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Anaheim, CA 92805
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CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT
City of Anaheim
PLANNING AND BUILDING DEPARTMENT
DATE: APRIL 12, 2022
FROM: PLANNING AND BUILDING DEPARTMENT
SUBJECT: APPEAL OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION DECISION
MODIFYING CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT NO. 2494
RELATING TO A MOTEL AT 920 SOUTH BEACH
BOULEVARD (TRAVEL INN)
ATTACHMENT (Y/N): YES ITEM # 23
RECOMMENDATION:
That the City Council, by Resolution, deny an appeal of a decision of the Planning Commission and approve Development Project No. 2022-00008 modifying Conditional Use Permit No. 2494 to add conditions of approval for an existing motel.
DISCUSSION:
On February 28, 2022, the Planning Commission held a public hearing to consider modification or revocation of a conditional use permit (CUP) for the Travel Inn motel located at 920 South Beach Boulevard. On a 6-0 vote, the Planning Commission modified the CUP to add new conditions of approval. Two people spoke and one piece of correspondence was received in favor of the modification or revocation. The property owner’s attorney, Frank A. Weiser, spoke and submitted a letter in opposition. A copy of the February 28, 2022 Planning Commission staff report, the draft meeting minutes, and written public comments received by the Planning Commission are included as Attachments 3, 4, and 5 to this report.
Subsequently, on March 7, 2022, Mr. Weiser filed an appeal of the Planning Commission’s decision on behalf of the property owner. The appeal request is included as Attachment 6.
Background: A conditional use permit for the 22-room Travel Inn motel was approved in 1975, and a 10-room expansion was approved in 1983 resulting in the existing 32-room motel. The Travel Inn’s original CUP included one condition:
“The subject property shall be developed substantially in accordance with plans and specifications on file with the City of Anaheim marked Exhibit Nos. 1 through 3; provided, however, that kitchen efficiency units may not be installed in no more than twenty-five percent (25%) of the motel units, with a maximum of 6-cubic foot refrigerators, two- burner stoves excluding oven and baking facilities, and single compartment sinks, except that the manager’s unit will be allowed to have full kitchen facilities.”
Conditional Use Permit No. 2494
April 12, 2022
Project Location
In December 2021, the City initiated the Rebuild Beach effort to improve the Beach Boulevard corridor and the quality of life for surrounding West Anaheim neighborhoods. Part of this effort includes identifying tools to better address site and public health and safety issues stemming from the operation of motels on Beach Boulevard that require significant Police Department, Code Enforcement, and Fire Department services. Staff identified the Travel Inn as a priority site in the Rebuild Beach effort because of the poor maintenance of the property and the significant amount of criminal activity that, as described below, has been harmful to public health and safety.
On January 4, 2022, City staff met with the owners of four motels, including the Travel Inn. At this meeting, staff presented the owner with recommended guidelines for operation. This effort was an attempt to gain voluntary compliance with practices that would improve the motel property and reduce activities detrimental to public health and safety. While staff is encouraged by the owner’s expressed willingness to implement the recommended guidelines, staff believes it is prudent to memorialize these recommendations in the CUP to ensure long-term quality operations, and diminish public health and safety issues. Further, these conditions would remain with the property in perpetuity, ensuring consistent requirements if the property were to be sold to another entity.
Police Activity: As shown in the table below, there has been a dramatic increase in arrests and calls for service at the Travel Inn in recent years. Of the 18 motels on Beach Boulevard, the Travel Inn had the third highest calls for service in 2021. Arrests at the property jumped 67% between 2020 and 2021. Police statistics show that, between 2017 and 2021, five out of 18 Conditional Use Permit No. 2494
April 12, 2022
motels in the Beach Blvd. area account for 65% of total arrests, and the Travel Inn accounts for 12% of those arrests.
Travel Inn Crime Statistics
2019 2020 2021
Arrests 5 12 20
Calls for Service 30 174 259
Criminal activities have included illegal gambling, assault, battery, drug use, firearms possession, and carjacking. On December 28, 2021, the Police Department observed an illegal gambling facility, known as a “slap house,” in a motel room as depicted in the photos below.
Travel Inn Slap House, December 28, 2021
The Police Department notes that most crime goes unreported; therefore, while these statistics are a good indicator of the crime levels, they are not wholly representative of criminal activity at the Travel Inn.
Code Enforcement: There has also been Code Enforcement activity on the property. Code violations observed included illegal gambling, homeless encampments, overflowing dumpsters, illegal dumping, overgrown vegetation, construction without permits, holes in walls, pest control, missing window screens, and lack of smoke detectors. The pictures below are examples of general property maintenance violations that create a blighted condition of the property.
Conditional Use Permit No. 2494
April 12, 2022
General Trash and Debris Observed
Staff conducted a site visit on February 24, 2022 and found the pool being used to store construction materials and trash. Code Enforcement conducted a follow-up visit on March 8, 2022 and found the issues at the pool had not been addressed, as shown in the photos below.
Code Enforcement issued notices to the property owner on March 11, and March 22, 2022, after finding that the pool conditions remained similar to those observed in the photos.
Pool: February 24, 2022 Pool: March 8, 2022
Fire Department: Anaheim Fire & Rescue personnel generally respond to fires and medical emergencies. Since 2019, Anaheim Fire & Rescue responded to 42 calls for service for various medical emergencies. Specifically, there are calls for service related to drug overdoses/poisoning, assault, mental/emotional/psychological issues, unconscious or unresponsive individuals, near drowning/diving/water related injury, flooding inside the building, and cardiac arrest. Anaheim Fire & Rescue notes that significant resources are expended on motels on Beach Boulevard, including the Travel Inn, which limits the availability of resources to other parts of the City.
Conditional Use Permit No. 2494
April 12, 2022
Persons with drug paraphernalia at the Travel Inn
The Planning Commission added conditions of approval to the CUP to ensure operations that encourage property maintenance and discourage criminal activity (Attachment 2). Since the Planning Commission hearing, staff has revised the conditions in a manner that meets the intent of the Planning Commission’s action, but provides clarifying language. Specifically, Condition Nos. 11 and 12 regarding the manager’s reporting responsibilities for guests’ criminal history were clarified and condensed into a single condition, and Condition No. 17 regarding daily cleaning service was clarified. A draft resolution with a complete list of staff’s recommended conditions has been included as Attachment 1.
Proposed conditions include, but are not limited to, the following:
Provide a Security and Operations Plan for Police Department review and approval, with a required annual review
Ensure minimum age of guest renting a room is 21 years Ensure provision of 24-hour on-site management
Ensure provision of daily cleaning service
Prohibit short duration room rentals (12-hour minimum) Ensure regular maintenance including landscaping, and removal or graffiti, trash, and drug paraphernalia
Basis of Appeal: The following are the general reasons for the property owner’s appeal and staff’s analysis.
The City of Anaheim Police Department entered onto the motel property and conducted unlawful searches without the Owner’s knowledge, consent or a warrant. The evidence obtained by such unconstitutional searches cannot be used by the City as a basis to modify conditions of the CUP.
Conditional Use Permit No. 2494
April 12, 2022
This claim is without merit. The Staff Report for the Planning Commission hearing on February 28, 2022 included crime statistics available to the public and photographs from areas that are open to the general public. None of this information triggers the constitutional protections asserted by the appellant.
The City of Anaheim violated the Owner’s First Amendment Rights by threatening criminal and civil penalties.
This claim is without merit.
The City intends to close the motel, the Planning Commission was pretextual and did not comply with Due Process.
This claim is without merit. The City provided written individualized notice to the Owner of the date and time of the hearing before the Planning Commission. In doing so, the City provided the process that was due.
The Planning Commission was biased and the Owners were not afforded a fair hearing based on the Planning Commission’s remarks.
This claim is without merit.
There is no credible evidence that the motel is operating in violation of local or state law, or as a public nuisance.
This claim is without merit. The Travel Inn has significant criminal, code enforcement, and medical-emergency related activity. Over the past two years, calls for service at this location have increased by more than 800%. Recent photographs depict criminal activity, trash, rodents, and incapacitated persons with drug paraphernalia.
Revocation or Modification of Discretionary Permits: The Planning Commission or City Council may revoke or modify a conditional use permit if it finds that any of the following conditions exist:
1) That the approval was obtained by fraud;
2) That the use or variance for which such approval is granted is not being exercised within the time specified in such permit;
3) That the use or variance for which such approval was granted has ceased to exist or has been suspended or inoperative for any reason for a period of six (6) consecutive months or more;
4) That the permit granted is being, or recently has been, exercised contrary to the terms or conditions of such approval, or in violation of any statute, ordinance, law, or regulation;
Conditional Use Permit No. 2494
April 12, 2022
5) That the use or variance for which the approval was granted has been so exercised as to be detrimental to the public health or safety, or so as to constitute a nuisance; 6) That the use or variance for which the approval was granted has not been exercised and that, based upon additional information or due to changed circumstances, the facts necessary to support one or more of the required findings for the original approval of such entitlement, as set forth in this chapter, no longer exist; or 7) That any such modification, including the imposition of any additional conditions, is reasonably necessary to protect the public peace, health, safety, or general welfare, or necessary to permit reasonable operation under the permit as granted.
Pursuant to Chapter 18.60.150 of the Anaheim Municipal Code (AMC), the City Council shall conduct a de novo hearing as follows:
“Regardless of the basis for appeal, the appeal authority shall consider the entire scope of the project application under consideration, including the proceedings and conclusions of the original decision-making process. All plans, records, files and other documents concerning the application, that constitute the record in the action being appealed, shall be transmitted to the appeal authority by the appropriate approval authority.”
A notice of this hearing before the City Council on the appeal of CUP revocation or modification was mailed to the property owner. Staff also emailed the staff report and draft resolution to the property owner. As described in this report and in accordance with Finding Nos. 4, 5, and 7, the Planning Commission believes that the motel has been operating in a manner detrimental to the public health or safety, so as to constitute a nuisance, and that the imposition of additional conditions of approval is reasonably necessary to protect the public peace, health, safety, and general welfare.
CEQA Environmental Determination: Staff recommends the City Council find that the effects of the proposed project are Categorically Exempt from the requirements to prepare additional environmental documentation per California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines, Section 15301, Class 1 (Existing Facilities) and Section 15321, Class 21 (Enforcement Actions by Regulatory Agencies). The Class 1 exemption consists of the repair, maintenance, and/or minor alteration of existing public or private structures or facilities, involving negligible or no expansion of the use beyond that existing at the time of this determination. The Class 21 exemption consists of actions by regulatory agencies to enforce or revoke a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use issued, adopted, or prescribed by the regulatory agency or enforcement of a law, general rule, standard, or objective, administered or adopted by the regulatory agency. The proposed project is a request for revocation or modification of a conditional use permit for an existing motel therefore there is no expansion of the existing use in this enforcement action of an existing entitlement. Pursuant to Sections 15300.2 (c), 15301, and 15321 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations, there are no unusual circumstances in respect to the proposed project for which staff would anticipate a significant effect on the Conditional Use Permit No. 2494
April 12, 2022
environment and, therefore, the proposed project would be categorically exempt from the provisions of CEQA.
CONCLUSION:
The Planning Commission considered the modification or revocation of the Travel Inn CUP and determined that the lack of property maintenance and operation of the Travel Inn is detrimental to public health and safety. As such, the Planning Commission unanimously modified the CUP to add new conditions of approval. Staff recommends that the City Council uphold the Planning Commission’s decision.
A draft City Council resolution upholding the decision of the Planning Commission and denying the appeal is provided as Attachment 1 to this report.
IMPACT ON BUDGET:
The costs to process this CUP modification and appeal are included in the Planning and Building Department’s FY 2021/22 General Fund budget.
Respectfully submitted,
Ted White
Planning and Building Director
Attachments:
1. Draft City Council Resolution of Denial
2. Planning Commission Resolution of Modification
3. February 28, 2022 Planning Commission Staff Report
4. February 28, 2022 Planning Commission Meeting Draft Minutes
5. February 28, 2022 Planning Commission Public Correspondence
6. Appeal of Planning Commission’s Decision (Frank A. Weiser)