Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

ALL RIGHT. GOOD EVENING. WELCOME TO THE PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING OF MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 2026. I NOW CALL THE MEETING TO ORDER. NOW IT'S TIME FOR THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE. SO IF YOU JOIN ME IN STANDING AND FACING THE FLAG. 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. Thank you. Ms. Green, will you please do the voice roll call?

I am attending this meeting remotely due to work obligations. No one else is in the room with me.

All right, okay. We have no announcements or presentations this evening, which takes us to public comments for matters not listed on the agenda. So that'll be heard at this time. If you'd like to make any public comment, please come to either lectern. And if you're joining us remotely and you want to speak by phone, please press star nine. And if you're joining us by Zoom, please use the raise hand option. Is anybody from the public wish to speak this evening on public comments? You're all holding it in for the first item, yes? Come on down. Don't be shy. NO, FOR ITEMS THAT ARE NOT ON TONIGHT'

OKAY. I'LL CLOSE PUBLIC COMMENTS. NOW IT'S TIME FOR PLANNING COMMISSIONER COMMENTS AND SUGGESTIONS. LET'S START WITH COMMISSIONER

Just so happy to see so many people here tonight public input is very important So thank you all for taking the time to show up tonight Commissioner Andrade Will echo the same welcome to Planning Commission excited to hear what you all have to share Commissioner Martinez

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Unfortunately, I can't see the full audience to know just how many people are there. But thank you, everyone, for attending tonight. Two announcements. The GIS strategic plan survey closes tomorrow. So if you're interested in providing input to, I believe it's our IT department on GIS and its relationship to all of our different various city functions, that survey now closes tomorrow. Also tomorrow, um august 11th is a free performance in the park symphony on the go is going to be tomorrow at heller park at 6 30 p.m and then it continues on with a few other uh productions

I certainly want to thank everyone from the public who's shown up. When it comes time for you to talk, I hope you're not bashful and you take the time to come to the podium and tell us what's on your mind. I'd also, Mr. Chair, like to let you know I want to pull the consent calendar item. Okay, perfect.

All right, well, I have no comments, so let's hear the consent calendar item then. Ms. Green, can you just read the title of that?

Thank you. For the item dealing with the 15-unit development and specifically my comments relating to that, I LISTENED BACK TO THE, WELL, I DIDN'T RECOGNIZE MOST OF THESE WORDS, AND I LISTENED BACK TO THE TAPE AND I DON'T KNOW IF THERE'S BEEN A TRANSPOSITION PROBLEM, BUT SEVERAL OF THE COMMENTS HERE ARE NOT AT ALL WHAT I SAID. I DID MAKE COMMENTS, AND SO I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE STAFF GO BACK AND MODIFY THESE MINUTES TO REFLECT MY COMMENTS. Specifically, I didn't talk about activating the property. I didn't talk about the site had been underutilized for years. Those may be somebody's opinions of t

Okay, given that, do you want to move that we consider the consent calendar items corrected at the next meeting?

JUST A MINOR ALSO ON THE TOP OF PAGE 15 UNDER MY COMMENTS. JUST FOR MY PRONOUN. THAT'S ALL.

ALL RIGHT. WE HAVE A MOTION. SECOND. CAN WE CALL FOR THE QUESTION?

Commissioner Klapak. Yeah, House Martinez can vote.

That was a little unusual, but... Moving right along. We have two public hearing items tonight. Ms. Green, will you please read the title for public hearing item number one?

ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. COMMISSIONERS, ANY QUESTIONS OF STAFF? COMMISSIONER DIXON.

WE HAVE A LETTER FROM SAFER, SUPPORTERS ALLIANCE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY. HAS STAFF HAD A CHANCE TO REVIEW THAT LETTER AND ADDRESS THE SPECIFIC CONCERNS THAT WERE RAISED REGARDING THE inadequacy of the responses and comments?

Okay. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. I APPRECIATE THAT CLARIFICATION. I'M GOING TO WITHHOLD ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS UNTIL AFTERWARDS, BUT I JUST WANTED TO BRING THAT OUT RIGHT OFF THE BAT BECAUSE THAT WAS PRETTY SPECIFIC AND THERE ARE OTHER COMMENTS AS WELL IN HERE, BUT THAT WAS ONE I WANTED TO GET RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE. THANK YOU.

COMMISSIONERS, ANY OTHER QUESTIONS OF STAFF? VICE CHAIR ZICK, YOU'RE NOT ON YOUR HEAD.

You can go ahead you're present Just a couple of questions. Let me first follow up on Commissioner Dixon's question Using my understanding of what I think I heard you say You don't have to agree with my characterization, but it's a form it as a question what I heard you say is that the er er that we currently have which has concluded that that things are really bad, and in a number of cases, nothing we can do about it. What I hear you say is that the letters that have come in from organizations that have issues with the EIR, either because something wasn't looked at, wasn't looked at the way t

Thank you. I think my understanding is correct then. Then a couple of shorter questions. Could you turn to page 24 of this presentation? Okay, what I thought I heard in the presentation by Placeworks was that the secondary access road would not be put in until such time as it was determined that it was needed based on the progress of development. But then on this slide, I see as part of your backbone phase two, that the secondary access road and golf course whole relocation occurs prior to phase three, which is the actual delivering of parcels for the beginning of construction. So could you cl

So then to be clear, if as this project begins and pads are formed and initial infrastructure starts going in, if the developer came to the city and said, you know, I'd really like to get started on the secondary access road, we would say no?

Does that flexibility allow us to say no, that you have not yet built 2,300 units?

Thank you. Okay. Then page 26, if you could turn to that. Under the chapter 5 the first item when you were discussing this idea of the existing lease expiring new lease or lease extension being negotiated Do you happen to know? What the date is of the expiration of the current lease?

Okay. I was aware of it as well That's all I've got

All right. Commissioners, any other questions?

Yes. Commissioner Andrade? Yes. So along the questions or the conversation with Commissioner Zick about the traffic analysis, and thank you for including this and updating this. And I apologize, I lost track on the slide for the traffic analysis. based on what you presented and what's in the staff report page 1539 of our binder, once the project comes in, you know, should the project, when the project is accepted and processed with the number of anticipated units and development, it would bring us to the Pardon the LoS the level of service standards to a D which is defined as Approaching unsta

Getting off of work. OK. And it's approaching unstable. Not unstable yet, but approaching unstable. We're just right at the cusp, I would say. And that's at the time when folks are kind of coming home. That's helpful. And based on across the city, the D rating, the LOSD rating meets the minimum traffic standard for the city. Right? Are there other LOSDs that you can maybe point to that, you know, just to kind of associate because again, this is all so far in the future, you're trying to take us into the future. So help us vision this. Is there a currently existing LOSD that we can kind of put

Okay. I think that would be helpful maybe for the next round once this goes to City Council because I know that's kind of as we see in the comments that's one of the peak concerns of our community is the level of traffic so understanding that there are already 26 existing areas that are within that C and D standard so this is something that we're familiar with right so something to be familiar with not to be afraid of concerned on the financial feasibility piece so again I just wanted to kind of clarify thank you you see I lost track of the slide numbers here but thank you for that so by reduc

OKAY. SO WE DON'T NECESSARILY HAVE TO GIVE UP ON UNITS TO INCREASE THE OPEN SPACE, RIGHT, BECAUSE THERE'S CREATIVE ALTERNATIVES. OKAY. AND AGAIN, IT LOOKS LIKE IN THIS ROUND OF THE REPORT, THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF Projected units is the one is the is the estimate that is most feasible for a developer to come in, right? And I assume obviously this is with conversations with developers in the community. So okay, so this is based on conversations with experts in the field Yes, correct it's based on the financial feasibility analysis which included extensive

Okay. Along the conversations of CEQA, thank you for addressing the comments of the letter that we received. So basically, right, most of the things that were raised have already been addressed in the report. I really did appreciate to hear the follow-up of that. as the project goes forward or develops, there is opportunities to have evaluation, to increase greater safety as construction starts to go up. So there could be at points where the developer can help mitigate some of these concerns. OK. And just high level, say everything works out great. Plan is approved. It goes through city counci

My kid is 10 now. She ought to be like 28 years old. And hopefully she can afford a unit in here. OK, so we're really kind of projecting really far ahead. So this is an opportunity for us to build for Costa Mesa 2.0, way out in the future for my daughter when she's a full-grown adult. Um, right now she's in elementary school, so far, far ahead. So, um, appreciate all the great work that is going into this. I mean, again, to have an opportunity to think build for the future, um, is really exciting. Um, but I appreciate all the caution and creativity that we're taking here now. Um, so. public kn

THANK YOU. SO IF I COULD JUST REFRAME IN LAYMAN'S TERMS. SO WE'RE IN A CONTRACT WITH THE STATE. OUR CONTRACT HAS ENDED IN SEPTEMBER 25. THEY GAVE US AN EXTENSION TO to get this done, to get our ducks in a row. So Costa Mesa can do its work. We even received a grant to do the study, to evaluate, get the community feedback, get all the input, to get this project moving. And you're saying that based on precedent, there is an opportunity. If we don't meet the contractual obligations that we have with the state, Essentially, the state could say, well, okay, Costa Mesa, you couldn't come up with a s

Before we get to Commissioner Martinez, who I believe is back on Zoom, I just have one quick question, more clarification for the city attorney. So Ms. McGill mentioned that the complaint was filed by the Attorney General, and there's, I guess, a proposed 120-day period to remedy this. That doesn't mean we're under any kind of court order to do that, where the clock has not started ticking. I just want the public to be clear about where we are in that litigation.

Okay, great. Thank you. Commissioner Martinez, are you back on?

Okay. I know you have questions, so you have the floor.

Thank you. I think first, I just want to do a very broad overview, high level timeline question. So I know we said that if this gets approved, it goes to city council. And then from there, a master developer will be chosen by the state. So after that is done, if that's done, I'd like for staff to explain not just what happens from there, because what happens would be the specific plan gets implemented, if it gets approved. But the timeline of when that happens, and then ending with, what is the endpoint of full build out? When would we expect this entire project to be completed?

All right, so we're looking at an 18-year time scale, not next year. OK, the broad one, and then I'll just do one very specific one. The staff report provided a link to the track edits For the FTCSP, first I'd like to thank staff very much for taking a lot of my comments from last meeting and making the corresponding edits. And so thank you, staff. The one, I'll say final for now, one that I just addressed is in who maintains the utility systems, the track edits still identify the city. or the association. And I wanted clarity as to why would the city maintain the water system if Mesa Water ow

Okay. In that case, I'll have comments and we'll edit later. Those are my questions. A lot of my questions were answered at the previous meeting. So I'd like to thank staff very much for that. And I'll end. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you, Commissioner Martinez. Commissioner Dixon. Very quick.

So for the the conceptual site plan, in a specific plan, if you could just for the public's understanding, explain conceptual site plan is PERSPECTIVE IT'S NOT SET IN STONE THERE'S NOT GOING TO BE A BASEBALL DIAMOND THERE THERE'S NOT GOING TO BE THESE SPECIFIC BUILDINGS NECESSARILY IN THAT SPECIFIC LOCATION ET CETERA RIGHT BECAUSE I KNOW I KNOW WE TALKED ABOUT SPORTS FIELDS BEFORE AND THAT WAS KIND OF SHOT DOWN BY THE STATE SAYING WE COULDN'T REALLY HAVE A SPORTS COMPLEX BUT I JUST I JUST WANT FOLKS BEFORE THE COMMENTS BEFORE THEY COMMENT TO UNDERSTAND A WHAT THE CONCEPTUAL SITE PLAN IS FOR IN

Thank you, and then the I THINK THAT'S GOOD FOR RIGHT NOW. I JUST WANTED TO CLARIFY THAT. AND THEN THAT'S GOOD FOR RIGHT NOW. I'LL GET MORE COMMENTS LATER. THANKS.

OKAY. IF THERE'S NO MORE COMMISSIONER QUESTIONS OF STAFF, GO AHEAD.

SO ON PAGE 5 OF THE STAFF REPORT, CONCEPT 2 FOR 3450 UNITS, IT SHOWS AN IRR OF 14.6%, WHICH IS A VERY HEALTHY RETURN. but it shows about a $5 million gap in project financing. Could you explain in layman's terms what that means and what are some ways in which the developer might be able to mitigate that?

And can they also get bridge loans or bring some of their own money to the table?

Okay. If there are no more commissioner questions. Commissioner Andrade. Okay.

WOULD THIS PROJECT FALL WITHIN THE WORKFORCE AGREEMENT THAT THE CITY HAS BECAUSE IT'S TECHNICALLY A CITY PROJECT?

YES. THAT'S THE MISSING ONE WORD. THANK YOU.

Organization so this wouldn't be under the community workforce agreement Is there an opportunity to include that in the proposal for a developer? I'm just again thinking this could be a great opportunity to employ a lot of custom essence Well, this is going up. Is that something that we can include in that as we're exploring? proposals for developers

okay on the parks i'm sorry i forgot to ask this on the last one all right commissioner when we were talking about in lieu fees and park dedications and land purchases and things like that just that's not within the specific plan area right is that citywide or is that within the specific plan area so the specific plan has a short-term implementation action for the city to

Because we're talking about open space within the specific plan area, but the compensation for that could be open space in some other location in the city. Is

Thank you. I appreciate that. I just wanted to clarify that before the public has a chance to weigh in.

Okay, thank you everyone for your patience. I will now open public comments. So if you would like to speak, please come to either podium. I'd encourage you to line up so we can do this as efficiently as possible. Everyone will have three minutes. However, I encourage you, if somebody has already said exactly what you're thinking, please be brief in your comments.

All right, I appreciate everybody's enthusiasm. However, let's hold any applause, and quite honestly, we don't really need applause until the very end. I'll give you like 10 seconds, but I want to get through everybody's public comment. All right, go ahead.

Thank you. A little better, but let's hold it. All right, go ahead.

We're just going to be here longer if you keep clapping. I thought that was for me. No, not yet, sir.

Thank you. All right, settle down. Go ahead, Ms. Russell.

Thank you. All right. Anybody else in chambers wish to speak? Okay, yep. Sorry, we don't do questions and answers, so you're more than welcome to speak.

Like I said, we don't respond to questions. This is just your opportunity to speak your... All right, well, let's say 4,000.

All right. Ms. Green, do we have anybody on Zoom and by phone?

Okay, I'm gonna close public comment. Commissioners, any final questions of staff? Commissioner Dixon.

So I heard some interesting conversations at the town hall or the last thing about the interrelationship between the density bonus laws and the total number of units that we put in our specific plan. So if we were to say 2300 is the absolute cap, where would that put us from a density bonus perspective in the potential number of units that could be built there? Because we keep hearing about this sort of Damocles of the density cap and how we can't really predict anything and we just have to throw darts at the wall and see what sticks. But if we set a unit count number limit, THAT DETERMINES AN

CAN I JUMP IN? THANK YOU FOR EXPLAINING THAT. I THINK ALSO FOR GENERAL EXPLANATION OF THE PUBLIC, UNDER DENSITY BONUS WE ESSENTIALLY LOSE A LOT OF CONTROL. THESE ARE BY RATE APPROVALS. WE HAVE TO GRANT CONCESSIONS AND WAIVERS. CAN YOU JUST EXPLAIN FOR THE PUBLIC WHAT THAT TRADE-OFF ESSENTIALLY MEANS? AND I FORGIVE ME THIS IS LIKE GETTING INTO THE WEEDS ON LAND USE ENTITLEMENT. I KNOW YOU DIDN'T DECIDE TO SPEND YOUR EVENING LISTENING TO THIS BUT THIS IS I THINK AN IMPORTANT DISCUSSION POINT ABOUT WHAT THE MAXIMUM CAPACITY COULD BE FOR THIS SITE.

No, no. I want to get to the bottom of this question.

So conceivably, a developer comes in with density bonus application. We have to approve by rights. We lose our flexibility. We basically lose our negotiating ability. So the idea of a development agreement, which provides opportunity for us to negotiate community benefits, disappears. Is that right?

I APPRECIATE THAT. And understanding the city council said we don't want to have a parking minimum for residential. So I understand some of the folks have argued, and I know that this is true because we've seen it in front of our own commission, that it's true in some cases that a developer will put in the number of parking spaces they think will make their project viable. However, we're talking about a 40% affordable housing or 900 and whatever units. No parking is required. So if we need to make to balance out, we're just not going to provide any parking for the affordable units. That's a po

OK. Anybody else on the dais have questions of staff? Commissioner, go ahead, Commissioner Andrade.

Quick question. Could we, or is it already incorporated in the proposal to include Mary Mack Way once the lease is up? Right, because it's coming up by the end of the year. So is that already included, that we will?

Okay. And so we talked about the second access road. If you could just clarify the second access road and we talked I know that in the report I read that we engaged with a golf design expert that Demonstrated that we're not we're reconfiguring Holes, so we're not losing holes. We're like shifting it around Remodeling it moving them around so we were not losing any number of holes. So Is that correct

All right, hold on. Go ahead, Commissioner Dixon.

One more question about, I forgot to ask this, and I apologize. Did we ever figure out whether or not there is a public access or an easement on Merrimack? I mean, Mr. Grady did a CPRA request and got a bunch of documents, and I don't know if there's an actual easement there.

I appreciate. I just wanted to get that question answered if you did Stephanie.

Thanks Okay Commissioner Martinez you still with us No questions. Okay. I'm going to close the item then. And who wants to be the lucky one to make a motion? Commissioner Andrade.

What? I'm sorry, what do you mean by receive and file?

That we adopt the resolution recommended.

Okay, so we have a motion by Commissioner Andrade to move staff's recommendation. Do we have a second? Okay. All right, Commissioner Martinez, seconds. Okay, Commissioner Andrade, would you like to speak to your motion?

Yes. Well, first off, I think this is, as we've heard, of critical importance for the development of our city and our growth. I appreciate many of the residents that have come out. My daughter goes to College Park, so I'm very familiar with that neighborhood as well. And many of the parents in our PTA live in that area, Mesa Verde, Mesa del Mar as well. But I also live adjacent to this project along Joanne Street. And I can share with you that on this side of the road, District 4, District 5, residents on Joanne Street along Placentia down Wilson are welcoming this opportunity to have renewed

All right, thank you. Commissioner Martinez.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. Well, tonight we are considering a plan that will take two decades to implement, a plan for which those born today will not be fully implemented until their high school graduation. I grew up in this community. I made friends in this community. Unfortunately, those are now future generations will continue to leave because of housing unaffordability. He came to the circumstance because we in this city are neighboring cities and across the state did not bill Clithrow for sharing the concept of supply and demand with increased supply prices drop It's with decreased supply, pr

Thank you. Commissioners, other comments? Commissioner Dixon.

COMMISSIONER DIXON When was it appropriate to make a substitute motion after the comments on this motion? MR. Whenever you want.

I'd like to make a substitute motion, but I don't want to cut down comment on this particular motion, so I just want to make sure I do it in the right procedural manner.

Well, you can make it. People can offer their comments to your substitute motion as well.

My substitute motion is that we postpone adoption of the specific plan at this time. that we reengage with the state and the Department of General Services to determine what the best percentage of affordable housing actually is, and that we reengage in the public participation and engagement process. It's very, very clear based on the numbers and the presentation. That's a comment. So we engage in the public participation process. We reassess the applicability of 40% affordable at this site based on the inconsistency with the number of total units stretching up to not include actually 40% due

A number of public speakers have said this is an opportunity, once in a lifetime opportunity. I agree with that. It's the kind of opportunity you don't want to screw up. Get it right, and it's right forever. Get it wrong, it's wrong forever. There were a number of comments from the public. I don't want to respond to them directly. It feel maybe a little like I was debating you, and I don't want to do that because I respect your comments and opinions. This project is not 40% affordable. The specific plan doesn't say it's 40% affordable. It might have been at one point in time. It isn't now. You

All right. All right, commissioners, any final comments before we vote on substitute motion? All right, I will offer my comments. I completely agree with Commissioner Dixon in his instincts to want to try and spend more time and get this right. But that's not really our charge here, quite frankly. And I'm not going to support the substitute motion. Our job as the Planning Commission is to make a recommendation to Council. It's not to have the perfect plan. It's not to even have a compromise plan. It's just to give our advice. And I don't think that any additional amount of time is going to mak

AND I UNDERSTAND, AND JUST TO BRIEFLY GIVE YOU A FEW, AND NOT TO GET INTO ALL THE THINGS I'VE SAID PREVIOUSLY, BUT I THINK THAT THIS ENTIRE TIME, AND THERE HAS BEEN SOME PASSION AND SOME EMOTION INVOLVED BECAUSE OF FRUSTRATION AND THINGS LIKE THAT, BUT AS SOMEONE WHO has been involved in these sort of planning issues for quite some time. I have grave concerns that this will be overturned. It's not our final thing. It's with the council. I think that it's our responsibility to alert the council that there are some gaping, in my opinion, and not in one of a whole commission, there are some vulne

I completely agree with where you're coming from. I'm not disagreeing with the interest or the intent. I'm just saying that for the purposes of this body, the council is going to hear everything that we've said. They're going to be able to take it for what it's worth if they want to dig in more I'm I think they're the appropriate body to be doing that so No, of course of course Okay, if there's no further comments, let's call for the question on the substitute motion. I Think we got a new voice roll call them.

Okay, so we are back to the original motion by Commissioner Andrade, seconded by Commissioner Martinez.

All right. I think we are due for a little recess. So it is 920. How about come back at 930? Yes. Okay, we're gonna start momentarily.

All right, we are back on the record for public hearing item number two. Ms. Green, could you please read the title of that?

Okay, thank you very much. Commissioners, any questions?

Vice Chair Zick. Yes, thank you. Always a pleasure to hear your presentations, Ms. Gregg. Could you turn to the slide that had the census tract map? So I see what you describe here as the definition of an EJ community. Who did the determination that these census tracts met the criteria for an EJ community?

I don't really need to know the organization. So are you saying that the state told you which census tracts in our city were EJ communities? That's correct. Okay. So then related to that, I don't want to pick a particular census tract, but if I have a particular census tract in mind, how do I know, how do we know as a city that when we have sufficiently got them out of this definition? How do we know when we're done and they're not an EJ community anymore because we did all the good work?

SO CONCEIVABLY NEW CENSUS TRACKS WILL POP UP BY WHATEVER METHODOLOGY THE STATE USES?

Okay. And then I don't know what the slide number was, but you had a slide number related to EJ that showed on the right hand side, the specific areas that you had to address. Could you find that slide?

Yeah, that's it. Um, So when it says you need to address the topic, it just means you've gotta either find an existing policy statement that kinda hits on that, or if you don't have one, then you've gotta come up with some to specifically hit these different topic areas. Correct. Okay, so when I looked at this matrix of the EJ policies, and I just happened to, Look at the one about ensuring access to healthy foods. Just pick that one. Cause it seemed like everybody's got the same access to healthy foods. So kind of curious how the state uses that in its algorithm. But what we have in a policy

Hopefully it's unlike HCD, but when the state gets this stuff back do they look at it and go? Good job Check the box and we're off the hook or do they look at this and go now.

Okay. And then I think I just had one. Well, maybe a couple of questions about this cap. So you indicate in the staff report that this is not required by state law, us having our own cap, not required by state law. So as much as I love all the hard work you do, why did we come up with one?

Doesn't the state have a CAP? and doesn't that have all those same elements?

Okay, I'll accept that. So I'm looking at this document that you gave us previously. And in it, it talked about just a couple of small questions. It talked about extreme heat days. I think we've had a few of those recently, maybe today even. And it said that we've gone from a historical average of three days per year to projected 11 to 25 days per year in the year 2100. Now, if we do all the stuff that's in this document, there's an awful lot of stuff. We're going to get back to three days. Is that what you're telling me? Because I'm going to come back in 2100 and I'm going to look you up.

It's in the executive summary you talk about the city's targets and of reducing an additional 154,700 metric tons of CO2 equivalent, and then by 2030, another number. And do we just get credit if we get lower? Or do we have to hit those?

I know that's the goal. I understand what a goal in college try is.

But that didn't work with Rena. There was penalties involved. So tell me about this.

Okay, well, hold on. She might be able to hit on a couple of these. Okay. Later in that document, where you show, and I'll show you what I'm looking at, the two biggest areas of contributing to our emissions, 63% on-road transportation, 31% emissions. And under that on-road transportation, objective T5 talks about smart growth. We might have had some conversation about that or lack thereof earlier this evening. But in particular it talks about mixed use development. Now if that's the priority and if that's what we need to do to address 63% of our community's emissions to get down that big goal

I ACCEPT THAT AND I REMEMBER USING THAT TERM ENCOURAGING IN A DIFFERENT CONTEXT ONCE. OKAY, ON THE BUILDING SIDE, REDUCING ENERGY DEMANDS IN BUILDINGS, IN TERMS OF THE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS, Does that mean that what we're trying to do is get, I'm not, this isn't a leading question, so if I'm wrong, tell me. Does that mean we're trying to get buildings out of using natural gas for heating and cooling and using electricity for heating and cooling? Is that what that means, E1?

Appliances versus natural gas yeah, and that certainly would be true locally But the electricity comes from somewhere, and I guess we just make an assumption that how they produce it is Contributes less to greenhouse gas than if we have it locally Yes Okay, that's all I've got thank you very much for your time

Any other questions of staff Commissioner cleat back question in that same vein I Saw in here that it on the building electrification topic it talks about supporting electrification where feasible I've electrified my home. I know that Those appliances are much more efficient than their gas counterparts even when the electricity comes from gas or coal it still is cleaner than having natural gas appliances and So would we put together incentive programs? How would we support and encourage electrification?

Okay. Or even put together local contractors and vendors that are familiar. Because I know when I was shopping for heat pump water heaters, it was difficult to find an installer locally that was familiar with doing that. So if we could put together some kind of list of installers and contractors locally, I think that would be helpful.

Just along those same lines. Go ahead, Commissioner Dixon. So this is not an actionable thing. There's no regulatory action or any of that stuff, but we have 106 actions, right? So what's the interrelationship there? Because if there's a city-initiated action that's independent of any particular development project that also does have an impact on whatever, so what would... How does that action part work? Because there's general plan goals, there's general plan policies, but talk to me about how those actions work.

This is going to unilaterally decide that, well, you know what? We need to get rid of more on road transportation. So let's just take a lane away. And that's part of our CAAP and we don't need to do anything else. This and there's the CAAP by the way, it's not a qualified CAAP. It's not an actual CAAP.

The ones that got sued in San Diego. Exactly. So I have a great deal of hesitancy. with something that has all of these aspirational policies, which is what the court called San Diego's and why it overturned it, that are tied to an action that we're sort of sliding through that's going to end up greatly impacting residents. And we already see them all over the place, like things that have happened that are slowing down traffic and all the other things. And that's an opinion I know I have that maybe some don't share, but it's something I hear quite a bit. So that's where I'm coming from is this

But the vast majority don't. And so I just want to make sure we're not pigeonholing ourselves and we're not putting ourselves in a position where we're going to be incurring a great deal of cost. The cost savings in this report are great as far as the LED solar lights and all the other stuff, but if we're saving $1.4 million over 20 years by doing LED lights but spending $1 million on a cap, so that's kind of where I'm... I just want to make sure that the action part of this is not going to be saddling us with actions which MAYBE DIDN'T SUSTAIN PUBLIC REVIEW AND PUBLIC INPUT.

SO WHERE THE RUBBER MEETS THE ROAD ON THAT IS, SO LET'S SAY I DO WANT TO HAVE A NATURAL GAS STOVE, RIGHT? WELL, AM I GOING TO FACE A MORE STRINGENT REVIEW THAN SOMEONE WHO'S INCENTIVIZED TO HAVE AN ELECTRIC STOVE? AS SOMEONE WHO WENT THROUGH EIGHT ROUNDS OF DEVELOPMENT REVIEW, I HAVE VERY LITTLE PATIENCE non-objective hard standards in anything development related?

Right. We were calling for making green building code mandatory in 2011 and 2012, and it still hasn't happened. So I don't have a tremendous amount of patience for things that are going to impact the home builder, as opposed to things that the city could be doing, like planting more trees. We were doing it mandatory. We were driving around offering people trees back in 2015, 2015. I don't know if that's happened in a long time. I saw Councilmember Reynolds talking about that. like it's a new idea. We were doing that in 2015, 2014, 2013. And we would provide a tree. If you said you wanted a tre

THERE'S NO MORE QUESTIONS HERE. COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ, ANY QUESTIONS OF STAFF? IS HE STILL WITH US?

You're still breaking up, Commissioner Martinez. I don't know if you have a connection. Hello?

There you go. That's better. Any questions of staff?

All right. I'm going to open the public hearing and open public comments if anybody in chambers wishes to speak. MS. GREEN, DO WE HAVE ANYBODY ON ZOOM OR PHONE? OKAY. I'M GOING TO CLOSE PUBLIC COMMENT. COMMISSIONER MARTINEZ, ANY LAST QUESTIONS OF STAFF? OKAY.

I HAVE A COUPLE OF QUESTIONS OR MAYBE MORE JUST CLARIFYING Wasn't the, I thought at some point part of it or I don't know if the whole cap was also grant funded. I recall when one of the presentations.

Yeah. And now some of these changes, is it just for the EJ areas or the whole city? EJ zones or the whole city?

YEAH. AND AGAIN, I APPRECIATE YOU INCLUDING SOME OF THE POINTS THAT WE TALKED ABOUT IN THE LAST PLANNING COMMISSION AS ONE LIVING IN THE EJ ZONE AND TALKING TO MANY OF MY NEIGHBORS. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY WELCOME. SLOWING DOWN OUR STREETS, CONTINUING TO MAKE IT SAFE TO Is really important reducing pedestrian deaths. I think we could all be on board on on doing so Especially appreciate the Aspects of expanding green space cooling centers because yes being a predominantly I mean again, and I'm just thinking of District 4 and I'm sure it pours over to district 5 as well as a predominantly renter comm

Yeah, I mean, and I think you had it right on that slide. You know, the definition of those zones are populated by residents that are burdened by social and economic factors so Again, just thank you for taking the effort and putting this together And thank you for having Costa Mesa be one of the cities that taking Priority and improving quality of life for everyone in our community.

So that's all Okay Commissioner Martinez back on there Let's see if this works.

Okay. Let's reopen the public comment then and take that for the record.

that's all i gotta say all right thank you very much all right we'll close public comment again uh commissioner martinez are you back on any questions of staff yes all right uh yes some questions of staff um i i think first of all i want to start with um

There is an appendix mentioned for the climate action plan that was not provided to us for this review. And I know that we're not issuing a formal recommendation to the city council, but I wanted to know when we would be able to review this appendix F. Okay.

Okay. I mean, since we're looking at the cap, I think it would be appropriate to, you know, just bring it back, a receiving file, have us take a look at it so that we can just see it since we're looking at this cap. All right. I wanted to ask about EJ communities. Mapping... occurs yearly. So I wanted to know the process for which we will be informed of the new EJ communities or when an EJ community is removed.

All right. And my last question is about two specific policies in the safety element, which can be found on either page 783 or 865. Pick whichever one you like. It's at the bottom of both of them. They both talk about two egress methods for... Development, I suppose. And I wanted to ask, does that mean two egress methods out of a neighborhood or out of a single building?

OK, so just want to be absolutely clear. These policies are about, let's call it neighborhoods and not singular buildings.

That we find the proposed safety element update environmental justice policy update in our exempt for CEQA pursuant to CEQA guidelines and adapt the resolution recommended to City Council.

Okay, motion by Commissioner Andrade. Do we have a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Martinez. Would you like to speak to your motion? Commissioner Andrade?

It's a long time coming. Thank you so much for, again, all the great work, the community input that was incorporated into this. the outreach. I appreciate all the red coating that was really helpful to see how what the changes were and incorporating some of the key stakeholders and experts that provided input.

All right. Commissioner Martinez you want to speak to your second.

Thank you, Mr. Chair. This series of documents, the Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, the updated safety element, and the environmental justice policies throughout will help us out in planning and supporting our environmental justice communities and help us mitigate our ever-changing climate and our warming world. I know today was an especially hot day here in Sacramento, where I am. Yeah, this climate action plan is, the implementation measures in here are not necessarily a requirement these are the suggestions for how to reach our greenhouse gas emission goals our emission reduction goals

Thank you. Any final comments, commissioners? If not, let's call for the question.

All right. We have no old business or new business this evening. It takes us to departmental reports. Mr. Yang, public services? No. No public works reports, Mr. Chairman. Okay. Thank you. Excellent. Ms. McGill, you're the ranking member of development services. Any report?

I know. Close out the month with a bang. I love it.

And Mr. City Attorney, Mr. Preziosi, any report?