Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

She's ready yet.

For those here, we're gonna just take a couple of minutes to get our computer system up and running. Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the September 25 meeting of the City of Clovis Planning Commission. Members of the public are encouraged to participate in meetings by accessing the and listening to the webcast on the city's website, providing written comment at the same website, or coming in to the planning commission meeting in person. Okay. Sorry.

My gavel's over here. I'd like to call this meeting to order. And if you will all join me, commissioner Betstedt is going to lead us in the flag salute. Pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I'd like to call for approval of the minutes for the July 24 Planning Commission meeting.

Real quick, Erin.

Oh, I'm sorry. Do you mind? Forgive me. We need to do roll call.

Commissioner Bedstead? Here. Commissioner Hatcher? Here. Commissioner Hinkle? Here. Chair Antuna? Here. And commissioner Abert is absent today.

Okay. Now we can call for approval of the minutes for a motion for approval of the minutes for the 07/24/2025 planning commission meeting.

I'll make a motion. Second.

Okay. I have a motion from commissioner Hatcher and a second from commissioner Bedstead to approve the minutes from 07/24/2025. Commissioner Hatcher? Yes. Commissioner Bedsted? Yes. Commissioner Hinkle? Yes. And Chair Antuna?

Yes.

K. Four zero one with a bear absent.

Okay. Do we have any commission secretary comments today?

Yes. We do. I have a few. First, for the record, the planning commission the commission did receive a correspondence letter for item four on the agenda for the counts the commission's review and consideration. And I'll I'll be addressing that letter during the presentation as well.

Also, just to provide the commission with an update on the general plan update. The city held its first general plan advisory committee meeting on September 11. We had a good turnout. It took about two hours and we had the opportunity to have two commissioners, Alma and Amy, there with us. It was very productive.

I think a good portion of the meeting was to just discuss what is the role of the GPAC. Right? What's the objectives and just the view or the vision for for this upcoming general plan update. And right now, the next g pack meeting is tentatively scheduled for October 30. Same place, the the transit center.

And all this is posted on our website if anyone any folks wanna be there. It's open to the public and you're able to also comment during the agenda for for the evening. And just real brief also on staffing. We do have a individual in background for a assistant planner position with us. If everything goes well, she'll start hopefully in mid October.

So you'll see a new phase with us. And then we'll be going out shortly for an additional planner position. So our our planning family is growing definitely. And lastly, I want to welcome our former city planner, Dave Merchant, who is he thought he was gonna escape me noticing, you know, mentioning something, but it's good to have a mirror. And he gets to to watch his his old team. So and that's that's it for me.

Very good. Do we have any comments from the planning commission? I do wanna comment just a little bit on the meeting for the general plan meeting. It was really great to attend, and staff is doing an amazing job as always. And, definitely, I would encourage the public to come in, sit in, look at watch the process, and provide feedback because it's going to impact the way that the the city decides to, you know, grow our city. So, anyway, good job, staff.

What time is that meeting?

The GPAC meetings, they start at six p. M.

Okay. Very good. Now, we're going to move on to the public hearing portion. This is an opportunity for the members of the public to address the Planning Commission on any matter within the Planning Commission jurisdiction that is not listed on the agenda. In order for everyone to be heard, please limit your comments to three minutes and ten minutes per topic.

Anyone wishing to be placed on the agenda for a specific topic should contact the Planning Division and submit correspondence at least ten days prior to the desired date. Do we have anyone on the floor that would like to speak? Seeing none, we're gonna go ahead and move on to, the public hearing portion of, our agenda. I'd like to introduce our first item on item number two, CUP twenty twenty five dash zero zero seven, adopting a class one categorical exemption for from further environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act and approving a conditional use permit to amend the Sierra Pavilion's use schedule to allow medical offices medical office use in Building J At 1295 Shaw Avenue, Clovis. Owner, Richard Hudson.

Applicant and staff that will be reporting on this item is Eric Garcia.

Thank you, chair. Good evening, commissioners. As you mentioned, this is for CUP 2025Dash007. The project is located on the Southwest Corner of Shaw And Sunnyside in the Sierra Pavilion Shopping Center. It's zone PCC.

There is commercial surrounding the project on the east, south, and West Side, and there is multifamily on the north side of it. So the applicant is proposing to modify the PCC zone district which requires a CUP. Now typically there's one use schedule that applies to the entire PCC district. However, in this occasion, each PCC's the PCC Sierra Pavilion's use schedule has different permitted uses for each individual building. So on the next slide you will kind of see how that works.

And each individual building has unique labels to it. On this one, the modification is for Building J to add medical office uses. No further no other modifications are proposed. So if you see here the site plan shows the entire shopping center. Every building has its own unique label.

We're looking at Building J, is highlighted in red. So this is the existing use schedule. I know it's kind of hard to see, but every building has its own label and then its permitted uses. So the existing use schedule right now is highlighted for Building J, and it allows general retail and food uses. The proposed use schedule will be things that they want to change.

And it's underlined and highlighted in red here. And again, it's only for Building J. And the permitted uses would be general retail, food uses, and medical office. So the city has determined that this project is exempt from CEQA through a class one exemption for existing buildings. And staff recommends, based on the findings of the staff report, staff recommends that the Planning Commission adopt a resolution and approve this conditional use permit subject to the conditions of approval. And that concludes my presentation. I'm happy to answer any questions if you have any.

Are there any questions for staff from the commission? Okay. Very good. Seeing none, we're gonna go ahead and open the public hearing. Is the applicant present?

The applicant said he wouldn't show up today.

Okay. Very good. Then we'll go ahead and move on to public comment. Is there anyone in the public that would like to speak in support of this item? K. Seeing none, we're gonna go ahead and invite anyone who would like to speak in opposition of this project. Very good. Seeing none, we're gonna go ahead and close the public portion of this hearing and bring it back, to the commission for deliberation and a vote.

I'm gonna ask my question now. Do we know anything about the history of this building? Has it been challenging to find other tenants to occupy the space? And is that that what's now driving the, I guess, request for medical office use?

Yeah. I think the the old use schedule was kind of limited on what was allowed there, so they want to expand. And by adding this medical use office, it would expand the use so more people can come in.

Thank you.

Do we have any other questions? Okay. Open for a motion.

I'll make a motion. I'll make a motion that we approve CUP twenty twenty five tack zero zero seven.

I'll second.

I have a motion from commissioner Bedstead and a second from commissioner Hatcher to approve CUP two excuse me, twenty twenty five zero zero seven. Commissioner Bedstead? Yes. Commissioner Hatcher?

Yes.

Commissioner Hinkle? Yes. Chair Antuna?

Yes.

Commissioner Aybeare is absent. Motion carries four zero.

Moving on to item number three, consider approval of resolution SPR twenty twenty five dash zero two nine recommending the city council adopt a class one categorical exemption from further environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act and recommend approval of a site plan review for the site layout and design of the big Dry Creek Trail improvements at Letterman Park, Barstow Avenue, and Villa Avenue in the city of Clovis. Owner and applicant, Marissa, representing. Thank you, chair. Good evening, planning commission. It's great

to be back. Before I jump into my presentation, I did want to point out that I'm joined with Sediye Janovsky from our public utilities department. She is the project engineer for this project, So she'll be joining us tonight. But this site plan review includes the installation of entry features and pedestrian friendly improvements along the Dry Creek Canal, which is located adjacent to our Letterman Park, which is West Of Villa and North of Barstow Avenue. So the project itself includes a couple different components such as grading of the existing canal bank, but it also includes a new concrete trail.

You can kind of see it on the screen there that will be installed in the Letterman Park connecting to the existing canal bank there. The project also provides two new entry features, one, at the entrance from Villa Avenue and one from Barstow. And, also, there is a larger gateway feature proposed for the entrance from the new concrete trail to the existing natural trail that will be within the Letterman Park. So the next couple slides kind of show conceptually how that will look. So this project is made possible by a community development block grant program funds that the city receives on an annual basis.

So, in this instance, the city council approved on May 5 a $187,000, which would be used for this project. So on this slide, you will see, the trail entry, which is the main gateway from Letterman Park to the existing canal bank. There is the gateway feature that includes the Letterman Park lettering at the top and then also a rust colored metal firefighter. And there you'll see there's a plaque right there as well. And on that plaque, we will be describing some of the history between the Letterman Park and the affiliation that it has with the Clovis firefighters.

And then there will also be, a bollard here for safety and then also, these Letterman Trail signposts, which you will also find at the Villa Avenue trail entry. So it's just the one, and then you'll see the bollard, and then the new concrete trail here as well. And then on the right, you'll see kind of a closer view of what that signpost looks like. And then we also have from the Barstow Avenue entrance, one of those signposts as well. Additionally, with this project, there will be some new wayfinding signs that will be provided through the park and the canal kind of to direct pedestrians to the nearest crosswalks since we are trying to enhance that pedestrian experience.

And then lastly, so the site plan review has four findings that need to be made in order for staff to recommend approval. And not only does this project make all of those findings and staff was able to do so, we are recommending approval because it is enhancing our existing park and our existing canal bank by providing pedestrian friendly improvements. With that, planning staff is recommending that the Planning Commission, recommend the City Council approve SPR twenty twenty five zero two nine subject to the conditions of approval listed as attachment one a and SEDA E and I are happy to answer any questions that you may have.

Do you have any questions for staff? Are

there any plans for planting any trees along this trail?

So, currently, the existing canal bank is is utilized by the Fresno Irrigation District, and they are very strict on their access. They do require that a 20 foot drive access is available at all times. So this would not allow us to install or put in any trees along the informal portion of the trail. And as far as the more formal portion, which is at the park, There's existing mature trees that provide shade, so we're kinda doing we we we do have the element of trees for this portion of of our trail system.

Thank you. Yeah. I walk a lot of our trails, and those with trees have a lot of use. There's a lot more use on them, so it's something that I'd like to see on all of our trails. Thank you.

Okay. We're gonna go ahead and open the public portion of this. We'd like to invite anyone who would like to speak in favor of this project. Seeing none, I'd like to invite anyone who would like to speak in opposition of this project. Okay. Seeing none, we're gonna go ahead and close the public portion and bring it back to commission for a motion. Okay. Well, discussion. Mean, it's beautiful, so we're all excited about it.

Yeah. I think it's a fantastic project, and I'm in support. If there's no other discussion, I'll make a motion. Okay. I will motion to approve SPR twenty twenty five tack zero two nine.

I'll second.

I have a motion from commissioner Bedstead and a second from commissioner Hatcher approving SPR twenty twenty five zero two nine. Commissioner Bedstead? Yes. Commissioner Hatcher? Yes. Commissioner Hinkle? Yes. Chair Antuna?

Yes.

K. SPR twenty twenty five zero two nine is approved four zero.

K. Moving on to item number three I'm sorry. Item number four. Resolution 25 s p r twenty twenty five zero dash zero one six, finding that no further environmental review is required pursuant to this to section one five one eight three of the CEQA guidance and approval of the site layout and design of the Loma Vista dual use park and recharge basin at approximately 12 acre park and recharge basin that is located at the intersection of Barstow And Agua Dulce Avenues, city of Clovis, is the applicant. George Gonzales will be presenting.

Thank you, chair and members of the commission. I'm going to be doing this presentation alongside with along with Jacob from our engineering department. And I'll do a brief just a brief background with the project, and then Jacob will talk about just the the project project features and what's being proposed. And then I'll discuss some of the comments we received from from folks. So as as indicated in the description, the project is located just East of Leonard Avenue.

More specifically, at Barstow And Agua Dulce Avenues identified in red on the screen. The project site is approximately 12 acres and the city acquired it back in 2023. So not too long ago. And per the general plan, land use designation and to the Loma Vista specific plan, this property has been planned for a park and open space since the adoption of the Loma Vista specific plan almost 20 plus just just over twenty years ago. So we're we're excited to bring this before the commission eventually to counsel to to hear your your consideration and comments.

It's important to know before I hand it over to Jacob that per our development code, due to the zoning of the property, the approval of it is actually at the director level. So the director has the ability to approve it and then you will start seeing dirt moving, you know, out there eventually. Right? But we thought it's such a significant project for this area that we thought staff thought that it was important for not only the commission to weigh in on it, but also the council and the neighbors. They're live next to it. Right? And so we definitely wanna hear their inputs as well. So I'll go ahead and hand it over to Jacob now.

Thank you, George, and good evening, Planning Commission members. Tonight, I'm gonna talk to you about the overall site plan of the project. We're gonna talk about some of the key features of the park and the project as a whole. And then from that point, we're gonna jump into the main areas of the park that I'm gonna outline through the overall site plan, and we're gonna give you some pictures and some images and renderings that kind of depict the park and and our goal of what we wanna put in here. So with that being said, the overall site plan, as you see on the screen, we're gonna be putting in 26 parking stalls along the project.

So that's just in between the Main Lawn and the South Lawn running parallel with Agua Dulce. We'll have about 26,000 square feet of grass area, and that's going to be split between around 8,000 square feet on the Main Lawn, which is again right at the intersection of Barstow and Agua Dulce, and about 18,000 square feet at South Lawn, and that's going to be at the South part of the project. Yeah. Thanks, George. The two overlook areas for the project, one will be attached to the main lawn just to the east of it.

And then the other overlook area will be just right there along the trail. So that's gonna be along the Dog Creek Asphalt Trail. That'll be another midway point where we can stop and there'll be some benches there with a big tree to provide some shade. Another key feature is the restroom facility, and that's gonna have two shade structures, one on each side, about 36 feet wide on each side, so it can fit about four park benches or picnic benches. And again, that's to promote people to come into the park and sit and enjoy and look over the water that will be on the project.

We're gonna have about 4,400 feet, which is about 0.8 miles of trail, and I want to point out that the 0.8 miles, that would be if you keep doing the same loop. So if you go from you walk onto the property and you go all the way around the basin, all the way around the creek, and come back to your starting point, you're going to be roughly just under a mile. You If were to walk on every single stretch of trail on this park, you're gonna be pushing over a mile. And I'll have a slide on that as well to to show the differences of what we have for the two separate trails. The next improvement will be the ADA and all age play structures and swings, and so this is gonna be a first in Clovis.

We really wanted this park to be setting an example for how we wanna move forward, especially in Clovis and seeing other jurisdictions do this. We wanna do it right and do it the best. And so we really wanna encourage active use for all ages, and especially in this play structure for it to be all ages. And so typically, you'll see the five to 12 year old structure, structure, and then you'll see, okay, there's the little kids, and you can separate, but not not here. So here, we wanna have one big structure with some one off pieces and then swings that kind of encapsulate and allow the kids to all play together if they so choose, and then the same goes with the swing sets as well.

You would have toddler swings combined with older swings as well, and then accessible swings, so that could be a swing that someone with a little more needs can sit and their parent can sit with them on that same swing as well. The next improvement is the man made creek with two waterfalls. So and I I wanna point out it's man made because it doesn't exist today. There won't be any permitting or requirements for it. It's gonna be pinched in between the inner Enterprise Canal and Dog Creek on the Northeast side of the site.

And just to to kinda give you a frame of reference of this property, you've got Agua Dulce on your West, you have Dog Creek that pretty much runs across the southern portion, which will be where the trail is, and then you'll have the Enterprise Trail, which is bordered by the Enterprise Canal, to the North. And so that's we're kind of landlocked in between those three entities, and it's a great spot for the creek, especially with the recharge basin. We'll have water recirculating in the park to give those waterfall features a constant throughout the day as you enjoy and use the park. And then the finally, the last thing is the park and trail lighting, and so those are gonna be your typical lantern styled lantern style bollards and the decorative LCN lighting that you see throughout the Loma Vista area and then we'll have our typical parking lot lights as well. One bullet point I didn't put here but it's half of the park is the six and a half acre recharge basin.

Again, that's beneficial for recharging the groundwater in the Loma Vista area, good for our wells. So there's a lot of good uses of this park besides just it being a park and and great for the community as well. So with all that being said, I'm gonna jump into the trail slide, and then we'll jump into some of the pictures that basically go through what I have already described. So for this project and and in particular this park, there's gonna be four main entrances. There's gonna be the one to the south and and then just to orient yourself, so before we were looking north, now I've I've spun you 90 degrees because I wanted to get this as big as I could on the slide.

So we have the pedestrian entrance number one and that is on the Dog Creek Trail. So that's an existing asphalt trail that if you were to follow that west, you would reach Shaw Avenue. So if you you can walk that trail through the neighborhoods, the existing neighborhoods there, come out onto well, we'll be putting in a pedestrian crossing, enhanced one that has the rapid flashing beacons, and that will help promote and slow down traffic, but promote safe pedestrian crossing. So the asphalt trail in pink, that totals about 2,740 linear feet of trail on our park site alone. So you could take that trail and then you'll tie in at the very northeast corner, which is the bottom right of the the screen, and that's gonna tie you into the concrete sidewalk trail, and that's the Enterprise Trail that you can continue and you'll get to pedestrian entrance Number 2, and that trail will take you into the neighborhoods also around, and that the Enterprise Trail is more well known throughout Clovis, and that would continue on.

So this is kind of a spot where you can do you can come in off of that trail, do some laps around the park, enjoy the water. There'll be plenty of benches, I think we have 22 total benches throughout the site under trees, pretty much all of them under trees, so they're shaded and we really want to have the benefit of the park but also the enjoyment of using the water. This is a first in Clovis, and it's not a flood control basin. This is gonna be a very pretty basin that's decorative with landscaping, and that's kind of what our heart is behind wanting this, again, for multiple different uses. And then we're gonna have our parking lot entrance at the on Aguadol, say, like I mentioned earlier, that's gonna be exactly like the Pasa Tiempo parking lot that you see today.

It's the dual entrances. You got your trash enclosure in the middle and about, like I said, 26 parking stalls with two of those being ADA. Alright. So now it's the fun part because we get to look at the pic the pretty pictures. So this is the main lawn. So this is if you were standing at Agua Dulce and Barstow Avenue and you were looking east. And so in that left picture, you're gonna see the well, the the wall in front of it. So that's gonna be our monument sign. George is gonna get into that a little bit. We are still looking into what to name this park, and so that will eventually have the the name of the park there.

It acts as a dual use. It also it protects traffic. If someone were to not stop on that intersection, this would be a barrier wall for that, but also it brings and highlights the name of the park as well as you get into the the main stream of Agua Dulce. Looking past that, we've got the 8,000 square feet of grass lawn with trees all around. We'll have some trees in that area as well, and we really want to promote recreational play with all of the lawn area, but primarily here, and then at the South Lawn as well.

And then if you keep looking through that, we'll have our shade structure, which is the image you see to the right. And so there, we're gonna have four restrained swings where it's not swing enough to swing into the water, but it's you can enjoy and again, sit in a shaded area where you can overlook that water. They'll be built for two people, so you could if a kid can sit with their parent and again, bring enjoyment to this recharge basin and the benefits that it brings to the city. And then just to to highlight and jump back to the left picture, I mentioned 22 benches earlier, nine of them will be located within this main lawn area and then you'll have your typical bike racks and all that as well. Next up, we have the parking lot.

It pretty much mirror images here as you enter in on either side. So as I mentioned earlier, we've got the restroom structure. That's gonna have four restrooms, unisex restrooms in them, all ADA compliant, and then we'll have a structure on each side, 36 feet wide. And the idea is you would have basically three channels of 12 to one being a breezeway in a sense for a drinking fountain. You'd have a drinking fountain on each side, and then you'd have four picnic tables on each side as well, so eight in total in this area.

And so as you're looking in that first picture, you're looking towards the play structure and then also towards the south lawn in the right picture, you're looking more towards the main lawn and then the trash enclosure as well. And the idea here, you'll notice there's no trees affronting the restroom area, and that's intentional. The picnic tables will be protected by the shade structure and bring shade, but we don't want to obstruct that view of looking over the water. And so that's why you'll notice there there's a lot of trees on this project, but not not here particularly. The playground area.

So like I mentioned earlier, we we wanna we wanna be Clovis and we wanna do it right and we wanna do it big. And so we're dreaming big and we wanna put in this all inclusive, all age enclosure. And so just moving through a couple of these images, you'll see in the left the top left image, that's kind of our main unit or the main structure. It's got the ADA ramps that go with it to for for the accessible needs children to use it, then we also have a lot of like sound and visual toy not toys, but you know, things that children would be more inclined to play with as well and interact with in this park. And so the idea here is you're gonna have balancing, spinning, sliding, swinging, and climbing, and those are all things that we're working with our manufacturer on really bringing to this park and again making it a first in Clovis and a good example that we can say, hey, this is what we want in Clovis, this is this is what we represent.

And so if you look in the bottom left picture, it's the only other one I would kinda wanna touch on. The left side is gonna be the main structure with the individual play units around it, and then the right side of that would be primarily the swings that I had mentioned earlier. Alright. So the Enterprise Trail. So we have two trail systems like I mentioned.

We have that pink one and the blue one. The pink one was the Dog Creek Asphalt Trail, the Enterprise Trail is gonna be the concrete trail. And so if you're looking in that first picture to the left, you're looking Southwest, this is looking towards the main lawn, so this would be if you're coming back into the park, And so you're gonna see that overlook structure to the left. You'll notice a good amount of vegetation on both sides of the trails, and that's consistent through both trails, and then trees as well that would line pretty much the entire trail system on both sides to provide shade at any hour you're walking. And then if you just turn around and you look in that right picture, you're gonna be looking northeast, and you'll be walking up to that northeast corner of the site.

And again, we have some benches there along that path to be able to stop and again enjoy the water on the trail. The Dog Creek Asphalt Trail, this one is again the one bordering Dog Creek running on the south side of the property, again heading northeast or southwest. In the picture to the left, you're going be going towards our first overlook area, the one George had pointed out earlier as, again, a break point. We wanna put a big tree here that provides a lot of shade, and then I think we have five benches around it. So again, plenty of seating and shade for people who want to stop and again look over the water.

To the right, we are getting up very close to the northeast corner of the site, and that is approaching our bridge. So we have a pedestrian bridge as part of this project. I'll have a picture here in a few slides or the next slide, and that's gonna tie in both of these trails together, and it's not gonna take you up to the Northeast, the tippy top corner of the site, but it'll get you pretty close to it. Again, you can look over the water through the recharge basin if you're looking Southwest towards the main lawn, and then we're gonna have some of those waterfalls to kinda give it a nice aesthetic and the sound of water rushing as it approaches the recharge basin. So we have the overlook area.

So this is what I mentioned earlier. We have that big tree that you see to the left with the benches around it. You have we'll have it fenced off so that way people can safely sit there and not be worried about their children running into the water in this area. And so for the South Lawn, this is when you're coming into the site, so this is you would just be passing the first pedestrian crossing where those rapid flashing beacons are that I mentioned, and so you're gonna be walking up into the site, and then this would be taking you into the play structure and then into the the main lawn area where the parking lot is. I touched on it earlier, 18,000 square feet of grass area in this, trees pretty much surrounding the entire way.

So again, a lot of areas to sit on the grass, enjoy it, but also just enough area to play with recreation. The creek falls and bridge. So this is why I mentioned earlier, we'll have a nice bridge connecting the two trails together and then we'll have our waterfall. Again, there'll be two of them that are planned in the creek area. One of them will be right next to the bridge, so that way it gives that nice aesthetic look.

So the building elevations and the architectural style. So Loma Vista has a couple different themes and concepts and we've tried to kind of pull that all together into this park and kind of just unite everything that we can to to give it a nice feel of if you're driving down in the Loma Vista area, you're like, that doesn't stick out. This kind of brings it all together. So what we're mimicking here for our buildings and our shade structure, can see is we're modeling it off of Pump Station E, and so that's located at the intersection of Ashland and Leonard in the Northeast Corner. It's got very nice architectural components to it.

A lot of people go and take their prom pictures at it because it's so pretty. And so we wanna kinda mimic that style here. You don't see a lot of that type of style around the Loma Vista area. You'll see throughout the different components of the project, like the monument sign will be in the parking lot. We're mimicking Pasa Tiempo Park, whereas here we're kind of mimicking the pump station e.

The benches, you're gonna see something like Village Green. So we have different components of Loma Vista all coming together into this site, and that's kind of our our heart behind the building building elevations and the architectural style here. Alright. So the last thing that I wanted to touch on before I hand it back off to George is the project phasing and the timeline. So right now, we are scheduled to do a site cleanup in October and that just opened bids and so that should be beginning here be beginning here in the next couple weeks, hopefully.

There are a couple buildings if you were to drive by that site today, it's lined with eucalyptus trees and then also a couple buildings and some other fencing and things like that. The cleanup is going to pretty much take off all the buildings, but we're going to leave the eucalyptus trees until our project comes in, and I just want to clarify, we will be taking out the eucalyptus trees because Agua Dulce does have to widen to its full limits for this project as well. But those eucalyptus trees, you'll notice, those are gonna stay until we go and build this park, and that's just to provide a visual buffer between, you know, the the neighbor the neighboring residents and, you know, the the visual of a dirt field for six weeks or six months. Sorry. So phase one is pretty much everything that I've described to you today outside of the restrooms and the play structure.

Unfortunately, we do are planning on breaking it into two phases due to budget. The construction of phase one will start in the 2026 or is projected to start in the 2026, I should say. And we estimate that should be complete at the 2027. And again, that's pretty much everything I presented today outside of the restrooms and the play structures. And if you're wondering what goes in the spot of the play structures and the restrooms while we're waiting, that would be an additional grass area to, again, promote more recreational use. And we currently don't have a timeline on phase two on when that would be incorporated. And then I will pass it off to George.

Alright, thank you Jacob. In regards to neighborhood comments, staff did hold a neighborhood meeting back in June at the Clovis East Campus where approximately 25 property owners and residents attended the meeting. We had a good conversation. We gave an overview of the project and we got some feedback from the neighbors. And what you see here on the screen are some of those comments.

For example, I think Jacob just touched a little bit about just the trees in general. The eucalyptus trees along Agua Dulce. Our code does classify them as like a nuisance, so they will come down. And that will provide the opportunity to complete the build out of Agua Dulce. There's another approximately seven feet still on the on the east side of the street to be completed.

In terms of allowed uses in the basin, we're still the city is still evaluating that as to what what to allow. And one of those considerations is also fishing. So but we haven't made a determination yet as to what exactly will be allowed. We hope that by the time we head to council, we should have a better answer as to that. Regarding traffic, speeds and volumes, it's important to note that in August, so last month, our engineering staff did complete a speed and volume traffic study where it found that found that no vehicles were traveling at or above 35 miles an hour on Agua Dulce.

And there were also, there were no recorded accidents on Obaluze. So we, you know, obviously, we appreciate those comments from the neighbors. We will continue to monitor that if the project gets approved. Once it gets built, engineering will will keep an eye on on traffic there as well. Parking availability.

As as Jacob indicated, the project will propose 26 parking stalls. We wanted to be mindful, especially being next to residential homes. Per our development code and per the size of the the gross open space area, our code actually only requires five stalls. We wanted to provide more than that. We wanted to also try to keep a lot of, much as we can, traffic away from the neighbors.

Right? Just keep them in the park. The worst case scenario, know, keep them on Aguadulce, right, but not not into the neighborhood. So we think that it's it's a good design, at least in terms of the number of stalls. We we also talked about noise and fencing, what the project will be proposing for the along Dock Creek, what type of fencing, along Dock Creek, along the basin, and the Enterprise Canal.

And this project, it's not proposing any fencing along Dock Creek. It is proposing some fencing in certain areas around the basin, but not all of it. And there would be no fencing along the enterprise. In fact, along the enterprise, there's an existing chain link or it's just a on on the About cable fencing.

Yeah. So there's a cable fencing that's existing on the enterprise that's gonna actually get demolished. Removed. And the difference between the enterprise and our site, well there'll be a slope that'll come down and it's gonna distinguish the Bank Of The Enterprise Canal with the project site very clearly.

Yeah. Also, there was a question regarding designated dog areas. And it's important to know to that this project is not proposing a dog, a designated dog area. One, also because just the limited space that's providing, we want to keep that for folks for active recreational purposes. And, you know, the city does have two designated park areas within the city.

One is Bicentennial Park, and the other is Letterman Park, and I'm looking at Sarai. And there's a third one in the works right now, and that is Pasa Timpo Park at Barstow and DeWolf. That is we're planning on putting a third dog park area there, but not not here. And park lighting, the project will provide lighting in the parking lot, of course. And I think one neat component about this since this project is bringing a lot of trail system, we do have baller lights along the entire project. I believe they're spaced out every 100 feet? 50 feet. 50 feet. Wow. Okay.

50 feet, which is gonna look beautiful at night. I I can see that. So folks can can enjoy that even in the evening hours as well. And so that was primarily the neighborhood meeting comments. And the comment that the count the commission received just a few days ago, I wanted to get into that a little bit more.

There was a concern about the intersection of Barstow And Leonard and whether this project is going to improve that intersection, and no, the answer is no. That's outside the scope of this project. Now with the development, the future development of the Southeast Corner of Barstow Leonard, that will complete the improvements at that intersection. There was also another concern about, let me go back. Marion.

Thank you. There was also a concern about folks using the parking lot to avoid the intersection here. And as you can see here, that that just won't be possible. So the intersection of Abuluse and Barstow is here, and the parking lot is further south. So folks will not be able to use that as a shortcut to avoid any backup traffic at that intersection.

There was also concern about the current intersection of Junipero and Agua Dulce, which it's right off this map. It's right in this area. And it's important to know that engineering, I'm not sure how long ago, but engineering installed a four way stop there. And there was a concern about some vehicles parking close to the intersection, but unfortunately, it's it's opened for those homes that are right there at the corners. Right?

I mean, can they can park their vehicle there. So I think we've we've done what we could to ensure that everyone stops there and and and make that intersection safer. There was also a comment that after reviewing the the proposed site plan, you can see here that there's like a a driveway right in this area. And the question was, you know, who's gonna use that? You know, can can can the public access that?

And the answer is no. That's just a driveway there for maintenance purposes for staff to maintain the the recharge basin. So no no members of the public will be able to drive through there. Also, it was a question about who's going to be or what kind of safety will be provided with the rest rooms. And, the project will have locks, of course, lighting, and security cameras that will not only monitor around the restrooms, but in other parts of the other park as well.

And also, there was a question about who's gonna be maintaining the park in general, and that is gonna be public utilities, if that's correct. And also, we talked a little bit about the fencing. The existing post and cable fencing will be removed along the Enterprise Canal. So it's gonna be open adjacent to the park. And there's no no fencing being proposed along Dock Creek.

Dock Creek itself is being viewed as a buffer between the neighbors to the south and the trail along Dock Creek. I hope that did you have any questions on those? Okay. Alright. And a critical component of this is what are we gonna name the park?

Right? Staff came up with three possible names and we would like to hear the commission's recommendation. But also folks here this evening, if if folks have a preferred name to you know, come up and state that during the public comment period. But we came up with three. This is not exclusive. Mean if the commission has another one, we can consider that too. But the first one is Vista and I let me let me get that right one.

The first one Agua Vista Park.

Agua Vista. I meant I didn't write that down right. Agua Vista Park is one consideration where, as you can see here, it plays on Agua Dulce Avenue, and also the water feature and the vista of the viewpoints, and the tie in to the Loma Vista area as well. So Agua Vista Park. The second one is Arroyo Tranquilo Park, which is, it translates to a calm creek or stream bed.

And it's recognizing a dock creek, right, running along the southern portion of project. And the third is Agua De Reyes Park, which is Kings Water. And this is recognizing the importance of the Enterprise Canal bringing water from the Kings River to irrigate the Fresno Plains, and will be the primary source feeding the recharge basin. So, those are the three that staff came up with. I hope you don't ask which one we recommend, because we're everywhere.

We have staff that want one, another, another. So, but we wanna hear your your your input if if you decide to approve the project. And finally, staff does recommend that the planning commission this evening adopt a resolution recommending that the city council approve site plan review twenty twenty five dash zero sixteen subject to the conditions of approval listed under attachment a one, attachment one. And, that concludes our presentation, and we're available for any questions.

Chair Antonia, if I could add just a little bit. Of course. The staff pointed out the heavy involvement with the public in planning and engineering, but it would be a miss if we didn't recognize public utilities part two. We've been working heavily between the planning development services and public utilities to find something that's pretty, it's attractive, and it's gonna be easy to maintain and functional. So it's got many purposes, and it's not very often here engineers get excited over something besides a traffic signal or a plant, but this is kinda like Disneyland for us. It's functional and it's pretty. And, yeah, we're really excited and hope you like it too. So we're we're happy to hear what the public has to say and what comments you might have.

Very good. Do commissioners have any clarifying questions for staff?

Yes. I noticed you only have two ADA parking spots. Could I get you to consider maybe three? Because as you know, our senior population is growing very rapidly. And the trails that I go to, there's two parking, ADA parking spaces, and they're usually full.

And they have to park somewhere else and walk and stuff. So I would like to see a minimum of three and possibly four to take care of our growing population. And it's rapidly growing and I'm seeing more of them on the trails. They're using our trails. So we need to accommodate them. And being the city we are, let's accommodate them. Thank you.

Yep, understood. Thank you for the comment and we'll take a look at that.

Couple questions here related to parking as well. I know you said maybe by code it only requires a minimum of five and, yeah, that would that would not fly. This is gonna be quite an attraction, I think for the community as a whole, not just those that live in that area based on everything we've seen tonight. It's truly impressive and I can't wait to see more As of it come and take far as parking, the establishment of 24 in the current plan, was there any assessment of other parks that are currently in service during operating hours that the staff did to kind of look through? Is 24 really adequate?

I get that the street, excuse me, can serve as an overflow, but that can also be troublesome at times too. Just curious what went into coming up with 24? Was there some quantifiable data that was used or

Yeah. Jacob, did you wanna talk a little

bit about that? Yeah. I can speak on that. So when we first sat down and started visioning for this park, we were like, how can we not do a parking lot? And then we slowly okay. It it needs to happen. The parking lot grew from we had 18 stalls in the beginning and then we're like, You know, just thinking about how, like you said, people are gonna come to this park, not only from this neighborhood but from other neighborhoods as well. And that and that's the intention. And so to answer your question about comparing other parks, like I said, I did compare it to the Pasatiempo Park. I don't remember the exact number of stalls Pasatiempo has, but it it is very similar in size.

And I did not get the chance to go and compare at full use what those other parks were experiencing. And so that's definitely something we can do. And if if it is that we do need to expand it, yeah, we can look into that.

Yeah. I I would encourage that. You know, it it's a big project. It's probably not gonna be easy to rectify, you know, post build. So I think doing doing a little more assessment and validation of how current utilization of equivalent size parks or even others are trending would be wise.

We know that I know when I first joined the commission, remember Commissioner Henkel saying he had attended a Planning Commissioner's Academy and we were told to look fifty years into the future when planning. So if we only size for today, we miss the mark, right? We have to continue to anticipate more and more utilization. So thank you for taking that as an item. And then my last question was just, is there going to be any fencing of the waterways?

It looked like in the renderings that there's a lot of like really natural barriers along the walkways which I think is very clean instead of seeing a bunch of fencing. But just curious if that was looked at or if it's necessary.

I'll let Jacob answer that. But if I can just add to your last comment real real quick, just to confirm is we have proposing 26 stalls, not 24, right?

26 with two ADA.

Two ADA. Okay. And we can definitely look at expanding that if the commission wants to. We wish just she's looking at the site plan. We will be losing additional some additional open space there, but we can take a look at that. Okay? As of right now, we have approximately 18,000 square feet of open space on the South Lawn. Yeah. And

We have 11,000 square feet of

In the North.

The playground area

Yeah. Right

now. So it's gonna reduce that if we add more parking, but I understand. I I hear where you're coming from. So we'll we'll take a look at that.

Yeah. I staff does a great job. I just think using the data in this instance would be prudent.

Yeah. We can definitely do that.

Okay.

To answer your question about the fencing, you're correct. There's not a lot of fencing. We didn't wanna make it look like a jail when you're walking on the the natural trails that we're going for. So, on the Enterprise Canal, and I had mentioned it with George earlier, so it's gonna slope down about four feet, so there'll be a natural barrier from that body of water. You won't be able to crawl it'll be like a two to one slope, so it would be very, very difficult to climb over and get into that.

As for the recharge basin itself, we are implementing a low slope, at least in the initial entry level of the basin, and that's just in the event someone does start to go into the water, it doesn't just drop straight down, so it'll be a little bit of a break before that occurs. That being said, we do have a lot of landscape via trees, shrubbery that are kind of intended to be a natural buffer. There'll be a few areas within those landscapes areas that are not high slopes, but a little bit more slopey. They'll be it'll be rocks, landscape, trees. So it'll be a mix of vegetation there, and again, that's the intention throughout the entirety of no matter what trail you're on, if you're looking into the recharge basin, that would be the the natural buffer.

As for Dog Creek, we have to do FMFC FMFC FMFCD maintenance pads every 75 feet, and in between those pads, we'll also have the same natural buffer of trees, rocks, and vegetation as well. So no fence except on the areas like we pointed out at the overlooks. So the main lawn overlook where we're attracting people more so to kind of view the water, that would be one. And then the second overlook area as well where that big tree was that we had showed earlier.

Thank you. Mhmm.

I concur with looking at adding at least maybe eight to 10 more parking stalls, I would say. It didn't look to me in your presentation that there's any, like, any barbecue areas. You're not putting any of that in. Correct?

There will be two barbecue Yeah. So next to the restrooms outside of the shade structures.

Is this gonna be one of the city parks that people can then reserve all of it or parts

of it?

That's gonna be coordinated with our parks department, and we are looking into if if that's gonna be a thing.

Okay. So that we don't know that as of yet. Correct. Okay. And you said that the the parking I'm sorry. The play structures and what else? The restrooms were gonna be in phase two?

Correct.

And so when we have, like, no idea as yet how far out that is.

For a timeline, no.

Okay.

Okay. That was it. Thank you.

Okay. All the good questions already were asked. I have just a couple more. The renderings showed that the park, the play structures were all were somewhat all shaded. I just wanna verify, are we shading all of the play structures?

All equipment will be shaded.

That's perfect. Okay. Great. And then the fencing on and the overlooks. Obviously, the rendering is probably different than what will actually end up being out there. My question is and, of course, every body of water, I'm always concerned about the little ones running around. So will the fencing be, I guess, for the safety of the children? Yes. And as adults that might fall

over, guess. But All fencing will be code compliant. So it'll the fencing you saw is just a rendering, like you said. What we end up putting in will be code compliant to not have or allow, you know, the vertical or horizontal distances for children to squeeze through and and then get into the water. Perfect. Yeah. Thank you.

Okay. That concludes my questions. Any other questions, clarifying questions? Okay. We're gonna go ahead and open the public portion of for this project. And do we have anyone in the public who would wishes to speak in support of this item? If you could step up to the podium there, there's a microphone. State your name and address for the record. Thank you.

There

should be a little button there that turns on the mic. There you go.

My name is David Shepherd. Address is 1055 Agua Dulce. So I live just north of here. When we built in here, all the builders said, oh, there's a park coming. There's a park coming. This was 2018. So I'm very excited this is coming. I don't know. I've never done this before. I had missed the last meeting, unfortunately. I don't know. Am I allowed to ask questions, or did we miss that opportunity to ask questions?

Yeah. Go ahead.

So two main questions. One, a huge issue in our neighborhood just north of here is the Ponding Basin that was supposed to be filled in many years ago. Is this supposed to replace that, or does this have nothing to do with that one?

I'll I'll have, Sean Smith answer that question.

This does not replace it. There there's much more work necessary to get rid of that. Okay. And this won't take care of that.

Okay. And then is there any effort to correct Barstow when the builders blamed each other, Bonadelli versus Century, for completing, I guess, the city made the builders put in Barstow when they paved it. So it looks beautiful with all the plants and the concrete, the walking trail that's there currently, but it angles. And there's been so many incidents. There's been cars that have driven into the canal.

There's people that run through that stoplight, which I heard mention of the wall, which will be nice. Are you gonna correct Barstow? Is it still gonna be angled where people are just flying and people I think there's a sign that says no parking on Barstow, but people still park there. So there's cars trying to finagle their way through. And if you're anticipating other people outside of the neighborhood coming, that could be even worse.

Because people fly I mean, said you did a study. People aren't driving 35 miles an hour. I drive through there every day, and it's like people park on both sides. I don't know how anybody lives in those houses, but they park on both sides. People are flying through Somebody's pulling out of their driveway. You're having to swerve into other cars, and then you're gonna have people from other parts of Clovis coming. That's very dangerous if they don't correct it. Just in my opinion.

Yeah. I'll I'll take that one too. The alignment of Barso is plan to stay as it is right now or it's it's curvy. Where it comes from Leonard and curves into Agua Dulce. In the future, we will finish the south side of Barso. It'll get wider, but it I think you're asking if it'll straighten out. And, no, it's it's intended to stay curvy like that and hopefully to reduce some of the speeds because of that that curvy nature.

Okay. Very excited, though. I can't wait to have a park.

Thank you for your comments. Do we have anyone else who would like to speak in support of this item? K. Seeing none, do we have anyone in the public that would like speak in opposition of this item? Seeing none, we're gonna go ahead and close the public portion of this and bring it back to commission for discussion and a motion.

Thank you, planning and stuff. I think this is a very good project. You've done a good job on it. I think one of our biggest issues right now is the parking that I can see coming. And so, I'd like to make a motion to approve SPR twenty twenty six dash 16 with the amendment that there'll be research and possible development in additional parking and additional ADA parking for the future?

No. Not I'll I'll I'll just state that I'm very happy with this project. It's it's beautiful. It is a long time coming, and you guys have designed it absolutely beautiful. I can't wait to go and be one of the people who don't live in the area but come and check it out. Sorry. It's just really beautiful, and we'll have to be go out there and enjoy it. And I'm excited that it's it's coming to fruition.

And I'll just add, as I said before, think this is going to be a real gem, not just for the area, but for the city of Clovis. It just looks fantastic. And I hope the reality is as good or better than the pictures that we just saw and I'm sure it will be. So with that, I'll second Commissioner Henkel's motion to approve with the condition.

Oh, actually, before we motion, do we all wanna take a vote on the name of the park? Because because we I think we all had our preferences. Can we put the names back up there? Yeah. You can. So I don't know. Go ahead. And

again, real quick, the first one, it's Agua Agua Vista. Okay? Thank you.

Yeah. I'll I'll start it off. I if we label them one, two, and three going down, I'm a vote for one Agua Vista Park.

I agree.

So two votes. Okay.

Oh, I think we have a unanimous vote there. Agua Vista sounds absolutely beautiful. So whoever thought of that one, good job.

It was it was Mackenzie.

Good job, Mackenzie. A

close second for me was Agua De Reyes because that's pretty cool too. But it should've had like Reyna's in there somewhere then maybe.

Commissioner Henkel? I

was for number one.

Number one? Yeah. Okay.

I have a problem with the Kings River part in it because if Sacramento has a way, we will not have Kings River water.

Okay. Okay. Do you

need the motion restated or you got it from the

first Yeah. Yeah. No. I think I think I got it. And well, maybe for the motion, you can place the name of the park too.

But I think some of the folks want maybe to come up and maybe state their preference too if the commission is able to or raise their hands. Sure. Let's take a vote. Raise of hands and we'll vote for the

first one, Agua Vista Park.

Oh, there you go. That's it. Oh, wow. Okay. Hey.

We're done. We're we're gonna we will still give a perk? No. Nope. Agua De Reyes? No. Sounds like

That's unanimous.

I suggest you just put that in per council if that's what we would like.

Okay. Alright. Well, good job, McKenzie. So Okay.

I think we are ready for a vote or we restating

the motion. Okay. I'll go ahead and do that. So I have a motion by commissioner Henkel to approve site plan review twenty twenty five dash zero sixteen with the modification to the conditions of approval to add additional parking and additional ADA stalls to the project. And if I may add to I know commissioner Hatcher, you indicated that potentially eight to 10 more. So we'll keep that in mind too.

Okay. And just really

quick for clarity's sake, this would as it was stated on the resolution that's provided and on the record, this would just be just for clarity on the on the record would be recommendation to approve both the CEQA exemption and the SPR.

Thank you. Yes. And I have a second by commissioner Betztead. Commissioner Henkel? Yes. Commissioner Betstedt? Yes. Commissioner Hatcher? Yes. And Chair Antuna? Yes. Great. The motion carries, four zero one with commissioner Hebert absent.

Okay. Thank you all for being here. This, adjourns our meeting, and we'll see you here next time. Same time, same place, October 23.