Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

father God we come to you today um with the Planning Commission ask that you uh watch over us give us a wise counsel today and ask that we do this for the better man of the community hopefully everybody's safe with the weather changing in Christ's name I pray amen if you join me please I pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America thank you may call excuse me roll call please chairman Vose here Vice chair Derry Barry is absent commissioner Burton is absent commissioner Loa here commissioner Moore present commissioner Cel and commissioner Underwood is absent we have a quorum all right thank you very much public business from the floor if anyone wishes to address the Planning Commission tonight on any agendized item we ask them to fill out a speaker's card at the rear of the chamber and give it to our assistant director here excuse me our director um and when that item is called which we only have one item tonight uh we will call upon you to offer your comments you're limited to 3 minutes each the applicant however uh May address the commission when the item is called uh if they choose they're not they don't have

to but uh oftentimes they will to share uh their project with us we only as I mentioned we only have one item or two items on the agenda the first item is the minutes of regular meeting of November 18th 2024 yes good afternoon chair of V members of the Planning Commission I am High new in planning manager one quick note uh when the PC packet was posted it left out a couple pages from the November PC so uh We've since fixed that and it is correct right now thank you all right thank you okay may I have a motion please on the minutes yeah just approve the minutes of November uh a motion to approve the minutes for November's meeting thank you that's second thank you anything further from anyone please vote motion passes 4 Z with three absent all right uh the next item is a new public hearing this is on conditional use permit 24-5 Miss Alvarado will be presenting on this item good evening chairman V and members of the Planning Commission my name is mits Alvarado and I am the case Planner on the project the item I have before you today is conditional use permit 24005 for the operation of a new cannabis and Retail delivery the applicant is ej2 Ventures LLC represented by zadic Marshall and his

team who are here to answer any questions after this presentation the project is located at 45248 Trevor Avenue North of Avenue I and is zoned heavy industrial it is surrounded by existing industrial uses as well this is the existing building and site conditions the applicant plans to utilize this building for his business operation the industrial building has been vacant for some time um and what's not fully seen from this uh picture here at this angle is the dilapidated shed and the existing side and rear uh chainlink fencing both of which will be improved or completely replaced the application does not include a request for a distance waiver to sensitive uses as there are no sensitive uses within 600 ft of the project site as shown here to the left additionally there are no retail cannabis locations within 1,00 ft of this property as shown on the right all legal notices for today's hearing have been distributed including notices to property owners and tenants within 500 ft the site plan shows the overall extent of the project which includes the 1800 foot existing industrial building and existing indust uh storage shed that will be demolished and the location for a new 168t trash enclosure that will be built to match the architectural style of the building there will be striping for five parking spaces proposed for customer parking against the South property line to include one adaa parking space at the front near the main entrance and one uh loading space at the rear of the building with this the parking improve um with all these parking improvements the uh project meets current code in addition enhanced landscape will be incorporated at the

front of the uh project site at the street side and as mentioned earlier they are replacing the chain link fencing with the required 6ot concrete block while at the southeast and North property lines um the existing decorative Iron Gate and fencing at the front will remain here's the proposed floor plan for the business operation the yellow star on the plan shows the location of the secure entrance into the retail buildings Lobby where visitors will be required to sign in and provide a valid form of government ID prior to entering the sales floor the red outline shown on the screen indicates the areas of the building that will be accessible to all customers such as the front lobby and retail sales area this slide shows the proposed facade improvements of the existing building with the applicant's business operation staff has worked with the applicant's architect on the elevations to include new architectural elements such as canopies over the entrances and trellis features there will also be brand new paint for the building in a two-tone combination of brown and neutral beige with cornicing details throughout all existing wiring meters and mechanical equipment currently visible on the building will be re relocated ated to the inter of the building painted or fully screened within the new proposed parit on the roof of the building the north elevation of this building AB buts the uh neighboring structures which won't require any improvements the applicant has agreed to make these improvements prior to occupancy retail operations would occur between 9:00 a.m. to 10: p.m. Monday through Sunday delivery operations would occur 6:00 a.m. to 10: p.m. also Mond through Sunday as stated previously there is no distance waiver needed or requested as a part of this proposal odor management would be achieved with

indust industry Standard carbon filters and the enforcement of on-site protocol regarding odor detection the project is conditioned such that detection of odor could result in revocation of the cup cannabis projects undergo a detailed staff review prior to public hearing a security and operations plan has been prepared for the site and has been reviewed by the city's staff and Lancaster Police Department security provisions on the site include a minimum of one security guard on-site at all times age verification prior to accessing the sales floor and a 1 to five customer to sales associate ratio on the sales floor there will be a maximum of 10 customers at once and indoor outdoor security cameras with secured alarm systems and limited access it's it's also important to note that the applicant is required to work with the city and Lancaster Police Department to provide any of this footage and information upon request in conclusion staff recommends that the Planning commi Commission adopt resolution 2501 approving cup 24005 to allow for cannabis retail and delivery myself and the applicant are available for any questions you may have thank you Miss Alo Auto um could you pull up the site plan that shows site circulation including the proposed parking yeah thanks and then the floor plan thereafter there may be a couple questions on that thanks uh for the record uh we have received from the applicant a um what's called an uncontested letter wherein the applicant is agreed to all the conditions of approval as recommended by

staff members any questions on this particular item you sure okay um you mentioned Miss Alvarado the um if I heard you correctly the security plan is has been reviewed or will be reviewed by um LPD it is it has been reviewed all right so if if the applicant or do we have any other speakers on this any speakers at all no speakers okay well I want I've got some questions from uh of the applicants so if they are here whomever would like to come forward and visit with us for a few minutes hang on we got to turn on the uh microphone so we can hear what you're saying good evening good evening um it's actually afternoon but I'm so used to having nighttime meetings it's always evening for me um thank you for agreeing um to all the conditions of approval that the staff is recommending that's correct right yes sir okay very good um I noticed there's a on the site plan there's a man gate up in the top left corner and then you have a a sliding gate for vehicular access so is it the intent of the operation to have both of

those points of entry and exit open all the time when you're in in operation uh no there will be one point of entry and one point of exit so which which which would be down uh as you slide down where you see the arrows pointing in and out there is a sliding uh no I've been to the site so I know it's there um the 20ft slider that's in there now um so it's the intent of your potential of your operation that your customers then come through the driveway gate walk in that way uh yes there well there's an entry gate if uh correct me if is there an there's an entry gate uh where the customers can walk off of the street into the uh retail and park on the front in the in front of the location okay uh because there is adequate parking out front uh and then they can drive there's five parking spaces to drive into I noticed from the staff report there was a discussion of one employee for every five potential customers yes sir so um how many people do you intend to have on duty actually uh retail as far as operating retail uh anywhere uh from two behind the counter as well as a manager on site so three Staffing the place along with the security guard so that's four Staffing the place that's your your uh business plan if you anticipate your business would uh you need that much staff to support that business um I would love to have more staff and support more business but we'll start uh

as opening up in the beginning you know with two with four staff uh there total yeah the reason you're only uh conditioned on five parking spaces as you probably know is you're in an industrial Zone and that's the uh minimum uh personally it it gives me no Comfort uh you mentioned that there's adequate street parking well it depends on the day and time there's if it if it's Sunday afternoon there's adequate parking or Saturday there's adequate parking Monday through Friday there you know all your adjacent businesses and those workers park on the streets so um you know you pick the site but I think that's that's an potential impediment to the success of your business that's just my opinion I hope I'm wrong uh hope you're very successful could we have the site plan up on the uh floor plan please the area that uh is not outlined in red is the rear entrance what do you intend to do to that with that rollup door access point so that is only for uh that would only be for deliveries only and and uh exiting entrance and exiting with staff members only but mainly for deliveries because we wouldn't want the deliveries coming through the front door we want to be more secure in the back chairman Vose if I may add some of that back area um is for back stock room and um office area it's just been uh cleared up for um Planning Commission so more detail is available in the business and operating plans however this is for presentation purposes only for security

purposes but it's not on the site plan or floor plan break rooms and access to the toilet room and whatever right at least I don't see it from here so there if you if you look towards the back you'll see uh at the very top there are uh toilets break rooms right there uh in that back area at the top towards the right uh I see a toilet room there all right yes sir the access is from the sales floor not from the what Warehouse area there there is an access from the uh Warehouse uh area not actually from the sales floor but it's actually going out from the sales floor uh so yes I guess it will would be from the sales floor so yes there is access right there at the bottom from the sales floor from the uh bathroom Warehouse area or what be would be considered the warehouse area we would call it product intake area uh through the to the sales floor uhhuh chairman v may I add something go ahead okay so uh the challenge that I see with this is uh this floor plan shows intended use I think by the time you go through building in safety this floor plan won't look like this um I see several uh Ada items that are not in compliance like the entries the gate the door from the lobby to the retail the restroom with the shower I I think by the time you go through permitting this floor plan might change but I I get that in general this is the intent yes we actually do expect a few

changes here and there yeah uh once we do go through the process that's kind of expected and we'll make those necess Neary changes you know when recommended thank you for bringing that up so you have four employees five parking spaces on site so none of your employees are going to park on site they'll be offsite your onsite would be for your customers absolutely okay very good thank you I have nothing else any anyone else no thank you you care to add anything uh absolutely just kind of give you some background in our experience within the industry so we have a uh several decades of uh experience here in the Cannabis industry uh we first opened to retail in 2004 one of the first in the uh country uh been in existence for 30 years uh wrote uh policy for the city of Los Angeles measure M uh I did that myself uh and the social Equity program I wrote that for the city of Los Angeles uh so we have an extensive background uh I'm an expert in uh policy writing an expert in uh uh multiple different areas in the Cannabis industry from retail cultivation and Manufacturing also in compliance uh because we've been owning retail for 21 years in Southern California so we have a lot of experience in the uh retail space space uh cultivation manufacturing space and the Cannabis space as a whole uh Community uh organizing as far as uh you know cannabis retail and other uh various things in the Cannabis industry so uh we come with quite a bit of knowledge and experience in the industry

it's good to hear um you do know on this site there is no cultivation or um manufa facturing allowed right absolutely absolutely we aware so how's do you supply your own product from your own manufacturing facilities so we do uh we grow our own product and we have 120 Acre Farm uh in southern humbo County so we've been there for 30 years uh we also manufacture our own product uh in the city of Los Ang we're licensed uh manufacturers there as well so we are uh I guess you would call us a uh uh uh micro business which is vertically integrated so we're vertically integrated uh we can uh be self sustainable which is kind of one of the key things for the survival in this industry is to be self- sustainable and I I think we have that covered where did I read somewhere not recently but I don't know how correct it is in the in this business type the Venture that you're in in the retail side is where the revenue truly is the cultivation and Manufacturing and wholesaling um is a plus or minus Net Zero huh well it depends on where you're located uh because that has a lot to do with it and what city you're operating or County you're operating in because the taxes then play a heavy role in you know your profit margin plus 280e other issues that we still are dealing with as

cannabis retailers that we would love to uh see be fixed uh in several years to come that we can be uh more than profitable until then we just we hope you are we just hold on the um there is some competition as you're probably aware in the city on the retail side certainly and there are other manufacturers and and Growers within our city limits both exterior and interior so um I look forward to your success absolutely uh we are up for the challenge any further anyone NOP all right then um thank you for your comments appreciate it thank you anything further Miss alado nothing further all right thank you so shall we consider a motion on conditional use permit 24-5 I move to adopt resolution 25-01 sorry approving conditional use per 24-5 to allow for cannabis retail and delivery within the existing building located at 45248 Traver Avenue in the heavy industry Zone and finding that the project is category categorically exempt under the C California Environmental Quality act authorizing staff to exe execute and file a notice of

exemption thank you have a second please I second thank you so before um we take up a vote I just want to remind myself if I said the words um we open the public hearing without objection I may have said that I should have said that I thought I said that but I just said it so now now that we've done that we're closing the public hearing without objection and considering a vote and we're ready to vote but it's not blinking now we can vote motion passes 4 Z with three absent so the project is approved and good very good luck with your project that concludes our action items this afternoon um our planning managers announcements yes good afternoon again chair of V members of the Planning Commission High new win uh planning manager here I hope that everyone had a good holiday and we're excited to share many interesting projects this year including a couple annexations and specific plans so I will keep you posted on the next PC meeting uh when some of the projects um materialize and as always thank you for

your attendance and thank you we're always available for you all right thank you anything further from Members none all right then so our meeting stands adjourned then oh wait a minute can't do that I have to ask if anyone else wishes to speak to us on any non agendized items there are no speaker comments CH speak cards we have 1 two 3 four five people in the audience anybody would like to address us they're certainly welcome to going once nope all right then so we stand adjourned until our next regular meeting which I believe is February 24th here at 3:30 p.m.