Board of Adjustment Meeting Tue, Mar 4, 2025 · Board of Adjustment https://santafeminutes.space/meeting/610 == Executive Summary == The Board of Adjustment held a meeting focused primarily on a special use permit application from Grace Community Church to construct a new 5,800 square foot, single-story community building on Camino Carlos Ray. The proposed building would be used for weddings, meetings, memorial services, and community events, operating between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m., mainly on weekends. The building is designed in Santa Fe style, stays within the 24-foot height limit, and includes 73 parking spaces, bicycle parking, water-harvesting landscaping, and automated security gates. The board and public worked through several detailed concerns during the meeting, including outdoor lighting impacts on neighboring residents, stormwater and trash management during high-attendance events, easement access for neighbors along Los Cedros Lane, and potential unauthorized access through unfenced gaps at the rear of the property. A longtime neighbor, Ralph Nava, spoke in support of the project while raising questions about easement boundaries and requesting that construction access to his property be protected. Conditions were added requiring outdoor lights to be shielded from neighboring homes and directional signage to be added for parking flow. The board ultimately approved the special use permit unanimously, subject to staff-recommended conditions. The meeting also included routine administrative business: approving and correcting prior meeting minutes, postponing findings of fact for a separate case due to insufficient preparation time, and appointing Member Daring as Vice Chair and Member Painter as Secretary to fill vacant leadership positions. == Key Decisions == - Special use permit approved unanimously for Grace Community Church to construct a new 5,800 sq ft community building on Camino Carlos Ray, subject to staff-recommended conditions in Attachments A and B - Condition added requiring outdoor lights to be shielded to prevent nuisance glare to neighboring residential properties - Separate water metering approved for the landscaping sprinkler system - Findings of fact and conclusions of law for Case 2022-D-149 postponed due to insufficient preparation time - January 7, 2025 meeting minutes approved with corrections to voting records and meeting identification - January 7, 2025 site visit minutes approved with noted corrections - Meeting agenda approved unanimously - Member Daring appointed as Vice Chair - Member Painter appointed as Secretary == Motions & Votes == - Special use permit for Grace Community Church (Case 2024-9-316-2247) approved subject to staff-recommended conditions including nuisance lighting shields — Passed unanimously - Outdoor lighting condition requiring shields to protect neighboring residents approved — Passed - Agenda approved — Passed unanimously - January 7, 2025 site visit minutes approved with corrections — Passed - January 7, 2025 meeting minutes approved as amended — Passed - Member Daring appointed as Vice Chair — Passed unanimously - Member Painter appointed as Secretary — Passed unanimously == Public Comment == Ralph Nava, a neighbor at 303 Cosa with a 40-year relationship with the church, spoke in support of the project but raised concerns about the extent of the easement as shown on the property plat and requested that his construction access be protected during the building process. A separate commenter described how property access patterns vary depending on whether church services are in session and which gates are open, and raised concern about the potential for head-on collisions when exiting the south side during active church services. Board members also raised concerns during discussion about teenagers potentially accessing the rear of the property through unfenced gaps, and one board member expressed a preference for street trees along the front facade of the new building. == Topics == - Grace Community Church Special Use Permit - New Building Construction Plans - Parking and Traffic Flow - Landscaping and Water Harvesting - Nuisance Lighting Conditions - Fire Safety and Utilities - Public Testimony on Easement Access - Minutes Approval and Corrections - Board Officer Appointments - Board Vacancies and Recruitment - Findings of Fact Postponement - Meeting Procedures and Quorum == Full Transcript == Chair: Everyone ready to roll? Dan? Dan: Okay, yeah. Chair Freedom, and we're just waiting for our City Attorney as well. So let me just reach out, make sure. Thank you very much. Just let us know when we're streaming to YouTube. Staff: We are streaming on YouTube. Chair: Okay, if everyone's ready, let's call the meeting to order. Could we do a roll call, please? Staff: Right. Board Member Fredman? Board Member Fredman: Present. Staff: Board Member Dennis IP? Board Member Dennis IP: Present. Staff: Board Member Fine? Board Member Fine: Here. Yes. Staff: Board Member Douglas? Board Member Douglas: Present. Staff: Board Member Painter? Board Member Painter: Present. Staff: Board Member Alexander? Board Member Alexander: Present. Staff: Board Member Daring? Board Member Daring: Present. Chair: Okay, so we have quorum. If everyone would rise for the Pledge of Allegiance, and Denise, would you lead us? (Pledge of Allegiance) Chair: Thank you, folks. First of all, welcome to this evening's Board of Adjustment meeting. Could I have a motion from the board to approve the agenda, please? Board Member: Thank you. A second, please. Chair: Thank you. All those in favor? I. Any opposed? The eyes have it. And a motion to approve the minutes of the January 7th, 2025 site visit? Board Member: Motion. Chair: Sure. Okay, motion to approve. Let's have discussion. There were a couple of things missing. I believe there's no date. I believe no identification of what meeting it was. Are these the ones I got on there? Then under new business, I think it says "site visit." Oh, "site visit" should have been "site visit." I believe. I think that's okay with those corrections. Into your motion, could I have a second? Board Member: Second. Chair: All those in favor? I. Thank you. And likewise, a motion to approve the January 7th, 2025 Board of Adjustment meeting. Board Member: Thank you, Dan. Board Member: Second. Chair: Thank you, gentlemen. All those in favor? I. Discussion first. I think again there was no identification which meeting minutes was for. It said under approval of agenda "approved by a vote of five to zero," but I think only four members were present. So I thought that's what I looked at it. Mr. Chair: Those are my errors. I'll have to correct them so that we can get those done. Chair: Thank you for pointing those out. The only other thing was there's no mention of who made the motion. I was just going to say that I think Member IP stepped out after we called quorum, so I think that she was, so I think we were five. Board Member: That's right. That's correct. Chair: Okay, very well. So approval of findings of fact and conclusions of law for case 2022-D-149. I didn't see those in the packet. Did I just miss that, Mr. Chair? Staff: We're going to have to postpone those until next meeting. Chair: Okay, just didn't have enough time to get those done. All right, okay, so that's duly noted. Chair? Board Member: Yes. I might be going back under new business for case 2022-6149-5318. Communo Deos Marquez Zumies said all four members voted for it, but I believe I voted no. Chair: That's correct. Sorry I didn't get that earlier. Board Member: No, quite all right. Okay. Can we just do the old business after the new business, or is there any? Let's do okay. Any old business? Chair: Yes. Pardon? Board Member: Okay, so let's. I thought that your motion incorporated your comments, but you mentioned you had your comments to that after we voted on the minutes. So let's revote. Okay, make a motion to approve as amended. Board Member: Second. Chair: Do we have a second? Okay. All those in favor? I. Thank you very much. Okay, old business. There not. Okay, anyone have any old business? And let's go on to new business. Case number 2024-9-316-2247, Camino Carlos Ray, Grace Community Church. Welcome, folks who are here. Could we have first a staff report from Claudia? Claudia, welcome. Claudia: Evening, members. Board members, I just wanted to introduce myself. I recently relocated here to Santa Fe with my family. We relocated here at the end of last year, and I've been a senior planner with the city since October. We moved here from Southern California. I'm a licensed landscape architect in California. I worked for the SWA Group in Solano and Laguna Beach, and then I worked with a landscape architect in Long Beach, and then again in Laguna Beach, mostly working for celebrity clients. Chair: Thank you. Well, welcome to Santa Fe, and thank you for joining the city. Claudia: Thank you, Chair. Chair: Michael, can we get the presentation projected onto the screen? Thank you. Claudia: This is case number 2024-9-316-2247, Camino Carlos Ray, Grace Community Church special use permit. The agent is Plan A Architecture. The applicant is Grace Community Church. Case planner is Claudia Cath. I thought it might be helpful to just review what a special use permit is. In Chapter 14, special use permits are intended to allow flexibility in providing for, regulating, or preventing specified uses within various districts as provided in Table 4-6.1-D1. They are compatible with existing or desired land use patterns. Special use permit approval is required for certain uses so that potential detrimental effects may be reduced or avoided and conflicts in land use may be prevented. Special use permits are necessary because of the wide variety of uses that are allowed within zone districts and because of the variety of existing sites and uses found in the community. The location of Grace Community Church is a legal lot of record. It's 1.5 acres in size, zoned R-5, and situated within the Suburban Archaeological Review District. This site is Lot Number Seven of the Los Cedros Subdivision and is approximately one-quarter of a mile south of Singo Road. I just want to get the pointer up here. So here is Singo Road. Here's the church site. Here's a closer view of the church site. The church was constructed in the 1970s and added on to during the 1980s. It is a legal non-conforming structure. The Laila Condominiums are located to the north of the site, which is here, and single-family residences are to the south and the west. These are aerial photos of the existing site conditions where you have a wall to the north and a wall to the east, fence to the south, and then Camino Carlos Ray to the west. The asphalt is basically around the front of the church. There's gravel in the back, and there's a fenced-in playground behind the existing church, and then this is open dirt back here and there's an access point to Los Cedros Lane. In the proposed site plan, the applicant is seeking to build a new 5,800 square foot, single-story, 24-foot-high structure, which is right here, and it is adjacent to the existing 5,500 square foot church edifice. The purpose of the new building is to hold special functions such as weddings, meetings, memorial services, and baby showers. The new building will be located right behind the existing church with a courtyard between the two. The new building will be used by the church and community primarily on weekends. The building hours of operation will primarily be about 8:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. The applicant must comply with Municipal Code 10-2.5 for zone district noise levels. For parking, the applicant is proposing a total of 73 new parking spaces. Seventy-two are required. There's a chart in the staff report that shows the breakdown of the parking. The new parking will include six accessible spaces, one of which will be for a van. There is one space per four seats required for the existing church and the proposed assembly building. Then there will be one location for bicycle parking. According to the code, there are 10 bicycle spaces required. The applicant is proposing two ribbon bike racks that each hold seven bicycles for a total of 14 proposed bicycle parking spaces. The racks are the RB5 ribbon rack, which complies with Chapter 14, Appendix D. For traffic, the applicant is actually changing the traffic flow pattern. Right now, cars enter at the southernmost entrance, but in the new scheme, the cars will be entering at the north entrance. Roughly, this will be the flow of traffic, and cars will be exiting at the southernmost exit. There will be a gate here and a gate here that will close after 10:00 p.m. For emergency access, there will be a keypad, a Knox box, and an Opticom device. There's an existing bus stop right here. So the applicant is providing, installing, and constructing a new sidewalk that will link along Camino Carlos Ray, and there will be ADA access from the sidewalk that will lead to the existing front doors of the church. Then there will also be ADA access all the way around the church. These are the proposed utilities. Basically, the applicant is extending existing utilities to the site. You can see with the dashed blue and orange lines those are the existing water line and sanitary sewer in Camino Carlos Ray. The yellow is sewer, and the orange line will be extended to the new building. Blue is 8-inch water lines. There's a separate meter for the irrigation that will extend to the new building. Trash receptacles will be stored in the new garage structure and just wheeled out to the curb and picked up with the regular trash in the neighborhood. There's one existing fire hydrant here across the street on Camino Carlos Ray. The existing church is not sprinklered, but it is within 400 feet of the fire hydrant, which is acceptable to the Fire Marshal. The new structure will be sprinklered. The landscape occupies approximately 20% of the site, and there are water harvesting designs incorporated into the site. There's a retention area here on the north and also one on the south, and then the back portion of the parking lot is permeable paving. The applicant has selected low to medium water use trees and shrubs to be planted at the perimeter of the site and in the retention ponds and in the parking lot islands to reduce heat, dust, glare, and mitigate views of cars on the site, which complies with Chapter 14. The applicant complies with the quantity of 10 square feet of landscape to be provided per parking space. The traffic island to the east here is at least 6 feet wide and has over 90 square feet of permeable surface without a curb, and there are less than 20 vehicles parked in a row. Lastly, the existing church is constructed in the Santa Fe style, as will be the proposed community building. The new building will align with the surrounding residential neighborhood, featuring a single story that complies with the 24-foot height limit. The applicant's design positions the taller main space centrally with lower massing around the perimeter to match the scale of nearby homes. Natural stone cladding will enhance the lower massing, while the new building creates an enclosed courtyard with the existing church, incorporating the playground. You can see from the structure, the white is the existing church. This is looking at the north elevation, and here's the south elevation. The existing church, the garage, the new proposed building—you can see where it steps down—and also here you can see the stone cladding. On this section, this is looking at the courtyard looking at the new building, and this is looking west, if you're in the parking lot looking back at the new building. Then these two are sections through the building. This is the existing church, and this is the proposed building. This is the courtyard here, and then this is the section the other way through the new building, where this would be the north side and this would be the south side. Then these are several existing site photos. This is the front of the church. This is looking east along the south side of the church. This is looking at the easement to Los Cedros Lane. This is a closer view of it. Then this is looking at the condominiums to the north, and this is the fence that goes around the playground, and this is looking west towards... # Camino Carlos Ray Development Project This is the north edge of the parking lot and this is a view down Camino Carlos Ray. These are more views showing the bus stop here and there is a hydrant which is located over here. Then this is the view across Camino Carlos Ray from the church. **Chair:** Thank you, Claudia. Are there any questions for Claudia at this point? Be kind—it's our first meeting. This is probably an easy one. On the pictures, it looks like they've abandoned the Cedros Lane exit. Is that correct? **Claudia:** No, it's still there and neighbors can still use it. They will be able to enter in through the parking lot from Camino Carlos Ray and they will even have an access gate code to be able to go in after hours. They can still use the easement. **Board Member:** The easement is for the neighbors or what? I'm not understanding. It looked like it was just a way to get off the back of the lot and it looked like it was enclosed in the pictures. I'd like to direct that question to the applicant. **Claudia:** Okay, we can wait until they present. There was one thing I want to add as a condition: for outdoor lighting, we ask the applicant to be sure to shield any outdoor lights so that there's no nuisance lighting affecting the nearby residents. **Chair:** Thank you very much. I assume the applicant is present. Whoever is going to be speaking on behalf of the applicant, if you could stand and give your name and address and be sworn in. **Applicant:** My name is Reed, 535 Sirius Road. **Chair:** Do you solemnly declare and affirm that the testimony you have in reference to this item shall be the truth and nothing but the truth and do so under the penalties of perjury? **Applicant:** Yes. **Chair:** Applicant has been sworn. Well, thank you, board members. Tonight I'm going to go through a lot of the same things Claudia went through but try to get a little bit more in detail of the build. We had a question on the driveway, which is kind of this corner of the site. It goes all the way back here. I don't know if you can see the tire tracks. This is for power lines that run along this back wall and then down this alleyway. The alley is really a PG&E access easement. They drive their vehicles through here and do maintenance on the poles or the lines that are down there. So that's what the alley is for. Camino Carlos Ray is right here. North is up. It goes down to Rodeo and the Z Road. Our new building is going right in here, as Claudia showed you. The vehicular access still has the two existing curb cuts. We're going to develop that streetscape a little bit. Right now it's just asphalt all the way up to the curb from property line to property line. We'll put in an accessible concrete sidewalk with curb ramps and tactile marker markings for any change of grade that we have there. The existing parking—there's handicap parking there now in the front. That'll have to move because everything's getting shifted once that sidewalk gets in. There's the front of the church. This is where that parking was, on the bus stop. You can see right there. Just as a marker, our new building will probably be about this height on that corner. The peak of the new building is 24 feet. There are a few storage sheds in the back in the playground fenced area. Those are going to be removed so we can build more permanent storage rooms. This is the view along the wall separating the apartments from our lot. This is that grassy area back looking the other side. On the other side, this light pole was there to light the parking lot. Our new lighting will be a lot lower—I think it's only 18 feet. That's probably close to 40 feet on the existing site plan. You said the sheds that are being removed, and in that same line we're going to do our connection to the new build. So this is that storage. These are the storage rooms. This is a covered connection from the existing church building to the new building. The floor plan shows there's an existing kitchen setup in the old church building. They'll be able to set up for any catering that needs to be done in the new building by coming out these double doors into the new building, so it will all be covered. We're going to move the playground area in the new courtyard kind of exactly where it was before but make it a little bit more enclosed with the structures rather than the wood posts. Handicap parking is on this side of the new building with the main entrance facing the east. The existing church has their handicap parking on the north. For the roof, we were proposing to do a shallow pitch metal roof. One of the reasons is a lot of the houses that are to the south of this property—that whole block there—all have pitched roofs. Some are asphalt but a lot of them are metal. So we're kind of using that as a key to tie into the neighborhood. Then again, as Claudia mentioned, the higher portion kind of puts it right in the middle of the site so it's not too close to any of the property lines, and then we have a lower mass and wrap it to bring the scale back. These are the elevations through the courtyard. There's a large window as you walk into the new building and go into the large multi-use events room. There'll be a big window in the center looking into the courtyard. This is how you would approach it from the parking lot. This is the doors inside. The lower mass has some Bible study rooms, some offices, and restrooms. They're all in the lower portion of the existing church. This is our connection with the storage rooms. There are some nice iron gates into the courtyard. Then the lower portion has a stone base. On the other side, this is another thing we kind of took clues off of the existing church where they have kind of a split roof with a clerestory on the south-facing side. So we want to bring light in from above. That's why we kind of split the main room a little bit higher so that we can get some clerestory light. The event space is the main two-story space, and the entry is through the lower volume out to the courtyard. Here's the sprinkler plan just to show that it's sprinklered. For landscaping, with it being a lot of parking because we had to get a certain amount of cars there, we tried to take advantage of any break that we could make in the parking lot to put some vegetation. We've got some retention areas for drainage. The site runs from the back to the street with just a slight slope down, so we're going to have areas to capture some of the water before it flows right out to the street. **Board Member:** I just want to clarify: so the opening at the back on Cedros Lane is specifically for emergency access only? **Applicant:** It's there for utilities. But here's what I'm envisioning: you're getting an event space, you're going to have a wedding on a Saturday night, the wedding is over, everybody leaves, and they get kind of backed up in the parking lot and they start saying, "Oh, this is a good way to leave." I'm just wondering if that's going to happen. **Applicant:** I don't see that happening. It's really narrow and so much easier just to go back out to the main road rather than go on some of the smaller residential roads. It takes a while to connect back on. **Board Member:** Okay, thank you. That's all I had. **Board Member:** Yes, me. Follow up on that: is there a gate on your property for that easement, whatever it is out there at the back? **Applicant:** Not at the back. What the church has is some gates just to block off the back area because, as you can see by this photo, people are driving back there and driving around a little bit. So to prevent that from happening, the neighbors in this back area had some suspicious activity going on, so they put a gate on either side of that. That's what we're going to maintain, but it'll be an automated system. **Board Member:** There was something in the narrative on the site here that said the neighbors were concerned about people getting into the back. You're putting those two gates up, but there's not going to be a gate on the backside for people to—I mean, teenage kids find a little narrow path to go in and all of a sudden they're in there. **Applicant:** There isn't one now, so it's not something that we looked at. That's beyond this point. I mean, the only place we can put it is right here. Is any of that back area going to be fenced in? This is part of the construction. There's a fence. This is a block, a concrete wall. This is a concrete wall and a fence. It's fenced all the way in except for that gap. **Board Member:** I think I read in there something to the fact that the new area is going to be used for wedding receptions and extracurricular activity type things. But when I looked at the diagram and I think you pointed them out, there are rooms that say "Bible study" on them. I assume that's not Friday, Saturday night stuff. That's Sunday during the day? **Applicant:** Going to use it during the day for Bible studies, yeah. Not just for receptions. No, it's correct. **Board Member:** Okay, I just wanted to be clear on it. There's also offices for offices and other stuff too. That's it. It's kind of a little confused at first. I thought it was going to be just like a big open hall where people could have stuff in, but it's not really just an open hall. You've got half a dozen or four restrooms and offices. Okay, just wanted to be clear on it. I didn't see any new landscaping in front other than in the planters right up next to the church itself. There was something in there that talked about all the asphalt in front of the church being going to be removed so it can be made a smooth surface or something like that, I guess to accommodate ADA requirements. **Applicant:** I'm going to go back to a photo. It's a little rough in that area so it needs to be repaired so it's smooth so people can access it from the sidewalk up to the existing courtyard in front. **Board Member:** But that whole area that we're looking at right there—that asphalt's going to be removed and something else is going to go in there that's going to be smooth? **Applicant:** There's new asphalt. **Board Member:** Is there any reason you're not looking at doing landscaping in front of the church? Because I mean, like, you go by there today and there's nothing. Literally nothing. **Applicant:** It's mostly for access for emergency vehicles so that they can get closer to the building and also to drop off people who are going into the existing church. It won't be any parking. It will just be a drive-through unless an emergency vehicle comes in. **Board Member:** Parking correct? Only about two. And you hadn't thought of any landscaping in front of it, like street trees somewhere? **Applicant:** There was something about street trees mentioned. I think the only ones I saw were on the corner by both of the entrances. I believe you're looking at putting some trees in there and nothing literally in the middle of the site, right? **Board Member:** So the only trees are on the edges, yeah? Not in the front. Nothing in the front? **Applicant:** Correct. **Board Member:** Okay, I think it would have been nice to have some street trees in front. I like street trees. **Board Member:** I read through my notes here. Item A says "adjacent properties" says "Camino Carlos Ray is a primary source of ingress and egress along the eastern edge of the property." I think it should be western edge. Just throw that in. On that back corner again, as I'm just reading through my notes here: is there a house that has a driveway that accesses off of your parking lot? **Applicant:** Yes, there's a driveway right where these numbers are. **Board Member:** Is there an easement with those people that's being worked on? And if so, will they have access to... # Meeting Transcript **Speaker 1:** The gates are right here and here. Yes, I know where the gates are. I was a little concerned about having access to a private lot coming through another lot, which is kind of weird. But if there's an easement, I guess we're cool. One thing it said was you have a dumpster now. The dumpster is going away and you're just going to go to regular weekly trash pick. What happens if you have two wedding receptions on the same weekend or something? I mean, I've got a trash receptacle and I can't imagine having 200 people's garbage from a wedding reception going into that without filling it up. If you have two of those or something else going on over the weekend, I'm just amazed that one of those receptacles is going to do a job for you. **Applicant:** No, we'll have more than one receptacle. **Speaker 1:** How do you get another one? **Applicant:** Well, it's a large lot and since it's zoned R5, we should be able to get at least five. **Speaker 1:** I always thought they said it's like one or two per lot. Maybe it's a residential thing. But they did look at it. The Refuse Department, on the other hand, does it make sense to have a big truck coming in to pick up a dumpster that's hardly filled except for maybe two weekends a year? That's how we do it. The other times, if there's too much to fit in the trash cans, we can always take it out to the dump rather than having the truck coming and moving the dumpster once a week, which was allowed in a neighborhood. My concern is that obviously the trash can gets full, wind's blowing, and you've got stuff all over the place with lids off because you can't close it. **Applicant:** Sure, so we want to be careful that's not going to be the case. **Speaker 1:** You said the parking in front's going to be removed. That's good. Regarding the detention pond or retention pond—you've got one on either side. I noticed the one on the north side is about a foot of capacity. I don't know how many square feet or gallons, but my concern was when they overflow, it looked like they go out to Carlos Ray. Will they just dump over the sidewalk in the Carl Ray, or are you going to put them into the storm drain? Because at some point on a good rain, I mean, that's not going to hold a lot of water in there. **Applicant:** The engineer did calculate it so that it was big enough to hold it. But if there's a huge event, it would have to go into the storm drain. Is that how you have to design them—for that to drop into the storm drain? You have to have a drop inlet or something there? **Staff:** Yes, it was engineered and we do have the site plan drawings. The overflow will go into the storm drain. **Speaker 1:** Okay. I think that's all I had. I appreciate it. Thank you. --- **Chair:** Thank you. Are there any other questions for the applicant? **Board Member:** I did have one question. The entry and exit points were shifted. They were previously—you entered to the south and exited, correct? So why was that? **Applicant:** It just seems more natural that way. There's a reason. We wanted to have a drop-off area here to get into the courtyard. It was kind of a nice entrance. And also, if you were to come all the way around and have the passenger side on the drop-off side, doing it the other way, they're always in the parking lot. **Board Member:** Okay, just maybe something to consider in terms of extra signage, just to make sure, especially initially, because people... **Applicant:** We'll have the big arrow painted on. **Board Member:** Thank you. Absolutely, just curious. The size difference between the existing playground and the proposed new playground—have you looked at the difference in square feet? **Applicant:** It's smaller in square footage but the same amount of equipment that they have now. We've kind of created some benches around it and made it a little more contained, but it's the same amount of equipment. --- **Board Member Painter:** I have a question for staff. I'm sorry I don't know the answer to this, but is the new building considered an accessory structure? I mean, you have the primary structure, which is the existing church, so you add another structure—isn't that typically considered an accessory structure? **Chair:** Mr. Board Member Painter, so my understanding is the building is going to be added to the existing building. Is that true, or is it a separate building? **Applicant:** It's a separate building, but it's connected to the existing building by a breezeway. **Staff:** I would consider it an additional use to the church but still under one structure as part of the church. **Board Member Painter:** Even though it's not an enclosed breezeway, just a covered walkway, would you include that? **Staff:** Well, if it's going to be attached to the original church and access to and from both sides, then in my mind it looks like it's more of an addition to the existing church, adding another use compatible with the existing church. So it's an accessory use to the primary church, but from what I'm seeing, it's just an addition to the existing church expansion. **Chair:** Correct. Any other questions? --- **Board Member:** Yes, staff. Claudia, you may mention that there was concern around the lighting being a nuisance. Can you speak specifically to that? I didn't see it in the staff report as a requested change. **Staff Claudia:** We wanted to add it as a condition of approval. I guess the question is, is there a concern that you have in the proposed applicant's proposal that leads you to believe it will be a nuisance? **Staff:** No, we're still working with the applicant on finalizing the photometric plan. But in general, for any commercial site, we want to be sure that there is no excessive nuisance light going into the residential neighborhoods. **Chair:** Yes, so that's also part of the light section of Chapter 14. It not only controls the light that emanates off the property but also conditions that nuisance glare should be prohibited. I don't know if you've ever had a neighbor with a light coming into your bedroom and the curtains are about an inch away from the wall and your whole room is still lit up because a neighbor's light is on. That is nuisance glare. So for these non-residential uses, we're trying to control that nuisance glare against those neighboring properties so that they can still maintain a little bit more control over their sleep environment. **Board Member:** Makes sense. **Staff:** I think that was covered in approval condition number 11. We're going to continue to look at that. I think Claudia asked us to add a condition that basically said that the applicant would shield the outdoor lights from the neighboring properties to eliminate any nuisance from the outdoor lighting. To be more specific, I think if we do the approval, whoever's making that motion should add that as a condition. **Board Member Painter:** Yes. I think those are the last questions. Are you sure? **Chair:** I'm not sure. **Board Member:** Is there a separate water line for the sprinkler system? Isn't that a requirement, or am I mistaken? **Staff Claudia:** Chair Fredman and Board Member Painter, I believe in my presentation, and you're correct. It is required. A certain scale of landscaping requires a separate meter, and so it will be metered separately for landscaping. **Board Member:** I'm sorry, the indoor sprinkler—oh, for like fire protection and stuff? A separate line just in case there's a problem with water? **Staff:** Yes, again, this is just showing it going out and then the civil drawing picks it up. The civil drawing that I don't have, but I know it comes in and there's a hot box and the valves and all that out in this section, then can connect there. There was enough pressure in the water line in the street that you don't need a storage tank or anything like that, but there is a dedicated line for the sprinkler. **Board Member:** Sounds good. Any other questions for the applicant? **Chair:** Okay, since this is a public hearing, are there any members of the public who wish to speak either in favor or against the application? If you could stand and be sworn in, give your name and address. Please state your name and address for the record. **Ralph Nava:** Ralph Nava, 303 Cosa. **Chair:** Do you solemnly declare and affirm that the testimony you have in reference to this item shall be the truth, nothing but the truth, and do so under the penalties of perjury? **Ralph Nava:** Yes. **Chair:** Thank you. Go ahead, Mr. Nava. **Ralph Nava:** I'm the person—if you notice, well, I can't see the picture right now, but I'm the one with the garage on the driveway on the backside. That's my property. I've been neighbors with the church for almost 40 years, and one of the attractions of buying that house was there was a road that came back to the backside of the property because my neighbor had been using it, I don't know for how long, but it clearly has been used as a road for a long, long time. That was one of the reasons why I really liked it because I wanted to build a garage in the back, which I later did. It's worked out great. I'm not saying that I am opposed to this project because I am not. They've been awesome neighbors for a long, long time. They've been very respectful, and I'm sure that what they're planning to do is going to benefit our community. So please don't think that I am in any way, shape, or form opposed to this plan. I have been in communications with them. We've been working on an agreement. But I do have one question. According to my plat, the easement—the utility easement—runs all along the south wall. It doesn't stop at the corner. It doesn't make an L. It continues down and it goes through the area where the parking is and where that overflow area is. At least, that's what my plat shows. The easement just continues along the south side. That's just a question that I have. I was just noticing it as they were doing their presentation. I am concerned about noise, but I understand they're going to stop at 10:00, so I don't think that would be an issue. Again, they have never had any problems with us at all. My main concern right now is just that I have access during the construction. I don't want them to close me out so that I can't get in and out of my property. **Chair:** Just so you know, common law is if there's an access easement, whether it's granted on a plat, you should take a look at a recorded plat to see actually how far the easement extends. But no one can actually block an easement. No one has the right to park in it or block it or put construction vehicles in it. The city doesn't get involved in those issues, so you know, just so you know, that's the common law right that you have anyway. **Ralph Nava:** Those are my only comments or just observations. And again, I am not opposed to this project. I hope it goes through and I hope it's a great success. The church has been—seems to be growing. And anytime people can spread the word of God, praise God. That's all I can say. **Chair:** Thank you so much for coming tonight. I just wanted to ask you a question because given the way your property is oriented—so the way we looked at it on the screen, you come out of the back of your property. Do you have a tendency to go to the left through the church parking lot, or do you go the other way through the alley? **Ralph Nava:** Can you see it right now? If you look at this structure, my property is on the lower right-hand corner. You see the orange roof? The two orange roofs—one is the house and the other is the garage. And you can see the driveway that comes off the garage that goes into that road that goes back through there, that easement, anyway. When they are having church services, I come out and then I go through the back of the church and come out on the north side. But when it's locked, I come out on the south side because I don't have access to open the gates. That's the only way I can get out. So you use both directions basically. Your concern is that if there's people coming in on the south side, you don't want to run head-on into them. You'll go around the church, but if there's nobody there, you'll just go out the south side. That's great—you answered my question. So you're basically going in either direction depending on the time of day and what's going on at the church. Okay, thank you very much. Is that just a dirt driveway? Yes. Okay, all right, very good. And just so you know, see if you can get a recorded plat that may show what that easement defines, to your benefit as well as to the church. Thank you very much. Any other members of the public who wish to speak either for or against? Okay, thank you. I'm going to close the public portion of this meeting. Any other questions from the board? I did just want to clarify that it doesn't actually say that it's an access. No, utility exactly. And I'm not professing to give legal advice at all. It just, you know, if there may be an access easement or may not, you just leave it to you folks to determine that. Okay. What's the pleasure of the board? Yes, Colleen. I move that we approve the special use permit subject to the conditions of approval and technical corrections recommended by staff listed on attachments A and B, including the nuisance lighting shields added to the conditions and technical corrections. Thank you. Do I have a second to that motion? Second. Any discussion? I have just one thing I want to say. I want to thank Mr. Escabel for joining us again because now we can talk about churches every month again. It has nothing to do with Dan. All right. All those in favor of that motion? Any opposed? Motion carries unanimously. Congratulations, folks. All the best to you with your future project, and I hope it's a wonderful benefit to the members of the community. Okay. I'm always happy to have Dan here at this meeting. I second that. You can never leave. Just a point of reference for the rest of the board: there was a point in time where every board meeting was a special use for a church. So the board was on nothing but churches for almost a year. Yeah. And you folks, you can feel free to go. You don't have to stick around here. Just if you're going to leave or talk, just talk in the hallway, not in here. Funeral homes as well. Yep. Folks, if you're going to carry on the discussion, can you please leave the chambers? Please leave the chambers so we can have a discussion. All right. So any staff communications? Chair Freedman, may I make a point of inquiry? Yes. In approving the January 7th minutes for the site visit, I did not get a second after the discussion was had for revisions. I think member Alexander seconded that. Okay, thank you. Thank you. If you find me speak, if you want to, technically, once you start discussion, the motion is automatically seconded by Robert's Rules. I thought I was bringing my point of inquiry, Robert. That's great to know. Okay. Yes, well, Mr. Chair, we still need to make an appointment. Yes, and it looks like there are two positions that you were discussing earlier. Well, I was discussing vice chair. I talked to member Daring, and she's agreed to act as the vice chair. So I'm going to appoint her as vice chairman of the board. Is there another position that we need to fill? She held the secretary position. Does anyone who would like to be secretary? Yeah, someone who likes to read minutes. Someone who likes to read, or someone who can read. We're not picky here. I just need a volunteer. Okay, member Painter. Thank you very much. You'll be the new secretary. You are so diligent in reading everything anyway. Thank you very much. So, if I—sorry, I keep not hitting the mic correctly—can I just ask, are you going to be here for the May meeting? Let's see, what day is it? What date is it? First week of May. It's the first, whatever, first Tuesday. I don't have any plans to be anywhere else. Okay, because usually the vice chair then has to run the meeting, and I'm going to be gone the first. I'll be gone in June, so you'll be here in May. Okay, great. Any other communications from staff? Matters from the board? Anybody? Okay. We're up again. I wanted to, yeah, we do. Are we working on it or do we need to? Thank you. Yeah, we're working on it. We've got quite a few vacancies on their boards and commissions, and so we're trying to work on those and really package them and bring them forward to the government body. I don't know why my law partner left. I haven't talked to her about it. But if anyone has someone who you think might be interested, please let Maggie know. Absolutely. Yeah, right. Thank you. Okay. I just wanted to again welcome Claudia. Great job on your first Board of Adjustment meeting. And we can talk about Laguna Beach and Laguna Niguel at some other point in time. I spent some nice times there. Okay. If we don't have anything else, our meeting is adjourned. Thank you everyone. Have a great evening.