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Town Of Los Altos Hills February 25, 1998 Staff Report to the Planning Commission RE: CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT AND SITE DEVELOPMENT PERMIT FOR CONSTRUCTION OF NEW MULTI-PURPOSE BUILDING, ADDITIONS TO EXISTING ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES AND CLASSROOM BUILDINGS, AND PARKING; AND PROPOSED NEGATIVE DECLARATION; 26790 ARASTRADERO ROAD; LANDS OF CONGREGATION BETH AM; (#189-97-ZP-SD-CUP-ND). FROM: Curtis S. Williams, Planning Diregtj RECOMMENDATION That the Planning Commission: Recommend to the City Council approval of the conditional use permit, subject to the conditions of approval outlined in Exhibit"A" (attached), and citing the findings outlined in Exhibit "C"; approval of the site development permit, subject to the conditions of approval outlined in Exhibit"B" (attached); and adoption of the Negative Declaration. BACKGROUND On January 28 and February 11, 1998, the Planning Commission considered this request, and heard testimony from representatives of the applicant and from affected neighbors. On February 11th, the Commission addressed all conditions of approval except for drainage, which remained unresolved. The Commission requested that the conditions be modified for final action at the February 25th meeting. DISCUSSION Attached are revised conditions of approval for the project, as directed by the Commission on February 11th. Exhibit"A" (Attachment 1) comprises the conditions for the conditional use permit and Exhibit "B" (Attachment 2) comprises the conditions for the site development permit. Exhibit"C" (Attachment 3) outlines the proposed findings for approval of the use permit, as modified by the Commission; The revisions are noted in a bold/ctrikethrough format. Drainage The initial staff report identified a drainage problem downstream of the site and the applicant's proposal to address the problem. Condition #20 of the site development permit would require that the channel be widened and rock-lined to protect against erosion, in addition to the applicant obtaining private drainage easements over the channel downstream. Condition #13 of the conditional use permit would require maintenance of the downstream channel. If the proposed improvements to the downstream channel are completed, however, it may not be necessary to include the maintenance condition (for off-site drainage) with the use permit, provided that the easements assign responsibility for maintenance to one or more of the parties involved. The applicant has concerns about the proposed drainage conditions, including the potential costs and the uncertainty of obtaining easements. Since the last Commission meeting, the applicant has initiated contact with downstream neighbors to determine the feasibility of obtaining easements. At the same time, the applicant's engineer has provided Engineering staff with limited information regarding a possible detention basin on the site, intended to detain runoff and release it at a slower rate. The information