Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Testing, testing. Can we check microphones? Jessica, can you hear me? Testing. Jessica, can you hear me? Sorry, we're having some technical difficulties. Just one moment. Jessica, can you try again?

How about now?

Try again. Jessica, can you try again?

I can still hear you.

Okay, perfect. Sarah, can you test your microphone, please?

Yes, I can. Can you hear me?

Thank you. Yes.

Okay, welcome to the April 14th, 2026 Planning Commission meeting. We're going to lead off by Pledge of Allegiance. I'll stand.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Roll call, please.

Commissioner Kobler? Here. Commissioner Neal? Here. Commissioner Christensen? Here. Commissioner Lorenz?

Here.

Commissioner Kovarubias? Here. Commissioner Marlowe? Here. Chairperson Roden? Here. So the record will reflect that Commissioners Christensen and Marlowe are absent.

Can we have staff introductions, please?

Marcy Renoso and Jessica Ferguson, permit technicians.

Warren Frase, community development director.

Sarah Laughlin, on the phone.

Thank you. General public comment regarding matters not contained on the agenda. Do we have anyone here that would like to make a public comment? Seeing none, Marcy, do we have anybody online?

No callers.

Thank you. Are there any agenda items proposed to be tabled or rescheduled?

There are no items to be rescheduled tonight. I do have an announcement, though. Our second item tonight, the zoning code amendment update, we do have a Spanish language translator in the back that's available for any members of the public that would need that. If you do, talk to Jose in the very back, and he can get you the headphones set up.

Thank you so much. Okay, so we'll begin the public hearings tonight. Let's close public comment. Did I do that? If not, I should have. Anyway, moving on. Public hearings. Young's Place requests for CUP. Can we have a staff report, please?

All right. Good evening, commissioners. Thank you for being here tonight. And thank you to our applicants as well who has joined us here this evening. So what we're going to be talking about tonight is a conditional use permit for Jan's Place or Jan's Place. This is proposed to go at 842 Norma's Alley. And so, as I said, the location of this is at 842 Norma's Alley. This is in our TC1 downtown commercial zone, just off of the intersection with Pine Street. This was home of a wine tasting room between 2015 and and earlier this year called Taste in the Alley, operated under a Type 42 ABC license for just over 10 years prior to its closure. And the request that is being brought to you tonight is to essentially do a transfer of that Type 42 license, but instead of doing a wine tasting room, this would be more of a traditional kind of bar setting. And so the request is to establish a bar in that wine tasting room. This would be a sister location to an existing bar, Jan's Place or Jan's Place in San Luis Obispo, a picture which is provided here. The idea is that this would serve beer, wine, and shelf-stable food items. There would not be any hot food service nor a kitchen on site. These are allowed uses under that Type 42 license from the California ABC. And the idea is that the current license would be transferred to the owner's of this business. The proposed hours operation you can see here, generally these fit within kind of normal bar hours that we see in other establishments in downtown Paso Robles. That being said, the ownership has said that in general they expect to close actually earlier than the times listed here. These are more to allow for things like parties and special events that could rent out that space and use that space for later operations. There is no live entertainment or outdoor gathering spaces proposed as part of this. Yen's Place is what's called a vinyl bar. The idea being that this is an establishment where there is a kind of central DJ playing recorded music from record player, essentially, but played at a level that is meant to be more conversational, more casual. And so the idea is that there would be no larger entertainments, there would be kind of no party atmosphere going on here. This would be a very low-key, casual sort of establishment. And parking for this space is provided via public parking spaces. There is no current parking provided for the building that this is going into. That's just something that's part of the establishment of downtown. And based on the proposed use, there wouldn't be a need to expand upon that number of spaces. There were a few conditions that were brought up as part of this staff report. The first is obviously that the project will need to comply with any license regulations that were required by the California ABC. This includes any trainings or certifications for those employees that would be serving alcohol. Secondly, the project would operate with an up-to-date security camera system. The proposal is that this would film 24-7 and there would be storage of film on an internal server that would be held for at least 30 days prior to deletion. A third would be ensuring that any projecting signage on the exterior would meet the clearance height of eight feet, six inches, which is required in the uptown specific plan. On the top photo there is actually a photo of their current sign in San Luis Obispo, and it's the applicant's proposal to essentially duplicate this sign in Norma's Alley as well. This sign was reviewed by members of our DRC on 3.30 with approval, along with the project condition meeting the clearance height. And then finally, the project would just have to meet all indoor and outdoor noise standards, which as I said, generally this establishment is aiming to provide pretty low levels of noise just by its sheer proposal. And so this is actually the current exterior in Norma's alley. The applicant has indicated that he would actually like to keep the yellow triangle. It actually matches the colors that they use for their own business currently. And so they figured that that would be a wonderful way to incorporate the existing building's exterior into the identity of the bar. That being said, outside of the addition of the sign, there would be no proposed changes to this exterior. And a similar story when we get to the interior. It's an 860 square foot space with a max capacity of 40 at a time. There is a plan to do a reservation system to ensure that people are not waiting out in the alley just trying to get into the bar. The primary entrance, of course, is on Norma's Alley. However, there is an agreement in this building for secondary emergency access via the street side alehouse, which is that large purpley-pink space on the lower left side of the building. And that would give you emergency access from both Pine Street and from 12th Street. The space shares bathrooms and storage spaces with the other building tenants. You can see there's a shared hallway kind of above the red box on the left there. and the business plans to use the existing floor plan that Taste in the Alley was already operating under. There are no interior modifications planned as part of this, along with there being no exterior modifications as well. So in terms of CEQA, because there are no substantial changes that are being proposed either to the interior or the exterior of the property, staff would recommend that they that planning commission finds that this project is exempt from as a class one categorical categorical exemption to the existing facilities rule under sequa there are no actions that we found that would result in a significant environmental impact and so based on all this there are four options that we would present to the council tonight the first would be to approve the project by adopting resolution pc 26 xxx based on the findings that have been presented. The second would be to approve the project with modifications to that resolution. The third would be to refer the project back to Development Review Committee or back to staff for additional analysis and review. And the fourth would be to deny the project. But based on the findings that we've presented here tonight, we would recommend that Planning Commission approve the project as is.

Thank you, Sam. Would the applicant like to say anything?

Good evening. My name is Jeff Root. I'm the owner of Yon's Place down in San Luis Obispo, a very low-key vinyl bar. And we've been operating there for two and a half years with business going very well. And this opportunity presented itself in downtown Paso, and we're just super excited to try this up here. We've got really good relationships with winemakers all over town, and I think this is going to fit in with a lot of them. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Root. Do my fellow commissioners have any questions of staff or Mr. Root? Seeing none, would anyone like to make a motion? Oh, I'm sorry. Public comment. Come on up to the microphone, please.

Oh, sorry. Apologies.

I'm a little. My name is Nicholas Apstein. I am the operator of the small coffee kiosk on 13th and Pine Street. And when I found out that Jeff was the one that was going to be going to Taste of Valley, I thought it was a really special opportunity for the town. I'm a big supporter of his wine bar down in San Luis Obispo. It's kind of like an inspiration for me for future businesses and the way that I see people run businesses. And every time I'm there, it seems to be a place where there's business owners and people that are part of the community there that I can connect with. really hoping that we can provide a third space like that here in Paso. There's a lot of wine bars, wineries, but not a lot of wine bars like that that kind of cater to what I'm looking for. So, yeah, really hopeful about those passes. Sir, did we get your last name again? Oh, Apstein. A-P-S-T-E-I-N.

Thank you, Mr. Apstein. Any more public comment here? Anyone online?

No callers.

Okay. Now, would anyone like to make a motion?

Madam Chair, I would move that the Planning Commission approve the project by adopting Resolution PC26-Number to be inserted based on findings and subject conditions of approval.

I will second.

Thank you. Any discussion? Roll call, please.

Commissioner Kobler? Aye. Commissioner Neal? Aye. Commissioner Kovarubias? Aye. Commissioner Lorenz?

Aye.

Chairperson Roden? Aye. Motion passes 5-0.

Thank you, Sam.

Thank you very much.

Okay, let's move on to zoning code amendment to update permitting and operational standards for food trucks. Staff report, please. All right.

I'm leaning too much like that, aren't I? I'm trying not to bend over the whole time. Thank you.

The microphone needs a step still. Right?

I'm wearing my tall shoes today. Good evening, commissioners. Tonight I am presenting you the zoning code amendment for food trucks and food truck courts. This has been kind of a long time coming, and so I'm excited to present it to you tonight. So looking at the overall timeline, August 5th, 2025, we had a legislative review. We presented the council with what the permitting standards are, what the operational requirements are, as well as what some of the ongoing enforcement challenges were out in the community, as well as some concerns that food truck operators voiced to us. that led to the establishment of the Food Truck Ad Hoc Committee with Councilmember Bosch and Gregory. This first meeting we focused on gathering feedback from the public, from food truck operators, getting a better grasp on what their concerns were. This ranged from generators to setbacks to clear and concise rules and regulations and making sure there was transparency about what was required of them. This led us to the second food truck ad hoc meeting that was in November. This is where staff had the opportunity to kind of gather details and feedback on those items and present it back to the ad hoc committee for some tweaks, some changes, modifications. which took us to December 16th, where we presented these finalized changes to both the operational requirements as well as the zoning code amendment back to city council. We were able to get some final determinations on some of those operational requirements we'll go into, as well as some direction to staff for recommending zoning code amendments. which leads us to today, where we will present these zoning code amendments as well as give a little bit more of a comprehensive overview of what we've gone through in this timeline to Planning Commission to then make a recommendation to City Council. The final step of this process, hopefully, would be taking it back to City Council for a final determination. This date is to be determined based on how today goes, really how fast we can turn it over if additional research or analysis is needed. So giving more of a broad overview, what is a food truck? Based on city zoning definition, a food truck comes in multiple forms. So truck, trailer, but it is registered with the DMV, as well as has a San Luis Obispo County Environmental Health Service mobile food facility permit. So this is not prepackaged foods, it's not merchants, it's not carts, it's not pop-ups. These all have a very specific definition given to them by the County of SLO. Looking at land use, so again, we are looking primarily at private property. That is what is regulated by this section of zoning code. We are not paying attention to city property, sidewalk vending, or street vendors. Those live in kind of their own category. So some additional information that was given at that first legislative review, the overall city permitting process and how we've kind of simplified it. You obtain your mobile food facility permit from the county of SLO, check you are safe to serve food. You then apply for a business license to operate within the city, whether that be a temporary license for a specific event or a full-time permit for ongoing operation within the city. Through that business license, you would then get reviewed by city industrial waste to make sure that your discharge, your fats, oils, grease are ending up where they are supposed to, whether that be the commissary or another agreed upon location. You are getting reviewed by the fire department. There have been some changes in this that we will get into a little bit later, but overall there has been a consistent need for inspection with the fire department. And then the planning department would review, make sure there's an acknowledgement of operational requirements as well as obtaining a food truck permit. This planning department section is what really raised the question of what are these permits, when do I need one, how do I operate within the city? And then another thing to keep in mind is that being mobile in nature, being that they move around and are temporary, renewal inspection is required every year from County of SLO, fire department, business license renewal. So again, looking at kind of the existing, what we have in place now and what raised a little bit of confusion initially, it was separated into duration of operation. So there was a seven-day threshold when you were exempt from a temporary use permit or any permitting from planning, when you got kind of bumped up to needing one, needing a site plan review, and then needing a conditional use permit with planning commission. So again, this caused a little bit of confusion with enforcement of how do you track and follow a mobile operation throughout the city based on the location they're operating in. And that all four of these categories were required to abide by the operational standards. So in terms of having health licensing, being on private property, property owner permission, those were always a requirement Going into those details, again, you have to be located on private property. You have to have property owner written approval. You had to be accessory to a permanent business, so it could not be a vacant lot. Had to be on paved parking space. Had to remove their litter. No discharge of liquid, again, with industrial waste reviewing that. No temporary shade structures. subject to the noise provisions, established hours of operations, on-site circulations was not impacted for emergency services, nor were you blocking egress, and no overnight equipment storage was allowed. So again, with the permitting requirement and the operational requirements, these cause a little bit of confusion of the guidelines, which get us into the ad hoc conclusion that was finalized at city council. There are four major updates to the operational requirements at the ad hoc and at the city council. And that was that food trucks will utilize generators, acoustic panels, if their generators do not meet that noise requirement. So it allowed a pathway or an option. If you have an existing generator and it is a little bit too noisy, we can solve that. Or if you have a generator that did not cross that threshold noise-wise, it was able to operate as is. Second update was for accessory furniture. So again, we got some guidance from city council. We want to permit accessory furniture, but we want to ensure it is out of the public right of way, it's not blocking circulation, and that it is permitted to one shade structure, 120 square feet, one table or tables, 24 square feet and eight chairs. So again, there was some flexibility as well as a little bit more clear and concise guidelines of what was allowed. Operational requirement update number three was to require a setback of nine feet for food trucks with service windows facing the public right away. And this was to avoid any loitering or blocking of ADA accessible pathways in the public right away. We also have no setbacks for food trucks that are facing internally or to the side as people can gather safely in those parking spaces. And then the update number four was that temporary use permits will not be granted on private property within 100 feet of the park. And so that graphic right there shows kind of those parcels that are subject to that requirement and that was a mix of wanting historical preservation as well as understanding kind of the diverse businesses that are already taking up space. And those buildings tend to have a larger footprint with less parking lot space for food trucks to utilize to begin with. So again, those are finalized and those have been kind of instilled for permitting requirements, that staff direction. And then going on to kind of the second part of looking specifically at the zoning code amendment, which brought us here today. Broken into two parts, the city council recommended that we amend Paso Robles municipal code to require a temporary use permit for all food trucks operating in the city and vending to the public, with the exception that if you were operating as a caterer for an event, you would not be required to obtain that temporary use permit. And the second one would require onsite commercial businesses hosting more than seven events to obtain that temporary use permit to participate in reoccurring events. So we'll go kind of in chronological order of the sections, starting with food trucks and food truck courts. The purpose of the section is not changing. We still are The intent and the goal is to protect surrounding land uses, prevent any noise, parking, litter, disruption of the land use in surrounding areas. NOR has the second part with the fact the provisions of this section do not apply to a person operating a food truck as part of a special event permit. So 4th of July, New Year's, these permits are granted by the Recreation Department for city-run events. and those have their own special conditions and requirements that they are required to follow. They do not operate through the planning department permit. Just to make, remember, no proposed changes to this section are proposed. Moving on. Still within 2169-120C, caterers. This is a section that staff is recommending to add, which is the goal of allowing an exemption for food trucks operating as a caterer A key takeaway from this is that they are invited by a commercial business to provide food or beverages at a commercial business site. Our goal is that if enforcement were to see the event, there's a clear correlation between the temporary event going on and the food truck that is catering said event. Again, they are still required to meet those operational requirements, set back from the public right of way, generators meeting noise requirements, and... on private property, property owner permission. Those requirements are still instilled, but again, it's more the event that is having the food truck cater their event. There's a direct correlation between the two. An example of this, Katie's Tasting Room invites Piper's Food Truck to cater their annual special event. Piper's Food Truck is not required to get a temporary use permit, but operational standards are still required. Moving on to section D1. So when is a permit required? If you're not catering and you're not exempt from this section via being a city special event permit and you are a food truck, they shall have a temporary use permit. And again, with that temporary use permit, it allows staff to... Review the application, look at more site-specific considerations, get a site plan showing where's the truck going, how's it operating, what are your hours of operation. Temporary use permit, and we'll get into a little more detail later, is good for up to a year. So again, kind of a nature of its mobile operation, it's reoccurring renewal and allows the flexibility of kind of yearly check-ins. And then the other... entity that would be subject to a permit would be a commercial business site. If the site is hosting a catering food truck over more than seven days in the fiscal year. So again, Piper's Food Truck wants to vend to the public at Darren's Auto Body Shop after hours. It's a highly trafficked place. People walk by there. They get the temporary use permit, shows where they're setting up, shows how they're allowed to operate there. They are allowed to do that. Katie's Tasting Room hosts seven or more of these events. Katie's Tasting Room then obtains a temporary use permit, and staff analyzes the food truck, making sure it's meeting those operational requirements in conjunction to the event. Moving on to a little bit more details of, okay, you are a food truck, you're not a caterer, and you don't qualify for any special events, what does this temporary use permit specifically for food trucks entail? For duration, in order to streamline the process for the food truck operator, staff is recommending that we align the expiration date of the temporary use permit with the business license. Therefore, every year, your business license to operate within the city of Paso Robles will expire at the same time as your temporary use permit, and it allows staff to coordinate a clear and concise stream of communication with the food truck operator. With that being said, food truck temporary use permits are a flat fee, and so the goal is to inevitably have that fee cover your entire year, but it would be subject on when the applicant applies, so it would not be prorated for any specific amount of time, given it's a pretty fair fee. And another question that got raised kind of throughout the ad hoc process was how many sites am I allowed to apply for? So we wanna make it really explicit. To account for staff time review, if two specific locations are included in the submittal upon the start, staff can review two locations for that food truck at once. So in hearing back from a lot of food truck operators, they would sometimes bounce between two specific places or have kind of a rotation. This would allow them in one temporary use permit to get two locations if eligible. Doing a little bit of a comparison again with the goal in mind, keeping things clear and concise and having very streamlined permitting process. Comparing the existing permitting requirements, had those seven-day cut-offs, and then three going into site plan review for being there every year, and food truck courts. This is then getting streamlined to be, unless you are a caterer, a food truck needs a temporary use permit, and a commercial business site, Operating more than seven events require temporary use permit and a food truck court require conditional use permit. One thing to note here that was elaborated a little bit more in the staff report is item number three in existing permit requirements for site plan review. Staff is recommending that gets removed. As food trucks are temporary in nature, site plan review allows a vested right. And given that at any point the property could sell the business could go out of business that was hosting events, staff did not find it appropriate to correlate a vested land use right to a temporary use. So if a food truck wanted to operate on a site more than a year, they would apply for their temporary use permit and just be sure to renew it every single year after that, and they're still eligible as long as all the site conditions are met, food truck requirements are met, to continue that operation on that site. Moving on, so again, kind of staying in the same food truck and food truck court section, jumping back to the operational requirements for just a second. With the clarification that city council provided and the direction they gave staff, staff is recommending to align with those requirements that we get rid of temporary shade structures line item. Again, accessory furniture, oops, sorry, Accessory furniture is still permitted in appropriate places by the guidance of city council. This just takes away duplicate language. So removing your shade structures, your tables, your chairs, your equipment after operation, after hours, is still within this guideline. And then for business license, previously, again, more of a cleanup item, previously said municipal code title five. With ongoing updates, this was changed to be title three, chapter 3.28. This is something that we did confirm with the finance department to correctly cite. We also are recommending that we remove the second part in talking to the finance department. Because it is a private operation on private property, there is less correlation between providing insurance for the city for these private events, whereas if you are operating a city event, Fourth of July, new year's eve then they're often required to furnish insurance it is just not directly correlated to the business license tax requirement moving on to fire department inspections this is something that is a little bit ongoing but in terms of zoning code amendment minor cleanup changes so language has remained the same except for approved by City of Paso Robles Fire Department has been changed to a jurisdiction within the Central Coast Fire Prevention Association. The goal of this, again, with food trucks being mobile in nature, Paul Paddy is working with the Central Coast Fire Prevention Association to create a little bit more collaborative permitting system where a food truck could get permitted in a Tascadero. That permit would still be eligible in Tascadero, Paso Robles and vice versa. This would prevent any sort of duplicate having to get reviewed by every single jurisdiction that you go in. This is something that we can go into a little bit more detail later on, but the rest of the requirements have stayed the same. Moving on to chapter 2120 for temporary use permits. Again, we're not directly in the food truck or food truck court section anymore, but there is language referencing them here. Staff recommends to align with the recommendations previous stated for food trucks to remove single food trucks operating in one location less than seven days from your exempted temporary uses, given that you would be required to have a temporary use permit upon day one unless you are exempt as a caterer or part of a special event with the city. On that note, and something that is in existing code, line two, temporary food services such as barbecues located at business permanent location or in conjunction with non-profit fundraising event lasting less than seven days. This aligns very well with that catering exemption. So I'm a food truck and I want to cater this business's permanent non-profit fundraising event. I do not have to obtain a temporary use permit but I am working in conjunction with this event that's exempt. Whereas, looking at allowed temporary uses, again, on that first line item, just cleaning up the language to make it more clear, you need a temporary use permit if you were a single food truck operating in one location, no more than one year. And for the second line item, If that event, and this is where if you're a business that's hosting an event, hosting more than seven events, you are still required to get that temporary use permit. So it creates a little bit more of a clear threshold of you have one annual event and whether or not you utilize food trucks or not, but the second you cross that threshold, you are then kind of in temporary use permit requirements based on the reoccurrence of the event. Couple more cleanup items. Again, just to make things more clear between departments and jurisdictions, we have added that a food truck is a vending vehicle or mobile food facility to align with the county of SLO's environmental health service definition of food trucks. And then those two images below just demonstrate sometimes they're trailers, sometimes they're trucks. They still have to be registered with DMV. They still have to meet all the requirements of all departments. But just gaining a little bit more clarity in those definitions. And then looking at, within the zoning code, table 2132-1, previously with the seven-day threshold of if you're under seven days, you're permitted, but if you're over, you need a temporary use permit. This has been... recommended to align with our other recommendations to just be a temporary use permit is required. This would guide the reader or interpreter of said code I to section 2169-120, where they would then interpret, am I caterer, am I doing a special event with the city, or do I need a temporary use permit? Again, no changes to food truck courts. They still need a conditional use permit in those zones. Moving on to the uptown town center specific plan updated here so food truck and food truck court line item was never referenced but in the downtown area it is a highly active place for food trucks again there's that hundred foot buffer on the park but outside of that on the west side of town there tends to be a lot of food truck applications or activity. Therefore, we are recommending to add it to the uptown town center specific plan with the same guidelines as recommended in commercial zones on existing commercial property. They have to follow all the operational requirements listed within 2169-120. It just gives a little bit more clear direction. Yes, these guidelines are applicable to you within the uptown town center specific plan. So with all that being said, just to reinstate, the December 16th City Council goals fell into two categories, to require temporary use permits for all food trucks operating within the city, vending to the public, unless you are a caterer, and to amend the code to require on-site commercial businesses hosting more than seven events a year to obtain a temporary use permit. And a quick little side note for CEQA, it does not qualify as a project. It is not an activity subject to CEQA. If the activity is not the project as defined, alternatively, it's also exempt as it does not create any significant adverse effects on physical surrounding land uses or environment. So the Planning Commission has a couple options tonight. Take no action to recommend City Council adopt the zoning code amendment by adopting draft resolution 26XXX based on the findings. Option three, to adopt the zoning code amendment with modifications by amending the adopted draft resolution. To refer the project back to staff for additional analysis, provide alternative direction or provide alternative recommendation to the city council. Staff is recommending option number two to adopt the zoning code amendment by adopting draft resolution 26XXX based on the findings. And with that, I will leave it open for any questions, comments, or concerns.

Thank you, Piper. Well done. Can you repeat all that?

Do you have a cough drop I can use? Yeah.

Do we have any questions of staff? Commissioner Kogler.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Piper, during the permit process, somebody comes in and applies. Does staff or somebody do an assessment of... The operation of the food truck, how big it is, it's going to have a pop-up next to it. That's fine in a target parking lot. It's going to get lost there. But if it's a business that has 20 parking spaces and the zoning code requires them to have 20 parking spaces, can they put that same truck in that location?

Yes, so this did get brought up during city council. There was no direction on taking up required parking spaces for that specific land use. And that is where going, when a food truck applies for a temporary use permit, they are required to provide a site plan showing where their truck is, as well as if they meet, say they want to vend towards the sidewalk that they're meeting that nine foot setback. And we are able to analyze, does this make sense? Is it blocking circulation? But In terms of you only have five parking spaces versus you have 20 parking spaces, we can work with the applicant to find the best suited place, but we cannot necessarily prohibit them as long as they are not blocking circulation, egress, setback, and meet all other requirements.

Anyone else? Commissioner... You already spoke. Okay.

Hey, great job, Piper. Hey, clarification. I own a food truck. I get a permit from Paso. If I understand correctly, for clarification, I can use that permit and do business in Atascadero and San Luis Obispo?

For fire inspections.

For fire inspections.

Yes, and so that is what the Central Coast Fire Prevention Association is working on, is that shared document. In regards to temporary use permit, business license, what's happening within the city, that applies solely to our city. So we will get a lot of food trucks who are based in SLO or based in Atascadero, and maybe they got their fire inspection there, they would then not have to get the duplicate fire inspection from the city of Paso Robles Fire.

Got it. Okay, thank you for clarifying that. Just out of curiosity, the seven events number, where did the seven come from? What was the thought process on that?

It was in our code previously in temporary use permits for seasonal stands. What were some of the other ones? Parking lot sales, promotional events. That seven day threshold I think is what was gauged as kind of an appropriate length of time in a temporary manner without being permanent. And then the second you reach that threshold. So we tried to mirror that threshold of what was already existing in code as well as what felt appropriate for Say, again, you have your seven events and no other events, or you want to do monthly events. The other benefit is there's nothing prohibiting business owners or food truck operators from obtaining a temporary use permit, even if they don't assume they'll go over that seven-day threshold. So it's never a bad thing to have it. The option is there, but that is the... if it exceeds that threshold when it becomes a requirement versus a recommendation.

Okay, that makes sense. And I just wanted to clarify that if I owned one, I could apply for a permit regardless if I was doing three events or 20 events. Okay. And one last clarity. You mentioned tying the annual fee or the permit to maybe their business license, correct? The renewal of their business license? Yes.

The fee itself would be through our planning department. It's just that the renewal timeline would be consistent with business license. So I'm a food truck operator. I get noticed to renew my business license and I pay my business license fee. You will most likely get followed up by a call or an email from the planning department saying, hey, you also have to apply for your temporary use permit renewal. We would then charge that $250 I want to say $250-ish fee through the planning department independently.

Got it. Simultaneously.

Yes. Got it.

Okay. Great job. Thank you.

Commissioner Rents? So if... I had a food truck, and during that time, I applied for my temporary use permit. Let's say I put two sites on it. Six months in, I'm going to have another two sites. So I would then submit another one. Three months in, let's say I have one more site, then I'm going to submit one. So you could have multiple permits, essentially, throughout temporary use permits throughout the year. That is correct. So previously, it was interpreted as one temporary use permit for one site. But again, given the nature, two seemed like a little bit of flexibility while still accounting for the staff time being realistic without stopping or without creating a little bit of a domino effect of coming in one month after another on the same permit. It would be two sites on your one. You come in two months later. You find two other properties. two on your next, two on your next, but that second site has to be submitted at time of application and during review of your first one, so it can't be tied on at a later time.

Yes, Commissioner Kouroubis. I'm going to make you say that at least three times every meeting.

I practice.

Question, I just remembered, is there a limitation on the number of food trucks that can be located in one site?

At one time, yes. However, if two food trucks want to have or operate on the same site, it is a requirement of their permit. And this is the benefit of a temporary use permit. It allows staff to explicitly state this and outline this for the applicant. They have to provide us what days, what hours they're operating. And so if they're alternating days, that's fine. But the second you have two food trucks on one site, that is a food truck court and requires a temporary use permit. Okay.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Kovalevius. That's three. Commissioner Neal? Or Commissioner Kovler?

He doesn't want to. Turning it towards one of my favorite topics, signage. So food trucks obviously are adorned with menu boards and signs and so forth. The picture you had of a pop-up looked like clearly it could have more signage banner on it. I can see sandwich board signs at adjacent corners. I can see feather banners flying, framing the thing. What are the sign requirements and how are they going to be enforced?

Yes, they are required to abide by the current day sign standards. And so being that it's a temporary land use, even though we are... Allowing you to operate for the year, there are conditions that you must abide by the temporary sign ordinance. So, you know, feather flags, sandwich boards, off-site signage, those guidelines are explicitly stated in the permit. That is something enforcement is aware of, and if they see... a resurgent or a sudden influx, we are typically in good communication with them of, yep, here are the guidelines. This is what they, they're allowed to have signage on the truck. It can't be flashing, blinking, loud noises, but it is required to abide by our in-place existing temporary sign ordinance.

Anyone else? I have a couple of questions. The noise level, I know there was some pushback because quiet generators can be, in some people's view, very expensive. But I understand that the use of the shields are, I know there's a better term for it, I think shield is a good term for it. I know. Basically, it's insulated. It absorbs the noise. At what point or at what area do you record the noise level to make sure? Because if it's around it, but if the noise is emanating up, is that a concern as well? And can the generator still breathe properly?

Yes, so we measure our noise ordinance from the receiving land use. So if you are on a commercial site and you're receiving, you're adjacent to a residential land use, we would use that standard from that property line, what that decibel level is. From there, say it is, again, still over the requirement of the noise ordinance, that's when we would... Say, hey, you need to use the soundproofing box. They're available online. Here's some you can look at. In regards to emissions and how they operate, it is to my understanding that the ones that they're producing and sell online account for that in their design and the way they're made. And...

When that happens at that moment, do they have to cease operation until they cure that?

If they're out of compliance with the noise ordinance at the time of operating, yes. So they would be asked, they're out of compliance with their permit on that site, to leave and come back once that's resolved.

Okay. On a private parcel, you're not going to have the public parking, so I assume that unless it's a city...

party of some sort they cannot utilize city parking to set up is that correct if I understand the question correctly in terms of places yeah in terms of on public right away no and then if it's a city lot it would be city property still and so that would then be either a special event permit or the city would either grant or not grant permission for them to park there okay

A couple of things. The permission of a landowner. I think most of us think when we think, well, we need to get a permission of the landowner, that they may be a present landowner. But that's not the case in a lot of things around here. And I know of an instance where a food truck is hooked up to water and electricity at a particular lot where it's leased for a different purpose. The landowner may have given permission, but he's not paying the water and electricity the lessor is, or the lessee is. Should we require an approval by both the lessee and the owner of the property?

It's my understanding, based on building code, they're not allowed to be hooked into water and power on the site. That's something that, again, if it was seen out in the field, enforcement is required to utilize that generator or their portable water source because it's hazards with connecting extension cords, so on and so forth. And if... That is something that the Planning Commission wants to take direction on, of recommending also business owner permission. With the property owner, it's more of an agreement between leaser and leasee of, hey, we're allowing this food truck to operate here, whether it be when you're during your hours of operation, outside your operations, it's going to utilize some of your parking spaces. That is between the property owner and the business owner, on-site business owner.

Okay. And as I understood it, if Katie's Tasting Room would like to have a food truck, Katie has to take out the temporary use permit, right? It's not the food truck that takes it out for an event at someone's business?

Yes, because it is her on-site events that the food truck is catering to.

Is there a definition of a caterer?

within this? Not within our definitions. There is, I'm trying to remember, business license and finance has defined business license application to catering and food trucks, but there's been no formal definition aside kind of what is outlined as recommended.

And I don't know if that would become a problem, but I can foresee somebody saying, well, we're not selling it out the window, we're taking it out back.

therefore we're considering ourselves a caterer or take you know I don't know but I just wanted to ask that if I could elaborate we tried to add or would you mind pulling up the caterer definition side please in the parentheses on-site business There we go, sorry. Invited by a commercial business to provide food and or beverages at a commercial business site. So that was intended to be kind of our guidelines of how we interpret that caterer versus like you said, well, I'm onsite and there's kind of an event going on. There has to be kind of a clear congregation of people there for an event the onsite business is hosting.

Okay. One other comment, when you talk about where they are not allowed, in what zones, the T3N, T4N, and OFs. I don't know specifically. I couldn't tell you exactly where those are. It might be helpful to have a map that shows that when people are taken out so they are aware of those areas for sure. And you may do that. I don't know. And the other... I think we've all discussed a lot of times adequate enforcement. Who would we call if we see a situation that doesn't look appropriate? Who would we call to come and check it out?

You were able to call the non-emergency line if it's during operating hours, if it's outside of that, or is there an immediately life and health safety risk that you see on scene pertaining to the food truck? General PD would be able to assist. So that's another element of correspondence between our two departments, working on educating officers, here are the clear guidelines, here's how to move forward with this enforcement, so they know when they go out there what they are to be enforcing.

Okay. I think that's all the questions I have. Anyone else have anything come up? Well, let's go to public comment. Thank you, Piper. Thank you. Seeing no one, is anyone online?

Yes, we do have some callers. Give me just a moment and I will get them on. Thank you. Caller, can you hear us?

uh... depicting alvin are you talking to me yes go ahead all right thank you uh... good evening commissioners uh... i would like in-depth clarification about parking because i'm not on private property someone's private property it's not going to be an issue but when you have a food truck that is directly next to her in fact on public and tables and chairs and people, et cetera, spill over into public parking, that can be an issue. So I'd like a little clarification on both those instances, what's allowed in public parking, what's allowed in private parking, and how all of that is going to work, because I can certainly see it's spilling over onto public parking areas. Thank you.

Let's have the next caller and then we'll take the questions. Just one moment.

Hi, this is Linda George. Go ahead.

Yeah, Linda George, sorry. Linda George, 3126 Spring Street. I have a couple of questions regarding the enforcement. So you're going to train the police to enforce what I kind of see to be accessory issues, so generators, dwellings, signs, et cetera. Do you guys have a fine schedule, a one, two, three strikes, you're out, you can't park here no more, or you can't vend in Paso Robles anymore? And then my last comment would be relative to the corner here on Spring Street by 101. You relative to the parking issue, you'll have Appy's there's a food truck right there almost nightly. And they don't really stop the congestion, but these are really busy corners. The other one that's a, um, a problem here in north county is by the park. The church has a food truck and then you have food carts sitting out there. And that's where one Oh one, you come off a one-on-one onto spring street where people are barely coming from 50 to 25 miles per hour. I've always disliked them there. So in the future, is it possible, I don't know if they're zoned or not zoned, maybe they're zoned, it's a church, but is it possible to look at dangerous corners and avoid allowing food trucks there? Thank you.

Any more?

No other callers.

Thank you. Piper, let's take the first question about, I think we covered a little bit of this, but the allowed parking in private and on public street parking.

Yes, so with this zoning code amendment, it pertains only to food trucks operating on private property. With that being said, the operational requirements in place today, no blocking, ingress, egress for emergency service vehicles or any vehicles, no blocking or ingress, egress of the building itself, as well as the adopted... operational requirement for a nine-foot setback in order to not block ADA accessible pathways in the public right-of-way. So if a food truck were to be operating in the public right-of-way, they are within being a mobile food vendor and not, these guidelines don't necessarily pertain to them and they are only allowed to stop for 10 minutes at a time and they have kind of their own guidelines. Whereas these pertain only to if you are parking and operating on private property.

And again, the parking on public streets is only in an event for a city-authorized event.

Yes, yeah. So I believe for, like, New Year's, they do the food trucks in the public right-of-way, but it's because it's part of a larger event, and they have those streets blocked off with public works kind of helping facilitate that traffic.

Okay. And then secondarily about enforcement, we talked a little bit about it, but... I think she brought up food carts, and I don't think that this covers food carts. That's a different zoning code. I don't know what she was referencing about the church. I think I understood where she was talking about off of 101, maybe at the battery place where there's one that's parked there a lot of times. There's really not much parking there, but there may be a lot of foot traffic I'm not aware of. but go ahead and answer that as best you can.

Yes, so with the issuance of a temporary use permit, we are able to, again, work with the applicant to dictate where the food truck is best located, whether that be a specific parking space area of the lot. And one thing she mentioned was site distance for a sidewalk or for a public right-of-way. So that's something that we can account for within the conditions of the temporary use permit Make sure that that food truck is out of any sort of sight triangle that would impair driver or pedestrian vision of an unprotected corner. And I want to believe there was another question that slipped my mind.

There was something about a church, and I didn't know where that was talking about. Oh, thank you.

Good evening, Commissioners. Paul Petty, Battalion Chief, Fire Marshal. I believe what Linda's talking about is the Uptown Park has a food truck that currently sits on 36th Street. I think that's what she was talking about when she was talking about getting off the off-ramp in front of the church. I know. What were you talking about? I, too, was going through my mind trying to figure out where this church was, and I believe that that's the one because she also referred to the one at Abbey's. And then just to tie on with the question about the code enforcement, code enforcement officers will have our form that dictates what it takes to get our permit. And on it is a checklist of all the items. The items that Linda had talked about, Linda George had talked about, was the signage, the tent structure, the seating, all that. That's all part of our checklist. And so if they violate any of those, it violates their permit, and it gives code enforcement the ability to ask them to leave until they fix it. Fix it or leave type of thing.

Okay. Thank you. Is there anything else? Okay. Okay. No other public comment? Let's close public comment and bring it back to the commissioners. Do I hear a motion? Commissioner Covarrub. Yes.

Thank you. You can say it again.

That's four. Four.

I like the motion that we recommend the City Council adopt the zoning code amendment to repeal and replace section 21.69.120 food trucks and food truck courts of the Paso Robles Municipal Code PRMC by adopting draft resolution 26 final three numbers to be determined based on findings.

Thank you Commissioner Kovarubias. Do I hear a second? Commissioner Neal.

I'll second.

Thank you. Any discussion? Roll call, please.

We have a staff clarification.

Uh-oh. I believe the recommendation made was a previous iteration for repealing and replacing only section 2169120 food trucks and food truck courts. Since that iteration, that recommendation has been changed by staff, as shows on the screen, to incorporate a more comprehensive modification to some of those points we mentioned earlier.

Can I simply say I recommend what's on the screen? Thank you, sir. I recommend what's on the screen.

I'll second. Very good. No discussion. Roll call, please.

Commissioner Kovarubias. Aye. Commissioner O'Neill.

Aye.

Commissioner Kogler. Aye. Commissioner Lorenz.

Aye.

Chairperson Roden. Aye. Motion passes 5-0. This is an ordinance, so this is a recommendation that goes to City Council for final action.

Thank you so much. Thank you, Commissioners. Thank you, Piper. Good job. uh... were an item age discussion items the consent calendar uh... if we had uh... chance to review any questions or comments commissioner i'd like to move approval of the consent calendar thank you any second i'll second that with a comment

I'm sure I would second, and I think it's something to be cleaned up. The minutes from March 24th, Commissioner Nee, it's Commissioner Neal who sits to my left, and take a look at those minutes because it looked like maybe there were some notes that got incorporated in, like page 96 and page 97. The substance is fine. It's just some format things. So that's my only comment. Thank you. And it shows that I read them. And it does.

Good job. uh okay we've had the comments to um do we take public comment on this okay so had a motion had a second roll call commissioner neil aye commissioner cogler aye commissioner cove rubius aye mr lorenz aye chairperson roden aye motion passes five zero uh other reports housing and constraints opportunities committee uh no report tonight Development review committee rotations schedule. Have the commissioners been able to review that and are there any changes? Are we good? Yes. Okay. Planning commissioners comments. Anyone? Commissioner Neal.

I would just like to thank Piper for what a really, really, really good agenda item on that food truck. It answered all of my questions, and it was especially impressive with all of her food truck operations in the evenings. So I just would like to thank her for all her hard work.

Commissioner Kogler.

Thank you, Madam Chair. I would also like to thank Sam for doing something he probably didn't realize, but putting that photo with the yellow triangle in is a great observation on the attention that needs to be taken in Norma's Alley. If you looked around it, a lot to be done. Thank you.

Anyone else? Seeing none, staff comment.

Yes, thank you couple items here. Last week City Council heard an appeal for the amendment to the ravine project amendment where the planning Commission had amended the site plan to allow a no slash swimming pool so that was subject to an appeal the council is a lengthy item in the end the council. denied the appeal, upheld the Planning Commission's approval of the project. They did add a couple conditions to upgrade some of the drainage facilities in the parking lot, that sort of thing. The appellant had asked for a condition saying there would be no parking on Pass Robles Boulevard. There isn't any parking on Pass Robles Boulevard, but the council added it anyways just to satisfy the appellant. So that got taken care of. So that pool permit was issued. It is currently under construction out there It's our understanding that that'll be open when the ravine opens for the summer. Let's see the sign ordinance. You had recommended a minor amendment to the sign ordinance. There was a lot of questions at the council meeting, not really about the recommendation, but about other sections of the sign ordinance. So the item got continued. It'll be heard again on the next agenda. So hopefully it'll get approved at that point. And let's see what else is on my list. Okay. Cannabis. You had made a recommendation to the council for some minor amendments to our cannabis ordinance to allow delivery of recreational or adult use cannabis. Right now, we only allow the delivery of medical cannabis. You had also made some recommendations that We don't limit it to three. Three was in the original staff report. We've reviewed that internally with the city attorney. There's still a lot of questions about how that's going to actually play out. So instead of actually hearing the planning commission's recommendation, we're going to hold a workshop with the city council on May 19th to kind of review globally where we're at with these delivery offices, because we've got this limit of three, and rather than just coming in with a recommendation, the decision's been made better just to workshop it before we come in with a formal recommendation. So anyways, look for some sort of cannabis-type workshop on the future council agenda. I'm sure that'll be an item that'll get a lot of discussion. Upcoming items, Central Coast Smog and Auto Repair, on Walnut and Creston Road. That's been kind of an outstanding compliance issue with the existing CUP. It's been to the Planning Commission a couple times, been referred back to the applicant and staff to resolve the site plan issues. There's also an issue with the operations of that auto repair encroaching onto the neighboring county property. that we're attempting to resolve. We really need to resolve that before we can get that back on a Planning Commission agenda. But we continue to meet regularly, both with the county and the property owner, to try to move that forward. So that is on the list. It is scheduled, hopefully, to come back to the Planning Commission this summer is the target date right now. Norma's Alley, the commission had made a recommendation on Norma's Alley to establish an ad hoc committee to look at both short-term and long-term improvements to Norma's Alley. That was reviewed by council. They've given direction that they'd like to see that incorporated into the current budget cycle. We are currently working on the next two-year budget that is scheduled to be adopted by the council in June of this year. um this will probably likely be a discussion item in may i believe there's going to be a special budget workshop in early may i think it's may 6th a special session on a wednesday evening so i think that might be the type of item that could be discussed at that item so that thing is um being considered we don't know exactly what the final direction is going to be but it'll probably be part of the budget discussions And let's see, we have an apartment project at the old Avalon Motel site up on North Spring Street. We're getting that ready for a hearing probably in May, it looks like. And then there's an annexation to some of the parcels that surround the city's landfill. So the city owns the landfill out on 46 East, kind of across the street really from Tobin James Winery. So there's a couple parcels we own that aren't in the city limits. So the The proposal is to annex all the city-owned parcels into the city, even though it's non-contiguous. So that's got to go through the Planning Commission, City Council, and then to LAFCO. So we're looking at that probably to be coming before you in June as well. And the Boy School, the landing project, continue to work closely with the applicant. to try to get to final conditions, final development agreement language, and final, you know, form of the EIR. We're making progress. Still don't have, you know, an official date in terms of when that's going to be ready for hearings. And that's my update.

Thank you, Warren. Okay. I think that's it. We have a motion for adjourn. Anyone?

So moved.

Thank you. Let's adjourn.