HomeMy WebLinkAboutCD 16-03; LA COSTA PLAZA; Administrative Permits (ADMIN) (2)CITY OF CARLSBAD APPLICATION FORM FOR CONSISTENCY DETERMINATION APPLICATION
CITY USE ONLY
Project Number: eo I«D-03
PROJECT NAME: La Costa Plaza (NEG El Camino Real at La Costa Avenue)
Assessor's Parcel Number(s): 216-580-03-07
Description of proposal (add attachment if necessary): See attached
Would you like to orally present your proposal to your assigned staff planner/engineer? Yes D No [{]
Please list the staff members you have previously spoken to regarding this project. If none, please so state.
Van Lynch
OWNER NAME (Print): Grant Tucker Properties APPLICANT NAME (Print): Same as Owner
MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 7974 MAILING ADDRESS:
CITY, STATE, ZIP: Newport Beach, CA 92658 CITY, STATE, ZIP:
TELEPHONE: (949) 251-2045 TELEPHONE:
EMAIL ADDRESS: tucker@gtpcenters.com EMAIL ADDRESS:
*Owner's signature indicates permission to conduct a preliminary
review for a development proposal.
IN THE PROCESS OF REVIEWING THIS APPLICATION IT MAY BE I CERTIFY THAT I AM THE LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE
NECESSARY FOR MEMBERS OF CITY STAFF TO INSPECT AND OWNER AND THAT ALL THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS TRUE
ENTER THE PROPERTY THAT IS THE SUBJECT OF THIS AND CORRECT TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE.
APPLICATION. 1/WE CONSENT TO ENTRY FOR THIS PURPOSE. I
CERTIFY THAT I AM THE LEGAL OWNER AND THAT ALL THE
ABOVE INFORMATION IS TRUE AND CORRECT TO THE BEST OF
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02/10/16 {J,l~ --==_,.~M-?-:-/; £/ f I h ··4 ~ SIGNA=ft1 --~---DATE SIGNATURE DATE
APPLICANT'S REPRESENTATIVE (Print):
MAILING ADDRESS:
CITY, STATE, ZIP:
TELEPHONE:
EMAIL ADDRESS:
I CERTIFY THAT I AM THE LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE APPLICANT AND THAT ALL THE ABOVE INFORMATION IS TRUE AND
CORRECT TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE.
02/10/16
SIGNATURE DATE
FEE REQUIRED/DATE FEE PAID: ~ LI~LI (Q_
RECEIVED BY: C!.~S~
P-16
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F-otco '5o t "-'
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Revised 09/14
City of Carlsbad
Faraday Center
Faraday Cashiering 001
1604701-2 02/16/2016 149
Tue, Feb 16, 2016 12:26 Pt4
Receipt Ref Nbr: R1604701-2/0040
PERMITS -PERMITS
Tran Ref Nbr: 160470102 0040 0058
Trans/Rcpt#: R0115092
SET #: CD160003
Amount:
Item Subtotal :
Item Total:
ITEM(S) TOTAL:
Check (Chk# 000891)
Total Received:
Have a nice day!
1 @ $720.00
$720.00
$720.00
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$720.00
**************CUSTOMER COPY*************
STEVEN P. GRANT
LARRY TUCKER
GRANT TUCKER PROPERTIES, LLC
February 10, 2016
Van Lynch
Principal Planner
City of Carlsbad
1635 Faraday Avenue
Carlsbad, CA 92008
Re: CT 97-09; PC Resolution No. 6065 (superseding PC Resolution No. 4311)
Dear Van,
Grant Tucker Properties owns Lots 3-7 of La Costa Plaza, located at the northeast corner of El
Camino Real and La Costa Avenue. Lots 3-7 constitute all of the shop space in La Costa Plaza.
Attached to this letter is an Application for a Consistency Determination by the Planning
Director for our proposal to eliminate the restriction on the amount of restaurant space allowed
in La Costa Plaza, or at the very least, increase the allowed amount of restaurant square footage
in La Costa Plaza from 15,000 square feet to 16,000 square feet, based upon the following facts
and circumstances.
On June 17, 1998, the Planning Commission approved Planning Commission Resolution No. 4311
allowing for the development of La Costa Plaza. Condition No. 12 to Resolution No. 4311 states:
"To minimize impacts to the amount of available parking in the project, exercise/fitness center
and house of worship type land uses shall be prohibited in the shopping center, exclusive of Lot
No 8. In addition, the amount of restaurant square footage in the shopping center shall be
restricted to 11,000 square feet."
On April19, 2006, the Planning Commission approved Planning Commission Resolution No.
6065 which replaced Condition No. 12 of Resolution No. 4311 with Condition No.7 of Resolution
No. 6065. Condition No.7 was identical to Condition No. 12 except the number 15,000 square
feet appeared in the place of 11,000 square feet. As you will recall, Resolution No. 6065 was
adopted by the Planning Commission in connection with the addition of a 4,000 square foot of
shop building on Lot 7 of La Costa Plaza which had theretofore been shown on the Site Plan as a
parking lot.
At the present time, the Shopping Center has the following food and beverage serving users:
Broken Yolk Cafe (3,900 s.f.), Bruegger's Bagels (1,620 s.f.), Starbucks (1,500 s.f.), Thai Pasta
(1,380 s.f.), Rudy's Tacos (1,250 s.f.), Flippin Pizza (1,250 s.f.) and Golden Spoon (1,200 s.f.) or a
total of 12,100 s.f. We expect that someday the H&R Block space will become a restaurant
(1,500 s.f.) and we are in the process of downsizing the Opus Bank space from 4,800 s.f. to 2,400
s.f. so we will be getting back 2,400 s.f. We have had a great deal of interest in that 2,400 s.f.
from restaurant users, but we are reluctant to lease that space for a restaurant use because
then the H&R Block space would not be allowed to change to a restaurant use by Condition No.
7 (i.e. we would be at 16,000 s.f. of restaurant uses).
One Upper Newport Plaza, P.O. Box 7974, Newport Beach. CA 9265~
(949) 25 I 2040 (949) 752 W:S~5 Fax Email: gtp@ohill.com
I personally was involved in the land use processing of the project in both 1998 and 2006. The
limitation on the amount of restaurant space in La Costa Plaza pursuant to Resolution No. 4311
had no scientific basis, but rather was an attempt by staff to ensure that parking in La Costa
Plaza would not be an issue in the future. Staff was concerned about large scale restaurant
users with bar businesses conflicting with late afternoon-early evening patrons of Albertson's
leaving a shortage of parking spaces. The reality is that at no time has there ever been a
problem with an insufficient number of parking spaces in the shopping center.
We would also like to note that subsequent to the 1998 approval of PC Resolution No. 4311, the
City added a new Chapter to the Carlsbad Municipal Code that created the C-L Local Shopping
Center Zone. La Costa Plaza has been put in the C-L Zone because the characteristics of the
Center are consistent with the types of uses the City expects to find in a C-L Zoned property.
Section 21.31.020 of the Municipal Code reads in part that: "A local shopping center provides
daily necessities and convenience goods and services needed by the neighborhood in which it is
located." A local shopping center is to be "planned, developed, owned and managed as an
operating unit related in its location, size, and type of shops to the trade area that it serves and
with on-site parking in definite relationship to the types and total size of the stores." La Costa
Plaza is anchored by a supermarket and is decidedly local serving in nature. In addition to
restaurant space, it has local serving uses such as a veterinary practice, a cleaners, a nail salon, a
Postal Annex, a Supercuts, a bank, an H & R Block and a gas station ..
The types of restaurant uses that populate La Costa Plaza vary, but are local in flavor. Starbucks
and Broken Yolk Cafe are busiest in the mornings. Bruegger's Bagels is likewise busy in the
mornings, but also does lunch business as does Broken Yolk. Neither Broken Yolk or Bruegger's
are open for dinner. Thai Pasta is open for lunch and dinner. Golden Spoon is busiest after
school and after dinner. Rudy's Tacos and Flippin Pizza have good lunch and dinner businesses,
but some of the Flippin Pizza business is delivery and Rudy's does take out business as well.
There are no restaurants with big, or even small bar businesses. With the possible exception of
Broken Yolk on Saturday and Sunday mornings (when many of our other tenants are closed),
there are no unique uses or foods that attract customers from outside the neighborhood as they
are uses and foods that are found everywhere in the City.
As you can see, the type of restaurant uses that became tenants in La Costa Plaza could not have
been envisioned by staff when it imposed the limitations on the square footage of restaurant
uses in the Center in 1998. They made their best guess, and quite frankly, it did not seem
unreasonable at the time. But to my knowledge, no complaint has ever been made about a lack
of parking spaces in the Center. Staff's practice is to pass along complaints to the ownership
when they become apparent and I have not heard from you or anyone else about a parking
problem at the Center. And while Haggen did not flourished this past year, before Haggen took
over in March, 2015, the Center was fully leased and Albertson's did very good volume out of
the store. While finding a prime parking space near Starbucks or Broken Yolk on a Saturday
morning is sometimes a little bit of a challenge, finding parking spaces in the Center has never
been an issue. It should also be noted that there is nothing in the C-L Zone that I could find that
allows the City to restrict the amount of restaurant space allowed in that Zone, unlike Notes 2
and 3 to Table A (Uses Permitted in the C-L Zone) in Section 21.31.030 which restricts the
amount of office and educational facilities allowed.
Finally, we believe all of the findings for a Consistency Determination can be made since there
are no changes proposed to the La Costa Plaza Site Plan. The only change that is proposed is to
eliminate the restriction on the amount of square footage of restaurant space in Ia Costa Plaza,
or alternatively, to at least change the number that is currently 15,000 square feet to read
instead 16,000 square feet in Condition 7 of Planning Commission Resolution No. 6065.
Very truly yours,
Grant Tucker Properties,
A California limited liability company
By: -~----+-,1-+~---------
Larry Tucker, Member
Cc: Steven P. Grant