HomeMy WebLinkAboutPlanning Commission Resolution 2014-23 07/22/2014RESOLUTION NO. 2014-23
CITY OF PETALUMA PLANNING COMMISSION
RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF PETALUMA PLANNING COMMISSION
RECOMMENDING CITY COUNCIL APPROVAL OF CONSTRUCTION OF A DETENTION BASIN
ON CITY LANDS EAST OF RIESLING ROAD
BETWEEN CORONA CREEK SCHOOL AND KENILWORTH JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL
0 Riesling Road
APN 137-070-049
Project File No: 09 -TSM -0344
WHEREAS, the applicant, Corona Road Associates, L.C.C., submitted an application for a
Tentative Subdivision Map for a 31 -lot residential subdivision to be comprised of the existing
house at 498 Corona Road remaining at its current location and the creation of 30 new vacant
residential lots, along with associated requests for Annexation and Pre -Zoning; and
WHEREAS, the Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) revisions were finalized by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and adopted in February of 2014 and show most of
the proposed annexation area within the 100 -year floodplain for nearby Corona Creek; and
WHEREAS, to address the 2014 Flood Insurance Rate Map showing the annexation area
and surrounding area, the applicant proposes a detention basin at open field abutting Corona
Creek, upstream of the project site, northeast of Riesling Road on approximately ±4.6 acres of
Urban Separator lands between Corona Creek (northwest of Kenilworth Junior High) and the ball
field of the Corona Creek Elementary School; inside the City limits and at the UGB line; and
WHEREAS, the detention basin proposal and design have been fully analyzed on behalf
of the City by water engineering consultants, and found to successfully remove the subdivision
and annexation and adjacent existing houses to the east and south from the 100 -year flood
plain; and
WHEREAS, the Initial Study/MND concludes that the proposed detention basin together
with Mitigation Measures HYDRO 2 through 4 (agreed to by Corona Road Associates, L.C.C.)
ensures that flood risks are reduced to levels below significance; and
WHEREAS City Engineer and the Water Division have reviewed the proposal, accept it,
and find that it will remove housing from the flood hazard associated with the 10 year and 100
year flood; and
WHEREAS, after public review and input at duly noticed public hearings on January 28
and July 22, 2014, the Planning Commission of the City of Petaluma adopted Resolutions
recommending adoption of the Mitigated Negative Declaration, support of Annexation, Pre -
Zoning the Annexation lands in the manner consistent with the General Plan designation,
designation of the house at 498 Corona Road as a local landmark, and Tentative Subdivision
Map approval of 10.1 acres into a 31-1ot subdivision, all relating to the Corona Road Annexation
and Subdivision project; and
WHEREAS, at the January 28 and July 22, 2014 public hearings, the Planning Commission
also received public comment and considered the proposed detention basin on City lands in
the Urban Separator east of Riesling Road.
Planning Commission Resolution No. 2014-23 Page 1
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Planning Commission hereby recommends the
City Council authorize construction of the detention basin, as modified by the project Mitigation
Measures and Conditions of Tentative Subdivision Map approval, based on the based on the
following findings:
The addition of the basin does not significantly change the use of the urban
separator or prohibit residents from venturing out into the urban separator lands.
2. Location of the detention basin is consistent with the Corona Ely Specific Plan which
designates that the urban separator serve the purpose of preserving views to
Sonoma Mountain and serving as a barrier between residential uses and those
occurring on County lands (such as agricultural uses). With the basin addition, the
urban separator lands will continue to serve as a separator between residential uses
and those occurring on County lands and existing views to Sonoma Mountain will
remain as the detention basin is an excavation rather than projection.
3. Location of the detention basin is consistent with the Corona Ely Specific Plan which
designates that the urban separator be passive open space and be 300 feet in
depth. With construction of a detention basin, the subject urban separator segment
will continue to serve as passive open space and be 300 feet in depth. As in the
current condition, particularly as now designed with 5:1 slopes; nothing prevents
residents from venturing out into the urban separator lands.
4. There is a precedent for detention basins in the urban separator lands; there is one in
the Heritage Subdivision urban separator (between Lansdowne Way and Westminster
Lane) and three in the Shelter Hills Subdivision urban separator (at St Augustine
Circle).
5. The proposed Corona Subdivision with the Riesling Road detention basin replaces the
lost floodplain storage due to build out of the proposed Corona Subdivision and
reduces water surface elevations below existing elevations at the project site
6. Construction of the detention basin within the City's Urban Separator will provide the
following benefits to the greater public good:
a. The proposed detention basin will provide excess water storage capacity during
the 100 -year storm event. This will reduce the downstream water surface
elevation below existing elevations and reduce the overflow potential of Corona
Creek;
b. Existing surrounding homes that the new FIRM map shows as being located within
the 100 year event flood zone will be removed and will not be required to have
Flood insurance;
c. The 100 -year water surface elevation will be reduced in Corona Creek by an
average of about 0.5 feet;
d. The 100 -year water surface elevation will be reduced in the Petaluma River by an
average of about 0.01 feet;
e. The project will construct the urban separator streetscope improvements which
did not occur with build -out of the Graystone Creek subdivision. As required by
the Corona Ely Specific Plan including Policies 124 and 125, the project will
construct a 25 -foot wide, Urban Separator edge improvement, along the
frontage of Riesling Road. Commencing at Riesling Road, the Urban Separator
edge improvement will consist of a 6 foot landscape strip, an 8 foot multi -use
concrete path, an 11 foot landscape strip, and a 3 foot high open -type vehicle
barricade at the top of the detention basin bank.
Planning Commission Resolution No. 2014-23 Page 2
ADOPTED this 22nd day of July, 2014, by the following vote:
Commission Member
Aye No Absent Abstain
Benedetti- Petnic
X
Lin
X
Gomez
X
Marzo
X
Councilmember Miller
X
Vice Chair Pierre
X
Chair Wolpert
X
ATTEST:
H61ather Hines, C0 -mission Secretary
Bi I Wolpert, Chair
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
1
Eric W. Danly, City Attorne
Planning Commission Resolution No. 2014-23 Page 3