Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

It is 7 o'clock. Give me one moment to start the recording. Okay. Um good evening everyone. Uh welcome to our uh regular LOA planning commission meeting. Today, December 10th, 2025. Jessica, let's have a roll call, please. Commissioner Deal here. Commissioner Eddie here. Vice Chair Singh here. Chair Hicks is not present. Commissioner Will here. Commissioner McNichol here. Commissioner Leiden here.

We do have a quorum. Okay. Uh, everyone get a chance to read the meeting minutes or any comments? I'll make a motion. Second. A second. Looks like a vote on it. Commissioner Deal. Yes. Commissioner Eddie. Yes. Vice Chair Singh. Yes. Commissioner Will. Yes. Commissioner McNichol. Yes. Commissioner Leiden. Yes. Passes 6.

Okay. Let's move to the third agenda item. Comments by the public. Non-aggenda items. Open to the public.

All right. So, let's move on to uh agenda number four, public hearing. Request for the planning commission to approve a use permit to authorize a type 41A BC license for non-sale beer and wine sales at oneon restaurant expansion located at 606 West Block Street located next door to the original location applicant. Wordified cuisine LLC file number 2025-06U determination exempt per section 15061 B3. So Cynthia you have the floor now. If I may, Chair Sink, um I I need to announce that I need to recuse myself from this agenda item. Um the the property owner is a client. I I've had no business dealings with the applicant, but I talked with city staff and felt it was best for me to recuse myself.

Okay.

Okay. We will proceed. I'll proceed with the presentation. Good evening, uh, commissioners and, uh, vice chair Singh. U, this item before you, as you mentioned, is for a use permit for type 41 ABC license, uh, located at 606 West Lockford Street. Uh, the request is for a license to uh, expand an existing restaurant into the space uh, next door. Um, the existing conditions here, you can see um, many of us are familiar that Guantano's is an established uh, high demand local restaurant. Uh they um have uh long-standing successful um business uh at the site here on the corner of Lockford and North California streets. Uh the current demand frequently results in customers queuing and congregating at the front entrance during peak hours as you can see in this photo to the right. Um so the expansion uh will allow them to um improve both uh safety and circulation. Um the expansion will increase the kitchen and pizza preparation capacity. um next door and then also add 30 door indoor seats allowing patrons who are currently waiting outside or near the entrance to be accommodated indoors. Uh this redesign and expansion next door would be intended to reduce u crowding at the front and uh improve pedestrian safety and operational efficiency. Uh it would also allow the orderly pickup for their uh to- go uh pizzas which have become pretty popular and um have become uh part of the I think contention with neighbors uh as far as traffic. A lot of folks are there to pick up their pizzas to go. So, this will enable um uh a little bit uh of a more of a streamlined process for uh folks to get in and out with their takeout service, shorten weight times, reduce congestion along the frontage, and um because the expansion occupies a separate parcel uh next door, um a new use permit is required. So, this would be the same business expanding next door, um uh the

only difference is if it was one parcel, they would not be required to be here today. um and because it's two parcels and two addresses um that is why this item is before you. As you can see in the aerial here, the existing restaurant is at the corner of California and Lockford. Um and they would be expanding to where that yellow box is um directly to the west next door. Uh surrounding uses are single family and uh residences. Um to the north uh south and then to the east uh are um a restaurant and um personal services business and single family residences and duplexes to the west. The proposed project would um require a separate use permit to authorize the expansion of the type 41 on sale for beer and wine. Uh this uh as you can see in the image, the existing restaurants kind of set back a little bit to the left from this angle. The expanded um restaurant would um be located directly next door. Um the sale of the beer and wine would be secondary to the serving of prepared meals. Uh they currently operate um pretty limited hours um uh during the week from 400 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. But um this use permit would authorize them uh allow flexibility um should they choose to be open for lunch. um or close um 10 pm as needed. Uh so um they don't currently right now, but um typically we allow this flexibility in our use permits so they don't have to come back at a later date and amend their use permit uh at a new hearing. The pickup window um that um would be added um potentially in the future would be on the west side uh of the building. There would not be a drive-thru. It would be merely uh a drive up pickup, hand someone their pizza, and then they uh take off and leave. So they would relieve some of the congestion that um has been complained about on the streets surrounding the area. And then there would likely be outdoor seating located

uh along the front of Lockford with a um fenced in pen area. Um that would also require approval from ABC with their ABC license. Here you can see the floor plan of the interior of the restaurant. Uh the majority of the space, more than half of it would be for their um expanded kitchen area and a um restroom. The uh front area or seating area, you can see kind of outlined in red there, uh would include uh 36 seats. Uh and then to the right there along Lockford would be uh potential um outdoor seating um that they may install in the future. Here's the site plan where you could see um where on the left side um where that outdoor um dining area may be located. Uh the area in red is outlined where um there's a outdoor awning. And then you can see on the kind of bottom part of the image where that red is is where that awning would be or is the existing awning. If I flip back to the image here, you can see the existing awning on the right side of the image. Um that is the awning outlined in u red right there. Um if they uh were to um allow pickups at that window there, uh the building code would require them to move the post uh out about a foot or so to um provide room for vehicles. So um that may be uh an improvement they um may optionally uh decide to do in the future. Um otherwise the um improvements uh would require um path of travel. You can see all those kind of hatched areas on the site plan would um be ADA requirements uh for path of travel in the building code uh and including an ADA parking stall and um there would be total including that ADA stall uh eight uh striped stalls. The existing area is zoned MCO or mixeduse corridor. You can see the uh MCO area is um highlighted in pink. Uh and the parcel where it says 600, that's

where the existing Guantano's restaurant is located. And then to the left there is where the expansion would be located. Um the MCO zone is intimidate uh intended to accommodate a blend of commercial office and residential uses within close proximity or mix of uses. Um the expan expansion of a successful neighborhood serving restaurant within this district is consistent with the purpose of creating a walkable mixeduse environment where residents can access uh dining and services without relying on their vehicles to uh drive to those places. As you can see the whole intersection here that is in pink is zoned MCO including the single family homes uh the two that are closest to the corner of Lockford and California Street. Um generally uh not generally but um restaurants are absolutely owned uh allowed by right uh in this zone. Uh the only reason they are before you today uh is to apply for the um use permit to serve beer and wine. Um so restaurants are permitted um you know by right in the MCO district. However, the LOI municipal code does require use permit for ancillary sale of alcohol. Um, this would be uh compatible with surrounding commercial uses and consistent with existing future development. Uh, the restaurant uh as a as a long-standing neighborhood and community serving business similar to other restaurants in the vicinity. Uh, alcohol service is incidental to food service um and would as condition would not adversely affect surrounding properties and the ABC license uh limits alcohol sales. Uh it's a type 41 uh which allows um all ages and is tied to a bonafide restaurant or eating establishment uh where that primary activity is sale of meals. The uh PCN uh is a requirement of public necessity or convenience finding uh when there's an overconentration of ABC licenses in a census tract which is um

occurs on all of LOI. Um then a determination of PCN finding is required. Uh we feel that the economic benefit outweighs any possible negative impacts and the project will support an established restaurant and their expansion. Uh and that it will also um help relieve some of the congestion around the restaurant by providing uh options uh for the pickup of pizzas which have become very popular. Uh when we receive these use permit applications, we reroute uh we route them to all departments in the city including the police department. Uh the police department stated that um they did a check for calls for service. At this specific location in the new building, there was two calls for service in the last year uh for reports of transients uh and trespassing uh because the space has been vacant. Um they noted during the same time period there were five calls for service at Guantanonia's uh and those involved similar reports of transates and um the police department said um there have um they weren't of any concern and they do not object to um the property um being occupied as a restaurant with a beer and wine license at this location. Uh because the site is um uh in a commercial area, it's categorically exempt. Uh it's um by right allowed to be a restaurant. Um therefore, the common sense exemption applies under 15061B3.

For the commission's background as well, uh ironically, this building uh had been vacant for quite a while, but it was one of the longest standing pizza restaurants in Loi. So, it's actually reactivating the old kitchens that are in that building for that primary purpose. And as Cindy mentioned, the idea is shifting the bulk of their pizza production further away from the intersection and into this interior lot. Um, so it's actually kind of a renewal of an old use in that building.

We're near the end of here and uh so your options are to approve as recommended, approve with revised conditions, deny or continue the item. and staff uh has a proposed uh motion to approve and we are available if you have any questions. Uh the applicant is also available and um we um I believe a couple of the neighbors are here to comment also. Thank you. Okay, thank you Cynthia. Very good presentation. So any comments from the commissioners? I have a couple questions. So, there's not going to be a driveth through, correct? But a drive drive up a pickup window.

Pick up window. Okay. Yeah. And the pickup window would require some minor modifications to the canopy um size. So, um that's on the west side of the building. On the west side of the building. Yeah.

Yeah. There's an existing door there. So, um it's similar to other uh local restaurants where um someone's pre-ordered their pizza and so they don't have to park on the street and get out of their car and um you know potentially um make congestion occur on the street there on California or uh I think the southside is Carlo. Um then uh they could just drive uh through the parking lot right up to the window. They say, "Hey, we're here to pick it up and they hand it to them." So they've already pre-ordered the pizza. If you've been a patron of A&W root beer, it's very much like that where the server comes out to the vehicle and then they they exit on Carlo Way. It'd be the reverse. They'd enter on Carlo Carlo.

Yeah. And it' be a right turn only on Lockford. Um public works would inc uh require uh frontage improvements to the slope of the sidewalk there and the apron uh and to correct the angle of the sidewalk for ADA purposes. Thank you. Cynthia, a quick question. So, there's no improvement part of this. I mean, the building is as is. They're not adding any like a canopy or something, you know, just no additions. Oh, no additions.

Yeah. There, like I mentioned, there might be that modification the I'll pull the picture up of the canopy on the right side there. Um, it um may need to be expanded. I think it's like 1 foot or 18 in to provide enough space for um vehicles to get through there. Um but I don't think that's on their priority list of things. I think they're um uh you know just trying to get into the space initially. So we we would allow them though through this use permit um to well this use permits were primarily for the sale of alcohol but um in the future they may they may need a building permit to expand that um you know this post right there in order to fit vehicles to drive through.

Okay. The other quick question the one you guys have they have two calls police calls. So those are during their there was a nonoperational when they were closed completely when they got the call. So those are pulled out from the police records. Correct. Yeah. So they were just uh trespass calls. Uh it was completely vacant. Uh and so calls were um for trespass. Uh oftent times the property owners call themselves. Uh so those calls are probably I'm guessing were initiated. They don't say who called, but um that's often the case if their trespass calls are usually called in by the property owner or business owner. Thank you.

So should be open to the now public or before we bring the applicant in any other questions.

Any question? Any other questions from the rest of the commission to staff? Well, I guess I asked already. Anyone has any other questions? No. Okay, I'm good. So, let's open to the public. Anyone would like to come? We can call the applicant for it if you'd like or however historically the applicant would come up and if you have any questions of the applicant, we can address those if you have none. Okay? And we can go to the public. Okay? Please applicant come to the phone. Okay, go ahead.

Hi, my name is Marissa Guantanone and I am one of the um four member or one of the members of the um the ownership and we just say thank you for the opportunity to um to let us speak. We are um excited about the excitement of the expansion. Um I brought with us um the all of the license um for all of our current employees to show that we have been in um in compliance with APC license on the current building that we have. Um and just thank you. We're excited.

That's good. So, what kind of experience you have? Like you have a how many partners you have? All they have experience in this business or Yeah. Yeah. We are um we are owner operated. So all four of us work in the restaurant. Yeah. Family owned and operated. So you know the rule and everything of who to serve the alcohol or not and all. Yeah. So all of the servers on the floor um anyone that carries alcohol, we have to have a responsible beverage service license and we're all licensed. And you would like to see document of everyone that is licensed. I brought it with me today.

Thank you. Anyone else questions? the original U facility. There's a kitchen in there. Is that still going to be used as a kitchen or is everything moving over to the the new facility? No, the the original like the guantonios where it is. Yes, that is still going to be there. Okay. Yes. So, there's really no changes to that building. No, just Okay. Yeah.

Okay. Great. I guess Thank you. That's all we have. I guess now we can open to the public. Yeah. Okay. Anyone from the public? Any comments? Please come on the podium. Say your name, address. We normally give about five minutes. Yes. You have five minutes, ma'am.

Thank you, sir. My name is Deborah Tovar. My name is Deborah Tovar and I reside at 211 North California Street and I represent 211 North California Street and 609 Carlo Way. They are ill in the hospital and they wanted me to speak and we have had a lot of problems with the restaurant being a community and I I'm disabled and if I leave my house in the afternoon and I come home I have no parking. I've witnessed other people in pull their their uh tailgate open, eat pizza, and drink wine in the neighborhood. And it's been a freeforall ever since they came in. And I've been there for a long time. I've seen people come and go out of the neighborhood. I've even had some of their customers knock on my door because I am close to the restaurant and I just would like to see some permit parking and some more cooperation with the restaurant be a little bit more friendlier to the neighbors because they have overcome overtaken the neighborhood. My my house is only like three three houses away from the restaurant from uh Lockford and and uh California Street. So, thank you for listening to me. I could go on, but I only have five minutes. But I thank you for listening to me.

Thank you. Thank you for your concern, man. Anyone else, please? Hi, my name is Sarah Okazaki and I reside at 224 North California. I'm directly right across the street from the restaurant and there has been a definite parking problem since day one when they originally opened. I went over to talk not to the senior but the younger Nick and my husband was dying and we had a hospice there three nights a week and I asked them please do not park in front of my house. They we they told us the planning commission told us they would not park in front of our homes. We had an employee problem. It took a year for them to get the employees to park over in the barking dog lot. They block our driveway. We call the police. No response. The There's been one ticket in my driveway and I've called the police at least 10 times. So how the police or you get information that the police are not getting calls that is not correct. They block driveways. They throw garbage in our yards. It's a nuisance. They're very popular. And if I wouldn't have had a runin with the the one gentleman over my husband where he says, "I don't care about your hospice and it's a public street." Well, then he shouldn't have sat and told the planning commission that they wouldn't park in front of our homes. I know it's a public street, but you know, they have the lock behind the new place that they're going

to move, and I know that's going to be approved. We're just asking for parking permits. We were told if we got 75% of the neighborhood that went down to Locust Street over to Rose all a Carlo way and Lockford Street to Rose that we would get parking permits. It took me three months to walk that neighborhood and we got they wanted 75% we got 70% of the neighbors to sign a thing and it the planning commission and the public works Mr. Swimley would not pursue and send it to the council because that would put them out of business. You know parking's a big issue there. That's a busy corner. There's a lot of residents and not a lot of residents eat at that restaurant. If I can get that many percent of people to sign a is so frustrating. They're not neighborhood friendly whatsoever. So, anything you can do to get us where we can advance to the council, talk to the new guy in the new person in public works. We need something done. And all that 75% 70% of people aren't really pursuing because they don't think the city will help us. But at least there's four or five properties that we're representing tonight that we want parking permits. You know, it's sad when you come home and you have two cars in there single driveways, most of them. You have two cars in your driveway and there's no place to park. You know, you have to block two blocks. So anyway, I think thank you for listening. I've been here before and I've got nowhere. So I'm just reaching

out. We need help in the neighborhood. Thank you for your time. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you for your concern. Uh anyone else from the public comments, John? Have you ever looked into that? I mean, they have any issues around that area or do we have part of the before I mean any complaints?

Yes, if you recall when uh when the original license was applied for several years ago, um we had we had neighbors um there uh present for that uh in discussion. We did have public works go out. We did have PD go out. We had undercover PD. uh uh new um new police candidates that were ununiformed driving just to see if there were compliance concerns. Um it became a bit of a battle between the neighbors and and and the operator. U but no one could find uh a violation. There was one case I think as Mrs. I said where there was an individual whose uh front of their car was like slightly into the apron into her garage and that was or into her driveway and that was cited but that was the only offense that they were able to find and it was a series of months. We went ahead and did one further thing. We had our community improvement officers also drive that. It's not their purview to deal with public um public issues in the public way but we had them as resources and as eyes on the street. And similarly, it was um uh found not to be in a in a non-compliance situation. It is difficult um anytime you have existing build businesses in communities like this in older parts of the city. Um but truly the idea of a of a private business doing well serving the community, it is very popular. I don't know if anybody's been there, but it's very popular. They used to be more transitory. They had their pizza services um and they would go around to farmers markets and all of that. So, we were thrilled to see them settle in. Um and I I think I would agree that there's been a a lot of time and effort spent to try and come up with solutions, but when public works made their finding, it was logical. Um and and so that effort stopped.

So, those issue must be during the peak hour like you know maybe lunchtime or dinner time right before that. Yeah. They're not even open at lunch. They're they're I think it's 4 to 10. I forget what it was. 4 to 9. So, all right. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. So, I guess that's all from the public. So, close the public session. Yes. Okay. Let's move on to any other comments from the planning commission or any questions before we proceed to the Can I ask the applicant some questions? We can bring we can bring the applicant back. Can you come to the podium please? Can I do that?

Sure you can. Well, I just make sure. So, obviously there's a parking issue in the whole neighborhood. um AC Kitty Corner on where that strip mall is. Um have you talked to them about people parking there? Um and is that where a lot of people park? That's where all of our staff park. We no longer park on the streets. We Because there's probably quite a few parking places there. So, and none of the businesses are open during the hours that we are open. Okay. Oh, they are. They are not. They're not. Okay.

They're not. Um, have you talked to the neighbors on the west side of your new location? Um, that would be 612 Lockford and I guess that's 611 Carlo. Have you talked to them about, you know, what you plan on doing and and that type situation? We have not gone door to door. The notices were sent out to um that we were applying for this, but we have not gone door to door. Okay. So, so there is adequate parking across the across the street, Kitty Corner. Yeah.

Okay. Um, I think that's it. That's all I have. Thank you. Um, from what I can see, it looks like a a good faith effort for a business to do an expansion that would potentially help alleviate some of the parking concerns that are being addressed by the neighbors. It's hard when you're in a fixed position in a neighborhood. as a business owner, you, you know, do the best you can, but sometimes, you know, popularity of a business, it's understandable that there's parking issues, that there's traffic congestion that wasn't there before. Um, it seems like a best case scenario to me. I understand that there are concerns with the neighbors in the neighborhood, but I think as the as the city continues to try and attract quality businesses and become a walkable downtown corridor um to bring in tourists and to to create neighborhood spots that we want to go to um and visit, it's it's going to create um some uncomfortability, I guess, in neighborhoods that weren't otherwise occupied in those ways. Um, and so I understand like the issue from a neighbor's perspective, but I also really appreciate um, small businesses making it work. So any just comments, no questions.

I'm happy to motion if we're ready for that. Yeah. If you close the public session then then you can you can entertain a motion. Do I get to read that whole thing up there?

Awesome. Okay. I move that the planning commission adopt a resolution finding that the project is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act pursuant to SQL guidelines section 15061B3 determining there is a public necessity and convenience served by the proposed use and approving use permit PL2025-016 to allow the sale of beer and wine under a type 41 ABC license for on-site consumption at a restaurant at 606 West Lockford Street subject to the findings and conditions of approval contained in the resolution. Want to make a second? I'll second. Let's have a second. Commissioner Eddie,

yes. Vice Chair Singh, yes. Commissioner Will, yes. Commissioner McNichol, yes. Commissioner Leiden, yes. Passes 5-0. So congratulations. So conditional permit is approved. All right. So let's move to the item number five, planning matters and follow-up items.

Mr. Vice Chair, uh our next meeting with the commission uh will take us all the way through the holidays. So we'll be leaving you alone uh until the first of the year. We have a couple of items coming up in January that we'll be uh announcing for you and noticing you for attendance. We would also like to introduce to you and invite up to the dis one of our new planners to introduce herself. Um come on up Raj. Can't be nervous now.

Good evening commissioners and vice chair. My name is Rajny. I'm a new assistant planner under the community development department. Um I'm happy to be here and happy to serve the city of LOI. Okay. Congratulations and welcome aboard tonight. Yes. Great. Yeah, we're very excited. Our other planner um she was here for the Spark meeting earlier, but she left early. Her name is Eva Pittz and um she started uh not not too long after Rajie um joined us. So, we're excited to have them uh and and have some help finally on uh a lot of the stuff we're doing in the planning division because we're keeping busy on long-range planning. We also wanted to welcome tonight our new planning commissioner, U Josh Leiden.

Welcome. Welcome.

Um I have moved to Loi about uh four years ago. Um I am a president of the LOI Lions Club and uh recently we just did an upgrade to Emerson Park. Um I'm also a real estate agent. Um I did come from San Francisco so I'm very up on all kinds of regulations that uh people have to go through and um hoping to just help Loi grow sustainably and keep everybody lives here happy while inviting new people like myself. So thank you for the warm welcome. Thank you. Can I add one more thing? John mentioned we'll be back in January. It's not till January 28th.

Um yeah, so the January 14th planning commission is cancelled. Um well actually December 24th of course is canceled. Uh January 14th is canceled. So uh expect to be back on January 28th. Um as long as we don't cancel that meeting. So it's a tenative. um one of the items on there um that we may have is pretty large and it may be bumped um depending on some factors. So we'll see maybe but tenative for January 28th if not we'll see you in February probably that's going to be one year that's going to be John your last month of the

um my last day uh as an employee of the city will be February 23rd. Um, so, uh, we're planning on having a celebration the Thursday night prior. I think that's the 18th or 19th. We're just going to go over to Five Windows. And so, I will be personally inviting commissioners and committee members that I've had the privilege of working with. You want to come by and you can join us for a tip and a beer and uh, enjoying that time. And the last day, full day at the office will be pretty much an open house. um just that anybody you know within the city, anybody else want to come by, we're going to do that. So it'll be a non- ceremonial but a really fun opportunity to just thank everybody for the opportunity. Absolutely. So

how many years you spend now with the city of Lord? 20 uh the day I retire will be six years and one day. Oh, six years. But overall okay. Okay. Six years.

It was a three-year commitment and you know how those go. Um my city manager insisted I stayed till five. So I gave in to him even though he left at 4. Uh and then we had um a change in leadership in the city which ended up putting a lot of things on hold. So that's why it went from five to six. But it's been a great ride. I'm uh excited where we have the department. I'm excited about the hope for direction and leadership in that department. Um I can't say for sure, but I've definitely have a someone I would like to see take that role. But it will be a uh it will be an interview process and panels and all the rest in terms of securing the next director. Uh and and again the city as you know is going through a series of changes. Our public works director is retired. That that recruitment is now open. Um our city manager recruitment is going to be starting soon. So there's a lot of leadership issues that are happening all at the same time. But I think all of us from public works to city management to certainly community development, we all have great um support um at that very next level down that is more than capable of taking over the ship um and seeing succession happen. So I'm excited. It's uh this is my second retirement. So it's uh it's this one's due.

We will definitely miss you, John. Well, I'm not leaving the area. just um I I always threaten council saying I will be back wearing the aluminum foil hat and I will carry a public comment card in every single session whether I have something to say or not. Good. It'll be fun. Yeah. All right. Good. Let's move to the next uh item. Announcement and correspondences. No announcement for tonight

and actually no correspondence with council. Um but asformational for council, we've been working towards um several initiatives. Cindy can bring you up to speed on a couple of them. Um some of which will be coming back to you. Uh but on a side note, we are working on permanent access center operations. Uh that's under construction now as I think you all know. Uh so we hope to have an operator appointed by council in the coming months uh which will help stabilize all of that. But in the interviews we conducted just today with the finalists that made the interview panel. Uh I think we have a a great crop of potentials um all come with good expertise and experience and I think will be a great asset to the city ultimately in trying to help us with our homelessness concerns which of course exist everywhere. Um, but I we've been touted as a leader in this entire county and I believe it having attended the board of supervisors meeting just th just Tuesday um and hearing statistically what's happening in all of our other sister cities in the county and we are by far outperforming all of them in our ability to serve and get people back into a productive lifestyle. So, it's it's really paying dividends already and it's only been a couple of years as a temporary center, but it's made marvelous impact on our homeless community. So, we hope this new center will only bolster that and and lead us in a good path.

Thank you. So, all all those are like um Harmony Homes and all completed pretty much everything. Harmony homes. Yes. It's been done and occupied for almost three years, believe it or not. Okay. Um Yes. And we have our uh Main Street project which is a transitional housing project. We acquired um uh one of the older buildings in in literally the worst crime network in our city uh on Main Street. Um and just with the refurbishment of that building, which will serve 43 units of transitional housing, so when individuals come out of access center and they've gained their sobriety and they have employment, um it's a transition into housing.

Doesn't provide ownership, it's just stability. They're still case managed and all that stuff. And we have a great relationship with our county who will be running that whole project project for us right here in the city. Um our access center will have a full medical clinic, a sobriety center, um quiet zones for for mental acute illness issues that are tied to substance abuse. All those services will be offered within the access center, all provided by the county agencies as well. Mental health services will be here, respit care, people being released from hospitals. So, it's going to do more than just serve our homeless population. It'll also be available for the community as far as clinical services. So, that's an exciting addition to that campus as well.

So, John, anything changing with all investigation for the funding for the homeless back like down south in LA they're talking about. Yeah, they found some misuse of the funds, you know, affordable housing for the homeless and all that. You're talking about in LA County.

Yeah. There's been the only thing I've heard about that I'm not following the cases or whatever, but the only thing I did hear was it was a misuse of public funds. Um but again that it's now in the hands of legal councils both with and out that's agencies and um but I have to tell you uh we are and you should know this we are squeaky clean here. We have audits of our work literally every month because we can't go a month without having a complete audit of all the financials. So it stays very busy. We're grant funded for most of this. And so the accountability on the grant side is also pretty ownorous, but uh we meet all of those obligations. We're grateful for the funds we've received to get these done because really except for a small percentage of our own ARPA dollars that were dedicated to the city. All of this has been grant funded. So we we're not using city's general fund for for most of this work.

Yeah. Most of the state funding has been they're delaying a lot of projects. That's what I heard today with the state and you know shifting the funds towards some different Yeah, it's you know went it went went from developing shelters to um housing first.

And while everybody agreed housing is important, it was kind of the wrong timing for that. Um because what the county board of supervisors just announced was a deficit in operational costs. And so now the next hurdle we'll all be facing is how do we how do we attract dollars to be able to assist all these municipalities running these facilities that aren't in the business of being in the homeless industry but nonetheless were the recipients of most of those grant funds. The private sector couldn't get those funding and so we did which then entitled us to have to be more directly attached to its operations. Um so but it's again we're not alone in this. All of our county um sister cities and the county administration are all facing the same thing as is every county in the state of California.

Thank you. Anyone else? Can I add one more item? Our next meeting, our madam assistant city attorney will not be with us. She will be on maternity leave. So, we will likely have our madam city attorney back with us temporarily while Janelle is out on leave. And we're very excited for her. Good luck. When's the baby dude? January 26th. Congratulations. Congratulations. All right. Action from the city council.

Uh, none for you tonight. It's okay. Action of the site plan and architecture committee. We had a meeting earlier tonight. First time since June 11th. So, we have passed a uh a revision of some terminology on a project on the corner of Central and TOK. It's a two-story 12-unit housing project and we passed that 40 and so um hopefully that project will be moving on and that's what we met and then our next meeting will be on the 14th of January. Good.

Jack. Yes, actually the couch um Jack um ended up selling that uh to Hagerty uh who's a great company. We're excited to have Hagerty doing more and more work in the city. Um they acquired it uh the condition that um council member referred to is I mean the commission member referred to as a change in condition of use. It was going to be developed as affordable um because the council family has a pretty good reputation and history of developing those. uh unfortunately it hit the curve in our interest rates that started getting attacked and it blew the budget for that project. So we worked on maintaining the life of those permits that were issued back in 21 or I should say approvals from site plan architecture review in 21 uh but they've now massaged it adequately. It had to be brought up to a current building code gone through two cycles. So we had to do that. So they just now completed that work and we're looking forward to getting it built, but we had to change the condition to go to a market rate facility. It's still family units and it still fits into our purview for arena aotments. So having the housing units was critical to us to preserve those and so with Hagerties coming forward to be willing to do the development. Um we're pretty excited to see that happen.

You mentioned Jack calls, right? Couts. Couts the Couts family. Um they have a large winery concern that you may have heard of Ironstone. He actually called me. He's developing uh 269 lots in Lockport. Yes. The development is is pretty big. Yeah. Because he had some issues with Cal Trens on the traffic, you know, side. I said I called one or two guys there saying, "Man, don't don't get into that. It's I guess they have turning games on that." He's a nice guy, though.

Very good family. Very good family. Yes. Absolutely. We're excited to see them take that project and get it accomplished. Thank you. And comments by the public commissioners and staff. Non-aggenda items. I do have one item I'll share quickly if that's okay. Um the Sanwaqin Council of Governments um is updating their regional active transportation plan. Um and that effort is currently underway. It's something I'm working on in my professional capacity with them. Um but so the intent is that that creates um additional resource and some updated planning guidance particularly for cities who have not had the opportunity to undertake that on their own. So SJCOG is funding that with uh SP1 planning funds. Um so there's information about it on their website but there's also a survey open right now which is kind of the first public um engagement opportunity. So, uh, see me after if you want to get any more information, but, uh, we would like to spread the word on that to get feedback, um, because I think the residents of Lo, I think we have a lot to benefit from, benefit from, uh, with that. So, that's underway now and, uh, they'll be out here, uh, doing some inperson engagement, uh, when the weather is nicer.

Who's the director now, as you call? Uh, Diane W. Yeah. Yeah. She took over when Andy retired. Yeah. Andy was for the long time. Long time. Yeah. That's where I started my career was Chicago when I started with 35 years ago. Yeah. So he was project manager. So he moved up to Yep. was a good guy. Yeah. Good. Thank you. And uh happy holidays everyone. Okay. Thank you. Okay. That's it. Right. So meeting is well done.