Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All right, there we go.

All right, hello everybody out there. I say a good evening and welcome to the Planning Commission of the City of Moreno Valley. I now call this meeting to order on June 11th at exactly 6.01 PM. I invite Commissioner Baker to lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

And hand over your heart, begin.

Thank you. All right, can we have a roll call please?

Commissioner Zaitz?

Present.

Commissioner Taylor? Present. Commissioner Steffen?

Present.

Vice Chairperson Baker?

Here.

Chairperson DeGeneres?

Present. All right. We're now going to move to the approval of the agenda. May I have a motion and a second for the approval of the agenda?

I'll move that we approve the agenda as submitted.

Second. All right. We have a motion and a second. All right. Electronically. There we go. No? There we go.

I got it.

Okay, the motion does carry. All right, before we hear public comments this evening, I ask and encourage everyone participating to keep their comments respectful towards others, especially towards individuals speaking. I embrace and support the First Amendment right to free speech, including everyone's right to speak at this meeting, and share here their views about issues concerning our city. Any person wishing to speak under the public comment section of the agenda, schedule items, or public hearings must fill out a request to speak form available at the door. The completed form must be submitted to the secretary prior to the end of the public comment period. During the public comment period for each item, including items not on the agenda, each member of the public who has signed up to speak will have a maximum of three minutes to speak. The public must direct their comments to the chairperson of the commission. We will now move into public comments on any item that is not on the agenda. Do we have any speakers?

Yes, we have five speakers. George Haig, followed by Denise Mortadi, followed by Deanna Hargrave.

Good evening, George Hague. I understand you may be voting on and talking about truck routes in the coming month. I understand you continue working while the City Council is off in July. Truck routes is one of those items. I'm still concerned about a couple of areas I've mentioned before. I just want to refresh your memory. One is Eucalyptus in between Redlands Boulevard and Marina Beach. That stretch, hopefully you don't allow parking along that stretch because adjacent to that on the south is R2 zoning. It shouldn't. have trucks parked there. Right now no houses, but you shouldn't get in the habit of putting trucks there. Ideally, the trucks would also not head towards Redlands Boulevard with that roundabout that is not sized for trucks. and the interchange likewise is not really built for trucks as much as cars. So try to redirect the trucks towards Marina Beach for the warehouses that are on Eucalyptus in between those two roadways. Warehouses, there are four warehouses that are approved that are not built. Those are waiting to add traffic and other problems to our city. There are five warehouses going through planning right now, which you will probably eventually vote on if they are also approved like most others in our city. That'll be nine more warehouses added to our city no matter what you do with anything in the future. Those will be going through planning, those five, and you will vote on those one way or the other. But we could end up with nine more warehouses. We've had several conditional use permits in the past month or two, and none of those have I ever seen you vote to have the project come back to you to be reviewed by you, not staff, but by you. And that's one of the things you're allowed to do in CUPs. Maybe come back and check to see how the landscape plan is going. When you get a CUP, it's usually because The project has some potential problems that they cannot really identify, and you can guess what conditions of approval should apply, but you should bring them back a year or two later and see if those conditions of approval need to be updated or changed or added to in some way, and that's what should happen. Solar, I've mentioned this before, the city's Marina Valley Utility District limits the amount of solar, even though developers What developers would like to add additional solar to meet their energy demands, the Marina Valley Utility stops them from doing so and puts a 50% cap on the amount of solar. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Denise Mortari, followed by Deanna Hargreaves, followed by Luis Palomares.

good evening i would like to address the seven page letter to our city council dated 6-4-26 by mcdonald's to appeal the decision of our planning commission on 5-28-26 stating that their project is in full technical compliance with all regulations they stated that the project concerns raised during public comment are not supported by evidence It appears that most of their evidence was based on algorithms and state that it will not impact traffic congestion of an already dangerous intersection or that the noise levels will not impact the nearby residents. In their 17 points, they dismissed every concern the residents of Moreno Valley discussed, continually stating that every point that there was no evidence that their project would be detrimental to public welfare. According to their letter, it is stated that their project poses no risk to public safety. McDonald's denies all of the findings brought forward by over 100 residents of Moreno Valley who showed up and the 44 of us who spoke. This project boils down to money for the landowner, who doesn't even live here, and corporate greed. The citizens of Moreno Valley are not going away. We are growing in numbers. We will continue to show up and have our voices heard. According to Drew Sanchez, McDonald's is excited to bring this project to Moreno Valley. Well, Mr. Sanchez, we will continue to tell you that in addition to car washes, storage units, warehouses, and data centers, we do not want McDonald's here. We already have three. So pack up your Happy Meal and take your project somewhere else. Moreno Valley is a city of people, pride, and progress, a city where dreams soar. We're not against progress, but for those of us who are longtime residents, we came here for a better quality of life for our families. It is bad enough that we cannot get out of Moreno Valley anymore because of all the traffic on the freeway. I'm just grateful I don't have to commute on that traffic anymore. We will not sit back and allow large corporations and their Beverly Hills attorney to bully us. It has already been determined that building a McDonald's at Pigeon Pass in Ironwood is a really bad idea. We have already seen what happened on Hemlock with In-N-Out Burger and Dutch Brothers. We will continue to follow this and we will continue to show up and have our voices heard. As a planning commission, we thank you for doing the right thing. Our voices were heard. We will continue to fight with our city council next week on this. Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Deanna Hargreaves, followed by Luis Palomares, followed by Ismael Gonzalez.

Good evening, commissioners. Thank you guys again for the excellent decision making on the 28th. I'm speaking tonight to document the record regarding planning case PEN25-0136. Since the Commission unanimously voted 4-0 to deny the proposed McDonald's project and adopted 17 findings supporting that decision, I have spent weeks reviewing records, submitting Public Records Act requests, and attempting to understand how this project was evaluated before it was recommended for approval. I have reviewed hundreds of pages of documents, including project plans, traffic studies, collision reports, traffic counts, signal plans, staff reports, and other project materials. What stands out to me is that the project plans were prepared by the applicant. The traffic studies were prepared by the applicants consultants. And the supporting technical analyses were prepared by the applicants consultants. Yet after reviewing the records available to me, I still cannot identify what independent city analysis was performed regarding traffic circulation, queuing, stacking, pedestrian safety, neighborhood impacts, emergency access, and the operation of a 24-hour dual drive-through adjacent to existing homes. When residents ask who independently evaluated those impacts on behalf of the public, that should have a clear answer. The applicant has appealed the commission's decision. No appeal hearing date has been scheduled. And as of tonight, I still believe the public deserves a clear understanding of what independent review was performed before approval was recommended. I'm simply placing this onto the record. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Luis Palomares, followed by Ismael Gonzalez.

Well, these ladies are doing an excellent job. Thank you so much for coming out and supporting what's going on in our city. We need a lot more people and speakers like you to come out. Thank you, thank you, thank you again. I'm Louise Palomares, community activist. It's three minutes, I can talk about anything off, not on the agenda. Okay, last time I was here, I believe it was when the council meeting was on. You know, we gotta put a stop to all the night, we gotta put a modern, whatever, on 99-cent stores, car washes, storage places, that's gonna come up later, and also data centers. They were in Paris Tuesday. It was a full house. And they're talking about a data center over there. So you know what the council did? They didn't want nothing to do with it. They sent it back to the planning commission. So what happens in Paris, we're gonna end up following, it looks like. They gotta stop it over there before it gets over here. So we don't want no data centers. That uses a lot of electricity. It's bad for an environment, et cetera, et cetera, water. I mean, we're in the desert. How are we gonna get water for these data centers? So I hope when it comes to this body and to the council that we're not even, entertaining the thought, because the mayor closed his comments last time, because I had talked about what I was talking about today. He goes, yeah, we gotta look into the car wash, this, that, all the stuff I just said. Oh, and data centers, you know? I don't know, is he planning a seat? I can't say. But no, no, we don't need those things here, data centers, none of that. We're still in the middle of the desert here. It's hard. We need a lot more better things in our community. Wake up, shake it up, and do what's right for the community. Serve the community. I know you guys are a different body, but we're saying it here, because people are watching, and they gotta know what's going on in the community. And as far as our city council, hopefully, because it's gonna come back to them, because they appealed it, The people from, not Jose's, I guess the people, the management over there appealed it, so it's gonna come back again. I don't know if it's coming back to you. Oh, well, it is coming, but it's gonna be on the agenda today. I'm tired. I was at graduation today, and I'm tired. But anyway, hopefully, look, as far as the general plan, just do the wording right. Just do what they're asking for. It's been back here two, three, four times? Fourth time? You know, the wording, leave the wording as it is. If they say shall, don't say or. Just do it right so we can get the city up and running. You know, they wanna do a center over there on the nascent corridor, they wanna put like a town center there, but I mean, all of this is holding us up. So do the right thing. the staff and do the wording that they they're asking for don't change it up it's going to come back again if you do it again so do the right thing and let's get this going we got to get our city going up and running in the right direction thank you our next speaker is ishmael gonzalez followed by tatiana flores

Hello and good evening to the Planning Commission, to city staff, to everybody here and everybody tuning in. My name is Osmahn Gonzalez. I'm over in District 2. Thank you, Louise, for beating me to the punch. I was actually there on Tuesday evening in the city of Paris where about a About a 60 to 100 person crowd came out in support of banning AI data centers permanently. I want to say that the city of Monterey Park just last week during the election voted at 88% in support of their prohibition for data centers permanently. the first in the country to do so. It's not that far away. It's feasible. It's not my first time saying to this body specifically that that needs to happen. Please direct your staff to draft an ordinance as soon as possible because these data centers are encroaching to our homes. There are in the Imperial Valley. They're out there in the Coachella Valley. They're in LA. They're in Orange County. They are coming here. They're already here in IE, but we don't want any here in Moreno Valley. No, we don't. It's gonna ruin everything that we've kind of built up infrastructure-wise, right? It's gonna take away a lot of water, raise up electricity, raise up air pollution. It's gonna be detrimental, please. Mayor Pro Temp Raab on January 13th, not Jan, yeah, January 13th of this year over in Paris said that this is the issue of our time. Please move quickly with urgency. I also wanna bring up the Reaching in Crisis 2, a research paper developed by the Robert Redford Conservancy for Southern California Sustainability at Fitcher College, RNOW. the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice in the Sierra Club San Gregorio chapter. It is the most relevant data to the warehouse crisis that we're in. We've been overdeveloped, oversaturated, disproportionately to any other part of the country. And because of that, we have the first and second worst air quality ranks by the American Lung Association for our county and San Bernardino County, respectively. You guys put us in this position. We've been advocating for 40 years now, at least the Box Springs group of Sierra Club, against development like this, and now we have the worst air quality in the country. Please act fast on this regard. My favorite quote of the research paper, I'll mention it here, absentee landowners in Newport Beach own over 126 million square feet of Inland Empire warehouses, the highest of any Southern California city. yet there are no warehouses in that city at all. Thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Tanteana Flores.

Hello, thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. I actually wasn't planning on giving a public comment, but since everybody else was starting to address AI data centers, why not, you know? So I also went to the Paris City Council meeting and was actually very surprised by the turnout of how many people were there. There was a lot of young people. I feel like here in MoVal, when I come to these meetings, it's typically just like... a few of us of the younger crowd. But I just wanted to say, you know, that's something that we should focus here in mobile as well. Having something drafted to also not have AI data centers here. I know that vacant warehouses are an issue here in mobile and Paris, but we have to find a different solution rather than, you know, bringing another industry that will continue to pollute or bring up our energy water bills. What I mentioned in my public comment in the city of Paris was actually talking about Lake Paris. They recently had a workshop that I attended where they talked about the future of what Lake Paris could look like. And there was a lot of good opportunities for future camping sites. And I just feel like a lot of those opportunities and recreational activities that are being proposed will be a threat if we were to bring in more data centers into the area. And so I just wanted to put that on your guys's radar. We're paying attention to it. And it would be great if, you know, we can follow Paris. And, you know, I know we didn't do that with the moratorium, but here's an opportunity. Sorry, the moratorium for warehouses. But this is an opportunity to, you know, follow them. And I feel like a good decision that they're making. And yeah, that was pretty much it. Thank you.

Thank you. Do we have any other speakers?

No other speakers. All righty.

All right, the next item on the agenda is the consent calendar. All items under the consent calendar are considered to be routine and non-controversial and may be enacted by one motion unless a member of the commission requests that the item be removed for separate action. Items withdrawn for report or discussion will be heard before action on the consent calendar. Questions or comments from the public on the consent calendar matters must pertain to the subject under consideration. At this time, would a commissioner like to pull an item from the consent calendar for a separate vote? Okay. Do we have any public comments for items on the consent calendar?

No speakers.

All right, do we have a motion and a second for the consent calendar?

I'll move that we accept the consent calendar submitted.

I'll second.

All right, we have a motion and a second. all right the motion carries uh the next item is non-public hearing items and we do not have any items uh all right so that moves us to item number one which is the ordinance adopting logistic use facilities mitigation measures negotiated with the city attorney's general office pn26-0055 do we have a staff report

Yes, Chair Desjardins. At this time, I'd like to turn it over to our city attorney, Steve Cantania, to provide an update to the commission on this item. Okay.

Thank you, Sergio. So as a planning commission, Probably knows. We've been engaged in negotiations with the California Attorney General's Office since November 2025 over mitigation measures that would pertain to logistics use facilities developed in the city. And these mitigation measures go beyond the minimum requirements for these types of facilities as set forth in state law. The City Council had directed us on April 21st to set up a community workshop with interested parties in the community to go over these mitigation measures and to get input from the community on the mitigation measures. And so that community workshop was held on May 13th. At that time, we had noticed a public hearing to consider the ordinance for May 28th. After May 13th, I met with staff and staff compiled a list of suggested recommendations for revisions to the mitigation ordinance. And we presented those mitigation measures recommendations on May 28, the day of the public hearing, and Commissioner Zeitz fortunately requested that the matter be continued to provide the Planning Commission with sufficient time to review these proposed changes. However, since that time, I was asked to meet with the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice to talk about further revisions and to review the revisions that were submitted to the Planning Commission on May 28. So I met with them on Tuesday and they had some additional recommendations. I also met at the request of Mr. George Haig on It was yesterday? Yesterday, but I had several meetings with Mr. Haag prior to that time, but he had requested a meeting, too, because he had some additional suggested recommendations. And so, as of this morning, what I was able to do was to compile and memorialize all those suggested revisions in the context of a working draft of the ordinance, which You know, I was working with these two particular groups on that. And so my plan was to send them a copy and go over those changes. And the reason why I took the lead on incorporating those changes in a red line version of the ordinance was to ensure that any recommended revisions that they had would be internally consistent if the Planning Commission were to go along with those revisions and adopt them. or recommend that the City Council approve them. So it's very important, I believe, to take those recommendations, memorialize them, and put them in the ordinance in the way that they would read and be presented to the Planning Commission. And again, my concern was making sure that any of those recommendations, if they were approved, by the Planning Commission and the City Council would survive judicial scrutiny because the judge would be looking at whether or not our ordinance was internally consistent. However, you have not received those revisions yet. And so I'm recommending that this matter be continued to the next scheduled regular meeting of the Planning Commission. And in the meantime, I will circulate another red line version of the ordinance that incorporates the proposed recommended changes submitted by the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice and Mr. George Haag. And we will come back with the staff report that identifies those changes and identifies any impact that will have on the ordinance and whether or not those suggested revisions are consistent with the objectives that we negotiated with the AG's office. So with that long-winded explanation, I am recommending that the Planning Commission the Planning Commission continue the consideration of the ordinance adopting the logistics use mitigation, logistics use facilities mitigation measures negotiated with the California Attorney General's Office until the next regular meeting of the Planning Commission.

Okay.

Do we have a motion?

I'll motion.

Thanks. Second. Can we have a motion and a second for continuance of item number one?

Yes, Chair. It's going to be a roll call vote.

Okay.

Commissioner Zaitz?

Yes.

Commissioner Taylor?

Yes.

Commissioner Stephan?

Yes.

Vice Chairperson Baker?

Yes.

Chairperson DeJeanette?

Yes.

All right, the motion carries. Do we have a staff wrap-up on that by any chance?

Mr. Chair, I believe we have some speaker cards here. And so because it pertains to a continuance, any comments should be limited to the continuance.

Just the continuous. Just the continuous. Not on the merits. Not on the merits of the ordinance. Correct. All right. So just please understand, we can't open public testimony. Well, this is just going to be public comment.

Just public comment. Just on the continuance. Just on the continuance. Correct. Whether or not they believe there should be a continuance.

Or to... to actually make any further expansion or anything about the merits of the 2024 general plan update. Just about the continuance.

Just about the continuance.

Got it. All right, folks. So I guess we can have some public comments, but it is... It is limited to the continuance because this item will not be heard. So it's limited to the continuance only and not to the merits of the 2024 general plan update.

And so the public will have an opportunity to comment about these suggested, these latest recommendations of revisions once that becomes public up until the time of the public hearing.

But not now. Not now. Okay, got it. Do we have any speakers?

Yes, Chair, we have six speakers. Luis Palomares, followed by Brielle Friero, followed by Tatiana Flores.

Wow, continue again, how many times have we continued? So we only could talk about the continuance. I hope this time we get this right. Between the Council and the Planning Commission, we gotta get this up and running. So hopefully in the next continuance, just do what the AG wants and we get it going. Please, finally, come on, just fix it and let's get the city up and running, thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Brielle Fierro, followed by Tatiana Flores, followed by Ismael Gonzalez.

Good evening, honorable chair and planning commission members. I had to kind of change what I'm going to say, but my name is Brielle Fierro. I'm a lifelong resident of Marino Valley District 1. I'm also a teacher. I'm a high school history teacher and a mother. I want to start by genuinely thanking the commission and the city staff for their diligent efforts and positive steps toward considering this latest draft. Seeing the updated truck standards and the goals, like, for example, for the tree canopies demonstrate your willingness to look out for our vulnerable neighborhoods, and we really appreciate those efforts. In my classroom, I teach my students that we need to lean on experts for guidance on complex subjects. So I do appreciate your efforts in putting your time toward a continuance so that you are able to go through all of the recommendations and look at the mitigation matrix with close eyes. So yes, you as our local leaders have a beautiful opportunity to protect the health of your everyday constituents who live here. By keeping these specific items clear, protective, proactive, and fully aligned with the experts like the Attorney General, we can pass a robust ordinance that we can all stand behind together. Thank you for your time, your leadership, and your continued partnership with our community.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Tatiana Flores, followed by Ismael Gonzalez, followed by Evan Brooke.

Good evening once again, commissioners. Thank you for the opportunity to speak once more. My name is Tatiana Flores, and I'm a resident here in MoVal. And so I did want to also start by saying I have reviewed the general plan update and the proposed mitigation measures and I wanted to share that I, along with many others, am happy to see that many of the comments that we made at the workshop in Palm Middle School Were actually addressed. I'd also like to thank the city attorney for you know meeting with our respective organizations to listen to our suggestions and so I was here to talk about my support about those Proposed changes, but since it'll be continued. I guess I can leave that but um, I guess I would just encourage commissioners when that is continued to support the changes before it is sent to the city councils. Some of those changes are essentially there just to make sure that this is a living document. So even if time passes, it doesn't have to constantly be updated. It's just to make it easier for everyone. And like Brielle was saying, I appreciate the effort. And this is just an instance of city staff and even community orgs really trying to work together to protect community health and our livelihood, I guess. And yeah, thank you.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Ismael Gonzalez, followed by Evan Brooke, followed by George Haig.

Hello again, and I want to begin by saying thank you to allowing more consideration to go into this ordinance. I want to give kudos to the city attorney, Mr. Quintanilla, for being accommodating, for being thoughtful to our responses ever since the Palm Middle School works up. and every time that we have a conversation with him. It's really great to see that this ordinance is becoming more stringent. It kind of baffles me to this day how this ordinance and the truck routes are still outstanding even though the general plan in its entirety, quote unquote, is certified by this city. It doesn't make sense to me how you could be happy or proud of accomplishing the general plan yet there are pieces missing it's like taking a photo of a puzzle with little missing gaps still there and being proud of it please explain it to us if you can uh city staff please explain that um but I digress, and I really admire that this one particular aspect is getting more consideration, more love than all the other aspects of the general plan. This is probably the most important part of the general plan, in my opinion. Why? It's because of that research paper that I quoted at the beginning of this meeting, Region in Crisis 2. It's available online for free at ccaej.org. and let me go ahead and explain to you why it's relevant. In their executive summary, they say that since 2023, over 55 million square feet of warehouses have been added to the region's 1 billion square feet of warehouses already. 1 billion square feet of warehouses in the Inland Empire. That's amazing. The professor that wrote this, one of them, she told me if you could get all the warehouses into one localized area, it would be the size of Washington, DC. Isn't that pretty insane? At least 125 million additional square feet of warehouses, over 10,000 acres of land are pending review. Just like my colleague George Hague said earlier, there are nine warehouses that you can literally do nothing about. And on top of that, I mean, we do have the World Logistics Center already approved on the east end. Isn't that scary? Like, does that not concern you guys? We have the worst air quality in the country because of it. 40 years worth of disproportionate industrialization here. We're literally dying because of a slow suffocation of particulate matter. The American.

Thank you, sir. Appreciate it.

Our next speaker is Evan Brooke, followed by George Haig.

Commissioners, I want to say thank you. I want to say thank you to our city attorney who has spent time with us this week listening and doing a diligent job working on updating and integrating our recommendations. Since we won't have an opportunity to give more recommendations, I just want you to know that there are additional things we'd like to see added to this ordinance. This is incredibly important to us. I am a PhD candidate at UCR in political science and I teach the students at UCR who walk under the 215 freeway every day when they go to class. On most days, we smell brake dust from the trucks that go up and down those hills to and from the warehouses here. It's incredibly important that we are mitigating the air quality because when we smell the brake dust, what we know is that that brake dust is inside of us. When you smell it, it's already inside your body. So I am here to, I was here to talk about some of the ways that we can continue strengthening this ordinance. And so I look forward to doing that and want to say thank you for your time again.

Our next speaker is George Haag.

George Haag, Marina Valley. Also a conservation co-chair of the Marina Valley group at the Sierra Club. I also would like to thank those in the city who have reached out to the community. and organizations such as the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, such as Sierra Club. We represent hundreds, in some cases thousands, of people in the area. And therefore our voice is just not us as a single individual, but other people involved. I'm glad you're trying to make sure that the ordinance honors what the Attorney General wanted, and taking time to do that, and that's what the continuance is about. But please remember the Attorney General provided minimum standards, such as at least 1,000 feet, at least means more. So hopefully the city will, in this continuance, as they're trying to meet, as they said, that's one of the reasons they're trying to meet the Attorney General's, ideas for Marina Valley that having standards that are above are ideal, not the minimum. So hopefully you will take this time that the city is providing. You will read. You'll reach out to people who can maybe help you understand some of the things that have been added. And that's what this time is about. And so I support the time that you will need and staff will need in order to be able to do justice to what is before you. And hopefully, like I said, you'll reach out to people who can help you appreciate some of the wording. You have a good evening.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Carla Cervantes.

Good evening, Planning Commission. My name is Carla Cervantes. I'm a resident of Paris area. So although I don't live in Moreno Valley, the decisions made here do affect my area and vice versa. I want to thank you for listening to the Attorney General's recommendations. I think that there could be room for improvements, of course, and I hope that community members and organizations are part of that solution. I know that there has been much improvement here and I hope that we can continue to work together to protect residents here in Moreno Valley and then of course it can hopefully be a domino effect for other regions. I think that this is a good step forward and I hope to come back when the item is back here and thank you.

Thank you. Do we have any other speakers?

No other speakers. All right.

All right, so it looks like we're going to, I'm sorry, go ahead.

We just want to provide a staff summary on what occurred.

I was going to ask if we have a staff wrap-up.

Yes. So we had a motion to continue the item to the meeting of June 25, 2026. The motion carried 5-0, and the item will be considered at the next regularly scheduled planning commission meeting. Thank you.

All right, the next item on the agenda is item number two, which is a conditional use permit, PEN24-0154. Do we have a staff report?

Chair Dujene, we do. But before I hand it over to Gabriel for the staff report, I want to provide a couple opening remarks related to this item. The project before you has gone through the full entitlement review process and has benefited from the input of all the review and disciplines. The project as presented meets all the city requirements that are applicable to self-storage facilities. Self-storage facilities are permitted in the corridor's mixed use zone subject to approval of a conditional use permit. Finally, I'd like to provide a couple comments on self-storage uses in general. while the majority of users of self-storage facilities are considered the domestic users, like homes, folks that need extra space, they don't have enough space in their homes to store their extra things, they do play an important role for small businesses and nonprofits to include, to serve as an extension, especially for small startup businesses, as an extension of their business. The city currently has approximately 205,000 residents. As the general plan has shown, there's projected growth by the year 24 to almost 300,000 residents. And so we anticipate demand for these uses are going to continue to grow as the population grows. So with that, I'd like to turn it over to Associate Planner Gabriel Diaz to provide you a staff report on this matter.

Thank you, Chairman, Commissioners. The project is located just north of Alessandro Boulevard and east of Indian Street. The project site is vacant and approximately three acres in site. The applicant is requesting approval for a conditional use application for the development of a 130,764 square foot self-storage facility with 52 RV parking spaces and landscaping improvements. There is a total of 12 standard parking spaces being provided. The project is within the corridor mixed use zone. There is a direct driveway access off of Indian Street. And there's also two additional secondary access points from the existing gas station and the auto store to the south. The project is providing a six foot decorative wall adjacent to the existing residential to the east. In addition, there is a 10 foot landscape area proposed as a landscape buffer between the east property line and the adjacent residential to the east. The project as proposed is consistent and meets all municipal code requirements. The landscape plan proposed in front of you is preliminary and part of the development review, part of the plans as submitted. The preliminary landscape plan does show where landscaping will occur on the site and a final landscaping plan will be approved with working drawings once those are submitted. You can also tell that there is associated trees, street trees on Indian and a street tree or a street buffer adjacent to the residential on the east end. The proposed elevations feature a modern commercial design featuring a mix of high quality materials, distinctive in architectural elements. The storage building height is approximately 42 feet 8 inches at its highest point and is approximately 196 feet from the eastern property line. Exterior finishes include stucco decorative masonry block and metal panel siding, decorative windows and doors, metal awnings with a color scheme of winter mood, moth gray, roller coaster, and PS orange, resulting in an appealing project. And here we have the west elevation. which is the most visible on Indian, adjacent to Indian, the eastern elevation, which would be internal to the project site. And here on the south elevation is also very visible from the gas station and the auto parts store and as you drive north on Indian Street. And the north elevation is less visible because there is a adjacent self-storage facility just to the north. It happens all the time, technology. Here we are looking at a roof plan. The roof is a flat roof design, and the mechanical equipment will be screened. Also, to the bottom of the roof plan, you can see the three floors of the three-story building. This is primarily why we have this slide is to show that this is a three-story building and that the mechanical equipment will be screened. The CEQA part of the project, there was initial study prepared for the project, analyzed the mandatory 21 topical areas. Topical areas included aesthetics, agricultural and forestry resources, air quality, biological resources, cultural resources, energy, geology, and soils. greenhouse gas emissions, hazards and hazardous materials, hydrology and water quality, land use and planning, mineral resources, noise, population and housing, public services, recreation, transportation, tribal cultural resources, utility and service systems, wildfire, mandatory findings of significance, Initial study relied on technical studies including air quality, energy, and greenhouse gas, health risk assessment, Western Riverside County multiple species habitat conservation plan consistency analysis and biological report, cultural resource assessment, geotechnical analysis, phase one environmental site assessment, water quality management plan, hydrology, study, noise and vibration impact analysis, and trip generation and vehicle miles traveled analysis. The initial study did not identify any potential significant impacts. Mitigated negative declaration M&D was prepared for the project along with a mitigation monitoring and reporting program that includes mitigation measures for air quality, biological resources, cultural resources, geological and soils, noise and tribal resources. The ISM&D was circulated for public review and comment period was between April 21st and May 21st of 2026. Staff received one comment letter, a draft on the draft ISM&D from the SoCal GAS. With mitigation incorporated, all potential impacts will be less than significant. Staff recommendations. Staff recommends that the Planning Commission approve the conditional use permit for the proposed self-storage facility subject to the conditions of approval and adopt the mitigated negative declaration and the mitigation monitoring and reporting program. There have been no public comments received by staff. This concludes the staff presentation.

Thank you.

Thank you. Any commissioner questions for staff?

Is this a zone change? No. Not a zone change?

the heights of this building does it fall within the that was going to be my next question oh i'm sorry did you yeah i was wondering if the height on this building would qualify it as under this zoning yes it does um i'll give you the max zoning

I mean the max height. The max height for this zoning is five stories, 60 feet high.

60? Really? In that area?

Yes, CommU. Wow. And the proposed building... 42 feet, eight inches.

Yeah, I know it's 42.8. I thought it would be under light industrial or heavy industrial zones, but I could be wrong. Okay.

This is the new CommU district, so we haven't seen too many projects move forward because of the general plan amendment. This falls under that. This was previously neighborhood commercial.

Yeah. I know that area. David.

I do have questions on landscaping and setbacks. Would I talk with you or would that go to the developer?

You can ask the question. The developer is here to answer any questions. We did discuss that the landscape you did see and provided with the agenda is a preliminary landscape plan.

Okay, when I come up with this, when I read through the project, I noticed that it said it was a California something evergreen, which I did not see in the proposal in your types, pictures, and what this particular tree looked like. I'd like to know what, like, dimension, growth rates, things of that nature on this tree. Would I also, excuse me, I have concerns with the residents that back up to it of what they're going to be looking at. I would like to know if these trees are going to be as high or if like five feet taller than what the building is going to be at full growth. I'd like to know what guarantees to the residents back there that if a tree dies, how soon it will be replaced and what How can I word this so it comes out right? Well, just to give you an example, as we see trees get replaced and we have full-grown pine trees and one dies and they stick a twig in there, which is gonna take 45 years to come back. So if there's some kind of limitations that we could put on this, that they put a certain size tree after a certain time if it happens to perish. I'd also like to see the back border that, borders any houses back there to be a 20 foot setback instead of a 10 foot setback and I like to see the trees alternated so we get a full coverage so when the people look through there they're not going to see the back they're not going to see the warehouses it will help with basically line of sight it will help with noise lighting any kind of contaminants that come off of this for running vehicles and things of that nature I think it would just be a better thing to do for those residents there so that would be something I'd like to put into this as a requirement to go through that we enlarge that set back an extra say 10 feet and instead of a single row trees let's do a staggered double row of trees

I think he's looking for a question. So can we do that?

Yeah, there you go.

OK. We're in the section of do we have any commissioner questions for staff?

No, it's real.

Because in deliberations, we'll talk about that stuff. Right. So do we have any questions of staff regarding the project? Deliberations is a separate part.

How big is the setback? The landscape area setback is 10 feet currently. The building setback is 196 feet. Okay.

Do we have any other commissioner questions for staff?

Is there another one? I thought there was another storage, right? Is it adjacent to this one?

Correct, to the north.

Right next to it, isn't it?

Mr. Stephan, that's correct. There's an existing self-storage facility immediately north. They share a common property line immediately north of this property.

But it's a different owner, different developer?

Yes, ma'am. It's been in place for quite some time, and it's under different ownership than the application in front of you today.

Okay, any other commissioner questions for staff? No, all right. All right, if there are no other, let's see here. Would the applicant like to speak?

is these are okay there we go good evening good evening commissioners mr chair my name is christopher golder and i'm with public storage happy to answer any questions that you have i don't have a presentation but would be happy to answer your questions and clarifications i have any questions for the applicant

Just going to be just regular storage? Are you going to have cold storage? Are you going to have?

The proposed new project would be climate controlled storage. So all of the storage units are interior to the building. There's no units that are visible from the exterior. So customers would enter the ground floor level through loading vestibule lobbies that are on the east facing elevation within a secured perimeter of the site. And then once they're inside the building they can access their ground floor units through various corridors or take an elevator up to the upper floors to access their units and Just pardon me for just one second.

I meant to open up the public hearing so we are open the public hearing at 659 p.m. So we make sure that all your your comments and Commissioner questions are entered in the record

So is he still on?

Yeah, he's still on.

Because the way you said that, I thought you were going to bring up the- Do you want me to repeat the response or?

Yeah, go. Okay. So it's a climate-controlled self-storage facility building. All of the storage units are interior to the building. No exterior units or units that are visible from the exterior. Customers would access the building through a loading vestibules that are on the ground floor along the east face of the building, interior to the site, beyond the site security fence and perimeter.

Is anyone going to be on the premises 24-7 or whatever?

So the facility will be open during normal business hours, which we have a retail management office on site that's typically staffed with up to two employees per shift. Normal operating hours of the retail office are anywhere from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and then customers can typically access the facility using access control codes up until 9 p.m.

When we'll be there 24-7.

The facility has security systems in place and remote monitoring that's 24-7 and remote dispatch if there's any kind of security concerns. It's 24 hours and monitored. Okay, and then you can just go in like nine to nine or so so after 9pm customers would not be allowed to enter the self storage facility their their access codes would not work to open the security gate or the lobby vestibules, but normal business hours customers may enter their access code and have access to the building.

So beyond the security, you're gonna have people there, right?

Yes, so during normal business operating hours from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., seven days a week, we will have employees, up to two employees working in the management office. So that's two, you're gonna employ two people? Up to two employees, yes, working on-site.

Any other?

No.

This may have been for staff, and I forgot. I missed it on my list here.

You are required to have solar on this building, correct? I believe so, per Title 24 and Cal Green standards, yes.

And what percentage?

I don't have the exact percentage off the top of my head, but typically we do solar on the rooftops of the building, a certain percentage of the rooftop area, install the provisions so that it's solar ready, and then we install the solar after.

Would you be... not against...

increasing that percentage if it is allowed or asked i don't think we would be against it any any other commissioner questions for the applicant all right well thank you sir appreciate it welcome um what what what this uh crew i'm sure they'll come up with another question so All right. All right. We'll move into the public comment. The clerk will ask each person to speak. We'll come up and we'll be asked to speak. Remember, you have three minutes to speak on this particular item. Do we have any speakers? Yes. Go ahead.

Yes, we have five speakers. Luis Palomares, followed by Tatiana Flores, followed by Ismael Gonzalez.

Luis Palomares, community activist. How many stories? Four or five? Do we even know how many? We already got one coming in Marino Beach and Alexandria already. That one's coming. There's another one out that way also. Storage places, there's too many of them. I mean, I'm always pro-growth, but enough is enough. These people don't live here. you know it's not in their backyard they don't care they're here to make they buy the land they're here to make a dollar and hey it's business but oh wow not on our back not in our time not on our energy not an art no not in our backyards you know and they say they're going to make the building this way it's going to be all prettied up in pink you know it looks like they said you know all the decorating and all the plants and yada yada come on How many more store, this is, we gotta put a moratorium on storage places. 99 cent stores. All of that, et cetera, et cetera, like I've talked, you know, and we should be talking about other things, like libraries, senior centers, state of the art. This is what we should be doing with this land here. But we got a $2 million mayor that, you know, we paid $2 million on a lawsuit, a previous lawsuit about him, so this is what we need, youth centers, yada, yada, yada, come on, get to, I know it's not you, but, You make the decisions and this is what permit, use permit? What does all that mean? I don't get it. Is it the zone change or is it a permit to go forward? Could you explain that a little bit more, the stuff? Because some of this stuff goes over my head, and imagine the people that don't know all the terminology, because I don't know a lot of it myself. So maybe it could be explained a little better so we can get it. But I hope you don't go forward with this, because we got enough, enough, enough, enough. Thank you in our community, thank you.

Our next speaker is Tatiana Flores, followed by Ismael Gonzalez, followed by Deanna Hargreaves.

Good evening once again. Similarly as Luis, I think that in the city, there's been a lot of the same type of development. And I guess I'm really striving for something more creative this time around. You know, that area is Pretty commercial. So I think there's other opportunities for like better businesses or, you know, something that can be more community based. Like as she was mentioning, the library, youth center, senior center, something that actually would benefit the community more. I'm also thinking more ahead as well. in the general plan update there's like plans to you know have a more downtown area that will also be on alessandro it is a bit more far removed but i still feel like development in that area can you know start thinking ahead towards that development that will be coming as well so um really want to just push and strive for, you know, some more creativity. I know in the city of Paris, they actually were talking about having a theater. And I think at that same meeting, they were talking about gas stations. So I think like, many of us are, you know, tired of the storage units, the car washes, the gas stations, we're just using up this space because we have it instead of like potentially just saving it for something that could be good. And so like why waste the space that we have when we're already running low? But yeah, I guess that's it. Thanks.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Ismael Gonzalez, followed by Deanna Hargreaves. followed by George Haig.

All right, hello again. My name is Oswan Gonzalez. I'm proudly a Moreno Valley resident in District 2, have been for the last 25 years. My family has roots in the city since the late 1970s. I would like to ask the developer where they're from, if they have a vested interest in Moreno Valley. Like I said in my statistics earlier, 125 million square feet of warehouses are owned by people in Newport Beats. They don't have any warehouses over there. We have a conditional use permit. Louise, what's a conditional use permit? It's an exception. Please don't make this exception for this developer because what it is, it's a five-story warehouse. Five-story warehouse. It could be storage, right? But having more doors in a warehouse for individuals is still a warehouse space. You are putting stuff there to sit there for an extended period of time, and you are quite literally robbing the horizon of the people that live adjacent to this property. Those people have one-story, two-story houses. What's gonna happen to their gardens if they grow their own food? For three hours of the day, that sun is not going to reach their garden because they have a five story building right next to them. That's horrible. That's horrible. Three, three on top, sure. But they are still being robbed of sunlight. Still being robbed of their view eastward, right? I don't think those homeowners would appreciate this body giving an exception to a developer who's probably not even from here to rob them of their view that they probably used their own money to retire here. You get me? Look at this, everybody, online. This is what comes up on GPS when I look for self-storage places here in Moreno Valley. I'm not sure if you can see that. Excuse me. Moreno Valley is dotted with self-storage spaces. Just like you said, Joanne, there is one adjacent to the north of this property. Why have another? You are basically gonna cannibalize your own customers if you allow this exception to go through. What happens to the business owners of the property north, the other self-storage place? I don't think they would appreciate you allowing this massive developer coming in and kind of cannibalizing their own profits, their own customers. And lastly, they said it's going to be cold storage. Doesn't that require some kind of generator, some diesel generators? It could be powered by solar panels, but it's up to a certain percentage. And they're only going to hire up to two people. He basically said, I'm not gonna hire anyone by saying that. It's only gonna be one person staffing that whole place for the whole day. I'll pose this, thank you.

Our next speaker is Deanna Hargreaves, followed by George Haig, followed by Brielle Fierro.

I'm back. I'm sorry. I don't know much about this project. This is the first I've heard. But my question to the gentleman that was speaking earlier, he said that nobody spoke up in regards to this project, none of the neighbors. Did they send any notices out to those neighbors that are going to be butted up against this 42-foot storage facility? I know based on other projects I'm researching, that the staff is trying to get conditional use permits done. They're not doing anything. They're just taking the word for the project planners. And that's not OK. This needs to go properly, have a proper EIR, environmental impact review. Why would we just give them a conditional use permit on a 42-story foot building? I'm sorry my words are jumbled. This is not right, and neighbors would have shown up if they truly sent notices to that neighborhood. I promise you, look what we did with the McDonald's project. These people would have packed the room here against the storage facility. So we need to put more review under this, please. I beg of you, please. Thank you for your time.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is George Haig, Followed by Brielle Fierro. Followed by Evan Brooke.

You asked if this needed its own change. Probably not, but it will not go forward if you deny the conditional use permit, which it needs to go forward. So it is not a perfect fit. And you need to realize it's not a perfect fit, because if it was, it would not be before you asking for a conditional use permit. Up to a conditional use permit also basically means they have some problems that's really maybe not foreseeable and that they need to come back maybe and have the project looked at again, even though they say in the staff report that it seems like all the problems have been solved. If they were, you probably wouldn't need a conditional use permit. They say up to two employees. Well, zero is part of the up to two. So that's part of it. And you need to look at this and say, We're going to use all this space and we're going to get up to two employees to get employed by this. That's not enough. You need to look for businesses and other things that will actually employ a higher number of people per square foot of land than something like this. It's not only square foot, it's cubic feet going up basically five stories. Energy demand, it's a climate control. You should know the projected energy demand. They know it. And their solar should meet that demand, not less than the demand, not some amount of solar, but it should meet that demand. RVs, they really didn't talk about it other than briefly saying it would be there. RV owners are going to go in And their battery may start dying unless they turn their engines on and let them run and pollute the neighborhood. They're going to have RV storage there, large RVs. They aren't just going to sit there. The owners are going to go in and make sure that the batteries and other things operate and run those engines and rev them up to make sure the batteries are ready to go when they want to go camping. And they could do that every 10 days or whatever. Like one of the persons showed you, I looked at his phone of all the storage places and looked at the phone like it had measles because of all the red dots that were all over his phone. So again, deny the conditional use permit. Allow something to eventually go there that will produce more jobs for us. We don't need another storage facility that's gonna be right next to another storage facility and especially the owners.

Thank you.

Our next speaker is Brielle Fierro followed by Evan Brooke.

good evening my name is ralphiero i wasn't expecting to speak on this item but um just from what the developer was saying it was a little jarring and a little um it definitely got my attention um for a hundred over 130 000 square feet um to be covered um and for only to employ up to two employees i think is ridiculous and then watching your guys's face as they were sharing their plans i think you guys could see through the foolishness as well And you guys understand that your constituents will not stand for this. We're inundated with these projects, as the prior speakers have said, not only with storage units, but car washes, for example. It just looks like an inundation of eyesores when you drive around the city. It used to be... something to look forward to when I was younger, to drive around and just look at the sights, just driving around as a teenager. And now as a teacher of teenagers, it's kind of sad that they don't have many opportunities that they can enjoy. We have the honor of seeing our elderly being able to age more gracefully and their life expectancy increasing. We need more Senior centers, absolutely, because they are absolutely overcrowded. My great-grandma, I would take her for years driving, and she would complain that there wasn't space at her Zumba class, or there wasn't space for her 94-year-old self to sit down and enjoy these activities. So there are a lot of different areas, whether that's education or the arts or youth centers or senior centers. There are many different, better ideas that we can put into place, and I know that you guys are aware of that. And we should not be pitting two businesses against each other, especially if the other storage unit I'm sure is not particularly thriving right now. We shouldn't be doing that to other businesses who are struggling to survive. And then we also understand the livelihoods of these developers are not going to be affected like the hundreds of people who will live directly behind this three to five story unit. We know that it will affect their livelihoods just like Ishmael said, it will affect their view with the Project itself, we know that it's going to be disheartening, discouraging to the people living there, and they're gonna be looking at you guys a little differently. So I hope that you guys listen to your constituents, and you listen to our pleas, and you deny this CUP. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Evan Brooke.

All right, thank you commissioners. I was also not planning on speaking about this today, but there were a couple of things that I would like to contribute to this conversation. The first of which is why do we build so much self storage? Why is there more and more self storage being built? And why do you see so much here? The answer is that there is some research on this question, actually, that it's a symptom of a larger problem, and that problem is the unaffordability of housing. So where do people put their things when they get priced out of their homes? In self-storage. So why do we see more and more of these being built? Because our communities are unaffordable. And I know that's not what we're here to address today, but I want you to know that when you see a project like this come before you, that that is why. So a conditional use permit is an exception. That's right. This project does not need an exception. What I'd like to recommend to you is that you read the Region in Crisis Report 1 and 2, because what you'll find in this report is that we have an increasing vacancy rate of warehouses. And so we do not need to build a new property. If you want to put a five-story building next to someone's home, that when there is a warehouse vacancy rate of, in this report it said at the time 6.3%, the authors of the report say that it could be 20% or more. 20% or more. So this project does not need an exception when there are places where it could go elsewhere. So consider that an exception when there are alternatives. An exception is not necessary in this case. I really encourage you to read this Region in Crisis report. I work with the folks that authored this report, and this is an issue that's going to keep coming back up. When this was sent to the governor, the governor did not respond. The governor didn't care. So I'd really appreciate it if you guys took a look at that and learned about some of the reasons why an exception is entirely unnecessary when there are plenty of vacant availabilities. Thank you.

Thank you. Are there any more speakers?

No other speakers.

all right if there are no more speakers uh we'll close the public testimony at 7 20 p.m and move into deliberations Okay. Well, then we won't close it.

I'm sorry. My name is Brian Ulrich. I'm part of the applicant with Public Storage. I just want to, if now's the appropriate time, I could give you a couple of fill in the blanks on some of the questions and larger, I think, issues that have been raised. The Neighbor to the North is part of a competing business that we operate within. We're actually under contract to acquire them later in the next couple of months. So that property would be integrated with this property in some regards, reinvestment, improvement, et cetera. There is an on-site residential unit in that, so there would be on-site representative that would be overseeing kind of the greater property completion. Okay. so um ultimately yes we are acquiring property um so i can answer any other questions you might have but the company at large sees merino valley as a terrific community we want to be a part of it And what we see happening with the ongoing home growth going into the next two, three decades, we see is very positive. And what we also see, not just here in Moreno Valley, but in communities at large, as these homes continue to be land subdivided for new homes, those homes are often built at a smaller size or the multifamily of which are another large pipeline here in Moreno Valley are building smaller and smaller units. So our goal is to provide an affordable alternative to that costly space where that living is occurring. So we really want to invest in the community, and we want to be a part of that community. Thank you.

Thank you. All right. Now at this time, we'll close the public testimony at 722 p.m. and move into deliberations. Alright, I'll go first. Alright. Sometimes I listen to the comments and wonder where the information comes from and wonder where the research comes from. And some people provided some very, very, it sounds like some very useful information that I'll probably reach out because it looks like there's some articles and some things that I'd be very interested in reading. There are some things that I think that the public is unaware of, and one of them is we don't own the land. The land is just like you going out to buy a house. You go out to buy a house. You say it's blank. I want to build this house on here. You're allowed to do that. It's not much different. There is some differences when it comes to commercial property. That land is vacant. Somebody goes out and buys the land. The city does not own that land, and we don't go out and say, hey, come here and put this here. So I see sometimes they say, you guys are doing this, you guys are doing it. No, we don't. We don't do that. That land's out there. You can go out there and buy a piece of land and put a commercial property on there if you have the money to do so. Now, yes, we do have some jurisdiction on changes of zoning, CUP, stuff like that, and we do look at safety, and there's a myriad of different things that we look at when we approve or deny a project, such as development standards. Are they breaking the law of safety? You know, that sort of thing. When I look at Storage unit, there's many, many, many reasons why people use storage units. One of them, and again, you can't put it on just one thing like unaffordability houses. People use it for seasonal businesses. Target, all these places actually own parts of storage because they put their seasonal stuff there. So when it comes Christmas, they go there, grab all the stuff, they put the stuff, and they put it up there. Promotional materials, when it's time for promotional, so businesses use these. Landscape stuff, event items, supplies, emergency equipment, stuff like that. I remember when I moved, I looked for a storage place. Could not find one in Moreno Valley. And I did not want to drive back and forth to the next place I found, which was Riverside, to get my stuff. One of the reasons why storage places are going up is because we got many apartments going up. We got many new businesses going up, and they need places to put their stuff. Personally, I'm very close to a person that actually works at a facility where displaced miners at the border, they take care of them, and they needed storage in order to put some of the things there. So as they grew, as the many miners came in, they had to have storage. Many people, we say the RVs are going to be there. Well, where are the RVs going to go if they can't put it in the storage? They'll be next door at your house because they're going to keep their RVs by your house. Okay, that's a thought. If they don't have a place to put them. So the RV could be next door, the boat could be next door to your house, or they could be at a storage place. That's a possibility too. I'm not saying that right now, I'm not saying... I'm for or against, but we have to consider some of those things. And I think a big one is if a guy has an RV next door to me and he's revving it up every day to start it up to go camping, I'd probably like it better to be at the storage place. Well, that's just a thought. Well, if they own an RV, it's going to be somewhere. It's going to be somewhere. The boat is going to be somewhere. It's going to be somewhere. It's not just going to disappear. It's either going to be next door or it's going to be at a storage place. They're going to put it somewhere. And that's just a thought. Now, I'm not saying that I'm saying I'm for or against it. I'm just giving some information. The city does not own the land, so when a person goes out and buys it, we don't tell them to put a senior citizen place there. We don't tell them to build a library there. We don't have that jurisdiction to tell you, if you go buy the land, that you need to build a senior citizen place or you need to buy a library.

It's the same thing for the developer.

The city does not tell them. We have jurisdictions on change of plans. Excuse me. No, we do have to be respectful. It's my turn to speak right now.

Can we remove a person from here?

Because right now, it is my turn to speak.

If it's considered to be. All right. All right.

Take her out of here. If it's considered to be an actual disruption. All right. So as we go into deliberations, there are some things to consider. We will always be respectful here. Remember that as a team in Marina Valley, we work together.

I'm sorry, go ahead. Yeah, a person can be removed if they cause actual disruption, which prevents the meeting to proceed forward in a manner in which everyone can hear and participate in the meeting.

Thank you. All right, I will have other comments to say, but anybody else can go for now.

Okay, I'm next. The reason I asked about the, if it was a, yeah, if it was a zone, okay, let me put it right here. If it was a zone change, because the existing zoning is neighborhood commercial, and I guess it's designated community commercial now. So basically when I read what the designation of the existing zoning, it designated for a small daily convenience businesses and serves are located directly within the adjacent residential areas and the businesses would be like, you know, businesses, coffee shops, restaurants, you know, were pedestrian friendly. I don't think a storage is pedestrian friendly. I mean, I'm just saying. Even if you look on a community commercial, it also has a few of those items in there too. So, I don't know. I know the area, like I said, there is another storage place right next door. There are a lot of people that go because there's food for less across the street. They've got a gas station. They've got the McDonald's over there, one of the McDonald's. Then you've got the AutoZone. Then you've got the gas station, another gas station across, but it actually is associated with the food for less. And then you've got the shopping centers on the other side. But... I just have an issue with putting another warehouse next to another warehouse. Well, okay, storage, warehouse storage. They're gonna put things in there, they're gonna store them like Alvin said. But if you know the area, your boat, your RV is not gonna be next to the house you bought because there aren't a lot of houses that are being built in that area. So if you're gonna go to that storage, you're gonna go way across town. But... If we're gonna have to make an exception, like they said for the COP, I just have trouble with it myself. Because Moreno Valley, like they said, there's a lot of things that are going in that we actually need. And I don't know, I wish they would have come up with a better thing than a storage that's next to a storage that basically they're gonna end up, I guess they're gonna acquire the existing one that's there. So how well is that doing if they've gotta acquire it? That's that, you know, if they're doing so well, they wouldn't have to be bought out. That's just the way I think about it. If I've got a property and apartments that are doing well, I don't think I'd want to sell it. So, I don't know. I just, when I did read the zoning, I thought it was a zone change. I didn't really realize that it was not exactly a zone change.

It's just... Commissioner Stephan, if you'd like, I could provide some clarification on the zoning of the site.

That's okay. Can I go next or what? Okay, somebody else can talk.

I'm just not so convinced that the residents were notified because I know, were they? They would have shown up. Okay, that's, yeah.

Right, there you go.

Can I try to answer some of these questions and clarifications?

We would have to open back up the public testimony and Yeah, I just is there clarification from staff Notification Chair Dijon a if you'd like for me to provide clarification on the notification be happy to So the project This project has actually had two notices go out to all the property owners within 600 feet and all interested parties who are the city's interested party list. The first time would have been when the initial study draft mitigated negative declaration went out for public comment period. So we're required by law, it's called a notice of intent, to go out to the... to all the property owners on the project list. And again, it was noticed in the paper. It was noticed for the notice of intent. There was also a notice sent out ahead of this public hearing, and to all property owners within 600 feet and all interested parties, you sign up for the city's interested parties list. And finally, there was a notice of this public hearing published in the Press Enterprise. So notice has been done consistent with the city's rules and regulations associated with public hearing notices. Thank you.

Okay, I have a question. Are the houses behind this where they're going to be building this, are they part of the 600 feet or are they just the businesses that are there already are 600 feet?

So all property, Commissioner Stephan, all property owners within 600 feet of the project site. So from the outer boundaries of the project site, 600 foot radius all the way around. If the 600 foot radius touches a property, that owner gets a notice. So that would include all owners of those homes.

OK.

Yeah, go ahead, please.

Without interruption, please.

Like I said before, I'm not too convinced. Um, I just It's the height of the property is concerning me because the young man that came up and spoke, I think his name is Ismael Gonzalez, said that if you had a garden back there or if it's higher than the two-story houses, I wouldn't want something that was built next to my home that radiated out my sunlight. I bought the solar panels or however it is. I just, I don't know, something is fishy to me because I know the residents of Moreno Valley and if they hate storages and they hate warehouses. So the fact that no one showed up, none of those residents showed up is just very interesting to me. It's, you know, I just, you know, and I just want to say something about you know, how everyone's always telling the planning commission that, you know, you can't do this and you can't do that, you have to focus on this. Well, I'm gonna exercise my right to interpret it how it is put before me, and nobody's gonna deter me from that. Nobody's gonna scare me out of that. And nobody's going to make me feel one way or the other based on some, you know, some language that is confusing or meant to, you know, that's not District 1 over here. So I'm just not completely convinced. And I know there is a concern in the city regarding storages and warehouses. And, you know, that is a question like the young man, Evan, I believe his name was Evan Brooke brought up. Why are so many being built in Moreno Valley? What is the point? And people don't have a stake in our community. They just come and drop off their businesses that they generate funds and they leave and they go back to wherever it is that they came from. So I do believe that residents have a right to come here and speak about what is being put in their community. And sometimes it is unfortunate that staff puts in so much work and we do appreciate that staff puts in so much work into these projects. However, this is the city of Moreno Valley and the residents have a right to be heard. And I'm just not completely convinced. I know this city. And if they didn't like something, and something like this, they would have come out for. I just, just as a planning commissioner, how long I've been here, I know that one or two people would have showed up and had something to say about it, whether it was positive or negative. No one showed up. Like, yeah, I have a problem with that. That's the end of that. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. I just have a problem with that. It's actually the existing zone. Mr.

Chair, if some of the commissioners believe that there is inadequate notice or not sufficient notice, then I think you should recommend what you believe staff should do as an alternative, I mean, as far as providing notice. Because staff is just following the provisions that are set forth by state law. And if you don't believe that's sufficient, just let staff know.

Okay, so I don't know if you're saying that because you're like trying to like protect the staff or like go back and forth with me, but I'm gonna just say what I said again. I think it's fishy. You can say it was, you know, sufficient. It was sufficient time. It was in the paper. It was in the sun. It was in the planets. It was in the moon. It was in the stars. I'm saying that I feel Something is off to me that no residents would show up about a storage being built next to their homes, especially that it's so many feet high and it's blocking them. So that's what I said, and I'm going to stand on what I said. I'm not going to give any recommendations, so that's what I'm standing on.

Yeah, but if that's identified as a concern, staff just needs to know, you want them to call? I don't know what's sufficient.

Well, it's just that there's an issue too with me is that it's zoned neighborhood commercial and now it wants to be community commercial, but the existing zoning, the language doesn't even fit a storage. It just doesn't fit for me. It doesn't fit, you know, the description of neighborhood commercial.

Okay, my turn? Okay. There were things brought up that people can buy land and build what they want, but that's semi-true, semi-not true. Many, many, many cities have Yeah, I know, I hate that. Mini-season has not high restrictions, but basically it's like you can't block somebody's view. They'll go to put in a house, say, on a hillside or in a neighborhood, and if it's over a certain height, they have to build a frame, and people get a chance to comment on that to make sure that they're not blocking anybody's view. Feel that that's happening quite a bit here. In inquiring the other storage unit, it just seems not feasible to me, but it may be, I'm not the one that runs and builds these things, that if they're gonna acquire this one storage unit and they feel that this building is necessary for the area, Why not do it to the one they're going to acquire, which is already there? That way it doesn't have as large impact on it. Another thing I get in people's talk about, well, they can't afford to buy a house because the house payments are too much. Well, how much are storage units? You know, if you tack that onto your house payment, then you might be able to get a little bit larger house or a little bit, something a little bit bigger. People need to take into consideration when they buy motorhomes, boats and things of that nature, of where they're going to put them. I know Sunnymead Ranch supplies storage areas for RVs and things in their communities and their HOAs take care of them. And they're well-placed. They're hidden. They're down in valleys and whatnot so people can't see them. I do live on a large piece of property. I don't have to put any of my stuff anywhere else. If I don't have room to have it, You know, that's just my personal thought on that one. But I just don't think this is a good fit for the area. Again, if they're going to acquire the property next to it, then we're going to have this huge mega storage unit. And is it going to be feasible to upkeep it or keep it nice, keep it what it needs to be for the city and the surrounding area? You know, I wouldn't be opposed of refurbishing or rebuilding the other one once they get it, but I just don't think we need two of them this large. I think we have enough storage units in the area. I do believe that by putting this in, it does affect the neighbors behind them. It affects their well-being, their mental health. They're gonna feel that they're boxed in. We need sunshine to evolve and be happy and enjoy our backyards. So I'm not a fan. But I do would like, if it happens to go through, there are a few things I would like to add to the Communitional Use Permit. One is enlarging their Set back on the rear, double rowing the trees and doubling the size of what's recommended for their solar panels. That's if it goes through. I don't know, I'd have to talk to staff how we would do that to make sure that it gets put on the vote if it happens to get voted through. So I'm referring that to staff at this point of what we need to do.

I don't know if that's a possibility. I did get information, one from George Haggis, that Marina Valley Utility does limit the amount of solar panels. Yeah, they do. They limit the amount. So I don't know if we say that they would actually be able to increase the amount of solar panels to a percentage that works within Marina Valley Utility. And I don't actually agree with some of the things my colleagues have said, because we've been on many, many projects where people have not come in. I mean, all the time we've seen just Ginger sitting out there. And there's been many times we've been out where folks... Yeah, they're busy, stuff like that. And we have had discussions about expanding to being online so more people can participate. At the same time, so we stream at the exact same time that we're doing it. Again, and some of the argument is just to... go by the premise that the only people that use storages are people that live in houses, and that's not the case. Many businesses fill up storage units with some of the items that they have to use. Many, many businesses fill up storages with some of the items that they use. And I did mention some of the things that they do, like seasonal stuff that they have to store that won't stand. They're promotional items. They use signs. They use all sorts of things. So people are not the only ones that use storage facilities. You know, people that live in a house or apartment, they're not just... um used for just that and there's not just rvs or sometimes businesses have they do store trucks there and stuff like that um i don't you know i i hear what the public is saying i i most definitely understand i would have liked up here for someone that lives next to it but then again um It looks like there's about seven houses to the east that directly are next to the property. Only about seven, then you have a street that cuts and then across the street for the other. The argument about it's going to cut off the sun, well, let's say it's not a storage unit, it's a business.

It's still going to do the exact same thing.

You know, because that is empty and something is going to go there. It may not be a storage unit. It may not be a 99-cent store. It may not be any other, let's see, 99-cent store, storage units. It may not be a car wash. It may not be a, you know. But the one thing is that something will go there. And, yeah, it could be because what the city says is that that area is zoned and it can go up to, yeah, it can go according to the code and according to, so whatever goes there as long as they follow the city code, it can go there, whether or not it's a storage unit or not. So whether or not we say yes or whether or not we say no, something's going there eventually. And so what's going to end up happening is that whatever happens here tonight, then we'll still have to look at that and we'll still have to make a decision. So do we have a motion?

One thing I'd like to add.

When I was in the restaurant business, we used public storage all the time for remodels and when we were doing ground-ups for the equipment coming in. And we worked with these people, with ViCorp restaurants. They're a first-class outfit, this public storage. And it's not that we got some outfit coming here, Johnny come lately, but they're out of Glendale, I believe, California. Is that right? And they do a good job. I'm not saying that, I don't know. It's not only residential. A lot of commercial people use these places. We used them all the time. Every time I'd have a remodel or a ground up going in, I had to have somewhere to put the chairs, the carpet, and whatever else we were doing. So there is a need for that type of stuff. And I don't think a lot of these storage units that we've got around town are big enough to handle that type of stuff. And these guys are, trust me. They have the elevators and the things you need to make it happen. So I don't know. I've got mixed emotions on the deal, to be real honest with you.

Please, please. This is a hearing. Please.

All right. Anyone?

Got to have a fight.

You're welcome.

Anyone that wants to make a motion?

What changes?

I mean, anyone? You have to have a... Okay, what I'm, one second. And this is a clarifying question for the city attorney. And I guess this could be a simple yes or no. In order to deny a project the planning committee is charged with having to list a finding in order to deny the project. Is that correct? That's correct. Finding or findings.

Could the finding be that it doesn't?

I guess my next question would be. if it's not a change of zone or it doesn't fit with the general plan update, is having too many a finding. Having too many of one particular business, is that a legitimate finding? Not necessarily. Okay.

Because that is you know, it's we're not asking for a general plan amendment or a zone change, correct?

Okay, just just some clarification But I'm still stuck on the fact that the existing zoning is neighborhood commercial and that really doesn't fit in the neighborhood commercial and I just have a problem with that.

Commissioner Steffen, I'd like to provide a point of clarification. The existing zoning is not neighborhood commercial.

The existing zoning is... Well, that's on your language, on your papers, it says that. On your staff report, that's what it says. That's where I got it from.

The staff report cites the corridor's mixed use as the existing zoning. So the existing zoning of the site under the MoVal 2040 general plan is corridors mixed use.

Well, that's not what it was read.

And that's what the project has been analyzed against, the regulations of the corridor mixed use zoning district.

Yeah, that's right there. Huh?

Can I ask a question? Yeah, go ahead.

I don't want to step.

If we motion this to be accepted with conditions and it gets turned down, do we then have to have a motion to deny it or we just have to come up with a reason why it was turned down?

You have to make findings either way to either approve it or deny it. I'll tell you what. Let me, if I may, Mr. Chair, can I just offer some comments and observations which hopefully will provide some guidance on this issue either way? So the staff's primary duty, once it receives a complete development application, is to determine if the proposed project meets all the applicable development standards and specifications as set forth in our municipal code. which staff is mandated to do under applicable state and federal laws and regulations and case law, particularly with respect to providing the requisite due process that's owed to the applicant since we're dealing with property rights, which is a protected right enshrined in the United States Constitution. To determine whether a proposed project complies with all the applicable standards, specifications, laws, regulations, case law, et cetera, staff must rely on certain analysis that are conducted by consultants with the expertise to analyze a host of issues, such as traffic, air quality, noise. And so the process essentially provides, this process essentially provides the legally required what we call substantial evidence to support whatever recommendations the staff presents to the Planning Commissioner or Council. So substantial evidence is basically the legal standard the city must meet in most cases to defend a decision to approve or deny a development project. Now the purpose of a public hearing, however, is to basically gather additional information and or other evidence that's provided or submitted in writing at or prior to the time of the public hearing and or provided verbally in the context of public testimony, like we heard tonight, that's submitted in the context of this hearing. So oftentimes public testimony includes evidence and information that's based on personal observations and personal experiences which aren't necessarily known to staff and or the city's consultants since Many of these personal observations and experiences aren't memorialized anywhere in any official records that the staff or the consultants discover while studying the project. It's important to remember that it's not within staff's purview to determine the veracity or the credibility of any person or evidence that's offered during the public hearing process. That's your responsibility. But it's also important to remember that it's not just the findings that are being offered by staff or the findings that are being offered by the consultants or recommendations offered by staff and the consultants that's determinative as to how you should act on this particular decision. You should and you should take into consideration evidence and testimony from the public that's offered in writing or in the context of verbal public testimony. That's permitted. That evidence is also taken into consideration by a judge when a judge determines whether or not there is substantial evidence to support your decision. So I think with that said, It's important to go back and look at what are the required findings for making a decision on a conditional use permit and for conditional use permits. The findings here. For conditional use permits, in order to approve a conditional use permit, here are the findings you have to make. The project is consistent with the goals, objectives, policies, and programs of the general plan. The project complies with all applicable zoning and other regulations. The project will not be detrimental to the public health, safety, or welfare or materially injurious to properties or improvements in the vicinity. The location, design, and operation of the project will be compatible with existing and planned land uses in the vicinity. So those are the findings that need to be made in order to approve the project. Now, if you make any findings contrary to these, that will provide sufficient justification for denying the project. So what I've heard tonight, based on the public testimony and comments from the dais, you know, I heard that at least two of you, maybe three, that based on the public testimony you heard, that you believe that the location, the design of the proposed project will not be compatible with existing land uses due to its proximity to residential uses, which negatively affects the effectiveness of solar panels due to the height of the proposed project. I've also heard, based on public testimony and some comments from the dais, that the project will be materially injurious to properties in the vicinity since it will intrude on the privacy of residents living adjacent to the project site. And I also heard, based on public testimony and some comments from the dais, that the location and design of the proposed project will not be compatible with existing land uses due to its proximity to residential uses, which negatively affects the sunlight into neighboring properties. I mean, those are the comments that I heard sitting out here in the well. Now, of course, it's entirely up to the Commission to decide whether or not there's any believable evidence or whether you believe that evidence is credible. That's entirely up to you. So again, staff's recommendations tonight were based on studies that were conducted by an analysis of the general plan policies and zoning based on what they had before them. Staff is unaware of these other issues until they're brought up by residents who live in the nearby vicinity. So that doesn't mean the staff is dismissing those concerns or dismissing those issues. They're just obligated to present to you their professional opinions based on the studies and based on their own independent analysis that's based on information that's part of the public record.

So clarification. Again, if a motion is brought up with conditions and it is turned down, then we have to Basically come up with a finding to turn it down if it's voted down, correct? So if if if we mow the way we say find easily well this will go through but we want a 20-foot with the trees and in maximum amount of solar allowed by the city and It's denied then we have to say Why it was why it was voted down if it loses in the vote, right? Right, okay Do I need to get an okay from the developer on any changes that we want to implement, such, like I said, to set back in the trees?

Yes, I would suggest that we get a commitment from the developer on any measures intended to mitigate any problems we perceive or any impacts that we perceive exist. because the law requires that when we impose any measures to mitigate any conditions of approval or measures to mitigate an impact, we have to have a nexus between the impact and the particular condition of approval or measure, unless the developer on the record agrees to comply with that measure or condition of approval.

All right, I'd like to make a motion that we adopt resolution number 26-12, adopting that the initial study mitigated declaration prepared by the conditional use PEN 24-015415 with the community development incorporated hereby is by this reference, which is completed by compliance from CEQA and the CEQA guidelines and reflect the planning commission's review on the consider the information contained in the initial study mitigated negative declaration and exercises independent judgment and analyze the proposed project potential environment. Also adopting the mitigating, monitoring, and reporting program. Also to approve the resolution 2026-13 and also approving the conditional use permit PEN 250154.

I'll second that.

Okay, can we have a vote? The motion does not carry. Do we have a staff wrap up, please?

So let the record show that the motion failed 2-3.

Okay, no other staff wrap-up. Is this a final decision by the Planning Committee or does this?

So at this point, I'm sorry, I may have misunderstood this. Since it was not approved, there's no requirement to deny it. It wasn't approved, but fails.

All right, so that means the next item on the agenda is staff comments.

Do we have any staff comments? Okay, so since it was, there's going to be a staff wrap-up, but I want to clarify that because I may have misunderstood your question, Commissioner Zeitz. So since it was not approved, then there's no requirement that you formally deny it.

So to confirm, Chair Desjardins and members of the Planning Commission, the motion failed two to three. That but that decision is final lack of approval of a project that decision can is final unless it's appealed To the community development director within 10 days as outlined in the municipal code Thank you, all right the next item on the agenda was staff comments do we have any staff comments I We do, Chair Desjardins and members of the Planning Commission. So just wanted to give the Planning Commission a heads up on what's coming up on the next Planning Commission agenda. There is a plot plan review of 184 unit apartment project on Cottonwood, which is located on the north side of Cottonwood between Paris and Kitching. There's also scheduled a plot plan and CEP review of a proposed car wash Gas station and convenience store located at the southwest corner of Indian and cactus There's also a conditional use permit application review for a charter school located at 27 140 you look eucalyptus Avenue and tonight the the item item 1 the logistics warehouse mitigation ordinance is will also be considered at the meeting of June 25th and Finally starting on June 25th because of renovations that are scheduled here in the council chambers The Planning Commission meetings are going to be held at the Cottonwood Golf Center banquet room We anticipate holding meetings at Cottonwood Golf Center Through the August 13th meeting so it'll probably likely be four meetings at that facility throughout the summer

The next item on agenda is commissioner comments. Under the preview of the planning commission, do we have any planning commission or comments?

I would like to suggest that we have a study session on a moratorium on multiple projects that are here in the city. Which are not limited to. the public's concerns about car washes, dollar trees, warehouses, not warehouses, storage facilities, things like that, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. So I think we need to do that.

And for the Planning Commission, we have study sessions in the context of a regular meeting as a separate agenda item. It's not necessary that we have a separate study session on a separate date and time like council does.

I would also like to say the same thing regarding data centers.

I would suggest that since this suggestion was made to add this as a future agenda item, that there be a vote on it to provide direction to staff. Okay.

Can we have a... Do we need a motion? We need a motion. Motion is seconded. Or the study session.

Okay. I motion that we have a study session on a moratorium on multiple projects here in the city, including and not limited to AI data centers.

Yes. Okay.

I'll second that.

Commissioner Zaitz.

Yes.

Commissioner Taylor. Yes. Commissioner Steffen.

Yes.

Vice Chairperson Baker.

Yes.

Chairperson Dejeanette.

Yes.

Do we have any other comments from commissioners? I do, and I'd also like to thank the staff for, and I guess in particular the city attorney, is that I really, really appreciate the openness and the willingness to hear the information from folks like George Hagues and the other folks for the ordinance and that it really helps us to understand that we're partnering with people, we're partnering with other entities and we're saying we really wanna put our foot forward in order to make that ordinance correct. And so thank you guys for all that. Also, thank you guys for sitting here through this, all this, and I know you guys, we're here and we try to do our best to work together with the city. I think you guys, I really think you guys do a good job. For one, I'd like to say, I do not absolutely think that the city does not miss putting out notices. They don't miss doing, I don't think that there's any subterfuge whatsoever. I honestly do not believe that.

No, we don't believe that at all. We just know the fact is there are a lot of people that are working. They've got to make a living. They've got to do a lot. They've got to put food on the table, a roof over people's heads, and the last thing they want to do, even if they don't want something by them, is come over here.