. Rebuilt in the seventies. Just recently. Our business corridor is also eclectic with the signage, different buildings, different make up of the buildings. And even the buildings are painted different colors, neon green. This again, is, from my perspective, enhances the charm and uniqueness. Of the Virginia Country Club and the Lowe's three Rose area. Moving to Virginia Country. Club in this area is not for everyone. It doesn't appeal to everyone. It is unique and it is an. Eclectic. Neighborhood. The urgency you speak of in this ordinance. I'm not sure why it is urgent. Are there projects that are pending or in the middle of being built? I can attest to the fact that there are a number of building regulations already in place that can adequately deal with the concern for overbuilding. All it needs to be done is enforcement of. Those regulations by the Planning Commission instead of granting a variance. Mr. Mays, the assistant. City attorney, was present at a meeting before a planning commission where several. Such ordinances were sought by my neighbors. And despite the objection of myself and my husband, these variances were granted five of them, and one of them. That was denied has since been granted. Or a variation thereof. The moratorium. Why not conduct a study without the moratorium? If homeowners have permits pending, then perhaps a reminder. Of the Planning Commission to not approve variances. Unless there is some compelling reason for health and safety. Would be enough in the interim. The Manson ization. Which is supposed to be. Of the utmost concern. Let me. Yes. Think that your time is up 3 minutes. Oh, I'm. Sorry. I thought there were lights. Oh, no problem. Right up there. But it's okay if you have a closing sentence. Go ahead. Well. Hypocrisy is defined as a pretense of having a virtuous. Character that does not one does not really possess. The very individuals that are behind. This ordinance are the same ones that have been. Granted. Variances of their own have built very large homes. Thank you, ma'am. Time to time is up, so we've got to wrap it up, please. Oh, and. We just want other people. The opportunity to. Come into our neighborhood. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you, ma'am. Next speaker, please. My name is Richard Ivey. I'm a board member of the Las Vegas Neighborhood Association, and I would like to express my support for the moratorium and the amendment which preserves the spirit and intent of the neighborhood. As amended. Thank you. Thank you. Any other public comment? Please come forward. Hello, Mr. Mayor. Council members. My name is Edward Bullion. I am an owner of the architectural engineering firm of Guerlain Design. We submitted plans on a home in this area about a month ago. Little more than a month ago at 46, 71 North Virginia Road. I partially support this this moratorium, but I also agree with Ms.. Thomas's comments. It is an eclectic area and it's very unique. And by saying that is there's there's separate areas of this area. There's the General Bixby Knolls area, which I call this is that little Cerritos area and which is affected by homes being built too tall and to too much density. And then there's an area where ours is being built, and that is on the golf course. We're down a private road about a half mile away from the general area of the neighborhood. There's nine lots in this little tract and we are the furthest north. The lot that we're building on is like three quarters of an acre. It's 25,965 square feet. The home we're building is 6380, which is only 24% of the floor area ratio when you're allowed in 60. So after extensive research, I never got any kind of word from the city that this was going on until the 11th hour when they were checking our plans. And they called me and told me that nothing over 1500 square feet can be built on three quarters of an acre. That's kind of a postage stamp. After my client had just put a lot of his eggs into this basket, basically 2 million of his eggs. So but the height we're doing, you know, you're allowed 25 feet. We're going one story which is going to be about 15 feet. The lot coverage is allowed 40%. We're only going 18%. The usable area is 23%. And we're we have over close to 80% of open area on this lot. So we're well below the radar. We're trying to build something that's going to fit into this area. So all I'm asking you my question after this long is to allow us to continue with our project since we are following the guidelines that I feel are going to be acceptable for this area. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next speaker, this is our final speaker, my closing to close the hearing. Go back to the council. This will be our final speaker. Good evening. Mayor and city council. I'm Barbara Schrag, 4120 Locust Avenue. We've lived in. Our home in the Virginia Country Club area since 1972 and love the neighborhood. My understanding is that there were two exceptions to the rule, which will be in an amendment tonight. And the party that just spoke. And another one. Will be excluded from. The from the moratorium because of the amount of work that's been done, and they're already in the planning department. So my I would urge you, with those two exceptions, to pass the moratorium and to preserve the wonderful character of our neighborhood. Thank you. Thank you. With that, I'm going to turn this back over to the council to deliberate Councilmember Austin. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I want to thank all those who took time out to come out and speak on this issue. I really appreciate the residents of the Lawson Widows neighborhood who have worked hard, gathered signatures and met with me and my staff and city staff on this issue, as well as the assistance of our development services staff and the city attorney's office. The temporary moratorium before us will provide our planning staff the opportunity to work with the community and develop recommendations of any changes to the current standards for the R-1 zone that will help maintain the character of the Los Cerritos neighborhood. I expect the planning staff to work diligently to get this done in a timely manner. In the meantime, anyone who wants to make an addition to their home up to 1500 square feet, which is a significant addition most average home in Long Beach, I think, has about 1500 square feet. We'll still be able to apply for permits to do so. As I stated when this item was before us in July, it was my intent also to not penalize current property owners who have invested significantly in their plans and were ready to submit plans. And I believe it's only fair to those who have been working under those rules, the current rules, and and have a complete set of plans to be able to proceed with those plans, provided that the proposed plans are. This thing with the character in the neighborhood and preserve the large lot sizes. Therefore, I'd like to make a motion to amend the ordinance to allow those applications that are already that are ready to submit. We'll still have the opportunity to do so while including the safeguards that the proposed homes are consistent with the neighborhood. I believe this is a win win solution for the entire neighborhood. So I moved to receive the supporting documentation into the record. Conclude the hearing and amend the ordinance as follows In return the amended ordinance for the first reading. I'd like to amend Section four of the ordinance to include the prohibit the prohibition. I'm sorry. The prohibitions contained in the ordinance do not apply where an application for said development or construction is on file and deemed complete by the Department of Development Services by September eight, 2015. And that application, number one, does not include any lot mergers to does not exceed a floor floor area ratio of 35%. And three does not require any standards variances for new construction. And then obviously. There's a there's already a second on the motion. Okay. Do you want to speak to your second council member or am I going to the vice president for. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I wanted to ask staff and this may have been made clear earlier, but do we have any 1500 square foot residences such as the law's going in downtown that may that may be impacted by this ordinance? Vice Mayor Lowenthal. No, this would only apply in the r1l, which is residential large lot zones. And that zone, as per my understanding, is only in the eighth Council District. Perfect. And we had clarified that the last time or the first time this came up. And so thank you for the confirmation. Thank you. There's a motion and a second on the floor for the hearing. I'm going to close this hearing. And counsel, please take your vote. Motion carries nine zero. Thank you. Second hearing, please.