Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Thank you. so Thank you. Bye.

Welcome to the City of Bakersfield Planning Commission meeting. This television broadcast is brought to you by the local cable companies, the County of Kern and the City of Bakersfield. You can watch the rebroadcast of this meeting Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 10 a.m. The agenda for this meeting can be downloaded at www.bakersfieldcity.us Presiding over this evening meeting, Chair Cassie Biddle.

It is my pleasure to call to order the June 18th, 2026 Planning Commission meeting. Madam Clerk, would you please call the roll? Chair Biddle?

Here. Vice Chair Martin?

Here.

Commissioner Strickland? Commissioner Brandt-Oliver?

Here.

Commissioner Kaur? Commissioner Kater?

Here.

Commissioner Brar.

Madam Clerk, next item please. Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Salute the Pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you for attending tonight's planning commission meeting. This commission provides an opportunity for public participation in the development process throughout the city of Bakersfield. The planning commission considers a wide variety of projects, including subdivision maps, zone changes, general plan amendments, and more. When applications are received, The City Planning Division analyzes the request. Planning staff will present the facts about the project along with their recommendation to the Planning Commission who will approve the item or make a recommendation as appropriate. Madam Clerk, next item please. Public statements. Public statements are now received at different times depending on the item. I will call on Madam Clerk to call for public statements at the appropriate time. So please listen carefully for the correct time to speak. Non-agenda item 3A, public statements. Does anyone in the audience wish to address the commission regarding items not listed on tonight's agenda? If so, come forward and state your name. Seeing none. Agenda item 3B, public statements. Does anyone in the audience wish to address the commission regarding items listed on tonight's agenda? If you are here for non-consent public hearing item 6A, now is not the time to speak. You will be given an opportunity to speak at a later time.

Seeing none, Madam Clerk, next item, please. Agenda item four, consent calendar items.

All matters listed under the consent items do not require a public hearing and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of said items unless staff or a commissioner requests specific items to be discussed and or removed for separate action. Madam, or may I get a motion approving consent items 4A?

I'll make a motion, oh.

I'm sorry, Madam Clerk, can you show the screen for 4A, item 4A?

Thank you.

All right, motion from Commissioner Cater. Can I get a second?

Second.

All right, commissioners, please cast your votes.

Motion passes with Commissioners Strickland, Kaur, and Brar absent. Madam Clerk, next item, please. Agenda item five, consent calendar public hearing items.

Now is the time for consent calendar public hearing items. If the item is not removed by a commissioner, staff, or a member of the public, the commission will vote on all items in one motion without further comment. If an item is removed, it will be placed at the end of the non-consent public hearing items. At this time, I will open the consent calendar public hearing items. Does any member of the public wish to remove a consent calendar public hearing item? Seeing none. Does any commissioner or staff wish to remove a consent calendar public hearing item?

Yes. I'm not seeing my request to speak button.

And I'm not seeing it either.

May I speak?

Yes, please.

Thank you. I'd like to request that item 5D be moved for discussion. Okay.

Moved for discussion?

Yes. Okay. Thank you to the IT.

Okay.

At this time, the consent calendar public hearing items not removed are now closed. May I get a motion to adopt staff's recommendation on the consent public hearing items not removed, incorporating all staff memorandum and revised staff recommendations?

I move to adopt the consent items 5A through 5C.

All right, can I get a second?

Second. All right.

Commissioners, cast your votes.

Motion passes to approve Consent Calendar Items 5A, 5B, 5C, with Commissioners Strickland, Kor, and Brar absent.

All right. Madam Clerk, next item, please.

Agenda item six, non-consent public hearing items.

Now is the time for non-consent public hearing items. Before we begin, I want to explain how the hearing will be conducted. Staff will first give a report, then those in favor of the project will be allowed to speak. Those in opposition of the project will be able to speak after all those in favor have spoken. Each side will be given five minutes to provide rebuttal comments Individual speakers may ask questions during their statements, but the questions will not be answered until the public hearing on that item is closed. Written comments may be given to the clerk who will provide copies to the commission. Please be respectful of others while participating in the hearing by not repeating the remarks of previous speakers and presenting any new comments or thoughts in the concise and clear way. Ms. Ng, would you please provide us with your staff report?

If you would wait a moment, we're having a little difficulty with the slideshow. Thank you. Madam Clerk, can we have the regular Planning Commission slideshow first? It's not working. Not appearing. Thank you. I'd like to introduce Andrea Morello, Assistant Planner with the Planning Department.

Good evening. My name is Andrea Murillo, and I'm the assistant planner with the Development Services Department. I am here to present item 6A, which is a request for a director's review and approval to modify an existing water well with a PFAS treatment system on a 0.13-acre parcel located at 1316 R Street. in central bakersfield this project was originally considered at a may twelfth twenty twenty six directors hearing but due to public comment letters the director referred it to the planning this planning commission hearing one of the main concerns was the aesthetics of the water purification vessels between may twelfth Director's hearing, and today, Cal Water and parts of the Creekview Villas HOA Board work to find an agreeable solution. Cal Water has been diligent in considering the neighboring residents' concerns and has since revised the project to include three main upgrades. Number one, the reduction of the vessel height by over 10 feet from the original height of 26 feet tall down to 14.5 feet. Number two, upgrading the perimeter fencing to a wrought iron fence. And number three, adding eight Spartan Cypress trees to the eastern side of the vessels for screening purposes. It is staff's understanding that these upgrades have been positively received by not only the Creek Villas HOA Board, but also by the adjacent homeowners. No public comment has been received in response to this public hearing. staff recommends approval for the updated request for directors review and approval ppspr 260048 with conditions of approval as provided in the project's draft resolution that concludes my presentation of the project thank you

The public hearing is now open. Is there anyone who wishes to speak in favor of the project? Please step to the microphone, identify yourself and proceed. Is there anyone who wishes to speak in opposition of the project? Please step to the microphone, identify yourself and proceed. Does any commissioner have any questions for the public on this item? Remember, this is not the time to express any opinions on the matter. It is only time to ask questions. Commissioner Cater.

Hi, my question is for staff and potentially the applicant. Based on the aerial photo and the site call out, could you clarify who is responsible for maintenance to the landscape directly west of the project between the linear creek and the future rod iron fence?

Commissioner Cater, I'd like to introduce Fidel Gonzalez from the Recreation and Parks Department, who would be better able to answer that question.

Thank you.

Evening, Commissioner. So it's a little bit challenging with the linear park because there is a separation between the city's responsibility and the HOA's. So There's been some concerns on the maintenance in there so staff will be going out there and reviewing the areas and trying to determine where the issues may lie and then try to determine whether it's the city's area or HOAs or maybe a combination of both. Because sometimes there's some overlap in there and sometimes there's a little bit of confusion between maintenance staff on both sides.

Okay, thank you. I think that answered my question. Thank you for joining us.

Any other questions?

No.

I will now close the public hearing on this item and return it to the commission for comment and action.

Thank you, Chairman. Yeah, I just, I wanted to applaud Cal Water. I know when this project first came up, I think there was 26 letters that came forward for folks that were concerned and Cal Water immediately mitigated those, you know, with fencing and the greenscape. And so I want to applaud you for that. I know that takes more money and resources and time. So with that, unless other commissioners have comment, I motion to approve.

Daniel, do you wanna make a comment?

I will make a comment. So I don't know if we hold Martin's motion until, oh yeah, perfect. So, I mean, this reminds me a lot of, we saw a proposal maybe half a year ago regarding a park working with another water district that needed a similar treatment facility added to their well. AND IN THAT CONVERSATION KIND OF VIEW PROTECTION PRESERVATION OF THE PARK WAS CONSIDERED NOT JUST THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE RESIDENTS AND THE PROJECT BUT ALSO KIND OF THE PARK SIDE OF THE PROJECT AND SO HAVING THE OPPORTUNITY TO WALK AROUND THE SITE. To me, the aerial I think shows it well. That pedestrian path that leads to the creek to the south, the utility enclosure is more or less screened by low to mid-growth vines and shrubs. To the west, it's pretty much 100% exposed to the park space. It looks like a lot of the landscape has either died or is struggling to survive. And so I was just curious, the staff report lists the Mill Creek Park as being an award-winning jewel of downtown. And to me, the presence of 16-foot towers, I'm really happy to hear that there was a genuine dialogue between residents and the utility. It is the inclusion of a much more industrial component to the site. Currently, the site has, as you can see, a small, A-frame structure and other utilities that are about four feet tall or lower. And so my question, or I guess my thought is, given that Mill Creek has been heralded as a jewel of downtown, award-winning project, the linkage of a natural... Waterway to our downtown was just curious what? Provisions could be accommodated for to create at the pedestrian level screening from this these utilitarian structures Whether it's replanting city land or whether it's because yeah, I'm just curious about that I

Commissioner Cater, Cal Water is responsible for the landscaping within the fenced area. If they would like to consider adding landscaping along that west boundary, we'd certainly review their plans and their proposal at staff level. On the outside of the fence, we would ask Parks Department to review who the responsible parties are and review the landscape plan that was originally approved for that project, and probably put in a project to re-landscape that according to the plans.

Okay, so if it's outside the gate, it would be, so is Cal Water, are there representatives from Cal Water in the audience? I wasn't sure the clearance allows within this, because the site isn't remarkably wide, so I was curious as far as the positioning of the water tank relative to the west fence. Is there room to accommodate landscape, or would that interfere with operations?

answer a lot of those questions, or if landscaping is a concern, I can definitely talk on that. Real quick, my name is Rafael Molina. I'm the district manager for Cal Water City Evening Commissioners. We've been in the community for 100 years, and just like this water well, it provides an essential service.

I'm sorry, I was going to mention that the hearing already closed. He can answer questions, but for purposes of presenting, that would have been during the hearing item.

So I'd say, I do have some open questions to Cal Water. So if there are particular slides within your presentation that would clarify those questions, I would welcome. Ms. King, would that be appropriate? Okay.

Yes, that's fine.

Thank you. So if there's any slide that you could refer to that would help.

Yeah, if you go towards the end of the slides, there's a rendering. But to answer your question, we're committed to be good neighbors and good community partners. And we actually have a really robust conservation team. And I would be more than happy to work with city staff and the department there, whether it's city-owned property or HOA property, work with our conservation team. And maybe we could do something that's aesthetically pleasing and also good for the environment. So we have to be water-wise. But the renderings, I'll show you. We actually have some really nice renderings. So this is the view of what the view will look like looking to the east. So this was the original view with the 26-foot water vessels. And this is the view now with the 14-foot, six inches, the wrought iron fencing. There is some shrubs that are in that rendering. I'm not exactly sure what's there now. And then this is the side that'll look on the customer side looking to the west. And so those are those Italian cypress trees. But yeah, again, want to partner with the city and be more than happy to coordinate something, whether it's inside the fence or outside the fence, we'd be more happy to work together.

Fantastic. Thank you for answering my questions. So then I guess I'd be directed back to staff would be my question. So thank you. Can you remind me your name again?

Raphael Molina. Thank you, Mr. Molina. Thank you.

If we go back to the staff presentation, I actually think there were three photographs of the existing site that describe my question. They were at the end of the presentation? So if you go one more slide forward, please. Yes, so you can see this is the current state of landscape between the creek and the project site, Chainlink Fence being the project site. If you go to the next slide, you can see planting has struggled, or it looks like it's been kind of in disrepair. Is there one more slide, perhaps? Oh, nope. If you go back to the very first photograph, what you'll see here, if you can look at the left side, you can see where that pedestrian walkway cuts into the park. There's about an eight foot hedge, fully vined enclosure. So you really do, the necessary accommodations for the well and proper treatment have been shielded from that public view during the park. And so I guess to me, my, Knowing that Cal Water is agreeable to working with Parks and Rec, I guess I would request and look for language where the commission would, whether it's recommend or advise, that Cal Water work with the city Parks and Rec to create kind of eight foot and below vegetative screening to maintain the greenery of the adjacent public linear park. And otherwise approve the project.

Yeah, because I have a question for the applicant actually here. If you could come up, Mr. Molina. So the trees, the eight cypress trees or 11, those are going to be inside the fence. You guys are going to be watering those and maintaining those. Correct. And so essentially with that, with the wrought iron fence, that will be. essentially taking care of what you're concerned with. But only on the east side. But only on the east side. That's on the resident side.

Yeah, my concern is more the public park, linear park. Yeah, would be. So yeah, I think this accommodates screening adjacent to the apartments.

Yeah, anything outside of the fencing, like the staff mentioned is going to be, you know, was it the city's responsibility or the HOAs? Regardless, we'd be willing to work. We wouldn't, you know, maintain and do the upkeep of that because that would be outside of our property. Again, be more happy to work together with our conservation team and find something that's great for everyone there.

Okay, great. And I know you guys to be good partners in doing that in these type of projects. Thank you.

I mean, I guess I would look to amend it. I guess since we do have Parks and Recs present, if we could, would Parks and Rec be agreeable in working with Cal Water if Cal Water provided

Commissioner Cater, yes, the Recreation and Parks Department would be agreeable working with Cal Water and the adjacent, even if it's the HOA there as well, I think partnering between all three organizations would be viable.

Thank you. All right. Appreciate it. So I will amend my motion. I motion to support on staff's recommendation, but also with the caveat that Cal Water continue to work with the Parks and Rec Department for the aesthetics and landscaping surrounding the property as well.

Do I need to close the hearing before we get a motion? You had already closed the hearing. Can I get a second?

I'll make a second. Commissioners, cast your votes.

Motion passes for item 6A with agreement for Parks and Rec and Cal Water to work together with the landscaping with Strickland, Commissioner Strickland Core and Brar absent.

Madam Clerk, next item, please.

Item 5D, Conditional Use Permit Number 25-0041.

Mrs. Ng, will you provide us with your staff report, please? I would like to introduce Yazeed Alogheri for Planning Department.

Good evening, Commissioners. My name is Yazeed Alogheri, and I am an assistant planner with the City of Bakersfield's Development Services Department Planning Division. Agenda item 5D is conditional use permit number 25-0041. The applicant is Ordiz Melby Art Incorporated on behalf of the property owner, the Boys and Girls Club of Bakersfield. The project site is located at 808 Monterey Street on approximately .85 acres. The project site is zoned R2 and C1. The project site general plan designation is HMRNGC. The applicant is requesting a conditional use permit to allow for the construction of a community care facility with additional parking for the Boys and Girls Club. The Boys and Girls Club is seeking to expand their campus by building a community care facility to serve an additional 500 teens and young adults. The Life and Workforce Readiness Center would be located directly across the alley from the current Boys and Girls Club's Armstrong Youth Center. Staff recommends approval of the project, and that concludes my presentation.

The public hearing is now open.

Is there anyone who wishes to speak in favor of the project? Please step to the microphone, identify yourself and proceed. Seeing none, is there anyone who wishes to speak in opposition of the project? Please step forward to the microphone, identify yourself and proceed. Does any commissioner have any questions for the public on this item? Remember, this is not the time to express any opinions on the matter. It is only time to ask questions.

Commissioners, do we have any questions? No, no questions, okay.

I will now close the public hearing on the item and return it to the commission for comment and action. At this time, the non-consent public hearing items not, let's see. May I get a motion to adopt staff's recommendation on the non-consent public hearing items? Just kidding. Commissioner Cater.

Thank you. I guess just a question. Is there representation from the applicant here tonight? Oh, I just wanted to clarify that my comments pertain more, as a commission, we work both kind of on a micro and a macro scale with regards to planning issues. My questions and comments tonight regard more macro scale projects, so I just want to first and foremost say It's really exciting to see the Boys and Girls Club expand their reach in our community, continue to invest in Old Town Kern. This project and this application I have no comments on other than to say thank you for your service to the community and your expanded reach that providing career readiness and continuing education programs will provide, it's really inspiring. The reason I wanted to have a brief conversation about this site is the city is gearing up to overhaul our zoning code as part of the general plan. I believe the last time it was overhauled, I was probably in elementary school. And so kind of a once in a 30 year opportunity. And I just wanted to highlight this project because the neighborhood of Old Town Kern, zoning was overlaid after it had already been built. And so if you look at the characteristic of how we zone Old Town Kern, it is really somewhat haphazard as to whether you fall into an R1, an R2, an R3, a C1, a C2. There is some kind of thought behind it, but again, it was overlaid after the neighborhood was already built and constructed. So I just wanted to highlight that the reason we're looking at this project tonight is because they happened to fall into a piece of land that was designated residential, even though they were right next to an operating facility for a long time. And again, that's how zoning came to be and that's how it was done. But I just, as we look into the next cycle of the general plan, I think as we look at macro issues, it's really important to highlight, I think this is probably the fourth or fifth project we've seen in Old Town Kern over the last few years. that have had to come before a discretionary review because they weren't the same zone as the lot next to them that would give them 100% rights to do whatever they wanted. And so I just... It's more of a note to staff as we work towards the new general plan update is just... to consider these mixed-use neighborhoods where, as mentioned in the staff report, continued investment, continued relationships with neighborhoods, these critical support elements in our city continue to grow, flourish, choose to locate, that aspect of mixed-use communities be considered in how we overlay boundaries on things that already exist and just the unintended consequences or the intended consequences of, again, one of their sites required a conditional use, the other one didn't, and they're right next to each other and next to a facility that's already operating. So I just wanted to highlight that as we dive into the zoning component of the general plan update because I think For me, the best way to understand these larger principles is to see how they play out in individual applicants. So that was my only comment. Otherwise, I would gladly make a motion to approve the conditional use. And again, thank you to the Boys and Girls Club for all you do for our community.

Got a motion from Cater. Now, second?

Second.

Thank you, Commissioner Martin. Please cast your votes.

Motion passes with Commissioners Strickland, Korr, and Breyer absent.

Madam Clerk, next item, please.

Agenda item seven, new business.

Ms. Ng, would you please provide us with the new business item?

The next item is the capital improvement plan presentation by the Public Works Department, and I'd like to introduce Navdeep Grewal.

I CORRECT MYSELF.

PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR ZACH MEIER.

GOOD EVENING PLANNING COMMISSION. MY NAME IS ZACH MEIER THE PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR FOR THE CITY OF BAKERSFIELD. NAVDIP STEPPED OUT FOR A SECOND BUT I'M GOING TO START THE PRESENTATION. I FEEL HE'LL POP IN PRETTY SOON. NEVER MIND.

Sorry about that. All right, good evening, everyone. Chair Biddle and fellow members of the Planning Commission. My name's Navdeep Grewal, and I'm the Design Engineering Manager responsible for the CIP within the Public Works Department. I just want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to present to you guys the physical year 26-27 CIP program. All right, so starting off, what is the goal of this presentation? The goal is we're making a request to make a finding that the City of Bakersfield's capital improvement program for fiscal year 26-27 is consistent with the Metropolitan Bakersfield General Plan. Staff's recommendation is to adopt a resolution and suggest findings approving the City of Bakersfield CIP for fiscal year 26-27 and make findings that the CIP is consistent with the Metropolitan Bakersfield General Plan. So here are some goals and policy of the Bakersfield General Plan. Provide a safe and efficient street system that links all parts of the area and movement of people and goods. Provide for safe and efficient motorized, non-motorized, and pedestrian traffic movement. Provide a street system that creates a positive image of Bakersfield and contributes to residents' quality of life. And essentially maintain the integrity of the circulation system. And today I'll be tying some of these projects in with the City Council goals and policies, which are obviously economic opportunity for all, safety and resilience, reliable infrastructure, community character and quality of life, and innovative, efficient city government. So these are the five departments that have CIPs this year for fiscal year 26-27. Recreation, Parks, Technology Services, Water Department, Fire Department, and of course, the best of all, Public Works. So talking about each CIP for the various departments, I just want to point, as you guys see in the parentheses, is what the council goals are that I'll tie into each project. So for recreation parks, their policy and goals ties into community character and quality of life. They have their annual block wall repairs, Westwold Park playground rehabilitation, Centennial Park improvements, and their Seaman Park tennis court rehabilitation. For technology services, their policies and goals are innovative and efficient city government, and they essentially have facility improvements at the BPD radio site generator, Kelso Park radio site generator, and an Ag water site electrical. Moving on, the water department. uh... goals and uh... policies are reliable infrastructure community character and quality of life clarifier rehabilitation plant three site infrastructure uh... water solar project and the cbk eighty five new stockton ranch well fire department their policy goals are reliable infrastructure community character and quality of life fire station six seven eleven they're doing the floor rehabilitation For Fire Station 5, 6, and 13, they're doing HVAC rehabilitation, and they're also doing firefighting turnout and an asphalt parking area for Fire Station 3. Now, moving on to the Public Works Department, our project essentially covers all City Council goals. And before I move on to our projects, I just wanted to point out, here's a picture of our recently completed Mason-Marin Sports Complex Phase 3. And moving on, I'll talk about street improvement type of projects first. So ADA transitional plans, the policies and goals that it touches on is reliable infrastructure and safety and resilience. Multimodal transportation improvements touches upon safety and resilience. Pedestrian improvements, also safety and resilience. And this year we have one project pedestrian improvement project along panama lane from declaration to ash road is right there by the costco and complete streets projects of the policies and goals that it touches upon is reliable infrastructure safety and resilience community character and quality of life this year we have two complete streets project one is 34th street from union to chester and the other one is california from oak to chester media improvements The policies and goals are reliable infrastructure and safety and resilience. We have two median projects this year. One is on Weibel, the other one on Ash Road. And bicycle facility improvements are also safety and resilience. Moving on, street improvement widenings. The goals are reliable infrastructure and safety and resilience. We have three widening projects this year. Panama Lane and South Allen Road is essentially the frontage of the old Macalester Ranch property. Brimhall Road at Renfrow Road, and then Buena Vista Road from Harris to Bolthouse. And bridge improvements also covers reliable infrastructure and safety and resilience, and we have a project for the Beach Park Bike Bridge. I wanted to point out, this is a project we recently completed. It's a median enhancement project at Truxton and Beale. Moving on to other street improvements, we have our CDBG area, which covers reliable infrastructure, safety and resilience, and economic opportunity for all. And the CDBG projects covers curb gutter and sidewalks for the Oakdale, San Dimas, and Alta Vista areas. And then streets division's pavement maintenance essentially covers reliable infrastructure for their city-wide street maintenance. And I wanted to point out two of the major projects that the city's streets division will be undertaking is the a pavement rehab on 7th standard, and also Alfred Harrell. And this is a picture of our project we completed last year. It's University Avenue. On the left it's the project in construction, and the one on the right is the completed project. Moving on, for pavement rehab projects, we have the goals it touches upon is reliable infrastructure and safety and resilience. And this year we have four projects at the CIP that the design engineering division will be undertaking. Ming Avenue from New Stein to Real Road, Calloway Drive from Rose Hill Highway to Olive, Oak Street from California to 24th Street, and Panama Lane from New Stein to State Route 99. And here's another project we completed last year is California Avenue. That one on the left is the before picture, and the one on the right is the completed picture. Moving on to street light improvements. The goals it touches up on is economic opportunity for all, reliable infrastructure, safety and resilience, and community character and quality of life. We have two solar power projects we're going to do this year on South King and East Potomac, then also along P Street. Traffic signals and flashing beacons. They cover reliable infrastructure, safety and resilience, community character and quality of life. The two traffic signals we're gonna be installing this year are McCutcheon Road and Ash Road and Mount Vernon State Route 58. And signal coordinations are along California Avenue and Olive Drive. And then we have our miscellaneous traffic signal improvements and also the rectangular rapid flashing beacons. Moving on, now sewer improvements. Although I'm covering these projects under public works, the reason they're under public works is because we'll be designing them and managing them, but they're essentially water department-led projects. So for sewer improvements, they cover reliable infrastructure. We'll have a lift station at Hageman and Joetta, a continuing lift station design on Gosford and McCutcheon, and a sewer line improvements for the Buena Vista road trunk sewer line. Storm drain projects also cover reliable infrastructure. We have one storm lift station at 32nd and Chester, and then two storm drain improvements on 23rd and D Street, and a liner project along Auburn Street. And this is a picture of a current sewer lift station project that we have that's in construction at the intersection of Cottonwood and Pacheco. Moving along, facility improvements. Minnesota Airport covers reliable infrastructure. Green waste facility, the goals it touches on is reliable infrastructure, innovative and efficient city government. Green waste facility will be covering the consolidation of the facility phase three, electrical vehicle charging station, and then the MRF sorting line replacement. And other facility improvements will be reliable infrastructure, safety and resilience, innovative and efficient city government. We have fire sprinkler repairs. We have miscellaneous emergency facility repairs, courtyard, building C, HVAC replacement. We have the city hall, council chambers, main entrance modernization. And that's a picture of a project that's currently in construction. It's the Citadel Park improvements. It's on East Bell Terraces Citadel by MLK Elementary. And lastly, Manor Street Bridge revegetation. It covers reliable infrastructure and community character and quality of life. This project was completed last year. It was part of our Manor Street Bridge rehabilitation. We had to revegetate the site. And the project is completed. Now we're moving on into the monitoring program. Last year was year one. We submitted our report. Now we're into year two, which we'll be submitting the report in December of 26. And that concludes my presentation. Again, I want to thank you for giving me this opportunity. I'll take any questions. I also have our director right here, Zach Meyer, and also water department. They could address any of the water questions.

Do I open this up to the commission for questions? Yes, that's correct. All right. Any commissioners like any questions or comments? Am I up? Oh, perfect.

Thank you for your presentation.

I just had a quick question on the solar lights. Are those supplemental to street lights, or do they tie into the electrical system and just utilize solar when available?

I'm going to let Zach answer that.

Good evening, Commissioner Cater. So when we do our solar projects for streetlights, they're independent of the PG&E system. Okay. So these are some lights that are manufactured in France. The battery's placed up high. It's very secure, so there's very likelihood of theft, and it could maintain an adequate charge even in the winter months where there's less sun and still provide the lumens we want. So we could do more of them. without having to worry about interconnecting with PG&E.

Are they similar to the ones that were constructed along Kentucky Street?

No, these are different. So I would view Kentucky Street as we learned some things from that one, and we've continued to try to get better.

Version 2.0? Yes. Good. And is this a street... I mean, if that's helpful to not... add additional load to the grid, but then also bring up light levels to safer quality. So is this a strategy that you see the city expanding on in future capital years?

Commissioner, yes, I do. Mainly because we can do more lights with the same amount of money. And then the project, we seem to get them done faster because there is a longer process when we have to coordinate with PG&E. If we don't have power there, we have to get power there and charge a meter and a pedestal, then it adds time and cost. So we're starting to do this more and more, and so far we're getting good results.

Fantastic. Then my other question was about the complete street on California Avenue. How does that coincide with the timeline? I know H Street and Chester are also under consideration for street overhauls.

I apologize, which project was it on California?

It was the California Complete Street. I believe you said 34th Street in California.

The one's on 34th, Chester to Union. The other one's on California. Oak to Chester, yeah.

Essentially infilling in.

So both of those projects are complete streets. They're basically infilling sidewalk and pedestrian accessibility.

I was just curious, oh, I guess the timelines were in the presentation, right, as far as?

Yeah, yeah, so those are for this fiscal year. I don't think they will coincide with H Street, because H Street's starting construction, while those were still gonna start design.

So this'll be entering to design, so we'll see. Yeah.

Yes, I apologize for the confusion on my end. So yeah, the H Street corridor improvement, that's going to probably break ground in September. Okay. And so that will be in construction. We'll still need most of this next fiscal year just to get the design done for this section of California. So they're not going to overlap. Yes, but thank you.

And I think those are my questions.

Commissioner Martin.

Thank you. Yeah, just terrific all around. The traffic signals sometimes are not always in sync. I think that's great. So many road improvement projects. It's just fantastic all the work that's being done. I did have one question though regarding how many projects in this upcoming year are we going to be doing more of the road diets or the narrowing or eliminating a lane for a larger bike lane? I'm just curious.

Yes, Vice Chair Martin. So based on the CIP list that you saw tonight or the projects within the CIP tonight, I don't think there's many that are doing lane diets. We are starting construction on H Street, as I mentioned before, that will have a lane reduction going from four lanes to three lanes. There could potentially be some other projects we look at in-house through our street maintenance division where we may look at a lane reduction in some corridors. For example, it's been publicly talked about at our city council meetings about Harris Road near Miller Elementary where that section is. four lanes and we may reduce that down to two lanes and try to enhance bike safety. That's something we may carry out through our in-house street maintenance division. But some of the other projects that are for design like California and some, I think there are two other complete street projects where we're doing the design. We haven't made a determination yet if we're gonna do a lane reduction, we start the design process, we evaluate the current traffic volumes, the traffic counts, the volume of heavy trucks, and we make a determination as to whether we wanna do that or not. And we also wanna make sure we're still following council policy where there's a complete street ordinance where we're trying to make this a point of emphasis, trying to improve bike and pedestrian safety. But based on the projects we're presenting tonight, again, outside of an internal review of Harris Road, I don't think there's any project for intently taking away a lane that's being programmed at this time.

Okay, thank you for that. It's very helpful. I know in my day job, we did several community outreach meetings with the public to discuss whether the county should have had, have more road diets. And it was overwhelming, really 90% to 10% people have had it with the road diets. And it makes sense in one way, but when the bike lane is wide enough to put a semi on it. And we go from three lanes to two lanes, Buena Vista and these different things and understanding grants and all those things. I think we just should caution when we do that. These are all fantastic projects. So I'm glad to hear you say probably none because we are continuously growing 12% growth in the last 10 years. and people overwhelmingly do not want to lose more lanes. So thank you very much, this is great work, thank you. Could you email the commission all a copy of this report as well, this presentation? Yes.

Okay, thank you.

Commissioner Keter.

I forgot I had one more question about funding. And we'll also give a shout out to Buena Vista. I drive my daughters to school every day and appreciate the change in pace. Yeah, going by high schools and whatnot. But my question was about Parks and Rec. So I don't know if, it was regarding the MLK project. I know there's some funding allocated to receive matching dollars. The commission's been following that project. We're excited for the... investment in MLK and this goal of a new regional park for the area. So I was just curious of the status of the project.

Currently, we have our consultant working on construction documents. We're about 50% complete right now. We're expecting 70% complete by mid to end July, hopefully having complete 100% documents by the end of the year, first part, and then from there, start the vetting process, bidding, and then hopefully go into construction possibly spring next year.

That's exciting to hear.

And is it still two-phased, the park improvements followed by the community center, or is the goal to deliver a single?

I think we're still looking at it. I mean, I've seen versions of four phases only because of funding, you know, and part of it right now is, you know, asking for some funding to do some grant matching. So, yeah, right now what we're looking at is mainly the park side of it, which would be the west side, you know, which would be considered phase one. and that would include the playground areas, the splash pad, restroom, and some sports fields.

Thank you for that update.

Thank you.

Seeing no other questions. I think I'm just gonna ditto my fellow commissioners. It's really exciting to see these type of projects come. One of the main things we get is the health of our roads, potholes, and no sidewalks and gutters in areas that should really have them. So it's really exciting to see all these projects come through. So I think I will, may I get a motion to adopt staff's recommendation, making a finding that the capital improvement plan for the fiscal year 2026, 2027 is consistent with the Metropolitan General Plan.

So moved.

Commissioner Martin, can I get a second?

I'll second.

Thank you. Please cast your votes.

Motion passes with Commissioners Strickland, Korr, and Brar absent. Madam Clerk, next item, please.

Thank you. Thank you.

Agenda item eight, communications.

Does any staff have any communications items?

I'd like to announce that the July 2nd meeting will be canceled, so enjoy your 4th of July. Then our next scheduled Planning Commission meeting is July 16th.

Madam Clerk, next item, please. Agenda item nine, commissioner comments. Does any commissioner have any comments?

Alison Bran-Oliver.

I just wanna say that two things. On item 6A, I'm really grateful that we saw public interaction and we saw neighbors who were expressing some concerns and then a utility, a landowner who really heard those concerns and was able to make some improvements to their project and then Also, Mr. Cater bringing up some really educated me on the public, brought up a view from the public, basically. Hey, we need to look at this side also. Not just the neighbors, but the actual public who uses that. AND THEN THE NEXT THING I DO WANT TO, ON ITEM 5D, I WANT TO REALLY THANK DANIEL FOR EDUCATING US CONSISTENTLY ON THE NEED FOR THE CLEAR ZONING AT THE MACRO LEVEL BECAUSE not only do we need land owners to be able to have an easy way to use the property that they own without going through arduous application processes, and then also that the neighbors are really aware of what that land is being used for. And I just really thank you, Commissioner Cater, for your passion and your education you've provided us. Thank you.

Madam Clerk, next item, please. Agenda item 10, adjournment.

This meeting is adjourned at 6.23 p.m.