Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

And that's okay.

I know, right? Oh my God, that's funny. Stare at it. Make us nervous. Right?

The more the better. All right. Are you guys ready?

Good evening. It is Wednesday, April 8th, 7 p.m. I would like to call the Planning Commission meeting to order. First off, do we have any disclosure of participation by teleconference pursuant to government code section 54953.8.3?

There have been no requests for remote participation. All right. Thank you. Roll call, please. Commissioner Atwal. Commissioner Chavez.

Present.

Commissioner Shrout. Present. Vice Chair Boachie Boateng.

Present.

And Chair Penning.

Present.

Thank you.

Okay, this is kind of a new one, so bear with me. Just real quick, are there any declarations of conflict for the items that are on the agenda tonight?

No conflicts.

No conflicts.

No conflicts. If you could please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you for that. All right. The city will continue to allow for remote participation by members of the public at tonight's meeting by using the following option. online by logging into WebEx using the link provided and under public comment, raise your hand to speak by clicking on the hand icon on the participants panel to the right of your screen. This procedure will be used to receive all comments received from WebEx during items from the audience and all new business. All right, presentations. We do have one presentation.

Oops, Channel 26, can you get my presentation up, please? Well, first of all, good evening, Commission. My name is David Nafusi. I'm the City Attorney for the City of Tracy. Before I get into it, I first want to thank you all for your service to the City. Without you all, we couldn't do the work that we do, and especially on this Commission, there's an excellent symbiotic relationship between the Planning Commission and City Council. And so, which is why I'm here this evening. In large part, we wanna maintain consistency between our council meetings and boards and commission meetings. So when a member of the public or anyone else comes into the meeting, they get a sense of consistency. And part of that is our Brown Act, which guides bodies such as this body as well as the city council. So you're probably wondering why I'm here tonight. I believe all of you have had this training over the past year. There have been some updates to the government code, however, since we last did this training. In addition, some update to city council protocols, which do apply to the planning commission as well. And so because of that, we felt it prudent to do this training for you all this evening.

If I can pause you for one second. For the record, it's 7.03. Commissioner Atwell just joined the group.

All right. And I'm not one to read from my slides. And so, again, I'm not here to do that. So I might ad lib a little bit. As we're going along, if the commissioners have any clarifying questions, please feel free to ask. And at the end, if you all have any questions for me, I will do my best to answer them to the extent I can. So, again, so what we're going to be doing this evening, we're going to talk about the Brown Act. We're going to be talking about the California Public Records Act, some meeting management and best practices and protocols, and other updates we noted, particularly because of Senate Bill 707, which went into effect on January 1. So what is the Brown Act? I like to sum it up very simply for our members of the public and our residents. It's notice and opportunity to be heard. That's really what it boils down to. It's providing proper notice so that people know what the business is of the people and an opportunity to be heard if they wish to speak on an item ahead of time. That's why you probably hear the assistant city attorney and staff be sticklers about sticking to the agenda, not going outside of that and everything else. It's not because we're just sticklers for the rules, but that helps makes for fair and efficient meetings and really getting into that basic due process. In terms of what is a meeting, that's expanded over years. It used to be we'd all be here together. Now we've got remote participation, which we're going to get into here a little bit later. You also have social media platforms where because of the wonderful technology that we have, all of you on a Facebook page commenting on it could arguably constitute a quorum. But for all intent and purposes tonight, you all are a legislative body. You are appointed by the council. Thus, the Brown Act applies. Where it doesn't apply would be, for instance, if Chair Penning decided to appoint an ad hoc committee to look into something and it did not constitute a quorum. So two members or less to go through and maybe do some research and come back and report to the commission. At that point in time, so long as that ad hoc committee has a limited time, scope, and duration, you don't have to notice it as a Brown Act meeting. If it were a standing committee, for instance, that would be a bit different at which point you would have to do that. So everyone kind of understand that distinction there? I see some head nods, which is good. All right. So one of the new rules for 2026 is newly elected and appointed officials must receive a copy of a Brown Act. Who here has gotten their copy of the Brown Act? All right. Well, I don't know, Commissioner Atwell, if you didn't get one, we can get that over to you. But yes, we do need to provide you that copy of the Brown Act. That's a new rule. It's very handy. It's good to have. The League of California Cities also does a really good kind of summation of what the Brown Act is and how it applies. If you're ever looking for kind of a good cheat sheet, us lawyers rely on it quite a bit. It's not that we know this stuff all the time, but a lot of times it's good to refresh your recollection, which is why we do these trainings. Okay, so what is and what isn't a meeting? So when you got a quorum, yes, it's a meeting. So we get a lot of questions a lot of time because you all are out and about in the community. You go to a lot of city functions, political functions, state of the city address, service club meeting. Probably not if you guys all happen to be there. Now, if you're all huddling together or three or more of you are huddling together and talking about business that may become before commission, yes, at that point in time, I'd say you're probably conducting a meeting unannounced. agendized meeting. So just again, it's being mindful and kind of where you guys are at. It doesn't mean that you have to stop being human, but again, I think it just means you have to be more cautious. What's not a meeting? Individual contacts. So just like in the show, who wants to be a millionaire? You get kind of one phone, a friend, and that's really it. So if you've got a question for someone on the commission, you can call one person. What you can't do is kind of play the game of telephone where you start calling different people. You say, hey, I spoke to so-and-so, what do you think? So again, it's And it shouldn't really be to discuss businesses, or it could be, for instance, if one of our new commissioners is like, hey, should I wear a sport coat to the meeting? You know what? Actually, it's pretty informal. We wear collared shirts. Something like that, totally fine, but really shouldn't necessarily get down to the business. Conferences and seminars. You all probably want to go to a planning commissioner academy. That's fine. You guys can absolutely do that together. Community meetings. Yes, you can all be there. If you're attending a city council meeting. Now, here's where it might get a little bit tricky, though. If, for instance, there's a planning commissioning update to the city council, we're probably just going to ask one of you to speak. You get multiple speakers at that point. Arguably, you're having more than, especially if you get more than two speakers, you're having a quorum participate. So that's why you often see when the boards and commissions give updates to council, we limit it to just one speaker. And then social and ceremonial events. Again, it's just being mindful of your all surroundings and situations. Okay. So this is always the fun one. And I kind of alluded

to this earlier.

So serial meaning, and I do not mean this, but again, a serial meeting is more of an indirect type of communication. Again, it's the game of telephone. It could be a text message chain, a WhatsApp, any other thing else where you're kind of doing that, or, Hey, I heard from this person, they're going to support this. Let's say you, um, Reply all is something you all have to be careful about. If you guys get an email and it goes to all of you, I know sometimes I'm busy, I'm taking after my kids and I hit the reply, I think I'm just doing it to one person, I hit reply all. Again, just be mindful of that. That's why you see communications from staff will be BCC. Again, we just want to make sure that you guys are not having any discussions or anything else. The definitions and scope of meetings continue to expand as our platforms expand. So we think it's just important for you guys to be mindful of this. This is some pretty good cereal, by the way. I'm happy if you guys would like a little snack to pass that around. But yes, not a cereal as in that. I did have someone ask me that once. So social media. So again, again, this is an area that's constantly expanding it's just something you guys want to be mindful about and especially in your all's positions now why do i say that if you've got a project or something that's going to be coming before the planning commission and you're sitting there espousing things that may tilt one way or the other before the project gets there you can imagine that certain people may come out and say well clearly you're biased clearly you've got a stint on it one way or the other. That may or may not be true. But again, I think it's being careful and it's about social media and what you say and what you do. We ask that you guys not respond to each other in that as well. Sometimes it's tough, especially if you guys are talking like sports or something like that. No, I adjust. But more than anything else, it's just making sure that we're not conducting the city's business outside of this environment right here. So whether it's Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, X, anything else. It's just you all just being mindful of what you're doing and whatnot. People say, well, how do I avoid that? I kind of say, well, it's a first in time thing, really. You know, again, what could be potentially in front of this commission? And that's how you guys got to think about it when you're going through and doing your communications in social media. Okay, more Brown Act basics. So yes, the meeting needs to be within a local jurisdiction. We did an update to the chambers here not too long ago. So if we need to notice the location in another place, we can do that. We're gonna get into some teleconferencing. The big thing that we wanna clarify, number one, is it's in order to do with remote participation, a majority of the members need to be within the jurisdiction. We prefer to have people here, but with the way remote technologies work, the rule has expanded now. So as long as the majority members are within the City of Tracy city limits. But we're gonna get into a little bit the exceptions. The one thing we do ask, if you guys can please remember, if you believe you're not gonna be able to make a meeting and inquire about remote participation, check with staff and try to check with them as early as possible. Hey, I'm gonna be traveling. Hey, I'm not feeling so well, I might work from home. Give those notices the best way you can or as soon as you can. If you're doing it last minute, we've got to scramble around. We've got to find the rule. There might be something that we need to include on an agenda. So we want to make sure these meetings take place. Other things about the meetings must be fairly accessible, freely accessible. One thing on SB 707 that it mandated is that, at least for our city council meetings, is that they need to have a two-way communication. We believe that Planning Commission is another commission that the city should also do that, so we're going to be doing that here as well. Just to begin, we talk about that symbiotic relationship. between the two commissions we want to make sure that the items of business are being properly agendized that's going to be staff's job which is why there might be certain descriptions on there and again the agendas must be publicized and available at least 72 hours before your regularly scheduled meeting and 24 hours before a special meeting okay Again, no discussion on items not posted on the agenda. I think it's, again, this is a tough one because sometimes you go down those rabbit holes and sometimes something's tangentially related. You might see the attorney who's staffing the meeting say, Commissioner, we need to tie it back. And sometimes you can. But again, it's just being mindful. The reason why is that you might be talking about something that a member of the public really has a strong opinion on. And had that been properly posted, they would have come to the meeting. But having that there or talking about it when they're not having that hasn't been noticed properly. That's why we're going to be sticklers for that. But you can get some clarifications. Brief announcements on some things that you guys are doing at the end of the meeting when you get to commissioner comments. Have an item come back for a future meeting. Totally fine. And then, yeah, same thing, placement on items on the future agenda. all right so uh i grew up watching like leno and letterman and whatnot so i like to do a little top 10 list um you guys have probably seen this before we try to update it uh one thing i like to just remind you all is that the public has a right to speak and criticize the body it's just it's part of the job it's part of you all being up there we take it as staff um you know the advice is not to go tit for tat for them you know give them their time let them go don't make it a q a and then you know say thank you and move on to the next speaker Enforce all speaking time limits consistently for all speakers. The rules have been updated. We're gonna go through those in a little bit, but we try to get rid of arbitrary decisions here at these types of public meetings. Why? So that there's an expectation of what it's gonna be. There's no one can say, well, you gave two minutes on this item, but four on this. You clearly had a preference one way or the other. We do it now based on the number of speakers who attend. That way you all don't have to think staff will be able to let you all know what the time is. and it's not going to be arbitrary anymore this is another one that's come up this next one on number eight avoid texting phones other devices from the dais why public records act we're going to get into that later basically when you're here the assumption is is that you all are conducting the city's business if you are on a device whether you're doing business for the city or not If I'm a member of the public and I've got strong feelings about a project and I see someone on a laptop on their phone or anything else, and this happened in the city of San Jose, and this is a famous case that went up to the Supreme Court. I kind of geek out over these cases. But basically, a member in the audience saw something on a development project and asked for those text messages from the city council member. City council member said, it's my private phone. It's not subject to the Public Records Act. The city was like, hey. We don't have any control over that. And you know what the California Supreme Court said? They said, nope, that's not the case. Regardless of the platform, regardless of who owns the device, if you're doing the public's business on that device, it is subject to a Public Records Act. What that might lead for you all, though, is even if you guys are not doing the public's business. If someone makes a Public Records Act request and says, hey, Commissioner, I want all the texts you were doing at this meeting from this time. Well, I was texting my significant other about dinner plans and what we're doing. That's not the city's business. You still have to disclose that you weren't doing the city's business up on the dais. So again, it's just being smart about that. Talked about this earlier, try to avoid debate between public comment speakers and yourselves. I know it can be difficult to do sometime, but we advise it. Sticking to the agenda is going to be really big. We like to really emphasize that. That protects you all, protects the city. Real important to do that, to kind of keep within the limits. You can do friendly amendments. You can pass things as amended. What you can't do, though, is kind of bring in something that's completely outside the realm of and do that. So just be mindful again you've got your staff and attorney here to give you guidance throughout the meeting. All right, disclose any conflicts or potential conflicts about agenda items of staff before the meeting starts. This is a big one. So you've got an attorney, you've got staff here. Hey, I used to play on a competitive softball team with this person and we still go out and hang out every once in a while. Can I hear this item? They'll take you through the process to determine whether or not a conflict exists. Or just like anything else, a lot of times we're trying to avoid the appearance of a conflict. Again, that's going to be very important, especially on projects that may be challenged, something that may be going up for the city council. We want to make sure there's as clean a record as possible. So avoiding sidebar conversations during a break. So you're having a heated discussion. The chair wisely says, let's take a 10-minute break. What you don't want to do is get together with anyone else, but especially with three other people and start to huddle at that point in time, what are you doing? You're having a meeting. At one point, I had to address an allegation at another place where I worked where they said there was a sidebar conversation. Fortunately, the camera was still rolling and I was able to show that there are only two of them there. But at the same time, I had to advise the two, like, it's a very bad look when you're sitting there basically seeming like you're coming up with solutions outside of the dais. So... You do have the option to put items on a future agenda. Sometimes that's a good way to save the day if you guys feel like you aren't getting anywhere or if you feel like you're getting a lot of public comments on something, it's not on the agenda. Staff, can we bring this item back on a future agenda? Do I have consensus to do that? That'll help kind of move things along. Do not disclose privileged or confidential communications from staff to the extent that comes forward. And then finally, stick to the agenda. So. All right, so some new protocols for you all to consider. Number one, so speaker time limits are going to be based on the number of speakers. So some of you were at the council meeting last night and might have seen this. So if it's four or less, or sorry, yes, four or less, they get four minutes. Five to 15, I believe it's three minutes. 16 to 25, two minutes. And then more than 25, it's 90 seconds. Now, here's a new rule that we put into place. Everyone deserves a chance to speak, but a lot of times people don't think they're going to speak, and then all of a sudden they hear the other speakers like, well, I'm going to get up and speak now. What a lot of jurisdictions have done to kind of control that, because otherwise you might have people go all night, is to basically, when you have, say, can I get public comment? The clerk and the chair will work to capture how many people are online and in person. If you get anyone else that comes on, we're giving them 90 seconds moving forward. Again, we're treating everyone equally. Everyone gets the opportunity to speak. A lot of cities have been dealing with this problem, though. Again, you have an opportunity to speak, but you were given that chance at the beginning. You chose not to. You're responding to something someone else said as opposed to advising the council. That's really the rationale for that. Another thing that we've done as well is that we've asked that written comments be due by 12 p.m. the day of the meeting. Why did we do that? Well, the last thing we want for you all or for us as staff is to get a, we're just going to call a bomb of a report dropped on us at 5.45 the day of a meeting. And staff and you all were all scrambling around to say, what is this? Why? It may still make its way into the packet, but at least if you get it to us by 12 p.m., We have time to digest it, to update you all as a commission. This letter came in making certain claims. We'd like to be able to respond to those. That gives us a good amount of time to do that and making sure we're not rushed. another thing too is for special meetings the purpose of a special meeting is to address specific items on the agenda it's not the regular meeting so the council has opted to make public comments limited to items on the agenda that's the practice for most jurisdictions statewide so moving forward if you all do decide to have a special meeting again meaning that not on your regular time frame you'll have the opportunity to do public comment but only for the items that are on the agenda not a general public comment okay I know I'm going pretty quickly. Any questions so far? I'll save them for the end. All right. Thank you, Chair. All right. So a quorum must be present within the jurisdiction. Again, we talked about that earlier from remote participation. All votes by roll call. The teleconferencing location needs to be accessible to the public with agendas properly posted. Now, here's a big one. Your camera needs to be on and your audio needs to be on as well. That's going to be very important. There are certain exceptions under the ADA. And again, if you feel like you've got that, we'd ask that you work with staff to kind of work on that. And that's going to be real important to do that in advance of the meeting as much as possible. Excuse me. All right. So how do I know if I can participate remotely? So the just cause exemption for remote participation was expanded with Senate Bill 707. So caregiving for family members, you've got a contagious illness, need related to physical or mental condition, travel on official business of the legislative body. Again, we wanna make sure, so Planning Commissioner Academy, Yes, that would be a very good excuse. You're up in Sacramento doing something for the city vis-a-vis your role in the planning commission. Yes. But, you know, hey, I'm on the coast taking surf lessons and I'd like to I'm in my boogie board shack and I'd like to do this. Not quite the same thing. Physical or family medical emergency and then a military service obligation. So, again, we've got more of an expansive scope. The best thing to do is, again, if you think you're going to be absent or know you're going to be absent and want to participate remotely, check with staff as soon as you know. So the Planning Commission is scheduled to meet twice per month in a year. So therefore, you're allowed a maximum under the new rules of five remote appearances per year. And again, this is just background information for you all. We are not encouraging this. But again, if you need to, we will absolutely help you get there to make sure you can participate remotely. All right. So we're moving on to the PRA, California Public Records Act. It's the state's equivalent to FOIA, or Freedom of Information Act. Basically, any type of written communication data in which you're doing the city's business, so whether it's social media, text message, on a piece of paper, email, anything else, it's a very broad scope of what is a public record. prepared owned and retained and again that's not necessarily always by the city it's going to be by the individual who's doing it we have a duty as a city if we were to get a public records act request to check with you all for any and all records that you might have i don't know if anyone's been here when that's happened and you've gotten an email from the clerk or someone else but you know again we'll walk you through the process and how that works um Again, being mindful of your personal devices and kind of how you use them for city's business, just because they would be subject to that. We talked about this before, it doesn't really matter if it's a city cell phone or not. If you're being used to conduct the people's business, again, it's gonna be subject, those communications are subject disclosure pursuant to the PRA. So I've had this question come up before. How do they know if I don't tell them? It's not like anyone else is going to search my phone. True. But what happens if we get into litigation? At that point, we get into discovery. At that point in time, they can get much more access there than anything else. And under the PRA, if you did not produce records, when you had those records, and it comes out during litigation that you did have the records, you're going to be in some trouble. So again, it's just being mindful of that as well. In terms of what is a public record, again, very, very broad scope. There are going to be exemptions that we'll go through. It's going to be things that are subject to attorney-client privilege, personnel information, medical information. There's a whole list of things that you can imagine. Draft documents, certain things that are, you know, Brown Act, you know, closed session records. Here's a list of the rest of them there. Certain things where we can assert privilege over our deliberative privilege process. The other thing, too, which is really good for us is we've got this, and I don't know the new code they up. This is really weird that the legislator did this, but they used to be the code used to be 6,200 at sequence. For no reason whatsoever, they changed it to 7,900. So for those of us who are practicing for the first part of our career, we know everything is like 6,254, 6,255. I call it the 6,255 catch-all. It's now, yeah, 7,922. point zero zero zero but for us old schoolers the 6255 that's the weighing of it and uncertain times we might look at something to say does the benefit of disclosing this record is it outweighed by us keeping it there now sometimes it could be for instance i'll give you an example um there was a, the police broke up a dispute between two rival gangs and they had their body worn cameras on. And a gang member says, I want a PR request collecting the gang footage because I want to see who was there and whatever. Well, okay, you released the gang footage. All of a sudden, next thing you know, you might have a retribution. The police decide at that point in time, we're going to give it a bit of a cooling off period. We think the benefit of keeping, not disclosing this record outweighs its disclosure. That's one example. And then sometimes we can consider that if based on the category of records, but again, we'll be the ones making that decision on the staff side. You all don't have to worry about that. All right. Moving on to meeting management. So just some basic rules for you to think about. We ask that no commissioners speak twice until all commissioners have spoken once and or had the opportunity to have spoken. Your chair is going to be the one administering the meeting and assisted by the vice chair if they're unable to do so and then further assisted by staff. Something that we ask, especially because of the nature of your all's work in the public hearings, and you'll notice this at council meetings, is just trying not to have a substantive discussion until the public hearing is over. Clarifying questions, yes, absolutely. Hey, can you go back to this slide and explain to me how it works? Yes. What we don't want to do is kind of tip our hand ahead before the public speaks. Why? Because you all are supposed to consider what the public says when you're making your determinations. I've heard the public on this. However, at least you can say you've acknowledged you heard the public as opposed to, well, I guess we're just going to open up the public hearing. But quite frankly, I don't see this project making a theory regardless of what all you people want to say. Well, at that point in time, you're discouraging people. It's not doing your jobs as the commissioner and kind of considering everything. So again, clarification, yes, absolutely. We encourage it. But really give the public a chance to speak before you get into your substantive discussion. Okay. Okay. When you make a motion, you guys got your scripts in front of you that tell you what you should be doing. I believe your attorney on this panel is a big stickler on making sure that you're saying what it is and what you're doing. Why do we do that? We want to make sure we have a very clear record, especially on something that may be challenged, especially on something that may go up to counsel. Again, so reread the item in the title, include any amendments that have been made. Make sure you've done that. Can you amend your motion after you've done it? Absolutely. Staff's here to help you along in the process. Sometimes they might repeat that. That's totally fine if they're helping you get there. You can absolutely use them to help you get to what you need to do. But again, we want to make sure we've got a clean record. You know, some places, you know, I hear, you know, motion to approve, second. All right, what are you approving right there? What item are you on? And we've got this great technology, but based on the discussion, who knows what it is that's been being approved. So again, going through and making that and being articulate is real important. If you change your minds, all right, if it's at the same meeting, you can make a motion for reconsideration. If it is not at the same meeting and you've got a subsequent meeting, you've got to make a motion to suspend the rules. And by supermajority, you've got to go back and then make a motion to reconsider. So who and also who can make the motion to do that? It's got to be someone who voted in the majority in the first motion. So again, Rosenberg's rules, we use those here at the city. It's a very interesting read. Our city attorney who staffs the meeting and staff will be able to guide you through if you guys are looking for something. Sometimes we may not know the answer right away. I'm just going to be honest with you. We don't know everything. We might ask to take a recess to figure it out. Totally fine to do that. And it's totally fine before the meeting if you've got a question. Hey, I might be thinking about doing this, this, and this. How can I do that? Staff might say, thank you for letting us know. We'll look into that. We may let you know at the meeting. We may let you know ahead of time. But totally fine to kind of dig in on those rules and make sure we get it right. So we're going to be doing a lot of roll call votes here at the city. I think it's very important, especially with the remote participation. We try to avoid all in favor say aye. You know, it's sometimes people aren't paying attention. Sometimes you can't tell who said what. Sometimes it's a mumbling. So again, I believe in chair, sorry, clerk and chair, correct me if I'm wrong. You guys do roll call votes, correct here? Yeah, all right, so nothing to worry about. All right, so we talked about this earlier. What happens if you've got a split vote? This is called the rule of three. You guys are a commission of five, so you need three to approve something. You need three to recommend something. You need three to deny something. You need three to not recommend something. Otherwise, it'll just be reflected in the record what the vote is. And depending on what the item is, it may go to council with no recommendation. It may go to council with a split vote. you know but again we just want to make sure that you all are aware of that um in order to make an actual affirmative or an actual denial you need to have that three some tips for making a clear motion we talked about this earlier um so something that may come up this evening so for absent members um who was someone who was absent from a prior meeting they may Excuse me, vote. As long as one, the commissioner has read the staff report and reviewed any other materials submitted and listened to the video or audio prior to the meeting and then affirms they having done so at the present meeting for the record. Again, this also applies to minutes. So again, if you all are diligent and you are good commissioners and if you're absent from a meeting and you've done that, it's just like kind of making up your schoolwork like anything else, you can move on to the next lesson. So, all right. So that is my training. I appreciate your all's patience for indulging me this evening. And at this point, happy to take any questions.

Yeah, if I can jumpstart this. Can we go back to slide? I have four. Can we go back to slide five? There it is. Okay. You kind of touched a little bit about it, how the commissions, whether it's, you know, the Planning Commission, Parks Commission, whatever, but in this particular example, it's the Planning Commission. You made a couple comments. So I guess what can or cannot be talked to to the council from the Planning Commissioners?

Yeah, so that's a good question. And I think that, like anything else, they're subject to the Brown Act as well. And I would say, like anything else, what you can't do is try to go up to more than you know, two council members and talk about something at that point in time, you're kind of being an agent of a, you know, of that and kind of conducting that serial meeting. But the other thing too, though, what you want to try to avoid is to talk about something that's going to be before the commission. And the reason why is you notice this evening you have disclosure of ex parte, disclosure of communications. If you have had communications with a council member on talking about a project, you know, you're going to probably need to disclose those ahead of time. And so, like anything else, so, you know, Council, I think you said it was the first time you all did it this evening. You said you're present, no conflicts, you know, no present, no ex parte communications. You'll see at a lot of meetings what they'll say is that, you know, present. As to item 3A, I was approached by the developer and had a 10-minute session where I just listened and I had members of the public reach out to me and voice their opinion to me. And I... you know saw council member so and so there and we discussed the item in passing that would be totally fine what would not be fine is well i spoke to council member so and so mayor pro tem and the mayor and i got their assessment and so you kind of see what what you what you did there so again it's just being mindful that you're going to have to disclose what you've said and so thinking about that just just ahead of time okay perfect thank you you bet um slide seven you bet

Okay, so now just maybe a clarifying question. Once the agenda becomes public with the 72 hours, what can the commission talk to the public about or what can't we talk to the public about once it becomes, like I said, the 72 hours?

Well, I mean, I think quite frankly it's what's going to be in front of the commission. And so ultimately, you know, members of the public have a right to come to you and speak. Developers have a right to come to you and speak. And you can hear them out. You know, what you don't want to do is, you know, for instance, let's say you get an email from a member of the public, you know, Chair Penning, you know, you know, I really want you to vote against this. I think this is bad. Thank you. Thank you received. That's a common response that I see a lot of elected and appointed officials do. You know, thank you for thank you for your comment received. I would take it under advisement or something like that. Or this is a very serious issue. I appreciate your comment. What you would advise against would be. I agree with you.

Right.

You know, or, you know, anything else. But is there something else you had kind of a question in mind?

No, not at all, actually. So we're allowed to hear their comments, whoever it's frowned upon to. respond back with any type of an opinion.

Yeah, exactly. I mean, I think that, look, if someone's reaching out to you, do you have a right to respond? Yeah, absolutely. I would say just be mindful of what it is. I think the one thing I've seen a lot of, you know, elected and appointed to thank you for your comment. I will take it under advisement, you know, hope, you know, see you at the meeting or something like that. You know, people appreciate that. And you guys want to be available. You want to be responsive. Same thing. You're, you know, across the street grabbing a burrito over there, and someone comes up and, hey, hey, chair, I just want to let you know I'm going to be at the meeting. You can say, okay, thank you, hey, I appreciate that. I can't really get into it, but I love hearing from you. And you can say, hey, I had a lot of members of the public reach out to me on this, and I know that this is important. That can be part of kind of when you get to after the public hearing, absolutely, but it's just kind of getting into a substantive discussion ahead of time is generally going to be frowned upon. The reason why is, again, IF THERE'S A CHALLENGE LATER ON MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE, THAT RECORD COMES OUT, ESPECIALLY IF IT'S GOING TO, YOU KNOW, YOUR CITY E-MAIL ADDRESS OR ANYTHING ELSE, THIS PROJECT WAS DOOMED. LOOK AT THIS RIGHT HERE. YOU KNOW?

RIGHT.

YEAH. THAT MAKES SENSE. THANK YOU.

YOU BET.

TWO MORE. YOU BET. SLIDE EIGHT.

I WANT TO, MAYBE IT WASN'T THIS ONE.

NINE?

HANG ON. I WROTE EIGHT. CLEARLY I'M WRONG. Okay, I can bring it up. Talk about the cell phones and other devices up here. It said here, too, the text, the slide. There it is. Yeah.

It was number eight on slide 10.

Yeah. So avoid texting phones and other devices. I guess I want to dig a little bit on that one. Avoid doesn't mean prohibit it.

I mean, we can't necessarily prohibit because, one, you could be doing the city's business. For instance, you could be pulling something up on your text message to say, okay, someone's going to make a statement, and they're like, oh, well, it's a mile away from any sensitive uses, and you're pretty handy with your phone, and you could say, well, I've got this right here. I just did a Google Maps That's, again, I think more than anything else, it's just being mindful that if you're doing city business, you should be doing city business if you're going to be doing anything at all, as opposed to anything else. I say avoid it, number one, because if you're doing any funny business, you could be subject to a PRA. If you're not doing city business, you have to say, That night I was not doing any city business on my phone. And I think it's totally fine. You'll see a lot of electeds and appointeds will have a laptop or something else because someone will make a statement or say something and it's fine. You know, hey, you could be a visual person. I just pulled this up, the map up right here and I'm zooming in right here. And where this storm basin is, I'm just not really seeing it. Can you go over in detail? That's totally fine because you're doing it based on the city's business. What wouldn't be fine is if someone's texting you being like, hey, ask them about this. Well, that's depending on who it's coming from. That could be subject to PRA.

But that's where the gray area comes in is how do we know that I'm on this or a laptop?

That's the gray area.

That's right. I mean, not to sound old school, but I'm all about prohibiting, but clearly, you know, we're not doing that.

Yeah, no, well, I mean, I think in some ways it's good because you might get someone who comes up and makes a statement, and you all are pretty savvy, and you're like, I don't think that's true, or they might be mistaken. You know, hey, sir or madam, I actually went back and checked this last agenda, and you know what? I wasn't actually at that meeting or, you know, something like that, or hey, you know, I just pulled the minute. So again, I think it can be a helpful tool. I mean, all of us on staff have our devices here in front of us. I think it's one thing to do that. I think it's another thing if you're watching a sporting event or something else. So I think a lot of it really depends on the context and the situation. And quite frankly, what the item is, and if you've got a lot of members of the public there too.

And I understand the answer and I appreciate it, but I'm just still a little struggling how we can differentiate if I'm on talking to someone else about Football, baseball, basketball, or if it's work.

Yeah. That's a tough one because, you know, the other thing, too, is, you know, for instance, it could be something where, you know, you could be texting, hey, Madam Clerk, I'm going to need to call a recess soon. Yeah. That's absolutely legitimate, and that's actually a good thing so that she can get ready and do everything else versus, you know, hey, you know, tell me what the score of the Niners game is right now if they happen to have a Wednesday night game or Thursday night game. Yeah.

Last question, I promise. Slide 26. Last question from me. Okay. And I got my numbers all there. There's a roll call vote. Yeah. Roll call vote or voice vote. We actually I was going through. We do both of them. Majority is a roll call. However, the minutes voice vote, a German voice vote. So it does get a little convoluted because, you know, everyone kind of all says it at once. And there's no like there's there's no method behind the voice vote.

Yeah, I mean, actually at council, we do everything as roll call. So you notice that, you know, it takes a couple seconds longer as the chair. I mean, I think you've got that discretion if you'd like to do that.

I would recommend, you know, looking at the commission up here as well as the staff, I would recommend all of it be a roll call vote. Just because, again, a voice vote, you know, maybe I say something louder than the other commissioners. And who said no? IF SOMEONE SAYS NO, THEY DON'T APPROVE IT. WE END UP HAVING A DEEPER DISCUSSION VERSUS A VOICE VOTE. SO I'M JUST RECOMMENDING, YOU KNOW, I'LL THROW IT OUT THERE. I MEAN, FEEL FREE TO COMMENT WHENEVER YOU WANT. BUT I WOULD RECOMMEND ALL OF IT BE A ROLL CALL VOTE. AND THAT IS ALL. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE PRESENTATION. THAT WAS AWESOME. VERY CLEAR, VERY CONCISE, AND I APPRECIATE IT. I'M GOING TO LOOK AT ANY OTHER COMMISSIONERS.

Oops. And commissioners, your mic on. Sorry, I can hardly hear you. Let me check. There you go. Check one, two. Perfect. I had a question on slide 21 regarding exemptions. Could you clarify what drafts are exempt?

Yeah. So basically, I can tell you if I'm working on a draft, for example, contract agreement, and we're going back and forth with the other side, and it's got a bunch of red lines in it, The legislature is opining that those records are exempt. The reason why is that we want to be able to do the best business possible. And if we were to disclose all of our drafts, then we maybe wouldn't put something in writing that we would otherwise. It allows more freedom there for that. That's an example of a draft law. I think a draft email, arguably, same thing, something that you're working on at the time, but you haven't hit the send button. There's an argument there that that's something that wouldn't be subject to it, but generally just things that are not in the final form yet. Perfect. Thank you. You bet.

Thank you very much for the presentation. I think many of my questions have been asked already. I just wanted a clarification on the supermajority when it comes to reconsideration.

Yeah.

What do we define as a supermajority?

It's going to be four-fifths vote.

Four-fifths?

Yeah. So for you all, that's going to be a four-fifths vote. Okay.

Thank you.

Commissioner Atwal? Okay. All right. Thank you very much for that. I totally appreciate it.

Thank you all. And I wish you all the best of luck. And again, sincerely, thank you for your service to the city and for what you guys are doing. I'm not going to be coming to many of these meetings. So you guys are in good hands, though, with staff. So have a good night. But you'll leave the cereal, right? I am leaving the cereal.

All right. We're going to it's a little bit new. We're going to talk about the consent calendar, which happens to include this particular meeting are the minutes from March 25th. As I look up here, Commissioner Chavez was not on the commission at that point, but did you have a chance to look at it perhaps? I have not. Okay. Thank you. I'll look over here. Have we read the minutes? Yes, I have. Can we get a motion?

Move to accept the minutes of March 25, 2026.

I second. Can I get a roll call vote? Commissioner Atwal.

Yeah, I was not present, so will abstain.

Commissioner Chavez.

I will abstain.

Commissioner Shrout. And Vice Chair Boachie Boateng.

Yes.

And Chair Penning.

Yes, however, since we just have the two, we're going to have to push it off for another couple weeks. Thank you for that.

So, Commissioners, Assistant City Attorney Daniela Green, we will need a motion and second then to continue to the next meeting, and then I will encourage Commissioner Chavez and Commissioner Atwal in between the next couple weeks before our next meeting, go back and watch the video from March 25th, review the minutes, just make sure they're an accurate representation. We'll make that affirmation so that way we can get the minutes from March 25th approved.

All right, I'll make the motion to push off the minutes to the next meeting.

I second.

Roll call vote, please.

Commissioner Atwal? Yes. Commissioner Chavez?

Yes.

Commissioner Shrout? Vice Chair Boaché-Boateng?

Yes.

And Chair Penning?

Yes.

Thank you.

All right, moving on. Items from the audience. Please sign in before speaking. We invite members of the public to use WebEx to comment under items from the audience. This is for items that are not on the agenda online by logging into WebEx using the link provided. Are there any public comments received by email for items that are not on the agenda?

No emails received.

Are there any public comments received via WebEx for items that are not on the agenda?

No comments via Webex.

As I look out in the audience, are there any comments for items that are not on the agenda? Doesn't appear so. We will now close the public comments. The public comment period for items that are not on the agenda has now closed. Any public comments received after the close of the public comment period will not be included in the record. All right, moving on to new business. This will be called public hearings. All right, staff recommends that the Planning Commission conduct a public hearing and upon its conclusion adopt a resolution one, granting a conditional use permit Application number CUP25-004 to operate a Taekwondo studio located at 3254 West Grant Line Road. Assessor parcel number 238-600-02 exempt from California Environmental Quality Act, also known as CEQA, pursuant to CEQA guidelines section 15301 pertaining to existing facilities. The applicant is, I'm unfortunately going to say this wrong, so I apologize in advance, Kaio Gensik Park, and the property owner is Tracy Grantline Road Investment, LLC. Staff report, please.

Okay, thank you. My name is Brianna Alamia, and I'm here tonight to present Pinnacle Taekwondo, and our applicant is here, Gyeongsik Park. Just, yeah. So if you guys have any questions at the end for either of us, we're happy to answer them. And yeah, let's go ahead and go through it. So this Taekwondo studio, as you can see on the map, is located next to West Grant Line Road and South Lambers Road. It's by the Costco and Walmart parking lot up there. And it's the little blue box you can see in the screen. So the address is 3254 West Grant Line Road. It's currently operating. And when they came in to get the business license, they realized that they needed a conditional use permit because it's located in the I-205 specific plan, which requires a conditional use permit for recreational uses. So that's why we're here tonight. They offer structured martial arts classes and small group sessions Monday through Friday from 3 to 9. And it's designated commercial in the general plan. So going into parking, the project provides sufficient parking and they even have a surplus of parking spaces so they're A-OK there for the use. And here's a picture of the site plan. You can see Pinnacle Taekwondo on that right side of the site plan on the left shaded corner. This is the overall site plan. Plenty of parking spaces for the use. They have a surplus of 15 parking spots. Here is a rendering of the interior of the Taekwondo studio. And then here was the existing floor plan when they purchased the property. It used to be a home mortgage shop, and now it's going to be a Taekwondo studio. So this is what they're proposing for their building permit, which will be processed later on. This is just for the use tonight. But they'll knock down the wall, make a little bit more revisions, which will be processed later on. And this is a picture of the outside of what it used to be, the home mortgage. And then here's what it looks like now. No sign, no home mortgage, a little plaza. And it is exempt from CEQA by Section 15031 because it is an existing facility and the project involves no major exterior changes to the existing structure that would require further analysis. So in conclusion, staff is recommending that the Planning Commission adopt a resolution granting the CUP to operate the Taekwondo studio located at 3254 West Grant Line Road. And it's exempt from CEQA pursuant to section 15031. Thank you.

Thank you. Does the applicant have a presentation he would like to provide?

He does not.

Okay. Just kind of we talked about a little bit earlier through the Brown Act. Are there any clarifying questions from the commissioners prior to opening up public? Okay. Okay. I will now open up the public hearing. And once again, please sign in. I'm up on the podium if you don't mind. Are there any public comments received by email for item 4A? No emails received. Are there any public comments received via WebEx for item 4A?

No comments via WebEx.

And as you look out in the audience, would anyone like to comment on item 4A? No show of hands. We will now close the public hearing for this item. Any comments that were received after the close of the public comment period will not be included in the record. Now we can bring it back for the commission discussion. I'll start over here.

Sure thing. So long as parking and compatibility are addressed, I'm comfortable supporting this. It seems as though this is a low impact use that activates existing commercial space, which I think is good for the city.

Commissioner Atwal? Commissioner Belichick?

Just noticed that the sign has been taken down, but I realize that will be added back in a separate application process, is that the case?

Yes, the applicant is working on submitting a sign permit to get a new sign.

Okay, thank you. I have two questions. You mentioned earlier, it's already open, but they're just now doing the CUP, is that correct?

Yes, so when he came in to apply for a business license, we realized it was in the I-205 corridor specific plan, and that area requires a conditional use permit. It's not permitted by right there, so which is why we have to come to Planning Commission to get this use approved.

How long has it been opened? Less than one year. And second question, what are the hours of operation? Was it in there? Maybe I glanced over.

I think it's 3 to 9 p.m.?

Yeah.

I must have glanced over. Sorry about that. Okay. Okay. No further questions from me. I'll entertain a motion.

I move to recommend that the Planning Commission grant a conditional use permit, application number CUP25-004, to operate a Taekwondo studio located at 3254 West Grand Line Road, assessor's parcel number 238-600-02, exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act CEQA pursuant to CEQA guidelines section 15301, pertaining to existing facilities.

I second.

We have a motion that's been seconded. Can I get a roll call vote, please?

Commissioner Atwal.

Yes, thanks for the project.

Commissioner Chavez?

Yes.

Commissioner Shrout? Vice Chair Boche-Boiting?

That's a very vibrant location. It's good to see that entertainment is being added to it, so I'm yes on that.

Thank you. And Chair Penning?

Yeah, and again, like Vice Chair, it's a great addition to the city. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. All right, moving on to item 4B. Staff recommends that the Planning Commission receive input from any interested parties regarding information that should be included in the Costco Cold Storage Environmental Impact Report, EIR. Staff report, please.

Thank you. This is Genevieve Federighi, and I'm the project planner for a Costco cold storage project. We're here tonight for a scoping meeting for the environmental impact report. So I'd like to invite our CEQA consultant up, and she will go through our presentation for you. And we'll both be available for questions at the end. So this is Miss Liza Debbies from Placeworks.

Hello, good evening, Commissioners. As she said, my name is Liza DeBiez. I am Associate Principal of Placeworks, and you just heard from Genevieve. We also have on my team Dina El-Chamas, Project Manager, and then Vivian Kha, the Assistant Project Manager. So the meeting agenda will go over the purpose of a scoping meeting, then get into details about the project itself, including project location, an overview of the project, and the site plan. We'll also discuss the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, the environmental impact report and that process, and then how to receive comments and also for how the public to make comments. So as I said, purpose of the scoping meeting, it is to receive comments from members of the public, organizations, and interested public agencies on issues related to the physical environment that should be addressed in the EIR. CEQA is a public disclosure process, so this is meant to enhance public participation. It is one of the many opportunities for feedback, so I'll get into this a little bit later, but there are other opportunities. It's important to note it's not intended as a forum to discuss the merits of the proposed project, and it's also important to note there's no project approval or denial at this meeting. It is really to get input from the public and get those comments. All right, so getting into the details, the project location, and let's see if I can get the pointer to work. I see it here, but then I don't know if you guys can see over there. Aha. Okay. Well, you can't see it very well, but there we go. There's the project site. And it is a 75.3 acre site at 6301 Hanson Road in unincorporated San Joaquin County. It's currently undeveloped land that was previously used for agricultural purposes. And there is a slide that goes into the uses around the site. It's within the city of Tracy's sphere of influence, but not, again, within the city of Tracy currently. It's about 0.3 miles south of the city limit. And it does importantly encompass 4.1 acres of property owned by the United States Bureau of Reclamation, or BOR. So as I mentioned, the surrounding land uses, it's mostly agriculture, but then there's also some industrial. And as you can see, to the west is the Safeway, the Safeway Distribution Center and Warehouse. There's also, further west, existing Costco Tracy Depot campus. And I'll talk a little bit in future slides about how that will work with the Costco meat plant is there. There's an expansion of the Costco meat plant that is basically the proposed project allows for. So, again, I'll get into more details about that. In the red is the site itself. You can also see to the north of the site is the Delta Mendota Canal. To the south is the California Aqueduct. There's also the Union Pacific Railroad to the south of the site. Yeah, as I mentioned, there is some residential surrounding. There's also the Cal Fire Station and Tracy Fire Station to the northwest corner. Another thing to note, the site in purple is the future Costco Depot annex. So that project was recently approved. And so that would be going in, and this project is to the south of that. So getting into more details about the proposed project, a little background. So existing land use and zoning, the City of Tracy general plan, land use designation is industrial because it is not yet within the City of Tracy. There is no zoning designation by the city. The San Joaquin County general plan land use is agricultural urban reserve, and then the zoning is general agricultural. The proposed project would require annexation into the city, but it would be consistent. It would be pre-zoning to the city of Tracy's light industrial. The general plan land use designation would remain. So again, yeah, the annexation of the project would be required, then the county designations would no longer apply. The proposed project is roughly 567,000 square feet of cold distribution center. It's within a single-story building, and then within that, it's about 11,600 square feet of office space. There's 547,000 square feet of refrigerated warehouse area, and then about 8,500 square feet of refrigeration equipment room. This includes shipping and receiving truck loading docks. They're located along the north and south of the building, and there are site plans, so I can point out the different features. And then also approximately 1.6 acres dedicated to the right-of-way for Hanson Road. And there's two conceptual site plans. And this is related, as I mentioned, there's the Bureau of Reclamation land. It's 4.1 acres. It's unclear at this time whether or not the applicant will be able to procure that land. And so there's two separate options depending on whether or not that happens. So option one, in that area's 10-acre feet of regional stormwater ponding area. It would include vehicle circulation, parking improvements, and 37 trailer parking stalls on the BOR site, and then employee vehicle exit and entry and a five-foot-wide pedestrian walkway, which would cross the BOR property. So that BOR property, again, let's see if I can get this to... It's just, yeah, it's not clear enough. So it's tough to see. There we go. Okay, BOR property is here. So you can see this is the parking stalls we're talking about. This is the 4.1 acre site. And so in option one, there would be parking stalls there. And option two, there is no development on the proposed property, on the proposed, sorry, no development proposed on the BOR property. It would also retain the 10 acre feet of regional stormwater ponding to convey the historical offsite stormwater flows onto the BOR site. It would not include the vehicle circulation and parking improvements that are planned under option one. And it reduced trailer parking by 64 stalls. So you can see here. Back in that same, the BRI site, there's no development there. So for the purposes of the environmental impact report, because option one would be more impactful because there's more development on the BOR site, the EIR is going to evaluate option one. If the applicant ends up needing to go with option two, the EIR will already have evaluated the environmental impact. So it gives the applicant flexibility given that it's unclear what exactly will happen. So I mentioned earlier with the meat plant, and I'll go back to the slide that shows the existing conditions. So once the proposed Costco cold storage is completed, it would relocate the existing cold storage operations from the Costco Tracy Depot campus, which is approximately 1.5 miles to the west of the project, and then would use that vacated space to expand the meat plant operations, which would roughly double the current capacity. And per CEQA, because the expansion of the meat plant production is a reasonably foreseeable consequence of this project and couldn't happen without the project, this backfill and use of the depot campus will be analyzed in the environmental analysis so that it's looking at the whole of what could happen. So let me just... show a little picture because I think that helps illustrate. So again, the green outline is the existing Costco Tracy Depot campus. There is an existing meat plant there. Once, if the project is approved and built, some of the cold storage would move into the proposed project site and then the meat plant would be expanded by about twice of the current capacity. So digging into CEQA just a bit more and providing an overview of that, it is the state's primary environmental protection law. And as I mentioned, it is a public disclosure document. And it results in a document that provides and discloses the significant environmental impacts of projects that have a physical effect on the environment. Importantly, it also identifies mitigation measures to reduce any significant impacts. It does not dictate project approval or denial. So it's explaining what the potential impacts are, but it doesn't provide for project approval or denial. But it does have to be prepared before a project is approved and actually certified before a project is approved. So an environmental impact report or EIR, and again, you'll hear this, you've heard this several times, public disclosure document includes an evaluation of physical impacts to the environment that could occur as a result of implementation of the project. These are based on specific and established criteria in the state CEQA guidelines and city of Tracy policies. It is the highest and most robust level of environmental review. And then taking you through the EIR process, so we're in the Notice of Preparation is an invitation for input on issues to be covered in the EIR. And we are right now in the 30-day scoping period, which will end April 20th. And we'll take all the comments that were provided and several technical reports are being completed and use that information to prepare a draft environmental impact report, which provides the identification of environmental impacts and mitigation. And then there is a minimum 45-day public comment period and hearing during that public comment period on the draft EAR also does solicit comments similar to this meeting. And then we will take all of those comments and if there's any additional analysis required. And then the final EAR includes all comments and responses on the draft EAR. That is then taken to Planning Commission and City Council for project approval hearings. As I mentioned previously, there are several opportunities for public input. So the brown boxes show where that public input is, again, during the scoping period, during the public comment review period on the draft EIR, and then again at the commission and city council hearings. This slide shows the topics evaluated in the EIR. So these are per the state CEQA guidelines. And there was an initial study completed as part of the notice of preparation process. And it found that it would not result in any significant impacts related to mineral resources or recreation. And it would not pose a significant undue risk of wildfires. So those impacts are not evaluated in the environmental impact report. All of the other required CEQA topics are going to be evaluated in the EIR. And again, that information as provided in the initial study. And then receiving comments. These comments should address technical issues that should be analyzed in the draft EIR, suggestions for project alternatives to be evaluated in the draft EIR, and then also potential environmental impacts of the proposed EIR. And how to submit scoping meeting comments, again, important date. It ends the comment period on Monday, April 20th. And speaking at this meeting is a way to provide comments. Also emailing to Genevieve, and the email is there with the subject line Costco Cold Storage Project EIR. Also snail mail to City of Tracy, the address is is there as well. And if folks do make public comments, we're asking people to sign in. If folks are online and make public comment, please include your first name and last name. And that is it, and I'm happy to answer questions.

I think that was very clear. Prior to going to public comments, are there any clarifying questions from the commissioners? All right. I will now open up the public hearing. And once again, please sign in before speaking. Are there any public comments received by email for item 4B?

No emails received.

Are there any public comments received via WebEx for item 4B?

No comments via WebEx.

Looking out in the audience, are there any comments for item 4B? Show of hands. No show of hands. The public hearing for this item is now closed. Excuse me. Any comments that were received after the close of the public comment period will not be included in the record. We'll bring it back to the Commission for discussion. Commissioner Atwal. No question. Vice Chair.

Just a couple of questions about the presentation. There is mention of circulation and parking improvement. And I'm wondering if that's got to do with the shift of the meat plant restructuring. Because this project is on a green field, right? There isn't an existing development there.

That's correct, but can you restate your question? I'm not quite sure what your question is.

You mentioned that there will be improvements to circulation and parking.

So there would be parking on site, and there was a distinction being made between option one and option two, if I'm understanding your question. So for option one, there would be additional parking stalls on that BOR site, but option two would not include those. But under both options, there is going to be parking circulation so that there's adequate site access and also the trailer parking for the trailers that are coming and going.

And just to add, I think I can help. The existing facility is also considered, so the trucks that would be relocated to this site will be evaluated, and then any new trucks that would be at the meat plant as their expansion will also be considered. So that's part of the analysis.

Okay, that clarifies it. So the word improvement is because it's going to impact an existing site in addition to the new site.

Well, the word improvement really is mainly used just to describe what's occurring on the site. So when we develop a site, we call those improvements. So, you know, you've got dirt, and now we're going to pave the site, put in parking area. That's circulation and parking improvements is the way it's described generally.

That's clarifying. Thank you. I think I have another clarification here. Okay, so there's also off-site improvements, the same, it's just a new development that's happening. Yeah. All right. That covers all of it. Thanks.

Commissioner Chavez.

No comments.

And, Sam, that was a very, very clear, you know, to the point presentation. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. This one, no vote needed.

So we just close it out? That's correct. Yeah, there's no action by the Planning Commission. We're just here to receive comments.

All right. Well, let's consider that this item is closed for now. Thank you very much. We will now move on to Item 4C. Staff recommends that the Planning Commission conduct a public hearing, and upon its conclusion, adopt a resolution recommending that the City Council take the following actions. One, waive the first reading by substitution of the title and introduce an ordinance adopting a new article, Article 18.5, Mixed Use Zone. MU1, in revising an existing article, Article 35, Signs of Chapter 10.08, Zoning Regulations, of Title 10 Planning and Zoning of the Tracy Municipal Code, exempt from the California Environmental Equality Act, CEQA, pursuant to CEQA guidelines, section 15061B3. This project is city-initiated to comply with the state housing laws and to complete implementation actions required in the City Council adopted 2023 through 2031 housing element update. Staff report.

Great. Thank you for introducing Brianna Alamia here again to talk about housing element implementation phase five. You guys have already heard the first four, but yeah. And this is about the mixed use zone that we're proposing in the city. So this phase five is... being brought here tonight to talk about implementing program nine, or a portion of it, of the housing element, which directs staff to establish development standards for a new mixed use zone, or MU1. We're proposing adding a new article to our title 10, article 18.5, mixed use zone, and proposing updates to existing article 35, which is for signs. So the new mixed use zone is being created to provide suitable sites to accommodate a range of housing developments as required by our adopted housing element. It's going to allow properties to be developed with the mix of commercial and residential uses. And it'll allow for both vertical and horizontal development. It's establishing a density of 20 to 35 units per acre as state mandated. Due to this update and this new creation of a zone, we also needed to update the existing Article 35 signs to allow for signage in this new zone. So we're permitting standard monument signs, freestanding monument signs, and wall signs in the MU1 zone. And then we also had an additional cleanup item to allow standard monument signs in the central business district zone, which is similar to our existing mixed-use zone. Or to our proposed mixed-use zone, sorry. This project is exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 15061 . And we're here tonight to recommend that the Planning Commission adopt a resolution recommending that City Council introduce the ordinance to add a new Article 18.5 and revise existing Article 35. And that concludes my presentation.

Thank you very much. Prior to opening up public, are there any clarifying questions for Brianna?

No.

Does it appear so? Now I will open up the public hearing. And once again, please sign in before speaking at the podium. Are there any public comments received by email for item 4C?

No emails received.

No emails. Are there any public comments received via WebEx for item 4C?

No comments via WebEx.

Looking out in the audience, are there any comments from the audience? Doesn't appear to. The public hearing for this item is now closed. Any comments that were received after the close of the public comment period will not be included in the record. Now we'll bring it back up here for commission discussion. Looking to my left, looking to my right. All right, looking for a motion.

I propose a motion move to recommend that the City Council of the City of Tracy conduct a public hearing and upon its conclusion, take the following actions. One, waive the first reading by substitution of the title and introduce an ordinance adopting a new article, Article 18.5, Mixed Use Zone, MU1, and Revising an existing article, Article 35, Signs of Chapter 10.08, Zoning Regulations of Title 10, Planning and Zoning of the Tracy Municipal Code, exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act, CEQA Pursuant to CEQA Guidelines, Section 15061B3.

We have a motion. It's been seconded. Can I get a roll call vote, please?

Who seconded the motion?

Okay. Vice Chair second.

Thank you. Didn't hear that. Okay. Commissioner Atwal?

Yes.

Thank you. Commissioner Chavez?

Yes.

Commissioner Shrout? Vice Chair Boachie Boateng?

Yes.

And Chair Penning.

Yes. And once again, thank you, Brianna, for that. Appreciate it.

Thank you.

All right. Now we're moving on. That was to the regular agenda items. A little new for me. So we will have a regular agenda. Item 5A. Staff recommends that the Planning Commission nominate one member and one alternate to serve on the General Plan Advisory Committee, also known as GPAC. Staff report.

Yes, thank you, Chair. This is Scott Clair, Planning Manager, City of Tracy. This agenda item, as you mentioned, is regarding a request for nomination for the General Plan Advisory Committee. California Government Code Section 6300 requires adoption of a general plan. The planning period is generally 25 years through 2025. The Tracy General Plan was last adopted in 2006 and updated again in 2011. COUNCIL DIRECTED A COMPREHENSIVE UPDATE IN SEPTEMBER OF 2025 SO WE'RE NOW BEGINNING THAT PROCESS. THE GENERAL PLAN ACTION COMMITTEE FORMATION HISTORY, COUNCIL DIRECTED FORMATION OF THE GPAC IN NOVEMBER 2025. THE AD HOC COMMITTEE WAS ESTABLISHED. which includes Councilmember Evans and Mayor Pro Tem Abercrombie. The GPAC appointment process was refined by ad hoc in January of this year, and then Council adopted a resolution with appointment rules for the GPAC on February 3rd of 2026. So the purpose of the GPAC is to promote diverse perspectives, public participation, and collaboration to support a responsive general plan update. DUTIES OF THE MEMBERS INCLUDE PUBLIC OUTREACH, MEETING PARTICIPATION, COLLABORATIVE DIALOGUE, REVIEW, TECHNICAL MATERIALS AND PROVIDE ADVISORY RECOMMENDATIONS. THE COMMITTEE COMPOSITION WILL INCLUDE NINE MEMBERS AND FOUR ALTERNATES. FOUR OF THE NINE MEMBERS WILL BE NOMINATED FROM COMMISSIONS AND FIVE WILL BE AT LARGE RESIDENTS. THE MEMBERSHIP CRITERIA AND TERMS INCLUDE A 24-MONTH PERIOD FOR TRACY RESIDENCY WITH WITH LIMITED SPHERE OF INFLUENCE EXCEPTION. 24-MONTH FOR COMMISSION TERMS AND 12-MONTH FOR AT-LARGE TERMS. THE APPOINTMENT PROCESS, AT-LARGE APPLICATIONS REVIEWED BY AD HOC COMMITTEE, THAT'S ONGOING NOW. COMMISSION NOMINATIONS FORWARDED TO CITY COUNCIL WITH A GOAL OF HAVING THE GPAC SEATED BY JULY 1, 2026. ACTION REQUESTED IS TO NOMINATE ONE COMMISSIONER FOR MEMBERSHIP ON THE GPAC BY THE PLANNING COMMISSION AND NOMINATE ONE COMMISSIONER FOR ALTERNATE MEMBERSHIP ON GPAC. THAT CONCLUDES THE BRIEF STAFF REPORT AND HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS YOU HAVE.

THANK YOU, SCOTT. NOW, CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, BUT THIS ONE IS NOT GOING OUT FOR PUBLIC COMMENTS.

Good evening, Chair Penning. This does still go out for public comment. It's not a required public hearing, so it didn't have the 10-day notice in the newspaper, but you still need to ask for public comment.

Okay, for sure. Are there any public comments received via email for Item 5A?

No emails received.

Are there any public comments received via WebEx for Item 5A?

No comments via WebEx.

Looking out in the audience, are there any comments for Item 5A? No show of hands. We will now close the public comment period. Any comments received after the close will not be included in the record. We'll bring it back to commission. This is just kind of looking for thoughts now. I mean, who's interested? Without throwing names out there, I nominate you or you. I mean, who's interested? I mean, besides myself.

Yeah, I'm interested as well. I'd be open to the opportunity, sir.

I'm not sure about the time and commitment, but I'll be interested as an alternate.

As an alternate? Okay. So just kind of, you know, this is kind of new to me, how to move forward. So we have three interested in the primary and one interested in the alternate. So, I mean, I'm going to, you know, I vote to nominate myself.

Yep. So we need a second. I second.

We have a motion. It's been seconded. Roll call vote.

One moment. Commissioner Atwal?

Yes.

Commissioner Chavez?

Yes.

Commissioner Shrout? Vice Chair Bache-Botting?

Yes.

And Chair Penning?

Yes. Thank you very much. Now we will, again, same process for the alternate. We had one interested party, so I would like to make a motion to nominate Vice Chair, I don't see your name right, I apologize, Vice Chair Bwache Butang for the alternate for the GPAC. I second that. We have a motion that's been seconded. Can I get a roll call vote, please?

Commissioner Atwell? Yes. Commissioner Chavez?

Yes.

Commissioner Shrout? Vice Chair Bwache Butang?

Yes.

And Chair Penning?

Yes.

All right, I'll stay tuned for that. I'll reach out and figure out what I need to do. Moving forward, items from the audience. We invite members of the public to use WebEx to comment under items for the audience. And once again, this is for items that are not on the agenda online by logging into WebEx using the link provided. Are there any public comments received via WebEx for items that are not on the agenda?

No comments via WebEx.

No comments. Are there any comments received via email for items that are not on the agenda?

No emails received.

And once again, out in the audience, are there any public comments? We have one. Please come forward and state your name. And there's one. So we have a four-minute. Is that my understanding? Correct. Okay.

Only four minutes? I'm just kidding. I just, good evening, commissioners. I just want to congratulate our new commissioner, Mr. Chavez, Commissioner Chavez, and the reinstatement for getting you back on here. I feel really comfortable and happy about the new commissioners and wish you luck and do your homework, please. Other than that, I'm really happy to see you guys on here. Thank you.

Thank you, Ms. English. The public comment period for items that are not on the agenda has now closed. Can we get a closing director's report?

There is no director's report. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, sir. Any items from the Commission and or a motion to adjourn? Motion to adjourn. Second. We have a motion. We have a second. Can I get a roll call vote, please?

Commissioner Atwell.

Yes.

Commissioner Chavez.

Yes.

Commissioner Shrout. Vice Chair Boachie Boateng.

Yes.

And Chair Penning.

Yes. Thank you very much. And once again, I always like to thank Channel 26 back there, the unseen heroes of everything. And of course, to the staff, I appreciate all the work you guys do to get into this. And the presentations were, once again, I said it before, but they were very clear and concise that I definitely appreciate. I'm sure the other ones do too. Thank you very much. Have a great day, guys.