Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Okay. Thanks. Oh, it's okay. Right? Yeah. It was close. Okay. Welcome to, the City of Rockland Planning Commission, meeting. It is 06:00, and today is February 17. We will start with the pledge of allegiance.

And, commissioner McKenzie, can you lead us in that? Pledge, please. 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. Okay. Thank you. Can we have a roll call, please?

Commissioner Barron? Here. Commissioner Cortez?

Here.

Commissioner Armstrong? Here. Commissioner McKenzie? Here. Chairperson Thomas?

Here.

Thank you.

Thank you. Okay. We are going to move on to the approval of the minutes. It is open for public comment. If there is any, any public comment on the previous minutes? No? Okay. We'll close public comment and open up to commissioners for any discussions or a motion.

I'll move we approve item 1A as written.

Second. Okay. And that is approved. Those in favor? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed, aye as well. Okay. And now we are going to identify for the record. Anyone say this motion? Citizens addressing the commission on non agenda items. Do we have any citizens that would like to talk about non agenda items? No? Okay. We'll bring that back up here and close that as well.

And we will move on to item 2A, and I believe that we have something that you wanted to

Yes, talk sir. Good evening, Chair Thomas. Good evening, Commission. Nathan Anderson from the Rockland Planning Division. In light of the significant amount of public comment that has been received on this project in the last day or two, including certain legal questions that warrant a bit more review, staff is recommending that consideration of the Granite Lake Estates development agreement be continued to a date certain of 03/17/2026. So one month from today, 03/17/2026.

Okay. Do we need to open that up for public discussion as well for that? It's all.

All right. The request is that the Planning Commission make a motion to continue it to a date certain, and the public is allowed to comment on any action taken by the commission. So you could accept public comment on that motion to continue it to March 17, would be the recommended motion. You.

Is there a motion to continue that?

I have a question before we make such a motion. Just regarding the development agreement, I know that the extension of the development agreement keeps the applicant bound to certain conditions before certain activities take place in the development and without a development agreement, give me an update on that again. If the development agreement expires, what what state does that leave us in?

There's currently not an active development agreement for this project. It has an active tentative subdivision map and oak tree preservation plan permit that's good through January 2027. So if no development agreement which extends the term or extension of the map is acted upon before January 2027, that map would expire. Okay.

Perfect. That's all I needed to do. So, we we still have a motion? Okay.

So, I'll move.

Second. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Just

let's make sure there's no

motion. Is there any public comment on that continuance? Sorry. Okay. Okay.

Can you come up to the podium?

Yeah. Come on up. Where

can we find a map of the planned development with the roads and the like, what they're going to do with the lake back there, what they're going to do with the roads and all the Indian grinding rocks that are back there? Is there

Do you like

me to respond? Please respond.

Everything is part of the project packet. It's on the website. So if you go to the Planning Commission meeting for tonight, it has the full tentative subdivision map as well as tonight's staff report which discusses the project. There's also a link to the environmental impact report that was done for the project and the addendum as well that was done, what, two or three years ago, David? So all of that information is available online.

And that's all the same, is it now that it was then?

Yes. There was an addendum to the EIR done a couple of years back, but yeah, all of those documents are still good.

Online. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Any other public comment? No. Okay. We'll bring it back up here. We'll close public comment and look for a motion again. We have the motion. Okay. Now we just say, okay.

Now we can do a formal vote on that motion. All Thank

in favor of continuing this? Aye. Any opposed? Okay.

Okay. So just for the public, I mean, this item will be continued until March 17 for this for the Planning Commission on that night. So thank you.

Thank you for coming. And we will move on to item 2B, the Northwest Rockland General Development Plan Amendment. General Development Plan Amendment. So I need to read out the whole PDG two zero two six dash zero zero zero one environmental ENV two zero two six zero zero zero one. Please.

Thank you very much. Yes. Thank you. Tonight, staff will be presenting the Northwest Rockland General Development Plan Amendment. This amendment would allow for a new use retail sales, exterior sales, and storage, which would also allow and would also allow for justifiable deviations from parking standards.

The modified general development plan amendment is approved. Both of these modifications could be considered as part of a conditional use permit within the Northwest Rockland commercial and Business professional commercial zoning districts. So the PDC and the PDBPC zoning districts. The Northwest Rockland General Development Plan area was originally approved by ordinance number eight fifty eight in 2002 and has been amended numerous times since adoption. The general development plan provides zoning and development regulations for the approximately 1,900 acre general development plan area.

These regulations include Table seven, permitted and conditionally permitted uses in nonresidential areas. While this table allows retail sales, specifically occurring inside and includes building by right in the neighborhood commercial, commercial and business professionalcommercial zoning districts, it is silent on retail sales or storage located outside of an enclosed building. This is somewhat uncommon, as outdoor retail sales and storage is allowed in other commercial districts within Rockland. Examples include Green Acres and the Rockland Common Shopping Center and Pottery World on Granite Drive. A potential retail tenant has recently approached city regarding a retail commercial site within the general development plan area.

These are not pictures from that use, they're just examples of outdoor use. The tenant, which operates multiple stores in other jurisdictions, sells a wide range of building materials, tools, garden supplies, and other home improvement products, and thus requires an outdoor sales and storage component as part of its operation. To address this, staff is proposing to modify table seven to allow for these types of uses to be allowed through approval of a conditional use permit within the commercial and business professionalcommercial zoning districts. In order to further support a project of this type, staff has also identified a concern within the parking requirements. While the general development plan and municipal code established parking requirements for various retail uses, They do not specifically address parking standards for outdoor retail components, which may involve storage areas for larger materials but generate comparatively less demand for customer parking.

To address this issue, staff recommends modifying the general development plan to allow deviations from off-site standards to be approved through a conditional use permit provided that the requested reduction is supported and justified through the entitlement review process. While no physical development is proposed as part of this request, the amendment would apply to all properties, zone PDC or PDBPC within the Northwest Rockland General Development Plan area. Within the approximately 1,900 acres, this would apply to seven properties. Five of these are zoned commercial and two are zoned business professionalcommercial. Of these, only three sites within the General Development Plan area are currently vacant and do not have approved entitlements.

As noted, neither of these modifications would be permitted by right on the subject parcels. Rather, the proposed changes would provide additional flexibility for these sites, subject to review and potential approval by the appropriate decision making body through a CUP process. The amendments would support economic development by enhancing the city's ability to attract high quality retail tenants to prominent, highly visible sites located along State Route 65. For these reasons, staff finds the modifications to be consistent with the intent of the general development plan and the Rockland general plan and recommends approval of the notice of exemption and the general development plan amendment. This concludes staff's presentation, but we'd be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Okay. Any questions for staff? Okay. Doesn't look like there's any questions for staff. Any public comment? We'll open up for public comment. Doesn't look like there's any public comment, so we'll close that public comment. And we will let's any discussion? Deliberation will start to the left. No? Anything? No? I

move we approve item 2B as written.

So moved.

All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? It's okay. Okay.

Thanks Nate.

Thank you. Appreciate it. That pretty that was part was easy, least. Non so non public hearings, anything general correspondence, presentations, reports from city staff?

Good evening. Arwin Watt, planning manager. I believe our last meeting was January 20. Since then, Destiny School went to city council on the January 27. There was some discussion on the project.

What ended up happening is it was approved with an additional condition of approval to I think it was for 15,000 for the life of the conditional use permit on that property with and they were required prior to occupancy for mutual agreement, prior to occupancy of, to offset the the impacts of the change of use. And Nate Bable be able to provide a little bit more detail on that one if you have any other questions on that. Let me see also. That same meeting, they did the second reading of the mobile vending ordinance and then also the noise standards for the city. They should be official on the twenty seventh around the twenty seventh of this month.

They also did a a very thoughtful proclamation for Congressman Doug LaMoffa. And I think that was the list of items we have, and I don't think I have anything else to share.

Anything else? Okay. Thank you, staff. Appreciate you. We'll bring you back up here. Any reports, discussion items from planning commissioners?

I'll make one comment about David and downtown. It's wonderful to see activity going at the old school site. And it's funny. I got involved because I wanted to shape downtown, and it doesn't work that way. We deal with what comes up here, but it's incredible. That'll be a big deal to downtown. That catalyst right there and that activity and those apartments helps us on the affordable housing side, but it's also going to be a big boost to downtown. So big kudos to you, man. That's a big deal. So good job.

Great. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you.

Appreciate the kudos and we're equally as excited.

Okay. There's nothing else. It is 06:13, and we will adjourn the meeting. Thank you.