PLANNING COMMISSION MEMO
TO: Planning Commission DATE: June 18, 2025
DEPARTMENT: Community Development
PREPARED BY: Marie Jones, MJC
PRESENTER: Marie Jones, MJC
Issue: Response to Letter from Philli M. Vannucci of Vannucci Momsen Morrow This memo responds to the letter of Colin Marrow dated June 11, 2025 regarding the proposed mixed-use project at 1151 S Main Street. The comments below match keyed comment block on the attached copy of the attorney’s letter which you can refre to for ease of following the dialogue.
The attorney’s letter is incorrect as follows:
1. This project has returned to the City for review because the applicant agreed to revise the project description to include additional visitor serving uses.
2. The infill CEQA exemption requirement for general plan and zoning conformity is not defeated because a different statute requires the city to exceed, ignore, or act differently than the GP or zoning code requires. Density bonus law itself, per Cal Gov code 65915(j)(1), requires the City to grant planning incentives that may contradict some portion of a Local Coastal General Plan as follows: “The granting of a concession or incentive shall not require or be interpreted, in and of itself, to require a general plan amendment, local coastal plan amendment, zoning change, study, or other discretionary approval.”
3. Even though the requested planning incentive differs from a specific Coastal General Plan requirement, for the purpose of the infill CEQA exemption, the City is in conformity with the General Plan once the City grants the concession/planning incentive. Similarly, a project can be brought into compliance with the Coastal General Plan and zoning ordinance by requiring conformance with a Special Condition.
4. This requirement for ground floor visitor serving uses was not ignored. The applicant requested and received a density housing planning incentive to reduce this requirement. Similarly, the General Plan definition for Highway Serving Commercial also requires projects to be less than 24 units per acre, but per density bonus law the applicant is also eligible for a density bonus that exceeds this maximum.
5. Per HCD, the bus stop at Harvest market is considered a major transit stop.
Additionally, the “Major Transit Stop” requirement is only for the Urban Infill Housing CEQA exemption. There is no such requirement for the Infill Development CEQA Exemption and only one CEQA exemption is required.
6. A vehicle miles traveled analysis, GHG emission analysis and noise analysis have been completed as detailed in the staff report and the project does not exceed relevant agency thresholds for significance.
7. The mission and vision sections of the Coastal General Plan are not regulatory.
Only policies are regulatory.
8. The City's LCP is controlling for development within the City of Fort Bragg not the Coastal Act, so his arguments with regard to the Coastal Act has no merit regardless of his misrepresentation of the case facts in that argument.
9. A public trail has been added to the project description per comments from Coastal Commission staff. This provides public access from Highway 1 to Harbor Drive from which pedestrian and cyclists can access Pomo Bluffs Park.
10.The Coastal Commission staff are satisfied with the new proposed project approach and no Coastal Commissioner sought to accept the first appeal, so the Coastal Commission as a whole does not agree that the Density Bonus incentives lessen the effect or application of the City's Certified LCP see also points 2 & 3 of this memo.
11.As detailed in the staff reports, the proposed project will not affect the level of service, so a traffic report is not required (Policy C-2.6). A traffic study was prepared for this site previously and as detailed in the staff report daily trips are virtually identical for the two projects. Caltrans did not express concerns about traffic generated by the project. The Department of Public Works determined that the existing Traffic Study was adequate for this project as no impact to level of service is foreseeable.
Relevant text from the General Plan is included below for reference:
Highway Commercial. This land use designation applies to land uses serving residents and visitors on sites which are located along Highway One and arterials at the entry points to the community. Typical uses allowed in this designation include motels and other lodging enterprises, restaurants, and retail outlets.
Residential uses are permitted above the ground floor or on the ground floor at the rear of buildings at a maximum density of up to 24 units per acre with a conditional use permit.
Policy C-2.6: Traffic Studies for High Trip Generating Uses: Traffic studies shall be required for all major development proposals, including but not limited to, drive-through facilities, fast food outlets, convenience markets, major tourist accommodations, shopping centers, commercial development, residential subdivisions, and other generators of high traffic volumes that would affect a Level of Service.
Comment 1
Comment 2
Comment 1
& 2
Comment 3
Comment 4
Comment 5
Comment 6
No relevance
Comment 2 & 3
Comment 7
Comment 7
Comment 2 & 3
Comment 2 & 3
Comment 2 & 3
Comment 8 & 9
Comment 8 & 9
Comment 8
Comment 2 & 3
Comment 10
Comment 11
Comment 11
Comment 11