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Item 10 - 90-Day Review of Citizen Complaint ~IBjJTBJ - GENDA REPORT .. - TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council FROM: James L. Bowersox, City Ma~ INITIATED BY: John D. Fitch, Assistant City Manager~)~ DATE: June 15, 1993 SUBJECT: Ninety-Day Review of a Citizen Complaint Regarding the use of Redevelopment Agency Owned Property on Poway Road Adjacent to the Westgate Subdivision for the Storage of New Automobiles ABSTRACT At their February 9, 1993 meeting, Mr. Joe St. Lucas, President of the Westgate ; Subdivision Homeowners Association, appeared before the City Council under the Public Oral Communications section of the Agenda and requested that the new automobiles that are being temporarily stored on the property owned by the Redevelopment Agency located to the west of the Poway Chrysler/Plymouth, Jeep/Eagle, Volkswagen dealership be removed or that the City/Redevelopment Agency construct a soundwal1 at the rear of the -,roperty. At their February 23, 1993 meeting, the City Council/Redevelopment Agency voted to allow the vehicles to continue to be stored on the property and requested that a status report be brought forward following ninety days. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW This action is not subject to CEQA review. FISCAL IMPACT None. ADDITIONAL PUBLIC NOTIFICATION AND CORRESPONDENCE Mr. Joe St. Lucas; Mrs. Joanne Bradley; New Poway Ford; and Poway Chrysler/Plymouth, Jeep Eagle, Volkswagen. RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the City Council/Redevelopment Agency receive and file this status report. ~CTION c:\wp)l \rpt\vel11cJe.cov JUN 15 1993 ITEM /() 1 of 4 ------.----- ~ AGENDA REPOR CITY OF POW A Y TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council FROM: James L. Bowersox, City Manager ~ INITIATED BY: John D. Fitch, Assistant City Manager~ DATE: June 15, 1993 SUBJECT: Ni nety-Day Revi ew of a C i t i zen Comp 1 a i nt Regardi ng the Storage of New Automobiles on Redevelopment Agency-Owned Property BACKGROUND In 1987, the City Council authorized the purchase of a 4.5-acre parcel on Poway Road between Midland Road and Gate Road. On August 7, 1990, the City Council/ Redevelopment Agency approved the sale of 2.8 acres of the 4.5 acre parcel for the development of a Dodge dealership. At the same meeting, the City Council also approved a Conditional Use Permit for the development of the dealership. The remainder of the parcel was retained by the Redevelopment Agency for the future development of an additional new car dealership. Prior to the August 7, 1990 meeting, City/Redevelopment Agency staff had held several meetings with the residents of the Westgate subdivision that adjoins the property to the south, to discuss the Redevelopment Agency's plan to develop new car dealerships on the property. During these meetings the residents of the subdivision were promised that when the two parcels were sold and developed the City would require, as conditions of approval, that approximately ten feet of the rear of the parcels be landscaped and dedicated to each of the adjoining property owners and that a soundwall would be constructed at the rear of the parcel to block any sound generated by the automobile dealerships. When the Dodge dealership was developed, the ten-foot landscaped buffer was granted to the adjoining property owners and a soundwall was constructed at the rear of the 2.8-acre parcel, as promised. The soundwall was not extended to the west to the other parcel. Recently staff began negotiations with a potential purchaser of the site. When the property is sold and developed as a new car dealership, the soundwall will be constructed at the rear of this parcel. ACTION: 204 JUN 1 5 1993 ITEM ); ----- . - - Staff Report - Status Report - Citizen Complaint, Mr. Joe St. Lucas June 15, 1993 Page 2 Duri ng the 1 ast several years, the City has approved several temporary use permits for various uses on the property. The temporary uses have included a Christmas tree lot and a pumpkin patch for the sale of pumpkins. In addition, while Richardson Pontiac was temporarily located at the old Volkswagen dealership site, they were issued a temporary use permit that allowed them to store new cars on this property. A small portion of the property was subsequently improved with gravel and fenced and has continuously been used for the storage of new vehicles. In addition, the owner of New Poway Ford indicated in a meeting with staff that they would be able to sell more vehicles if they had a larger site to store more inventory. As a result, they have been allowed to temporarily store vehicles on the property for the past several months. Recently, New Poway Ford acquired the lease for the former Volkswagen dealership property and it is understood that they intend to use the rear of this property for the storage of new vehicles. , Immediately after Poway Ford began using the site, staff was contacted by one of the adjacent property owners who complained about noise and dust being generated from the property. The property owner stated that she had not complained when the lot was used as a Christmas tree lot, a pumpkin sales lot or when a portion of the parcel had first been used for the storage of new automobiles. However, she indicated that the storage of the additional vehicles was more than the neighborhood was willing to accept. She said that when City staff had met with the residents that they had promised them that the property would not be used for a commercial use until a soundwal1 was constructed. She indicated that she wanted the City to construct a soundwall on the property. It was indicated that the property was to be used only temporarily to store new vehicles and that the City/Redevelopment Agency did not have the funding necessary to construct the soundwal1 at this time but that a soundwall would be constructed when a permanent use was approved for the property. She indicated that this was unacceptable and requested that the use of the property be discontinued. When staff met with the adjoining property owners during the summer of 1990, they were promised that the property would not be used for commercial use until a soundwall was constructed. Following receipt of the complaint, staff contacted the automobile dealer and indicated that a complaint had been filed and that staff would assist in locating another site for the storage of the vehicles. The dealers indicated that they were only accessing the site on a very limited basis during normal business hours and would do whatever they could to not cause any problems for the adjOining residents. At their February 23, 1993 meeting, the City Council reviewed this matter and - voted to allow vehicles to be stored on the site pending further review of this matter. Subsequently, Richardson Pontiac moved their vehicles from the site and Poway Ford consolidated their vehicles to the north end of the property, away JUN 1 5 1993 ITEM /0 , 3 of 4 Staff Report - Status Report - Citizen Complaint, Mr. Joe St. Lucas June 15, 1993 Page 3 from the existing residential units. FINDINGS Over the past 90 days, the City has received a couple of complaints from the Poway Chrysl er /Plymouth, Jeep/Eagle, Vol kswagen deal ershi p about dust bei ng generated from the lot while vehicles were being moved from the property; however, none of the adjoining neighbors have complained. It appears that the property will be sold in the near future and that New Poway Ford is in the process of locating other property to be used for the storage of their new vehicles; therefore, the storage of new vehicles on the property should be discontinued in the future. FISCAL IMPACT None. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT None. PUBLIC NOTIFICATION Copies of this report have been sent to Mr. Joe St. Lucas; Mrs. Joanne Bradley; New Poway Ford; and Poway Chrysler/Plymouth, Jeep/Eagle, Volkswagen, in addition to the normal distribution. RECOMMENDATION It is recommended that the City Council receive and file this report. JLB:JDF:eb a:\VEHICLES2.JDF JUN 1 5 1993 ITEM P 4 of 4 IJ~ j?~r<./~/f~ 12740 Poway Road Poway, CA 92064 - Tel (619) 748-1400 Fax (619) 748-4779 RECEIVED June 9, 1993 JUN 1 , 1993 Mr. John D. Fitch CITY~FPOWAY GERS OFFICE Assistant City Manager City of poway 13325 civic Center Drive poway, California. 92064 Dear John: I am writing to you persuant to our conversation of this date. After reading the staff report on the city owned storage lot next to Poway Chrysler Plymouth, you indicated that you were in the process of negotiating a possible sale. I realize that the City of Poway would love to get another new car franchise in town, but until - they do, we desparately need the lot to park our new cars. As you are probably aware, the month before I purchased this dealership in November of 1992, Meister Ford sold sixty-eight new and used vehicles. In May 1993 we sold three hundred twenty vehicles. A 400% increase. Obviously this is reflected in our sales tax contribution to the city. I believe we are now the largest single contributor, and a major part of our success is our ability to display vehicles. Thanks to the City of Poway. Please consider this letter a request to extend the use of the storage lot to us for at least six more-months. I thank you in advance for your consideration. {j;IY' ~ Howard Abel President HA/amh JUN 1 5 19!B 1TEM 10 June 15, 1993 - To: John D. Fitch, Assistant City Manager Subject: Agenda Report concerning Ninety-day review of use of Redevelopment Agency owned property on poway Rd. adjacent to the Westgate subdivision for storage of new automobiles Thank you for providing me with an advance copy of the agenda report for review. I have a few comments I would like to add concerning this report. We appreciate the efforts made by the staff to provide a historical timeline concerning the property discussed. Initially after the February 23, 1993 City Council meeting, Richardson Pontiac removed their vehicles from the lot, and Poway Ford consolidated their vehicles to the north end of the property with few vehicles being stored or moved on the south end of the property. Within the last month, however, a large number of vehicles have again been moved to the south end of the property, filling it almost to the level it was at back in February. This of course has resulted in an increasing amount of noise and dust during May and June. I hear from the neighbors bordering the lot about how it appears that nothing has improved over February levels because the cars were once moved and are back again. The FINDINGS section of the report states the city has received complaints from the other car dealer east of the lot, ".. . however, none of the adjoining neighbors have complained." The neighbors bordering the property were informed of the 90 day review and agreed NOT to complain to the city during this time to allow the city staff time to investigate the matter and work with poway Ford. Please DO NOT assume their silence meant they were pleased with the situation. Last, in the event the property is not sold in the future, there should still be a timeline for the immediate discontinuation of the storage of vehicles on the property to ensure the neighbors that the hassle of noise and dust from this property will end, or an adequate sound wall erected. The vehicles have been "temporarily" stored for over six months now, and it IS NOT FAIR to force the neighbors to endure many more months of dust and noise from this city-owned "temporary" storage property. Thank you. ~~ Joseph St. Lucas Westgate Homeowners Assoc. - JUN 1 5 1993 ITEM 10