Speaker 2: Thank you very much. And I know our public works director made a note as well. I saw him actively writing. Great. So thank you for that. I'm going to go back to the hearing, Mr. Modica.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The staff report will be given by Linda Tatum and her group.
Speaker 1: Good evening, Mayor, and members of the city council. This is a public hearing for a project. It located at 2610 North Lakewood Boulevard. It is a project for a new hotel. And the the subject hotel is at 2016, North Lakewood. And it also includes properties at 41, 41 through 4217 Willow Street. The actions that we're asking the city council to take on this new hotel proposal include a conditional use permit, a site plan review, and to accept a mitigated negative declaration. Like to give a brief presentation on the project. This is a vicinity map that shows the current zoning of the property and the location. What you're seeing there is the four or five freeway at the Lakewood Street Interchange and shown in green there with the arrow is the proposed project site at the site. There is a a an existing gas station that is adjacent to the hotel which surrounds the gas station at that northeast corner of Lakewood and Willow Street. I'd also bring to your attention on the other side, on the west side of Lakewood Boulevard, there is an existing commercial car wash and retail establishment. Next. As I said on this project site, the proposal is a new 13 storey in an existing Holiday Inn 13 storey, but also is a vacant two storey hotel that was constructed back in 1978. The proposal before you tonight is the approval of the requested discretionary actions that will allow the existing two storey hotel to be demolished . And they would construct a new six storey hotel and a new two level parking structure on the site where the existing two storey hotel is to be demolished. So again, the entitlements are requested that are being requested are a zone change, a site plan review and a conditional use permit. Just a little bit of background. The zone change is to request an expansion of the existing PD 27 zoning on the adjacent property. That existing PD covers the site that shown to the left there in black. And that's essentially a plan development project that allows hotel and limited commercial retail in that project area. The proposal is to expand that PD 27 to include the subject property on the right that's shown in the red, which would be the subject of the new hotel site. And again, the the existing property owners have for not only the hotel site, but the gas station as well as the property adjacent on the other side, on the west side of Lakewood have approved consented to the requested zone change. A little bit of detail about the proposed project. It is a new six story hotel project with 125 GUESTROOMS. It also has some amenities. Those amenities include additional conference room space. There is also a new fitness facility in the in the hotel room there also including a new a new parking structure that will be atop the existing at grade parking. So it will essentially be a two level parking structure for a total with a total of 385 parking spaces. They will also add a new outdoor pool area and enhance the existing landscaping on the site and around the entire property. This next slide shows the configuration of the site. You can see the existing the round building is the existing Holiday Inn that will remain and you can see the configuration of the parking just to the east of that. You can also see the enhanced the green areas of the enhanced landscaping areas. You also see that they are requesting the closure of one of the driveways on Willow. And you can again see the two level parking structure and of course, the location of the outdoor pool, which is just north of the existing Holiday Inn . And again, just briefly, you can see the building elevations, the six stories. They've you can see the modern architectural style with the two tones of the color and the accent banding and the spaniel class that surrounds the property. It's been designed to complement the existing Holiday Inn structure or to complemented. Also like to just summarize the environmental action that was done on this project in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act. We staff completed, along with a consultant, we completed a mitigated negative declaration for the project. The public review period was from November 16th through December 16th, and staff did receive a couple of comments from public agencies during that review period. And there were two mitigation measures incorporated in the project. Those two mitigation measures dealt with cultural resources, requiring monitoring of any of any disturbance of the soil on the project site and observance or having monitoring done by Indian tribes. The other mitigation that was required was related to any disturbance of the soil during the excavation and that no construction or other soil disturbance would be carried out during breeding season to make sure that there are no nesting birds on the site at the time construction occurs. Those were the two mitigation measures, and with those mitigation, the Planning Commission considered this project on December or I'm sorry, January 19th of 2017, and they unanimously recommended approval of this project. And staff is recommending that the City Council uphold the Planning Commission's recommendation for approval of this project. I would note that we had there were no public comments during the the period since this project has been posted online. And I would like to acknowledge that closes staff's presentation. But we do have our environmental consultant available as well as the case planner, Gina Cassius, who did the work on this project. That concludes staff's presentation.
Speaker 2: Thank you, I think, for that presentation. We're going to go ahead and go first to any public comment on this case. No public comment on this issue and the council comments. Councilwoman Mongo.
Speaker 1: Yes. We are very excited about this project. I know that it has been in the works for several years and it has taken a few different. Changes along the way, but we're very excited to have this new opportunity and additional places for people to stay. It is very difficult to find a room on the east side near the airport now with the amount of business that's going on. And we're very proud to have our new corporate partners and our corporate partners do trainings from individuals all across America and sometimes international, and they come to Long Beach to be trained. And so these are great facilities for them to stay at, especially for those longer term stays, especially for their trainer. So we're excited about this project. Thank you for the work that's been done both by the team at Holiday Inn and the support that they've received from the Convention and Visitors Bureau and the support that they've received from the city staff to make this a fair and balanced project that takes all needs into consideration. I think we have come up with a solution that meets everyone's needs. So if you haven't made it there to see the first revision, we did a ribbon cutting for the Holiday Inn tower several months ago, and I look forward to a groundbreaking and ribbon cutting for this facility.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Council member Supernormal.
Speaker 0: Thank you. This area of the fifth District borders the fourth and has kind of a quirky sense because our border is is the four or five freeway. But in this one section, the border changes to Willow Street for a couple of hundred yards. So the property is in the fifth District. But a lot of my constituents ask me about this all the time. I just wanted to ask staff. I know during a construction period, especially something of this magnitude, you would meet with the police department and work out the September requirements. And September is an acronym that stands for Crime Prevention through Environmental Design. And prior to construction starting this, these meetings will take place and you work out all the details. And our police department or in particular has its Espinosa officer in East Division, would work with the construction firm to make sure all security measures are in place
Speaker 1: . Yes. Council member of the the police department during the course of the site plan review for this project and every other development project, the plans are related to the police department. So PD has had the chance to review the plans prior to their being finalized and they had did provide comments to staff. Those comments have been reflected in the project design. However, it is generally my understanding that police may also be involved during the construction process just for general monitoring of the site as necessary.
Speaker 0: Okay. Perfect. Thank you.
Speaker 2: Thank you. There's a motion in a second. Just want to make sure. For the planning staff. Just a note that the. The tower. The current tower has obviously a a lighting scheme that's pretty bright, which I know they've changed and upgraded recently. Which is which is fine. I just want to make sure that the new building that we're paying attention to, what the lighting is going to be for the new building, and so that the two are not in conflict, but that the lighting the lighting scheme is looks great both at night and during the day.
Speaker 1: Certainly they are. We can make sure that that gets addressed so that they are compatible.
Speaker 2: Okay. Thank you.
Speaker 4: Mayor. We need four separate votes on this item.
Speaker 2: Great. So we'll go in. We have we're going to take four separate votes. We've done public comment for the whole item. And so we have the first of those votes as a motion. In a second, please cast your votes.
Speaker 3: Motion passes.
Speaker 2: Okay. You can just please plug in for the second motion to this. You want to read this? Madam Clerk.
Speaker 1: The.
Speaker 3: Decker to declare ordinance amending the zoning district map.
Speaker 2: Okay. Pleased that the motion to second Castro votes.
Speaker 3: Motion passes.
Speaker 2: Okay, third vote.
Speaker 3: Declare ordinance amending the Willow Street Center planned development.
Speaker 2: Okay. We're just a little delayed on the machine here. Like.
Speaker 1: Motion passes.
Speaker 2: Okay. We just need a. So into motion. Can we get a motion in a second? On the third. There we go. Okay. And this is the declaring the ordinance amending the zoning district map. Perfect.
Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Use District Map of the City of Long Beach as said map has been established and amended by amending portions of Part 17 of said Map from Regional Highway District (CHW) to Willow Street Center Planned Development (PD-27), read and adopted as read.  (District 5)