Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Madam Chair, we're live.

Thank you.

I'd like to call the meeting to order. This is a regular meeting of the Baldwin Park Planning Commission for August 12th, 2026 at 7.01 p.m. Pledge of Allegiance. Commissioner Rodriguez, will you please lead us in the flag salute?

If you're able to join us, please stand.

Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Thank you. We'll move on to number one, roll call. Planning Secretary, will you please roll call?

Yes, thank you. Commissioner Rodriguez. Present. Commissioner Arias.

Here.

Vice Chair Miranda De Zip.

Present. Do I have a motion to excuse chair Escobosa.

I motion.

I second.

Roll call.

Roll call. Thank you. Commissioner Rodriguez. Yes. Commissioner Arias.

Yes.

And Vice Chair Miranda-Zipp.

Yes.

Motion carries.

Thank you. And do I have a motion to excuse Commissioner Pena.

I motion.

I second.

Roll call, please.

Commissioner Rodriguez? Yes. Commissioner Arias? Yes. Vice Chair Miranda DeZip? Yes. Motion carries.

Thank you. We'll move on to number two, public communication. I now declare public communication open. Planning Secretary, is there anyone looking to speak?

I will defer to our admin assistant, Cynthia.

Thank you. Hi, can you hear me okay? Okay, perfect. We do have a few speaker cards. I can call them up if we're ready. Yes, please. Okay. First speaker, Wynetta Whitley.

Good evening. Commissioner. It's nice to be here tonight. I'm back again. I've been coming almost for two years, three years. I'm coming with the same thing. Help us save Florence Planner. We need this property for a park. We need it. We really need it. The children need it. The community need it. Because if you knew how hard it is for us on weekends, we don't have a recreation area. I can't walk. And I would ask them from my heart to yours, save the zoning and let us have a park here. Please. We need a park. I won't be here 100 years. I'm almost 100 now, but I don't think I'll make another 100. And if you can see in your heart where you all can save the zoning, keep it for public. If storm property get this, that park they talking about putting it, it's not going to be big enough. And it's going to be private for those 104 condos that they want to put in there. Traffic is so bad. You can't go down that street. I hope some of y'all have gone over there and viewed this area what we are trying to get. We need it. I beg leave from my heart that you all would see where we can use this property for a park. We can have a lot of things that will generate revenue for Baldwin Park and for Bass District. We will. But we put those units in there. Our taxes going up, insurance going up, and I'll give it three years we have HOA in there. People are losing their home. They don't have jobs. Elder people don't have nowhere to go. And it's just pathetic. The kids don't have anything. They don't have anywhere to go and nothing they can do but play in the street. On the weekend, all of the places for the schools are locked up. Fire department can't get down there. The kids almost getting ran over. The community is just, we need this park. of the community and others that can come and enjoy. If I could come to Morgan Park some days, I would, but I can't, I can't drive anymore because my heart, but we need that park over there. Please see to it that you can keep that zone in public and not private. Because they get in there, it's going to be hard. We won't have the liberty to do what they are telling you all that they're going to do. Because it's going to be where we can't go over there in the park every day. We can't go in there and do like we could do in a park if you all would allow us to keep going and help us get a park. I know it's hard for a lot of things.

Because... Thank you for your time.

They need... Beg your pardon?

Oh, thank you for your time.

Thank you so much. Please come sit and think about it. I appreciate it.

Okay, next speaker, Yolanda.

I just want to make it clear. We've already made a decision. We're just going to vote on it tonight, just so you get it. on the resolution. It's a denial. We've denied the resolution, just so everyone knows. But you are free to speak.

Hello, council. Good evening, council members. My name is Yolanda Pompa, and I live on Millberry Street. I am here tonight To thank you Planning Commission for voting against the development at Florence Flannery school site. I urge you, the council, to continue to vote no on this project. The build brings no value to our community. It only benefits storm property. We are already facing severe parking shortage and high traffic in the area. Furthermore, our children and grandchildren have nowhere to play within walking distance. Florence Flanner site was designated for education use. Please help us to keep it that way. um there is uh i hope you will ask storm property the hard questions and uh 104 condos department is not the answer for our community and we thank you guys for saying no thank you thank you all right thank you next speaker is jorge

Good afternoon. Just here again to say thank you guys for denying the resolution. And I urge you and ask you guys to please. not accept any future developers. Um, and let's work with the community and try to, you know, have a park, a city center, uh, something, uh, open up for elderly opening up for, for youth, something that's beneficial for our community. It was very evident by strong properties with, from last meeting. Um, they don't want to reduce the amount of units. They want to max out on money. And this money is not benefiting Baldwin Park. It's only benefiting them. So keep in mind, their best interest is not the community. It's their pockets. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, Francisco.

Hi, my name is Francisco. Good evening to the council members. I already had a speech, but thank you very much for denying the project. But I'm still going to read my speech that I had. As a homeowner to be affected by this ridiculous and dangerous project, I'm asking you to reconsider this project since it's going to be a disaster for a community that is already struggling to find a greener space to our daily activities. Our streets are not capable of supporting more traffic on our narrow streets, and by doing this project, we'll increase like 300% more in traffic. Despite that, these independent reports by Stone Property State, again, our backyard is not for sale or lease for your ridiculous 199 years. Also, dog owner, my dog will be disrupted really by the noise and the dust that will be created through this construction. So I am very concerned about this issue. Why not continue with the Emerald Necklace that was previously proposed back in 2013? The community of Bassett deserves a better green spaces. Also, why is that they are going to install a traffic light at Barrio del Puente? Because they know it's going to increase traffic into the area. So please, I'm asking you to reconsider this project. Don't make the mistake of 100 years irreversible impact to the community. And thank you, City of Baltimore, for not allowing this break. Thank you.

Thank you. Next speaker, Manuel. Yes.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I take this opportunity to thank you for opposing the construction on the Flanner property that belongs to the community. It's always good to be a good neighbor. And even though we border with Baldwin Park and this property belongs, well, doesn't belong to the city, belongs to taxpayers, but you border to unincorporated area of LA County, which is Bassett. I live a few blocks away and having good neighbors is always the best. I don't know if any of you took the recommendation I made at the last meeting to drive by and look at the narrowness of the streets surrounding this project. Not only that, but I don't know if you ever heard that two years back there was a house that burned down. The fire department couldn't get in because of the narrow streets and because of parking constraints. I know that we have a shortage of living. Very fortunately, I was able to buy homes before prices and interest rates were up. It's very difficult right now. One of my sons is trying to buy a house and I know how difficult that is. But yet building on something that is not good and building something that is not affordable is not good for any community. And let me tell you something. City of Industry has a lot of large, huge lots that are blighted, vacant lots. And especially, my daughter lives probably five houses borderline from City of Industry on La Puente, close to Nelson Avenue. And at least there's five empty lots that are blighted. And when that Santa Ana winds blow, They get all the dust into their homes. City of Industry has never been a good neighbor to anyone. And I applaud you for thinking about the residents in the Florence Flanner neighborhood, because this is going to affect not only a few families, but a whole bunch of families surrounding this neighborhood. And again, I thank you. And I think that Storm Properties hasn't done any soil testing. A few years back, there was a nursery in that neighborhood that contaminated part of that land. And I know there is pesticides in the soil. So we can force the district to put remedy to the contamination of the soil. But, you know, I don't think the storm property owners will do that. But I thank you for listening. And I thank you for understanding the need of green spaces in our neighborhood and no more living facilities. And if storm properties wants to buy, have them go buy in City of Industry, like I said. And if they want to, they can contact me and I can get them to at least five lots.

Thank you for your time. Thank you.

Thank you.

No way. No, no way. No way Castro. Last call for no way. Okay, Mr. Rios.

Let me start off, why did you guys change it to two minutes? There's not even 100 people right here. During the Bristol days, we had people all the way to the sidewalk and the street, okay? So I don't know who gave you permission to change it for two minutes, for one thing. Another thing, have any of you gone over there? I don't live over there, but I have friends over there. You guys open your eyes and go take a drive over there. You know, one of the projects that we have right now in Bowen Park is Fonsequito and another one in La Puente. They're finished. Used to be motels, now they made it affordable housing. Have you guys noticed or changed the traffic violations that we're going to get? It's going to be full and trying to put a project right there. You have to be 20 yards away from the watch for one thing. That property during the early 50s, the government had it and they used to do some, I don't know, the way I heard it, it was during the Korean War and they used to do bombs and stuff like that right now. I'm not sure that's what I heard, but that signal light that they want to put, sure, I put a signal light. It's going to reduce the traffic. No, it's not. What you guys did the last meeting you guys had, you did it right. You backed it off. You said no. Consciously and morally, you can approve it. You know, whatever you guys decide, the only ones that are gonna decide is the city council. At the city council, we're already getting prepared for that because it's useless, a hundred year lease. What are we, in the Indian type of thing, a hundred year lease? Look at what has been happening on all the, lands that the Indians supposedly 199 year, they're taking it back. What happened to those people that build houses and everything? They lost everything. To make a little research, you know, thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, Sam.

So just a couple of procedural issues. The notice at no single point was ever translated into Spanish or Mandarin. And so I believe that goes to language accessibility. Second, I didn't see a Zoom link for tonight's meeting. There's people that wanted to participate that wanted to participate via Zoom. And I have these documents that I want to include in the administrative record. So I will give this to the clerk so that she can have it in her possession. And I just wanted to review why we're here. We're here because public land is the most sacred type of land designation that exists. And so the decision to rezone public land to make it a private entity is a significant concern because of the long-term ramifications. And I applaud the effort to deny this motion. But this project should have never been considered in the first place. It is the result of a previous superintendent who brokered a deal with CBRE, which chose Storm Properties. Storm Properties is in the business of building and entitling these types of infill builds, and then they sell it to KB Homes for a profit. or other types of housing projects. And what we're seeing is that that's entering into Baldwin Park. While canvassing to remind people to show up to today's meeting, I met people in the mobile homes that are being evicted. There's extreme displacement pressures happening. And one of the individuals that's here today, his daughter has Parkinson's. And he believes that she has Parkinson's from the exposure to pesticides during the period in which this site was a nursery for many years. And the DTSC requested that the Baldwin Park or Bassett Unified School District test the soil for organic organophosphates. To date, I'm not convinced that that soil testing has been accomplished. So there are significant health concerns. The DTSC acknowledges that children would be 2.7 times more likely to be exposed to carcinogens. This comes down to why would anybody try to build this project? Public land doesn't grow on a tree, right? When it's gone, it's gone forever. And the general plan for the city of Baldwin Park in 2002 acknowledged that parks and recreational space was at a significantly lower amount per acre, acreage per thousand people when compared to the county median average. So we have master plans, the Emerald Necklace, the SGV Greenways that have already designated the land along the waterways to be used for open space and recreational purposes. I think that this project is not only incompatible with those plans, but it is incompatible with the neighborhood that's impacted who are here in full force because they endorsed the denial. Thank you.

Leticia. Leticia.

Yes. Hello. Good afternoon. I am actually in opposition of this project. This project is should not be approved. And thank you for asking staff to come back for request for denial. Completely support that. I completely support this. I do live in the community. And I do believe the community does need more open space areas. Having this, what is it, I don't know how many units, it's going to really, really impact the community. We do have small kids in the area, and they're walking on the streets. They're having fun on the streets. The closest park is Bassett Park, and that's crossing a mall. That's pretty far. And we don't have an open space area. The only open space area that we have is Van Wick. But Van Wick is an elementary school that our kids go to. This is an elementary school that has been closed down and that area needs to be used as an open space. I do have to say that I do work for an agency where this agency is working for the local school district where there is an existing closed school. That school is being utilized as an open space area with joint use agreements with the school district and city of Baldwin Park. You guys can work in creating this open space area. This is necessary. We need open space. We do not need additional space. housing in the area. It is already impacted. Please do not approve this project. Please send it back to the Bassett Unified School District for request for a joint use agreement. Thank you.

Luis

Hi, good evening. My name is Luis Vasquez. I actually live about six-ish houses down. I live on Millbury. Unfortunately, I wasn't here to support my community. I was out of the country last time, but I wanted to say thank you very much for putting this motion hopefully to rest today. You saw stone properties. You asked them directly. You asked them about reducing the size of their houses and then There's no straight answer with these companies. They don't care about you. They don't care about me. They don't care about the community. They see dollar signs. That's it. It's just dollar signs. They don't care if it's affordable, quote unquote affordable. It's not. It's never going to be. It's not for my community. It's not for me. It's not for my kids. I think... I asked you today to officially put this to close, not just for me, but for our community. So we actually have the chance to fight for green space, not lock the school into a 99 year lease, which I think, I think the majority of us will never be. We'll never see that come to an end. Um, I think today, just please put us to rest. Please support me and my family and give us a chance to have a park. I'd like to go play basketball down the street. Right now, I pass that school district, that school site. I see those empty basketball courts. I can't even go in. They're just empty. I at least want to have the chance to fight for something for me and for my kids and for my community. Thank you.

That is all the comment cards I have.

Is there anyone else that wishes to address the commission? Anyone else wishing to speak who did not fill out a speaker card? Now is your time. Seeing no further interest, I now declare public comment. We have one more.

Hello there. My name is Rachel DeLeon. I've been living in Baldwin Park for 10 years now. I live on Francis Keto in the mobile home park there. In back of the mobile home park is the property in question. And when I first saw it, I said, how come they didn't have this property for the school, with the school, part of the school? And then I said, well, or having a small mini park there because where I live, the kids play in the area and there's nowhere to play. So I figured this would have been a great spot for the kids to come and play. And I don't know if you've seen it, that spot is small for 104 townhomes. And I said, how are they gonna squeeze 104 townhomes there? It's gonna be congested if they did that. It's gonna cause problems. And that's part of my concern because I live right there in the mobile home park. And I think the property in question would be better fit for the kids, like a mini park or somewhere where they could go and play and have fun. That's all I got to say for right now. Thank you.

Anyone else wishing to speak, but didn't have a lot of comment card.

Vice chair. I also have someone on zoom after our in persons. Okay. Please come forward.

Gentlemen.

Hi, good evening. My name is David Argudo. I'm a council member in the city of La Puente. And as a neighboring city, I'm here to voice my opinion as well as what's been going on with Bassett Unified School District. And I appreciate the opportunity to be here with you guys in the planning commission. I really want to just say that we are in desperate need in the park communities to create more green space. So I implore that you guys make the right decision today and help the community, the communities out here. It's speaking. And I hope that, um, that the Planning Commission listens to what the residents are asking for. I myself, I'm a proponent for more green space, creating healthier environments for our children and our seniors and for the community as a whole. So that's why I'm here today. And I'm grateful to be here in the beautiful city of Baldwin Park. Thank you so much.

Hello, my name is Dr. Jacqueline Drunkhead, and I was born in East LA, but raised and grew up in San Gabriel Valley. I want to say more importantly than anything else is people over profit. Please, I'm asking that. I'm here because the future of Florida's planner is about much more than a luxury condo or condos. It's about what we believe public land should do for public good. This community already is burdened by warehouses, industrial facilities, freeways, truck traffic and pollution. In a park poor community like Bassett and Baldwin Park, we should not rush to give up this land through a 99 year lease without first asking, what could these 10 acres do for our children, our health, and our future generations. Before any decisions made, we are asking for a comprehensive evaluation of the entire property, including its public purpose, history, environmental justice concerns, children's health, parks and open space, watershed protection, and the continued need for child development and educational services. 10 acres of public land is an extraordinary community asset. Once it is committed for generations, we may never get it back. So if you remember anything from my speech, remember, people over profit. And I hope everyone is listening and not on their cell phones. People over profit. Thank you.

I think we have one more in the audience and then we'll move on to Zoom.

Thanks for letting me speak. My name is Tony. I'm a tenant organizer in Rosemead. And the reason why I'm here in the first place is because I've been helping out other tenants in mobile home parks that have been being actively displaced by their landlord in favor of more commercial developments instead. So when my friend introduced me to what's going on in Baldwin Park with the introduction of one to four units worth of condo developments that will be rented out for $4,000 a month. That's also very concerning to me because it pretty much demonstrated what's happening in Rosemead is also possibly going to happen in Baldwin Park as well. And I also met other mobile home parks in Baldwin Park that live right next to the development site. And I heard specifically that at least one of the residents over there are already working two jobs seven days a week in order to make ends meet in the first place in order to pay his rent. So that leads me to another eye-opening statistic that I found at Baldwin Park Housing Elements, where it states that 58% of renters in the city are already overpaying on rent. So developing new condos that rent out at non-affordable rates in order to pretty much raise the property value is not going to be sustainable for the community here that has been here in many cases since the 80s. So introducing this development is not going to benefit people living in Baldwin Park. It will actually pretty much displace the people that already live here in the first place. Thank you.

Okay, Rene Jimenez.

Yeah, thank you. Can you hear me okay? Yes. Great. Yeah, my name is Rene Jimenez, and I respectfully request that the Baldwin Park Planning Commission decline the Bassett-Villas project and instead require preparation of a full environmental impact report. There are many reasons to conduct a full EIR on this project, and the people have already spoken at the last meeting and today with valid reasons, so please listen to them. There should be no rush to make this deal happen right now, right away. their concerns over traffic, emergency preparedness, and then of course the soil and water conditions are valid. And I am in support of education. I understand BUSD wants to sell the property to support their current students, their current operations and educational curriculum. But ultimately the sale of Florence and Flannery isn't going to solve a declining ADA and an unfortunate reputation. that that school district has inherited from the past. Ultimately, this comes down to one thing, I guess, is profit gonna win tonight? Is profit gonna win this evening? And I hope we can slow down that decision. I hope we can really evaluate what is best for the people of Bassett, for the people of Baldwin Park and our surrounding communities. Because once they build those unaffordable condos, that's gone. It's gone. So I really appreciate the folks in the audience coming here today, having that sort of foresight and seeing that once we lose these 10 acres, it's gone. And not to mention, it's going to impact the community already there. So I just hope the Planning Commission does what's right and they vote with their hearts and not with these profit-driven motives that that might have otherwise sealed the deal. So I think at the end of the day, we are blessed that this is multi-jurisdiction, right? The Baldwin Park has a say in it, Basset Unified School District has a say in it, and ultimately our community has a say in it. So please listen to us. Thank you.

Thank you. I do have one last comment card. Araceli?

Hola, buenas noches. La otra vez que yo estaba aquí, yo hablé contra el proyecto y aquí para ayudar a la comunidad a base. Yo apoyo a salvar esta comunidad porque es importante tener hogares, parques y también senior centers. Y creo que es importante tener senior centers porque al tener senior centers, podemos ayudar a la comunidad que nos ocupa más, los seniors. Como vieron la última vez, había una mamá enferma. Y quiero pedirle disculpas a la mamá por traerle su historia, pero es importante reconocer que había una mamá aquí enferma. Porque atener a un senior center comunidad, en los senior centers tienen trabajadores sociales. Y en tener trabajadores sociales en los senior centers, ayudan a los seniors. Y no solo ayudan a los seniors, también ayudan a los que tienen discapacidades como a la mamá. Y teniendo centros así para que ayuden la comunidad es importante. Este proyecto no va a ayudar a muchas mamás. Yo también tengo una discapacidad. Yo tengo artritis de mi espalda. Y se me hacía bien difícil llegar a muchos parques cuando no tenía carro, cuando no tenía una bicicleta. Pero ahora que tengo mi carro y tengo mi bicicleta, puedo llegar a los parques. Mi hijo estaba en los parques en el summer camp y disfrutó de ese... Thank you.

Good evening. Last time I was here, I spoke and I'm here against the development of this project. I'm here to support the Basset community. I'm here to support the community because it's important to have a community in parks and senior centers. By doing so, we are helping people who need the most help at the time, which are the senior citizens. Last time there was actually a mother present who was sick, you know, and it's important to have senior citizens because they have... they provide with social workers who help the senior citizens. And not only the senior citizens, but also the people who are disabled, disabled people who benefit from this help as well. I am a disabled person, and I have a problem with my back. And for a while, I couldn't go to any parks because they were too far away. Now I have a bicycle and a car, and I can reach the park. but for the longest time I couldn't. And I have a son who goes to the park and it is very important to think about the community. Thank you.

Okay, now at this time, is there anyone else wishing to speak who did not fill out a speaker card? Now is your time. Okay. See no further interest, I now declare public communication closed. We'll move on to the consent calendar. Commissioners, are there any items on the consent calendar that you wish to pull? Okay. May I have a motion to approve two items on the consent calendar?

Motion to approve.

I second.

Roll call, please.

Commissioner Rodriguez. Yes. Commissioner Arias.

Yes.

Vice Chair Miranda De Zim. Yes. Motion carries.

We'll move on to number three, reorganization of the planning commission.

I motion that we table this item to a further meeting.

I second it. Roll call, please.

Commissioner Rodriguez? Yes. Commissioner Arias?

Yes.

Vice Chair Moran at the zip?

Yes.

Motion carries.

Then we'll move on to reports of officers, which I guess we won't have that since we're moving on. We'll just move on to adjournment. Oh, I'm sorry. We'll move on to number seven commission staff communications.

Nothing for me.

Okay, so then we will we will move on to the adjournment. So I will, if there's no further comments by any of the commissioners. No. Okay, thank you. I will adjourn the meeting at 742. And we are adjourned at 742. Thank you very much.