Citrus Heights Planning Commission Meetings - Regular Meeting

Commissioner Sheieler to please lead us in our salute of the flag. Next, we're on item number two. I will ask the clerk to call the role. Commissioner Flowers is not present. Commissioner Kinderwater. Commissioner Rowi present. Commissioner USK is absent. Commissioner Van Duker here. Vice Chair Schieler here. Chair Shishko here. Thank you. And we are moving on to item number three. Uh now it's time for the consent calendar. We have one item on the consent which is the minutes from February 25th, 2025. Uh does anyone from the commission or the public wish to pull the consent item for discussion? If not, uh do I have a motion to um and a second to approve the calendar to the the consent calendar? I'll move to approve the All right. We have a motion by Commissioner um Van Duker. Do I have a second? I second. All right. And a second by Commissioner Alawi. Take. Okay. Let's do a roll call on this one. Commissioner Van Duker. I. Commissioner Shishko. I. Oh, sorry. Chair Shisko. Uh Vice Chair Sheieler. I Commissioner Kinderwater. I Commissioner

Raoui Rawi. Go ahead. I thank you. And then we have um USK and Flowers absent. Motion passed. Thank you. All right. We're moving on to item number four. Um clarification for item number four. You want me to read that whole paragraph, right? Okay. So under government code section 54954 54954.3 members of the audience may address the commission under on any item within jurisdiction of the commission or any agenda item. Those wishing to speak on non-aggenda items will be called upon at the beginning of the meeting. Those wishing to speak for or against an agenda item will be con called upon after the presentation by the city planning division and the applicant for that agenda item. Um we have no speaker cards. No speakers. Okay. So um I need to open it up and close it, right? Okay. So open. No speaker cards. Guess we'll close that. And item number five, we'll move to our uh regular calendar item this evening, which is to receive a presentation on economic development work plan. So, we'll first hear a presentation by staff followed by commissioner questions and then we'll open it to uh for public comment. And can we proceed with the staff's presentation? Yeah, I'll just do a quick introduction. Um, director Megan Huber is our community is our economic development and community engagement director. Um, one of her major tasks is economic development, obviously by the title. Um, over the last several months, she's worked really hard to develop an economic economic development work plan for the next several years to guide the city on how we invest in economic development um, based on best practices,

based on research, and based on what a tailored approach would be for such a sites, not just anywhere else. So, kudos to to Megan as she gives you this presentation. Feel free to ask your questions at the end. Thank you. Thank you, Director Kempenar. Hello, Planning Commission. As Casey shared, I'm Megan Huber, economic development and community engagement director. Really excited to share this plethora of information with you this evening as we are already bringing the first steps of this economic development work plan back to you. And the next item, um, Casey asked to, um, ask questions at the end, but I want to modify that. This is a pretty chewy, meaty work plan with a lot of categories. So, I'm happy to take questions in real time as they relate to the subject matter. Cool. Okay, great. So, digging in here, um, this work plan is a result of really intensive strategic planning by city council and city staff. It relates to our overarching three-year strategic goal to diversify for a vibrant economy. And last strategic planning cycle, city council set a strategic objective for staff to prepare and present an economic development work plan to city council as well as establish a suite of incentives to attract sitown dining and entertainment options. So, we got to work and as you can imagine, putting together a work plan like this requires a lot of sweat equity. Uh it involved a really extensive data gathering and analysis, a comprehensive real estate assessment, stakeholder outreach, and finally the development of the actual work plan itself. So digging in a little bit to data analysis, uh I'm going to give my colleague Director Kempar full permission. We had talked about maybe a 20minut presentation and I love geeking out on economic development information. So, I also want to give him full

permission to flag me for time should we need it. Okay, cool. So, digging into the data analysis that informed this plan, these are what Citrus Heights looks like from a numbers perspective. We all have our own individual experience as a Citrus Heights resident or employee. Citrus Heights also exists quantitatively and it's very important to be objective as we design a work plan to make sure we're rooting ourselves in data. How we relate as a city in and of itself, how we relate to the Sacramento region, how we relate to the state, and also nationally. So, taking a look at the baseline of what Citrus Heights looks like from a data perspective, these are some highlights. We have about 87,000 residents, a labor force of about 45,000. Now, I want to clarify here. These are residents who work. The jobs created inside of Citrus Heights boundaries are about 19,000. We have a $75,000 median household income. About a $47,000 home median home value. And 22% of residents aged 25 to 64 hold a bachelor's degree or higher. These are all very important demographics as we go to make really important economic development moves. Labor force relates to workforce development relates to workforce attraction relates to industry building and beyond. So this is our foundation that uh is what we build on. So, uh, top industry clusters in Citrus Heights. Again, the reason why it's so important to root ourselves in data is because anecdotally, if you were to ask me as a Citrus Heights resident what Citrus Heights top industry cluster is before I approached Citrus Heights as an economic developer, I would have automatically said retail uh because that's the majority of our commercial real estate and that's what we see driving around the city every day. It is

not however our top industry cluster by employment count volume. Our top employment cluster is health care and social assistance. Second is retail trade. Third is accommodation and food services. I think we're all very aware that Citrus Heights does not yet have a hotel which means we are holding down that category in all food service and restaurants. Fourth is professional, scientific and technical services. And fifth is administrative and support services. Now, as we're building an economic development work plan, knowing our top industry clusters are great. Those are our strengths. What are our opportunities? We did data analysis supported by Greater Sacramento Economic Council and their uh data shop and identified our five top target industry clusters, highest growth potential clusters over the next five years. And that's what this looks like. First holding it down is health care and social assistance. Uh that is with an aging population especially an aging in place population more comprehensive local and accessible medical services become even more important. Second is consumer services. That includes arts, entertainment and recreation. This is also important as we look to a staff recommendation inside of the work plan for a reapproval of our business attraction incentive program that was designed specifically to attract entertainment concepts. The reason we built that program around that is because that is one of our top community requests. It's also great to see that that is a top growth potential industry cluster as well. Third is retail, filling up all of that retail commercial real estate that we have with resilient and experiential consumer concepts. Fourth is financial and professional services that can boost

those median household incomes higher. And finally, fifth is entrepreneurship and startup opportunities. Yes. Could you go back um for the arts um growth? When you say growth potential, are you speaking of number of art type businesses or are you speaking economic impact? That's a great question. So, uh data analysis happened through a combination of qualitative analysis as well as quantitative analysis. So this is not only about um like leakage stuff that's going to other markets like Roseville, Fulsome, El Grove that we could capture in Citrus Heights. It also speaks to um what's called an LQ. That's a location quotient which is an economic development metric that takes all of those qualitative considerations into account in terms of real estate growth potential, population projection, and uh market potential in general. So, so we wouldn't necessarily, even though it may be a growth opportunity, arts and entertainment, may not necessarily represent as large of a economic impact. Certainly, it benefits the community in terms of just amenities. Yes, absolutely, Commissioner Sheiler. That is a great point. This segment isn't necessarily the highest sales tax generating segment, right? um it could boost property tax in such a way where um really substantial TIS can uplift a property to a quality assessment and similar um where we really see economic impact for consumer services at TAL is the foot traffic and the creation of destination locations that drive that exponential economic impact to surrounding businesses as

well. Right? like if you come to the movies, you're going to go to dinner, maybe you're gonna run an errand to Target after. Um so so creating that foot traffic, bringing new not only serving residents but bringing new visitors as well. Uh so in terms of real estate assessment, uh there are essentially three types of real estate available anywhere. We have retail, office, and commercial, uh excuse me, and industrial. There's specialty stuff like maybe dayc carees or medical offices, a veterinary clinic, but really those are the three core real estate segments that can be used to attract new business. So, uh going to share some quick facts about what that looks like in Citrus Heights because we want to make sure we're building a plan that we can use and that doesn't sit on the shelf. So for retail real estate, Citrus Heights has six million square feet of retail commercial uh space and right now it has a 12% vacancy rate. The snapshot on the left where you see the pin drops, that's from a software called Co-Star. That's a commercial real estate database. So that is a real-time snapshot of current available retail real estate in Citrus Heights. I want to note here that that's actually not a lot considering the level of commercial real estate that we have. There are limited vacancies in retail space in which to effectively business attract. One example are for those entertainment concepts that we're talking about, Commissioner Sheieler. Usually something like a movie theater or a bowling alley or Dave and Busters or similar is looking for a sweet spot of 20 to 40,000 square feet. In Citrus Heights, we have three vacant spaces that would fill that requirement outside of the Sunrise Mall. So, retail is is limited for effective business attraction is the takeaway here. Moving on, uh this shows a little

bit about what retail recruitment looks like. The uh area on the left identifies five, 10, and 15 minute drive time radiuses. And that's how we measure demographics, population to effectively speak to retail demand in a particular location. The outputs of which are on the right snapshot. Some other qualifications as it relates to effectively attracting retail are uh what those trade area requirements look like. Cannibalization. If a retail concept is coming too close to another location, they could eat from their own market share. always a concern. Uh co-eny is important. We talked about how if folks are coming to an entertainment concept, they'll want to go to dinner after. So retail concepts are going to want to look for a place where there that synergy is either already there or can easily be created. A gap analysis is where we look at what is not in a market right now where there is substantive market share to show a retail concept uh that there's a a market to capture. Um site selection is also important, finding the right spot. Again with a limited supply, we have to work really hard to find the right real estate for the right concept. Hopefully leveraging company expansion strategies and then always uh offering the right incentives and support to be able to make that happen. Moving on to office real estate. This is a snapshot of current available office real estate in Citrus Heights. Even slimmer options. Uh, Citrus Heights has about a 14% vacancy rate right now in in the market compared to a regional vacancy rate of 18%. So, takeaway here is Citrus Heights is holding it down in the office category. U, the majority of that is small business. There's a really great stat that uh 60% of all Citrus Heights businesses have less than 10 employees. So, a lot of these are

smaller office spaces. uh when folks are looking at potential uh offices to land in uh really important factors include workforce availability and labor market fit. When we looked at Citrus Heights from a data perspective, we talked about educational level. We talked about uh population level that those are the data points that make up workforce qualifications uh to effectively speak to available labor market. Uh trade area and market demand similar to retail is always important. Office-based condition and classifications uh really set locations apart as well. Office has class A, class B, class C. Uh the super majority of uh Citrus Heights inventory I would say is class B and class C. Class A is really what you find maybe downtown or new construction, Roseville, Fulsome core industry cluster. Uh so those classes are in demand just based on various industries. uh hybrid work and office space demand are of course very relevant in our postcoid requirement. Co- tenency and industry clustering is also important. Certainly it's important in retail but just as important in office like when we consider uh what a local um medical ecosystem looks like right look down do we drive do we drive didn't happen overnight do we drive happened because that had a primary driver of Mercy San Juan hospital and then medical offices and services started clustering so clustering is is just as important of a trend in office as it is in retail and uh local incentives and business support are real still really important it's not so much about sales tax generation or property tax increase. When we talk about office, it's really about that daytime workforce population that can again create that foot traffic for your local economy. Uh finally, our third category is industrial style real estate. And look at that lack of pinpoints. Citrus Heights has 11 properties total that we'd classify as quasi industrial. I'm

sure director Kemper would want me to chime in here that we don't technically have anything industrially zoned, but when we think about uh businesses that need large warehouse spaces, storage, etc., these are the types of real estate that we're looking at. Very the the fact that uh we lack this style of real estate creates a very limited ability to participate in the Sacramento region's regional business attraction. Uh in the Sacramento region, primary industry clusters unlike the ones that we reviewed for Citrus Heights are things like mobility, advanced manufacturing, agriculture, a tech. Those all need very large floor plate uh wide open expansive spaces for more industrial operations that citrus sites just can't participate in. Which is why it's even more important for us to create a highly localized and customized economic development work plan that works for us specifically. Any questions so far? Fascinating. Interesting. We're all economic developers chomping at the bit for business attraction. Cool. Uh so diving into stakeholder outreach that informed this economic development work plan. Uh that really happened in three categories. Our developer and business community, our city council leadership, and uh our public at large via the uh flash vote. So, uh, I want to take a moment here and make sure I connect the dots that what I'm about to talk about relates directly to the next agenda item because one of the action items inside of the economic development work plan is to lower our regulatory environment barriers to entry to ensure more effective effective business attraction. So, uh, the the market intelligence that we gleaned from our developer and business community

directly informed the recommendations that you'll be reviewing. And this is a a snapshot of uh what those sounded like. Some insights that we gleaned from these interviews is that our aging and evolving retail landscape is a challenge. Unlike other cities and jurisdictions who have the benefit nay the luxury of new construction, Citrus Heights has to specialize and be very very good at redevelopment. Redevelopment is more expensive. It's harder work and it happens less, which means we need to be even more aggressive with how we recruit via our lack of regulation in that space. Essentially, we did hear that uh kudos for very responsive city staff. So, we know that as projects are coming in, uh we're catching them effectively and stewarding them through the system. There are new emerging uses in this space. We talked about some uh more experiential entertainment concepts and similar. On the flip side of that coin is a burgeoning demand for drivethroughs and auto-intensive uses across the board. So diving deeper into some of the challenges uh a lot of smaller businesses have a lack of familiarity with permitting which requires uh a lot of handholding and ombbudsmanship through regulatory processes. We did see opportunity to lower zoning thresholds uh to ensure more effective business attraction. We also saw the opportunity for a recommendation to flat rate fees to provide certainty to developers and businesses. And finally, like you saw in the industrial real estate snapshot, uh we heard about the very limited light

industrial opportunities. Uh, so like I said, recommendations as it relates to all of this really great market intelligence will be reviewed in the next agenda item and we're really excited to advance these next steps as part of the economic development work plan. Uh, in terms of resident feedback, what we heard is that our residents want more shopping and dining options. On average, they're satisfied. We rated about a three out of five average. And interestingly, residents 35 and under are satisfied at a higher percentage than other age ranges. I can't provide uh conclusive takeaways on that, but I'd be interested in speculation if anyone has any. Uh when we asked what, if anything, prevents you from shopping or dining more in Citrus Heights, we heard not enough higher-end stores and restaurants and shopping centers and storefronts need renovations. Uh in terms of what's in most demand, businesses or services that residents think we need most in Citrus Heights, we heard restaurants and cafes and entertainment and recreational options. So great news again, we know that at least one of those is a top industry cluster which means we have existing synergy and uh we also created our business attraction incentive program especially to attract those types of businesses. Uh finally, when we interviewed council on what on how to create an effective economic development work plan around tangible and measurable results, uh we heard feedback like proactively attract and retain desired businesses using incentives, create vibrancy with a balanced mix of small business and destination concepts, maximize businessfriendly policies. So doubling down on that next agenda item, we are maximizing businessfriendly policies. We

heard a desire for new and exciting marketing, commercial corridor revitalization, infrastructure investment, and more. Uh it's a big job, isn't it? And with that, we crafted the economic development work plan. It's a three-year plan with five categories. business attraction and development services, business retention and expansion, small business support and innovation, marketing and placemaking, and finally and just as important, organizational culture. So, business attraction and development services had implementation steps and metrics towards goals in six areas. first to streamline zoning and permitting processes to support business and retail recruitment. As you'll see in the next agenda item, this will set the foundation for a refreshed and targeted retail recruitment strategy. In our toolbox for effective business attraction is our business attraction incentive program to attract new restaurants, breweries, and entertainment. Also in that toolbox is our small business design support program specifically created for those small businesses unfamiliar with regulatory processes and unconnected with the development community. Because one of the pieces of feedback that director Kemp and I heard from our outreach and what we've experienced ourselves helping folks through the system is that all businesses want to do is start and run their business. and they sign a lease thinking it's a turnkey opportunity and then they get in there and discover that they needed to make some changes and then they discover that the changes require a lot a lot of paperwork and also some money and they don't know who to call to create a site plan and a floor plan that they need to submit to building and fire before they do the remainder of the processes. So, what the Small Business Design Sport

program does is allows us to create a bench of preferred designers and cover up to $2,000 for this design creation and execution to get this business halfway down the field to submission, not spin their wheels, not waste time or money, and get automatically for more familiar and hopefully doors open faster. Uh we're also expanding our toolbox through effective partnerships uh with partners like Sacramento Area Sewward District, Sacramento Metro Fire, Sacramento County Health Department and more and offering enhanced development services support. This is done through a reclassification of a role in my department uh to manage expectations here. My department is three people total. Okay. So myself, a communications officer and this role. This role was dedicated to community engagement, which is why you saw a lot of programs start up the last three years or so uh for community connection and community engagement and similar. Uh now that those are started up and running and available, this role is being classified and dedicated 100% to economic development. So all of the work that I'm talking about right now will be done by a full-time person and me. but also very important and I'm going to lead with the close here. Usually I'll cover it in the organizational culture slide, but I've gathered so much momentum already that I'm just going to drop it on you. I hope you're okay with that. Even though there are two full-time positions in all of city hall working on this very chewy economic development work plan, the truth of the matter is we have a full-time workforce working on it because everyone is an economic developer. It is all of our responsibility across all internal city departments, across all contract agencies, across all leadership boards and councils, across all of our

community. We're all ambassadors for economic development. So, um, uh, maybe after the planning commission meeting, everyone can share what their favorite part of this work plan is, and I can put your name next to some of the action items. How does that sound? Okay, I'll see you later. So the second category is business retention and expansion. Just as important as business attraction, it's really important to keep all of the businesses that we have here happy and hopefully expanding. So the recommendations inside of this category include a structured business retention program with consistent outreach and follow-up. uh strengthening our partnerships even more, enhancing public safety resources, providing PR value by using city communications channels for businesses and creating stronger workforce development connectivity. The third category is small business support and innovation. Uh that's creating and uh increasing accessibility to technical assistance for small businesses. That is wrapping our arms around an identifiable startup ecosystem. I shared that small business statistic with you earlier. 60% of all citrightes businesses have less than 10 employees. But identifying the root of our entrepreneurial ecosystem, how folks find information and support to start small businesses is pretty tricky in citrates right now. So we've set a big hairy goal to to find out more to to bring it out and uh get it louder and hopefully co-brand it as part of city economic development initiatives. And then finally uh some recommendations on uh how to use community events for entrepreneurship is inside of the plan as well. The fourth category marketing and placemaking has uh action steps and metrics around increased economic development communications impact how to facilitate and execute on consistent

stakeholder communications. uh kind showing speaking more about what that looks like when we look at like who is our economic development ecosystem who are all of the partners involved in effective business attraction what does good partnership and stakeholdership look like it's across the board I mean we talked about how everyone is an economic developer past that economic development ecosystems include uh developers property owners property managers brokers chambers of commerce uh property business improvement districts. The list goes on and on. So, it's it's a tough job uh to ensure consistent and quality communication, but we've identified some ident uh some implementation steps and metrics on how we're going to do that as well. Uh we'll also influence commercial corridor beautifification and uh some really fun stuff in grassroots marketing and placemaking. Uh so fifth and final category which I already covered is our organizational culture. Um like I said everyone is an economic developer and it takes all of us gears in the machine turning and turnurning for effective business attraction, retention, care and growth of the local economy. And I'm really happy to report that we have a fantastic team supporting this work. I'm so grateful for the passion, the care, the customer service that all of our departments and ambassadors provide every single day and they take that credo to heart that everyone is an economic developer. So this was the recommendation to city council at the end of this presentation in February to adopt the plan. uh reinstate our business attraction incentive program, approve the small business design

support program, and bring the next agenda items recommendations before you this evening. So, that brings me to the end of my presentation, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Yeah, thank you. Very uh compelling presentation. I appreciate that. Um I have a question. I I know you've already talked about this, but um you know when uh the next Starbucks comes in and and we hear those comments like, "Oh, we don't need that in this city or you know, things like that. I would it'd be nice to get this and that." Um so what do we do? I guess what's I'm sure you see those comments as well, of course. What's a short response that you would have to something like that? because we also communicate with the public and so we can have a better response to something like that like because when something comes in front of us if it checks all the boxes we can only you know push it forward. Yeah. So when people say I want this and that what's a good respon what is the city doing to get things like that like the you know the questions that you had and the responses to those. Um so essentially we're trying to just create environment codes where it's easy to do all that and then hoping those guys come in. Anything else you can say on that? Yeah, absolutely. Um in Cander from an economic development perspective, we are not the decision makers. We're the influencers, right? We don't have in our municipal or zoning code brand lists that can and cannot go here, right? As long as it's a use type that is allowed or conditionally allowed, that is the extent of the regulatory decision making. The brands that a lot of folks get tired of seeing come here because the market is a match for them. They come here because

the demographics look like they do on this first slide. to get the things that people request. They don't usually match the demographics that I showed you on the slide. It usually needs a higher median income. It usually needs more rooftops, a higher population. It usually maybe needs a higher traffic volume. And we can't control those numbers. Which means what we need to do is focus on effective storytelling and effective recruitment to get past the numbers. And look, again, cander, it's it's hard. It's a hard job. And uh it's similar to sales, but before um being in public service, I was in executive sales and marketing with hospitality companies like Marriott and Hilton. And you know, everybody knows that you only close one deal per hundred. And this work that we're doing here, it might be one per two. If I sat here and told you everything that I've lost, everything that I've worked hard for and lost in my six years of advocating for Citrus Heights, it would be a much longer list than what I've won. The wins are hard earned and we all work as hard as possible to get them. So when folks ask that question, you know, the truth of the matter is if it's allowed, we can't stop them from coming in, but we also do our darnest to get the things that our community wants. And it's exactly what I shared with you. The the community desire list, restaurants, breweries, entertainment. These are not the necessarily the highest sales tax

generating or increase in property tax or even significant economic impact. These are more businesses that increase our community's quality of life. That was a longer answer. You told me short answer. No, this is good. Thank you. I appreciate it. Then you got me on a roll. Thank you. Um, fellow commissioners, uh, any more questions? I got a couple questions. Sorry. Sorry, Casey. I'll make sure to make short. Uh, just almost more of a comment that, you know, the observation that or the feedback that you're getting from developers in terms of wanting drive-throughs. Um, I'm a little bit surprised from this, you know, and I've been ruminating this question, making sure I'm not sort of shooting the city's city's foot by saying this, but I'm a little bit surprised that, frankly, the state hasn't come down harder on on drive-throughs and the emissions of vehicles sitting in line. And I'm a little bit surprised that that issue hasn't daylighted itself. And I'll just throw that out there. Um I also think frankly that you know um school performance uh attracts young successful vibrant families. Um I do think this is an important issue that needs I know has been discussed uh is discussed in the 2 by twos with San Juan. Um but um this is something really important in terms of continuing to grow our community uh and get young families that buy a lot more retail go out and and go to restaurants and do things and whatever else rather than old people like me. And so um I it's really important that the city incorporate that in terms of the economic development looking forward um to trying to grow that demographic. Um I'm curious about I know you you talked about the size of just your your staff on this issue. Um do you attend conferences at all to try

to market Citrus Heights uh and available property or what Citrus Heights is all about and that kind of thing for you? Yep. Absolutely. Uh the most the best there's there's a conference for every segment of business recruitment, right? Uh ranging from major industrial all the way down to entrepreneurship stuff. the most bang for the buck uh in terms of trade shows and conferences as it relates to Citrus Heights is through an organization called International Council of Shopping Centers, which is the preeminent uh retail recruitment trade show. Uh there you'll find exactly the ecosystem that I talked about, developers, property owners, a gazillion brokers. It's at the Las Vegas Convention Center and at its peak it's about 35,000 attendees. Uh and then it also has retail brands. So, you know, you have to do your homework in advance uh to identify the brands that um have space that are desired in your community. Get that good storytelling together. Maybe find some demographics that could catch folks attention. Um, so it's a it's a lot of work in advance for trade shows and uh it's part of the economic development work plan once this uh full-time role gets on board to incorporate more of those opportunities. Um couple just a couple more. Um I also think it's really important that I know we have tried to focus on this in terms of of improving the look I'll say of citrus sites. really important, I'm sure, especially for office office considerations. You know, what kind of community they're moving into, what does it look like for their employees, is it safe, is there places to eat, and what all those kind of things. Um, and that goes through for for art and all kinds of different things. So, um, I think we need to keep pushing that issue. Um, I guess that's about it. Um, I have

an idea that I want to talk, sorry, with Casey about, um, as far as, uh, Sunrise tomorrow presentation. I was talking to a couple of the commissioners beforehand saying I do think we continue, we need to continue to emphasize that the sunrise tomorrow plan that everybody is whoever has looked at it in any detail that that is just sort of the conceptual plan in which the environmental document was done. It does not represent the hard and fast that necessarily needs to be implemented, right? And I know that's getting down too far in the weeds for most people in the community. Well, it's actually pulling up from the weeds. So, your credit it's an important thing for people to understand when they look at it and say, "Well, you're out of your mind with all that office space." Well, that office space doesn't necessarily need to happen at all or as much or whatever else. So, um you know, I think that's something that we that we need to to talk. Well, you you bring up some really important factors as it relates to effective office recruitment. We talked about the classification about the condition of offices, class A, B, and C. The product that Citrus Heights has are firmly in those B and C categories. effective office recruitment uh right now to get quality corporate Fortune 500 tenants, big job generators or similar. Those folks are really looking for amenity rich environments. So, this is where they can pop down the elevator and have 10 places to walk to lunch. Uh, three available fitness concepts or even just walking around a development itself that is uh pleasing and makes you forget that you're getting your steps in, right? Um, those what those are what top quality office tenants are looking for

and that's just that's not the style of office that has right now. I just I just have one comment in terms of startups and entrepreneurs. I think that uh high-speed lowcost internet would be a huge thing to sort of drive people to the community and start businesses here. I know that we've looked at it before, but I still think it's a good idea. Thank you. And I'd like to go ahead and open for uh public comment. Do we have anyone wants to comment? No speaker. No speakers. Uh we will go ahead and close public comment. And uh moving on to item number six. And by the way, uh Director Huber, thank you very much for that presentation. Yes, my pleasure. And if I could, one last comment. I just want to express appreciation to our community development department and especially Allison Bermudez for stewarding this item that is the first action step and maybe the most important foundational action step in our economic development work plan. Thank you Ally. Thank you. Moving on to item number six. Um, we are going to receive a presentation on zoning code updates and which is going to be a recommendation forwarded to the city council. Uh, thank you Megan. Always an energetic presentation from Megan. I always learn something and get so enthusiastic. Um, so yes, as Megan mentioned, this is really a followup to her presentation. So that's why she went first to kind of set the stage. And one of her uh one of the actions in the work plan um is, as she mentioned, reviewing the zoning

code, reducing um hurdles for businesses to come in, expanding opportunities for some of those um industries and targeted businesses so they can uh come here without with less regulations. Uh so To do that, we did look comprehensively. We have three zoning documents that regulate land uses um and the permitting process for those uses. The zoning code, which we're all very familiar with, kind of the overarching uh regulatory document of zoning. And then we have two specific plan areas that we reviewed. One, the boulevard plan, which covers the portion of Auburn Boulevard from Silver Corners north to I80. and the stock ranch guide for development which in covers properties along Silvin all the way wrapped around uh into the commercial center stock ranch. Each of those documents have a separate land use table that talk that provide available land uses uh and if they're allowed if they're permitted if they need a use permit or what that process would be. So looking at the land uses of each of those documents, then we took a deep dive into um to see what we could update. We took the information that we received from those stakeholder meetings with the developers and the brokers, took those comments into consideration as we made decisions. So first of all, as a reminder about the zoning code, um it does establish the framework for the orderly growth and assures compatible uh development occurs. We want to make sure that if we're going to put a tire shop with air wrenches um that it doesn't go maybe next to a house, right? We have to consider those land uses and their adjacencies. And the zoning code helps set that stage. The zoning uh code divides all the property in Citrus Heights. So takes the 14 square miles of Citrus Heights, applies a zoning designation to each area and specifically identifies what uses are

allowed in that area and what standards might be needed for that particular zone. Um those have been on the commission before, we usually do update this code about once a year. We'll come before you with comprehensive updates um as businesses change um new businesses develop um and as areas change over time, we do have to refresh the code uh to kind of keep it current and and fresh. So, we do do that typically every year. Um and we have proposed these amendments tonight really in support of our economic growth and reducing the minimal um regulatory um burdens. As mentioned, we have a specific plan uh known as stock ranch. This was adopted in 2001 and it really supported the vision at the the time the city incorporated in 1997 the 129 acres of stock ranch was the largest vacant property that we that um was in the city. So its future development was really take uh taken into account worked several years on developing the plan what it would look like and um really identifying the areas of those 129 acres 9 acres where there'd be housing um where we put in the office of the SBA building as part of the stock ranch plan there at Stock Ranch Road and Silvin uh instituted placed the park in its current location Van Marin Park and then the commercial center fronts along Auburn Boulevard all part of that stock ranch guide for development. Uh the guide does identify the allow allowable and land uses in each of the districts. So that 129 acres very different um areas right within that 129 acres you have the residential area you have the Silvin Road and then you have the heavy commercial area along Auburn Boulevard. Each of those areas are in a district and then each of those

districts has their own specific um land uses. Uh when the plan was adopted in 2001, the city um being still new, we didn't have our own zoning code. We were using county zoning at the time. So the land use table in the stock branch guide uh use the county land use descriptions. Um let me tell you those were hoop to refresh to look over those. Um times have changed and descriptions of certain land uses have certainly um gotten much better. Um so, but the guide did always carried over those old um outdated land uses. So, part of this project, we did update that table and cross reference them using our current uh forms of uh land use descriptions. Um in 2006 is when we adopted our own zoning code with our own descriptions and our own titles. And so, that's what's been incorporated into the document. Um and the update does align again with the previous land use table that was adopted and then current terminology and again supports our economic growth. The boulevard plan followed later adopted in 2005 very uh still active plan. Part of that plan um is even the complete streets project that you see going on now that started um through this process, you know, in the early 2000s. Um and it's still moving forward today and really seeing some big chunks of work going on. All part of the overall boulevard plan. And in that plan also was the land use categories uh that took a look at Auburn Boulevard. As you drive down the boulevard, you see some very distinct shopping areas. You see some heavier commercial and probably the closest thing we might have to heavy commercial industrial use all kind of segment segmented along Auburn Boulevard. So again, that stretch of the boulevard was put into districts and then there was land use is identified um

through each of those districts then to help kind of change and bring uh the boulevard into the future. Um let's see. So the proposals tonight uh looked at those land use tables that were done in 2005 and we suggested a few amendments again all in support of economic growth. Talk about the key changes. Uh first let's talk about the zoning code. It took a review of two sections article two um and chapter eight which is the definitions which are the definitions. um they the land use table will have a land use title or description and it's really the definition that drives the meaning of what that is. So it the definitions are quite important and those same definitions are carried out through each of the documents. So the land use tables in the zoning code in the stock ranch plan and in the boulevard plan all use those same definitions. Uh so that was reviewed and updated and modified. And then table two of the zoning code um is kind of our master land use table and um it was reviewed and identified or reviewed and amended. Um here's a list of the definitions that were changes that were changed. These some of the key ones that we amended through the definition table and again they're important because they play a role throughout each of the documents. In article two, the land use table, we did add some categories to the table that uh were not in existence. Many of these uses existed in the boulevard plan or they may have existed in stock ranch or something very similar, but they never did appear in our zoning code. So we have included those uh so they appear in all three tables. Um and then also in article two, we did make an amendment. This has been something uh really in the support of economic development that we

ran into with some uses we were trying to find locations for. Uh so we would have a certain use that that would talk about a permit process if the use was a certain amount of square feet. Uh sometimes that square footage of that use it was really not known is that an average size, is that a large size? Um, and so when we would have a business come in and say they're 5,010 square feet and our cut off was 5,000, um, that 10 square foot kick them into a different permitting process. And so we added this section that would give us a little bit of flexibility so we could look at those uses and if they're in that 25% range, we could take we could or Casey as the director could approve um them to go in. So like take for example the one that's coming to mind is we had um a indoor recreation facility. It was like axe throwing, plate breaking or whatever those recreation facilities are and they take a lot of space. Um but they have like big back rooms. They may have a big storage room that's really not active space. And it calculated out to be 540 square ft. At that time it wouldn't have been allowed in that location because of that. footage. It was over the 5,000, but it was a really good use. We really wanted it. So, this provision will allow us to say, "Okay, we're not going to count the office space. We're not going to count the storage room towards that square footage." And that gives us some flexibility to site those locations um appropriately. And then again, a list of some of the new land use categories that we've added to the table. Uh food and beverage product manufacturing. Um it was in the Auburn Boulevard plan but not in our zoning codes. We've added that. Um that will help with some of the breweries that come in that maybe brew

their own beer. We'll have a more specific category for them. U we may have a um doughnut shop that wants to site their commercial office here and have a place for them to create the doughnuts that get shipped out to their business partners. Um so things like that. So that will help that um economic um impact. Uh cabinet shops is another one we really didn't have listed in the zoning code. So we have added that in a laboratory. And this medical uh research and development testing um was allowed in certain areas along Auburn Boulevard but didn't appear in our traditional zoning code. So we wanted to add that in. Um laundry dry cleaning plant is one we've added in. This would be for a place, you know, such as a cleaner maybe that does commercial cleaning and it's not a retail stop where you drop your clothes off and pick them up. It's more of an industry where they clean commercials and then their vans deliver them out. So, we've added that to the table. Um, we have separated the auto parts uh sales category. We added so as auto parts sales like a regular retail that sells your auto parts and then some of them do some sort of installations as well. Um could be minor you know installations not necessarily repair or maintenance but they might install battery or whatever you might get with a car. Um we had a use that would want to come in here that sold high-end um parts for vehicles and these would be like for trucks or where you add super expensive fancy hitches to or flaps to or something like that. So, they do install those um high-end goods. And so, this would allow that type of use. We added a new category, vehicle support services. Uh this would be for businesses such as where you do test only uh smog. So, there's no maintenance, there's no repair. You

basically a car pulls in, they hook it up to the computer, and it's gone in, you know, less than 10 minutes. Um there's a lot of businesses that do car registrations. Uh so it's an office function basically, but you go there and you turn in your paperwork to get your car registration. So those didn't really have a clear classification. If you recall, we had a application before you a couple months ago for that test only center was really a benign use and they had to come through the complete use permit process and come before you to re for review and approval. seemed a little bit comprehensive and a little bit cumbersome for that type of use. So that's why we created the new category. Each of those new categories um were given an area um of the zoning code where they are permitted use. So they wouldn't need a use permit or they wouldn't um need any specific planning entitlement. Um so like our general commercial areas, that's that's really the heaviest commercial centers that we have. So that's where you're going to find your cabinet shops. They would be permitted. you're going to find maybe a dry cleaning plant there. Um you're going to find product manufacturing in those general commercial zones as a permitted use um unlike before either not allowed or needed to use permit. And then we did amend um some of our existing land uses in the zoning code to reduce the planning entitlement process. Uh commercial recreation Megan talked a lot about this type of entertainment facility. um as one of the needed you know wanted categories in the community. Uh so in the zoning table we have that identified as commercial recreation indoor um major and those are facilities that are large and are open late into the evening. So let's say a bowling alley something like that. They're open past 10 p.m. Uh before they used to require a use permit um which is a pretty extensive comprehensive view

comes to planning commission for review and approval. We have um knocked that down to what we call a minor use permit. So it's a little bit quicker process. Does not require a public hearing. Goes through the same review process through planning and through our service agencies and working out conditions of approval but does not require a hearing a hearing before the planning commission and that will help um fill some of those spaces that we have and uh bring in that use. Um we are seeing activity in this area. Um, Fun City was one recently business that is going to be coming along Auburn Boulevard. It's an indoor trampoline center and so that's kind of a use that's really becoming popular and we've had other interest from other types of users wanting to come. So this will help that um bring that use in. There's also the same facility, but it's called minor. And this are ones I talked about, you know, axe throwing or bottle breaking or plate breaking or whatever it is. Um, and those are ones that maybe just are open till 10 p.m., right? They're not late into the evening. They don't have, you know, a lot of hours or not the big the big commercial centers. Um, we have those used to require the minor use permit. Um, but we have reduced that down to permitted. Vet veterinary clinics is another interested topic. We've had a lot of interest from veterinary services. Uh very lack of service availability in the area for that. Uh so we have reduced the use permit for veterinary services and made it a minor use permit. And moving on to the stock ranch guide. Um, as I mentioned, we did replace the existing land use table um that was in the existing guide with the old outdated uh zoning codes carryover from the county and we have cross referenced those into our current land

uses. We expanded some allowed uses in each of the districts of the stock ranch and we've streamlined that permitting process for certain uses. Again, focusing on the commercial recreation, uh, we did add this this major minor to the stock ranch area. It was there before, but it did not was not broken down into major and minor. Um, so we've added both of those types into the stock ranch area and followed the same pattern. Major with a minor use permit and m, excuse me, major with a minor use permit and minor with uh permitted group hubs. Um that is something we have really been focusing on through uh Megan shop there and trying to increase our brew pubfront activity. She was great successful at getting Darkheart Brewery. So if you haven't been over there to see that one um on Auburn Boulevard and Silvin um that is a great been a great addition to the community. So we want to expand that use and allow it more locations. It was not allowed previously in the Stock Ranch area. So, we've added that into the guide as an allowed use. Kennel and animal boarding, that's another uh area where people are looking to expand. So, we have uh amended the stock ranch guide and we have added it as an allowed use in the Silven district. So, not in the commercial center um along Auburn Boulevard, but that Silven Center along Silvin Road, that would be an allowed use there. And then school specialized education. We have amended uh the table to include both minor and major which again is based upon the number of students and that we have allowed that in all districts of the stock branch. The boulevard plan follows the same uh the same reasoning. Uh we wanted to be consistent with the zoning code.

So, we've looked at those uses, streamline the the permitting process for the uses allowed um along the boulevard and really support the retail and make it a businessfriendly environment. So, Auburn Boulevard, again, it's also broken down into different districts. I mentioned the stock branch had the Silven area, the Auburn area, and then the residential area. Auburn Boulevard has a little bit more. It has what we call the Lincoln 40, which is the uh between Silvin Road um north to about prior to Antelopee Road and there is a Lincoln 40 and that's where you'll see those heavy you know um uses of you know the mower shops and the other automotive the tire shops along there in the Lincoln 40 area. So that would be our kind of our commercial more commercial area. Then you get to Grand Oaks you get all the way up uh to the corner uh towards the freeway you have kind of your shopping center um area. So those are diff each one is a different district. So we looked at those different districts and amended the the allowed uses um those based upon the policies the design concepts of those districts. So contract construction services um those are state licensed contractors who have offices. They might have a storage yard of materials. They might have a yard for their their parking of their vehicles. Um those um were not actually allowed along the Auburn Boulevard plan. So, we have amended it, the plan to allow them in that Lincoln 40 district, which is our commercial area, which really makes the most sense where they would want to locate um along that commercial uh portion of the corridor. Commercial recreation, we follow the same as a zoning code and stock ranch um allow the major and minor with the use permit and the permitted for the minor. school specialized education followed

the same as Stock Ranch amended it to allow the major um which was the number of students based on the number of students in all the districts along the boulevard. Veterinary clinics again uh we allowed uh amended the plan to uh reduce it from a use permit previously to this would be permitted in all districts along the boulevard area. added that auto part sales with installation services that we added to the main zoning code. We have added that to the Auburn Boulevard area as well. Um, and that would be a minor use permit in that Lincoln 40 area and a use permit in the s in the um silven village center. And then added that new category vehicle support services uh to allowed it to allow it in the Lincoln 40 and outside that Rush Park uh village center area as well. So in review, all the proposed amendments are consistent with the general plan. There really are intended to update the regulatory documents based upon the changing trends or the best practices supporting the council's economic development work plan. Um we have reviewed it for compliance with Sika and found SQA and found that it's category exempt and will not result in any impacts on the physical environment. And as mentioned, this is a recommendation since these are we legislative actions. The city council will be the final uh take final action on this. But since they relate to zoning ordinances, we ask that you review them. Uh we can discuss them, respond to any questions, and then your recommendation then will be forward to the planning to the city council for final action. And that concludes my presentation. Thank you very much um for that detailed

presentation. I'm very glad that uh to see that we are making things easier, opening things up. Hopefully we'll uh see more and more come in. Um do we have any questions before we uh proceed to the motions? And uh would you like us to take these one by one or are we taking them together? Um let's take them separately. The first one's um ordinance. Okay. And do we have somebody who would like to do a motion and a second? I would like to recommend the city council adopt an ordinance amending sections of chapter 106 of the city of Citri municipal code zoning code section in exhibit A. We have a motion by Commissioner Sheieler. I'll second that. and a second by Commissioner um Van Duger. Um and let's see. Roll call on this. You can do an oral roll call. Okay. Um so, uh do we have anybody opposed to this? Um for those four, let's say I I I I. Motion one pass. Okay. recommend the city council adopt a resolution to find the proposed amendments are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act SQUA under section 15061B3 of the guidelines. Repeal and replace appendix B of the Stock Ranch Guide for development. Adopt amendments of figure 3.4 of the boulevard plan as shown in exhibits B and C. We have a motion by Commissioner Sheieler on item number two. Anybody second? I can second. Second. Okay, go ahead. Perfect. We have

Commissioner Alawi second on the second one. Um, any opposed? And those four. Um, I I I motion to pass. Wonderful. And we're coming up on uh number six. Item number six, we'll now receive any general correspondents, presentations, or reports from the city staff, please. Yeah, thank you, chair. Um just a couple items. Um I'm sure a lot of you have seen uh in social media and otherwise. Tomorrow night, the city council is considering amendment by Ethan Conrad Properties to amend the Sunrise Tomorrow specific plan to allow a variety of uses that are not currently allowed by plan amongst other changes. Um, so I have heard from a couple plan commissioners that are interested in speaking at that item. Uh, and I just uh caution you to um state that you are making comments as a citizen, not as a planning commissioner. And also be careful not to use conclusive statements. You you might want to say statements like I like this idea, I don't like this idea, but want to make sure that if it does is something that comes to the plan commission in future, you still are able to vote because you haven't conflicted out. So just a little two cents there. Uh the second uh item um next week on the 29th uh you all have a flyer here. Um there is a community workshop for the gateway activation project or gap. Um and that is a project in which our goals are to connect the existing old Auburn trail to the Arctic Creek Trail to the Roseville Trail Network uh through Draco Greenway all in that northeast corner of the city. Um so it's the first community meeting to share the ideas about it and solicit feedback. So certainly welcome all of you to attend that if you're able. With that, that's all I had. I don't know if Allison had anything. I did. I wanted to share with you Habitat for Humanity because I don't know if we've updated you since um but as you recall, the city

approved the project um Habitat for Humanity to build 26 homes on Sananara. Uh the application period to apply for ownership over those homes opened on April 7th. Um within the first week um we had over 1,200 people pre-qualify for 26 homes. Um and so we have had two public meetings uh where people have come attended to learn the process about uh to be a h owner of Habitat what the application period looks like uh their obligations um the financial obligations that they have to follow. Um, but it's going very well. The application period goes until May 23rd. So, I fully expect that number of interested parties to continue to exceed. We still got a a month or so before the application period closes. But if you know someone interested, please don't let that discourage them from not applying due number of people. Um, you know, a lot of people fall out along the way. They move because it is not an overnight process, right? It's about a year build for for the first phase of eight and that's what this uh application period is for. Um so we look forward to that project starting hopefully summer fall uh which will includes as you know Habitat Free Manity is a community build project. So not only do the future homeowners of that property participate in the construction of the home uh but alongside Habitat uh construction crews are community members. So, a lot of different uh community service groups are out there. Just members of the public. The city will have some days that we work out there as well. So, if you have know if any of your groups are interested, you know, follow us on social media and we'll get those dates out or to let you know how you can volunteer. But, it's going very well. So, it's very exciting

to see the need or the people, you know, responding to that project. um and looking forward to home having some new homeowners on site. Nara, uh thank you. I also have um something to say. Um looks like I'm sad to say this will likely be my last meeting. Um I was uh really looking forward to uh another four years um on the planning commission, but my family's growing and uh an opportunity came about and looks like I'm following in the footsteps of Natalie. Uh we're moving as well. So that kind of just happened recently. So um sometime by the end of May, I think we'll we'll move. So sometime in May, but this is highly likely my last meeting. So um vice chair looks like you'll be taken over. So um yeah. So uh that's all I have. And um secretary, could you read the next item? Journment. All right. We have reached the end of our meeting and it is 7:11 and we are adjourned.