Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

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Thank you, welcome everybody. Tonight is the official starting of the Planning Commission meeting. Madam Secretary, roll call please.

Madam Chair Thomas?

Here.

Vice Chair Diaz is excused. Commissioner Monteclaro? Here. Commissioner Johnson?

Here.

Commissioner Mfume?

Here.

Commissioner Guerra? This hasn't arrived. Commissioner Huff?

Present.

Commissioner Takatazo?

Present.

Commissioner Wilson?

She has not arrived.

We have a quorum.

Thank you. And now we will ask Commissioner Johnson if he would lead us in our flag salute for this evening. Thank you. Next, regarding 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 non-agendized 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?

There are none, Madam Chair.

Thank you. Next, we have oral communications for non-public hearing items listed on the agenda. Members of 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-agendized 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. As we follow the agenda, we have three presentations that will take place tonight. And so we will begin with item 6A, and I will yield to the staff.

Good evening.

Good evening.

Good evening, Honorable Chair and members of the Planning Commission. My name is James Nguyen. I'm the Real Property Services Manager for the City of Carson's Community and Economic Development Department. I'm here to present on the Transformative Climates Communities Initiative, or TCC. So just short, TCC is a grant application that is out and open right now. The grant application is due September 30th. Previously, my colleague, Kami Dene, presented this grant to this commission back in April. It's been a while since that presentation, so I just want to refresh everyone's memory and let everyone know that we are going forward with a grant application submittal. And just to let everybody know about our efforts. So the TCC funds climate resilience community-driven projects that bring environmental, economic, and public health benefits to disadvantaged communities with a core goal of reducing GHG emissions. So we are building upon our brownfields work in Carson. A lot of the grants that we've gotten over the past couple of years have been cleaning and assessing sites. And now that they are going closer to the cleanup stage, we want to actually build things on it. So this is what the TCC would fund. It would fund affordable housing project, it would fund INFRASTRUCTURE LIKE ROADS ON FORMER LANDFILLS AND A LOT OF PROGRAMMATIC THINGS AS WELL. SO I'M JUST HERE TO PRESENT ON WHAT WE ARE ENVISIONING FOR THIS AND ALSO SEEKING THE INPUT FROM THIS COMMISSION ON AS TO ANY OTHER IDEAS OR SUGGESTIONS BEFORE WE SUBMIT ON SEPTEMBER 30TH. With that just a high level overview, this is the sixth round that the state of California is offering this grant opportunity it's with the California strategic growth Council, the funding available is 27.5 million per application they. They are anticipated to probably award three to four, so this is a really big endeavor. but it is also very competitive. There's 49 pre-proposals, so the chances of winning is less than 10% if all else are equal. So this is our first attempt at it. We're gonna put our best foot forward and see how far we get in the process. So what is transformative mean it's really addresses everything very holistic very comprehensive we address housing and Community. Stability we address urban greening clean energy and mobility environmental justice and brownfield remediation, which is a core focus of this application. workforce and economic opportunity and Community health, so our pre proposal title was clean land green futures healthy communities and building opportunity together. And so to do all of this, there is a lot of partnerships required. You can't do this with just staff or just hiring a consultant. It requires all hands on deck. So we leverage a lot of the partners that we have already been working with, have a good relationship, as well as made new connections in the process. So here on the list are the partners that we've been working with. So CSUDH, the university, our local university here, we've been working with them on the Brownfields, developing a advisory committee, which at least two of you are on there. We work with the university on a lot of other Brownfields stuff. With the South Bay Workforce, we recently got a federal EPA grant to develop job training in the environmental sector, getting people into the green fields and assessing sites in the community. So away from the fossil fuel industries and into the green fields. So that's a partner that we've already established. A new partner here is the GRID Alternatives. We've met them on Earth Day, at the CSUDH campus, and they have been a recipient of the TCC in many other cities. What they do is they work on solar projects for low income households, installing solar, batteries, and anything very low energy efficient, green energy to low income households. So our proposal would potentially fund up to 80 households in Carson for this type of work. That's the third partner. The fourth partner on here is Alma Backyard Farms, which you guys may have heard it before. They work on creating urban farms. They have a site in Compton and in San Pedro, and they open every first and third, Sundays for Compton and second and fourth in San Pedro. And they build farms in the community. So it's a really nice place. People gather there. It's very a warm place. So they have actually successfully located in Carson. We helped them with the site selection. And they are eventually going to build a facility here in Carson on Main Street right next to the Motel 6, so close to where the power lines are. So this application would potentially fund that development as well. Next is the Center of Creative Land Recycling. They are a nonprofit in the brownfield space. They have helped us in this brownfields journey since our beginning and a couple years ago, and we want to bring them along on to the next stage of the process.

Next one is the Asian Pacific Environmental Network.

They are very active in our community, especially with the closure of the refineries. And so as part of this effort, we want to have a partner that really focuses on community engagement. I think they're the only partners listed on here that actually one door to door and knock on 20,000 households. So they are very active in our community and I'm actually surprised that one of them is here today. So, and then there's our city affiliated property partners, which is just our housing authority for donating land for affordable housing projects, EIFD, Carson Reclamation Authority, and all of other affiliated Carson entities, so.

That's our partners.

These are the TCC strategies that we would undertake. We don't have to take all 13 of them. We take at least three of them to qualify and integrate them together. So, you know, housing, brownfields, food access, workforce development, so all of that is what we're going to go for. So it's all kind of centered around brownfields, but they're all interrelated. It's not very one random project put together. So on our projects, this is a working draft list. It's been changing. We kind of add and eliminate based on the project eligibility. So these are the five projects that we have. We have two affordable housing sites in Carson that the city owns. They've been vacant for some time. They're going through cleanup or assessment right now. and eventually we would like to get them built into affordable housing units. The last time the city built affordable housing units was in 2019, and so even if you start today, it would still be a 10 year drought until we'll get another affordable housing project in Carson. it's um it's been a long time but we are we have a lot of funding mechanisms in place we have a lot of environmental work that's been progress and hopefully with the infusion of tcc grant application this can accelerate that the third project here is the grid alternatives one helping the low income residents with energy efficiency solar installation fourth one's the ammo backyard farm that i mentioned and the fifth one is leonardo drive There's a road in the middle of 157 acres that potentially could use additional more funding and so we just proactively put that on our capital projects list because that's a very expensive project. So this is more in detail of the projects list of what we're proposing for this application. With that, oh, there's also programmatic components. With each of these components, there's a workforce development component, right? Like you have to help people installing homes with solar trained up for that. So we are, there's a workforce component to that. people assessing sites, you train people to that. The university is leading this, having a formal training session. They would be a sub-grantee here and they would have certificates and they're working with all of our partners together to get the workers trained in each of these components. And also with regards to engagement, I mentioned that APEN is very active in our community, so I talked to them this last week. This is very like, we're developing as we fly right here. I talked to them last week about them potentially leaving the community engagement because they're very active in our community. This is the collaborative structure that they have drafted so far, so that's gonna be part of the grant requirement to kind of and be transparent on how decisions are gonna be made in the process. So working on a pen on that, because this is under the umbrella of the community engagement. And so that was a lot of information, but if you guys have any input or anything you want to say, we have a survey asking you guys on your opinions on projects, what should we prioritize, anything you can think of, feel free to add to it. We have printouts too, if you don't want to use the QR code. With that, that concludes my presentation on this item. Thank you.

Madam Chair, if I may?

Yes.

For the record, Commissioner Wilson has joined the meeting.

Yes, thank you. And, oh no, he was here for the roll call. Yeah, he was, excellent. Okay, thank you. To my colleagues, any questions at this time? I just have a quick one, and I was there some years ago, and I'm wondering if it's the same place, the Alma Backyard Farm.

Is that located on Greenleaf?

Greenleaf and Compton? Where is that located?

I can't remember the street off the top of my head. I could look at my phone for a second.

Sure, look it up.

I know they're occupying a church property right now. Are they? Yeah.

Like I said, it's been a few years since I was there, but it was very, I found it to be very interesting, kind of hidden over in there.

Okay, James, I'll help out. Oh, you got it, thank you. You have it?

No, no.

Okay. It's actually on Redondo Beach Boulevard, 801 East Redondo Beach Boulevard in Compton.

Okay. And so they're going to be building a facility here in Carson at some point, is the projection maybe?

Yeah, they're very early in the stage. They just acquired a property in March. We helped them with the environmental due diligence.

And so in terms of the- Can we ask where that's located in Carson?

The site in Carson was next to the Motel 6 on Main Street, 17505 South Main Street. On Main, Motel 6. Yeah, so it's next to Motel 6. I'm trying to picture that.

I know the Motel 6 on Dominguez, but I didn't know we had one on Main.

By near, is it Albertoni? Albertoni, yeah.

Oh, Albertone, that direction.

I'm sorry, I'm going south.

Okay, so Albertone and Maine. I got it. Thank you. Any other questions? Thank you for your presentation. Thank you. It's very enlightening. Looking forward to all of that. And I have a priority already for you. So I think we're probably already on the priority list.

Happy to hear it. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. The next presentation that we have is an update on the comprehensive fee and special tax study. Again, staff.

Hi everyone, it's me again. It's you again. Here on the, oops, update on the comprehensive development, community development fee study and special tax. So this item has gone to this commission before. I cannot remember the last time it's gone, but the last time we were seeking community input of going out to the community and getting more surveys. I know we had guidance on to showing up to the community where they are. And we were very successful in doing that and got over 100 surveys. So prior to that guidance, we had a lot less. So but now today, I want to just give you guys an overview that we are ready to now meet with developers. And so we have a virtual town hall next Monday on August 31 at three o'clock. So it's a virtual town hall. You may have gotten an email forwarded from Laura. If not, I can resend it. But that's a town hall geared towards more for the development community to talk about the fees that are coming. So just wanna do a quick refresher here. This is gonna be a shorter presentation. So we are embarking on various types of fees and special taxes as part of our comprehensive community and economic development fee update. Those fees include the development impact fees, which funds infrastructure, community benefits which funds a broad range of things in exchange for you know certain zoning benefits inclusionary housing that funds affordable housing requires a certain amount of units for residential projects to be set aside for affordable housing or a developer can in lieu pay an in lieu fee to opt out of that and that in lieu fee would be used for affordable housing elsewhere We also have a commercial and industrial linkage fee. This is also a new fee that we're looking at. This would be a fee imposed on commercial development, industrial development, because those developments generate jobs, and those jobs will create a demand for housing, and so a portion of that would be used for more affordable housing. And then the last one is our CFD community facilities district, which focuses more on ongoing services, so. Just to quickly recap, development impact fees fund infrastructure, community benefits fund a broad range of things, inclusionary housing, funds of housing, commercial linkage fees, funds housing, and CFD fund services. So obviously you cannot charge everything in infinite amounts, then you would not have development, they would not come, and so there's a balance in all this. So that's what we're studying right now, how much, How much of the funds that we are charging to developers can be bought bear by the market, how much of that can be allocated to infrastructure is affordable housing more important infrastructure, so a lot of questions we're going through right now and that's the type of feedback we're seeking from both the development community and from our residents. And so that virtual fee study update next Monday, we'll talk about all of that. It'll talk about our housing needs, the market feasibility, because they looked at actual cost of construction out there and how much the city can actually charge and talks about other cities and our competitors, essentially other cities in the market and talk about the progress to date. So more updates if you're interested in that next Monday. This is the link and information. You can call in. It's virtual, really geared towards development community. And this is an overview of the agenda. So this is what we'll be talking about. And that concludes this presentation.

Thank you once again to my colleagues. Anyone have any questions of James? Yes.

Yeah, so this only applies to new development.

So all five of them would apply only to new development.

It would not affect existing owners. Yeah, it's in connection with new development.

Commissioner Johnson.

Thank you. Is there a minimum density that this would be applied to, or is it just kind of broadly applied to development?

We haven't established the thresholds of when certain fees would apply. Generally, for example, like development impact fees, if you build like a five-unit project, you would pay five times however dollars per unit. Here we may even switch to square footage to accommodate for a size. But all those details have not been hashed out yet. That's probably later in the stage when we're getting ready to draft the ordinance. Understood, thank you.

Anyone else? So just for my clarity too, we currently have development impact fees right now on projects that we have approved in the past. Since we've been sitting here, we call them DIFs. And so this is an enhancement of what we already have. Is that accurate?

Yeah, that's correct. The current DIF program is actually an interim program and it was pending Well, back in 2019 when we adopted it, it was pending the general plan to be updated before we adopt the permanent one, and that's where we are right now. We have the general plan updated, so we're gonna focus on adopting a permanent DIF. And DIF has to be updated every eight years. I'm looking at Ben. Something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, you have to update it every now and then to make sure it's still true.

So we did that in 2019, and this is 2026. It's time to, yeah. Okay. Very good. Very good. Yes.

What is the DIF? What are the acronyms?

Yeah, Development Impact Fees.

Okay.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Thank you.

So an example of diff and what you can use it for is if you needed to build a new fire station. or a new police station. Like when new development comes in, the idea is okay, it's creating impacts, more demands on our society as development comes in, our city is growing. So eventually we may need another fire station, we may need another police station to serve and to respond to the impacts of development in our community. And so it's a contribution of developers toward that infrastructure that the city will eventually need.

All good. Thank you. Very good. Exciting things are happening.

Thank you.

Appreciate it. And our last presentation then is training work. It's a training workshop for us. Meeting and hearing protocols and procedures. It's a refresher. And I will turn the floor over to our assistant city attorney, Ben Jones. Thank you, Madam Chair.

Do we have the presentation? And do I use this for the slides? So how do we do full screen? Is there a way to keep this showing the notes and not one? Is there a way to keep the laptop showing the notes but on the screen it should show the notes? All right, so this is a refresher for the commissioners. You've probably had this training before. This is like an abbreviated version. This is only gonna be like 13 slides to just go over planning commission meetings and hearings and how to run meetings and how to do it the right way, how to follow the laws in conducting your meetings, which is the planning commission meeting itself, and then your hearings, which is when you're considering a project. This is not AB 1234 training which is required per state law for commissioners as well as city council members every two years. It's a two hour training. This presentation covers some of the topics but not all of them. If you need AB 1234 training you can contact the city clerk's office and there are online courses that you can take. Also our office can provide an AB 1234 training if the city would like. So this training will cover public hearing procedure, Brown Act insights, and quasi-judicial versus legislative matters, discussing due process, decision-making duties, bias, ex parte contacts, and commissioner's oral communications. After today's refresher, you will have a framework for how meetings are intended to run and a better understanding of your role as both a decision-making body and an advisory body to the city council. So the public hearing procedure on the screen is a sort of a recommended public hearing, the order of how to conduct a public hearing. You're familiar with most of this, but some of it is a little bit different than what we're used to. So the first step after calling the agenda item is the chair will ask about any recusals and ex parte contacts. And what that means is making sure none of the board members have a conflict of interest. so that's an opportunity for if anyone does have a conflict of interest they can recuse themselves which means they announce what the conflict is and say because of that i'm not going to participate and then they would step down from the dais that could be for a number of reasons we're not really going to cover conflicts of interest today but that could be because of owning property within 500 feet of the project site it could be because you have a financial interest in the developer the applicant you may own shares in the applicant. You may work for the applicant, things of that nature. So that's when a recusal might be in play. And obviously reach out to our office if you have any questions, if you have any doubt. And then asking about ex parte contacts, that means do you have any information that the rest of us don't have? We don't have the benefit of the same information you do. Have you gone to the site? Have you visited? Have you driven by? Have you talked to the developer outside of the meeting? Share that information so that everyone can have the same information so that we're all basing our decision on the same information. So then open the public hearing, take the staff report, ask questions of staff, and then the applicant will have an opportunity to make a presentation. Then there will be questions of the applicant. then the public will have an opportunity, anyone from the public who may want to oppose the project or speak in favor of the project will have an opportunity to comment. And then rebuttal if necessary, this rarely occurs, but it is theoretically available, which is that if you have the project applicant speaking obviously in favor of the project and then you have members of the public who are opposing the project, the applicant should be given an opportunity to provide a rebuttal to comments against the project if necessary. and then any closing remarks by staff, then close the public hearing, and then discussion, motion in a second, debate, and vote. Applicants should be given sufficient time in the judgment of the chair to present their concerns. All other Persons normally will be limited to three minutes. The chair with majority concurrence may limit the number of speakers or the amount of public testimony time on a particular issue in order to avoid repetitious or cumulative comments and to hear those interested in testifying. except when necessary for immediate clarification of a particular point. No person should be allowed to speak a second time until all others wishing to speak have had an opportunity to do so, and then only at the discretion of the chair with the concurrence of the commission. The chair may declare the public hearing is closed when commissioners indicate they have heard all pertinent testimony. After the public hearing is closed, no additional testimony may be given unless the public hearing is reopened. If necessary to permit additional testimony and evidence, public hearings may be reopened during commission deliberation at the meeting in which the public hearing was held. Reopening requires majority consent of the commission. As best practice, it's encouraged to seek to avoid reopening the public hearing after it's been closed. This prevents the possibility of neglecting those who are no longer present at the meeting but spoke during the hearing, neglecting public comment or additional evidence received, or expressing views on the project prior to conclusion of the public hearing. So the Brown Act is the state law that requires meetings of the city council as well as the commission to be open in public. There are certain exceptions, which is what we would hear of a closed session. So in certain circumstances, such as discussing pending litigation, you can have a closed session. Other than that, you have to have all of your meetings and deliberation and decisions have to occur in public. If a meeting occurs, it must be open and public, and an agenda must be posted in accordance with the Brown Act. A meeting, for purposes of the Brown Act, is defined as any congregation of a majority of the members of the commission at the same time and location, including a teleconference location, to hear, discuss, deliberate, or take action on any item that's within the jurisdiction of the commission. So if there's a meeting, there has to be an agenda, has to be posted 72 hours before a regular meeting. If there's a special meeting, it's 24 hours. It must contain a general description of each matter to be transacted or discussed. It must provide an opportunity for public comment on agenda items before the action is taken. And no discussion or action may be taken on a matter that's not on the agenda, except that commissioners may briefly respond to statements or questions from the public, ask questions for clarification, make a brief announcement, or make a report on the commissioner's own activities, provide a reference to staff or other resources, for factual information, request staff to report on any matter at a later meeting, or request staff to place a matter on a future agenda. The agenda also has to be posted on the city's website and in a location that's freely accessible to the public. Discussion on an item not appearing on the agenda may occur if immediate action is necessary. This necessity is determined if the commission establishes by a two-thirds vote of the members that the need exists to take action immediately and that the need for action came to the attention of the city after the agenda was posted. So that's what sometimes is referred to as a subsequent need item and you'll see that occur at council from time to time could theoretically occur at commission too. If there was an action that needed to be taken right now, it wasn't known when the agenda was posted, then the commission can make a motion with two-thirds vote to add an item to the agenda on the floor. So the Brown Act prohibits meetings that are not public and that also extends to what's called serial meetings. The serial meeting prohibition in the Brown Act is that a majority of the members of the commission shall not, outside of a meeting, use a series of communications of any kind, directly or through intermediaries, to discuss, deliberate, or take action on any item of business. This can occur through in-person contacts, technological contacts such as text, email, or social media, or via intermediaries. So for this reason, this might be why you've seen please do not reply all on emails sent to the commission. And if you see that, you should not reply all to the group to discuss items. If, say, an agenda is sent to the entire commission, you wouldn't reply all to that and say, Oh, agenda item 6A, I love that item, that seems great. You wouldn't discuss on an email, group email chain. So common types of serial meetings are the chain, which is where Commissioner A speaks with Commissioner B, Commissioner B speaks with Commissioner C, et cetera, resulting in a majority discussion, deliberation, or action. And then there's also the hub and spoke concept where, like through the planning manager, Commissioner A speaks to planning manager who, you know, member, let's see, member A speaks with member B, member A later speaks with member C on the same subject, resulting in majority discussion, deliberation or action. So. Oh, the planning manager is the intermediary concept where agency manager speaks with member A, then member B, then member C, et cetera. The manager can separately answer questions or provide information to the commissioners, but not share the comments or positions of one commissioner with another commissioner, resulting in a majority consensus through the manager. The Brown Act also has some special restrictions when it comes to social media. So the general Brown Act rule or the traditional rule is a majority of the commissioners shall not use a social media platform to discuss amongst themselves business of a specific nature that's within the commission's jurisdiction. And discussing amongst themselves includes use of comments or likes, emojis, et cetera. But there's also a stricter rule when it comes to social media where it doesn't even require a majority of the commission to be involved, which is that a commissioner may not respond directly to another commissioner's social media post regarding a matter that's within the commission's jurisdiction. This applies to any two commissioners, does not require a majority of commissioners for a violation to occur, and includes commenting using emojis or liking posts. So if a commissioner posts about a certain development project that may be coming before the commission or maybe it already has come to the commission, it hasn't gone to city council yet and could come back. Regardless, like, first of all, it's probably not a great idea to do that. But if you do that, another commissioner should not comment or like and say, oh, yes, I agree, that kind of thing. So the Brown Act provides certain remedies for violations. Criminal prosecution is possible for members attending public meetings with intent to deprive the public of information. This has never occurred. There's never been a criminal conviction of a public official for a Brown Act violation. But it is theoretically possible for extreme situations where there's intent to deprive the public of information. But the more common risk is what's called the cure and correct letter. So what happens is any interested person may demand that the commission declare any action taken in violation of the Brown Act to be void and cure the defect within either 30 or 90 days, depending on the circumstances. which then requires the agency to respond as to whether or not there was a violation, whether they admit there was a violation or not. If they admit, they can cure it. If not, then the person may sue to invalidate the action. And in that case, if the city loses and it's determined that there was a Brown Act violation, the city would have to pay attorney's fees. So it just goes to the validity of the commission's action. So that's it for the Brown Act. And then now we're going to talk about the nature of the actions that you take. Because as a commission, all of your actions fall into one of two buckets, either the legislative actions or quasi-judicial, also known as quasi-adjudicative actions. So the easiest way to think about this is legislative matters is you're acting in your role as lawmakers, as though you were Congress. Think of yourselves as a state legislature or Congress. You're making new laws. The city makes its own laws. The city's municipal code, zoning code ordinances, those are laws. They have local effect, but they're local laws. And the commission's role in legislative matters is to make recommendations to the city council. So the city council is the one that adopts the laws, but the commission, especially for the zoning code, not only can the commission make recommendations, the commission is required to make recommendations before the city council can act to adopt these new laws. So when it comes to legislative matters, the commission only makes recommendations, they don't make final actions. It has to do with making laws or rules of general applicability, and the actions may be city-initiated or they may be property owner-initiated. and there are no due process rights involved of an applicant. There's no developer who has a right to a fair hearing on a legislative action. Examples of legislative actions are general plan amendments, specific plan amendments, zoning code text amendments, and rezoning ordinances, and development agreements. So that's the right column that you see there. The left column that you see on the slide is quasi-judicial or quasi-adjudicative actions. And there, think of yourself as acting as a judge. So it's more like you're acting like a court. So the idea is you're applying rules, existing rules, to individual development projects that are being considered for approval, conditional approval, or denial. Examples of these type of actions are conditional use permits, site plan and design reviews, variances, and subdivision maps, including tentative parcel maps and tentative track maps. In these actions, the commission is the primary decision-making authority. You're not just making a recommendation to the council. You're taking the action. You're giving the approval. You're giving the denial. However, it is subject to appeal to the city council within a certain time. If the applicant's not happy with the decision, they can appeal to city council, and then that would be the final city decision on the appeal. The decision in a quasi-judicial action must be supported by written findings, and the written findings must be supported by substantial evidence in the record. So that's what's known as the substantial evidence test. And also, that's where you have due process rights of the applicant involved, which means they have a right to a fair hearing, which we'll get into in one of the next slides. Due process. So procedural due process requirements apply to quasi-judicial actions. This means the applicant has a right to reasonable advance notice, a reasonable opportunity to be heard, that's why we do the public hearings, and fair treatment of those similarly situated. So one developer has the right to be treated fairly as another developer would. And impartial decision makers, which you're the decision maker, so you have to be impartial. so the commissioners must strive for impartiality and remain unaffected by personal matters. The decision should be based on evidence and an established factual record. So the duties in decision making. Due process requires a fair hearing for quasi-judicial matters. This means as a commissioner, you should not express your opinion before the public hearing. The hearing is for the purpose of taking testimony, and deliberation and decision occurs only after the hearing is closed. That's why you probably become accustomed to, when you open the public hearing, until that public hearing is closed, you should really just be asking questions because you're gathering information as a neutral decision maker, and then once the public hearing is closed and you've received all the information, you've received all the evidence, that's when, for the first time, you express your opinion. You say, I think we should approve. I think we should not approve. And you can try to convince the other commissioners to agree with you. So the commission should base their decision on whether required factual findings can be made from the evidence presented. That's the substantial evidence test. So to invalidate a quasi-judicial action, the court must find that either the ultimate decision is not supported by the adopted findings or that the adopted findings are not supported by substantial evidence. So all decisions should be made based on whether the required findings can be made and the required findings must be based on substantial evidence in the record. The required findings are dictated by the zoning code. For example, it'll say, to approve a conditional use permit, you must find, number one, that the proposed use is consistent with the general plan. Number two, that the proposed use will not be detrimental to public health, safety, and welfare. Number three, there will be adequate site circulation, et cetera, et cetera. So the zoning code will dictate the required findings. You have the discretion to apply, to gather the facts and apply them to the law, which is those required findings, and to determine whether all of those findings can be made in the affirmative. If so, you approve. If not, if you find that any one of those findings cannot be made, you explain why. That's put in the resolution, and then that is a basis to deny. So even after the hearing, and this is important, so after you've made your decision on, say, a conditional use permit or another quasi-judicial matter, the applicant has the right to appeal. Say you deny a conditional use permit. the applicant has the right to appeal that to the city council. Even if you approve, another person could appeal that decision to the city council. And then when it goes to city council, the city council has multiple options, one of which is to send the matter back to the commission for further review. So it's always best to refrain from commenting on the project in the interim, between the time of the planning commission decision and until the council has finished their decision on the appeal. Even though there may not be an appeal, but if an appeal is going to be filed, it's gonna have to be within 10 or 15 days. So while the appeal period is going, and then if there is an appeal, until it goes to council, you should try to avoid speaking publicly in favor or against the project, even though you've already made a vote on it in the commission meeting. And that touches on one of the types of bias that can result in having a conflict of interest that can require disqualifying yourself from a commission meeting. from participation in a commission decision. So what is bias? It's prejudice in favor of or against one thing, person, or group compared with another. There are three types of bias when it comes to the commission's decisions. One is a personal interest in the decision's outcome. another is a personal bias, and the third one is factual bias. So an example of the first one, a personal interest in a decision's outcome, came from a case where a commissioner participated in a decision of the planning commission on a project where a residential project that would have blocked the, it was a city council member, the city council member's view from his rented apartment, and the court held that he had a closed mind about the project. The court found that even though the type of personal interest, which was an interest in protecting his view from obstruction, was not a financial interest, the council member still had a common law conflict of interest, which was due to bias. that resulted in a denial of due process to the applicant. So the applicant wasn't given a fair hearing because the council member who had their view would be blocked by the project participated in the decision. The second type of bias, personal bias, has to do with expressing your opinion in favor of or against a project before the public hearing. So the best example there is the case of Nashaw versus City of Los Angeles. where a Los Angeles planning commissioner had anonymously authored a critical article in a newspaper, in a neighborhood newsletter concerning the developer's project. The commissioner had then participated in an appeal of the project approval to the Planning Commission that resulted in the staff's conditional approval of the project being overturned. The court found that procedural due process principles applied because the proceeding was quasi-judicial. It involved the determination and application of facts peculiar to an individual case. The developer had shown that there was an unacceptable probability of actual bias on the part of the Commission based on the Commissioner's authorship of the article attacking the project. the court found authorship of the article sufficient to preclude the commissioner from serving as a reasonable, impartial, non-involved reviewer. So that's why when you hear me harping about don't express your opinion in favor of against the project before the public hearing, it's based on that case law. And then factual bias is the third type of bias which has to do with ex parte communications, ex parte contacts, which means you have a factual bias if you have information that other commissioners don't have and if you base your decision on that information rather than disclosing it to the group because you're only supposed to base your decision on information presented publicly during the public hearing. If you have outside information that you acquired and you base your decision on that instead and no one else had the benefit of that, that's factual bias because not everyone's on the same page when they're not reviewing the same thing and basing their decision on the same thing. They can result in different decisions because they're taking into account different information. So these types of bias may result in a disqualifying conflict of interest requiring recusal. Recusal is where you have to disclose the conflict and leave the dais before or when the item is taken up. And it requires not only not voting but not participating or influencing the other commissioners in the decision. And then those types of bias, those are all non-financial conflicts of interest. When it comes to financial conflicts of interest, you have the Political Reform Act, which I'm not going to get into because it's a whole big body of law. But the most common example that you're probably aware of for a commissioner is the 500-foot rule, which is where if you own a property that is close to the site of the project that's going to be considered by the commission, you should let staff know. If it's within 500 feet, like property line to property line, you're probably gonna have to recuse yourself or not participate. It's presumed that you have a financial interest in the decision because the decision will affect the value of the property and also will have impacts on the surrounding area. So within 500 feet, generally you should not participate. Between 500 and 1,000, it depends on a variety of factors. And over 1,000 generally is OK to participate. But let staff know, and staff will work with our office and provide an opinion for you if you want about whether you should participate or not. Ex parte contacts I've already kind of covered. But what ex parte means is from one side. It means the receipt of information outside of the formal process. So the best thing to do is avoid initiating contact with developers and avoid extra meeting or outside of the meeting contacts. What can you do? You can tell them I'm not permitted to discuss this issue outside of the hearing or you can disclose, if you do talk to them, you can disclose, you should disclose the information at the hearing and base your decision only on the information presented at the hearing. And factual, if this is not adhered to, it can create factual bias, and it can give rise to the appearance of impropriety. And so site inspections are generally discouraged, but they are allowed, but visiting a site should be disclosed prior to the hearing. Avoid initiating a contact with a developer or a citizen. If contacted, be polite and avoid stating your viewpoint. That's important, avoid stating your viewpoint. Recommend that the person submit their comments in writing or state them at the hearing so that they can be considered by everyone. At the hearing prior to the staff presentation, disclose any information received that is relevant to the hearing. Then outside of the due process world, we have meeting decorum. So this is more back to your standard all commission meetings as opposed to when you're dealing with a public hearing on a project. And the city council has adopted rules of decorum that apply to city council meetings and generally apply as well to commission meetings. And the idea is it applies to commissioners or council members as well as members of the public and everyone who's attending the meeting. And the idea is that everyone should conduct themselves in an orderly and professional manner to ensure that the business of the city is attended to efficiently and they should be polite and respectful when addressing one another. Commissioners should address their request to speak to the chair and do their best to avoid repetition and limit comments to the subject matter at hand, which means refraining from discussing matters that are not on the agenda. Meetings are meant to be a space for everyone to share and express their views on the business at hand. And the city council rules of decorum cover a number of things, but the general rule is that if someone is actually disturbing the meeting, actually disrupting the meeting, they can be kicked out of the meeting. Normally there will be like a warning first, but then if the person continues to engage in conduct that actually disrupts the meeting, they can be kicked out. They can be taken out by security, whatever the case may be. However, you can't remove someone just because they, for example, criticize someone. You know, the city council, they say it's a city council meeting and you have members of the public who want to criticize a certain council member. They can do that because they have their First Amendment rights. Also, if they are using profanity, that's not necessarily a basis to remove them. It has to rise to the level of actually disrupting the meeting. And that's what the city council rules of decorum say. So lastly, I just wanted to cover commissioners' oral communications real quick. As you know, there's a standing item on every commission agenda, basically last item on the agenda, that gives the commissioners an opportunity to provide oral communications. During this time, commissioners are free to share brief announcements or updates from their attendance at other regional boards, committees, workshops, or events. When the commission makes a decision on a development project though, It is subject to appeal to the city council, as I mentioned, and if an appeal is filed, the council will decide the appeal or may consider it and send it back to the commission for further review. The city's decision on the project is not final until the conclusion of the appeal process. Keeping this in mind, during oral communications, commissioners should not vocalize their opinion on a commission decision on a project after it has already been made. Commissioners are still expected to uphold due process, which includes a fair hearing and impartial decision makers. If the matter is appealed to council and then sent back to the commission, the comments may result in recusal being required when the matter returns to the commission. Commissioners should also avoid commenting publicly on dangerous roadway conditions. Please direct these comments to staff after the meeting. And that concludes my presentation and I'm happy to take any questions.

Thank you very much. To my colleagues, any questions?

You said that the commission should not refer to, what was the last thing with traffic?

Dangerous roadway conditions during the public oral communications. And the reason for that is just, it creates liability for the city. When the city does receive, if someone, say, gets in a traffic accident, or they trip and fall on the sidewalk, and they sue the city for a dangerous condition of public property, one of the things they have to prove is that the city was on notice of the dangerous condition, and the commissioner's oral communications providing that statement publicly to staff can be seen as putting the city on notice. And so it's better to, the city will look to do something about it, but it's better to just tell staff directly than to make the public statement that could create liability for the city.

Anyone else? Commissioner Johnson.

Yes, a follow-up question. The ex parte, I'm not sure if I'm saying it right, at what point do you have an opportunity to meet with your fellow commissioners to speak on this if you needed to?

to speak on a project before it goes to the Planning Commission? Well, generally, if less than a majority of the commission is involved in the discussion, it wouldn't create a Brown Act violation. So since we have a nine-member commission, technically up to four people could discuss, and it wouldn't be a Brown Act because it wouldn't be a majority. But the problem is if any of, say it was four people that have a discussion, If any of those four people then talks to a fifth person, now a majority has, and it's not just making a decision, but discussing, deliberating, hearing a project, hearing information, or actually making a decision. So it's not prohibited to talk to one other commissioner about a project leading up to a commission meeting. But the danger is if one person talks to another and then that person talks to another, and especially if you're sharing your views on you think this is a good project, how should I vote? Good or bad? Should I approve it? No. You should probably refrain from that because honestly you're not supposed to be making up your mind until after the public hearing. You're supposed to be in the information gathering mode. Think of yourself as like a neutral sponge just looking to absorb information on the project until... Chair Thomas says, I'm closing the public hearing. At that point, that's when you go into decision-making mode, and that can include convincing your other commissioners that you think the project should be approved. You could say, I'm going to vote for this, and I think everyone else should too. You can absolutely try to advocate at that point, but it's that moment when the public hearing is closed that you go from neutral information gatherer to advocate, decision-maker, et cetera.

THANK YOU. COMMISSIONER JOHNSON, DID YOU HAVE AND DID THAT TAKE CARE?

OH, NO. I DID HAVE ONE. DO THE CEQA EXEMPTIONS FALL UNDER THE QUASI JUDICIAL MATTERS?

Yes, great question. So CEQA would apply to both the quasi-judicial matters and the legislative matters. It's just that on the legislative matters, the commission is only an advisory body, so only making a recommendation to the city council. And so the recommendation would be on the CEQA as well as on the legislative action. versus in the quasi-judicial actions, like the conditional use permit, the Planning Commission is the decision-making body, so they're making the decision on CEQA too. So they're deciding, you would be deciding on a conditional use permit, for example, part of your duties is to decide what should the CEQA action be. So it's a separate thing from approving the project. It's saying, you know, you have to take the CEQA action before you take the action approving the project. And you're deciding, first of all, is the action subject to CEQA? If it is subject to CEQA, then what CEQA document do we need to approve? So that's a whole nother world, the SQL world. And we can definitely do a training on that if the commission is interested. But basically, there's a flow chart that I can provide as well. And it basically takes you through the decision or the thought process, which is, first of all, is it a SQL project or not? If you're taking a discretionary action, like a conditional use permit, it is a CEQA project, so you're past the first step. If it was a ministerial action that staff was taking, that they had to take a certain action, it would not be discretionary, so it would not be a CEQA project, and it would not be subject to CEQA. But the actions that you're taking generally are discretionary, and they have CEQA, they are CEQA projects. However, if it was just a site plan and design review, in Carson it would not be subject to CEQA. Anyway, then once you determine it's a CEQA project, you determine whether there's an exemption. and there's a bunch of different exemptions that could potentially apply. You've heard of class 32 infill exemption as a common one, which means the site has already been developed in the past, or the area around the site has already been developed, and certain specific criteria are met. But if no exemption applies, then you get into actually making a CEQA determination, which is either an EIR, Environmental Impact Report, negative declaration or mitigated negative declaration. And what you're saying is, does the project have potentially significant environmental impacts? If it doesn't, it's a negative declaration. If it would, but you can put mitigation to make it so that it won't, that's a mitigated negative declaration. And if it would, despite mitigation, that's when you have to do an EIR.

Thank you. We might need the flow chart.

Yeah, there's a really helpful flow chart that I could send you. Appreciate it. Yeah.

Are you complete? Anyone else have any questions? I think this was really, really a good refresher for us. I think it was much needed. It makes us feel a little more secure in our deliberations and what we should and should not say after the deliberation is completed and we have made a decision. That's it. So if there are no further questions, thank you for the presentation. We will be looking for the flow chart so that we can.

There is another resource too, the League of California Cities Planning Commissioner's Handbook. It's very helpful. I can send that to you all as well if you'd like. It's just a helpful resource for commissioners to have if you have a binder that you bring.

How thick is it?

I don't think it's too bad.

How many pages?

I don't remember. I haven't looked at it in a long time. Then I don't want it. I don't want it.

You can't remember how many pages.

It's probably not short. It may not be too, too bad. I don't remember.

He likes to read. It could be 500 pages.

Anyway, let me know. And if you want a copy of this PowerPoint, I'm happy to email it to you. So let me know.

Let's see. So we do have this.

Oh, you already have it. Yeah. There you go.

Yeah. It's wonderful. Thank you, Laura. Appreciate it. Thank you. Next, we have the manager's report.

Good evening. Can you hear me okay? Good evening, Chair Thomas and Honorable Commission. Thank you again, Assistant City Attorney Jones for the awesome presentation. Just to put it in context, our last training, a refresher, was in 2021. So it was dying. It was time. Yes. Definitely, yes. 2021. And to kind of clarify some points that Assistant City Attorney Jones mentioned, please, any of your inquiries, please shoot them over, email them over to Laura, and she'll do the coordination. That includes, we will email you the slides if you already don't have it. I know you have the hard copies, but we'll email you that as well as the flow chart. And if you're interested, those who are interested, please let us know if you want the PC book, the League of California PC book, and we'll get that to you also. Okay? Alrighty. That was a great presentation, Ben. Thank you. Awesome. Yeah. Awesome. Another, I have a few things to mention. One, I want to make sure that the Planning Commission knows that James Nguyen has a new division under his wing. he is not only the real property services manager, but he also has his own division within the community and economic development department. So I want to say kudos to him because of those many years in the making, and he finally is getting the staff, or at least the start of the staff, to help him out with the many projects that he's working on.

Excellent, excellent, excellent. Congratulations, congratulations.

And then also, I want to share with you that please, on September 22nd, that's going to be a robust meeting. Everyone, everyone, if you can't attend, please attend because we have quite a few items on board for the September 22nd meeting. Giving you a heads up. You're normally here, but I really want to say please be here for that meeting.

We're making up for lost time.

You know, I'll go with that.

playing catch up at this point.

And then also I want to bring back a matter regarding our Commissioner, Dr. Ossel. And the inquiry was regarding a left turn arrow at the southbound Main Street and Lomita intersection. The city traffic engineer, he did respond and he said that they're going to collect data and complete a study, and let us know what the findings are, and then I'll circle back to you sometime, it looks like maybe around November, maybe late October, heading towards November, with their findings. So it'll either be myself or the traffic engineer that will present that. Let's see, oh, and that, concludes my presentation. And thank you for your presentation. That's it. That's it for tonight.

Thank you so much. This has been quite eventful, and by that I mean educational. Catching up on a lot of things, a lot of things going on in our great city, and so it just keeps us abreast of all those things and how they will unfold and the role that we will play as we continue to go forward. We had quite a hiatus early on in the year. There were so many other things going on in the city that you guys were involved in, but we weren't necessarily as a collective body involved in that. But there was a lot of work going on. And I think what you're telling us is that come September 22nd, we're going to see a surge in catching up on the things that we have put in abeyance for a minute. So we'll be looking forward to that. So everybody stay healthy. And now we're going to go to our Commissioner's Oral Communications. We will start to my right with Commissioner Monteclaro.

Hi, everyone. So I'm glad that I'm back. I've been away sometimes. But this year is a milestone for me, and I turned 80. Yeah, that's good news. The bad news is...

What's the bad news?

The bad news is I check on Google, and I check on the lifespan of an 80-year-old guy, and it gives me five to seven years more. So... But you're a rock star. So you get extra time. Yeah, but that would be long enough for me, you know, to be enjoying life, especially here in the city of Carson. And I'm excited, you know, about the progress of the development of the sports, Couragedale sports. So hopefully that, you know, it will be done this year, you know, in preparation for the 1980... 2028. 2028. Olympics. Olympics, yeah. And sometimes my memory fails me, but, you know, I'm still good. So I'm glad to be here and I'm glad to serve the city of Carson as a planning commissioner as long as my health permits. Hopefully for a couple more years. Thank you. Hopefully, yes.

We're gonna do that. Thank you so much. Commissioner Johnson.

Happy to be here. Excited to see the Brownfield grant circling back. I know that's been a lot of work. Excited for what's to come. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Mpume. Thank you.

Happy to be here. Thank you for the presentation. Mr. Wynn, I'm sorry, I don't know your title. Planning Oh, wow, okay. And congratulations on your new title in office. And thank you, Assistant City Attorney. Appreciate your presentation. Learned a lot. And thank you to the staff and also to my fellow commissioners. It's good to see you. And everyone have a blessed evening.

Thank you. Commissioner Wilson.

Good evening, everyone.

I echo the sentiments of all of my colleagues. And I also want to acknowledge the young lady here who's from the nonprofit who has been very involved over the years. So thank you for always having a presence at these meetings, you know, and speaking on behalf of the community around the issues that your organization focuses on. I think we all very much appreciate it and understand your mission and your goals. And I think for the most part, we all are very supportive of what you do. So thank you for being here. And that's it. I'm complete. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Doc Nossel.

Yes, thank you it's always a privilege to to attend and to participate in these planning Commission meetings and, yes, I definitely echo what has been said it's it's. It's nice to see our public be involved in these proceedings. It's wonderful to have such capable presenters give us so much information. Congrats to our manager, the real manager now. Congratulations for your new staff as well. And also congratulations in order to our rising star over here, super lawyer. Thank you so much for everything that you do. I know we talked about, you know, this has been a minute since we've had this training. The last training actually preceded my participation in the commission, so this is not a review for me. This is a lot of information that is definitely necessary in doing what we do, and I do commend our obviously the staff for everything that you do, our commissioners for always coming in. We're all passionate. We're all pulling in the same direction. We might not always agree on some of the details, but at the end of the day, we all want what's best for our community, our city. And I think we can all agree that having this community you know, all these tools in our arsenal can only help us in doing our job to the best of our ability. So thank you to the staff for preparing this for us. And again, hats off to my fellow commissioners for your willingness to serve. And that completes me. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Huff.

My goodness. Good afternoon, everyone. I certainly do get all of the comments that were made and agree with them. I certainly do. I think we are all happy and proud to serve the Jewel of the South Bay. I thank everybody that's in this room because everybody has made their own presentation and certainly had something beneficial to say to all of us. It is a pleasure to work alongside of you. I applaud everybody for the time and the efforts that they're putting into us being trained for one thing, but also for allowing us to take our place in this great scheme of things. And congratulations to everybody who's a rising star in this organization. Thank you. Have a wonderful and a blessed rest of this month. And we'll be ready for September 22nd. Thank you.

Thank you. Madam Chair? Yes.

To your left. I forgot to ask a question. When will, do we know when Sprouts will open? My neighbor asked me when I was heading over here.

They have the signage and everything done. So I have no idea. I have no idea.

The last I heard, it should be sometime this month. I don't have the exact date, but I can get it to you. I have to speak with the property owner.

This is Tuesday, and the month is over.

Yeah, so let me change that then. Thank you for pointing that out. I'm still like mid-September in my brain. Okay, so we're looking at sometime in October, and I'll get back to you regarding the date. Okay.

The community is really excited about it.

Oh, absolutely. Very close. Yes. It's just a pleasure and honor really to serve in this city, especially with all of the things that are happening, have happened, are happening, and are projected to happen. We are on the move. I mean, and when you think, I want to say that I am certainly honored to serve with my fellow commissioners. Love the staff. I think we got the best staff, but anyway. Love the staff, but the city is on the move. We just had a press conference this past Monday, was it? I don't know, things are moving. No, last week, that was last week, last Thursday. Last Thursday with a major, major announcement that will bring revenue in the oil company marathon and a few others. But some decisions that have been made, some agreements that have been made that really sets this city on a firm foundation of solvency that is just unmatched. I think pound for pound, square footage for square footage, unmatched. It's a huge thing that was announced last week. And so we are really, really moving in a direction that's unparalleled to any others. And so I want to commend the city council for that and the staff that worked on that and made that dream happen. The announcement took place in the amphitheater. It was just wonderful to have a press conference and it was in the amphitheater, not in front of City Hall. with people standing around on the grass, it was classy, it was incredible. There's so many things going on, keep your ears to the ground, keep your eyes on the website, however you get your news, and it is an honor. I've been in this city now 54 years, an original homeowner, and my daughter was just visiting, they grew up here, and she was amazed, she said, mom, this city, who knew back then that this city would be this and what is planned for the future? So our future is bright. We've always had a motto of destination city and I used to think, destination to what? Well, we are now really becoming a destination city with the things that are proposed to be happening here. So we can feel proud as residents of the city of Carson. Those of us who serve, we can feel proud to serve. We see it every time, you know, and you say it was an honor to serve, but it really, really is. This is a good place to be. Thank you, Ben. I treasure you, McKenna, you guys. The whole staff is just incredible. So look at your social media. We have the prayer breakfast that's coming up on the 19th. I was informed today that it is sold out. So if you don't have a ticket, just, you know, plan for next year because we have no more space for you. That's going to happen September 19th. We have the jazz festival that's coming up on October the 3rd. We have the women's conference that's coming up on October the 19th. 7th, which what is it? 16th? Well, it's two weeks later. So from the 3rd, the Friday, two weeks after that, instead of Saturday being the day before. So we have that coming up. We have just turkey coming up in November, and then December we're at the Winterfest and the toy giveaway. So this year is passing fast. You have to keep up with what's going on, but a lot of benefits and amenities are being taken care of in this city. So we are indeed blessed. We are thankful. And with that, as a proud chairperson, I will say this meeting is adjourned.