Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone. I'd like to call the planning commission of April 22nd to order at 6:02 p.m. If we could please have roll call. Commissioner Slater, present. Commissioner Scarboro Echo, present. Commissioner Santos present. Vice Chairperson Ortiz present. Chairperson Fron present.

Okay, everyone's here. If we can move to the pledge of allegiance and Commissioner Santos, if you would please lead us. Thank you. Uh we'll go ahead and move on to item number three, public comment for items not on the agenda. Do we have any requests to speak? There are none.

Okay. Hearing none, we'll go ahead and close the public comment and move on to item number four, minutes from the April 8th meeting. Do we have a motion or are there any corrections? I'll make a motion to approve the minutes as is with minor corrections as needed. I second that motion. Okay, we can have a vote, please.

I don't mind. No. Okay, I'll do roll call. Okay. All right. Commissioner Slater. Yes. Commissioner Scarboro, yes. Commissioner Santos, yes. Vice Chair Ortiz, yes. Chairperson Fron, yes. Motion carries. Thank you very much. Okay, we'll go ahead and move on to item number five, public hearing items, uh, review, uh, and recommendations to city council regarding amendments to the city subdivision ordinance. We have a staff report, please.

Yes, we do. Um, thank you very much, chair, members of the commission. Um, we're happy to present this item. We have been working on this item for almost a year, so it does take some time. Our subdivision ordinance has uh needed an update for quite a while. I was looking back at some of the old ordinances uh starting as late or as far back as 1981. So, we do have our consultant that we hired um to do the presentation tonight. I want to introduce Simron Mahaltra with Alta Planning and Design. We'll have, like I said, a short presentation and then we'll be available for questions afterwards. Thank you.

Thank you, Brian. And good evening, Chair France. Nice to see you again. The last time it was on Zoom.

Yes. And uh good evening to all the other um commissioners as well. Um as Brian just said, I'm Siman Malhotra. I'm with Alta Planning and Design. Uh we were hired as Ramy and Associates. Uh and our firm was recently uh acquired by Alta. Uh can we have the presentation please? There we go. Oops. All right. So when the uh unified uh development code was adopted in 2022 about almost four years ago um article five was intentionally left as a placeholder for the update of the subdivision ordinance at a later time. Um that's the project we in front of you today. Um there are three major components to this um project. The first is we are incorporating two existing um uh chapters in the India municipal code. Chapter 156 on subdivisions and chapter 163 on residential condo conversions into the unified development code as the new article 5. The other two project components include related updates to article 4 uh and article six to ensure consistency throughout the code and also to address SP9 um which I'll talk about a bit later. SP9 came into being um the year the UDC was adopted. So the city uh needed to incorporate that as well. So to expand on the changes, um the updates to the unified development code include uh the creation of a new article

5 that's focused on subdivision regulations and residential condo conversions. We have a new chapter 4.28 that deals with two unit developments and chapter 519 that addresses urban lot splits. Both of these chapters are pursuant to SP9. Uh and then we have some modifications to article six uh that cover uh changes to the procedures and uh approval authorities within the within the code. So the overarching goal for this project was to improve the organization of the subdivision ordinance um clarify the review authority and the various types of uh requirements based on the type of map and to incorporate state requirements related to SP9. Looking a little bit more closely at article five, we have made several organizational improvements. Uh definitions have been consolidated into one chapter. We have introduced summary tables that clearly outline requirements by map types and um as well as review authority. This section also now incorporates the provisions related to condo conversions that were previously in 163. As I just mentioned, um this is hard to read, but um the the point of the slide is to compare the previous and the updated table of contents um of the previous subdivision ordinance. On the left is the original structure from chapter 156 and on the right is the new organization under article 5. The updated format is more intuitive. It starts with definitions and the review authorities followed by separate chapters for each of the

various map types. Additional regulations um such as dedications, requirements for improvements etc are in organized towards the end. And um the as I mentioned earlier and I'll go go over this into the next page. We have several summary tables that uh allow easy to understand um regulations. So as a part of these up updates, we have introduced a summary table that clearly identifies review authority by application type. One of the major changes um that's being made is uh that previously all maps um were reviewed by city council. Uh under the proposed ordinance, the tentative maps would instead be approved by the planning commission while the final maps would still go to city council. um dedications would continue to be uh approved by by by the city council. The ordinance also streamlines review for other application types. The director or city engineer would have approval authority over lot line adjustments, lot mergers, minor amendments and parcel map waiverss. The first time extension would also be hander handled administratively with any subsequent extensions approved by the planning commission. In addition, SP urban lot splits um they are required to be approved ministerially by the director as long as um all the objective standards are met and I'll go over that in a little bit more detail later. Uh we've also included a comprehensive summary table in uh outlining all the requirements um for each project type and providing a clear and userfriendly reference for both applicants and staff.

Um finally the ordinance incorporates two new chapters related to SP9. SP9, as you may know, was adopted by the state in 2022 to encourage additional housing opportunities in single family zones. Um, there were some exceptions that I can go into a little bit later. Um, there are four single family zones in the city. Those are listed on your screen. And these regulations would apply to u properties within within these zones. There are two major parts to SB9. The first is included in chapter 428 and this allows for two primary units to be developed on single family lots. Um in addition you can include a ADU or a JADU provided that the total numbers per lot does not incre uh does not exceed four. Um the diagram on the upper right uh illustrates the various configurations of how this might come to be. The second component allows for urban lot splits and this is the requirements for this are included in chapter 519. These enable a single family lot to be divided into two parcels. Each parcel must be at least 40% of the original lot and cannot be smaller than 1,200 square ft. Uh each new lot then can accommodate two primary units or a combination of a primary unit and a ADU or JADU. Again uh the total number of units between the two new parcels cannot exceed four. Uh

the diagram on the lower um right shows the various configurations that this might might occur. Um it's also important to note that once a property has been subdivided using SP9, it cannot be further subdivided using the same uh the same law. Uh and if a project meets the city's um objective zoning design and and design standards, subdivision standards, the city must approve it through a ministerial review process, which means it must be approved without a public hearing. As we finalized the ordinance, we identified several additional refinements which are included in your um in your packet and relate to the sections and chapters uh listed here. The first uh three of these are um content based. But the last uh item on the screen section numbering is uh related to the formatting that um when when the ordinance was was I guess uploaded into your online system, it uh it messed up some of the formatting. So that'll be corrected in uh before it goes to city council. And with that, um, that concludes our presentation and we are happy to answer any questions you might have. Okay. Do we have any questions of staff at this time? No. Okay. I got a couple. Um, the minor maps that won't be coming back to us anymore. It'll just go from staff and if there's an appeal then it goes directly to city council. How minor is minor? I mean what does minor mean? Minor I mean you know you can define it

as yeah a 1% change or up to a 20% change or a 49% change. Um if so so the minor amendment is defined in in the in the document. Um it is uh considered minor if there are no lots or units or building sites that are added and um if the changes align with the original approval intent and there are no map act or title violations. Okay. So, it's very definitely minor. It is definitely minor. Yes. Figured I'd had to ask, right?

Yeah, that's a good question. Um, and I think for our the people that might be listening or watching, can you explain to me a little bit about the condominium conversions to the condominium? What What does that look like? We don't have very many condominiums and there really aren't we haven't had any new building condominiums in I don't even know how long. So, what does that mean? condominium revisions. Um, so this is an existing chapter in your municipal code and the the rationale is occasionally if there is a existing apartment building which is a rental product.

Um, if at any point the owner wants to convert those apartments into condominiums for sale, they have to go through a certain process and this chapter outlines what that process is. Uh it includes multiple notifications of at various stages. Um it includes uh the requirement for some of the uh some of the ownership units to be affordable either low or moderate at least 10% of those need to be affordable. Um as well as um I think there is uh some analysis that needs to be done about the total amount of rental vacancy in the city before that can uh such a project is approved. That's what I figured it was but figured let's make sure it's what I think it is. Um can you go back to the there was an orange graph that kind of talked about you know what the staff approves what we look at and what goes to city council. Yeah, maybe one of those. Um, what has changed from what we what like what authority did we have other than this minor lot that we are not going to have going forward if anything?

Um, that's a good question. Uh, let me While she's looking that up, I wanted to add one thing. So, as you can see from this um slide, the planning commission would be the one who approves parcel maps and tenant maps before it would go to city council. So, the main reason why we made that change is um we're trying to streamline the process and because final maps would still need to go to city council, city council does still have some say, but in addition, it does say save uh developer applicant time and money. Um, and it's it's common. It's very common for the maps to stop at the planning commission level.

Um, but as far as other areas where we might have um taken your authority away, in this case, we gave you more authority. Um, but I don't think there's too many instances unless someone can find that where we've taken away your authority. So, sorry, quick question. So, Brian, so what you're saying is that you're giving us more authority instead of taking away. That's correct.

Okay. And unless the city council disagrees with us, it should uh be a a positive for the city because um they're going to be able to now focus on the final map and focus on, you know, the recordation process a little faster because it's one less step that they have to do.

Any other questions of staff? No. Okay. Thank you. I'm always worried about what we're losing. I I figured you gave us a little more work and that's okay. But so all right, thank you very much. Um, if we don't have any other comments, is this a it is a public hearing item, so we'll go ahead and open the public hearing. Is there anyone in the audience or on Zoom that would like to discuss this item? There are none. Okay, seeing none, we'll go ahead and close the public hearing. And at this point, I think can we put the motion back on the screen? I know. I I took it away. Now I want it back.

Yep. So, if we have a ready for a motion, I'd like a motion to approve this resolution. All right. A motion to approve this um public item. I second. We'll go ahead and do roll call. Commissioner Slater.

Sorry. Is it roll call or voting? Um, roll call. Oh, yeah. Go ahead and indicate your vote. Yes. Okay. Um, Commissioner Scarboro Echo, yes. Commissioner Santos, yes. Vice Chair Ortiz, yes. Chairperson Fron, yes. Motion carries.

Thank you. And thank you to staff. I know this is not an easy process and it took a lot of time, but I just looking at the all of the information, it's going to be so much easier for a developer to come look for what it is they need instead of having to go through the entire section. So, I think the time was well spent and I'm hoping that our developers will appreciate um this new system. But, thank you. Okay. Um we'll go ahead and move on to item number six, commissioner comments. Does anybody have any comments?

I do like always. Um, I just want to thank the staff for like the hard work. Obviously, Coachella one and two just passed. Now we're heading into stage coach. So, I know that it's a lot of work, you know, for our public safety departments, you know, city staff like as well. So, just want to thank the staff for keeping us safe and for making sure that visitors feel welcome to to the city of India. So, thank you and be safe.

Any other comments? Okay, I just have one. I really liked the shovel and I'm glad it's moved. Even though I know it was a little bit of a hot topic for a minute or two, but the artwork is spectacular. The amount of publicity we get from the concerts is priceless. And I just hope Stage Coach goes by as well as the last two weekends because I think they were relatively quiet, which is good. So, and thank you staff. Without you, the concerts wouldn't take place. So, that's great. Um, all right. Now, we'll go ahead and move on to item seven. Do we Oh, we have something on gas stations. Thank you.

Yes, we do. So, thank you, uh, commission. As you know, last year there was a lot of discussions about do we have too many gas stations? Should we not allow gas stations? So, as you know, it did go to the council and they liked what was drafted and they wanted it to come back to the planning commission. So, I'll be bringing it back to the commission next month. Um and the only thing that it'll be exactly what the council saw. The only thing that really will be different is there was um some requests to include uh some more security measures like cameras at gas stations. Also um they they're definitely going to be an aspect of lighting a lighting plan required um and potentially some things to address like window coverings and things like that. Um so that will be coming to you very soon. Um it is going to significantly limit but not necessarily prohibit although highway 111 is going to be prohibited and boulevard will be prohibited as far as areas to have new gas stations but is going to significantly limit the number that can be um located in the city. But there there wasn't too much um public opposition when it went to city council. So, we're thinking that's, you know, positive. Um, and we'll be bringing that back and ordinance to next month. That would conclude, uh, the staff comments, um, staff items for this meeting.

Excellent. Thank you. Yeah, gas stations are something I dream about. Um, so, um, any other comments? I do have a question. Okay. Will that will that be a study session item or this going to be a public item when you bring it back to us? It will be a public um hearing item just because we have kind of a limited time period since we did an extension on the moratorum. So um by the middle of June we have to be done. So I thought you know May planning commission and then June bring it back to the city council. Thank you.

He's going to give us homework. And then uh Brian do have one question reference what you mentioned um with more cameras being added to gas stations, stuff like that. I know the public safety side of the city along with other municipal agencies within the Coachell Valley are looking at a RTC real-time crime center. um and could potentially with the modification of uh when you do bring it up that maybe those cameras can potentially be tied because that will significantly uh reduce uh crime specifically here in the city of India if we're able to tie to a real-time crime center. Okay.

All right. Thank you very much. If there are no other comments, we will go ahead and adjourn the meeting at 6:25 p.m. Our next meeting is May 13th. Thank you everyone.