Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All right, we'll call this meeting to order at 6:00. Uh, can we get a roll call, please? Commissioner Jamu, present. Commissioner Johnson absent. Commissioner Perez, present. Chairperson conduct

here. All right. Can you join me in the pledge of allegiance? All right. Uh, move on to citizens communication. While the series planning commission welcomes and encourages participation in the planning commission meetings, adopted rules allow more no more than 5 minutes 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 emergency by the planning commission. Citizens are entitled to address the planning commission on any agenda item subject to the fiveminute provision. I do have one card. Uh, Milt, if you want to come up.

Yes. Good evening, uh, planning commissioners, staff, and community members. Milt Treeweiler. I'm a lifetime Stannis Los County resident, and again, I have some important information to share. The prime farmland around the city of seriesir is a natural resource that cannot be replaced or mitigated because of its unique nature, its quality soils, its water availability, and its good climate. There's no other farmland like this on the earth. There is a major shortage of sustainable prime farmland and water in the world today. We know now that here in the Sanwaqen Valley, we will need to remove almost 1 million acres of farmland south of Stannislas County from food production because there's not enough water to irrigate it. Commissioners, staff, and public members, we have many things to be concerned about today. We have to be very careful about who we listen to and what we believe. There are people here in Stannis County that are plotting to destroy the future for our children and our descendants. As the planning commissioners and staff, you must be strong and do the right thing to save the sustainable farmland around your city for your children and descendants. There is an abundance of poor soils and wastelands in California and our nation for the developers to build houses on like the Altimont Pass area. There's also the large landmass area west of Patterson along Interstate 5 and east to Farify Field along Highway 12 all the way to Rio Vista. We also have the entire states of Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado for the developers to build houses on. In series, we must build up and not out on the city's infill land and blighted areas. Commissioners, you must never allow the sustainable prime farmland around the city of series to be developed. Not in 10 years, not in 20 years, not in 50 years, not ever.

Yes, I said not ever because there's no other sustainable farmland like this in the world. The farmland surrounding the city of series is fully economically developed. It's producing food for our state and our nation. We're adults and parents and we have an obligation to do what's right and best for our children and descendants. We must all be good stewards. How could educated and caring people be so cold-hearted and irresponsible to want to destroy the best farmland on Earth? You don't get a second chance. Once you turn sustainable prime farmland into housing, you create a food desert. Commissioners, staff, and community members, we must all be committed to saving this irreplaceable farmland for your children and descendants. I know I've spoken to you before, and I'm speaking again. I'm going to practically every city and group that has governing experience or governing uh abilities in Stannis Los County, especially in the MID and TID irrigation districts. And that's because in the MID and T irrigation districts, we have all the water we need to to water this land for hundreds of years. And you know just what I said, they're going to be fellowing or taking out a production of land south of here because there's not enough water for it. If you listen to the news at all, you also know that if you go to Iran, they have been in in their capital, they have they have had a drought for six years now. They have a population of 10 million people and they don't have enough water. It's happening all over the world, not here. If you look at the average temperatures that's happening here on our earth, they're getting hotter and hotter and hotter and we're getting more and more

droughts. So, it's a very serious condition. It's something we have to take u you know be very aware of and we have to work to preserve this farmland because we have the best. We didn't plan it that way. It's just the way it is. I mean, I was born here in Stannis Los County 80 years ago. I didn't know I was going to be in the county that had the best farmland on earth, but I am. And and it is. You're the ones who make the decisions. You want to make good decisions and save this farmland for our children and our descendants. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Anybody else for public comment? Seeing none, we'll go ahead and close citizens communication. Move on to conflict of interest. Is there anyone on the planning commission that would like to declare a conflict of interest? Seeing none, we'll move on to the consent calendar. Um, all matters listed on the consent calendar considered routine in nature and will be enacted by one single motion unless otherwise requested by an individual commissioner or the public for special consideration. Otherwise, the recommendation of staff will be accepted and acted upon by roll call vote. Uh, anybody on the commission that would like to pull an item for further discussion? I'm going to pull four and five. Anybody in the public that would like to pull an item. Okay, seeing none, go ahead and bring it back to the commission for a motion. So, I'll motion uh item one, two, and three. Okay, we got a first and a second. Second.

Okay, we got a first and a second on items one, two, and three. Get a roll call. Commissioner Jamu. Hi, Commissioner Perez. I chairperson Condict. I motion carries 30.

Okay. Uh item four, uh staff, just I had a question on the reasoning for the extension. I don't know if the applicant's here or not, but was just curious on I don't believe the applicant is here. Um, the reasoning for this one is I believe they just didn't have enough time in the 2-year period to submit for the final map. Prepare and submit for the final map. The code allows for a 90-day administrative extension or up to two years with planning commission approval. Okay. And then would you say the same for number the item five as well or

number five they did provide some justification with um interest rates and financing reasons and things finally coming down they'll be able to construct and just to confirm this was both items uh it was their first extension. That is correct. This is their first extension. Okay. Any other questions from the commission on these two items? Uh I do um you know I see that all three of these items are being asked to be uh exempt from SQRA regulations. How often does that happen? Um how often does that happen? The SQA exemptions it it seems like kind of a thing that happens a lot with many of the items that come before us.

Yes, absolutely. So the the first two um items four and five and then I think I'll pause on six until my presentation to go over that one. But items four and five, anything, so under SQA, which is the California Environmental Quality Act, anything that's a project is subject to the provisions of SQUA. Um, SQA is a 300 plus page piece of legislation. There are what are called exemptions. So if you meet certain criteria, you are exempt from additional environmental review. So for items four and five, they were originally analyzed under SQUA for what's called a class 32 infill exemption. And that's for projects that are being developed um completely in compliance with the general plan and the zoning ordinance and are less than 5 acres um won't have significant impacts, completely surrounded by urban development. Therefore, um they're exempt, right? They're just an infill project that's exempt. But the extensions are still a project under SQA. Okay.

So what we did with these ones is we did the common it's called the common sense exemption. It's section 1562 of SQA guidelines. And that's saying that the project since the original SQA that was done which was the exemption. The project does not introduce any new or significant impacts beyond what was already analyzed. Therefore you can see with like there's no possibility of a significant impact. That's the exact same project. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome.

All right. Anybody in the audience would like to comment on items four or five? All right. Mr. Warren. Thank you. John Warren, City of Series. My question is the property here and I didn't look at the uh the staff report. I've been kind of busy this week doing things and I just glanced tonight. But is that 2830 Morgan Road address? Is that where the AM station is at the intersection of service and Morgan or is it further up?

Morgan and Kinser. Morgan intersects Service Road. No, this is further up towards Kinszer Road by Kinszer Road. I don't understand you. It It's Morgan and Kzer. The intersection of Morgan and Ker. Oh, and Kinser. Correct. Okay. Thank you very much. That answered my question. Thank you. Anybody else? And to clarify, Mr. Warren, that was agenda item number four, right? Anybody else for public comment? All right, seeing none, I'll bring it back for a motion on items four and five.

If we can motion separately, that'd be great. All right. All right. Uh motion to approve um item four with the extension for two years. Second. You get a roll call. Commissioner Jamu. I. Commissioner Perez. I. Chairperson Condic. Hi. Motion carries 30. Okay. Do we need to take item five out to the public? Okay. All right. Looking for a motion on item five. Motion to approve item five for project extension as well for the self storage.

Second. Get a roll call. Commissioner Jamu. Hi. Commissioner Perez. I. Chairperson Condict. Hi. Motion carries 30. All right. Moving on to public hearing item number six. Turn it over to staff.

Is there a clicker for the presentation? Good evening, chair, commissioners. Kelsey George, contract planner. Tonight's public hearing is for an administrative use permit, which is designated by the city as 2533 AUP to allow the operation of a small recycling center at 1832 Mitchell Road. Next, The facility would consist of a recycling collection container not to exceed 500 square ft. It will operate entirely within the paved parking lot of an existing commercial center which currently includes a gas station, a convenience store, and an oil change business. And just for the commission's awareness, recycling containers of this size are allowed as an accessory use in the highway commercial zone without commer without commission approval. However, this request is being presented because a recent recycling container was reviewed by the commission and staff wants to maintain consistency. Next, this aerial image shows the location at Mitchell Road within the commercial corridor. Surrounding uses are primarily highway commercial to the north, south, and west with community commercial to the east. The site layout supports easy customer access while remaining compatible with the surrounding commercial activity. Zoning code conformance. So as mentioned the zoning for this is highway commercial or HC which supports retail and service uses intended for the traveling public. The series municipal code allows recycling centers up to 500 square ft in size as an accessory use in

the HC zone. The proposed recycling container contributes a complimentary a complimentary service to existing commercial uses and does not change the site's overall circulation or intensity. General plan conformance. The site has a highway commercial general plan land use designation which supports commercial uses near the highway interchange and serves motorists and the local community. This is a very small project, so there's not a ton of um programs or policies that it does meet, but generally speaking, the project advances the following general plan goals. Goal 2G, which promotes compatible com commercial uses and economic vitality, and goals 7 A and 7E, which supports a wide range of economic activity and fiscal sustainability while maintaining essential services. The project adds a public service component which is recycling to an already active shopping center without requiring new development or infrastructure. Excuse me. Next. So on the screen and in your agenda packet is the site plan which shows the recycling container positioned within the existing parking area. It's on the north end there. This placement minimizes disruption to circulation patterns and parking supply. The operation is self-contained. There's no grading, utilities, lighting, or site improvements that are proposed. Any future change to the size or configuration beyond 500 ft would require further review. Additionally, the approval is valid for a year following the final inspection. At that time, staff can determine whether the applicant will have the option of renewing the permit or not. So, that's actually a condition of approval to see how it works in the site. And these are just general photos. I'm sure everybody's kind of seen how these

recycling centers work and operate, but this is what is proposed. The facility is not expected to generate no noise, odor, or visual impact beyond normal commercial activity. And the operator is responsible for maintaining the container, keeping the area clean, and ensuring regular transport of collected materials. So before I get into my recommendation, I'll speak a little bit further on the SQUA for this one. So this project is also found to be categorically exempt pursuant to section 15332, which is that infill development. And that's there's um four or five different criteria that's met for that. It's under five acres. It's surrounded by urban uses. There's no traffic, bio, or cultural impacts, and it is consistent with the general plan. So anything that requires like a general plan amendment is definitionally not a categorical exemption. So with that, staff recommends that the planning commission adopt two actions, which is find the project categorically exempt under SQA section 15332 infill development and adopt a resolution approving administrative use permit 2533 for the recycling center up to 500 square ft at 1821 Mitchell Road. That concludes my presentation. I'm available for any questions and I believe the applicant is here as well. Thank you very much. Um, anybody from the commission questions?

Again, did you say that it didn't need to go through planning commission?

Yeah, the municipal code actually specifically calls out recycling containers up to 500 square ft as an accessory use to existing commercial uses. So, if it was a vacant lot and it was only a commercial or it was only a recycling container, it would be a site plan approval. But in a developed parcel, it's an accessory use to that development. It's not like a separate lot or anything like that. Take it out to the public. Any members of the public that would like to comment on this item? Mr. Warren. Good evening. Don Warren, City of Series. um probably already know the answer to the question because it it does fall within the uh allowed usage, but I want to point out that the city of Siri already has quite a number of recycling locations. And I was going to ask the question if we knew how many the city has already.

I don't have that number handy. I don't believe Julian does either, but we can absolutely look into that.

So, when we're bringing something new to the city, I think it's really important that we know how many of them there already are. There's one behind the Sequoia Market and there's one over off of Moffett and Service and there was one behind the Taria there at Mitchell and Hatch. I don't know if they're still there. And there's a new one that's been operating for a while off of Angie on Angie Court across from the marijuana place behind Sassy Nails. And when we put this one in that location, you're putting it in direct conflict with automobile traffic. If you look at the location of where it is, okay, it's right in line where the cars drive around to go into the car wash in the back. And when people drive in there to park to access the uh market, they're going to be a conflict with pedestrians and automobiles. Then of course the container is taking away several parking spots. I'm not sure if ADA compliant requires a handicap parking there for the new business, but I do know this. A large number of people that use these types of recycling places are on bicycles and or walking or pulling wagons. They're pedestrians. They're not driving in with their car and dropping stuff off. As a general rule, most of the folks in our communities use the uh blue cans to recycle. They put their plastics and their boxes and all that stuff in that

blue recycling can. So, the people that use these recycling places, a large percentage that I see of are the people that are less fortunate in this world. they don't have a home and they're recycling to gain some money for their daily uh daily things. So, it's not a bad idea, but it's a bad location. You're going to have a lot of people in there coming and going mixed in with cars and traffic, and I think that's a disaster, and it's not a good place for it. Um the the site behind on Angie is fairly good because it doesn't have a lot of automobile traffic coming and going. The place behind the Sequoia market doesn't have a lot of automobile traffic coming and going. It's mostly pedestrians and people bringing large sacks of recyclables. In this location, you're mixing the two together, and that's not a good thing to do. There's already a car wash business there that generates a lot of automobile traffic. The gas pumps are there that generate a lot of automobile traffic. And of course, there's the convenience store that people use and come and going and parking there. Probably from the picture that was posted, you could see the large number of automobiles that were there. So, those are things that are considering when you make a vote on this is it's just not a good spot for it. There's probably some better locations. Thank you.

Any other members of the public that would like to comment on this item? All right. Seeing none, we'll go ahead and close. Commissioner, the the applicant is Spanish speaking only, so Okay. want me to ask her if she wants to say something. Yeah, I think Rosalind is trying. No, not at this time. Okay.

Go ahead and close uh the public hearing for for public comment, excuse me. Bring it back to the commission. Um, Miss George Wood, can you speak to Mr. Warren's comments as far as the specific location goes as it relates to traffic? Um, you know, will that impede uh public safety in any way?

Yes, absolutely. Uh, thank you, Mr. Warren, for your comments. The proposed container is not a permanent structure. It's it's not permanently affixed to the ground. It will require a building permit and everything like that. Um, it's currently proposed in three parking stalls, but the center overall is overparked, meaning that those stalls do not take away from the parking requirement for the center itself. And being that it's in parking stalls, it is not anticipated to conflict with any drive aisles or or traffic or things of that nature. you know, cars aren't aren't driving in those parking stalls. If anything, they would be parking there if the container wasn't there. But there are, as Mr. Warren did point out, there are things that we just don't know. We can't possibly anticipate everything. So staff opted to add a condition that one year from their final inspection, they have to renew and it would be like staff would have to make the determination to give them the option to renew. If it turns out that it's not working there, it is conflicting with traffic, it is problematic, they're not maintaining the site or things of that nature, we would deny that renewal. Okay.

All right. Any other questions from planning commissioners? All right. I will go ahead and make a motion to approve item six. Second that motion. Got a first and a second. Can we get a roll call? Commissioner Jamu. Hi. Commissioner Perez. Hi. Chairperson Conde. Hi. Hi. Motion carries 300.

All right. Moving on to new business. None. Uh matters initiated by the planning commission. None. Reports. Anybody got any reports? Hearing? None. We'll go ahead and adjourn to our next uh regularly scheduled planning commission meeting on December 1st, 2025 at 6