Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

Yeah. City clerk, are we waiting for any others? Do we know? We have quorum, but I just wanted to Are we That's not

Oh, wow. All right, we'll get started here. Start that. Um, good evening. I would like to call to order the regular meeting of the planning commission for Wednesday, April the 22nd. Uh, the time is 5:30. All right. The city of Ventur acknowledges that we are gathered on unseated G mesh land. The full city council adopted land acknowledgement is available on our city website. Um Mr. Clerk, may we please have roll call.

Thank you, Chair Busa. Commissioner McCarti here. Commissioner Winder here. Commissioner Loggerquist is absent. Uh, Commissioner Abby here, Commissioner Compton here, Vice Chair Zucker here, Chair Busa here. Six members are present. We do have a quorum.

Thank you. All right. This is the public communications portion of the meeting. Members of the public may address the commission on matters not on tonight's agenda that are within the commission's jurisdiction. The commission cannot take action on items not listed on the agenda. Speakers will have up to three minutes. Um, Mr. Clerk, are there any public communications? Thank you, chair. We don't have any public communications, but a note to anybody online, you can raise your hand if you want to speak on an item.

No. So, that there are no public communications.

Thank you. All right. Moving on to consent. We have four items on consent for tonight's agenda. As a reminder, commissioners may ask questions, make comments, or register a no vote on a consent item before a motion is made for the entire consent agenda without having to pull an item separately. Um, with that, we have four items on the agenda, too, on continuence or minutes as well as the inloom fees. Um, are there any t questions from commission at this time? And I will kindly ask us to use our technology again because I'm getting used to it now that we're back in the chambers if possible. Help my head swivel here. Yes, Commissioner Mccardi.

I have a um potential change to consent item number one, approval of the minutes. And I'd like to pull number three, Inloo fee update, for discussion.

Okay. Seeing as we have um action potential on the minutes and the inluff fee, I want to just just quickly go to the two items um on u continuence. Are there any questions on the continuence items? No. Okay. Um if not, then I would um entertain a motion to move the items, the continuence items on consent. I move second. I'll second. Thank you. Chair Busa. Um, could we announce those for anybody who's here for them?

Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Wigger. Yes. The the two items on continuence are project 25780 request for coastal development permit lot adjustment, a major design review and associated density bonus waiverss and concessions and inclusionary housing plan for Thompson Court Apartments located at 1655 East Thompson Boulevard. and the continuence notice is um attached here and and would be um moved to the May 27th meeting. Um the second project um on item for continuence is project 261049 uh program 19 supportive housing and the purpose of that item is for planning commission to recommend approval of an ordinance amendment to authorized by the city of Ventura's municipal code establishing code amendments pursuant to recent state law on housing options for the homeless and this would also be continued to the May 27th meeting. Thank you. So, we have a motion and a second on the continuence of those two.

We have a motion and a second on those two continuous items. You may now enter your vote.

All votes have been entered. Six eyes. Motion carries. Thank you. Thank you. And if it pleases the commission, we'll we'll take the minutes next. Commissioner McCertie, um your potential amendment to the minutes. Yes. So on the uh draft minutes from the last meet from the March meeting, uh formal item number four, exception, no exception for the residents located at 192 Rayata Avenue. Uh, it's listed that the motion was carried seven to zero. Um, to my recollection, and correct me if I'm wrong, Commissioner Abby voted no on that uh item.

That's correct. I was going to mention that as well. So, the Yeah. So, that should be changed. Commissioner Abby was a no and the motion carried six to one. Thank you, Commissioner Mccardi. That is correct. We can have that amendment made to the draft minutes from staff. Yes. Excellent. Okay. Then we let's take the minutes the draft minutes from the last meeting um as our next item with the edit to uh correct the item for judgment on that to six to one. Do I have a motion on the minutes?

I'll move to approve. I'll second. We have a motion and second to approve the minutes. As with those edits from Commissioner Mccardi, you can now enter your vote.

Waiting on one more vote. Reminder, we have to lock. Hit the lock vote button. Is it me? It might be. Does it turn blue when you've Yeah, remind us again. Yeah, it turns blue. It turns blue when you've hit it. Okay, they're all entered now. Thank you. Apologies. Six eyes. The motion carries. All right. And Commissioner McCarti. Item on the inluffies. So, um, before we get started,

before we get started, um, I'd like to recuse myself from this item. Um, just out of an abundance of caution, um, my my, uh, employer cause does advocacy around affordable housing and just to avoid any kind of perception of of conflict of interest there. Um, myself. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Zucker. Find your efforts. All right, Commissioner Cardi.

Okay. Okay. Well, first of all, I have a question for staff. Um, we did this very exercise back on August 27th, 2025, the last time we updated the Enlue fees. And at that time, it was a formal item on our agenda. Uh, and the recommendation from staff was recommend city council to adopt the updated inclusionary housing program in new fee amounts. So, we were reviewing the fees and recommending to city council adoption of those fees. Tonight, however, it appears the update appears as a consent item and the recommendation is receive and file. So, I'm I'm confused as to why it appears that way on tonight's agenda uh instead of as it did in last year's agenda.

Good evening. Um, thank you, Commissioner McCarthy. My name is Rachel West. I am a management analyst um in community development on the housing services team. So, the inloo fee is a consent item before you this evening because last year when we presented it to planning commission as part of the recommendation, it was to include the uh for the next several years that this item go towards city council as a consent item. um during that planning commission last year, you guys uh had requested to also see it as a consent item for planning commission. So, it is no longer a formal item until uh 2028 to 2029. Um and that is because there's not a drastic change in the market. If there is a drastic change in the market, then we would bring it forth as a formal item again. Um but that is what was approved last year during planning commission. We did we did approve that it would be a consent item for going forward.

That is correct. Yes. I believe the recommendation was specifically a consent item for city council and then um an amendment was made at planning commission that you guys would like to see it as well just as a consent item. Okay. If if I have concerns about the new proposed inlue fee, how do I make those concerns public if it's just a consent and receive and file for us? We can definitely discuss the concerns this evening um and staff will make note of it and include it in our recommendation towards city council.

Okay. Um I'd like to do that now if I may. Is it possible to bring up one of the attachments, one of the material attachments, the 2026 inloo fee update?

Yes. One second. I'm going to um drop that attachment into our folder. Can I ask a question as well?

Yes. Um, in line with the the timing was that I believe that exercise was to approve the new policy around the the housing the inclusionary housing ordinance with the new in Luffy. It was a new policy. Is that am I remembering this correct? And what we're having before us tonight is an update into the the formulaic number approach to the enlies. And that formulaic approach was reviewed, established, came to this board, came to the city council, was approved as the methodology and approach and then the subsequent updates would be applying that formula formula moving forward just giving us the updated numbers. Is that my

that is correct. So there was nothing changing to the inclusionary housing ordinance itself. um just the annual update for the ENLU fee was changing and that um general formula because in uh 2020 for the 2024 2025 numbers there was that in-depth analysis that Kaiser Marson Associates had done with the market study and then for last year's update of 2025 2026 it was just that averaging of the um how the rental market had changed between the years as well as how the average of the for sale prices had changed um in the city of Ventura. And so because there's not a drastic change in the market, that's why the in-depth study hadn't been conducted and it was just utilizing those averages. And that's also why it was um voted to move forward with it just being a consent item unless there is a large drastic change in the market for some reason. Um and then we'll also revisit it after that 5-year mark in 2028, 2029 to um have that in-depth analysis done again. And we are working on pulling up attachment B which is the um formula.

Okay. Thank you. It's going to be a little tough to see unless we can blow it up. Okay. So, uh actually the first page. Yeah. Um is it possible to blow that up a little bit more? I'm mainly concerned with like the first five columns on the left. Um, in any case, I'll get started. That's good. That's That's good. Okay. Make sure.

Um, so this is this is the exact same argument that I made last year. I have the same concerns. The way this the fees were were calculated were based on monthly median prices as you can see in the third column from the left. Uh we have the months, we have the years, we have the monthly or median prices. Scroll down just slightly so we can see the one. Keep going down to through through December. Okay, right there. So, the numbers we're concerned with are January through December of 2025. And what's done here is there are two calculations being made. There is a median annual sales price in column one, two, three, four to the left, fourth from the left and then six to the from the left there's an average annual sales price and and the bottom line at the very bottom the median annual sales price is calculated as $861,000 200 861250 The average annual sales price is 8705.83. So what's being done is KMA the consultant is taking two averages of averages. So the averages that they're looking at are the median monthly sales prices through the months of January through December in 2025. In column four, they take the median of those 12 median prices and come up with

$861,000. In column six, they take the mean of 12 medians and come up with $870,000. So, anytime you take a an average of a set of averages that are not weighted, you're introducing bias. Um and and so what the figure that KMA chose to use for their new inloo fee is the $870,000 figure which is the mean of 12 unweighted medians January through December. Um, taking a mean of unweighted medians is a pretty meaningless exercise in mathematics. Um, it doesn't really tell us much. Column four taking the median of 12 medians is not much less biased but it's less biased in the sense that it gives less weight to the outliers to the to the low low figures in the range and the high figures in the range. So even though both of these calculations are flawed in that what KMA should have done was taking the taken the raw data and not just the medians of each month. So each each is flawed but a good argument can be made that the less flawed of the two calculations is taking the median annual sales price of the 12 median monthly sales prices. As I mentioned before, it kind of uh gives less weight to the outliers, the the the very low uh medians and the very

high medians. So, for some reason unexplained, KMA chose to use in the proposed inloo fee, they chose the average the mean annual sales price, which works out to a an increased percentage of 1.13%. And that's what is going forward to city council increasing the uh inloo fee by 1.13%. Um as I mentioned before arguably less biased would be to take the median annual sales price which by this calculation shows a decrease of about half a percent. So what we are the the burden we're putting on developers now is an increase of 1%. When a good argument could actually be made that a better way to do it would be to use the percentage change which reduces the inloo fee by half a percent. Um which may be very uh amendable to some. So that is my concern. I think we are giving a blanket and somewhat blind approval to a number that uh we weren't given a very good rationale for approving. Um so I I I disagree with the conclusions done by KMA and given the analysis we have here I would argue that the proper inloo fee should not be a raise of 1.13% but a decrease of 46%. So that's my concern.

Commissioner Conan. Thank you, Chair. While we're on the topic, um the recommendation is a little over 1% increase, um I'm curious to know, do most developments of the eventuality is do they use the inloo fee or do they build onsite? Um, and if you have kind of a reference on that, I I have a comment.

Yes, thank you for that question. Um, the majority of developers do usually just build on site with the units. We did have one um project last year in 2025 um that was a uh four cell u modular home that utilized the inloo fee for that one unit. it was only eight units, so it was a very um small project. And then we did have one this year that utilized the inloo fees for um kind of a fractional part for both the very low and low, which ended up to being about 1.35 in units. So one full unit and.35 um that utilized it this year. Um and in the last few years, those were the only two that have uh actually utilized the inluff fee.

Okay. Thank you. Yeah. The reason I Oh, please.

Um I did just want to comment on the methodology. So obviously there's a many different ways we can look at um you know all of this data um and using the um mean of medians which is always a little tongue twister um is a pretty common strategy for aggregating this type of data and really understanding kind of what it really means. Um, and what I think the key reasons why we use this and why Kaiser Marston uses this across the board with all of their clients is it really reduces outlier impact. Um, like if you took overall average of all the sale prices, um, the this is really less sensitive to those extreme values. So, you're kind of cutting off like the, you know, the $12 million homes and then the much cheaper, let's say, land sales or um, you know, some of the fire sales that occur um or, um, you know, things that get sold by the bank. And then this is also really balancing kind of the multiple groups that we have in the city of different zip codes, different neighborhoods, and particularly different property types. So obviously a single family versus a condo versus an apartment building are very different items as well with very different um you know even number of units within them. And so this is really going to be more representative of the data and I I totally understand what you're saying but this is the best way that we can kind of balance all of those varying issues to get ourselves to um kind of a clearer picture of what's happened with prices in Ventura. Thank you. Um the reason I asked that is because I I don't know what the disposition of the city is but um my personal opinion is we want to try and disincentivize inluff fee usage so that all market rate

or all all forms of housing are adjacent to one another as opposed to redlinined in various areas of the city etc. So, I'm not adverse. Um, I mean, 1% 1.13% is not egregious in my mind considering building costs now are approaching 700 plus dollars, maybe even higher for premium. Um, and so I understand the methodology used and I I do understand Commissioner McCarti's comment about the difference between median and and mean and uh averages. Um this this somewhat makes sense to me. I do think it is a good exercise for us to take a close look at this and be able to ask questions. So it perpetually being a consent item may not have been our best vote and I don't know if we can unwind that for the future, but that's my comment on it.

Thank you, Commissioner Compton. Any other comments from commission? And then do we have Sorry. Do we have any public comments on this item? Thank you, chair. We don't have any public comments on item three.

Okay. All right. Back uh to the commission for deliberation. I just I just want to say that I I appreciate the the Do you Did you have a comment on the oversight? I didn't see anything light up. I just want to say I I appreciate the the dialogue and conversation and I definitely I too I also hear you uh Commissioner Mccardi on on the approach. Um I think before us tonight is is the update based off of the methodology that was already adopted. Um and um concerns on the methodology that was adopted. I think again to follow up with with staff to see how that can be um raised continuously through the process and and with council um in our in our future iterations of this. I I do say it, you know, speaking to Commissioner Comden's comment around disincentivizing and and just even understanding kind of the Inloo fee um program in greater detail in terms of its return in terms of what it's bringing back um into creating future housing if that's that's the intent of it. Um, so although this is more of a routine approval, I too would like to see um this commission have more visibility or just more education, if you will, into the fees to date, what those fees are being used for, how they're being applied, um, and if that's in a back on an item on the agenda or doing a director's update. Um, but I I agree that that would be good for us to have as a commission. Any other comments? If none then I would entertain.

Can I clarify? Uh, so would we be moving forward with the recommendation to receive and file or would we like to add in that we'd like to see the entire ENL fee um annual update as a formal item or um um formal item um or just adding in that uh a a general inlue fee, not percentage or calculation update, but just a general umformational item that shares kind of how many inl fees, what the pricing was and things like that. pleases the commission.

I would like to see it revert to a formal item. Um uh because if I'm sitting in the seat again at this time next year, I will probably bring up the exact same issue unless the methodology change methodology changes. you know, uh, KMA gets their, uh, information from Redf Fin, and I'm I'm they they pull up monthly median prices. Um, all they need for each month is is one other number, and that's n equals the number of homes sold in that month. And they can do a much more accurate, much more precise calculation. And I'm I'm I'm surprised that number one, I'm surprised they don't do that because it's easy. I think it's easy to get that data. Um perhaps a suggestion to them from staff about uh having weighted averages instead of just medians would be good. So anyway, long answer. Um I'd like to see it as a formal item. Once again,

one way that this might um I think add to the conversation is that we have this be a formal item and combine it with the annual progress report for housing so that we talk about this in the larger context of our housing progress over the year. So there will also be a you know a kind of uh a lot of additional data to discuss and then it can be kind of the full presentation on the state of housing. Um, generally we submit that to HCD and it's due April every year. So we could have this be an annual April item um with this item and annual progress report together and then it's formal on the agenda each time.

That sounds good. That sounds good to me too, Chair. Excellent. Just to clarify, this year the APR is coming to you in June, but in the future we'll have it sooner. So that'll also give you um basically an immediate notification of that information as we're giving it to HCD.

Excellent. All right. Then I think the motion would be to move forward with approval of the minutes um with um future updates on the annual or on the inloo policy to be included with the annual housing update. Chair, we we did take the vote on consent item one. This is a receive and file and maybe the attorney de laago wants to talk more about it, but I don't Yes, I don't believe the the scope of this agenda item uh contemplates a motion on the item. So, I would veer away from that. I we just had a discussion about it. There's a suggestion for staff to incorporate uh the Luffy discussion in the future. Uh I think that's probably sufficient without a motion.

Excellent. Thank you so much for that clarification. Appreciate that. All right. Right. As this is a receive and file. Thank you. Okay, let me find where I am in my notes here. Do we we still vote on the receiving and file for the minutes for sorry for the enluffy the receive and file. Sorry, what what about it? I missed that first part. I apologize. Is there still a formal vote for No, the receiving item. There's no need for the a formal vote.

Perfect. Okay, moving on to our formal item then for the evening. Um, the preliminary view of the proposed redevelopment at 760 South Seawward. I'll invite staff to present at this time. We need to go get Commissioner Zucker. Thank you, staff. Thank you, staff. Yes, I was signed up to speak.

Okay. Uh, good evening, Chair Busa, Planning Commission. Welcome back to the historic council chambers. Um, I'm Grant White, associate planner with the community development department. And the agenda item number five before you is the 760 Seawward Avenue redevelopment preliminary review. This is project 25-0802, a major design interview, coastal development permit, and use permit. Next slide, please. So, the purpose of this meeting is being held at the applicant's request ahead of an application completeness determination. Tonight, staff is not making a recommendation. The purpose of this meeting is to provide an early temperature check on the project. The overall goal of tonight's meeting is to obtain the planning commission's feedback and input on the project prior to further project analysis analysis and resubmitts. The project site is located south of the Midtown community within the Prebble community as described in the 1989 comprehensive plan. The general character of the Prebble community is considered transitional, an area where little land is available for new development, but where private redevelopment potential exists. The subject site is bounded by US Highway 101, South Seawward Avenue, and Allesandro Drive. North of the site is the former lemon packing plant that is being currently proposed as a residential community. East of the site is a newly constructed Marriott Residence in. Again, south of the site is US Highway 101 and South Seward Avenue is directly west of the site. The underlying zoning for the parcel is commercial tourist oriented as provided by municipal code section or chapter 24.240. The commercial tourist oriented zone uh prescribes use types and other regulations for the uh the parcel shown in yellow on your right hand of your

screen. Um the commercial tourist oriented zone prioritizes safe, efficient and well integrated visitors serving commercial and recreational uses. It applies clear development standards to ensure high quality site design and operations that meet visitor needs and protect coastal visitor serving areas by directly incompatible uses to more appropriate zoning districts. Again, the project before you tonight is a request for a preliminary review of a coastal development permit, major design review and use permit for two drive-through establishments, and one quicks serve restaurant building on a 3.37 acre site in the commercial tourist oriented zone with a land use designation of commercial tourist and tourist oriented within the coastal zone. Um, building number one is uh the westernmost building and is the largest at a size of roughly 5,100 square feet. Building number two is in the center. It's roughly 2,500 ft². And building number three is the easternmost building and that is 3,000 ft in size. Again, the project site is located within the coastal zone with a land use designation of plain, commercial, tourist oriented. Properties within this designation have one or more of the following characteristics. It is a strategic location. It fronts a major thoroughfare. It is located in or near an existing activity center or or and the site is needed needs to be well buffered. While the 2050 general plan has not yet been certified by the California Coastal Commission and does not govern the coastal zone entitlements in lie of the 1989 comprehensive plan, it does provide an important context for the city's current vision and long-term goals for this area. The 2050 general plan was adopted by the city council in October of last year.

And the 2050 general plan includes the following applicable goals relevant to this project. Land use goal number five to establish high quality architecture and building design that reflects Ventura's unique beach town identity and land use goal number 29 maintain Peront as a vibrant neighborhood center with attractive coastal oriented services. So the applicant is requesting to utilize the dining establishment fast service drive up which is provided in municipal code section 24.475. Uh, this land use requires a use permit within the commercial tourist oriented zone. The use the fast service drive up or a drive-thru use shall be required to meet all the following development and operational standards. These include setbacks, drive up lanes or queuing lane standards, circulation and parking standards, landscaping, lighting and trash storage areas. To date, uh the application of the project is generally and mostly consistent with the regulations for the drive-thru or the drive up regulations. There are two outstanding development issues. One being the trash enclosures, the driveing drive-thru establishment regulations require that the trash areas to be designed and integrated into the buildings as this project um does not currently provide that. And secondly, the current proposed drive-thru lanes are about 10 feet from the southern property line, which is the US Highway 101 or the CALR off-ramp. Um 20 ft is required by the development regulations. Earlier this year on January 7th, the design review committee reviewed this project. Ultimately, the design review committee continued this project to a date uncertain for the applicant to

address the DRC's recommendations. That motion carried unanimously to a 40 vote. The DRC recommendations are summarized. One being the traffic stacking of the drive-through lanes. The DRC expressed concern regarding the adequacy of the drive-through queuing lanes and the potential for vehicles stacking to spill out onto the internal driveway access points and therefore creating conflicts for on-site circulation. Secondly, the DRC recommended that the applicant explore combining the buildings. The DRC felt that the three separate buildings could be consolidated or combined into one more or one unified structure um providing better active pedestrian realm and reduce the dominance of drive-through lanes. Third, the DRC recommended the applicant explore the incorporation of a rooftop restaurant um or dining area. Given the site's proximity to the coast and its relationship to the US Highway 101, they felt a rooftop activation um could be beneficial to a rather underutilized building plan with potential coastal views. Fourth, they DRC recommended the architecture to reflect better uh beach surf eclectic culture. Um they found it inconsistent with the 1997 design guidelines and which call for again eclectic beach surf architecture. Fifth, the DRC recommended that the applicant consider reducing the building height and the possibility of a tower element. The DRC felt that a tower element could serve as a visual landmark, identifying the site and contributing to its sense of place. Uh the DRC also recommended more communityfriendly uh for local and tourist use. They expressed concern that the project as designed is oriented primarily towards drive-thru vehic ve vehicular customers and did not adequately serve pedestrians, cyclists, or the broader local community. Seventh, the DRC

recommended the applicant incorporate a substantial green buffer zone, including eucalyptus trees or similar large tree canopies, particularly along US Highway 101 and the CALR off-ramp. The DRC also recommended and requested that the applicant provide sightseection drawings to better illustrate the relationship between the buildings and the slope topography. And lastly, the DRC recommended an outside area or a pet play area. This was um their recommendation for design for a community use such as a pet friendly space or a children's play area. As mentioned um by the DRC and their comments, the 1997 design guidelines uh do introduce this particular site um and the introduction to Seawward area in the Pircon community. And the design guidelines note this as a distinctly unique neighborhood peppered with an eclectic mix of beach type residential architecture, restaurants, motel, shops, and residences. The design guidelines um was a community-based effort and as a result the views and wishes from these this policy guideline was to retain and enhance the funky beach atmosphere, reinforce the village feeling, create better pedestrian oriented spaces and activities, outdoor eating and seating areas, and develop eclectic beach type architecture. Shown on the screen now is the applicant site plan. To the north is Allesandro Drive. South again is US Highway 101 and to the west is South Seawward Avenue. Uh the building number one is the westernmost building and you can see the queueing lanes that wrap around it to the south. In the center is building number two, which is an additional drive-thru establishment with queuing

lanes taken from the south. And then on the eastern most is the quickserve uh building which um is again located on the western most right next to the Marriott residence in something to note of this site um it's tough to see from an aerial perspective but there is a significant uh slope and topography to the site um at the northernmost portion of the site as shown on the screen it is above 50 ft above sea level And then as you go to the southernmost portion, there's about 25 feet grade differential. So it's about 25 feet at the lowest point of this parcel. Um, this provides challenging topography between the off-ramp and then Allesandro Drive and provides a little opportunity for activating the public realm by placing the proposed buildings close or onto the street footage as typically would recommend be recommended by the design guidelines. Next slide. Uh the images on your screen are just for some context of the site. On the left is a midsize vehicle just showing the grade differential as it abusts the CALR off-ramp. And then the second image on your right is looking east towards the newly constructed Marriott Residence in the site again that has challenging topography um as it's positioned between the CALR off-ramp and the elevated public street and provides minimal opportunity to activate the public realm as shown on the screen. site access is taken from Allesandjo Drive. And then additionally highlighted in yellow, you can see the pedestrian walkway which would connect to South Seawward Avenue. And then it would kind of jog um through uh straight lines through driveways, restaurant patios, drive-through entrance and exits, landscape fingers,

um making your way either west to east or east to west from the public realm to onto the private development throughout the site and then all your the way to uh the residence in. So on the screen now is a building ele of elevation of building number one. Again, this is the largest of the three buildings. This is with a footprint of about 5,100 square ft. This building provides roughly 2,000 square ft of dining area, a play area, restrooms, kitchen, meal prep area for the drive-thru. Um, this drive-thru, again, the lanes wrap around the south of the building. Staff found that building one's massing is relatively simple in form with an overall box-like design. There is minimal differentiation between the base, middle, and top, and archiculation is concentrated on inward- facing facades rather than the public facing elevations. This is a zoomed in image of the applicant's site plan, just giving you an idea of the floor plan of the building. And you can see the dining area, the patio outdoor p patio area or the dining area to the north and then the drive-thru lane that wraps around the southern portion of this building. Shown on screen now is building number two. This is the smallest of the three buildings with a total footprint of roughly 2,500 square ft. Um, this building provides approximately 1,400 square ft of dining area, kitchen, drive-through area, cashier area, restrooms, and a utility area. Um, building number two is relatively um their massing is relatively simple in form with an overall rectangular massing design. However, this building does provide a stronger middle top expression uh with articulation focused at the main entrance.

And again, this is a zoomed in image of the applicant site plan, giving you a little glimpse of what the floor plan looks like um with a drive-thru lane again wrapping around the south of the building and an outdoor dining area provided north of the building. And the last of the three buildings is building number three. This is the second largest building with a total footprint of about 3,000 square feet. This provides approximately 1,000 square feet of dining area, a kitchen and prep area, cashier, restrooms, and a small office. Um, building number three's architectural design mirrors that of building number one. Um, it again staff feels lacks a vertical breaks um and provides a minimal base, middle, and top. Um, next slide, please. And then again, this is a zoomed in image of the applicant site plan showing the floor plan of building number three. And the uh you can see the outdoor dining patio just north of the building. Shown on screen now are project renderings provided by the applicant. This is a rendering from Seawward Avenue and you can see building number one and then building number two as well. This is a second rendering provided by the applicant. This is from US Highway 101, the northbound offramp. You can see building number two and then building number three, the closest building in the rendering. And this is the third rendering provided by the applicant. This is the project site from Allesandro Drive or entering the project site from Allesandro Drive. You can see here uh a portion of building number one, but predominantly building number two in the center, building number three, and then the residents in in the background.

Open space and landscaping. The project provides a hierarchy of plantings as recommended by the 1997 design guidelines, but staff does feel improvements could be made. Trees, shrubs, grasses, and ground covers make up the preliminary plant list. Ornamental grasses and trees line the perimeter of the site, particularly the south property lines adjacent to US Highway 101. Trees are sprinkled throughout the site. Um, but due to the proposed development being overparked and providing more parking than necessary by code, staff does recommend that the landscaping fingers um be provided within the parking areas to evenly distribute or provide more landscaping throughout the project site. Speaking a little bit to the the newly adopted 2050 general plan, specifically the environmental justice section. Um again, although the 2050 general plan has not been certified by the coastal commission, it does provide a framework for the city's long-term vision. The environmental justice chapter speaks on addressing the environmental justice needs of communities such as healthy food, access, pollution, exposure, and safe and sanitary housing. and essent is essential for improving health outcomes. Environmental justice goal 3 notes to reduce pollutant emissions and pollutant exposure from freeways and mobile sources of pollution. And environmental justice goal 3.2 is to minimize air pollution impacts within 500 ft of freeways on nearby residential and commercial uses by adding a green or gray infrastructure buffer. So as previously noted, the project has not yet received an application completeness determination and therefore full technical studies such as traffic, storm water or SQL studies have not been completed. This project again is a

temperature check um is intended to provide directional feedback before the applicant tonight before they commit resources to a full project analysis. Staff will require all applicable technical studies such as traffic, storm water, squa, VMT analysis to be completed as part of the application process before the project returns for a formal decision-making hearing. Some policy consideration for your discussion tonight. the drive-thru or the dining establishment fast service drive up is a permitted use in the commercial tourist oriented zone um by way of a use permit approval which means that the chosen uh land use is a secondary land use of of the zone. Um the site's plan commercial tourist oriented designation under the 1989 comprehensive plan identifies this as a limited strategically located resource requiring well-designed well-buffered tourist oriented development. Additionally, the project site is within a designated scenic approach as noted in the 1989 comprehensive plan and development must complement the visual character of the piront keys area. Some additional considerations for the planning commission. The city's preference from an economic development standpoint is for a concept that leans into the site's role as an entry point into Ventura. Development should encourage people to stop, spend time, and engage with the area rather than passing through. Additionally, a mix of uses that is experience-driven and complements the neighboring hotel and surrounding residential community is preferred. A project that aligns with the Ventura vibrant vision should prioritize placemaking, thoughtful design and unique findings. The city council did

adopt uh in 2025 or sorry rather 2024 Ventura vibrant vision. It is a 5-year economic development strategy um to enhance and guide the growth of the community and the quality of life and support local businesses. It focuses on creating walkable districts, enhancing coastal access, and fostering a creative, sustainable, inclusive beach town atmosphere. Staff has the following questions for the planning commission as you for your deliberation tonight. Does the project sorry does the proposed project design reflect the scenic approach character and beach town identity called for by the 1989 comprehensive plans plan commercial tourist enter tourist oriented designation in the 2050 journal plans goals for the pure pond area? Does the site's layout and building placement create an appropriate pedestrian experience and public realm activation for a visitor serving coastal location? Does the proposed architecture achieve the eclectic beach character encouraged by the 1997 design guidelines? Are the proposed drive-thru uses as currently designed compatible with the site's planned commercial touristtoriented designation surrounding uses in the city's vision for this coastal commercial corridor? Should the applicant reconsider the project's development program or building orientation to better achieve the visitor serving function and coastal oriented goals of the governing plans? And lastly, what landscape improvements, if any, would the planning commission prioritize to address buffering, pedestrian connectivity, and air quality mitigation? Um, again, the recommendation tonight is that there is no recommendation. Uh staff request that the planning commission review this project and provide direction and feedback to the applicant on the key issues identified

in this presentation in their report. Thank you and I'm concludes my presentation. I'm available for any questions. Thank you Mr. White. Appreciate the presentation tonight. Commissioners, uh do you have any questions for staff? Let's use our if we can our request to speak so I can keep track and I think Commissioner Abby is not up yet, right? I say rely on. Thank you, Chair. We'll go to you first, Commissioner Abby.

Okay. Want to ask staff um and I saw the slides and I saw the report. So, we know that the um drive-throughs, the two drive-throughs have to have a conditional use permit. Uh, I wasn't sure when it said uh fast serve drive up. That's that's drive up is drive-thru, right? And and and my further question is does the third building that's not a drive-thru is fast serve. I'm assuming it's a sit down or I don't know if you just drive up and then order and leave. Uh does that is that require a conditional use permit?

Yeah. Thank you, Commissioner Abby. Um as you noted the the dining established bath service drive up um by definition of the municipal code it it can be interpreted uh to be a a drive-thru essentially. Um but it is the formal definition provided by the municipal code um or the characterization of a drive-thru. Um and to your second point, uh the quicks serve building um retail or dining option, it yeah, my understanding it would be more of a I'll let the applicant further provide their their vision for that building, but my understanding would be uh you know, you would kind of quick to go food and you can sit down and uh eat your meal there or take it to go. Um but that use for that dining establishment would be allowed by right within the commercial tourist oriented zone.

Okay. Thank you. Any other requests to speak? Questions? Yes, Commissioner Vice Chair Zucker. Thank you, Chair. Um few questions for staff. Um so I I see the connectivity with the hotel nearby. I'm wondering about I know there's a residential development coming in kind of up the hill. Um what's kind of the the potential connectivity there is it I know it's probably pretty steep but you know

Thank you, Commissioner Zucker. Um right now that proposed project is paused. We don't have it currently active but currently you would take Allesandro Road up to Vista Delmare to access that residential neighborhood. Um, so they would have shared access along Allesandre Drive from Seawward. Great. And then in terms of kind of uh potential pedestrian access. Um, yeah, I guess how how easy or safe would it be to to kind of walk from the nearby?

Um, currently the plan that's under review does show pedestrian access going up Allesandro. If I recall properly, the um sidewalk would be on the north facing side of Allesandro and not the south facing side. And there would be bike lanes put in as well. um those things would need to be realized with that larger project and and aren't designed with this project. Great. Um and then you mentioned the drive-through and quick service restaurants as kind of secondary land uses for this CTO zone. Um what what are the primary land use or what what would be kind of the the preferred? Yeah, thank you Vice Chucker. Uh great question. I'm going to pull up the municipal code so I can speak to the byite uses and the uses that require a would require a use permit.

Great. Um maybe maybe while you work on that I could I could share some of the questions and this might be this this next question might might take some work too but I I I know we had uh you know DRC recommendation around kind of a rooftop you know uh restaurant and and folks um yeah in in uh submitting comments um and the applicant saying you know it's it's not really viable because the kind of depression of the of the site. Um, how high would a building need to be to have any kind of coastal view from that site? Um, and is that allowable under our our zoning code?

Thank you, Vice Chair Zucker. Um, so the maximum height allowed by code on the underlying zoning of commercial tourist oriented is 30 ft. So uh however the way we do measure height within the city by municipal code is you would take the average natural grade of your front property line and then you would be able to measure up 30 ft. So um although there is a depression and you as shown in the presentation there is a drastic about a 25 ft grade topography difference um it could be within the realm of possibility depending on what the applicant is creative enough to uh produce that that could you could reasonably achieve potentially some some coastal views from the site.

Thank you. Um and then just my last last question is there's there's a lot mentioned throughout the kind of staff report and presentation um which is was really fantastic by the way um you know very very detailed um of kind of coastal oriented uses as well as kind of beach architecture. What are some examples of kind of like coastal oriented you know uses at a at a site like this and and maybe you know what what might be some examples of when we talk about beach architecture. So maybe a good way to think about it um vice chair is that things that are in our harbor tend to be associated with the coastline. So maybe having um surfboard rentals, bike rentals would be associated with the coastal area, restaurants associated to the area. Uh vendors that might be selling fish or something similar as compared to say maybe a general doctor's office which might not be necessarily needed to be near the coastline might be discouraged in zones where we have commercialtoriented uses. so that those uses are more inland and not right on the coast where we might want to have hotels and other sort of um tourist related uses.

That's great. Super helpful. And then what about kind of beach architecture that's mentioned? You know what what might that look like or

Well, and I think that's one of the things that's a little bit difficult with our current objective standards that we're working on is what does that mean? We want to keep that eclectic nature here in Venttor and we hear that through our objective design standards. So there is a bit of interpretation. I think raising canes was a recent project where it was pretty inland, but our design review committee said, "We'd like you to incorporate something coastal, and they looked at adding a mural to the side of the building that looks like the coastline and has some of our coastal features there." Um, so not to say that these buildings aren't necessarily coastal, but incorporating something that's a bit more unique to the Peron area, ties into the architecture of some of the more beach bungalow styles of architecture, might be one way or one method the applicant could address that and make it more beachy. Super helpful. Thank Thanks. so much

and then yeah by shared soccer going back to your your first question on by right uses or uses permitted in the zone versus secondary or conditional use permit uses. So some examples of uses permitted by right um would be business professional support uh use uh cultural library services dining establishment takeout um which is the applicant has provided a drinking establishment dining service a full service like a full service restaurant sit down restaurant um some personal services uh government services would be allowed and then a a number of recreational services whether it's an amusement center indoor entertainment indoor sports and recreation and then even as well as shopping centers. And some examples of uses that would require a use permit would be as the applicant has provided uh in the request tonight, a dining establishment, fast service drive up, education center, a farmers market, and a a rec service such as a campground or outdoor sports and recreation use.

Yeah. Thank you so much. That's perfect. Appreciate it. Any other questions? Oops. Commissioner Wigger. I I don't The Q is not up on my thing. Apologize.

Um, thank you, Grant. Really good presentation. Really appreciate it. Um, I just had questions staff. Um, I've been asked this as a planning commissioner and uh, and I don't have an answer, so I thought this would be the good time to ask. Um, was there any talk about ever putting a rooftop uh, bar or eating establishment um, above residents in or was the height an issue? I mean, was that ever discussed? Commissioner Wineker, I do recall, although this predates me by several years, that there were discussions about having some sort of element on the top of that building and ultimately they chose to have the amenities on the ground floor rather than on the rooftop. Um, but it's definitely something that could have been on that building if they had designed around it, but I they did not proceed with that.

Okay. Thank you. And then um can can you tell me um Grant can you or or actually and this is probably predates predates um most of you also. Is there a reason um that um your environmental resources people want the trash enclosure attached to the building because you said that was one of the issues.

Yeah, thank you Commissioner Werger. Um it is a development standard within municipal code section 24475 for the dining quick dining salvage fast service drive up regulations that those were adopted in I believe 1971. So um the the ask I guess would be to to integrate into the site to to provide more uh better circulation the site in some cases it doesn't always pencil out but um it could be it's a relatively old regulation um but that would be my understanding better integration to the site provides more potential walkability connectivity to the pedestrian realm or better sight circulation um but as you see it through many establishments ments of similar nature that some do and and some haven't. So, um it's kind of peppered throughout the city.

Okay, that's that's what I was thinking. Um so, I was just wondering about how new that was. Um let's see if I have any more questions. Um oh, are yeah, final question. Are there on the PCT goals and policies for the design character? Is there any goals and policies specific to this property, the Alisandra property?

Yeah, thank you, Commissioner. So yeah, this the plan commercial tourist oriented is again provided directly from the 1990 1989 comprehensive plan and the this it does note this property specifically um as planned commercial um with the sub zone being tourist oriented and uh the comprehensive plan does identify these four um characteristics of of this property um as a policy for for de development or redevelopment. of the site and again those are the it's a strategic location front's a major thoroughare located in or near an existing activity center and or and the site needs to be well buffered

okay but it's not for this particular site it's just properties that are PCT correct correct but this th this site particularly was identified in the in the comp plan as a PCT uh site yeah thank you that's all my questions any Other questions from the commission? Yes, Commissioner McCartney.

So, uh, Vice Chair Zucker, uh, posed the question earlier about how the site would potentially connect to the, um, the development planned for just north of that site. I'd like to expand the question a little bit and if staff, you could art, if you could articulate your understanding of the proposed or uh envisioned long range plans for the South Seawward corridor, how that might be improved, and uh whether or not what the plan is for bicycle lanes along Seawward uh just just west of this this area.

So although this project doesn't have its completed traffic analysis completed, we will take a look at that. separate analysis was conducted for the project north of this up on Delmare. And in that plan, if that project proceeds, there was identified plans to make improvements to move folks from upper on um lower Seawward down to Seawward in a safe pathway, which would be ramps and um different stairwells. And then along with that, there would be improvements along Seawward under the railroad crossing and freeway crossing to have a raised platform for pedestrians and bicycle paths. um that would not necessarily be part of this project, but if these projects move forward separately, amenities related to this project would be um foreseen through that traffic analysis likely along Alessandro or Seawward where this project ties in. Um but that would be that larger Seawword study that was done as part of that other project that would foresee those changes there. And just to add to that, the active transportation plan includes some future plans for additional um protected bike lanes on Seawward from East Main Street to Pier Pond. Um and then also um as part of that project um on V on uh Vista Delmare um a bike connection between Vista Delmare and Alessandro was noted.

That's exactly what I wanted to hear. So in my mind then this this project has some conceivable uh excellent future synergy with other plans we have for active transportation within that area. And then um there's also additionally in in the medium-term the active transportation plan calls for protected bike lanes with vertical separation along South Seawward from the 101 to Pier Pond and then um from the 101 to the beach in general uh a comfortable neighborhood bike way and those are listed in the project list in that active transportation plan.

Okay, thank you. Perfect. Any further questions from the commission? Okay, seeing as there are none, then we will move on to public comment. Mr. Clerk, do we have any speakers on tonight's item? Thank you, chair. We have about 10 public speakers on this item. Um, our first speaker is Bob Guthrie, followed by Maryanne Beaver. And Bob, you've been seated time by Wendy Solder. You'll have six minutes. Sorry to interrupt, chair. We want to hear from the applicant for their presentation prior to public comment. I apologize. Thank you. Thank you, Director Diamond. Apologies, Bob. We'll call you up in a minute. Bob, I apologize. We're gonna

Okay, let the applicant give their time for their presentation. Thank you so much. Apologies. Apologies to the applicant. Missed my order of operations on my script here. Is I have the use of two. you. Yeah, I I don't need to, but I'll I'll push one away.

Hi, good evening uh Chair Busa and commissioners. My name is Tom Cohen. I'm here on behalf of the applicant Ashton Development. It's an honor and pleasure to present our project to you this evening. Heard a lot of great questions and input so far. Appreciate that. Uh with me tonight is Mr. Mad Gaderi and David Scott. their the ownership and also uh Larry Tangi with CB Richard Ellis who has been working uh on you know figuring out what what the what what uses are actually going to work here from a uh real estate and marketing perspective. So want to thank staff uh and you uh for providing us this platform to have a dialogue in which we can get your valued feedback about the project. Just a little bit of background uh to get help us get started. Uh you know Golden China closed over nine years ago. Uh Mr. Gdari then purchased the property in 2019. He came in with an open mind as to the ultimate economically viable and best use or uses of the property both for from an economically viable perspective but al also for the city. He uh spent time looking at the city's general plan policies and goals property zoning studied its permitted use matrix and talked with the city on many occasions. And then he embarked on a market-driven analysis to consider what the community requested and what was realistically possible considering the market and considering the site conditions that you've heard a lot about tonight already. Uh Mr. Tangi with CB Richard Ellis is available to talk to the uh to you. Um, but he talked to the real estate industry, restaurants, including the white tablecloth sitown owners in the downtown, a multitude of real of

retailers and other operators about the the property to determine interest. Uh, again, he's here to tell you a little more in depth about those efforts. Key input about the property from the market research focused on challenges the property presented. Topographic challenges due to the grade differential limits visibility. Development adjacent to the noisy 101 freeway limits the types of tenants that would want to locate here. We've got challenging access. You've heard about that. And limited, if any, opportunity for pedestrian activity, thus limiting a customer base that a commercial property owner would hope could walk to the center. I heard about the long range plan for uh the transportation corridor. U but that's a long-term plan. So to be blunt about the market analysis and re research that's been done, uh it is not an attractive site for higherend retailers and restaurants. In addition, while the property is in the coastal zone and within less than a mile from the ocean, it does not provide coastal opportunities to take advantage of due to the wide expanse of the freeway overpass, which makes it feel like an island disconnected from the coastal area. And as it sits right now, it's unsafe for pedestrians and bicyclists to walk or to ride from the Peron neighborhood and the beach. Now, the new hotel certainly helps the city with bed tax benefits and fulfills a need for tourists and visitor activity to stay near to stay nearby and due to its height provides ocean views at the top of the building. But that building is exceeds 45 and maybe as high as 60 ft. But we see synergy between our project and the hotel. Thus, with uh this information, it became clear that our options were best suited to uh you're not going to like to

hear this, autoentric retail uses and quicks serve high quality restaurants and a coffee purveyor, which are compatible uses uh for the hotel. Our site is not conducive uh to building a 40 foot 45t tall retail complex to take advantage of the ocean views at that height. Uh, by the way, 45 ft is not even allowed uh in the zone, but but that's the height it would need to be to have an ocean view uh due to the uh topography of the site. And while we contemplated housing uh it was not an option and that became clear when the general plan update uh hearings were taking place. we came to the uh to those meetings and uh housing was was was turned down for this location while we still think it it could be a good use. So two two basic reasons for the proposed uses. The property is uh undeniably freeway adjacent. It is also undeniable that the hotel guests will frequent these uses and we believe the community will too. The proposed uses are commonly found adjacent to hotels for this very reason. Uh the proposed uses, as you heard earlier from Grant, are specifically identified as allowed uses in the general plan and zoning ordinance subject to a use permit for the drive-throughs. Um the goal that we set for the project and for which we're working towards is not to request any waiverss or variances from the city codes. uh there there were two examples where they would be needed, but we're we're here to tell you that we're here to solve those issues to come back with a fully compliant uh two code uh project and that includes uh resolving the trash enclosure question. Um the um uh let's see key points I want to

highlight about the project and the city's development standards and policies. We don't view uh there being any neighborhood compatibility issues with the proposed uses. There's no health, safety, or welfare impacts that warrant denial of the project. And I know we're not making a decision about the project, but I think that's an important point. There are no noise, order, vibration, or other nuisance impacts from these proposed uses that would affect the surrounding community. There is an abundance of landscaping and trees proposed. Um but we're certainly uh happy to uh enhance what we're proposing if that's um something that every everybody values and as and we do. Uh the total building footprint for the three buildings is less than 7% of the total land area indicating a low density project. And the buildings are low-rise uh with an architectural design. They're 20 foot tall. uh that architectural design is modern and compatible with the whole hotel's design and feel we believe. Um but we're happy to look at uh further enhancements to the design uh should you have thoughts about that. And we do want to highlight the project benefits. Uh we're cleaning up a blighted uh property. Uh you know, we're proposing uses that the hotel customer will no doubt use due to its proximity to the project. Uh the owner is investing millions of dollars including off-stite improve off-site improvements for for the streets. Uh the businesses that will locate here will generate uh sales and property taxes for the city. Jobs are going to be provided. There's green construction practices that'll be implemented including solar, EV, bicycle racks. Um we've heard that this project site uh described as the seawward gateway. Uh while it is a freeway entry point into the city, it does not have the features typically found for creating a gateway entry that serves as

the front door designed to create a strong first impression um and enhance community identity primarily because the site is in a depression with significant grade differential. It lacks the pedestrian accessibility and connectivity due to the wide and inconveniently potentially dangerous overpass where there's a lot of vehicular traffic moving through north and south. Um, and there's significant freeway noise. Now, that's not to say we're diminishing our design as a result of that. We believe our design is is is has been well thought out. Um, and so, um, I I do want to make one correction to what I heard in the presentation from Grant tonight. The building 3, uh, is intended to be space for retail and a full-ervice restaurant. It's not contemplated to be a fast serve restaurant. I just wanted to make sure I got that point across. Um, this concludes my presentation. We we're we're excited to hear what you have to say. um and have a two-way dialogue. Um uh Mr. Gdari is here, Mr. Scott is here, and and Larry Tangi's here. I think you'd get some valuable information, uh from from all of us. Thank you very much.

Questions now or do we want to hold that back until after you get all the testimony? Sorry, my my button was I wanted to see if there was any questions from the commission for the applicant at this time. Okay, here. Yeah. Oh, yes. Commissioner,

um, do you have any other developments that this team has put together in the area or anything we can look at as examples of what you've done in the past? We we we have a project that is in the entitlement process in the U adjacent to the wells and the 126 freeway that's got a mixeduse housing and retail component, commercial component, but that's in the entitlement phase. We don't have anything that's built here. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Uh Vice Chair Zucker.

Um yeah, thank you. Uh Ed, two questions. um when you mentioned uh you know the market research which I think is is really important for what we're considering here um how many potential customers did you contact or or um yeah what what did the scale of that research look like? I'd be happy to answer that but the best person to ask that question to is Mr. Tangi. Could we call him up? It's good.

Hi commissioners. Um, I handle multiple restaurant properties throughout the city. Pacific View Mall, the old Mimi's Cafe, the former Panera Bread. Also in that same center, there's Stonefire Grill that's also for Subly. And in addition to that, we work on the port side Plaza where there's two restaurant spots there. So we're calling restaurants day in and day out everywhere and constantly turning it over every three months. So every restaurant that you can think of has been called. And then to go back to another thing that I said is we got a list of a number of restaurants that uh are in Ventura now where people knew that there was hey something's there going on there. They're maybe not that happy. Can you go check them out? We hit them all up and this was more specifically to the upstairs kind of uh seaside view scenario. None of them ended up coming down to this location.

Do you have maybe like a ballpark number of of uh and I know you mentioned restaurants but there were other potential end uses or literally hundreds. Um, and then uh the other question, I mean, I don't know if this is best for you or or um who on your team, but just uh of all the DRC recommendations, which ones are you maybe more amendable to? Which ones might be kind of deal breakers?

Good afternoon. Ahmad Gary with Ashton Development. Uh we actually had a very good conversation with the DRC committee and we're definitely working on the project to take it back with their recommendations. the architecture not a problem, landscaping is fine. You know, setbacks as for the land, the 20 ft landscape setback and what have you. Our intention is to comply with all the requirements. They have very good points. And again, our point is to make sure that's something that you guys are happy with. So, I don't see anything that's impossible. So, absolutely. I just so so some of the DRC recommendations they're not necessarily like code requirements but they're they're suggestions you know of those uh you know are there there are some of those that are maybe more amendable to versus some that might might not be feasible the project for you for your

I off the from I was at the meeting as well and I don't see any issues except the one thing the question you asked is what is the coastal architecture and we still don't have that established but I'm sure we can come up with something that's uh you know again what Our intent was right now you have the brand new hotel that's more you know modern looking and stuck on all that. So we're assuming that that's what compatibility with that uh architecture was was what the intent was but hearing the coastal you know excuse me the DRC committee members they asked for a coastal architecture which we're open to uh but we don't know what that parameter is but I'm sure we'll be able to achieve that and provide it. Thank you.

Could could we ask you to pull up the the DRC recommendations real quick because I think there were a couple that um the 45 foot high uh tall you know restaurant uh rooftop restaurant or bar and then the u well the rooftop like uh number one we are going to do the traffic study uh combining the buildings we still don't have an answer on that as to how they want that to achieve but they they talked about it so we have to still look at the site layout roof rooftop restaurant that's impossible because of the great differential. Uh the intent of the rooftop restaurant was to have a you know coastal view of but we we as as uh uh Tom indicated we uh appeared before the city council three times to ask for a mixeduse option where we could have a you know mixeduse residential and on top of it have a you know rooftop restaurant and u and as Larry indicated he have contacted 100 but I think if it was built there will be somebody that will come because of the view and all that but we were told that that's not feasible. Uh architecture as we discussed you know we'll work on that. Building height uh again the tower element that's fine because that's more of a uh you know visibility of the building and signage that's not a problem. Uh I'm not sure about the you know communityfriendly for local tourist use. Again that's a general vague requirement. We have to work on that. Green buffer not a problem. side sections. They just want to see how the section of the building in respect to the freeway and all that was. That's not a We'll work on that. And outside patio, we already have it proposed, but we can expand on that as well.

Uh so the for the majority, we should be able to meet their requirements. Thank you so much for going through that one by one. That was super helpful. Thank you, Commissioner Wer. Yes. Um I'm sorry, I forgot your consultant's name, but they're restaurant um guru. Yeah, please. Sure. Um, obviously this is a working session, you know, and so, um, I feel like I' I'd like to ask you this question since you represent Panera and Stonefire. Nope.

Um, or or or the like, you know, obviously when I looked at this before, and I'm not deliberating right now, you know, I thought, well, what other uses could this be, you know, without the drive-thru? And obviously Panera hasn't worked for us or Stonefire. Why why why don't those restaurants work in Ventura?

Well, it's it's kind of a really tough problem right now for restaurants. You just got to read the news right now and many of them are shutting continually. I mean, Calaveris that just opened up in Oxnard, it's shutting down now. I just heard today from the brokers from Chick-fil-A that they were hit up for that space. The whole chain's going bankrupt. So there's a lot of problems. I mean, obviously, you can just look at where traditional restaurants have been and they haven't been backfilled. You can just start moving up Victoria Avenue and take a look at, you know, the Marie calendars. I mean, obviously there's been something there for homes over the years, but I mean, that thing's been vacant for a long time, you know, and then just step back to how come the Chart House never worked out for another restaurant or for that matter loves barbecue or the Hungry Hunter. All right, down there also. So, you know, the one bright spot is, and I forgot to mention it, is I also leased the Black uh Bear Diner after Carol's closed down. So, it's a tough environment out there for restaurants. I mean, and there's a lot of reasons for it. You read about it all the time, just minimum wage and everything else. But it's it's truly not a good restaurant spot. I mean, think about it. You've had Charlie Browns there, had Aapokco's there, you had Golden China there, and it's it's lost. It's a destination, you know? It's not anything that if you were going to be a restaurant and successful, it'd probably be somewhere on Harbor Boulevard, right? with the freeway visibility flat, visible to the highway in both directions, right next to the beach, next to the state beach, you know, that's kind of more of the setting. Or it's going to be something

where you have a lot of shopping, you know, over by the mall, over off the main street of call it any of the streets that have 42,000 cars a day moving at 35 40 thou miles an hour. you know, you get a good look at it going down, call it East Main Street, past the mall, out towards, you know, the other Chick-fil-A that's uh down off of Telephone Road or up Victoria. I mean, you've got good daytime demographics there, too, that support a good lunch. You really don't have that here. I mean, it's really more of people going by the freeway, you know, and even that's kind of a little difficult here. In the past, you'd note that there's there used to be some pretty good signage there. We'll see what we get, you know. So, it's not your typical, hey, this is your great dining restaurant place. Obviously, the hotel works. It helps. And I think we can play off each other, but it's, you know, there's plenty of other places in town that work well for fine sitdown dining or even family dining. I mean, like Blackbear Diner.

All right. Any other questions from the commission? I just had one. You mentioned the hotel a few times. What um what guidance or input did the hotel provide to you as a team for the project at all? Did you didn't reach didn't connect with Okay. None. Okay. Thank you. And we've had conversations but they provided no input as to what they would thank you. Okay. Um with that then I will go to public comment. believe we had.

Thank you, chair. Um, like I said before, we do have about 10 public speakers. Our first speaker is Bob Guthrie, followed by Maryanne Baiver, and Bob's been seated time by Wendy Solder. So, you'll have six minutes. Take two. Good evening. Happy to hear that the developer is agreeable to making some changes. Uh tonight I'm going to reiterate some of the key points in the staff report, a report I found to be very comprehensive and well written. Uh the applicant has a legal right to pursue a dining establishment at this site, but any project needs to meet the site land use and project type requirements as well as all the environmental conditions and traffic safety. Although I think the proposed design will have unmitigatable traffic issues, I can understand why the developer uh wants to wait on a uh traffic study until they get a reading on whether you're agreeable to this type of project. So tonight's question is really whether the two proposed drive-throughs and a short order restaurant, which maybe isn't a short order restaurant based on what I heard, are right for the site. The location is very important to our city. The staff report notes that the site's land use designation identifies it as a limited strategically located resource intended for specialized tourist commercial development that is welldesigned, well buffered and compatible with the scenic approach character of the Peront and Keys area. The 2050 general plans goals further reinforce a vision for highquality coastal oriented visitor serving development of this location. Further, the report mentions that from an economic development perspective, the city prefers to see a concept that more clearly leans into the site's role as an entry point into Ventura by emphasizing

the city's coastal culture and sense of place. Staff suggests this could incorporate more experience-driven uses that encourage people to stop, spend time, and engage with the area rather than passing through. Any project should ideally also complement the neighboring hotel and the surrounding residential area. Overall, a concept that prioritizes thoughtful design and more unique offerings would better align with Ventura's long-term economic and community vision. The design review committee was not supportive of the project, at least not very supportive of the project. In the staff report, it's noted they found the current architectural design to reflect standardized corporate styles inconsistent with the 1997 design guidelines, which call for eclectic beach-type architecture that retains and enhances the funky beach atmosphere of the immediate community. They directed the applicant to substantially redesign the building's architectural characteristics to authentically reflect Ventura's beach and surf culture. They also said the project should be more communityfriendly for both local and tourist use. They were concerned the project is oriented primarily toward drive-through customers and does not adequately serve pedestrians, cyclists, or the broader local community. They directed the applicant to explore design features that would make the site more welcoming and functional for both residents and visitors arriving on foot, by bicycle, or by transit. Doing so would make it consistent with the visitor and community serving intent of the CTO zone and the PCT designation. Finally, both the DRC and staff indicated the project should have better buffering from the freeway and the Seawward off-ramp. The applicant's request for a 50% reduction in the required 20-oot setback

adjacent to the off-ramp is completely contrary to this, but it sounds like they're agreeable to change that one. I ask that you send this project back to the drawing board as not only does the architectural style fail to meet the intent of the area, but three high turnover food outlets fall short of the envisioned use for this important property. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Maryanne Beaver followed by Mark Serota. Do you have the hand out?

I'm shorter. Hi, I'm Maryann Beaver in from Midtown Seawward Corridor and I'm wearing bright green tonight because it's Earth Day and because it's a color that I wear often so I don't get hit by cars on the Seawward corridor. So, we do not need another uh fast food restaurant in Midtown. We already have seven within a half a mile of this location and the ETH which is a coffee shop is already going to a second time for DRC in early May. And we already know about these issues because um community director Diamond also got published two of the KB home studies. The circulation study that evaluated the vehicular and the pedestrian traffic. Um it's specifically in that uh document states that this project was not considered as part of it because it had no planned development. And more importantly, the beach access which is the rail crossing study uh cannot be over the rails. has got to be under it is long-term. It is not short-term. Um and the priority there is that there are a lot of at that particular quarter a lot of multimodal collisions. This is from the report that means pedestrians and bicyclists. So the next thing uh health risk is the air pollution for the residents. Um, idling cars emit around 20 times more air pollution than one traveling at 30 miles an hour. And there are only 1.3 million electric car ve electric vehicles in registered in California versus 32 million gas. So, um, oh, and I should say that the, uh, hotel next door has 125 rooms and they allow two pets per room each at 60 pounds. and uh they need a place where they want to walk their dogs. So, there is a pedestrian there. So, I appreciate

your time and hope you have the last minute I have here to look at these 11 fast food drive-throughs on a map. And I also want to compliment everybody because associated with this are all the affordable units that are already approved or considered being approved for the neighborhood. Thank you. Thank you. Our next speaker is Mark Serotto followed by Roger Osborne Osborne. And Mark, you'll have you've been seated time by Carol Spectre. So you'll have six minutes. And you have a slide for me, right? Y.

Good evening, commissioners. Uh my comments tonight on this project fall into two categories. The first has to do with what the staff report fails to mention and the second has to do with, in my opinion, the critical question that the staff report is asking of this body. So the first one had to do with traffic and I'm a little at the DRC meeting. I thought we were told that a traffic that the city decided a traffic report traffic study was not necessary. Somewhere in the middle of the name there was another comment. I checked the staff this staff report and the only traffic aspect that was mentioned was circulation within the area of the project itself. So, I'm going to talk um about the traffic study and if one's going to be done, that's great. Um, so to the first, the staff report doesn't mention traffic and yet it seems obvious that this project in conjunction with present and planned future development surely must influence traffic congestion, pedestrian and cyclist safety, evacuation times in an emergency and may discourage visitors to Venturer due to slow transit on congested roads. The only question is how much. Recent and planned developments in this area are many. They include the uh recently completed KB homes with 72 units, the residence in with 125 units, the plan Vista Delmare project with 215 units, the approved Anastasia development with 96 residential units and approximately 19,000 square ft of retail space. And that and then add two drive-throughs and a quick service dining restaurant. Making matters worse, access to the existing uh credit union, the longexisting Vist Delmare residential community, the Vistad Delmare project, and this project all utilize Alessandro

Drive, which then feeds into Seawward. In addition, Ventur's 2050 general plan shows that Seawward and the Seawward harbored intersection tsunami evacuation route is already over capacity based on current development. You can look at that on the slide over there. It's Seawwards in red Harvard and it's already with the present amount of construction development over capacity in case of a evacuation. Prudence demands that a comprehensive traffic study that addresses traffic safety and evacuation on Allesandro Seawward Harbor, the 101 interchanges and Visa Delmare and includes all present and planned development must be completed before any new development in this area is approved. On to my second point. The crit critical question that I feel the staff report is asking is whether the essence of this project as conceived is appropriate for this location. In my opinion, the answer is clearly no. The 1989 comprehensive plan declares Highway 101 north and south of south southbound offramps at Seawward Avenue as a scenic approach. The 2050 general plan regarding the CTO designation includes the following statement. The intent is to create areas where tourists and visitors can find essential services and recreational opportunities. The CTO zoning district is intended to accomplish the following development goals. Provide an area in which visitor serving commercial and recreational facilities shall be emphasized and located. Two, provide with both general and specific development standards a high level of site and operational performance with due consideration to

visitor needs. And lastly, number three, provide visitor serving commercial land and improvements in a coastal area. The key word in each of these statements is visitor. This project, as designed, is a nondescript stop on a highway with no different than a thousand other stops throughout the country. The majority of those who will stop here aren't visitors or tourists. They're just passing through and there's nothing here that's going to keep them. The staff reports closing statement quote from an economic development perspective and for alignment with the uh Ventura vibrant vision. The city prefers to see a concept that more clearly leans into the site's role as an entry point into Ventura by emphasizing a cohesive resident and visitor sererving environment that reflects the city's culture and sense of place. This statement is 100% right on. No doubt the location has some challenges to meet this vision. On the other hand, there is a hotel next door filled with people eager to explore and experience what Ventura has to offer if only we make it available. An outdoor fast food court is not what they are looking for. With a vision, creativity, and positive attitude, I have no doubt that we can do better than this project. Much better. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Roger Osborne, followed by Tina Todd. Hello there everybody. I'm Roger Osborne, concerned citizen. Uh let's see. I just get three minutes. Okay. I thought I had six. Anyway, um I'm glad that you're open to some changes and ideas. We don't normally see that in developers. So, thank you. I can work with you. um don't like the idea of fast food. Um it's unhealthy. It's uh nothing but a sugar and cholesterol delivery system that contributes to obesity, many other health problems, which is well and extensively documented. And I should know um these places only employ people part-time at the lowest possible wages with few or no benefits. These so-called restaurants are all invasive and ugly. Um, and I don't see any reason for them to be in that little spot that I've referred to as the hollow for a few years. Um, that space is brilliant. That space where the golden china used to be can be made into so many beautiful things. It could be a Japanese garden. It could be a bird sanctuary. It could be a children's a huge playground welcoming people coming up from the south to our city. People would drive by and say, "Oh, look, there's a cool kids playground with a um you know, skateboard uh what do they call those things?" The the skateboard depressions that the kids uh ride their skateboards through. All kinds of things that could be welcoming instead of, as our last speaker said, just another dull, bland,

you know, food court. uh fast food uh kind of mentality. Uh no, no, no. We don't need more of that. We need a lot less. But what you could do with that area in terms of welcoming tourists, visitors, and without a restaurant there, they're going to have to go downtown. the poor devils, they're going to have to get off on California Street and have good food because that's the only other place you can get off before you're out of town. Um, so I like the idea of using it for something beautiful and something that really sets off our community and heralds it.

Roger, I'm gonna ask you to address the commission, please. I'm so sorry. Okay, I'm not used to this. Um, so that's basically uh what I'm thinking here. I had written a nice long paper here and I had written it to uh address the city council. So there's a lot of it here I am not saying uh but I think you get my drift and I'll save all the good juicy stuff for the uh council chambers when uh we get to that point. But I'm glad you're building. It's a good idea. But just please no fast foods. Okay, that's it. Thank you for your time. Our next speaker is Tina Todd, followed by Jeff Clem.

Hi, I'm Tina Todd. I'm a resident of Midtown. Um, I really don't have anything else to add. I think it just a repeat of what the other speakers have said. Basically, I don't see the need for more fast food. We have a lot already in Ventura. Um, I would like to see more imaginative uses of the site. There's also a traffic issue. Um, Seawwood's already pretty busy and with the hotel and planned housing, I think it's just going to get worse and be more gridlock. So, people won't want to come off anyway because it's gridlocked. So, but that's really all I wanted to say. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Jeff Clenfall by Glenn Overly. Hello. Uh, I'm Jeff Clem. Um, I don't think it's been mentioned tonight. If it if it has, forgive me. Uh, I just wanted to point out there's one driveway going into this development and leaving this development. One driveway for three restaurants and the hotel. I don't think that's been mentioned tonight. I just wanted to point that out. Um I think this is well let me just say I don't want to say this is poor development but this community um sea harbor and seawward needs to have a general plan. It doesn't make sense to put a hotel here, put a housing development here, put a excuse me, put a bike lane here, um, put a hotel over here, put a fast food restaurant here, and have it all work out peace meal. There needs to be a plan. Um, and I just want to I got two minutes left. I just want to conclude with a story uh which is um a scenario um there's a young couple of kids they live in Los Angeles and they decide on Saturday they're going to um take a ride up the 101 north and spend some time and money and they hit Ventura. uh Johnson Drive. No knock on Johnson Drive, but it it looks like every other exit. And they keep going past Main Street, whatever we got. Before they get to Seawward, and there's a reason why they call it Seawward. Off to their left, they see it. They finally see the ocean

through a grove of trees. And to their right, they see some egg land that we've preserved. And then they come to the Seawward exit and they see a hotel and fast food restaurants and the couple turn to each other and say, "Let's just keep going to Ohigh or Santa Barbara." Our next speaker is Glenn Overly, followed by Juan Laris. And Glenn, you've been seated by Patty Overly, so you'll have six minutes.

Good evening, Commission. Um, I think those those renderings are quite beautiful. I really do. And if it was Irvine or Mission VJO, it' fit in. Doesn't fit in here. Patty and I moved here in 2016. We bought a house that was circa 1950s. We remodeled it completely and held to the origins of that home because we live in Midtown. So, I live north of this project and I really would like to see something go in there, but what I want also is you have the residents in and I drove over to that site today before I came here and Patty and I walk that area on a regular basis. We take our lives in our hands when we cross the railroad tracks. I put a penny on there hoping when I come back it's going to be nice and flat. It's what we did when we were kids. But when we get across and we get onto Seawward, we have to go from the the east side of Seawward over to the west side via that crosswalk at Alisandro. And as you all know, we have the Lemon Plants's going to be homes. We have the fire departments building their new station. We have Anastasia that's coming down. This needs to be a comprehensive traffic plan because if I live in district 1 or one of the other districts, you have your own traffic problems. Midtown has its traffic problems and this is going to keep those problems getting worse than they are already. Now, when I looked at that site today and I actually drove in, what I noticed is you have this beautiful residency in and residency in you look at them most of the time they look like they do. their resident skins, but to get in there, that roadway is just not wide enough right now. And when I put the diagram down to take a look at

the parking that was going to be there, I don't completely understand pedestrian travel, you know, is it going to be up against that that vegetation wall? But if you're at a residency in and I want to go down to Seawward and look at all the I guess coastal buildings, all those restaurants that that are there, you remember we had the big wave come over and take off that seaw wall and knock a couple people down. That's historic Ventura. I mean, it is what it is. So to put Irvine buildings or Mission Veho buildings in that location, maybe not the best. And I'm going to throw you a curveball here. So, if you've ever been to IKEA, when I went into that project today, I felt like I was in IKEA. I could get in, but I couldn't get out because there's only one way to get in and get out. But, you got to go somewhere, turn around, and come out. The flow doesn't work for me. And I think looking at the DRC review, I think they did a spot-on job. They did the majority of work for this commission. And now you've got to come up with some clarification on what what was good that they said and what wasn't so good. And I appreciate uh Mr. Zucker your comments about what would you change, what wouldn't you change. I get all that. But I'd also like to say that you have to keep in mind in Midtown, specifically that location, that's a monarch butterfly migration. So why the developer is not including plants are that are conducive to monarch butterflies when you have a grove of trees less than a softball throw from that site um is not listening to the neighborhood. And I think that's the problem with most development that comes before us anymore is that developers have a stamp that they want to put in there rubber stamp. And even our

community development wants to rubber stamp and push things through. I get it. But if you would just listen to the citizens a little bit, listen to what's going on in the community and try and build a project that embraces all that and you still get a project that's very viable, but it gets that connectiveness for the hotel. It gets pedestrians able to go from the hotel out to Seawward, go across to the west side, walk down the sidewalk because there's no sidewalk on the east side. Um, that would make sense, but as is right now, this project, while I want something to be built there to get rid of the blight, I don't think it does that quite yet. And I had one other thought when I was over there on the west side of that project or east side of Seawward. If you've ever been over there, I found a couple monarchs there when we were walking one day and I went back over there's a stamped concrete area. Apparently at one time pedestrians must have walked there. Maybe it was when Seawward was all one level before the uh railroad. Uh, but what's interesting is is it possible to create an entrance off of Seawword rather than have everybody go up to Allesandro and then use the Alesandro side for bicycle and pedestrian entrance into that site. That could be something that might work out. And again, I just want to stress that I think there needs to be a comprehensive traffic study that addresses not only traffic and circulation, but also all the proposed developments that I've talked about and I think Mr. Serotaa also talked about. So again, I would really like to see something and I wore this sweatshirt because this is beach community. It's a sloppy looking

sweatshirt, but this is the essence of Ventura. So appreciate your time. Thank you. and we'll shift to comments via Zoom. Um, our next speaker is Juan Leris, followed by Cherry Egggert. And Juan, you should be able to unmute yourself.

Good evening. Thank you. Good evening, chair and commissioners. Uh, my name is Juan Lis and I'm a Midtown resident. Like many in this community, I move through the seawward uh corridor regularly and I see this site as a real opportunity for something meaning meaningful for our community and for the whole of Ventura. As proposed, this feels like a missed opportunity for all of us. I understand that drive-through uses are permitted here, but this project does not reflect the intent or the intent and potential of a site that's meant to serve as a key coastal gateway and a community asset. The Seawward corridor already lacks a safe and welcoming experience for pedestrians, cyclists, myself included, and these roads are in poor condition. The area is dominated by cars. This project reinforces that reality instead of improving it. We also already have drive-through uses on the other side of the 101. And on this side, we we don't need to compound those issues of traffic and fast food that, as others have mentioned, do not serve the health of our community. that matters not just for visitors, but for people who live here. We should be creating spaces that bring community members together and support local businesses in a way that keeps investment in our city rather than encouraging people to pass through, keep going, or not stop at all. A few key concerns I have are that the site design is primarily focused on cars with limited pedestrian or community oriented spaces. The architecture feels standardized and disconnected from Ventura's unique coastal identity. The heavy reliance on divethroughs does not line with visitors serving intent and the landscaping does not appear to incorporate or prioritize any native plantings as others have mentioned. Um the grove right above the site um a nesting site or a resting site or a pass through site for uh monarchs. Um we could encourage that and expand that in this um section. As a resident, I want to see this space contribute to the fabric of our community. A place that feels intentional, welcoming, and reflective who we are as a coastal city. Even the design review committee res committee

raised concerns about traffic layout and lack of community oriented design. This project should not move forward as proposed. I encourage you to push for a fundamentally different approach, one shaped by community needs and one that truly creates a place for people to gather, stay, and deeply connect with the beauty that is Ventura. Thank you and have a great evening. Our final speaker is Jerry Eggert. Jerry should be able to unmute yourself. Hello. Can you hear me? We can. If you could speak a little bit closer to like a microphone, that'll be a little better. Can you hear me now? That's better. Thank you.

Okay. Thank you. Um, good evening, commissioners. Hi, my name is Sheree. I'm the chair of the Midtown Ventura Community Council. Our board voted to support the traffic study for the area. Um, but the rest of the comment is going to be me speaking as an individual. So I have a question for you and I can als I want to mention I cannot see the time on this uh comment. Uh I have a question for you. What kind of city are we choosing to build? Because this decision it's about our core values and the kind of future we are creating for our community. In our vision statement, in the general plan, we talk about being safe for pedestrians, clean and a we specifically say a healthy future for all residents. And in our core values, we prioritize reducing pollution and promoting healthy lifestyles. So as you know right now one in three adults has pre-diabetes and rates of two type type 2 diabetes has surged even among our youth. It's doubled in the last 20 years and a third of adults over 65 have it. It's skyrocketing due partially to processed food and less physical activity. These are our neighbors and our families. And this project is prioritizing convenience over our health. Processed food over nourishment and cars over people. This project moves us away from Ventura's vision of a healthy future for all residents. Drive-throughs mean more idling cars and more pollution and more concentrated pockets of unhealthy air. On paper, this project may look like economic growth, but there are hidden costs, real costs, public health costs. We say we want healthy communities. We say we want

safer pedestrianoriented places. But this does the opposite. We, I like to say, reshape our environment and our environment shapes us. This project by design decreases social connection. And if we build for people, we get connection, movement, and health. And by the way, this is a beautiful piece of land and it could bring people together and it could reflect the vision of our general plan. And I have to disagree with the applicant about it's doesn't connect to the beach. It very well could connect to the beach. I've seen this done um well we did this at California Street with you add enhancements to the freeway overpassing and a protection so more people will walk when people feel it's safe and beautiful they will walk and that uh in Santa Barbara where San Marcus Pass connects at the 154 that's a very busy area and they made that walkable crossing the intersection the entry to the 101 so I know we can do it here so I'm going to ask again. What kind of city?

Sherry, that's your time if you want to wrap up real quick. That invests in long-term health or one that pays for it later in chronic disease, pollution, and lost community. Please choose the healthier path to reject. Thank you. Thank you, chair. That concludes public comments on this item.

Thank you, Mr. Clerk, and thank you to all of our public speakers. Um, we're going to bring it back to deliberation to commission. And just as a reminder that there is no um action being taken tonight. Um however, we have been asked to provide um comments and direction. Uh there were a number of questions. Um I want to ask staff if it would be possible to put those questions back up those slides um for the commission. And I'm happy to open up deliberation if we can use our queue. if it'll work for me, if I'll do my best to Y. Excellent. Okay. All right. With that, I'm going to um Commissioner Abby, start with you.

Thank you, Chair Busa. Um there were I think there were six questions. So, there is there more on the Okay. Yeah.

Um I'm going to take my stab I'm going to just take a stab at answering the six questions if if that's appropriate. Um, so could we go back to the number 38? Uh, okay. I I don't know what uh page it was. You had the first three questions. I There we go. Okay. Does the number one does the proposed project design reflect the scenic approach character and beach town identity called for by the 1989 comprehensive plans PCT designation and the 2050 general plans goals for the Peron area? Um the answer is no. um staff on sub uh other pages of the project. And I'm not going to take the time to um talk about each one of them, but they talked about this as a gateway. Um they talked about sort of a higher even though it it allows drive-throughs, uh these restaurants, drive-throughs with conditional use permits. This this seems to be sort of a baseline proposal, baseline project that kind of scrapes by, kind of gets over the line, but it doesn't point to a higher vision, a higher goal, higher design standards. Um the design standards that were proposed were pretty minimal, pretty basic, were not really I think I think staff sort of alluded to it in its question and asking the question I think they are asking the right question because I don't see that the project as proposed currently uh

meets uh the requirements of the comprehensive plan or the 2050 general plan. Number two, does the site's layout and building placement create an appropriate pedestrian experience and public realm activation for a visitor serving coastal location? Um, I was just thinking, uh, would it be more appropriate for me to address all six or chair, would it be better for us to go around the table and addressing all question number one first and then take them one at a time? Commissioner comment, I'm going to take your comment. you just recommendation.

May I suggest we have overall comments and then if you were to go uh item by item so that we could collect all thoughts on each item that might be the most efficient way to approach it. Appreciate that recommendation for the commission. Then we would seek I could do with our fivem minute timing each just your general comments overall and then we could go through question by question. Okay. Um, so right with that, would you like to add any general comments just before we go into more specifics and then we'll get

I see questions four, five, and six. And I'll I'll cut myself off here real quickly. I I'm just say my last general comment pertains to number four, but I think it's a more overarching consideration. Are the proposed drive-through uses as currently designed compatible with the site's designation surrounding uses and the city's vision for this coastal commercial corridor? My general comment is no. Thank you, Commissioner Abby. Commissioner Compton, general comments. Thank you, Chair Project.

Okay, I'm going to bullet point this again. This is an advisory meeting. This we're not making hard decisions tonight. Um I wish the two communities um had the opportunity, if I could rewind nine years and when this property came up for sale, I wish the two communities had the opportunity to chime in and say, "This is an important thing for us. the city should try and consider purchasing it themselves so that we could do something extraordinarily special as a gateway to the to Ventura. That would be wonderful. That ship has sailed. Um, this is an unusual parcel on on I can pro and con this all day. It it is a gateway to our city. It's adjacent to thousands of people coming through and it might be the best opportunity for us to show our best face as people drive through our community. I'd like to ask you to pull up the uh the renditions, the illustrations that they have. And I specifically want to see the one from not that one, although that's nice. Yeah, that um so you know there's some issues that have been brought up and we'll go through the six questions and and answer them to some degree. Um but this is the view that most people will have uh of this parcel as they drive through even though this illustration shows on the off-ramp, not from the freeway perspective, which may be more obscured than this. Um I am interested. I've read some comments about the potential for massing buildings. Um, that's interesting to me. Even though 7 only 7% of this parcel is buildings, I don't know what the massing might do. Right now, you've got what, 90 parking spaces, 99 spaces. That's a lot to me. Sounds like a lot. I think that traffic is of paramount

importance here. But right now, Alessandro is underused, but it soon will be in the next five years, perhaps overused. You're going to have the the buildings up on Vista Delmare. You're going to have this project. Um, and I don't know if there's a possibility of ever making it pedestrian or bicycle friendly unless we get the Boring Company to come through and build a tunnel under the freeway to the beach. I don't know if it's ever possible. Um, I would like to suggest that a a traffic study be really in-depthly done so that we understand what's going on. I too, like Glenn, drove the site several times. I went around the hotel. I went around this parcel. I know the elevations and things of this sort. you right now it looks like you've got 28 um feet of roadway that takes you down to the to this parcel as well as the hotel but also a bike lane looks like it's been permanently installed so that takes away from that 28 ft the long and short of it is if you have 99 cars coming in and out during heavy time and the hotel use and the other uses of Alessandro I think it's going to be difficult to have anything other than difficulty coming ingress egress of this and that needs to be you know really thought through carefully. Um I would like to suggest uh and then I'll then I'll leave the floor is that we work with you to develop some beautiful signage here that is an introduction to our community that says welcome to Ventura. Maybe that that tower that they were talking about or something even more. I don't want it to become a collection where you have an electronic billboard and it looks corporatized, but I do think there is a beautiful way to introduce our city to people that are coming north. Uh you missed two exits

before you get to this sign, but this and and uh California Street are opportunities for people to say, "Aha, let's explore." Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Conu, Vice Chair Zucker.

Thank you, Chair. Um, so it's it's a little hard for me to um do the kind of going through uh the the staff questions one by one because um you know frankly when I when I go through them um you know when I'm when I'm looking at these questions to be honest I I think no no no no right um it's um they are framed as kind of yes or no questions and I think a lot of what we're asking for what we're being asked for is is some direction. um from to the applicant and and um you know happy to kind of um give that I I um yeah I I I see the real challenges with the site right I mean the the um the circulation throughout the area the kind of challenges to the highway and train tracks I mean that this as folks spoke to this this whole neighborhood is going to look very different um five 10 years from now um and and it would have been better for it to be planned in a more cohesive way but but here we are. Um, but I I do hear from the applicant, you know, some compelling arguments for uh, you know, why they can't do some of these things. And, uh, you know, it's hard for me to tell. I'm not I'm not a commercial real estate person. Um, yeah, I I do hear around the applicant seems to have a lot of experience with restaurants and that being, you know, an option. Um, and the viability of restaurants at the site. Um uh but of course restaurants aren't the only use uh that's listed as a as kind of a you know a byite use on this um you know on this site and and I think it's worth thinking about some of those other possibilities that staff listed um when I when I asked about this. I think it's possible we've got a bit of a deficit of creativity here um of what what could be possible. Um I you know I'm interested in some of the DRC recommendations. I appreciate the applicant is is open to um open to a lot of those. I I like the idea of connecting the buildings. I

think that can make it could make it a little bit more kind of pedestrian feeling where folks might be able to, you know, go, you know, go get food here and coffee here or, you know, shop at a retail store here. Um uh the I'm curious about kind of the very different answers I got around the potential for coastal views from staff versus the applicant. And I'd be I really encourage staff to staff and the applicant to talk together and see, you know, what what might be possible there. Um yeah, I um yeah, I'm interested. Yeah, some of the examples of kind of coastal uses that that staff mentioned. Um the the example of kind of how the raising canes um you know, incorporated like a mural or or something like that. I think that could really make that that entrance to the city um you know, feel more more unique. At the end of the day, you know, fast food restaurants, chain places don't I mean, answering a lot of these questions just really don't feel like, oh, this is unique character and um you know, highlighting the importance of this of this site, but maybe there's ways even with a a chain spot to to make it feel a little bit a little bit more unique identity. Um yeah, I think yeah, more more green buffer zones I think is great. Um more landscaping especially. Yeah, I like the idea of of maybe some some uh some landscaping that would be attractive to to monarch butterflies or pollinators, maybe some native plants. Um, and then just a thought that like it might take some time to work with staff, work with the community on being a little more creative on the site. Um, and I hear around is the site blighted now? Does it need to be kind of cleaned up? I to me I I I don't feel like it's horribly blighted right now in the in the way like having a a big decrepit abandoned building or or even the way that the harbor and Seawward kind of big empty lot feels very visible. It is because it's depressed. It's it's actually not as visible and um you know we've talked a lot about that and so um

I think it's okay to have some time to to get this right. Um yeah uh and would love to see even even thinking about you know redesigning the the streets there to how to get it to be have more connectivity and cohesion and and be more kind of pedestrian and bike friendly. Um it is it you know this is basically the corridor for Midtown's access to the beach and and I think that's important. Um and then just last I I um I'm not you know totally against fast food or drive-throughs at the site. I I I hear the point from from the applicant there. Um, but it does feel like if two out of the three things are are drive-throughs, it it does feel like it kind of dominates it. Um, versus maybe if there were just one, um, you know, it would feel a little bit more like a mix of uses. Um, especially given that the, you know, drive-throughs, fast food are kind of a secondary use of the site. It's not it's not what we prefer here. Um, I think that like a shift there of the of the type of businesses um, would would help a lot with some of these these kind of questions that that I think staff are raising. Thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair, Commissioner Wineer. Overall comments.

Thank you, Chair Busa. Um, okay. I, um, I'm gonna I might be all over the place, but I do I'm I do echo um, Commissioner Conden and Commissioner Zucker's um, comments. Uh, those are really good great comments. Um, I do think overall the site is overbuilt. Um, I particularly like drive-throughs, but there's just two is too many on this site. Um, I would like to ask staff if they come back with this project to do a circulation um a circulation plan within this plan, including the um hotel. I don't know if the pedestrian walkway uh where it's located right now is exactly where I'd like to see it. I mean, I'd like to see if maybe they can it would be against the a new like a nice sidewalk or bike path, you know, you know, from the hotel along the Aleandro Drive to the to the restaurant area. I did check res Oh, I did, just so you know, I did go to the site today. Um, I feel like it's actually a little more deeper than this actual project rendering. Um but um that said from the project rendering I would want to see a lot more buffering, a lot more greenery um so that people weren't like starkly seeing the the buildings right away. I do agree that with u the policies that they should be a little more coastalish um not just with a wave on the mural that they should try to look more a bungalow typeish if they can. Um, but I do I do just overall think it's overbuilt. Um, also I want to um let everybody know my son used to work fast food. He got $20 an hour. He works at Tony's Pizza right

now. $16.90 an hour. So fast food actually pays more money to employees. So, and I I don't feel like I can judge what people eat or what they need in that moment driving down the freeway. Their kids might need something fast food. Um, you know, I'm not going to judge them, but I I don't like to see the first there's another drawing with the site plan. I'm I'm looking at the site plan. Um, I just think that first drive-thru is overparked. Um, you know, going through a parking area to get to the two other sites. I don't know if you can fill that up, please. Would you like the site plan?

Yes, please.

Yeah. Yeah. Maybe a little zoned in with the overall site plan. Yeah, the the first drive-thru is and then there's parking right there. People going in and out of that drive-thru on the way to the two other sites. And I I just think that that is a bad um bad idea. Um, I'd like to see I'd like to see a nice restaurant with maybe, you know, maybe attached to like a ramen, you know, like a nice restaurant. It doesn't have to be white service and then maybe a walk-in ramen place or something and then the drive-thru. And I don't I wouldn't like to see any of the parking in that in that driveway area uh going to the other sites. I think it's that's that's just an accident we didn't happen. Um I did want to make a couple other comments. So I do agree with the the I would agree with staff that they need a little more buffering um the the 20 foot buffer versus the 10-ft buffer. Um and um you know and just like Commissioner Comden said, we we we've missed some of the opportunities here nine years ago and we can't ask the applicant to put um you know a park here or anything, but we can ask them to do some outdoor seating and some additional landscaping and some buffering and some, you know, general walking area. But I do believe this is more of a freeway corridor than a coastal corridor. Um, and so I do believe there's some opportunities that we can take advantage of to at least make it a more welcoming place that people can at least if they are driving by, they can at least, you know, sit for a while and and and enjoy

enjoy the area. Um, and like I I I I don't know if I said this already, but residents in already um only serves breakfast. Um, it's free breakfast. So, obviously people staying there might need to eat some dinner or lunch. So, I agree with that that that's a good use of the site. And those are my comments right now. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Mccardi. General comments.

Okay. Thank you. Uh could you could we bring up slide number 37 please? Policy consideration. So this catches my eye. Uh the second bullet the PCT designation. So planned commercial touristtoriented. It requires well-designed well-buffered touristtoriented development. So my main concern is does the the plan that we've been presented with today really meet that requirement of a touristtoriented development? Um next slide 38 please. Bullet number let's see. Bullet number two. Development should encourage people to stop, spend time, and engage with the area rather than passing through a mix. The next bullet, a mix of uses that is experience-driven and complements the neighboring hotel and surrounding residential community. That's preferred. And the final bullet aligns with the vision, prioritizing thoughtful design and unique offerings. So my main concern is does this reflect the vision that we want in this area. Um I have I have an idea maybe about a unique offering which I can talk about later if we get time. So so this is designated CTO commercial tourist oriented. The coastal zone designation is PCT planned commercial tourist oriented. Before we came to the meeting, we got a letter from the applicant addressing some of the DRC concerns. And at one point, uh, the applicant

stated, in short, we are not asking the commission to bend the rules. We are following the rules that the city itself adopted for this freeway adjacent autooriented commercial site. And I was really disappointed in that wording in that it's zoned as commercial touristtoriented and planned commercial tourist oriented but the applicant chooses to describe it as autoor oriented commercial site and to me that was kind of tipping the hand of the applicant. The applicant Mr. Cohen uh speaking for the applicant said this site doesn't provide coastal access. It's unsafe for cyclists and pedestrians. Although we do have synergy between our project and the hotel. Well, that's that's good to have that synergy. But the synergy I would like to see as as we've kind of alluded to here is a synergy between this development and the rest of the community. Um, and that's why I asked the question about developments on Seawward. We have some tremendous opportunities with pedestrian and cycling uh networks that are going to be implemented in the future and there's a great opportunity for this property to connect with those. Um when when Mr. Cohen addressed the C-word improvements, he said, "Well, that's long term." Again, I was disappointed. That tells me that you're not really thinking long term. You're thinking short term and a little bit myopically. This is a tremendous opportunity to connect uh with with with the rest of Seawward area. Um I wish Bob Guthri's comments had been

printed out and distributed to everybody. Uh Bob, your your your comments reflect my thoughts to a tea. So, uh, I need to go back, print those out, and if I could, I would read them over again because he expressed it perfectly. Tina, whose last name I sorry I didn't catch, uh, said, "We need more imaginative use of this site." And I I fully agree with that. I have some ideas. Um, Juan Lores also said something salient in that the plan reinforces the autoentric reality rather than improving it. We're missing out on an opportunity to improve that site and connect it with the community. Um, and as Sheree Edbert summed up, the project by design decreases social connection. It very well could connect to the beach. And I agree completely with that. There's an opportunity here to really connect with the rest of the Seawword seawward community. Um I have more and more specific comments later, but that's that's my overall it's an opportunity missed by being insular instead of connective and outreaching.

Thank you, Commissioner Carney. I from just my general comments agree with the the comments from the commission. really appreciate the thoughtful um feedback that's been given tonight. I too agree that, you know, understanding by right what's allowed. Um I I I I think two um drive-throughs is is too many. Um to me, this this is a very special site. It's not just another commercial pad. Um it's too autooriented right now. I know that's been shared. It does need a stronger identity um and destination quality that speaks to uh the PCT designation in my opinion and um those would just be my general comments, but we can go into the specific questions. Um what I propose is we'll we'll start with question one. Um since we already kind of started there um see if there's additional comments from the commission as it relates to comment one in terms of does this project design reflect the scenic approach character in beach town identity called for by the 1989 comprehensive plans PCT designation and the 2050 general plans goal for the Peron area. Are there any additional comments from the commission related to this specific question? Uh, sorry, Commissioner Whitaker.

I just have a quick comment about this. Um, I know when we drive down um, uh, Harbor Boulevard and we see In-N-Out and we see Duran and McDonald's, they don't have and Motel 6, they don't have the beach character of of obviously this PCT beach town. But I think just as a aside for the developer, um I think I think the goal here with this staff that is um a very I think it's a really dynamic planning staff. I think them holding the developer accountable for doing some type of character and beach town identity on properties um such as raising canes you know wave or whatever it was is is something that is important. So even though we have buildings in the past that have not lived up to this I think it is an opportunity to live up to it now. So, even if we have restaurants or drive-throughs or whatever, they need to look more beachy, especially coming up the ramp and um and I do also agree with Commissioner Compton, you know, a suggestion of some type of scenic sign signage. Um, so I think I think if the if the applicant changed the design, um, offered some more uh, buffering, some better approaches with signage or whatever, I think they could come up to this goal. It's just not there now. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Compton.

Thank you, Chair. Uh again the question does the proposal um reflect the scenic approach character of a um 1989 comprehensive plan? Um I I'm still grasping at what eclectic beach style looks like and our design standards can't come fast enough because it's one of those things I don't know what I'm looking for but I know when I see it type of thing. that's really hard to build, right? Um, so I would say the an my answer to number one is somewhat, but not clearly. This looks a little more corporate than I I might want. However, I don't know what to recommend to change it, honestly. Thanks,

Commissioner McCartney. So, I think uh Commissioner Wineer's uh reference to In-N-Out is is an appropriate one. Uh this is my community. Seawward, the lanes, Peron area is my community. I drive by In and Out daily and it's it's essentially a sea of cars and not attractive at all. Um, so with regard to question number one, does the project design reflect the scenic scenic approach character? When I envision it, when I look at the site plan and and see myself driving along the freeway there, um, again, all I can envision is a sea of cars stacked up waiting to go through those two drive-through restaurants. And for me, the answer to question number one would be no. that that doesn't in my mind reflect the the character that I think is called for by the comprehensive plan and and the 2050 general plan.

Thank you, Commissioner Mccardi. Any other comments regarding question one before I move on to question commissioner Abby?

Thank you, Chair Busa. Staff, could you put up on the screen there was I forget which slide it was that talked about the 2050 general plans goals for the Peron area. It might be useful to the commission to be able to see that goal LU5 establish high quality architecture and building design that reflects Ventura's unique beach town identity. I I don't see that and I do I do want to mention I think I was expressing my view but I do like the approach of some of my fellow commissioners to say that rather than be negative and say no no no say here's your opportunity this is an opportunity uh but I will go through these goal LU5 establish high quality architecture we already did that goal LU29 maintain Perpon is a vibrant neighborhood center with attractive coastal oriented services. Um I think the other commissioners, Commissioner Wineer, McCarti have already spoken to that there need to be buffers. We don't need to see drive-thru lanes. Um are these the only uh ones or is there a page 16 with more goals? This is from our zoning code regarding the use permit standards for fast food. Otherwise, we had listed the comprehensive plan which is in effect.

Oh, right.

Uh let's see. Strategic location. This is a strategic location. I want to speak briefly about the neighbors who live in Midtown. You should be able to go either under or over the railroad tracks or around there to be able to walk down. maybe have a walkway down to Aleandro. I know that's doesn't necessarily fit with this project per se, but I just want to look at a sort of a larger vision connecting the community also members of the community coming from up above down Seawward trying to get to the beach. Uh you've got bicyclist, people bicycling on Vista Delmare. Hopefully there's not a whole lot of more cars that are being directed along Vista Delmare that they'll be um there's just a whole another vision. I think Commissioner McCarti mentioned uh you know the opportunity to uh the uh active transportation plan and and routes and so forth. This could be a part of this. It'd be nice for staff to sort of point out those opportunities. This is what you could do. Um, let's see. Site needs to be well site needs to be well buffered. We talked about that. Is that it for the comprehensive plan?

Okay. Those are my comments. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Abby. All right. Right. If there's no more questions or comments related to question one, we'll move on to question two, which uh just asks, does the site layout and building placement create an appropriate pedestrian experience in public realm? Um I think we've heard multiple comments from commission tonight um in agreement that this is not the most pedestrian friendly um layout currently as proposed. Uh, are there any additional comments from the commission as it relates to the pedestrian experience um that have have not already been shared tonight? We talked about the connectivity through the site did not did not feel safe. There was parking in um driveway areas that cause for concern. Um the the the connectivity to the hotel. Thank you, Commissioner Wiger. Those were comments. Any other additional comments around the appropriate pedestrian experience? Thank you, Commissioner Zucker.

Thank you. Just just want to add to to what I shared. I mean, yeah, you've heard heard from everybody here, but but I mean, I I imagine the the places that there's most need or potential for for connectivity for kind of pedestrian experience is is with the the nearby hotel and potentially with the the kind of development above. Um the development above, yeah, might need some Yeah. some re redoing of of you know where the where the connection is or or thinking creatively um to yeah is or could there be stairs down you know of like a pedestrian walkway down from there or something like that or improvements to you know sidewalks or whatever but um but I but I think the the this is where the placement of the buildings I think is a problem. They're they're each these three islands kind of surrounded by a sea of parking lot and and drive-throughs. And so they're they're not connected to each other. And I imagine for the hotel, I mean, when I when I first saw the hotel go up, I was like, "Wow, that's kind of disconnected from everything. It's just like, you know, I I personally wouldn't choose to stay at that hotel because there's there's like no amenities nearby that you can walk to or or anything like that." Um, and I think there is a potential for this to be kind of the commercial center connect to that hotel where someone after after a day of being out at the beach in Ventura can go back home to their hotel, you know, have a have a nice dinner, maybe a drink, and, you know, go back go back to their their, you know, room to to crash for the night. Um, and so, you know, if they were if the buildings were kind of placed together, could people who are who are kind of staying for the weekend be able to, you know, talk maybe maybe connecting the outdoor patios kind of to each other where where folks can kind of mingle and and whatever. But I think the the drive-thru, the having two of the three buildings have drive-thru basically makes that possible. Like, you can't have these drive-throughs that wrap around these buildings and have them connected to each other. Um, and so that that's where I think it does take kind of like a fundamentally, you know, different kind of reimagining

of what types of businesses are there in order to allow for more of that kind of pedestrian connected feeling that the sit and stay rather than just in and out. Thank you, Vice Chair. Commissioner Aby's next. If you

could you put the uh site plan on the screen again? I don't want to spend a lot of time because we have a number of things to look at. Okay. Oh, could you put the I'm sorry. Could you put the pedestrian walkway slide with the overall site plan? Okay. So, you look at the the traffic's all going to be coming to this project's going to be coming in off of Alando Drive. So, you have almost right away where that first building, the the drive-thru, you got to run the gauntlet of cars coming through. Uh, and then as you go across building one, then then you run the gauntlet of cars coming out of the drive-thru. And same thing when you get to building two, you got the drive-thru, you know, coming out of there. And uh so the the placement and we've already talked about should there even be two drive-throughs, you know, uh I think the pedestrian you should be thinking if I'm someone who's in the hotel at the residence in and I'm thinking I want to get to the beach or or I want to ride a bike to the beach or ride a bike on Vista Delmare down to the state beach, the the walkway that gets you to the uh fairgrounds. you need to be thinking more than just these these businesses. How do you impact the tourist experience? So, those are my thoughts.

Thank you, Commissioner Abby. Commissioner Whitaker.

Hi. Just a quick comment. Um, Chair Buso might already know this because she's in economic development, but um, usually a resident's in is actually used for people coming in for work for the week. Um, and so it it does you can come and stay and go to the beach and do your thing or maybe somebody comes in for an interview or or something, but it is usually considered a business um type of hotel um that people are there for the week or or or sometimes they're on assignment for two months or something um as a contractor or something like that. I just wanted to make that clear. Obviously, the developer probably didn't want his development to be um you know, a catalyst for you know the or the residents in to be a catalyst for his development, but that's where we are right now. So, I just wanted to make that comment.

Thank you, Commissioner Wiggger. Um question three, we had if we want to put the questions back up, please. Thank you. Uh we also talked about this as well, but uh achieving an eclectic beach character um with those older design guidelines and echo commissioner comd's comment on our forthcoming design guidelines which will be coming to the count commission here this August uh I believe this summer. Um and so with that, any other additional comments on the proposed architecture um that has not already been shared, which I believe comments have been would like to see kind of more just more character in general from the design of the buildings and it sounds like that is feedback uh that the applicant was willing to hear um and take into consideration. Are there any other comments from the commission on this one? Okay. Thank you. All right. As far as the proposed drive-thru uses as currently designed, compatible with the site's PCT designation, surrounding uses, and the city's vision for this coastal commercial corridor. Again, any additional comments than what has been has been previously mentioned the commission at this time. Commissioner Compton.

Thank you, Chair. Again, I I I'm echoing what has been said by a couple other commissioners, which is I'd prefer to see one drive-thru as opposed to two. Thank you. Thank you. All right. And on for our fifth question, should the applicant reconsider the project's development program or building orientation to better achieve the visitor serving and coastal oriented goals of the governing plans? Uh the general comments have been yes, they should reconsider um the program or building orientation for a better uh visitor serving and coastal oriented um achievement. Any other comments specific to that? Commissioner McCarti?

Well, I do I do have an idea to throw out there, but um may take a couple minutes to explain. Perhaps we should maybe I can wait until after we finish with all the rest of the questions.

Sure, we'll do that. All right. Um and then finally, our question six. What landscape improvements with the planning commission prioritize address buffering, pedestrian connectivity, and air quality? We've heard some of those already um in terms of screening. Uh we certainly would like to see more buffer, more trees, particularly um if there is the consideration of a drive-thru where we don't want to see queuing off the highway. Um, so there any way to buffer and mitigate that as well considering local native species uh as well into that plan. Any other comments specifically to that? Yes, Commissioner Abby.

Very briefly, um, I went down to the site um, earlier this week and I went I went beyond the site. I went down to the residence in and uh right next to there was very little buffering from the freeway and the traffic was very very loud. Now I I understand that this project has more land that goes up the hill and uh it's not a lot of it is not right next to the freeway. It's close to the freeway, but not like the residents in. Uh, but the pictures that we saw with the drive-through lanes and and all the parking lots and Yeah, we there needs to be a lot more buffering. Um, there needs to be sound. I would like to see not walls ne per se, but trees and bushes and so forth that provide some view into the project, but also buffer the sound. So, uh it would be interesting to see what landscaping could be done, whether it's BMS or um rocks or you know, boulders or just trees to impact take away that loud noise. That would be my comment.

Thank you, Commissioner Abby. Commissioner Vice Chair Zucker,

thank you. I I agree. Um I think when we we talk, you know, maybe maybe a little utopian about, you know, the um value of folks being able to kind of walk and stay and just enjoy this site. It is hard when it's, you know, loud and next to the freeway, right? And but um I do think it's it's possible to have very significant kind of kind of buffing from the freeway. as as the applicant pointed out, they're only building on 7.3% of the of the site. So, there is space, you know, if if the project is kind of like redesigned. Um, and this is where I do think more kind of consolidation of the of the buildings, you know, maybe to one side could allow, you know, more landscaping buffering against the against the freeway on the other side that would actually make it kind of enjoyable to stay and maybe enjoyable to walk from the nearby um you know, uh developments that have that have come in around it. Um and and then and then also maybe maybe it um in terms of kind of the gateway aspect um you know if if some of what's there do end up being corporate chains or whatever you know it it doesn't um feel as much like oh you're just driving through Ventura and that's all you see is is just the same corporate chains you see everywhere. There might be some yeah some nice vegetation that breaks that up.

Thank you Commissioner Whitaker. Um do we can you pull up the site plan again please? And I know this sounds silly, but does anybody have a red pointer?

No battery. That's okay. I I'll try to describe it. Um, that's okay. Mine. I can't even see that. Let's see. Here we go. Um, oh, it's not going on the not screen compatible.

Yeah, weird. Anyway, I'll just describe it where it is now. The red line, I'd like to see that above um to the I guess you'd call it the east uh east of the the driveway. Um so it's not going across any parking areas as much as possible or along Alessandro Road. Um I also Alessandro Drive. I also know um I actually have family that lives off of Ocean Drive and you know they do bike a lot um to down to the Seawward area and I could see them biking to this this area as well and so it it would be nice to have this more pedestrianoriented so people could walk if they want or even take a bike. So having a bike lane incorporated into this development and a walkway would be um preferred. Um and and again I spoke of this earlier as well having some maybe tables to sit down um so people can enjoy um you know it is a loud freeway but to have some some pedestrian um you know resting area if if they choose to and you know be outside because it is beautiful here in Ventura. So those are my additional comments. Thanks.

Thank you Commissioner Winger. And that uh concludes our comments back on the six questions. Now, I do want to just offer the commission any final uh feedback and comments on this project. And Commissioner McCarti,

thank you, Chair, and um Commissioner Wiggger, your your mention of being able to bike into this area is a perfect segue into um some honest feedback I'd like to give to the to the applicants. Um, so I I have an idea to attract visitors in a unique, imaginative way consistent with our long-term vision of making Ventura more pedestrian and and cycling friendly. Um, and yet, Mr. Tangi in in in uh in your all hundreds of hundreds of uh conversations with restaurant owners, I I would bet money that this idea probably did not come up, but let me throw it out there as as a visionary plan. Um Ventura has has a growing and improving set of of cycling paths. There's a wonderful path up to Ohigh. We have wonderful path. The Omar Reigns trail along the coast which I ride all the time. It's this area is very popular with cyclists coming down from Ohio, coming down from Carpandria, coming down from Santa Barbara. The adventure company Backros now offers kind of high-end cycling trips to this area in which they do two or three uh rides uh in this very area either up the coast or up to Ohio for people will pay thousands of dollars to get on these rides and I kind of have to chuckle when I see them out there when I'm on the road because they're paying thousands of dollars for what I get to do every day for free. And uh it makes it makes me so glad to live here.

Last year I did a ride in the Terolian Alps in the Germanspeaking area of northern Italy and they had a tremendous concept called pronounced in German Radbar. R A DB AR and I would encourage you to take a look at their website R A DB AR.it and what RodBar is. It's advertised as I'm going to read a little bit from their site. It's a cafe bar bicycle grill like a bicycle grill and a bike snack bar within a beautiful garden uh to eat and drink. Main drinks and snacks offered are fresh regional specialties and products. We have a ton of fresh regional specialties and products which we could offer in this area. What what's Radbar all about? It's a refreshing and well-located rest area, a meeting place for mountain bike and road cyclists and dare I say it, ebike fans, nature lovers, and families with children. Regional and organic foods. We are not a restaurant or a guest house, but we offer a special menu tailored to the cyclists. Our service station offers free and helpful information and material about the area. Um, and as as Commissioner Wineer just was mentioning about the the pedestrian path here, if if this this area if we were to put a rod bar like um cafe, restaurant catering to the growing number of cyclists that are in this area and love who love to come and visit Ventura. make that pedestrian walkway a pedestrian/bicycle path leading up to a rodbar-l like restaurant that takes the place of one

of the one of the drive-thru restaurants. Um, in my mind that would be beautiful. Um and and in the long term it could very easily tie into the bike lane improvements that we mentioned earlier associated with the active transportation plan. Those coming on Main Street, those coming down from San Bua Ventura State Beach toward uh Harbor Boulevard, Peront would lead right to this area. You would get people coming from the coming down Seawward from M and I'm talking about cyclists coming down Seawward. um from Main Street, you'd you'd have uh cyclists coming from the beach area uh from Carperia and Santa Barbara. And I think it would be a wonderful attraction, like I say, for the growing number of cyclists in the area in the area who who would love to see something like that. Um it's out of the box. It's a dream, but in my mind completely consistent with what I and perhaps we envision as how to make this community more pedestrian, tourist, and cyclist friendly. So, just throwing that out there, an idea.

Thank you, Commissioner McCardney. Uh, Vice Chair Zucker,

thank you. Appreciate that. you know, and and I know, you know, you may may feel like our ideas are are kind of, you know, big big out there stuff, but I but I hope you're also seeing that this is, you know, this is the alternative to just saying no to projects that we don't like and and trying to trying to give give some um you know, some direction of what what we do like and and what we would like to see. And so, um, you know, I just just want to say that, you know, when you look at the site just like from from a, you know, normal, uh, you know, kind of development and planning perspective, I see how it can feel like this very autooriented spot. Um, but the the weird thing about it is how many people do bike down Seawward despite how incredibly dangerous it is, right? Um and and people do that risk their lives to bike down Seawward because Ventura was built in this frankly horrible way where we cut off most of our city from the coast with the 101 freeway and there's only a couple access points and people really use those access points um and they will use them even more uh you know if we're continuing to kind of build out some of this infrastructure that that staff spoke to. And so um you know I I I think there is real potential. That is what the city's looking to see here. Um, and and I think with some some reorienting of the site and some really heavy emphasis on kind of landscape and buffering from the freeway, um, this could feel like a like a little oasis. It's it's, you know, taking the the peculiarities of the site and and using leveraging them as as assets rather than deficits, right? Can could this feel like a little, you know, a little little hidden gem where, you know, you go there's it kind of feels a little bit lush? There's a there's a, you know, spot kind of tucked next to this next to this hotel where you might be able to, you know, find something eclectic and unique. And, um, I know that might be harder to line up than kind of a traditional deal with, you know, some some clients who are, you know, are our big national chains, you know. Um, but, um, I think that this

site is really important and you can hear that it's important to the city. Um, and so we're we're trying to give some some positive ideas. Thank you, vice chair. Any other comments from the commission as it relates to this project? I hope staff has some good feedback. I hope the applicant has some good feedback. I sounds like the applicant would like to make a final comment if that's amendable to the commission. Yes.

Thank you, chair, commissioners. We we want to express our gratitude uh for all the feedback and comments that we've heard tonight. Uh we u had anticipated that we're we're going to be going back and evaluating what what we're uh presenting. Um but this feedback's been very helpful. So appreciate that. Thank you.

Thank you so much for hearing us and and and from our community. Okay. Thank you. Thank you, Steph. Thank you so much for the detailed uh presentation again tonight. I want to echo the commissioner's comment on that work. Okay, moving on to our next item of the agenda. We have planning commission communications. Uh commissioners, are there any items for clarification or requests for staff at this time? Seeing uh Commissioner Compton. Yes.

Thank you, Chair Busa. um it being Earth Day 56 years ago, uh some visionary people were thinking about planet Earth in the future and uh so I'd like to amend the uh the old phrase uh and encourage everybody to think intergalactically, but uh stay active locally because every little bit helps. It's our world. Let's keep it beautiful. Thank you. Love that. Thank you. Yes, Commissioner Abby.

I just wanted to mention uh I went to U Rubicon and saw Somebody to Love. It was a delightful play. Um they had an extended run. They added a whole week. I caught it on the last Saturday matinea and uh I wished I would have extended it sooner so you'd have had time to actually go see the play, but it would the the was a good play, really good play. and the the talent of the singers was just awesome. I felt like I was on Broadway listening to those voices. So, it was a wonderful experience.

Thank you, Commissioner Abby. A great reminder of that local um amazing arts asset, the Rubicon Theater. Please check it out as well as some of our other venues around town. Um with that, we'll move on to staff communication. Is there any communication from our planning staff at this time?

Good evening. Happy Earth Day and happy administrative professionals day. I just want to point out that so much of what this commission does um has a number of people behind the scenes that work extremely hard um on the packet on all the information. Um so I really just want to thank all of our administrative staff in our office. Um Marissa Mona who's the acting um admin for planning. um Kaylee, who's our executive assistant in the department, as well as um Heather, Joe, Anthony, and Thomas, who are our admin in um the admin division and community development. Um as well as Stephanie who answers phones in the permit center. all those people participate in helping to get your packet together. Make sure this room is set up as well as um all of our professionals in the clerk's office um who are having an event um for um the municipal clerk week. Um and I believe I'll I'll ask uh Derek to remind us of that when I'm done with my announcement if you don't mind. Um so truly it's such a group effort to get these packets together and I appreciate all of your attention to detail to make sure that we get it right. um particularly with the minutes, it's extremely helpful. So, thank you. Um we do have a pretty big meeting at our next month's meeting. It's on Wednesday, May 27th. Um we have a um brief item on uh proousing designation. We have Thompson Court Apartments, which I mentioned last time is going to be kicked up to the planning commission. Um we have um program 19 of our housing element which is a zone text amendment about supportive housing within the city. And then we also have the tree protection ordinance um which came um as a directive from council and is definitely something that could have a lot of public comment as well. We've been working quite hard on that. Um and this comes on the heels of an emergency

tree protection ordinance that was adopted by the city council. So, this will formally codify that requirement um and some additional requirements. So, I'm wondering um if the commission uh would be willing to start the meeting earlier. Um I know all of you have other things going on. So, totally understand if we can't, but if possible, I'm asking that we start at 5:00 pm instead of 5:30 to get the meeting started. Um and so wondering if we could take kind of a poll here. Um, and certainly if people need to get back to me, we can. Um, but does that work? We have a thumbs up. Uh, it's Wednesday, May 27th. I'm gonna have to follow up on confirmation on that myself. Okay.

Open to it, though. I'm actually going to be um absent for that that meeting. I have a work trip. Okay. Absent. Okay. We have two absences. We'll check in with our absent commissioner from today. I'll hear back from you and then I'll circle back with the group. But you're

you're okay. Okay, great. Um, thank you for that. I recognize that this is um, a huge commitment and really appreciate all of your time. Um, I also wanted to go through some projects that went to director's hearings. So, we haven't talked about this in a while. So, I have three months worth of director's hearings um, to go through. And I'll be pretty quick because I know this was a long meeting. Um, so Vault Cocktails had a use permit. Um, this is alcohol service within a parklet and outdoor dining and then change in use to go from a restaurant to a bar nightclub. Um, often restaurants act as bars and nightclubs and don't actually get permits to do so. Um, so we're happy to see that people are asking for permits that um, reflect their actual usage. That was approved. Um, the next item was a tentative parcel map or a lot split at 300 North Ventura Avenue. Um, and this subdivided an existing almost 16,000 square foot parcel into two parcels. Next slide, please. Uh, we had a coastal development permit for an addition um at for single family residence, and I did talk about this a little bit at 1369 Nathan Lane. Um, and this was um basically some minor changes to a single family house, but needed a coastal development permit. So, those do go to directors. Next slide. Um we had a minor variance for front and sideyard setbacks at 2335 Sunset Drive. And this was to accommodate um an attached garage and they actually have um threecar garage for an existing single family and I believe an ADU on that site as well. Yes. To accommodate. So they were actually parking for the ADU voluntarily. Next slide. A minor variance was approved for two drive aisle signs at Raising Canes. This uh project was already went to directors a long time ago. Um but they did need um a signage variance that got approved. Next slide. Um a coastal development permit,

design review and waiverss and concessions were approved for a project at 1926 East Thompson. This was a 19 unit multif family residential development um along Thompson. Next slide. Um there was a coastal development permit approved for a single family addition on Dover Lane. This is an existing single family that just needed 138 square foot addition. Next slide. Um there was a coastal development permit for the harbor groundwater monitoring wells. Um this is in the rightway near the Rundle Baranka and um this is part of a lot of the work that Ventura Water is doing in this area. Next slide. Uh there's a use permit for kitty land animal boarding on Portola Road um in unit A and um this is taking an existing tenant space. It's about 2500 square feet and um doing overnight animal boarding and animal grooming. The next item is a coastal development permit and minor variance uh for lot coverage and parking requirements for an ADU on Camden Lane. Um this is close to the beach and in an area where we do require parking. Um they are actually um building an ADU above their garage and would have um a uh garage addition to allow for that ADU parking. Next slide. Uh a minor variance was approved for an accessory dwelling unit at four4 seat and hall. Um, and this, um, allowed for a detached two-story, 22- foot tall, 720 ft ADU. Next slide. Um, a major design review, lot line adjustment, density bonus waiverss, and inclusionary housing plan was approved at 1279 Meta Street. Uh, this is a 14-unit multif family residence that it's actually built behind an existing single family home on this site. So they

maintained the existing building and then built um a multif family behind it. Next slide. Um the fish modernization I guess this is an odd slide. Oh, here we go. Uh major design review and coastal development permit was approved to um update the Ventura fish market. And so um basically they're going to have expanded facilities for squid processing on site. um expanding the existing commercial fish market. So, there'll be kind of a roll up and ability to um go in and buy fish and then um there was an update uh adjacent to Andrea's restaurant and uh quite a bit of um trucking access to that processing facility. So, a lot of the conversation was really about circulation on this site because you do have Andreas and then you have the adjacent uses. So most of the conversation centered around circulation and conditions to keep the trucks separate from regular vehicles and making sure that it's as quiet as possible. Obviously, it's a commercial fishing um facility, but with the kind of adjacencies um a lot of the conditions that were provided were related to having actual um operational standards for the trucks. Next slide. And that's it. Um, I am available for any questions. Again, I really want to thank all of you. You spend a lot of time here and I think that you have extremely thoughtful conversations and uh we all just really appreciate it. It's so um helpful for us to have a commission like you. So, thank you.

Happy April. Thank you, Director Diamond. And thank you so much for continuing to bring us uh those thorough reports from the director's hearing. It's really helpful. it helps us stay informed um and have that transparency which is the the thing that we've continuously asked. So, thank you for that. And Commissioner Wiggger, yes question. Uh yes, thank you, Director Diamond. Uh could you tell us on raising canes that was a cup for their drive-thru? was the drive-thru that we just looked at today, would it will it come to us because you pushed it up or um or it will uh or because of the zoning?

No. So, it's actually um already approved. So, the approval for the actual raising canes entire site where they separated the lot from the rest of like the Target site and then the building as well as the drive-thru were all approved at a director's hearing about a year ago. Um and then they in um in their process of um getting permits realized they needed a variance for some of their larger signage and so they came back for a sign variance.

Thank you. What I'm asking is the CUP the CUP went to the director whereas the the thing we heard today uh the of the Alessandro Drive development will that go to planning commission or that will that go to director level because that would also that would all Yeah, that would also be a CUP for drive-throughs. Um so that's going to planning commission.

So is that just a zone difference there? Yeah. So, the clarification is that this one was also being pushed up to the planning commission because of the concerns that we were discussing today that it was similar to the project that would be pushed up um on Thompson Court because there were concerns raised about a year ago about the different uses on the site and so this would require normally a director's hearing but because of these concerns was brought to the planning commission. Okay. Thank you.

Thank you. And I think um you know part of it as well was I think one of one of the things that I've been asked a lot lately is why certain projects do get moved to planning commission and it frankly is extremely subjective. There's no specific guidance. Um we've been talking about if we had guidance that said when to move to planning commission. It should just be the requirement of when things go to planning commission. Um so we're always looking at those things and checking um in to see um kind of what works what continues to work. But I think the reality is when we um have a project that wants to check in and kind of get a temperature check um because there's so much concern in the community. I think that's a good sign for us that we want to come to you and and I think tonight is such a good example of how um immensely helpful it is to come to you for these types of projects. So, thank you. I do want to um note one more additional item that on city council on April 28th, next Tuesday, we did go to the Coastal Commission for the short-term vacation rental um regulation certification. It was approved by the Coastal Commission uh with some modifications as usual. So, um we are going to the city council to get those modifications approved. they are extremely minor in nature and don't change kind of the regulations generally as you saw them when they came to you. Um so we anticipate starting to look at uh renewal of existing short-term vacation rentals and um issuance of new permits starting this summer.

Yes, Commissioner Vice Chair Tucker. Thank you, Director Diamond. just just want to echo that, you know, on the administrative professionals day. Uh you know, just you were doing a fantastic job in our whole, you know, planning department. I just I think, you know, being on the planning commissioner for a while, just seen so much progress in just how just efficiently and transparently and and you know, effectively kind of the the department's being run these days and and just love to see that. So, um the my quick question was just on the the lot split on the avenue. Is that because we anticipate kind of a future development there or

Thank you. Thank you both. Appreciate that group effort. Um yes. So that's the first step that they would need to then build um you know either two single families or single family with an ADU. Have they submitted for building permit yet? To clarify, are you speaking of the industrial lot that was lots split? Oh, if you go back, I don't know that they've expressed to us that they had a specific development in mind, but they wanted to separate it for the opportunity to either sell off or develop the site. Um, but right now it's just currently a lot split that we know of. Sorry to interrupt that. Great. Thank you.

Okay, with that, no further questions from the commission or comments. Then I uh hereby adjourn our meeting of the planning commission. Thank you. Thank you all.