H-15 Correspondence – Neill Brower
From: Brower, Neill [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, August 15, 2022 3:57 PM
To: CityClerk <[email protected]>
Cc: Alexis Oropeza <[email protected]>; Reznik, Benjamin M. <[email protected]> Subject: Case No. 22-0966 / Aug. 16 Council Agenda Item No. 15: Letter from Applicant/Appellant [JMBM-LA.FID1966854]
-EXTERNAL-
Ms. La Garza and Ms. Oropeza:
I have attached our letter, on behalf of Bliss Car Wash, for inclusion in the record for the above- referenced case and distribution to the Council. Please inform our office if you have any trouble with the attachment.
Thank you,
—Neill
Neill E. Brower | Partner
Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP | JMBM
1900 Avenue of the Stars, 7th Floor, Los Angeles, California 90067 D: (310) 712-6833 | M: (818) 419-9132 | F: (310) 712-8564 VCARD | BIO | BLOG | LINKEDIN
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A Limited Liability Law Partnership Including Corporations / Los Angeles • San Francisco • Orange County Neill Brower
[email protected]
1900 Avenue of the Stars, 7th Floor
Los Angeles, California 90067 -4308
(310) 203-8080 (310) 203-0567 Fax
www.jmbm.com
Ref: 80918-0001
August 15, 2022
BY EMAIL
Hon. Dr. Robert Garcia, Mayor
Hon. Members of the City Council
City of Long Beach
411 W. Ocean Boulevard
Long Beach, CA 90802
E-Mail: [email protected]
Re: Case No. 22-0966
Bliss Car Wash
5005 Long Beach Blvd.
Hearing Date: August 16, 2022
Agenda Item No. 15
Dear Hon. Dr. Garcia and Councilmembers:
We represent Bliss Car Wash (“Bliss”) an environmentally and community conscious car wash company with a demonstrated history of quality operations and community engagement and involvement. Bliss is the applicant and appellant for the requested conditional use permit (“CUP” or “Project”) for a state-of-the-art car wash at 5005 Long Beach Boulevard (the “Property”), an established commercial corner at a major intersection.
As detailed further below, the proposed Project was thoughtfully designed and then further modified—on several occasions—to address specific concerns regarding neighboring uses, noise, and traffic. We write to address the letter dated June 13, 2022, from the Long Beach Unified School District (the “District”), which contains several errors, and to discuss the further modifications Bliss has implemented to address community concerns.
1. Bliss Worked Directly to Address the District’s Concerns.
The District’s letter states the District met with Bliss “to no avail.” In fact, Bliss initially consulted with the Principal of Dooley Elementary—who supported the Project—and then after the District’s concerns regarding the Project emerged, pursued the District for months to schedule a meeting to discuss those concerns. At that meeting, District staff rejected any possibility of any solution to address its concerns even partially, and did not offer any specific suggestions or even avenues to explore. Despite this, Bliss had worked to further ensure impacts would not occur to the surrounding community: as provided in the updated technical reports on file for the Project, and as described in detail in our prior correspondence, the air quality, traffic, and noise effects of the project are below applicable thresholds, both for Project-specific impacts and for cumulative impacts. Further, any
Hon. City Councilmembers
5005 Long Beach Boulevard
August 15, 2022
70387675v3
zoning-compliant project could reach or potentially exceed the height of the proposed structure: the claims of the district regarding the height of a commercial building in an urbanized area do not constitute evidence of any significant environmental impact. (a) Bliss Worked to Reduce Noise Levels Significantly Below Threshold Levels.
Despite the fact that the Municipal Code provides for the use of alternative noise levels in evaluating projects located in noisier areas, the Project incorporated features—including specialized equipment and coatings on the interior of the proposed building—to reduce Project-related noise to compliant levels even under the City’s standard thresholds. Simply put, the Project would generate noise at lower levels than those that exist in the immediate vicinity right now. Despite this, Bliss has developed additional Project design features, described below, to reduce noise levels even further.
(b) Bliss Would Reduce the Number of Existing Locations at Which Vehicles Would Cross the Sidewalk.
Regarding traffic, the Project would reduce the number of curb cuts, and therefore the number of locations at which vehicles would enter the Property. As described in our prior correspondence, the Project would eliminate one of the curb cuts on Long Beach Boulevard, the route that school children take to Dooley Elementary. This would reduce the potential for interactions between pedestrians on Long Beach Boulevard and vehicles entering the Property, as the staff report acknowledges. Further, Bliss staff actively manage vehicle queues as a matter of practice, and would avoid vehicle queuing into Long Beach Boulevard.
Simply put, the record establishes that no significant Project-specific or cumulative impacts would occur, and the District offers no evidence for its assertions to the contrary. That said, Bliss fully understands and supports the goal of the District to protect its students, and remains willing to engage with the District and the school in constructive discussions about any further feasible improvements to the Project. Bliss takes seriously its obligations to the communities in which it operates, and is dedicated to good corporate citizenship.
2. Bliss has Redesigned the Building to Enclose and Orient the Building Exit Completely Away from the School, Further Reducing Noise Levels.
As shown in the rendering attached as Exhibit “A” and the site plan attached as Exhibit “B,” Bliss has taken additional measures to protect the school from noise. Specifically, the exit from the car wash into the parking lot and vacuum area is now fully enclosed and faces south, completely away from Dooley Elementary. The entrance and exit now use roll-up doors, though those doors will generally remain open during operation of the car wash. This new design will absorb and direct additional exit noise away from the school and toward the commercial uses along Del Amo Boulevard.
Hon. City Councilmembers
5005 Long Beach Boulevard
August 15, 2022
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That change, along with the all of the current measures to minimize operational noise, will further reduce noise experienced on the school’s playground or in the classrooms to the north. As shown in the attached update to the noise study prepared by BridgeNet (Exhibit “C”), the design change will reduce by an additional 10 decibels (“dBA”) any noise experienced by the school as a result of noise from the car wash exit. The noise generated by the car wash will occur below threshold levels, and at least 15 dBA below the existing measured noise levels.1
3. The City Council Should Grant the Appeal and Approve the CUP.
As described in detail above, the Project is consistent with the applicable zoning regulations—including the CUP provisions, as described in detail above—and with the applicable provisions of the General Plan. The Project would provide a high-quality, sensitively designed use, on a highly constrained site, consistent with the principles and intent of the General Plan Land Use Element. For all of these reasons, the City Council should grant the appeal and the requested CUP.
Sincerely,
BENJAMIN M. REZNIK and
NEILL E. BROWER of
Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP
NB:nb4
cc: Alexis Oropeza
1 As provided in the June 22, 2021 noise report prepared by BridgeNet, the lowest existing noise level was 56.5 dBA (L50 measurement); the proposed design would generate a maximum noise level of 42.7 dBA at school facilities on the entrance side of the car wash, and 34.7 dBA at school facilities on the exit side of the car wash.
Exhibit A
2 Exhibit B
3 Exhibit C
July 28, 2022
Mr. Ahmad Ghaderi
A & S Engineering
Revised site design at the 5005 Long Beach Boulevard Car Wash project Long Beach, California
Dear Mr. Ghaderi:
BridgeNet International previously performed an assessment of the projected car wash noise levels at the noise-sensitive areas (Dooley Elementary School) adjacent to the 5005 Long Beach Boulevard Car Wash project (Report #2019-003-C; May 31, 2020). With the planned site design and equipment, the projected noise levels are listed in Table 1.
Table 1
PROJECTED NOISE LEVELS
(Original Site Design)
____________________________________________________
Location L50 (dBA)
____________________________________________________
Exit End
School Building to NW 43.0
School Playground to NW 51.7
School Playground to N 52.2
Entrance End
School Playground to N 50.2
School Playground to NE 47.1
School Building to N 26.5
____________________________________________________
With the planned site design and equipment, the noise levels wo uld meet the City ’s adjusted Noise Ordinance limits (i.e., with the adjustment for the measured ambient levels, the L5 0 standard would be 60 dBA).
20201 SW Birch Street, Suite 150
Newport Beach, CA 92660
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Subsequently, t he City requested that the developer go beyond the Noise Ordinance requirements, and that the project be designed to generate noise levels 7 dB below the adjusted Noise Ordinance limits. We performed a revised assessment (Report #2019-003-D; June 22, 2021) to determine the mitigation needed to accomplish this. In order to comply with th is request, absorption (2,350 square feet of Qui etFiber QF4) was included in the m odeling of the car wash interior to absorb some of the noise. With this absorption, the noise levels would be reduced by approximately 7.5 dB, and the projected noise levels are listed in Table 2.
Table 2
PROJECTED NOISE LEVELS
(Original Site Design with Added Absorption)
____________________________________________________
Location L50 (dBA)
____________________________________________________
Exit End
School Building to NW 35.5
School Playground to NW 44.2
School Playground to N 44.7
Entrance End
School Playground to N 42.7
School Playground to NE 37.6
School Building to N 19.0
____________________________________________________
The revised analysis showed that with the planned site design and equipment, and with th e specified absorption added to the interior of the car wash building, the noise levels would be at least 7 dB below the City’s adjusted Noise Ordinance limits (i.e., with the adjustment for the measured ambient levels, the L5 0 s tandard would be 60 dBA ). It should be noted that these levels also meet the City’s regular 50 dBA L50 standard (with no adjustment for measured ambient levels).
Since the preparation of that report, the developer has revised the site design. The current design calls for the exit end to be entirely enclosed , with solid walls and a solid roof . The exit opening will now face south (away from the school). Artist renderings of the project show roll-up doors at both the entrance and exit ends. However, t hese doors will remai n open during car was h operations. With the current design, noise levels from the car wash operations are expected to be reduced by at least another 10 dB for receptors in the school area near the exit end. (Noise levels near the entrance end would not change significant ly). The projected noise levels are listed in Table 3.
Table 3
PROJECTED NOISE LEVELS
(New Site Design with Added Absorption)
____________________________________________________
Location L50 (dBA)
____________________________________________________
Exit End
School Building to NW 25.5
School Playground to NW 34.2
School Playground to N 34.7
Entrance End
School Playground to N 42.7
School Playground to NE 37.6
School Building to N 19.0
____________________________________________________
The most stringent noise standard is the 50 dBA L50 limit. With this revised site design and added absorption, noise lev els from the car wash are now expected to be far below the Noise Ordinance limits (without including any adjustment for ambient).
With the new design, we would recommend that at least 50% of the added absorption be located in the exit area (after the blowers).
If you have any questions or require additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Mike Holritz, INCE
Environmental Specialist
BridgeNet | A Tetra Tech Company