2024-06-04 City Council - Full Agenda-Chastain

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Staff Report to the Mayor and City Council Appeal of Modification of Zoning Entitlement - Ecology Recycling Services June 4, 2024 Page 3 The Planning Commission directed staff to set a public hearing for review and possible Modification and/or Revocation of the zoning entitlements based on several concerns voiced by the Commission and heard from the public as related to the operation of the business, compliance with City approved conditions of approval, and compliance with County, State and Federal inspections of the metal shredding and recycling facility. The Commission was also in favor of holding a neighborhood meeting with the residents prior to the public hearing. On October 4, 2023, Staff held a neighborhood meeting at San Salvador Church to discuss the Ecology Recycling Services/AIM Project. Attendees expressed several concerns similar to what was expressed during the Planning Commission reviews that took place from July through September 2023. After holding three public hearing meetings on the review of the metal shredding and recycling services, on March 26, 2024 the City of Colton Planning Commission approved Modification of Zoning Entitlements (Case No. DAP23-0010) for Ecology Recycling Services / AIM (American Iron and Metal) Conditional Use Permit and Architectural and Site Plan Review pertaining to the existing metal shredding / recycling use and Variance to allow an 18-feet high perimeter fence along the east side of the property on property measuring approximately 19.39 acres of land within the M-2 (Heavy Industrial) Zone. The Commission made a motion and a second to approve Planning Commission Resolutions Nos. R-02-24 and R-04-24, at which time the Commission voted 4-0-1 (Commissioner Escarcega was on an excused absence) approving the project. Attachment 1 includes Planning Commission adopted Minutes of the March 26, 2024, Planning Commission Meeting (Attachment 1). The representatives from Ecology Recycling Services agreed with all the new and modified conditions of approval, except for condition #11 relating to the storage of pile heights. The request from Ecology Recycling Services was to increase the pile height from 16- feet to 35-feet. Attachment 2 includes the approved Resolutions for the project – Resolution No. R-04-24 includes Condition of Approval No. 11 and Resolution R-02-24 approved the Variance for the fence height on the eastern boundary of the property. On April 4, 2024, the applicant submitted an Appeal of Planning Commission’s denial only for changing Condition #11 from 16-feet to 35-feet. The appellants appeal letter is attached with their reason to increase the pile height (Attachment 3). A summary of past City Council and Planning Commission actions is provided in Attachment 4. ISSUES/ANALYSIS The appeal relates to two conditions of approval of the metal shredding and recycling use at 785 East “M” Street and both of these areas were originally approved in 2006. The amount of material processed per day was modified in 2013. The first area relates to Condition of Approval No. 11 related to restricting the volume of material to be processed on the project site to be 680 tons per day and then modified in 2013 to allow increase from 680 tons per day to allow an 1.1 Packet Pg. 10