Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good

evening. This is the planning commission, of 05/21/2025. It's nice to see all of you here tonight, and I think you've already figured it out that if you wanna speak on an item that's the agenda, you are to fill out an orange card and submit it up to our staff. In order to, establish a quorum, we'll have Stephanie please call the roll.

Commissioner Hurst?

Here.

Commissioner Morales? Here. Commissioner Herrera?

Here. Here.

Commissioner West?

Here.

Commissioner Laney? Here. Commissioner Barcelona?

Here.

Commissioner Reynolds? Here.

If you'll all stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance, please. That sounded really good with a lot of people. Thank you, everybody. Alright. Right now, we move to what we call citizen communication.

So if there is anything that is not on our agenda tonight that anybody from the audience would like to address the commission on, we welcome you to come to the podium at this time. This is for anything that is not one of the two items on the agenda tonight. Is there anybody here who would like to address the commission under citizen communication? Okay. Hearing and seeing none, we're going to close citizen communication. Commissioners, that takes us to the minutes. We have the minutes of 04/23/2025, a short month ago. Are there any suggestions or corrections to the minutes? Anybody have anything?

I'm going to move the minutes.

Okay. There's a motion to move the minutes by Commissioner Barcelona. Is there a second?

I'll second.

I'm going to take Commissioner Laney as the second. Any discussion on that motion? Okay. Hearing none, Stephanie, please call the roll. Commissioner Hurst?

Aye.

Commissioner Morales? Aye. Commissioner Herrera?

Yes.

Commissioner West? Yes. Commissioner Laney?

Yes.

Commissioner Barcelona? Yes. Commissioner Reynolds? Yes. Okay.

The minutes are deemed approved. And that takes us to new business. And that's our item number one, DRCL25-forty 4 South Point at Folsom Ranch Parcel 7, Child Care Center Commercial Design Review, and determination that the project is exempt from CEQA. And I see Jessica Brandt on deck for us. Hi, Jessica.

Hi. Good evening. Jessica Brandt with Community Development, and I will be presenting the Southpointe At Folsom Ranch Parcel 7 Child Care Center project to you tonight. There we go. Okay.

So this project is located in the 10 acre, South Point at Folsom Ranch Commercial Center, which is located at the Northwest Intersection of White Rock Road and East Bidwell, within the Folsom Plan area. It is surrounded by the Toll Brothers residences to the West, Mangini Ranch apartments, now known as Atwell at Folsom Ranch to the East. You have White Rock on the South and then, some undeveloped land to the North. So this is an approved overall site plan, just for kind of getting you your bearings. East Bidwell is on the bottom.

South Point Drive is on the left hand side here, and the overall site plan was approved for a subdivision and development in July 2023. There was some, retail, along East Bidwell and then a grouping of, what were, planned to be medical office buildings that, ringed the exterior of the site, with, shared parking, and drives, within the center of the site. The land uses included a gas station, drive through restaurants, retail, and the five medical office buildings. This particular parcel, which is Parcel 7, was approved for a 16,000 square foot medical office building. So these are the previously approved elevations.

It was a two story building designed to be consistent with the other commercial buildings, in the South Point Center. You can see it has a flat roof with many windows, off white stucco siding, and brown accent siding and stone accents along the bottom. Since approval of the South Point project, the property owner has received interest to utilize Parcel 7 as a child care center rather than a medical office building. Child care centers are allowed by right in this zone, so the use of the site as a child care center is not what is under consideration, before you tonight. However, they are proposing a significant redesign of the building, so we will be looking at the building and site for site plan and design review purposes.

The applicant is proposing to reduce the square footage of the building to about 12,700 square feet and utilize about half the Ground Floor as a playground, which you can see on the slide here. Staff determined that based on the amount of employees and students at capacity, there was adequate parking available in the center for this use while maintaining an adequate balance of spaces for the remaining medical office, retail, and gas station that were also proposed for the site. Staff also requested that they put a pickup drop off only, in front of the day care center. And you can see, that there are 10 spaces, again on the slide here, that have marked, pickup drop off in the actual space. We also have, as part of the green sheet under consideration for tonight, a modification requests that two signs be placed as well, one on each basically, on each bank, of these pickup drop off spaces.

The applicant was amenable to this. They're also amenable to kind of any sort of combination thereof that the council, or the commission would deem appropriate. So, the only other thing I want to touch on with the pickup drop off is that, the signs that would be put up would specify that they're restricted only in hours about 06:30 to 09:30 a. M. And 03:30 to 06:30 on, p.

M. During weekdays. So the idea is that they wouldn't be completely taken out of commission for the entire day or on a weekend. We did also ask the applicant provide a trip generation study, to show that the trips generated by this new use, wouldn't necessarily impact, the traffic study that was already completed for the site, which it does not. So this is the proposed front elevation.

As part of the proposed redesign, the applicant is looking to alter the design of the building and add a rooftop playground to the top. Here we see the proposed front elevation. This new building utilizes many of the same elements as the approved one but has different accents and roof forms and reduces the amount of window space. You can see that they are also looking to alter the approved signage locations. You have the, basically entryway over on the right hand side, with their main signage there.

And then I believe on some of the other, yeah, some of the other elevations, you can see that they have signage kind of going up the wall. And then same on this wall as well and a little bit of kind of an ABC looking accent near the front as well. We have added a condition of approval, that the property owner submit for a staff level design review application, to cover the review of this modification of the signage. We do believe that they'll be able to bring it in and be consistent with the sign allowances for the building, but we do need to run it through that design review since it differs from what was allowed before. Again, left side elevation.

The main roofline of the building is 29 feet in height, which is one foot taller than the previously approved building. And then they also do have the tower elements that extend up to 37 feet in height. Buildings in this zone can go up to 50 feet in height. Here's their proposed right elevation. They are utilizing most of the same colors and materials as the previously approved building but are adding in the yellow metal canopies that you see on the roof, gray stucco, and a second lighter brown accent siding material throughout the building.

And then this is the rear elevation. So this is the elevation that would be facing the Atwell Apartments to the east. So staff worked with the applicant to place an additional seven foot solid fence around the rooftop playground for the privacy of both uses as well as to attenuate some of the potential noise. And I I do want to point out, although you can't see it on these, elevations, there is a, front fencing, mechanical screen that goes along the roofline and then there's 15 feet and then you get into the play area on on the roof and that has that additional seven foot fence that goes all the way around it. And then, landscaping plan.

This is just a highlight of their area. Of course, there's landscaping throughout the site, but you can see that several 15 gallon shade trees are proposed to be planted surrounding both the front and the rear of the building. And then finally, these are their renderings. Staff did find after review that the updated building design continues to include quality design elements that result in an attractive overall appearance and that the proposed updated building form, colors, and materials are consistent with the approved design theme of the center under the original plan development permit. We also found that the new rooftop, use could be successfully integrated into the project design and that fencing it off would address privacy and noise concerns.

As such, staff is recommending approval as the design of the design review as conditioned. And I apologize for this very long action here. We did find that the project was exempt from further environmental review under section one five one eight three of the CEQA guidelines and, due to conditions and mitigation from the previous South Point entitlement that would also be applicable here, is why you have a lot of that technical language up there to read out. We did put a notice, on the project site per the requirements of the Folsom Municipal Code and reached out to the property management at the Atwell Apartments, to give them and their tenants a chance to provide comment or attend the meeting. As of now, we have not heard anything from any of them, but we did want to provide that opportunity.

And then the green sheet, that was provided, there is, a request to change two of the conditions. Condition number four, the validity. We found that it was utilizing some language that was just from an incorrect portion of the Folsom Municipal Code. It was actually language that was meant for the historic district, so that's the correction there. And then, condition number eight is where, we were adding some additional language about the signage and the restrictions on the drop off and pickup zone.

And so with that, I'm happy to take any questions. And the applicant team is here, including their architect who are also happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

All right. Thank you very much, Jessica. Are there questions for our staff from anybody on the Commission? Commissioner Barcellona.

Thank you. Thanks for the report. Just a quick question. You mentioned that, there's another site use for a gas station at this location as well. Is there, any concern over security for the learning center being nearby the gas station?

That might be a good question for the applicant. I don't think staff doesn't have concern. The gas station is at that, far corner, at East Bidwell and South Point. It is a fueling station, car wash, gas station. And then the, child care center, is at the far back of the of the overall site. I'm sure they can talk about some of their security measures and and the like as well too. Thank you. Yeah. Other

commissioners, any questions? Okay. Hearing and seeing none. Thank you, Jessica. Now we'll hear from the applicant, please, if you'd like to come up and introduce yourself.

No. No. You can stand to the podium, please. Yeah. And, yeah, speak right into the mic, please. Thank you.

So my I'm Scott Bodak. I'm with, BDG Bodak Design Group. I am architect here, representing the ownership team and and, the developer, and they are here as well if there's any specific questions on the operations. But, as far as the presentation, I think Jessica did a great job as far as explaining what we're proposing to do. Again, we've a little bit of a challenge trying to take what was originally an approved office building and incorporate a daycare facility into the development, not only aesthetically but operationally.

And I think we went through those processes as far as looking at traffic. I mean, our we do these all over the country. So I think integrating a daycare into an office setting, they work very complementary with each other when it comes to the traffic and just the uses. A couple of questions that you brought up about security and concerns with the gas station. These are secure facilities with the daycare.

There's basically one entrance into the facility. It's a secure entrance. And either you either have to it goes through a key fob system. So you either have the keys to be able to get in, whether that's a staff or a parent, or you have to wait to be buzzed in. So though we have a lot of exits on these buildings, they are not provided with any hardware.

So, I mean, from a security standpoint, everything is confined, and that's a lot of that is just based on the state requirements of making sure that these facilities are are very safe. And I also I as my understanding, there are some concerns with the playground that we're proposing up on the roof from a security standpoint. And PLE has done these kind of facilities more in urban settings, but where they've had to put playgrounds up on the roof because there's just no land available to provide that outdoor space. So they're very, you know, used to being able to put in these facilities and meet state requirements. I mean, the state's very stringent when it comes to the security of the playground areas and and the safety.

So, the proposed screening that we're putting around is, you know, as as Jessica said, is about seven feet. And, generally, we have requirements as far as just the safety of the materials we use up there as well. Mean, we're proposing a metal screen, but everything on the inside of the play area has to be safe for the children, and whether that's rubber surfacing for the play area and so forth. So from that perspective, we're very comfortable with the design and that it functions and it will be a safe haven for the children. And again, we'll be meeting all state requirements when it comes to that on the licensing side. So with that, we'll open it up to any other questions or

Thank you, Mr. Bodik. Is there any questions for the applicant? I guess oh, go ahead. Commissioner Laney.

I'm curious on the roof because, you know, as a parent, that's my first thing of there would be no way, honestly, that I would put my kids in a place where they're going to plant a roof. It's hot. South Of 50 I live south of fifty. It's very windy. So you're either hot or it's windy. So you guys looked at that as far as just the way that the wind patterns and the heat out there? There's not really much of a buffer in putting kids on a roof. How are you gonna keep them protected So from the

generally, TLE does have requirements as far as when they will allow the kids to go out. If it's too hot, they will not let them out. So I would say with a facility of this, I mean, you they'll have playtime probably at 9AM, 09:30 in the morning till about 10:11. You know, Amanda's here with she's director of of the facility down in in Bakersfield. So they take that very seriously when it comes to just you know, it's a 100 degree day. The kids are not gonna be outside.

And so accessed? It If it's on

the roof, I'm just We

have two stair towers that are going to extend all the way up to the roof. That's just a requirement of the state building code. We also have an elevator that will extend up to that level. So the building itself, just based on state code because of the day care use on a second level, has to be a fire rated building. So it's gonna be completely fire rated. It's gonna be a steel structure. So, I mean, again, that's just requirements in the state code that forces us to to make sure that this is a safe building for in this type of application that the children can be, you know, exit out of the building with the assistance of the staff in a safe manner.

Okay. Commissioner Hurst.

Hi. Thank you. Commissioner Laney started getting down the line of questioning, and I wanted to go. Just a couple of follow ups. I do have a daughter, that we've actually had the benefit of looking for childcare facilities. So I went with that in mind, looking at this project. With regards to the elevator that you mentioned and the stair access to the roof, will those be locked, secured during the remainder of the day?

No. No? By code, you can't have those locked. They have to be accessible at all times during business hours. Okay. And again, it's with it being a secured facility, there's just no way to get into the building either. So, I mean, any concerns of potentially someone trying to get in, I mean, they're not going to be able to get up there. So yeah. And and the code's gonna require us to have clear pathways from the playground to those stairs. So it's it's very clear that they know where to go. Right.

But then that will still be continuously monitored by staff?

Yeah. Okay. Yeah. By state No. State licensing requirements, you can't have any children in the playground without staff. And I mean, there's actually ratios to that. So you can only have so many kids out there based on a ratio of staff up there as well.

All right, thank you.

I have one. Mine is also related to the roof. I was a little concerned about noise. And there is residential uses behind it. And so I'm curious also for the need for it. I mean, does it really need two playgrounds, one on the roof and one down below? And why?

Reasoning is by state code, state licensing code, you have to have so much outdoor play area on-site. So that's the reasoning for it, is to be able to provide sufficient area on-site for that use.

Okay. So the site size is restrictive as far as your ability to put that downstairs.

Yeah.

Yeah. And there is a playground on the lower level as well. So those are for the younger kids that will be on-site. So they're, you know, again, they'll have some of that area down there. But because state licensing requires separate areas for different age groups, that required us to put the older kids up on the roof.

So from a noise perspective, I mean, I guess, to try to put this in perspective, I know a lot of people think and look at this as an elementary school where you're just kids are out at recess, they're screaming and yelling. And and, yeah, it can get pretty noisy if you're within that area. With these the daycares, it's not as much. I mean, we're talking kids up to age five. So they're generally not as noisy up there.

And I think what we're proposing to do with the screen walls is to help mitigate sound being transmitted out, to the adjacent properties as much as possible. But again, it's not something where the time limit the kids are out there is very limited. And again, being you know, like in summer months, it's gonna be probably mid morning that they're gonna be limited to.

Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? One more from Commissioner Laney.

So my other question, and maybe this falls into the signage, staff stop me if it does. But just looking at the facade with the number block kind of things, and that looks like it's more of an architectural element. And I did go out and research other facilities under this group, and it looks like that's more of like flat sign, so they still have the branding. But is that part of the signage review that's going to be going through? Because I'm just trying to think throughout Folsom that's not really congruent with any other childcare facilities in the entire area.

They just don't have you're completely changing the columns of the rest of the environments in order to have these you know, brightly colored blocks that are now part of an architectural element instead of it just being normal signage?

Yeah. I mean, that's something that we will be working with with Jessica and Josh with the city on as far as that signage, and and we're working not only our developer, but LRE and company who is the overall developer for it. We're working through with their signed vendor to submit a signed modification. And I'm sure through that process, if modifications are required we'll work with the city on that.

I think what I'm looking for is like those pillars. You know the pillars are completely different. You know you've changed a pillar element that throughout the rest of Folsom there's no other day care centers or even other businesses. They've completely modified the pillars to be branded. We'll call that branded for that. So is that part of this design of what we're voting on today? Is that those pillars? Or is that going

to be a separate element when the signage comes back? Yeah, no, that's a good question. Staff was treating these as an architectural element. And you're right, they are definitely not consistent with the rest of the buildings in this center or in I don't know any others, really, that do this. However, this particular group, when they first came in, they actually had a pillar going all the way up the side of the building with a huge ABCD and a lot of other things on the building.

And we told them that was just absolutely not going to fly to be consistent with the design of the center and the aesthetics of the area. So when they came back with this sort of entryway design with the blocks, staff did feel that it was a nice compromise where you could definitely have a good sense of where the entryway was. It was sort of a feature for this user, but it didn't necessarily carry over to the balance of the building. And it did provide them that sort of pop of color that they were looking for. And then their signage was at the top with their little elephant brand and all that.

So it is something that you would be looking at today as part of this. The learning experience sign on the top of the canopy and the elephant, that would be part of the signage package that staff would be looking at, along with the signage on the building that kind of goes up the side of the building that's actually not I mean, it's almost I mean, it's just white, just Academy of Early Education. So I just kind of wanted to give that background a little bit. It seems like a lot. But where they started was far more.

So on that note then, do those pillars have function? I mean are they holding up the building? I mean what would be there if that wasn't

They're holding up the canopy right?

Yes.

Yeah. They're holding up the canopy. This you put the picture up again? Yeah. Because I actually had somebody contact me about this very thing, I didn't really realize they were part of the architecture. I thought it was going to be part of the signage.

You it's

Well, you passed it, but the rendering probably does it better.

So

there's an overhang. It's not really I mean, me a canopy means something like a tarp.

It's an overhang. And then, you have the two, pillars here.

And so if they weren't there, that would be just a plain old pillar holding it up? Correct. Yeah. Yeah, the person who contacted me was concerned about little kids running into those blocks and hurting themselves.

Oh, no.

Which I could see could happen because they're all jagged rather than This a

is their standard design and we do that intentionally to integrate it with the entrance by having it as a support columns and again just as part of their branding.

Okay. Thank you. All right. Any other questions? Commissioner Lany, you do have something else?

I think my big question is, are you willing to move that back to just a more standard looking pillar? I just don't see, especially if we're looking at kind of community standards and congruency throughout Folsom, there's just no other child's care center that has that much branding built into an architectural element. So that would be frankly my question is, is the applicant willing to just move that back to a more standard look and keep their branding limited to more of the signage and not changing the architectural element to it?

I mean, I can't speak on their behalf to say that they would prefer because that's just a big part of their branding for these locations, which is to them is makes them yes. It's maybe not every other day care does that, but for them, that's a unique piece to to recognizing that it's a learning experience. So, I mean, I'm sure if Amanda wants to speak onto this, but I mean, I I can't speak for them to say that they that would be something that they would accept. And who's them? Is that That's the corporate TLE.

Corporate. And and where's corporate headquarters?

Florida.

Florida. Okay.

And I mean, again, I understand they pop out, but that's the whole thing. We do try to do neutral buildings to kind of fit in with the architecture, whether it's here or in any location. But just being able to utilize those blocks is a big part of their branding.

I got it. No. I

understand that, but I You feel like you

used yourself before you speak.

So I'm Amanda. I'm the executive director for a few centers down south representing the owners. So speaking on the safety first, they are we have over 400 centers, and they are standard in most of centers. I've never heard of an injury happening from the blocks. I also can't say if they're willing to change them, but they are a huge part of our design, a huge part of our branding. And like you said, you don't see that in other daycares. That's on purpose. Like, that's part of of who they are. So it is intentional.

I I also did look at other locations, and the branding is more of a flat signage on pillars and so you do have other locations that don't have it created as an architectural element. I do you know I acknowledge that you probably do have some locations but you know I'm just I mean it really stands out, which I know is kind of the point of it, but also to some degree, you know, it's I do think that it detracts from other, you know, other buildings and other areas. So I know that's kind of the point, But from the attractiveness perspective, I do think it's a little problematic.

Okay. I don't think that we can make the decision on pulling back tonight, right? Yeah. We would have to consult. Yeah.

We have done alternate designs where, yes, we have still had the blocks that did it more on maybe a face application and not necessarily the full cube of what you're seeing here. But this is what they really want to to go with.

One more to the party. Please announce your name. I know that's quite alright.

Robert Ranchard. I'm I'm one of the, developers of the 10 acres. And, you know, we've been taking out time and very picky on the elevations, and we spend a lot of time and effort. And and with this, with all the housing and all the development, this is a much needed use. And I think if you take the McDonald's archers or you take any branding, you take Circle K, Chevron, I mean, everybody has got their elements. Right? And this is TLE's. They did reduce the scope. It's it's their brand. And we'll certainly go back to the ownership group and see what they can do to maybe make it a little more subtle.

But, you know, we'll we'll do our best to do that.

Thank you for coming on up. Appreciate. Any other questions for the applicant? One more. Commissioner Hurst.

Apologies. Totally understand that you might not be able to answer to that. But do you happen to be aware if, for example, the concern around the pointed edges of the pillars is something that could be addressed to the extent that would the applicant be comfortable with them being rounded instead of

We can certainly talk to them to see if they are amenable to, you know, doing some kind of modification to them to, you know, address the concern. I mean, we've we've done these all over the country. We have not I've heard of any concern with the with that at at any other locations, but can certainly share it with them to get their thoughts and feelings on it.

Understood. Thank you.

Okay. Commissioners, I think that exhausts our questions. Thank you very much, Mr. Bodek. Appreciate that. All right. And with that, it's time to open public comment on this item. Is there anybody here in the audience who would like to speak to item number one? Stephanie, do we have any cards for item number one? No, ma'am. Okay. All right hearing and seeing none, we're close the public comment on that item and commissioners, that leaves it to us. What to do? Anybody want to start start with the discussion Commissioner Laney

so I think my question is that if we were to vote in affirmative to go ahead and approve it are we approving it as is or is there can we get some answers about the pillars before so is that can we add in a condition that we before it fully is approved that we have answers on what what the applicant's willing to do how

do you feel about that staff I mean is there a way to word something, to actually approve it tonight, but word something in a way that has them come back, not to us maybe, but maybe to the planning director about or community development director about whether there's a different way to do that design?

So you are approving the design tonight if you do vote. If that is not a piece of the design that you are comfortable supporting, you could vote to approve but have the pillars go back to a standard pillar, remove the branding from the pillar. But I would imagine that the applicant would like to go back and talk with the corporate office and maybe see what sort of alternatives that they could provide rather than strip it down entirely so there's also the option of continuing the item to our next meeting so that they can provide you that There really isn't an option to approve, sort of. It doesn't. We can't do that.

Okay. And I'm not so sure I want to continue it because I don't I mean, I think this is a use that is very needed in the South Of Fair 50 area at this point. So I see Commissioner Herrera with his hand on his mic.

I just wanted to say I commend the design team for mixing in the the existing what we had approved earlier in July or July a couple years ago. And I actually find this kind of fun. I mean, I think it's it's a it's a neat use of branding. It isn't too obtuse to where this is a facility that is in a business park, and the business park's pretty good sized. And it is set far in the back. I mean, you can see there's trees that are gonna grow in and stuff, and I don't see that as offensive. I understand commissioner Laney's concerns. However, I just like I said, I think it's a it's a fun, easy way to kinda break up the monotony of just big gray, stucco buildings.

Thank you, commissioner. Anybody else? Okay. Is there a motion? I'll go

ahead and take this one. So I'll make a motion to move to confirm staff's determination that the proposed project is statutorily exempt from CEQA under the Public Resources Code section 21,083.3 in CEQA guidelines section fifteen thousand one eighty three and that no further environmental review of the South Point at Folsom Ranch Parcel seven child care center project is required and approve a commercial design review application for the project located at 3608 East Bidwell Street, DRCL 20 Five-forty 4 based on the findings included in this report findings A U and subject to the attached conditions of approval conditions one-eight with conditions four and eight modified per the green sheet provided to the Commission.

Okay we have a motion is there a second?

Second. Okay

I'll take Commissioner Hurst as our second. Thank you commissioners. Is there any discussion on the motion on the floor? Okay. And just to clarify from, I think, our city attorney, when we reference a green sheet in a motion, often when we've done that, we at least allude to what the subject matter is. Is there a need to do that? Or it's Okay because if somebody is just reading the minutes and that's all they read, they don't know what the heck a green sheet is, right? Right.

It could be either way because I believe we typically do include that with the minutes to show what the changes are to address that issue if someone were reading the minutes. But there's no problem in including it in the motion if you want to.

Well then I think let's just make sure that as a matter of practice that we include the green sheet as an attachment to the minutes. Does that make sense? Sure. Okay. All right. Anybody else on this motion before we take a vote? Hearing and seeing none, Stephanie, please call the roll.

Commissioner Hurst? Yes. Commissioner Morales? Yes. Commissioner Herrera? Yes. Commissioner West? Yes. Commissioner Laney? Yes. Commissioner Barcelona?

Yes.

Commissioner Reynolds? Yes.

All right. Congratulations to the project team who's here today, and, thank you for doing business in Folsom. Item number two, and that is USPT 20 five-twenty three Liquor Well Conditional Use Permit and determination that the project is exempt from CEQA, which was continued from the 04/23/2025 meeting. Hello, Jessica.

Hello again. So I am here, to provide staff's presentation on the Liquor Well Conditional Use Permit application and I do want to kind of preface, so I am unfortunately going to cover a lot of material that I covered last time, but I am doing that so that Commissioner Morales, has the information that everyone else had, plus all the folks in the audience as well. So I this might I might drone. I'm sorry. I'll try to go through as quickly as possible.

But this is the liquor well conditional use permit, request. So it is a request, to obtain a conditional use permit for alcohol sales in the C 1 Neighborhood Business zoning district. This application was heard initially, by the commission on April 21 but was continued to tonight's hearing. Not the right one. Okay.

So the project is located at 24988 Blue Ravine Road in Suite 102 within the Briggs Ranch Plaza Shopping Center at the Southwest corner of East Natoma Street and Blue Ravine Road. The suite is approximately fifteen seventy eight square feet in size. Surrounding uses are single family residential to the West, single family residential and commercial across East Natoma Street to the North, commercial to the East across Blue Ravine Road, and LV Parazzo Briggs Public Park to the South. The project site, as I mentioned, is Zone C1PD or Neighborhood Commercial Plan Development. Alcohol sales in the C1 Zoning District do require a conditional use permit.

However, our other two commercial districts, which are Central Business District and General Commercial District, do not require a conditional use permit for alcohol sales. Briggs Ranch Plaza is approximately 8.9 acres in size and well occupied with a mix of grocery, restaurant, general retail, and service businesses. The suite proposed for Liquor Well is shown in this Google Street view, which was, from 2024. And Elvie Pirazzo Briggs Public Park is visible at the far left side of the photo. The applicant does not propose any changes to the exterior of the building other than new signage and any changes needed to the entry related to ADA access.

The proposal is a liquor and convenience store known as Liquor Well. The applicant states that the store will cater to the Briggs Ranch community and will carry craft beers, wine, scotch, and bourbon. Convenience items like snacks, nonalcoholic beverages, groceries, household items, and health and personal care items will also be offered. Finally, they plan to carry tobacco products and lottery and gift items. The proposed floor plan is shown on the slide.

Coolers would be placed along one wall. That's here. And a beer cave would be right here. Liquor would be kept on shelving behind the cashier counter, which is here's the cashier counter which would be placed near the entrance and then these would be, liquor shelves. The applicant, would like to have the, commission review an updated floor plan.

And so as part of their set of comments to you, they'll likely bring that up and show it on the overhead. But this is what was provided to staff to present. So the original staff analysis, looked at the business, the context, and, the operational conditions because conditional use permits are our opportunity to add conditions, that will make sure that a proposed use is, compliant with with regulations and, you know, fits well with the area that it's in. So this would, be the first standalone liquor store in the Briggs Ranch area. The closest similar store is about 2.3 miles away on South Lexington Drive.

However, ninety nine Ranch Market, which is in the same shopping center, and the Raley's across Blue Ravine Road both do sell alcohol. The suite is also adjacent to a pedestrian access to Elvie Parazzo Briggs Park, which is a well used community park with various recreational amenities. The applicants reached out to community development staff early, to discuss their proposed use and any concerns that we might have. Staff requested that the applicants consider tenant improvements and operational standards that discourage loitering around the business and, help to prevent open containers in the adjacent park. In response, the applicant provided a project narrative that covered many of the items discussed, which staff then used to develop specific operational conditions that we were recommending for the proposed store.

And so this is the set of operational conditions that staff worked with, and the applicant was agreeable to. I won't read them verbatim, but effectively there would be, cameras that would be inside and outside of the store. There would be anti theft devices on how high value items, regular inventory checks, training of employees. There would be, maintenance of trash and recycling locations inside and outside the store, and then signage about no loitering, no open containers, and the like. And so these were presented, to the commission, at the last meeting along with a recommendation for approval.

The other item that was discussed at last meeting were the, proposed hours of operation. The applicant, had proposed hours that were 7AM to 11PM, Sunday through Thursday, and then 7AM to midnight, Friday and Saturday. After a review, with our, police department, we did come back and say that we would condition the hours, to be 8AM to 10PM, Monday through Sunday, so every day. The idea was that this would help, to reduce the potential for nighttime loitering in the closed areas of the center because most of the businesses in the center do close by ten p. M.

For most days. The applicant is requesting that the or did request at the time I'll let him talk tonight that they can that you consider modifying the conditions back to his proposed hours. The, argument was that there were many operational protections against loitering already in place, and that customers do expect that stores, convenient stores, be open for longer periods of time than eight a. To ten p. M.

So, as I mentioned, the application was initially considered April 23. We did have one member absent. At the time, we had had three letters of opposition, submitted before the hearing, and one member of the public did speak. After the staff report and the applicant testimony and then public testimony, the commission deliberated around the location, hours, and operational conditions proposed for the project. A motion was made to approve the request.

However, the motion failed on a split three to three vote and then you, voted to continue, to tonight, partly because of the request from the public testimony to, provide more time for the community to review and respond to the, project. And the community responded. So, after the hearing, we received this is actually out of date too, approximately 50 letters of opposition, that have been submitted and, brought to you guys for review and consideration. The areas of concern were focused on, effectively four components, the adjacency of the site or the project to the public park, the proximity, to the elementary school in Briggs Ranch, the need or lack of a need, for another alcohol outlet, and the potential for increased crime and decreased, property values from this use, being established at this location. And so, staff went back and did some subsequent analysis.

We, the Folsom Municipal Code requires that the Planning Commission make the following finding, to either approve or deny a conditional use permit, and I'm going to read it verbatim because I think that's important for context of staff's, recommendations. So the establishment, maintenance, or operation of the use or building applied for will or will not, under the circumstances of that particular case, be detrimental to the health, safety, peace, morals, comfort, and general welfare of persons residing or working in the neighborhood of such proposed use or be detrimental or injurious to property and improvements in the neighborhood or to the general welfare of the city. So that is our our guide for whether we are approving or denying a conditional use permit. So with that in mind, I did review the concerns raised by the community commission members at the last meeting to determine whether or not, staff's recommendation for approval should change or additional conditions on operations should be recommended for the commission's consideration. Staff agree that the in site is unique in its location adjacent to the park.

No other standalone liquor stores were identified in the city with this type of direct adjacency. However, staff did not identify recent alcohol related incidents at the project site or note significant numbers of reports from parks with alcohol outlets nearby, such as Lions Park on Natoma, from the community crime maps that are available. Having said that, we do have, Lieutenant Cannipa? Cannipa, here as a Folsom Police Department representative, and he is available to answer questions that the commission may have about, alcohol outlets in the city, any potential crime issues that they have seen or may see, with this particular site. And so once staff is once I'm done, I'm happy to bring him up, before we have the app the applicant come up.

Regarding the other items that were brought up, in the letters of concern, the project site is approximately a third of a mile from Folsom Hills Elementary School. It is not on a pedestrian path to the school. Regarding the potential impact to children shopping at the center, conditions have already been recommended that are designed to limit the potential for loitering, open containers, sales of alcohol to minors, and other potential negative spillover issues. Regarding overconcentration, staff agree that existing outlets like ninety nine Ranch Market and Raley's are already available to purchase alcohol in this area. However, the Briggs Ranch area does not have an overconcentration of liquor licenses based on the metrics used by the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control.

This is how they determine, that a local governing body would need to issue a determination of public convenience or necessity. That's not the case here. Therefore, the relative need for the proposed alcohol outlet is not related to whether the use satisfies the finding that's required for a conditional use permit. And then finally, staff do wish to note that the Folsom Municipal Code states that where a conditional use permit has been granted but conditions of of approval are not being complied with, the Planning Commission may revoke the use permit. So the letters of opposition submitted were extremely thoughtful and well reasoned and brought up many good points that the commission can consider in deciding on this request.

However, staff believes that a finding for approval can still be made based on the commercial nature of the project area and the additional safeguards against potential negative spillover effects included in the project conditions. Staff have not found that there is evidence that in this specific case the requested use would produce any additional impacts to the neighborhood beyond any business allowed by right in the C1 zone. Therefore, staff is remaining, with a recommendation to approve the requested conditional use permit with the amendment shown in the provided green street green sheet sheet green sheet correcting the permit expiration date and adding that the operational conditions and condition three shall be implemented to the satisfaction of the Folsom Police Department and Community Development Director. I'm happy to answer any questions as and as I mentioned, lieutenant Cannapa with the Folsom Police Department is also here to answer any questions of the commission regarding alcohol sales in the city.

All right. You did it. Right. I did it. Thank you very much, Jessica. Okay, so the slide you have up there, that right there. Nope. Here. That one.

So that's

so that you obviously asked the police department for some statistics about calls they received.

I'm hoping to bring up the lieutenant, and he can kind of talk through this. This is calls for service.

Okay. So before we bring up the lieutenant, are there any questions of Jessica before Commissioner Hurst?

Hi, Jessica. Thank you for going through all of that again. Really minor question that might seem trivial. So I caught in one of the earlier slides, is it correct that the staff assesses this as a liquor store rather than a convenience store?

The conditional use permit is for the sale of alcohol. And so that's the focus of staff. Yeah.

Okay. Thank you.

Commissioner Bartholomew.

Yes, okay. Thanks for the report. Just real quick, you mentioned there were 50 opposition letters. Were any letters of support submitted?

No.

Okay. Thank you.

Okay. And everybody, I know we've got a position out there, but you all have your chance, Okay? Anything else for Jessica? All right. Let's bring up the lieutenant, if we may.

Good evening, lieutenant. Thank you very much for joining us tonight.

Good evening. How are you?

Good. Will you please introduce yourself by your full name? And

I'm lieutenant David Campa with the police department.

Thank you. All right. Did you want to say anything before we ask questions?

No. I'm just here if you had any questions about the statistics that we had in the slides or general questions about the city in terms of crime and

So are these statistics for the past year?

This is not for the past calendar year, but just for the last year in general. This is going to be minus nine eleven hang ups, which are difficult to geolocate, so we did not include those in medical calls as well. But, over the last, year, we had, six calls, at El Viprazo Park, and they had to deal with suspicious circumstance calls, domestic disturbance, suspicious vehicle, a welfare check, and an animal complaint.

Okay. And there was another slide. What was that? Yes. What's this?

Oh, thank you. This is the Briggs Ranch Plaza. Once again, this will not include 911 hang up or any type of medical call. And that's the list of the calls that were generated from that entire plaza. Most of them, as you see, are going to be associated with the Ranch ninety nine Market and the Dollar Tree store. And they include a wide variety of calls for service.

Okay. Questions for the officer? Commissioner Hurst?

Hello, officer. Thank you for being here tonight. I have a few interrelated questions. To start with, I appreciate providing all of these statistics from the police department, but I'll just mention for the good of the order that, current crime statistics are a good benchmark by which to measure the future. And I think one of the goals of this commission is so that we don't have future crimes, that are related to this project. To that end, in your professional opinion, do you anticipate potential additional staffing needs as relating to the police department, in the vicinity of the area that may be related to having a liquor store?

Yeah. I understand your concern. I wish we had a future crimes unit as well. A lot of that depends. I did some research on several of the other establishments in our city just to see if I could come up with some type of trend To tell you that there's not really a trend, in my professional opinion, a lot of it has to do with the licensee, how well they maintain their property, do they have proper signage, is there the proper lighting?

A lot of the environmental requirements that will tend to either attract or disperse crime. And so I couldn't find a general trend other than of the parks and areas we have in our city. This is not one that our homeless outreach team considers to be a hot spot. It's not where they spend a majority of their time, as right now, in their enforcement activities.

Thank you. A quick follow-up. With regards to the transient population, are there typical areas where they tend to head out in the city, and is there

a

trend associated with that?

There are parks that were reported to me that where they spend most of their enforcement time. It's not this one. The main areas in Folsom are Kemp Park, Lemby Park, and Mann Park, as reported by, their team to me today.

Okay. Thank you.

And Commissioner Barcelona?

Lieutenant, thank you for coming tonight. I had a question about the mitigation measures using the cameras. Can you explain how the inclusion of cameras as mitigation measure would prevent crime in this instance?

So any any mitigation measure that you take and that would include cameras, proper lighting, proper signage anything that tends to deter crime because there is a method at the store to which a perpetrator could be identified. And so similar to when you have a house and you place a burglary sign that you have an alarm system in your house, A person that is looking to be opportunistic in crime will tend to pass up that because there's some method there where they could potentially be caught. So we found just in my, I guess, two decades of law enforcement experience that the more of those factors you have, the less chance that crimes will be committed on your property.

Okay. So it's accessing GREEN: the

recordings after the fact? You say that just the presence of a camera has a deterrent effect?

The presence of a camera has a deterrent effect. We found sometimes whether it's working or not. Now, course, we would like high definition cameras in all the businesses because we have methods that weren't available to us many years ago in order to take what would be an unknown person and identify them. And so we, of course, appreciate cameras. They can capture vehicles that can be then identified on traffic cameras and then through license plate readers. So yes, it's something that its presence mitigates crime and also helps us solve potential crimes as well.

All right. Thank you.

Other questions? One of the concerns that we heard last time, Lieutenant, was about whether it would cause an open container problem in the park. You know, if somebody wanders over to the liquor store and buys something and then goes and drinks it in the park when that's really actually something that's prohibited in Folsom, would you I mean, how big a problem do we have with open containers in parks now? And is that something that would concern you?

I'm

not going to say that we have a massive problem, but it is a problem in the city. We have recently stood up a team to our homeless outreach team in order to address some of those issues. So it was something important enough to our community and to the department that we actually put the resources into standing up this team. Certainly, you can't ignore that that is going to be a possibility, although there are environmental factors that you can do in parks, such as just proper lighting, parks that are more commonly used with sports facilities that are used at night, I think there's which that park does have, I believe.

Kana Mae across the street, I think.

Right. Okay. So general activity in the park tends to keep people away. They don't feel comfortable doing something that might be illegal where other people are watching. So that is something you can also do to mitigate it. Although it'd be very hard to know, just if this will be a

problem yet for this way

for that park.

All right. Thank you. Anybody else? All right. Lieutenant, thank you very much for your time and for being here.

You're welcome. If you

don't mind sticking around a little bit in case there are any other questions. Is that doable?

That's doable.

Okay. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. All right. So now it's time to go to public comment. We have a very nice stack of orange cards here. If there's anybody else who wants to speak tonight who has not submitted an orange card, do Chair you want Reynolds? Yes.

Sorry. Can the applicant have their time?

Oh, good point. I'm sorry, I've got these orange Yes, cards blinding me over you very much, you guys. I'm sorry. Here I'm jumping again. I felt we had two speakers and I forgot the applicant. Yes, I'm sorry. Would the applicant please come up first and then we will go to public comment? Sorry about that. I'm sorry about that, sir. That was very rude of me. It's fine.

I'm a little nervous.

No, that's all right. Go ahead. Just introduce yourself. Okay. And if you'll just reintroduce yourself to the commission and do your thing.

Good evening. Good evening, dear honorable members, the planning commission and respective residents. Thank you very much for the opposition letters because I gone through all the opposition letters, and, we we learned a lot of concerns. And, thank you very much for that, and we prepared our mitigation strategy for that, how we can cater those concerns. So

Before you go on, will you please announce your name for the record?

Yes. Sorry. So myself,

you remember you are speaking to the commission tonight,

though. Yeah. Sorry. So, myself, Jasvinder Singh, and my partner is Diaz Giddagh. Unfortunately, he's upset. I'm sorry about that because he had to go for his hotel convention in Vegas. Basically, we appreciate the opportunity to respond the community and planning commission regarding our condition use permit application for the liquor well. Our goal is to clarify intentions, address concerns, and demonstrate our commitment to responsible, transparent, and community conscious operations. First of all, I apologize because we choose a wrong name, Liquor Well. Because when we say Liquor Well, so everybody say, oh, it's a liquor store.

So, mistakes happen. So it should be like Liquor Well end market. So a little bit about ourself, our background. So is led by DS Gedda and Jussi, which is me. We bring sixty years of experience.

I have twenty year of experience, and mister Gedda is having, forty years of experience in hotel, hospitality, liquor stores. I'm a, you know, sales professional, so I was in business development, customer service. So we believe we would able to, you know, handle this convenience store, like which is, like, only less than 2,000 square feet efficiently because back in home, I was handling a team of 25 people for the water and wastewater industry, similarly with the Pathwater. So we that's why we believe we were able to, you know, do it for our community in a better way, in comparison to any other liquor stores. When we say liquor store, that's why people, you know, feel it is not a safe place in the neighborhood.

So what is Liquor Well? Liquor Well is proposed locally owned convenience store with liquor. It's a convenience store designed to meet growing needs of the Briggs Ranch community in Folsom. That is something not currently available in 2.3 miles radius. Liquor Well is not just a liquor store.

It is modern quick in and out neighborhood convenience store that combines daily essentials with better selections of craft beer, wines, and premium spirits. Strategically located near a busy corridor and residential area, Liquorwal aim aims to serve residents, commuters, visitors with integrity, account accountability, and respect. We I have gone through the letter. So before I address all those concern, we have done some changes to the project plan, operational standards. So our floor plan is one of them.

I'll come to the floor plan. So we did did did some changes. All hard liquor will be behind the cashier to minimize the risk of coal access and shoplifting by the miners because the three major concern which I have learned from out of all those letters, that is it is very close to the elementary school. It is very close to the park. And third one is Liquor Valley is not needed because we have already, you know, some alcohol selling outlets.

So Liquor Valley is these are the three main concern which I would like to address through these changes and through my mitigate our mitigation strategy. So we changed that. There won't be no leak on the floor. So everything gonna be behind the may I use the thing? I just need the light.

You want the pointer, Jessica? All

right, thank you. So this is basically the register. So this is the entrance. So all the liquor is behind here. All the cigarette tobacco product and everything is going to be here. Even we put a small cold wall for the liquor. Whatever we were thinking to put it into the liquor cave here, like the bigger sizes of liquor, that we put it gonna put it over here. So all the liquor gonna be here, and these there are some gates over here. So nobody will have access to leak hard liquor. It would be behind the cashier.

So cashier would be doing giving out with the with after checking the, you know, IDs. So no flow liquor on the floor. That's a that's a major change. Number two is beer cable have most of the six pack and above self serve. So in the beer cave itself, there would be only six pack and more. So there won't be loose beer cans or, you know, singles or whatever we were thinking about. So there was gonna be in this cooler. The the bigger cooler in the front, that's a reach in cooler. The beer cave is patron can go inside. They can pick their stuff, and they can choose whatever they want.

But these are the a few shelves are gonna be having beer, single beer, some cocktail drinks, but it would be in front of the registers. So these are all the cameras we put over here. If you see, we have a camera for each aisle. So there are two CCTVs here and here, some in the back room. So the cashier is going to monitor the liquor or sorry, not liquor, the beer and the cocktail drinks, which are being offered here in the or reach in cooler.

So the BRK is also having a CCTVs. So if somebody is going in, so that is also being monitored. The next one is the change which I just did. That is we will go by the hours meant, you know, recommended by the Folsom PD. We respect their, you know, discretions. So whatever the hours they have, know, proposed, we will go by that. We will we are taking our proposed hours back. So we will operate eight to ten. If community will support us in the future, probably, we'll think about it with the community consent. But for for now, we can go for eight to nine eight to ten throughout the week.

The next one is there will be a three dedicated CCTV cameras in front, one in the front and two in the rear area facing park, and the retaining wall for the kids and neighborhood safety. Footage footage will be available to Folsom PD with the request. We have increased the floor area of items from 110 square foot to 450 40 square foot. It would be more than four fifty because it's gonna be 500 because we're we're gonna gonna put some items like snacks and candy section under the this counter, like, register. They would be full of snacks.

So that is the additional area. So earlier, we were having only three shelves. So what we did, we reduced the cooler size, and we reduced the the leaker size, the leaker, you know, shelf width. We reduced the, you know, the register size, and we added up, like, three more shelves. So we we're gonna put all the, you know, convenience items over here.

So that's the floor area we have increased for the convenience item. The next one will will be all staff will be complete responsible beverage service training certified. So that is called RBST training. So all the, you know, staff would be working over there. They will have a, you know, full training on how to serve the leaker, on how to handle the situation.

This teaches them how to check ID, handle tough situations, spot intoxication, understand how old coal affects customers. The next one will be we will be using POS three sixty because some of the folks ask, like, what what kind of ID, you know, verification process we're gonna use. So we're gonna use the POS three sixty with the ID scanner for our coal and all tobacco products. So without, you know, with ID verification, so our coal product cannot be sold. And we're also gonna encourage positive reinforcement of staff by the clerk who refused sales to minor received rewards while those who did not were reminded of the law.

So the next one would be we will be ready already having a private security patrol at night because I checked with the plaza, so they have a private security patrol at night. And we have requested to them, and they said that they can increase the frequency as needed. We also worked out student and group shopping policy because some of the commissioner last time raised the concern about the students and groups coming in, some rowdy customers coming in. So for that, we have worked out a student shopping policy or group shopping policy. I'll I'll give you a little bit of the insight on that policy in a little bit.

The next point is thanks for the keeping fulsome clean message would be will be advertised on the customer receipts. So some of the commissioners and the the residents having a concern, probably we a lot of customer gonna litter around, and it's gonna make, like, a unpleasant situation. So for that, we already committed. We we are going to, you know, partner with the local, nonprofit organization. We're gonna sponsor them, and we're gonna run a fulsome keep fulsome clean campaign that that message could be, you know, printed on the all receipts to, you know, just to make it aware to our resident, to aware about the our mission and, you know, our participation.

Digital request book to prebook your favorite drinks, snacks, essential will be available at register. So we added another thing, thinking about how we can be differentiate, how can we more competitive with the other existing stores. So there would be a digital preorder request book. So anybody coming in, need because mister Justin asked me a question, like, what kind of legal we would be serving. So sometimes, like, we would be we won't know, like, what what our neighborhood want from us, like, what kind of inventory we should carry.

So we're gonna have a request book over there. If somebody needed it, it's gonna be connected with the Internet. They can just get us the stuff they need. We're gonna get it as soon as possible for them with reasonable rates. So that's gonna be addition.

Another thing I would like to inform the community, that is, Liquor Well is already conditioned by the landlord not to put Liquor more than 35% of the total floor space, which only be behind the cashier counter, no self serve for hard Liquor. So we would be putting allowed only 35%. So that is the lease condition. So we cannot go more than 35% on the floor ever, but our commitment is to keep everything behind the counter. So whatever the area we are utilizing, that would be behind the register only.

Now coming back to the community concern and our mitigation strategy. Lot of letters we got, not in favor of this proposal. As commissioner Barcelona asked, like, is there any kind of letter in support? We didn't reach out to the community because we were advised by the, the planning commission not to reach out to the residents directly, so we never reached out to anybody for any support. That could be the reason we are not getting any support.

So the concern is too close to elementary school. This school is located well beyond the thousand feet ABC regulatory limit. Certified maps have been submitted to the honorable commission. The Folsom Element Hills Elementary School is approximately 1,950 feet, which is, like, point three miles. It's a walking distance.

If we go by the road, that's gonna be 0.5 or, like, nearby 2,500 feet away. But if we consider the walking distance, so it's, around 2,000 feet from the proposed liquor store, and it is not located along any pedestrian route student used to access the school. The shopping center is not part of the school commuting path. However, we expect student and kids during park usage hour. Therefore, we included the student group shopping policy along with the following robust operational safeguards.

So next one is my our student access and entry and theft protection policy. Recognizing the proximity to the nearby school, the public park, we have adopted specific safeguard to prevent access to alcohol, tobacco, and reduce any risk of theft. Number one is dedicated staff during peak hours. So during the peak hour, which is a school dismissal and the park usage hours, So there would be always two people work behind the register working. On the weekends, there would be another person which is be working as a, you know, part time to take care of those, you know, peak hours, especially during school dismissal and park usage hours.

No access to local so alcohol and tobacco. Minor have no access to any alcoholic beverage, tobacco product under any circumstances. Hard liquor and tobacco section is behind the register. Strict ID verification would be there. Any customer or minor attempting to purchase the alcohol not customer.

Sorry. The miners trying to purchase the alcohol and tobacco product will undergo a mandatory ID scan. Regardless of the the appearance, we will using the POS three sixty with the ID scanner in built to verify the age and every for every alcohol and tobacco sale. We have a zero tolerance policy, particularly for our staff also. So any attempt to access tamper with the or steal alcohol by underage customer will be immediately reported to school, parents, authorities, and future access may be restricted.

Service may be refused. But we have a zero tolerance policy no. Sorry. Backpack drop zone. So a designated student backpack drop zone would be available in in the front desk.

Student entering the backpack will respectfully be asked to, you know, leave them in the front at a backpack spot, backpack rack. Limit on group entry. So to ensure better supervision and prevent any disturbance, this store may limit student or group entry to no more than three individuals at a time during peak school hours and park usage hours. High surveillance coverage. Security cameras will be installed in all aisles with special attention to alcohol, beer, wine, and wine products.

As I mentioned, all the staff would be r RBST certified. Zero tolerance for the under under ACL. Violation lead to immediate disciplinary disciplinary action against the staff, and it would be re recorded for the community also. Next question is, concern is proximity to the park. Given that both ninety nine Ranch Market located approximately three fifty feet from a public park and Raleigh situated just three two sixty feet from Economy Family Park currently operate with active liquor license without causing documented issue related to crime safety littering and loitering, is reasonable to conclude that the proposed liquor well store operating under similar conditions with better operational standards does not present any, greater risk.

It is also important to note that both ninety nine Market Raleigh are are large self-service store gross service grocery stores where alcoholic beverages are accessible in open aisles, allowing customer, including minor, to physically access alcohol products. In contrast, Liquorwell will be a small, tightly managed small business where all spirits and high proof alcohol are stored securely behind the register, entirely inaccessible to the miners. This controlled access setup, along with the limited customer volume, trained staff oversight, allowed this significantly better monitoring and enforcement age restriction compared to large grocery environments. The cumulative impact of similar retail projects in comparable proximity to the public parks has not been has not been significant. Moreover, no unusual circumstances exist that would distinguish Liquor distinguish Liquor well from these other license establish establishments within the same category.

Liquor well enhanced surveillance around the park will increase safety, not diminish it. The planning department findings regarding the Circle K on Natoma Street located directly across the Folsom City Loin Park serve a strong example that well managed retail establishment do not contribute to crime loitering and littering. In fact, they can help deter such issues through proper oversight and compliance. This demonstrate that the mere proximity of the convenience store to a public car does not inherently result in a coal related problems. I did a little bit of research.

I put some, you know, links over there on my reply. So based on the data from the Sacramento Police Department community crime map, there have been no reported related crimes, including DUI public intoxication and related involved assaults within 500 foot radius of Thunderland Amusement Park in William Land Regional Park over the past six months. So that park is almost like it's a regional park, so that is almost 200, acre park, which is quite bigger than almost you can say it's 20 time bigger than the the Briggs LV Briggs Park. It's a there is a, you know, front of land. There is a, playground also.

There is a regional park, golf course, and a zoo. So there are four establishments, around that, park.

I just wanna remind you, we do have this material that you submitted to us. So, I I and I'd like you to keep your comments to what's happening in Folsom and what you're going to do. It seems like you've covered almost everything. Maybe to wrap up what you have and then also show us how you want to change the floor plan.

Sure.

Lost my other floor plan. Okay. So, just to conclude, we have operational standards. We we are bringing in trained staff. We're gonna have a lighting outside. We have a CCTV cameras measures. Owner's gonna have a, you know, be there as a management to take care of, you know, the the regular operations or everyday operations. And we're gonna have a no light ring policy, no littering policy, no open container, you know, policy. So those gonna be enforced. Because as some of the commissioner mentioned, like, we have done a lot of promises, but we are we want to be accountable.

If you want to put some kind of condition in the commission use permit, we don't mind it, but we're gonna follow through, and we're gonna implement those measures. As far as the cameras, you know, the other security measures we are taking we are putting up there to, you know, take care of the the community, the operations, any kind of crime, safety concerns. That is that is to, you know, make debt to deter the the those incidents. So since we we are already having two stores which are already operating since as far as the the 99 store market is concerned, they have very limited, you know, in inventory. They have, like, eight American brands, four American brands of beer, eight American brands of liquor.

Relay is selling on premium. So we're gonna bring in some quality stuff with the with our customer demand, and we're gonna sell it at a betting better price because we have a price also. And we we it will not gonna be a liquor store, so it's gonna be a, you know, a corner store where we we serving our community with other grocery items also because 50% more than 50% of the stuff gonna be grocery items. So I'll I'll con conclude. I'll I'll answer the questions asked by our residents because I have a lot of stuff to say, but I I understand, like, we have time limitations, so, I respect that.

Well, I think we've heard most or pretty much all of your arguments and and having read your material. So appreciate that. Thank you. Before you leave, are there questions for the applicant? Applicant? Sure. Sure. Commissioner Commissioner Barcelona. Barcelona.

Thank you, sir, for your comments tonight. Just a couple of quick questions. From your comments, are you suggesting that you're going

to change the name of the business? We don't mind. We don't mind because it's not a liquor store. If if you want, we could put a liquor store in market. We don't mind. We we just thought of a name, and it came in our mind, and we just put apply a DBA. We we don't mind to change the name. There's absolutely no problem. If our residents are comfortable, it's not a liquor store, it's gonna be a a convenience store, we don't mind. We don't wanna stick to the name. We we really want to open a convenience corner store in and out to help the community. K. It's for the community.

Do you plan on accepting EBT? Yes, sir. Okay. Alright. Thank you.

Yes, sir.

Other questions? Commissioner Laney.

I'm not seeing this in the condition, so if it is there, please correct me. But, you've mentioned that it's the landlord that is restricting you to 35%

Yes.

Liquor. So but that is a lease negotiation. So that's not necessarily part of the conditional use permit. So if you were to renegotiate the lease, it's possible that you can expand liquor, offering within the store.

To be very honest sorry. To be very honest, we don't need it. The reason because we don't have much space. It's 1,600 square foot store. We if we are already, you know, have it set up for the grocery and everything, we we don't wanna put more liquor. The reason because we're gonna put everything behind. Because what is our plan? We're gonna have a high shelves. So all the premium liquor gonna be on the top so that nobody gonna have excess. Rest of the stuff gonna be we're gonna make some, you know, lockable, you know, like, cupboards.

So with the glass. So the high premium stuff gonna be under the law. So we really don't need to revise our our lease. The reason because they were pretty strict. They were the earlier they put a condition for 25%, we already negotiated. So So it's it's not I don't think so it's going going to be negotiated further.

So just to clarify that then, would you object to a condition that limits you to 35% No. If we impose

No. No. No. No. Not a problem. Not a problem. The reason because we already planned to, you know, put everything behind the

Got it.

Behind the register. So Okay.

Got it. Anything else? Any other questions from any commissioners? Commissioner Hurst?

Am I allowed to ask staff to respond to a comment?

Maybe during the deliberations. Let's not have that. We don't want to have a back and forth right now, I don't think, with the applicant. Anything else for the applicant? Any questions? Okay, thank you, Mr. Singh.

You may

sit down.

Thank you very much.

Appreciate your discussion today. All right, now we go to the orange cars. Now I just want everyone to know before we get this started, how many orange cards do we have, Stephanie? We have 29. 29. Okay, so, okay, thank you. Thank you, but we're gonna be civil about this. We have 30. Come on up. I feel like I'm in an auction. Okay. But just give it to the give it give it to, commissioner Barcelona. He'll pass it down. Anybody else who wants to speak? Now, for one thing, I wanna lay the groundwork for all of you about what happens with a conditional use permit.

If it's approved here tonight, the side that's not happy can appeal it to the city council. And if it's denied here tonight, the side that's not happy can appeal it to the city council. So really, the buck stops with our elected officials. We are all appointed by them, yes, by them, essentially. So just want to make sure you understand the process.

So if you go home without having one, any side, it's not over tonight, Okay? The other thing I would ask of the I'm assuming it's all opposition since we've already talked about that there were no letters of support is that if you don't have something that's different from what the person before you said, we don't need to hear the same arguments over again. I think what I would ask of you then is that we certainly want to have you come up and tell us who you are and tell us your position. And you can even tell us where you live. But other than that, I don't want to hear 50 or 30 times that it's because it's by the park.

Mean, I think we're going to get that. So I would imagine the first few of your speakers will probably cover almost all the talking points. So if there's something that wasn't covered by an earlier speaker, by all means, add it in. But I would invite you to please just keep it, Because I think probably all of you don't want to be here till midnight, nor do I think we, just hearing the same thing over and over again. So I see some thumbs up and some nods, so I appreciate that.

Okay. So I think with that and if you have an orange card, please bring it up to Commissioner Barcelona on the end there, and we'll add you to the queue. And then I think we are ready to go. So I'm going to have Stephanie call the names, and then she will also tell you who's on deck. So the second name will be the person who should be prepared to get up so we can expedite things. Alright? So Stephanie, you're on. Tell us who's coming up first.

Thank you, ma'am. First up, we have Jennifer Reagan, and on deck, we have Rachel McHeal.

Alright. So Jennifer Reagan, come on up. And even though we call your name, you should also announce your name when you get up here for the record. Our meetings are recorded, so people may want to listen to these after the fact.

Okay. Good evening.

I did not know I was gonna be first, but that's okay. My name is Jennifer Reagan, and I am a resident of the Briggs Ranch neighborhood with my husband and three children. I am recommending that the Planning Commission vote no and decline the conditional use permit for the liquor well. I have two studies that align with the municipal code and our arguments that I would like to share with you tonight. Detrimental to the health.

Insight Recovery Treatment Center article, vulnerable populations face heightened risk in areas with concentrated alcohol availability. Adolescents are particularly susceptible. Studies indicate teenagers living near multiple liquor stores are twice as likely to experiment with the alcohol before the age of 16. Documented effects in high density areas lead to increased rates of binge drinking, alcohol dependency, alcohol related accidents, and public intoxication. This relates to how adolescents are particularly susceptible and frequent this park and shopping area, in particular with my own middle school boys who like to frequent the park and enjoy the, sometimes spending their hard earned allowance at the local Dollar Tree for candy and soda.

Alcohol outlet density crime article from Ventura Country Country Country Behavioral Health states, the density of alcohol outlets has also been found to be related to other alcohol problems such as drinking and driving, higher rates of motor vehicle related pedestrian injuries, and child abuse and neglect. Folsom, including the Briggs Ranch neighborhood, has a reputation for being a safe and wonderful place to raise our children, and we are hoping to keep it that way. Thank you so much.

All right. Thank you. You were right within and we would really rather not have applause either because that's going take more time also. So if we could just be I know you're all going to love everything that everybody's going to say here. Now, the thing I didn't mention, but you followed it without me mentioning it, is we do have a three minute limit per speaker, which you did beautifully. So I just want to make sure that everybody knows that that top number there is the kind of the countdown for the three minutes. So thank you very much. Go right ahead.

Thank you. My name is Rachel McNeil Caird, and I also am a resident of Briggs Ranch and have children who attend schools in the area. I also was a former teacher at Folsom Hills that is located right around the corner from this location. I recommend the Planning Commission vote no and decline the conditional use permit for the BLIC well. I'm not an expert on this, but I did look for experts who have talked about how these places influence communities.

And Doctor. Wells, who is or Doctor. Grill, excuse me, who is a psychologist who looks at communities, did a very in-depth study of how they affect the area. And she said, population health is fundamentally connected to the condition in which people live, work, learn, and play. And she goes on to say that residents, contend that off safe off-site off sale, excuse me, alcohol outlets compromised park accessibility and community mobility, asserting that these places, these properties were magnets for crime and violence.

Our lieutenant gave a wonderful demonstration of how limited our crime is in this area right now, and, we love our children to be out and utilizing these areas and look forward to them being able to be children out in these areas. And one of the concerns that I feel is that our parks close at nine That is the typical time. It says one hour after sunrise. Sunrise usually ends about 08:00. So our parks are closed at nine.

Our lieutenant brought up that, the the nice part about people being out in the community is that less crime does happen. But when our parks are closed that early and the liquor well continues to be open after that time, then we have more of an increase of that possibility of crime happening. I frequent that park because I live by it and walk around it often. And there's a lot of unlit areas and a lot of areas that I feel could be a magnet for some type of crime that could possibly happen. So that's what I would like to bring for you today. Thank you for listening.

Thank you very much. We forgot to tell who's on deck.

Up next, we have Sandra Harvey, Melinda English, and then Sharon Voorhees.

Okay. So you've heard that. Come on up.

Hello. I am Sandra Harvey, and I live in Briggs Ranch, half for twenty five years. I have a problem with the proximity to the park, but not just the proximity of the park, the proximity to the bike trails and to all the places where the indigent and alcoholic folks who are homeless and who are out and drinking in public, drinking along the bike trails I know that they rousted a bunch of them off of the bike trails along the river. It's just a stone's throw across the street to bike areas where folks can have their liquor and stay away from folks and live their lives the way they want to live them. But I don't want to see that ruining the beauty that our neighborhood is and that the bike paths around our neighborhood is.

And that's it. Thank you very much. Next.

Hi. My name is Melinda English. I do just want to clarify a few points that I've heard repeatedly tonight. I do live in the Briggs Ranch area. My front door is less than four minutes from the park.

And I keep hearing statements that it's not a thoroughfare for the school. And I can guarantee you that it is. We have friends and children that walk through that park to get to school and walk through that park to get home and actually walk through the parking lot of the place where the store is proposing to be located. We are definitely a bit frustrated because as a homeowner in Briggs Ranch, we're having this undesired store put on us, and I feel that the burden's being put on our community to have to come up with reasons and explain why this would be a detriment to our community. And through all the communication tonight, I've yet to hear a reason why we absolutely need this store in our community.

People already go across the street to Aisle 1 to gas up their boats. I saw those kind of comments in the write ups. They go to the mini mart and the grocery store to get their food to go boating, you know, kind of two birds in one stone. Kids already get their snacks at the dollar store. They're all at Taco Bell. I think we see them there all the time if you do live in the community. And so at this point, I'm struggling to see the need for the store versus all of us trying to explaining what a detriment it will actually be to our community. And therefore, I would also recommend that the Planning Commission vote no and decline the conditional use permit for the liquor well. And I actually drugged this poor eight year old here tonight, she was very adamant that she would like to speak.

Well, that's quite all right. Go right ahead. Please tell your name to the microphone and then let us know.

My name's Maya, and I don't think we should have the liquor store because people will be doing disrespectful things that we might end up doing, and we won't feel safe. And I've been living here for eight and a half years. People will be littering cigarettes and alcohol. It won't be good for the environment or us. And that's why you should not put a liquor store in the park.

Thank you very much, Maya. Appreciate you coming tonight.

Thank you, sweetie. So I wanted to make sure she got that in. And one other clarifying item, we keep repeatedly talking about the security cameras at the liquor store. I genuinely am not concerned as much about what would happen at the liquor store. It's the fact that we don't have cameras in the park. Where are the sign you know what I mean? Like, all this signage, we're gonna put things in tags. The people I think we're all concerned about using the liquor store and then going to the park are going to disregard any sign or any note that we put on a receipt. The fact is, you know, we do have a park right now that is safe for our community that I think has been explained by the officer that was here tonight, and we'd like to keep that going. Thank you guys all very much for your

time. Thank you both for coming tonight. All right. And let's who else will be on deck?

Up next is

Sharon Voorhees, and then we have Anne Petchauer and Sabrina Reed.

All right. Hi.

Hi. My name is Sharon Voorhees. I have four kids ages 14, 16, 18, and 20. I am here because I would like to recommend that the Planning Commission vote no and decline the conditional use permit for the liquor well. One of my reasons and concerns is from personal and professional experience.

Vaping, use of nicotine products across the board, is a huge concern for health and safety. Whether we have it statistical on paper or not. I know professionally and personally that minors having access and using these products is real in our community. So I would prefer that the use of convenience along with these products not be combined. I would also like to address that I am very uncomfortable with the amount of parameters and conditions and safety measures and all the stuff that needs to go to have this store available to our community.

And in my opinion, no matter what store would be there, I believe that if it is safe and gives me peace and is for our general welfare in our neighborhood, which to us, that center is like our backyard. I don't believe it should have all these parameters and safety measures necessary. So that's all.

Thank you so much. Thank you. Next up.

Hi. Good evening. My name is Ann Petchauer, and I'm a 25 resident of Briggs Ranch. So one of the things when we talked about, with the planning commission already is whether or not there was any kind of traffic mitigation or impact, looked at relative to adding the number of vehicles that were coming in and out of that parking lot. I was surprised to hear that there had been any discussion of that perhaps.

And, also, one of the questions I would like the commission to ask the applicant is, in their business plan, how many people do they perceive, or have they planned in their business plan to use that every day? It's not like the nail salon where you have 10 or 12 an hour. I was less concerned about a high end liquor store than I was about the fact that it's a convenience store. Convenience stores, general traffic is usually three three hundred and fifty cars to 1,800 stops a day if you look at some of the statistics from the, National Association of Convenience Stores. Whether or not it's three fifty, two fifty, 1,200, that area is already very impacted by traffic.

All of us take our lives into our own hands sometimes. When we are trying to get out of the Raley's parking lot, you turn to get back onto Blue Ravine with traffic coming from Eldorado Hills at 50 miles an hour. There is a memorial on the corner there from the accident that we see every day. The ingress and egress out of that parking lot, whether it's on the Starbucks side or whether it's on the branch, the park side, is difficult. And to have any number of added vehicles would be something that we would want to consider impactful relative to the safety and the well-being of the community.

So I I just would like that looked at a little closer. So I really based on that, I recommend the Planning Commission say no and decline the conditional use permit of the liquor well. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next up, and who's on deck?

Up next, we have Sabrina Reed followed by Michelle Kane and Kim Garrett. All right, you're up.

Hello, my name is Sabrina Reed and I have lived in Folsom for over fifty years and I've lived in Briggs Ranch specifically for over thirty. So I'm very committed to our city as well as our neighborhood. I oppose the opening of the liquor store for several reasons, the most being what's already stated is the close proximity to the park. The biggest point is there is a need in our community, and we have other other options. Truth be told, a liquor store opening or closing doesn't affect personally.

I have grown children, liquor but I have grandchildren and I actually don't take them to my local park. I take them to other neighborhood parks. We have had problems in the park beyond the year, but many problems with homelessness and actually during the summer months. We have teens that hang out at the park in the parking lot and party and there's liquor going on. And I just believe that a liquor store going in right there is only gonna further the problem, not help it.

In addition, it's no secret that there's a correlation between neighborhood liquor stores and an increase in crime. While we can't predict it, statistics have shown it. There's numerous studies and I know it was stated last month that the liquor store in Lexington Hills hasn't had any problems and I would hope that would be the case in our neighborhood as well. However, given the problems we've already had with the parties and the homeless, I I don't think it's helpful. In these studies, I wanted to to state, researchers found a correlation between alcohol outlets and crime rates among teens and young adults age 13 to 24.

They found that the crime rates were significantly higher in neighborhoods that had higher densities of liquor stores that devoted more cooler space for single serve containers. That was talked about tonight. These results suggest that alcohol control can be an important tool in crime prevention and reducing the sales of single serve, to consume containers of alcohol can have an additional impact on preventing crime in this age group. I have two friends who live close. One of them I was talking with today.

And we were discussing this matter and she believes that our voices don't matter. She actually said, you know, all summer I see teens congregate at the park to party in the parking lot. Then we have to listen to their log cars go screeching out of there. This liquor store is just the next thing that we don't want, but can't stop. This corner is going to look like Orangeville soon.

I believe our voices do matter. That's why we're here. That's why we have such a great people coming out to oppose this. And I'd like to end with a statement from one of the studies that was written by the University of California Riverside. There is no reason that communities concerned about this issue and their impact cannot take regulatory action on the basis of this study. Community interests should dictate local policy and the potential benefits of reduced violence outweigh any potential harm that banning or limitation of such sales would create. So with that, I, would urge you to vote no on this. Thank you. Thank you.

Next up, and who's on deck?

We have Michelle Kane and then Kim Garrett and Ashley Garcia.

All right. Hi.

Hi there. Good evening, planning commissioners. I'm Michelle Kane. I've lived in Briggs Ranch for, gosh, over twenty five years now with our boys. They played at that park, Little League. I strongly oppose this liquor store. I don't think there is a place for it. Being a former reporter for eighteen years in the community, I can tell you I've covered numerous liquor store, convenience store, robberies, burglaries, murders. Just ask me. So there is no place for this.

We have Raley's. We have the $0.99 or $0.99 Ranch Market. There is a place for folks to get alcohol. We don't need more alcohol in the neighborhoods, especially close to the park. Thank you.

Doctor. Thank you very much. Next.

Doctor. I'm Kim Guerra. I also live in Brooks Ranch and I'll start off by saying that there are studies done out of Ventura County and LA 74 cities in LA County that say when you add bars, restaurants, liquor, and other stores that sell alcohol that they suffer an increased frequency of violence. And we have all that in the area. We have restaurants. We have stores. We have the tap house. And so already with the tap house I can see them coming over from the tap house. That's the only liquor store open. And I think when a liquor store is open till midnight they're not going to buy liquor.

They're going to buy more liquor. So coming from the tap house, let's go get another bottle, and then, you know, we have an issue. Also, I'm concerned because we have too many car accidents on, that intersection and going over to the, bridge and and deadly accidents. So there's already a problem with that. Now I'm not saying everyone's going to be intoxicated. I think this man's store, he did a good idea. I just do not think it should be in a residential area. And this is our backyard. I don't think anyone would want it in their back yard. Thank you. Thank you. Next up. And who's on deck?

We have Ashley Garcia followed by Michelle Sanderson and Emily Brayton. Alright. Thank you.

My name is Ashley Garcia. I have lived in the Briggs Ranch neighborhood for eleven years. I love our community, our school, neighborhood, our park. I have two children who attend Folsom Hills Elementary, and we use the park a lot. I recommend the Planning Commission vote no and decline the conditional use permit for the liquor well to preserve the health and general welfare of our community.

I'm going to be focusing on a study that an article in Australia by the University of Western Australia. I understand we don't live in Australia, but I am convinced that the findings are extremely relevant to our community and the proposed, store. A study by the University of Western Australia found that people with more liquor outlets in their neighborhood have higher levels of harmful drinking and worse mental health than those who live farther away from such outlets. According to this research, this was significant sorry, I'm over I'm nervous. This is significant because most research on alcohol outlet density has previously focused on violence, crime, safety, and traffic accidents, which we have already discussed most of that.

But multiple alcohol outlets can affect the mind and the body. This study found the average number of standard drinks per day and the rate of harmful alcohol consumption increased for each additional alcohol outlet in a neighborhood. They also found the likelihood of being treated in a hospital for anxiety, stress, depression increased as the number of alcohol outlets within walking distance of home increased. There are at least six liquor licenses between the Briggs Shopping Center and the Raley's Shopping Center. We have Hisui Sushi.

We have the ninety nine Ranch Market. We have Raley's, the gas station. We have Folsom Tap House, Mimosa House, and I'm sure there's probably others. I neither need nor want another alcohol selling establishment, especially one where I was going to say the main product is alcohol, but 35. The study underscores the importance of limiting both the number of liquor store licenses and the geographic density of outlets as a way to improve mental health and to reduce other alcohol related harm. Please vote no. I feel like it sits in the best interest of our neighborhood, which is swarming with children. So thank you very much.

Thank you. And next up, and who's on deck?

We have Michelle Sanderson, followed by Emily Brayton, and Amanda Pine. All right. Thank you. Hi.

Thank you for letting us speak. My name is Michelle Sanderson, and I've been a Briggs Ranch resident for almost fifteen years. Our goal here tonight is to prove to you that this establishment, maintenance, or operation of use or building applied will, under the circumstances of this particular case, be detrimental to health, safety, peace, morals, comfort, and general welfare of persons residing or working in our neighborhood. I recommend the Planning Commission vote no and decline the conditional use permit for the liquor well. I'd like to bring to your attention, about an incomplete analysis of, a point mentioned in the packet for tonight's meeting.

On page 59, staff was actually incorrect about there not being a direct route to the neighborhood through the park. There is a direct route, and it connects to Singer Lane. I live right next to that route that goes right down to our park. My house sits, right next to the avenue there, and it takes 150 steps from the top of the stairs to the front door of the liquor well from that entrance into our neighborhood, about a minute and twenty three seconds. There's another entrance into our neighborhood, which was mentioned through the bike path on the north side of the shopping center, and that takes about three fifty steps or about three and a half minutes to walk to the Briggs Ranch neighborhood through that entrance.

In addition, those routes into our neighborhood are unlit and dark paths that have six foot fences on either side of the pathway, so they are perfect places for unwanted and undetected activity. This relates to the peace and general welfare of our neighborhood. In addition, we love our house location. We are so close to the park and elementary school, the Raley Shopping Center, and the restaurants in the shopping center where Liquorrell wishes to reside. But we also help dealt with some of the negatives too because my house backs up to that park.

Briggs Park is supposed to close at sundown, but many nights, especially in the warmer months, we can hear people down at the park after sunset. We have found litter in our backyard. When my boys were younger, I remember bringing them down to play only to be met with broken and destroyed trees, graffiti on the shade structure, and tables. We've encountered the homeless camped up under the shade structures, and my husband and I have had to identify a young man who threatened another young person with a knife at the park. I still love our location even despite these problems, but I fear that adding a liquor store to the shopping center so close to the park will only exacerbate these violent and destructive acts.

In addition to it not being shut down at Suntown, the parking lot are a big gathering spot on the July 4. Large crowds gather there and fire off huge fireworks such that I can see them from my backyard, and my backyard sits far above that parking lot. To add a liquor store there, I just can't even imagine what the results would be. Even now, I will be in bed between ten and 11PM, and I will hear loud music from the park. Or I will hear someone doing donuts down in the parking lot by the liquor well where it would go.

I'm also very concerned about the liquor well offering convenience sign ins because then it actually gives our young people a reason to go into the store. It's hard enough to get the young people at Folsom to wear helmets, not ride electric scooters, and follow the road laws with e bikes. Let's not risk combining these motorized scooters and bikes with alcohol. This goes along with the general welfare of the city. I read the plan, and there will be signs posted about drinking and disposing of garbage. But again, it's not worth risking. And we know that children and adults don't always adhere to wearing helmets and closing time at parks. So we can't assume they would adhere to not opening alcoholic containers in addition to someone giving children going in at the legal age and buying something and then offering it to kids at the park because it's right there.

Thank you very much. Next up. And who else is on deck, Stephanie?

We have Emily Brayton and then Amanda Pine followed by Leah Schering.

All

right. Thank you. Hi.

All right.

Hi. I'm Emily Brayton. I've been a resident on Singer Lane for twenty six years, right behind ninety nine Ranch Market. And I want to thank you. You were very diligent in listening to all of this, and I appreciate your attention to detail.

So I wanted to highlight in the packet page 62 and the adjacency to the park. And it's not just that it's adjacent to the park, as Michelle spoke. It is a thoroughfare of kids walking to school through Briggs Park, walking through Briggs Park to Economy Park over to Raley's, and then the end of the school day walking through Briggs Park to Taco Bell or Dollar Tree or Boba, and that's where they're going to encounter the liquor well. Obviously, they've really listened to us. Maybe they could just sell not alcohol or nicotine at all.

We will join you and have you here. But it's just when you look at what you're all responsibility for and in using your verbiage that, when you look at the conditional use is detrimental, to health and safety, to the comfort and peace. You have not only parents who are anxious about this, but also people who have lived here. So comfort and peace are not happening with this liquor well coming in, as well as the morals. Folsom is a healthy community.

You look around, and we exercise. We pay attention to what we eat. And so we also promote a healthy life. And so we have Red Ribbon Week. So my concern with the liquor well is that with the moral piece is that as our kids are exposed to additional marketing and seeing the shiny packaging with alcohol or nicotine, but also when an adult role model is in that store purchasing something for vaping and it's their coach or their teacher. So we work hard to protect our kids. And so please vote no on the conditional use permit for the liquor wheel. Well,

Thank you. Come on up. And who's on deck? Hi, my name

is Amanda Pine. I'm a 10 resident of Briggs Ranch, and I have a child that goes to the elementary school, and I also have

a middle schooler. And a lot of

what I want to say has been covered, so I'll try just to summarize then my point. I wanted to speak to something that was in the packet on page 62 of the additional analysis that you cite a similarity between Lions Park and the Circle K that's nearby. And I just don't think it's a good comparison because Lions Park is fifteen eighty four feet from Circle K. You also have to cross a major street at a crosswalk to get there. And the proposed location of Liquorwell to the park entrance is only 100 feet and you're just crossing the parking lot. So it's just much closer. And I'm thankful that you recognize that it's a unique situation with where we are. And then Michelle also pointed, it goes also right into our neighborhood. I also live on Singer excuse me, on Singer Lane. And just to reiterate shortly, it is a thoroughfare.

Like, the amount of activity of kids going to and from and using the shopping center to get into and out of our neighborhood, it's just like, the public hub for our kids. And, it doesn't make me feel comfortable. And I do feel like it's a moral and a health issue. Emily just spoke that we celebrate Red Ribbon Week at school to promote not using these things. And, we can't normalize it and have them see it every day as they pass by the shop.

And, overall, it seems like it's looked at as the neighborhood and then the shopping center and, the park itself are three entities, but for me, it's like one in the hole, so if or one altogether, if you know what I'm saying. So when my kids go out to play or they go out, I feel like they're in the community. They're in my backyard because Briggs Park feels like my backyard. Thank you for your time.

Thank you very much. And who's on deck, Stephanie?

We have, Leah Schering followed by Valerie Cadigan and Heather Olson.

Alright. Hi.

Hi. My name is Leah Schering. I'm a resident of Briggs Ranch as well as and I also work at the school that's right nearby. So I wanted to continue on with what Amanda was saying, and, I'm gonna basically read it because I'm gonna quote someone who, submitted something previously. Albeit Circle K does does sell alcohol and cigarettes, and it is the perfect example of how a convenience store by a park causes crime and litter.

Neighbor Joel Schafer says it best. He says, this location is supposed to be a highlight for our city with the public library, city zoo, rodeo arena, and little league baseball fields. This increase in vagrancy and the convenient cheaper alcohol purchasing at the Circle K across the street has contributed to the deterioration of this park and its amenities. As a Little League coach, I have often had to clean up alcohol containers, cigarette butts, and drug paraphernalia to ensure the safety of my team. In addition to littering, we have seen an increase in erratic behavior by people loitering in this area and have had to escort kids and their families to the bathroom and their vehicles to maintain safety.

Please do not let this happen to LV Parazzo, big Briggs Park, and in our neighborhood. I agree. That's what I don't want to happen to our park and our neighborhood. I really like what, the police officer was saying about, how our neighborhood is pretty safe and our park is pretty safe, and I have a teen and a tween who are just beginning to get the convenience and the, privilege to be able to go ride the bike their bikes to the park on their own and pop into Dollar Tree and use their allowance and go to boba, and, I want to feel comfortable allowing them to do that. Thanks.

Thank you. Okay. What else have we got, Stephanie?

Up next is, Valerie Katigan and Heather Olson and then Erin Nelson. So Valerie Catigan, Heather Olson Is Valerie here?

She had to leave. Okay. Who's the next one then? Okay. Come on up. Come on up.

Thank you for your time tonight. I really appreciate it. I recommend the Planning Commission vote no and decline the conditional use permit for the liquor well. My name is Heather Olson, and I've lived in Briggs Ranch for twenty two years. My husband and I have raised our two young adult children in Briggs Ranch. They attended Folsom Hills. And I am a teacher here in Folsom, and I've dedicated my life and work to educating and protecting kids. The opening of the liquor well will be detrimental to the safety and comfort of the youth residing in our neighborhood. Every afternoon, there are tweens and teens hanging out at Briggs Park and in the Briggs Ranch Shopping area. This is a place where many parents, what they've said before, have just allowed their kids to go and supervise.

It's like that first step where it feels like our backyard, but they feel like they're on their own. It helps them develop independence in our neighborhood. And along with being a mom and an educator, I also have nearly ten years of experience working with an anti human trafficking organization. And convenience stores are known to be locations where human trafficking, including sex trafficking, occurs or is facilitated. Traffickers often exploit the characteristics of convenience stores, their accessibility, extended hours, public restrooms, relatively anonymous environments, and they use these to their advantage.

It's widely known in the industry that criminals in the trafficking industry hang out or kids hang out. What many don't know is that a trafficker can pose as anyone or do anything, including buying alcohol, purchasing tobacco for kids, to become friends with the child, and to earn a child's trust. Most traffickers are in their early 20s. They seem like older, cool friends, right? They prey on vulnerabilities. And I've heard from the mouths of actually incarcerated traffickers that they can be anybody anybody wants them to be. A vulnerable person usually needs something. And our neighborhood kids are vulnerable. They're young. These are tweens hanging out in this area, feeling like they're so grown up and so adult.

And if an older person, an older kid talks to them, man, they don't know who that kid is. They don't know what their intentions are. Our kids are just playing at the park, and they're vulnerable simply because of their age and because they're just learning to navigate this world around them. Vulnerable kids plus a clientele that patron that patrons liquor stores, it's a really unsafe combination for our neighborhood or really any neighborhood. It's detrimental to the safety and comfort of our neighborhood and our community. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And who's up? Stephanie?

Up next, we have Erin Nelson followed by Deneen Kringlear and Brian Taylor. Okay.

Hi. Good evening. My name is Erin Nelson, and I am a resident of Briggs Ranch. I've lived there for twelve years. I have a 12 year old at Folsom Middle, and I have a fourth grader at Folsom Hills. And I am here to recommend the Planning Commission vote no and decline the conditional use permit for the liquor well. And I echo everything everybody has said here. It is a place for our children. In their proposal, the first line was this was going to cater to Briggs Ranch neighborhood. This is a need.

And I think we have shown that it's not a need and it's not a want. For all of us that are sitting here, we have friends and neighbors that couldn't be here tonight, and we're trying to be a voice for them as well. Everybody I've talked to in my neighborhood personally has said, We don't want this. Please go and fight against it. And I want to reiterate also the fact that you might consider those places, the park, the school, the shopping center, the neighborhood, separate places. But for us, it is one place. And I just started letting my sixth grader last year, when she was sixth grade go to the Dollar Tree, go to Starbucks. That was a big deal. For me, it was safe because she didn't have to cross the main road. This is going to really make an impact on my comfort in letting my children go there by themselves.

The convenience store aspect of it, I wasn't concerned about till tonight. I heard about the traffic from one of our neighbors, and I just thought about, wow, stranger danger. Do I really want all that traffic? Now my daughter, who's going to be in eighth grade and her friends are going down, and who are they going to be meeting down there? So it's just a concern. I don't think it's necessary. I understand a conditional use permit can be revoked, but why are we taking that chance with our children? This is our neighborhood, and it's our children, and I don't want to have a bad experience. We did something that could be revoked. We could have prevented it here. So thank you. I hope that you will make a decision to, deny this permit. Thanks. Thank you.

All right. Next up, and then who else?

Deneen Kringlear, followed by Brian Taylor and Reid Mackliod Allison.

All right. Hi there.

Hi. My name is Dineen Kringler, and I'm also a Briggs Ranch resident with my children. Something I think that might be unique to some other people out here is I actually grew up in Briggs Ranch. My parents live there. And when I moved away to go to college, I actually decided to come back to live in Briggs Ranch because of how safe it is, which is a decision I made for my children to have a childhood like I had. So I didn't write a speech, but the one thing I wanted to point out based on some of the things other people had said is while you're comparing the liquor store at Lexington Hills to the liquor store here and convenience store, I think the proximity to the park and the schools makes that a huge different piece. I mean, it's at the front of the neighborhood that's not actually near a park or a school. So was the main thing I wanted to point out based on what they said. And both of my girls would like to say something. So we'll see how this goes.

Go ahead and bring down the mic. Tell us your name please.

My name is Finley Crinkler. I don't want a liquor store to be there because I won't feel safe of the cigarettes and the alcohol.

I just don't want a liquor store here. Just

end end with with that. That. Because I

just don't want a liquor store.

Thank you. I know. Tell us your name.

My name is. I don't want a rollercoaster near my school, and I don't want a rollercoaster at the park.

All right. Thank you very much, ladies. Thank you for coming tonight. All right. Who's on deck, Stephanie?

Up next is Brian Taylor, followed by Reid McAliad Allison and Ruth Farhan. Excuse me.

Hi. Good evening. Thank you. I'd like to thank you, my neighbors, and lieutenant, and also the applicant. I'd like him to know that none of what's being said tonight is personal. Going make that clear. I'm not going to bore everybody. I have additional studies from what everybody else has also talked about, so, you know, let's get to the point. I also would like to vote no for this. Have you vote for no on it.

I've been here about five years now. Have an eight year old daughter who attends Folsom Hills Elementary School. And the whole reason we came here was because of the community, the way it feels, and how friendly everyone is. And I was actually more comfortable with the idea of this store if it had actually been a very high end liquor store, if that's all it was. But finding out we're going be having convenience items with tobacco and items that are going to attracting our children into it actually troubles me more, and the interaction they're going to be having with people coming in and out all the time. So please vote no on this. Thank you.

Thank you. All right, next up.

Next up, we have Reid Mackley of Allison, Ruth Farfen, and then that following will be Katherine Wyatt.

Alright. Just give us your name and tell us what you're what you have to say.

Hi. I'm Reid. I think the liquor store is a bad idea because I like biking to the park, getting ice cream, and just hanging out with my friends. I do not want the liquor store interfering with me and my friends. Thank you for your time. I I hope you vote to not make the liquor store.

Thank you, Reid.

And I'm Allison McLeod, and I think you've heard really how special our neighborhood is and why we, are really working hard to protect this gem. It is so unique, as you hopefully know, and we are all very clearly interested in keeping it, so special and safe for so many youth in Briggs Ranch. I also just wanted to point out that, I think this is a great lesson in government in action right now for our kids. We have so much going on with government in the country, and I've been trying to educate my kids about local, state, and national government dynamics and talk to them about how we can actually come here and share our opinions with you and have an opportunity to actually influence a decision that affects our lives every day. And so I hope we can, see an outcome here that is responsive to a very clear message from our community, and, I hope you choose to vote no for the the use permit.

Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you guys for coming. Who's who else is up, Stephanie?

Ruth Farfan, Katherine Wyatt, and following Richard Johnson.

Alright. Hi.

Hi. I'm Ruth Farfan. I am a Briggs Ranch resident for twenty four years. I have three teenagers. I'll try not to be redundant. I wanna really encourage you to, think about the statistics and information that Heather shared with regards to trafficking. I love that park. I live I took my kids there actually every day for probably almost ten years. I lived off of Riggins Court, which is right there. And then when we moved, we loved it so much.

We just moved a little further in, so we're still in Briggs Ranch. But I I think there's so much opportunity for activity to happen within that region, and we really need to control the environment outside of that park to ensure we don't invite that element into our neighborhood. I really appreciate the time the applicant took to hear our concerns, those mitigation strategies that he wants to implement, but I think the fact that there's so many mitigation plans necessary to keep things safe and to avoid these issues speaks volumes to that it's just not the appropriate location for this type of business. I think we have a lot of growth happening. There's plenty of places where there probably is a need that's not met, but this is not that place.

And then I would also say that, you know, having teenagers who now have a lot of free reign of Folsom, we were very bubbled even in just within Briggs Ranch and thinking things don't happen here. Things don't happen in Folsom. And now that they're older, I know a lot of things happen in Folsom, And I love that they're not happening in Briggs Ranch. My son was able to be part of a task force with the Folsom PD where he was used as a decoy to go and buy alcohol. And we had plenty of facilities that failed and sold my child alcohol, which he had to give back.

But, you know, I have another dear friend who, you know, they were cleaning up a site over in Livermore and was stuck with a hypodermic needle. We're fortunate that we are not having those scenarios in our environment, and I want to do everything we can to preserve it. I'll also just highlight quickly that the not only is the traffic an issue, but there's no light for entering or exiting from either from the three entrances and exits of that. There's not a stoplight. So it really is left up to people using their best judgment on how to drive.

With the amount of, scooters and bike riders that are coming through there, adding in that there's no crosswalks or lights in that immediate area where they're leaving, you just increase your risk of, additional accidents. So I thank you for your time. Again, I appreciate the applicant and all the time and consideration. I just encourage everyone to vote no against this petition and, find a better suited location for it. Thank you.

Thank you.

All right. Who's next?

Up next, we have Katherine Wyatt, followed by Richard Johnson and Susan, I believe, Miller.

All right. Thank you.

Hello. Thank you. My name is Katherine Economy Wyatt. I'm a registered nurse. I was a a school nurse for our school district down in Rancho. It was great. I respect the business owners' ideas. I have plenty of relatives who have liquor stores. It's not location. Please vote no.

I could give you stats on social issues, etcetera, but I will focus on, the health of our town. It's a healthy town. I've been here in this neighborhood thirty two years. I raised my two children, seen the growth, seen the crime increase, seen the benefits, the nice choices, the positives, and the mismanagement. But I'm here to tell you today that in order to keep our kids healthy, our community healthy, we need to make the right choices.

We are a bike town. We have trails everywhere. If I'm not on my bike, I'm with my dogs. And when I'm with my dogs, I'm at the lake or I'm at the parks, I go around the school, I'm picking up garbage constantly. And more than 50% of the time, it's alcoholic containers. I can get a whole garbage bag from the lake. What is not discussed here and I guess it's because of the rules on proximity of a liquor store, convenience store to a school or a park. What about the other parks? What about the Economy Park? What about the other neighborhoods that are right here?

It's just not Briggs Little Briggs Ranch is being impacted by having more alcohol sales and convenient alcohol sales. The Green Belt where the power lines are, there's I've seen some interesting people walking around and have been personally attacked, but someone's helped me out. But, it's important that we try to keep our town healthy and keep it safe. And I think his plan is great, different location. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Next up.

Hi. I'm Richard Johnson. I'm a Briggs Ranch resident for four years. Moved in with my mom to help her out, but she's been here twenty five years. And like Michelle Cain said, it's the crime issue that I see a problem with, potential spots. I work with kids. I umpire, basically, league and stuff. So I around kids, and I just hope you see how many kids showed up tonight. So my position is no. I know my mom's position was no for the liquor store. That's all I'm gonna say. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Stephanie, who else?

Up next is Susan, I believe, Miller, followed by Angel Friesen and Angie Gaudi.

All three?

All of

them three?

Okay. Okay.

Next

up is Eric Pine followed by Willie Sobhat and Dale Colodis. Forgive me.

The beauty of being able to announce yourself when you come up is that you can actually pronounce your name right. Thank you.

Yeah.

Hi. My name is Eric Pine, Folsom resident for over twenty five years, ten years of those residing in Briggs Ranch with my family, my wife, and children. I recommend the Planning Commission vote no and decline a conditional use permit for the liquor well. Points many points we've heard tonight. But points having a liquor store in this proposed location can be detrimental for the general welfare of persons residing or working in the neighborhood, detrimental or interest to property and improvements in the neighborhood, and the general welfare of the city.

While direct studies linking liquor store presence to declining home values are limited, the association between increased crime and reduced property values is well documented. For instance, there is studies and I have others by PubMed National Library of Medicine found that higher alcohol outlet density remains strongly associated with increased violence even after controlling other factors. Given that higher crime rates can negatively affect property values, the presence of liquor stores may indirectly contribute to declining home values in residential neighborhoods. My experience as a realtor from working over twenty two years in residential real estate sales in Folsom in the greater Sacramento area, Prime rates are a very important factor for buyers when looking for a home and neighborhood to live in. This importance becomes even more of a priority when buyers have children in their household.

And as you've seen in Bridge Ranch, we've got a lot of children and households with them. In my opinion, the reason for why Bridge Ranch, the Folsom Parkway, and surrounding areas have such a strong demand, and we can see that by statistics about how fast properties move in Folsom and in Briggs specifically, is due to the importance placed on maintaining the general welfare of those that live here and our children. So in summary, just increase in crime. The higher densities of liquor stores, especially off premise outlets, are consistently linked to increased rates of violent crime, assaults, robberies, sex offenses. Property value decline, while direct studies are limited, I would say the established link between increased crime and decreased property values suggest that the addition of liquor stores may indirectly lead to a decline in our home values.

These findings underscore the importance of considering the potential social and economic impacts when planning the placement of liquor stores in residential areas. So I hope you consider that. And again, I would love for you to say no to the Laker Well. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next.

Up next, we have Willie Sabbat, Dale Colodges, and then Valerie Duke. I'm so sorry.

Oh, thank you. I have lived in Briggs Ranch for thirty two years.

If you wouldn't mind, say your name.

Willie Sabotto.

Thank you.

My beautiful wife, Cynthia, back there. We've lived in Briggs Ranch for thirty two years. We love Folsom. During those thirty two years, we have situations where my son has found a dead body by the park. We've had incidents where kids drinking alcohol.

We're throwing beer bottles at my son and myself on a Sunday afternoon. That alcohol was stolen from the old Albertsons store, which is now, I believe, a 99¢ center. And I do have a few drinks once in a while. I do like to have a beer, but we do not need another establishment that serves alcohol in this area. We have kids that go to school.

We have people that walk through the park, older people, and it would not benefit the neighborhood at all to have another alcohol establishment. Economy Park was not on this map. Lieutenant, do you have any statistics of the crime at Economy Park?

I don't. You don't?

Well, I can tell you that that park's supposed to close at 09:00 or hour after sunset. It is not. We have numerous sideshows right in my backyard. We do not need another incident with alcohol. We've had kids that were hit by cars.

There have been numerous incidents accidents over, going up in the El Dorado Hills, Natoma Street, Bidwell, everything. We do not need another incident with alcohol related accidents. So I would suggest that we do not open another liquor or alcohol establishment. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Next up.

Next up, Dale. I'm so sorry. Followed by Valerie Duke and Ryan Ketterling.

Okay. My name's Dale Kalocci, and I'm a Briggs Ranch resident for the last twenty eight years. I remember when we moved here, the park wasn't built. We had to wait a few years for it to be built. We donated money most of our neighbors in the neighborhood did in order to help facilitate this park.

And the last thing we would have won is a liquor store right next door. I don't know how they measure the distance, but it's literally, if you walk out of that establishment from there, the length of this room just turn to the right, and you're in there. You're in a park. So I won't go over everything, but I'll just say we don't need it and we don't want it. So vote no. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And up next.

Up next is Valerie Duke, followed by Ryan Ketterling and Kimberly Brown.

Okay. Thank you.

Hi. My name is Valerie Duke, and I wanna recommend voting no, and just echo what others have said and emphasize the studies that show the linkages between the density of alcohol outlets and increased, crime and other alcohol related issues such as drunk driving, violence, and, unwanted thoroughfare. So approving this, I think, would be detrimental to our community and open the door for an increase of these types of issues, especially where it's located, as everyone has emphasized. With you having a role in helping to influence this and keep our community safe by limiting the number of these alcohol outlets. I just urge you to please vote no.

Thank you.

Thank you. Next.

Next up is Ryan Ketterling followed by Kimberly Brown.

My name is Ryan Ketterling. I've been a Folsom resident for twenty five years, and I'm not gonna repeat what everyone else has been saying. I just wanna let everyone know that I also am against what I believe is just, oversaturation of liquor stores and the area. So that's all I want to say. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And I think this would be

our last speaker. Come on up.

Hello. My name is Kimberly Brown. I've been a resident of Folsom for ten years. I live in the Briggs Ranch neighborhood on Singer Lane. My house also backs up to the park, and I found multiple items of trash thrown over my fence.

I don't call the cops. I just clean it up, get on with my life. We've discussed several of us have discussed there's three other options on where to buy alcohol in the community, Raley's, ninety nine Ranch Market, and the Mini Mart associated with the Raley's gas station. What wasn't clearly touched on is there's another location to buy snacks, and that's the 99¢ store, the dollar store. Many of our children frequent that store.

They get there by coming through the park from the neighborhood through the park. They will pass the liquor well, And what's concerning is they may say, oh, shoot. Look. There's snacks in there too, on their way to the dollar store and go into the liquor store. I wanna touch on the park. I wanna point out that that park is not well lit at all at night. The police, commissioner brought up that it's well lit. That's economy across the street where the nice fields are, the soccer fields. That's not Briggs Ranch. It's very dark.

You need a flashlight to walk there at night. There's also an upper gazebo area. It has no lighting whatsoever, and it could be a place for humans to gather, drink. There's a stairwell up to Singer Lane. There's one light at the top of the stairwell. It's very dark. You need a flashlight to go up and down it at night. There's a pathway from the stairwell to Singer Lane. There's no lighting whatsoever. It's very dark.

The only time there is lighting is when I hang Christmas lights on my fence. Other than that, it's pitch black. With that, I just wanna recommend that the Planning Commission vote no and decline the conditional use permit for the liquor well. Thank you.

All right. Thank you. Well, that was 34 speakers, and thank you all for keeping it, concise and to the point. We do appreciate it. Clearly, there is a great deal of depth in your community. And a lot of people have lived there a very long time. And we can see that it's a fabulous place to live. I, too, used to live in the area. So with that, it's time for our commissioners to deliberate. And I'll just let you guys anybody want to kick it off?

Thank you.

Commissioner Barcelona.

Okay. When I first read this packet, my immediate response, my thought was, this is a liquor store next to a park. What could possibly go wrong? And I think what we've seen here tonight from the residents of Briggs Ranch is exactly what could go wrong. They've lived here for years.

I've lived here since 1991. I saw that park built. My wife was on the parks commission when that park was approved and constructed. With all due respect to the applicant who I think has done a fantastic job and all due respect to the staff who has also done a fantastic job trying to fit this into the parameters of the law that we have to work with for planning in the city of Folsom, I just remain unconvinced that this is the right use in the right location at the right time and will not serve the residents of this neighborhood or the city. And I'm, happy to offer an alternative motion, to deny the conditional use permit.

I've sketched out something, but we'll probably need to take a recess and talk to the city attorney as well.

Before we do that or should I go ahead and take a motion? I mean, it's like I we can have discussion, but we can take a motion, of any type, really. Right?

It's at the pleasure of the commission.

Okay. Okay. Commissioners, would you like to have any discussion before we hear a potential motion? Commissioner Hurst.

Yes, thank you. I just wanted to also publicly disclose that both Commissioner Lehman and myself met with some of the residents as well as the applicant before this. I would also like to share my disappointment, that we cannot have a future crimes unit, probably lieutenant. That would certainly be helpful. I do think, one of the comments made earlier by one of the speakers, your voices do matter. And I think tonight is evidence of that regardless of how this commission votes. And I'd also like to take a moment to say that, I do truly appreciate that the applicant has seems to have taken a lot of this feedback to heart, and I think that's reflected in some of the discussion tonight. That was all I wanted to share.

Commissioner Laney and then commissioner West after that.

I also want to sincerely thank the applicant. Had conversations. He's been very responsive to all of the objections and concerns of the community. And I think that says a lot about your character. However, I think that some of the community members brought it up that just the sheer need of how many mitigations are being proposed in order to place this conditional use permit right next to a community asset.

If that were to be approved, then we are setting a precedent to have conditional use permits for liquor stores next to a park. And that isn't anywhere else in the city of Folsom. And Folsom is a special place. It's a place that a lot of community people move to in order to raise families. I did walk from the doorway of where the location is to the park and it took me twenty seven and a half seconds to walk, not quickly, just to mosey on over to be inside, not at the threshold.

Additionally, I think it is very concerning that just above the gazebo is that direct stairway access up into a community. So I do think that these are very concerning issues and I commend as many aspirational business practices that are being proposed, but those cannot be part of a conditional use permit. You know, it's not really something that we can condition that people have certain business practices in order to have a business versus the health safety and you know comfort of the community. So I do continue to remain and convinced that this is a good use of land. Know I would love to be able to vote yes for conditional use permit, but it would I think need to be in a location that's more appropriate for the community and the community's desires.

Thank you Commissioner Landy. Commissioner West.

Yeah, I'd also like to thank the applicant for being so flexible in terms of trying to do a lot of different mitigation efforts. I still have my concern that denying it on the reasons being that I've heard would either be considered arbitrary or inconsistent if we didn't revoke ninety nine Ranch Market's permit and maybe even Raley's permit, which opens us up to possible consequences legally and that sort of thing. So to me, there's laws from the ABC about how far things have to be away from schools and parks and things like that. There's laws from ABC on what concentration is allowed in terms of liquor stores that we as government officials are supposed to be referencing to make decisions on things like that versus we just don't want it. So I'd be interested to hear what their proposed motion is going to be.

But my concern is even if this isn't our favorite use, that we have to have an actual legal rationale to be saying that this store with all these conditions on it is probably the least likely place, if it were to go in compared to ninety nine Ranch or Raley's, that someone could go in and steal alcohol or get access to it when they're not supposed to. But we're going to deny this use permit and leave those other two active.

Thank you, Commissioner West. Anybody else have any comments? I guess something that I've been thinking about and I asked staff before this, Jessica brought it up in her presentation there are zoning areas in our city where you can put a liquor store without having to get a conditional use permit. And I am assuming, that that means those are areas where there is not a park or a school nearby. Would you is that fair to say? Or where are those type those zones typically located? Or is there such rule of thumb?

Not necessarily like a park adjacent or school adjacent, but the other commercial zones are on thoroughfares. For instance, along East Bidwell is largely the community commercial or general commercial but I couldn't say it's all parcel by parcel so I couldn't say for sure that they would not be near a school or a park. Okay

But there are other locations. Yeah. Do you happen to know, for example, some of the new centers we've approved for South Of 50, are they zoned in a similar way to the Spriggs Ranch shopping Center? Or

do They're you happen to zoned more like our general commercial. So alcohol is permitted by Wright. Alcohol sales is permitted by Wright for most of those areas, yeah.

Okay. There are places in the city where growth is occurring, where it would be a lot easier to get a permit even if it's near housing in schools. They wouldn't have to come to us.

Yeah, wouldn't require a conditional use permit.

All right.

Excuse me, chief. I have something to add here regarding the

Is that legal?

It's at the will of the chair.

At the will of the chair. Okay. I will allow it, but keep it very brief.

Yeah, Sure. As far as the location is

concerned Speak into the mic.

Sorry. Okay. As far as the location is concerned, we are not sure because ABC gives us only one chance to choose a location because it was a you know, we got the license through the system. So there are other waiting p p people who are in the list. If we are not able to get the condition use permit, they're gonna call the next person, not us. And we already spend, like, thousand bucks. And, particularly, this location because there was no other location available. As far as, our pre preliminary discussions are concerned, we we were having the concern about the the this park. We came to the, commission. We came to the pulley we go to the police.

We, talked to the ABC. At that point, there was no concern of because, we even the police, chief was not, like, like, we were wasn't hesitant about this location. So we thought this is a perfect location because it's a nice community, and we really want to do a higher end. But we proposed not a completely higher end. The reason because the previous license was, you know, not approved in Orangeville because there is a one proponent.

He was approve proposing a very higher end liquor store. The community said, we don't need higher end score store. That's why we were got skeptical. Oh, if we put put up only a higher end, sometimes people think, what what about the other people? So that's why we just took a maiden route to, you know, just put up something, and we put our, you know, savings into it. We already spent, like, $50,000, and those are would be gone once you say no. So before making any decisions, so we please see our situation also. We respect residents' concern. Whatever the mitigation strategy, security measures we are taking, that's just because we are close to the park. If we are not close to the park, probably we won't be discussing that much.

But being the 99 Mile Rent Ranch market there, Raleigh over there, the grocery small store over there, they are actively operating that this location without any kind of reported crime. So we are taking security measures to make sure it it will be done right. That's it.

I understand. Thank you very much. And and if I understand correctly, the ABC has said yes to this to to this store because or with the location in mind. And if if you if you lose this location, then you pretty much have to start over again.

Us I I doubt they won't give us any second opportunity to look for another location. The reason because it is a lotto license.

Difficult to get. And there

are there are some people who are waiting for us.

Okay. Thank you very much. Alright. Alright. Commissioners, anybody else wanna discuss anything? Commissioner Herrera.

Jessica, do you know if if Raley's and Aisle 1 do have conditional use permits? Or are they one of the grandfathered in?

So 99 Ranch is in the same zoning district, and so I was just trying to pull that up to see. I I believe they were grandfathered in, under the under Raley's or not Raley's. Albertson's. Albertson's. But I that was what I was going to try to check. Raley's does not require one because they're in one of the general commercial zones.

I

just wanted to say, originally, this became in front of us, I'm I'm not one to have government involved in people's businesses. I think people should be able to realize their dreams and, you know, expand their potential. However, seeing the community come together, being part of government is listening to the people who are impacted by these decisions. So I'm not a 100%. Originally, I did vote yes for this proposal. However, after seeing everybody's commitment tonight, I'm I'm not a 100% convinced that this is the right location.

So I would entertain a motion.

We have one, to

we either have the one that's in the packet, and it's my understanding that the applicant has agreed to the eight a. To ten p. M. The question technically then is they have tonight proposed a revision to the floor plan. How can that be accomplished? We're not approving the floor plan, right?

So the floor plan is referenced in the, conditional use permit materials in the exhibits. So you would be. You could accept it and make it part of the motion that you accept the new floor plan as presented by the applicant. Or you could continue the item, and we could bring it into the packet.

I want to bring that up.

Do you have the motion from the packet that you can put up on the wall?

And Chair Reynolds, answer your question, I think condition of approval number one talks about items listed below, and item two is the floor plan. So if you wanted to make a motion to approve with the new floor plan, it would just be with an amendment to item two floor plan to replace the original submission with the one presented by the applicant at the meeting tonight.

All right. So I've asked Jessica to put the motion that staff is recommending up. And is there anybody who would like to make this motion? Or should we be considering an alternative?

And just to note that we do have the two modifications to conditions Yes. That would need to be part of this motion. Yes so

we would have including the green that motion plus

So the approved attached conditions approval conditions one through 11 with the recommended changes to condition number three, to add that the operational requirements are to be implemented to the satisfaction of the Folsom Police Department and the Community Development Director, And then condition number five, to correct, the date, for the validity of the use permit, to 05/21/2026. And that to be clear, that is they would need to start their business prior to that date. It's not that the use permits on sets. Okay and then should we choose to change the floor plan per what they offered tonight that would be an an additional amendment Correct. To the condition number or no item number two in the condition number two.

Condition number one item one. Condition number one.

Okay. Is there anybody who would like to make that motion tonight?

Yeah, I don't think there's point in doing that. I'm interested to hear this alternative motion or the reasons why we're going to justify going the other way on this.

And

Commissioner Barcelona, I know you were toying with something. I believe our city attorney has some ideas based on what we heard tonight. So should we hear her out?

I can bring it up if you want to read it or whatever is your option. Wrote out a possible motion for denial. The big question would be the reasons for the denial. And Jessica took notes of the highlights of the comments during public comment tonight. And so the recommendation would be for the commission to choose or whoever's making the motion to choose amongst these or to include all of them, whatever is the will of the commission as the basis for the motion.

And I can either read it or I could bring it up. And I apologize it was done in handwriting as opposed to on the computer. So maybe first we'll just put up the motion which is sort of the general language and then the big issue.

The type of motion that has to be done for conditional use permit because Correct.

Okay.

And you

want a clarifying question of staff?

Yeah, a quick clarifying Is there any, I guess from the city's perspective, risk with going with an all of the above approach versus a more direct single reason, or does it not matter?

At this point, all of the reasons were based on comments from the community and based on my research into these types of scenarios and the types of issues that we're dealing with in this particular case, comments from residents who live in the area and are expressing their views based on their experience are acceptable as substantial evidence in similar circumstances.

Except from what I recall, we can't deny a conditional use permit on the basis of property values. Is that accurate?

So that was my belief, yes. And I will read, if you're interested, the quote that I found related to this. It's from a case called Dory versus County of Ventura from nineteen ninety four, twenty three, Cal App 4320 at 328. The California Court of Appeal said, in reviewing a proposed project, the local agency is entitled to consider subjective matters such as the spiritual, physical, aesthetic, and monetary effect project may have on the surrounding neighborhood. Findings which relate to private community concerns are ones which fall within the domain of public interest and welfare.

So it could very well also include property values. Okay.

Yeah. I read the Dory case. I think it provides sufficient basis for a denial. And one of the residents also cited, the Riverside city of Riverside study as well, and that's pertinent.

Okay. Are you prepared to make this motion or and then and then give us some reasons?

If I could read it, I would.

Oh, okay.

I'm really Man, I am really pleased to see somebody's handwriting