Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

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Good evening and welcome to the Monday, June 22, 2026 regular meeting of the City of Burbank Planning Commission. Before we begin our meeting, there will be one general period of public comment tonight during oral communications. Persons speaking during the general public comment period may provide the Planning Commission oral communication on any matter concerning city business. Members of the public may comment in person or by telephone during the general public hearing public comment period. If you would like to participate in the public comment period by making an in-person comment, please present a completed speaker card to planning staff. If you would like to participate in the public comment period by telephone, please call 818-238-3335. We will announce when the phone lines are open. Please join me for a moment of reflection. This moment is intended to begin our meeting with a positive and collective support for our beloved community. The Planning Commission welcomes everyone joining us this evening. We encourage you to take a moment to reflect on our community and the work we will be doing here tonight. While each of us has our own unique reasons for being here, we are united in our passion for our wonderful city. As we pause, let us consider our own individual contributions, what they mean to those around us. Let us find solace in knowing that by working together with a shared spirit of community and partnership, we will always act responsibly for the betterment of Burbank. Would everyone please join us in the Pledge of Allegiance?

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States

Thank you. Madam Clerk, will you please conduct the roll? Chair Wick? Present. Vice Chair Safarian?

Present.

Commissioner Van Gorder?

Present.

Commissioner Bennett?

I'm here.

And Commissioner Mendez is absent. Great. Thank you so much.

Do we have any announcements from city staff this evening?

We have no announcements tonight. Thank you.

Great. Thank you very much. Now is the time for oral communications from the public. Any person speaking during this period may address the Commission on any matter concerning city business. Each person may address the Planning Commission for a maximum time of three minutes. For members of the public who wish to comment in person, please present a completed speaker card to planning staff. For members of the public that wish to comment by telephone, please call 818-238-3335 to address the Planning Commission. Callers will be placed in a queue until all in-person comments have been received. The phone lines are now open. Please bear with us as it may take a couple of minutes for the first callers to get through the line. For callers, please remember to lower the volume on your TV or computer and take your phone off speaker when you deliver public comment. Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers here tonight or callers on the line?

We have no speakers or callers. Okay, we'll give it a minute. Nothing? Okay.

There being no further public comment, I now declare the public comment period closed. There is one hearing item to the Planning Commission on tonight's agenda. Now is the time and place for the public hearing of project number 26-000157, a request for a conditional use permit to allow a vocational school the Southern California Health Institute at 2711 Winona Avenue. The project is zoned General Industrial M2 with a general plan land use designation of Golden State Commercial slash Industrial. Before we begin, do any planning commissioners have any legal, financial, or any other conflict relating to this hearing?

No.

No. No. No. I'm hearing four no's. Have any planning commission members had any communications, including written or oral, with any person regarding this project?

No.

No. No. No. Hearing four nos. Mr. Planbeck, have the notices as required by law been given?

They have.

Great. Are there any written communications on this matter?

There is not.

All right. Will the representative of the Community Development Department please introduce yourself and summarize the matter before us tonight?

Good evening, Chair Wick and members of the Planning Commission. My name is Sylvia Soules. I'm a planning technician with the Community Development Department. May I please have the presentation? So this evening I will be presenting a conditional use permit application, project number 26000157, for the request to allow a treat vocational school, the Southern California Health Institute, or SOCHI, an accredited allied health and wellness career college offering programs in healthcare, rehabilitation, and wellness at 2711 Winona Avenue in a general industrial M2 zone. Sochi is currently located in North Hollywood in the city of Los Angeles and the proposed Bourbon campus will be their new flagship location. This is the first request since the city approved a zone tax amendment in 2025 to allow trade vocational school use in the industrial zone. The business representative from Sochi are here tonight and will be available for any question that the planning commission may have. The subject property is located on the northwest quadrant of Burbank, west of the 5 and the Metrolink tracks, and near the Hollywood Burbank Airport. More specifically, the property is along Winona Avenue and at the corner of Winona and North San Fernando Boulevard and North Naomi Street. The site has a zoning designation of M2, General Industrial, and a general plan designation of Golden State. The site is immediately surrounded by office uses on Winona Avenue, while the North San Fernando Boulevard, immediately adjacent to the property, there is a seal supply company. Land uses in the general area of the property include industrial offices and commercial to the south and east of the parcel, and to the north and west between the railroad tracks and the freeway. There is more industrial uses and one hotel. The building is currently vacant, but it was previously occupied by Office Space for entertainment-related business. The building is 66,120 square feet, and it's a three-floor structure with a semi-subterranean garage and two surface parking lots, one larger one to the west and one smaller lot to the east, for a total of 81 parking spaces. In addition to the parking and And the building, the site is also improved with small landscape feature and trees. And the site access for both vehicle and pedestrian is provided along Wainona Avenue. These are some of the photos that show the exterior of the property along Wainona Avenue. And these are some of the photos that show the property at the corner of Waynona, North Naomi, and North San Fernando, as well as on the side of the property along North San Fernando Boulevard. These are some of the interior pictures. You can see the parking garage and the lobby. And these are some of the open office space on the first and second floor, as well as some partition spaces. More specifically, this is the kitchen and the conference room on the first floor. So Sochi will offer nine academic programs, including, for example, massage therapy, sports rehabilitation, and medical assistant. And in terms of operations, Sochi is proposing a hybrid instructional model, with most lectures delivered online and labs and skills training taking place on campus. In terms of operation, Sochi is proposing a hybrid instructional model, with most I said that already, most lectures delivered online and labs and skill training taking on campus. The school will be open 8.30 a.m. to 10.30 p.m. for instruction and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. for administration. Weekend classes are currently not scheduled, but the school will be open to offer student services such as access to the library and the computer labs and also for occasionally for seminar and talks and events of that nature. During the instruction hours, classes will take place in three time blocks, one in the evening, one in the afternoon, and one in the morning. So the total projected enrollment is 120 students per semester. However, the staggered class schedule and the hybrid instruction model will limit on-campus population. So they expect about 45 to 55 students maximum on campus at all times. And they will also limit student on campus population to a maximum of 79 students at all times. Employees will include about 15 people, including staff, faculty, and administrator. The scope of work is limited to interior tenant improvements aimed at reconfiguring the space to better serve the new academic uses. And these spaces will include classroom labs, study spaces, student life spaces, and offices. The existing first floor currently consists of a large open space with individual offices around the perimeter. And the proposed improvements will keep the existing offices, so basically the gray space and the purple space to the left and right of the floor plan on the screen, and add partitions in the middle to create classrooms and instructional spaces, so the yellow spaces that you see on the slides. Similar to the first floor, the second floor will keep the individual office spaces to the right and left of the screen and partition the central space to create more instructional spaces. And these will include labs, classrooms, and student gathering spaces. At the site level, the proposal includes the reconfiguration of the parking areas and the addition of an eight feet tall fence along Winona Avenue. In terms of parking, the proposed vocational school will go from 81 spaces to 79 and this reduction is due to ADA improvements as well as making space for new bicycle racks. The 79 spaces will consist of 48 spaces in the semi-subterranean garage 27 spaces in the main lot to the west, and four spaces in the smaller lot to the east. Per the Burbank Municipal Code Section 10-1-1408, the parking rate for a vocational school is one space per each student. So the proposed use provides enough parking for the maximum capacity of 79 students, as stated in their operational plan, as discussed a few slides back. Bicycle parking will also be provided. There will be eight long-term spaces in the basement and two short-term spaces in the front. This is the semi-subterranean garage, and as I mentioned, it currently has 49 spaces, but one will be eliminated to make space for a bicycle rack, and this will be the long-term parking. And this is the only improvement proposed for this floor. So while the CUP would allow the proposed project to be built a full build out, the applicant anticipates the physical improvements will be implemented in phases. Phase one will include the entirety of the second floor and some, and the library and lobby on the first floor as well as some offices. Phase two will focus on finishing up the first floor. And phase one will also include site improvements. The project was duly noticed with a newspaper ad, mailing notices, and a sign in front of the building. As of today, staff has received one inquiry. On June 3rd, staff received a phone inquiry from a neighborhood resident concerned about potential parking impacts to the neighborhood residential streets. Staff clarifies that Sochi does provide enough parking that is required by the Burbank Municipal Code. And after talking to staff, the neighbor did not have any further comments or concerns. Based on staff's assessment, the project qualifies for categorical exemptions from the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, under Section 15301A, existing facilities, because the project includes leasing of an existing building with interior renovation and modest site improvements without any additions or alteration of the building envelope. Staff reviewed the proposed project and found that it is consistent with the Burbank 2035 general plan, the city zoning regulation, and the findings for a conditional use permit pursuant to Burbank Municipal Code section 10-1-1936. Therefore, staff recommends that the Planning Commission adopt a resolution approving a conditional use permit, Project 26000157, subject to the conditions of approval and associated CEQA determination. This ends my presentation. Thank you for your time, and I'll be available for any questions that you may have.

Thank you so much. I will now invite the applicant or their representative to address the Planning Commission. You will have a maximum time of 15 minutes. I was going to say you could do, like, whatever.

Hello, good evening, everybody. My name is Levoni Soontz. I'm the Chief Operating Officer of Southern California Health Institute, also known as SOCHI. First, I'd like to say it's great seeing you guys all again. I remember not too long ago last year we were working on the Zone Text Amendment together, and I again want to express my gratitude for how much you guys have helped us throughout this process to get to this point. I'd like to also let you guys know why we are interested in Burbank so much after all this time has passed. I myself along with all of my family members are longtime Burbank residents and we are very happy with our city. We plan on continuing to be happy in our city. We invest in our city. And now we would like to bring our enterprise into our city. We do see that Burbank is in this very big transitionary period in different sections. We see the new airport. We see all the different projects that the city has going on. And we believe that we're going to be able to help bridge the gap with some issues that we have in the city as far as our workforce and health care. Of course, after entertainment, the second biggest workforce we have in the city is healthcare. And we, with our new nursing program, are excited to help our local community and with making sure that we have enough employees for employers that we already work with. We work with over 1,100 different employers throughout the 30 years that we've been opened. About 70 to 80 of them are located here in Burbank. They've expressed their concerns of how it's very difficult to find registered nurses. and even entry-level health care providers like CNAs or LVNs. So we believe we'll be able to help bridge the gap in the health care issue that we have statewide, but specifically in our little city here in Burbank. And yeah, we're very excited. We appreciate you guys for helping us throughout this whole process. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening. I'll just introduce myself briefly. I'm an Kazanchan architect. Ms. Sulis did a great job explaining the project. It's really a minor project architecturally, just interior remodel and some site improvements. I'll be available for questions if there are any. Thank you.

Thank you so much. We will now open the meeting to hear from any persons who wish to speak on this matter. Each person may address the Planning Commission for a maximum time of three minutes. For members of the public who wish to comment in person, please present a completed speaker card to planning staff if you wish to speak. For members of the public that wish to comment by telephone, please call 818-238-3335 to address the Planning Commission. Callers will be placed in a queue until all in-person comments have been received. The phone lines are now open. Please bear with us as it may take a couple of minutes for the first callers to get through the line. For callers, please remember to lower the volume on your TV or computer and take your phone off speaker when you deliver public comment. Madam Clerk, do we have any speakers here tonight or callers on the line?

I have no speakers or callers. Okay. We'll give it a minute. Okay.

Nothing? Okay. No. There being no further public comment on this item, I now declare the public comment period closed. Would the representative of the community development department like to make any further comments? No. Does the applicant or their representative wish to make any further comments? You'll have a maximum time of 10 minutes. I'm seeing a bunch of nos. Okay, great. Does the commission have any questions for staff or the applicant? No question.

Commissioner Van Gorder. Yes, thank you. Timelines. When do you expect Phase 1 to be completed and when do you expect Phase 2 to be completed? And when do you expect to be available to the public to begin services?

So timeline-wise, of course, subject to building permits and everything being approved and us building everything out, we were hoping that we would have classes starting early next year, January. But prior to that, we're definitely gonna be moving our administrative team and getting them situated making sure that we are prepared as far as technology on campus and having all of the resources for students to be able to come to our new flagship location to sign up, enroll, get all of their equipment and their supplies they need and go back to our North Hollywood campus or online until we are fully operational in Burbank. Thank you.

I have a, I have a, just, it's more of a curiosity. Are you're keeping your North Hollywood location? Is that so? Yes.

Our North Hollywood location will be a satellite location. As we say, per our creditor, uh, we will keep our registered nursing program in North Hollywood for about a year or a year and a half, uh, until we're ready to really bring in everybody into our, uh, Burbank location. Why? Because we have spent a lot of time, money and making sure that our build out in North Hollywood, for all of our labs, our simulation labs, the classrooms, to meet the standards for the Board of Registered Nursing. So we'll use that in the beginning, and then when the time comes, we'll slowly start transitioning everybody into Burbank. So every other program but Registered Nursing will be in Burbank before Registered Nursing.

And do you ever have any members of the public at your facility? I'm thinking for like massage therapy. Do you ever have like live?

So once upon a time, we used to be in Reseda, and we used to have something called the Sochi Massage Clinic. So the Sochi Massage Clinic would provide a space for students to be able to get real-time hours on human bodies working, practicing their new skills for super cheap massages. We used to charge like $10 an hour or $10 for a full massage just to get bodies in the door. So we used to have a Sochi massage clinic that was open to the public. COVID hit, stuff changed a little bit. It's something we're open to definitely, but we really haven't thought about it just yet to have the public back inside to our massage clinic just yet.

Okay, thank you. It's just more of a point of interest.

I have actually one question. On the plans, I didn't notice any exterior like facade changes or anything like that. Are you planning during the phases to do any remodeling on the exterior aside from I'm assuming like a sign change?

Uh, not much really, but it took us some time to find the building that we really liked. And finally, when we found this building, I mean, everything really fit exactly how we wanted it. There may be some, uh, landscape changes, uh, subject to what the city lets us do. And of course a fence that we're proposing around the whole facility, but nothing really changing on the facade of the building itself, except hopefully a sign per getting assigned permit.

Okay, great. Thank you. Any further questions from the commission? No? And no questions from staff or anything? We're good? All right. Seeing none, I declare the public hearing closed and the Planning Commission will now deliberate. What is the Planning Commission's pleasure? Would anybody like to say anything or make a motion?

I'm happy with what they have. I think it would be good to have someone in that space again, so I'm happy to sign off on it.

I agree. It's always nice to see since we last year had the zone text amendment or earlier this year, it's always kind of nice to see a project that's the benefit of that.

Yeah, I agree. This is step two of a thing that we worked on. That's nice to see. All right.

Great. I'll make a motion then unless anyone, Pauline, unless you want to say something.

No, I mean this is a straightforward project. Great.

I'll make a motion to approve a resolution of the Planning Commission approving a conditional use permit project 260000157 to allow a trade and vocational school, the Southern California Health Institute at 2711 Winona Avenue in the General Industrial Zone based on the findings of fact and subject to the attached project conditions of approval.

Great. We have a motion. Do we have a second? I'll second it. Great. Great. We have a motion in a second. Any further deliberation?

Madam City Clerk, may we please have a roll? Chair Wick? Yes. Vice Chair Safarian? Yes. Commissioner Van Gorder?

Yes.

Commissioner Bennett?

Yes.

Motion passes. Thank you. Great. Thank you so much. Welcome to Burbank.

All right.

All right. Moving on to reports to the commission. Are there any reports tonight?

No. Staff has no reports for the commission.

Great. Now is the time for approval of the minutes from the May 11, 2026 Planning Commission meeting. Are there any questions, comments, and or a motion?

I will move to approve the minutes as presented.

Thank you. We have a motion. Maybe we have a second?

Seconded.

OK. Motion, second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposition? No? Great. Minutes are passed. All right. Now is the time for introduction of additional agenda items. Planning Commission members may introduce new items for discussion, but no action may take place except to place the item on a future agenda. Do members of the Commission have any items to introduce this evening? No. No? No. All right. Seeing none, now is the time for City Planner comments. Are there any comments from the City Planner?

Not tonight. Thank you.

All right, moving on, we will now adjourn to the Planning Commission meeting on Monday, July 13th, 2026 at 6 p.m. The meeting will be held in person in the City Council Chambers at 275 East Olive Avenue. The public is invited to attend the meeting in person or to view the meeting online. or on television. The public will be able to provide public comment in the following three ways. In person at the appropriate time during the meeting, by leaving an e-comment on the city's webpage, www.burbankca.gov slash e-comments, or by calling into the planning commission meeting directly at 818-238-3335. Thank you all for your participation and have a good night.