Title
PLN140602 - JIMENEZ SALVADOR JR. TRUST (A.K.A. THE RED BARN)
Continued from the July 10, 2024 Planning Commission meeting, public hearing to consider amendment to Use Permits ZA-3117 and ZA-3629, as amended by Zoning Administrator Resolution No. 19-018, to increase the parking and sales area; amend an adopted General Development Plan to allow new uses (such as corporate events, weddings and quinceñeras within the Red Barn structure and electric carts, nursery events, outdoor movies, paintball club outside and allowing construction of on-site storage, shipping containers or similar, for vendors to rent); after-the-fact permitting of grading on slopes greater than 25%; and abating Code Enforcement Case Nos. 20CE00297 and 22CE00422.
Project Location: 1000, 1050, 1060 and 1150 North Highway 101, Aromas
Proposed CEQA action: Adopt a Mitigated Negative Declaration pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15074.
Report
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the Monterey County Planning Commission continue the hearing on this project to a date uncertain.
PROJECT INFORMATION:
Agent: Joel Panzer
Property Owner: Jimenez Salvador Jr Trust
APNs: 141-013-035-000, 141-013-034-000, 141-013-037-000 and 141-131-025-000
Project Size: 32 acres
Zoning: Light Commercial or “LC” and Rural Density Residential or “RDR”
Plan Area: North County Area Plan
Flagged and Staked: No
Planner: Mary Israel, 755-5183, israelm@countyofmonterey.gov
SUMMARY:
The Red Barn is a commercial center focused on a Sunday flea market. It has a large red barn which is an historic structure with a 60-year history of commercial uses inside and around its exterior. Permitted uses consolidated by the Board with Resolution 10-037 included outdoor retail sales and parking. In 2019, a Minor and Trivial Amendment to the Use Permit (Zoning Administrator Resolution No. 19-018) allowed the Red Barn to relocate 17,497 square feet of outdoor retail sales area which had been lost due to the Caltrans San Juan Interchange project in 2015; this resulted in an outdoor sales area of 136,814 and, at the time, indoor sales were not allowed. With the Red Barn included, the commercial area is roughly equal to the original approval in 1977. PLN140602 proposes an addition of 34,505 square feet of outdoor retail sales area and 18,140 square feet of vehicle access in existing paved areas at the Red Barn/ Jimenez Salvador Jr Trust property, abating Code Enforcement Case No. 20CE00297. The project would provide 758 public parking and 95 vendor parking spaces, including Americans with Disability Act (ADA) accessible spaces. Other uses are described in an amended General Development Plan (GDP).
On July 10, 2024, prior to the originally scheduled hearing, the applicant requested that the Planning Commission continue the hearing to a date certain of August 28, 2024, in order to allow time for the applicant to prepare an update to their amended GDP for consideration. The Planning Commission did not open the discussion of the item. Staff agreed with the applicant’s request for continuance so that the Environmental Health Bureau (EHB) and HCD staff could work with the applicant on attenuating the conditions of approval and the Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration in response to a reduced and clarified project. The Planning Commission granted the continuance to a date certain of August 28, 2024.
Although Planning staff has conferred with the applicant and agent(s) on the applicant’s proposed GDP redesign and the related CEQA analysis since the applicant’s request for continuance on July 10, 2024, the process is not finished. The progress thus far involved meetings with EHB staff and public input on the GDP at a noticed Land Use Advisory Committee hearing on August 7, 2024. The next steps are additional cost and design analysis by the applicant to hone a GDP for decision and clarifications to the CEQA analysis, then the LUAC requested to review the final version of the GDP. Staff will need to re-notice a LUAC hearing to obtain a LUAC recommendation to the Planning Commission. Therefore, staff requests continuance of the item to a date uncertain.
OTHER AGENCY INVOLVEMENT:
The following County agencies or departmental groups reviewed this project:
The Environmental Health Bureau
HCD-Engineering Services
HCD-Environmental Services
Aromas Tri-County Fire Protection District
Monterey County Sheriff
Office of the County Counsel
Prepared by: Mary Israel, Supervising Planner
Reviewed by: Anna Ginette Quenga, AICP, Principal Planner
Approved by: Melanie Beretti, AICP, Acting Chief of Planning
cc: Front Counter Copy; Anna Ginette Quenga, AICP, Principal Planner; Mary Israel, Planner; Joel Panzer, Agent; Dale Ellis, Agent; Jimenez Salvador Jr Trust, Applicant; John Olejnik, CalTrans; Edward Gluhan, Interested Party; Patricia Waibel, Interested Party; Sheila Smith, Interested Party; Ken Tunstall, Interested Party; The Open Monterey Project (Molly Erickson); LandWatch (Executive Director); Project File PLN140602.