Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All right. It is now 528. I'm going to call the Planning Commission meeting of Thursday, June 18, 2026 to order. Can you please call the roll?

All right. Now we'll go to the Pledge of Allegiance, and Commissioner Mansfield will lead us in that. So if everyone could please rise and recite with us. Thank you.

Everybody, please put your right hand over your heart. Ready, begin. 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.

So now's the time we'll open the meeting for public comments on non-agendized items. Do we have any non-agendized comments?

OK, thank you. Director Frady, do you have any introductions?

Do my fellow commissioners have any announcements or reports? Director Frady, do we have any additions or deletions?

Okay. Then I will introduce the consent calendar. Everything listed will be enacted by one vote. No discussion of these topics unless members pull the item. Are there any public comments on the consent calendar?

Thank you. I see that Commissioner Pearson has made a motion to approve. Would anyone like to make comments or second before we vote? I'll second.

Do my fellow commissioners have any comments or we want to vote? Just for the record, I have had a chance to review the meeting and I will be able to vote on the consent calendar. Thank you, Commissioner Grossman. Could you please step up for the vote?

Thank you. We'll move on to item two and I'll open the public hearing. Director Frady, could you please introduce the item?

Okay. Thank you. Then I guess I'll skip down to open public comments on this item. Taya, do we have public comments on this item?

All right, thank you. Then I will close the public hearing since we're just going to—

Sure. Can we set the timer for three minutes for Scott?

Thank you. I appreciate it So I need no more public comments or any okay? all right, so I will close the public hearing and I Do any of the commissioners want to make comments or questions, or do we just want to move to continuous to a date uncertain?

Well, I will support the continuance. I do want to thank all of the residents for their continued interest and their continued attention to the matter. Your voices are being heard, and I appreciate the continued focus on it. Hopefully this will be resolved amicably between the parties, and that would be the best solution for the city of Irvine and for the residents and for Mr. Piotr. But I wanted to acknowledge and thank you for being engaged.

Thank you, Commissioner Grossman. I made a motion. Can I have a second for a continuance? Second. Thank you. Please set up the vote, Taya. Thank you.

OK, thank you. We have another item, item number five, that also asks for a continuance. At this point, we could move that up to get that off our agenda. Can we do that?

I'll open the public hearing for item five. And Director Frady, can you please introduce the item?

Okay, thank you. I guess we don't need a presentation from the applicant, so do we have any public comments on this item?

Okay, thank you. So since we're continuing this, I'll leave it open, right? Okay, open commission deliberations. I see a motion made by Commissioner Pearson, seconded by Commissioner Mansfield. Looks like no comments, so could we please set up the vote?

Wonderful, thank you. So now we will go back to item number three. I'll open the public hearing and ask Director Frady to please introduce the item.

Thank you very much for the presentation. The applicant is present and they'd like to say a few words.

Thank you. I'll open the public comments on this item. Do we have any public comments?

I'll close the public hearing then and open up commission deliberations. Do any of my fellow commissioners have questions, comments on this item? Seth, Commissioner Grossman.

It's request to speak is not working today. Just two very quick questions for the applicant, if possible. And it's also a little bit for an education purpose. So this way of putting the canister, you're saying it doesn't reach, it's not for about homeowners or everything in the association. It's very tart. Can you just explain that a little bit so I can understand?

And has this been established in other locations?

Yes, about how long is it going to take to install each pulling canister?

Wonderful. Thank you so much. Great design. Thank you. Thank you.

Would anyone else like to make a comment, question? No? And I guess we could be open for a motion. Thank you. Thank you. I see a motion and a second. Could we please set up the voting?

Thank you. I will move on to item four then and open the public hearing. And Director Frady, can you please introduce the item?

Thank you for the presentation. Would the applicant like to say a few words?

Thank you, Mr. Strater. Do we have any public comments on the item?

Thank you for your comments. Okay, yeah, no problem.

Thank you for coming in and making a comment. I appreciate it. Is that the last public comment?

Then I will close the public hearing and open up commission deliberations. Would any of my fellow commissioners like to speak? Commissioner Mansfield, start with you. Yes.

Thank you. If I could call up Mr. Schrader. So if I may ask a question about what traffic would look like in the area. Obviously Jamboree, I live in the IBC myself. Traffic is always a question for our residents in the city. What is our traffic flow gonna look like around the proposed property?

Wonderful. And if I may just ask one last question here. It's totally understandable if you haven't, but if you do get an opportunity, if you could look into the HUD-VASH program within the affordable housing dynamic here. Obviously, affordable housing is always on everybody's discussion plate. As a veteran of the armed forces myself, I try to advocate for my brothers and sisters in uniform and make sure we're looking after veterans that do benefit from HUD-VASH, which is a form of affordable housing for veterans.

Wonderful. Thank you so much, everybody, for answering my questions.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. A couple of things that I wanted to talk about was I do wish that we were getting a 50% increase in the housing bonus. That would have meant we would have more low and very low units. I agree that we need to have a workplace workforce location. Now, I understand the dynamics of the profitability of a project, the cost of this project, but I would ask the applicant to look into the potential of increasing the affordable units. I've got a question relating to a couple comments The applicant is reserving the option to file a condominium plan or track map for the project i

Okay, so it would be over and above what we're doing tonight. They would come back, make application, and go through the mapping process to that specific design plan.

And that would not impact our affordable units whatsoever?

Okay. That answers my question on that. I've got to commend Architects Orange and the design staff for probably one of the best looking projects that I've seen in a long time. The utilization of the property is extremely well thought out. I know there's elevation changes. You're asking for various waivers because of some of the physical and limitations of the design. I think that from an architectural standpoint, we've got a very good project. The map that we're approving, I do have a question Is this vesting map eliminating lot lines and easements? Are we putting a new map over and eliminatin

So there's no underlying easements that are currently going to exist after this map?

Thank you. Thank you to staff for a great presentation and thank you to the applicant. I also want to concur and congratulate the architects. The design looks absolutely amazing and I think it will add to the value, to the aesthetic value of the city of Irvine and bring some So a wonderful, wonderful energy to that area of the city. I have just a couple very detailed questions. In regards to the variance related to the setback, from my understanding, the rationale is because of the elevation change. You're not concerned. But could you just help me understand that a little bit better? Again, ma

Right. Okay. I'll clarify. Normally, we would not get part credit for something that's in a setback area. They're asking for this as part of the credit. Why is it necessary to do it in that setback area, essentially? There's a reason why we normally don't put it there, but I'm guessing there's a geographic or reason why we need to do it on this one, but can you help me understand that a little bit better?

Okay. That actually helps clarify it for me. While I have you here, just two more comments. First of all, I agree with my fellow Commissioners, if you could look into increasing the affordable components of this, we would strongly encourage you to do so. And this is an area of the city where we believe there's a strong need and a strong workforce. I would ask you to just take that into consideration, and anything possible that you could do as a design team and as a management team to do so would be greatly appreciated by the city.

I recognize the challenge and appreciate you willing to continue to look at the opportunity. The other opportunity I would encourage you to look at is I heard the presentation by Mr. Farkas and our brothers in the labor movement and talking about affordable housing workforce, workforce housing, workforce development, being able to minimize the number of trips into the city, being able to provide jobs and opportunities for our skilled laborers. I can't require you to do so, but I would strongly encourage you to work closely with our labor union members and prevailing wages and look at how you c

That's good to hear, and I appreciate that. Thank you. Nothing further.

Thank you chair, thank you staff for a great presentation. Thank you to the applicant. One of the best presentations I've seen here at the IBC. I'm looking forward to following its progress. I drove by with my son a couple days ago just to see the site. I used to work in the IBC. Matter of fact, before I moved to Irvine, I was commuting to the IBC. I wish there was stuff like this because that would have saved me a lot of time like on the commute. That being said, I do agree with my fellow commissioners that should look into more affordable housing and our speakers here. And that I like that y

When do you anticipate demolition of those existing structures?

Excellent. Great site. I know it borders Newport Beach to see a great entrance into Irvine is always good that we're always open for business and welcoming new people.

Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Pearson, do you have any more?

No, I think my fellow commissioners have been able to answer my questions with their questions. So I did have a couple of technical ones, and I'm not going to belabor the issue. So I'll give it back to you.

Yeah, I would echo what a lot of my fellow commissioners said about the project. It looks great. I like the density, the on-site affordable. The parks look nice, the amenities. It's nice to see that corridor get denser every year, which I think will make it a more dynamic part of the city. To help answer one question from a public commenter, can we talk about how the state density bonus works? If they provide 15%, of the units affordable, then they get a certain bonus. It's either 30% or 50%. That 30% or 50% isn't required to have affordable, so it looks like the overall percentage is low, rig

Okay, that was the difference. Okay, that's all I have. If everyone's done, we can take motions. All right, we have one.

Mr. Chairman, I'd like to make a motion to adopt resolution 264079, 264080, and 264081, approving the vesting tentative track map, conditional use permit, and park plan for the Encore residential project.

Okay, looks like we have a second. Commissioner Mansfield, could we please set up the voting?

Wonderful. Thank you. Then I will advise that the next Planning Commission meeting will be held on Thursday, July 16th, 2026 at 5.30 p.m. in the City Council Chamber. Reminder, the July 2nd Planning Commission meeting is canceled. It is now 6.30 p.m. and I'll declare the meeting of June 18th, 2026 adjourned. Thank you.