Planning Commission / Landmarks Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'm calling this meeting of the Fulton Planning Commission to order. Today is Wednesday, August 12, 2026. The time is 6.31. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Commissioner Fleener. Here. Vice Chair Dino.

Here.

Chair Valadez.

Here.

And Commissioners Wayne and Tudor are absent.

Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Ready to begin. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We will now take public comments on items not appearing on tonight's agenda, but within the commission's jurisdiction. Each speaker has three minutes. Please state your name and city of residence for the record. Do we have any public comments here at the, it doesn't seem like it. On Zoom?

No hands raised.

OK, seeing no speakers, public comments is now closed. There is no consent calendar for tonight's meeting. Next is commissioners' communication disclosures regarding tonight's agenda item. Commissioners, do you have any disclosures to report?

Me neither.

OK. Thank you. There is no regular business on tonight's meeting. I will now open the public hearing for item number one. Staff, please present your report on the proposed environmental justice element amendment to the city of Fullerton's general plan.

Good evening, honorable chair and commissioners. We're proud to bring to you the first ever environmental justice element for the city of Fullerton. And Yan has been shepherding this process along, and she will now give us a presentation.

Good evening chair and commissioners tonight I'll present the city's first ever environmental justice element proposed as new appendix n to the general plan for a consideration The planning division has prepared this element to comply with Senate bill 1000 which requires cities and counties with disadvantaged communities to to adopt environmental justice goals and policies and programs. Environmental justice means reducing the disproportionate impact of pollution and environmental hazards on communities regardless of race, ethnicity, or income, and ensuring every resident can live, work, and thrive in a healthy, safe environment. Under Government Code Section 65302H, the element must reduce health risks in disadvantaged communities, promote meaningful participation by those communities in decision-making, and prioritize improvements that address their specific needs. Next slide, please. Tonight's action covers several components. The environmental justice element itself, adopted as Appendix and a companion appendix and supplement summarizing the online public survey responses identification of a nine impacted communities using Cal EPA's 2022 disadvantaged community criteria and a Senate bill 535 designation incorporation of eight public comments into the goals policies and actions and a completed Senate bill 18 tribal consultation process which generated one tribal response The element establishes eight goals and 47 policies addressing pollution exposure, climate resilience, public facilities, housing, and civic engagement. Adoption requires a general plan amendment. This is primarily a policy integration with no direct land use or zoning code changes and is CEQA exempt under a common sense exemption, section 15061 . Next slide, please. State law defines environmental justice as the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of people of all races, cultures, incomes and national origins in the development, adoption, implementation and enforcement of environmental laws and policies. In practice, that means No group should bear a disproportionate share of pollution or environmental harm. The communities most affected have a genuine voice in decisions that affect them. And access to clean air, water, and healthy neighborhoods is treated as a right rather than a privilege. Next slide, please. Senate Bill 1000 applies when a jurisdiction adopts or revises two or more general plan elements concurrently, on or after January 1, 2018, and contains a disadvantaged community. Fullerton meets both conditions, which is why we are here tonight. Cities can either adopt a stand-alone environmental justice element or integrate EJ policies throughout the existing general plan. Fullerton chose the stand-alone approach. Senate Bill 1000 also sees within a broader timeline of state environmental justice legislation shown here from Senate Bill 375 in 2008 through Senate Bill 1000 itself in 2016. Next slide, please. State law requires that EJ policies address eight topic areas. Pollution exposure, public facilities, food access, safe and sanitary homes, physical activity, other unique local risks, civic engagement, and a prioritized investment. Our draft goals map directly onto these areas, from reducing pollution exposure and improving air quality to equitable access to community facilities, healthy food access, hazard-free housing, safe places to walk and bike, multilingual civic outreach, and investments targeted specifically to disadvantaged community needs. Next slide, please. Senate Bill 1000 allows jurisdictions to identify disadvantaged communities through one or more methods. First, the CalEnviroScreen score, a census tract that scores in the top 25% statewide on CalEnviroScreen's Community Pollution and Vulnerability score. Second method, low income plus pollution burden, an area with household income at all below 80% of the statewide median, or HCD state income limits, that's also disproportionately affected by pollution or hazards. And third method, local knowledge and data. Community specific information like local health surveys, error monitoring, or code enforcement records that can reveal burdens that generic statewide models might miss. Fullerton's analysis draws primarily on the first method, which is the industry standard method. And the score also incorporates some of the data from method two, which I will walk through next. Next slide, please. To understand how Fullerton arrived at the impacted communities we've identified, it helps to take a look at the city's history. Fullerton's environmental justice conditions are rooted in a layered history. The Tongva and Ashman peoples inhabited this region for thousands of years before European contact. Spanish mission settlement in 1776 and a rental era that followed reshaped land use through ranching and displacement. George and Edward Emmerich founded Fullerton in 1887, launching a citrus, rail, and oil-based economy. 20th century freeway and rail siting concentrated industrial uses near working class neighborhoods. and citrus farming, oil extraction, and industrial growth left lasting soil and groundwater impacts that help explain where today's elevated cow environment screen scores are concentrated in Fullerton. Regarding redlining and fair housing, where Fullerton wasn't directly mapped by homeowner's loan corporation, Hoke, similar discriminatory zoning practices may have shaped an even investment here. This history of industrial siting, real corridors, and housing policy continues to shape impacted communities identified in our existing condition analysis. Next slide, please. This long range planning effort addresses two components of the city's general plan, the open space and the conservation element update, and the environmental justice element. Today's discussion focuses on the environmental justice element, which assesses environmental inequities and health risks in disadvantaged communities, identifies gaps and overlaps with the plan's other elements, and establishes CEQA compliant goals, policies, and implementation strategy. The open space and the conservation element update was adopted by Council in June 2026, and both elements were shaped by the same community outreach, engagement, and public hearing process. Next slide, please. This timeline shows our path from kickoff in September 2025 through research analysis, vision and policy development, and a draft action plan to tonight's planning commission public hearing. We're here tonight following the planning commission study session on July 22nd and community meeting on July 16th. Next comes city council public hearing adoption tentatively scheduled for October 2026. Next slide, please. The element is organized into three sections. plus supporting materials. Section 1 covers introduction, purpose, background, statutory requirement, planning process, and relationship to other documents. Section 2 covers existing conditions, how impacted communities were identified, and a CalEnviroScreen 4.0 index. Senate Bill 535 designations, CDC vulnerability index and population data, and a summary of impacted communities. Section three contains the eight goals and 47 policies. The appendix N supplement holds the online public survey responses and a separate 90 plus item action plan serves as internal city implementation document. It is not filed as part of the element itself. Next slide, please. Our online survey ran for 35 days from October 27th through November 30th, 2025, across five categories. Environmental justice, open space and conservation, access, rewilding, and climate resilience. And it drew 642 total participants through five media channels. In person outreach included two events, Oktoberfest and the Hong Public Library, engaging more than 150 visitors. We also distributed more than 100 flyers to build awareness of the process. Next slide, please. Here are the five channels the planning division engaged with the community. The dedicated city's webpage, banners, social media outreach, Email eblast and the Sufa digital display boards at the transit center. Next slide, please. In terms of community engagement themes, only about 45% of survey respondents had heard the term environmental justice, and many were only somewhat familiar with it. Despite that awareness gap, respondents still identified age, poverty status, and disability as key factors contributing to vulnerability. Top concerns include air and water pollution, noise, land use compatibility, and health risks from extreme heat and flooding, along with a lack of civic engagement. Community priorities centered on affordable housing, safer and cleaner public spaces, more green areas and trees, improved sidewalks and transportation, and programs supporting vulnerable groups. Next slide, please. Respondents prioritized equitable access to parks and open space through community gardens, pocket parks, and small neighborhood gathering spaces within walking distance. In-person participants recommended more trees, water stations, and community garden pop-ups in disadvantaged communities. along with shade and water upgrades at high-use parks and an expanded urban tree canopy to reduce heat island effects near railways and industrial corridors. On safety, participants recommended enhanced lighting, visible patrols, and continued resources to address unhoused individuals and other safety concerns in open spaces. alongside positive feedback on park staff and interest in expanding environmental justice education and stewardship. Respondents favored engagement through partnerships with local nonprofits and schools, community workshops, online surveys, and youth and senior programs. And about 58% provided an email address to stay informed on long-range planning updates. Next slide, please. Nine impacted census tracts were formally designated using CalEPA's 2022 Disadvantage Community Criteria. Those are 001404, 001801, 001802, 011403, 011502, 011601, 011602, 086701, 086802. Designation criteria included tracks in the highest 25% of the CalEnviroScreen 4.0 scores and tracks identified as disadvantaged under the 2017 Senate Bill 535 designation, regardless of current score. This designation is fixed and serves as the required basis for the element. Supplemental indicators describe the lived conditions but don't change which tracks are impacted communities. These communities concentrate in three areas, as you can see in the map. The northern industrial corridor, southwest communities, and the southeastern communities. The next few slides take a closer look at some of the maps behind these destinations. Next slide, please. This map shows the CalEnviroScreen 4.0 pollution burden score by census tract. Fullerton's impact communities fall in the 70th to 95th percentile statewide, meaning they face more pollution and health risk than roughly 70 to 95 percent of California neighborhoods. The biggest citywide concerns are air pollution from fine particles. toxic releases from industrial facilities and drinking water contaminants. Other risks. such as diesel exhaust, traffic impacts, and the lead exposure in older homes are more localized, showing up mainly near freeways, railway yards, and older housing stock. Much of this traces back to Fullerton's history as an oil manufacturing and a real town, a history that still shows up in the data today, even though actual risks on the ground may be lower now than it was once was. Next slide, please. This map shows how the CDC's Social Vulnerability Index ranks Fullerton census tracts. 13 tracts rank high nationally, meaning they are more socially vulnerable than most communities in the country, and all nine of our impacted communities fall into this group. The index looks at 16 factors across four areas, economic status, household characteristics, race and ethnicity, and housing and transportation. Citywide, the biggest factors driving these scores are household crowding, limited English proficiency, people living in group settings, multi-unit housing, and a larger share of residents 65 and older. This index matters because it can flag vulnerable areas that don't officially qualify as disadvantaged communities under the state's criteria, giving us a fuller picture of where the need is. As you can see, the high vulnerability areas shown in the darker blue-purple tones again cluster in the southern and western portion of the bulletin, reinforcing what we saw in the CalEnvirus screen data. Next slide, please. The goals and policies were built on three inputs. First, an existing conditions review, call invariable screen 4.0, Senate Bill 535, and CDC social vulnerability index data. Identified our nine impacted communities and the specific burdens they face. Second, community engagement, 642 online survey responses, and more than 150 in-person pop-up visitors. shape the priorities like housing, clean public spaces, and tree canopy. Third, interdepartmental coordination cross-checked these goals against the concurrent open space and conservation element update and existing city plans. Next slide, please. Based on the analysis and Senate Bill 1000 requirements, the draft element establishes eight core goals addressing the state required topic areas. Goal 1 addresses air, noise, and odor, protecting residents, especially in disadvantaged communities, from disproportionate pollution exposure. Goal 2 covers water quality. Goal 3 addresses climate resilience and cumulative pollution burdens. Goal 4 ensures equitable access to public facilities. Goal 5 expands parks and active transportation. Goal six, improves healthy food access. Goal seven, ensures safe and sanitary homes through habitability standards and hazard remediation. Goal eight, strengthens civic engagement, ensuring meaningful participation and equitable representation of impacted communities in public decisions. The next four slides walk through the specific policies under each of these goals in more detail. Next slide, please. Goal one, air, noise, and odor. Protects residents from disproportionate pollution exposure through seven policies. Land use compatibility, buffering between sensitive receptors and pollution sources. Educating property owners on pollution mitigation like air filters and ventilation. Preserving and expanding natural buffers and tree canopy. monitoring air quality with regional partners like South Coast Air Quality Management District, reducing vehicle miles traveled through transit and active transportation, enforcing and periodically updating truck and bus route destinations, and transitioning to a cleaner municipal fleet with expanded EV charging infrastructure. Goal two, water quality. Minimize its pollution through five policies. complies with state and federal water quality regulations via stormwater management, regular maintenance and monitoring of stormwater and sanitary systems, encouraging low impact community, low impact development practices, coordinating with Orange County and regional agencies, and supporting remediation of known contamination sites. Next slide, please. Goal three, climate resilience. Reduces vulnerability to climate change and community pollution burdens through five policies. Climate responsive planning integrated into city projects. Support for energy efficient low emission development. Incorporating the city's local hazard mitigation plan with attention to sensitive populations. Assessing cumulative pollution burdens using tools like CalEnviroScreen and ensuring new development doesn't intensify current inequities. Goal four, public facilities. Ensures equitable access through seven policies. Encouraging transit-oriented development. Collaborating with transit providers to expand service. supporting equitable multi-modal access to jobs and services, promoting equitable distribution of public improvement citywide, coordinating with schools and agencies on educational, cultural, and civic facility access, maintaining facilities to save an accessible standards, and requiring fair share developer contributions toward infrastructure. Next slide, please. Goal five. parks and active transportation, promotes health and physical activities through seven policies, continuing low-cost and free recreational programming, especially for vulnerable populations, expanding joint use agreements with school districts, citing community facilities to support walking and biking, ensuring universal design for accessibility, expanding urban greening and shade in public spaces, prioritizing park investment in underserved neighborhoods, and pursuing creative strategies. New parks join youth's enhanced bike and pedestrian access in park-poor areas. Goal six, healthy food access. ensures access to affordable nutritious food through four policies. Promoting farmers markets, community gardens, and mobile food providers in underserved neighborhoods. Educational programs supporting healthy food choices. evaluating healthy eating equity in land use decisions to avoid concentrating fast food and limiting food deserts, and strengthening partnerships with community and faith-based organizations to address food insecurity. Next slide, please. Goal seven, safe and sanitary homes, ensures access to healthy housing through six policies, coordinating implementation with the housing element on fair housing and affordability, supporting diverse housing types and tenures, encouraging maintenance and rehabilitation of existing housing with code enforcement information where appropriate, connecting residents to rehabilitation and maintenance funding programs, promoting first-time home buyer assistance, and supporting education on housing-related environmental health risks like lead, paint, and mold. Goal eight, civic engagement. Strengthens community voice in decisions through six policies. containing meaningful public participation through workshops, hearings, and advisory bodies, using multilingual and inclusive communication methods, scheduling accessible meeting locations, times, and formats, coordinating outreach across departments to reduce engagement fatigue, Addressing the digital divide by supplementing online outreach with in-person and printed materials and supporting diverse community representation on city commissions and boards. Together, these eight goals and 47 policies give the city a comprehensive framework for reducing pollution, exposure, improving access to healthy housing and public facilities, and strengthening community voice in decisions that affect Fullerton's impacted communities. Next slide, please. The element is accompanied by our 90-plus action items. To be clear, these are for internal city use only and not required as part of the EJE filing. They translate the eight core policies and goals into concrete measurable steps across departments, planning, community development, parks and recreation, and public works, with timelines ranging from ongoing through short term, 0 to 2 years, mid-term 2 to 4 years, and long-term 4 to 7 years horizons, and identify funding mechanisms to ensure implementation. Next slide, please. Here's a representative example of how a policy translates into a specific action item, including a responsible department, timeline, and a funding mechanism, illustrating how the element moves from policy to implementation. Take policy P1.3, preserve and enhance natural buffers, which supports expanding urban tree canopy and a green infrastructure in areas with elevated pollution exposure. It's implemented through two actions. Action 1.3a directs public works to prioritize street tree planting and maintenance in disadvantaged communities consistent with the community forest management plan and our Tree City USA commitments funded through urban forestry and tree planting grants. an action 1.3b calls for incorporating vegetative buffers, trees, shrubs, and bioswales into roadway and capital improvement projects funded through capital improvement program and stormwater green infrastructure funds. Next slide, please. As required under government code section 65352.3, Senate bill 18 initial notification letters were sent to all California tribes identified by the Native American Heritage Commission on May 7 2026 We received the one response from a tribal group consultation was completed prior to City Council adoption and The tribes were afforded 90 days to respond to the initial notification Next slide, please Following tonight's hearing, the recommended action proceeds to City Council for a public hearing tentatively scheduled for October 2026. At that time, the adopted element will also be submitted to the Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, formerly OPR. The environmental justice, as Appendix N, advances the city's Senate Bill 1000 compliance and was developed in coordination with the concurrent open space and conservation element update. Staff recommends that the Planning Commission adopt resolution number PC 2026 dash 11 recommending that the City Council approve a general plan amendment to adopt the new environmental justice element of the fuller to general plan as appendix in This action is exempt from CEQA review under section 15061 , the common sense exemption. A notice of exemption, NOE, will be prepared prior to City Council adoption and filed with Orange County City, Orange County Clerk recorder upon adoption. That concludes staff presentation. Staff and the consultant team, Michael Baker International, are happy to answer any questions.

Thank you very much for your presentation. Let me briefly open up to public comment portion of the hearing. We will now take public comments, and then we'll come back to you. From chambers? Not seeing any in chambers. Any public comments on Zoom regarding item number one?

Yes, just a moment. Mr. Castaneda, please unmute.

Thank you. Good evening, Chair Valadez and members of the Planning Commission and city staff. My name is, oh, can you hear me?

Can you talk a little louder, please?

Oh, sorry. Okay. Give me one moment so I can. Testing. Can you hear me?

A little bit. If you can go a little louder, it'd be great.

okay give me one moment here it's just the microphone settings i'm sorry it's just a little soft it is maxed out so i am okay you're good go ahead i'm so good good evening um jose trinidad castaneda um i uh so i want to recommend for the planning commission to um approve the environmental justice element, but with some additional instructions to staff to consider any late submitted public comments to this between now and the city council meeting. So I just want to start off with kudos to the city staff and our consultant, Michael Baker. It seems like this is a really comprehensive policy and strategy document. I just wanted to add a couple of things because I have specific lived experience south of Commonwealth on the Buena Park side of the Fullerton Airport and have family living. The Fullerton Airport is my main focus. So there is no policy guidance regarding the leaded aviation gas, which is the primary, if not only, fuel source and fuel type for all of our small airplanes and aircraft flying out of the Fulton Airport. So I would want to strongly recommend either a public health study or some sort of effort in the future that could properly track and maybe survey residents with regards to whether air pollution from leaded aviation gas is disproportionately affecting their health. I believe it is though the evidence is just based on waking up every morning and seeing that there was a very thick layer of either metallic or kind of like a silver nitrate layer of dust and particulate matter on my car, like even after I watched it the night previously. So not the most scientific evidence, but something to go off of. And I'll follow up with a longer email with additional programs and projects that could be for the commission, the staffs, and council's consideration as you guys all review it. Thank you very much. Have a good night.

Thank you. Is there any more comments on Zoom?

No more speakers.

See no more speakers, commissioners, any questions for staff on this item?

No vice chair any questions Okay, please Thank you staff for it for a very good update I think one is well one of the first questions I was gonna ask is what's what substantive changes have have been made in the element in light of The Commission's first review last month In response to our comments and also the community feedback I

Okay, so a couple changes that we've made have been including more action items related to grant sources So how we can help implement these changes so more research into different grant opportunities And funding sources. So that's something that we've added as an action item. There was also mentioned to solar power and how to increase that so that's another thing we've added into one of the policies and And so those were the major changes. We also had an additional community engagement event. So we integrated the Feedback from that into the document so you can read about that That was yeah and had that on the summary slide, but it has information about that event and additional feedback that we integrated Thank you Once adopted how will the environmental justice element change how the city does business?

I

Know you any kind of touched upon that a little bit in that last in that very last slide You're talking about the action items, yeah So well the action items are intended to be reviewed Frequently that's why it's an internal city document because this is environmental justice element itself is something that stands a little bit longer and Period of time, but the action plan list is something that's a city can discuss how frequently you're reviewing this You could be bringing it back to any Commission or City Council to make changes So I think that's a conversation for the city to identify What are what's realistic and how frequently we can be reviewing this document? and seeing how we can integrate these changes. That would be the first step. And then another one would be to really bring this along with any new project going forward. You can, again, reference this document for new projects that come through as part of CEQAs included in a lot of these development projects. But this is something that's another supplement to that. So the recommendation to continually revisit this tool with future planning and projects that come through.

So essentially what you're saying is if a new applicant were to bring a development to the city, then this would be, I guess, the reference document to help guide how it would apply to the environmental justice element.

It's encouraged. It's not a requirement, but it would be encouraged to reference this document and see if that's something that can be applicable to that particular development.

Got it. So the next question from that would be, Whether or not, how would this be tracked within the city and who would be responsible for compliance with our proposed past environmental justice element?

This is the first environmental justice element. Right. But I will let the city refer to who is tracking that and any changes to it.

I'll just jump in there. So the Planning Department is responsible for tracking these. So right now, for instance, I'll give you an example. With the housing element, we have those 100 policy actions that we have to track and enforce. So we're kind of like the belly button that you have to poke. So planning department is responsible for these general plan elements and we will track each of the policy actions as they are implemented or need to be enforced or what have you.

So if there's a recommendation, let's say improvement in infrastructure and it has to go into our CIP and it's not funded, then how do we balance kind of How do you balance the two?

Well, we would... I'm just using that as an example. Yeah, we would inform the city council. So this is basically the high-level view of the city. Policies are... They're... Well... Really up to the City Council if they have this enforce them or not. It's at their discretion We're not held to these per se 100% they can direct us otherwise But it's kind of like a guiding document for us

So let's say we were talking about our housing element next year or in the near future, could the state literally hold us to this?

We do report our success on carrying out these policy actions. That's something that I prepare every year and submit to the Department of Housing and Community Development and OPR, or whatever they're called now. So we're actually required to submit that document. If we do not carry out those actions, then the city or the state has the ability to do remedial or negative actions like withholding grants or other functions that they deem appropriate.

So when it comes to elements that are in the environmental justice element, well, by extension, housing, does that mean that they could hold us to a metric?

They can. OK. OK.

Let me just jump in really quickly. So when do you plan to report to the City Council on this? Is it sometime during the year that you did this annual implementation?

Yeah, so it's due April 1st every year, so it was already submitted back in March.

So the opportunity would be like in January, February to talk to the City Council about it and

Right, yeah, it's actually a very tedious and long process to prepare this report and In the past three or four years I've presented it like mid-august So that's usually when it gets presented to council, but it's it's just a receiving file action and then it's submitted electronically to the state and Okay.

Well, thank you, Vice Chair. Do you want to continue? Yeah, I'm assuming you have more questions.

Sure. Thank you. So I'll ask it that way. In terms of the low contributions and public comments that were added into this, well, at least around Do you foresee, is that typical of public participation? Or is it unusually low? I mean, I understand that you did what you could. But it just seems like a rather low number.

Yeah, what we typically find is that early on in the process, there's a higher volume of participation because you're weighing in early on in the process when it comes to the actual draft. If there's an issue, we see more feedback. But when others don't see issues or they're already able to review the draft, they've already provided their input, so it tends to dip for the second half of participation. It's usually pretty heavy early on, and then it drops after the draft has been done. So we have folks who may call in or provide a comment to see if something's missing.

Pollution bird so How are the zones classified and what has floor 10 done previously to kind of address the pollution burden because I Mean, I I saw the map. I understand where they are where they are. But is it was it because they just happen to be highly industrial In the case of South South fortune closer to Anaheim versus The other part of the district which was more populated What were some of the contributing factors?

Yes, so the pollution we measure it by census tract. That's how the data is observed through the different sources So that's where we look at that level of detail and then we can summarize it by the district level But as you may have seen on the graphics, it's to the north. It's to the southeast and to the southwest and that's historically from infrastructure or highway systems From pollution in the past. Those are the usually the biggest Reasons why we'd see those a higher elevated level and it could be from something, you know 50 hundred years ago. It's still Having an effect late at this late on in the game. So Those are the biggest contributing factors. We typically see is infrastructure highway system and past pollution burden and so we have mitigation measures within the policy to Not only you know, look at healthy homes mitigation guides, but also provide material for homeowners the residents on Material to improve or you know retrofit their own space or how they can improve it themselves in addition to understanding what's happening in the community so for example is with State college.

Yeah, so the industrial zone is it because the number is higher that I It was less population, more industrial, historically. Is the pollution number higher, basically?

Near the university?

Well, further south, closer to the freeway.

Yeah, it would be from infrastructure and the highway interstate system, and then just past pollution burden.

If you can go to slide 16, in each of the census tract identified, we also have the symbols illustrating the reasons.

Yeah, that would be helpful because pollution is pollution burden is just one of the factors that these nine are identified so We'll pull up on screen, but there's eight or nine categories that were highlighting so Each of them have some of them some of the different quantifiers for the impact of community so you can see on that is a little tiny but on the left hand side are those definitions of what is a disadvantaged community so all nine of these in red are considered as a disadvantaged community and then in addition to that there's several factors such as income age race poverty levels so those are all additional shade things like that those are additional factors that are impacting those communities that are considered the disadvantaged communities so some to the south yes pollution burden is an impact in addition to other factors

What implementation measures I guess we kind of touched upon this last month what implementation measures can be identified to support improved infrastructure because obviously that's a Major contributing factor, but our city has its budget challenges so I mean I mean other than grants other than it being aspirational or big picture like Chris was saying I How do we fund it? Or is there a mechanism to do that?

I think under Goal 4, Policy 4.7, we have an idea of requiring fair share development contributions towards the public infrastructure. Hopefully from the development that there will be funds available to improve the fair share portions

Would that be different? Well, I mean, I guess that's the same Chris When it comes to how we negotiate new developments that there's a there's the give back from developers or Is that how CD I guess community development negotiates it Depends if we're just doing a street development with a private It's a private development.

No, no city properties involved. I The developers are subject to the fees contained within the city municipal fee structure, so like park fees, sewer fees, street fees, that type of thing. However, if a developer is negotiating with a city for a specific city-owned property, then the city has the ability to add additional concessions or conditions of approval, depending on the situation. So you have two different ways to do it. Got it.

Thank you for that. And I think I'm done for now, Mr. Chair.

Thanks. So what does the adoption of this element actually require? Is it creating new regulations, like development standards or fees that we're talking about?

There are no particular requirements that come from this outside of filing the document, filing the CEQA exemption, and then just internal city continuation to improve and review this document as applicable.

Can you discuss how do you prioritize the work, the whole process again, please?

Prioritize the action items? So that was a document that we worked with the city to identify based off of what our findings from the element were to establish which of these are things that could be completed early on or which have a higher priority. So it was laying out all the different policies Within the eagles and identifying which were a higher priority Which are you know applicable or have a easier way to access and then grant opportunities? So it was kind of a you know discussions back and forth between the city and this is also meant to evolve so if things change things can move up in priority over time to it's not meant to just be a One-time document so they can change over time but it's based off of you know, what is the highest priority to hit early on and

So when the staff refines the element, like you're discussing, is that something that they would have to bring back to the Planning Commission, or is that something you can do in-house?

How does that typically work? So it's not the element itself. It would be the action plan. So that is something that I don't believe you have to bring it back for approval, but you can bring it back as a status report. But I don't know if that would probably be the standard to do. Because the actual element itself is more about all the existing conditions the high level policies, and then the action plan is something that you can review internally and bring just a status update if needed.

And kind of the last thing that I want to focus on a little bit more is the action plan and how does that, the opportunity of it being brought back to planning every year. I think that would be, in addition to that, discussing the actual metrics that you want to focus on. I mean, it's hard to figure out what metrics you want to use, but like the tree canopy one would be a great example. So let's focus on the tree canopy. Is somebody taking the data of that every year? Do they take pictures of the city of Fulton and see what the coverage is?

We don't have that ability to do that. That's something we would have to hire a consultant to do. And I'm sure you heard the discussions about the budget. So that request probably wouldn't raise to the level of council consideration, but It's really about time and resources and money. You know there are certain things we have to do by state law and there's certain things that we can. I'm not going to say we hand wave of not do them but there's a there's kind of a criteria level or priority level that we have to follow.

So if we were to request that planning commission gets a yearly update on our general plan environmental justice housing element And it's set in the calendar every year from from you Chris and from your department. How would that work. I mean would that necessarily mean would that necessarily be need to be funded or or could it be just agendized.

FRED PODESTA. Well we're already doing it for council. So honestly it wouldn't be that hard to present that information to the Planning Commission. DIRECTOR DEWOLF.

I don't want to add a letter add another budget line item but. Like we were asking I guess a couple years ago for general plan update or like whenever we're going to update the drone plan. Just didn't seem like a huge request obviously we ran into the housing element.

We're juggling several things right now. So obviously the budgets a big thing, but we're also looking at Statutory timelines and when we have to update certain things So I think you guys remember we I presented a little Chart was a couple meetings ago that talked about when certain things are due so You know, it's funny. I just said attended a League of California cities briefing on all the laws that are being floated There's about 500 new laws that are being proposed right now that will possibly cross the governor's desk and so One of those laws was talking about making every city do an environmental justice element, which was which would be due by May of next year. I mean we're doing it already so we're good to go but it's stuff like that that's happening all the time that we have to react to and so it's kind of like whack-a-mole we're trying to you know, do all these things that the state throws at us and

Yeah, I mean, the reason why I ask is that at least if we knew, by the way, this time of year we're talking about housing, this time of year we're talking about general plan, this time of year we're talking about environment, kind of like a consistent basis, it might lessen the fact that you would need to play whack-a-mole with existing development and everything else and the deadlines.

Yeah, I mean, since I've been here, we've already updated four of the elements. Yeah. That's that's pretty huge. I think housing element safety element open space in the now EJ element. So I've I've been in planning for 30 years and I've never had this many updates to general plan elements I've never seen it before so it's and it's all coming from the state the state's directing this so Yeah, it's kind of been kind of crazy and it cost us a lot of money like the housing element I don't know what the exact cost but it was several hundred thousand dollars and And it's a lot.

Well, however we can help. And thank you.

Here.

Sorry.

I have a question.

No, it's perfect. So what do you perceive our role is to ensure that Fulton implements this requirement? Especially in the metrics I mean I want to continue discussing what metrics you would consider then beyond the tree canopy one if we I mean I guess you can't say you could say how many trees we've planted because I Public Works has that funded I think right there. I believe they're focusing on planting trees on the streets and

Yeah, the city does have an urban forest management plan. I believe that was in 2023. So that document in particular will measure more strictly recommended canopy growth coverage. And typically, year over year, it is pretty difficult to measure. Every tree helps, but year over year, you won't see as much change. It's easier to do a little bit further increments to really see how that canopy is evolving. But I would recommend that you look towards the urban forest management plan and then see if there's updates to that maybe two, three years out. What's the change? How is that canopy coverage looking? This just helps support that, but it's not looking at the actual volume or percentage and recommendation for growth.

So would it take an additional study to say access to affordable food or access to healthy food? Let's say the number of grocery stores will be built in a year. I'm trying to think of some other ones that you would think a little bit easier.

rent in the city as an example so I mean would there be mechanisms to measure some to have to develop those metrics without having to hire a consultant necessarily if the city had capacity to do that again I'm sure there's priorities but each of those would be their own individual study would there's a lot of great data and information but it does require a good amount of work to really understand the full picture at a detailed level

I mean healthy water, all those that add into this element. Thank you.

So from the action plan, would you describe the top five metrics that we should focus on that you might recommend?

From the action plan I would say look at each of the goals and within them maybe Prioritize one action item from each of them So that might be something we could come together and discuss what might be the best for each because I think that would make the most sense is to look at each of the goals which there are eight and within each of them maybe pick one that is the high priority or Timeline was the soonest that might be the recommendation so we could go through and say these are the one we're recommending for each of the goals and

We also heard repetitively repetitively some of the items such as the tree canopy from the online survey in person event and I think one of the public comments received so that's why we highlighted that action item just to Make sure that we have that listed in the action plan so we can cross-check all the public comments and all the survey responses and see which ones are Repeatedly showing up and then we may need to prioritize based on those repeated comments.

Mm-hmm Just considering the tree canopy. I just remember having the conversation with I don't know if it was a WCA employee But that they have the ability or they do know the coverage of the city so if

Of course if there's the time and the money to look into it I think that would be a great source to look in concerning the coverage in Fulton All trees so public private so you can't see that in the open space element what the current coverage is and percentage by the census track So is there the ability to track that then from year to year? Well, you could use the resources online and just see how they have changed year over year so that would be like the simplest version is to just track online and what these available tools are showing year over year. That would probably be your baseline, easiest way to see how it's evolving. This data also, though, isn't annually coming out. Again, it does take some time. So a lot of these resources are three, five years for an update.

Vice Chair, Commissioner Fleener, any other questions? Seeing that there's no more questions for staff, the public hearing is not closed. The commission will now deliberate. Do we have any other concerns or questions you want to discuss? Or are we ready to get a motion to recommend adoption?

I think the only concern that I think you've already, I mean, basically you've already addressed it, is how do we determine what the metrics are? And how do we Yeah, how do we communicate that the council say that these are our priorities? Definitely a little concerned about the lack of Input in the community, but but I but I understand that it's tough to get the community to to be involved Even this what the second time around now So I definitely understand that Yeah, I would just say It looks good but we definitely need to figure out the metrics and Across the board because obviously we do have the budget issues That exist and we'd like to see maybe we had one or two like for me for me it would be one or two groceries open it up in that neighborhood or Or we improved X number of roads, which is currently already in the CIP so a lot of those basic metrics that we do anyway in order to how we could contribute to an update yearly from a development or planning around the environmental justice element. That's it. I mean, nothing too complicated, but I understand the constraints and timelines that your departments are working under. And I would make that motion if Mr. Flinder doesn't have anything else.

Well, let me just quickly add that the goals are laudable. I think nobody can be against it. They'll improve the quality of life in Fullerton. I'm just concerned that which It's the unfunded mandate portion of this these elements like how are you gonna pay for it? And I mean you you briefly discuss about it But I mean with the concert the problems up with this the city's facing it just makes it really difficult But that being said You have a motion

This would be a receiving file or this would be a motion.

It's a motion to approve the resolution recommending the city council adopt the general plan amendment.

Motion to approve.

I second that.

As read. Madam Clerk, please call the roll.

Commissioner Fleener. Yes. Vice Chair Dino.

Yes.

Chair Valadez.

Aye. The motion passes. Thank you very much, staff. We will now move to commission and staff communications. There was an item that I wanted to bring up that we had discussed previously about doing an affordability-related study session. But I really would want to get consensus from the other commissioners as well and since we're missing two I think we would want to hold off but The one thing I do want to discuss and maybe mr. Schaefer you might be able to add some more I know we've talked about affordability specifically with housing but the environmental justice has also brought up the issue of food deserts and so Concerning that, I really would be interested in seeing how we can make affordability a much larger issue, like in relation to transportation, grocery access, maybe affordability issues that small businesses face. So are we going to have an opportunity, hopefully, in the next couple months to bring that up?

Um, we're, we're actually looking at all the things we got to do for the state. Um, so, um, I'm adding that to the list. Um, possibly.

Okay. Well, I'll bring it up again. Uh, when we have all the commissioners here and, uh, uh, yes, vice chair, do you have something to share that?

Um, are you finished?

No, just, uh, I was an ass.

Oh, yeah. I mean, I think, where I land in terms of that is I would like to see us talk about that sooner rather than later. I think a lot of those issues when it comes to affordability, food desert, all kind of are interrelated. I was looking at a study recently in regard to not actually a housing element, but The availability of ADUs. And I would like to see where the city's at in regard to where we are in terms of ADUs. Considering we approved the plans, and I know that there are the stock plans now within planning, but how many people have actually utilized them?

They're actually not available for public use yet. The plans have been prepared, but staff is plan checking them. So that means the building department is reviewing them to make sure all the nuts and bolts are in the right places. Fire department is checking them to make sure they meet fire codes. So before we actually put them out for public use, we got to do that plan check process first. That's already started, so that's ongoing. which should be done pretty soon. And then once that is completed, then we'll put them out there for public use. A second topic regarding ADUs, state laws have changed. So we have to go look at the code and make updates again. So we're going to be working on that shortly. And then the third item is regarding design, exterior design. We have to adopt what's called objective development standards or objective design standards. So I've been talking to a firm that does that. We will get a bid and present that to council and see if that's something they are willing to pay for. because that's been a hot topic as of late. I'm sure you guys remember the brouhaha over a certain ADU development on Cornell. So that's definitely on our top of our list of things to do.

How's the response been as people people and Excited about the possibility are they are they waiting to see what the city does in terms of plan check versus every Have more people starting to apply or do they know we?

so just for a little bit of background we are processing over 180 you requests a year and And for the most part, they just go through the plan check process, permits are issued, and it's just a simple process. There's those one or two projects that just everybody gets excited about that create a bunch of havoc and extra time for staff and legal counsel. And it's just those one or two projects that really, they just suck up all our time. So we're, like I said, we're looking at updating the codes to try to minimize those impacts and try to prevent that from happening in the future.

Are any of them waiting on the city to finish its plan check process for the pre-approved plans?

Not that I'm aware of.

Okay. Yeah, that's it for me. Thank you, Chris.

Well, I'm We want to focus on the agenda forecast. Sure. And then in addition to that, what issues have come up to city council recently, if you can discuss that as well.

Okay, so for the agenda forecast we have one item scheduled for the 26th of August Which is a proposed condition is permit for a certified farmers market So that will be coming to you for consideration And that is it. That's all I have for known cases that are coming up Concerning City Council matters Planning so or well, I'll talk about the next meeting. We have a meeting scheduled for next week and The Community Development Department has four items Two of them are planning related. So one is a request from the OC grand jury to provide responses so this I don't know if you guys are familiar with the grand jury and every once in a while the oc grand jury will blast out a um a list of questions for all the cities to answer that relate to a certain topic so in the past it might have been um assisted living facilities and then the one that we just got that we're providing a response to is regarding the housing the different housing laws and how the cities have had to respond to them so the city is providing a response presenting the council then it has to be submitted to the oc grand jury by I believe the deadline is August 18th. Second item we're presenting is staff, planning staff was able to obtain a $300,000 grant from OCCOG and SCAG. It's called the REAP 2.0 grant. We've been working with a consultant to develop conceptual plans for selected sites in the downtown. We're going to present those concepts to the city council and ask for direction on moving forward with maybe some of those plans. So that'll be presented. And then we have a request to approve a consultant for a CEQA review for a project that we're working on. And the fourth item, I can't remember what that was. It slips my mind. But yeah, those are the items that we're going to council next week.

There's a lot on your plate then. Yep. I see you're ready to say something, Vice Chair. Please go ahead.

Sure. Any updates on Harbor and Hermosa?

We are working with council. As you're aware, the Friends of Hermosa Association stated that they're intending to file a lawsuit against the city for approving that project. So we're going through all the different documents and responding to that.

Any updates about let's see Atlas or any of the other kind of in the in the works developments.

Atlas is proceeding swimmingly. They're doing a great job. They're moving forward. We've authorized them to well. They're doing Work on the parking structure right now and there should be done with that part of the job by September October And then they'll move on to the main structure. So they're they're moving great, you know, no issues Any new stores or any new businesses that are coming in that of note we're working with four different coffee coffee shops We're working with Tiaramia, Dutch Brothers, a small mom and pop called Wurtz Coffee, and the fourth one is Rabbit and Bean. So we have four new coffee shops that are working with us on the various entitlements or permitting process. And I had to ask, any new grocery stores? Not at this time. Got it. Thank you.

So I'll tack on to the vice chair's list in the high house area any potential development.

We have an application submitted. It's already gone through one review however. Public works gave some conditions that they're trying to resolve. So based on those conditions they might redesign their project. So it's not at the point where we can. It's not really we can we can't present it to anybody because it's really initial so but that's the first one we've received and that's It's definitely gonna change from what was submitted. So I you know, I don't know how it's gonna pan out If you can say with the range of units that we're looking at The original proposal was for 57 units but they're gonna they're gonna reduce that substantially based off of the conditions from Public Works and

Whatever happened to the Basinturi development along Basinturi or the hill? I'm not sure what project that is. They were going to develop something along the hill going down Basinturi by the assisted living facility in the creek bed?

Oh, that one's not moving forward.

Yeah, there's nothing in there.

There was just discussions with staff, and it didn't progress beyond that.

And then from what I remember, you said Provecho wasn't moving forward. They're not doing anything right.

They're just leaving it as is. As far as we know, yeah. Got it. Okay.

Well, if there's no further business, this meeting is adjourned.