Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

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the rest still Just Everyone, we got something. Hello. Uh, welcome to our regular meeting of the Hollister Planning Commission on April 23rd. The meeting is now called to order and it is 6:20. Uh, staff, please call the role.

Chair Carla Torres Duna here. Vice Chair Peter Hernandez here. Commissioner Damian Perez.

Sorry.

I was going to say we need to mute ourselves. speaker cards are available in the lobby and are to be completed and given to staff before speaking. When the commission secretary calls your name, please come to the podium, state your name and city for the record and speak to the commission. If you are joining us by Zoom, please click on the bottom of your screen to raise your hand. If you're joining us via Zoom using a cell phone, please press star 9. Each speaker will be limited to three minutes with a maximum of 30 minutes per subject. Please note that state law prohibits a

commission from discussing or taking action on any item. Do we have any or I think that's it, right? Uh and next we have consent item. Do we have questions from the commission on items on the consent agenda or are there any other items the commission would like to pull? Staff, do we have public comment on the items for the consent agenda? Thank you. We do not have any public comments. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Is there a second?

Second. All those in favor I I

oppose abstain. Motion carries. Next we have a public hearing on 6.2 extension of the tenative map 2021-5 and conditional use permit 2022-2 for planned unit development Kramer common subdivision. And can we have the staff report? PowerPoint. The item before you uh tonight is an extension of an approved tenative map for Kramer Commons uh which was approved um several years ago by the planning commission. Kramer Commons is located within our North Chapel Road master plan area. You can see the location on the map above you. There are some residential developments that are currently occurring in the North Chapel Road in the Chapel Road master plan area. KB is currently under construction with Everglenn. He recently approved an expansion for them and some other projects should hopefully uh begin to build as well. Several have been approved in the area. Uh again, it's located on located within North Chapel Road. It is currently zoned R1 LPZ, which is our performance overlay zoning district. That is going to be changed with our updated zoning ordinance amendments. Will become a plan development because that's what it really functions as, but that hasn't taken effect. So, they are still as of today zoned with the PZ overlay. Um the the Chapel Road master plan area included um benefits areawide. So the linear parks that we have, the smaller parks, the larger parks against uh highway 25, they all all the projects feed into each other to increase park

park acreage in the area. The item for you tonight is an extension of the tenative map that was previously approved by the planning commission. They are requesting an extension for two years which would allow the map um until April 23rd, 2028 and then it would expire if no final map has been filed for. Previously in November of 2022, the planning commission approved the tenative map um as well as a plan as a conditional use permit for a planned unit development that is for the reduced size setbacks. These are smaller lots. And then in 2025, there was a minor amendment uh to the map that was approved by the planning commission. The project um as proposed conforms to the general plan which is currently in effect. Uh they are proposing 4.27 dwelling units per acre and we require one currently we require one to eight dwelling units per acre. Uh they also meet the requirements of the general plan with regards to health and safety due to noise from highway 25. And their project has incorporated will incorporate several measures to reduce uh noise such as burming and other items within the house that within the houses that have been discussed in the EIR that was already certified. Again, it's zoned um low density performance overlay and they fall within uh that density requirement. Again, because these are smaller lots, they could not conform to the standard setbacks for R1. And as we've done with all of our other houses or developments within the the PZ overlay, they have a they have a conditional use permit for a plan development, which is the old way we used to do it to reduce the effects. Um the map was due to expire. The state has extended several um has passed several bills that have extended the life of maps, but currently in order to have another two years, which is what

our code allows. Our code allows the first two years and then the second two years if you applied for extension and it's granted um uh that's it as far as our code goes. Um the applicant is requesting the extension uh due to financial hardships. We are aware it is expensive to build in California. there have been many things going on. Um, so they are requesting the two-year extension. Um, uh, so this would be two years from today. Sorry. Uh, to back it up to the SQA, just in case again you're wondering, we do have an EIR that is for the entirety of the Chapel Road master plan area. this project is a part of it and they conform to that and they are required to comply with all the mitigation mitigation and mitigation uh requirements of the of the Chapel Road EIR and then as part of their project they do have to give us what we call an MMRP when they go when they start to build and that shows how they are going to comply with all of their mitigation measures and so we will review that when when appropriate. Um, in conclusion, this extension, if you chose to grant it, which you have the decision tonight, it would extend another two-year period for the MAP. That's the final extension per our code. Um, the applicant did extend did apply for the extension uh 30 days prior to expiration as required by our code. So they did meet that requirement and the project uh is consistent with the requirements in effect today for the general plan and for the zoning. Um of course you have our standard four options which is to approve approve with modifications uh continue the hearing or deny if you chose to do so but staff is recommending that you approve the extension tonight. That concludes my presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions. project. The planner on the project is also here and then the applicant would like to speak after.

Thank you. Do we have any questions from the commission? I just had one quick question. So, in terms of they're just asking for an extension. I we can't put any more conditions at this point. You could um it is an extension request. There is information in the staff report about items that if you wanted to, you could require it or you could deny the extension request. That is within your purview. Um, I would discuss it with the applicant to kind of get their side of where we're at. Uh, projects in California take a long time to build, right? It takes a long time for financing.

I just had one question, Erica. If say because it was conditional, it was approved with the conditional use for the setbacks. that was what they used. What if going forward I were to say just suggest instead of using that conditional use now we would like one say one moderate income one affordable housing unit use the density bonus instead of or that be very belaboring in terms of forms and all that. So that's changing their project and that's requiring them to change to get a density bonus. I'm not sure we can actually do that. Okay.

Um there are other things you can do. One unit wouldn't qualify them for a density bonus though. Density bonus has certain percentages per

income level and I understand what you're saying with the the CU for a plan development. This is how we did it for many years. And so when we updated the plan development or when we came forward with the new plan development chapter, um we acknowledged that there are still some of these other ones that were that had been approved and we were going to allow them to continue without forcing them to reszone their property of plan development because we didn't want to stop these projects from happening. The plan development that we are using now is is like projects from when that got enacted and forward. Got this would be similar. We have approved other extensions for other maps where they still continue to have this cup for a plan development and there's still a few more out there that are probably still relying on this. It's just because we did it in a different way that doesn't necessarily make sense, but that's how we did it. And so we don't want to harm or hurt any projects because of the change that we've enacted. Gotcha. Any other questions? If not, we will

I have a question. What is the impact once the general plan changes are enacted? Like what is the impact on this project if any? So if the project So any project that still has their approval, they don't need to conform to the new general plan. Okay. So they get to continue on but there will be a misalignment.

There is a misalignment in where like in this case in this particular case the density goes up. they wouldn't make their density. The problem with this project is we've done a master plan. We've done an EIR. Everything in in Chapel Road has anticipated the older general plan or the 2005 general plan. So, we've done all the studies, the work on a lower density. So, this area in particular um is kind of getting impacted further with the general plan update um with the increase in density, but they can continue. And any project that's approved, they continue under the old regulations. We don't require um you to comply right away. And housing also is a different animal in the state of California. They have certain protections.

Thank you. Thank you. Let's go ahead and open the public hearing at 6:33 p.m. And do we have public comments on this item? Yes, we have Victor Gomez.

Good evening, commissioners, uh, Cherries. Thank you so much for allowing me to speak. Uh, my name is Victor Gomez. For those that that don't know, I'm here tonight representing uh, Kramer Commons. Um I was brought on board in 2018 when we actually started this process or at least I think we had like five years in back then Tony uh of getting the ball rolling um on the complete master plan. But uh I want to address a couple of things uh before I make uh some you know broader statements. Uh first of all to to your question uh Commissioner Rodriguez um you know we didn't have uh an inclusionary requirement at that time. So, I just want to make it clear to the entire commission, of course, including yourself who posed a question. Um, uh, even though that wasn't in place, uh, we didn't have to do this. Um, but we did negotiate with the city, um, eight duplex units or 16 units in total as sort of a a compromise to get us to around the 15% inclusionary, affordable by design. Um, and that's why we went that route. So, I just I hope that answers your your question a little bit there, Commissioner Rodriguez. But again, just want to emphasize that we do support the staff recommendation. Um, even though we're a little bit lower than the newly adopted uh requirements and low density, uh we're just shy of it at close to 5 units an acre, which I think your new span is, I think, 6 to 12 somewhere around there if I'm not mistaken. Um, so we're just under it, but we still are low density. The new general plan that you all supported last month um includes the same density right of low density uh residential. Um the project has also undergone pool environmental review as Erica stated. Uh the project um in its uh current uh entitlement or uh the way it was designed was to reflect the impacts right like Erica mentioned the sound uh mitigation that we're going to be

providing. As you folks probably remember, we were here to make some revisions in November. So now the time is really ticking for us to get this going. We understand this is our last opportunity to get this done, but we're ready again to to execute. We're hoping the market cooperates uh of course uh uh with us. Um in addition to that, I also want to mention to you that um you do have um I forgot the exact name of it, but you do have the San Felipe Road or the San Felipe corridor master plan. So from uh I want to say Santa Ana Road up to I want to say the bypass or highway 25. Uh the city does have a vision to make San Felipe Road uh more friendly. Um uh we we do have a lot of investment that really wants to go into that corridor. That San Felipe Road plan is a complete streets plan. Includes I think a a roundabout at gateway. Also includes a new signalized interse intersection potentially. um uh at a new road right there next to the uh Honda Powersports. Um and we are contributing. So each residential unit again in this negotiated terms or conditions of approval includes I want to say it's about $2,500 per lot that has to be paid toward improving uh San Felipe Road as well. So again, just wanted to mention that because we also think that's important for complete streets and making sure that pedestrian safety, safe routes to school are included as uh part of our um part of our project. So happy to answer any uh questions you may have. Uh but again, would appreciate uh your support for extending this map and again giving giving us the additional 24 months to uh uh get our finances and things in order to move this project forward. So thank you very much.

Thank you. Do we have other public comment? We do not have any other um speakers present. However, I do want to um notate for the record that we have written comments from Tony Areola and Barton Hman. And the planning commission was provided copies of these. Thank you. Yes, I was going to reference that too. And if there is no further, we could close a public hearing at 6:38. And is there further discussion from the commission on this item?

Yeah. Affordable by design. Does that mean it's going to go to low-inccome buyer or you can't guarantee that? Affordable, sorry. Affordable by design refers to um the cost of the house innately going down. So, a duplex is smaller. You have a shared property line. Those houses are usually a lot cheaper. Um, affordable by design would also be, let's say, a smaller house on a small lot or things that bring down the cost of that house. It's not a 5,000 foot lot with a 4,000 foot house on it. Those are very expensive homes. So, affordable by design means the intent is that it's just not as expensive as your standard,

but the sale is not controlled, right? The sale is not controlled. And what would be affordable in that? Affordable is a moving target. Yeah. I mean, I'm not asking for an answer. The income categories if you want, but but they would make it just less. Mhm. But by design, by design,

but as as um Victor mentioned, um one of the benefits of a master plan was we negotiated a lot of stuff out of the Chapel Road master plan area. We have frontage improvements. We have payments. We have linear parks. We have uh there's an area for an overpass which will have that project has never come forward. But there are many things that we negotiated out of them to make this a better project for the city. Um, so that rather than where we just see a one standalone single family residential subdivision where they're not really giving us anything, this project is the area wide, these projects are giving us actually a lot. Okay.

Just a question for the applicant or if you guys have more comments, I can hold my question. I do have one, but I think mine is probably less than yours. Um, what is the impact on delayed projects on the infrastructure? Right? like there's more projects come along, they get built, they get ahead of the line. How does the 2018 I forget what year the environmental study was from, how does that get updated to account because right now we're having issues with the sewage. So I'm wondering what would be the impact?

So when you do let's say an environmental impact report for example, that environmental impact report is using both the data in the general plan, projects that have been approved, projects that are under construction, projects that are built. is using it to formulate the impacts of this project in particular. Once that EIR is certified, any subsequent EIR in the city now has this base knowledge and it's also building upon that. So again, this is a project that a tenative map essentially confers a right to to build. So it is a project in the city. It's been approved any subsequent EIR. So um I'm trying to think of whatever last E we've done. And I can't think of one off the top of my head, but it is building on all of these as existing conditions. So the date the EI doesn't need to get updated because any project coming after it assumes this development plus their own when building their environmental impacts. So they continue to not tier because tiering and SQA is a is a specific thing, but they build off each other as you move forward. All impacts are continuously addressed in the sub in the next EI. Do

you have more to add? Yeah, Madam Chair, if I could really quick just try to expand a little bit on on Erica's answer to Commissioner Perez. Um, so as as you probably know, the constraint the the Council of Governments has a constraint list of projects that they want to see happen in the county. You have three different zones u in the county. I want to say West County, like the Hollister area, and then south of like Ridgemark, which has a little bit less impacts, but um that's specific to the traffic attempt fee, the traffic impact mitigation fee. that is a moving target and um I do believe that uh COG is actually reviewing that now and I wish I could tell you that it goes down. It doesn't. Uh so same thing with the sewer impact fee, it doesn't go down, it goes up. So the longer we wait, it's actually hurting us. Uh because the tri the impact fees rarely ever go down. Building fees is a perfect example. Since we got our project approved, I uh originally um I want to say that the the the building fees um have nearly tripled if I'm not mistaken since 2021, I want to say. Um is it the city's fault that we now have to pay tripled the fees? No. Uh we were delayed. CO certainly had a huge impact on us. Um but again, just to answer your question, the fees generally do go up. So, it does end up technically hurting us, but again, we understand we are having an impact on the community. We will pay whatever the fee happens to be at that time. We'll have to recalculate our numbers and set our prices by that by those rates. Um, but we we're prepared. We're prepared to pay whatever the fee is going to be at that time.

My Yeah, Victor, I had one question. Um are is the applicant planning to build these or sell this as an entitlement to someone who will build it?

Yeah, it could be a joint venture. We're exploring pretty much every possibility um right now. Uh Mr. Areola is is local even though now he's you know up in up in the Bay Area. Uh but um he understands I think Tony grew up I think he could throw a rock to the property from his house but uh you know he understands the community very well. We'd love to be able to build a project on our own. Uh but whether we do a joint venture with a builder or somebody else buys the map and they build it um on their own um uh again they're going to have to conform to all these conditions of approval and requirements.

So sorry since you're up here if it's okay. Um, and and I did see Tony Areola's name and I think it's good that we support, you know, people that are from here and that want to do good for our community. I remember I thought years ago, was there conversation about school? Can you tell a little bit about what where that went or

Yeah. Yeah. Originally, we actually were having discussions with specifically with the Hollister School District on a potential site for a new school. They had identified, I want to say, five different areas of a potential school. I think Carla, you may have been on the school district at that time. Um, and then the board at that time revisited the the locations and decided that um the Chapel Road area was a little bit too close to um Maze and um

Lord help me. Where um the dual language academy Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. or the dual language academy is uh felt that it was a little bit too close. It wasn't funneling the students from that area to to where they wanted them to to go and so they they backed off of it. Um it wasn't in in our property. It's actually that property is currently I believe owned by the Regetti family. Um so that's at least where the where the uh elementary school district was proposing a school. Um but we did negotiate uh we did have those talks with the city of course. we did have requirements for parks. So, we thought, okay, let's leverage that discussion on the school and see what other amenities could could help here. And that's when we actually came up with a thought of doing the linear park. So, for those that are not aware or haven't seen the master plan, um it does include a linear park essentially from San Felipe, even though that's commercial, uh along the residential area all the way to Santa Ana Road. So you um you'll see you've seen a part of it right now because KB has actually developed the uh the um the Dent Brigantino piece that was part of this master plan. Uh they were a bit they were a bit ahead of us and and got that sold. They sold that map to KB. So if you look at the frontage uh park in that area, that park once all these pieces including ours are developed, you're going to have a park uh where you could literally like jog around the entire um area. That was part that's why it's so important to have these master plans and specific plans in the GP that you guys just adopted because it creates opportunities for better planning. Um I had this discussion with former when he was on here former mayor Ignasio Velasquez and he actually told Tony and I you know if I was hearing I'm sure he's going to be laughing uh at this but he had actually told us he goes Victor you know how I feel about residential development but I got to say you guys actually did this right. Um, and I said, "Well, uh, thank you. I'm going to celebrate that comment. I appreciate it

very much." Uh, but, uh, but I I hope you agree. So, thank you, Victor. Um, any other questions? No, I'll just, uh, finish off by saying, you know, I think these are the projects that we kind of need, you know, the missing middle. Uh, it's considered an infill project, I guess.

Yeah. So, I I think these are the projects that we basically need. you know, they they there is a inherent affordability opposed to just single family zoning, which is very constrictive to just one type of buyer. Um, so I I support that and I'm ready to make a motion. Comments. Yeah, I I think I agree with the sentiment and this is the kind of projects that you know for me as well that I want to support and um just the considerations you all are making for the community and the school even if even though you didn't end up having a school but you thought about it and had the conversation and just safety. I pass by there every day so watching it develop. So thank you.

Do we have a motion? I would just say that, you know, according to the general plan, 40% of our residents are low-inccome and this is not really going to meet the need or do anything. So, you know, this is an existing project. Um, it doesn't seem to it's going to greater impact the sewage, but that might be another issue going on there. If everything was studied and considered and something still happening, that's a separate issue, right? But that's just, you know, I just don't feel like we're moving the needle on the need that the community has. there's a fear for development and and you know just losing the identity of Hollister but again people in Hollister 40% of them can't afford to live here so I just don't know how we're going to meet that need with this project

no I think that's a good point that you make commissioner I mean I I agree I mean just my final two two cents is that I mean that's why the strategic plan conversation is going to be so important

because it'll set some some goals and from there um there's a way to address zoning or um any any future amendments to make sure that it meets those goals. I mean ultimately, yeah, the writing's on the wall. The state of California is struggling and so the economy is only getting more expensive. I was actually going to ask when Victor had mentioned about um the increase in um the fee structure that you know what what is the what is the um what drives that cost like what drives the increase in that fee structure especially when you know there seems to be more desire to develop in our community. You would think that if if there's already projects in line, like how is that demand not being met and then ultimately the cost not not at least leveling off or is it like an inflation element? Like what what drives that cost? Permit costs are steadily rising. There's a number of factors going into that for planning. and our costs are rising, but we're trying to be cost recovery. So, we're trying to make sure that whenever someone is coming into the city, the general fund is not funding their development. So, that is where our costs come from. We will be looking at our permit fees, but for planning, our fees are very low. Um I don't know that we're full cost recovery on planet

but the goal ultimately is cost recovery so that you are paying for your own project. Well, and then we could move on. But I mean, and I appreciate that comment because now it makes more sense because to a certain extent, like, you know, I get it. The state hasn't a desire to expedite the process for housing, but technically speaking, that's almost negatively impacting commercial, right? Because of the priorities on housing. Um, and that's why personally I think the back to the strategic plan, it's going to be very important to have that conversation to maybe come up with an expedited process for commercial so we can actually start seeing some revenue generation on the commercial side. Um, because the impact fees are just one time the commercial can really especially with the strategic plan you can focus on um, you know bringing in the hotels or bringing in the the sales tax base that we need.

Yeah. And we can definitely talk about I will if it assures you in any way. We treat commercial the same as we treat housing. Um what our review deadlines are for housing. We um apply those to commercial as well. It's for two reasons. One, I don't want to prohibit commercial. Um two, it keeps us to make sure we don't accidentally miss a deadline. We stick to the 30-day review, for example. So, we do review the same for commercial as residential as a as a planning practice. I do have another question and help me um if this is not how we address it, but just thinking about that development area. So, I live in that area and I know in those um any of our schools that you go to, traffic is an issue. And so thinking about how we better our community just and I don't know if this is a part of a plan or maybe it's not in your jurisdiction maybe it's a city thing but that thinking about the people that are going to live in that area if they're going to go to the school that is there which is a Hollister dual language or maze crossing the 25 is very dangerous normally and and I live there accidents are always happening right there on Santa Ana 25 cuz the doesn't have the little arrow like it does over on Meridian that actually helped with the accident. So, I don't know who's responsible, but we if we if we are here about thinking about vision, one of my personal visions is safety.

Yeah. And and that area is dangerous driving and I can't imagine having kids crossing the 25. So I don't know if that was something I think that can be part of your strategic idea because there are multiple parties involved with that one. You have engineering, you have Calrans, you have planning city man. I'm like I don't know. I'm not I'm not here to throw ideas on how to make cost increase.

But I am going to tell you I spent when I was on the city council I spent eight years um on the council of governments from 2008 until 2016. Um, your traffic impact mitigation fee, which is currently, I want to say maybe 22 23,000 per unit on average, um, uh, is based on, and I hope this answers your question, uh, Commissioner Hernandez, is based on what's called a constraint list of projects. Who controls that list of projects is the Council of Governments, right? Two county supervisors, two city council members, uh, or three city council members and two county supervisors. they control that constraint list of projects. Right now, the council of government has initiated the review of that traffic impact mitigation fee. So, I'm going to encourage you to contact your COG representative. Um, I don't know. I don't know. I know Roxan is one and I want to say maybe uh Commissioner Rendez is another from the city. Um, talk to them and tell them this project is important for us. Safety on crossing. I couldn't agree with you more. Santa and it's very dangerous crossing there. So are the others even with the turning signal light. It's just really just not good. But if you have ideas, um the fee that we pay is all going to be collected and then the c the council of governments is going to look at the projects, refer them to the jurisdiction and say here's you know here's your bundle of money. These are the projects you should be considering. Right? You have to do that. It's called the nexus study. Right? you have to connect the projects to the fee, right? So, again, not trying to give you any ideas on how to charge us more for traffic impact fees, but I'm saying that we do have needs.

For a long time, we dropped the fee to $14,000 a unit. Why? Because in 2014, the council of governments, except for myself and commissioner uh Velasquez at that time, were outvoted three to two to remove Highway 25 from the constraint list of projects for 7 years. 25 was not funded by development.

Wow. But it was eventually put back on, but I wasn't there anymore by by Commissioner Velasquez at that time when he was mayor and the and the rest of the council or the uh council of governments added it back on and then the fee went back up so we could pay for 25. We need to be paying for 25, right? So again, just I know that's not necessarily tenative math specific here, but I'm just sharing that's the structure of it. Uh Peter, hopefully that helps a little bit with I really appreciate that, Victor. And also I just wanted to also emphasize the fee even went lower from 14,000. This is where the level there's something called level of service. Yep. Where went from C No, I think it went from C to D. Correct me if I'm wrong. I believe and I don't want to lower the

Yeah. So I don't want to name any but it's public. Well, Victor, if I may, maybe I'm Was it a assembly a current assembly member who was part of that ENCOG? Yeah, they they're they're unfortunately Yeah, that unfortunately the level of service as you guys know allows us to get away with worse conditions to lower the fee. That's where Commissioner Rodriguez is coming from. Okay. Oh, wow.

Yeah. So, um I I just want to emphasize I I do think Victor um you know I think this project and to your point it is is it perfect? No. Would I would I ask for more? Always. But I I I think you know having the duplexes having those things I think are important. Now I just want to emphasize this last part. I think this is more of an existential crisis that I don't think the affordable housing crisis is going to be solved by the private sector. It's not going to be solved by, you know, private development. It's just not I don't think they should have to bear the burden. I think the state and the federal government need to allocate more dollars to these areas. Um,

that's not going to happen. The point being, like I said, I do think it's important that we honor, you know, the entitlement process. We do honor our our word. Um so we have a motion. I'm um I'm going to make a motion to um grant the 6.1 extension for the tenative map of 2021 five uh conditional use permit uh north of Chapel Road. Do we have a second? Second. All in favor? I I I. Anyone opposed? Okay, motion passes. Thank you. Thank you.

And thank you. And now we'll go to 6.2. Conditional use permit for the determination of public convenience or necessity for the issuance of a type 21 offsale general alcoholic beverage control license at the grocery located at 550 Trespino Road. Do we have a staff report? Or maybe we have a staff report. They want a liquor license. off site.

This is the conditional use. This is a conditional use permit for a finding of public convenience or necessity for the off for the off-site sale of alcoholic beverages. Off-site meaning you purchase it at the establishment and you take it away. Say that again. Purchase it at the establishment and then you take it away. So like a grocery store. Got it.

This is a uh grocery outlet. So um the uh it will be at an existing facility located at 550 Trace Penis Road. that is um an existing building. Um it is within the general commercial zoning district. General commercial allows a variety of retail sales, grocery, um automobile retail, general retail, a variety of uses. The Grocery Outlet currently operates from 7 to 10, 7 days a week. They have 35 employees and uh 12 employees are usually on site at any given time at the register as part of their um alcohol sales. They currently do have beer and wine. This is going for the more stricter uh alcohol license. At the um register, the clerk um is the clerks are trained in u proper verification for 25 for 25 for 21 and over um and using their the identification to ensure that they are um permitted to purchase alcohol as required by ABC. The um again the applicant is proposing to change. They currently sell beer and wine. they'd like to sell um uh uh distilled spirits as well. Uh for the a for ABC to issue this type of license, which is type 21, they need to they the jurisdiction, which is us, must issue a determination of public convenience and necessity. Um again, they have to um do this because the area has been been determined by ABC to be overconentrated. And our code also requires a conditional use permit for those seeking to have the off-site sale of alcoholic beverages. Um the uh conditional use permit has been reviewed for several things. One of the reasons that we do require conditional use permit is to ensure that there are that there is security measures that the

chief of police has has a chance to review the proposal to ensure again that there's safety measures employed. there's no sales for people under 21 that they're um displaying appropriately and um will not create create any impacts on the surrounding area. So the the application has been reviewed for compliance with all those requirements. Again, this is an existing store. Um and the blue area you can see where they have their alcohol sales. It's a large store. It comprises a smaller smaller portion of the store. Um again, it's been reviewed by the police department and all and um other departments within the city to ensure that it complies with their requirements and police has required as they do for these uses um uh additional security cameras facing the parking lot um and prohibitions or some limitations on their display to ensure that it meets the needs of the police chief. Uh in conclusion, the request for an increase in the type of um beverages sold is consistent with the requirements of the general commercial zoning district. Um it's consistent with the goals and policies of the general plan. It allows for some enhanced economic vitality of the business. This is not unusual. We have done several other uh conditional use permits and the necessity for other um uh markets and liquor stores um in the city of Hollister. We've had a few in the last year that you have been a part of and staff is recommending that you do approve this conditional use permit. Um there are several conditions of approval just so you know that uh related to ensuring all the things that we talked about today. You do have your standard four options tonight. Uh but we are recommending approval.

Thank you. Do we have questions from the commission questions or concerns? Yep. Whatever. Um my number one concern I understand the police is just the fact that I do agree with uh ABC it was with the overconentration. There's a liquor store I think we're right next door to or a couple it's Dollar Tree. Then there's liquor store

and Larry's and I I I do think then there's Safeway uh right across the street and then there's another liquor store that's right by I think Ace Hardware as well. Um so I do think there is a overconentration and secondly you know when it comes to competing you know the the these bigger box stores are able to kind of I think undercut competition smaller. Additionally, I think when it comes to police enforcement, we t Well, first off, we talked about economic development. Well, I don't think you're going to create more people that are going to be going out to drink. I think you already have, say you have a hundred people going out to buy liquor, right? Some go there, some go there, some go there. All we're doing is just dispersing the people. But what we have done is created an instance, well, guess what? Now law enforcement has to keep their eyes on uh Safeway, which is existing, but now they have to keep their eyes on Bargain Market along with the liquor stores. So, we've kind of we we've there's no real economic value, but we've dissipated it. That those are my comments personally. So,

thank you. I don't think we have the right to pick and choose. Otherwise, we're taking away rights from one to give to another. And what right do we have to pick one over the other? I mean, if it meets the conditions, I don't see what the issue would be. This is why we talk about it.

Other questions before we go to public comment. Okay, let's open it up. Uh, public hearing at 7:04 p.m. And do we have any public comments on this item? Yes, we have Steve Rowings online. Are you there? Is he there? There we go.

Oh, hello.

Hello. Hi. Uh, good evening. My name is Steve Rawlings. I am here on behalf of uh Grocery Outlet. I am a consultant for them assisting them with permits and licenses to uh sell alcohol in their stores here in the state of California. Um, I wanted to make a a couple of comments. Um, first of all, we we do concur with the staff's recommendation and uh um agree to all of the draft uh conditions of approval as presented to you this evening. Um, I wanted to just um address a couple of of things. Um, this uh request is to be able to uh also inventory distilled spirits along with the beer and wine that uh the store has been selling since it since it opened. Um, in order to do that, we do not expand our uh alcohol display area. We will simply be uh taking shelves uh uh probably two shelves that may have been displaying wine previously and replace that with uh distilled spirits. So, we're not actually increasing our our display area. We're just um uh u displaying a an additional product in that area. Um, also I wanted to say that the existing license that's there is a type 20 license. Um, and that license is actually being replaced with this type 21 license. So, we're actually not increasing uh the number of licenses in the census track. That type 20 license will be moved um in the in the near future to another store that Grocery Outlet will be opening. uh that location hasn't been determined uh just yet, but they are opening stores uh uh quite frequently each year and so that that license will will leave the census track. So there won't be any net gain of of uh licenses um there. Um, Dollar

General finds that their customers um are certainly asking for this additional product line as as a convenience uh because they don't want to necessarily have to make u more than one stop to uh make this purchase there. And uh Distilled Spirits is something that is offered in many uh if not most of the Dollar General stores um in in the state of California. So, uh, with that, I'm available for any additional questions that anybody may have. And, uh, thank you for your consideration. Thank you. Just one that you just said. You said Dollar General. Is this not grocery? I'm sorry. I may have said Dollar General. Grocery outlet.

Okay. Thank you. I thought I was Okay. Uh, and and that was a question that I had. So, there are this is a common thing for Grocery Outlet in other places. Yes. Yes. Do you does anybody else have any questions for him? Okay, thank you. Well, go ahead. Do we have any other I do have one question for the caller? Yeah.

Um my question is is there um do you have data by any chance on like when these kinds of licenses get approved? Um, is there an increase in say uh I guess theft when it comes to alcohol? Do you guys uh monitor and track those kinds of uh I guess um well obviously you do because for for loss prevention right for the insurancees do you yeah so do you guys track those and is there increased when these uh licenses are given?

Hey the great question and the um uh the answer is no. We have not seen any kind of significant um increase in shrinkage uh with the stores that that carry uh the distilled uh spirits project products. Um one a couple of things. We the alcohol display area is strategically located into the corner there where somebody would actually have to walk by all of the checkout stands uh to you know exit the store. um and and that serves as as as somewhat of a loss prevention item uh there. It's also uh located over by where the employee um like break room is. So we have a lot of employees in that particular area and it's in plain sight of the cashiers too. So we certainly uh they monitor the activity that's going on in that area just with every retailer in in the world. Um we do everything that we can uh to prevent uh shrinkage um out of the store shoplifting. Uh unfortunately it does happen from time to time, but uh we um at a at a grocery store like this uh we certainly don't see high levels of of that um of of shoplifting and and we certainly do you know monitor very very closely. Um you know there is actually no insurance on uh uh you know shoplifted items. You end up just eating the cost um for those. Um each store has an independent operator who is um uh the actual uh partial owner of the store if you would. Um where they are um tied to the profits of the store. So they're very actively monitoring everything that goes on in that store. and you'll find them there at that store probably uh you know 14 to 16 hours uh 6 days a week there. Um and and we have found that that's a great model and it uh certainly goes a long ways toward customer service

and and loss prevention uh through that model there. Okay. But in terms of tracking, you guys don't track, you're saying loss prevention. Well, well, yes, we do. I mean, yeah, they they track um how much uh how much is shoplifted um out of out of their stores and um they obviously uh try to keep that to a minimum. Thank you. Thank you. Do we have any other public comment? No. Okay, we'll go ahead and close the public hearing at 7:11 p.m. And is there further discussion from the commission on this? Make a motion to approve. Yeah. Second,

may I make one final comment?

I I understand that that I'm being maybe somewhat harsh, you know, for for for some businesses selling this or selling that. My thing is I'm trying, you know, if if I could do do this. I I would set these kind of provisions for every business. These businesses are grandfathered in. So one of the provisions that I think personally is I think the city needs to be you know actively part of those discussions of for example he was talking about shrinkage right I think it's important that we know how much is being stolen from from uh liquor and stuff like that why because it takes away from city resources guess what now the police department has to respond to this right not just respond to this but has to respond to Safeway so if we're able to track these kinds of things we're able to say hey you know what you want to sell liquor you have to a big box store for example, you have to have added security measures, not just a camera, right? Maybe a security guard because it does require police officers to show up. That's kind of and and that's what I was going to preface was is this something that the board would be interested in is like, hey, you know what, we will approve this on the conditions that in one year we'd like to see, you know, what what is your loss prevention? We would like to require a security guard. Is that something we could do, Erica? We could put a condition of approval on this.

Uh we could add a condition of approval that says something to the extent of um within one year of let's say like start of the sale. Yeah. Um uh that uh the planning commission would like to review it during a public hearing to determine if it's following their conditions of approval. And then we could require at that time that they give us like no their information. Um because conditional use permits they have to require or they have to abide by their condition conditions of approval for any conditional use permit. If they do not they can be brought up on revocation. Okay.

So like when you approve let's say a bar and they have a condition of approval that says you're going to have security cameras and you're not going to let people loiter and you're not going to have fights etc etc. we can bring them up on revocation if they do not abide by their conditions of approval. That's the benefit of a condition of approval. No one wants to go to revocation, right? Because you're out a lot of money. So, most people will fix it before they get to that point. Um, but yes, we can add that as a conditional.

Yeah, I I I personally would like to see that because if if like Hollister Police Department shows up even just three or four times in say 12 months, you know, that that that cost city the city. They could be responding to more important calls. All I'm trying to do is just itemize the true impacts and costs to the community. That's all I'm trying to do. If I'm if I'm going too far, I get it. But is that something that you guys would all be interested in? Is that a unique to this or big box stores? I think any business would I think any business but but it once they're grandfather and I can't levy this on target. I can't levy this. Correct.

Grandfather is like an incorrect term. But no, if you grant them the conditional use permit as written today, our only opportunity for um like if the chief of police said, "Erica, this grocery outlet is a huge problem. I want to revoke their cup." That would then trigger us coming back to you. Okay. So, you're saying maybe what I'm doing. So, you could do what you want to do, which is like in a year we'll review it and see how it's going. So, that's a condition we can add now. Otherwise we follow our standard practice which is if we observe a problem we bring it back to you.

I I think in a year I I would like to put the condition in one year we come back we look at like how many times the police have come out comparison to what though to give a context. What would you compare that data to? I I think we'd compare it to to other box stores. That's going to be harder because I can't compel them to give me information. I can only compare it to them. Yeah. And it's also about going forward. I just want to say like I can't, you know, we can't go back and say, you know, I think that we just set the precedent like this is how we are going to do business or going forward. I personally think it's opening up a can of worms and it'll only get worse.

If I may, I do believe that the police uh department and police chief, you working with them closely on many other items, if this store were to become an an issue, they would definitely let us know and we will bring it back to you. Fair enough.

The the only businesses that are going to have it have it be an issue are the ones that are going to go out of business. It's just the default mechanism of of of of a market that you have to be profitable and manage costs which protecting your ultimately not violating laws, making sure that you're that no one's getting hurt, right? All those things are preventative measures, cost recovery measures. um you're not going to, you know, if you're going to invest in something, which the CUP already does, you're going to do it for the sake of obviously preserving your business. I don't see anybody succeeding if they're out of line. You're not going to have to have the chief police pulling their license. I think they'll go out of business,

right? Well, I said my own. Thank you. No, I appreciate you giving that perspective. Is there any Well, there was a motion. Is there a second? Oh, I made the motion. Yeah. Second. Second. All those in favor? I I opposed. Nay.

One opposed. Abstain. Motion carries. Thank you. Uh, next is 6.3 M sign program 2026-2 910 4th Street. May we have the staff report? For item 6.3, you are looking at a master sign program for Starbucks, our recently approved Starbucks located at 910 Fourth Street. It's in our mixeduse zoning district. Um Starbucks is requesting approval of master sign program. Their master sign program encompasses many signs. They have wall-mounted signs. They have menu board signs, they have directional signs, and they have monument signs. So, several signs with for their own personal use. Um, this site plan shows the location of their signs. As you can see, there are signs uh throughout the site. Um, master sign programs require approval by the planning commission. Uh, an example of their wall-mounted sign. They have their logos and their standard Starbucks. And then this is their um new monument sign proposed um which um again right now requires review by the planning commission. As you can see on their elevations, they have building signs on their walls and it complies with the general plan and the zoning ordinance and that they can um apply for master sign program and request signs for their development as well as their monument sign. Again, you have your four standard options and staff is recommending approval of this one.

Thank you. Do we have questions from the commission? I want it bigger. Oh my god. I'm just kidding. Let's go to public hearing uh at 7:19. Do we have public comments? We do not have any public speakers. home. Let's close a public hearing at 7:19 p.m. Is there further discussion from the commission on this item? Everybody good with the Starbucks item? Any Do we have a motion? I make a motion to approve item 6.3, master sign program. I'll second. All in favor? I.

Anyone opposed? No. No abstension. Okay. Motion carries. Welcome Starbucks to the west side. Next. I know to the west. To the west side. Yeah. I mean that's I think that's good. Yeah. Even there before. Welcome back. Where were they? That's right. Really? Speaking of businesses, they left and came back. They rem I think they um they changed their business model and they're starting to reset up shop. Well, it wasn't a drive-thru and now it's a drive-through, right? There's a whole different Yeah. Which is going to

going to be good. Anyways, okay. 6.4 site and architectural review 2025-10 to construct exterior modifications and an outdoor dining space located at 713 Santo Street. May we have the staff report? keep doing that. Sorry. This project is located within the downtown area. It's in the within the downtown mix zoning district. Um it is an existing building on a a property um uh that is currently developed with it was previously I think a tattoo shop and some it's been some retail uses. They are proposing exterior modifications. That is why we are before you tonight. This is what the building will look like once it is complete. It is an enhancement over the existing site. They are also proposing to remove an exterior accessory building shed that was built many years ago that's used for storage and some other things. They're going to remove that off the back of the building. So, between the building and the alley, they will construct a new um outdoor dining area for their patrons. It will be surrounded by a fence, but it'll be a nice addition to the area. This is one of the buildings that is not located within the city's parking assessment district. By changing the storage building to outdoor dining, it increases the parking need of the space by six parking spaces. They obviously cannot put parking spaces on their site. A parking reduction was previously granted on December 11th, 2025 for the interior of the interior of the building. The building again was changed from a retail use to a restaurant. It required additional parking spaces. They cannot provide any parking on that space. It is a very small lot within the downtown. Um there is on street parking in the surrounding area. There's also the the city's parking garage that patrons can park in by requiring people

to park their car and walk to the site. It further activates the downtown and um promotes use of the downtown area. staff is as part of this um project also recommending approval of the parking reduction for this uh park property. Um in conclusion, the design of the building is very attractive. It will en certainly enhance views of the area. Uh the use of the space as a restaurant provides additional services for residents, activates the downtown. The outdoor dining space provides another amenity for the downtown and the residents in the area and available parking does exist in the surrounding area. So, a parking reduction is warranted. Again, our standard um uh options for tonight, but staff is recommending that you approve the project as proposed.

Okay. Do we have questions from the commission? Um so, you we're reducing the requirement on parking. Um how do they assess that? Is that based off capacity the the restaurant capacity?

So what we have done it it is hard in the downtown because we still have parking requirements in the downtown and we do have people that have paid into a parking assessment district that was done many years ago. It 197576 it was a long time ago and those people paid into the parking assessment district to reduce their parking requirements and that is why we have parking in the alleys um that is open to the public. So there are certain buildings that paid into it, but not everyone did. And so the method of determining what occurs in the downtown is that standard retail parking requirement is assessed to all the buildings. And if they intensify, we have a problem. So in this case going from retail, which is 1 to 250 or one uh 1 to 300 square feet for um retail uses, restaurants are 1 to 100. So that's a significant increase, right? because restaurants do tend to uh generate a higher demand for parking. So we park outdoor dining the same as we park parked indoor dining and so the inside plus the outside they have a higher parking demand than what currently exists on the site and it's not feasible to require them to put I can't remember off the top of my head but let's say it's even if it was two parking spaces that the site's not going to accommodate that. So when these businesses have been coming up, the solution that we have come up with in the interim of a better solution is that the parking reduction we recommend approval of both either at a staff level and they can request at a staff level. This one was coming to you anyways. Um but then they have a condition that says if we ever come to an inloo parking fee or another parking assessment district that they're going to cooperate and be a part of that so that we can build more parking.

Thank you. Any other questions before we open to public hearing? Okay, let's go ahead and open it at 7:25 p.m. Do we have public comment? Yes, we have Jason Ricketts.

Good evening. Uh my name is Jason Rickettts. I'm one of the uh co-founders of Hop Bros. Uh I'd like to start by thanking the planning commission uh for the opportunity to speak tonight. Um I'd also like to thank our customers and members of the community uh for your continued support throughout this process. Uh your excitement and encouragement has been a great deal to myself, my family, and our team. Um this project represents more than just a new restaurant to us. We are a small family company built on hard work and the belief that great food um and a welcoming environment can bring people together. Uh we are proud of what we've created thus far with Hopper Bros Food Truck and uh over the past four years and uh we're excited to be a larger part of the community moving forward. Uh we'd also like to recognize everyone who has helped us uh get to this point. our adviserss, designers, contractors, staff, city personnel, and all those who have contributed their time and effort. Uh we truly believe this quick serve Asian fusion restaurant will be a great addition to the city of Hollister, bringing a positive energy, jobs, and something the community can enjoy for years to come. Uh we'd be honored to earn your approval tonight. Thank you again for your time and support.

Thank you. Do we have any other public comment? The only thing I want the record to reflect is I I do think, you know, eventually the parking I think will become an issue. I mean, inevitably that's what we want. We want business to come. We want all, you know, we we want a thriving downtown. So, I think, you know, parking will be an issue. All I ask is the same thing is I hope 10 years goes by and it's just packed and we're dying for a new parking garage. All I ask is buy into, you know, you know, say we need a new parking garage. We need to finance this parking garage. That's all I ask. So, I I like I said, I'm all on board for this. I think this is exactly what Hollister needs. And

like I said, so thank you. We're still on public comment. Oh, I'm sorry. It's okay. Uh I didn't want to interrupt you. No other speakers. Okay. No, I didn't want to interrupt you. It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. Keep it keep it friendly. Um, okay. So, we'll go ahead and close the public hearing at 7:28 p.m. Do we have further discussion?

I'm grateful for this project. I think it's an amazing opportunity for the downtown. Um, I mean, personally, um, Commissioner Rodriguez, the the idea of parking getting worse is actually a problem that I think is business by default is proving that it's doing its job, driving that need, and ultimately obviously increasing the demand for capacity anyways, which we already knew prior to even this project coming forward. But um yeah, I mean the diversity needed for our downtown to thrive, Asian Fusion is something that definitely not some uh is there already. Uh, and I mean ultimately I know personally what it's like to start a business from an idea conception and ultimately starting even through a catering vehicle and then gravitating into a brick and mortar, which honestly it's the it's it's probably one of the hardest realities that um I've seen and met plenty of owners of businesses that they they actually gravitate towards a catering vehicle first because it's more cost-effective and managing um scaling your business and growing the market and then finally being able to afford um something like a brick and mortar. So, uh I I want to make sure that we set good precedent and giving um just and ultimately signaling to the business community that that we appreciate and support small businesses like that that that start from from the bottom up and really build something really nice. So, thank you for bringing this project forward.

And this is just approving the change to the back, right? the patio the business has already been approved or well restaurant use is uh a permitted use in the downtown so they don't need permission. This is for the exterior modifications to the outside of the building as well as the outdoor dining area and then the parking reduction. So it's three components. I agree. I think this is exciting. I think we need it. We talked about you know businesses and and you know coming from you and how how you talked about your story. That's that's kind of that's what we want. That's what we want to support. So, congratulations, right? Um for your efforts and uh excited to go check it out.

Yeah, we're grateful for you choosing Hollister. I know you operate in San as well. Is there a reason why you chose Hollister versus you know, we it's a big customer base here. You know, a lot of our social media following is in this area. We've had a great experience at the uh farmers market. So figured this is a great spot to really, you know, sink our teeth into and take that next step. Great. Thank you. Thank you. And I think you're right to your point of the parking because, you know, I come down here too and it's like I where do I park? But that's a good thing. This is what we want. So our downtown's looking better and hopefully it'll, you know, everything will be um

everything will work for all of us, for you and for us as well. So do we have a motion? I'd love to make the motion uh to move forward item 6.4 site architectural review to construct exterior modifications outdoor dining space at 17 713 Sanito Street. Second. All in favor? I I Anyone opposed? Motion carries. Congratulations. Yes. Congratulations. And uh next here is planning commission reports. Commission business. Yeah. Do we Right. Did I skip one? It's commission business, but there's nothing on that.

Okay. There's nothing. If there's any is this item specific would be to us talking about future items, correct? Yeah. Um yeah, I mean I mean along the lines of what we were just talking about, I think it'd be really good if we can have an I an agenda item actually going over the um future item.

Yeah. Well, just the process, right? How do we become a more functional practical um planning commission, giving good feedback to the city council, ultimately giving good support to our planning staff, and uh and yeah, you know, expediting efficiency for our business community, you know. Um, I I'd like to see something more specific. Um, you know, the strategic plan just keeps coming to mind, but I think that's kind of like maybe a little bit premature, at least for us, but at least kind of going down that road of what what does that look like for us to be more functional and then see how we fit into the bigger picture of the council uh driving that policy.

You bet. And we will be agendaizing that topic for the next meeting uh including some updates on you know future strategic planning and that throughout the community and how we approach that especially through community engagement and such things. Perfect. Thank you. So now we'll go to 8.1 planning commission reports. Are any do we have any reports from the commission except that we had the meeting earlier? Yeah. Right. Um, and there will be a a quarterly it sounds like um for the joint uh joint city council council

planning commission and I think she said something in no way. Okay, perfect. Thank you all for attending that earlier and staff. Do we have any reports? Uh the only report I have is that the city council at their last meeting on April 20th um approved the general plan, the housing element, and all the other zoning ordinance amendments that went with it. The general plan takes effect in 30 days. The housing element takes effect right away. And the zoning ordinance amendments require a second reading and then um the 30 days to take effect after that. Once the second reading occurs, staff will submit the housing element to HCD for um hopefully certification.

Wow. Excellent. Thank you so much. And I think our meeting is ready to be adjourned at 7:34. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all. You