Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Can we start with the roll call, please?

Yes. Commissioner Lopez is absent. Victor Cuevas commissioner Cuevas. I'm

sorry. Present.

Commissioner Morales is absent. Commissioner Lomelli? Present. And Chairperson Medina?

Present.

And we do have a quorum for tonight's meeting.

We're able to proceed.

Thank you so much. The next items are the Pledge of Allegiance. Please stand. Thank you so much. Next item on the agenda is are there any corrections to the agenda?

Good evening, mister chair. Happy New Year, commissioners. There are no corrections to the agenda for tonight's meeting.

Thank you so much. Next item is our public comment. Can you Yes.

Please have Yes. This time, the public may address the Planning Commission on any items listed on the agenda, including nonagenda items that are within the Planning Commission's subject matter jurisdiction. State law prohibits the Planning Commission from acting or entertaining extended discussion on a topic not listed on the agenda for tonight's meeting. As a reminder, please show courtesy to others while providing public comment and direct all comments to the chairperson. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Next item are staff communications. Any staff communications?

Mister Charges would like to first let the commission know that we staff did attend the contract cities event a few weeks ago where we had a meeting with HCD, which is the California Housing Community Development Department. We did discuss some of the rezoning requirements related to our housing element, which we will be bringing forward in the month of February. So we do plan to have a special planning commission meeting on February 10 where we will present those the comprehensive rezoning ordinance for a recommendation. But just wanted to make the commission aware that it's coming forward. That's it. Thank you.

Thank you so much, director Pawamy.

When was the last time our zoning was reviewed?

That's a great question. I believe our our our most current zoning map is dated I wanna say it's 2014 is when it was prepared. But a lot of the zoning that's in our code is is probably dated consistent with our previous general plan, which was in 1973, which is when it was last updated. And just to sort of give some context here, the rezoning really will bring forward the zoning regulations consistent with our general plan. So as you know, we went through 31 public meetings associated with that process.

So really now it's just time to update our zoning code. And in addition to that, there will be some other amendments to the site plan review and things like that that will not only be compliant with state law, but also, I think, streamline the process going forward. So those are some things that we're excited about, and we'll be happy to present in February. Thanks, Murray.

Our next item is the approval of the planning commission minutes from 12/16/2025.

I'll proceed with a motion to approve the planning commission meeting minutes from 12/16/2025.

I'll second that.

Thank you so much. Can we get a roll call, please? Of course. Commissioner Naclovaz?

Aye.

Vice Chairperson Lomelli? Aye. Chairperson Medina?

Aye.

Motion passes.

Thank you so much. And our next item is to open the public hearing.

Yes. If I may, mister chair. Item two on tonight's agenda is a public hearing item, and it relates to a request from California Water Service Company for approval of a conditional use permit. This request will allow for the construction and operation of a public water facility located at 716 Washington Boulevard. Grace Hayashi will provide an overview of the project. And I believe the applicant is present and available for any questions the commission may have.

Okay. Good evening, chair, members of the Planning Commission, and the public. The item before you is a request for a conditional use permit to allow the establishment and operation of a public utility facility consisting of the on-site development of two new potable water walls and a slumpstone block building located at 716 Washington Boulevard submitted by Marcos Campos on behalf of California Water Water Service Company. Case number PC20250008CUP. The CUP request before you tonight is to allow the establishment and operation of a public utility facility submitted by Cal Water.

It will consist of an on-site development of a currently vacant parcel to propose two new potable water wells and a sumpstone building to house electrical equipment. Pursuant to chapter seventeen thirty twenty in appendix a of the Montebello Municipal Code, public utilities operated by mutual agencies within the Centimeters Heavy Commercial Limited Industrial Zoning District, it does require approval of a conditional use permit. On 10/01/2025, the applicant filed an application for a conditional use permit. And on that same day, staff issued a deemed complete letter to the applicant. The subject site is currently an existing vacant property located on the Washington Boulevard measuring approximately 38,500 square feet point 88 acres and it's situated within the city Centimeters Heavy Commercial Limited industrial zoning district.

The property is currently vacant and unimproved with no existing structures. The zoning map illustrates that to the north of the subject property is an r three multifamily zoned property. And to the south, east, and west of the subject property are Centimeters commercially zoned properties. The property is surrounding a mix of commercial and residential uses that are sufficient with the abutting properties. The slide before you is a site plan overview and layout of the proposed utility facility.

The purpose of the proposed potable well facility is to increase the reliability of water supply to the Montebello service area. The proposed wells and treatment system will allow utilization of groundwater to offset water purchased from Montebello Water Department, the local wholesale supplier. This proposal will have a lower overall life cycle cost compared to purchasing water, and it will also maximize local groundwater supply, and it will ensure a continued supply, reduce variability during dry years, and provide water availability for file fire and essential services in the event of a major disaster. The project consists of the development of the two new potable water wells and the construction of the Slimstone Building to house the associated electrical equipment, which will consist of an employee restroom, an emergency generator, and chemical storage tanks for water disinfection. As identified in the site plan, the proposal will consist of the following elements.

Two water wells with a flow rate of 25,000 to 3,000 gallons per minute, which will be approximately 30 feet in height. Seven GAC treatment vessel pairs, a total of 17 vessels, which will be approximately 27 feet in height. A slump sewn block building measuring approximately 3,120 square feet, an approximately 95 square foot awning structure to house electrical equipment, a diesel generator, three green stand filters, a 2,008 transformer, an eight foot wrought iron fence that will be constructed along the front of the property with a 30 foot wide siding gate, landscaping along the perimeter of the side abutting residential properties, off-site improvements including the installation of transmission pipelines to connect to existing facilities, a storm drain pipeline, and a new driveway approach. There will also be two parking spaces provided per the Montebello Municipal Code requirements. Additionally, the applicant did request an amendment to the resolution that was already posted on the agenda, which will be condition 40 in the resolution.

It currently reads that the applicant will have to provide a public park improvement that includes a water feature as a central design element to Chet Holly Field Park. Staff originally determined Chet Hollyfield Park will be fit for this improvement, and it is also the closest to the proposed water walls. But today, in a meeting with Cal Water, the applicant did request to change the park location to a park within the city that they service as Chet Holifield is not within their service area. So this location will later be determined. The slide before you, they are the GAC vessel treatment pairs, which will be 14 of them.

The next slide will be the two water wells at the back of the site. An initial study recommending adoption of a mitigative negative declaration has been prepared and posted in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act. The initial study slash mitigative negative declaration was circulated for the 30 public review period, 12/09/2025 to 12/30/2025 in accordance with CEQA procedures. The initial study identified potentially significant effects related to the following topics, geologysoils, noise and cultural resources, Implemented mitigation measures determined that all potentially significant effects would be reduced to a less than significant effect. No public comments were received during this thirty day review period of the IS slash MND.

On 12/04/2025, the public hearing notice was mailed to owners within a 300 foot radius from the exterior boundaries of the subject site. And on that same day, the public hearing notice was published in the Montebello News. No comments were received from surrounding properties. Additionally, along with the public notice to the property owners, Cal Water also separately mailed a notice to the property owners and additionally went to hand deliver notices to the tenants of the multifamily complexes to ensure that the people residing there will receive it rather than going to the property owner who may be renting out the units not residing at the site. Staff recommends that the Planning Commission adopt resolution number 13Dash25 approving the conditional use permit with conditions to allow the establishment and operation of a public utility facility on a vacant commercially zoned parcel consisting of the on-site development of two new potable water wells and a slumstone block building located at 716 Washington Boulevard and to adopt staff's changes to the resolution conditions and adopt the mitigated negative declaration prepared in connection with the proposed conditional use permit in compliance with the requirements of CEQA.

Thank you. That concludes my presentation. Both myself and the applicant are available for questions.

Thank you so much. Any questions for staff, or do you guys wanna hear from the applicant first? Okay. Question for staff. Mhmm.

The the zones mostly surrounding this property and the property itself are Centimeters. Correct? Correct. Is that the most restrictive or liberal, actually, zone in the city? Is that the most the the the zone that allows the most industrial uses in the city?

No. So that would be manufacturing. Commercial, the general commercial is, like, the standard retail. Centimeters, it still is commercial, but it does allow for industrial, just not as heavy as manufacturing.

Manufacturing or the m zone is probably the most liberal type

of Correct.

Alright. Thank you. Mhmm.

I have a question for staff. How many other wells do we have within the city of Montebello currently?

I know that the Cal Water, they also have an additional site on Carib Way Okay. Similar to this project. I I believe the address is 916 Carab 916 Carab Way.

Okay. Thank you.

Yeah. I do remember that we did approve a similar setup, but on a much smaller scale.

Yes. Correct.

And, actually, that's that's a good, you know, point about the other one. I know that neighbors were concerned about the noise and the noise level that the pumping, you know Mhmm. Of the water would, you know, do as far as snow is during the day for the majority of the surrounding neighbors, which are industrial type use is probably not a problem, but the but the residential, right, to the north and and, actually, it looks like that's also residential on the other side. Maybe it's industrial. I don't know.

The zone may be commercial, industrial, but maybe it's residential. But if not, just the big apartment building to the north Yes. That, you know, that would be a concern to have higher noise levels Mhmm. That you normally have during the day. During the day, you know, semi trucks that drive on Washington and and the other property next door, I would imagine, you know, has or makes a lot of noise during the day, but at night, probably not so much. Mhmm. So that's my only concern. And, you know, have we had any quest issues with the other facility down the street in terms of noise level at night?

Mhmm. Yeah. At this specific site, they do have, like, a noise mitigation, within the MND that we did review. So for the construction, I think that was another issue posed, but they do have mitigation measures for that. They do have a temporary sound wall for construction, and they also would have to abide by our municipal code standards of the the construction time in our code.

Sorry. I know that there's probably noise, you know, technical, you know, information on the report, but maybe that can kind of be broken down not just for us, but, you know, people watching from home Yeah. You know, kind of to have a better understanding of what the noise differences are from what a car makes to typical noises that you hear at NICE. I know the train, you know, probably makes a lot of noise for us in Montebello, so someone can easily say, well, it's not gonna be as noisy as a train, but, you know, comparable to other kind of noise, you know, levels in terms of decibels. Maybe that can be kind of broken out broken down so that people understand or we can understand too, the comparison.

I know in the report.

Or maybe the applicant can do it too.

Yeah. We also have the MND if needed to go through the actual numbers. Okay.

But maybe the applicant sounds like they wanna say something.

Hello. My name is Marcos Campos. I'm the applicant for California Water Service. In regards to the question you asked about the noise at the facility, Similar to the other site, Caribou Way, we put sound enclosures. They're engineered to reduce the decibel sound from the equipment that's operating. The pump, obviously, sits on the ground so it doesn't make noise, but the mortar is above ground and that tends to make an impact on our site. But the sound enclosures, we have really minimized them to about 60 decibels and below. Even at nighttime when there is not much noise on the facility, you don't really hear the equipment operating.

Besides those sound walls, which are probably masonry, putting plants around that, does that help reduce the noise level? Is that part of the plan?

Yes. With the conditions set forward, we're gonna put mature trees out there. So we're gonna be able to mitigate the noise with some of the trees that we put in the landscaping area. That would be on the North Wall where the multiunit residents as well as the Northeast multiuse it use residents.

Thank you.

And if I may add to that, and I don't know if you have the data, but, for example, our municipal code regulates decibel levels, right, to 65 decibel levels during the day and 60 at night. I don't think that your stations will be anywhere near that, if any. Right? That's correct. I believe that was the conclusion of the MND. But nevertheless, there is a condition to put in mature trees along the perimeter to buffer those residential uses from the facility.

Okay. As long as it meets the municipal code, you know, noise requirements, it's good.

Yes.

Thank you.

Yeah. Well, while the well, mister Morales is I'm I'm sorry. Mister Campos is up. Just wanna hear a little bit more about the sort of the need behind these type of facilities. And if and I wanna know if you guys consider maybe other sites that perhaps were maybe more industrial or what what considerations you took in the selection of this site.

Yes. We we did consider other sites in Montebello. Primarily, we're in the same proximity. Our our need for Wells is to improve the reliability to our customers. Right now, what some of the concerns is kinda making sure that sufficient supply for our customers' needs.

I think it was mentioned that we are ramping up our wildfire use. The more supply we have, we will be able to provide our customers. It has been mentioned that we provide service in Montebello, but we only have a certain portion with the interconnects that we have with South Montebello Irrigation and Montebello Land. We'll be able to provide more reliability to to those customers. This San Gabriel. Oh, and San Gabriel Valley is our our other interconnect.

I see. And did you look at other sites as potential candidates?

And Oh, we was

this one selected?

We did look at the other site. I just know it was at the corner of Carib Way and Washington Boulevard was the other property that we were we were looking at because of the close proximity to some of the the recharge basins that's kind of the focus of of getting a secondary well in this vicinity. I mean, it's it's it improves the cost to our customers. It also allows us to use some of the surface recharge that that's available for water water resource needs.

Okay.

I have another question, but maybe it's better directed to to staff. I'm wondering what what council district is this in?

This will this this location is in Council District 5.

Okay. And is there a way that we I know they had the initial intent was to provide the park improvements for a park that's within the council office. But because it's not serviced by the the water company, I realized that maybe that thought was or you're rethinking that idea. I'm just wondering if it's if at all possible that we make an effort to try and keep it within the same council district.

That's a great point, Mr. Chair, and and that was our focus of staff is why we originally implemented that condition because we felt that because this facility is within District 5, and we looked and researched and determined that Chet Holyfield is the closest public park. That's why we proposed that condition. However, based on information we received from the applicant, I believe there are funding constraints because of the service area that prohibits maybe their ability to fund that improvement. But maybe if the applicant wants to share a little bit more about those constraints, that would be helpful.

Yeah. Most definitely. Thank you.

Good evening. Thank you for having us. My name is Jim Crawford. I'm the district manager for the Southeast area that handles the city of Montebello. And, of course, we we love being partners with the city, and we wanna comply, and we wanna do everything we can to help the city. So I'm actually a local. I grew up right here Montebello, so definitely have my heart's near and dear to the city. So I'm happy that I was able to assist on these endeavors. As far as that, we do have some restraints on our side due to it being not in our service area. We think it might be a little bit confusing if Cal Water does water service or any kind of water adaptation or water.

I guess these are some new conditions for us. If we have a service area that we don't provide the water, we typically have to have our items that we put into our rates or into our projects into the area that we serve, which is mostly the Western portion of the City Of Montebello. So we serve 2,000 plus services in Montebello and we serve about 20% to 25% of the city. So when we do these specialty projects, typically our company and based on the funding, this is something that's typically in the normal budget for the actual infrastructure engagement or installment. This is handled differently through conservation or through some other measures to assist with the funding for these types of projects.

We're learning as we go also, and we're adapting to what we need. But typically, we'd like to have it in an area that at least our water is served. And we actually installed a mile of pipeline to actually have the well where it's at. And our Caribou property, we installed a pipeline that was going to obviously had sufficient supply for us in the future, also adding the reliability with the generator and not depending on state water project or Colorado River water. And also from a cost perspective, it cost less than half to purchase, to pump water as compared to pumping water, which is purchased water, which is also not reliable.

So, depending on the drought conditions, which California is kind of always somewhat of a drought, we're kind of restrained on what our allocation will be from either side, the state water project or from the Colorado River Aqueduct. So we try to do our best to not be dependent on that and should be reliable, which is pumping groundwater, which is not only a cost savings for our customers, including our Montebello residents, but a cost savings for reliability and for pretty much everything going forward. As far as the location, yeah, typically we would our preference would be to have it in the area that we serve because we're going to be, I assume we'd have some kind of a branding or some participation in that in that project. Okay.

And if I could just add condition 39, which is in addition to the public benefit component, calls for an educational feature at the project site. Yeah. And we've discussed that with the applicant, and we believe that that will be something that incorporates, you know, education on the need for water, clean water, and the supply I mean, just water in general. But it would also provide opportunities for local students, maybe at Greenwood Elementary, to be invited to the site to learn about water and how how important it is. Right? So that's something that we're working on, and that's why you you see condition 39 written the way that it is.

Okay. Thank you.

I have one last common question, and maybe it's a softball for the applicant. But maybe you also wanna elaborate on the fact that there is first a setback in the back, right, to the adjoining side of the apartment building. Mhmm. But there's also some more open space between the back property wall or property line to where the equipment is. And assuming that was done, you know, being mindful of the neighborhood and trying to reduce the noise that's, you know, could affect the apartment buildings in the back and keeping it closer to Washington?

Yeah. Typically, as as Marcos had mentioned, the only really area that we have any sound which we put really, really heavy duty covers over are actually the well property or the well pump and motor. And we have specialty items that are made specifically to have very little, if not any sound. So we definitely didn't place that towards that side of the property. The items that are along the wall, I believe are the GAC vessels. And those those don't make any noise. They're just a pass through. So it's just the water going through the filtration, basically tanks. So the only area that really makes noise is the well itself. All the other stuff is inside buildings, and and the electrical does not make noise.

And the wells are kinda in the middle of the lot, not too close

Okay. To property

Thank you.

Yeah. And our specialty with specialty padding. There we have them specially made and and brought in just specifically to produce any noise at any of our facilities, especially any residential.

Thank you. I I wanna hear a little

bit more about the sort of their outreach effort that was done. I understand that you guys went above and beyond just mailing it to the property owners, but also you you went door to door with to with some of the tenants?

Yes.

I wanna hear if was there any feedback? What was the sort of the general response from from that the

the tenants? We did not get any response that I'm aware of, but we but we do try to go above and beyond. Luckily, we had just on our Well 63, which is down the street. So we had a really, really good basis on how we're gonna set our plan, how we're gonna communicate with the public, and how we're going to make sure that the city's residents and or, you know, industrial community members are engaged and have an opportunity to allow us to proceed or to question something we may do. So we had a really, really great well, I I thought we we had a little public opening.

People were invited to view the facility and I thought it went very well and it was very well received. And that was the actually all industrial residential area. So we thought we'd have a little more pushback, but we haven't had any noise complaints. We haven't had zero complaints at that facility, and it it went very smoothly. So, luckily, we had a good example, and we're following some of that same footprint from the city's direction on the same project.

Understood. Thank you so much. Any other questions for the applicant?

I just have one last question. I see in the staff report, you guys, anticipate a total depth of 800 to 1,000 feet. Is that consistent with the others, well that you guys currently have?

The I didn't I didn't catch it. I'm sorry. That look

For your current, I see that in the staff report, you guys have noted that there's gonna be a total depth of 800 to 1,000 feet. Is that consistent with the other location you

site is smaller. I'm actually gonna defer to Clyde or Marcos on this question. It's a it's much different sized property.

Yes. So the the the size of the well that we're proposing or the depth of the well, we typically drew about 800 to 1,000 feet. That does not mean that that is going to be the final level of the well. So that is just the testing area that depth that we test the wells at and then we determine where the final depth is going to be set at. Yes, the other well, I believe it is set about 600 feet. So yes, but it all depends on the drilling, the property, the challenges on each property could change that debt accordingly.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. Is this mainly an unmanned facility or do you expect to have somebody on-site?

Yes. It's a unmanned. We send operator daily to go do at least a daily check, and that's why I think we propose two two parking spots on-site so that we can have guys properly park their vehicles because there is no parking on Washington

Boulevard. Yeah.

So the the site is unmanned, but I will say for our water facilities, we are are one of one of the rare utilities that has basically surveillance cameras. So we will have visual eyes on that. We're we're also one of the only utilities that does 247 service 365. So our staff is watching our sites at all times. There's not a time that there's not eyes on these facilities that are key infrastructure locations such as this one. So our staff is monitoring live, and they're handling what any needs that come up.

Understood. Thank you. Any more questions for the applicant? Not for the applicant,

but for staff, maybe the director. Sorry. I'm looking right at him. But, you know, just to reassure ourselves and maybe the public, like any other condition you use permit, the conditions of approval that are established and set by the city in terms of, you know, their obligation or any party's obligation. When they're violated, if there's a complainant comes in, you know, we're mandated to make sure that they abide by them. And if they're violating, whether it's maintenance, noise, or any others, that we make sure that they take corrective action.

That's a great great point, and absolutely. Not only does the municipal code prescribe that authority, but also the conditions specifically say that if any of the conditions are violated, that this this matter could be called back before the planning commission. And, know, you the city does also have the ability through the planning commission to initiate a revocation process for for any conditional use permit for that matter. So, yes, there is always an option. Thank you. Thank you.

Any more questions for the applicant or staff? No. No? Like I said, I wanna go ahead and close public comment and bring it back for the commission to discuss.

No. We have anything for public

comment. Oh, in that case, I don't have to close it. Mhmm. So we just bring it back.

I was just gonna say, I think we've covered everything.

I think so too. In that case No. Okay. So you would have to close the public hearing and open public Public comment. Public comment. I don't think we have

any speakers' cards. Right? We do not have any speaker cards. Okay. I guess.

And then we have to ask if, anyone received, an email or a call from expressing either disapproval or approval.

No. Staff did not receive any communications regarding this item. And per the municipal code, we did mail and publish. We mailed to a 300 foot radius around the site to owner occupants and then also published in the in a general circulation of a local paper, which I believe is is it the

Montebello Montebello News.

Montebello News. So we did not receive any comments. Alright. Thank you so much.

So, again, bringing it back to the commission. Can I entertain a motion to approve or entertain a motion? Period.

I'll go ahead and proceed with motioning and approval for conditional use permit number PC-twenty20Five-eightCUP with recommendations one and two.

And I'll second that.

Thank you so much. Can we get a roll call, please?

Commissioner Cuevas? Aye. Vice Chairperson Lomelli? Aye. Chairperson Medina?

Aye.

And motion passes.

Thank you so much. And that brings us to the end of of the items. The our next item is really the planning commission orals. Do I do we have any planning commission orals? No? I I do wanna mention that commissioner Morales' grandmother recently passed away, Sofia Morales, and I would like to end this meeting in in her honor, in honor of Sofia Morales.

May she rest in peace. May she rest in peace, most definitely.

In that case, thank you so much, everybody.