Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

IT to fix them.

All right, guys, we're gonna get started. I call to order the meeting of the Planning Commission for April 8th, 2026. I now ask for a moment of silence. Commissioner Greggins, will you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance? 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. WE NOW MOVE ON TO ITEM B, ROLL CALL.

COMMISSIONER SMITH. ABSENT, EXCUSED. VIEW.

PRESENT.

Swiggart. Present. Ochoa.

Present.

Greggins.

Present.

And Chairperson Gonzalez.

Present. Thank you, Kayla. We have a quorum. Kayla will now read information about how the public may participate in the meeting.

Members of the audience who wish to address the Planning Commission are requested to complete a speaker card available at the podium at the back of the council chamber. Please submit the completed card to the clerk before the item is called, preferably before the meeting begins. I would like to briefly go over the process of submitting comments to the Planning Commission. Please submit your public comment to the Planning Commission electronically no later than 1 p.m. on the day of the meeting. Comments received before the deadline will be sent to the Planning Commission and will be part of the record and mentioned as part of the public comment portion of the agenda. Material may be emailed to planningweb at cityofmerced.gov and should be limited to 300 words or less. Please specify which portion of the agenda you are commenting on. For example, oral communications or item number. Your comments will be presented to the Planning Commission at the appropriate time. Any correspondence received after 1 p.m. will be distributed to the Planning Commission and retained for the official record. To view video or listen to the Planning Commission meeting live, go to the city's website, www.cityofmerced.gov, Facebook Live, or Comcast Public Access Channel 96.

Thank you, Kayla. We now move on to item C, public comment. Members of the public who wish to speak on any matter not listed on the agenda may speak during this portion of the meeting and will be allotted three minutes. State law prohibits the Planning Commission from acting at this meeting on any matter raised during the public comment period. Members of the public who wish to speak on a matter that is listed on the agenda will be called upon to speak during the discussion of that item. Kayla, do we have any requests to speak?

No, we do not.

Does anybody in the public wish to speak on this comment or during this public comment section?

No.

We now move on to item D, which is consent calendar, including minutes. Would the commission like to remove any items for separate consideration? Hearing and seeing none. We'll be able to approve all the items with one vote, no discussion.

I do wanna say that there is a request to speak form for item D1, the abandonment.

Okay, so we're gonna pull that item and we will allot three minutes. Okay. Commissioner Griggins, did you wanna? It was to make the motion to.

approve the consent items excluding item D1.

I'll make the motion to approve the consent calendar with the exclusion of D1 for separate consideration.

And I'll approve the motion, or I'll second the motion. So we have a motion to approve by Commissioner Greggans, a motion to... A second. A second by Chairman Gonzalez. We now move to a vote. And it has passed. So now in moving it out of the consent, we now open.

Apologies. You're still in consent. So it's just been pulled. So you'll now consider item D1.

And then we need to read it out?

Yes.

Okay. So we now move to item D1, which is 26-224.

Abandonment number 25-0001 to vacate an undeveloped street easement spanning 20 feet at 400 West 7th Street. More specifically, the westerly portion of the property described as parcel one in the grant deed recorded January 27th, 2020 in volume 10 of official plats and at pages 23 through 30 official records, Mercer County lying in section 25, township seven south RANGE 13 EAST, MOUNT DIABLO BASE AND MERIDIAN, OTHERWISE KNOWN AS ASSESSOR'S PARCEL NUMBER 032-162014. AND WE DO HAVE ONE REQUEST TO SPEAK FOR THAT ITEM, ALFRED ALVAREZ. YOU CAN COME TO THE PODIUM, MR. ALVAREZ.

Leah, he let me know he doesn't have his hearing aid in, so it's hard for him to listen to what we're talking about here.

Commissioners, my name's Alfred Alvarez. I'm the consultant to the property owner. I've been doing a lot of work for him, and one of the things I did is to prepare the documents that you have here for vacating an easement that's been on the books for quite a while. And it appears that there's no future plans on it. So in order for him to be able to build an ADU and a residence on the property, we need to vacate this on it and be in compliance with the billing codes and other state laws on it. And I, read the staff report. I don't have any issues that were presented by the staff. It's very well put together. I'm just here to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you. We don't have any questions right now.

Oh, thank you.

Kayla, are there any other comments?

No, there are not.

No? We now move to a motion. Commissioner Greggins?

I'D LIKE TO MAKE A MOTION TO APPROVE ITEM D1, THE ABANDONMENT OF 25-0001 TO VACATE THE DEVELOPMENT STREET.

I'LL SECOND THAT MOTION. WE HAVE A MOTION BY COMMISSIONER GREGGENS. WE HAVE A SECOND BY COMMISSIONER OCHOA. WE NOW MOVE TO A VOTE. AND IT HAS PASSED. IT'S BEEN APPROVED. THANK YOU. And that is the end of our consent calendar meeting minutes. We now move on to item E, which is business.

Good evening, commissioners. So May 18th, we're gonna have a joint study session with city council. This is where the general plan update is going to be provided. It's gonna be city council and Planning Commission, so I believe Leah will be the one that's gonna be giving you the information as we get closer to it on the exact time on whether it's gonna be four in the afternoon or five. And then we have coming, the next Planning Commission meeting will be canceled. There's no items for that one. But May 6th, we do have two items coming before Planning Commission, two conditional use permits. They're gonna be mobile food vendors at this time.

Thank you. We now move on to item F, which.

Sorry, one more thing. I don't know if the rest of the commissioners know, but Kayla is now our new planner. So congratulate her, please. It was well deserved. And we're going to be having to find a replacement for her so that way she can start presenting projects for you guys.

Wow.

All right, we now move on to item E3, 26-245, which is planning commission comments. Have any comments? And before we have attend, before we, did we also have attendance reporting today?

That was consent.

That was consent, okay. All right, thank you. Now move on to item F, which is adjournment, which I need a motion to adjourn. Commissioner Gregg.

Make a motion to adjourn. And I give second.

All right. We have a motion to adjourn by Commissioner Greggins, a second by Commissioner Vue. We now move it to a vote. And we are adjourned.