Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Sorry. Sorry. Good evening. I'm going to go ahead and call this meeting to order. Uh, today is April 21st, 2026. Can we start with a roll call, please? Of course. Commissioner Quas present. And I would like to apologize to the planning commission staff and members of the public for being a few minutes late.

Commissioner Morales present. Vice Chairperson Lamelly present. Chairperson Medina present. And we do have a quorum tonight and able to proceed with tonight's items. Thank you so much. Our next item is the pledge of allegiance. Can I have the me members of the public commission stand please? Ready begin. I pledge algiance 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 so much. The next item is the corrections to the agenda. Good evening, chair, members of the commission. There are no corrections to the agenda for tonight's meeting. Thank you so much. Our next item is the uh public comment. Uh can you help me with that? Yes, Mr. Chair. Uh at this time, the public may address the planning commission on any items listed on the agenda, including non-aggenda items that are within the planning commission's um subject matter jurisdiction. State law prohibits the planning commission from acting or entertaining extended discussion on a topic that is not listed on the agenda for tonight's meeting. Uh as a reminder, please show courtesy to others while providing public comments and direct all comments to the chairperson. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Our next item is staff communications. Do we have any staff communications? There are no staff communications. Thank you so much. Our next item is the approval of the planning commission meeting minutes from April 7th, 2026. I'll go ahead and motion the approval of planning meeting minutes from April 7th, 2026. I'll go ahead and second that. Thank you so much. Can we get a roll call, please? Commissioner Guvas, I. Commissioner Morales, I. Vice Chair Lamelly, I. Chairperson Medina, I. Motion passes.

Thank you so much. The next item is the public hearing. So, okay. I'm sorry. What? Once again, once once again, we'll go ahead and introduce item number two. And and so, good evening, chair, commission, members. Um the item before you is a conditional use permit requesting to upgrade an existing California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control license um at Montabelloo Junior Market located at 300 South Veil Avenue. Emily Fernandez will provide tonight's presentation for this item and I believe there is a separate presentation from the applicant um that will follow. Thank you.

Good evening chair, members of the planning commission and the public. Today I will be presenting case number 2026-000018-CU for a conditional use permit to allow Montabella Wine and Spirits, Inc. to upgrade their California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control license. So on February 19th, 2026, Monabello Wine and Spirits, Inc., The applicant filed a request for a conditional use permit to upgrade the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control license from a type 20 license off sale beer and wine to a type 21 off sale general for a convenience store located at 300 South Bale Avenue. No alteration to the project site is proposed in connection with the modification of the alcoholic license. The aerial map on the slide shows Montabelloo Junior Market located at 300 South Bale on the corner of West Olympic Boulevard in South Bale Avenue. The lot area is 11,691 square ft while the building area is 2,696 ft and is zone C2 general commercial. The general the current use at the project site has been operating under an active business license since January 16th, 1991. originally as Adriana's Market in October of 2024. The applicant purchased the business along with the existing ABC Type 20 license. Since the change of ownership, the license has been renamed to Montabelloo Junior Market. The surrounding land uses include commercially zoned properties to the south, east, and west. The businesses include a restaurant, a retail shopping center, and a towing company. Across the street directly north of the store is a property zone R2 that is being used as an auto body transmission business. The existing convenience store provides a total of 15 parking spaces including one accessible space. The business

requires one parking space for every 400 square ft of gross floor area. Based on the requirement, the location requires a total of seven parking spaces. The site exceeds the required amount by eight parking spaces. The convenience store operates daily from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 a.m. and offers a diverse selection of items, including a wide variety of food and household goods. The current business floor plan involves shelving, coolers, a front counter, storage space, and and a restroom. The addition of the alcoholic license upgrade will not result in any expansion or change of the existing floor plan or the exterior of the business. Table X identifies the number of licenses authorized by census track number 5320.01 and table Y identifies the current alcoholic beverage licenses for the specific census tract. There are two allowed licenses for offsale and there are currently four active offsale licenses. The approval of an ABC21 license will not result in an increase in offsell licenses to the census tract as the existing type 20 license will be surrendered upon issuance of the type 21 ABC license. Therefore, the proposed type 21 ABC license will not result in any undesirable concentration of alcoholic sales as the convenience store is already licensed to sell beer and wine and the addition of distilled spirits does not add a new alcohol selling establishment but rather expands the range of products offer offered by the existing business. These are the calls of service from April 2025 to April 2026. During the past year, there have been nine calls, two of which were tests and none were related to any disturbances caused by alcohol sales. Case number PC 2026-208 is considered a project per the California Environmental Quality Act and the project is considered a class one categorical exemption under SQA section

15301. A class one exemption applies to projects resulting in the operation, repair, maintenance, permitting, leasing, licensing, or minor alteration of existing private structures involving negligible or no expansion of use. There will be no expansion to the interior or exterior of the existing facilities. On March 31st, 2026, the public hearing notice was mailed to owners within the 300 foot radius and to occupants within the 500 foot radius from the exterior boundaries of the prop of the subjects act. On March 26, the notice was published in the Montabella News. Staff recommends that the planning commission adopt a a resolution number 0726 approving a conditional use permit subject to certain findings and conditions to allow the upgrade of a California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control license from type 20 to type 21 for an existing convenience store and determine that the project is categorically exempt from California Environmental Quality Act pursuant to SQA guidelines under section 15301. Thank you. If you have any questions, I'm open. And I believe the applicant also has a presentation.

Thank you so much. Do we have any questions for staff? No. I guess maybe we can address the questions later or maybe not. Can you can you maybe tell us the difference between the a type 20 and type 21? So 20 is the offsale of just beer and wine, but type 21 they'll be able to sell beer, wine, and distilled spirits. Gotcha. So the the only major difference is the the distilled spirits. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Um so no questions for staff. Do we close public hearing and then open it back? Yes. Correct.

Okay.

So we allow the presentation of from the owner from the applicant. I'm sorry. Go ahead. Thank you. Please state your name for the record, please. Good evening, Mr. Chair, vice chair, honorable planning commissioners, staff. My name is Jennifer Odin. I'm an attorney at the law offices of Solomon Saltzman and Jameson, and I have the privilege of representing Montab Monttoello Wine and Spirits, Inc. Um, I say the corporate entity, but really it's a family, and these gentlemen are seated behind me. Um, they are cousins. Uh we have three of the four corporate officers here with us tonight. FOI, ISA, and Chotti. Um and so I say the the corporate entity, but it's a family-owned operated business. These gentlemen uh have been in business with respect to California alcohol beverage control ABCIC locations. Whether that's beer and wine, a type 20 ABC license, such as currently the Montabella Wine and Spirits um junior market, or whether it's a type 21, which is what's being applied for to add that element of distilled spirits, an ancillary amount of distilled spirits at the location. These gentlemen have about 50. FOD corrected me earlier, uh when FOD and I first started working together, they had about 30 or so, just shy of. Um so they have about 50 locations throughout Southern California. out. They are experienced, responsible ABC licenses um at these locations. Like I said, mostly in the sense of markets such as the one here in Montabelloo um with beer and wine or markets with beer, wine, and distilled spirits. Never had have had any suspensions, revocations, problems with the ABC at any of their licensed locations. They took over this location, purchased it about two years ago, um just shy of two years now. have invested an considerable amount of money into this uh store. Um I think at the time of

the staff report, the staff uh indicated about 300,000. I found out the other day it's it's upwards almost close to a million dollars um at this point with respect to the exterior remodel renovations, the interior remodel renovations really to invest into the community here um in Montabelloo. And I think I have Yeah, there's just a good example of some of the exterior before and after um photographs. As you may know, this location has been a market since the early 1990s. It was originally approved by ABC with a type 20 beer and wine license um in 1990, so 35 plus years. It's a legal non-conforming use here in the city of Montabelloo. So adding the distilled spirits, albeit ancillary, to the existing beer and wine, triggers that need for a conditional use permit. So from a planning and zoning perspective, right, the city has the benefit of now having a legal non-conforming use potentially become a conditioned use under a conditional use permit with 30 plus conditions um at the location, all of which are agreeable uh to these gentlemen. So, um I understand it from staff that the uh application was routed to various departments, agencies. Um there's been no concerns, no opposition. Law enforcement doesn't have any concerns um or opposition. Here's just some more photographs of the before and after. If you haven't visited the location, I encourage you to visit the location. Um it's not just beer and wine or beer, wine, and distilled spirits, i.e. a liquor store. Um in that sense, it is a market. It has food. It has milk, um, household goods, medicine, automotive goods, beer and wine, um, of course, grocery items, pasta. It has a gamut of what you would want and expect at your local neighborhood market. And that's their intent to serve, uh, the local neighborhood. Here's just an example of some of the

medicine, the bread aisle, um, pasta, paper towels, um, tortillas, right? more examples with respect to juices, milk, and I wanted to just highlight some of the safety training and operational standards. Of course, the conditional use permit if approved. And like I mentioned, there's I want to say 31 conditions in that conditional use permit. All of which are agreeable. They've looked at these gentlemen have looked at those conditions. All of which are agreeable um to these individuals and it's all it's all a lot of what they do anyways, right? As I mentioned, they have several locations. They are familiar with ABC operated locations, familiar with working in conjunction with local jurisdictions and the ABC. And here's just some of the safety training and operational standards uh that the location does with respect to the sale of beer, wine currently and hopefully eventually distilled spirits adding that to it. So, um with that, I could go through it in its entirety, but you guys have seen the staff report. I've mentioned the conditions. There's there's a heck of a lot of them, right? to have the opportunity to bring a legal non-conforming use to a conditional use permit with some conditions there. And um these gentlemen, this family looks forward to continuing business in the city of Montabelloo. And I want to say last I checked or or saw um a testament to their business and their operation since taking over. I want to say there's about six or seven people here in support. um it's really difficult as you probably know as commissioners uh to get people in support um of an application certainly to come in person and do so. So I thank all of these customers, nearby neighbors, um people that are are patrons of the location for for coming and and speaking in support of uh the application. There we go. I was just going to I was just trying to leave it at the front. There we go. and I'm of course available as is the applicant for any questions.

Thank you so much. Um did the applicant want to take an opportunity to speak if you want? Thank you Mr. Chair.

Good evening everyone. How are you guys? Thank you again for coming out today and supporting us and thank you all our customers for coming out and supporting us on this on this big plan for our high-end market as we say. Um, like Jennifer said, I'm just going to read it a little bit more of what she said. We're a family. Um, this gentleman in specific, Fatti, he's been uh by my family side since we began businesses together. And the reason we've grown to 50 locations is because we take care of our businesses and we take care of the people in our community that choose to support our business. As you guys saw in the pictures earlier, we took it from nothing to always having, you know, homeless people outside. Um, there was not the best customer service to upgrading the store, maintaining a good relationship with our customers, maintaining a good relationship with the community. And with that being said, I think there's a lot more potential to grow if we're able to introduce the idea of distilled spirits into our store. whether that's expanding on more goods, expanding on um bringing in a lot of different things. And on top of that, we have the um the chance to be a one-stop shop for everyone. And that's our essential goal with all of our locations is to be that one-stop shop, you know, to be to provide that high-end market feel where people come in, they're able to find all their household goods, they're able to grab all their, you know, products for their home, and on top of that, you know, they grab what they grab their booze and stuff like that. And then I'm here to tell you guys, I deal a lot on the end of our employees. Um, we have a h an employee handbook that all employees at our locations must sign. And in that, the most thing that we are strict on is the idea of selling to underage and selling to someone who's consumed too much

alcohol. And we've done a very good job over the past years of implementing that. And as she said, no suspensions, no anything like that on our AB on any of our ABC licenses. And we plan to continue that here. and we plan to continue to support the city of Montabelloo and the community that supports us as well. Thank you guys. Thank you so much. We didn't catch your name. What was your name? Isa. Yeah. Een issa is Oh, thank you so much. She said,

I would imagine so. Yes, go ahead.

Uh, Issa and and maybe the attorney. Um I I do see you know members of the public present and uh I think um you indicated that some of them are here to support the business which is you know a good thing for your business for the business. Um but we did receive um quite a few uh letters of opposition as you may be aware and my uh I have a couple of questions but one of first questions and by the way you know for the record I have you know been to your store and you know was pretty quiet and I have purchased mostly beer because when I go across the street to buy meat for barbecues or things of that sort I don't want to go to Bonds or a big supermarket to buy alcohol. I have been to your store and it has been friendly and you know sorry to put it on record that I buy alcohol but I do

um you're you're human sir it's okay and you know now we all know we'll have minutes to prove it next week

my my wife's not going to be happy to hear this uh on on um on video uh but uh and I I have not witnessed any you know situations where there's people hanging out by the door. I have, you know, the last time I was there, I did see someone, you know, I don't want to judge, but it seemed, it appeared to me that it was a homeless person walking across, you know, the parking lot when I went into the store. They did not stop. They did not hang out outside the door and they did not ask me for money, which was a good thing. I went into the store and I bought the beer and I left. But there are people in the community that are concerned about, you know, the the possibility of having situations that they feel, you know, puts their uh their community, their neighborhood in a uh predicament where they may see more um situations where people are going to be, you know, uh drunk or uh could be a problem for their safety, their, you know, children's, you know, safety. uh because there there are kids that walk by there to go to school. Um so my question uh is have any of the members of the public approached you or the community approached you your business to inquire about you know uh or asking that you take care of a specific situation that has been affecting the business that could be problematic for their families for their you know um safety for their community that you have to uh have had to deal with and address. Yeah, I'll let Issa answer that question um specifically from an employer employee standpoint. Um I do know as he mentioned the location has a very strict policy and I'm glad to hear that there was a gentleman maybe homeless, maybe not, but nevertheless um was walking past and through and not stopping, right? Because Issa and I actually I think it was middle of last week had that conversation or a similar conversation of what is that policy,

right? What if something does happen, what do you do? Um, and it is one, and Isa can expand on it, but one of respect and approaching the individual and informing the individual. This is not a location where you can loiter or panhandle or hang out. We simply as a business do not tolerate it and you're going to need to move along. And if you don't, unfortunately, we will have to call law enforcement, right? Nobody wants to have to call the law enforcement unless it's needed. um nobody's they're not going to put their themselves or their employees in a in a dangerous situation. So if law enforcement is needed, absolutely that phone call is made. Um but as we saw from the calls for service, there's there's little to to none and certainly none around alcohol and there is beer and wine there currently today. So the addition of distilled spirits and I want to mention that the distilled spirits will be behind the counter, behind the cashier, so it's not um patron accessible, right? So that fear that we saw in some of those letters of opposition and and I'll hit on that in just a second um I think is is is fear alone um and not something that actually is a problem because there is beer and wine as I mentioned and has been for 35 plus years uh at the location and now with this family's operational policies procedures security measures any of those concerns are completely curtailed and then add on top of it 31 conditions to which they have to comply with, including no loitering signs, no public drinking signs, right? Law enforcement review, an annual review before the planning commission, the ability for the planning commission to bring this conditional use permit back before you and say, "Do we have any of these issues?" Because if we do, we now have mechanisms in place to make sure that we don't have those types of of issues, right? That benefit from taking a legal non-conforming use as it is now to a discretionary approved use. And with respect to the um letters in opposition,

yes, we did receive them. Thank you to staff um for providing them. And I don't know if the commission has had the opportunity to review them. I think there was 15 in total submitted. Of those 15, 13 were by different people, if you will. Two people um or two couples submitted twice. So I'll say a total of 13. Um I can hand this out. Emily, are you able to pass this out to the commissioner so everybody has a copy? Um, but I took the liberty, actually my assistant did, because she's much better at anything on the computer than I am. Um, but looking at the addresses with respect to where those uh complaints or um concerns, if you will, because I shouldn't say they're complaints, they're definitely not complaints against the existing business by any means, but concerns. Um, and you'll notice where on the on this map those concerns are located. In the years that I've been doing this, in my experience, I don't know for certain, but based on my experience, I have to believe that these concerns or opposition are being potentially competitor- driven. There is a liquor store up the street um off of Olympic. As you can see, it's labeled Olympic liquor. And that's where most of these concerns or opposition are coming from. Again, it's not directly related to Montabelloo beer and wine, right? The Montabelloo Junior Market. um and they live or work but mostly live right next to an existing liquor store. So there are some outliers. Um again I think to answer your question uh Mr. Commissioner all of the conditions in place the existing operational policies and procedures help address if not alleviate in their entirety any of those loitering, littering, public drinking concerns. And I think the map does a good job of indicating where some of that opposition might be coming from. Thank you.

To touch base a little bit more on what she's talking about when it come you guys hear me because Yeah. Just to touch base a little bit more on what she's talking about in regards to um like uh community concerns and stuff like that. I'm going to go back to the point I made earlier about how uh strict you are about our employees and about safety of the community about making sure our c our customers everyone every single one of our customers feels like we want them to feel like family when they come into our store at the end of the day we're a family-owned business and the way we're able to live our lives is if they're supporting us so we care for them like family. So to your question about concerns with the community coming in, have we had any problems with customers complaining about potential homeless or um anything like that to this to date? No. Right. And if we were to have something like that, like she said, we approach in a very familyfriendly manner. We know we're always taking the community side, you know. Um, and that's something we'll continue to do from today and on. Whether it means having distilled spirits or, you know, our goal goal is to always continue taking care of the community.

You know, it may be.

I have a question and the uh applicant's attorney sort of kind of touched on that and this is more of a you know, while we're talking about these uh conditions of approval with this expanded use. Um, and I I think she did a pretty good job in clarifying the point that, you know, the uh establishment by right currently has the uh legal um status of being able to sell the alcohol that they sell, the wine and uh the beer. Um, but without the specified conditions that could potentially be, you know, added to with the added benefit of being able to um sell the distilled, you know, liquor. Um, can someone maybe clarify what could happen if some of those are violated under this current approval if it does get approved tonight as far as what that entails and the ability for the city to be able to then um take a position to remove that uh ability for them to continue to sell the uh distilled liquor if that is granted tonight. Sorry, I director I'm looking right at you and you know I was thinking that maybe you're the most appropriate person to address and that this and I apologize for that but thank you. Great question, Commissioner. And um so the there is a condition that allows um staff to actually um bring back this item to the commission um should there be a need and that need could stem from a variety of things, but um there would be an opportunity at that time to reconsider uh whether or not um the use is uh appropriate. So that to answer your question, yes, there is that opportunity uh within this uh proposal before you tonight.

Thank you for clarifying that for us. They're all my questions. Thank you. Thank you. At least for now. Sorry. It's okay. Any more questions for the applicant? I I have one quick one. Or maybe not so quick, but I'm I'm wonder if you can help us understand what difference the the the licenses would make to your business.

Sure. Sure, I can answer it briefly and then I'll I'll defer to to Issa. Generally speaking, most most of the families ABC licenses are type 21s, beer, wine, and distilled spirits. Um, it's something that they are comfortable operating, owning and operating, responsible in doing so. What it does is it gives the family the ability to be, as Issa mentioned, that one-stop shop, right? So, this isn't a liquor store where you're just seeing beer, wine, and distilled spirits. You are seeing, as I mentioned in some of the photos depicted, right, the whole grains, the milk, the medicine, household goods, pet food, everything like that, a neighborhood market. If we were on the east coast, we'd call it a bed, right? Um, so that is the impact that you don't want to lose. The family doesn't want to lose a customer base, even a single customer with respect to, oh, I could have gone to Issa's store and gotten it, but I can't because I wanted to buy my husband that, you know, bottle of scotch, right? And get the milk and get um the bread and get pasta for dinner tonight and get a nice bottle of wine, right? So, um there's been studies over the years with respect to um what they call kind of the the grocery cart count, right? and that people will go to a location where they can get everything at one stop. Um, and if they can't do it, then they're less likely to visit that location again. So, that's kind of the ideology behind it with respect to their business operations that they have at other locations, the the business um as far as the product is concerned at the location. And again, that's why I say ancillary because it is just that small amount of distilled spirits behind the cashier in a controlled setting. But it's an important it's an important amount.

Just uh just to come back to what she was saying. So um we are our essential goal is at the end of the day to be as convenient to the community as possible. Right? We are our our goal in bringing in the ability to sell distilled spirits is to be convenient. You know, we're a small little shop, not too crazy busy. You know, someone coming home from work, doesn't want to go, like she said, down the streets to the Albertsons or something like that. they just can pull into our store really quick, do their shopping, get what they need all in one thing rather than, you know, they have to come shop here and oh man, I have to get in my car and drive down to Ralph's for example or to Albertson's to go and grab that one bottle of liquor. You know what I mean? So, we just we've all we've built over the past 30 years as a family is being a convenience store and being a market that offers everything. And that's our essential goal is to continue doing that here. And I'm sure it's something that's going to be beneficial, not for not so much for us, but more for the community. And that's who we're trying to serve at the end of the day.

Thank you. Any more comments for or questions for the applicant? No. Okay. Yeah. I I have a question for staff though. Uh I'm wondering uh uh Miss Olden brought up the fact that this the convenience store itself is operating as a legal non-conforming use or is it the use that's non-conforming or something else? I was going to say legal non-conforming. Maybe I can clarify if if it helps. I saw the director looking at me, but if I'm overstepping, please tell me. Go ahead.

When I say legal non-conforming with respect to the off-site sale of beer and wine at the location. So now, currently in the city of Montabelloo, and the deputy city attorney of course can correct me if I'm wrong as well. Um, an on sale andor an offsale location require a discretionary entitlement, a conditional use permit. A lot of local jurisdictions do. So, the fact that there is currently an ABC type 20 license at this location has been since 1990, the off-site sale of beer and wine predates municipal municipal codes requirement to have a discretionary entitlement with the addition of adding distilled spirits. That is why the applicant is here for the conditional use permit. So hence why I've said the benefit of taking a legal non-conforming beer and wine use to a conforming discretionarily approved use.

Gotcha. And and Mr. Chair, if I may add, for example, in the city of Los Angeles, this would be considered a deemed approved. In other words, it was in existence before the zoning regulations took effect. So I understand. Thank you. Sorry. Again, any more questions for the applicant? No. If not, I'm going to go ahead and uh close the public hearing and then open public comment. We'll have to see if there's anyone in the public here. Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, just to reiterate, leave it open. Okay. We'll leave the public hearing open.

Yes. So, I will call um the the names in the order that we received. Please um state your name um and address for the record and you will have three minutes. So the first um speaker will be Julian Johnny Bodegas. Thank you.

Hello. Uh excuse me if I stutter. I don't really public speak at all. But um yeah, I'm Julian Johnny Rodriguez. Um, the Montabelloo Market is like they were saying like a one-stop shop, but that would be the to make it complete is adding that license. Um, it's really clean. It's got, it didn't show in the photos, but at night they got really bright lights. The parking lot's clear. I live right down the street. I'm on 209 South Maple. Um, this is a place where I've gotten groceries, propane, alcohol, I mean, well, beer and and wine. But yeah, um, you don't want to wait in that superior line. You got to go over there. It could be quick. Um, it's a place where I would send my family. They go and my fiance. I know that if it's late at night, I'm not around, I send her over there. like she I I tell her that's I wouldn't want you to go to Walgreens on what you're because a lot of problems have been happening over there lately. And um you know recently December 18th, 2025, I got robbed at the Gum Gummer Plaza on Warrior Boulevard and there was lots of people around but there was no calls to the police. They saw it. I had to call. I know that if something were to happen to me or a family, the employees there would call. They treat you like family, they're going to stick their neck out for you. And I believe in that one-stop shop thing a lot because the more stops you take, especially at night, the more risk

you have out there for something to go wrong. So, my life's changed a lot since that happened to me. And I really like the first couple of weeks just want to go to one place and go home cuz too worried about what's going to happen out there. But, um, yeah, they I I have several family members that have gone there. They all talk about how nice employees are. They remember you when you come in. They say hello. Um, you know, I for number one thing there for me is it it's a safe place to shop. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Julian. Our next speaker is Rod Ortiz.

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is Rod Ortiz. I live not even a 100 feet away from the store there. I've lived at my residence for over 35 years. I have seen the previous owners. Um I would never let my my older kids or my kids back then walk to the store cuz a lot of homeless, a lot of crazy stuff going around. But now it's different. It's all lit up. You could even see the lights from my house. So it is pretty lit up. So, I let my I let my wife, my my son, and my granddaughter go down there. Um, you go in there, the place is immaculate. It brings out the city, especially that corner because it was always dirty. A lot of homeless people hanging out. Um, there was a couple of homicides there a few years ago with the homeless. So, it's changed for the p the past two years. I've gone to the store a couple of times. I met the gentleman, Danny. Good, man. So, the place is good. I know it'll be good for the city.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Rod. Our next speaker is Manuel J. Castanos.

Hi, good evening. My name is Manuel Castanos and um I want to mention that about liquor store. Now the liquor store look very very different than than before. They have all kind of products you know if I if I want to go buy anything you know little little little things I don't have to go out to the big stores because I live for them from half a block. The thing that I like is uh just in case if any person have an any any emergency they they have medicines, they have food for a dog, they have food for the kitties, you know, they have they got everything you know and then you know I like it because the the the place look very very different and then be the the owners before they they they give us a bad I mean when you go buy a beer or something like You have to give it to them the product and then they get the product and then when you give the money they give you the product back. So you know it's to total is very very different you know even with Mr. Danny over there he's a nice person you know he's a he always have a good manners to treat the people. Okay that's it. Thank you.

Thank you so much man. Our next speaker is Lucia Estrada.

Hello. Good evening to everyone. My name is Lucia Strada. I live right here not even like 3 minutes, 2 minutes in back immediate. I'm going to tell you something. The soon my kids went to the store, they want to go every single day. They love everything. When you go into the store, whoever's the staff is like, "Oh, welcome. You need anything?" It's wonderful. I feel like very safe there than before. I'm going to tell you something. The other owners that was there, I will go to the liquor store, but if we would get cookies or something and then we would get home, it will be spired. And that liquor store, you don't find nothing. Everything good. When I go, I don't go just for milk. I get bread. I get I get anything I need at the house instead of going to Superior, make a big line. And I love the store. And the more important is that it has when you go in the night, it's very bright. You feel safe. And my kids, we could go walking cuz they they really like the store. They're happy. And I'm happy having them and the and and community. And we're here for support them for anything. Thank you.

Thank you so much, Lucia. Our next speaker is Ivan Estrada.

Hello, my name is Ivan Estrada. I just want to say uh I feel happy that we have a store like this, especially now that it's has the all the big nice lights and everything. We feel safer. Like my wife said, we didn't feel safe before and then everything was expired. Now it they got everything good, good service, very good educated people. No, treat us like family, you know. So I'm happy for the start, feel safe, and thank you. Thank you, Ivan.

Mr. Chair, our final speaker is Kevin Caravantes. Good afternoon. Um, my name is Kevin Carvalantes. I'm a resident here in Montabelloo. I also have my business registered here in Montabelloo. Um, I remember when I first went in there um, very excitedly he came up and greeted me and told me they had just changed the owner ownership over and um, I congratulated him and he said, "Wait, it's going to get better." And every day after that, every time I go, it's always been better. new paint, freshly remodeled, clean inside, clean outside. Um, I wanted to come and support him because not only has he been a man of his word and has done the upgrades, you know, he had a vision. I think this um, acquiring the license is the next step in his vision and I would really like to see that happen for him. Um, I also wanted to come support him because um, I also do see him around the community here. Our our kids go to school together. I see him dropping off his son at the middle school here where my son goes. I see him at basketball games and just uh going into the market. Also, like they said, it's a family-owned business and it also makes me feel like family myself there. You know, they treat us very nice. I have a baby as well. They give them candy all the time. They take care of all of them. They're really good people and I would like to see their vision happen.

Thank you. Thank you so much, Kevin. That concludes our public speakers. Thank you so much, uh, Director Uh, I do want to mention, I think it's been mentioned already, but we did receive, I think, 15 letters in opposition. Uh, they're all generally uh along the same lines of opposing the uh the uh uh the licensing. Um, hearing no more comments, I'm going to go ahead and close the public hearing and bring it back to the commission. Um questions, comments, commissioners,

I if I may. Um I think uh all of the speakers present tonight uh spoke in support of the business. Correct. Uh nobody that was in opposition uh was present tonight. Okay. Just wanted to make sure. Thank you.

Thank you. That's a very good point. Yes. Um, I would just like to state um as a lifelong resident of Montabelloo, I've also been to the liquor to this site location prior to new ownership and after ownership and new ownership and I would like to say that I have also seen what the other, you know, residents that have came here tonight. Um, I could vouch to the fact that the location does feel safer. Um, I would say that it's so much cleaner. It's very, very nice. I also buy beer. So, um, I've stopped there on a couple of occasions, uh, with my kid. Um, my son also likes to get the goodies that they have there that not a lot of the stores, you know, nearby have. Um, so I I mean given the opposition letters, the amount of opposition letters, um, nobody showed up here tonight, but everybody in support is here tonight. Um, I would say out of the years that I've been here in the planning commission, um, not out of the liquor licenses or just beer and wine l licenses that we've approved here, I would say this is one of the nicest presentations that I can say that I've witnessed. Um, where you guys are prepared and you guys actually speak on, you know, your history here. Um, so I just wanted to say, um, thank you for bringing your business to the city of Montabelloo. Thank you.

Yes, I uh must agree um with the comments as well and I think um any a business owner is going to care for their business, right? For the the good of their business. And these letters that were received of course are letters of concern like anyone else would be concerned for their family and uh for their city and community. So definitely they're appreciated, right? the concerns but definitely you can tell that uh this business uh will definitely you know benefit um this area the community and we can see with the response of those who have come to um support the business as well. So,

thank you so much, Commissioner Morales. Uh, on my end, I'm I'm I'm thinking about it uh from a regulatory perspective, right? Um, the applicant mentioned that, and I I'm going to fumble fumble the term, but I think was something about it being non-conforming. Uh, because we it it predates the period when the zoning code required these type of conditional uses. And I think it behooves us to um allow this use in exchange to having a little bit more regulatory control because that will allow us to have conditions that the applicant will have to meet. So aside from uh any other reason, I think that that that alone uh persuades me to uh to look favorably on on on this application.

I have one last comment about, you know, all of the comments that were made. And uh the reason I was um making a point about the folks that were in opposition and not present tonight is not to shame anyone. I first would like to you know reassure any concerned resident and community member that you know it is a a good opportunity for them to voice their opinion because they are being heard. The disadvantage of not being present tonight is that uh we don't get an opportunity to ask them you know about specific situations where they and their families were in a situation where you know um they can explain you know what occurred to them. A common concern about the safety of their family or their you know um community is a legitimate concern. Um but uh not again not us not having the experience of like exactly you know what transpired you know in that experience it it kind of takes away you know the their opportunity to expand on you know more of their concerns. Um but the reassurance that I you know if we you know again uh happen to approve this tonight is that um I think you know the the chairperson mentioned this that um this kind of gives us the mechanism to be able to have a better say or um the ability as a city and as a community to raise concerns if things change after this. And you know, I don't want to put the the uh ownership, you know, on the spot, but you know, they're going to be on their best behavior, you know, coming to this situation. We hope that all the um good things that were said about the business, you know, some of us, you know, patronized your business and we had pleasant

experiences. It sounds like at least for some of us who were there. Uh and we hope that, you know, continues beyond this. But if we again happen to approve this tonight as a city and as a community, we do have the ability to bring this item back and and have the the ownership be accountable for not complying with these conditions that uh are uh recommended and could be set and established for us to be able to control this if things get get out of hand beyond, you know, the approval of the license. My two cents. Thank you. Agreed. Thank you. So, with that in mind, can I entertain a motion from the commission?

Um, I have just a really quick question. When it comes to staff, uh, potentially when it comes to, for example, tonight they had to come in and, you know, they had to go through the approval process um, for this cup. uh when it comes to liquor license, beer and wine licenses that are already in place for say um for you know residents of the community who seem to you know potentially have um you know concerns or um issues when it comes to maybe not specifically this location but other locations within the community. Um, how can they um what is what is something that you guys would recommend for those community members that are experiencing negative, you know, situations when it comes to somebody who does have their license in place?

Great question, Commissioner. Um I my first you know depending on the circumstances but if it's it's criminal obviously we would recommend they contact the Monville Police Department but if it's something related to the use where there could be a code violation then we would um refer them to our code enforcement um division which is also under the planning and community development department. They would then investigate open a code enforcement case and then that would work its way through you know a notice of violation um and potentially even escalated to the city attorney's office for for consideration. We would look at entitlements, for example, um and then whether or not, you know, it was a in this case a non-conforming where we may not have the ability to bring it back. But if it if it if it if it if this situation did occur with a a use that had a conditional use permit, we would have much more um authority to basically bring that back to the commission for review and reconsideration.

Thank you, director. Thank you. So again, back to the commission here for motion. I would like to go ahead and make a motion to approve uh conditional use permit cup case number PC 2026-0018 with recommendations 1 and two. I'll second. Thank you so much. Can we get a roll call, please? Of course. Commissioner Guvas, I. Commissioner Morales, I. Vice Chair Lamelly I. Chairperson Medina I. And motion passes.

Thank you so much. Um and for one, I'm I'm looking forward for a good partnership with you guys. It sounds like you're a good business. Maybe you'll become a model for other businesses that are operate the same way. Um so looking forward forward to to working with you guys. Thank you so much. Thank you guys. Okay. So the uh next item would be the planning any planning commission orals. No oral. No, you're the only one missing a shirt. I got it.

I was just going to talk to that point and I a you apologize again. I'm so sorry for being late. Oh man. Okay. Uh our next item is just to adjourn. So thank you so much. 7:26. Yes. Thank you.