Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening, Planning Commissioners. Chair Lightfoot?

Present.

Vice Chair Wilkerson? Commissioner Vargas?

Here.

Commissioner Banta? Here. Commissioner Vermont? Here. Commissioner Dingmann? Here. Chair, we have a call room.

Thank you very much. Next, if everybody can please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Please. Right.

Please join me in the pledge.

Pledge of allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for for all. Thank you very much. We'll now move on to regular business starting with communications. At this time I'll ask director Morris if there's any communications or announcements for this evening's meeting.

We have no communications this evening Mr. Chair and no changes to the agenda. Thank you.

Thank you very much. We'll move on to approval of this evening's agenda. Do I have a motion and a second to approve the agenda?

Second.

I have a motion from commissioner Beaumont and a second from commissioner Vargas. Can we please have a vote?

Commissioner Vargas?

Yes.

Commissioner Banta? Yes. Commissioner Vermont?

Yes.

Commissioner Dingmann? Yes. Chair Lightfoot?

Yes.

Motion passes.

Thank you very much.

So the next item is business from the floor. This portion of the agenda is available for the public to address the Commission on any issue that's not on the agenda this evening. There will be a limit of three minutes per speaker. I welcome anybody who is here this evening to approach discuss the topic. Seeing none, I'll close business from the floor.

Next, we'll move on to the consent calendar. We have one item on consent, which is the minutes from the 05/20/2025 meeting. Does anyone from the commission or public wish to pull the consent item for discussion? Seeing none, I'll have a motion to approve the consent calendar.

Motion. Second. I have

a motion from commissioner Banta and a second from commissioner Beaumont.

Commissioner Bachus?

Yes.

Commissioner Banta? Yes. Commissioner Vermont? Yes. Commissioner Dingmann?

Yes.

Chair Lightfoot?

Yes. Motion passes. Thank

public hearings, and we'll proceed to business items, which are on the agenda this evening, starting with eight a. This is the Peabody Allison specific plan. We'll hear a presentation followed by commissioner questions, and then we'll open up to public comment. May we please have the staff's presentation?

Good evening, chair, planning commissioners, and members of the public. The item before you tonight is just an update on the Peabody Allison specific plan project. So let's start off with some background. In October 2008, the city of Vacaville created what's called the Allison Priority Development Area or PDA. Priority development areas are locally nominated areas that cities and counties throughout the Bay Area can nominate, and these are areas that are served by transit and can accommodate future growth.

PDAs are eligible to receive grants from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission or MTC and the Association of Bay Area Governments or ABAG, and these grants are used to serve planning and transportation projects that would serve those PDAs. And so in October 2023, the city council accepted a $1,200,000 grant from MTC and ABAC to prepare a new specific plan for the Allison PDA. And in July, the city executed a contract with Environmental Science Associates or ESA to prepare what's called the Peabody Allison specific plan, which is this new specific plan for this priority development area. And in August, staff and ESA initiated the preparation of this specific plan, which we also call the PAST. So what is the Peabody Allison specific plan?

This is a new specific plan that will create new policies to support businesses in the plan area, encourage housing affordability, and also enhance mobility for people of all ages and abilities. It'll also help to identify improvements to enhance the streets streetscapes in the plan area, public spaces, the quality of life for residents and visitors, and also support long term growth. The plan area for Peabody Allison includes three major corridors, that's Peabody Road, Elmira Road, and Allison Drive. The map on the right shows the boundary of the plan area and it includes major destinations such as Wilsey Wood High School, the County Square Market, the Vacaville Cultural Center and Transportation Center, as well as the Vacaville Common Shopping Center. This figure here shows a more in-depth look at some of the land uses in the Peabody Allison plan area, which we'll break down here.

It is the plan area can be split into three different subareas. We have the Peabody Corridor, which is a more strip mall, suburban commercial area. Some notable destinations here include Wilson Wood High School, County Square Market, and the Vaca Village Shopping Center. We have the South Of Eulatus Creek area. This has, some strip mall commercial along Elmira Road along with a large majority of multifamily residential, such as apartments and the manufactured home park located on Aegean Way and Elmira Road.

And then we have the area North Of Eulatus Creek, which includes some major public facilities and amenities like the cultural center and the transportation center. There are some big box suburban commercial centers such as the Vacaville Common Shopping Center, which includes stores like Target, Ross, and Safeway. And then we also have some multifamily residential communities as well, mostly clustered around the transportation center. And so as part of phase one for this project, the city, would help from our consultant prepared an existing conditions report, which analyzed different topics, including land use, urban design, economic trends, housing demographics, transportation, and also wet utilities. And so some of the key findings from that report include the fact that the area is primarily made up of multifamily residential and commercial shopping centers.

There the, report does find that there is, an unpleasant walking experience in the plan area due to a lack of trees in some areas, very narrow sidewalks, and also a lack of public amenities. There is a strong demand for new rental housing in the plan area. Additionally, of the residents in the plan area, approximately 43% of those households are considered low income with another 32% being at high risk of near term displacement. The report also finds that the plan area is what's called a low vehicle miles travel generating area. So compared to other parts of Vacaville, the residents in this area don't drive as much, and when they do drive, they don't drive as far compared to other residents in other parts of the city.

There's also opportunities that the report has found where we could improve the experience for people who are walking, biking, and taking transit as well as driving in the plan area, and also that there is existing water sewer and drainage infrastructure that's adequate enough to accommodate existing and future development that occurs in the plan area. As with any specific plan project, the city has also launched a community engagement program that includes both traditional and nontraditional methods of engaging the community. Since September, we launched the project website, which can be accessed at cityofvaquita.gov/peabodyallison. We also launched a pop up event or to kick off public outreach efforts in November. That was held at two different locations at the County Square Market and also at the Vaquetteville Common Shopping Center.

We also did some targeted outreach with mostly what high school students to get direct feedback from students about what they wanna see in the plan area, and that was done during some sessions in January. We also did targeted outreach with our business community by doing a pre business walk and also a business walk visiting many of the different businesses in the plan area, which was conducted in January and February. Our consultants also did some follow-up interviews with business owners who showed interest in having more in-depth discussions. And then also in February, we mailed approximately 2,016 new project notices to all the residents and business owners in the plan area just to make them aware of the project and to give them a link to more where more information can be found. Some of the common themes that we've heard so far from the folks that we've engaged include a very large desire for more gathering places and especially for people of all ages.

This was a common theme that was shared during the pop up event at County Square Market and also, amongst students at Wilsey Wood High School. There are also many concerns about traffic safety, especially for people who are walking and biking in the area, as well as for people who are driving as well. And then lastly, a lot of business owners wanted to see, more beautification efforts in the plan area, especially in some of the more, aging areas such as Peabody And Elmira Roads. And so next steps for the project now that we've finished the existing conditions report and this first phase of public outreach are to develop focused land use and street streetscape alternatives for how this area could develop and change in the future. And so these alternatives will be shared with the public for their review and for their input later this fall and we'll use that public feedback to identify what's called the preferred plan which will serve as the basis for the goals, policies, and actions specific plan.

And so the chart on the bottom shows some the phases of the different of the plan. So right now we just completed phase one and we are moving on to phase two, which is assessment and alternatives generation. And so as we prepare those land use alternatives, there will be upcoming opportunities for the public to engage with this project. So later this year, we'll be, doing some engagement regarding the land use alternatives for how this area could develop in the future. So there'll be a virtual community meeting, and then we'll also have another study session with you, the planning commission, along with a study session with the city council.

In spring of next year, we hope to release the draft specific plan where we'll hold another in person community meeting to discuss some of the goals and policies that will be included in the document along with another study session with the planning commission and city council. And then finally, in summer of next year, we hope to bring the specific plan for adoption to you, and then also to the city council for final adoption. And so to conclude, staff recommends that the planning commission receive this informational presentation, and that concludes my presentation. Be happy to answer any questions or comments that the commission might have. Thank you.

Does anybody have any questions or comments?

Commissioner Beaumont. Thank you, Noah. Thank you for

the presentation. Since we're talking about an area like Elmira, Peabody, Allison that are pretty well established, not a lot of areas to improve upon other than maybe change of sidewalk width or whatever. I mean, walking there is not a pleasant experience. Biking there, I wouldn't take my life in my hands by biking on Elmira or Peabody. So I'm just wondering how much can you really do to improve this to a point of where it's actually people want to walk, people wanna bike, people wanna be there?

Thank you for your question. No. I mean, you're right. The the public engagement that we that we conducted sort of just repeats what you're saying, which is just they're not gonna walk there. They're not gonna bike there. They're doing it because they have to. So, you know, the grants, the work that we're doing is to find out what opportunities there are. Seemingly, it would be that this is an established area and there's no room for growth, there's no room for improvements, but there are. And I think as part of this, there are the consultants team has other design professionals that are gonna look at this. I I think just the work that we've done, there are opportunities.

That's what they're working on, is to tell us, look, in these areas here's what you can do to make walking more pleasant and this area is what you can make biking more pleasant. But really, there are other opportunities like, for example, as Noah mentioned, when we talk to the students, they just want a place to gather. They just you know, a place to be, right? And in working with the property owners at the County Square Market, almost all the property owners that we talked to were interested in creating a plaza of sorts in their shopping center because they also would benefit from people gathering near their businesses. So while it might not be an area where it's brand new so you can design what you want to design, there are opportunities we feel.

And so we're looking for our our consultant and their team to lay out, here's what you can do, here are your limitations here and there, here are what the constraints are, but here are ways that you can address what your businesses want, what your students want, and what the general public wants in that area. But I I I would say that's that's probably the the biggest takeaway was really more of the community outreach. And as as Noah mentioned, there was a lot of outreach. And I'm pretty proud of our residents and our students to just actually take part in that. So now we know what the problems are, the way they see it, and we have some some ideas and our consultants have some ideas, and that's what we're gonna bring back to you.

Is an idea maybe like an arcade that you could put into the shopping center where the kids could gather and play some games and

Kids or senior level planners could probably be better. Dr. Nelson: know, I think actually, yeah. I I think something when I was younger that was the arcade, that's where you would gather. Now, we don't really have that. So, and it's not necessarily, you know, correct me if I'm wrong though. It wasn't necessarily that they want very specific. They just want a place that they can go to. Now, whether there's food trucks, whether there's ice cream trucks, whether there's just a place for them to hang out, that's what they're looking for. Just somewhere else to be other than driving to Walnut Creek, which we heard a lot, driving to Sacramento, driving to Davis, which which is sort of same things that we hear sometimes about our downtown that, look, here's what here's what's lacking, here's the other places that we're going to.

So we're hearing the same thing from our from our youth, and and again, I think this is just a great opportunity to find out what can we do, and then we'll know.

K. Thank you.

And Chair Laifa, thank you. I just wanted to add that one of the reasons why I wanted to move forward with this plan is because we are looking at those existing corridors like Peabody Road, Elmira. And to your point, Commissioner Beaumont, it is a very big lift for like an individual property owner to redo an entire roadway with trees and planter strips and adequate sidewalks, but this is the this is part of the scope of work is looking at new street streetscape designs for these corridors With an adopted specific plan that's been funded by state funding, the idea is perhaps we could be eligible for some grant funding to phase in these improved corridors. Peabody is a great example. It's very wide, actually.

The right of way is very wide, and most of it is allocated to cars. The sidewalk, you kind of have to shimmy sideways down sometimes. We see the high school students doing that every day, so that's part of what this plan is looking at, is literally the street sections, the right of way, and different options for repurposing it. That kind of public investment, if it could occur especially through grant funding, is often also a catalyst for that private investment on those private properties because they see the city improving the public infrastructure, and that goes hand in hand with those private property improvements. That's part of why the plan focuses on the streetscapes a lot.

The streets are so wide it's hard to get across.

Yes. Yes.

Commissioner Banta, do you

have an input?

Yeah, thank you. Thank you for the presentation. I have a couple of questions. One, I forget what slide it's on, you mentioned that 43% of the residents in the area are low income and 32% are near displacement. Is there any plan for, like, addressing this, or this be worked into the housing element in any way, shape, or form, or would that be used to address that those needs?

And then my second question is about the undeveloped land. I believe some of that land is actually landlocked by between the creek, the freeway, and a big wall that was now just built. Although it does interestingly connect to Lower Callan through Beard Street. What are the thoughts and plans about how we incorporate that and utilize that undeveloped plan?

Thank you, commissioner Vanta for your question. So regarding your first question about affordable housing and, displacement. So our consultant did prepare, the affordable housing and anti displacement memo, which is part of the existing conditions report, which outlines their methodology for identifying, the housing demographics in the area as well as, the level of risk of displacement. And so, it does recommend some different strategies that the city could explore as part of the specific plan. And so as we move into future phases of the specific plan, when we have a set when we've settled on a preferred plan, we can then start looking at goals and policies to encourage the production of affordable housing and also to ensure that affordable housing that exists in the plan area is preserved and that the existing residents who do live in the community now can still continue to benefit from the changes occurring as part of the specific plan.

Thank you.

And then regarding your second question, yeah, we're we've met with almost all the property owners. The property that you're talking about, we met met with mister Cole as well, and that's been sort of a decades long issue where the property is just landlocked. And at times, there have been proposals for adjoining property owners to buy it for, like, you know, mobile home park or or any of the facilities there, and they've all shown no interest in doing that. So right now, it's still privately owned. You're right.

The Caltrans wall went up. I know that mister Cole's had some conversations with with planning for sure and also with public works, so I don't know what the next steps are for that, but unfortunately I don't know if there's an easy solution for that. But for example, there's also properties around Travis Federal Credit Union, which we actually met with their team, and they seem interested in being part of this in terms of improvements along the Allison Corridor or any other uses they may have, but there wasn't anything solid that they want to share with us. But there's an interest from them for sure because they do have a lot of property around their, headquarters. Thank

you very much. Commissioner Dingmann.

Thanks for the presentation. It's great to meet you guys and be it my first one in person. So thank you very much. Great job. And my first question actually was around safety improvements. Aaron, you answered a bunch of those, so appreciate that. But I did have a question about water, sewer, and drainage systems, for kind of the plan growth that you guys have there. I know that will probably come in subsequent briefings that you give us, but is there any concern or any thoughts behind, that plan to growth that you have out there? Currently, do we have, you know, things in place? Is that gonna consideration that you guys are concerned about right now?

Yes. As part of this next phase of the project, as we start looking into land use alternatives for how the area can grow, our consultant team will be preparing a water drainage and sewer analysis that looks at the different implications of each alternative. And so that'll be part of the consideration as we move forward as to which land use alternative we move forward with.

Alright. Thank you. And as far as incentives, I know that there's not a plan hotel or anything else, but I'm just wondering any discussion on local incentives for local businesses, retail, and hotels to come into that area. Is there anything that's being considered? Or is that something that's being talked about or we'll we'll talk to consultant about moving forward?

There isn't anything specific that specific that we've talked about. Ironically, there was a hotel that was approved just just beyond the boundary of the PDA on Mason. I think that may have expired by now. But, no, we haven't had any specific conversations about incentives, but I imagine that's gonna be part of the the overall plan, for moving forward. But right now, we don't have that prepared yet.

Okay. Yeah. Thank you. That's all. Thank you, Commissioner Dingmann. Commissioner Banta, you have Yeah. More

one Yeah. I have one

more question.

We had mentioned that we had received a grant from MTC and ABAG to look into the to for this plan. Are there any grants that we would be interested in going after that are, like, transit oriented or PDA oriented that would promote such businesses like hotels or other businesses to come to the area or beautification for the land to make it more walkable?

Thank you for that question Commissioner Banta. I think the city is always interested in grants and actually our leadership team is constantly looking at grant opportunities to pursue on behalf of Vacaville. The great thing about this plan as it's funded by the state is it does actually set us up for better eligibility for some of these grants. But part of grant eligibility will get back to what the plan identifies as the things that we're trying to accomplish. I did want to add since there seems to be interest from a couple commissioners that the city is actively looking at methods to incentivize non residential development and that's something that's coming forward as a separate initiative with our city council just to have on your radar.

Not necessarily specific to this area, but nonetheless more of a citywide strategy.

Other questions?

So I'm gonna go back just a little bit. Apologize. On the city on the streetscape. So the community fences that single family homes share with Peabody Road makes an interesting dilemma. Is that being looked at in improving the the fencing along Peabody Road with the streetscape plan?

So for instance, like, there's some the in the originally done, there's some cinder block posts that were a part of the streetscape that are infilled now with wooden fences, they've they've gotten pretty old. Was just curious if that's part of the streetscape plan.

We've seen some very draft street safe designs.

Okay.

I can't recall. I don't think the fence replacements were part

of that.

I think it was more how to maximize sort of Peabody rotor or or Elmira to to make it more pedestrian friendly and more sort of landscaping based improvements. I don't think we are looking at replacing the fences, but we can double check that when we come back to you.

Yeah. So I I only assume that the the beginning implementation, there was some sort of there was a plan to make the the cinder block infill the corner posts. It was part of a plan at one point. I'm just curious if if it's probably expired or no longer relevant, but the, it'd be interesting to hear if there was a a part of the new streets a plan to also improve whatever that plan was.

Yeah. We can look into that and when we come back to

Thank you.

On it. Do

we have any other comments?

I have one more comment.

Commissioner Banta?

Yes. Because the priority development area intersects with Highway 80 on multiple different areas, does the redesign or of on ramps and off ramps and beautification of that have anything to do with this plan? Like the like, I know, like, in city council meetings before, there's been a lot of talk about the way the freeways look and the way that the freeways feel. And so, like, on ramps and off ramps into this area, is that taken into consideration with this?

That those off ramps and on ramps, I believe, are outside of the plan boundary. So they're not. However, I appreciate you raising this point because I think it's something we should be thoughtful about. I think we need to look at it's easy as planners and even the cities to look at, okay, this is our plan boundary and everything, but really as people are entering the plan area, they are entering it through these on ramps and off ramps. We can't expand our scope to study those fully, I think we need to look at that issue as a follow-up. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I appreciate the presentation this evening. So this is a this is an information only item, so no vote this evening. We'll move on to item eight b. This is to receive a presentation on Callum Neighborhood Plan. So we'll again, we'll secure a presentation followed by commissioner questions. And then oh, I didn't open up to public comment.

Oh. I

I apologize. So it would

anybody from the public like to comment on eight a? Seeing none, I'll close public comment. Now we'll move on to 8B. So this is to hear another presentation on the Martin Callan neighborhood

Chair Lightfoot? We just need about a two minute recess for our lawyer to briefly confirm with one of the commissioners. If you can take that couple minutes, it'll be quick.

Okay. We'll take a two minute recess.

Thank you very much.

We'll now call the meeting back to order. So now we'll move on to 8b, which is a presentation from staff on the Mark McCallum Neighborhood Plan. So we'll first hear presentation, followed by commissioner questions, and then we will open up for public comment. May we please have the staff's presentation.

Good evening, commissioners and all those in attendance. This item is to discuss the Markham Callan neighborhood plan. In December 2024, the city council authorized a professional services agreement for planning consultant services with Minter Harnish to assist the city in the preparation of the Mark And Callan neighborhood plan. In January 2025, staff and Mintyr Harnish initiated the preparation of the plan. And in late twenty twenty five or early twenty twenty six, staff will be presenting the plan to city council for adoption.

This plan is a document that will identify a vision for the community and strategies to improve the quality of life for residents, businesses, and stakeholders in the area, as well as to enhance and expand existing businesses and identify and evaluate opportunity sites for development. The plan will also focus on improving the built environment in a manner that supports social and economic mobility. The plan area is just Northeast of downtown and it consists of a mix of uses including single family and multifamily residential. It has the Edwin Markham Elementary School, Vacaville Boys and Girls Club, Opportunity House, Tower Park, Future Brown Street Park, Rocky Hill Trail, two shopping centers, one located along the western edge of the site and another located on the Far East Side along Allison Drive, and as well as commercial uses along East Monte Vista Avenue. Here is the project timeline.

So in January, we kicked off with community engagement, developing the strategy for branding. Then we moved to phase two, beginning the community engagement with a small business owner open house, a series of pop ups. We created a neighborhood opinion survey, conducted stakeholder interviews, and developed an existing conditions and trends workbook. From then, we proceeded to phase three in which we met with community groups, we attended community events, we also developed an issues and opportunities report. Currently, are in phase four and we've continued to conduct pop ups with several focus along youth oriented organizations.

And we are continuing to meet with community groups and tomorrow we will be holding a community workshop and after the workshop we will be developing a vision goals and recommended actions document. And from there we will proceed to phase five with the draft plan in September and we'll come back to planning commission to review that plan and then take it to city Council and then we will return to City Council in October to December for the final adoption of the plan. So there are two plan reports that have been prepared as of this stage. The first is an existing conditions and trends workbook, which is an assessment of demographics, land use, housing, economics, circulation, accessibility, and public facilities and services within the plan area. We have also prepared the issues and opportunities report, which was developed with feedback from community engagement and staff analysis.

And this document lists issues and opportunities that are categorized by six themes. They include community character, community facilities, transportation and mobility, community health, and local services. There is a technical advisory committee as a part of the preparation process of this plan and it includes members of staff from the city manager's office, economic development department, housing community services, police, fire, public works, and parks and recreation departments. And they provide technical input on these documents and other information in the plan process. Public notice has been provided throughout the process in both English and Spanish and includes mailings, flyers, social media posts, an email list, project website, and working through community organizations like the Markham Neighborhood Association.

And so far, staff have utilized a variety of methods community engagement, again, in both English and Spanish to reach the community and gather feedback. And they include surveys, comment boards, stakeholder interviews, and an email list. Staff also hosted and attended the events shown here on the screen with bilingual staff present. And here are some photos from some of the various community engagement that we've conducted. As for upcoming community engagement, we will be meeting with the police act or we met with the police activities league.

I'm sorry. We will be meeting with the police activities league in the upcoming week, the Markham Neighborhood Association. We met with the Boys and Girls Club this past week, and the community workshop will be held tomorrow. To conclude, staff and Interior Harnish will continue to engage with the community and the technical advisory committee to develop a vision, goals, and recommended actions for the community during the summer. In September, a draft plan will be published for public review and comments.

The draft plan will also be presented to Planning Commission and City Council in the fall for review and feedback. And in late twenty twenty five or early twenty twenty six, staff will present a revised draft to the city council for adoption. Staff recommends that the planning commission receive the informational presentation. Are there any questions or comments for staff?

Thank you very much. Commissioner Beaumont.

Thanks, sir. I appreciate that. The report says that it's a younger age group in that area. It's a lower income group in that area. It's a renters are double in that area, and there's gang and crime activity in that area above and beyond Vacaville in general. How is this gonna improve that?

We are looking at a variety of different strategies. Some are community based such as neighborhood watch, but it can also include various efforts from the police department such as increased patrols and other methods. Lighting is another issue that residents have raised that can also help improve the security and the safety in the area. As well as youth programs, we're really trying to approach it from a multifaceted approach But there will be a variety of strategies that will be developed in the upcoming months as we finalize the vision, goals, and recommended actions.

I mean, would think a lot of that is being done now. To counteract that area, I would would assume.

I mean, similar to I mean, you're right. There there are lot of things that we need to take a look at in in improving the neighborhood. But similar to the past project, this is an opportunity for to figure out, okay, let's hear from residents, number one. Let's find out what is it that they feel is needed in their neighborhood. There could be a number of improvements that will lead to, if crime is an issue to lower crime, if unhealthy environment is an issue that would lead to a healthier environment.

We're sort of this this this presentation is just sort of that you guys are this is what our plan is, and obviously, we're gonna come back to you with some of those specific solutions, if you will. But, really, I I mean, what we found is the neighborhood is very eager to see the city, help them with whatever we can help them with. They understand that it's not we don't have a magic wand that's gonna make everything disappear, but they've been great at engaging with us and being very honest about what it is that they think about every day for themselves or for their families. And so I think this neighborhood plan is is that. It's just a plan for this neighborhood.

How can we improve the different areas? There's gonna be some challenges where we unfortunately don't have a solution, but I think this is the best time for us to at least have that honest conversation with the community and, frankly, with with ourselves about how we can take a neighborhood that's been, in my opinion, you know, overlooked and underserved for a number of years, and now is the time to to do something about it. So I think it's it's up to us to with our consultants' help to come up with some ideas. And we've been engaging with our development team as well, including police and fire, so they're all aware. And I I think we're gonna come up with some ideas, but, you know, like I said, there isn't anything that's gonna be a a quick fix, but but now's the time to at least look at some solutions.

Is the new park that proposed, is that part of the solution?

I think so. I mean, I think, you know, it's what what we've heard from our from our neighbors is that there are times where there doesn't seem to be anywhere to go. So the Rocky Hill Trail was a was a good thing, and I remember when we first looked at that area, and it was kids showing up city council meetings saying, please do something about this, and council listened and did something about it. That is, I would say, an amenity now for that neighborhood. And so it's now time to take that further.

I think the Brown Street Park will be an amenity even though there are some people who may disagree with how it's laid out. But, of course, a brand new park, there are opportunities for people to to walk around the neighborhood. Right now, they're they feel like they're just stuck in one area with nothing to do. But similar to the Peabody project, you know, there should be opportunities for us to beautify the neighborhood so that people feel good about living there and feel good about walking to distances that they wouldn't walk to today. So, I mean, I'm I'm very opt I'm very optimistic about this, but I think the reason optimism is we are working with the neighbors versus, you know, planners thinking, this is the best solution.

Let's just go with that. We're we're working actively with our with our residents and with our development team to to come up with ideas. And, again, some may work and some may not, but I I think it's a good opportunity for us to find out what what solutions are out there.

Yeah. And I I know I go through Brown Street a lot going back to Browns Valley, and that's just with the cars parked on the side, the sidewalks in disrepair, kids going back and forth to mark them. I mean, that's just a disaster wait to hap and country high right there. So to me, that's kind of central problem area that somehow needs to be fixed.

I don't agree.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you, commissioner Beaumont. Commissioner Vargas. Thank you, mister presentation. Much appreciated.

You know, as a as a representative commissioner from that area, also keen interest. My son attends Markham Elementary, so this is I appreciate the information. Curious as to the five stakeholders that were identified, how were they identified? The five being Eden Housing, Markham Neighborhood Association, Vacaville Boys and girls club, health education council, and back of OPD.

So when looking at stakeholders, we're identifying folks that are embedded in the community who are living with the residents are living and have sort of access to the different resources that the residents have. But really, it's primarily who's more active in the neighborhood, who who can put us in touch with people, who's more readily available to engage. So Damir has, I think, been to everything from pop up events to barbecues because they seem out there, and our stakeholders now know that there's an effort to to engage the community. So that's how we've identified. Who's embedded in the community? Who has been part of the community? Who is doing their best to help the community? And who wants to continue to help the community be a part of that?

Thank you. If I

can ask one more question.

So I'm curious. Did you consider anyone from Vacaville Unified School District, Markham Elementary as a stakeholder for that area, that meeting, which is obviously a big stakeholder in that area.

Yes, sir. Absolutely. I met with the principal Del Rio. I think she'll be leaving this year, but we've been trying to reach out to everyone who's involved in the area. So we didn't really limit it, but these stakeholders that were interviewed were the most active and engaged with us.

Interesting. Okay. I know there's been some turnover with principals at Markham Elementary. Any last question. Any documentation, meeting minutes from from these stakeholder meetings?

Yes. But mainly capturing the primary talking points.

Okay.

But I can share those with you if you That'd be great.

Thank you. That's all I have.

Thank you, commissioner Vargas. Commissioner.

Thank you for the presentation. I would just like to highlight that there's the two schools actually in that area. So there's Markham and actually Sway. And so I would be interested to hear about from Sway as being stakeholder as well, seeing that they serve, at risk youth that are in that area as well. My questions are about the the differences that commissioner Beaumont kind of started to talk about.

This area is 61 Hispanic compared to 26% in the remainder of the city. 30% of the housing is older than nineteen seventy compared to 16% in the rest of the city, and 66% is renters compared to 32% in the city. How are we going to make sure that resources are there to ensure that those demographics have I'm sorry. Let me back up. How do we make sure that this area has an identity that's specific to those specific needs in comparison to the other plan that we just was presented to us, one.

And then two, the other plan is a PDA, which is different than this plan. And how do we ensure that resources become available in our prioritized for this this plan or this area? And how is that different than resources that could go to the PDA? Right? Because that's transit specific. Right? And this one is neighborhood plan. So what are the different revenue streams and resource streams for that? Those are my questions for right now.

If I may, Commissioner Banta, Chair Lightfoot. This neighborhood plan is really, from staff's perspective, a starting point or a beginning of the city's work in this neighborhood. Unlike the Peabody Allison PDA project, is funded by 1 point something million dollars from the state. This is about $100,000 of ARPA money which is part of why a lot of the work that's being done in partnership with our consultant is very heavy on staff time. It's also been truly grassroots almost.

Mean Damir is our assistant associate planner on this project, going out in the evenings to barbecues when he's invited. He's been to every business. We're doing a lot of that stuff as a staff effort. To answer your question, this is a starting point for this neighborhood in recognition of those very demographics about you and Commissioner Beaumont brought up in your respective comments. It's probably not the only thing the city needs to do in that area, but I would also say that a lot of our housing element strategies that are adopted in our housing element are also addressing the needs of this neighborhood too.

This is really just intended to not stay at the housing element level and it's actually the boots on the ground, going door to door, going to barbecues, meeting with people level to try to flesh out what are the opportunities for the city to assist in this neighborhood and what are the priorities and what from our residents perspective as Paimon was highlighting, is working well? What are the things they see as residents that we should be aware of? It's a thin amount of scope. It's not a lot of budget, but the goal is to create a document and something that the community has helped us put together that is a roadmap for some next steps.

Thank you and so then if this is a document in a roadmap is it some would it be adopted as like a specific plan so if a developer came in and wanted to do something that was not part of this neighborhood plan that the community has said I want to do, what is the accountability that the city has to upholding what the neighborhood said they wanted versus what a developer or private landowner wants to do?

Another really good question, Commissioner Banta. I see it as this is not a specific plan. This is not changing the city's general plan or zoning or any of our policies, but the final report will identify, for example, opportunity sites. These are sites that are either undeveloped or underdeveloped and it will articulate what the neighborhood's vision for those sites is. That could become something that guides future city actions to change the designation of those sites or to try to find folks who are interested in partnering on those sites, but it's not in and of itself the plan to change the land use designations or zoning for those sites.

That's part of why when Namir was going over the plan components, the final one is about opportunity sites that would help further the neighborhood's vitality because the whole point of this plan is to look at it through the neighborhoods lens. It's not like it's just a neighborhood because we also are the city of Vacaville, but there hasn't been a lot of effort in the past looking at the area through the neighborhood lens.

Thank you. My last comment about it is I would just like to make a comment about that I would think I think it's very important that how does investing in this neighborhood plan in this area not just improve this neighborhood in this area, but the whole city's quality of life as well. So I just like to make that comment.

Thank you very much, Commissioner Banta. Commissioner Dingmann.

Staff, thanks. Thanks for the presentation. Appreciate it. It's exciting to see some of the changes and the proposed initiatives that are gonna happen, especially in this neighborhood. To Ashley's point, you know, it'll be great to see how these all pull city together.

I think the connection pieces there are important. One one of the things, Erin, that you briefly mentioned was just on the zoning. I was just interested as went through the existing land use plan for this area for residential, commercial, industrial, etcetera, just if you guys foresaw any zoning changes or any policy updates that are gonna to happen with this? Is there anything existing that potentially could change that you're seeing or that should change based off of demographics or anything else? Is there anything that, you know, to this point that you guys think that might be coming forward that we're gonna have to take a look at?

I'm gonna answer that question, commissioner Dingmann. Not not at this time, because we're still, again, gathering information. Because of the nature of this plan as a neighborhood plan driven by community input, It isn't the city's land use planning effort for general plan zoning. However, if interests emerge and ideas emerge that feel, oh, these are great ideas that should be acted on, this plan can help bring those forward and can help give the city council ideas that they may wish to move forward on.

Alright. Thank you.

Thank you very much, commissioner Dingmann. I'll now open it up to public comment. Is anybody from the public would like to speak on this item? Please come forward. Seeing none, I'll close public comment.

Does anybody else have anything else they'd like to add?

Okay. Thank you very much. So now we'll move on to item nine, the director's report.

While the team is putting up the slide deck, I just want to share with the Commission that Commissioner Wolkerson did not just go missing this evening. He did welcome a new addition to his family. So he's at home, everyone's fine. But I want to make sure you all were aware that it was happy, happy news, and he does expect to come back for our next meeting. And I'm thinking a lot about him right now. I think we've all been there. Thank you, Peymon, for getting the presentation up. So some City Council updates. Since the last Planning Commission meeting, the City Council had a study session on community facilities districts. And this is the tool that the City of Vacaville uses where new homeowners pay a fee to help fund the maintenance of their neighbourhoods.

I actually would encourage the Commission to watch the study session if you haven't already. This is a very important tool that the city uses to help keep neighbourhoods in good condition. The council did accept a study session and staff is now moving forward with a community facilities district methodology update. Again, just to get that on your radar is something that's being worked on. A second city council meeting update was on June 24.

The City Council considered some policy issues related to the East Of Leisure Town Road specific plan. Topics included alignment of Carrow Way, the size and location of neighborhood and community parks, and inclusionary housing. This project, the East Allegiantown project, will be coming to the Planning Commission formally as part of the formal process, and you also will likely get an update on it along the way before you're asked to do any formal actions. But again, this is just a good one to have on your radar as commissioners. And then the final item on June 24 of interest to this commission would be there was a presentation about how our development impact fee program works.

101, the basics. It won't surprise you that 102 is coming to council soon. And again, these are topics that although you won't be acting, for example, in the development impact fees, for your awareness as commissioners, it certainly is beneficial to be aware of what's happening at the City Of Vacaville. The next slides, future planning commission items. We do have two major development projects coming to commission, likely in the next meeting or two.

We're trying to pace them out so you have good agendas that are substantial in nature. So the fields at Alamo Creek is coming your way, and the McMurray Creek Estates project. And then we have a bunch of projects that are coming your way this year or early next year, just again for your situational awareness. We have a 2025 land use and development code mini update that will be coming to you for a formal recommendation to council. We have a council initiated recently filed formal application to amend our zoning code to allow animal boarding in our commercial districts that will be coming here formally for your formal recommendation.

We have a development agreement amendment on Weber Road. Again, you recommended on the one that got approved. It's coming back for an amendment. We have the Orange Drive Apartments and Retail Project, and then as earlier mentioned, you'll be receiving more presentations and have more opportunities to help with the Markham, Callan and Peabody Allison specific plans. This is actually just a sample.

There are some other projects, but we'll move on to building division monthly report. It continues to be very busy in our building division. We actually had, which is kind of typical in summer, it's not typical how sustained the activity has been through the winter and the summer. So compared to last month, had 88 more building permits issued overall, quite a few single family home permits finalized. This year has been really strong with completed single family homes and also the issuance of new single family home permits.

We still have not issued, well, we've not finalized or otherwise issued permits for multifamily units. A little bit concerning, but kind of on trend with some of those more global economic forces. And then our EDU permits, solar permits, fees, and our inspections completed are all up, meaning that our building division continues to be very busy. Go to the next slide. Oh, of course, Commissioner Bohm, can go back. Do you have a

third party doing your inspections still?

I have a staffing update at the end, and if you don't mind, I'll put that in there. Thank you for that question. Appreciate it. Again, is a chart we show every month and this shows our building permit activity on a month to month basis for the last year and again it shows that July of this year has been stronger than June. It's been very busy again. Just takeaway message here is that building permit activity in Vacaville has not slowed down and in fact it seems to be picking up right now. Go to the next slide. And this shows our inspection trends. So again our inspection activity was higher this month than the previous month. It's actually higher than our monthly average for the last year.

With our small team, we conducted fifteen twenty five inspections last month, which is a lot. And this is our typical chart showing our solar permit activity in relation to our building permit activity, and they continue to generally trend along on the same line. I'm going to go to the next slide. Pimong will do the current planning report, advanced planning report, and then I'll do some staffing updates.

Great, thanks. So no updates for District 1. District 2, we've received an application for a restaurant. This is 70 Orange Tree Circle, the site of the former sort of problem bar area from about twenty years ago. We last approved the restaurant there, I'd say maybe five years ago, six years ago, and so they're back.

We're reviewing that. Robert's Ranch House Plans modification has also been submitted. District three received an application for brewery on Peabody Road and in Callan Street, a service building similar to one that was approved but expired a couple years ago. We did approve Tractor Supply Company where Bed Bath and Beyond was, and then the mural for DBBID on Merchant Street. No updates for District 4 or District 5.

We received the application that director mentioned regarding Dock Stop, and then we approved the linear park with over the valley. District 6, new applications for a self storage facility and a small housing project in Southtown. Then, obviously, Planning Commission approved Vacaville, Vicry Garden Apartments. For advanced planning, Eastern Legion Town Growth specific plan, as mentioned, we had some direction from council on some city policies. The draft landings plan is right now tentatively scheduled for 2025.

That may shift a little bit. And then the fiscal analysis plan, impact analysis also being prepared. Municipal services review, we've sent notices to property owners that would be affected and just give them a heads up on technical analysis that we're gonna be preparing that's been sent out. Downtown lighting study, it's almost done. The community outreach is completed. We're expecting to go to council in August to finalize that report.

Thank you. So on the staffing updates, I'm delighted to say we are fully staffed in building inspections. We do and have recently secured a new third party senior inspector who's going to be helping us out with the more complex inspections. It was almost like looking for a needle in a haystack. It's very hard to find this talent right now, but our person just started today.

And so this person will help bridge the gap between our number of three full time inspectors and the volume of really complicated inspections. And we're actively monitoring that our performance on the inspection turnaround area. Plan review team fully staffed still and at this point we're trying to keep everything in house for plan review and that's been going pretty well with some training support from the outside. And then planning, unfortunately one of our assistant planners got, not stolen, but has accepted a position in another city. So I just publicly would like to thank our assistant planner Eileen Lee for her tremendous work for Vacaville.

She started here as an intern. We hired her as an assistant planner. And they're really just proud of her and her work. So she'll not be making a reappearance here unless we manage to hire her back. So thank you Eileen. And then on the other, just a quick staffing note, we have our college intern program. Vacaville does this every year. It's citywide for departments that can find funding for it. We have two interns right now. And like our previous college interns, they are extraordinary. If you come visit me in our department, you will see them generally sitting out front. They're learning how to run the counter. They're learning how to do simple plan reviews. And they'll be taking on some projects. So we need to find a new assistant planner.

However, we are really lucky to have some really good college interns. And that's my staffing update.

Thank you very much. So next, we'll move on to item 10, commissioner comments. Now is the

time to address your fellow commissioners if there's any outside information you'd like to share or outings you'd want. Does anybody have any comments on that?

I just

think it's good that we're working on the PDA at Allison Peabody and the Callan Markham area that really needs help. And I'm glad to see the city has taken an interest in that lifted up. And any help is appreciated for that area for sure. And if Amanda is watching, we miss you.

Commissioner Banta, you have any? No comment. Commissioner Dingmann?

I just have a quick comment. It's been a great meeting. Thank you very much, Aaron. Appreciate the update. Thank you very much. My question it's kind of a question comment. You guys may talk about this, but do you guys track the amount of you had over 1,500 permits this past month. Do you guys actually track how long it takes to get an approval or disapproval for permits? And what's the average for that? Just, know, I'm the new person on the panel here.

Thank you for the question, Commissioner Dingmann. I actually really like to talk about the building divisions. Have, we do have performance standards for turnaround times when someone submits a permit for review. Concurrent with all the work we're doing with our planning commission, have a process improvement initiative that will be presented to council on July 22 that's going to get into some of this and I can give a couple previews. So we do have three to four week turnaround times on all building permits for initial comments and we track that.

We track our performance on that. We'll be starting to share that publicly as part of one of the process improvement recommendations to provide transparency to everyone. On the inspection side, which has actually been more critical frankly over the last couple years, we actually actively monitor the wait time between when someone requests an inspection and when we're able to deliver it. And we really would love to have the twenty four hour turnaround time which was the hallmark of the 90s and aughts in government, but right now we strive to keep a two to three day turnaround time and if it's going above that, my building division and assistant director are letting me know and we're looking at what resource we need to bring to bear. Summer can be tricky, but it's literally something we're monitoring every single day because we understand that customers, they can't wait a week and we don't want them to.

I really appreciate that update, I'm glad you guys are tracking it because I think that's that was the only question that I had as you were going through that stuff. And so it's great to know. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Commissioner Dingmann. Commissioner Vargas,

I don't know if you're going down the line, but

thank you for the presentation, and thank

you for the focus on Mark Amaria.

We always talk about the need and and focus attention. I do wanna put a plug in if you're a baseball fan. My son, as you know, is nine U travel baseball. For Pony, they have a world series next Friday, which will have teams from China, Caribbean, teams from South Carolina, Mexico. So it's a neat event, and it's all weekend. So I invite the public to come out and attend. It's great event. So thank you. That's all I got.

Where's that at?

Keating. That's at Keating. Keating Park.

Thank you, commissioner Vargas. I just would like to congratulate Vice Chair Wilkerson on your addition. Very happy to hear it. Family is very important. Congratulations. And with that, we will end tonight's meeting. I'll remind everybody we have our next meeting on Tuesday, August 19, and I'll see you there. Good night.