Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

to order. Moment of silence. I aliance 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. May be seated. Roll call, please. Sure. Um, Commissioner Sautille, don't forget your mic. Commissioner Edison present. Commissioner Ciro here. Commissioner Pollock Rude present. And let the record show that Commissioner Morose is absent. Welcome to the Alcohol Planning Commission meeting. This meeting is being livereamed on the city of Alcohon website. Appeals of final decisions of the planning commission made this evening must be filed in writing with the city clerk before 5:00 pm Tuesday, September 2nd, 2025, and must include the payment of a filing fee. If you wish to speak on either a non-aggenda or an agenda item tonight, please fill out a request to speak card located by the secretary and give it to the secretary who will call you up to speak when the agenda item comes up for public comment. We ask that you give us your name spelling your last name. Speakers are limited to three minutes. The display on the podium as well as the other monitors in the chamber will show time counting down. At 30 seconds, the podium clock readout will turn red, signifying you have 30 seconds until the end of your

time. Applicants and individuals representing groups of people may be allowed more time if applicable. All public hearing comments should be addressed to me as the chair of the commission and not to individual commissioners. Please turn off all electronic devices if you have not already done so. Pursuant to city council resolution number 114-79, a commissioner who has received evidence related to a matter before the planning commission other than an unescorted view of the subject property is required to disclose such information at the me at the hearing. At this time, we will take comments from any member of the public on any item of business within the jurisdiction of the commission that is not in the agenda. Under state law, no action can be taken on items brought before under public comment except to refer it to staff for administration or place it on a future agenda. Is there anyone who wishes to address a commission under public comment? Please come forward. We go to the consent calendar. A single motion will cover all items on the consent calendar. Does the commission wish to pull a consent calendar item for discussion? No, sir. Does staff wish to pull a consent calendar item for discussion? No changes from staff. Okay. I move to adopt the minutes as recorded. I'll second. Motion by Commissioner Ciro, second by Commissioner Pollock Root. Please vote and motion carries by unanimous vote of members present. Okay.

The uh second item is the zoning reclassification for 628-630 and 702 Broadway request to reszone from RS6 and RM22 to OP office professional and it's a SQA exempt and staff recommendation is to approve. staff. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh Noah Alvi, deputy director for the community development department, uh presenting this item tonight. Um again, this uh request is to reszone property uh addressed previously as 628, 630, and 702 Broadway. Uh the subject properties are located on the north side of Broadway between Valentine Street and North Mollis Avenue. Uh the properties currently have residential zoning designations uh but their general plan designations are office non- retail. So here's a street view of the existing conditions at the site. Uh 616 Broadway on the very lefthand side is currently an animal hospital. uh 628 and 630 uh Broadway um are located in the middle. Those were previously developed with residential uses and had that residential zoning designation. Uh but the property back there is currently uh vacant. And then uh 702 Broadway is on the right side of the screen. Uh that was originally approved as a raetball club in a residential zone. And so the the zoning code does allow uh recreational facilities in residential zones with a conditional use permit. So essentially it's just an artifact of the uh of the previous zoning. So going back in time um back in 1980 the city council went through an effort to uh reszone all properties for consistency with the general plan. Uh but there were certain small properties that had been developed under previous

zoning designations with which they chose not to reszone at that time. So, these two uh candidate parcels for resoning now are um are a result of that reszoning exercise when council said uh we don't want to reszone these uh but we're finding them to be consistent with the general plan. So essentially what it did is it allowed the opportunity for those properties to continue to be utilized um under the residential zoning, but it also preserved that opportunity in the future that should a property owner come forward and wish to reszone those properties, they would have the ability to uh reszone those to be consistent with the general plan. So as I previously stated, uh the proposed zoning change would be consistent with the general plan. So, changing of the zoning from residential to office professional and that would be consistent with the office non-retail general plan designation. Um, primarily what this would allow would uh would be the repurposing of the uh former raetball uh club uh building into a new use that is allowed under the office professional um zoning designation. So, the required findings to approve uh the zoning change are shown here. Um staff is recommending um that the uh planning commission uh find that the project is exempt from California environmental quality act guidelines under the common sense um common sense ex exception uh just because uh no uh construction or no changes to the sites are proposed. And so we're recommending approval of the next resolution order uh that the and recommending that the planning commission recommend to the city council approval of the zoning change. So that that concludes my presentation. and happy to answer any questions. Any questions? I don't have any. Who's your circle? I'm not sure if this is the appropriate time to mention this, but I did meet the applicant previously and we actually had a discussion about this a ways back and I was like that sounds like something that the planning commission would see.

So, I just want to put that on the record that probably six months ago we spoke. Uh, and uh, I also always knew that building looked like a raetball court. I love raetball. All right, that's it. Any other questions? I don't have any. Okay. Do we have any speaker cards? Laura, Mr. Chairman, if we may open the public hearing. Oh, yes. I open public hearing. Uh, yes, we have any speaker cards, Laura? I do not have any for item number two. Okay. Uh, does the applicant wish to address the commission? If you do, please come forward. First and foremost, I want to um thank all the people involved in putting this whole thing together and uh we basically are doing this so that we can give back to the community. We've been in the community for 42 years and um it's an opportunity for us to give back and we're going to do some training for our veterinary nurses. Um, Snap, who is present here tonight, um, is doing a lot of spayneuters and, uh, ultimately I think that we'll be able to, um, do some training for some of the animals, um, for service members and veterans. San Diego is the second largest population of retired and active duty veterans or military in the country. And so we want to help them and uh provide some care for them. Thank you. Do you have any questions for the applicant?

No. Yes. Commissioner Pollock Road. Um so since reszoning the site, are you going to build some more facilities there then on that site? I'm sorry. On is my microphone working on that site. Are you building more facilities then in reszoning the prop that property? Looking forward to Okay. the existing hospital. Yes. Doc Dr. Johnson, could you speak something? Me, too. And that was 17,000 square feet and we're in 2400 square feet now. Oh, wow. So, we're looking forward to expanding on the back end of that empty property. Oh, perfect. Yeah, it's great. Thank you. Okay. Anyone else? Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate your comments. Appreciate it. I move to close public hearing. Motion made by Commissioner Sautille, second by Commissioner Pollock Rude. Please vote. And motion carries by unanimous vote of members present. What say you? I'll make a motion. Sounds good. I move to adopt the next resolution in order recommending city council approval of zone reclassification number 2025- 0002. I'll second that. Motion made by Commissioner Ciro, second by Commissioner Pollock Rude. Please vote. I don't see Mr. Commissioner Ciro's vote. Motion carries by unanimous vote of members present. Thank you.

And Mr. Chairman, if I may, um the uh this item again uh that this is a recommendation from the planning commission to the city council. This item was joint notice for a city council hearing at 3 PM on September 9th. Okay. So, there's another hearing with the city council regarding this item. Okay. The next item, item number three is the palms. The request is a restaurant with alcohol sales, live entertainment, and private events or banquetss. A squa exempt. The SE recommendation is approved with conditions or deny. So it could go either way. Staff. Great. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh so again, this is a request for a new conditional use permit or CU for the palms. Uh so just as a reminder, uh the business is addressed as 143 East Main Street. Um it's shown here on the south side of East Main Street between Magnolia Avenue and Prescott Prominade. So over the last two years, uh the planning commission has discussed the operation of the palms uh based on C number 2115 uh that was approved as you may recall back in 2010 and what it allowed was a restaurant with occasional banquet activities. So most recently, the planning commission held a hearing on the conditional use permit uh 2115 um in order to uh consider revocation of that permit because the business was not primarily operating um as a restaurant and conducting private events on a more ro on a more routine basis. Um the decision on the so the planning commission uh voted to revoke uh the conditional use permit. It was on a a split vote, a 3-2 vote. Um that decision by the planning commission uh was appealed uh to the city council. Uh the city council hearing uh occurred on

August 12th of uh so just last week and the city council uh upheld the planning commission's decision um to uh revoke the permit. Uh but as part of that decision uh the city council did delay enforcement of the of the revocation until October 1st of 2025. So, the purpose of that was to allow the business to continue uh to conduct activities that were already scheduled uh and also to allow uh the applicant to pursue the new conditional use permit that is before you tonight. So, the new conditional use permit project description is shown here. Uh again, it's for a restaurant with alcohol sales, live entertainment, and a private event center or banquet hall with a maximum of 10 events from uh each month. So this is essentially how the palms has been operating uh over the last number of years. Um the project description does indicate that they do uh plan to invest in the property uh but uh there were no plans or building elevations that were provided with the application. So, uh, sorry. Staff would note that, uh, if the proposed CUP is approved, that there would be no requirement for the operator to upgrade the building. So, the proposed use, if operated as described, uh, would be consistent with both the general plan and zoning, which encourage restaurants with alcohol sales, live entertainment, as well as cultural activities in the downtown area. Additionally, the existing building uh is in compliance with specific plan 182 design guidelines um and the development standards for the downtown area. So, in order to approve this request, the planning commission will need to make all the required findings um including the finding that the proposed use uh serves the public convenience and necessity. So this is really the operative um finding that the planning commission will need to make and that's

where um in the agenda report as well as in each of the uh draft resolutions um there's two different uh findings that the commission may wish to make. So currently within uh the downtown area there are two private event facilities on North Magn on North Magnolia Avenue. Uh those are the Crystal Ballroom and Babylon Palace. Um, I reached out to each of those uh locations while preparing the agenda report for this evening uh just in order to determine whether or not they were busy, if they had capacity, and whether or not um there was a demand for an additional facility for private events within the downtown area. So, both Crystal uh Ballroom and Babylon Palace uh said that they had openings and and we're not that busy now that kind of summer is coming to a close. I'd also note uh that uh there are two additional facilities within the downtown area. the Ronald Reagan Community Center, which is available for private events, as well as the Magnolia, which obviously um hosts live entertainment events. So, uh, when looking at the finding of whether or not the proposed use serves the public convenience and necessity, um, the planning commission may determine that an additional facility will serve the public convenience and necessity by providing one additional private event center or banquet hall in a high demand area on East Main Street where cultural activities are encouraged. The alternative finding uh to deny the proposed conditional use permit um would be that the planning commission would see that the four existing private event centers in the downtown area um satisfies the public's demand for these types of facilities and that an additional facility would be detrimental to the downtown area. Uh the only public comments that were received for this request were from the downtown business partners and those came in after the agenda was published. Um I subsequently sent uh the copy of their comments uh to the planning commission. We also printed copies and

left them at the dis and made them available uh for anyone in the audience. Um the pro the proposed project is exempt from SQA under a class 3 exemption for repurposing the existing building. Uh there's also an exemption that applies uh to the denial of a project. So, if the planning commission uh decides to make all the required findings, um staff would recommend that the planning commission consider any comments or testimony from the downtown Elone business partners and determine if any of their recommendations should be included as conditions of approval as part of the CUP. So, that concludes my presentation. Happy to answer any questions. Yes, Commissioner Edison. Okay. when, and I'm going to try to refer to the new CUP as much as possible because the old one's revoked. There's no need to go back. Uh, was the new CUP developed with input from the new the applicant? Was there communication? Was there talk in building it? The applicant um submitted the project description. They were in communication with staff. Um but uh I would say the project description reflects what they are requesting um and without modification from staff. Got it. So in looking at the the conditions of approval, I drive past the palms all the time. I go to the market Kens is right down the road and come over here. In looking at the approval, all activity shall be conducted within the enclosed building. In fairness to the applicant, they have that outside patio that's outside the building. So, how is that going to work for them? Because I I know where I'm leaning with this, but I think all these conversations should be had before the vote so that way they don't have to be back here.

I think well, the applicant is present this evening. Um, the way that I attempted to structure the agenda report and resolution was to reference the previous conditions of approval uh for CU 2115 and then show those in strike through changes. Um, just for purposes of consistency, I thought it would lead to a better understanding for all parties that were involved. Um, the the conduct of use within the enclosed building uh would just be with regards to um, you know, the live events. Uh, the outdoor dining area is still able to be used for outdoor dining. Um, so that's to somewhat is a remnant. Um, I would say it's the distinction between things that are occurring within the public rideway as opposed to events occurring on private property within the enclosed building. Um, so I wouldn't have any concerns with them using the outdoor dining area in the public rideway as as approved by the city. Well, I would I'd push back on that a little bit because if the applicant does get the approval and somebody does complain about that patio in writing, it's saying that there's nothing supposed to be in fairness. We're going by what's in writing. Can we strike that? Would it be possible? Absolutely. We can uh modify that condition uh in order to better address uh the existing conditions. Okay. I think that would be fair. I would I would say that instead of saying all activities, all events shall be conducted inside because the events are the things that the private events that's out of public right away and that doesn't make it sound like if you're having dinner out on the patio, you're outside the boundaries. Yeah, that that would be a little bit without using the word common sense and I I think that that would be a good way to put it um just in fairness to them. The second thing I like that there's a metric now. I I think that the old CPU had was very ambiguous in its writing.

Um, this one says it's going to be 10. Um, that's doing math in my head. That's over a third. That's not a third, it's over a third. Um, but but it's a restaurant first. So, if it's a restaurant first, that means it's still going to be open for business. um the when the private events are going on, one of the complaints was that there was the windows were shielded, which I mean, you could say it's open to everybody, but when you shield it, sometimes the shielding doesn't come off on the day of the live event. Maybe the next day they forget about it. Has Was there any discussion on what the window the interior is going to look like when the private events are going on? We did not discuss that. uh with the applicant, but I'm sure that the applicant can address that. And if there's uh recommendations that the planning commission have or the downtown partners about the appearance of the facility during private events, uh those could also be incorporated as part of the C. Well, one my first suggestion be cost low or cost zero would be um to at least have like a sign that says closed for private event. That way it's we're open, but not tonight. A matter of fact, I would be tending to want to go there more if I saw something like that, but that's just me. I don't want to monopolize the time, sir. Other people have questions, but I have one more, but go ahead. Um, okay. Uh, we have the metric. That's fair. How are you going to track it? I mean, I don't want to I don't want to task the staff to be playing catchers catch can and then how is this going to work? Um there there's a number of ways that we could uh track that. Um you know the applicant after a month's conclusion could provide staff with a list of private events from the previous month. Um you know in in reality um based on um

staff's ability to track these things. Typically what happens is it wouldn't be tracked until we received a complaint. And so if there were more private events going on or someone thought there were too many private events, we would reach out, ask for documentation from the operator and then uh begin tracking on our own. And because it's a restaurant first, I'm assuming that the health code, you know, the little A that goes up there, that's going to be up there. I don't know that it's there now, so I'm not saying it's not. I'm assuming it's going to be on the front where Main Street is because that's where the city seems to want the foot traffic. It' be on the front, right? Is that am I wrong or Well, the rating uh for a restaurant comes from the county department of environmental health and quality. And so they issue those and they would um and they would provide the regulations about the placement of that signage. Um so I I'm not familiar with requirements of where that would be placed, but uh the county uh would be the the enforcer of those regulations. Fair enough. That was my question. Thank you. Commissioner Circle, you had the question. Um that I was looking to see uh I saw the map that showed a a dance area and I was trying to find where it said something I thought I saw something that said it wouldn't be a dance club but in the conditions of approval H says it shall not be operated exclusively as and so dance is an important cultural event for most people and uh just wanted to make sure that that was fully allowed. Yes, it definitely would be allowed as part of the live entertainment function of the business. I think the floor plan reflects what was had been previously approved out there. um when you uh the conduct of of dancing and live entertainment also requires the special

operation license uh which gets approved by the um the u city manager uh now but it it comes with input from the police department uh with regards to that but yes uh dancing is definitely would be authorized under the life entertainment function of the C. Thank you. Any other questions? No. Okay, let's uh open up to uh public comments. Uh any speaker cards, Laura? Uh yes, we do. We have three. Uh the first one is Vince Cula. Hello, Vince. Please spell your last name. K A T O U L A. Uh chairman Satil, may I have five and a half to six minutes? Sure. Thank you. I won't bore you. I promise. Okay. Good evening, Chairman Sautille and members of the Alcohol Home Planning Commission. My name is Vince Cula and I represent the soontobe new owners of Palm's Restaurant and Banquet Hall. With me today are two of the family members of the new ownership group, Jeff and Raone Mansour. Tonight, we are here before you to share our vision of the future of the Palms, which we think could be a fit for all stakeholders involved. As stated in the staff report, the general plan designation for this site includes a mixture of retail, office, residential, governmental, and cultural uses and activities. The proposed conditional use permit is very similar to what CUP 2115 permitted, a Middle Eastern restaurant with live entertainment and alcohol. The difference being is that now we can host up to 10 individual private events per month. Events that several different

unique cultural communities in Elcohone rely on. Uh I wanted to touch on the base regarding the question of monitoring the 10 events per month. We would likely be posting a calendar online that says closed for private event. They all reserve months in advance so we know when we're going to be closed and when we're not going to be closed. Regarding the 10 events themselves, um it is very difficult to have more than four or five weekly sorry monthly private events. So if you do a Friday, you can't do a Saturday because you got to set up and get material and whatnot. Um, we would likely be having four or five events and then probably four or five funerals during the afternoon when we'd likely be closed. So, I'll touch on that in a little bit. Um, as a refresher, since we are last here, I would like to remind you guys that the primary business here is referred to as a nadi, where you go after work, you order food, play a board game or cards with your friends. Here you see a Kandaste article that I brought up last time highlighting the various nadis in the Middle East and specifically in Baghdad. In the Western culture, we also have nadis, but we refer to them as happy hours. Sometimes you might hear a co-orker say, "Let's go get a happy hour after work." In Calaldian, we say, it's very, very similar saying that kind of transpires culturally. I'm going to show you an example here at the Palms that provides a visual of what happens every single night except the ones that when we're closed for a private event. So, what you see is a bunch of guys hanging out after work, sharing skewers of kebabs. Right over there, you see guys playing dominoes. Sorry, I couldn't pause that for a second. See guys playing dominoes, ordering food, watching a football game up on

top. I think that was a Monday night football game for preseason. Okay, as mentioned earlier, there are many different communities that rely on the Palms and Alcohon to host their special lifetime events. Here you see a kinsenero. And I want to say a fun fact. The Palms does more kinsenas than it does Calaldian engagements. That's a robot dancing the band. I don't think this ever happened in Alcohon before. It's not just the Latin communities that rely on the Palms. Here is a video of a recent African bridal shower. These types of events may not be happening at the other banquet halls in Alcohon, but at the Palms, we have a long line of customers that want to reserve for the next several months and into the next year. So, I don't know what's happening at the other ones that were referenced, but we have the market and the demand from different cultures at the Palms. [Music] I think this was like a week and a half ago. And then finally, this was a Ramadan lighting from earlier this year. My point in showing you all of these images is to reinforce the fact that this project, this specific site, is doing exactly what the general plan is calling for, cultural uses and activities. You've all seen this, but as a refresher, we plan on investing over $800,000 in this venture. Um, I've been in very close communication with Marco Leandry of New City America and the downtown business partners. Um, I'm going to touch on that in a few slides.

We're going to be working very closely with him and his team on what they want the site to look like uh on exterior and interior, which is why you don't have a site plan for the proposed plans in front of you. Uh, here's the patio along Main Street. Just one of a brief vision that we have the interior. And here's a couple quotes from Marco. While we wholeheartedly endorse a new high-quality restaurant in Natty Center, we believe it will complement our goals in the core of downtown Alcohon and will rebuild the brand for this important spot. If it's capped at 10 private events per month, as an appear, as a restaurant to passer buyers, and this place can be considered an asset to downtown. Okay. Okay. And then finally, I know that you were all very patient uh between staff uh city manager's office, city attorney's office, you all with the previous ownership, um previous business operator. And had we known about all the back and forth, we probably would have passed on this opportunity. I promise you, we would have. Um I was born and raised in Alcohon. These guys have spent the last 35 years owning businesses and living in Alcohon. You've all seen me on a few different project. I talked to Noah probably twice a week. It emphasizes our commitment to invest in Alcohon and it tells you guys that we want to invest in our community and it assures you that when we say something, we come through every single time when we say we're going to do it. We're not the previous owners and we hope that tonight we can close that chapter with the understanding that we want to be the team that turned the old downtown Elcohone into the next little Italy. Let's start with approving the palms. Please help us achieve that goal by approving this project. Thank you. And we're available to answer any questions. Uh yes, Mr. Culla. Question for you. Sure. Uh why open the restaurant from 6 to 1:00 instead of opening at the 4:00 or

5:00? Um 4:00 is difficult. Uh and the reason it's difficult is because it's a dead hour. 5:00 I did tell Marco that I would give him the five o'clock hour. Yeah. because it seems to be more like a 50/50 than than a a primary restaurant. Primarily looks like maybe a banquet hall and secondarily is a restaurant. Well, if you break down is my impression wrong? Well, if you break down the hours of operation when it comes down to 5 to one, you know, that's what 8 hours time 30 240 hours. And if you're limited at 10% of that, sorry, 10 private events of that. So that's what 80 hours which is 80 times Yeah, it's about 30%. Okay. And um and why 1:00? Do do people still eat dinner at 1:00? Give you a great example. You leave a concert at the Magnolia and you want to go get a bite to eat. This is the only place you can go get a bite to eat. That's why 1:00. Okay. All right. Do you do uh fellow commissioners, do you have any questions for Mr. Cula, I do. Um, one, uh, I want to say this because it has been an event, this this place. I appreciate that you guys have been here coming each time. You know, presence is everything. I it it does show um to to me and I and I think I could speak for the other commissioner. It was never about culture or anything. The old C just did not fit. It did not fit. That's why it was revoked. Now we have a new one. But my question is the only thing that came without a concern was during off hours. So I guess it goes for staff too. I want to have these conversations now. So we don't have to have Absolutely. So when it's off hours, so let's say it's a Monday and you're they're not open at they open at 6:00. Let's just

say 5:00. Let's say they open at 5:00 p.m. Does it count toward their private events if they do something when they're closed? I guess it's a question for staff. Sure. Uh I would say uh no that that would not count towards their private events. Um you know I think one of the things the commission talked about at the previous hearings was um the fact that uh maybe pavore or downtown cafe um being closed on Mondays. Um you know it's not fair to that we're holding the the palms to a different standard. So, um, the way the conditions of approval are structured, uh, there's there's no requirement for them to open at 6 p.m. It's just the limitation on the 10 events. But I guess my main question was before 6 they do a kin, does that count toward their 10? It's an important question to ask. The intent is for um only evening events. Uh, so when the restaurant will be closed, so when they when they state that their typical operating hours are 5 or 6 p.m. until until 1:00 a.m., it would only be private events during that typical uh operating time frames. So, I think it would be a good idea that that was spelled out maybe into the cup so that way it's it's it's there. So, that way they that way they know when it's during off- peak hours, it counts. Where when when it's on peak hours, it counts. when it's off peak hours, it doesn't. Is that Am I saying that right? Right. So, if they have a funeral on a Tuesday morning or Tuesday afternoon, that's not interfering with the restaurant business and so it doesn't count against the 10 events. I think that's what you're trying to say. Yeah. Since we're having this open dialogue, funerals culturally end at 6. So if we did have a funeral during the week, funerals are never Fridays or Saturdays or Sundays, right?

Ever. They can't be on Sundays because we don't have them during any Anyway, um if we did have a funeral, could we open at 6? So there is where I've gotta tell you like I said it in the last meeting the narrative some of the narrative that that's coming out I don't like because when you say culturally they end at six that means you're you're saying it's exclusively you're implying I don't think intentionally I really don't think it's intentional but you are implying that it's just one culture whereas in the slides you're saying we want to diverse. So when we have a repass for blacks, they have it during a different time. For the Egyptian side of me, they have it at a different time. So I just I would caution you and your narrative it's Yeah. So the reason I say cultural, so yes, those events that we have, those private banquet hall events and whatnot, yeah, those are for a variety of different cultures. When I'm speaking to the funerals, yes, we have different funerals. And the reason that I'm just going to say a Calaldian funeral ends at 6 is because the guys that leave work want to go pay their respects right before 6:00. Um, so that's why and then typically that switches to evening. So it's a new day in the Calaldian community as we see it to where grieving has now passed. When you say funeral, uh, you mean it's a celebration. The body's not there. The body's not there. No, it's they've already been buried. So what happens is they usually start at the church around 11:00. They do their religious prayers and whatnot. Then after that they go to the cemetery. They bury them and then after that the family in honor of their deceased loved one uh buys lunch for everybody that's available. What makes you unique? Uh why would somebody uh come to the for an event come to La Palms instead of going to

Crystal or Babylon or any other place? What what makes uh your place uh unique or special that people would rather go to the the for funerals or for private events? For all events. Okay. For funerals, um there are as some of you guys may know there are many different I'm just going to say Calaldians for example because I want to I don't want to I want to walk that fine I don't want to walk that fine line. Um there are many different villages. There's eight primary villagers villages in the Calaldian culture and every two or three pick the one that they want to go to. So the two or three that go to the palms may not have a funeral at one of the other banquet halls. That's for that. Regarding the private events in the evening, we actually and I confirmed this earlier today. We do more non-calian total events. I said kinieras earlier, but non-calian private events than we do uh sorry I said that backwards more other culture private events than we do Calaldian private events and the reason is because Babylon Palace well Babylon sounds like it's a Calaldian event and and Crystal Ballroom and Crystal Ballroom is also a a private Calaldian event. Over here we have the Palms. The Palms has different types of food. our kitchens can make different types of food based on the catering menu that the uh folks that are having the event want to host. Sometimes they might say we don't want alcohol on the premise. It's against our religion. We remove all the alcohol from the premises out of respect for that. I don't know of other banquet halls that do that type of customer service. Any other questions? Well, I don't want to lose the the question. I don't remember which way the question went, but for the funerals that end at 6, um, not opening until six, I

think that's just part of business. I don't think that's a I don't know. I'm just saying from my point of view as someone who works at a church that has memorials with receptions that last way longer than they ever should. Um I sometimes am waiting at 400 p.m. when we have church at 5 for the family to go away so I can get the room ready for church. Um so I I don't see any issue personally with them staying closed till 6 on a funeral day. Um, and then I did have a question and I think I've lost it. So I will try and remember that if you have any questions. Quick question. Yes, go ahead. I I know that you're having these private events and it's also a restaurant. So basically when you have these private events it'll be closed to the public. It won't be um or do you have some events that are open to the public? Uh there are many different types of events. So we had the uh Main Street on America, I believe. I can't remember the exact title, but there was a bizaar that was taking place inside of the Palms that was closed technically as a restaurant, but it was open to the public for people to go in and shop at the different individual booths and order food and whatnot. And I think in my slide for the Ramadan bazaar, um let me just grab that picture real quick. This was open to the public, but the organization rented out the entire facility. Open to the public, but not a restaurant at that time. And then you also mentioned that to kind of monitor the events, you have a website and you post the events on the website. Is that something that's up and running currently or? Not yet. Um, we do have the Door Dash that's open, the Uber Eats that we've initiated and all that. And it's every every little step takes a little bit of

time, but the website is next, the new revision, the logo, the site plan, the floor plans, all of that stuff. Like I said, we're working closely with Marco Lamandry uh and his team on what exactly they want. We Marco and and our team agrees this could be the anchor of the new downtown Alcohon. And then regarding because I know you're technically escrow. Yeah. And that's all I mean commercial takes a little longer because of this. I understand it takes a little longer because if this doesn't go through it doesn't make sense for the vision but how is that going with the escrow process? Are they being flexible? Yeah, we have we had to not release hard money but deposit additional money into escrow towards the purchase price applicable uh to get the extension to get all the way up to here because we were supposed to close a couple months ago. Gotcha. Yeah. And what's the timeline now then for once this thing gets approved and the appeal period closes I think we would move to close. Okay. And then Right. Yep. And then regarding I know that you didn't have any rendition plans because it's kind of putting the cart before the horse, but how how is that process going and how long do you think you could have something submitted if something does go through? We could have stuff submitted pretty quickly. I don't think though based on what Marco, myself, some discussions with Noah as well. I don't think they would require building permits. They're most likely going to be facade improvements that don't have any structural, no electrical, anything like that. So, um, we would be working with Marco. They want to see the outside look like, what they want to see the inside, the color palettes, the schemes, um, and, uh, yeah, go off of that. So, that all that stuff is pretty quick. Um, but I don't think unless there's something crazy that comes up that requires mechanical, plumbing, electrical, engineering that would trigger the building permits. I don't think we would

be coming in for building permits because you're basically sticking with the floor plan. We're basically sticking with the floor plan. All the same structural. It's a wide openen concept. The kitchen's not changing. Mr. Chairman, if I may, just to clarify. Yes. Um, so within the downtown area, um, exterior modifications to buildings um, do require an administrative zoning permit. And so that's a permit that's approved administratively by the community development department um director. So even if you were, you know, just putting on new rock facade or something that doesn't require a permit, it would still get reviewed by staff uh for compliance with the uh design guidelines that are in place. Does that include the sign? Because the sign is kind of weird. I think it's like embedded. It's changing. Yeah, it it it's a little tired. Yeah. But um does that include that sign? Is just just so we have the whole conversation in the open. Does that require another hearing? Uh the sign would not require another hearing. It would also be subject to those same design guidelines. So within the downtown area, there's a prohibition on can signs uh interior illuminated can signs. So they have to have channel letter signs at a minimum or they could have a painted sign, but it would just be approved by administrative by by staff. Um any decision if the applicant disagreed uh with the decision uh they could appeal that to the planning commission. Thank you. Okay. Um, I noticed on your naughty events you showed the picture, mostly men. Do women not attend those events? Women are absolutely more than welcome to attend and it's actually something that we're going to be catering to. Uh, we might be doing ladies nights to where women come in and play their card games and uh have their fun and have their uh Bellini cocktails and whatnot. Okay. All right. Um well we'll have the uh next speaker. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Next speaker card. I don't think Ramon Mansour. Okay. Unless there

no we're I think we're and um this is I believe Jeff Mansour. Jeff Mensor. Yeah. Thank you. So I appreciate everybody's time guys. Um, as as you know, we're consistent. We keep coming over here to try to show you that we are serious. Okay? We're serious. We want to buy this place and we want to change it and that's what we're here to do. Um, and you know, we acquire this business because we see a vision. Nobody's going to spend money unless they believe in it, right? and and we believe in it and we're going to do what we say we're going to do and um you know we put our money in in it you know so to show that our seriousness is but you know this is taking a long time right you know the process keeps going and going and and this and the sellers you know what you said earlier where's the sellers with this they're just waiting for us they're like finish this because they feel like their hands are tied too right I mean and and I'm sure they understand like I'm not going to buy this place unless the city says, "Okay, you know, and that's we they approved the CUP. So, please let's, you know, that's that's the whole idea. We want to move forward. Everybody gets what does what they're supposed to be doing, you know, and and then we want to just move forward and and and you guys will see what would happen." That's what I want to say. Mr. Mansur, this has been going on for almost two years now. Actually, more than two years. But not with you though. Yes, sir. With the previous operators. Yeah. So, uh, all of us have been somewhat patient. Yes. And I appreciate any questions for Mr. Mansour. I just want to say I appreciate your consistency in coming to us because you guys are the first group that's here every time, right? So, thank you for that. Okay. Any other speaker cards? No, that is the those are the only speaker cards. Okay. I move to close a public hearing. Second uh motion made by Commissioner Sautille,

second by Commissioner Edison. Please vote. I'm missing two votes. Edis, Mr. Edison and and Ms. Pollockroot. Is it showing now? And motion carries by unanimous vote of members present. Okay. All right. Uh, let's have our deliberations here. Well, I'll crack it off. I I will speak to how long this process has been going on. I think that you guys coming in, you came, you didn't come with a lot of baggage. You took up a lot of baggage and that's unfortunate. Um, now that the old CU is revoked, you guys don't have that. I mean, now it will be completely on you. You have the the metric if it's approved. um you have the conditions if they're approved in the amendments, it would be your your ball to lose. Um I will just like to say for the record, I do whether or not however the vote goes, I do appreciate you guys have come to each meeting. You've been respectful. Your energy is there. Um so we'll see how it goes. Well, I will speak to the cup. Getting new cup is the best thing that's happened in two years. Um, the CPU matches the business plan, matches what the business is doing, what their future looks like. And I would like to think that by approving this cup, we open up a little more understanding for new business models. Um, as far as cultural events and the naughty idea, uh, it's something that has some western equivalence, but not

entirely the same way. But, uh, I like the I like the business plan. I like how the cup is worded. We did mention an ex uh exchange of words for all activities. Change it to all events so that it's clear that the restaurant can be outside. U that seating area will be important in bringing people in and seeing it's a restaurant. Hey, look, there's food over there. Hey, I smell that. Let's go check that out. Um, and while the the facade improvements, I trust the the city uh public community development department will be able to handle all that stuff. The vision that we saw briefly look great. The the glass doors that open all the way up would be a huge improvement over what they currently have with just single doors on the front end. Uh, I believe in this vision and I think the CU is the way to go. Republic. Well, I know city hall, the city council was big on, you know, having new night life, new events here in Alcohon and this is, you know, a big event space that could be utilized in and it and if it does go this way, I think it would be a good improvement of this city, the downtown city. The Palms is old and tired and it's not really changing what it is though. And I mean I use Social Tap downtown and they have all bowling, all kinds of games. You can get games, rent games and play them at your table. So this isn't a new idea. It's just, you know, a new idea downtown. And it's how it's been working a long time and to enhance the building and enhance downtown. and we have a lot of events downtown and to have another place for someone to, you know, come enjoy food, that's what it's all about. So, I think

with the with the vision that you guys have, I just hope and because you guys have been consistent. We've had a lot of people come through here, but sometimes they just wouldn't show up or we wouldn't know what was going on or they would s say one thing and do another. So, I really hope that if this does go through that the vision it comes to fruition because I think it would be a huge improvement. Um, I like what I see. However, I also see that uh we're pushing the envelope in so far as the SP 182 is concerned. Uh primarily that location was uh to be zoned for uh restaurants primarily, but then with a banquet and so forth, they added a few other items to that area. I um I don't want to see an empty building. I want to see a flourishing downtown Elcohone. Um most restaurants in Little Italy are open for lunch, dinner, and sometimes some some are open for breakfast as well. So my my concern is the uh the hours which the restaurant will be open. You gave good reason. Um I would prefer four o'clock but if five o'clock is more reasonable then I would go for that but four or five o'clock I like Mr. Lamandry recommended on a notice that that he he recommended to be open from five until uh closing. Um and then adding the language that Mr. Commissioner Circle stated all events. Did you say all events? Yeah. All events. Yeah. Uh that would be a good thing. So I don't know. How do you feel about having uh open at least either four or five o'clock? Well, I would point out that the

conditions of approval do not state when the business must be open. And that is something that they have proposed and I believe that uh any business that sees opportunity for more business will open when there's business to be had. So you would prefer to leave it open? I would prefer to leave it where they put it. Um if they have a funeral, they open at 6 because they've got something going on till 6. If they don't have a funeral and there's an opportunity to open earlier, they'll open earlier. But currently it sounds like they're looking for five to or I forget five or six. But that's up to them. It's not in the conditions of approval. I'll open public hearing. You come up Mr. Culla. The way that we had proposed the hours of operation. Great point. We would love to be open 24 hours and generate as much business as we possibly could. However, the fact of the matter is there is no business. The afternoon hours all the way up to about 6:00. We tested it. We stayed open for about 3 months. Uh starting open at 11:30. Uh and there was probably maybe we did 20 orders in 90 days. 20 entire orders. The business didn't start till 6:00. So what we did was we said we'd like the hours of operation to be from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 a.m. with no requirement to open at 11:00 until the business starts picking up in downtown. We're going to be bleeding cash if we're open for lunch and not generating business. It's the same reason why we can't open at 4. That four o'clock hour is dead. We saw it. The only reason I said okay to 5, there's still not that much business at 5:00, but folks will start trickling in. And it was my way of um meeting Marco halfway and trying to help contribute to attracting folks to downtown at 5:00. Okay. So, you you' be okay with 5:00? Five o'clock.

I just don't know that that's the hill I want to die on of business hours. Is this something that we do with other businesses where it's in their cups? Um not typically for uh restaurants. So like I stated earlier there's no requirement on operational hours for downtown cafe or poravore as an example. Then I don't understand what why we would do that. Yeah, we're I don't think we're adding any operational hours to the cup. That was just a question on top of u the operational hours between 11 and 1 am 11 a.m. and 1:00 a.m. and then they choose when they're open. Okay. Thank you very much. Um should I close public hearing again? I have one more question. Oh, one more question. I'm sorry. They did say in their summary that if lunchtime business in downtown Elcohone becomes steady, the business will shift away from funerals and become opening full for lunchtime. So any business would like to work we we don't make that much money on funerals. Yeah. At all. I'm sure he would like have a big full crowd of people eating food. So I think I worked in restaurants and bars majority of my college career. And a lot of the bars I worked at didn't open till late because no one came during the day. But the restaurants that I were at, depending on where they were, some were open, some were not. It all depends on the environment around it. So, I know Little Italy is busy, but Little Italy is kind of always busy because it's just you're in downtown, there's a lot of foot traffic, there's a lot of people working where downtown is a little bit different of dynamic. So, I think if they had the opportunity to be open for lunch, I think it's you would do that. we would love to open for and the business and the business looks inviting where there's not because one of the complaints was those and I saw the pictures it I was like I wouldn't want to go there. Um so I mean that was one of the things that we the old business skirted around

the sea. That's why we're here. That's really why we're here. It needs to be primarily a restaurant. We're saying that on the record. Ultimately we we're talking about the banquet hall but and I know that it was mentioned there's three other bank uh banquet halls. Well, primarily it's a restaurant, so I would just caution. You know, we spent a lot of time talking about the banquet hall, but it is restaurant first, but I don't I think I said my piece. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Well, uh uh thank you very much. We'll close the public hearing. I move to close the public hearing. Second. Motion made by Commissioner Sautille, second by Commissioner Circle. Please vote. All right. Motion carries by unanimous vote. Yeah, that that is my primary commission uh concern is that uh it'll be less less of a restaurant and more of a banquet hall. I just want to maintain primarily that it is a restaurant and not a banquet hall or special facility. That's my primary concern, but I understand your point of view as well. If the business is not there, it's not there. Yeah. Um Mr. Mr. Chairman, if I may interject, um I did take some notes based on uh the deliberations and so I thought I may uh read into the record some additional language for consideration by the commission. Um so I heard a desire to modify um condition 2C. Uh condition 2C currently says all activities shall be conducted within the enclosed building. So I heard the commission say that they would like to modify that condition to say all um events shall occur within the existing building or outdoor dining area. Can it be private events? I I think the I think the intent was to not limit thing the restaurant business to just inside but to keep private events inside and have the outside or uh public. Maybe we don't need that condition of approval.

Maybe we could say all activity shall be conducted within authorized areas. That would work. That'll work. I mean, would I wouldn't have an objection if somebody's in a private event and went out and got a breather. You're dancing. You need some fresh air. Not that I dance. Yeah. And probably the entrance for the public event will be in the back of the building where the parking lot is. Well, in any event, going inside, I would prefer they're going to go outside how you're gonna go outside, right? But if they go outside, I don't want to pigeon hole it where they're in violation because somebody was dancing and they went out to get some air. I don't think that would be fair. Yeah. I I don't think Yeah, I would have no objections to striking condition uh to see. I mean, it's really kind of a remnant of commercial zoning regulations, which is say that everything has to be within an existing building. Can we strike it? Um, if you could strike it or you could say all activity shall be conducted uh within authorized areas. Um, either way I think would be fine. I think we can strike it completely because it a business is going to operate where it can operate. The second condition that I heard under deliberation was a condition 2G. Um that condition 2G currently reads the use of the business um as a private event or banquet facility shall occur a maximum of 10 events per month. Um staff would suggest uh that the condition be um restated to say uh the use of the business as a private event or banquet facility shall occur a maximum of 10 events per month uh between 6 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. Yeah. So, you're saying that that would anything where the restaurant would be closed? Correct. Did you say 6 a.m. 6 p.m. 6 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. That was their stated hours for the restaurant. And that was uh Commissioner Edison wanted that clarification so that uh

there wasn't a misunderstanding about which events are so if a funeral was counted as a private event or not. So, uh, by, um, stating that in the conditions, it would be clear that it's only during those restaurant hours when those, um, private events would count towards the maximum of 10. Okay. Very good. Okay. Um, those only Was that it? I think that's it. Was some anything else? All right. Um so when a motion is made can the motion make or say uh as discussed or as as ditto as as we discussed the motion is so I based on the discussion what I'm hearing is that the commission would like to strike condition 2C and then to modify condition uh 2G to reflect 10 events per month between 6 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. Okay, go for that. All right, I'll make a motion. Go ahead. I move to adopt the next resolution in order approving conditional permit number 2025-000014 with the amended conditions. I'll second that. Okay. Motion made by Commissioner Ciro, second by Commissioner Pollock RDE. Please vote. And motion carries by unanimous vote of members present. Congratulations. Now you can go and spend your money. Thank you for your patience. All right. Take care. Good luck, guys. Where to find me if there's a problem? Yeah. Okay. Is there any other items for consideration? Uh, no additional items for consideration by the planning

commission. Um, our next scheduled meeting is on the Tuesday after Labor Day. Um, at this time I do not have any items that are ready to move forward for a public hearing. So, I anticipate uh cancelling that. But if something comes up in the next week or so, we will let you know. Okay. And commissioner reports or comments? None. Okay. I think I got all my questions answered at the last meeting about the the little wedge on Oakdale. So, yeah, we're good. In uh September 4th, I'll I'll be leaving for uh Michigan. I'll be gone for a whole month. Wow. So, if we have a meeting on the second, I'll be here. If we have a meeting other than the second in September, uh Commissioner Edison will lead that meeting. It's the big chair. the big chair, not the electric one. Okay. Um well, I move to adjourn to September 2nd, 2025 at 7 p.m. I second. Okay. Motion made by Commissioner Sautille, second by Commissioner Ciro. Please vote. And motion carries by unanimous vote of members present. Okay, very good.