Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening. I'd like to call the meeting of the J January 21st, 2026 Planning Commission meeting to order. Uh right now, I'd like Commissioner Carell to lead us in the pledge of allegiance if he could at this time. Very good. Please stand. [clears throat] Right hand over your heart. Ready? Begin to stands nationy andice for all.

Okay, if we could have roll call from our commission secretary, please. Chair Mike Story here. Vice Chair Gutierrez present. Commissioner Esbander present. Commissioner Coral present. Commissioner Schneider. Commissioner Thompson present. Commissioner Avalos Via Lovos present. One absent.

Thank you. We have a quorum for this evening. So first off, we'd like to ask if there's anybody in the audience. Uh we have oral communication from the audience on items not on the agenda. So, anything that is not identified in the on the agenda in the public hearing tonight, uh, have anything else for oral communication from the audience on items not on the agenda? Has anyone written anything to us? Okay, very good. Moving on, we have the, if we read them, the minutes from the December 17, 2025 planning commission meeting. Everyone read them. If so, then I would entertain a motion

move to accept the planning commission minute meetings for December 17, 2025. Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor of approving the minutes from the December 17th, 2025 planning commission meeting, signify by saying I. I.

Opposed? Hearing none. So, we're moving on to our public hearing item. Our public hearing item tonight will be addressing general plan amendment number 25001. Uh zoning code amendment number 25002. Specific plan amendment number 250001. Specific plan amendment number 25002 and the environmental assessment review number 250020. Staff presentation. Go right ahead. Thank you.

Good evening chair and planning commissioners. My name is Sandra Robas, senior planner, and tonight I'm presenting the housing element update and the reszone uh as a result of the housing element update. Uh so the first slide here is what exactly is the housing element? The housing element is a statemandated chapter of the general plan which serves as the city's primary policy document for identifying and addressing local housing needs. The California Department of Housing and Community Development determines the overall housing need for the state. Then the number is broken up into regions. We are currently in the Southern California Council of Governments region. SCAG determines the allocation number or the number of housing units that are projected for the growth. So which is the regional housing needs assessment or arena. During the sixth cycle, the city of Rialto has arena number of 8,272 units. We have a site's inventory that includes approximately 315 parcels. And with that site inventory, we have a total development capacity of 16,197 units, which is 105% above the city's reena. As a result of the housing element update, city staff had to upzone and reszone several properties. On August 8th, 2023, the city adopted

the residential overlay zone because this project has been in the works for since 2021. On October 10th, 2025, California's second district court of appeals held that local governments cannot satisfy their reena obligations by using overlays that allow but do not require residential development. So, Rialto's residential overlay zone that was previously adopted states that property owners have full discretion to use the residential overlay, which means that we are currently out of compliance. The new housing opportunity district supersedes the underlying zoning and it requires commercial properties to include 50% residential and it increases densities for parcels identified as residential at a minimum of 20 dwelling units per acre. As such, what the project request is I'm sorry, I think I'm missing a couple slides here. Oh, there's a timeline. Okay. What the project request is is for a general plan amendment number 25001 which is the update for the housing element and it also updates the environmental justice element. It includes environmental assessment review number 250020 to adopt an initial study mitigated negative declaration zoning code amendment number 25002 which is a request to amend the Rialto Municipal Code Chapter 18.116 residential overlay

as a part of the housing element project. The amendment establishes the new residential overlay, the housing opportunity overlay. Specific plan amendment number 25001. And this specific plan amendment amends the foothill spec central specific plan. Specific plan amendment number 25002. This specific plan amendment modifies or amends the gateway specific plan. These are some visuals, some maps of what the overlay looks like. So for the image to the left, the specific plan amendment for Foothill Central is all of the blue properties along Foothill. And you can see some of the purple properties in the Rialto Central area. For the gateway amendment, it's those two parcels that are highlighted. because several of the properties identified in the housing element were not in overlays or specific plans. I mean they are part of the zoning code amendment and which are scattered throughout the city and these are some of those images with those parcels. Also, um going back to the maps here, staff recently discovered that um the overlay um that we did put as part of the the project, the site inventory does not match the overlay. So, we will be

pulling some of those projects out, specifically the ones in the Lidle Creek specific plan. Mr. Mr. Chair, if I may, just to clarify, my understanding was that the housing site inventory lists all housing opportunity sites in the city, whereas the overlay map only covers the properties that will be subject to the overlay. So, that's just for a clarification point for the commission. Um, not basically saying that just because you're on the inventory list doesn't mean you're subject to the overlay.

Correct. and we will be updating the site's inventory map to identify whether or not the property is in the overlay. In terms of the environmental justice amendment, the the um the one goal that will be modified is a fair housing options for all and the language is included at the bottom of this slide. In terms of public noticing, staff mailed the um the notice to property owners on December 18, 2025, posted at city hall on December 18, 2025 and also published on the newspaper December 27th, 2025. As such, staff is recommending that the planning commission adopt the attached resolution exhibit D forwarding to the city council a recommendation to approve the mitigated negative declaration. Adopt the attached resolution exhibit E forwarding to the city council a recommendation to approve the general plan amendment number 25001. Adopt the attached resolution exhibit F forwarding to the city council a recommendation to approve zoning code amendment number 25002. Adopt the attached resolution exhibit G, forwarding to the city council a recommendation to approve specific plan amendment number 25001 and to adopt the attached resolution exhibit H, forwarding to the city

council a recommendation to approve specific plan amendment number 25002. That concludes staff presentation. The consultant Kimley Horn, Bryant, and Rita are here and they have a presentation of their own.

Okay, thank you. Good evening. Uh my name is Brian Delatory with Kimley Horn, the city's housing element consultant. Um and with me is Rita Garcia as well, who will be up in a bit. Um we started this project um over five years ago. Um, and as we go through this presentation, we'll see kind of the evolution of this project um, as we we went through this process uh, to get here today. Uh, some of this uh, Sandra already went over, so sorry if I repeat it. Uh, I'll try to be as efficient as possible through here, but um, the housing element what it is, it's one of the required general plan elements. It's the only one that needs to be reviewed and certified by the state. So, it's reviewed by the housing and community development department. Um, and it must be what we call certified. So what certification means it's it's been evaluated against uh state law and it complies with state law. Uh what the housing element is meant to do is to identify uh any housing needs, any local housing needs um and provide goals, strategies to uh alleviate, you know, any specific needs and address any specific housing uh requirements. Um here on the right side is our our arena.

what um Sandra mentioned it's a arena uh is our allocation of housing sites that the city u must demonstrate that they can accommodate um so the city is not required to build any housing develop any housing um it's just uh required to show that there is sufficient capacity uh for this development um as you'll see the the units uh on the very far right uh are broken down by income category uh so on the far left and the far right you'll see those two um uh the category that falls into from very low income all the way through above moderate. Um and you'll see the units that are associated with it. Um the above moderate income is the largest portion of it. Um but uh if you look at very low through moderate income um those are are really the most difficult uh uh types of units to develop um and are really where a lot of these actions are geared towards. Uh the housing element has four sections. Um won't go through every single one but intro is what it is. um community profile just identifies our demographics, our housing units, um you know, uh how old are these units, what's the um the lifetime of of these units. Um then we look at any constraints to both development and access to housing. Um and we identify any uh potential resources to uh either help with development or help um residents uh acquire housing. Um and then in that same section, we look at uh fair housing. So this fair housing analysis is called uh AFFH which is uh a short-term for affirmatively furthering fair housing. So that's just a new requirement as part of this uh housing element cycle. Um and then lastly is section four. This is a housing plan. So this is what identifies how we're going to accomplish our goals. Um these are the actions. There's about 30 actions in there. Um and and we'll go over some of them in a bit. Um and lastly the four appendices. These are um review of past performance. So looking at our last housing element, how do we do um and how can we change our strategy to accomplish the goals that we may have not been as successful with? Um and then appendix B

is the inventory of adequate sites. These are the actual sites that are selected to accommodate this need. Um last two summary of community engagement and glossery of housing terms are exactly what they sound like. Um so I mentioned earlier that this is the only house this is the only element in the general plan that needs to be uh certified. So what it means to be certified, it means it's being uh uh reviewed for compliance with state law. Um there's been many many in this uh six cycle. Um and what certification does is demonstrates that you're compliant with all those laws uh those state laws. Um what being certified allows you to do is uh be uh eligible for many grants funding uh specifically um in a second I'll go into it. Um but yeah, not being certified it limits access state funding. A lot of these funding sources are contingent on having a compliant housing element. Uh the biggest one there is the CDBG grant, so community development block grant. Um that's not the the only one. Uh but that's that's usually the biggest uh bucket there. Uh but there's also other significant funding sources like the uh PLHA, which helps with um emergency shelters and and emergency housing. Uh another consequence of having a non-certified uh housing element is being open to lawsuits. So whether it's from private parties, from the state, um uh it really opens you up to to a lot of uh liabilities there. Um and lastly is the builder's remedy which comes directly from the housing accountability act. Um it's really a mechanism that allows um very specific projects are eligible under the housing accountability act to essentially just dodge any local zoning or general plan requirements. Um that really strips that that local control there. Um so h that's why having a certified housing element is so vital. Um so in February of of 2023 uh the housing uh the HCD essentially found the housing element to be uh uh compliant. Um the only thing that that was required at that point is to complete the reszone. So to complete the overlay which [clears throat] we're also

considering tonight. Um so in July of 2023 the city did adopt those uh the h both the housing element and those associated reszones. Um and a week later that uh whole package was was sent over to HD for final review. Typically, this is just a um a simple process. They review and make sure what you adopted is what they conditionally approved. Um they usually give you certification. But at that point, um there was um a California appellet um decision that determined that overlays can the overlays in the way they were written before um cannot be used to accommodate housing. Um, so in October of 2023, HD found that the um the reszones may not or now at that point no longer meet the statutory requirements even though months earlier they did. Um that that was a result of that hearing um kind of in between this whole period. Uh so from October 2023 through October 2025, uh the city and uh us as the consultant um we work together to uh address any any of these comments that HD provided us um to make sure that we can address these uh these comments. Um for lack of a better term is really a negotiation. It's a back and forth. We let them know, hey, this is what we think satisfies your your comments. Do you agree? Yes. No. and it's really a back and forth um which was done with uh staff um your uh uh attorneys and uh our consultants. Um so October 3rd of of this past year um a final draft was sent over to HD uh for final review and on December 2nd uh of this past year last month um HD found that that housing element is compliant with all state laws. Um and all that needs to be done is readopt the housing element and adopt the ress as described in the housing element. uh summer of outreach. So, um in the last five years there's been four uh workshops, four popups, various smaller uh little events um and andformational um things. There's beenformational postcards that were mailed out provided

here at the city um and also there's been uh surveys so both online in person um as well as maps that people can comment on on where they believe uh housing would be best suited. All of these meetings and outreach were conducted both in English and Spanish um and both online and in person. Uh so now we get into really our sites uh our site strategy. So this is how we um are going to address the our need which is that 8 8,200 yeah 8,272 units. So how we're going to uh address these. So the first uh three bullets these were the the easiest. So, first we uh could take credit for projects that are considered in the pipeline. So, these are projects that were um already approved um but haven't been permitted. So, the applicant submitted an application for a project, they were approved, but they still haven't pulled their permit. Um so, we were able to take advantage of those projects, pretty straightforward, pretty easy. Um the next one is uh projected ADU development. So, we looked at ADU development. Um so, permits pulled uh ADUs built from uh 2018 to 2021. um got that average and then projected out that average from those years for the full eight-year period of this housing element. So, we were able to um accommodate some some units that way. Um and then that third easiest part is the specific plans. Uh so, across Lidle Creek uh Ranch and the Renaissance specific plans. Um those those uh specific plans are already approved. Uh so, we were able to use the units that are part of those uh specific plans as part of uh the the housing element allocation. Um and the last bullet, this is really uh where um where what we're discussing today is identifying capacity under the existing zoning and then also um identifying areas, opportunity areas we call them, um where we can either upzone or reszone. Uh so these opportunity areas are up here on the screen. Um they really fall into these seven categories, but some of

them are kind of scattered around. They can't fit perfectly into one of these boxes. But generally, um these these uh parcels are on foot along Foothill Boulevard, uh Riverside Avenue, uh two parcels in the gateway specific plan in the uh Rialto Central area specific plan along baseline road uh and Randall Avenue. Uh here this is uh a map of you can see baseline on here uh sorry uh uh Foothill Boulevard. Um you can also see central area and then baseline up in the north here. Um they're all scattered around here. Um and then here you have around North Riverside. So they're not all perfectly along North Riverside, but right around that general area right um uh by the freeway there. We also have these two parcels uh in the orange and sorry in the purple there um that are from the gateway SP the specific plan. Uh here we have the central area specific plan parcel. So kind of all around uh this area here that we're we're sitting in. Uh these are along baseline uh baseline road um and the um uh baseline uh shopping center as well. And then these uh this is a little hard to see. It's really small, but these are all the other uh parcels that are kind of just scattered uh around the city um there. So uh what all of these sites what we're uh the housing element proposes to do is to um include them all as a housing opportunity district. Um, so it's essentially it it throws an an overlay over these parcels um and creates a a minimum density of 20 dwelling units per acre and if the uh parcels currently have a residential uh zoning already um they can go from 20 dwelling units per acre to uh either 35 or 40 and if they have a commercial designation currently they can go from 20 dwelling units per acre to 50 dwelling units per acre. Um so any area where the parcel is currently commercial it would essentially now become allow mixed use

um and all those units all those mixeduse developments must provide at least 50% residential. So 50% of the development of the square footage uh must be residential. Um there's also an incentive for uh applicants to develop affordable units which will help the city uh accommodate that that lower income uh area. Um and that incentive essentially what it is is any development that comes in that provides 20% um of their units as lower income um can get essentially a ministerial review which uh the state in the government code calls a by right uh approval. Uh so these are examples of of kind of some examples of what these density ranges can look like. Um so on the screen here you see 20 to 35 dwellings per acre. Um on the left those town homes that's kind of like on the lower range. Um whereas like in the middle and the right that'll be closer to to the the um the higher range of of 20 to 35. And then here you see uh a little higher density from 35 to 50. Um and these can look like senior housing, you know, mixed use apartment condos. Um some of these products that that we already see um as Sandra mentioned, our buffer or or our sites that we've accommodated beyond our need, um it's about double. Um, but you'll see a lot of that like surplus, what we're calling surplus, falls into the above moderate. The reason for that is that most of that comes from the Lidle Creek. So, most of that is accommodated as above moderate. Um, so a lot of those units we can already take advantage of, um, but they fall into that. So, it really expands that buffer. Um, but the the the intent of having a buffer is that we know that the market may not produce uh the units the way we we anticipate. Um, so having a buffer there allows us to um not have to go back to the drawing board and add new sites. um all the time. So um this buffer allows you to to stay within a comfortable range where you don't have to go back and add additional sites in the future um because in that situation

it's called a net loss. So if you have you accommodate you know exactly what your arena is. So if you were to accommodate only 8,272 sites but then one of those parcels developed as something else car wash or something um now you're in a net loss. So you you no longer accommodate what you're required to accommodate and you're no longer uh compliant. So that buffer allows you to um accommodate for any of those uh nuances. Um so the the last section uh which is section four is the housing plan. This is really our action plan. It's how we're going to accommodate um our units. How are we going to um complete these actions and these goals that we have? Uh all of our all of our actions which is about 30 or so um fall into one of these goals here. Um so ranging from you know improving the quality of existing housing and existing neighborhoods all the way to you know promoting equal quality uh equal opportunity for people in in uh the area um and people who want to live in the city as well. Um I'm not going to go through all 30. We'll be here until like midnight. But I just want to highlight just one action here um just to show what these kind of look like and what each one of these actions uh include. Uh so this is housing program 2e. It's related to ADU monitoring. So what this action does uh or or uh proposes to do is to create a monitoring program. Um this is really done through the annual reporting period um where we can monitor hey are is our ADU development following the same pattern that we anticipated or that we projected in our housing element. If it doesn't what can we do to change that and what can we do to to meet our goals. Um every single action will have a time frame. So when this is completed here it's annually because we report on the housing element annually to HCD but some actions are by for example August 2026 um some of them have concrete uh deadlines whereas some of these don't um each one has a responsible agency so for example this ADU one would would fall on the planning team um and that funding source comes directly from from the uh general fund there's other actions that

would come from like grant sources such as CDBG um like um all of these are topics that are found in the housing action. So, promotion of ADU and and JADU development, objective design standards, establishing procedures uh for SB35 streamlining um uh updating the uh uh municipal code to comply with various housing types like emergency shelters, supportive transitional housing, um housing for person with disabilities. Um there's many of these that are just um new state laws that uh the city has not updated their zoning code. So it's at technically out of compliance. Um so all of these are are ordinance updates to to address those. Um as part of the housing element and the reszone actions, uh we completed a initial study and a mitigating negative decoration. Uh my partner Rita Garcia will uh uh follow up on that.

Good evening. Thank you. And uh good evening commissioners. My name is Rita Garcia and I served as the project's uh environmental program man project manager. Um I was tasked with preparing the project's initial study mitigated negative declaration under SQA. In this document we analyzed approximately 21 environmental resource areas and various uh questions uh under each of those resource areas. Our analysis found that for all of those resource areas except six, all impacts would be reduced to less than significant or avoided through compliance with the established regulatory framework which included federal, state, and local regulations. For six of the resource areas, we found that mitigation was necessary to avoid or lessen the impact to um lessen significant. The initial study was circulated for a 30-day public review period which began on uh October 26th and ended on November 25th. During this period, we received six comment letters to which we prepared proposed responses to. Uh the comment letters where is one comment letter from an agency uh from um Native American tribes uh asking or informing us that uh they had no desire to consult and um from uh local residents. None of the responses resulted in in new environmental impacts or uh the analysis didn't find that the impacts that were analyzed in the initial study that their their severity increased. And um so with that um the only step that's left um is for the commissioners to before approving the project consider all of the initial studies findings as well as the findings in the responses to comments. And with that Bryant will discuss the next steps.

Yeah. Um so as mentioned on December 2nd of 2025 last month um HD found that the housing element as it was drafted u meets the statutory requirements but the city must readopt the housing element um and also complete the reszones. So once um the housing element is readopted uh the reszones are adopted and um this whole package is sent back to HCD that is when they can provide um a a essentially a certification letter. So um we are yeah January 21st today. So this is our plan commission um on February 24th the city council will also consider adoption of this uh of these actions. Um and uh if that project is approved um then in late February early March that full package will be sent to HD. HD will have 60 uh calendar days to provide a response. Um uh we've got we've discussed with HDD as long as this is adopted as as um proposed it's compliant. So um it should take less than 60 days but they have up to 60 days from there. So um we could potentially see um you know two months from end of February, beginning of March there. Um and with that uh we are done and thank you.

Thank you. Before we get to the public, does staff have any I mean does the commission have any question of staff or the consultant at this time? I just have one quick one. Go ahead. The term I remember back at 23 environmental justice. What is that madeup term mean? What like can you define that? Yes. Or maybe the consultant can tell me what that means.

What is it though? What what Oh, you didn't work on that. Oh yeah, he's not claiming that one there. So the environmental justice was adopted just um last year. Um and let me get that for the information for you. So the elements address six key environmental justice issues um that are outlined in Senate Bill 1000 um which is community engagement, pollution exposure, access to public facilities, access to healthy food, safe and sanitary housing, and physical activity. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions? Terry,

in looking at this specifically, I'm thinking about ads and JDUs. Has there been any thought as to what weight is applied to that and reaching the goals that the states have mandated? [clears throat]

Um, yes. So ADUs can be used uh to accommodate our need. Um it's really a one for one. ADU is treated the same as a single family housing unit. Um same as a JADU. So um it's a a really valuable strategy to um have ADU development because it creates less impacts than say you know a multif family housing something like that. Um but yeah, if there's anything specific about ADUs um that I can address. Yeah. But so it's not weighted at all because we don't know what's going to happen with ADUs or JDs. Am I correct? Correct. Correct. U but once they are developed they are weighted at the same weight as as any other unit.

Okay. Thank you. Any other questions?

Okay. So if you could pull up the PowerPoint, your PowerPoint again, the the consultants and we'll go back because I haven't got a hard copy. go back to the beginning of it. So, I got to scroll through as much as I can. Um, let's get to the income one. That one this. Okay. So, let me uh look at the bottom. It says income range is based on the 2025 HUD area median income uh AMI for San Diego County, which is $103,900 for a family of four. Okay. And they came up with that number because I'm just getting it. Does anybody in the room really believe that a family of four in Rialto makes $103,000?

I mean I I just I mean I understand I see the numbers and I understand to do that, but I I'm I'm willing to go along with it, but it it's really shocking to me after living here for 40 years and that that's a number that they came up with and that's the one we kind of base stuff on. you know that's going to be so I mean how do they come up with that number that 1039 yeah a lot of that comes from um so that's this comes from HUD um the housing and urban development at at the federal level and that typically comes from uh like W2s and tax information that they kind of aggregate um that so that mixed with the census they can kind of estimate there

okay so let's powerpoint again and let's go over to we were looking at the one that talked about the renaissance and it talked about uh River Ranch and it talked about ADUs and things uh with them. Okay. So, site analysis and things to do that, you know, m maybe I'm just a real numbers kind of guy. When I look at those things, I really would like to see some numbers when it says if we're going to be including that stuff in that they're part of our total that that we don't have to, you know, have to meet or we have to be part of that. I like to know how many ADUs we're talk we've got, you know, and then how many units I don't even know the number of units with that currently been constructed under uh the the river ranch and the number in the Renaissance to do that. Just so I got a So we've got this big number here of the 8,000 and stuff and how many are get we're getting credit for to be able to do that.

Yeah. So ADU's total is 72. So that's that's not obviously a huge number, but Lidle Creek specific plan, it's 6,259 units, right? And Renaissance specific plan is 1,279 units. And the and staff could probably tell me how many currently have been built in each one of those. Right. I think for uh for Lidle, for River Ranch, I think we're at about 775 maybe. And for Renaissance, I think we're 200ish. Okay. So yeah, it says 75 to 100, right?

7 775 in River Ranch and um 150 200 somewhere in that neighborhood for Renaissance. Renaissance. Okay, back to the PowerPoint and forward back to your the the goals and objectives. Real quick there. Okay. Housing goal number two, promote and encourage housing development that accurately meets the needs of the social economic segments of the community. We can promote it, we can encourage it, but we can't require it. Correct. Correct. Correct. And the reason we can't require it is why

um you can't actually through like something like an affordable housing ordinance, you can require it as part of a development at a certain range. Um so that that's really the only mechanism where you you can require it. Okay. Yeah. Otherwise it's mostly like incentives um right that help encourage that. And then when we we talked about a little forward on that one too. We talked about the densities and stuff. So we got we there was one that talked about 30 units per acre. Then it talked about 20 units per acre and stuff. So if we got it. Yeah. I think that was a typo there. So it should be this is the one.

Yeah. Yeah. And so on once these parcels are identified and they're part of the overlaying stuff if someone chooses what's the benefit for a developer to to build at 35 or 40 units per acre and not 20 units per acre and what development standards do we use to to to with these overlays to do that? I mean it's an overlay. Do we use an R3? Do we use an R4? What what's the development standards that we use for that? Yeah. R R4 those are going to be the regulations for uh for those densities. Okay. Yeah. Sorry, my planner hat came out as Yeah. Thank you. We appreciate it.

Uh any other I thought you knew all this. Oh, I Well, I don't know about the income of 103,000 for a family of four. Well, the we keep printing money. So, exactly. That must be what it is. Like $50 for Amber. Okay. Any other questions uh for the the staff or the consultant? I just have one. Realize your neighbors make that kind of I I probably do. They probably do.

The the cost of building continually changes every day. It's different. You get a different price on on all the materials and the labor and so forth. This plan is based upon current pricing of what it costs to build per square foot now, not projected into the future. That's correct. Yes. Okay. So, if this is projected 2, three years into the future, where are we going to be? Yeah. Just from the beginning of of this plan to now, it's priced probably like 20% higher than from what we started. So, if we keep on that trajectory, you know, it's

okay. I wasn't sure I heard the percentage there, sir. What's that? You said a percentage about 20%. 20%. So, that's factored in or is that what we It's not factored in. Um, it's not we're we're not required to factor that. It's more so the land use that we're we're required to plan for is the change in the land uses. Well, then my question would be if the projects that are two, three, four years down the line cost more to build, they're going to cost more to sell and to rent and to lease.

So, we're going to end up with a vacancy issue there, a vacuum, so to speak, even though we've met the mandate, is it still have we met the mandate from a community standpoint? If it's sitting vacant, nobody can afford to live there. Correct. Yeah. Um chapter three of the uh housing element, we identify various constraints. So uh like market constraints, that's that's one of the biggest one um that the city can't necessarily affect the market um but by providing specific incentives um to um lower the cost of housing that you can you can influence and and try to encourage that development um at lower income. But of course market forces will will you know dictate the cost.

We have to go somewhere. We're mandated by law to go somewhere. I just want to make sure when I'm thinking about this is that where we're going is not a paint your wagon. We don't know, but we're going and I want to make sure that when we go someplace that that we at least have a a clear picture as to how we're going to get to that place. Definitely. Okay. Thank you. There's no more questions at this time. This is a public hearing. Uh, I'm going to ask if there's anybody that has filled out a paperwork and requested to speak at this time. Yes, sir. Okay. Uh, Steve Glusker.

Good evening. My name is Steve Glusker. I was last here. I own [clears throat] the property at Foothill and Willow anchored by Cardinas Market, 100,000 square foot shopping center. Uh for those of you who have been in Rialto for a long time, we bought that center in the 1990s. Um Albertson's had the Super Saver concept there. It was empty for several years. Cardinus moved in uh in the late 90s. Uh fast forward more recently, uh the swap meet was there with city support. The swap meet moved out and in came Dollar Tree. And the reason I'm here tonight is uh really to talk about the idea of unintended consequences and and the practical impact of this ordinance on the 100,000 square foot center that I have owned now for almost 30 years. Um if we take the hypothetical of let's say five years from now Dollar Tree's lease is up, they vacate the 15,000 square feet, we go to market, we find a replacement tenant. In the real world we live in, especially with corporate tenants, the time it takes to negotiate a deal, document a deal, plan the interior improvements, permit the interior improvements, there is zero chance the replacement tenant would be a replacement tenant within a year. Okay? And my understanding from speaking with Sandra is that the existing nonconforming designation that would allow a non-conforming use to move in expires in one year. So what I'm the net effect on our property is that inevitably there will be blight because what will happen is let's say Dollar Tree moves out. We find a new tenant. That new tenant can't move within a year. We come to the city and say we've got ABC store moving in where Dollar Tree was. And the response is that is a non-conforming use. It is non-residential. It's not allowed. So my 15,000 foot space, I can't put housing

in it, right? It's a box within a shopping center. So, it goes vacant. Two years later, Western Dentl moves out. Can't replace that tenant within a year. It sits vacant. And before you know it, I come back to the city 15 years from now. We have a 100,000 foot center with Cardinas and 40,000 square feet of empty space. And if any of you were here, what the center looked like when there was a lot of empty space 26, seven, eight years ago, it wasn't pretty. So, As more residential gets built, the need for community serving retail only increases. And if the entire boulevard is to go residential, where's the shopping to take place? So, I guess where I'm going with this is I would like to see the 10 acres, the shopping center that we own taken out of the overlay. Right? you still will more than meet your residential needs, plate the state of California, address the future housing needs of the community, but to prevent blight on the center that we own. And there may be other centers similarly situated, I can't speak to that, but as a practical matter, we will have vacancies over time that we will not be able to fill.

That's that's my two cents. Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it. got a good point. Anyone else? Anna Gonzalez.

All right.

Good evening, commissioners. Anna Gonzalez, Rialto resident. I'm also here representing the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice who has been working very diligently on this housing element since 2021. Um, actually as a resident I have been involved in two housing element cycles now since 2015 and we've learned a lot of lessons. So I'm happy to see that we're now moving in the right direction to compliance with the state mandate. Uh, a few things. Um, I also want to thank the staff for uh, including the EJ policy 9.14.4. I know I had emphasized in many meetings and many uh uh engaging opportunities that the EJ element should have always always been um worked on handinhand with the housing element then and the land use element and and this is why because then we have to come back and you know add different policies uh when we can just do it all at the same time. Um, as you all have noticed, the community engagement happened back in 2021 and somehow through the years, but we are now in 2026. So, you know, I I see the urgency of this city to be in compliance with the state, but we need to do more intentionality with the community to get their input. And in the spirit of getting the city in compliance, we obviously support the uh this the recirculated draft uh for the adoption. Um, and like I mentioned before, lots of lessons learned. Um, the next cycle is coming up soon in 2029. And I just hope that we can do a better job uh as commissioners, as a city, as community and staff to really get that intentional input from the community. And I want to thank uh Mr. Story for bringing up the income um disparities and all of that because that's crucial. Oops. That's crucial when we're um trying to implement some of these policies. I'm

glad that SB35 was mentioned. I didn't see SB9 or SB10. And also, I wanted to um raise a red flag that the inclusionary housing ordinance was not mentioned. And I believe that that's something you all have to approve also. Um and you can correct me if I'm wrong. Um but that's all I have and I just hope that you adopt this element tonight. Thank you. Yes, Ramos.

Thank you. Good afternoon, Commissioner. I'm Yen Ram reactive resident. I'm here to support the draft of the housing element. This city needs to focus on approving legit housing and green spaces zoning. Not not any more warehouses. We don't need that no more. Want to talk [sighs and gasps] want to thank the hand hard work of every everyone involved to make sure the city completes with the statement and management. Really thank you very much for all your support. And that's all.

Thank you. Thank you. Norman Saroski. No com.

Yes. Correct. Um the planning commissioners did receive uh four letters and your letter was included in part of that package. Thank you. Thank you. That was it. That's it. Okay. Um chair, can I just make one sure

comment as point of clarity. Um there are a number of items that are either goals, policies, um components will have to be implemented um as part of this uh housing element update. Many of those things will be coming back through the commission and council again subsequently after the housing element is adopted and we get the official certification from the state. We will then begin um that process of bringing through ordinance updates and things that were not able to be addressed in a timely fashion with this current current action you're taking tonight and what council will take.

All right. Thank you. All right. Do I have a motion to close the public hearing? Public hearing. Is there a second? Second. Okay. All those in favor of closing the public hearing signify by saying I. I opposed. Hearing none, the public hearing is closed. Commission comments. What's your pleasure or direction?

Let's just see if anyone has any questions about anything that was we've heard or anything with that before we we we run into that and stuff. Is there any other comments or any questions or anything that we want to ask for interpretation or recommend accordingly? So, go ahead. No, I don't. But I'll read it, Dale, for you. See, thank you. No, I don't have any questions. I guess it's just a lofty goal. We'll see where it goes. That's just the end of the day. That's what it is. Okay. Go ahead. All right. Is there a motion?

Uh, I have a motion to approve. recommend the planning commission uh adopt the attached resolution resolution exhibit D forwarding to the city council recommendation to approve the mitigated negative declaration environmental assessment review number 25-000020 prepare prepared for the 2021 through 2029 six cycle general plan housing element and adopt the attached resolution exhibit E forward to the city council a recommendation approve general plan amendment number 25-00001 One, approving the 2021 through 2029 six cycle general plan housing element and an amendment to the environmental just justice element. My favorite word there. Adopt the attach resolution exhibit F forwarded to the city council recommendate recommendation to approve zoning code amendment number 25-00002 amending the Rialto municipal code by modifying chapter 18-116 to reszone approximately 350 sites distribute distributed throughout the city adopt the attached resolution ex resolution exhibit G 40 the city council recommendation to approve specific plan amendment number 25- 001 establishing a residential overlay in the foothill central Pacific plan over approximately 159 acres on specific sites. Adopt the attached resolution resolution exhibit H. Forwarding to the city council recommendation to approve specific plan amendment number 25-00002 establishing a residential overlay in the gateway specific plan for approximately 20 acres on specific sites in the eastern portion of the gateway specific plan.

Second. We have a motion and a second. Any comments or questions related to the motion that was made? If not, we will take a a roll call uh of all the commissioners. If the secretary could do that for us. Avalos viaos. I. Uh Commissioner Vice Chair Gutierrez. Hi, Chair Story. I Commissioner Espander I. Commissioner Thompson. I. Commissioner Corell. I.

Motion carries. Uh we're moving on now to the action items. We don't have any, but do we have any uh comments from our community development director?

Thank you, chair. Just briefly, um we will have the planning commission meetings um both meetings in February the 4th and the 18th. We have items tenatively scheduled for both meetings. So um please plan to be with us accordingly if you can. And um we also have the planning commissioners academy coming up. U March 11th through the 13th in Anaheim. Um I'll send out a more um formal email with some information and some details on that, but I wanted to bring it to your attention. Um for new commissioners, I find this to be uh exceptionally beneficial for any of you guys that are very seasoned and have been around for a while. There's always good updates and information um available, you know, for anyone who cares to to go. So, um, when you get our email, if you would let us know, um, if you're interested in attending and staff will handle your registration and accommodations and then we'll be in touch with you, um, further about that. But, um, March 11th through the 13th, it's in Anaheim. And that concludes my comments this evening.

Great. Thank you. Any planning commission comments at this time?

Uh, this is a pretty hard road for us to go up. There's a lot of of information that lays in the future that can be somewhat estimated but not determined. I want to compliment the staff and this and especially the staff we have spent a great amount of resources, effort, time, money and and hired in my opinion some of the best consultants to reach the point that we're at. Anything that I might have commented on earlier about what holds in the future that's for everybody. Rialto is just one of many many communities that are facing this uh this issue that we have with the mandates that come from this state of California. And with that, I'd like to compliment staff on the work that they've done with regard to this and reaching us to the point that we're at. Thank you.

Thank you. Any other comments from commissioners? Do we still do do they still have this is because I'm just old and used to be here. Is there a development status report about projects that are going on? Because now that I'm a commissioner and I still and I live here, they ask me questions and it's first time I don't have an answer for some of them and stuff. So, do they still have that or not? Yes. So, so we do have that. We've recently revamped it. um it gets uh published with the economic development committee agenda um at the end of every month, but if the commission would like to receive that, we can have staff um send that development status report along with the building permit um activity report out to each of the commissioners.

Yeah, if you I mean if yeah, if we just if you want to include it in the packet for the commissioners, if we're allowed to do that, you can send it that way or any other way you want to do it. But it's just so it gives me ideas so when I get, hey, what's going on there? I don't have to say I don't know. You should know and it's it happens so all the time. Terry Terry knows everything and so does Dale. I don't anymore. So we did used to get those by the way. Okay. Yeah. 25 years. Yeah. It was when I was a young man, but never mind. Yeah.

You only ask and I know it's not our city. Maybe we can help out the city of Fontana. I asked staff before and they connected me with the city. Sierra Avenue is like an obstacle course like for almost a year and a half now. They need to finish it and I keep getting hit up on that and the lights are dim and trucks are going through there. I know in Riverside no Sierra Avenue uh by Summit Summit area that the newer developed area they about a year ago they finished that median's in there. Yeah, the median's there but the cones are everywhere. There's no lines in the street and there's no lights and it's a train wreck and I think it's a liability. Well, and a lot of our citizens drive that to go to Los Kenus.

We'll reach out to our colleagues over there. Yeah. Mike, I did have one more question. Oh, okay. Yeah. I just have a question for staff. Uh when we build a a business like say a a fast food restaurant or maybe a logistics space, is there a requirement in our code here in our municipal code to put the address on the roof? On the roof. On the roof. So I don't know specifically on the roof. I know the fire department has addressing size and location requirements. You want to Daniel probably has more specifics for you on that. There are requirements. He's the expert.

Yes. Uh, all new developments are required to put the uh, address on the roof. That's a standard build of McDonald's. The address is on the roof. 40K can see it. Am I correct? On which one? I'm sorry. Pardon me. Did you say a specific development? On any any or logistics. Yeah. Yes. On any development, uh, the police department has a set of standards as far as the size of the the numbering and Yes. that required for all new developments.

Okay. And then the second one was when when a a business is proposed and it goes through the process whether it's developed or whether it's it is there a requirement on retail businesses that have a cash register to have a certain percentage of the window space uncovered in the front. Yes, there are u provisions 25% coverage as it used to be. Yes, exactly. That's the maximum amount that you could cover up uh 25% with, you know, different window signage. The rest of it would need to remain open. All right. Very good. Thank you. Is there a motion to adjurnn? So move. Second. Second.

Second. Okay. Okay. Meeting adjourn. Thank you.