Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Please enjoy the holding music. Your call is very important to us. Ready to go? It's 6 PM, so I'd like to call this meeting of the Cathedral City Planning Commission to order for the June 4th, 2025 meeting. Madame Secretary, can I have a roll call, please? Commissioner McFale here. Commissioner me here. Uh, Commissioner Bedard here. Vice Chair Lee, present. Chair Malcoff, present. Let the record show all commissioners are present. Then I'd like us all to stand for the pledge of allegiance to our great country. 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. Do we have any changes to the agenda? There are no changes to the agenda. Okay. So then um if there are no changes um we can move into public comments. The public is invited to address the planning commission on any matter not on the agenda. If you wish to speak on an agenda item, please wait to be recognized under that item. Except for special circumstances, the Brown Act prohibits the planning commission or staff from responding or taking action on any comments made by the public unless it pertains to an item that appears on the agenda. All speakers should give their name in city of residence and please limit your remarks to three minutes. So, um I don't see

that we have anybody in the a Well, we do. Um do we have anybody that wants to speak? Um, chair, we did receive the following comment for the record provided to the members of the commission and made available for public inspection at the entrum chambers. David Coslo provided comments related to the November 2026 city council elections. Okay. And do we have anybody um that wants to speak through Zoom or No. Do we have anyone in the audience wishing to speak for a public comment? We have no one wishing to speak. that we can move we can move on to approval of minutes. Approval of the May 21st, 2025 meeting minutes. Um, do we have any changes to the minutes? And if not, do we have a motion and a second to approve the minutes? I'll move to approve. And do we have a second? I'll second. Commissioner Bard, did you vote? Sorry. Okay. Let the record show a motion was made by Vice Chair Lee, seconded by Commissioner Meade. Vote motion passes. And that leads us to our public hearing items. Um, a zoning ordinance amendment 25-002 and specific plan amendment 25-2. adopt a resolution recommending that the city council adopt ordinances amending chapters chapter 9.18 of the Cathedral City Municipal Code to add

single family dwellings as a permitted use in the RM multiple family residential district under certain provisions and amending specific plan 87-26 C to allow single family dwellings when permitted in the underlying zone and to clarify that single family dwellings are subject to the development standards of the underlying zoning district. Miss Camps, do we have a report? Yes, we do. Good evening, Chair Malikoff, Vice Chair Lee, members of the planning commission. I'm Don Camps, associate planner, and today I'll be presenting uh zoning ordinance amendment 25002 and specific plan amendment 25002 for your consideration. These amendments propose to add single family dwellings as a permitted use in the RM district for lots no greater than 10,000 square feet and that do not have frontage on an arterial highway and to amend specific plan 8726 C to allow single family dwellings in the specific plan when permitted in the underlying zoning district. So, to begin with, um, some background. Um, in February of this year, a property owner submitted a building permit application for the construction of a new single family dwelling on an approximately 9,500 square ft property located at 68 uh 955 Elantre Road. According to the general plan, this property is designated for medium density residential at a density of 4.5 to 10 dwelling units per acre. And according to the zoning map, the property is in the RM or multif family residential district. While there are existing single family dwellings adjacent to the property and on nearby properties, new single family dwellings are not permitted in the RM zoning district. The property is also located within specific plan 8726 C, which also prohibits new single family dwellings. After investigating this property on Atlanta, staff found that this property

is one of multiple vacant properties within the RM district that are too small to fully support development as multif family projects while meeting the density requirements established by the RM district. And that finding is what led to the amendments being proposed today. So this map shows all properties in the RM district uh outlined in yellow. There are 139 lots zoned RM of which 28 are currently undeveloped. The undeveloped lots are clustered in two areas. So there are four large lots just south of the I 10. And the remaining 24 undeveloped lots are located in a corridor along Date Palm Drive south of Raone Road and north of Dinosaur. Permitted uses, apologies, um, permitted uses in the RM district include multif family dwellings and compatible uses such as small family daycarees, supportive and transitional housing, and group homes. But currently, single family dwellings are not permitted in the RM district. Uh, the RM zoning district has a permitted density of 4.5 to 20 to 10 dwelling acres per um dwelling units per acre. Um, as noted in the staff report, um, the zoning code actually lists two permitted density ranges for the RM district. Um, a medium density range at 4.5 to 10 dwelling units per acre and a medium high density range of, uh, 11 to 20 dwelling units per acre. But all sites in the RM district currently have an underlying general plan designation of u, medium density residential, 4.5 to 10 dwelling units per acre. So that is effectively um the the density for the zoning district right now as well. Uh the RM zoning district also has

a minimum lot size of 20,000 square ft for all newly created lots. However, there are currently 60 existing non-conforming properties in the RM district that are smaller than 20,000 square ft uh including 28 properties that are 10,000 ft or smaller. In researching the Alancha property, staff found that it is difficult to develop residential uses on these sites that are less than 10,000 square feet while meeting the RM development standards. So, specifically uh based on the permitted density of 4.5 to 10 dwelling units per acre, a 10,000 ft property in the RM district could be developed with a minimum of one dwelling unit and a maximum of two dwelling units. But because the RM district does not permit single family dwellings, uh to meet the definition of multif family, there must be three or more units. So the residential development of these properties, 10,000 ft or less could not um essentially be developed while meeting the current development standards. The proposed zoning ordinance amendment is intended to facilitate infill development on these smaller vacant lots. The amendment would add single family dwellings as a permitted use in the RM district, specifically on lots that are no greater than 10,000 square ft and that do not have frontage on an arterial highway. Other than adding single family dwellings as a permitted use on select properties, the permitted amendment or proposed amendment would not modify any of the development standards in the RM district, including lot dimensions, yard requirements, coverage, building height, parking, fencing, and open space. There are a total of 23 properties in the RM district that are less than 10 or 10,000 square feet or less and that do not have frontage on an arterial

highway. Of these 23 properties, seven of them are currently vacant and therefore would be impacted by the proposed amendment. And these properties are highlighted in blue on this map. Um, one of those properties is the Alancha property that I mentioned in the introduction. So this proposed uh zoning ordinance amendment is intentionally narrow in scope in order to facilitate infill development where it might otherwise be constrained by the existing development standards while maintaining consistency with the intent and purpose of the RM zoning district as well as the development pattern that's established by the general plan land use map. So specifically, the distribution of land use intensities that's established on the general plan land use map generally concentrates higher intensity land uses um along major transportation corridors. So for that reason, the amendments uh being proposed to the RM district would limit would be limited to properties that do not have frontage on an arterial highway, which in this case is uh date palm drive. Um to address a bit of background on on why the 10,000 ft cutoff is being proposed for this amendment. Um staff is intentionally again keeping the the proposed amendment narrow in scope. So as previously stated 20,000 square ft is the uh minimum lot size for all newly created lots in the RM district. Um 13,000 square ft would be the minimum lot size at which three dwelling units can be developed within that 4.5 to 10 dwelling units per acre density range. Um in terms of 10,000 square ft the launcher property which was the sort of catalyst for for this proposed amendment um is22 acres or about 9,500 square ft and the other six vacant properties in the RM district are also that same size. While there are four properties in the

RM district that are currently between 10,000 and 13,000 square feet, these properties are all already developed. The intention here again is to facilitate development of smaller infill lots in the arm district that may otherwise be constrained by the current development standards while limiting the scope of the proposed amendments for consistency with the medium density development pattern. So, the proposed uh the properties being impacted by the proposed zoning ordinance amendment are all also within the planning area for specific plan 8726 C. Uh this specific plan was originally adopted in 1989, but it has been amended as recently as 2019. It covers an approximately 37 acre area outlined here in red. Um and underlying underlying the specific plan is a mix of RM and plan community commercial zoning. The specific plan contains a list of prohibited uses which currently includes single family dwellings. So staff is proposing to amend the specific plan to allow single family dwellings when permitted in the underlying zoning district. So, this means that single family dwellings would be allowed in the specific plan for sites that are zoned RM and that are no greater than 10,000 square feet and do not have frontage on an arterial highway. Um, because the residential development standards in the specific plan are intended for multif family development. Um, the proposed amendment would also clarify that single family development would be subject to the development standards of the underlining zoning district. So, um, now that I've laid out the proposed amendments, um, and the rationale, there are two additional points I'd like to touch on. Um, first is that the the sites subject to the proposed zoning ordinance amendment are

not including in the are not included in the housing element land inventory. Um, in fact, the vacant infill lots listed in the housing element land inventory are specifically in the R1 and R2 districts. So, the proposed amendment would not impact the city's housing element or arena. Um, second, um, it was discovered at a a late hour that single family dwellings were in fact a permitted use in the RM district until September of 2022 um, when a zoning ordinance amendment was adopted to support implementation of the housing element. That amendment struck single family dwellings as a permitted use from the RM district. So, it's not necessarily clear why single family dwellings were struck from the RM district at this time, but it is likely that um the issue facing the Olanche property and these other six um smaller vacant properties um is an unintended consequence of that zoning ordinance amendment from 2022. Uh in terms of environmental review, uh the project is exempt from SQUA pursuant to the common sense exemption. Uh the proposed zoning ordinance amendment and specific plan amendment are text amendments only. So they're not proposing uh any new development. But it's also worth noting that future development of any single family dwellings uh that might be facilitated by these amendments uh would be ministerial of projects that are exempt from SQA. Uh the specific plan amendment required consultation with local and regional tribes pursuant to SB18. Um the project was transmitted to these tribes on April 2nd to initiate

the 90-day consultation period. Um so far four responses have been received. Uh only the Aua Caliente Band of Kawa Indians have requested formal consultation. that consultation was conducted and the tribe formally closed the consultation um in writing on May 20th of 2025. Um none of the other three tribes that responded uh requested formal consultation and the 90-day period will close on uh July 2nd. The project was noticed in accordance with the new government code that requires a 20-day notice for zoning ordinance amendments that impact um the uses permitted on real property. Uh in response to the public hearing notices, three uh responses were received from the public um over the phone. these responses. Um, in each case, the residents were looking for clarification about what the proposed amendments were and how it would impact their properties. And in discussing their properties with the property owners, it was found that none of their properties would be impacted at all by the amendments. So with that concludes my presentation. Staff recommends that the planning commission adopt a resolution recommending that the city council adopt an ordinance approving zoning ordinance amendment 25002002 to amend chapter 9.18 of title 9 of the Cathedral City Municipal Code and approving specific plan amendment 25002 amending specific plan 8726 C. Uh, thank you. And I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Do we do we have any questions for Miss Camps? Let's start with Commissioner Bedar. Sure. Um, I think this is great. I think it's a very positive way that we're demonstrating we're working with the community and

what's actually there. Uh, I'm curious if there are properties that are on date palm, the alterior highway, or is that what the right phrasing? arterial arterial highway that are falling into a category similar to this and what's our response for that? Yes, let me pull up my notes here. I know there's there existing single family homes I believe within these streets. Uh I know Aker Chiropractic which is now a business but does have a residence on it next door there's an artist that has several pieces out in the yard there. Um, and that's still a single family residence as far as I know. Curious how those smaller lots will fall into this kind of plan. So, within the RM district, um, there are five properties that are 10,000 ft or less that have frontage onto date palm. Two of them are already developed um or are in one of them is in the midst of being developed as part of the Newport 17 project. Um the other three are currently vacant but are surrounded by other vacant properties. So there is the potential for lot consolidation in that case. Um and again sort of the intention with the amendments was to to limit new single family dwellings going along that major transportation corridor. I know there are some existing but okay and the basis for that recommendation too this actually comes from the general plan too. We look at the circulation element. There are intersection spacing and driveway access restrictions on arterial highways that could not be met if that developed as single family. So, our encouragement there really is for those lots to be consolidated and redeveloped as part of a larger project. Thank you, Commissioner Lee. Um,

yeah, a complicated little problem here. Um, and so, uh, I I'm trying to get my head around some of it. According to the the packet, the the base zone for for this is PCC. Um, so within the specific plan, the base zone is a mix of RM. Let me pull up my map here. A mix of RM and PCC. So, the the portions that are PCC would not be impacted by the proposed amendment. So it's probably just the wording in in the um specific plan which said the base zone was PCC which was why I was going to ask. So we also have RM on top of that and we have REB uh on top of that. It's like multiple layers. Um so one of the things I was going to ask about there was um which takes precedence if I look at 19 918 um which is the RM uh information. Are we saying all of that applies in this specific zone if we add single family homes? And let me ask let me say why I want to know that. It's because it seems to me some of the things in 918 are not consistent with single family properties. So if I look at 918090 parking um allows for carports which we don't normally allow for a single family home. So, I'm wondering uh h how how we balance the two, the specific plan and 918 RM. So in terms of the specific plan, I think for the development of single family homes, it would really essentially default back to the standards in the RM district because the

language in the proposed amendment to the specific plan says that in terms of the development standards in chapter 918, the the RM district, it's a fair point about the carport. I would need to look at that. the other ones. So, again, the district is generally intended for multif family uses, but the standards would work regardless. And because it's kind of a very few lots that would be impacted, it for example, it has a a clause about um private open space. there's they need to have 80 square foot square feet per unit, but you know, a a single family development would be able to just accommodate that by having open space on the lot and based on the the lot coverage requirements that would occur. Anyways, the carport, I guess that would potentially need further discussion. I don't know if currently we would then be allowing carports for new single family dwellings in the RM district because that's how it's written, right? I I and I don't necessarily disagree with allowing cardboard. It it just occur just just occurred to me that there might be some inconsistencies. So, I'm just checking. So, if I can opine on that for a moment. You're right. there may be some inconsistencies and I think we all recognize that this is a little bit of an unusual item. This is not how we ordinarily would look at amending the code. But I think we've recognized a critical problem where we have removed any potential use of a handful of properties within the city, including one where there is an active permit. We're looking for a quick solution. We're looking for a fix. And this is an instance where I would say we can look to the development code update for a

more comprehensive a more global solution recognizing that as we develop that solution we need to understand that there are non-conforming lots that there are lots like those that Miss Camps has presented in our presentation that we need to consider too as we make these amendments to the zoning code so that we're not removing all potential use of that property. So I I think Miss Camps has framed it correctly that um should this uh be approved uh that a single family uh use on a lot less than 10,000 square feet that is not on an arterial highway would be permitted based on the development standards in the RM zone district as it stands today. And we we we're not proposing here to change any lot sizes that already exist. No. Okay. Because again, I'm looking back at at the specific plan for Rio Vista Village and there we did away with all the 10,000 square foot lots and said that they, you know, they weren't marketable. So, all right. Um, none of this precludes then if you've got a 10,000 square foot lot. Um, the provisions of SB9 or other. Um, so these lots could be split. We could have four units on a lot, I think. Is that correct? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So, so they could still be multiple dwellings actually even on these 10,000 square foot lots. It's possible you could see an urban lot split. It's possible that you could see a two family dwelling unit. It's possible you could see an ADU and a JADU. Okay. All right. Good. Um I couldn't quite get the arithmetic to work, but I I don't really care. But to get to 4.5 per acre, it would be 9,680 square ft. Um, so you end up at 4.35 with

10,000. But you pointed out that that would be.99 of a house. So I I think we're good. All right. Okay. Thank you. That's all I had. Well, I was going to go last, but my question is very much related to where you left off. Oh, okay. So, I'm going to go next. Um, I understood the technicalities that, you know, you're trying to solve and I understand that it's better to give somebody a chance to build something than just to say, you know, you're out of luck and you can't do anything. So, I I get all that, but I'm having a lot of trouble with the general plan, and I still don't really understand how you're complying with the general plan. So, if you took 10,000 square ft, because that's the minimum size that you could build a single family lot in the RM district, and the house was 2,000 square feet, then that would be five units, that then that would be five units to the acre. So then that would work on a 10,000 or 20,000 square foot on a 10,000. I don't have the math for a 2,000 foot house specifically, but to So a 2,000 ft home on a 10,000t lot, that would be 20% lot coverage. That's not necessarily the density calculation. Okay, maybe I'm I'm asking the question wrong. How on a 10,000 and a 20,000 foot lot, which are round numbers, does compliance with the general plan is based on the size of the house? No, the general plan states the

permitted density range of 4.5 to 10 dwelling units per acre, which as shown on this uh slide, 4.5 dwelling units per acre on a 10,000 ft property would be.99 dwelling units. 10 dwelling units per acre on a 10,000t property would be two units. So one dwelling unit would I guess fall just above 4.5 dwelling units per acre but because that's the minimum that would be a permitted. What may be missing here is that the definition of multif family is three or more attached units. Uh whereas single family is a single unit or a duplex unit. So the density could work um but for the definition of multif family which requires three or more attached units. So so you have a 10,000 square foot lot and your density is 4.5 units to the acre. how building one house I don't I still don't understand how you can get to 4.5 dwelling units per acre because unless I'm misrating this 10,000 ft is only 23 of an acre. So if you multiply that by four to get to a full acre if you round it up you say each one is a quarter acre every 10,000 foot lot you're getting four of these lots per acre. So if you have one house on each one, that's four houses per acre. It has nothing to do with the size of the house. It just has to do with the size of the lot. Right. Right. That's correct.

So So what you're saying is um you take 10,000 square feet for the lot and divide that by 23. So the way I calculated it is I converted 10,000 square ft to acreage which is 23 and if you multiply that by 4.5 then you get that.99 units. Likewise, if you multiply it um by 10, you would get the two units. Maybe if I say that an acre is 43,560 ft. Yes. And if you divide that by 4.5, then you would need 9,680 square ft in order to build one house. Yeah. And you would multiply that by three to get the minimum lot size for a three unit. Right. Can we come back to you and I guess I'll try to figure it out. Um I'm a brain block on this. Um Commissioner me. Uh yeah. So, I'm just wondering um since we have a shortage of housing, we know we're getting a presentation later about how we are not even remotely close to being on track to meet our arena numbers. Um and we're already proposing making two amendments, one to the zoning code and one to the specific plan. Why are we not tweaking the code or making an

exception in the other direction to allow for slightly more density so we could get more housing rather than I mean it seems to me that the vast majority of projects that are under development under under construction have already been approved are large single family properties and what we need is more multif family. So did you consider at all saying on lots let's say that couldn't meet the requirements just in this very specific plan that maybe the density could go up to 10 or 15 instead of 10 so that you could have a triplex essentially something like that which could go on the property would still be multif family. Um just curious I I would concede that again part of the impetus for this amendment was um a specific property owner who's actually in attendance today and um that was sort of why we were trying to keep the scope limited understanding that generally speaking we are trying to facilitate more housing development. Um, but for kind of this particular scenario, it made more sense to allow a single family dwelling, which is what was being proposed for that lot. And many of these lots have been sitting vacant. I guess my only concern is knowing that we are going through the whole development code update. By passing these amendments now, now we're basically potentially for less than a year going to lock in something that maybe if we went through the development code update, we would decide, hey, we would prefer to just tighten up the density and allow multif family on those lots. And now we're going to have this weird middle period where people could submit plans and then we undo it and then we just have more non-conforming. I'm just thinking like I my personal preference and I don't even know if this is even allowed but would be to allow this one lot to do this and to not mess with anything else and not change the

zoning and not have an amendment in general because it seems like I get why we want to approve this one thing because someone's ready to go but to change all of them because of one project when we ultimately may not want that um seems I'm having a hard time with that. I guess I appreciate the concern and that was something that staff discussed at least in the sense of, you know, how can we permit this one project, this one permit uh without having unintended consequences ourselves? How can we do this in in a limited way? And I I'll ask Miss Camps to clarify just how many properties this affects. But this uh amendment before you this evening was crafted in a manner to open the door, but open the door as as narrowly as possible. And that's why you have the 10,000 square foot maximum lot size for the single family and why it's not permitted on the arterial highways. It was limiting that potential application. I agree with you that uh you know there there are broader questions and I would say that the development code update is an appropriate lens for us to look at how we're intensifying uh residential zoning within the city. Uh the zoning code is consistent with the general plan land use map. There's not an inongruity there, but it is interesting to see that there's two density ranges within the RM zoning district yet on the general plan land use map. We only support the medium density resident. I think that's too large of a question for us to consider in this uh timeline where we're trying to support um a property owner and getting their permit out the door. But I do think that is a good question to ask and answer through the development code update to ensure that we're calibrating densities appropriately to permit the residential products not only on these properties but other properties in the the RM and other residential zone districts. I would just add that there are only seven vacant properties that meet all the conditions for to be applicable for this amendment. Yeah, I

know it's only seven, but I mean that's the difference between seven single family homes and 21 multif family units, which I think is a enough of a difference that it gives me pause about supporting this. My other counter to that is the prevalence of larger RM zone properties throughout the city that have not developed. Um we do have many um RMZ zone properties, many uh residential properties that are undeveloped that that have not come forward. So seven, you know, it is more than none. Um but I I think the risk to the city or the loss in potential dwelling units is relatively small. Okay. still nuts old but Commissioner McFale I align myself with Commissioner Me's remark that's what happens when you go last you you express a concern I had I also want to thank you for the report you knocked off four of my questions you'll be relieved to hear but I do have one other as well but I wanted to ask maybe about the Newport 17 development that is in this um specific plan area and maybe people who've been around can weigh in on this. It looked to me, and it was also in the map, that the Newport 17, which I assume means there's 17 units on it, um, uses up four parcels, and you can actually see the four parcels, I think, on your map. One of which is, uh, a,000 uh, 10,000 square ft. And it looks like it's probably going to be like the entryway into where the uh, apartments are. So in this in that situation, it looks to me in this specific plan area, we have developed a multif family development on four parcels. Yeah, we

couldn't do anything with the 10,000 one, but there's there were three next door to it that allowed us to build 17 um apartments. So the concern I kind of have that uh Commissioner me expressed is in these other situations I know there might not be anything in the timeline in in in in the pipeline but here's an example in this very specific in this this very um specific plan area where we managed to build 17 uh multif family units in four parcels. And here we have the specific parcel we're talking about is next door to two other parcels. And if they were somehow consolidated, could we do another Newport 17? The potential is there. Maybe it's not going to happen, but we're closing off the potential. It feels to me if we were to uh do this, that could be another Newport 17 like development. And also with the other two on Ortega Road, there's those two small parcels, but next door to it is a larger parcel. And if we take those two off the table, we're left with the one smaller parcel. So yeah, I have a concern about us removing potential multif family parcels where we have a specific example where it's it worked and elsewhere in this area, we're going to close the door on that. I know. Can you give me comfort on that way? But that's a concern of mine. I'm I'm I'm a bit weary about it. I would say we're certainly not closing the door on it. This this amendment does not mean multif family is not permitted here. It just means that single family dwellings can be constructed. Um and one will be constructed in this area. Um the general plan includes a couple policies including two that I listed in the staff report that are are discussing

you know um supporting both infill development and lot consolidation. So this amendment is sort of supporting the infill development side while to your point, you know, it it's it's not leaning on the the law consolidation. But because this corridor is sort of a mix of developed and undeveloped properties, staff was of the opinion that some of these sites might might be challenging for lot consolidation due to surrounding developments. Um, not to say it would be necessarily impossible, but they're not all necessarily easy candidates for that either, but not just looking at this specific lot, the previous screen you had up, there's those lots at the bottom where there's there's two and then there's three, right? So, if someone builds a single family home on one of those lots now that can't be consolidated, which means now you have to have single family home on the other one. So, I mean, even though the the change isn't going to be saying you can't have multif family on those lots, if someone builds on the middle of one of those three now, you definitely can't. Right. Right. Just practically, that's true. Yeah. Yeah. Um, yeah, I'm not quite there, I'm afraid, because that is a concern of mine that we we we've done 17 through small four small parcel consolidations and we would be shutting the door on maybe two other multif family developments in this area. Maybe maybe they'll never happen, but we're certainly going to shut the door if we do this. I'm not quite sure. If if I could add just one more thing, excuse me for interrupting, but the so it's hard to see, but these two are the other two highlighted on that on that map. So potentially these two could still be consolidated. The development of this site does not necessarily

preclude those two from being consolidated. There's actually there's three below it that are all RM. There's one, two, three. However, yeah, that's true. This one is is larger than the 10,000 square feet. So it's and you know um we talked about you know not having entryway uh onto arterios like date palam. So I, you know, I guess in that case it could be Rancher Visa Drive, but it could also, you know, if that was all consolidated, they could have an exit onto Alan Alanche Road as well because that's exactly what happened with the uh Newport uh 17 development is that one of those small parcels gave them an entrance onto uh Rancho Vista Drive. So it yeah, I I have a concern and I haven't I'm not sure where I'm going to go with this yet. Um the other question I had came up in your um presentation was in relation to and refresh my memory. You were saying that um this used to be you used to have be able to do single family housing in this specific plan area but then we changed it for the housing element. What was that discussion? This is something uh director firestein discovered this afternoon. Um uh so in the housing element um I think it's in table 41 uh it it has a table showing types of residential uses permitted in each zone and that table in fact shows that single family dwellings are permitted in the RM district. Okay. Um a in 2022 a zoning ordinance amendment was adopted that was meant to imple like support the implementation of the housing element. Right. And in that zoning ordinance amendment, one of the changes included striking out one family dwellings from the RM district. Um, now that amendment did not consider potentially the implications for these

lots that are non-conforming with that 20,000 foot minimum. So I I would add to that as I read through the staff report, as I read through all the supporting documentation for that that 2022 ordinance, this was housing implementation to be consistent with state law. Uh this change was not made to be consistent with state law. Um single family in the RM zone is okay. Um so this change was not made. Okay. Along with other was going with this. Um there were other changes made too. This was as a result of the general plan. It was general plan implementation and it was also considered a a comprehensive update of the municipal code. So, as we look through um this many page ordinance, you can see what was struck. And there were changes throughout the RM zoning district. Many of those were to be consistent with state law, but single family zoning clearly was struck at that time as a permitted use. There's no explanation for the change in the staff report. There's no explanation for the change in any of the documentation. So, we we did not change the RM designation allowing single family. We didn't take that out so that we could get the housing element passed. And now we're going to put it back in. The change was not made in order to adopt and certify the housing element. I didn't want us to reverse ourselves and get into trouble or something. Um, that's all I have on this, but I have my concerns. Could we go back to the slide um with the table? Yeah. And so so okay, I think the bell finally went off.

Um, so I I I I understand it now. Um, my policy question then now that I understand the math, um, is I think we need to do something. You you shouldn't leave anybody out in the dark that just can't do anything. But in I've seen other ordinances where there was incentives to consolidate lots to to um facilitate more multiple family development which I think you were talking about and I may have missed it when I was struggling with the math. Um, is that something that we will address in the future? I would strongly encourage that. I think that is an excellent subject for the development code update. I think it's uh something that we can look to with the development code update consultant to see how other communities have incentivized lot consolidation have u incentivized greater densities. I think that is an excellent question. I would say that it is beyond the scope of what we're trying to accomplish here. At least what we've framed for the planning commission as part of the zoning code update was a a narrow amendment to address seven undeveloped parcels within the RM to allow for some minimal use of the property recognizing that we still need to have a broader discussion and I think we can do that through the development code update. So that's something that we can address on the zoning committee is the lot consolidation. Okay. And um thank you for your suggestion on the rounding which is which made the bell go off. Right. I just uh

so I I know you've heard enough about this already, but but you mentioned in the general plan that there is a table that shows that single family homes were allowed in RM. That was in the housing element. So now I'm having problems again because that suggests that RM in general should be allowing this, not a specific plan. So the housing the housing element was pointing to the zoning district the RM zoning district and said that single family dwellings are permitted. The general plan land use designation which is confusingly also RM but the general plan land use designation does include single family dwellings as a product type that you see in that land use designation and that that is still in place. So right now the zoning district it sort of sort of more narrowly defines what can be developed in the RM than the general plan. The that finding in the housing element I I don't think it has a bearing on the specific plan um which prohibits currently single family dwellings. Okay. and and and to sort of address the general question that came up it we're trying to help somebody you know just in this one instance really that's what this is about um so I'm wondering are there any other methods by which we could have accomplished the same thing like a variance CP or anything like that this product is what staff came up with as the minimal solution to address the problem and we stepped through whether we could repeal the entire specific plan um whether we would need to amend the specific plan. We looked at

u various iterations of the lot size you know how how large should that number be and I I would say that what Miss Camps has presented this evening is the minimal change needed to effectuate the outcome that is recommended by staff. We're trying to support uh a property owner processing a single family permit. Um I recognize there may be unintended consequences of this uh until we can come back before uh you again with the development code update, but um what we have presented this evening is the minimal scope to affectuate that outcome. Um you could not process a a use variance for single family. That that's not something that we could do. There's not an allowance for a conditional use. Um, I have a suggestion. I don't know if it would be better to wait to make an amendment to the motion, but I'm just Should I throw it out there now? What I think would be a way to narrow this further. Um, which would be to keep exactly what you're saying, but it only applies if the two adjacent properties are already developed. So that narrows down the scope to literally just her property, while those two that are horizontal below now don't fall into this case because not both of them are developed, which means that we're not allowing someone to build a single family home on that center one and then take that whole lot away from being consolidated. Um, it just seems like it would narrow the scope further, still allow her to proceed, but then give us the time to figure out as part of the development code update what we actually want to do as a city and as uh housing uh strategy. I would be supportive of that if it's possible when we get to that point. So your friendly amendment would be let's go both of the both the lots on subsequent on No, I understand that

part. Go back. Let's let's go to the slide with the exact language. Okay. So So just to share some thoughts on that and I I've asked our legal counsel. I'm just trying to be creative. I appreciate that. So what we're trying to avoid is spot zoning. We're trying to avoid a situation where we're granting a special privilege or permission to one property owner over other similarly situated property owners. Essentially, we're enhancing the value of her property and no other property that also has an RM zone may be of the same. But we're not specifically picking her out. I'm saying if if you have a 10,000 foot lot that is developed on both sides of you, you have much more limit unless you're going to tear those buildings down. But if there's multiple I I understand. I I'm just sharing what we were trying to avoid was a situation where we're creating spot zoning. So, we'll see if we can give legal counsel a little bit time to react to that. What What situation? Okay. So, if we went with Commissioner Me's suggestion as an amendment to the proposed code, what can of worms would that open? I I think it it's just what I said. If we're creating a situation where we've enhanced or or or uh if we've spotzoned her property, granted her a special permission or a privilege that other property owners do not enjoy, it could potentially be challenged by one of the other property owners that have a similar size lot in the RM zone district. And that's where we're trying to craft the language for the amendment a little bit more broadly. Um, seven properties um would be affected by this change as opposed to narrowing it down to just one. We're trying not to create a special privilege or permission for that one property owner, which I get. I guess I'm just coming at it from a it's just a happy accident, frankly, that her

property is the only one that fits that thing. Because I think my concern is we share the same concern at least which is that there are multiple of these properties which are adjacent and if someone builds a single family home on one now a multiple family uh you know unit can't be built. So by saying by narrowing the scope, we are still allowing we're we're not closing the door as Commissioner McFale said to those being consolidated. Um I mean I think that's where my suggestion is coming from. It just so happens that it helps her. Um but the reason it helps her is because her property is actually unique compared to all the other ones that would be affected by this. So, it's not I'm not I mean, I think it would be great for somebody to develop that lot, but I'm not trying to come up with a carveout specifically for her. Just for the record, for anyone listening, I am trying to figure out how do we narrow this down so that we're not changing the zoning on all these. I appreciate that. And I think we we are dealing with a unique circumstance and situation. And frankly, you know, if we go back to when these lots were created, the city was very different at that point in time. And you know, there were homes there. There still are on arterial highways, but our community is a very different community today. Let me just say, you know, I I understand the the problem that we're facing here and um so this does leave uh more latitude for changes um to these other lots. But right now they're not developed and they haven't been developed for years. And I think it's unlikely, it may happen, but I think it's unlikely that six more people are going to come in and also want to develop a single family home on a 10,000 foot lot. But if we say it's allowed, why wouldn't they? Right now, it's not allowed in in the next

year. Yeah. So, it seems unlikely to me. It may happen. And I appreciate the the the need for multiple family homes. I we should have smaller lot sizes. I agreed with the Rio Vista um plan which reduced lot sizes down to 5,000 square ft um and increases by doing that density. But you know in this particular instance I'm not sure that we should be trying to go through too many hoops here on this one case. Um I I would just support the uh the proposal as uh as presented by staff. Can I ask a moment of clarity? Yes. Um the development that is being proposed, the single family residence, is that a true single family? Is there an ADU? Is there anything that is part of that specific plan? Have you seen any designs or anything like that? So, it's a colleague of mine that was um processing the plan check when he realized that it wouldn't be permitted right now. But I I don't believe that a an ADU was part of um the the building's plans is just one that's a bar because that would provide density. It is I mean this one particular lot it is joined by three. So you still have the rest of the all the other six lots still are two two and two. So, there is the opportunity to still have higher density if the lots were joined. Um, I love that we're talking about density and and all that kind of stuff. So, I'm I'm done. I don't know. I think Sorry. Hold on. Do we What do you finish? Do we know the

size of the two southerntherly lots near the Field of Dreams? Uh so so these two lots or Yes. Um I believe that they are in fact I do. So these all seven of these lots highlighted in blue are exactly 222 acres. So they're all the same lot size. They're different configurations, but they're all the same size. So they are that 9,500 square f feet approximately. And my other question, now that I've passed the arithmetic, um there I believe um question for our city attorney. Isn't there a state there's a law that states that you can build a single family house on any lot of record? But I think the times that that that becomes a challenge is when you have something that's like a five acre minimum and they subdivided it into a quarter acre in the 20s. You still have to let them build single family lot, but then it's a single family neighborhood. If it was multiple family, then you'd have the same problem we're having now. Is that correct? That's a great question. I'm not familiar with that state law. Um, but I can see if I can find it and follow up with you. Yeah. I thought you could build a single family home on any lot that you own. That's a property right in the United States. basically if the zoning's right for residential. That's kind of what I I you know I I don't want to throw away the baby with the bathwater, but I'm

just trying to understand I I don't want to discourage lot consolidation, but I think if we go back to the idea um similar to theoretically when We discussed the apartments on date Palm Drive. When we first started talking about those, I was why would we remove commercial and we had a long talk about that and it's like well we have to have a different mindset now. It hasn't developed for 20 years under commercial. We need to have more residential. You know, it's a different mindset in how we should think about that. So here, um, I think the mindset maybe is that like Commissioner Lee was saying, we have six lots, which isn't really going to take away or change anything citywide, but it would give these six people the ability to build a single family house if they choose so choose to do so until we're able to do a more permanent fix and and I think that that removes the special privilege. So, want to provide a little bit of an update. So, the legal council is uh researching the the latest question, but um building on some of the previous comments, overcome the the challenge of spot zoning. Um if there is public interest in doing so, you may be able to support that. So I think that the discussion that you're having on lot consolidation and preserving opportunities for lot consolidation that may be sufficient to overcome that barrier. So I I think the suggestion that Commissioner me uh put out to add an additional qualification that um this only apply in in cases where the

adjacent properties are developed. That may be sufficient public interest to overcome that that challenge in the sense that you are working to preserve opportunities for lot consolidation. Right. And again, because this is going to be revisited in the next year anyway, I guess I'm just trying to avoid is doing a band-aid fix that then someone maybe starts planning, they start thinking they're going to and then we change it again right in a year. So to avoid that kind of situation and for any comfort for for the group, u single family was allowed up until 2022. I think that's our discovery this afternoon. So it's a short period of time where it's been disallowed. This is the one instance that we've encountered where we've run into a challenge. But for the city's history, uh, with the RM zoning, as we know, uh, it was allowed in the RM zoning and, uh, to Commissioner Lee's point, the properties haven't developed over that period of time, and we've only seen limited interest in in the period where they've been prohibited. This is the only case where we've encountered this challenge, encountered this problem. So, u, from staff's perspective, the risk is is minimal. um this is it's a quick fix that that this is not our preferred way of doing public policy and I would say the development code update is a more appropriate forum for the deeper broader discussions and we very much support those. So, if we were to adopt Commissioner Me's suggestion, the lot on Alancha could be developed because it has development on both sides, but the two lots to the south could not be. They would have they could be developed with multif family or Yeah. or consolidated. They would have to consolidate. I mean the basically the idea is to say for any lot that has the potential of being part of a consolidated larger lot we would not give this privilege. It would only be if there is no ability for

it to consolidate because there are no consolidatable adjacent properties. Well, I think we've I mean I can make it as a formal amendment. we can vote on it since I know there's mixed opinions and then we can get right. Well, I think we have to have a motion on the floor before you and it's a public hearing so you need to open it up to them. That is correct. Um but we would have after we open the public hearing and take public testimony. I guess if you wanted to make a motion that was different than the recommended motion, we could do that if there was a second and then it would either pass or fail. Okay. Yeah, there should be no issue with that. All right. So, I think that I think we've discussed this more than any of us thought we would. Um, so why don't we open the public hearing? Um, if anybody is here that would like to speak on this matter. Do we have anyone in the audience wishing to make a public comment on this item? Come up, please. Yes, it is translated. Just one moment. Chair staff is check. Why don't we why don't we take a 3m minute break so that um I think I think that they get it sorted in. Okay. I think staff is just conferring with the applicant whether or not they want to speak there. She can speak using a translator if she would like.

letting me know her best. Can you say that to the microphone so everybody online can hear it too? Thank you. Okay. My English is not really well, but I'm going to try to speak to you first. Uh um thank you so much for take the time to to speak about my situation. Thank you very much and I hope you have a good resolution for me [Music] and I hope the best and thank you very much again. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I'll close the public hearing and entertain a motion. Okay. So, should I I mean I can Where is the You have the original motion, don't you? Do we have the original motion? It's on the Oh, here we go. through the chair. One may one way we might be able to accomplish this is if um perhaps we can restate or staff can restate kind of what we think you're proposing um as an to amend staff's recommendation. Um, and so your motion would be to Yeah, I was just going to add basically where it says do not have frontage on an arterial highway to just add there and do not um, how to say I'm not sure if I say and do or do not do not have and do not have development on either side. No. But who do have development that do have de that have development on potentially or at least two sides. Yeah. That where the two adjacent properties are. Dom, are

you trying to help? I feel like it could just be added in one spot. Just to clarify, I was I was just going to add that I I think it should specify on two adjacent sides because in this instance, you know, some properties have three adjacent properties. Yeah, I was going to say two adjacent sides. Yeah. So, no greater than 10,000 square ft with developed properties on two adjacent sides and that do not have frontage on an arterial highway. That makes why don't we um can we take a straw poll as to whether this is sufficient to move forward? uh a straw vote. Yes. Is so so that means just you know we could informally say whether we support the amendment or not and then we know whether we could go forward. Um if Commissioner Bard Commissioner Lee yes I Yes. You can say no. You don't have to be. I mean, you're allowed to have a different opinion. Go ahead. Um, you're obviously Yes. in that. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. So, if we just change basically change the existing motion to add that one caveat in that one sentence, then that would Yeah. So, um through the chair commissioner medi what you could do is um u make a motion to uh approve staff's recommendation with the amendment and then okay you don't have I think as long as it's clear what the amendment is you don't necessarily have to restate the whole thing but if you want to you certainly can so then I move that we adopt the staff's recommendation with

the limitation that the uh proper that this only applies to properties where two adjacent lots are already developed. Is that good enough? And then you can figure the wording there. Yeah, I'm just looking at Dom. Is that clear enough? Okay. Do we have a second? Second. Beautiful. Okay, let the record show a motion was made by Commissioner Me, seconded by Commissioner McFale to approve item uh 3A with the added amendment as noted for the record. Motion passes. Okay. Um, now we can Does everybody want to take a small break before Eric does his two presentations or have Eric do one presentation and Okay, we normally I'm good. I think we can do till 8. Okay. Yeah. Um, so we have our non-public hearing items. Economic Development Update, Strategic Partnerships, Auto Industry Analysis and Develop Dashboard tools. Mr. Beckaro. Hi, good evening, Chair Malikoff and uh the planning commission. I'm going to pull up the presentation here.

very exciting topics that uh we're talking about today and um going to continue that dialogue. So, we're going to shift gears a little bit and uh at the end, you know, if you if anybody has questions, I'm happy to entertain. But I am Eric Bester. the economic development manager and today I want to give you all some insight to some of the things that economic development has been working over the last several months. So some of the things that I'll touch on are a scholarship we received with team California, a SWAT analysis that we are working with uh a consultant to accomplish and a business support programs as well as a development dashboard. So, first and foremost, you know, one of the things uh that uh I really like are things that are free uh for our residents, for our community. Um, and this is one that I'm really proud of. Um, this is a scholarship that uh I applied for in behalf of Cathedral City to receive uh some assistance uh as we look forward to explore different ideas and ways to incentivize economic development in our community. So um this scholarship with team California um was one that uh we went through the process and applied for and it's actually called the ahead initiative scholarship. Um the award really circles around uh ways to support communities that have uh a need for economic development and you know obviously a desire because they've applied. So, um, we have as a Cathedral City have not been part of team California historically, at least not in this capacity as members. So, when you look at the membership levels, the one that we received was the platinum, which is a $20,000 value. And with that, I'm very excited to obviously utilize this resource for our residents, for our business owners. um with it comes a

multitude of of um opportunities uh that are free to to us economic development to tap into and utilize. We actually just had our onboarding with team California and um so uh with this we have a series of benefits that include um announcements uh really promoting the community and promoting the different development opportunities that we have. Um, and this includes statewide trade shows, uh, investor, um, outreach events, uh, site selector events, and, um, we have kind of a firsthand sort of approach at a lot of these, at least for the next year. So, very excited to to utilize a lot of these resources, um, and really just continue to to bring uh, all all that we can with uh, what we have in our budget and uh, just be cautious of, you know, how how we spend our funds. So, this was one, you know, it was out there, so might as well apply it and look at where we are now. We're able to tap into the resource. So, excited to bring you all uh and that that'll be kind of its own thing and I'll I'll bring I'll bring forward some updates as we move along with Team California. So, moving into the next part, um we have a very strong automotive dealership presence here in Cathedral City. All of you know historically we've um been able to work with the the auto dealers and really support them uh in all of their endeavors. So, as we see other neighboring communities work towards uh achieving their goals with the automotive industry, well, we want to maintain our our stance as being at the forefront of the industry and really help our uh members, our dealerships stay ahead. So, part of what what we do is we attend a monthly meeting with the Cathedral City Auto Centers and we do uh we do as well communicate with all the auto dealers that are not necessarily part of that center. But in those discussions um when we talk about um legislation and all of the ever moving parts that uh they face on a day-to-day

basis, it it it was very uh evident that we needed to address uh and work on ways to ensure that we maintain our stance in the automotive world uh considering we rely and have a big tax presence in that. So um we have consulted with Cosmont to conduct a SWAT analysis and that is a strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats analysis. Uh other cities uh have performed that uh their own internal this uh due to the magnitude of the industry here it's it's valid to go and get get a consultant. So we had an RFP, we had Cosmon uh apply and we awarded them the contract. They started their analysis uh two weeks ago uh by meeting with the auto dealers uh and actually engaging and starting to uh really hammer down the um everything that's going to fall within that report. Once that report is concluded, we will bring that forward. We're going to share that um with the auto dealers uh as well as uh the commissions and uh city council. So, this one's really exciting. We uh as we look at different resources that our community needs uh we start realizing that there are specific markets here and there are specific clusters that we have to address their needs. Well, how do we do that is um to really diversify our investments that we have and in doing so um we have uh started contracting with the Coachella Valley Women's Business Center. Um they're operating out of the ERC, the entrepreneurship resource center, um there in Palm Desert. Uh and we have also contracted with Riverside County Office of Economic Development, who also oversees the small b the small business development center. So in this um starting uh in July, we will start promoting these programs and the Coachella Valley Women's Business Center, they will be offering one-on-one consulting uh every week for a year. So that's a a very really amazing resource.

And I think that it's important to note that when we talk to these organizations, we express our budget constraints. We express where where we really want to leverage our relationship with them, but the only way to do so is they work with us. And these are experts that are in the industry and they know Cathedral City. They know the area. Uh but they also know that uh their investment with our community is valuable and uh the residents deserve it, the business owners deserve it, and we're excited to bring that. So, a lot of times we we deal with business owners that aren't able to to attend a one-off uh meeting because well, a lot of times the business owner is running the business. So, what did we do? We decided to work with the Coachella Valley Women's Business Center. So, they they will be coming here to city hall. Um we're going to have a space for them every week. they'll be able to come here and every business owner that's either active in Cathedral City, interested in coming to Cathedral City, can uh schedule an appointment and every week we will have a rotating uh consultant that is an expert in a different field. So, we want to be able to to cover all of the different um business types that we have here in Cathedral City. And that is one way that we're going to do that. The other is working with the Riverside County Office of Economic Development uh to create a comprehensive business training program uh that's really driven around who we are and what the fabric of the business community is here in Cathedral City. Um a lot of times we hear like we you know we if you go on Perez Road, you can see a lot of people make things here. They are not only artists in in their own respect, but they're they're actually you know as as I walk to Mr. zebra to grab a sandwich. You can see all of the different types of businesses that we have here. Very creative uh individuals. Well, how do we help address them? So, we worked with Riverside County Express and showed all of the different types of businesses that we have in our community. Um, and they were able to create uh our own sort of uh unique um business template of

different types of programs that we're going to offer. And these are a multi-week program. So, aside from the one-on-one business counseling, you need consistency. So, one off, again, one-off events sometimes aren't that. So, these are four-week programs that again address a variety of different things, but we also have short 90-minute workshops that will cover things that are sales, marketing, compliance with documents, uh things that you need. and they're all sort of outlined in the appropriate manner so that as you work on your business, you build up the business, you start getting into uh kind of the the more specific needs that that that business owner is going to is going to really need. And again, that all that all is going to start in uh the promoting of it in July and uh and really launching in August. Uh and lastly, I want to show the development dashboard. So part of what we're really focusing on and will continue to focus on is telling our story and the way to tell our story is through digital platforms through doing things like this coming to you all and speaking to you uh and ensuring that that we share our our wins and we share uh what kind of resources we have out there. So a lot of times we get questions you know they'll you'll you'll see a construction fence go up and hey what's going on there? So what we've developed with the help of um Victor Gomez who isn't here but he's listening in. I know he is. Uh is this development dashboard. So I'm going to quickly show you um what this is. So if you go to our website, we on economic development, we have this really nifty um GIS site where you can go on here um and actually go through identify u a site, a project that that you saw um that maybe sparked your

interest and you wanted to maybe learn more about um or you're an investor, you're a developer and you want to earn, you know, where where is it that you want to develop. So, as you go through, you can see like in here we have uh the food for less shopping center. And if you zoom in, what's really neat is at the top you have a legend that'll tell you if it's a commercial project, a mixeduse project, or a residential project. So, if you're interested in commercial, you can go on here, you can click on it, and not only does it highlight what it is, but we've added a little bit more information because, you know, we love information, but we don't want to overwhelm you with it. So in here you can see who they are, what they are, and uh even if you're interested to learn a little bit more, you want to see the site plan. I know all of you are going to love this. Uh in here you can actually get a little bit more insight uh to what we have going on in the community. So uh and let me go get out of here. And with that, that concludes uh my my quick update here for economic development. And I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. Um, does the commission have any questions for Mr. Beckaro? Sure. Yes. Start with the Commissioner McFale. I'll let our one of our business people go first. I do have a question, but I'll I'll yield to our business. All right. Um, I was just going to say nice job and some of the other resources. I'm always pushing for uh a little more connection with our Latino community and uh are you familiar with Caravan Sarai? Yes. So, we we actually had them come and be presenters and they're part of the SBDC. So, they're they're an SBDC certified center. Okay. And they're all part of under kind of that umbrella to some degree with Riverside County which

is who we're contracting with. Great. Because they work very independently. They are an SBDC, but they tend to work very independently because they are so hyperly focused on the Hispanic community. Yes. So are the I I'm just wondering if So they're just going to be an ancillary that's come in now and then because to hook in with them, they're doing some amazing things out in Desert Hot Springs, super connected to a lot of the Latin Hispanic community. And I think that's one of our weaknesses to have more connection with one of our largest population bases. I'm wondering if there's a way like I I would have rather have seen Caravan Sarai SPBDC instead of Inland Empire SPDC. So, so to that point, great point. I agree. You know, the Latino community should get some representation. A good start on that is is hiring an economic development manager. So that does help. So, uh, on with that, so to to your point, um, with the Coachella Valley Women's Business Center, you know, we want to elevate, uh, obviously our community, but to your point with Spanish speaking community, the the the precious thing about that and the Riverside County uh, small business development center is they both have Spanish- speaking uh, individuals. And, uh, that's one thing that we wanted to make sure from the front, from the beginning, that we address that. because we agree with you and as we do uh you know Victor and I when we first started uh we went and introduced ourselves and uh invited around 200 businesses so definitely got my steps in right uh so we invited them to the small bit but that was one of the things that we realized was well we have a lot of uh Spanish- speaking business owners so want to make sure that we uh address their needs and uh again uh that's one thing that we will have as an offering with these services but we will continue to explore ways to collaborate and and there are many ways. So, as you all

think of those, uh, feel free to share them with Andy and I. And Andy sounds like he wants to chime in. I I do. I just I want to add a little bit of context here, too. So, Eric is not even at his one-year anniversary with the city. And I think as he came into the city, he had scarce resources available to him to do the work that he has done. And he's done an excellent job with the limited resources he has. uh council at their last meeting adopted a budget for the upcoming two years and I think in that budget uh we have proposed the changes that he is sharing with you now and really this allows economic development staff to take a little bit more control over the resources and how we're allocating those resources within the Cathedral City community. So what Eric has shared with you really is what I would refer to as a pilot. uh this is an opportunity for us to look at what we can do with these partners with this partnership and we're learning as we go. Uh so he is very excited. I'm very excited about uh the programs and the services that we're looking to offer uh starting July 1 as as we kick off the new fiscal year and we're continuously looking to do more. So as we learn from this, we can make changes, we can make modifications. We're looking to be responsive to the Cathedral City community, to the businesses here, and Eric and I both are looking for ways to to continue to evolve and modify the program to be as responsive as we can. Commissioner Lee, yes. Well, you just made my day when you showed me your little database there, GIS mapping. Um, uh, one of the things I get asked most often outside of here, um, by members of the public is when is X going to open, you know, and so now I can point them at that database and say, I don't know, why don't you go look it up yourself? So, no, that is great. Um, just a couple of minor points from

your staff report. Um, you mentioned at the beginning that you are moving to measurable economic outcomes and I wonder what you meant by that. I am so glad you said that. You know, how do you know that you're doing well if you if you don't have a measurement? You don't have a baseline, right? That's a really good point. So, one of the requirements that we had um as we explored who we were going to uh you know try to contract with was deliverables, right? So both Riverside County Office of Economic Development um you know being connecting and obviously overseeing the Small Business Development Center as well as the Coachella Valley Women's Business Center um that works in conjunction with and actually is overseen by um CSUSB uh they every single individual that goes through their resource that even picks up the phone that comes in and meets with them is tracked from the time that they stepped there all the way to the very end. Not only that, but there's followup and all of this is is going to be reported to us. So, we're actually going to be able to come back to you and not only just share the data, the stats, but one of the things we wanted to do was them to track the the actual story of these individuals, where they're coming from, who are they, and how can we help them? A lot of individual, we are the most diverse city uh in the Coachella Valley. We have people from all over the world that are coming here. So, we want to make sure that we that that there isn't an excuse for us to not make sure that we keep track of of their of their reporting. So, in that I can actually tell you the uh the types of deliverables that they will provide. What's on this one?

So uh the reporting that they're going to provide is uh attendance tracking uh through program participation again which means that the time that they call come in schedule anything like that. Uh outcome tracking which includes the business start. So, not only did they just come and get an idea, but did they sign a lease? Because these organizations both have the resources to help guide them, hold their hand through that entire process. So, what we're doing is uh this is something that I just absolutely love hearing in in our department is um a multiplying factor and that's what this is. So, I can't and Victor and I Victor and I are a team of one and a half and you know, I do have to answer the phone. I do have to, you know, kind of respond. So, how do we leverage ourselves? This is how this is how we can be at places when we can't be and this is how we can speak languages that sometimes we are unable to. So this is a way that we're able to do that uh you know really uh roll out being uh an inclusive type of business community. This is the way to do it. Uh and this is a way that we're we're doing it in in a very budget cautious manner so that we understand that you know this is a pilot like Andy said uh we're going to uh track and hold accountable you know these these sort of outcomes but at the same time you know we we are uh that is something that that was at the at the front when we had these conversations and to us was critical before we signed any sort of agreement with them. Great. Um, so something else you mentioned was that uh there's a current contract with uh Coachella Valley Chamber of Commerce and that's coming to an end and that's going to allow resources to be redeployed. I'm wondering what that means in ter is that money or people or what? So, so that is so, so part of that is there was a contract in place. Um, and not to get too far into into the the everything on it. Um, I I want to u just

kind of leave you with there there was a set budget amount. Um, that budget amount included a number of variety of different things that that aren't even just business uh sort of resources. They they were uh event type uh services. And so um there is a separate contractor that was awarded those event type services which sort of in in a sense um uh that same contract wouldn't really even be in place. And so to I guess to answer your point when we say redeploy is when we say business support this is a way that we say so in those contracts when when we read the verbiage such as business support entrepreneurship uh resources things of that nature uh educ uh educational events that's where we said okay we need to we need to tap in and uh collaborate with organizations that do offer that and are experts in that field and have been for a long time. Great. Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner me. Um, first of all, super exciting. I think this is all great. I love the focus on data, numbers, and outcomes. Um, I went through a training program a couple years ago and every time we had a seminar, we had to take a survey at the end. We had to actually say, what have we used the skills for? How are we using the skills? How will we use the skills? They're very focused on outcomes. Um, and I think that that's great because especially since this is a pilot, you're going to be able to see which things produce the best outcomes and then say, "Let's put more money into those and not into the things that maybe didn't work as well." Um, I've heard incredible things about the Coachella Valley Women's Business Center. They're a group that I keep meaning to reach out to at being a woman business owner in the Coachella Valley. Um, the only thing I would suggest is you mentioned that you were going to be doing these kind of you mentioned how business owners often can't come to things because they're working. This is a problem I face personally. Um, if you can have those

kind of seminars and things at different times on different days just instead of it's always Tuesday from 12:00 to 4:00 or something. Um, you'll get a wider variety of people just because of that. Some people work nights, some people work mornings, you know, different businesses have different hours. Um, so I just hope you take that into account and kind of have a different schedule maybe so people different people can take advantage. But I'm super excited about this. I think it's a great use of u the money that's getting freed up and just great job. Thank you. And and I I didn't touch on this, but the Coachella Valley Women's Business Center, uh they they do not solely focus on on women businesses. That is that is one of their their strengths, but they most definitely help a variety of business owners. Um you know, uh so I appreciate that. And um you know to your point about uh maybe finding other locations, that's one thing that we talked about. We said, "Hey, is there a way that we can maybe uh find small businesses here locally, maybe we have one day that we have it at Luchador or we have it at Hot Lips or or Trilusa or somewhere that that they are maybe can grab lunch while we're there." So we are exploring those things and exploring ways that we both uh from an economic development standpoint we incentivize and highlight a small business but at the same time we provide a safe space for them to be able to do that. One of the things is confidentiality and you know sometimes people have ideas that they want to keep in a closed circle. So we're going to try to find those right places that have those kind of meeting rooms that they can go in and and safely talk. But um thank you for that comment. We are on the same page with you on that. Commissioner McFale. I want to thank you for the presentation. and I think we all really appreciate the energy you're bringing to this to your position here. It's much appreciated. Um I did have a question in the report um in regards to the automotive industry. I think there was a a line in there where you had talked to automotive um companies on

East Pam Canyon and they had reported back that there were infrastructure challenges I think relative to places like India and the Kinta. Do you know what specifically they mean when they're talking about infrastructure? Is that something that the city they they want the city to do or is it something that they need to take care of? So these are good points, right? So uh you know like when we talk about infrastructure, it's not solely uh like public work or engineering type work, right? That um so infrastructure could be a multitude of things that that they mentioned. We need better signage. We want more signage. We want to have signage that looks like Lita's new automotive signage. um things of that nature. Uh there have been other types of um I guess requests, but with that we can't be so reactive and we can't we have to really analyze these requests in a very appropriate fashion. And the only way to do that is to have a comprehensive look at it so that council and all of the the city management can look at where are we at? Is our is our historic investment uh sufficient? Can we do more in certain areas to to support them? Because ultimately, uh, part of this is, you know, when we talk about BRE or business retention and expansion, right? It's that retention and expansion that we really want to focus on and make sure that we don't lose auto dealers. Uh, but at the same time, you know, that that they uh they see the value of our investments and and so it's a mutual relationship. So when I when you say infrastructure, that those are some of the things. uh can we have uh types of you know they they there's a multitude of things uh going through that list but uh that's why I kind of summed it up and said you know just infrastructure in general light you know uh electricity that as you know uh everything u ever changes right and so um electricity can go up and down and um costs of different things such as advertisement is fluctuates as well so uh those are those are the types of

things that that when we talk about infrastructure Now, not to say they they didn't ask about projects and John and his team uh with public works have have definitely uh helped sort of provide data and and allow and tell the story of all the types of improvements that that would you know in essence uh affect or support the the automotive industry. Um so continuing to tell that story and that dialogue is part of that. But that's why in general infrastructure was mentioned. I they're always looking at what their neighbors are doing and I think they're they're always looking to their neighbors and what their neighbors are getting from other cities whether it's India, Lita, Palm Springs, they talk. They're they're close to other dealers. they're close to other associations and I I think they're seeing investment from other communities into other auto dealer associations into those areas. U you know I think they're they're seeing what's going on with Varner Road with some landscape enhancements, street modifications on Varner Road and they're looking to the city to say where's our share and I think from our standpoint we have executed deals. We have done digital signs. Uh we've done this recently. But with this SWAT analysis, I think this is a strategic way for us to say how can we most appropriately support the auto industry here in Cathedral City to allow it to be competitive. We want it to be strong, but what is the city's most effective role? How can we play in this space? What is our impact? How do we work there? You you both mentioned signage and I noticed I think on your slide you had a little logo about Cathedral City Auto Center or something like that was one of the logos on there and I don't know if they all the different uh companies on East Pyon use that logo a way to collectively identify themselves. Like in San Diego, there was National City,

Milo Cars, and everyone knew what was there. And I don't know whether that's the sort of branding or presence or collective effort they're thinking of. So, you know, the the the to that point, the Cathedral City Auto Center is is a marketing nonprofit that works and collects uh fees and focuses solely on marketing. One of the challenges they're facing is with again the everchanging cost of electricity and water and such. You know, they they are they are finding themselves maybe uh investing more in um infrastructure type related or or even uh again uh utility type bills and uh really maybe aren't focusing as much in marketing. So that was a that was a a a time for us to really sit down and kind of reflect on where are we at? What have we what have we historically done? because the city's done a lot and we want to tell that story too. Um, and as we look at ways again to attract even more uh types of auto dealers to come here and be here, this is a way to show that we are serious about that industry. Uh, I don't think I personally have seen uh, at least here in the Coachella Valley this be done to this magnitude. So I think it's important I think it's important to be the leaders in the valley to to to show that that industry is important to us and we will do what we need to do to support them uh and and identify ways to keep them afloat of of challenges that they may face. Not every dealer is part of the CCAC either. Um but the study the SWAT analysis it is looking at this comprehensively. It's not just the CCAC. Yeah. And to that point, so so we have a you know the auto industry and we look at East Palm Canyon and and there's there is a kind of a cluster there, but then as you keep going down uh you know at the border of Rancho Mirage, you have Palm Springs Motors um and then uh even on Perez, right, you you kind of go in that way, you start seeing other industries that other automotive um dealers that aren't

necessarily part of that and even services that off that are supporting the auto industry. So you start looking, it starts growing and growing. I mean you the point if you really want to tie in um you know recreational vehicle sales we have those as well on East Palm Canyon. So so those are the things that we're looking at but we're looking at them through a very comprehensive lens and not everyone is part of that. It is an option that that people can um you know participate in that program uh to receive I guess you know the benefits that they offer. But um I think this this is a way to as well show the rest of the industry that as a collective, you know, they're they're being vocal. They're they're speaking up and um we're working on ways to address their their comments. I also wanted to thank you for the highlighting of the uh development dashboard and I've already used it in the way commissioner Lee mentioned where I've had questions. I said look at this website over here and you might you might find your answers. I also mentioned it at our last um planning commission meeting. Uh you you you you showed an example, you know, where there's like I think maybe four milestones. It's like under review, project approved, under construction, completed. And sometimes I don't know, it feels like maybe there's some steps missing that we're not we don't quite catch to know if a development is really happening or not. Like if something's been graded and it's ready to go. Sometimes there's a big lag and people don't know that something is actually happening. I don't know if there's other milestones that can be built into it, datadriven milestones like perhaps the city receives some sort of permit that tells you, yeah, this is really happening and that could be added into the mix of data or the the grading permit tells us that something's really going to happen. I I love that idea, right? And it's the balance, right? Because again, you know, just just going back and not using this as an excuse whatsoever, but being a team of one and a half, right, it can be a challenge, right? Um, but to your point, right, how do we effectively use

this this this uh device and this software to tell our story. So, we'll continue and we'll take those comments in and and again, I know Victor's hearing. He's been really the lead on this. I want to give him a shout out. Great job on the he is he's doing a wonderful job. uh and uh you know we will explore ways that we can better tell the story at where that development is in its stage of development and I hope there's a good workflow from department to department that you will tell Victor hey we just got a permit for this or this is happening so he can update it so you know uh I'm up here already right I talk about it so we do we have a what we call a DSSE or development services committee right kind of a one-of-a-kind thing to be very frank with you but what it is is is kind of a it's a it's it's a way that we all meet and and we meet on a pretty frequent basis. Um and it's a representative of different departments and we all this uh development dashboard is actually one that is part permanently integrated now as part of our itinerary that we go through and we sort of check off. Let's go through are there any projects that maybe have are are in the next phase or are there ones that we're missing and we need to add. So, uh, we have a consistent dialogue with all departments. Uh, and working for several departments or several cities, I I can tell you that it's it's very unique in the way that they do it here and it works really well because the more we can talk, the the less, uh, I guess telephone game occurs, right? And so, we're all in a room, we can look at the dashboard, see what where different projects are at, and really update them accordingly. Great. Because the tool's only good if it's up to date. And it sounds like you've got that under control. That's very true. That's a Thank you very much. Commissioner me, do you have another question? Oh, yeah. I just wanted to ask in your conversations with the sort of twofold. Uh, in your conversations with the auto dealers, has there been any sort of concern about tariffs impacting sales? Um, and

two, my understanding is the auto dealers and the auto industry, I guess you could say, in general, are the lion share of the sales tax that the city receives. And the city basically runs on sales tax. Um, so it makes sense that we would want to ensure their success. Um, but at the same time, if you're looking at a SWAT analysis, right, for them, a SWAT analysis for the city would probably show that is one of our weaknesses or our potential threats is that if the auto industry were to suffer for any period of time, the city will lose a lot of money. So is part of what you're doing with the economic development and this whole new plan trying to build up other areas of business uh in the city to kind of not have all our eggs in one basket to so so to to to kind of touch on that is um so we are looking at so tariffs right you you mentioned the big T-word right so that when we first initially talked about this I was about maybe one or two months in in working here and and it was apparent to me like hey we need to focus a little bit of attention on this industry so a lot changed since then right so you know that was pre January right and so since then obviously uh there's been more and more ever changing and it's just part of the evolution of industries but uh this it was as we were working on doing the RFP getting someone I can tell you it almost just aligned so well because as we started identif identifying who the consultant was going to be, what their scope was going to look like, uh, the industry, the the auto industry that we had been talking to, the group, uh, they were very supportive because at that time and continuing to, right, it it wasn't solely about marketing anymore. It wasn't solely about signage. It was a much bigger conversation. And so, this is a way to really look at that at a really sort of, I guess, updated lens. Um the again you know SWAT analysis and all that there there things that you

need to revisit from time to time but there hasn't been one. So this is this is a way to start that uh and then kind of reflect back and see ways that we can again prevent right uh and how do we do that? It might be policy changes it might be other types of investments but um yes it's a it's it's a it was something that was brought up during the conversations. We we are working towards economic diversification too and I think much of what Eric has presented this evening speaks to that. We are a community of small businesses and allowing those small businesses to grow and thrive is a way for us to support economic diversification. Congratulations on your year's anniversary um and the great job that you've been doing reaching out to people and making sure that people feel included which these days is really important. um that people don't feel like they're left out. So, um I appreciate that part of your plan is to do that and and I agree with everything all my fellow commissioners said. Um is there anybody else with any more questions or comments? I I I can I do want to note this too. You know, it we are uh we will be concluding the contract with the chamber, but that by no means means we are not working with them. they are very much a part of our community and we'll continue to work on ways to to work with them. Uh this is just a way for us to sort of um readress uh some of the concerns and needs in our community but at the same time I do you know I know we have a a board member up in the dis here but I I I do want to say that that they are valued in our community. Uh the chamber does play a role in our community just at this time this is the investment opportunity that we want to take on. Thank you. Um, are you um ready to go on to part two? Uh, this is this is my time to shine, right? I Why don't we take a You want to take a

break? We're going to take a five minute break and come back at um 7 589. No, 7 754 7:54 Excuse. No, 7 5 minutes. We'll be back in five minutes. There you go. Break. I cannot count break. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think we just lost gas station. It's a matter of resources. Yeah. I'm curious because I very

question what last through no I I feel really bad. Is that your relationship? I don't know. Well, and that's her situation easier. It really, right? It's not like we're saying something specific for her, but she is the only lock that is boxed in which means it can't be and nothing bigger can be. Yeah. But I mean it's less likely because

I don't think this is But my point is that if we do not someone brings up a consent consent to consolidate then maybe people would it just seems from the getgo putting aside We all said there were some Some of those are pretty so much Uptown Village. It's 7:54. So, I'd like to call the meeting back to order. Let me resume the video, chair. One moment. Oh, good. They don't see us all standing up here chatting. So, um, we're on to our next non-public hearing

item, housing pro housing production strategy element and strategic plan implementation in housing as an economic development director. Mr. Beckaro once again, hi, good evening everyone. Um so uh we are going to go in and talk about affordable housing and I'm going to uh I want to kind of come at this from a lens of you know this is a I try to use every opportunity as you can tell as some some form of education opportunity uh way to to have dialogue. So this is a way to sort of continue working collaboratively as a whole. Um you all are a governing body that oversees you just talked about housing right. So um we're going to go into a little bit and uh I look forward to the dialogue at the end of the uh presentation. So purpose of this presentation we're going to talk a little bit about you know market rate versus affordable income limits. We we hear the word raina I mentioned it so much rural housing needs allocation. Um we'll look at the city's progress which uh we attached a presentation that was the housing element annual progress report. Reason we attached it is it's it is very extensive but there is a lot of good information in there. I I won't repeat the the com the the presentation. It was done very well. So, um but we'll touch on that. We'll also look at uh the strategic plan and the housing element. We again just had dialogue on the housing element. Talk about a little bit about financing, kind of what that looks like and the overall legislative role in all of this. [Music] So, I think that's not the one. Okay. So, uh, the income limits for Riverside County is, uh, as you note here, this was part, this was actually, this came from the Department of Housing and Community Development. Um, you can see that the median income for a fourperson family um, is 97,500. So, being that that the baseline of uh, when you talk about AMI, right, that area median income, that's that's

the baseline number. So not to go into that that's you know again in the other presentation there's much more dialogue much more um information and uh even the housing element right can really go into the the weeds on on all of this. So uh as we look at what is affordable what's what it really is it really boils down to the cost burden on on housing. So um and obviously every family is different but when you look at it this kind of gives you a sort of generic breakdown of what that looks like. you know, the the the less you have, the more you spend on housing, uh that's a percentage of your of your income, the less you have for all the other things that that you uh need to as well purchase and and maintain. So, uh when we look at the the regional housing needs assessment, um it's calculated by the state. This is a mandated this is mandated by uh housing law and it really quantifies how many homes and the types of homes that different areas different cities should be developing uh in a certain planning period. Um currently we're in the sixth cycle and uh again this earlier this year there was a housing element annual progress report that was uh presented to council. Um, looking at the statistics of of our community, you know, we are uh in 2020 we came out to about 51,000. Of the 51,000 uh 63% being owner um owner occupied and 37% being renter occupied. Um here we have the entire number that was allocated to Cathedral City being 2549. And that that is the breakdown here below of the different um AMIs of those types of homes. So the housing element plays a role in all of this uh as we uh cities are required to adopt a housing housing element and have what they call housing element in compliance. So I'm glad you all had previously the the another staff

report. You guys talked about it a little bit. So that's that's important. Um every year we have to submit a progress report showing what have we done, what is our progress. Um and that all helps us maintain the certification. Um why is this important? There is there are different mechanisms that are in place that the state of California has um where different developers can sort of tap into these uh these sort of um uh types of uh I guess um what you would call it laws where you can actually develop u a number of types of projects without uh any sort of uh or very minimal um uh intervention or suggestions recommendations from the city. So, one of those being Builder's Remedy. And so, Builder's Remedy is a legal tool that allows developers to bypass local zoning and general plan regulations. So, you all again had dialogue about that. Um, what we do and what we're looking at here is how do we continue to maintain that certification, right? is is really showing progress, showing um that we are adhering ourselves to the housing element um in order to uh prevent this because ultimately this um housing the builder's remedy was designed to penalize cities that don't meet these planning requirements. Um and then ultimately they grant developers a sort of streamline process to bring forward any type of project. um and it's expedited and um as we continue to see laws and legislation evolve around housing um we are seeing more and more attention especially in California on housing making it more flexible more uh I guess leaving more opportunities for different housing types to be developed. So in this you look at the AMI. So one of the things that we continue to look for is ways to develop these types of homes and a lot of these are de well these are all deed restricted homes to some degree right

except above moderate income. So builder's remedies examples here we have uh different ways that it can affect a community. So, um, you I I I encourage you, you know, please feel free to to, uh, look at the news and different news articles that that reflect on the different, I guess, dialogues around builder's remedy. But in essence, here uh, here's an example. Um, you know, Santa Barbara, they there was one that a development was supposed to go right behind it. Things like that that maybe affect cultural sensitivity to a community or the fabric of that community. others being uh maybe safety concerns that the community may have uh for a variety of reasons. So things like that uh you know are important to to sort of just monitor and see what other cities are facing. So within our housing element, the way that we continue to show progress in in to the state is to follow our programs and show progress towards the programs uh not only the the housing numbers which are ultimately the you know one of the most important factors but also the um the intent behind and and the sort of progress behind some of these programs. So going into program 1 A4, inclusion of affordable housing, uh including units targeted for extremely low, very low, low, and moderate income. And I won't go through all of them, but as you can see, there's things such as providing technical assistance. Um uh looking at ways that we uh create new parcels. You guys just talked about that, right? um continuing to do these types of programs are what uh shows progress to the um in the housing element annual progress report. Um one of the tools that that's used by cities throughout California is is the pro-ousing designation. And that's just I put it up here because um you know as we look at ways to sort of um navigate

this ever evolving housing uh uh sort of world we we want to figure out how do we work towards achieving that arena? How do we get those housing numbers here? Uh again ultimately that is the goal. And so um this is just one type of uh program out there that we are looking at you know is this something that maybe we can have dialogue on in the future. And in our strategic plan, we do have a goal F to u have an embra uh embrace an inclusive community. So, uh the reena production comparison in here, uh I'm noting from the staff report from the annual progress report, um up to date, we've had about 15% of the uh units that are in our arena be developed. So as you look at this chart um we have uh 2024 to date 373 and uh leaves us still with a remaining 2,176 units to develop. Um so if you look at the top you see the the Reena cycle. So this Reena cycle uh started in 2021 and uh it's it concludes in 2029. Um and so us as staff it's important as we look at you know maintaining the control needed so you all can do your positions and and again a staff can do their their their jobs and ensure that we uh grow in a progressive and a sustainable manner. Um that's uh you know again taking into account all the factors that we have adopted over the years uh that that sort of overall tell the story and the create the culture and again fabric of the community. Uh how do we maintain that? Well, it's looking at ways that we incentivize the different types of development that is deed restricted and meets those affordability levels. So, from hindsight, you you can see that we do have we do have a lot of housing. We do have a lot of housing

being developed in our community. Um, this housing is market rate. And uh one positive thing that that I can that I can note on this is we are still one of the more affordable places, but as we continue to see more and more increases in costs um and and the fluctuation of different material types and accessibilities, we are, you know, we're seeing these these sort of costs continue to increase. So maintaining and figuring out ways to uh first maintain and and uh protect the existing affordable housing but also incentivize new affordable housing. So in uh this chart here that again was out of the annual progress report, you can see that yes, we had uh about uh the 300 and so units of those that are meeting uh or adhering to the extremely low, very low, low, and moderate income. Um we have a total of uh 57 um and that's as of 2023 of the APR. Um and so when you look at the and these are permitted I'm sorry these are permitted and so when we created this chart uh planning did to really show the comparison amongst the other cities. So it's important to note that right we are at 57 um our neighbors in Palm Desert are at 670 um India 398 uh Palm Springs just to the other side 500. So um again looking at ways that we how do we incentivize these types of developments, these types of housing types that uh are part of our housing element is important. So in that uh I know that maybe one of the um uh one of the overarching questions is well let's just get it built you know let's really let's just let's do it and um this important part right here is really helps sort of define what that

looks like. So, California, it uses a multiaceted approach at ways that it funds affordable housing and that includes state programs um that are like the low-income housing tax credit. You you hear it so often, LITC. Um this is a very common uh program that is used to develop affordable housing. Along with that are other types of programs, federal funds, bonds, grants, so on and so forth that are used to leverage and support affordable housing. Um, you know, there are oftent times in developments where public subsidies and private investments along with philanthropic donations, things of that nature, and even partnerships, they help sort of facilitate and create those uh those relationships that are needed to bring the financing to the table and actually develop this. So most housing types um I would say all housing types for to some degree or another they the developer is going to look for a profit even affordable housing right we use the word affordable but no one is going to come forward and it's just you know just put it out there no one is going to come forward and develop a project that they're already uh maybe in the red on right so how do they get out of that right it's that gap it's how do we subsidize uh the difference of what market rate is to the different affordability levels which can range right anywhere from extremely low to moderate. And so looking at that gap uh they use different ways to complete it utilizing things like the litec or low-inccome housing tax credit. Um because ultimately again relying on the private sector to develop affordable housing on their own is unfeasible when there is no profit or incentive um that

they're interested in. Right? We have incentives such as density bonuses and things like that that that developers are not seeking because those tools are typically used in coastal cities that require these sort of uh density types to to sort of um be a motivating factor for them to uh I guess take on that uh loss you would say of revenue from the non-market rate uh apartments or units that they're developing and sort of make up that difference. But here in the Coachella Valley, at least in Cathedral City, we haven't seen uh developers come forward and and necessarily request that. But um looking at the financing, this is really the the essence behind what really makes these projects uh come together. And as you can see that that photo on the right, that's Victor and I trying to find that piece, trying to put the puzzle together. And with that, you know, I think this uh this pie chart here really helps. and as well as this sort of flowchart. So in essence what you think about where does this money really come from then how how do these how does the gap get filled. So if you look on here uh 43% are federal housing tax credits another 11 are state housing tax credits. So that alone 54% right makes up uh the the gap on a lot of this financing. Um along alongside that are uh things that are noted and this is from the housing toolkit from the institute of local uh for local government and they note uh you know local funds uh other types of funds uh even um state mental health services. So there there are different ways that these projects are utilizing um services uh you name it to figure out how do we complete that gap so we can build these housing types because the more and more restricted are they are like the the the closer you get to extremely low income the harder it is for a developer to want

to come forward and really even develop this. So I this is a real generic example and this is you know not not specific but I just kind of put some sort of sort of generic numbers but the Kbato apartments um in Coachella they recently uh opened up right and um right kind of coming into their downtown uh area so that uh there there was an article on it that mentioned um the units the the cost of the project and so on and so forth the size the size of the site. So here you can see that uh they've developed and uh and this these are these are uh numbers and you can see based on I mean previous costs right so let's just take that into account that costs are changing uh and so looking at this about 108 units costed about $63 million you break that down I know this includes they have some some form of retail there may be parks and so on and so forth but nonetheless if you just take the number really kind of roughly what it costs you're looking at about 580,000 or So per unit. Um and so when you look at that and we looked at the 4%, right? Even that project alone, some cities are investing millions of dollars, right? And so us, how do us as a city, we look at what we have as as a community and say, well, what what are ways that we can incentivize or spur development, right? And of course we are uh we are very cautious and understanding of our constraints with budgets and so on but it's something to just look at like what are what are the ways that projects like this are being developed in this project the additional housing money that was brought forward to really complete that gap um is listed below. So, the California Department of Housing, Community Development, Infill Infrastructure Grant, the IIGG. Um, also the housing authority uh of the county of Riverside's project uh projectbased vouchers and home program. That was another program that they tapped into. Um the California Department of

Developmental Services, Community Resource Development Plan Priorities, the CRDP, um and the city of Coachella. So, one of the things that we always I mentioned so much, right, now that we kind of see that the h the tax credits, they are so crucial to to developing a community. I mean, if if they make up an estimated, you know, and this is again, these these are just statistics that they're gathering, but if they're making up around 50% of the project, well, let's figure out what exactly would qualify them to fall within this. So, in talking with developers uh that are in the affordable housing world, one of the things they will continue to look at and point you to is the California tax credit allocation committee, the CATAC, and the housing community development HCD. They are together and they have a what they call opportunity map. And in this opportunity map, it highlights highest resource, high resource, moderate resource, low resource, if there's insufficient data there, and if there's high poverty and segregation in that general area from their statistics. Right now, the thing about this is every year it's updated. And so, in essence, some developers are kind of chasing the the the the bullseye, right? It's kind of hard because I I I say that because I'm a very realistic person. So when you look at this map on the left hand side, it's the 2024 opportunity map. And if you look on the on the right hand side, it's the 2025 map and you can see that some areas went up in resources and some areas went down in resources and even the uh high poverty and segregation area completely shifted. Right? So these are all and again you these are complex formulas that that the state uses. These are these are state but what they what it does is this map is what uh developers affordable housing developers

will utilize to define if their project is going to score enough to get either a 4% or 9% low-income housing tax credit. 4% being called the over-the-counter. Um although they it's being more and more competitive throughout the years and we're continuing to see more and more competition within that world because well again that we in the Coachella Valley are one of many cities in California that are trying to fight for affordable housing. You can see the efforts up north and you can see it all the way to your coastal cities that there are different efforts and different degrees and magnitudes of that. So 4% versus 9% right in essence I'm a visual person. So if you look at the right hand side, it gives you uh what a 9% tax credit is. And if you can see that their equity is much higher, right? So they're able to tap into a higher equity uh number which allows them to focus less on having to sort of fill that gap because it helps sort of offset that. The 4% credits leave a little bit more of a gap, although they still help cover that. Um, and so ultimately when you look at the 9%s, you know, they provide around a 70% subsidy, which is obviously much larger, primarily used for new construction. Um, and again, they're looking for the highest and high resource areas. Not only that, but they're also looking for property owners that are willing to to some degree u give control of the property. So that because control of the asset or control of the property is required as part of these applications. So you'll need someone that's willing to be flexible on these types of projects. Not only that, but they're likely to, you know, a number of things. They might not get what you would if it was market rate development, right? So there's a multitude of things which is why some

jurisdictions um even neighboring jurisdictions such as uh you know Rancho Mirage, Palm Springs, Coachella even for that you know some of them are looking at ways that they utilize their own assets and how do how do they use that as leveraging tools because some cities and jurisdictions are in situations and opportunities where they can sort of allow that developer to have that control to go through the application process sort uh allowing them to go through that because as a city, you know, they're not necessarily looking for that. They're looking for ultimately how do we uh help our residents and how do we help them? Well, it's getting them attainable and affordable housing. Um and part of that is utilizing incent in incentives to do that. Um the 4% what they call like over- the-counter, it's it's less of a subsidy. You'll see that more for like rehabs or maybe property acquisition. Um, you'll hear sometimes that they're, you know, purchasing a property and renovating or changing it to to be affordable housing. You'll see it often for that. It has historically been seen as non-competitive, although I'm telling you that they're seeing more and more people in that field. So, it is becoming more competitive. Um but ultimately that the the way that they do that is they go back to this map and they say well you know where on this map do we one uh allow the density to have the resources that are needed for them to sort of uh qualify for the different housing tax credits and again try to identify sites that are feasible for the vision of the project. Um, so it's a multitude of uh things that they have to balance, but part of that is, you know, us as cities sort of helping facilitate that to some degree and ensuring that that we get them data, we get them the information. But um again looking at this chart uh looking at this map this is a a way that that developers uh are able to look at properties to really kind of from the beginning see if it will or will not uh

fall within the high or highest resource area which as you can see on our map we do not have any highest resource areas. We only have high resource areas and uh those are again everchanging. You can see some areas are becoming low moderate resource so becoming them less and less likely others are changing. So just something to monitor. So, a and to kind of I guess bring this home, um we're we're all sitting here and and and this presentation really is intended to um speak to uh you know, the legislative officials and to really just uh showcase what what types of roles that we've seen uh historically be played in in this affordable housing world. Um, so you see local legislative changes such as assembly bills, senate bills, and so on and so forth that work towards trying to incentivize or allow for different types of housing types, primarily affordable housing and uh ways to that that they do that is um by increasing flexibility. So when I I one question that you know I may have if I was you know in in your seat is like well what can we do when as we're going through the zoning code update that's an opportunity for everyone to really play a a vital role it's it's really important that that you know we look at those opportunities and even like what you the first item that you all spoke on things like that there opportunities where you all are working towards ways to facilitate housing but in a sustainable and equitable manner and I'm glad you know there was there was um sort of resolution on that and and to that point um we as a community, you know, we are in economic development. We're looking at ways that where are these properties that and where are they vacant because, you know, the maps aren't telling you that. So, we have to cross reference. Luckily, we have a phenomenal GIS uh person in house. So, you know, shout out to Alex. He's been

working very hard with us to develop maps that help us sort of identify those places. But again, it's it's looking at ways that we do that. And ultimately, I guess to to a local level, um there are councils and other types of governing bodies that play these crucial roles because you all shape the policies just like again the first item that came up. Um and managing these regulations and ultimately some cities uh have gone forward and we figured out ways to figure out incentives that promote development or pro promote affordable housing development. Um, and one of the ways that that we have seen and we've asked a number of cities, we've met with neighboring cities just to ask them how they how they approach affordable housing. What are, you know, we have a lot of very smart people in the Coachella Valley and it's important for us to kind of use each other as a resource. We we get asked questions all the time. Um, sometimes in the automotive world knowing that we have that background, sometimes in um, you know, even arterial roads because we have a few of them in here. So um ways that we ways that other cities have done that is they've leveraged their own land that they have uh they have the capability of doing so and even done that to leverage federal and state funding. So these are ways that um different governing bodies and local governing bodies have been able to sort of try to address the housing needs. And as I showed you, some of the neighboring cities do have some success stories. And so we want we want to be part of that. And so with that, we we are continuing to identify ways that we can bring forward uh opportunities um that are available where um you know, potentially there could be affordable housing. And um to that point uh I'm concluding my presentation and I am here to answer any questions. Thank you. Thank you Mr. Becker. Um are there any comments or

questions from staff? Mr. McFale. Yes. Uh thanks again for another great presentation. Uh I I worked on the housing element for city mission VJO wrote some of the the parts of it but I think you really clarified some things for me in regards to the financing that was that was very interesting. I I'd shared with uh fellow commissioners and and staff uh an LA Times article that focused on the Coachella Valley lift to rise and was talking about some of the financial hurdles as well. I think the thing that really came out for me from your presentation was the table that showed how we're doing relative to our neighbors of similar size, population, and so on. And it is a stark contrast. And I'm just wondering, do we have a sense of why we are where we are relative to our cities? Do we have some unique factors like is it tribal land, non-tribal land? Is there something that they're doing that we're not doing that we can do? What do you think the the gist of this table is? So, you know, Andy and I have so many dialogues about how we love housing, by the way, of every type. I love home. I'm obsessed with homes and food, by the way, if you want to, you know, for anybody wants to take me out to dinner. I'm just kidding. But at the end of the day, you know, when we look at the um what is it that is moving projects in other cities to the next step, right? Because one one is just an idea. Hey, I have this idea. The other the other is does that idea go with the housing element? Oh, it does. Okay, now we now we've kind of checked off the next box. And we keep checking off these boxes until we ultimately get down to the financing. And the financing sometimes is a breaking factor because if if they if they don't get to that point and I had a little chart here, you know, federal funds, state funds, they all somehow work together to achieve this. Sometimes they fall into the rental assistance world. Sometimes they fall into the affordable housing development world. But like as I

mentioned the housing vouchers and th those are used as a leveraging tool uh by developers all the time. But you know when we look at um the financing overview I I left just one you know sentence at the bottom and that's relying on the private sector to just come forward and develop is uh unlikely because of the financing uh factor. It's hard. I'm just saying it's not going to happen. It a developer isn't not going to come forward with a project that is um again not there there isn't a profit to some degree uh on their project. Solely relying on pointing at the housing element density types that we allow. Well, we're allowing density and we we high density in certain areas, but why isn't anyone coming forward and taking advantage of that? Well, one we see, you know, you can uh tie in a little bit of the difference of of land cost here versus a coastal city, and you can see, well, a coastal city, smaller lot may cost the same as a, you know, multi-acre lot over here. So, well, what does that do? Ultimately, it deters you from from wanting or needing to take advantage of density uh of higher density because the cost of land. Um, also some of that plays a role in what we've historically seen as the type of uh product that is developed in most homes or you know single family resident homes that um you know not too many there's not too many multifamily projects in general in the Coachella Valley that is somewhat of a newer type concept but um nonetheless I as we look at how the the other cities have leveraged some of their assets some of the uh financing um I guess tools tools that they have access to. We've seen uh cities kind of just play a little more active role which is what brings forward this this sort of presentation is is we

as well want to be active players in this in this affordable housing world. We do want to incentivize the development of these housing types, but in order to do so, um when we look at the uh the what sort of local legislation, what kind of role they play in uh that the local legislation is is who can really come forward because um leveraging those those types of assets and those initiatives that are sort of set forth by either uh our council or the governing body of that area. um those are facilitated then thus by uh staff such as us and our departments. So ultimately you know there is a process and a checks and balances of how these projects come forward but that it these these these types of dialogues are what are needed in order to sort of uh just get a better understanding as to what it takes to maybe um help spur some of that development here. So if I can I just want to offer two additional points and we look at Mirage and Palm Desert in particular they have two advantages that we don't necessarily have or at least have the same degree that's land and I would say that they have strategically used city-owned assets and as well uh used housing agency funding uh to enter into lowinterest deferred payment loans in support sort of affordable housing projects and they've been very successful at it. I think that's why you see such large numbers in cities like Rancher Mirage and Palm Desert because they've used those assets to that end. We're not a as well supported uh with housing agency funds. I think we have a couple of million as as as in comparison to some of the other cities, it's a lot less and we don't own as much land. So I think we have some challenges that we have to overcome to be successful in that space. Um Eric mentioned density bonus. You know I

think one of the questions I have and I don't have an answer for you this evening but what might make that more appealing to the industry. Um there state density bonus law is just that we have to comply at least with the state minimums. But as we look at density bonus law there are ways that we can make that local. There are ways for us to look at that pro housing toolbox to look at particularly incentives that we can offer that make it more enticing for a developer to incorporate affordable housing into the project so that maybe it's not a 100% affordable housing project but there are units in it. We're not seeing that development today. So, I think what we're required to do is is to be creative and and to come up with solutions that, you know, maybe a little unconventional or maybe a little out of the box because we don't have the same resources that other communities have. So, there's clearly structural things that we can't com compete with neighboring cities on. It's not to say we can't, right? We don't have the depth of resources that they may have. We still can do it, but we may have more constraints. Okay. Um, I I'll leave it at that. Thank you very much, Commissioner Me. Um, that was actually really helpful what you just said because one of the things that jumped out to me when I looked at that chart, especially when you look at Palm Springs, um, and Ranch Mirage and maybe not so much Palm Desert, but Ranch of Mirage and Palm Springs for sure seem to be more expensive cities to live in, right? So, it was pretty surprising to me that they have that they've actually produced so much more affordable housing than we have because I would assume that the cost of land maybe in Cathedral City is cheaper than in Palm Springs. Um, it seems just housing in general is more expensive there. Um, but what I was also thinking about is, um, you know, Palm Springs, Palm Deserts, Palm Desert also have very well-developed walkable shopping districts which do lend

themselves to multif family housing being built around it. We don't have yet any sort of I mean, we have downtown, but it is not a destination in the same way that downtown Palm Springs is or that El Po is um, in Palm Desert. Um, and so I'm wondering is that something that's being discussed? I know obviously we're going to go through the development code update, but um, you know, on a council level and on a city level, um, the idea that multif family will be more attractive when there is more for people to do and more walkability. That was one question. Um, and then another question was, um, there was a lot of discussion about city funds in some of these cities being used, city property being used. Is that something that has been brought up with council? Because I know I've been to I know I missed the middle strategic planning meeting, but I've been to two of the three, I think, since I've lived here. And I don't recall any of that coming up in any of those budgeting meetings about doing a survey of what city property we have and whether or not we could put that on the table to encourage development. Um, and then I have a comment after that, but I'll just leave you with those two questions for right now. Good questions. Right. Um, so to to go on your your first question about walkability, so those those are important, right? But one one thing to note, right, when we talk about what it what it's going to take to finance it is is the um the designation of that of that resource area is this map. as much as and walkability and all of that does play a role, but some of the some of the things that that we've heard from developers on um things that they're interested in knowing are um are there is there a department of social services nearby? What kind of other services are are around there? And those are the kinds of questions that they're really asking. of course we would love to have you know and I think it is obviously it's it's something that every resident deserves is having a really uh positive

way to to get to and from um retail shops and but I think one of the things that that we want to ensure is that you know that's something that through the design process um so long as the city has you know the the control or the there isn't like a builder's remedy or anything like that being utilized that cities you know are able to work with developers and really create a project that that works and Um, you know, I encourage you all to even look at what some of the neighboring cities, what kind of projects they've put out and that are affordable. And, um, there hasn't been one that I haven't seen that I I say, "Wow, they look really nice." And they obviously it's a very big investment. So, um, you know, I think that they do take that into account. If you look at some of the newer developments, they do have like meandering sidewalks and things like that that really shaded areas, things like that. And so, um, through the design process, yes, absolutely. you know, and then you guys are all in in a role to to to, you know, play a a part in that, especially through the development code as we look at as we look at that, right? Um, as far as the dialogue, you know, we have there are uh several uh times that that we've that we've brought forward the idea of talking about affordable housing, but um you all are are kind of seeing this version of this of of this presentation um as we kind of start and working our way. But um these are good dialogues to have and I encourage you all to you know um to uh if the opportunity arises have that to to sort of further the conversation because ultimately you know um us as administrators we're able to administrate that that idea and that vision but again that that's something that we uh that is direction would be needed to sort of say this is XYZ right and so not to get into anything specific on it but good questions and uh you know how do we how do we do that is um continue having these conversations, these educational opportunities to to talk about uh some of the the I guess interesting factors that that are are

part of affordable housing development. Um so, uh we I guess I didn't necessarily fully answer your question on that, but we will continue to to work on ways to explore things like that you just discussed. And um uh luckily again we have a great GIS uh gentleman that that helps us with all these really neat maps and so um we we can we can look at explore but again those are directions that would need to be provided to us in order to for us to really move forward in that that direction but um me as a economic development manager you know definitely I think it's it's important for me to look at all angles of it and say uh how do we do this in a very effective manner um and that is to have a dialogue and if there is interest to pursue a certain um whether it be parcel or project then then that's when we as administrators can really jump in and uh sort of help facilitate that and navigate that which is where we've seen some of our colleagues really play a pivotal role is um the idea was sort of brought forward and they helped sort of facilitate the the end result. Okay. And then I just wanted to know if um I guess wanted to request uh if you could explain for anyone who might be watching this meeting because everyone talks about affordable housing, right? And I think people think oh there's no affordable housing or oh those are affordable. They mean affordable in a general sense. So there's big A affordable capital A affordable which is deed restricted which most people don't know what that means and those are those tiers that you were talking about. And then there's affordable generally like, hey, I'm looking for an apartment. I need something affordable. Um, they may not meet those deed restriction things. So, I was wondering if you could sort of give maybe just a little bit of an overview for anybody who's watching just so people understand what we mean when we're talking about and when a project comes before us or comes to council when they're talking about affordable and how that kind of affects, you know, the

rents and all that sort of stuff. Just so people have a better understanding. AB: Absolutely. So, um, affordable, and I guess we'll we'll start with like what you would typically consider to be affordable is scrolling on Zillow and finding a property that fits sort of, uh, the estimate that you're able to cover of a mortgage. That is that that may be a uh, um, your interpretation, a personal interpretation of what affordability is for our financial circumstances, much different than what we are discussing today, which is deedrestricted affordable housing. that's specific to certain criteria related to uh AMI. So related to what uh individuals that fall within those categories can uh afford. And so when we look at um specific to the household types that we're discussing, if you look at the median income um here for household of four, that is 97,000 and then it tears up all the way to uh actually acutely low, but if you look at the extremely low income uh boiling down to about 31,200 for a family of four. And can you explain what deed restricted means? Yes, deed restricted means that there is a deed uh the the deed on the project itself uh is each housing unit uh is accounted for and the developer as well as the person that is managing the project for its entirety uh is required to maintain uh that affordability type and that level. Uh so that unit cannot go up in price. uh it has to stay and maintain that affordability um for a certain period of time and those certain periods of time are typically in the uh 50 plus uh year range. So meaning that that unit itself will maintain that that

affordability for a long period of time. And so when we talk about we like we as a community we there are affordable housing projects in our community already and I I don't want to miss that opportunity either. There are um there are few and far between in comparison to maybe other areas when you look at the unit numbers, but we do have we do have affordable uh pro housing projects here and those are deed restricted and we actually as a city we maintain uh uh that sort of running list to make sure that they stay on track of those deed restrictions. But when we talk about affordable housing, it is specific to deed restricted affordable housing that is uh tied to the the development and is typically for a long period of time. Thanks, Commissioner Lee. Thank you. Yeah. Um well I I agree with everyone that's been talking so far and I I understand that staff and the commission here are all concerned about the same thing which is we're not doing well compared to um other cities and I understand some of the reasons for that. Uh one item that you mentioned in here was the I've forgotten the term already builder something or other builder's remedy. Builder's remedy. Um, and you said, you know, when when we fail to meet the arena numbers, that's one of the possible outcomes. And I'm wondering how close are we in the current cycle to that. Be clear, the builder's remedy applies when you do not have a certified housing element. We have a certified housing element. I think what Eric is impressing on all of us is we need to maintain that housing element. So failing to meet RENA doesn't necessarily mean that we're going to lose our housing element certification. I think what HCD is looking for is meaningful progress towards the implementation of

your housing element. Uh the goals, the programs that are contained in the housing element and ensuring that we're permitting that housing. These are goals. U in a lot of ways is a paper document, but we need to make that meaningful effort to implement the housing element. Um something that we've heard about um through recent legislation as we get into the seventh cycle, there may be penalties for cities that um fail to meet the reallocation. A little bit different than builder's remedy. So builder's remedy applies when you don't have a certified housing element, but HCD may still impose stricter standards if you have not built the number of units that you were required in the previous uh cycle. for instance, you may have a shorter period of time to prepare your seventh cycle housing element and to get that housing element certified or else you may be exposed to builder's remedy. So, that that is something that we're hearing more about. Um, we're certainly going to be paying attention to that. We've got a few years before we're going to be underway with the seventh cycle. That's really going to get started in 2027, but I think it's something to be aware of now. let's not lose our certification and then let's understand the repercussions uh of not meeting our arena numbers as we get closer to the seventh cycle. Yeah, I think the concern in terms of losing certification is that you know um we can't build 500 houses tomorrow. Um and so if if I look at the the one case that came between before us in the last 3 years was Desert Bloom which actually did take um a um u advantage of density um allowance in order to give us two or three um deed restricted properties, you know, and and that's been in the works now actually for longer than three years because that property has come and gone with different plans and so on. So, you know, it takes a long time for us to get

this housing in place, particularly with the d-restrictions. Um, so I I am concerned and I'm sure you are too that we don't see we're moving ahead fast enough in order to avoid that where we do lose that. So, it is a concern. I would say the slide that you saw that shows entitlements, that is a slide that gives me more hope and optimism. Um, Reena, right now we're only counting what has been permitted, not necessarily what is entitled. So, we do have entitlements that are in the pipeline. As those get permitted, that will count towards our six cycle arena. Now, those are market rate. That's not necessarily affordable. Uh but as we're continuing to talk to developers, we are encouraging affordable housing to be included as part of the project. So as we talked north city and we do have a prospective developer in the north city and this is something we have discussed with city council as we led a study session discussion about the development of north city. We said we ought to include affordable housing as a part of this. We're aiming for 10% affordable housing in North City. That will go a long way to helping us meet our affordable housing goals. Um that is one of the uh goals that's in our housing element. That's one of the programs for us to negotiate the inclusion of affordable housing in projects. So a project of that scale and magnitude of North City that does give us a significant opportunity to not only entitle but to permit affordable housing as part of that project. I noted in the presentation I mean kind of resonated with me because one slide said that um uh city council policy is essent is critical um to ensuring that we do this job that we get that affordable housing and I'm wondering what other changes might be necessary um maybe establishing more carrots or better sticks um from a city council perspective

because I I suspect a lot of this impetus has to come from them that you know we can sit here and be unhappy about it but we can't change anything. I think we've talked density significantly tonight. Density is a key part of this discussion and I think as we continue with the development code update, that is a subject for us to continue to explore, to continue to look at uh the density allowances in our residential zone districts, whether those are adequate, whether uh those should be modified to encourage uh more development, more units uh within the community. I I I think that's that's a key part of it. The development code update is is a significant way for us to assess u our our zoning regulations in a way that that we're ensuring that we're uh permitting allowing u not only residential development but residential development at an appropriate net. And I think to to to kind of add on to what Andy is saying is um you know I I believe that um I've seen that you know our council is supportive of affordable housing. Uh I think what other cities have sort of used is sort of continued to expand on that and said okay what what is possible? And obviously like we talked about some neighboring cities they have um bigger resources where they can tap into to help facilitate that. But also it's what they did that's different than typical development is they are pro they're they were being proactive by doing the RFPs the request for proposals because of the fact that they had um availability of assets to be able to negotiate. So that that's one way that they that they incentivized affordable housing um because they were controlling the narrative. They were controlling the asset. So that's just one mechanism. That's not to say that that is the the one and only way to do this. Um, again, it's, you know, it's identifying looking at that at that map or there are ways that we can look at certain properties that are maybe

privately owned that are better suited for for housing that would maybe score better um the uh on on that uh that map in order for them to get better financing options. So, um, we'll continue to to, you know, have dialogues, but, um, I, you know, I think, uh, council has been, uh, supportive of it. It's just us as staff, you know, me being in this role, I know you said a year, I wish it was a year, not not yet, but almost, right? And so, uh, I think one of my one of my roles is is to say, okay, well, one is is generic risk management, right? We talked about the auto industry. We talked about preventative measures. To me, I'm very pre I'd go to the dentist all all day, right? Because I'm preventative. I want to prevent the the the uh the pain that I that I will remember forever as a kid. But I think that uh that that's one way that us as staff are looking at housing and saying, "Okay, well, let's, you know, maybe let's approach it and see what other cities have done that were that was a a a proactive way instead of a reactive way, which is kind of like some of the other mechanisms that you'll see is is in general uh development. Uh it's kind of funny, but in general like most most departments are um reactive to projects, meaning that that it's it's what comes to the desk and then it's processed. Uh our department very different. We are uh we're definitely out there and we're we're one of the only that are uh proactive that are actually uh trying to figure out ways to one you know look at the risk uh and ensure that we as a city maintain that because it's very important uh that the cities maintain control because as you as we just talked about uh that can be an economic development tool for us and so we want to ensure that that we have that we're able to have that dialogue and have that sort of input on projects u because of the importance that economics has on pro on specific on projects. So, um we'll continue to have that and I think that all of you have uh

you know we've had good conversations and I think through the uh zoning code we're going to continue having more discussions on housing. So, sorry to rant on there a little bit, but yes. Thank you, Commissioner Bodard. Yeah. So, I love Andy when you say things like unconventional. Um uh you know there even the focus of this evening is about empty lots and lots that haven't been built on and lots that could be combined and lots that could be uh something in the future tomorrow 20 years from now. What we have is a plethora of single family homes. And I I could pass along a very interesting mini documentary about the city of San Jose that was turned into basically a single family home and how the city is suffering extremely because of decades of forcing that and being very strict about zoning. So what we do have a plethora of are these single family homes. And one of the ways that we could encourage that is by developing our R1 zonings and encouraging um small lot subdivision, encouraging people to boo put ADUs, encouraging by removing height restrictions and stuff like that. And so instead of what was presented previously about well if people want to add on they have to go into the backyard or sideyard, they can actually go up. Um whereas the standard I believe for the city is that if the builder build it that way and it's single family homes and it's staying single family homes and there's that height that's being respected. So to lean into what we already have our strong point is single family homes. I wonder instead of incentivizing builders if we could incentivize our residents. Rio del Soul which all those new

development all the new building that they're doing there some of their most popular floor plans I think the most popular floor plans all have an ADU. Every single one of them has an ADU already built into the structure. Super in demand. Everybody wants one apparently. Uh, I wonder if there's a way to incentivize our own population to actually build up instead of from a mental health perspective, building out, increasing the footprint makes yards smaller, makes gathering spaces smaller, makes family space smaller, but the variance of height creates issues and not allowing height. Um, if there's a way we could go to our residents and say, "We want you to add on a granny unit. We want your grandparents to move here. We want your children to instead of everybody living in the same house and sharing a three-bedroom, we want you to build on. And we're going to incentivize our own residents to do those conversions." Like right now, I know you can have a second, you could do a duplex if you have a garage or something, but that space does can't be opened up into the existing home. So that conversion and that restriction makes it so that it's not adding another unit, but it is increasing the living space for the single family, which is now multif family. I don't know how to do it necessarily, but it would be super cool if we went to our own people, said, "Hey, we have an issue. We want to solve that issue, and let's see how we can bring more housing to all of our neighbors, especially as a standard with the California allowing small lot

subdivisions up to, I think, 1,200 square ft. Now you if you have a 2400 square foot lot, you could literally put two 1200 unit 1,200 square ft buildings. I wonder how we could do that. And you know, so we do have I think the city's taken taken some steps to to try to work on ways to Well, we do have the ADU plans which are awesome, but it's not incentivizing. You a lot of good points, right? This is dialogue that I think we uh we can continue to have. Um I think even an I think ADUs on its own are kind of its own thing that that I think is worth discussing on. But um there are pe cities have gotten creative on ways that they you know incentivize ADU production. And that's one thing that's on our radar is um how do we get our residents to want to to to develop more? And um you know that's something that that I can work with Andy on and and really kind of maybe uh drill down a little bit more on on ways that we incentivize the use of both the the pre-esigned ADU plans. Um but also uh maybe discuss with the residents and part of our zoning code update. Um we we are doing we are doing some of that right. We're asking what are some of the restrictions that you're seeing? What are some of those things? And um so uh that's another thing that that maybe we can talk to our consultants see how we can um and I and I know that they've touched on that but just kind of reiterate like hey this is something that was brought up. I like unconventional and when I hear phrases like, "Well, that's how the builder built it and that was like in my neighborhood 70 years ago, 60 something years ago, that doesn't sit well with me because that was 70 years ago in a completely different economic environment, even a completely different community. So to maybe push the envelope there would be fascinating to figure

out. Thank you, Commissioner Bard. Um, if there's no more questions from staff, um, I will open for public comments if are there anybody that would like to speak from the public? We have no members in the audience. Commission and I will close the public comment period and close the discussion. And is there any direction for staff or any other concluding comments? I would maybe just say if the city council haven't yet seen that really gang busters table of how we're doing relative to other cities, I think it would be really good to get that before them and maybe explain why we are where we are and maybe how we can move that a little bit. I think that'd be a really good starting point to talk to city council. Hopefully, they'd be interested. That was part of the annual progress report. Okay. Presentation to city council in March. All right. Thanks. Okay. So, that brings us to commissioners reports. Commissioner McFale, you have anything? Uh, yeah. I'd like to ask again maybe um in terms of their agenda format. I think you know we're we're moving ahead on the zoning code development code update and I think we're at a point perhaps where I would really appreciate seeing a an item on our agenda called zoning code development code update reports and if there's nothing to report we move on. But, you know, I think we had a situation last week where we were almost finished something and Miss Schultz remembered, "Oh, I've got something to tell you about the uh the zoning code." So, it would be much better, I think, if we actually had this in here. So, that Miss Schultz and the rest of us are ready to talk about that as particularly the people who are on the task force

here. I think there's been one meeting on the task force that I don't know what happened in that task force. It would be interesting to find out. The first meeting since then, right? But yeah, did anything happen? I don't know. Um, so it' be useful to hear back on those meetings and then those of us who are not in the task for can say, "Oh, that's interesting. Could you tell them this next time you meet?" So I think that item we need that does adding that item need to be a amended thing. Um, sorry, I'm done. Commissioner me, I do not have anything. Thanks. whoever I am. Me I brought show and tell. Um just uh so excited that uh I'm currently working my way through a rather long report called incentive zoning. Um and uh I also finished housing supply accelerator. Um, so really I'm plugging the fact that uh if you aren't already as a commissioner a member of the APA, you might want to join because they've got all kinds of resources on their website um like this. And uh any topic that you want to investigate, you can do that through that. They also have some great um local groups um and and training. Um so there was that. Um, I just wanted to mention that um, um, Director Feinstein and and I had a a short discussion about special plans in general and um, it seems that that we have a lot of special plans and I'm not putting words in his mouth, but it sounded to me like a lot of these are now irrelevant. Um, they were only done 40 years ago. Um and and

so that whole special plan area needs to be completely re-evaluated and I I'm sure a lot of that rolls into the zoning code update, but um uh you know I this is not a single isolated incident with this special plan. There's a whole bunch of them. So I I'm glad to hear that we are going to address that as a as a project or a sub project of of the development. And the third thing I had um was just a suggestion which the the commission can consider um providing um you decided it was okay for me to say this. Okay. Um, so it occurred to me that that um the city council uh meetings always start at 5:30, not 6:00. And uh and one of the good things about that is that staff then, you know, they they don't have to hang about for an extra half hour before our meetings start and they get hopefully to go home at a decent hour. Um, so I would like to suggest we consider that another meeting to change the timing for for the start of our our meetings. And I think that um on your APA thing, I'm a member. Um there's a discounted rate for planning commissioners. Yes. Then you know if you're actual professional planner, then they charge you through the nose. Right. There is a discounted rate and for planning commissioners and also for you to go to the conferences, right? Just just so everybody knows. Commissioner Bedar. Yeah. I just didn't know. I know that request as far as itemizing uh something on the agenda if that needs to be formalized as a formal request to actually have it show up or if there needs to be a motion or something of that sort. No.

No. I think we can accommodate it. And I think it's a reasonable request and we can modify the agenda to include a zoning code update on future agendas. Cool. And uh I had asked Cynthia to send out an a group email about an interesting article that or news story that was done on Cal Earth. That type of Yeah, I didn't know if you saw. No, I didn't hear anybody's thoughts on that. U but just thank you. And I didn't formally recognize the city last time we did our mental health awareness month event at the end of May and it was extremely well attended and I just wanted to say thank you specifically to Eric and to Ryan and those who really stepped forward to promote it. It was a great event and apparently the mayor said it's going to be annual. So yeah, thank you much. Okay, we'll move on to city attorney comments. Uh, thank you, chair. Um, nothing to report from me um other than I will be presenting at the um upcoming APA conference um in Monterey in I think September. Um so hope to see some of you there. And staff comments. Sure. So, just want to make sure that uh we've heard the commission. Uh we will include the zoning code update on future agendas. Uh as well, we will agendaize for a future meeting uh discussion on the meeting time. I didn't see anything off the cuff, but uh we'll schedule that so the commission can uh have further discussion on that. Uh so, in my brief comments, I want to express my gratitude to the commission for the robust discussion tonight and these continued discussions. So we we uh opened an opportunity for the commission to agendaize for discussion policy items

and we've done that by you know creating this look ahead work plan and and really empowering you to control your work plan and it's working exceedingly well. So I want to say thank you for that. Um and we'll continue to do that. Um we are in the process of preparing a white paper in response to Commissioner Bernard's comments and we'll distribute that as soon as that white paper is done. I have a draft of it on my desk. uh will be responsive there. And as we look at the uh look ahead agenda for the future, um we don't have anything scheduled yet for July, but uh we do have the cottage food industry and microenterprise home kitchens uh scheduled tentatively in August. And uh we will also work in a strategic evaluation and review of the city's strategic plans. uh that is timely with the development code update uh so that we can determine whether there are some that can just be repealed uh without question that that are obsolete and that have no relevance anymore. Uh others that may need some modification either to the specific plan or that we may need to consider for the development code update and others uh such as uh Verono that may have been done recently uh and that uh will survive the development code update. So, we'll start scheduling that for discussion. Uh trying to work that in so that we're not overloading the commission. Trying to be responsive to new land use applications, trying to prioritize those, but uh working in uh continued special discussions uh from from those requests that have come up from the commission as as well as these additional items. Do we have a meeting scheduled for June 18th? We do not have a meeting scheduled for June 18th at this point. Looks like the next meeting based on the calendar is August 6th. Okay. With with that um I will adjourn the meeting at 9:02 Pacific time.