Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Six to order. Commissioner Estevan, if you'd lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance at this time.

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

Thank you. If the clerk could call the roll for the commission this evening.

Chair Story?

Here.

Vice Chair Gutierrez?

Here.

Commissioner S. Vander?

Present.

Commissioner Corral? Here. Commissioner Schneider? Here. Commissioner Thompson? Present. Commissioner Avalos Villalobos? Here. Chair, you have a quorum.

Very good, thank you so much. Okay, right now we'll move on to oral communication from the audience on items that are not on the agenda. This is a time and a place to come and speak for items that are not on the agenda or have filled out paperwork to do so. Has anyone filled out anything to speak this evening? No, sir. Great, thank you so much. Let's move on to the next item. Let's go to the planning commission minutes for our August 5th, 2026 meeting. If everyone has an opportunity to read it, I'll entertain a motion to approve those minutes at this time. Move to pass. Okay, motion by Commissioner Gutierrez, is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Estivander. All those in favor of approving the amendments signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Hearing none. Motion carries, minutes are approved. We'll move on to the next item, the public hearing item for conditional development permit number 260009. Jason, could we have the presentation? Thank you.

Excuse me. Good evening, commissioners. My name's Jason Costa. I'm associate planner here in Rialto. And tonight's project is conditional development permit number 26-0009 with environmental assessment review 26-007 for Pacific Clinics. The project location is there 2026 North Riverside Avenue, unit K. It's the northernmost leasing space. 2,700 square foot space in Rancho Verde Plaza, neighborhood commercial zone C1. Other tenants include Planet Fitness, CSL Plasma, Del Taco, Carl's Jr., Starbucks, and AutoZone. The proposal is to establish and operate an adult mental health service Clubhouse and community connections program that promotes wellness independence and community they also Apply for will apply for an interior tenant improvement to accommodate their operation and services and Pacific Clinics is a California-based non-profit organization that provides professional health services under contract with San Marino County Department of Behavioral Health. Services focus on mental health recovery, wellness, social connections, skill development, and community interaction. Specific services that they provide include support groups for grief, loss, and mental health recovery, presentations such as medical benefits, psychoeducation, and suicide prevention. Different workshops they provide include resume building, sharpening interview skills, psychoeducation, mental health topics, and resource navigation and community referrals to support wellness, employment, education, and personal recovery goals. Resources they provide include computer access, educational material, employment resources, telephone access, printing, and community information. Additional services that they will provide at this facility include daily cooking and nutritional activities that support independent living skills and wellness, shower facilities exclusively for use of members during business hours as part of maintaining personal wellness and daily living routines. Laundry facilities are also exclusively for use by members during business hours in order to support independent living skills and personal awareness. Other activities include individual and peer support, wellness planning, recovery oriented discussions, social and recreational activities, and skill building opportunities. No medical treatments or diagnosis will be provided The facility will be staffed by three staff members, a supervisor and the director. Staff are certified California medical peer counseling specialists. They'll be in operation Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. with 20 to 30 clients per day. There will not be any overnight stays and clients will visit either by appointment or walk in throughout the day and peak hours are typically between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Pacific Clinics has prepared a crime prevention plan that was for the facility that was requested by Rialto Police Department. The crime prevention plan addresses employee and client safety, enhanced security measures, and loitering control measures. Specific measures that will be incorporated include, excuse me. But are not limited to the installation of security cameras around the lease base that will be incorporated into the FUSA system. Exterior lighting to the front and rear. Installation of no loitering signs. And the enrollment in the Rialto Police Department's no trespassing program. The Rialto Police Department reviewed and endorsed the crime prevention plan. The project is consistent with neighborhood commercial C1 zone and the existing units in Rancho Verde Plaza. This facility is not expected to negatively impact any nearby tenant or use of all measures in the crime prevention plan are implemented and maintained at all times. The project is categorically exempt from CEQA pursuant to section 15301 existing facilities and a notice of exemption has been prepared. Public hearing notices were mailed to all property owners within 660 feet, posted on site and at city hall and published in the San Bernardino Sun newspaper. It is recommended that Planning Commission adopt the attached resolution, which is Exhibit G, thereby approving conditional development permit number 26-0009, based upon the findings and subject to the conditions therein, and find the project is categorically exempt pursuant to section 15301, existing facilities of the California Environmental Quality Act. And that concludes the staff presentation. The applicant has also provided a presentation.

Okay. Thanks, Jason. If the commission, if you can ask questions to staff right now, I think maybe some of them may get answered after the Pacific Clinic's people make their presentation. Unless someone has something specific for staff right now, we can get them at the same time. Okay, very good. Okay, let's get half the applicant forward for the presentation. Thank you.

There we go. Yeah.

Okay. Good evening, commissioners. My name is Dr. Candy Curiel. I'm senior clinical director at Pacific Clinics. And my colleague here is Matthew Talley, and he's our team supervisor.

Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.

I am very appreciative of your time and I appreciate also your consideration as we share information pertaining to our request. All right, so we'd like to introduce you to Pacific Clinics in case you are not familiar with our organization. I appreciate what you've already shared. I can say that we are a statewide organization. We're up and down the coast of California, and we have over 2,000 employees. The programs that we offer are at more than 50 sites across 18 counties. And we have a total of about 138,676 Californians that are reached and served each year. The programs and services that we do include are behavioral health, social services, early and continuing adult education, and supportive services. Our vision is a world in which all people realize health and well-being. And our mission is we deliver integrated behavioral health care and social services to advance health equity and mental well-being for children, adults, and families. We have services across the entire Inland Empire region, primarily in San Bernardino County. We offer a variety of programs from prevention and early intervention all the way to intensive treatment and behavioral health. And some of those, you may be familiar, Wraparound. And we also have Success First, which is early wraparound. It's a mini wrap program, which is intended for children that have high acuity, but are not in the foster care system. And so we do offer our services to them. We also have family resource centers. We have one in San Bernardino and we support the military community. We have services in the central region as well as the Morongo Basin. Family Resource Center and our military program do also become available for the residents of Rialto. Our Family Supports Initiative is another wonderful program that we have to support the families with young children ages zero to five. This is also available to our Rialto community. And we have a student intern program, and that is to support our professional workforce shortage that we have in behavioral health. We're trying to support students that are in their program, trying to enter our field, and we're providing them with excellent clinical supervision and experience so that they can be the future clinicians for our community. I'd like to share some history with our clubhouse program. In 1965, Portals opened the first clubhouse in Los Angeles County, and we called that one the Mariposa Clubhouse. Let's see. For more than six decades, we've been a leader in creating welcoming, recovery-oriented spaces for individuals living with mental health challenges. And our clubhouse history does reflect this deep commitment to community dignity and belonging. The Mariposa Clubhouse was the foundation for a model that was built on empowerment, peer connection, and meaningful daily structure, and this was long before the psychosocial rehab was widely recognized. As the needs of the community grew, so did our reach, and in 1986, we expanded into South LA, and with the opening of Community Connections Clubhouse. In 2002, we launched our Seminardino Rialto Fund Clubhouse Fulfillment Unity Network. And we've been here for 24 years now. So we've been here a long time. But this same year, we also opened another clubhouse in Yucca Valley. And over the next decade, our growth continued in response to the community need. And in 2013, we established Lucerne Valley Clubhouse, later in 2024, Needles Clubhouse, then Yucaipa, and most recently this year, we opened in Apple Valley. So these are the sites where we're at. And I'm gonna go ahead and turn it over to Matthew, who will now tell you more about the actual program.

Good afternoon, Planning Commission. Again, my name is Matthew Talley and I am the supervisor for the Rialto site. I have personally worked out of the Rialto office or clubhouse since 2005, so a little over 20 years. And so I'm going to basically go over what Clubhouse is and a little bit about what we do. Our goal, our mission, is to assist members with mental illness to live their lives, working, social environments, basically to support them. anyone with the lived experience with mental health can utilize the services anyone can be affected with mental illness regardless of their socioeconomic background their ethnicity everyone's affected and we at specific clinics specifically the clubhouse we are here to support them and wherever there's their recovery goal is. So it's non-clinical and it's peer-to-peer. The populations that we serve are adults 18 and over, again with the lived experience, who are in their recovery phase. So we're not a crisis center. What we do is support those who are already in their recovery process, whether that be through counseling, through medication, through seeing a psychiatrist. whatever, so whatever their process and their goal is, we are here to support them in that recovery journey as certified specialists and the member population as a whole from peer to peer. And as Dr. Kenney was stating earlier, We have locations in Rialto, Yucaipa, Apple Valley, Lucerne Valley, Yucca Valley, and Needles. The county, San Bernardino County itself has five clubhouse and Pacific clinics does have six. And so an overview of the clubhouse, and this is pretty much like what we do and who we are. The recovery and wellness model, I just want to kind of briefly go over that. The model basically states recovery is possible. We believe that people can live meaningful lives despite their mental illness. It's person-centered. Services are guided by their individual's goals, choices, and strengths. We don't identify their illnesses, but we identify and build up their strengths. We work towards hope and self-determination, strength-based, focus on their abilities, their interests and accommodations. In other words, clubhouse members can utilize it for a whole host of reasons. It could be using our computer lab or finding resources or increasing their socialization. We focus on whole person wellness, whether it be physical, social, financial, housing, or employment. It's peer supported, meaning those with lived experiences providing hope, encouragement, and advocacy for their fellow peers. It's community integrated, support meaningful participation and relationships as far as employment, education, and community life. It's a partnership and not dependency. Staff works alongside the members to build their lives and individualize recovery. Recovery simply means looking to build themselves up, and we as staff help support that. And so outreach and engagement, we look towards going out into the community. For example, we in the past have participated in a national night out. The senior center, we have established relationships throughout. rialto, fontana, whether it be nonprofits or other businesses and we reach out to the community, whether it be health fairs and things like that to let the community know, families, et cetera, adults, that the clubhouse program is for them, for anyone who has a mental health journey. uh... access to essential services and so if an individual needs uh... emergency housing or if they need emergency food or they need support services we are here for them and to support them walk alongside them uh... wellness and preventative health so we have at our clubhouse guest speakers that will come and talk about anything from healthcare, dental, medical, et cetera. And so we use the clubhouse as a platform for other community members to provide services and information and resources for our members, our clients. Healthcare and basic needs support. Again, we help to support them, whether it be they're getting an SSI, SDI, driver's license, ID, whatever their basic needs are, help that we have a food pantry at our facility. Whatever their needs happen to be, we are here to help support that in a continuum of health. and community integration. So we want individuals to engage in the community and our peer-designated and member-driven activities. We are funded by the county, is run by Pacific Clinics, supported by the staff, but this is a peer-run center, meaning those are far along in their recovery are supporting those who are just on the beginning of their journey. So that is the main key, peer-driven. And so a typical day at the clubhouse. Each clubhouse, it's different by region, and obviously it's flavored by the community and those who participate. But generally speaking, members will participate and engage in maybe like a morning check-in, see how they're doing, maybe coffee and donuts and things like that. On the work order day, the membership runs the clubhouse. So if it's like cleaning or vacuuming or managing the building in terms of just small things, just taking care of it. Members take ownership and the staff are there to supervise and facilitate that work order day. And in terms of looking like a providing purpose and meaning and structure for those who are trying to reintegrate back into their lives, into their family lives, into school or to work, etc. We have a community lunch that's served at our clubhouse, or all our clubhouses, so those who maybe have struggled with food insecurity or may not have a good quality meal for the day, the clubhouse does provide that. uh... afternoon activities on you know we see it as a exit community center and so part of that socialization is uh... collaborating and having fun and participating in games and things like that and the end of the day we usually do our clean up and things of that nature so that's pretty much like a typical day would be at the clubhouse and along those lines staff are meeting with the clients either through groups or individually to provide those other support needs that i talked about earlier And so special activities and community involvement, this is the heart of what we do. Now there's a lot of functions that happen within the clubhouse, but we as a community like to be involved outside of the community as well. So this is just to illustrate a few of the things that we participate in, which includes our annual picnic, which we were just celebrating our ninth year. So we celebrate with all six clubhouses plus the five from the county. We engage and participate with NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. We've been doing their walk in the city of Hemet. and we've been doing the most recent San Bernardino Walk, which is their year two, and we're participating in the Hemmick Walk for over 15 years and supporting that agency as well, again, as a clubhouse community. We also engage in the departments of Recovery Happens, so Pacific Clinics a lot of celebrates with the county to celebrate individuals walking within their substance use journey. And so we do participate with that, and that's probably maybe our 10th or 15th year celebrating recovery with the county. Each clubhouse is governed by a board. Those board members are elected every six months and those board members are elected by their peers. And so it is a community event in every sense of the word. And so we do have county-wide board officer meetings where they collaborate and talk amongst each other, get ideas and brainstorm and socialize and network. We are engaged in community and social events and cultural events. And so whether it be Pride, Black History Month, et cetera, we like to use these opportunities to educate and be a part, and this is our way of being a part of the community. when almost a sense of celebration for ourselves and for members and the community at large and also our classes which is very important because that's a way of not only the artist is therapy but as a way of expression and so we we'd love to participate in and the most over at not all the club bosses have our classes and um... and the county also hosts it our project or uh... our display as well, and so they display our art at various places around the county. And we also celebrate within the community by our grand openings from 2024, 25, and 26 for our last three openings, as Dr. Candy mentioned. Again, that's a way for us introducing ourselves into community and celebrating recovery and what that looks like and inviting community members, the city, the county, et cetera. And so this is a few slides of our clubhouse. This is our South Rialto office. And as you can see, it's a pretty large lobby. And then we have our sitting area. And further down is our eating area where members participate and have lunch and socialize together. And again, we talk about community and celebrating community. And we have a pool billiards table there. So this is the place where we do our events and our groups and our activities. And the picture on the upper left, again, I failed to mention this, but our clubhouse is engaged in community give back. So we partnership with the Community Action Partnership of San Bernardino, the food bank, to make bags of food for communities that are maybe lacking food or have food insecurity. And so what we do is we grab the food from the food bank and staff and members bag those together and give them out to the community. And for our clients and for our members, this is a way of finding meaning and purpose by not necessarily focusing on themselves but giving back. And that's something that we do at the Rialto site. We actually build bags for the community of Needles who does not have a grocery store. And so we build those bags and send them out every month, and we've been doing that since 2020. This is our clubhouse that we just opened up recently in 2025. Each clubhouse has a name, and those names are voted on by the members themselves. And this is our Yucaipa clubhouse. We're located right on Yucaipa Boulevard, which is our care center. This is our most recent clubhouse that just opened in April of 2026, and the members themselves named it the Welcome Wagon, which is a nod to Roy Rogers. So yeah, so they did name it that, and that's located right off the main highway in the city of Apple Valley. Our next clubhouse and one of our oldest ones, again, is Horizons of Hope Clubhouse, which is located in Yucca Valley. It's a new facility, but an old contract. So we have been pretty much providing service, again, like Rialto for nearly over 20 years. Our next one is, this is our third clubhouse, which is our place to go, which is located in Lucerne Valley. They too have their share of challenges, so we as a clubhouse provide food distribution there as well for the members and the community. And we just retrofitted that site with shower and laundries for those who have limited access. And finally, our Needles Clubhouse. They named Needles after the Peanuts, the illustrator. I believe Snoopy has a brother, so his name is Spike, so they named the clubhouse Spike as a nod to the Peanuts. our illustrator and so this is our clubhouse that opened up in 2024 and again this city does not have a grocery store so our rialto site again partnering with the food bank and with our staff and with our members providing support to this community and building bags of food for this area so um that does conclude my portion of that at the clubhouse thank you

So we'd like to just share a few data points on our impact. And with our last fiscal year, 25-26, in the Rialto Clubhouse, we served a total of 172 members. And these are unique, unduplicated. Overall, as a clubhouse program that we run, we served 1,167 members. In Rialto Clubhouse, last year we served 3,301 meals, hot meals, to our members. So we are making a difference in many lives. As an overall program, that's 18,803 meals that are served during these cooking groups. And as Matthew mentioned, our Rialto Clubhouse is the one that supports with putting the bags together. And so with their support, we were able to do 60 food distributions that were carried out in five communities. As far as the food distribution with our program, last year we had over 90,000 pounds of food distributed through our clubhouse programs. That equates to over 75,000 meals. 2,885 households were served and 7,231 individuals were served. We'd like to end our presentation with a video. Let me see if I could figure this out. And I don't know if the volume is gonna be too loud. I hear no volume. I can see at the top up here, if that, I don't know if I'm... Just give me one second here.

Welcome to The Clubhouse, Pacific Clinic's unique concept bringing mental health services and human connection directly to communities across California.

The clubhouse is actually focused on the whole person, not just their diagnosis, not just their symptoms or their challenges in their mental health, but everything, their physical health, their financial health, their overall well-being.

At this new clubhouse location in Yucaipa, anyone in need of support is welcome without need of payment, insurance, or even a referral. It's a place to do laundry, take a shower, obtain personal care items or donated clothing, and find resources.

Like getting your social security card, getting your social security, finding your birth certificate, maybe reconnecting with old family members or other forms of support.

Welcome to the Clubhouse, Pacific Clinic's unique concept bringing mental health services and human connection directly to communities across California.

The Clubhouse is actually focused on the whole person, not just their diagnosis, not just their symptoms or their challenges in their mental health, but everything, their physical health, their financial health, their overall well-being.

At this new clubhouse location in Yucaipa, anyone in need of support is welcome without need of payment, insurance, or even a referral. It's a place to do laundry, take a shower, obtain personal care items or donated clothing, and find resources.

like getting your social security card, getting your social security, finding your birth certificate, maybe reconnecting with old family members or other forms of support.

Members participate in group activities and learn new skills. Some may go on to earn certificates in peer counseling, offering their knowledge and personal experience to others who may be struggling.

I knew I had something but I wasn't really aware of it. When you live with it your whole life, you don't notice it. I decided to go ahead and seek treatment and get the right medications and that's where I found Pacific Clinics actually. I came in and went to the clubhouse and I saw them and they said we're a recovery center and from there I started my recovery.

Three years later, Jeff works here as a clubhouse specialist.

Yeah, I'm definitely a different man than I was here probably three years ago, for sure.

It's a community of people who have shared lived experience, maybe within the system, maybe within family histories and trauma. People can just express themselves and be themselves.

So I honestly am grateful of the clubhouse because we are in a safe environment.

You don't feel alone. Everywhere else in the world, I felt alone. I felt like I didn't belong anywhere, but a club, it's where you belong.

A sense of belonging is really a core part of the human experience. And so we offer that here at the Clubhouse through our different groups, our activities, and our outings, really to address isolation specifically. Make it a safe place for people to come in and have interactions with other people.

You can actually feel it. Members who came to the clubhouse without any specific goals, one year later, they're looking for a job. They're looking for going back to school, learning how to use the computers. You can actually see the change.

Even though I have a mental health diagnosis, I don't let that define who I am.

Here, it's all about connection, about the support of others, looking for solutions, and creating a better life.

And you know, having a group of people around you who can give you support, who can listen to you, who can experience the same things with you, it really helps. I think when you have that kind of support, you start realizing that, you know, there is hope.

Thank you. We are here to answer any questions that you may have.

Great. Well, thank you so much for the presentation. Commission, questions for the applicant before we jump into those stuff. Does anyone have any questions for the applicant? Go ahead.

Yeah, some of them got answered during in there. Go ahead. The limited scope of the certification. What's that? Oh, it is?

Oh, there you go. Sorry.

Sorry about that. Yeah. On the licensure certification employees have, it's very limited in scope. So it's just basically life skills you're providing there, right?

Absolutely. It's non-clinical. So our staff are certified peer support specialists. So their expertise is like... peer support, meaning their life experiences and developing those who are reintegrated back into community. And so it's very limited. We don't provide crisis services or anything like that. So our scope, again, is for those supporting those who are already engaging in their recovery. And so we're here to elevate those who are engaging in their recovery currently.

And the services provided there are completely voluntary, not court ordered in any way?

Absolutely. A member, once an individual signs up for membership, they're a member for life. So whether they participate once a year or every day, once a week, or participate all day throughout our schedule, it's completely 100% voluntary. Okay, thank you, that's all.

Go ahead, go ahead. Chair, go ahead.

You mentioned in some of the earlier that the biggest time that you would see clients is between 11 and 2, but yet in the materials that you provided, you're saying that it's an all-day program. So I'm assuming, which may be wrong, is that you also have a drop-in, the members can be part of a drop-in program and then still receive the comprehensive services that you described?

Yes, at this particular site, the activity is typically between 11 and 2. And sandwiched between that is obviously our most popular groups and our lunch, our meals. And obviously there's events that are going on before and after those time periods. And so we facilitate or structure our weekly schedule based on the needs of the population. So whether those individuals happen to have their own appointments, Going to school that window we found is the most busiest and that apart again as due to the fact that more popular groups The art activities and the lunch that we provide So this site is in addition to your Rialto fun site and No.

No, our plan, our request is to be able to construct this new site so we can move. Our lease is ending very soon and so we would like to move to a new site.

Okay.

Yeah, I did too.

So we would have one location only in Rialto. Thank you, great question.

And one last, I'm so sorry. This will be, again, and I've read your materials, adults only. But then you also mentioned that you provide the additional services to the families and the children. So is that basically a member's family if they need something, you're able to give them?

Absolutely. I did stress that, you know, Mental illness affects all walks of life, and that includes fathers and mothers and uncles. And so individuals who may have that mental health challenges do have family, want to reunite with their family, may have some separation with their family. So we do provide support for them so they can help support their families. And so I'm sorry if I didn't specify that. But, yes, it's individuals 18 and over.

Great. Thank you very much.

You're welcome.

Go ahead, Jerry, go ahead. Yes, would it be fair to say that your move from the south end of the city to the north is part of an expansion?

An expansion, I would, is it a bigger space for us, Christiana?

The difference is is that the, we're working on the laundry and the shelves.

That would be the expansion. So not necessarily the size, but more of the ability to have the additional amenities for any of our members that may need that support.

I'm not quite hearing what she is saying.

Come up to the microphone please, sorry.

So the other clubhouses have the laundry facility as well as the shower. This one in Rialto, we're moving because we want to have the laundry facility and the shower in that location because it doesn't currently have that.

Do you anticipate a greater number of clients?

I anticipate there might be a small increase, but I believe it will probably be the same amount. Every city is different and in Rialto there tends to be a lot of individuals that we service along with individuals who happen to live in maybe rooming boards or boarding cares. I suspect there might be a small increase in membership or attendance, but it should pretty much be the same as it is currently.

The skills or the issues or challenges facing your clients, are they both mental health and behavioral health? Yes. And what percentage of each is it?

Well, percentage, that's a hard number to say. But I would say that our members can either have mental health illness or it can be substance use. Most of our members are in recovery for mental health diagnosis, like severe depression, bipolar disorder. chronic anxiety so PTSD it can be any mental health that has caused significant burden and struggle in their lives and for some they have a hard time connecting with others and so our our center gives them the opportunity to learn those socialization skills and to be able to receive the supports the resources that they need we do have transportation for them we have vehicles And so if they need to go to a social security office, if we need to take them to a job interview, we do all those things. If they have a doctor's appointment, we try to leverage our resources as much as we can. So we do partner with IHP Health Plan for a lot of the rides to medical plans, but we try to help them integrate back into society. What I could say is that the Clubhouse program is not one that we created. This is an evidence-based model. And it's an international model that exists in many countries because it is so effective. This model does have research that backs it up, that shows that we are able to keep individuals out of jail and out of the hospitals because we are supporting them in their recovery. They have the support that they need. If they should have a regression, we're there to support them so we can get them back into the services that they need and get that help and get back on track maybe it's a a change in their medication maybe they've built a tolerance so whatever it is we help them so that they don't regress to the point where they're now in intensive high acuity treatment how are they referred to your program how each individual is referred by what mechanism or agency Every possible way. We do a lot of grassroots efforts of outreach. We attend community fairs, events that are hosted by the county department of behavioral health. We have wonderful partnerships with different stakeholders. I don't know if you can name some in Rialto.

So we do health fairs quite a bit actually all year round calendar wide throughout all six clubhouses including the Rialto clubhouse so most specifically I believe Fontana has their CAP event which is every August where they give away food backpacks for kids going back to school so obviously there's parents there other parts of the community there, and so that's one of those places where we have a resource table and give our information. That's just one example of our community engagement.

Are any of the clients that are referred to you referred by a court or probation or parole?

No, no. Most of our clients are usually referred through by a word of mouth, by family, by Department of Behavioral Health, by maybe a social worker, clinician, etc. That's typically maybe 95 plus percent of our referral.

So all of your referrals come from a behavioral health organization such as the County of San Bernardino?

It's a spectrum. The county, maybe private organizations, churches, family members, etc. So it's a spectrum. It could be family membership. Absolutely. Absolutely.

Yes. They do not require a referral to join our program.

Okay, I don't want to exhaust this, but some of the people or all of the people that come to you, what you do here, the services that you provide, as valuable as they are, are any of those part of a treatment plan that has been laid out by a behavioral health or mental health professional?

No, if I understand your question correctly The individuals that come to us, it's not based on a mandatory referral that they have to participate in our program and receive specific services. They're all voluntary. Every member that comes to us, the first thing is we have to make sure that they meet criteria and also that they are in agreement to our bylaws. Because we do have clubhouse rules, and they need to be aware that any of those are broken, they could lose their membership. So that's how we maintain a safe and positive environment for every member there. And then that's when our team starts working with our members, and they develop together a wellness plan. If you're familiar, there is, in the recovery world, there is an evidence-based model that's called the Wellness Recovery Plan, WRAP. And that is what we utilize with our members. We also conduct needs and evaluation assessment to determine what are the needs that they may have. Some of them, it can fall, the needs can fall under many different domains of life. For some, it could be housing, workforce, socialization. So whatever that is, we help them identify the services that they're going to receive at our center. So it could be a workshop on learning how to advocate for their benefits, or it could be a support group on dealing with schizophrenia.

Excuse me for a moment.

Yes, no problem.

This thing runs my earphones here. I'm very sorry. Okay, now, in continuing, what is your success rate? At some point, you have to look and quantify what you've done, or how you're succeeding, or where you need to look at it. How well are you doing? We have to make a decision as to how this will interface in an area that is a completely different zone than where you've been for 20 some years. So that's quite a change, that's a sea change. And what I have to establish for myself is how successful are you down there and how that success rate is going to interface with the community that you're putting it into or that you wish to.

So Clubhouse is a, and membership is like an ongoing process. So an individual may utilize services for a limited period of time and go throughout their, reintegrate back into community or college or workforce, et cetera. and for others maybe some stay as in leadership roles maybe they facilitate groups on a weekly basis or showcase their skills and doing some type of group and in some cases i even get employed in the mental health field for us we do have surveys and that we conduct to find out where they are in their process and their in their growth in terms of satisfaction and their ability to navigate the system, how well they're doing. And so do we do measure those things and incriminate the data? And that's something we've been doing for maybe just under a year.

Yes so I do apologize I don't have specific statistics that I can provide you today but I'd be more than happy to follow up and provide that to you but I would say that the success stories that we hear from our clients and the engagement that our clients continue to have. So one of the ways we measure engagement is that they're attending our Clubhouse Center at least once a month. And that is consistent and strong across our members in Rialto. If they lose membership, it's because They've moved out to a different county. They're no longer here in this community.

I have a brief question for staff if I can. Is that all right? Sure. Has staff pulled any numbers as to calls for service for public safety, either police or fire?

Yes, for the 1501, their current location at 1501 South Riverside. So this is for the period from January 1, 2025 to June 3, 2026. There was about 33 calls for service. Based on my experience in law enforcement, just because that address is used doesn't necessarily mean that the incident occurred there or anything. But there were 33 calls for service during that period. On the list, the way their thing is, I can identify one crime.

Neither of the public safety agencies, be it police or fire, have either of them brought forth to you a concern regarding moving this to a completely different zone, that type of thing?

No. I can answer that, Commissioner. So staff at a higher level has communicated with PD, multiple times about this. We did request a crime prevention plan because, as stated, the calls for service, it's more of a geofence location as opposed to address specific. It's harder to pin down sort of the issues or the specific calls for service, so we didn't want to just utilize the calls for service as a metric. The PD has a team called SWAG. Some of you guys are probably familiar with SWAG. And in my communications with senior staff at the police department, there are some concerns out of swag regarding some homeless contacts pretty frequently that have been made and some ongoing work that they feel needs to continue at this point. So there are some concerns related to that, I guess. I'll leave it at that unless you need more elaboration.

Yeah, what is concerning me or what is at forefront in my mind right now is that we're taking it from a strictly commercial zone and we're moving it up into an area where in proximity, in close proximity, we have a residential community. And that's the concern that I'm faced with right now. and i want to i want to be confident and i'm sure my fellow commissioners will be confident that those concerns are addressed before we move into a point where we've gotten too far or they have invested more than would possibly bring about the fruition of what their plan is as good as the services that they provide and they're fantastic we have to also make sure as a body i think that my commissioner fellow commissioner should be in agreement that there is a reasonable interface here in that residential or close residential area and that is my concern if you go down to the south end of rialto and extend into the area which is colton and which is in riverside county there are two maybe three very large encampments of homeless persons now then my question is do you draw individuals from those homeless encampments and then if you are so and they're transitory by nature are we going to be drawing those people clue through the city and up into this area Now, I believe and I trust that you have been here so long and having worked for this police department, I understand that you want to provide a service to everybody that comes to your door that you can reasonably provide that service to. However, we can't. Position ourselves to where we're pulling a population of people from large homeless encampments that are in another community Up into the no clear into the north end of our city. That's my concern here. Can you address that?

What I could say is that we do not go and target our outreach efforts to homeless encampments. I think it's safe to say that those individuals are very likely not in recovery. So we, We work with individuals that have stability, that can participate actively in the services, and that are demonstrating a desire to continue their journey, staying mental health free, being able to maintain their medications, and also free of drug use. Anything else you want to add?

When we say medications, what are we talking about?

A person that has chronic depression can be on medication. A person with anxiety can be on medication. It can apply to any person with mental health. There are some individuals, and I'm also a licensed marriage family therapist, there are individuals that can do very well in their recovery with just behavioral interventions and therapy, mental health services. And then there are others that may need support with medication in addition to mental health and behavioral health services.

So behavioral health could be a person who's on methadone, am I correct?

I believe so.

Okay. All right, I'll be back with Mike.

Any other questions for the applicant or staff real quick before you have to indulge me? Okay, so. Let me start with, And if any of this is stuff you can't answer, I clearly understand and I'm not trying to be offensive or anything with this. But let's get back to the location where you're at at 1501 South Riverside and this one. And you were able to explain to me one of the reasons is because of the laundry and the shower operation stuff. And the reason you're moving is because you can do it up there. Are you telling me that you approach the landlord down there and they wouldn't let you put in showers and laundries at the current location is that what are that what you're that's what i'm reading into is like you're having to move because they won't let you put in won't let you do a tenant improvement to do showers and uh laundries is that correct well we've been at this particular location for quite a long time right and um

we want we wanted to move and we also want to you know we want an up more of an upgraded space a nicer space we wanted to add the laundry as well as sure my question was going to be if you've been to some place for 20 some years you have a good relationship with your landlord and stuff there that they might be willing to do that stuff that's just kind of where i'm at to be able to but

The financial aspect is also a big factor into why we have made a decision to not renew a lease there.

If this is a walk-in type consumer or a service for mentally ill, getting life skills training, why would you need showers and laundry if you're not targeting homeless people to go there? I don't understand the need for showers and laundry for a walk-in rec center.

So there might be limitations on an individual's life, whether it be they're living at home, or they're living in a room and board, a board and care, and there might be some instances of overcrowding, et cetera. And so there's instances where individuals don't even feel comfortable in those spaces. And so if an individual has a... a mental health condition and they qualify for service but they struggle with those meeting those basic needs like laundry. The clubhouse is there to help support that because in many instances there may not be enough money in their budget and in some instances these individuals are living on a fixed income and so having providing a laundry service or having a laundry there is completely adequate for them. And also, too, again, for the showers, again, that's on a spectrum. So in some instances, you may have some individuals who happen to be homeless, but they are in their recovery. They actually have SSI. They're in a struggle. And then getting back on their feet. But they may not have access to those things. Right. And those people do exist. And so again, the clubhouse is there to support them while they're in that recovery journey. Again, they could be receiving income, disability income, and be currently unhoused. And so for those individuals, we want to provide that extra level of support and care for them. And not targeting a homeless specifically, because we do not do that.

Okay, so you've been at the current location down there on South Riverside since 2002, am I correct? Yes. That's 24 years and stuff. And Jason gave us a report on the calls for service in a window to be able to do that. and some of you have been there a number of years i'm assuming can you like tell me in all the years if you ever had a call for service from the police department that you called and you had to come out they had to come out to facilitate any time that you've been in operation at the south riverside location is that so in 24 years you're going to tell me you've never had a call for service or you're not don't know or never have or i'm just asking the question okay

Yes, well, there have been calls for service, absolutely. Now, an individual may need a higher level of care at a particular time and place. And so our staff are trained in crisis intervention and crisis management. And so there are times when individuals may need a higher level of care. Maybe there is an issue where their concerns of mom may be harming themselves. And so instances like that we'll call the county or we call a crisis. In some cases that we will call 911 for support to maybe have them hospitalized. That's fair.

That's good to know. And so let me go to the other ones that should operate and things that they have there. We have the Rialto one and then you got Yucaipa, Lucerne, Needles, Yucca Valley, Apple Valley. Of those, and I looked at the pictures and things like that and they may be different. How many of those are within 100 feet of a single family house? Those other ones.

I think, if I'm not mistaken, I don't believe any of them are. Okay.

Yes. Okay. When you talk about those that might be there that could generate a call for service from a public safety agency, are you talking about those that might fall under the Welfare and Institutions Code 5150?

That is extremely rare. Maybe my 20 plus years there, a handful of times.

What kind of elevated care that you're not able to provide would you be calling a public safety service for?

Well, that's because we don't provide therapy in the center.

I understand that.

So we need to be able to get professional care where the member could be transferred to a hospital if maybe we're not able to transport them ourselves.

Christina mentioned it and things like that. Are you familiar with SWAG, with the Social Work Action Group, with the ones that operate here? And they're in other cities too, but they've been here for years. And what they provide, they're seven days a week working with homeless people. So you're familiar with them?

Yes.

have any of them any of the social workers that are part of that ever brought any of the people that they work with to 1501 south riverside

No, I'm familiar. I have conversations with some of the staff. Okay. But no, they have not. There has been engagement with a particular individual that lives on the south side and they have reached out to us and

that organization has reached out to that individual as well so if someone from swag tomorrow showed up and and they're they work with directly with the homeless people i mean they're not just you know one-time contacts they work regularly with them someone that they've worked with felt that they could could benefit somehow to start this program there, they could be the referral that could, you could take one. If someone came, you wouldn't turn them away just because they were homeless and swag brought them.

Again, they would have to meet criteria now.

Understood. Yeah. But if they could, they could go there.

Yes. Okay, got it.

Got it.

We can do that. If I may, Mike. Sure, go ahead. One follow up question. What percentage of the people that are clients that come to your, that ask for your services is 172 right now, that's how many clients you have at the South Riverside address?

About how many we served last year.

At the last point in time count in this city, there were 44 homeless persons counted in this city. So the question I have is where do the other 130 come from?

where did all well they're not they may not be homeless they may not they may not be homeless that's what you know with the point in time account but yeah uh yeah yeah to be clear um the vast majority of our clients are coming from various aspects of life uh living with family our boarding cares or room and boards uh their vast majority are not the unhoused i would say maybe less maybe less than maybe seven percent eight percent if that i don't have the numbers in front of me but the vast majority are those who are just regular community members are residents of san bernardino rialto fontana colton etc and so you're open nine to five monday through friday okay and so uh

Do people show up early and just wait outside for you or they show up right at 9 o'clock and then at 5 o'clock when the door closes, they all disperse and suffer with people right around? So is there people that are waiting beforehand or staying afterwards to get picked up and things to be able to do that?

Sure, good question.

Be careful how you answer this because I might already know the answer.

A lot of individuals use their HMO and their ride share. So it depends on the selection of their time slot. And so for some individuals, they will be dropped off early. Sure. And so what early it looks like, maybe 10, 15 minutes before we open. And for those, in terms of closing hours, the same thing. The same for pickup. Yeah, for pickup.

Or they're going over to the bus stop and they're taking the bus or something.

Because health care has changed so much and HMOs are providing ride share, a lot of individuals, a vast majority, I would say 90% plus are doing ride share. Correct. Yes. So they'll do their ride throughout the day. In some instances, they'll select their ride maybe 30 minutes before closing. Yeah.

And the only reason I ask that is because I went, and I went to your location, and the times I went, there were people there were waiting to get in before the nine o'clock hour, and afterwards for, and I think the people afterwards, I don't know if they were waiting to get picked up by rideshare, by NHMO, or they were just gonna walk over to the bus stop, but they were, so I just, okay. That's my answer. Can I ask something? Sure, go ahead.

Okay, so I understand they get dropped off, they're there earlier, 10, 15 minutes, that's fine. my question would be pickup so somebody's there they're waiting for a ride what time do your staff leave do they make sure that somebody's going to get these individuals home or is it it's been fun it's been real and they leave and then your people there the individuals the members are there i'm not going to say supervised but My concern would be that we're dealing with a very fragile population that have issues that are there to get help. Good point. Wow. Is anybody there to make sure that they get home at the end of the day?

Again, in my experience, we just don't see that. A lot of individuals will, first of all, there is no loitering, whether it's at the Rialto site or any of the five other sites. That's just against clubhouse rules and it's against property in general. And so we're very, very strict on that. Our idea is to be good neighbors. And that's part of that. And so for those, sometimes in the morning, and to your point, they do like to sometimes come early and socialize because they like each other's company. But at the end of the day, we actually take... good care of the individuals who happen to be struggling with their rides we check in with them maybe 30 minutes 45 minutes before closing hey you need to call your ride and give them reminders and things of that nature so um that is very important that we make sure that they're home safely and so uh we do check in on them we don't just open and close but we do in fact check in on them and making sure that no one's lingering around because

that matters to us and we make sure that that doesn't happen and primarily for their own safety that's why we check in on them have have you uh you've read the conditions of approval that jason prepared right yes okay you've got all those and you guys concur with all that you've read the crime prevention plan that pd put together if you have any questions about that or you concur with that i yeah read it repeatedly and no no questions at all so I just want to say something of where we're at and why we have to do all this. And this is, once again, Daniel and the guys, my planning, because I used to run the department, and so I understand all this. So you've got prohibited uses where you can't go. You've got permitted uses which are outright permitted, kind of like where you're at now. And then we've got this middle ground of conditional uses, conditional. And that's where we're at now. And if we can establish conditions for it to go there, fine. Or we have to determine whether, even with the conditions, We don't think it's appropriate to go there. And so that's why we're asking all this stuff. That's why we're taking all this time to do this stuff. Absolutely. To be able to do those things. And then finally, I just want to say, I am familiar with what you do with CAP because I'm on the board of directors of CAP and I'm familiar with what you do and the food banks, things that you put together to distribute and things like that. And it's very helpful and been out to the event. So I've been there and I've seen you there for that. So CAP appreciates that to be able to do it. So thank you. Any other questions for staff or...

Applicant I just want one I don't want to belabor the point but when you say there's no loitering that means if somebody comes there and they want to Want you to provide services and for whatever reason you can't and you tell them they have to leave and if they don't leave then Then there's this 602 section when they're actually loitering or whatever trespass or loitering They may be leaving if they you've drawn them up into this area away from a commercial where people mill about and are there more in a more public venue and we're getting them up into an area where they're not and if you force them to leave where do they go we've brought the brought that population up there and then or that part of the population up there and then it If they're not gonna get services or you can't provide those services, then now they're integrated physically into that neighborhood. And that's the concern that I'm having right now. If you tell them to leave and they don't leave, and you tell them there's no loitering and there's still loitering, who do you call?

So with our rules, that's all stated, whether an individual's familiar with Clubhouse through the county side or through the Pacific Clinic side, or they're not familiar, just one of those rules that's stated for not just for our population, that goes for any individual. uh... that happens to be lingering at a site that's that they're not supposed to be and so uh... if an individual told that their lawyer you know that they cannot order and and again we're pretty strict and firm on that because again we'd like to be we want to be good mayors neighbors that is important to us and so we let that we like each and every member know that and so We do stress that, and so if an individual is told to leave or they're breaking that particular rule, then that actually in some cases ends membership. And so there is no reason to be in that area. And if this individual is seen in that area, then that obviously changes things and that there's follow up steps. But we are strict about that, about being good neighbors and

lowering policy not just at the rialto site but at the apple valley and all our sites in general i'm confident that you provide a valuable service however you just i believe made my point and that is that where you're at right now is a large commercial center i'm quite familiar with it and if you have a problem with either a person who's a member and you're revoking that membership or it's a person that's a walked up there seeking services that you're unable to provide we've taken from a very large multi-acre commercial uh location where there is a lot of public space and we put them 100 feet from somebody's front door And that's the concern that I have right now. And I don't believe I've had that adequately addressed at this point.

so let's let's get to we'll discuss a little bit later let's get to the any more questions for them before we open the public hearing okay your staff thank you very much you can have a seat and we'll go ahead and this is the time and the place for the public hearing for conditional permit number two six zero zero zero nine uh anyone that request wants to speak to this have anyone filled it out to speak to the public hearing yes sir johnny garcia okay

Good afternoon. My name is Johnny Garcia. I'm at 126 Pomegranate Avenue, right across the street. It's a residential area. I live on a cul-de-sac. All our neighbors know each other. Some law enforcement. I was a probation officer for 36 years with L.A. County Probation Department. I dealt a lot with Pacific Clinics and juvenile halls and probation work. My issue is that it's a residential area. We have students that take the bus every day. They're lining up to take the bus. Mental health is a problem. Autism is a problem. When you see an individual that just goes off for any reason at all, I as an adult, I as a probation officer, sometimes have trouble trying to understand what that individual's going through. And when we see kids taking the bus and they see somebody that just has an outburst, what impact is that child gonna have on it? Not knowing, wondering what's wrong with that person. I read this notice, that's why I'm here today. I had concerns and I didn't know what a clubhouse was and you mentioned it. I work in a high school now as a security guard and I see a lot of kids with mental health issues and autism. I go back to autism. And they don't have some of those functioning skills that as normal adults do have. So the washing and the cleaning and all that, they need those basic skills. Um, I wish that this area, it's a really nice area that this proposal is supposed to be in, in Unique. uh... for more retail uh... eatery more mom and pop stores uh... we have a beautiful river ranch community then we need more eateries we need more service oriented uh... businesses here and there is unhoused people that live right by the freeway right by the 210 freeway you go down highland you're gonna see a bunch of unhoused people there i think it's more than forty four you know there's a lot of people that are out there and they do need services but you don't know why those people are out there substance abuse might be mental health might be military might be my concerns is that the loitering issues yeah you have a crime prevention what did you call it but doesn't say they're going to have someone they're doing security People come from nine to five, what about Saturday and Sunday? They still have the same issues, they might just show up. Who's gonna supervise them? Who's gonna watch them? You have a mini market right there. If you ever walk, I've only been there twice, because it's real expensive. If you look behind the counter, they have nothing but liquor. All kind of different type of liquors. Beer, liquors, tequilas, whatever it might be. Men in the house sometimes have substance abuse problems. There's a market right there that has a lot of alcohol. So I thank you Planning Commission for your due diligence in looking at and asking all those questions. At this time I just wish there would be more retail. Thank you.

Thank you. Appreciate it. Any other requests to speak? No, sir. Okay, very good. Do I have a motion to close the public hearing?

Move to close the public hearing.

Is there a second?

Second.

Second. All those in favor signify by saying aye.

Aye. Opposed? Okay. Public hearing is closed. Okay. Further discussion, commission?

Anyone got any comments before we, where we ended up going before I, I've got, this is just for me. Uh, we spent a lot of time talking about it and things and, uh, The only the thing that I keep coming back to is when I asked the question about the other locations, are they close to a resident? None of their other locations in any of their cities are that close, but I want to give. Fair enough to be able to do this. I mean, I went and visited, I drove by, I stopped, I saw some people there and stuff. I'd like to. i'd like to actually schedule some time i'd like to come down and go through your facility and go there and and offer that same to the same commissioners to be able to do that so they can visit it and see what it is also i want to suggest that we i want to i want to talk to the pd that prefer the crime prevention plan talk to them a little bit more about what needs to be in there what suggestions that we have to do that and then third i'd like to sit down with the planning staff to be able to see We just don't want to give you a no and go. If there's another alternative location that we can help you with to be able to do that, I'm sure Daniel and Christina and the staff can figure out some other location. If this isn't the place, if you want to leave to go someplace, we want to be able to do that. So there's three different things that I'd like to do. So in my case, I'd just like to continue it 30 days to the October 6th meeting to give us time to go visit, to sit down with PD with crime prevention and look at some alternatives. possible alternative locations with staff if if if the path goes but we don't go here that there's at least a path to go somewhere other than where they're at hopefully that i don't know if that's It's feasible with everybody. I'll make that and do it. Am I okay? Mr. Chair, if I may, just to clarify, you mean October 7th? Oh, it's 7th, okay, whatever. I can't remember, okay, whatever. I can't remember what day it is. I'm barely into September. I can barely remember tomorrow. So yeah, if we could do that. I'll make that motion. I second that. And there's a second to that motion to do that. Clerk, can we do a roll call for that particular item?

Chair Story?

Aye.

Vice Chair Gutierrez? Aye. Commissioner S. Vander?

Aye.

Commissioner Corral?

Aye.

Commissioner Schneider? Aye. Commissioner Thompson? Aye. And Commissioner Avalos Villalobos? Aye.

Okay. All right. Thank you so much for the information and the public hearing tonight. All the information stuff. We'll continue on. We'll be in touch with you over the next 30 days to be able to do it. But thank you for coming out tonight. So thank you. Moving on to action items. We don't have anything, but community development director comments. Christina.

Thank you, Chair Story. I do have a couple items for you this evening. We will have a September 16th Planning Commission meeting. Is that correct? Yeah. So you'll have the 16th and now we will have the October 7th meeting as well. So your next two meetings will occur. Also a couple of items for the commission, just as far as the city events happening, I'll send down a flyer for the Mad Walk. It is our 10th anniversary of participating in the Mad Walk. And the city, obviously big to do out there. Most of you know the city clerk and Mayor Pro Tem Scott both have a lot to do with this. So if you're interested, the flyer's coming around or you can reach out to myself or to Daniel and we'll get you connected. I know there'll be a lot of us that'll be out there that day. We also have Petapalooza coming up here on September 19th. It'll be out here in the city hall parking lot. And then on September 26th, we have Viva La Fiesta. All of that information is on the city website as well. So that concludes my remarks. Also, I think Yes, Daniel provided you guys with the development status report, so feel free to contact either one of us or contact staff if you have any questions about those projects. Great.

Sounds good. Come out to the Mad Walk. My daughter and my granddaughter are singing at this, at the National Anthem and stuff at the beginning of that. Yeah. So, Plenty Commission comments? Anybody? Anything?

Yes, I have something.

Go ahead. Thank you, sir.

My son has autism and I would just like to state for anybody that might be uneducated about the matter, but that is not a mental health issue. just to help out anybody that might not know about that.

Thank you.

I just want to apologize for the ringing. I have a new program. Obviously, it's not going to work without ringing through. So I want to apologize to all for the interruption with that.

Yeah. No apology needed, Jerry. We understand.

If I can. The young woman who spoke earlier, I never got her name, so maybe if we can get her name for the records. It was one of the ones with the... The one with the doctor? No, the other one, the blonde. Yeah, we can... Thank you.

My name is Christiana.

Christiana.

In your position?

I'm the real estate manager.

Great, thank you so very much. Go ahead.

All right, some of the clues are night and stuff. Is there a motion to adjourn? Motion to move. Second? Second. Okay, meeting's adjourned, thank you.