Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Commissioner Wirth. Commissioner Wirth. Calling Commissioner Wirth, calling Commissioner Wirth. Vice Chair Wirth, Vice Chair Wirth. I know.

Good evening. I would like to call the May 19th, 2026 regular Planning Commission meeting to order. Please note this meeting is being hosted through live stream on the city website and by teleconference via Zoom. I'd like to remind the Planning Commissioners to have their microphones turned on in position so the audience can hear. Director Monique, may we have roll call, please?

Commissioner Viramontes? Here. Commissioner Hill?

Here.

Vice Chair Wirth?

Here.

Chair Beamsterfer?

Here. Commissioner Hill, can we do invocations? Laxalute, please. Do the invocation first.

Lord, thank you for bringing us here together here tonight for this Planning Commission meeting. We ask that you give us the wisdom to make the best decisions possible for our city. In your name we pray. Amen. Laxalute.

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. Agenda item number four is public comment periods for items not on the agenda. Are there any members present that would like to comment on an item not on the agenda?

No chair, there's no members present online or in person.

All right, thank you. With that, we're gonna go ahead and move on to the approval of the minutes. Does the commission have any questions or comments about the approval of the amendments from May 5th, 2026?

No comment.

Can someone make motion?

I motion to approve the minutes of planning commission meeting of May 5th, 2026. I second.

Let's use the machines. That's it, make sure it's worthwhile. And that passes. All right, we will now move on to item 6A for public hearing for conditional use. May we have a report from staff.

My mic's not on? Oh, there it goes. Thank you. Good evening, Mr. Chairman, commissioners, city staff. Emery Papp presenting on behalf of Nathan Morin, who is on vacation for the Community Development Department, presenting to you this evening a conditional use permit, number 25-005, and a proposed lot merger, number 25-004, for the Devonshire Skilled Nursing Care Facility. This project is in line with strategic plan integration goal number one to enhance quality of life in the community. The applicant is Blue Water One LLC. They also own the property, which is located at 1353 East Devonshire Avenue in the city of Hemet. Some background for you on this project. The project was actually constructed in 1970, back when this area of the city was located in Riverside County, as opposed to the city of Hemet's corporate boundaries. Per city council resolution back in 1990, that area formally annexed into the city. That was annexation number 90-131, named the Park Hill annexation on May 22nd of 1990. The Hemet Assisted Living Center was the most recent business occupant, which left the building approximately 2014, and the facility was closed at that time and has stayed closed since. So it's been closed for a little over a decade. Historically, the site's primary use has always been for some type of assisted living facility or skilled nursing facility and was constructed for those purposes. The current applicant applied for their conditional use permit application on January 6th of this year. So here's sort of an oblique aerial view of the location of the building. This would be looking in a northwesterly direction from the rear of the property looking in. It is a two-story building that occupies a little more than half of the site. Here's an aerial view directly above, showing the layout and the surrounding properties. The property is zoned office professional. And the general plan designation is also office professional. And in the office professional zone, a conditional use permit is required for the proposed use. Since the building hasn't been occupied in over a decade, any previous use has lost its current status, so they need to reapply. So here's the site plan for the entirety of the site. Devonshire Avenue is shown here on the right side of your exhibit. This shows where the ground floor bedrooms are located, the interior recreation area. It's an open atrium kind of area and where the parking facilities are going to go. This is the proposed site plan. currently on the lower left section where you see a swing gate out near Calhoun and Laurel, that is currently closed off with a block wall and there are parking spaces there. So the fire department and the DRC, when we were taking a look at this several months ago, made the determination that they couldn't adequately turn around inside the site if they were responding to an emergency. So the applicant worked with staff to prepare this site plan, which has a GATED ACCESS TO EXIT ONTO CALHOUN, WHICH MAKES IT EASIER FOR EMERGENCY VEHICLES TO RESPOND. HERE'S THE LOWER FIRST FLOOR PLAN, WHICH INCLUDES 16 BEDROOMS, EACH WITH A FULL BATHROOM, TOILET, SINK AND SHOWER. THERE'S A COMMUNAL LIVING AREA, A MULTI-PURPOSE ROOM, THE DINING ROOM, FOUR RESTROOMS FOR GUESTS AND RESIDENTS. THERE ARE SEVERAL OFFICES AND SERVICE ROOMS, CLOSETS AND STORAGE ROOMS. There are three stairwell access points to upstairs, one elevator, and then the outdoor courtyard. The upper level contains 33 bedrooms, each with a full bathroom with toilet, sink, and shower. There is one communal living room upstairs, one storage room, two service rooms. Again, three points of access to stairwells and the one elevator. These show the architectural elevations. This is the existing building. They are proposing no modifications other than maybe freshening up the paint a little bit. And the rear elevations. And then to the left of this screen is the interior of the courtyard. So on the west elevation, that area looks like blank walls with doors. These would be the interior elevations on the left. In terms of the landscaping plan, the property proposes about 5,000 square feet of landscaping. They will bring it up to current standards with water-efficient plants and some synthetic turf. This is the overall layout of the site. And then I zoomed in a little bit in the one parking area adjacent to the driveway that is also adjacent to several of the bedrooms. We worked with the applicant. We had expressed a concern to them that occupants of these rooms if there's parking lifts parked in those spaces there, that it would obstruct their views of the occupants, that they would be looking out a window while they're recuperating and seeing vehicles up in the air. So they went back and they revised their landscape plan to include some climbing vines in the areas between the windows. as well as some potted plants out in a walkway that will separate the parking area from the exterior wall. So there'll be some porous pavers out there, which will also assist with retaining runoff in that area. It'll penetrate through the pavers. In terms of the parking, this has historically been the biggest issue for the use. There are currently 20 parking spaces on site, but with a 100-bed facility, That requires one parking space for each two and a half beds. That requires 40 parking stalls. So I was actually here working on an application for this building in 2014 that failed because they couldn't get adequate parking. They tried their best. The applicant at the time tried their best to get in some sort of parking agreement with neighboring properties. They asked if they could use street parking for that. Unfortunately, you cannot. This applicant came up with a very creative solution, which was to install these lifts so they can accommodate two cars per space for the required number of 40 spaces. At this point, the applicant has provided a video, and it shows how these lifts work. Thank you, IT. Your timing is impeccable. Appreciate that. One more thing about the lifts, the ones that are going to be outside of those bedroom windows, all of those lifts will normally be in the down position, even when there's a vehicle parked on it. In fact, all 20 lifts will be in the down position until car 21 needs to park, and then they will raise one of the platforms and start parking underneath. So the intent is to keep the ones adjacent to the building down on the ground as often as possible. Those are also designated for the shorter stay patient or people that aren't going to be there for a very long time. So they won't be exposed to that very long. This property actually contains two parcels. There is a deed that was recorded in 1970 which talked about consolidating the two lots. That would have been on or about the time they were getting their Riverside County entitlements to construct the building. But since then, the Subdivision Map Act was adopted and approved. And per the Subdivision Map Act, if you have two separate parcels that are part of one project, it's theoretically possible that one of those two parcels, the owner could fail to pay their taxes, their property taxes, And after several years, it can go to a tax lien sale. So if we have two separate parcels and then one of them sells in a tax lien sale, you have two parcels that now become unusable, so to speak, because each parcel has to have its own access from the street and the ability to get around to maintain the building. So we have a building that goes over a property line. So absent a parcel merger, the only other real remedy would be to have the applicant apply for a lot line adjustment. BUT THAT DOESN'T RESOLVE THE ISSUE OF ACCESS TO THE OTHER PORTION OF THE LOT. IT ALSO, PER THE SUBDIVISION MAP ACT, IT DOESN'T MEAN ALL THE REQUIREMENTS THAT WOULD BE REQUIRED FOR THAT. AND IF YOU WOULD LIKE FURTHER INFORMATION ON ANY OF THE PARCEL MERGER REQUIREMENTS OR A LOT POTENTIAL FOR A LOT LINE ADJUSTMENT, OUR ASSISTANT CITY ENGINEER MICHAEL GARVEY IS HERE THAT COULD ASSIST YOU WITH THOSE QUESTIONS. In terms of the conditional use permit, the Planning Commission has the authority to approve the conditional use permit as well as the lot merger. These could potentially be appealable to the City Council if there was an aggrieved party that was not happy with your decision this evening. We've included the conditional use permit findings in the staff report and resolution that you have. I WON'T READ THROUGH THEM HERE, BUT PER TYPICAL, YOU MUST FIND THAT ALL OF THESE FINDINGS CAN, IN FACT, BE MET TO SUPPORT THE CONDITIONAL USE. AND THEN THERE ARE ALSO FOUR LOT MERGER FINDINGS. AGAIN, YOU WOULD HAVE TO FIND IN THE AFFIRMATIVE FOR ALL FOUR OF THESE FINDINGS IN ORDER TO APPROVE THE PARCEL MERGER OR RECOMMEND THAT STAFF FOLLOW THROUGH WITH THE PARCEL MERGER. In terms of the California Environmental Quality Act, the project is exempt under CEQA under Section 15301, which is existing facilities. They are proposing no alterations to the facility other than to occupy it to the building itself, but the site will have some minor modifications to allow for things like better access for emergency vehicles and of course the parking. Those are minor improvements to the site, and it fits this category of categorical exemption. This public hearing was noticed in the Press Enterprise newspaper on May 9th, 2026. Here's the proof, the newspaper proof, not legal proof. And then here's a copy of the mailed notice that went out to the surrounding property owners within 500 feet. This evening, the Planning Commission, the Community Development Planning Department respectfully recommends that the Planning Commission determine that the project is categorically exempt from CEQA under Section 15301, existing facilities, that you adopt the Planning Commission resolution approving conditional use permit 25-005 and lot merger 25-004 for the operation of the 100-bed skilled nursing facility for elderly citizens. and that you direct staff to file a notice of exemption with the state clearinghouse and the county clerk. This concludes my presentation. Thank you, Nathan, for the staff report and for preparing the PowerPoint. I hope you're enjoying your vacation when you come back and watch this video. I hope you don't laugh too hard at my presentation skills. Thank you all. I'm happy to answer any questions you may have. THE APPLICANT'S REPRESENTATIVES ARE ON ZOOM IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS FOR THEM.

I'M SURE NATHAN IS HAPPY THE WAY YOU PRESENTED IT. THANK YOU FOR THAT PRESENTATION. AND WE'LL START WITH COMMISSIONER VERMONTES.

HEY, THANK YOU FOR THAT, EMERY. YEAH, I GUESS MY BIGGEST CONCERN WOULD BE THE CARPORTS. NUMBER ONE, THAT VIDEO WE SAW, ARE THESE CARPORTS RAIDED FOR OUTDOORS? Because that video we saw was indoors, and just this weekend it was pretty windy. I also noticed that every individual carport has its own little control panel. Does that mean there's going to be 20 control panels outside?

No. I don't know exactly how many can be connected to one control panel, but I did fail to mention that the... Staff on-site will have at least one if not two people that are trained in using these lifts, and only those operators will actually use the lifts. The patients, their guests, their visitors, employees that are not certified in using the lift system will not be allowed to do that.

Okay, yeah, because that was my biggest concern. What if somebody from a neighboring building decides to start using the carport and they don't know how to use it? So as long as a couple of them are trained on it.

Yeah, and these lifts are very similar to what you see in some beach communities where parking is at a premium. There's a lot of development going on and not a lot of room left for cars. So these are becoming more popular in the coastal communities as well as very heavily Dense urban areas were not there yet But this client had a building that hasn't been able to be used for 12 years primarily because of the parking issues so they've created this Very interesting creative solution here to that problem These are very much the same type of units you would see outdoors in those coastal communities, okay?

Yeah, I mean, I think it's great. You know we can use you know put some people in those buildings that have it looking vacant going back to the staff report It said, according to Hammett Municipal Code 90-452. I couldn't find that. Is it 90-45.2? I wasn't 100% sure. It is probably 45.2. I'm sure that is a typographical error. Okay, because I couldn't find. It said Public Works said that it should be merged because of this Hammett Municipal Code, and I couldn't find it. So that's what I was just wondering.

Did you point out which page in the report that is? Yes. Okay.

It is page, the first one, under Planning Commission, Planning Commission Approval Authority under law merger. Oh wait, 90.5 or 70. Under page four, it says municipal code section 90-452.

I believe that should be 45.2.

Okay, yeah.

Sorry about that.

Okay, no worries. And so the reason being that they want to merge it is just because of the access, correct? Because if emergency needs to go through, they couldn't do the turn?

Well, the city staff is the one that are urging the parcel merger to mainly because of the potential for the lots in the future to sell separately because they're not bound together. Now, that may seem unlikely since there's a building on there and it's been there for a little over 50 years, but properties go to tax lien auction all the time. It's just, you know, if everybody's paying attention to their bookkeeping, that's not going to happen. But it remains a possibility, and we would just like to have that perfected so that it doesn't become a problem in the future.

And the applicant owns both buildings? Yes.

They own both parcels. The building is actually on both parcels. Okay. The portions of both parcels.

Gotcha. All right. Thank you, Emery. You answered my questions.

Emery did an excellent job. I have no issues.

Oh. Well, thank you, Nathan.

I think Nathan's enjoying a well-deserved vacation. Sorry. Thank you, Emery. Yeah, I was wondering on the parking racks as well, but they'll be locked or some, the COAs say that they'll be a trained individual, but assuming they'll be locked to avoid anybody from, any individual from operating them.

I would have to defer to the applicant on that. I would think that for their insurance purposes, they would want to ensure that they cannot be tampered with by passersby.

And I'm just curious if all the cars that'll be parked there will look like the cars in the video. That'd be kind of cool. On the merger, is there an impact to the city in regards to property taxes by merging these two parcels?

I do not believe so. Typically, the assessed value is more on the structural improvements than on the land itself. So the land will not increase in value. It would be the structure over time that would. If it were to divide due to a tax lien sale, there's a possibility that the city could get less revenue depending on who purchases the other parcel.

And then finally on the landscape, Is there going to be a city-maintained portion on the right-of-way? Is there a kind of L&D setup on this, or is it all a single landscape system to be maintained, including right-of-way by the customer?

Well, they will not be required to do any off-site improvements for this project. So I believe they are already in CFD. I couldn't say for certain. But they're not proposing any modification to the parkway area off the roadway. All of their landscape improvements will be on-site.

All private. Correct. Great. It's great to see this applicant find a way to make use of this building and occupy it. So I much appreciate it. Thank you.

We had a little Q&A yesterday, so a lot of questions got answered with you, and I appreciate that. Just for clarity, the applicant is okay with making room 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16 as short-term residents because of the car lifts?

That is my understanding in speaking with Nathan before he left on vacation, but I'm sure the applicant can address that for you. Okay.

That's about it. I mean, a lot of questions got answered, and I'm glad to see something going in this building. It's been empty for quite some time, so...

I have one go back.

Sure.

You know, yesterday you and I toured the Arctic. And the police department is looking to install cameras that are facing the street. And they have a grant to do 30 of these, and there are four into it. I don't know if this facility is one that the police department would want a camera on facing the street, but it could be something to ask the applicant if they are willing to put a camera at their facility looking that way and maybe have the police department look into that for them to see if it is of value to the police department. It would be free of charge. I understand it's free of charge, the camera installation and the maintenance of it for $30 CAMERAS WITHIN THE CITY, AND THEY HAVE THAT GRANT. AND SO IF THE APPLICANT IS WILLING TO DO IT, THEN MAYBE THEY COULD WORK WITH THE POLICE DEPARTMENT AND SEE IF THERE'S A THERE THERE.

SURE. I KNOW THAT THEY ARE ON ZOOM, AND I'M SURE THEY'D BE HAPPY TO ANSWER THAT FOR YOU.

OKAY. WE'LL GO AHEAD AND OPEN UP PUBLIC HEARING IN JUST A SECOND SO WE CAN GIVE YOU A CHANCE TO GO TO THE MIC. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS FOR STAFF? GOOD RECOMMENDATION. Any other questions? Nope, okay. Thank you, Deputy Director. We're gonna go ahead and open up public hearing, and we'll go ahead and ask the applicant to approach the microphone, if you can state your name, and maybe answer some of those questions we have.

Yes, my name is Lorene Mikael, and we are the owner of Blue Water One, And yes, Devonshire has been a big, huge project for us for the past three years. And finally, we came up with the idea of the double lifts to carry on the 100 rooms facility, because the property's been vacant for a while and it's been vandalized. We've been through a lot of issues, especially in the city. So we're hoping that maybe after this meeting, we're able to get it finally approved so we can get some bodies there and start moving back the, and we definitely don't mind having an extra camera for the police department. That will be even better and more safer for the community.

Perfect. Yeah. Any other questions for the applicant?

Yeah, well, let me just say it would require actually working with them in the beginning just to see if it is worth having that camera there. They have certain spots that they're looking to cover. And if it is of value to them, I believe that you would fall under that grant and they would do the installation and pay for the maintenance of it.

We already have on the premises about 36 cameras already existing.

You do? Yes. Do any of them face the parking lot or the street?

I have to check the existing cameras, but we don't have a problem working with the police to add more cameras. There's a lot of homeless that walk through the area and drug users, and that was one of the reasons why we installed that many cameras around the whole entire building. The building is 36,000 square feet, so it's not a small building. 30,000, yeah, 30,000, not 36, 30,000 square feet.

Okay.

So that's why we had implemented 36 cameras and we even had like a security alarms and stuff like that because of the vandalism that happened in the property multiple times. So that already is in place. So we don't mind working with the city to see what other issues that we can implement. And there's another facility across the street. So having that place to be finally occupied would be a very good idea in that area.

Okay. Well then I would suggest that staff work with the police department to get the two of them connected to work that out.

and take advantage of the free grant that's there right now. And it'll just make a thing. I know that the dispensary kind of adjacent to your property is using that, the cameras as well. So the more the merrier, I think is where we're at with the city. So it just allows us to track the criminals and keep the city safe, so.

100%, I agree.

Any other questions for the applicant?

Yeah, I just want to say thanks. It's Marine, right?

Laureen with an L, L as in Larry.

Laureen, thank you for being so patient. You said it's been three years. It's probably been a grueling three years. If you get approved, what's your guys' timeline for occupancy?

Actually, the place already used to be a facility before. It used to be an assistant living facility before. So we're just going to go back in there and fix up some of the stuff because there is a lot of stuff that was vandalized during this time. So we need to go back in there, add more air conditioning, repaint the property, do some flooring construction. There's some damage that happened within this time frame, and then we're ready to occupy it.

Sure. And that includes the carports or is that before?

You mean adding the, we'll order these to come in and we'll have them installed and we'll have the company come in and train our team.

Okay.

So that's going to be through the hiring process and doing all of that.

Gotcha. Okay. All right. So no like real like hard timeline, couple of months, a year?

Oh, no, not a year. We've been waiting way too long to wait another year. Yeah, we have a mortgage on this property. We can't wait anymore. Okay. But, no, I think no more than a month or two. The building is almost ready. We just need to furnish it, get it all going, and get it prepared or ready to accept people that would be living there, check all the piping, make sure water system is running, plumbing is good, electrical is good. Okay.

All right. Thank you, Lorraine. I appreciate it.

Chair, if I could just expand upon that. The applicant will be working with the building department for the issuance of a reissuance of a certificate of occupancy for the building. They have had some inspections, initial inspections to see what might be needed for upgrades, any fire alarms, any upgrades. So they will be working with the city on that. And if necessary, we could, to avoid any delays, we'll work with them. And if necessary, we'll work on, if they're unable to obtain the lifts installation within a timeline, we can also issue a temporary certificate of occupancy to allow them some time. to include those installations that they need to in landscaping and any other improvements.

Okay. Can I ask you one more time? How many cameras did you say you have now?

We have about 36 cameras.

36. Okay, thank you. That sure works.

Thank you very, very much. And just to clarify in regards to the operation of those lifts, they'll be only accessible to the trained staff and you won't be able, like some sort of a key or something that would.

That is correct. And I think also because this is gonna be either an assisted living or a SNF, there will be not a lot of, it's only gonna be probably employees anyways using the parking space, because there are people that will be living there. But yes, for the safety and to meet the requirements, I think we definitely will have security there all the time that they will be taking care of that.

Thank you. Yeah, thanks for pushing this forward.

Yeah. I also want to really appreciate for the prayers in the beginning of this conference. That really means a lot to me.

Well, I'm excited. The place has been empty for a long time. I think the car lift thing is a brilliant idea, and I think other businesses might take that idea from you. In these types of situations, the camera thing is a great benefit, and... I don't have any questions. The only question I have is the numbers, the rooms that are facing the lifts, are you in agreeing with keeping those rooms as temporary residence because of the view, or are they going to be long-term residence?

I don't know how many rooms that are facing the lift. I would have to go and check, but there are five rooms. So you want us to, well, maybe we can keep them for staff.

For staff.

Yeah, well, somebody has to stay in.

Oh, yeah, no, no. Room 8, 10, 12, 14, and 16 are just their view is to lift. And you're going to be putting the vines there. So I imagine once that kind of grows out, they won't see much of it anyways. But we were just curious. I mean, just for the view for those residents staying there.

Okay, I mean, we'll do whatever you guys want us to do. And then we'll see how we can rotate them if they're temporary residents or we can get them around.

Okay, any other questions? No? No. Well, thank you very much. Any other public comments or online?

Chair, there is someone online with the last name Kernick. Deputy Papp, are they a part of the applicant? Okay, they have their hand raised, so I'm going to allow them.

Okay, we can let the applicant speak. I don't know if the person with the last name is Kernick. Kernick? Your microphone's unmuted, Mr. Kernick, if you can speak.

I apologize for that. I actually was raising my hand. There is another applicant online. Part of the owner team, Joseph, but he wanted to have a few words. About to address the stackable parking. To address some of your questions on that, if you don't mind letting him speak.

Sure.

Oh, now, okay, now I'm told he does not want to add anything. I apologize, being remote. Okay, I think we are good at this point, unless you have any other questions for us.

I don't think we do. And I thank you for being patient with us. And so there's no other public comments. Okay, with that, we're going to go ahead and close public comment. Thank you very much. You can have a seat if you'd like now. Thank you. Discussions, if not, entertain motion, staff, or commissioners.

I think it's great to have this building occupied again.

I think it was very creative to go with the carports, for sure. Yeah, it was a cool idea.

If I could, I'll make a motion that we determine the project exempt from CEQA. in accordance with CEQA Act section 15301. And two, we adopt Planning Commission resolution approving conditional use permit 25-001 and lot merger number 25-004. And finally, that we direct staff to file a notice of exemption with the state clearinghouse and county clerk.

I'll second.

And that passes. Thank you very much. Moving on to discussion, action items. And we have a report from staff. I can limit John to a two minute talk.

Good evening, Chair, Commissioners. My name's Travis Holyoke. I'm the City of Hemet Water Wastewater Superintendent, and I am presenting the 2025 Urban Water Management Plan and Water Shortage Contingency Plan. A little bit about our water system background. Our system consists of 132 miles of distribution pipeline, over 9,000 water customer connections, It kind of sits within about 5.2 square miles within the city of Hemet limits, and there's also, EMWD and Lake Hemet also provide water within those limits. We have four potable water storage tanks, potable groundwater wells, interconnections with EMWD and Lake Hemet, and we supply an average of 3,900 acre foot of potable water annually. Here's a quick little map, couple of maps. The map to the right shows where the boundaries of the other agencies are, and then the map to the left kind of shows where the city of Hemet city limits are and how our water agency sits inside of that. The 2025 Urban Water Management Plan. The Urban Water Management Plan Act of 1983, it's a long range water resource planning document to ensure adequate water supplies to meet existing and future water demands. Urban water supplier is defined as a supplier either publicly or privately owned, providing water to more than 3,000 customers or supplying more than 3,000 acre foot of water annually. Urban water suppliers are required to update its urban water management plan every five years. Components of the urban water management plan, water use and supply characterization, water service reliability and drought risk assessments, SBX7-7 baseline targets, water shortage contingency plan, and demand management measures. Key findings of the urban water management plan. Bless you. Water use and supply characterization. City primary relies on groundwater from the San Jacinto Basin. Imported and or wheeled water is provided through Eastern Municipal Water District. Water sources are managed and reliable. Eastern Municipal Water District and the Hemet San Jacinto Water Master, we all work together to manage our groundwater. The city has flexibility to manage supply sources under drought conditions. Water service reliability and drought risk assessment. The city's water supplies are reliable in meeting demands during existing and projected normal single dry and five consecutive year drought periods through 2050. I know it's a long ways away, but it'll be here. Annual assessments are due annually starting on July 1st of 2022. Review of the city's current water demands provides information regarding potential shortages, SHORTAGE RESPONSE ACTIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS. SBX-720 WATER USE TARGET COMPLIANCE. THE CITY HAS CONTINUED TO MEET WATER USE TARGETS COMPLIANCE REQUIREMENTS AND HERE'S A CHART SHOWING HOW WE'VE STAYED UNDER THE TARGET OF 139 GALLONS PER DAY PER CAPITA. AND THEN ON TO THE WATER SHORTAGE CONTINGENCY PLAN. Urban water suppliers are required to prepare and adopt a water shortage contingency plan. It includes as chapter eight of the city's 2025 urban water management plan, contains elements to be implemented during drought conditions and may include potential water supply augmentation measures, customer demand reduction measures, Division three, section 82 of the city's municipal code water conservation plan was amended by ordinance number 1997 in April of 2022. It outlines methods to reduce water use and prevent water waste on an ongoing basis. I put a little note in here because the conservation ordinance will be amended again when we take this to council on June 9th for language regarding AB 1572 for non-functional turf. The city's plan for water usage during periods of shortage is designed to incorporate DWR 6 standard water shortage levels corresponding to progressive ranges from up to 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50% shortages and greater than 50% shortages. The city will manage water supplies to minimize the adverse impacts of water shortages. The breakdown in the shortage levels are as follow. Level one is voluntarily for targets of 10% reduction and those kind of follow through all the way to level six where mandatory for a target of over 50% reduction. It incorporates existing demand management measures, existing emergency response plans, existing seismic risk assessments and mitigation plans and the conclusion is the city will be able to meet water demands under drought conditions using Existing water supplies coupled with customer demand reduction measures And that is the conclusion of the urban water management plan and I also want to give a huge thanks to staff at the Public Works yard Eric bungee and Holly Buchanan for doing a lot of the heavy lifting as You guys can notice that there's a lot of pages to this document The 2025 urban water management plan shows that the city is compliant with the 2020 urban or water use target goals pursuant to SBX 7. Water supplies are reliable in meeting demands during existing and projected normal single drive consecutive years drought periods through 2050. With its current demand management measures, the city anticipates heavy, sufficient water supply to meet population growth estimated by Southern California Association of Governments. And I'll take any questions you guys might have at this time, and thank you for letting me present this to you guys.

Well, thanks for that presentation, commissioners. Questions for staff, we'll start with Commissioner Miramontes.

Yeah, thank you for that. Just a couple of like, I guess a comment, a question. First comment is I'd like that we kept it in house for this. I'm sure it'd save thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. instead of using a third party to come in and do this plan for us. And second is, so going from standard to standard, is that time-based or is that based on water level? So going from level one to level two, level two to level three.

So usually the levels are coming from the state, from the water boards. So they'll initiate a state water shortage level of one, two, and then we will bring it back to council to take on those adoptions, and then we would initiate those stages.

Okay, so we have no control over that? Okay.

We can do it locally, but it would still have to come for council approval.

Gotcha, that sounds interesting. All right, thank you, I have no other questions.

I missed your name, what was your name, sir? Travis Holyoke. Travis?

H-O-L-Y-O-A-K.

Okay. Thank you, sir. I have no questions, but now I got your name in my book. Thank you.

Thanks, Travis. No. Here we go. No. No, you're not. No, no, no questions. Just a couple comments and kind of more on a regional level, you know, that obviously, I am very involved with the water side of things. And, you know, the city of Hemet and Lake Hemet, city of San Jacinto, EMWD, we're very fortunate that we overlie such a robust groundwater system in the San Jacinto groundwater metro zone. And that For the city that that that available supply is sufficient to meet our demands and really kind of mitigate any impacts associated with state shortages associated associated with imported water. And that that that management. in partnership with the water master and making sure that we have a high quality and sustainable groundwater system is critical. I want to make some comments or some suggestions for future consideration. What affects the city of Hemet is not just within the city of Hemet, as it relates to growth and development, but also our neighboring cities and agencies. And so that partnership on local and imported water supply management is critical. We talked about this a little bit, but in regards to utilizing the best water sources for the best possible uses, within the context of the groundwater in lieu program, I would encourage that the city look for other opportunities to leverage EMWD's recycled water system, non-potable supplies where possible, specifically Echo Hills Golf Course, Seven Hills Golf Courses, to look for opportunities to... partner on investing the capital necessary to provide recycled water supplies, build the infrastructure necessary to serve that so that we can get those sources off of the groundwater system. So I know there's some constraints within the current construct of the ENLU program, but would strongly encourage that at the as discussions continue with the city council and with the water master that we look for some creative alternatives to work within the context of that groundwater in-loop program. Like I said, specifically with those two sites and if there are any other opportunities as well. I know that's certainly an opportunity from EMWD's side and would encourage at the very top level that that be a focus of the city and a priority. But thank you for the presentation, and on behalf of Eastern, thank you always for the ongoing partnership that you have with our operations folks, and it provides good service to the residents of the city of Hemet. So thank you. Thank you.

I have some questions about the wells. So I understand there's three main wells that operate. It's number, right in front of me. Well number 2A, 10A, and 12?

Correct.

So what's A mean?

So it used to be well two and it used to be well 10. When the well had a failing, we had to re-drill on site and so instead of renaming the property and everything, we just added the A to the back end of it for the driller's log and for the state recording of it. So that's why it's an A.

How many wells do we have that are operational but not in use?

So currently we have the three active wells that you just referred to. They're actually supplying water to the customers now. We have a total of nine total wells that the city owns. One of those wells is we're going to abandon in place. It's failed, it's collapsing, and we can't really drill on site, and plus it has some issues for water quality. But we're gonna still use it for groundwater measuring, and we work really well with EMWD in working with those numbers to keep a monitor on our groundwater. The other wells, two of them are actually being suited up for wellhead treatment with a GAC system and I believe we, I don't know if it came here, but Council awarded the project. We're gonna do a GAC treatment. It's gonna be placed over at Mary Henley Park. That's gonna bring two wells back online. That'll bring the customers another over 2,000 gallons per minute to our system. So we're investing money on wells that were taken offline for water quality to get them back on. Another couple wells that we have are offline as for water quality, but they have a multiple of things that... that has taken them offline, and so we're looking at what is the best value for treatment, because when you get into treatment for water, it gets really, really expensive, and so you don't want to treat something that it's going to just increase your operation cost. But overall, we have nine total. Three are in use, and the others we're working our way through, and two of them are in a CIP project that's underway. Another two that we have kind of figuring out which way we want to treat those as well.

Okay. Another question I have, and it might just be just within a certain boundary line, but on Chapter 3, it says that the city provides water for an area with a current population of 33,591 people, the population of, and then the city's projected to have a population of 33,859 by year 2045, which is less than 300 people.

So the water system, let me see if I can go back. Let me go back to the map. So the water system there on the left map, we're about 90 so percent built out. Anyways, we can't expand our boundaries. We have limitations on what our water district can be, as you can see with Lake Hema and EMWD surrounding us. The population tool that we did, we actually use ESRI GIS, and we can overlay on the map our water system, and we get that data pulled back from the census data, and that's where the 33,000 that we saw coming in. And they actually have a growth rate for that area, I'd have to go back. It's in the appendix in one of those thousands of pages, but it goes back to like a .04% growth. It's very minimal for where our water district is. That's why the growth of population isn't that much. DWR has a tool to utilize. We use that to compare what we did on the Esri side, and it matches up pretty close. So that's where those numbers are coming from.

Okay. Okay. And then when it comes, as you know, they've been talking in the news lately about the strongest El Ninos coming in with the next last 150 years. We should be seeing it this summer. What percentage of stormwater are we actually collecting versus going to waste?

So the stormwater collection system is kind of separate from us, but since you did bring it up, we do touch into the water master, the groundwater management that we do out in the basin. We actually are able to, with the helps of EMWD, they are actually able to divert a lot of the rainwater that comes down from the mountains and the river, and they put them out in recharge ponds, which help. percolate into the ground to help build up our groundwater storage.

Oh, okay.

And then also along those lines, they're able to bring in state water from up north and bring it down and supply water out here.

It's really interesting. I mean, a lot of pages to read, but going down the rabbit hole, it's interesting how the story with MWD's tunnel that was through San Jacinto Mountain to Banningside and the amount of water that that was seeping through the tunnels over the years and the contract they have and how I found out how that's how MWD was created and Lake Emmett was created because it's a whole thing. So it's something I learned. It's really interesting how... water works around here.

Yeah, that's kind of what kicked off the whole groundwater basin with the water master out in the basin was that whole, the tunnel. That's kind of what kickstarted it years ago.

Yeah, another 30 years is coming to an end here pretty quick, though, with the contract they had with the water district. But any other questions for staff?

Now you get a little sense of why I always go down this rabbit hole, but just a couple more comments. So that stormwater capture that we do at EMWD is at what's called the Grand Street Ponds. And I don't know the volume as of right now, but just to kind of give it in context of quantity, The amount of water that we are able to recharge there is somewhat similar to the entire water demand of the city of Hemet in terms of thousands of acre feet that we recharge there. We also... In conjunction with the other participants, the city of Hemet, the city of San Jacinto and Lake Hemet, we bring in imported water when it's available from either the Northern California State Water Project System or the Colorado River Aqueduct. And we do additional recharge in that area. And then we are advancing a purified water replenishment project this year to bring in an additional 4,000 acre feet of recycled water To recharge the groundwater basins, but one one point that I just wanted to to the question on the population Kind of goes back to my point on what happens in in the city relative to growth That the majority of the growth that's going to be happening is outside of the city's water service area so that partnership on managing local supplies and imported supplies is is very very critical and And there is an opportunity to use the recycled water to potentially offset somewhere in the neighborhood of about 700 acre feet of groundwater usage by providing recycled water that we locally produce in lieu of pumping that groundwater. So it leaves the groundwater in the basin local for our community. versus having to import that water from outside of our area. So again, just look forward to additional opportunities for creative ways to manage all water supplies, including groundwater. But see, that's why I get so, it is very interesting. Your water bill will never go down, it'll only go up.

Speaking on John, I just got this email on Monday for the recharge status. So to year to date, we've put over 4,000 acre foot of water out in those recharge ponds. So that computes to 1.3 billion gallons of water that has gone into the ground from the recharge. Wow.

Yeah, it's a very significant operation. How many gallons is one acre foot? 325,851. So to put it in another context, one acre foot is about three homes for one year.

Gotcha. Wow. That's a lot of water.

And the bottom line is, there's not enough water in Southern California to support the growth. Well, to support even what's existing. So that's why we're so dependent in Southern California. on imported water. Other agencies are solely dependent on imported water. One of the really great things, like I mentioned about this area, is that we sit over a very unique groundwater system that is very deep and very high quality. But because of that, it's been very over-pumped for decades and decades. And so, which is why it's so critical for all of us agencies to partner together on not only managing the decline, but bringing water back in, because it represents basically a large storage reservoir that we can put water in and save it for when we are in times of drought. So it's just below the surface and you don't see it.

You think we would be able to handle like a data center that requires a lot of water to cool down? Well, I mean, that's a new demand now, a lot of data centers, but it requires a lot of water to keep them cool.

So I personally haven't looked into how much water a data center takes on, and seeing what I'm learning with planning lately is I don't even know where areas of zoning that would fall into, and if that would even fall in our water district, it might fall into Eastern's district.

Definitely Eastern, probably. Currently, within the MWD service area, we do not have any proposed data centers, just warehouses, as you can see.

Data centers use one to five million gallons of water a day, according to ChatGBT.

Thanks for the info. So that's three to 15 acre feet a day. So if you kind of put that in perspective of how many homes that that provides, you can kind of get an idea. It's important to kind of scale water usage relative to, yeah, how many homes does that support? That's a lot of water.

Okie dokie. Any other questions? All right. Well, thank you very much for the presentation. And with that, we're going to recommend the Planning Commission take the following action, determine that the 2025 Urban Water Management Plan, UWMP, and the Water Storage Contingency Plan, WSCP, are exempt from review under the California CEQA Act, and receive a presentation of the 2025 Urban Water Management Plan, the UWMP, and the Water Storage Contingency Plan, WSCP, and provide, so it's just receive and follow, or just discussion. We don't need to make any motion or anything, right?

And provide comments and input with the The one input that I want to pass on to our city council is to look for additional opportunities for groundwater in lieu. type projects where we can utilize a local recycle water in lieu of groundwater or recycle water projects.

Yes, and Chair, if the commission could, we are requesting that the commission determine that the urban water management plan is exempt under the California Environmental Quality Act. If we could have a recommendation, a motion for that.

Okay, may I have a motion for that?

So moved. Is that acceptable? Or do you want the whole thing?

I moved what was being recommended.

Thank you.

I mean, I read it out loud. I mean, I can just say that I make a motion for that, what I said. Okay. May I have a second for that? I'll second. All right, that passes. We'll now take department reports. City Attorney?

Yes, thank you, Chair. In the spirit of water, to keep it going, and this is for John, I have a Court of Appeals case that was heard on January 14th, 2026. It's the City of Vallejo versus the City of American Canyon. So just a very brief overview is the City of Vallejo versus the City of American Canyon. The court upheld the adequacy of an environmental impact report's water supply assessment for a 2.4 million square foot warehouse project in American Canyon. The city of Alejo, which supplies roughly 23% of American Canyon's water under a 1996 interagency agreement, challenged the EIR on three grounds. Ground one was that it was an unreliable paper water, and I looked up what paper water meant. Paper water's term used in water law to describe water rights or entitlements that exist on paper, such as contracts, permits, or legal agreements, but may not be reliably available in practice, so it's on paper. Number two, failure to disclose place of use restrictions and inadequate treatment of curtailment risks. The court rejected all three. Applying the Vineyard Framework, the court held that CEQA requires adequacy of information, not certainty of supply. American Canyon's track record of receiving 100% of its contracted water combined with an EIR showing projected supply would meet project demand in all scenarios was sufficient. Place of use restrictions, disclosures were harmless, and the duty to analyze alternative sources is triggered only by a genuine supply uncertainty, which was absent in this case. So this decision confirms that EIRs may rely on contracted entitlements and existing plans without addressing alternative sources unless actual supply uncertainty exists. CEQA demands adequacy, not perfection. And that's the end of my report.

All right, thank you for that report, City Attorney Layla. And moving on to 8b, Community Development Reports, Director Monique.

Thank you, Chair. I just have two items. I recently attended the WRCOG director's meeting. And at that meeting, it was discussion about regional housing needs arena for the seventh cycle. The Southern California Association of Governments, SCAG, in coordination with HCD, is working through preliminary discussions on what that methodology and that process is going to be for the upcoming planning for the seventh cycle for our regional housing needs, which will be ALLOCATED TO CALIFORNIA CITIES IN 2029. SO THEY'RE GOING TO START PRELIMINARY DISCUSSIONS WITH SCAG AND AS EARLY AS JUNE AND WANTED TO ADVISE THE COMMITTEE THAT THESE DISCUSSIONS ARE GOING TO BE MOVING FORWARD AS WELL AS THE LONG RANGE PLANNING DEMOGRAPHICS, THE SOCAL RTP SES planning efforts.

So does that mean the numbers are gonna go up, stay the same? What are you hearing?

We don't know yet. We don't know what it all means. The methodology will also be under analysis. Looking at the past practices, there were quite a few California cities that were challenging how the methodology was determined and how those numbers were disaggregated throughout the California cities. So yes, stay tuned for more information.

It's going to be interesting. new leadership, things may change.

And then also, one more thing. I just wanted to mention and maybe need clarification from our city attorney on the public hearing item 6A. At the end of the public hearing, we do want to announce that there are appeal procedures in place. for the public hearing that was for the conditional use permit for the living facility, the skilled nursing facility. We do have to identify what the appeal procedures are after the public hearing. So if I may identify what those are now, or if not, we can just do that for future cases, for future public hearings.

You could read it out now, or we could do it moving forward. OK. Yeah.

Okay, so just for clarification, I'll go ahead and outline that for the conditional use permit 25005 and lot merger number 25004. So the Planning Commission's decision, an appeal of the Planning Commission's decision may be made by an agreed party in the City Council, to the City Council, subject to the Hemet Municipal Code, Sections 2-38 through 2-43. Any such appeal shall be filed within 10 calendar days of the Planning Commission's decision by completing an appeal application of forms provided by the Community Development Department. The appeal application shall include all of the following specific action appealed from, specific grounds of the appeal, relief or action sought from the City Council, an address where notice can be sent to the appellant, And number five, require appeal fee established by city council resolution. Incomplete applications will not be accepted. A maximum of five additional days may be allowed to correct those deficiencies. Thank you.

That being what you just read, would that be considered if we were just a tie or denied?

Any action of the Planning Commission could be appealed to the City Council if it was an actual decision that the Planning Commission acted upon.

Okay.

They could take it to the City Council for a de novo public hearing within 30 calendar days.

I apologize. I thought we passed it and we didn't really have much recommendation, so we were just

THIS IS THE ACTION THAT THIS IS IN RELATION TO THE AGENDA ITEM PUBLIC HEARING 6A, WHICH WAS THE SKILLED NURSING FACILITY. THAT WAS A PUBLIC HEARING AND THAT WAS VOTED UPON BY THE PLANNING COMMISSION TONIGHT.

If there was somebody in the community that said, no, we don't want it, they could appeal it. That's what this is for, since we did approve the recommendation. It's not the applicant that would be appealing it. Got it.

That's why I wanted to make sure. Okay. Future agenda items. Director Monique.

Thank you, Chair. Future agenda items include a tentative parcel map, lot line parcel map for Page Plaza, the annual five-year capital improvement plan update, a conditional use permit for Coston Square, a tentative track map for Valle de los Tres Cerritos that is coming to the Planning Commission. We're getting closer through the process. We're working through the process with the applicant now. 2025 fire code cycle updates for residential construction in very high fire severity zones. Pro housing designation program, I'm also working with with WRCOG and Placeworks in preparing what that program might look like and what would be acceptable to the state. And it will be presented to the Planning Commission for consideration as a recommendation to the City Council. 2025 building code cycle updates, including AB306 and residential construction, as well as pre-approved ADU plan program. Thank you.

Thank you very much. And last, Planning Commissioner's reports.

Chair Beemsterfer?

I'm just going to start off with, I kind of printed it out for you just so Cherise doesn't have to write too much down. I had the opportunity of attending the Whodunit Murder Mystery event. I saw Deputy Director Papp over there, too, as well. My mom was hosted by the Hemet Science Channel Chamber of Commerce. The event was fun, entertaining, a great community gathering. All actors did a fantastic job, including Mayor Krupa, Councilwoman Valerie Van Den Deer, I can't remember her last name right, and many other participants, such as Coca and Dr. Coca, who didn't even have to act, but she had a lot of... a big part in the play, too. I just recommend more microphones there next time, so it's easier to hear the skit. Commissioner Hill and I had the opportunity yesterday to tour Hemet Police Department to see firsthand how many, their advanced technology of how to combat crime with our community and their cameras. The tour included demonstration of flock camera system, their mobile integration system camera, business cameras, and the department's drone operation program. It was impressive to see the level of detail the system provided, including real-time monitoring capabilities, license plate recognition, the drone response technology, and assist the officers both day and night. We also witnessed one of the department's drones respond in live action, which is pretty cool. It was pretty cool to see how that worked. Commissioner Hill and I agree that these type of security and surveillance integration could be highly beneficial for future large-scale developments, including warehouses, shopping centers, commercial projects throughout the city. I'll also encourage local business owners with exterior cameras to consider partnering with the Hemet Police Department as another proactive step to keeping our community safe. And the last thing, too, just outside of the scope of things, California hearing aid coverage for children program is now facing scrutiny after reports show that the program nearly spent $23 million for only about 300 children, which is averaging $70,000 per child. And so they're going investigating that with Galvin Newsom to see why that kind of work bill spending is going on. It doesn't cost $70,000 for one child to have a hearing aid. So just a little news. Nothing else to report.

Thank you. Vice Chair Wirth?

First thing, I will not be in attendance June 2nd. So hopefully that does not cause any issues as far as a quorum. And then just secondly, just some comments that this agenda I think highlights two of my passions. One is the water side and then also one is being a part of responsible development. And I think it's important kind of to your point of prices going down. that we're addressing two state goals. One is to make sure that water agencies have enough supply that they can demonstrate that they have adequate supply to provide both current demands, but also projected demands, which is based on the other side of this is we want growth. if we are not able to demonstrate that we have supply, then growth stops. And so the interdependency between water and growth is huge. And all the local water is, for the most part, being used. There are obviously opportunities. All the future water is the expensive water. And so trying to balance that, that's an issue. I think someone commented to it about, hey, why are you telling me to conserve and then you're approving new projects? That's a question that the politicians have to respond to from the community a lot. Why is my water bill going up and you're still allowing more people growth? The importance of that partnership of managing local resources and partnering across regional watersheds versus just city boundaries is very, very critical to support growth in our region, not just within the city boundaries. Anyways, just my little, I didn't say enough during the presentation, so I had to add a little bit more of why I like it so much.

I wasn't expecting my water bill to go down. I was being a little facetious. That's true. I have nothing to report, thank you.

Yes, Commissioner Hill, thank you. Commissioner Villamontes?

I have nothing to report.

There being no further business to discuss, this meeting is being adjourned to the next regular planning commission meeting scheduled for June 2nd, 2026 at 6 p.m.