Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

All right. The planning val planning commission regular meetings uh that is scheduled to start at 7:09 uh is now in session. Uh we can go to uh roll call. Oh, the pledge excuse me. Can we go to the pledge of allegiance, please? And stamps, can you lead us off, please?

Sure. 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, Commissioner Stance for leading us off on the pledge of allegiance. We're going to go to the next agenda item, which will be the roll call. Beasley Sansbury present. Blind present. Chair Taylor present. White present. Um Commissioner Maderos and Douglas absent. We have a quorum.

Right. Perfect. Thank you. All right. So, we're going to move to the next agenda item. What is the consent calendar and approval of the agenda? So, we're going to uh we can get an approval or review of the agenda minutes and uh and agenda items. I move to approve. Uh second,

I need one more vote. We have four eyes and the motion carries.

Great. Perfect. Thank you. So, we're going to move to the next agenda item which is report of the city council leazison. Uh so, we have Vice Mayor Matullik. Thank you. Uh thank you and good evening, Chair Taylor. Um, Commissioner White, Commissioner Blind, and Commissioner Beasley Stanberry. Um, thank you and welcome here and staff and to the general public. Um, no true um, uh, report from from the city council at this point. Um, but I do would like to challenge this commission once again as we as a council are looking forward and focusing on economic development. If you haven't looked at the general plan and broken it down to these specific plans, take a look at those and kind of understand where um a lot of the land use uh designations are and kind of picture yourself within that space to understand does that work? Is that a good commercial use? Is that a good mixeduse um mixeduse type of property or or type of development there. So, and and look at those areas. Um and I would especially um ask you to focus on Soma Boulevard. a lot of the commercial areas that may be lacking right now and see how can we revitalize a lot of that stuff. So, I want to I want to charge that um give you guys that charge to see how you can help um us and the with an economic development forefront and and moving forward and and try to get us um a little bit better in a little financial um um straits here and and help us by obviously being with the planning commission being the forefront and the leader in a lot of this uh for a lot of businesses. that's going to attract a lot of businesses and of course we have Mayor Island to kind of look at. So there's a lot of stuff to look at and and if you haven't done so yet um ask you to be a little bit more forward thinking at this point and be a little bit proactive understanding the financial straits that we're in right now to see how we can how this commission can help support our um uh

our goal as a city council to move forward and and focus more on economic development this upcoming year. So open open for any questions. All right. Uh, any fellow commissioners have any questions or comments? Um, I do have a comment. I appreciate the Soma Boulevard uh, perspective because a lot of times um, I know it's a very busy um, one of our busy busiest thorough affairs. Um, and just because it is a highway, it doesn't mean that we shouldn't do our part as a city to invest. So, I I actually appreciate that and I'm going to take that to heart.

And and keep in mind that that's actually going to get dressed up with the when Calrans pretties that up and puts the new pavement and do a lot of bulb outs out there. So, there's going to be a lot of economic development opportunities there. Um, especially for a lot of the retails and commercial space. So, kind of once again forward thinking. look at what it's potentially going to look um may take a look at the CALR drawings to see what that may that layout might look like and see how that may help some of the storefronts along Sonoma Boulevard and and especially the vacant ones that we're looking at. So just throwing that charge out there for you guys. Great. Thank you. All right. And so we can move to the next agenda item which is the community forum. And for the committee forum is anyone who wish to address the commission on any matter for which the opportunity to speak is not provided on the agenda. Uh which is within the jurisdiction of the of the commission to resolve. Uh do we have uh any speakers available in the community forum?

Thank you chair. Yes we do have three speakers in person who have signed up. Um there's also a two-minute timer that has been um placed online uh on screen on the top left corner of your screens for interested parties to sign up uh for the community forum. Uh while that timer is running, let's go ahead and call the first three in-person speakers starting with Loren Alo followed by Leot Mitsenheimer then Paula Bower. Please approach the podium. start. Uh good evening uh commissioners. Uh my name is Dr. Lori Alio and I'm here to speak on the draft uh environmental justice element for the general plan. Um I'm speaking on behalf of Fresh Air Vallejo. So I would if if I am recorded a little more time for that I would like to to ask for that. Um basically we've done a a quick review of what has been submitted as the draft for public comment. Um the amendments to the general plan is really intended to comply with California's Planning for Healthy Communities Act SP 1000. And it's great the draft recognizes environmental health disparities, identifies uh disadvantaged community communities using a calvirus screen, but significant gaps remain between the proposed strategies and what we know are the best practices for SB1000. Our most con significant concerns here are the absence of meaningful community consultation prior to drafting the strategies. Lack of explicit prioritization of disadvantaged

communities in many of the policies. Use of weak implementation language such as encourage, consider or investigate and actually lack of any measurable implementation mechanisms or an accountability structure. Best practice guidance for SP 1000 emphasizes that environmental justice planning must be rooted in community participation. That's what environmental justice is trying to address is the lack of community consultation and it has to prioritize improvements in disadvantaged communities. As the California Department of Justice guidance notes, community engagement is essential for understanding the needs of disadvantaged communities and what programs or improvements can address those needs. Without stronger community engagement and clearer prioritization of disadvantaged communities, the proposed environmental justice element risks functioning primarily as procedural compliance. and we really would prefer to have something that's more transformative as a strategy for improving environmental health conditions in Vallejo's most impacted neighborhoods. The report identifies key weaknesses in the city's draft strategies. The report that I distributed to you um and the best practice guide how the best practice guidance emphasizes uh engagement. Um, so some of what we'd really like to h to see happen is for the city to conduct meaningful community consultation prior to finalizing strategies. A 45day review period is not enough. There was no community consultation and so the the state is going to kick it back to you. We'd like to see explicit prioritization of investments in the disadvantaged communities. For example, on uh the the

prior the priority related to food access, the language says that they want food access for all Vallejoins time. Thank you through the chair. Can we give her a little bit more time? I is it okay? Was that two minutes or was that? We have three speakers uh right now. Can we was she? I I I think this is uh Yes. Could we add additional minutes so we can finish? Is that possible? But can I ask if that was timed for an organization, not an individual? Usually there's

through the chair. It's at your discretion. My discretion. Thank you. Uh this is a very interesting topic as you bring it up because I was taking notes. Uh so yes I would like to give you additional time to finish exactly um what you were presenting please if you can.

We're representing fresh air Vallejo. So um so the other things that we'd like to see are uh replacing that weak um well explicitly prioritizing disadvantaged communities for example with food deserts. We'd like to see you know or access to to healthy food. We'd like to see explicitly efforts to to address the food deserts that are in these disadvantaged areas. That's what the law is designed to address. We'd also like to replace weak implementation language with clear commitments to addressing environmental justice. We'd like to see measurable implementation frameworks. And we'd like to create structures for ongoing community engagement and oversight, which is another requirement of the legislation. For example, to have an environmental justice advisory board or some other way in which there's ongoing insight, ongoing oversight. So the plan does not just sit on a shelf and not address the needs of these communities. These are our most neediest communities that have been suffering from an excessive burden of pollution. uh for years, for decades, and we really owe it to them to do this right. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh Leah Mitenheimer.

Good evening. Um I just want to say that you this actually started back in 2022. That's when the planning commission and city council had been brought together to talk about the three elements that were needed for the general plan update, which was for EJ, for housing, and for safety. And apparently at that point, the city was thinking about doing all three at the same time, which didn't happen. The housing element was three years behind. um the EJ element which had one meeting back in 2022 that invited the community to come in to speak. They at the time that we were communicating with the uh consultant for this project, we were told that they were going to have meetings in all six districts to get input on these elements. That never happened. And as far as I could see, that one meeting that they had over Zoom was the only meeting that was in play from that time till now. And if I recall correctly, and I could be wrong, but if I recall correctly, there were more staff people at that meeting than there were community members because we kept saying, "You're not doing what you need to do the outreach to bring people here to have that conversation." the these elements are the most valuable elements that we've talked about in the last decade and they have to be something that we could use to move forward and that we could plan for in the future so that the city of Valo can actually start addressing some of these problems so that you don't hear about them year after year after year. And what we're trying to say is that there needs to be an an environmental justice element. There needs to be policy in place so that we don't have to fight the fights like an LNG plant on the south end of the mayor island. That we don't have a a cement plant that comes into

South Balo. That we don't have a cement processing plant on Broadway going toward North Valo. These things have been in discussion with the comm the the city as if these are viable projects for our community and they are harming our community. We have South Pole that has had for decades the highest number of asthma related incidents for children. They have the highest rate in the state of California and the city has done absolutely nothing to address that issue. What are we going to do to improve the quality of life for those people that live in South? Are we going to just keep saying, "Yeah, we know it's there, but we don't have a plan on how to address it." So we're asking for environmental justice policy that's going to address these things so we don't have to take five years out of our lifetime to fight against the cement plant that comes into South that's going to continue to pollute the people that live there. So we're asking that they give us a little bit more time to be able to do their outreach. Fresho has been fortunate enough to get a grant to work on these issues. We have told the city that we're doing outreach. We have five partners through the community that are doing it with us. The NAACP, uh, Mina DS is the central to help with the Hispanic community. We have urban excellence that's working with the youth. We have now brought on um the housing justice coalition and with the Native American community to do so that we could do more outreach to have them tell us what EJ means to them and what they want from this community. So 45 days is not enough for us to do that outreach. We're doing that on our own dime and our own time. We're asking that the city please give us more time and and delay that implementation of that draft until they hear from the community because you can't keep putting policy in

place that's being driven by consultants and by staff and don't have community input. Thank you.

Thank you. final in-person speaker, Paula Bower. And then we have one speaker online. Hi. So, I gave a lot of my time up for Lead and Lori. Um, this isn't this is going to come in front of you eventually, the same way the housing element did. Um, it just got released recently. the the time to respond is until April 20th, which isn't enough time. And it's already late, so we might as well do it right. We're going to be late anyway. Let's at least get it right. We are working with the community to bring in input. Um, and we know what we're doing. We've done this before. We're the reason that we don't have 275 cement trucks every day rolling through Valo because we kept the cement plant out. This is kind of a test run for us because we realize that the actual answer is going to have to come from the council, but um we appreciate your time and the work that you do and it will come before you. and I hope that you'll look at um the issues that are in this handout that Lori gave. Thank you.

Thank you. Uh and again, I always state this and I mean it sincerely thank you for coming forward a planning commission uh to bring your concerns and bring awareness to the public. Uh this is something I always encourage as you're stating community engagement. So bring these things and these issues or these ideas to the public to become to be aware of as well as the planning commission please continue to do it. I every planning commission if you can uh bring up these points and reiterate it. Uh it's good to get this information available. Uh I appreciate the information you shared because I'm able to see something from your perspective that I took note on. So thank you very much and again I still encourage the community to come out uh for these forums and share their points and their in their experience.

Okay. U last uh speaker for community forum Lewis Michael. Please unmute yourself. You have the floor.

Yes. Good evening commissioners. My name is Lewis Michael. Um, I not to beat a dead horse, but um I also I work with Fresh Air Valo and I have been working closely with residents and community leaders on environmental justice efforts here in Valo. Um, and incorporating this environmental justice element into the general plan is required by by the law. And because it's law, the expectation is not just that a document is produced, but that it is meaningfully addressing environmental inequities and is shaped with the communities that are most impacted. Um, as it stands now, this draft does not yet meet the needs or meet the full intent of SB 10000. Uh, many of the policies are too vague. They rely on language like encourage, support or consider. Um without clear commitments, timelines or accountability and without those elements, these policies will be more of aspirations rather than actual actions. Um we also see that many of these policies are written broadly across the entire city, but in environmental justice requires us to be specific. It requires us to prioritize the communities that have been most impacted in Valleo. uh we know who those communities are and they should be clearly centered in both the policies and the implementation strategies. North Valo, South Valo, those communities that lack those resources. Um the document also identifies real issues like highway exposure, industrial impacts and legacy contam contamination, which is good, but it doesn't clearly connect those issues to the concrete actions that will reduce the harm. And I want to speak directly to the process because this is the deeper issue. Um, these amendments were just recently posted on the city's website with the request for public

comment. And for many people in the community, this was the first time they're even hearing about them. Um, and people who don't visit the website regularly or don't get email updates don't know that this has even been shared. Um, so that's not meaningful engagement. Um, that's notification after the fact. Community members shouldn't be hearing about environmental justice policies for the first time at public at the public comment stage. Uh we should have been we should have been involved in shaping these amendments from the beginning. Um there should have been community forums, workshops and intentional engagement around around gathering input before getting to this point. Um it's not about what is written in a plan but how that plan is created. Across the city, we continue to see the pattern where community members are not meaningfully involved in early planning and decision-making processes. The people most impacted by those issues are are not just stakeholders. We're experts in our own lived experience. And those experiences should have shaped this plan from the beginning. So, I ask you all tonight to just encourage that this public comment period get extended. Um, and before finalizing this plan, please invest or encourage council or staff to invest in deeper more in more meaningful community engagement with the residents who are most impacted. Um, thank you.

Thank you. Through through the chair, just um interesting topic of course. Um, I wonder if I could take an opportunity to get some clarification on a couple things. Um uh let's see a couple for city staff. Is there um any public outreach uh planned during this 45day period? And to what are the implications uh from your perspective of any delays?

Yeah, as far as the um amendments are concerned, uh we did post them for a 45day public review and comment period. That's typically what um we do when we prepare a document. We want to get community uh input on the document so that we could get written comments and then sort of work our way through those comments, decide which comments to address and then you know come back to this group uh for a recommendation to city council. Um that's typically the procedure that we I've seen followed in other cities. Um, Fresh Air Valleo is correct that um there was limited engagement um related to the three um I think it was called the 3E uh amendment uh project that included the housing element, the uh EJ uh element as well as the public safety element. Um one of the speakers was correct that the the focus was shifted to the housing element as well as the budget uh due to the uh tardiness of the plan. Um so unfortunately we ran out of budget for uh expanded engagement on the last three um element components. Um however the uh city manager's office did go out for a grant um which is funding uh fresh air's work. Um I had met um specifically with them uh earlier on last year uh to sort of roll out this plan of we have a draft that was created by place works uh the same consultant that uh drafted the housing element. Um we wanted to make sure that that moved forward even though it did have uh limited engagement. Uh the plan is to basically have Fresh Air Valo comment on the document. Um whether that means expanding the comment uh period uh for an additional 45 days or have it indefinitely. I think we do want to make sure that we receive the inputs from their grant-f funded um outreach um and that would feed back into the document. So um I I do you know take fullheartedly the comment that we need to take the time to do it right. Um so we will continue working with them um to incorporate whatever feedback we need to

so that when it comes to this body it does have um you know substantial community and meaningful engagement. Great. Thank you very much. What if I could have one follow-up question. And I'm um I'm always uh empathetic to request for more time um for public input for the work that you're doing through this grant which is very valuable obviously. Um I also am always curious for more specifics. What would be the extension you feel you need um to implement this grant? And I'm asking the the the speakers

through the chair. I I'm seeing the members of the um group not um shaking their heads as if they don't have a grant. So, I'm not sure if there needs to be some clarification. Um but I just want um Do you have a grant

to do this work? Yeah. I'm just wondering because I don't want to have extensions of time given if there's no grant. Yes, we do have a grant, but our grant was secured from an independent fund. It is in no way connected to the city. Um though we're happy to be partnering with the city to make sure this happens and we really respect um the planning staff and their efforts, but understand that we are doing this independently. The grant was from an independent foundation source and um you know and we're happy to share our results but it is going to take us probably I would guess at least a month and a half uh in addition to so you know maybe 3 months total to have a a full report and recommendation as um Leat mentioned our partner organizations some of them have started hosting their community meetings and gathering input. Uh we have a couple more of those um that are that are being calendared. Uh and then we have a stage where people come together in a sharet to actually talk about the different potential strategies that might be included. So it's very robust, but if we're not allowed the time, we won't we basically will be spending our resources trying to to fight this. And we'd rather be collaborating with you than fighting it. through through the chair. If I could just um quickly jump in. We're not on any set timeline for this project. We have not set forth um a review timeline for planning commission or city council yet. We definitely have the ability to um extend the public review period. Um we we can definitely do that. So, um I think our goal is to work collaboratively with our um with our nonprofit partners and um try to do um as much community outreach as we can.

So, we'll we'll continue the conversation. Thank you. Okay, great. Thank you. And one question in regards to this. Uh yes. Um but sorry, so we are late. like under the law, we're already late, but I don't know that there's a penalty that I can find, but we are late. So, I don't know that further delay will harm us, but just wanted to let you know.

Great. Thank you. And that piece of information was very helpful. I appreciate it. Uh could we extend additional time uh while they'll be able to get their information uh and their packet together to present to the uh planning department uh to review if we can have through the chair. I don't think we can make a request. Well, it's not on the agenda, but I was going to ask if we could agendaize that. So we can yes we we'll discuss um an extension internally and we can um collaborate with um fresh air as well to see what would be an appropriate time frame and then we can publish that update on the website.

Okay, great. Thank you. Appreciate it. Okay, great. Thank you and thank you for uh the update. Uh so we're going to close the con community form now and we're going to move to the next agenda item which is the public hearing and we're going to hear uh presentation for uh agenda line item 7A uh to adopt a resolution recommending city council approval of the Valo downtown waterfront parking management plan required to maintain eligibility for Metropolitan Transportation Commission MTC regional funding and to support the city's designation as a transit orient uh community uh TLC and um I'm going to go ahead and introduce um our long-range planning manager, Hector Rojos, is going to provide a presentation for us tonight.

All right. Uh good evening, TA uh Chair Taylor and members of the planning commission. Uh tonight I'll be presenting the downtown and waterfront parking management program evaluation and action plan and asking the commission's recommendation to the city council to approve the plan. Uh before beginning, I also want to mention that Lilia Scott from AECOM uh who served as the city's consultant uh on this effort is present online this evening and available to help answer any technical questions the commission has. Um, I should also note that this is uh a planning effort that is being uh led by our public works department uh which manages the uh city's parking program. Um, unfortunately they uh were unable to attend tonight's meeting. Uh, so I'll be presenting the item on their behalf. Uh so tonight's action is for the planning commission to uh recommend the city council um adoption of the uh downtown waterfront parking management um and evaluation and action plan. Adopting this plan is important for two reasons. Uh first it helps the city maintain eligibility for regional transportation funding administered by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission or MTC. Uh and second, it supports Valleo's designation as a transit oriented community, which reflects our role as a regional transit hub with ferry service connecting Valo uh to San Francisco and the broader uh Bay Area. This plan was developed through MTC's OAG 3 parking management technical assistance grant program. Uh under this program, MTC provided funding and contracted with uh the consultant team AECOM uh to work with city staff to evaluate Valo's parking program and identify opportunities for improvement. The plan evaluates several key topics uh such as existing parking conditions in

the downtown and waterfront areas. Uh the city's current parking management program, consistency with regional policies, particularly MTC's transit oriented communities policy, and opportunities to improve how parking is managed in uh the future. The plan focuses primarily on areas within 1 half mile of the Valo Ferry Terminal and the Mayor Island Ferry Terminal. Uh these areas fall within what MTC defines as a tier 4 transit oriented community area. Uh because Valleo has uh ferry terminals that connect to the regional transit system, uh MTC encourages cities to align land uses and parking policies to better support transit access and reduce uh reliance on driving. The overall goal here is to ensure that parking policies uh help support transit use, walkability, and economic activity in the downtown and waterfront areas. Uh parking policy has become an increasingly important topic uh at the state and regional level. Uh policies are evolving to help reduce reliance on single occupancy vehicle travel, support transit oriented development, improve mobility options, reduce development costs, and promote walkable mixeduse areas. Because parking requirements can influence development patterns and transportation choices, parking policies play an important role in meeting these broader planning and mobility goals. Valo's current parking program is uh guided primarily by two existing documents. Um the 2013 parking management and parks plan and the 2020 Valo parking program. Uh together these uh documents guide how the city manages parking through measures such as paid parking areas, time limits, permit parking and enforcement.

However, these documents are becoming outdated and the evaluation found that the program would benefit from updates to better reflect current policies, travel behavior, and market conditions. Uh the map shown here illustrates the existing public and private parking areas in the downtown and waterfront districts that are currently managed through the park valo program. Through its evaluation, uh the plan identified several key findings. Uh first, parking management policies are somewhat outdated and do not fully reflect current regional policy direction. Second, the analysis found that the parking supply and demand are not always well balanced, meaning that some areas experience underutilization while others may experience pressure during peak periods. Third, the evaluation concluded that downtown parking is uh generally underpriced and underutilized uh suggesting opportunities to better align pricing and management with demand. Finally, uh as the waterfront continues to evolve and ferry service remains an important regional connection, uh parking demand may increase in the future. Uh making proactive uh planning uh such as preparing this document really important to address these issues. The plan recommends several policy and program updates. Uh these include aligning the city's parking standards with MTC's TOC commu or transit oriented communities policy, allowing unbundled parking which separates the cost of parking from housing and commercial leases, establishing parking maximums rather than minimums in certain areas and improving parking wayfinding and curb management. These strategies are intended to help the city manage uh parking more efficiently while supporting transit access and economic activity. The plan also uh outlines an

implementation framework with actions that could occur over time. Uh short-term actions include improving parking policies and wayfinding. Medium-term actions include evaluating pricing strategies and improving parking management. And long-term strategies include demand responsive parking pricing and the creation creation of parking benefit districts. Uh it is important to uh emphasize here that most of the parking program implementation and management responsibilities uh do fall under the public works department uh which oversees the city's parking operations. Uh the planning division's role here uh would primarily uh relate to future uh zoning code updates uh such as establishing parking maximums and allowing shared or unbundled parking. Um, I also want to clarify something that's important. Um, and that's uh what this plan does not do. Um, this plan does uh not immediately change any parking standards or regulations. Um, instead the plan uh provides policy guidance and recommendations that inform future updates. Any future zoning or code amendments uh would return to the planning commission for review and recommendation before city council consideration. That brings us to our staff recommendation for tonight. Um, which is to uh have the planning commission adopt a resolution uh recommending that the city council approve the downtown waterfront parking management program evaluation and action plan. So, that wraps up my uh presentation. Again, Lilia Scott from AECOM is present this evening and available to help answer any technical questions. Um, with that, thank you. Uh, and I'd be happy to, uh, respond to any questions you might have.

Great. Thank you. Uh, I will open it up to my fellow commissioners to they have any questions or any comments. Okay, great. Uh, for the chair, um, yeah, can you help us understand? I think I understand, but I I'd love to hear it from you. Unbundled parking. Um, help us unpack that phrase. Uh so this is actually a parking policy that is in place in a lot of cities. Essentially typical development um requires a set number of parking and there's always a parking space per unit or two or three.

Um in this case with unbundled parking what that would look like is that when a development comes in uh you are no longer required to provide parking spaces by unit. um there is a group of parking that's provided for the overall development, not always on a onetoone uh ratio. So the idea is that you provide enough parking for the people that need it. And essentially when you rent an apartment or you buy a condo, you have the choice of purchasing a parking space uh because you need it or not. Um so it's separated from the lease or the purchase of the unit. um that allows a developer to sell that unit or lease the apartment that doesn't require parking cheaper than the units that do have the parking associated with it.

Thanks. That's really that's really helpful. Um and the maximum instead of minimums.

Sure. So, right now our our code um requires a minimum amount of parking per unit. Um essentially that means that the city is always um in a situation where it's requiring parking no matter where the unit is geographically. If you're out in the suburb areas of Valleo, if you're downtown or in the waterfront where you have options to jump on a bus or take the ferry, you're always providing that parking whether it's needed or not. Um, in this case with the parking maximums, you're sort of doing the opposite. You're not setting a minimum parking uh requirement. You're saying each developer has to or cannot provide over a certain amount of parking.

Um, so it's sort of flipping it. Um, a lot of cities actually do keep parking minimums, but they also have parking maximums, which is sort of like a a middle ground to make sure that each use, for example, if it's commercial, it does provide a minimum amount of parking, but for the most part, um, they're provided a cap on the number of parking that they could provide. So, we don't end up using more space than what we need. It ends up having uh, you know, situation where in the downtown you don't have empty lots. they could be better utilized for housing, for event spaces, for other things that you know rather than black tops.

Great. It seems to me that this would be a um a little bit of a boon to economic development when they don't have to factor in the development costs of parking and other non-revenue generating aspects of their development. Absolutely. So, uh, I think that's a great thing, uh, and I appreciate that and I was hoping the council member Matulik might hear that. Thanks.

Any other questions or comments?

All right. Well, overall of the presentation, thank you very much for it. Uh and I echo the same sentiments as uh commissioner stamps. I think this would be a a step forward in the right direction for development uh where it can reduce the minimum of that pressure of how much parking we should be able to have available considering we would like to think about how we can move forward to more of a walkability community uh a community that utilize bicycles as well. Uh right in the transit oriented area where we can get access to the ferry. So I think the plan moving forward on the action plan moving forward and is uh is the right step forward uh for that particular designated area. So I think that is straightforward. I don't see any objections or highly being any issues. So I'm in support of you know voting for and moving forward and recommendation.

I'll make a motion to approve uh adopt the resolution recommending city council through the through the chair. Before we take a motion, we got to open the public hearing. Take any public comment. Absolutely. Yes. And so, can we open up the public public hearing and give each speaker 3 minutes uh to discuss on this topic

through the chair? Um, as of right now, we do not have any members of the public signed up to speak for this item, but if you would like, I can have the timer on screen for interested parties to sign up. Uh yes. Uh we can leave a timer on the screen. Uh just in the event that someone does want to speak up, we can give them opportunity. We don't want to close it out just yet. Uh if there are any other questions or the commissioner, we can just give it a few minutes and leave it open. While we're waiting, I will ask a question since we have the time.

All right, sounds good. Thank you. Um to Hector, I had a question. So, your recommendation is to reverse it from parking minimum to maximum.

Not necessarily. Um like I mentioned earlier, a lot of cities actually keep their minimums as well as their maximums. something. It's the finer grain detail that we're going to have to after this plan is is adopted by city council and we have the policy direction from them that all the implementation um programs in the plan are good plans and they want to see us implement them. We'll come back with uh a ordinance that um attempts to remove the or not remove uh look at parking minimums and maximums, look at shared parking, unbundled parking. Um, all those details are something that we're going to basically discuss with you and uh get direction on before we actually draft the ordinance and then we'll walk it up um to the city council that way. But we're not 100% sure how we're going to do it. There could be some options that we bring to you for consideration.

Got it. Um and you said there are benefits to having both the minimum and maximum. Correct. Right. There are some land uses that um it's always good to have um parking requirements for. Um but you could also look at it geographically is if you want to just have parking maximums in your transit areas like these areas that we're talking about, but outside of those areas, we probably need to keep the minimum parking because in the suburbs everybody's driving and that might not necessarily change anytime soon. So we're always going to have to provide that parking. So, we're going to have to look at it based on geographics, based on your direction as well. Got it. Thank you, sir. We're great. Thank you.

Do we have any new speakers? Any speakers signed up uh for in a public forum through the chair? Yeah. No. Uh the timer has concluded. No members of the public signed up for the item. Okay, great. Thank you. And I guess we can close the public form. Is that correct? Yes, we can close the public forum. And I believe that we may have any additional questions or comments. Uh, no. I was just going to make a motion that we approve. Thank you. All right. I'll I need to read it though, right?

I need to read the motion. I'll make a motion to adopt a resolution recommending city council approval of the Valo downtown waterfront parking management plan. required to maintain eligibility for Metropolitan Transportation Commission regional funding and to support the city's designation as a transit oriented community.

All right. Second. I need I need one more vote. We have four eyes and the motion carries. Great. Thank you. And again, thank you for the presentation. And so we can move to the next uh agenda item which is the written communications through the chair. We did not receive any written communications this evening.

Okay, great. Thank you. And so we move to the next agenda item which is report of the presiding officers and members of the planning commission. We start with the secretary report. Um I'll I'll kick this off. Um okay, here we go. So um just a couple quick updates um with regard to some recent city council actions. Um, if you were not able to tune in to the last meeting, um, there was one on March Oh, I think that's the wrong date. What date was that? Not March 20th. March 10th. Sorry about that. Um, so March 10th, uh, city council um, reconsidered midyear budget. Uh, there was no action taken on that. There there will be more followup. Actually, I'm not going to go into detail there. Um, oh, wait, hold on a sec. Uh, I do want to note though, um, we did bring the general plan annual report for consideration, but um, there was not enough time that evening, so it was continued and it will be considered on the 24th.

Um, so do you want to Yeah, just to give the planning commission a few items that may be coming before the commission. Just as a reminder, these are all tenative dates, but we do have the Fair View at Northgate plan development housing amendment. Um, tenatively scheduled for April 20th. Um and then as well as the update uh to the AD ordinance to be consistent with the updated state laws um expected to come before the planning commission on May 4th where we will be asking the commission to make a recommendation to city council.

Uh next slide is just a snapshot on our permit activity. Uh we are up slightly from last month in terms of how many total building permits were issued. Um, also you'll see there was um quite a bit more uh fees collected this past month and um job valuations were higher. So it's an upward trend since um uh the beginning of the year. And so for uh advanced planning updates um we shared last time that our downtown and waterfront specific plans are marching forward. Um we did have the consultant interviews held on March 3rd. Uh we had a total of three uh consultant teams that interviewed. Um we have uh a consultant in mind. Um and we are looking to take that contract uh to city council for approval in April of this year. Um and then uh we were really excited to announce that the environmental justice uh general plan amendments uh were uh prepared and released for a 45day public uh comment and review period. um that started on March 6th and will end um well was slated to end tentatively on April 20th. Um as Kristen mentioned, we'll work with fair share of Valo and see um how much additional time we can extend that by uh to reiterate um we're not necessarily on a shot clock here, so we definitely want to take our time and um take that community input um and incorporate into the plan. Um next slide. And then with our mayor island specific plan, uh we are planning a special meeting uh to be held with the city council. Um I believe the tentative date is April uh 27th. And so that'll cover uh the status of the mayor island specific plan. Um the the new draft document uh as well as uh the forthcoming revised uh draft specific plan. Um it'll roll out uh a complete

timeline and milestones uh for that plan to be considered uh by the community, the planning commission, and uh city council. Um and then I think Kristen, you were going to speak on the uh Mayor Island Company report monthly report.

Um yeah, so uh our department receives a written report from May Island Company every month to give us an update of things that they did for the previous month. So, um, just a couple little things we pulled out of that report from the month of February that I thought might be interesting for this group. Um, there's a list here. These are all of the, um, commercial building um, updates. Most of them are pretty minor, but these are things that they did on the island on existing BIS, uh, buildings, uh, during last month. Slide. Um and then another um kind of interesting thing I thought thought you might appreciate um this is just a status on their leasing on the island for existing buildings. So for February we had no new leases, couple of lease extensions and one move out. Um that's that's it for Mayor Island. Uh the last item that we have here is just a overview of the staff level approvals that were issued um basically for the first quarter of this year. Um this just gives you a little um overview of some of the things we've been issuing um basically over the counter. So do you want to add?

Yeah. So the list here before you does have a variety of temporary use permits for special events. Uh sign permits for businesses here in the city below. Um a development review for a minor exterior alterations. Um development review for a remodel of the existing Bing on one Mariposa which is near the Tolano. Um as well as you know just remind temporary use permits for special events kind of like the meat carnival event that's happening out on Mar Island. So, and that is all we have tonight.

Um, just before that, just want to remind the planning commission that you should have received an email regarding your form 700. Um, I know a couple of you do work in other agencies. So, please make sure you guys complete that and uh get that turned in before that deadline. So, all right, great. Thank you for the update. Uh, my fellow commissioners have any questions or any comments? Right. Great. Great. Thank you for the presentation. So, we can move to the next agenda item 9B, city city attorney's report.

Um, I will just mention that we are um enforcing our office is enforcing the tobacco retail ordinance and we are also enforcing the cement mixing batch plant on Broadway. So, I just wanted to mention that. I don't I never have anything to report, so I'll just throw that out there. Okay, great. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Okay. And then we can move to the next uh agenda item 9 C. Uh report of the chair portion and members of the commission. As of right now, I don't have anything to report or add. Uh does my fellow commissioners have anything to report?

Yes. Um uh on last week um Cesar um Commissioner Douglas um and Commissioner White, we all attended um the planning commissioner uh conference at California League of Cities. I didn't know we were directly across the street from Disneyland. That made it great. But um one of the highlights I will say is that one it was really great to you know really spend some time um with fellow commissioners and of course um with CSR. But aside from that um you know just being in that learning environment and being able to really learn what our role is um you know what we're responsible for, what the lines are and hearing from other planning commissioners in different cities. And I will say this, I had just told Dalia this earlier this afternoon was that the general consensus about Valo was extremely positive. Um, and so that meant a lot. You know, because you know, we've got some things going on in our own backyard. That's obvious. But you, you know, the outside perception from other cities in our state is that we are one of the greatest cities. And that meant a lot. I haven't heard that in a while. Um, and we get so caught up in the thick of it because we're here working on a lot of the issues we're inside. Um, but to hear someone on the outside really give, you know, a really glowing review of our city was like, "Wow, okay, this is why I live here and this is why I go so hard." So, you know, I needed that recharge. And I also highly recommend that all commissioners go through that training. It is amazing. I mean, just to hear the policies, hear the training, um, to hear the things that you're responsible for and, you know, making recommendations

and you really are responsible for shaping and following the general plan and we get sidetracked sometimes because there's so many things that we want to resolve, but it really puts it back into perspective on what is our job. And I was really grateful for that trip. So, I think we all I think once you get on the plane commission, you should be you it should be mandatory that you go on that trip and you won't regret it. I I promise you that. Thank you.

Great. Thank you for the update and that is positive feedback about how other people individuals perceive the city of that is positive. It's a little bit of is a little bit of recharge. I had to had a little bit of goosebumps from that. So, that feels good because I'm I'm invested. this is my home and my family's here. So, it's great to know that and we feel the same way. So, I'm glad others do too as well. So, okay. So, we would move to the next uh agenda item 9D, a report of the ad hoc subcommittees. And as of right now, we do not have ad hoc subcommittee. So, we can move to the next agenda item uh 10, which is the other. I believe that we're going to continue this item for next door. Oh, no. We'll talk about item A.

Okay. Are you ready? Are we ready? Yes.

Okay. Um, this first one is a review of existing business corridors. This is a council referral. Um, just a little bit of background. On February 24th, there was a special referral made from the city council to the planning commission. Uh the referral was to ask the planning commissioners to undertake a focused review of the general plan um with regard to uh city's existing designated business corridors and mixeduse areas. And the ask was to um take a look at specific um areas and then identify some opportunities to streamline development entitlement process and then also um maybe look at um the possibility of increasing allowable density in these commercial areas and then take all that input and put it together into a formal recommendation that could be shared back to the city council. Um and there was a specific time frame set for this process of 75 days. So, um, I wanted to, um, agendaize this item tonight. I wanted to clarify that, um, during the last meeting, I had alluded to this possibly being folded into the work plan process. Um, but I think really the intent was for this to be a standalone um, activity. And, um, you'll notice I characterized it as kind of an independent research assignment um, because I think the request is for commissioners to go out and kind of view these areas. um from their own personal perspective as a resident in the community and then to kind of come back to this group to to share their thoughts and ideas about what maybe we could do to um help further economic development goals for these areas. So, um I think that we have um already had some good conversations to kind of start this at previous meetings. Um so, at this time, I'm just um I'm going to turn it over to the group. Um I can I don't know if I

should provide a little bit more feedback. Um but basically um the the request is to keep this as a standing business item. Um you all to kind of have your thoughts and then come back and talk about it at the next meeting further. So um with that said, I guess are there any questions about this activity that you'd like to bring up? Uh, I'm assuming we'll get like a list of the different designated areas. Well, the referral did specify um Soma Boulevard, uh, downtown and Waterfront District. Okay.

As well as Mar Island and then um some of the existing neighborhood corridors along Tennessee, uh, Springs Road and then any other ones that you think would be um, valuable to look at. So we can identify some as well. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's great.

And and I'll just provide a couple of examples. Um I think the thought was that if you all you know look at these areas and you you know immediately see things you think would be a good idea like maybe we need to look at some facade improvements. Um maybe you know we should look at zoning. What types of uses are allowed in these areas? or you know how large you can build a building like you know maybe you want to see something big but the code only says you can go up three stories and you think we should do more so those are the kind of recommendations I think they're looking for um or you know if you've seen examples in other cities that you think are really great and you want to bring to Valo that's another idea you could share um so that's just a couple examples of the things that I think we're looking for

nice thank All right. Thank you. I don't have any comments or any questions uh as of right now. Uh if there's any other questions or comments. Okay. All right. I guess we could move to the next uh agenda item um 10B, which is the work plan at all for subcommittees.

Yeah. Thank you, chair. Um this evening we're asking the commission um to continue this item to a future date um due to um Commissioner Maderos being absent this evening since she's the one that took the lead on getting this item scheduled. So our recommendation for the commission is to continue this meeting to the the next regular uh planning commission meeting. So hopefully Commissioner Maderos will be able to join us that evening so we can continue this conversation and create that ad hoc work plan subcommittee. Absolutely. Uh so I can make a motion to uh to continue agenda item B work plan ad hoc I mean work plan ad hoc subcommittees to uh a future date. Do we have a a date already in mind that we can have through the chair. The next regular scheduled meeting should be sufficient.

Okay. Yes. Okay. So, I can make a motion. I will make a motion to for agenda item 10B, work plan ad hoc subcommittee to be continued to the next uh planning commission regular planning commission meeting. Second. And we have four eyes and a motion carries.

All right. Great. So we if there's no other items or anything else to discuss, we can move to the next um line item which is the adjournment. So the planning commission meeting is adjourned. Thank you. Welcome.