Planning Commission - public_hearing

Good morning. I'd like to call the order of the Planning Commission meeting of August 6th, 2026. Secretary Luce, please take roll call.

Good morning. Commissioner Boydston?

Here.

Commissioner Kessley? Here. Commissioner Ayala? Here. Vice Chair Cushing? Here. Chair Sandlin? Here.

Everybody, please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. The next item is public comments. Secretary Luce, did we receive any comments on items not included on this agenda?

Chair Sandlin, we did not receive any speakers that is not appearing on our agenda today.

Thank you, Luce. The next item is approval of the minutes for July 9th, 2026. Do we have any discussion or a motion to approve the minutes for July 9th, 2026?

Move to approve.

Commissioner Boydston's moves to approve.

I'll second that.

Commissioner Ayala seconds that. Thank you. Secretary Luce, please take roll call.

Yes.

Commissioner Boydston?

Yes.

Commissioner Kessley? Abstain. I was not here. Commissioner Ayala? Yes. Vice Chair Cushing?

Yes.

Chair Sandlin?

Yes. THE NEXT ITEM IS ITEM 6A, CASE NUMBER PL240131. THE APPLICANT REQUESTS APPROVAL OF A CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT TO REINSTATE THE EXPIRED CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT TO AUTHORIZE THE CONTINUED OPERATION OF AN EXISTING LUMBER AND BUILDING MATERIALS SALES YARD. THE 1.81 ACRE SITE INCLUDES AN EXISTING 8560 SQUARE FOOT COMMERCIAL BUILDING, OUTDOOR SALES AND STORAGE AREAS, STORAGE CONTAINERS, NINE PARKING SPACES AND LANDSCAPING. THE PROJECT INCLUDES EIGHT 16 FOOT TALL OUTDOOR PALLET RACKS AND FIVE 20 FOOT TALL INDOOR PALLET RACKS FOR MATERIAL STORAGE. NO NEW BUILDINGS ARE BEING PROPOSED. The project location is located at 3288 East Vineyard Avenue in Oxnard, California. At this time, I'd like to ask each planning commissioner to state on the record whether or not he or she has received any oral or written ex parte communication or has any other information to disclose regarding this agenda item that is not already contained in the record before us on this matter. Please disclose the substance of that information only if that information is not included in the record before us on this matter. Secretary Luce, please take roll call.

Commissioner Boydston?

No disclosures.

Commissioner Kessley? I have no disclosures. Commissioner Ayala? I have no disclosures. Vice Chair Cushy?

No disclosures.

Chair Sandlin?

None. Planner Casca, please proceed with your presentation.

GOOD MORNING, CHAIR STANLEY, MEMBERS OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION, COUNTY COUNCIL, AND MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC. MY NAME IS ARAGASKA. THE PROJECT BEFORE ME TODAY IS CONDITIONING PERMIT CASE NUMBER PL24-0131 FOR A LUMBER AND BUILDING MATERIAL SALES YARD KNOWN AS SITE ONE LANDSCAPE SUPPLY. The link, the Zoom link to join today's public hearing is provided here. For those who are joining online and wish to speak, please press the raise hand button on Zoom now and you will be connected at the appropriate time. Participating by telephone, please press the star and then nine to be queued. This is for agenda item number 6A. ON THIS PRESENTATION, I WILL PROVIDE AN OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT LOCATION, HISTORY AND PROJECT DESCRIPTION, FINDINGS AND CONSISTENT ANALYSIS, ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW, AND RECOMMENDED ACTIONS. I'LL START BY GIVING YOU A QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT LOCATION. The vicinity map on the left shows the project site within the unincorporated El Rio community, just north and east of the city of, I'm sorry, east of the city of Oxnard city limits. The arrow image on the right provides a closer view of the 1.81 acre project site outline in yellow, which is located at 3288 East Vineyard Avenue near the intersection of Vineyard Avenue and Simon Way. The project site is designated commercial plan development in the Ventura County General Plan, designated commercial in the El Norte Area Plan, and zoned commercial plan development. As shown on the map, the site is surrounded by commercial plan development to the north and south, single-family residence development to the east and to the west across East Vineyard Avenue is the City of Oxnard. Here's a closer look of an aerial image of the site, outlined in yellow, looking from the east elevation. Now, for the next, we will transition to the history and project description. The site has operated as a lumber and building materials sales yard since 1985, when the Planning Commission approved Conditioning Use Permit 4281, following several permit extensions, In 2000, condition use permit 4281 expired. In 2010, the Planning Commission approved LU10-0037 to continue the existing use. That permit expired in 2020. Their current application, PL24-0131, was submitted in 2025 for a replacement condition use permit to continue the previously authorized use, which brings us to why we are here today. The request before you today is for a conditions permit to authorize a conditional, I'm sorry, to authorize a continued operation of the existing lumber and building material sales yard with no term limit. The business includes the sales and storage of landscape and building materials, a sales office, a warehouse, and outdoor storage area. The business will operate Monday through Friday from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturdays from 7 a.m. to noon, and will be closed on Sundays. Eight employees will be on site during a typical workday. No new buildings or expansions of the existing use are proposed. All business activities will remain within the existing developed area of the 1.81 acre site. The project also includes landscaping and screening improvements, nine vehicle parking spaces, one bicycle rack, and a request to waive certain non-coastal zoning ordinance, parking and parking lot development standards. Based on the NCCO parking requirements, the warehouse requires four parking spaces, the office requires three parking spaces, and the indoor sales and display area requires three parking spaces for initial total of 10 parking spaces. For non-residential uses, the NCCO allows a 10% adjustment to the number identified in the parking table. Applying that adjustment results in minimal requirement of nine spaces. The project provides nine existing parking spaces, including one accessible space. Staff therefore recommends that the Planning Commission determines that the nine existing parking spaces satisfies the project off-street parking requirement. As shown on the slide, the applicant is requesting waivers from several parking design standards. Most of these standards will typically apply to new or redesigned parking areas. Since this is an existing site and no changes to the parking area are proposed, staff is recommending Planning Commission to waive these standards as requested. The full analysis is included in Exhibit 4B. Here's the site plan of the proposed project. As you can see on the site plan, they will be adding outdoor storage racks and new exterior landscape along Vineyard Avenue. No new construction or expansion of uses is proposed. All activities will remain within existing developed footprint. And here are some site photos taken on a recent site visit. Next, we will transition to the findings and consistent analysis. STAFF HAS DETERMINED THAT THE PROJECT IS CONSISTING WITH THE VENTURA COUNTY GENERAL PLAN, THE EL RIO DE NORTE AREA PLAN AND THE NON-COASTAL ZONING ORDINANCE. THE REQUIRED CONDITIONS PERMIT FINANCE CAN BE MADE AS DETAILED IN SECTION E AND EXHIBIT 4A AND 4B OF THE STAFF REPORT. The proposed project is categorically exempt pursuant to CEQA guidelines section 15301, existing facilities and 15303, new constructions or conversion of small structures. Finally, for the recommended actions, the recommended actions mirrors the findings of the staff report. However, we want to make note of the action to waive the parking standards and establish nine parking spaces required as described in exhibit 4B. I would like to remind anyone who may be attending this hearing online via Zoom and wish to provide comments, please press the raise hands button now. If participating by telephone, please press the start key and then nine. And this concludes that presentation. Planning staffs are available to answer any questions and also Here it's a sound bell sound bell as well present.

Thank you for your presentation. Thank you Are there any questions of the staff by the Commission?

Commissioner Boyson Wanted to know how the neighbors were noticed about this

i'm sorry can you repeat that sir how the neighbors the residential neighbors were noticed for this um action i mean they were noticed for a notice hearing uh for the we do the 300 feet right um we provide that also um we there was like a mac hearing um as well but it was it was in the agenda but planning was not there uh the consulting was there uh sam bell okay thank you of course

Any other questions of the staff by the commission? Seeing none, I will now open the public hearing. Would the applicant like to make a presentation on this item?

Hello, everyone. Good morning. My name is Marcel Hernandez with Sandbell. I'm here representing the applicant, Doug Trosh, and Site 1 today. I'd like to take a second to give thanks to Eric Gasca and John Novy for all of their hard work that's gotten this project to this point. We really appreciate it. And I'd also like to thank you guys for taking the time out of your morning to be here and bring this to hearing. As Eric's presentation was very, very comprehensive, I'd just like to give a quick recap of a few points. As we heard, Site 1 is a landscaping supply company located at 3288 Vineyard Avenue in El Rio. This location has operated as a building supply company for the last three decades. The only switch has been as a fairly recent to a landscaping supply company. Just for some background, Site 1 leases a property with the knowledge of an active CUP on the site, but that didn't end up being the case, which brings us here to today, the reinstatement of an existing CUP or that was existing. Site 1 is proposing no changes to the site or operations. Again, this is just a reinstatement of what they had previously known to be in place and would like to continue to operate within the bounds of what was previously approved. Again, I'm here to answer any questions you might have and so is the applicant. Thank you so much again for your time and I really appreciate it.

we have one question for you up here from Commissioner Cushing you have well you're supposed to have ten parking spaces but they're letting you go to with nine right if you have eight employees that means you have one for customer parking

Thankfully, they're not always all there at the same exact time. Eight employees is kind of throughout the course of the day. So different times of day, there are different staffing counts there, which utilize the parking in different, you know, in different ways, I guess is the right way to say that.

So typically, how many people are there at one time? Four to five.

Okay.

Okay.

Any other questions of the commission or the applicant from the commission? Secretary Luce, do we have any public comments for this item?

Chair Sandlin, we do not have any other public commenter for this item.

And would staff like to make any closing remarks? No. I will now close the public hearing. Is there any discussion or a motion of the commission?

I'll move to approve.

Commissioner Ayala moves to approve.

I'll second.

And Commissioner Cushing second. Secretary Luce, please take roll call.

Commissioner Boydston?

Yes.

Commissioner Kessley? Yes. Commissioner Ayala? Yes. Vice Chair Cushing?

Yes.

Chair Sandlin?

Yes. That motion passes 5-0, congratulations. We will now proceed with item 7A, a report from the planning director Ward on board actions and other matters.

Thank you, Chair Sandlin, commissioners. There is one reportable item from the board. It was earlier this week. The board considered a de novo hearing from a recent appeal that your commission had during the last month, I believe, or month and a half. This is regarding property located at 85 Crestview Avenue in the unincorporated county near the city of Camarillo. And this was regarding a violation related to operating a commercial event venue in violation of our NCZO. The board hearing item went forward on Tuesday and the decision on this was a 5-0 to not grant the appeal, hold to the violation. And so that process is now moving forward with the Code Enforcement Division and working with the applicant. Looking forward to your calendar, we do have on August 20th, two items. One is a follow-up item from your commission in regards to the Ventura County Local Coastal Program addressing protecting constitutional property rights. And that item will be heard. It relates to districts one, two, and five. So it's really about our LCP policy and program. The second item will be your commission receiving a presentation and a receipt and file for our accessory dwelling unit tools and resources guidebook that we've been working on to promote ADUs across the county. And so that's a receive and file item and relates to all districts in the county. Beyond that, we don't have anything for September 3rd, but September 17th is geared up for the presentation of our reform work plan on the non-coastal zoning ordinance amendments that relates to the board's direction. So that will be a big item for you all, and that's what we have for now. So that concludes my director's report.

Great, thank you, Director Ward, and great to have you back. Are there any items the commissioners wish to discuss or introduce? Seeing none, I will now adjourn the meeting. Thank you, everybody.