Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Testing. All right. Good evening. It is Wednesday, May 27th, 2026, 7 p.m. Planning Commission meeting. Thank you for joining.

All right. I'd like to call this meeting to order. Are there any disclosure of participation by teleconference pursuant to government code section 54953.8.3?

All right, thank you. Roll call and declaration of conflicts.

Present, no conflicts. Thank you. If you could all please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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. All right, thank you for that. Can I get an opening director's report, please? Yes, thank you. There's no director's report. Okay, moving on. The City of Tracy will continue to allow for remote participation by members of the public at tonight's meeting by using the following option. Online by logging into Zoom using th

Second it. We have a motion and a second. Can we get a roll call vote?

Okay, item two from the consent calendar, items from the audience. Now, please sign in. If you do have a couple things to say, feel free, but please sign in on the podium before speaking. We invite members of the public to use Zoom to comment on our items from the audience. This particular one, opening one, is for items that are not on the agenda. and online by logging onto Zoom using the link provided. Are there any public comments received by email for items that are not on the agenda?

Any comments from Zoom for items that are not on the agenda?

And looking out to the audience, are there any, would anyone like to speak on items that are not on the agenda by a show of hands? Doesn't appear to be a show of hands. We will now, the public comment period for items from the audience has now closed. Any comments that were received after the close of the public comment period will not be included in the record. All right, moving on to public hearings. New business items 3A. Bear with me here. Staff recommends that the Planning Commission conduct a public hearing and upon its conclusion adopt a resolution recommending that the City Council tak

All right. Thank you, Mr. Vargas. Appreciate that. Would the applicants, do they have any opening comments? Or you're more than welcome to. And same thing, if you don't mind, please sign in. Sure.

All right. Thank you. Appreciate that. Just real quick, prior to going to public hearing, does any of the commissioners have any clarifying questions for Mr. Vargas?

Just a clarification regarding the new size standard. Is it that anything above 100 square feet but below 250 square feet will be conditionally permitted or is going to be permitted as of right?

So does the signs in every other city have the same dimensions?

And just to clarify the previous question, so right now the condition is for 100 square feet. And anything above 100 square feet has to have a CUP.

No, regardless of the Ellis specific plan?

The question is if something comes over 100 square feet, it has to go through CUP. Then why are we putting 250 a limit if... Tomorrow a sign comes for 210 square feet, 170. If it again has to come to the CUP, what's the purpose of putting 250 limit?

All right. I would like to open up the public hearing. And once again, if you do decide to come up, please sign your name on the podium up there. First off, are there any public comments received by email for item 3A?

Looking out in the audience, does anyone have any comments for item 3A by a show of hands? No show of hands. The public hearing for this item is now closed. Any comments that were received after the close of the public comment period will not be included in the record. We'll bring it back to commission for any further discussion. I'll kick it off. Can you pull up slide 5? So if this does get approved, now this has to do with the whole, the complete Ellis project. So then any other tenant that goes in there and they want a bigger sign than a, let's just, you know, hypothetical, right? So if ano

Okay. And that's kind of a great, great thing to say because my next question would be now, if this gets approved and someone else comes along, future tenant, wants a larger building, How would that look if it gets disapproved?

No comments. Looking over here. Go ahead.

Is it possible to implement the same citywide?

Thanks for that presentation. I think I'm on mic now. Just for clarification, this is just a detail thing, but I want to understand the mechanism for how we are going to be applying this in the future. Analyzing what we have, it looks like we are going up by about 2.5 times the limit, meaning that we are looking at assign the distance to the street increasing by about 1.5 times. So are we using some sort of distance metric in determining how how much you're going to do in future as we are doing CUP applications. And the other consideration is also that since you are looking at the amount of wa

I have no further discussion. I'll entertain a motion.

So I'll propose a motion to move to recommend that the city council of the city of Tracy take the following actions first. waive the first reading by substitution of the title and introduce an ordinance approving an amendment to the ellis pacific plan to allow wall signs of up to 250 square feet with approval of the conditional use permit application number spa25-0002 exempt from the california environmental quality act sequa pursuant to sequa guideline section 15061 b 3 because it can be seen with certainty that there is no possible possibility of a significant environmental impact and second

LET ME TAKE A QUICK PAUSE, IF WE CAN. WE HAVE A CLARIFICATION QUESTION.

I JUST WANT A CLARIFICATION REGARDING THE CEQA GUIDELINES YOU'RE USING. I'M SEEING FROM WHAT THE CHAIR READ OUT, WE'RE LOOKING AT SECTION 15061B3. AND FOR THE SUGGESTED MOTION, WE HAVE 15311. Are there multiple CEQA sections you are using?

So there's no conflict there? No, no. We need both. Yeah. Great question. Thank you.

All right. We had a motion. It's been seconded. Roll call vote. Commissioner Atwal.

Yes, and thank you very much for bringing the project, and as it is consistent with the other Sprouts dimensions, so it's a yes.

Yes, and thank you for the detail you put in the plan. I really appreciated the nighttime views. That was a question I was going to have. A lot of the questions that I had were answered in advance. So thanks for all the details.

Yes. Once again, thank you, Mr. Vargas, for that great presentation. And to the applicants out there, congratulations.

All right. Let's move on to item 3B. STAFF RECOMMENDS THAT THE PLANNING COMMISSION CONDUCT A PUBLIC HEARING AND UPON ITS CONCLUSION ADOPT A RESOLUTION RECOMMENDING THAT THE CITY COUNCIL TAKE THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS. ONE, ADOPT A RESOLUTION A, AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO SUBMIT A PETITION TO THE SAN JOAQUIN LOCAL AGENCY INFORMATION COMMISSION ALSO KNOWN AS LAFCO. TO ANNEX APPROXIMATELY 1,350 ACRES INTO THE CITY LIMITS OF TRACY LOCATED AT THE SOUTHWEST PORTION OF THE CITY OF TRACY'S SPHERE OF INFLUENCE ANNEXATION AREA. B, APPROVING A GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT FOR CERTAIN PARCELS WITHIN THE ANNEXA

All right, thank you very much. Once again, before we go out to public, are there any clarifying questions from any of the commissioners?

Can you please move to the pre-zoning slide? Yeah, so the sphere of influence, so that is the dark brown line? Yes. Okay. And there is light brown as well in this slide. So is this not considered a sphere of influence where the California aqueduct is? So does this also pertain to the sphere of influence or it doesn't?

Okay. Yeah. Okay. So only the dark brown where it moves towards above the California aqueduct. So that is the sphere of influence.

Commissioner Shroud, do you have a... I WANTED TO KIND OF PIGGYBACK ON WHAT COMMISSIONER ELLEN WAS SAYING. IT'S NOT ON THE SLIDE, BUT IF YOU GO TO THE PRESENTATION IN THE BOOK, THERE DOES APPEAR TO BE ALSO A BROWN LINE COVERING A BOX AREA. IF YOU GO TO ATTACHMENT A? CAN YOU GO BACK A FEW SLIDES, THEN? MAYBE IT IS ON THERE? NO, THAT'S NOT IT. That's not it. I don't think it's on the slides. I'm looking at attachment A. That's not it. This is only part of it. The attachment A we have on our folders and our binders is different than this. It's more extended down. It's on the southwest side, if yo

Okay. Thanks for that clarification. I appreciate that.

Anything else? So another follow-up question. So as now the city is proposing to annex to the sphere of influence, does the sphere of influence move to or no?

So suppose now at this section the city has incorporated and reached to its sphere of influence, will that process happen to incorporate certain other from this part beyond to its sphere of influence?

I have a question for staff. Looking at the redesignation of the two parcels along Schulte Road from park to public, facilities. What public facilities are in mind to occupy these two parcels within the future? And if we're unsure of which facilities will be occupying this area, why does staff recommend we reclassify or redesignate as public facilities as opposed to additional industrial area?

So another quick question on this, if we are looking on the slide that's in front, existing versus proposed. So in this one, so on the south side of 580, there's again the brown, dark brown line. So does that mean that is also the sphere of influence?

All right. Thank you very much for that staff report. I would like to open up the public hearing. And then once again, please sign in before speaking. If you do, come up to the podium. We'll look out there first. Anyone like to comment on item 3B from the audience? Show of hands. No show of hands. Are there any public comments received by email for item 3B? Are there any public comments received via Zoom for item 3B? Okay, no comments. The public comment period for this item is now closed. Any comments that are received after will not be included in the record. We'll bring it back to commission for further discussion and or a motion.

I most recommend that the City Council of the City of Tracy conduct a public hearing and upon its conclusion, take the following actions. One, adopt a resolution A, determining that the proposed annexation of approximately 1,350 acres located in the city's sphere of influence adjacent to the southwestern boundary of the city's Cordes Ranch specific plan area. The project is consistent with the IMPACT IDENTIFIED IN THE CITY'S GENERAL PLAN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT REPORT EIR AND THEREFORE PURSUANT TO CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT CEQA GUIDELINES SECTIONS 15162 AND 15168C2. NO FURTHER ENVIRONM

I second that. We have a motion that's been seconded. Can we get a roll call vote?

Yes. Thank you, Genevieve. Appreciate that.

All right. Moving on to Item 3C. Staff recommends that the Planning Commission conduct a public hearing and upon its conclusion adopt a resolution recommending that the City Council take the following action. waive the first reading by substitution of the title and introduce an ordinance repealing and replacing section 10.08.3180 of the Tracy Municipal Code regarding accessory dwelling units of title 10, planning and zoning of the Tracy Municipal Code, exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA, pursuant to CEQA guidelines section 15061B3. staff report. Back to you.

All right. Thank you once again. Again, before we go out to the public, any clarifying questions from the commissioners?

So does the California law supersedes or the city law supersedes?

Okay. So if we are currently following it, so does that mean so whatever changes has been done, they are exactly same as they are in the California law?

So I have a question about the junior accessory dwelling units. I notice here that these units are to be no more than 500 square feet and may share central systems. Are there minimums for JADUs? Like, for example, I know that garages are speculated to be opportunities for residents wanting to have a JADU, but if theoretically someone took their master bedroom or their office and decided connected it to the central systems, including a basic kitchen, as well as a bathroom, would that qualify as a JDU? I guess, are there minimums?

All right. Does it appear to be any further clarifying questions? We will now open up a public hearing. Are there any public comments received by email for item 3C?

Any public comments received via Zoom for Item 3C? Looking out in the audience, show of hands, anyone like to comment on Item 3C? No show of hands. We will now close the public hearing for this item. Any comments that were received after the close will not be included in the record. We'll bring it back to Commission for any further questions and or entertain a motion.

I was reading the height requirements for the detached ADUs. And there's a point where there's a limit of one story for the detached ADU. But then we spell out conditions and the height can be increased to up to 18 feet. And it concludes that, yes, you can also have two stories. It is not clear what triggers between one story and two stories. What are the conditions that allows a detached ADU to be two stories?

So when you talk about the setback, are you talking about setback from the street or setback from the... The property line.

Okay. That clarifies it. And any impact, for example, with the junior ADUs on our housing elements? For example, if someone does a conversion within the same house, we are increasing livable space. Does it help us in a way in our housing element? Or this is just...

So kind of piggybacking on that question, so now are ADUs and JADUs, are they considered, would they be a part of the housing element? A little bit more clarifying, I guess, right? So they would be. Yes. I mean, they meet the code. The housing element has, I think, three or four different categories. I know we're going to go over that a little bit, but I know it has different categories of high density, low density, medium, and so forth.

Anyone like to entertain a motion? I will.

Second. We have a motion. It's been seconded. Can we get a roll call vote please?

Yes. And once again, thank you for that report. Appreciate it. All right. Moving on to item 4A. Staff recommends that the Planning Commission conduct, I'm sorry, that the Planning Commission adopt a resolution finding of the City of Tracy's Capital Improvement Program, CIP, for fiscal year 2026-2027 is consistent with the city's general plan pursuant to government code section 65103C and 65401. Staff report, please.

All right. Thank you very much. Again, once again, we'll keep it up here for clarifying questions, which I have one, if you don't mind. I guess, why is this coming to Planning Commission, not Finance?

This seems more, I mean, if you look at all the details, great detail, but it seems more of a financial plan.

Yeah, I'm still a little unclear, but I can table it for now. I just don't understand. I've been up here three years, but I haven't seen this, number one. Excuse me. And it just seems like this is so much more of a financial responsibility.

Yeah, I'm still a little confused. This seems more like a big blanket approval than a particular line item.

And so what I did see on here, and I'll give the other commissioners a chance, of course, what I did see on here is are we recommending approval to council or does the approval stop here?

Okay, thank you. I appreciate that. Looked at my left, looked at my right.

Just a note, when it comes to judging the consistency, it's clear to be able to follow to determine what is included versus what is not. One limitation that I have in particular is I'm not able to judge as to whether the particular amount that is being put towards the project is actually consistent with how much priority the general plan is giving to that particular project. I don't, I'm not assuming that that is part of the evaluation.

Okay. So that's how I evaluate it. First of all, look at, okay, are we including the right things? And that one is, we've gone through that. Another thing is we have this spreadsheet attached. How are we supposed to read that? Is that part of the evaluation that we are doing here?

Okay. And another final clarification. This is a public hearing. I'm assuming the whole city is here. Will they get an opportunity, will the community get an opportunity to evaluate some of these details in a different forum so that planning commission is just focusing on what is included versus what is excluded?

Okay, then I have some clarifications on the spreadsheet. I'm going to drop those and go there's a different form for that. Thank you. All right.

I'd like to open up public hearing. Are there any public comments received by email for item 4A?

All right. Are there any public comments received via email for item 4A?

Are there any public comments received via Zoom for item 4A? Does it appear no one's in the audience? We will now close the public... comment for this item. Any comments that are received after the close of the public comment period will not be included in the record. We'll bring it back to Commission for discussion and or a roll call vote.

I move to recommend that the Planning Commission adopt a resolution finding that the City of Tracy's Capital Improvement Program for fiscal year 2026-2027 is consistent with the general plan pursuant to government code sections 65103C and 65401.

I second. We have a motion. It's been seconded. Can we get a roll call vote please?

Okay, I'll just, it's short so I'll just cover it again. I move to recommend that the Planning Commission adopt a resolution finding that the City of Tracy's Capital Improvement Program 2026-2027 is consistent with the general plan pursuant to government code sections 65103C and 65401 as amended.

All right. Moving on, item 4A, no regular agenda. Items 5, once again, items from the audience. We invite members of the audience to use Zoom to comment under items for the audience. Again, this particular one are for items that are not on the agenda. Are there any public comments via Zoom for items that are not on the agenda?

Are there any comments via email for items that are not on the agenda? No public folks in the audience. We will now close the public comment period. Final director's report. Thank you, Chair. There's no director's report this evening. All right. Any final thoughts from the Commission? Nope. I will entertain a motion for adjournment.

We have a motion for adjournment and a second. Can I get a roll call vote?