City Council - Regular Meeting

Hello. Can you guys hear me? Just want to test out the audio before we join. Yes, I can hear. Great. Thank you. Not sure about the people in the room. Yeah, we'll find out. I just want to make sure my audios at least it's working here. But thank you. It seems to be Yes. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome.

Uh, good evening. Uh, today is Wednesday, March 11th, 2026, and the time is 5:00 pm. Uh, the regular meeting of the city of Victorville Planning Commission will come to order. Madame Clerk, will you kindly call for call the role? Commissioner Marshall here. Commissioner Messen is absent. Commissioner Morales here. Vice Chair Thomas here. Chair Marsh here. We have quorum.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. At this time, uh if you uh the invocation will be led by um Vice Chair Thomas and our pledge will be led by Commissioner Morales. Heavenly Father, we come to you this evening just thanking you for blessing us. Father, thank you for blessing this city. Father, we ask that you guide us in our deliberations this afternoon. And Father, just help us to do those things that are beneficial to this city. Father, we ask your blessings on the leadership of this city and on this commission. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

If you can all please your place your right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin. United States. Okay. Okay. Uh uh this will be the time for uh for public comment. Um Okay. This would be the time for the public to speak on agenda items or on issues not posted on the agenda, providing those issues are within the subject matter jurisdiction of the planning commission. Those who desire to comment on a public hearing item may wish to reserve their remarks until that particular public hearing has been opened. Madame clerk, are there any speakers?

No, Chair Mark. Okay. So, moving on to our first uh our first agenda item, which is uh the um 2025 general plan general plan annual progress report and the 2025 housing element annual progress report findings review presentation and discussion. Mr. Higgy, would you kindly introduce this item? Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the commission. Agenda item number one, as you noted, is a 2025 general plan APR and 2025 housing element APR uh findings, review, presentation, and discussion. The city of Victorville is required to submit an annual progress report by April 1st of each year uh that reports on the city's progress in meeting the goals outlined in the various elements of the general plan. This report uh provides insight into the city's advancement towards meeting the general plan goals, highlights some key areas of progress, and presents implementation measures moving forward. In a little bit of a break from our typical presentation order for this item, which is presented annually. This item has already been provided to the city council to ensure compliance with the mandated April 1 uh submitt. And this was due to the availability of uh city council meetings in the month of March. Our consultant Harrison Associates will provide a presentation on the annual progress report. And before we get to that, I would like to thank our consultant team as well as senior planner Daisy Kawasaki and associate planner Cassandra Erskin for their work on compiling all the data for these reports and preparing these reports. Um, before we get into the presentation, the recommendation of staff on this item is that the planning commission receive a presentation regarding the 2025 general plan annual progress report and the 2025 housing element annual progress report. Discuss and provide any necessary feedback regarding the

findings, goals, implementation measures, and progress towards implementing the city's general plan. and concur with city council action to receive and file the 2025 general plan annual progress report and the 2025 housing element annual progress report. And with that, I will turn it over to our consultant team who has prepared a presentation for commission. Thank you.

Thank you. Good evening, chair and members of the commission. Thanks for having me today. My name is Alexis Bueno and I'm the project manager with Harrison Associates. So I want to if we want if we could do the next slide please. Um before we begin I want to briefly walk through today's presentation agenda. We'll start with some a few brief introductions. I'll give you background of the annual planning reports and an overview of the city's general plan elements. Then we'll go through each of the housing elements goals and implementation measures that were taken in 2025. We'll also go over the planning and development activities that the city undertook in 2025. And lastly, we'll provide staff's recommendation for the commission. Next slide. By way of introductions, again, I want to acknowledge uh commission for your time um and hearing us today. Um also staff, I want to echo Jeff um Alex's words on our joint efforts to getting getting these reports completed and on time. We really appreciate their assistance. And in terms of Harrison Associates, I'm I'm presenting today. And we also have Nathaniel Kayaby, analyst present here to answer any technical questions. Next slide. Just as Alex provided some background that state law requires the city to complete the annual progress reports, which I will refer to as APRs, going forward. They address the general plan status and progress in its implementation. APRs must be submitted to the California Department of Housing and Community Development, HCD, and to the California Governors of Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation by April 1st, 2026. Um, with these submitts, the city would satisfy state reporting requirements, thereby maintaining eligibility status for state

grants, including housing grants. Next slide. The APR summarizes planning activities from January 1st through December 31st, 2025. And here we see a list of the general plan elements for the city. As you can see, most of them were adopted in 2008, but there are a few of them that have been recently updated in 2022, including the land use element, circulation eleuse elements, housing elements, and safety elements. Next slide. So, to start, I'm going to go through the land use elements adopted goals. The land use element had five goals. A balance use land use pattern to accommodate Victorville's future housing, commerce, industry, recreation, open space, education, employment, and social health needs. As goal number two was an efficient and fiscally responsible and sustainable growth strategy. Goal number three, a thriving and resilient economy with a range of well-paying employment opportunities, a diversified and sustainable tax base. As goal number four, a safe city where community members have a high quality of life and healthful lifestyle and where equity is routinely considered in land use policies and decision making. And as goal number five, an aesthetically pleasing community. Next slide. The implementation measures taken in support of the land development goals in 2025 included the city working to maintain an appropriate balance of growth and provide a variety of land use land uses to meet the needs of its residents while supporting its economy. As part of goal number two, there are many capital improvement programs and the annual budget process continued to

prioritize infrastructure and services where they already exist while also supporting info and redevelopment in targeted areas. The city's fiscal year 2025 and 2026 budget and strategic goals reinforce these sustainability priorities. In support of goal number three, the CES economic development department continued to act in the interest of local businesses to develop economic opportunities. This included the Oldtown commercial facade improvement program, which received new funding in 2025 to preserve and enhance the old historic the historic Oldtown Route 66 area, which stimulates private investment and improves ADA. Next slide. Excuse me. Thank you. Thank you. Um, in support of goal number four, um, community education was incorporated to keep citizens engaged and informed through the city's newsletter, which is published twice a month. This new letter supports the goal of a safe city with a high quality of life by promoting multiple community engagement and safety events. Um, the city also updated its municipal core code with ordinances that focused on enhancing neighborhood design quality and public safety, improving access to health services, and building safety. In support of goal number five, the city continued to promote a distinctive identity and image for Victorville with high quality design of the built environment. This included um the economic development department securing $300,000 in CDBG funds for the facade improvement program and another 150,000 was awarded for building improvements at the Route 66 museum, which promoted

beautifification, historic preservation, and increased community engagement. Next slide. Now for the housing element, the housing element had adopted three goals. Good mobility, efficient multimodal transportation network, and adequate infrastructure. The implementation measures taken in support of these goals in 2025 included road and infrastructure capital improvement projects, which prioritize mobility. The city also continued to enforce its local guidelines for vehicle miles traveled, which established screening criteria, trip land use thresholds, and methodology. In support of goal number two, road and traffic signal capital improvements were implemented throughout the city. And in support of of goal three, the city obtained over $13 million in grant funding to support infrastructure projects. Next slide. Now for the housing element, the housing element adopted eight goals. Um they are to encourage development of different housing types to meet the city's different needs. Number two, to establish um to maximize land utilization for residential development. Number three, to preserve existing housing stock. Number four, to encourage more affordable housing units. Number five, to maximize solutions for those experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Number six, to encourage home ownership. Number seven, to improve the quality of life and promote placemaking. And number eight, to continue affirmatively furthering fair housing. Next slide. In support of implementation of the housing element in 2025, the city adopted ordinance 2454, which updated the municipal code to improve clarity and streamlining and res uh and streamlining residential

subdivision review. The city also adopted ordinance number 2461 to implement new and updated land use allowances and development standards to promote and streamline residential development. The city also continued to facilitate new housing production by enabling orderly residential de development and approving multiple tenant track maps and parcel maps. Um the city of Victorville also assisted the wellness center which assists intern assisted individuals transitioning to permanent housing and reported its 200th participants in 2025. The city approved the acceptance of 489,000 um in state HIP funding to support the wellness center operations. And the city also maintains homeless solutions, a homeless solutions web page offering community resources such as housing placement, shelters, food services, and other rental and utility assistance. Next slide. more more um actions in support of implementation of the housing element included the continued um administration of CDBG and home funds to support affordable housing projects throughout the city. And these funds prioritize senior and disability assistance through the senior home repair program. They expand outreach for rehabilitation programs for low-income residents and they also continue to offer mortgage assistance programs to expand home ownership. The city also processed and advanced larger scale residential projects supporting policies of encouraging higher density and mixeduse development near um community services and corridors. Um and the city also adopted ordinance number 2457 conditionally permitting medical and dental offices in the industrial park district to further expand access to health services to support housing stability and special needs populations.

This is not an exhaustive list. Um there are many more programs and um there is a a workbook included in your package which includes um a reporting on every single um program that is from the city's housing element which was adopted in January 2022 and certified in February 2022. Next slide. An important component of the housing element is compliance with the city with the city's regional housing needs allocation or reena. As you can see here, for the sixth cycle, Victorville was assigned 8,165 units, of which about 33% were lower income. Next slide. And when we look at our progress towards Reena, the city permitted 162 above moderate income units in 2025, leaving a remaining reena of 700 of 7,240. And as I mentioned, all of the permitted units through the cycle throughout the entire six cycle have been above moderate. Next slide. In terms of housing and applications, development applications, the city processed over 1,300 applications of which 88 were approved and zero were denied and 1,236 were pending. In terms of building activity, um the city entitled 651 units, issued building permits for 162, and issued certificate of occupancy to 146 units. Next slide. Now for the noise element, it includes two goals, noise sensitivity and noise control. And in support of these goals, in 2025, the city continued to apply and enforce its noise standards. It also

continued to ensure that each new project analyze the impacts it may have on the most approximate sensitive receptors. Next slide. In terms of the safety element, it included three goals. To protect from protection from hazards to protect the community against natural and man-made hazards, two to protect public health and safety. This means integrating public health and safety issues into planning and development policies. And goal number three, to increase resilience to the impacts of climate change. Next slide. In support of the implementation of these goals in 2025, Victorville strengthened its community safety by adopting an ordinance to adhere to the recent title 25 building code. Council also approved a multi-year agreement to implement a drones as first responder program and documented additional public safety technology deployment which included the shot spotter, gunshot detection and completion of 123 automatic license plate reader locations to support situational awareness and response. The city also updated technical fire prevention standards used in development review and emergency access planning. Next slide. Thank you. The city also obtained 30 334,000 in grant funding to support public safety activities. Um the city also continued to implement the safety element by ensuring the new development provided adequate emergency access and that new development is constructed in accordance with all applicable building codes. Lastly, um the city continued efforts on restricting land uses in hazardous areas, mitigating geological hazards, as well as preventing and abating the un unintentional release of hazardous material or waste throughout

the city. Again, all policies and oh, all policies and implementation measures can be found in this um safety element update, which was most recently updated in December 2022. Next slide. In terms of the resource elements, it established seven goals. Sufficient safe water supply, sufficient parkland, protection from natural hazards, conservation on of important habitat, preservation of important cultural resources, good air quality, and energy conservation. Now, in support of these goals, the implementation measures taken included the city maintaining adequate water supply resources and water delivery systems in 2025 by requiring that new developments and redevelopments meet the adopted standards and regulations. The city also invested over 900,000 in park improvements which increase which increase efficient parkland through various capital improvement projects including shade structures lighting general maintenance at seven parks throughout the city. In support of goal number three, the 1500year flood hazard maps and local hazard mitigation maps were maintained by the city throughout the year to reduce the risk of hazards from natural disasters. And in scorle number four, the city maintained its geographical database of spatial distribution and composition of natural habitats and they continue to comply with all protected and sensitive species mandates including the western Joshua tree. Next slide. In support of goal number five, the city continued to protect identified archaeological, paleontological, and historical resources by requiring monitoring and preservation assessments for new projects. The city also ensured

compliance with the California Air Resources Board various provisions specified under the city's climate action plan, including a greenhouse gas reducing policy, which is helping the city meet its air quality goals. And in support of goal number seven, energy conservation and sustainability continue to be upheld by the city's energy code and development standards as well as project specific design guidelines which address efficient building design and on-site electrical generation. In addition, the city maintains an energy conservation web page as a resource for businesses, homeowners, and renters. Next slide. And for environmental justice, the goals adopted by by this element included reducing pollution exposure and air and improving air quality to promote access to public facilities and services. To improve access to healthy food, to promote access to physical activity and recreation, to improve access to safe, sanitary, and affordable housing. to reduce exposure to climate hazards and to improve civic engagement in the public decision-making process. Next slide. In support of these goals, in 2025, Victorville obtained 216,000 in of grant funding to support environmental programs aimed at reducing air pollution and improving air quality. The city also continued to improve continued its efforts to improve existing facility access and quality through collaboration with the community. The city also expanded food access through economic development efforts and improved community health and nutrition through partnerships with regional food banks and local service providers. Um they coordinated the assistance of coordination of food assistance and emergency distribution and also continued the implementation of

an organics recycling and edible food food recovery program. Next slide. In support of go in support of goal number four, the city promoted access to physical activity and recreation um and improved safety for pedestrians and bicyclists by advice advancing the old town streetscape project and initiating its sidewalk connectivity phase 2 which enhances walkability, bike access and multimodal connections. And in support of goal number five, the city continued to improve housing affordability through its housing and land use elements policies as well as the use of grant funding to implement programs such as residential rehab, senior home repair, and healthy victor bill, which address housing conditions, provide necessary maintenance, and promote community education. Light. The city also continued to prioritize vulnerable populations completing its wellness and recuperative center which assisted individuals in finding permanent housing and welcomed its 200th participant in 2025 that while also improving housing stock for low-income residents through home and CDBG funding residents were also encouraged to engage in decision-making processes through various city initiatives by eliminating language barriers. This means making publicly available multil- languageformational documents, maximizing available public data, and incentivizing community participation. Next slide. Now, a description of the city's discretionary development applications. There was a total of 146 of which 91 were um approved completely approved. Seven were were completed, 13 were submitted and assigned, 12 required

corrections, 19 were incomplete applications, and four were reported applications. Next slide. And now for the in terms of capital improvement projects, there was a total of 33 capital improvement projects that covered traffic signals, roads, water, sewer, storm drain, parks, public facilities, and other which which equated to about 23 million in investment in the community. Next slide. And now for the recommendation. As noted in the staff report for this item, the plan um the re as noted in the staff report item, the recommendation is that the planning commission concurs with city council action to receive and file the 2025 general plan annual progress report and the 2025 housing element annual progress report. And with that, that concludes my presentation. I'm here to answer any questions if if there are any. Thank you.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Um, so I'll come back to the commission. Uh, are there any technical questions from the planning commissioners regarding this item? We'll start with uh, Commissioner Marshall. Yeah, I just had um, one quick question. This is my for my own edification. So, there was a 13 looks like $13 million um, uh, grant that came from I believe it was the state and um, in the capital projects. Do we have a sense of like where um where the 13 million uh like how it was applied?

Uh good evening, Commissioner Marshall. Um the main focus of that grant was the project that we did along Seventh Street where we updated the traffic signals. So it was seven signals along seventh street. Uh we also constructed a new signal at Village in Po Soul. So that that consists the the vast majority of the grant funded improvements for the signals. Okay. Got it. Got it. Just just because I saw in here it was like the traffic signal. I saw I saw it was like 3.4 million for the capital improvement projects. And so that's why I was like a little bit confused. But I think that this is missing um some of the other um some of the other line items of the budget. Am I correct in that in understanding that?

Um that's correct because we also completed the uh Bear Valley Road Bridge winding project and that included some federal grant funding as well. Copy. Okay. Thank you. Uh, Commissioner Morales. Yes. I just have one question. Um, on the housing uh element under the housing development applications, we had a little over 1,200 um pending a total of over 1300 that was accepted. Is it just because we're is it just one person or a couple people reviewing these that it's or there's just a couple that get approved per year? I'm just not very knowledgeable on that.

Uh thank you, Commissioner. Uh yes, it's a variety of reasons for pending applications. Some primarily it is the applicant waiting to proceed forward. Whether that be their incomplete applications, um they're waiting for market conditions to come to a point where they believe that um it is the right time for them to proceed forward with an application, whether that's a permit or entitlement application. Perfect. Okay, that was all I had. Okay. All right. Thank you. Um, vice chair uh Thomas.

Yes. On page 28, uh, the total for capital improvement projects, uh, 22 million 907149. And I think my question was answered. Uh, I was going to ask was any of this grant money or was this money that uh came about uh through uh city revenues? It was a portion of was grant money assume that that is correct. A portion of it was grant funded. Uh but I would my educated guess would be that the vast majority of funding was local funding that the city put together for its projects.

Thank you. Is that it? Okay. And uh me I just have kind of a question of curiosity. Um originally I guess when we talked about the uh when there was talk about the um automatic license plate readers from my understanding. I guess the city was going to just try out maybe like a couple of them. They were going to place them on mobile units like uh they were talking about street sweepers and and things of that such. Um so the 123 automatic license plate readers are th those are all stationary placed around the cities in st um permanent permanent fixtures in a in a certain spot or

um thank you Mr. Chair. That is a great question. Um I would have to consult with the the entire document to understand uh exactly where those locations are but it's absolutely something I can follow up uh with you on separately from this meeting. Uh I believe the answer is in the entire document but I don't have it off hand. Uh this this document this annual progress report is prepared um over the first three months of the year and we take in a lot of data from all the different departments throughout the city. Um so I don't know the answer to your question off-handed. I'd rather uh provide you the correct answer. Uh, so if I may, I would follow up with that. Okay. No, I appreciate that. Thank you.

Okay. If there aren't any more questions, then I'll invite a motion for this item. A motion that we approve uh this presentation. I'll second it. So that's to adopt staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda both for the first and second. It's to adopt staff's recommendation as presented on the agenda then. Yes. Yes. Sorry. That's okay. Thank you. And that's a concurrence. Yes. I'll go ahead and do a roll call vote. Commissioner Marshall. I. Commissioner Morales.

Hi. Vice Chair Thomas. Yes. Chair Marsh. Yes. Motion passes with Commissioner Mason being absent. Okay. We taken uh we taken action on that on that agenda item. Okay. Now, that brings us to uh presentation uh presentation of reports by commissioners and staff. Okay. So, we'll begin with commissioners. Uh Commissioner Marshall. Uh no presentation. Just wishing everyone a happy Easter and Passover. I know it's a little bit early, but um I think that's going to happen before our next meeting. Okay. Uh Commissioner Morales, I have none. Vice Chair Thomas,

I have none. Thank you. And I don't have any. Okay. So, next, uh city staff. Any any updates or from city staff? Um Mr. Hadi. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just to bring the to the count commission's attention, uh the city spring festival and egg hunt takes place on Saturday, April 4th. Um from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Hook Park in Victor. Nothing else to report. Okay. All right. Thank you. And uh it uh the time is now 5:31. Uh so this meeting is journed.