Background/Project Description
The project site is an approximately 9.77-acre highway service commercial (C-H) zoned parcel located at the northwest corner of the intersection of County Road 8 and County Road 99W (APN 052-130-004). On June 6, 2000, the Yolo County Board of Supervisors certified a Mitigated Negative Declaration (SCH #2000032125) and adopted Resolution 00-121 and Ordinance No. 681.184 to approve the project request in Zone File No. 99-082, which provided for future highway serving commercial uses. In 2006, the applicant submitted a Site Plan Review to allow for construction of various highway serving commercial uses in compliance with the previously approved project. The original project approval was subject to 22 Conditions of Approval and a Mitigation Measure Monitoring Program.
The conditions of approval and mitigation measures included in Zone File 99-082 required installation of a number of on- and off-site improvements to road facilities and infrastructure in the vicinity of the project site prior to development. To date, the applicant has satisfied the conditions related to storm drainage, water service, and waste water discharge, and offsite roadway infrastructure improvements. The applicant is currently in the process of developing the site with its allowed (and previously approved) highway serving commercial uses.
In August 2006, the applicant submitted a Site Plan Review application (Zone File 2006-065) which reflected minor changes from the previously approved project. The revised project and accompanying site plan did not include space for semi-truck and recreational vehicle parking, as previously contemplated, but did include: a 60-room hotel, a sit-down restaurant, a fast-food restaurant, a coffee shop, two gas stations with mini-marts, a carwash, and a retail building (in lieu of the parking areas). In November of 2006, the Planning Commission approved the minor adjustment to the site plan for Zone File 2006-065, contingent upon specific project requirements (some of which were previously included as Conditions of Approval or mitigation measures from Zone File 99-082).
In July, 2016, prior to submitting any grading or building permits for development at the site, the applicant submitted another Site Plan Review application (Zone File 2016-0027), which slightly modified the arrangement of the site plan approved in 2006. Planning staff deemed the project consistent with the 2000 and 2006 approvals, because no uses were added or expanded, and confirmed that the offsite infrastructure improvements had already been built to Yolo County Improvement Standards; all other conditions of approval and mitigation measures had been satisfied.
Once confirmed, the applicant began submitting phased building permit applications to develop the site, which includes: one Arco gas station and convenience store, a Burger King restaurant and drive-through, a Taco Bell restaurant and drive-through, and a Starbucks and a Subway and drive-through. The future 60-room hotel and commercial use do not yet have submitted plans.
Applicant has requested a parcel map to divide the property into multiple parcels consistent with each of the commercial operations. According to the applicant, the parcel map will assist with the necessary financing to continue development of the previously approved highway services commercial project. This application does not contain additional development proposals and does not include any proposals to change any previously approved plans. Dividing the commercial uses into separate financing parcels will allow the applicant to continue the development originally approved under Zone File 99-082 subject to the same restrictions and conditions.
Approval of the parcel map will result in seven parcels (see Att. B), ranging in size from 0.437-acres to 3.848-acres. Six of the parcels will each contain one of the approved commercial uses, four of which are currently under construction. The seventh parcel contains parking areas, as well as the detention basin for buildout of the site.
Analysis
A tentative subdivision map and a final map are typically required of all subdivisions which create five or more lots, unless the project is specifically excluded and a parcel map is required, as identified in the State Subdivision Map Act (Government Code Section 66426) and local ordinance (Yolo County Code Section 8-1.301). In this particular case, the proposed project falls within the exemption cited in Government Code Section 66426(c) and County Code Section 8-1.301(c) because it consists of a parcel of land having an approved access to a County maintained roadway (County Road 8), is zoned for industrial development (C-H), and the street alignment and width have been approved by the governing body. Furthermore, the County Engineer has determined that the improvements made under the project’s original conditions of approval and mitigation measure requirements specifically meet Yolo County Improvement Standards. Yolo County requires that all maps, including parcel maps, have tentative maps prepared (County Code Section 8-1.301).
Since the project request requires a discretionary approval, it is subject to the Yolo Habitat Conservancy’s Habitat Conservation Plan and Natural Communities Conservation Plan, and was reviewed for consistency with those plans accordingly. The project site is considered to be the urban or built up land-cover type (as identified on the Yolo Habitat Conservancy’s modeled habitat GIS layer), and it has been determined that approval of Tentative Parcel Map No. 5183 will not result in any new or additional ground disturbance not already identified, affect Swainson’s hawk or white-tailed kite nests, result in the release of water quality contaminants, or create new wild life barriers. Approval of the map is for financing purposes only and would not create any new or additional development other than what has already been approved. Therefore, the project is exempt from paying mitigation fees. However, Condition of Approval No. 21 (Zone File 99-082) required that the applicant compensate for loss of foraging habitat; although, it is unclear if this condition was ever satisfied. Therefore, approval of Tentative Map No. 5183 includes a condition to require the applicant to provide verification that the mitigation fee was paid or to pay the fee in accordance with the condition.
The purpose of the C-H Zone is to provide for retail, commercial services, transient residential, and other uses common to areas near major roadways. Approval of Tentative Map No. 5183 will facilitate the applicant’s continued efforts to develop an attractive mix of restaurants, lodging, and services at the project site, as approved under Zone File No. 99-082, and subsequently confirmed under Zone Files 2006-065 and 2016-0027. The project also satisfies a number of goals in the 2030 Countywide General Plan that call for provision of services for travelers and tourists (Goal ED-4.8 and -4.9), and the development of an attractive mix of lodging, attractions, restaurants, retail, and gas stations (Goal ED-4.1).
Staff supports approval of the tentative map in order to facilitate the continued development of a previously approved development application. As described above, the intent of the parcel map is to finance the continued development of Zone File 99-082, which will result in a highway service commercial development along a heavily trafficked travel corridor, and provide much needed services to nearby residents, on a previously vacant site.
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