[0:14] Good evening and welcome to the city of concord regular planning commission meeting for august 5th, 2026. First item on our agenda is roll call. Let the record show that commissioner corio and commissioner mizutani are absent this evening. Next item on the agenda is pledge to the flag and I'll have commissioner patel lead us in the pledge.

[0:44] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> thank you, commissioner patel next item on our agenda is public comment period.

[1:12] this this item is for any public comment for anything that is not on tonight's agenda. So if you're here to speak on something on the agenda, there will be an opportunity to speak later. Any takers for public comment period? Seeing none I will hit an item not on the agenda this evening it's seven brew coffee is on the agenda this evening on clayton road.

[1:41] >> yes the topic of that or would you like to speak on that item? Okay there will be an opportunity. All right. I'm going to close public comment period. The next item on the agenda is a consent calendar. We have one item on consent calendar but this item I don't believe we have a quorum for.

[2:03] commissioner patel was absent at the last so I think we'll just continue this to the next hearing date if that's okay. You do have a quorum this evening. You don't need to have the members that were members who did not attend. Are still able to vote on the minutes.

[2:23] is what the previous advice that e received you comfortable and you would just we would just need a ajority of the three commissioners that a majority of the three got it got it. >> okay all right then we will consider this I will open this item consent calendar for public comment.

[2:43] seeing no takers I will close public comment and entertain a motion. >> I move the recommended action. All right. I've got a motion and a second. A second. All right. All those in favor I I passes 330. Okay. Next item on the agenda public hearing.

[3:08] items we have one public hearing item this evening and tat is for seven brew coffee drive through peel 26045-updr and r t and for those in the audience this evening we will first hear a presentation from staff. The commissioner will have some ask any questions of staff there may be an applicant presentation as well.

[3:38] we'll have questions of the applicant and then we'll open it up for public omment period. And that's the point at which we'll we'll take public comments cards and if you would like to speak on this item, there's.

[3:57] in the back of the room in the in the there's some blu speakers cards if you could fill those out and hand them to staff that would be great. >> okay. At this time are all welcome meredith for presentation. >> good evening commissioners. I'm meredith repp, principal planner here tonight to talk about the proposed seven brew drive through a little bit of background on this project.

[4:28] >> it goes far back but I promise it's relevant in 1977. The planning commission at that time approved use permit 53 dash 77 for a restaurant at the site that we'll be talking about tonight with a condition that prohibited drive thru uses at the site. The applicant who wanted to drive through appealed this decision.

[4:48] >> it was heard by the council the following month. Who granted the appeal and approved a drive thru use in the intervening decades there's been several different restaurants there but throughout that whole history it's been both dine in and a drive thru restaurant.

[5:02] te application before us tonight would change it to be a drive thru only use and since this item was a feature of the project discussed so deliberately with our previous review authorities, this is considered a major changed and brought back to you tonight as the review authority.

[5:21] a very high level timeline of the process on this one the applicant submitted a preliminary application and conceptual design and site review at the beginning of the year. The derby conceptual design review was held in march of 2026. Comments from the derby were incorporated into a formal application ubmitted in april.

[5:40] the derby had final design and site review in may they recommended approval of the project or approval of the design and site review with a condition that the project come back to the derby design review board for the approval of a mural. That you'll see later. And in june the application was deemed complete.

[5:59] >> here is our site. It's at 4660 clayton it's a rectangle rectangular point seven acre site fronts clayton road it's currently developed with about a 30 600 square foot kfc and amw. Wich is now closed. I understand this is of course a pretty big commercial area.

[6:19] >> there's commercial uses up and down clayton including we'll be honest the the dutch bro's two doors down since I know this has been something the community has been concerned about there's also residential uses to the south of the site and southeast and then to the west there is a best western hotel.

[6:39] >> the application would convert that existing 3664 foot and kfc into a drive thru only seven brew coffee. To do this it would reduce some of those surface parking to mic room for queuing space. There would also be site improvements like landscaping, updated signage or an updated trash enclosure. Te.

[7:02] >> seven bruin employees 6 to 12 total employees which I do want to clarify maximum of 12 people on site is our understanding. I know some of the project materials said 15 but we've heard confirmation that that's 12 so.

[7:20] apologies for any confusion about that and they would like to be open seven days week from 5 a.m. To 11 p.m.. The permits to enable this would be a use permit amendment to mic it a drive thru only use design and site review for the site layout architecture landscaping and master sign program and a tree removal permit for he removal of eight protected trees. Here is our site plan.

[7:43] >> I do want to point out that there's 12 parking spaces here instead of 13 which is what the staff report said that was a legacy of prior site plan and I apologize for that. But this does not change any of the analysis in our technical studies which I'll talk about a little bit later.

[7:59] and the project would retain the footprint of the existing restaurant. >> it would retain the same circulation pattern as well with vehicles coming in and out of the two way drive through coming out if you're using the parking ot you can go out that way.

[8:15] otherwise if you're coming in to use the drive hrough you circulate it around the site in this counterclockwise loop. And pick up our order and head out on clayton road on a right turn exit only point in terms of other circulation the project would retain retain the sidewalk on clayton road and

[8:35] the internal walkway through the site that would be used by employees with the trash enclosure. It also proposes this new walkway south of the building that would be used by seven brew runners. So seven brew. Uses a model where employees come out with handheld devices to take your order.

[8:52] and so this is designated space for that where they can do it safely and the project would also retain the short term bike parking south of the building anticipated to be primarily for. Employees. But if someone were to bike to the site they could park their bike there and be served by a runner.

[9:13] >> here's a look at the proposed architecture. Here's the north elevation. So facing clayton road I wanted to point out this is the interior art wall or mural that I mentioned before. This was a. Kind of creative approach to the design here that the applicant worked on with the derby.

[9:29] the idea was we wanted to create visual interest and so this would be visible from the public right away. But we also want to convey that you know, this is not for customers to come in, it's a drive thru only and so this is the design of the wall that would go back to the derby.

[9:44] >> other features here of course the sign the blue grid pattern, the blue canopies and the rounded parapet kind of breaking up some of the straight lines more of what you can see in he west and east elevations and there's some gray trim and projections breaking up the scale of the building.

[10:04] you do see the art wall wrap around the west elevation a little bit. So cars that are waiting will still be able to see that and it doesn't show very well in the elevations here but in.

[10:23] packet it's labeled that there will be some blue led lighting along the fascia and then finally here's the south elevation in the trash enclosure which would be updated to match the color scheme and come into compliance by having screening between the gap where the doors and the enclosure are there are 11 proposed signs most of which you just saw on the elevations the disk logo and channel letter signs.

[10:41] so a master sign program is a requirement there is also a proposed monument sign and I can whoops show you here it's so big that you almost can't see but this is compliant with all of our code requirement and matches the design of the building.

[11:00] there's also two directional signs at each driveway where it says do you have one in d two? >> these are for exit only and you know drive thru coffee.

[11:15] >> signage pointing customers where to go and then finally there are three menu board signs and each one and e two along here there is a slight deviation from what is typically in our code for menu boards we allow up to two hat total 80ft2 and typically they're freestanding. The applicant is proposing three signs but totaling about 30ft2.

[11:33] so still well under the maximum square footage and having them attached to the building. >> one thing that we also talked about with the applicant about the menu board signs is with the runners being own here the menu boards are placed in areas after you would

[11:51] theoretically give your order to somebody and they explained that that's just a corporate policy on where the menu boards go. It's perhaps meant more to jog your idea for your next order and that runners would be able to help folks with the ordering process.

[12:04] so given that the derby and staff found that this amount of signage is appropriate and well and works well with the architecture of the building. Moving on to landscaping the project does propose to remove six protected trees and the one here is to accommodate the drive through the rest are being removed based on the

[12:28] recommendations of the arborist report nd the city's own urban forester who found these trees to be dead or dying or overcrowding other trees. And so we need to remove them to keep those other trees healthy.

[12:45] there's also two protected trees that are shown here in kind of the pinkish color that were in previously approved plans but are no longer on ite. So they were protected trees that were apparently removed without a tree removal permit and so those would also need to be mitigated through this project. This gives a total of eight protected trees and 24 mitigation trees based on the city's tree preservation guidelines.

[13:03] the project proposes ten new trees and nine of which would count towards that mitigation requirement and the one here is to be in compliance with our parking lot shading requirements so you don't get a double dip there but the vast majority of trees 21 would be retained and preserved.

[13:20] there's also shrubs in orange here proposed on either side to provide some additional landscape screening. The tree species the saratoga hybrid laurel and interior live oak was reviewed by our city urban forester nd he approved these species and locations and so with our our tree mitigation

[13:42] math there are 15 trees that are not mitigated with on site plantings and so there is a condition of approval requiring payment of our in lieu fee for those moving on to item. I know people are most interested in the traffic and parking analysis.

[14:05] I will say we have our transportation program manager erin elias and our traffic consultant and peers here tonight to help with any questions you may have but I'll give you a high level overview of our findings. Fran peters did provide a traffic and parking analysis for us and they found that the proposed 12 parking spaces are sufficient.

[14:20] >> I know there was some concern about language in the report that said there would be maybe just 5 to employees on site nd that's actually referring to the number of cars that they found based on looking at other seven locations.

[14:35] >> and a lot of these employees might not have access to a car and are dropped off. So even if there are 12 employees you might not have 12 cars but we do have a maximum of 12 employees and a maximum of 12 parking spaces.

[14:53] >> so we're confident that parking is sufficient for employers also reviewed the site plan and had some recommendations on improvements there such as adding a stop sign, adding some signage about right turn only markings at the driveways and also restricting runners o that designated sidewalk area where there's safe for them space for them to safely circulate. So those recommendations have been incorporated as conditions of approval as well.

[15:15] fran peters did the modeling for the traffic and found the trip would generate approximately 160 trips in the weekday am and saturday midday peak hours. Those were the two highest times and they looked at five study intersections to see how that added traffic would impact our system.

[15:32] they found that all of those study intersections would remain operating at levels that are passing at our general plan thresholds you might have heard of the term level of service or loss that's what we used to measure. The traffic and the intersections would all be at lausd or better which is what we require.

[15:51] >> however they did find that at the saturday midday peak the q storage lane at the layton and thornwood drive intersection for the westbound traffic would exceed the storage. So I'll explain a little bit better.

[16:10] here's our site down here if you're westbound on clayton and one of seven route you'll have to do a u-turn here and come around and that added traffic would exceed the lane length for or some intermittent times and so there is a condition of approval that the applicant would fund the modification of signal timing and phasing at this intersection and with

[16:26] those changes and the analysis shows the q storage would not spill down further past what's what their space for and then of course queuing there is space for 25 vehicles in this drive through and our consultants and peers looked at data from other seven locations

[16:49] including collecting data at the two locations that are a little bit shaded in yellow but hard to see here that's red oak, texas and aurora, colorado. Those two were considered to be most similar to the concord location and they looked at what the maximum q was at any of these locations.

[17:06] the maximum they ever saw was 24 and the average maximum they saw was 16. So based on his data the 25 proposed would accommodate the worst conditions that they've seen. But we also know this is one of the first seven brews in california so the demand might be more than was seen at these other locations.

[17:26] so we have some conditions of approval to try to mic sure we were prepared for this. We would require the applicant to prepare a queue management plan and I'll provide some clarification on that.

[17:44] we would also word that condition that it's not just something to be prepared and submitted, it would also be considered a condition of approval and be implemented throughout the lifetime of the project.

[18:00] so that's a clarification and we would also have the authority to add additional mitigation measures, additional operational method measures if there is spill over traffic or if unsafe conditions arise which is something we've not included in our past drive hru coffee projects and would add this authority based on some of the learnings there. >> finally the last technical study we did was a noise study with the additional queuing we wanted to mic sure that there wouldn't be noise impacts on the neighbors.

[18:22] we had written do a noise study they found that the project operations would not exceed our general plan thresholds for either the residential nor the hotel. >> so with that we can move into the discussion and findings. Staff finds that this project is consistent with the general plan. It complies with our commercial mixed use designation.

[18:45] it's also consistent with applicable policies such as those for neighborhood compatibility, landscaping and economic development. It's also consistent with the zoning standards for the c-max or commercial mixed use zoning district and standards for the drive through facilities. >> it provides adequate landscaping transition setbacks, screening and adequate queuing and circulation.

[19:08] >> there are two areas of the development code where we have a little bit of flexibility that I wanted to highlight for the commissioners. One is related to hours of operation the development code gives kind of a baseline clearance for drive through uses adjacent to residential to have operating hours of 7 a.m.

[19:27] to 10 p.m. But different hours can be approved through the use permit process. >> the applicants requesting 5 a.m. To 11 p.m. And what was originally approved in that 1977 use permit was 11 a.m. To 10 p.m. As there have been different restaurants there.

[19:45] I did find documentation that the later hours when it became kfc and n.w. Was from 10 a.m. To 11 p.m. So it's been operating until 11 p.m.. From what we've been able to see. But the ten the seven an allowance exceeding that to 5 a.m.

[20:05] would be a change staff does find that this is an appropriate request because there's been a drive thru at the site since the 70s there's also a lot of other businesses including the dutch bro's and other drive thru uses that are open for similar hours. We have really mature landscaping those redwood trees that provide privacy and buffer.

[20:24] we also are cognizant that seven three would be reducing some of the impacts perhaps by moving from a speaker box system to these handheld tablet orders. And finally we have the noise study results which show that the perations would be in conformance with our noise thresholds.

[20:41] >> the other area where the commission has some flexibility is our transitional requirements. Typically we require an eight foot masonry wall between residential and commercial uses.

[21:04] there's currently a five foot wood fence and buffering the the commercial and residential staff would recommend retaining the wood fence because of the existing landscaping there and the noise study results which show us that we're currently in conformance with our noise standards but we have something for the commission to consider. And then in terms of secure this project is categorically exempt pursuant to sections for existing facilities, conversion of small structures and infill development projects and none of the exceptions to the exemptions apply.

[21:31] in summary, the projects consistent with the general plan, the development code, our tree replacement provisions and other requirements we find the site is hysically suitable for the proposed project. It wouldn't have environmental impacts or endanger the public health safety or welfare and it's compatible and well integrated with the adjacent neighborhood.

[21:50] >> our recommendation is to add some language to the condition of approval about the queue management plan that says the approved queue management plan shall be considered a condition of approval and implemented throughout the lifetime of the project and we recommend that the resolution be adopted with that language to approve a use permit amendment design and

[22:10] site review and tree removal permit to convert the existing restaurant to a drive thru only seven brew coffee and with that myself and colleagues are here for your questions. >> thank you very much. Do we have questions for staff commissioner barber I do. >> thank thanks for the presentation. I appreciate it.

[22:31] I've seen this project before at the design review board and one of the things they talked about there was that this as going to be a training site for moving their their stores to other locations so they would open up the locations.

[22:47] but people will be trained here and that kind of makes sense because see 12 people in employees there and I don't know if that's if you really need 12 people to run you know, just the coffee business or if it's also the training is going on and I'm just wondering if

[23:09] the max number of people that are going to be there at any one time is 12 because you have you have shifts you know where people come in and go.

[23:22] so if you had 12 people working there and you had 12 more coming in or you staggered your shifts, you're going to end up with over 12 and that's probably something that we'll hear about later on maybe from the applicant.

[23:40] I don't think you can don't can't answer that right I would yeah I want clarification from the applicant but our understanding is the typical option operations would be more like six maybe up to 10 or 12 is really just if there's really high demand time where they would pull in that amount of people and also the design review board meeting there is some some questions about their runners and if they were allowed to be in certain spaces

[23:57] and the number of runners and since you're going to serve walk ins and bicycles, how are those going to be spread out and are they are they going to be in a safe location also because of the of the traffic? >> yeah. Let me go back to the site plan where it's definitely planned for primarily cars.

[24:23] you're right about that. If someone did come in on biker on foot I hink the seven employees would come out the door on this side of he building and meet them over here where they've parked their bike. >> all right.

[24:45] but what about the the runners working in traffic so we have a condition of approval that they could only be in this kind of salmon color area here and that's designated space where they can interact with the cars so they can serve up service up to four cars at a time thereabouts. Yeah. Okay.

[25:07] or I guess and these ones appear to they can be bringing drinks to folks there but and I'm sure this was covered by the design review board but the trash enclosure it has drainage outside as far as from he roof of the enclosure into a storm drain or some sort. >> I mean I will confirm I imagine it came up but I don't want to say for sure 'm designer.

[25:31] >> you doesn't really address come with some way to wash down inside of them and it's connected to the sanitary facilities in the hours you know I looked at the the hours of mcdonald's. I looked at the hours of dutch brothers and you know, 5:00 just sounded really early to me .

[26:01] but come to find out these other places have that. And I remember when mcdonald's went from normal hours to 10:00 to 12:00 and looking at them there they didn't mcdonald's not goes at 24 hours.

[26:22] I don't know how that if that's something like that goes through the planning commission or staff but going forward how do we if they wanted to go to 24 hours or later, what would be the mechanism for that? >> I believe they would need a use permit amendment. That is because the hours of operation are very intentionally crafted in in your decision tonight.

[26:44] and so the proposal that gets away from that intention would would kick it into a major change similar to what we're seeing tonight and staff recommends a five foot fence if it was a new facility, it was a new project.

[27:16] would you ever condition a five foot fence on a new project between residential and commercial? >> I might turn to the planning manager for that. >> yeah. I mean if the site was completely bare of any existing trees. No, I don't think we would recommend that. I think the existing trees was a big factor in our recommendation.

[27:32] of course it is completely at the discretion of the planning commission but that was a big factor because there's some concern from our arborist that building the new wall right in close proximity to those mature redwood trees could adversely impact the trees and we know

[27:51] that the landscaping is is a you know, an important amenity on the site. We know that some neighbors have spoken out in favor of preserving those trees. >> so that was a big factor. Yeah.

[28:09] the reason I asked that is just I thought it was a six foot fence and when I read the report that it was 54i thought it as unusual and honestly it's because of some of our unhoused people moving around the neighborhoods and whatnot and five foot is not not secure or even on a residential project that we see we we are all we always have at least a six foot fence.

[28:37] so that's one of the things that I'll talk about ater on that is a concern for me but that's all the questions I have right now. Thank you for your time. I appreciate you. Thank you. Mr. Barber commissioner patel hi. Thank you so much for the presentation you may or may not be able to answer this question.

[29:00] we may have to have the expert speak on this. A traffic study was done but we do have dutch pros which is just right there. Did they take into consideration the traffic from dutch pros when they did the traffic study? I kind of want to understand that a little bit more.

[29:19] >> I think I know the answer to that but I'm going to call up airlines right know no. Good evening air an alliance with the transportation division so our existing conditions when we looked at the seven brew coffee would have considered the dutch

[29:41] brothers because it would have been open so it's part of the background condition so we would have considered existing which has the dutch brothers and everything else going on and even the kfc that's how this was a little bit more of a conservative study as well because we didn't extract out the kfc volume.

[29:54] so all that volume is there and then we layer on top more of the seven brew coffee traffic and that's also another layer of conservative as well because usually we have in transportation what's called a pass by trip which means these vehicles are already on the road and they decide to stop.

[30:08] so like a gas station for example is not something somebody normally makes a trip specifically to do. They're just driving by. They see it, they pull over, they get gas. Same thing with these quick service restaurants or coffee you're driving by think oh I want coffee and you pull over. So those are called pass by trips.

[30:23] usually those result in a reduction in trip generation but in this case we continue to be conservative and just layering everything on top assuming that these trips were adding to everything that's there as a specific purpose to be going to seven brew okay.

[30:37] and then the queues maybe you might be able o answer that like I live in that area so I'm familiar of how things back up.

[30:59] how are they going to manage like if there's more than 24 cars like what preventive measures are they going to take ? Who's going to be on site o see that it doesn't become a backup because sometimes where there's a grand opening or you know the first month there's always going to be a backup and then I know there's also a school off thornwood so you know, people are so trying to

[31:12] come pick up their ids at school and so you don't want to be late to pick them up as well . So I'm looking at all that and I just want to know how they're going to anage the queues so that it doesn't, you know, create traffic, right?

[31:26] >> so that's part of the condition that we have for the queue management plan. We want them to document that in writing and we've given a couple of high level things that we want to understand has to be given to everybody, you know, what are your plans for

[31:35] when it does start getting along just that we have it in paper or in writing and then they also have it so that everybody knows that this is the plan as we get to 20 vehicles in the queue you know we have somebody go out and start waving people to start

[31:46] closing the gap to mic more space would be one spect. Once again this is another conservative area you saw we had I don't know 10 to 15 dutch brothers that are not just for the sorry seven brew coffees that we looked at around the

[31:58] country and only one of them had a queue of 24 and everything else the average is around 16 and we estimate around 25 can fit here based on kind of city code where we're looking at we usually assume about 22ft of vehicle for queue and we have 550ft of storage.

[32:14] so I know the site plan actually shows I think 26 or so if you actually look at the cars, some of those are a little close together. We actually just looked at the actual physical footage of space that would be there before it backs out on to clayton. So that's where the 5 comes from. Okay.

[32:29] and then I read something about let me take a look at my notes about the signals study or is something going to be changing ? Yeah. So as somebody who lives in the area you probably know that at thornwood a lot of people mic the u-turn especially go to mcdonald's.

[32:44] >> I know that's how I get into it. Yes. Yes. >> so what ends up happening? U-turns tend to be a lot slower than left turns so that queue can be a little bit longer and what we found with the conservative way we did the trip generation is that the

[32:55] queue length extends beyond the turn pocket and what that means is it could potentially block the through movement on clayton especially on kind of a saturday midday was the main finding and what the traffic study found is if we tweak the signal timing during that time

[33:08] period it can actually reduce that so you know maybe reduce some of the eastbound through movement on a saturday which is not super heavy to allow more left turn green time to clear out the queue more so that's what e found. But just by changing the timing we're able to compensate for the additional queue. Okay.

[33:26] thank you sir. Thank you announcement I did have some more questions regarding the fence I it was also for me I was thinking of that five foot fence and you know my concern is that there's going to be a lot of vehicles coming in and out and so damage is going to happen.

[33:51] it's it's happened you know I've seen it at other businesses who's going to be responsible for any damages that happen if something someone hits the fence or you know because you've got residents that are like living right behind there. So that's my question.

[34:09] >> city attorney's officer planning manager do you have a I'm ultimately the the owner of the property of the seven group property would need to, you know, maintain the fence whether they want to hold the driver who collided with the fence responsible and you know pursue a claim against them or something you know that's up to them.

[34:29] but we are the the property owner is ultimately responsible. >> sometimes the drivers will hit and they'll just leave. But I just wanted to mic sure that you know, that seven was going to like you know, I, I know who was going to be responsible because that will happen. Thank you.

[34:47] through that through the chair commissioner patel are you talking about the back fence? Yeah there's a whole row it trees to keep any cars from going you never know they're big trees you know I, I always want to mic sure like I you know you never know what can

[35:07] happen just want to mic sure you know yet think these were there thank you thank you and then I think that answers all my questions thank you. All right.

[35:27] thank you, commissioner patel, I just had one kind of clarification and I think we traded some emails on this but on the loss I think in fair impairs study we there are some allow us e intersections a couple of them but I think they're already allow us e so I just wanted to clarify and mic that distinction and mic sure I understood that correctly that

[35:54] they're already as bad as they can get right but they're just not getting much worse. Right. I think the the additional delay time was like less than five seconds or something, right, right. So level service is actually the second from the worst level service felt the worst. Okay. Okay.

[36:15] so it could get worse but yes, for all the intersections that were study there was no change in the overall grade so everything stayed what it was today within a range. So yes, some did increase by a few seconds of delay. Yeah.

[36:32] but nothing was enough to trigger the thresholds or to actually change the letter grade of the intersection. Got it. Okay, good. I think let's see. I think that was the only question that we didn't cover in email so thank you. I'd like to at this time welcome the applicant to mic a presentation. So thank you everybody. Thank you commissioners meredith thank you so much for the wonderful presentation.

[37:02] we didn't want to be redundant with the powerpoint since we can't point to our slides here so we just kind of want to come up and say so I'm mary ganser I'm with courses group.

[37:16] we are the civil engineer for seven bru and the applicant we're also part of the architecture team and with me here I also have russ orsi and chris hatch they are with for the development so they are the applicant and they are the main developer for seven through with kind of this west coast expansion and they're not here this evening but we wanted to

[37:31] include as part of the applicant team is brenton jackson so he is with the harman group he is actually the current franchisee of the kfc and he actually will be the franchisee for the seven brew. So he's been part of this property in this neighborhood and city concord for almost 40 years.

[37:45] he knows this area very well in this property and so he just wanted to pass along that, you know, he will continue to be a good neighbor with the seven brew and be very hands on and is cognizant, you know, of everything to mic sure the site is running smoothly and the

[38:03] operations don't cause a nuisance to residents and the community. So we just want to say thank you for listening to our application. I can kind of speak a little bit further into the operations piece. So as we discussed on a typical shift day they will have about 6 to 8 to 6 to 9 employees per shift.

[38:26] >> now if there are potentially monthly special rules or something where they know there might be a higher interest in the site, that's where the 12 employees will come in and that way they have more hands on deck. It makes the queue go faster.

[38:49] they have a very specific operation internally in the floor plans where everything's down to you know, an inch designed where if they have the 12 employees they have four stations making during o everything goes very quickly. So as we mentioned the main delivery doors are on the right and I don't know how to use the fancy pointer meredith like to mic it light up the president oh, there we go.

[39:11] okay, so these are the walk out doors where the main drinks are delivered and on a quiet afternoon where it's not peak hours and the queues are never not exceeding the site this way they'll even take the orders up at those doors and just bring them right out.

[39:30] >> as we mentioned we will have 2 or 3 or even up to four employees within kind of that red salmon colored area where they will be either monitor in the queues at all times.

[39:46] they are able to take orders from cars 4 or 5, six, even seven and then by the time they arrive to the doors their drinks are delivered and everyone's on their way. So keeps everything moving completely through the site within minutes at most. We did mention I think commissioner barbour mentioned about the training site so it is a potential training site.

[40:03] they do have again internally kind of a training station and that will be done in shifts as well. So it won't be like one major training event where there's, you know, 30 people they'll strategize which is where they'll have a day where there's six employees working

[40:20] and they'll have a shift of let's say six training employees and they'll schedule that out to mic sure that obviously everyone has parking on site while also maintaining operations and keeping cars moving.

[40:35] so that's the intent with kind of the training piece and again that won't be a consistent piece they will schedule that out monthly just to mic sure fans are getting trained but mic sure the main priority is just to keep the site operationally smooth and running so that that's it. I'm kind of he operations piece but I am pen to more questions. >> thank you.

[40:57] commissioner barber yeah, I'm glad to see that people can walk up and bikes can walk up and right up and get served there also I was wondering what the I have a the drive lines look really, really wide when went there the other day I couldn't believe how much space

[41:16] there is but what I wanted to ask about was one of your deliveries you know your product deliveries and when does your trash pick up and how do you deal with that? You know with what? With the queuing that you have? >> sure.

[41:34] so so peak hours for this use are typically the early morning so kind of like the call it six to eight, 6 to 9. So that's really the heaviest volume for the whole day. The ext heavier volume would probably be just a late afternoon maybe a little afternoon pick me up.

[41:55] >> but typically deliveries are done so off hours off peak hour so they come in, they drop them off quickly.

[42:10] it wouldn't be at peak times when there's a lot of cars they kind of maybe due to deliveries a week and time it out either maybe 5 a.m. Or late you know 7 p.m. What what type of vehicles mic your deliveries? Are they small vans that can go through the drive through? Are they something that will have to swing into the parking area to unload or o it's not

[42:27] like a full truck tractor trailer is more of like a box truck. It's a little bit more navigable and they can we kind of have that stripped out area as you can see kind of to the south of the site right underneath the parking spaces right in front of the trash enclosure.

[42:43] so that kind of be would be a loading area as well that they can kind of pull into and wait and carry the items in through the sidewalk. Can you highlight that? >> yeah, I can say that on this area right here is all stripped out so it's outside of the drive lane.

[43:01] it's not in a parking stall. It's right in front of the trash enclosure. Yeah, yeah, I see I'm I'm just I'm just thinking about it. Well, you you have experience and this works for you, right? >> it does, yeah. Okay, let's see. What else do I have? I think hat I think that's it. Okay. Thank you.

[43:29] thank you, mr. Barber. Any other questions for the applicant? Um, let's see. >> yeah. And I don't have any either so thank you very much. You're very welcome. >> thank you. At this time I will open this item for public comment and thank you. I've got some speaker cards here. Um, we will start with becky coffin.

[44:01] come up to the podium, please. Thank you. Okay. Um, sorry. There you go. Thank you. >> my name is becky coffin. My house is right. Uh huh, I don't know. Well, it's right there adjoining that fence that I think everyone's talking about.

[44:25] um, kfc was not a busy all hours of the day type of traffic, so when it was it was loud. It was their speakers were very loud. The cars the lights were shown right into our windows. People could see right into our backyard into our bedrooms where my daughters are sleeping.

[44:49] um, so I had to get like certain curtains to cover and this with all this higher traffic I'm talking like hree four cars at night versus now it's going to be 25 cars at one time.

[45:10] I do really strongly feel that we need to build a brick wall higher than five feet to trap out the noise the looky lou that can look right into our backyard. I mean I have a 18 year old, an 11 year old and they can't even go in their backyard and play when people want kfc was even open in the daytime because people would be looking at them in their bathing suits.

[45:27] I mean so I do not want 25 cars looking at my daughter's o I don't know hat we can do about that.

[45:48] the fence problem I don't know like what we can do about that but that definitely needs to be changed and like the hours I kind of got used to the dutch grows hours but I know I was reading their site says something about music playing like they're they're about kind of like dutch rose in the beginning how they were playing music very loudly that's the same scenario that's on their site.

[46:10] so I'm very concerned about music playing t five in the morning to 11 p.m. At night. Again I have my husband's in the coast guard.

[46:27] he works 12 hour shifts days late afternoons like we cannot when he needs to go to sleep he needs to go to sleep so the noise control for the music part especially because it's freezing our bedrooms were as dutch pros with facing the living room that is a big concern and feel like the wall would also help with that as well. Thank you very much and I think oh sorry. >> listener barbara has a question.

[46:54] go ahead just real quick. Yeah. So we're here at the behind the redwood trees I there's two trees and okay so the when you drive into the driveway you're looking right into my you're you're straight back. Mm hmm. Thank ou very much. Mm hmm. And sorry, I have one one question as well.

[47:17] we've heard from some other neighbors and written correspondence that they want the trees retained but I think we have a kind of a little bit of a conflict between the cmu wall and retaining those trees because if we put a cmu wall in those trees need to be removed.

[47:33] I believe that's the case from city forester and the arborist but it seems okay it's only my house on that part. I see. Okay so you're on as you drive in you're to the right. >> I can show your drive through side so you're excuse me. You'll have a chance to peak. All right.

[47:59] thank you so if I can show you the trees are actually including my fence and I do got it. Okay. Go back to drive through is coming and kind of like your cars. Okay. Straight shots all right. Okay. Thank you very much. Next speaker is alexandra whitmore. >> welcome. Hi. Good evening.

[48:30] my name is alexandra klimov and I live near drive through is the future project for 651 the melody drive it's fence and like I am a neighbor. Yeah. First I would like to thank you planning commission for, uh, taking the time to listen to our community. I appreciate the opportunity to share my concern.

[49:01] I respectfully ask you to preserve the existing trees around our neighborhood. These trees provide privacy, reduce traffic and business noises, improve air quality and serve as a natural habitat for birds and other wildlife. They are an important part of our community and our quality of life.

[49:28] I also ask to you please consider the residence those who live next to this project the fuller respect new businesses and understand that that important and for our city in return we ask for respect for the families who already live here. I am especially concerned about the proposed 5 a.m.

[50:00] opening time open opening that early would create ancestor noises from cars, drive thru traffic deliveries and customers. While many residents are still sleeping this would have a significant impact in impact on our daily lives. I respectfully ask that the businesses open no earlier than 7 a.m.

[50:36] with this would provide a better balance between supporting local business and protecting the peace health and well-being office around that neighborhood. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you. Next speaker will be jane zola. Hello jane zola as a resident who lives directly behind so where the redwoods are and the fence line the fences are brand new. We just put those in earlier this year. I run our board for new hall village.

[51:14] we have not had any accidents and I hope we don't have any. Our plead is to preserve as many of the trees there as possible and seeing what was on your charts I'm seeing the redwood trees on there and certain numbered for other

[51:32] trees but some of the like large hedges or bushes I'm not seeing n there my husband will have more about that but just trying to keep that privacy screen as best as possible would be fantastic.

[51:49] there is one dead tree and I'd be happy to meet with your arborist r their arborist or whomever to discuss this and try and keep everything as fluid as possible because there's another tree that's got a hump and we built the fence over it just to maintain the tree and it's rooting to keep everything healthy. I don't have a problem with the coffee. I don't have a problem with the drive thru.

[52:10] it's mostly just being considerate of the fact that it is our backyards and it's not that far from the drive thru itself so maybe some signage keeping the noise down within certain times.

[52:33] the 5:00 time is a bit early only because garbage does come early also and they're not quiet when they dump garbage that would probably be a little bit earlier than 5:00 and might be a little bit loud. No major complaints really just trying to preserve our privacy and our sound while again happy to work with the team, the arborist, everybody in eeping that maintained. That's about it. Great. Thank you very much.

[53:06] next up chris zola. That's not bad notes but she sole half of them so I may add lib a little bit here. So seriously I've lived in essentially the middle of the drive through on the south perimeter for 34 years and the trees and the bushes that are there are really what makes it tenable.

[53:31] about five years ago they did a bunch of trimming on not just the rees but the bushes specifically the ones between. On he arborist report there's trees 14 and 15. There's a bunch of bushes.

[53:53] I don't know why their bushes are about 15ft tall but when they cut those down to pretty much almost fence level, the amount of noise that went through it was just incredibly more than it was with them there. And my only real asking all of this I'm fine with the project I the times don't bother me that much. I know it'll be a little bit louder but that is a complete sound wall.

[54:11] you know over the years I got used to the drive thru, didn't even hear it, didn't even smell the chicken after all that time but those trees, bushes everything there is s just it makes he place livable.

[54:30] I mean we do that the three of us essentially all live in the drive thru and I will say I don't really have concerns with the height of the fence. Again, I've been there for all these years never seen anybody jump it. Nobody's ever hit it anything like that. So I'm ot overly concerned with that and I'm just talking about the south perimeter, the person that's on the other perimeter might be a little bit different.

[54:47] I can understand that but my real ask really is just on the trees and the bushes that are there. I will say that it's ot a big change in my opinion.

[54:58] I was a little bit more excited about all of this before I knew that it was the same franchisee because he hasn't always been a great neighbor but I'll just state that and leave it as it is. So thank you. Thank you very much. That's the last speaker's card I have.

[55:20] is there anybody else that would like to mic a comment? I think everybody that's sitting here has commented so I won't close the public comment period and bring it back to the commission and before we maybe before there's comments by the commission. A follow up question for staff on the trees in the arborists report.

[55:51] so if we're looking at plans south it sounds like the neighbors along that that property line would like to retain as many trees and bushes just as much greenery as possible along that fence line.

[56:21] I think the arborists report lists those trees as lists for trees nine, 12, 17 and 18 as optional removals but then in the plan there's a couple I think it's 12 nd 17 or 12 and 18 that are slated for removal. So question for staff is it how those got slated for removal and can we keep them instead? So the pivots which are 12 and 18 our city urban forester considers those likely volunteers and actually nuisance plants they're invasive and I liked the idea

[56:54] of clearing those to mic room for trees that are more environmentally valuable native species. So the saratoga a hybrid laurel and the live oak number nine is a canary island pine which we believe to also be a volunteer and our city urban forester felt that it was competing for

[57:14] light and space with the neighboring trees including a redwood and so removal of that would get rid of that crowding problem would give that redwood the space and light it needs so that there's not future structural issues.

[57:39] and then number 17 is a maple and that one s in fair to poor structural health and was recommended for removal again to help the neighboring redwood as well. Okay and I'm trying to remember what was called for to be what was being replanted in that area. But do we know what's what's called the be replanted? Do we know is it are they evergreen and how quickly do they grow? Not a tree expert.

[58:15] they don't I don't think either of those is evergreen and I'm not sure about the speed of growth. I'm sorry. Okay. No problem. Okay. Thank you. Now I will open it up for commission comments.

[58:49] >> commissioner barber it's a rough one for me because I feel for the people the residents associated here around the project you know with the with the sound e have some people saying they're used to it.

[59:10] you know and I get that because if you lived next to the bart tracks you know one of the bart trains probably the most is when they're not running because it's too quiet and so you kind of get used to it as far as people looking at being able to look in people's houses 25 cars at a time going through their that bothers e. I'm not inclined to support the project until something's changed with the fencing situation that's that's my kind of my stake in the ground. Thank you.

[59:43] commissioner barber commissioner patel. I'm kind of in agreement. We do have to look out for our neighbors. There's got to be a solution.

[1:00:01] there's got to be something that can be done so that they are able to have some privacy and you know, I'm not sure exactly where I stand right now because you know, I I mean if I was in there I'm just imagining myself with my children in your situation is there any other options that we have? It's like you said, what can we plant? How quickly can they grow? Yeah.

[1:00:25] I mean there may be landscaping screening type options or no public comment periods closed. I mean I would be I would want to see something happen where the neighbors would feel like okay, we've got some sort of there has to e something I'm thinking yes, yeah, fruit for

[1:00:58] the commission could continue the item and staff could work with the applicant or work with our arborist with the neighbors to explore other ptions. >> yeah I definitely I definitely support that and we get the input from the other commissioners that weren't available tonight.

[1:01:18] I think this is an important project to the city and I want to be fair to the applicant. I want to be air to the public,especially the public and we've made some missteps with coffee shops on clayton road and I don't want I don't want another one to happen.

[1:01:36] so if it if it's not too much of a burden I would really support you continue as we get the other commissioners here thank you I think mr. Patel yeah I do think we need the other two commissioners and I want this to be like a win win situation for both the applicant and and the neighbors.

[1:01:59] I believe that you know, we are a community and we should be working together or at the end of the day and f there's a solution that works then I'm hopeful that there is one. So let's wait till we get the other two commissioners and see what options we can come up with.

[1:02:16] >> okay I, I will entertain a motion in a moment. I think if we're continuing this item I think I think we've got some feedback and direction on screening and fences along two property lines right it's planned south and think plan

[1:02:39] east or no I'm sorry plan est to other two other items one is I'm happy to that there's going to be runners instead of amplified speakers you know yelling over so I would just like to see a condition added in the conditions of approval when we review this next that

[1:03:07] would prohibit any amplified speakers of any kind which would include, you know, any sort of music or anything. So I was initially thinking just a speaker box and then one of the public commenters on music playing.

[1:03:26] so I think we should just I would support adding a condition to prohibit all amplified speakers on the exterior and then I wanted to get thoughts from commissioners that are present tonight on adding a condition to limit the number of employees because I think the prior use permit limit capped it at 12. We've heard from the applicant team that 12 is fine with them as a max.

[1:03:50] I think it would just be good to get in the conditions since we're kind of clearing the old conditions and putting new ones in place and I have to question can I es.

[1:04:08] would that also include if it's going to be a training facility, would that also include them as well? So yes, we have to keep that 1212 max at any given time regardless. Yeah, I think is what we've heard from the applicant team correct or control operations. Yeah. Yeah a little bit yes only because okay was just looking for a head nod.

[1:04:31] it sounds like that may need o be explored too between now and the next hearing. What is the absolute maximum and I'm hearing that it might be higher than 12 and we only have 12 parking spaces so that needs to be clarified and discussed. I think before the next hearing.

[1:05:00] let's see I'm just going through some notes here. Anything else that yeah, I have some stuff may or may not be related. Has there been some sort of meeting with the owner? That's I guess it's the same owner that's going to go ahead and operate.

[1:05:25] this has there has has he reached out? Have you guys had any have had any meetings or anything like that with the change that's happening? I'm just curious. So I'm seeing head shaking. Okay. Okay. All right.

[1:05:49] with that I think would we be continuing to a date uncertain and then um that would no, I think if you gave us one month that would probably be adequate. So for maybe the first eeting in november or sorry excuse me september that way we won't have to re notice it. Okay so that's what I would recommend. Okay so we would the motion then would be continuing to the first meeting in september. Yeah. Okay.

[1:06:18] and through the chair if I could just summarize the issues that we've heard in your discussion and we just confirmed that's the direction for us to be what what you'd like us to bring back at the next meeting. So the first issue was to look at various options for preserving more of a visual buffer along that.

[1:06:38] I guess that would be the southwest property line the rear of the site. You know if it if it's necessary to remove those trees for for the health of the other trees then could some you know what else could be planted that would be appropriate or

[1:06:56] potentially installing a taller fence as I didn't mention this earlier but I think a a new wood fence that's taller than the existing five foot fence would probably have less of an impact on the existing trees in terms of how it's constructed than a masonry wall.

[1:07:15] so that could be a potential option so we can explore that as well as other landscape options. That's the first issue. Second issue was as chair lobb noted, prohibit amplified sound and then thirdly limit specify the number the maximum number of employees and put that in the conditions.

[1:07:40] >> yes everything I think in addition to that I think there's the other property line as well but kind of a similar issue just making sure that you know we get a cmu all or I think that's the request of the public commenter but you know so that would be something that

[1:08:03] I think it's planned west oak property line looking at what can be done there to to add some privacy. Okay ommissioners any other any other know what date was he looking at to move it's the first meeting in september. I'm ot sure of the date. I'm sorry.

[1:08:33] I think we can just say first meeting in september second at 630 just for the september 2nd. Great. Thank you. Okay with that I would let me try entertain a motion commission berger like to move to continue this meeting to december the 2nd september september the 2nd with the 3 or

[1:08:56] 4 items that we just recently discussed for that meeting. Right. Got a motion and a second. All those in favor I all right. We will continue this item to september 2nd. Thank you everybody for coming out this evening. >> next item on our our agenda is item six commission considerations. There are none.

[1:09:29] next item on our agenda is item seven staff reports and announcements. My only announcement is I wanted to acknowledge that michelle metzger is sitting in for tom caprio this evening. I do apologize we didn't get her a corrected nameplate but I wanted to express my my thanks to michelle for for filling in tonight. >> excellent.

[1:09:53] thank you, michele. Next item is item eight commission reports and announcements. Any commission report or announcements. >> okay. All right. And item nine future public hearing items. >> so along with that item that we just continued to september 2nd, we also have two other items for that meeting.

[1:10:16] we have the seven flags carwash at 1090 oak grove road and we have he unique beauty clinic at 2340 almond avenue and no other hearings are scheduled at this time. >> great. Thank you very much. That brings us to item ten which is adjournment. >> we are adjourned.

Planning Commssion Meeting 8-5-26

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