Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good everyone. I'd like to call the Planning Commission meeting of 04/09/2025 to order. Please join me in the salute to the flag.

Indivisible, with liberty and justice for

all. Could

I get a roll call, please?

Yes, sir. Commissioner Vu? Commissioner Brothers? Here. Commissioner Huber? Here. Commissioner Ascona? Here. Vice chair Lopez? Here. Chair Langer? Here. All here, sir.

Thank you. Are there any supplemental communications today?

Yes, sir. We received comments on, I believe, two items which are in your folders this this evening.

Thank you. Zoom participants wishing to address the planning commission can indicate through the chat feature which item you would like to speak on and click on the raise hand icon to let the administrator know you wish to speak. Anyone in the audience wishing to speak must fill out and submit a blue speaker card. Can I do? The planning commission with the sub Now you gotta turn.

Check. The planning commission can take no action on the state unless the item is agendized. Anyone wishing to speak on items not on tonight's agenda may do so during public comments. Speakers on items scheduled for public hearing or non public hearing items will be invited to speak when those items are heard. All public comments are allowed up to three minutes to speak. We'll go to the consent calendar. We have planning commission meeting minutes from January 22 and 03/26/2025. Can I get a motion?

Move the item. Second.

I have a motion from commissioner Hubner and a second from commissioner Brothers. Vote, please.

Is it coming from your screen? Is it on your screen?

It's it's not on the screens.

Oh, wait.

There we go.

There we go.

Motion passes four and, with one not present and one abstain.

My screen doesn't come up.

Okay. Was that a would you ask for your vote?

I vote yes.

Okay. Great.

Pass five zero.

Right. Now we're on to the public hearing portion of the agenda. Before we start, I must note that it is customary for commissioners to visit applicant sites. Unless any commissioner has further disclosure statements at this time, it may be stated that no contact was made during the visit with the applicant, his or her agent, or neighbors of the proposed project. We're now on to accessory dwelling units code amendment twenty five zero four, a code amendment to Fountain Valley Municipal Code section twenty one zero eight zero zero five five to bring the city's existing accessory dwelling unit regulations into compliance with state law.

The item is exempt from CEQUA under public resources code section twenty one zero eight zero point one seven and CEQUA guide guidelines sections fifteen two eighty two h, fifteen fifteen three three zero zero three, three, fifteen fifteen three three zero zero five, and 15 o six one. I will now open SECUA the public hearing.

Staff report, please. Thank you, mister chair. Tonight, we're gonna be going over a proposed code amendment to our accessory dwelling units. This is in a response to a letter we received from the state about a few items that we needed to correct in our ordinance. So a little history first.

October in October, the council approved ordinance 16 o three compliant with state code. And then a week later, city sent ordinance 16 o three up to the state, presented to the requirements of HCD. And then in December, the city received a letter from HCD noting that that ordinance that we set up was not compliant with state ADU law due to statutory numbering changes, sprinkler requirements, covenant requirements, and senate bill one two one one. So first, statutory numbering requirements. Senate bill four seventy seven relocated California government code six five eight five two point two point two two and point two six to sections six six three one zero and six six three four two.

There's a number of places in our ordinance where we reference the state code, so we just made those changes, and it's for proposed and it's proposed to sections to those sections on your screen referencing, state law. Sprinkler requirements. The current code states that fire fire sprinklers are not required in an ADU if they are not required in the primary residence. The state, HCD, wanted us to expand on that to comply with state law and also state that construction of an ADU shall not trigger the requirement for fire sprinklers in existing in an existing primary dwelling. So our response is we amended two sections of our ADU ordinance to comply with state code.

The current code, as far as a covenant current code, there's a covenant requirement containing restrictions on the sale of an ADU, rental terms, and an owner occupant requirement, after 01/01/2025. State said HCD said that the city can only require the ADU rentals be thirty days or longer. The city cannot require a recorded covenant or owner occupant requirement. So in response to that, we're proposing an amendment to these sections regarding rental terms of thirty days or longer and the requirement for a covenant. Senate bill twelve eleven.

The current code states that up to two up to two two detached ADUs on a lot, with an existing multifamily dwelling is permitted. State code expanded on that this last year and allows up to eight detached ADUs on a lot with an existing multifamily dwelling as long as the number of ADUs don't exceed the number of multifamily dwellings on the property and up to two detached ADUs on a lot with a proposed multifamily dwelling. So in response to that, we're proposing changes to our ADU ordinance to comply with state code. Then there were a few cleanup items that, our attorney's office wanted us to make to the ADU code compliant with several of the sections of the state brought up. And that includes section b 15 that'll say that it'll include uncovered parking spaces in the list of parking requirements that are not required to be replaced if if they're demolished with a con conjunction of an ADU.

Section f, this section helps identify enforcement of unpermitted ADUs that are that were constructed prior to 01/01/2020. And the definition g section g, definite including the definition of livable space in in the ordinance, the AD ordinance. So staff's recommendation before tonight is to approve alternative number one, adopt resolution twenty five zero one, recommend the city council approve notice of exemption per CEQUA and approve code amendment twenty five zero four to amend the ADU the city's ADU code. That concludes staff's report.

Thank you.

Commissioners, do you have any questions for staff? Commissioner Brothers?

Thank you. In the handout in our folder, we have impermissible design regulations. And as an example, they include setbacks. Is that something we can't enforce anymore?

Which which header are you referring to? I'm sorry.

The one that was in our folder tonight.

Yeah. So this was a communication we received today. I'm sorry. I forgot to mention that. We received a late communication today.

I've gone through all the requirements in there, and and we believe that we've met all those requirements that they point out. Another thing I wanna noted note is the changes that we've made to the ADU ordinance are compliant with state HCV who reviews our ordinance. If there's anything else that that comes up, it'll come up from state HCV. But they they reviewed our ordinance and recommended these four changes to our ordinance, so that's what we've provided.

So just to be clear for everybody, we received a letter from the California Housing Defense Fund that had some additional, I don't know, requests, you could say, additional things they wanted us to change in the ordinance, just so everybody understands what's being discussed.

Go ahead.

And I'll ask it again. One of the things that we cannot impose is design standards. Okay. But as a design standard, they include setbacks. Does that mean we're prohibited from establishing setbacks?

No. We are allowed to establish setbacks for ADUs that are over 800 square feet. That's I think there's a little bit of confusion in in this letter that we received. An ADU under 800 square feet were allowed to establish four foot setbacks to the rear and sides and a height requirement of 16 feet. That's basically it. So So anything over 800 square feet, we're we're allowed to enforce design standards, setbacks, lot coverage requirements.

Yeah. I was concerned about the setbacks. I thought, how do we not enforce those or include those? And what I'm hearing is we can. Yes. Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions for staff?

Can you go back to the slide about a detect ADU? So yeah, that's the one that is yeah, that SB. So I wanted double check clear about this one. So it's mean right now, if we're changing to the state ordinance, the house can the primary house can go up to a detect ADU?

Yes. This is for multifamily, not for a single family dwelling. It's for a multifamily lot. So condo complex, an apartment complex, something that's zoned multifamily.

What they've talked about in the past, if I may interject, is just, say you have an amenity area or you have some sort of structure for, activities or amenities, converting those types of areas into, ADUs is what the state laws kinda discussed in the past. And so for multifamily type projects, it allows the it allowed the two, now it allows up to the eight.

Okay. Thanks.

Any other questions? Is there any members of the public who wish to speak on this item?

We have no request to speak, sir.

K. Then I will close the public hearing. Is there any commissioner comments or all except the motion?

Yeah. I have a comment, and I will make the motion to approve the changes. Although I do wanna say that in our language that we're submitting, it says the city is approving this, and it doesn't, hurt the welfare of the city. I object to that language. I understand we have to put it in. Just want it on the record that I object to that language, and I'll move for approval.

Is there a second?

I'll second.

K. I have a motion from Commissioner Brothers and a second from Vice Chair Lopez. Please vote. And commissioner brothers, you'd like to pick your I vote

still vote yes, but I I can't vote on this.

Motion passes five zero.

Alright. Next on the agenda is precise plan five eighty two, development and review twenty four zero two for the Boys and Girls Club. Petition submitted for a 5,600 square foot addition to the existing building at 16582 Brookhurst Street that will be utilized for educational purposes, including performing arts and a martial arts program. The item is categorically exempt from the provisions of CEQA one five three zero one, class one existing facilities. I will now open the public hearing. Staff report, please.

Just one second, Chair. Trying to pull up the presentation here. Okay. Thank you, mister chair. Commission, tonight, we're gonna be looking at a petition submitted by the Boys and Girls Club for a 5,600 square foot addition to the existing building at 16582 Brooker Street.

The entitlements they've submitted are precise plan five eighty two and development review number 24Dash02. First, just to familiarize everybody with the location, the Boys and Girls Club is located at 16582 Brickhurst Street near the corner of Brickhurst and Hyll Avenue. Here is a site plan of the area and the project. It's outlined here in red as the existing building. In blue, the proposed addition.

And like I said, the proposed addition will be 5,600 square feet to the existing boys and girl girls club. It'll be constructed of concrete masonry walls with plaster finish. Glass block windows and a blue metal roof will be included to match the existing building. There will be a landscape extension with a minimum of two palm trees extending the landscape area between the building and the parking lot, and 83 parking spaces will be required and be provided in front of the Boys and Girls Club as well as a parking area to the north of Boys and Girls Club. The project will help include services from the Los Alamos Building.

The Los Alamos Building is directly behind us right now. They'll be moving those services up to their location on Brooker Street. The pro pro's edition will include three dance rooms for private group private dance lessons, gymnastics, martial arts, and one classroom for music lessons, podcast programming, practice space, as well as a resource center for technology a technology center, STEM lab, esports arena, and homework help. The proposed hours of operation will not change from the existing that they have at the location now, 06:30AM to 9PM. They'll provide before and after school programs, sports and performing arts programs, and weekend performing arts classes.

So recommendation for this project is adopt resolution twenty five zero six adopting business of exemption per CEQUA and approving precise plan May and development review twenty four zero two for a 5,600 square foot addition for the existing Boys and Girls Club at 16582 Brooker Street. And that concludes staff report.

Thank you. Commissioners, do we have any questions or comments for staff?

I got one question on the item number six on the conditional approval. Why we take out the roof covering in our modified and now today?

The roof covering of the trash enclosure?

Yes.

That was my question too.

So there was, if I may, while we are working through the review process, the requirement for the roof covering was removed by our environmental services department. As it wasn't required for this type of addition, it's something that we forgot to remove from the conditions approval. So that's why we're striking it proposing to strike it from the conditions.

So from the permit, don't need to require this one for environmental

For this project, they're not required to provide that. Right.

Okay. Thanks.

Commissioner Brothers?

I'm assuming then there may not be an objection if they chose to do that?

If they chose to

If they chose to cover with an approved cover on the trash

location. If I'm The

applicant's here, I'll I'll let them speak to that.

But

I I I think originally, we had requested it. And then through discussions with the applicant, they found a little bit onerous. It's an existing trash enclosure, and they, were not keen on on adding the, the cover to the trash enclosure. And so, our environmental services team, as Steven mentioned, was open to removing the requirement, given that it's an existing enclosure and given the types of materials that would be in there. So normally, issue is, say, you have a restaurant with a lot of food and all those types of things and it rains and water comes in and then you have all these grease type things that go into, the street, into the sewer and storm.

In this case, given the types of, refuse that we expect, there wasn't that concern.

If if I were the Boys and Girls Club, I'd be concerned about all the homeless that surround that area, just going in to get building materials, etcetera. But I guess if it's their option, they'll figure out if they have to do it. Yep.

And we can hear from them as well.

Any other questions from commissioners?

Mm-mm.

Is the applicant present? Would they like to speak?

Yeah.

Yes. So in regards to that trash enclosure, you know, we've been on that park now

for while. State your name for the record.

Oh, Art Grunenwald, CEO of Boys and Girls Club.

Thank you.

Yeah. You got it. Yeah. So we've been on that park for about thirty years. We monitor it closely. We'll have a lock on there. It's just right as you're trying to build a building and raise the funds, it's hard to add on the additional cost for structures and drainage and things of that nature. So we're very cognizant of the problems with the homeless. We work really well with the police department on that, and so we'll continue to monitor. But it's a good point to say if ever needed to add it, if it became a big issue, we would. But we've done really well with our trash enclosure working

with

the public. Yeah. Thanks. Any other questions regarding that?

Any other questions for the applicant? Thank you.

You got it. Thank you.

Do we have any requests from the public to speak? No, sir. Alright. I will close the public meeting. I'm sorry, the hearing.

I'd like to move the recommended action.

I second. Okay.

I have a motion to approve from Commissioner Brothers, second by Commissioner Vu. Please vote.

Yes.

Motion passes five zero.

Thank you. Alright. The next item we have is for conditional use permit 1919 m OC Salsa and Events. Petition submitted by Terrence Shannon, consultant, to modify an existing conditional use permit to extend hours of operations from 10AM to 11PM to 10AM to 1AM, and allow on-site consumption and serving of alcohol during events, type 58 ABC license for an existing event center located at 16131 Harbor Boulevard. This item is categorically exempt from CEQUA class one existing facilities. I will now open the public hearing. Staff report, please.

Good evening, chair and members of the commission.

Get this. There we go.

Alright. As you have before you is conditional use permit modification 1919M for OC Salsa and events. So the existing location is the existing business is located on the Northeast section of town in the Curacao Shopping Center. As mentioned, it is an existing event space and a dance school that was previously approved. So an aerial view here of the Curacao Center.

So it's just South Of Curacao between the Dollar Tree and the Curacao Shopping Mall there. So the applicant is proposing to change operating hours from 11PM to 1AM as well as serve on-site alcohol through a type 58 ABC liquor license. Little background on the application. The applicant submitted in 2023, and the application was approved May 10. The applicant was permitted to operate the dance school and event space as submitted.

The the permitted application was allowed to to request for an extension of hours from 11PM to 1AM. However, with that request, it it was it was also presented to add alcohols alcohol service on-site. So the applicant was required to submit for a CEP modification, which we also included the hours of operation for that modification. So as mentioned, the current operate it current currently operates as an existing dance school, existing best based dance school with the receptions, quinceaneras, corporate meetings, etcetera. All music is provided by the guest.

There's no on-site music provided by the applicant. There are currently sound mitigation measures applied by the applicant. As mentioned, current operating hours are till 11PM on Fridays and Saturdays, and then no alcohol is permitted currently on-site. All food is provided by outside caterers. So the again, the applicant does not provide any food or alcohol, and there are guards presented at all events.

Yes. That's it's a Sunday, but that's supposed to be Saturday. Correct? So Friday and Saturday.

So operator, we should be on that. So Friday is 5PM to 11PM. Sunday is 11PM.

Yes. Correct. It should be Saturday. Thank you. So the floor plan for both the event space and the dance school have not changed. They still will be maintaining. So before you is the existing event space and dance dance studio that was previously approved. And then a little bit on the dance school. It operates within the same tenant space. There are removable partitions as previously as shown here.

So each partition moves back and forth to allow for whatever type of dance, whatever space they need. Again, offering various Latin inspired dances. Classes are separated by fifteen minutes, which is a condition outlined in their previously approved CUP, and then operating hours as indicated to 11PM, and then, again, the site plan there floor plan. So in the within their last within a with since approval of their CUP, there was two occasions of noise that was reported to the city. Based off their previously approved conditional use permit, they were required to implement sound mitigation measures.

Since then, they've implemented additional mitigation measures to reduce any type of sound. Prior to that and since that noise complaint, we haven't had any additional issues, any additional complaints for music, excessive sound, excessive loitering, anything such as that on-site. So here before you is just the location of the music and where the band sets up, DJ sets up dance floor, etcetera, for the events, and then examples of the noise mitigation measures they've presented with noise noise counseling. It's like foam boards that stick to the wall there on the doors on the back of the facility. The nearest residential property is about a 167 feet to the west of the facility separated by the rear parking lot and then a CMU wall beyond that.

So part of their current CUP would be approval to operate till midnight till 12PM, at which point after six months, they can write a formal request to a community development director to extend those hours till 1AM given that there have been no additional noise complaints, no additional issues on-site. If it is approved, it will be reviewed again after six months. If there are any additional noise complaints or any sound issues, they would either be required to add additional mitigation measures or reduce the hours back to 11PM, all done so by the community development director. So based on the application, staff recommends adopting resolution 25 dash o two, allowing and permitting the extension of hours for CUP nineteen nineteen m. That concludes my presentation.

Thank you. Do I have any questions for staff from commissioners? Commissioner Brothers.

Is there any parking behind the building?

Yes. So there is parking behind the building and ample parking in front of the building. And over the last year and a half, two years, parking has not been an issue or been reported to be any issue.

But that leads to noise. So is the parking behind the building restricted to anyone, or is it open to their clients?

Not to my knowledge. From my understanding that the the parking in the rear would be open to generally To anyone. Workers, anyone who's visiting site, but the rear door is required to stay closed and not be utilized during business hours. All access would be from the front of the building.

A little hard to see how they would access the front of the building if if dance students are parked behind. Well,

it's interchangeable to business, so they're not operating at the same time. So anyone who would be accessing the building for either events or dancing would be accessing through the front of the building.

Even though they're parked behind? The parking is in

the front. The the rear parking, I guess, would be for maybe overflow parking for the for the commercial center as a whole, but not necessarily for the the suite itself.

I guess, typically, what we find is that the the parking in the rear is more inaccessible and not generally used. It's more if if it's really required and you can't find parking elsewhere, then you'll go to that less inaccessible space or more inaccessible space in the in the rear of the building is what we normally find.

Yeah. What wasn't there a a site map in one of That these would help. Thanks.

Yes.

I know a lot of times staff or people coming in to clean would park in the rear.

And Yes. So if you see the map here, this area would be the rear of the the suite. And, again, all access would be from the front of the building. There would be no additional access from the rear unless in the event of emergency, all people all patrons would be required to enter through the front, generally.

Ron, is is there a gap between the building so they can get to the front if they're right behind that star area?

I do believe there's a there's a small gap between the curacao and the and the the the tenant space.

So I have a question. Yes. And maybe it's for the applicant. But so what about catering and delivery? So we have a party happening Friday night, and it ends at 01:00 in the morning. Mhmm. Are they cleaning up at 01:00 in the morning? Are they I mean, how's this stuff going out? I mean, that that means are they delivering the food and everything through the front doors or through the back?

Generally so. I would I would imagine delivering through the rear setting up, but the applicant can can can test additional information on that.

Okay. Because that to me, that's just additional noise right there. If they're breaking down at 01:00 in the morning or 11:00 that's past time, it's gonna be noisy. Mhmm. Even doesn't matter what kind of noise mitigation that you put on the door.

That's right.

If you've got tables moving out Mhmm. You've got instruments going in and out. That's my concern. I guess we can ask the applicant that.

I've got a question. How far from the back door to the block wall of the residence?

To the block wall, it's roughly about a 160 feet.

And in the past, if they complain about the noise and thing?

There was one complaint within the last eighteen months of them operating.

Just to provide more information on that. So I I believe I talked to the resident that was complaining. So we had approved the CUP in there. We had some base hours. If there were no noise complaints, they could request extended hours, from the director. The resident complained about music and other sounds coming from the building. And so based on those complaints, we met with the, operator. They didn't realize, they said that, they didn't realize that they couldn't have the extended hours yet. So they moved the hours back to what they were supposed to be, and then we hadn't received any complaints since. And so, again, they requested the additional hours.

But since there were noise complaints in the past, we wanted the planning commission to consider it again since you were the body that originally approved it and also allow for public notice so that any members of the public that may be impacted could come to the meeting as well.

Oh, so they were working the additional hour, the extended hours without permit?

The noise complaints were based on those additional hours that they had not been approved for, but saw in the conditions and so they thought they could go up to those hours. And so once we received the noise complaint, we realized that they're going to those extended hours that they weren't permitted for yet. And so, since we had that discussion with them, the issues have been resolved.

So other than the complaint in front of us that's dated April 7, there hasn't been any other complaints?

Not at our moment.

Not to

our knowledge. No.

But that's due to going back to the 11:00 hour instead of extend the extended hours that they just assumed they could have Yes, till 01:00? Yes. Okay.

Any other questions for staff? Is the applicant present?

Yes. I believe they're eager to speak on this issue as well. Okay. Thank you.

Applicant please come up.

Evening.

State your name for the record, please.

Name is Aaron Shannon. I'm the consultant for the owner. And he's here to answer any questions that you all have. Any questions?

Yeah. Well, first of all, what made you assume that you could have the extended hours, just out of curiosity? Assume? Yeah. It was supposed to be till 11:00, and then you started having parties until one

We didn't.

It wasn't? Actually, that's not correct. Okay.

Please explain. Yeah, let me

clarify that. In discussing this with staff, we requested copies or any information regarding any complaints of noise that and I understand there was only two within the last two years or eighteen months. That was not because of the event that was taking place at that particular time that resulted in the cleaning crew that opened, that brought out a boombox and played music while they were cleaning up. That was put to a stop immediately when that was brought to our attention, and there has not been one complaint since that time. Behind the the apparently, it was close to there's at least two or 3,000 units of an apartment behind us, as a matter of fact.

And so they've been operating this particular location, again, other than the two complaints, which we believe to be unsubstantiated since it's never been provided to us. And not one person has ever complained to the police other than that, other than those two times. It wasn't required, but we thought it was prudent to be able to put sound resistant items on there and very strict control of any cleaning individuals that were doing any work after the event that took place. But there's never been a complaint to the best of my knowledge, and and mister Condit can verify that regarding any event, whether there's been any complaint whatsoever regarding noise. So there isn't any noise.

There was not operating beyond what the rules were in that regard.

Okay. And then my other question, as I brought it up before, you know, catering, does that come through the front or does it come through the back? And let's say the party ends at is it right at 11:00 you guys end? And is a cleanup after that? I mean, I'm just kinda curious about the noise because I know that

Yeah.

You know, catering can, you know, take a while to clean up and such, and it could be some noises there, people going to the back door, tables, whatever.

Absolutely. Positively. But and, they would come in the back primarily. Okay? And in the event the hours of the operation end exactly or before the hours that have been prescribed by the city.

We're only asking for an additional hour, or actually two hours, but according to the adopted proposal is an additional hour. And I think the fact that there have been no other complaints, they've had events taking place at this particular location without complaint, and that any catering that takes place or the individuals that operate it have been told that noise reduction is primary, so that there aren't any complaints with the city. And I think the fact that he has operated for almost two years because the original conditional use permit was granted in May 2023, and we're in April 2025 right now. I think that speaks loudly to the actions that they've taken in order to suppress any noise, prevent any complaints from many citizens, and things of that nature. And certainly none that we've ever been able to substantiate other than the two that were mentioned by staff.

So this is a well controlled operation. It is being supervised from the from the day that it from the moment that it opens to the very end at night, including making sure that there are not loud noises or any complaints whatsoever that would in any way impact the quality of life of any of the people that live around there and the other businesses also. So I think that the I think it's reasonable to approve the proposal at this particular time. We're willing to wait six months and stand on our reputation, as a matter of fact, to make sure that we continue to have that additional hour, you know, within six months from now. And I'd submit on that.

Any other questions?

Yeah, I have a question for staff, actually. So, I believe there was a slide in the presentation that said if this measure passed, that there would be, like, a six month grace period where their hours would be extended first to midnight, then to one a. M. Is that correct?

That's what's proposed. The Planning Commission could adjust that in any way they feel fit.

Okay. My next question is, if the operating hours, let's say, are extended to one a. M, does that mean the door the lights are out, the doors are locked at 1AM, and all the cleanup has to end at that time? Or does that mean the event ends at 1AM and cleanup could go until 2AM? Like, what what does that what what's the definition of that closing time? Does that mean, you know, lights off and everyone's out, and so the event has to end at midnight to allow an hour for cleanup? Explain to me how that would work.

Well, as I understand it, the event would end at 1AM, and then there would be cleaning up after that.

Thank you. True?

Yeah.

Okay. And

May I ask how long does cleanup usually take?

I'm sorry?

How long does cleanup usually take?

Between thirty, forty minutes. Because all the crew that stays and runs the event will stay. They usually stay. It's about five people cleaning at the same time. Now mind you, most of the cleaning happens with the doors closed. Okay? So the only times that we will open it up were just to carry out bags, open the container, put it in, go back inside.

It

it normally is on restaurants. They can't take trash out past 10:00.

Right. It it it is that is something that is restricted.

And it would be the same? Can't take a bag out and dump it? We've got number

one guys.

Yeah. You have to hold it in the kitchen or whatever you have. So you can't be dumping anything in the trash at 01:00.

Understood. Is that a permanent condition? Yes. And what's the time?

I believe think it's at ten to seven.

I think you're Yeah,

that sounds right. But well, we can have staff come back up if we need to. Are there other questions for the

got either question either for staff or for applicant. So when you guys received the complaint last time, have any sound or noise measurement were performed at that time?

That's a question to staff, sir. Yeah. So just to clarify, my understanding when meeting with the applicant was that they were going past the originally approved hours so we can agree to disagree on that point. But no. Since the normally, what will happen is if the we'll meet with the applicant, and if they're able to address the noise concern, we won't go out there and take noise measurements. In this case, we met with them. The noise issue went away. We received no additional complaints, and so no additional noise measure no noise measurements were necessary.

Okay. Thank you.

Why don't why don't we hold up on staff questions for a minute? I wanna make sure that we can have applicants sit down. Is there anything else for the applicant? I had I had one question for the applicant. So I I mean, I think there's some concern being expressed about, particularly if you have vendors on the way out, like if you've got your your alcohol vendor loading up a bunch of bottles at like 01:30 in the morning in the back, would you be open to after a certain time at night having sort of reloading of stuff leaving your facility happen in the front?

Yeah.

Alright, we'll consider that in the discussion. Thank you. Anything else the applicant would like to say?

The only thing that I wanted to say is that I've had an opportunity to look at the event

Microphone, please.

Sorry about that. You know, I looked at all the other events, event places in the area and I think there's close to eight or 10, if I'm not mistaken, within Fountain Valley alone within a very short distance. Distance. And basically, what mister Khan is trying to do is to be competitive with them. They say he opened some of them to 2AM, as a matter of fact.

Some of them, in fact, there was a woman that was here earlier that was here to make a complaint about one of the a location not far from ours, as a matter of fact, and realized that it was the wrong address that she was concerned about. Again, he's just trying to be competitive. He's has an excellent track record as far as the city of Fountain Valley is concerned in terms of operating his business in a lawful way. Extending the hours makes him competitive to that. And he's just merely wanting to and especially in this time where businesses are are fallen, you know, by the wayside, it's important to have that competitive edge or to be equal with the events around you.

So that's basically all we're looking for. Not looking for anything extra, just being able to operate the business competitively. I have nothing else. Thank you.

Thank you. Can I have a seat? You can have a seat.

No. No. No. Just any questions?

I think we're good on questions. Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah. Thank you.

Do we have any members of the public wishing to speak?

I have no request, but I believe there's

Oh, there you go.

It wasn't for number four. Never Oh, mind. I I do have some requests. So

Alright. So Let me we'll we'll call those and we'll ask that people limit their comments to three minutes and give us your name and address for the record.

Give me one second. Okay. Let's start with Torrence Shannon. Torrence Shannon.

I'm sorry. I already just spoke. Okay. Yeah. I I don't need to speak again.

Nicole Monzen.

Good evening. My name is Nicole Monzon. I live at eleven eight five five Turquoise Court. As been discussed, I live in a house in an apartment a 150 feet behind, the building that's currently being proposed for extended hours as well as alcohol permit. So we moved in shortly after this business, extended its hours to host evening and night parties.

Throughout this time, we saw an increase in foot traffic in the evenings in the area that already struggles with homeless encampments, including the area behind the business. In addition, we have seen an increase in illegal parking in the alleys next to our homes causing concern for access during medical and fire emergencies. In addition, I do and my family utilize some of the businesses in the same shopping center the day after events and have noticed increase in trash and, loitering in the surrounding parking lot. In addition, we've also noticed an increase in, graffiti from gangs such as MSR as well as increase in street street racing following the extension of hours into eleven and 10PM. In addition, you know, by adding alcohol, I don't really think that's gonna improve any of these circumstances.

Rather, there'll probably be an opposite effect leading to a decrease in safety for the community. Studies have shown when we have an increase in the hours of sales of alcohol, we often see an increase in alcohol related harm and violent crimes. And then just as a counter note to what was brought up about noise complaints, a lot of times there's local ordinance and people are in the community are under the assumption that there's quiet hours up until 11PM, which reflects when the business is open till. So I would imagine that has a direct correlation to why we might see a decrease in the number of complaints at this time. Also, on a personal note, my family and I moved from Los Angeles to Fountain Valley because we were looking for a community, that prioritized the safety of its residents.

And so like the sign says, it's a nice place to live, and we just wanna ensure, that it maintains that way. And speaking of competitiveness, there isn't a concern as we see an increase in the homeless encampments and we add alcohol to the mix, the competitiveness or the property values of our homes, you know, what does that impact to be? So thank you to the council for the time, and have a good evening.

Thank you.

Just so to to make a point on the unhoused issue in that area, the police department has made that area a priority just for the residents here. So we wanna let you know that we have a task force, internal task force that tracks many of the problem sites that we have. This is one of them. They cleaned it out, I believe, a couple weeks ago, and we're keeping an eye on it. But we appreciate your patience on that issue. Next, have the Palermos. Barbara Palermo.

Okay.

First name starts with a d. There's a v and a s I can get. Dave? Yes. There you go.

Dave Van Skyoka was here initially when you approved OC Salsa in the beginning. I just wanted to say mention too regarding OC Salsa, a reputable company. Some of the comments that were just made, the area does have a lot of homelessness. Folks, there's motor homes there parked, vans, people sleep overnight in the entire parking lot, including the back. They're all over.

Those homeless people do not come to OC. I don't think they can afford coming in themselves. But outside of that, regarding the alcohol, that's primarily for like the events on the Saturdays that are like weddings, anniversaries, things like that, allowing them to bring, you know, champagne and things like that in primarily. It's not to come to get drunk or any of that, which is gonna help the business obviously and to, you know, get sales, you know, for events. And then the Friday nights you know where they have the social dancing, currently that goes to eleven.

They have dance lessons that go up to about 10:00 and if we go from in for social dancing where it's kind of meet and greet, you meet people, I think I mentioned this before when I was here about people meeting and I've seen people get married there at OC meeting together and grouping and so they really have like one hour from a ten to eleven just to dance and mingle and get to know each other and they close. So people have mentioned several times why can't you just stay open another hour a little longer so we have more time to talk, make friends with everybody, just more of a kind of a connect. So that's that's actually it really is important. It goes back to the competitiveness with other dance studios that they leave and they go somewhere else that they're open till one or whatever. Right?

So that's the other part of the staying open. But on Friday nights, doors the back doors are the are what if you open those doors and you have to and the music on like that boombox that were mentioned, yes. If you have a boombox blaring and those back doors are open, you can hear it down to the wall. Because I was at to the wall. I actually went down there and listened myself.

When those doors are closed with the apparatus the apparatus of the foam that's put on them now, you can't hear anything at all from from I was actually standing at the wall where the apartments are or the condos and you can't hear anything at all even with music blaring inside because there's all concrete. So and so Esteban or mister Condie had enforced now, not just telling them, but he has enforced those doors to stay closed. So Friday night, do not open at all even for cleaning on Friday nights. It's the events when we have folks come in, they bring food and stuff. And for them to just take the food out the back doors, say on a Saturday when they have an event, you won't hear it.

You wouldn't hear it at the wall. If you're just carrying stuff, say they have plates and things like that, they put them in the trucks, you wouldn't you wouldn't hear it at the wall. I could see if there's music playing or blaring, yes, but there wouldn't be at that time like at 01:00 if they leave. So I just went I I'm there. So I'm I'm telling you from experience being hands on being there on the on the on-site. So but it's reputable and and, know, it I would ask that you approve it because it that's all I have to from over Thank you.

You. Youssef Ibrahim? Oh, okay. On Zoom, we have Monte Abrahamian. That is all the request to speak sir.

Great. Is there anyone else that wishes to speak on this item? Alright I'll close the public hearing. Discussion from members of the commission.

I do have one concern about the noise. So I want to add the condition into this condition approval that we put the noise measurement during the hour of that we extend from eleven to twelve, that if the noise decibel less than 70 decibel, it should be fine for the next segment before we extend to 1AM. So if the decibel is over 70 decibel from the outside, I think we were thinking it's about again extend to 1AM.

If I may respond, we don't have a noise measurement system where we can place it outside and leave it there. What normally happens is we have specific equipment. If we receive a complaint, then either we can go and measure it with our equipment at specific times. But in this case, it'd be very late at night, so that's difficult on staff. Or in some instances, we've added conditions where you could require a third party noise measurement to be taken at the at the applicant's expense. So those are options, but to have we don't have any equipment that we can just leave out there to to remain.

Yeah. I I think the one I want to add is, like, if they have a party during that time, like, in the 06:11 a 11PM, we we require they put a noise measurement over there. So if it's over 70 decibel

And it's one seven?

Seventy. Seventy zero. Seventy zero is the office noise over a lot of I think last time we discussed this one in the North CAT thing about the noise measurement thing. I think they they I think they do assure us they they have the the measurements less than 65.

We have a noise ordinance. Noise requirements in our municipal code. They'd be less than 70 decibels. There's usually two measurements that could be taken. One is outside the building. So they we have the impact is is to residential. So we take it outside of the residential area, say, like, backyard, and then you take it from the inside of the home to measure the decibel levels to and if they're if they go past a certain amount Yeah. And there's different nighttime and daytime levels as well. But those are usually less than 70 decibels.

Yeah. I just want to make sure a little over 70 dB, then the the committee director will will have the choice to thinking about running three to 1AM or not.

But what I hear you say is that that's already you already have that authority?

Yes. That would be that would be encompassed in our noise ordinance, and they'd be more restrictive.

But we we but during the event, there is no measurement, those things, yet. Correct. So that's why I want to add slow. If they have an event except 11PM, so we we require applicant to have some measurement over there during the six month trial period.

Do we know what does anyone know what that costs? Like, to have that for every event?

No. We would have to look into hiring somebody to do that if that was the request of the planning commission.

I'll speak up now and say I can't support that.

Commissioner Hibbler?

Yeah, thank you. I don't think it's unreasonable to look at the staff report as it was presented to say, you know, for six months, the business to operate and extend their hours to midnight. And if there are complaints during that time, the appropriate actions can be taken. But I don't think it's unreasonable given the arguments and the facts that have been presented today to say, you know, they've been in the community for two years. There have been, what, two, three formal complaints filed in that two year period, which doesn't seem like a lot to me.

And so it appears they've been, you know, a good member of the community. There are folks here saying, you know, this is a good thing to have. People can gather. They get together. Business wants to stay competitive, and, you know, it's in the city's interest to wanna keep businesses in our city.

You know, we don't want this business to leave and, that building to go vacant. And so but to from my perspective, you know, let them have the extension to midnight for the six months. And if there are no complaints, you know, we revisit this. We go through the process. And if there are complaints, then we can do the sound mitigation, we can do the measurements, we can work with the business to try to come to an agreement that's going to be beneficial for both their operations and for the community.

So I just want to make sure. So during the six month trial, if there is a complaint, is that go back to the Planning Commissioner again? Or is that go straight into the committee director?

I think goes to the community development director.

It's a it's a process. So one, we would, again, not consider if we receive complaints, we would not be open to extending hours. If we did receive complaints about the noise, we would also then need to verify that that's that's occurring. So what we would do again is call in the applicant, let them know of the complaint. And if it rectifies itself, then that's great. But if it doesn't, then we'd go take noise measurements and then make a decision whether or not we wanted to come back to you to reduce their hours or to revoke their permit or whatever action you wanted to take. But if there are noise complaints and they weren't addressed, then we would come back to you for that.

Okay. Then then I can text what commissioner to propose. So so during six trial six month of trial, if there is a complaint, then the department probably bring it back for all the measurement for the sow and checking. So this is not okay with me.

So to be clear, that's you're supporting the staff recommendation on that, Commissioner Huber?

Yes.

Okay.

Other comments from the commissioners?

I have kind of final comment. So it's the responsibility of the ownermanager to make sure that whether they're cleaning staff or catered staff or bartenders, when they are leaving the back of the building, they are quiet. I've been in parking lots where events are open and over, and people are shouting to each other. And, so it's going to be the owner's responsibility to make sure that doesn't happen. And the complaint situation is it has to be a verified complaint.

You can't just call up automatically every night and complain. Police would have to go out there and verify the complaint. So with that, I will move the recommended action.

I'll second.

Can I add or suggest one addition to it? Should have brought this up with staff earlier, but there's there was a duplicate in the permit requirements, item seven and seventeen. And I think 17 is redundant. It was basically that they can the the first requirement says they may come back in six months to ask ask for the extended hours. The second time item 17 it says they shall come back in six months and they're just it's redundant and maybe a little bit conflicting. So I suggest deleting the second instance of that and if if you would Sure. Obtain adding that

to your motion.

So we have a motion and from commissioner brothers the second from commissioner Hebner will take a vote.

Commissioner Brother, your yes vote?

Yes, sorry.

Motion passes four to one.

Thank you. We'll now move to commission conditional use permit 1924, Recycle Now. Request submitted by Recycle Now Inc. To open and operate small collection recycling facility behind the Green Farm Market located at 16042 Magnolia Street. This item is categorically exempt from CEQUA class three fifteen three zero three new construction or conversion of small structures. Structures. I will now open the public hearing. Staff report, please.

Thank you, miss. Thank you, mister chair. Members of the commission. Recycle Now has submitted an application for a conditional use permit to legally establish and operate a small collection recycling facility located at 16042 Magnolia Street. The location is at the Southeast Corner Of Magnolia And Edinger Avenue behind the Green Farm Market.

On 11/02/2022, city staff received complaints from code enforcement regarding municipal code violations for the the shopping center property and discovered the recycling center. And the applicant applied for a small collection recycling facility on 05/08/2023. So these recycling facilities pay consumers the California redemption value for every qualifying purchase. Consumers pay into the CRV fund, and you can return your qualifying cans back to these facilities. So grocery stores create these convenient zones, which is area within one half mile radius of a supermarket where at least one certified recycler must be present that can redeem these CRV items.

Or if there is not one of these recyclers present in the area around the grocery store where the zone is created, all the businesses in that dealer that create the CRV requirements shall redeem those beverages in their store or they have to pay a $100 per day to the state agency Cal Recycle. And so according to Cal Recycle's website, there are two recycling facilities serving this zone for Green Farm Market. One is the Recycle Now that's operating illegally that has the conditional use permit before you tonight, and one is a recycling facility behind Albertsons and Salvation Army at Edinger And Burkirs that has been approved by the Planning Commission. So the applicant has provided a site plan. Again, the recycling center is located behind the Green Farm Market and behind the commercial tenant building that faces Edinger Avenue in the middle of the parking lot consisting of a little kiosk at the front for the attendant to work and two roll off bins for storage of the recycling materials.

And the operations are staffed by one employee seven days a week from 8AM to 5PM, and they're closed for one hour for lunch. So, again, the facility is located in the parking lot in the middle in the aerial right here. The municipal code requirements are for recycling facilities to be set back 50 feet to residential. The the existing facility is set back 64 feet to the south and a 175 feet to the east. Now the requirement is that it's required to be 10 feet away from any street or public right of way.

And since it's in the parking lot, it's a 180 feet away from Edinger Avenue. And the facility doesn't take up any required parking as the shopping center has 250 parking spaces provided, and only a 183 are required. Saw some pictures of the facility. One on the left is facing north towards the market. The one on the right is facing south towards the homes on Crocus Avenue.

Again, another picture, this is facing west with the homes on the left. Those are on Crocus Avenue. This is during the daytime. You can see a car is a customer is here with their recyclables hanging off their car. This picture is taken in the morning before any of the businesses or the recycling facility was open, showing the homes on Crocus, two story home, in direct view of the recycling facility.

More homes on Crocus facing Southeast. Again, two story homes southeast of the property. More pictures. And the commercial building that faces Edinger is on the right hand side. And this is the east side of the property again.

And staff reached out to the applicant. The nature of the complaints originally from from reporting parties were originally from breaking glass, which is common for recycling facilities. They collect water bottles, aluminum cans, and glass bottles. Glass bottles clank, they crash, and they make noise. Staff proposed to the applicant what they could do to rectify that noise problem, and the operator said that they would stop crushing the glass as a part of their operations and that they've indicated that they've done so and that they would add additional signs.

I'm not sure if the signs in the pictures are those indicated by the applicant as they have appeared in different more recently than when the recycling facility was first discovered. However, staff believes that, you know, the science can only go so far and that the collection of the glass leaves their that variable out there where people are controlling the glass and there being no physical barriers from the recycling facility to the neighbors to the south being only 64 feet, that staff suggest or recommends that the Planning Commission adopt resolution number 25 dash o seven and deny CUP nineteen twenty four for a cycle now. That concludes staff's report, and the applicant is on Zoom if you have any questions as well. And regarding the late communication, we did receive a complaint. And in the handout provided to you is some images that the reporting party has taken, I believe, from their 2nd Floor window showing the operations of their recycling facility directly in view of their 2nd Story window.

Commissioners, do we have any questions for staff?

Yeah. So I like that word discovered. So we had no idea that this recycling center was being operated behind grocery store until someone complained?

I mean, I don't frequent.

I'm just

saying that we if no one ever no one would have never complained, we would have never known that this place existed.

Right? At some time, a lot of land uses are discovered this way.

Okay. I I just I

picked up on that too.

That Yeah. That is not what I understand from the from the letter to me because they say the the the families have been contact the city since November 2023.

Mhmm. Yes, Those are the original app the original complaints we received. Code enforcement then contacted the operator, and then they came in for the CUP. It's been in front of us for some time trying to see if we can we don't like recommending denial of projects, so we tried to find solutions, we've been working with them to see if it one, gets better, but two, if they can have some sort of noise mitigation, and then that hasn't happened. So we didn't know about it when it first went in. We received those noise complaints. Conforcement went out. They applied for the CUP. We've been working back and forth with them to try to see if there's some way of of rectifying the situation and reducing the noise, but we haven't been able to come to any conclusion that would help us resolve the issue. That's why we're recommending denial.

So this one has been operate even before 2023?

We first heard about it in November 2022. Okay.

Do we have any other questions for staff? Alright. Did you have a question for staff?

Oh, I don't know if it's for staff or for the applicant, but this is not their very first recycling center, is it?

They have another location in Westminster off McFadden? Okay.

If you want, we can bring in the applicant in then.

Yeah, we will. I mean, I'll I'll ask the question. But like I said, I didn't know whether this was for staff or for the applicants.

So Sure.

I take advantage of that and now I

share your share your question.

Yes. Alright. We have the applicant on Zoom, I believe. Yes. Could you introduce yourself? My

name is Monti Abramian.

Okay. Is there anything you'd you'd like to say? We we have some questions for you, but if you'd like to speak here, here's your chance.

Yeah. Good evening. Of course. I I wish I could be there in person. Unfortunately, I had surgery. I I couldn't make it. Sorry about that. But my main concern was pretty much when we first opened up the location in October 2022. The court enforcement did come a month or two a month later, a matter of fact, because I I had signs on the sidewalk advertising the location. That's the reason why code enforcement came in the first place.

And I honestly I had submitted even a business license as well. And I even have a business license, but code enforcement told me that I couldn't even have a business license if I didn't have the permit. So and I had no idea because I I didn't know how Fountain city of Fountain Valley worked. That that's why I went for the business license first because we were already in the zoning require like, we were in this we were matched with the zoning requirements. So, basically, we can we can be there in terms of the zoning, but I I completely respect the whole permit process and everything.

I that I was not in I didn't know that that's that's how I had to go about it. I once I submitted the business license after approval, I assumed that I could've just been there and up until the point when code enforcement can explain it. He was actually very kind. He explained to me everything, and that's when we worked together. And it took some time because I had to, of course, get everything together and then plan for the submittal.

And as for the noise, which, you know, understandably, in in the in that whole year that we worked, there was no complaint whatsoever. And up until the point in November where 2023 where the complaint was mentioned, It was the, you know, the breaking of glass, and I do that at all my recycling centers. So my company, Recycle Now, owns eight eight locations, and we pretty much break glass in all the locations. And, you know, this has not been an issue up until that complaint, and that that is why we stopped breaking the glass. You know, we were freely breaking the glass outside in the bins so we can make space inside the container and just dump them in the container.

But we stopped doing that ever since the complaint, and I don't not to my knowledge. We have not received any complaint after that complaint of the noise. There is other noise in the shopping center. Of course, there's forklifts being operated, you know, taking down pallets for the delivery of the market. There's 18 wheelers that come make deliveries to shops. I mean, there's plenty of other noise than just bottles and cans clinging together. I mean, I I I stopped the the breakage of the glass, and that was the major noise. And I completely respect the neighbors, and I get that. But, you know, then again, you know, there's the zoning requirement, and, you know, we have significant distance, you acknowledging that requirement. I mean, why have the zoning requirement if it's not gonna mention that?

And as for the convenient zone from Calvert Cycle, we they extend it's not actually one and a half. Mister Jenkins mentioned that it was one and a half. It's actually one mile radius, and they actually just extended that in 2022. So after I opened up my recycling center, they extended it to one mile radius. It used to be half a mile radius.

So any recycle I'm I'm currently getting paid a handling fee from the state of California because I am serving that zone. If that zone was not if that zone was served, you know, they would have not been paying me the handling fee. However, down to logistics and laws, they have to mention that, you know, it is in that proximity because they extended to one mile radius rather than half a mile. So that's that's another point I I wanted to clear up as well. Other than that, I mean, we see a 100 customers per day practically.

On average, I'll say 80 to 100. A busy day is a 100. And I have not had a complaint since, and, you know, our customers bring glass all the time. I mean, we don't get a significant amount like how I do in my Westminster location. That's the only nearest location. But other than that, I don't receive an immense amount of glass where I need to crush them or my employees to crush them so we can make space inside our container. We just pour it in loosely and, you know, send it once it's ready to go. But, I mean, if you have any questions, I'll and now I'm ready to answer any questions.

Question from the commissioners.

So out of all those other eight locations, you mean to say that you never needed a permit for your business? No. All those other cities?

I have permits for all my other cities.

I So you just thought that maybe Fountain Valley didn't need a permit?

No. I I'm saying in the beginning of the process, I submitted a business license application. Normally, the cities don't approve my business license application if I do not have So once I submitted the business license application, you guys approved it, I assumed there there was no need for a permit because I was in the zoning requirement. That's when the I I had I frankly had no idea, again, how the city worked in Fountain Valley. But I'm glad the court enforcement I have absolutely no problem getting a permit.

I mean, I would I'd love to get a permit. That's why I'm here and I'm vouching for my company to be able to operate in Fountain Valley. And matter of fact, I mean, I am trying to oblige by all all the means necessary in terms of helping the community with the noise, but, you know, then again, everything that I explained should, you know, be enough for that. But

Other questions for the applicant?

Yes, I have a question. Have you contacted the Green Market about putting this facility closer to Magnolia and Edinger in their parking parking lot?

In, like, the front of the parking lot?

Yes.

We haven't discussed that. We just thought this would be the best place that we would believe that it would be suitable for just like lack of space pretty much. Like, we don't want there to be an an immense amount of traffic. So we just went for the back. But, I mean, I'm I'm sure he's feel free to, you know, talk explore those options. He's he's been super helpful during this process as well, and, you know, he's been explaining to me, that, you know, he's willing to work with me. So, I mean, I I have a lease as well. So that's that's something.

Yeah. I was just thinking, in relation to the noise, Edinger And Magnolia Intersection makes plenty of noise, and I don't think they'd even notice you.

Yeah. I I completely agree. I mean, I get why there's more noise in the back. It's a little bit quieter. But then again, like I said, there's forklifts and 18 wheelers trash company coming to pick up trash bins. They slam it. They throw it around. Like, it's just there there's plenty of noise. But, I mean, I don't think he will be against moving in the front. It's something that we can definitely explore, and I can draw up a new site plan and, you know, go through the process once more.

That's that's absolutely fine by me. And I'm I can't speak on behalf of him, but I'm sure he will be okay with that as well.

That is what I I think is a good idea to move them into the parking lot near the Magnolia and Angel Because I know your Westminster locations, where is the area? It's McFadden and Poufos. It's also in the market over there. Right? And it's in the parking lot area in in next to a Poufos Avenue. So it it's it's a good consider location because that also will be the same situation like this one. So it's it's very I I think you should consider commissioner Joe Brother option. It's it's a very good option.

Yeah. I I have locations that's similar to what you guys are suggesting on the front of the shopping center. And, you know, those are permitted. I have CUPs as well, and and they're with Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles. And matter of fact, I am willing to do that. I I can speak to him, and I could drop off a new site plan, and, you know, we can explore that option if you guys are giving me an opportunity to extend continue this request for additional information. I guess I'm I'm not sure which option would go with just not the denial, of course.

Well, so I just to be clear, I I think, and maybe staff can can help me out here, I think what we would do in that case is we would deny this application, but not with any prejudice to you or your your future application for this business, but that you could come back and that we could consider it if you're able to find the new location. But I think the application we have in front of us, I I don't think it I again, I'll I'll ask staff. Is there a way that it can be amended without starting over or is there any benefit in doing that?

Let me can I ask the applicant one question? The Monty, we met out there, missus Omar, we met out there maybe over a year ago now, but Matt, you and I. And we had asked you to look at various locations in that center. Is this shopping center, is it a different owner than the market center that, the commissioners are discussing or is it the same property

They're suggesting Green Farm Market. Right. So

Is that different is that different property owner?

From my understanding, green well, so he owns Green Farm Market, and I believe he owns the spaces in front as well. I'm not in that's another thing that I I have to, you know, again, collaborate with him and, you know, figure out, you know, what's who owns what and, you know, get into the more, logistic of, like, where am I gonna put the the location and all that stuff. So I I I have to let yeah.

Thank you. So with them. Based on that so if it was if it was one of the same shopping center, we could maybe allow him to amend the application. However, it's a little bit cleaner this way if you deny it just because it's a different if it's a different address and different shopping center. It's a different application where staff is pretty much starting from scratch on that Mhmm. Process. So that would be the difference if you wanted to move it to that in front of the market area.

Sorry. Can I say one more thing?

Yeah. Go ahead.

Yeah. I I just wanted to mention yeah. Us being in the back I I I just think it's more comfortable only because of you know, it's just much more traffic in the front. There's people going to the market, and it's just extremely busy. And the the property does share the lot with the gas station as well.

And there's other shops in in the front as well that I I have a feeling would disturb just whether space for my customers to park or just in general, you know, the truck coming and picking up the container, it's just it it would not be pleasant. I I feel like it's the current location meets all the zoning requirements, and we haven't received the complaints since 2023. And it's been two years. I mean I mean, if the person was here, I'm I'm sure they'll speak if if the complaint was again, if it was truly that cruciating, like hearing glass cling together, I guess, because we're not breaking the glass anymore. But other than that, like I mentioned, there's much more noise than that.

I mean, I don't think the noise here is an issue any longer.

Alright. So

if if I may, yeah, so just to touch on a couple of points that the issues that Monty discussed relating to the location new location, possible new location, circulation patterns, parking requirements, taking up existing parking spaces probably with that new location. I'll beg the or I'll speak to the point that a new application would be best served if you if you wanted to move it there just because a whole separate analysis will need to take place. Regarding the zoning code requirements, so a conditional use permit provides the planning commission two things. One is to place conditions on a project, but also to it's bay the the code is basically saying, this use may be appropriate over there or may not. That's why you have discretion on it.

And if it is appropriate, then you can place conditions on it to make sure it there's no negative impacts into the community. And so the the CUP is doing what it is supposed to do here, is does it really belong in this area? Otherwise, it'd just be a permitted use. And we could put certain certain requirements in the in the municipal code. So it's the code is really saying, does this yes. It could be something that is allowed in a shopping center, for example, but does it really belong in this shopping center? Could it could it make sense in the shopping center with certain restrictions? And that's what that's what the CUP is there to do. And I would just speak to Mani. Yes.

He is you know, he's trying to be a good operator. He did. The glass breaking, it was a major source of noise, But there are other sources of noise there which are still impacting the residents, but that is that was a major source of noise for that area. But I think that residents have been patient with us knowing that an application was before the city that was being considered. And so that's why we haven't really received additional complaints because they knew that this would be considered.

All right. Any other questions for the applicant? Because then we'll take public comment and we'll go to discussion. Alright. Seeing none, thank you to the applicant. Before we go to public comment, do have one question for staff. Is it normal for a business license to be issued for a business that doesn't have their proper permit?

I was gonna speak to that. I remember when the business license was submitted. I see that in the form of, like, a, like, a email notification that comes through in a list. However, I did not approve it because once I see that it comes through, that's a chance for me to reach out to the applicant and advise them that they need a conditional use permit. So the he may think he has a business license, but they just submitted the application for one through a our vendor that has processed the processing the application, but we have not approved a business license for them.

So it's not So he doesn't have a

business has one for a different location that we don't know of that's

But the city you're saying the city hasn't issued him one? Correct. Okay. So it sound seems like maybe a misunderstanding about that. Mhmm. Great. Alright. Time for public comment. Do we have anyone interested in speaking?

Yes, sir. So call Youssef Ibrahim up.

Please limit your comments to three minutes and give us your name and address as you

My name is Youssef Ibrahim. I represent Edinger Plaza, which is the two building right next to the Green Market on behalf of the Kelsey family who own the two buildings, and I'm their property manager. And

we

have a reciprocal parking with the owner of the of the market building who lives in Florida. To my knowledge, the gentleman with the recycling with the recycle center never approached us for any permission to operate in our parking, which including us and the green market. And we 100% against recycling facilities in the parking lot. And the guy who lives in Florida, I'm 100% sure he hasn't approved the use. Most likely, he made straight deal between him and the owner of the green market.

So we are opposed, and we will never, never allow recycled facilities on our parking lot. And we have a reciprocal parking. Neither us can allow anything without his permission in Florida or him can allow any business without our permission. It's a reciprocal parking agreement.

You

still have a little bit of time? Or I'm sorry? You still have a little bit of time if you'd like to use it. Otherwise

I will appreciate it and will be grateful if you deny the application if you're the COP. Thank you.

Thank you, sir. Do we have any other requests to speak? No, sir.

Have Looks

like we have someone in the room. Alright. Please give us your name and address for the record.

Yes. My name is Ken Bui. I'm the part owner of the Green Farm Market. And we see the tenant to rent that market and the way we understand from the owner, from Florida, the owner of the building and in the back of parking lot have their line right there, it part of half of about half of them belong to the front property with Green Farm Market right now and another half like it belong to the other owner. So I understand the law or whatever we require the recycle center in our shopping center.

So that reason in 2023, we say, yes, go ahead and we ask the landlord over in Florida and that's why recycle over there and look like working pretty good. But I have no I wish to know how much bigger they want to expand, compared to the current one. I hope you understand what I say, but not too big compared to what they have right now. But because they take the speed of loading and receiving area right now. So it's okay right now.

It worked pretty good for the last couple of year, but I don't know what I haven't hear anything from them yet. No plan. No. I haven't they never talked to me about it yet. So I need time, you know, to to work with my partner and my staff before we decide, you know, And that will help.

Thank you, sir. Anyone else who'd like to speak on this item?

I have another request to speak, sir. There's no request to speak.

Oh, sorry. Think I have another. Okay. All right. Seeing none, I'll close the public meeting.

All right. Discussion, commissioners.

So I I agree with commissioner Lopez and the the key kind of operative here is, you know, this business was discovered. And based on some of the other public public comments received, it really sounds like while the operators trying to be compliant with maybe some state ordinances saying that, you know, we need to make recycling accessible in communities. And, I support recycling. It's good for the environment. But I also support the laws and ordinances that the city has in place and that all the other businesses in the city needs to follow.

And so if this applicant is wanting to continue to run their business in the city of Mountain Valley, they need to follow the process just like any other business, and they need to make sure that they've got the proper permits and the proper permissions from the property owners to be able to have their business operating in that location. And so that's my thoughts on the matter. I'm looking at this purely from a procedural standpoint and saying, you know, it appears that there might have been some miscommunication, but at the end of the day, you know, our processes are in place for a reason and, you know, they need to be followed.

So I just just give my comment about this location, like the other property owner just coming and he he mentioned about the parking lot right here. And look like and also the Green Farm market owner come and share that. So look like this area is the share half and half parking area between those two parcel. To me, this location probably not ideally because same with commissioner Hidner talking about the on the process application for the permit. And also the way I look in in into the the location of this this recycle center.

It's it should be agreed with with both the parcel owner for this area. It's not only, okay. I'm talking to one parcel and and you got the verbal approval that you can put in there. And then the other parcel, the owner, they they don't allow you. So it's for me, I I think I'm gonna support the the denial of this of the replicate.

Any other comments? I'll just make a couple of comments. It seems like there's a number of crossed wires, Commissioner Huber and Vice Chair Lopez pointed out. Seems like there are I I guess being most generous as possible, there's at least some confusion about what the process was supposed to be to get this facility approved in the first place. And then based on the comments we've just shared in the public from public comment, seems like there's also some crossed wires on the site amongst the different stakeholders there. It sounded like there was some willingness from the applicant to look at some alternate locations. I encourage the applicant to do that. Recycling's great. Obviously, it sounds like there's a demand for it. People are showing up to this one.

And but I think that's probably best handled through a new application as we're advised by staff. So I'll entertain a motion at this time.

I'll motion to deny CUP one nine two four.

I second.

So I have a motion from vice chair Lopez and a second from commissioner Vu. Please vote.

Mister Brothers votes yes.

Motion passes five zero.

Thank you. We have no new business, no unfinished business. Public comments, anyone wishing to speak on non agenda non agenda items may do so at this time. Do you have any request to speak?

I have no request to speak, sir.

Thank you. Are there any comments from staff? No, sir. Are there any comments from the commissioners? Yes. Want to double check on the the

code that I meant when the changes on our table for business learning. Think we just Also not probably.

Yes, sir. Ron Vargas, who presented before you this evening, is working on that ordinance, he'll be bringing it before you within the next few months. Okay. Hopefully, next month or two. Thank you.

Any other comments from the commissioners? Alright. I will adjourn to the next regular planning commission meeting, which is scheduled for 05/14/2025 at 6PM. Thank you.

My name is Daniel Carvin.

Welcome back to A Nice Place to Podcast, your go to for all things Fountain Valley, where each episode, we explore the fun, informative, and educational topics that showcase why Fountain Valley is truly a nice place to live.

Hello, and welcome back to a nice place to podcast. I'm your mayor, Ted Bui, and I will be your host for season two. I'm happy to introduce our guest speaker for today, Orange County District one supervisor, Janet Nguyen. In this episode, supervisor Nguyen and I will be having a discussion on county initiative and plans for 2025. Well, supervisor Nguyen, welcome to City of Fountain Valley podcast. And if you would kindly share your incoming what was your experience? How does it feel being gone for so many years and coming back to our audience, please?

Yeah. No. Thank thank you, mayor. Thank you for having me. It's it's actually very exciting to be able to do something like this during the week and not have to be traveling up to Sacramento. It's yeah. I've always told people lately because they ask me, how's the transition between going from the senate to the county? And I you know, what's interesting, having been having served at the county board of supervisor, when I went from the county to the senate, it was a lot easier than from the senate to the county. So it's a lot of readjusting. I've been gone for about eight years I mean, eight years.

And, you know, as you know, we travel to Sacramento once a I mean, every week for nine months of the year. And so the the readjusting and knowing that I'm here and being able to, what I love the most is to be in the district, to work every day in the district versus being 700 miles away from my district.

Well, if having said that, then I'm sure not only you love that, but your husband, Tom, and the kids love you because they get to see you more often. Right?

I'm not sure about that. Sometimes they give me these look where I go, should I be in Sacramento?

That's great. My next question for you is what motivate you to enter to public service and how your experience have shaped your approach to politics?

So, you know, most people know my family are from Vietnam. I was born in Vietnam. And my father and uncle served in the South Vietnam Army. And my uncle was an officer, and he was executed days before Saigon fell in the village to show that the communist government has taken over. After that, obviously, the communist government was seeking all those who who served in this former Republic Of Vietnam to go to reeducation camp.

We all know on our side is most likely it's a it's a concentration camp. Right? It's not something that you think will be re educated. Most likely you won't survive as well. And so we left Saigon and moved to the village where my grandmother lived and made our attempts to you know, go to Thailand or or to escape the country.

We finally made it to Thailand and was sponsored by a church group and came to California in 1981, and I was five years old. And with that, you know, I I didn't speak any English. We were of course, as refugees, we were using all the government resources, we were relying on them, you know, whether it's, you know, getting food or or housing or getting our clothes mostly came from thrift stores or Salvation Army and churches. Christmas gift came from church. We did a little better.

Later on, I mean, at around 10 years old, I was actually cleaning houses to make a little bit money to pay for my school supplies and clothes for school, and then we did a little better years later, and we moved to Orange County. And for those, you know, might have similar stories, but in my family, we had three career choices: doctor, lawyer, or engineer. So and I was the doctor chosen person in the family, and I pursued a biology pathway. And I went to UC Irvine second year in college, though I had to take a I took a social science class to meet my social science credit. At the time, I was working three jobs, going to school full time.

And the gentleman that was teaching the class, he's a visiting professor. He was the former the late former chairman of the board of supervisors. I had no clue who the supervisor is. I don't even know what that is. And so after class, though, I realized that he sounded important. I still don't understand what that importance is, but he sounds really important. So I asked to intern. Five hours became ten hours. Ten hours became part time staff. And then ten years later, I came back as a county supervisor.

And most people ask me, what happened? How did you change? You know, one thing is, you know, I went back and told my parents I'm gonna change my major. And remember, my family came from a communist country. And this is their exact words. It's like, wait a minute. We just escaped the government. Now you're one of them? Mhmm. That hit home, and it something I have held with me till today is to remind folks that we in America, our government is different.

America's government works for the people, not against the people. And so I made sure that in my time in public services to prove to my parents that America is very different than a communist government. And so, of course, years later, when President Bush or, you know, Senator McCain was running for president for office and, you know, my parents were out there in Westminster holding up signs for them. And so but going back to is why. Why did I change from a biology one to be a gynecologist obstetrician to going to public office?

It's because if you think about it, everything we do in our life, whether it's the clothes you're wearing, the clothes I'm wearing, the car we drove here, the water, whatever it is, the air we breathe, is governed by government whether we like it or not. So I wanted to be proactive and not reactive. I wanna be there when laws are created for or against someone like me, whether that be a taxpayer, a homeowner, a mom with two young boys who are both in middle school, a 12 year old and a 14 year old, a Gen X, a refugee, a woman, you name it. I want to be there and say, wait a minute. If you did X, this is how it's gonna affect these people.

And so we, you know, went from not knowing anything, don't even I mean, politics, running for office. If you've ever asked me back then, you're gonna be a a future senator, I'll be like, That you're crazy, Ray. I don't think so. Although I've always loved history. You know, history I used to, in elementary, all the way to high school, I had a book of all the present. I knew all their bios. If you ask me today, I probably don't remember them all. But I had that book with me because I just thought it was fascinating. It was just interesting. It wasn't because I thought that I would ever imagine running for public office.

But one thing we also need to understand, though, is that being in America, in a great country, that our military, servicemen and women, has fought and died for this country and allow us the opportunity that we have today to really be able to allow a refugee from a communist country, came to America without being able to speak English, poor, on welfare and food stamps, thirty years later gets to walk into the capital of this one of of the largest state in The Union as one of the 2,000 senators in the state's history. Only in America can that ever happen.

Wow. Thank you so much, supervisor, for sharing. As you hear from from her storyline, she's just an ordinary just like one of us, you know, carrying three jobs at one point in her life. She's just not that typical elected official. And not only that, she also shares that, you know, as elected official, she's saying that she's the voice of the people. That's what she's saying. And she the voice of the people and that's a balancing check-in the government. That is a great thing that you want that's what you wanna hear from the elected official. Because these days, not too often that you see the elected official are really the voice of their people. They're more the voice of a party or they're the voice, you know, or not afraid to go beyond the boundary and challenge the government. And that I'm so happy to hear that from her. That that's it means a lot.

And and and and you're right. You know, one thing I appreciate, Fountain Valley and even with yourself, mayor, and we're getting to one of the priorities of mine, is you won't take no for an answer. And that's what pushing the boundary is in public offices. At the end of the day, we truly I truly pride myself as, you know, I'm the people's candidate. I'm the people's voice. Because, you know, no matter what people say and, you know, some folks has difference of opinions on who I am, but I know that I've stayed true to representing my constituent. And when I fight, you can't stop me because I'm gonna go all the way and I won't blink.

I I agree with you a 100% on that. Alyssa Alyssa, I can speak for myself. I concur with her on the aspect that we are fighting for the people. That's how we got here in the first place because of the people who elect us, and we should do our job is to represent the people. So I really commend you on that, and I and I look up to you to more leadership in that role. My follow-up question is, can you share some of your priority for our district in 2025?

Well, there's a lot. But let me just touch on a few to begin with. One is we want to end corruption at the county. We're not going to allow what has happened to the former supervisor to ever happen again to this county. We're putting in place processes and procedures to to making sure that county staff knows what is allowed and what's not and that they can push back.

But also, though, still continue to give the flexibility to the county supervisor so that they're able to be effective and to serve their constituents and their district. So we're going through all the contracts that the former supervisor has touched. We're interviewing, you know, contractors. We're interviewing former employees. You name it. We're going to comb everything. We're going to dot the i's and making sure that all the t's are crossed. So we're going to bring that out, and we're going to allow we're going to every time we find stuff, we will bring it to the public. We'll let them know. And and look.

It doesn't matter if it's a thousand dollars or $10,000,000. We're going to go and look at them because at the end of the day, our job as county supervisor is to making sure that every dollar that is spent, they're taxpayers' money. People who has a contract with the county needs to be able to fulfill that obligation. If you can't fulfill your performance with us and you took the money, it's time to give us the money back. If not, we will ask for it. I will have county counsel. We will take the legal, you know, extent of what we allow. We will ask back.

Well, that sounds like that's the Department of Doge in Orange County. So the Doge don't have to come in to look under the county's the book because they're doing themselves internally, so which is wonderful. And as by looking to that, I hope I assume that in the future, probably gonna come out with certain policy. So that way, it ensure if once, yeah, you're no longer at a supervisor county, which is another eight years, because you have a maximum of two term, which is eight years, I hope you put certain policy in place that prevent future event to happen like this, so it won't happen again. So the count the public doesn't have to worry about, oh, great.

Supervisor Green has done a great job, but what happened to the next supervisor when she's gone? Are they going to be in this are they going to have the same set of goal is make sure that every spending of the public fund is account for, properly managed? Would you have something in place?

Absolutely. We're already doing that as well. So as we're moving forward, we're implementing policies in place while we're still looking. So for an example, we have now put all procurement process under the CEO. So every department that are nonelected at the county has to go under the CEO versus back then, we had the Department of Health Care Service has their own procurement.

The Department of Parks has their own procurement. The Department of Animal Care has their own procurement. Every procurement will now go under one umbrella. The reason for is that the former supervisor went to every department and got things for him without anybody knowing. There's no red red flag even though they might not reach some some cases weren't enough to reach the board of supervisors' attention because they were less than a 100,000.

But add how many of those cases are there? Will could I mean, had he did it all once, it would have reached millions. But it didn't because it was under the radar, went to different departments to get what he needed and wanted for his friends and family. And so now it's all gonna be under one umbrella. So we know if a county supervisor or even any department knows that, oh, wait.

Why is she asking for that for this and that? The same. The other part is also it comes down to efficiency for the people. Right? Is that if you have 22 departments at the County Of Orange, if 22 departments or even five departments are looking for, say, trash bins, If all five departments came together, it would be a lot cheaper than every department buying it separately, bulk rate.

So why aren't we having those conversation and discussion internally? So we are also not only looking at putting policy in place to making sure that the corruption never happens again in certain areas because that's how we manipulate the system, but also helping to making sure that it's cost effective and also efficient for the County Of Orange as well.

Well, thank you so much for putting those policy in place. Not only the public deserve the trust, but, you know, this will also alleviate some of the concern that the public as, you know, has some elected official has erode the trust of the public. So thank you for so much for doing that. So can you also provide a brief update on the Miles Square Park expansion plan, and what should our community expect in phase two?

Oh, it's very exciting. We're excited to be able to gave the city of Founta Valley an extra 16 acres.

Thank

you. Originally, it was 14 acres before I got to the county. And your mayor insisted on he kept on calling me and saying, you know what, supervisor? I think we could get we could use a few more acreage. And so we negotiate within three weeks, two more acres for the city.

And it's important because, you know, look. Having been a resident of Fountain Valley and my boys play baseball at your site, they also went to the Boys and Girls Club during the summertime as well. That side of Fountain Valley is very used and are so popular. I mean, if you if if you haven't gone to the city's Christmas park Christmas, events, what Winter Wonderland events, summer concert, you're missing out because that side of the park is so packed and so well managed and so well done and organized by the city staff and the volunteers. It's impressive.

It's like almost the whole town comes out. And so I wanna make sure that we are able to accommodate the city because I know you have a lot that you wanna do in that side. For the county side of it, the several big, big event construction that's gonna happen. One is we're doing we're making an outdoor amphitheater. So it's almost similar to the Rose Bowl

Yes.

But without the bleachers. So it's just grassy areas. So we're gonna have all of our future concerts, summer concerts there at the amphitheater so that folks from all over the 1st District can come in and see, and it will hold probably up to a thousand people. We'll have enough parking in the park. We'll also have you know, we'll have enough parking all over the rest of the county side of it as well.

And we're putting in a an area that will include a big playground. So parents, you can go and watch the concert. Kids can go right across from you and be able to play. And that playground will also be ADA as well. And and beyond that, we're gonna have a nature center for the children and for summer camps and etcetera. So that whole area would be very, very busy. It'll be very fun. And our goal is look. As a mom with children who I used to take them to any park possible. It means a lot.

And our community is a growing community. We have young families. We have a lot of young families, not just in Fountain Valley, but around Fountain Valley within the first district that would love to be able to do these kind of activities. And and and and it's free and it's fun and it's safe. And that's what we want the community to have is to be able to go from the county site and walk right across to the city side as well.

Oh, that sounds exciting. So you hear it. So you've heard what supervisor Nguyen have said. One is the amphitheater and a park, right, for the children. Can we get a commitment from you that on the amphitheater, can we have a reciprocal on the day that you're not using it and or resident or city can use the amphitheater for our community? Is can we get that agreement, you know, that commitment from you if that's possible?

Well, you know, anything can be negotiable.

Okay. She's not committed, but anything is negotiable. That's a good step though. Right? So thank you so much for that. Is there anything else that you will like to add?

You know, we going back to a little bit some of our, you know, priorities, not just the corruption side, but we wanna make sure we work on homelessness. The county of Orange overall last year has gone up 36% in homelessness. That's unacceptable. We need to look back to see how we're spending the billion dollars annually. If we're spending that kind of money annually, why is it not helping? And we need to give the city the tools to making it better. And, actually, you know, it really comes down to is that you should run your city while the county should be there to aid you. No different when I was in the senate. I said, county and city should run your county, your city, while the state comes and help. Right?

Oh, amen to that. I agree with you.

And and so local government is very important, but you also know what type of homeless individual and what you need, whether it's more officers, housing, affordable housing, a navigation center, whatever it is, you should tell us. But we will also hold you accountable.

Mhmm.

The county should hold the city accountable and say, hey. We gave you x amount of money. Has the numbers gone down? If it hasn't come gone down, we need to ask why. And so those are kind of things that I wanna continue to making sure that we find ways to partner and give the cities the tools to we need to help and end homelessness in Orange County.

Second is our animal shelter. Our animal shelter, the County of Orange built a gorgeous, beautiful $35,000,000 animal shelter. But yet, we're still only open part time to allow folks in. And the only reason why we're even open four years after COVID is because I pushed for it last year, I also did a lot of legislation in Sacramento. The county doesn't seem to want to be able to help these animals.

These animals don't have voices. We should be their voice. We have to be their voice. We have to hold the animal shelter accountable on, one, medical record. It became a law that they now have every animal shelter in the state of California, because of my bill signed by the government last year, every shelter now has to have a medical record for all these animals as they're in and especially when it comes to euthanization. We need to know what the reason for euthanization. Orange County euthanization rate went up to almost two hundred percent at one point.

Oh, wow.

That's unacceptable. We need to figure out how we can get families to adopt these animals, and we also need to be able to help folks in terms of vaccination, low clinic vaccination, in terms of low clinic costs for neutering in Spain, these animals. Because at the end of the day, I mean, I we love our family, our dog family. I have a German shepherd. And, you know, they're family.

They're not just a dog or they're not just a cat or a rabbit. My boys at one point had a gecko. And, no, I did not touch the gecko. That's one thing that commitment from the boys is that I they can have the gecko, but mommy doesn't touch the gecko, and the gecko doesn't come near mommy. And that was that was clear.

So but, you know, that was family. They loved the gecko, and they wanted to keep the gecko, and and they took care of the gecko. So we need to be these animals' voices, and so I will continue to hold the animal shelter accountable. On top of that, though, I'm working on making sure that we can open the animal shelter all day long so that people have whatever time you have, if you wanna visit the animal shelter just to pet the dogs just to, you know, give them some cheers Or, you know, hopefully, maybe that moment you might fall in love with one and take one home and and be able to adopt it. And so there's so many other things that we're doing.

On top of that, we'll work with law enforcement, the sheriff department, the DA is to holding criminals accountable in Orange County. We're very blessed to have sheriff Don Barnes and also district attorney Todd Spitzer who will hold criminals accountable in Orange County. And, you know but on top of that, we have been working with them, especially with sheriff Don Barnes on fentanyl issues the last several years. And so those are some of our priorities. You know, public safety, your safety, your family safety is our priority. Being able to go to parks and enjoy the parks, that's what we're we wanna make sure. And also, wanna make sure that we put in place an end corruption in Orange County.

Yep. Well, I agree with you that, you know, whether it's your your cat, your dog, it's almost like it's almost like a family because there's a lot of work Yeah. When you have, you know, a dog, whether it's a cat or dog or any other pets you may may have because it's like you gotta feed feed them, you gotta make sure to take a shower with them, you gotta make the take the walk. It's it's a lot of work. It's just

like They're like They're like our babies.

So this will all work.

They're like our children.

That's right. Exactly. And I as not only you mentioned adopting, not only that you are adopting, you're saving a life. Yep. Because if those shelters, if so many months, if they don't those pet doesn't get adopted, then they've been, you know, utilized, like you said. Put put to sleep, another word. So that's that's a good point that you just point out. Now, reference to a homeless that you just mentioned, and I agree with you solely as you as everyone is aware, the governor has spent billions, but the problem seems have not improved at all. So obviously, his method is not working. I I assure you, for example, the homeless in Los Angeles, you know, needs to be treated differently than homeless in Farm Valley.

They're not the same. They're not equal. So therefore, it cannot be a blanket for all. Each city has to understand its homeless populations and the and their problem and address individually. And I agree totally that if the city that the county allocate money for them and it's not working out, they need to have an answer just like anybody else in the private sectors. If you put money in the market, it's not working, the marketing department has to explain to the CEO, why is it not working? So I agree with you, totally understand with that. So thank you for for the that information. Once again, I wanna thank you, supervisor Nguyen, and audience for tuning in in season two, episode two of A Nice Place to Podcast.

Thanks for tuning in to A Nice Place to Podcast. If you'd like to be a guest or have a topic you'd like covered, email us at fvproud@fountainvalley.gov. Until next time, thank you for listening.

Another great day in Fountain Valley. Hello. I'm your mayor, Ted Bui. Welcome to our first mayor's message. In 2025, I will visit our small businesses and introduce them to our community.

As you know, our businesses provide services, create jobs, and some generate sales tax revenue for the city. The city then use this revenue to provide important city services, including recreational programming, the maintenance of our roads, and ensure the safety of our community. So please come out and support our local businesses. Here's another great day in Phantom Valley. My name is Ted Boyd, the mayor of Phantom Valley.

I'm here at the the Shrimp Noodle Bar. To my right here is Alexis, he's a store manager and he's gonna tell us a little bit more about his story. Can you share to our audience about your food and what and what's the most dish that someone must try when they come

Of course, mister mayor. So right here, have the shrimp originated in Singapore. It is a perfect marriage of Japanese and Chinese culture bringing down our two specialty brats, our wok hee, our smoky aroma, shrimp noodle broth, and our chicken broth as well for our chicken lovers out there as well. But the most popular things that you you should try when you come down is our shrimp broth. Our signature trio, that's the most popular item that we have over here. I hope everybody enjoys it. That's a little bit of our business there.

Well, he mentioned that his most popular item was as a trio. So next time I come here, I gotta try the item. It's the most popular. So we gotta try the most popular. Can you tell to our audience a little bit more about your I see the menu there. You have a Monday through Friday, it's 50% off. And on the weekend, why is your weekend the most busiest day?

Of course. So Monday to Friday, we have a BOGO. So buy one get 150% off. And then Saturday, Sunday are busiest because of family day. So for all our Fountain Valley residents, come down here with your family. We have a great promotion Saturday, Sunday. So a party of three, you get 20% off. A party of four, get 30% off. And a party of five, you get 40% off on your entire bill, excluding alcohol. But it's an amazing promotion that we have going on so far. Wow. What an amazing deal.

40% off. That's huge. On the entire bill? Yes, sir. Wow. That's amazing. That's amazing. So just for that, for me, my family for sure will be down here. 40% because I have a I have a large family, so I'll be here. Once again, I hope everyone can come out and support this business and have a great time with your family.

Alright. Here's another great day in Fountain Valley. I'm right here at the Slice House pizzeria. To my left, I have owner and franchisee, mister Dean, and to my right, store owner, mister Pete. So mister Dean, can you tell me a little bit more about your restaurant here and why did you choose Fountain Valley as as my understanding is the next location distance wise about 40 miles away from here. So why have you choose Fountain Valley?

Well, first off, Mara, thank thank you for having us. We're excited to be in in the Fountain Valley community. We chose Fountain Valley for a few different reasons, really. I mean, Fountain Valley is really a new hub for foodies, and we wanted to be in this community because of that. We know Fountain Valley is attractive to a lot of different people that are interested in different types of food from all over Orange County. We wanted to be here. In addition, we got a great center here. We have a great community around us. A lot of traffic, easy access from the 405. So those are a few of the key reasons why we wanted to be here.

Great. Well, once again, thank you for choosing Fat Valley. We make sure we're here to show you support, and hopefully, community will come out and support this wonderful restaurant. And to the restaurant store manager, can you tell us why a resident will have to come out to this particular location and try the pizza in this city rather than any other location. What is your food make you so special that they have to try this place out when it's open?

Yes. Well, first and foremost, who doesn't love pizza? Right? So the diff the things that differentiate us from anybody else is we are a scratch kitchen. There there is a craft to our dough. And when I tell you you're gonna come in and try it, you're gonna be like, wow. What a difference. The the ingredients in our pizza, everything, like I said, is top notch. It's it's you're gonna when you taste it, it's gonna have different vibrant flavors in every single bite. You know, you're not gonna miss a different flavor. You're gonna be like, when there's pepperoni, you're gonna taste pepperoni. When there's different sausages, you're gonna taste that different sausage. And again, when we say scratch kitchen, we're making all of our sauces in house. We're making our dough fresh every single morning. So in order for you to really taste that, you gotta believe it and you gotta live it.

You know? And that's one thing here at Slice House is what we do. And we can't wait for the community to come out here and actually really try it and try it for themselves because I guarantee you, you're gonna love it.

Well, when you say the community cannot wait, I can't wait by hearing what you're saying. It's fresh. I can't wait for that already. So when are you anticipate to have the good your grand opening date?

Our target is probably the March. We're targeting March 22 to to maybe March 29 in that range. We're still waiting for kind of our final dates but stay with us. Follow us on on Instagram Instagram. Okay. For more information.

Okay. So there you have it. So be on the lookout. I say the March or the March, come out and try this wonderful pizzeria. And let me ask you this on on the last note. If you have to come here, what is a must dish you have to try?

Oh, great question. Well, I think I just had my favorite pizza. Last week was called the picante. One, it's full of flavor and it's got the perfect amount of spice. So I would go with the picante and also one other one I'm gonna I know you asked for one, Mayor, but I mean, when we have four different styles of pizza, you got the New York, you got the deep Detroit, you have the grandma's and the Sicilian. I honestly fell in love with the grandma's style pie. So again, there's a different quality. We got we got pizza by the slice and pizza by the pie, you could get a different variety every single time you come. So whichever one's your favorite, you won't be let down.

I'll tell you.

Okay. There you have it. So if you love something that's hot, the pecan pizza is your pizza. But for me, that will be

the sicilian. I love sicilian.

There we go.

There we have it. Well, thank you once again. I look forward to everybody to come out and show support due to this new pizzeria that's coming up about to at the end of the month of March. Once again, hopefully you come out and enjoy it.

Orange County has some wild neighbors. Whether you're strolling through your local park or even in your own neighborhood, you could wind up with a coyote encounter. Here's what you need to know about urban coyotes. Why are they here? They thrive in our open spaces and play an important role in keeping the rodent population in check. But why are they here? They know our neighborhoods can lead to an easy meal. Trash cans, barbecues, and sadly, our small pets make easy prey. Can we get rid of them? Experts say when we try to trap or exterminate, they have bigger litters to replace their populations.

What can we do? Don't leave pet food outside. Secure trash cans. Keep barbecues clean. Keep dogs on a leash. And supervise small pets, especially at dawn and dusk. Coyotes can jump tall fences. If you do have a coyote confrontation, make yourself as big and loud as possible. Don't turn your back and pick up small dogs or children. Urban Coyotes, we can share space and stay safe.

Talk. Read.

Sing. Watch their little brains grow.

It changes everything.

From the moment they're born, talk, read, and sing with your child about numbers. Teaching them counting from the fingers on their hand to all the things in the world around them. It helps build their brains and gives them a strong foundation for school. So do it every day. Why you can even count the birds in the sky.

Go to first5californians.com.

Your public cable television authority has now made it even easier for you to access the local content you want to see, whether on the go or from the comfort of your home. The PCTA, in conjunction with your city, has been working behind the scenes to improve your enjoyment of your favorite local program. You may have noticed the video bulletin board has a new look. We've added additional information all in one place. You can now see the program schedule with dates and times of upcoming programming, current temperature with three day forecast, local late breaking headlines, and of course, the revolving community information slides you know from before.

But wait, there's more. All your local programming is now available on a dedicated video on demand server. Simply visit pcta.tv, select your city, and then scroll down to view all your streaming content options. And if you're an Apple TV, Roku, or Fire Stick user, you can access all the content on your city's channel. For Apple TV users, go to search and type PCTA.

Select your city. For first time setup, select get, then confirm get for free. And that's it. You're now ready to stream all available content. For Roku users, it's just as easy.

Search PCTA to find your city and select it. Then select go to channel, and now you're ready to instantly stream all your city's available content. And for Fire Stick users, once you've downloaded the PCTA app from the App Store, just open it to launch it and you're ready to stream all your city's available content. The new Public Cable Television Authority, your home.

Raging flames, radiant heat, and flying embers all have the potential for devastating consequences. Over 180,000 acres have burned, and 622 homes have been damaged or destroyed due to wildfires. However, most wildfires are preventable, and so is the destruction that they cause. It's up to us. Take steps to harden your home and create defensible space. The threat of wildfire is constant, but improving the outcome is in our hands. Are you wildfire ready? Now is the time.

Hi. Welcome to the center at Founders Village Senior and Community Center. Why should you join us? Come and see for yourself.

Teenagers are known for their technical skills, so what better teachers to bring to the Fountain Valley Senior Center than high school students? And it's also been a learning opportunity for both the students and the seniors. Team Tech Tutors started a few years back with a need that was noticed at the center at Founders Village with seniors asking staff.

I should be in the room,

all the way down. Just straight ahead.

Okay. Thank you so much. Okay.

I need help with my phone regarding why is it, like, lagging, how can I get get my password back? I need help on this app. And, of course, it became a reoccurring thing through Monday through Friday.

So the city reached out to Fountain Valley High School to see if students could volunteer.

I'm here at Personal Tech Support. I'm at the Morrison.

They come in with questions, and we answer them. And it can range from either helping them with their emails or just teaching them about technology in general.

Do you mind if I link you to the WiFi? Yeah. This

is Effie's second year here giving back.

It was actually very nice to do a little bit of volunteering. And especially since it's really close by, it's really easy, just come after school. Because we've been around technology for most of our lives actually, ever since I was like five, I like touched the iPad. And we know everything that's on it. So it's mainly just pointing out what they're doing wrong, how to get somewhere, and how to open different things.

Okay. Yeah. Great.

It feels very nice because you see that they're learning. It's like teaching a younger brother, a younger sibling. It's the same thing. You're just helping them out, and you're helping them understand, and it feels very nice on the inside.

And the seniors are very thankful to have such caring and knowledgeable young people able to assist.

Very patient. Yeah. You know, I have an issue. My hearing's not well. They put up with my hearing problems. Very low. Yeah. Okay. There it goes. Yeah. I've had all kinds of trouble. Facebook, cell phone. I've

got

a Chrome notebook. They've helped me with that. It's wonderful to be able to come here and get that free information. You know? I don't know where else to go.

There are also life lessons taken away here too. One senior's story stayed with Effie.

She was telling me about how she used to work in a technical institute, actually. It's kinda funny because she's coming here for help, so it shows how much technology has changed over the years. And she was telling me what path to take is best in high school and how you could get the most from stuff. So there's a lot of things you can learn even though they are also learning from you.

Maverick is a freshman but has already gained some important tools through volunteering.

A lot of life lessons, life experiences that you only learn with age, such as what to do in school settings, how to create good study habits, how to make friends, and how to make the best out of your life as of right now because you only live this moment once.

Thank you so much. You're a dear. Oh,

thank For

more on this program, you can call the Fountain Valley Senior and Community Center. The program is available by appointment on Tuesdays from 4PM till 6PM. No surprise surprise to many that pickleball has been named America's fastest growing sport year after year. And here at Fountain Valley's Recreation Center, they offer both indoor and outdoor options.

Pickleball is a huge sport, very very popular especially here in our community in the city of Fountain Valley. We've been offering indoor pickleball for quite some time. We have three indoor courts inside our recreation center and so it's been available for drop and play for several years. It's a drop in style program on Mondays and Fridays from 08:30AM to 11:30AM and it's $3 per person to play.

Frank Stewart is a regular here and at age 84 it's keeping him mentally and physically fit.

Obviously a lifelong tennis player. I hated to give that up, but my knees said otherwise. So I found the sport, and it was an easy transition.

The part he enjoys most.

People are so nice, so friendly, common interests. We can discuss a lot of different topics. Yeah, it's a wonderful social game.

And if you're a game, there's a lingo allowing players to communicate amongst themselves with words like falafel and bagel.

Bagel means zero, which translates from the tennis game as well. You get bagel it's not good. Have your bagel before you come to a pickleball court.

As far as the sport there is a difference when playing inside.

The ball is different and then the wood surface is a lot softer on your body and also it's easier to control the ball to practice because there's no wind and there's no sun and and it's just a lot easier for you to control where you want to place the ball.

Dave Kessner has been coming here for the past four years and plays often.

If you're a beginner play, then you sort of gravitate to a group maybe that's in that beginner play. But myself, if if that's, you know, a group here, need a needs player and they're, you know, just beginning, I don't mind. I can, you know, adapt and enjoy just kinda teaching them and just, having them learn also.

For those wanting more in-depth instruction, then head to the 12 outdoor courts for their clinics, classes, tournaments, and group lessons.

By taking it in the air, you just took her time away. That's why you want to take that volley out in the air. We offer programming for beginners, intermediate, advanced players. What we focus on primarily is teaching them so we grow players. Today, I am doing drill and play. In this portion here, we drill the player for an hour and a half of the three hour session, and then the last hour and a half, they get to play amongst each other, and we only hope that they take in what we taught them during the drill session.

Keep it low. Keep it low. Nice, Renata. Yeah.

Jenna Klett is the other pro instructor on the court working with students.

So I teach anything from serves, returns, working on third shot drops, fifth shot resets, pretty much every part of the game. Attacking out of the air, attacking off the bounce, forehand rolls, backhand rolls, how to lob, how to retrieve a lob, pretty much everything. So it kind of they can put it all together in that second hour of play.

Jenna explains the why to her students as far as the game. So I asked her why she does what she does.

It's the best job in the world. So I'm out here every day. I'm teaching friends, you know, clients who have now become friends. Just people are happy to play pickleball.

Pickleball, come on out, play a few times, and you'll be right right in it and happy as can be.

For more on the indoor pickleball court, you can visit the city's website. And for the outdoor classes, you can contact Agape.

Come here. Good job. Good. Push it. Good. Good.

The Fountain Valley Recreation Center and Sports Park has been a community staple for just about forty years. Offering classes to the community, but they do more. They offer facility rentals from two renovated rooms to the full gymnasium.

So there are two different rooms available depending on your needs for your event. What makes this room special is that it can be divided into two smaller rooms if you don't need the entire grand hall, and you're also able to add on the kitchen as well.

There's also a projector screen available for movies, PowerPoint, and slideshow presentations.

We are able to host a number of different kinds of events here. We're able to host weddings, birthday parties, business meetings, trainings, and such.

The second room is more of a square shape, so depending on your needs.

So what makes the Sunridge Room special is that it's a grand hall, the same as Parkview. However, that one does not have a partition curtain through it, and it also has access to the patio. And the patio is a great option if you wanted an indoor and outdoor bed.

As we pass through the lobby once again, we see it has a more welcoming look too as they removed windows at the reception desk for an open feel. Now making our way to the gym.

So the public can come in on Mondays and Fridays. We have drop and pickleball from 08:30 to 11:30AM. And on Sundays, we have badminton from five to 8PM.