Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

I'm going to go ahead and start the meeting. The November 19th, 2025 regular meeting of the planning commission of the city of Downey will now come to order at 6:35. Uh, please rise and follow. Commissioner Luhan, would you lead us in the flag the pledge of allegiance? Please stand. Put your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin. I 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.

And I asked our our vice chair uh Miss Uva, she would lead us in in prayer. Lord, guide our thoughts and our decisions today. Grant us the wisdom, the fair, fairness, and unity as we work for the good of our community. Amen. Amen. Thank you so much. Um, so may I have our planning commission, Secretary Ria, please do the role. Commissioner Luhan, present. Commissioner Sakali, delayed. Commissioner Legospi present. Vice Chair UVA here. And Chair Gara,

I'm here. Thank you. So, this is the time set aside for oral communication from the planning commission. Uh, does any commissioners wish to make any announcements, report on the conference meeting or request items for any future agenda? And I'll start off with Commissioner Luhan. Uh, I don't have any right now. Okay. Thank you, Vice Chair. Uh, I have none, but I just wanted to say I'm glad to be back and we have a commission meeting. It's good to see everybody. Yes. And Mr. Gillespie. Same here. I miss each and every one of you.

Yeah. Yeah. So, um Yeah, me too. I'm I'm glad it's been a couple of months and so uh Miss Suva and I did have a meeting with Bisatti and and Irma last month and we just talked about general things on there. So, I wanted to uh report out on that. Nothing it was nothing definitive and it was nothing bad. So, uh presentations, we don't have any now. Does the community development director have a report on a city council action or any other general updates? I don't have any today. Thank you.

Okay, great. See all you people, we're going to it's going to be shorter today, so that's good. So, now is the time set aside for public hearing PLN-25-0000148 uh for a conditional use permit. Does the planning commission secretary Ria have proof of publication? Yes, I do. Great. Will the community development director introduce staff who's making the presentation? Yes. Uh, thank you, Chair Gara. Tonight, we'll have our associate planner, Marissa Montero, providing tonight's presentation. Okay.

Okay.

Good evening, Chair Gara, Vice Chair UVA, commissioners, and members of the audience. The item before you is PLN-25-0000148. This is a request for a conditional use permit to allow the operation of a dance studio in an existing 2,191 ft tenant space at an existing commercial center, the Stonewood Center. uh in the in the Stonewood specific plan, if a use is not explicitly listed in the uh specific plan, the use can be reviewed by the planning commission via a conditional use permit. The Stonewood Center is approximately 63 acres with 112 tenant spaces. The proposed tenant spaces, I'm sorry, the proposed tenant space is H04, highlighted in red on the screen. Um, it is 2,191 square feet and because of its location, um, only has an exterior entrance and exit. The tenant space was previously occupied by Home Street Bank, but has been vacant since 2017. The proposed business is Freckled Frog Dance Studio, which is considered a commercial recreation use. There are two existing commercial recreation uses within the Stonewood Center, both of which were approved by the planning commission. This slide shows an image of the existing um exterior facade.

The subject property is zoned as Could you Could you start all over and do it all over again? No, I'm exc Sorry. Go ahead. It's okay. We just started. Yeah.

All right. Um, so the subject property is zoned SP89-1, which like I mentioned is the Stonewood specific plan and has a general plan land use designation of general commercial. The surrounding area is a mix of different zones and land use designations. Immediately to the north is single family residential. To the east is single family residential and medium density residential. To the south is general commercial, specifically the Lakewood Firestone specific plan. And to the west is a portion of the Lakewood Firestone specific plan and office uses. Um, the applicant proposes to operate the dance studio with hours designed to accommodate both preschool aged and school-aged children. The dance studio will be open Monday through Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30, 4:30 to 7:30, and on the weekends um from 9 to 2:00 p.m. The proposed hours of operation do differ from those of the Stonewood Center. However, given the tenants space configuration, this is not expected to present any issues because the space has its own exterior entrance, its own restrooms, and does not provide internal access to the mall. Therefore, no security concerns are anticipated as opening earlier than the mall would not result in patrons accessing um other areas before the stores open. Um furthermore, the extended hours are really limited to the morning. The business does not propose to remain open later than the mall. Um anticipated staffing. There will be one teacher per class and one administrative staff member. Each class is anticipated to have a maximum of 10 students and parents can also stay to observe their child participate. Uh the applicant anticipates about 3 to six classes a day, 15 to 30 classes per week depending on enrollment.

So this slide shows the floor plan and the location map uh to show the tenant space's location in relation to the mall. The tenant ha the tenant space has one main class area with cubbies, mirrors, a dance floor, and a seating area for parents. Two existing rooms will be used for storage, and there are two restrooms um to the rear of the tenant space. Um as we can also see uh just ne next to the uh tenant space are two other tenant spaces which are currently vacant. Um to the front of the tenant space is the parking lot along Lakewood Boulevard and to the rear of the tenant space is a loading dock um for the Stonewood Center. Uh required parking for the new use will result in 11 required parking spaces which can be accommodated with the Stonewood Center's surplus parking. The development review committee discussed and evaluated the project as it pertained to planning, police, fire, public works, and building and safety matters. All departments either issued conditions of approval or had no objections to the project. Uh the CU uh staff has reviewed and the proposed project for compliance under SQA and has determined that the cup is exempt from review under SQA guidelines section 15301 class one existing facilities. On November 6, 2025, the notice of the p pending public hearing was published in the Downey Patriot and was mailed to all tenants and property owners within 500 ft of the subject site. Um, as of the date that this report was published, um, I'm sorry, when the report was published, we had received one co phone

call, but as of today, we have received two phone calls in support of uh the proposed dance studio. Therefore, staff recommends that the planning commission adopt resolution number 25-455 approving PLN-25-00148, thereby allowing the operation of a dance studio at 251 Stonewood Street, Sweet Suite H04. This concludes staff's presentation. I'm available for any questions. Thank you. Great. Thank you so much. Does the planning commission have any questions of staff? I'll ask any of the commissioners. I have none.

Okay. You did such a great job that there's you answered everything in your report. So, we appreciate you. So, thank you so much.

Thank you, Chair Garrett. If I may add a few things. I have a few notes. Um, Stonewood Mall. This is in Stonewood Mall as Marissa mentioned, and Stonewood Mall is undertaking quite a a lot of investment in some improvements. may not be readily visible from the street, but in the last uh community development activity report, we highlighted that they're also um attracting new businesses that are bringing some vibrancy to Downey. Uh family oriented businesses um and uh they're going to be conducting a refresh paint and upgraded lighting within the interior of the mall, a new flooring and columns, a new entrance refresh, some of it has been painted. If you've gone there recently, you've seen uh there's already some activity uh um undertaking inside the mall. There'll be new furniture, new lighting. Um I welcome you to revisit those renderings if you haven't already. Um there's a lot of vibrancy, a lot of exciting things happening at Stonewood Mall. Uh I meet with the Mason Rich man management folks of the Stonewood Mall on a monthly basis, once a month. I just met with them yesterday and they're excited to bring this tenant uh and this item to the planning commission and uh this tenant has a full support and recommendation from uh the community development department um with the conditions of approval for your consideration tonight. I just wanted to highlight that there's you know this is part of just something bigger happening in Downey. So really appreciate your consideration. about two or two and a half weeks ago before I left I met with Veto the general manager there and he was sharing some of those things um and so forth and by the way evidently in we the commission here approved that claw business which I can't remember think of their name

Kawaii Kawaii claws yeah and evidently they're doing really well and then of course the Sears thing that we're all excited for that you know hasn't come before us yet and uh so and on this particular location. I am old enough to remember when that was a sandwich place before it was a bank. Okay. So, had good sandwiches, but it was, you know, yes, we're looking forward to this. So, anyways, thank you for that. But yes, there is quite a bit going on. They're excited about it and good for our community. Good for us.

Shar, what year was the the sandwich business and how much was the sandwich back then? Well, yeah, we it was this was even when it was closed. I was here when it was open. The the mall was open and that was the corner one where the food court used to be ferals. Okay. I didn't get this way overnight. You know, I've been working hard on that since I was a youngster. So, yeah, over 40 years. So, anyways, uh Okay, great. Thank you so much. And thank you for that for adding that. I appreciate it. So before I open the public hearing and call the applicant, the representative, this would be time for the planning commissioner disclose any uh prehering site visits or prehering discussions that the commissioners may have about this project. Um

I have none, sir. Yeah, I have none. I have none. Yeah, I have none either. Okay. I just I went there, got out of my car and walked things. So just to look at it personally a couple days ago. So, okay, the public hearing is now open. Will the applicant or the representative please come forward to give testimony? Hello everyone. How how's everybody doing? Great. Thank you. Great.

So, uh my name is Daniela Revalo. Um I am the applicant. Um my wife and I. Um first of all, just want to thank you guys for your time. Really appreciate it. Um my wife and I are actually from Southgate, very close. uh our first jobs were at Sears uh at this very same mall. So kind of full circle for us. Um the reason we want to open Dance Studio is really because of them too. Um this is why so everything we do is for them too. Um they're homeschooled ever since they uh ever since you know we wanted to make sure that they were socialized. dance is the first thing they were able to do at two years old. Uh, thanks to Stacy, Josh, and Sarah and what they kind of put together. Sorry. I'm just very passionate about my kids.

Sure. Sure. Hey, I'm a grandpa. I'm with you. Want some water? No, I'm good. I I'll get it together here.

Um, but yeah, so, you know, we're we're excited. Um, it's something that, you know, we've kind of seen our kids grow through. uh they've been doing this since they were two years old. Um build confidence, you know, they're able to kind of go out on stage and perform and you know that's not the easiest thing to do. You know, everyone who kind of says, you know, this kind of stuff is easy. No, you know, it you know, takes practice and understanding, but um you know, I I really appreciate everything that um you know, Stacy Josh have done been able to do. They're the owners of the Freckle Frog. We're a franchise um or piece of of the pie, right? But um for us, you know, we're very excited to kind of bring this to Downey. Um you know, since we've kind of started to, you know, let people know, we've had 91 people join our weight list within the last two weeks. Um so I can tell it's something it's a space. It's a it's a uh something that the community wants and so we're just happy to bring it uh hopefully get, you know, other people as passionate about dance as my wife and I are. Um I grew up playing basketball, always been kind of competitive, you know, now from screaming on the sidelines. I know just, you know, scream from the stands, hey, you know, point your toe, make sure your turns are good, you know, so it just kind of changes, but um, you know, first and foremost, I just want to say thank you. Appreciate everything. U, appreciate your time. Um, if there's any other questions, I'm happy to answer them.

Does anybody have any questions for the applicant? Will you guys be performing at the center or just going doing show performances outside? So, uh, for the most part, everything that would be taking place inside the the the space itself are just classes. Um, everything is just just, you know, teaching them technique, uh, teaching them just to kind of fall in love with dance. Uh, we do try to plan to put on recitals. Uh, but obviously that's kind of more of a a future thing. Um, but, uh, that would probably take place outside of the studio where we'll rent a venue and and be able to put on some some actual production together. You know, the city of Del has a lot of per events that happen and and performances are usually good, you know, a way to get exposure, too. So,

yeah. No, for sure. Yeah. Um my again as I mentioned uh we my daughters actually compete uh at the uh Downey Theater. Um once once a year uh we participate at one of the competitions that hosts a competition there. So uh again we we love to come this way. Uh we live in Anaheim. We love to come this way. It's obviously close to where we're from. My mom still lives in Southgate. Um, so, uh, you know, it's always nice to kind of come back and and kind of see and we we definitely love, you know, kind of to what Miss uh, we throw was talking about in terms of, um, the mall and everything that was kind of happening. I remember I remember as a kid coming to Stonewood uh, yeah, Stonewood Mall and just, you know, it it it looked it looked the same for for a long long time. So, to see it kind of renovating, it was kind of for us a nice opportunity to jump on it and and just kind of be a part of that process.

Great. Thank you. Any Mr. Cycling? Uh, just a couple of of comments. Thank you for bringing this business to Downey. I think it will, um, be very successful. Um, businesses that tend to be in the mall or on Firestone Boulevard generally do very, very well. Um, I love the familyoriented um, concept. I love that it's for children. Um, I wish you nothing but the best of luck. I'm pretty sure we're going to approve this tonight. And um Great. And I love the freckled frog name. It's very creative and very cute. What's What's the meaning behind that? If Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take off your

story. Yeah. And you're going to make me emotional. Now it's going to be on the record.

We've been in business for um 19 years now. We have three other locations. So, we just decided to franchise. And we were so lucky when they stepped up and wanted to be our our first franchise location because we love this family. We've seen I think you were pregnant Steph when when I wish you came with Sam. So kids stay with us a very long time because it's a safe uh place for their children uh to come and learn. But the freckled frog um my grandma my mom's mom loved frogs. She probably had a hundred maybe more stuffed frogs, ceramic frogs, frogs everywhere in her place. Um, unfortunately she's not with us anymore. Um, but my great grandma had a dog named Freckles. So, she loved that dog. So, we put the two together and this is Lily the frog. So, that's how Lily came about and that's how the freckle frog came about. So I hope people, you know, maybe when I don't do this anymore, it carries on and, you know, for for a very long time and because that's my, you know, legacy.

Thank you. We're excited to be in Downey. I grew up in Lam Marada, so very close. That's great. You have any questions? I do. I ma'am, I I I do have a question for you. Okay. Where was your first location? Um, our first location was in Placentia.

Yeah. Well, technically your Belinda. So, we were in Yor Belinda um off Lake View and Imperial. And then from Yorb Belinda, we moved to Placentia. Um so, we're in Placentia, we have one at the Borna Park Mall. And then we have one in Santa Ana off 17th Street. Um and the 55, that's our biggest location. That's like 3500 square ft. Um which that has all ages there. But like our Born Park location is pretty much just for like eight years and younger. Uh because I always thought the studio was just going to have young kids because that's what I loved teaching and I was the only one teaching at first and I would just let them go to other places. But as things evolved, we started, you know, training at a higher level at, you know, our Santa Ana location. And then those kids like Sam, like Charlie, you can't tell by them sitting here, but they can do some pretty amazing dancing. They are amazing dancers. So, you know, when people trust you and they trust that you have their kids' best interest and heart, you can keep them a long time. So, some kids I've seen grow from 2 years old to 15 or 16 years old now. So, it is a very rewarding environment to be in for me just to see kids love something and they may not be professional at it when they get older and that's okay, but the lessons you learn along the way is what's most important, I think, for children.

Wow. Well, congratulations. U congrats and much luck on the franchising uh idea. Thank you so much. And if you know anybody with kids, send them over. Thank you, ma'am. How many you said you had? 91 already. What age group? 97, I think. 97. Yeah. So, um, our the oldest kid on our weight list now is 9 years old. Okay. 10 10 years old. And, uh, we even have one year olds who will be turning two this month. So, that's kind of the range. How do you What's your how you going to market? How are you going to because I mean, we we love it. Any family orientated business, we

honestly our biggest driver has been Instagram. Um that's kind of where we've been able to be able to reach out to most people. Um but we've also participated in a few events that the malls put together uh just to kind of you know put a more of a face to the name. Um and then just trying to you know partake in any possible event within the community. So um definitely look forward to being able to do even more community events where we can kind of get in front of of people and kind of show them what we can bring to the city.

I have a community event for you. Okay. It's probably too early for this year, but our Christmas parade, which is the first Sunday of December, run by the Downey Chamber of Commerce, there's always dance groups that participate in the parade, and they're so wellreceived by the audience. So, remember that for next year. For sure. No. Yeah, we sure will. Yeah, I think that we participated in the Placentia Heritage Day parade. We do tree lighting events. I do

Oh gosh, the spring Easter event. So I really like being involved in the city just because it feels good to be part of something you know so when you are part of the city you get to know people from the city and everybody's so passionate of course about their city which they should be so it's nice to be a part of that so I think that's a big thing when you have a business in a a city especially with children so they can learn that too right you know

well thank you I have a 5 and a halfyear-old granddaughter on Sundays when they came over and they live here in Downey uh my daughter and son-in-law and she's talking to me and she's doing this. She's in dance and she's like talking to me and doing her little move things and stuff and it's like okay she got the hyperness from grandpa but uh she loves it. She just started about a year ago now and and I I don't even remember the name of the studio, but thank you for bringing a family and try to and uh but our secretary, will you want to give them this so they can take that at least tell their folks to to come and enjoy it that there that night? No, no, that's that's our tree lighting ceremony. I happen to have a flyer down my desk here. So anyways, so you could tell your classmates on there. But anyways, thank you. Uh any other questions on that?

Just a quick question. if approved. Yeah. When when do you anticipate opening? Um so depending upon the business license uh process uh as as soon as possible. So probably like first second week of December. Okay. And then what about he has a 5-year-old granddaughter. I have a three-year-old granddaughter. What's the weight list on the three-year-old daughter? Girls. Yeah. We we'll we'll send you the information. We'll get you on it. Don't worry. I'm looking up on Instagram. We can't say that here. Okay. Our city attorney does not like that. Okay. No, we'll retract that. We'll follow you on Instagram. Yeah, no worries. I appreciate that. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Okay. All right. We get in trouble here. Great. Thank you.

The my only last comment would be move to Downey. Okay. I think we we need we need families to move into Downey. Thank you so much, sir. Great. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you. Appreciate it. I forgot to ask staff if there's any been correspondence in favor or opposition. Yes, two phone calls in support. Yeah, you did.

Okay. Okay. Oh, you mentioned that during your report. Thank you. Okay. Um there's no uh anybody else would like to speak on behalf of the public hearing. I see one other guest on there, Mr. Montero. No, you don't want to say anything on there. Well, he's wearing a USC hat, so he wouldn't have anything good to say anyways on there. So, um Okay. So, with that, I will the public hearing will now be closed. So, it's now time for planning commissioners to deliberate um with the uh the commission of deliberating at this time. Any thoughts or any final questions before um I accept a a motion for what is the pleasure of the planning commission?

I I have no comment. Um chair and I I have a motion if if everyone's ready. Okay. You guys all good? Okay. Go ahead, sir. Yes, sir. Um, I'll make a mo a motion to accept staff recommendation and approve PLN2500148. I'll second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Is there um any further discussion? Okay, with that I'll call for the question there. Okay, please vote. You can't vote until I ask you to vote. No, sorry. 5.

Okay. All right. Great. It passed 50. Congratulations on their welcome to our community. We're glad to to have you here. So, okay. Non-aggenda public comment on there. Does anybody have any non-aggenda public comment at this point? Okay. Seeing no one. Uh, and then now I'm going to ask for the consent calendar voting on there for the approval of minutes for the December 4th, 2025. Wait, wait, wait. December 4th, 2025. That can't be 2024. Is that Is that just a typo? It is a typo.

Okay. So, do we we don't have to change. We can just make that make a a note of that. Okay. So, the consent calendar approval for minutes of December 4th, 2024, January 15, 25, February 1925, and March 5th, 25. May I have a motion and a second unless there's any discussion on on approving this? Everybody got the minutes? Okay. Anybody want to make a motion to the consent calendar? I move to approve the items on the consent calendar.

Any second? I'll second it then. Okay. I shouldn't, but Okay. All right. Please vote. It's been moved and seconded. Having any other business tonight. Uh motion passes with a vote of 401 abstain. And um Secretary Rio, the only reason is because I was not part of the uh December 4th commission and I did not have um uh an opportunity to review. So I would like just to abstain just from the uh December 4th. Fair enough. Just for the record. Okay. Good. Thank you, sir. Um anything from our city attorney, Mr. Fun? Uh no, nothing from me tonight, but thank you.

Okay. And Irma, anything from community development? uh for our next uh planning commission meeting uh we will have a full agenda. So in case you want to plan your that's December 3rd in case you want to plan your family calendars or dinners. Uh we have uh three items anticipated by staff. Uh one would be um they all have been highlighted in the development activity report um over the past uh few um versions. Uh one is a fast food location. Another one is a family entertainment type use at Stonewood Mall. And the third one, Swati will have to remind me. Um or Marissa will remind you.

Gas station on Firestone. Thank you. Gas station also uh near Stonewood Mall. Yes, near the mall. Uh near mall, which is been staff has been working with various members of all of those teams. Um, so we're happy to let you know that um, those items are coming forward and uh, we had to push a little bit for some of those teams to uh, get them on the planning commission agenda. Uh, sometimes we have to rely on the applicants teams to resubmit to us. So u, we're happy to bring those three items to you. Just wanted to make you aware so you can plan your calendars. Thank you. December 3rd. December 3rd. December 3rd.

Well, I'll drink a extra cup of coffee before we come that day. So, thank you so much. Well, the big question is when is Mama L's coming before us? Mama LSE is actually uh moving forward in plan check and I'm looking at Abraham because I'm not sure if they have an entitlement before the planning commission. I believe you're right. They do not have a entitlement before planning commission. It is going directly to plan check.

Oh, great. Great. The person at the state of the city when Mayor Sosa was commenting, the person that yelled, "Hey, yay." That was me. when he announced that on there by the way I go to the one in Pasadena a lot so I'm I'm partial on there anyways okay neither here we digress so thank you for an upkeep on there with nothing further uh we'll call the meeting to um we will finish our what's the word I'm looking for adjourned oh my gosh I go that's how old I am that's why I knew about this name we will adjourn the meeting I want to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving and thank you it's good to see staff and fellow commissioners today and and our officer over there yesterday. Um, so I just wanted the record cuz I saw her officer. Yesterday was one of the the 10 year anniversary of one of the saddest days we've ever had in our community. U 10 years ago. Uh yesterday, uh officer Ricky Galves, uh one of our young officers, uh veteran and Afghanistan, a Marine, uh was killed, um in the parking lot of the police station there. Um anyway, so yesterday we had a 10-year commemoration of of his death, and I'm glad we promised his mom and sisters, and we kept our word yesterday, we'll never forgive him, and we'll always continue to. And the one interesting thing, this is how much our police department has changed because we had we've always had long-term internal folks from our police department. Um that now half of our department was not here when when Ricky was killed. So the chief brought that up yesterday. So anyways, so we will adjourn and not only Ricky's name for all those people who have uh passed uh recently and we'll keep them in our prayers. So anyways, meeting adjourned. Thank you.