Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Thank you.

All right. Good evening. Welcome to the City of Fontana's Regular Planning Commission meeting on July 21st, 2026 here at Steelworkers Auditorium. I would like to remind the audience that this meeting is a business meeting and as such, while the Commission welcomes all members of the public to participate in open discussion regarding matters on the session's meeting agenda, speakers must conduct themselves appropriately so that the Commission has the ability to listen and consider all the information and comments related to the agenda items. Deliberate on them on the items in the context that allows for all viewpoints to be heard and respected. Please remember that disrupting a public meeting is a criminal offense and the City of Fontana is authorized by law to ensure the orderly conduct of this meeting. Engaging in conduct that disrupts this meeting may result in your microphone being muted and if the disruption continues, a request to leave this meeting if the disruptive conduct persists after a warning. Disruptive behavior includes verbal and nonverbal outbursts that prohibit the meeting from continuing in an orderly fashion. I would like to call to order the meeting for the Fontana Planning Commission. Would the city clerk please call for attendance?

Thank you, Chair. I have noted that Commissioner Roldan and Commissioner Kittle are absent. Secretary Lozano, I'll begin with you. Present. Vice Chair Quintana.

Present.

Chair Armendariz, I have you here.

I am here. All right. Next, I'd like to move forward with the invocation and pledge of allegiance. Can we all please stand for the invocation and the pledge of allegiance? The invocation will be given by Chaplain Daniel Vasquez, and the pledge will be led by myself, Joe Armendariz.

Let's go ahead and pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for the opportunity to gather as the Planning Commission of the City of Fontana. And as we begin this meeting, please steady our hearts and clear our minds. Grant us wisdom to understand the need of our communities. Discernment and to consider each proposal carefully and humility to listen well to one another and to the people we serve. Father, help us to make decisions that promote the common good decisions that are thoughtful and transparent and responsible. Lead us to the balance of growth with stewardship and safety with opportunity and long-term vision for the practical care of our community. And bless everyone seated at the seats here today with unity of purpose, integrity in judgment, and patience in discussion. And may our conversation be respectful, our deliberations be grounded in truth, and our outcomes reflect your justice and your compassion. We ask for your guidance in everything we do. And in the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right, this brings us to public comment. This is an opportunity for members of the public to address the Planning Commission on items not on the agenda. City Clerk, do we have any public communication requests?

We have none, Chair.

All right, with there being no public requests, this now brings us to our consent calendar. All matters under the consent calendar will be enacted by one motion in the form below. Consent calendar approval for minutes of June 16th, 2026. Are there any written course communications or requests for public comment to speak on this consent calendar item?

There are none, Chair.

All right, with there being no requests to speak, can I have a motion to approve the consent calendar item?

I'll make the motion to approve the consent calendar.

All right, motion by Vice Chair Quintana. second seconded by commissioner lozado let's go and place our votes in favor the motion is passed all right moving to our next item The next item is a public hearing item A. We'll be opening this public hearing for master case number MCN 25-0064, tentative track map number 25-0007, tentative track map number 20852, design review number 25-0029, a request to subdivide 3.75 acres into 26 parcels and two lettered lots for residential development including a density bonus for two affordable housing residents and request for site and architectural improvements for construction of 26 detached residential units and associated site improvements and an affordable housing density agreement together with related conveyance conditions and restrictions provided for a minimum of two affordable units in accordance with the State Density Bonus Law and approximately 3.7 acres located at 7844 Alder Avenue, identified as assessor parcel number 0190-301-12-21-37-40-41 and 42. pursuant to a categorical exemption in accordance with CEQA guidelines section five, let me repeat that, section 15332. All right, city clerk, did we receive any written correspondence on this item?

We did not, Chair.

All right, moving forward, no written correspondence. We have Moses Lamelli, Assistant Planner, will provide staff's presentation.

Good evening, Chair, Commissioner, and Planning Commissioners. My name is Moses Lamelli. I'm an Assistant Planner with the City of Fontana's Planning Department. And as presented earlier, I'll be presenting Master Case number 250064 for 26 single-family homes. To go over the project briefly, the applicant is Monta Vista Homes' Chris Courtney. And they are proposing tentative track map number 250007, a request to subdivide about three and three quarters of an acre of a property into 26 parcels and two letter lots, in addition to the design review project number 250029, which is a request for site and architectural review for the construction of 26 new residential units, including two very low income residences and associated site improvements. This also includes a recommendation to the City Council by the Planning Commission for approval of affordable housing density bonus agreements. And this project again is located at 7844 Alder Avenue. The project site as shown above is south of Miller Avenue and takes access off of the west side of Alder Avenue. Moving forward with the site plan, we have the 26 single-family home residences numbered 1 through 26 and their associated lots. In addition to this, there is also guest parking on the west side of the property in addition to more guest parking on the east side of the property next to the proposed vehicular gate and next to the proposed amenity area. The amenity area includes a children's playground, a weather shade, and built-in seating around the grass turf lawn area in the center. Moving forward with the unit types being proposed with the first unit, Unit 1A. This is a Spanish-style architecture unit which includes barrel tile roofs, ceramic gable accents, Spanish tiles around the window and front entryway, in addition to metal accents and decorative shutters. The next type of unit, unit 1B, is a ranch style of unit which features decorative shutters, pot shelf, prominent front entryway and porch, and panel door. Moving forward with the third type of unit, unit 2A, this is another Spanish style unit which incorporates the same architectural features as previously discussed for the other Spanish style unit. Lastly, we have the final type of unit, unit 2B, which is again another ranch style unit incorporating the same architectural features as the other proposed ranch style unit. Moving forward, we have the rendering of the four different types of units from a street level view from within the property itself. Based on the information contained in the staff report, staff recommends that the Planning Commission adopt resolution number 2026. 024. To determine that the project is categorically exempt to approve tenanted track back number twenty five zero zero zero seven to approve design of your project number twenty five zero zero two nine. And to recommend to the City Council for the associated affordable housing density bonus agreement and declaration of covenants conditions and restrictions. In addition to this, there is also a memorandum on the dais for the planning commissioning, including two additional conditions of approval for the proposed entitlements. Also, there is a proposed change to the affordable housing density bonus agreement, which removes restrictions from ADUs on the document itself. With that being said, that concludes my presentation. Thank you for your time. The applicant and myself are available for any questions, should you have any.

All right, does the commission have any questions they would like to ask staff? All right, Commissioner Lozano, go ahead.

So there's only one way in and one way out to the community?

Yes, there's only one access point, and that is off of the west side of Alder Avenue.

Okay, thank you. You're welcome, thank you.

Chair, Vice Chair Quintana, go ahead.

My question is more around the memorandum. The last one of the removal of the ADUs, that language being removed, what was the reason for that is because we don't have any say on the ADUs or why do we remove that language?

Yes, in addition to that, the affordable housing density bonus agreement can also not include any language restricting the ADUs since it is a state mandated legislation.

Perfect. Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

All right. Is the applicant here and will the applicant state his name and whether he accepts the conditions of approval?

Is this thing on?

Let's see.

You guys hear me okay? Okay. I don't think the mic is working, but my name is Chris Courtney with Monta Vista Homes. And so I do accept the conditions of approval as written and prepared by staff.

All right, you want to tell us a little bit about your project?

Sure. First, I'd like to say thank you for the time and opportunity to speak before you today. And I wanted to express my gratitude for all the staff, Patty, planning staff, Moises, Rena, everyone involved, Carlos, in the review of it. The site was not short of its own design challenges. But they worked diligently and worked hard to get this put together with me. So I definitely appreciate all their time. You know, with regard to access, you had asked a question about that. Just, you know, we did actually bring that up with FHIR and work that through with FHIR. So we're within code compliance as far as how many units are allowed for the singular point of access. We do have a gated community. And that was something that was important to us to provide a gated community here with the park site. So it'll have a dedicated tot lot for the kids that will be living in the community and also protect them from going out into Alder with the gated entry. And we've been working really hard with the adjacent neighbor that's right next to our property in the design of this project to put together a plan that works well for him as well as for us. um and um and so um we are proposing to offer um two and three bedroom homes um you know throughout the community um and uh we are gonna continue to uh own these uh this property so we'll be involved in the city of fontana for a number of years to come and we'll uh we'll be maintaining it on a daily basis. And so we're looking forward to getting it to construction and being able to provide new homes for future homeowners here in Fontana.

All right, thank you very much. When do you guys tentatively plan to break ground then if this gets approved?

We would be looking probably around February timeframe is my guess. We're in the process of preparing our final engineering plans right now and getting them submitted for review.

all right well thank you very much for giving us a little insight on your project thank you all right with that being said um are there any uh questions from the commission for the applicant all right with no questions uh city clerk are there any requests to speak on this item um we have no request to speak chair and we received no written communication on this item as well Alright, thank you. This public hearing is now closed. Is there any further discussion by the Commission or may I have a motion?

I'll make a motion to approve Master Case Number 25-0064 to include the memorandum that was provided to us, which is for the addition of Condition of Approval Number 29 and the Design Review 25-0029. Also, the addition of the Condition of Approval Number 10A for the tentative track map 25-0007. and the removal of the language on 4G, speaking about affordable, or the ADUs.

Second that.

Okay, does that suffice, legal? It does.

Okay, thank you. This is in the affordable agreement, the density bonus agreement. That's a clarification only. But you did it right. Thank you. Thank you.

All right. Can I get a second? Second. All right. So I got a motion by Chair Quintana and a second by Commissioner Lozano. Let's go ahead and place our votes.

Three in favor. The motion passes.

All right. all right and uh with our next item public hearing item b that has been uh all uh commissioners should have a memorandum on your desk in front of you showing that uh this has been moved to uh the hearing um for this says uh application along with the city staff planning commission continue this public hearing for the project to the august 18th meeting

Chairman, I recommend you open the public hearing and ask if we've received any written communication.

Okay, so we still have to go through with it even though they're not applicants?

Yes, and after we do all of that, and if there's no public comment, no written communication tonight, it would be appropriate to have a motion to continue it to the meeting of August 18, I believe it is. Okay. You just said so, at this location. Okay. So please proceed to do that. Open the public hearing.

All right, so I have been corrected. So the next item on the public hearing, item B, I will open the public hearing for master case number 25-0071, tentative track map number 26-0005, and design review number 25-0031, a tentative track map request to establish eight condominiums and a design review request for site architecture approval for the construction of eight units, eight unit multi-level or multi-family development and associated site improvements for property located at 8202 Wheeler Avenue and identified as assessor parcel number 0192-021-07 pursuant to a categorical exemption in accordance with CEQA guidelines section 51332. City Clerk, did we receive any written correspondence on this item?

We have no correspondence, written communication, Chair, nor do we have any speaking requests as well.

Okay, so with no requests to speak on this item, staff recommends that the Planning Commission continue the project to a date certain of August 18th, 2026 to provide time for further research related to condition of approval. city clerk are there any requests to speak on this item we have none chair okay all right and um with that being said can i get a motion to continue this item to the next planning commission meeting of august 18th 2026. motion to move this item to the meeting on august 18th 2026. all right we got a motion by commissioner rosano I'll second that. A second by Vice Chair Quintana. Let's go ahead and place our votes.

Three in favor, motion passes.

All right, so now moving forward to the most exciting, most anticipated section of this meeting. That is the Director of Communications, Patty Nevins, comments.

No comments, thank you, Mr. Chair.

I hyped you up too. All right, no comments from the Director of Communications. Moving forward to commission comments, let's go start off with Commissioner Lozano.

Thank you, Chair Ramirez. I just want to say thank you to Mr. Lomeli on his presentation this evening. Thank you very much. It was great. And also for everyone just to be safe and stay cool and stay hydrated. Have a wonderful evening. Oh, also thank you to the planning staff. Thank you for your support. Good night.

All right. Vice Chair Quintana. I also want to thank staff for the report tonight. As always, you guys did such a great job helping us understand. One key thing that I'd like to point out tonight is it's someone's birthday here tonight, and that is Patty. So I just want to say happy birthday, Patty. No, I was asked not to sing happy birthday, so I will not sing it. But I just wanted to say happy birthday to you. I don't want to further embarrass you, but wanted to put it out there. And lastly, it was good to see that I think this application tonight was part of SB 330 and also the density bonus. I know that the staff gave us a presentation on it. It definitely helped me understand more of those two items and helped with my decision tonight. And I appreciate, Patty, your help over the phone so I could further understand it. But excited to see that. I think streamlining the process to help curb the housing crisis that we're currently in is definitely needed. So I look forward to seeing more projects like that come our way. Thank you.

All right, I just want to thank staff for their doing their due diligence and just walking us through. We know that as times are changing with different laws through the state of California, we have to try and keep up and continue to move and create a beautiful image of our city and continue to be able to focus on those things. So I thank planning for all you guys are doing to continue to focus on working with our city. of our developers in the community that that want to bring a nice finished project project to our city and just helping them streamline it to ensure that you know we work with them to allow these projects to get through so that we can create continue to as ricky said focus on the low the low income housing but also just the housing crisis in general and just trying to help you know get more homes up and I love what we're doing here in Fontana with our core all the way to how we focus on making sure that we're supportive toward everybody in Fontana. Like we always hear, Fontana is open for business. So it's good to see that we're doing that. And lastly, I just wanna make sure real quick that way if there's any issue with it. Legal, is there anything in our thing that says we can't sing happy birthday? Is there? No? Okay. Well, if that's the fact, then I want to start off by singing happy birthday, or end this with singing happy birthday to our fabulous director. Are you ready? One, two, three. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday, dear Patty. Happy birthday to you. And I can't believe you came to work on your birthday. Well, again, I'd like to thank everybody who showed up and came out today. Thank you guys for coming. It is a privilege and an honor to be able to sit here and serve this city. And with that being said, God bless everyone and have a wonderful night. This meeting will now be adjourned to the next regular Planning Commission meeting on August 4th, 2026 at 6 p.m. here in the Steelworkers Auditorium at 8437 Sierra Avenue, Fontana, California.