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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-b_Additional_Materials_Received_After_Packet_PublishedMAX HURWITZ (1914 -1974) 1 TARRY A.SFITON (1901-1975) Roiiwr R. HuRwrrZ (1921 -1990) FRANKLIN 1. REAPER )OSEPFI P. DIVINCENZO DwIGFrr ). GRIFFITH REMER, DiVINCENZO & GRIFFITH A PROFESSIONAL CORPORATION ATTORNEYS AT LAW COAST HIGIIWAY AT AVOCADO NEWPORT REACH, CALIFORNIA TELEPHONE (949) 759 -078I FACSIMILE (949)759.0788 August 2, 2010 Mr. Earl McDaniel, Chairperson Mr. Robert Hawkins, Commissioner Mr. Fred Ameri, Commissioner Mr. Charles Unsworth, Commissioner Mr. Michael Toerge, Commissioner Mr. Barry Eaton, Commissioner Mr. Bradley Hillgren, Commissioner City of Newport Beach Planning Commission Newport Beach City Hall 3300 Newport Boulevard P.O. Box 1768 Newport Beach, CA 92658 -5915 Gentlemen: MAILING ADDRESS: 2121 E. PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY SurrE 280 CORONA DEL MAR, CALIFORNIA 92625 Re: Newport Bay Marina (PA2001 -210) 2300 Newport Boulevard (Catmery Village /McFadden Square) ETCO Investments, LLC Hearing Date: August 5, 2010 Your file will reflect that this office represents Robert Roubian, the owner and proprietor ofThe Crab Cooker Restaurant, situated directly adjacent to the above - referenced project. Please note that Mr. ROUblan also resides nearby to the restauraat within the McFadden Square locale. On behalf of Mr. Roubian, I am submitting this letter for your consideration, requezting that it also become a part of the record of the upcoming hearing scheduled for August 5, 2010. At that hearing, the Commission will be asked to review and approve a construction traffic management and control plan and a parking management plan submitted by the applicant for this project. As in the past, Mr. Roubian generally supports this project subject only to specific concerns in light of its proximity directly adjacent to his restaurant. As required by the earlier conditional approval of this project, the applicant is submitting two plans: one for construction traffic management and control and, once the project is completed, a second plan for parking management for residents, tenants, City of Newport Beach Planning Commission August 2, 2010 Page 2 business patrons and visitors. In the absence of these plans fairly accommodating the existing realities of the ongoing operation of the adjoining restaurant, severe harm will be suffered by its patrons and great damage will be suffered by Mr. Roubian. Where the restaurant will continue to operate throughout the construction of this project, for the protection of the thousands of patrons (many of whom are Newport Beach residents) who will pass through its doors, we submit that extreme care must be given to determine if the proposed plans for the control and management of construction traffic will be sufficient. As is obvious from the materials submitted to you by the applicant and of which you are likely well acquainted by your own knowledge, the location of this project is in the heart of the dense heavily visited McFadden Square area. Vehicular, pedestrian and bicycle traffic is all very high within this densely developed and highly used area. Given the high degree of pedestrian foot traffic, and what one must assume will be a profit driven, quickly paced rotation of concrete, hauling and other construction vehicles within this congested area, for the protection of the public the City must be certain to impose adequate constraints and safeguards. To put the significance of the expected truck traffic into a realistic context, as noted within Table I submitted by the applicant, over a period of 120 days there will be more than 7,500 round trip truck trips to the site. Where these trucks will be in the form of large 16 -wheel vehicles and concrete- pouring vehicles, much greater detail needs to be fumished as to how agreed upon restrictions will be staffed, monitored and managed by the applicant's construction crews and, more importantly, how compliance with the agreed upon restrictions will come to be enforced. The proposed plan submitted to the Commission provides no detail on these most important Subjects and, for that reason, is materially deficient. Turning to the specific details of the plan, please note that virtually all vehicular traffic as described is to be routed from Newport Boulevard, left onto 22nd Street and then into the Arcade area to the South of the project. As has been presented to the Commission during numerous earlier hearings, the existing traffic that flows across 22nd Street, across the Arcade and exiting on 21st Street are routinely congested by local residents, visitors, delivery trucks and trash collection trucks. The assumption that this route corridor will be open and available to accommodate all of the truck and other construction traffic flows is unrealistic and inaccurate. As such, at unpredictable times there will be numerous and repeated situations where this route will be temporarily blocked delaying the ability of given truck to enter onto the project. Further, while details of this plan make conflicting references to managing the queing of trucks on City streets and prohibiting the staging of trucks within the public right -of -way, the reality is that despite the use of radio communication, if more than one full size hauling vehicle is permitted to be on or within the vicinity of the project at any given time, the queing and staging of such vehicles will unavoidably occur on 22nd Street effectively closing that thoroughfare to all other public use. While Mr. Roubin recognizes that any plan for the redevelopment of this property will unavoidably bring about inconvenience and construction traffic, a plan which references only the "avoiding" of queing and staging of large construction vehicles is simply unreasonable. Such a plan must seek to eliminating queing and staging. Further, for there to be any hope that any plan City of Newport Beach Planning Commission August 2, 2010 Page 3 will be carried out and that the managers and supervisors who will be responsible for administering it will be held accountable, let alone subject to effective enforcement, this plan must require the notification in writing to all surrounding- property owners of the names and contact information of those individuals. Note that item 13 mentioned on page 8 makes reference to a plan where two -way radios "coulef' be established between drivers and a traffic controller. Such plan must require the use of such communication. Further, a responsible individual within the City's staff must be identified and designated as having specific authority to oversee full compliance with the plan by the construction personnel. Relying upon parking enforcement or other police personnel to receive complaints will be wholly ineffective to insure contingent compliance over the estimated 7,500 round trips by large construction vehicles. Mr. Roubian, ofcourse, is concerned with the likely negative impactthe construction will have upon his ability to reasonably conduct his restaurant business. As such, he notes that this plan limits hauling and delivery the hours between 7:00 a.m. and after 3:00 p.m. during summer months. Given the importance of these restrictions, again noting the absence of clearly identifying individuals who will be held responsible for the implementation and management of this plan, its practical enforcement will become entirely illusory. Further, while this plan recites that all constriction activity including hauling must generally be limited between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., a period of 8-'h hours, the same plan recites that concrete pours may occur over a continuous8- 10hourperiod. This would seem to permit a significantly expanded time period which would materially cripple the public's ability to travel to and enjoy dining at the restaurant. As exacerbated by common construction practices of seeking to complete desired stages irrespective of time constraints, again, some means of assuring faithful supervision and full enforcement must be provided. hr addition, given the nature of concrete pours requiring the continuous delivery of materials to the site, with the complication of typical vehicular traffic within this locale, it is entirely unrealistic to assume that the queing of concrete trucks will be avoided. Instead, the reality that there will be such queing must be addressed and managed in a way which will not effectively close 22nd Street to all other vehicular traffic. Last, given the reality that despite the best efforts to comply with any such plan there will at times be queing of trucks, the plan must direct that all such truck drivers must be required to turn off their vehicles at any time they are immobile upon City streets, in order to minimize sound pollution and air pollution from an otherwise idling vehicle. Special consideration need be given to comment 1 1 appearing on page 8 of the plan. Here it is recited that for the safety of the public an 8 -foot high perimeter wooden fence will be erected upon the perimeter of the project. However, no mention is made as to requiring the use of an appropriate reinforcing wall to assure that no damage is done to the existing wall of the restaurant building which currently exists on a zero lot line setback. Before this body takes any action which may allow the applicant to receive building, excavation and demolition permits, a specific demolition plan must be submitted by the applicant for approval by the City and by Mr. Roubian which addresses this most important issue. As pertains to the same, given the age and historical nature of the restaurant building, extreme care and caution will need to be given to this concern in order to avoid what could well be a great hazard to restaurant patrons i fdamage were to occur to The City of Newport Beach Planning Commission August 2, 2010 Page 4 Crab Cooker building at any time during demolition, excavation and construction. It should be noted that at this time, Mr. Roubian has not been provided any such information which will allow him to reasonably determine that this most important safety issue has been addressed. With your generally giving attention to this matter, I would take this opportunity to briefly touch upon and renew certain other concerns of Mr. Roubian. Within the earlier staff report submitted to the Commission which led to the earlier conditional approval in December 2006, specific mention was made of addressing the inconsistent proposed use of the project in light of it directly abutting The Crab Cooker Restaurant building. Specifically, all concerned then recognized that the sights, sounds and smells emanating from the roof top of a busy restaurant may well lead to continuously annoyed residents living on the top floor of the project. The same concern was raised by the proprietor of Woody's Wharf Restaurant which is situated and directly adjacent to the project to the north. To address Mr. Roubian's concern, we previously urged a careful redesign of the residential unit most closely situated to the restaurant as well as the requirement that a specific written notice be given to all residential buyers, subsequent resale purchaser and lessees alerting them to the potential noxious characteristics of (lie surrounding properties. Having provided all manner of input which is reasonable, at this time Mr. Roubian remains ignorant of the nature of the final design plan. Further, this office having previously submitted to planning a proposed draft of such a written notice, no response was ever provided indicating that the submitted draft form or any other form of notice has been approved by the City and submitted to the applicant. Similar to Mr. Roubian's concerns raised above in regard to the construction process, it remains his great hope that this project can yet be completed in a reasonable manner and that its residents, commercial tenants and patrons and the patrons of The Crab Cooker Restaurant, will come to coexist in a harmonious manner. At this hearing, each of you as members of the Planning Commission has an opportunity to take action which will protect the public and help achieve that objective. Accordingly, we request that you give careful consideration to the foregoing concerns. Specifically, we further request that you continue this matter and require changes and additions to the proposed construction traffic management and control plan which will respond to each of the objections noted above. On behalf of Mr. Roubian and the many visitors to this City who patronize his restaurant, I thank you for having given attention to this letter. truly yours, Dwight J. Gri i DJG:mb cc: Mr. Robert Roubian Mr. Aschin Etebar L- PlanningCnm. 06.02.10. wp0 City of Newport Beach Planning Commission August 2, 2010 Page 5 bcc: James W. Campbell, Principal Planner Craig S. Neustaedter, PE L- PlanningCom. 08.02.10..Vd