Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the Anaheim Planning Commission meeting of April 6, 2026. My name is Christopher Walker, chair of the Anaheim Planning Commission. As a reminder, planning commission meetings are broadcasts on all our channels, including online and Anaheim TV channel 3. The first order of business is to salute our flag. I will lead us in the flag salute. Ready, begin. I pledge algiance 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. Can't get her attention. Um, next I will ask the planning commission secretary to take a verbal roll call vote of all planning commissioners. Commissioner Castro will be participating by teleconference from Tucson, Arizona.

Chairperson Walker, present. Chair Vice Chair Tran Martin here. Commissioner Lieberman here. Commissioner Perez here. Commissioner Abdul Raman. Commissioner Kelly here. Commissioner Castro here. We have a quorum.

Thank you. If you would all please silence your phones so that they do not disrupt proceedings, I would appreciate that. Me do mine. The doors at the back of the room are automatic. They open when you get close to them and they don't close until you walk down the hall. Please move away from the automatic doors to allow them to close. Today we have one public hearing item on our agenda. I would ask members of the public who wish to speak on a public hearing item to please complete a yellow speaker card and give it to staff if you have not already done so. The cards can be found on the table at the entrance. Please note that public comments are limited to three minutes and we ask that you keep your remarks as brief as you can. We are influenced by more than more by the content than of your testimony than the length of your presentation. First, we provide an opportunity to any member of the public to speak on items of interest to the public that are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission that are not on tonight's agenda. Is there anyone that wishes to speak at this time? Commissioner Castro, is there anybody at your location that wishes to speak?

No, there's not. See no one, we we will Oh, prior to the beginning of the public hearing, I will ask the planning commissioners for any disclosures they wish to make regarding the public hearing item on today's agenda. Commissioner Castro, I do not have anything to disclose.

Thank you. Please note that the actions taken by the planning commission tonight will be final unless an appeal is filed with the city clerk. The appeal deadline is April 16, 2026 at 5:00 PM. Appeal forms and information are available on the city clerk's web page. I will now begin the public hearing and ask staff to present item one.

Thank you. Good evening, Chair Walker and members of the planning commission. Item number one before you this evening is a request for approval of a final plan and tenative trackmap to construct 50 for sale condominium units including five affordable units for low-income households and establish a one lot condominium map to facilitate the sale of the units at the property located at 3036 West Lincoln Avenue. The halfacre project site is located in the mixeduse high development area of the beach boulevard specific plan and designated for mixeduse land uses in the general plan. The surrounding land uses include a mobile home park to the south, multiple family residential uses to the southwest and commercial uses to the east, west, and north across Lincoln Avenue. The site was previously developed with a singlestory 8,000 foot motel which was demolished in 2002 and is currently vacant with the exception of existing palm trees and ground cover. The proposed project consists of a four-story 50unit condominium development with stacked residential units including a mix of one to threebedroom floor plans and above ground parking ground floor parking garage as well as a modern design with stucco exterior tile accents aluminum siding at the tower and with neutral earth tone color palette. The primary driveway and parking would be accessed from Lincoln Avenue with emergency access provided from an existing alley to the southwest of the site. The project includes 60 covered parking spaces consisting of both standard and tandem spaces. The re the rear yard would be landscaped with trees while the sideyards would use artificial turf to meet landscaping requirements and maintain clear fire access. The project includes both common and private recreation areas including a terrace on the roof.

As previously described, the project includes five affordable units qualifying for state density bonus law, which allows for the increased density and regulatory flexibility granted by Wright. Under this provision, the project increases the base density of 40 units to 50 units. To accommodate this, the applicant's requesting one incentive and five waiverss from development standards as listed. The project also uses density bonus law parking standards reducing the required parking from 106 spaces to 57. A total of 60 parking spaces are provided on site exceeding the state requirement. The project has been designed to satisfy the required findings for both the final plan and tenative track map as is as it is consistent with the general plan applicable specific plan and development standards with with the exception of the deviations permitted pursuant to state density bonus law. The site is physically suitable for the proposed development and density. And the project has been designed to provide required parking, adequate circulation, on-site amenities, ensuring compatibility with the surrounding area, maintaining public health and safety. Staff supports the request and recommends approval of the application subject to conditions of approval. That concludes my presentation. Staff and the applicant are available for questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody have questions? Commissioner Lieberman, thank you for your presentation. Um, are there elevators included in this project? I looked over the plans and it looks like there is, but the word elevator is nowhere in there. Yes, there will be an elevator um if you look at the site plan. Um, but I could also go back to the rendering. The tower element is housing the elevator and is actually why the project is at 62 ft.

Okay. Um my I guess my only other question has to do with um the the the 50 uh dwelling units um for this size lot is without any density bonuses without any bonuses for anything if that meets code city code. Um that is with the density bonus. The base density would be 40 units. the um with the state density bonus law um they increase density and are um providing for 50. Okay. Thank you.

Anybody else? I have a couple questions. Obviously the parking they're getting a waiver. They're getting a waiver on all of these various things under government code. What is it? 69 915. And they're giving us five lower income housing. Um, and you probably cannot answer this, but do we have any idea of or has anybody looked at what's happened when other u projects have gotten these waivers and how the parking developed and how the, you know, all the other stuff. There's probably no complaints, I'm guessing, but

I believe staff from traffic is available and might have um a response to your question.

Cory Wilkerson, I work in public works traffic engineering. Um so in traffic, we we deal with complaints related to parking pretty much everywhere. um whether it's in single family homes, uh neighborhoods, multif family neighborhoods, etc. Um so the when a project is is adjacent to single family homes, the way that we're most likely to hear about um complaints about parking is is um uh regarding we'll get uh requests for permit parking. Um so, uh recently, um within the last few years, we had a project that was built on on Ball Road, um a multif family project that included some affordable housing that that took advantage of some of the the the lower parking requirements. And we did see some a permit parking petition um for an adjacent neighborhood across Ball Road. Um, other things we might see, um, we might see that on on the street, if you look at a a street view, you might see a project when it comes in, you'll suddenly see that where a street before it didn't have any parking um issues on the street, you'll suddenly see that it's fully parked up. Um, there was a project on Orange Avenue that that in its um, previous condition, there was nothing. There was no parking issues on the street. Now, when you look at it in street view, it's fully parked up. um that project is adjacent to um a part of um the an an unincorporated island. So that that neighborhood is not within the city of Anaheim. So we we don't hear anything from them because they're not um Anaheim residents. Um another project that's being built right now and and is currently being sold um is adjacent to the a neighborhood we call the Lax neighborhood. Um it's a it's a very dense multif family neighborhood um where they already have a tremendous amount of parking impacts in their neighborhood. Um and we see that um that comes to us from from code enforcement, that comes to us from our neighborhood

services group, that comes to us when we go out to the community and speak um uh at our district meetings um and from PD. And so on that project, we actually had a condition that we required um that that that project would not be able to participate in the permit parking program. um uh that there was a restriction that they couldn't participate in the permanent parking program were a petition to come through. So yeah, it it there is a potential that that that a project can come in and it could it can exacerbate the situation, but we see we deal with permanent we deal with parking related issues across the city. I have two two meetings this week that I'm going to go to that where people are going to talk to me about parking and it it doesn't have anything related to do with with this specific project, but we see it everywhere. Okay. Um I think Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Oh, sorry. I have a followup. So, um in some of those scenarios, there's other al options nearby for parking. Where this is situated, it's on a major street, and if I recall correctly, that part of Lincoln does not have street parking. And then there's commercial and mobile homes. in a project where their parking is limited in the project and then further limited in the surrounding spaces. How do we factor in quality of life for the individuals that are moving in when we're making some of these determinations?

So, right now on Lincoln um adjacent to the site, there is parking actually on Lincoln. You can park right now on Lincoln. Um it the the parking becomes restricted actually kind of right at the property and it's in its existing condition. Um the ultimate rideway on on on Lincoln um we've been doing a lot of widening projects. This particular section we haven't widened yet. Um but when we do widen the parking goes away when we when we widen. Um so right now in its existing condition there is parking on Lincoln to the west of this project and um and it it's not all the way parked up but it it can be. Um there's um there's existing multif family um to the west and the neighborhood there and then there's a single family neighborhood um to the west of that. Um and in that neighborhood we've in the last uh in the last couple years we've processed like three applic three permit parking petitions in that neighborhood just from the impacts of the existing multif family that's there. Um uh one two actually within the last year.

And then uh just a couple quick questions on this project. There's um 50 spots for the 50 units. Is that correct? 50. There is 60 spaces available for the 50 units. And how many cars do you anticipate in that development? So I believe um each unit would be um assigned at least one space and then the larger units would be offered um a secondary space. And and do you anticipate more cars than 60? How many?

Um, so that's hard to say. Um, we don't regulate in terms of how many cars are anticipated. We're just, uh, our parking is calculated based on the units, bedroom sizes. So, probably around 100 cars, I'm guessing. I don't know. With 50 with Yeah, 50 units.

So, required parking would be 106 spaces. Anybody else? Thank you, sir. Okay, I'm going to open the public hearing and invite the applicant forward.

Good evening. Uh, I'm Michael Sun. I'm the project architect. Um, first off, I'd like to thank the planning commission, take their time to review our project and especially to city staff and Heidi Asinto in particular for being very communicative and working with us. Um, let's see. I heard a question about the elevators. There are two elevators, one on the north, south, and north ends. Uh, one is connected to the main lobby. uh as far as the um impact of the waiverss and and how it can address the parking issues and the history of precedents in the city, I'll kind of have to lean with the traffic engineering department. However, um in my personal observations, I have also noted that there are neighborhoods to the west and southwest within a 10 to 15 minute walk, uh some even closer that do have street parking, although I was not aware of the three applications for the permit parking. Um to address some of the other concerns regarding the parking, um we are not providing any guest parking. So, as far as the parking provided, they are all assigned to the units. And part of that was the reason we were working with the traffic department on our alternative design for the um the front driveway. Um if you have any other specific concerns, uh I'm here to answer them. Other than that, I think the city did a good job explaining our project.

Thank you, sir. Any uh questions by any commissioners? The uh low income units uh there are different levels of low income. What are you anticipating? What's your target to sell those for? We are uh as part of our application there are five very lowincome. Very low. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else?

Okay. Yes. No. Okay. Um, thank you sir. I appreciate your time. I would ask there's there's no speakers, right? Okay. Does anyone wish to speak or comment on this item? Seeing no one, Commissioner Castro, is there anyone at your location that would like to speak? No, there's not. Very good. I'm going to close the public hearing.

Anybody have any comments? Okay, Commissioner Castro, any comments? I do not have any comments. Thank you. Any motions? I'll make a motion to approve. I will second. May I speak now? Yes.

We've all heard the expression about lipstick on a pig. And to me, this project is one pig that no amount of lipstick can take care of. It's too much, too small a space. We hear he's already scoped out the the available parking in neighborhoods 10 minutes away. He knows there's a problem. I know the state is shoving this down our throat, but the state can come and call me off to jail before I vote yes on this. Thank you.

Anyone else wish to comment? Commissioner Castro, no I don't have any comments. Leon, can I ask what are our requirements on this as far as those waiverss? What are density bonus laws included in your staff report? of the general requirements that um with the developer agreeing to provide 10% to low income um he's entitled to these waiverss and incentives and that is why staff is recommending approval.

Very good. Anyone else wish to say anything? Let's vote. Yeah. Chairperson Walker. No, we're voting electronically. Oh, do we? Oh, because of that. Okay, sorry. Yes, Vice Chair Tran Martin. Yes. Commissioner Lieberman, no. Commissioner Perez, yes. Commissioner Kelly, no. Commissioner Castro, yes.

Um, we have a motion. A motion. Uh, motion passes. Thank you very much. Four four yes votes, two no votes by Commissioner Lieberman and Commissioner Kelly.

Very good. Congratulations, sir. I hope you can make this work. updates.

Um before I move to Scott, I just want to uh formally introduce Meline um our uh Metalene Pinata Campos, our new senior secretary. So she joined us a few weeks ago and it's her first meeting. Um she joins us from the city of Downey and brings over 11 years of experience. Um so we're really excited to have her. Um and she'll be available for any questions and I'll continue to be available. And also I would like to take this opportunity to thank Angelie for helping us out for the past three months and keeping us afloat and uh we are really grateful for her help. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Um tonight's meeting will be adjourning to the May 4th meeting as we do not have anything agenda for April 20th. Um at the city council meeting on March 23rd, the council adopted the ordinances approving the festival project and at the same meeting they also denied a request for rehearing. That's all the updates I have for this evening. Thank you very much. Anyone else wish to comment? We are adjourned. You are the last party in the conference.