HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - PC - 2002.05.23CITY OF BURLINGAME PLANNING COMMISSION MINUTES
SPECIAL STUDY SESSION
Burlingame Public Library
Lane Community Room
480 Primrose Road, Burlingame, CA
Wednesday May 23, 2002
Council Chambers
I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Keighran called the May 23, 2002, special meeting of the Planning
Commission to order at 7:00 p.m.
II. ROLL CALL Present: Commissioners Auran, Bojués, Brownrigg, Keighran, Keele,
Osterling and Vistica
Absent: Commissioners: None
Staff Present: City Planner, Margaret Monroe; Senior Planner, Maureen
Brooks; City Attorney, Larry Anderson
III. APPROVAL OF AGENDA There were no changes to the agenda.
IV. STUDY SESSION
1. DISCUSSION OF THE PROPOSED SAFEWAY PROJECT – CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW 69,747 SF
COMMERCIAL BUILDING FOR SAFEWAY AND WALGREEN'S AT 1420 – 1450 HOWARD AVENUE
AND 249 PRIMROSE ROAD; PROJECT INCLUDES REZONING, CONDITIONAL USE PERMITS,
PARKING DIMENSION VARIANCE FOR PROJECT PARKING LOT AND PARCEL MAP FOR LOT
MERGER AND RECONFIGURATION OF LOTS; PROJECT ALSO INCLUDES RECONFIGURATION
OF CITY-OWNED PUBLIC PARKING LOTS.
CP Monroe presented a brief summary of the staff report. Chair Keighran noted that this was a study session to
discuss the Safeway project, the meeting would start with a presentation by the applicant followed by public
comments from the floor, after that the Commission would discuss the project.
Safeway representatives, including Mark Hudak, Kathleen Gallagher, Richard Zlatunich, Natalie Thompson, Matt
Ridgeway (Fehr and Peers) and Anna Shimko were present and available for questions. Mark Hudak gave an
overview of the project and noted they would review how the project came to be designed, including the Planning
Department criteria, the Planning Commission's comments and the constraints on the site. He noted that grocery
stores have different design requirements than a typical retail store; wanted to design a store that would work, would
be good for Burlingame and would not have to be modified for the next fifty years.
Richard Zlatunich noted that one of the project goals since 1995 is to upgrade the store, bring it into the twentieth
century and to present a better face to the community; with this program Safeway has already done upgrades to the
stores in Millbrae, San Mateo and Belmont, Burlingame is the only one left; the Burlingame store has the following
deficiencies: an outdated interior with narrow aisles and the gondolas (shelves) are stacked high, there is a limited
selection of merchandise, the exterior is unattractive, it does not present a pleasant architectural character, the public
parking lots are fragmented, there is no pedestrian access except through the parking lots; the traffic circulation is
poor, the existing public parking lots do not meet current dimension standards, there is no ADA accessible parking,
the aisle widths don't meet the code requirement, the Walgreen's loading zone is on the street on Primrose.
With regard to constraints, Mr. Zlatunich noted that the code requires a 20' building setback on El Camino Real,
they wanted to avoid building over the existing box culvert which traverses the site; there is a private parking lot not
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owned by Safeway which has to be designed around, wanted to harmonize the architecture with Downtown
Burlingame, improve pedestrian and vehicular access, improve on-site circulation and parking conditions, upgrade
the City public parking lots to code and ADA compliance. He noted that there are certain criteria for the interior
fixture plan for a grocery store; that the entry doors be only at the front of the store, that there be an area for
shopping carts near the front door, that the loading docks and the stock room need to be adjacent and along the back
of the building.
Mr. Zlatunich described the project, and noted that when coming up with the façade design, they looked at the
height and mass of buildings along Burlingame Avenue and Primrose, these buildings are consolidated along the
block, are built up to the sidewalk and generally cover about 60% of their sites; the Safeway proposal clusters the
two businesses in a way similar to the way buildings are clustered on Burlingame Avenue. He noted that Safeway
has a contractual obligation to supply Walgreens with an established amount of retail space as a part of the project.
The project includes off-site improvements; there would be a staged left turn light at the Howard and El Camino
Real signal; a signal would be installed at Howard and Primrose; applicant is proposing to dedicate a portion of its
property to widen Howard to provide a west bound left turn, a through lane and a right turn on to El Camino without
eliminating the parking in front of the church across the street; Fox Plaza Lane is not safe now, the throat is narrow,
pedestrians can't see if a car is coming, project proposes a sidewalk on one side and two lanes for traffic, there will
be room for trucks making deliveries to businesses fronting on Burlingame Avenue without blocking traffic as they
do now; the zoning code requires 151 parking spaces for the building, project proposes 156, will provide new public
lot with 85 code compliant spaces and the same area (square footage) as now exists in the two separate lots, because
of closed driveways there will be five new metered parking spaces on the street; propose to contribute to the City's
new parking facility fund; there will be pedestrian access along Primrose, Howard, El Camino Real, Fox Plaza
Lane, and along the front of the new building; the project covers 44% of the lot and the floor area ratio is 47%; the
area within the store needed for production, stock room and loading is fixed.
Regarding the project's architecture, Mr. Zlatunich noted that the existing Safeway and Walgreens buildings are
basic box shaped buildings, proposed structure is articulated so that it appears to be more th an one building, the
corner of Primrose and Howard will become prominent, interesting corner with a cupola design feature, sidewalks
will be rebuilt, the existing street trees will be kept, and the project will add new ones, the tip of the cupola at that
corner will be 35' high, the height of the rest of the building varies and is below that height; the facades of the two
existing buildings on the site along Primrose are a total of 230 feet long, the project presents a 180' articulated wall
to the proposed retail space on primrose; the proposed building would be articulated along Primrose and would have
simulated storefronts with exhibit areas; to summarize community benefits, there would be a new clean, well -lit
store, an expanded product selection, wider aisles, ADA compliance, improved employee areas, extensive off-site
improvements, improved traffic circulation and access, a logical, convenient parking layout, and the City public
parking lots would be reconfigured and upgraded.
V. FROM THE FLOOR
Chair Keighran asked if anyone wanted to speak from the floor. Sam Malouf, 712 Vernon Way; Ralph Nielsen,
1226 Burlingame Avenue; Frankie Meyer, Meyer-Bunje, Rihad Salma, 1375 Burlingame Avenue (Crosby
Commons) and 2504 Easton Drive; Mike Nilmeyer, 128 Pepper Avenue; Cliff Woods, owner of building at 220-234
Primrose Road; Charles Voltz, 725 Vernon Way; all representing Citizens for a Better Burlingame and Burlingame
Avenue Merchants Association; Peggy Ryan, 772 Wilborough Place; Dan Anderson, 728 Vernon Way; Annamarie
Holland Daniels, 515 Howard Avenue; Francesca Caslett, owner of Alana’s Café; Jason Tolu, Fox Plaza Mall; Rich
Grogan, 1450 Columbus Avenue; Mary Hunt, 725 Vernon Way; Darlene DeMaria, 101 Lorton; Jill Schoenfeld, 236
Arundel Road; Russ Cohen, 605 Lexington Way; Wendy McCardle; Ray Otus; Ellen Hunter, 810 Crossway; Bob
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Lugliani; John Hunter 810 Crossway commented on the project:
• our town is a unique, desirable place to live and own a business, project must integrate into the community,
project as designed is an island unto itself;
• it would be better if the Safeway were to face Howard;
• the size of this project is enormous, it is unfriendly to pedestrians, doesn’t allow pedestrians access from
Primrose;
• the wall along Primrose is like a movie set, the store faces its back to downtown, doesn’t say it is part of
Burlingame Avenue;
• would like to see story poles put up as soon as possible to show how big the project will be, to be able to
work out issues with the scale;
• we know what we have now is awful, but is this the best proposal for Burlingame, still have issues with
parking, trucks and pedestrian access;
• with this design, the applicant can keep the store open while the project is built, this will benefit them for
two years, but we will have to live with it much longer;
• it is the applicant’s job to come up with functional alternatives;
• other alternatives:
A. Put the two stores in separate buildings to minimize the big box look, Safeway still facing El
Camino with Walgreen’s in front;
B. Two separate buildings with focus on Howard Avenue;
C. Small scale Walgreen’s on corner of Howard and Primrose, and the Safeway facing Primrose with
parking in front;
D. Similar to applicant’s proposal as far as location with more retail on Howard and Primrose, and
Safeway to have a second entrance onto Primrose.
• downtown Burlingame is like a village, this proposal turns its back to that, with a huge parking lot facing El
Camino Real;
• articulation of building shown bumps out only 2 to 3 feet;
• Burlingame has established policies regarding scale, mass and bulk of residences, this is also a
neighborhood, should give as much consideration here;
• regarding traffic circulation, there will be 28-30 delivery trucks entering the site via Primrose, where now all
access site from Howard, there will be queuing problems on Primrose with so many deliveries;
• there is a proposal for a City parking garage opposite Fox Plaza Lane, the ingress to the parking garage
would be right across from where the 28-30 delivery trucks will go by;
• the footprint of the existing Safeway is only 24,710 SF, the remaining area is in the basement and
mezzanine;
• understand what Safeway needs, but they don’t own all the land, we should be able to expect something in
return for this real estate deal, we have the right to demand something better, should require genuine
integration with the surrounding business district, no delivery vehicles on the core downtown streets, a real
parking benefit for downtown Burlingame, reduced mass and bulk, and an honest architectural design;
• the Draft EIR did not take into account the cars now parked in the Wells Fargo lot, the parking deficit with
the project really ranges from a low of 30 to a high of 73 spaces, as presently proposed these cars have no
place to go, should consider underground parking or parking structure within the sub-block since customers
won’t cross the street with carts;
• important that the public parking lots have pedestrian access to Burlingame Avenue and Primrose Road;
• if they could find parking for employees elsewhere it could alleviate some of the deficit;
• there is a lot of flat space on top of the building, could parking be proposed there;
• why not provide underground parking for employees;
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• would like to see a better store for Safeway, but not necessarily bigger, both Mollie Stone’s and Lunardi’s
work in a smaller space;
• there is garbage stored in the back of Safeway now, with the new proposal the loading area will be directly
across from the rear entrance to Fox Plaza Mall, pedestrians will be discouraged from coming in this way;
• large trucks can’t now enter Fox Plaza Lane from Primrose, even with widening will be difficult if cars are
parked next to driveway;
• design should consider retaining the Heritage trees on the site;
• consider adding an outside dining area along Primrose frontage to serve local employees at lunch time;
• if online shopping is a viable alternative for customers, won’t there be less need for a larger store, fewer
people will be coming to the store, since more people will be getting home deliveries;
• having a stop light at Primrose and Howard could cause traffic to back up on Primrose for the longer stops;
• need to talk about construction implementation phase, need to show the impact to the existing businesses in
the area;
• the retail shops proposed on Primrose/Howard corner are smaller than most stores on Burlingame Avenue.
Chair Keighran closed the comments from the floor.
Commission discussion: Commissioners noted that it is understood that the applicant has addressed a lot of
problems that exist on the site now and that access improvements are proposed for the betterment of Burlingame,
but the main issue that has not been addressed is how the project fits into the Burlingame community; an
impenetrable wall extending along Primrose is proposed, applicant has received the same input for several years,
and the project keeps coming back without this issue addressed; the plan is very efficient for Safeway, but these are
not things that are important to the community; because of the land swap the parki ng can be designed in a more
efficient way; seems that Safeway’s plans are limited because of their own desire to keep the store open during
construction, does that have to be a development limitation; can the ratio of length to width of the building be
adjusted; can the entrance to the store be at the narrower end of the rectangle; will there be web-based deliveries
from this store.
Applicant response: Every time an alternative is presented, it is studied, we look at the fixturing plan, how trucks
get in and out, parking; in looking at the alternatives proposed in the Draft EIR there are issues; need to satisfy the
basic design criteria, including providing a replacement public parking lot; satisfy zoning code parking
requirements, the need for a loading zone; keeping the store open during construction is an important criteria for
Safeway, but it is not an absolute; would like to understand what the commission means by "fit in", is it size,
architectural style, if we had a list, we could figure it out; some of the issues we are trying to respond to within the
store are the congestion between aisles and checkstand, the size of the lobby, the production areas are cramped, the
employee areas need improvement; not totally locked into the two to one ratio for length and width of building as
long as it is still rectangular, an “L” shaped design would create an impediment to the flow of the store; the entrance
to the store needs to be at the long side because the checkstands need to be across the front, and with mo re
checkstands it is easier for the customers to flow through; can only put certain uses in a mezzanine, could not be
much more than 1400 SF for employee space and some storage; have listened to ideas for alternatives, but have not
seen a design solution that meets the criteria in a better way yet, are willing to continue to look at alternatives, but it
has to be functional and meet the criteria; shops were placed at corner of Primrose and Howard to give retail
presence on Primrose without extending too far into Safeway’s production area; Safeway does not propose to use
this store for web-based deliveries, the deliveries are now being provided from the Seventeenth Avenue store in San
Mateo to serve this area of the Peninsula from Millbrae to Belmont; aisle w idth in existing store is about 6 feet,
standard is 12’-6”; construction of the proposed building would be masonry core with steel roof framing,
articulation in some places is added on, in other areas the building goes in and out; generally grocery stores don’t
have entrances in more than one location in order to minimize theft.
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Commission discussion: The applicant was given a list years ago, we talked about mass, bulk, pedestrian friendly
design, adding another entrance, Safeway’s interior plans are dict ating the exterior, the need for wider aisles is
understood, but you can’t be so set on the interior if it ruins the exterior of our community; some of the main
concerns that have been expressed by the Commission are:
• to be attractive to casual shoppers, need multiple entrances to Safeway, for the shoppers who are not doing
their weekly shopping;
• Primrose and Fox Plaza Lane need to be pedestrian friendly;
• can loading/unloading be done from the Howard Avenue side;
• concern with the overall size of the store, why does it have to be so big when others in surrounding
communities are smaller;
• can some areas, such as employee rooms be placed in a mezzanine to reduce the building footprint;
• look at alternatives which do not involve keeping the store open during construction
• would like to see story poles, with orange netting installed so that everyone can clearly conceptualize
project;
• the cupola at Howard/Primrose corner could be reduced in height.
Commissioners asked if the Safeway team present could authorize changes to the design and work with the
commission. The applicant responded that this is the primary team working on the project, if we came up with
something that works better and the community accepts, recommendation would be made to management.
Commissioners noted that given the length of the meeting, it might be better to have another meeting with Safeway
to have a dialogue and to walk through the alternatives, have a brainstorming session; but do not want to slow up the
process, would like to keep the EIR process moving. CP Monroe noted that the Final EIR Response to Comments
document would be available tomorrow, May 24, 2002, the Draft EIR and Response to Comments document look at
several alternatives, if an alternative is chosen which is similar to the ones studied in the EIR, an addendum to the
EIR could be prepared to address the alternative, the environmental review process would not have to start over. It
was decided that the study meeting would be continued to a future date to be determined when all parties can be
present. CA Anderson noted that since this meeting is a continued study session, public notice would be posted 24
hours in advance of the meeting and the public comment has been taken.
VI. ADJOURNMENT
Chair Keighran adjourned the meeting at 10:20 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Ralph Osterling, Secretary
approvedminutes5..23