Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

[snorts] Good evening. We'll call to order this uh meeting of the planning commission for Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026. Miss Secretary, can you please take the roll call? Sure. Commissioner Vandermillan present. Commissioner Edsil here. Commissioner Leone here. Chair Davidson present. And Vice Chair Murphy who's absent.

Okay. Thank you. I'd now like to ask everyone to please stand for the pledge of allegiance and Commissioner Vanderm will lead us. Ready to begin? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Please be seated. Okay. Our next item up is the consent uh calendar. Are there any questions or comments from the commissioners uh concerning our loan item on the consent agenda? I'll make a motion to approve the consent. I'll second. We have a We have a motion and a second. Can you please take the vote? Commissioner Vanderm, yes. Commissioner Edsil, yes. Commissioner Leone, yes. Chair Davidson,

yes. Okay, we'll now move on to uh general public comments. This is a time for the uh public to address the planning commission for items that are not listed on tonight's agenda. In other words, nothing that we will be talking about later. Is there anyone who would like to make any comments? There is no public comments.

Very good. All right, then having none, we'll proceed on to uh open our public hearing. Uh, this will be item B, an addendum to the 2016 final SEIR 2014-8, pardon [clears throat] me. Modification to the industrial plan development 412, conditional use permit 442 and the tenative track map 6123. It's a lot of numbers and uh, Camrio Investment LLC uh, is bringing these items. Um, is there a presentation for the board? Thank you, Chair Davidson. This item will be presented by senior planner Paul McLaren.

Thank you, Jackie. Good evening, Chair Davidson. Commissioners, uh, this evening, the commission is reviewing a modification for IPD 412M1 within the airport north specific plan and associated projects as well as a SQA addendum for a reduced project. This application is made by Darren Embry for Camaro Investment LLC. The requested action is for consideration of and recommendations for a SQA addendum, a modification to the industrial plan development, a conditional use permit for a car wash, and a tenative track map. The site is surrounded by Highway 101 to the north, the Camaro airport to the south, commercial uses to the east, and an existing industrial development to the west. The site is a vacant parcel that is approximately 46.88 88 acres. If you look at the map here on the right, there are three parcels that we're talking about. The one to the north is going to be for the auto uses. The one below that will be the majority of the industrial. And then the one below that um on the far right where it's darker yellow is where the cup will be. And then all of these three parcels will through the track map become seven parcels. But we'll go over that as we proceed. The planning commission previously approved IPD412 in 2024. The applicant now proposes a reduced project that redistributes development into additional buildings while reducing industrial square footage by nearly 100,000 square ft. There are no proposed changes to the land use designation in the general plan, the airport north specific plan or zoning. What did I do?

Sorry about that. Okay. Um, so moving on, the reduced project totals approximately 665,775 square ft of non-residential development across auto uses, industrial research and development space, and an independently operated car wash. If you look at the site plan here at the north in sort of the orangey pink color is the um automobile dealership and their um showman or their lot for the cars. Um then in between Ventura Boulevard and the dealership will be seven industrial buildings. Then south of Ventura Boulevard on the left is another industrial building and then the car wash is that little brown spot right there um on on that site. The project continues the coordinated campus design approach of IPD 412 with heritage zone compatible architecture, unifying materials, and integrated landscaping. If you look here, some these are some examples of the industrial building. The central picture there is where the entrance would be into the industrial complex. And then the picture below that is the actual road leading up uh the new road leading up into the Autozone Center. And then these are some examples of the industrial building designs. Um they're not all of the designs aren't here um because all of the buildings basically follow a similar pattern just different sizing and massing. the dealership. Um the auto automobile center um buildings serve as a freeway visible anchor while remaining compatible with the heritage zone in the airport north specific plan. The brand elements of the dealership are incorporated into the heritage zone

style through material quality and architectural detailing. So in this top picture and the one just to the bottom left would be what the uh auto dealership would look like from the freeway. And then the ones to the right are um the elevations from the east and the west. Um there is 360 degree architecture on this building. So this sort of architectural treatment wraps all the way around the building. Moving on to the tenative tract map portion. So there are existing three lots and it sub divides the property into seven lots to align with a re revised building layout while maintaining shared access and utilities. If you look here again, the lot one is going to be the auto dealership. Lot seven is where the car wash. Everything else on the lot will be the industrial buildings. And then parcel A is the new road that will be built by the applicant. And that will also be access for uh some of the gas, water, sewer infrastructure. And then on the left is uh the different sizes of the different lots. The project proceed um exceeds the parking requirements and provides internal circulation designed to serve all lots safely and efficiently. The project will be served by existing public infrastructure and include storm water treatment consistent with current standards. Additional roads are going to be built and maintained by the applicant and there will be utility infrastructure in them and that will all be included and constructed with the track map. Additionally on here, if you look um this is an existing street light right here at Springville and Ventura Boulevard and there is a proposed string street light here that once a certain amount of development occurs that street light will be turned on. So it's going to be installed kind of at the as the project progresses and then turned on once the uh traffic in the area warrants that street light being turned on.

on to CUP 442 Elite Car Wash. This car wash is an allowed use in the limited manufacturing zone with a conditional use permit. The car wash includes on-site stacking to avoid traffic spillover, which you can see here in the pink is where their queuing is. So, they'll be coming in here and then there's actually three lanes to queue into. And then payment point is right here. And then they'll go around to the actual car wash. And then back here is vacuums. And then over here is also vacuums. Um, the car wash includes on-site stacking to avoid traffic spillover, water reuse systems to reduce portable demand, and operational conditions to ensure compatibility. Architecturally, the building reflects a Spanish style, Spanish Mediterranean style consistent with the general plan, community design element, and the heritage zone guidance. So, if you look, um, the upper left picture here is basically from the entrance to the car wash off of Ventura Boulevard. This is what you'll be seeing on the upper right is where the screening wall will be for the vacuum systems um that are closer to Ventura Boulevard. Um they did want to make sure that they included what they're considering for signage. This will be approved under a separate permit, but the sign signage will be um in keeping with the heritage design requirements. And then with 360 degree architecture, you're actually looking from the back corner of the lot towards Ventura Boulevard in the bottom right picture. So you can see that that 360°ree architecture wraps all the way around uh with the Spanish elements like the rod iron, the corners elements, uh arches, and the tile roofs. The reduced project does remain consistent with the general plan and the airport north specific plan by maintaining a coordinated employment campus and quality freeway gateway to the city. The project also advances multiple city

goals related to design quality, economic development, placemaking and resource efficiency. An addendum was prepared pursuant to SQA guidelines section 15162 and 15164 and it confirms that the reduced project remains within scope of the previously certified environmental documents and therefore requires no additional EIR and based on staff's analysis the project supports all of the required findings for the IPD modification the conditional use permit and the tenative track app. So staff recommends that the planning commission make a recommendation to city council to approve the addendum to the certified EIR for the reduced project, a modification to the industrial plan development permit for the reduced project, the conditional use permit for an independently operated car wash, and the tenative track map, including all final map requirements subject to attached conditions of approval.

And that ends my presentation. Thank you. Pardon me. Before uh does uh anyone on the commission have any questions from staff? I do. Um these are kind of a few questions as I was reading through conditions that I didn't quite understand. Um first was it talked about um a district easement for the water for different things having to watch out for that. Is there any way to show me kind of where that runs?

Sure. So on this property, if you go to the north of the property along here, there is a United Water Easement where they have a pipeline that basically just transports water through the property onto Oxnard. And there is in this corner right here, there is an area where they can reduce the amount of water or take the water out of that pipeline and they put it into the storm drain so they can do repairs. So that is kind of where the easements are going to have to be negotiated and worked on between the applicant and United Water in order to make sure that United Water can still access that pipeline and do any repairs or maintenance that's required.

Okay. Thank you. Then on when I was reading about loading docks and I've seen a lot of different [clears throat] style and types of loading docks, but it says they have to be covered. So if they're What are you referring to as far as a cover on a loading dock? So that is actually a new law within the state of California. And so by covered essentially it means that the loading dock has where the the dock actually meets the building. Okay? And only for that distance really does it have to be covered. So it's about five or six feet out from the facade of the building that they would have to have it cover over that portion of the loading dock. Okay? Because that's something I wasn't familiar with from when I was going around and looking at a lot of industrial buildings.

Right. And um let me see. It mentioned um a fuel tank. So is the car dealership going to have a fuel tank for their use? Um where did it mention a fuel tank? It was in somewhere in um let me see here. Where did I have it? It was item 57 under something or condition number 57 somewhere. Um, that would be one of public works conditions and it may just be that it's a boilerplate condition included in the event that they came back in the future and required a fuel

okay tank in the ground. Um and and I have to say then one of the um moving on to other things that um one of the things I enjoyed seeing in the conditions was um um subsidizing bus or transportation costs and adjusting and having flexible work hours when needed for employees because I know over in Phoenix um when I was working for Maricopa County that made a big difference in all of the transportation to and from. It's always happy to see that fitting in even if it's just in a boilerplate. So, thank you. Absolutely. Perfect.

Okay. Uh just kind of a followup on the covered uh loading dock. What was the theory on that? Was that for aesthetics or is that a safety thing? It's it's a storm water issue. So, ultimately the vehicles being open to the back, we don't know exactly what's coming and going. We don't want storm water hitting what's coming and going out of those spaces. And so it's also to prevent storm water from getting into the building and then running back out of the building. So it's really about maintaining storm water quality. Okay. Uh and then um seemed like when we had this project last time, was there going to be a certain phasing requirement or is it just based on what the developer wants [clears throat] to do?

There there's not an actual phasing requirement before grading. Well, ultimately the first step is of course the track map. they have to get all of the track map and improvements done in order to then move on to the final map and then after that they would then start building out. Um my understanding is that their intent is to go with the auto dealership first is their primary goal right now. Um car wash probably is going to be coming up pretty quickly as well. Uh and then the rest of it is going to be as you know phased may it may all go at once depending on demand or it may go in phases depending on different lots. Is uh one of the reasons for the lot split are there going to be separate owners for the different projects? Is that

they they wanted that flexibility to be able to sell off a lot for that person to develop it separately. But even if they do sell off a lot for that person to be developed separat for that to be developed separately they'll still have to basically comply with the architectural standards and things like that that we set forth in this IPD.

Okay. Is uh is the first thing though all the infrastructure going to be put in or is that going to be phased as well? So all the infrastructure will go so with the track map all the infrastructure will be put in on parcel a the road going through the center and then any additional infrastructure they need and also improve off-site improvements that may need to be done around the outer edge of the property all of that has to be done and then the basically the lots graded for like rough graded so that following that they can do a a fine grading plan and and move forward from there. Okay,

great. Thank you. I think that's all I had for now. Um, can you please go back to the little table that shows the before and after square footage? Yes, this one. Yes. Uh, the report indicates there's an overall reduction of 100,000 square feet. Is that right? In in the industrial square footage. An industrial square footage. Okay. So, there's an increase. Uh the previous project square footage for the auto dealership was 133 and then a reduced project square footage 183 right so the the dealership got larger. Yes.

So okay so this is increasing by 50,000 and then where is the the reduction is can you point out 574,000 for the industrial R&D to 476,500 to for the um new industrial square footage. Okay. So, there's a reallocation and a reduction, correct? Essentially. Okay. Um, another question and the the conditions that we just discussed, those are conditions that were already included when this first came before us. Those are not new conditions. Is that right?

Uh, there were very few new conditions and there was really just some rewarding based on back and forth between the city and applicants. And then just some other considerations the city had thought about between the last one and this one. Okay, great. And um for the the public's knowledge, this is the first is this the first um auto center in the city? No, there's actually a BMW and there's also a Tesla, right? A Tesla. That's right. Okay. This is definitely the largest auto center. Yes, it will be. This um they're considering this to be a regional. So they will be selling the um brands every basically they'll be selling all their commercial vehicles as well as their um um private vehicles.

Okay. And there's certainly numerous benefits to the public and also um jobs numerous jobs that are added both during the development and then the operation of the these different centers. Um I know this is outside of our purview but there's also as I understand there's a sales tax benefit to the city as well. Is that right? Yes, there is. Okay. So, this would be a hopefully a significant contribution to our sales. There should definitely be a significant increase in sales tax revenue for the city. Yes. Thank you. Nothing else. Any more from the Is [clears throat] the applicant here and will they be speaking? They are and they will. There may be multiple speakers for the applicant.

Okay. I'll uh I'll reserve my questions for them then. Um, so seeing that there are no further questions, uh, we'll go ahead, pardon [clears throat] me, and, uh, we'll open up the public hearing. Are there any public comments on this item? Yes, we received a public comment from Michael Shanklin.

And before you begin, can you just state your name for the record? Well, good evening, Chair Davidson and commissioners and staff. Uh, it wasn't that long ago the KidsStream Children's Museum, actually to your point, Michael Shanklin, executive director of KidsStream Children's Museum. Uh, it wasn't that long ago that we were before you and uh going through our architectural review and I'm proud to say that we're well underway with the anticipated opening date in a in a few months. So, thank you for your support for that. It's very exciting and I I am personally so excited about this project. Um I see that there are a number as a as a community member and a stakeholder there are a number of new jobs that will come to us both in terms of construction also uh wonderful quality jobs uh once the development is completed. We know that there are some exciting new businesses that are coming to town which just makes Camaro a more vibrant community. Uh we also know that this is a former property that that wasn't fully um realized and I think uh I'm all about reaching potential for kids for uh organizations and this and property. That's exciting. And then I I know that uh I've had some exciting conversations with some of the the folks that are associated businesses about how might we um we're just having exciting conversations. how can we make that car wash educational so that as kids are going through they're scanning QR codes and learning about water usage and and you know chemistry and all these great things. So there certainly not a guarantee there but we're certainly excited to be um uh a voice of support for this project. Um and um it's it's my hope that you will approve this and and forward it on to the uh to the council. But thank you for your time. Thank you for the important work you're doing and thanks for the opportunity to speak on behalf of this project.

Thank you very much. You've done comment. Say Garcia.

And if you could also state your name, please.

Jose Garcia. Uh, Chair Davidson. Commissioners, uh, my name is Jose Garcia, lifelong member of Launa, the Labors International Union of North America for 38 years. more importantly resident for 57 years. Um I can remember coming to the air show to uh the Greek festival and empty fields there and we've grown so much and project like this will bring so many positive things. Commissioner Leone stole my thunder on a couple of them. It's okay. Good that you brought them up. Um the revenue, the jobs, the amenities for our people, public safety comes with it. It keeps our people from going up the hill down to Oxnard. Shop here. Can't say more. When good developers like this in choose to partner with Lyuna, they've chosen to deliver you a worldclass project. Number one labor. It's our motto. We build America one project at a time. Kudos on the color changes. It's Camaro. It has the Spanish roofs. It has everything that we're used to seeing. Please move this project forward. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you. Dennis Hargrave.

Good evening, Chair Davidson, members of the commission. Uh I'm Dennis Hardgrave. I'm the land use consultant and planning consultant for this project. And as you recall, we stood before you gosh almost two years ago as we work through the updating of the airport north specific plan. And um well, I've been around this project a lot of years. This project just keeps getting better. And so uh tonight, I just want to first of all thank staff for the way they've worked closely with the applicant on this. Um and particularly Paul on this presentation is very clear. I think they've answered any question and there that you could have. The only thing I would like to underscore is we recommend tonight that this is truly a SQA compliant project. Uh you have done the homework, your staff has done the homework, their consultants have to make sure that this is a tightly constructed SQA document. It's an important thing to do at this time as we've all learned over the last few years. And it's also completely consistent with the vision that we as planners put forth for this specific plan. Not only at the beginning, but in every iteration as we've updated this specific plan. Our specific plans are a tool that we use to get us the quality of development that we all want to see in Camaro. So with that, I'm very happy to be able to say this is a well done project and I think it's ready to move forward. The applicant team is all here as well. They can answer specific questions about buildings or anything else you may have. Thanks for your time.

Thank you,

Steve Deo. Good evening, commissioners. Uh Steve Doce, resident of Camrio for 10 years. Uh and AICP. Uh, another car wash. Great. Um, I I would ask you to ask staff how many car washes we have in this city already. I mean, seriously, they're building a gas station right across the street at Costco. It's probably going to have another car wash. How many do we need? It's just it's a waste of space from my point of view at this time. Have too many of them already. And when if this one fails, what's going to go in its place? probably something that's going to have to rip out all of the pipes, all of the water storage facilities, all that's going to be ripped out at great expense to put something else here. There's more than enough in the city already, please. Um, with regard to the industrial buildings, um, and I know that it's not going to get an answer, but perhaps you could get an answer from the applicant when they talk again because the applicant already talked in public comment. I don't know why, but um, are there leases already for these buildings? Are are are there are there users that are going to come in? Because I know in this in the industrial park in the southwest part of the city near where I live, there's at least a dozen empty buildings already. Why are we building new buildings when we don't we can't even fill the ones we have. New buildings are great. They're newer. They're modern. That's all great. They also have higher costs and higher rents, and it uses up the space. If we have a dozen empty buildings already, let's get those filled. Um I, you know, let's I I I would encourage you to ask staff how many empty buildings are down there. I don't I

haven't didn't know what this was about because I didn't know ahead of time, so I didn't go count the actual buildings. But let's approve good development of the right type in the right place. Please think about this carefully before you just give it an approval. Thank you very much. Thank you. No more public comments. Very good.

Do we ever um Well, we're now going to open this for commissioner discussion. [clears throat and cough] Pardon me. And at that time I was reserving my comments to the um applicant. Um maybe before we handle that, does the architectural review committee have a report?

Um [clears throat] we did look at it and we really like the fact that it does meet the um heritage designs with quite a few arches and different variations of styles going through it. It has a lot of textures to it, different finishes, um ins and outs. They've toned the white down to kind of a light tan or a cream and added more browns. Um took out a lot of the heavy black on the dealership to where it really blends in nicely with the rest of the community around it. And um we really liked it, you know, with the towers and you've got a little tile, you've got a little block, you've got a lot of texture there that plus all the plants and things that will be around it with the open space and the parking. So yes, we would like to um pass it along as approved by us.

Thank you. Uh so at this point I I do uh have some questions. Pardon [clears throat] me. Uh maybe uh Mr. Hargrave, maybe the applicant. Um a couple things that I wanted to clarify. I just thought it would be best to do it now. Um if you could state your name before we start for the record, please. Sure. Um Darren Embry with the applicant, a resident of city of Los Angeles, but Camrio lover. Thank you. Brendan Cutotler also with the applicant.

Okay, very good. Um so I have a couple questions. Uh one, I just want to confirm as I understand it, we're going to if we approve it, we would subdivide these uh this property to for a total of seven. But at this point, those buildings don't even aren't even being planned to be built yet because you don't have an intended use at this point. So they will sit and not be built until there is some use perceived and found. Is that correct? That's that's more or less correct. I mean can you fix the the the last part?

Yeah. You see that that is correct. And I think uh I know it's not traditional to address any sort of public comments, but I think the comments that were raised about concerns regarding vacancy throughout this community is real. It's something that's being felt in the industrial market all throughout Southern California. And it's because of that that we would hold back on building any buildings until there was either an owner user who would come in and bring a new business into the community or a lease. We don't plan on speculatively building these buildings just to have them sit there and be vacant.

Thank you for that. [clears throat] And I and I agree, normally we wouldn't address it, but the it became my question as well, and I appreciate you addressing it. Uh my next question is um is the the car wash. Uh I I hearken back to Starbucks and our conversations about, you know, a Starbucks, you know, a chicken in every pot and a Starbucks on every corner, it seems. Um so, uh when you talk to, um staff, are you aware of other pending or potential car wash projects in the area that that very well could in impact this one? Because it does seem that within about a mile and a quarter, we're going to have three very new car washes. uh which concerns me.

Pro I think it's prox this one's proximity to the de the development um Costco and the forthcoming shopping center probably just to the west of that I think it creates a special location for this particular car wash.

I also think that again to address public comment but there a question was raised about what happens when this car wash if it were to fail goes away what else would be put there. It was precisely that question that led us to finding the car wash as the highest and best use because of where this specific lot is located directly adjacent to the airport and because of the shape of the lot. The potentially viable uses for that site are minimal and are and are not things that you know we could be a construction store you know construction u equipment storage facility or the like and that wasn't something I think that the community or city staff was really supportive of. So, this location we think is actually a premium location for car washes and it actually works to fit with this development and the and the restrictions this development has.

Okay. Can I add one thing? Certainly. As far as I know, Costco is not building a car wash, only the gas station. That's correct.

Yes. Thank you. [clears throat] Pardon me. It seems a linear park um especially with the air show every year would go really beautifully there if the developer would did consider that. But that's a that's a policy decision for our city council to make and also the the use. I want to be clear it it's our perview at least in my opinion that we look at what you're asking for and as if it meets our requirements we pass it on the policy decision as to what use is there in my opinion belongs to our city council and I so while I have opinions on it um I will um I will hold them uh just to this forum and and this um so is there any other questions for any of the commissioners?

No. Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time. Thank you. Okay. So, uh we have heard public comment. Um you've entertained me. Thank you. Um commission. Uh do we have a motion? I think you close the public. Oh, thank you very much. This is my first time as the chair, so I appreciate everybody's uh being very uh patient with me. Uh we're going to close the uh close the public hearing. And having closed it, uh, do we have a pardon me, [clears throat] do we have a motion?

I move to adopt a resolution recommending that the city council approve the addendum to the certified um final STIR, uh, the modification to the industrial plan development permit, the conditional use permit, and the tenative track map. And I'll second that. Okay. Having a motion and a second, we will call for a vote. Commissioner Vanderm, yes. Commissioner Edsil, yes. Commissioner Leone, yes. Chair Davidson, yes. Okay, the motion passes. We'll move on to our next item, which is the director's report.

Thank you. The next planning commission meeting is scheduled for February 17th, two weeks from today. And uh we may have a light agenda uh but we do have one item tracking for that meeting and that completes my report. Thank you. Uh next will be commissioner comments. Do we have any comments from the commissioners? No comments. I don't. No. Right. With that uh we will adjourn. Thank you.