City Council
August 14, 2023
Agenda Item 11-A
Public Hearing
MND 23-01, GPA 23-02, & ZC 23-02
Presented By:
Rowena Genilo-Concepcion
Planning Department
Good Evening Mayor and Members of the City Council,
For your consideration is Mitigated Negative Declaration No. 23-01, General Plan Amendment Case No. GPA 23-02, and Zone Change Case No. ZC 23-02 1 Requests
Adopt Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND 23-01)
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) compliance;
Approve General Plan Amendment (GPA 23-02)
To allow change of land use designation from “Commercial” to “Open Space”
Approve Zone Change (ZC 23-02)
To allow change of zoning designation from “General Commercial (C-G)“ to “Open Space (O-S)”
Find that the Stormwater Capture and Teen & Senior Center are exempt from certain zoning regulations.
Good Evening Mayor and Members of the City Council, before you tonight are four requests:
The MND is an environmental document required for CEQA compliance. The MND was prepared for the projects involving construction of a Stormwater Capture facility and a Teen & Senior Center at Simms Park, AKA the Simms Park Projects. Although the projects are two separate projects, the MND covered the projects together because of their proximity to each other and the potential for concurrent or consecutive construction phases.
The proposed General Plan Amendment applies to two parcels only. Specifically, a portion where the Teen & Senior Center is proposed to be constructed, which was formerly 9410 Oak Street, and the second parcel is the Woman’s Club property located at 9402 Oak Street.
The proposed Zone Change applies to the same properties noted for the General Plan Amendment to make sure that the land use and zoning designations are consistent with each other.
Lastly, a request is before the City Council to exempt the Simms Park Projects from certain zoning regulations (i.e., exempting the projects from zoning reviews) as they are public projects, pursuant to Bellflower Municipal Code Section 17.04.120. 2 Aerial Photo
Before you is an aerial photo of Simms Park. Simms Park is located at the southeast intersection of Clark Avenue and Oak Street and measures approximately 12.7-acres.
The dark blue outline represents the project area, where the stormwater capture facility and the teen & senior center projects are proposed, as well as the properties where the GPA and the ZC are being proposed.
The light blue outline represents the approximate area where the subsurface storage for the stormwater capture facility is proposed.
The orange outline represents the approximate area where the new teen and senior center is proposed to be constructed, which spans over two lots. 3 Site Plan
Stormwater Capture Project
The stormwater capture system will be located underground in the eastern portion of Simms Park, which contains the existing baseball/softball fields, a picnic area, and landscaping.
This project entails construction of diversion structure, diversion pipeline, stormwater pretreatment device, storage reservoir, discharge system and treatment, and some park improvements.
The storage reservoir would have a capacity of 9.34 acre-feet (3,043,454.4 gallons), with an approximate 1-acre rectangular footprint. The excavation depth for this project is approximately 25-28 feet. The purpose of the stormwater capture facility is to decrease the amount of pollutants in stormwater runoff entering the storm drain.
A more detailed description of this project is included on page 3 of the Staff Report. 4 Site Plan
Teen and Senior Center
The Teen & Senior Center will cover the northwestern portion of the Simms Park property. The existing cement pads that currently occupy the vacant lot would be removed, as would the building housing the City’s volunteer center operations, currently located south of the Woman’s Club. The Teen & Senior Center is a proposed to be single story at a height of 26’-8,” with a floor area of 12,355 square feet. As part of the development of the Teen & Senior Center, improvements would also include redevelopment of the parking lot to the east and circulation improvements to the south.
The Teen & Senior Center building would contain a reception area, community and youth rooms, private offices, a common space, a kitchen, and an open patio. Anticipated hours of operation would be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. The center may be used on Sundays for specific occasions or events.
A more detailed description of this project is included on page 4 of the Staff Report.
Also, the Teen and Senior Center project involves a General Plan Amendment, a Zone Change, and a Lot Line Adjustment.
5 Renderings
Teen and Senior Center
The exterior of the building would be finished with brick and stucco. The entrance to the building would be on the south side, adjacent to the existing driveway that provides access to the site from Clark Avenue.
6 GP Land Use and Zoning Designations
Commercial
Open Space
The requests for a General Plan Amendment and a Zone Change only applies to two properties within the project area – highlighted in red:
The Teen & Senior Center site (formerly 9410 Oak Street) and the existing Woman’s Club site (9402 Oak Street). Clarification on Page 6 of the Staff Report, the Woman’s Club is not located within Simms Park, and is a separate property owned by the Woman’s Club of Bellflower.
The proposal is to change the land use and zoning designations from “Commercial” to “Open Space”
The approval of the GPA and the ZC would allow for the development of the Teen & Senior Center. As previously noted, the proposed location of the Teen & Senior Center spans across two lots currently with different land use and zoning designations. The proposed GPA will result in the same land use and zoning designations across both lots and will be consistent with Simms Park, which has a land use and zoning designations of Open Space and O-S.
The approval of the land use and zoning changes for 9402 Oak Street would avoid “spot zoning” the Woman’s Club property. As shown above, if the land use and zoning designations for the Woman’s Club property are not changed, that parcel would constitute the only commercial property on the easterly side of Clark Avenue (between Oak Street and Flower Street).
7 Public Projects Exemption
Bellflower Municipal Code §17.04.120
Proposed physical improvements for Simms Park constitutes a public project.
The definition of “public project” is a construction or maintenance project developed on City-owned property or in the public right-of-way and designed for public use as approved by the City Council. The Simms Park Projects qualify under the definition. 8 Discussion
Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND 23-01)
Impacts would be less than significant with incorporation of mitigation measures
General Plan Amendment (GPA 23-02)
Consistent with the goals and policies of the Land Use Element and Open Space Element of the Bellflower General Plan, as outlined in Section 5 of Resolution No. 23-29
Zone Change (ZC 23-02)
The project meets the findings contained in BMC § 17.104.030, as outlined in Section 4 of Ordinance No. 1425
Public Projects Exemption
The project meets the findings contained in BMC § 17.04.120, as outlined in Section 6 of Resolution No. 23-29
MND: during the public review period of the document, a total of seven comment letters were received, and a “Response to Comments” was prepared to address those comments, which is included in the Staff Report as Attachment C.
GPA: Such as Open Space Element Goal 3, which is to “maintain and expand the City’s existing open spaces, parks, and recreational facilities”; and Land Use Element Goal 1 - Policy 1.1, which is to “provide land use designations which match actual viable uses.”
ZC: In that the proposed Zone Change would allow the City to provide recreation and human service programs which meet the needs of Bellflower’s diverse population. In addition, the proposed Zone Change would be consistent with the open space-zoned properties to the south and east.
Public Projects Exemption: One of which is that the granting of the exemption will not be detrimental to the public health, safety, and general welfare or materially injurious to properties or improvements in the vicinity.
Staff would like to note that an inquiry regarding the GPA and ZC was received from the Woman’s Club. The inquirer indicated members were concerned about whether they could continue their current use. She was informed that with the GPA and ZC they could continue their use, and it would be considered grandfathered in, as long as they don’t abandon the use for more than 180 days or expand the use.
9 Recommendation
Open the public hearing, take testimonial and documentary evidence and, after considering the evidence, adopt Resolution No. 23-29; and
Read by title only, waive further reading and introduce Ordinance No. 1425; or
Alternatively, discuss and take other action related to this item.
This concludes staff’s presentation, unless there are any questions.
Also, joining us tonight is Ms. Emily Seklecki, environmental consultant from Dudek who prepared the mitigated negative declaration for the Simms Park Projects 10 City Council
August 14, 2023
Agenda Item 11-A
Public Hearing
MND 23-01, GPA 23-02, & ZC 23-02
Presented By:
Rowena Genilo-Concepcion
Planning Department
Good Evening Mayor and Members of the City Council,
For your consideration is Mitigated Negative Declaration No. 23-01, General Plan Amendment Case No. GPA 23-02, and Zone Change Case No. ZC 23-02 11 City Council
August 14, 2023
Agenda Item 11-A
Public Hearing
MND 23-01, GPA 23-02, & ZC 23-02
Presented By:
Rowena Genilo-Concepcion
Planning Department
Good Evening Mayor and Members of the City Council,
For your consideration is Mitigated Negative Declaration No. 23-01, General Plan Amendment Case No. GPA 23-02, and Zone Change Case No. ZC 23-02 12 City Council
August 14, 2023
Agenda Item 11-A
Public Hearing
MND 23-01, GPA 23-02, & ZC 23-02
Presented By:
Rowena Genilo-Concepcion
Planning Department
Good Evening Mayor and Members of the City Council,
For your consideration is Mitigated Negative Declaration No. 23-01, General Plan Amendment Case No. GPA 23-02, and Zone Change Case No. ZC 23-02 13 City Council
August 14, 2023
Agenda Item 11-A
Public Hearing
MND 23-01, GPA 23-02, & ZC 23-02
Presented By:
Rowena Genilo-Concepcion
Planning Department
Good Evening Mayor and Members of the City Council,
For your consideration is Mitigated Negative Declaration No. 23-01, General Plan Amendment Case No. GPA 23-02, and Zone Change Case No. ZC 23-02 14 Floor Plan
Teen and Senior Center
The Teen & Senior Center building would contain an entrance and reception area, community and youth rooms, private offices, a common space, a kitchen, and an open patio.
Anticipated hours of operation would be 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays. The center may be used on Sundays for specific occasions or events. 15 Floor Plan
Teen and Senior Center
Shown above is the conceptual floor plan without the construction notes. 16