Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All right, for everybody. Thank you all for being here tonight. Uh we're going to get going here about 10 minutes. Uh we're waiting for uh our fellow commissioner to arrive. So go ahead and take a 10-minute break here and then we'll get started. But thank you everybody for being here. I think everybody here is a part of the most attended planning commission meeting ever. So thank you. Thank you all for being here. So we'll get going about 10 minutes.

Am I on? Okay. All righty, folks. We're We're going to get started here. Um sorry for the delay. Um so I'm going to call this meeting to order at 6:13. Uh can we get a roll call? Commissioner Global absent. Commissioner Jamu present. Commissioner Morales. Commissioner Perez present. Chairperson Condid

here. Uh can you join me in the pledge of allegiance? All right, moving on to citizens communication. While the series planning commission welcomes and encourages participation in the planning commission meetings, adopted rules allow no more than 5 minutes uh for expression of non-aggenda items. Matters under the jurisdiction of the planning commission and not on the posted agenda may be addressed by the general public. However, California law prohibits the planning commission from taking action on any matter which is not on the posted agenda unless it is determined to be an emergency by the planning commission. Citizens are entitled to address the planning commission on any agenda item subject to the five-minute provision. Anybody in the audience that would like to speak on a non-aggenda item? Anybody on Zoom?

Uh, no. Any emails? No emails.

All right. Closing citizens communication. Moving on to conflict of interest. Is there anyone on the planning commission that would like to declare a conflict of interest on any um agenda item? Seeing none, moving on to the consent calendar. All matters listed on the consent calendar considered routine in nature and will be enacted by a single motion unless otherwise requested by an individual commissioner or a member of the public for special consideration. Otherwise, the recommend recommendation of staff will be accepted and acted upon a single roll call vote. Uh, anyone on the commission that would like to pull um an item from the consent calendar? Any members of the public? Anybody on Zoom?

No. Okay. All right. Well, I'll be looking for a motion to approve uh the consent calendar 1 through 4. Motion to approve consent calendar 1 through 4. Second. Got a first and a second. Can we get a roll call? Commissioner Jamu. Hi. Commissioner Morales. Commissioner Perez. Hi. Chairperson Cond. Hi. Motion passes for with one absent.

Okay. Moving on to public hearing. Um, turn this over to uh staff. So this evening we have the copper trail specific plan and annexation and we have Vance that will be presenting. Good evening, Chair Condid and uh members of the commission. My name is Vance Jones. I'm a planner with Wood Rogers. Uh I'm lead the consultant team that was hired by the city to prepare the copper trail specific plan as well as the associated environmental impact report and other studies that were prepared as part of this development project before you this evening. I'm joined virtually this evening by several members of our consultant team. Uh Amy Lapen is here via Zoom. Uh she works for economic and planning systems or we call them EPS. They prepared the public facilities financing plan that supports the specific plan. They also prepared a fiscal impact analysis for the city. Uh also joined by Charlie Simpson with Base Camp Environmental. His shop prepared the environmental impact report. And then finally joined by a colleague of mine, Mario Tambolini. He's in our transportation group and his shop prepared the traffic impact study and the traffic study that supports the EIR. So I mentioned that they're here because if we do get some technical questions this evening, we might punt to them to answer some of that. So they're all available online.

Can we just try to speak more into the mic so the folks can Absolutely. Is that better? Okay. Thank you, sir. Stephanie, you mind advancing the slide, please? I'm

so the next slide is coming up here. Um this uh the project actually consists of a 681 acre area immediately south of the city's existing city limits. Uh really just a stones throw from downtown here. Uh it's a larger annexation area that's comprised of two smaller areas. It's the Copper Trail specific plan area that's roughly 535 acres as well as what we call the pocket area uh which is 146 acre area. And on the diagram there, the copper trails area is shown in blue and the pocket area is shown in yellow. And the reason why the pocket area is included as part of this is that because the project involves an annexation, if we were to annex the copper trails area, it would create an unincorporated island known as the pocket area. So that's not permitted. So they've been kind of brought in with this larger effort. Uh just to quickly orient you uh on the slide there, the project area is primarily located south of service road. Uh Highway 99 serves as the eastern edge of the project area and Blaker Road primarily serves as the western edge. All right. Hopefully that's a little bit better. All right. Um Oh, and then it gets too loud. Um, there are several components associated with the project that we'll go through, but it involves a general plan amendment so we can amend the city's land use diagram in your general plan to coincide with the proposed uses and existing uses in the pocket area. Uh, a prezoning action that's required in order to establish zoning districts at such time that the annexation is complete. uh the specific plan itself, which is the regulatory guide for development within the copper trails area, an environmental impact report, which we'll get into,

as well as an annexation, and so we'll get into those individually here shortly. Uh, next slide, please. So, uh, general plan amendment I'll hit on briefly. Uh, the city had foresight for this area south of its current limits when it last updated its general plan. And so the entire project area is currently within the city's sphere of influence. And so the city's general plan land use map does offer preliminary land use designations for that entire 681 acre area including Copper Trails and the pocket area. And so as part of the general plan amendment would be more of a formal adoption of land use boundaries for all the various properties located in the in the project area. And so within Copper Trails, uh you can see the proposed land uses on the right side of the screen there. Uh you can see that the mixture of residential and commercial and parks uses very closely aligns what was envisioned in the original general plan land use map. And similar with the pocket area, the proposed land use designations there align with existing uses because the pocket area has already been developed within the county and contains a mixture of uh single family residential, some multifamily residential, and some scattered commercial and light industrial uses. So really the proposed amendment to the general plan is just bringing all of the land uses once they come into the city in alignment with both the copper trails plan and existing uses in the in the pocket area. Next slide please. Similar story with the zoning. Uh it is a requirement of the city to establish prezoning for an area that's to be annexed into the city. And so for copper trails the zoning becomes very very simple. Uh that large blue area would be for the planned community zone. Uh your zoning ordinance creates a special district for master planned areas such

as Copper Trails. And so that zoning district would be applied to the entire Copper Trails area, which really what your zoning code allows is for all of the zoning type regulations to get punted to the specific land document, which is what we've got within the pocket area. The zoning designations would simply be adjusted to align with their existing uses. And so what you see there is a mixture of residential uses or zone districts like R1, R3, R4, a couple of different uh commercial districts for neighborhood and community commercial as well as a light industrial district titled M1. So again, these are consistent with the land use designations that would be applied to the project area and consistent with the general plan. Next slide, please. talking about the copper trail specific plan itself. Uh this document establishes the regulatory framework for the long-term development and um it basically serves as a development guide for that 535 acre. It helps implement the general plan. It works in tandem with the city's zoning ordinance to guide development activity. uh but it addresses all aspects with respect to land use circulation, parks and recreation, public utilities, public services, financing and implementation. Uh it also includes master plans for those various uh utility systems. So there's a plan for backbone water systems, a plan for sewer systems, a plan for storm drainage. Uh similarly, it provides uh street design sections for roadway improvements because uh facilities like service road would ultimately be widened. So, it provides the street sections to guide how many lanes and how wide they'd be, you know, when that were to occur. Uh, somewhat unique about this specific plans, it's not a required element of a specific plan, but Copper Trails does include zoning type regulations. So, there are permitted uses and development standards for each of the development

categories for all residential and commercial uses. It also includes design guidelines to help uh provide design guidance for the appearance of streetscapes, neighborhood design, and uh even architecture for commercial and residential areas. Uh most importantly, I wouldn't say most importantly, but very importantly, the specific plan incorporates by reference a public facilities financing plan, which is a requirement of state law. And that essentially identifies all of the costs associated with constructing backbone infrastructure and providing public services. And then it establishes and identifies the various funding mechanisms that can be implemented to ensure all of those features are constructed and provided uh as as provided for in the plan. Next slide, please. And a quick look at the actual land use plan for Copper Trails. Uh at full buildout, this uh land use plan would allow for development of just shy of 2400 residential units. That would be a mixture of both single family detached and multif family attached units spread across four different residential designations. Uh that large red area you see on the east side of the plan area adjacent to Highway 99, that's all designated for regional commercial, which would allow for upwards of 1.2 2 million square ft of non-residential uses. So that could be commercial centers, hotels, office, those types of uses to create some synergy along the Highway 99 corridor as envisioned by the general plan. But then the land use plan also provides areas for parks. There's five neighborhood parks, a series of green belt corridors that would be kind of knit them all together with multi-use paths and trails. uh a couple of sites identified for community facilities at the corner of East Redwood and believe

Moffett. Uh that would be for if the city needed to construct facilities to serve this area of the city such as maybe a new fire station if that was deemed necessary in the future. And then it also applies school designations to the two existing school sites within the plan area where uh Central Valley High School and Haidal Elementary School are currently located. Next slide, please. Talk a bit about the environmental impact report. Uh that was that was determined by the city at the project's onset to be required to analyze all of the effects of the proposed project. Really the purpose of the EIR is to document existing conditions, describe the project's potential environmental effects, uh identify any mitigation measures associated with those impacts to reduce impacts or avoid them altogether or reduce them to a less than significant level. Um a huge variety of topics are analyzed as part of that EI which are listed on the slide there. everything from aesthetics to air quality, planning and land use, traffic and circulation, wildfire. And um for each one of those topic areas, the EIR identifies the potential environmental impacts associated with them and provides mitigation measures to reduce those impacts to a less than significant level where feasible. So as part of this process, the EIR was really a good mechanism to involve the public as part of the copper trails processing with the city. That started back in September of 2023 when a notice of preparation was issued by the city letting all uh interested parties and affected public agencies know that the ER was being prepared and commissioned by the city. Uh the planning commission held a scoping meeting in October of 2023 to hear comments from the public regarding the scope of analysis to be concluded in that EIR. That's in addition to what we already knew we had

to analyze as part of that document. And after that scoping meeting occurred, you know, the consultant team went away for many many months uh working with city staff to prepare that EIR. And then in December of 2024, a draft EIR was made available for public review. It was circulated for a minimum 45day public review period. And that was really the public's opportunity and other agency's opportunity to review the EIR, determine its adequacy, and provide comments back to the city. And so once the comment period on the draft EIR closed, the consultant team went back to work again uh reviewing all of those comments, working with city staff to craft responses to those comments, and then that's what helped formulate the final EIR. The final ER is really a summary of the draft EIR, things that have changed as a result of the comments received and any adjustments to mitigation measures and things like that that done as part of the process. Next slide, please. One of the components of the EIR is the mitigation monitoring and reporting program. That's a separate document somewhat attached to the IR that would be included as part of certification of the EIR. And this is a requirement of state law to adopt an MMRP. And its purpose is really to ensure that any mitigation measures identified in the IR are implemented as the project builds out. And it's it's really quite a simple table that's a comprehensive list of all the impacts and associated mitigation measures that assigns a responsible party for monitoring each one of those implementation measures. Also, as part of the project, the EI analysis did conclude that there were five potentially significant and unavoidable impacts uh associated with implementation of the project. Uh these are up on the screen there. They're detailed in the staff report, but in summary, they deal with the conversion

of farmland, the indirect conversion of agricultural land, greenhouse gas emissions, vehicle miles traveled, and also traffic queuing at the on andoff ramps of Highway 99 at Service Road. Now, while these impacts were identified and and mitigation was not available to reduce them to a less than significant uh level, the EIR process does allow the city to examine these impacts and weigh the benefits that the project bring brings to the city against uh those impacts. And so uh the project does include a squa findings of facts as well as a statement of overriding considerations that provides the rationale for the city to make findings for each one of those impacts and uh why the benefits that the project brings outweigh the impacts. Next slide please. And finally just to touch on some of the uh required findings under state law. you know the the city of series does operate as lead agency for preparation of the EIR. So as part of the certification of the EIR, the city's action is essentially saying that uh they acknowledge that the EIR was considered as part of the project's approval and that it complies with SQA guidelines. Uh and that it also include adoption of the mitigation monitoring and reporting program and also include adoption of the findings of fact and the statement of overriding considerations. Next slide please. The final component that I want to hit on real briefly is the annexation. Again, Stannis Local Agency Formation Commission or LAFCO as we call them is the responsible agency for processing annexation requests. Uh the annexation area shown here on the screen is roughly 681 acres. It includes a total of 244 parcels. As part of the annexation of

this area into the city of seriesir, that annexation would also include detachment from two fire protection districts, the series fire protection district and the keys fire protection district. And that's to allow the series fire department to take jurisdiction over that area. Next slide, please. So staff has analyzed this project for consistency with the general plan, the zoning ordinance, as well as other applicable city policies. All of the analysis and findings for that is contained in the staff report. We mentioned specific general plan policies and code sections and have demonstrated the project's consistency with city requirements. The planning commission is a recommending body to the city council for this project. uh the city council has ultimate authority over items related to changes to the general plan or the zoning ordinance and specific plans. And so because of that um staff's recommendation to the commission is that the planning commission adopt the resolution attached to the staff report that recommends the city council take several actions. And these actions include city council certification of the EIR, adoption of the mitigation monitoring and reporting program and adoption of the SQA findings of fact, including the statement of overriding considerations. Uh also includes a recommendation for the city council to amend the general plan land use map to reflect the land uses in both copper trails and the existing uses in the pocket area. uh includes a recommendation that city council approve the prezoning for the entire project area uh and amend the zoning map at such time that an annexation takes effect and that uh the city council approve the copper trails specific plan and the associated public facilities financing plan and finally recommending that the

city council authorize staff to file an annexation with LAFCO to bring the 681 acre area into the So with that, uh, I'll con that's my portion of the presentation of the planning commission. Again, as questions come up, we have the balance of the consultant team available via Zoom. Uh, and I'm happy to field any questions that you've got now.

Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. Um, so we're going to go ahead and open the public hearing and we're going to start with the applicant. Uh, applicant would like to say a few words. Uh, good evening, Chairman Condent, members of the commission. My name is George Petrolacis. I'm land use council for the developer, Mr. Nav Athwall. Nav and I are here tonight with Tony Dlo, the project engineer, and we'll do our best to answer any questions you have tonight regarding the Copper Trails project. First, we would be remiss if we didn't thank both the city staff and the city consultant team for their hard and thorough work on the project. As you heard, it's a complicated and multiaceted project. Specific plan, general plan amendments, prezoning, annexation, and the environmental review. And we uh certainly recognize the amount of time and coordination it takes to put a package like this together. I'd like to single out uh although everyone was involved, your city manager, Doug Dunford, and your city engineer, Mike Beltran, have spent a lot a lot of time to get this package to you tonight. Uh we'd also like to thank the series Unified School District for our discussions to date. Uh we have some more discussions we have to do. We haven't signed on any dotted line on any agreements or anything, but we appreciate the good faith in which the district has engaged in those discussions uh regarding uh schools in the project area. Uh Mr. Awol and a number of other land owners in the Copper Trails area have supported the city in its efforts to bring the project forward. This is logistically, financially, and through sustained participation. And we appreciate the opportunity to be here tonight for your review. Um, early on there was significant landowner outreach. And while Mr. Athwall is the lead developer and a land owner in the project area, uh, this is not a single owner effort. There are many owners in the uh, in the affected area and a number of them have been involved in that support

logistically and financially for the city's efforts. It's been a long process. Uh they're always long process for bigger projects. Um it's really uh we kind of say it's six years in the making, but uh I'm old enough now that I think I worked on this same area about 20 years ago. Uh truth be told, and sometimes it takes all of that to get it before a planning commission and ultimately to a city council. Uh Mr. Awol and I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the late Mr. Stuart Fami who was heavily involved in this area and shephered the the project forward in its earlier stages. Um his family remains involved in the project area. Uh you heard really from your consultant and I'm going to I think I'm going to shorten my comments because I think you know like you we want to hear from the public and I'll come back and answer any questions that are directed at us at the end. But I think from a high level policy standpoint, one of the key strengths here is that Copper Trails largely builds on concepts that you've had in your general plan and also in your sphere of influence area, which is sort of the LAFCO defined pre-anexation area uh without a lot of changes as you heard. And so that really what we all we've done is we've brought a project forward in an area the city has previously planned for growth. uh in an orderly growth and in a comprehensive framework in all those documents you heard about. So that project really has been designed to be as consistent as possible with your existing general plan and your sphere of influence, including of course the regional commercial along State Route 99 housing near schools and a connected uh park system through the trail network that's a very uh very robust trail network for Stannis County that I think you'll be proud of for many years to come. Uh the project presents a balanced plan which isn't always uh the

case in that it has housing uh commercial and services um a nice circulation and I mentioned the parks and open space. The big thing here is you got balance between commercial land and residential land and that's a big uh I think that's a big component and maybe the most unique component. I don't think series has this opportunity and any other parcels along State Route 99. It's not precisely the same, but I wanted to think of some analogies. And one was I worked on the Crossroads West project in Riverbank, which had a large commercial component where the Costco went and the HomeGoods. It's not exactly the same, but series did a great job on your Walmart Center and all that wonderful retail you've gotten there right off the freeway. And by by doing this across 99, you'll have a chance to capture more uh retail and quality commercial on this side of the freeway. And I think that that is something that um you know, for all the obvious reasons. I never like to focus on the sales tax and things, but you know, that's a reality of municipal government is those those types of uses are important and help balance out the residential. As you heard, we have a wide variety of densities that will provide a variety of housing choices for people seeking uh to purchase new houses. And I think I'm going to stop there and just say that we certainly agree with staff uh and their recommendations to you and we respectfully ask that you recommend to the city council a certification of the EIR and approval of the project entitlements as proposed and recommended by staff. Like I said, I'll come back if there's uh things we can help answer from the public. And I just want to thank you for your time and attention, and we're available for any questions you have. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Uh start with the commission. Do any commissioners have any questions for the applicant or uh staff? So, a couple of the question, sorry, a couple of the questions um that I have. What percentage of the land use will remain the same from the existing to the proposed? If we had to take a look at or estimate it to understand the question better, uh the percentage difference between existing and proposed uses. Are you

is it in the pocket area 100% of it would stay the same? In the copper trails area, uh pull out some math. It's really only the school sites that would remain the same. Everything else uh would be converted to some kind of urbanized use from its existing uses.

So when it was saying the existing land use designations on the left hand side of the map where some of them showed lower density residential and everything like that compared to the proposed ones, is that just the general plan one? That exhibit shows a comparison between what's in your general plan land use diagram now is somewhat preliminary land use designations for the city's sphere of influence. And so even though some of the the like a park symbol might have been over here, you know, as it was refined through copper trails, that park might have actually landed a little bit further north. So it's not an exact uh same but it was a refinement of what was put in the general plan land use diagram. Uh and overall the mix of land uses the mix of residential the mix of park and and non-residential the commercial we feel that is the same. It's just spatially distributed a little bit differently than what was in that original diagram.

Okay. And the second question was, would any landowner be obligated to sell or have to sell if this was approved or amended? There is no obligation for a landowner to uh a willing land owner has the opportunity to develop their property or sell their property consistent with the specific plan area, but there is no obligation and they could continue operating as a if they desired. Absolutely correct. Any other questions?

Uh, yeah. I I have a question for staff. Um, in your estimation, um, is there any concern that this area might be isolated from downtown in any way? I know there's a bus route. Um, I believe there's a a bike lane across the overpath on a is it service road? Um I I know this is a master planned community and so it will be developing over time to be more dense, but is there any concern that it will be kind of really segueed away from the larger series area

and and I won't speak for some of the staff that uh live and work and breathe series here, but as as a planner um I don't feel like it would be segregated from the existing just fabric of the existing city. Uh, Service Road would be widened quite a bit to accommodate the additional traffic volumes in this area that would include bike lanes. Uh, a new interchange at Service Road and State Route 99 is also planned that would enhance the connectivity on both sides of the freeway through that route. And then in addition, Central Avenue takes you right from the heart of the plan area straight up and into the downtown. Um, which was something I discovered when I first did a site visit here a few years ago. Was like, "Oh, wow. This is it's really if you wanted to you could walk to get to the little downtown that we've got here in series. But uh but for those reasons I don't feel like it isolates this development area. It just kind of builds upon the the the fabric of the community that's already been set in place.

Okay. Thank you.

On that point, can can you touch on service road a little bit more and how that will be improved? I'll have to dig into the uh circulation section of the specific plan, but yes, there are uh there are portions of service road that currently are at full improved width, particularly along the northern edge of the high school. Um but we got a couple different roadway design sections here, but in all instances, the roadway would be widened to include a total of four travel lanes going in each direction. Well, not each direction. Total of four lanes, two in each direction with a center turn lane. Would also include in some instances a street separated multi-use path for the sole use of bicyclists and pedestrians. In some instances, that's a 12t wide sidewalk. In some instances, it's a street separated path. Uh, but the the roadway would be improved uh to be a minimum of of 99 ft wide from curb to curb or in rightway. I shouldn't say curb to curb. uh 99 foot wide rayway upwards to 116 feet designated uh in ride ofway for that facility.

And would that be from I believe it's Moffett to to Bler? It would be between uh well the edge of the plan area uh all of service road where the plan area joins service road. So yeah, that would be Bler all the way to the new interchange when it's ultimately built at State Route 99. And what is the timeline for that improvement as it correlates to phase one of this project? So the are are you talking about the timeline for the improvement of service road or

Yeah. Yeah. And how that connects to phase one of this project. So, so generally speaking, as the um frontages of properties develop, then service road will will develop out. Also, um we we don't have a lot of non-ontiguous uh um improvements that actually happen. So generally if a developer comes in and they have you know maybe they've got 800 feet of service road that they border then they would be required under conditions to uh widen that portion of service road as as they develop their project. Understood. Okay. And then what about the interchange?

Uh the interchange is currently under design. We're working with CALR. Um just had a meeting with the consultant uh this past week. Uh things are going well with CALR. Um with any of these big projects, they do take a while. We are still on track uh to have design done uh hopefully in by about 20 end of 2027, mid 2028. Um and then at that point in time, we'll be looking for funding sources uh to fund the entire interchange project as we as we move through the process. Any other questions? All right, seeing none, go ahead and open it up uh to the public. I'll start with these green cards here. Going to start with Christie.

It's Christy Britain, correct? Just make sure I'm the right person here. So, good evening. I'm Dr. Christy Britain. I am the assistant superintendent of business services for Sirius Unified School District and I'm speaking on the district's behalf this evening. Um, as the um, legal council um, communicated to you earlier when he was speaking about the project, we have been in talks with the developer and I am caut cautiously optimistic that we will be able to come to an agreement that supports the needs of the district that all of these new residences will bring for the city. Um, unfortunately, we didn't receive that draft agreement until today. Um, hence why I'm here this evening. So, I do have a few points I just want to put on record um in regards to the district and the project. Um we do appreciate the the city's efforts and planning um and hopes to we hope to continue to collaboratively work with the developer of Copper Trails um to ensure that we have adequate um student housing for all of the new students that the um residential development will bring. Um, we recognize this has been uh coordination between the city and the developer. Um, and we have not been kind of part of those conversations until about six months ago. Um, in terms of, you know, this development coming to fruition. Um, but again are excited about, you know, what these residentials will bring for the school district as well as the city. Um the district's goal is to ensure that we have adequate school facilities um and safe conditions in place to serve the new development to protect our students, staff and the community. Um we have been um we as you know we are in declining enrollment. Um but that declining enrollment is primarily at the elementary level. We have not seen the decline enroll in enrollment at the secondary level or junior higher high schools at this point in time. And although the EIR did mention that we do have one um elementary school that is currently not housing elementary school students,

which is our Hanline campus, it is housing about 10 classrooms for our Central Valley High School, which is part of the Copper Trails development. So, as we fill up the Hanline campus with elementary students, we will need to find a location um for those at least 10 classrooms of existing students at the high school. And then the 2400 add additional residential um facilities that will bring more students to the district. We will need more especially secondary facilities for our students to go. So, we've been working with the developer on a mitigation agreement in order to ensure that we have the adequate fees in place in order to add additional uh classroom buildings, whether those are are portables or additional full classroom buildings to house those additional students when this development comes to fruition. The other thing that the district is um concerned about, I think um chair person, you mentioned this, is the traffic um that is currently um a challenge for anyone who is trying to get over to H Highall or Central Valley High School um either before school starts or when school is getting out, especially across that service road um kind of the 99 overpass area. Um we did receive some information from the developer um in regards to some of the roadways and the expansion and sidewalks which we know will be um a a very positive development for this for the school district in terms of that safe path travel of travel for our students getting to and from school. Um so I'm just here to just to mention that we're working with the developer. Unfortunately don't have a signed agreement in place. Um, but definitely optimistic that we will be able to make that happen very soon. So, thank you so much for your time.

Thank you. If I could, I just have a followup on that. You you mentioned fees. What What would that look like? Can you explain that a little more?

So, the school districts receive um developer fees, both residential and commercial developer fees. Just in general, anytime there's a new residential development or commercial development within the city, we work with the city on those. When you're looking at a largecale uh development such as this, um we have a couple of mitigation agreements already in place for developments that have been on the books. Um the service landing development and the Whitmore Ranch development that are currently in place because we know that when those developments come start being built, there'll be additional needs for the school district. And so there's a fee structure that we uh work with that developer to put in place to ensure that we have the money to build those those buildings. And so school districts rely on um those initial developer fees, those level one, level two developer fees. We get some money from the state for new construction, but it doesn't, you know, it doesn't even come close to what it need what you would need to add on to classroom add classrooms or at other buildings or build a school. And so that third prong of the fees that we usually will see for those expansions comes from a mitigation agreement with the developer. So that's what we're in talks with right now in order to put something in place so that when those buildings and residences start to come and we know students are going to be coming to school, we can have the the money that's needed in order to build those classroom buildings to house those new additional students.

Understood. Thank you so much for being here tonight. All right. Next speaker is Herender. Hello. Good evening. My name is Herend Tour. I own two parcels. One on actually both located on the corner of Central and Service. And I had this project for about 21 years now. I'm excited to get this across the finish line. the uh this is 2.0. First time we tried uh it just fell apart because I think the at that time city manager uh wanted to go ahead and mitigate the all the infrastructure on Super Walmart and Super Walmart got stuck and and just kind of fell through the cracks and then the 08 uh crisis happened. So I'm very very excited. I thank uh everyone involved in this project putting it together, city staff, uh planning commissioners um and also the applicants and the uh also the property owners. So I would like to see this uh across the finish line. The also uh there's another reason series hasn't uh developed any largecale housing is fact of fees. So please keep in mind for the school district or or the city council to mitigate those fees to uh promote uh growth. Uh so if the city uh would recognize that you know putting low barrier of entry for housing which is much needed in series and not impact with higher fees uh I know the school district will get their fair share of fees but if they're going to spike the fees I don't think many developers will go ahead and uh accept that to move forward on this. So please keep that in

mind. Uh, and I very, very excited to get this uh, project to the finish line. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Next, we have the Payatt family. Think they're on Zoom, maybe. Oh, no. Right there. Good evening. Um, my name is Jim Payatt and first I want to say that my father was involved in this the first time this was going around 20 plus years ago. He passed away a couple of years ago. One of the last things he told me, he says, "Son, see this through." And and so our family worked hard then. I know that there was some talk about the schools. I know that a lot of those schools were built because this was supposed to happen until the whole collapse of we had in the home market and for that reason we have a lot of that infrastructure there. Sure, I'm sure there's going to take more and add on to the schools. That part I understand. But I want to stand here as a family saying we've worked hard for this for 20 plus years and I plead to the city to use your input and your what and what your talents are to make this happen for all the families that are here that were in that same position. We want to see series flourish. I I was at Siri High School, finished there in 1976. It was my town. I worked on that ranch. I drove a tractor on that ranch every day. And yeah, I want to see this continue as a legacy for all the families that have been working on this for so many years. And I thank you for your time.

Thank you, sir. Next, I have Wrangler. Hi, good evening. Uh, thank you councel and Mr. Chairman. I appreciate you guys time this evening. Uh, I don't have the privilege of actually living in uh, series. I'm a farmer in West Modesto. Uh, excuse me. Can you please state your first and last name? Uh, Wrangler Wheeler.

Yep. Uh, I I don't live in series. I do conduct business within series and pay taxes within the city of Series. Um, and I do help represent a few uh land owners within the pocket area, which more or less feels like kind of the forgotten area or the addedon area. Um, together we stand and together we achieve is what the city of Series represents. It's the sign behind you guys. And I have to admit, when it comes to a program or a plan like this, it truly feels like together we achieve. Uh this has been a long-term plan that has uh been in the works for for many many years and um I I highly encourage the passing of of 5B. It's it's just been uh such a beneficial program for Siri, such a beneficial plan of growth for a very long time. And it seems like it's very rare nowadays you can find a a plan of growth that is this supported by citizens. Most of the time you come to meetings like this and you find nothing but resistance. Here is a crowd that is largely in um approval of a plan of growth and prosperity for the city of series and a very beneficial growth for the city of series. I will encourage that I wish we had more neighborhood involvement. It feels like um outreach has been very limited. Uh a plan of this scale, this room should be jam-packed. There should be standing room outside. Um I think city uh outreach and involvement has been very poor. I do still encourage uh the passing of of 5B. You mentioned this is the most attended zoning meeting. It's not a good thing. Um these zoning meetings should always be heavily attended. This is directly affecting the future of series and I truly believe that this should include a large amount of your population. Series is a city that's obviously growing. Your track record shows that. But um again, I just I really do encourage more involvement with your guys' residents and more

better outreach from your guys' city council. But I do approve on 5B and thank you for your time tonight. Well said. Thank you. Uh next I have Andrea.

Hi, I'm Andrea Homequist. We have a business on service road and um we're 2 acres and we have a use permit and then I wondered what happens with that if it's annexed and I don't see how you can put four lanes in service. You'll be practically in the people's homes across the street from us and take our property too. So, not sure about that. Um, and then as far as we have a well, will we be required to hook up? Cuz that's probably 30,000 or more and the taxes. Anyway, um, and we're in the pocket area. Do we have to be annexed? I'm concerned about too like if I want to sell the property, can I sell it as with a use permit? That's what we're working on. Um it I think it's agricultural and they gave it to us if you're involved in some type of a agricultural um business. So but I'm concerned about service road. It's so busy. But you're going to have to there's no room for four lanes. So, I I don't know that part. I do know. Has anyone really looked there?

Um staff, can we try to answer some of her questions? Um we could start with do you have an existing CUP? Is that what you're What's CUP? The conditional use permit. Is that what Yes. Okay. Staff, can we kind of try to answer some of these?

I can I can hit on that. Uh so, uh use permits run with the land. they don't run with the property owner. So if there is a use permit, even if the property is sold to multiple times to multiple people down the road, provided that that use remains consistent with the original use permit and there was no timeline on that use permit, that use can remain and it is grandfathered in. At such time that they want to make a change to the use that's on the property, it would need to conform with the existing zoning and land use that's on that property. But this was very thoughtful in in what we did within the pocket area was ensure that existing uses had a land use designation and a zoning district applied that were consistent with existing use of the land. So that should remain uh in perpetuity.

And her other question, does she have to be annexed or the uh so local agency formation commission does LAFCO policy does not allow for unincorporated islands surrounded by a city? So uh that's why the pocket area was defined because of where the copper trails plan area is. It basically creates an island. And so yes, if if copper trails were to be annexed, then the pocket area would need to go along with it. Understood. Uh Mr. Beltran, can you speak on service road and perhaps maybe the standard um for a four lane and your uh expertise?

Yes, thank you, Chairperson. Uh so we we do have some preliminary plans that that show service road being expanded to uh four lanes, two lanes in each direction. um you know, we we do believe that we can actually make it in there. We don't want to we don't want eminent domain. We don't want to do those types of things. That's not not what we're in the business of. Um and and so as we look at plans, we always try to refine the way we are, you know, adding lanes and things of that sort to to the roadway. Um and then I'll I'll touch one other subject that you brought up was regarding your well. Um, so when you annex, no, you're not going to be required to hook up to city water at that point in time. Um, now if there was um another development that happened, expansion plans, anything like that that uh that would trigger, you know, a major building permit, those types of things, at that point, yes, you would be required to hook up to city water. Um, but if you were to keep your uh area the same as as what you're doing for instance with the CUP, um, no, there's no requirement when you annex to be hooked up to city water.

So, you mean like if we expand it or any change like that? I if you needed to have, for instance, um if you're a business and you're going to put in, you know, you're going to do another building or something of that sort, then yes, most likely at that point, you'd be required to connect. Um if you're a house, for instance, and you want to do an addition, you would we would require you to connect at that point in time. Also,

the only thing I I really think you need to go look at that area. We're at 2418 East Service Road. But I can tell you, I mean, you know, you can chop some of our property, but if you go on the other side, there's church and homes and they'll be practically on the road. Thank you very much. Thank you. Right. Next I have Nancy.

Good evening. I'm Nancy Fontana. I'm here with my sister Sue Fontana Hapet also. And our father William Fontana was raised in series. And if he were still with us, he would be 100 years old. In 1949, my dad and mom Mary Fontana bought 17 and a half acres on South Central and they had a vineyard there for a very long time back then because as a child I used to go visit the ranch. We called it the ranch. Um it was all country rural lots of farms and um ranches all growing different commodities. Today the city is at our borders. We have the schools that lady mentioned and they are our neighbors really. Sue and I have spent a lot of time and a chunk of money on copper trails since 2003. Here are the original documents. I had to I did have to dig them out. And yes, we are very patient people. We are inviting you and the city council to join us in promoting copper trails so that series can continue to be a thriving community into the future. Join us. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Um next I have Daniel.

Good evening gentlemen. My name is Daniel W. Nichols. I'm the CEO of WLC Development Inc. Modesto, California. I commend the council. I commend the planning department and the developer because this project, you have to look 25 years in advance. This project right now looks just exactly like village one did 25 years ago in Modesto, California. peach trees, cattle, and I owned a piece of it. And there's some people that said, "No, no, no. We're not going to annex this property." Well, their generations now, 25 years later, are begging the city of Modesto to let them reszone their properties from 5 acre parcels down to what I have on mine because I bought in village one to 3,000 square feet. And I I really commend you for thinking 25 years ahead. But here's a suggestion I have. When you talk about service road and you talk about all the utilities that have to go into this project, even the big developers like Dr. Horton and I deal with them all the time and Sentinex and my partner now that we're going to build 177 veterans homes and I'm looking for property in this area. That's why I'm here. I'm looking for 10 to 20 acres. When you talk about all the utilities that has to go into this project, no big developer is going to walk in and say, "Sure, I'll drop 1520 million on on development of the infrastructure and this service road extensions and hope to hell, excuse my language, that somebody

comes in and pays me back over a period of 10 years or 15 years." Here's what I suggest. I suggest the city of series go out and get a municipal bond for the cost to develop service road and bring all the infrastructure stubbed down to the developments. If they did that and they have time to do it because it's going to take time to annex this through Lavco and if they did that you would see this development full in six years but if you don't do that you have individual developers have to come out here and say like me if I bought 20 acres the 20 acres that I was looking at my cost to bring the utilities down to was $2.5 million. And there's no way that I'm going to go out there and have my partner and who's a United States worldwide builder put up $2.5 million in hope like somebody's going to come in there and develop it. So here's my suggestion and I'll repeat it again. the city of series, everybody involved with the city and the developers, the big developer who is developing this piece of property should go out and get a municipal bond through the city because it's easier for you to do it than it is a venual individuals like me and the developers who develop the get a municipal bond from the federal government and the state of California and put in the utilities. Now, Modesto and Traboli just did that on Silvin. They put in the infrastructure and as

soon as they started that, they sold the KB. He's going to build 500 homes. Floram just bought a piece of property. They're going to build another 500 homes. So, that's what I suggest. I suggest a city look into it really really hard to get a municipal bond to do the infrastructure. Then when the infrastructure comes in and let's say you're charged three and a half% on the municipal bond, you charge 4 and a.5% for the developer to hook up to you. So you're not losing money. You're getting your money back plus you're making a percent on maybe $15 million over over a three three or four year period. And for the people that are fighting this that don't want us to go into a big development just all I can tell you is the north west corner of village one there was 12 land owners that had 5 acre parcels fought it right up to right up to the last and this is 25 years ago and now their generation that's have the property now and they've resold it. Want to develop

when you're sitting here 20, where are you going to be in 25 years? Everybody out here, where are you going to be in 25 years? Your generations is going to come up and want to sell that property. And if you if you're not in that they won't the difference in land village one is $350,000 an acre but those 5 acre parcels they can't even get $150,000 for mill because they know person coming out of the bay area he's going to have to live there forever on a 5acre park can't do nothing with it you can't make any money and the only thing that makes this world go round is money and thank thank you very kindly.

That's a good way to end it there. Thank you. Uh next speaker card is Chris.

Hi, my name is Chris Hughes. I've lived in Series my entire life. I was born and raised here. I've lived here. I've been in construction throughout my whole career. I've also expanding my skills in architectural and permitting work. Um, we need this, you know, we need I'm sick of having to do jobs far away. I've got friends that have to go to LA and work. You know, there's a lot of opportunity and jobs that will come from this. And right now, the almond farming in the ground doesn't really create that much opportunity for the community or for us. So, please pass this. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh, next one is Judy. Yeah, sure.

Good evening, commissioners. John Warren, the city of Series. I was going to actually wait and go last. always very interested in hearing what everyone else in this room has to say, whether they live in the project area or they're part of the project. Um, I have some concerns and questions. um the s you're going to certify an environmental impact report and that impact report was open for a public u review and um comment I think in December of 204 and it closed in January of 25 and I made a comment I u I wrote a a response to that and I have not received an answer and I don't know when uh the answers are going to come for the people who did make comments. I don't know how many did make comments and I had some questions and I would think that before this thing goes and gets a permit and goes to LAFCO that the environmental impact report uh you're going to certify something and the public comments have not been responded to yet. Um there there's a lot of things that are involved here. This project, like the gentleman said, will take a long time to build out. Uh I don't know what the population of that area is right now. And I don't know if every property owner has been asked, do they want to be a citizen of the city of Series? Do they want this project? Yes or no? Have the people in the pocket area, have they been surveyed? Is there any data that each one of those people

that live there, that work there, that have a business there, have they been asked, do they want to be a citizen of series? Do they want the series police department to police them or do they want the Stannis Loss County Sheriff's Office to police them and the highway patrol taking care of all the traffic problems in those unincorporated areas? Have these questions been asked and have they been answered? That's my big question. And the other thing is if this does get developed and it is annexed into the city, who's going to pay for all the services while all the project is being built out? Who's going to pay for the additional police officers? Who's going to pay for the additional cost of our fire department which we negotiate with the city of Modesto and that's in the process of being done now. If we take over what Keys is doing now, that's an added cost to the city of Series. Where are those dollars going to come from? The city of Series is $3 million in the hole right now going into this next budget year. They don't have a full police department. The public works department is going to have to take care of all the dilapidated roads in these project areas. Take a drive down Breaker Road and see what it looks like. That road should be brought up to standards before the city accepts it. The state of California does that and the federal government does that. The federal government won't allow Highway 99 to be part of the interstate system because it doesn't meet their standards. And the state of California has been trying the last few years to add more lanes to it and bring it up to federal standards. So, the federal government will take over the responsibility of taking care of it. Well, before the city of Siri received all that property down

there and all those roads and all those streets, they should be brought up to standards so we can start off on a night even kale and we don't have to do any repair work. There are a lot of things that need to be answered and addressed before we annex this area. If the city of Siri had the money to do that, it might be something they should can be considered because the project will build out and it will take some time. Look at West Landing. I mean, we're going to have another West Landing. That thing sat there for 10 or 12 years and is still not developed because there's no infrastructure. And then if these people have to hook up to the sewer system, ours is way back. That sewer plant down there can't hand another drop. We're constantly sending sewage to Turlock and we're constantly sending sewage to to Modesto when this gets developed. Where's that influence going to go? just some questions and things to consider before you send this to LAFCO and you approve a uh

thank you very much. These are some considerations. Okay. And uh they I think the answer to the environmental impact report is a big thing. A point of order here. I'd just like to remind members of the audience to abide by the time limit. Thank you, Judy.

I'm Judy Keys and our property is within your boundaries of your changes. Um, you mentioned this gentleman here that you uh proposed this ideal in 2023 and you had a first draft announcement or whatever in 2024. This is the first notice I've received and that was to attend this meeting. Like this other gentleman said, your publication has not been very good. Could have been a lot better. I would have told you in the very beginning, no, I am 100% against this. 100%. Okay. Um you um you show no draft prep for preparing infrastructure before you annex this this property. How do you plan who is going to pay for all the infrastructure that needs to go in? And eventually, yes, people that you are trying to annex will be forced to sign up or to a hookup to public utilities. And how much will that cost them? When this happened to us in Hawaii, it was $30,000 just to hook up to the sewage, not the water, just the sewage. So, I'd like to know how much that's going to cost individual homeowners that you've gotten this annexation area. Can you answer that question?

Staff, do we have the answer to that? So, our with our current fees right now, a residential house is about $12,000 uh for the connection fee. Um, that does not include uh the contractor actually that has to uh hook up to the water line for them. Uh but our fees are are essentially $12,000 for a residential uh house right now. Um those those fees do go up by the inflation value every single July. Um and so they they will increase July July 1. Uh again, generally by the inflation value, which is somewhere generally in between 2 and 3% right now.

And precisely what does that hookup fee cover? Just sewage?

No. So that is that is water only. Uh sewage is actually based off of uh your square footage. Uh and it's I believe $741 per square foot for a residential house. So that can add up to be a nice little fee every month in addition to the hookup fees. Um, what I'm trying to say from beginning when this is the only paper I got, nobody bothered to ask me if I wanted to be a part of this. That's wrong. What if I came to you and say, I'm going to turn your home in your neighborhood into a homeless shelter. Yeah, this just sounds to fit really good. This would be great. We need homeless shelters. How would you feel? Seriously, answer me.

Can please continue with your comments, man.

I'm serious. How would you guys feel if somebody came to you and told you, "We're going to do this with your property and not even bother to ask us." That's wrong. You don't own the property. You didn't buy it. You haven't paid the taxes on it. You don't maintain it. We do. It's our property and you do not have the right to tell us what you're going to do with our property. You need to work with us and you need to consider us. I'm grateful to be at this public hearing, but this should have happened apparently 2 years ago when you started this and I would have been here had I known. Got to get my glasses off to be able to see. Um, last question. One of the next ones I have, what do you plan to do with the cemetery that's on our property? Have you even looked at that or considered that? That's going to come up and that's going to be a problem. That's going to require archaeologists and it's going to take some time. Have is has that been considered or put into your plan at all. staff.

So, with regards to something of of that sort, if you were to develop your property or anything like that, we're we're not going to develop your property um during your review of what needs to happen with your property. Uh you're going to go through an environmental process also, which does include uh archaeology and those types of things. Uh so if a developer or yourself were to come in and want to develop that property, those are things that they would need to address at that time um and mitigation measures uh if any uh would would have to be implemented whether that's protection or or anything of the sort. So um that is something that happens that that the city doesn't do. Uh we we don't we don't generally develop property. Uh and and so that is something that would be on uh either yourself or or the developer as they come in to to develop the property.

According to your map here, it is something you'd have to deal with because my property just happens to be that one you want to use for city facilities. And in in that case, we would go through the proper environmental process. Also, we're we when we look at those types of things, we don't just go about and you know go and destroy things because we want to. I if there is something that comes up in an environmental process, all of those things have to be mitigated. So, if it is a city facilities one, if we were to develop that, we would we would be bound by the same process as anybody else would be.

Okay. Well, I wanted to say I have absolutely no desire to develop my property. I personally like having a farm. All of you guys ate dinner tonight. You had food for dinner. Where did your food come from? See, we raise ours. We raise cattle. We raise all kinds of vegetables and fruits and nuts. We like having a farm. I don't want any more houses. I think there's enough. I'm tired of the overgrowth. I'm tired of watching every ranch turned into a darn subdivision or strip mall. We have enough. I think we need to better manage what we already have. Not to mention the crime that's brought in in high density housing and everything else you guys are planning. I really like having my rural little area. That's why we moved here. Those things need to be considered. And please take that into account when you decide to make your vote because this is wrong to force this on people. Again, this is the only notice I've received. It should have been something that that I received back in n in 2023 when this idea was proposed. So, please take that into consideration. I don't know why that wasn't sent out to every residents that's affected by this, but apparently it wasn't. So, thank you for your time. I appreciate it and I will definitely be keeping con contact with you and I would like a copy a complete copy of this whole P plan that's proposed. Thank you.

Thank you. Um, then the last card is Mr. Hilo uh does not wish to speak. Um, however, he is in support uh of this item. Um, anybody else for public comment? Yes, ma'am. Come on up. Thank you for taking my comment. Um, Chair Condent and members of the planning commission. Um, there were no more cards, so uh, thank you for adding me. I If you could please just state your name for the record.

My apologies. My name is Mary Duffy and I'm living in the Copper Trails um area. I'm not great at public speaking, so I'll just take a breath. Um, I I cannot under I don't think I can overemphasize the urgency with which Yes, I do believe Copper Trails needs to begin the phases. I've looked at the phases. I'm I'm unclear as to when uh the timelines are going to be, but Siri's school district made that commitment to bring people to our area when they built H Highall, when they built uh Beaver, when they built the high school. I purchased my property on Redwood Road as a very rural property. There was a grape vineyard where H Highall is right now. And I can ask a question of you. Have any of you been on Moffett Road between service and Redwood? Have any of you? Have any of you been on Moffett Road between Service and Redwood during school? Have you been on Moffett Road when school's out of session? It's two completely different areas. We had so much fog um only a few weeks ago. There is no center line down Moffett Road. series high school sir the series school district built highall in what 2005 and there was no when we think about community when we think about what's important to bring something together to bring a feeling of I guess community I keep going back to community what what represents community in our town

it's our community center it's also our schools yet. We have schools, H Highall School built in 2005. We have a school that students are not allowed to walk to school because there's no sidewalks. So when we talk about Yes, we were negligent in not providing the infrastructure 25 years ago. When's the best time to plant a tree? 25 years ago. When's the second best? Right now. And we do have due diligence to be able to allow students to come to school. What do we want to see in a school? We want to see afterchool programs. We want to see parents involved. We do live in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area. So, if a student wants to stay after school for math blast, but yet they ride a bus and they're not allowed to they're not allowed to walk home, they're not allowed to stay for the math blast because there's no transportation for them. If we make the commitment to build a school and build a place where people gather, then I believe we need to follow through with that. And I'm not sure if that's a series Unified School District. I'm not sure if that's series itself. Can you help me answer that one? Can you answer that one for me, Mr.

Beltra?

So, currently right now the the city all of that is in the county. Um, so we we don't have jurisdiction to build sidewalks and things of that sort in in county jurisdiction. Uh, so when it comes down to it, once it comes into the city, development does start happening, those types of things start to come about. roads get dedicated so that they're wider uh so that they can put in sidewalks. All of those types of things come in um as development happens within within the new annex area. But until it's part of a series until it's part of the city of series, we won't go out there and put in sidewalks in for instance the county. They have much different standards as far as storm drainage and street standards, driveway standards, all of those types of things. Um, so we we won't go into county jurisdiction to do that at this point in time. Um, and then once it comes in and developers come in, they will eventually be they they'll bear the brunt of of putting in those sidewalks and widening streets and and things of that sort.

Thank you. It seems to me that there should have been an agreement back then. Um, also one question I have, the original plan showed our property in lowdensity housing. I'm looking at this current plan and it's showing a split between the park and housing and I'm how does that work when a property is split between parks and housing? build that it's quite common from a land use perspective to have a plan that looks one way, but as what city process small lot tenative subdivision maps for those areas, those boundaries for parks and residential parcels begun to be refined reflective of existing property ownerships. Because this is specific plan level, we're still at roughly 10,000 ft looking down. And so as future development proposals come forward and are processed by the city, those boundaries get refined through that process.

Thank you. So um thank you for your time. I do urge urge these phases to be started as soon as possible. Thank you. Thank you so much. Anybody else for public comment? I'm sorry, sir. You already had your five minutes. Yes, ma'am. Come on up. Yep. Hi there. My name's MJ. You guys ready to go home, huh? Yeah. I really liked what you said, Dan. How you doing? Doing great.

You need to hire this guy. Anyway, I am I am for this coming to together. I am for it. I hope that you start actually um where we have all these ranchets because what I'm understanding is the overpass which needs to be started now like ASAP cuz someone mentioned about the traffic on service it is ridiculous and I was thinking about getting a signs you know because they're standing there how how do you like sitting here for you know hours trying to get over the overpass um ju and just to show what it looks like, you know, I'm sure maybe you've got caught in it a couple times. Um, but to I hope I mean, it's a consideration. I know it can go any way you want. I know Nav has a big pasture that he would like to develop first, but um I personally don't want to live where more and more traffic is. I want to be gone before if that's a possibility, you know, because there's a lot of little ranchets there. Um the school is right across the street from me and uh when we before the school was built, we had 50 cars every day total and now there's a thousand. So, um I would I hope you consider developing first where the little ranchets are, you know, and get that overpass going. Build the infrastructure. Look at what Turlock did. All these roads came up and then boom, everything all the and they supply money, right? Taxes, you know, businesses like we're tractor supply. They're they're paying serious too. So, if that can happen first, you guys, it's golden. Just like Dan said, I know this guy. Watch out. Thank you,

ma'am. Can you please state your name for the record, please? MJ MJ Mises. Okay. Thank you. I'm sorry. Council's telling me no. I'm sorry. You already had your five minutes. Renee, come on up. But we're going to try to hire you for the city, so we'll talk after the meeting.

Renee Led Better. I'm a resident of uh series. I live on Don Pedro Road. Uh my family has tried 20 years ago to be a part of this project and it's time for this project to take place. We've waited a long time. I'm also a realtor and we need housing in series. It's very crucial. We need commercial space. We need retail space. I get calls every day for office space in series and I have none to show. So we definitely have a need for this project. Uh I definitely would like to see service road improved. I get on to service from Collins every day and during school it is a wreck. So, um, and I'm really glad that the person who lives on the corner of Collins and service finally cut down their tree so that we could see oncoming traffic. So, I I commend them for that. But this is a long time coming. It's a great project and we would like to see it come to fruition. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else for public comment? Anybody on Zoom? Uh, no, nobody on Zoom. Okay, final call. All right, going to go ahead and close uh the public hearing portion of this item, bring it back to the commission. Um, I do have a couple questions for the applicant. Um, some of the questions that some of the the neighbors brought up. Um, as far as the public notices, can you speak on what the city required you to um do as far as outreach uh to the public?

Uh the noticing really is a city process, so I would ask them to speak to it. Julian, do off the top of your head, do you know the standard protocol that that we're using

above and beyond? I'll I'll take that and I can field it. Uh above and beyond what's required in state law through the SQA process. Uh I'm not aware of any formal public outreach process that city staff required as part of this outreach. uh we did follow all the mandated secret requirements, you know, the notice of availability, the scoping m meeting, um all of those uh early on. So there were several milestones, if you will, through the processing of the project where public notices were made available and and the public and and all affected agencies were made aware that this project was being considered by the city.

And to the applicant, are is anybody within Copper Trails forced to develop No.

Okay. Thank you. Um, commissioners, any any other questions? Okay. Uh, as far as um, you know, I wish wish the city manager, perhaps the chief could have been here, but I did reach out to Chief Johnson um, as far as the law enforcement side of things. um because that you know we're adding 6,700 residents to seriesir pushing our population just just about 55,000 people. Um in the general plan it does state a goal of having 1.3 officers per 1,000 residents. This would this would require the Sirius Police Department to have about 72 to 73 officers. Right now, as I spoke to the chief, uh, on the 26th of of February, we have 37 officers. So, and that's deployable right now. We have on paper 47 allotted positions. So, that that is a concerning uh number. We need 72 peace officers to patrol our city with this uh growth. And and again, we have other projects uh in the works as well. Um and the the chief did say and I going to share this um we could manage growth in the short term but long-term staffing needs to match development and if we want to keep the same level of service. So I'm just going on record to the next step of this when it goes to the city council that um services to the public, fire, police, sewage, etc. that needs to be considered as we grow our city. Um so ju just a just kind of a concerning number. Um we we almost need to double our police force. So um and then another question uh that I did have um was

neighborhood parks. Um there's no these are specifically neighborhood parks. So there's no uh parking. Is that correct? Uh on on most of the neighborhood parks there would be street parking um but not necessarily like a parking lot if you will like say for instance that Riverluff has.

Okay. Um I guess I'm the only one with the questions tonight but another one for uh the applicant on the commercial development. Um can we get I I know it's in the plan but I I would really like it on record. what sorts of retail are we going to try to be attracting? Um, and Julian, maybe you can jump in on this. Um, but I I think it's important to get that on the record. Dan might have the answer. Um, you know, retail commercial, that's one of the hardest things to predict, honestly. I mean, so these are all opinions. given the location on 99 now that you know the interchange and stuff you know will play into this but long term it that's why it's called regional commercial right I mean that's kind of bigger you know big box and things like that although it's enough acreage it could accommodate all kinds of things you know I think there's a hotel site there for example um which is needed and so that's really hard to predict though I mean all we can do is sort of provide a package that has land near our freeway. You know, we don't have a lot of freeways in Stannos County, right? We got that one in I5. And so what cities do, for example, I was um I had the honor to represent the pioneering developer in Patterson on the big business park out there. And it it's just really hard to predict what's going to come. All a city can do is provide the land with the proper entitlements and a reasonable financing plan, which is what we're trying to do here. So, I'm sorry I don't have a better answer.

Yeah, no worries. Julian, can you speak speak on that topic?

So, the on the regional commercial is just going to be based on how we sell our city for big boxes or for development for that area. So as the e economic development would be once um it moves to annexation there's a better opportunity for those big box retailers um hotels movie theaters family entertainments to actually take a look at that land then it's up to them to actually come out and make those um decisions as for the land owners to purchase that piece of property. Um but we will do our best to vet series. Um the only one is once it gets annexed and we have that regional commercial that we can utilize just like Gateway on the other side. I I think it's important that we try to attract businesses that we do not have. Um I think again as I stated at our last meeting, we have a reputation for getting repeat businesses. Um, and I think series residents deserve something unique like a movie theater, a bowling, something that keeps them in our city. Um, and I I just kind of want to emphasize that tonight. So, um, let's see. The other question I had was regarding traffic study. Was that conducted? Um, and if you could kind of just speak on uh, in general about that.

Well, I'm hopeful that Mario Tambolini is still on the line and that we could light him up. We did a couple of different traffic studies as part of this effort. One was initially to support just the what's required as part of the EIR analysis which in recent years has transitioned more towards vehicle miles traveled and less about intersection uh capacity and roadway capacity. But because that's somewhat of a void and the city had questions about that, uh, city actually commissioned having a traffic impact study prepared as well that analyzed intersections. We did traffic counts and, uh, looked at those. Uh, do we happen to know if Mario is available to speak about the types of, uh, traffic analysis that we did?

Uh, yes, I'm online. Can you hear me?

Yes. Hi, this is Mario Tambolini with Wood Rogers. As Vance mentioned, we helped prepare the traffic studies for this project. Um, and just to write a little bit more detail on what we did, as Vance said, there were two main studies. One was called the local transportation analysis, and that basically we went out and looked at all the major intersections and roadways within the project area um, and within the surrounding areas. So looking at the nearby interchanges and major roads, um we took traffic counts on all those streets. Uh we came up with predictions of how much traffic the project would add to those streets. And we also predicted how much traffic uh there would be on those facilities from growth from other projects in the area over the next 10 20 years. And so basically put all those traffic numbers together and we analyzed what the operations of all those roadway facilities would look like. So how much delay there would be at traffic signals um how much queueing there would be at interchanges at uh stop signs and identified anywhere where there was unacceptable levels of congestion usually where you're waiting for more than say 30 40 seconds at a stoplight. um that would get flagged and we came up with a list of improvements. So, where traffic signals or roundabouts need to be installed, where roadways need to be widened, um where, you know, potentially the freeway interchange improvements would be needed and what that would look like, and basically have a whole list or a whole map that shows where all those improvements would need to occur. And with the implementation of those improvements um that would bring traffic even with all the new project traffic from this specific plan uh to acceptable levels. So basically if

you install all this and the you know the project would be responsible for paying their fair share or implementing most or all of these improvements um you would basically be back to relatively low delay conditions which again means relatively free flow conditions low cues um delays of you know typically only 10 20 30 seconds at a traffic signal not anything longer than that. Um, so that was kind of the first main study that was done. Um, any questions about that? Yeah. So, did it see a relief from the current road conditions that we currently have?

It did. Yeah. So, I mean, as has been mentioned before, um, we know that there is quite a bit of traffic at the interchange at Highway 99. Um, you know, obviously if you build this project, it's going to add even more trips to that. Um but with the new signals, the road widenings, the interchange improvements that will ultimately be built in those areas in cooperation with the city and CALR. Um the delays and the cues at those intersections that are, you know, bad today. You might have to wait 60 70 80 seconds at a signal today at multiple signals in a row. Um all those get fixed with these improvements in the future. you're only waiting maybe 20 seconds, 30 seconds at each signal. So, you know, you're you're having or better the delay in a lot of cases.

Perfect. Thank you for that. Any other questions? Um my last kind of point is the phase timeline. Um can you speak on the different phases and hopeful timelines? the so there is no mandated timeline with build out of a project like this. It's it's purely responsive to market conditions. Uh same way with the commercial sites that's purely it's really uh putting together a land use plan and development plans that position the plan area to respond to market demand. Uh same way with housing. Uh you know the city can process tenative subdivision maps for the residential areas within the plan area but there needs to be a demand for that. And so the timeline really is is tied to market demand and how quickly the land areas within copper trails can be positioned and be ready for homebuilders or uh commercial developers or those types of things. When it comes to phasing, we in the in the specific plan, we have a a phasing diagram that notionally maps out what order development would proceed. that's really geared more towards backbone infrastructure and the utility systems needed to serve those parcels. So you don't have some outlying parcel that wants to go first that doesn't have any utilities there to serve it. And so really what the phasing plan is pointing out is that okay, if you extend utilities to this area of the plan, these are the properties that quote light up and become available for the market to respond with development. So it's not dictated by any specific timeline. It's more about getting the infrastructure in place to support future development activity.

Can the applicant speak on any sort of timelines or is is that answer uh sufficient? I I have concerns as far as the interchange and these phases colliding because I I I feel like if these move ahead and this interchange, which you know, I I don't know where the city's going to come up with funding for that, but um I I see some collision there. If if all these phases get complete and we're still waiting on an interchange, um what happens then? Mr. Belran, I guess I ask you for all the all the answers to my questions, but

so um I mean obviously yes. So w with the interchange obviously we're in design right now. Um as we move forward we will be looking for funding because you know it's not going to be it's not going to be a a project that is funded directly from the city or directly from measure L. Um, it is going to need grant funds, whether those grant funds come from, you know, state good movements grants or um or build grants or even earmarks. There there's lots of different ways to uh have those funding sources come through. Um, we are on uh the measure L list. So, as we approach being need uh needing funding at that point in time, it's not only the city that's going to be reaching out, it's it's also going to be Stanco that's going to be involved in it just like they are with SR132 and other measure L regional projects. So, as we do that, sure, could there be even construction going on at the same time? By all means. Um and and when we do get to that point, there will be uh robust uh plans, detour plans. I'm not going to say that's going to make things easy. Um construction is inconvenient and and it has always been and and will always be inconvenient. There's just there's there's no real way around that. So to say that sure, could we be constructing at the same time or could a development or two or three happen in the Copper Trails area or even more um before that interchange happens? Yes. Will we see an impact to traffic? Absolutely. Um and then as we move forward, you know, and the interchange uh comes to fruition, then those those will start to ease. But um growing is

difficult. growing is uh inconvenient um and and there will be some growing pains along with it. Thank you for that. I do have a final question. Um it seems in the phasing um one of the commenters mentioned sidewalks uh walking to school. That seems like a major public safety issue that seems pretty basic. Um, I don't know what who would be kind of responsible, but as Sirius Unified works with um kind of their their contract negotiation activities, that seems like something that might be prioritized. I'm not sure if we talked to the school district or the developer. Um, I'm just curious where that would

So, we we do have conversations with the school district. Um, we've been involved with with this project. um sidewalks become an interesting uh type of deal especially. So when a development happens most of the time there's what we call a dedication of land to to rightway for instance. So essentially it's a it's a slice of their property where we need to widen roads um and that includes putting in sidewalks, park strips, those types of things. Um we we generally do not force somebody. So, if we wanted to put it in sidewalks right now, we're surely not going to put them on in the current right of way because when a developer comes in, if we just spent $2 million on sidewalks, they're going once it gets dedicated and they have to widen the road, they're going to tear out all of the work that we we just did, whether it was, you know, it's in a year, 2 years, 5 years, 10 years. So you we don't I wouldn't see that as a prudent use of taxpayer funds to to put in sidewalks. So those types of things generally happen as developers dedicate land to the city. Roads get widened, sidewalks get put in. Um and that is a requirement of development just like you know internally when they when they uh you know build homes for instance culde-sacs they put sidewalks, they put landscape strips, they put all of those types of things in. So, um, so there is an order that we have to go in, uh, so that we're not throwing away money to build sidewalks that are going to be destroyed in the future.

Thank you.

All right. Well, I appreciate everybody coming out here tonight. It's it's a great uh great showing. Um, my final comments, I I will be supporting this tonight. I I think it's a overall great project for the future of series and I think that was relayed uh pretty well by the audience tonight. Um my biggest concerns is growing our police department to ensure these 6,700 uh residents of series um have the proper uh staffing um and services um and also the the uh commercial development. I want to see something unique to the city of series. Um perhaps something that Modesto and Turlock doesn't have and I know that's maybe hard to find. Um as they beat us to Chick-fil-A, beat us to this and that. Um but series, we need to be competitive uh when it comes to that to give our residents something to enjoy in the city that they call home. Um but overall, I just want to thank everybody for coming out tonight. Means a lot and I think this is uh a great project for the city, a series uh and its future. So, I'll go ahead and make a motion to approve and looking for a second.

Second. Got a first and a second. Can we get a roll call? Commissioner Gro. Hi, Commissioner Morales. Commissioner Perez. I. Chairperson Condan. Hi.

Motion passes. Four to five. One absent. All right. Thank you very much. Moving on to unfinished business. None. New business none. Matters initiated by the planning commission staff. Uh, we have a update or we could let the room clear. Sorry.

Oh, yes. We're fine. So, on your referral from the last commission meeting, Yeah. Um, we have consulted with the city manager and the attorney. So, we will be preparing something to come back to the planning commission um at a later date um whether it's the Brown Act or something to that effect. Um it will be a training that will be provided by the legal team. Is that going to encompass every part of my referral as far as We're going to try to cover everything. If not, we'll come back for another one.

Okay. I think it'd be important for everybody to be here and I'm glad it kind of got delayed because Bob's absent. So, yeah, good with me. Yeah. Yeah. So, we'll make sure we have the full um commission. Okay. On that pres and a public meeting. And a public meeting. Yes. Thank you for that. Anybody got any reports? None. Thank you both. Thank you guys. Uh going to go ahead and adjourn to our next meeting on April 6th, 2026.