Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Sharon, are you ready?

All right. Good afternoon, everybody.

I want to welcome everybody to our first meeting of the 2026 New Year. Welcome to the April 2nd, 2026 Regular Planning Commission meeting. I'd like to start off with the Pledge of Allegiance. Everybody, please stand. Thank you. Arianna, report on posting the agenda and roll call, please.

The agenda was posted on Thursday, March 26, 2026 at 4.49 p.m. Roll call. Commissioner Benson.

Present.

Commissioner Bondal.

Here.

Commissioner Downhower.

Here.

Commissioner Elling.

Here.

Commissioner Cotabande.

Here.

Commissioner Martinez. Commissioner Valdez?

Here.

Thank you. And as a reminder to please turn on your mic when speaking. Thank you.

Thank you, Arianna. Before moving on to the rest of the agenda here, as this being the first meeting of 2026, we will be electing a new chair and vice chair for the 2026 year. So the floor is open to motions, or if you'd like to be chair, you are more than welcome to put your name in the ring.

Unless anybody, I would like to make a motion to elect Manny, but no one else has spoken up yet, so I don't want to. I know it would be out of order for me to do that, and someone would say, oh, no, I'm interested. So I'm very quite content with the leadership we have in place.

I would second that.

Want to give anybody else an opportunity if you would like to be chair Okay, thank you Roll call Commissioner Benson yes Commissioner on doll yes Commissioner Don Howard yes Commissioner Ellie yes Commissioner Kota bondi yes Commissioner Martinez Commissioner Valdez yes Thank you everybody now vice chair

Would anybody like to be vice chair?

I would like to nominate Commissioner Illey for vice chair.

I'll second if you want it.

I don't really miss any meetings, so you don't have to worry.

All right. There's a motion and a second. Any other commissioners interested in being vice chair? All right, roll call, please.

Commissioner Benson?

Yes.

Commissioner Bondal?

Yes.

Commissioner Donhower?

Yes.

Commissioner Elling?

Yes.

Commissioner Cota-Bonding?

Yes.

Commissioner Martinez?

Yes.

And Commissioner Valdez?

Yes.

All right, thank you, everybody. Congratulations by share. All right, I'm going to go to item five, public comments. This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons desiring to address the Planning Commission on matters not on the agenda. There is a three-minute limit. Arianna, are there any public speakers?

There are no speakers.

All right, I'm going to go ahead and close public comment. Moving on to 6.6.1, Consent Agenda, November 6, 2025, Planning Commission Regular Meeting Minutes. Commissioners, any questions, comments, concerns?

I'll just say that for the new people, you can vote on these minutes, even though you weren't present. There was a change in the rules a long time ago. But you're only approving them as to form, not to their veracity. So you can just approve them so they're accepted into the record. So feel free to vote on the minutes.

I make a motion that we accept the minutes.

I second.

Roll call, please.

Commissioner Benson. Commissioner Donhauer.

Yes.

Commissioner Cotabande?

Yes.

Commissioner Martinez?

Yes.

Commissioner Valdez?

Yes.

Vice Chair Ellie?

Yes.

And Chair Bondo?

Yes.

I'm sorry, take it. Commissioner Benson? Yes. Thank you.

Thank you, Arianna. All right, moving on to 7, public hearing 7.1, variance V26-01, arc and site review AS24-07, a tentative map TM24-01 for the construction of 42 townhomes located at 95 Howzen Street, APN790-36-012. Staff report, Vanessa.

Good afternoon chair commissioners members of the public my name is Vanessa Sanchez I'm with the community development department planning division. And the item before you tonight is variance application twenty six dash zero one architectural insight review application twenty four dash zero seven and tentative map application twenty four dash zero one. This is for proposed townhome development located in ninety five house street. So the project is located on an approximate two-acre parcel within the downtown Gateway District. The parcel is currently developed with vacant commercial buildings and is bordered by commercial businesses to the east and south, a mobile home park to the north of the project, and a vacant lot just west of the site. The proposed project will construct and subdivide nine residential buildings for a total of 42 town homes. The buildings will be approximately 39 feet in height and will be primarily three stories with an exception to end units closer to the mobile home park. Those units will be limited to two stories in height. The residential development will contain a private streets, drive aisles, parking for guests and residents on site landscaping and common areas with amenities such as picnic area and playground. Additionally, the project will dedicate a portion of the site to the city for construction of six foot wide sidewalks with six foot wide landscaping strips. A variance is also being requested for exceptions to the front and street side yard setbacks to accommodate that dedication. So there will be four different building design types. Each building design type will have slightly different floor plans. Units typically range from 1,430 square feet to 1,900 square feet. And we'll have three to four bedrooms with either two and a half baths or three and a half baths, depending on the floor plan. Here we have a typical floor plan for building design with five units per building. For the first floor, we have these two units on the left. These will be facing the internal roads. So for these two units, they will just have garage entries. On the first floor, the two internal units will have garage entry and bedroom and bathroom. And then the corner unit on the right that is closer to that mobile home park will have garage, living room area, bathroom and kitchen on that first floor. For the second floor, the four units here These two here on the left and these internal ones, these will all have decks, kitchens, and living room areas. This corner unit to the right will have three bedrooms, office, and two bathrooms. And then for all units except that corner unit, the third floor will consist of bedrooms and bathrooms. So on the right here, I did provide a key to visualize a location of each building type. So these two building elevations will be facing House and Street. So these will be the most visible from House and Street. This top one will be located on the southwest corner of Church and House and Street, and this bottom elevation you'll be able to see on the southeast corner and in the middle facing House and Street. So on these elevations, we can see the covered entries, balconies, gavel roofs, accent awnings, use of horizontal siding on entryways, and a monotone color scheme with accent colors for the doors. These elevations also show that any proposed ground level AC units will be hidden from view behind the patio walls. So on the top here, we have the elevation that will be visible from Church Street, that northwest corner, and then that same building type will be seen on the internal roads as well as the northeast corner. And then this bottom elevation will be visible from internal streets and the development's common garden paseo. So again, we see that continuation of the covered entries, gavel roofs, accent siding near entryways, and that same monotone color scheme with accent colors for the doors. Here we have the proposed landscape plan for the development that depicts the proposed trees for onsite and for the street trees. A variety of trees will be used throughout the development, such as crepe myrtle, brisbane box, pink trumpet, and Saratoga bay. And for the street trees, the project proposes Chinese pistache to be planted within that six foot wide planter strip. And there will be an assortment of shrubs and ground cover proposed throughout the development as well. Staff analyzed the architectural and site review request and finds that the development is consistent with the 2040 general plan goals and policies, zoning code, downtown specific plan, and multifamily objective design standards. The project will be providing mercury-attached housing, attractive and compatible architecture, onsite amenities, and enhanced public sidewalks and landscaping strips. Staff also analyzed the tentative map analysis And FISA development is consistent with the Subdivision Map Act, the 2040 General Plan Goals and Policies, Zoning Code, and all other applicable laws, regulations, and standards. Additionally, staff cannot make the findings to deny the map because the subdivision is suitable for the density and type of development, meets all applicable regulations, and will not cause any public health problems. So to help visualize the variance request and all the different setback that is referenced in the report, I did provide a zoomed in portion of the proposed site plan. So this is the northwest corner of the development along Church Street. So the first red arrow here is showing face of curb. This top red arrow here labeled E is showing the existing property line. And this red arrow here labeled P is showing the proposed property line after that dedication. So this yellow highlighted measurement of nine feet and six inches is showing the setback from that new property line to the building after the dedication to the city. This blue 15 foot measurement is showing what 15 feet would look like from that new property line if it were to be enforced. And then the red measurement showing 15 feet is showing that setback as measured from the existing property line before any city dedications. And finally, this green measurement here labeled 21 feet is showing the total step back as measured from the face of curb to the building. So this helps visualize the impacts to the development of that 15 foot step back as measured from the property line. And at the same time is highlighting that a transition and separation is still being provided by the project. If we were to look at it from that measurement of face of curb. Again, we have another zoomed in portion of that site plan. This time, this is the southwest corner of Houston and Church Street. Again, that bottom arrow here is showing location of the face of curb. The arrow labeled E is showing the existing property line. And then this arrow labeled P is showing the proposed property line after that dedication. So this first yellow measurement labeled 22 feet is showing that setback measurement from the face of the curb to the building. The next measurement in blue, 15 feet, is showing the measurement from the new property line after that right-of-way dedication. And then the red measurement labeled again 15 feet is showing 15 feet from that existing property line before any city dedication. And then finally this highlighted 10 feet is showing the measurement from the new property line to the building. This is again showing that potential impact to the development if that 15 foot setback measurement from property line were to be applied. So as mentioned, the project is requesting a variance exception to the street side and front yard setbacks due to that public right-of-way dedication. But although they are not meeting that 15 feet as measured from the property line, the project is providing 21 feet from face of curb for the street side yard setback along Church Street and 22 feet from face of curb for that front setback along Houston Street. Therefore, the project is still meeting the intent of the Gateway District by providing adequate distance and transition from the development to the public right-of-way, and is still creating a pedestrian-oriented environment. Additionally, staff can make the required variance findings. So the project is categorically exempt under section 15332, class 32, of the California Environmental Quality Act. Additionally, the project completed a vehicle miles traveled assessment, or VMT, and an operational analysis, and the analysis found no significant VMT impacts and no operational concerns with the project. Initially, the applicant will be resolving and mitigating an open soil contamination case with the Santa Clara County Department of Environmental Health. Staff sent out 51 public notice postcards on March 19th. And the project was noticed in the March 20th edition of the Gilway Dispatch newspaper. And the applicant did install the required on-site project notification signage a minimum of 10 days prior to the hearing. Staff did receive a comment letter from a local community group which promotes reduction of greenhouse gases and multimodal transportation. Copies of that letter are provided at the front and were also provided to the commission. The letter lists suggestions that the project could incorporate and that letter was provided to the applicant. The applicant does acknowledge the letter but has decided not to incorporate the recommendations. We also received questions from the commission and a request to review the soil gas analysis completed for the project. Those questions were answered and a copy of that report was provided to all commissioners and is also available at the front for public to view. And any questions regarding that report or the soil contamination case can be answered by the applicant. In conclusion, staff has reviewed the proposed project and recommends that the Planning Commission recommend that the City Council determine the project is exempt from further environmental review pursuant to state CEQA guidelines section 15332, class 32. And adopt a resolution approving a variance permit V26-01 subject to the findings conditions provided in the draft resolution. And recommend that the City Council adopt a resolution approving architectural and site review permit AS24-07 subject to the findings and conditions provided in the draft resolution. and recommend that the City Council adopt a resolution approving vesting tentative map TM24-01, subject to the findings conditions outlined in the draft resolution. And I just, I did want to clarify there was a last minute change to that variance. It's no longer going to City Council. A planning commission has the final say for that variance. So it is going to look a little different. This is going to be adopt a resolution for the variance instead of recommending to City Council. But that concludes my presentation. I'm available for any questions, and the applicant is also here to answer any questions.

Thank you, Vanessa. Appreciate it. Commissioners, any questions, comments for staff or the applicant?

Where exactly is the letter commenting? Is it attached in here? Because I don't see it.

The comment letter? It was provided via email, and then we have printed out versions. Okay.

Yes.

Thanks.

Would you like a copy? We have some up front.

So I have a couple questions. And I forgot, when do we do ex parte?

We haven't yet. OK. We're not there.

I had a question about the Chinese pistache that is considered a mildly invasive species. You guys know I always say this. It's been a while. It's been a while. Now I'll remember. So it is very good at escaping containment because it's a male-female species of the tree. We do have a lot of protected wildlife areas around here, so I would like to ask if the applicant could pick maybe another tree that, instead of that Chinese pistache, if that would be possible. We could make a motion for that for a different.

Yeah, yeah, I think we can work with the applicant to find another tree that's on our approved street tree list.

Fantastic. You have a list. Maybe we should get that one. Yeah. And then I had a question about the... I'd like to thank you for your time explaining the variant setback and the contamination and how that process goes through the state cleanup and approval and all of that and how we interact with the state to make that happen for when that is finalized for awarding the permits. But I did have a question about the guest parking. So there's 14 guest parking on Howson Street. How is that getting managed? Because is that going to be private parking or is that still going to be public access? Or how does that work? It might be in here and I might have missed it.

Not on Howson Street, but they do have guest parking on their private internal roads.

It says here... Guest, 17, sorry, 14 spaces parking along Howson.

Okay, maybe the verbiage is incorrect, but all the guest parking is gonna be on their private internal roads. So it's gonna be these ones right here. And I would imagine it would be up to the HOA to manage those.

Okay, so this map is not that I'm looking in the packet. Okay.

The site plan is the one you're referring to, the map?

I think it's the same one you have up there.

It's not. It's different. The one on your computer screen is not the same.

Yeah. I don't know where you got that.

It's from the packet. Okay. It's page one, it's PDF page 133. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, thank you guys.

What we did, just as a point of clarification, we counted the on-site parking, but we counted the additional parking spaces we were adding on Housen Street through striping, but those are not counted as dedicated parking for the project. So those are additional parking spaces we're adding for public use, but the guest parking is all on-site and dedicated for 14 spaces.

Okay, all those 14 spaces are on-site. Okay, and then I just also want to say I really love that the buildings go higher as they go away from the street, that's a very nice touch. And then I had a question for staff about, thank you, about the, and this is, the project obviously meets all of our requirements, what is the, building height limit for, if you know offhand, for downtown gateway versus downtown?

Well, the gateway is 40 feet, and then I can't say the other ones. I don't know the other particular zoning districts in our downtown, but 40 for specifically the gateway district. Thank you.

Any other questions, commissioners?

I do have a question. I did ask a lot of questions prior to the meeting, and I got a lot of answers, and so that was great. Thank you so much. I did want to just comment on the project itself. It's very aesthetically pleasing, and so it's really nice to see that area that's been in blight for a long time approaching something that's going to be, I think, really nice. My question is about the... the soil, I think it's the soil, I put the title, the soil oil report. And I understand, I got, staff answered my questions regarding how that works out. But my question to the developer is, do you have an established timeline around when you would look for the resolution of those soil contaminants?

So the short answer is we have a rough timeline. The county has been excellent to work with to date. They cannot formally hear or accept the report prior to approval. They have been kind enough to review or look at a draft report for us. So far the indications are that we have been sufficient in our work in providing them enough information to make a finding and that I don't want to speak for the county, but there seems to be a very easy or very, let me take a step back, very viable and common solution to the gases that have been discovered on site. Oh, so there's a few steps. The site management plan will go in first. That is a 30-day review, pending comments, which we would address and we would turn that back around for another 30-day review. I am estimating we're looking about three to four months for the site management plan. Once we get the site management plan approved, that then gets incorporated into the construction drawings or the vertical drawings that the engineering would then review based off the guidelines that the city or the county has provided.

I understood that. I just wanted to know the timeline after the approval. In a case like this, it doesn't seem to be a long process. Thank you. Any other questions, comments, concerns?

Thank you, Vanessa. I'm gonna open this up to a public hearing. Arianna, are there any speakers or public comment?

Yes, we have one speaker. If there are any additional speakers, please come on up to fill out a card. And our first speaker is Joan Lewis.

Good evening. I'm really happy to see this project come before you. This area's been blight for a really long time, and I have to make comment This is a really good looking project. Being up here for your job for 12 years, a lot of times these projects come and they're just windows and doors. And this gentleman, this group has, I call little gingerbread on this, with the balconies and the doors. trims around the windows and everything is is going to be a really good-looking project and I Recommend you approve it tonight.

Thanks Thank You Johnny There any other public speakers or anybody want to make a comment I

There are no further speakers.

All right. I'm going to move to close public hearing and moving on to 7.4, disclosure of ex parte communication for the new commissioners. This is if you've met with the developer or met with anybody from the project side or have communicated with them, this is when you disclose that communication.

I did speak with Mr. Victor Gomez about the project.

I did speak with Victor Gomez about the project as well.

I did communicate over email with both John and Victor.

And thank you for reminding me also with John via email.

All right, I see that's all the ex parte communication. I'm going to move on to possible action five. The floor is open. Just a reminder to the commissioners, there will be, we will have a motion for each one of these items. So you cannot do one motion for the entire thing. It's a motion for A, motion for B, and a motion for C. No, just with the A and S. All right, I guess I will kick it off. I'm gonna motion for A, recommend to the city council that to determine this project exempt from further environmental review pursuant to state CEQA guidelines section 15332, class 32. I'll second. Motion and a second.

Roll call. Commissioner Benson? Yes. Commissioner Donhauer?

Yes.

Commissioner Cotevonde?

Yes.

Commissioner Martinez?

Yes.

Commissioner Valdez?

Yes.

Vice Chair Ellie?

Yes.

And Chair Pondell?

Yes. That was unanimous, 7-0. Thank you.

I'd like to make a motion to adopt a resolution approving the variance permit number V26-01, subject to the findings and conditions provided in the draft resolution.

Second.

Can I get a confirmation on the second?

All those in favor of the second? Thank you.

Roll call. Commissioner Benson?

Yes.

Commissioner Donhauer?

Yes.

Commissioner Cotabande?

Yes.

Commissioner Martinez? Yes. Commissioner Valdez?

Yes.

Vice Chair Elling?

Yes.

And Chair Bondell?

Yes. Thank you. That was unanimous, 7-0. I will go on. I want to make a motion to recommend to the City Council adopt a resolution approving ARC and Site Review Permit AS24-07, subject to the findings and conditions provided in the draft resolution.

Second. Second.

with the amended condition that they substitute the pistache tree.

Roll call.

I'll second that if there wasn't a second. I think Brian did.

Motion by Bondal, seconded by Downhower.

Roll call. Commissioner Benson? Yes. Commissioner Downhower?

Yes.

Commissioner Cotabande?

Yes.

Commissioner Martinez? Yes. Commissioner Valdez?

Yes.

Vice Chair Elling?

Yes.

And Chair Bondell?

Yes. Thank you. That was unanimous, 7-0. Okay.

Can I make the next motion?

Of course. Move on.

Ready? Ready. I'd like to make a motion to recommend that the City Council adopt a resolution approving, excuse me, approving vesting tentative map TM-2401, subject to the findings and conditions outlined in the draft resolution.

I'll second that. Roll call. Commissioner Benson. Yes. Commissioner Don Hauer? Yes. Commissioner Cotabando?

Yes.

Commissioner Martinez?

Yes.

Commissioner Valdez? Yes. Vice Chair Ellie? Yes. And Chair Bondo?

Yes. That was unanimous, 7-0. Thank you to Mr. Babick and Mr. Gomez. Congratulations, guys. All right, moving on to new business, 8.1. We have no new business. 9.1, planning division staff approvals. For the new commissioners, there is a sheet in our packet that shows items, projects that were approved at the staff level. If you have any questions, comments, concerns, you're more than welcome to ask.

I do. So I've had a lot of the community reach out to me. It's not necessarily about this list, but about the process in general. And they would like to know They're asking me and I I don't really know that answer How would they know if a project that's coming forward is going to be approved by staff versus coming to planning condition? condition Commission and City Council

THANK YOU FOR THE QUESTION, COMMISSIONER ELLIE. THE CITIES ZONING CO. TALKS ABOUT THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF APPLICATIONS AND ALSO THE PROCESS FOR EACH TYPE OF APPLICATIONS. SO FOR EXAMPLE, IF IT'S AN ARCHITECTURAL SITE REVIEW PERMIT, THE EXCEPTION IS, FOR EXAMPLE, IF IT ALSO HAS A TENANTIVE MAP APPLICATION, THEN THAT WOULD coming to the Planning Commission and then for recommendations to council like you did earlier and some projects that have also depends on the location, but the details are all in the zoning code and some of them if just architectural and site review approval that's done at staff level.

Is there a way for them to tell by each project if it's going to come to Planning Commission or staff?

That will depend on the applications that are required for the project.

Okay, so there's no easy way for the community to know.

They can always contact us, and our project log kind of gives you a little bit of indication of that, but they can always reach out to the project planner for more details.

Perfect. Wonderful. Thank you.

If there are no other questions on 9.1, I'm going to move on to Planning Division Report. Sharon?

I just wanted to follow up on Stephanie's question. So I've been going to the, let me see if I can find what it is. It's the Development Activity Projects. And both on there are the two links, one kind of lists the projects. I mean, when you have the current planning and development project list that I was looking at, that gives some details. Is that enough information for the public to know whether they were going to come to us or not?

That alone, I mean, unless you are going to look up our city code and look into the details, but on the list, so if you look at the second column under project number, and that's where we kind of have the acronym for the type of applications. For example, AS, you know, kind of like you saw earlier, that stands for architectural site review permit, and TM is tentative map. And then the last column, that's where we have our planners, INITIALS LISTED AND ABOVE THE TABLE IS THE CONTACT INFORMATION, NAMES OF THE PLANNERS WHERE YOU'RE WELCOME TO CONTACT STAFF FOR MORE DETAILS IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS. AND YOU CAN ALWAYS CONTACT ME AND OUR PLANNING MANAGER, MICHAEL FASADI AS WELL.

GREAT. NO MORE QUESTIONS? ALL RIGHT. WE'RE GOING ON TO 10, PLANNING DIVISION REPORT.

I JUST WANT TO WELCOME THE TWO NEW PLANNING COMMISSIONERS AND COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ WAS ALSO ABLE TO ATTEND THE ACADEMY THIS YEAR. SO IT'S UP TO YOU IF YOU WANT TO SHARE ANY THOUGHTS.

Well, number one is thank you so much for the opportunity to go, and I learned a lot. It was so worthwhile. It was worth the two days and the cost, actually, to get there. I would kind of suggest that, you know, for any new commissioner, that there be an allowance, a little bit more allowance, in terms of, I mean, I think the allowance, the current year allowance was $1,500,000, It barely covers the registration and the hotel, so transportation and meals and everything else is kind of on your own. But that's neither here nor there. I was really, really glad to go. It was interesting. It was a big learning curve for me, but I think the most valuable pieces were all the... the state laws and the regulations and really getting my head wrapped around those things. Also networking with other commissioners. Most of them were veterans and were struggling with some of the things that I know that Gilroy has struggled with. Again, I thank you for the opportunity to go. As I was pointed a little bit earlier than payment, I got in before the waiting list was created. Thanks again. It was a great learning experience. I appreciate it.

Thank you. Moving on to 11, Assistant City Attorney Report, Jolie.

Nothing. I was just going to say, if anyone went to the Planning Academy, report out. Yep, we usually want you to report out if you've gone to something that's been paid for by the city. So when you come back, you report it out. It goes with AB 1234, and I think it's also tied into the travel policy. report out to your fellow commissioners and to the public that you went.

Sort of what you did right now?

Yeah, just like what you did right now. I was going to remind people, but you did it ahead of me.

Well, I can say this. The keynote was outstanding. He was an author who has written a lot around planning and commissioners' roles over time. And one of the things that he stood out to me very well, and I've heard politicians say this lately, was that there's been so many laws that have been enacted over time, and specifically for commissioners, that's really changed the role of the commissioners in the last five years. But to that end, he says what we don't do, because the audience was asking very pointed questions like what can be done about this, and he says, well, what we don't do is we never review the laws. And I thought that was really pointed and very timely in terms of, you know, of how bureaucracy kind of keeps going if we don't review laws to see how, if they're working, if they're not. And he stated, you know, some of the current laws that have been enacted in the last five years have not really changed the number of developments throughout the state. So there was, you know, there's things like that that I, you know, kind of stuck with me. But the other thing I did want to say is that every Every presentation is on the website, so anybody can go in there and look at those presentations. It's great learning, and I went into the presentations that I wanted to go in that I didn't because I was in another session. And so it's really useful information, and it's available to anyone. I think it's even available to the public. Thank you.

Mr. Martinez, I just wanted to make a comment on the $1,500 that were allotted to every budget cycle, the commission requests from council monies for training. And every year, it's slightly gone up. I think when I started, it was only about $800 or $850. So we've made progress. We're at $1,500. But I think this last budget cycle, it was declined, if I'm not mistaken, for a higher amount.

No, state of Philippine. State of Philippine, okay.

Perfect. So, yeah, every budget cycle we do make that request. Great. With that, we are done. Congratulations to the new commissioners. Your first meeting is done on the books. And I'm going to adjourn this meeting to the next meeting of May 7th, 2026 at 6 p.m. Thank you.