Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Boarding in progress.

Good evening. I will call to order the Test and Planning Commission meeting of February twenty fourth twenty twenty sixth. The time is 06:01. And for tonight's pledge of allegiance, we have commissioner Kozak. I pledge

allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God and indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you. Next, have roll call. Vera, can we have a roll call, please?

Commissioners Gullo? Present. Kozak?

Here.

Chair Pro Tem Mason? Here. And chair Deltet?

Here.

Let the record reflect commissioner Higuchi has an excused absence. Thank you.

Thank you. Next is public input. At this time, any member of the public may address the planning commission on matters which are not listed on this evening's agenda provided that the matter is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the planning Commission. If you're here in person, please fill out a request to speak form and hand it to Vera. And we'll invite you up to the podium. If you're watching via Zoom, please raise your hand in the webinar, and you'll be called on to speak. Vera, at this moment, are there any public comments for items not listed on this evening's agenda?

Chair, there are none. Thank you.

Thank you. Next item on the agenda is the consent calendar item. All matters under the consent calendar are considered to be routine and will be enacted by one motion without discussion. Persons wishing to speak regarding the consent matters should file a request to speak form with the Planning Commission Secretary. The only item on tonight's consent calendar is the approval of meeting minutes from 01/27/2026. The recommendation is that we approve the meetings as drafted. Are there any public comments for the consent calendar?

Chair, there are none. Thank you.

Thank you. Do we have a motion to approve?

So moved.

Do have a second?

Second.

Eric, can

we have a roll call vote, please?

Commissioners Gullo?

Approved.

Kossack? Aye. Chair Pro Tem Mason? Aye. And Chair Douthat? Aye. Motion passes four zero one. Thank you.

Thank you. The next item in the agenda is the public hearing item for variance 2025Dash0002. A variance application to authorize a new sports netting system that exceeds the maximum height of six feet eight inches allowed by the Tustin City code for property at 13751 And 13841 Red Hill Avenue. And I will turn it over to you.

Evening. Fellow members of the Planning Commission, I'm Jonathan Kwan with CSG Consultants, and I'll be presenting application VAR twenty twenty five dash zero zero zero two. The request is a variance to authorize a new sports netting system with a maximum height of 20 feet exceeding the maximum height of six feet eight inches allowed by the Tustin City code. It's for the property at 13751 And 13841 Red Hill Avenue. The project site's general plan land use destination and zoning are both Red Hill Avenue specific plan.

Surrounding uses include single family, Carwash gas station, shopping center, and the Tustin High School. This is the same site as the Compass at Red Hill project site. Back in June of last year, a 73 unit townhome project was approved, and this approval included a six foot high perimeter wall on the western property line. That's the rear of the project site. The project is now currently in plan check and final map review.

And since then, the applicant has coordinated with the Tustin Unified School District to extend the fencing. And it's my understanding that they determined that the most feasible solution for the fencing would be to extend the approved six foot high wall and add the netting on top of that. So this is an elevation view of the wall with the proposed sports netting. The wall, again, is six feet high, and the maximum height of the sports netting would reach a 20 feet high. These sports nettings would not extend across the entire length of the wall.

It's limited to a three sixty linear foot section of the wall. And the fence itself or the netting itself is necessary to protect the townhome development from potential stray balls from the high school baseball field. This exhibit here gives a better exam example of exactly where the sports netting would be located. A variance, findings for a variance include that it not grant a special it is not a grant of special privilege and it has to be based on unique circumstances. The unique circumstance is that the project site is located next to a baseball field which subjects the property to potential damage from stray balls and it is not a special privilege.

It granting a height increase to a specific limited area to protect the property from the unique circumstance and other properties within the Red Hill Avenue specific plan area would not have to consider this. This next slide shows the view from Red Hill Avenue. The requested increase in height is unlikely to pose a visual impact to surrounding properties based on the rendering. The requested increase is located at the rear of the property, and the proposed development includes townhomes up to 37 feet high, which would effectively screen out the sports netting from view. There would only be a few instances where the proposed sports netting would be visible from Red Hill Avenue.

In terms of CEQA, the project is categorically exempt. The request does not increase the number of units or intensify the approved use of the project site. Its purpose solely is for the construction of the sports netting on top of the rear wall, and therefore the project is categorically exempt under CEQA guidelines section 15,303, class three for small structures. With that said, staff is recommending that the Planning Commission adopt resolution number 4,539 approving a variance VAR twenty twenty five-two to authorize a new sports netting system with a maximum height of 20 exceeding the maximum height of six feet eight inches allowed by the Tustin City Code for rear guard walls on property at 13751 And 13841 Red Hill Avenue. That concludes my presentation.

The applicant Nick Harris is here in the audience if there are any questions for him as well. Thank you very much.

Does the Commission have any questions for staff before I open up for public comment? Nope. Are there any public comments for this public hearing item, Vera?

Chair there are none. Thank you.

Thank you. With that I'll bring it back to commission deliberation. Are there any additional comments?

Just a minor, comment. Just in terms of, the look, if it is damaged and, visible, even if it's not, are there mitigation plans in place? Is that a question for us? So we have seen netting that has holes in it, a little bit of an eyesore, so I am just curious on that.

Yeah, there is a condition of approval that staff is recommending to include and that is for the ongoing maintenance of the net and it would be included in the CCNRs.

And it will have the detail of what is considered what needs to be maintained. You know what I'm saying? So like something that might not bother somebody else but somebody living in the home, there's a hole in the net. I'm just looking for is there a set of criteria, excuse me, on maintenance?

Yeah, we can work with the applicant and have the applicant work with staff to make sure that that's in there.

Wonderful. Thank you.

Yeah, if I could through

the chair. We haven't gotten to that language yet. That will be included in the CCNRs. So we'll consider that when the CCNRs are submitted to us for our review.

Good to know. Thank you.

And technically if the netting is damaged via this baseball team or the school, the damage was caused by the school and that should be the duty to indemnify would be on the school system to repair their damages. Correct? I mean, that's getting pretty technical, but, I think there could be some onus on the school district to repair any damage that they impose on the net?

If I could, I think that's a property to property civil issue, more so than a regulatory issue. In those particular cases, I think the fact of the matter is is that the fence is being put up with the basis of protecting the property from the baseballs. And so if baseballs are creating the damage, think that would be expected, as a result of the circumstances. So but I think that's really more of an issue for the applicant than it is for staff.

Sounds good.

Through the chair, this seems very reasonable. One question. How many baseballs make it over the fence now? Do we have any idea?

I do not. And I I did take a look at an aerial, and for in order for a baseball to go in that direction, I believe it would really have to be a very foul ball.

Thank you.

Comments? Nope. Do we have a motion?

Motion to approve.

Do we have a second? Second. Thank you. Here, can we have a roll call vote, please?

Commissioners Gullo? Aye. Kozak? Aye. Chair Pro Tem Mason?

Aye.

And Chair Douthat?

Aye.

Motion passes four zero one. Thank you.

Thank you. With that we'll move on to regular business which there are none. And with that we'll move on to other business starting with our community development director update.

Thank you very much chair. I do not have any updates to share with the council this evening. Thank you.

Thank you. Next on to commissioner comments and reports. Commissioner Kozak.

Nothing at this time. Thank you.

Commissioner Gullo.

Yeah. Recently, the TCF hosted their paper paper football competition. It a was great way to support the nonprofits, and I know they're also having sip and stroll this weekend. So if anyone's available, go support TCF, and see you out there.

Thank you. Chairperson Mason?

Yeah.

Comment is we had a very good practice a couple months ago of sending the commissioners the public notices that were going out into the neighborhood. And I drove by the Red Hill project and I noticed public hearing, but I didn't see it on my in my inbox. And then I got a question from the neighborhood neighborhood about what it was and I didn't know. So I was hoping that we could reinstate that practice because super helpful to us just to have an update of what's going on in the area before we get asked questions ourselves. But other than that, I have no other questions or comments.

So with that, I will adjourn tonight's meeting. The next regular meeting of the Planning Commission is scheduled for Tuesday, 03/10/2026, and I will adjourn at 06:13.