Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Recording in progress.

Good evening. It is 05/04/2026 at 7PM. I will now call the regular planning commission meeting to order. This meeting is being televised via the Zoom video conference platform. Miss Mattenpour, please conduct the roll call.

I will now go to the public communications. Persons wishing to address the Planning Commission on any subject not on the agenda may do so now. Please note, however, the commission is not able to undertake discussion or action tonight on items not on the agenda. Items may be referred to staff for appropriate action which may include placement on the next available agenda. Public comments will be limited to three minutes per speaker.

For members of the public attending the virtual Zoom meeting that wish to make a comment, please use the raise hand feature or star nine if connecting via phone audio only. When it is your turn to speak, staff will bring you into the meeting so that you may provide your comment or concern. Public comments are also accepted by email to smattencourherculesca dot gov prior to and during the meeting, prior to the close of the public comment period on an item listed on the agenda and will be posted to the city's website and available to view after the meeting. Written public comments will be provided to the Planning Commission and posted to the city's website as supplemental supplemental documents but staff will not read aloud written comments during the meeting. Individuals wishing to address the commission in writing are asked to provide the following information.

Subject line to contain the words public comments, name, address, and contact information of person providing comments, and the general topic or agenda item you wish to comment on. Ms. Mattencourt, have we received public comments on items not on the agenda? The this heading are considered to be routine by the Planning Commission and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a member of the commission, staff, or a member of the public request that a specific item be removed for separate action and place as a discussion item on our agenda.

Included on our consent calendar is item one minutes from the January 2026 meeting. Are there any requests to remove an item from the consent calendar? Hearing none, I will accept a motion to approve the consent calendar as presented. Do I have a move to approve? Yes, I'll make a motion to accept the consent calendar as posted.

To the new town center environmental impact report design review permit twenty five dash oh four, vesting tentative map twenty five dash oh two, and plan development plan 25DashO2. Thank

you. Vice Chair Most Walker, Tim Root, community development director. We're pleased tonight to present the Emblem Hercules apartment project And our contract senior planner, Larissa Alchin, will be giving the staff report along with an applicant presentation thereafter. I just wanted to say at the outset that this is a somewhat unusual project in that it is the first builder's remedy project that we have received in Hercules. So it is subject to a number of different state streamlining laws designed to facilitate the development of housing.

And those laws severely limit the city's ability to deny or condition the project. So I will let Larissa tell you about that in more detail. Thank you. And good evening, Chair, members of the Planning Commission.

My name is Larissa Algin. I'm a contract planner. And so before to you tonight is a the Newtown Center, the Hercules Newtown Center ER addendum together with three entitlements for the emblem Hercules apartment at 1601 Willow Avenue. It includes the design route permit, the vesting tentative map, and plan development plan. Tonight, I'll walk you through the regulatory framework that governs the city's review, the project's consistency with the framework, and the CEQA determination.

Next slide. The presentation tonight is, a brief project overview, the state housing law context, which is the most important framing for tonight's hearing, the local regulatory context, the project description, and object the objective development standards and the state density bonus law waivers requested, the required findings, the CEQA determination, and finally staff's recommendation. Next slide. So at a high level, the project proposes 180 apartment units on the 6.72 acre loop site at 1601 Willow. The unit mix is one hundred and two one bedroom units, sixty six two bedroom and twelve three bedroom units in six three story buildings, each 44 feet tall plus the one story clubhouse.

The overall gross density is 16.8 dwelling units per acre with a net density of 35.4 units on the buildable portion of the site. Importantly, of the 18 of the 180 units, 18 are affordable. So, that's 10% of the project, which is de restricted to very low income households. That 10% set aside for the affordable units qualifies the project as for Builders Remedy two point zero, which I'll discuss in a moment. Next

slide.

This is an overview of the site plan. The site is bounded by Interstate 80 and its off ramp on the West, the State Route 4 ramp on the north and east, and Willow Avenue along the South. The six apartment buildings are spread across the western and southern portion of the site with the clubhouse anchoring the Willow Avenue frontage. Vehicle access is from a single driveway off Willow Avenue with a secondary emergency vehicle access to the east. I'm going to let the applicant walk you a little bit more through the design of the project.

So we'll move ahead with the next slide. This is just to show you some of the sensitive features of the northern portion of the site. The FEMA regulatory floodway shown in blue and marsh and willow riparian tree canopy shown in green. There is a 50 foot development and construction exclusion buffer is a key design move to allow the project to avoid direct impacts on these features. The buffer is also what supports the biological resources conclusion of the CEQA addendum and informed our coordination with outside agencies, which I'll also discuss a bit further later on.

Next slide. And this is just a typical rendering of one of the buildings from Willow Avenue. The our applicant will speak a bit more about the the craftsman influence design and the palette across the project. From a regulatory standpoint, staff also confirmed the design is consistent with objective standards of the Scenic Road and Highway Overlay District. Next slide.

And this is a slide to show the proposed retaining wall on the north edge of the project site. The wall ranges from 15 to 18 feet in height and uses a gravity block system with geogrid reinforcement. Beyond addressing the grade change here, the wall is doing a second job as it serves as the barrier required for mitigation measure, BIO1, BIO3, to prevent humans, pets, and development activities from intruding into the aquatic riparian habitat. Because of the grade differential between Willow Avenue, the building pads, the wall location, the wall will not be visible from Willow Avenue, but it will be from State Route 4, the exit ramp. Next slide.

And then this is kind of the meat of this presentation tonight. This is the state state law housing context. So we'll spend a bit more time on this one. Four state housing laws govern the city's review of this project and together they substantially limit local discretion. The Housing Accountability Act prohibits the city from denying or reducing the density of a qualifying residential project that is consistent with objective standards unless it can make written findings that the project would have specific adverse impact on public health or safety.

The Housing Crisis Act, SB three thirty, created a preliminary application process that lets the developer vest or lock in the development standards when the preliminary application is submitted and accepted. The applicant filed its SB330 preliminary application on 10/21/2024 and submitted a complete application within one hundred and eighty day window. That 10/21/2024 date is the operative vesting date for this project. And then Builders Remedy two point zero, this is where that October date comes into effect. HCD certified the city's twenty twenty three to 2,031 housing element on 01/09/2025.

The applicant filed their preliminary application before that date because that project vested while the city did not have a compliant housing element and because it includes 10% very low income units, it qualifies for the Builders Remedy. And then state density bonus law, because the project commits 10% of the units for very low income, it qualifies under state density bonus law to reduce maximum parking ratios, which is one space per studio or one bedroom. And for development standard waivers under government code section 65,915, the project is requesting four waivers. And next slide. And this is just a background slide to kind of orient the commission on how this parcel is currently zoned.

The city's adopted the Central Hercules Regulatory Code, which is a form based code that established the for the subdistricts, including what later became known as the Newtown Center. That happened in we're to the important to the town center vision, but it was not required to be developed under the agreement. In 2009, the city created the new town center zoning district, through zoning ordinance amendment, and the new town center EIR was certified. In October 2023, at the property owner's request, the City Council passed a resolution terminating the DDA as it relates to the loop site. That action is significant for tonight because it confirms that the parcel is no longer bound by the DDA CHP regulating code obligation.

Then in October 24, the applicant filed the SB330 application, investing the project. Next slide. And some more framework for the project. On the local framework side, the general plan land use designation is new town center, which expressly allows residential multifamily, commercial or mixed use development or a mix of those. The zoning is also new town center.

It generally requires the new town center zoning generally requires consistency with the Central Hercules Plan regulating code. However, as an additional town center parcel, the loop site was not was allowed but not required to opt into the CHP regulating codes objective standards, and Emblem has not opted to opt into those standards. The Scenic Road and Overlay Highway Overlay District also applies here, and the project has been evaluated for consistency with those standards. We'll cover more in the findings section. And for CEQA, the project processed as an addendum to the Hercules Newtown Center EIR, which was certified in February 2009.

Next slide. In a bit more detail on the projects and the way the affordable units are dispersed across the different unit types, there are ten one bedroom, six two bedroom, and two three bedroom. Dispersal of affordable units across all buildings and unit types is consistent with state requirements. That ensures the affordable housing is integrated throughout the community rather than concentrated in a single building or unit type. Next slide.

Two distinct issues on this slide. One is the affordable housing commitment, which we just discussed, 18 very low income units that are dispersed. And on the right is the no net loss analysis, which was required because the loop site was previously credited in the city's housing element site inventory with a capacity of four zero two affordable units, and the project proposes 18 units and a very low income and 162 above moderate units. The city was required to identify sites to maintain adequate capacity for each income category. And the Ramey and Associates memo documents where that capacity comes from.

So, the city was able to identify eleven twenty nine units for RENEUS surplus and the no net loss requirement is satisfied for all income levels. Next slide. And this is a summary of how the project measures up against the objective of Newtown Center Development Standards. The project complies with seven of these standards as proposed: density, building height, setbacks, parking quantity under the state density bonus maximum and the monument sign dimensions. Four standards required waivers under the density bonus law, the reduction of carport width, the less than 50 feet surface parking setback along the secondary emergency vehicle access, the landscape island spacing, which was greater than six stalls, and the inability to comply with this CHP town center street type because of the freeway interchange that physically surrounds the site.

I'll go into more detail about that in the next slide. One quick note on on density. The range shown in the Newtown Center Zone is 30 to 75 dwelling units per acre. The project's gross density of 26.8 is below that bottom of that range, but the builder's remedy provides a separate compliance pathway, which ends up being 15 dwelling units per acre, which the project meets. Next slide.

And this just a brief description of the bonus or the density bonus waivers that were being requested. They include the carport space with the air conditioning condenser location, the surface parking setback, and the parking lot islands. Staff also reviewed a waiver request and finds that the applicant had demonstrated physical preclusion with the street type for which staff reviewed that standard and may actually not be objective and may not actually apply. But we did review it and it is included in the staff report. Next slide.

And then the findings for design review. This because the project is processed under the Builder's Remedy and the Housing Accountability Act is not required to comply with subjective findings, but staff has analyzed all the findings and believe that each can be made affirmatively. The findings with facts document is included on your staff report. Generally, the compliance of the zoning and general plan allows this use. The second finding that it's in the best interest of public health, safety, and welfare.

The project provides 180 units, including 18 very low on a transit approximate infill site, frontage improvements along Willow Avenue, the left turn lane proposed and the pedestrian crossing all support that finding. And then the site design provides a desirable environment. The development is constructed on a buildable western and southern portion of the site with a 50 foot buffer for the stream, wetland, and riparian habitat. Retaining walls address the grade change and the driveway and crossing are coordinated along Willow Avenue. And then the architectural character is consistent across the whole development.

It's a good character and good design. It's also consistent with the scenic road and Highway Overlay District. And then landscaping, there's extensive landscaping proposed, including irrigation plan and frontage improvements. Next slide. And then this slide is showing the findings for the vesting tentative map and the plan development plan.

Similar to the design review, subjective findings are not required, but we did review against all the requirements. Similar to the design review, best in tentative masks have to be consistent with the general plan, zoning, and the project itself. The site is physically suitable for the type of density proposed. The new town center EIR mitigation measures are appropriate. The map will not conflict with subdivision section of the municipal code.

On the plan development plan side, it is required to have make five findings. Those include the use and density are consistent, with the general plan, the streets and third floors are adequate, and any exceptions are warranted by the design and amenities that, the surrounding area is compatible and the utility services are adequate. Each of these findings are included in your staff report.

Next slide.

And then the general plan and zoning consistency, I did want to just point out a few of the housing element policies the project directly implements, including policy H1 point one, which calls for facilitating development of housing affordable to low lower income households. The 18 low income units, included in the project would implement this policy as well as policy H2.5 calls for high quality rental housing for large families. The project includes the three bedroom units plus a clubhouse, clubhouse, dog park, and amenity space. Policy H2.7, which encourages infill development. Next slide.

And then on this on CEQA, the city is the lead agency. The city the Newtown Center EIR, was certified in 2009. That EIR analyzed approximately 35 acres of the zoning district, including the site, which was at an offended parcel three and analyzed for up to three seventy five units, 31,000 square feet of office space and 1,560,000 square feet of retail space. So, the proposed 180 residential units represent a significantly reduced development intensity compared to what was previously analyzed. Under CEQA guidelines, an addendum is an appropriate environmental document when none of the conditions require a subsequent or supplemental ERR are met.

And they are listed in your staff report. They include that there is no substantial change proposed to the project requiring major revisions to the EIR. There are no substantial changes in circumstances requiring major revisions. There's no information of substantial importance that was not known at the time the EIR was certified. The project will not have one or more significant effects on on not discussed in the program EIR.

And the applicant agrees to the mitigation measures in the EIR. Next slide. Just a brief history of our coordination with other outside agencies, including, Caltrans, which requires, encroachment permits for work in the right of way, as well as the Department of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Bay Area Regional Water Control Board. We started this discussion with all these departments or all these agencies agencies early in the process and did extensive coordination with them and some of the conditions of approval for the project resulted from that coordination. Next slide.

And then this is just the staff's recommendation for tonight, is to approve the adopt the resolution recommending council take four actions, which is to approve the addendum to the Hercules New Town Center EIR, approve the design review, vesting tentative map and combined initial and final plan development plan. That concludes my presentation. The applicant team has also prepared a presentation for you tonight, and I'm available for questions as well as on Zoom we have a member of the environmental review team.

Appreciated staff's thorough written report and presentation this evening, and we certainly agree with the report's conclusion, which is to recommend our proposed development to the City Council for approval. I am joined this evening by several of our consultants. One more. I'm racing out ahead here. Christian Sebrian, our land use counsel from Cox Cox Castle.

Chris Kelly, architect from LPS Architects here in the room and via Zoom. Neri, our civil engineer from CBG, and Gary Black, our transportation engineer from Hexagon. Next slide, please. Corteira is an industry leading multifamily development and investment management platform. We combine the national scale with local expertise to deliver communities with a high standard for quality and consistency.

Our team spans 12 regional offices and covers about 30 states throughout the country, bringing together proven leaders in the space to create best in class communities. The company has over 127 communities nationwide and has delivered 11 communities here in Northern California. We have eight others at some stage of the process whether under construction or in predevelopment like this development that we're talking about this evening. Our communities are thoughtfully designed and offer consistent quality with amenities that foster community and well-being. Next slide please.

As Ms. Alchin pointed out, our Emblem Hercules site is unique, at a unique location in the I-eighty Loop at John Muir Parkway surrounded by Caltrans right of way on three sides. It's 6.72 acres, but just five. Nine net acres and it's planned for 180 rental apartments as staff pointed out. Our development will also avoid that northern portion of the lot where the creek bed and FEMA floodplain areas reside.

What we really like about this site is its efficient size, its connectivity to the transit center, and also to nearby neighborhoods serving retail and grocery and other community resources. I'd like to invite Chris Kelly from LPS Architects to come up and briefly describe the design in little bit more detail for you.

Good evening. Chris Kelly with LPAs Architects. I wanted to talk a little bit about the site and then kind of maybe a few things that we know about the project that are not necessarily in your documents. Right, as Nathan was saying and Larissa described the site, a five acre site. In the bottom left along Willow Avenue is our gated entry. So it is a gated community. 180 units. It has an interior circular loop. We pushed all the buildings to the exterior edges to kind of maximize the efficiency. At the bottom left left is the clubhouse.

It's about 4,200 square feet. So it's got property management offices. It's got a lounge fitness center. And then to the back of the clubhouse is the outdoor lounge space as well, outdoor fire, what have you. They're a mix of twenty four and thirty six unit buildings, three story walk up commonly referred to as garden apartments.

Each stair single exit. But overall, I would say a few interesting facts about this all electric community is that we have have a 500 kilowatt solar system to it. So that's just to translate. That's if I got a number here, 845 solar panels, and they're all located on the carports. And the carports cover 67% of the total parking provided.

So it's pretty substantial photovoltaic system. In addition to that, we have battery backup storage system, and that's another 400 kilowatt system. These are numbers and all electric system that far exceeds the standard building code, Something that's standard with a lot of our Quatera projects. And then also something to support the all electric community is the significance of the electric vehicle parking. So 82% of all the parking spaces provided have one electric vehicle capacity or another, whether it be EV ready, which is an outlet that you plug into, or EV chargers.

Pretty significant, right? 82% of the parking spaces have that. And then in addition to that, we for this 180 unit community, we have 106 bike parking spaces. So that's a mix of long term and short term bike parking. So that's about 60% of the community has access to bike storage.

Next slide. I think as Larissa mentioned, 10% of the units or 18 total below market rate units in that very low income category. Just this illustrates that they're distributed in all six minimum of two units per building. Just and also distributed between one, two, and three bedroom units. Next slide.

I have a couple of renderings from Willow Avenue. So as you drive by, this is what you see. This is the rear of the clubhouse. This is kind of the exterior lounge area. And since across Willow Avenue has railroad tracks, we put it in a six foot high glass wall to mitigate the noise that would come from the railroad.

So that's kind of the outdoor lounge area. As it makes up grade there, we added a second retaining wall to soften that look. So there's kind of a two foot retaining wall and then another three foot retaining wall and glass above that to kind of layer it back there. Next slide. And then overall, the architectural character is more of a traditional style.

We have a darker base that provides a massing break there. And then also the vertical siding at the pronounced gable ends to help break up that massing. And then bringing the decks out about 18 inches or so just helps provide a little bit more character to them. It's a mix of fiber cement siding and plaster exteriors, but overall, grander architectural gestures. So as you drive by, it's it's not too busy, but it's not too plain. Then I want to turn it over back to Nathan to talk about some of the community benefits.

Thank you, Chris. Next slide, please. So a few of the community benefits that we see for this development are it's it's well located workforce housing near jobs and transit. We'll enhance the pedestrian connectivity from Willow Avenue down to Sycamore, getting people over to the retail. We're also installing a mid block crossing across Willow Avenue, which will help people access the transit center more directly.

As Chris described, this is an all electric development. The on-site solar production and battery storage on-site that we have is significant and and will help minimize demand on the electrical grid. We also think this is a very effective use of a very challenging highway interchange property. Of course, the new development comes with fiscal benefits as well through impact fees and future property taxes that will be used to fund city initiatives, priorities for schools, utilities, and traffic mitigation. Next slide please.

Our ideal timeline would be to receive your recommendation for approval to the council this evening and then advance to the council later this month. Secure permits by first quarter of twenty twenty seven and begin construction. It's usually a two year build schedule for a project of this size with the first departments coming online within fourteen months. Next slide please. I would like to thank you for your time and going sure to we're answer any questions that you may have. Thank you.

Thank you for the presentation. It's very detailed and very nice. I guess my question may also be for staff. So the project projects about $7,400,000 in fees and $3,100,000 in annual taxes. So what are the net fiscal impact after accounting for service demands like police, fire, schools?

So the app that was the applicant's presentation. So perhaps they you could ask them to speak to that.

Those were estimates of our impact fees that we'll be paying at the time of permit or pulling building permits and also for proper ongoing property taxes related to the buildings. I'm not sure of the net physical impact, if that's your question. And those we know what the outflow is. I'm not sure what the the net is against us.

And one last

question. Is the project fully capitalized today? Or are there are there like financing milestones that could alter or derail the project in a material way? We feel like we've got solid financial backing for this project, so there's there's always you know markets move and can change, but as it stands today, we feel like there's. Is a very good chance that this project gets financed and moves forward on the schedule that we just outlined.

I have two questions. I think one's for the applicant and one's for staff. Just to be clear, and perhaps it's for the architect, on your site plan you have what I think is a second means of ingress into the property. Is that correct? Between Buildings 5 And 6?

Yeah. That's a gated EVA for Contra Costa County fire.

I but the expectation is that most residents would use the the main engines. They could only use the They can only use that one. Yes. Got it. And then I think this one might be a little bit more for staff.

Just to follow-up on Builders' Remedy, and I think I have a decent understanding of how it works. I did see that I don't know if it was part of the Central Hercules plan, but at some point, I think this property was slated to have or at least intended to have up to 400 units, I think. Right? So should the sponsor in some future capacity determine that they would prefer to go higher in density? Is this the project that we would see again or is that something that gets handled at the staff level?

Because I know that you I know there's I know there's a clause where they can make some changes and revisions that can stay at the staff level at the discretion of the director, but for something few.

Okay. There's a so called minor modification process which is administrative, but it is appealable to the commission and subject to call up by the council.

Something like density. It was more of an understanding of is there a scenario where we would see this project again? Or is this

It's not inconceivable, I guess. If there was a change a significant enough change in the design, it could come back to you. For aspects of it, it could come back to you. Right. Okay. Thank you. I mean, I do understand that I think the legal

side of this is pretty clear, right? There's a reason why the state passed Builders Remedy, why there's many Senate bills around increasing and streamlining housing production. And I think this project does just that. I think it's a sensible project in a very challenging site. So I commend the sponsor in getting very creative and being able to provide a project that is also eligible for a state density bonus. I think the asks for the state density bonus, those waivers are pretty de minimis. So I personally have no problem and can grant my support.

I have a couple questions for our client here. Go back up. I I was I had a little question about the solar power. The the reason we have you come up is to be on the microphone for our people watching online. Understood. Otherwise, back there, they hear nothing. Just us. I was just curious on the solar system, who's getting the power generated?

It's a mix of both the client and the tenants

or the owner and the tenants. It supplement billing to the apartment.

It It offsets 90%

of the total electrical demand on the site. Okay, I was curious. And anybody using then the to charge their vehicles, would that be free of charge or do they have to pay?

We have one dedicated transformer just for the electrical vehicles. As far as whether the, I guess, the EV Ready or EV Chargers, there'll be a charge for that. There will be. Okay. And I think I understand. So everything is a walk up. There are no elevators in

the building. Correct. Okay. I was just curious. Just because this was noted inside, it sounded like there's no free parking. Everybody has to pay for parking. There's parking fees. There was a mention that lease is or buy.

Provision of approval that requires the parking to be unbundled as a mitigation measure for vehicle miles traveled and air quality. So unbundling the parking means that residents who want a parking space can get one, but they pay for it separately from the unit. Okay, that's what it's in. So there's no free parking. That's what I I thought. I know everything. More and more keeps going to that. I have a different opinion. But but also with unbundled parking, if you don't have a car, you're not paying any additional for that parking. Right.

I think I just interested as company, you're building this, will you continue to own this project? You have a rental division or is this just get sold off like lead core who came to town, that's all

they do. They don't keep them. Yes, every investment is a little different, but we tend to hold our projects based on our equity investment and their preferences. We do manage it. We have a

third party manager. Well, yes, of course you do that.

I was just wondering whether you continue to own the projects afterwards or sell them off

the same. Say the typical whole period is probably three to five years, but it just depends on the project and the equity investor if they want to stay in longer periods. All right, thank you very much. I don't have any other questions.

Thank you, Commissioner Morrison. I have a question regarding the synthetic turf that will be used for the dog run. And I don't know if it's going to be used any place else in the project. But there was a study done in 2024 and I have the documentation here and I won't read through the whole report. But this is from the Clean Water Action Group.

And what they're saying is the turf is artificial but the harm is very real. So one paragraph here, artificial turf contains hundreds of harmful chemicals like lead, heavy metals, benzene, arsenic, volatile organic compounds, PFAS, phthalates, some of which are cancer causing carcinogens, neurotoxins, and or endocrine disruptors. Even new safer alternatives for the turf infill contain carcinogens and neurotoxins, lead, PH, PAH. Unfortunately, unfortunately, these are gaps in what we know about synthetic turf because manufacturers are not required by law to reveal all of the chemicals. I mean, there are gaps is what I meant to say and then also and just a couple of highlights is that what they're saying is over time the buildup of if you have like animals on these surfaces like the dog run and that the buildup of animal bird feces and related harms that's requiring ongoing disinfection.

And then of course, you know, the runoff into the waters and streams into the bay. I mean, it goes on and on. I have a copy if you want but is there any alternative to a drought tolerant ground cover and are there any other areas in the project where you will be using synthetic turf?

You had to ask the one question. I bring my landscape architect tonight, so I'm sorry. But you're gonna you had to ask the one question that we didn't bring a consultant for. So my landscape architect's not with us, but I'll do my best. So I appreciate you bringing up the research. We'll be happy to receive it and and review it if you would send it to us. I don't believe there are any other areas with synthetic turf. I believe the rest is planted and mulched areas, you know, with trees and shrubs. We do have sprinklers that we install on artificial turf that run ten minutes a day to kind of, you know, keep things washed down, and we have maintenance folks on-site that go help clean those areas as needed. So but, again, we'd be happy to review any research that you send to us.

We thank you for pointing that. We do have biofiltration as well for it. Any runoff that would go into drains would be bio filtered, so it would be filtered runoff that goes into the system. That's good to know, but also just in terms

of human contact with artificial turf, it's not really a healthy thing as well. But I think it's good information to have and something to really think about.

Thank you. Please send it to us. Thank

you. I have one other question about the I'm sorry, this is not about the environment. It's about the traffic. It's about the crosswalk. And is that enough? Is that safe enough? Because just the way people drive around everywhere, it seems like, where the crosswalk is over Willow, I believe. Is that I mean, there's no traffic light. Do we need a light?

Beacon component that will be included in the installation of this mid block crosswalk. So pedestrians can activate that rapid flashing beacon, which should signal vehicles to slow down, stop while people are are present in that crosswalk. So and I believe there's also bold outs and a mid block. What's the proper term? Distance that they have to travel to get across the full length of Willow has refuge areas for pedestrians. So there are safety elements incorporated in the design.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. Seeing no further speakers, I will close the pub I will close the public hearing. Do we check with Shiva on Zoom and everything?

Sorry? Don't see any Oh,

I'm sorry. Just Yeah. Of Yeah. Any other public speakers Thank on you so much. And one more thing if we're gonna move on to discussion.

Just commissioner Jimenez had a question for staff about changing the project. And I think now sitting here thinking about it, I think you might be referring to Builders Remedy allows an applicant to change its application up to, you know, 20% to increase the units by up to up to 20% of the original unit count, and that has to do with the preliminary application that they submit. And between the preliminary application and the final application, they can change that number of units by up to 20% and not lose their vesting rights. And so the project that you see tonight is the one that you're recommending for approval. If they ended up proposing a different project, it would come back to you.

So I just wanted to confirm my understanding of your question, and hopefully that answers it. It does. Thank you so much. That's exactly what I

was looking for. Thank you.

Do we have a motion to adopt a resolution?

At this point there might be some discussion, Vice Chair, before you move forward. Sorry. Is there any further discussion?

I don't. I think I jumped the gun and said a little bit too much in my earlier portion. I just wanted to continue to encourage the sponsor. It sounds like you've done a really great job at working with our wonderful staff and getting to a project that could really be supported by our community to just continue that dialogue as things arise. I'm sure, perhaps at the city council level, we may see more residents come out.

I know folks tend to be a little gun shy about coming to Planning Commission. But as the word gets out, I would imagine there may be a little more discussion about traffic impacts. It sounds like you've already done the studies. We've verified by our in house experts that everything pans out. But I could imagine that that's probably going to be of interest to residents just because it's off of a ramp. As you can imagine, folks are used to just zooming off that exit. And to think that now folks will need to slow down to allow for residents to enter that development is something to consider. So again, just keep the conversation going, and I'm really excited to see this.

Do we have any further discussion, questions?

Seeing that we don't, do we have a motion to move to adopt a resolution? Vice chair, before we have a motion, I just want to make one recommendation to the commission tonight on the resolution. You have a very long resolution, I believe it's 14 pages long, but on page two, right at the first resolved clause, number two should say, based on its review of the entire record herein, the Planning Commission recommends that the City Council finds as follows. That recommends as the City Council is just missing. So I would just recommend that when you move or, you know, if you're going to move to adopt, I would recommend you move adopted as, recommended by the city

attorney. Thank you. Do we have a resolution?

I'll make a motion here. A resolution of the Planning Commission of the City of Hercules recommending City Council approve and amend an amendment to the Hercules Newtown Center Environmental Impact Report, design review permit twenty five-four, vesting tentative map twenty five-two, and a combined initial and final plan, development plan twenty five-two for a 180 unit multi family residential development, emblem. Name of it, emblem, Hercules Apartments located at 16001 Willow Avenue at the Loop site off of 80 on assessor's parcel 406007 Dash 042 Dash 06. And I think it really says in there it's a recommendation.

Correct. But at the very bottom of page two, you'll note that the action it's the resolution says you're taking is missing a couple words. Okay, on page two, we

want to say a recommendation to the city council.

Correct, thank you.

Excuse me, this is the first time I'm doing this. The motion passes passes 100%.

We

will now move on to our discussion agenda item draft fiscal year twenty twenty six, twenty seven capital improvement program and ten year capital funding plan. Will the staff please present the staff report?

Yes, good evening. Thank you vice chair and members of the planning commission. My name is Glenn Dombeck. I'm the director of public works for the city of Hercules and pleased to present to you an overview of the ten year capital improvement plan. Capital improvement plan short for CIP, so I'll be using that term quite a bit.

The CIP articulates a vision for both the short and long term project delivery and funding and aims to maintain, enhance, and construct new and existing infrastructure assets that serve the needs of residents, businesses, property owners, and visitors. The city engaged SNG and associates to assist in development of a ten year capital improvement program in accordance with a council resolution that was approved at the 06/24/2025 meeting. I do wanna mention that Michael O'Connor O'Connor with SNG is present this evening and can also assist to answer any questions that may arise. The first year of the ten year CIP is the upcoming fiscal year 2026 through 2027 and is proposed for funding allocation for the city council to adopt later in June. The later years of the ten year CIP are provided mainly for planning purposes.

So the focus well, I'll leave it there. Next slide, please. Yeah. Thank you. That one's fine.

So the CIP is divided into program areas of facilities, parks, streets, sewer infrastructure, and the Hercules hub. Projects can be any long term investment that builds, replaces, or improves an asset, possesses a useful life greater than five years, and incur a minimum cost of $50,000 Development of the CIP involved a review of the various master planning documents to identify, prioritize, and sequence capital projects in balance with available funding resources. Costs were developed to capture all phases of project development, and this could include planning, design, construction, construction contingency, construction management and right of way acquisition. And all of those costs have been escalated to today's dollars to result in a reliable and uniform cost model. Projects were then sequenced based on the priority and available funding.

For example, streets were prioritized by their pavement condition index and regulatory requirements, And facilities were prioritized in approximate order of the extent that they address health and safety, accessibility and operational performance, followed then by discretionary objectives. The result is a structured framework for planning, scheduling, and execution of capital projects over the next ten years. Next slide, please. And I do apologize for the small font, but there's a lot of information here. So looking at facilities, the city's facilities continue to experience aging infrastructure and deferred maintenance needs.

The upcoming fiscal year CIP is entirely supported by prior year general fund capital reserve balances, and no new appropriations have been proposed for the upcoming fiscal year. In other words, there's adequate funding that had previously been allocated to these projects to continue work. Active projects include critical life safety, electrical, Americans with Disabilities Act, and operational improvements at City Hall, at the community swim center, at the senior center, the library, Foxborough Community Center, and other facilities. The ten years the ten year facility's CIP identifies more than 8,300,000 in unfunded future needs across multiple buildings, reflecting the continued challenge of maintaining essential public facilities within available resources. Next slide.

Moving on to streets, the city streets program continues to face significant long term funding pressure. The pavement condition index is projected to continue decline under current expenditure levels. The streets program is reliant on continued receipt of gas tax, Measure J, and the SB1 road maintenance and repair account funds, all of which stem from voter approved initiatives to improve transportation infrastructure. The CIP's current focus is on addressing failing streets. In the near term, this includes advancing the Foxborough neighborhood street rehabilitation project, completing phase one construction in the upcoming fiscal year or later this summer, and preparing future phases to address remaining deteriorated segments.

This will then be followed by Hercules by the Bay neighborhood with work projected to commence in fiscal year twenty nine to two thousand and thirty. Many other areas of poor streets remain to be addressed in out years, and the backlog of deficient roadways increases the longer that rehabilitation work is deferred. Additional street investments planned for the upcoming fiscal years include an annual street repair project to address traffic calming, sidewalk repair, and other priority roadwork as funding is available. There is a public right of way bioretention project that's shown in the CIP. This is part of a regulatory requirement to design and fully fund by 06/30/2027 a bioretention system to treat one point five eight acres of public right of way.

And there's also a project for improvements on John Muir Parkway. We had recently bid a design. We put that out to bid for traffic calming improvements on John Muir Parkway, but we have subsequently postponed that work possibly for two fiscal years due to greater than expected costs that came in from that bid. And then there is also a project for the Sycamore Avenue bicycle pedestrian connector. The city has applied for grant funding.

We've actually received two grants for this work, and we recently also applied for a congressional earmark for this project. And we hope to initiate planning work as you know beginning in July of this year. So overall, the ten year streets CIP outlines a $16,800,000 program, although funding gaps do remain for several high priority projects, including the Gateway Monument sign and the bicycle pedestrian connector, which I mentioned, all of these projects will require targeted pursuit of grant funds and future appropriations. So moving on to parks. Next slide, please.

Reinvestment in the park system remains a major community priority as well as a significant financial challenge. The upcoming fiscal year CIP includes full funding for two active park projects. This is the Refugio Lake Restoration Project and the Beech Nut Park Improvement Project. These two projects advance key recommendations from the park's master plan and and address safety, ecological health, and recreational needs. The ten year parks CIP totals approximately $35,500,000 of work.

However, about 96% of this plan remains unfunded. Large scale improvements at Ohlone Park, Hana Ranch Park, Refugio Valley Park, and other neighborhood parks will require future funding strategies, including grants, partnerships and exploration of financing tools. Next

slide please.

So moving on to the sewer system with the completion in June 2025 of the Lower Sycamore trunk sewer project. The city has made a major improvement in collection system capacity and addressed reliability deficiencies. We're currently we'll be getting underway with warranty inspection of this capital project in this month. And other projects that will be addressed in the upcoming year address deficiencies that are upstream of that lower trunk sewer area. We recently started a pre design evaluating rehabilitation needs on segments of eight to 14 inches sewer on Willow Avenue near the project that we just reviewed, the Emblem project, and extending underneath Highway 4 and into the Foxboro neighborhood along Newberry Street.

The CIP also includes funding for condition assessments, which will focus on improving the reliability and communications for the city's six lift stations. These projects are all supported by the sewer fund and are sequenced in accordance with the sewer rate plan that was approved in June 2025. Next slide, please. The Hercules Hub continues to be the city's most transformative and long term transportation infrastructure initiative. The city continues to pursue significant state and federal funding to advance the rail station design and multimodal access improvements.

In early February, the city applied for 21,700,000 of National Railroad Partnership Program grant funding from the Federal Railroad Administration. We also recently applied for $3,000,000 mitigation planning cycle three funds, which we hope to get an announcement on later this month. And we're also beginning to apply for a second Federal Railroad Administration grant referred to as CRISI. So we are hopeful that one or many of these grants opportunities will will become realized. In the next upcoming fiscal year, work on the hub includes funding for ongoing preliminary design, environmental, and planning activities.

And all of this work would be a combination of approximately 20% local match and 80% competitive grant sources. Major construction for the Hercules Hub will depend on securing substantial outside funding. The city's continued progress on these preliminary phases will position the hub to remain competitive for future infrastructure programs. Next slide, please. So just looking at the upcoming fiscal year, not the ten year program, but just the upcoming year 'twenty six, 'twenty seven, we anticipate a 3,800,000 million dollars in capital project funding across facilities, parks, streets, and sewer.

So that's excluding the hub. And the funding sources consist primarily of restricted transportation and sewer revenues supplemented by general fund capital reserves. There's in addition to that 3,800,000, there's prior year carryover appropriations that will provide additional $3,700,000 And 70% of that money is obligated general fund capital reserve monies. An additional $2,300,000 is projected projected on the Hercules Hub in the upcoming fiscal year. And again, approximately 80% of that would consist of secured state and federal grant funding.

So looking across the full ten year period, So over the next ten year period from fiscal year 'twenty six through 2036, the CIP excluding the Hercules Hub identifies approximately 76,600,000 in total capital needs. Of this 41,900,000 or 54.7% remains unfunded and will require future appropriations, grant awards, and other financing strategies. The largest long term unfunded needs are concentrated in parks and facilities projects. The CIP projects are funded almost exclusively by restricted fund revenues. We will continue to identify and apply for relevant grants to maximize resources and support initiatives.

So with that, that concludes my report. I welcome any feedback or questions on the proposed projects, the funding allocations, prioritization for the upcoming fiscal year, as well as the associated ten year plan. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Does the commission have any questions for the staff?

Commissioner S. Osego? Thank you for the presentation. Just a couple of questions. So, one is the Sycamore, Avenue bike pad connector. If I read it right, I think it's about $1,200,000 listed as unfunded. That that is correct, and that's the amount that we applied for for a congressional earmark application about a month ago.

So So that's the one we're we're waiting on. You're waiting it. Okay. K. Thank you for that. My next question is on the.

It's on the hubs 100 and I think it's projected 167,500,000. And Hercules is, I guess we contribute about 3,000,000 Around 3,000,000? Is that how that Of that 167,000,000, it's a little difficult to say what the city's contribution would be. Again, these are very high level cost estimates that we need to prepare in order to submit these grant applications. I mean, at this point, we are essentially trying to complete the 10% conceptual design.

Yeah, it's a little complicated, but again, essentially the majority of these grants that we're applying for require a 20% local match. That doesn't mean that the city's portion is the entirety of that 20% match. We generally try to find either the STMP funding source that I mentioned, state monies, other sources that we try to mix in to provide a balanced approach. So it's a long term project. It's gonna require some fiscal challenges that we'll have to address at each step.

Thank you for that. And and my last question is just overall with some of these unfunded projects should, let's say, hypothetically funding not come in, which of these projects would be cut first? Do you have a ranking determine what goes first? We focused our prioritization on the upcoming fiscal year to identify which are the most critical projects. So for example, with streets, we're referencing primarily the pavement conditions assessment that was done in 2022.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission funds these condition assessments. And there will be an updated assessment that will be conducted this spring. But the 2022 data is the most recent data, so that has guided the selection of Foxboro and Hercules By The Bay as the primary focus for street rehabilitation. Rehabilitation. That said, I mentioned that we do have this annual street repair project, so that does provide some flexibility to try to address other areas of traffic circulation, traffic calming, sidewalk repair, as I mentioned.

We recently, actually just last week, completed the solicitation of restriping project that will restripe portions of the eastern half of the city. So there are other areas that we are trying to focus on. To answer your question, this document does provide some guidance for the prioritization of projects overall, but there will be difficult choices to make if funding doesn't materialize for some of these projects.

I was just really, like, comment just says, you know, the public and everyone out looking, this is an extremely extensive report, and it's great to see a ten year plan. If you don't have a plan, you very easily can miss things. And I I always have thought it's extremely important. So it's great to see that all aspects of the cities from recreation and parks to maintaining our streets and all facilities are accounted for. It's very extensive. I will definitely say that. And hopefully funding and everything will be found on time. I also mentioned I'm very happy to see it plan for the Sycamore Bike Path. I am someone who rides it regularly and heading north is treacherous to put it mildly. I have to plan very carefully.

And to our city staff, I thank you very much for getting Falcon paved. As a rider down that, it was treacherous. So it's great to see these improvements and hopefully we will go after again some of the worst streets in town. There aren't very many and it's greatly appreciated. Thank you very much. That's all I have.

Really pray and just say thank you very much. And it is great that we have this plan because it gives us hope for the future even if some things are underfunded. Maybe we can be creative and try to find a way to raise money. I mean, actually, I've done a lot of fundraising and when I was working, I was maybe we should do an annual fundraiser for the city and just make a big dinner and charge a

nice price and get some donations. Ms. Cher, before we do discussion and have your comments, I would ask you to just turn to the public. I know I don't see any here, but let's turn to the public in Zoom and make sure we don't have any public comments and then return to commission for discussion.

Excuse me. So, miss Mattencourt, have you received any comments from the public or common cards to speak tonight? Vice Chair, we don't have any comments Thank you, miss Mattencourt. Do we have any remaining questions from the commission? I would just say thank you again. Do I have do we have a motion and a move to adopt a resolution recommending the council establish the list of priority projects without modifications.

I'll make a motion to adopt a resolution of the Planning Commission of the City of Hercules, finding the proposed capital improvement program is consistent with the Hercules General Plan.

I'll second.

Now pass. The motion has passed.

Now, we move to the planning director reports and announcements. Director Rue, do you have any announcements? I would just like to report that I attended the ribbon cutting ceremony for the new goodwill in Fairfield which is located in a former big lots at 1500 Oliver Road. It is the first of the new breed of Goodwills coming to the Bay Area under different management. And if interested, the commissioners might wish to visit it in person.

You. Director Reed. Now we move to the commissioner reports and announcements.

Commissioner Morrison, anything to report? Not reported. Have a couple of questions on projects. Must have some updates. I don't notice anything happening with lead core. Is anything going to be starting there as far as the condo project? You're referring to the approved KLMOP development? Yes. It is my understanding that Leadcore has been or has received offers and is considering offers from residential builders. So it's No post entitlement permit applications have been received. Sorry.

If I could just add that they're also approached public works about a a grading a rough grading permit. So they haven't made the application yet, but we've been in discussion with them on that. Okay. I just figured so if anything was gonna go, would have seen it moving along already because of spring and so that's definitely not happening in the near future evidently. Anything happening with our vacant spots or our big lot store?

Well, I believe the commission is aware you will be hearing a conditional use permit application from goodwill likely as soon as June. They've submitted their design review permit applications.

I know you mentioned that in January, but since they still had the lease signs up, I didn't know if anything had happened. The for lease signs are still on the building in their windows. And anything happening for the Rite Aid space?

We've received several inquiries from property owner, but no applications as yet.

Oh, anything happening with our Mexican restaurant and our yoga studio?

Oh, at the exchange? Right. Both are under construction. No opening dates yet. I do not have opening dates. Okay. Just curious. And but we did have our new coffee shop open in town. Forgot the name of it is.

Yeah. Home. Yes. Over at the exchange. So anyone that has been had their grand opening a couple of weeks ago. Thank you very much.

Have no comments. This concludes the Planning Commission meeting of 05/04/2026. The meeting is adjourned to the next regularly scheduled Planning Commission meeting on Monday, May 18.