Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Thank you. Bye. do Thank you. Thank you.

Good evening. I'd like to officially call to order the Planning Commission meeting of September 3rd, 2026. Let the record reflect that Commissioner Fuentes is absent and all other commissioners are present. Commissioner Ludden, will you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? Thank you. We will start with presentations, and Director Gayle Ackerman will introduce the first item, please.

Yes, thank you. This evening, Principal Engineer Ravi Shah is here to provide this presentation.

Madam Commission Secretary, have we received any speaker cards for this item?

I have not received any. Thank you.

Good evening, commissioners. I'm here tonight to provide a brief update on the city's capital improvement program and highlight what we've delivered during the second quarter of 2026, what's under construction, and what is coming next. Starting with the big picture, our capital improvement program includes approximately 60 projects representing about 55 million in investment across the city. These cover a wide range of projects from parks and recreation to facilities. Let's start with what we've accomplished. Since our last update, we've completed two additional CIP projects. These projects, while small, are good examples of the type of improvements that improve the lives of our residents. The first was the Cityside Park restroom painting and renovation project, and the second was the annual citywide concrete trail repairs program. Both projects were completed in May and focused on maintaining existing recreational assets and keeping them safe, functional, and welcoming for residents. Since June of 2025, we've completed 17 other projects within the city that were previously highlighted in prior CIP updates. We've completed a total of 19 projects and invested approximately 10 and a half million within our community through our CIP program since June of 2025. And the best part is that the value of these investments goes beyond the dollar amount. These projects improve the places our residents drive, walk, exercise, play, and gather every day. So what's being built now? There is a lot of active projects underway with another 12 projects currently in construction. They represent the next wave of improvements residents will see throughout the city which I'll highlight on the next slides. The first is one of the most visible projects underway in the city. It's the El Toro Road corridor improvement project. Construction began in April and we've completed roadway widening at Geronimo Road, bus pads, sidewalk and curb ramp improvements. Currently raised medians are being installed between Geronimo and Tribuco and during this phase we're maintaining true travel lanes in each direction while the inside lanes are closed adjacent to the median. We recognize that projects of this scale create temporary impacts for drivers and the surrounding community. But when complete this project will provide long term improvements to the corridor. We appreciate the community's patience as we continue through construction. We're also making significant progress through the lift and program. Three major intersection projects noted in this slide have reached completion with the notice of completion approved by council in July. These projects improve the efficiency and safety at these intersections. Then we have the Bake-Tribuco intersection project, which is also substantially complete. Roadway widening, median improvements, and the final paving work are all complete. We're now in the final landscape maintenance period, providing another finished transportation improvement project for the community. We have a few other projects nearing the finish line, and while they may be small, they deliver meaningful everyday benefits. The fifth phase of our audible pedestrian signal program improves accessibility at additional intersections. The skate park LED lighting project provides improved and more energy efficient lighting at the facility. and the Lake Forest Sports Park HVAC replacement will improve comfort for residents visiting the sports park and recreation center building. While these projects have a smaller construction footprint, they directly improve the experience of residents using the facilities and services every single day. The next project is a good example of how we can be responsive to community needs while making smart use of existing city assets. At Foothill Ranch Community Park, we converted an existing roller hockey court into a dedicated box lacrosse facility. The project added the dasher boards, striping, benches, fencing, and goals needed. We were able to create a new recreational opportunity without building an entirely new facility. This is a great example of listening to the community, repurposing an existing asset, and delivering additional value from infrastructure we already own. So what's coming next? As we complete projects and move others through construction, we're simultaneously preparing the next group of projects for construction. We currently have nine projects in pre-construction. These are projects where we are preparing the project for advertisement. In our streets a significant portion of the upcoming work focuses on maintaining our pavement infrastructure. The city has awarded contracts for the Zone D and Civic Center slurry seal projects with construction beginning last month. Bake Parkway Regency and Normandale resurfacing projects have also been advertised. Pavement maintenance is one of the most visible and most important ways we protect the city's infrastructure. By maintaining streets before they deteriorate further, we can extend the pavement life and manage cost over the long term. Now beyond our street infrastructure, we're also advancing improvements at several of our parks, and we are also advertising our Civic Center exterior painting project in the coming months. Together, these projects continue the city's focus on maintaining and improving assets residents already use. The pipeline continues beyond pre-construction with six additional projects that are currently in design. This is an important part of the CIP process because design is where we turn the identified need into a buildable project. Within the park program, two of the projects currently in design are the Nature Park Trail Connection and Aliso Creek Drainage Repairs. These projects address both recreational connectivity and park infrastructure. On the street improvement side, we are working on the design for arterial wall enhancement in Southwest Lake Forest. And we have three intersection improvement projects funded through developer fees which are also under design. Finally, we have three projects entering the early design stage. This includes Kavanaugh Park, Lake Forest Sports Park renovations, and the Lake Forest Skate Park building improvements, which are all now moving forward into design. Kavanaugh Park's design contract was approved by council in July, and the Lake Forest Sports Park and Skate Park was approved in August. Staff has had kickoff meetings with the consultant teams to begin the design on all three projects. So in quick summary, here's where we stand today. Since June of 2025, we've completed 19 projects representing approximately $10.5 million in investment within the city. We currently have another 12 projects under construction, with nine moving toward construction, six in design, and three in pre-design. So while we have delivered 19 projects from our program, we still have another 30 projects actively moving forward. That's all I have. So thank you, and I'm happy to answer any questions you might have.

Yes, if you don't mind, Mr. Kerr. I have a few things for you, sir. I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name. Robbie Shaw. Robbie, nice to meet you, Robbie. I'm so thankful for Bake and Tribuco. I think I've had my two kids, and they're now almost in junior high since the time that started, but I'm glad we're finally getting to the finish line. I know coordinating with another governmental agency and SCE and all the details that come into that but it's finally there and I don't drive that way anymore because I got a new job in that time but you know when I do have to I'm glad it will be paved and I'm sure everyone else that drives it on a regular basis will enjoy it. I'm really happy to see that we are accessing CBDG funds for the audible street signals that was something that when I was on the traffic commission that was important and something that's continuing to be more accessible is great. Um, 11 suggestion or comment. I can show you a picture that someone reached out to me that lives over off of Peachwood in regards to the street slurry. Um, and I directed them to public works and gave them the website. But the a frame sign that was there show that the road was closed today to today with no hours, which kind of begs the question i have a photo of it it's like just tape that's over the time so they didn't know when they could park back on the street or when they couldn't so i think that's important maybe to address and doug i can send it to you if that would be helpful or you can take a look on it after this just to make sure that the residents don't have to go further to find it when it's that you know inconvenience for a nice street which they're happy for just don't know when they can park back on it of course and i'm really happy that kavanaugh park that's one area especially in that district that sometimes gets forgot about and that's a park that is important to the community especially in that area and does have a lot of complexity with it being close to the freeway but i know that is important to that area so i'm really glad to see that made it on the cip list so that's my comments thanks chair just a quick question so on the uh

improvements for the Normandale Regency area? You said that that's out to bid right now? That's correct. So timing-wise, when are we looking at the work being done?

Work being done would be probably first quarter of next year, first to second quarter of next year. We'd have to get the contractor on board, get through the contract, hopefully have the contractor start by the end of the year sometime.

And that includes the adjacent neighborhoods all around that area as well? In terms of Normandale and Regency?

It's just Normandale and Regency resurfacing and then Bake Parkway.

So the work that's been done relative to the fiber optics and the patching, that's not on the agenda yet too?

Not in that zone, no. This is addressing just a need for Normandale Regency to be resurfaced based on our pavement management program.

Do we have a timetable for the neighborhoods?

I don't recall what neighborhood or zone that is off the top of my head. Something I can take a look at and confirm.

Let's see.

It might be C. We can get back to you. That's fine. Yeah, we can get back to you. Thank you. Absolutely.

Thank you for the presentation. I do have a couple questions for you. El Toro Park, do you know any specifics on upgrades there? I know it's come up a couple times here in the present, not with you folks, not with you, excuse me, but as to what that's looking like from a timing standpoint, because there was a safety issue at one point that I had brought up.

I'll have Doug answer that one. Thank you. Doug Erdman, Director of Public Works. Currently, we do not have any plans for El Toro Park. If there's a maintenance issue there, could you please forward that to us and we'll get our maintenance department to look at it?

Absolutely. I had, there was a consultant in here not that long ago, I believe, speaking about the safety consultant. I apologize, I don't remember his name. And that was one of the parks that, that's on Los Alisos, I believe, correct? Yes. Yes. So that was one of the parks he says was being, had been reviewed and recommendations had been made for improvements from a safety standpoint.

Is that for SEPTED? I'll get with community development on that and we'll look into it.

That would be wonderful. Thank you. And then also, while you're there, I appreciate it. I spoke to you a few weeks ago, three or four weeks ago, about the Bake and Tribuco intersection. And I was curious if you'd had a chance to take a look at that.

We actually are. And Robbie's working on that. We're working with our striping consultant to revise some of the striping through the intersection to make it a little clearer. for the lane configurations. We're also clarifying one of the, we had a comment in council last week, or this week, regarding the bike lane on Trebeva Road. We're actually going to be striping that with the green paint for the conflict zone to hopefully address that issue that the resident brought up. But right now the green paint is on back order. So it's probably not going to happen until November. Yeah, so we're a couple of weeks away from getting the green paint down but we are gonna get the cat tracking through the intersection to address that lane issue.

That is amazing and I appreciate it. I went out in anticipation of that being an issue today and I took ten videos, ten cycles of the intersection and I did not see cars go into the correct lanes once. So I appreciate you doing that. Yeah, we'll be taking care of that shortly. Thank you so much.

Sure, go ahead. Great work on El Toro. I mean, I know people are, we all are kind of inconvenienced in taking alternate routes on there, but once it's done, it's going to look amazing. So great job on that. So looking forward to that work being done for many different reasons, but beautification is going to be a big deal.

Thank you.

Big improvement.

Thank you. One question really quickly. Still, I did not see anybody walk up. So I don't, are there any public comments that have been submitted on this item?

None received.

Wonderful. Thank you so much. Thank you both.

Thank you.

At this time, members of the public may address the Commission regarding matters not on the agenda and within the jurisdiction of the Planning Commission. Comments will be limited to three minutes. If you would like to make a comment, please fill out a speaker card and submit it to the Commission Secretary. When your name is called, please come to the podium and your three minutes will begin when the timer light turns green. When there is one minute remaining, the light will turn yellow, and when the time has expired, the light will turn red. Madam Commission Secretary, have we received any speaker cards for non-agendized items?

I have not received any for non-agendized items.

Wonderful. Thank you. It would be wonderful if we had some, too, just for the record, but that's all right. This is the time for the Commission to consider matters listed under the consent calendar. Madam Commission Secretary, have we received any speaker cards?

I have not received any.

All right. Do any commissioners wish to discuss this item, or is there a motion to approve the consent calendar?

I'll make a motion to approve the consent calendar.

I'll second. All right. Let's vote.

motion passes unanimously with commissioner fuentes absent wonderful thank you i will now open the public hearing for item three and director gail ackerman will you please introduce this item yes this evening item three is a use permit to establish and operate a 54 000 square foot indoor badminton facility and contract planner caden likens is here this evening to provide a report

Wonderful. Thank you. Have we received any speaker cards, Madam Commission Secretary?

None received.

All right. Thank you so much.

Please proceed. Good evening, Chair and members of the Commission. My name is Caden Likens, Contract Assistant Planner with Sagecrest Planning and Environmental, and I'm happy to present Use Permit for Royal Badminton Academy. The item requests to establish an indoor athletic facility located off of Commerce Center Drive at the Commerce Center Drive and Bake Parkway intersection. An indoor athletic facility is defined in the Lake Forest Municipal Code as an indoor facility for sports training and it may include supplementary food amenities like vending machines and snack bars. The site has a general plan designation of light industrial and is zoned high technology within the Pacific Commerce Center planned community. The use is subject to zoning regulations of indoor athletic facilities and requires a use permit approved by the Planning Commission. Royal Badminton Academy. is a training facility for badminton players of all levels to provide facilities for players to grow and learn on their own. They currently operate one other facility located in Sterling, Virginia. The proposal includes 28 badminton courts, one of which is a practice court in the front area of the business. The front area also consists of a check-in and sales desk near the main entrance. Badminton equipment storage rooms, restrooms, and offices for admin and coaches. There are also restroom facilities located in the Badminton court area. The applicant is proposing to operate seven days a week from 5 AM to midnight by court reservation only. All operations will remain indoors and there will be no tournaments proposed and hosted at the facility. Play type will include public recreation play, offered clinics, personalized coaching, and youth development programs. The proposed sales will be supplemental to badminton and will include things like rackets, racket tape, badminton apparel, et cetera. As mentioned, the site is in the light industrial general plan designation zone. While the proposed use is not a light industrial use, it is an indoor athletic facility and an office that will conduct all business within the existing building. The use will not create any additional noise, odor, glare, or other emissions incompatible with the surrounding uses. The city's general plan has policy which encourages the city to support healthy lifestyles among residents by increasing opportunity for a variety of regular physical activities for people of all ages. As such, the proposed use is consistent with the general plan. No exterior building modifications are proposed. The previous use of the building required 87 parking spaces and the proposed use will require one additional space totaling 88 parking spaces. as the code requires three spaces per court plus the spaces required for storage and office areas within the building. The applicant proposes an additional 31 parking spaces to better serve the building and the proposed use, increasing the total parking for the industrial park from 433 spaces to 464 parking spaces. And there will be a surplus of 52 parking spaces for the industrial park. The industrial park consists of light industrial businesses, including a self-storage facility, a file cabinet manufacturing company, a shipping and receiving company, and warehouse space. As mentioned, the proposed use will not create any adverse impacts to surrounding businesses. The traffic and parking analysis noted that the proposed athletic facility will increase daily trips to the site, but it will not negatively affect the circulation on or around the site. The analysis showed that nearby intersections will continue to operate at a satisfactory level of service. And in addition, the new parking spaces proposed will be located in areas to better serve the business. Staff recommends that the Planning Commission find the project categorically exempt from CEQA and adopt the draft resolution approving the use permit with the recommended conditions of approval. In addition, provided to you all is a memorandum which states that on a routine site visit conducted by staff prior to the public hearing, staff observed that the business was in operation. Staff immediately informed the applicant who stated that they will terminate all operation. and they disabled all functionality for reservation and usage on their city website until formally and officially approved for operation and use. The applicant and property owner are present tonight, and I am also available for any questions the commission may have. That concludes my presentation. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you for your first presentation.

Well done. Madam Commission Secretary, here we go again. Have we received any comments from the public, comment cards, speaker cards from the public?

We only have the applicant and property owner, Afshin Rayal and Brad Kelly present.

Wonderful. Would you like to come up and speak? You're welcome to. You don't have to. It's okay.

Hi Mr. Chairman, hi everyone. Thank you for accepting us first of all. Okay, so that's somehow my dream come true and we have been searching for I can say six, seven years because I don't want just to have one badminton club here. I have 13 badminton clubs in Dubai, but we moved from Dubai to USA 11 years ago and I started in Sterling, Virginia. It was very successful and since 2017 I have been coaching the junior national team here. So I decided to find a place where there are talented players. And according to my research, this area has so many talented players because so many Asians and Indians love badminton and they have badminton in their blood. So many property owners didn't accept to let sports get their place and they said it doesn't work with us. And God blessed us with Mr. Kelly. And because he has his own sports facility, he said, I believe in that. And I'm very sure you can be successful. And one of the reason I started making this place is my family and my daughter. Because around two years ago, I asked her, What is your wish? Because she was fighting with the brain tumor and the cancer. She said, the single wish I have, I want to have our own badminton club, the place we live. So that's why I was searching the last six, seven years, and God blessed us with this place. Anyway, The way I want to manage this, first of all, this is one of the biggest badminton club in the country. This is second biggest badminton club in the country, and strongly I can say the most luxurious badminton club in the world. I spend almost 4.3 million so far, and since I coached the junior national team, I can say around eight, nine families, they moved from other states to Lake Forest area to get coaching from us. And I'm very sure we will get so many good players and Olympians. Before Olympic, LA Olympic, Many teams, they want to come and practice here. Now Malaysia national team and Korea national team ask us to let us use the facility. So as I said, that's Olympic standard and I'm so happy we have that in the city of Lake Forest.

That's wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. Do you mind staying up there for a second in case anybody has questions? Is that okay? They'll all be Commissioners, any questions?

I have one. Hey, sir, just to cut to the chase. When did you guys start opening and having people come in?

Okay, great. We supposed, actually, according the information which I got from my agent, we supposed to open on April, but we got the... Key, almost July. We never started operating officially, but what we did since I coached the junior national team, I asked a few Olympians and high-level coaches to come and test the club. because the lighting is very important, the flooring is very important and even still we are working on the site. We have scissor lift, we dim the lights many times and we asked many different players to come and try that. Even we were trying our online system and we never and ever operated like officially. So what we are doing now, we definitely need another two, three months improvement because many people will come and check and they give us comments and according to my experience, It takes time, maybe another four or five months, but because I don't have any partners and I'm not financially that strong and I have to pay the rent, I'm just testing everything and we hope after getting green light from the city, we start the operation.

So when did you post that you have $10 opportunities in the morning? How long has that been operating?

OK. Actually, we announced that last week. Even yesterday, we had a few people came for free just to see the club, and we didn't charge them. But yes, for the morning, which is not busy, we offered $10. From 3 to 4.30, we have free access for students, high schoolers or middle schoolers. And in the evening is the best time for us to make money. Even some coaches, they came and tried. They wanted to see if their students like to come here because they need to drive from Costa Mesa and other places too. so just a few weeks is that what i'm hearing we haven't finished even our yeah it's um okay still the caesar lift is there i mean it's not like we tried to finish the operation um as soon as possible but as i said still the work is on do you recall understanding that you're not able to operate until it was through the planning process definitely do you remember that being said

Sorry? Do you recall that being said through the process, though, when you came to talk to staff and you started the planning process and all this?

So the day before yesterday, even they called me, but I told them immediately we shut down the website. And even if you see, for example, we were testing that way, 27 courts we have. No, I understand. If you see like three.

Yeah. No, I understand. You don't need to justify that. I was just asking for the specifics. I appreciate it. Chair, go ahead.

No, I didn't mean to cut you off. I do want to feel free to resume. I have a question about the process, and that is we have a business who's coming into the city. They've rented the building, if I'm not mistaken, correct? There's some type of improvements that are going on. What is the process for that with the city when a gentleman such as this is coming in and is opening this business and there's a use permit required? At what point is that communicated to the business owner? That's my question.

To use a case example. Can we use this one as an example? Sure. So the applicant comes in and asks about a location. The planners will meet with them first and indicate that there is entitlement of a use permit in this particular case with the zoning requirement. They are given the paperwork and told that they need to obtain a use permit prior to operating. In this particular case, we had started the entitlement process, but then upon a site visit just this past week, noticed that it was under operation. So it's not for a lack of indicating that the Approvals need to be obtained upfront from the first time they come in. City doesn't have a business license requirement, but we tell them as soon as they come in for that first inquiry.

Okay, thank you very much. I just had questions for staff, but I don't know if you guys wanted to see if anybody else had questions for the applicant, however you want to run it.

Let's do it that way then. Yeah, if you have no more questions for the applicant, correct? Okay, go ahead, please, yes.

It sounds to me like you're going to have a fair number of people in the evenings. Is that going to be your busiest operating time?

Yeah, the peak hour I can say is between 7 to 10 p.m.

So basically some of your parking calculation is based on the fact that probably most of the normal daytime tenants won't be there when you require the parking. Is that correct?

Exactly. So actually, according to my experience with the other clubs, most of the offices around, they leave at five o'clock. But the best thing is in this building, we have almost 50 extra parking. And according to what he said, now just we added 31 more parking. So I don't think we face any problem.

I guess my question is, if you're dealing with young people, are they bringing them in and the parents dropping them off and then leaving?

Yeah, they do.

So basically, there could be a potential for some congestion towards the front of the building if you've got a bunch of parents dropping kids off.

Yeah, so because our classes will be two hours every session, 90% of the parents, they drop the kids and they leave. But we never faced any problem before with actually parking in other projects. This project is my first experience with 27 courts, and we hope we don't face any problem with that too.

I just know the office I used to have, we had a dance studio across the way, and when they started up at 5 o'clock in the afternoon, there were cars everywhere, and there were kids wandering around, and I was always concerned about the children's safety. That's probably the reason I'm bringing up this question, is what provisions do you have in your parking plan to make sure that the kids are safely, and they're not running around the parking lot interfering with cars or other things.

Yeah, that's absolutely, I understand. Yeah, you are right. But the best thing is this building is just single building. There is no other businesses around. And the place which people come, there is no other access for other buildings. So there is no car except parents or people who come to play.

How many employees do you typically have operating in the building at a time?

now we have two volunteers they are helping me to set up the items but i believe we will have six employees minimum okay thank you very much thank you commissioner grable

along the lines of just on the manner in which you opened so when when you originally signed the lease for this building was it disclosed to you that there was a a tenant improvement process including a conditional use permit through the city process at that time

Yeah.

And so was that the time that you inquired with staff to start that process back in, I think you said April?

Yeah, so we started, that was, sorry to say that, the most unlucky project I ever experienced. First of all, we started since November 2025, and I started working with Ver Malcolm. They changed six planners for me and they fired five and it was like shocking for me. I explained the project for everyone. I spend around $120,000 extra because they charge me every minute to explain the project to them.

So that's where Malcolm, the architect who was designing the TI improvements for the space. Yeah, exactly. So that was your consultant.

Yeah. And then I was really unlucky. And I spoke with the owner. He said, okay, you don't need to pay anything else from now on. I will take care of that. And then we had a challenge with LSA, who take care of the parking study, traffic study. The guy who was working on my project went out of the country for a month, and the others didn't know anything about that. And then everything was good. We submitted on February. But there were some differences, I mean changes we need to make. So we made all the changes in April. April when we submitted, where Malcolm by mistake they submitted the February one again. Mr. Ron Santos called me and said, I don't see any difference between February and April. We had so many meetings and all. So we changed it again, but it took another one and a half month. And when I submitted, Mr. Ron said, you know what? This LSA, again, didn't address exactly the way I want. I want to know how many parking is required and how many parking you guys have. So again, I said, okay, can you talk with that guy? So they spoke together. So everything worked. And then the day we wanted to submit that again, Mr. Ron got accident. So again, another one month delay. So very unlucky project, but we hope from now on goes well.

So that's the process that you took on your side with your consultants. Yeah. So I guess the question is, at what point did the CUP process break down? Not here at the city, but in you opening up and having actual visitors in the facility before it was final.

OK. As I explained, I don't want this comes misunderstanding for you. For a big project like that, We invited people. People came to see and even tried because they need to play to see the lights and how it's affecting. Trust me, day before yesterday we had a trash company to come and we unwrapped everything. We were not in business, but we were trying to attract people to come to see the facility and many people came.

So is that kind of like working the bugs out? sorry we're kind of working the bugs out working working through some of the issues that that could exist with lighting or yeah some spatial aspect to the to the space that they're playing yeah and so when city staff goes by and sees that activity going on was that the activity that can i ask the city staff i really respect the city and i want you respect you know what

what I did, and I'm investing a lot of money, time, and my entire life investment is in the city of Lake Forest. And I respect you from bottom of my heart, but can I get to know that information? How many people were there when the staff came?

So ask the staff that question.

I believe Kayden was doing the site visit, just one person.

I think he's asking how many people were in the facility other than, yeah.

I conducted my site visit on Tuesday. I peeked my head through an open door and I saw two courts in use, so about eight people.

Thank you. So the question is, was it operating yet or not? And I'm not sure that that's the main issue here as we're looking to either approve or deny the use, but just wanted to make sure that as far as the city process goes on the city side, that at least the city's house was in order and through some unfortunate circumstances that you're describing through the process of design, that if you were just testing the facility as part of that, that would be, to me, in my mind, that would be different than being in full operation. So I'm just trying to determine, you know, exactly to the extent that it was in operation or was it, like I said, working the kinks out of the space?

So we have many different groups. They play in Irvine and Lake Forest and even Chino Hills and all. So last two weeks, the head of the groups, they came with, you know, when we talk about 27 courts, it means 27 times 3 or 4. when eight players comes and just they're telling me so the day they came they told me they're like age 65 to 70 just they came to test and they told me a few things we need wooden court i said okay and they said, deem the lights. So we immediately deem the lights and I'm ordering the wooden floor. So the reason we did that because this project is big and I'm feeling like I save time as soon as possible to know what I should do because the company who is going to put the wooden floor It takes maybe one and a half months for them to give us time to come there. We don't want to waste time, and there are many reasons behind of that. First of all, we have LA Olympic, and we have a few Olympians. They want to practice here. We have our national team. I'm coaching the junior national team, and we have many tournaments for Pan Am and all. So we need to save time. But anyway, if you got me wrong, I really apologize for that.

Here's what we're actually concerned about. It's really not just this particular application. It's just in general as we're going through the CUP process with a lot of different uses, making sure that the applicant understands exactly what the parameters are for them to use the facility. So I guess in my mind, I'm trying to clarify that the people that you had that were observed playing on the courts Were part of essentially the design process not exactly not being fully operational exact that's that's my question so from your description. It would it would seem that the people that were playing there were actually just testing the facilities as opposed to being there using the facilities as as guests or customers yeah.

Can I say one more thing? Last one month, while we were working on the site and, you know, it takes really time. When I got the key till now, I can say we completed almost 70%. We have another 30% coming. Still, we are working on the site. But meanwhile, my team went to the schools. We gifted them the racket shuttlecock. So we are promoting this sport in schools and we even we gave them free access after getting the permission from three o'clock to 430 like after a school Program and we want to promote this sport. So trust me the time is very important for us So that's the reason we had to do everything as fast as we understand that so so the question is is are you having?

Customers coming in using the facilities free or paid customers as opposed to a group testing the facility for your design testing to validate the design that you have works for that?

So even for a few days, we were testing the system. Few people even booked the court. But immediately after getting to know, immediately we stopped that and we stopped people for, you know, booking the court.

Okay. So what I'm understanding here, what we're hearing here is that the city explains to you that there was a conditional use permit necessary in order to open. And I think what we're trying to drill down into And is that you were open and even if everybody was testing, if you were taking reservations, were those test reservations because you wanted to see if the system was working or were those actually live paying customers? That's, I think, where the differentiation is and what it is that we're looking at and asking the questions about.

Yeah. So even people could, we don't have still our platform for the payment. Even we got the credit card machine from US bank but it still is not activated. We were using easy facility before as our platform and we changed to courted. We are just checking like courted is working or not.

Okay. So what I'm hearing is you were doing testing of the reservation system, is that correct? You're testing everything, A to Z. Absolutely. Okay, perfect. Thank you. I know, Commissioner Villawalk, you had some questions for the city staff.

I just wanted to drill down on the parking just a little bit. I know they have a lot of it, which is kind of unusual that come before us. Oh, not for him. Sorry. Thank you very much. You said that earlier. This facility, because there's not a badminton facility in the parking requirements, just remind me which one Kate and the staff aligned it to? Is it indoor athletic facility?

Correct, yeah, this is defined in the parking tabulation and requirement table in the municipal code as an indoor athletic facility.

So is that different than elite training facility?

If I could interject, the parking standard was based on what we had in the code for a tennis court. So it was a per court standard. I believe it's three spaces per court and Caden can. So we don't have an indoor athletic facility standard, but we look for the closest one and badminton played with four players is most similar to a tennis court. So we look to the tennis court standard.

Do you recall, Gail, how we required the parking for the pickleball indoor facility?

No, I don't.

I actually referenced the pickleball and the table tennis facility recently approved, and it was also under the tennis court facility. And apologies for that mistake. It was the same. Okay.

Correct. All right. That qualifies. I have no more questions. Sure.

Wonderful. Give me one second. All right. I will now close the public hearing.

Well, Chair, we do also have the property owner, Brad Kelly, present. Oh, wonderful.

Would you like to speak? You're welcome to if you'd like. Absolutely.

Good evening. I'm here to answer questions if need be. I'm fully supportive of this. I've been in the indoor sports facility business myself. We had the largest indoor sports facility in the country for a long time. So I understand it, and I get it, and it's great for the community. That's wonderful. Thank you.

Any questions? I don't think so, but thanks. Can I close this public hearing now? All right, let's do it. Do I have a motion to consider approving the item as recommended by staff?

I have some comments on it, though. Oh, I apologize. I thought we did that. I apologize. Go ahead. Sorry, I just wanted to say after hearing this gentleman, I appreciate your investment in the city of Lake Forest and especially how long it takes to go through the process to operate. You know, it does seem like I personally believe you and the reason that you're not there making thousands of dollars before getting a use permit. I do know you have to test the facilities. I did check your reservation system when we were sitting up here and it is disabled so I appreciate that. I did see the $10 pay to play between 10 and three. I understand how long it takes but we do have to drill into this because we have to hold everyone to the same standard and treat everybody the same way that comes through this process because there are some people that abuse it unfortunately. I think it's very unique that Lake Forest is bringing pickleball and table tennis and badminton and everything else. I think it's really cool. I personally usually drill on the parking. This one I'm not concerned at all for. I think it's in a great area for it. I know there's a lot more things in Lake Forest that have parking clusters than what's going to happen with this. I think this is a great facility. I appreciate you reaching out to the youth in the community as well, probably to benefit your business, number one, and two, to introduce people to a sport that isn't really traditional here in the area. So I will be supportive of this project moving forward. I hope, for what it's worth, you maybe communicate a little bit better with staff, and we like to have good businesses that follow the rules here, and that's important to me. So that's all I have to say, and I'll be supportive of it.

I'll concur. I do support the project, but I am concerned that in the sense of public safety that you had all the proper permits approved and signed off, and I'm curious if you're changing the lighting and installing flooring and all this other stuff. Do you have building permits for all this stuff? For all these changes and modifications that are required?

All the things which we did doesn't need any permit. We didn't put anything like a screw on the floor. We didn't have any construction at all. And it was just flooring and dimming the lights. And we painted.

So you're using all the existing lighting and the existing air conditioning? Yes, exactly.

Just we dimmed that.

You just dimmed it. Yeah. Okay. I just wanted to be sure. Thank you.

Thank you.

No, I'm also supportive of this kind of use and this kind of facility, and it is great that we have indoor sports that seem to be attracted to our city here. So I am supportive from that standpoint. Also, too, I want to make sure that the city process is clearly spelled out for all applicants, yourself, but also anybody else that's coming in to do tenant improvements or any building of any sort. uh and that they're clearly understood it sounds like they they were there there were some uh glitches on your consultant side that added to the time frame it sounds like and i'm i'm very familiar with how that can happen uh and again as uh as the other commissioners have said uh stated we just want to make sure that our rules are clearly laid out and that our businesses are able to follow those and if there's ways that we can improve upon the city's end we're certainly willing to listen to that but we also want to make sure that everything is done in code compliance so it's safe for the public to use so with that i i'm also supportive of the application thank you i have a quick question

When they come to the city and they tell us that they're going to do this work and go through the planning process and they are notified about the conditional use permit, is it oral? Is it in writing? Do they walk away with something that says these are the next steps and what it is that you need to do?

Absolutely. Good question. We, in addition to posting them on our website, if someone were to meet with us in person, we give them a handout that does walk through. It's a how-to with the application and information step by step.

But not everybody needs a use permit.

Correct.

So in that, do they walk away with that that says you need a use permit?

Yes, they will have had a conversation with a planner who would tell them and then hand them the information.

that says they may need a use permit or they do need one?

For those that do, site development permit or a ministerial permit if it's a building permit only or corrections or hiring a licensed contractor, all of the above.

So it's in writing is the bottom line there. Correct. Awesome. Thank you so much. Just a couple of things really quickly. I am amazed that there are so many badminton players here to support a business like this, which I think is wonderful. My last question is, you said we were second in size, correct? Lake Forest would be the second largest, is that correct? Second largest in the country. Okay, in the country. How many more courts would we actually need in order to be the first largest?

The first one has 55 courts, but they never can compare that facility with our facility. As I said, the most luxurious badminton club in the world. I can strongly say that because the way we designed it is like people feel it's like home. It's wonderful.

Thank you.

And that's the first badminton club in Lake Forest City.

And there's 41 here? How many courts is this?

We have 27, 28 actually.

That's on the floor. The roof may be available. I don't know if that's within the planning requirements. You could open those up to get a little fresh air at the same time, and maybe we can be the largest. But anyway, thank you very much for everything you did tonight.

Thank you. Thank you for understanding. Thank you so much.

All righty. So now, do we have a motion to consider? Chair, since there was further testimony, we have to go back and close the public meeting. Let's do that, please. Thank you. Now, did you have something?

I'll make the motion. Oh, let's do it. I'll make a motion to approve staff's recommendation as presented.

I'll second. All right, let's vote.

The motion passes unanimously with Commissioner Fuentes absent.

Wonderful. Thank you and congratulations. Now is the time for the director's comments. Director Ackerman.

I have no comments this evening.

All right. City Attorney's comments. Any this evening?

No comments, but great to see everyone.

Thank you. Planning Commission comments. Jolene's not here, so I can start down here. Go ahead, if you'd like. Just to start with just a...

If anyone hasn't noticed yet, Costco is well underway. The demolition of the theater is in progress or nearly complete, and so that's exciting to see the Costco coming in. And then we also have a bulky item drop-off coming up on September 19th. Do we know where that is? Was it clear? Okay, it wasn't clear on the website. Is it? Okay, Saddleback Church. So that's it.

Wonderful, thank you. Commissioner Villawalk?

Yeah, I just wanted to thank everybody. Nice to meet you. Thanks for your work here. I really appreciated the comments from my colleagues up here, the concern for parking, the concern for following the rules, the concern for making sure that use permits are. I appreciate the growth in that area. Thank you.

Can we do this?

Is it okay?

Sure, let's do it. We have to open again? Is that what we need to do? No, we're good.

Yes, sir, go ahead. The third week of October, we are going to have grand opening. Hopefully, we set up everything. Just I wanted to know if I can invite commissioners or someone from city to join us because many other people come from other states too.

I have a question. I know that the Chamber of Commerce here in Lake Forest, there's a Chamber of Commerce here in Lake Forest. Have you reached out to them, or have they reached out to you?

I emailed them a few times, but no reply. So that's why I said maybe I can ask them.

I do know that they organize that through the city for ribbon cuttings and the likes, which this would qualify for. That would be wonderful. Great. Thank you. I know people will show up, absolutely.

think it's did you go nope there you go i'm very pleased that this facility is coming to lake forest i'm really happy too that we're seeing the landlords and the property developers look for new and creative ways to utilize the commercial property that we have we know that a lot of office space is not going to be needed in the future and it's just nice to see that landlords and developers are working to find new uses for those spaces and i think this is one of those examples of finding a new and creative uses for property that might otherwise not be used as well so I appreciate all that you're doing. I appreciate the staff for the work that you did on this project. I appreciate everyone's efforts in bringing something new and exciting to the lake forest.

Thank you, everybody. Thank you, everybody, this evening. It was exciting to be back. We took two months off. I think we weren't here in July and August. And to see everybody and have a good meeting tonight. And thank you very much to the applicant. And excited to know about badminton. and maybe we'll go try it at some point in time. So with that said, the meeting is adjourned, and our next regular meeting is scheduled for October 8, 2026. Thank you.