Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Hello, everyone. The 09/05/2024 meeting of the Planning Commission and Board of Zoning Adjustments is called to order. Would everyone please stand for the pledge of allegiance? Will the secretary please conduct the roll call?

Mister chair Zuber? Vice chair Here. Vice chair Tejada?

Present.

Commissioner Bolt?

Present.

Commissioner Mendoza? Present. Commissioner Rich?

Here.

Commissioner Salis?

Present.

And commissioner Tavjulu is not present.

Thank you. The public is invited to make any comments related to the agenda items that are not listed under public hearings or other items of public interest at this time. If you wish to speak during public comments, please fill out a speaker card and hand it to the administrative assistant, and speakers will be invited to speak. Public comments are limited to three minutes per person. If you wish to comment on an item listed under the public hearings portion of the agenda, you will have an opportunity to do so when the item is heard.

Please fill out the speaker card and hand it to the administrative assistant. We are now taking public comments. This is the time when any person may address the board on matters not listed on this agenda. Okay. Looks like we don't have any.

The draft minutes for the meeting of March 7 were provided with your agenda. If there are no errors, additions, or corrections, it should be moved that they be approved as submitted. Do I have a motion to approve for March?

I make a motion to approve.

Second.

It's been moved by commissioner Bolt and seconded by commissioner chair Tejada that the minutes of 03/07/2024 be approved. Please vote on your screens. The motion passes. Five yeas, one abstention, one absence. The draft minutes for the meeting of 06/06/2024 were provided with your agenda.

If there are no errors, additions, or corrections, it should be moved that they be approved as submitted. Do I have a motion to approve the minutes of 06/06/2024?

Motion to approve the minutes.

Second.

Second the motion? Yeah.

It has been moved by commissioner Solis and seconded by commissioner Mendoza that the minutes of 06/06/2024 be approved. Please vote with your screens. The motion passes. Four yeas. Two abstentions. One absence. Miss Secretary, are there any items of correspondence?

No. There are not.

Are there any, oral communications? Not this evening. Thank you. Tonight's public hearing has one agenda item for consideration by the Planning Commission. If you wish to speak before the Planning Commission, please submit a speaker card and state your name and address for the record.

Meetings of the Planning Commission are recorded and televised, so please speak clearly for the record. Hearing item

wait. Sorry.

Commissioner, this is item PLN twenty three zero zero one six. A conditional use permit for, automotive rental use and a fence modification at 14227 To 14335 Washington Avenue. This was continued from the August 1 meeting that was canceled, last month. The applicant is Don Pierce. He's representing Avis.

They wish to, operate a they wish to operate a automotive, rental business at the subject property. This is approximately 1.75 acre property in the, CCAU zoning district. That's community commercial with an assembly overlay, assembly use overlay. Currently, the property is vacant, and, this is part of the Washington, the Mid Washington Business District. You recently approved a new warehouse that was, that that is down the street from it, and, 100 Halcyon is also down the street for in the opposite direction towards the south.

There's public storage use across the street. The courtyard for the, public works department is behind it along with the railroad tracks, and there's a few automotive repair uses in the district. So it's a mixture of, different industrial and commercial uses there. And Avis proposes to have a vehicle rental use of the operating hours would be from eight to five during the weekdays and from eight to 2PM on the weekends. They'll have two to three employees there on average.

And during busy times, there could be up to seven employees at the site. Avis anticipate that there'll be five to 10 car rental each day, with a maximum of 30 cars being rented, on any given day. And there'll be two to three truck rental, occurring each day, with a maximum of 10 trucks being rented out, from the site. The existing structures will be utilized for their operation. There will be an office and storage and also an on-site vehicle wash.

They will not be, doing any repair on-site, and there will be no refilling on-site. As part of the proposal, they are also installing an eight foot tall fence along the front of the property, and this will be an eight foot tall tubular steel fence. And there'll be some landscaping that's existing there, which is in the public right of way, but there's a condition in the staff report to require additional landscaping be installed as part of the project as well since part of the fence is set back from the property line. So this is the site plan showing the office, and the storage buildings. The vehicle wash is to the left hand side, and the site is sort of divided up into two sections.

On the right hand side, it will be mostly the vehicle rental uses and parking, and on the left hand side will be the truck parking. Access to the vehicle parking area will be, through one curb cut, and it'll be an in and out. Ingress and egress for the truck area will be, through two separate, curb cuts. And there was a question from commissioner Rich about the parking for bicycle parking. There's a note on the first page.

If you look on the first page towards the office area here, there's a note that says there'll be five parking spaces for bicycle. And so during the building permit stage, that's when we'll take a look at and verify that the bike parking will be installed. These are a few photos from the site showing the office, the storage area, the vehicle wash, and the current fencing and landscaping at the property. As part of the, site improvements, the applicant is proposing to install tubular steel fence shown in the purple dots here, and it will extend about halfway to the site before, going back about 10 feet from the property line. And the reason that it's going back 10 feet is to accommodate the vision triangle, which, for the sliding gate, it would be very difficult to accommodate if it were, located at the property line.

But on the left hand side, they are able to do that. And so with the landscaping that's there, there'll be some modification to the existing landscaping that's part of the right of way. And our engineering department has reviewed the the proposal, and they don't have any problems with the applicants continuing to keep the landscaping where they are. So with the development and performance standards, as far as setback goes, if the proposal is approved for the fence modification, there will be, cons it will be consistent with the setback requirement because the existing buildings are nonconforming, and the applicant has provided documentation to show that the building has been constructed legally. With the vehicle parking, they are overparked, only 13 parking spaces are required, and they're are 37 car spaces and 11 truck parking spaces.

For the circulation, our engineering department has reviewed the circulation plan, and it meets all of, the engineering standards. And for lighting, there's a condition that requires a submitter of a lighting plan to make sure that the site is adequately lit to ensure the safety of employees and customers. For land use, the proposal is consistent because vehicle rental is a conditionally permitted use. As you remember, you approved the rezoning of the, site down the street from this from CCAU to, Industrial General. And so with the land use that's proposed here, it would be consistent because it's allowed, and we believe that it will help to trigger additional, development along the Washington Corridor.

Right now, there's no landscaping on-site other than those that's on the pub in the public right of way. With condition 45, there'll be about 750 square feet of new landscaping added to the site. So, while it's not meeting the requirement for a 5%, it makes the site, more conforming than before. The fence design, is consistent with other new fencing that has gone up in the area and, with the driveway visibility requirement, met as the fence does not impact any safety issue from, drivers entering and exiting the site. And the fence one is entirely, on private properties, so, it will enhance the security of the site.

It won't have any impacts on the neighbors. For general plan use policies, that the project meets, it will be land use policy 7.11, which promotes a mixture of businesses in the Mid Washington Business District and also land use policy 7.2, which is adaptive reuse since the project is reusing the existing buildings on-site. The project is CEQA exempt per section one five three zero one for existing facilities. The project was noticed in the newspaper, mailing within 500 feet of the property and on-site. And to date, staff has not received any comments on the project.

The, staff recommendation is that, the commission approved p o n twenty three zero zero one six subject to condition, find that the project is CEQA exempt and making the required finding for the CUP for vehicle rental use and, defense modification. And commissioner Rich also had a question about driver visibility. And so with the driver visibility, it's a it's part of section four point zero eight point one four eight that requires an area. When the driveway approaches the right of way, there'd be a vision triangle that measures approximately 10 feet by 10 feet that's clear, and that area, the clear area is between three feet and seven feet. So from to avoid, any visual obstruction as the car is turning onto the, street.

And so this way, the project the driver is able to see the pedestrian, see the bikers down the street, and also see other vehicles. This concludes my presentation, and I'm available for questions.

Mister Rich?

Thank you for that presentation. Regarding setbacks, where is the project seeking a a variance or a modification in the in the required setbacks?

For the fence modification, the project is seeking, an exemption from, on the right hand side of the left hand side of the property, possibly halfway down. And so the fence is going to be built right next to the, sidewalk. And so, the required setback is 10 feet, and so that they're asking to be exempt from that.

So that's for the the half of the site on the left hand side?

Yes. K. And are those

brown triangles on the that you're showing there? Are those the visual triangle that you're talking about in the visibility driveway?

Yeah. So the brown triangle are meant to depict the, vision triangle that's required. There's enough room for the applicant to slide their gates back here, and the gates are required to be open, during business hours. So that way, when customers or employees are going onto the site, there's no queuing in the right of way. But on the left hand on the right hand side, there's less room to, accommodate the sliding gates, and so, the fence has been pushed back by 10 feet on the on the right hand side.

Thank you. No further questions.

Mister Tahara?

Thank you for the presentation. Appreciate it. Couple of items that come to mind regarding setbacks here. So since that's part of the modification here tied to the application, maybe you described it previously, but are there is there a precedent for prior projects within the vicinity kind of serving as neighbors to this property where a precedence is in place, where a setback nonconforming to what should be in place has been approved or is in place at this point?

Don't know if there's any recent approval, or past approval, but the city council did approve changes to fence regulations so that for industrial properties, they can build the fence right up to the property line. And so, there's a lot of industrial uses in this area, and there's a lot of nonconforming fences that's existing in this area as well. And, with the project that was recently approved, there they didn't seek a fence modification, down the street for the new warehouse. But if they were to push the fence all the way up to the property line, they would be allowed because it's now rezoned to industrial. But this property is, technically, a commercial property, and so that's why it's required to, seek the fence

modification. So the rezoning to is it industrial general? The rezoning to that would then allow it to allow the project to move forward with the fencing modification and kind of bypass bypassing the need for the setback.

For the the other project, they didn't rezone it for the fence modification. It just so happened that, they asked to rezone it to industrial general, and we also brought forth a, zoning amendment that would allow them to build it to the property line. But there's no rezoning requested as part of this application.

K.

Mister chair, could I add? So fence modifications are subject to approval by our zoning enforcement officials, so they're usually handled administratively in our office. And the findings that are required are in your packet, but they have to do with with safety and appropriateness. So it's it's not typical for fence modification applications to be heard by this body. However, because this is a conditional use permit and our projects travel together, you're seeing the rationale in the conversation.

So I think the one that I'm familiar with most recently in the vicinity, there was a fence modification on San Leandro Boulevard close to where it intersects with Washington, where it was a similar situation where they were seeking additional security for the property along their commercial frontage with the street. And in this case, the fence that would be rebuilt to a nicer standard is in the existing location that it's been for many decades, and then half of the fence will be brought into compliance with our setback. So it's an improvement over the existing condition for sure. Yeah.

Okay. Other question that comes to mind is regarding lighting. I'm seeing here that you're saying the lighting is kind of insufficient. There's language to the effect of down shielding lighting being added to the project for the overall coverage that needs to be met. Just wondering, the current study right now on photometrics, how much how much lighting, how many lumens are actually being cast on to the site itself, and how deficient is the lighting altogether?

The applicant has indicated that there is sufficient lighting for the property. However, we have not received a lighting plan for it. And so as part of the building permit submittal, there is a condition that, a lighting plan be submitted to be reviewed by our, engineering department to make sure that it's compliant with, code requirements.

Okay. And then it says as determined by the zoning enforcement official, so that would be through the planning planning department making that determination?

The planning department in conjunction with the public the engineering department will make that determination. Yes. K.

Okay. Let's see. I guess the other question that comes to mind is so the granting of the height variance from three to eight feet as part of this request and then the extension of one year in order for the build out of the new fence to occur, What's the rationale behind approving the modification and then kind of extending an extension for a new fence to be installed? Just reading through the language here in the report, there's mention of a dilapidated fence, concerns with site security. It almost seems as though those are key issues that would need to be addressed sooner than later versus granting a year long wait for that new fence to be installed.

So as part of the request, the applicant asks that they be provided, at some additional time to install the fence, this which will allow them to start the business, make some, you know, bring in some revenue. And, during that process, they'll get a contractor in and install the fence and the landscaping. But as far as the current fence is concerned, there's barbed wire on it, and it would need to be removed before the business starts operating. There's also going to be some, additional improvements to the existing fence that needs to be made in order for it to comply with, code requirements from the building department and from the planning department. The, fence will need to meet the vision triangle regulation.

And, I believe there's gate that needs to be installed, in the current fence in order for it to meet access requirement. So with the tubular steel fencing, it will be installed sometime between the approval and, a year from the approval. But before the business starts operating, the existing fence will get modified and, be improved as well.

Okay. Alright.

Understood. I'll table maybe a few related questions to that topic for the applicant. My last question here is regarding the conversion of one of the buildings into a vehicle wash station. In looking at the plans, there is an existing oil water separator that's in place, so that's identified. It looks as though there's sloping draining to it.

Just wanting to confirm with engineering and transportation, their assessment of the plans and or a separate facility conditions assessment that maybe the applicant or the architect and engineer undertook of that oil water separator to verify that there's no upgrades, any kind of retrofits that need to be, taken into account just based on the fact that I think the the site has been vacant since 2020?

Our, environmental services team has gone out there and, looked at the, drainage for the site. And I see our that they've signed off on it, and, our engineering team has also reviewed it. And so this project will be, resubmitted for building permits. And so if there's any issue, it will be addressed at that point for the other departments. Okay.

So if there is an issue with functionality of that oil water separator, you know, post occupancy, there still is a means for the retrofits to occur that need to occur in order to rightfully have in place what needs to be implemented.

Any retrofit will occur before it can be used as a vehicle wash. Yes.

K.

And through the chair, environmental services included conditions of approval towards the end of the conditions that have to do with the different regulatory matters that they oversee. And so they have broad discretion under various state and regional permits to they do inspections of facilities and ensure that clean water standards are addressed. And so they have their own regulations. They don't need us or this body to impose those standards. They have pretty broad authority.

And then last one for me is so electric vehicles are covered as well too in the report that the applicant would have electric vehicles as part of their fleet for rental, but no electric charging stations would be on-site. All charging would be carried off-site. I'm just wondering kind of through staff discussions that may have happened with the applicant, was there a desire or is there a desire from the applicant to potentially expand their infrastructure so that it does accommodate charging infrastructure for EV vehicles? It just seems as though maybe not having that would be a bit of a disadvantage for the renting community of vehicles and not having a full charge when you're leaving the lot. And then moreover, San Leandro's overall incentive of wanting to electrify and come to terms with EV by a set set aside mandate mandated time frame, it seems as though that would be advantageous to have electrical infrastructure available.

So, we did talk to the applicant about this, and, they are willing to install the EV infrastructure as, demand, calls for them.

Okay. So even though it's not specifically spelled out the way that you just did right now, is that something that can somehow be worked into what we're looking at right now, kind of future proofing the fact that those discussions to be had at a later date once enough business time has ran its course and demand analysis has completed, proving out the fact that EV charging infrastructure should and could be installed on-site?

Are you asking this as a business decision or a code requirement?

Asking it as a condition of approval. Is this anything within the realm that potentially we could not hard and fast tie to a requirement, but just loosely place there as a comeback feature of this approval so that the applicant and the city can have a discussion in the future about charging infrastructure being installed?

We we can add a condition that will encourage the applicant to consider this. And with the yearlong extension, we can revisit the topic at that time.

I'll add. So we do have in our California grade building code and our reach code standards, there are additional requirements that are codified in the municipal code. And there are specific portions of parking on private property that need to be set aside for EV charging. So we will ensure that those standards are met when it comes through the building permit process, but do not typically recommend that this body impose additional requirements on certain projects and rather follow the adopted policies that are in place that apply across the board. So this is an area already covered in the green building code. We'll confirm with our chief building official how it needs to be implemented when this comes through for building permits.

Understood. Yeah. I'm just seeing it as a as a revisit if we are gonna if we are gonna grant a one year period for the permanent fence to be installed, revisiting it within that one year time frame would seem to make sense from a charging infrastructure stance. Just my take on it, and I understand that there's processes in place to make that happen, but almost ensuring a belt and suspenders approach is is tagged to the approval would kind of be my thought process and rationale of, yes, we're approving the fence modification from three feet to eight feet, and we're granting a year to install the permanent fence. It seems as though it would be within rights essentially to have a future discussion within a year, that same time frame, relative to charging infrastructure for EV vehicles.

And that's that's the end of my comments.

Thank you for the report. I just have a few questions. So this has not been to the building department yet?

It has been routed to the building department for review, and our building official has been out to the site several times already. Yes.

K. And has the permit been approved then?

The permit has not been approved because it requires, your approval before it can go to the building department for review. But there, are minor changes that, have happened to minor improvements to the site that have occurred, and, our building department has reviewed those permits. Yeah. K.

I know this is not necessarily our purview, and it belongs to the building department, but it looks like the the restroom is not accessible.

For the restroom, I I don't know what the requirements are for accessibility, but I believe that there are multiple restrooms there. And so, one of them should be accessible, and, it may be the one that's inside the building.

Okay. I see no new paint is being suggested. Is that the case? It doesn't it doesn't look as if there's any new paint being suggested. Signage.

There's a condition for a master sign program, to be, submitted at a later date. The fire department has indicated that they want to make sure that people know where they're going, and so that's something that we'll be taking a look at since the site is sort of split into two sections. And we want to make sure that people are going into the right area if they're renting a car or if they're renting a truck. Right.

Okay. So it it is intended that there will be an Avis sign?

Possibly Avis, budget, since it's, they've, they've merged. K. And so, I I don't know, what the specific sign will say, but it will reflect the business, name. Yes.

Mhmm.

Do we know if that sign will be on the fence or if it will be on the building or on a stanchion?

The code allows for, the sign to be on the building, and the code allows for a monument sign. And so the sign program will, reflect what the code allows.

Okay.

And I don't know if you know the answer to this. This might be for the for the speaker regarding where the cars will be serviced. The report said that the cars will not do not intend to be serviced on-site.

Right. There'll be no automotive repair on-site. I was talking to the applicant earlier, and they do have a facility in San Leandro, but I'll defer that to them to for a more detailed answer.

Thank you. Is the applicant present? And and thank you for your patience. I know you've been waiting since August, so we appreciate that.

Good evening. My name is Don Pierce. I'm the West Area Development Director. We're Avis Budget Group. I apologize for being the only person here tonight. And if anybody's a Kansas City Chiefs football fan, again, I apologize even more for missing the first game. But we're very excited to get here finally in front of you. It's been a long road. We initially started this back in June '22. So we've been working with the city, with the planning group, everything to make this a positive influence for San Leandro and for ourselves.

And so finally getting to this point is we're finally pleased, and I can answer any of the questions that you have. Some of them probably a little bit more informative than what you have for your answers already. More than happy to.

Mister Tahara?

Mister Pierce, thank you for joining. Question for you here. Looking at the the staff report and the description that's provided, it goes on to say that, Avis formerly operated a vehicle rental facility at 390 Doolittle, which closed several months back. Why did that location close, and and what's driving, I guess, the move to this proposed location on Washington Avenue?

Actually, 390 Doolittle is the airport maintenance site, and but it had a rental location approximately eight years ago, if not a couple of months ago. The airport is the one that takes care of it. There's a rental site that actually we had in Hayward, and that site was sold and is under redevelopment. And we were looking for a closer site, you might say, that fits somewhere between San Leandro and Hayward to go. Hayward zoning is very difficult.

Does not allow for any car rental anywhere that's of any use to a car rental company. So we wound up finding the current site that we're looking at. We feel it's such a true benefit for our business because of the size of the site, its location, and where it fits in with all the redevelopment in the area of the storage and other businesses taking place. So that site at 390 Doolittle, it services the airport. And to answer another question, that's where the repair will take place of the cars and everything that goes.

All of our vehicles for the this area go into that airport location. They service them. So then this would be the first rental location for Avis Budget within the city limits of San Leandro. This would be

the first rental location? In quite a while. Yes. Okay. Gotcha.

Thank you for clarifying that. I was of the impression that several months ago, Avis was already renting based on what I'm reading here. Regarding charging infrastructure, electric vehicles, some of what we were touching on previously, What is, Avis' stance, budget stance on potentially being able to move forward in that direction, having a conversation, future proofing your location so that you're ready and able to support EV if the demand and the consumer appetite is there for EV rentals. Would you be willing to is Avis willing to upgrade the site with the appropriate charging infrastructure to support that? Without a doubt.

Avis currently owns Avis and Budget currently own about 10,000 EV vehicles, majority of them being in California, Arizona, and Florida.

We are looking forward to the process going forward. Unfortunately, as I think we all know, the charging systems that exist currently far are do not come close to meeting the demand of what is needed. I mean, when you look at it, San Francisco Airport has no charging systems available in the rental facilities. Mhmm. San Diego Airport has no charging systems available in the rental airports.

Mhmm.

So we're looking at it. We're very fortunate with this site to have a very favorable ownership that thought ahead of this. And I don't know if you're aware of it, but there were fuel tanks in there that had to be removed from the site going forward. Bob was thinking ahead, and he actually the power unit that ran across that made those fuel tanks go, he left inside the ground and actually ran it to the back wall of the facility. So at some point going forward in the future, we are looking to put in those charging units along the back wall wall of the facility to be able to do it.

In the meantime, we will have EV vehicles at the site that will be charged, and we'll charge them at various locations in the city to make sure that they're up to it or that someone's not gonna get something with a, you know, 5% charge.

Mhmm.

They'll at least have a 80% charge as yet moving around with. But we are all still learning about EV vehicles and the needs and the needs of the customer. So we will meet the demand for EV vehicles as the demand comes from the people of San Leandro.

That's great. That's, great to hear across the board. Appreciate that. Would you say the location here in in San Leandro compared to other Avis budget locations? I think you mentioned, in the report, Can't readily locate it, but I wanna say Livermore just across the the hill. There's a few locations out that way. Do those locations carry on-site charging capacity or availability? Would San Leandro just kinda be an anomaly for not having the EV charging infrastructure required for an EV fleet if that's gonna

be rented? We're have looked at putting these in. I'm not sure how familiar you are. The cost varies depending on the type of EV program you have with the three different charging systems. It can get very expensive.

As a company, we had a $10,000,000 budget and met it very quickly. We have tried to go to the larger sites, our airport division first, and then move out. But we, you know, we currently have charging systems at a number of our locations. But as I'm sure you're aware, the permitting for that EV is also time consuming and can take up to a year, up to two years in some areas just to get the charger itself approved.

Sure.

So we're working our way through these at a number of locations. Obviously, San Leandro at some point will become one of them. Mhmm. And that's basically the bottom line is we we are looking at it and and doing everything we can. We have a number of stores that are simply plugging them into a one ten outlet and letting it take four or five days to charge as they wanna have them. I mean, EV rentals provide us revenue.

Mhmm.

And Mhmm.

There's no reason to turn down revenue. We wanna do it. Perfect. So then just to reiterate for my own my own sense here, you would be open to a conversation with the city within a year time frame regarding EV charging infrastructure upgrades. That discussion's on the table. Avis Budget is open to having that open dialogue with with the city.

Without a doubt. Okay. Like I said, anything that provides us revenue, we're looking forward to it. We have all these EV vehicles. We need to be able to charge them at various places to be able to rent them and take care of them. So that is our goal in all of these places. And, when we do have that discussion, we you can help us expedite the permit process

a lot faster than the CUP has gone. You know? I I hear the billing department's got a a very top notch, I guess, system right now for the permitting process as it relates to kind of solar, battery backup, EV falling into that category, I would imagine as well too. So there's a Forward to of benefits in in that in that realm. Last thing from me, and I kind of view it as more of a worst case scenario, this year time frame in order for the permanent fencing to be installed.

Let me know if that's your assessment. If there is enough cash flow after the business is open, you guys are streaming along with being able to, take care of that permanent fencing within a shorter window than the granted one year time frame, that would essentially occur. You would look to install sooner than later versus hugging up to that one year duration.

When I spoke to the planning commission in regard to this and with the fencing and all, I said, very simply, we need to get open start making money. We have spent a tremendous amount of money at this site already

Mhmm.

Between the rent and different things that had to take place for the building department to bring things into code and take care of it. We need to get open and start doing. I'm not sure if you know the estimate, but it's somewhere between 40 to $60,000 for that tubular fence to go across the front Mhmm. Landscaping. This stuff all adds up, and and it's nice to make something look nice, but at some point, we have to get open.

And as I explained to them, we are now for our company going into the end of the third quarter into the fourth quarter, capital has been spent for this year and is accounted for. We can put it onto the twenty twenty five budget capital expenses that's expanded and then get the start the work next year. It's not our intent to take it to the end of it, but we have to get through 2024 with what we have. We can't throw another $4,060,000 into the budget at this point.

Understood. Perfect. Thank you. That's it for me. Okay.

I don't know that I'm gonna make this a condition, but I did want you to consider, painting all of the structures. Coming in new business, no better way to say that we're here than to actually make it look different. Right? And but I completely understand what you're saying about generating revenue. So are you are you hiring three new employees for this location?

We actually have the existing location that was in Hayward. We temporarily moved it to Oakland, which was supposed to be in place lat in '20 2023. And those people are hanging in there desperately looking to open this site. So as soon as that is, we're closing down that site that that's in Oakland at our truck facility there and moving. They'll be coming down here, and they are can't wait to get here.

That's great. That's great. And then and then one other thing. Of course, this is the building department. I'm always going to promote for an accessible restroom. It really doesn't look to me that either it was a condition by the building department, or that it is accessible from what I can see. And I'm always gonna say, you know, do what you can. Every customer who comes in your door deserves the dignity for an accessible restroom. So

I would agree, and and we will definitely look to make sure that happens. There are two restrooms, one inside and one is kind of an outside place, but we will definitely make sure that it's accessible for someone to be able to use.

Thank you.

And just as a side note, there is a bicycle rack there now with Yeah. Six

Mister Rich is very happy. Are there is there anyone from the public who wishes to speak?

Hi. Hi. Are I'm Larry.

Robert? Are you Robert?

I'm sorry?

I'm sorry. I'm just

I'm Larry.

Larry. Larry.

Okay. Hi. So I've been on Washington Avenue about forty years. I'm speaking kinda loud because I can't hear very good. I've had an upholstery shop, and I've had a t shirt company. The upholstery shop is the one I'm concerned about because we closed a t shirt shop now, now I got an upholstery shop. How does upholstery relate to rental cars? I'm gonna tell you. Across the street from my shop, a company called Crash Champions opened up. They're a body shop.

You're familiar? Every day, that lady has at least 40 open tickets, 40 invoices for 40 cars that came in for repair. Most of those car needs most of those cars need airbag repair. That involves upholstery. That involves me. Around the corner, there's another body shop. I believe it's called Spectrum. I don't think I have the name correct, but it's across to you from dart Ghirardelli Chocolate. He's got at least 30 tickets every month or every day that are open. These are cars that are coming in.

These are cars they can't get parts for so the cars sit until they get parts. The owner of the car needs to do what? He needs to rent a car. The problem is we're sending all the rental people to Oakland. There are 11 rental car companies at the airport. There's maybe one in San Leandro. I think it's called oh, god. I forgot. I'm sorry? I I forget the name.

But they're near the hospital, Kaiser Hospital. So San Leandro is missing a lot of revenue as far as rental car. I mean, nobody wants to leave San Leandro, go all the way to the Oakland Airport to pick up a rental. Enterprise will bring you a rental. Most of the other cars won't. I've had customers come to my shop, leave a car, they need a rental car. They gotta go to the Oakland Airport. It would be nice to go right around the corner and get a rental car. The property, I've looked at it. I've been on that street for over forty two years.

I've looked at that property. It was a great trucking company at one time. They made a lot of money. They moved a lot of freight. So that's a great opportunity for anybody, especially a rental car company, especially a rental car company because it helps my business. And if you look in San Leandro, we probably have, I counted, over 30 body shops in the area. Over 30 body shops. We have glass shops. We have three upholstery shops. That's not good.

We need more people repairing cars. But if we can't get a rental car company to give you a car so your car can come in and be repaired, we're not doing our job and the city's losing money. And I mean, I would If I was on this commission, I'd wrap my arms around these two guys. What can we do for you? I mean, I spent two years trying to get this done. Let's make it happen. I went through this a few years ago and it's brutal. It's tough. And owning a small business is is brutal. Even a big business is tough.

But we need to wrap our arms around business people that wanna come here, spend money. Our restaurants are gonna make money. Our repair facilities are gonna make money. Ghirardelli's gonna sell more hot fudge sundaes. Am I right? Yes. I am. They're right around the corner. So a rental car company helps everybody, and we don't have one. We don't we have enterprise.

That's one. We have I think we have three others that are smaller companies, but I think it's just unbearable to imagine going through this for two years and making people jump through hoops. I understand some are necessary. Thank We really need to embrace these people that are willing to put their, you know, themselves out there because that piece of property is like Pring's Restaurant. I don't know if you guys know Pring's Restaurant.

Thank you. Sorry. Your time is up. Time is up? Thank you. Yep.

We'll just start over. Here we go. I'm Larry. Thank you.

Thank you. Robert Batenich?

Hello. Thank you for the opportunity here for, my tenant here to to move in. I've owned that property for forty years. And if you if any of you have been in the city for long enough, that was a pretty rough looking piece of property at one time. And Rogers Trucking was my tenant, And and I've before I had my business in the front of it and then later, I met Frank took over the whole place.

And one of the things I did when I when I bought Frank's the the the the second quadrant, there's a 14327. I recently had well, about four years ago, I bought it from Frank after he retired. And we had fuel tanks in there, diesel tanks, and gas tank, all of which I removed for my tenant on the contingency that they didn't wanna have the risk of of any problems. That site is now clean. What I gave up was a million dollars to replace that.

And for the idea that I had a triple a tenant coming and and a first class. I also turned away about 10 different people that wanted to rent the property from the period of time that we before we became an had an agreement. I was raised in this town. I was moved here in 1953, and I've been a part of your community ever since. And I'm hoping that you will approve this because there this is, like, I think, an asset to city of San Leandro.

We got a triple a company here. That's Avis Budget, so national company. It'll be here, and they'll they will accommodate this this to the city as necessary. And I don't know what else to say that I've I think this is way too much paperwork to go through and two years of misery. And then with the idea that after I pulled the tanks, we didn't have a occupancy permit.

So I spent a lot of money. Avis has spent a lot of money. They were gonna spend more money. Oh, and one important thing, Anthony, you mentioned about the wash wash rack and everything. That was put in, I think, and I put that in in 1985 '88 or someplace in there.

It was required by Orilloma because that was when the environmental needed to be done because Frank wanted to start washing washing the trucks down, and that was his maintenance facility. So that's where how that building got built there because Oro Loma required it to be covered and all the drainage to go into the the water separator. What else I have to say? Any other questions you have for me? Anybody?

No questions?

Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much.

I'll now close the public hearing and bring the item back for discussion by the commission. Any items? Mister Bolt?

Yes. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. Thank you for all the conversation we've had. I'm I'd like to move to to adopt this measure.

I would urge us not to add any additional conditions to this so that we don't create a position later on. I understand what you're saying, vice chair. We wanna see this, EV take off, and it's important to the community. But what I do know is when there's money to be made and if EV's that situation, they're gonna come to the city, and they'll add a 100 of them if they could to make more money. So I don't think adding a additional condition to this would would actually help us.

I'd I'd like to see them get open and and start building revenue and and helping the community. So I make a motion to adopt the resolution.

Second that.

Commissioner Tejada.

Thank you for the owner, the added clarification there on the oil water separator. That does speak a lot to when it came into play, the existence of it, and I'm sure, you know, the upkeep and the maintenance that that you've dealt with there for the oil water separator. So appreciate that. And I do agree with with Larry there that another, car rental facility in the limits of San Leandro is essentially worthwhile to have. It's it's a economic generator. It's, it's it's good for the community altogether. So completely agree wholeheartedly there with that with that description. There you go. Yeah. Is Jared Elli is awesome.

I I would I concur. Respectfully, commissioner Bolt, I I see your position in terms of not wanting to add a condition of approval regarding the future proofing and charging infrastructure upgrades for the site. My take, probably consistent with what you guys were able to pick up from, the prior segment here, was the fact that Avis Budget is open to having that conversation. This isn't a condition that would saddle them with an unduly requirement to meet x amount of criteria within a year time frame. It's more so just a belt and suspenders approach for Avis and Budget to have a conversation with the city within a year time frame regarding the data and metrics they would have collected within that year time frame and the potential for installation of charging infrastructure upgrades to occur.

So keeping the door open, keeping the dialogue going, undoubtedly, I would I would say yes. EV, you know, is the wave of what we're all gonna be seeing here in the future. Adding a bit of, a connection there, to use that phrase again, the belt and suspenders approach, only benefits San Leandro in ultimately meeting our goal of EV throughout the city limits. So, to me, my opinion would be, in favor of everything tied to the proposal, tied to what's in front of us right now with the one insertion of with the one insertion of having that conversation within a year time frame specific to installation of EV charging infrastructure upgrades. So my friendly amendment would be just for that.

My friendly amendment would be for a condition of approval that the applicant and city review the potential installation of charging infrastructure upgrades to support an EV fleet within one year time frame.

I would accept the friendly amendment if the seconder would Yeah. As well.

I'm okay with the amendment as well.

And just to restate the original motion more formally was to adopt the proposed resolution and approve PLN23Dash0016 conditional use permit to allow a vehicle rental use in a fence modification to allow for a new eight foot high fence to be built within the required front setback at 14327 Washington Avenue based on the recommended findings of fact and subject to the recommended conditions approval with the addition of a condition of approval that there'd be a discussion in a year between the city and the applicant to explore EV charging installation.

Correct? Yes.

Unfortunately, the time for public comment is over. I'm going to mister Hatahara? Actually, I'm sorry. Unfortunately, we can't have any public comment at this point. Okay.

Can can we have a vote based off of Alex's reading of of the item. The motion passes unanimously. Decisions of the planning commission are final unless appealed to the city council by filing a form to the city clerk within fifteen days of the date of this action. The form shall specifically state the reason for the appeal, and the appeal and an appeal fee is required. Do we have any miscellaneous items?

Yes. We do have one miscellaneous item. I would like to ask senior planner Cindy Lemaire to give us an update on a condition of approval that the Planning Commission Board of Zoning Adjustments placed upon the Altamira Club last year when you heard their conditional use permit. And so I'm gonna go ahead and turn this over to to Cindy to give you an update.

Thank you very much. So as Avalynn stated, this is an oral report to you. Following up on the on conditional use permit item PLN twenty three zero zero one one for the Altamira Club to add events and and update their permit to a conditional use permit. Condition number 10 of resolution twenty twenty three zero zero six required the Altamira Club to hold two neighborhood meetings approximately six months and one year after the board of zoning adjustments approved a conditional use permit allowing the club to hold events at the Peralta House at 561 Lafayette. That approval occurred on September 7.

The neighborhood meetings were held on Monday, March 11 from 4PM to 6PM and on Monday, August 26 from 5PM to 6PM. Approximately a dozen people attended both of those neighborhood meetings. None of the attendees had any complaints about the conduct of Altamira Club events during that year. Staff also checked the police records prior to the two meetings and determined that there have also been no calls for service to that site, which is fantastic. According to the Altamira Club, they are currently hosting approximately 10 events per month, which is less than the 20 events that are allowed on condition number seven, the resolution that you passed last year.

Happy to entertain any questions.

Thank you for the update.

Thank you very much. Mister Bolt?

Yes. When when we were doing that, there was people who came in here from the community really concerned about the noise. And what we said was we would review it talking about through complaints that would be brought to the city. Is there do we have any numbers? Like, were there any complaints about it? None. Perfect. Thing. Great. Thank you.

Not a thing. Fantastic.

And kind of going off of that, I recall the folks that came in with their concerns kind of expressly with noise, with parking. The list kinda went on and on. For these sessions that were held on 03/11 and 08/26, what were the notification requirements if they were spelled out within our conditions of approval that occurred? Did flyering within a certain radius need to occur? I just want to ensure you you said 12 people were part of each one of these sessions. Are those 12 people that just kind of by happenstance were aware of the actual event occurring, or was direct mailers were direct mailers provided to each one of the residences?

There were approximately 12 total. Everybody who attended the second meeting also attended the first meeting. But as for the noticing requirements, we actually did not specify in the conditional use permit what the noticing requirements would be. But because it's a city requirement to have the neighborhood events, they prepared a flyer, and we mailed it out to a 500 foot radius. In addition, the caretaker on the property spread the word.

That's great. Okay. So it did make a 500 foot radius, and that was issued well in advance of both of these meetings occurring. Okay. And I think the condition was just for the one year time frame to observe, so nothing continues on beyond this year at this point. Okay.

Mhmm.

Thank you.

Do we have any comments from the commissioners?

Mister Rich?

I'd like to congratulate staff for San Leandro earning the pro housing designation from HCD from the state. I think that's awesome. So thank you very much. Well done.

Commissioner Tejada?

Yes. And I would just like to give an update for happenings in District 4. Folks may have seen a notification flyer and or social media invites that have gone out for a day in the park. So that's gonna be held this Saturday, starting at 9AM with breakfast, light breakfast, and ending that evening with a movie in the park. That movie will be I believe it's Ratatouille.

But in between the full time of that day, we'll be having performances, activities for the kids, booths, activities for everyone within the community to take part in. There's also a free lunch from twelve to two. So on top of just breakfast, there will also be lunch, burgers, and hot dogs, and just a great time for everyone. This is an event that's coming back from the last time it was held in 2017, hosted by the Washington Manor Homeowners Association. So the HOA is now bringing it back.

I actually serve on the HOA as one of the first vice presidents for it. So it's a near and dear, long standing tradition that we are happy to see come back. And while it is for District 4, we're certainly not gonna turn away anyone that does show up. So if you happen to find yourself in the area of District 4 Washington Manor Park this Saturday, we'd love to see you there. Thanks.

I was able to meet with, some constituents, this past weekend, from Estadio Estates, and they, would very much like to get an update on, I can imagine, the parcel that we're talking about. I believe that's 1388 Bancroft Avenue on the corner of Bancroft And Estadio. Is that correct? This one here. It's hard to read this map.

Right. It sounds like, hopefully, we're gonna get an update today, maybe. They were also very interested in the bridge at Cary Drive that goes over the creek. And they are also interested to know, although I don't know that the planning department, knows much about this, but of the traffic or the closing of Lake Shebelle Road or the opening of Lake Shebelle Road. So I don't know that that's this board, but I just wanted to report on that.

Yeah. Do we have any staff updates?

Yes. We do. I wanted to start by introducing a new member of our team. We have Rena Kasike here tonight. She's shadowing Lucy and learning, you know, the ropes of running this meeting and assisting us.

So thank you, Raina, for being here, and welcome to our team. I wanted to share an update from the last time this group met. You recommended amendments to the municipal code and zoning code that were reviewed by the city council in July. They did go ahead and approve the code amendments, and they did add back in the standards related to electrified fencing. So they also required that anything with security fencing, like razor wire or barbed wire, would require a Knox box for, like, safety personnel to be able to safely access the the sites.

Those code amendments went into effect in mid August, and now our team that focuses on enforcement is doing coordinated proactive enforcement of these new zoning code standards. So hopefully, you're noticing along East Fourteenth Street, there's been a real concerted effort to have some cleanup. We're moving down. You know, there's over 700 businesses on that corridor, so we're making our way down the corridor. We also have a new platform called My San Leandro.

You're probably seeing advertisements about it. It's the new what it's referred to as, like, a mobile three one one system, not to be confused with the mobile three eleven system, which was the branded name of our last system. So it's a little confusing. But My San Leandro is a different app from My SL, and it is a way to submit concerns to the city and have them triaged and go to the right staff. So I recommend all of you download it to your mobile devices and help spread the word.

It's a lot more efficient for our team at the city to respond to concerns that come in through the platform than getting one off emails from constituents or board members. It's it's it's just quicker, easier, trackable, you know, easier to report out. We're we're really excited about it. There's gonna be a presentation at the next council meeting next Monday on that platform. It's driven by a platform called See Click Fix.

And there's also going to be a an update on the Lake Chabot Road, a work session for the city council so that for your concerned constituents, that would be something to refer them to. We are so I will ask planning manager, Weyland Lee, if he has an update on 1388 Bancroft. I know it's one of many approved development projects. Maybe, Weyland, you can also just give an update on the development activity map handout. Go ahead.

Sure. With first, with regards to the site at 1388 Bancroft, the the owner recently submitted a demolition permit application for the city to review, and so that's currently under review right now with the intention of demolishing the existing existing buildings on the site. They have not indicated a timeline in which they plan to to construct the construct the approved project. The project the project approvals are still valid, and they still have time to act on their entitlement. Once the buildings are demolished, they would be required to secure the site per the vacant lot standards that the planning commission the that the city council recently adopted.

You re onto the development activity map and table. You may notice that we left a copy of the map and table with you this afternoon. There are not I mean, before this meeting, there were not any significant updates to the to the to the projects on the on listed on the on the table, but staff really recently did complete enhancement of the table to include some detailed sheets that would be linked from the table with, you know, renderings and graphics and more detailed information with the intention that the public or members of the development community can take that information and have conversations about the project.

Thank you, Wayland. I also wanted to share that the economic development strategy that was our department was leading the charge on was approved by the city council on Tuesday night. The city council at their priority session, a priority setting session, most recently approved the creation of two new council priority work plans. One was related to quality of life. Many of the issues this group has discussed with sites that have been an attractive nuisances or blighted.

And so that will be that's being prepared by staff for recommendation to the city council. And then the fifth is the economic development strategy work plan. So now that we have the strategy approved, our team will be building out work plan recommendations that will go back to city council in the fall. And I know that's of the topic is of importance to this body as well. And then I wanted to make sure you all were aware.

There is a save the date out for March for a planning commissioner academy in Santa Rosa. So if you can block your calendars March if you have an interest in attending, We'll share more information when it becomes available. And thank you so much, Commissioner Rich, and all of the commissioners for your work on the pro housing designation. I would say, you know, that designation is very much a team effort, and it was the cum you know, the culmination of all of the work that went into the housing element, very aggressive updates to our zoning code and our processes and how we do business on the building permitting side. And Wayland was very helpful in getting a statistic of, you know, we actually received the highest score in the entire Bay Area.

We have a thirty thirty point minimum to get the designation, and we had 64 points. And we're tied for fourth in the state as highest, you know, in in the point allocation. And the significance of the points other than bragging rights is that it helps us in our applications for grant funds. So not only did San Leandro meet the requirement, but we, you know, flew past it, and we are definitely showing leadership. So something we should all be proud of.

Yeah.

Thank you.

Sorry. If would it be appropriate for questions to the updates provided by the chair?

Yes.

Okay. Since we kinda went over the the matrix and the development activity map, just one question comes to mind for I believe it's I believe it's project number 25, ID number 25. So flipping to the status update on that, it shows as though it's in building permit review. I'm just wondering, is that more so driven by the client's what's the acronym there? SPR, the client's individual site plan review that they're taking on or where that's currently at?

Just because the site itself has been kind of barren for some time and curious as to to what's happening there with that project.

I can report there's there's no recent activity with that with that project. It is an approved it is an approved project. It is entitled. We receive development interest. We do we do receive questions about that about that project periodically, but I have nothing to report in terms of recent activity.

I I can just share that that's the approved affordable project on Washington, 72 units, and they are still in the process of seeking their public financing. And there have just been changes and really competitive grant cycles. And so they've not been successful in in securing all the funding needed to get the project moving. But our, you know, our department is actively working with them on the housing side to creatively come up with other other potential funding sources and and help them.

Okay. Yeah. Thanks for pointing that out. That's Abode Communities as the applicant. So the applicant hasn't changed.

Their intent is still to move forward with that affordable housing 72 unit development on Washington Avenue. I'm just wondering, it sounded like there's potential with the gold star here housing wise that the city has just recently earned if some of that plowed in good favor could be leveraged towards maybe assisting the app assisting the applicant with what they're navigating right now for grants and approvals and the like that need to be met in order for for this development to really start moving. It has been I can't quote exactly how long, but it's been a few years at least that it's been in this kind of barren state fenced off without any sort of activity occurring.

Yep. That's correct. It's a good point. One of the challenges with the site too is that, you know, a lot of the funding sources really prioritize locations close to transit, like BART sites. And this site is not particularly close to to BRT or BART. And so it's it's, I'd say, a challenge. But for sure, we will hope that this pro housing designation gains us access to additional sources. And, you know, it's an ever evolving field, so they're very well equipped to to secure funding. You know, I think they're they're a very proven nonprofit partner. So we're working definitely actively working with them, yeah, and looking for opportunities.

I'll just add. As I am misremembering, the city committed millions of dollars for this project, and so they certainly are wanna see it get, yeah, built.

And then only because we're a few months removed from our last meeting. Myself, I missed the June meeting, so my favorite topic of greenhouse market wasn't able to be presented. I think the last update of Greenhouse Market, the former Goodwill Commerce location was there was keen interest of a new tenant coming on board, and there was a lot of discussion kind of materializing in that tenant taking over the property. To the extent that the city is able to share, are there any further updates regarding the former Goodwill location and kind of what potentially might transpire with that site?

Yeah. I mean, just unfortunately, there was a prospective purchase. The property is listed for sale. We were informed that it fell through, that the buyer is no longer proceeding. So, you know, we're continuing to we are continuing to do enforcement.

And the property was leaned in July for unpaid citations. So the council uses that tool when citations have accrued. They're not paid. They can place those as a special assessment on properties so that so we're we're using all of the tools available to us and continuing to try to support through building an economic development, respective tenants or activation of the site. But we've not been successful in seeing that occur yet. And continue to work with our legal team on on defining appropriate, you know, legally defensible ways to increase our enforcement.

Understood. And at least speaking from the Washington Manor HOA, that continues to be a topic that comes up kind of month to month is what's happening with Greenhouse, what's happening with Goodwill. So me relaying that message is is more so on behalf of the HOA and wanting to get an understanding of it.

You could let them know that I was going to see here. We had a over 80 inspections have been conducted, so it's not for lack of effort. I think it's helpful to champion that even when you don't see a progress, it doesn't mean that nothing's happening on the city side.

Thank you.

I just wanted to ask you to repeat that app. I think to write it down now.

Yeah. The my San Leandro. Oh, okay. So my and then spelling out San Leandro.

And it's already available to

Yeah.

It's available. And if people want to, you can submit anonymous complaints, but if you create a login, you know, I think it helps you track, you know, the cases that you've submitted. I use it where I live, and it's really handy. Snap a picture, and you can hide your identity if you don't want it to be publicly available. And it's just a great way to let the city know.

I think it's been a very clear council priority to focus on cleanup and beautification and responsiveness. And so we rely on the community informing us about where the need is, and then we can address it. And there will be a council work session I'm sorry. Not a council work session, but a rules committee meeting on September 25 that's focused on enforcement and concern response. So for those who are interested, we'll be doing a whole multi departmental presentation.

Waylon, I just have a few questions for you. This lovely sheet that you've created here, is this available for distribution?

It is available on the city's website under the planning divisions development activities page.

Okay. And then these these links here, these live links will take you to what type of documents? Is It

would it would link to the the info

The sheet that goes with it. Wonderful. Thank you. Just a few more questions about thirteen eighty eight. You said that when it does go through demo well, one, was this the first time that the owner applied for a demolition permit? It was just recently in the last few weeks?

Not familiar with a previous application, but I understand there's been many discussions about demolition and recently. Yes.

Okay. That would be public record if they to see how many times or if it whether it was the first time?

Submit the permit. It would be a public record. My recollection is there were some issues with needing PG and E to disconnect certain utilities before they could apply. Okay.

Also, you said when it is demolished that there was some code for open or leveled lot. Could you quote say that again?

The city council recently adopted amendments to the municipal code re retaining to vacant lot maintenance. So there'd be initial standards with regards to the condition of the site, and that also includes site security standards in terms of fencing of a of a vacant property.

Okay. Thank you. And if and if we wanted to understand when an entitlements expires or things like that, the dates that are associated with the entitlements package for that piece of property, where would is that also available online?

We can we can supply those dates to you upon request. They're not they're not on the they're not on the table that's been provided to you. We'd have to do some calculations based on the recent extension that the planning commission and the council move forward with, but we can provide that information to you.

Was there an extension to this specific property? No.

Was part of the city's efforts to help facilitate housing projects. It was a blanket for all housing entitlements, so of of two years.

Okay. Okay. Thank you. Well, don't think there are any other comments. The time is now 08:27, and the meeting is now adjourned.