Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Is there anybody over there? Oh, yeah.

Good evening. I'd like to call the January 20, 2026 regular planning commission meeting to order. Please note this meeting being hosted through live stream on the city website and by teleconference via Zoom. Id like to remind the planning commissioners to have their microphones turned on in position so the audience can hear. Director Monnique, may we have roll call, please? Commissioner Vermont here. Commissioner Hill here. Vice Chair Worth here. Chair Beam Striiff here [clears throat] and Commissioner Hill, welcome back. And we need you to do invocation flag, please. We'll do an invocation first.

Lord, we want to ask that you bless this meeting here tonight for the Hemet Planning City Commission and give us the wisdom and knowledge to make the best decisions possible here tonight. In your name we pray. Amen. Flag salute. Where's the flag?

Stand by [laughter] right there. We see it.

Okay. Again, 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. [clears throat and cough]

All right. Agend agenda item number four is public comment period for items not on the agenda. Are there any members of the public present that would like to comment on an item not on the agenda? Do we have any public comments? Chair, I do not see any member of the public requesting to speak. Okay. And no e comments. Uh there are no e comments as well.

Okay. With that, we're going to move on to agenda item 5A, which is the approval of the minutes from the meeting of January 6, 2026. Does the commission have any comments or corrections? No.

Yes, chair. Um just [clears throat] one minor modification uh my the on the commissioner updates. Um I had asked for an update on the CIP project specific uh to the traffic uh light study. Um the minutes notate just a a update on the CIP uh more of a CIP program. So, just wanted to clarify that the update I'm I'm I'm looking for is relative to the specific project of the traffic study.

Yep. That been noted. Any other comments or corrections? With that, can I entertain a motion to add in uh Commissioner Wor's statement about the CIP specific to traffic? Uh I will move uh to approve the minutes of planning commission uh meeting of January 6th uh with the uh with the addition. I second that motion. I have a motion by Vice Chair Worth, a second by Commissioner Vermont. Uh may I have roll call vote, please? Uh Commissioner Vermont,

yes. Commissioner Hill, abstain. Vice Chair Worth. Yes. And Chair Beam Sturfer. Yes. That motion passes uh 3 to zero with one abstain.

Okay. Work study item 6A is a review of the draft art and public spaces program and ordinance. Can we get a report from staff, please? Assistant planner Nathan Morton. Good evening, chair, vice chair, commissioners, and staff, and members of the public. My name is Nathan MREN. I'm the assistant planner here at the city of Hemet in the community development department. Tonight, I will be discussing a review of the draft art and public spaces program. Uh again, this is a work study. We will not be adopting an ordinance. This is only a study. This art and public spaces program would uh assist the city in meeting a strategic plan integration goals. Goal one, goal three, and goal four.

Is it possible I could stop you real quick and see if we can move that TV a little bit this way so we can see what you're presenting? I'm having a hard time. Which one? This one. Is that one right there? Oh, never mind. Sorry about that. [laughter] Looking this way. Not used to this one sometimes. So, well, it's a little awkward that we're used to we're used to having you here right behind this. It's It's nice having the screen a little closer myself, too. Yeah, [laughter] I lost Abby while you're gone. Okay. So, we're not ignoring you. We're just looking here.

Understood. So again this uh proposed program would help the city in meeting its strategic plan integration goals goal one, goal three and goal four which would be for quality of life, community engagement and partnership and collaboration. The applicant for the city for the program is the city city initiated and this would apply citywide for the city of Hammet. The authority of the planning commission this evening is to provide comments um concerning the direction of the program policies and processes for this uh future program that we will be taking back to you in a few weeks. Um so we're looking for any inputs, ideas, suggestions, things we should add, things we should remove, uh things of that nature. This uh evening did not require a public hearing noticing for a work study since this is not a formal ordinance we are bringing tonight. Um however I did provide for your viewing a original publishing of the first Ramona pageant from 1923.

[clears throat]

So, a little background on this proposed program. Uh, the city is in the process of developing a art and public spaces program and ordinance. Uh, the program and ordinance will establish guidelines, procedures, and standards for integrating public art into new private and public construction projects here in the city of HMT. The the program is intended to create an inclusive and culturally rich community that reflects HMT's history, our current experiences, and our future aspirations for our community. The program will help foster community identity through placemaking, creativity, and the human experience. Last year, the city council created the arts ad hoc committee consisting of Mayor Krupa and council member Peterson to help the city in creating community art events uh reaching out to organizations and helping create a a general greater um presence here in the community regarding [snorts] arts and culture here in the city of EMTT. On July 17th, there was the arts and cultural public meeting which took an inventory of our community assets here in the city of EMTT. I believe some of you were members of or attendees of this public meeting, giving your comments um and ideas and also helping us inventory this public meeting.

[clears throat]

The efforts of this public meeting were for us to apply for the California Cultural District Program of the California Arts Council, which would have helped designate us as an arts district. Um, only one of 10, I believe, are currently in the in the state, and I believe recently they adopted another 10, which now has 20. Uh the result of this however did create uh the Sanosinto Valley cultural assets map before you on the screen. Um and essentially what this did was took inventory of public arts, cultural practices, organizations, events, places, and trails here in the community. uh public art such as the one shown before you is the statue called Second Star on the right uh which is out front of WCO on the west end of the of the city as well as the uh 911 mural at station one here in the downtown as an example of public art. um cultural practices were the annual Ramona pageant as one. Um fun fact, it was um considered to be the state's oldest outdoor play and has been continuously um having annual performances except for 1933 for the Great Depression, 1942 for World War II, and 2020 for the recent pandemic. um organizations taking inventory of were organizations such as Black Voices of the Valley, the Diamond Valley Arts uh Council, the Hammet Heritage Foundation, and others. Um events um taken in inventory were the annual holiday parade which has been happening for decades. Um [clears throat] Junth, Diaelos Muertos, Boo at the Bowl, and the Senos Fourth of July parade to name a few. Uh places of significance from this were places such as the Hemet stock farm, the Ramonable Amphitheater, which another fun fact was ex adopted in 1993

is a California historic site and also the Audio mansion in Sennto. Um, as far as trails, uh, if you look on the screen before you, there's a green dashed line kind of towards the north of the map there, kind of running mostly through Sosinto and parts of the unincorporated parts of Hemet. That would be the Wan Batista Danza trail that spans over 1,200 miles um, as far as more than 300 miles south of the border and all the way up to San Francisco along the state. So these are just a an example of our of our many cultural assets here in the community uh in pertaining to arts and culture. Um as I was mentioned before, we've been the city has been working in partnership through the ad hoc arts and cultural committee to work with local organizations such as Black Voices of the Valley. Um, this past year we had the second annual Juneenth celebration at the Mary Henley Park. Um, this past year we had our third annual celebration of the Dia delos Muertos in the downtown Hemtt near the Hemtt Library. Uh as well we had the Chotoba Art Festival that occurred for the third annual art festival again around the Hammet public library where artists um came out did street street chalk art. There was live music and there was also a private public partnership with the Hemtt farmers market he downtown farmers market as well. uh to get into a little more detail now about the program. [clears throat] So these are the overall goals of the program that the city has set out for itself to to obtain. Uh it's to be enhance livability and visual appeal here within the city to also enliven our public places making them more welcoming

and engaging. Foster deeper interactions with the places where people live, work and visit. illuminate the community's diversity, history, and aspirations, and also to contribute to economic development by enriching the public realm with art and culture. So, in order to grow continue growing arts and culture in the city of Hemet, the city's in the process of adopting this program. um with tonight's uh we will have your input on how this program could be shaped and um further process to to ultimately uh uh be heard again another public hearing.

[clears throat]

So, as far as the HIMT um public spaces program, the applicants uh has a few different see here. There are a few uh types of projects I would apply. This be for new residential construction with the valuation of over $100,000, new non-residential construction uh valuing again over $100,000. tenant improvements to non-residential uh buildings and also public projects. Some of the additional public projects that this program could apply to, however, at this point in time is not necessarily a requirement, but is an option, uh, would be programs such as daycare facilities, public park projects, historic preservation or restoration, um, seismic retrofit of or flood protection projects, um, as well as, uh, the maintenance of any existing building for the non-residential developers. There are three options that would be available to a non-residential developer. Uh option one would be the installation of public art. That would be to install a permanent public art piece, enter a long-term maintenance agreement with the city. Uh this agreement would require the developer and property owner and successors to maintain, repair, and replace the artwork as needed. Moving forward, there would also be an artist selection process um where the applicant for the proposed development could also choose an artist directly or they could also hire a consultant to help them uh select an artist as well. Um option [clears throat] two would be for the donation of artwork. uh the developer could perhaps find a suitable

art piece uh work with a artist and and donate it to the city. Um for example, like the the statue that stands out before WCO would potentially be an example of something like that. Option three would be to pay an inlua fee. Uh this would be for um must be paid prior to build building permit issuance. uh and it will be used by the city for public art projects and programs. Uh as far as for the residential developers are they have two options. Option one would be to pay an infee um just as the non-residential uh developers have the option for um and also would be for an alternative placement plan. um they could potentially um find a suitable location not on the project site itself but work with the city to find a more suitable location for a donation. I'd like to point out here that we do have a proposed uh in leaf fee percentage to the valuation of work where we are currently um suggesting to do 0.25 25 for residential and 0.5 for non-residential. Uh tonight we are open to consideration of either keeping these percentages, increasing them um as shown before you. Laguna Beach kind of sets the standard on the the highest um from this at 1.25%. Um but we would be on the lower end of what we are currently proposing which is 0.25 and 0.5%. So Santa from my research shows that they do 1%. So we do have an opportunity to change what is currently proposed.

[clears throat] Some eligible placement locations for these art installations can vary. They could be places like residential buildings um for example like on the side of the building. Uh they could be in plazas in parks. It could be part of sidewalks, traffic islands. Um really it's, you know, your imagination can kind of kind of run away with you on that one to there's a lot of opportunities here. Um, typically the sites must be exterior and publicly accessible at all times. However, there are opportunities for the artist to also work with the city and develop alternate placement. Um, for example, the public library would be a civic building, would be public accessible. Um so that is something that could potentially be negotiated uh with an applicant in the city. Um projects can also incorporate artist design features such as gates, fountains, tiles, doors, um railings. Um these are specifically unique in that they're not the architect, the applicant who would be designing these. They would be that the applicant has to hire a qualified artist to design these features. So they would not be simple features as part of an a typical project. [clears throat] Some eligible public art components would be things such as sculptures, painted mosaic murals, earthworks, glass, mosaics. Uh standard features could be things like gates again, street lights, signage, etc. Um things of this nature, however, cannot in could not incorporate um commercial branding. It would have to be unique art. It wouldn't be just highlighting somebody's brand in the

art. It would have to be art itself for the sake of art, not for advertisement.

[clears throat]

Um, some eligible artworks here include um, streetscapes, paving, lighting, benches, water features, landscape treatments. Um, you could think of things like, you know, transportation benches or benches in a plaza might have more of an artistic flare. They might have drawings upon them painted or they might be itself a sculpture that's also usable in which you can sit on. So just to reiterate again, these are the five goals that the city is trying to achieve through this program. Um ultimately what we are trying to do is enrich the public space with more art, more culture, um and tell the stories of the people that live here, the the the history, the and the future goals and aspirations of the community. taking things into consideration such as creativity, placemaking and art for the sake of art. But that's my presentation and thank you.

All right. Thank you very much, Nathan. Does the staff have any questions for the criminal commission have any questions for staff? Yeah, I got a couple of questions here, Nathan. Uh, thank you for that uh PowerPoint. Um, so the art could be interactive like a bench and things like that because I've been seeing some benches. Um, and the city's not worried about, you know, people sleeping on these art pieces. That would be a concern. Yes. Um, but yes, bench pieces would be eligible art artworks. Yes. Okay. How many pieces of art is the city looking to incorporate? Like

I'm assuming is there an approval process? Like, you know, you have to, let's say it's a mural. Do these people have to submit what their ideas are of the mural and then the city approves them or they're just giving them free range? So, there would be an approval process. I would be working with community development pretty closely as well as the city manager's office. Um, again, depending on the option that they're choosing to work with. If we're targeting art placement, they're going to have to provide renderings, you know, 3D models, concepts before we even say, "Yes, you can place this art there. Yes, we agreed you to place this art specifically at this said location. Gotcha. So, there will be a process. Okay.

Um there will be a process in including the the determination of the valuation of work for the project itself, not related to the art project, but the actual construction project, which will then determine if it meets that $100,000 flesh uh threshold or not. Gotcha. Okay. Um and how many pieces is the city looking to incorporate? Is there like a set numbers like oh only 20 pieces or 15 pieces when you or like art? When you say pieces do you mean of like the same art series repeated or you No like let's say it's a fountain a mural like how many things are we trying to incorporate in the city? Uh to my knowledge this program is is will be from basically from from the time it's adopted through the foreseeable future.

Oh nice. And it will be project by project by project basis. Okay. So there's no limit. There's no limit. No. Okay. Are we focusing more on Florida and like to the downtown or are we trying to just do the whole city? I would say at first there is going to be a a focus in the downtown to kind of bring up the the arts [snorts] as in the downtown core, but there is a interest to to be citywide. Okay. For this.

Okay. Um Um [clears throat] and then my last thing, so do we know how many organizations like Okay. Okay, cuz I noticed on there um you said that you want to incorporate the people who live here. I think what might be a good idea is maybe like give these certain organizations like you know just right now I found two, three, four, five pretty big pieces like of buildings that can be murals like what if we give like the people who had the Junth like what if we give them a mural that they can do you know kind of like allowing them priority over independent artists at first if that makes sense. So it's like you know like the organizations I know we have um like American Legion like if we give them like an opportunity to go do like a we give them priority or you know I don't know what other organizations are here. I would say that's something that could be negotiated.

Yeah. With the developers as projects uh come about is they could work with the arts ad hoc um and cultural committee also work with city staff and you know maybe there could be opportunities for partnerships to work with these organizations and these applicants could you know we we could perhaps bridge that gap they could bridge that gap on their own but ultimately it' be have to be something that would be worked out through through the process. Gotcha. Okay. I I would say that's definitely an opportunity there.

Yeah, I think it's pretty good. You know, they live here. If their organization is in Hemmet, it'd be nice to kind of let them, you know, have an artistic take on, you know, a side of a building that's been just white for 25 years. It' be kind of cool. And they're all on Florida, those six things that I found. Um, and the last one, I believe it was the the percentages, the inloop percentages. Um, in the staff report you mentioned that Riverside was the like the mecca, the city of art and of whatever it was called and they do 1%. So does Sanino. So I say we raise it to 1% instead of 0.25. We So that's my take on that. Certainly have that opportunity.

All right. No further questions for me. [snorts] Nathan, I have a couple questions and concerns and maybe comments. Um, [clears throat] is there are you thinking of a theme? Because I think a theme to this uh would would help out a lot. Maybe something like the if the artwork comes across, it should be something that represents the historical um, you know, heritage of the city, something like that. Um, I mean, that's just an idea.

Yeah. Um, and then the question I have is the residential thing. I I don't quite understand how this works. If I'm a resident and I want to participate in this, for example, if I wanted to to bring in a statue, I pay for the statue and then there's a shared cost with the city. Is that how it works? [clears throat]

There would be a maintenance agreement required with the city regarding the donation. There would be, you know, details to to kind of to work through ultimately to figure out what that looks like. We're still really along in the early stages of this um type of program. But okay, so if I if I purchase that as a resident and I donate it to the city, then the city enters into a maintenance agreement and takes care of it from that point on potentially.

Okay. Potentially. potentially because it could also be that there is a agreement with the property owner to maintain it that the city um is also a you know a co-signer of stating that you as property owner are now responsible for this piece of art to maintain it and to maintain it on a on a on a schedule so that it maintains a good state of repair. Okay, but it's not on my property. Let's say it's installed on the city property. It's donated to the city. The city puts it on city property. you're considering it still my property as a resident being on public property. That would be a little bit different there. I wouldn't necessarily say it's your property. Um it's your gift

to the city. And yes, the city would be potentially be the one responsible for maintaining it. Okay. All right. So, the resident buys it, they donate it to the city, the city pretty much installs it on city property. It's taken over by the city. Yes. Okay. And the in leafy the arts and public places fund would also help um fund some of these types of um you know these artwork donations to maintain them as well.

Okay. So what's the 1% for? 1% would be for if say there's a, you know, a large development on a vacant lot and the project is going to cost several hundreds of thousands of dollars or at least $100,000. With that that threshold met, now there's an applicable fee that's going to be required to be paid of a 1% total valuation of the cost of work. So if say the job costs $500,000 then it's going to be 1% of that valuation that they have to either donate through an through in leaf fee or they can do an artwork donation

and that's the resident or a corporate correct entity. Typically residential be like your large residential developers like LAR some something of that sort but okay this would more so less apply to a a single a single residential development, but it can. It potentially can. Are we talking like something like a park? A park would be something that would be potentially eligible. Yes. Okay. All right. So, the developer puts a park in. They are It's $500,000 to do this. They're required to give the city 1%. They're donating the land, but they are required to give 1% of the cost of building the park.

Correct. Oh. and the city would bear the rest of the cost to construct the park. I to my understanding, yes, I believe that would Okay. All right. Thank you, Nathan.

Uh I have a few, but I I'd like to wait until after public comment just in case just to get some additional perspective. So it's I I think and let's just say the the property owner I I think my opinion we should not let it just be a single residence. It should just be catered more for developments just like you mentioned like Dr. Horton and he has an artwork design for the community. Uh, I don't think we should include single family because I think it's just gonna create too much problems, especially when it comes to the maintenance of it. If I read somewhere in here, if the property is not maintained, that the artwork is not maintained and the city can put a lean on the property,

correct? And take it over. So, and just say that property owner sold his house or her house and to another person and that person doesn't comply with those rules or know about those rules. I I just think we should probably just stay away from single family and just do it more on a community aspect like parks like we were talking about. Um 1% I'm agreeing with the 1%. If I could add clarity to this, it would not be specifically in somebody's home that the artwork would be placed. They would be potentially donating it to the city for the city to place in a more appropriate location. And also the city also does not have to necessarily accept the donation. we do have the opportunity to either accept it or not accept it as well.

Okay,

chair if I just want to clarify [clears throat] in the ordinance um the draft ordinance refers to two different inluff fees one for residential and there was a percentage identified in in um of 25 of 25% and the recommended for commercial was 50%. Uh we just need clarification on a two things. If you if the commission is re and and we can at towards the end of this discussion get clarity on the percentages and the inloo fee is applied to new construction um at the time of building permit issuance to help fund. So a single family home that's a brand new home that's built um they would they would be charged the or assessed the in luffy um to support art in the community which is is common in many communities and it's a very small percentage of the valuation of their of their home build. Um, that's an option. Or we can clarify into the ordinance that it would only be for subdivisions such as large tracked homes applied to the home builder um to for them to do we could do a percentage of the the total build. However, it's based on the valuation of the project. So we would also need to understand if we are uh basing it on the valuation of a large track de development for example 100 100 units um we would need to you know clarify how we are assessing that in Luffy

and typically it's by lot by home if they want to do some type of art culture there it's not necessarily that they have to build um art on within the subdivision. It's actually a fee that's assessed at building permit issuance that goes into a specific account that is allocated and earmarked for the support of art and culture in the city to for art programs, art programs, art installations. There's a variety of potential uses um to support an art community. So, I I think taxing the developer, not the home buyer would be the best decision on that. But

somebody's got to pay for it. But in the end, the home buyer is already paying a lot of taxes and so is the developer. But I think the developer should be paying for that. Um, I like the idea of painting the power station, utility boxes. I've seen a lot of cities do that with the fire hydrants and things like that. Uh, one thing I did see in this projector here is mentioning hologram when it comes to some of the art ideas, the hologram things. Um, I love them, but I don't think they should be on any main streets because that's just a detergent for a driver to look at the hologram and it could cause an accident if something's moving like that. So, and I mean somewhere in the park or something that'd be cool, but not on any mainstream people driving. Let's see here on 1%. Another thing too that uh I know some art some materials are combustible and I just think we also have to be careful in high fire zones if there can be any artwork there or whatever cultural thing they want to do that we want to make sure there's no combustible materials in the high fire zones.

I'm glad you bring that up. part of our already our draft ordinance already mentions that that um you wouldn't necessarily want to put something in a high fire severity zone that would be potentially flammable or you and you'd also want to have installation of you know plastic you know pieces for perhaps that are also um you know UV resistant. So there that is also included within the ordinance to to consider things such as that. Perfect. And who who gets to vote on all this? Ad hoc committees every time that comes through planning council.

So my understanding of this is the ad hoc committee would be kind of working more behind the scenes trying to work make partnerships work with artists. Ultimately be the planning commission would be the determining body but it would be to make a recommendation to city council to adopt it. Okay. I think that's it for me. Any other questions for staff? Yeah, I have a go back. Sure.

So, Nathan, if I'm an artist, okay, and I have a an idea of a mural that it uh I want basically want to put on the side of a building. Um, do I get a hold of this committee that do I put a rendering together and submit it? And as an artist, am I supposed to donate this? Am I getting paid to do this as an artist? How does that work for the artist? These are processes that we're still developing, you know, application processes for, uh, but ultimately be through community development. And then once community development has worked, there'd also be city manager be working with this. Uh, the arts and ad hoc committee be working this, yourselves and the planning commission and the city council. So an artist could not necessarily just come say, "Hey, I want to put this art here." There would have to be a process. And that process is still something we are we're still creating in real time. Okay. But is there an application for the artist or

not yet? Not yet. So part of our ordinance that we're going to that we're hopefully going to be adopting is gives us community development the authority to develop applications and develop processes and um there is already a very basic process about evaluation at work with the building official. um approval of the building permits having to happen um um and the art have to be installed prior to certificate of occupancy and there's there's other things already part of the ordinance that kind of uh answer your your your concerns as well. Okay.

In the application, is there a time frame? So, if somebody puts in the application, they get approved, do they get one year, three years? Is there a certain time frame in that app? Oh, we have not had that. Okay. Yet. Um, if you actually go to the the ordinance section, let me find it for I could kind of point out that part for you here. If you go to page 25 where it says administrative guidelines

um it talks about um I would say uh B4 it says application submitt form standardized forms for the preliminary and final art plans. Um this section essentially grants authority for the city to start developing applications and developing processes and timelines. Is is that page 25 of the draft resolution or 25 of the staff report? 25 of the draft resolution or the the program uh city of Hemet art and public spaces program guidelines and overview the do attached document.

Okay. Thank you. Is there um plans to have like uh I don't know a community get together to paint the side of a building? Maybe we want to paint the side of the building. Says welcome to Hemmet. And uh you get like high school kids out there to paint the side. And then uh he's talked about getting uh art donated to the uh to the city. Uh you know, art is not uh cheap. Uh maybe there's a a city gala, you know what I'm saying, to bring in uh some significant people around the city and maybe surrounding areas to participate in some sort of gala like that to push for a donation or something.

I can say there are opportunities for that. um part of the the guidelines here. There are sections of it that mention that we can use the arts and public places fund to also fund events specifically that are related to the arts such as community meetings maybe to help select an artist community maybe meetings to perhaps select a new location for an artwork installation. So, it's it's really broad in terms of what we could potentially do um with the funds um as long as the funds are specifically used to fund public art um or even organizations um up to 15% to be used for like community events like for example like Junth or Diaos Muertos we could use the arts and public places basis fund to fund things kind of what you're referring to.

Okay. Thank you. Sounds like a good program. Thank you, Nathan. Any other questions for staff? Okay, thank you very much. We're going to go ahead and open this up to a public comment. Let me go ahead. With that, we're going to open up the public comment. Is there anybody here that would like to make a public comment about this item? Any e comments? Chair, I do not see members of the public requesting to speak.

Okay. Thank you very much. With that, we're going to go ahead and close public comment and for discussion or make a motion.

All right. I I I thought there might have been some public comment, so I wanted to wait. Um just a couple things. Um that there's kind of three areas. one is um the criteria for what is what is appropriate art. Um I think a statement that was made during the presentation was that the imagination can run away and uh that kind of makes me a little nervous. Um and then also within the report uh it references the administrator which is either the community development director uh or the city manager and then it also um represents uh uh references the committee but I don't see where it references the planning commission and I I think it's probably what would be prudent to as we're as we're developing this program that we put in some sort of uh mechanism by which to ensure that to Commissioner Hill's point that it that whatever is being selected uh as as art is representative of the valley, the heritage and what the public and the residents um see as as as uh as appropriate. While I personally think that um our current planning director would be a great judge of all art that comes through here, there could be potentially some some variation to that in in in the future. would also like an opport so I so something along the lines of maybe establishing some sort of criteria in line with the general plan in line with kind of some of those those those those those priorities that are identified within the the strategic plan or the the general plan that there's criteria that's established and that that criteria has an opportunity to be

reviewed uh and and public comment and that there's a a process to continually um update that as time goes on vice chairw worth. Yes, if I may. Uh, if you go to the program guidelines and overview page 20, the attached document, if you go to um what would be xx-09, submittal review and approval process, and you go to B. Yeah. So, the so the pages are it it that's I was looking for it when you were when you were referencing page 25, but it's XX0 page 26. Okay. Thank you. the pages got a little a little wonky on the upload.

Okay, so if you go to chapter nine, um it does talk about under B2 for committee review, it puts in parenthesis a planning commission stating the planning commission acting as the arts and public places committee shall review the proposed public art plans for aesthetic compatibility with the surrounding environment and consistency with the city's design goals.

Thank you. Thank you. though I I I I missed that. Um but yeah, I think that's I think that's that's important and I think it's also just worth worthwhile to for the for the benefit of those applicants to have some idea of what we're looking for before they come and and present it. So having some sort of guidelines and and and criteria is good. Um the next point uh is in terms of the fee applicability and I think you you chair you you touched to it. You know, I just did a quick little So, like if I was trying to build a house here as a s as a pro property o um owner and it was a half a million dollar house, that would cost me another thousand dollar on top of all the other temp fees and and uh and development impact fees and school fees and all the other fees associated. And I would I just I'm I I I agree I completely agree with the goal of this program. Um, I just think we we need to um uh be very cautious as we develop it, implement it. And I agree that the that the that those that are coming in to um essentially make a profit, if you will, in terms of development um can contribute to the um the benefit to the community in terms of of of art. So, I would be in favor of of um of uh exempting single family residential, not development, but sing individual single family residential

like single lot. Single lot. Yes. Not like the large. Correct. Not

not like a a LAR or Dear Horton or something like that. But, um just the the the the single application. I'm going to come build a spec house or I'm going to build my dream house. I I I I'm already maybe a member of the community. Why should I be having another fee on top of that? I just I just think that that's I'm not necessarily doing it for profit. I'm doing it because I'm trying to build my own house. I I I I would I would be in favor in exempting um that. Um and then also I I I don't know exactly if I'm in favor of bumping it up to one 1% right off the bat. Um I think um it would be good to get it in place, get it going um and maybe you know look at if what those fees are or what the revenue is relative to what the goals are and have some level of hey is does the does the does the you know squeeze uh result in enough juice kind of a thing. Um

um and just to kind of kind of answer your question a little bit or your concerns, uh Judge XX-05, the Enlu FIA adoption does state that there is the ability to also adjust this percentage and the fees as as the city sees fit to also stay competitive with, you know, current rates or maybe as the rates change, maybe we need to increase or we So there's still that there's still that um that room for that, right?

Um I I just I currently I I I would agree with this with the current what's been what's being proposed now, starting off at a lower amount and then um ramping it up if need be in in the in the future with with the with the benefit of having some successes. Um and then the only other um comment and is I guess I I question a little bit if the building permit is the appropriate phase to collect all of the fees. um versus perhaps you know maybe a certificate of occupancy or maybe a little bit later in the process to you know because I you know there's already a lot of you know we're we're on one hand we're trying to encourage development streamline the process make it make it e easier um that I I'm I'm not saying that we shouldn't be pursuing the program I'm just wondering relative to cash flow for a a de developer have we is that the same that everybody else does all the other cities that that were referenced as far as when that fee is collected. Um, is it is it maybe it's better later in the process when they're actually selling homes and they're and they're and they've got revenue coming in. I'm It's just just a thought from the perspective of

of uh supporting the development process while still um implementing this new program. So just just a a thought for for for consideration, you know, did did did we on those other cities that were referenced with those other fees, is it the same as far as when they collected it or

vice chair? Yes, it is um it is common for the inloo fee to be collected at building permit issuance as part of the overall permit fees um to um at the post the back end of it when homes are for sale. um unless we have something in place to be able to collect that, it could be um it could be challenging from a logistics perspective in a building building department to to um to collect that fee after they're already um building homes. And um so that it that could be challenging and um we can certainly look at some options and to see what options are and see if there are other um alternatives that other cities have um implemented in collecting the EML fees. We'd be happy to look into that. Uh but traditionally it is through the building permit issuance process.

Yeah. And I guess that's just that's that's the main point is is there's census is already a pretty well established program in other cities to see what get some feedback on what works, what doesn't work, lessons learned kind of a thing as far as the actual implementation of it. So yeah, seems like that would be an administrative nightmare and then because of that you could lose out on fees because you're not collecting. Uh yeah, I mean what it just I'm just looking at it from a cash flow u I get

per per perspective. So, I'm trying to balance the the being developer friendly while still um you know improving our community. So, but a very very cool um uh presentation. I like I said I I I I I art is certainly subjective and in the eye of the beholder. So I I think it's going to be important that there's community input and the planning commission is a good mechanism by which to do that but to establish some guidelines and some criteria for what kind of art we're looking for in our community. So thank you. Would they be able to incorporate the uh art and culture work with the scenic highway setbacks with some of the developments?

There would certainly be potential for that like some of the brick walls and stuff like that. They can incorporate that as well. Yeah. There would be potential for that. Any other questions for staff? All right. Well, there's no motion needed. It's just a work item. So, thank you very much. Thank you. We're going to move on to item B, the introduction discussion regarding of the preparation of the adoption to pre-approved ADU plans when compliance with state law. Can we get a report, Deputy Director and Marie Pap, please? Yes, Mr. Chairman, you may. All right.

Uh, it's my pleasure to introduce this item to you. Uh, Emry Pap, deputy director of community development, presenting on behalf of staff. Uh, the proposed um pre-approved ADU program uh would meet certain goals of all five of the implementation uh strategic plan integration uh goals. Um, it's a little hard to read from here. Sorry about that. U, but it's safe to say that this meets multiple goals under our strategic implementation plan, including one from each broad category, at least one from each broad category. So, what is an ADU? An ADU is an accessory dwelling unit. Uh, it's essentially a second home on a single family property. Uh they can also be allowed on multiple uh multiple family properties uh like R3 for example. Uh could even potentially be allowed in certain circumstances on commercial property that have mixed uses. Uh there are several different types of ADUs. There are detached ADUs which are standalone structures. There are attached ADUs which are think of it as a duplex uh added to an existing single family home. Uh there are garage conversions uh where these are very common where people convert their garage space uh into an accessory dwelling unit and then interior ADUs which are also generally classified as junior accessory dwelling units. So what are the benefits of allowing accessory dwelling units? Well, it's not listed here, but it's a requirement under state law. So we must allow for them. uh state of California um starting in approximately 2016 started adopting laws specifically for accessory dwelling units. Uh in the past they used to be referred to as things like granny flats or second homes uh maybe a pool home but those were just basic essentially bedrooms and didn't typically incorporate restroom and kitchen facilities.

Uh the benefits allow for increased property values and rental income. Uh multigenerational living. Uh this used to be common decades ago. It's becoming more prevalent today. Uh having other families or family members live with the family. Uh it increases the housing supply in California. Uh it increases the number of affordable units and it increases sustainability in the community for affordable housing options. Uh California ADU laws and regulations. This is a lengthy list. I'm not going to go through all of these in great detail. Uh but starting in 2016, we saw the early adoption of multiple ADU legislation uh come through the governor's desk, including Senate Bill 1069 and Assembly Bill 22. Boy, it's far away. 2299. Uh further in 2019, some of these laws were were revised and some of them were revamped and we had a few new uh new ones. Uh many of these uh laws estimated things like the the minimum um number of requirements for ADUs. It changed the number of units that were potentially allowed on a property. Uh some of the some of the Senate bills uh included opportunities to uh bifurcate or separate the ADU and sell it separately from the main unit. There's uh quite a few of these I want to go through uh briefly just discuss. Uh these are also included in length in the staff report that was attached uh to this report for the proposed ordinance which is the repeal and replace for the current city of Hemmetal Code ADU ordinance. Uh there's a very good history there. So I don't want to go through all this. I'm just putting it here for uh the public that's reviewing the uh agenda.

Then we get to Assembly Bill 2020. Oh boy, turn 2221. Thank you. I wasn't anticipating being so far away from the monitor. U this set some uh some of the development criteria, reset some of the development criteria for ADUs. It changed things like height limits and things of that nature. Uh then Senate Bill 897 uh also pro changed the objective standards once again uh primarily increases in height. Then we get to assembly bill

1033. Uh there was a whole host of changes again uh to the accessory dwelling unit laws. Uh these are all identified here. uh primarily it prevented HOAs from uh not allowing ADUs or providing uh allowing for CCNRs to uh prevent ADUs from occurring on on properties. Senate Bill 976 introduced additional changes and regulations. Uh these uh re removed the requirement for the property owner to reside on either the main prop the main home or the ADU uh that they could both be rented out. And then assembly bill 1332. This is the main impetus of what we're discussing today. Under AB Under AB 1332, uh the city of Hemmet along with every other California jurisdiction is required to have pre-approved ADU plans uh available to the public at no cost. Uh these are required to be on the city's website. Uh the the bill was signed in 2023 and it went into effect on January 1st, 2025. So we are a little bit behind the eightball on implementing this. Uh part of the reason for that is um since this bill went into effect uh the city of HMET had a dramatic shortage of staff available to work on this as well as l lack of funding. There are grant funds that were available for programs like this. The city did not receive any of those grant funds. And we are coming up on our general plan uh annual report uh to identify the our success stories in implementing the housing element. Uh that report will be due to HCD in April of this year. It's

our intention to move this along rapidly to try to come into compliance as quickly as we can and to demonstrate to HCD that we are making a a real effort uh to make this happen. Uh some of the things that might allow us to do that in the interim are that under the state law under spec specifically under AB 1332 uh city of HMED is allowed to use other cities plans for pre-adopted pre-approved ADUs. We must ask their permission first but we are allowed to use them uh put them on our website for the public to use. Uh in addition to that, any accessory dwelling units that have already been approved in the city of Hemtt, so they've already been reviewed for structural calculations, for title 24 calculations. Any of those plans can and should be placed on the on the city's website unless the owner of those plans specifically requests that we do not put them on the website. So we have some work to do ahead of us and what we were trying to do here is to go through some basic design standards for you. Many of these were I believe were also in the draft ordinance that you reviewed before. I will go through some of those and then uh we'll go through so what some other jurisdictions have accomplished. So under under the basic design considerations, uh the timing to prepare the ADU plans is imperative. Uh as I've stated, we're kind of behind the times on getting that accomplished. Um the maximum sizes for new ADUs vary slightly depending on whether they are attached or detached ADUs. an an attached ADU could be a maximum of 50% of the main structure. So if you had a thousand foot thousand square foot single family home and you wanted to build construct an attached ADU currently under the state guidelines

in the city's proposal for the new ordinance the maximum attached ADU size would be 500 square feet. There is nothing, however, in state law that prevents the city uh council from adopting an ordinance that is less restrictive, meaning we could allow for a larger attached second uh attached um accessory dwelling unit. That could be in excess of 50%. Um but that would that's not counter to state law. That's just the default state law. So there there there might be opportunities to do that. As far as detached ADUs are concerned, uh some of the basic guidelines is they must be at least 10 feet separated by 10 feet from the main structure. They must be at least four feet from the property lines. However, under the building code, if they are less than five feet from the property line, they have to provide firewall separations. And there would no normally no window or door openings uh within five feet of the property line unless those doors and windows are at least one hour fire rated. U in terms of overall um maximum size I covered that uh the minimum size would be the the minimum size would be an efficiency unit which is identified under um state law and it's also identified in our proposed uh repeal and replaced ADU ordinance. Typically they range anywhere from 150 to 350 square feet as an efficiency unit. I don't recall off the top of my head what we've established it at, but I believe it's in the neighborhood of 260 square feet. Uh, some other basic design considerations are the setbacks. Under state law, they must it must uh be no closer to the property line than three feet, I'm sorry, four feet. However, once again, the city has the authority and the ability to lessen that setback. Um, it could be a zero lot line setback.

Uh our current zoning ordinance doesn't allow for that, but that is something that could potentially happen. Uh for a under the state law, the way it's set up for ADU to be closer to the property line than 4 feet, again, it would have to have fire wall separation and comply with California building code and fire code for um a building that is less than 3 feet from the property line. Part of the reason for this is uh doors require a landing on the exterior. So, if you have an exterior door that opens outward and your building is less than 3 ft from the property line, you're going to be opening your door onto somebody else's property. So, here's a sampling of cities in Riverside County that have adopted pre-approved ADU plans. Uh some refer to them as produce or pre uh pre-approved ADU plans. Uh I'd like for us to possibly try to come up with some sort of creative acronym uh for this, but in the meantime, the working title is pre-approved accessory dwelling unit plans. Um what I staff's intent by including these I don't know if you had an opportunity to click on the links and view what some of the other cities in Riverside County has done. It was not our intention to wow you with graphics today. It was more of our intention to get your ideas and feedback on the sizes of accessory dwelling units, perhaps the architectural styles you'd like to see. Um, we cannot currently compel u the owner of an accessory dwelling unit to make it resemble their existing home. We would prefer for that to happen and we can ask for that to happen. But by having pre-approved plans, uh, one of the things we can do is that the pre-approved plans could have notations that the colors and materials are to match the existing structure or they can

select from several different architectural styles and color palettes that are pre-approved. So just a quick sampling here of what some other jurisdictions have adopted. These are uh sort of renderings of u accessory dwelling units that the city of Manifi has adopted. Uh they're contemporary style architecture. Uh these have been reviewed by city staff or their consulting plan checkers for title 24 requirements for structural requirements and any resident in the city of Menafi that meets the the soil conditions if they're not in a high severity fire zone if they if they don't have any kind of um environmental issue on their property. They can take these pre-approved plans and literally get them approved over the counter once their site plan has been approved. They will still have to meet all the drainage requirements, WQMP requirements for water retention, utility connections and hookups. So, there are still site planning matters that need to be evaluated under a pre-approved set of plans, but this expedites their approval by not having to go through the structural calculation checks or the title 24 checks. Uh similarly, these are ADUs that were adopted by the city of Lake Elsenor [snorts] and these are plans that have been approved by the city of Tmacula. So, I did some checking with our building official and as long as these jurisdictions would permit us to place their links on our website, as long as they are in climate zone 10, which is the climate zone that the city of Hmed is in, um that means they're going to meet, we don't really have snowload requirements, but in climate area 10, all of these drawings have been pre-engineered for climate zone 10. So that takes into account potentials for

snow loads, potential for uh sheer wind forces, um in title 24 calculations for energy. In terms of public communications, this was uh there was no requirement for a public hearing notice. This item was placed on the agenda uh this evening. Uh looks like perhaps a few people have uh seen that and have come out this evening. I hope they have some comments for us on this. Uh it's also staff's intention to um come back with several work studies on this um perhaps have some public meetings, public workshops to get input from the public. And of course, there would likely be public hearings involved uh in order for the planning commission to make a recommendation to the city council prior to adoption of any pre-approved plans. So, it's our intention to come up with a multitude of uh pre-approved floor plans, elevations, color schemes, roof plans that uh basically would amount to um modular type units. You could you could pick and choose. Um I don't know if you if you remember back in the in when you were a kid, they had these toys called color forms. They're like sticky sticky staticky plastic that you could uh you could make a house and you could put different windows and different doors on it and uh they could do something like that uh generally speaking electronically with the options that we could prepare for them. So uh we're looking at the opportunity to provide that be in compliance with state law and um express to HCD that we are complying with the goals and policies in our housing element. Um, that concludes my presentation at this time. I'm happy to take any questions, hear your concerns, your ideas, your thoughts on how we should continue to move this forward.

Thank you very much. Thank you for that presentation, Deputy Director. I uh I used Lincoln Logs to build my houses when I was a kid back in the day, but any questions for Deputy Director Pap Commissioners? Yeah, go ahead. Um, [clears throat] yeah. So, are we planning So, I looked at all these um websites. Are we planning to have like a handful of them or just two? Because I think City of Bowmont only had two, but like Meny, MOAL, TmAcula all have like, you know, five or six of them. I think that's probably a better idea um than just having like all you have two options because then in people's minds, they might only have those two options.

I I agree. It would be I I believe the intention would be to have a multitude maybe two of two studios, two onebedrooms, two two bedrooms, two three bedrooms, and maybe possibly more. Um it does get costly to prepare that many sets of plans. Um we're hopeful that we can either do it in-house or borrow beg borrow steel plans from other jurisdictions.

Um there we have a lot of options available to us. We're just wanting to hear your ideas on implementation. Uh, as I stated, we want to try to move this forward as quickly as possible. Our general plan APR report is due to HCD in April. Uh, we I don't believe we'll be completed by then, but if uh if we've shown substantial process uh progress in the process, then I believe that will satisfy HCD. Gotcha. Okay. I mean, yeah, I would love to see, you know, more than one. And then I was looking at like when you click on the the home improvement plans, it says like color the windows, color that

maybe a box that says match home. Um cuz it's like tan, white, gray or whatever. It's like, you know, I think there's an other maybe just say, "Oh, the colors are going to match the home." Even though that might not be the goal, but that's kind of the way we want to push it. I feel like if that box is an option, people might say, "Okay, maybe we should just match the home, you know, planting the seeds, so to speak. Um, other than that, I don't have much now. You good? Yep. Emmery, I got to hand it to you. You're looking for an acronym. Pre-approved ADU plans. P AAP PAP. [laughter]

Way to go. I'm not going to say the thought didn't cross my mind. [laughter] Uh, I missed that. I mean, it sounds great. I think we need to get I think you've covered it pretty well. I I don't see any reason to stop anything that you've really put out there. Um, you did catch me at the end though on this virtual modular option that's on the website. Is that for is that something available to the public to help them plan their ADUs?

Not currently. It's kind of a grandiose vision to see if we can if we could even make it happen. There are GIS uh platforms out there that we might be able to use to accomplish something like that. Uh one of them is referred to as storyboards. Yeah. Where you can assemble visually assemble things like that. Um it's possible it takes time and money. Um in in the with the lack of potential funds, it take more time. Uh but it's something that it's theoretically could be completed by staff. Uh it's just finding the time to do it.

Yeah. So if we could if we could somehow u get grant monies for something like that that would assist us dramatically. Uh I don't I'm not aware of anyone else doing it currently. It is po it is possible especially with some AI tools that are out there. Sure. So um I I always like to think outside the box and then Monique has to reel me back in but digital engineering is becoming popular. Absolutely. Yeah. Um, as far as uh the laws go and going up and beyond the laws, I don't see any need to do that. Uh, I think Sacramento will probably do that for us anyway. So, I'm good the way you've presented it.

Thank you, sir. Yep. I Yeah, I I I think this this is this is cool. It would have made it a lot easier years ago when I did one at at at my house. Um, I I I I like your grandiose vision. I mean, you can you can go on to Amazon Amazon and you can like visualize a piece of furniture in your house and stuff. So, why not be able to do the same thing with the house? That'd be kind of cool.

Um, I would like to point out that there are also tools available on the internet currently where um you can sort of electronically design your own plans and then people's might submit them and say, "Here's my here's my plans that were done by a professional engineer." They can do that. The problem is they're not technically pre-approved. So they haven't been evaluated by the city staff or the city plan checkers for structural calculations for title 24 energy calculations for fire sprinklers. So it's essentially going to have to go through a a whole new plan check. So if we have these pre-approved plans makes things a lot quicker.

Yeah. I'm just I'm just I'm just visualizing that to your point that a they a someone can go through all of these visual or or these preapproved. select one and say, "How would that look on my

property? How about, you know, and and and and like have opportunities to lay it out in different locations, you know, within the within the the the requirements, of course." Um, one one thought kind of as as we move forward, um, and and beg, borrowing, stealing, copying, pasting, whatever the case is, is maybe, you know, to kind of one of the as we're having those conversations is maybe getting some feedback from the different cities on what are the most popular, what works, what are they happy with, what are they not happy with, and that might help us kind of narrow down the the the list of ones that we want to bring uh on board. And then the only other um comment is I I I I personally would be for um on new construction detached where applicable and and more more in the rural rural areas of of the city of possibly increasing that beyond the minimum of 12,200 square square feet. um not necessarily from a pre-approved perspective, but if somebody if somebody had a larger lot, had room for it, it it met the met the requirements else-wise in terms of setbacks and those types of things to, you know, maybe provide a little bit more um space. A three-bedroom house under 1,200 square feet is a small house. And if the goals are generational living and those types of things, you maybe want to have a little bit more more space. So, I' I'd be in favor of something higher than that where appropriate um maybe on a case- by case basis, but at least providing that as a as a as an opportunity for an applicant.

Understood. Um we would then have to create or develop criteria to when in what circumstance would that be allowable and acceptable and then what would be the limits. So, we would we would have to codify those things. So, we would uh we would seek your guidance on that at future meetings.

Yes, absolutely. Yeah. And I that's that's somewhat subjective to, you know, um I I was my wife and I were going through um a new development, the the the new Richmond homes um and farms um yesterday. We were going through the models there and the the the really small lots, but these homes are are well laid out and they're they're large. there, you know, and just when you go from that to a 1100 square foot house, it's just that's so much. I mean, the one that I built was 1,036 square ft and it's it's it's small. So, I I don't know exactly what what that n that what that number would would be, but it seems like, you know, some some criteria could be lot size, could be um existing structure. You don't want to maybe have an ADU bigger than the existing structure. I'm I'm not sure what those what those would be, but at least to give it give an opportunity where appropriate to be able to go larger.

Commissioner, it's funny you mentioned that um with a detached accessory dwelling unit. I've personally seen in other jurisdictions that I've worked in um that the ADU is actually larger than the primary structure because under ADU law, a three-bedroom unit can be up to,200 square feet, but the primary structure was less than a,000 square feet. Yeah. No, that's a great point. That can happen. Yeah, that's a great point. There there um especially some of the older homes were, you know, we're maybe a lot smaller and my my first house was 900 square feet.

So, yeah. Um something to something to flesh out further, but I would just I'm just supportive of having an option for something larger where appropriate than 1,200 ft.

But thank you. just kind of an idea um to help with the impact fees or and affordability. I I know we want to offer several plans at no cost to bake. It's a a cut and copy paste kind of concept. Is there a way for because it takes your time, it takes city time, takes employees to create these plans. Is there a way that we can create like a tier one, tier two, tier three? Like tier one being up to 600 square feet. No fees, ready to go. You just come in for your ADU. But anything from like 601 to 850 is a tier two where there's a little bit of a fee to pay for to pick up somebody already pre pre-drawn. And then the one that goes from like 851 to,200 square feet, there's another tier to pay for that because again, it takes your time, it takes the staff's time to put this together only to give it out for free. And sometime people are going to want the biggest one at no charge where I think we we should get some money back in that way as the bigger they go there should be a tier system. Um uh mixed use zones are they allowed to apply those type of concept ADUs and mixed use zones

potentially. Um there there's exceptions to the ADU rules and um I off the top of my head they the they escape me but yes it is possible for a U multiuse property especially if they already have residential use on site. Uh they're considered a multif family property at that point and they could potentially have up to eight additional dwelling units on the property. uh but at a ratio that doesn't exceed a one to one for the number of ADUs to uh primary units. So if you had a six-unit apartment complex and you wanted to put eight ADUs in the backyard, you could put a maximum of six.

I remember the churches we we had that do topic back a while ago where churches was wanting to build ADUs on the church property.

That's a little bit different than ADU law. That's a different bill. Uh the acronym that was assigned to it for Yucks, so to speak, is yes. In God's backyard. Um so that allows for residential dwelling units to be constructed on institutional properties that could be education or uh religious institutions and there there are subjective criteria for how many units can be constructed there. Um but in this case, I understand what you're referring to with respect to the diff fees. There's already built into state law um regulations for reduction in diff fees. Some of some diff fees would be exempt or ads would be exempted if they are under a certain square footage and I think the threshold for that is 600 or 650 square feet. Then it kind of goes on a sliding scale as you go up. So some fees are still exempt, some fees are not. Uh we we'll provide that level of detail for you in our next report. Okay. I know in Riverside I mean it has nothing to do with this because agricultural it we can't request for them to keep the agricultural part of theme to match the home. They can have something completely different Spanish house and a craftsman ADU in the back of it. Um, but I know that Riverside, I read somewhere that Riverside strongly has a public facing ADU calculator to where any ADUs that are facing public that they can see. There's a certain calculator that they limit the amount of public facing ADUs compared to hiding behind the building where the public can't the house where the public can't see it versus right next to the house where the public sees it. I I'm just I'm just trying to figure out a a way that that that doesn't go overboard, but I don't know. I just read a little bit of that Riverside count Riverside kind of has a calculator in reference to public facing ADUs and it's

just a suggestion I just read. I just wanted to bring it up. Not not to do anything about it, but Okay. Any other questions for deputy director?

Yeah, one you just you triggered a thought I had. Um, and that's, you know, as we're moving forward on this, like the city of Tmacula has, um, on on their website, they have a list of their fees, the city's fees, and then they have a list of other possible fees. and kind of kind of as a spin-off of our last discussion um you know the potential impacts from medicine from the water from everything else is as we're you know with with within the city of him you know the the more that we can coordinate um the state's goals relative to the au um program the the more we can maybe pro provide provide support to people that are trying to move this forward in terms of understanding what the costs are and having um clarity on what the fees are going to be, the requirements are going to be. Do you have to get another Edison meter? Do you have to get another um uh EMWD water meter? um if it's within EMWD's service area, but just as as we're putting together this this program of having these, you know, pre-approved as, you know, copy paste as easy as possible, um understanding the fees and the process outside of the city, the more we can help with that, I think it would be very um beneficial to those that are trying to trying to uh construct a au challenge. for myself as well. So these I'm I'm I'm kind of partial to this just because I went through it and and it was it was a lot more challenging than I thought it should have been. But

yes, um thank you m chairman or vice chairman Worth. You you uh reminded me of a point that I wanted to clarify for our chairman. Um Mr. Beams Derford, you talked about the fact that we'd be providing plans for free. That would be true. So, however, there would still be a building permit they would have to pay for. There would still be plan check that they would have to go through for the site plan review. Uh, but there would be no cost for the construction drawings, but all other components related to ADU approvals would apply. Okay. Thank you for the clarification. All right. Any other questions for deputy director? Nope.

All right. I normally don't have to do public comment, but I'm just going to see if there's anybody here in the public that wants to make a comment on the ADUs. No. Okay, we're going to go ahead and close the public comment and just receive and file, but uh I'm going to go out of order a little bit. I know they've been sitting here and we're finishing the meeting here. Did you want to make a public comment? Would you like to save you or anything not on the agenda? Um, if you do, you can approach the podium. I know you've been here before, so I don't know if you have something to say.

Yeah, I'm here about the Oh, grant application. That's a public comment. He can make a public comment on that. We could do that. It's not on the agenda, but he can make a comment. that we might we not be able to have response. Yeah, we already passed that and he just got here when we were doing that. So, I'm going to go ahead and open up public comment. So, allow you to approach the podium and and say what you'd like to say.

Uh, thank you for welcoming me. Um, can we get your can we get your name and where you live? Aaron Michelle from Los Angeles.

Okay. I actually flew in from New York to be here. Um I've been in contact with uh Ben Sandival for the last I think year and a half. Um working with him uh to try to improve uh West Florida Avenue. I'm the property owner of the DD's Discount and um the former Fresh and Easy. It uh prior it was vacant prior to my acquisition of the property for about 10 years. Um I brought in a tenant. Um he actually hire he hired locals even um uh one one employee actually moved to EMTT uh to be an employee in his store. I also, you know, try to hire locals that care about the community um to look after the exterior of the property as far as chasing off transients that disturb customers and um uh tra uh trash removal, illegal dumping. Um, and I'm and I'm here to talk about um the partnership that the city has offered uh to improve my property further and to increase visibility and traffic and tax sale dollars. Um, it's very interesting to be in such a city. Um that one hand you want to improve the culture, you know, you want to bring art and yes there are concerns that it might be not developer friendly, but on the other hand there's a carrot in a stick. You know that you're welcoming people like me to come in and make improvements uh to the city and I really appreciate that. And um I think uh that's that's it for me.

Okay. Thank you very much for that comment. with you. We'll go ahead and close up of a comment now. Yes.

Okay. And with that, we're going to go ahead and move on to item 7A, a city attorney reports. Thank you, chair. Nothing to report. Thank you very much, Leila Sawari. And now 7B for community development reports.

Thank you, chair. Um, I just wanted to announce that today was the first day of our administrative assistance, uh, first day on the job. She is our new Karina, so we will be, uh, bringing her here. you may have already um met her um but she will be um uh assisting the planning commission um in the next u in the next month or so. So, we're really excited to have someone here now to relieve Jordan from his extra duties. Thank you. That's all I have. You're doing good, Jordan.

That's it. Okay. Uh 7 C future agenda items. Future agenda items include the economic development brand grant programs which will be presented by our economic development director, the Weston Park redesign, the Simpson Elevate modernization plan which is uh would be coming forward in the in the near future, cost square development, a tenative trackm 38979 for Via de los Tresertos, the Riverside Transit Agency Wentworth facility, um the establishment of the pro housing designation. We are currently working with WRCOG right now and they are assessing the city of Hammet for qualifying um the city for the pro housing designation as well as as well as the 2025 general plan annual progress report.

All right, got a lot coming up. And last, uh, planning commission reports. Director Monnique. Commissioner Vermont. I have nothing to report. Commissioner Hill. Thank you. Um, I have nothing to report, but it's good to be back. Thanks.

Thank you, Vice Chair Worth. Um, I did want to report that I met um uh with uh Mr. Edalss uh and um and I'm I'm trying to remember the name of the gentleman and I forget it. I apologize, but uh the developer u uh that owns the property uh on Sanderson south of Aacia. So, we had a good a good discussion. I appreciated the opport opportunity to meet and uh um solicit some uh input from the planning um from one of the planning commissioners. So, just wanted to uh re report that. Uh and then um also to your um your comment I believe we have it's look it's u identified on the future agenda items but the uh the recommendations from the subcommittee is coming to the full commission um

February in in February. So it next month as far as that the facade uh program. So, it was it was great to meet to meet you out there um uh on on on site and uh and uh it was um it was a good opportunity to, you know, get a firsthand look at what you're doing uh and uh um on from my perspective. I tr I truly appreciate it. So, thank thank you for making the the time to be here today as well. But nothing else to report. Thank you, Chair Beam Stiffer.

I want to say the same thing. Thank you for coming out. I know he's not intent from town here. He's traveled across the country to get here. Um, as for commissioner's report, as we know, we had an earthquake. So, just a friendly reminder that we need to make sure our downtown is structural safe when it comes to earthquakes. Uh, on January 28, Thursday, which is Thursday, District 1 is having a community meeting with uh, Councilwoman Clark. The doors open at 5:30 at Batista Elementary School at 441 North Lake Street. On Saturday, January 24th, they uh we're having a bike the bike parkway grand opening I guess as they want to call it uh between 10 and 11:30 on the state near Chambers. Uh limited supply and free bike helmets for anybody that shows up early and that's sponsored by city of HMT University of Riverside Health System and California OTS. Uh January 29th to 8 a.m. we have our city connect for business on Zoom. So that's also you can find out on the city uh or or contact Ben and reference if you want the zoom link on that. Uh city council uh just summary of city council the Christmas parade had over 10,000 attend attendees with over 90 participants. Uh the HIMT shuffle board was on a topic of being closed uh of possibly being closed down and a lot of citizens came out and encouraged uh the city not to close it down because they do enjoy that recreation in during the day. Uh Veterans Day and Marine Day uh will be separate days for days of proclamation now not combined. Uh downtown theater and the heist stock farm ad hoc committee will be created soon. And then the uh Carlton Steakhouse is going to be looks like they're moving from uh the south side of Harbor to North Harbor Street. So, and they they approved to move the grant money to that location because it's still the same restaurant is still in the downtown area that they

wanted. And the kitchen grant this year is going to be a nice a nice big one from the sound of it. Looks around right around 700,000 for the kitchen grant that's coming up this year. So with there being no business to discuss, this meeting is adjourned to the next planning commission meeting for February the 3rd, 2026 at 6 p.m.