103-B. PC Staff Report 10-12-10.pdfCUPERTINO
Agenda Item No. . I
, A 0 1 0
OFFICE OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
CITY HALL
10300 TORRE AVENUE E ® CUPERTINO, CA 95014-3255
(408) 777-3308 - FAX (408) 777-3333 - planning@cupertino.org
Agenda Date: October 12, 2010
Applicant: Modena Investment, LP & Sunnyvale Holding, LLC
Location: 21255 - 21275 Stevens Creek Boulevard (Oaks Shopping Center)
APPLICATION SUMMARY: Modification to Use Permits (20-U-86 & U-2007-04) to
allow commercial entertainment establishments and live entertainment activities and to
extend the hours of operation for these uses to 2:00 a.m. at the Oaks Shopping Center.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that the Planning Commission consider approval of the use permit
modification with the conditions in the model resolution (Attachment 1).
The Oaks shopping center was built in 1976 and consists of six buildings surrounding a
pedestrian promenade. The approximately 71,000 square foot center consists of a
mixture of retail shops (Shane Company), restaurants & specialty food retailers
(Hobees, Coffee Society, Jamba juice), leisure activities (24-Hour Fitness, Dance
Academy USA) and a movie theater (Blue Light Cinemas) (Attachment 2).
In 2008 the City Council approved additional development on the western side of the
property, consisting of a four-story, 122-room hotel and a three-story, 51,000 square -
foot mixed use retail/office/conference center building over an underground parking
podium. The approval included the demolition of the theater building and 2,430 square
feet of existing commercial space.
The project site is surrounded by the Glenbrook Apartments to the north across Mary
Avenue; the Senior Center and Memorial Park to the east across Mary Avenue; De
Anza College to the south across Stevens Creek Boulevard and Highway 85 to the west.
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Aerial Photo of Oaks Shopping Center (2006)
The Applicant's Request
The 1986 use permit envisioned the center as a specialty retail and restaurant hub,
allowing a movie theater and retail uses until 12:00 a.m. and restaurant uses until 2:00
a.m. TI-te applicant is requesting a modification of the Oaks Center's master use permits
to allow a total of four commercial entertainment/ live entertainment establishments
(including the existing movie theater) and to operate the uses until 2:00 a.m.
(Attachments 3 & 4). The applicant intends to revitalize the center by adding live
entertainment activities and certain new businesses in the shopping center provided
they comply with any mitigations identified in a use permit. These
activities /businesses include:
Entertainment activities (e.g. dancing and live music) in association with an existing
approved business, such as a restaurant; and
Commercial entertainment establishments (as defined in the General Commercial
ordinance), such as, indoor theaters, bowling alleys, billiard & pool parlors, dance
halls, skating rinks, and arcades (Attachment 5).
The application also included a request to allow live outdoor entertainment activities.
After a discussion with staff-, the applicant has withdrawn his request for live outdoor
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entertainment activities and will restrict his request to live indoor entertainment
activities only.
There are two live entertainment proposals that are interested in moving into the center
if the use permit modification is approved. They are:
* Live music, entertainment and dancing in association with the existing
Oaks/ Sabatini Event Center, a banquet/ catering business located next to the Blue
Light Cinemas. Please note, that the event center, which has operated since
February 1, 2010, currently hosts banquets and events with recorded music until
1:30 a.m. The City has not received any complaints from the public related to the
operation.
* A prospective Karaoke entertainment business.
Currently, there are two use permits that apply to the Oaks Shopping Center; 20-U-86,
the master use permit for the shopping center, and U-2007-04, the use permit for the
recently approved hotel and mixed use building (Attachments 6 & 7). The latter permit
is not vested because of a lack of building permit activity. While both use permits are
consistent with allowing retail and restaurant uses, they prohibit "dancing,
entertainment and live music."
The Oaks Shopping Center management held a neighborhood meeting for Glenbrook
Apartment residents at the Oaks Event Center on September 29,2010 at 10 a.m. Notices
were mailed by the shopping center management to each apartment within 300 feet of
the project site. The meeting was only attended by the Oaks and city staff. None of the
apartment residents attended the meeting.
The shopping center management also facilitated a meeting with the Glenbrook
Apartment owners in August 2010 at the Oaks Event Center. The meeting entailed
discussions on the proposed project and a tour of the Oaks Event Center.
The Glenbrook Apartment owners and several residents are opposed to the request for
late night entertainment activities (See Attachment 8). They are concerned with
potential noise, security issues related to the late night entertainment activities, and
uses that serve alcohol.
Staff discussed the proposal with the City Code Enforcement Division, Fire Department
of Santa Clara County, and the County Sheriffs Office. A summary of the corru-nents
from these discussions are outlined below:
M-2010-02 Oaks Shopping Center Use Permit Modification October 12, 2010
a) Noise: All entertainment activities should be limited to indoor spaces to minimize
neighborhood impacts related to noise issues. One suggestion was to also apply the
noise ordinance limitations at the building wall to protect adjacent business tenants
from excessive noise (Attachment 9). The noise ordinance requires measurement of
noise from the complainant's property line to protect adjacent neighbors.
b) Fire Safety: The Santa Clara County Fire Department had no comments on the
proposal other than requiring that it meet California building and fire codes
(Attachment 10).
c) Security/Loitering: The Sheriffs routinely respond to late night calls from three
locations in Cupertino: Vallco Shopping Center, Homestead/ Stelling Shopping
Center and the Oaks Shopping Center. Sometimes, late at night on the weekends,
the Sheriffs may need to respond to merchant complaints about large groups of
young adults/ teenagers congregating in the parking lots of these centers. No
crimes are being committed by these groups, other than curfew violations. The
Sheriff's Office feels that allowing new late night entertainment uses at the Oaks
would only encourage more of these congregations at a time of the day when Sheriff
staffing is comparatively low. The Sheriff's Office is recommending that a security
plan be provided and enacted by the property management to ensure that
appropriate mitigations are provided for shopping center tenants and neighboring
properties. This and other mitigations are discussed in greater detail later in this
report.
General Plan Policy 2-92 Late -Evening Entertainment Activities, states:
"Discourage late -evening entertainment activities such as cocktail lounges, recreational facilities
and theaters in the relatively narrow depth along Stevens Creek Boulevard and De Anza
Boulevard properties where they abut lozv-density residential properties. Allow late -evening
entertainment activities in the Downtown Village and Vallco Park and other large properties
that are isolated from residential districts."
Presently, City facilities like Memorial Park, Senior Center and the Quinlan Center,
across the street from the college host cultural fairs and events. De Anza College across
the street along Stevens Creek Boulevard is considered the cultural center of Cupertino
with the Fujitsu Planetarium, Euphrat Museum of Art and Flint Center for the
Performing Arts. The General Plan encourages the City to further integrate the
college's activities into the community.
The Oaks Shopping Center is isolated from low -density residential neighbors. The
Center is adjacent to Highway 85, Stevens Creek Boulevard and Mary Avenue, which is
a main arterial street. The Glenbrook Apartments is separated from the Oaks Shopping
Center buildings by a parking lot, Mary Avenue and perimeter landscaping on both
sides of the street (a total distance of about 200 feet). Historically, due to its location
across from important community focal points, the Oaks Shopping Center has been
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envisioned as a restaurant and retail hub and late night activities have been supported.
Prior approved examples include:
® The former Sandpiper Restaurant/ Pacific Fresh Restaurant (converted to the Shane
Company) had a large separate bar facility.
• The property has had a movie theater since its inception; now occupied by Blue Light
Cinemas.
Entertainment is a critical component of a shopping center. It provides ambience and a
customer draw that helps support other restaurant and retail tenants. In a down
economy, restaurants and other establishments rely even more on entertainment to give
customers a reason to patronize their business.
In the Urban Land Institute's "Ten Principles for Rebuilding Neighborhood Retail," they
state that:
"Longer hours,, equal stronger sales and strong sales define a successful shopping street. As
revitalization accelerates and rents rise, retailers will be unable to survive unless business hours
can be extended to capture more business ... The evening is the hardest time to keep businesses
open even though that's when people have time to shop ... As the evening progresses, neighborhood
residents and visitors from other neighborhoods can be drawn out of the house to leisure shop,
have dinner, go to the movies and take advantage of the night life."
Given the above reasons, staff therefore believes that a limited amount of indoor (not
outdoor) entertainment activities may be considered provided that the issues of
neighborhood and tenant noise impacts, security and loitering issues are addressed.
Recommended Conditions
If the Planning Commission wishes to recommend approval of the applicant's request,
staff is recommending the following conditions to ensure that appropriate mitigations
are provided for shopping center tenants and neighbors.
* Hours of Operation (Condition No. 2) ® Modify the use permits to clarify that retail
establishments can operate until midnight, restaurant uses until 2a.m.
* Noise Requirements (Condition No. 5) - Add use permit condition to require that:
a All entertainment activities be confined to building interiors.
o Exterior tenant doors to remain in a closed condition.
o Businesses that apply for and receive approval for late night entertainment activities to
provide adequate mechanical ventilation and sound insulation (on exterior walls and
between tenant spaces) to ensure adherence to City noise ordinance requirements.
Concentration of uses (Condition No. 4) - Add use permit condition that:
o Caps the number of tenants that are commercial entertainment establishments or have
live entertainment activities to a maximum of four establishments or 25% of the
shopping center building area, whichever is more restrictive.
o Existing movie theater counts as one tenant.
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• Security (Condition No. 6) - Require property management to provide a security plan for
the shopping center. The plan shall be reviewed by the Sheriff and Communihj Development
Director. Plan provisions shall include: parking lot security, methods to ensure noise
compliance, duration of security after business closes for evening, prevention of onsite
loitering and unruly behavior, security contact signage (for all hours).
® Tenant Notification - (Condition No. 7) - Property owner shall incorporate standardized
disclosures in its lease agreements notifijing tenants of potential entertainment
establishments and live entertainment activities and use permit conditions.
• Monitoring (Condition No. 8) -
o Add condition that each of the four (maximum allowed) commercial entertainment
and/or live entertainment establishment applying under this use permit must obtain an
Entertainment Permit from the Director of Community Development. The purpose is to
allow staff review, to monitor the number of entertainment tenants, and check adherence
to use permit conditions.
Compliance with Permit Conditions (Condition No. 9) - Staff shall conduct a use
permit review after one year. If complaints have been received related to tenants that apply
under this use permit,, and the complaints were not addressed immediately by the property
management, then the Planning Commission shall hold a public hearing at which time, the
approval for live indoor entertainment (and operation until 2:00 a.m.) may be modified or
revoked.
Enforcement Concerns (Condition No. 10) - Require the Shopping Center property
owner to pay for any additional Sheriff enforcement time resulting from documented
incidents in the shopping center at the existing City"s contracted hourly rate with the Sheriff
Department at the time of the incident. (Staff notes that such arrangements have been
contracted for from time to time at shopping centers).
[HOLO 1,07,1341,P43
Options that the Planning Commission may consider in making a recommendation to
the City Council include:
1) Recommend approval of the project,
2) Recommend approval of the project with modifications to the approval conditions,
3) Deny the project
Prepared by: Colin Jung, AICP, Senior Planner
M-2010-02 Oaks Shopping Center Use Permit Modification October 12, 2010
Page 7
Reviewed by: Approved by:
Gar
y' hao -/AArt1,,ShriV`astava
City Planner Community Development Director
Attachment 1
Model Resolution
Attachment 2
Site Plan
Attachment 3
Applicant's Request Letter dated 4/16/2010
Attachment 4
Applicant's Request Letter dated 5/18/2010
Attachment 5
General Commercial Zoning Ordinance
Attachment 6
City Council Action Letter dated 8/7/86 for 20-U-86
Attachment 7
City Council Action Letter dated 2/17/09 for U-2007-04
Attachment 8
Comments from Glenbrook Apartment residents & owner
Attachment 9
Email Comments from Cupertino Code Enforcement
Attachment 10
Email Comments from Santa Clara County Fire Dept.
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