Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

You didn't turn on your microphone. I pledge algiance 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. Thank you. Who have we got? Ida tonight or Sherry? Yeah, it's Ida. Ida. Um Ida, would you call the role, please? Chair Murphy, here. Vice Chair Chesley, here. Commissioner Rice Schmidt, here. Commissioner Stewart here.

Okay. Our first item of business tonight is the selection of a new planning commission chair and vice chair and some information regarding the expiration of terms. So we will first turn it over to staff for that report.

Um on your agenda or on your in your staff report here for item number one, it is talking about first to do your adoption and then yes receive the information. Um in your packet you have information directly from the code. I go right to attachment B, but I also handed you a um put on in front of you this evening some copyright from the website because the language is a little bit different. The language is updated in the code. And so that's what I gave you this evening. It's essentially the same. It's a little bit more uh detailed in some sections, specifically um subsection A, just a little more defined. Um but al I do believe there isn't anything substantially different in there. Um so looking through um the staff report written by your director the director of community development. Um again first you would be selecting your chair and vice chair. Um and then we go on here to talk about um what the chair is responsible for and the vice chair is responsible for and then additional details um related to these duties are in your handbook which were previously provided to you and of course additional copies can be provided at any time. And then we have the local appointments list here on attachment A. And we have terms expiring for our chair in May of 26 and the other um commissioners expire in 20 2028 in May. Would you like more explanation about the duties of the chair and vice chair

or would you like to um to start your proceeding here for uh for the um voting for your vice chair and chair? Chair first. Does anyone require more explanation of the duties of the chair or vice chair? I understand we do have some newer commissioners. Um, however, you have been provided with with the um with the handbooks. I could just go into this if you'd like. I'm looking specifically at you, Commissioner Stewart. Uh, no, I I was just reading along here. Okay. Listening to you. Okay. Yeah.

So, if you'd like to start the voting process, um, you'll there'll be a motion and a vote for a chair and you'll take the vote and if um and there if there isn't a consensus, then another motion can be made. You do not need to make a second. Uh once you're finished with chair, then you go on to vice chair and again a motion is made. Take a vote. If consensus, great. If not, start over again. Okay? And we'll do it until you um until you're have consensus. Beaten it down. Right. At this time, I will open the floor to nominations and you can vote for yourself. I nominate Judy Murphy for chair.

Okay. Would you call the vote, please? Ida, can you take Chesley? Chesley. Yes. Rice Schmidt. Yes. Stewart. Yes. So there's consensus. So now we now have a new chair, an ongoing chair. At this time, we will open the floor to nominations for a vice chair. I nominate um Commissioner Chzley.

I second that. Are you willing? Yes. Yes. Thank you. I will call the I will call the Your arm is still attached. Uh, I I'm calling for the vote now, please. Ida Murphy, yes. Rmid, yes. Stewart, yes. Okay, good. Thank you. Um, we have the agenda. Uh, are there any changes to the agenda? No changes.

Thank you. Then we will move on to the consent calendar. We have the minutes from the regular meeting of the planning commission on March 18th of 26. Are there any changes to the minutes? The chair will entertain a motion to adopt. I uh make a motion to adopt the minutes of the meeting as written. I'll second that motion. Ida. Roll call, please. Murphy, yes. Chesley, yes. Rice Schmidt, yes. Stewart,

yes. Okay. The next item is to a discussion to propose topics to discuss at a future joint meeting with city council. Um, Lucas, do you have any guiding words for us before we start this? Uh, not so guiding. I'll just I'll go through the staff report a little bit here and then we can talk about um, okay,

future discussion items for the joint meeting. Um, essentially what we're looking at here is the items that are listed here in the discussion um, subsection are in bold or non-bold. The ones that are are bolded are included um, and were discussed uh, or not discussed previously, but we're looking at discussing um, with the joint commission. It's just ideas that I had put forward as a discussion piece for tonight. The ones that are non-bolded are the ones that we had talked about last year. Now, here's the amazing thing. This is just a jumping off point. We'll have an opportunity at this meeting and at the next meeting um to discuss these items and if you're wanting to propose new items, we can certainly put those on and talk about them as well. Uh and then we'll uh schedule these for the joint meeting. It's tentatively scheduled for um the first meeting in June. However, it could fluctuate between either the first meeting or the second meeting in June, but that is typically when we have our um set aside time.

Okay, good. Um so if you'd like I can go through each of the items or we can to particularly we can ask questions about the items and I'm it it's kind of free flowing at this point in terms of how we can have that conversation. There's really no set way to have this conversation. If you want to ask questions about specific items or you want to go into some detail on specific items, we can absolutely do that. I would really like you to address the objective design standards. Yeah. So, there's a couple of things with that one.

That one has actually come before this body not once, not twice, but four times. So in each of the times that it's come forward, we've actually had a very robust conversation about it and it's helped to frame the objective standards that we have at this point. But I will have to admit it is a program within the housing element and the housing element identified that this was to be done in 20 at basically at the end of 2024. I was hopeful that it would have uh been completed in 2025. Um we ended up getting sidetracked with it unfortunately. Um so with a fresh start here in 2026. I'm looking forward to seeing and hopefully with this commission, this body uh that that item moving forward as a recommendation to city council because it is as objective standards um design standards operate. It would be by ordinance in terms of how we're looking at it.

Okay. Would that include some cities have uh they have model um or u templates actual like building designs for certain ADUs or um certain units and we actually have that for ADUs here. We have a we have a standard um ADU um format that we actually have on our website right now. Okay. So like what it looks like everything floor plan examples. Exactly. Yeah. Okay. And does it have um an expedited um plan check because it's it's already we already know about it like we already know the design features and everything.

You know the interesting thing about the way in which the objective design standards are operating and I think Darren if you want to jump in here or is it Lisa? If Lisa wants to jump here up here as well. In terms of the government code standards, a lot of the Senate bills and assembly bills that are coming forward are expressly um referencing objective design standards in terms of how a city can can review and make sure that those standards or the design that's being proposed by uh the developer through one of those assembly bills or senate bills are compliant with the objective design standards. We don't have that at this point. So it becomes very loosey goosey in terms of how we can really kind of impose our will on future uh development essentially.

Yeah. And and what I'll just add is that there are um some provisions of the government code that have been adopted over the last few years that um attempt to take discretion out of the city's hands in terms of especially in terms of housing projects. Um, there's the Starter Home Revitalization Act is a big one. That was SB 864 and 1123 if my number if I'm remembering the numbers correctly. Um, but but that's just a prime example of trying to take these approvals and turn them ministerial. And when you when we're getting ministerial processes imposed upon us, we're only allowed to apply objective design, objective design standards, objective um zoning standards, objective just generally objective standards. And so yeah, go ahead.

That's what So I guess that's what I'm wondering. So if we had like several designs in place already, like this is our objective design standards. It's a, you know, 500 square foot building and, you know, it has a front porch and, you know, it has two windows in the front. I mean, like, get really specific, but and codify it, you know, maybe have several different styles, but that's our objective design standard. I don't think we have that, do we? No, we don't.

That's I mean, but some cities do have that. And I think that would be really helpful to us because we could guide in absence of having objective design standards or any authority if we don't. That's a really good way to to um guide our design tool. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's absolutely a tool. Absolutely. So that's what I recommend if we have no other if we really don't have discretion.

Yeah. The discretion is really kind of at the wayside. So we cannot apply the subjective pieces. Um it is really just the objective um pieces. And to to the point what you were asking, are there other cities um that have a model by which we could we could apply? Absolutely. Um okay. So I think the chair is the only one that I think was a part of this process from the very beginning and has seen the several renditions that have come forward. We've looked at at number a number of different cities uh regarding the objective design standards and then whittleled it down into something that felt like ohigh. So I would say we're probably like maybe 80% there. There's still more work that needs to be done. I think I I I was looking at them the other day and they're not they're not quite there yet. Um, there needs to be more discussion basically, but I do think it needs to happen sooner than later because I'm I'm only seeing more of these Senate bills and assembly bills coming forward that are specifically referencing from a ministerial standpoint objective design standards. So, I feel like that's if that's our play, that's that's potentially the play that we need to start looking at uh moving forward.

Yeah, that's where we can hold some of the cards. I think um there's some communities that were affected by the eaten fire that had that have those that have plans that are you know different different design plans for rebuilding. Oh, standard plans. Yeah, standard plans. And so um you know you can pick it and it you know just one of I don't know five designs and you know one might be craftsman and one is Spanish style and one is u and it seems like that could work really well when they yeah

when a and when an applicant comes in and has one of those plans and says but I want to make these changes how does that work? Well, be now it becomes subjective, right? So that you're you're either working within the and I'll let the attorneys chime in here, but you're either working within the objective standards or you're not, right? That's

yeah, that's kind of the point is is you shouldn't have to evaluate um whether or not something complies with the standards. It should be obvious from the nature of the standards. So if if you've got someone who's submitting an application, if you got an applicant who's got some part of their plans that are different from from the objective standards, that would mean that they're not meeting the standard. So it it gets refused. Does it have to be the same

as the mom? You know, okay, so here's what we probably could do is the next meeting I can bring forward what we have at this point so that it gives you at least something when it does go to council and it does go come forward to discussion say hey we are this close we think this absolutely needs to be something we finish um during this next work cycle essentially good rather than because right now I'm kind of spitballing without actually having it in front of us. Yeah. This is meant to be the kind of the discussion like the 20,000 foot level. You're wanting to get into the weeds. I can tell everybody kind of does. It's it's a it's a fun

it's how I understand it. If I'm not in the weeds, I don't Yeah, you got to stay in the weeds on some of this stuff. Absolutely. The objective design standards, you absolutely do because that's the control that the that the city continues to have. Okay. All right. Can we also ask you to um discuss allowed use chart? Yeah. Yeah. So the allowed use chart was something that we brought forward here maybe two months ago I want to say maybe three and there was a subcommittee that was created I think it was of one subcommittee of one her bruises have healed also it

there hasn't been much movement with it but I do think that there's an opportunity um as long as the council's agreeable to it to really kind of dive into it and but also make sure that that it's going in a direction that the council feels supportive of. So, I think like for instance, uh if you and I were working on it and we started going down a a rabbit hole on something and we're like, shoot, is this something that the city wants to see? Having that conversation with council uh and that joint session, I think helps to kind of breed some confidence in ter in terms of what we're doing, right? So, there's some value there for sure. So, it sounds like you all need to get to work. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Like before June.

Before June. Well, I think what it is is maybe like a kickoff in terms of of some of the things that that um that we're thinking about so that it's not like a oh hey we've thought about this. No, this is this is what we're thinking. Are we moving in the right direction?

Okay. Good. We have in the past discussed parking, fire hardening, noise control, and the council in the past, the commission in the past has has regarded those as important items, but I don't think we can tackle all of them or at least we need to prioritize things because the the joint meeting can only really handle know what couple now the fun thing is is the joint meetings are now two hours long two hours

whereas used to be only one we've added that extra hour so it gives a lot of breath for the conversation um across the board I think really kind of in all these items we would come forward with 10 items before and we had an hour to do them and we get through two right it was just overwhelming here I think these are all very manageable some of them we've already been working on and started to have the conversation on tackling. Um, some of them are very far along and just need that extra nudge to get to the finish line. Um, and some of them are way out there, way out there in left field, but certainly something that the community is interested in hearing about. Um, one in particular is undergrounding,

right? I mean, that that one for fire and also just aesthetics. Yeah. Yeah. Big time. We all like that a lot, but we have come up against a cost issue. Bobby was really, okay, it's an interesting uh conversation. I think there are council members that have expressed interest in it in the past. It's a reason why it was on here from last year, but to be fair, it hadn't been on here in previous years. So, it has gained traction from from the previous year. Yeah, I would put that high on my list. Um, I think we need to prioritize this list and be thinking about any other things that you might want to introduce.

Yes, thank you. I was going to say if there's others aside from what we have here, I mean, this is the this is the perfect opportunity. Spitballing. Yeah, I was going to make the comment, you know, being um new to uh the commission here and looking at some of the lists. I certainly see my personal favorite already. Uh but I'm not here just for me, but I do see my personal favorite. Um but I think I think which is undergrounding actually. Okay, just to just to expose that.

Um but I think it might be interesting to have an understanding of of kind of two other uh vectors if you will. one is that ho how far along are we on this issue you mentioned 80% kind of on some of the issues are some of these sitting at zero and some at 80 and that might be kind of handy to see that rating and then I also think there is a difficulty to execute um piece of the puzzle to to understand here some of this looks like relatively lowhanging stuff that there's been a lot of discussion about we need to get the ball over the line and do our part to make sure we have the discussion and engagement and be thorough and then you know some of it looks like um you know a lot more work to it.

Yeah. I mean if you want I can just run a list. We've already talked about the objective design standards that's probably 80% there. There's a lot of conversation on it over the last couple years. General design guidelines citywide. There are several design guidelines that are already in place. So it might actually be good to to and so from that conversation we started recognizing that there are some of these design guidelines that appear to be overlapping and so having the conversation on what that looks like and whether or not there needs to be revisions to it or if the overlap is actually a a positive from that standpoint. So,

um, along with that, the general design guidelines, I'm I'm interested in that one specifically because I think, um, we could go that we pretty far with that, including public improvements. So, I think when you look around the city and the public, this is kind of my probably my number one issue is the public improvements around town and how um Ohigh's very unique and some neighborhoods have stone curbs. Um, some have attached sidewalks, there's some detached sidewalks. Um, every neighborhood seems to be a little bit different and I think that's okay for Ohigh. And I've seen some new public improvements that have gone in that I don't think look like Ohio. It looks like anywhere USA. It looks like some suburban could be some suburban community in Los Angeles. And I think that those kind of design standards can make a difference on what our community feels like. So I think on some some of the recent work which might be ADA accessessible or whatever they weren't thinking about the neighborhood or the historic nature of the neighborhood or um just the unique design of that neighborhood. So I think having design guidelines by neighborhood um might be good and we we did that with that um tree management plan.

Yes. That we have. It's by neighborhoods. And I could see it dovetailing in to that because that's also public improvement. You know, it's in, you know, in the public right away. We say if you're going to Yeah. The community forest management plan actually has by by neighborhood in terms of the number the types of trees.

And those are great neighborhood definitions, you know, and trying to have another design guideline with another neighborhood, you know, defined differently um is problematic. So, I think if we can um keep up our the definitions that we already have for neighborhoods, um it'll be less controversial because that can be very controversial if if you say, "Oh, you're on the west side." And somebody thinks they're in Midtown, you know, that that doesn't work. But since we already have neighborhoods, I think that's a good place to start for any new improvements in design guidelines. So anyway, public improvements I would say needs design guidelines.

Absolutely. So and and just to take it a step further, the one of the reasons why this even came up is there was a project on the west end of Ohio that does not have design guidelines and this body tackled and wrestled with that design for that particular project. I'm not going to name the project, but I think probably most of the commission is aware of it. uh then basically grounded itself into well what are our design guidelines? What do we have that exists? So taking it in that direction I think at one point we were actually looking at what could possibly be on the west end.

But to your point I think neighborhood wise also makes a lot of sense just tearing off of what we already have from the uh the street tree standpoint too. I think that makes a lot of sense. I I think this is a really critical comment because doing a lap of thinking around the how we are going to do it before we consider what we're going to do. How we're going to do it is by neighborhood. How we're going to do it is by giving the local neighborhood some sort of representational space to talk about what they what they like because I I'm thinking of an improvement that doesn't belong in a neighborhood that I saw recently and I would I'm wondering if it's the one you're thinking of. But um but yeah, I think that that giving some thinking to the how we're going to do it will actually help us to get down to what it is we are going to do. And I love that neighborhood approach actually. I think that's really important. Makes a lot of sense. Parking. 30 seconds on parking. Uh it well maybe more, but I'll just do the the lead in. There's been a lot of conversations in regards to parking ever since I started here before I was here. There was a couple different studies. I've presented those to this body um a couple different times. Um I can certainly do it again. Um and every time that we have the conversation, it seems to always lean into uh we don't necessarily have a parking problem. A lot of times we have a a walking problem. And then it then leads into well if we do have a pro a problem or there is an issue um is there another mechanism that could potentially control that and the the items that have come up are paying by permit and giving certain um time limits to the the spaces. And the spaces that I'm talking about aren't all over the city. They're really within a node which is in the downtown area pretty much. So

those conversations have always led down that. Now the question is is is with this body and what you're looking at here and what I've just presented um in 30 seconds, is there more to it that we could potentially be looking at into the future? Because really the the the parking piece isn't driven by so much the community as it is the tourism that comes in here on the weekends, right? So that's the setting of the table conversation. It's a big It's a big piece. We've done two there have been two traffic studies that have been done in the downtown area and both of them showed um that there wasn't necessarily a parking issue that there was definitely ample parking. It was just within the outside areas in the confines of of the downtown district. So,

it would be lovely if we could find a parking area lot near downtown. Have we made any progress on that?

There's It's an interesting conversation because there are lots that have popped up that are now for sale which had not been previously. One of those lots was before this body at one point. Actually, both of the lots are have been before this body uh through concept and other methods for review. But Lucas, just to understand your comment though, what what did the facts say was the problem? What was the factual problem rather than maybe anecdotally how people feel about it? So, what one of the one of the things that did come out of it was on Ohigh there's the perception that there is there is a traffic situation and there really is when you're here on the weekends everybody knows that but then that that has for whatever reason translated to well now you have a parking situation because of the traffic clearly there's nobody nobody can find a parking spot where everybody's going to the same spot you're going as close as you can to the destination that you're trying to achieve when the reality is is that there are street parking um spaces surrounding like for instance the downtown area that are available, but people immediately go to what is the closest spot that they know or the area that they want to go to and they want to park right in front. It's I feel like I'm I'm you know I'm saying the same thing over and over again because I've said this before, but it's a it's not a it's not a parking problem. It's a people problem. It's it's really finding those and recognizing that that those individuals that are trying to find the spaces and unfortunately they they well fortunately or the reality is is that they are they tend to be the tourists that are coming in and not necessarily the ones that are um that already live here because the ones that live here they can easily make that walk. We're four square miles. It's not

like this is a a huge metropolis. Mhm. The other thing that's very interesting that came out of it is and you I know where to park when I come up here on the weekends. I don't go to the downtown area. I go to lower Libby immediately can park there. Or I go to I go to city hall right over here. There's always parking. And those are the areas that are included within these parking studies. These are the areas that are that are the missing the missing uh the piece the the hidden gem that I take advantage of

is the is the um empty lot across from city hall city owned? Yes. Are there plans for it? No. Nope. No plans at this point. Okay. I I hope that we never get to the point where we put in parking meters, particularly parking meters like Ventura has. I hate that.

It's come up as a discussion. I'm not saying that I'm pro or con to it, but when it comes up, we give the facts, you know, on both ends and then you weigh the options at that point. Yep. Okay. Go ahead.

So, my question is also about parking. Um, does this include this discussion include parking standards for parking lots? You know, size, how many, um, by use, all that, how many are required by, you know, the the use. I appreciate you just brought that up because I completely forgot that that was one of the pieces that we had talked about last year which was recognizing that are the existing parking designs or the parking standards and then the number count are they outdated and I think they are. Yeah.

Is what I keep finding over and over again. You're going to see this with projects that come forward especially afford affordable housing projects. What are the standards that they use? They don't use our standards. certainly not our standards. Instead, they're using the state standards. Right. Right. So, finding through the objective design standards um correct me if I'm wrong here, but the can the objective design standards include parking standards? Uh so, that that depends. Um

okay, my favorite lawyer answer, right? Um it depends on the kind of project that you're dealing with and whether or not there are already um requirements in the code for um maximum or minimum. So I'm guessing if it's more restrictive it's a no. Right. Less restrictive it's a yes. Uh correct. That generally yes. Well, then it look when we look at the objective design standards, we'll see if it's whether or not whether or not it's something that can fit within that box. If not, I think it has an independent timeline from from what you're

talking I think I mean they're definitely related because you can be more lenient on your objective design or parking standards if you say have public parking. So if there's an alternative so you can say okay instead of a minimum number of parking spaces we can do a maximum number on site because we have public parking elsewhere right within a certain vicinity. Yeah. So instead of being overparked you know I don't think anybody does that anymore but um

it is it is the the number one challenge that comes up even before this this body or whenever I'm reviewing applications that come forward is the parking lot. Um because a lot of times you're looking at it and you're looking at a one to almost a one to one relationship versus what is really more of a one to two and a half almost three if you're looking at um market rate. So the people count is still there but and the potentially the vehicle count is still there but it's it's being put into a box simply because of the affordability rate. Right? And that's that's the goal of the state in terms of what we're looking at here right now, but it would be more palatable if we had public parking.

Yeah, for sure. Anyway, they're related.

Yep. Uh allowed uses. We talked about fire hardening, firewise communities. Some of that has already gotten kicked off and some of that we actually already um built into the the building code standards and some of that is already something that we've adopted um just recently or at least council adopted just recently um through the building code updates for 2025. So, I'm putting that I'm still leaving that on there just for a conversational piece. If you feel it's not needed, take that off. if you feel like it needs to be highlighted even more, we can certainly um expand on that as well. Underground, we talked about it sounds like there's a lot of interest in hearing what that what that looks like um either near-term, midterm, long-term. And then so I'm not going to necessarily talk about that because I think there's there seems to be some some interest there. Noise slash sound, right? We have a noise ordinance like all the rest. I mean sorry a noise element within our general plan had like like a lot of our other elements they haven't been updated in a while. So there was a conversation piece on whether or not to one update that and then two whether or not our noise standards needed to be um re-evaluated um through our as an ordinance not as necessarily as a as an element within our general plan. So kind of tackling both of those. Neither one of them really went anywhere from last year, but it it's something that has remained on this list.

And it always comes up when we have uh situations brought to us where sound is an element. It's it's typically one of just like parking. It's one of the things we talk about. Yep. For sure. Do we have any other new and unusual items to some emerging items is what is what is

well I not that I personally want to go through the process but I think we should is just to our all of our elements of the general plan should be up to date so I think we have some pretty old general plan elements um and that's a big herculean effort and I know it costs the city a lot of money, you know, because oftentimes it's it requires consultants and but it just seems like we need to, you know, make sure that all of our land or uh general plan elements are up to date. Yeah, they have not been updated. And

the difference in in the safety element with all of the new fire codes that were incorporated was really impressive. And I think you're saying that happens all over the plan that we really need to get at it. Right. So cats out of the bag. I've sent you the safety element as a red line as a clean version for you to review. Giving you lots of time to review it. We're not scheduled to discuss that item until miday if I remember correctly.

And expect that that's not going to be the only one through the general plan update. It's going to start with that one, the circulation element and the land use element. Now, the noise is not included as this was meant to be kind of just a refresher to some of the the big ones. Um noise and some of the other ones that we already have are going to be updated for consistency purposes, but definitely not the overhaul that you're seeing with the safety element and with circulation and land use. Okay. You haven't seen the circulation or land use yet, but you will be seeing those soon. Are you satisfied with the priority of the way these are listed?

Um well I is the planning commission still involved with u approving tree ordinances like tree uh like if there's a certain number of trees does it come to the planning commission? No never. No because it's it's a part it's not within the um the zoning ordinance. is actually a title four item versus a title two. So planning commission because we um the planning commission used to do if there was a certain number of trees that were being affected Yes. Um the planning commission would be the decision maker. Yes. And that's gone away. Still in there. It's still in there.

Yep. So if and that has actually happened once where there was a number of trees that were slated for removal and it didn't quite reach I think the threshold is five and it was four and I was like I'm bringing it to the to the commission. Well the arborist was not happy but I still did it anyway. I have that authority. It gives me that authority within the ordinance itself and this body reviewed and tackled the four that were slated for removal. All of them were coast live. Okay. Well, I know like Mallalerie Way was one and I know the cottages among the flowers was another one. Yep.

But so I know the city council had a a a workshop and I was kind of offended that the planning commission wasn't invited because that should have been a joint meeting um because we you know we are the ones who approve these things. So um anyway that should be on the list well for us as a joint meeting. No offense. It wasn't necessarily meant to be offensive towards the planning commission or any of the other commissions. Really, what it was is we were looking for the expert panel and the arborists and and the the tree trimmers and and the b the botists that are out there, biologists that are out there to weigh in on some of these pieces and we asked general questions. Um, obviously the council was involved in that.

Yeah. Um, well, I'm just saying there was no it wasn't meant to be offensive. That's all I'm saying. Understood. Well, to be to be fair, not to get off off topic, but it still kind of fits within um future items um under consideration. There is going to be likely a second um workshop that we're going to be doing because not all the questions and categories were I think you just invitation. Just be careful what you ask for. It's an opportunity for sure. Well, and I think it's it's not necessarily going to have the same experts that we had from before um because we are tackling some different questions and and categories.

You know, I think Lucas um obviously all of us live here and we you know, we have thoughts and you know things like trees are actually I would argue one of the most you know top three vital issue actually in the city. But um what I'm struggling with a little bit is I'm asking myself what uh remember when we were talking about affordable housing. I said there's a difference between affordable housing for Ohhigh and affordable housing in Ohigh. Um and we we had kind of agreed we we want this for Ohigh. And I'm kind of asking myself what's in Ohigh and what's for Ohhigh in this. Um, as I understand, parking, this is parking in Ohhigh is a little bit of the discussion because we know parking for Ohhigh is here if you know where to park. So that points to that there may be some intermediate solutions like signage and guiding people to the proper place to park and making people aware before we go blow a parking lot out somewhere. Uh because I think part of our objective design standard should be our main street is not a bunch of parking lots. Um, but I think it would be interesting if there were a mechanism or something additional that we could see from the staff reporting of understanding what will the people of this city give us the most credit for. What is their highest level of need in what they see that that that these objective uh or these uh discussion items are what's most important to them and and having a sense of that. We all have anecdotal conversations. We have neighbors, friends, we all know. But somewhere I'd like for somebody to say, "Well, hey, we did some factf finding." And and here's what we found. Actually, we do feel like there's an interim step of a bunch of signs that guide people where to park. We have some sensitivity around neighborhoods because the formerly empty street, you know, in front of Bart's books or wherever is now

filled 247. Uh obviously, we've seen changes on the uh where our roadbl is. That street used to be a desert and now it's filled with cars, you know, every day and that's okay. Um, but I would like a sense of kind of where where would the the the customer of Ohigh, which is I see at the resident, where would the customer give us the most credit for the work we can do here and and how do we offer that service best to them? You want me to respond? Okay. So, and maybe that lives somewhere and I'm unaware of it. But, uh, that if there if it is, it'd be helpful to know.

It could be that we end up generating some sort of a a survey that is only that is geared only to the residents of Ohhigh. There have been surveys that have been done that are Ohhigh, the outer Ohigh Valley or um, business owners. But here, we're just looking for those individuals that live that breathe here. Yeah, maybe the ground rules could be pay a little, learn a lot. We're going to put a few signs up around parking, pay a little bit, see what we learn, take the next step from there. And so, you're talking about wayfinding signs to to help.

I I'm just putting that out there is when you tell me you know exactly where to go. Um, and then I hear that the tourists don't know. Yeah, but it's a it's a lore. I know how to I know where to go because I've been up here enough times, right, that I and I've experienced the space, right? for someone who's coming up here on a Saturday that's never been here and they're just using, you know, ways to get up here. Yeah. They're going immediately. Drops you right in front of the post office. Yeah. So, they're in the they're in the bottleneck. That is what I I avoid and I think all of us here probably avoid as well. Yeah. And we want to avoid I think I'm in agreement with you. We want to avoid every two hours the entire town rotating because of the parking meters. That to be a nightmare. Um

Yeah. Obviously, there's pros and cons to that. Yeah. So, I do think the survey is good. I'm I'm leerary of the last 20% being the hardest and so I don't want to slow us down. You know, getting to my experience is getting to 80% on on stuff is kind of easy and then the 20% kills you. And so, I don't want to slow the process down, but I would like to have an understanding. You know, even as you mentioned the trees, it's like that in objective design standards that should be like item one arguably, you know, uh, okay, I've added survey and I'm going to call it a community survey or maybe even a residential survey because I think the the interest here that you're that you're thinking about and I'd be curious to hear from the rest of the commission is not necessarily to those that are on, you know, on the outside of the community, but those that are actually in the community. Not to say that those on the outside don't within the valley itself or even within Miners Oaks don't frequent this area on the regular, right? But we're looking at those individuals that live and breathe here seven days a week, right? the property owners

I or even Okay, so propert I'm sorry property owners, renters, those ones that are in the community. Yes. To me that distinction of in in Ohigh or for Ohigh is a big one and I think we should deal with the people who live in Ohigh and and and give them the say. You know, one way of looking at it is, you know, just a simple rule of of who's paying the salaries of the people doing the work. They're the people that should be considered first.

Okay, so that's a good one. I'm I'm adding that in. Here's here's what I think would be helpful as the step two to this. Now, remember, this is 20,000 foot level. Guess what's going to happen at the next meeting. Each of these items are going to have something associated with it. The objective design standards. You're going to see what that looks like today in terms of how far we've gone. And I'll probably even give you either minutes or the staff reports that went along with that. So, there'll be a lot of information for you to go through for this for this one. The general design guidelines, I'll give you what we have and what we um enforce today. All of the different guidelines that we enforce today. Obviously, there's a conversation about taking that and adding to it and potentially looking at additional guidelines. Absolutely. Start with the baseline, though. this is what we have currently. Um, and then go from there. Uh, go ahead.

So, it sounds like we can postpone prioritizing these and giving you a list of our priorities until after that. Yeah, conversation.

This was just meant to be a conversation at this point to see if there's appetite for any for any of these items, for all these items, for additional items. Sounds like we want to add to the list, which is great. Um, parking. I'll give you the two parking studies that were done um as well as probably the staff report, the most recent staff report that was put together for it uh to kind of explain and give some history to it. The allowed use chart, we've already talked about that here, so it'll be just a continuation of what we've already seen. Um fire hardening, fire wise communities, there were some pamphlets and some information that we had put together. I'm sorry, we didn't put together. All we had, we just took the information that was already put together and saying, "Hey, is this what we want to do?" And I'll even identify um some of the stuff that is now in the building code that wasn't there before.

Forget the parking ordinance with parking. Oh, yes, the part. Okay. Sorry. I Thank you. Thank you. I'm gonna write that down. Um undergrounding I think I think there was only very limited information. I can't remember what I had put together last year, but I'll look what we have last year and then we'll start with that. There wasn't a whole lot that was done. I know council had had that conversation and um I think it was on a priorities list, right? I'm gonna give a little report. I'll just share a couple. Can we do it now? Sure.

Are we okay with that? We're good with that. I think we've we've probably come to the end of this. In any case, I'm rounding third here. We're coming. Okay.

Yeah. No, thanks. And this will just be my general um so just a couple quick things. One would be I think on the parking ordinance, one question that came up in the past was outdoor dining. That was another question that we were going to look at because that doesn't seem perfectly clear. my suggestion, but I want to hear exactly what you guys want to do. Of course, in this joint session on the parking, if we said we're going to take a half of this meeting of that the joint session and talk about parking, I'd be completely up for it because there's many factors. We could look at the we could look at the reports. The chamber did a report. We could say, "All right, so what are parking lots that we're literally looking at purchasing or, you know, converting? What are places where there isn't a parking lot right now that we're thinking about potentially being a parking lot? How does the trolley and the trolley service make sense here? Even with things that are coming like the inn and what they're doing across from Ailah, etc. There's we could talk definitely for an hour and say here's many aspects of parking that we can talk about that that are it's trafficing. I would love that especially to get many kinds of ideas and then if we could say well like to your point Brad like what's the lowhanging fruit here? What could we do easily that's completely in our control? What's not in our control that we're waiting for Calrans to give us permission. Easy example parking in front of Jim and Robs and Westridge which there used to be parking on the street. There's not now we're asking them to do it. They have to give us permission to do it. We don't get to decide that ourselves, but that's kind of a lowhanging fruit to give us some more spots. Anyway, I would highly recommend that as a as a main feature. I will tell you on the fire, I mean on the undergrounding, we did talk withce at length. In the urban sector, it's a it's up to $4 million a mile and the the weight list is about eight years. And the mo by the the vast majority of

the neighborhoods that are doing the utility undergrounding are for aesthetic purposes paid for primarily by the neighborhood. That means a rich neighborhood putting their money together because they want to underground. So what is really leaning towards because especially in California and where we are in our in our fire zones is they're replacing poles. You probably noticed that poles when they do get replaced now they're not the wood anymore. They're that material. And if you notice the lines that have a like looks like insulation on the line, that is what it does is it it makes it basically um more more flexible in a big wind event and also it automatically decharges the line. So they're completely opting for that instead of undergrounding. So we'd have to figure out if we were going to underground it would be not say it can't be done but it would be a lot of money to do it. Just throwing it out there. So yeah, everybody wants it. It's not the lowhanging fruit, it's the big big deal fruit.

Yeah. I um I know in our ordinance if you do a subdivision that you're required to do undergrounding from the from the street to the to the zone, but tell me if that's not correct, but anything that's new. Well, I think it that a subdivision is what triggers undergrounding along the street. Anytime you do any new house, you have to do undergrounding from the street to the house. Right. Right. Right. But a subdivision triggers, you know, it's discretionary. At least it used to be, you know, and and maybe we could look at that. It is with an asterisk.

Yeah. And I believe there's something in our code that says if you do a subdivision, you have to underground along the street. I Okay. So, in my time here, I have yet to do a subdivision. Either parcel map or track map to be fair. Um, I would have to look and see what chapter 3 says specifically. It could be it could be folded into it. It's not

that's what my point is is is we can be creative and create districts or you know maybe maybe neighbors want to do something and I think you can put it on your tax bill and extend it over time. I think things like that can be done. We can certainly I I'm happy of course to talk about it just to say um at least the the we started to do that about a year ago and whence came and they met with all of us at city hall and they brought their team and it was seemed pretty daunting. Not to say it can't be done but just very expensive. And then I love the idea of the objective design standards. I think that's incredible. We should definitely do that. So, just my report to you is going to be um there are four candidates for the spot here. I've forwarded them to the council person who's next to choose. Um I will follow up tomorrow, but we've just filled a parks and recck commission. So, now now we're on to this. So, we definitely want to fill this right away. So, that's coming. And then you may have seen that we approved um the cabin village forwarding last night and we're looking at Habitat tomorrow. And um yeah, I'm very excited about whatever you guys want to bring in. Even if it's um even if a portion of this joint meeting is can we just talk about our vision for the future of Ohio, I would be up for that, too. I mean, it could be specific like parking ideas, it could be undergrounding design standards, or what do we see as our vision for how things go. I'm up for that, too. Whatever you guys want.

Great. Thanks. I have a a question, Lucas. You know, um getting a good output um means making sure you have the inputs right. So, for example, one input that we may be purchasing as a city, but do we currently purchase Google data for ways and maps? Not not that I'm aware of into the city. To me, that would be a basic input, especially as a smaller city. A basic input would be to buy the Google data to understand factually where are the people going. So okay. So are you talking traffic? Yeah.

Yeah. I think that's what he's getting at. May May I respond here? Just just this um what there people that live on Creek Road there was one of the main ways that tourists do come in is it takes them on Creek Road and it brings them up McGover. Yeah. Ways is I know diverting. Yeah.

So two points. One is one study that the chamber had done when they looked at traffic and most of it comes right out of McGomery like in the very worst part especially because they want to make a left which is almost impossible but if imagine if you had a parking lot hypothetically speaking where Od is that lawn part that's right there along Montgomery where there's nothing there's it's just sitting there as a lawn if there was a parking lot there that had 30 spots that's one idea that we would talk about if in this joint piece but one idea that they've leveraged the counties tried to work on with Google is to get people to basically not think of Creek Road as the a main way in. And so they have worked. I know Supervisor Livier has tried and I hope he's made some success to try to

I guess it has to do with where the center of town is thought of ways or in Google you can move that. Yes. So it's kind of like city hall gets put as the center of town which is not really anyway just

Yeah. And I have a lot of interaction with people traveling into town and Google put you out on Creek Road which is I would argue the most dangerous one of the more dangerous highway entrances. I don't know what the the numbers are but it's a dangerous little tricky little spot to come out on. And then it also takes you through Santa Paul over the 150 um which also has its own you know challenges. But I would think we could understand that data. I do agree moving the moving the data point for the center of the city could be an interesting thing to look at but move it to Vans move it to Maricopa Highway.

Yeah, it suddenly moves to Miners Oak. We're like ah change the context of what we're talking about. No longer creek is the way to go. That's an interest. Let me let me see if I can come back with some information on that and see if um our it has done has they're doing a lot of things offline right now. Um and I'm curious to see if they've been thinking about that. So good. Okay. Are we complete on this item? Any other comments? Okay. So, expect more information for the next one. Right. Perfect.

All right. Perfect. Okay. Thank you, mayor, for coming and sharing. The next item that we turn to is training. We are going to be learning about the Brown Act and the Historic Preservation Commission roles and responsibilities. I don't know why that we are getting that, but it's on my agenda. Yours says historic preservation. Yes. Yeah. I I it said that last time we had it as well and I I pointed that out but Okay. It's just the Brown Act. It's just the Brown Act and it's for the Planning Commission, but mine Good.

It's the Brown Act and Planning Commission roles and responsibilities, right? Okay. Somebody got Was it not because it was noticed incorrectly? Do we have to Well, I I brought that up on what what what what came to me, but what we see on the on the website says what I'm looking at right here says planning commission, and I brought that up and you said it was changed. Yeah, I I mine says So, yours doesn't say planning commission. Our agenda. Mine says planning commission. That's weird. Uh well, I apologize for that that you ended up getting that instead. Um either way, it is for planning commission. That is what we're talking about tonight. Um, Ida, can you pull up the slide deck?

Or do you guys have access to the slide deck? Hello everyone. My name is Lisa Terrosian. I'm a senior associate at Alishar Winder. I'm happy to be here with you all today to review um the roles and responsibilities pertaining to your membership on a commission with the city of OHigh. Um in the interest of time, I'm going to skip over some of the information contained in these slides. Don't worry, you should have already received a copy of these slides in case you want to review them, any of the information in them that's contained in them at a future time. Um if you have any questions, please save them for the end. your questions may be answered uh the further we go along. So, let's get started. As you know, a city's boards, committees, and commissions are a vital support system for any city. And the better they function, the better a city can serve its residents. That is why it's important for members of these groups to be well informed of their roles, responsibilities, and applicable laws. Boards, commissions, and committees are established by the OMC. The current ones are the planning commission, the parks and recreation commission, the historic preservation commission, the arts commission, and the buildings appeals board. There is also the finance and budget commission. This committee is I'm sorry, the finance and budget committee. This committee is advisory to city council and does not possess independent decision-making authority. Um members are appointed by a

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All boards, commissions, and committees are subject to the Ralph M. Brown Act, colloally known as the Brown Act, which is found in the California government code. Under the act, all meetings must be open to the public. However, the Brown Act does not limit an official acting in his or her own capacity. Meaning, you have the right to confer with your constituents, advocates, consultants, news reporters, or to talk to your staff or colleague. But you must make sure you are not discussing official committee business to avoid a serial meeting. The use of direct communication, intermediaries or technology to develop a collective concurrence outside of a meeting is considered a serial meeting and therefore prohibited. The seriousness of serial meetings cannot be stressed enough and the internet makes it very much uh easier for members of his legislative body to communicate with each other and their constituents in ways that make it easier to have a serial meeting. To avoid this, a good social media rule is to not react, share, or comment on a post or comment by another member of the body. Um, I know I just gave you a lot of instructions on what to do to avoid having a serial meeting, but that should not discourage you from having individual communications or contacts with other members uh about non-committee matters. Uh there is no prohibition. There's no prohibition on attending public conferences or local agency meetings or other local agency meetings, community meetings and social gatherings. Informational meetings with staff are also not a violation of the Brown Act. This slide is just some additional information about social media communication I already discussed in the previous slide uh that you can review for additional guidance if you're curious.

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come to light or other reasons deemed appropriate and reasonable. In addition, a committee hearing may continue an item when the applicant cannot appear at the hearing and has requested that the item be continued, the application is revised by the applicant during the meeting, or the committee requests that the application be revised. Disrupting means engaging in behavior during a meeting that disrupts, disturbs, or impedes the orderly conduct of the meeting. Prior to removal of an individual, the chair shall warn the individual that their behavior is disrupting and that their failure to cease their behavior may result in removal. The chair may then remove that individual if the behavior occurs. Uh, I'm sorry, if the behavior continues, if there has been a use of force or a true threat of force, there is no obligation for the chair to provide a warning to that individual before removing them from the hearing. The public has a right to review and inspect public records with certain exceptions. Those exceptions are uh the pending litigation exception which exempts documents prepared in support of ongoing litigation. The deliberative process exception which exempts preliminary drafts, notes or other information relating to the deliberative process. the personal privacy exemption, which exempts personnel files, medical records, or other such records that would constitute an invasion of privacy. Other records that are exempt are uh real estate appraisals, records pertaining to investigations, preliminary drafts, notes, or memos that are not kept in the ordinary course of business. If you need examples of what constitutes a public record, please refer to the slide. An agency must make copies of disclosable records promptly available upon requests. So, an agency shall respond within 10 days with a determination if there is a disclosable

record and can request an extension of 14 days uh under uh for certain unusual circumstances. Committee members are representatives of the city, meaning they have a duty to represent the city and to only take those actions that would benefit the city. Members are expected to comply with all applicable laws, and they have ethical duties of loyalty, due diligence, and avoiding bias. Under the Lavine Act, no member with the power to make decisions or recommendations may accept, solicit, or direct a contribution of over $500 while a proceeding like a license, a permit, or other entitlement is pending before them from a participant party or their agent. This also applies for 10 months after a final decision is rendered. This only applies to committee members who are running for elected office. If a member has received a contribution or $500 within the preceding 12 months, that fact must be disclosed on the record of the proceedings before rendering any decision. If a member willfully or knowingly receives such a contribution within the preceding 12 months, the member may not participate in the decision-m of that proceeding or use our position to influence such decision. This requirement applies both to members that participate in proceedings as well as those running for office. Uh we already discussed members ethics and sexual harassment pre uh prevention training obligations. Uh however under new legislation namely SB827 the ethics training requirements are amended and the deadline is amended to align with the sexual harassment prevention training so that all mandated trainings must now be completed within six months of starting service. Uh, effective January 1st, 2026, SB827 also

expands the ethics training mandate to all department heads or other similar administrative off- officers regardless of their design designation and the agency's conflict of interest code. Certain members will also be required to complete fiscal and financial trainings every two years. SB827 only exempts county auditors, treasurers, and uh tax collectors from fiscal and financial trainings. SB827 also expands records disposable under the California Public Records Act to include those trainings, the records of which must be retained for at least 5 years. Also, starting July 1st, 2026, an agency must post on its website instructions and contact information regarding how to request those records that we just discussed. The city has a policy against using copyrighted works. Uh the purpose of this policy is to protect the city from the legal and operational challenges that are associated with the use of copyrighted materials during public meetings. A best practice is to not use any of those materials at the meeting. Uh if you need more information regarding this, please refer to the site. Okay. Uh, and now we're going to get into the specific roles and responsibilities pertaining to your membership in the planning commission. I hope I still have all your attention. I'm so sorry. The planning commission serves an important role in the city and is responsible for acting in an advisory capacity to city council and to make uh sure future developments are congruous and realize the vision of the city council and ultimately the Ohio committee. The commission is responsible for the thoughtful planning and of public and private buildings. public spaces and parks and maintaining the unique characteristics of the city of Ohio. The objective of diving more in depth

regarding your specific roles on the planning commission is to familiarize you with the laws that govern your position, the procedures necessary to properly effectuate your position, and most importantly, the responsibilities specific to you and your role on the commission. All commission appointments are non-political appointments. At least two members of the commission will be persons having distinctly separate training or experience from the fields of architecture, art, building, construction, civil engineering, land use planning, land use law, urban planning or landscape design. While it is preferred that all members of the commission have primary residence and be doiciled within the city, a maximum of two members of the commission may be may have primary residence or be doiciled outside the city if it is determined necessary by city council. Three members of the commission constitute a quorum without regard to residency. The members of the planning commission are appointed for terms of four years expiring at the first regular city council meeting in May. Commissioners serve at will, meaning that they may be removed for any reason. We discussed the procedure for removing a commissioner in a previous slide. The planning commission elects its chair and vice chair from among its members and appoints a secretary who does not need to be a member of the commission. Officers serve for a period of one year. The planning commission is prohibited from incurring any expense for the preparation of maps, plats, or any other purpose. In those circumstances, the planning commission files its recommendations and requests with the city council who is then responsible for incurring that debt in the name of the city in a matter that is consistent with the law, deemed proper in the premises, and authorized in the annual budget. The planning commission's powers and duties are set forth in OMC chapter 10-1.04. I'm going to provide you with a broad overview of them. If you need any further information regarding any of

these points, please refer to the slides as well as the Ohio municipal code that is cited for you. The powers and duties of the planning commission are limited to acting in an advisory capacity to city council in matters pertaining to development and modifications of the general plan, advising and recommending plans for different services to city council. making recommendations regarding tentative plans, tentative maps of proposed subdivisions to city council to do all things necessary to carry out the planning and zoning laws and regulations contained in the municipal code. Uh for example, conditional use permit requests, concept reviews, design review permit requests, tree permits, uh and also to perform any other duties that are necessary. The commission plays an important quasi judicial role for the city that we discussed briefly previously. Uh meaning it not only acts in an advisory capacity to city council on all planning and developmental issues, but it also makes decisions that assure that all land use decisions including individual projects are consistent with the policies and plans adopted by the city. In this role, the commission has the following roles and responsibilities. to assist in developing the focus and policies in the general plan and participate in public meetings supporting the plan's content and goals. To oversee the development of specific plans or community plans, and participate in public engagement events, including public hearings. To review, hold hearings, and act upon zoning ordinances, maps, conditional use permits, variances, and subdivision applications. review individual projects for consistency with the general plan and any applicable specific plans, zoning ordinance, and other land use policies and regulations. To annually review the capital improvements program and public risk projects for consistency with the general plan. To coordinate local plans and programs with those of other local,

regional, and state agencies. To report on the general plan consistency of proposed public land acquisitions or disposals. oversee and facilitate special planning studies as needed. The planning commission has a quasi digital role in the city's land use permits. See table 4 um-1 in the OMC section cited if you need uh a graph overview of um the land use permits the uh and it also contains u a table version of the information contained in this slide. Uh the commission has authority to review and make recommendations to city council for certain applications and is a decision-making body with regards to others. The commission is a review and recommendation body to city council for uh amendments uh to the general plan zoning map and zoning development agreements uh specific plans tentative parcel and final maps. The commission is a final decision-making body for conditional use permits, design review permits, development permits, plan development permits, and variances. The planning commission is the appeal body, meaning it hears appeals from final determinations from other bodies for home occupation permits, interpretations, lot line adjustments, minor conditional use permits, minor variances, sign permits, temporary use permits, and zoning clearances. Activities and uses requiring a conditional use permit are so unique that their effect on the surrounding environment cannot be determined before being proposed for a particular location. The purpose of this permit is to allow certain uses that may be appropriate with conditions to ensure cap

compatibility with surrounding areas with surrounding uses. I'm sorry. The land use activities listed in article 2 through 7 of the city's zoning regulations may be allowable uses subject to prior approval of the conditional use permit. The commission is a review authority for cups and the community development director is a review authority for minor cups. The commission holds a public hearing upon receipt of a cup application and makes a final decision that is appealable to city council. In making its decision, the commission must make certain findings before it approves an application and may even impose certain conditions on the approval of the CUP. These required findings are discussed in greater detail in OMC section 10-2.2406 and include consistency with general plan and the city's applicable zoning regulations. The design, location, size, and operating characteristic of the proposed use are compatible with the existing and future land uses. The use would not create significant noise, traffic or other detrimental conditions or be adverse to the public interest, health, safety, convenience or welfare of the city. There would be no potential significant negative effects upon environmental quality and natural resources. Compliance with the provisions of SQA or the city's environmental review procedures and that there are adequate provisions for public access, water sanitation, and public utilities and services. Moving on to the design, sorry. Moving on to design review permits. The to continue the charm and attraction of the unique architecture of the city. The purpose of a design review permit is to ensure that developments are consistent with the city's character and community design standards. The commission acts as the final decision maker and has authority to approve, conditionally approve, or deny projects. In reviewing applications, the commission is to consider the standards are discussed in the OMC. I'm not going to read the OMC

citations for you. They're listed for you on the slides. Uh some of those standards are building design, ma uh massing and scale, site layout, landscaping, lighting and signage, visual harmony with surroundings, protection of scenic and aesthetic qualities, appropriate scale, bulk and materials, and the commission should also refer to any design guidelines or policies that were adopted by city council or the commission itself to ensure consistency. The commission is also required to make specific findings prior to the approval of design review permit which are discussed in greater detail in the municipal code. Some of those findings are compliant with zoning reg Some of those um some of those findings are compliance with zoning regulations, no adverse effect on surrounding property, compliant lighting and signage and certain supplemental findings in cases of developments with direct access to state highways. The purpose of a variance is to allow relief from zoning standards because of special or unique circumstances applicable to the property, including location, shape, size, surrounding, or a topography. A variance may be granted to secure an appropriate improvement to a parcel to prevent unreasonable hardship, which doesn't include financial hardship, or to promote the uniformity of improvements. The commission must hold a public hearing and has authority to make a final determination regarding variances and that decision is appealable to city council as well. The commission may also impose conditions on approval. The commission may grant a variance when special physical circumstances exist. These physical circumstances are discussed in detail in the OMC and include the size, shape, and topography. After hearing, the commission is required to make the specific findings that are detailed in the OMC prior to their approval of the permit. This includes that the special circumstances are applicable to the party, that the permit is necessary for the enjoyment of a property right, and no special

privilege is granted, consistent with the general plan and zoning intent of the city, and not detrimental to public health, safety, welfare, or nearby properties. The city's zoning regulations are administered by the city council, planning commission, community development director, historic preservation commission, and the community development department. The planning commission specifically has the authority to adopt rules for the transaction of business and keep public record of its action. recommend adoption, implementation, implementation and periodically review recommend revisions to the general plan and zoning regulations to grant final approval of design review permits, CUPs, plan development, signed programs, variances, certificates of approval of appropriate environmental documentation and compliance with SQUA and all of these determinations are subject to um appeal with the city council. Uh they're also um required to make final determinations uh recommendations to city council for development agreements, general plan amendments, specific plans, tenative track maps, zoning map amendments, zoning ordinance amendments, and other applicable ordinances or regulations which are zoning in nature. The planning commission makes final determinations regarding proposed development and new land use permits. I'm going to briefly touch upon the requirements. If you need more information, please consult the listed municipal code section. So, the commission's approvals are to comply with the city's requirements with the following requirements. The use is all available in the zoning district. The permit is obtained before the use structure compliance with city zoning regulations and zoning district standards. um meaning uh property development standards, affordable housing requirements and incentives, creek site development standards, exterior lighting standards, etc. Uh the use structure compliance with any applicable

conditions of approval imposed by any previously granted land use other land use other approval. The use structure is established on land legally created in compliance with the subdivision map act. The use structure complies with any applicable development agreement approved by the city in compliance with the OMC. Uh in reaching the its determination, the commission must be aware of these requirements and contain their oral and written discussion only to these requirements. This is imperative as decision may be appealed to city council at which time the commission's final decision will come under scrutiny. The planning commission is advisory a agency for divisions of real property pursuant to the city's codified subdivision regulations as well as the subdivision map act. In this com in this capacity, the commission makes recommendations as to findings requirements conditions approvals and disapprovals but does not possess the authority to approve conditionally approve or disapprove proposed subdivisions. However, for lot line adjustments that exceed a 10% increase or decrease in the area of any affected parcel, the planning commission, not the planning director, is a decision maker. Any interested person dissatisfied with the decision of the planning commission with respect to the proposed lot line adjustment may appeal their decision to city council. The commission is also responsible for reviewing all products for um all projects for compliance with SQA and or the city's environmental review standards. The city's environmental review procedures follow SQA guidelines unless a project is proved to be exempt. In that case, it'll be subject to city environmental guidelines to determine whether one, the project uh the proposed project is exempt from the requirements of SQA. Two, the proposed project is not a project as defined by SQUA. three, whether a negative declaration may be issued, or four, whether an environmental impact report shall be required.

The commission is the appeal hearing body from the final determination of other agencies. As we discussed previously, all appeal hearings conducted by the commission shall be open to the public. The commission may grant a continuence of the hearing date upon a request and showing of good cause. The request must be made in writing and received by the commission at least five business days prior to the hearing date. If a landlord is a party requesting an extension, the landlord must personally deliver a copy of the request to the affected tenant. In no event shall the continuence be longer than 15 calendar days from the from the originally scheduled hearing date. After considering all the testimony and evidence submitted at hearing within 20 calendar days after the conclusion of the hearing, the commission must issue a written decision denying, affirming, or modifying the decision and adopt written findings in support of that decision. If a tenant is that is the appealing party or if the landlord is the appealing party and the appeal concerned a tenant petition for non-compliance, the commission shall serve a copy of the written decision to the landlord and the tenant concurrently. Any person directly agreed by the commission's decision pertaining to requests for appeal may seek judicial review in the superior court. The following few slides, including this one, I'm only going to briefly touch upon. Uh, please refer to the municipal code sections that are listed if you need should you need more information. Um, the commission is also responsible for making decisions on applications for condominium conversions. They are required to make affirmative findings prior to the approval of conversion project, condominium conversion projects. Um the commission is required unless it decides to wave um to subject approval of all condominium conversion projects to the conditions discussed in the Ohio municipal code. For example, to comply with all existing zoning and subdivision requirements to separately um to have separately metered and built gas, electricity, and water within each

dwelling unit to have shock mounted isolated permanent mechanical equipment, electrical, plumbing, mechanical, fire and life safety systems in good repair. a land a separate laundry facilities etc. Any applicant or grief person can appeal the commission's decisions to city council. Okay. And we were talking about this a little bit before. So uh when uh where more than five or a com combination of oak, sycamore or heritage trees are to be cut down, removed or relocated on a single parcel of real property, the application must be referred to the commission for recommendation to the director. Unusual cases where less than five trees are involved may also be referred to the commission by the director. The granting or denial of a permit is subject to the discretion of the commission and based on but not limited to the criteria that is summarized in this slide. Um you can again look at the OMC if you need further information about that criteria. Any decision issued by the community development director on a permit application for less than five trees including required mitigation and conditions may be appealed to the planning commission within 10 days after the decision has been rendered by submitting the appropriate administrative appeal fees and written statement describing the reasons for appeal. A landlord or affected tenant who wishes to contest a director's decision on a rent adjustment application. A tenant petition for non-compliance or any other rent stabilization decision may file a request for appeal of the director's decision within 15 calendar days. If a landlord decides desires to increase the rent of a unit in an amount greater than 4%, then the landlord contends that the limitations on rent increases in the Ohio municipal code will prevent them from receiving a fair and reasonable return. The landlord may file a rent adjustment application with the community development director to request an increase in rent beyond the amount permitted. The decision of the community development director may be

appealed to the commission. If a tenant contends that a proposed or actual rent increase is not in compliance with the code and that there has been a reduction in housing services, a tenant may file a petition with the community development director. Tenant petitions for non-compliance will be considered and determined by the director and the director's decision may be appealed to the planning commission. At the hearing, the appealing party shall be given the opportunity to testify, call witnesses, and present evidence. The commission may also hear testimony and consider evidence offered by tenants in affected rental units. and if a tenant is the appealing party to hear and consider written evidence offered by the landlord. The planning commission hears and decides appeals and requests for variances from the requirement of the city's flood protection regulations. The commission hears and decides appeals when it is alleged that there is an error in any requirement, decision, or determination made by the flood plane administrator in the enforcement or administration of the city's flood protection regulations. In passing upon such applications, the planning commission shall consider all technical evaluations relevant factors and the standard summarized in this slide. Upon consideration of these factors, the planning commission may attach conditions it deems necessary to the granting of variances. the determination of the community development director regarding the compliance or the granting or denial of an exemption with the city's regulations regarding prohibit prohibitions of natural gas infrastructure and new buildings and certain new residential units may also be appealed to the commission. An appeal should be filed in writing to the commission and processed together with future uh with possible future appeals to the city council. Uh the commission should review the appeal based solely on whether the project meets the criteria and definition of infeasibility. A wireless communication facilities will include landscaping buffer and at least

4t wide outside the perimeter of the ground mounted equipment and be maintained in accordance with the OMC. The commission may increase, reduce or wave the required landscaping when it finds that a different requirement would be better to serve the public interest. The planning commission is required to consider the factors summarized in this slide when determining whether to issue a conditional use permit. The planning commission may wave or reduce the burden of one or more of these criteria on the applicant if the commission concludes it necessary to serve the purpose codifi uh purpose of the codified regulations. Exceptions to the wireless communication standards may be granted by the city when appropriate or necessary to comply with state and federal law. Exceptions are subject to review and approval of the planning commission and city council. The burden is on the applicant to prove significant gaps and at least uh significant gaps and least intrusive means as required. All right. Yay. Thank you for your attention everyone. This concludes my presentation. If you have any questions, now is the time. I'm so sorry it took so long.

You made it. Yay. No, we all made it. It was a It was a group project. I feel get through it together. Yes, I have one question. Go ahead. Sorry. Just the natural gas. Wasn't there something where regulating natural gas was against PUC regulations or what's the update on that? I thought that was considered something that the cities couldn't regulate. So, it is in the um it's very limited to what's in the OMC essentially. So, it's Okay. So, that's up to date. The OMC. Yes. Okay. Yeah. So basically it's um only single family residential. Yeah. So we cannot go after commercial.

I see. Because there's so many commercial kitchens that use gas stoves and ovens. Correct. So the I think there was a rest restaurant association um is the is the group that really went after it. So Okay. Yep. We we tailored it back and now it's referred to as the flex path. So it gives a menu of options by which to to abide by. Yeah. Gotcha. Okay. Any other questions? Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you.

Okay. We are on to future agenda items. Yes. Okay. So um if you look at the tenative agenda for May 6th and May 20th, we actually have one item on there tenatively. It's the objective design standards or consider cancellation. Um it's really up to this body. If you want to get into the the meat and potatoes of it for me to pro provide that information and for us to just have that discussion kind of on a a platform, we could certainly do that. We could fold it into the May 20th meeting as well. There are a number of items and obviously the safety element um as a redline update discussion is on there. It doesn't have to be just one meeting, but I I will um just let you know that on the 20th we will have our consultant um virtually. So certainly there'll be a presentation on it. Um and and certainly a I expect a well-versed conversation. Oh, I should also note you may see an item that has already be been before this body, which is the zone change. Oh, no, that's not the that's not the one. Yeah, the Okay. So, it's the zone change for 1124 Maricopa Highway. So that one came before this body with a notification um period that was incorrect by virtue of recent u modifications that were done to state law. So state law actually requires for zone changes or changes to the um zoning code to be done in a 20-day noticing format and not a 10-day noticing format. That was a

recent law change. So, we were preparing for city council, but we've got to go through this body. Um, no changes are being proposed from what you had seen previously, but we have to notice it correctly. So, okay. And

aside from that, there's a number of pending items dating back to 2023. Um, some of those are just sitting to be fair. sit they should. Okay. Um so you would like our opinion on whether we have the objective design standards for the next meeting. I leave it to the bottom. We we could push it the 20th. I am open to either one. It sounds to me like the safety element red line update discussion could be fairly long.

I think you should expect that. And just just to be fair, the Maricopa Highway is really just it's not any changes to what you've seen. So, it's pretty straightforward. The zone change for 107 North Ventura Street um that was brought forward as a concept review. So, you'll be seeing a very similar um project format, okay, what was brought forward before. And obviously, there'll be an update within the staff report as to to what has either changed or modifications since the concept review. You would like the meeting on design the first

meeting. It doesn't we need to do it. Can we do it by Well, here,

let me just I only put it on there as a discussion item as a possibility simply because um unlike some of the other items, this one does have a shot clock. And while HCD has accepted our annual progress report, in the annual progress report, it also requires us to update all of our programs. They accepted that we are moving forward, but I they did put the caveat saying how come this this was supposed to be done in 2024 and I said yes we're 80% there and they're like okay and I listed the the dates by which we've already been hearing it. So I'd like to remain in good graces with HCD at least at least at this point. Um and I think having the objective design standards in a spot that is that can be recommended by this body and then brought before city council should be on the minds of all commission of the commission here whether we do it on the 6th the 20th or even recognizing that the joint meeting

it's early June so yep which is the reason why I put it on for the sixth I prefer but obviously having the conversation. Do you have a feeling about this Fred? Well I you know I think I'm okay with it as a discussion item on the six if you kind of chunked out what we talked about as inputs. Could we have a report of a first input by then so that we materially have something to discuss and then you can truly say to HCD, hey we we got a few pieces to this on the glide path to getting it done. Yeah. And uh we discussed one and we're now 85% there or something like along those lines.

Yeah. I mean the I think the hope is is to get to to the point where this body is is ready to make make a recommendation. So you're you're good with this too, Katrina? Okay. I think we will keep the Sounds good. program as listed. Okay. Um, we've already had the mayor's report. May May I ask one question back on the objective design standards? Do you have an example of anything from another city that you could pass along? Yes, that was that might be helpful. Just to There are a couple of cities that we had reviewed previously. I'll be sure to include those as well. Yes, absolutely. Everybody needs a baseline here.

Do you have anything further for a director's report? No. Okay. Nope. Any com uh reports? No. I think the meeting got cancelled that uh the MAC meeting. The last couple have gotten cancelled. Yes. Yeah. And we've heard from mayor. So, we are closing the meeting at 7:51. We are adjourned.