Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Redlands Planning Commission meeting for 09/23/2025. We have a quorum present. Are there any public comments on matters not on today's agenda? Seeing none, we will move on to item number two, presentations. We have none. Item number three, consent calendar meeting minutes of 08/12/2025. Are there any questions or comments about the minutes seeing none is there a motion to approve the consent calendar

I approve a motion approve the consent calendar

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Moving on to item number four, old business. We have none. Moving on to item number five, new business, 5A. Item five a is a request for a revision to the approved commission review and approval number nine sixty eight, a proposal to modify the approved parking lot layout and related improvements and proposal to change one architectural siding material located at 245 Terracina Boulevard. Has any commissioner had any ex parte communications with the applicant regarding this item? Okay. Seeing none, staff presentation by Jasmine Serrato. Miss Serrato?

Thank you, chair and members of the commission. CRA nine six eight revision number one. The applicant Redlands Community Hospital is requesting a revision to CRA number nine six eight to modify the previously approved parking configuration, change one material for the exterior architectural finish, and allow the use of off-site parking facilities. Here is an updated aerial where we can see the project has begun construction with approved building permits for the building itself. The subject property is located in the office land use designation of the general plan, which allows medical office uses.

The proposed revisions do not conflict with the previous approval for the construction of a new medical office building and the project remains consistent with the general plan land use designation. Similarly, the project site is located within the Medical Facility District and permits medical office types of uses by right. The project with proposed revisions will continue to comply with all applicable development standards for the MF District. The previously approved CRA for the new building indicated significant revisions to the parking area here in blue, which included removal and replacement of most of the site's existing paved space and established landscaping around the parking areas. However, this proposed revision would limit the overall site disturbance to immediately surrounding the new building in sorry, in the northeast corner of the site and preserve preserve much of the existing established landscape areas.

There are no proposed changes to the full plan. The approved building operates similarly to a hospital by providing cancer treatment on a scheduled basis. Due to the operational characteristics, we applied the hospital parking ratio for the new proposed building at a rate of one space per patient bed plus one space for every employee. There are a total of six patient beds and seven employees expected for the largest shift which requires 13 spaces. In addition, the existing medical office building requires two forty one parking spaces which leads to a total amount of two fifty four spaces required.

Two thirty are expected to be provided on-site and 24 spaces mainly for staff will be provided off-site at 204 Terracina Boulevard if approved. Redlands Municipal section eighteen point one six four point two five zero allows the Planning Commission to approve off-site parking in substitute location provided that the requested location is within 200 feet of the principal use for which parking is being provided and in the same possession as the use it is intended to serve. The applicant's request meets these criteria as the off-site parking is located approximately 177 feet west of the project site and is under the same ownership as the medical office building currently under construction. I also wanted to note that the applicant did provide a parking calculation indicating that the Redlands Community Hospital does have a surplus of 180 parking spaces. The project is required to landscape a minimum of 7% or 9,150 square feet of the parking area and the proposed revision retains existing landscaping in place and provides additional landscaping surrounding building for a total of 15,090 square feet of landscaping which exceeds the requirement.

During the plan check process for the approved building, the applicant proposed a change to one exterior building material from a phenolic panel system with a wood finish appearance to an exterior insulation finishing system in a copper color, which appears to be similar in exterior appearance. Overall, a very small percentage of the exterior facade would be affected and the color is similar between the two materials. You can kinda see it here. These are the north and east west and east. Original findings required for the approval of a CRA remain applicable to the project and the requested changes to parking lot design do not change the project to such an extent that new findings are necessary.

The proposed project also continues to meet the list of criteria to qualify for exemption from environmental review pursuant to Section 15,332 for infill development projects of the CEQA guidelines. Staff recommends the Planning Commission a dock resolution number of seventeen twenty to approve CRA nine six eight revision one based on the analysis and findings in the staff report and subject to the attached conditions of approval. If deemed appropriate, staff has provided the motion on screen and we do have the architect present for any questions. Thank you.

Thank you. Does anyone have any questions for staff at this time? Does anyone have any questions for the applicant? Seeing none, I will say we did not open a public hearing. Is this a public hearing?

This was not necessary to be noticed or held as a public hearing. Of course, you're always welcome to accept public comments. Yes. And I don't know if the applicant has their own presentation or remarks that they'd like to make, but we can certainly invite them up.

The applicant like to join us or are you just here for questions?

Just here. Perfect.

Just to confirm again, I believe it's seven staff people that work during the day. Is that the one shift? Is is that what it is?

Oh, you gotta come up. Sorry. And if you could please introduce yourself.

Yeah. My name is Guy Jimenez. I'm with CA Architects.

And what did I let's see. So 24 parking spaces are going to be across the street.

Across the street.

And then

there's that sidewalk that's lit. Is that correct?

Excuse me?

Is there a sidewalk that kind of blinks with the blinking lights when pedestrians

Yes. Are Right. The crosswalk there. Mhmm.

Okay. Thank you.

Any other questions for the applicant? Okay. Commissioner O'Leary.

For the change in material for the siding, it's kind of hard to tell from the pictures, but what is the finish of the new material? Like is it as matte or as shiny as the material that it's replacing?

It is. It's a special EFIS finish that represents like a metal panel. So it does have a higher gloss than the rest of the material that's more like a stucco.

Okay. And then is that and so that's similar to that like wood like faux wood?

It does not have a wood texture to it. It's more like a metal panel as opposed to wood. The first one was the phenolic panel has a wood grain very lightly in it but it's hardly it's not deep grain. The EFIS option is very rustic. It looks like weathered wood and it wouldn't be appropriate for the

Sure. I think I was just trying to get a sense of like light reflection off the material if it was shiny or matte.

Well, both the phenolic and the that's why we kind of went with this is both of a higher gloss and a little more reflective.

And

what was the reason for changing to the different material?

It was brought up during the bidding process that it would significantly cheaper if we didn't change materials if we went with EFS throughout the whole building.

Okay. So it's just continuing the just different color on the rest of the building?

Right.

Okay. Any other questions for the applicant? Thank you.

Thank you.

Okay. If someone would like to

I move the Planning Commission adopt resolution number 1720 and approve commission review and approval number 968 revision number one based on the findings of the staff report and subject to the attached conditions of approval.

Second. Okay, it has been moved by commissioner Stanson and seconded by commissioner Wells to approve revision number one for commission review and approval number 968. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Thank you. Moving on to item number 5B. Item 5B is a request for approval of a minor commission approval to reduce the required front yard setback for a hillside lot as permitted by the Redlands Municipal Code for a residential property located at 130 Sierra Vista Drive. As an A commissioner had any ex parte communications with the applicant on this item? Seeing none, staff presentation by Jasmine Serrano. Ms. Serrano, welcome back.

Thank you. The applicant Brian McKernan is seeking Planning Commission approval to apply the provisions of Redlands Municipal Code section eighteen point one five two point zero twenty also known as the hillside lot exceptions at 130 Sierra Vista Drive. Approval of the exception would allow the construction of a small detached garage shown here approximately two seventeen square feet within the 25 foot front yard setback. The applicant has obtained building permits to construct a new single family home at this location which is currently under construction and is now requesting to apply the hillside lot exception section to allow for construction of a garage accessory structure for the new home. The proposed garage would be constructed with a minimum setback of seven feet and three inches on the Escondido Drive side of the property, approximately 135 feet south of Sierra Vista Drive.

The hillside lot exception section allows for the Planning Commission to consider and approve a garage to be built in the front yard area if the hillside property has an uphill or downhill slope greater than 25%. The subject site has an upward slope of 45% adjacent to Escondido Drive and therefore meets the criteria to request the exception. Here we have a section which shows the uphill slope of 45% which is consistent across the front yard areas of the property. The proposed garage will be a custom structure with architectural features similar to the new home currently under construction. The elevation shown here will include a roll up garage door and a pedestrian door on the south facing elevation, tan smooth stucco walls, exposed rafter tails and a charcoal colored asphalt shingle roof.

The proposal qualifies for exemption from environmental review in accordance with sequel guidelines section one five three zero three e, which applies to garages, carports, patios, swimming pools, and fences. Again, the project is the construction of a small garage structure within the front yard setback. If staff recommends the Planning Commission adopt resolution number seventeen twenty one and approved minor commission review number 53 subject to the attached conditions of approval if deemed appropriate staff has provided the following motion on screen and the applicant is present for any questions thank you

thank you are there any questions for staff at this time Would the applicant like to make a presentation or you're just here for questions? Does does anyone have any questions for the applicant? I will tell you, I sold the house next door, so for you to be able to build a house there, kudos to you because that had to have been a very, very difficult thing to do up there. Yeah. I I I believe you.

Okay. So if, anyone has any further questions, otherwise, if someone would like to make a motion, go right ahead.

I move to adopt resolution number one seven two one for minor commission review number 53 to allow a reduced front yard setback in accordance with Redlands Municipal Code section eighteen point one five two point zero two zero b.

I'll second.

Okay. It has been moved by commissioner Wells and seconded by commissioner Elliott to approve minor commission approval number 53. All in favor?

Aye. Any

opposed? Motion carries.

Good luck.

Okay. Moving on to item number 5C. 5C is a brief update on major development projects recently completed or currently under construction at Redlands and the status of major development applications currently being processed. Staff presentation by Brian Foote. Mr. Foote.

All right. Thank you. We are moving right along. So I have a somewhat brief presentation for you all on the status of some current development projects under construction in Redlands and then later on a few of the major development applications we have under review at this time. So I just randomly selected a few of the major projects that are under construction or recently been completed.

So we will start with those. So in the downtown area, around the train depot, as you know, there have been a number of approved and constructed recently. The arrows indicate the three most recent ones and that is essentially the what is the new Citibank building, former, I think it was a FedEx Kinko's office copy center. It's converted to a Citibank. And that Citibank was relocated from the big tower downtown on State Street.

And then also the formerly known as the Mod Packing House, Mutual Orange Distributors Packing House, now renamed the Redlands Public Market. And then a couple of newer restaurant retail buildings just to the west of the depot. So we will start with the Mod Packing House. This is the old picture of the previous building had been vacant for quite some time. It was also a designated historical building.

And a few historical photos showing the somewhat typical packing house activities for mostly citrus and some just some photos here of the exterior and the interior. And then the new and improved version of the backing house, now Redlands Public Market. This view is from the northwest corner of the building, which is at the intersection of 3rd Street and Al Harris Lane. So this is the south side of the depot and then also next to the Look Theater, and you're looking to the southeast at the corner of the property there. Then as you can see, there's the new the boardwalk that was constructed on the west side and then also the north side along the street frontages for some additional outdoor seating area.

This is the west facade. So this is along 3rd Street. This is looking east towards the building. So this is the west side, west facade of the building. And as you can see, boardwalk there and then the large overhanging awning for shade all new essentially and an all new building.

It was seismically retrofitted, seismically strengthened in the basement as well as the upper floor and then all new glass storefronts along this side of the building. And for all intents and purposes, a new roof or almost new roof retrofitted, seismically strengthened, new materials and so forth. Quite a bit of work on the interior and exterior of this building. And this is the north facade, the Al Harris Street side. So this is directly across the street from the depot.

And again, you can see the boardwalk constructed there and then some new glass doors. The openings were previously existing from what I understand, but the glass doors are all new sort of a modern aesthetic. And then some of the historical elements were reintroduced such as the gooseneck lighting. It's sort of a typical historical type of light. They retain certain historical features and characteristics of the property while mixing in some new design features as well.

And then this is the view of the patio. This is the interior east side of the building. So this is the rear patio area. And there was quite an extensive reuse of historical materials. Developer, Jerry Tessier, had really gone all over Southern California looking for relevant historical features and elements.

What you're seeing here is repurposed train trusses. And they've hung these enormous fifteen, eighteen foot gates on these train trellises, just again to retain some of the historical materials and historical look to some of these design elements. And then, of course, all new DG on the ground mixed in with some brick pavers in certain areas and then also new concrete and concrete steps in certain areas. This is a little bit closer view of the patio, essentially all new landscape areas and seating areas and so forth. And then there's other, again, certain design features that aren't very apparent here, but they've included some things like old sponge pots that have been converted to planters, for example, just to retain some of that historical character of the citrus industry in this particular property.

And some interior photos, grand opening there in the upper right and then an interior photo there on the lower left. I don't know how many bars they have inside, it's got to be I think five or six bars. There's four or five on the main floor and then there's a so called secret speakeasy in basement that's interesting little area. Then of course, about a dozen or more different types of restaurants in addition to the bars and whatnot. If you've not been on the inside yet, I would encourage you to when you have time, take some time and do a little walk through and you'll be no doubt impressed by some of the little features.

They've repurposed various steel elements, for instance, machinery that had been used in an old packing house like chains and various metal elements. They've reconstructed and made chandeliers out of some of these things. And so there's various types of chandeliers and planters and hanging features all over the place that are as a whole, it's pretty impressive what they've done with the building. Again, is the main dining area and this is in the central middle part of the building on the Main Floor. And then up above, you can see in the roof framing some of the things that they've done, introduced some hanging plants and all types of different lighting and just interesting little sign features everywhere you look.

On the right hand side there, this is interesting, this is a converted freight elevator. They've converted it into like a pop up space where they can have various vendors come in for a week, could be artists, could be local retail stores, could be arts and crafts, but it's been repurposed as a sort of a pop up space. And let's see, that's and then on the left there is a view of the patio again, quite a popular area. Moving on to Citibank, it's been recently completed and opened. So essentially an all new facade on all sides as well as the interior, of course.

Large glass storefronts. The actual entrance is around the back of the building towards the interior parking lot. And then the previous FedEx Kinko store just moved over into the new brick building right next door. So they have a new space as well and they seem to be pleased with that. Then this is a side elevation facing Al Harris Lane.

Here's a mural as you can see there on the main facade. And obviously, sort of architectural theme ties into the what you call a modern interpretation of a packing house. It has some brick elements and then stamped steel and then various roofing styles to sort of blend in with the surrounding development. Okay. Next is the Bergamot specific plan.

I believe it's now called or it's marketed as Live Oak by, I guess, Meritage Homes. There so that's mostly completed, the upper portion north of Citrus Valley High School. And then a Phase two, track 20,528 was approved subsequent to the main Bergamas Pacific Plan. And then also, there's another smaller track to the East 20520 that's also beginning construction. But focusing on the Bergamot specific plan, it's probably about 80% complete.

The on the screen there, the shaded yellow areas appear to be under not yet under construction, but everything else appears to be mostly complete, including the open space areas, the mini parks on the interior, some of the trail systems, the streets, the utilities, the improvements, everything appears to be pretty much completed except for a few of these interior areas. This is a sample of a typical street. The homes are quite large, two stories and they're arranged well along the street frontages, as you can see there. These would be the single family product and then these would be the they refer to as the motor courts or the courtyard homes, a little bit smaller, a little bit more compact, shared driveways and so forth, a little bit higher density. Think these ended up being about a medium density product compared to the detached single family is a little bit lower density.

And then there's the new 12 acre park. It seems to be mostly complete. It's fenced off, not yet publicly accessible, but I would anticipate that that's probably going to be handed over to the city soon if it hasn't already, but the improvements seem to be mostly complete. So this is a view looking this is looking Southwest and obviously, this is baseball field, one of the baseball fields. And then this view is from the parking lot on Domestic Avenue looking north.

Quite a large area, 12 acres and then of course the view is spectacular. It gives you a sense of the sort of a spaciousness with the mountains in the background and then the valley view. Okay. Next is the what we call the Liberty Lane apartments. This is a I believe it's still funded and operated by the County Housing Authority.

So this was a project with 80 apartments for low income families, veterans and others in the county's housing program and then one on-site manager. And this also appears to be mostly complete. Most of all the buildings are complete and then they're currently finishing up some of the site improvements and some of the landscaping. So this is a typical example of the one of the buildings, all the buildings have the same architectural style and materials throughout the project. This is another building, appears almost identical.

So quite a bit of architectural detailing done on these buildings. They're quite nice and then the drought tolerant landscaping and then they also have some interior play areas. There's another larger I'll call it a community garden. It's a private garden, but it's a fairly sizable space right at the corner of the intersection, the Southwest Corner of Texas and Ligonier. Okay.

Moving on to some of our current major development applications. One we have coming soon to the commission would be a new hotel project. And it's four stories. It's fairly typical. It's about 88 rooms, I believe it was. And then this location is immediately behind the new In N Out on Lagonia Avenue. There's sort of a large vacant lot at the interchange, the northwest corner of the interchange behind In N Out. There used to be a large radio tower at that parcel. It's now been removed and so it's essentially a vacant parcel sitting there. And lo and behold, we got a developer wanting to build a hotel there.

So that will probably be coming to the commission in a few months here. Next, we have a proposed shopping center and this is the North Corner of Ligonier and Tennessee. So if you're familiar with the Home Depot shopping center on Ligonier, this is immediately across the street to the north. And then we've recently approved the council has recently approved a couple of housing projects immediately adjacent to this particular site. So on the right hand side of the screen, which would be to the east, was the Ligonier Village project, and that was a mix of single family and multifamily and townhomes.

And then to the north, which would be to the top of this slide, the top parcel to the north of this was the Tennessee Village mixed use project and that I believe had close to 300 units plus some ground floor retail spaces. So this being the remaining large parcel in the area seems ideal for a shopping center. So the major tenant would be a grocery of some type and then a number of outbuildings with shops and then one pad one in the upper left is intended for a restaurant or a coffee shop with a drive through lane. And then the remainder of the outbuildings, one, two, three, four outbuildings would be multi tenants for a variety of shops and restaurants and so on. So that one will be a little bit longer before it comes to the commission.

It's currently undergoing environmental review, so it'll be probably early next year by the time it gets to the commission. Let's see. Oh, and some elevations, proposed elevations of the shopping center here. So it appears to have somewhat of a would characterize this as maybe like a Craftsman flavor, different variety of materials consistent with the craftsman style. Although I'm not sure about the metal awnings, I don't think that's a craftsman style, but some other elements are craftsman.

Let's see, next, oh yes, what's called the what the applicant is calling the Pioneer Park specific plan. This is a recent submittal. So as you know, the area around Citrus Valley High School has been developing with residential for a number of years now. Started with Specific Plan 62, the Heritage Specific Plan several years ago, that's now been completed for at least two years now. And then of course, the Bergamot specific plan is under construction to the north and west of the Citrogeli High School and then a few other residential tracks that have been approved or starting construction in the area as well.

So this Pioneer Park specific plan seems to be the maybe not the last, but one of the last large pieces in that area that are converting from what was historically viewed as maybe an industrial, light industrial or commercial area, it's now converting to residential. And of course, the presence of the high school is driving much of that. So this particular project has it's over 200 units. I think it's closer to almost 300 units in total. Then this is more of a medium density product and project.

I don't want to dive into too much detail here, but it would involve relocating the current Tennessee Street, relocating that street a little bit further to the east, so that it better aligns with the entrance of high school. And that street is shown on the right hand side of the slide here. And then these neighborhoods, the various shades are indicating various densities of housing products. So some lower medium density plus some medium density. And then a variety of styles, so single family detached as well as some attached townhome type product and then also some motor court type products.

Probably not too different from what we see at the Bergamot specific plan right now. Let's see. Next, we have an application from Kaiser to expand their medical office building property on California Street. So this is a multi phase project. Over many, many years, they're anticipating a fifteen to twenty year, if not more, build out over four phases.

It include two new medical office buildings plus a hospital tower. I believe it's up to seven stories. And so this is the site plan and this is the overall site plan. So this shows several new buildings, but I'll walk you through the phases here in the following slides. So there's an existing office building.

That's the gray shaded structure there in the middle with a parking lot. And then the first phase would be a new medical office buildingambulatory surgery center. So outpatient procedures, for example, in and out in one day. And then a new parking lot for that building. So that's Phase one.

And then Phase two would be the hospital itself plus detached parking structure as well as a central utility plant support building and then related surface parking lots and related improvements on all sides, that's Phase two. And then Phase three would be a third medical office building that's indicated in blue there. And then lastly, phase four, if there is a phase four, would be an expansion of the hospital. They'll be adding a new wing to the hospital probably to connect to the parking structure. But that's our impression that's more of like an phase for for Kaiser.

But right now, we're we are completing an administrative draft, EIR, environmental impact report for that project, and we're hoping to get that document circulated for public review soon. October would be nice. We're finalizing some things. So our goal is to get that out soon, hopefully by October, no later than November. And then the goal is to have this project before the commission in the first quarter of next year sometime.

Let's see. And that's about all I have. We have a more detailed list of all our current applications on our website. It's cityofredlands.org/post/currentprojects. And so we have that and much more information on our planning division webpage.

Thank you.

All right. Thank you.

I will say with the Redlands market, I was very impressed with how they were able to do the AC. I went in there when it was really hot and I was terrified I didn't want to do it. It was really cool. It was not terribly hot in there. I was impressed.

Okay. Moving on to oh, you know what? We yes, that concludes 5C. Number six, announcement and commissioner comments. Do we have any? Seeing none, director's update, which really you just did. Do you have anything else to share?

Just briefly, yes. Next meeting we are anticipating to be October 14. And we have a number of items in queue for that. I believe it's four applications of different types plus we want to bring our draft AD ordinance, accessory dwelling unit ordinance to the commission for a formal review and recommendation, hopefully. And of course, if you're interested in the draft, you can reach out to me individually beforehand and I can happy to send you what we have so far.

And also, what we had wanted to bring to today's meeting initially was the continued discussion of the warehouse ordinance, but that we will bring back to October 14, and we're hoping that we will have all seven commissioners as will everyone be able to attend on the fourteenth, hopefully. Great. Okay.

I I would like to note that I will not be here on October 28.

Okay.

So have that meeting, I won't be here. I think so. Right.

Yeah. It's a possibility we may cancel the twenty eighth meeting if we don't have any items.

I will be here on the fourteenth. Okay. Then we will move on to item number eight, adjournment to the 10/14/2025 meeting. Thanks, everyone. Yeah, thank you.