February 13, 2025 Planning Commission - City of Rancho Mirage

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AI transcript text.

[00:00:10] hello and good afternoon
[00:00:13] everyone it is uh 2 o' and I'm calling
[00:00:17] to order the Planning Commission meeting
[00:00:19] Thursday February
[00:00:21] 13th uh 2025 U please stand and uh
[00:00:25] follow do the flag salute
[00:00:30] after me I pledge Al to the flag of the
[00:00:33] United States of America and to the rep
[00:00:37] it stands one nation God
[00:00:42] indivisible jice
[00:00:49] for thank
[00:00:51] you so we'll go ahead and move on to a
[00:00:53] roll
[00:00:54] call commissioner
[00:00:57] Bryant present commissioner Curran
[00:01:00] present commissioner gray present Vice
[00:01:03] chair chanter and chair agustini present
[00:01:06] and we have a quorum and then if we can
[00:01:08] get a motion to excuse Vice chair
[00:01:10] chanter is so move I
[00:01:19] second motion carries 4
[00:01:22] Z thank you uh okay so I'll open it up
[00:01:25] now to commissioner comments I'll start
[00:01:27] to my left commissioner Kieran thank you
[00:01:30] I don't have any comments today thank
[00:01:32] you moving on to commissioner
[00:01:35] gray uh good afternoon everybody just
[00:01:39] like to note that it's raining which we
[00:01:41] desperately need so I'm enjoying that
[00:01:44] thank you um and then I'll make again I
[00:01:47] just want to welcome Council and
[00:01:49] everybody here today and I'll move on to
[00:01:51] uh commissioner
[00:01:54] Bryant thank you Jason I don't know if
[00:01:57] everyone saw a couple weeks ago or maybe
[00:02:00] a week ago there was an article in the
[00:02:02] Desert Sun about uh affordable housing
[00:02:05] kind of a recap of all the things going
[00:02:07] on in the desert and so it reminded me
[00:02:10] of all the hard work this city has done
[00:02:12] to enable affordable housing and we have
[00:02:17] uh actually three projects that are
[00:02:20] underway now in various stages of
[00:02:22] development um uh the uh katano project
[00:02:28] over on uh near the High School the Via
[00:02:31] Veil I call it the dog park land and
[00:02:34] then Peterson and that represents about
[00:02:39] 445 uh affordable housing units uh out
[00:02:43] of uh our city our mandat or quota if
[00:02:46] you will from the state is 1,700 in
[00:02:49] change and the city has actually set
[00:02:52] aside land for about 2400 in change so
[00:02:57] um it's great to see those things going
[00:02:59] not not only uh in the other cities but
[00:03:02] obviously here um and I'm looking
[00:03:04] forward to those coming online and uh
[00:03:07] people moving in that's it thank you
[00:03:11] thank you commissioner uh so now I'll
[00:03:13] open it up to non-agenda public
[00:03:17] comments and I did not receive any
[00:03:19] speaker cards so Now's the Time where
[00:03:20] anyone can speak on anything that is not
[00:03:23] on today's agenda is there anyone who
[00:03:24] would like to speak no speakers thank
[00:03:28] you uh move moving on to approval of the
[00:03:33] minutes I'll go ahead and move to
[00:03:35] approve the January 9th
[00:03:39] minutes I'll second
[00:03:42] that
[00:03:47] vote motion carries 4
[00:03:50] Z thank you uh so moving on to today's
[00:03:53] public hearing um Vista Amara single
[00:03:56] family permit case number
[00:04:00] sfp2
[00:04:02] 4-7 and minor conditional use permit
[00:04:05] case number cup
[00:04:11] 24-3 we'll give it a second um chair
[00:04:14] augustini for the presentation to pop up
[00:04:16] here okay uh good afternoon uh planning
[00:04:19] Commissioners um the Vista Amara project
[00:04:22] site is located approximately 1,350 ft
[00:04:25] south from the intersection of Franko
[00:04:27] drive and Vista Dunes Road located on
[00:04:30] the east side of vistad Dunes Road on an
[00:04:32] 8.8 acre project site the project uh
[00:04:35] site consists of multiple Parcels that
[00:04:37] will be required to be merged for the
[00:04:39] conditions of
[00:04:40] approval uh the applicant requests
[00:04:42] approval of a
[00:04:44] 16,652 one-story single family residence
[00:04:48] with a
[00:04:50] 3,992 ft garage sl/ accessory use
[00:04:54] building and a 1,200 um squ ft accessory
[00:04:58] dwelling unit with a car Port it also
[00:05:01] includes an
[00:05:02] 825t Beach Bar and two sports courts
[00:05:06] with 27 Square ft² for enclosed Sports
[00:05:09] courts area the custom residents will
[00:05:12] total two
[00:05:14] 22849
[00:05:16] ft uh the residence has a modern design
[00:05:19] with inviting open views to the
[00:05:21] mountains and surrounding
[00:05:22] Landscaping uh the full height double
[00:05:24] glazing large roof overhangs and other
[00:05:27] energy efficient design features
[00:05:28] complement the floating roof that is
[00:05:30] integral to the design presence and open
[00:05:32] feeling of the custom residence uh the
[00:05:35] residence will consist of nine bedrooms
[00:05:37] 13 bathrooms a two-car garage and
[00:05:40] contain other amenities uh the exterior
[00:05:42] of the home will consist of a
[00:05:43] combination of Crystal white and black
[00:05:45] stucco in a matte finish with natural
[00:05:48] stone tile
[00:05:50] accents uh these are renderings of the
[00:05:52] residents uh garage accessory dwelling
[00:05:55] unit and sports courts that will utilize
[00:05:57] the same colors and materials as the the
[00:05:59] main
[00:06:01] home uh the outdoor living space is
[00:06:03] lushly planted with desert themed
[00:06:05] landscaping and Bermuda grass which
[00:06:08] accounts for 9% of the lot area in
[00:06:10] compliance with uh the municipal code
[00:06:13] large trees like desert uh Museum poo
[00:06:15] Verde tipu and a variety of others are
[00:06:17] richly planted within the interior and
[00:06:20] perimeter of the project site along
[00:06:22] Vista Dunes Road a combination of 36in
[00:06:26] box as cascalote trees and 6 15 foot to
[00:06:30] 20 foot date Pals in between the trees
[00:06:33] will enhance the streetcape additional
[00:06:35] recreational amenities include two pool
[00:06:37] areas with a lazy river a Beach area and
[00:06:40] a water slide attached to the
[00:06:43] residence as part of the conditional use
[00:06:45] permit request two sports courts are
[00:06:47] proposed U for tennis and pickle ball uh
[00:06:50] with shade structures and freestanding
[00:06:52] lighting uh which is shown in Blue uh
[00:06:55] the freestanding lighting will have a
[00:06:56] maximum height of 18 ft from the quarts
[00:06:59] Rec surface uh those Sports courts are
[00:07:02] recessed a minimum of 4 feet and they
[00:07:05] are set back a minimum of 29 ft to the
[00:07:07] nearest residential property to the
[00:07:09] South uh with the light fixtures being
[00:07:11] further set back a minimum of 50 ft the
[00:07:14] proposed Sports courts meet all
[00:07:15] applicable U development standards and
[00:07:18] lighting will be contained within the
[00:07:19] subject
[00:07:20] property um staff is recommending uh the
[00:07:23] following revisions uh to the conditions
[00:07:25] of approval which include additions to
[00:07:28] condition of approval number number one
[00:07:30] which are shown and bold and underline
[00:07:32] to clarify that the applicant can apply
[00:07:34] for a Time extension and then staff has
[00:07:37] also recommending removal of condition
[00:07:39] of approval number 13 since it does not
[00:07:41] apply to this
[00:07:44] project um staff has not received any
[00:07:46] public comments and at this time staff
[00:07:48] recommends that the Planning Commission
[00:07:50] one approve the filing of a notice of
[00:07:52] exemption pursuant to the California
[00:07:54] Environmental Quality act sea section
[00:07:57] 15303 of class three for new
[00:07:59] construction ction two approve single
[00:08:01] family permit case number SFP
[00:08:05] 24-7 and three approve minor conditional
[00:08:08] use permit case number cup
[00:08:11] 24-3 subject to the revised conditions
[00:08:14] of approval and based on the content and
[00:08:16] findings in the staff report that
[00:08:18] concludes staff's presentation and uh
[00:08:20] staff and the applicant are here to
[00:08:21] answer any questions thank
[00:08:24] you thank you
[00:08:27] Ben so
[00:08:30] so I'll go go ahead and open it up to uh
[00:08:32] commission or public comments yes I did
[00:08:36] not receive any speaker cards is there
[00:08:37] anyone who would like to provide public
[00:08:39] testimony on this public hearing
[00:08:41] item no speakers and moving on to
[00:08:45] commissioner comments I have one
[00:08:47] question Ben if you could bring up this
[00:08:52] slide let me let me pull it up here
[00:09:00] this one this one
[00:09:02] here H the one that shows oh okay that
[00:09:06] one yeah so you it mentioned the the
[00:09:09] Slide attached to the to the residents
[00:09:11] or dwelling is is that the slide into
[00:09:13] the pool this yes this light would go
[00:09:16] directly into the pool but it's attached
[00:09:18] via the roof overhang of the residence
[00:09:20] there and the stairway to get into um
[00:09:22] there's an internal stairway that um
[00:09:25] circles around here um to access the the
[00:09:28] slide
[00:09:33] um I don't have any other comments I'll
[00:09:34] move it on commissioner
[00:09:37] kran no it's a beautiful property
[00:09:39] everything's compliant the only thing I
[00:09:41] question I would ask is are they is
[00:09:43] everyone involved with know that they
[00:09:44] can't use this as an event space to
[00:09:46] generate
[00:09:47] Revenue because it is a very large
[00:09:50] SP it is in our single family
[00:09:52] residential Zone okay just want make
[00:09:54] sure everybody's aware of that that's
[00:09:55] all I
[00:09:57] have great gray sorry
[00:10:01] uh the property does seem a little bit
[00:10:04] modest by Rancher Mirage
[00:10:07] standards but other than that I have no
[00:10:10] comments commissioner
[00:10:14] Bryant well um due to the scale and
[00:10:18] complexity of this I was trying to think
[00:10:21] where do I start with my introduction
[00:10:23] and so I uh I think most of you know
[00:10:26] David is a an attorney and of course Eve
[00:10:30] is an attorney and you know that uh
[00:10:33] they're known for uh using as few words
[00:10:38] as possible both in writing and when
[00:10:40] they're in a trial situation and David's
[00:10:43] been trying to coach me on that given uh
[00:10:47] some of his side comments when nobody
[00:10:49] could hear about my lengthy uh comments
[00:10:53] so I work hard to reduce my introduction
[00:10:56] about this
[00:10:58] project and so here I go breathtaking
[00:11:02] exclamation point period I'm
[00:11:07] [Applause]
[00:11:09] done well said I app I do I do have a
[00:11:12] few more things so that that was that
[00:11:15] was just the introduction um so uh at
[00:11:18] least in recent memory the only other
[00:11:20] house I can remember in the desert is uh
[00:11:23] at the big horn at the Canyons on that
[00:11:25] side up on top of the hill that massive
[00:11:27] house with the shark tanks and all that
[00:11:30] sort of thing um along with the uh the
[00:11:34] Chanty residence I think it is just on
[00:11:36] the north side of this where there's
[00:11:37] going to be believe three homes for a
[00:11:39] family
[00:11:40] compound um uh this is clearly uh
[00:11:45] completing uh Visa Dunes as a premier
[00:11:48] residential area both in Rancho mrage
[00:11:52] the desert and almost anywhere and I
[00:11:55] hope it's also u a Harbinger for uh
[00:11:59] Vista Del Soul which everybody knows
[00:12:02] that it's one of my favorite areas and
[00:12:04] it should develop like Vista Dunes with
[00:12:07] the U the uh the zoning of the large
[00:12:10] estate lots and so on and so it reminds
[00:12:13] me of the care we have to use in every
[00:12:17] project that uh comes before the
[00:12:18] Planning Commission that if we recommend
[00:12:21] to the city council uh to approve uh and
[00:12:25] I believe Vista Delo will eventually be
[00:12:27] like Vista Dunes and uh they'll just be
[00:12:31] amazing uh residential areas in the city
[00:12:34] uh and of course on the other end as I
[00:12:36] said earlier uh we need affordable
[00:12:39] housing and the city is doing everything
[00:12:42] it can to promote affordable housing
[00:12:44] along with the very high-end homes that
[00:12:46] are being
[00:12:47] developed um and Ben thank you uh for
[00:12:50] Tuesday for spending a lot of time with
[00:12:52] me on this some questions would you
[00:12:54] bring up uh the conditions please the
[00:12:58] list of conditions
[00:13:00] um I don't have access to the conditions
[00:13:02] of the presentation here okay all right
[00:13:04] that's all right I'll I'll just
[00:13:06] verbalize it commissioner Bry you can
[00:13:08] also note the page number that you're
[00:13:09] referring to and we can point to the
[00:13:11] packet
[00:13:13] um um I'll just uh talk about the the
[00:13:16] ones there were actually just two
[00:13:18] conditions um uh the first one was it it
[00:13:22] gave the U uh the applicant a year to
[00:13:26] get all the engineering and so on plans
[00:13:29] um and given the scale and complexity of
[00:13:32] this and it said if they didn't have
[00:13:34] them by a year uh all the the approvals
[00:13:37] would expire and I'm wondering that that
[00:13:40] seems in case there if they're
[00:13:41] diligently pursuing everything doing
[00:13:43] what they're supposed to do and the
[00:13:46] water district throws them A Wrinkle or
[00:13:48] something are we able to extend that and
[00:13:52] then if we can pull up the presentation
[00:13:53] I actually had that condition um
[00:13:55] highlighted in the
[00:13:58] presentation so it's this condition of
[00:14:00] approval number one so staff's
[00:14:01] recommending to add uh the text uh
[00:14:04] folded and uh underlined to just clarify
[00:14:06] that they can apply for a one-year time
[00:14:07] extension okay all right so that's been
[00:14:10] added since our conversation on Tuesday
[00:14:12] yes St staff's recommending to um add
[00:14:14] this condition okay great that satisfies
[00:14:16] that one and the other one was uh
[00:14:18] condition
[00:14:19] 13 uh it basically said in simple
[00:14:22] language that along the rear wall the
[00:14:25] planning can't be more than six inches
[00:14:27] above the six foot wall so that would
[00:14:29] mean a tree not more than 6' 6 in which
[00:14:33] is obviously not what we want we want
[00:14:35] and on the plan obviously there's date
[00:14:37] palms and so on we want 20 30 foot tall
[00:14:40] trees along there uh both to um mute the
[00:14:44] noise from the traffic as well as the
[00:14:47] Aesthetics and everything else uh so I'm
[00:14:50] assuming that's some sort of standard
[00:14:53] condition and does that really apply
[00:14:56] does doesn't really apply to this
[00:14:58] development no so after reviewing that
[00:15:00] condition um since that condition
[00:15:02] doesn't apply just one of the standard
[00:15:04] conditions staff's recommending to
[00:15:05] remove it as well too is shown on the
[00:15:07] slide okay all right thank you uh would
[00:15:11] you bring up the landscape plan
[00:15:14] please yes let me pull it up
[00:15:16] here
[00:15:19] okay all right um almost always ask for
[00:15:23] more trees that is required by the city
[00:15:27] and everything that comes before us so
[00:15:29] this is the first one that I'm not going
[00:15:31] to ask for more trees and shrub uh the
[00:15:35] uh uh the Landscaping is uh really
[00:15:39] stunning with the different sections of
[00:15:41] Gardens and type of trees and so on um
[00:15:46] uh the uh with
[00:15:50] uh I guess they call them Garden zones
[00:15:53] you know very unique and so on um and
[00:15:57] one of the things that uh
[00:16:00] I did ask you and the AR landscape
[00:16:02] architect did respond was
[00:16:07] uh the type of trees and shrubs would
[00:16:10] they attract hummingbirds and would they
[00:16:13] attract honeybees and there was a a long
[00:16:17] response to that that many of the types
[00:16:19] of trees and so on that they have here
[00:16:21] will attract uh uh the honeybees birds
[00:16:26] hawks and all that sort of thing which
[00:16:28] is
[00:16:29] uh I think going to make the Living
[00:16:30] Desert Reserve uh very uh happy to see
[00:16:35] uh the enhancement to the natural
[00:16:37] environment that are taking place here
[00:16:40] um in our Commercial
[00:16:43] Code and mind I know you're dying to
[00:16:46] hear this one in our Commercial Code we
[00:16:48] have uh a rule there are no Cactus
[00:16:51] thorny plants within three- foot of a
[00:16:53] pedestrian walkway does not apply to
[00:16:55] residential areas but with the extensive
[00:16:59] uh walking uh jogging trails they have
[00:17:02] in here U I would hope that they're
[00:17:05] careful they don't want one of their
[00:17:07] guests to uh fall into a cactus plant so
[00:17:11] they would uh all they're not required
[00:17:13] would uh be cognizant of
[00:17:16] that um the next question are all I
[00:17:20] assume all the utilities are on the
[00:17:21] street everything is
[00:17:23] there yes the utilities are
[00:17:26] there um is there
[00:17:29] uh because of the the amount of water
[00:17:32] this is going to
[00:17:33] take um is there a well on this
[00:17:38] site I'm not aware of a well um being
[00:17:41] located on the site uh but U I would
[00:17:43] defer to the applicant if they have a
[00:17:45] other knowledge about
[00:17:47] that or go ahead
[00:17:52] and there's no well on the site and we
[00:17:54] wouldn't plan to put one so it all be
[00:17:56] supplied by the Water District yeah and
[00:17:58] it it would would meet all the uh the ma
[00:18:01] requirements for water use and things
[00:18:02] like that on site we've checked the
[00:18:03] plant materials and the water features
[00:18:05] and all that and do they have um uh just
[00:18:08] one meter coming into the site uh be
[00:18:12] coming and is that do they have the size
[00:18:15] to do that or do they have multiple
[00:18:18] lines coming in to supply the water they
[00:18:21] need for the site uh well they would
[00:18:24] have to Loop the system um we haven't
[00:18:26] got into the metering yet but I would
[00:18:28] expect it would be one simply because
[00:18:30] there's only going to be one family on
[00:18:32] the site and unless they need it for
[00:18:33] multiple buildings they wouldn't be
[00:18:34] doing that I don't think okay okay but
[00:18:37] in any case there's sufficient utilities
[00:18:41] of everything to supply this yes in fact
[00:18:44] I don't know if you saw the one of the
[00:18:46] exhibits showed the culdesac that
[00:18:47] currently goes into the project I'm
[00:18:49] sorry I didn't there's a culdesac
[00:18:51] there's three subdivided Lots in a
[00:18:53] culdesac within the property right now
[00:18:54] we're going to have to remove that
[00:18:55] street and there's Utilities in that
[00:18:57] street have to be demolished and removed
[00:18:59] as far as utility easements and things
[00:19:01] like that so it's it's all right there
[00:19:03] those for servicing the house
[00:19:06] okay um that's it I look forward to this
[00:19:09] development moving ahead uh I only see
[00:19:12] uh only foresee one problem that you may
[00:19:14] have to deal with um you're going to be
[00:19:17] inundated by photo shoots architectural
[00:19:20] digest and all kind of magazines wanting
[00:19:22] to do and so you may have to get a
[00:19:24] permit for to hold the events there
[00:19:27] there could be worse problems
[00:19:30] have uh thank you
[00:19:33] thanks thank you
[00:19:36] commission all
[00:19:38] righty uh
[00:19:42] so I'll open it up to a
[00:19:48] motion I'd like to make a motion that
[00:19:50] the Planning Commission approve the
[00:19:51] filing of a notice of exemption pursuant
[00:19:54] to the California Environmental Quality
[00:19:57] act squa section
[00:19:59] 15303 parens class 3- new construction
[00:20:03] close pens to approv S single family
[00:20:06] permit case number SFP
[00:20:11] 24-7 and three approve minor conditional
[00:20:14] use permit case number cup
[00:20:17] 24-
[00:20:18] 00003 subject to the revised conditions
[00:20:21] of approval and based on the content and
[00:20:24] findings in the staff report
[00:20:29] I'll second
[00:20:31] that let's
[00:20:35] vote motion carries 4
[00:20:39] Z so that concludes today's uh Planning
[00:20:43] Commission meeting is 220 and I want to
[00:20:45] thank everyone for your attendance