Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

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e e are we good are you ready for me not for us yes okay call to order our Mount chesta Planning Commission regular meeting for Monday January 21st 2025 we have the flag Monday of the United States of America and to the repu which it stands one nation indivisible liy and justice for all did I say Monday no M oh okay noted there's a correction to our agenda today's Tuesday okay um item two hi Jeff are you going to do roll everyone hi can you hear me yes we can oh good good okay Commissioner boinger of course we can't hear you now say that again hear me uh sort of go ahead commissioner boinger here commissioner Beck here commissioner higera here commissioner

San here commissioner McDow here chair Finley here and commissioner McCarthy called in sick actually called in baby City Paul's right here do you see Paul no mcarthy oh oh Pat mcarthy okay it's a little muddy sounding it's a little hard to understand it's possible all right uh join their crowd item number three public comment this is a moment set aside for folks to address the Planning Commission on some on an issue that is not not on our regular agenda this evening and if you'd like to we'll give you three minutes uh is there anybody who'd like to speak to us on something not on the agenda come on up let us know who you are hi everybody uh my name is Evan Drake I'm a local build local Builder and um member of the cisq housing Alliance and I just wanted to Simply express my enthusiasm and excitement uh to work with some of the Commissioners on bringing the proposal of tiny house ordinances to city council um for a legal route for permitting tiny houses in our city uh thank you that's all lovely thank you anyone else seeing no other interest I'll move on uh to our consent agenda um unless there are Corrections or anybody has comments um we have one item on our consent agenda which is the approval of the minutes from our octob October 15th 2024 regular meeting and if there's no comments or changes um we can just go ahead and approve it I move to approve the minutes of October 15

2024 okay we have um Belinda moves Paul second all in favor I sorry opposed none uh the consent agenda item is approved unanimously uh item number five our staff briefing on the housing element implementation Jeff take it away okay thank you I changed my speaker settings uh am I being read more loudly and clearly now that's better a little bit better yeah okay all right let's let's go with this um in in brief um I want to uh first of all welcome back it's good to see you all and I'm sorry we haven't we've had a couple of uh shall we say whether induced and schedule induced uh uh cancellation so it's good to be back with you all um I I also want to just give you a little maybe preemptive um words of comfort that the document um before you all 55 pages of it is not intended um as in any way homework for you you won't be tested on it um we won't hold you to uh it's it's a Verbatim recall by any stretch but I do rather want you to think about this as a a set of working documents that we're going to come back to time and time again so I'm going to go straight to attachment a and I've organized um based on uh those three uh subsections within this attachment a that I'm generally calling resource documents and it's it is the really operational Baseline for implementing the housing element um for the next handful of years technically as

you all know the housing element um is good for the sixth cycle it's a fancy way of saying the next 8 years so it's a 23 through 31 uh document we've got8 years to to execute on on these programs and polic policies and goals um and the first 20 pages of this attachment outline what those goals and policies and programs are the following eight pages um will contain and and I'll go into some detail on this for you over the next 15 or 20 minutes um but the following eight pages contain What's called the housing action plan and it distills all of those goals policies and programs into a succinct uh framework it's like a monitoring program uh that staff of all municipalities throughout California are required to make annual reports about our success in implementing the programs to hcd so every year in April um I do an update um that is very much based on that housing action plan and then finally the um last few pages are um a bunch of housing sites really the total um amount of housing sites that meet um suitability criteria um by the state for supporting housing and they're it's it's a baseline that we use at a staff level to say you know when we get a project a housing

project uh on the counter over over the um you know digital submitt waves um about you know Housing Development whether it's a standalone multif family project or a single family infill project or a mixed use project U much like we would expect downtown or uh in the landing um we comp compare the quantity of housing proposed with the suitability analysis um contained in this data set and I'll go into a little detail just so you understand what I mean um it does some projections about holding capacity of housing units per site and so we compare what we came up with in the analytical Baseline you know in this document with what developers propose when the time comes so with that um I thought what I would do is rather than go in you know let the gravity of detail suck us into each and every page I want to rather quickly go over um a summary of the seven goals in the housing element um and and not again not get sucked too much into each and every program because there's 57 of them um but I do want to talk about stuff that is currently underway uh and give you a sense of what it is you guys will likely be asked to weigh in on and recommend to Council in in the forthcoming months and this document already does or this this section actually takes a stab at doing that in table 2.2 where it says priority program

and those those uh seven let see six seven priority programs ho 1.3 in the left column there starting and then subprograms within the goals um programs within section 4 um are all enumerated there um those and I'll touch on those real briefly as I go through this but suffice it to say that those seven programs are underway presently some we've already knocked off and complied with um as you recall the objective design standards were approved by you and Council unanimously those are now operational we have yet to see a proposal come in uh to apply them to but they are adopted and they're on the books um and that was one of these programs um there are others that will be following which relate to changing some definitional standards within the municipal code itself and that's a very conventional um if you will housekeeping and maintenance responsibility for the planning department of all cities to update the municipal code every time State Law changes and that happens a lot since 2017 we' had annual uh statutory changes every year um dozens of them so it's hard to keep up with that level of change and understandably our municipal code is lagging a little bit um not significantly I wouldn't say based on my experience that we're any worse off than the communities I worked in but but it's not uncommon so don't don't think that we have too much deferred maintenance in our in the upkeep of our code

so unless anybody has any questions about what I just said sort of the the the approach to this delivery um I'm I'm willing to just kind of March through here um goal by goal so there's seven of them um I'm going to read the goal uh and I'm going to touch briefly on um you know I'm going to skip through the policy statements and kind of go to each action item that's going to give us staff and you Planning Commission are marching orders so any questions um for me before I continue to blather on here Commissioners um I was wondering if you wanted what we are looking at at the screen to match what you're talking about because right now we just have the first page of the parklet ordinance showing up as opposed to the um housing oh interesting um because the screen I'm sharing shows the housing element um let's give them a moment do you know let's see what's going on so they think it's it's you that has H let me stop I'll stop sharing and I'll re I'll reshare that better anyway I know there now we get a nice big view of you hi he just share a screen and pick the file how about that yep that's better good job H po goals policies Implement yay that's what we wanted thank you okay so I was blathering on about table 2.2 and there

it is um it is so you see those seven programs are were called out by the hcd reviewer saying you guys better get going on this otherwise you're in trouble we we've begun this so um all seven of those programs are either complete or well underway to being complete so without further Ado uh I'm going to move on to um goal one so ho stands for housing element or um housing um why does it say just housing um so it's goal one provide adequate sites so all these goals make sure or all these programs and policy statements within this goal um ensure that we have adequate sites to accommodate not only our Regional Housing needs um Supply which is that Regional Housing needs assessment or Arena uh that that I'm sure you remember fondly um that is the legal Baseline the bare minimum we've got to do we are in really really good shape with the arena we had 44 uh housing units in the previous 8 years we met and exceeded that and as a consequence of that believe it or not in the next eight years our Regional Housing needs assessment number is two um and that's from the um and we achieved that by what's going on over at the corner of Chestnut and Ivy correct yeah so so we will we we entitled that with a planning or land use entitlement not a building entitlement so we call those pipeline projects they're in the pipeline because they they received a planting green light but they didn't receive a a building green light we just got word

that uh they have started that work so they have uh all of their Consultants on board their Engineers are calling asking for base data um so we would expect um dirt moved on that site this spring maybe late spring is is what we're expecting those units are going to go a long way toward obviously exceeding our 20 2331 uh Regional Housing needs numbers um and then give us some in the pipeline as well so um but I want to make clear that even though we're meeting those Baseline needs this the state law has has blossomed to include um mandates for local municipalities to to go above and beyond those those Regional Housing needs and to make housing generally particularly affordable housing and multif family housing which is Affordable by its very design um uh more available at a local level through uh man byright land use entitlements um so no discretionary review for housing and we've already done that as a part of as a part of our uh as a concurrent uh legislative act with the objective design standards we allowed multif family housing in R12 and three and C12 excuse me R23 and C1 C2 um lots of good data as we go through here um you know they actually break it down into that is hcd breaks down our our demand into new construction rehab preservation so we understand what our housing stock looks like what our what our housing stock look like looks like

and where the opportunities are to um preserve that which exists because you know the adage is true that the most affordable housing is existing housing so to the degree that we can um maintain and upgrade and preserve existing housing will go a long way particularly in a community with the context of Mount Shasta where we have a fair amount of older housing that is ready to be rehabed we don't want to lose it so that's part and parcel with a lot of the policy statements and the goal of this particular uh section uh so the first program that man mandates we do something is 1.3.1 which is provide adequate sites with no n no net loss the little symbol as you may recall with the with the state symbol there that means it's being done to comply with the state law and wherever possible we we indicate what that state law is um so with with that one it's obvious that we are going to maintain uh the the existing Provisions within our municipal code and the general plan to allow housing where it is presently allowed um and that we're not going to down zone or reduce the density on any of those housing units and that when someone comes in to the counter and and gives us a development proposal uh we're going to make sure it meets the bare minimum of those minimum density standards um that that appear in the in the very last section of this this document by by par um this one really talks a a lot about the the monitoring of of sites um that identified in table 8 point uh excuse me

B6 uh and that's the one the last section of this document as well so that's as I as I touched on in the intro we have that as a baseline we're always monitoring uh for compliance um with with uh development proposals Water and Sewer um pretty straightforward um as we move forward with uh water sewer connections we prioritize housing uh areas so we induce um the idea is that we induce Housing Development um or private investment in housing through public investment in water and sewer connections um we of course can make sure that developers pay their fair share proportionally for those connections um but that's the the essential Nexus between water sewer and and the the cost and availability of housing that we have to maintain um with with this particular program um again public infrastructure outside uh our service areas we do fund um provide services um to to uh properties outside the city limits It's Not Unusual for smaller jurisdictions and Rural communities um to provide uh public infrastructure and support to AB budding properties so Public Water and Sewer um that's essentially monitoring availability of that for outside ciens goal two uh is to ensure that uh we're we're providing a variety of housing types um as you know from our our objective design standards discussion we talked a great deal about what that means at a city of Mount Shasta scale and context so we're not talking about three and five story buildings in our

city we're talking more about Cottage scale industry um individual um smaller units um efficiency units um that are uh on larger some of our larger uh deeper sites that are well connected to local services so uh we we did a great deal of analysis about that from a consistency standpoint to preserve our local character and Architectural U kind of vibe in the city and that's essentially what this goal is all about and I think we we succeeded you all I mean you should really patch yourselves On The Backs for this because this was a very heavy lift to make sure that we did have a lot of housing um context discussion in our objective design standards moving forward we can rely on it as as reinforcing that character pretty effectively I think um we need to promote uh the housing programs to our residents and again this is just a kind of a virtual statement to make sure that we have um the availability of these programs are conveyed to the public via um our website and Outreach events and those include workshops or other public events so you'll be seeing me coming forward with these kinds of workshops um that essentially advertise what we're doing to support housing to the broader Community um as you remember s sp35 was the bill that got it all going back in 2017 um and it's driving a lot of our compliance process for streamlined permits uh and and ministerial um review so uh we use that as the overarching reason

for being at at our planning level and when I do my updates uh annually as I said um it's it's because we're complying with it with with s sp35 to do so um local density bonus procedures um again the density bonus law has been in effect quite some time you guys are well versed in it um and this is just simply saying keep it up um and where possible make sure that your municipal code is keeping a breast of of new state laws that um that are that make clear the amount of bonus for increased density that is due a Project based on its level of affordability so that's the subtle twist in that statement um we are monitoring our fees and um under a cost recovery model that the city of Mount shast has been in under for a while um certainly prior to my arrival here um we need to make sure that as we recover those fees for example the cost of staffs time the cost of administrative time the cost of Planning Commission time um is all a recoverable fee that we charge back to developers but this statement makes it very clear that that needs to be monitored to ensure that we are equitably providing for um incentives within that structure to facilitate or make affordable housing more attractive from a fee standpoint so as we update our fees we would we would in this case give some discounts uh for affordable um or some degree of affordability within uh a housing uh

development proposal based on its level of affordability zoning updates for multif family development we've done that congratulations that was a big lift um we're probably at least by state law compliant um within Title 18 um we might be doing a little more sharpening of the statements around um or the provisions within the code uh around that first sentence that is what is OCC owner occupied rental mixed tenure multif family uh byright without a conditional use permit um right now we just say all multif family housing um it's possible that in the next eight years we might make some updates to this to in bit more incentivize um ownership hous for example um and it would all depend on what type of Market presents itself um we're already seeing some apartments in town that are asking for condo conversions um we've done a couple of those and there's a state law that makes that approvable uh at of Staff level uh s sp9 and 10 allow us to convert uh uh ownership um and split Lots uh ministerially for um for two lots or less um Jadu and Adu zoning changes uh we have a Cod we have our Adu code which will likely be updated um annually now as we move forward into um I think anticipated changes um as you know we're looking forward to more uh liberal definition of adus to include tiny homes on wheels

um that is very much in line with the intent of this legislation um and design standards go along with that and the question is whether we go above and beyond uh and allow tiny home villages in certain parts of town under certain design restrictions so very much in line with the intent of this particular program uh manufactured homes uh were already pretty well in compliant with manufactured homes we we look at those in our Municipal Code presently as synonymous with single family dwellings so we we do allow those in R1 districts anywhere uh a single family home is allowed we allow multif family home uh a manufactured unit as well um we um again two uh this program 2.3.7 establishes our local objective design standards we knocked that one out of the park um a little while ago um this one you are well aware of with your discussion about the nest and making sure that off street parking demands do not unduly increase the cost of providing housing particularly if the units themselves don't demand that much housing um so we have a little bit of work to do in our municipal code to make sure that the parking generation rates are in line with the demand uh for parking based on the type of unit that is proposed a small bedroom unit small you know Studios demand less parking uh than would a a three-bedroom house for example so aligning those parking Supply numbers with with the number of bedrooms

is a better way of of making sure that we have enough Park a street parking spaces to park the cars that that will likely be induced by the development um streamlining for housing that is Affordable and our Andor Target special needs populations um this this one is zeros in on the examples and parentheses there so making sure the mun code provides for um options or there's other programmatic incentives um for seniors um homeless Farm Workers disabilities single parent households and large families um we haven't really cracked this open yet um there isn't a driving statutory mandate for it um a lot of it has to do with the definitional standards for what a family is um and what a housing some of the housing occupancy um Provisions so we can talk about that in detail when the time comes um so this one goes part and parcel with our um provision to allow um multif family housing by right in the previous in the zoning uh districts that previously permitted them with a with a conditional use permit um there calling it the state likes to call it site plan review um we just simply called it objective design review and subjected everybody to it so we do have that site analysis or site planning section as you recall in our objective design standards and that was in compliance with with this particular program so goal number three is about

existing housing stock um so we conserve it we rehabilitate it um and we try to enhance the condition of existing neighborhoods um there are a handful of policies and programs um it really has a a lot to do here with the the operative word here is promotion um obviously the city can't do a lot to in other words well we don't we don't build housing we don't rehab housing we're not in that business a city is here to promote it and to encourage it um in throughout the entitlement process and transparency of process um so this is where the promotional uh tools come into play that when you go to our website is it clear that there are programs available for folks to upgrade their housing well the website we just overhauled the website um I have some administrative credentials inside the back office of that housing or that uh website um and I've actually figured out how to do it successfully um two different things uh so I'm I you will be seeing me as I move forward with some of these programs as I Implement you know check our website from time to time I think you'll see you know for example a housing landing page that has does a lot of promotional um attempts at making sure that the programs that exist at a state and federal level are well exposed to the local community and the development Community that's speculating on development in town and right now we have a little bit of work to do on that front um we do not have a housing

replacement policy on the books right now that is in compliant with state law so this one is something something that'll be a new program coming up here um within the next 12 months I think maybe maybe even less um this this one this gets into um if someone comes in and develops housing on a site um that does not meet it does not include Housing Development to the density and intensity standards that we've assumed in our base analysis and that's the last section of this of this um of your resource documents here is lower than our projected holding capacity there is something called a replacement policy that provides for the provision of housing elsewhere uh uh in the city or they have to build to a baseline minimum on that site so it's a it's a a bit of a standard requirement that says if you've got a a mixed use project that's come to town on a particular site and it allows 20 units an acre uh you you need to provide some housing in your mixed use uh Housing Development so um at risk affordable housing uh this is again monitoring and Reporting it's what I do annually uh so we have an understanding of what the housing stock uh looks like in terms of its risk uh for Decay and conversion and um either adaptive reuse or the loss of housing units that are already

affordable uh and we have to make sure that we're preserving that capacity so the worst case scenario is we have an affordable housing project that Deeds out it's been there for 50 years let's say what happens when the time comes where that deed restriction sunsets um we need a policy um certainly a program that monitors that loss and goes a step further to attempt to replace it elsewhere in town or on site um another promotional exercise to uh make sure that the qualified housing entities that do work Loc regionally um are are P are part of the federal and state um noticing protocol to make sure that we're connecting resources uh at a state and Regional level with uh developers that are doing work locally in the affordable housing market um again monitoring of at risk housing very similar to previous uh two uh programs um this one drills into cdbg analysis so that we're incumbent upon the available availability of financing funds at a at a state level um directly linked to our ability to demonstrate that we're preserving we're monitoring and preserving affordable housing um this doesn't really apply to us but local mobile home art conversion ordinance um this is is more targeted to cities that have um many more of them um I I I think you'll probably see something like this come your way for discussion particularly in light of the

tiny homes on Wheels um uh initiative a foot uh because these are very much linked uh and it'll it'll be a very interesting conversation to have is making sure that we are understanding the distinction to be made between a true mobile home park and a tiny home Village um so I think that legislation isn't compliant with the intent of this particular program condo conversion uh right now we don't have uh a very uh clear and explicit set of um mandates or Provisions within our code that make this clear uh and we will um we should be the market is already here as I mentioned uh so goal four is facilitating the provision of housing um for special needs and we have a number of programs that are again complying with state law um and ensuring that the Promotional and exposure side of what is available at a regional level uh is lo is locally available through promotional efforts on our website so we'll probably be seeing more more of this come come our way but again all driving all being driven by um the lowber navigation centers and transitional and Supportive Housing uh at a state level and we've already done some of this so this may sound familiar already Emergency Shelters same thing making sure that we're keeping up to um up to to par with with State mandate for uh provision of shelters as well um the definition of family is in our municipal code is um I I say a

little above and beyond it references people who um identify as a family um rather than the state mandate which is um by birth um uh adoption or extended family and the reason that hcd is concerned about this definition of family is because that family income is used as the Baseline for eligibility for funding and density bonuses so what is what constitutes a family needs to be legally consistent in order for that whole that whole program and protocol to to work so we have some tweaks to do just to stay consistent with State definitions um group homes um similar there's thresholds for different group homes different sizes um there's six or more six and less some are State licensed uh some are not um we've already done a great deal of work within um previous uh administrations to to update this the previous fifth cycle housing element um had a had a uh had municipal code updates that were consistent with this so this is more in the more on the along the same lines is as making sure that we're updating uh that code with uh to be consistent with state law um reasonable accommodation policy um mostly you'll see there the items one and two drill into what we need to do uh for for Mount Shasta so off street parking uh in 1544 needs to be

overhauled uh and we need to make more explicit Provisions in there um about housing for folks with disabilities um and the provision of housing to suit those needs um it's it's odd in my experience that we would have a parking um section or chapter that is within our building codes uh title um we would probably as we revise this pull this out of chapter 15 or title 15 and move it into Title 18 which is zoning um because that's a better derivative for parking demand than would be the building code uh interjurisdictional coordination so um we're needing to do a little better job of sharpening our promotional messaging around what's happening at the county level um and at the state level even to address homelessness um we don't have as big a problem as other jurisdictions in our community but as it's been well tested and supported um throughout the California the solution does tend to be a regional one um particularly in small rural um communities where services are limited um and um by that they're pretty those those homeless challenges tend to be localized to where those services are so making sure that for example a shelter in white ra has the capacity as our homeless population increases and Po and possibly contributing um through interjurisdictional [Music] coordination goal five um zeros in on

affordable housing particularly uh and it it's essentially the the notion that um we need to focus on that low end of the scale I will put the caveat out there that this particular goal is is common as I've mentioned we have a Arena standard right now that is low um we will obviously have will have met it very shortly in the in the near future within the next year 16 months as we permit the mount UT Town Homes um and the challenge for us is going to be uh continuing with uh the initiatives associated with where that where other um uh housing in in the affordable categories of low and extremely low income uh will go in the city particularly under the S sp35 intents that that income house low income housing be um not be isolated but but it be broadly supported throughout the community so um disparity with you know income disparity in in the provision and location of low-income housing is what the what the state's particularly focused on here and the role planning staff the role that planning Commissioners play particularly with respect to um engaging with developers early in their proforma analysis to leverage Partnerships for joint ventures for both affordable and market rate housing in the same project is what this is in intended to achieve um child care and Workforce

Development as a programmatic component to two projects is also called for in the realm of encouragement uh as we engage with developers uh early on uh and uh I think this is more of the same but focusing on leveraging funding options for locally so a good example would be uh a an inl housing um fund that is established for a market rate project uh that comes in and proposes no affordable housing but will pay for that right and that funding goes into a a fund to support affordable housing and is leveraged um locally um and controlled locally um and and is a is a better incentive to make sure that housing affordable housing is included throughout the city um and not isolated in singular locations where affordable housing or where the project site and its context are more affordable to develop so we can offset some of those uh programmatic challenges at a proforma level with a little bit of funding contribution uh Jeff yeah so that it sounds like so if somebody wants to do it I'm trying to get the clarity on this one and yeah if somebody wants to do some kind of a project but they don't it's not an affordable housing they can get pay extra to help with another affordable project is that

what it you're saying yeah yeah we lack our city generally lacks that opportunity we don't have so my concern is f the consistent cost of building goes up and up and up and so what they put in in 19 or 20 19 2026 if it doesn't happen till 2030 it's not going to do as much good let's put it that way right and so I don't know how that gets mitigated but that I just yeah yeah that that's a good point and and most of these types of funds need to be updated annually or they're you're right some people it's called and do these do the These funds get put in some kind of an investment account so that they acrew interest or whatever yes so in my previous City this was a a combination of funding sources there was 1% I think of the to annually was contributed to the inl housing affordable housing fund and then every project any every commercial project that came to town that did not deliver housing but in a in a way contributed to the demand for housing because they built commercial floor space and created a job so there was what's called a linkage fee uh and then the housing feeing out or opting out fund was was the third source so if a developer comes to town and says yeah I have a mixed use project but I only want to put a fraction of the development um or housing units on it and I don't want to make I don't want to give you build any affordable so we the

city then charges them you know x amount for um for that for that right so x amount per unit now in some communities those numbers go up [Music] to you know the the derivative the amount is the difference between building an affordable unit and building a market rate unit and in some markets those numbers go up to the hundreds of thousands of dollars per unit um we we probably won't get that high but it it's not uncommon for for an affordable housing linkage fee to to be10 15 20 or even two or three times that thousands of dollars uh per per uh per employee um and up to hundred $150,000 per unit that someone proposes not to build so they're also required to have Nexus um reasonable Nexus analysis so that means it's a it's a it's a study um that makes sure that the cost um to to build that housing in a given year um matches um the the fee itself so we up we would update and these these ordinances typically have a an escalator Clause uh that that allows staff to escalate those fees uh annually um to suit um a certain um indices for example a you know CPI or um you know other other measures but okay to your point you know it's not a static number it it can't be so you're right is it more in effect of tax is what it sounds like though doesn't it um yeah it's it's a it could be

called a housing tax and you know you've got to be careful because there's a consequence to to some of these types of initiatives because what you don't want to do is over legisl to the degree that you throttle the housing market down for the delivery of of all housing at the expense of you know you're trying to build affordable housing and if you don't do it you got to pay for it well that they're going to go somewhere else and build their market rate housing so it's um it's got to be very strategic and it's got to be aligned to suit the the both the market uh the delivery of those units by product type um and and um the the median income of the community that we're building in um so yeah it's a very sensitive and yeah very rich analysis behind making sure that we're providing that local funding for sure thank you um again promoting for affordable housing developers we're doing that um you know your city manager and I are talking to affordable housing developers down um and well in in Chasta County um who are doing quite a bit of work down there and trying to you know entice them to pursue work up here and same as people kind of skip over Mount Shasta and build in W ra um we're we're trying to entice them to have conversations here locally um but we need to do a better job get some of those programs uh up on our website uh and do workshops um in coordination with the county as well and we're we've been talking to County staff uh and City staff about doing that um this is a really good

opportunity to talk more about I think the tiny home on Wheel stuff um and you know a homeownership model includes mobile home ownership as well can can a a home on Wheels owned by someone come to and be supported locally um that fits into the design context um in a manner that reinforces and not um compete with local context and so that'll be an interesting design challenge uh for us to have with uh we're fortunate to have local um interest groups that um know know the issue From the Inside Out literally so uh that's very squarely um behind the intent of this particular program and sustainable uh housing and Energy Efficiency and conservation um there's the standard you know keep keep deferred maintenance um you know out of kind of the habitual state of ownership provide um opportunities for locals to understand more about grant funding that's available able to um to keep houses um both energy efficient and upgraded with respect to building materials this has a lot also to do with fire hardening so there's a lot um in in these programs um that that kind of overlap with the fire code and there's a lot of conversation around um how to how to uh create housing that could be more affordable by Design and safer by Design um and more energy efficient by Design Etc so um these overlapping objectives tend to fall into the kind of group

intent behind these handful of programs um the goal seven promoting equal and fair um Housing Opportunity for all folks this really is the heart and soul of the um fair housing initiatives that started way back um in the 60s and 7s with discrimination and it expanded in the 2000s um to um ex expand Beyond um race color religion to um include um uh income disparity um Etc so it's very evolutionary and this this is probably one of the ones that um gives you all the most opportunity I think to make sure that as we move forward um we are facing some of the most significant localized challenges above and beyond the bare minimum and and by that I mean you know just because we have a low Arena number we build our two affordable housing units next year well the state says the work's your work's not finished you know we all know um and it can be very anecdotal for those of us who have tried to find housing and can't um even though that individual may not be income challenged they still did not have their housing needs met locally um and I think that's um part and parcel with this disseminating fair housing information throughout the city um you know Second Home Ownership is creeping up into the double digits in Mount Shasta by the anal is in the housing element we are upwards of 18 to 20% of our housing stock is um second

and third home ownership and they we know that um the data sources are good and reliable um and um unfortunately that seems to align with a lot of the housing demand um for um you know the the types of houses that Workforce want to live in that aren't at the affordable level but they're at that mid price point and above so you might call it staff level or executive level housing but it's also part of the conversation to have when we address housing needs for sure the afh uh housing action or the affirmatively furthering fair housing action plan um that is a entire appendix of the document um which I have accept excerpted in the following chapter um or the following section here for your resource documents but um that that is the nuts and bolts it's kind of the Matrix that I'm going to be using to go back um to time and time again to make sure that we're meeting the statistical Baseline that we said we would and that our housing goals are aligned with those local housing needs and we demonstrate that to the state so this is um and I I think I'll pause there because that was a lot I felt like I was blathering on a lot but I I before I transition to the next eight pages here I want to make sure that you all understand um that all of those programs that I just highlighted um will give staff their marching orders over the next handful of years um and probably front loaded into 12 to 16 months um

um and what we need to do is make sure that those actions are Guided by what you're looking at now so this is our housing action plan that has those programs in the left column that I talked about um that are particular to the fair housing component they not all the programs are here but just the key u fair housing action ones are it describes what that specific action is and it describes the timeline for those that actionable um item and then our items and then there's a targeting component which focuses on the part of the city um that they're intended to uh address and I think they're mostly Citywide I can't I can't remember exactly um and then the measurable outcomes So within 8 years and and again annually I need to come back to this far right column to make sure I you know I do what I I said we'd do so that hcd could give us a certified housing element and um thereby rendering us eligible for all sorts of grant funding and just being on their good guy list and not a not on a naughty list which doesn't get you anywhere um so so I don't want to give you uh I'm not going to go through this row by row because in the interest of time and patience I just want to let you know that this is kind of the Baseline that I go back to to make sure that we're calibrating this if I were to assign any kind of you know homework to you guys just become familiar with this just spend a little time on it um I you know it's just just me in the department

so um if there's something that pequs your interest in this um feel free to come to me uh a lot of cities with greater resource will have housing ad hoc committees um or housing subcommittees or housing advisory committees that have that are brown act mandated um that that meet and and zero in on housing particularly these actionable items here uh my previous City had a housing advisory committee uh that that I was staff for and their job was to dig into the details here come back to Planning Commission uh make advisory recommendations uh for you all to consider and then move and if you so chose to you could advise that body uh or direct that body to to advise counsel accordingly um and it just kind of doubles up the human resource on on key topics so this would be a really good program for to to March through for such a committee but you can see lots of dates they're all 2026 um 2024 26 some of them are stretched out two years of adoption so 20 you know we've got we got a fair amount of work to do within two years of adoption um 18 months of adoption um this is in this particular one is program D to improve information and visibility of infill housing opportunities or housing types and typologies um a lot of this is consistent with some of what we've already done for the objective design standards so it feels to me like it could be a continuation of a lot of the what I find the most enjoyable part and the most challenging part of the objective design standards conversation which is really what is what is context

and what is this the more suitable type of Housing Development to make sure that we're preserving um what we find valuable in in architectural care character and development conditions in different parts of the city and then drilling into a site to see what it gives you to to align with that context um you know some of these stretch out to 3 years um within housing uh element adoption um but you can see there's a a great deal of information here um and it it will all sound familiar the programs in the far left column are are same program that I that I highlighted a subset of them focus on uh the real nuts and bolts of of furthering our fair housing initiatives locally and then finally uh this this um final set of of data is what we come back to on a site by site basis so you can see the APN in the left column uh the land use designation in the general plan um our zoning designation um the units per acre um there's a realistic density unit calculation um which is um pretty consistent throughout you know they it tends to isolate right around 75 to 80% of of the of the big number but it also it takes into account um you know slopes Wetlands uh and other site specific context um but please keep in mind that these are very generalized numbers um that is the number that we would come back to and test so if for example on that very first APN someone were to come in and say I want to build three housing units um um instead of you know the 4.5 well we would say well why you know is it um or sorry factor to calculate realistic

number of DS is three so if they want to build two then we're going to ask them why to demonstrate is there a wetland well yes there's a wetland and it was bigger than we thought it was and so so the onus would be on that developer or that homeowner as they're redeveloping their site potentially to to to prove what we think we already know um to verify that wetlands are indeed um where we think they are and that's that's a question because a lot of the Citywide data for Wetlands is not site specific data for Wetlands um because the city hasn't undergone a comprehensive Wetlands analysis we have from time to time uh for large scale projects um we have an inventory that FEMA provides us um and um that's for insurance purposes and those FEMA Maps were recently updated uh and that does affect uh the analytics but again it the onus is on staff to make sure that we understand what those analytics tell us and that our public works department and our planning department have the expertise to understand what it means and and historically we we haven't and we don't um so that's why we drill into this level of detail to cross check uh what we we think we know uh at the community scale with what we we need to know at a site scale so um this is very high fire hazard severity Zone um and you see no no no no no yes yes yes yes so that also affects that ultimate number um I've already use this a couple of times as we've gotten projects that come in um just to double check the analysis so um it's kind of comforting that it's here Citywide and it gives us you know a total number of housing units there 177.1 total holding capacity within

R1 um subtotal for R2 uh and uh so on um R three and subtotal for C1 and C2 so this is holding capacity that includes every uh housing site that's identified as a housing suitable site by zoning and land use designation um Source material there Source documents there for Wetlands um and fire pass disparity zones which are also update so I'm going to take a deep breath and uh let you guys wake up because I can't see who's nodding off from my you're very small people on my screen um I apologize for all the bling but I I felt like it was necessary just to give you in a nutshell what I'm going to be up to what's what's occupying a lot of my time over the next 12 to 16 24 36 months um and what will be trickling uh your way on a pretty consistent basis so there you have it um happy to pause for questions before our next item Commissioners question questions comments for Jeff doesn't look like it we didn't schedule a public hearing for this so I wasn't planning to open it up to the public this is just giving everybody a chance to hear what's up so uh that's it it's a what up presentation so I guess I guess the only question I have Jeff is this will kind of dictate what comes back to us as far as what ordinances we might have to put forth uh in the coming

months and years I saw some of that in the yeah yeah we're we um you know this will be the priority initiative at a staff level the these will be the priority initiatives in order for us to comply with state law and a lot of them will require our Municipal Code amendments and so we'll be doing a lot of Municipal Code amending um and a lot of program and policy level stuff that will a lot of this I don't need to bother you with I would say maybe a third of it or a half of it um I could do by myself by just updating our website or going to a meeting in white ra on Fair Housing initiatives but I think what i' rather do is keep it local as much as it's possible and we can afford the time to make sure that you know our quote unquote um Community engagement is as local and as robust as possible so that's that's where you all come in um and I I think what makes most sense because we're all busy folks is to collocate or have a have a concurrent you know Planning Commission meeting that is called a workshop on on uh some Housing Initiative or another we've done that before and it seems to work well here um maybe we start earlier um maybe we even do it on a on a weekend um when there's no new snow and um we all can tear ourselves away from the slopes and come down and talk about housing or something I don't know so you'll see a lot of it come your way in a lot of

different ways yeah thank you how um since we don't have a newspaper how um you know it's interesting how to approach getting this information out to the public newspap yeah I think we're we talked about that a little bit um you know I I think the next door the Facebook the you know people are navigating their personal lives with their thumbs you know why not their City engagement lives as well so you know I think a a more robust um social media campaign is a good starting point um but good old bricks and mortar um uh flyers or notices that are posted tend to work message board both digital and physical you know that kind of stuff I think I tested that in my previous community and it worked really well I I'd rather engage folks who um I think there's a whole subset of folks out there who don't normally get engaged and are um are choosing priorities because they're faced with you know choices that they're faced with and I'd like to be in their face a little more about you know if housing's important you come down and let's talk about it and um we have a new staff member in City Hall who's struggling to find housing and I empathize with her and um and we're we're I think we start with the big employers and say you know here's an opportunity to share your your your future vision and dreams about how the city of Mount Shasta accommodates housing demand you know I think that's a very interesting um question to put to people see what you

get you know that the piece about contacting employers like berryvale for instance has a lot of employees that are struggling to find housing and it would be good to get and I know that they would be open to communicating things to their employees about that kind of stuff but but it's when and what you know that's the thing it can't just be a general you got you should pay attention it's it's more like hey on Wednesday There's going to be or have you you know that there is this um affordable housing opening up you can put an application in that kind of thing you know that yeah yeah yeah the Housing Resource page is a good one it's you could make it just four choices you know you're an employer in town you want to connect your employees to housing you're you're an employee you need housing um funding sources um you know to maintenance and and upgrades to materials for Energy Efficiency and fire hardening you know if we just did one landing page on the city website and then steered everyone to it via these meetings um and Via you know Outreach campaigns digitally you know I think that would be a very effective tool here locally it just feels to me like more people are you know obviously integrated digitally than they ever have been so why not go there um but then the usual you know obviously the paper to that that the extent to which it exists um uh and our our postings and noticings around town um and then I also think a standing opportunity these hit or miss things are are risky you know an event comes and goes and you're like darn you know had I known well guess what there's

another one so uh recurring events standing meetings uh well notified well well displayed and noticed digitally I think is a good starting point great anything Commissioners anything else okay I think we're good are we ready okay for item number item number six our parklet ordinance par so um this is a discussion item it's not a public hearing there's no action requested all from you guys but um I wanted to engage you and I think the way to procedurally deal with this would be for me to give you just a quick update or context so you understand why we're here what challenges locally with our parklets led to this being an an issue or an item before you um and what your choices moving forward are I really want to try to focus your analysis on or your discussion on some key components here um and and I'll touch on those in a minute but briefly um we you know you some of you may recall I this happened before my time but we did add to the municipal code of chapter 1903 called parklet um or chapter 19 regarding the parket dining um and they initially were defined as temporary nonpermanent facilities um most communities who did this did so for covid purposes to give

people dining opportunities with less covid risk and this always happens that temporary and non-permanent translated to Wood um structures that required borm maintenance than they were actually in reced of over time and so through deferred maintenance these temporary non-permanent facilities became painfully obvious as temporary and non-permanent due to Decay damage Collision Etc I think by comparison the two parts parets that we do have in town have held up pretty well coincidentally the Sparky parklet has been sold or the par sparkies has been sold and we will be getting a new applicant because parklet permits are not transferable um that we're going to get a new applicant for the Sparky parklet and what staff has the opportunity to do during that reissuance is to provide condition conditions of approval to ensure that whatever deferred maintenance may exist is caught up with um and so if you can imagine the Sparky parklet has some vertical lighting stanions that are crooked um they were hit one was hit it's kind of dangling it feels to me like with a good set of tools you could get out there and fix it but I I just think there's some been a little bit of Maintenance deferred by comparison right next to door is the pipeline parklet which um looks virtually habitable um by virtue of of its design integrity and and structural Integrity um so you know by putting those things side by side as as as comparisons you can you know by by

my design eye from a staff's perspective kind of see that the the pipeline sets a standard from a Construction and design standpoint that if we were to permit any more of these um we would want to look to successes um in in in in our in our environment right now I would submit that the pipeline parklet is more is a better um and more successful um from its design and structural Integrity as an example than Sparky is um so we'll try to rectify some of the Deferred maintenance um there's some other structural stuff and rodent related um problems typically with parklets that we have to evaluate uh rodents tend to like to um habitate under parklets because there's a food source and and their shelter so they become attractive nuisances um so we have to we have to inspect for those purposes as well um so that's why we're here city council um suggested that staff run this up by by Planning Commission so that you guys could give staff some direction and some recommendations on amendments to the parklet ordinance and what I've tried to do for you is narrow down your your analytical uh energy to these three sub sections so design and operational requirements which is section 060 design evaluation 070 and design standards for parklets 080 and I think what we what I'd like to

do is give you guys you know a month to to dig into this um you know be prepared if you will if you if you have if you want to um troubleshoot your ideas with me I'm happy to collaborate between now and our next standing regular meeting and we we would be at a point where you could formulate some recommendations and we could discuss it I think it's important enough that we take that approach rather than me setting a deadline um halfway between um now and then and coming back to you with our with a recommendation um feels to me like it we might need an opportunity for you all to get your heads into this um and then really formulate some some tangible recommendations um there's some wonderful examples online about cities um who have undergone this conversion from temporary to permanent parklets and um for communities that don't dedicate to that conversion I can tell you that everyone that I'm familiar with has um dismantled their parklets and they're back to curb to curb RightWay um because they become liability problems um we're fortunate that we have at least one design or one maintenance continuity between the two parklets we have in town I I'm hopeful that our the new owner of sparkies will commit to um a maintenance program otherwise we would pull the permit um they wouldn't be permitted to operate um and and they would be required to to you know to demo

the parklet um so these are big big issues to resolve um their design um challenges associated with what that aesthetically what they look like should they look all the same um should there be more designed continuity between each of these parklets or or is it okay for them to be slightly different um as the attachment I've highlighted the sections that I'd like you to look at and again zering in on the definition that means they're temporary and non-permanent do we keep this as a temporary condition or a non-permanent condition um or do we we strike that and make them permanent platforms that's part of what I'd like to get your head your heads around and and maybe we can uh deliberate what that means next time and and I can be prepared certainly to give you examples illustratively about communities that have transitioned from temporary to permanent can you email would you email those to us I sure will that's a good idea yeah I'll give you some some examples of my previous Community uh we we underwent a very deep analysis um and they ultimately decided Council decided to get rid of the parklets because they were too expensive to maintain and they could not rely on the merchants uh AB buding those parklets to contribute the amount of Revenue necessary to successfully and completely maintain them um well who would and we who would maintain them besides the business

owner well for example our permitting procedure was set up to connect the approval with agreements to maintain so we're in very good stad there other communities have called them public parklets and allowed for example if I get a um a burrito from a cart and want to sit out at the public parklet I can pull up a table and you know or prop a chair to a public parklet table and have every right to be there um along with the restaurants that have Buck those parklets so we're fortunate that whoever generated created this code did so with very direct operational standards that were incumbent upon those AB budding operators to to be responsible for um but again we come back to that question of regardless who's paying for it are they doing a good job are they maintaining them are they attractive or they attractive nuisances um are there are we at risk of any kind of liability by virtue of their Decay over time because they were designed as temporary um if we want to transition to something permanent what does that really look and feel like and who's going to Bear the burden of that cost or that conversion to whatever a state of permanence is um so Jeff it'd be good to I mean I looked at some parklets in the Bay Area but like Palo Alto but that's not the same weather conditions or road conditions that we have which is you know this is the main drag it's a high it's a highway going through our town kind of you know and it would be good to find out what places in Boulder or somewhere that have cold weather and can't use these parklets all year what they if they have them or what because

it's they sit empty half the year and they uh yes yeah yeah so I can tell you that I did a little research for my previous Community we didn't have snow on the ground but we did have certainly um wind events and Rain events that made them you know uninhabitable for many many months of the year um and what I found was that the wood Solutions tend to go away in other words you can't build something of wood and have it last more than a handful of years in a in a Mountain Community um or a wet Community um so the conversion was one of um of extending if you will the sidewalk uh so instead of a Wood Construction it is concrete and and metal um Steel uh that formed you know the the new if you will floor of the parklet and you know the in transportation engineering speak these are called curb extensions um table toop intersections is another way to think of it the you sort of the travel Lane pinches down between these curb extensions you know these are very European uh solutions that are prevalent um throughout European communities where the on street parking is intermittent between the curb line which tends to EB and flow go in and out to accommodate more tabletops in what would be a you know a parking part of the street um but those get very expensive um I've I've had this conversation at a staff level with Ken Kellogg to make sure that whatever we

envision you know is consistent and compatible with snow removal um he has challenges frankly with these parklets because they aren't as um easy to plow around as they could otherwise be um so I think what I'll do is I'll pull together to Melanie's prompt a a little bit of a design package for you just with some photographs of community that have similar conditions and changed uh from temporary to permanent status um and and maybe we dedicate an entire Planning Commission meeting you know a good solid hour hour and a half plus to to this conversation and really uh understand the challenges associated with the changes uh because something's got to be done we're not we're not operating this particular um component of our Municipal Code um as literally as it was intended to be to be enforced um we didn't really [Music] Define um this permanent temporary nature and what needs to be done over time so that's that's the the Crux of this so design operational components and then the other sections are the design evaluation um because right now it's you guys um that that review them um it is also the standards that apply so we talk about decking and you know it gets into a great amount of detail um so Jeff so yeah what are the

date what are the dates that those uh sunset on are they just annual like January yes yeah they're annual and they've been re-upped annually every year pipelines was just reup they come to us every year staff inspect staff you know add conditions to the to the [Music] reapprovals um and with owners how far in advance are they does that application go in or they tend to go they tend to give us 30 day 30 45 days ahead we get them so if we don't like what's happening there for example we can't do anything till next year well right now um the pipeline one is is good yeah it has a a valid permit for a year as I said the the Sparky permit is is is open to a new uh assessment by staff as we speak is there a way to amend the uh permit during the course of the year um I I don't know the code that well um I'd have to look at it I can answer that question for you when I send you material okay I'm wondering uh a couple things one um have you reached out I mean obviously the ownership change at sparkies they probably are chewing on a lot of things right now but if you reach out to the pipeline and you know if you have a sense of what they'd like um I like the parket I like the vibrancy it gives to the downtown um I you know having watched that space be a lot of different things or a number of different things over the

years to commit to something permanent um seems uh like a big commitment I'm wondering if you've seen something that's substantial in terms of Maintenance but movable and something perhaps that if they could remove it for say three months of the year when you're pretty sure nobody's going to be outside say November December January you know whatever pick some months four months and actually be able to pull it out that's the cafe that's the cafe Street Cafe section of that I think I didn't really understand any a lot of those I needed a better I needed a better description for um some of the alternative things but uh anyway it seems like I'd want to know what's working and not working for them and yeah how we can I you know how we can keep doing it in a way that works for our climate and for you know the community and the business owners yeah um what I intend to do between now and the time this becomes an action item for you is to engage with both permit tees um and uh ask them some of these questions as well um I I you know the obvious solution is in this case one of ensuring that we're meeting both you know private side and public side needs and maintenance um

and snow removal uh demands as well so it it right now feels at least from what I've heard that you know Pipeline and Sparky both life have like having that additional floor area um because it generates income for them um and that income is um certainly not offset by the minimal permit fee um and one question that that will come up um has come up in my experience is is there a more proportional or equitable um fee structure that ensures that um those those those businesses are are paying for the right to use the public right of way um is it a percentage of of Revenue is it a percentage of leased floor area um because effectively what you're doing is you're leasing public RightWay for private use uh so this this was a very heavily debated Topic in my previous community and essentially what led to it falling apart was that um the con the expense and consequences Associated maintenance consequences associated with having a non-permanent structure in your RightWay were it was just too much for Public Works to to um to maintain because they were delicate um they were hard to clean in and around uh and they were damaged from time to time and the city was liable for that

damage um and the merchants were not were paying a a moderate permit fee for the right to to rent our our our public RightWay so you know there's both sides of it what do we what does the city want what does the what does the merchant want um what do they need to make it up to make it pencil for them U but all these questions I plan on engaging here as we move forward I haven't done that yet you s Elina did it right I think you know what um Von you should go into your mic I think you heard me can you hear can you hear Von all right yeah okay I can yeah okay got it right yeah I I'm not sure they have any now anymore they do oh yeah it it's just more like the cafe kind of thing there's they might have a planter or something out but they those can be removed easily but the you know they can they can bring them in for the winter time or whatever if there's no seating so I mean that's it's a classier way to do it I think they're portable no it's just they have like a just think of yourself is walking down to Shamy Le a and there's these little outside uh tables and chairs and things with these restaurants and in the what would have in the in the street not on the sidewalk no it's on the sidewalk okay not in the street nothing's on the street but cars and so they might have some of those outdoor heater things the classier ones I think right now if they want to sit out at this time of year um but it's just tables and chairs you know with cloth covers on them and the whole nine yards it's it's class yeah so there's you're touching V on the

sidewalk dining component where you know we allow tabletops and we do allow we just modified our sidewalk dining Provisions or encroachment Provisions to allow sidewalk dining um within the existing curb line um as long as we're maintaining accessibility standards right um and so we're allowing that but I think if you look at Park uh you know look at pipeline you know they probably see what 20 people out there on that thing 30 easily more probably yeah yeah they can pack them in right so I'm not sure they could see that many if that thing went away and they just loaded up the sidewalk with tables so that's where the solution is well what if you made the sidewalk wider in that spot and you could double up the it's a tradeoff for parking space it's a tradeoff for you know for the isore I'm not a fan of the looking like everything's put together with pallets I'm just not my bag but um it I mean he can there's a happy medium in there somewhere it it would seem what I know it was before your time Jeff but how did these become temporary permanent structures because when we approved them in 2020 they were only supposed to be there until the indoor dining mandate was gone right yeah so yeah what was the oversight by the city to allow them just to stay um they are reviewed annually so can you see my screen that was that was we didn't have an ordinance at that time the ordinance was well when yeah I guess

what I'm saying is when the ordinance was created um they they specified a permit duration of 12 months with annual renewal it's a plan but that didn't happen that didn't happen until 2023 right so those things existed through the co period Co sset it and and it took the city and staff this long you know whatever that is two years a year to generate a an ordinance to make them quote unquote permanent but there in lies the problem because they're not permanent by by definition they are temporary so that's why we're here having this conversation tonight is do we re uh eval valate the entire ordinance and make it a permanent parlet or not that's the first question because they're temporary and they've outlived their temporary nature is it's it's up to you all to direct staff to formulate a recommendation and come back to you and then go forward to counsel um and certainly as an option on the table for your consideration would be to to um end the program en time well I know the city council tends to be in favor of them but then there's some heavy confli conflicts of interest within the council with regards to some of those businesses involved so it's just kind of a it's a it's not going to be an easy thing to navigate through yeah that's why you know that's why I didn't want to come to you guys with too much in the way of a pre you know a cooked recommendation without understanding uh you understanding the context of the issue

and really getting your heads into it and doing a little bit of research on your own certainly um and I consider myself among among you all in that sense I will do my own research I will provide what I have to you when I have it and we can re-engage this topic in a month's time and have a more informed conversation about it certainly and um I would hope by then you guys would be um in your in your own individual rights closer to um a a sense of you know Direction and preference if that makes sense I'm I'm open to other procedural um options but I I just knowing you guys and knowing um this subject matter and uh staff's um background on this I'm I'm giving you you know I'm turning this into a a two-month ordeal rather than a a single month ordeal and I think we ought to prioritize it and at a as a group formulate a recommendation to move forward with Council uh you know in the next 60 days no I think that sounds good I appreciate the introduction and some more of the backstory I think that that helps quite a bit and I think it's good to let everybody know that it's something that we don't have to have because where it's maybe popular it never went through any kind of design ordinance nothing you know it they just built it because of the co issue and and we were good with that because we understood how much restaurants were struggling then but it needs to be a way more oversight on how they look and what they're doing and all that kind of stuff than is

currently and that's not going to be popular uh because there's a lot of people that use those restaurants I don't so I'm kind of neutral on it you know it's like I go yeah I like the idea of outdoor dining but I'm I don't like these I they're like big solid wood wall I mean what is that I don't get it you know so um yeah well we might want to figure this out before we have to uh issue a new permit to this new owner right well we can't change that now we because the statute is the statute the local law says they can do it um even if you guys did change make a change in six months or 6 60 days sorry um they would still uh be allowed to operate until their permit is sunset no no no the the new owner for sparkies well but he's still operating under the same permit right availability we can't deny him uh because he's get his new has to renew it himself though right right but consistent with the ordinance that we have on the books right now which permits it somehow Planning Commission was like overstepped with the issuing of reissuing of the ordinance in I guess I don't know what the right word is bringing it back to life after it expired in 2017 17 is how I'm seeing this it was C no it says in here in 20207 city council approved approved parklets for a 5mon trial period and then that ended and then we approved them under Co just during inclosed indoor dining and then the city council in 2023 just kind of re back that ordinance yeah like I said you're not going to want to look too deep into

that I don't think we like what we find okay well let me let me just you know for the sake of this staff here and now you're not being overlooked now you're you're being asked early and with um with clear intent to own this code tear it up or rebuild it it's your call right now well if we approved a change and there were new applicants it would apply to the new applicants would it not no no because the code needs to need to go to council before it's statute right I mean approve I'm not talking about just us but if it goes to council and it's approved there's new applicants they'd have to adhere to the new guidelines wouldn't they absolutely yeah yeah but the that as far as Sparky goes you know they got an application on the counter right now they're grandfathered you can't change you can't change the ordinance well some once somebody's application no there you are evaluated under the the legislative uh doctrine that exists at the time you submit your application I understand that I'm just talking about say there were new applicants and we pushed through a new ordinance and it was approved by Council then the new ordinance would stand for any new applicants yes yes so if we make changes to the ordinance how do you make the existing On's compliant next year next year yeah next year it would it would be a whole another fiscal year until they have to come into compliance yet it's a yearly permit yep so we can them into compliance it's not an automatic renewal right you uh you would get you

know the new code would go into effect um and they were when they when that permit comes into a renewal uh they would they would need to in in effect what they become is is legally non-conforming until they are required until their permit expires so we have lots of legal non-conforming situations in the city right signage signage is probably the most egregious um I agree some of those you know so yeah best case scenario you know we get we get the sorry we get the permit um renewals next January or December and typically any Amendment to the municipal code that goes through Planning Commission is at least 60 days so there's two months City Council best case is 3 months they'll probably stretch that to four so you do the math and we're we're going to come up on um time is of the essence yeah that's my point is why don't we just start doing it and then by the you know with the intent of having it all pushed through by say June we are I think that's yeah I mean by Council also but they both they're both renew January right I'm not talking about them but anybody knew who applies or when they go to renew this will already be in place it won't be news to them I'm timeline confused okay on why is there renewal in cuz is it the the calendar year triggers

renewal or original application date it's calendar year is what he said yeah calar year okay never mind all right well it sounds to me like we have a plan and for folks in the audience I'm hoping that those of you who are interested in this are paying attention and can bring your thoughts and opinions um next time when we'll open it up for public comment also uh anything else Commissioners on the parklets OK do I'm glad we're talking about it though yeah I think it's good anything else on the parklets are we good Jeff that's good so you'll expect to get some information from me I'll send you a design package here and some preceden and um and then keep your comments coming to me and I can consolidate and compile and and we can have this exact same uh discussion with our sleeves rolled up uh next month that sounds good all right moving on to item seven uh commission and staff comments Jeff do you have something for us uh I do not I feel like I've spoken a lot I there there is one little thing that took place over the last um couple of working days we we did get I and I've mentioned this a few times but the Eugene sway project up on Spring Hill um is getting closer to a complete application I'm hoping that he selects a squet consultant or resolves his squet challenges um if that the need context about the project which is up on Spring Hill he's making that kind of exoskeleton building yeah yeah Eugene sway has been apparently a fixture long before my arrival and he's made lots of public

presentations about his vision but he it it it is a uh I I always imagine like the Starship Enterprise landed up there and and was partially buried um it kind of looks like um and and and it's it's a beautifully sustainable Visionary piece of architecture for sure uh and we have a two track process in design review um as you know so we can go through the creative side of it um and I think it's going to be a very interesting conversation and I'm I'm really hoping that he gets a complete application here so you all can see it if that happens next month great if not I'm hopeful that it happen shortly thereafter um we have planning commission interviews at Council that we're trying to schedule I was hoping you get confirmation today there are two of you that whose whose time is up you know who you are um commissioner sarion and um commissioner Beck um your terms expire at the end of this month and we have four applicants for those positions um and we're very likely going to have those interviews um I would was told they're trying to get Council to do a special meeting because they can't do it at the next regular council meeting uh because there are union negotiations that are taking up that entire day uh so they're trying to get a special meeting together and it's possible that uh we would hold those interviews at a special meeting uh early on the day of the next council meeting or the first council meeting in February um so for those

um following along that's going to be the thir is that right no second and fourth right um 10th and 20 so it's the 10th of February is what they are trying to schedule interviews for for those two new positions uh I am doing my best to coordinate with our new clerk uh to get some clarity in the in the mix to do you all U Paul and Tucson um apologies for last minute um directive on this but I'm I'm doing the best I can with what we have to work with and I'll give you a heads up as as soon as I have it and that's all I've got okay thanks Commissioners Von want to start got anything um I have a question um is this just the open question for anything or it's a comment or a question okay I'll make everybody happy can you hear me now you can different okay so the question is we had we there was some conversation a while back about blocking views and things like that um and height restrictions of of properties Jeff remember that uh we had a conversation about height during the objective design standards yeah that's my recollection okay was there a resolution to that I I can't remember or is there something still pending no we did not change any height limits in the existing Municipal Code those were untouched okay so if somebody say owns a house and somebody wants to build a two-story house that's going to block

their view that's okay y it is yeah as long as it's consistent with or compliant with the base on height limits yes okay that it yep Belinda tuon um I was wondering you know there's so many people um that maybe still are you know watching us online from home as and I know that we're not not getting public comments uh from them anymore I'm wondering if there is is a way to to reinstate some sort of way that they can uh comment whether it be a a text a question or something that uh someone monitors uh cuz I know it's not well but feasible or convenient for some people to to come here in person I'm just wondering if there's a way um yeah I can I could run that by city manager city council uh and also City attorney I'm not sure how much Authority we have to uh change our procedural um I we've always been in my experience Planning Commission has always fallen fallen in line with city council uh public comment and brown act obviously but um I'd have to run that up to to get some input I can report back to you great thank you Paul no David hey uh Jeff had a question the um I believe suspect that there's we don't have a lot of um authority over

what happens at the schools and their signs sist uh the Middle School put up a very bright changing so completely contrary to our goals around signage is there anything we can do um unfortunately no uh I I I mean within public health safety issues but glare oh Big Time glare which what is this on sis on the side of the gym at sis it's just so bright so just beaming down on the street yeah and it's on at night and it's super bright can we have them turn it off at 10 o' or something it'd be nice um yeah I can I can reach out to them for sure and also look at what we can do with schools that might be a City Attorney question if you could put that into your uh Spare Time that'd be Lov sure all right I'll check thank you all right that's it for me uh do we have any other conversation for our next item around future agenda items which you touched on already just making sure we haven't missed anything it's all I've got okay that's it then item nine I'm ad joury our Tuesday January 21st 2025 regular Planning Commission meeting when's the next meeting the next one is in February and I don't know is that on that it's not on there I don't think no

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