Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All right, I'd like to call the meeting to order at 6-11. Apologies again for the tardiness. Roll call or pledge allegiance, Commissioner DeWitt. Thank you. All right. Vera, I'd like to do a roll call.

Chair Pro Tem Kozak.

Here.

Commissioners Douthit and Gallo.

Here.

Please let the record reflect. Chair Mason and Commissioner Higuchi have excused absences. Thank you.

And Vera, do we have any public input whatsoever right now?

We do not, thank you.

Whether it be in person or on Zoom.

We do not, thanks.

All right, next item is the consent calendar, which will be put to motion all in one. So it's the approval of the meeting minutes.

I'll make a motion to approve.

Second. Commissioner Gallo? Aye. Commissioner Delfit? Aye. And Chair Pro Tem Kozak?

Aye.

Motion passes 3-0-2. Thank you.

All right. So now we're on to regular business. Fiscal year 2036-2037. Capital improvement CIP finding of conformance with the general plan. And prior to this, do we have any public comments?

Chair Pro Tem, we do not. Thank you.

I apologize. So the next item on the agenda is continuation requests for code amendment 2026-001. Yes. Do we have a motion?

I'll make the motion to approve the continuation as drafted.

Second. Commissioner Galo? Aye. Douthit? Aye. And Chair Pro Tem Kozak? Aye. Motion passes 3-0-2. Thank you.

All right. Well, now back on to regular business item three. Like I said before, so presentation.

Good evening, commission member. I'm Kenny Nguyen, the city engineer with Public Works. Tonight, I would like to provide the overview of the fiscal year 26-27 capital improvement program. So before we go over the fiscal year 26-27, CIP, I WOULD LIKE TO ACTUALLY RECAP WHAT WE HAVE DONE SO FAR WITH THE CURRENT FISCAL YEAR CIP AND THE ACCOMPLISHMENT. SO LAST JUNE, THE CITY COUNCIL ADOPTED FISCAL YEAR 25-26 CIP TO MOVE FORWARD WITH A BUDGET OF $58 MILLION FOR A TOTAL OF 35 ACTIVE CIP PROJECTS. So what have we done so far? We have complete the neighborhood desal phase two grading package to get ready for the Armstrong pedestrian bridge and also the Tustin Legacy Park phase three construction next fiscal year. We also repave the local street in zone six. So the city divide into seven zone to repave annually. And Zone 6 is the one that located bounded by I-5 to the north side, Tustin Ranch to the west, Barranca to the south, and then the eastern city limit. So that's where Zone 6 is. We also renovate the ball field at Tustin Sport Park. We also complete the improvement at Centennial Park with new landscape and walkway. We improved the security at south hangar area with the vinyl fence. We also replaced the roof at the council chamber, replaced the water main along El Camino Rail between Browning to Red Hill. And our Main Street PFAS water treatment plant also was recognized by ASCE as the water and wastewater project of the year. On top of that, some good news is we also secured over $23 million in grant funding for several different CIP projects. So as of May right now, we have paved over five miles of street, replaced over 1,000 linear feet of aging water infrastructure. So those are recapped some of the highlights. So now I would like to go over the proposed CIP project for next fiscal year, 26-27. From these, some of the pictures that you will see, one of them is the Armstrong Pet Bridge. They're going to start the construction this summer. On the bottom of that is the Heidemann Park. We'll start construction in the next week or so. The famous Old Town and Main Street to the right, we will plan to finalize that around the end of September of this year. So many CIP projects take a few years to complete from planning level all the way to the end of construction. So in this case, we have about 29 projects that will be continued from this fiscal year to next fiscal year. So with an estimate of just a little bit over $41 million to roll over from this fiscal year to next fiscal year. On top of that, our department is asking for an additional $26.5 million, mainly but actually mostly from the grant funding, as you detailed earlier, for the new project. So in total, for next fiscal year, the total budget will be almost $68 million for 39 CIP projects, including the 10 new projects. So as you can see here, about half of the new projects highlighted in green are with grant funding. The first one is Irvine Boulevard traffic signal improvement. That one is to upgrade a lot of traffic signal, aging traffic signals, software and hardware along Irvine Boulevard from west city limit to east city limit. The Tustin Vision Zero is a city-wide traffic master plan focused on improving roadway safety and also reducing serious injury collision. First Street Multi-Model is the project that we collaborated with City of Santan and OCTA to extend the bike lane along First Street from Tustin Avenue to Newport Avenue. For Redhill Avenue improvement, we are looking to add bike lane and also repave the street from Bryan Avenue to Sycamore. For Jamboree Road improvement, we're looking to repave and also improve bike and ADA access along Jamboree from I-5 to Portola. Another key project on here, as you can see, is another annual zoning project in Zone 1 that's on the northwest side of town. And that is not grant funding. That's with local funding. So this is a typical CIP process for the city of Tarson. In February, our budget and CIP are due to finance department. Then over the past couple of months, we've been working, fine-tuning all these details to be ready for the budget workshop with the City Council actually earlier this May. For tonight, we want to present the finding to Planning Commission and recommend that Planning Commission to adopt the resolution to finding that the fiscal year 26-27 CIP inconsistent with the general plan. And then next, we will return that, I mean, forward that determination to the City Council next month for the final adoption before the fiscal year starts on July 1st. So that's where we are at tonight. SO FOR THIS ITEM, OUR RECOMMENDATION IS PURSUING CALIFORNIA GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION 65401, STAFF REVIEW AND RECOMMEND THAT PLANNING COMMISSION ADOPT THE RESOLUTION NUMBER 4543, FINDING THE PROPOSED FISCAL YEAR 2627, CIP CONSISTENT WITH THE GENERAL PLAN AND DIRECT STAFF TO FORWARD PLANNING COMMISSION DETERMINATION TO THE CITY COUNCIL. And that concludes my presentation. And I'm available to answer any questions.

Great. Thank you. Appreciate your presentation. I had a quick question. It was not on the slides or anything like that. So it's kind of an aside. But how is the timing factor going on the Red Hill lights by the 5 freeway?

So Are we talking about the one that we just finished improvement or the one that accomplished development?

Could have.

Because we will add a traffic signal right between San Juan to El Camino.

I'm speaking of the underpass of the five freeway that passes El Camino Real. You're referring to the light synchronization? Correct.

So we complete that project probably a little bit earlier. I mean, actually toward the end of last year. So for this year and next, the typical process, we monitor this whole synchronization along this Red Hill corridor and make improvement as it goes. So I know that there is concern in certain movement, like especially underpass. There seem to be not too synchronized right underpass between city's traffic signal and Caltrans, but we are currently collaborating with Caltrans on those improvement. Okay, rough timeline on that? So, as I said, like the typical, this is funded by OCTA, so the typical process is usually for at least 12 months of monitoring and improvement, but sometimes it could take two years.

Okay, great. Vera, do we have any public comment on this issue?

We do not, thank you.

All right, well, I'd like to open up to my fellow commissioners for any comments.

I have a couple questions. So you mentioned the project on Main Street, the water facility, was project of the year. What was the criteria in which it was selected?

And so it's the panelists that review these things is to see how impacted to the community, like long-term, short-term, and also any innovative kind of technology that we incorporate into this process. And they kind of review because many agencies in the state of California, I mean, especially in California, submit to this SCE, and they review like 100 applications. and we was, our project like stand out with the partnership of OCWD, like a stand out project that could serve like over eight million gallon of water daily.

Okay, so just the technology is part of the project?

Mainly the technology, but also impact to the community and also sustainable kind of technology too, so.

Awesome. A couple more questions. These ones have a theme, so I apologize in advance. Just a comment. You commented on the amount of repaving streets you did. I think that's great. It would be neat if you, because three of your projects mentioned bike lane. If you would maybe publicize how many miles of bikes moving forward, I think that would be good. THAT'S THE THEME. YOU ALSO MENTIONED THREE PROJECTS WITH BIKE LANES. SOMETHING JUST MAYBE OF NOTE, THE RED HILL ONE, AS A CYCLIST, I'M REALLY EXCITED TO SEE YOU EXPAND IT FROM SYCAMORE TO BRYAN. THE CURRENT BIKE LANE ON RED HILL IS ONLY NORTH, IT IS NOT SOUTH. WILL THE IMPROVEMENT BE ONLY NORTH AS WELL OR WILL IT BE NORTH AND SOUTH? AND AS A SECOND PART, ARE THERE ANY PLANS TO EXPAND THE SOUTH CURRENT ON RED HILL?

Yes, so right now the Red Hill Avenue project is actually both side bike lane for both side. We also looking into exploring to extend the bike lane in the future because right now the we stopped at Sycamore because there is a bike lane right on Sycamore and on Bryant for like continued bike lane. But in the process, we also looking at, we waiting for the state to approve a grant funding to prepare a bike master plan. So that is also on the horizon so that we could analyze citywide to see where is the most appropriate location for bike lane in the citywide.

Okay, is there a timeline for that grant?

They're looking to announce probably sometime in September.

Okay. Fantastic. And the last part of this theme, I love the helping traffic flow with the signals. Will any of our signals be adapted to pick up on more bikes?

Yes. So part of the technology is there is a – kind of like a sensor for bike lane in the future. That's why we upgrade some of our traffic signal, because our traffic signal system right now is a little bit aging. So they're kind of not really compatible with some of these technologies. So as we get grant funding to upgrade our traffic signal, along with that is some of the bike lane sensor that could improve the safety for bicyclists too.

FANTASTIC. THAT'S LIKE WHEN TUSTON GETS PROJECTS AND ENGAGES IN IT, THAT'S SOMETHING WE CONSIDER SOMEWHAT STANDARD, IS THAT WHAT I'M HEARING?

YES. SO PART OF ALL THESE PROJECTS, ESPECIALLY THE MASTER PLAN THAT WE'RE GOING TO HAVE LIKE THE VISION ZERO AND BY MASTER PLAN, WE'RE DEFINITELY GOING TO HOST SEVERAL PUBLIC HOURS TO GET FEEDBACK FROM THE COMMUNITY. LIKE OVER THE PAST COUPLE MONTHS, WE HAVE have public outreach at Sycamore, Magnet School, and also Best Week to kind of gather kind of feedback how to improve that corridor, especially there's a lot of movement with kids in that area. So that's why we're looking into those so that we could apply for grant funding. Actually, next month is the grant application is due to improve that corridor.

Yeah. Outside of bikes, thank you for everything that the department does. It's awesome. I'm really excited to see the Armstrong Bridge kind of open up and a lot of the new development. And I think the signals timing is going to make a huge difference in this city. So thank you. Yes.

Thank you. Thanks. Thank you for your comments. Commissioner Newitt?

Yeah. Commissioner Gullo and I usually like to hammer on the same theme. So referring to the bike lanes. How are we implementing our bike lanes and designing them? I know you mentioned the idea of surveying what we think would be best. You mentioned the first street multimodal. Where are these ideas of where to put these bike lanes coming from?

So before diving into this, we also get some smaller part of grant funding from either state or OCTA to go out there to analyze some of the busy corridor that potentially would heavy use of pedestrian and all that stuff to gather some data first before we could start kind of like the planning level for a specific location. So we have analyzed First Street, Red Hill, Sycamore. There's several corridors that over the past year we have been analyzed to gather more data. But part of that is the after the bi-master plan, we also do a citywide. But right now we kind of get like small amount of money to kind of analyze specific corridor because Old Town is a lot of heavy pedestrian traffic. That's why that's one of the first area that we focus on.

Okay. And our Old Town improvement project underneath our canopy sign right here, that's going to have bike lanes as well, right?

Only along Main Street. Not in El Camino, because those are tighter corridors. So we're adding parklets and all that stuff to add in outdoor public use and more pedestrian than bicyclists along El Camino. But Main Street will have some bike lane.

But it'll be main from basically El Camino to Newport?

From Newport to, I think, believe that up to Prospect right now, and then we're looking into option further down the road to see how they extend further. Okay.

I'm excited about an overall bike master plan because as a cyclist, sometimes I can tell when cities are piecemealing bike lanes together, and it kind of cuts off flow or kind of restricts some of the usage. So I I'm excited about seeing some of the bike lanes flowing a little further into the city and connecting into Irvine. Like I said, that's just one of my concerns is piecemealing them here and there, and it's rendering them somewhat useless. I know anything is better than nothing, but as we're making these huge investments in it, I just want to make sure that they're going to be utilized and functional as well. Other than that, YOU KNOW THIS IS KIND OF AN INTERESTING AGENDA ITEM FOR US BECAUSE WE DON'T SEE THE GRAND SCOPE OF WHAT OUR CITY'S BUDGET IS I FEEL LIKE OUR INTENTION WITH THIS IS IT JUST TO SEE YES THESE ARE IMPROVEMENT PROJECTS THAT WE APPRECIATE FOR THE CITY OR IS IT YOU KNOW WE CAN'T TELL HOW IT FITS WITHIN OUR GUIDES AND WITHIN OUR BUDGETS LIKE

Thank you. Through the chair, if I may, the planning commission's role this evening is to determine that these projects are consistent with our general plan. It has nothing to do with approving any kind of budget. It's simply a part of the process under state government code that it comes to you for consistency first. So that is your finding this evening. Gotcha. Should you choose to adopt it.

Gotcha. Well... It does seem like these are consistent with the general plan and that they are capital improvement projects that are a lot of work. I appreciate all the work that you and your department do because, like I said, these are not easy with the amount of notices that have to go out, sometimes annoyed residents if you're repaving the streets. But at the end of the day, too, it's a cleaner street at the end of the day. So you're doing a good job of being the hands and feet of the city. So I really appreciate that.

Thank you.

So I'll make the motion to approve. Sorry, did you have another?

No.

I'll make the motion to approve as drafted. Second.

Commissioner Gallo? Aye. Douthit?

Aye.

Chair Pro Tem Kozak? Aye. Motion passes 3-0-2. Thank you. Thank you.

So now we are on to the fiscal year, 2026-2027, correct? I think that's what we just did. That's what we just did? Okay. Speakers here. Other business. All right. Ms. Smeddle.

Thank you very much, Chair Pro Tem. At the last council meeting, I was going to share with you that the council did approve an exclusive negotiating agreement with a third party entity for the development and ultimate disposition of the city's site in the Pacific Center East specific plan, so that vacant site that's there along the 55. This is the process that will move them forward through an entitlement process that would come before this commission. We do not have an application at this time, so we don't know exactly what that looks like. But the time frame is approximately a year for that to be completed. So we'll be providing input to the commission as needed if you have questions along the way. But ultimately, an entitlement package will be brought before you. Thank you very much.

Thank you. Okay. Well, comments? Commissioner?

No comments other than, you know, I see the construction still coming along. Good job to everybody. Good job, Kenny. I know that, you know, the improvements going on in Old Town are, again, not an easy feat. So I appreciate the hard work. Commissioner.

I have a couple comments. First, I believe the next Tuesday City Council meeting, they're going to be discussing an agenda, and if it's not published yet, with some transit master plan. But Lee said if you're interested in bike lanes, to come make a comment at that. So to anyone who's interested, that'd be the time to let city council know there's a demand for that. So neat. Really fortunate over the past couple weeks to attend a lot of city events. So first off, to our own staff who put on Historic Preservation Week. I didn't know this much about Tustin or about Citrus, but now I know an awful lot. So really thank you to staff for putting on eight events, an absurd amount of events. Awesome. But they were all pretty well attended. learned a lot, and just a lot of fun. So thank you to them for dedicating their nights, evenings, and weekends to that, plus Donna and Tim from the Historic Society who did all that. It was great to see it. My only recommendation would be it was a lot for staff to put on. Fewer events next year would probably be OK and try to attract a larger crowd, but it was awesome. Also attended the first Sunset Market as part of that. If you haven't been to one of those, it's always great to see it. And props to the city for putting it on despite the construction. It was just a phenomenal event, and you really couldn't tell. The old town was being transformed, but you got excited for it. And thanks to the staff for putting on a really awesome Memorial Day celebration remembrance event as well. It's great that we take the moment to recognize those who have lost so much. So awesome to be part of the city. That's it.

And I'd like to echo you on the Memorial Day event. It was very powerful and very solemn, yet also was a nice time as well. And I also am looking forward to the cook-off, and I want to thank all of the staff for all their hard work. Okay, so apologies again. I'm not used to being in, I haven't been in charge of a meeting since the Community Services Commission. So, adjournment. Next meeting will be Tuesday, June 9th, 2026. This meeting is adjourned at 636.