Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

e I are we are we ready to are we ready to begin we are ready I call this regular Planning Commission meeting to order at 6:32 p.m please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance sorry I pledge algi to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you Nicole roll call please yes yes um let's see youth commissioner Ramen

Deep jawanda present commissioner Marilyn Avalon present commissioner Eric Alman present commissioner Shelby gos present Vice chair Charles plumber present and chair DEET Muhammad present there are no presentations tonight I am going to open it up for public comment this time is reserved for members of the public to address the Planning Commission on items of interest that are not on the agenda and are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Planning Commission it is recommended that speakers limit their comments to 3 minutes each and it is requested that no comments be made during this period on items on the agenda members of the public wishing to address the public commission the Planning Commission on items on the agenda should comment via email prior to the start of the meeting or verbally comment on the item during the meeting click the raise your hand button if joining by Zoom or press star n if joining by phone when the item is called the Planning Commission is prohibited by law from taking any action on matters discussed that are not on the agenda and no adverse conclusion should be drawn if the Planning Commission does not respond to the public comment at this time speakers are asked to please speak clearly and provide their name any handouts for distribution to the Planning Commission must must be emailed by 3 pm on the meeting day are there any public comments is there anyone council chambers that would like to speak on a non- agendized item okay there are no public comments there's no one on Zoom at this time and just a reminder if you're going to speak on any of the agenda items to please fill out a speaker card anybody on Zoom there's no one on Zoom thank

you um director Cooper are there any agenda changes um chair Muhammad There Are No Agenda changes tonight perfect consent calendar I'll make a motion that we adopt the consent calendar do I have a second I second thank you Nicole broll call please yes um commissioner Marilyn abalon I commissioner Eric Alman I commissioner Shelby Goss I Vice chair Charles Plummer I Cher excuse me chair dvet Muhammad I all right public hearings Crawford way multif family project design permit um thank you chair Muhammad and Planning Commission Brent Cooper commun development director um the applicant for this project has requested the commission continue the public hearing to your next regular scheduled meeting on March 27 uh this is a public hearing and so the public is invited to speak if they would like to tonight thank you director Cooper do we have any public comments is there anyone in the room that would like to comment on this item we have no comments in the room and there is nobody on Zoom thank you Nicole and do I have a motion I will make a motion for a continuance of this item to our next regularly scheduled Planning Commission meeting do I have a second I'll second at that roll call please yes commissioner Marilyn abalon I commissioner Eric Alman I commissioner Shelby Goss I Vice chair Charles Plummer I chair devet Muhammad

I thank you we'll move on to business items 2024 General plan annual report director Cooper thank you chair Muhammad members of the Planning Commission and members of the public Brent Cooper Comm development director I'm pleased to present to you tonight um a report on the general plan progress um this is required by the state of California to provide an update on an annual basis just to be able to elevate the general plan and the policies that are in it and explain and celebrate um all the accomplishments over the past year um we are also I'd like to mention and put a plugin updating the general plan we're really excited the original General plan that we have today while it's been updated the original General plan was adopted 31 years ago it's going to take that in for a minute and so it's really exciting to be able to to update and refresh the general plan uh bring everything into compliance with each other consistency uh the general plan uh may or may not be aware is the foundation for land use and public services in American canion and other cities as well um but ours here it's it's the foundation upon which a lot of things policies programs happen and so uh what I'd like to share with you tonight is a video uh hosted by our new mayor um it's referred to as the state of the city but you could also rephrase it as the state of the general plan um we do have in the packet um available uh the actual report and it talks about um all of the accomplishments that have happened in the last year with the general plan but

many of them are also highlighted in the state of the city um and that's not really a coincidence because so much is dependent upon policies in in line of sight uh consistency between what we do as a city and as a government body and what's in our general plan and so with that introduction I'm going to um share with you the video it's um it's about 9 minutes long so maybe settle in but it's um a very good very good hi I'm mayor Pierre Washington and thank you for tuning in our state of the City offers a time to celebrate everything that makes American Canyon such a special place to live work and play I'm excited to share three videos we've created to highlight our achievements in each of these areas living in American Canyon means being part of a community that values connection quality of life and sustainability this year we're proud to be named the number one best place in the united states to retire affordably by fortune.com a testament to the welcoming and vibrant City we built together let's take a closer look at what makes life in America American Canyon so special welcome to American Canyon a community where everyone belongs here connection growth and Care are at the heart of everything we [Music] do we believe in amplifying Community Voices every resident has a role in making sure our city reflects the people who call at home volunteerism and Civic engagement are the cornerstones of our community we work alongside local organizations and strong Grassroots efforts to make a lasting impact in the lives of our

neighbors in American Canyon safety is more than just a priority it's a partnership our community oriented policing builds trust with friendly caring officers who are more than just protectors they're part of the fabric of our community as we grow we do so thoughtfully we work with Napa Valley Unified School District to ensure the highest quality education is available to our students providing them with the tools to thrive today and Lead tomorrow as a central connector in the Bay Area and Napa Valley regions we're also growing economically supporting a vibrant local business community and welcoming new Enterprises that enhance the quality of life in American Canyon our housing developments are expanding with the same care offering affordable options for current residents while creating opportunities for new families to join our [Music] community in the midst of this development we remain committed to preserving American Canyon's climate and natural beauty for future Generations from safeguarding Open Spaces like newal preserve to in investing in our water supply and prioritizing Environmental Education we're creating lasting solutions for a sustainable [Music] future living in American Canyon means being part of a community that prioritizes its residents supports local initiatives and builds toward a brighter sustainable future for all who call this special place home we're also hard at work building a stronger more connected Community this year we've prioritized safety and

infrastructure with Road improvements along Benton way American Canyon Road and more let's explore how we work to build a better American [Music] Canyon American Canyon is hard at work for our community we're focused on ensuring safe travel for everyone with improvements like enhanced bike lanes and safer roads our investments support all modes of [Music] transportation we also prioritize the upkeep and upgrade of our public spaces from Park maintenance and accessibility improvements to maintaining water quality and general infrastructure we're committed to keeping our community vibrant and efficient our approach to managing public spaces and Community funds is effective and transparent our balanced budget and award-winning reporting reflect our commitment to responsible governance Innovation fuels our progress American Canyon Embraces new technology and systems to enhance efficiency and Service delivery from enhancing virtual services and public records access to simplifying permitting and procurement we lead with Cutting Edge [Music] Solutions we value our dedicated city employees and strive to create a positive rewarding work environment by investing in professional development and fostering a supportive workplace we ensure our team is equipped and engaged to best serve our community [Music]

in American Canyon work means progress and collaboration we're committed to fostering a thriving environment where business activity and the dedication of our employees Drive our community [Music] forward fun and Community comes together in American Canyon this year we celebrated Milestones like opening our new skate park and cheered on our American Canyon High School as they made history becoming the first Napa County School to win a football state championship let's dive into all the ways we play in American [Music] Canyon American Canyon is a playground of possibilities where fun adventure and natural beauty come together to enrich our lives our Parks and Recreation team offers a wide range of recreation programs designed for all ages and interests from sports leagues and fitness classes to creative arts and enrichment programs there's something for everyone to enjoy we are committed to making our Parks enjoyable for everyone recent improvements include accessible playgrounds pave paths and upgraded amenities ensuring that all community members can make the most of our recreational [Music] spaces American Canyon's natural beauty is perfect for outdoor activities explore the trails at new Open Space Preserve or enjoy the Tranquil Wetlands whether biking or strolling our well-maintained natural areas provide an ideal setting for [Music] recreation community events are a Cornerstone of our city life together with our partners we proudly host and support a variety of events from Lively

festivals and holiday celebrations to community cleanups fostering connection and providing Fun For [Music] All to stay in the loop on all things play American Canyon developed award-winning activity guides alongside existing Outreach efforts to provide updates onal programs and events while actively seeking input on projects from documenting our history to naming parks and More in American Canyon play is about celebrating life and embracing all that our community has to offer with diverse Recreation programs improved Parks natural beauty and vibrant events there's always something to experience and enjoy [Music] thank you for joining us to celebrate all the ways we live work and play in American Canyon this has been an incredible year filled with meaningful accomplishments and milestones for our community for more in depth look at everything we've achieved in 2024 be sure to explore our state of the city publication it's packaged with highlights stories and updates on the progress we've made together the booklet has been mailed to the residents and is also available to view online at American canyon. goov state ofthe city here's to another amazing year in American Canyon as we continue to build a brighter future together all right so like I say it all begins

with a solid General plan um coming up at one of your uh next meetings I'm not sure if it's March or April um the Public Works director will be bringing the uh upcoming Capital Improvement plan um to the Planning Commission and it requires a determination by the Planning Commission that it's consistent with the general plan so just one more sort of uh step in the way um showing how the general plan really is is the foundation for the city and programs and construction and things that we do as a city need to be consistent with that um I'm going to give the Planning Commission my first ever piece of homework um because we're bringing the general plan to you at your next meeting there's no reason being that you're all high Achievers that you'll want to read ahead so what I'll do is after this meeting I'll send you a link to the general plan and the environmental impact report and that'll give you a nice head start on on getting through it so that you're not rushed at the end um if you would like us to send you a hard copy some people like Electronics some people like hard copies um just let me know and we'll send you a copy so with that if you have any questions about the report itself I'm glad to answer that um our second update is uh from William on our housing element but um I'm glad to take any questions or public comments on our general plan uh annual report director Cooper some of us have been around long enough that we've read the general plan and have a hard copy because a soft copy online was not yet available well now you have a new one to [Laughter] read uh director Cooper I have a question I had a chance to look through the general plan annual report um there is a an a line I'm in here about General

plan Environmental impact report Workshop that this commission the prior commission had attended in um October of 24 um seeing how there's several new planning Commissioners on here is there a way for us to get a recap of that uh Workshop or any call to actions from that Workshop so that we're aware of the impact of that Workshop um we can send you a link to the uh Planning Commission meeting and that'll give you the presentation and the dialogue that happened thank you any other commissioner comments or questions any public comments good evening Beth Marcus first of all fantastic video um as I was sitting there thinking I know when and I don't go visit other places that often but if you're in a hotel they show different things this would be an awesome thing to show in our hotels or even have available at the chamber so we could you know have it looping through all the time but I think this would be an absolutely wonderful presentation at the hotels yeah great idea Beth thank you yes be beautifully done video um our Parks look wonderful we still have a lot of open space and um our sunsets make a big difference and if the state would let me I would just send them a copy of our video okay so we will go ahead and receive and file the 2024 General plan annual report moving on to the 2024 calendar year housing element annual progress report that's right and we have William he is

here and um this is my nickname for the housing element income tax report thank you director Cooper uh good evening um uh chair Muhammad members of the Planning Commission and members of the public uh William he senior planner for the planning division very happy to be here today to give a present a on all our housing efforts from 2024 a little bit of background um this is actually the sixth cycle of the housing element annual progress report and this cycle captures uh progress from 2023 to 2031 uh each cycle consists of seven years um state law requires the annual housing element progress report uh to be reported uh every year by April 1st I think and this report highlights work accomplished and this report is sent to the Housing and Community Development Department also known as hcd the governor's office of planning and research also known as opr and now the Napa Sonoma housing collaborative which is also referred to as the Napa Sonoma Adu Center um 2024 represents the second year of this sixth cycle uh before I begin I I like to give a special thanks to all the um uh agencies that we partner with that help us along the way with our housing efforts um the three big agencies are uh the housing authority of the city of

Napa the fair housing Napa Valley uh group and then the napaa Adu Center um the uh the Housing Authority helps us monitor uh annual income limits uh they monitor the Section 8 vouchers and they provide Outreach uh to on affordable housing issues uh the fair housing Napa Valley group provides information regarding landlord obligations and rights under fair housing laws um they also provide counseling and investigations uh of inquiries and complaints and they uh provide reviews of existing rental practices policies and rules and lastly the Napa Sonoma Adu Center uh they've been a great help with us on processing uh uh adus um provides uh feasibility consultants and now they actually have some uh pre-approve slst standard plans for like new land owners that uh property owners that are interested in developing an Adu so very thankful for these three agencies and without them we couldn't get the the the housing work done for sure uh so let's begin with what uh what happened in 2024 so this is kind of like my big board that shows um the the basically the the data of what uh how many um uh housing units that were produced in 2024 um the state uh requires us to break this up into three categories the first categor is is entitlements which is um the zoning and planning approval the second is the building permits issued that's when they actually uh get the rights to start construction and then the last category is the certificates of occupancy or final inspections a lot of these projects were

made possible by the two specific plans that we had uh the Broadway District specific plan that was approved in 2019 and the Watson Ranch specific plan that was approved in 2018 so to start uh I want to talk a little bit about the entitlements so we approved uh 167 units all total in 2024 um there were six adus that were approved uh adus are accessory dwelling units and then the 136 units that were approved uh for Watson Ranch lot 7 those were the ones that came in with the small Alleyway homes um those were approved I think September last year and then there was the uh 25 single family lots at Watson Ranch Lot 8 those are uh they're directly north of the Harvest subdivision they're 25 in a row so altogether that's 167 units for entitlements for building permits issued um these are uh permits that were issued and that went on to start construction they were six adus uh they probably were not the exact the same six that got entitlements but there were six adus and then 189 units for the oat Hill and Domain Apartments those are the new apartments that are on the hill on the west side of uh uh of City Hall um the 189 units were from 11 buildings so um they're starting construction I think um we can see a lot of the ones in the more towards the bottom of the hill they're already on the third story um 68 units were uh issued for Harvest that is a single family subdivision consisting of I think over 200 units and then we had two more units that were that were complet that were issued for

Artisan that those were the last two of the 98 units for the Artisan subdivision and alog together that's 265 units that were uh approved in 2024 so on to construction I mean the completion um we completed 337 units that's a a lot of units um five of them were adus uh 186 units were from the Watson Ranch limos Point Apartments so those are the all affordable uh uh apartment units um just on the east side of um Adobe Lumber um the 66 units for the Broadway District uh Pacific plan Napa Cove project those that's those are the apartments uh between Highway 29 and Melvin way and then 53 units for Watson Ranch Harvest subdivision and 27 units for the Watson Ranch Artis subdivision um one of the things that I I try to pick up as as a theme for this year and I think the theme for this year is completion um we're able to complete the Watson Ranch limos Point Apartments the Napa Cove U apartments and also the Watson Ranch um Artis subdivision so uh these are projects that we've been working on for quite some time and it's great to see their uh them at the finish line so that's the 2024 numbers in a nutshell I want to talk a little bit about the Regional Housing needs allocation or re so the Reena allocation is um is

established by the Association of Bay Area uh governments or abag and it it allocates the fair share that uh for each agency that they have to contribute to the state's um housing demand so for us the um we are required or uh asked to provide 622 units uh at the end of this sixth cycle and um this the arena um numbers only only looks at building issuance so we we uh issued 265 units in the year and that um along with uh last year uh contributed to um 425 units uh um I mean 4 1 38 units uh completed in this first two years of the cycle so um we're doing really good in providing the units but we do have some work in providing the units into the uh uh different income levels so that's the second piece of the of this uh Arena allocation is that not only do you uh have to provide the units but in the different income levels so um the the the yellow column column is what's required the uh the blue column is showing uh how we how we're doing so far so that's about it for Reena and I want to talk a little bit about the Napa County U area median income so this the Napa County Ami is um is produced by the

state every year and it shows um what the income levels actually consist of so from 0 to 50% of income is considered um low income 51% to 80% is uh low 81 to% is moderate and then above that uh 120% is above moderate so uh for example the uh for 2024 100% of the uh Ami for a family of four equals to $129,600 so if you make um uh just about 130,000 you're you're in the uh median for Napa County and uh if you make less than uh 155,000 as a family of four then you're considered moderate income so this this chart comes out every year as well I think it's uh around April to June and uh steadily these numbers have been rising uh the affordable housing uh fund the uh affordable housing funding affordable housing fees are generated um by new commercial and Industrial and market rate residential construction permits I I checked in with the finance department and they provided um this year's uh Nexus fees for affordable housing and we collected about $578,000 and this is mostly due to the oat Hill um Apartments because um they instead of providing the units they're providing fees for their in in lie of affordable

housing so next um wanted to talk a little bit about affordable housing permit activity the the two big stories is the Napa coov Apartments uh and The lius Point Apartments so both of those uh were completed this year so very happy to um inform the Planning Commission about that um the Napa Cove Apartments were uh uh were approved in March uh began Construction in March of 2020 two and they're completed in November of last year whereas the limos Point Apartments were uh approved in November of 21 and completed in July of last year so uh unfortunately these units uh don't count towards uh the current cycle Arena but they did count towards the the last cycle uh which is cycle five so so hopefully we'll see some more interested developers uh uh for American Canyon that might bring some more affordable housing uh in the later years do want to touch a little bit on Accessory drawing units and adus um we had six issued in uh last year um they're a great source of lowincome and very lowi income units for the city and um yeah it's uh the state has been continuously bringing out new laws that are making it easier for property owners to develop them um we started to uh keep track of them uh more intently since 2017 um working with the uh the permit

tech and and like tagging adus and uh when they start to come in and um uh from 2017 to 2024 the average number of adus issued was 3.4 units per year but if you look at just 2024 to 20 2021 to 2024 the average issued has gone up to five a year so um I think word is getting out and uh folks are that are interested in adus are learning um how to get the building permits for it and um uh it's it's a good source of um uh low and very low income uh housing units and this is a a a uh a diagram from the Napa Sonoma Adu Center it shows all the different ways that you can build an Adu from the standard detached Adu to even ones that are just built above a garage so um the reason why I picked 2017 was that's when the a lot of these like uh state law started um from the starting from the reduction of impact fees to making um owner occupy occupancy not required and a whole slew of them uh that that continued from there next we have uh just some of the uh housing effort highlights from 2024 um there are more than 40 programs in the housing element that uh that staff working with the those agencies try to uh try to make progress on but I'm only going to talk about four today just the highlights um in April the um City staff and the city council

uh worked on revising the municipal code um to uh for uh low barrier navigation centers in the community commercial Zone um small residential care facilities and manufactured homes as well as um uh floor area ratios for um Farm employee housing and also revised the code for adus so that was a slew of like municipal code changes that helped um uh housing efforts in May um the uh the city resolved to uh participate in the state Pro housing designation program and applied for the pro housing incentive Grant and now uh in June July and August City staff uh and the housing authority and some of the members of the Planning Commission were out at the meet me in the streets uh uh events and we brought the uh housing efforts uh to the public and um and lastly in in October of 2024 uh the Planning Commission approved the Watson Ranch lot 7 project which received a a uh a minor uh Amendment um to increase the floor area ratio and just a small change for the reduced garage setbacks that helped uh enable that project to move forward without them changing their their site plan so those are some of the the key efforts and I think that's all I have for 2024 and then the next is looking at perspective uh activity for 2 um entitlement processing we have the Crawford multif family project which we expect them to

come in next month or maybe the month after um the canyon Estates project that's been approved a while back they are are um they came back with the Richmond American homes and they might do some standard plans for the kyya states so that's in review so um and then for building permits we have the Suns Square mixed use project they were delayed a bit um because they they went through a minor mod to change a little bit of their parking lot and uh Landscaping but they do have their building permits submitted and their Improvement plans submitted so hopefully we'll see them uh start construction next year or actually this year it's 2025 uh Watson Ranch promontory that's um in review with public works for improvement plans uh the Watson Ranch lot seven which the ones with the alleyway homes that's uh coming soon for building permits and the same as Watson Ranch Lot 8 and then in construction uh I said that the oat Hill Apartments had 180 something units issued so there's still about 90 is units that needs to be issued uh but they're getting through that soon hopefully they'll finish getting all their permits and and uh start on the the upper units up up the hill um and then Watson Ranch harvest the subdivision they they're down to I think like 90 units left of the 219 so they're steadily moving so hopefully we'll see them close to finish in the end of 2025 um but this is all perspective uh just looking at the crystal ball so we'll see what happens in

2025 um that's all I have uh for the planning uh the housing element annual report um uh this uh report will be given to the uh city council after this one so if you have any questions I'll be here thank you Mr Heath for your presentation I have a few questions good so Arena allowance is 622 units for the end of the six cycle yes so that's from 2023 to 2031 MH and in 2020 four last year we had 265 for issued yeah issued and then do you know what we had in 2023 I don't know specifically but um in total it's 438 that we've issued for the first two years and then do you know what we're projected for in 20 25 it's it's hard to to see what's projected yeah so we've pretty much exceeded our Arena allowance yeah for what they required for the overall and they look at that but they also look at how you we perform in the low very low and moderate so that's the yeah the second part of the homework assignment if you can imagine thank you and then do you know if lios and um napao are at capacity uh I believe so I know that when they did their um Lottery there there were more than enough uh candidates but I'll defer to director Cooper if he knows if they're all rented out well um chair Muhammad I don't know what the status is I can check with the managers and see what it is there's once we release the units for occupancy it's up to the management team there to occupy the units um but I can find out um from them what the status is and let

the commission know thank you um commissioner comments yeah um I do have a question are there any special loan programs for low-income people and how long does the program last for the families um I'm not too sure about uh loans but then and that's the one of the uh tasks that we have for like the Housing Authority folks they're experts on finding loans for firsttime buyers and uh I think they have they work for the state to see if there's any loans for adus as well I could maybe fill in some of that um the Napa County has a program for homeowners to build adus on their property and if they rent them to lower income tenants then there's a forgivable loan prog program um the city was uh trying to work that out with the city of Napa as well but there were some changes in state law that um didn't enable us to start that right away we're hoping that we can one day have that ourselves but residents in American Canyon can contact the County uh for for Gibble Gom program for accessory dwelling units um I also recently got a call from uh the Napa Housing Authority who perform who we have a contract with them for on behalf of the city and um there are available grants um that they're going to be looking into that would provide uh firsttime home buyer down payment assistance for lower income residents um it wouldn't count towards our Regional Housing needs allocation but it is a great program to enable people to get into owning their own

homes on construction itself um the city does have a modest amount 500,000 is I'm not sure if that's the total we have in the account or just what was accumulated that year but we have a modest amount that might be uh leveraged for a project but it's these projects often require a lot more subsidy than that another one my question is are there any upcoming developments that might affect um property values for low-income people property values is uh usually that's what the county assessor if if I'm correct um yeah commissioner Remy maybe you might mean are there any new projects coming um ahead that have an affordable housing component to it no like that would affect the property values for the low income people I'm not sure how how that would would work maybe you could describe a little bit more uh are there any upcoming project that will affect property values for low income people um I can't think of any that would that would affect property values for low-income people um but we do uh the Promontory project does include uh 54 accessory dwelling units um and that accessory dwelling units because of their size tend to be affordable to lower income people and so we're looking forward to seeing that become underdevelopment and they include accessory dwelling units in their project so that there would be uh affordable housing there are a variety of state laws as well constantly um Coming forward um I heard about one that

was uh recently passed the beginning of this year that um cities are are could provide their own ordinance to adopt that would allow accessory dwelling units to be carved out from the main house property and sold um so there are there are other variety of state laws that do affect property rights that may um assist with um lower income residents thank you commissioner Palmer um I had a question Mr you uh according to the oill project there's about 291 units that are in development of those 291 are any of those going to uh qualify for the Reena allocations to low income or very low income or moderate income for our city um no so those were the ones that were so they provided like an economic study to show that they couldn't uh provide the units on site and they would uh they agreed to pay the inlo fee and uh secondly those units were all issued in the cycle before so it's like the fifth cycle when they were is issued I think no I'll let the director Cooper no that would have been Leo's point you said was issued prior in Prior cycle right you're halfway William the the um the applicant at the time of entitlement provided an economic study that showed that if we required them to provide affordable housing in as part of their project it would make the project financially infeasible and so there was an agreement at that time that when they get their building permits they'll pay the affordable housing fees those permits you mentioned in your report have been issued in this current cycle but they count towards the above moderate category okay thank you for the

clarification good um so for the oill example where they paid an inl fee rather than building affordable housing on site where exactly does that fee go does it go toward further affordable housing efforts in the town um uh yes uh commissioner gos the uh money goes towards a special account that's a cruise and it's used for affordable housing projects um that would be allocated by the city council um should there be a proponent that requests uh uh funding from our program to help make their project feasible okay um and then further I guess yeah looking at these numbers as we said the above moderate um number of units is well over what's required but we're a little lacking on the rest um I mean I understand that it's harder to attract developers who are focusing on lower income and affordable housing are there any is there anything the city can do to attract more development like that like I'm I'm not I'm unclear on what any programs or incentives might be um last cycle we did a pretty good job we we didn't need to really worry too much we had projects come forward that that met our allocation as we're seeing now there's um a drought of a different kind in the way of um lower income housing and I think that's the reason the state requires an annual uh report on the housing element so that if there is um an issue like this we all have advanced warning of it um so I think as it moves forward to the city council there'll be probably a discussion about what uh whether we we probably don't we don't have an answer

today but I think it elevates the need to look into what's possible and um ways in which we can turn this around one of the consequences um that happens when a city doesn't experience development of lower income housing um there is a state law called s sp35 and there is an annual report card that the state publishes every year um usually around December um the good list the bad list um this year in December the city was on the good list because of all the these recent projects um but what happens in s sp35 is if you get on the bad list then the city loses some of its authority to regulate um housing um in terms of where it's built what it looks like how big it is um the rights then get turned over to the developers who then tell us what they're going to do um and so the city begins to lose some of its local control over housing uh when there is a lack of lower income housing built in the city so it's a concern from that perspective right and I think I saw that attached in the um materials for tonight right that it's required like over 50% has to be affordable if you end up on that list is that accurate um there are different grades of bad list yeah I did see a couple different lists okay all right well thank you so I don't really have a question but um more kind of comment and I hope I'm correct with some minor clarification but if I recall the original developer on oat Hill was also

because there was the waiver and the payment of fees was also looking to develop a different site that was going to be more focused on meeting those lowincome and moderate income housing needs am I recalling this correctly I I don't recall um any discussion of that sort in Open Session um I think there was chitchat about one idea or another about how the city might allocate the funds that comes from the project uh ultimately there has been no allocation of the funds from the oill project at this time got it thank you yeah I I I I didn't know if it was open session or what but I think I think you hit where I was what what I was recalling so I appreciate that thank you any other commissioner comments public comment on the is there anyone in the room that would like to comment on this item and and we don't have anyone on Zoom so no public comment thank you we will go ahead and receive and file the annual 2024 calendar year housing element annual progress report and with that item number six I will recuse myself due to a financial comp and and before you do um chairman I want to really give uh William a lot of credit yes the um report it's there is a lot of intensive work that goes into the forms and preparing uh all the different ways in which the state has requested us to report on housing unit activity in 2024 so um thank you William it's it's a horrible job and and thank you for doing

it turning it over to Vice chair plumber thank you chair Muhammad uh moving on to business item number 6285 Napa Junction citation appeal yes um and thank you Vice chair plumber um I wanted to report to the Planning Commission that we're recommending that the commission continue this item to your next regular meeting at the last meeting you directed staff to um uh take a harder look at our regulations um the uh subject being the the storage vehicles um don't have a legal status and so we've um looked through our code and we've uh found a process under which it's um possible and we're in discussions with the property owner on that process so we'll be uh working more towards that to see if we have a match um but we're hoping to be able to be able to bring this back to you at your next meeting with um either a withdrawal or or another another plan perfect thank you and with that we want to um make a motion yes I will I will make a motion that we continue uh this item to our next regularly scheduled Planning Commission meeting at which point either we will we may have a withdrawal or um otherwise resolution uh to this issue thank you commissioner Alman do I have a second I'll second thank you can I get a roll call yes commissioner Marilyn amalon I commissioner Eric Alman I

commissioner sh Shelby gos hi um Vice chair Charles plumber I and chair devet Muhammad has recused herself from the item right thank you we can invite chair Mohammad back there she is thank you and with that we are moving on to management and staff oral reports director Cooper right um thank you chair Muhammad I just want to give you some of the highlights uh happening in the Community Development Department um this month um we have a couple of things uh brewing with the giovanoni logistics Park um they have a a parcel map and it would have expired and they've requested the city council extend that map um there will be it'll be discussed at the next council meeting on Tuesday next week on March 4th um they've also done some further analysis of their site plan and they've proposed uh a minor modification this is a a change to the site plan that can be approved by staff administratively um they have originally two larger warehouses um their plan is to take one of the warehouses reduce it in size and provide two smaller buildings um and so that's still the same impact same footprint nothing significant in any meaningful way apart from it works better for their site plan um and so that was submitted um earlier uh late January and we'll be prepared to approve that in the next couple of days um William mentioned the canyon Estates project it's been purchased by Richmond American homes and they have about seven different floor plans that they presented many of them are single story which is uh very unusual these

days and would be really welcome and um the issue that they are facing is uh many of the parcels which have been prepared and and ready don't really fit the floor plans and so they'll be coming with some landform changes and retaining walls and such so we'd like to understand that more fully uh meanwhile there are about six Parcels in the southwest Cor corner of the subdivision that are perfectly fine for and fit their floor plans and so we've given them the green light to start with that we're really excited to see something happen up there and and of course as new purchasers they are too so uh we're starting with those and uh looking forward to getting their building permit applications in for about six new homes in um Canyon Estates director Cooper do we still have that one parcel that's owned by a private person um there are two oh there's two MH we do have a a custom home application on on one of them um and the homeowner was getting a difficult time getting the homeowner association to approve the pro the uh architecture um so we stepped in kind of nudged and um they now have their green light um so that's uh nice to get some of these things help work through for the uh for the property owner it's exciting to see things happen up there um the Promontory subdivision that we talked about today uh in Watson Ranch um they have a modification application for us um the project was approved with pedestrian connections to the vine Trail um and now that the uh property owner is looking at construction documents they're finding there's some grade changes and complications with achieving that um and so we're working with them to try to make sure if we can get them to maintain p pedestrian connections to

the vine Trail because it would be a wonderful asset for anyone living there um and so we're we're doing our best um on trying to keep that uh feature because it's really a nice one um the Napa airport Commerce Center um that's a vacant parcel at South Kelly Road and Highway 29 uh kind of wraps around the pick and pole um and so they apply to us um to update the architecture the project was approved many many years ago um with kind of 1980 style sort of Spanish warehouses kind of style um and so they've updated to be a little more modern more and alike the architecture that we were presented for the jonia logistics Center so I think it's welcome to to update the architecture we've approved that um there are wetlands on the site and uh so they need to get approval from uh state and federal agencies because of that and as a consequence they've had to uh alter their site plan to fit and keep more Wetlands than they originally thought so um just in the last uh week or so uh we approved uh and William approved he did the work on that one to modify um their plan so hopefully that will enable them to move forward and develop it um they do have a development agreement and they it expires August or September this year and so they'll be applying to extend it um if that were to come it will come to the Planning Commission on its way for a recommendation to the city council so that'll be on your radar maybe sometime around summer but not too late because then we all run out of time um we have an interest uh the residences at APPA

Junction is on here um that was 450 three multif family units over by uh Dunkin Donuts and and Tractor Supply and what we call the balloon property um they changed their mind on doing this um gosh about a year ago and we're waiting to hear from them what they'd like to do so it's on our list uh we're expecting something to come up that's different um but we don't know what that is yet uh we'll let you know when we find out um and then we have a novel application it's uh from outfront Billboards um it's a very large National company um they own two Billboards in American Canyon one just south of City Hall here if you look at that window in the daytime and then another one up by pick and pole on Highway 29 and their proposal is to convert them to electronic Billboards and in return for that favor um there would be a certain amount of money that would come to the city over for an extended period of time so we have that on our website if you're interested in looking at that um ultimately Billboards today are not permitted and so these Billboards today are are what the zoning code would call non-conforming so you can't build a new one today and if your billboard is if you have a non-conforming use there's restrictions on modifying and improving them and so this request would require an amendment to the zoning code um if it were to go forward and so ultimately if um the applicant um pursues this then this would come to the Planning Commission as a zone change recommendation to the city council but we're still in early talks on that

one um other than that um we have had conversations with Hampton in um this Pro was approved by the city council uh several years ago um it's just south of us here on the highway just south of Donaldson Way and um we submitted comments to them for their second submittal back in September and that's a long time from now so we contacted and see how it's going what's going on uh apparently the architect had a number of questions about the city's conditions of approval so we had a meeting with them last uh week from Wednesday last week um and I think we've cleared up a lot of things that were easily clarified so we're looking forward to um seeing that project move forward but they they have been working on it but we'd liked it to go faster um other than that I think um if you have any questions I know I've talked for a little bit here uh we have a lot going on it's exciting um but uh if you have any questions I'm glad to answer them no commissioner questions all right let's go ahead and move thank you director Cooper we're going to move on to commissioner items commissioner items commissioner abalon I had the um it was a lot of fun today I wanted to share that I attended the um monthly chamber coffee chat um that Valerie um Mora Zak hosts um today it was hosted by supervisor um bamos Napa County Supervisor B Ramos and I had an

opportunity to learn about a lot of community events taking place in American Canyon and this morning she reminded me about our incredible local library the American Canyon libr Library so I stopped by and I met with the library associate his name is Derek gri and there if in case people in our community don't know there's a lot of free services available such as um tax preparation and um um there's opportunities for um book clubs there's preschool read aloud um there's even an opportunity for homework help and reading aloud to Barney the dog so I just thought that was really cool and I wanted to share with all of you um finally I want to remind our community that the week of March 3rd through 7th is read Across America and I've been invited to read at some of our local um elementary schools for grades two and three so I'd like to encourage everybody and my my commissioner Partners to volunteer to read read aloud and just to promote the love of literacy and learning um in our community um and just just very proud of the work that we're doing and I you know wanted to congratulate you on your presentation thank you so much for you know the the slides the three videos we saw today really makes me proud to live here and represent our work so thank you thank you commissioner abalon any other commissioner comments reports I'm going to go ahead and piggyback on commissioner Avalon's um report I too went to the Chamber of Commerce uh meeting or coffee chat they have teen wild wilderness inspired leadership and development put on by the parks so we're doing great things for our kids um to put a plug in we are on March 12th from 5: to 7:00 p.m. Kena abuki sorry if I butchered your name

he's a Golden State Warrior former player and current commenter is going to be promoting his uh famous Gourmet cornbread in partnership with TJ's drinks in American Canyon with the frienders and he will also be signing autographs is what I hear and then I am a new board member for Napa news and uh they are going to be doing walk a mile Napa Valley instead of walk a mile in Heroes they changed it to be more inclusive and there'll be more information about purchasing tickets and creating teams and it's a fundraiser for domestic violence prevention and education so a lot of things going on and yeah so thank you everybody and if that is it I will go ahead and call the meeting at 7:39 good night American Canyon