Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Hello. Can you hear me?

there there. Um, I'm Russ Wam, chairman of the planning commission. I'm going call this meeting to order. And the first thing I'm going to do is turn it over to our clerks here for a roll call. Chair Winnham here. Vice Chair Will present. Commissioner Balovc here. Commissioner Godert here. Commissioner Miner here. Commissioner Nance absent. Commissioner Ryan

here. Thank you. Very good. Thank you. Approval of minutes. So we have some old old leftover minutes due to some um uh quorum issues in past. So they go back to December 9. And uh does anyone have any comments, questions, or is there a motion? Mr. Chairman, I'll make a motion to approve the minutes of December 9th, 2025. Thank you, sir. Is there a second? Sure. I'll second that. Very good. Thank you, Commissioner. Okay. All in favor? I I I uh I think I saw one person their lips did not move.

Okay, we got one abstain right here. So we catch it with Commissioner Willm. Um and then announcements. Are there any announcements? Nope. None from the over there. Uh over there. Now I say over there. What were you called earlier today? What was your title? The main event. Yeah, we'll bring that up later. Yeah. Sorry. I was at a I appreciate that.

I was at a separate meeting where he was referred to as the main event. Um, so before we get into the planning commission items, I would like to turn to Director Pagan. And if you don't mind introducing the staff and then if there's any other consultants that are um going to speak, they can uh introduce as we go. Whatever you feels best to you.

Sure. Thanks, Chair. Um, yeah, as usual, um, we have Elizabeth Steedman and Jennifer Ganon clerking our meeting for us. Uh the usual folks up here used to seeing uh Christian Curtis, city attorney, Josh Anthony, assistant public works director, myself, uh Jeremy Pagan, director of public works, Lily Toy is our planning manager, and then in the audience who will be presenting here shortly is Dan Amsden, our planning consultant on this project, and uh I'll let him introduce we have our environmental uh subconsultant or on Dan's team. Um I'll let Dan introduce them when he comes up to the DAS here shortly. And that's on the city side. Very good. But I think you referred to yourself as director of public works. Director of development services. Thank you. Was I the only one that caught that? I thought he was assistant director of public works.

You said that. I was speaking quickly. I swear you said that. We'll be Well, I'll be listening to it later. We'll we'll listen to the tape back, I guess.

No, no problem. I'll try not to harass you again. Uh so on to planning commission items. Uh 4 A is consent calendar. We don't have any. So we'll move on. We'll move right on to 4B, public hearings. And 4B1 is a notice of preparation scoping meeting to solit solicit comments on the scope and content of the environmental impact report for the Reading Riverfront specific plan update. Um, and I know that I see Dan from uh MIG moving up to the uh podium. Um, just I want uh just to by way of process uh for people in the audience that maybe have not attended one of these meetings uh there'll be a staff and consultant presentation. There'll be an opportunity then for commissioners if we have any questions or comments or clarifications of staff and consultants and then we will have a public hearing. And when we have a public hearing um if you would like to speak we'd like you to fill out one of the little uh purple, red or pink cards, what are whatever color they are today. They're in the back. All you need to do is put your name down and say you want to talk about the riverfront and we'll know what it is. you bring it up here and hand it to one of these uh two clerks and you will be in the queue. When the time comes, I will call your name plus the next person in line and I'll remind you when the time comes, but ask you to kind of line up uh next to it. We don't have a huge number of people here, but I always um uh get concerned when there's a lot of people speaking that sometimes it it goes too long because people like me talk too long and and so I like to get them lined up moving quickly so that people don't get up and leave out of frustration they didn't have time to speak. So, with that, I will stop. I don't see any glaring from the uh city attorney. We were talking about that earlier, how we can read each other's eyes if I'm off if I'm off track. And we will turn it over to um Looks like we're turning over to Dan from MIG.

That's correct. Dan, take it away.

Commissioners. Oh, there we go. Now I'm live. Good evening, planning commissioners. Dan Amazon with MIG. So been the principal in charge on the specific plan process which has been underway for about two and a half years or so and I'll tonight I'm going to go through an overview of the specific plan process but really the the purpose of tonight's meeting is to get comments from the commission from the community or public agencies on the scope of the environmental analysis. So I'll go through some slides relative to that as well. And on the phone this evening is Paula Hartman. She's a principal at MIG. She leads our environmental planning team, so she's here uh to field additional questions that may come up as well.

Just one moment. Jennifer, can you turn his microphone up just a little bit? I've got my normal uh limitation here. Thank you. All right. Is that better? I'm going to be happy with it. All right. Lean in a little bit. Okay. Is that better? Thank you. So,

there we go. Okay. Um so, I will I will jump in. So this project is is focused on the future of the Reading Riverfront. This is a specific plan project. So it's not a development project, but it's the city's policy guidance for future land use, environmental preservation, mobility, circulation, all these components for the riverfront area. This diagram shows the boundary of the specific plan in that black dashed line and includes the civic areas in the north as well as what we refer to as a southern riverfront essentially extending all the way to to Cyprus. This is the overall schedule of the project. As I mentioned, we're about a little under little under two and a half years into the process. I will use my pointer here. We we're essentially right right here in win uh winter early 2026 but starting the full production of the specific plan document as well as the environmental analysis and we're actually preparing both of those in tandem uh so they can inform each other but coming up in late spring have another round of public review comments and feedback once we have the detailed specific plan. But some background on the process, we started this process back in late 2023. Organized a community coalition that included property owners, uh, leases, neighbors, interested partners, tribal members, as well as, uh, folks in representing environmental community that had four different meetings to frame a a vision and guiding principles for the future of the riverfront area. So big picture objectives, community vision which was eventually taken to city council. Those were public meetings. We had public comments during those meetings. We've also held now three rounds of community engagement

workshops and surveys with around 480 a little under 500 participants uh combined at those various meetings. a lot of comments, a lot of feedback, uh online surveys as well that had close to a thousand people responding to different ideas uh and providing comments. We've also had ongoing discussions with all these groups and many others over the last two years to get a lot of feedback detail uh and discussions which has really led into this vision framework and guiding principles that was presented and discussed and refined with city council a little over a year ago. This really is focused on all of these components of the riverfront area. So ensuring that any new changes, improvements, plans, projects result in a healthy and resilient natural environment, respect the indigenous community, past, present, and future are environmentally sensitive but also economically viable, especially around the arts, cultural, entertainment venues, have appropriate scales and uses for this area. Include worldclass recreation activities. They're connected, so circulation, pedestrian mobility, bike mobility, but also vehicles and parking and also memorable and vibrant places bringing energy. And so all of these are working in parallel. One's not necessarily more important the other, but they all need to work as part of the planning process. This is the vision framework diagram, which can be thought of as sort of a combination of a land use diagram and a circulation diagram. This was discussed with city council uh last November and they provide us some direction so we can start framing the details in the draft specific plan. But it's looking at moving uses uh further away from the river's edge in the northern riverfront by about 150 ft buffer. rethinking the civic area and options for different types of facilities and different

connections uh including a secondary access from the northern riverfront as well as improvements to the southern riverfront area as well. More detailed information on all this is on the the project website also. But what's really key is a focus on implementation as part of this planning process. So, uh, this is a little bit out of order here, but the implementation piece of a specific plan is really key. Ultimately, this is going to be a city of reading document, a policy document, but as new projects, whether there's street redesigns or new trails or environmental restoration areas or new buildings, they will need to be consistent with the specific plan. So, it's really the city's land use and regulatory document for this area. And as part of that implementation, really thinking about the environment, economic development and additional partnerships uh public, private, and tribal as all working together around uh economic development for this for this area. And so the plan in addition to outlining the vision framework, it's also going to include updated policies and standards, design guidelines, uh development streamlining for projects that are consistent with the plan, SQA documentation or environmental documentation. we'll talk about more tonight, but also opportunities for coordination. So, it's really the the city and community's vision for this area for the future, but provide some guidance on financial components like land leases, grants, to revenues, bonding, you know, financial components as well as these land use components. some emerging ideas that uh we discussed with council back in November. The team's providing more detail on for the northern riverfront. Uh, as I mentioned, rethinking some of the connections as pedestrians move through the site, rethinking the layout of some of the the venues and uses, but

also moving again farther away from the river and and freeing up more disturbed land today that's used for parking or other uses to focus on environmental restoration. This is sort of a long-term or full buildout vision that maybe has some connections to redesign Highway 44 as well. But again, this is a planning document. It's not an actual project. So, we're going to include uh options and flexibility in the future for how to connect as this area is invested in and transitioned over over time. But it could also include uh new private development on private property next to 44, sort of the southern part of the loop road, potential secondary hotel that can come into this area as well. I do want to also mention there is currently a specific plan for this area uh that already is adopted by the city was adopted back in 1992. So technically we're updating the specific plan based on this new vision and and feedback from the community and and commission and council. Some ideas for Southern Riverfront is really trying to find ways to create some of the, you know, incremental development that was envisioned in the last plan and really looking at a way to partner with the private property owner to combine a roadway redesign along Park Marina Drive tied to new development in the Southern Riverfront. Most of Southern Riverfront is one property owner. So, we've been working really closely uh with that owner and uh the different folks associated with that owner to make sure it is a viable plan. Obviously, there's a lot of uh flood issues and connections to the river. So, these are all things that'll be further detailed as we go through the planning process to create the actual draft specific plan for the next round of review. So, with that, that's a quick overview of the planning process. Again, a lot more materials are on the project website. Um, but tonight is really a

chance to talk about the environmental review process. So, tied to a specific plan, the city also needs to do an environmental impact report as required by SQA. An environmental impact report is really intended to be anformational document designed to inform public uh decision-making process and the potential environmental impacts of the different things that are included in the specific plan as a problem solving tool. uh it can help avoid or reduce project impacts. So one it evaluates what those impacts could be but then mitigation measures um or alternatives if those impacts are identified. key components of the EIR, an executive summary, but also a detailed project description. And then we get into environmental impact analysis around the existing context, thresholds, potential project impacts, cumulative impacts, so potential impacts off site or outside of just the planning area of the riverfront and then as I mentioned mitigation measures or if uh it is identified significance after mitigation and also alternatives as part of this as well. So, it's a robust process. Um, this chart shows how it's robust with all the different topical areas that are covered in an EIR, but as a city policy document, this will be a program level EIR. So, similar in scope to the city's general plans EIR. So, it analyzes program level uh effects on the environment. It will uh the analysis will focus on issues present in the project area and potentially impacted by all these different categories. So I won't go through and read all the categories but it's a comprehensive EIR process. As far as the SQA process again this is running in parallel with the details of the draft specific plan. The first part of the process is distributing the

notice of preparation which we did on January 28th. Uh that is the current period we're in right now, which is soliciting input on the content or topics or things for consideration within the environmental analysis document. We will then take the feedback, take the comments and prepare the draft EIR that will then have a notice of completion and then distributing the draft for another round of public review feedback and comments. So the purple boxes are the the public comment review periods of these documents on the environmental side. Once that draft EI is public, we'll solicit comments on the adequacy of the draft EIR and then prepare what's known as a final ER, which is responses to those comments as part of the environmental process. Ultimately, at the end of this process and after another round of community engagement, we'll have a specific plan and environmental document that will go before the planning commission and city council for another round of public hearings ultimately for adoption of the specific plan and certification of the EIR. So, that's a lot to go through, but I want to sort of explain the process. There'll be uh two rounds plus public hearings for for comments and feedback on this on the environmental analysis. So for tonight as part of the SQA required NOP scoping meeting uh which is the key agenda item tonight uh it's really opportunity to provide comments again on the scope of the environmental impact report the things we should be looking at want to make sure we're considering evaluating. Um so on behalf of the the city or behalf of the project team we welcome any public comments on the scope of the environmental analysis. Uh you can provide comments tonight or written comments. The comment period goes until March 2nd. So, we still have uh a few more weeks left for comments.

If folks would like to submit them via email, the email address is there, info@reing riverfront.org. Uh we're making sure we're capturing all of the comments during this comment period or you can mail comments directly to the city. So, the option to provide verbal comments tonight or email or mail. Want to make sure we have a lot of options available. That is the end of the presentation component, but I was just going to keep this up for public benefit. Um, but Paul and I are happy to field any questions uh, plan commissioners may have.

Thank you, Dan. I appreciate that. Um, I'll go ahead and start off with a couple of questions. Now, this is the public scoping meeting as required by the process. Was there also an agency scoping meeting where you guys sat down with invited governmental entities and had a had their own scoping meeting? Uh we've sent out notices to all partner agencies. This meeting generally covers both. Notice both the same.

Okay, that that that that's fine. Just wanted to make sure. Um I've I've been accustomed to seeing it done a little different. Um, now the other thing, this is really just for the benefit of those that haven't been in the middle of one of these, but at this point I assume you already have in conjunction with the city uh staff a very detailed initial study. Um that probably covers a whole bunch of pages and comes and analyzes the context and comes to a lot of con um you know uh potential uh identifies potential impacts potential um significance and that sort of thing or does that come after this?

That comes after this. I'll pass it to Paula who will her voice will come down from above as she's on the phone right now. My voice will come down from above. Hello, this is Paula Hartman of MIG. Unfortunately, Dan, um although I can hear you crystal clear, I am not able to hear every other word perhaps of the planning commissioners. So, it's difficult for me to know what the question is.

Okay. Uh so a little bit of IT issue but I'll repeat the the question was the timing of the initial study as part of the EIR production process. The timing of the initial study is part of this. Okay. So it depends on how we want to do this since we have determined that the project merits an EIR. SQA does not require us to prepare an initial study checklist. However, if we decided to do if if the cities determine that it's necessary helpful to do the initial study checklist, then that would be our priority action item immediately. So, that's something we would target, but it is not required. And that's perhaps a discussion we would want to have about what makes the most sense. I'll ponder that a moment. Um, okay. Those are just my only technical questions. I was going to turn to other commissioners. It's my understanding that this is our first opportunity, at least in the official recorded um, uh, comment period here to identify items that we think should be addressed in the environmental impact report. So with that, I will turn it over to fellow commissioners.

Good evening. I'm going to reserve the right to um present other comments in writing before the deadline, but for this evening, I would there was two items that I um I'd like to see the EIR address. First, when mitigation measures or public amen amenities depend on ongoing operations and maintenance, I think the EIR should address whether those ongoing activities have environmental implications. For example, trail maintenance, lighting, irrigation, erosion control, use of pesticides. So what how that ongoing activities will affect um the environment there. Secondly, I'd like a cumulative look at ecological impacts rather than viewing um impacts project by project. And I did notice on your checklist that you have a cumulative um impact section. So I'm glad to see that. But the focus should be on the ability for the riverfront corridor to absorb combined impacts um from access, lighting, events, and development without um degrading the environment. So those are my two comments for the evening. Question. Do you know um how much of this specific plan falls into the FEMA like flood zone or designates should

uh we do off the top of my head I don't know the acreage but essentially the eastern half of the northern riverfront and uh sort of the central portion of the southern riverfront including the the Cutras Park area is all within the 100red-year flood plan and will the ER eval evaluate the levy improvements or is is that being considered sorry into the EIR

uh as part of the specific plan process it would require for any areas that are in flood plane which is really the southern riverfront northern riverfront part is is considered environmental protection but the southern riverfront for those to be uh developable they'll have to be moved out of the flood plane and so there's a process for that but the the environmental analysis will also to look at the uh potential impacts of that as a policy decision and of course that need to be coordinated with uh federal government and state regulators. Okay.

Commissioner Ryan, nothing. Commissioner Miner, not right now.

Not right now. I just had a a couple of items. one is um uh you know not necessarily your e scoping but uh I can't pass up the opportunity to say that my number one community event uh in all of reading is the rodeo and so um in some way some fashion I've got to go to that rodeo every year. So how that gets uh preserved for long term I personally am very flexible about that whereas I know others are not. But as long as I get to put on my buckle and my boots and go to an amazing rodeo every year, then I'm a happy man. Preferably more than once. Um, so I just wanted to throw that out there. That was the short version. Some people heard the long version earlier.

Um, uh, the next thing that kind of comes to my mind, and I've thought about this for many years, is people get very um, uh, strongly opinioned about the riverfront. And I've by disclosure, for example, I worked on Dignity's project uh that is getting close to being occupied at this point just south of this project area. And and I will say I was I was quite surprised at some of the negative comments um on what used to be a aggregate operation. And um and it was at that time I kind of came to the conclusion and this is just one man's opinion, but I get I guess I get to throw it out there. There's enough riverfront in Reading to go around and if there's anything that's lacking it's um things that will drive a vibrant, thriving, economically vital community. Um the entire opposite bank through this entire area is native and untouched. There are very few cities that have as much untouched riverfront as we do. So I just am a big believer in there's enough to go around and um we need to really be focusing on things that for 10 20 30 40 50 years will set the stage for thriving hospitality, tourism, recreation, commercial and that sort of thing. So just just my my opinion and we have an opportunity to do so and I see many of those elements in here and that makes me happy. Um, the other thing that I would throw out is really just making sure flexibility is built into whatever we do. Now, I realize that's more what's in the specific plan as opposed to what's in the environmental document, but we're you're doing an environmental document based upon a project description. And I'd like to make sure that there's plenty of flexibility there so that um

as as we saw in the downtown specific plan, uh the one new parking structure, for example, is not at uh one of the two locations that were identified conceptually for the parking structures, but the right decision was made and that was considered to be well within the range of what was um identified. So, I just want to remind about flexibility because um grants and private investment are going to drive what happens here. Um it's it's not going to be the ability for the city to take we call them bonds, I call them mortgages. The ability for the city to take out a mortgage to finance great big improvements are will likely be rather nominal in years to come, even based upon history. So grants and private investment and what are we doing to set the stage for that? Um otherwise uh nothing happens. Nothing overstated. Very little will happen. And the last comment I would make is with regard to the flood plane. There's a whole bunch of the flood plane in the southern section that is just barely in the flood plane and there's multiple categories of flood plane and it's in the areas that that floods very little and actually conveys very little water. In fact, some portions are already paved, have buildings, and have aggregate um areas, gravel, and it's in the flood plane. those areas. Um hopefully uh the opportunity will be set for those areas to be lifted um meaning filled and it will be shown I would predict that the impact on the water surface elevation uh will be uh something that can't can't even be measured on the Sacramento River because it's on the inside of the bank where it's not carrying flow, it's carrying storage. And so, uh, and I know this just because our our firm did the study for dignity. Uh, we had to re we had to

remap, I think, an entire mile of the river flood plane for the dignity project and, um, and and were able to learn quite a bit about that. So, I just say that there are some great opportunities to take some of those areas and lift it out of the flood plane, maybe create the storage. River hydrarology is about where you're storing your water and also how are you conveying it. there are ways to do it and take some of those areas that would otherwise remain somewhat um underutilized and most likely blighted as they are today unless we create the opportunity to do something else. So those were my comments uh at least for the moment. Thank you. Okay. Seeing no other comments from commissioners. At this point, what we will do is we'll move on to the public hearing. So, again, by way of reminder, in a moment, I'm going to open the public hearing. I have um some speaker cards here. Looks like there's six or eight of them. One, two, three, four, five. I'm not very good at estimating. I have five speaker cards. There's still the opportunity until the public hearing is closed to bring a card up here if you wish to speak. Um, you'll be allotted 3 minutes. There will be a timer uh that shows that. We're going to stay pretty close to that. I'm going to start talking over you when we get beyond 3 minutes to kind of encourage you to uh bring it to a close. And um I'm going to go down the comment cards as they've been given to me just just in the order that they were turned in uh today. And so I will also uh let's see anything else for the public comment. I think that's it. Make sure you use the microphone because as as we saw there earlier, I'm I'm the token guy that points out that not everybody hears the same. Uh so make sure you're heard because the minutes and and what you have to say is very important. With that, I'm going to open the public

hearing and I'm going to call to the podium Robin Fier and your choices to either take the low low desk or the high desk at your choice. And following Robin is Skip Barker. if you want to move up to the uh on deck and after skip will be uh Robert Sid. Thank you. Welcome Robin.

Thank you commissioners for your attention to this important part of our city. My name is Robin Faler. I live near the project area, the planning area, and my family owns property within it. Uh just a few assorted comments. Is it State Route 299 or 44? To the extent that that can be clear within the planning documents and perhaps clarified by signage so that um visitors to the site their GPS will be accurate and stuff. I I don't know the story behind that one. it. Um, as far as riparian vegetation, I don't know that the city's general uh, vegetation guidelines are um, adequate for this very special planning area and maybe some specific guidelines should be developed emphasizing native riparian vegetation. And I think it's probably already being addressed, but sidewalks along Park Marina Drive, pedestrian crossings on Park Marina Drive. My mother's 87 years old, and for her to get across Park Marina to come to my house is daunting. Um, and pedestrian access to the Sundial Bridge. Really walking in front of the hotel parking lot. Um the mouth of Calibus Creek is particularly sensitive area. A friend owns property about a mile upstream from the mouth at the river and has seen

river otter and so that area should be very carefully analyzed. Lighting in the riparian zone of course I think is being addressed. And then lastly, I am a truck driver and have a commercial driver's license. You know, big rig, 53 foot trailers. And um Park Marina Drive is surprisingly heavily used by commercial vehicles partly because uh DMV their um when they administer the test for getting a license, their route typically includes Park Marina Drive. And so you might want to include uh DMV on the scoping if they haven't already been and um consider the vegetation along that route to adequately accommodate large trucks. Thank you.

Thank you, Robin. Next we had uh Skip and after Skip is Robert and after Robert will be Ren Ren Lich perhaps. I'm only come close on names so excuse me. Take it away Skip.

Good afternoon council or planning commission. Appreciate time me speak for a minute. Uh representative Rodeo. I'm not very good speaking here so bear with me but I notic on the plan on the concept drawing the roads are being moved. Uh, we went to the city, did all of our stuff with them, got a lease showing the grounds that we're at to stay there now. And I got a concern that this document becomes a city document. We go to build, we're going to be told, oh, we can't build there because the plan has changed. So, I got real concerned about that. Uh, that's basically what I got to speak about is that there's flexibility left in and we don't have to move our building, our grounds. It's hard to go plan something like you're saying, getting grants and and monies if you don't know if you're going to stay there or not. Who's going to want to give you the grants to do that stuff? So, that's my piece. Thank you.

Thank you, Skip. Next, we have Robert Sid and then Ren. Um, I'm determined to get this red lich. I'm not sure I've seen things spelled that way before, but

Hi there. Thank you. Um I've been out of the loop here for a couple of years on the riverfront uh area because because of work, but when I was following it more closely, um the major concern then and the major concern now, one of the major ones was uh that we did not want housing on the riverfront. And I don't see where that was specified that there would be housing. In fact, I saw something up there that said housing. And I know the gentleman that presented wanted us to stick to the environmental scope of it, but he's not in charge. So, um I I will uh defer to you, sir.

I will go ahead and speak to the project description during your time, sir.

Thank you very much. Uh so, I'm just concerned that that that uh is not the will of the people. Hasn't been for several years. And as my friend Mayor Dquis, former mayor Dquisto says, you know, it's a done deal and they're going to do what they're going to do. Now, being a fatalistic Italian like him, I tend to agree. But at the same time, I'd like to think that there was there was room for um for responsible development and and my father was a a builder and developer in Lascatis, and I grew up on his job, so I understand that. And I know there's realtors and and developers up here and I'm good with that. I I just my background is in landscape uh uh um commercial industrial management, largecale landscape uh properties back in the Bay Area. And on the habitat restoration front, um I think it would be really good to have some kind of um protection or buffer from PE from it being invaded by, you know, transients or or homeless people that would be, you know, squatting on the land. Um also for public safety because it it would be a nice area to kind of just, you know, um to as a vagrancy opportunity it looks like. So, I'm not sure how that would work or what the maintenance I think um one of the commissioners was talking about the maintenance of the landscape and irrigation. We have a problem in reading with um you know stick sticking a tree in the ground and then not maintaining it, not watering it um and then when it dies, it becomes nobody's problem. So, um that's part of what we talked about in the tree commission. Uh anyway, um so I'm I'm grateful that you're giving the public a chance to talk on this and I'm just hope

hopeful that you will take the the the people's consideration uh that we don't want housing on the riverfront and um happy to have really good responsible development but within the scope of the land that will will bear it. Thank you.

Thank you, Robert. Next up is Ren. And after Ren is Susan Murray. Hello. Um, as a whole, the EIR should include an equal analysis of the southern riverfront as well as northern. I know that most of the concern is, you know, where the rodeo grounds and stuff are, but the southern needs equal attention. Um, and the E should also explore, you know, I think this it's already going to, but it should explore all the hypothetical future land designation changes that may or may not be made because this is, you know, a general plan. So, there's going to be a lot of possibilities. So everything should be explored that can be um specific um impacts on riparian habitat and wildlife corridors. You know, we're talking a lot about people being able to move around and bike around, but the animals should also be able to do that without having to cross a highway, etc. Um any human activity like noise and light pollution, which is probably already covered. Um but that's going to have an impact on bats, birds, etc. Um, again, cultural land use by indigenous peoples, taking that into consideration. Um, and let's see. Yeah, I think that keeping the river and the riverfront as natural as possible should be a priority. Um, it's beautiful and it should be preserved. And I I think that the importance of conducting a proper EI especially on a river cannot be understated. Um the the amount of

untouched riverfront that Reading has I think is very special and unique and it should be protected and stewarded properly. Thank you.

Thank you. And then the last card that I have is Susan Murray. Thank you for letting me speak tonight. Um this all the speakers have brought up a lot of good um reasons why things need to be looked into. I have attended um so many of these meetings and discussions since it was first brought up because it is so close to my home. I have lived in the garden track for over 30 years. As I walk about the neighborhood, I am seeing new life to the garden track. Younger families with children and without children are moving in. I see life change changing for these young families. I believe they pick the garden track like I did so many years ago to raise a family to raise a family in. This garden track is a place that is usually peaceful, quiet, and safe. And it is a great place to take a walk with your children, take a bike ride, or walk your dog. I do not feel that it will be a very safe place for my neighbors if we have an influx of traffic because of the riverfront specific plan. I understand that the riverfront specific plan is going to happen, but please consider how people will be traveling to and from this new area on Park Marina especially. Uh please take our wonderful old neighborhood into consideration and the people who walk, bike, etc. and uh and think of the safety aspect when you make these decisions. Thank you so very much.

Thank you. Seeing no more uh speaker cards, I'm going to close the public hearing, bring it back to commission and staff. I think um I think I will start with staff. Are there any follow-up comments that you have at this point? Um not at this time. I don't think so. Okay, very good. you'd like me to address certain questions that public had, but I my understanding is we're more getting feedback in the scoping session. So, um, unless directed, I I don't have any answers at this point.

Yeah, I'm feeling the same way. We got we're we're gathering information today and I I didn't hear anything particularly um earthshattering that hasn't already been brought up along the way in the process and that I'm going on faith um you know is is included in the to-do list and the nonchecklist but we we'll talk later for my education purposes of how that works. With that I'll turn to Commissioner Miner.

Yeah, I do have a couple quick questions. Um, one just one of the comments regarding the DMV. I thought that was pretty interesting and um, just from a traffic standpoint, if we could discuss with them where they reroute, especially for larger traffic. Um, obviously that's well out of scope of, you know, necessarily this item, but thought it was worth pointing out for traffic in the room. Um and then the question the the second item was uh director Pagan you and I have talked about the kind of FEMA requirements to bring a building up if a building that's in the flood plane gets improved by 50% to bring that up to code entirely. Um, one of the observations I made is that that might involve actually lifting a building, something that's really truly economically infeasible or almost impossible to do practically. A suspicion of mine is that that is one of the reasons why the buildings that are currently on the southern part of the riverfront are in less good condition um or haven't been updated is because if they get updated to a certain extent then they have to entirely improve the building. um in our EIR and riverfront process. Is there anything that we can do to make that a little I know that's a FEMA requirement. However, is there anything that we can do to make that a little less stringent or allow people to in a way improve those buildings without having to you do something that I would consider economically infeasible like lift the building, you know, up several feet in the air. um to get it out of the flood

plane and bring it up to code. Um my my initial thought is I know last we discussed this, our flood plane ordinance does have that language. When we talked with FEMA um to change it or revise it, and I'll look at our flood plane administrator here, Miss Toy, but um if we were to change that or relax standards on our flood plane ordinance, it has consequences for our our FEMA rating as a jurisdiction, right? And so there's that balancing act when FEMA reviews our ordinance. I'm not even sure if by law we could in fact change that particular piece. I can't recall, Lily, if if you do, but I knew I know changes to our flood plane ordinance affect our our rating from FEMA.

Right. Currently, our flood plane ordinance meets the minimum requirements of FEMA. So, uh you would be substandard if you change those standards. The EIR document does is not a tool to change regulations,

right? Um, so on the EI side, but perhaps, you know, when we get further along into drafting specific plan language, um, we could think about or explore goals or policies in the document that could be specific to flood plane management and/or construction in the flood plane in so far as we have the ability to that doesn't violate, you know, state law, of course. Um, so it could be something that that lands there more than scoping for environmental. It could be actual draft plan language when we get there.

Right. Well, if we could put a pin in that, I will likely bring it up later if you don't. Um, so just a pin in that in that anything that we can do, you know, I'd certainly love to see new fancy buildings out of the flood plane, but between now and when the private capital and the grants line up, it could be, you know, decades. And I would prefer to see updated buildings than you know buildings in their current condition. So anything we can do to drive you encourage investment in the buildings as is while we wait for the private capital and the grant funding to line up um I think is advantageous. Thank you for making a note on that.

Yeah, got it. Thank you. It's a good comment.

Please take it away. Um just a couple things that I would like to see in the ER since we haven't seen it. Is the plan for the growth impacts that the plan is that being evaluated the growth that's going to happen under this plan and any secondary development that pressures like adjacent to this and that leads me to the school that's kind of close to it. Um and then they mentioned like public safety and park services. So, those are things I'd like to see in the IR. Very good. Anything else from the commissioners? Commissioner Ryan? No. Okay. Down this end. No. With that, then I'm going to um bring this item to a close and move on to um item number five. And item number five is for public comment for non agendaized matter. So any other uh matter within the city's jurisdiction uh ideally within the planning commission's jurisdiction. Uh that's not on the agenda. Now now is the time for that. I'm seeing that we do not have any speaker cards. Uh with no one uh to speak on that item, we will move along to the next item. And the next item is commissioner's comments item number six. Any particular comments from the commissioners? Seeing none, item number seven, director's report. Um, yeah, just a couple two two small updates I guess I'd offer. Um, we do have some zoning code updates coming uh in the near future as we continue to um satisfy our housing element uh pro program activities. So, be on the lookout for that. I won't give any more detail at this meeting uh because it's not agendaized as such. Um, I think you also had a a good roadmap that Dan

provided in terms of next steps in this process. So, certainly throughout the next few months into spring and into early summer, we'll be uh continuing to check in. We'll have community engagement as Dan mentioned and then it'll be coming before this body um and in springtime, late spring as we as we begin the public hearing process. Last thing I'll note, and I haven't talked about in a while, is um our tree ordinance. Um, I do have it as my goal um to get that here to the commission in the spring. I do have a new city manager, new boss starting next week. Um, so I'll be checking in with him in terms of priorities. Um, but it's it is my goal to get it to this body and and have your feedback and and and sort of put that I don't want to say put it to bed, but um it's been long on my list just been struggle to get to it. So, um, that should be coming here in the coming months, uh, so long as it lines up with other priorities we have going on. And as this, uh, project winds to a close should free up some time to to tackle some of these other projects that we that we've been meaning to get to for some time. So, uh, be on the lookout for, um, a draft tree ordinance. Revisiting that and, um, getting that project uh, through this body and onto the city council. Um, so those are just a few updates I have for you today. Any questions? I'm happy to answer. Seeing none, then I guess before we adjourn, two things. I wanted to thank Dan from MIG for coming out today. Appreciate you uh traveling up here for the presentation, all the work you're doing. Thank you very much. And thank you to staff on this project. It's um um uh there's a handful of things in my consulting career I say are not for the faint of heart and this whole process is one of them. And so thank you to uh Director Peagan for leading the charge. Uh this is this is a big deal. Um, and then the other one is uh the unsung heroes. You know, you saw the stress before a meeting started, Elizabeth and Jennifer down here. And um um and I just want to say thank you that I know that both of them take it very serious when

things are not working right and thank you for working so hard. You are greatly appreciated. Um and I just wanted to make sure that you had that thank thank you uh publicly. And with that, we will adjourn.