Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Patterson Planning Commission to order. And I'm gonna ask you to rise, and I'll leave the pledge of allegiance.

Pledge allegiance to 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. There's no comma there.

No comma. You're right. You're you're training him. You're training everyone.

I'm training him.

You're doing well.

I got I got this one over here. Who realizes that when I say real for, it's the correct way of saying it.

He got it. You're you're you're the man. You're the man.

While while we're here, I'd like to have everybody stand for a second and have a moment of silence for a previous planning commissioner who passed away.

More than planning commissioner.

Yeah. Well, he was mayor too.

Yeah.

He spent a good period of time as commissioner.

He sure did.

Yeah. So Luis yep. Long enough moment.

Thank you, sir. That's a good a good reminder.

The thing I have Well I need to apologize to our existing staff and other committee members for comments that I made at the last meeting that offended one person. And I have since apologized to that one person, and I have apologized to the mayor, and I have apologized to the city manager. Now I am apologizing to everyone else. Basically, I'll try to keep my mouth shut.

Thank you, sir.

Thank you.

Thank you, sir. And we we know we know who you are. Unfortunately We know who you are, and we're glad to have you here. Okay. Let's call the roll and see who's here.

Commissioner Oakland?

Here. Commissioner

Sudhoo? Here. Commissioner Alexander? Here. Vice chairman Bendix? Here. Chairman West?

Here. Item from the public. This is your big moment if you have something that is not on our agenda but somehow related to what we do here. This would be a perfect time to approach us either by Zooming or come to the mic. Would anyone like to bring an item from the public?

Any zoomers?

As a reminder, you are on Zoom, you can press the raise hand function. We have nobody.

What did you say?

Say. There's nobody there's nobody there.

We have none. Then we're gonna go ahead and move on. No Zoomers. Okay. Statement of conflict. We have one item on the agenda tonight. Does anyone have a conflict with that, commissioners? None here. No. Conflict? Okay. I don't either. So there are no conflicts. No correspondence. Okay. We do have one public hearing, and this is a conditional use permit, a revision to '20 five zero 1 CUP twenty five zero one twenty two zero seven. Okay. Who you got this, Joel?

Yes, Joel. City Planner House. This is me.

Thank you. Good evening, chair and members of the commission. So this is a conditional use permit revision to a project that was approved in 2022. It's to allow U Haul use at a currently under construction mini storage site. And so the site is located at 201 Poppy Avenue.

It's, an irregular trapezoidal shape. To the west of the property are residences across, an irrigation lateral. To the north, is a truss manufacturing plant. To the east is a approved event center, and the south is a existing truck yard. So in 2022, the planning commission approved this site as a mini storage development of 77,000 square feet roughly among 14 buildings.

This is the the project layout. The applicant is requesting that U Haul parking and business operation be allowed at this site. Hours of operation would be seven days a week from 7AM to 7PM. The key for this one is they are requesting to allow 15 vehicle parking spaces for the U Haul equipment within the storm drain basin area that's shown and shaded in blue in this area. And so we'll we'll talk about some of the potential issues with that and how preliminary ideas about how that would be addressed.

So storm drain basins, collect water, storm water, and over time that either evaporates, seeps into the ground, or it's entered into the the larger city storm system. When you have motor vehicles, if they're parking in that sort of area, it introduces a couple concerns. One is that, motor vehicles can leak or otherwise contribute a variety of chemicals or metals into the groundwater that just aren't compatible. It wouldn't, comply with local and state requirements. City staff has done their best to include conditions of approval that would protect groundwater.

There are conditions related to complying with state requirements, and city requirements. That's not specifically spelled out how those would be accomplished right now. And to be clear, it would be a challenge. Potentially, that would mean, lining the the basin to make sure that it's protect the water system is protected underneath. And then if that's done, then it becomes a question of how is that metered into the into the storm water system.

But the conditions would allow this to take place as long as those conditions are fulfilled. Secondary concern is circulation and parking. And so if equipment is stored in this back area, moving vehicles through that area, from the front of the property back to that area is a potential concern as well as, vehicle drop off. And having a lot of vehicles on the site, there's a limited amount of parking in the front area of this project. And, staff's concern was that we didn't wanna see all of that parking taken up by, U Haul customers or or or U Haul vehicles.

And so the applicant is noting that vehicles would be dropped off in this area, and then an employee would, drive the vehicle to the rear, for for when they're dropped off. When they're picked up, the vehicles would be pulled out to this area so that and then for inspection and and the, customer would be able to drive it off the site from there. And so customers would not be expected to and and this is included as a condition to be driving vehicles through the site. They would be designated to drop off or pick up in those areas, and then an employee would be moving within the site. This would not be a out of hours drop off-site, so customers could not come here and just put their keys in a box and leave the truck, on the site or around the site.

There would be fees that would be charged if that's not the case, but the system would not be set up so that that could happen. And then the last item wanted to note was noise. The applicant is proposing a a wall along the site. The area of particular concern is this residential interface. And so placing a wall along that area as trucks can be noisy and and beep and as they go into reverse and that sort of thing to mitigate that.

Joel along which area? The wall along which area show us again?

So the primary concern would be this area but it would be a wall.

Okay. Both sides?

Yes. We provided a couple additional conditions, that are mainly provided for clarity, that should be in front of you. One of them would be that the project shall be subject to the conditions of approval for CUP number 22DashO7 and architectural on-site plan review number 22DashO six, which was approved 10/27/2022. The purpose of that is, because this is a, a revision to an existing conditional use permit, we wanted to make it clear that, these conditions that are before you are in addition to what's already been approved. It's not a neither one well, the U Haul use would not be a stand alone use, and so that condition reflects that.

The second one is that the use permit shall be subject to review by the planning commission based on issues related to compliance with the conditions of approval, air quality, or compliance with state requirements. And the purpose of this one, we've had you're familiar with conditions where, there's a certain time period, before review. This is, it's that review period is allowed already under the code, no matter what. Just but just to be clear that, there's a process for the project to be to come before you again if there is an issue of noncompliance with the conditions of approval. The planning commission's also been provided a letter from Berliner Cohen LLP dated 10/09/2025.

I just wanted to make note of that. And, with that staff's recommendation is to open a public hearing, consider any comments and motion to approve the, the project with the conditions of approval as well as the two additional conditions. We have, representatives for the applicant here tonight, and I'd be happy to answer any questions you have.

Okay. Questions for Joel?

Where is the property that DMSI, you bring that up on the

So it's this northern property.

Yeah. The truss the truss plant. Right? Yes. That big truss plant. A big, large property. Yes. Yeah. Goes right to the after the highway. What other questions you have?

There's only two entrances into the storage facility. Right?

That's right. Okay.

And and have they started construction on the U Haul portion? I mean, and they're waiting for this condition of approval before they can move forward because they have the storage units up right now.

So, yeah, the U Haul operation wouldn't be allowed until they fulfill the conditions. So there's if it's approved tonight, there would still be some work to do to make sure that all those conditions are are fulfilled before they'd be able to operate.

And do they have do they do they do they have they mentioned how many U Haul trucks at a time that they're expected to have at that that little U Haul store parking area?

I'd recommend that you direct that to them that the in their paperwork, they mentioned space for 15 vehicles, and they're expecting about eight customers per day.

Okay. Thank you.

Commissioners? What about this issue about the fence along the the top line? Is that that is a previous condition that's apparently not being addressed. And the other issue is the setback for the back the back construction.

So Now those of speaking about a letter that we received. Yes. And some some things were noted in the letter where some things aren't being done according to the previous condition. So, yeah. And before you answer that, thank you, maybe I can ask staff what action are we able to take on this versus the item that's on the agenda of the of adding the particular use. So we'll get clarification maybe as we go along, but he did have a good question.

So there was discussion afterward as the project was going through the building permit process, and the condition was intended for the areas on either side of the property, not this rear area. The main idea being we didn't wanna create a three foot alley between those two uses that's going to be an attractive nuisance that you could have camping or things in there. And so on that northern face, we did not require that three foot setback.

Okay. How about on the western side? Yes. It was required, but it's not being done?

So it is required on it is being done on those sides.

Oh, it is. Okay. So that item pretty well is handled. Is is that taken care of then? Because on the north, we didn't want that three foot.

Yeah. The the their the applicant's been consistent with their direction from the city.

Oh, that makes sense.

Show me where the the irrigation creek is.

So it runs along this area.

Yeah.

So there's going to be a fence along the irrigation creek. Is that what we're saying? Yes.

Alright. There were other couple items noted here, Joel, about access to the site. Is there anything we're involved within that?

No. There have been

something going on that shouldn't be going on. Are we what what's our place in that?

Nothing that the city has been involved with. There have been some interactions between the these two property owners, but it hasn't doesn't involve the city.

So that won't enter into our decisions to sign denied in terms of what we do?

I not sure what action the the Okay.

Are we are we

planning commission would take other than just requesting that they be good neighbors.

Okay. So that we're really not doing nothing to direct them to do something different?

No. That's there's no direction from the city on those items.

Alright. That's what I'm trying to find out. More questions for staff, anybody? Commissioners? Okay. Let's open the public hearing. Maybe we can hear from our applicants. Anybody hear from the applicants? Come on up, give us your name and address for the record, please.

Name is Renu Bagwal. I'm from SMS Construction. I'm representing Apple Storage.

Move the mic.

Am open to any questions that you may have.

Did you hear what you need there?

Yeah, Okay. I got a question.

Well, it's one sec.

She's No.

let her get going here. Go ahead. Mike, it's all yours.

So why would you subject yourself to a potential environmental hazard?

The way that the design of that Northern West Side is, it's already designed to have a storm drain system that's an ADS underground tank that will not be an exposed pond basin. It's traffic rated. It's used widely in many commercial areas, gas stations, parking lots and so forth. There are mitigations that are put into place that will protect any kind of hazardous waste going into the system with inverts being protected with filters and so forth. That's already being discussed with the engineering department.

It is in conform with parking in those kind of areas. It has accessibility. It has a 25 foot access in and out. The parking that's proposed at the back with the wall on the north and also on the west of the property in the conditional use permit approved previously, it was a chain link fence. But at the moment, we're proposing it to be a CMU block wall that will prevent noise and also secure the property from the northern side.

From the way that the previous comments from the owner has been that there have also been a lot of bypass traffic that comes from the Toposbury, and people do come into that property. So it is for more of a security reason as well as protecting that further corner and security for crossing over with the neighbors. In regards to the area that we're discussing for the parking, that is actually not adjacent to the property owned by DMSI. It's actually adjacent to another owner. Their property actually is set back by about 50 feet.

So it's not actually adjacent to them. In regards to the comments that they made for noise and so forth, it's a commercial area. You have a very large trucking company on the south of the property. The north of the property is a pretty large area where it's a lumber yard. They actually have more noise control and more traffic that comes in from their property and business than it would be from the U Haul.

It was proposed that the drop off locations for the drive thrus isn't going to be accessible by the customers. We have got adequate spots in the frontage area where the office area is and also exit points that will suffice for good traffic clearance and rotation through the site. I don't see that it's any concern in regards to the engineering department because the system was updated for the hazardous environmental studies. Phase one was also conducted and is in compliance with what is being proposed at the moment. So it's not something that would be of a major concern constructionally.

Environmentally, if it would have been, it would have been addressed in the phase one, but however, it's already been approved with the previous conditions of approval.

The other question I have, excuse me, is did you consider maybe renting space from the truck parking lot across the street?

That would be a question that the owner can address, but I believe they that's not something that was on the table of discussion.

Questions? Joel, is this so on the on the storm drain situation back there, is this considered a basin or no?

So what she's talking about, and correct me if I'm wrong, is a bladder that's underground. So vehicles could park under that. So that's a potential solution.

But this is ground level. It's not in the bottom of the basin.

Yeah. So it would that would be underground, and the the ground above it would be flattened.

Yeah. Just like Potentially around with the tank and

Yeah.

Okay. So somebody else is gonna go, well, if they're parking in a basin, why can't I park in a basin? Because basins are not designed for anything but to hold water

Yeah.

And have cute grass, and that's it. Yeah. Okay.

So, Joel, this this is not doesn't look like a basin. It doesn't it won't look wouldn't look like a basin at all either way.

Under that proposal, no. It would

So it's So And will parking on it affect the amount of water it deals with? What effect would it

So it would have to be sized appropriately. So and So that's considered as part of that review.

Okay. Talking about a bladder. Is it is it a soft

No. It's a No.

It can't

be. Basically an underground tank.

Yeah. Okay.

And does it just drain? Does it pump out? Where does the water go?

So in this circumstance, I believe it would be metered into the city's system.

That whole site's pretty well covered by impervious surfaces. I mean, there's lot of drain a lot of water is going to come off there if it rains, right?

Yeah.

So the amount, if they parked cars on there or not, does that affect the water flow, do you think? Is there No.

And there are other places in town that have that sort of system where they're providing their storm drainage through an underground solution.

In those cases, what

It's sits on a parking lot and for most of the most of those cases. We have other

instances where there is parking on top of those?

Yes.

And they

Getting back to the north end over there where DMSI is. You said that you're gonna put a block wall on that?

There is currently the proposal on the approved plans is a chain link fence, and we are requesting that we be permitted to put a CMU block wall.

Is that on the north side or is that only on the West side?

Will be on the north and also the west side. For for the also for the security of the site as well, it's better to have a CMU block wall rather than a changing fence.

Joel, that would satisfy DMSI with this block wall there on the north side?

I don't know if it satisfies them, but

Well, according to this, I guess it must.

And and it could be on the property line.

So the only way wall could be on the property line is with the agreement of both neighbors. If it's not the case, then it's typical to have a full wall on one property owner's side.

Because in the original, I'd see we're number five where it's calling for a a, you know, the three foot Three foot step back. And then a fence. Mhmm. So

So you said you you're not doing that because to inhibit graffiti and stuff like that on the back?

That's right.

And the zoning standards allow for the zero setback anyway.

Okay. Questions for our applicant? We've got our applicant here still. We've got more questions. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for the moment. Let's see if someone else would like to speak to this, unless you have something else to add. Oh, one more question.

Oh, you got it. So, okay, so you're going to have the tank underground. And then so your parking area on top is gonna be asphalt. Correct?

That's correct.

Okay.

This is a very expensive ADS StormTech system that's used. The owner considered that system to be to consider that system for the parking. It's an underground dual PVS system. It is highly traffic rated. The system that has been proposed has been submitted to the engineering department as a submittal and has been approved. And that was prior to considering to use this location as a U Haul, and it has been communicated and coordinated with the engineering department.

Rinu, it's essentially a pipe system, correct?

It's actually a HDPE pipe. It's capped on either sides. It has traffic rating rises on there, which maintains the filterization for any hazardous waste to go in. The storm system in the on the site, it circulates all the way around the site and it comes back in. If there's any like for concerns that you have for any overflows or so forth, there's an additional system that's being designed part of the storm drain system is that it has perforated pipes that run along the east and the west side of the property, which will also maintain any kind of overflows should it be necessary with enough penetration.

It's backed with Soils engineering reports and so forth. So they have also got the first option, which is natural drainage. And the second is if there's overflow, where would it go? It goes through the east and the west landscaping with those three foot buffers. It was something that was approved with the original conditions and that is something that we are complying with and it has been constructed as such.

All right. Additional questions? Anybody?

Okay.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you again. Okay. Who else would like to address this? Any Zoomers?

Commissioners, we have one person on Zoom that would like to speak.

Excellent. Thank you.

Hey, guys. It's Marco Almada.

Welcome.

Hey. As I always say, I'm just representing as a as a community member and a resident of the community. I have no no direct interest in this project, you know, no skin in the game at all with many of these projects. I'm just speaking from, a resident. I have had the pleasure to meet the the applicants or what I believe is are the applicants of this, project, and I even had the pleasure of going out to this, project as well.

I did wanna emphasize that the applicants are some of the most considerate and community minded people when it comes to developing business here in Paterson. As you guys may know, they've helped develop or they own multiple businesses, within the community. Like I said, I actually had the chance to visit this site myself and take, take a look at the construction of the storage unit so far. And from what I've seen, it's a very clean and state of the art development, something that reflects, like, real care, real quality. So I know there's, some valid concerns about, you know, environmental issues or whatnot.

From what I've seen, I could I could confidently say, and I guess I would have to lean more on assuming, that the applicants would take deep consideration in any conditions, needed to be met in order to make this business not only successful, but a positive impact for the community as well. As far as the plans for the U Haul Center and whatnot, I enjoy that it's a little hidden from the main streets. I also would enjoy, you know, just from, you know, viewing, I would enjoy a brick wall versus a chain link fence. I feel like it it goes along with the city's overall plan of, you know, revitalizing the community and and updating the community. And again, I think the location is ideal.

I know parking was, was brought up, what I would assume was customer parking. And keeping in mind the storage units that we do have in the community already, I know they have very small parking parking what do you wanna call it? Parking lots, that are, you know, rarely ever used. So I I wouldn't want this to be a deterrent for this project as well. Again, I again, as I always say, speaking as a community member, and that's that's how I feel about this project so far.

Well, Marco, thank you for those comments, and thank you for you doing your homework. You always do your homework. Thank you for doing that. And you're always welcome on every issue because I know you are interested in your community, man, and thank you for that. Okay. Who else? Any other Zoomers?

Close the public hearing.

Okay. No more. Anybody else want to speak to this? Alright. Let's close the public hearing, and we can move on to some discussion. What do you guys think? We learned a lot from this discussion from the initial thing I read. This sounds quite different than what I originally thought.

What

are your thoughts, commissioners?

On on the second bullet from the additional conditions, does it have a time constraint that we're gonna evaluate?

Review or one year review. It's only if there are issues.

Okay. We're not anticipating any issues, but we felt that if there were complaints, we needed to have an ability for the commission to hear the complaints and ask the applicants what might be able to be done about it. And so that's the main purpose for that. But Joel's correct. There's no specific time frame.

We can set one if we want. We can set a time. Okay. What comments there? Commissioners, did you learn anything tonight that we need to clarify? Thank you.

In regards to the spill response drill, is that written down somewhere, the drill? Do they have a plan for that in case of a spill?

That would be subject to the city public works department requirements and standards and protocol that they have in place. I don't believe that we have that as part of our planning review.

What else? Else? Commissioners? Joel, just for so I make sure I understand. This is not taking a basin and parking vehicles on it. This is parking vehicles on something that would have been a hard surface or something below it to hold water. And we've done this in other places in town.

Yeah. So, yes, that's what they've discussed tonight. That's yes. That approach has been used elsewhere.

Yeah. New precedent.

No new precedents. I we don't need anything new. Change enough change in the world. Okay. What do you think? Commissioners? Make a

motion to approve the findings for this conditional use permit 25 dash o one. Two findings and 24 requirements.

Conditions. Yeah. I call them conditions.

Yeah. I think they're conditions.

They're conditions. They need to accept them as conditions.

You need a second?

I do need a second.

Second.

Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Let's call the roll.

Commissioner Sadu? Aye. Commissioner Apland?

Aye.

Commissioner Alexander? Aye. Vice chairman Bendix? Aye. Chairman West?

Aye. Okay. There you go. Make that thing work. A lot a lot on that site. Make it work. Okay.

A local U Haul instead of going down to Yeah. Yeah.

Alright. Item from staff. What do we have?

Meeting again in two weeks.

Saw that.

And, Joel, do you wanna give a brief update on the housing element?

So the we have submitted the housing element to the state for official review. It's a sixty day period. And so we're expecting that will come before the planning commission and at the December meeting.

Hey, Joel. The county is also redoing their housing element right now. How does that does that have any impact on us? They're changing some in the old days, you built homes in cities. You didn't build them in the county. And now we're in this new world where you have to build a house on every every piece of dirt that isn't built on. What is it do we need to be watching what they're doing? Or are we watching? Does it matter? Do we care?

So we're paying attention, but it's not the county's housing element doesn't impact ours. It's not a tiered system in that way. And so it's more of an approach of the county's jurisdiction. Those are their requirements within Patterson's jurisdiction, our housing element would apply.

Are there any of our boundary areas where we're going to have some kind of a crossover with something that they do if they're allowing more uses? Do we have something on our South Side to this whole neighborhood? That's South Side Of Poppy. What's is that

No. County the county is targeting mainly their unincorporated communities where, there's housing developments and and like Salida and those types of areas, for development. There are some, there's some language in there to, for instance, to allow accessory dwelling units and that sort of thing that could pop up in the surrounding areas around the city, but, nothing no housing developments or anything of that sort next to us.

That's my that's my concern is that that that border is gonna look awfully nice to them if they wanna just sort of tuck in some housing somewhere. Their Okay.

Their housing policies will apply primarily in regards to the unincorporated communities like Grayson and Wesley that are not formally incorporated, but they do have housing in them. They'll also look for ways to increase farm worker housing and housing of special needs and things like that that are in their jurisdiction. But you won't see, like, the type of subdivisions that you see.

They're not gonna start creeping in.

Not like that.

Alright. Just because they're doing their plan as well. Okay. Any any other thoughts? Are Staff, what else you got? Go ahead, staff.

Real quickly, staff is reviewing applications right now for the the downtown facade improvement program where the council authorized $100,000 to be apportioned out to the winning applicants that applied for funding to either improve their front commercial facade and or replace their awning or signage. So we received about six applications for that. And the applications that came in total just a little bit right around that amount of $100,000 So we're reviewing those applications to see if they met the qualifications of the submittal requirements. And we'll be reviewing those for the next couple weeks. And hopefully, I don't know if we'll have more information in two weeks, but definitely next month we'll have more information perhaps who the winners were and what those projects entail.

So And do I recall that two of

our commissioner are involved in in in that project?

We have one.

And are they are they keeping you guys in touch?

We will be.

When Okay. Alright.

When we have the applications sorted and determined which ones are complete, we'll be ready to sit down and begin ranking them and rating

headline. Good. Thank you. Keep our keep our guy involved here.

I have one thing. There's a sitting back in your shoes.

I'm I'm giving you room.

There is a tunnel being built under Sperry that has lights on it. Does it have a camera on it?

A cam like, I'm not aware of a camera unless it's for construction purposes.

No. I'm I'm talking about for safety.

I haven't heard have you heard, Joel, if there's a camera on it?

I haven't heard anything about that. I have to ask

our city engineer if that's part of the plan that was approved. Yeah.

It a tunnel is always unsafe location. And the fact it has lights is okay, but it'd be nice to see a camera under there.

Good comment.

Yes. Good good thought. Thoughts? Commissioner's comments?

I support that camera for sure. I was

on the commissioner first go around and

In the mic.

When we approved that. And it seems to me that there was

a camera involved in that. Maybe staff

could It was lighting for sure.

Yeah. It has lighting. We talked about It says about lighting, but doesn't say anything about a camera. And a tunnel is a dangerous place.

Good. Maybe staff can just check. Yep. And if it was a good condition, then let's make sure it gets followed. And if not, maybe we can suggest that. Thank you for the thought. What's the timing on that? Anybody know?

Well, we had a groundbreaking ceremony last year, but I don't have a completion date.

I don't either.

We'll out for you as well.

Thank you. What else?

Commissioner? What else is happening?

I don't think I have time for that.

There's Okay. Going on.

Alright. But we do have a meeting in two weeks.

Correct. And the

church is something that requires a conditional use permit?

That's what we're gonna hear next next at the next meeting.

Yes. Interesting. Yeah. Interesting. Okay. And we don't give any of those. Alright. Okay. What else from the commission? If nothing else

I do.

We're gonna adjourn the meeting, and thank you all for coming. Thank you.