Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening and welcome to the Anaheim Planning Commission meeting November 17, 2025. My name is Christopher Walker, chair of the Anaheim Planning Commission. As a reminder, planning commission meetings are broadcast on all channels, including online and Anaheim TV channel 3. The first order of business is to salute our flag. Commissioner Perez will lead us in the flag salute. Place your right hand over your heart. 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. Thank you. Next, I will ask planning commissioner secretary to take a verbal roll call vote of all planning commissioners. Chair Walker, present. Vice Chair Tran Martin here. Commissioner Lieberman here. Commissioner Perez here. Commissioner Castro here. Commissioner Abdul Roman here. Commissioner Kelly here. We have a quorum.

Thank you. If you would please all silence your electronic communication devices so that they don't dis disrupt the proceeding, we would appreciate that. The doors at the back room of the room are automatic. They open when you get close to them and they don't close until you walk down the hall. [clears throat] Please move away from the automatic doors and allow them to close. Today we have five public hearing items on our agenda. I would ask members of the public who wish to speak on one of the p one or more of the public hearing items please complete a yellow speaker card and give it to staff if you have not already done so. The cards can be found at the table at the entrance. Please note the public comments are list limited to three minutes. We ask that you keep your remarks as brief as you can. We are influenced more by the content than the length of your presentations. Our next item is considered is consideration of the planning commission meeting calendar for 2026. Each year com the commission is asked to review and adopt a meeting schedule for the upcoming calendar year. The draft 2026 meeting calendar has been provided to all commissioners. There any questions?

Oh, sorry. You okay? Okay. Um, if there's no comments, I'll entertain a motion in a second. Make a motion to approve. I'll second. No discussion. Shall we vote? I think it's roll call, I believe, for this one. Chair Walker, yes. Vice Chair Tran Martin, yes. Commissioner Lieberman, yes. Commissioner Kelly, here. Yes. Commissioner Perez, yes. Commissioner Castro, yes. Commissioner Abdul Raman, yes. The calendar is approved.

Thank you. First, we provide an opportunity for 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? We don't have any cards on this, I'm assuming. Seeing no one, I'll move on. Prior to beginning the public hearing, I will ask now that any PL planning commissioners for any disclosures they wish to make regarding the public hearing item on today's agenda. I'm sure we all have something. Anybody?

Go ahead, Michelle. Yes, I uh have met with the developers on items number four and five. Go ahead. Um I met with the um consultant for item one um briefly spoke about the the project. Um items four, I also met with the consultants and I want to disclose that I worked for Shea Mortgage 25 years ago. Um I have not had any working relationship with them since then. So this will not affect my decision. And uh item five I also met with um OC5.

Go ahead. I had communication with the applicant of item five. Anything? Go ahead. I have communication with uh item five but I didn't meet him. Okay. And then I had communication with um representatives for the applicant or for on item four and then a meeting with um the applicants for item five. And I have uh met with the applicants representatives for items four and five as well.

And I have met with um the applicant for five. I've had email communications with the um applicant's agent for four um and I've had email communications with several people in this in the um area. 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 Thursday, November 27th, 2025 at 5:00 p.m. Appeal forms are available on the city clerk's web page. Please note that public items two, three, and four are not appealable as the city council is the final decisionmaking body on these three items. I will now begin item uh 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 conditional use permit and a parking variance to establish the Tesla Anaheim Collision Center and an automotive repair use within an existing industrial building located at 5472 East La Palma Avenue. The nearly 3 acre project site is shown as the highlighted parcel. It is developed with a 3,800 square f foot industrial building and located in development area number one of the Anaheim Canyon specific plan and designated for industrial land uses in the general plan. Surrounding land uses include an industrial building serving various dance and fitness studios to the north, a contractor yard and food distributor to the east, a manufacturing lab to the west, and the Santa Ana River to the south. The property is occupied by a warehouse with an accessory office for a heating, ventilation, air conditioning contractor business. The proposed collision center would use advanced diagnostic tools to assess vehicle damage, prepare insurance estimates, and identify necessary repairs. The services offered would also include vehicle disassembly, structural restoration, precision, laser guided alignment, cosmetic refinishing, sanding, and paintwork. To accommodate the use, the applicant is proposing both interior and exterior improvements. The in exterior improvements consist of installation of a 6-ft tall chainlink fence with slats to screen the vehicle storage area, restriping of the parking stalls, and reconfiguration of the landscape planners along the north drive aisle. Additionally, the facade would be improved in line with Tesla corporate branding and color scheme.

The proposed interior improvements include construction of new service bays, wash bays, and paint booth and associated storage and office areas as reflected in the floor plan. The proposed interior improvements include construction of new sorry the facility would provide um would be open to the public from Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. while repair operations would be conducted from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. as needed. The project site would have 45 spaces to accommodate both customer and employee parking as a portion of the existing parking stalls would be reallocated to storage. Customer and employee stalls are highlighted in purple, while the storage area is in blue. According to the letter of operation, the facility would have a maximum of 42 employees across two shifts and up to three customers on site at any one time with customer visits scheduled exclusively through the Tesla app and by appointment only. Walk-in services would not be available. The red stalls at the top of the screen are 30 additional spaces available to the project site through recorded CCNRs. Based on the operating characteristics and combined on-site and off-site parking supply, staff believes the site can accommodate the expected parking demand. As proposed, the project meets all the required findings for a conditional use permit and variance. The auto repair use is compatible with the surrounding land uses and the proposed operation plan and combined parking supply would ensure that adequate parking would be available to accommodate the daily needs of customers and staff. It would not result in adverse impacts to the surrounding properties, traffic or parking. For these reasons, staff staff recommends approval of the application subject to conditions of approval. That concludes my presentation. Staff and the applicant are available to answer questions.

Thank you for that report. Okay. Try as I might looking at all the diagrams, I could not figure out the vehic vehicle circulation. And what I'm would like to know is is how customers vehicle will be how customers will be traveling through this area um and figuring out where to park. the employees I'm not worried about cuz in two days they'll know they'll know what they're doing.

So the project site takes access from La Palma. Um there is a drive aisle that leads to the the east of the um property and it leads down this oneway drive aisle and onto the site on the left of your screen. Correct. Yes. Here. So, um, it would they would come down La Palma onto the site, navigate to this one-way drive aisle. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I thought the drive aisle was on the left. So, this is not the drive aisle that would access the site. They would come from La Palma um and lead to this drive aisle.

Okay. So look, but looking at the aerial of this area, the property next door, that's that's another property's parking lot that So that's how people get through. They're not on the left. Right. Um the access to this site is from the right. There are recorded um access, reciprocal access agreements that grant them access to this side of the property.

Okay. So customers will have no doubt what driveway to drive. Pull in on La Palama and through, you know, wayfinding signs and uh getting through there. And I'm sure there's a I could hardly even figure out where the entrance door is on this thing, but I think it's the top left of the building that the entry is at the middle of the building. Okay. [laughter]

Okay. All right. customers would not have access to the east drive aisle. Um they would only have access to to the the um the sorry the east drive aisle, not the west. Um and this is these would be the available parking spaces. There will be signage available and arrows leading them down this drive aisle.

Okay, that see that makes sense. If they're coming in on the right, you know, the parking is all configured for them to park there. So they're going to leave at that first exit. I see the pink line. There's a a gate there. I mean, is it going to be open closed most of the time or partially closed or how people how are customers going to know? Oh, this is the way I go out. There will be there is a condition of approval. See, condition number seven that would require the applicant to delineate the drive aisle. um that will show them the way to navigate and circulate through their site. Okay, very good. Thank you.

Okay, I just wanted to ask a couple questions. Um so the customers can access this lot only if they go through the the app, right? The Tesla app. Yes. So customers would need to coordinate an their appointment in advance. There is no walk-in service available. Okay. And there's a maximum of three allowed at any one time. Yes, there's a maximum of three appointments that would be available. And

and how do they stop people from entering? Is there a gate up at the entrance on the east side? So the entry is on the east. Um along the west property line there is a gate. The pink is a gate um that they would not have access to. Okay. So but if there's no gate on the east, how do you keep people from just coming on the site without having an appointment? Just like any business, we wouldn't be keeping people from showing up on site. They'll just know that they're not supposed to drop their car off for service until they've made an appointment through the app, through the Tesla app. Okay?

We don't anticipate that there'll be people showing up just willy-nilly to drop their car off. And I think if they do, there'll be plenty of parking spaces that they can use. They'll go inside and they'll say, "Sorry, you have to have an app app through the app." [clears throat]

Okay, sounds efficient. Um, okay. I have no further questions. Anyone else? Um, with with that, I'll open the public hearing and if the applicant would like to come forward. Thank you, Chairman Walker. Uh, good evening, commissioners. Good to see you, Chairman or Commissioner Lieberman. Um, my name is Dave C, and I'm here tonight representing the applicant owner, Green Law Partners, and the, uh, future tenant, Tesla. Um the uh with me tonight is also uh the the uh property owner and Tesla to answer any questions and I think I can answer some of the questions that came up. Um but I don't have much more to add uh in addition to what staff presented tonight. They did a really good job of explaining the project. Uh we did work closely for many months working with staff on fencing and screening and circulation and fire department access. So all all those have been vetted out and we believe it's it's going to be running very efficiently. Uh to your question, Heidi, can I ask you go to the aerial? I I think that shows it better. Yeah. So right there, um I think this puts it more in context. If you see the green stripe that Commissioner Lieberman was referring to, that is the westerly access from La Palama. uh c uh employees and customers can come down there, but they would have to go through the the adjacent property to come one way on from the easterly end or they can come from the other driveway from the east. There's actually two accesses. So hopefully this makes it more clear. And uh yes, to confirm the uh appointments are done uh by app. It's not a high volume uh number of customers coming to the site and just dropping off cars. It doesn't work that way.

Um and then uh lastly, we did review the staff report and resolution. We agree with the conditions of approval and uh don't have anything else to add uh other than we can we're here to answer any questions. Anyone have questions? Very good. Or we have any cards on this one? No. Does anyone else wish to speak on this item? Very good. I'm going to close the public hearing. And do we have a motion or discussion? I have a motion. I move the motion to approve this project.

And I'll second. Very good. Further discussion. No. Let's vote. Seven yes votes. The motion carries.

Very good. Thank you. Hello. Would you like to begin? Whenever you're ready. Yes, good evening and thank you. Good evening, chair and members of the planning commission. I'm JJ Himenez, parks manager, and with me tonight is Anna Stra, principal project planner, as well as other city staff and consultant team in the audience. Tonight's public hearing is regarding the OC Riverwalk projects environmental impact report. We are pleased to present this item to the planning commission. This EIR represents the culmination of multiple years of work across city departments with various stakeholder groups in our community. Tonight, staff is requesting that the planning commission recommend city council certification of the OC Riverwalk environmental impact report and adopt findings of fact and mitigation monitoring plan. For your information, the approval of the master plan for this project is

within the purview of the park and rec commission. Certification of the EIR is within the discretion of the city council which will be considered later this year. The OC Riverwalk project encompasses approximately a two-mile stretch of the Santa Ana River covering almost 111 acres. Specifically, the project stretches from Orangewood on the southern edge to north of Ball Road connecting to the existing Anaheim Copes. Notable adjacent properties include Anaheim Stadium, Arctic, and OCI. Property owners include County of Orange Public Works, Calrans, Orange County Transportation Authority, Union Pacific Railroad, and Orange County Water District. The design and implementation of this project requires collaboration and partnerships. These are just some of the entities who we are working with ranging from regulatory agencies to funding partners, land owners, neighbors, and advisory bodies. As important to this project is our community. Utilizing the clever tagline, what would take you to the river? We developed a robust community input process for this project. As shown on this slide, we used the variety of tools to gather our public's desires for this space and de develop a project description for the EIR. The project area mirrors the image shown on this slide for most of the year with with no water and only a functional regional bike trail. There are limited opportunities for recreation and for our community to engage with the river.

This is the overall vision. The main components of the project involve creating water impalments, modifying the east and west river banks, constructing two pedestrian and bicycle bridges, providing new trails, improving the existing trails, enhancing community and recreational amenities and other improvements identified in the EIR. The final EIR analyzes potential environmental impacts of this project. The master plan is the result of collaboration with stakeholders and conversations with our community. This is their vision. The project improvements would require the implementation of 19 elements which have been categorized into four groups within the EIR. We will quickly review these groups in the following slides. Group A includes impoundments, storm drain diversions, embankments that will place water in the river, allowing for one groundwater recharge and recreation. Next is group B, new pedestrian and bike bridges that will enhance the use of the regional bicycle trail and connect communities to each other. Group C are the trails and trail improvements. The black dotted line represents the existing Santa Ana River Trail. The pink line is the OC Riverwalk proposed trail extension to the Anaheim Copes. These improvements will create enhanced connectivity for the community. Group C consists of enhanced community recreational areas. Beginning with River Park, we will create open spaces for events and activities that will provide new ways for people to experience the river.

We will also provide new access points and modify the banks of the river to create stairs and sitting for people to recreate. Lastly, we will revitalize the river through art, education, signage, native plants, nature, overlooks, and more. And in doing so, we will redefine the river as a place for people and nature. Staff has prepared an EIR in accordance with SQUA and SQA guidelines to analyze environmental impacts related to the project. where impacts were found to be potentially significant, mitigations measures were incorporated to lessen those impacts. The final EIR, which includes the draft DI, responses to comments made on the draft EIR, and mitigation monitoring plan, have all been made available on the city's website. We are now at the public hearing stage of the environmental review process. To inform the public of the preparation of the draft DIR on March 23rd, 2023, a notice of preparation and initial study were published and circulated for public review between March 23rd and April 24 of that year. On March 29, 2023, the city held a scoping meeting at the Honda Center to solid to solicit input from the public [clears throat] on the environmental topics to be studied during the preparation of the draft DI. The scoping meeting was also made a available to attend virtually. At the end of the public period, a total of nine agencies and interested parties provided written comments. On July 24, 2025, the draft PI was

circulated for a 45 day public review period. In total, the city received seven comment letters. And finally, on November 4, 2025th, the draft DIR, which includes responses to the public comments, was released to the public for their review. The EIR identified topics that were found to have no impact as shown on the screen. The EIR also identified topics that were found to have impacts that are considered to be less significant and therefore do not require any mitigation. Some topics were found to be potentially significant but could be reduced to less significant with appropriate mitigation measures. Some notable mitigation measure boards measures include monitoring by a qualified biologist, entering into maintenance and operations agreements as necessary, noise reduction during construction, and tribal monitoring during ground disturbing activities. A full list of the mitigation measures are included in the mitigation monitoring plan. Based on the analysis conducted, the project would not result in any significant and unavoidable impacts. As such, again tonight, staff is requesting that the planning commission recommend city council certification of the OC Riverwalk environmental impact report and adopt the findings of fact and mitigation monitoring plan.

This concludes our presentation. We we would like to thank the planning commission for your consideration of this item and staff and our consultant are available for any questions that you may have. Thank you for the presentation. Um I don't have any questions, but I did want to disclose and apologies for not doing this earlier. Um, my husband does serve on the city's parks and recck commission and so this plan has gone before them. So, um, it's not a conflict of interest, but did want to disclose that.

Anyone else? Okay, I'm going to open the public hearing and no cards. I will close the public hearing. Does anyone have any follow-up questions? Um, do we have a motion? I'll make a motion to approve. Second. No discussion. Shall we vote?

Seven. Yes votes. The motion carries. Thank you very much. [clears throat]

I figured that's what it was. on that. Hello. How are you? doing well. Thank you.

Mr. Nicholas, you may go.

Thank you. Good evening, chair and members of the planning commission. My name is Shawn Nicholas, principal planner, and I will be presenting the 2025 annual code update along with deputy planning and building director Joanne Hong. The annual code update includes amendments to provide clarity, create consistency of terms and definitions, streamline approval processes, comply with changes in state law, amend code requirements to reflect current market trends, and support city council strategic plan priorities. Attachment two of the staff report for this item provides a comprehensive summary of the proposed code amendments, but I will highlight a few of the notable changes this year for the benefit of the planning commission for ADUs. Once again, changes in state law and interpretations are requiring the city to make amendments. The amendments this year are primarily associated with ADUs for single family properties. The first update is to change the num number of ADUs that can be developed associated with a proposed or existing single family residence. Currently, the city allows a primary dwelling unit, one ADU either attached or detached, and one JADU converted from existing space within the primary dwelling for a maximum of three potential dwelling units on a single family lot. Pursuant to changes in state law, a property owner can now potentially have a total of four dwelling units on a single family residential lot by having a primary unit. Convert space within an existing or proposed single family residence to create an ADU, a second new construction ADU, then lastly, still a JADU converted of existing space of the primary residence or attached to a new construction detached ADU.

Another another change that comes into effect on January 1st, 2026 is the city can no longer require a deed restriction requiring property owner occupancy within a JADU on site. For the past several years, every JADU was required to record a deed restriction requiring someone with property ownership interest in the Palot to live on site within one of the units as their primary residence. The city will no longer be able to require this except when a JADU shares sanitation facilities with the primary residents or detach ADU it is constructed with. In addition, there are other minor updates proposed and would clarify and specify certain existing standards to further comply with state law. Employee housing for agricultural use changes will implement both recent state law changes and our housing element. The changes create the terms employee housing both small and large as either residential uses or a non-residential class of use based on size. In [snorts] general, employee housing small would be allowed where residential uses are allowed and employee housing large would be allowed where agricultural uses are allowed. In addition, employee housing would be tied directly to the primary use of agricultural crops as its accessory use. Lastly, the modifications to this section also include the removal of the outdated term agricultural workers quarters. There are two updates associated with landscape requirements within the ACU. The first update modifies our existing landscape requirements to reflect recent trends to move towards a more drought tolerant design including decorative ground cover so there is no bare dirt. [snorts] We are also reducing the percentage of landscape coverage from to

65% from 75% to reflect the growth style and size of drought tolerant plant species. The second update to landscaping is to the tree list in our scenic corridor overlay of the zoning code. In particular, trees that may be planted on private property or on slopes within the scenic corridor. Recently, the public works department completed an evaluation of all the tree species within the city as well as the various lists that can be planted in of trees that can be planted in the city. For example, like our rideway trees. Based on that citywide effort, public works provided the list trees that should be maintained on our lists should be added and should be removed. Lastly, these updates further cleanup provisions associated with signage and parking structure heights in both the Disneyland Resort specific plan plan and Anaheim resort specific plan. The sign changes provides clarification related to how the sign area for a use is determined. The code currently currently uses the term street frontage and the amendment would change it to tenant frontage which is also in line with the citywide sign code requirements for the parking structure height requirement. It further cleans up language from the Disneyland forward amendments. But to be clear, this amendment does not physically change or modify any associated requirements, just makes it clear what the requirements are. There are additional amendments provide proposed to provide clarity, regulatory relief, and updates to requirements based on changes to state laws on various topics. And as mentioned earlier, attachment two to your staff report provides a summary of all of those changes. Staff recommends the planning commission recommend the city council approve the annual code update. And this concludes staff's presentation

and staff is available to address any of the commissioners questions. Thank you. Thank you. Any commissioners? Commissioner Lieberman. Thank you for that presentation, Mr. Nicholas. Um, I hope you have with you available to bring up on the screen all of the red line stuff you did or that someone has done because I don't have them in front of me, just my notes. I do not have every single red line on a PowerPoint slide now.

Okay. Well, that's basically the stuff a few of those items that I want to address. Okay. So, let me just go through it. um section. I'm going to be real commissioner. Um just if I I'll bring it up.

Okay. That I think it'll help. So I have um on page 17, section 26 um regarding the ADUs. Okay. On on this page, it's very clear. It lists three types of ADUs allowable and uh summarizes about the the the three um ADUs you can build plus the primary residence for a total of four. Okay, I guess we didn't need to look at this page. Let's go to page 28 where it's summarized a little differently and I got really confused. So maybe you want to clarify it. Okay. On this table here, which um Joanne, if you could go and show the top of the table, I think it says, yeah, two-unit development. You know, we're we I do realize we're not getting the full picture of everything here. We're just getting the part that you're changing. Um but okay, so I'm looking that at this twounit development attached to existing main dwelling and it summarizes um down on the 0.0506 that um in in addition to the two units permitted in that table um two additional units may be constructed as ADUs um and a maximum and a maximum of four units on any single family dwelling. So, I'm adding this up. It's the two units from the um from this chart, the list in plus two units plus the the residents that's sitting there makes five. Okay,

that's the way I I read it a few times. So, I know what your intention is, but at least to me, it's not clear. So, you might want to try to make it a little clearer. Okay, that's just my recommendation on that item. So, let's move to um uh page 28. Oh, is it same the same thing down at the bottom of this chart? It says, "Notwithstanding above, height limitations shall not prohibit the construction of an 800 square f foot unit." What does this mean? Explain this to me.

So, this whole section, table 38 C, is part of our two-unit development in urban lots, but so what the commission probably remembers as SB9. So, this is a separate section outside of accessory dwelling units. What we have primarily done here is just uh accurately reflected that an ADU can be developed with a two-unit development. So uh to be clear, it would be a total and that's why we made it clear with the the maximum of four units, there will only ever be four units maximum associated with an SB9 project included if they decide to do an ADU with those units. Now, in terms of the the 800 foot unit note, uh, as required by state law, again, associated with SB9, there are no provisions that we can enforce that would prohibit someone from developing at least 800 square ft. So, to be consistent and clear with with that fact, which has already been our policy for the last four to five years in which SB9 has existed and similar with ADUs as well. It's consistent with ADU law has the same requirements. It's just making it clear that nothing can prohibit them from developing it, including height limitations. That's that's what it is providing.

Okay. So, that's out of the city's control. The state's dictating that. So yes, if somebody wants a 200 foot uh footprint, 200 square foot footprint, they can build a fourstory ADU potentially, but usually I would tell you that staff would work hard to uh develop other alternatives.

Okay. All right. As long as this is coming from the city that I'm I'm happier with that. Okay. So let us move to page am I going backwards? 23. Page 23. Um this has to do with historic buildings under section 31. Um changing design under 0.090 historic buildings. um you're changing the uh where the design standards are applicable um from what was the well uh national register California register of historic places in the city's list of local historic inventory for qu for for homes that um will be um covered with the design guidelines. Okay. And you're changing the city's um uh from Anaheim's local historic inventory, which is I believe over a thousand homes citywide um to only homes um with a millac contract, which is 400 something. And I have a big problem with that because you're changing the scope drastically. And so what's the impetus here?

Thank you, Commissioner. Yes. Again, this is 100% driven by state law. In fact, um, in talking with HCD, they very directly pointed out the fact that we cannot utilize our local historic inventory as a basis for uh, requiring these additional requirements associated. And this is directly associated with accessory dwelling units and junior accessory dwelling units. So this is separate from the SB9 items we were just talking about. But because someone is under a Mills Act contract because that's a legal document, there are other requirements associated with it that may be applicable. Um but again it is they have made it very clear that their enforcement the way HCD interprets it is that they want it clear that it is only national or state California state historic lists

and Mills act would um would qualify that wouldn't it yeah it's a state

it qualifies it because it is a uh is a legal agreement in essence with the city so there are other requirements and other factors that come into play with those. Okay, I was ready to die on this one. So, okay, let's move on. Um, something very petty. Page 23, section 31 under 105. But since it's in the actual verbiage of the ordinance, I'm going to point it out. If you if you make grammatic errors in a staff report, you never hear from me. But this is different. under uh 0105 you have the word uh separate in there twice in one sentence and then both times are using correctly and it needs to be corrected to separately and if you want me to explain why I'd be happy to but or you can take my word for it or Google it.

Thank you commissioner. Okay. Um now let's move on to uh page 32. section 49 where uh under 0502 and 0503, you know, you did touch upon the drought tolerant plants, but since you already have the words um you're adding the word plants in here, to add it again as drought tolerant plants is redundant and shouldn't be there. And I think that's all I have. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Anybody else? Okay. I just have a couple clarifications on one specific area and that is the holiday decorations removal. Um can you tell us what that new requirement is compared to the old requirement?

Yes, thank you chair. So this is uh something that came to us from our colleagues in code enforcement. It's a a pretty common issue that we see that a lot of times uh these holiday decorations will be left up long past uh the holiday in which it was representing and they start to see that it is becoming a nuisance. They're falling down. they may not be um they may not be uh built to be outside for that long of a period and exposed to the to expose the elements. So the purpose of that is for these holiday related items and uh decorations that they will have to be removed within those 45 days. And this is separate from something like a permanent type of installation, you know, that you typically see over like a patio cover or associated with like a patio cover or other types of permanent installation. Okay. So, anything that's meant to be permanent is not covered by the 45 days.

This is not address that. No, if I could just add um chair, part of the um impetus is relates to more particular electrical lighting. Um a lot of holiday type decorations is meant to be more temporary, not permanent. So, um there have been experiences in other cities and also code enforcement who can speak to this a concern about um not removing those electrical cords and whatnot within a certain amount of time is a health safety issue and that's why this code is being drafted as it is.

Okay. So, as far as electrical lighting, you're concerned about temporary lighting that has co cords or potentially dangerous situations. So, permanent lighting would not be included. Okay. Very good. Anyone have any other questions? Um, I'm going to open the public hearing and I'm assuming we have no cards. We do not. So, I will close the public hearing. And do we have a motion or any discussion? I'll make the motion to approve. I'll second.

Any discussion on the motion? Shall we vote? Seven yes votes. The motion carries. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Moving on to item four. I will remind people that if you haven't done a yellow speaker card, please do so and hand it to staff. whenever you're ready. Amanda. Good evening, Chair Walker and members of the planning commission. I am Amanda Laugher and I will be presenting the Anaheim Hills Festival Project. With me is Elaine Team Precidi, principal planner. This item is a request for a general plan amendment, specific plan amendment, including amendments to the zoning code, final site plan, and development agreement to establish a new development area within the existing boundaries of the Anaheim Hills Festival specific plan to accommodate residential uses in combination with the existing commercial development. The project includes demolition of the vacant movie theater site and construction of 447 multiple family units within the upper tier of the festival shopping center. This item requires planning commission review and recommendation to the city council for approval. Tonight I will provide a brief overview of the existing conditions and specific plan background.

General overview of the proposed project and requested entitlements. Review of key components of the environmental analysis and staff's recommendation to the commission. The Anaheim Hills Festival specific plan is generally located along Santa Ana Canyon Road between Festival Drive and Roosevelt Road and encompasses approximately 85.7 acres. The specific plan was originally adopted by the city council in May 1990 and has been amended five times. The specific plan is divided into different development areas as shown on the screen. Development areas one through three shown in the red are the commercial areas of the specific plan known as the festival shopping center and development area 4 shown in orange is the senior residential community. The existing specific plan area is designated for regional, commercial, and lowmedium density residential land uses in the general plan. The surrounding land uses include a business park to the north across Santa Ana Canyon Road, a utility transmission corridor containing SCE power lines, undeveloped private parcels, and the Deer Canyon Park Preserve to the west, office and institutional uses to the east across Roosevelt Road, and single family residential to the south. The property is zoned SP90-1 for the Anaheim Hills Festival specific plan. Existing zoning in the vicinity includes general commercial, transitional, open space, lowintensity office, and single family residential. The proposed project would establish a new development area, DA5,

within the existing boundaries of the Anaheim Hills Festival specific plan to accommodate residential uses in combination with the site's existing commercial development. DA5 would be created from reallocating land from the existing development area 2, reducing its size from approximately 48 acres to 31.8 8 acres. The resulting 16.2 acre area would form the new DA5 as shown here in the green hatch color. [clears throat] All proposed development would be confined to DA5 and the overall exterior boundary of the specific plan would remain unchanged. Approximately 57,500 square feet of existing commercial square footage would remain in DA5. The proposed project includes the demolition of the existing vacant cinema within the proposed DA5 for the development of a 447 unit multiple family residential community. I would like to read into the record that table one in the staff report incorrectly notes a total of 477 units. The proposed multiple family building would be four stories in height and wrapped around a six-le parking structure, including one subterranean level for a total of 57 ft. The apartments include one, two, and threebedroom options ranging in size from approximately 590 square ft to,500 square ft. A total of 10% or 45 units would be designated for moderate income affordable units. Each floor plan would include a private patio or balcony space. Additional resident amenities include two indoor clubouses, two swimming pools, a

courtyard, a fitness center, co-work area, and ride share lounge. The applicant is also proposing a fenced dog park along the easterly portion of the site and a bluff park along the north property line that would be privately owned and maintained but open to the residents of the new community and the general public. Primary access into the development area would be provided from an existing driveway along Festival Drive, leading to a new entry court and roundabout near the multiple family leasing office entrance. A new residentonly driveway is also proposed along Festival Drive for direct access into the gated parking structure. All driveways for the commercial center would remain the same. The proposed multiple family building includes a Mediterranean architectural style consistent with the design guidelines in the specific plan. The building features smooth white stucco with rot iron decorative tile, stone accents, decorative metal sighting, clay tile roof, varied roof planes, and recess windows. Sections of the building closest to Festival Drive would be three stories in height, while the remainder of the building would be four stories. The multiple family building would wrap around the six-le parking structure, screening it from public view. The project includes a six-level wrapped parking structure that would include parking for the residents, guests, and visitors of the commercial center. A total of 954 parking spaces would be available in the parking structure which includes the gated resident restricted parking on the subterranean and upper levels. The first floor of the structure

would be available to guests and patrons of the commercial center. A total of 329 surface parking spaces would also be available in DA5. As part of the project, the applicant prepared a parking analysis to demonstrate that the parking available in DA5 would be sufficient based on the mix of uses. Based on the proposed parking requirements in the specific plan amendment, a total of 893 parking spaces are required for the residential uses. A total of 362 spaces are required for the commercial uses based on their individual parking requirements. The residential and commercial uses have differing peak hours. Residential uses observe peak peaks in the evening hours between 700 p.m. and midnight while commercial unit uses have a higher peak during midday. As part of the analysis, a survey was also conducted at six ex existing communities that are owned and managed by the property by the project applicant with similar property characteristics. The survey found that the average occupied rate for the multiple family units was 1.87 spaces per unit. The proposed project would provide 2.0 spaces per unit. Reciprocal reciprocal access and parking is also provided between development areas one, two, and five. Based on the number of spaces available, mix of uses with differing peak hours, and observed rates at similar communities, staff has determined that there is adequate parking for the proposed project. The project requires a number of discretionary applications that require

review by the planning commission. These include a general plan amendment to the land use element, a specific plan amendment to amend the Anaheim Hills Festival specific plan document and relevant zoning and development standards in chapter 18.108 of the municipal code. A final site plan for the construction of the 447 unit multiple family community and associated improvements. A development agreement between the city and the property owner and certification of environmental impact report number 358 for the project. The project requires an amendment to the general plan land use element to change the land use designation from DA5 from regional commercial to mixeduse medium depicted in green and red hatching. The mixeduse medium designation is intended to allow for flexibility for parcels that could transition from strip commercial uses to residential or a mix of residential, commercial, and office development. This designation allows for residential development in a standalone or mixeduse configuration at a density of up to 36 dwelling units per acre whi while the non-residentidential component of mixeduse development is permitted at a maximum floor area ratio or f of 0.35. The proposed residential portion of the project would result in a density of 27.4 4 dwelling units per acre and the remaining commercial buildings in DA5 would result in an F of 0.09. The project would provide a mix of uses in DA5 that are consistent with the allowable density and F for the land use

designation. Therefore, staff recommends the planning commission recommends city council approval of the general plan amendment. [clears throat] The applicant is requesting a specific plan amendment to amend the Anaheim Hills Festival specific plan document and corresponding chapter of the zoning code in their entirety. This would be the sixth amendment to the specific plan and would st establish a new development area DA5 within the existing boundaries to accommodate the proposed residential development in conjunction with the commercial development. The specific plan would include a new format that is more consistent with newly adopted specific plans, would update various tables and exhibits, update the center monument sign designs, and establish new design guidelines that provide guiding principles for commercial and residential development, and introduce a Mediterranean design influence. Chapter 18.108 108 of the zoning code would also be amended in its entirety to be more consistent with other code chapters and formatting. Create new development standards for DA5. Update signage requirements for the commercial and residential uses and create permitted use tables for the specific planned development areas. Site development standards such as building setbacks, landscape setbacks, and maximum heights for the existing development areas would not change as part of the project. Development area 5 is generally consistent with the regional, commercial, and mixeduse medium zones. However, the specific plan amendment does include certain standards that would be tailored for the project as shown on the screen. These include changes to the multiple family parking

requirements for one-bedroom units, minimum floor area for one-bedroom units, maximum sign area for inline tenants, and minor changes to permitted uses throughout the development areas. The proposed amendments to chapter 18.108 would maintain consistency with other specific plan code chapters and are required to implement the proposed project. The amended specific plan document would be more userfriendly and would provide guidelines for future development in the specific plan area. Therefore, staff recommends that the planning commission recommend city council approval of the specific plan amendment. A final site plan is required for the review of the multiple family development and associated improvements. The final site plan includes the site plan, floor plans, elevations, and landscape plan to demonstrate compliance with the guiding principles and standards in the specific plan amendment in draft chapter 18.108. The proposed project meets the development standards proposed under the amended specific plan and therefore staff recommends the planning commission recommend city approval of the final site plan. The applicant requests approval of a development agreement. A development agreement is a contract between the city and the property owner that provides certainty to the developer that the approved project will be exempt from future zone zoning laws. In exchange for that certainty, a development agreement may require the developer to provide benefits to the city beyond what would otherwise be required by existing regulations and ordinances. The property owner is also required to submit annual reports to the city demonstrating compliance with the terms

of the agreement. The draft agreement is attached to your report and includes various public benefits including 10% moderate income affordable units, a $100,000 contribution to animal Anaheim fire and rescue for fire protection enhancement and the funding and installation of CCTV and emergency vehicle preeemption devices at four intersections along Santa Ana Canyon to enhance emergency response in the vicinity. The development agreement would provide certainty for the developer in exchange for a variety of public benefits. Therefore, staff recommends the planning commission recommend appro city council approval of the development agreement. The city as the lead agency prepared an EIR in accordance with SQA and the SQA guidelines. The draft EIR was presented to the public and the planning commission at the July 14th workshop. During the 45day public review period, the city received comments from four agencies and organizations, nine individuals, and nine or five commenters at the workshop. Comments and responses have been included in the final EIR provided as part of the staff report. An EIR can include up to 20 topics. We identified and the scoping process cons confirmed that the EIR would include an analysis of all possible topics. Consistent with SQA guidelines, the draft EIR identified that the project would have no effects related to agricultural and forestry resources and mineral resources. That left 18 topics to be analyzed in the draft EIR. For each topic, the

analysis evaluated the level of impact, if any. For the 11 topics shown on the screen, impacts were less than significant. For the six topics shown on this screen, the application of mit mitigation measures and project design features reduced the impacts to a less than significant level. A mitigation monitoring program or MMP was prepared for the project to reduce project impacts. The MMP includes mitigation measures, project design features, and regulatory compliance measures that the project would be required to comply with in order to reduce impacts. Some of those measures have been summarized on this screen and include development obligations for things like submittal of a construction fire prevention plan, wildfire evacuation and awareness plan, and construction management plan. The full list of measures is contained in the mitigation monitoring program included as attachment 1C to your staff report. As shown on the previous slide, hazards and wildfire impacts for the project are less than significant with mitigation. Based on 2025 updates to the Cal Fire hazard maps, 8.26 26 acres of DA5 is located within a very high fire hazard severity zone which I will refer to as very high fire zone. Very high fire zones are prone to wildfire based on topography, fuels and weather imps and are subject to several regulatory requirements to help reduce risk associated with a wildfire event. This designation does not mean that an area

is not safe for development. Rather, specific fire protection features that minimize structure vulnerability would be required and specifically those that are specified in the California building code and California fire code. The proposed project is located within a development developed area, would add new maintained landscaping, and would be subject to additional building construction standards to harden the building pursuant to the California Building Code. An evacuation time analysis was prepared and determined that the worst case scenario would involve a fire breaking out in Deer Canyon Preserve, located directly to the west of the project site. The evacuation analysis considered the existing condition in the surrounding area and the incremental increase in development with the proposed project. The analysis concluded that the increase that the proposed project would have over the existing shopping center condition with an active cinema use would result in a potential potential extension of time to evacuate of approximately 7 minutes. The project design features and mitigation measures have been incorporated requiring a construction fire prevention plan, wildfire evacuation and awareness plan and construction management plan prior to the issuance of construction permits and certificate of occupancy for the multiple family building. These plans would identify fire safety measures and best practices during construction, would ensure adequate circulation is provided during construction on site and in the project vicinity, and would provide overall evacuation awareness and emergency community alerts for residents and tenants within the commercial shopping center.

The draft EIR found that the project would result in a significant and unavoidable impact related to transportation, specifically the vehicle miles traveled or VMT attributable to the project. The proposed project is located in an area of the city that is a high VMT generating area. As you can see on this VMT generating area map from the city's traffic impact analysis guidelines for SQUA, the majority of Anaheim Hills is shown as a higher generating VMT area than the Orange County average. This is due to Anaheim to the Anaheim Hills area consisting primarily of residential development with limited proximity to job centers and public transit. The project includes 10% affordable units and a reduction in the city's parking requirements for multiple family developments, both of which are identified as VMT reduction strategies. However, there are no additional VMT reduction measures that would be feasible for the proposed project that would reduce the VMT threshold to a less than significant impact. The proposed project would continue to provide adequate emergency access to the site through the implementation of the construction and evacuation awareness plans. Even with the implementation of mitigation measures and the project design features, impacts related to transportation would remain significant and unavoidable. Because of the significant and unavoidable impact relating to transportation, a draft findings of fact and statement of overriding considerations has been prepared for the project. This document summarizes the significant impact, describes how it is to be mitigated and discusses alternatives to

the project. The statement of overriding considerations presents the justification for the significant impact relating to related to the project that cannot or has not been mitigated or resolved. It also states the that the decision-making body has balanced the benefits of the project against its significant and unavoidable environmental effect and has determined that the benefits for the project outweigh the adverse impacts and therefore the adverse impacts are considered to be acceptable. Staff proposes the benefits listed on the screen to override the significant and unavoidable impact relating to transportation. The public review period for the draft EIR lasted 45 days and during that time the city received comments from 14 agencies and interested parties in addition to the oral testimony from five individuals during the planning commission SQA workshop. Of the 14 written comments, three were from state and local agencies while 11 were from organizations and individuals. All of the comments were reviewed, evaluated, and technical responses were provide in the were provided in the final EIR. All 14 comments and associated responses have been documented in the final EIR section two. Additionally, the final EIR includes section three, which includes clarifications and revisions to the draft EIR text, tables, and figures generated from responses to comments. These edits are provided to clarify and amplify the draft EIR. And none of the information included in sections two or three of the final EIR constitutes significant new information does not change the analysis or conclusions of the draft EIR or otherwise raise any

issues that triggered a requirement for recirculation of the document under SQA. In addition to the comments received during the public review of the EIR, staff received letters in support and opposition of the project. Letter letter letters received prior to the staff report posting are provided as attachment 12 to your staff report. Additional letters received prior to this hearing have been printed and provided to each commissioner on the dis. With that, staff recommends that the commission recommend to the city council certification of final EIR number 358 and adoption of findings of fact and statement of overriding considerations and mitigation monitoring program number 397, approval of the proposed amendment to the general plan land use element, and introduction and adoption of ordinances to amend the Anaheim Hills Festival specific plan number 90-1 and relevant zoning code chapter 18.108 and approval of the development agreement. That concludes my presentation and I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you. Um, one minor disclosure, I forgot I did make a site visit this weekend. Um, does anybody have questions? No questions. Then I'm going to open the public hearing and invite the applicant to come forward. Good evening, honorable planning commissioners and Mr. Chair. I'm Sean McCarron, vice president of mixeduse development at Shea Properties. I'm here tonight with a dedicated team of experts for the Anaheim Hills Festival project. I have 10 minutes, so I'm going to be moving quickly, but the team will be here to answer any questions. Uh, first off, I'd like to thank staff for their tireless effort on this project. We've worked together for four years to get to this milestone. Uh, next slide. Oh, no, this one's right there. Uh, just a brief brief background on our company and our approach. Sha Properties is a third generation family-owned, familyrun. We are real estate development company headquartered right here in Orange County. We are leaders in the development of dynamic mixeduse properties and we develop, own and manage our properties with a very long-term outlook. [clears throat] The Anaheim Hills uh shopping center was developed in the early 90s. It was state of the industry at the time, a very convenient design, very vehicle focused and spread out over a large area. There's been no comprehensive renovation to date. The festival is critical to the region and it's a well-maintained center, but it's an aging center that needs significant reinvestment to meet [clears throat] current tenant and consumer demands. Going back to 2021, responding to statewide demand, the city initiated their housing element update, prioritizing district equity in housing allocation. SHA properties responded to the district 6 housing needs by submitting a conceptual application.

Beginning with that concept plan, the project has always been focused on a comprehensive renovation to the shopping center with the integration of residential. While navigating the application process, we initiated community engagement. Again, beginning in 2021, we initiated community engagement with targeted surveys and questionnaires to D6 residents, generating 20,000 views and impressions. A project website was developed, social media media accounts created with over 12,000 unique visitors. We hosted over 20 intimate focus groups with or oneonone meetings with residents and we presented at a D6 community meeting and we presented to the Ebel Club of Anaheim. Through this engagement process, we built a network of over 600 stakeholders over four years. We use this list to send out newsletters and updates regarding the project. From the many touch points we had with the community, we heard consistent comments and concerns. Early on, we adjusted the project design to account for these. That community input resulted in a better project. We heard that 600 units was too large for the area and that the community loved the 24-hour fitness. At the time, we were concerned about 24-hour fitness. This was during COVID and 24-hour had declared bankruptcy. But as the market improved, we made the decision to keep 24hour and we reduced the unit count to 447 units.

[clears throat]

I'm happy to report that we've executed a long-term lease extension with 24-hour fitness that includes a renovation of their space and they've started that already. We heard concerns that the building sections along Festival Drive were too high. So, we reduced the height along Festival Drive in key sections. We heard concerns regarding traffic and evacuation and reducing unit count had the single biggest impact on traffic and evac times. Throughout the process, we continued to work closely with the city of Anaheim and Anaheim Fire and Rescue on evacuation planning for D6. The site has a significant grade change between the upper level and the lower level. It currently contains a dated, narrow, and steep connection. That stair connection will be widened to benefit benefit both levels. That's the area shown in red. The circulation at the top of those stairs will be improved for cars and pedestrians. That's the area shown in blue right at the top adjacent to the red. The new garage will provide parking for retail and residential uses and new green space will be added with a passive 1acre park and a large enclosed dog dog park. Both of those are shown in purple. These [clears throat] will be public spaces privately maintained. This is redeveloping an already developed area using existing grades, utilities, and infrastructure. This project, if approved, has many benefits for the community. It revitalizes an aging shopping center. It attracts enticing new tenants. It expands housing options in District 6, supports Anaheim City goals. It entices regional spending, increases the quality of life, and provides community open space, and maintains local values. This rendering cap captures the development from the top of the stairs adjacent to Wood Ranch looking towards our leasing office, the front door. This

is that key connection area that pushes the parking and drive aisles back to where they from where they currently are and opens up a generous green space for retail customers, commercial customers, and residents alike to linger while waiting for a table or grabbing a coffee. The contemporary Mediterranean design complements the Anaheim Hills character and blends nicely with the renovated center. This is a four-story wrap style project, so the parking structure is concealed. I think Amanda did a nice job of describing that. Uh, but we intentionally pushed the parking structure down a level and a half also to reduce height. This is a different angle from the upper deck looking towards the retail and residential uh guest entry into the garage. This provides a nice example of the pedestrian connections throughout as well. This rendering is along the facade of Festival Drive, so you're able to see the sections that are stepped down to three levels. Wildfire preparedness and evacuation is critical to this project. We completed a thorough evacuation analysis and fire protection plan with Due that was reviewed and approved by the city and Anaheim Fire and Rescue. The proposed apartment project is taking the place of a vacant 1,880 seat movie theater. We are replacing one intensive use with an alternate use. The new project has specified design features that help in the evacuation procedures. These include resident notification systems to communicate in real time. New CCTV cameras installed at intersections along Santa Ana Canyon Drive. That would be at Festival Drive, Festival Center, Roosevelt Road, and Weir Canyon. And new emergency vehicle traffic light systems at those same four intersections. And these prioritize emergency vehicles by automatically changing traffic signals when when needed. The project will contribute $100,000 to

Anaheim Fire and Rescue to help fund local wildlife wildfire, excuse me, mitigation efforts. During the project construction, the project team will continue coordination with Anaheim Fire and Rescue. The building is designed for wildfire resilience. It's also worth mentioning that vacant buildings tend to attract problems. They tend to present higher risks of emergency. Thank you. This area is impacted by the high volume of vehicles that bypass the 91 freeway during peak commute hours. An extensive traffic analysis and VMT analysis were completed. The project does exceed the city adopted VMT per service population threshold and therefore does create significant unavoidable VMT impact. However, it's important to note that any project exceeding 24 apartment units or 12 single family homes would have the same significant impact finding. The project's cumulative effect on VMT is less than significant, and the project contributes 36 fewer PM peak hour trips and nearly 600 fewer two-way daily trips than an active movie theater. This project has been focused on a comprehensive planning strategy that brings together a renovated shopping center and seamlessly integrates the residential. If the residential moves forward, the entire center will be repaired, repainted, and reinvigorated. It starts with the enhanced connection between the upper and le lower lower level. Plazas on both levels will create gathering and seating areas for the public. There will be improved pedestrian connections throughout the center and enhance landscaping and lighting. I'd like to give a quick introduction to Vestar. They are the current manager of the festival center. They are here tonight and available to answer any specific retail questions. Vestar is [clears throat] a best-in-class national owner and manager of retail properties

and they bring broad experience in local shopping center renovation and deep historical knowledge of the festival center. And the new project development is what unlocks the funds for a Vestarled renovation of Anaheim Hills Festival. The specific plan amendment also lays out a long-term vision that includes creating additional modern outdoor dining and unique retail spaces. It also right sizes big box space with potential for more inline shop space. I'm happy to report that the team has recently negotiated a lease modification with Hobby Lobby that gives back more than 10,000 square feet of space and that provides the ability to create new inline shops that face the main drive aisle at Festival. Currently, that's a blank facade. is the back of the Hobby Lobby and it provides the ability to add limited new retail and restaurant space at the outer pads when the market calls for it. [snorts] We know what the future looks like at Festival if the project is approved. With the approval comes a significant reinvestment in the center and badly needed new housing product in District 6. Multif family projects play a key role in the overall community. They provide an entry point for new residents to put down roots, start families, and send kids to public schools, and eventually move into single family homes in the neighborhood. And that housing will attract and keep dynamic retail and restaurant tenants. If the project is not approved, the future's less certain. All options come back on the table, and the center will face continued turnover, and it will struggle to keep the quality tenants that the community deserves. Um, we think this is the right project at the right location in Anaheim Hills. Thank you for your time.

Thank you. Questions?

The height of the proposed um apartments is 57 feet. Correct. Correct. That's to the top of the stair overruns and the elevator overruns. So that's that's the height the highest point. Yep. Okay. And what's the uh movie theater? Pardon me? What's the height of the movie theater? 35 ft. Okay. Okay. You address the traffic. Um realized there was 1880 seats in the theater. Correct.

I don't know how many trips that would be a day. every two hours. Um, but you did address how many it would be for the apartments. Okay, that's all for now. Thank you. Anyone else? Couple questions on the 24-hour fitness the parking. Um, it was it was hard to see. Could you go back real quick? I just want to clarify the parking. Hard to see the on the screen. Yeah, we can go back. So the the parking is maintained for the 24-hour and the tutor time, which is also a a really well-liked tenant on that side of the shopping center. So they'll have the surface parking. So they have the parking all the way around it. Correct.

How many spots is that? It's the same ratio. Um I believe it's at 10 to one. Let me double check here. [clears throat] Oh, fitness is at 4:1 and it's 153 stalls is the information that I have. Sorry, are you asking how many stalls are remaining in this area? Yes. Okay. What are the Yeah,

around the fitness center it's 222 parking spaces. There's an additional 30 spaces in between this thin strip here. So total in this area would be three or sorry 252, right?

Thank you. And then the second question was I noticed that the um entire piece of it was proposed to be reszoned um where it could be developed residential. So that includes the 24-hour fitness that could be torn down and and made into apartment building or residential. So, the upper deck was reszoned to mixeduse medium which allows flexibility. Um, but like I mentioned, we did execute a long-term lease extension with 24 hours. So, yeah, that's that's our hope is that they will they will stay and we think that a fitness user is really vital to the entire center that really brings the the energy and the trips that you need to have a successful center. Thank you. And how long is that lease? 10 years. 10 years.

Thank you. Anyone else? Um, back to the height of the structure. Um, what's the height of the apartments that are across the street? The apartments across the street and the hotel across the street are three and four stories. Okay. So your structure is is three stories, but we use the existing grade which along festival in the corner you drop down more than 10 ft below the the level of the street and the the senior apartments wrap up the hill above above the project. So your structure is at the same level as the senior living apartments or lower

similar. It it's depends on where you are along the um in the senior apartments. Um, but it is at a similar level where in many of the areas if you're looking out from the first level, you're looking right onto the kind of right at the fourth level or the roof of the apartment project. But it depends on what point you're at. But you're not higher than those apartments. Correct. We're not higher than the apartments. No. Okay. Thank you. Anyone? Okay. Parking. The way I see parking is that there's four primary areas for parking. Mhm.

There's the retail area kind of in pink on whatever slide that is, I don't know. Um, there's the structure which is blue. You have an extra 30 place parking spots you're adding in green and the 222 in orange. Um, yep. Now, I see you listed retail 66 PA parking spots in the parking structure. Is that for retail in the entire center and how would they access that? I thought it was resident only for the parking structure.

Yeah. So the the surface parking in pink, the 32, those are intended to serve those upper deck tenants. So the the wood ranch, the first team real estate, the St. Jude Healthcare. So those surface stalls and then 66 within the parking garage. Um and then there's some shared uh parking stalls with the residential guest. So that first level of parking is intended to serve residential guests and retail only. And then we'll have controlled access for the residents that go to the below grid and then the above uh the first level. So the first level in addition to the 32, there's 66 additional spots that are potentially usable for the Wood Ranch, which I believe is 65 spots. The medical, which I believe is 66,

and the I think it's a um uh realtor office. Yeah, first team. Yep. I I don't remember what the number is for that, but I think it's probably around 40. Yeah, that sounds right. So that's 160. Now granted, Wood Ranch would be open at a different hours mostly except on Saturdays. I would think that's correct.

Um so Saturday you're going to have Wood Ranch potentially the medical place and the realtor place requiring a lot more than 90 parking spots. Yeah, I think that they have different um you know peak demand times and there's reciprocal use of all the parking at the center. So the green strip that's between the apartment project and the um 24hour that would also be used by these tenants as can the uh parking that is on the lower level. Parking on the lower level too. I thought that was resident only access.

No, I'm sorry. The lower level of the parking center. So the lower level of the parking center. Oh, up lower level. I see what you're saying. So how far is it a walk from the green area? You'd have to go through the park, right? Yeah. So you would walk through the park. Um I don't have the exact distance. I could I could find out. You don't have it by any chance. I too do not have the exact distance, but we could scale it out. From the parking structure to those upper deck tenants is around 200 to 250 ft depending on which tenant you're heading towards. So if that gives some

So you're talking maybe 7 800 feet to the green area roughly could be. And probably you know 150 ft to the lower level. So and they can't walk directly there obviously because that's your building. Correct. Correct. They'd walk along that uh Bluff Top Park. So that nice kind of meandering path. And what hours are the leasing office going to be open? 9 to5 and are the leasing spaces going to be available for um the retail customers after that?

Yeah, absolutely. So, they'll be signed reserved for future resident parking 9 to5 the days that we're open. So, it's Monday through uh Saturday. Okay. And will guests to the residents and residents be allowed to park in those 32 to 37 spots? No, they will not. How are you going to stop that?

U well, you you police it and enforce it. Um and you use really obvious signage and I think most people actually do prefer to park in the building even as a guest because then you're you're covered parking. It does get pretty hot out there. So, people will learn to park in the building and then they have direct access to uh their friends units and they're able to get, you know, buzzed into the unit using their cell phone at the entry points. Okay. And are you providing notices to tenants that there can't park there?

Absolutely. Yeah. Yep. And and because we, you know, parking at 2.0, I feel that's that's sufficient. We won't have any parking issues from a residential standpoint at all. So people will be encouraged and there'll be plenty of space for them to park within the structure as a resident or a guest. And the 66 spaces in the garage for retail, is that part of the the joint use? So the the guests could park there as well well as the restaurants. Those ones are those ones are just for the retail. So the restaurants and the and the customers. So there'd be a restriction on tenants parking there as well. Correct. So that'd be done through signage and enforcement.

I'm skeptical, but okay. Um fire uh danger and getting out and adding the seven minutes. I add I understand the 14 versus the seven minutes. Um and I know that the city determined that that was not significant. Um can you explain again what you're doing as far as donating the money and as far as the cameras where those are going to be located etc.

Sure. So the 100,000 go uh dollars goes to Anaheim Fire and Rescue for wildfire prevention efforts in D6 in that area. Um we will be adding a tenant notification system which we'll be working with Anaheim Fire to design that, make sure it accomplishes their goals, but we believe it'll be a a textbased system that goes from the management company to the residents when there's an event. And then they'll communicate some information, but most importantly, they communicate the information of where to get proper evacuation instructions. So, it's not the management company telling everyone what to do. It's the management company saying that there's an event and you need to tune in and listen to CalFire, OCFA, Anaheim Fire and Rescue. um the CCTV cameras, four locations, the ones immediately around the center along Festival Drive, and those will be the same locations that have the EVP, the emergency vehicle preeemption systems.

Okay, thank you. I have no further questions. Any followup? Yeah.

How many trips were um folded into the evacuation model? We do have our consultant here as well. Maybe that would be helpful for Yep. Uh Steven Cook with Intersecting Metrics. We did the fire evacuation analysis uh for the There's a couple different models that we ran. So for no project it was 11,249 trips. For the width project it was 12,53 trips. And for the with cinema uh so if we assume the cinema would stay in place and not the project it was 11,66 sorry 64 trips.

So the seven minutes you're adding is with your project. What was it with the theater? What would it have been with the theater? So the our project from from no project to our project it's 14 minutes. If the theater stayed in place it would be seven additional minutes. So the difference between the two is where the seven comes from. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. I have a question. Sorry. Oh, I have a question. So are you assuming the theater is full with what, 1800 people the entire the entire time or

during during evacuation? we it's more based on the parking that would be at the theater itself because the the number of people doesn't necessarily matter. It depends on how many people were there. So, we more look at parking spaces and assumed I I'd have to I could I could get you an answer. I'd have to dig through the report. I don't remember the number off the top of my head, but we don't assume we do assume full occupancy generally as a worst case condition. So, you're assuming that the the theater's full all the time.

The parking lot is full. Uh so, it's not full all the time. We look at worst case scenarios. So, we look at PM peaks like during the PM peak hour, during the commute hour when the traffic's the highest and people are at home. We also look at a late night peak where everybody's at home and everybody would have to evacuate their home all at the same time. They wouldn't be out at their job or something like that. So, we really do look at the at the actual peak hours of when it would be the worst case scenario. And the theater kind of aligns well with with um residential be as far as peak hour goes because people go to the theaters at night, people are at home at night. Thank you.

Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, I'm gonna um I know we have cards on this one, right? Okay, so I'll let you start. I sit down. Yeah, just go ahead and sit down. Sorry. Thank you. [clears throat]

You're Chase. All right. Are you Chase? Chase? No, I'm Robert. No, you're Robert. Okay, go ahead.

Awesome. All right. Uh, hello commission. Thank you so much for uh taking the time to give us some public discussion. So, my name's Robert Edenhouser. I'm a resident of Anaheim Hills in district 6 as well as a college student and I'm speaking in support of the project. I believe that any new housing allocations are very important and I think that for this project specifically, the plans that have been put into place, this is a great opportunity for district 6 to get that additional housing allocation we need as a part of our arena allocation as well as just to address the affordable housing crisis in our state as a whole. You know, I'm in college right now. I'm living with my parents, but in the future, you know, if I want to be able to continue to live and work in our city, there needs to be more housing units in order for us to address our low supply, which is why our housing costs are so high at this time. And so I believe this project not only is going to increase the supply, allow for a long-term positive impact on our housing supply in the city and in Anaheim Hills specifically, but I think that compared to other projects in the area that have been proposed, this one is a really good one just given the fact that this is already currently developed as a essentially vacant commercial area. So I think that that makes it a pretty smart use of land there. And overall, I think that additionally all the the developer made very good points. I believe when it comes to, you know, wildfire mitigation. I know that obviously that's a pretty big concern with residents of district specifically. Just I know a lot of you probably were here during like the freeway complex fire back in 2008. I lived in Irvine back in 2020 when the Silverado fire happened. So obviously having adequate evacuation areas is important, but I believe that the plans that have been submitted do adequate adequately address that and will make sure that any residents are able to evacuate safely as well as people in the festival center itself. And I also believe that the uh changes being made to the festival center itself will help to increase business to the area and

keep the center going. Obviously, there's times now when it feels like the center kind of needs a little bit of that burst of life. So I think that this project would really do that. And that concludes my comments. Thank you so much.

Thank you, Chase. And if Andrew could come to the aisle and prepare. Good evening. My name is Chase Presciado from Lazo Jury LLP. I am speaking on behalf of Supporters Alliance for Environmental Responsibility or SAFER. Safer requests that the commission deny approval of the FEIR for the Anaheim Hills Festival specific plan amendment project. The commission should instead require preparation of a revised EIR. Under SQUA, a revised EIR is required because the FEIR fails as anformational document [snorts] because some of its mitigation measures are deficient and the FEIR failed to analyze the project's indoor air quality impacts. First, for the project's fire and evacuation safety impacts, the FEIR's mitigation measures include the formulation of plans for construction, fire prevention, wildfire, and construction management all before project construction. However, these me these measures constitute deferred mitigation, which is prohibited under SQA since the plans will not be created until after project approval. The FEIR also failed to provide quantitative evidence of the effectiveness of these mitigation measures. Likewise, for the project's soil stability impacts, the FEIR relied on deferred mitigation by deferring a city's review of the project plans for compliance with a geotechnical exploration and feasibility report until the issuance of grading and building permits. The city's review must be conducted before project approval. Furthermore, for the project's significant and unavoidable transportation impacts, the FEIR failed to include all feasible mitigation measures to reduce these impacts. Additionally, industrial hygienist

Francis Offer concluded that the project will significantly impact indoor air quality. The project's long-term indoor emissions of formaldahhide gas, a known carcinogen, will expose its future residents to a cancer risk of 120 per million, exceeding the sequest significance threshold of 10 per million. The FEIR did not address this impact. For the reasons I have discussed here and in SAFER's written comments, we again ask that you deny approval of the FEIR and require preparation of a revised EIR. Thank you. Thank you, Doug. Yeah. Excuse me. Um, sir, Chase. Chase.

Yes. Um, your organization. Um, did you guys submit a uh a notification to the city during the the review period? We submitted comments. Yes. During the review period? Yes. And were they responded to? Um, I would I don't have the answer to that. I can get back to you after the meeting with that. Okay. All right. We're good. Thank you. Doug, you're up. Andrew, if you could come down. Yeah. Good evening. My name is Doug Robbins. I live at 8141 East Kennedy Road. I live right behind the Festival Shopping Center in those homes. Uh my family has lived up there for

I'm sorry, sir. Your your name is not Doug Robbins. It is Douglas Robbins.

Okay, very good. I wanted to make sure. Go ahead. Yeah. And I live Huh. Yeah. And I live right behind the the uh the Anaheim Hills Festival Shopping Center. We live there for 39 years. Um I usually don't oppose development in the area, but it's got to be done with safety with public safety in mind. And the risk here is fire safety. So the infrastructure, the infrastructure in the area is not adequate to evacuate the homes already there, let alone any additional homes. Last year, Salt Creek uh proposed a project similar in size. I think it was 50 units more. Um your EIR showed a three-hour evacuation time. Three hours. Now, we'll talk about their stuff in a minute, what they said. But, um, this area is also in a high a very high fire risk area, which they showed on the the presentation. Um, in the fall, we get the Santa Ana winds that come whistling through that canyon from 30 to 50 miles an hour. This is when we have the fire problems. We don't have the problems with fire any other time. That's when it happens. And a fire always breaks out during this wind condition. It it blows uncontrollably. The firefighters, as good as they are, bless their heart, they cannot control fire in 50 mph winds. We saw what happened last year in Eaton and Palisades. They cannot control it. Same happens here. We've had a couple of very bad events in the area where we were gridlocked. could not evacuate. And that was years ago. The traffic has only got worse. Now people line up along this on all our evacuation

routes to get through the 91 because the traffic is so bad. No infrastructure's been done there either other than the fast track, but that did little to mitigate that. So, so we've already got these roads clogged. Three-hour evacuation time. Throw in a fire. How fast does that move at 50 mph winds? You think I have we have three hours? It came all the in one afternoon it came from in the Kenyon Hill fire uh Kenyon 2 fire. It came all the way from Corona in a matter matter of like three or four hours and burned our area. So I don't understand how an additional I say conservative maybe a thousand cars for this proposed thing with I think that's conservative too especially with two cars per unit and this

I'm sorry sir your time is up. I gave you about five more seconds to due to my interruption. I'm sorry, sir. You're going to have to leave the dis. [applause] Andrew. Yes. And will Peter come down to the aisle? Thank you.

Hi, my name is Andrew Winger and my family lives at the top of the hills kind of uh where Serrano and Null Ranch Road connect. Uh we've been evacuated two times since living there and it is an extremely traumatic experience and that's what keeps going through my mind as we see these proposals. Um this prop this project is nearly identical in scope and size to the deer canyon project that was rejected because of the fire danger. Um there was overwhelming community out people coming out and talking about it. the fire department was completely against it. Um, and I just don't see how this is any different than that project that was just a stones throw away um from Deer Canyon. Um, in the EIR for that, they had a three-hour evacuation time without the project being implemented. So, right now, if we go back by that report, we're looking at three hours to evacuate. and that project added another 24 minutes. There's absolutely no way this one's just a 7minute thing. And and that's not even the issue. The issue is the 3 hours that we're dealing with. Um they're adding a thousand more cars. It it just it makes absolutely no sense. Um, we really need to put some sort of a moratorum on all the large-scale building projects in the nearby area until significant in infrastructure improvements are made to reduce the evacuation times. At this point, none have been made or proposed. That's the issue. Fix the roads. Fix the evacuation before you build anything else. After that point, I don't care. Build this thing. It looks great. just not with the fire danger.

They leaned on this know your way. That's the most utopian view of fire evacuation I've ever seen in my life. Like all bets are out when the fire starts. People go crazy. And I I just you you can't lean on this project. It's on the know your way at all. Furthermore, this project that we were just looking at seemed to look at this project in its own little bubble and not looking at the entire area and consider the fire risk for that. You're like, "Oh, well, this we've mitigated everything on this property, so we're fine. Who cares if the people at the top of the hill can't get out and end up burning?" That seems ridiculous. And uh they also talk about the high vehicle traffic that's just adding on to the whole fire risk. This whole thing just there's a lot missing in the reports that were presented and I really hope you guys send it back to be reconsidered because three hours is unacceptable for the uh evacuation time. Thank you.

Thank you, [applause]

Peter. Yes. Uh, thank you, chairperson, vice chairperson, and commissioners. I'm here to be against this project. It's a great city of Anaheim here. Uh, this project is in East Anaheim. We try to do our part, but the project on that map is all the way by the green spot. I can't tell you how nervous I was in 2008, 2017. I don't want to happen to our community. Just want to let you know that as you know, Cal Fire has deemed as a high fire fire zone. To me, dangerous. Obviously, safety is an issue. Know your way. I don't know what you're talking about. I just have a lot of red flags on this project and just want you to realize that the community around us doesn't want it, but we'd like to do our part. Appreciate your time. There's a question I have. Do they have a secure lease for the uh Wood Ranch uh Providence going forward or do they have any type of leasing?

Usually you're not allowed to ask questions when you're making your statement. Okay. Thank you. I do appreciate No, I appreciate I just curious. I because I it's great that they have the gym, but you know, Providence is a great facility for the community. A lot of people go there. I appreciate your time. If you have any questions for me, We're not allowed to do that. I appreciate I too. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Have a good day. Did you understand his question?

I think perhaps maybe at the end the applicant or the commercial property manager, Vestar, can come up and answer additional questions about the retail portion.

Okay. Very good, Mr. Hill. And could Dan come? Never mind. Dan's there. Chairman Walker, planning commissioners, thank you for having us out here today. Um, I've been here before. My concerns are still the same. You are planning to build a dense housing project or proposing to in an already higher high fire danger area that already has announced traffic issues. The last time I had to evacuate my home, which was the second time, it took me 40 minutes to just drive the 200 yards from my home to Sana Canyon. And then another 90 minutes to go four miles to evacuate that area. Since then, there have been more developments uh and more traffic. It is my belief that as elected or appointed officials, your number one job is to protect its constituents. Putting high density housing in an area that is already higher prone is irresponsible. You put not only current residents at risk, but also future residents. The solution is additional evacuation routes. Seven minutes, 14 minutes. It's ridiculous. Takes hours to get out of there. What we need is another way out. I've mentioned this before. A bridge at Fairmont, an overpass at Fairmont gives us another way to get out of that area. There should be no further developments in East Anaheim until we have another way out. That would be the logical solution. All of these proposals should be put aside until we have that other way out. Otherwise, you're putting

us all at imp at high risk. Please consider this not only for this project, but future projects. No more building in East Anaheim until we have another way out. Thank you. [applause] Thank you, Dan. And go ahead, Dan and John. Looks like you're lined up already.

Well, thank you very much. uh members of the commission for giving us the opportunity to speak up and I want to also thank the uh folks from the uh festival project for their presentation. Um you did address what our concern is. You did address the fire hazard. Um I've a resident of Anaheim, been here for 22 years, actually 25 years now I think about it. And uh some of the things that are being proposed for this project are positive, but the number one issue is safety. And that really trumps everything. Uh our insurance companies, if you contact any of the insurance companies that insure property in this area, they'll confirm the fact that this is a high fire hazard area. So, that's got to be our consideration. Now, I I liked a lot of the things that have been presented today uh about this project, but I have to say that the idea that this would only add 7 minutes to the evacuation is not realistic. the um people that live here have been through many evacuations in the past and as our the previous speakers have mentioned it's takes hours to get out of here and so it's uh we have to consider that now I have tremendous respect for the fire department Anaheim fire department in particular our fire chief uh I I'd like to hear his his opinion in as to how much he thinks this would uh uh this project would add to the evacuation. Um I I go I would go along with whatever he

says. So um uh thank you very much for the opportunity to u oppose this and um uh I I leave this up to uh you folks who I'm sure will be looking mainly for the safety of this uh community. Thank you. Thank you, [applause] John.

Yes. My name is John Gillespie. I uh I've been a resident here for uh 34 years in Anaheim Hills. Uh I I appreciate your time. You've been here [snorts] a couple hours. uh and particularly with this proposal uh is more than just um the development and um the help of the businesses uh been very impressed with Shay building. However, uh you've got five plan amendments. It says following the approval of the amendments, uh the design and layout is will be consistent. I uh that's one problem. Uh the other problem I have is uh they're a $100,000 u donation, but they're exempt from future zoning changes. That's pretty dangerous, frankly. Uh and the last there are 447 multiple family residential union units. What's what's the increase in our population? If you multiply that times two, which there would be more than just two people in each of those apartments, increases the population substantially. And with that, you sandwich the apartments between a residential area and behind them a um senior uh development. I trying to be kind here. Uh so my uh my question is has any assessment been given by the police to the increase in crime that this may uh present? Those are uh those are the two questions. Um primarily one one last actually the proposed uh project it says generally located along

the south side of Santa Ana Canyon Road. generally located. Uh I I just wanted to know if there's anything else contemplated along with this project. That's all I have to say. And again, I uh I know there's been a lot thrown at you this evening with this project. And thank you for your time. Sir, can you say your name again? And have you turned in a yellow card? I did turn in the yellow card. My name is John Gillespie. Okay. Thank you. I gathered that after he said his name.

Here's the really good news. I'm going to be very, very brief. I'm going to invite you guys over to my house. How about coming on over from 3 to 7 on a weekday. Come on. I'll make coffee. All right. Seriously, we'll sit down and this gentleman right here can come also and take a look at the traffic around our surrounding area. It is literally a parking lot. I live right behind this proposed development. If you put this development in here, nobody's going anywhere during rush hour. So, please, I'm just asking you consider that. I will also layer on the fact that fires, oh my god, I just can't imagine what would happen if you had a fire in the middle of the rush hour time. You guys are not going anywhere. Trust me. That's it. Thank you. [applause]

Thank you. Don't forget, I'll make coffee. Stop by. Karen is next, followed by Robert.

Yes. Good evening, Karen Higer. I'm a current resident at the 55 plus senior community called the Overlook. It is literally across the street from the proposed uh site uh literally across the street from Festival Drive from the 24-hour fitness. Um uh yeah, traffic ditto on all of that. Traffic impact for sure. Um Santa Ana Canyon is already impacted. There's two lanes each direction and I've sat through many traffic signals waiting for my turn to get through the intersection and that's just rush hour. San Canyon as we know runs parallel with the 91 freeway and it's heavily traveled instead of the the 91 freeway. Um where canyon is also impacted with uh lots of traffic trying to get onto the 91 freeway all hours of of the day as well. My concern certainly is the fire risk. Um where I live at the overlook, there is the um the power lines that do go up the hill and if there's a fire that breaks out there, that's certainly concerned specifically to the overlook as well as to the residents there. Adding another 447 multi-family unit dwelling there certainly adds to the risk of evaluation um excuse me evacuation time as well as people. There is no public transportation on that end of town. It is definitely very heavily car um oriented and having other vehicles and certainly there um presents more of an evacuation problem as well. So I appreciate all the information. It's still a huge concern of mine for safety,

public safety and uh emergency time. Um don't know if there's any additional fire resources that were going to be um taken care of as well. Yes, the fire department does a great job. They are at the uh the overlook frequently and I'm sure they do a great job. My concern is time in the evacuation and how that's going to be handled moving forward if this goes through. I ask that this um plan is actually um not gone through and certainly lots of others have voiced their opinion as well. Thank you for your time and thank you for the opportunity to share my viewpoint. Thank you. [applause]

Thank you very much, Robert, followed by Elizabeth.

Yeah, my name is Robert Kmire. I want to thank the commission for their time that served tonight. Uh I live with my wife and my family u just above Festival Center. And um on a personal note, it may not mean much to most, but uh we purchased this home. We've lived in Anaheim Hills for over 30 years. We purchased this home in this specific location primarily because of the view that we have. Okay. And a seven sixstory garage right above my house or below my house. I really do not look forward to looking at. All right. Um and besides that, I believe that this project, if it goes through, will actually diminish the value of many homes in the area. On a more serious note than that, a lot of it's already been addressed here is, and I know how these uh studies work with the traffic and the evacuation and so forth, and I can tell you this, they are not accurate by far, and you've already heard it here tonight. We've also been through at least two evacuations in our area. And we live right above the festival center, and it still took us over two hours to evacuate. Two hours. 7 minutes more. not going to happen. It's not realistic. All right. Um and then also as far as the traffic is concerned, just to on a normal basis today, especially at 5:00, 6:00, 7:00 with all the traffic that goes to the 91 freeway and the surrounding areas, it's already a nightmare just to get to the 91 or the surrounding intersections. This would only make it that much more worse. All right. And um uh I don't it's I think it's been addressed

already once before, but um years ago they put a new project uh multif family housing project over at Savvy Ranch, which was again, I believe was probably I don't know for a fact, but probably reszoned. And it was a multif family residents, apartment buildings or condos. I'm not real sure. The crime rate is skyrocketed in that area. We get reports through our Anaheim buzz all the time about drug use, crimes, breakins specifically contributed to that multi-family complex and I believe the same thing is going to happen here. Um biggest question is is if we all know that a similar project was presented a short time ago and it did not pass. It failed. What's different today? What's different about this one than the prior ones that wanted to do the same similar thing in this area? From what I could hear, nothing. Now I know that the management the owners of the festival theater area

I'm sorry sir, your time is up. want to fill that. Thank you, sir. I appreciate your comments. Elizabeth. Yes. Good. Followed by Byron.

Uh, good evening. My name is Elizabeth Hanssburg. That's supposed to be an S. Sorry. I need to work on my penmanship. Um, I am here to remind you of the first speaker, the young man who is currently a college student who's living at home with his parents. And when he finishes college, I guarantee you he will no longer want to stay at home and live with his parents. He is going to want more housing options. And that is what this project brings. This project brings a new form of more diverse housing to Anaheim Hills, predominantly a single family area. This would create new opportunities for new household formation. young people moving out of their parents' home, getting their first apartment with a roommate, with their life partner, starting their lives. And currently, there is not a lot of this type of housing available in District 6. The median home price is around 1.2 to 1.5 million. It is not an area that is accessible to middle inome people, young families just starting out. And so that benefit of diversifying the housing stock in district 6 is the biggest benefit that this project brings. But it also brings green space, pedestrian connectivity, and new retail and restaurant opportunities to revitalize the center. Earlier, your planning staff made reference to the fact that the the plan has been amended five times. Yes. Because cities are not fixed in amber. They are organic living breathing organisms that need to evolve and change for new economic conditions, new population conditions. And so to go forward with an amendment makes a lot of sense because so much has changed since 1990. We didn't shop online. You know, housing costs and wages were much more in alignment. People moved more than they do now. The fact that there isn't a lot of churn in the market

means that we need to build more housing. So this project is actually a wonderful opportunity and I'm going to conclude there. Thank you. Thank you very much Brian followed by John. Oh I think John's already gone hasn't he? The other John Gillespie will be next. John Oh, John Gillespie already went. Sorry. John mozzarella. Mozzarella. There we go. Go ahead. Thank you. Sorry.

That's right. Good evening. My name is Brian Farcus. I'm a member of the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters. I live in the local area, live, work, and recreate in the vicinity of this project. I believe that I will be impacted by the environmental impacts of the project. The city should the city should require the project be built with contractors that hire locally payer prevailing wages and utilize apprentices from state certified apprentichip training programs. Workforce requirements reduce construction related environmental impacts while benefiting the local economy and workforce development. In a 2020 report titled Putting California on a high road, a jobs and climate action plan for 2030, the California Workforce Development Board concluded that investments in growing, diversifying, and upskilling California's workforce can positively affect returns on climate mitigation efforts. The South Coast The South Coast Air Quality Management District recently found that local higher requirements can result in air pollution reductions. Recently, the state of California reiterated reiterated the commitment towards encouraging workforce development and housing affordability through the Affordable Housing and High Road jobs act of 2022, otherwise known as Assembly Bill 2011, which requires projects pay workers a prevailing wage and hire from state certified apprentichip programs for projects meeting criteria or meeting certain sighting affordability and development standards. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Hello sir,

good evening. Um, good evening to everyone. Uh, I just wanted to say thank you for this public comment and I was here in July and just echo what I said then is that I think your primary purpose should be do no harm. And I was echoing the public safety aspect is that the evacuation I don't even know what I'm going to do during evacuation because it's three hours and to add more traffic is going to make a horrible situation worse. My personal evacuation plan, I think I'm going to just go to 24-hour fitness and jump in the pool because I I'm not going to burn up in my car three hours trying to get out on San Canyon. The other thing, Chairman Walker, I think you were very justified and say you're skeptical about the parking. I don't think there's enough parking. I think it'll choke off a very successful business in uh Wood Ranch. It might affect the other businesses and that may be the long-term plan for the for the developer. I don't know. But it there's not enough parking. And finally, it's just been a theater. And environmentally it's shown that commercially that is better for the environment. It could be something else. In the same shopping center there was a Styart. It was subdivided and now it's very thriving um Nordstrom Rack and also Ulta. Um there's a in place on San Canyon in place of uh Big Lots there's going to be a Trader Joe's which I think is is great. Uh 20 years ago there was a Super Kmart down in Anaheim Hills in Savvy Ranch. That's a Home Depot that's thriving. That's the largest Home Depot west of the Mississippi. So this same uh commercial spot could be repurposed for something and that's jobs and that will

help the uh area. But primarily the number one um issue is safety. there's going to be uh catastrophe and you're just going to make a horrible situation worse. So, thank you very much and please vote no against this proposal. [applause] Mark, followed by Mr. Price. I think it's Mr. Sorry if it's not.

Yes. Good evening. My name is Mark Fezo. I live at 316 Basil Street. I live right above the Fiesta Mall area. We can walk to that from our house. My main thing is safety. I do not want this here. It can be used as something else. Um, we've been out there approximately 39 plus years. I remember getting off of Weird Canyon. What was basically a one-way street going up to Monav Vista, a dead end there, and there was nothing else there but the development of the two or three homes phases at that time. I've seen three fires come through the canyon all from the winds going from from um Corona area through the canyon up to Anaheim and Yor your Belinda site. The last two we could not get out of our house. We walked to the uh I think I got to Ralph's Market at one time and to the 24-hour fitness. We could not drive. We could not walk for two and a half to three hours. I left both my girls and my granddaughter the last time I couldn't get back to my house. They could not leave our house. What I'm what I'm just want safety wise wherever they cut their their information about time. It's not getting better, it's getting worse. And I think we need to look beyond our Anaheim, your Belindi area. Look east, Corona, um, Norcco, Riverside, the Empire out there. It's all the traffic coming through our corridor. We're the last off-ramp and on-ramp east and westbound. If there's something that goes on between those hours with a rush or even prior to that, we are limited, very limited. my backyard. I look at the fire station on on um on the um street there. They could not get out enough and they couldn't get back in the last fire. And

I basically uh there's just not enough access. Sana Canyon, La Palama, even Orange going east or west. It is a bottleneck with all the traffic because we're being influenced so much with the empire now with the traffic coming in. I used to get on the freeway at 3:45 in the morning. Monday through Friday, going west to Anaheim to work. If you ever been on the freeway that time in the morning, you'd think it'd be kind of wide open. No. Everybody's coming into Orange County going to LA for their jobs. And what happens later in the afternoon? Everybody's going east, going back home. And if there's any kind of a predicament with fire or emergency time, it's not going to happen. It's going to get worse. And I feel for people in our area that have been established out there. We're very very fortunate. Beautiful area. The the Fiesta's done great. Yes, it needs to be upgraded. There is other things can be brought in and I hope that can be done instead of building this. Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir. [applause]

I believe it's G Price. I wasn't a mister. I apologize. No worries.

I'm going to start tonight with a quote from Chief Russell. Fire evacuation will always be a problem in Anaheim Hills. Let those words echo in your heads as we think about the lives that were lost in the friars in January. I'm going to concentrate on the flaws of attachment 11 evacuation times and I provided you with a packet to follow along. Page six, and this is a quote, "The most likely worst case scenario was determined to be a fire in Deer Canyon Park. In the event the fire were to ignite in the area, an evacuation would likely occur in the city's know your way zones 4 and 8. In the event of a fire in Deer Canyon, land uses to the west, including zones 9, 10, 11, and 13, would also be evacuated. The evacuating vehicles associated with those land uses would travel west on Santa Ana Canyon Road. Therefore, the vehicles associated with zones 9, 10, 11, and 13 are not considered in the evacuation time. Let's look at the fairy tale of know your way and zones 9, 10, 11, and 13 and the exact directions residents are given. Zone 9, according to Know Your Way, evacuates east on Sana Canyon to Weir. Zone 10 evacuates east on Saint Ana Canyon to Weir. Zone 11 evacuates east on Sana Canyon to Weir. Zone 13, they're the lucky ones. They get a choice. They can go either east or west. All of the vehicles going east from these four zones are not included in the evacuation time. Thousands of homes, thousands of cars are not counted. Page 12 of the attachment looks at future development that could possibly add time to the evacuation. One project evaluated was the Builder Remedy Hills Preserve. Their study determined that it would have no impact. That's

zero minutes to the evacuation time because they're going to use a different route. That project, just like this project, is in zone 8. And again, according to Know Your Way, you know which way they're going. That's 700 more vehicles being evacuated east on Santa Ana Canyon Road. And they're not counted again, just like 9, 10, and 11. All not counted. It is only through this manipulation of the number of vehicles going east that the study can determine an increase of 7 minutes. They are controlling the numbers to control the result. To add any amount of time to an evacuation route is unacceptable. You're putting people at risk. Would 7 minutes make the difference between life or death? Because again, Chief Russell said, fire evacuation will always be a problem. [applause] [applause] Thank you. Uh, does anyone else wish to speak? Will the proponent come up and rebut? I'll address a few items and then I'll I'll hand off to uh our attorney and then also some of the consultants. Um you know, I I hear the concerns and I I think I'd like to point out that this is importantly one of the only likely viable housing projects in District 6. What makes this project different is that it's replacing a large intensive use that's already there. Um the traffic challenges that are result of the 91 um and the and the in place improvements that need to be done are not the responsibility of the project. There was

a comment related to increased crime and property values being reduced. That's something that we sometimes hear and it's a it's a clear misplaced concern. There's a lot of data that backs up that multif family projects do not decrease local values of homes. In fact, these residents will be making significant household incomes. They'll be spending in the community. They'll be raising young families and they'll be the ones purchasing homes in the neighborhood once they move out of those apartments. Um, so I would like to pass off to um our attorney. He's going to discuss the uh comment made by the safer group. [clears throat]

Uh good evening, Chairman Walker and honorable planning commissioners. My name is Andrew Fog. I'm an attorney with Cox Castle Nicholson. And uh to respond to Commissioner Lieberman's question, uh Safer did submit a comment letter during the uh comment period and that was responded to fully. However, they submitted a new comment letter today uh and uh that raises an issue they did not raise previously. So, everything that was submitted earlier has been responded to, but I did want to address his comment regarding indoor air quality. Um specifically, Mr. Offerman's claims regarding formaldahhide. Um I would start off by saying just simply this is a bad faith letter. Um the this letter is literally basically a complete duplicate of a letter they've submitted dozens of times throughout the state on a myriad of projects. It's fundamentally flawed, but there's no reason they couldn't have submitted it in the comment period. The fact that they submitted it on the eve of the hearing, it's just demonstration of bad faith. There's a lot of technical information. So I apologize that uh we have to uh respond in oral testimony as opposed to in writing. Um first of all uh indoor air quality of a project is not a SQA impact. SQA looks at the impacts of the project on the environment. It does not look at the impacts of the project on the project. That's part of the project. And there's case law on this. There's a case Shadic Neighbors versus uh Berkeley City Council. It's a 2013 case. The citation is 222 Kellap 4th 768. It is what it is. I just put that in there for the record. Um the the study that Mr. Offererman uh is citing is fundamentally flawed. It's outdated and at the end of the day it is not substantial evidence that you can

rely on. And I'll explain why. Um Dr. Offer assumes that these uh materials, these buildings will be uh use typical construction materials and methods, typical materials. He bases this work on a 2009 study written by guess who himself. Um and uh he ignores he cites but ignores later studies that showed a 33% decrease in formaldahhide admissions compared to the study he came up with in 2009. He just ignores that data. Um he also makes several uh [sighs] several assumptions that are quite absurd. Um first of all he assumes that residents will be in these units 24 hours a day, 52 weeks a year for 70 years with the windows and doors closed in a box. I don't know how many of us will stay in a windowless, doorless, closed box for 70 years, but that's the assumption he bases his his numbers on. So, it's just ridiculous. Secondly, he assumes that there will be continuous offging of formaldahhide uh for that entire 70-year period at the same rate. Now, we've all bought products from IKEA or whatever. You open up the box and it's [snorts] got a smell to it and some of that is from alahhide. There is no doubt that that is the case. And he his own uh study admits that what he's citing are things from construction materials and new furniture and stuff that you bring into your house. That's what he's citing. You open the box and you smell the chemicals. You what happens? They dissipate and they stop releasing because there's only so much of these materials in these things that we bring into our homes. And there's a study that's available on the center for dis disease control uh

website still sitting there today um agency for toxic substance and disease registry registry. If you Google formaldahhide uh in your home what you need to know this official study um it says virtually all gases from these types of materials dissipate completely within two years. So again, his study is just not substantial evidence that you can rely on. It also ignores changes in building codes. His his study is based on products that were constructed before various indoor air quality standards were adopted. He's looking at things that were in 2009. That's more than two building code cycles since then. We have indoor air quality standards that have improved. We have building code standards. We have title 24. We have the green building code. We have the energy code. All of these have been updated. They get updated every 3 years. He's looking at things that are 15 16 years ago. That's several cycles passed at this point. He's not looking at current um current uh data. And those studies have shown that there's been at least a 44% decrease in just the random standard emissions that exist from that time to now just based on these changes in codes. So respectfully, this is just not information that is is valid information upon which you can make an informed decision. Um I we will submit a written comment responding but I wanted you to have this uh information. Again I apologize for the length but uh it's a letter we've seen many many times. I'm available for any questions and I think we might have some additional speakers.

I would like to introduce uh Lisa Mayor with Due Deck. They put together the evacuation plan. um some of the comments that were related to methodology that those may need to be answered by the city. Um but Dudek can address some of the other concerns.

Good evening. Thank you. Um so my name is Lisa Meyer. I'm a wildfire planner with Dudek. I helped prepare the evacuation study. um to help address some of our comments. I'm gonna take a quick breath. [snorts] Um to help address some of our comments, I wanted to start by um addressing the number of comments regarding the time addition of time that the project would make. So we're our study shows a 14minute increase between the existing condition and our with project condition. Um the seven minutes I think the commission is aware comes from the difference between the cinema with cinema project and the project itself or sorry with the cinema condition in the project itself. Um so our project only accounts for 10% of the pro of the traffic within our study area. Um so that may be why some folks feel that number is low. Um, also our in our study area, our project is kind of at the end of the evacuation network, right where everything gets punched up right next to the freeway. Um, and so uh the total evacuation time is impacted uh by the location of the project and it's um next to the freeway. And then also another um fact is that for the study most of the pro most of the traffic within the study area is coming from the north and west whereas our project is coming from the east um and so there isn't as much conflict um from our project until we get closer to that Santa Ana Canyon we are Canyon intersection um also wanted to note that our project

because it as mentioned mentioned earlier because it is being uh built in a very high fire hazard severity zone will be required to comply with the latest uh California fire and California building codes for development within a very high fire for development within a very high fire hazard severity zone and all of those uh requirements will create a very um hardened set of structures. Um and then also with regards to know your way um our study takes into account um how traffic would flow uh based on our um communications with um both police and fire. That's what I have. Any other questions or anything? Thank you.

Thank you. And [laughter] I just had one more uh rebuttal related to the comment on the six-story garage. So the six-story garage is pushed down two levels. So it is four levels. It's even with the rest of the apartment uh project, the wood frame portion. I thought it was a level and a half. I would call it a five and a half level garage pushed down a level and a half, but there's a major step in the building. So you could call it six and two or five and a half and one and a half. Okay. Either way, it's it's flush at the top with the fourstory wood frame. Thank you.

Anything else? Okay, I'm going to close the public hearing. Does anyone have questions for staff for Yes. Go ahead. Yeah, this uh I'm just asking if we have an assessment by fire department. Uh they did review the evacuation analysis and the fire prevention plans that were submitted as part of the technical um studies for the EIR. Uh we do have the fire chief and fire marshall here as well to answer any specific um questions. What their findings?

I think he left. Oh no, he didn't leave.

[applause]

Welcome, sir. Thank you very much. I have Fire Marshall Lindsay Young with me as well in case there's some technical questions that she's much more uh versed to answer than me. And and I'm sorry, I was standing outside. What was the uh question that you had sir? Um uh just I'm asking about did you do any assessment for this project? So that's a technical question. [laughter]

Good evening. Yes. Uh the community risk reduction team was engaged in the development review process along with the planning department. Um, and we did have the opportunity to to review some of these studies as they were coming across our desk to make sure that they were um able to conform with all the basic code requirements. Uh, that means there's no issue with the vacation time and stuff like that. Yeah. Right.

It Yeah, it means that it meets all the minimum requirements as identified through the California Fire Code. um in there is no specific time that is required or that we can turn to in terms of um what is a minimum maximum evacuation time. Um so but in terms of the project itself and the construction um access and all of that it does meet minimum code requirements. Thank you. I have a question for uh thank you for coming both of you for the chief. Um, so were you here were you um uh in your current position in the 2008 and 2017 fires?

I was here for both of those fires. I was not in my current position, but I ran both those fires. Okay. And um what was your experience with the evacuation times at that area of Anaheim Hills? We're hearing horror stories of two or three hours. Is that consistent with what you saw?

Yeah. So, probably the best um one that we can refer back uh to was the evacuations on the Canyon 2 fire, which that fire started and moved from basically the Corona Anaheim line west under a under a significant Santa Ana wind push. Ironically, we weren't in a red flag warning that day, but we still had 40 45 mile hour sustained winds. um fire moved very aggressively. Uh evacuations were were ordered and there were uh some challenges and problems with the evacuation plans that we had. Um every incident of of magnitude you learn and you train and you develop to make make you know safer for the citizens for the next one. And that was probably one of our biggest takeaways of of that fire. We had a lot of successes on that fire. We did unfortunately lose some residents. Uh we had no fatalities. Uh thank thank the Lord for that. And but we did we did um you know lose some lose some structures, but we did learn a lot. uh some contracts with our neighbors with CalFire and the Forest Service um were strengthened which uh allows us um aerial assets as well as resources. Uh but to your question uh the probably the best uh takeaway from that was the collaboration between fire, police, uh CHP, CALR, city of Orange um on a better evacuation plan. Um, I have to say on evacuation plans, it's we have to keep in mind is they are never going to go smooth. They're never going to go perfect and they have to have some flexibility in them because based on what the fire environment is doing, time

of day, multiple things. um you have to be able to change that evacuation plan as as fluently and safely um as you can. Um I also have to say that Anaheim police uh did an outstanding job on making the best decisions they could under the [snorts] conditions they had without a a playbook to refer to to go to. Uh we've cleaned up some of those things. We don't push vehicles into Orange and as the fire is impacting Orange, they're pushing them into Anaheim. The the signal preeemptions and some of the things that you learned about so we have better control of the signals to move traffic. Um having CHP and CALR and all of our city departments in the plan. Um I'm confident it will go better. I'm confident that we have a good plan. I can't say it's going to be perfect. I can't say there's not going to be frustrations. Um, but you have to have a plan to build from and then you you make that plan better as you see it executed and as you learn and as things change just like anything else. Very long question or answer. Sorry.

That's okay. Do you still think it's like a two to three hour evacuation time again? Could it be that that long again? I I don't know because I'm not a traffic engineer and where those studies come from and I don't want to get into and and give an opinion on something that I'm not trained to do. I I have to say I in fairness to this project like all of them, now that I'm on a roll here, I might as well keep going. um that I think it's only fair that we evaluate that project on its own merits and not the totality of that. And I also have to say um what hazards and what risks a policy group they they give me my job is to mitigate or avoid or minimize those risks as much as possible. Whenever you add vehicles or or increase the density of population any place in the city, it's going to come with some challenges. And some of those challenges are going to be public safety challenges, response times, uh how fast we can get there. Uh you know, the challenge out on the east end is there we could be dealing with a a um large-scale evacuation. So there's so there's rightfully concern for that. the things that we can do to mitigate some of those those challenges in providing more uh fuel reduction, weed abatement on the evacuation routes, different uh technologies that are out there that weren't available during the canyon to to pre-treat fuels in an evacuation route like some other agencies are doing. We're looking at at all those things. So, my commitment to the citizens is to make it as safe as I can, including our response with our um our cooperators to to respond, mitigate, and

save as many structures as we can and certainly save everybody's life. I will do that based on the direction I'm giving from the policy group on what risk they're comfortable in taking. And um I think I remember you came before us to the know your way plan maybe a year ago. Is it did I understand it correctly once like if there's a a big fire that's moving towards Anaheim Hills from the east corona that's where it comes usually with the Santa Anas um that if um residents have left they're they're not allowed to get back in. They're prevented from getting back in if even if their kids are there or their elderly grandmother or their pets they can't come back in. So that's one of the challenging evacuations and local residents, they know the streets certainly and they'll find ways back in if that's really what they want to do. But under a evacuation, um first of all, a mandatory evacuation is not mandatory. So we try and get as many people out of the area for their safety and the safety of first responders, but people may not leave. And often what happens is once the fire encroaches and the environment turns dark and fire brands are hitting all over, they decide now's the time I want to go. Now they're on the road as firefighters are trying to and they're clogging up some of those some of those roads. But once we get them out and we get them past whatever that checkpoint is, we're not going to allow them back in. And we have other things that we discuss for kids at school because if my young children were at school, I want to go get them, too. I totally understand that. But once people are going back in, coming out, you can see the congestion is going to get worse and worse, especially as emergency vehicles are trying to use a lane to get in there to set up to protect. So, we we we have uh plans and we're always improving those plans with with buses at the schools. Um

us using our ambulances or or vehicles to go get elderly people. Not that this is a know your way thing, but but being prepared is is a much deeper conversation that I love to have with people that if you're not and and you're trying to figure it out on that day, it's going to be challenging for you and and I'm going to worry about you because you're you're you can be in harm's way.

Well, I um I've been evacuated a lot of fires, unfortunately. Lagouna, see me these ones, right? Um, and a lot of times it happens when I'm already at work. So it's not like, you know, so there's if it's during the workday, a lot of people are already at work and maybe their kids, you know, are at school or their elderly grandmother or their pets and and you know, so it's not just people leaving and coming back. I think it's people that are at work like, oh my gosh, my at school.

Yeah. So, that's a good point and that's one of the things and and I think that was one of the things that was referred to with the with the um literature and and the money to put on more educational pieces like we do now on that plan that just like an earthquake plan or any natural disaster. If you're at work and your kids are at school, what is your plan? What phone tree do you have with your neighbors and other family members? and can they self- evacuate walk you know 10 blocks and be out of the you know all those things but they need to be worked out on the front end is I guess what is important to understand and then maybe your neighbors go on vacation so what is your other plan and the one thing we do have a few advantages one we track fire weather very very closely um so winds are predictable so there are and we get that information out. Um Mike Listister, our community um communications officer, and his team are extremely well of getting that information out to the public. So maybe when you see that, that's when you have to make sure what is our plan. Do we have our stuff packed and ready to go so we're not grabbing things and leaving too late? We have fuel in the car. We Where are our kids going? And I've I've had people tell me we've we kept our kids home from school for a couple days because of the Santa Ana winds and we wanted to have them there to evacuate. I don't fault them. You know, that's you know, whatever that plan is, but it's got to be done on the front end. It's got to be exercised. It's got to be uh adjusted based on those variables just like any other natural. If you live in an area that gets tornadoes, you have a plan for that.

Yeah. Just after watching, you know, the eat and fire and palisites, it kind of scared me a little bit seeing how fast they came up. But thank you so much for your service. I so admire our firefighters and the department you lead that they do such a great job. They've just uh saved a lot of houses.

My my biggest, if I may, my biggest message to the wonderful people in Anaheim and we're talking out in in East Anaheim is to know that we're there for them through our prevention issues, through our fuel mitigation, for our response and any recovery. Whatever is decided or not, that's, you know, that's not my wheelhouse. But they're where we're there to make it as safe for them during an incident, after an incident, and certainly before an incident as we can. That's my, you know, obligation. And you, you all do a wonderful job. Thank you for your service. And then a quick question maybe for staff. What is the status on? What is Thank you so much. [applause]

Um, what is the status on the Fairmont Bridge over the 91? because I know we've talked about that before too that there's there's very little ins and outs from Anaheim Hill that fire comes rushing at you and the one thing that was planned but never developed was the Fairmont Bridge over the 91 giving another escape route to the residents. What's the status of that?

Thank you. Uh Corey Wilkerson. I'm a principal planner in uh the traffic engineering group public works. Um so the the Fairmont um connection, there is a Fairmont connection that's identified in the city's circulation element. Um it is a a connection that goes from from the north side of the 91, the Yorbalinda side, and connects down to the to the 91 um with with uh on and off ramps um at that point, but the the circuit it the the connection ends there. It doesn't connect all the way south to Sanic Canyon. Um that project is is a is a project that's identified in the in the uh SR 91 uh implementation plan. Um it was previously lower on the list. Um the city of Anaheim uh in partnership with the city of Groinda have been working with OCTA to to try and raise the priority of of that particular project um uh um uh on the implementation list to so that we can hopefully see that project get implemented faster. But at this point we don't have uh a specific timeline of when when that when that will happen.

What's the fastest it could be built once it's approved? Is that like a one-year thing or like a 10-y year thing? I don't know.

It's it's it's a you know, it would be it would be a significant construction project because it's it's a bridge over over the um both the uh the Sana River and the and the 91 freeway. Um once it gets across the the the 91 freeway, it it terminates there. And so there is a gap still between where where Fairmont currently stubs on the north side of of San Canyon and where this uh this bridge would kind of come down and and um and the the ramps would be installed. So the city's been looking at at other options for how we can perhaps add um you know some sort of emergency vehicle access through there um uh that would allow for for connection. But um because the circulation element it's it the that connection is not in the circulation element and there's been um uh community input in the past about about that connection. It's not um that that final connection is not currently planned for or funded for.

And what about the top of Weir Canyon? I heard rumors years ago that there was going to be some sort of exit out the top of Weir Canyon. Is that not in the running at all? That's no. Yeah, that was at some point there was a a planned connection for the um to the the um the to road 240 241 or whatever. Um the uh from from where canyon that's no longer on the books. It's it's not it's not planned for in the circulation element either. And there's no more kind of possible ins and outs or exits or not not at this time. No. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. I have a question for you. Okay. the uh the 24191 project.

Yep. Is that going to alleviate traffic on Sana Canyon, Rear Canyon for us? Is it going to alleviate traffic? That I think that is the the intention of of that project. Um is it going to solve traffic? Probably not. Okay. But that is going to help us. It it will it will help to a certain extent. I mean it it's it it provides a direct connection from the toll roads into the into the fasttrack and that will kind of help to cut down on some of that bottleneck that happens there. Um but it is a um it's not it's not the the final solution for for all of it. Okay. Thank you.

Just hold on. So from Sana Canyon to the 91, there's not planned anything to have anybody really move publicly at least from from San Ana Canyon to the 91 on Fairmont on Fairmont. So no, the there is not a there's not currently a plan for for uh direct vehicle access from Fairmont to that that bridge that would come from the north side um uh to connect to the 91. So, how far does the bridge extend?

So, the bridge would extend um be easier to show in an area, but um but it there there the bridge comes across comes across the freeway and there's still kind of an open space that's that's between where the where Fairmont currently kind of stubs and then where that that is at. So the city is looking at at you know how to provide emergency vehicle access through there or basically a way for us to you know have something constructed there that it would not be open during regular uh commute period or or or or during regular traffic times but would be closed off and then could be opened up to allow for for for vehicles trying to evacuate to the area to access that bridge and ultimately to get a to either get onto the 91 or or to get over the 91 in northward into into your Linda. Okay. You're saying they're looking at it. So, right now it's approved for the the short. It doesn't go the whole way,

correct? And that's what's in the circulation element. The circulation element gets amended how often? We just did a a pretty comprehensive update of the circulation element, the general plan that that came across your guys' desk um not too long ago. Um I think the previous uh update had been it had been quite a few years since since that had been updated previously. Okay. Thank you. Very welcome. Anyone else?

I have one more question for staff on the parking issue. Can our recommendation assuming the proponent is agreeable include that they have to notify and enforce against their residents that they can't put park in the 66 spots and the what is it 32 spots?

Um the yes so conditions approval can be amended by the planning commission to add additional conditions. Um, and if that's your desire, staff will recommend adding a more broader conditions regarding parking management. Um, and kind of list that specificity and also make that a living document. If there's any other issues that they need based on operation, they need to update it, then they can update it with the approval with the director um for planning um and building director. Would the proponent be agreeable?

Yes, we'd be agreeable. We have done that in the past and we would have enforcement on site. So we'd have security and we do have management on site every day. Uh it's a difficult thing to enforce as you can imagine because you have to see where the person is going. Um but there are ways that we found where guests can get you know vouchers so that they can place in their dash. There are various ways we can do that so we can figure out a way to enforce it. Uh we are very interested in the success of the retail on the upper deck. They're great tenants. They've been there a long time and we want them to remain successful. Thank you. Anyone else?

Um I just wanted to comment on the $100,000 that you're providing to um our fire department um to help mitigate fire. wanted to thank you guys for that and for the um CCTV system that would be installed. Um when the theater was still open, we had a thousand cars there or that amount of people to evacuate throughout the day up up to what midnight times the theater closed midnight. Um, so I'm just uh I understand the evacuation issue. I had to evacuate in the Canyon Two Fire and it was a mess. It took hours. Um, I couldn't evacuate. I was supposed to. I tried and I ended up having just to go back home. Um, we didn't have an evacuation plan like we do now where where the city is. um has partnered with Calire and Calrans and the county. We didn't have that in place. Um but we do now. And I'm confident that um the city fire and police and traffic has um done their due diligence with our evacuation plan and with um what they've increased with the fire and adding the the CCTV system. Um so that's my comment. I just wanted to thank you guys for that. Um I don't know if you guys have any other comments

motion. Let me make I'll make a quicky comment. Um as some of the people here may recall, Doug, where are you? Um I was the only person up here who voted against the Salt Creek project. Two.

Oh, okay. Anyways, um but I look at this I I look at this project as apples and oranges. Um yes, there are some similar concerns. Um, but you're looking at um putting apartments on an already built environment with the pre-existing uh theater there that would have had a large headcount dur, you know, during operation. And I I I'm just I support this project. Um, and I appreciate um our commissioner's comment about the um know your way that uh the plan. It's it's never been in place. You know, it's been in place for a little over a year or maybe two years. Um but it's untested and you know, you've got to have faith in the system someplace. Um, anyways, that's really all I've got to say. Thank you.

Anyone else? Anyone want to make a motion? I'll move the item. Second with or without my extra condition? I'm fine with I'm I'm fine with the additional condition if same. Okay. Any comments or discussion? Very good. I guess we vote.

Six yes votes, one no vote. Commissioner Kelly, the motion carries. Thank you all very much. traffic.

I appreciate your comments, sir.

Appreciate it. Thank you. I don't understand.

We'll be back when we all burn down.

You guys should talk to somebody in the empire to help us. I have to go on with the meeting, sir. So, I appreciate your comments. not the traffic. I appreciate your comments, sir.

I I do appreciate your comments, sir.

On to item five. Good evening, Chair Walker and members of the planning commission. My name is Lisandro Orosco and I will be presenting this item tonight. I'm joined by Elaine Tenraciti, principal planner. Item number five is a request for a final site plan, a minor conditional use permit, a minor amendment to the OC5 master site plan for parking deck A. The presentation is roughly about 11 minutes. The site associated with this final site plan is within the OC Vibe master site plan as outlined in red. Two additional final site plans outlined in brown are currently under review by staff and will be presented to the planning commission for a f for review at a future date. Five other previously approved final site plans outlined in green are currently under construction. The proposed project is located at 1715 South Douglas Road and is currently developed with six industrial buildings. Surrounding land uses include the Aries Hotel to the north, Arctic to the east, and the 57 freeway to the south and west. The applicant proposes to demolish five existing industrial buildings. An existing singlestory industrial building on the south end of the property outlined in green would remain and be used as accessory storage to support Arctic and Honda Center operations. The applicant is requesting approval of a final site plan for the design of parking deck A. The structure would include 1,840 parking spaces in seven levels, a digital advertising display, murals, and associated landscaping and heartscaping. The structure would be served by three vehicular entry lanes with two at the north driveway and one at the south

driveway. The north driveway would serve as a primary access point and would provide a combined 365 linear feet of vehicular staging. Pedestrians would enter the structure from Douglas Road at two access points indicated by the red arrows leading to a combination of stairs, escalators, and elevators for vertical circulation up to the seventh level. The structure would provide parking for multiple user groups as required by the development agreement. The structure would serve Arctic Transit customers and employees, OCI visitors and event attendees, and future Meadow Park visitors. Access to parking for these users would always be free of charge. In addition, a future pedestrian bridge across Douglas Road would connect the third level of the structure directly to the second level of Arctic. The pedestrian bridge is not a component of this request as it is a it is subject to review and approval by the public works director and the planning and building director. The proposed landscaping, architectural treatments and materials have been selected to ensure compatibility with the surrounding developments and contribute positively to the surrounding urban environment in the vicinity. The design incorporates materials, colors, and lighting that are consistent with Arctic. The static billboards shown in the renderings are for reference only and they are not a component of this final site plan as they are subject to review and approval by the city council. The design of the project complies with the platinum triangle master landies plan and the OCI master site plan. Therefore, staff recommends approval of the final site plan. The applicant is requesting minor amendments to the approved OC Vibe master site plan to reflect the changes proposed for parking deck A. Various sheets within the approved OCI master

site plan would be updated to reflect the specific components of this final site plan. In addition, there is a revision to the phasing exhibits of the OC5 master site plan in order to advance the construction of parking deck A and Middle Park in advance of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The planning and building director is the approval authority for a master site plan including minor amendments. However, since this request is related to other zoning actions before the planning commission, the director has referred the minor amendment for concurrent action. In accordance with the required findings for a minor modification, staff believes that the proposed modifications do not intensify or significantly change the nature of the approved approved use as the parking structure was identified as a component of the OC Vibe master site plan and changes will continue to further the goals and objectives of the Platinum Triangle master land use plan and the OC Vive master site plan. For these reasons, staff recommends approval of the minor amendment to the OC Vibe master site plan. The applicant is requesting a minor conditional use permit to reduce the setback at six locations along Douglas Road and the 57 freeway. The Platinum Triangle mixeduse overlay zone allows modifications to the setback requirements through the approval of a minor conditional use permit. The planning and building director is the approval authority for a minor conditional use permit. However, since this amendment request is related to other zoning actions before the commission, the director has referred the minor conditional use permit for concurrent action along Douglas Road. The code requires a minimum 10-ft setback depicted in green on the slide. The applicant proposes to meet the required setback for most of the structure, however, requests a reduction at two locations along

adjacent to Douglas Road. The first location is at and adjacent to the northerly driveway where portions of the structure would be at the property line. The second location shown on the right is at the southeast corner of the structure where the setback is reduced to 8 ft. Additionally, the applicant is requesting a reduction in setback along Douglas Road to allow two pedestrian wayfinding signs to be located within the setback. Sign one would be two feet from the property line and sign two would be five feet from the property line. The final design of these signs is not a component of this final site plan as they are subject to review and approval by the city council along the 57 freeway. The code requires a minimum 10-ft setback also depicted in green with a sixoot setback permitted for up to 20% of the building frontage. The applicant is proposing to reduce the required setback at two locations. The first location is to accommodate an exterior vehicular drive that would be parallel to the westerly property line with a setback of 3 ft. That's shown on the left. The second location is to retain the existing industrial building at the south end of the property where the building would be located on the property line. That's shown on the right. In accordance with the required findings for a minor conditional use permit, staff believes the setback reductions would not adversely affect the adjoining land uses as the location of the setback for the structure, vehicular, driveway, and pedestrian wayfinding signs are not adjacent to an existing building. In addition, the setback reductions would not be detrimental to the health or safety since the site layout provides adequate circulation and landscaped areas to buffer the structure from surrounding uses while maintaining

adequate vehicular and pedestrian connectivity. For these reasons, staff recommends approval of the minor conditional use permit. A minor conditional use permit was previously approved for the OCI mural plan. The applicant is requesting to amend the previously approved minor conditional use permit to add one additional mural to the OC5 mural plan. The planning and building director is approval authority for a minor conditional use permit. However, since this amendment request is related to other zoning actions before the commission, the director has referred minor conditional use permit for concurrent action. The mural would be located on the elevator core wall along the east facade of the structure facing Douglas Road. The mural would be 91 ft in height, 33 feet in width, and cover an area of 3003 square ft. In accordance with the required findings for a minor modification, staff believes the addition of a single mural would not intensify the land use of the OCI project as the mural is an aesthetic enhancement that would not generate new activities, traffic, or noise. Environmental impact report number 339 was approved in 2010 increasing the allowable development intensities in the platinum triangle. The OCI project was approved in 2022 with addendum number 11 and subsequently amended in 2024 with addendum number 13 to the CIR. Staff recommends a planning commission find that previously certified environmental impact report number 339 and associated agenda are the appropriate environmental documentation for this request. An environmental determination of substantial conformance was prepared to determine that the CI and subsequent agenda adequately analyze the anticipated effects of the proposed project and that that the approved mitigation measures are appropriate for the project.

In conclusion, the development is carefully designed and planned and a planned project that continues to implement the OC5 master site plan. The project also conforms to the platinum triangle master land use plan and the platinum triangle mixuse overlay zone and staff believes that the proposed development would be an enhancement to the platinum triangle. Therefore, staff recommends approval of this request. This concludes the presentation and staff is available to answer any questions. In addition, the applicant and their team is present and also available to answer questions from the commission. Thank you very much. Questions then come on up. I'm opening the public hearing before you say anything.

Perfect.

Well, good evening, Chair uh Walker and members of the planning commission. My name is Matthew Hicks. with the OC Vive development team. We're really proud to present the final site plan for what we're calling the Arctic garage. Uh this is a fulfillment of our master plan to create a really dynamic transit oriented development in Anaheim utilizing the existing Arctic train station. I want to thank Landro and Elaine and the city staff for their thorough presentation and work on this project. I think it shows in what we present. Um, we work handinhand with staff to to better our plans and make for a better project. And so their their fingerprints are on this project as well. Uh, I think you probably noticed in the rendering the design reflects uh its connection to the Arctic. So the materials, the lighting, um, and it's the colors. It's all meant to pay tribute to the Arctic, the existing structure. And we're really excited because uh decay as it's called in the in the plans, but what we're calling the Arctic Garage kicks off phase two. So, we're well underway with phase one with more than a billion dollars worth of construction. Uh thanks to our ownership and our leadership, we are accelerating our plans as staff mentioned to deliver Arctic Garage, Meadow Park, and the Bridge over Catella in advance of the 2028 Summer Olympics when Honda Center hosts indoor volleyball. We're excited to have events every day of the Olympics. Days 1 through 11, we'll have four matches a day. So, this experience will be a great um arrival for people who come to the to the district for the Olympics and beyond. And I think it was mentioned we even have an additional mural. So, it shows our commitment to public art that was part of our vision uh as part of the master plan. So, and then there's a pedestrian bridge. final thing to note um that will lead to more people circulating through the train station which I think is an objective that we share with the city of Anaheim to have better utilization of the train station. So, I stand here ready to answer any

questions, but thank you for this opportunity and thanks again to staff. Questions? Anybody?

I I did or just a comment. Um, beautiful project and you know, we've talked about this before in our private meetings, but I'll say it before again that um just to keep in mind that the train station is primarily a train station. Yes. there are today [laughter] and that the the people need the train people need access to it because I know there are a couple times like there were events um where um you know you're running for your train you can't get through you have to go around you miss your train and that's a disaster for everyone. So just keep in mind it's primarily a train station and secondarily an event space when it doesn't interfere with it. Maybe they could just have a little place where they could walk up the middle or something. But beautiful project

comments noted and thank you. Anyone else? Thank you very much. No comments. Okay. I'm going to Anyone else wish to speak on this project? I'm going to close the public hearing. Questions or a motion? I'll make a motion to move the item for approval. I'll second. I think we get a couple seconds, so I'm not sure who who actually seconded it.

Shall we vote? Seven yes votes. The motion carries. Thank you very much. Congratulations. We'll see you in a few weeks. update. Scott,

um before we move on to um onto the um planning commission schedule for the next two uh meetings, just want to remind the planning commission on the coming um mandatory Brown Act and ethics training that's um scheduled on December 2nd, Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. at this chamber. Um, so please send your confirmation to city clerk's office by um, November 28th. And if you cannot make that um, training for some reason, just let them know um, and then they will um, work with you to um, see the replacement training. Thank you. Go ahead. [clears throat]

All right. I think I told you all these all these items uh, last meeting, but we'll go over them again. On the December 1st U planning commission meeting, we have a density increase request from the Windham Hotel in the Anaheim Resort. Uh you will see OC Vibe again with their South Plaza final site plan and we have an athletics uh condition use permit request for an indoor softball facility for OCB athletics. On December 15th, we will see OC Vibe again for their residential final site plan. Uh we have a request for a parking variance for the Bank of America building here in downtown. We have an amendment request from Brewery X and we have a and likely on the 15th we will have a request for a new Porsche dealership at Lincoln and Lwara. Um we're hoping that all these items are able to get onto the December 15th meeting and should that be the case then likely at the 15th we will ask you to cancel the 29th the meeting on the 29th. But we're not certain yet as to whether or not all these items can uh actually get on the 15th. That's what our goal is.

Okay. Anything else? We're adjourned.

Thank you.