Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

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Good evening. I'm going to go ahead and call the meeting to order. Commissioner Pratt, can you lead us in the pledge of allegiance?

Ready? Begin. Algian to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands nation for all [laughter] did sorry good evening Abdullah can I please have roll call yes [snorts] commissioner daily commissioner Lopez here commissioner Commissioner Ivan Garcia here. Vice Chair Quail here. Commissioner Galande present.

Commissioner Pratt here. Commissioner Carloney here. Chair Sherik

present. Commissioner Orlando Garcia. Thank you. Uh before uh we move on, there's a couple of changes that we would like to make to the agenda if possible. If we have consensus from the group, we would like to Commissioner Daly who cannot be with us this evening asked if the commission is agreeable to move the voting to the next meeting in March. And so if we could just pull the commissioners to see if we have or I'll pull the commissioners to see if we have an agreement with that. Is that okay with you? Sanchez Pez. Yes.

Sure. Is yes commissioner Garcia. for the nomination for the the new chair and vice chair to the March meeting. Commissioner Quill or Vice Chair Quill? Yes. Commissioner Gande. Absolutely. Commissioner Pratt. Yes. And Commissioner Carloney. Yes.

Okay. So, if we could get that agenda for the March meeting. Thank you. And we have one other request if we could move the presentation for the parks master plan uh to um before public hearings if we're okay with that since we have the consultant online with Zoom. Do we have any objection with that? No. Okay. Thank you. I'll go ahead and um and say that we have a three-minute limitation that applies to each member of the public who wishes to address the planning commission on any item on the agenda excluding public hearings. There is not a limit to the number of items that may be discussed within the threeminut time limit. Miss Abdullah, can you have the administration of oath if we have any public speakers? I don't. Do you have any cards? Thank you. If there is anyone wishing to speak on a matter that is not on the agenda, we would invite you to come up at this time. I don't see anyone who has a public speaking card. Um so we'll move to our consent calendar. Next item on the cons consent agenda. Um these items are routine in nature and may be enacted in one motion. All public and non-public hearing items will be open at one time. Any item may be discussed separately upon request of the member of the planning commission or a member of the public.

Mic just went off. Oh, there we go. Are there any uh updates to the consent calendar by staff? Um Madam Chair, no updates to the consent calendar. Thank you. And I have Thank you. Thank you. I have no one who wishes to speak on the consent calendar. Um before we entertain a motion, I'd actually like to pull the pull the motion really quick for discussion if I can. I think we have an error on the um one of the votes. Um it shows Orlando Garcia as voting in the affirmative and I don't believe he was or and then the attendant shows that he is not present.

Uh Commissioner Garcia was not at the last planning commission meeting. So if these minutes were for the last planning commission meeting, he wasn't here. So maybe we can get that uh looked at and fixed and brought back to the March meeting. Do you need a motion for that? Yes, Madam Chair. Okay. I make a motion that we take a look at the attendance and the votes for the items on the February on the January planning commission meeting and bring it back at the March meeting. Second motion. Thank you. Roll call, please.

Commissioner Lopez. Uh actually we have a motion to take a look at the attendance and the votes. I believe there's a discrepancy so um staff can take a double uh a double glance or take another look at that and then bring it back to the March meeting. Is that Yes. Okay. Commissioner Lopez, we would need a yes or no. We're taking Yes. Thank you. All right. Commissioner Ivan Garcia. Yes. Uh, Vice Chair Quail, yes. Chair Sherik, yes. Commissioner Galande, yes. Commissioner Pratt, yes. Commissioner Carloney, yes.

Vote passes unanimously. Thank you. We'll go ahead into our parks master plan presentation. Just a quick reminder, we need to keep our microphones on mute while the presenter via Zoom is presenting. Thank you. Good evening, planning commission. My name is Vanessa Carter. I'm the director for the parks, recreation, and community services department. I want to thank you uh for allowing me to be part of this and present the presentation on the park master plan. Um on Zoom, we have a second you all hear me? Yes. Yeah.

Okay. I'll wait for you to then I can Okay. Um and uh so we are presenting um the final product of our um comprehensive park master plan um on Zoom. Our consultant is Nle Bot from uh best uh neck practice um and he will go into the presentation which um uh you also have a hard copy with. So um Neille go ahead and take it over.

Great. Thank you Vanessa. Uh she asked me to keep it short, so I promise I'll be done in three hours. Just kidding. Uh just uh this has obviously been a plan that's almost two and a half years in the making right now. I want to give you a quick recap of that. I've obviously had a chance to speak to some of you along the way as well. Uh so obviously a huge part of this was our public input and engagement process which we've continued doing over the period of time as well. uh not going to get into all the details, but want to give you just a quick snapshot of a few of the things. We have and continue to have a multilingual ADA accessible website my sparks.com. Along with that, we've had several meetings over months as well in person, online in English, in Spanish, uh in sign language as well uh as we've tried to get input from the community along the way. and we've had some great input from uh community members of of all ages uh and interests and abilities as well. So, it's been great to see the community really engaged in sharing their input along the process. In addition to this as well, obviously a big part of this were the assessments to get a sense of where the system is currently. Uh and our team assessed every single park facility amenity at a point in time, captured the inventory, captured the life cycle and just their condition as well. and Vanessa and her team already implementing that in a number of places and parks as well as we speak. So these were all the parks that were assessed and for every single park there were similar maps created documenting the kinds of amenities at each of those parks. And this is what one of them looks like.

like as well conditions from poor to great. Those that were again just poor condition and needed immediate repair were 0 to one. Those that were all the way up to excellent condition were four to five. And they were managed and tracked based on these four variables. So with that you know as you know a number of sites fall within range as well as you said 1.5 and 2.5 while we also had our partners assess the aquatics as well for a couple of the pools that were operational to get a sense as well again of what the conditions were and what are some recommendation the cost of what it would take. Obviously, no surprise to you all. You know this as well. They do need significant repairs to continue to use to be used by the community. Uh obviously it may not be a function of every single site but maybe even prioritizing or consolidating to see which ones may be able to provide a better experience uh and could have a more costefficient way of doing so. All of this input was also then collected in a statistically valid survey that was sent only to the city residents as part of the process based on the population. 400 is the sampling required for the statistically valid survey. We exceeded that with 419. And all this says is if any process has to be deemed reliable, I have to repeat the process multiple times and get consistent results. And this survey the results which you will see are in a margin of error of plus or minus 4.8%.

95 out of 100 times I will get exactly that result. This was mailed to the community, English, Spanish, and if you wanted to do any other language, they could call as well and a link to do it online, one per household. So based on that, these were the responses, the the ages of all the people that lived in the household of the respondents. I mean I don't expect you know 12 and 13 year olds to take a six-page survey but they were you know counted for when people were responding to the questions that were asked as well. So some key uh questions and responses here in terms of visitation to the parks and facilities in the last 12 months 60% said yes which is lower than national average of 82%. And then a majority of them said they were poor or fair. So certainly opportunity for in terms of a condition as you saw tied to our assessment as well room for this to improve going forward but as you know it is going to take investment in the system as well. The number one reason that prevents people from using them more often, I don't feel safe using these parks and facilities, followed by criminal activity, followed by parks not well-maintained and restrooms not open. Now, this was done at a point in time. Some of this also, and Vanessa can speak to this as well, uh we also had the injunction at the time as well. So some of the things that you've already taken care of now obviously weren't addressed then as well with the announced population with the feeling of safety but it still is something that is very much in people's minds. In terms of program participation national average is 33 you are slightly below that with 26%. Um however in this case the majority

rate you as good or excellent only 8% say poor. So programmatically and eventwise uh it certainly is more encouraging despite the aging condition of the facilities that the staff does a really nice job in providing programs and events that the community likes and would love to see and participate more in. the reason they don't participate and this is you know again it's it's not just limited to you this is a national thing I don't know what is offered 47% of all agencies of all participants said that nationally it's 33% so lack of awareness is a much bigger challenge in San Bernardino than it is in most other agencies uh it's an easier you know lift and area to address but it's certainly one of the recommendations we're looking at in with respect to marketing, branding, etc. in the plan's recommendations and the other is tied to lack of safety followed by old outdated facilities etc. Where people want to spend the money by far if you look at the top two it is safety and security with fencing, security guards, cameras etc. and then improving maintaining existing parks as well as lighting. The three of them alone make up nearly twothirds of all desired spending by the community. Again, tying it back to just improving what exists and creating a perception of safety and visibility for people to go to the parks and facilities. 97% say it is somewhat or very important. Uh I would be interested in finding out who are those 3% of the people who took a six-page survey and get towards the end of it and say no not really important to

do parks facilities programs. I'm going to do the survey but I don't think it's important. Uh so an overwhelming majority obviously think it's very important for the city to provide that and this is really encouraging that a twothirds majority is willing to pay more money per month per household anywhere from $3 to $4 all the way up to over $9 per month for the parks trails programs facilities that are important to them or to members of your household. This is I mean this is a really significant number and typically as we look at agencies in terms of planning for future funding mechanisms etc. If this number is less than 2/3 I've never seen a referendum pass but otherwise these are very encouraging numbers and only 3% want to reduce funding for parks, recreation trails and open space. 66% so 22 times as many people want to increase funding as want to reduce funding as well. So again issues and top concerns no surprise again homelessness handling blight and community crime safety violence are by far the top three. Then you can see all the others neighborhood amenities economic development spaces to play trash litter. so on and so forth. In light of that, usually in the survey we have high, medium and low priorities. In case of San Bernardino, there are no low priorities because there are so many unmet needs that the community has that all of these are either medium or high priorities only. And this is a

combination of what is important to people and from that what is an unmet need. That is what rises to the top. So trails and connectivity, safety lighting, walking paths in the park, small and large neighborhood parks, a community center, basically indoor recreation in general, shade, fitness areas, playgrounds, off leash dog park, swimming pool, performing arts are all in the high priority for facility amenities. And then programmatically adult fitness and wellness, community and cultural special events, exercise classes, senior programs, outdoor environmental, nature camps, mental health programs for atrisisk youth, etc. all make up the high priorities here as well. So a number of these obviously can happen in a few select indoor recreation spaces, but you need to have business plans done for all of those. You need Well, uh so those are the people department etc. with input from the staff sense of what does the community have today and with school district amenities these were counted at 25% of available capacity based on the actual hours that the city residents have access to versus simply the existence of inventory. That gives a current service level population. Looking at recommended levels, this gives a sense of over 10 years what might be the needs that exist. You can see for neighbor and community parkland, there is a need. There's need for trails, pickle ball courts. You have enough diamond fields, but there's a

much higher need for multi-purpose rectangular fields, baseball um uh flat football, soccer, lacrosse, etc. as well uh rental pavilions, splash pads and so on as well. So these are all the different kinds of needs that exist and what we've then done is map them using GIS across the city to show gaps and access to the community so that you know what the quality and the condition is. With this you know what the quantity is and the last will show where the access is or is not. So based on that you can see for every amenity type this is neighborhood parks on your left you can see areas where there's overlap you can see areas where there are gaps and then you can see where there are gaps in neighborhood parks in some cases we have community parks let's say like sackum lake for example as well uh that's helping sort of cover some of the gaps as well uh in certain areas too uh and so those are as we look at future future land acquisition as we look at future development. This might give a good sense of where the community's unmet needs might be. Similarly with dog parks, skate parks as well, you can see where you have them and where you don't. Diamond fields again a number of areas with overlaps with others with gaps and the different colors indicate the different service providers in this case the schools. Same with multi-purpose fields overlap in certain areas as well and then significant gaps in the others. Pickle ball courts uh again a shortage as well. Tennis courts some more overlap and areas of gaps. And then again a number of pools, some of them not really open and fully accessible. Uh and again as as you go

forward with some of these areas as well, splash pads as well as indoor recreation space, you see a lot of small circles and smaller buildings for indoor recreation, but not too many really large multi-purpose community w centers, which is what more and more places are looking for and wanting as well. So all of this then led to conversation with the staff and input to get a sense of what are the core values and what are the major priorities for the staff to work towards in terms of a living breathing action plan in terms of the overall master plan and that led to these four core values that staff came up with as well. Service, accountability, fun and excellence. That is what they want to have guide what they do going forward. And then these were the five overarching high level moves. Obviously enhancing safety security looking at increasing funding for both internal operations and just growing the team as well. Uh obviously your facilities also need upgrades and renovations. Uh investing in staff growth, training, development and compensation to retain the staff you have and attract good staff going forward. Also, as new parks are being developed and upgraded, you can't do more and more with less and less or the same number of people. So, growing staff as well. And then, as you saw, lack of awareness was a big challenge as well. So, strengthening branding and awareness and community engagement as a way to let more people know which will result in more people participating. The more people participate, the more visible it is in the parks and the facilities, the more eyes you have, the more safe it feels for parents and others to send their kids or to participate as well. So in a nutshell, this is sort of a quick recap of the

findings, the assessment, the levels of service, the mapping and the major moves with staff input. uh working with Vanessa on final funding and revenue strategies and CIP numbers as well and really then next month bringing the draft and final plan for presentation to the community council and ultimately the adoption as well. So I've said a lot. I'm going to pause as well and see if there are any questions or comments. Happy to answer them as well as appropriate. I I do have a question. Um, first of all, I'd like to know how many uh individuals are in your department. How many people do you have working in that parks department?

Are you referring to the department itself? Yeah. How how large of a staff do you have working that maintains these parks? Right now, um the parks and recreation department has uh 28 full 27 full-time employees uh including myself and we have just over a 100 part-time employees throughout the div the um several divisions that we have in our department. Okay. So, it'd probably be safe to say or you correct me if I'm wrong, that each one of these parks is visited daily. Yes. Okay. When there are homeless people and graffiti at the parks, why does it seem to take so long to get it cleaned up and cleared out?

That is also overseen by the public works uh department um the graffiti abatement um the graffiti division as well as the um parks landscaping um the operations and maintenance of the public works. Um we work uh collaboratively with the public works department and so we as staff if there's a community center ail at a um park locations such as lid creek park lak community center is at lid creek park and if there is anything in and around the park um city staff are are to report any issues there um or if they driving from one location to the other. So we do have a reporting system that we share also internally with our departments.

Okay. The majority what I've noticed in this report it seems though it seems as though the responses back with this survey indicate that people uh are somewhat afraid or for their safety or afraid to visit the parks because of safety reasons maybe whatever it is. So if an effort is put forth to clean those things up quicker, that might change that feeling. Um agreed. Yeah.

Um and to clarify, the uh initial start of the park master plan began in um a March April of 2023 and we were the city was still in the injunction at that time. Um so as community input as community and surveying were going out we had the inundation of unhoused individuals at various parks and specific larger parks um where it was um compacted. Um and since then if you move forward to today um parks have been cleaned up. We have uh um contracted security through our police department um ongoing um facilitation and we also have the peace team and we have um we work collaboratively with uh the sheriff's department and Salvation Army. So there's a lot of ongoing um resources and services. Um is it perfect? Is it you know um fully safe? No. But we also working collaborative with projects with public works um identifying lighting um accessibility um those types of things are being addressed as uh daily.

Okay. Well, thank you. I uh I I think that's a really thorough uh uh survey and it looks like there's information in here that if you take it in consideration and use it properly that we can certainly uh uh change some things. as far as the safety, lighting or whatever it might be. So, thank you. Okay. Thank you. Do we have other questions? I have a couple of questions. How many people were surveyed again? Did you say that there were 400? 413. Okay. Now, so the actual response was 4919, but usually about 10% response, so about 4,000 plus surveys were sent out.

Gotcha. Okay. Good. Thank you so much. And because of the fact that this was presented back in 2023, are there any plans to do another survey? Because I know like you had mentioned um Vanessa that there have been some significant positive changes with a lot of the parks. I know in my community I see park rangers out often and it looks great. Um but I would just curious to know is there any plans on the horizon to do the survey again? Um we do these are typically recommended every five years Vanessa but sorry go ahead. No no go ahead first and then I can follow up.

Yeah so for the statistically valid survey because it obviously is a is a fairly expensive process. It's recommended to do it once every five years and the challenge is you know as as you pointed out it is a point in time and so especially agencies where they have worked on something and already been you know trying to improve things like you have been that is again because it's a point in time it may not be fully reflective of your current realities.

Okay. And then my next question, maybe this is just one a curious question because I'm in the fifth ward and um at at the community center currently it's just a modular. What are the plans to implement possibly an actual building? It's a great location for a a nice building to go in place versus a modular. Um so with that um assessments would have to be um done and locations. Um, I know that there was conversations about that. There's ongoing conversations about it. Excuse me.

Sorry. Um [clears throat] and um in terms of um assess access to specific um funding sources, then um in certain areas of uh W 5 um may not be um certain funding may not be available for certain location based off the census track. And so we have, you know, look at all elements and analyze all elements of those those natures. Um it's not off the table. It's definitely a constant conversation. Um but a full depending on you know at our average estimated cost say for a 20,000 square foot facility

um is averaging probably about 10 to 15 million depending on the amenities um and the infrastructure on it. So funding that's what our part of this and the the completion of it is developing a strategic plan and a business plan um as well as a priority list is um to go along with it. Yeah, I know they're doing a lot of building over there because I'm in that community and so have you all worked with some of the developers and maybe talked to them about what they're willing to contribute

in those areas who we're working on that right Gabriel. [laughter] Uh, Commissioner Galande, now uh part of whenever somebody does a track map, for example, uh they can either uh provide uh land or pay a fee in LEU. So, we have some there should be some funding collected from those developers and there'll be some that are actually willing to either donate the land or provide a building based on the uh type of relationship they would like to have with that community. So I don't know the history of of this particular uh site that you have but I know that area has come into a lot of discussion very very recently as to how to transition that area into a more robust um um entertainment destination not just for the parks but you know the soccer fields and things of that nature. Yeah. So there's probably something good on the horizon coming. And my last last question, I don't want to hold everyone up from being able to speak. Um I know that Councilwoman Kass, she was really working hard when she first came on board. I think it's been a year now. One of her first top priorities was to get um some type of what you call it just a minor band-aid, I guess you could say, fix for that park, Tom Miner, because when she had gone, I guess to request additional funding, it was just wasn't there, right? So she did her best. We have some wood chips which is good but some of the equipment there is just not suitable still um in the condition for for me even with my son going down there oftent times I'm nervous there's things that are broken you know and whatnot. So what are the what are we doing to address those immediate emergency concerns? If you see something that's broken like the the the climbing little thing that the kids get on there's parts that are

missing. There's chips that are broken off of the slides and so forth. I know um that at one time they had it fenced off for quite a while and people were just letting their kids jump over the fence and still play, right? And so it's just not safe. What are some what are we planning on doing in those situations? um each uh site and location um is being assessed and that part of it's uh if you've seen the data that was presented here, it it shows um the the ratings and rankings of each of the amenities as well um that's at each of our park locations. So we are have to there's a lot of parks and a lot of playgrounds and a lot of um amenities. So it's going to take us um some time to prior make those priority lists and look at the safety. Tom Miner Park is on one of the um projects uh list. Um it's um a process of um doing the scope of work and um if there's consultants and what the process is and what the actual estimated cost is of you know can we uh repair or is it a complete replacement if it's a and then there's a different uh cost associated by repair versus replacement. So um everything is being uh looked at and addressed and analyzed and um putting on a priority list. If it's a com um complete safety safety element um we can do an immediate um site um walk and determine um that that safety element and if it's we feel that it's needs to be um closed off again and we could address it in that nature.

Maybe I shouldn't have opened my mouth but I did um because it was closed down for like three years. it was closed down or maybe two I don't want to exaggerate here um for a long long time. So I'm hoping that doesn't have to happen again. [laughter] Um but the pro uh processing of going um doing RFQ put for a vendor um you know there's um specific time frame that the RFQ has to be open and submitted reviewed. So there's multiple is a pro uh sequence of events that has to occur for any awarding um and having to go to council as well to um provide direction to staff to award said contract or vendor and then come in and all the process. So um what may some one one what one may think would be a 30 to 60 day process in actuality are sometimes anywhere from 6 months to a year if not more.

Thank you

Commissioner Sanchez Lopez. What is your overall or your department's overall city budget for this year and what different funding sources do they come from? Is 100% from the city? Um so our department is uh just over um including um staff um personnel uh just over 11 million um and majority is uh general fund. Uh we do have some grant-f funed positions f uh full-time that is a match from uh the county and um county of aging services as well as um Americanore. And then we also have as far as funding for some projects, we are um always um looking for grants um programs that can help with offsetting costs for um uh projects.

Uh the funding for the projects, are they primarily grant funded or do they come just

several several of the projects right now are a lot are ARP ARPA projects? um CDBG, we have um measure S uh funding um uh cultural um development, we have um land acquisition. There's uh I'm trying to remember all the the funding, but um we have uh probably about 12 to 15 different funding sources, but it's not just our department as well. So it's well like anything else it's limited funding.

How do you go about to determine which park needs more or what project needs more, what project needs less? It's doing part of this the park master plan is to identify the ranking of the um of each site and facility and u doing an assessment of it as well as um the safety and concerns um what needs to be addressed and if some elements are um can be addressed u internally and be um with the capacity and resources of city employees we will look at that um if it's something that requires if there's any environmental um uh action that needs to happen. You know, a lot of our facilities are um you know, built you know before 1980 and so we have to look at um asbestous or any other elements um environmental elements that have to take place. So if we have to do that scope that changes the um programmatic of of items um and um that's how we create that um urgency list as well.

And by what method do you um alert the public as to what project you're going to be doing? There's especially I would think they'd be interested in knowing what projects in their neighborhood are going to be occurring. Sometimes I don't hear anything about any of the projects or any of the parks within the distance that I live from. So, by what method do you inform the public as to what project is going to be done?

Um, in uh recent past, we've had press releases go out. Um, we share information through our um digital or and um on occasion printed um brochure with updated um CIP projects. Um, we I'm trying to think some have I can honestly say haven't been fully communicated as far as to the public is um if there's a park, you know, a ball field or a lighting um replacement um at a at a park. Um they're not always all fully publicized to say that.

Okay. because I noticed in one of the in one of the surveys it asked about I guess the services and there was a whole percentage of I don't know what's going on. So then that's one of our uh top five priorities is to um have more community engagement and develop uh more of a branding for our department to share the information with our community. Okay. Thank you. Thank you Commissioner Garcia. I have a couple of questions. Um my first question was does the park and recrecks um have any standards like such as playgrounds, benches, trash cans or any specific equipment that is installed um within the parks

standard as to um um like a slide playground like a specific manufacturer bench design because I' I've worked on previous projects where sometimes they have standards and they use them across like um different parks. So just wondering

we don't have a specific standard across like every park has to have the same type of playground. Um I for me personally in in the profession um not always best to design that that way. Um design by the park size and the community and the community needs. Um in addition to um what is um current trends and um accessibility as well. Um accessibility is a big key element in a lot of adapt adaptive programming is being incorporated into a lot of um the thought of when it comes to uh infrastructure changes. Uh my next question is as far as this parks master plan um is there any collaboration with like SB county um parks and recrecks commissioners? Have they uh provided any input um regarding the master plan? Because it's my understanding there hasn't been any parks recreation uh commission meeting. have brought that up to city staff

presenting the as far as um Nle did we have we communicated um prior with the Esp County parks and rec department he's that something you can answer, Vanessa, while we try to get the consultant back online.

Sorry. There are certain elements of the park master plan um when it initially started. Um I at the time was the manager at the time. Um, so I know that there were several conversations um and meetings with uh school district and county as well. Um, and I I'm 99% positive that there was um discussions with the director at that time with the director of the San Bernardino County um parks and recck department. We have the consultant pack. Is there anything

that is correct? Yes, that is correct. We did speak with the San Bernardino County leadership as well at the time as Vanessa mentioned. So we we have been conversation with them. Okay. And my next question is uh so once once this master plan is finalized um what and it's approved, what's next? Um or and as part of this plan, do we have a budget an estimate what it's going to cost for the repairs, alterations, improvements now that we have the survey or is that the next step? He froze again. But yes, that is um so this is a living document and the um parkm plan is uh tailored for

both in terms of what it's going to cost on one hand.

Uh Neil, go ahead and repeat. You got frozen. uh I I was fixing and speaking to the things that we've identified need to be upgraded or or developed and the other side parallel is other funding strategies beyond what you currently have to help offset what those costs might be. So that really is the implementation portion uh once you get the plan adopted. And my last question again is it for the commissioners on the park [clears throat] and wrecks. Have they had an opportunity to provide their input? Again, I'm just saying I brought this up in the past and couple years back. I don't think we were having regular um parks and rec commissioning meetings. Um I just wanted to know like what was the takeaway or comments that they provided on this master plan. So they um all both comm advisory commissions of under the parks and rec department um as part of the process they were involved in it. They've been involved um and in fact um this presentation is going to be presented at the next quorum uh meeting for both uh commissions. Um so yes every hasn't had an opportunity. We've also been um having conversations with uh directors from other departments as well as city council and city manager's office.

I have one more question. Sorry. Okay. In regards to what she had mentioned around communication, the signage, there's lots of signs that are up at some of these parks. So, for example, at Lidal Creek, it said that it was going to be completed estimated I think summer 2025. And then Sakumbbe, it says spring 2026. Tom Miner has a sign up as well that says I think summer of 2026 completion. So that sounds as though the plans already been put together and money's been decided upon. Are the signs just going up for why are the signs going up if there's no plan set up to move forward? That's what I want to know. the existing projects that um transpired or were um implemented um a year, two years or even in some cases three years ago. Um part of if they're an existing project, specifically Second Lake um part of the requirements because of the funding sources has to be posted to the public that this site is a project site. Um so that's just uh legality especially if there's any grant ties to it. Um they also have to be posted in some cases for um an extension of 3 to 5 years after the completion of the project so the public is aware that funding was used for this specific um site and facility or park um and why the why and how the funding was used. Um yes there are existing we have anticip you know tenative completion dates um but in the construction world nothing is always by completion date

yeah I drove by sumbe and I

it's still it's still being it's still in in construction and we will within the next 30 to 45 days we will have uh additional information to share about that project specifically. Um but at this time um can't disclose it until we have final um elements so that we can share that. um as far as um Lidle Creek Park or Lidle Creek Community Center um we've had administrative uh changes and so it's you know pause um play of of projects and so we are um having a consultant u we just had an RFQ for architectural design to for the Ladder Creek Community Center. So things are moving forward. Um not at the pace that some may think should be. Um

is there any way to maybe communicate that to the public and just let us let us know your percentage of completion? So we're 10% done, we're 30% done, we're just to kind of give people an idea of what's happening because what I see is nothing happening at time minor and the sign went up. I'm like, wow, there's a sign up and it says it's going to be completed spring of 2026. How is that? Right. Some some locations um would probably best not to have a sign until we have more concrete in details. Um again with specifically Tommy, we're still um developing a scope and what that would be and to determine the the um full cost. um also having having to have the conversations with certain individuals to see um if the scope of work is within um the means within the community.

Yes. Thank you. I have no more questions through the chair. I I have another I have another question. Um it came to mind as we were discussing and reading this report uh that the city of San Bernardino we have eight swimming pools in our parks. Is that correct? Yes. Well, I've traveled around at summertime and I'm kind of bothered because I don't see activity at those swimming pools daily. So, are the pools going to be operational this summer?

Not all pools will be operational for various reasons. One being the infrastructure of some pool locations. um they are not um adequate to um have programming. And second is um in order to operate programming, we need staffing and it's a nationwide shortage of lifeguards. Uh not everybody wants to be a lifeguard these days. So, um that's one of pretty much the number one prior reason why we have um some of our pools are not being operated because of sta of staffing levels.

So, when you need a lifeguard, you you run an ad and try and hire one through the city. Do you reach out to the colleges or even the schools and Yes, sir. see if they have somebody some [clears throat] volunteer perhaps? Uh we we do it all. It's a shame to see those pools. uh vacant on some of those hot summer days. And another thing I noticed here too, uh group rental pavilions. I've been out of town at other parks where they actually rent out the areas and it's quite a good revenue stream, I would imagine. Uh

we we we advertise our uh there is a park that has a pavilion um and as well as there's a restroom affiliate at there. Um we do our uh several parks um are pretty much rented every weekend. Okay. Um but yeah, I mean could there be more? Yes, of course. Yeah, that's where I was going. Maybe we could expand that uh program. Yeah. Thank you.

Thank you. I just have uh one comment. when we when this planning commission had kind of like a study session or a discussion, uh I made the comment that when when there are alterations or construction being done at the parks that hopefully the other departments use use that as a way to also maintain the streets or code enforcement goes out at the same time, maybe public works goes out at the same time so that there's a collaborative effort in that neighborhood. And I just wanna would hope that when we're doing these repairs or modifications and constructions at the parks that the other departments are following suit within that neighborhood. So that that's my comment to that. Thank you. Do we have any other questions or comments?

I just have one brief comment. Commissioner Pratt.

I would just like to point out that completion signs imply that deadlines are set. And if we're not putting them up to avoid showing that we're not meeting deadlines, that's that's that's not a solution. That's exacerbating an existing problem. So I don't know if it would be in the purview of this commission. Probably not. But what do we do to identify what the obstacles are, you know, construction delays, repair delays, whatever. I don't know. that may be within the purview of the parks and recck commission uh to work on that, you know, so that we can, you know, make progress in meeting these deadlines instead of not putting our signs up out of fear of not meeting them. And this this is I I know that if you guys had all the resources at your disposal, this would get done. Ricky Tick, I am not uh uh shaking a stick at you. I'm just saying that there's obviously obstacles that that need to be um identified.

Thank you. If there's no further comments or questions, we'll hand it back over to you for closure. Uh, Neille, do you have anything else to to end with? No, nothing else. Just appreciate the input and the support and we'll be back in front of the community as well to share this similar version and then to the council. So, thank you all again.

Thank you. I have a comment that just to and you know I know it it's hard you know when you spread the budget and everything but I think you guys are doing a good job so far you know because um I get I get the the booklet every twice a year I think it comes with all the schedule of all the activities I signed up for a tour of the activities every year I attend the concerts in the summer uh the neighborhood association uses the park for the pickle ball contest which you guys co-sponsored with us. And so there's many activities that I know of that we just need to communicate with other people, everyday people, but I think you guys are doing a good job so far. Thank you.

Thank you. I appreciate that. And yes, it's a community collaborative um partnership effort across the board. And um one of my goals is to continue um growing those collaborations um and getting out in the community cuz social media uh technology only goes so far. Um communication and face to face goes further. So I do appreciate that and thank you.

And you know the online registration is a little bit difficult for me to follow. I always go to the office and sign up from all the g for the for the programs that I'm going to go for. Yes. But I found it a little hard, not user friendly when I first went on it and so I scratched it and I just went down to the office and did it there. So yeah, uh we all aware of that and and that's something that going to work on. Um a new software means more money. So everything comes with the cost these days. Um, but I do appreciate and thank um, director Gabriel Elliot as well as you as commission um, for allowing us to be and present this to you and and share this. Um, we're not done. Uh, it's an ongoing like I said it's ongoing collaborative um, effort and this is a live document. So as we come to completion with um, elements and um, we will continue working on this um, together.

Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Thank you. We'll go ahead and move into our public hearing items. The planning commission will first hear a report from staff and then the public hearing will be opened. The applicant will have an opportunity to speak. Next, members of the public will be allowed to speak. Anyone in the audience wishing to speak must be sworn in and fill out a request to speak form. The forms are located on the table near the door. When your name is called, come forward and speak your name into the microphone. Say and spell your name for the taped record. After all have spoken, the applicant will be allowed to respond. The public hearing will then be closed and planning commission will begin deliberations and make a decision. All decisions except general plan amendments and municipal code amendments are final actions unless an appeal is filed and fees paid within 15 days to the community development and housing department. If you challenge the resulting action of the planning commission in court, you may be limited to raising only those issues you or someone else raised at the public hearing described in this agenda or in written correspondence delivered to the community development and housing department at or before the public hearing. We'll go ahead and move on to item number three.

Good evening. My name is Michael Yarro. I'm one of the real property managers here with the city of San Bernardino, one of two. And I'm here to present um street vacation 1530-443, which is a portion of Parley Avenue north of West Foothill. The proposed um street vacation is approximately 873 square feet of rightway and the northern portion of the street is not included because it was not included in the initial vacation and must be vacated to ensure consistency and accuracy. Here's a a location map of the proposed street vacation. Um it's already approved by council. We are um the map shows the area that's needed to complete the the full take of the property or full vacation of the property. And here's a aerial map showing that little red square there. That's the the street vacation that's in that's um needed right now at this point. right at Parley and Foothill. Okay. Um this proposed street vacation is consistent with the general plan and the staff the planning staff has concluded that the vacation is categoric exempt from SQA. It is no significant environmental impact. Um utility companies were notified and there's no request to reserve utilities were received and notice of this hearing are was published. Okay. Recommendation is to adopt resolution 2026-4 of the planning commission of the city of San Bernardino forwarding uh a finding of conformity with the city's

general plan for street vacation. And that's vacation number 15.330-443 based on findings of fact to the mayor and city council and finding that the project is category exempt from SQA and um which is California Environment Quality Act, but you already know that. Um item four. Okay, we're going to stop there. We're going to stop there. Yes. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. I'll go ahead and open the public hearing now. It is 7 o'clock. Do we have any public speakers on this item, Miss Abdullah? We do not.

Okay. Thank you. Um if not, I'll go ahead and close the public hearing at 7 o'clock and take it back to the planning commission for discussion and a motion. Do we have any discussion topics or a motion? I'd like to make a motion to approve staff.

Roll call, please. Commissioner Lopez, yes. Commissioner Ivan Garcia, yes. Vice Chair Quail, yes. Chair Sherik, yes. Commissioner Galande, yes. Commissioner Pratt, yes. Commissioner Carloney, yes. Vote passes unanimously. Thank you. We'll go ahead and move to item number four now.

Thank you. Okay. Item number four, um, another street vacation. Um, it's vacation number 15.30-444. It's a portion vacate a portion of Victoria Avenue north of Lynwood Drive right within um the casino area right right by the parking structure. Okay. This this proposed street vacation consists of approximately 1,52 I'm excuse me 1.052 052 acres of rideway in the area due to the Yahavatam of San Manuel Nation as part of its operation of the Yam Yamava Resort and Casino. Um it has been significantly improved and provides 100% of the maintenance the tribe does um to the section of Victoria Avenue north um of the signal at East Lynwood Drive and is not a through street. His only destination is north of East Lynwood Drive, right into the casino itself. Here's a map that shows the location of the area, the 1.052 acres that is requested for vacation. Um, like I said, it's all maintained. Um, and um, this will complete the the process in the in the sense of planning. Here's an aerial view of the same area. Okay. So the an analysis is that the proposed street u vacation is consistent with the general plan. Planning staff concluded that proposed vacation is category exempt from SQA again because there's no significant impact to the environment. Utility companies were notified. Um SoCal Gas East Valley Water District to reserve utilities were received and notice of this hearing was published.

So recommendation is to that you adopt the resolution number 2026-005 of the planning commission of the city of San Bernardino forwarding a finding of conformity with the city's general plan for street vacation number 15.30-444 based on finding of facts to the mayor city council and finding that the project is category exempt from SQA. Thank you. Thank you. I'll go ahead and now open the public hearing. It is 7:03 p.m. Do we have any speakers for this item, Miss Abdullah? No, we do not.

Thank you. Um, I have a question. There is an attachment to this staff report from the illumination health and home letter is or is that a separate? Um, Madame Chair, I know that particular is justformational because it has nothing to do with this um with this particular item. Okay. Thank you. Um, no public comments. I'll go ahead and close the public hearing at 7:03. Uh, at 7:03 and take it back to the planning commission for discussion and a motion. I'd like to make a motion.

Thank you, Commissioner Carloney. Do we have a second? I'll second. Thank you, Commissioner Garcia. Roll call, please. Chair, can we just get clarification? Was the motion to approve staff recommend? Motion to approve 2026-004. Thank you.

So, we have a first and a second. We'll go ahead and do roll call. Commissioner Lopez. Yes. Commissioner Ivan Garcia. Yes. Four. Vice Vice Chair Quail. Uh, Chair Sherik. Yes. Commissioner Golande. Well, you got to say something. Um, Commissioner Carloney, um, you said um, resolution 2026004. Do you mean 005? Because the earlier one was 004. Could you amend your motion? Yes. Five. Five. Thank you. Sorry. Yes. Commissioner Pratt. Yes. Commissioner Carloney.

Yes. Vote passes unanimously. Thank you. Um that is the end of our public hearings. Uh we have a planning commission academy for discussion.

Uh yes madam chair, members of the planning commission. Um we had discussed uh the planning commission academy um at I think at the last planning commission meeting I sent out an email about the availability of a plan commission academy. It just so happens coincidentally that our attorney will be having a session at this particular academy. But I think it's a good uh training uh um opportunity for our commissioners. And so far I've have offers from two commissioners. Uh we have funding this time to send commissioners to this academy. So, if you're willing to go, if your schedule does allow for it, uh we are we have some we have some available funds. So far, Commissioner Garcia and Commissioner Golan, they have been the only two that have requested to attend. So,

can you confirm the dates? Do you have that off the top of your head? Um Albert is going to look that up. It's Wednesday, March 11th through Friday, March 13th. And it's going to be held at the Sherin Park Hotel in Anaheim. So, it's actually we can call that local. Yes. So, and we'll cover your expenses. And when do you need to know by? Um registration deadline. I I have to ask Brenda what a regation deadline is, but uh we want to make sure that you make the deadline before we um Yeah, I would say as soon as you can make a determination as to your availability, that would be fine. Thank you. And

I was going to ask and what dates are those for the academy? March 11th through 13th in Anaheim. M. Okay. In Anaheim. Okay, thank you. Thank you. I pardon. You can put me down if you're still taking names. Great. Okay. Okay. I'm I'm available those days. Very good. Uh those are I from 8 to 5 I guess all day. Mhm. Okay. The Friday I think is usually just half day. Yeah.

Thank you. Uh we have item number seven, downtown specific plan update.

Uh yes, madame chair. Um we had at the request of the planning commission, we um sent out the downtown specific plan to commissioners uh for you to have some time to familiarize yourself with the document. I'm not expecting any feedback at this meeting, but if you do have some, let us know because one of the reasons why we're doing this is to get feedback from the commissioners and the downtown specific plan was one of those that was specifically requested by the commissioners for um you know, for discussion. So, uh if you have any uh available uh information, updates, recommendations, you can forward those to me. uh if you don't want to do it during a meeting session like this, you can send it to me by email, but um that's why we sent it out to you.

Thank you. Do we have any comments tonight? Commissioner Garcia, I just wanted to make a comment. Um I think it would be a good idea if we had local businesses input on this, like have them complete a survey or on which one are you referring to?

On the downtown specific plan. Oh yeah, there was actually a group, I don't remember what they were called, that was actually a committee that was responsible for some of the um contents of the downtown specific plan. Now, the the um the consultant wrote it, but I think there was a downtown business group or some other group that actually had an input as to what they would like to see uh in a in a downtown area. And and I just wanted to mention um I I I think it would be ideal if at minimum, let's just say there's a hundred businesses in downtown at least get 50% of that input because they're those businesses are

uh very familiar with the downtown then I think they can give us better ideas or

their vision of what they would like to see in downtown. I mean as far as the specific plan is concerned their inputs were incorporated. Now since then there have been other groups in the downtown area that have expressed other concerns with other things not related to the specific plan itself and we're working on those uh simultaneously. But as far as a specific plan itself, it wasn't something that was done, you know, um you know, without the collaboration of uh of the downtown business owners. But I I do remember there was actually a committee that was set up for for um for the downtown specific plan to be put together.

And then just the last thing that I wanted to mention on it u was I think it would be a good idea as well if our staff reached out to other cities maybe city of Palm Springs city of Riverside, city of Fontana

to share maybe some lessons learned on their development of what what's worked for them or maybe any other cities. Yeah, I you know I I think the downtown the downtown in and of itself has a feel to it, but I think what goes into the downtown is something that should be individual to a community. What is of what is of value to San Bernardino may not be the same value to Palm Springs because Palm Springs has a high tourism uh you know is a high tourism destination. We want our downtown to have at least some vibrancy to it. We want to bring life back to the downtown area. I mean, that's been the goal of every person, every business owner. Uh, you know, they they want to be safe. They want they want additional lighting. In order for us to do that, there has to be a trigger point. We have to be able to revitalize the downtown. We have to energize the downtown. We have to want people to come come to the downtown. And by adopting the plan itself, we can begin to attract opportunities to the downtown area. It only takes one project. And I think once we get successful with that one project, you're going to see a transition. Uh, you know, all the buildings that have been boarded up will be on boarded. People that are feeling not very safe at night will feel safer at night. So, it's it's going to be it's going to be an ongoing process, but I can guarantee you that by the time, you know, we get this document implemented, uh, it would be a different environment in the downtown area.

Yes, Vice Chair Qu. Yeah. Um, all due respect to the new downtown plan, I probably set through a dozen downtown plans and um, I think the vision sometimes is not exactly what people understand San Bernardino to be. Uh, there was a music corridor downtown on Court Street. There was vibrant businesses down there before

and people people enjoyed going downtown. But since we've had so much um homeless crime and so on, as a business person, I would find it hard to make an investment in our downtown without the proper um the proper safety features put together and a a plan that we can really look at. If you've seen the old plan of the theater, there was supposed to be uh restaurants and so on in front of the theater, and I'm surprised that the theater is still there, but uh and now just recently the fire that we've had.

Um I I I commend us keep working on a plan, and I know there's a lot of money invested in these plans, but once you have a plan, you need people to implement it. You need a development agency that's out there recruiting businesses and bringing pe people in and giving them incentives to open their businesses downtown. And I don't see that happening in our city. And I don't see it I don't think it's happened in quite some time. Um

so I mean vice vice chair quilt thank you very much for those comments. Now what I've been told is uh we can't really attract businesses into this city because we don't have a general plan. So now we have a general plan. Um you know I am I am done with excuses. We can say the reason why we don't have something or the other. Now we are at a point where we have delivered all those important documents general plan. Uh we have a housing element. We have a development code that is being currently looked at. We have a downtown specific plan. We have we have all these things. So, as far as I'm concerned, we are ready. Now, uh to your earlier comment, there was a time, if you remember, downtown Long Beach just, you know, uh by Ocean Boulevard, you don't want to be cocked in that area at night because it was invaded by by gangs and all kinds of things. Well, downtown Long Beach today is probably one of the highest real estate value uh that you could see um you know in in in in in that area uh South Bay area in a long while. So, it does take time and it begins with a dream. You know, you have a dream. This is what we want. My concern is that we stick to it. You know, if we don't stick to it, we're not going to get the results that we want. We have the plan. uh what we did before I understand uh the unhouse population disrupted but the only way to get start getting them out of the downtown area is by bringing in development when there is development and when there's vibrancy in the downtown area I mean you see all this kind of you know we push this kind of things to the outskirts and yes there will be conversations with business owners there's currently conversations right now with some downtown groups who

want, you know, they're concerned about parking and they're concerned about security. Uh, you know, they they want to see that. Uh, and and we're trying to they're trying to set up a some kind of a district just for a particular number of businesses whereby they pay an assessment and they can use those funds to do a patrol of the downtown area, escort their clients from, you know, the car park to uh to the businesses. So, things like that. uh shows uh an investment into what they see to be the future of the San Bernardino downtown. We can't give up. Uh you know, we we just can't give up. I'm not suggesting we give up, but what I'm suggesting is

is looking back in the past and what worked and what didn't work. And do we have does this plan include a uh a department that is actually marketing or finding businesses to bring into downtown

or is there a main street event that that is quite a few events that are somebody organizing all these events? So um as far as that is concerned uh you we have our economic development department. We have a parks and recreation department. They are the the parks and recreation department is the one that's in charge of doing all the uh all the events the community events in the downtown that you do see or anywhere else in the cities through the parks and recreation department. We have an economic development uh agency uh which uh you know um is going to be responsible for some of these relationships with business owners um attracting businesses to the downtown area. um you know but this these things take time you know what what what I think we we the first thing we need to do is u make sure that we stick to what is in the plan what may have worked in the past when this was the all-American city of the 70s I see people lamenting about um you just mentioned it earlier uh the Willworth building uh as I watched that building uh up in flames from my office I could not believe my eyes the number of times you've tried to secure that building and it kept getting broken into. When there's vibrancy in the downtown, uh there's activity in the downtown, there are people milling about in the downtown, there's no room for vagrancy uh to exist and that is what we want to work on, one business at a time. And I think once we're able to do that, we provide them with ample security. the city manager is looking at funding sources in addition to what we currently have. So I mean so the goal is to revitalize because this is the heart of of of of where we should have those activities. Once we can ignite that interest in the downtown area, it would spread into other parts of of of our of

our of our city. And I know there's certain wards that want certain things, but I think it all starts with just one. Does this downtown development plan have a uh an area in it which streamlines uh permit process, fast permitting for an individual that wants to go into business or do they go through the standard process just like everybody else?

Uh I mean it would depend. I mean it the the policy to streamline doesn't necessar necessarily have to be related to the downtown specific plan an ombbudsman person or somebody working in the city that can assist these developers would be a tremendous benefit for San Bino.

Yes, that position currently does exist. uh um that position was created when the city was going to go into expanding its um uh its um um uh one-stop uh permitting center. So, that position is still there. We haven't done that yet. We're still using our current uh you know, location to uh to welcome people to the city. It's not appropriate. Nobody thinks it is appropriate, but you know, again, we're it's a kind of a catch 22. you know which one do you do first? Uh but I can guarantee you that the day that somebody knocks on my door and saying we're business we're bringing business down to downtown uh we're going to roll out the red carpet.

Okay. All we just need to let everybody know and and let the marketing people know that our doors are open. They are and uh you can get a permit right away to do any kind of business. Absolutely. All right. No strings. No strings attached as long as Okay. Get down that road. Thank you. Absolutely. Thank you,

Commissioner Pratt. Is there any city ordinance that uh um regulates the percentage of our commercial retail space uh that a certain percentage must be revenue generating so that we don't oversaturate our city with nonrevenue generating nonprofits. I mean, being the county seat, we have, you know, uh, we have services here, and I'm just concerned that that there's a lot of people with their hands out that may not be doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing for this community, right? So,

absolutely. I I don't know. It's a kind of a broad question, I guess.

It is. Uh, but I don't think we can legally say that a certain percentage of our community must be revenue generating. [snorts] Uh, and uh, I can also tell you that there are several assembly bills and Senate bills that encourage these kind of um, you know, um, whatever you want to call them uh, to come into our community and some of them we don't even know anything about because they don't come through the city, they could come through the county and they don't have to report to us that they are here. But having said that uh there's a realization that we need to generate revenue in this city. It's very very important. We don't have the luxury of of collecting property tax. So we are a sales taxdriven community and and that's where we make that's where we make the difference. If there ever happens to be a decline in our ability to actually attract uh revenue generating businesses into the city, you're going to see a decline in in all areas of of our of the way we organize. Um I can talk to our attorneys to see if we can, you know, have some kind of legislation. I don't know how legal that would be. that would say maybe in a in a specific area to designate a the percentage of revenue generating uh businesses must be XYZ or whatever. I don't know how legal that is but um you know we can we can ask our attorneys to look into something like that. I mean, it's a good idea so that we don't we don't use every single available property in the city for non non- taxg generating social service agencies uh in our community. Yes.

Thank you, Commissioner Sanchez Lopez.

I agree fully with what Commissioner Quill has said. I have not seen or heard anything happening down in the downtown area in terms of incentives or in drawing developers or businesses at all. And you say uh it will take time, but the person before you also said it will take time. and the person before you as I've been on this commission for almost 12 years and just this past weekend we had a fire at the Woolwards building in downtown San Bernardino. So it's going to take time isn't good enough anymore. The time should be now. There should be something. And if you say that we have an economic development agency, well, maybe we need to have the economic development agency here to tell us what they're doing, if they're actually doing anything.

Um, Commissioner Lopez, what you said is true. When when I say it takes time, I I am not just kind of throwing those words out. Um what I think the most important obstacle San Bernardino has is the image that we have. Uh when I say it takes time, we need to change we need to change our image. We need to change our image to reflect the fact that we're not a community that is overrun by unhouse population. We have to change our community to reflect the fact that uh you know we have specific goals and objectives as to what we would like to see. We're we're beginning to see on fifth. We're beginning to see some you know a few retail activities here and there but at the same time you don't want a community of just drive-thru restaurants and fast food restaurants etc etc. There is a time and place for those kinds of things. But I I think we need to think beyond that and and and start formulating a a strategy whereby we can we can attract some very meaningful development. But we have to overcome we have to overcome the city's reputation as a place where nothing good happens.

That was what the downtown specific plan was for to design something. It did. And when I say well the time is now we should be designing something. we should be strategizing where should what business should be coming into the city right and so forth. So the time is now.

Yeah. I mean the plan is there. I mean the plan is there. We have made this a very userfriendly downtown specific plan. We're bringing in businesses uh whereby we're eliminating some of the obstacles. We're eliminating excessive parking requirements. We're bringing buildings closer to the street. We are increasing density. So I the the the um the framework is there. We just need u we just need um you know somebody to believe in the fact that we actually have made a turn and we're going to uh we're going to change the trajectory of this community. Thank you. Commissioner Gande,

you know, um I was thinking about what you had mentioned about the county coming in. They do. They can come in and just take over and set up shop somewhere when the public doesn't know about that oftentimes. My question is where can we find out how many buildings are county owned versus city-owned buildings? Um, that's that's a fairly easy research. We can just go through the records to see um which buildings the county owns and which buildings the city owns. We know I know the buildings that we own in the downtown area. I just don't know which buildings the county owns. But not only who owns the building, but who utilizes the building for services, right?

Uh sometimes, you know, my housing department doesn't even know that the county is housing certain kinds of people and state law protects those kinds of of of enterprises. So even if we know, it's like we know we can't touch them. But but I think again uh you know once we start doing something you know that that that is invigorating that is vibrant in a downtown area I think we're going to see uh you know things just kind of fallen out at least if we can just claim our downtown back. I I think we would have we would have made a good um we have made a good choice.

Yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. My my biggest fear is that we have because there's a lot of money with um social services and with homeless services and whatnot that's it's it's profitable. It is. And so you have a lot of investors that see that and they know it's guaranteed funds that are going to come in easy. So my biggest fear is that we have people that come in, they buy the building and then they turn it into one of these types of um facilities. And then how is that going to of course help us as a city?

I know. I mean, not only that, they they can even turn around to the county and ask for funding. They ask for CDBG, we need this, we need that. So, I I think uh it's going to be a two-prong approach. My my my recommendation to to the housing division is uh you know, any kind of request for those kind of funding, I think we should take a very close look at them, especially when in a in a core downtown area of the city. We want to encourage vibrancy and and we need to talk to people who we think will bring that uh to the city uh rather than you know just successive you know um agencies that

that you know they take funding and then they turn around and and they don't provide the services and in the meantime we're saddled with them. I I don't know if we're the only city that faces that problem but I think uh we are a good target for that. Thank you. I I I preface that because the rumor was I mean I I listened to a lot of things and there was a rumor out there that someone was trying to take over the Rison Hotel for that purpose and that really got my the red flag was up. I'm like we cannot afford to have the Rison hotel turn into a homeless shelter um right in the middle of downtown. That's not going to encourage anyone to come to the city of San Bernardino.

Absolutely. It's it to me it makes absolutely no sense and um there are other things that are being discussed that I cannot speak to publicly but um I I will definitely put my foot down when it came to that. It it's um we can do better than that. Yes. Thank you,

Commissioner Carlo. Well, I'm pleased that the the general plan is is done basically and I think we can move forward. Um I think you guys are doing a good job. Um I think the key is like Larry said, um the redevelopment is going have to be very strong and it would be nice to have them show up here and tell us how they're going to market everything and and what they're going to do.

Yeah. I mean they uh they've been shopping for a director um for quite a long time now. Again, they can't find one because most redevelopment um and most um economic development departments either operate out of the community development department like it was before certain city managers decide to split or they are with the city manager's office. So you would have a manager uh of economic development that works either at the city manager's office or within community development department. So I don't know which direction the city is going to go with that and I think the sooner we can resolve that issue the better we are in being able to actually have a strategy um you know going out and actively doing uh some economic development recruitment. Well, I think now since we got the general plan, now you can go shop for that person

because they're going to read it, they're going to like it, and then they feel they can actually do something. Commissioner Garcia, I just wanted to mention as part of the downtown specific plan, I think it'd be something to consider as part of the planning to maybe consider a state-of-the-art um centralized city hall. We've heard that from many community residents. Um you go to city of Palm Springs, city of Riverside, city of Ontario, they all have new city hall, city clerk, all centralized. I had to pull a permit today. I had to go from one building to another building

and it's

it's not very um time efficient and I mean we need we need a that's where we need to begin. We need to begin with downtown. Yeah, that's what I talked about as being having a one-stop permit center. And that was the that was the vision. But the question is where? Uh is it going to be here? Is it going to be back at the Black Tower? Is it going to be somewhere else? It's just there's just a lot of there's a lot of moving parts and we haven't really really sat down and made a solid decision. If you talk to some community members, they say, "We have a city hall. Why don't we go back to the black tower? Why don't we renovate it? Why don't we move back there?" Because all departments would be able to fit into that building. You got your planning commission, city council chambers on the ground floor. You got your offices on the uh on other floors. And those of you who were here when that city hall was functional, you go to the third or the fourth floor, that's you know, you have a counter. It was it was normal. It's you know that's the expectation but uh you know uh structural deficiencies with that building. They said everybody has to move out. Everybody moved out. We spread out. Uh right now we've got administrative offices in the gold tower. Our office is right here. And so it's kind of it's kind of all over the place. I mean the the vision you have is not it's not different. you know, you know, it's just implementing that vision and have somebody write the check to say, "Okay, we are going to commit ourselves to doing something about it. We're going to commit ourselves to re renovating our old city hall and and use it. It's in a downtown area." Some people would prefer that. Uh some people would say, "Okay, well, use the Harris building, remodel the Harris building and make it a new city hall." That's

another option. So there there there's quite a few discussions going on. I don't really know what our city council would really want to do, but uh you know you guys are appointees of city council members. I think you should bounce off any ideas you have with them to see what do they want to do? what is the community saying? Uh, you know, my, you know, my job is to execute whatever it is, uh, you know, direction that comes out of the the city council or the planning commission as far as what we're going to do. But either way, it's going to cost money. And if the question is we're reluctant to spend because we don't know what the future holds, well, we're going to be in a holding pattern for for quite a while. Thank you. Uh maybe we could have this on next month's agenda also just one more time for some good discussion. Yeah. Downtown specific plan. Yeah.

Yeah. Good. Okay. Thank you. We'll put it on the calendar. Are there planning commissioner reports or announcements? I'll start uh to my to my left. Commissioner the president. No. Commissioner Garcia. Vice Chair Quill? No. Commissioner Galande? None. Thank you. Commissioner Pratt? None. Commissioner Carlo, none. Thank you. Do we have a director's report this evening?

Um, Madame Chair, um, with your package, that letter you were referring to was the letter we received from the Illumination Foundation indicating that they have vacated the premises and that they're not coming back and they fully support any kind of revocation uh, decisions that the planning commission would make uh, on on that property. And the reason why you don't have revocation in on your agenda today is because of a um noticing issue. Uh we uh we missed the deadline to notice it for 10 days and so um we could be bringing that back for a formal revocation of that cup if you you know I think I sent an email to to the commissioners regarding that. uh you know um the the the city attorney indicated that a revocation hearing is actually uh an opportunity for uh for an applicant to have their rights um exercised. In this particular case they have gi given up that right. So the attorney is saying we can administratively revoke uh we can do a revocation administratively but uh if the planning commission wants to have a hearing on revocation of that cup we can do that as well. Albert

I have nothing to add. I have a question. Um in the u I guess this is for our city attorney. um if we were to go forward with the revocation of that cup um then we have a good record of it. Correct. So the record we have now of them basically walking away uh allows them possibly to come back. Is that what I understand?

No. Um, if you will, if we do it administratively, we write to them and we say we heard from you in writing that you're not there, that you have no intention of using your cup and that you support revoking the cup. Therefore, with this writing, your cup is revoked and that will be included in the file. The other option is to do a public hearing and do it that way. I don't think you need to do that, but if you prefer, we could do that.

I I um my concern is that we have some sort of a record process of what we went through. uh so that we know that when they visit us a year from now uh we'll know what we had to go through and how they uh handled their conditional use permit and so on. So that was the only reason I was thinking maybe it'd be more appropriate if we went through the right channels than to just drop it. So just a thought

we have their request in writing. We would respond to them in writing. That would be the proof. If they came a year from now and said, "Oh, we want it back." We would say, "No, we have it right here. You said you wanted to give it up." And that's really the distinction because they're giving up the CUP, which is a a legally technically different thing than revocation. You can give up your permit. And if you give up your permit, we don't have to go through revocation hearing. Revocation hearing is if the city is trying to take your right away. If you want to give up your right, we don't have to go through revocation hearing. And so that's why I recommended we don't go through the revocation hearing. We just have it documented in the file. Their request to us and our acknowledgement back to them in writing that per their request, the cup is now revoked.

Have we responded back to them in writing? Madam Chair, yes. um that re that response letter will be included in your agenda for the next meeting or sent to you um by blind copy. Uh yeah. Yeah. That that letter was sent out to them and and they responded to the letter by saying we agree uh we are still not going to challenge any decision the city makes because we we've moved on. So they have moved on. I would like to see it in the next packet just so it's more transparent for the public. Absolutely. Thank you. Yes. Are there any other discussions under director's report? Uh, none, madame chair. None that I can think of at this time. Thank you. I'll go ahead and adjourn the meet. Oh,

so what's the final decision? Are we going to have a hearing or are we going to No, the letter the letter is going to be fine. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Okay. I think I guess so. Are we all agreeing to that? Would you like to Would you like to take a poll on what you would? because if it hadn't been for the um for the um noticing error, you would have we have a staff report. We have a resolution revoking it the way we did with the one on Astram's. So,

okay, I'll go ahead and take a straw poll that we are okay with um just the letter that uh was received by the planning department and a response letter that was provided by the city attorney's office. Commissioner Lopez Sanchez Lopez. So, in the director's report, we had the letter that uh right that they were revoking their or that they were terminating their CUP. Are you okay with that? Or would you like to see a more public hearing? I'm okay with that. You're okay with the letter. Thank you, Commissioner Ivan Garcia. Yes. Yes, you're okay with the letter. Uh um I'm okay with [laughter] the letter.

Thank you, Commissioner Gande. I'm okay with the letter as well. Commissioner Pratt. Okay with the letter. Commissioner Carlo, I'm okay with the letter. I am also okay with the letter. So there we go. Thank you. Thank you. Okay with that if there's nothing. Oh, yes.

Oh, yeah. One more item. Um um just as far as the downtown specific plan and the um general plan elements itself, there'll be a time when we want to bring that to the planning commission for formal action. Uh the um EIR for this entire thing runs concurrently with either with the general plan and the downtown specific plan and that has been that is being reviewed at this particular time. So uh that is going to determine uh the timing of bringing those other things in front of you. But it would still I would have sent each one of you the uh the general plan um all the elements of the general plan. It's a it's a voluminous reading. Um and it's you know I don't know if you you know want to take the time to actually go through that. Uh but maybe what I can do is uh for some for the next subsequent planning mission meetings I wish we had more meetings in a in a month than just one that we kind of go through some of the elements and kind of talk about give you highlights of what these elements do talk about so that it doesn't become a mystery as to what is really what is this element for and what are the changes that we've made. what you would find to be most interesting would be the land use element and that's why we've made the most changes with changing some zoning designations with changing some density requirements and and so on and so forth. So maybe we start with the with the land use element itself and then from there we can talk about some of the other elements.

I think that's a good idea and perhaps maybe um a staff report just highlighting the major changes would also be helpful for staff. Okay. Thank you. All right. Anything else? Thank you. No. Okay. Very much. I'll go ahead and adjourn the meeting at 7:43. Thank you. Thank you.