AMPORTS asks city Planning Commission to overturn staff approval of use permit in Arsenal

Attorney Dana Dean will appeal to the Planning Commission a decision by interim Community Development Director Dan Marks to issue a use permit for a bed and breakfast at 963 Jefferson St.
The commission meets Thursday.

Marks concurred with property owner Stephen David’s request Dec. 18, 2014, approving the use permit for a bed and breakfast of up to 10 rooms, eight of which would be guest rooms and two others manager rooms, Principal Planner Amy Million wrote in a March 3 report to the Planning Commission.

Dean, who represents AMPORTS, the company that operates the Port of Benicia, has appealed the decision, questioning whether it is consistent with Benicia’s General Plan, whether it should have had greater environmental review in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), whether it is appropriate to have a residential use on the first floor and whether the bed and breakfast would be a compatible land use.

Dean wrote that her client “submits this appeal as an interested party because it owns property near the location of the proposed project, it owns and operates the Port of Benicia, and it may be affected by any decision regarding the proposed project.”

Other operations could be affected, too, she wrote, saying approval of the bed and breakfast conflicts with a General Plan goal of having a viable port, encouraging other industries and having a lower Arsenal that is filled with historic, cultural, commercial and industrial mutually compatible uses.

She continued, “On our client’s behalf, we requested that the Zoning Administrator (Marks) consider several issues and concerns (including, but not limited to, the issue of the proposed project’s inconsistency with the General Plan) when reviewing the application and proposed use and we set forth reasons why the application should be denied.”

She wrote that “despite the evidence supporting a denial of the use permit application, we received notice of the (zoning administrator decision) indicating approval of the use permit to operate a bed and breakfast at the subject property.”

Dean is claiming the decision was made in error, and that Marks’s decision, which was made in abuse of his discretion, is, among other things, not consistent with law.

She has questioned whether Marks properly addressed noise, saying mitigation shouldn’t be handled through a condition of approval.

Million, who has recommended denying Dean’s appeal, wrote that the condition limits construction hours to fewer than allowed by the Benicia Municipal Code as the result of a “documented good neighbor gesture.”

Dean said segmenting David’s project is prohibited by CEQA.

David has been working on his building for several years, Million responded in her report. His design review application was approved by the Historic Preservation Review Commission in 2011, she wrote, and David was given a year extension, and work has been “diligently pursued thereafter.”

David is renovating the historic building in the Benicia Arsenal and would need to modify the first and second floors and add a fire escape on the second floor, Million added.

He also is building a restaurant in the basement level of the building, she wrote. A new parking lot already has been approved, she added.

She wrote that if David opens the bed and breakfast, it could provide another $20,000 to the city in Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT), a charge of 9 percent of the total room rate.

The building was erected in 1874 as a residential duplex, and through the years has been used as a home and for commercial purposes, Million wrote. It’s listed as a historic landmark.

David’s plans wouldn’t affect the building’s historic features as identified in a 2009 historic survey, and would comply with Secretary of the Interior Standards for Rehabilitation, she wrote.

The building, on 1.2 acres of land that is divided into two parcels, is on the north side of Jefferson Street, between Park Road and Washington Street. The land is zoned Lower Arsenal Mixed Use and Office Commercial, which allows its use as a bed and breakfast upon approval of a use permit, Million wrote.

She explained that the Lower Arsenal Mixed Use designation in the General Plan allows residential, live-work, office, retail, public and quasi-public and limited industrial uses, and encourages a mix of compatible uses.

“With the development of residential uses in the Office Commercial zoning district limited to floors above the ground floor, any development with a residential component is required to be mixed use,” she wrote.

She described David’s building as “an example of mixed commercial uses within a single structure, with a restaurant on the basement level and a bed and breakfast on the upper two floors.”

She continued, “It is important to note that the historic use of the building has been a residential duplex and that residential uses exist and are allowed in the lower Arsenal.

“However, a bed and breakfast, although it may seem similar to a residential use, is actually a commercial use, as its clients are there only for a short term, usually less than one week.”

She wrote that the Jefferson Street Mansion, at 1063 Jefferson St., has a similar mix of uses. Single-family homes are on other parts of both Jefferson Street and Park Road, she added.

It’s typical for managers of bed-and-breakfast accommodations to live on-site, she wrote, and added that having a guest room and restroom on the first floor would bring the building into compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Responding to Dean’s concerns that David’s operation could harm industrial and port uses, Million wrote that it would be compatible with adjacent land uses and is buffered from port activity by other commercial, residential and industrial land uses.

The Planning Commission will meet at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Council Chamber of City Hall, 250 East L St.