Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All right, good evening everyone This is the regular meeting of the Planning Commission of the City of Desert Hot Springs for Tuesday, July 14th May we have the roll call please?

Commissioner Parker present Commissioner Rowe present Commissioner Wagstaff president vice chair Lombardo president chairman Nindale present All right.

Would anyone like to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? I indivisible with liberty and justice for all all right thank you now we need to approve the agenda does anyone want to make a motion to approve it by motion we approve the agenda all right do we have a side second that motion all right maybe we have a vote

Motion passes unanimously.

All right. Thank you. All right. At this time, pursuant to the Brown Act, any person may comment on matters of general interest within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Planning Commission not listed on the agenda. Do we have any public comments from anyone? I see none. OK. Then let's move on to our first hearing. Conditional use permit number 25-8, an application for religious assembly located at 65241 San Jacinto Lane within the Light Industrial Zoning District. May we have the staff report, please?

Yes, thank you. On September 8, 2025, the applicant First Pentecostal Church submitted an application for the development of a religious assembly facility located at 65241 San Jacinto Lane within the Light Industrial Zoning District. Shown here are some site photos taken this morning. The site currently has two existing buildings that will remain for Sunday school and special events. Also, the site has a large existing parking lot that will accommodate the existing and proposed sanctuary with 111 parking stalls, including ADA, with large shade trees and existing lighting. The site, as mentioned, is located within the light industrial zoning district, which permits a religious assembly facility subject to a conditional use permit for the DHS municipal code, which is before you tonight. Here is a proposed site plan. The project proposes to construct an approximately 11,000 square foot sanctuary shown in red directly west of the two existing buildings. The project area has four existing driveways on San Jacinto Lane, which will provide easy access in and out of the parking lot area. The site configuration supports safe ingress and egress without affecting traffic within the surrounding area. Shown here are the prospective elevations for the 11,000 square foot building, which will be the main facility. The sanctuary will provide approximately 546 seats, conference rooms, offices, dressing rooms, and multiple restrooms. The overall design will incorporate some of the same color schemes and design features like the beige and the stone veneer to tie in the overall project. The project is found exempt under CEQA guidelines class 32 urban infill exemption section 15332. This infill project is consistent with a general plan and zoning district. And with that, this is a recommendation that the Planning Commission approve the following. Certify the CEQA exemption and approve conditional use permit number 25-8 for the development of an 11,000 square foot religious assembly located at 65241 Sun has sent the lanes subject to the conditions of approval and findings. That concludes my report. I'm available if you have any questions. And the applicant is also here. Thank you.

Thank you. Does the Planning Commission have any questions for staff? No questions? OK. Let's open the public hearing. Does the applicant want to come up and speak? Yes, and push the button.

All right, can you guys hear me? Yes. Good evening, Chairman, Planning Commissioners. My name is Brian Ingersoll, Adcan Engineers, 6879 Airport Drive in Riverside, California. Just wanted to say we've enjoyed working with staff. They've been great on this project, and we're here to answer any questions that you guys may have. We appreciate it, guys.

Do we have any questions? Anything? i just have one question sir um uh kind of two actually how many how large is your congregation uh the congregation right now is anywhere from around three

It fluctuates. The church is highly involved in the community. Like right now, they're doing, I think, a program called Reclaimed Children, Reclaiming the Kids. And they approximately have 80 kids from the community that they feed. They do this for a month. They bring them into the church on Sundays. They feed them. They do special programs for them. These are needy children. They give them backpacks. And so they have all these different ministries reaching out to the hurting here in the city of Desert Hot Springs. And the congregation has just grown and grown. And so right now, yeah, they need a bigger facility and this will help for expanded growth. Paul Walker started this church in 1985 on Pearson Street. And he since has passed on. Royce Walker, Paul was his uncle, has taken it from there, and he's now in his middle 60s. So he's just trying to set the church up for more growth and to accommodate anything and everything. As the congregation grows, obviously that's what's happening. So that's what's going on now.

Are the vast majority of the congregants, are they residents of Desert Hot Springs? Yes.

I would say 95 percent yeah they're all from this area they've all grown i mean uh families grow inside a church if you're familiar with that yeah people have babies and they get bigger and bigger so it's it's grown that way and it's grown through outreach and um the the actions that they do in the community has just created like an end draw of uh drawing people to the church so yeah it's been great the church is just ready to take that next step they bought some property off of um What is the highway right there if you're going to take off? 62. Yeah, 62. And that was just in the flood plain in that area. There's so many drawbacks to trying to develop that. So they came back to their same area that they've been in. Back in 2012, 2011, we did a CUP for an 8,000-square-foot building at that time, but at that point they thought maybe we could relocate because they were growing, and so that's why we've tried to expand on that same CUP to 11,000. square feet, strictly just say church facility and then the other buildings we can use for our kids, for funerals, for special events, special services, stuff like that, weddings. So it's kind of going to be like a multi-purpose thing. But that's why we're trying to expand.

Well, thank you for that. Because I've always been curious because you're kind of hidden back there.

Yes, yes, yes. I don't attend there. I am very, very good friends with Pastor Royce Walker. So I've preached there, but... Yeah, it's kind of hidden away, but it's very much a blessing to the community, and the people that live here in Desert Hot Springs, they love that place, so it's home to them.

Very good, thank you.

As you know, your barber goes there.

Right, right, right.

So, yeah, that's why I'm here trying to help out my good friend, and ADCAN's been a great support. I've worked with ADCAN since I was 20. So that's how come I'm connected to add can Some very good.

Thank you any other questions for the gentleman.

No, okay.

All right. Thank you Well normally now we would take testimony from those in favor Against or neutral, but I don't suspect we have any Speakers tonight, right? No call-in speakers or anything like that, huh? Okay

let's close the public hearing does the Planning Commission have anything it wants to discuss no no okay well would someone like to make a motion then yes I recommend that we certify the sequel exemption and approve conditional use permit 25-8 an application for a religious assembly located at 65

241 san jacinto lane within the light industrial zoning district second may we have a vote motion passes unanimously very good well congratulations thank you all right so it looks like we still won't have any public comments um okay thank you so do we have any planning commissioner member report planning commission member reports no okay community development director report i have no updates for you this evening holy moly it's hot out yeah Well, then we, I guess, are adjourned, right? I know. That's why I said holy moly.