REPORT TO PLANNING COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
PUBLIC HEARING: Action on Conditional Use Permit (PLN24-00392) to Modify Existing Conditions of Approval (Conditions P6, P8, P19, & P20) to Allow Solid Waste and Recycling Collection from Cecil Avenue for the Existing Subaru Dealership Located at 3225 Stevens Creek Boulevard.
Report
REPORT IN BRIEF
File No.: PLN24-00392
Project: Conditional Use Permit to modify existing conditions of approval (conditions P6 and P19) to allow solid waste and recycling to be collected from Cecil Avenue for the existing Subaru dealership.
Applicant: David Zamora / Reza Soleimany
Owner: Monar LLC
General Plan: Regional Commercial
Zoning: Regional Commercial (CR)
Site Area: 1.57 acres
Existing Site Conditions: The project site is built with an 45,778 square foot one story auto sales showroom with support offices, an auto repair center, and a three-story parking structure.
Surrounding Land Uses:
North: Very Low Density Residential (Single-Family Residential)
South: Mixed Use Commercial (San Jose City Limits)
East: Regional Commercial (Low-Rise Commercial)
West: Regional Commercial (Lincoln Car Dealership)
Issues: Consistency with the City’s General Plan & Zoning Ordinance
Staff Recommendation: Determine that the request is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA Guidelines Section 15305 (Class 5 - Minor Alterations in Land Use Limitations); and adopt a resolution approving a Conditional Use Permit for the modification of existing conditions of approval to allow solid waste and recycling collection from Cecil Avenue for the property located at 3225 Stevens Creek Boulevard.
BACKGROUND
On September 9, 2024, David Zamora & Reza Soleimany (Applicant), on behalf of Monar LLC (Owner) filed a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) modification application for the subject site located at 3225 Stevens Creek Boulevard. The Applicant requests to modify Conditions of Approval P6 and P19 associated with the current CUP (File No. PLN2015-11350) to allow the operation of existing roll-up doors during business hours to facilitate solid waste and recycling collection from Cecil Avenue.
The project site was originally developed in the 1960’s and has since operated as a car dealership. The current active CUP (File No. PLN2015-11350) was approved by the Santa Clara Planning Commission on July 27, 2016, to allow an expanded car dealership and construction of a new building. A 0.28-acre portion of the project site (Former APN: 303-18-041) had to be rezoned from Agricultural (A) to Thoroughfare Commercial (CT) and was approved by Santa Clara City Council on Augst 30, 2016. Subsequently, as part of a citywide effort to make the zoning of parcels consistent with their General Plan land use designation, the subject property’s zoning was changed to Regional Commercial (CR) in August 2024.
The car dealership did not build the approved solid waste and recycling enclosure as required under File No. PLN2015-11350 and was transferring solid waste and recyclables to the neighboring property’s solid waste and recycling enclosure in violation of the Conditions of Approval. In August 2023, the City of Santa Clara became aware of the noncompliance and sent a violation letter (Attachment 7) with options for the dealership to remedy the violation. The car dealership has their oil / fluid picked up once a week on Cecil Avenue as allowed by the Conditions of Approval.
The Applicant’s request is one of the remedies proposed in the letter. This request is submitted pursuant to Santa Clara City Code Chapter 18.150, Permit Modifications and Revocations. The request was required to go through the Project Clearance Committee, and it was deemed cleared on March 11, 2025.
DISCUSSION
The project site is located along the City’s southern border along the Stevens Creek Boulevard commercial corridor lined with auto-oriented uses. This corridor was developed at the same time as the suburban tract homes abutting the subject property to the north along Cecil Avenue. See Attachment 1 for a vicinity map of the area. Existing auto-oriented land uses have intensified over the decades, resulting in an increase in the noise, light, and air pollution. The residents of these residences voiced their opposition to the intensification of the subject site in 2015. Their concerns regarded noise and light pollution that the site would generate and how it would disrupt the residential character of their neighborhood.
An Initial Study was prepared for the proposed project in 2015 in accordance with the CEQA. The Initial Study determined that the noise pollution generated by the site’s activities would exceed thresholds and needed mitigation. Mitigations were intended to restrict the ability of commercial vehicles to use the roll-up doors facing Cecil Avenue. The following mitigations were included in the project’s Mitigation Monitoring and Reporting Program:
• Limit soundings of horns as vehicles
• Roll up doors shall remain closed at all times between the hours of 10:00 PM and 7:00 AM
• Close roll-up doors when practical during all hours of operation
• Utilize bays farthest from the roll up doors first and locate noisier activities in bays furthest from roll up doors
• Keep exterior door to compressor/tanks closed except while entering or exiting, and
• Limit all exterior activities, including loading and receiving of materials and site circulation to the hours of 10:00 PM and 7:00 AM
To address the community’s concerns, the Planning Commission approved the CUP (File No. PLN2015-11350) after adding additional restrictions to the use of the roll up doors along Cecil Avenue by adding the following conditions:
• Condition P6. Any pedestrian and roll-up doors opening onto Cecil Avenue shall remain closed during operation, shall be used for emergency ingress/egress only, and shall not be used as a primary entrance to or exit from the site, except as allowed for oil/fluid removal and supply, consistent with Condition P19 below. The roll-up door between the service area and Cecil Avenue shall remain closed at all times, except in the event of emergency ingress/egress needs. The roll-up door for the service area that faces east shall remain closed except for vehicle ingress/egress in order to minimize noise disturbance to nearby neighbors, consistent with the Illingworth & Rodkin noise study recommendations dated July 18, 2016. Prior to approval of plans for Architectural Review, plans shall be revised to label doors opening to Cecil Avenue consistent with this condition, and plans shall note that signage will be posted on-site to inform employees and other users which doors are to remain closed during operations.”
• Condition P19. No loading, unloading, deliveries, trash/recycling pick-up, vehicle staging, vehicle parking, vehicle/site service, or other site function shall occur on Cecil Avenue or other nearby residential streets, with the exception of oil and other fluid extraction and supply to the business may occur on Cecil Avenue between the hours of 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Oil and other fluid extraction and supply on Cecil Avenue shall occur no more than one time per week. The business operator shall maintain a log of activity for the oil and other fluid extraction and supply. Said log shall be furnished to the City upon request.
These conditions have created a unique situation for this project site as it is the only commercial property along Cecil Avenue that does not have solid waste and recycling collected from Cecil Avenue. A recent example is the Stevens Creek Lincoln dealership adjacent to the property was approved (File No. PLN21-15129) to have their solid waste and recycling collected from Cecil Avenue.
General Plan Conformance
The request abides with the following General Plan Policies:
• 5.5.2-P12: Screen loading and trash areas to preclude visibility from off‐site and public streets.
• 5.8.2-P7: Concentrate through traffic on major streets and encourage traffic distribution that maximizes the efficiency of the existing roadway network.
• 5.8.2-P8: Minimize disruption of traffic flow resulting from truck traffic and deliveries, particularly during commute hours.
Zoning Conformance
A CUP may be modified or revoked pursuant to Santa Clara City Code Chapter 18.150. The Review Authority which originally granted the permit is authorized to modify the permit if it meets the finding below:
“Circumstances under which the permit or approval was granted have been changed to an extent that one or more of the findings that justified the original approval can no longer be made, and the public health, safety, and general welfare require the modification or revocation”
Here, Finding “D” of the 2016 Resolution approving the car dealership was that the dealership “is in keeping with the purposes and intent of the Zoning Code, in that auto sales and services, including vehicle prep are permitted uses” in the applicable zone, and because the dealership “is designed such that it does not adversely impact the surrounding areas.” Part of that design was the condition requiring that the roll-up doors fronting Cecil remained closed most of the time. However, that aspect of the design is no longer necessary to avoid impacting the surrounding uses, because:
o The solid waste and recycling collection restriction under Planning Division conditions 6 and 19 creates an unreasonable constraint to the site’s waste management.
o The constraint is unique to this site as similar development abutting Cecil Avenue has been allowed to get their solid waste and recycling collected from this street for recent projects.
o The waste management company (Mission Trail) operates their collection trucks on Cecil Avenue currently and modifying these conditions will not generate additional noise pollution.
o These conditions are no longer necessary due to the conditions on the ground.
After reviewing the current conditions and operations of the car dealership, staff also suggests modifications to conditions P8 regarding directing employees where to park, and P20 starting the car wash one hour later in the a.m. on weekdays so they are better enforceable and are consistent with the General Plan and Zoning. See Attachment 3 for the redline of the proposed edits to the conditions.
The Stevens Creek Subaru dealership currently has an unreasonable constraint implementing their waste management. Modifying conditions 6 and 19 to allow solid waste and recycling collection on Cecil Avenue will consolidate and improve both Mission Trail and this site’s operations. The change will not be detrimental to the health, safety, peace, comfort and general welfare of residences in the neighborhood because no additional noise, light, and air pollution will be generated.
ENVIROMENTAL REVIEW
The proposed request is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA Guidelines Section 15305 (Class 5 - Minor Alterations in Land Use Limitations), which applies to minor alterations in the land use limitations if it does not change the density or land use. The proposal involves changing a condition in the Conditions of Approval of the CUP.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact to the City for processing the requested application other than administrative time and expenses typically covered by processing fees paid by the applicant.
COORDINATION
This report has been coordinated with the City Attorney’s Office.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Community Meeting
On November 18, 2024, the applicant held a virtual community meeting to present the request and answer questions. Staff was present in the meeting to hear the community’s feedback and take notes, but no community members attended the meeting. The applicant’s presentation was recorded and posted on the City’s website. Additionally, Santa Clara’s Public Works Department asked the applicant to prepare and distribute a survey to the residences abutting Cecil Avenue to gauge their support on this request. However, due to the amount of time needed to prepare and conduct the survey, and the immediate need to resolve the solid waste and recycling collection issue on the subject site it was determined that the request should proceed through the entitlement process without the survey.
Public Notice
On May 8, 2025, a notice of public hearing on this item mailed to property owners within 500 feet of the project site. At the time of this staff report, Planning Staff has not received public comments in support or opposition to the proposed request.
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
1. Determine the request is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) per CEQA Guidelines Section 15305 (Class 5 - Minor Alterations in Land Use Limitations);
2. Adopt a resolution approving a Conditional Use Permit to modify existing conditions of approval (Condition P6, P8, P19, & P20) to allow solid waste and recycling to be collected along Cecil Avenue for the existing Subaru dealership located at 3225 Stevens Creek Boulevard, subject to findings and the revised conditions of approval.
Staff
Prepared by: Alex Tellez, Assistant Planner
Reviewed by: Alexander Abbe, Assistant City Attorney
Approved by: Lesley Xavier, Planning Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. Vicinity Map
2. Resolution approving Conditional Use Permit
3. Conditions of Approval
4. Development Plans
5. Justification of Request
6. Web Links
7. Violation Letter
8. Code Enforcement Case Log