Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

The Vallejo Planning Commission regular meeting is now in session at 7.03. Commissioner Medeiros, can you please lead us all for the Pledge of Allegiance, please? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, All right, thank you for the Pledge of Allegiance for leading that. And so now we will go into the next line item is roll call.

Commissioner Medeiros.

Present.

Commissioner Blind. Present. Chair Taylor. Present. Commissioner White. Present. Commissioner Beasley-Sansbury-Tapson, and we have a quorum.

Great, thank you. All right, so we're going to move to the next agenda item, which is the consent calendar and approval of the agenda.

I move to approve the agenda for tonight's meeting July 20th, 2026. I second.

We have four ayes and the motion carries.

All right, great, thank you. So we'll move to the next line item, which report of the city council liaison, Vice Mayor Matulik.

Good evening, Chair Taylor, commissioners, staff, and the general public. The short report today, we did have interviews for a lot of our commissions and boards, and we did have five worthy applicants for the planning commission, so we anticipate filling the two positions. We are anticipating right now to fill those on August 4th, so feel free to stick around around on August 4th to find out who you're new planning commissioners may be at that time. So that would be the end of my report. Any questions? Thank you very much.

Thank you for the update. I appreciate it. All right, great. So we will move on to the next agenda item, which is the community forum. And the community forum is for anyone who wish to address the commission on any matter for which the opportunity to speak is not provided on the agenda and which is within the jurisdiction of the commission to resolve. And if anyone has not has submitted a request and a podium in the back or We made a request online. Now is the time to please do so. And so we're going to open a community forum for each speaker to speak for three minutes, please.

Through the chair, I just want for the record that Commissioner Busy-Sansbury has joined us this evening. Great, thank you.

Through the chair, starting a timer to allow any members of the public to raise their hand on Zoom or to sign up for community forum. But at this time we do not have any speakers.

Okay, great, thank you. And so we'll leave the community forum open and we'll move to the next agenda item is the public hearing. And we're going to hear for the project to find a resolution, finding the project exempt from environmental review pursuant to California Environmental Quality Act CEQA guidelines, section 15301 and 15311, and approving a resolution for a major use permit and sign permit collectively, Plan 25-0148 to establish a pawn shop at 3716 Sonoma Boulevard with APN of 0053-010-740.

Through the Chair, did you say you were opening the public hearing? Yes. Okay.

Thank you, Chair. I do have a short presentation for you guys this evening. Once again, I'm Cesar Orozco, the Planning Manager for Current Development for the Planning and Development Services Department. And this evening, we have the continued item from the previous July 6, 2026 Planning Commission meeting for the Cali Gold Exchange, the request for the use permit and sign permit. The purpose of tonight's meeting is just to hold a public hearing, review the proposed project, and the Planning Commission will take action on the major use permit and signed permit. Once again, this item is subject to the Levine Act, and for the record, has anyone on this commission accepted a contribution of $500 or more? No. Seeing everyone say no, the next slide, please. Once again, the project site is currently located at 3716 Sonoma Boulevard, which is within the existing shopping center located east of Sonoma Boulevard, where the former CVS and 99 cent store used to be located. Next slide, please. So at the July 6, 2026 meeting, the Planning Commission held a public meeting where staff presented the request for a major use permit and sign permit to establish a pawn shop known as Caligula Exchange at 3716 Sonoma Boulevard. During the meeting, the Commission's discussion had several questions and concerns were raised regarding the proposed operation. Commissioners requested information from the applicant before taking action and expressed the preference that the applicant attend the meeting and respond directly to the Commissioner's questions. That evening, the Planning Commission decided to continue the item to this evening, to the July 20, 2026 meeting. After the July 6, 2026 Planning Commission meeting, staff did reach out to the applicant and made them aware of the requests and the concerns that the Planning Commissioners have brought up during the hearing. During the July 6th meeting, the following concerns were raised. Security measures were raised. The applicant, so staff provided these concerns that were raised during the meeting, and the applicant stated that the business is designed with a bullet-resistant transaction window where all customer transactions will occur through these windows, and customers will not have access to the employee work area similar to the transaction of the layout commonly found in the financial institutions. All valuables, including jewelry and precious metals, are stored behind the bullet-resistant barrier and or in the safe. Merchandise is displayed to customers using trays as needed, and items offered for sale or pawn are evaluated through the secure transaction area. The business is also equipped with a security camera and an alarm system. One of the questions that the Planning Commission did ask what items were repurchased and sold, the applicant expressed that gold, Silver, coins, diamonds, and jewelries would be kind of their main transactions that would occur at their location. The Planning Commission did ask for an update regarding the secondhand dealer application. The applicant did provide information to the city that they have already applied for their secondhand dealer license, and they applied immediately after the city made them aware of the requirement. They have submitted an application and paid all associated fees, and they are just anticipating receiving the license within the next couple of weeks. Regarding the business license, so according to the applicant, when they initially applied for their business license, the closest thing identified under the business license drop-down menu was a jewelry store. Afterwards, the city staff informed the applicant that the proposed business activities also required a second-hand dealer and slash pawn shop license. Then the applicant stated that promptly they submitted the required application and paid for all applicable fees. Regarding the unpermitted signage that was installed throughout the city, the commissioners did discuss the signage that was installed, and the applicant stated that after being informed by the city that the signage did not comply with applicable city sign regulations, all unpermitted signage was removed from throughout the city. The applicant is here this evening to answer any of the questions or to provide any additional information to the Planning Commission. Next slide, please. So here you will see an image of the current situation where anyone that's visiting the tenant space will come in through the existing doors where you will see the transaction windows with bulletproof resistant glass where the transactions currently happen. Very similar to what we see in banks. Next slide, please. This image here is what is located behind the bulletproof glass and the customer interaction windows. So this is where like the manager in the employee area where all the jewelry, gold and everything will be stored. And to gain access to the second half where the manager and the employee currently occupy the site, you would have to go through bullet resistance door as well as the metal door, which will separate from the customers and as well as the managers in the back. And then the final image is just how the rear door to the tenant space currently looks when you look at the tenant space from the rear. Once again, staff recommends that the Planning Commission adopt the resolution finding the project exempt from environmental review pursuant to CEQA guidelines section 15301, class 1, existing facilities, and 15331, 311, class 11, accessory structures, and approve the use permit and assigned permit collectively PLN 25-0148, subject to the conditions of approval provided as exhibit A to the recommended resolution. And that concludes my presentation for this evening. And I'm available to answer any questions.

Great. Thank you for the presentation. As I made statement about the community forum. So being open, do we have any speakers for the community forum?

Through the chair, we do not have one signed up for public comment. And there are one second. and there are no members of the public on Zoom that have raised their hand.

Okay, great, thank you. We can close the community forum, please. So the question, so just to make sure that I'm following, you know, order operations, so I can open a public forum or do I, I can ask the applicant to come up and present on their, and then open a public forum?

So the public forum is a different issue from the public hearing. So there is a public hearing now. They can present now, the applicant, and then you close the public hearing when you want to deliberate. So you can ask questions at any time, preferably during the public hearing, before you close the public hearing.

Okay, great. Thank you so much. right so we do have the applicant here if possible if you can come in uh share yes all right thank you for coming in today i appreciate it everybody yes so do our affiliate commissioners have any questions or anything like to share for the applicant

You know I do, through the chair. Okay, can we go back to the second photograph, please? Of that internal area? That one. Okay, so my question to you, sir, is do customers come into this area?

No.

They do not. So do you sell jewelry?

Actually, that's our main business. Sell, trade, repair, and buy.

I'm sorry, can you repeat that?

Actually, that's our main business. We sell, trade, repair, and buy. But our main business is selling jewelry, actually.

Okay, so if a customer comes into the store in the front and they want to look at your jewelry selection, how is that done?

We bring it in a tray and we show it to them. And let's say they want to see a certain piece, we show it to them, they take a look at it,

So they view the jewelry on the outside?

On the outside, yes. Like I said, they tell me I want to see some rings. I bring the tray to the window. They like, let me see the ring. I pass it through the window, and they take a look at it.

Oh, I see. So the jewelry is always on the other side of the window.

Yes.

Okay. The back door, is that a solid steel door?

Yes, actually I have two doors, the solid steel door, and I have another metal door, so it's two doors actually.

Okay.

Yes.

Okay, and is there a lockbox on the back of this door?

Lockbox? What do you mean lockbox?

Actually, it's a Knox box, I believe that's what they call it.

What's a Knox box?

That is for the fire department?

No, we don't. No, we don't have it.

That's a question for staff.

About requirements? A Knox box. Yes, you're right. That's typically for the fire department. I don't believe that would be required in this instance, though. Okay.

I could have it placed if you want me to do it. I have no problem doing it, but I don't have it at the moment, no.

Okay. Well, if it's not a requirement, I just thought that it would be for fire purposes. Okay, well you answered my major issues that I had with the security concerns, I guess you would say. I do notice that on the staff report that there, and you probably are already aware of this, all the crimes that have taken place along Sonoma Boulevard for the last year.

Actually, Vallejo is not bad as you think. There is a lot of good people in Vallejo. I don't see crimes in Vallejo as they make it seem.

So how long have you been in business?

Going in Vallejo since, let's say, 24. Going two years, two years and a half.

Three years. And have you ever been robbed?

No, not in that location. That's why I always tell people Vallejo is not what people think. Actually, a lot of good quality people. Mm-mm.

Well, it depends who you are and what's happened to you here.

I mean, if you're nice with everybody, nobody's going to do nothing to you. If you're nice, you help. You're nice with people, they're not going to bother you.

OK, well, that's beside the point. I believe you've answered my questions. Thank you. One more for staff, actually. So he said that there was no other option for him in the drop-down menu for what type of business to apply for. Has pawn shop been added to that list?

No, we have made the request after Heath made us aware that that wasn't an option in the Dropbox. So it is a process where we have a third party company where we have to submit the request to our interim finance director and then they have to direct this third party company to add it.

Okay, I would strongly suggest staff keep after that. Because I know there's a long list of jewelry stores throughout Vallejo and I don't know if that's currently being investigated as far as how many other businesses might fall into the same category. Okay, thank you.

Through the chair, the business license is not a business regulation, however, so it's just a method of collecting tax. So we don't use it to regulate businesses in any way. So it's really a false sense of regulation of businesses. Not that we wouldn't want to correctly identify the business that's there, but it's not a means of regulating business.

So the only way that these businesses would be investigated is if the public complains?

They're supposed to come forward and apply for business applications.

But you just said there's, well, currently there's no way for anybody, the authorities, to know if they truly are a jewelry store or a pawn shop.

Through through the chair, that is something that we are planning to look into because we do have a list of jewelry stores. It's on our plan to do, but it's not a high priority at the moment.

Okay.

All right. Do any of my other fellow commissioners have any questions or any comments?

Just one question. Thank you so much for coming down. Is the front glass, that's not bulletproof, right? No, it is. Oh, the one facing the sidewalk? Oh, it is. Okay. So if someone potentially was looking to do something nefarious, they would essentially be locked in? Yeah.

Yes, because hopefully nothing happened and nothing ever happened.

No, just as a precaution, I was just going to advise maybe that glass be bulletproof too, but you have it kind of figured out. And then another question for staff is what constitutes a pawn shop?

Is it the... Oh, go ahead. Actually, that was the confusing part because I'm not a bounce shop, but I did apply for the bounce shop when they asked me to do it last year in July. I'm more of a jewelry shop, as I say, selling, repairing, trading, and of course, I buy from some customers if they walk in, but... When they asked me to apply for a bounce shop, I told them it's not my business. They're like, no, you have to do it since you're buying. And I still went, and I applied for the license. And actually, last week when I heard the hearing, I went and I talked to Carmen Williams, and I applied for second-hand dealer as well. So I'm just following the process, whatever you guys asked me to do. But I'm not a bounce shop, but I just applied for it because you guys asked me to do it.

Now, are you selling the jewelry back to a person if they wanted it? So are you loaning?

No, we're not loaning.

So it's not on consignment.

No, no, no.

Once they buy it, they can't repurchase it.

Yes, exactly.

Unless it's at a, what, market price?

That's most of a bounce shop. Basically, if you have something, you go give it to them, and they give you a loan. Yeah, a loan. That's what it is. Okay, yes. I don't do that. That's not my business. Okay, okay.

That's where I was. Okay, so it's considered a loan.

that's about for a pawn shop you're just buying i'm just buying so they do a loan with this basically 20 30 interest rate that's how they do it the pawn shop okay i didn't do that but i just applied for it to follow okay all right well we we gonna you know we

want more businesses here, but, you know, I want to make sure that, you know, you say you're going to do what you're going to do.

Well, thank you for being here. We appreciate that.

Through the chair, I just want to add one quick point of clarification. Sometimes the uses or the businesses that are being proposed are not exact matches for the way they're described in the zoning code. So there's a section that basically says if there's not an exact match, the director is supposed to make a determination as to what the most substantially similar use is if there is one. So while this business does not offer the loans like a typical pawn shop, I think the secondhand sales component was why we put it in this classification.

Got maybe a quick question for staff. So on the closest fit pawn shop, how does pawn shop fit into the zoning code? What category would that fall into? It's not its own category.

So for pawn shops, it really depends on the zoning district where it's being proposed at. So depending on the on the zoning district it may require like you know minor use permit or a use permit so specifically in our land use table which is below municipal codes table 16.302 a land use classifications there's a specific line item that says pawn shops and you kind of go across the table and see where there would be a permitted use if it requires a minor use permit or a major use permit So for this instance, and this is only district of central commercial corridor, they required a minor use permit. But with the concerns and comments we received from the public, the director has the authority to bump it up to the planning commission. So that's why this item is being heard before the commission.

Gotcha. Okay. And then apologies because I missed the previous meeting. What are the nature of the concerns that we heard from the public about this one?

I'll jump in. This originally came about because there were concerns from multiple citizens about the signs. So the signs were kind of all over the community, the yellow signs. You probably had seen them. So that was really what started the investigation. We looked into that issue, sent a notice of violation, and then discovered that the business license did not match up with the zoning classification.

Thank you very much.

Through the chair there was a code enforcement case that was opened against the business for the signs and they read cash for gold and they were taken down and then code informed them that he needed a minor use permit for the use and that's when he applied for a use permit. But, yeah.

Through the chair, all right. Thank you for showing up today. We appreciate that. I just want to disappoint a clarification to the staff just so I can make sure exactly what is under our purview tonight. So I know there's an initial application, correct, from the business owner and a subsequent secondary state approved licensing. So say we approve our end of it tonight, right? for the initial, if the secondary licensing from the state falls through, is that something that we would examine, or is that falls under the city staff?

That would just be the state.

It was just the state? Correct. And then what would be the effects on his licensing at that point?

He wouldn't be compliant with the conditions of approval, and it would fall through. He wouldn't get his use permit.

Okay, perfect. Thank you.

Through the chair, follow up on that question. Can we require that he provide the staff city with a copy of his state license as part of the approval?

Yes. Yes, that can be an added condition of approval as part of the motion that's made this evening.

Well, if my fellow commissioners would back me up on that.

I like that idea.

All right. Any other questions or comments?

I think it would set, it would kind of give us some teeth for the next applicant so we can have a policy in place so that applicants aren't coming back, forth, back and forth. I know they have a business to run. All right.

Great. Again, thank you for showing up today on short notice. It's only been two weeks, but thank you again. So I have a question regarding secondhand dealer application and what is the distinction between being a jewelry store and being a pawn shop or what has been classified as a pawn shop as we're still trying to figure out as of right now, but how does a secondhand dealer license support your business as either a jewelry store and a pawn shop or both?

Basically, we're not a pawn shop. So we just apply for it. Pawn shop, again, is you learning your guitar, your gold, your furniture. and they get interest for it, and let's say you go get it back after a month or two. A second-hand dealer is strictly for buying any second-hand used stuff. It could be gold, it could be cars, it could be anything. But my business, again, is jewelry, selling, trading, repairing. And sure, when I put the signs that happen when gold went up, gold was $1,800, it went up to almost $5,500. That's when I... made a mistake and I put the signs and I took him down right away when they told me. But yeah, secondhand dealer is strictly if you want to buy anything used. It could be from cars to gold to guns. Anything used, that's what secondhand dealer mean. But bounce shop is loaning and that's not my... That's not my business. My main business is selling, repairing, trading, and of course, as a jeweler, you buy gold from your customers or if somebody want to sell something and trade it with something else. Yes. Great.

Thank you for helping me understand the distinction. Is there a specific license to operate as a jewelry store that's different from a second hand handler?

I'm sorry? Is there a specific license that is required to be a jewelry store? No, just the city license, which is when we apply, is that we as jewelers, selling, trading, buying, repairing, that's the license we had. There was no requirement for any other license.

Okay, great. Thank you. And so I'm still trying to figure this out because this isn't very interesting and new. So if you could walk through, that's great. So just a regular business license from the city of Vallejo will allow you to be able to operate as a jewelry store here in the city of Vallejo. Is that correct? Yes. Planning staff, if you guys can. Is that correct? Okay. Now, in order to purchase jewelry and to resell it, you will need a secondhand dealer's license from the state of California.

We didn't know that because that's what most jewelers basically sell, trade, buy, repair. It all kind of goes under that license. Basically, when you... When I get the second-hand dealer, when you just specialize in just buying, not selling, not repairing, not trading, basically you just have a shop and you buy anything used, again, cars, guns, gold, phone, anything used. But that's... And I went and applied for it with Carmen Williams, actually, and she told me hopefully with any minute she get the approval from the state. And I went and I did the fingerprints and everything she asked me to do.

Okay. And so is it, would it be safe to say that your primary line of business as of right now has a jewelry store?

Yes. And what happened when we start buying, that's when gold went crazy from 1800 to 5,400. That's when we start to see people want to sell some of their jewelry because gold went up. That's, but usually we, we, we sell them a trade and repair. Yes.

No, and I understand that. I mean, I think anybody would definitely want to get involved in the uptake of any commodities going up in price.

Everybody wanted just, I want to sell what I have because gold went up. That's what happened. That's why I put some of the signs. Okay, great.

All right, well, thank you. I don't have any other questions. I did want to understand that distinction, and thank you for welcoming through that process. Thank you. I appreciate it. So now I have a clear understanding of exactly what the distinction is and the difference between There's a regular business license that was needed to operate as a jewelry store, which is your primary line of business.

Yes, sir.

And the secondary dealer license is for your secondary. Anything used. Anything, yes. Okay, great. Thank you. At this moment, I don't have any other questions, unless you have a question for us. Great. Thank you.

Just through the chair, I just want to confirm, we're not planning on selling and purchasing any guns, correct?

No, I don't understand that game. It's not my game. Thank you. It's not mine.

I didn't care. What did you ask? I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you.

If he plans on, with a second-hand dealer, just ensuring that he's not planning on selling and trading any guns or anything that would come.

With that license, you can, but it's not something I understand. Not my field, no.

Okay, through the chair, one more question, and I brought this up last time. Do you purchase gold coins from customers?

Rarely, yeah, rarely. Ingots? Not a lot, but sure.

Bars? Ingots, bars of gold?

Rarely, rarely. Once in a while, sure, we have customer with a gold bar, gold coin, yeah.

Okay.

Another question for staff trying to understand these licensing a little bit for the permitting. Does the pawn shop have a separate license for the loaning aspect?

Through the chair, no. There isn't a separate license for the loaning aspect. So essentially similar to what's happening this evening. So with the city of Loyola, we require a discretionary permit, either a minor or major use permit, depending on the zoning district. And then, as we know, it would also require that secondhand license through the state.

OK. So with an approval tonight, this business owner or a subsequent business owner would have the ability to change business model from what you have, which is a jewelry seller that can also buy jewelry, to a pawn shop that could offer the loans. or someone that could buy and sell guns?

Under that license, yes.

I think if someone were going to propose a significant change in the type of items to be sold, that probably would be different enough to trigger a re-review of the entitlement, because this entitlement carries with the land but it needs to be conducted in a manner that is consistent with the approval resolution so if something is proposed later and it turns into a gun shop only then that would be substantially different than this use permit so i think that would probably warrant a new review do we feel If you wanted to protect against something like that, you could add a condition to specifically prohibit certain types of items to be sold.

Okay. It is very broad. So I would limit it to, yeah, well, not necessarily jewelry, but jewelry, bars, coins. antiques collectibles things that because he does have a pawn shop license so we we really can't say what he can and can't unless it is something lethal it would be my thing because he can you can now since he has a pawn shop license i mean if he wanted to buy a collector's item doll he could so i think we just limit it to things that are lethal guns bombs uh knives swords yeah things like that thank you weaponry yeah through the chair like if he does decide to change the model in the future and it's like interested in purchasing you know collectible guns or anything in that

That aspect or that world, there is additional licensing that is required through the ATF. Oh, okay. So it wouldn't be as easy as like one day like, oh, I want to start purchasing guns. Like there's still a process that he would need to go through with the federal government to get that proper license.

I think I was more looking at it from a pawn shop perspective of someone comes in with an inoperable gun, but it is still yet what it is. And so something like that.

Mm-hmm.

just as a precaution for the city and the business owner all right well there's some good talking points and good discussion here and again thank you uh do anyone else have any other questions or comments that like that before we close the public hearing and open up the public forum

You're not gonna open the public forum.

Okay, great, thank you. I keep getting that mixed up, but thank you.

Sorry, you're gonna deliberate.

Okay, yes. All right, great, thank you for showing up and walking us through the process and being extremely candid with us in this process of trying to understand your business model. So again, thank you very much and being very transparent and sharing some of those intimate aspects of your business so we can actually see it and get an understanding and walk us through it. So again, thank you very much. And if you don't have any other questions for us, I will get them.

Thank you. And Tom, you want to come by the shop? Come have coffee so you could get an idea.

Great. Thank you. I appreciate it. All right. So I believe that I have heard all the information regarding this pawn shop and my thoughts around this. is that we do operate in a free market where a business owner has the right to operate as a business, especially if it's within the guidelines of the federal and state and local ordinance and laws. Considering that we did get a recommendation from staff that their business is actually in, will meet the requirements for a minor use permit for signage and to operate as a jewelry store. And I believe that the applicant did meet the conditions by sharing some of the security protocols that they had put in place and that had been approved by the city of Vallejo reviewing it that it's, it meets adequate conditions in terms of safety. I do understand that there is crime that happened here in the city of Vallejo, but I think that's outside the scope for the planning commission to be able to address, and that's related to that business, and probably has no association or any idea what's happening there crime happens throughout the city of Vallejo or in different areas. So I don't want to associate that to that particular business without any context where there's a direct linkage to it. After hearing everything and that the applicant did go through the steps to get a license, file for a use permit, and submit an application for a secondhand dealer application, I believe that It would be probably in the best interest of not just only the applicant but for that particular business location of the owner who's running that as well can have some other adverse effects and income loss. And I don't want to have an impact on that because of some things that are happening that's outside the control of the business. So those are my thoughts on it and I'm leaning heavily into voting for the use permit, I mean the use permit for this particular business. Do anybody else have any other comments or statements related around that that can help me understand a different perspective that how you guys may see it?

I think as you eloquently stated, I mean, we definitely need business here. That plaza that you're in is very challenging and it's, my hat's off to you for being able to still be able to operate successfully there. There's a lot of challenges there in the parking lot and some other businesses have spoken to me about Mm-hmm. Yes. Yeah, it comes and goes and waves. And so I commend you, you know, just for being able to stand tall throughout it all. We definitely, we do need more businesses. And it sounds like you have a need, you know, there's a need for your services. So I canvassed your area last year. thursday and it was very quiet parking lot was pretty clean outside of the lack of lighting from what i heard from a lot of the other your surrounding businesses and thank you for keeping your area clean as well so just you know we appreciate those types of businesses who really care about your surroundings i can't stress that enough so thank you

All right. Well, thank you for adding.

Yeah, I just think we've had a couple of things tonight that we thought could be good things to include in the resolution. There was one earlier in the night that Commissioner Medeiros pointed to that I can't remember off the top of my head. And then there was also, you know, I'm interested to try to figure out how we write the resolution in such a way that it's clear in our resolution that there is an additional license needed from the ATF and that even if those regulations change about licensing, that it's somewhere in our resolution that there is an additional license that would be needed. so that there's at least something to snag a future business owner on so that we're not inadvertently licensing someone who's going to buy and sell guns. I don't think we need any of that in our community more than what we have. And again, I think there's a bit of a gap here in a business owner who's talking to us very clearly and repeatedly that he is a He's selling jewelry. He's buying, selling, repairing jewelry. And we're about to vote on a pawn shop that could get into loaning, which the current business owner says he has no interest in. And I think we should take that at your word and say that I'm interested in just trying to constrain what we're about to say as the permit for this business location in a way that enables you to have exactly the business you're talking about, but does not have an additional entitlement that comes with it that a future business owner could expand on in ways that I don't think we want today.

Could I ask for a point of clarification before the motion is made? I just wanted to confirm with regard to the other uses for the gun sales that you mentioned. Are you looking to flag this item so that if it were to change into that sort of use in the future, they just know that they have to get a separate permit? Or do you want to prohibit it with this permit so that they would need to come back to the Planning Commission?

Um, the second for me, yeah, in case there's federal laws that change, I don't want this to be in, I want this to be in our hands in the political community. If someone wants to make that change, they have to come before this body.

Okay, so if you add that in, I would just suggest adding language to require, you know, all sales of guns or whatever you want to include be prohibited, and then just know if that, if they want to do that in the future, they just need to come back to the Planning Commission.

Thank you.

Yes, through the chair, I would just add weaponry as the verbiage because that entails a lot of different types of weapons and also the condition that the applicant or the owner provides the city with a copy of their reseller license from the state.

Through the chair, just to confirm, I think we could actually modify condition number 8B because that talks about the secondhand license and making sure it's displayed at the business, but we can just add on and also a copy shall be provided to the city.

All right.

Questions?

Very great. Thank you for those clarifications and regarding the resolution, I appreciate that.

Could I ask just one more point of clarification? Do you want to add a time limit for the secondhand license for obtaining that and providing a copy?

I mean, I don't know how long it takes for them to be approved by the state and I don't know if anybody local knows that, six months.

I was thinking six months too. Does six months sound reasonable to you? Come up.

When I talked to Carmen Williams, the head of the police officer in Vallejo Police, she told me it usually takes a couple of weeks. So she told me it could be any minute. She didn't give me a time frame. But she told me it could be soon.

Three months, six months? Six. Okay. Thank you.

Great, thank you. Do my fellow commissioners have any other questions or any other comments?

All right, great.

I think that we can actually move forward and I'm going to motion to approve the project exempt from, excuse me. And when the motion to approve the project exempt from environmental review percent to California Environmental Act, CEQA guidelines, section 15301 and 15311, and improving the resolution for a major use permit and sign permit, collective PLN 25-0148 to establish, can we change the language from the pawn shop to, if we're not establishing as a pawn shop?

I don't think it really matters. The zoning code has the pawn shop reference. That's the only reason it's written that way.

Okay, great. Thank you. So let me restate this and start from the beginning. All right, so I approve the motion. I motion to approve the project exempt from environmental review pursuant to California Environmental Quality Act CEQA guidelines section 15301 and 15311 and approving the resolution for a major use permit and signed permit collectively PLN 25-0148 to establish a pawn shop at 3716 Sonoma Boulevard with APN 0053-010-740.

with the conditions, the added conditions, of no weaponry sold at the business, as well as providing a copy of the reseller's permit from the state.

Let me take note here.

If you prohibit it with this action, then if anyone wants to change it and do something different, they just need to come back to the Planning Commission. So, yes.

Okay, so I'm going to start over again.

Just, if I may, I'm so sorry. You said they are not allowed to sell weaponry. Do you want to include buy? Okay.

All right, so let me start again. So I motion to approve, I motion to approve the project exempt from Environmental review pursuant to California Environmental Act, Quality Act, CEQA guidelines, section 15301 and 15311, and improving resolution for a major use permit and signed permit collectively, PLN25-0148, to establish a pawn shop at 3716 Sonoma Boulevard, APN 0053-010-740 with additional condition of not buying or selling weaponry, I mean weaponry, and providing a secondhand dealer license no later than, a copy of non-dealer's license. Yes. And providing a copy of the state dealer license no later than six months.

I will second that.

We have five ayes and the motion carries.

All right, great, thank you. All right, thank you, congratulations. All right, so we'll move to the next agenda item, which is the written communications.

Thank you, Chair. Through the Chair, we did receive one written communication that was shared to each of the members of the Planning Commission, as well as posted on our city's website, and a copy in the binder in the back. we did receive a letter from paul thesis encouraging the commission to continue your affordable housing work by facilitating the passage this fall of mandated inclusionary zoning rental protections and commercial linkage fees you are to be condemned for your continued focus on affordable housing So for almost two years ago in October 2024 you moved the housing elements mandatory inclusionary zoning ordinance onto an expedited timeline joining renter protections and commercial linkage fees. So this letter once again was provided to each of the members of the planning commission as well as provided and posted on our city's website for the public.

All right great thank you so much. Anybody have any questions or comments regarding update?

Just wanted to make sure the record reflect we were commended. Was that correct? Yes. Commended. Apologies.

I didn't hear clearly. I'm glad you asked, Commissioner Bynes. I wasn't sure. I was like, OK, we can move to the next line item. But this is excellent. This is great. So appreciate the feedback. Thank you. So we're going to move to the next agenda item, which is a report of the presiding officers and members of the Planning Commission. We'll start with the secondary report.

Thank you, Chair. Echoing Vice Mayor Matulak, City Council did hold interviews for the two vacant positions for the Planning Commission. A total of five applicants applied for the position. Those five were interviewed, and on August 4th, those two vacancies will be appointed at that meeting. I do want to mention that Vice Chair Douglas decided to step away from the Planning Commission. So we want to say thank you for his time and his dedicated efforts with the Planning Commission. So we are planning on having a meeting on the first meeting of August. We have tentatively scheduled a vesting tentative map to subdivide the Redwood Plaza, which was the former Safeway Shopping Center where In-N-Out, the gas changers, is at. to sublet into four parcels, as well as tentatively scheduled is a major use permit, development review, design review, landscape review for a new coffee shop with a drive-through known as Seven Brew, which will be in the vacant portion of the Olive Garden parking lot. So those two items are tentatively scheduled to come before this commission on the first meeting We are going to go dark, so no meetings will happen for the rest of August. That's kind of a practice that City Council has, so the rest of the boards and commissions will do the same. And then once again, we'll pick right up in September, where I think we already have a pretty busy schedule for September. So other than that, that concludes my report for this evening.

Through the chair question to staff. Um, I know that we lost one of our planners last meeting. Um, is there active recruiting to replace that, that planner on the city's part?

Um, through the chair. Yes, we are working with, um, our HR department so we can get that recruitment out.

All right. Great. Thank you for the update.

Yes. Vice mayor. A couple of quick items I did forget to mention. There was an Economic Development Commission meeting where Director Pollitt actually did a presentation once again where we started trying to have that collaboration between the Planning Commission and the Economic Development Commission. And what came out of that were A lot of great questions that I had anticipated were going to happen from the economic development team that could help lead some of the thought process to some of the zoning and potentially business opportunities for this planning commission. So hopefully, if you haven't yet, take a look at that economic development, Economic Development Commission meeting. And then that's kind of like a starting. So they've taken your recommendations and the fact that they just received it at that time, they're going to I think I can't remember what the timeline was for them to review it. But the fact they needed more time, even though there was a pseudo sort of deadline that we as a council were looking at to get feedback from them. Once again, that was just the start of that conversation between the Planning Commission and Economic Development, and I think it's going to lead to some really good collaboration moving forward. So that's one. And then for those that may not notice, in my district and District 2, the new Chick-fil-A this commission had approved that is actually they had started some of the construction and doing the grading over there. So that's another item that's moving forward that we're looking forward to that. Once again, this commission started by approving that project. So thank you for that. And those little two items I accidentally omitted when my in my original liaison report from earlier today. So thank you.

Well, thank you and thank you for the updates. That is some great news and some positive feedback. So I like things are moving in the right direction.

So this is good to hear. I'm glad to hear that.

So again, thank you for sharing that. I appreciate it. Yes.

Well, through the chair, I was just curious with the update there. Just I don't think I was away, so I'm not sure if I missed it. Was there a memo that was crafted by city staff to distill the recommendations that we had made.

Yes. So we, if you recall, we had a pretty in-depth conversation about all the recommendations. All of the memos were provided to the EDC, but we also gave a cover sheet to kind of pull out the like five major themes that came out of that. So there was basically an executive summary with kind of a quick overview of the top five items, but then they were also provided all of the memos. So that was the packet they were given.

Did you send that cover memo, executive summary, to this commission?

I do not recall. If I did not, I will.

Thank you very much. I'd love to see it.

All right, that was a good question, and thank you for the update. My fellow commissioners, do I have any other questions or comments? Okay, we can move to the next line item, which is the city attorney report.

I have nothing to report, thank you.

All right, thank you. And so we can move to the next line item, which is report of the chairperson and members of the commission. As of right now, I don't have anything to report. Do my fellow commissioners have anything they might like to add or report? All right, great, thank you. And so we will move to the next line item, which is report of the ad hoc subcommittees. And I will turn this over to Commissioner Medeiros.

going to pass down the line the work plan if this is just a draft to my fellow commissioners I would like the commissioners to have the first crack at it we need to have some input from staff as far as timelines on the actual work plan items I just wanted to provide a like I said, the draft as far as what we've worked on so far. Only part of this is in here because I've actually added as an attachment from code what this commission's responsibilities are, and that's like about six different pages, I think. So I didn't add that this time and that's code so it's nothing that we can at least change at this point in time. So I think I have one more copy if staff wanted another copy. So I'm asking my fellow commissioners to please red line or add your comments, get them back to me. You can either do that electronically through the email that we've all been provided or just bring them to the next meeting.

All right, any fellow commissioners have any questions or any comments? All right. I have a comment, and I want to thank the ad hoc subcommittee, Commissioner Tara Beasley, and Commissioner Medeiros for working on this. So thank you so much. I think you've done an excellent job of preparing this together and organizing this and having this for us. So again, thank you very much. And I think you have done an excellent job with coordinating with the rest of us to put this together. So I want to give you an analogy there. Darren, thank you for your input on this as well and working on this. So it's been very helpful. So I just wanted to acknowledge you guys for this. And this is a lot of work. So thank you.

Well, and just to staff, I know that we need your input as well, too, as far as what you can and cannot support at this point in time.

I'm sorry, I did want to say publicly thank you to Commissioner Medeiros. Thank you very much for spearheading this.

Great. So there's no other comments or any other questions. We can move to the next agenda item, which is the work plan ad hoc subcommittee, the work plan. I believe that in the previous agenda item, I think, captured this, unless there's any other additional questions regarding this work plan you might want to add.

Should we maybe have like a special study session on this or just comment section in the next agenda, the next meeting or the following meeting? I mean, I would like to get this like done so that, you know, we're kind of at the beginning of the budget year instead of waiting three months from now.

I think it would be helpful if you went through it and discussed what you envision is the work plan. I'm guessing the goals in the back are tracking the descriptions in the front. Like if you walked us through it.

Yeah. Okay. You want me to do that now?

And how much time?

Do you want me to do that now? Or do you want to do that in a separate meeting?

Either one. It's fine.

Okay. We can do that. on the agenda so we can do it now if you wanted to sounds good yeah well when we first started meeting my cohorts Commissioner Taylor and Commissioner Tara Beasley Stansbury we try to focus keep our focus very succinct and mirror it to both City Council goals as well as what we thought the Planning Commission, not goals, but where the focus was based on public input, based on things that we have been hearing for the last couple of years really. with the different ordinances. So the four focus areas that we thought we should focus on are affordable housing, infill zoning, environmental justice, and renter protections. Those are all outlined in the next three pages and some ideas about how that might be done, accomplished on the city side. And then we looked into how the City Council goals and objectives could align with ours. And we came up with four different areas. And also what we're tasked with based on our municipal code. And that was economic development. I know that's like the number one thing with our rep back there. And general plan implementation, which is pretty much what we do. Land use determination and then zoning ordinance compliance. And each of those are outlined with different ideas, things that we should be focused on. I'm not going to go through each one. I'm not going to insult anybody because we can all read. But there's some interesting ideas as far as what we could be doing. And that is the next four or five pages. And all of this culminates into the actual work plan, which is on page 12. And it's just, you know, I thought this was a good just overview of just to have everything on one page. And the different goals and tracking milestones associated with those. Now the due dates, we just put those in there. So that's something that staff has to determine as well as working with staff as far as what those metrics will be going forward to complete each of these items. So and I kind of listed that. We need to talk to staff and get their buy-in of what they could and couldn't do. And then at the end, one of our things is training, training, training. And I just found a course on the internet. And it has tons of classes under it. It's all over the internet. And we can all do that separately when we have the time to do that. If we have specific areas of planning that we want to know more about educate ourselves about so that we could be a very knowledgeable compliant commission I think that's really important so that's that's all I have I don't know if Tara or Tony has any additional things that they'd like to add because we did work on this as a group

I, as, um, as you presented this, I believe sums up everything that we have discussed. Um, I'm sure as we continue to work on this, we will have, we better refine this more, but this is, uh, capture everything that we have, we have worked on. I believe this is, um, the prime, I mean, the four focus area, I think that we should focus on. And as you had stated, as came up while we were on this commission, uh, affordable housing infill, um, zoning and environmental justice and rental protections. And considering that now we are looking into or inclusionary housing zoning ordinance had been drafted for review, I believe this is in alignment with that to ensure that, you know, are we still moving in the right direction and that that particular draft hopefully move forward as does capture what is needed up here in the city and help serve what's in the best interest of the public. And so I believe that these points here do capture some of the policy that we are in the process of reviewing and in alignment with everything else is our role here. So I completely in support of this document.

And we're open for comments and refinement. As I said, this is just a draft.

I just wanted to ask a question and provide something to maybe think about. I do like the work plan breakdown, like the table that you have at the end that's really succinct and to the point. I like that. Under commissioner training, I am curious to know if there are specific topics that you want more training on. Perhaps you can tie them back into some of the items in this document if you want to just learn more about certain things. that would be really helpful for staff so that we could help to maybe coordinate some targeted training activities.

Okay.

First of all, thank you very much. This is really wonderful to see. We have the beginnings of a work plan. I'm fully in agreement with kind of our focus areas. I'm really excited to delve into this. One first kind of thought that I have, and it's particular to the affordable housing element, and even Paul Feese's letter has me thinking about it as well. There's an aspect of the housing element that also talks about existing housing stock and what we can do for existing housing stock. We tend to focus on new construction, or infill construction. Either way, it revolves around buying land and building things up that aren't there. One on green fields and one on brown fields that require demolition. But there's this whole other element that I'm not going to remember some of the aspects of the housing element itself, but is really about how do we get our existing stock of housing up to code and provide some sort of incentives for existing property owners to push some of that housing towards affordability. um so anyway i would encourage us to think about how we could wrap that element into the affordable housing um i do think it's just a potentially one of our biggest untapped aspects that doesn't require as much market development um that we know is difficult so anyway that's just kind of a first thought just to add a little bit to the affordable housing I love the infill zoning part. It's like music to my ears. And rental protections. Yeah, the only other one, I think it's in the table. It's just how like Mare Island specific plan kind of fits into this as it's kind of barreling towards us to make a decision at some point in the near future. Thanks again. It's really great.

Is for staff, is it in our purview to request a community benefits package or is that something at council level for developers?

I do not believe we have any program in our municipal code that relates to that. So if you wanted to talk about community benefits, they probably would need to be case by case in conjunction with like a development agreement. And that is going to be at the city council level. So, yeah.

Thank you. Can I clarify that this is a draft?

Yes.

For the record. Okay. I'm going to put draft. Thank you.

All right, do any of my fellow commissioners have any questions or any comments related to this line item?

I think we should put on the agenda for the next meeting.

Yes, and please bring your ideas, your comments, your updates, whatever.

And so to add this to the agenda so we can motion to... at the Planning Commission Ad Hoc Subcommittee Work Plan 2026 to 2027 on the next Planning Commission agenda? Just have more of a discussion.

Yeah, through the chair, since it's already a standing item, we can have the discussion during the work plan ad hoc subcommittee item on our agenda.

All right, sounds great. Thank you. So there's no other questions or any other comments?

Just before, apologies for the music that was playing, but I did send everyone on the commission the agenda packet that went before the Economic Development Commission, as well as the hyperlink to the livestream video that was posted on YouTube. So you'll hear that music again once you click on the link.

All right. all right okay thank you so I think we cannot move to the next agenda item which is other unless there's something that we had missed during the planning commission this meeting that we can bring up at this point all right great so we'll move to the next line item was an enjoyment so the planning commission is we're going to enjoy the planning commission at 8 18.