Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

We have a a guest who's also an applicant. So, uh, but I did ask him to come lead us in the invocation. We have Josh D'vor from Desert Christian Schools. If you guys can all stand, uh, for an invocation and then remain standing for the pledge, please. Thank you, sir. Happy to open us in prayer. Dear Jesus, thank you so much for today. Thank you for this opportunity for us to gather. Thank you for this community we have, and I'm so glad that we get to live in community with one another. and we share a desire that Lancaster would be a great place for us to raise kids. And uh I just pray that you would bless this meeting. You'd help everybody be able to share effectively and communicate clearly. And uh we just ask that you do a good work in the place that we live. We love you Lord. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, if we could start with a roll call, please. Roll call. Chair Vos, absent. Vice Chair Dairberry, I'm here. Commissioner Burke, present. Commissioner Curio, present. Commissioner Hernandez present. Commissioner Latanzi present. Commissioner Underwood absent. We have a quorum.

Okay. Thank you. So, public business from the floor. Any person who would like to address the planning commission on any agenda item is requested to complete a speaker card for the recording secretary and identify the agenda item you would like to discuss. Each person will be given the opportunity to address the planning commission at the time such item is discussed by the planning commission. Speaker cards are available at the rear of the council chambers. Individual speakers are limited to three minutes each. Individual comments are limited to three minutes unless a different time is announced. So our first agenda agenda item is our minutes. We're seeking approval from the minutes of the regular meeting of November 17, 2025. So go ahead and open the um open the for that. Do we have any comments or any speaker cards I should say? Vice Chair uh Jerry Berry, there are no speaker cards on the minutes.

Okay. Any comments from the planning commission on the minutes? We'll go ahead and close the public hearing on that and then uh open it up for a motion. Motion to approve. Second.

Motion by Commissioner Latanzi, second by Commissioner Burke. All right, we can go ahead and vote. I used to sit in that seat. Sometimes that one's that one gets a little loose. Should we do oral vote? All right. Okay. There it is. All right, the motion passes. Five yeses and two absent. Okay, new public hearings item number two. This is conditional use permit number 25-007. And I think tonight our project planner is Mitsy Alvarado. Is that right?

That is right. All you Mitsy, let's go.

Thank you. Good afternoon, Vice Chair Dairberry and members of the planning commission. My name is Mity Alvarado and I'm the project planner. The item before you is CUP 25-007 which is to allow for the amendment of CUP 8323 for the Desert Christian High School's athletic fields expansion. The original CUP was for a church that then added a school. Since then, there has been a few host churches util utilizing it in the same manner. The proposed project is located at 4451420th Street West and is zoned residential including R7000, MDR, HDR, and commercial. The subject property is surrounded by single family homes and commercial uses. The applicant is Desert Christian School represented by Joshua D'voir. Here you have a site plan of the entire school campus. The project proposal is shown here as phase one and phase two. Phase one includes the football, track, and field portion of the eastern part of the campus. This field would be utilized for the school soccer program as well, and a new grand stand will also be installed to fit approximately 200 to 400 people on the home side of the field only. New landscape hardscape um and a fire department turnaround will be included as well as a six foot wall CMU block wall at the eastern property line adjacent to Camelan Lane, which would replace an existing uh chain link fence. The football [snorts] field would be more directly accessed through the existing south driveway on 20th Street West. Phase two would include the construction of the baseball field, a new snack bar, restroom building in that north, more westerly portion of the site, and 48 new parking spaces adjacent to the 20th Street West parking lot. Access to the baseball field would be more directly accessed via the two north driveways on 20th Street West. It is also important to note that there are

new no new access points as a part of this project proposal. The project is exempt under squa per class 14 minor additions to schools class 32 infill exemption and class 4 minor alterations to land. Noticing uh for public hearing was mailed to all owners and occupants within a 500 foot radius and posted on the subject property in compliance with the Lancaster Municipal Code. With that, staff recommends planning commission adopt resolution 2521 approving conditional use permit 25-007 to amend CUP 8323 and allow for the expansion of the athletic fields within an existing uh campus located at 44514 20th Street West and [snorts] finding the project categorically exempt under SQA. This concludes staff's presentation. Myself and the applicant are available for any questions you may have.

Miss Alvarado, thank you. Um I I had an opportunity to chat with the applicant earlier and of course he gave us our invitation. You're not obligated to, but you're welcome to address us if you'd like. Um or you could wait until maybe after there's any public comments and we can maybe address some of those comments all at the same time. It's totally up to you. Either way, whatever. Do we have any public comments on this item? Vice Chair Jerry Barry, we have five, including the applicant himself. Perfect. Well, uh let's start with the the non-applicant uh public comments first. Sure. The Second speaker we have is Telicia Romero. And we did also receive a letter from you, Mr. Romero. We'll let the record reflect that we did receive your email as well. Thank you.

Uh so I'm Telicia Romero. I'm the president of the Lancaster Water Company. We're a mutual water company on the corner of 20th Lancaster Boulevard and 18th Street. Um we're currently only 22 homes that are about quarter acre, a little less in that area. Uh we have two operating wells that are currently nonoperational, but they're getting repaired and uh we're trying to bring our system up to date. Uh main concerns there are outside of the noise and just the general complaints, there are no fire hydrants or safety precautions taken in our specific area since we are directly adjacent to uh the fields. Um, and in addition to that, the water man on 20th Street West ends right at the Dudge of Christian property line. So that corner from 20th Street West to Lancaster Boulevard, there's no water or fire hydrants on our side of the street. On the other side of the street, you'll find them. Same with uh on 18th Street West, there's no fire hydrants on that side of the area at all. They're all on the newer side, which is I'm not how old that area is. Um, but we just request that you guys take a look at the infrastructure. Um, maybe we were promised a long time ago to also have the power lines buried. I know it's a SoCal Edison kind of thing, but I do know that they work with uh the county and the city directly to approve plans. So, we just request that you guys take a look at that. Um, in addition, we're just asking for additional safety precautions. uh maybe increasing the size of the wall, you know, that separates all of us from um the fields. And then uh just considering like drainage, lights, um any other like sound equipment, and then obviously scheduling of the events. Uh right now before the

church actually turned into school, they would have some big events mostly on holidays, an Easter egg hunt. Uh I believe they do something around Christmas and all of that. So the noise levels have been, you know, we can we realize that they're there, but for a majority of the time it's quiet now that they do practice outside, which I'm all for athletics and football, but there's a significant change in our neighborhood. So, uh, just taking extra consideration to the points made, uh, in the email and to see if we can add just some enforcement points that allow for future growth and, uh, just different, um, things to be recognized as if the permit's approved and and the field is built and all that good stuff.

That's it. Okay. Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Joyce Kieran followed by Art Kieran.

Thank you for giving me this time to speak. Um I'm concerned about the the verbiage in that this is a minor addition. It looks pretty major to us as neighbors. Um, we have been in this neighborhood, my husband have owned our home for 22 years. We have an empty lot and the lot where our our residence is, and we have had to put up with lots of people jumping the walls, urinating on the walls, all sorts of hopping of the walls, meeting into our empty lot and then over into the church, going both ways. It is frustrating because that sets off our dogs. It is frustrating if and and this is only going to continue if we don't either build a better adequate fence. The block wall is old. It's been there since 1940. It's got lots of cracks in it. Um I was talking to Joshua earlier and and and I'm telling him our concerns. I appreciate him coming up to us, but this is not a minor addition. This is a major addition and I don't know if there has been a real uh initial study and an environmental impact report and I would request that that be done because it looks like we're going to be having 400 people in this stadium at at certain times. That's talking about bathrooms. That's talking about food. um concession stands, trash blowing. Um that it's this isn't minor in any way. This is major. Um we my husband and I plan on building a a house on the empty lot. Am I going to get baseballs through my windows?

Um that's a concern. Okay. I already have to deal with the homeless peeing on the walls and the the uh jumping of back and forth. It's it's it's frustrating. It happens every week. This is a weekly thing that we have to deal with. Thank you for listening to me. My neighbor in the adjacent um culde-sac with me, she is here, but she didn't want to speak, but she has the same concern. I have 300 feet. She has another 100 feet. So, so 400 feet of block wall there is is a concern of ours with baseballs and and lighting and noise. Thank you.

Thank you for your comments. Next up is Art Curin, followed by Keith Guiles.

Little background since most of you guys weren't around 20, 30 years ago on council. Uh when we moved into that house, they were supposed to put a 5acre park in that section. Dr. Hull had donated the mo the land specifically for a park. uh city council one night made a switch, moved the park over to 30th across from Periclet High School and we ended up with no park. Uh we have uh continuously dealt with the church, not in a bad way. It originally was just a church with daycare center. Then it became a church with preschool. Then it became a church with elementary school. And now it's a church with a high school. Uh if you look at every high school in the valley, there's a buffer of major streets around the field. We have six inches between the football field and our neighbor. And we have six inches between the baseball field and our neighbor. Uh I haven't seen any plans for foul balls or footballs for over the wall. Uh the you know field goal is 20t high and there's a six foot wall behind it. I don't think that works but maybe it does. Uh we have uh continuously tried to work with the church in in a way a good way. Never had any problems but uh I believe the Desert Christian now is leasing the property. I'm not sure how that all is working right now. And uh they're the ones that are developing the high school. But again, there's we're going to have light pollution six inches from the field to our house. We have speakers 6 in from the field to our house. There's no buffer of a major street all around it like there is on every other high school in the valley.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Karen. Next up is Keith Guiles, followed by Joshua D'vor. Hello, my name is Keith Giles. Thank you for having me. Um, I've been going to this church for uh since 1980, so long time. Uh, I've been on the church board um, off and on during that time. I've also lived in Lancaster for 50 plus years. uh went to school and local schools and uh currently I have a couple of children that go to uh Desert Christian High School. So uh to me I've seen this property uh morph into different things, but I'm I'm excited to see something uh that we can use for our children in the future. Uh this is just basically a a a lot with weeds that we have to obey. So, um I'm looking forward to having it being uh uh converted into something that we can use and be uh the community can be proud of and that school can get a lot of use out of. And I am I'm all I'm for it. I've been, like I said, I've been in the community a long time. I serve on the school board. I serve as a reserve deputy. I've done I have numerous children that have gone through the school system and I still have a couple more that will probably be able to attend this high school if I can afford it. And um at that I'm just want to encourage you to support it. Thank you so much for your time. Have a good day.

Thank you, Mr. Giles. And lastly, we have the applicant, Josh D'vor.

Welcome again. Thank you. Long time no see. Hey, uh I I asked uh Mark Sanchez to come up as well. He was the gentleman that um is on staff at Desert Christian Schools and we asked him to go through the neighborhood and just knock on as many door every single door that was in the 500 foot radius and attempt to meet the neighbors and talk about the project. So, I just wanted Mark to have a chance to share what he did and then I'll uh overview and I'll try to even answer like some of your guys' perspectives and things like that. But Mark, what did you do?

Well, uh good afternoon commissioners, uh audience and everyone. Um yes, just a little briefly. Um, I went around within the 500t radius, knocked on doors, and my apologies for any reason that if uh we didn't make contact, but um I try to go by just be very informative. And we kind of did this I did this uh back in June as well um when uh Desert Christian took possession of the lease of uh City Church. So, um I try to have that report with our neighbors, let them know, hey, we are now a resident here. I'm sorry, a tenant here. If any questions or concerns should arise, please notify us. But I did get some of the residents just sharing that concern with city church of the communication back and forth. If some concerns were not addressed at that time, but let me assure you this, we are here and we would love to answer any of your questions or concerns and uh looking forward to working with all of you.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Mark. Appreciate you.

Quick overview of the school and then uh and then we'll go from there. But Desert Christian Schools has had the privilege of uh serving in our community for 48 years. And it's been such a privilege. There's three sites here in Lancaster representative of 1600 students and 350 employees. Here at City Church, though, this is only our high school. And here at the high school, we have a student body of 200 students and about 35 staff. And uh we joined in a partnership with City Church um this summer. And so we're really excited about this new season ahead for school. And uh it's been such a blessing for our students and our families are really excited as well. Uh the we've visited all of the neighbors especially too right right on the adjacent side of the chain link fence in Camelan Street and all of those neighbors were very supportive and excited about what's happening. But um I'm happy to meet you guys on the north side as well today and I understand that um different perspective and I totally understand. Um today we are particularly excited about what this project means for our students but also for our community. We want the valley to thrive specifically Lancaster. I've had the privilege of living here my entire life and it's been an honor and my hope would be that having a thriving cool school that's desiring to provide excellent Christian education would um have the result of positive contribution in our community. And we recently, just as one example, had the privilege of our students attending both of the recent uh Lancaster community cleanup days. And we actually had at each of those events um over 200 of our students and families went to that event. And out of the goodness of their own heart, we just advertised that it was taking place. And then we I showed up at the event and I was like, "Oh my goodness." And we tallied up afterwards and we were just so pleased to see the overflow of support and and partnerships. So 200 at the first event and 200 at the second event as well. And I think that's just

representative of we really do care about our neighbors and we have a desire to to contribute positively and they make up the students that are a part of our school. Um we have a personal commitment to continuing that relationship. So my desire is for a strong and favorable support of this project tonight. That's what I'm here to do, you know, but I also want to communicate that regardless of what um you as the board decide is best for our community at this time. I want to say that in the years to come, we want to continue to have a positive relationship with you. And this meeting doesn't mean the end of us having conversations moving forward and problem solving things together. Um, one thing that our high school has brought is Mark is actually a safety monitor at that campus. And we have been partnering with the church and the neighbors, so specifically on Camelan Street with the chainlink fence. And we've already repaired that chain link fence twice in the three months that we've been there just trying to keep it from becoming um a shortcut for people uh that are that are passing through. And what I appreciate is they're voicing. What I've discovered that our neighbors are voicing today is there's an ongoing um 20 year experience of people using this vacant lot as a shortcut from one place to another. My hope would be as we have our safety team there, as we develop this property, I think that it will become less of a shortcut because we'll have more eyes and uh and and hopefully become less of that because we would like that too. We share that desire and that interest. I don't think I'll have the ability to answer every single um concern that was brought up, but if you don't mind, if the board doesn't mind, I would love to just mention a couple things that we were strategic about with the project, answering specific concerns that they brought up. Would that be valuable?

I think it would be valuable. Sure.

Would Would you guys appreciate that? Would that Yeah. A couple of things that we did when we were doing the project is um with lighting. We are doing portable lighting. So there won't be any light structures going up. That'll be one for like the visibility of neighbors that you don't look out your window and all of a sudden have a big light pole there. Um it also puts us in a position where if we're going to pay for, you know, portable lighting to come in, it limits the number of evening events that we would even want to do from a budgeting standpoint. we want to. Those would come in, we'd put them up, they would go down, and then there would be that. So, that was part of our desire, too, that it didn't have a stadium feel. It has more of a neighborhood like or a community, a local community high school feel. Uh, we're not here to be uh like a a UCLA football stadium or something like that. Um, the other thing is when it came to sound system, we're actually using a portable sound system for this uh for this site because we just felt like a permanent sound system. Um, one trying to get that that would survive like weather conditions and things like that. But having a portable sound system is also going to result in fewer, you know, like this. This sound system is designed within we looked into the dB ratings of the local area and the night curfews of 10 o'clock and took those tried to take those kinds of things into consideration. Currently we average like uh four football um home games in the fall. So there are around an average of like 10 events in the entire year that are in the evening currently. And I don't know if that also is helpful like just perspective of kind of getting an idea of like roughly how often is it going to be every single weekend you know all 52 weekends of the whole year nothing like that at all and I hope that in itself is encouraging of the 12 football games that our students participate in the fall season there are

four home games on the schedule and so if if that's at all encouraging um wall height um we would love to whatever the current maximum local regulation is for those wall heights. We would like that too, like for for both parties interests. Um, and uh, it sounds like there is a pre-existing experience of, you mentioned homeless people using the neighborhoods that are deadends as a shortcut to jump the walls and uh, and so I don't I I know that we everybody in this room shares a desire to address home needs of the homeless in our community and finding ways to mitigate those impacting our us people living here um, like in a negative way. and uh and so whatever the the local maximum regulation is, I can't speak to that like off the top of my head. That's not my expertise, but we would be more than happy to do that. And um and I don't know what the the current wall is right now. We have only given thought and attention to the chain link wall along the north end of the property. I'm sorry, not the north end. You guys are north end. So that would be the east the east end where that is. So, I'd be happy for us to to look into what that is and see if there's anything. There might also be a a thought that came to mind while you guys were talking is um we could bolt um like a spike strip, you know, you kind of use it for birds or whatever like that, but we could bolt a spike strip along that um that block wall along the the north side or something like that just as a way that when people get to the end of your guys' street, they don't jump over and and that kind of thing. Um, so I don't know if if any of those things are encouraging, but uh I I hope and then our desire too would be eliminating the chain link fence on that side and developing the property would make it so this isn't a shortcut. We don't we don't want people taking a shortcut through our through the city church property either. And in the short time that we've been there, we've already had um breakins from the back chain link fence

um two or three times in the four months that we've been there. And so our desire is like, well, let's put up the block wall, develop this so that people know we're here, have our safety team doing monitoring, and uh and see if we can make this an uninhabitable area for people that shouldn't be wandering through our properties. So, that's our desire. Um, once again, my hope would be for a confident and uh and sure support from from the the board, and that's my interest that I'm supporting. But I do want to say once again, regardless of whatever the vote is today, that doesn't end our relationship and conversation moving forward. And I hope even just my desire to communicate that on behalf of Desert Christian Schools is encouraging to some degree. Um, so thank you for your consideration and we appreciate your time.

And Mr. D'Vorah, um, I think I already know the answer, but I just for the record, um, you've you've reviewed all of the the conditions under under your application and you've approved those. Yes, sir. Yeah. Wonderful. Does anybody on the the commission have any questions? Not not yet, ma'am. Okay. Um I just want to get clarification. You said that there would only be about four games there a year

in the fall. Our current football season has four home games um in the evening. Um and uh and so I was speaking to what our current season is and so that's what our that's what our current um like evening usage is in the fall. I think uh yeah. So if that's helpful, soccer typically it we currently operate where when we would have soccer games there that would end when the sun sets. That's just what we do already and that's what our schedule is. And then track and field those things don't happen um in the evenings. They're daytime events. A lot of everything just happens during the daytime. So So how many games could the residents expect there in a year? Let's say

uh uh e like evening games that go to the evening. Yeah, evening games. I I can't like I can't. Right now, we would have less than 10. As the school grows, you can't grow the you can't really you can't grow more home games. Does that make sense? So, I can't speak to like the the history like what what would transpire in the years to come. But also, there comes a point where when you have a football season, you just there's only 12 games in the fall and only four of them can be at your home home location. So, it's not like that can grow much more than that. And how late do the football games go?

Currently, our football games end like around 9:00. Um, but in the in the submission that we put, we put 10 because we just wanted to put um like a little buffer in there. That way there was confidence moving from the beginning. Um, good anticipation and we want to be gone at 10, you know what I mean? But right like currently because when those football games are happening in the fall, it's starting to get nippy and everything. People don't want to be out much later than that anyway. So, yeah. And then the way the seating I can't tell much, but is it stadium seating where the spectators would be able to see into the neighbor's yard and windows?

Oh, gotcha. Yeah. Yeah. Well, part of the reason, if you noticed in the presentation that that Mitsy delivered for us, um the the the seating is only on the home side because we wanted the seating to be as far away from the neighbors as possible

um for that purpose. And uh so it's it's way on the other side of the field. And when our brains think of the phrase like stadium seating, we're thinking of like uh what what are like usually like 12 12 rows high or 24 rows high or something like that. I don't remember off the top of my head exactly how many rows, but I think it's ranging in like the four to six um the four to six rows high. So this is not a we would rather, you know, go wider, not taller. And that's part of like our desire for community. we don't want this to we don't we want people to be uh you know closer together and that kind of thing. And then there was a mention to um to the seating being between 200 and 400. Our football games currently the attendance averages about 200 guests but when it comes to um stadium seating or even like in this room we naturally spread out. So, the reason that our bleachers are ra like they say 398 seats or whatever is because when you go to a football game, you don't sit right next to your neighbor. You've got your bags and you kind of set up like that. We're and we're going to have the visitors be able to sit on the home side with us. And we wanted to keep a little gap in there of just dead seats. So, that way if anybody disagrees about how the play was called, you know, it's not like you're you're packed in next to the visiting team. So, those are some of our considerations uh for the neighborhood in that. But,

okay. Thank you. Yeah, appreciate your time. Anything else? Anyone have other questions, Mr. D'Vor? Anyone else from the commission? No. All right. Wonderful. Again, thanks so much. Yeah, we appreciate your consideration. Absolutely. Does anyone have any other comments for staff or questions for staff before we close the public hearing? I do, ma'am. We've Oh, I'm sorry. I've never done this. No, it's okay. It's okay. If you have questions for the applicant, I welcome you to chat with them after the uh public hearing.

Okay. It's more pertaining to the school, right? Talking about baseline right now. What's the anticipated growth of the student body? Right now, obviously focusing on football right now, how many games does that? you know, what are the hours needed for like set up or grooming or any construction and all of that stuff. So, at the top there's right on the left side of the football field. Ma'am, if you're gonna

I'm just I'm just pointing things out. So, that's where our community is. The problem is that when you speak from your seat, we can't we can't take down what you have to say. And we've already you've already had your three minutes to speak. So if you got if you've got matters to address with the applicant or staff, we'll welcome you to do that after the meeting today. Okay. Will it be on the record? You being here is on the record. Yes. Okay. So if I can I just ask one more question. I promise. Um so so why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself again and come back to the podium? Thank you so much.

So I'm Telicia Romero. I also live in this community on 20th. Um I'm also the president of the Lancaster Water Company. Tiny company. Um, so right now, uh, our community bears the grunt of the weight of the community right there. So we're 20th again, Lancaster Boulevard and 18th Street West. Uh, the community with the chain link fence that he's referring to is tucked away into like this sheltered area of our our section. So, I'm curious. I know this is kind of a big ask, but would there would there be any opportunity for us to maybe create a gated community in our area um right at the entrance of 18th Street West to at least protect that since it is a dead end. The problem with the homelessness and people hopping the fence isn't actually from people entering our street. It's coming from the opposite side of the wall on the church campus. So they're actually hopping the fence from the church campus into our area and not the opposite side around. So that's the only I just wanted to make that clear. So it's not uh like the uh you know homeless or or I've seen a ton of kids do it. They just jump into the campus area. Um so I think those incidents where you've had people coming across the campus, they've cut across and jumped into our area. So that's all just to put it on the record.

Sure. Sure. I welcome you to address those questions with staff as to how that can possibly occur. All right. Thank you. Wonderful. Thank you. Anyone else in the commission have any other comments or questions for staff or the applicant before we close the public hearing? No.

All right. Hearing none, we can go ahead and uh close the public hearing and I'll entertain a motion. A motion to adopt resolution number 25-21 approving conditional use permit number 25-00007 to amend CP CUP number 83-23 to allow for expansion of LA athletic fields within an existing campus located at 44514 20th Street West uh R-7000 MDR HDR and CZ zone and findings the project categorically exempt under California Environmental Quality Act authorizing staff to execute and file a notice of exemption.

A second. Second by Commissioner Curio. Okay, let's vote. All right, motion carries. uh five to zero with two members absent. Good luck school. We're excited for Desert Christian over there. It's going to be great to see that field completed. Thank you for your time.

Great for the community. Thank you. Okay, next up we have this afternoon we've got our open space element and conservation element update. And I think that one's coming from Jocelyn Swain and Shannon Edwin. Correct. Correct. Um, vice

vice chair Derry Berry and members of the commission this afternoon. I will be providing an overview of the draft open space and conservation elements. The California legislature p legislature passed Senate Bill 1425 regarding open space elements and assembly bill 1889 regarding conservation elements in 2022 and 2024 respectively. Senate Bill 1425 requires cities and counties to update their open space elements to address equitable access to open space, climate resiliency in coordination with the safety element, and to identify rewing opportunities. Assembly Bill 1889 requires conservation elements to address impacts of development on wildlife movement and habitat connectivity and toident identify connectivity areas permeability and natural landscapes. The city's plan for active living and the plan for the natural environment act as the existing open space and conservation elements. The draft open space and conservation elements rename the existing elements and incorporate the required analysis and policies to be in compliance with state law. Policies and specific actions contained in the existing elements relating to topics not contained in either bill were left as is. An appendix to the open space element contains the required analysis for citywide and disadvantaged communities. park access, analysis of extreme heat events, and impacts of drought, flooding, and wildfire. This analysis utilized information contained within the recently adopted environmental justice and safety elements and are reflected in the updated policies contained in the draft element. The draft open space element contains new and revised policies and specific

actions to encourage more parks and open space, ensure the amenities provided address the needs of all age groups, provide for more shade and cooling in parks, and enhance public safety. For policies and specific actions that were copied from other elements, the cross references provided in the text. Many of the policies and specific actions reflect changes that the city has already been incorporating into our parks and park programs. As can be seen from this slide, parks are being upgraded with inclusive playground equipment um such as at Raleigh Dentley and Rare Post is shown on the top of the slide. Fitness equipment, sports courts, upgraded ADA access, and parking lot lighting. Improved safety features have also been installed at many of the city's park and ride facilities. The Prime Desert Woodland Preserve hosts the senior walking club every Wednesday and has a new mural honoring Elise Clifford who donated the property for the Prime Desert Woodland Preserve. The conservation element also contains a new appendix which addresses wildlife connectivity including existing biological resources and areas of high value which could support wildlife movements. As shown on this slide, the darker red the darker the red color, the higher the biological value of the area. The conservation element includes most of the new and revised policies and specific actions. Some of the new policies document conservation efforts that the city is already doing, while others were included specifically to address the requirements of the assembly bill and future endeavors that the city is considering. These include obtaining Joshua Tree delegation agreements with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, modifications to standards with respect to lighting and fencing,

exploring the development of a habitat conservation plan specific to Lancaster, and evaluating roadways to allow for better wildlife crossings. Some of the conservation efforts that the city is already doing include the purchase of conservation property through the biological impact fee um to date which is approximately a thousand acres that have been acquired, counting and mapping the Joshua trees within the city limits. We've done a one square mile test case and are currently mapping the Joshua trees in eight square miles and establishing a waters of the state cleanup program to facilitate developers mitigating their impacts from their development. The top right picture is representative of property the city funded earlier this year near Saddleback but the bottom right shows riparian habitat restoration that occurred at the Peterson Ranch Mitigation Bank in Lake Hughes. Um, this photograph on the bottom right was taken in October of this year when a city planning toured the site. The draft elements are out for public review starting today and going through January 14th. The open space and conservation elements will be coming back to the planning commission for a recommendation at the January PC meeting. It is anticipated that they will then go to city council for approval in February of 2026. I'd be more than happy to answer any questions and you all have a copy of both elements and the appendices at your

I do have one question um as far as Elmer goes to creek and all the you know u what is that addressed in this report and

so armor goes to creek is considered a waters of the state um and it runs from south of Palmdale up through the the city of Lancaster and out onto Edwards Air Force Base that empties out in Py Ponds Um it's not specifically addressed as Armagosa Creek. It is um waters of the state and riparian habitat is addressed um in the conservation element. Um the program that was adopted earlier this year allows developers to pay for cleanup of those types of um drainages um as part of their mitigation for impacts on their development sites. And both CDFW and the regional board accepted that. So my followup question would be um so I've in the past I've done projects that have had a contribute into that budget.

Um does when is that money like triggered to actually you know clean up? For example, the area I'm thinking of right now would be like J and 20th.

So I think you're thinking of two different things. The the the biological impact fee gets paid on all development projects, all properties that haven't been developed previously. Um that's $770 an acre and that's what the city uses to acquire conservation property. So that's the thousand acres that the city has acquired to date. The program I'm talking about with cleanup is if you have a development and you end up with a mitigation measure that requires you to get a stream bed alteration agreement, say from CDFW, they're going to add mitigation measures to that permit they issue you. and public works worked with another developer to establish a city policy or program that allows them to pay for cleanup. Um, and that counts towards their mitigation that the state conditions them for the receipt of the stream bed alteration agreement.

You're welcome. Leave it to the state to give you some job security, right? You got to keep working on all these elements, updating them. [snorts] Um I Anyone else have any specific questions for staff on the this before? So we're going to consider the we're gonna consider these for recommendation for approval to the council next meeting. Is that correct? That is correct. So today's just kind of priming the pump, get us ready for what uh what's going to come next week, next meeting, and give us an opportunity to review these. Correct. So this is just kind of an overview of why we had to do it.

Um so that you know what you're looking at. Um, if anybody has questions um or comments on what they're reading, you can provide those directly to Shannon or myself. Um, and we'll take all comments we receive into consideration, tweak the elements if needed, and then bring them back to you in January for a recommendation. Wonderful. Do we have any public comments on uh this item? Chair, Vice Chair Jerry Barry? No, we do not have any more speakers.

Okay. Wonderful. We'll look forward to the concluding presentation next meeting in January. Um so thank you Miss Swain for that giving us some light reading over the holidays. That'll be nice. Okay. Um so looks like next up we have our Oh, we have your I think um don't we? Yeah. Your your uh the community development assistant director's announcements. Mr. Nin, what do you got for us today?

Hey, that's me. Good afternoon, Vice Chair Dairberry and members of the planning commission. I am high new. I'm the assistant director for community development. Um, a couple city council items I wanted to uh update you all on. Uh, I'm very relieved to report that the Westside annexation project was approved by LAFCO last week. It'll take some time for that to be finally effective, but um, this will bring a lot of high quality jobs and good orderly development to the city. So, we're very excited about that. And then soon after we'll have the east side annexation um going to LAFCO. Um so that's happening. The moratorum that was um adopted by the city council on smoke shops was extended at the last city council meeting. So staff has roughly about a year to uh hatch a game plan on how to address this very important significant uh issue. As far as the uh planning commission uh meeting for January, uh it will be held one week later uh because the 19th, I believe, is the MLK holiday. So, um as Miss Swain presented, we hope to bring back the conservation and open space elements. In addition, we have the Parkway Village specific plan, which we've been uh teasing for the past few months. Uh we're hoping to bring that to you all for a final vote on both of those items. And then on a more fun note, we have some new staff I'd like to introduce. First off, uh we have Chucky Edquid. Uh she's joining our department as the department admin. So you may see her here or there assisting with city council items. Uh if you can just raise your hand. Yeah, that's her right there. Uh second, we have Ariana Hernandez sitting right next to her. Uh she joined the team as the city's housing analyst. So, not planning per se, but very planning adjacent dealing with a lot of CDBG and uh she'll be working with Becky Bartlett, the housing manager on our housing needs. And then lastly, she's

not here today, but Michaela Mora just started um as our planning tech. Um she's an aspiring city planner and getting her master's degree at Sea Sun. So, she'll be helping us out. You might see her sit here uh once in a while as well. So, we're really stoked to have all of them join us. Um, and then lastly, and probably most importantly, wanted to just say that I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. Uh, I'm so proud of all the work that we've done together in this last year. It takes a lot to put on this show. So, special shout out to, uh, Vivana Martinez, uh, Steven Dich, and of course the, uh, IT staff. Um, it takes a lot of work and, um, they work really hard on this, uh, to make you all look good, and I'm very appreciative of that. So besides that, we hope you enjoy the rest of your season until next year. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Okay, next up, we have uh public business from the floor for those few of us that are left. Um this portion of the agenda allows an individual the opportunity to address the commission on any subject regarding city business. Under state legislation, no action can be taken on non-aggenda items. Members of the public should be aware of this when addressing the planning commission regarding items not specifically referenced on the agenda. Please complete a speaker card for the recording secretary. Speaker cards are at the rear of the council chambers. Individual speakers are limited to three minutes each. Do we have any speakers on non-aggendaized items? Vice Chair, we do not have any speakers.

Okay. Commission, anyone have any comments for staff or any anyone else today before we adjourn? I just wanted to say thank you for welcoming me this year. Thank you for all your help, support, answering all my questions, and thank you to the other commissioners. I hope you all have a very merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a happy new year. Thank you.

I was going in that same vein. Um, thank you guys for welcoming us. There were three of us that came on in August and you guys worked furiously to bring us up to speed with what was going on in the city and have been a huge source of support um as we learn to navigate um this these commission positions. So I appreciate that. Um I live in the neighborhood that directly adjoins um Analent Valley College. Although I do understand when people bring complaint or bring concerns to us about noise from football games or lighting because every Friday night during the football season we can hear the football games going on at a college and and it's and they do a lot because they host Paraclete High School. Um and so it is pretty much every Friday night. Um, and when we first moved there, it was a little bit of a shock to the system, but um, I'll tell you, we actually enjoy listening to the football games from um, the college. Now, it's it's kind of entertaining. Um, and we're happy that so many people in our community come out to support not just the college football teams, but also youth sports in our community. It's a pretty big deal. Um, and so I really, um, applaud the church for being able to reach out to their neighbors and and, you know, understanding the importance of being good partners, um, in our community. Um, and I was really happy to hear everything that you guys had to say, but I did want to add that because I also do understand the neighbors concerns and, you know, I'm I'm pretty confident that the church is going to work closely with them um, to address all those issues. City staff, happy holidays. Um, so happy with you guys. You guys work so hard and um, we get to see it behind the scenes. I I wish the public got to see more of what you guys do. Um, but you guys are really um, really heroes here. So, thank you guys so much for always be being so supportive and I'm glad to be here.

I'll say I'll say the same thing. Uh, thanks for welcoming us. like uh Commissioner Lentanzi said, you know, myself and Commissioner Hernandez and herself, we all got uh put in here in August. So, uh it's been really amazing to see what the other side is. I know, you know, seems like we just sit up here and push buttons, but there's emails going out always, you know, so um the planning that goes into this by by the city and their staff, they they do an amazing job. If there's any questions, you know, uh they keep us on our toes. And I'll I'll caveat on that. We live right across the street Port Hill. And as much as the noise, you know, you might be like, "Oh my gosh." But I always look at it like there's probably a thousand kids over there that are not causing problems, uh, that are enjoying their school and showing that love for their teams and everything else. So, I'd rather have a thousand kids over there, you know, participating school-wise and and showing uh school pride than running around on many bikes and causing mischief and and vandalism and things like that. So, the more of these schools and athletics that we can help push our kids from the AV, you know, uh, Commissioner Dairberry and myself, our kids play volleyball and we watch the other kids that from down below Orange County that have way more resources than we we do. So, when more of these things are being built out, it gives our kids more of an edge and and competition to go out and show what the AV is. We're not just a desert with Joshua trees, you know, we have some really talented kids out here. So, um, we're looking forward to to all that. So, uh, happy holidays, everybody, and we'll see you next year.

Good. Thank you.

Well, I'll just say, um, I think it's I think I've been on a city commission for over 15 years. Um, and I, you know, I want to end this year on on a high note and say thank you. This city has the hardest working staff ever anywhere in and you know if little background on what I do. I'm involved with a lot of municipalities, the county, um state level, the city of Lancaster staff is second to none. So our hats off to you all of you for everything you do for us. Um and it is true it this is this is hard work and trust me they do the hard work. The us on the dis do not do the hard work. They make it so easy for us to give us all the information that's needed. Um, so thank you to all of you. Um, it's been a great year. I'm looking forward to the exciting new things we have coming in 2026. Happy holidays, merry Christmas, happy new year. And to that, I think, uh, we'll be adjourned. Thank you.