Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Vice chair Goss whenever you are ready.

Good evening. I'd like to call this special planning commission meeting to order. 632. Yes. I'll stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Yes, and reminders to our guests, our attendees, that if you would like to make a comment, we have public comment cards to fill out.

Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Could we get a roll call, please?

Yes, Commissioner Devette Muhammad.

Present.

Commissioner Marilyn Avalon. Present. Commissioner Eric Altman. Present. Vice Chair Shelby Gloss. Present. Chair Charles Plummer is absent.

Thank you. Do we have public comments from anyone for items not on tonight's agenda?

Is there anyone in the room who would like to make public comment on items not on the agenda? Okay, is there anyone on Zoom that would like to make a comment on items not on the agenda? We have no public comment.

Thank you. Director Cooper, are there any agenda changes this evening?

Thank you, Vice Chair Goss. We have no agenda changes tonight.

Okay.

Thank you. We will move to the consent calendar. Can I get a motion to approve the minutes from our last meeting?

I will move that we adopt the consent calendar.

I second.

One moment please. That went really fast. Okay. And oops. Okay, Commissioner Devette Muhammad?

Aye.

Commissioner Marilyn Avalon? Aye. Commissioner Eric Altman? Aye. Vice Chair Shelby Goss?

Aye. Okay, thank you. And we can move to public hearings. And it looks like first up we have an update on the accessory dwelling unit ordinance.

Thank you, Vice Chair Goss and members of the Planning Commission and members of the public. Brent Cooper, Community Development Director. This is a continued public hearing from your last meeting. time before last, and we continued it because we received a letter from advocacy firm HDF. They had pointed out that our ordinance didn't fully comply with state law, which was the intent of bringing it to you, so we really appreciate their contribution. We addressed their concerns, and they confirmed it, which I'm very happy, and then again today in a comment. So unless you have any questions, I'm happy to open the public hearing and see if there are any further input on the ordinance.

Okay. Are there any public comments on the ordinance?

I'm sorry, Chair, you need to open the public hearing.

Thank you. I'd like to open the public hearing. And are there any comments on this item?

Is there anyone in the room that would like to make a comment on this item? Is there anyone online that would like to make a comment on this item? There are no public comments.

So I'll close the public comment. And are there any comments from my fellow commissioners on this item?

I just have one question, Director Cooper. So I understand that Napa County has a loan forgiveness program or a loan, what is it called?

Yes. Napa County does have a forgivable loan program, which I can't think of a better kind of loan to have.

Right.

People who qualify for the application can get quite a significant contribution towards constructing an ADU, and the requirement is they lease it to somebody who qualifies as a lower income.

Do you know if that includes just the unit itself, or does it include landscaping or accessibility?

That would be beyond my understanding, but I don't think the loan program can pay for everything. So probably there wouldn't be enough money to do those things. It would probably be out of pocket.

It doesn't hurt to ask. Thank you. Thank you.

Are there any other comments or discussion?

Commissioner Avalon? DIRECTOR COOPER, THE LAST TIME WE HAD THIS TOPIC, I POSED A QUESTION ABOUT OUR PUBLIC, OUR AMERICAN CANYON COMMUNITY KNOWING ABOUT THE APPLICATION PROCESS, LIKE COMMISSIONER MOHAMMED. AND WE TALKED ABOUT THE DATA SHOWS MAYBE SIX FAMILIES PER YEAR ARE PUTTING OUT THAT APPLICATION. SO I JUST WANT TO PIGGYBACK ON MY COMMENT FROM from the last time we talked about this. What are we doing as a city, as a community, so that we can get the word out there that there is this loan forgiveness program or there's this opportunity to have multi-family dwelling? I do know for many members of our community that it is desirable. Just wondering what advertisement or how we're getting the word out.

I know that we do have a physical presence at meet me in the street, which we all enjoy. I think it's coming up again. And so we do answer questions and have that information available to the public. We have it on our website. Napa County also does outreach, but I think we could always do more. And I think your comments are well taken. And after this, we'll go back and take a look and see what more we can do to get the word out.

Thank you. Any more comments or concerns or questions? Anything else? Okay. In that case, do we have a motion to adopt the resolution?

I will move that we adopt a resolution of the Planning Commission recommending the City Council amend the American Canyon Municipal Code to update Chapter 19.39, Accessory Dwelling Units, consistent with current state laws and housing element implementation measure C.

I will second that motion.

All right, can we get a vote?

Yes, Commissioner Devette Muhammad?

Aye.

Commissioner Marilyn Avalon? Aye. Commissioner Eric Altman? Aye. Vice Chair Shelby Goss?

Aye. Okay, thank you. All right, I think next up we are also hearing from Director Cooper. It's the Hess Laird Territory Special Study Pre-Zoning. Do you have a presentation for us?

I do, thank you. Okay, well good evening Planning Commission, members of the public, and those viewing from home. Brent Cooper, Community Development Director. Very pleased to present to you tonight the Hess Laird Territory Special Study Pre-Zoning. This is all part of an annexation process yet to happen, but it's a very important milestone in that process. And so I'll kind of walk you through it. And I see we have representatives here of the property owners who initiated the application. uh... just so you know this was uh... territory was discussed during our recent uh... general plan update which was uh... approved the more than a year ago it's in the upper right hand uh... corner uh... east of of where we have our current city limits today and uh... This property is intended to be considered for future annexation. It's 281 acres, and it's surrounded by industrial, agricultural, and open space uses, and it is kind of adjacent, obviously, to the city. So I guess your question might be, what is pre-zoning? I think maybe some of you who've taken Planning 101 know what zoning is, but pre-zoning is a little different animal. And that is, zoning regulations are those that tell you what you can do with land. All the property in the city here has a zoning designation and you can look it up and see what you can do and how to build it and setbacks and height and all those kinds of things. Pre-zoning is the very same thing but it's designated to land that is now outside the city limits. And so this is a signal to the local agency formation commission who decides on city boundaries. So they're going to want to know what the city has in mind for this territory if and when it's annexed into the city. And so we work very closely with the Napa LAFCO. Every county in California has a local agency formation commission. They're required by the state of California. And we're very fortunate here in Napa County. It's excellently run, very well run. Brendan's been there for many years, very experienced. And it's that agency that decides the boundary of the city. And so we're here to assist with that process in designating the property. The general plan had designated this a year ago, I mentioned, for a special study. And so the zoning that's proposed is right in sync with that. And I can talk a little bit about that. It is a very low intensity use. So a lot of what you're seeing there today is what would be envisioned under the zoning that's proposed. It allows agriculture, grazing, open space, and potentially public uses. and so very very low intensity and the reason for that is the city needs to take time to really consider and work with all of you and the property owner on what might be an ultimate use for here so in the meantime we have a special study zoning it's not intended to be there forever but it's there until it's not. So there's a very complicated process to change zoning. A lot of analysis goes into that. So for the meantime, this is the zoning that's proposed for the property. American Canyon is within the land use planning for Napa Airport. So obviously we have our general plan and in a sense they do too. And it's meant to ensure that airport compatibility happens in cities like ours near the airport. And so you can see from the red star here where I have identified the location of this property. And it's within what the airport refers to as zone D1 and D2. This property is about a mile away from the airport itself. D1 and D2 are not aircraft hazard areas. They tend to have noise impacts on land use that's there. And so when you think about airport, planes, noise, agriculture, grazing, open space, those things, I mean, they're not impacted by that. And in turn, the airport really has no consequence of what goes on here. intrusion into airport operations. And so there is a table within the Napa Airport Compatibility Plan that says that these uses are normally compatible. Very similar, of course, what you might find elsewhere around the airport in Napa County, maybe in the agricultural watershed zoning district would be maybe the county's equivalent for that. So it's it's it's definitely compatible, but it is something to keep in mind Because it is adjacent and close to the airport So we do that for anything that's in this so this zone area which arcs across most of the city There is one small detail I wanted to bring to everyone's attention when the City Council gave direction to staff to include the Hess Laird property in the general plan as a special study area. The direction was to include all the property that's owned by Hess Laird. And I guess our information wasn't perfect. So if you look here on the screen, the blue one on the left there is from the general plan. And it's also reflected in the draft resolution. And as you can see from the very top with the red arrows there, there were some corners there that we missed. If you look on the right-hand side that's drawn from the addendum which is a environmental review document that kind of goes along with this and it shows the more accurate representation of the property owner and so What the way to reconcile these two is we go back to the intent. The council directed staff to include the Hess-Laird property and we didn't do it quite right. And so what we will do, assuming the Planning Commission moves this forward, is we will correct this map when it moves forward to the council so that it reflects all of the Hess-Laird property ownership. Pretty much, we have our process here. The Planning Commission, once they make their recommendation, it moves on to the City Council, and we have a tentative date for September 1st. After the Council reviews the zoning, assuming they approve the ordinance, there are two readings, actually. Then the second one would happen on September 15th, if September 1st moves forward. and then there is also an uh like i say a lafco annexation process which really happens outside of the city itself i mentioned it's a separate agency and that schedule of course would be determined by the lafco agency itself and then once that's completed there's obviously future land use planning and further visits to the planning commission with different ideas and workshops with the public So there is an environmental review I'd mentioned, and the project qualifies for what's called an addendum to the general plan environmental impact report. So when the general plan was completed, there was a very comprehensive environmental review of the general plan, and it contemplated this property being pre-zoned special study because that was the land use designation. So the two kind of go together and there's a very well prepared document included in the resolution that has all the information needed to understand what might go into what's called an addendum. It's a very typical process to use when you have a general plan and then your zoning and other implementation kind of follows through along with it. That was the whole point of having the EIR that we did for the general plan. So with that, glad to answer any questions you have. And this obviously is a public hearing.

Yes. First, would you mind defining LAFCO? Because I don't think you spelled that out.

Yes. LAFCO is actually, it's an acronym. It's not a comedy club. It's the Local Agency Formation Commission.

Thank you.

And it is a product of the Hertzberg.

Cortesi-Knox-Hertzberg Act, which reflects three state senators who wrote it over the last 60 years, which is designed to create an orderly formation process for the local government lines. And it was first the Cortesi Act, and then it was the Cortesi-Knox Act, and then the Cortesi-Knox-Hertzberg Act, last substantively amended in 2000.

And its purpose is to make sure that there isn't sprawl in California and to methodically think through expansion of city limits and to affirm that when they do expand, that they're there for good reasons and fiscal stability and other things that make a lot of sense.

You mean somebody looked at Los Angeles and said, hey, wait, that's a mess? We don't want to do that anymore? Pretty much.

Legislative history reflects a lot of special situations.

Thank you for clarifying that. OK. I think first we will open up for public hearing. There are public comments on this.

Is there anyone in the room that would like to make comment on this item? Seeing none, is there anyone on Zoom that would like to comment on this item? We have no comment on this item.

All right. I will close public hearing and look to comments from my fellow commissioners. No other comments?

Chair, if I could add one point while the commissioners are considering their comments. Just to note one other point that some folks have raised questions. Previously, the city and the county have approved a set of property tax sharing agreements and an urban limit line and regional housing needs allocation agreement. As noted in the staff report, those agreements approved in April by the city council April 21st are agreements that govern the tax-sharing regional housing needs allocation transfers that will take effect if and when the annexation is approved by LAFCO. They are administrative and financial actions, and they are not themselves approval of the annexation. As seen on the screen and as Director Cooper noted, the annexation process has not yet been approved and will go through LAFCO. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Altman?

I'll just broad-based comment that I think this is a very good thing. I think that I'll ask, actually, Director Cooper, can you go back to one of the earlier maps before that even? Yeah, that one. When you look at that map, You'll see there's the blue section, which is what we're discussing now, and then there are one, two, three other kind of white sections on the east side of the city. And I think this is all part of what happens with a growing city like American Canyon where It's different things have been going on and and I think the the goal ultimately is that those will all All three of those additional parcels as well as this Hess Laird properties Will become part of the city at some point in the future through an annexation process through LAFCO And so I think this is a very good step I think that I'll just kind of address one of the big questions and issues that I know we all hear about which is you know. Well why don't we have a Trader Joe's why don't we have this why don't we have that will the fact is 2 things for everyone to keep in mind one. The city doesn't bring anybody in private property property owner makes a decision and tries to bring whoever they can get to come into town to come into town. But two, for any businesses like a Trader Joe's, Sprouts, et cetera, a fancy restaurant or whatnot, there needs to be a certain population threshold that's going to be big enough to be frequenting whatever the location is, whatever the business is, so that the business actually can remain in business locally. And I think people tend to not understand that, which is why I'm taking a minute here to just kind of put this on the record. So I think that this is a very good thing for the city, and I look forward to seeing in the hopefully not too, too distant future, some of these other properties being put forward for the LAFCO annexation process. So that's what I got.

Thank you, Commissioner Altman. I have a couple of questions. For anyone unaware, my day job is a biologist. I do a lot of environmental permitting. So I just have a couple of questions about the process here. So the addendum, to be clear, is just to do the pre-zoning for this, essentially the same land use that we're currently looking at, right? Or that it's currently being used for.

Essentially, yes.

For now.

For now. In fact, I think we have the author of the addendum is in the room. I wonder if they might like to have an opportunity to maybe answer with a more informed voice.

My questions are mostly about process. Reading through the addendum, it says that this project will have no new impacts compared to the original EIR, essentially. Correct. And I just want to clarify that if and when in the process this is zoned for other types of use, there would be further study done.

Oh, absolutely, yes.

This site has occurrences of California tiger salamander, which is both state and federally listed on the Endangered Species Act, as well as federally listed California red-legged frog. And so that doesn't mean you can't build on it, to be clear. But it does mean that proper environmental procedure needs to be followed first so I just wanted to confirm what I thought I understood that the addendum was saying that the no new impacts no new cumulative impacts no new Yeah impacts to anything is referring just to the pre zoning and the if and when that changes later on there will be further environmental study done that's correct to allow for different types of development and

Yes. And the general plan itself has mitigation measures for contemplated impacts. Right.

But the general plan also looks at this as its current land use, right? It doesn't, it didn't do the study itself for what would be needed if you built apartments on this or something. Correct. Right. Okay. Just wanted to clarify the process. Thank you. Thank you.

If I could add to that, the heart of why that's not yet done, as some may be wondering, is because we have no proposal. the developer has not proposed departments, they've not proposed any other possible land use. And so therefore we wouldn't be able to analyze, among other things, biological impacts in detail. That would only come later if and when we first receive a proposal. And it would, to be note precisely, it only would even come to the city as the land use authority if the annexation is itself approved. If the annexation is approved, then we would expect a proposal and then we analyze it and absolutely we would be looking at a pretty close assessment of biology for this site.

BIOLOGY AND OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS. THANK YOU. I WANTED TO CLARIFY THAT. I APPRECIATE YOUR THOROUGH EXPLANATIONS. I THINK THAT IS THE END OF MY COMMENTS.

COMMISSIONER MOHAMMED? I just want to say that the property owners have worked really I appreciate the way the property owners in the City of American Canyon have worked together to balance the economic opportunities here in the City of American Canyon and that they we all we look at the environmental studies and the community priorities my question was future use and you've already answered the question so but I just had to say that I appreciate them

Thank you. Commissioner Avalon? Oh, nothing? OK. All right. If that is it for discussion, then would anyone like to make a motion for a recommendation?

I'll make the motion. I'D LIKE TO MAKE A MOTION TO APPROVE THE RESOLUTION RECOMMENDING THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF AMERICAN CANYON APPROVE THE SPECIAL STUDY PRE-ZONING FOR THE HESS LAYERED TERRITORY CONSISTENT WITH THE GENERAL PLAN AMERICAN CANYON MUNICIPAL CODE CHAPTER 19.50.

I SECOND. CAN WE GET A CALL FOR A VOTE?

Yes, Commissioner DeVette Muhammad.

Aye.

Commissioner Marilyn Avalon. Aye. Commissioner Eric Altman. Aye. Vice Chair Shelby Goss.

Aye. Thank you for that. And thank you for the presentation and thorough explanation, Director Cooper. And we can move on to our next item, which is accessory animal husbandry and livestock keeping regulations zoning code amendment. And it looks like we have a presentation for that as well.

We do. Well, thank you, Commission and members of public, again. This is really an opportunity to take a look at the ordinance and see what makes sense to the future. I know our department, we have a saying that we always use common sense, unless the code dictates otherwise. So in this case, when that happens, the sensible thing to do is to come to you with an ordinance amendment. And that's, I think, largely what this is all about. So I'll kind of run you through it. It's pretty short. So there's a couple of things, a couple of topics that we're going to be talking about. One is referred to as animal husbandry. I went and looked up the historical term there. I think it goes back to the Middle Ages. And it doesn't mean what we think it might mean, but I think it has something to do with someone who's married to their job. But anyway. The zoning code says animal husbandry is a commercial animal raising, animal products, eggs, dairy products, grazing, ranching, dairy farm, poultry for bearing animals, but not pigs. So that's just something that's not permitted today under this land use. The other one that we have in our zoning codes referred to as livestock keeping. And livestock keeping is where you have livestock for personal use, such as like having a pet. There are a number of people around town who have larger animals than their pets. They can also include horses, cows, sheep, and goats, but not pigs. So this ordinance would amend the code that would allow what's termed swine, pigs, as a component of allowable animals in animal husbandry. And it would also amend it so that swine, pigs, are allowed as part of livestock keeping. So livestock keeping today, which is the animal as a pet version, is allowed in most areas of the city. That's largely single family zoning. So it's very broad based. And if we think about having large animals like that in just about every single family residential zone, that probably doesn't make a lot of sense. Commercial animals may not also, may not today be in just every single family zone. And so having livestock keeping there doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. And so this ordinance would amend and pare back the number of zoning difference where that's allowed. to the residential estate zoning district. And so we have a couple areas, well, one in particular. Residential estate has a minimum one acre lot size. So back when I went to planning school, when towns were a new invention, they mentioned that when you get lots smaller than an acre, then you really have to start having planning. If you have an acre, then you really can't bother your neighbor too much. That's sort of like day one on planning school. So we have residential state zoning on Holcomb Lane. And then while not yet in the city, the city pre-zoned Watson Lane as residential estate. Most of the lots there are much larger than one acre, but the zoning allows a minimum of one acre lot size. We do have residential estate on the undeveloped hills north of Eucalyptus, but nobody lives there other than turkeys. So that's not really a concern for our purposes here. So a reason to support the amendment, it's, you know, pigs are not a whole lot different in, I suppose, For those that have farms and things, I'm a city kid, so what do I know? But if you are allowing a cow and sheep and goats and such, pigs aren't really a whole lot much of a change, really. And largely, I think one thing we can kind of lean on is the city has animal keeping standards. The standards themselves require that whatever it is animal you do keep, even chickens or whatever the case may be, there are standards for managing the noise, odors, insect, whatever can happen if you don't manage the animals well. And so we had pigs, well the standards are still there. So it doesn't diminish the standards. It just adds them to a possibility. And to a paired back location in the city. So the steps here are simpler than the other one I just talked about. Comes to the Planning Commission and then moves on to the City Council, potentially for a first reading on September 1st, second reading on the 15th. And this one also is reviewed for environmental. and the California Environmental Quality Act has two specific exemptions. There's the one where there's no foreseeable impacts of significant impact, and the second one is minor alterations in land use limitations. That's tweaking the zoning with just minor changes to it. I think hopefully we all agree that's what this is. So glad to answer any questions you have, and once again, this is a public hearing.

Thank you so much for that presentation Director Cooper. I'd like to open it up for public hearing if there are any comments.

OK. We have Leanne Falk. Did I pronounce that right? Falky. Falky. Sorry.

Hello, everyone. My name is Leanne Tholke, and I am a third generation resident of Watson Lane. Today, my husband and I are raising the fourth generation of our family there. I wanted to thank you guys for bringing forward the zoning amendment, and I encourage you to approve it. For families like mine, raising livestock isn't a hobby. It's a way of life. We have a farm and raise our own beef, pork, poultry and other animals to feed our family. Our children proudly participate in 4-H where they learn responsibility, hard work, and the value of agriculture. Those experiences are shaping the next generation. Watson Lane has always been an agricultural community. Farming and raising livestock are part of our history and a part of our identity. As discussions continue about annexation, one of the biggest concerns many of us have is whether we will be able to preserve that rural lifestyle. Approving this amendment sends an important message that the city recognizes and respects the agricultural heritage of our neighborhood. Knowing that the families in the residential estate zoning district can continue raising livestock, including swine, helps ease some of the uncertainty and hesitation many of us feel about the annexation. Some of my children's favorite memories are caring for their animals, working alongside our family every day, showing their livestock at the fair, and knowing that the food on our table came from their hard work that they helped put in. This amendment doesn't just protect livestock, it protects a way of life It protects family tradition, supports youth agriculture like 4-H and FFA, and helps preserve the rural character that has identified Watson Lane for generations. As someone whose roots run deep in this community, I appreciate the city's willingness to recognize that agriculture still has a place in American Canyon. My hope is that my children and someday my grandchildren will have the same opportunity to raise animals, care for the land, and continue the family traditions. I respectfully ask that you guys vote in favor of the zoning code amendment. Thank you.

Thank you for your comment.

Is there anyone else in the room that would like to speak on this item. OK. Is there anyone online that would like to speak on this item. There are no further public comments.

OK. With that I'd like to close the public hearing part. And are there any commissioner comments on this item. Mr. Altman.

I just got a question for Director Cooper, and I expect you may not know the answer, but is there a reason that pig, swine, whatever term we're preferring to use, were excluded to begin with from the definitions here?

I can't answer that question. It's been there for a long time, and these were just things that happen in code sometimes. I wasn't around, yeah, unfortunately, many things I wasn't around for that one.

I didn't know if you'd be able to answer, but I just had to ask, because it's one of these kind of somewhat bizarre little inconsistencies, in my opinion.

Commissioner Avalon.

I wanted to say I really appreciate the presentation and also the comments from the speaker right before. I'm a fairly new resident of American Canyon, only been here 14, 15 years, but I really appreciate the agriculture that's taking place, happening in our city. Every now and then you'll see the cute sheep, you know, taking care of the tall weeds. And as a former principal, many of my students were involved in 4-H. So I do know the importance of family farms and the taking care of animals and the presentations that they do. So I appreciate this presentation. I wanted you to know that. Very highly valuable, thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Avalon. There is one detail that I did forget to put on my presentation that I will add to the City Council presentation, and that is that there are people in town who today have animals as pets and such, and this code amendment would make those properties no longer allowing them. But if you do have them, the code allows you to keep having them. So for folks that may be watching and concerned that this might take away a property right that they have now, this would not, I wanna assure you, this would not do that. Allow you to continue to do that.

Okay, so from my understanding, the families that already have livestock as a pet, they're gonna be grandfathered in? Yes. Okay, thank you.

Would they be prohibited from procuring more, though?

It's a continuous use. So it doesn't pass away with an individual animal, obviously. But if somebody had horses, say, for example, they could continue to do so.

Okay.

And if they were to move and sell their property and someone else bought it, they would not be permitted to have that, correct? No, it would. Or the property itself is?

Zoning and regulations run with the land.

Okay.

So the individual properties that currently have them are grandfathered in regardless of ownership.

Yes, I'll say it one more time. They run with the land.

Yes, thank you.

So as much as I like the way the city of American Canyon is responsibly growing, I do like even more that we're preserving the rural character of the city. And I think that's what makes the city of American Canyon so unique. My question was the same as Eric's. Was there like an enforcement code issue or something that singled out swines?

No, actually, I have to give credit to the folks on Watson Lane. They brought it to our attention and it's like, well, that's a good point. So, right? I mean, we have a very complicated code and there's always something you can find in there that needs updating. Thank you. So, let's take care of this.

Thank you. Any further comments or questions? Okay, then with that, would anyone like to make a motion?

Sure, I'll make a motion to adopt a resolution of the Planning Commission of the City of American Canyon recommending the City Council amend American Canyon Municipal Code Sections 19.05.090 19.05.100, 19.10.040, and 19.31.020 to remove the prohibition on swine limit livestock keeping to the residential estate zoning district and remove obsolete general plan policy references.

I will second that.

Okay, thank you. Can we get a vote?

Of course. Commissioner Devette Muhammad?

Aye.

Commissioner Marilyn Abalon? Aye. Commissioner Eric Altman? Aye. Vice Chair Shelby Goss?

Aye. Thank you so much. Okay. And moving on to business, we have the fiscal year 2026-27 Capital Improvement Program. And it looks like we have a presentation as well.

We do have a presentation. Thank you, Erica. Good evening. Thank you. Planning Commissioner Chair Goss and commissioners in the community. American Canyon here to provide you a overview of the capital improvement program and request for general general plan consistency as your continuance from the May 28th meeting where we did not have a have a presentation for you at the time. I just want to present a dashboard. There are 44 capital improvement projects budgeted currently for this fiscal year. I did a little dashboard this time to provide a little more context. Many projects have already been continuing or at their end they haven't quite finished up either being paid retention or finalized. You're not really approving probably all these projects but really nine new projects for this capital project here. But just still finding general consistency. I'm glad this was brought back in fact because I still had the old policies from the prior general plan. So I appreciate Director Cooper pointing that out to me that the as your attachments exhibit a to the resolution for you for tonight that It's been updated to meet the 20 the newly adopted general plan and the policies like such as the prior one was circulation. Now it's mobility elements. So all those policies have been updated to reflect the capital projects that are rolling out or under construction or in design and or new for this fiscal year. So with this I want to do a dashboard. what's what's approximately some projects have been completed 16 are in construction we are just wrapping up the bidding on the South Kelly which is going to City Council on August 18th that's the reconstruction there's 17 projects and some level of design whether they're in planning and then there's three in actual planning so and then the job tonight is the Commission to provide general plan consistency with the general plan The purpose of the CIP, it's a capital improvement program, identifies and plans for the city's infrastructure investments. The project started to support the community. And then state law requires us to come here in front of you and get your consistency adoption, that we're consistent with the adopted general plan. And this is all government code section 65401. Now, I didn't want to give you 50 slides of all the projects we're covering tonight, so I wanted to highlight some that are currently active, as well as what's new for this coming fiscal year. You'll get all the new projects, but then a few of the highlights of what's currently going on. So with that, one of the big excitement one is the transformation of the former corporation yard for the City of American Canyon Public Works to the new Napa River Ecology Center. It's currently under construction. We're working with the American Canyon Community Parks Foundation I always get tripped up on that ACCPF and executive director Janelle Selleck and her team with the the there's some city you know it's an active city pump station site for many of our sewer within the community so we still have an active sewer plant there and overflow pond for major winters so we're coordinating they're doing some of our projects they're also ensuring stormwater retention and flood protection where the cities provide funding up front for those projects. This will be a great project once it's done, and if you haven't been in value there recently, it's looking pretty darn cool. Here's a new project, the new corporation yard. We're still needing to do more work. If you've been by there, one of our neighbors has pointed out that we haven't paved it yet. And so this, we couldn't keep on. We had a three-year project that we kept funding. Initially, it was like a $700,000 budget. And then we had to increase it more because that wasn't enough to move everybody over from the corporation yard and make new buildings, build new buildings, new office spaces. And then now we have gravel out there for the most part and old pavement that was the former playground. So this project will actually put the proper storm detention basin, which is a California stormwater requirement, as well as ensure drainage out there. And if you've been out there during the winter, it's not conducive for a working yard, so making it a more all-access year-round paved surface like you see in most areas. And be neighborly to our neighbors that also have pavement. No tracking of mud across driveways. um this is an exciting new project re-envisioning city hall um it doesn't really match all the new infrastructure that's going on around the city so um we were tasked with hey we want to put some facial improvements and a new paint and why don't we match the other ends of our block so i i've been inspired by director cooper and some other um executives at the city and uh threw it in chat gbt going i want to match the circle k block and the um road credit union block and see how could we bring our city hall up to, you know, the current standards. And this is what we have. And it's pretty exciting that we could transform this building and just a little bit of paint and some facial improvements. So that'll be exciting to get that out this year and into construction. another exciting project this has been on the books for a couple years but or at least one year but now it's in design council awarded the contract last meeting so melvin park this is just the existing little playground structure but the vacant parcel which is approximately an acre and a half next door in front of napa cove apartments was envisioned as a passive park with some benches not benches but picnic areas covered shelter potentially a bathroom and Playground like, you know passive turf area and trees and plantings that will bring up that neighborhood as well as the tennis courts that are underway Those are almost wrapping up design So that'll be nice to have that whole area revitalized and incorporating probably a playground replacement here as well in front of the tennis courts A new project is the Clark Ranch Power Improvements, as you've heard probably through various council meetings. They don't have power out there. They're using generators. You have the 4-H and Spirit Horse out there. I don't know if FFA is down there as well, but for sure 4-H. But adding PG&E power to both those sites so they can do events and not have to bring generators, which aren't really good for emissions. We think this might be a fairly uncomplicated project, working in conjunction with them and getting PG&E to drop some new lines in the meter. Green Island Road, if you haven't been out there recently, It rides a heck of a lot smoother. There's still construction going on. They did another lift last night. And there's still some dirt around Commerce where we had a water service hit a couple of weeks ago. But after tonight, they'll probably have all new surface out there. There's still some more final lifts to take place. But the next three, the continued two more nights of night work to get some more paving out there. And it's just a joy to drive out there right now. There's still probably a couple more months worth of work, but following that we'll have the Napa Valley Vine Trail going in on the north side of Green Island Road. It's about 4,200 feet of class one trail that'll connect Commerce's recently new updated class fours, the sidewalks. So you'll be able to go circular from the Bay Trail all the way up through Commerce, connect around through Green Island Road, and then up to Devlin and north to Napa. So it's exciting to have that. um happening next that was all part of the green island road reconstruction project we've had to phase all the different elements of green island road that's another item coming to council for additional funding on august 18th because it's 11 year old project but it's finally wrapping up and we're getting to the finish line And then underway now is the Zone 5 water pump station. It's a high-pressure zone for the upper elevations on the east side of town, including Canyon Estates, Watson Ranch, and Promontory developments. The Zone 5 has been envisioned for, I want to at least say two decades, potentially two decades. So this is an AI generation of what it'll potentially look like. The asphalt, that is Canyon Estates right now. There is no building there yet, but that's approximately what it may look like when it's completed. Very exciting to have that underway. And then we have repaint of Oathill Tank. This is behind us on the west side of town, up on Oathill, next to the new apartment complex. You can't really see it from the road view, but because of the nice trees, the trees that are in front of it on Maderos Lane, from Teresa Avenue, We need to protect our tank and protect our infrastructure so there'll be new paint. We also have new fence going in as soon as the permanent pump station goes up on the hill. And then a new project is updating our infrastructure at our mobile home parks. Right now, our three mobile home parks along American Canyon Road and Broadway, there's one service main going from Broadway all the way through three mobile home parks. It doesn't make it conducive for when they need to shut down and make repairs within their facilities. So when they reconstructed American Canyon Road, They added new 12-inch water main stub outs to each of the mobile home parks, 244 and 260. This will be the first step in bringing 260, the end of the line for that main from Broadway, to have their own meter and substation right out in front of their park entrance. And then we can cap the old line. And then the next year's project would be to follow suit at 244. So it's nice to make some, you know, improvements on these 50-year-old complexes approximately, bringing them up to today's times. And then the exciting project is a resource and recovery project, high strength waste improvements at the water recalculation facility. It's also hopefully an economic development boost for the Green Island Road District. We've lost some high strength waste providers, you know, local food and beverage. We have a lot of manufacturers in American County. Mazeta is one of them. Coca-Cola fortunately left. Treasury Hess and Trying to make sure that we can continue to support them and also becoming more green one of our requirements in the state SB 1383 and everyone hears about solid waste one of them is also providing compost back to our community well Part of this is handling the bio solids that come from our plant and turn that into a class a product It also might be opportunity for bringing more development into Green Island Road or filling some of the empty warehouses with those kind of developments or infill. So it'll keep the bio gas. It's a regeneration type of project. So we create our own gas, utilize it on site to keep the operation running power and also help our businesses out instead of having to upgrade their pretreatment processes now. So very exciting. This has been led by the assistant director, Norman Woods. And we also have a UV rehabilitation project outside. We have a 20-year facility out there. It just needs some more maintenance. And this is part of our tertiary level recycled water. We have to treat it with UV rays before we then, it comes out so polished that we have to make it a little dirty again before it goes out to the bay, because it's so clean. But, you know, it's just part of our system reliability and resilience of our policies and the general plan. And then Melvin and Wilson Sewer Main, we have a paving project going out there called the Melvin pavement rehabilitation project. But before we go out there and put new asphalt, we wanna make darn sure the sewer pipes under the ground are repaired first. So this was brought to our attention with our former supervisor, collection supervisor leaving and the new one coming on board that we need to get these, the main surface replaced and upgraded before we pave. So this is coming first and paving following. And then we have a recycled water fill station project. This has been on the books for a while. We actually have, at one of our partnerships with the Ecology Center, is their onsite contractor relocated the old recycled water fill station. It's been relocated, but now we have an active construction site, so our public community users can't go out there, our residential users can't go out there and fill up just yet. but we're looking at potentially another east side project at Newell. Now that we have a nice new parking lot, it might be a good place to add a future recycled fill station on the east side of town. So both sides of the town will have access to recycled water. And then we need to rehabilitate another tank, and it's the existing recycled water tank at the recycled water facility at the end of Mazetta Court. So with that, the recommendation is for the Planning Commission to adopted that the upcoming capital improvement program has consistently adopted general plan and that the 44 projects support the goals and policies and that it's been reviewed as required by state law are there any questions thank you so much for that really detailed presentation all right lots of feedback you know different commissions so i get it but it's great to revitalize what we were doing in the past so

Yeah.

Are there any questions or comments? So in 2022, I did the Citizens Academy. And that piqued my interest to watch a city council meeting. I watched that on Zoom. And at that time, there were 39 CIP projects in the works. And you went down every single one of them. And I apologize. That's what I expected the last meeting. But I appreciate this. And I appreciate you being here. And you are one of the reasons why I wanted to be on the planning commission, along with Director Cooper. So I just want to say thank you. Yeah, yeah. Thank you.

Commissioner Avalon.

I wanted to echo also your slide deck is so informative and very colorful and it's really cool to see all of the projects that are going to be happening. You know, the visual really helps a lot. Thank you. And I'm excited for all of the new changes and facelifts and additions that's going to be happening in our community. Thank you again for the detailed report.

Okay. Yeah, just again, thank you. Really appreciate. When we saw the list in May, I assumed that it was all good things, but hearing details and getting more info about what's happening in our town is really appreciated. And yeah, this was lovely. Thank you so much. I THINK THAT IS IT FOR OUR COMMENTS ON THAT. SO IF SOMEONE WOULD LIKE TO. I'M SORRY.

WE SHOULD CHECK FOR PUBLIC COMMENT.

I'M SO SORRY. YEAH, OKAY. I'LL OPEN THIS FOR PUBLIC COMMENT.

IS THERE ANYONE IN THE ROOM THAT WOULD LIKE TO MAKE PUBLIC COMMENT ON THIS ITEM? Okay, if you could just state your name.

Hi, Debbie Runke. I really appreciate the presentation, all the details, and selfishly, I'm so happy that Northampton's Water Main is finally getting replaced and our street will be repaved. Yay, thank you, really appreciate it.

Is there anyone else in the room that would like to make public comment? Okay, is there anyone online that would like to make public comment on this item? There's no additional public comment.

Okay, I'll close public comment then. And with that, would anyone like to make a motion to adopt the resolution?

I'll make the motion to adopt. I'd like to make the motion to adopt a resolution determining that the City of American Canyon Fiscal Year 26-27 Capital Improvement Program is consistent with and in conformity with the City of American Canyon General Plan.

I'll second.

Can we get a call for a vote?

Commissioner Devette Muhammad?

Aye.

Commissioner Marilyn Abalon? Aye. Commissioner Eric Altman? Aye. Vice Chair Shelby Goss?

Aye. Thank you. Okay, moving on to any management or staff oral reports. Active planning projects.

Yes, thank you, Vice Chair Goss. I do have some updates for you on what's going on in the Community Development Department. Let's see, we have a project, the Promontory Major Modification. We prepared comments. I had a great conversation with the applicant on Tuesday, and so that's moving forward. We'll be coming to the Planning Commission hopefully perhaps your next meeting or the one after. So it's nice to see that moving forward. What is now referred to as the Green Island Logistics Center. They have a minor modification and do plan to build a warehouse. This is a project, 200 acres on the north side of Green Island Road bisected by Devlin Road. And they are planning to construct a warehouse building. So this has been around a while. obviously subjected to the market for warehouses, but they look like they're moving forward, so that's positive. We had a really good meeting at our project review committee with the Hampton Inn. This one's kind of struggled with getting through the permit process, and so it was nice having the property owner and their architect of record on the meeting to go over things Clarify and help out so we're kind of going to keep that momentum because it's a very exciting project on Just you know Crawford there Donaldson there and highway 29 just south of that The Oat Hill project, we see the apartments there are moving along. We're having conversations with the property owner about releasing the upper tier apartments. And I understand that the lower tier apartments have been renting very well. So that's great. Nice project. You know, you see it taking shape like that, working hard on what all of us did, and it's nice when you kind of see it take shape and things are working out. There's a cities in partnership along with other jurisdictions in Napa County on a regional climate action and adaptation plan. This has been around longer in process, they'll say, than the general plan took. uh... and they have uh... prepared their environmental review uh... and it's out for a public comment so if someone i suppose uh... you know does a search on rcaap or regional climate will probably pop up and you can read all about it and enter comments during the comment period ultimately this plan will come to the city and the planning commission for adoption and it's uh... quite far-reaching And so this is a very important document. And not on our list here, but already next week is August, and the first Tuesday in August can mean only one thing, and that is National Night Out. So we look forward to that every year, and there's a lot of block parties in town, and we all try to get around and say hello to everybody, and it's a really nice highlight of the summer. So with that, any questions that you have, glad to answer.

I have a question about the food trucks.

The food trucks? Which ones?

The ones that are by the pumpkin patch?

Yes, the ones we said yes to.

Yes. What's going on with that?

We gave them a yes, and the rest is up to them.

Oh, got it. Okay. I expected us to have more.

I can check if you like. I'm always hungry.

I'm just always hungry.

Karina, yeah, I can give Karina a call. It's a great, I mean, a great idea, right? The property's right there. It's a super location.

Any other comments? Well, thank you, Director Cooper, for that overview.

Thank you.

And are there any Planning Commissioner comments, anything anyone wants to share? End the meeting? Nope, okay. Hearing none, I will adjourn this special Planning Commission meeting on July 30th at 7.34 p.m. Good night, American Canyon.