Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

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ready for good evening ladies and gentlemen we're going to go ahead and get starting with our meeting we're going to have our commissioner Shaw Williams lead us in our pledge if you can stand the flag the United States of America the stand Madame secretary can we get a roll call please yes commissioner Fowler present commissioner rice hi commissioner tryo hi commissioner Shaw Williams hi chairman Springs hi any Communications from staff um good evening chairman members of the commission just wanted to um say that we've provided you all with some lovely pictures from our last uh from last month's meeting and you all look good in your next level polos that concludes staff's comments thank

you okay public comments regarding agend non- agendum items person wishing to address the Planning Commission on any item on the agenda other than the public hearing may do so at this time seeing hearing none we're going to close that segment and we're going to start off with our first I'm sorry I need um I don't have the agendas yeah there is no agendas okay no minutes no minutes no minutes okay Madam Secretary our first item please item 5A a continued public hearing to consider an application by Chima chizi representing the tribe for a special use permit number 24-27 to allow hookah within an existing nightclub on an approximately 34,600 square foot mu zone property at 446 South Market Street chairman the file is present and notice was given in the form and manner as required by the IMC um planner Angel Leon Martel is available to do a short staff presentation good evening chairman Springs and members of the commission on March 12th 2019 the Planning Commission approved special use per number sp-21 19-001 to allow the nightclub and the cell of alcoholic beverages for on-site consumption at the subject site on June 7th 2023 the commission approved Su 23- 000012 and resolution number 1830 to make a public convenience or necessity

finding for the previously approved special use permit for March 12th to 2019 on February 5th 2025 the planning staff asked the commission to continue this hearing until the March 5th 2025 meeting to work out final details related to business operations the subject site for this Su request has a downtown Transit oriented development land use designation with mu1 to mixed use zoning the subject site is located between South Market Street and East Spruce Avenue with Frontage on Market Street the surrounding north south and west properties are zoned mu mu-1 and are developed with commercial uses property to the east is Zone C2 with commercial uses the applicant seeks approval to add a hookah use to the existing establishment which will operate out of the approximately 4700 ft² nightclub the subject site is developed with 51 parking spaces the floor plan is not changing no additional floor area will be used for hookah thus the ancillary hookah use does not require additional parking the first floor contains Booth seating where hookah service will be allowed the location of the hookah service area is highlighted in blue the remaining floor plan consists of a bar Dance Floor stage DJ booth restrooms office and fruit prep area the hours of operation are rest are restricted for the sale and use of hookah between 400 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. daily as

conditioned the nightclub operates between 400 p.m. and 2: a.m. daily this project is conditioned so that the applicant obtains the proper permits from the state and a permits and Licensing clearance if the Su is approved tonight the commission may want to way whether adding a condition for a one-year review is appropriate the applicant proposes to add hookah as an inciler use the owner of the establishment will provide a selection of flavors from a menu electronic equipment will be used similar to that of the picture seen above and the proposed equipment is safer than the traditional equipment it Al it is also odorless does not burn coals and has a built inner timer to control the length of use the proposed use will not alter the character of the area and will be compatible with surrounding uses the applicant will maintain 30 security security cameras installed that were installed throughout the building and will continue to have two security guards on site daily the use is consistent with the downtown Tod land use designation a notice of exemption has been filed and the project is exempt from further environmental review no Public public comments have been received for or against this request this concludes my presentation I'm available to answer any questions the commission may have and the applicant is also present tonight to answer your questions thank you okay thank you are we're going to open up questions for you Angel before you leave we're going to start off with commissioner fer thank you Mr chair I just a couple um I think I heard you say there was no or I think I read it there was no public comment either way is that

correct yes no emails or phone calls were received for or against this you implied no impact on the environment implied that is that true yes that's correct with the categorical EX extion uh the use was ex qualified as exempt and this I saw this to state license is that normal that you would have to get a state license for this yes generally for all tobacco uses um okay Proprietors or owners are required to obtain such license all right thank you restor for the applicant thank you Mr chair commissioner rice yes the restaurant entire project is 4,000 square ft that is the existing total floor plan area correct and according to the hook of approval laws I think it's like 30% of it has to be for hookah if you're going to be approved for hook of with the state do you know sure uh I'm not certain on the the regulations but the applicant will you know seek all clearances and be approved accordingly and with that one of those clearances be with ABC do they regulate this I believe they issue the license actually yes for alcohol and for okay thank you so much Mr Tre Hol so what um let's see how do I word this is this considered tobacco use yes the the hookah is basically uses a product that is that has nicotine and based on Tobacco BAS essentially um is there smoke involved it it's vapor because of the equipment that the applicant has proposed to use like water yeah so it

could be considered smoke yes I would say so is there not a ban for indoor smoking there are exemptions I believe with the state so the applicant would have to you know figure that out and obtain their license if they can get cleared um then we would allow them to continue and obtain a business license uhuh um well it seems that we as an approval uh body uh should be able to indicate or make some comment on the indoor indoor smoke because I know that I mean for years it's like Banning uh smoke indoors and if you're going to if you're going to do you want to smoke you have to go outside so that's why I was asking um how say for these if I can answer your question commissioner there is California labor code section 6404.5 which regulates smoking of tobacco products in places of employment it would be up to the applicant to make sure that their operations comply with the state law and then up to the Department of Public Health to enforce that area of law okay so so we don't in essence have a say in it it's a state it's the state preempts the field as to smoke free workplaces and then how you can um operate in order to comply with state law okay uh my next question is I'm not sure if you can answer perhaps the applicant how safe are these uh these products these E Liquids what is an E-liquid electronic liquid what yeah I'll try to answer that but maybe the applicant can elaborate later um it's basically kind of like the oils

that are that are used to to burn um and essentially with the water vaporizes the changes into smoke and then it goes through the hose and you know people inhale it um I guess similar to tobacco use um I can't really say that it's safer or not from what I from what I've read from like Publications since this is according to the report this is the first legal hookah lounge I don't know whether there are any illegal hookah lounges operating but since this is the first hookah legal hookah lounge I want to make sure that we cover everything because we'll be setting a a precedent uh on this and um one other thing uh one of the proposed uh one of the proposed conditions is that there be no marijuana now is there other types of drugs that can be used in in in in in hookah besides that one I I've not read of any to be honest with you yeah because I I read somewhere that that you can smoke Opium with it also and the reason I'm I'm asking is you're only mention in marijuana in the proposed conditions so I think there should be additional wording uh no marijuana should be used nor any other uh drug is that what I want to call it or any other drug that could potentially be used in hookah uh let me make a comment on that commissioner tros in the event that we want to make a motion on that then at that particular time we can bring in the what you just indicated if you want to make a condition for that correct I just

wanted to make sure everybody heard what I was saying so thank you but I do know the condition excuse me chair if I may just just want to um for the purposes of of um clarifying the process so the Su would essentially pave the way for the applicant to go and apply for a license with the state um as um Mr pan mentioned mentioned he would have to comply with state regulations and mandates as it relates to creating a safe work environment but then once he gets that approval he would then come back to the city for its final layer of approval which would be through p&l so that way we would then be able to confirm that he has the state licensed required as well as um also ensuring that any other conditions from any other City Department um would be levied on this particular use um and we can kind of kind of cover all of our bases so there there is an additional um layer of review that would come through PD um Public Works code enforcement of course planning so on so forth that are also involved in in the approval of this process of of this use okay but at this point we can still uh expand on any conditions or at any conditions right absolutely that's correct but just to be clear this is only for hookah as traditionally defined to include tobacco products only nothing else but tobacco products that are authorized by state law and it would also be subject to getting the state permit for tobacco products only no cannabis nothing illegal would be part of it so so do we maybe I confused myself here uh you don't have you don't have to say it it's only tobacco products

anything else not included in what you're trying you're asking for thank you Mr Shaw Williams I just have one question there's no other hooka lounges in Englewood this no not at this time okay no further questions one one more thing um so just to to provide further context we brought before you this ordinance um to regulate hookah a few years back um and so you know we had found that um they were able to operate as bars with very little regulation and so what we did was in creating this ordinance wanted to to bring them before this body right um to be able to ensure that we're um applying conditions that would um help improve the safety of these particular uses as well as um create an Avenue for revocation if in fact they weren't acting as good neighbors um here in the city or and business owners and so um that's that's kind of how we got here um you're right the action tonight will set a precedence and there may be one or two others but there is a distance requirement we have a a radius um that would kind of limit the number of these particular uses within any District in the city and and Citywide so good reminder thank you okay Angel very good report I have no questions if the applicant is here please come take the mic in the back give us your name and tell us um you about this particular product that you're trying to sell us I want the tribe need the mic can I have to pick up the mic please yeah Chima so the product is uh electronic hooker so it's not like a traditional

hooker so there's no shakal okay before you get started let me can somebody show him just put the mic up so we can all hear you yeah can you hear me now yes we can hear you now all right so the hookah is not the traditional type of hookah which is being used in various places of business this electronic so the electronic cooka does not have um shakal so U when it comes to you know the fire and all that Hazard it does not have that and also uh the El electronic cooker does not also uh the one I'm trying to get is a little bit expensive so there's no tobacco so it's just vaping so when it comes to tobacco and those things does not apply because my venue is a nonsmoking venue and I I want to keep it that way so no um tobacco no shako is just straight and vaping okay we have questions for you sir so we're going to start off our questions for you we're going to start off with commissioner Fowler you have questions for him thank you Mr chair uh yes sir thank you for appearing um I appreciate you starting to tell us about it I don't smoke so I'm trying to understand how this works but I was appreciative of it being electronic because I think I've seen some of the other hookas but I think it was not that way so I'm looking at this it's electronic but it's what are you using because you said flavors and so forth so yeah is it like a oil a liquid yeah it's like a like a liquid too but different kind of flavors yes so what happens this is this the whole entire thing yes that's the whole entirety yes that's how it's made here so how is it used it's electronic so you charge it so after charge you know it has the whole you know pole tube or whatever what is called so you vape too but uh you charge it you can set it for how long you want to set it it's an hour 2 hours you know depending on um the buyer that's how it works you know it's

very very easy to use but do pick people pick it up no I mean it's has a it has a you know you can Vape has like a a tube that you can Vape okay okay that's attached to that so how many of these I saw the Flor plan how many of these are you planning to install uh maybe about four only four okay and um I noticed you've been in business for a while at this same location so appreciate that and you talked about security guards are both security guards you have two for each shift or just one for shift two two two are the most each shift and I see you've only had maybe three incidents in six years so that's a good thing um I do want to make sure that you had an opportunity to review these operating conditions did you have a chance to to look at the conditions that they're placing yes in terms okay um um all right I have no further questions thank thank you commissioner rice okay so this is an electronic device and there's a hose that you would bring up and you would punch in your flavor and you would inhale it like you would have so um the the it has uh so that's just the um the equipment but they have flavors you know like okay strawberry vanilla whatever you want right so it's on top of it you put it on top of it and you know and you vape so you buy the flavor separately from from the uh from the equipment I've seen people walk up and down the street and they they're doing what I think is vape and they extract this device they hold and inhale it yeah and then they blow out a ton of smoke or or vapor yeah

isn't that similar to what's happening here it's kind of similar yes but the um but most some of those Vapes contain tobacco products but these one does not contain tobacco product so that's the difference there's no tobacco product no no okay but it's is like your vaping air is clean I I I decided to go for this specifically because me I don't I don't smoke so I just want to keep it clean okay they're vaping clean strawberry clean grape clean vanilla yes when they exhale what happens just exhale just but no but no flavors come out no smell or when they no it's orderless so your body just yeah so your body cleans it it's other lless it does not have no no no dangerous materials to it I taste it but I can't smell it you can taste no you could smell it help me on the exhale you can smell it yeah you can smell it yeah yeah you can smell the flavor yes so it's not test it yeah you could test it you could smell it yes it's not odorless I mean it's orderless I I don't smoke but this is what I read you know I mean so it's orderless from uh okay I'm I'm let someone I'm let someone else pick this up but I'm going to um question for staff the radius for this type of business is one mile one mile radius yes okay okay thank you um chairman yes I'm sorry um the hookah is a like a community Vape right so there's there are hoses that are extend outside of the the equipment where multiple people can use the apparatus in a communal environment and that's so that's the the the draws it's like um you

know a a group of friends are sitting at a table or a booth and they are six hoses on the apparatus and they're sharing the hookah and they're vaping now could be odorless it could be with tobacco products it could be without there are different forms of the the liquid material that's used within the products um that's up for the business owner to decide what products he want to use and how he would be able to get the approvals through the state right but the but there are different there's a lot of there is some flexibility in the type of uh liquids that are used within this apparatus where as a traditional hookah would have a CO a coal that would burn and you would smoke it and it and you would smoke it as if you were smoking a cigar or a a cigarette or a pipe um and so that's that that's a traditional hookah that would produce smoke and um fumes and odor in in the air and Avail the other people within the um the vicinity to secondhand smoke that's not necessarily the case here so that's that's I just wanted to clarify that if or I hope that I was able to okay can we go back to the room that this Hook is is consumed in what's the construction of these this space to stop that hooker from coming out on the first floor and going into the general area on the first floor or the second floor if it happens to be a hook of the has a an order or tobacco not using tobacco I no I said if he's he's going to be able to potentially if he passed the state law he could if he wants to because you said he had all these choices that he could use if he wanted to well and and and you

have you're at every Liberty as a commission to condition the the type that he uses if if you so if you deem fit um and then if that if he decides within his business model that does that does work he has to come back to this body to explain why but this is precisely the reason why we um created the ordinance for the hookah to come to the Planning Commission so that we could vet and regulate and ensure that it was um to the best needs of our of the city met the needs of the city so Mr jamboi you're proposing that you're going to use a product that does not have any tobacco yes and it has no odor correct okay thank you commissioner tro uh I noticed that you're uh providing this amenity only on the ground level and not the VIP level on the mezanine is that correct yes that's correct and why is that uh just felt that's a better place to put it not not no nothing really I'm sorry say that again I just felt it was a much better place to use uh the U the hookah but if the VIPs on the mezzanine ask for it which I would think they would what are you going to do and the area that the hookers are on right that I'll be using the those are VIP areas too those are more premium areas than the upstairs because with that area you can be able to see what's happening on the stage and you can see what's happening on the floor so that's a more um more luxurious area if you like than upstairs whereby you can see what's really happening downstairs so that's why I choose to put it there than upstairs did I hear you say that you're choosing to put it there because it's a more open area can people can see what's going on there yes um people prefer you know from

my study people prefer to be there than upstairs I'm asking because what if the VIPs want to use it upstairs and maybe use a product that you as an owner can't uh can't regulate or can't force uh every product that is going to be there um I mean I'm the one who's going to bring it there so it's going to be what the city and the state approved nothing that is going to be there will be something that is not approved by the city and the state so they won't be able to have access to that because they won't be bringing it from outside because I have security to make sure that nobody comes in with something which is not legal um okay I I can't quite wrap my head around I understand it's a community um event or I guess a community within the tribe event um but it's sort of like sitting around smoking cigars which is sort of a community type okay so that's the the pleasure is okay let's go hookah smoking yeah type of thing okay social it's a social evental function okay okay thank you commissioner sha Williams more of a question will having a hookah increase the number of guests that attend your attend the tribe now what why would you want to have a hookah Louch explain that so um the thing about the hookah Louch the reason why I consider why I'm considering it is because uh so when people come there they want to smoke inside the building so when I say hey you can't smoke they don't come back those that are there

they'll say Okay I want to go outside and smoke when they go outside they drink outside and when they come back they don't patronize the business so revenue is going down so that's the reason why I came up with this uh with this idea because uh the smoking thing people love to smoke so when you stop people from smoking or they them going outside to smoke it affects the business negatively so that's why I decided to come with this yeah that's understandable you don't want people outside smoking and Gathering yes okay I have no further questions okay thank you I have a couple of questions sir um I'm not familiar with the hookah products or any of that I I did see I did go online to look it up to find out what it was all about um but I want to know how what kind of Advantage would will the city benefit from you having a a hookah lounge or hookah and how is it benefiting the community for that to happen who's going to provide the products for that hookah like you said strawberry and all the different flavors who provides that and what is it how can you prevent anybody from bringing in something that's not legal are you going to be standing around is there going to be security making sure that that doesn't does happen uh so I need to know why is this so important will your will this your Lounge still function without this particular hookah because you are selling alcohol you do have a a liquor license there I did hear you indicate that people when they're drinking they want to smoke so in my mind when I'm when I was drinking we were smoking it was with uh tobacco

which had nicotine and that was um something that you got your your body filled with so what is it that this Hook is doing to an individual uh commissioner rice indicated that he saw individuals going down the street with this Vapor so is that some kind of charge that an individual is receiving from from this particular hookah so you need to tell us about this particular product and why is it so important for you to have it yeah for when it comes to um security measures definitely you know I have Security on standby so to make sure that nobody comes in with any illegal products I've been doing that I've been uh um stopping people from coming there with weed or stuff like that so I've been doing that on my security they are trained and they very good at it and one the the thing about hookah is that it's you know as uh as uh Bernard said it's a community thing it brings people together some people just want to come there and vape and discuss about business or just to hang out so it's more of a community kind of thing uh a lot of people like it to vape so and in terms of uh um um like is is you you pay tax for it so it's a taxable item so I pay for tax um when it comes to hookah tobacco so those are some of the uh the things that I've found out it brings people together um so that is one thing I'll find out when you doing my survey I'm not understanding sir I I don't see the importance of it you still wait hold on let me finish please you haven't said the what benefit that this hookah would prevent for for your particular Club how it would be something that your club would thrive on could it could your particular Club Thrive without it

will it tear down your business if you had didn't have it would you still be able to function so uh just like what I explained to the that's a question like yes I can no I can't it's going to affect it's affecting Revenue yes it's affecting Revenue yes without the hookah is is affecting Revenue yes I have no further questions then okay um is there any other question questions that the Commissioners have on this I need your what your feelings are what your thoughts are on this and then I need a motion please question yes how much are you planning to charge for the use of the hookas um $30 $40 I am sorry between $30 and $40 you said 20 and $30 between 20 to $40 20 to 40 20 to $40 yeah depending you had a question Mr Mr MBO just wanted to remind you uh not to forget about public comment yeah I won't I got you was it GNA be it thank you okay very good commissioner U follow yes uh I did have an opportunity to do a little further looking up uh our is pretty popular in a lot of places uh it seems like it's a is as you said looks like it's a social thing uh I guess he sees it correct me if I'm wrong as just an additional thing to attract people especially if you're the first one in the community to have it I do appreciate no tobacco however and so um it's just like an an extra thing to try to attract people uh people apparently do it all around the world as i' as I've looked

now and some people it's a a regular kind of like a happy hour thing that they go to as a as a group um sometimes it's uh relatives and appar sometimes it's bus it's like a happy hour after business people go and eat and drink and hookah the hookah life as you said I guess I'm just not familiar with it but I guess anything new in the city that's not harmful to the city um I think we probably should consider that's just my com Mr chair yes thank you commissioner rice I'm just puzzled with the draw on it I'm just trying to figure this out I mean we go and gather and we have a drink okay we're going to get a buzz we eat some food we get the nourishment what's the difference between this hookah club and a a policy club or a book going to the library and reading together what draws people to want to do hookah people one question before I go there does it have any nicro tee the one I'm getting doesn't have nicotine no so what's the Crave what's the drive that makes them want to come do this people just like to vape a lot of young people they love to vape that's just it is it just the motion of vaping it's just the feeling and blowing it in the air and just that's just it yeah they like it it brings they they like it you I like it on the inhale the exhale what's the I mean it's it's just thing people do so I'm just yes what part of that mean that's what it is why you do it why get together in a group of people we're going to have 50 of Us come in and suck in air and blow out air flavored flavored this just you know what a lot of young people do it they love they love to do it makes them happy it brings them together to hang out some people don't like to drink so they like to do hookah

so okay I guess my parents couldn't make a lot of sense out of what we did either I guess well I guess I guess uh commissioner rice you have to you have to try it you have I'll go with you hey I don't know if you want to go with him all right ladies and Gentlemen please okay commissioner Trey hos yeah a couple of questions 20 to $40 how long does that last how many UPS inhale exhale does that get you so with the hook I'm I'm getting it can be set you know I don't have really I have to figure out that you know the logistic but I can set me for 30 minutes for $20 for 40 minutes for for $30 you know I have to set it um that's how I'm going to go about that but I'm not you know I'm not I'm not there yet okay I'm sorry I didn't understand how much my question is what does $20 get you what does $30 get you what does $40 get you so $20 can get you maybe 30 minutes $40 can maybe get you an hour something like that okay so it's a time limit it's a time limit yes okay so I like the strawberry flavored E Liquid so I I pay you $20 for that so that's like 30 minutes and I like it so much that that I can pay another 20 and another 20 it's a little bit more expensive than alcohol right I don't know what alcohol runs nowadays but it sounds like it's a little bit more expensive than Al alol right uh almost the same yeah almost the same okay and I I'm sort of piggybacking on what commissioner rice is saying what is what makes it does it make you feel euphoric like no there's no there's no such feelings no doesn't make you high doesn't make you feel any type of way just I guess people just like it it's

just a thing people just love to vape makes them happy guess okay well I know what who I mean I know hookah has been around for years in the Middle East and India and all of that and came over here um I don't understand it it but I but thank you for enlightening us okay commissioner Shaw Williams any I have no further comments or question okay thank you very much sir at this particular time we' like to open it up for the general public to either for or against this particular project if you can give us your reasoning go to the mic give us your name seeing hearing none we're going to close this segment and at this particular time uh I'm just I've I've heard all the comments in regards to this particular hookah um I'm not familiar with it I don't know how a a particular Club can um go into business and then say that we need this to survive um I understand that when you open up a club you have a um alcohol license and that alcohol license would actually get you more clients to come in you you're serving you're serving food and alcohol and your Club is thriving um but then all of a sudden you tell us or you tell me or you tell the Commissioners that you can't survive without it so I'm kind of I'm kind of puzzled behind that but at this particular point my I'm not my recommendations is is declining it that's my recommendations but I need to have a motion on the floor I'll make a

motion Mr chair uh I move to affirm the categorial exemption EA a c2025 001 and adopt the resolution approving s24 d00 027 with the conditions that are outlined and a one-year review as indicated second has been properly moved in second we call for any questions hearing none we'll call for a vote commissioner fer I commissioner rice I commissioner tryo I'm not convinced that it's safe so I'm going to vote no commissioner Shaw Williams I chairman Springs no Mr um Mumbo chairman um anyone May appeal this matter in accordance um with the IMC anyone May appeal this matter within 20 days of the notice of decision um by way of a written appeal and an appeal fee of $571 thank you okay Madam Secretary please item 6A a non-public hearing to consider an application by real estate Development Services Group for final track map number air rights for the development of five units two and 1 half story town home style condominiums on an approximately 8,000 8,6 square foot R3 zone property at 419 South Eucalyptus Avenue uh chairman the file is present

and um there is no requirement for notice um however I just would like to make a quick note prior to um and Christine um is ailable for questions and a short presentation but in Li of that um this item came before before this body and was recommended to the city council for approval of the T the vesting tenative map um and so the process of the final map and your recommendation is PR primarily a formality the the structure is built um it's finaled the CFO has been issued and so um I know we continued this item last time because the applicant wasn't here but quite frankly um I don't know other than any maybe any additional questions that you may have for the applicant it's not necess not necessary um for them to um to be here if there aren't any substantive questions that you may have for them um Christine's available to do a presentation if you would like but she's also available to maybe answer some questions that you may have okay um Mr M I like to find out from my Commissioners are they familiar with this particular and do you have any questions if not I have no questions for the applicant no questions for the applicant no questions no no questions okay we have no questions very good so we'll just go ahead and we'll go through the voting process now so is there a motion on the floor motion I recommend that the Planning Commission adopt the resolution recommending approval of FTM

[Music] hi uh chairman your recommendation will be forwarded to the city council for their approval of this uh final track map in item 6B a non-public hearing to consider an application by Vlad aranan to allow the construction of a new approximately 28,700 ft four-story medical office building on an approximately 21,900 square foot C2 art Deco Zone at 320-326 West Manchester Boulevard chairman the fou is present and notice is not required for design review assistant planner Shawn may is available to do a short staff presentation good evening chairman Springs and members of the commission the subject site for the design review is located at 3200 West Manchester Boulevard and has a commercial General has a commercial General plan designation the subject site is located on the south side of Manchester Boulevard between 10th and 11th Avenue with an alley just south of the subject site the properties to the North West

and East are commercial and the property to the South across the alley is residential the existing site contains a vacant dilapidated commercial building and the parking lot is located on the east side of this building as shown behind me the applicant proposes to remove the existing vacant building and construct a new four-story medical office building with a basketball court and play area the applicant proposes uses within the building that include Child Care Medical Offices retail co-working areas and a rooftop deck area area the proposed design contains 23 on-site parking stalls in the lot AB budding Manchester Boulevard and 15 off-site spaces located across the alley there is vehicular access through a double driveway along Manchester Boulevard and the alley to the South with building access from Manchester and from the parking lots the applicant oh sorry the applicant is utilizing assembly Bill 2097 which prohibits the city from infor enforcing minimum parking requirements however they are providing a total of 38 spaces the applicant is proposing a landscape buffer adjacent to Manchester composed of trees including Western red bud and the fruitless Olive and shrubs including Thumbelina leay gray Selina dwarf Coast Rosemary Santa Barbara sage and cats claw the parking lot edges are proposed to be landscaped with a blended mix of cats claw Santa Barbara sage and pink

G the proposed design complies with the art deco overlay by including a flat parit roof line that is rounded at the corner of Manchester and 10th Avenue a white Plaster finish with gray accents and wood sighting provides contrasting colors and material finishes a tower element is integrated into the building over the main entrance and Landscaping Planters are pro provide an aesthetic buffer for the on-site parking the East facade maintains the same contrasting material and motifs and emphasize the rounded Corner element which are seen at the right of this picture the West facade maintains the same architectural treatments and further further utilizes a tower element highlighting the interior staircase as shown in the middle findings have been made that the project is in accordance with the design review standards and as condition the proposed project will serve as an enhancement to its neighborhood setting and will be compatible with the surrounding area uses the proposed project is consistent with the land use element and the energy and climate action plan the project is exempt from further environmental review this concludes my presentation and I'm available to answer any questions the commission might have the applicant is also here to answer any questions okay thank you we're going to open up for questions for you we'll start with uh commissioner fer thank you Mr chair um my first question has to do with I didn't here you mentioned the rooftop deck area which they say they have a bar there's a bar area there um that's what's listed on the plans uh the

main idea behind a space like that is there's many nonprofits within the building if they have some sort of fundraiser or some sort of event where people would come that's the area um that people would have it it would be for people within the building um to utilize yeah I'm just struggling with medical and a bar and then uh I'll talk to the applicant because you're saying a child care facility too so I'm like okay this ought to be an interesting story that's all I have for you sir thank you commissioner rice I'm not going to mess with perfection you did an excellent job here thank you commissioner tro I do like the the art deco design um very nice um and certainly a lot better than what is there now so as far as the design review I do like it thank you commissioner sha Williams I'll reserve my questions for the applicant okay um the only question that I have is uh the the building being four stories that's one of my concerns and I I'll talk to the applicant about that but I I want to make sure that when you have a building that tall do you take away from the actual residential area uh I do know on the north side of Manchester there's a three-story building and that's strictly a commercial area but if you go on the south side of Manchester on Manchester that alley coming north is commercial going south is residential so when you when you put a building up and you put a building up that big the residents have they come out of their house or they come out of their driveway way and they see this monstrosity of a building so I have questions about that will it be I'm sure

I'm asked the applicant is there any way that we can tone it down um I don't I don't know this is the first district in the first district you it's primarily made of residents r1s um and Manchester is actually a commercial zoning but you have that alley there I did I did look at it and it did say something about a basketball court who's the basketball court for not for the residents is it or is it for the doctors who are I'm not understanding I I think that's a I think that's something to throw us off but um I'll hear from the uh applicant on that really quickly if I may um just to to respond to a couple things the first thing um commissioner Fowler just as a point of of note um this is not a use permit application I know you were concerned about kind of the possibility of the use on the rooftop and things of that nature um we we do discuss business operations as a part as more of an in informational um note but the item up for vote tonight is more related to the um architectural design um I know you're aware of that but I just wanted to make that note I know sometimes we um com conflict the the the operation and the the what we're here for um and also um chairman the building is within the um required and allowed um height limits from the of the the C2 Zone um and the um building orientation provides additional setback where the playground area is in the

basketball court which which along with the alley and the parking lot um directly behind it provide a pretty substantial um uh setback of the four story structure um as it relates to the residential to the the south of the building so um just just to keep that in mind as you're looking you know I know that you know I know know that you drove the area but it's it's it's a it's a commercial Corridor and that area is going to change um the buildings are going to start to go up and they're going to be be taller we're in the process of getting ready to start our general Plan update and and so we're going to be looking at these corridors and evaluating them um and so that's that's something that you know um the the residents in that Community probably may not have thought about when they purchased the property but they're they're so close to a major Corridor that you know the zoning allows for for that height and so we're I think I think it was designed responsibly to try to limit the impact of the residential community directly behind it so just wanted to make that point okay I'm I'm going elaborate I'm going comment on that statement you just made about when they purchased those properties they a lot of those residents purchased those properties over 20 30 years ago so at that particular point at that time time it was completely different than it is today I understand about the Manchester being a commercial Corridor I do understand that my that's not my point my point is it being such a large building there aren't any large buildings in that particular area the building that's the largest is across the street that's three stories I drove the area sir that's and there is an alley

there so and there is a couple apartment building means a Triplex a fourplex but it's only two stories and then if you go south of that they're all single families so I'm not you know I'm just concerned about the residents in the area and what their concerns are when they come out of their driveway and see this building that's my concern sir understood okay if the applicant is here I'd like to hear from the applicant and why is why you want to put this building here give us your name and tell us about your project hi commission my name is uh Vlad um our firm is actually working on the design and please talk to the mic hi everyone um my name is Vlad our firm is the one that's working on the design and here with us we have we also have some uh representatives from the nonprofit that's going to be occupying the building um just a couple of clarification items I want to make um it is not necessarily a four-story building it's it's three and a half um the rooftop of the third floor only has conference rooms and the rooftop deck so it it's it's a little bit ambiguous whether or not this would be on the top of the fourth floor it's not the rooftop deck will be on the top of the third floor so that's just a point I would like to make and I just wanted to emphasize one item that was also raised is from the setback of the building we have that basketball landscape area then we have an alley and then behind the alley we also have a parking area so

from where the residential portion um meets our building we have approximately about 70 75 ft of separation um and the rooftop portion of our our building is only going to be about 40 feet high So proportionally speaking we took that into account when we were um designing this and we are conscientious of the neighborhood we don't want to come in and and impose ourselves we have reached out to several of the neighbors they they they do love the project they do welcome it I mean considering what's there now what we're bringing in it it it's going to add a lot of value to the uh community and one last point I want want to make is the rooftop portion of this building is conference room and deck it's not going to be occupied uh good portion of the time it's going to serve as a conference area if there's any potential uh people wanting to come and invest into the nonprofits we would have sort of meetings on the rooftop deck and any of the staff of the building if they want to take a break lunch break they're going to go on the rooftop for a lunch break it's not something that's uh going to be occupied throughout the day very minimally invasive and um taken into account when we're designing this before we get we get started you just indicated that you spoke to the community you spoke to the residents in that District in regards to your project is that what you're telling me correct correct the CEO um has has made efforts to reach out to the neighbors uh AB budding there's there's a meat market next door um we got to got to kind of collaborate with our neighbors it's going to be an ongoing process with the design hopefully once we get into construction we want to make sure um they know who we are what we are proposing and so far we've gotten nothing but but excitement from the the

neighbors directly joining us and across the alley okay you said you spoke to the meat market correct neighbor I spoke with the owner of the meat market oh I'm TOA sorry I'm TOA Phillips I'm the CEO of clar's Health which is the main nonprofit that is behind this so that's a commercial building that me market so he's not he does he live there I'm I'm kind of confused sorry no I wi it so right now I went and spoke with the meat market because they have several sheds that are up along the side of our building and so I went in there to introduce myself and talk to them and tell them what we were proposing and um everyone buying meat in the market so I met several of the neighbors and then there is a house that is directly behind the alley we've met with the owner of that house to talk to him and and he said he's been spreading word in the neighborhood so yes but nothing uh like a town hall meeting where you talk to the residents in that particular area not yet no we haven't done that yet no very good okay any anyone else hello my name is Kevin drka I'm a volunteer and the project manager this hey Sean could you could you put that Northern facade up from Manchester and take a look at this three story so as you can see from that facade this is about the angle that you would see from across the street in Manchester and it's clear that this is really a thre story scale or what Vlad said a three and a half so the the massing of this building along with the setbacks in the in the back that Sean and Vlad explained we're being very considerate of the surrounding uses so effectively we have

setbacks exceeding anything in your code and of and as Sean and Vlad said I think we have a 75 foot height limit yeah so we're well under that too so we're trying to be very considerate here for the surrounding uses thank you okay we're going to open up some more questions for you we're going to start off with our commissioners we'll start off with commissioner fer you have any questions please uh yes Mr chair thank you um I'm sorry I I didn't hear the exact name of the the nonprofit Claris Health ClariS ClariS Health spell that CL a r i s oh just like it sounds yes CL s and so it's a I know I read there was a medical facility so what types of services are you going to be having there yeah so Claris currently we do medical mental health and support services primarily for pregnant women and and families with kids under the age of five we are um going to be bringing in other nonprofits that do additional services for example shields for families they work with substance use Behavioral Health um employment navigation they will be joining us Choice Health another nonprofit that does Pediatrics we have a nonprofit that is coming in that helps with insurance navigation so it'll be a collaborative of nonprofits Under One Roof serving the community primarily with an emphasis on families with small children and so to answer the qu some of the questions about the bar that not sure where the term came from but really what it is is just a countertop so if we once struggle that nonprofits faces anytime we want to do a smaller event the um venues that you would rent are pretty cost prohibitive so we want to be able to have smaller events where catering would be brought in so yeah there will be no no retail living on the

the rooftop and then the basketball court is simply for some of our youth programs so we it won't be open to the community but if a nonprofit during covid we started doing some small basketball camps at Wilmington arms and Compton and so we have a few um parts of our nonprofit that would an extension that would do that and the child care is only what we're trying to do is eliminate a lot of the barriers that people face in getting access or getting access to health care so we will have free drop in child care while parents are accessing service on the site so it's not a daycare that's open to the public we want people to be able to come and have a therapy session without their 2-year-old in the room and so it'll be free drop in child care for up to two hours while you're on the property what do you see as your hours of operation regular hours Monday through Friday um there may be an occasional um we have a a few nonprofits that are interested in joining that do some evening classes but it'll Mo most of the tenants will be 9 to 5 Monday through Friday and uh no weekend likely no there may be one or two that would do weekend events but but most of them will not be there on the weekend okay thank you that satisfies my questions Mr chair commissioner rice at this time we looking at this your project for design review um wanted to find out from sta if this project will be coming back before our body for operations was a medical use or is it by right uh medical is by right there um so if it's just simply medical then no it would not come back and the psychiatric treatment that's all medical as proposed

yes 500 foot notice radius has been issued on this project and this is not a public hearing so so at any point will it be public hearing as to what's going to happen with this project is it's going to go to permit some licensing and not come back for us as as as long as the uses that are proposed um and that are licensed um through their business tax registration remain um by right General Medical um pediatric treatment um things of that nature um small group counseling um then it would not come before this body um should any event in the event that the uses um do require special use permit approval then that's when we would come back before you V I'm going to uh have a conversation with you with reference to distance um from the front of this di to that column is about 20 ft so every 20 feet or so approximately you have a story going up if it were four stories so that would be almost 80 ft distance between the alley and they propos building that you're putting up so that distance correct um on the elevations we're showing we're showing to the very top of that third floor it's 42 feet no no extending out from the property line to the alley going south property line to the alley we have show 63 ft I think it was here I don't know if the mic's not working it's uh 32 from the building to the

alley then the alley and then there's an additional I believe 40 ft um of that lot right there about 70 70 and then that's not including the alley okay that's a 20 foot alley so we got close to 100 feet including the alley it's 100t close to so that's like from the front of this Das to across the street before we you would start to see an elevation across the no no no I'm talking about literally across the street from this dice where we're sitting to the street behind City Hall yeah that would give you 100 feet before an elevation I'm just trying to help uh the members here on the Das to understand the distance you would have buffering between the first residents and before you would start to see the building going vertical okay oh I'm sorry um if you're looking at the diagram um just beneath the Alley we're going to have an open parking which is about 40 ft and then we have a 20ft alley and then we have about 32 ft of basketball playground area for the kids so in total we are looking at about 60 90 something feet 90 95 feet from where the first residence begins just south of this to where our building begins and we're proposing about 42 feet in height so I'm just trying to help members of the DI to understand what that distance actually represents what it might really look like from here to the street how far that actually is it's not like you're putting up a structure right here 40 feet high next to my house okay thank you Mr Price thank you thank you commissioner so a good way to look at it is the height of this building is about half the distance of what the distance

from the building is to the residential area um so it it's it's it's well thought of to make sure we're not like projecting ourselves into the residential neighborhood and we we laid the side out taking all that into account and to be able to provide parking as well so it it's not going to be uh imposing into the uh residential neighborhoods just south of this Commissioners trios like I said previously I re I I really like the art deco design um the commercial quar Corridor is changing and will be changing some more and I think this is a good start on putting up uh a building that that fits into the neighborhood now and in the future I think it'll create uh an Ambience that will be followed by other developers that surely are coming in um so again I do like the design uh a wonderful Improvement to what is there and a good precedent for other buildings to come in thank you commissioner Shaw Williams hi thank you um I too had some concerns like uh chairman Springs with regards to height but once it was explained by Mr mccum and uh with the help of our commissioner rice uh it helps me visualize how this will actually come about and I'm glad it is only three and a half um how many bathrooms will you have um currently every single floor is

offering uh bathroom facilities we have U male and female restrooms and also on the first floor um we're providing a uh unisex restroom as well okay and I do I actually really do like the uh the design it's a modern uh Deco art kind of a design it's really nice um I have no further questions thank you okay my question has has to do with the parking is what's the required parking for this uh due to AB 2097 there's no required parking um they I think they indicated that they have 38 slots is that correct yes they are providing voluntarily providing the 38 would that be enough for your employees and your staff and your Staffing correct we took into account uh uh Staffing and and and a lot of the people who are be frequenting the building are are low income they're probably going to be taking public transit so we we took kind of everything into account and made sure we provided enough parking for um people frequenting the building and also the staff I have no other questions uh I thank you commissioner rice for explaining that I my vision was completely different however I'm still adamant about tall buildings in the community so so at this particular point this by being a non-public hearing we there's no no information from the community so is there any final questions uh yes I do have a final question uh you did mention that there was uh a lot of conference space are you planning to uh rent that space or make that space

available to uh either other entities or we we might make that available to other there will be certain nonprofits that will be tenants in the building and then others who can use space so we'll have a little multi-tenant space on the top the the primary goal is nonprofits that need the space but there could be a a chance that we could rent a conference room to a a non nonprofit in the community yeah that's just something that would probably space is hard to have in this community so that's a that would be a good reason to help the community if you could and they don't mind paying but uh I hear the nonprofit so thank you for that I do like the building I do like the the decor it's certainly uh 200% better than what's there so um it would be in district one so um I do believe uh if you spoken to the community at least the person right next door because it's pretty much like you said it's commercial along that little area except for that house that is right there which he was concerned about which would be true so um I could understand they've been looking at a vacant space so anything probably would be a better space for them so thank you very much I have no further questions Mr chair or comments commissioner rice no further questions chairman commission tro no further questions thank you commissioner Shaw Williams no further questions thank you okay if there's no further questions is there a motion on the floor please yes Mr chair uh I make a motion to affirm the categorical exemption EA c2025 D21 and adopt the resolution approving dr24 0065

second it's been properly moved in second we call for any questions hearing none we'll call for a vote commissioner Fowler hi commissioner rice I commissioner tryo hi commissioner Shaw Williams hi chairman Springs I Mr mumo chairman in accordance with the IMC the applicant May appeal this decision within 10 days of the notice of the decision um with with a by way of a written appeal along with an appeal fee of $389 okay thank you okay at this particular Point we' like to open it up for anyone who would like to talk to the Commission in regards to anything in their particular area you can do so at this particular time hearing seeing none we're going to close that segment and we're going to have our commissioners initiatives we're going to start off commissioner fer thank you Mr chair I just want to wish uh Happy women's history month and on March 8th is women's International Day so uh ladies enjoy they don't give us that many days take advantage of them um it's been um a very good uh month this month we had a lot of uh recycling so I'm happy about that uh I will share with you my concern on a tower I did share this with Chris that is being installed right there at kensaw

in the bend in 8th Avenue and the installer said to me oh no the city didn't require us to cover it up and so I said really so I'm hoping that we'll be looking into that that is a concern and it is not a pretty picture uh where is that um right uh you know where big fish is right there on the eighth and uh cron in the bin there okay actually it's closer to what's that the other end the pizza place it's in that little circle huh supp it's a beauty supply and then there's something else right after I think it's a pizza c yeah used to be curves it's right there okay they're installing it's a tower yeah they install you know like a wireless telecommunication facility right right and it is ugly it is ugly so I would like that taken care of for the residents of district one because while those that little strip is commercial it's all residential right there could you explain that again commissioner far because I think we did approve that um that Tower that's there but to be covered no they didn't they didn't want to cover it they they decide why would we leave that ugly facility there when we cover we make everybody else since I've been here cover I do remember that yeah we'll we'll look into it yes thank you yeah that's it for me thank you sir M rice no initiative shair you say none you're leaving us turn

Trail yes um I'm going to bring up again the uh the gas station vacant gas station at uh inkle Wood Avenue and um Sentry Boulevard that they had put a fence around it uh I guess with the winds we had recently the whole fence came down at least two days ago when I passed by there the whole fence has come down and there had been there is a car there that I guess they had been they had broken into so there's trash and old rags around it and that fence has to go back up because it is going to be uh an attraction for people that want to make a mess we we will alert code enforcement and it'll be taken care of great thank you commissioner Shaw Williams I just have a question with regards to the um car wash on Imperial near kensaw or Yukon no actually it's lolle cron lolle we had approved uh for that uh Carwash to go through a revamp and I was just curious if anyone knew what the status was on that um to date we haven't received any site plan review applications but we will follow up with the applicant to see what their timeline is um what their development timeline is okay thank you I have some uh concerns about the an area on Century at I believe it's Yukon and when you're going east there's a large hump in the road on centy so when you cross it you're going to you probably throw your alignment

off that's at Sentry going east at Yukon another one going east on Manchester as you cross Fifth Avenue there's a large hump in the street and when you cross it if you had say you had a cup of coffee on your dashboard trust me it'll fall off so it was a like a pothole not a pothole it's a it actually runs the from all three lanes from all two lanes it runs across north and south on Manchester and north and south on centry what what's the the the second one so so I got centry and Yukon C Yukon Manchester and uh Fifth Avenue is a buckle yes thank you both of them are buckles okay I will uh alert Public Works and we'll look into it okay and lastly um we're working on our water our water lines in the city in the first district and from what I understand it's a year project year and a half project so what they're doing is they're working on on the water lines putting in new water lines from the main all the way to the to the meter so if you're driving down one of the Avenues from Manchester to centry uh you may have to take a detour I would recommend you take in the main streets rather than go through the neighborhood that way you will be able to go around the construction that they're doing and you won't be going through the the neighborhoods as well so try to avoid those areas if

possible thank you for that okay I have nothing else oh yes I do have something else we you and I had a conversation in regards to the September event and yes yes so um we we were supposed to be um in uh Santa Rosa this week um unfortunately we had some technical difficulties um however we will be um as a commission body attending the uh California APA conference in um September believe September 28th through October 1st um and so that is in Monteray um we've uh begun the process of um getting all of the necessary clearance es and uh registration opens up in a month or two if I'm not mistaken and so as soon as it opens we will be registered and um ready to attend and have a good time I think it's going to be a really um rewarding experience I know you you look forward to the planning Commissioners conference every year um but the California APA conference is um um I think you'll really enjoy sitting in on some of the sessions um and really kind of getting in uh a glimpse and into the life of a of a planner right and and and how we think and and being able to take some of that information that you got that you've gathered right and use it as a decision-making body to help um further um and help take Enga to the next level for lack of a better phrase and so I think it'll be a a a really good unique opportunity and experience and um I think commissioner fer was looking forward to some [Music] seafood so that's that's the plan so thank you for asking and once again we thank you for your flexibility and

understanding in us not being able to travel this week but we do have something planned special for you so we're excited about the September trip this meeting is journ thank you Mr chair thank you for