Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

We're gonna go ahead and call this meeting to order. Can we get a roll call, please?

Yes. Chairperson Medina?

Present.

Vice Chair Lomeli? Present. Commissioner Morales?

Present.

And Victor Cuevas is not with us tonight, but we do have a quorum and able to proceed with tonight's meeting. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Our next item is the Pledge of Allegiance. Can you please stand, please? Thank you so much. Our next item is corrections to the agenda. Do we have any corrections to the agenda? Mr. Chair, there are no corrections to the agenda for tonight's meeting. Thank you so much. Our next item is public comment. Director Pellomi, can you help me with the statement, please?

Yes, Mr. Chair. Good evening, Chair, Commissioners. I'd just like to, for the record, the City Attorney is available online. So if there's any questions from the Commission, the City Attorney is available. So at this time, the public may address the Planning Commission on any items listed on the agenda, including non-agenda items that are within the Planning Commission's subject matter jurisdiction. State law prohibits the Planning Commission from acting or entertaining extended discussions on a topic that is not listed on the agenda for tonight's meeting. 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. There are no staff communications tonight.

Thank you.

Thank you so much. Our next item is the approval of the Planning Commission Minutes from April 21st, 2026.

I'll go ahead and motion to approve the Planning Commission Meeting Minutes from April 21st of 2026.

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

And I will second.

Can we get a roll call, please?

Commissioner Morales? Aye. Vice Chairperson Lomeli? Aye. Chairperson Medina?

Aye.

And motion passes.

Thank you so much. or flying through the agenda today. Our next item is to open the public hearing. So we'll go ahead and open the public hearing.

Again, good evening, Chair, members of the Commission. Item two on tonight's agenda is a resolution approving the revocation of conditional use permit number 01-19 for the property located at 914 South Vail Avenue within the City of Montebello. Staff will provide a brief presentation. I believe Viviana Esparza, our planning manager, will provide that presentation, and we will be available for any questions or comments you may have. Thank you.

Thank you.

Good evening Chairperson Medina and members of the Planning Commission. The item before you tonight is for the proposed revocation of Conditional Use Permit Number 01-19 related to commercial cannabis operations conducted at 914 South Vale Avenue in the City of Montebello. TO PROVIDE YOU WITH BACKGROUND ON THE CITY'S CANNABIS REGULATIONS, IN SEPTEMBER 2017, THE CITY COUNCIL ADOPTED ORDINANCE NUMBER 2399, WHICH AMENDED THE MONTABLE MUNICIPAL CODE TO INCLUDE CHAPTER 5.90. THIS WAS FOLLOWED BY THE ADOPTION OF ORDINANCES 2400, 2404, AND 2405, ESTABLISHING ADDITIONAL REGULATIONS TO THE CANNABIS PROGRAM. The purpose and intent of Chapter 5.9.0 is to allow for the processing of cannabis permits and enforce rules and regulations related to the cultivation, manufacturing, testing, distribution, and non-storefront retail delivery and micro-businesses of medicinal and adult use cannabis and cannabis products. The city's cannabis program requires that all cannabis operators obtaining, they must obtain a conditional use permit and a development agreement prior to operating any cannabis activity within the city of Montebello. Now to date, a total of 24 conditional use permits have been approved by the Planning Commission for Cannabis Activity, all of which have executed development agreements. Of the 24 approved, eight are currently active and operating under at least one of their approved license types. Eight have had their CUPS revoked or declared null and void due to inactivity or not being able to effectuate their conditional use permanent and timely manner. And eight are not in compliance with the requirements of the cannabis program. And Cali Med Management Group, LLC, is among the eight that are not in compliance due to its failure to adhere to the requirements of the city's cannabis program. including the terms and conditions of its conditional use permit and for failure to fulfill the financial obligations required under Development Agreement 01-19. CaliMed received the Planning Commission approval for Conditional Use Permit 01-19 on June 4th, 2019, which allowed for the operation of distribution and non-storefront retail delivery activity at 914 South Vale Avenue. And that followed by the execution of Development Agreement Number 01-19 between the City of Montebello and CaliMed on July 8th, 2019. Cali Med has failed to meet their contractual obligations to the city as it relates to the development agreement. CITY RECORDS INDICATE THAT CALI MED IS DELINQUENT IN PAYING A MINIMUM OF $174,800 IN COMMUNITY BENEFITS AND OPERATING FEES AND HAS FAILED TO SUBMIT THEIR QUARTERLY FINANCIAL DUE SINCE AUGUST 2023. ON JANUARY 31, 2025, MR. GENE GONZALEZ, OWNER OF THE BUSINESS, EMAILED TO THE CITY TO NOTIFY THE CITY THAT ALL CANNABIS OPERATIONS HAD CEASED AND THAT THE CITY BUSINESS WAS NO LONGER OPERATING. In the same email, Mr. Gonzalez expressed an interest in transferring the business to another entity. The city attempted to work with Mr. Gonzalez and provided sufficient time to initiate the transfer of ownership. However, Mr. Gonzalez never followed through with the amendment request. The city provided Calumet numerous opportunities over an extended period of time to pay the required fees and correct their standing with the city. But after multiple notices and unsuccessful attempts to resolve the deficiencies, the city issued Calumet a financial notice of default on July 29, 2025. advising CaliMed that the city would initiate revocation proceedings if all outstanding fees were not paid by August 28, 2025. Within the staff report, you will find a timeline detailing official communication related to CaliMed from January 2025 to present date. It is also important to note that Cali Med's city business license expired in May 2024, and its cannabis license is also currently listed by the Department of Cannabis Control as expired. Due to Cali Med's failure to comply with the requirements of the city's cannabis program, The city is now proceeding with revocation actions. Pursuant to section 5.90.090 of the Montebello Municipal Code, failure of a permitting to pay the requisite fees shall constitute a breach of the development agreement and is grounds for revocation of the conditional use permit. In addition, under Section 17.80.020, any zone variance or conditional use permit may be revoked and nullified if it is found that the permit has been or is being used in contrary to the terms or conditions of the approval or is in violation of any statute, ordinance, law, or regulation. The public hearing notice for this proposed revocation was published in the Montebello News, mailed to the property owners within 300 feet of the subject property, and uploaded to the city's website, and transmitted it to all interested parties, all on June 4th, 2026. THE REQUEST FOR REVOCATION OF CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT NUMBER 01-19 HAS BEEN DETERMINED TO BE EXEMPT FROM ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW PURSUANT TO THE GUIDELINES OF THE CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT TITLE 14 CHAPTER 3 SECTION 15 321 CLASS 21 SPECIFIC TO ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS BY REGULATORY AGENCIES. Therefore, at this time, staff recommends that the Planning Commission adopt Resolution 04-26, approving the revocation of Conditional Use Permit Number 01-19, which allows for commercial cannabis activities at 914 South Vale Avenue. Due to the failure by CaliMed Management Group, TO COMPLY WITH THE CONDITIONS OF APPROVAL APPLICABLE TO CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT NUMBER 01-19 AND FOR FAILURE TO FULFILL THEIR CONDITIONS AND THEIR OBLIGATIONS AND COMMITMENTS PURSUANT TO DEVELOPMENT AGREEMENT NUMBER 01-19 AND THE MONOVALUE MUNICIPAL CODE SECTION 5.90.090. AND ALSO MAKE A DETERMINATION REGARDING THE REVOCATION THAT CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT NUMBER 019, FINDING THAT IT IS EXEMPT UNDER THE ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW PURSUANT TO THE GUIDELINES OF CEQA TITLE 14 CHAPTER 3 SPECIFIC TO ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS BY REGULATORY ACTIONS. AND MY PRESENTATION IS CONCLUDED AND THE COMMISSION HAS ANY QUESTIONS FOR STAFF, WE'LL GLADLY ANSWER THOSE.

NEW SPEAKER THANK YOU SO MUCH. DO WE HAVE ANY QUESTIONS FOR STAFF BEFORE WE MOVE

I do have a question for staff. When it comes to, for example, you guys listed on the presentation here that there are eight revocations currently at this moment in time. I see two here up for a vocation this evening. For the others, are there no planning commission meetings being held to approve those revocations? Are they currently pending? Or just to clarify for, you know, EVERYBODY WHO MAY BE WATCHING.

YES, COMMISSIONER. AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, WE'RE PROCESSING THESE AS THEY COME UP, AND WE WORK CLOSELY WITH OUR FINANCE DEPARTMENT IN TRACKING NOT ONLY THE COLLECTIONS OF THE REVENUE THAT'S DUE TO THE CITY, but just also monitoring the conditions of approval. So back in January of 2025, we did bring two cannabis CUPs to the commission, and they were ultimately revoked at that time. We now have three that we are bringing tonight, which are before you, and different items in the agenda. And then we, I think, have five additional that we will need to process and bring forward later. And as you can imagine, it takes staff time to go through these and put together all the facts that were presented to you on this item. So as we work through that, we bring them forward, you know, in the time and manner in which they become available. So hope that answers your question.

Thank you for clarifying.

And just to maybe get a little bit more feedback on how much effort do we, or does the city Or what is the effort that the city takes in order to bring or help bring these businesses up to their standards that we're asking them to come up to? In other words, it sounds like we reached out to Mr. Gonzalez. Mr. Gonzalez didn't necessarily follow up. I just want to understand what sort of steps we take to... to not necessarily help them, but to facilitate them coming into compliance.

Thank you for the question. So staff is basically binded by the agreements and the underlying entitlements. So in those agreements there, it's outlined of what the obligations are from these operators. We do not have any flexibility to negotiate the fees or what we have done is we have allowed, for example, those operators that were $50,000 or less We've allowed them time to bring their fees current. From what we've heard, and Viviana, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the industry is very challenged. And I think in this particular case, and I don't know if it was this one or another one, but maybe you can shed some light on, they basically said that they're just unable to survive in the current business climate. So really at that point, there's nothing we can do to, it'd be like any other business in the city. You know, we would just, you know, obviously move forward with the regulatory side of what we need to do to, to clean these things up.

Understood. Thank you. Any more questions or comments for staff? No. Is the applicant or the owner of this, of this operation present, or do we have anybody from the applicant?

We do not. And we do not have any speaker cards on this item. Thank you so much.

IN THAT CASE, WOULD I NEED TO CLOSE PUBLIC COMMENT TO BRING IT BACK TO THE COMMISSION? YES, WE DID OPEN PUBLIC COMMENT, BUT THERE ARE NO PUBLIC COMMENTS. ANYBODY WANT TO SPEAK ON THIS PARTICULAR ITEM? Nope. Okay. In that case, I'm going to go and close the public hearing on this item and bring it back to the commission. I think in this particular case, personally, I wrote my notes and I don't know where I left them. I mean, we communicated with the, sounds like we communicated with the operation, last year, almost a year ago exactly, about the outstanding fees. Their business license has expired. Their state license is expired. I don't think there's necessarily an interest in keeping this. At least it's clear to me. Okay. Any thoughts on that, Commissioner Morales?

I agree with what you just stated right now. We need to make that decision.

In that case, I will motion to adopt the revocation of the conditional use permit for permit number 01-19 related to the commercial cannabis operations conducted at 914 South Vail Avenue. which includes the adoption of resolution number 26, approving the revocation of the condition to use permit number 01-19, which allows for the commercial cannabis activity at 914 South Vail Avenue. due to the failure of CaliMed Management Group, LLC, also known as CaliMed, to comply with the conditions of approval applicable to the conditional use permit number 01-19, and for failure to fulfill their obligations and commitments pursuant to development agreement number 119, and Montebello Municipal Code Section 5.90.090.A, and make the determination regarding the revocable conditional use permit number 01-19, finding that it's exempt from environmental review pursuant to the guidelines of the California Environmental Quality Act, Section 21080, Subsection B, Subsection D, I'm sorry, nine, and California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Chapter 3, Section 15321, which deals with Class 21 enforcement actions by regulatory agencies. So my motion's to approve the revocation. Can we get a second, please?

I will second that.

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

Commissioner Morales? Aye. Commissioner Lomeli? Aye. Chairperson Medina?

Aye.

And motion passes.

Thank you so much. Okay, we're going to move on to the next item. Item number three on the agenda. Yes, commissioners.

Item three is also a resolution approving the revocation of conditional use permit number 07-19 and the associated modifications. And this is for the property located at 728 South Vail Avenue. Staff, I believe Grace Hayashi will provide the presentation on this item. And we are here for any questions you may have. Thank you.

Good evening chair, commissioners and members of the public. The next item for tonight's meeting is for the revocation of conditional use permit number 0719 and associated amendment number 0719-M1 related to commercial cannabis operations conducted at 728 South Vale Avenue. Montebello's cannabis regulations, established through ordinance numbers 2399A, 2400, 2404, and 2405, require all cannabis businesses to obtain both a conditional use permit and a development agreement before operating. FAILURE TO PAY REQUIRED FEES OR COMPLY WITH THE TERMS OF THESE APPROVALS, CHAPTER 5.90 OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE AND OTHER APPLICABLE LAWS MAY RESULT IN REVOCATION OF A CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT. THE PLANNING COMMISSION HAS APPROVED 24 CUPS FOR CANNABIS OPERATIONS. OF THESE EIGHT BUSINESSES ARE CURRENTLY OPERATING, EIGHT HAVE HAD THEIR PERMITS REVOKED OR VOIDED DUE TO INACTIVITY AND EIGHT ARE NOT IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE CITY'S CANNABIS PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS. Saints Place LLC is one of the non-compliant operators due to its failure to meet the requirements of its CUP development agreement and applicable provisions of Chapter 5.90 of the Montebello Municipal Code, making it subject to revocation. On June 4th, 2019, Saints Place received approval for conditional use permit number 0719 from the city's planning commission to allow for the operation of commercial cannabis activity at 728 Southvale Avenue. Subsequently, development agreement number 0719 between the city of Montebello and Saints Place LLC was executed. On July 28, 2021, the City Council approved First Amendment to Development Agreement No. 07-19 authorizing an amendment to add cultivation as an additional commercial cannabis activity. After multiple notices and unsuccessful attempts to resolve the deficiencies, the City issued Saints Place a final notice of default On July 23, 2024, advising Saints Place that the city would initiate revocation proceedings if all outstanding fees were not paid by July 29, 2024. City records indicate that Saints Place is delinquent in paying at minimum $93,700 in community benefit and operating fees. On February 19, 2025, the city received a notice of emergency decision in order from the California Department of Cannabis Control that orders suspension of all cannabis activities associated with the state license issued to Saints Place LLC, located at 728 Southville Avenue. Effective February 19, 2025, due to evidence of sale, transport, or transfer of illegal cannabis goods in the possession of Saints Place. On February 26, 2026, the city received email correspondence from the California Department of Cannabis Control that included a copy of the Department of Cannabis Control order adopting stipulated revocation of their license issued to Saints Place, which became effective February 26, 2026. Please note that Saints Place City business license expired on 08-01-2024 and its cannabis license is also currently listed on the California Department of Cannabis Control as revoked. Due to their failure to comply with the city's cannabis program, including the terms and conditions of its CUP and development agreement, the city is now proceeding with revocation action. Additionally,