Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Yes.

Recording in progress. Good evening.

I'd like to welcome you to the July 28th, 2026 regular meeting of the Palm Springs Planning Commission. Can I have a roll call, please?

Chair Wermick. Present. Vice Chair Lann.

Present.

Commissioner Baker.

Here.

Commissioner Miller is going to be late. Commissioner Morrell.

Here.

Commissioner Murphy is excused, and Commissioner Rotman.

Here.

And Alternate Hernandez is excused.

Can I have a report on the posting of the agenda, please?

Of course. The agenda for tonight's meeting was made available for public access at the City Hall Exterior Bulletin Board on the west side of Council Chambers, as well as the Planning Services Counter by 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 23rd.

Okay, before I start, we have two public hearing, three public hearing items, okay. This is a time for public comment. It's been set aside for members of the public to address the commission and consent calendar items and other agenda items. In our subject matter jurisdiction, please note we can't take action if it hasn't been agendized testimony for each speaker is limited to three minutes. And if members of the public, since all of the items in front of us are public hearing items, members of the public have a choice between testifying now and testifying when the item is before the commission. So are there members of the public who wish to speak now? Or would you rather speak when your item comes up? Seeing no members of the public who wish to speak now, we'll go to the next item, which is the consent calendar. And it's the approval of the minutes of April 28, 2026. What?

Just before we move on to that, we do need to go through the acceptance of tonight's agenda.

Oh, goodness. Okay. Can I have a motion to accept the agenda?

So moved. Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye. Thank you. The first item is the consent calendar. It's the approval of the minutes of April 28th, 2026. Can I have a motion to accept?

So moved.

Second. Will you call the roll, please?

Commissioner Rotman?

Yes.

Vice Chair Layan?

Yes.

Chair Wermick? Yes. Commissioner Baker? Yes. Commissioner Morrell?

Yes.

The next item is the acceptance of the resignation from the Architectural Review Committee of Jackie Thomas, effective immediately. Do we need to vote on that or just announce it?

I think you can vote by unanimous consent.

Since I took the item separately as opposed to consent, can I just have a roll call? Well, not a roll call.

I would move the item. Do we have a second?

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Thank you. Okay, the next item is a public hearing. It's George Youssef on behalf of GMS of the Desert, the applicant and owner proposing a 16 unit condominium project on a 1.34 acre parcel located on the northwest corner of East Amato Road and North Sunrise Way. It's zoned medium density residential neighborhood community commercial section 14 specific plan. Can I have a staff report, please?

Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. As the project title suggests, this is a multiple application project. It has a general plan amendment, a development permit, a track map for condominium purposes, and the major architectural. So the project is comprised of a 1.34 acre parcel and has a central drive aisle that takes access off Amato Road. The units are modest sized with individual two car garages, backyards with landscaping and small pools. They're targeted for a much needed workforce housing segment of the buying market and are arranged in the site to maximize the density while also maximizing usable open space at ground level and at second floor. The general plan amendment is required to change the land use designation from neighborhood community commercial to medium density residential to make it consistent with land use designations in the section 14 specific plan and to allow residential uses on this site. This is kind of an interesting point on the issue with the general plan because for many decades this parcel has been medium density residential with the approval of the revised general plan in January of 2025 that general plan had changed the land use designation on portions along the eastern and western side of Sunrise Way to neighborhood community commercial because they saw the building such as the post office and the spectrum uh... switching station is being more commercial in nature however what has happened in recent development applications both those of the city and those from the tribe is that the uh... east western side of sunrise uh... in section fourteen is in fact developing uh... with medium density residential So in order to move this project forward for your consideration, the applicant had to go ahead with a general plan amendment to change the general plan land use designation back to medium density residential. Let me go through the slides here with you. And so, as I mentioned, it's a 1.3-acre parcel at the northwest corner of Amato and Sunrise. I've identified these are the development applications that are applicable for this project and, again, that it is within the Section 14 specific plan. And so that is the document that provides us with the usual development standards and so on. So it's a long-abandoned parking lot at this corner. It was proposed for 16 attached three-bedroom townhomes with two car garages and small individual backyards. It's a fresh contemporary interpretation of an asymmetrical gable folded plate roofs that distinguish each unit and reflect a similar roof forms from the mid-20th century by architects Bill Kreisel and Barry Berkus. And there you see some of the references that I've included. I don't know if the architect would necessarily say that's where her inspiration came, but I couldn't help but sort of connect the dots. They're modest-sized three-bedroom units, two-and-a-half baths, 2,000 square foot, with deep-set covered balconies and patios with wing walls that provide visual and acoustical privacy with no wasted space between units. The deep-set covered balconies, which happen on both the east and the west, also do a good job of providing some solar control for those morning and afternoon areas of sun. There's provision for pedestrian and vehicular movement. Along the center drive aisle, which is 24 feet in width, is a concrete strip, if you will, that provides two things. It provides an area for the pedestrians coming and going, from the ungated entrance at Amato into the individual units. And it also provides a little bit of viewing space for the people pulling out of the garages so that they can see whether there are any people or vehicles that might be in their way. Also, what's interesting to note here is the applicant has provided gates along Sunrise Way to break up the length of that privacy wall. This is similar to what we've seen happen on other projects that have turned the back of the units to the public street so that it does give a sense that there is an entrance there rather than simply a blank wall. The landscape conforms to the city's technical assistance guide for water-efficient landscapes. It also meets the Section 14 specific plan. They've provided an ample number of shade trees along the public streets and also within the backyards, especially the ones facing east and west that will help with solar control as well. There's both common usable open space as well as what you see in the northwest and southwest corners of the project site, and those areas also help contribute to the adequate stormwater management runoff. so the findings uh... in the case of density the project conforms the fifteen dwelling units per acre would normally allow a maximum of twenty however only sixteen are proposed the project exceeds the amount of usable open space fifty four percent has been provided it meets the criteria for approval of the development permit it meets the state criteria for approval of the tentative track map The general plan amendment to MDR is consistent with the general plan and the section 14 specific plan as noted in your staff report. The project does provide ample trees as I mentioned and it meets the city's shade requirements as well as those for section 14 along the public corridors. It provides sunrise way with a portion of its center landscape median, and it does conform to the standards, as I mentioned, of both the Section 14 specific plan and the underlying R2 zone. So the conclusion is that it meets the city standards, it provides 16 much needed mid-range housing units, it replaces a long abandoned surface parking lot, provides street enhancements required by section 14, reestablishes consistency between the section 14 specific plan and the city's general plan, and it's providing an innovative fresh massing scale and architecture to the project. So our recommendation is that you adopt the CEQA mitigated negative declaration as an adequate analysis of the project pursuant to the guidelines of CEQA, approve the development permit, approve the tentative track map, and recommend approval by the City Council of the proposed general plan amendment. Here is the landscape plan and some other documents which I'm going to stop here because those I have just in the packet to provide if you have any other questions. So that completes my staff report. I want to just make a couple of notes. On your chairs today there was a piece of paper with a couple of engineering standard conditions of approval that are required for this project because of the work in the Sunrise Way ride-off way. Those engineering conditions got over to me late and so they are going to be in the conditions of approval for the project. They simply didn't make it into your packets in time for the material to be uploaded to the web. And then I also want to just make a note, there's a couple of errors in my staff report. At the bottom of page six, there's a two-line table and under Units proposed, you'll see it says units permitted, uses proposed. It should be 16, not 20. And then you'll note, if you've gone out through all the drawings, sheet A1.2 denotes the center driveway at 26 feet. It is to be 24 feet as required by both engineering and fire department conditions, and it is correctly noted in all the other documents. Drawings in the application materials that concludes my staff report the applicant is here to answer any questions You may have and I'm able to answer any hopefully able to answer any questions.

You may have thank you Before we go would any but we have the consultant the environmental consultant here would people like to hear from her? If you're here if you come forward Do you want to just give us a very brief report and see if there are any questions?

Madam Chair, members of the Commission, my name is Nicole Christ with Terra Nova Planning, and I'm the environmental consultant for the city on this project. The initial study is relatively simple here. Frankly, it would have been eligible for an exemption as an infill project, except that there's a general plan amendment and CEQA doesn't permit them for general plan amendments. We've put in standard mitigation measures for biological resources, all of the tribal consultation process was gone through and there are no significant concerns with this project.

Any questions for Nicole? Thank you, so nice to see you. Questions for staff? Go ahead.

Mr. Lyons, you mentioned something about them improving Sunrise Way median. Because to my recollection, there is no median right now. It's just a double solid yellow line.

Yes, the center median on Sunrise Way is part of the general plan circulation element. So when you have portions of it like this that don't have the center median, the applicant who's doing a development adjacent to that particular area is required to install that center median.

But the post office didn't have to do it, so they're going to carry that burden in the U.S. government?

This applicant will carry it just to an area north of their property line where engineering reviews it to deem it as safe and reasonable. They do not have to carry up to complete the portion in front of the post office. Thank you.

Yes, Commissioner Hoffman.

Yeah, Ken, you mentioned workforce housing. Are there any provisions or requirements or conditions on the project that would guarantee workforce housing?

No. Unlike the term affordable housing, which has a very clear and distinct definition under HCD and the state, this is not considered affordable housing as the state defines it, which has a moderate income level of affordability. This is simply seen as units that are relatively small in size, modest in the overall footprint on the site, that are generally the kind of thing that could be priced in an area that would be usually achievable or reachable by a person with average or middle-class means. I don't know what the final selling price is for the projects, but I don't know if the applicant can help you with that information, if you have curiosity about that.

Thank you.

Any other questions from Vice Chair Moran?

I was looking for a couple of things that might not be here. It might just be that I was not finding them on a teeny tiny screen. One is how are they, where do the utilities come into the units? Are those coming from Sunrise? Are they coming off of Amado?

I don't know the answer to that.

Okay. And then in my understanding that the roof drainage for the units and the whole units goes to the center, I'll call it the spine road.

Yeah.

So everything drains to there and then how's it handled?

On the side of that center road are two V gutters and those V gutters will drain up to one of the retention basins at the north end of the project site.

Okay, so everything goes down and then north. And then finally, you mentioned when you were talking that there were deep overhangs. I'm not seeing those on the west side or to protect the west-facing units on the second floor. Where do I find those?

They're the same on both sides. I don't know. Let me see if I can find a better illustration than this.

I found that and that didn't look like deep overhangs.

Pardon? I'm sorry?

I saw that illustration and it didn't look like deep overhangs to me and I wasn't finding sections or dimensions.

I think they're around three to four feet and I'll have the architect who's here with us tonight further clarify what that dimension is.

Okay. The balconies, but how, there are the windows on the second floor that I didn't, that's what I was looking for. I believe that's all my questions for staff.

I have a couple questions, and they have to do with the guest parking. When I look at the guest parking, I don't see deep bays for gardeners. Typically, you may see a double truck for a gardener coming in. Where did you plan to put those trucks?

Well, I didn't do the planning. I did the processing of the project, but I didn't do the planning. They have both the parking spaces that are in the front and at the back that are standard. If you've got a landscape person who's coming in with a big long trailer, that would take almost a double parking space, a double depth parking space or almost tandem spaces. That kind of situation is probably one that's more suited for them to park on a motto.

Okay, I'll ask those questions of the applicant. Any other questions? I had some questions that probably go outside our purview a little bit, but they go to design and the views from Sunrise. And although I understand that there's a reference to some projects we know and love. I'm wondering what, if you have a sense of what that's gonna look like from Sunrise and if it's going to be interesting enough.

Well, there's always something subjective about architecture, right?

Absolutely.

When I first saw this, it seemed kind of quirky to me. But the more that I've worked on this process and this project, and it's been a lengthy one because they've had a lot of additional burden put on them to get this GPA and everything going. I kind of like it. I think that it's fresh. It's... It's a repetitive form, but it's not cookie cutter repetitive. So this notion that there's some asymmetry to those gables I find interesting, and I think it's a fresh way to look at interpreting individual units. So often we see these developments that are multifamily where the units are attached, and from the outside you can't distinguish one unit from the next. Here I think it's very clear, and I must say it's grown on me, I like it.

I have a lot of respect for your design sense, thank you. Okay, I think any other questions? Is the applicant here? You have 10 minutes.

Hello. My name is George Youssef from GMS of the Desert.

Please speak into the microphone and a little louder.

All right. I'll speak a little louder. All right. It's been a hell of a trip to come to this point, thanks to Mr. Lyon there and all the hard work he did with us and my architect and the staff that work on it. I'm very proud to come up with this design, especially the roof. When you look around the city, we're trying to bring something new into the roof. My architect is actually very proud of her design. When I started the project with her, I said, don't touch the roof. I said, okay, I won't touch the roof. We're trying to keep the price low, but we don't know how much it's gonna be. When the market come up, everything's changing so fast and we don't know how long till we get the permits and get a price on all the center media and street improvement and all the good stuff that we have on this project. So it's not, really small to us, it's huge. So if there's any question I can try to answer.

We'll ask questions after the public hearing, after the public has a chance to comment.

You need questions for my architect?

And we'll have questions if she wants to present anything now, she can, but stay here.

I just want to thank Mr. Lyon for his great description of the project and a few questions were asked and I wanted to respond to them. So there is a four-foot setback for the roof to the glass at the bedrooms. And on level one, there's another four foot setback on the east side that will shade the living areas. And for the side on the sunrise, we have landscaping and also a door that breaks through the block wall. that breaks that repetitive block wall rhythm. And also on the model side, we have a breeze block that kind of breaks that. And I think those were the kind of two questions were asked.

Thank you. Sit down, yes. And are there members of the public who wish to speak?

on this project please yes thank you my name is tom finan i am a homeowner at palm regency which sits directly behind can you speak into the microphone I'm a homeowner at Palm Regency Condos, which sits directly behind this new development. And one thing that's been brought up in the meeting, which I need some clarification on, you keep saying that the interest is on Amado, but the entrance is on Andreas, correct? Because it's, well, how will they get through Frontier?

The parking lot and the site is actually on the northwest corner of Amado and Sunrise. So where the vacant parking lot is is where the site is, and that's the fronting on.

I'm sorry, so where the old gas building is.

No, not at the gas company building, no. No, this is further north. This is the vacant parking lot that's just south of the new post office.

Oh, so this has nothing to do with the.

We'll see you in the next hearing. Oh, that's a different. The next item is.

Sorry, they told us at our HOA that this was about this complex that's going behind us, my apologies.

That's the next item on the agenda.

So that project will be heard as the next item in the hearing.

Are there any other members of the public who wish to speak? Is there anyone online?

There is somebody in the chat with their hand raised. If the control room could add Lisa K, K-A-Y-E, to speak. Lisa, you can go ahead.

Hi, sorry, I need to change my chat name. I'm using another chat Zoom from my employer, so I need to change that. My name is Jared Bogda, for the record. Um, I had emailed and spoke with you today with regards to making a public comment. Um, I live in the complex that is on the, I believe, East side. So, South of or on the other side of a motto. So the opposite direction from the. Post office, but still on the same side as sunrise. Um, I'd like to make 2 comments. Um, 1, I do agree with Mr lion. I think this is a beautiful property. I think they're making a great direction of combining the Spanish. Revival of the neighborhood with some modern mid century touches as they're the property that is behind them is also a Spanish property. of design and so is the property of Palm Regency where I live. I think it's amazing that they are utilizing the space for first time or possibly what they would say working homeowners are because it's very difficult to get into the market to own a freestanding home similar to these. And they're making a great use of the property for individuals to have home ownership as well as private pools to enjoy. I really like the layout of how they will be laying the property out. So they will be able to see the views of the mountains from some of the units. And it will definitely help with the vacant lots down that strip of sunrise. We have a lot of issues with homeless encampments, people revving their vehicles. And I want you to know that we do keep an eye out on the vacant lots. And this lot has been maintained very well. There are no encampments. The police, I don't believe, have been there very frequently. The trash is always picked up. And I don't know if that has to do with the post office being close by and monitoring it or that the owner is doing a great job but i think the height restriction and the setback from the property that is directly i guess south or north or west of it um of the part of the condos or town homes that are right behind it Is very thoughtful, knowing that there are residents that will be living right behind. So I do support as a neighbor as a homeowner in the neighborhood. I do support this project and think that they've done an excellent job planning as well as considering considering the landscape and the homes that are around. THIS LOCATION. SO THANK YOU FOR THE TIME AND THANK YOU TO THE OWNER AND THE ARCHITECT FOR BEING SO CONSIDERATE TO OUR COMMUNITY.

THANK YOU. THERE BEING NO OTHER MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WHO WISH TO SPEAK, IF THE APPLICANT WOULD COME BACK UP FOR QUESTIONS. QUESTIONS OF THE APPLICANT? COMMISSIONER ROUTMAN.

Hi. So a couple of questions. Would you mind talking about the distances between facing units, both at the garage door and then at the second floor balconies?

This will be for my architect.

SO WE HAVE A 24 FOOT DRIVEWAY AND THEN FOUR FOOT SIDEWALKS ON EACH SIDE. SO THAT'S WHERE THE GARAGE DOOR WILL BE. AND THEN THE SECOND FLOOR WILL BE FOUR FOOT OFFSET AGAIN.

SO BASICALLY BETWEEN BALCONIES THERE'S 24 FEET ON EITHER SIDE OF THE STREET.

Between the edge of the balcony, yes, but the glass is four foot offset. Right. Yes.

Okay. All right.

Sorry. The driveway is 24 feet, and then there's a four foot sidewalk on each side.

Right. And from the four foot sidewalk, you've got the garage door. So between garage doors from across one side of the street to the other, you're at 32 feet. Is that right? Yes.

BALCONY ON THE SECOND FLOOR. YOU ARE RIGHT.

YOU HAVE A PROJECTION ON THE SECOND FLOOR COMING IN FOUR FEET SO YOU ARE 24 FEET BETWEEN THE FRONT OF EACH BALCONY.

YES.

I JUST WANTED TO MAKE SURE I UNDERSTOOD THAT. And then can you describe the concept behind the landscaping for the backyards? It seems like, and it's not entirely clear what's happening, but it looks like you've got a small area on one side for a pool, and then you've got the other side, which is beautifully landscaped.

Yeah, so originally we were thinking of a Japanese garden when we were thinking of the landscape because we're in a desert environment and we wanted to plant less. And those areas have more like an outdoor area. But while we were going through the process, We understood what was necessary for landscaping for east and west facing for these buildings to shade them and give some relief to the pool. So that's how we worked with the landscape architect to come up with what was required by SB 14, specific plan 14. what's required for the buildings and to shade them basically. And then on the sunrise, we wanted to make sure we have shade trees on that side.

And do you foresee that potential residents might want a turf area, whether it's turf or artificial or real, instead of all the planting on the one side? I mean, are you committed to putting all that plant material in the backyard or is there flexibility?

I THINK I WILL DO FURTHER QUESTIONS.

THERE IS FLEXIBILITY BUT WE'RE GOING TO BE DOING ALL THE REQUIRED FROM THE CITY BECAUSE THE CITY REQUIRES SOME PLANS TO BE THERE. OKAY. THEY ACTUALLY COME BACK AND CHECK. I'VE BEEN THROUGH THE PLANNING DEPARTMENT. SO WE HAVE TO FOLLOW THEIR GUIDES AND WHATEVER WHEN WE TRY TO SELL THE HOUSES, IF THEY HAVE DIFFERENT SETUP, WE'LL WORK WITH THE

Okay, and then going to the other side of the units, as I look at the plans, you have a pair of entrances and it looks like you've got a walkway that is, I'm gonna say it's four feet wide. I don't really know what the dimension is. And then for one unit, and then on the other side, you have a planting area. And so it's a little unclear if the second unit that has the planting area in front of it, if they come in and there's a gate or a walkway, because I think the party wall comes forward at that point.

You're talking about the Sunrise Way side, correct?

No, I'm talking about the internal driveway.

Internal.

uh... so uh... uh... and talk about who who can talk about that can't hold up just here you know he is the landscape it's on the it's probably on that may be on the landscape plan and keep like i can come up there and point to but i'm asking

CLP 101.

I think I know the answer to your question. What happens at these entrances is it comes up on one side of that planter and there is a demising wall by the door, but it doesn't go out. So you would walk up that main walkway that you see. There's some plantings there to give it some softness, and then you can go to either door.

It's to break the concrete at the entry of the doors. So we decided not to have that all paved, just again, as Ken mentioned, to add some softness to the entranceways.

Okay, and from what I can understand, there is no planting along the street, the private driveway, is that right? There's no trees, there's no planting, it's all concrete walkway in front of the doors.

Yes, so we made sure we have a walkways that connect to Amado.

Okay, all right. And then on the units that are on the west side, How do you propose if somebody has a pool and a gardener, a pool maintenance and gardener, how do you propose that they have access to those backyards?

A pool and a gardener?

Yes, if you've got a pool, people have a pool service or they have a gardener that comes in. How would they access those backyards, the ones that are on the west side? The ones on the sunrise side have the gates.

Yeah, but they have to go through the units.

They have to go through the unit?

Yeah.

Okay.

No.

We don't have access right now. Is she asking the questions? I don't know.

Do you have other questions?

I'm good, actually, with that.

Thank you. I have a couple if everybody here is finished. One is how in the back you've got some garden space and a small gate. Is that gate, have you measured that gate so that it's wide enough for a mower for a landscaper coming in?

You're talking about the Sunrise Wayside that has a door to the outside?

It's on the south side of the property and it's the back. You've got a small gate, but you're going to have to get in and out of that gate to mow the grass.

I'm sorry, I don't know which gate you're talking about.

In the back side?

Yeah, in the back. It looks like you've got sufficient room where the trash is.

Oh.

Three feet.

Oh, no. Are you talking about between the front wall and the trash enclosure?

No, in the back. The same area, but in the back of the property. If you go to the landscape plan, which is CLP 1 of 1. And Ken, can you just point to that? It's on the south side of the property, the south east side of the property. That's the north.

That's the south.

Oh, that's the south. No, in the back, in the very back, up there.

Yeah.

Yeah, you need, it's just, that needs to be wide enough for a mower. No, back, go back. Go back where the green grass is. There's a gate there that's fairly narrow, and that area's gonna need to be serviced.

Oh, that's turf. Oh, it's turf, it's not grass. Yeah.

Okay. Well, it's turf, so it still needs to be serviced. It's grass.

Yeah, but it doesn't need to be mowed, but we'll make sure you would like it to be four foot wide, because right now it's three foot wide.

I think we'll probably, I'll probably condition it to make it wide enough for a mower to get in there.

It's not grass.

Oh, you say it's plastic.

Yeah, it's turf.

Okay, that's not turf, but that's...

It's artificial turf.

Okay, there's no issue Okay, how deep are the overhangs and if you've done any studies on those if you're west-facing on The second floor. I don't know. I am west-facing Yeah, and I know the Sun bakes and I don't know if you've got enough shading over those windows. I

So we did a study and we pushed back the second story four foot and on the first level is another four foot back where the dining area is. So it's actually eight feet set back on the first level. And this is as far as we could go on both sides, the east and west, to have enough square footage for an adequate townhouse.

And you couldn't take the overhangs out further?

No, that's as far as we could go. Because of the, we have to have, there are setbacks for the driveway. And on the other side, I mean, west facing, four foot is adequate enough until it's sunset, basically. And then we have high SGH glass to do the rest of the work, basically.

And can you explain how the utilities, where the utilities go, where they come in?

We haven't done that study yet.

We would expect, as we're doing this.

There is an existing water meter and electric there now, and they're on the Amado side. This used to be a parking lot.

But the utilities for the individual units, I presume they're all separately metered.

If one is going from Amado, I assumed all of them are gonna be from Amado.

And they're under the central spine?

Don't have the answer for that, but I see a water meter there and I see electric meter there now, and they're both on Amado side. Gas.

Okay, I have a few questions, and this is not quite a preview, but it will be something that we would recommend to the architectural review. Typically, I love your trees. I work on a landscape committee, and I think they're trees we use. However, the southern live oak is semi-deciduous. So have you thought about what shading it's going to give to the property? in the wintertime?

We did use an architect for the landscaping.

No, everybody uses a landscape architect, but that's still a question.

That work was in the city of Palm Springs, so he's familiar with all the requirements, and he did a project down the street from it, so that's what I tried to get somebody that knows how the local shading works.

And these are just questions. The seedless hybrid mesquite, Again, a tree I love, very thorny. And I don't know, that's just an issue. And the paperback tree is a little bit hard to grow. We'll take it into recommendation. I just think maybe you might want to look at those again and think that through. Sure. I think you want shade and you might not want people getting jabbed with thorns. No, we don't. So take a look at those. I think that takes care of my questions. Oh, I'm sorry, go ahead.

Not sanding your wonderful rooftop, is there any consideration for solar panels on the roofs? I think it's mandatory.

Mandatory.

That's not going to interrupt your design element.

We'll try to work with the planning and try to get it looking nice.

I think, are there any other questions? Thank you. The matter is before the commission. Oh, I did have one, which is the parking, the landscape trucks that will come in. Are you open to creating a deeper drive off of Amato so that you could park a landscape truck there?

Did you mean by that a deeper parking stall?

Yes.

So there is a deeper parking stall if you look to the north of the project. The two stalls, one of them actually has a five foot offset.

Can you show that and how much deeper it is?

So it's actually an eight foot six parking stall with a five foot, there's a five foot setback until the landscaping starts.

I am not sure if they can use the hammerhead.

You may not be able to use the hammerhead that way. You might have to do it in the front. The concern I have is the landscape trucks will park in front of the garages. They'll just pull in. And you may create a problem. So that's probably something I'd like to see taken care of. But that's...

That's it matters before the Commission I Am particularly concerned about access to the backyards for the units on the west side. I think it's unrealistic to expect That pool cleaners and that gardeners are going to go through the home, dragging their equipment with them to get back there. But I'm kind of looking to my fellow commissioners and staff to know, do we have any other examples of where that happens successfully?

Well, just listening to that conversation, I was wondering if It might be necessary to sacrifice a few feet in the back and create like an alleyway on the backside of the west facing townhomes. Unfortunately, I hate to take away outdoor space, but you might want to think about that as a way of getting gardeners and pool guys in and out without going through the property.

What I would like to do is to continue this, give them time to resolve that issue. And I'd like them to look at the parking space issue for the truck as well. I don't know if there are any other issues. But I think the maintenance of the backyards is too critical to not have that issue resolved. And the site plan is our responsibility.

Yeah, a couple other comments, and I don't know if I can share. Madam Chair, may I speak to that a moment?

You may, but we're deliberating, so I'm not sure.

Well, the question that you're asking is one that how do you gain access to the backyards on the west side of the property? So the drive aisle that you can see in this exhibit that I have up right now is the kind of a service drive that goes back toward the parking lot for the post office. And it's not inconceivable that these could have backyard gates out of that side right there, even though it's not a public way. It's an area where a person with the pump and the filter thing could walk up that back area and go in those backyards if they wanted to put a gate there.

Right, but don't we need an easement? The issue, and I think that's a really good solution. I just think we need to have them consider it, work it through, and come back.

Okay.

I'm not suggesting the solution. I'm suggesting there's a problem with the site plan. Is there a public easement?

I don't know the actual legal status of that drive aisle.

I mean, if the gate is there and people use it, but I think it's got to be, it's an issue that needs to be resolved.

I have another, a few other comments, and I'm not sure if the commission's in agreement with that, but I think, first of all, let me commend the creative solutions that you've presented and the unique architecture. I appreciate that. I appreciate your efforts put into the landscaping. There are some structural issues, I think, that we're addressing in this conversation. One is the access to the backyards on the west side. The others, personally, You've got about 200 lineal feet of building on each side of the driveway of the main drive. And to me, it's a little bleak that you have 200 feet of garage doors and 200 feet of continuous balcony. And so I'd like to suggest that maybe you offset Each pair of units, three to four feet, it means reducing your backyard a little bit, but you could change the shape of the pool and there are things that you can do, but taking a 30, is it 38 foot backyard or 35 foot back, 38 foot backyard down to 34, 35 feet is not a game killer, but the opportunity to create a better streetscape along the private drive I think is worth the effort. The other thing is, I think in this small of a development, it's not critical that you have a continuous sidewalk that goes from the back of the project all the way to Amato. I think that the street, there's few enough residents there that you could share the driveway unless engineering has another requirement i don't think you need those sidewalks and i think what you could do is just keep your aprons for your garages and anywhere you have an opportunity to put a tree a bigger plant along the streetscape is going to be a tremendous value to the project um yeah those are my suggestions

Okay, so we have, do you want to make that as a motion?

Sure. Can I speak once?

Yes.

We've been on this project for quite a bit, a little bit over three years. So I was just wondering if you guys can put a condition, so let me.

No, I think we need to see the back area resolved. And I think we'd like you to come back. I'm sorry, but that just feels to me like it's too big an issue to be out there. It's a nice project, but it's not a lot of time. We can schedule it to a date certain.

When is your next meeting?

September. We can schedule it to our next meeting. The issues we'd like you to study and come back on are that, looking at the suggestions that Commissioner Rotnett made, something preliminary on what your utility plan is, just so we understand it, because we would normally see that. Again, our job is to look at the site plan on this, not the architecture. And I would like you to look at the front area and see if you can put a deeper drive area in. That's a minor issue, but as you're taking it back, those are things I'd like to see.

I would also like to see a shade study on the west side for the upper units, just 3 or 4 p.m. What's it coming like? Because you've got some big windows there, and I'm not sure that a four-foot overhang is going to do it. There are developments in town that have that shortcoming, and it makes upstairs virtually uninhabitable. So if you can just show us a sketch in late afternoon from the west.

Do you have enough for a condition and a motion?

Yes, I think so. What I have right now is you're looking for a shade study to confirm the conditions of the shading at the upper balconies on the east and west side. Stagger the home such as you may be able to get additional green plantings of some kind in the center drive aisle. Study how you might be able to accomplish providing gates to the backyards. And I think that was it. Was there anything else? Staggering the units. I mentioned that. Yeah, staggering the homes.

I've got that. And not requiring the sidewalk.

Yeah. I just want to point out those sidewalks also provide better clearance and visibility out of those garages into that 24 foot wide drive aisle. So that was part of what we pushed at the staff level to make those, to both provide good separation between pedestrian and vehicular movement, but to also give visibility for those cars backing out.

Okay. Well, I, yeah. Um, My own experience in other situations where you have a shared road, where there's a limited number of units accessed, the sidewalks are superfluous.

Thank you. Oh, can we take, so we have a motion and a motion.

Motion to continue with the suggested recommendations to re-look at certain items.

Second. Can you call the roll, please?

Commissioner Rotman?

Yes.

Chair Wermick? Yes. Commissioner Morrell? Yes. Commissioner Baker? Yes. And Vice Chair Alleyan?

Yes.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. The next item is a request by Shaul Miraza, and I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing it correctly, owner for the approval of a two-year extension OF TIME APPLICATION FOR AN APPROVED MAJOR DEVELOPMENT PERMIT APPLICATION DP2023-0019 FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF A 15 UNIT MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT ON A 1.37 ACRE SITE LOCATED AT 211 NORTH SUNRISE WAY. STAFF REPORT PLEASE.

All right. Good evening, chair and commission members. The project before you was previously approved on July 24th, 2024. The project is for a 15 unit apartment complex on the corner of North Sunrise Way and Andreas Road. The project has expired on July 24th, 2026. The item for you is a request for a two year extension of time to allow the project to continue until July 24th, 2028. So just to refresh everyone's memory, these are the renderings of the project that were approved by the ARC back in 2024. In a little bit of the project history on February 28th, 2024, the planning commission reviewed and approved a tentative parcel map to split the parcels, originally one parcel into two. So now it is the 15 unit apartment complex on one parcel and the gas company building on the other parcel. On July 8th, 2024, city council designated the gas company building a class one historic resource. That historic, sorry, that gas company building is not part of the scope of work today. Just for some history on the timeline, it is in this presentation. July 24, 2024, the planning commission reviewed and approved a major development permit. On September 3rd, ARC reviewed the project and continued it for further review. So ARC on December 2nd, 2024 reviewed it for a second time and approved it at that time. Highlighted above the site plan for the 15 unit apartment complex, as well as renderings of the proposed elevations. So the extension of time may be granted pursuant to the following section of the code. Planning Commission must make findings specified under the extension of time 94-12. Financial inability and market conditions are not considered valid reasons to justify an extension of the time request and they are allowed up to 24 months or two years to extend the project. So the applicant has expressed issues. The project was delayed for the following. There were delays due to multiple rounds of architecture reviews by the ARC, which created some sort of time constraint. There are challenges associated with finding prospective buyers and issues coordinating with Southern California Edison. So the applicant's been speaking to Edison and they've estimated an 18 month waiting period just to underground the utility poles and they're having issues with that. So the applicant has demonstrated their efforts to exercise the entitlements by completing and submitting the Mylar map to the county and it's currently pending final APN assignment from the assessor's office. It's currently being marketed for either an outright sale or joint venture partnership. The applicant is contracted with real estate agent and they are in communication with Edison to advance this project as quickly as possible. So as of today, there are no changes proposed to the approved plans. The project was not delayed due to financial inability. The applicant has adequately demonstrated their efforts to exercise the entitlements. A two year extension of time until July 24th, 2028 is requested and the project meets the findings stated in the section 94.12 code. Thank you. Staff is recommending Planning Commission approve the extension of time of the original entitlement by two years until July 24, 2028. That concludes my report, and the applicant is available to answer any questions they have.

Does anyone have questions? Yes, Commissioner Morial.

Yeah. I do have some questions. The application, the package, does reference the gas company building, which isn't part of the application. I just, it kind of threw me off. If you look at their response to number six, they talk about some problems they're having with the historic gas company building. But that shouldn't have anything to do with this project, correct?

That is correct. So the property owner owns both properties and they were working in conjunction with each other.

So that was... And I remember last time they explained that was on its own track and that that wouldn't interfere with this project. So I don't really understand why it's even brought up here, but... It is also in their response to number seven, they do talk about having problems finding investors, which to me is a financial and a marketing problem, which is something that we're not supposed to consider.

Yes, so I'll let the applicant elaborate.

Are there other questions? Is the gas issue an adequate issue for this extension, is it not?

I don't believe it's an adequate issue. They're just working on it concurrently, so their efforts have been split.

I sympathize with the electric company issue.

I meant the electric issue. The electric issue is dispositive, is it not?

Who is performing the undergrounding work? Is it Edison or is it the applicant?

That is a good question for the applicant. I am not too sure.

Okay. The staff report does say that there's an 18-month waiting period for Edison, and probably all of us are painfully aware that these things can take a long time. And I just wanted to know, is this something that the applicant, work that the applicant does themselves? Or if it is being done by Edison, that is effectively, in my opinion, beyond our control. But you're not sure?

I want to say Edison, but we can have the applicant clarify it as well.

Are there any other questions?

The public hearing is open if the applicant is here. Are they here? Yes. You have ten minutes. We hope you don't need all of it.

Ten seconds maybe. Good afternoon, member of the commission. My name is Shaul Mizrahi. I represent the 15-unit apartment building that we proposed. We got approved, and here I am asking for an extension on this project. It's been kind of challenging. We've been working on it since 2019. It took us, when I say us, I mean me and my architect, So it took us like five years until we got our approval. And then we had to get approval on this project as well as getting approval on the gas building project. So we got the approval. Everything was good. And then I started working on my plans for the gas building. And that took us some time. The plans are complete. The project looks beautiful. But I'm having a hard time pulling it together because of the market. We put a lot of love and money into this project, and I think it's a fantastic project. I'm very proud of it, and I hope Even two years might be tough to pull it together, but I would like to ask for that two-year extension. If you can honor that, it would be great. And we're doing everything we can to market the project, either a joint venture together with me, or they can do it standalone. I've had few interested people that were interested. sees the gas building, they just fall in love with it. The thing is I did not want to start the gas building on my own now and then do this separately because, for example, right now we have an interested group that are interested to take both projects. They want to take it over and they want to do some modification to suit their need and what they're envisioning so It's important that we put we keep the project together somehow so that the right thing can be achieved So here I am and it's of course it's up to you But I hope you can honor that Thank you Stay here because we may have questions It can

We don't have them yet. I think there is a member of the public who wanted to speak. There isn't. Are there any members of the public who wish to speak? There being none, are there any questions of the applicant? Is there one online?

Yes, if the control room could add JB. or I guess whomever has their hand raised. Yeah, there it is.

Are there any questions of the outside?

Hello, can you hear me? Yes, you can go ahead.

Yes. Hi, my name is Jared Bogda. I am a homeowner of the property that shares a property line on Andreas Boulevard, or Andreas Way. I am a little bit concerned about this property and the fact that we have a lot of issues with police, vagrants, homeless, garbage. The property is not, I would say, kept up in a manner that it should be if it is actually going to be a development There is a parking lot there that people leave their cars in, that they listen to music, they rev their engines. There is no monitoring whatsoever of the property. When there are homeless encampments that incur, the police do end up having to come. I've had to call the police many times. And the police come, but then the property is not cleaned, and therefore there's left with garbage debris everywhere. um as well the applicant mentioned that he's been working on it since 2019 the property was sold in 2024 um also the timeline that the person presented had september 2026 on her timeline that obviously is incorrect so if that could be corrected And the property owner said that there is a mention of someone who is interested and then it's going to modify. So, if the person is interested in buying and going to modify, then I don't know if there needs to be an extension for this for 2 more years for us as the community next door to have to incur. The continuous calls, and I urge you to please call the city and the police to understand how many calls are frequented with regards specifically to the 211 location as well as the look currently of the property. Since we are, since they mentioned the gas building, the gas building, which is a historical preservation location is boarded up. No windows that have been replaced and it has. It is wrapped the physical building is wrapped in what you would call 2 story. Fencing, so if this is anything, like, we would see the other property, I know we're supposed to be speaking about them separately. But since the applicant brought this up, it's very concerning for the community to sit back and let another 2 years go by. While we sit and wait for possibly since the property has been up for sale for about 145 days. to sit back and wait for the property to get bought possibly and for this to be possibly the new neighbors that we may have one day. Thank you.

Are there any other members of the public who wish to speak?

There are no other raised hands.

Do you have any additional do you have any comments?

Of course. I have been in Palm Springs for 25 years. I own other properties, and I consider myself a hands-on management person, and we have a team that they look into this. I have a maintenance person that goes there nightly. They check if there is any debris or anything, any trash they collect. Always, always chasing out on-house people. We are very diligent with managing every single one of the properties that we manage. And of course, there are people that decide to go there and park. I mean, how am I going to stop? I mean, I can't put a fence. I'm not allowed to fence the property. And the reason why you see that two-story fence or whatever fence you're calling it on the back, because we had a homeless situation. And since we put that high fence, we managed to deter them. The broken window, yes, they come there and they throw rocks. I've had a number of situations that we had to go in and call the police on them. We have cameras inside the building, so if anybody Any intruder goes in, we respond right away. We're local. And by the way, I bought the party in 2019. I don't know where you got the 2026 or the 2024 year from. I've been the only owner, and I worked very hard. developing and designing this property together with my architect, so I think we should all be proud and we should all be together so that we can complete the project. And that's what I'm aiming for, to either do a joint venture or an investor. I'm not a fly-by investor that spent seven years of my life to put together a project that's beautiful and and just walk away. But as far as the neighborhood, we are very diligent with cooperating with the neighbors. So if there is any issue, please call us. Our phone number is available. I think it used to be on the property. It's not there anymore. But if you'd like to ask, I'll be more than happy to talk to you separately. But yes, I don't like... any property that's mismanaged, and I take pride with our management. So, yeah, I mean, we're legit.

Thank you. Are there any other questions of the applicant?

uh... i'm concerned because we've received two letters uh... that were submitted in our packet that are from neighbors nearby who have the same reports that the property is not well maintained I'm not sure if you see those or not. Do you work with code compliance or do you call the police how And is your contact information posted on the site so that if there are issues the neighbors know how to get a hold of you and Get you to respond to things

Yes, of course. The answer is yes. We do work with the court compliance. I've had a few conversations. We have filed that paper to register so that the police is called immediately. but you know this uh... on-house situation of people drop it's very typical idea that everywhere it's terrible situation that we all are dealing with it and it's costing us a lot of money every time there's a damage and did i hear you say that you have somebody check the property daily Yes, of course. I have a property manager that's always on. The phone is available. He's almost like 24-7. You call him, he answers the call. And then I have a maintenance person that manages multiple properties, and he does drive-by this property every night. So if there is a... piece of paper or a bottle of something, he picks it up and he takes it with him. We do our own weed abatement every year. I mean, I did the weed abatement before I was even called on it. So I don't know what that gentleman is talking about, but he can always call us and we will respond right away.

Okay. Switching gears for a minute, you heard some questions that we had for staff regarding the undergrounding of utilities. Is that something work that you will perform or is that something that Edison performs?

That's a study that will take time. We have to provide We have to provide the data to Edison, and then Edison will determine what and how, what kind of a line conduit, how much kilowatt of power that has to go underground. So it's a whole study that takes time. Not only take time, but also to do the work, it will take time. So it was estimated that it will take about 18 months. Now for us to... So we came to do the application, and then when we had to fill out the application, they needed some concrete numbers. And to do that, we have to have all of our construction drawings in place, all of our calculations in place, and they needed data. And so we haven't started that process yet. And the reason is because I am talking to... people that are interested with the project and they kind of want to unify the two projects together. So there might be some minor changes, which is good, that will serve both projects together and so the project will complement each other. Because for me, they're both residential. So I think, just like the gentleman on the call have some issues, the future occupant of the 15 unit may have an issue with the gas building or vice versa. So it would be nice to have all of those things addressed so that issues doesn't come up. And it would be a shame that one project goes up with one owner and then the other project goes up with another owner. So I'm not here to say where and who and what will happen, but I'm really trying to give the project to the right person. I mean, it's really important to me. Because I really put a lot of time and effort into it, and I would like to see that the right group will take the pride into taking the project to the next level. Because it's a gorgeous site, really. It really is. And I think it deserves the right person.

Okay, I have one more question related. We need to tease out, the Commission will need to tease out issues that are under your control, issues that are not under your control, and issues involving financing or marketing because we have to comply with the municipal code if we grant an extension. OF THE ISSUES THAT ARE IDENTIFIED IN OUR STAFF REPORT AND THAT YOU'VE ADDRESSED IN YOUR INFORMATION, YOU'VE ADDRESSED NOW THE UNDERGROUNDING, WHICH WAS ONE OF THEM, THE FINANCING AND MARKETING, BUT THE OTHER ONE HAD TO DO WITH ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW AND THERE WAS AN INDICATION THAT YOU HAD TO GO THROUGH EXTRAORDINARY PROCESSES WITH ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW AND THAT TOOK ABOUT FIVE MONTHS. What was going on during those five months? What was happening then?

Well, we went on the 15 unit, right? Not on the gas building, because there are two projects. So on the 15 unit, primarily we had to go back a few times, like everybody does. We presented the project, and shading was one point, the colors, the material, the separation between different units, and things of that nature. So we went back to the drawing board a few times. And it just takes time. you come here, then they send you back, you come again, they send you back, so.

Okay, so it wasn't a matter of the architectural review committee wasn't meeting or their agenda was full, it was you were working on the design during that period of time? Yeah, yeah, of course, yeah. Okay, thank you.

Any other questions?

Yeah, just so I'm clear, you have not started the application process with Edison to start, the 18 months has not started, is that right? It has not started, no. It has not started. And when, I know there's a lot of ifs, ands, and buts, but when do you think that will start?

It will start after all the construction drawings are completed and we have accurate data for electrical. Do you have an idea how long that's going to take? The working drawing alone will take probably about six to eight months to prepare, and then you submit. But the thing is, some of those work can be done concurrently, so it doesn't have to, I don't have to wait 18 months and then, you know, on top of, so once the work in drawing is done, we submit the plan to the city for approval, and once we get, for the construction approval, and once we get the permit, concurrently with that, we can file for that application, and it will take 18 months, so we have to time it so that there will be no delay during construction.

DID I MISREAD THE STAFF REPORT THAT THE CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS WERE FINISHED?

ON THE GAS BUILDING.

ON THE GAS BUILDING BUT NOT THE APARTMENTS. OKAY. ALL RIGHT.

THANK YOU. ANY OTHER QUESTIONS? THANK YOU. THE MATTER IS BEFORE THE COMMISSION.

Do you want me to start?

This is difficult because it's stretching the criteria. I do think the electric and Edison is enough. I have a hard time with the selling of the building. That's really marketing. That becomes more financial. The combination of the two buildings together I think in some sense adds a wrinkle that all of us want to see. We all want to see the gas building restored desperately. We love it. And it creates a wrinkle. I'm going to make a motion to allow the extension. I think this is hard. It's hard. If the working drawings were done on this building, I think it would be a lot easier to look at the 18 months. I think you have to hustle. But it's very hard for me to turn this extension down. And I don't know where you guys are going to land. I'm landing there out of having dealt with Edison in the past. I had SOME PROJECTS I WAS LENDING ON YEARS AGO THAT FINISHED FOUR YEARS LATE BECAUSE EDISON FINISHED FOUR YEARS LATE. AND I KNOW THEY'RE HARD TO DEAL WITH. IT'S A TOUGH CASE, THOUGH. SO I DON'T KNOW IF I'LL GET A SECOND.

I HAVE A QUESTION. Gas company building wasn't part of the application, so I don't understand how we can give an extension that incorporates the gas company building and that's not part of the project.

We're not incorporating it. I'm making a motion to give an extension. This to some extent is separate, but he's in an odd position of needing it being logical to put the two of them together. And it is very logical if you're a developer, if you're building something, if you want to see something done, to put it together. So that's my logic as to how I can make the findings. I can't make them on architectural, and I can't make them on marketing.

A COUPLE OF ISSUES. ISSUE ONE, ADDRESSING THE NEIGHBOR'S CONCERNS, IS IT, THIS IS A STAFF QUESTION, IS IT POSSIBLE FOR THEM JUST TO PUT A CHAIN LINK FENCE ACROSS THE DRIVEWAY TO PREVENT CARS FROM DRIVING IN AND PARKING? AND NOT CHAIN LINK FENCE, JUST SAY CHAIN?

IN THE PAST WE WEREN'T ALLOWED TO WALL OFF. vacant parcels. That might be something we could look into. I think it was changed recently.

For example, I work at Eisenhower. We have a clinic over in the historic tennis district. And at night, there's a link chain that blocks the driveway so no one can go in after hours.

That might be possible, yes. We could look into that.

I don't know that we can make that as a condition on an extension, but if the city allows it, would you do it?

Of course. I'm in direct communication with the court compliance, and when we put that fence against the building, we had to get their approval. And I'll do anything, really. We're not constrained by financial that we want to do these kind of things.

Yeah, that's just separate and apart, but my real issue is with SoCal Ellison. So I've had other projects where we've had underground utilities, and it does take an extraordinary amount of time, and you're sort of at their, you're left up to them saying, okay, we're going to do it now. But what happens 18 months from now and it hasn't happened? What happens then? What's your plan B?

MY PLAN B IS TO GO AHEAD AND START THE PROCESS OF DOING THE WORKING DRAWINGS, CONSTRUCTION DRAWINGS AND FILE FOR THAT APPLICATION BECAUSE IT'S JUST WE'RE AT THE ODD PERIOD WITH THE ECONOMY RIGHT NOW, INTEREST RATES. SO EVERYBODY IS HAVING A HARD TIME.

RIGHT. I'M JUST LOOKING AT THE CALENDAR. I'M SAYING 18 MONTHS, YOU'RE ONLY GOING TO HAVE A FEW MONTHS TO COME BACK BEFORE US BEFORE YOUR TIME EXPIRES.

Yeah, like I mentioned, the 18 months, once you have the drawings completed and submitted, then you have your calculations. So you can always, once you have the calculation, you can submit for that application concurrently with the work. You just have to time it so that your construction gets to a point where it's not finished, and then they can come in and do the underground lines. We did another project in Cat City, and that's exactly how we did it. It's a three-story, 19-unit apartment building. And we just actually finished it. And yesterday, Edison came in and put the final vault, and we're good to go.

And how long did it take for Edison to address that project?

That was a much smaller, in terms of kilowatt, it was much less. So it took us about six months. But when we checked with Edison, they said it could take up to 18 months. So it doesn't mean that it will be 18 months. It could be less. COULD BE MORE.

THAT'S OPTIMISTIC.

BUT WE JUST FINISHED THE PROJECT SO IT WAS SIX MONTHS DELAY BECAUSE OF THE EDISON. THANK YOU. AND WE HAD TO MAKE A LOT OF PHONE CALLS AND BEGGING AND ALL.

YEAH. SO YOU DON'T NEED TO WAIT FOR EDISON TO START THIS PROJECT. you can get your working drawings done, and I assume you haven't started them. You're somewhere in the process, but you said it was five to six weeks more?

No, it was five to six months.

It was five to six months, so you've got a lot of work ahead of you. I'm inclined to grant the two-year extension based on the Edison, issue with Edison, but if you come back, I'm not gonna be so,

I understand. Yeah.

So I think you really need to, regardless of what happens with Edison, you need to get on those working drawings and get them done ASAP. And then you'll still be able to potentially get this done within the two year extension. So yeah, regardless of market, regardless of who may buy it, regardless of who's investing, you need to do this.

Okay.

Yeah.

Was that a second?

That's a second roundabout way. May I offer a friendly amendment? And that is, the findings, the way they're written, I just can't approve them. In about three or four of them, we're talking about financing and we're talking about market conditions and the fact that we're getting somebody to market those. I believe that the argument IS SUFFICIENT THAT AN EXTENSION IS WARRANTED AND CAN BE GRANTED WITHOUT THE MARKETING AND FINANCE. I THINK THAT THE OTHER THINGS WE'VE DEALT WITH ARE EDISON AND AS COMMISSIONER ROTMAN HAS ADMONISHED YOU, GET GOING. AND ALSO ONE OF THEM THAT WE HAVE TO MAKE IS THAT THE PROPERTY IS BEING PROPERLY MAINTAINED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROPERTY MAINTENANCE STANDARDS. Believe that you're making a good faith effort your property owner manager around town. You know what you're doing You you've testified that you're out there every day. It is a yeoman's off effort to try to keep vacant property free of unhoused people and trash disposed of by whoever sees an empty lot, I think the chain is a good idea and The one at the Eisenhower really annoys me because I could shortcut home through that parking lot, but it's there and it works. So I'm inclined to talk too much, as we all know. I'm inclined to be in favor of this if staff will go ahead then and strike the references to- It's a friendly amendment to make the findings consistent

with the issues that we have identified, which have more to do with the electrical utility issues. If you can limit them and redo them. That's favorable to me.

I'm favorable. I'm also favorable.

So we have any other comments? We have a motion and a second. Can we have the roll call, please? Chair Wormick. Yes.

Commissioner Rotman. Yes. VICE CHAIR ALLEN?

YES.

COMMISSIONER BAKER? YES. COMMISSIONER MORALE?

YES.

OKAY. GET IT DONE. KEEP IT CLEAN AND COME BACK WITH A FINISHED PROJECT.

I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THAT PROJECT DONE. IT'S MY DREAM. THANK YOU SO MUCH.

Does the commission need a break? At this point, you're taking a break. I'm going to be leaving the dais and all of my neighbors, and I am recused from this project because some of the changes might affect my interest as a homeowner. I wish you all well. Do a good job. Thank you. And I will see you in a month.

The next item on our agenda is a request by EMP2 LLC owner doing business as SunCal to consider two tentative track maps, TTM 39204 for 75 lots and TTM 39213 for 19 lots for future development and planning area one within the Asana development and an amendment to the planned development district 231 located at Clubview Drive and Artisan Way. ZONE M1P PDD 231 CASE NUMBER STM 2025-002 AND 2025-0003. POINT OF ORDER, MADAM CHAIR? YES. DO WE HAVE A QUORUM? YES, WE DO. THANK YOU. MAY WE HAVE A STAFF REPORT, PLEASE?

Thank you, Vice Chair. So this project is in planning areas one and two of the resort village of the Acina development. In this original Palm Springs Classic, which became Acina, there was intended to have a mixed resort and residential environment, including hotel, condominiums, apartments, and townhouses, which also could include restaurants, retail, or office. The uses in Planning Area 1 are to be consistent with the R4 zoning, providing development for large-scale hotel complexes or multifamily dwellings, and that is to achieve a general plan density of 15.1 up to 13 dwelling units per acre. So the request before you, as you read into the record are two track maps, one of 94 single family lots, the other one of 19 single family lots and an amendment to the PD, the plan development district 231, including the master plan for PA one for future development. And that includes an additional 59 single family residential lots. and then 150 unit multifamily residential development for an overall density in PA1 of 16.8 dwelling units per acre which meets the density requirements of the HDR general plan land use designation. Previously, the Planning Commission reviewed this project on February 24th of 2026, and you voted to continue. Issues raised at that meeting included requesting that the PDD amendment be reviewed by the Planning Commission to strengthen the commitment for higher density housing. In the PDD section of the zoning code, a minor amendment can be approved by the Planning Director or it could be reviewed by the Planning Commission. At the last meeting, you requested that it come before you as part of the overall review. You also asked the applicant to explore the location of the multifamily units. Was the proposed location in lot four correct? And then there were numerous public comments, including gate locations, increased traffic and congestion at Vistachino and Clubhouse Drive. Staff notes that there was a traffic scoping analysis that was done that looked at the types of traffic that would be generated by this development. When you look at the original development that was done in 2003, the CEQA EIR analyzed a hotel resort in this location, which would generate more trips than what this proposal is before you. So we feel that with some changes to some of the access points that traffic at these locations should be able to be mitigated or handled with current conditions. The issue at hand also is the number of allowable meetings. So the City Council adopted a resolution that states that legislative bodies like the Planning Commission shall not conduct more than three meetings on a particular matter before reaching a final disposition or a decision. So tonight's meeting is the second meeting and there could be a third meeting. However, staff, the applicant is asking for a decision tonight and our staff recommendation is to approve the project as presented. So looking at the aerial photograph at the corner of Vistachino and Gene Autry Trail, this is the planning area one, which is if you come in the northern entrance into Acina where the circle is on Clubhouse View Drive, this is the area here in red. This is all PA1 and then a 19 unit here off of Artesian Way. As I mentioned, the general plan land use designation is high density residential, and that requires 15.1 up to 30 dwelling units per acre. There are two tentative track maps, 39204, which is a 75 lot subdivision, and then 39213, which is the 19 lot subdivision. And then the PA1 master plan, which includes 59 lots in lot three. Let me go back, put the wrong button, which is here. And then the multifamily 150 units, which is required in order to get the density of the HDR land use designation. Our recommendation is to approve subject conditions, which includes planning condition number three, which is granting the PD amendment tying the PA one master plan to the approval of the track maps. We have findings that need to be made that with this tying and the PD amendment, they will have a 16.8 dwelling units per acre, which meets the general plan land use designation. The use is consistent with the approved development, planned development district. It's suitable for development. The PA1 Master Plan can accommodate the required density. The CEQA MND, which was approved by City Council, still stands, and the subdivision will not conflict with any easements. So Vice Chair, that concludes my report. And I would note that there were numerous public comments that were received over the past couple of days. They were uploaded to our laser fish that had access to all of the public comments that the public could see and the Planning Commission could read. There was also a request for a revised public business disclosure form which the applicant provided describing what the officers are for SunCal and that was also uploaded on to the portal and was available for public viewing. So this is a public hearing. There is testimony to be heard from the audience and then we have several people online that would like to speak.

Thank you. We will start with questions the commissioners have for staff. Mr. Morrell.

Yeah, I asked you a few questions on the phone. I have a lot of concerns, starting with lot 4. I'm really concerned that lot 4 is going to be end up being too small for 150 units. 150 units is half of the overall project and it's about a third of the overall property. So I believe the last time we talked about trying to spread out some of that into the broader property. And so I'm curious why that wasn't considered maybe doing some townhouses or some cluster housing.

Right. So lot four is intended to be multifamily, which would be possibly three story buildings to get the number of units in the density and the required parking and the part open space all of that would be developed uh... at a later time so i cannot answer that question the applicant uh... as you know this is the same plan that you saw back in february right and uh... They've chosen to come back and present to you today with the PD amendment tied to it so that the Planning Commission has a more guarantee that they will complete this plan to meet the general plan density.

Well, just as an example, I looked at the Living Out project. That's on nine acres. This is six acres, and that's 122 units, and this is 150 units. So obviously, this is going to be a lot more condensed. um it's a potentially 300 parking spaces i don't know if they're planning any kind of a pool or any kind of amenities i would hope for that type of project that there's going to be some amenities for uh residents like a gym and things like that um I'm just really concerned what's going to happen if they can't achieve the 150 units? Well, the... The three... Let me just ask this. The three stories, is that the max given the airport? Or could they go to four stories?

They could go up to 60 feet. The ESENA guidelines allows... structures to be up to 60 feet now granted that may have been with the idea that there would be a five or six story hotel there but that would not prohibit them from also doing more stories okay and then going over to the single family houses um in the report you gave us you reference um

The general plan, which says that we're going to provide a broad range of housing opportunities, including single family homes, town homes, multifamily units in accordance with the master plan. But all these units are exactly the same, pretty much. Right.

What that's referencing is what the ACINA guidelines allows to be built in this PA1. That's not what they're proposing. But it's permitted.

And was this all reviewed with ACINA? Did ACINA agree to this plan? No.

in any shape or as you can see in the audience the the crowd is well aware of what the proposal is yes there have been uh many meetings and the applicant will speak to they had a meeting earlier this afternoon uh-huh well i guess i'll um let the other commissioners speak for a while commissioner ruttman

Yeah, so staff is recommending that we do this approval for both the track maps for lots one, two, and five and tied in with the approval of the overall PA master plan. Is that right? It's as one vote.

Yes.

And it's at the commission's discretion to split that vote. Is that correct?

Well, we would not approve the two track maps without attaching the master plan to it because the overall density would not reach the required development or the acquired land use density.

Okay.

That's why it's here before you today. I'm sorry? That's why it's here before you today as an amendment to the PD to include everything so that we have a concrete plan set in place.

Okay. And then in the staff report, it mentions lot six and where is lot six?

So there, The track maps, I don't know if I have it in here. The lot lines are not, so this is lot one, two, and then there's two lots here. They're being combined into lot three and then lot four. So this was one, two, three, four, five, and six has become lot four.

Okay, so there is no future lot six.

There's no future lot six.

Got it, okay. And let me just see. And then a lot of the letters, that we received mentioned trying to keep the multifamily out of the HOA. And it seemed like I was interpreting that in terms of physically located. So isn't all of this part of the HOA and what are they referring to, if you know, how to keep the multifamily separate from them?

As you know, the city does not govern HOA regulations or CCNRs, there has been lots of talk and discussions, and the applicant can speak to this, how there may be a way to separate the multifamily from the rest of the entrances to get into the Acena development. How they internally figure out how the, THE FUNDS OR THE FEES OR WHATEVER ARE PART OF THE ESSENA OVERALL DEVELOPMENT, THE CITY IS NOT PART OF THAT DISCUSSION. OKAY.

ALL RIGHT. SO THERE'S NO, THE CITY'S POINT, FROM THE CITY'S STANDPOINT, THERE IS NO PROPERTY LINE, CURRENTLY THERE'S NO PROPERTY LINE DESIGNATION THAT WOULD SEPARATE ONE OR THE OTHER. THIS IS ALL PART OF ESSENA.

IT IS ALL WITHIN THE GATES OF THE DEVELOPMENT.

AND THEN DO YOU KNOW WHEN THEY DID THE ORIGINAL MASTER PLAN FOR ESSENA AND THIS AREA WAS THE RESORT VILLAGE WITH THE HOTEL OF 60 FEET TALL AND WHATEVER. Did they do traffic loads on Greenway? I think that's the name of the main street off of Vistachino. Because some of the comments we received also was there's a lot of traffic there, it's backing up, having multifamily is just going to make it worse. So was there, to your knowledge, a study of the amount of traffic that might be impacting that exit or entrance?

When the original development was done, obviously there were no streets laid out in PA1. If you look at the plan from 2003, they're just sort of areas shown as to where things could be developed. So there were no streets that were shown, but the overall development of 1450 UNITS WITHIN THE ASCENA WAS ANALYZED IN THE EIR FOR THE DEVELOPMENT. SO THERE WERE TRAFFIC STUDIES THAT WERE DONE AND THE LAYOUT OF THE ENTRANCE AND EXIT OFF OF VISTACHINO, THE REPORT OR THE STUDY SAID THAT THAT COULD HANDLE 1450 UNITS.

AND CURRENTLY WE'RE AT HOW MANY, WHAT'S THE UNIT COUNT?

and what's being proposed so far? The applicant may have a better idea of what they've built, but from my estimate, it's around 550 units that are constructed. There's another 300 units that are subdivided, plotted for Toll Brothers and other areas, and then add in these 303 units. So overall, it'll be about less than 1,100 units. which is less than the 1450 that was approved for the overall development.

Okay, thank you very much.

I have a couple of questions. I also wrote my questions in teeny tiny print, so I might have to struggle with these. Many of the questions that I have deal with the letters that we receive from the public. We receive an enormous number of letters, and many of them use much the same language, but I want to see if I can parcel out some of this information. One thing that many of the letters reported on was that they congratulated the city and SunCal and HOA on the meetings that they had to explore ways to terms that were used were things like make the project more feasible. So my question to, I'm not sure what that's code for, I'm not sure what was not feasible about it before, but can you tell me from the city's staff perspective what those meetings were focused on and what the city's position was?

I'm not sure what feasible means either. The city always encourages discussions and comments from residents. We want there to be a full transparent discussion before the planning commission. So I'm sure the residents may be able to explain that better than I can. Okay.

Was the city trying to facilitate the two parties who seemed to be at odds working together or were we calling and conducting the meetings?

We always encourage discussions between the applicant and the community groups. However, we do not facilitate those. We like to know when they're happening and what the outcome of the meeting was. Okay.

All right. Thank you. a lot of conversation in the letters about the boundaries of the HOAs and is the multifamily parcel going to be in the HOA? Is it not going to be in it? For the record, are the boundaries of an HOA in any project a matter of city or of general public interest or is that really limited to the parties who live within those boundaries?

Well, in this case, I think what they're discussing is would this multifamily portion have access? And currently there are there's a guardhouse and gates at the artesian entrance and at the other entrance off of the roundabout. So would the multifamily, is there a way to configure it so that the multifamily at that corner would not have access to the rest of the HOA and would they have direct in and out access onto Gene Autry? I think that's where they're coming from.

I understand that's the issue. What I'm asking is do we as the city or the public at large have a dog in this fight? Is this something that... Concerns the public or is it just of concern to the people who would live there?

It is an internal HOA Discussion item.

Okay. Thank you. That's what I was trying to verify Let's see and Let me make sure I understand that neither the original PDD or the amended one that's being proposed addressed HOA boundaries, so there's What we're being asked to approve does not impact, does not deal with where the HOA boundaries are?

From a planning commission standpoint, you don't. But if there's CC&Rs or revisions to CC&Rs, the city does review those. Our city attorney reviews those. So if that were the case, we would look at it at that point.

Okay. And we review them for what? What is the city attorney looking for?

The city attorney looks for legal issues and if there are any statements in the CC&Rs that are against public laws.

Like discrimination based on a protected class?

Correct, yes.

Okay. Okay, and as I understood from what you reported earlier, there were a number of concerns about traffic and circulation. The ones said specifically that the Clubview Drive, Artisan Way, Gene Autry, and Vistachino, too much traffic and it will be more congested. As I understood what you said, the traffic studies originally and recently have confirmed that there will be less traffic with this plan than was approved in the original plan?

There are less number of units.

Fewer vehicles, how about?

Less number of units which could relate to fewer vehicles than what was analyzed in the original EIR. Okay.

All right, so we're good there. Oh, there is a condition. It's an engineering condition number three, which ends underlined with HOA approval of all on-site street improvements must be received prior to final acceptance.

But what engineering three?

Yeah, engineering number three.

Okay.

What why do we have that condition in there is that always in there and What happens if there are on-site street improvements that are not in an HOA does the HOA still need to approve them Good evening members of the Oops

Sorry, we're having mic issues in the back row.

Sorry about that. This is a general condition for all track maps, especially ones that could potentially require a subdivision improvement agreement. Those are basically, this condition is used to sort of require that if there were any private streets that were to be constructed that the HOA sign off on them, considering that the developments haven't quite been figured out the configuration up to this point it's been more so a placeholder so if it doesn't apply it'll just be a condition that just sits there and not ends up being used but if there are private streets rather than private drive aisles that require an improvement agreement then before the release of the bonds we would just want to make sure that the hoa is fine with like the final slurring of the streets construction didn't destroy any curb and gutter stuff like that so this is uh SORT OF CATCH ALL TERM.

IT WOULD ONLY APPLY TO AREAS ON SITE THAT ARE IN THE HOA BOUNDARIES.

CORRECT. JUST THE ONES THAT WOULD FALL UNDER THE SUBDIVISION IMPROVEMENT AGREEMENT. So if there's offsite things that aren't within the boundaries of this particular site, that would be a whole separate issue. They wouldn't be holding up what's happening onsite.

Thank you. And then the last thing, and I wrote this in great big letters so I wouldn't forget, COMMISSIONERS, IF WE MEET OUTSIDE OF A PUBLIC HEARING WITH A DEVELOPER OR WITH NEIGHBORS, WE'RE SUPPOSED TO DISCLOSE THAT AND SO I'M DISCLOSING THAT I DID HAVE A VIDEO CALL FROM THE DEVELOPER'S REPRESENTATIVE A LONG TIME AGO AND THEN I ALSO HAD A REGULAR TELEPHONE CALL WITH THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE HOA. So I'm disclosing that and if anybody else received calls or had meetings please let us know. And we have some go backs.

And this is maybe for engineering. In, on lots, between lots one and two and lot three, there is a road. Is there a reason, and it's on lots one and two, is there any reason from your point of view or fire department, and I know you may not be able to speak for fire department, that that road is necessary?

That was just a design choice by the applicant. We just indicate the minimum widths that are required same as fire. The fire might have required there to be two entrances and exits for every portion so that's probably why this was being added in in this particular location. Just have it at the end of the bulb there that the NOLA development to the southeast was constructing.

Okay.

So most likely that's what it was for but There's nothing engineering.

Are there other developments that always have the two fire department access within Acena?

For Acena I believe dash one and dash four to the south had required it as well. Okay. It was just a through street for one and then the other one had a sort of AXE SHAPE WHERE SORT OF JUST CIRCULAR ALL THE WAY AROUND AND THEN IT JUST CONNECTED BACK UP TO THE SPLINE ROAD FROM WHAT I RECALL.

OKAY. ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU.

OKAY. WITH THAT, I'D LIKE TO INVITE THE APPLICANT TO COME FORWARD. YOU HAVE 10 MINUTES TO MAKE YOUR PRESENTATION.

Good evening. Madam Chair.

Please identify yourself for the record.

I'm Nick Pappas. I'm with SunCal representing SunCal and EMP2, the fee owner. Thank you all for the opportunity to return this evening. We appreciate the commission's thoughtful direction at the February hearing and We use the time since then to work closely with the planning staff and the community to address your concerns directly. You know, SunCal is the master developer here in Acina, a master plan that has been part of Palm Springs for over two decades. Planning area one, the resort village, is the last remaining undeveloped parcel within the master plan, 25 acres at the corner of Gene Autry and Vista Chino. Completing this final phase is important not just for SunCal, but for the Acena community who have waited a long time to see their master plan finished. Completing the final phase is important not just for SunCal, but for the community at large. The commission asked us to work with staff on distributing density across planning area one. We've done that and we wanna be clear The Village Master Plan before you already delivers three meaningfully distinct housing typologies. First, the small court lots, 94 fee simple homes on 45 by 58 foot lots, ideal for a wide range of buyers. Second, the standard single family detached 59 homes on the 40 by 90 foot lots, with larger rear yards and space for pools. And third, 150 multifamily units on a dedicated six acre site. In reference to a prior comment, the six acre site will accommodate the 150 units in a garden style walk-up apartment configuration and it will include approximately a one acre recreation facility, pool, clubhouse, various facilities within the clubhouse to accommodate that type of a lifestyle. Together, that's 303 units at an average of 16.8 DU to the acre, fully consistent with the PDD and the city's general plan. We evaluated adding townhomes. Frankly, townhomes work best in an urban, walkable setting. Cena is a suburban in character, and given the high cost to construct townhomes, We found no builder interest in that product type here in Acena and felt it's just not an executable plan. Several comments at the last hearing focused on the placement of the apartment site. We've thought carefully about this and we believe the current location with access from Artisan Way is the right answer. Here's why. Apartment residents will enter and exit directly from Artisan Way without traveling through the single family neighborhoods. Traffic stays where it belongs at the perimeter. There's also an eight foot perimeter wall along Gene Autry Trail, which will screen adjacent homes from road noise. This is consistent with how Toll Brothers handled the 119 lots along Gene Autry as an approach an approach that the commission and the architectural review committee had already approved. So moving the apartment site to the Vista Chino corner was also considered, but that would route apartment traffic through the single family detached streets, which is exactly the outcome that we all want to avoid. On the question of traffic, there's been a lot of discussion about traffic. City staff following the last hearing We reviewed with the city attorney the original CEQA findings and concluded that no additional traffic study is required. The original mitigated negative declaration from 2003 was based on a much more intensive program, hotels, commercial uses, and far higher residential density. What we're proposing today is a much lower intensity. We are well within the envelope of what has already been studied and mitigated. And finally, on the HOA, we've been in close communication with the Acena HOA Board throughout this whole process. They previously submitted a letter supporting this project and we expect and hope that they will express their support again. Madam Vice Chair, Commissioners, What is before you tonight is the right plan for this site. It's consistent with PDD 123. It's consistent with the general plan. It reflects a balanced, practical approach to housing that serves a range of households and lifestyles. It is also, frankly, the most feasible and executable plan for the resort village. We have been responsible stewards at SunTel of the Acina community for over four years, and we are committed to finishing what we started. We respectfully request that the commission approve tentative track maps 39204 and 39213, and accept the mitigated negative declaration as an adequate environmental document. Be happy to answer any questions.

I knew that. We'd like to open it now for comments from the public. If you have filled out a speaker card, your name will be called. When we're done with that, we'll also take any callers that might be online. And if you have not filled out a card but would like to speak, you'll have the opportunity to do that at the end.

Alright, our first speaker card is Tim Matthias. Apologies if I'm getting that not quite right.

Good evening madam chair and commissioners. My name is Tim Matthias. I serve on the board of directors of a senior of the senior community association I'm gonna go a little off script just for briefly to answer some of your questions earlier the none of the the Resort village that you're looking at is currently in the association. It's annexable. That's not in the association when you're talking about boundaries It's currently all out I want to begin with something I hope we can all agree on. We support this project, we support the apartments, we support the housing density the state is requiring, and we want construction to begin as soon as possible. So why are we here? Because we believe there's a faster, more certain way to get there. When the original plan development was approved in 2005, the resort village was planned as a hotel timeshare development with separate access. It was never intended to become part of the senior community association, and our governing documents reflect that original vision. I understand that you're not here to solve HOA governance. I agree, it's not your job. But you are being asked to approve a project that must actually work after it leaves this room. Approvals don't build communities, successful implementation does. EMP2, as decrement, has the authority to annex lot four into the association. If that happens, the governance issues don't disappear just because of tonight's vote. They still must be resolved before the project can move forward with certainty. That means additional process, additional time, and ultimately a slower path to construction. The encouraging news is that there's another path. Earlier today, our board president, Rich Gordon, and I met with the representatives of SunCal. They told us they intend to continue working with the association and the city to develop a separate access alternative from Artisan Way. We appreciate that commitment because we share the same objective, to get this project built as quickly as possible. If that alternative succeeds and lot four remains outside of the ECA, many of the governance issues simply disappear. Suddenly we're talking about planning issues instead, access, circulation, emergency access, easements, exactly the kinds of issues this commission should be deciding. SunCal has an apartment developer ready to move this project forward. We want them to succeed. Palm Springs doesn't need another project that is approved, but construction is delayed. Accordingly, I respectfully ask that you approve the project tonight, but do so with conditions requiring that lot four remain outside the senior community association with separate access from Artisan Way, more in line with what was originally envisioned back in 2003. Those two conditions preserve the collaborative solution that the city, SunCal, and the association are actively working toward, while giving this project the best opportunity to move forward quickly and successfully. I leave you tonight with this thought. A successful approval isn't measured by whether it receives enough votes tonight. It's measured by whether it can actually be implemented efficiently, with certainty, and to become the successful community Palm Springs envisioned. Thank you.

The next speaker card is Rich Gordon.

WOULD YOU ALSO ANNOUNCE THE NEXT PERSON SO THEY COULD BE READY TO COME UP?

IT WILL JUST SPEED THINGS UP. AND THEN ON DECK SUBSEQUENT IS DAVID CLEVELAND.

MADAM CHAIR, MEMBERS, RICHFORD AND CURRENTLY PRESIDENT REQUEST AN OPPORTUNITY TO BE THE LAST SPEAKER TO FOLLOW UP ON COMMENTS MADE BY OTHER MEMBERS OF OUR COMMUNITY.

I TAKE NO EXCEPTION TO THAT AS LONG AS I'M NOT VIOLATING ANY PROTOCOL.

That's acceptable. Thank you very much. I'll be back.

That was your first 15 seconds So next we have David Cleveland Good evening commissioners and madam chair.

My name is David Cleveland I'm a retired CPA and the treasurer and board member of the Sina Community Association. I have brief comments. I want to say I I as a finance professional would not be coming before you potentially giving up hundreds of thousands of dollars of potential assessments that would come into the association unless I had some serious concerns about integration of an apartment complex into the HOA. As Tim just mentioned, there's a viable alternative to get the apartment complex completed, keep it outside of the association, have separate access, and potentially give it even a more viable economic viability for a potential builder because they wouldn't have to be paying HOA dues. So with that, I'd leave that for you to think about. Thank you.

And now we have Rich Gordon.

Oh, did you want to go after the online? Okay.

I apologize. We're going to take him after the online. Had him last of the people in the room. If there's anybody online who wishes to speak to this item, please indicate that by using the raised hand function in Zoom. All right, seeing none, then we have Rich Gordon.

Thank you, and thank you for the indulgence. Again, I'm Rich Gordon, and currently serving as president of the HOA board at Acena, the Acena Community Association. I'm here tonight because we do support this project. We support this density. We understand the need for housing in our community, And we need to understand the state requirements that you must follow. And so I want you to be very clear, this is not an envy from us. This is really a support position of this particular project. If you approve this tonight, the one thing we would hopefully request is that potentially you look at a condition that would require SunCal to continue the work that we have started working together to figure out how to provide a separate access for the apartment so it's not inside the gates of our community. We did a site visit today. We think this is possible. We'd like to keep moving forward with that with SunCal. We think that solves a whole bunch of problems. And as was said earlier, it would allow us to get a project completed. If it's not separated from our community, then we've got a whole bunch of legal problems that are going to occur that will take time and delay this. We don't want to delay it. We think there's a way to get there. That way is a collaborative effort between SunCal, the city, and ourselves. to find an alternative gate entrance for the apartment complex. And again, these tracks you're looking at, this whole area is not yet annexed into our HOA. So we're not talking about an HOA governance issue here at the moment, but rather just a planning issue of how to create a vehicle that works for us, for the developer, and we believe for the city. Thank you for your time and attention.

Was there anybody else in the audience who did not submit a card but would like to speak? Seeing none, I'll ask the developer to come forward. You have five minutes to present a response to any of the comments that you've heard so far, and after that we'll ask you to remain for questions from the commissioners.

Well, as Rich Gordon and Tim Mathias indicated, we have been working with them on a regular basis. And, you know, we are currently evaluating how we can, you know, establish a gate entrance that does separate the apartments. That's gonna take some work. It's going to take some time. It's a matter of technical engineering, traffic flow in and out, where the gate might go, where it can go. So there's some work to do. And we're committed to work through that. It will include MEMBERS OF THE ENGINEERING STAFF HERE, POSSIBLY AGAIN AT PLANNING COMMISSION, BUT YEAH, YOU KNOW, WE'VE BEEN COMMUNICATING WITH RICH AND HIS TEAM FOR A LONG TIME. WE UNDERSTAND THEIR ISSUES. AND SO, YOU KNOW, OBVIOUSLY WE'D LIKE TO GET THE PROPERTY OR THIS APPLICATION APPROVED TONIGHT SO WE CAN GET ON WITH THE WORK OF CONTINUING to develop the resort village, and so we can get on with the work of evaluating alternative access for the multifamily site.

Thank you. Commissioners, we are now open for questions from the, or to the developer, Mr. Morrell.

Hi, good evening. Thank you. You made a comment earlier about town homes. Could you explain why you ruled out town homes as an option?

Well, there are several reasons. The two reasons why they've become unpopular is because it's attached housing, number one. So when customers have a choice to have a detached house versus attached house, they'll always take the detached house. You know, they've got light on four sides. We're on a town hall, the interior units, you only have lights front and back. But another major factor is on a cost per square foot for the same size of livable square footage in a townhouse versus livable square footage in a single-family detached house, the cost is significantly greater. You have all of these fire protection devices. You have two-hour firewalls separating the different dwelling units. Sometimes you have a similar firewall separating the floors. So, you know, for the same square footage, the same, say, 1600 square foot townhome and a 1600 square foot house, it's much less expensive to build a house. So when a customer is confronted with a choice for a, you know, townhouse at a higher price, which is less desirable living versus a single family house, they choose a single family house.

You don't have an architect here with you, do you? Excuse me? Do you have an architect with you tonight? No. No.

But I've been building houses since I was 15 years old.

Well, isn't there the ability to create more open space if you do some kind of attached homes versus single family homes?

Well, it depends on how you're calculating open space. Does it include the private open space that's available to the customer that has a single-family detached house with a yard? Because a townhouse doesn't have a yard. It has an alley.

Right. I mean, you just seem to be lean towards single-family. So I'm not going to convince you of anything otherwise. The market tells us. And as far as the apartment complex goes, you said you had a plan to do a garden complex. How far away are you from actually having a rendering?

Well, we have not done that work yet. We've identified a national apartment developer legacy partners. In fact, they included their letter of interest in that site in your staff report. Part of our firm has partnered with them on other projects. You can go online and check their website, see the kind of stuff they build. So they've done their market report. They've looked into carefully the rents and the available apartments that are here in Palm Springs. And as you probably know, many of the apartments are older. And they think that this is a great location for an apartment site. And so, you know, we really couldn't YOU KNOW, ACTIVATE ANY SITE PLANNING ASSOCIATED WITH THAT PIECE UNTIL WE GOT THIS LEVEL OF APPROVAL DONE. SO FOLLOWING AN APPROVAL FOR We'll be engaged with them right away. And obviously, that'll take a process. They'll develop some concept plans. We'll do some workshops with the planning staff. We'll do some workshops with the art committee as they're developing their plans. But the city will be very involved.

Uh, but, um, are you thinking how many stories you're thinking one or two stories?

The two stories, you know, um, at, at the, at, you know, at a 26, 28, the acre density, which is a common density for, what we call garden-style walk-up. These would not be elevators served. They would be walk-up apartments. It will fit that site nicely and leave a good portion of land for a very sophisticated recreation center. A recreation center that would include you know, pools and a really fabulous clubhouse. If you're curious, Google their website, Legacy Partners. There's a project over in Costa Mesa that's outstanding, and this is the kind of thing that they have in mind for him.

Yeah, well, that'd be great. And would it be something, hopefully, that'll be open to the public and not just to the community? And as far as parking goes, that'll be underneath?

You know, they'll organize their land plan to satisfy all of the parking requirements based on the unit count, yes.

Mm-hmm. Okay, I think that's it for me.

Commissioner Baker.

Hi, good evening. Could you do me a favor and can you pull up this, just any of the slides that show lot four vis-a-vis all the, oh, thank you, perfect. Can you walk me through, as it is today, if I'm a resident in the apartment building, how am I entering and exiting the development?

Well, the access is going to have to come off of Artisan Way, obviously. Right. And so, you know, the discussion that, you know, we've been having with the association, there is a gate that is, you can kind of see the gate, the little white, there's a gate there. AND IT'S MY UNDERSTANDING THAT THE ASSOCIATION INTENDS TO GO TO A FULLY ELECTRONIC LICENSE READER KIND OF ACCESS.

OH, INSTEAD OF A PHYSICAL PERSON.

YEAH. AND THEY'RE GOING TO DO AWAY WITH STAFFED, YOU KNOW, STAFFED GATED ENTRANCE. IT'S GOING TO BE ALL ELECTRONIC. The idea is, and this is why it takes some study, the idea is that there would not be any gates at what is now the gatehouse. The gatehouse would be used by the association for meeting rooms or something, but there would not be a gatehouse active, and that somewhere, you know, INTO ARTISAN WAY, THERE WOULD BE AN ELECTRONIC GATE AND THAT ELECTRONIC GATE WOULD BE FOR THE RESIDENTS WITHIN THE PROJECT AND OFF OF ARTISAN WAY BEFORE THE ELECTRONIC GATE, YOU WOULD ACCESS THE APARTMENT SIDE. THAT'S THE THEORY. AND, YOU KNOW, LIKE I POINTED OUT IN MY EARLIER COMMENTS, You know, we're prepared to work on how that might work and what it would look like and some conceptual planning for it. And, you know, if it makes sense, maybe some ultimate, you know, precise planning for it. But that's the concept. You know, Fernando and myself are out there with Rich and Tim this afternoon, kind of looking it over. So, you know, that's the idea that they have in mind.

So if I lived in the apartment, I would only be able to, if coming in off of...

In and out from Artisan.

I would make a left-hand turn going in. I would not be able to drive past.

That's correct. That's the idea.

And so the residents that live in Decina that are exiting, that gate would open up and let them get out.

Yes, that's right. The gate would be activated by a sensor. You don't have to have access to the gates to get out. You have to have access to get in. So if a guest is let in, they can automatically get out because the sensor would activate the gate and let them out.

Okay. Thank you. Mm-hmm.

So continuing on that discussion, so where would the second means of egress or access be for the apartments?

Well, I don't know yet. It'd be beyond the gate. Excuse me? It's beyond the gate. Well, no, there's an idea, theoretically. Again, there's always an idea.

And that drawing shows currently at the south end of Lot 3, a portion of the road, and it looks like there's an arrow going into Lot 4. So are you abandoning that?

No, no, no. Those 19 lots there would be part of the association. They're single-family detached lots. So that's the point. We would have to organize that so the 19 lots can get through the gate, behind the gate, and then get into their 19 lots.

And would the residences in lot five, would they be gated as well, or that's wide open?

Where's lot five?

The bottom one, the small bottom one.

Well, that's the one I'm talking about. Oh. The 19 lot, the location of a new electronic gate has to be located so that those 19 lots are behind the gate.

Wow. that's pretty tight to get in. Especially if you're putting the entrance to the apartments between that. I'm not sure that's gonna work very well.

But anyway. But you're looking at miniature scale. Keep that in mind. Okay.

I, you know, when you were here before, I think we expressed from a planning point of view that it's better to have multifamily at the corner of Lissachino and Gene Autry. And we gave you the opportunity to come back and look at that. And I'm disappointed that you came back with the same plan. And I'll say this because given the discussion about keeping it separate, there are alternatives. I'm not going to design it for you, but there are alternatives that you're going to come back with where the apartments could have come in off of Greenway, taken over a lot was it one, two, and maybe part of the original three, and that all becomes apartments, and that takes care of the corner being multifamily. And then all the rest of that could have been single family divided however you wanted, and it could have been accessed partially off of Greenway, off the Circle, and partially off of Artisan Way. And so I'm not buying the fact that it's the best option available. Understood. Okay. And then just getting into the nitty gritty, in lot one at the southeast part of it, you have this big 87 foot round turnaround. That can't be a fire department requirement. Why haven't you expanded the park there? So you see where I'm talking about? Yeah, I do. Yeah, why is that such a big, no, down further, right there, yeah.

Yeah, the other one's already built.

Yeah, that's built?

The one up on top, yeah.

The one at the top, but the one at the bottom is not. Right, right. So why not expand a bigger park thing? You certainly don't need an 87-foot turnaround.

I'll take that under consideration.

Okay. and uh let's see here um i guess i'm good i'm good for now but i do have a couple questions for staff if i may um in the original resort village commissioner uh i have no questions for the applicant at this time so what i'd like to do is close the public hearing okay during our discussion then we can ask staff additional questions

Okay. At this point the public hearing is closed and we're open for discussion among commissioners, including those who would like a little bit more information from staff.

So in the original master plan for the resort village, where was the access? Was it off of Artisan Way?

I don't have the plan before me. I included it in the last staff report and felt I would kind of make things a little bit more simpler. Um, but let me go back to the aerial. So, in the original plans, and I'm just doing this off of memory, there was, yeah, there was access the whole way through here.

Okay. All right. Okay, and then before us, what options do we have in terms of how we vote? Can this be continued? Does it have to be denied or approved? Where are we with this?

You have several options, obviously. You can approve it with conditions. It sounds like there's a lot of discussion about how to move the project forward, but with some conditions to study later. You can deny the project in... Most cases, if you deny the project, the applicant will appeal and it will go to city council and the city council will determine what the project ends up looking like. You could continue the project for more development. Would the applicant has said that he need if in order to determine the gate issue, it would require more studies. More studies may take months to do. He's asking the Planning Commission to move it forward based upon the two track maps and the PD amendment. So if you continue it, you could do a date certain but as we mentioned I don't think that there's enough time unless it's several months away which is hard to do a date certain.

Okay.

All right, thank you. Do you have comments or questions for staff?

Yes, we never address that second ingress, egress, and egress. So if they're coming in off artesian, then what's the alternative for safety for another egress?

Right, I think Commissioner Ruttman was pointing at this arrow here, right? Yes. So there are ways to have... an emergency access gate that the fire department likes to have two ways to get in and out of a project. There couldn't be any kind of access off of Gene Autry. This is state highway and there would have to be something worked out somewhere else. I thought we couldn't touch the state highway. We can't. No, that's what I meant. We can't do anything there.

Okay. Thank you. Okay.

Would anybody like to, well, before we begin offering comments, I have questions as well. The concept of conditioning and approval on good faith negotiations and cooperative work after the approval is a little bit unusual to me. is there a way that that has staff have you seen that done before and is there a way that you can put some teeth in it what are the options if uh... one party or the other does not cooperate uh... or they're unable to come to a mutually acceptable agreement yeah i mean to your point it is fairly difficult to

conclusively ascertain good faith engagement. I think typically in order to demonstrate that a condition has been satisfied, it has to be demonstrable or measurable in a conclusive way. And I don't know that we could, I don't know how we would determine that if good faith is disputed by either party.

Is this something that if the item were continued that conversations with the city attorney might have a way to phrase that or a way to, might have constructive suggestions?

Well, there is, so you're amending the PD, and in past PDs, there are conceptual plans, like the original PD for this was conceptual. All of it was on good faith that certain homes will be built here certain homes will be built there a hotel here so it's not uh... we've seen it before it's just how do you tie and make it concrete that they will reach the density that they need in order to meet the general plan designation so that's kind of what the question is can you condition the approval that in my understanding is that the they want to move forward with the two tracks because they have developer ready to go they need time to work on the multifamily and how that would work with the gates and then the top yellow lots three and four are in the works also so we are tying the master plan together with the pd amendment that is how we would address that and if they're unable to resolve issues with the uh existing hoa

regarding gates or access it's not The developer couldn't go ahead and develop the project with to their own satisfaction Because it's not violating anything in the general plan the zoning ordinance in any municipal code to do so that's correct right commissioners and looking to the three of you to hear your and any motions that he might be prepared to make uh...

My main concern is that all these houses are exactly alike and we're really only appealing to one type of buyer. And I don't feel like it's very inclusionary of a broader range of people. It feels like I live in town in Long Island.

It seems that the developer and the HOA have worked in good faith for quite a while now, and I feel confident that they're working in conjunction and can come to a solution to this issue together. It's just really a question of time. from all the feedback we've received from the public, they're all in favor of this going forward, it's really simply just a question of access, a vehicular access, to be more precise. And I think that can be achieved, given the parties a little more time to work.

I'm not in favor of the plan as it's currently presented. I think the gate issue is a much bigger issue to resolve. I think if as they propose to put a gate on Artisan Way after the medians at the entrance and before the driveway to lot five, and you have 150 units dumping out in that small space, you're talking about a big traffic issue. And so I don't think this is a good solution. And I think the discussion we had the last time about moving the multifamily to the corner makes much more sense. And as I said, there are other options which they did not explore of how to achieve that. So at this point, I would say we could continue it if they're willing to come back and really look at this and come back with what certain conditions that we impose.

I am concerned that we are Assuming an issue that really isn't ours when we're looking at the how the gates will operate Because Those are on private roads And I believe that the parties are interested in working together and if they don't reach a mutually satisfying solution again the developer has the right to go ahead if we approve this as it is the developer has the right to go ahead and build like that.

But isn't that a site planning issue? Isn't that under our purview?

IS A REVISION TO THE MASTER PLAN. IT DOESN'T INCLUDE, AND CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, BUT THESE GATES ARE NOT IN WHAT WE'RE CONSIDERING TONIGHT. NO. THIS IS NOT PART OF THE APPLICATION.

NO, YOU'RE NOT CONSIDERING THE GATES.

NOW, THE ISSUE OF WHERE THE APARTMENT SHOULD BE LOCATED IS A BIGGER ISSUE. does have merit. I don't have a particularly strong feeling as to whether the apartments are better here or they're better at the corner. I actually think this is a better location for people to live in, and we tend to relegate multifamily residential projects to places where people don't want to live. And so I think this is a good thing. And correct me, Jonathan, on this. Gene Autry, at this point, we know we can't put an entrance off of Gene Autry because that's Caltrans. If we had a development right at the corner, isn't Vistachino also Caltrans right away? Would they control where an entrance would go?

East of Gene Autry, Vistachino is the city's public right-of-way rather than Caltrans. However, there is still the underlying abutter's rights that I believe exists for the underlying map with Acena overall. The Palm Springs Classic map, I think, had put an abutter's rights to Vistachino and Gene Autry. It would still be something to be double checked, but it's not one of the entrances that was analyzed when Acena was first developed. That would actually require a traffic study to reopen everything regarding traffic at Acena, because it's a whole new entrance for the development overall. Okay.

and there's not a great deal of frontage along there to work with And there's already a signal at Clubhouse Drive or Clubview Drive and at the intersection of General Autry. So likely you wouldn't get another controlled entrance. Correct.

And if it were to be reanalyzed, Caltrans would also want to be involved in that traffic study. Even if it's not in the right of way, it would impact their signals.

Okay. And regarding the type of product, I disagree that there's only one type of product because we have two clearly different ones. I'm not going to say that a courthouse single-family home is different from a regular single-family home. I don't necessarily consider that two different products, but we do have an apartment multifamily product which is recognizably and functionally different. I think the applicant in their response to our previous meeting did make some valid points and did have What do we call it in Saturday Night Live? Point counterpoint. They had reasonable responses to our suggestions. It is frustrating to us as human beings to have somebody take a look at input that we give and just say no, no, no, no. But I think that they did have reasonable responses. responses to that gathered that it was just done because they were uh... unwilling to consider upper issues Those are my comments and I'm looking for a motion. It's fair game. The developer would like a decision, but a decision can be a continuance. And just for the sake of conversation, if nobody else is willing to make a motion, I would move that we approve the track maps, affirm that the original sequence study is sufficient for the proposed work, and I would like to add a condition that we reduce the diameter of the one roundabout that is not necessary like that, because I think that yes, and that any reclaimed space be devoted to green space there. That would be the only condition that I would propose. Is there a second?

Second.

Any more discussion regarding the...

Call the question.

My only concern is this is the 300 units we're approving, right?

But we really... We are not approving any units. This is the track map. We're not approving apartments. We're not approving houses. We're not approving anything. Those would come back to us in the future.

Okay.

This is simply the map.

I have nothing else to say.

Okay. May we have a roll call vote?

Vice Chair Alleyan.

Yes.

Commissioner Rotman.

I second it.

Oh, I'm sorry. Commissioner Baker?

Yes.

Commissioner Rotman?

No.

Commissioner Morrell?

Yes.

The motion carries three to one. Thank you. And this is going on. I encourage you all to continue your conversations and make this work because you will be neighbors for some time to come and we look forward to you continuing in the good faith that you've been exhibiting to date. Already at this point do we have comments, remarks from the commissioners? I WILL JUST SAY THAT I WAS A LITTLE BIT EMBARRASSED TO TURN ON MY COMPUTER HERE A WEEK OR SO AGO AND GOT THE AGENDA PACKET. I HAVEN'T TURNED IT ON SINCE WE LAST MET AND I HAD A COUPLE OF E-MAIL MESSAGES FROM THE CITY CLERK REMINDING ME TO COMPLETE MY AB 1234 TRAINING. SO I'M BUSY WORKING ON THAT. IF ANYBODY ELSE, WE HAVE UNTIL AUGUST 14th. ANYBODY?

You're already a sitting commissioner. It's only for the new.

No, it's for everybody. Oh, I didn't get that email. My understanding, and can you check on that and get back to us? My understanding is that you have to do it, I believe it's every two years regardless, if you're existing or if you're new.

Is that the Brown Act?

It is ethics.

Ethics, yes. You have to sit there for two hours.

Yes, and you can't finish early.

But there was an email about...

new commissioners or you know the orientation and all that that well that was different yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah sorry oh yes i went to that training it is like every two years right okay uh anybody else have any remarks we'll look at the director du jour and see if he has comments

No specific comments germane to the subject matter jurisdiction other than to say have a nice summer break.

All righty. And I will also look to anybody else to say the time and date to which we are adjourning because I don't have my calendar with me. We're adjourning until 5.30 p.m. on Tuesday.

SEPTEMBER SOMETHING.

I BELIEVE IT'S SEPTEMBER 8th. 8th. SO BE IT.

UNTIL SEPTEMBER 8th. UNTIL PROVEN OTHERWISE. SEPTEMBER 8th. THANK YOU.