Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Okay, good evening everyone. All right, we're about to get the show on the road. It's good to see everyone. Our meeting is officially called to order. And Madam Secretary, will you do a roll call, please? Madam Sheriff Thomas, here. Vice Diaz, present. Commissioner Johnson, Present. Commissioner here. Commissioner Huff present. Commissioner here. Commissioner Wilson present. Commissioner Del and Commissioner Gara are excused. We have a

Thank you. Um we are going to now have our flag salute. And Commissioner Doc Dasel, will you lead us in the flag salute?

Everybody please rise. Face flag. ledge to the flag of the stands indivisible liberty and justice for all. Thank you. [clears throat] Next on the agenda, oral communications for matters not listed on the agenda. The public may at this time address the members of the planning commission on any matters within the jurisdiction of the planning commission. No action may be taken on nonaggendaized items except as authorized by law. Speakers are requested to limit their comments to no more than three minutes each speaking once. Madam Secretary, do we have any speakers?

We have none, Madam Chair. Thank you. oral communications for non-public hearing items listed on the agenda. Members of the public, the public may at this time address the members of the planning commission on any matters within the jurisdiction of the planning commission. No action may be taken on non-aggendaized items except as authorized by law. Speakers are requested to limit their comments to no more than three minutes each speaking once. Do we have any speakers? We have none, Madam Chair. Thank you. Next item on the agenda will be the approval of the minutes from January 27, 2026. Madame Chair, I move to approve.

Second a motion. It's been moved by Vice Chair Diaz and second by Commissioner Hup. Are we casting our ballots? Yes, please cast your ballots. Motion carries. Thank you. Next item on the agenda um we have presentations building and safety transcine semianual update. So chair real quick. Yes please. Uh good evening everyone. Good evening. Happy Tuesday.

So we are joined this evening by Raphaela Diaz and Jason Robbins from Trans Tech. As I believe the planning commission knows, we contract with Trans Tech to facilitate the building and safety division of the community and economic development department. So, they are here tonight to give you an overview of what they've been up to. And the same presentation will be going to city council next week. Awesome. Thank you. You have the floor.

Good evening, chair and honorable members of the planning commission. on behalf of Transc, the um building and safety division and under the leadership of our community um and economic development director, Nathan Freeman, it is an honor to be here this evening to present an update on the building and safety division and share the progress achieved over the past year. My name is Raphaela Diaz. I am a client success manager and joining me this evening is Jason Robbins. He is our building official and one of our one of our building supervisors. Thank you for the opportunity to to be here with you this evening. The building and safety division operates within the community development um department and transect provides building official plan check, building inspection and permit technician services on behalf of the city to the community. Tonight we've prepared a quick presentation on the update uh to city for the city of Carson's building and safety division. And with that, I'll go ahead and get started on this slide. Uh we're excited to share your building and safety division by the numbers for the period of January 2025 through December 2025. The city issued a total of 3,513 permits. Our team conducted 7,185 building inspections. We've reviewed upwards of 1,200 projects which includes over 7,500 documents as part of the review process. Collectively, these projects represent an estimated 131.8 million in total project valuation. These numbers reflect a very active year, and there's a lot to see and look forward to in the city of Carson. Now, our commitment continues to be customer service, meaning quick, efficient, and responsive support for our city team applicants at the counter and requests or questions received by

phone or email. As you'll see on the slide, we currently have 10 staff members reporting on site at city hall with an additional 35 staff members providing remote plan check services for a total of 45 staff members serving the city of Carson. And we're especially proud to have received positive feedback from customers, contractors, and homeowners, which reflects the service focus approach of our team. Now, these um next two slides um highlight significant large projects within the city of Carson and their current status within the building division. First um we're highlighting here major projects currently submitted and under review. One example you you'll see here is the new Dutch roast coffee development on Avalon representing contin representing continued commercial investment within the city. Next, uh you'll see we move into projects where permits have been issued and construction is underway. Highlighted here is a remodel and facade improvement project at Avalon and University Drive, including tenant improvements for Sprouts Farmers Market. Staff continues to work closely with applicants to move projects efficiently through plan review and into construction. This next slide shows projects that have completed construction and achieved final inspection. One of the projects that's highlighted here is a recently uh completed commercial development, the new In-N-Out restaurant on Avalon. And now together these slides show the full life cycle of development activity from projects entering review to permits issued and ultimately into successful completion reflecting continued progress within the city and strong collab collaboration between the city staff developers and contractors. And this next slide here is uh some continued services that we will be

providing and Jason's going to

Yes, thank you all. So the next slide is something that we're working on to give a better customer service for the city. And something we're trying to do to help facilitate that one is um we're working with it right now to start posting our daily inspection schedule on the website. This will make it easier for applicants and contractors to see when their inspection is scheduled, their time frame, if they're on the list. Uh it will reduce them having to call or email the city to find that out. Another thing we're doing, um, we currently offer over-the-counter plan check for smaller projects between 8 am to 12 pm on Thursdays. And we're currently working on making an appointment schedule that applicants can schedule an appointment to come in during those times and talk with a plan checker over the counter. This will help if they have questions about their project or for smaller stuff, they don't have to do a full submitt. They can come do it over the counter and have that kind of face to face interaction with the uh building plans examiner. That's uh it for our presentation today. Any questions?

Of course. Thank you for coming. We appreciate the presentation uh and the foresight uh from our planning director to have you come. It's very very good. Um so at this time I will open the floor to uh my fellow colleagues. Anyone any questions?

Not a question but um I do want to echo the gratitude uh from the planning commission. I mean a lot of times we're you know we we see these projects and then not that we're you know we we lose track of it but it's important for us to see some of the that we've done and you know that life cycle that you showed. I think that's that's a nice reminder of the work that we're doing here for the city. So, thank you for that. Appreciate that. Thank you. Anyone else?

Madam Chair, a question. Uh, so you talk about over the counter plan check service for Thursday. When do you anticipate to roll that out? We're currently doing it um as of now. So, it is rolled out as of right now. What we're looking at for future is we're trying to make a convenient scheduling option. So, we're going to still take walk-ins that come into the counter, but we're going to make an appointment system for those who maybe need to get time off work and need a specific time to come in and don't have weight. So, if you schedule an appointment in advance, you come at your appointment time, but we will still assist people that are walking in.

Thank you. Yes, Commissioner and Pome. Thank you. I have a question. Um, how many staff members is with the actual city and with u also how many is with trans tech? There are many city staff members. There are 10 staff members that work inside city hall. We have about six permit techs and four inspectors.

Okay. And 35 with trans tech. The 35 are back of the house support. So we have intake staff that helps take in the plans, route it to our plan checkers and then we have a quite a bit of plan checkers and that's how we're able to keep fast turnarounds is that uh our back of the house kind of helps us process those quickly. That way there's no delay in plan check for processing or administrative. So they don't work at the city but they assist the when the city plans come through. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else?

Yes, Commissioner Huff. I have one question. I of course was listening to the project that includes Sprouts on University. Do we have an anticipated closure date for that or Right now? It's looking about late spring, early summer. They're currently working inside um building out the TI, but it could um construction can be hard to predict at times due to ordering product and that, but the current target date as far as I know is that range.

Thank you. Anyone else?

Yes, Commissioner Johnson. [clears throat] I would just add that's an amazing turnaround. I've seen the turnaround from other municipalities and even ours prior to contracting you guys out and looks amazing. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, so my questions. Um, thank you. This is very exciting because as Commissioner Johnson said, turnaround time is really important when people are wanting to do a project. And so your involvement comes in at what point?

So we're after the entitlement phase. So after they go to planning commission, they get planning commission approval. They get their conditions of approval established. After that, then they're able to submit into the building department and then we do the California building codes uh review.

Okay. Excellent. So, when you when you when they're going through once they get to the building department, right, and they're going through that process, what I'm hearing you say is because you have an escalation, you're going to have something online where they'll be able to go online and and see when things are happening, etc., etc. I know you're working on that. Do you have a time frame? Um, we're currently working with it. So, um, as soon as we're still working with, uh, the IT department on when we can get those up on the website, the calendar is developed. We just have to figure out how to get it posted.

Do we have a time frame on that? Um I will have to [laughter] ouch. So chair, great question. We're working on it as expeditiously as possible. One of my [clears throat] commitments to our city manager, our city council, and to you all is customer service. Good customer service means folks can go online, see where they are in the inspection queue, and plan their day accordingly. So it's not a matter of if, it's when, and that when is hopefully very, very soon. So when that goes live, I will let all of you know, okay, expeditiously. So right now, we don't have a timeline.

Hopefully uh soon. So I would love [laughter] to I would love to say two weeks, but I will inevitably No, the answer is no. We don't have a timeline yet, but you're working hard to make that happen. Very hard. I appreciate that. Customer service is very important. Yeah, that that's very good. Um that's all the questions I have. Thank you for your presentation. We look forward to you. And how often are they going to be making these presentations? I did apparently have another question. So our our goal is to do this by annually. So twice a year. Twice a year. Yes. Moving forward. That's

because Yeah. I I I think uh uh our own uh Miss Alexander would like for me to stop calling her and saying whatever happened to that project that you know. So, I think this is very very timely um so that we can know what's happening too because we have a time frame, don't we? It's a two-year process when once it's approved by the planning commission, they have two years to start be ready to pull permits and make sure they have it done. Otherwise, they have to come back, right? Okay. All right. So, this is going to be great. Great meeting you. Thank you for coming. Uh if there's nothing further,

thank you all for having us. Take care. All right. Next item that we have on the agenda is a public uh hearing and we will hear from our um associate planner, Mr. Whiting. Good evening, Chair Thomas, members of the commission. Um the item before you tonight is for consideration of approval of a modification uh mod 126, also known as site planet design review number 2125 consisting of the modification of the facade of a showroom building uh to an existing car dealership. This application was originally uh assigned entitlement number DOR 2125 but was reccharacterized as mod 126 for clarity and descriptive purposes. The project site is located on the north side of 223rd Street, south of the 405 freeway. Two car dealerships currently share the subject property with Chevrolet on the west and Hyundai on the east. The project is consistent with the city's general plan and development standards for the commercial automotive zoning district. The project is

surrounded by recreational vehicle dealership to the east, motorcycle dealership to the west, warehousing to the north and to the south. On February 27th, 2024, the planning commission approved DOR 195223 allowing the construction of a new service building, miscellaneous buildings and improvements for car deal detailing and car washing, site improvements, improvements to the facade of the showroom building, uh, which the showroom building is highlighted on this site time. The original approval allowed new cladding along the north elevation showroom and addition of a parapit wall consisting of aluminum composite material paneling along with a tower element. [snorts] This feature would create an illusion of a larger building measuring 10.5 ft tall, 35 ft long, and approximately 31 ft wide. The proposed revisions would remove the aluminum composite material panel parapit element, remove the decorative cladding from the north and east elevations, and increase the height of the ACM paneling above the service area uh or service reception area by 3 feet. The revisions would result in uh the showroom building maintaining a similar shape to its current appearance as viewed from the street while still providing uh an updated look. Uh there are no increases to the overall height of the building or the footprint.

[snorts]

The project is presented to the planning commission tonight because condition number four of the original approval states that any substantial project revisions will require review and approval by the planning commission. Uh the staff recommendation is for approval and the project was published in a timely manner and posted on site and evidence of posting here. Uh this is a rendering of the proposed project as it is and I'm available for any questions. The applicant is here as well.

Thank you to my colleagues. Any questions of planner whiting? No questions. Thank you for the presentation. This is a public hearing. So do we have any speakers? Madam Secretary, there are none, Madam Chair. Okay. Thank you. Since there are no speakers, um, does anyone have any questions of the applicant? The applicant is here, right?

Madam Chair, just a general question. Applicant or their designate, uh, we've had an opportunity and you've had an opportunity to review the general conditions of approval. Are you in agreement with all the conditions of approval as as been uh depicted here? We're in agreement with the general conditions. We're primarily we're just making a revision to the tower element. Understood. And your name, sir? Brian Stump with YSM design. Thank you, sir. I'm complete.

Thank you. Are there any other questions? Seeing none, that's one of my routes I take. I look forward to seeing it look nice on 223rd since that seems to be our auto row. And so, thank you for coming uh with these improvements. It all works for the good. Um if there are no further questions, I'll entertain a motion. Madame Chair,

yes. I'd like to make a motion to adopt resolution number 26-28.99, a resolution of the planning commission of the city of Carson binding a SQA exemption and conditionally approving modification of conditions of approval of a discretionary permit number 0001-26 to modify the do 1952-23 as of the facade of the showroom building of an existing Hyundai uh car dealership located at 22 205 East 223rd Street. Um, that's my motion. Second. Say it in the mic. Second that motion.

It's been moved by Vice Chair Diaz, second by Commissioner Infume. Cast your ballots. It's not up. There we go. All right. Motion carries. Thank you again. Thank you for application. We look forward to what you do there as usual. Thank you for being partners in the city of Carson. Next item on the agenda will be the manager's report. Good evening again, chair. As always, thank you to the planning commission for your hard work on behalf of this community. Also like to recognize staff Mcken Alexander, our planning manager, and her dedicated team, but a lot of hard work and effort to get this agenda to you this evening again so that you can make good decisions on behalf of our community. So, thank you to the staff, thank you to you all and uh till our next meeting. That concludes my report. Thank you so much. Uh, manager Alexander, do you have a statement?

Um, in recognition of how most of our PC responds little to what Director Nathan Freeman said, I really do appreciate our staff and the hard work that's put into presenting these matters before you. And again, thank you for your efforts as well. Thank you. Thank you. And to our assistant city attorney, any comments? You're good. Okay. With that, um, we will open the floor to, um, our commissioners. Starting to my right, Commissioner Johnson. Happy to be here and making meaningful progress.

Commissioner Mume, pleasure to serve. It's great to see everyone. Al, always nice to see my fellow commissioners and thank you to the city staff. You guys do an awesome job and I'm looking forward to the state of the city. [laughter] So, see what you guys have up your sleeves. Okay. Anyway, that's it. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Wilson. Ditto. Thank you. All right, Commissioner Dr. Osel.

Uh yes, uh gratitude is definitely the theme uh for the evening. Uh it's always nice to have a very streamlined uh meeting uh which doesn't take away from the productivity uh that this group has and certainly acknowledge the hard work that our city staff uh always does. So, thank you all. That completes me.

Thank you, Commissioner Well, I'm very grateful as well for all of the statements that have gone before me and I thank the staff for doing such a wonderful job for us and my fellow commissioners for being here to again look out for the jewel of South Bay. It's wonderful to be here this evening and it seems like it's been a long time since I've seen you. So, hello to everybody. I am complete.

Thank you. Um, so before we bring everything to a close, we have a busy March coming up, but we still have to end February. This Friday, this Friday, which will be the 27th, we will have Carson will be hosting its Black History program. The doors will open. It will be located, of course, at the event center or the community center or the Wanita McD Melinda McDonald Center, whatever you want to call it. It's all the same place. Uh, doors will open at 6. We have a wonderful wonderful program planned for you. Uh I am always proud to say that Carson Citizens Culture Arts Foundation will be partner partnering with the city for this presentation and we think you will enjoy it. So bring the family. It is it's familyfriendly

and think about that for a minute and you'll know why if you come. So that's happening on uh Friday. And then as uh Commissioner Mume said, we have the state of the city that's coming up. What is the date for that? 19th 19th. Uh and there are several other things going on. But always check in to the Carson website and see what's going on because we are one busy, happy city. Thank you for coming tonight. I will officially adjoin this meeting. Until the next time.