| Time | Speaker | Text |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00:00.03 | Jeffery Luxenberg | being the point in our call the november 1st meeting of the regular planning commission meeting to order and we need to call the order director for it |
| 00:00:13.60 | Director Phipps | Thank you, Chair. A few words before I call order. Good evening, everybody, staff and members of the public. This evening's meeting is being held at City of Sausalito Council Chamber at 420 Litho Street and is open to members of the public. Members of the public may also access this meeting and provide public comment through Zoom. With that, I will call roll. Commissioner Saad. here. |
| 00:00:32.26 | Katherine Spaulding | THE END OF THE END OF THE |
| 00:00:32.52 | Director Phipps | Thank you. Commissioner Graff. Here. Commissioner Feller is not present this evening. Vice-Chair Junius. Present. Chair Luxenberg. Here. We have achieved quorum. Back to you, Chair. |
| 00:00:43.21 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Next item is approval of the agenda. I'm looking for a motion. |
| 00:00:49.10 | Andrew Junius | Second. Third. MORAL. |
| 00:00:51.94 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Director Fitz, please call roll. |
| 00:00:54.12 | Director Phipps | Thank you, Chair Commissioner Saad. Yes. |
| 00:00:56.11 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Yes. |
| 00:00:56.60 | Director Phipps | Commissioner Graf. Yes. Vice-Chair Junius. Yes. Chair Luxenberg. |
| 00:00:57.83 | Jeffery Luxenberg | THE FEDERAL. Yeah. |
| 00:01:00.90 | Director Phipps | Thank you. |
| 00:01:00.93 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Thank you. |
| 00:01:00.97 | Director Phipps | Motion passes. |
| 00:01:02.35 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Next item is public comments for items on the agenda. Director Phipps, if you could give instructions, please. |
| 00:01:07.73 | Director Phipps | Yep, thank you. This is the time for the Planning Commission to hear from citizens regarding matters that are not on the agenda. Except in very limited situations, state law precludes the Planning Commission from taking action on or engaging in discussions concerning items of business that are not on the agenda. However, the Planning Commission may refer matters not on the agenda to staff or direct the subject be agendized at a future meeting. Video or audio public comment participation is limited to three minutes per speaker. If you'd like to make a comment, please submit a speaker card to me and or my colleagues to my right, Maria Hernandez, this evening. If you'd like to make a comment in the Zoom application, please raise your hand and you'll be called upon when it is your time to speak. To raise your hand from a phone, press star nine. Each speaker will be notified when the time has elapsed. Thank you, Chair. |
| 00:01:52.62 | Jeffery Luxenberg | I don't see anybody in the audience. Is there anybody on Zoom? |
| 00:01:56.77 | Director Phipps | I'm looking to the Zoom application, seeing no raised hands. |
| 00:02:00.48 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Thank you. We'll close that item. We'll move on to item four and note the planning commission minutes for the last meeting will be presented at the 1115 meeting. Yes. Next item will be five communications. Director Phipps, is there an update from CDD? |
| 00:02:17.78 | Director Phipps | Yeah, thank you, Chair. Just one brief communication item for me this evening. This item is related to 426 Pine Street. This is one of the projects that we heard at the last hearing. As I'm sure you all recall, at the conclusion of that hearing, Council directed staff to prepare a resolution of approval for the project that was slated to be heard this evening. Due to limited staff capacity as well as limited time to prepare the resolution, staff are scheduling this item to be heard by the Commission on the 15th of November. So in just a couple weeks that does it for communication items for me and back to you chair. |
| 00:02:54.16 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Thank you, Director Phipps. Are there any items that any of the commissioners need to bring forward this evening? With that, do I need to open up public comment? Yes. Yes, I do. With that, we'll have public comment on item five. Any members of the audience? Fill out a speaker card, but there are none, so to speak. And any people on Zoom, if you can raise your hand in the Zoom applications. |
| 00:03:05.56 | Director Phipps | Yeah. |
| 00:03:23.44 | Director Phipps | Just give a couple moments for folks to raise their hands. And seeing none, sure. |
| 00:03:30.63 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Seeing none, we'll close the public comment period for item five, move on to public hearings, and we will ask for any ex parte communications. Commissioner Saad. |
| 00:03:42.00 | Nastassya Saad | Nothing to declare. |
| 00:03:42.88 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Vice Chair Genius. |
| 00:03:44.16 | Andrew Junius | declare. |
| 00:03:44.55 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Commissioner Graff. |
| 00:03:46.71 | Nastassya Saad | Nothing to declare. |
| 00:03:47.84 | Jeffery Luxenberg | And I also have nothing to declare. And we will now go on to item 6A, which is Highway 101 and Rodeo Avenue. It's a design review permit, possibly an encroachment permit, and a conditional use permit for a new ground-mounted tree monopole structure, including two new antennae and eight antennae overall. And Catherine Spalding, our planner, will provide that presentation. Thank you, Catherine. |
| 00:04:16.51 | Katherine Spaulding | Good evening, Commission. I'm Katherine Spaulding, Associate Planner. City of Sausalito. Presenting AT&T mobility for a proposed tree removal or a pole removal and replacement with a tree monopole wireless facility located at the Rodeo Avenue and Highway 101 open space zoning district. This slide gives you a quick indication of where the The proposed polls are located and the new location for the poll, as well as the three dots that you may or may not be able to see on that slide indicate the photo simulation locations that you'll see on the next slide. |
| 00:05:08.20 | Katherine Spaulding | So, so part of the review for this type of project is whether or not is about the visibility from the, you know, from the public driving down the highway obviously is very important as preserving the, you know, pleasant use and views from neighborhoods. So this first photo simulation provided by the applicant shows the existing pole, which is really just a pole with attached antennas that's to the right. to the left and then the proposed poll, which will be a tree monopole, um, is indicated on the right-hand side. looking from Spring Street, which is that street that's just up from the 7-Eleven at the north end of town, midtown, I guess. Next slide. Same idea. The existing pole is on the left. The proposed tree monopole is on the right. Next slide. And probably the most important one is this one showing from Highway 101 as you're coming either north or south. This looks like it's taken across the street directly and you can see the existing pole with the stacked antenna. And then on the right-hand side would be the proposed mono tree pole location, which appears much more immersed in the landscape. Excellent. monotree pole location, which appears much more immersed in the landscape. Next slide. This is a site plan, so we are able to indicate where the existing pole is on the site, which is the smaller of the two shown in the pulse arrangement, as you'll see in one of the slides following the antenna. It's a pole and the antennas are stacked And then in the proposed location, which seems like it is much larger in circumference, that would be the case because the poles are spread in an array. at the same height and also the screened by the tree Um, application of the monopole as opposed to being exposed in the way that they are in the existing pole. And the new location is slightly northwest of the existing location by just about 15 feet. Next one. This is just quick to show the array. On the left, it's the existing pole. You see three different poles because it's cut in different sections to show that the antennas are stacked. and affixed to the pole. And on the right, it shows the new arrangement in the array with the mount. It doesn't show the tree canopy around it, but I think you can gather that at this juncture. Next slide. And this is a quick elevation of what would be existing. And it's also showing dash to the left-hand side where, or what would be proposed. And it's showing to the left-hand side what would be the existing monopole. The new height of the antennas does exist at about three feet higher than the existing antennas, still within what is considered to be within the zoning as it goes with the FCC so that the arrangement can adequately function above the trees and provide the cellular service, which is the, the objective, um, to the neighborhood and even to the highway for passers-by. |
| 00:08:15.35 | Mary Wagner | Yes. |
| 00:08:34.01 | Katherine Spaulding | And that is what I have for the proposal. Any questions are welcome. |
| 00:08:40.49 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Thank you, Catherine. Commissioner Saad, any questions? |
| 00:08:43.90 | Nastassya Saad | I only had one. This is very straightforward. So thank you for the presentation. I only had one question about the signage that I think is mentioned in the other attachment. They had made a recommendation for a sign, but I didn't see it anywhere in the |
| 00:08:57.04 | Katherine Spaulding | Yeah. |
| 00:08:59.32 | Nastassya Saad | resolution. Is that included as part of it? There is. |
| 00:09:02.17 | Katherine Spaulding | There is signage and I pardon if it is in the staff report and not mentioned in the resolution. The signage is on there. They do have a recommendation for it. All is adequate and within both our and the FCC, you know, standard signage for the site. So they have made a proposal for that. And I'm happy to include it if you want to propose that. |
| 00:09:17.83 | Nastassya Saad | Bye. And staff is comfortable with those recommendations? Yes. Yeah. Okay, great. |
| 00:09:23.52 | Katherine Spaulding | Yes. Thank you. Awesome. standard signage. |
| 00:09:25.88 | Nastassya Saad | Perfect. Thank you. |
| 00:09:26.20 | Katherine Spaulding | Thank you. Thank you. |
| 00:09:28.20 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Vice Chair, do you have any questions? |
| 00:09:29.85 | Andrew Junius | Yeah, it's a fake tree, right? |
| 00:09:34.03 | Katherine Spaulding | It's a fake tree. |
| 00:09:34.47 | Andrew Junius | All right, good. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing something here. Interesting. Good. I have seen a few of these along various highways and they look a little odd, but fine. Thank you. |
| 00:09:43.52 | Katherine Spaulding | Thank you. |
| 00:09:43.65 | Richard Graef | Thank you. |
| 00:09:43.69 | Vicki Nichols | Yeah. |
| 00:09:43.75 | Richard Graef | Thank you. |
| 00:09:45.49 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Mr. Grap, any questions? |
| 00:09:47.87 | Richard Graef | And I'm not sure that you would know the answer to this, but I was curious as to the materials that they're going to make this big tree out of. Do you know that or? |
| 00:10:02.65 | Katherine Spaulding | I know that they're non-combustible. I don't know the specific scientific name for them, but they are proposed and required to be a non-combustible material. Yeah, of course. |
| 00:10:11.24 | Richard Graef | Yeah. |
| 00:10:13.66 | Katherine Spaulding | And that is presented, yes. |
| 00:10:16.61 | Jeffery Luxenberg | I was curious about the tree also, but I'll ask that of the applicant when they do the presentations. So any other comments or questions? Thank you. As the applicant on Zoom to present. |
| 00:10:19.97 | Katherine Spaulding | Yeah. |
| 00:10:29.64 | Katherine Spaulding | I believe the applicant is present on his name is Mr. Gotchberg, Gary Gotchberg. He's present. I don't know that he's presenting, but he did let me know he'd be available for any questions. |
| 00:10:50.73 | Katherine Spaulding | Yes. |
| 00:10:54.70 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Yeah. |
| 00:10:55.34 | Director Phipps | Yeah, I'm seeing a hand raised from the 707 number. That would be him. Maybe, Gary. Let's see if we can. |
| 00:10:59.07 | Jeffery Luxenberg | That would be him. Did you say Gary Gotchberg? Gotchberg, yes. He's with his own name. |
| 00:11:03.42 | Katherine Spaulding | Scotchburg, yes. |
| 00:11:06.83 | Director Phipps | Yes, but you can see that there's no mic or video option adjacent to the name. So he may be joining through the phone primarily. And I'd like to invite Gary through the phone number to unmute himself. |
| 00:11:10.93 | Jeffery Luxenberg | I |
| 00:11:22.76 | Gary Gotchberg | Can you hear me? |
| 00:11:24.50 | Director Phipps | Yes. |
| 00:11:24.94 | Mary Wagner | Thank you. |
| 00:11:25.02 | Gary Gotchberg | Yes. Hi, sorry about that. I didn't know it was muted. Um, Yeah. I wanted to thank Catherine for doing a great job on the presentation. I think it is pretty clear cut. as to what AT&T is proposing there. I think it will be beneficial to to change the site to something more aesthetically pleasing the drivers on 101 in the city of Sausalito And I mean, I don't really have much more of a presentation to, um, to show you. Once again, what Catherine was showing was So, you know, specific to what we're planning on doing as far as the new design. the benefit of the more capacity for AT&T for people driving on 101 and the citizens of Sausalito. But I'm happy to take any questions that you might have. |
| 00:12:21.49 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Okay, thank you very much. There was a question just asked, what is the material, what the tree is, is it, it's a fig tree that's green, when what is it made out of? the tree part, not the antenna part. |
| 00:12:35.58 | Gary Gotchberg | Yeah, unfortunately, I'd probably have to look into that. I mean, it really is. considered a monopole, like some of the monopoles you might see with antennas on there that aren't screened. And then the manufacturer of the tree pole manufacturers, the, branches and as Catherine said they're not you know, they're fire protective type of material. But as far as specifically what they're made of, I really I couldn't answer that question, unfortunately. I'd have to talk to a construction manager to find out. |
| 00:13:14.34 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Okay, as far as you know, are they green? Is that the idea? |
| 00:13:18.89 | Gary Gotchberg | Oh yeah. Yeah. They're, they're definitely green. Um, You know, the city and the planning department does have the discretion to determine the color if they would like. know that we can we can use samples and Whatever color they would like, the shade of green can be determined by the city. uh, You know, there are standard tellers that they come from the manufacturer but you know, we, A lot of the times these these branches, over a certain period of time, they do kind of fade in color. There are different paint colors that are used to Um, you know, paint them. and get them back to a, color that works for the jurisdiction. |
| 00:14:15.75 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Okay, that's helpful. Just a quick question. I noticed on your site plan that the land, your vault is on city property, and you lease that from the city, I'm guessing. Do you know? And then my second part of that question is the pole is outside of the city property. That's Caltrans property. Do you lease that from Caltrans, or do you have an agreement with Caltrans? |
| 00:14:43.67 | Gary Gotchberg | You know, that is a good question. I hate to tell you this, but I was unaware of that. aspect of it that it's on a separate parcel. I looked at all the leases, I didn't see any Caltrans lease. So I will. you know, look and see if they can find something. But as far as right now, what I have is just the lease with the city. The last lease was signed back in 2020 for an additional 15 years. So this current lease with the city is good. through 2035. But as far as the poll itself being on Caltrans property and any type of an agreement with them, I have no record of that. I can, you know, obviously look into that aspect of, of the lease, but I don't have any information regarding that at this point. |
| 00:15:39.93 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Okay. Other questions, Commissioner Saad? Thank you, Junius. Okay, thank you very much. At this time, we will open it up for public hearing portion of this hearing. If anybody on Zoom wants to raise their hand, I see some hand, I see a hand raised on Zoom. Director Phipps, if you could call on people. Thank you. |
| 00:16:04.61 | Director Phipps | You are correct, Chair. We have one raised hand in the Zoom application, and that raised hand is Vicki Nichols. Vicki, please state your address for the record, and you will have three minutes to provide public comment. |
| 00:16:18.22 | Vicki Nichols | Thank you. Good evening, Planning Commissioners. My name is Vicki Nichols. I live at 117 Caledonia Street. This is the first application we've seen in some time and so I'm curious about the other aspects of the ordinance. There's a requirement that these are reviewed every couple of years. Usually the applications are have submittal information about the So you can see it and the planning commission does have leeway. There's all kinds of way these trees can be done So interestingly, one of the carriers that helped us write this ordinance years ago was The one that suggested the I won't say justification, but the analysis of what areas this was covering and the benefits of I'm not sure if that's being done either, but I'm a little shocked about the length of the leases. being just pro forma sign. I hope there could be some review of the existing ordinance because this was developed with citizens and representatives from AT&T, Verizon, sprint. And I think we had four carriers. We spent a lot of time doing it. So Um, to the benefit of both parties. and there hasn't been any problem. One of the requirements is that there be a map available to show where these sites are. I don't believe that's been updated in years. If that could be looked at, that would be helpful for the public. and just in general to know where these are located. Right now there's no records. The public's just sort of functioning in a vacuum on this. Thank you. |
| 00:18:03.66 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Thank you very much, Ms. Nichols. With that, I do not see any other hands on Zoom, and there are no hands in the audience. Close the public hearing portion and bring it back up to the dais. What, Commissioner, I'm looking for what somebody wants to do. |
| 00:18:21.78 | Andrew Junius | Move to approve. |
| 00:18:25.04 | Nastassya Saad | I'll second just to note Vicki Nichols public comment. I think it's just good feedback, but for the purpose of why we're here, definitely second the motion. |
| 00:18:34.67 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Thank you. I will note for the record that there is a condition added that whatever permits or encroachment or whatever is needed from Caltrans if it is Caltrans that's been added to the condition so that is addressed as far as the color and design of the tree I would like to defer that to CDD if commission's comfortable with that as part of the building permit I don't know if we need a condition here, but they said that was up to the city. So make sure you work with parks and others to make sure the tree looks as much like the tree as it could look, I guess. But if anybody wants to add something in that regard. |
| 00:19:19.41 | Nastassya Saad | I just wanted to note, I personally didn't see the signage anywhere in the resolution. So just to maybe put a condition that it is the recommendation, which I think is the yellow caution to be or whatever the city has agreed to, just so we can get the signage as part of it. them. |
| 00:19:42.11 | Jeffery Luxenberg | question for director Fripps the signage is in the set of plans so do we need a condition or would they make it better or |
| 00:19:52.70 | Director Phipps | Sometimes we add a standard condition that states that the project will be developed in line with the plan set provided. So if the signage is in the plan and condition like that could address it. But I see that our city attorney has joined us and I will turn it over to him. |
| 00:20:05.55 | Mary Wagner | Yeah, one of the conditions of approval required by the city code is that the project be developed strictly in conformity with the plans that are submitted and before the planning commission, so that is not only addressed by the conditions of approval, but also by the city code already. |
| 00:20:19.27 | Richard Graef | Okay. |
| 00:20:19.33 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Thank you. |
| 00:20:19.38 | Richard Graef | Thank you. |
| 00:20:19.50 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Thank you. |
| 00:20:19.60 | Richard Graef | Thank you. |
| 00:20:20.09 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Perfect. Okay, great. Any other comments from the diet? |
| 00:20:23.59 | Richard Graef | I'm just... was curious about the fabrication of the tree And, and, how they intend to create this foliage. I mean, I've had some experience with artificial trees in my work, in the past for like zoos and and places like that. And so I was interested. But I mean, they can be made to be very realistic. or they can look pretty bogus. This is up there where nobody's really gonna be looking at it. So I don't think it matters a whole lot, frankly, personally. I kind of like looking at all the hardware Uh, We're living up. world that where we're surrounded with these things. So I don't see the, necessity to hide them, but I'm fine with it. |
| 00:21:22.70 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Okay. Any other comments? Director Phipps, call roll, please. |
| 00:21:26.70 | Director Phipps | Thank you, Chair. Commissioner Saad. Yes. Commissioner Graff. |
| 00:21:28.76 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Yes. Thank you. |
| 00:21:30.70 | Director Phipps | Yes. Vice Chair Junius. Yes. Chair Luxenberg. Yes. Motion passes. |
| 00:21:30.75 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Yeah. Yes. Next item is adjournment. All in favour. Aye. Aye. Thank you all. |
| 00:21:40.89 | Director Phipps | Thank you, commissioners. |
| 00:21:41.99 | Jeffery Luxenberg | You're on the... |
| 00:21:42.46 | Director Phipps | Yeah. |
| 00:21:42.48 | Jeffery Luxenberg | Okay. |
| 00:21:42.78 | Director Phipps | you Thank you, staff, members of the public. |