Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Transcript
Video
Agenda

About this meeting

Government Body
Planning Commission
Meeting Type
Planning Commission
Location
Lincoln, CA
Meeting Date
January 21, 2026

Transcript

182 sections (from 214 segments)

0:00 – 0:420

We We will be conducting tonight's meeting in person as well as in a virtual setting using Zoom. Members of the public may view and listen to the meeting tonight on Wave channel 18 and online through the Citi's YouTube channel. If you would like to participate in live public comment via the Zoom platform, please refer to the agenda for instructions. Chairman Gilbert will begin the meeting momentarily.

0:51 – 1:031

Good evening. I'd like to call to order the Planning Commission meeting of 01/21/2026. May we have a roll call, please?

1:050

Commissioner Hutchinson? Here. Commissioner Jackson?

1:100

Commissioner Jerry Johnson? Here. Commissioner Manning.

1:160

Vice chair Johnson.

1:180

And chairman Gilbert.

1:20 – 1:531

Here. We have a quorum. Item number three is the pledge of allegiance. Please join me for the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

2:05 – 2:331

Item number four is agenda modifications. Do we have any from the staff? Seeing none, we'll go to item number five, rotation of chairperson election of vice chairperson. I'd first like to thank the staff and, of course, my colleagues for a very productive year last year. I think things overall went very smoothly.

2:33 – 3:091

I think we all learned some things. We moved several important projects along that will help the city both socially and economically. And I think we're in for probably a very good year this year with several of those projects coming to fruition and putting the shovel in the ground, and that will keep our staff busy and probably keep us busy. Now we're gonna do the rotation. I'd like a I'd like a someone to nominate, our vice chairman as chairman for this year.

3:13 – 3:254

Vice Chair, Eric Johnson, to the chairmanship of the Planning Commission for the year beginning January 2026 through December 2026.

3:25 – 3:431

Thank you. Do I have a second? I'll second that. For discussion, all in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Passes unanimously. We'll now open up the, nominations for vice chair. Do I?

3:440

You can actually pass the gavel to

3:471

We'll do that. I'm gonna handle this piece, and then I'll then I'll be passing it. We've got it all worked out between us.

3:540

Thank you.

3:54 – 4:061

It was one of the things legally that we could talk about. I'd like to, solicit a nomination for vice chair or a volunteer.

4:125

Yeah. That's a good question. Who who would like to be?

4:16 – 4:361

You know, we have a a recent former chair and a recent former chair, you know, one of us would do it again, but I think it would be nice if we could have someone else that would step forward and probably obligate to be the vice chair and chairman chairperson next year.

4:365

So Well, I dominate Tony Manning. I beat you to it.

4:471

Have a nomination? You can, in fact, have two nominations. You just have

4:526

to take them in the order in which they are posed.

4:56 – 5:151

Yes. I have nomination for Tony. Do I have a second for the nomination? I'll second that. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Motion passes unanimously. Congratulations.

5:157

I think there might have been one extension.

5:161

To you, Tony. I have to be here on time every week. Yeah.

5:228

Oh, get me here one

5:23 – 5:341

day. Business. Again, I wanna thank the staff and everybody, and I'm going to pass the gavel to our new chair. And next meeting you'll be sitting right there.

5:343

Perfect.

5:351

I have no idea where I will be.

5:37 – 6:203

You'll be right here. Well, thank you, Commissioner Gilbert. On behalf of the commission and the staff, I'm appreciate your leadership and guidance last year. So, we were busy and grateful for your leadership in that. Looking forward to this year to come as well. And congratulations to Commissioner Manning, Vice Chair Manning, for for that. And I appreciate, everyone's support and, you know, trust and faith in me as chair. So I already I already got a heads up. We got a busy month next month, probably. So we have a lot of things in the pipeline.

6:20 – 6:313

So definitely excited about that. I think we're going to see a lot happening this year. So again, thank you for your trust in me. Oh. Yeah.

6:320

Chairman Johnson, if I may just move the plates in front of you guys.

6:36 – 6:513

Oh, yes. Thank you. Almost official. Perfect. Thank you. Now now we are official.

6:511

Now you're official.

6:54 – 7:333

Excellent. Thank you Jeanie. Alright. So item number five is now finished. So we'll move on to item number six. Public comment on non agenda items within the subject matter jurisdiction of the commission. Citizens may address the planning commission on any item on the agenda when the item is considered. Citizens wishing to speak may request to speak by raising your hand when requested to do so. This is an opportunity to speak on non agenda items. Please limit your comments to three minutes. Secretary, do we have any hands raised online or anyone in the chambers that wishes to speak?

7:340

I do not have any hands raised online, and I do not see any hands raised here in the room. I did not receive any cards.

7:43 – 8:173

Okay. Thank you. And I think I failed to open the public comment period. But seeing none, I'll go ahead and close it. So item number six, public comment is now closed. Moving on to item number seven, informational items from the staff. Do staff have any informational items for us tonight? Alright. Seeing none, we'll move on to item number eight, disclosure of ex parte communication. Do any of my fellow commissioners have any communication to disclose?

8:17 – 8:583

I guess we'll start. And I have none. Excellent. Seeing none, we'll move on to item number nine, the consent agenda. All matters on the consent agenda are considered routine business and will be enacted by one motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless a request to remove a specific item for separate action is received. Any items removed will be considered after the remainder of the consent agenda. Do any of my colleagues wish to remove an item from the consent agenda? Alright.

9:030

Second.

9:043

Alright. We have a motion and a second. I guess

9:080

I apologize. I missed who second. Thank you.

9:123

Alright. So with a motion and second, all those in favor say aye.

9:17 – 9:433

Any oppose? No? Abstentions? Perfect. Alright. Moving on from, the consent, we'll move to public hearings. So we'll move to item 10 a, canine and feline kennel uses ordinance amendments. And this will be a staff report tonight given by our city attorney Christine Malenkopf. So I'll turn the time over to

9:43 – 10:477

Thank you, chair, and happy new year to all of you, if I hadn't had a chance to see you before tonight. So this ordinance change is coming to you because it does affect our zoning ordinances. We by way of background, I think most of you are probably aware if you have dogs, love dogs, or have dog lovers in your family, that there is a growing demand in communities for a place where now when you've been called back to work in the post COVID world, somebody you need a place to take your dog for doggy daycare, for dog training, socialization, all of those things that make our communities and canine communities happier and healthier. And so what is before you is an ordinance to allow for that type of use in our commercial and light industrial zones. We had a proposed business owner come forward to the city asking about what he would need to do in order to take out a business license to permit this type of use in one of our commercial zones downtown, and we said, well, it's actually prohibited at this point in time.

10:48 – 11:307

Our ordinance, as it's currently written, requires any kenneling services to be provided by a licensed veterinarian. Now most licensed veterinarians that provide kenneling services, it's largely because they're providing medical care for a dog or cat that needs to be kept overnight because of the treatment that they're re receiving, not necessarily because they're receiving social interaction in a play area or training, that type of thing. And so staff took a look at it. We took a look at demand in the community. We took a look at other communities that have this type of use that's allowable, and made the determination that in a commercial or light industrial zone, this would be an appropriate use.

11:30 – 12:277

The proposed ordinance before you tonight, if you recommend it to council, would change our zoning so that in a commercial zone, if the use was exclusively indoor, then it would be a by right, no conditional use permit needed. And it would allow for the boarding, training of 20 either cats or dogs. If they wish to utilize outdoor facilities, so they wanted to have an outdoor play area for the canines, maybe, you know, an obstacle course kind of thing set up for them. They would be allowed 30 canines and felines in total, but it would require a conditional use permit because we felt that if they were going to be providing these services out of doors, we would want to make sure that it would have the least impact perhaps on residential neighbors that were abutted up to a commercial zone. And so the ordinance is similar for light industrial.

12:28 – 13:057

Pretty much the same restrictions. If you want to be completely interior, 20 dogs or cats. And if you want to go exterior, 30 would require a conditional use permit. And so we felt like that provided enough guardrails for our community using those two light industrial, which the uses are a little further apart from each other than necessarily commercial, and it segregates itself from residential. And just as a side note, this use is by right in certain circumstances in agrarian zoned properties.

13:05 – 13:317

So, with that, if there's any questions, we would be happy to answer them. We're as staff, I think, we're very excited. I personally am kind of excited. I have a one year puppy that I rescued about a year ago who was severely abused and is missing an eye because of it, and he needs some activity. So I think everyone in our community is kind of excited about this, and I think we've done a good job of providing enough guardrails.

13:32 – 14:007

As an aside, we've also reached out to communities that have these types of uses and have sort of a set of forms that we can look at when we do get an application for perhaps a conditional use permit that we can use to kind of mold our conditional use permit after from communities that have this use and have learned some lessons, and make sure that when that permit is issued that it's in a good space to protect our communities' health, safety, welfare. I'm open to any questions.

14:013

Excellent. Thank you for that presentation, that report, and for all the efforts looking into that. Do any of my colleagues have any questions or comments at this time before the public hearing?

14:118

I have a question. Go ahead, commissioner Johnson.

14:15 – 14:325

So if an applicant wants to have, outside, pens or storage, it has to it has to have a CUP even though it's less than 30 and even though it's in a industrial zone.

14:33 – 14:467

Correct. The number that they can board or train at any one time is a max. So it wouldn't matter if they said we only want to have 10 dogs. If they were going to use outdoor space, they would still require a conditional use permit.

14:465

Both in commercial and industrial and light industrial?

14:504

Correct.

14:543

Commissioner Manning?

14:55 – 15:328

Yeah, have a question. Just wondering, where we got the number twenty and thirty dogs from? Was it a best practice from other communities? And the reason I asked that, because I'm pushing back on it anyway, but I would think that the size of the number of dogs might be more correlated with the size of the property rather than just a number. Right? And if somebody had a great business plan and thought that they could run a very profitable business with 40 dogs, and they had a huge a big building, why wouldn't we allow why wouldn't we allow that?

15:34 – 15:497

The numbers came from calling around. I made a lot of phone calls to a lot of facilities. There's one in Rockland. I made some down to Central the Central Coast, down to Southern California, and that seems to be kind of the sweet spot.

15:49 – 16:038

So the calls you made, were those to the actual businesses? That Yes. 20 is a good profitable number where some because we'd be wasting our time if they look at it and the numbers don't match with 20. Right? And I wouldn't know that because I don't run a dog, you know, but it is a good number.

16:03 – 16:347

And that's per day, so the thing about these types of businesses is that it's not typically the same 20 dogs every day. Owners will say, want to do one day, two days, three days, and they'll have package programs. But most of the businesses I talked to said 20 dogs is the most that they can handle with the staffing that they're able to obtain that is trained and to give the animals the appropriate care and tending that they need to accomplish the owner's goals.

16:348

K. So we feel confident that those numbers would allow a business to be to thrive with under 20. Right?

16:427

It it's the best that we could Okay. Come up with Okay. Given our research.

16:45 – 17:238

My other question, and we my household, we love our dog to the point where it's I mean, we love our dog. Right? And we use these type of services. Yeah. We yeah. We really love our dog, and I think this is awesome for our community. I didn't know that it wasn't allowed here. Now I know why we go so far there's nothing close by. So this is great. The other question I have is one of the things we really we require when we leave our dog somewhere is our dog loves to go on walks. So with that indoor place that wants to take dogs for walks, like, one at a time, would they need a a CUP for that? Because that would then be outdoor activity.

17:24 – 17:407

I don't think that's what this contemplates. I think, if they wanna take the dog on a walk, that's anyone can take a single dog on a walk. What we're really talking about is outdoor facilities where they're going to let the dogs play and run around, kind of more of like a dog park setting.

17:403

Okay. Yeah. All right.

17:421

Well, thank you.

17:443

Thanks, Commissioner Manning. Yeah. Commissioner Jackson?

17:478

Yes. I do

17:48 – 18:112

have a question with regards to the facilities themselves. It gets hot in Lincoln. I mean, are we going to make sure that the owners provide air conditioning, you know, if it's an indoor facility? Also, of course, possibly heat when it gets cold like it has been the last several weeks. Is that something that's also going to be told to the owner that they need to provide?

18:13 – 19:117

I think that really comes down to the fact that a business owner has to make decisions for their business model. And I know as a dog owner myself, if I were taking a dog my dogs live indoor, outdoor, and during the summers, they are indoor almost all day because of the air conditioning. I I don't foresee us having to require that because I don't think a responsible dog owner is gonna take their dog to a facility where in the summer they're living in a tin can and boiling, and in the winter they're living in a freezing facility. That just isn't smart business ownership, and I don't think that's something that we necessarily want to overregulate. Now when it comes to a conditional use permit and outdoor facilities, yes, we may be looking at are there shade structures, are there misters, are there heat lamps available, but I think that is really I would have a really hard time imagining any business owner that ran a completely indoor facility not having it climate controlled because they're not going to attract customers.

19:13 – 19:373

Any other questions or comments? Alright. We'll have another chance after public comments. So I will now open the public hearing. Citizens wishing to speak on this item may request to speak by raising your hand. When requested to do so, please limit your comment to three minutes. Secretary, do we have any hands raised online or anyone in the chambers that wishes to speak?

19:390

There are hands no hands raised online. I do not see any hands raised in chambers. I did not receive any cards.

19:46 – 20:043

Okay. Thank you. So seeing none, I will go ahead and close the public comments, period, and bring it back to my colleagues. Does anyone have any additional comments from the commission? Alright. If none, would anyone like to make a motion?

20:081

I'll make a motion that we approve the ordinance as put before us.

20:160

I'll second.

20:173

Alright. We got a motion and a second. Roll call, please.

20:230

Commissioner Gilbert? Commissioner Hutchinson? Yes. Commissioner Jackson? Commissioner Jerry Johnson?

20:340

Vice Chair Manning?

20:360

And Chair Johnson?

20:38 – 21:133

Yes. Alright, motion passes. Six zero one. There we go. Perfect. Thank you. Alright. I'll move on to item number 11, general business. There are two items. So the first item 11 a is ad hoc theme and naming committee approval to appoint public member Ronnie Breeley to the committee, and we will have a staff report by our planning manager, Mel Pavolinas, please.

21:13 – 21:569

Thank you. This is a simple documentation of nominating Ronnie Breeley to the team and naming committee meeting committee. Ronnie is actually one of our members in serving the design review board for quite a while now ever since I started here. And this opportunity came up with the following the resignation by Shirley Russell from the tank. Total in total, we have mister Manning as one of our tank members and also Jerry Johnson. And Ronnie would be a a good a great addition to to the team. So we staff wanna forward this to your commission for approval.

21:583

Excellent. Thank you for bringing this forward. So it sounds like we need to take action on it. Correct? And approve it? Okay.

22:077

Correct. And you'd need to open this item for public comment because it is general business.

22:113

Okay. Excellent. Well, I guess before I open it to public comment, are there any questions or comments from public commissioners? Commissioner Johnson?

22:235

Mel, you didn't mention Elizabeth Jansen. Isn't she on the committee as well?

22:299

My my bad. Yeah. It's it's also on the on the It's important

22:325

that we have. Yeah. We do. Some have a history buff on there. Yeah. Okay.

22:383

Alright. Let's see. So I'll go ahead and open it to public comment. Secretary, do we have any hands raised online or anyone in the chambers?

22:490

I have no hands raised online. I don't see any in the room, and I did not receive any cards.

22:543

Okay. Excellent. I'll go ahead and close public comment period and bring it back to us. Do we have any further discussion or comments from the commission?

23:03 – 23:185

Another question to Mel. Okay. Go ahead. Did is that Ronnie? Yeah. Ronnie. Did Ronnie give a reason why she wanted to be on the committee? What what is her motivation?

23:19 – 24:009

Other than she's really active being part of of the community. She's a realtor by trade. I informed her of what this opportunity kinda extending her community's public service, informed her of what we do, expressed her that we name streets, you know, we name parks, you know, we make recommendations. And she's she's, you know, she's involved with her kids and whatnot and also part of the city, as I said. So that sparked interest in her. So and it just an opportunity opened up, and then she expressed interest, and so she signed up. And then so that's kind of how it all transpired.

24:023

Commissioner Hutchinson?

24:04 – 24:284

I was just gonna say that I've known Ronnie for several years. She serves on the design review board, and she's, she's been a great asset to the DRB. She's very involved in the community. She's involved with her school. She is a cheerleader for Lincoln. And so I definitely would support this, nomination.

24:313

Do you have any other comments from commissioners?

24:338

I think it's great that she wants to be involved.

24:38 – 24:553

Me too. Yeah. Being a resident over in 12 Bridges, I know she's I've seen her very active in the community, so it's great to have a very active community member involved with this. With that, seeing no more comments or questions, I'll, look for a motion and

24:551

I'll make a motion that we approve this nomination. I second that.

25:003

Excellent. So we have a motion and second. Roll call,

25:030

please. Okay.

25:083

We'll do a voice vote. All in favor say aye.

25:12 – 25:303

Any oppose? Abstentions? I think that was everybody. Alright, so motion passes. Now we'll move along to item 11 b, the Planning Commission 2026 meeting schedule. And again, a staff report by our planning manager Mel Pablo Pablo Linas, please.

25:31 – 26:029

Yeah. So this is the I'm not sure if it's available online, but, before you is a list of our, this year's plan commission meetings. Again, we have it once once a month. The the one change from last year was that we removed kind of the midyear, the July date, like an off date midyear. We thought that, you know, we wanna be flexible to applicants' projects.

26:02 – 26:329

And if needed, if no projects come through, you know, is is ready, we can always cancel it like we've done couple times last year. But but having it more flexible, really just available there, you know, it's on it's on schedule. It's predictable. And perhaps maybe not maybe the December one could be could be questionable. But, nevertheless, it's I think it's it's it's manageable, but all depends on on the products that are available. And this year, we have a lot of projects in process next month and the following months thereafter.

26:333

Excellent. Thank you for preparing that, and, yeah, I think that's great to get all the dates out there so we can all mark our calendars. Do we need public comment on this one?

26:447

I think this is largely an informational item. Our municipal code calls out that the meetings are on the third Wednesday of the month, so I think this is just an informational item.

26:533

Perfect. Alright. So no action items on that one.

26:55 – 27:128

Just have anybody with children in our in our district I mean, in our school, in our city, or on this board. I think that February 18 meeting is a ski week or whatever they call it. So probably it's probably gonna be a little empty in here. A lot of people take that week off and are traveling.

27:143

Alright. Well, I guess we'll see. I I think for those meetings, you'll you'll send out a little feeler. Right?

27:21 – 27:443

Like, to the commission to see who's gonna be in town. So I guess that might be a good date, to send a little questionnaire out to see who's gonna be in town or who's gonna be on the the slopes up there skiing. So we'll look for on a beach somewhere. Or on a beach. We got options. Yes. That's right. That is right. That's true. We can do everything.

27:441

It's go skydiving. Yeah. You go skydiving as well.

27:49 – 28:173

Right. Yeah. So commissioner Gilbert will be skydiving. You know, I might be at the beach. Commissioner Man will be up on the slopes. Sounds like fun. Can do everything here in Lincoln. It's great. Alright. So thank you for that that item. We'll move along to item number 12, our community development director report from our Interim Community Development Director and also Assistant City Manager, Nita Racker, please.

28:17 – 29:226

Thank you, Chair. So before you, we're we've continued to present the planning project tracker to give you an idea of those things coming forward and some, coming forward through the pipe and also to, provide an opportunity if there's a project that is of interest to you or that you have questions that you can connect with us offline and let us know so that we can make sure that you have all the information that you need. Besides this, the only other comment that I would make is that city council met earlier this week to have a workshop on all of its committees and commissions. And we have discussed and they have discussed that each one of our committees and commissions, there are varying forms and formats. Some of them have seven members, some of them have five members, some of them have council members, some of them cannot have council members.

29:23 – 30:026

Some of them meet monthly, bimonthly, quarterly, and the like. And that, can lead to kind of a stack up of meetings. So, for example, I like to think of this marathon quarterly Wednesday where I start in the morning at Roseville with an 08:30 off-site meeting and I race back over here for airport committee at 10AM. And then I, roll into the FIOT quarterly meeting at 3PM and end my day with everyone here on the Planning Commission. So, to that end, the City Council is considering a more standardized, form or format to try to get some uniformity amongst the commissions and the committees.

30:02 – 30:166

And they have provided some general direction to staff, to provide a draft changes to the municipal code. And as we have that ready and are able to bring that back, we will.

30:173

Excellent.

30:186

So the things is like meeting dates or number of commissioners, etcetera, could be up for discussion.

30:273

Okay. Thank you for that. I guess, do we have any questions or comments from the commission on that item? Go ahead.

30:37 – 30:485

I don't know how to identify the project under the tracking item. But it's the Ferrari Ranch and Lincoln Boulevard Northeast corner.

30:486

Ferrari Pavilion. Yes.

30:495

Yeah. Any hope that that's going away, or is it really coming back?

30:536

Oh, actually, we just broke ground. They just had a groundbreaking about, what, a month?

30:585

Maybe Maybe I don't know. Yeah.

31:016

They are

31:015

May or may not.

31:02 – 31:276

They have actually set a very ambitious schedule for themselves, and they hope to be have pads and build out Remind me, it's a really ambitious schedule. It's a So it's like within a year, they are expecting to have tenants. They already have some signed, and so they are expecting to be open in a very short period of time.

31:281

They've they've identified some of the companies that are gonna help them do the the infrastructure.

31:371

But that's the piece that they will focus on now.

31:40 – 31:536

Yes. Yeah. That is always first. Right? And they they do have a a contractor that we have worked with before, and the developer is one that is, currently managing several projects, within the city limits.

31:545

What is the name of the of the project as listed in the in this tracker?

32:02 – 32:156

I don't know that would it be listed because it is past entitlement. We have they have not come forward for, building plans obviously yet, but because they are past entitlement, they won't come back to this commission.

32:15 – 32:305

Well, they do have a drop dead deadline, I I, remember. That development agreement was for that had a three year I think it was three years.

32:306

Yep. But if they are making forward progress, those could be extended. Extended. Yep.

32:37 – 33:051

Policy is a is a city that, if somebody is moving along or if interest rates go through the roof and they can't finance or whatever, the city's been very supportive of that. You don't want to have the reputation that somebody applies for a permit, and then you play hardball with them because then that makes it reluctant that other people are gonna wanna come in and do business in your city.

33:05 – 33:226

And this developer does appear to be well financed and, able to bring this to fruition. As I said, they are currently in, in progress of, other projects. So for example, the, the twelve Bridges retail center, it's the same developer.

33:26 – 33:413

Perfect. And just for my, I guess, education, so for example, that project isn't on this tracker, but the city does have another, like, map overlay kind of status that shows things in progress like that. Right?

33:41 – 33:556

Actually, on our website, the city's website under development, I will get the address wrong, so I'm not gonna try to give it to you verbally. But we do have a a map of projects, and we're happy to send that out to all commissioners if they would like a reminder where to find it.

33:553

Sure. Yeah. That would be great. And, yeah, thank you for maintaining that. I think that's super helpful.

34:016

It's important for the community to know what's going on where and know, the numbers of units and the information that

34:09 – 34:514

we have available. Excuse me. Just an additional comment. Mayor Pearl was at the, coffee with the mayor at Sun City on Wednesday, and Aaron, was with, with him, and they were both very excited about this project and the various tenants. And, Aaron reminded us all that the city does not you can't control and cherry pick who you wish to go into a development as as a tenant, but they were they were excited and felt that it was going to be moving along very, very quickly.

34:51 – 35:186

Yeah. In fact, the city has really no say in the tenants that a developer markets to. What we can do as a as an entity is try to encourage and incentivize in different ways the developers to bring in certain types of, of businesses, but it is it is really on the shoulders of the developer of who they sign and who goes where.

35:19 – 35:531

I have a question, really not on this one, but maybe you can indicate a little update on the additional infrastructure and tenants on the 12 bridges, development that own a piece already where Starbucks is. They were in, and we approved another piece last year. Is there any is there any indication when they may break ground?

35:546

The one next to the hotel or in between the hotel and Starbucks?

36:011

I remember when they were here, they were reluctant to share with us who the tenants were.

36:086

Oh, yes.

36:081

But they were in negotiations, and they gave us an indication

36:126

that we

36:131

were very happy with some of the tenants.

36:15 – 36:366

In the Twelve Bridges retail center, we are aware that they have signed Club Studio, if I have that name correctly. They have not, shared the other large grocer that is, also planned to be in that, which I think maybe you are interested in. So they have not released that for public consumption yet.

36:36 – 37:121

I I do know this from my, from my business career. They won't break ground until they have a certain percentage of the, spaces, with leases in hand Mhmm. Because that allows them then to go forward. And when they get those tenants in, they're breakeven. So, you know, the the the fact you know, the there's several, projects in this market area that sat for years because they couldn't get to that number. And when they finally did, they broke ground in some very successful shopping areas.

37:126

Right.

37:147

And it is planned for phase development.

37:182

K. I do have a question because, my neighbors found out that I was a planning commissioner, commissioner, and they they definitely come with a lot of questions.

37:256

I'm sorry.

37:27 – 38:032

One one of the, one of the issues that in my neighborhood, and I live over on in Lakeside, is that we don't have a grocery store that's nearby us. We have a Power Mart and a Chevron station and a very little strip mall, and that's about it. West Lincoln Square. Mhmm. Very important to my neighbors. I see here that we're supposed to start really talking about this here now this month. I think the date that's on here is 01/2826. So do we have an update on the, West Lincoln Square?

38:046

Not that I can

38:051

Every one of us has something. Yeah.

38:08 – 38:226

So that they are actively if you're asking who is gonna go in there, they are actively working on deals with different, organizations. But again, none that we're able to release at this time.

38:266

right now, no. No. And

38:27 – 38:537

just Commissioner Jackson, so you're aware, in most of these circumstances, even if staff is told about which retailers they may be having conversations with, there are nondisclosure agreements that not only the developer signs, but oftentimes staff is expected to sign. So we cannot share that information in a public setting at this point in time until that disclosure agreement has been lifted.

38:53 – 39:042

No, that makes perfect sense. I guess my question will be is, they're gonna want to know kind of more ETA, you know, my constituents.

39:047

Right.

39:05 – 39:162

So, you know, what should I be telling them? I mean, should I just be telling them that right now, you know, we are going we're waiting for the developer to actually get the leases in hand to be able to break ground?

39:166

That is exactly where we are in the process. Yes.

39:192

Okay. Thank you.

39:21 – 39:431

I could tell just tell you from the history. I used to finance in part of my life. I financed shopping center developers, small and large. You can have five people ready to go. And then when you ask them to sign, you know, the contract, three drop out.

39:44 – 40:111

So you start the whole process again. And sometimes, if if the word gets out, someone steals it, someone who has an open space with costs that are a couple years old old and less expensive, go out they go out and solicit and get them into their shopping center, and now you're down to two. So it's it it's they hold that very close to the vest until they have a contract in hand.

40:12 – 40:302

With all the growth in that area, there's a lot of houses going in right now. We're hoping that, you know, a developer will see that and see that that is going to be, you know, at least those lessees will see that it's going to be something that's going to be, worth their while to get into that area.

40:30 – 41:146

Yeah. Well, the rooftops do drive, retail, and, you know, I was at a a regional, builders industry at what does that a stand for? I apologize. Builders industry agency media. I'm sure I'm getting the a wrong. I apologize for that. And the update I gave to the group is that Lincoln is on the precipice of entering into the big boy commercial lead. And so we are there with sufficient number of rooftops. We have enough growth, continued growth and planned growth and growth in progress that those bigger retailers, developers are able to dangle a carrot and they are now looking where they weren't before.

41:17 – 41:583

Yeah. That's exciting. So that means, yeah, be ready commission. Definitely sounds like we got a busy year ahead, which is exciting. So that's great news. Thanks for sharing all that. Yeah. So all all this great information, people watch. You know, the planning commission, they can glean all this information. So thank you for sharing that. Let's see. So we'll move on to item number 13, commissioner comments. Do any of my colleagues have any comments? We'll start on that end. I'll congratulate you on your Thank new

42:008

you very much for everything you guys given. I wanna thank, mister Gilbert too for for the last year and everything you gave gave this committee. Thank you very much.

42:11 – 42:293

Yeah. Thank you, Commissioner, or Vice Chair Manning, congratulations as well, right back at you for, for, being the Vice Chair for this year. Looking forward to it. I don't have any comments. So with that, we are adjourned.

This transcript was automatically generated from the official public meeting video and is presented unedited. It reflects remarks made on the public record by elected officials, staff, and public commenters. Transcript accuracy may vary; view the original recording for reference.