Planning Commission - Regular Meeting

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I'll wait till py gets yeah she's R him uh no uhuh not yet now these are for the sign ordinance you ready to go P it okay oh no problem 6 o'clock why don't we go ahead and get started uh this is the meeting uh plan Commission meeting of March 18th and our first item on the agenda is the Pledge of Allegiance which will be led by commissioner Savage ready begin I pledge alleg to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all okay could we have roll call please good evening chairman Grim here Vice chair Looney absent commissioner deasus here commissioner hings absent commissioner McCarthy here commissioner Savage here commissioner Martin here student commissioner liberman absent student commission commissioner basso absent thank you thank you next item on

the agenda is the approval of the minutes from the meeting of February 18 are there any changes or if not I would entertain a motion commissioner Martin I'll make a motion to I'll make a motion to uh recommend the minutes as drafted is there a second I'll second that very good okay we have a motion in a second on the minutes for February 18th cast your votes and lock in please and it carries unanimously with commissioner Savage abstaining any changes to the agenda tonight good evening chairman GRE no changes tonight thank you very good thank you okay it brings us to oral Communications and this is an opportunity for the public to speak on matters that are not on the agenda uh so if you wish to speak come forward and uh either uh fill out a a speaker slip or you can fill one out when you get here but uh this is the time if you have something to speak that's not on the agenda please come forward okay thank you for the opportunity um I thought that I would speak after you did but that's okay uh it's just an idea I had about the marvista area marvista Drive is um that's an item that's on the agenda is yeah it is you want you'll have an opportunity during the public hearing to

speak on that item sounds good yeah so we'll see you back in a little bit here okay thank you okay so the next two items we have are public hearing items and uh I will just real briefly disain explain the uh process uh first staff will give a presentation on the project uh there is no applicant so there'll be no applicant presentation tonight the commission would then ask questions of staff on the presentation and from that point we would open it up into a public hearing setting um and uh following that uh we'd close the public hearing and the Planning Commission would re uh rediscussed and then take any action so with that the first item on the agenda is the marvista specific plan and if I could get a staff report please sure good evening chairman Grim Commissioners staff and members of the public it is my pleasure to present to you tonight an application for the marvist specific plan p24 0354 the location of the marvista specific plan is in the marvista neighborhood which consists of 108 Parcels project area is approximately 143 acres in size the general location is south of marav Vista Drive East of buav Vista Drive North of Lupine Hill Road and West of State Route 78 streets include Marv Vista Drive Miramar Drive Marine View Drive Hillcrest Drive Hilo Way Park Hill Road Park Hill Place California Oak Drive Auburn Woods Drive and red Plum Lane the area is characterized by hillsides and Rolling Hills with single family residential development throughout the existing residential character and land uses of the

surrounding area present important influences upon the specific plan area setting the proposed project is for the adoption of the Marv Vista specific plan this is to maintain existing single family residential uses existing agricultural uses and existing animal uses development standards would remain consistent with the county of San Diego's a70 agriculture Zone prior to City annexation dens City with remain one dwelling unit per acre minimum lot size one acre and the general plan designation would remain unchanged at rural residential RR the general plan figure Lucy -2 is to be amended to reflect the specific plan designation and zone change will change from A1 agricultural to specific plan implementation Zone SPI the purpose of establishing the Marisa specific plan is is to maintain the rural setting experienced by Property Owners while under County of San Diego jurisdiction prior to City of Vista annexation this is accomplished through adoption of similar development standards and permitted land uses as compared to those previously governing this neighborhood under County of San Diego jurisdiction zoning and development standards found within a marvista specific plan documents substantially mirror the same standards from the county of San Diego for the specific plan area area the zoning designation under the county of San Diego jurisdiction for the marav Vista neighborhood was agricultural a70 prior to annexation which closely Ms the city of Vista zoning designation of Agriculture A1 public Outreach was also conducted uh

a letter was sent out to affected Property Owners on November 26 2024 to advise of the city's proposal to establish a specific plan document for the marvista area staff held an in-person Comm community meeting on December 11th 2024 to gather input and respond to Residents inquiries regarding the drafting of the document marav Vista specific plan website was posted to the city's website with the Q&A responses presentation slides the minutes of that meeting and the video of that meeting as well specific plan goals uh is so establish the specific plan consisting of 108 Parcels within 143 Acres it's to create a plan that maintains the rural nature and characteristics of the existing neighborhood and to maintain consistency between the specific plan land uses uh to those previously un allowed under the a70 zoning designation under County of San Diego jurisdiction prior to City annexation the general plan will remain unchanged as rural residential and figure Lucy -2 will be amended uh the existing is currently uh posted on the left side and the proposed will be with the adoption of the Marisa specific plan if approved the zoning is currently A1 Agriculture and the proposed Zone will be specific plan implementation SPI and during the process or drafting of the document and with the community meeting in hand uh there were concerns about roadways uh just to clarify uh there is no intent now or in the future to extend Canon Road through the Marista

area most streets within the marvista specific plan will continue to be maintained as semi- rural streets with a maximum of two lanes in addition to that the city of is will not require Property Owners to connect to sewer upon adoption of the specific plan this will not be required uh some of the permitted uses include one family dwelling on each lot accessory buildings guest houses some agricultural uses green houses animal raising um and very minimal flower or vegetable gardening some more intense uses will require a special use permit which would require public uh hearing at the Planning Commission for review and determination this would include more sensitive uses such as agriculture sales horiculture sales packing and processing plants for Farm crops public Stables horse stables uh Residential Care quaries cemeteries churches Rescue Mission or shooting range this will also permit a few minor uses which are not as intense as special uses uh this will include kennels specialty animal raising horse stable cottage industries agriculture packing raising of chillas clubs and lodges aviaries Parks public buildings Rec facilities schools skateboard ramps and radio and television and transmitters in regards to accessory structures uh detached accessory structures will mimic those from found from the county of San Diego a70 uh land use designation this will include detach private garage and carports storage buildings workshops offices barns agricultural buildings and other similar non-habitable uses limited to 25% of the

living area of the principal residents or in accordance with a lot size attached accessory structures will include private garages carports storage buildings workshops offices and other similar non-habitable uses limited to the same designation of 25% of the living area the principal residence or in accordance with the lot size animal keeping is also a permitted use under the a70 use which we are incorporating into this document uh this includes horse stable with limitations on uses kennels animal raising with some limitations animal raising including poultry large animal raising other than horses special animal raising which is wild or undomesticated specialty animal raising including bees animal keeping standards and enclosures will also meet the setbacks found under under the county jurisdiction so for example would be front yard setback 60 ft from Street Center Line side interior would be 10 ft from the property line side exterior 35 feet from the street Center Line and rear 10 ft from the proper line commercial agriculture would also be permitted based on the land uses that we uh previously uh covered this would incl include packing processing with limited general or Support Services Horticulture including cultivation and storage tree crops row and field crops and agricultural stands this is the proposed development standards uh this is closely mimics the county standards and what the the minimum lot size is is 1 acre Max density 1 unit per acre uh setbacks front 60 ft from Street Center Line side

interior would be 15 ft from the proper line side exterior would be 35 ft from the center line of the street and rear 25 ft from the proper line there is no maximum floor area floor area ratio or lock coverage maximum height is 2 stories or 35 ft whichever is less and off street parking is two spaces per unit fences and walls uh will mimic those of the County of San Diego as well that are being incorporated into this document solid fences and walls are permitted at the following locations providing they conform to the height limitations shown below within front or exterior side yard main building setbacks M maximum height is 42 in within rear or interior side maximum height would be 72 in if the fence is open uh and visible uh this is your typical rod iron uh chain link or something that's very visible uh the height limitations would be front or exterior side maximum height of 42 in and rear or interior side with a height of 72 in landscaping shall also comply with a city of ISTA landscape manual and its Pro Provisions this may include but not be limited to erosion control slope stabilization biob basins private yards retaining walls or any other landscape designs in regards to basis for approval the proposed specific plan may be permitted and will conform to applicable federal state and local laws or regulations the proposed use is consistent with the general plan goal two goal two is to preserve and enhance the characteristics and features of neighborhoods that share common development patterns topography major streets and Zoning

patterns goal three is to preserve and protect existing residential neighborhoods from actions activities or land uses that may have an adverse impact upon the enjoyment of the residential living environment the Marv Vista specific plan does not propose any specific development projects or or construction nor incentivize additional development the proposed specific plan would also maintain a desirable transitional land use between more intense intense highdensity residential uses to the South and less intense lower density uses so the North West and East the negative Declaration was prepared and available for a 20-day public review from March 12 2025 through April 1 2025 uh that is a typo That was supposed to be a negative declaration not a mitigated negative declaration so uh just wanted to note that in regards to the environmental review uh negative declaration and initial study checklists have been prepared pursuant to California Environmental Quality Act and the state guidelines the document is available for a 20-day public review period from March 12th 2025 to April 1 2025 Planning Commission may make a recommendation on the draft neg uh neg deck and this project prior to the conclusion of the public review period staff's recommendation is to adopt resolution 2025 recommending city council approval of a negative declaration for the adoption of the marvista specific plan and to adopt resolution 2025 recommending city council approval of the Mar Vista specific plan with a general plan Amendment amending figure Luc Lucy D2 and a zone change from A1 to SPI for the Marv Vista specific plan area this does concludes staff's presentation and is available for question

thank you very much questions from the Planning Commission um commissioner Martin thank you Mr chairman um so I do understand what the specific plan is attempting to accomplish um but what I couldn't find is what prompted this annexation in the first place a few years ago was it um input from lafco seeking us to take in a county Island where city services extended out into the County's jurisdiction why was this annexation undertaken uh to begin with uh yeah so on based on the his project history uh November 201202 bua Sanitation District Board of Directors approved bua Sanitation District uh resolution consenting to annexation of the Gamboni Ranch uh property into a Buena Sanitation District approving the flow transfer agreement um after that date 2021 city of Isa city council adopted resolution 2021-22 uh to make application to lafco for the annexation of the 143 Acres of the marvista island uh based off that lafco did approve that annexation to the city of Vista on November 7th 2022 uh thus annexing the Mar Vista Island into the city of Vista um the res residents were concerned that maybe development patterns would have changed with the uh annexation of that area into the city so the city had you know uh wanted to make ensure that the development standards development patterns within that neighborhood would not be intensified and so this document was drafted to codify what they previously enjoyed under the a70 land use designation under the county once they annexed into the city so that's why this

document is coming forward to the planning commission tonight so I guess in in simple terms then it's the bua sanitation district that would not provide services outside the city boundaries so in terms of sewer um connection they're still not required to connect to sewer there are some properties who are on the city's sewer system there are many properties who are currently on septic uh and would be able to remain that way unless they were planning on doing a major remodel or add an Adu to the property where the County Health Department would let them know to connect to sewer if viable or if they had a property large enough to handle a septic tank or an expanded septic tank all right thank you other questions from the Planning Commission seeing none will open the public hearing and I have uh actually two speaker slips I've uh received already uh one is from Mr Cole if you could come forward please ladies and gentlemen of the Planning Commission thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to speak uh my name is Ted Cole I reside at 11:15 Marine View Drive city of Vista um I would like to just come out and say that I am in support of staff's recommendation I appreciate planning Commissioners Martin's question though because that was one of the one of the questions we all have but what is done is done and we have to move forward and I just pray to you that you will pass this recommendation on to the city council

for adoption we have a very unique rural lifestyle out there and staff has done its best to keep it that way and I do have couple of quick questions Hillcrest was never mentioned as a private road uh and yet it is off of mirar second I brought this up during the community uh meeting that we had with staff as residents and the term most streets and I'll bring that back I thought that it was discussed and it was going to be changed to all streets will remain the same because leaving the word most leaves a question mark well what street are you thinking about maybe an improving and then I'm not exactly sure whether I understand correctly off street parking two vehicles is that saying that each of us can park two vehicles on the street um I'm not exactly sure what that says there are properties and homes out there that are within 60 ft of the center line I'm certainly hopeful that you're not intending to say you have to demolish your home and I'm speaking for a lot of people that just couldn't make it to the meeting tonight so that's it I hope that you will adopt it and pass it on thank you thank you for your comments would staff like to address these

questions uh sure uh in regards to the off street parking the two um Lanes throughout there are no plans at the moment to change any of the streets or expand any of the street uh through the Marvis as uh specific plan uh spoke to our traffic engineer and they confirmed that information so I just wanted to make that clear um that there will be no changes or expansions to any of the existing streets in the Marvis uh specific plan area in regards to the 60 foot uh setback from Street Center Line uh that is from the county of San Diego uh a70 development standards uh that is what staff adopted uh but no we're not going to have those homes uh be demolished per se uh they can remain as is any new development or any expansion so the homes would have to meet these setbacks that are found in the specific plan document but if they're already encroaching they're considered non-conforming they would just remain as is um I think am I missing a question I think that was it yeah most streets is all streets I uh yeah okay very good thank you second speaker slip uh we've received is from Bob raw come forward please good evening all uh Bob raw uh been 35 years at 1031 Marine View Drive uh I am in support of the specific plan but not with the negative declaration it was very confusing that it was presented as mitigated negative declaration without clarifying what the mitigation was um I've attended every meeting regarding this my my significant concern

here is that uh of in adopting uh isn't here um the the uh negative declaration without consideration of existing commitments that have been made from the county of San Diego to mitigate for environmental impacts which they were compelled to approve you're basically setting aside all of those and setting aside adopted conditions that are on these properties to to address uh environmental issues uh we we have a unique situation that the county approved encroaching development in violation of the uh uh subdivision plans for the property and leaving us for 20 years now without adequate sewage disposal for our home and no access to the city sewer so we're completely landlocked there to my good neighbors here some that may not realize it the reason that my front yard is just looks like hell without all those Costco tents out there is because I don't have the approval for any change of footprint until I have septic approval which is you know there's there's no Provisions in this at all to address these issues it's it's it's another environmental issue there in that it's BL on the neighborhood um we uh Mr Cole had brought up uh front yard setbacks um and we're trying to adopt the the county standards here well the county has already said you can build the front yard setback for a garage which has long been an intention to mitigate the the other encroachments that they made and uh these type of things in in including deferred mitigation are in writing from the county the county says they can no longer enforce them with this annexation and that it's the city's responsibility and to show up for this specific plan and make sure these requirements get Incorporated in this specific plan um not not much I can cover in in three

minutes here but I did write this out step by step in great detail I just sent it to rafay this afternoon it just it took a while to do I ask that you please review that very carefully and consider what the implications are of adopting a negative de declaration for this project um they're very significant and it's not not a problem that's going to go away by ignoring it I appreciate your time thank you thank you for your comments um we did all of us have received your letter and what I'd like to do at this time before we go on to another speaker is asked staff if they wish to address the uh the letter we received thank you uh thank you chair uh Amanda guy assistant City attorney I've reviewed the letter from Mr raw and for context in background our office has been aware of the issues he raised since 2021 we've provided written correspondents addressing his concerns about environmental mitigation our office has also reviewed the pertinent sqa documents relating to these properties there are no continuing sqa mitigation measures related to environmental resources on these properties the only sequin mitigation measure we identified was a traffic mitigation fee that would have been paid to the county at the time that the development was approved um this project as discussed in the negative declaration does not propose any specific development or construction activity it's essentially maintaining Baseline conditions so if there is a project or application that comes forward separately outside of this specific plan project approval the city will assess that Project based on our codes and regulations and pursuant toqua so there may be future mitigation measures or requirements based on those codes and

regulations for development but we do not have any legal obligation to enforce environmental mitigation for these properties um and again for for context a specific plan is a highlevel planning document for this plan area it doesn't address specific issues on particular parcels so essentially his specific issues could be addressed in the future when another project comes through is yes any application that comes forward would be assessed based on our codes and regulations in pursuant to squa um and anything specific to septic issues is under the still under the County's jurisdiction with the Department of Environmental Health very good thank you for clarifying that uh other speakers those are the two uh speaker slips we have if anyone else wishes to speak please please come forward sir state your name uh resident 864 Maramar drive 10 years I uh commissioner Martin I wanted to give you the other half of the answer to the history of the annexation just for completeness um with the part of that annexation there's the Stone Gate properties there's the Stone Gate and the stone Mark which are all coming together and we understand that the city council the city of Vista was going to benefit uh from property taxes from large new neighborhood that was part of the annexation so there you go that was our understanding and hopefully that adds to the history thank you thank you other speakers uh you've already spoke I believe oh I'm sorry come forward you did but then you did speak but I cut you off okay thank

you yeah again this is not exactly what you're all talking about but it is an idea I have for marvista Drive I do live on marvista drive just outside of this area that you're talking about tonight about 500 feet away uh I've been there about 20 years but it is a very unique place it's a very unique Street I mean just the physical uh looks of it and I would say even the people that live there are very unique and it's just a wonderful place to live and I'm really thankful also for the staff and what they've proposed and I think it'll really keep that charm that we have there it's old Vista it's not something you can replace and I thought maybe take it another step further um what would H and I haven't talken to any of my neighbors yet but I thought I'd just throw it out there for you um what if we designated this marvista area as a agricultural District now I'm not talking about about changing zoning but just a place that people would know about that maybe they could take their families to and peruse Marvis to drive for whatever it could offer I know sand and straws there now and um you know just fruits and vegetables on the side of the road and different things that could be for sale it just be a unique District that would maybe develop bring people to Vista I always think about that and developing uh uh so that's pretty much it great thank you very much I appreciate it please come forward hi my name is Rebecca maderas I live at 10:05 Marine View Drive excuse excuse me and like Bob RS I've been

there over 30 years I I personally didn't understand why they were annexing either so I appreciate your question Mr Martin and I guess perhaps the tax basis is part of the reason but all of a sudden we were just informed that we were annexing I still don't have a clear-cut answer so I would appreciate maybe a little more on that and secondarily I believe when Amanda was just speaking she said there's not any proposed significant projects are there projects that are proposed in that area um apologies I I said there's no proposed specific development or construction activity I wrote down significant so it so there's no actual when I say specific there's no actual development project that is being proposed as part of the specific plan adoption and so in that vein could we have a little more explanation just to satisfy me as to why we're annexed I didn't really understand because of the sanitation district that didn't seem clear to me staff can provide more information when this item goes to council personally I don't have further information on the history of the annexation since that was already approved there's nothing we can do as part of this item to revisit that annexation but we can certainly include more information in the staff report that will go to council well not to be argumentative but I think if this whole swath of land is being annexed a clear explanation might be in order so it's just been kind of you know languishing out there I would suggest as the uh attorney stated we it will be going on to council I would suggest that maybe you sit down with one of the staff members that working on this project during the the regular working hours and and you know get more information at that point okay so is there anything at this point that we can do if we don't want to be annexed the

it's already been done it's already been annexed yes yeah right that's kind of my point that it just happened the annexation was completed in 2022 thank you yeah very good thank you for your comments any additional speakers if not we'll close the public hearing and turn it back for questions from the Planning Commission commissioner de Jesus I have a few questions have we annexed has there been an annexation of County property into the city of Vista in the last 10 or 15 years that we can kind of look at or maybe reference to see how that's unfolded um that's question number one uh just to answer that question uh before the marest uh Island annexation yes the ston mark annexation did take place um I don't have the full history on that storm Mark annexation uh that those properties are that is a subdivision off of bua Vista Drive yeah if you're aware of that uh that created the marvista island uh which is the marvesta specific plan that we're proposing tonight that's the 148 Acres 188 Parcels so lafco does not allow for island or County Islands to be created uh within jurisdictions so when the ston mark annexation was brought into the city city jurisdiction that created the marvista Island area and so that area had to be annexed to the city which also kicked off the annexation so the annexation for ston Mark um it had to be part of the knowledge that there would be an island Creation with the approval of that annexation correct I I would assume so but I'm not entirely sure as to when that came in it could have been for

sewer connection uh to connect to sewer they have to Annex to the city got it so if the county did not permit that subdivision for all those lots to be on septic and said no you have to connect to sewer my assumption would be that they would have had to Annex to the city regardless to connect to the sewer system for the city of Vista thank you for that rafie um it's amazing how much septic consumer can can cause so many things to be triggered um the another question I have is um to the speaker who spoke about the district it being maybe made into a district these are all after the fact you could still doesn't have to happen now it can happen later if that's if it's an idea that that you really like um and the other thing was the property tax revenue ston Mark is is leasing I don't think they're selling so I I don't I'm sure property tax revenue comes them in some way form or the other but it's not entirely um it's not for sale so the property tax and uh is is going to come in the form of rental revenue or or however that works tax in another way um and that's it that's all I have to say on that other questions from the commission seeing none we'll entertain a motion commissioner de Jesus I'd like to before I make the motion I'd like to say that it's refreshing to have an item even if it's contentious on here that has nothing to do with the state because the state of California has so much pressure on us to be able to to make these decisions we actually are sitting here as a body listening to yall and listening to staff over something that's really pertains to Vista so that's it's

refreshing um to that end I think the specific plann is Broad enough to um the that's looking to incorporate the existing zoning of the county um and adopting that um as with anything uh in local government these days the state can make rules and allow developers certain rights that the city has no jurisdiction over I don't see any of that in here uh I don't see any state influence um I see the city doing a great job trying to figure out how to you know meet the marvesta specific plan and to that end I'm going to make a motion to adopt resolution 2025 recommending city council approval of a negative declaration for the Marvis to specific plan and adopt the resolution recommending city council approval of the Marvis to specific plan with a general plan Amendment amending figure lucy-chan from A1 agricultural to SPI specific plan implementation for the Marvis specific plan area Okay uh commissioner um Martin yeah I'll second that motion okay we have a motion in a second on the floor please cast your votes and lock in did everybody lock in their votes can we do a hand vote please

sure all in favor please raise your hand and it passes unanimously okay the second item tonight um is an amendment to the sign ordinance um so in a into specific plan 14 uh could we have a staff report please good evening chair grim and members of the Planning Commission I'm not sure if the audience would want to stay for this so I don't know if you want to kind of highlight what's going to happen next because they may choose to exit so we'll just give it a second sure can you hear me okay yeah okay cool okay good evening chair grim and members of the Planning Commission so this is is an update to the sign code and a wayfinding sign program that was um the result of direction from the city council so for history in December of 2016 the city council updated the sign ordinance by adopting ordinance number 2010-16 which was a comprehensive update to chapter 18.52% to regulate signs on private property Citywide and since that time there's been six tweaks um resulting in amendments to the sign ordinance more recently in November of

last year the city council discussed an agenda item that council member odonnell requested the city manager place on the agenda which included a proposal from a Community member for a maximum of up to four portable A-frame signs for retail businesses in the Vista business park specifically plan and specific plan number 14 areas and that item was discussed it included a presentation from bertek Vineyards by Connor medley there were three public speakers in support and there was an additional fourth public speaker who also supported but further stated that they would like to have any sign ordinance updates be Equitable to all businesses not just retail businesses as a result of the city council discussion the council directed staff to to work on a sign code update to present to the Planning Commission that would allow up to a maximum of two temporary A-frame signs on private property per business in the Vista business park specific plan and specific plan 14 areas they also requested that staff work on a concept for way finding signage and report that to the Planning Commission who could then provide input back to the city council and that motion carried unanimously So based on the city council Direction staff has been working on these updates since that time and currently the Vista development code chapter 18.52% to the ground or to a building and handheld signs are not within this definition and there's actually a little exhibit in our sign ordinance that

demonstrates an A-frame type sign that's technically a portable sign this is a red line of the changes to the table that's proposed and so it's essentially keeping what is currently allowed for A-frame signs reportable signs in the downtown the proposed updates are highlighted here so really the only update to the table that was just presented is for portable signs um to still allow portable signs on private property but within now the Vista business park specific plan and specific plan number 14 areas and in these areas establishments could then obtain a permit to display up to a maximum of two portable signs specifically must be placed on private property and it must be outside of the public RightWay immediately in front of the advertised establish ment the signs should only be displayed during regular business hours and then put back away and in these areas there are some multi-tenant properties these types of properties can obtain a comprehensive sign program permit which would allow for a maximum of one portable sign for each establishment with the review and approval of a comprehensive sign program so that's also written into the code update so the existing sign requirements that currently allow establishments to use A-frame signs in downtown Vista where they can be placed on public city property that is not changing at all this is an exhibit that shows the Vista business park specific plan so now this proposed update would apply to all properties within the Vista business park specific plan and this is an exhibit of specific plan number 14 and again the A-frame signs would also be allowed at all the establishments within this specific plan plan also so at the direction of city council

staff also worked with our economic development director Larry Vel for a concept for permanent way finding signs to direct people to tasting rooms throughout the city not just in the business Parks but throughout the city Citywide and I'm going to outline the concept so our economic development manager will prepare an RFP with the intent to hire a wayfinding sign contract contractor once they enter into a contract agreement the agreement will include Community engagement so that we can get input from the community for the establishment of an official way wayfinding sign program and this area historically has been known as vista's hop highway but it's intended to provide wave finding signs for vista's tasting rooms and it would be applicable again Citywide for all of the city's adult beverage tasting rooms and the contractor that's hired would identify the location of clusters of tasting rooms and figure out the best uh appropriate locations for wave finding signs so this is intended to be an economic development tool and it's very important that as a result of using City funds the way finding signs cannot identify individual businesses we're not going to use this to create Billboards to identify businesses and since it's taxpayer funded for a public benefit it's intended for providing enhanced safety for travelers with visual cues of way finding street signs that would provide guidance to locations and this way finding signs really an economic development initiative that's intended to bring greater awareness to the city's general areas of our local tasting rooms and it's intended to provide more opportunities for adult beverage and craft Boutique business visits which we think would enhance tourism and create more of Vista being a destination Community for tourists

so the signs are to identify tasting rooms only and it will include tasting rooms and it'll address all types of adult beverages in Vista which we currently have wineries we have distilleries of course our craft breweries but we also have meeries um some craft seltzers and some craft kombucha Brewers as well so the economic development team in collaboration with Community Development will work with the contractor to update a map of the current locations of all these types of businesses with the appropriate sign locations and one of the concept includes having a map prepared for the city's website and possibly an app that would show the tasting rooms by typology so for instance wine would have a little um emoji of a wine glass so we want to highlight how our existing General plan policies accommodate and allow for this enhancement to the sign code and the establishment of a wayf finding sign concept so first with the proposed sign ordinance amendments to allow temporary signs in our Vista business perk specific plan and an sp14 um and also in regards to the wave finding sign concept there's several policies in our land use and Community identity element of the general plan first is 1.1 that requires the application of our design guidelines which also address signage when reviewing and approving new development and Redevelopment 7.1 encourages staff to maintain sufficient flexibility in the types of uses allowed in commercially and industrially designated areas to address changes in our market conditions to encourage competition provided that this is environmentally safe and will not have adverse impacts on surrounding properties and businesses 7.2 um is to promote regionally oriented commercial

development along State Route 7 8 Corridor to serve the traveling public and provide freeway oriented uses where direct access is available policy 7.4 is to promote Vista as a desirable place to do business and ensuring that it has positive image and identity quality development and attractive Street Scapes and gateways and policy 7.5 is to continuously evaluate zoning standards and modify them when appropriate to remain responsive to changes in our current market conditions and employment trends so with that staff highlights that the code amendments are exempt pursuant to squa and staff requests that the commission adopt a resolution to recommend approval by the city council of an ordinance to amend the sign code chapter 18.52% recommendations to the city council based on your analysis of the way finding sign plan concept and implementation measures and that be done by minute action and following planning commission's um analysis and recommendations tonight we have anticipated this to be presented to the city council in April and that concludes my presentation I'm available for questions very good thank you Mr vodka questions from the Planning Commission uh commissioner Savage okay commissioner De Jesus is there any idea of the um a budget for that way finding RFP no there's not we don't think it'll be exorbitant we think it'll be reasonable thanks and that's based on our experience with the way finding signs that we have for

downtown commissioner Martin thank you um um so when this went to council last November and bertek Vineyards made the presentation to them um they proposed having four of these portable signs two on-site and then two off premise and off- premise signs aren't allowed anywhere in the city and so is that in order to kind of help them with that is that what's leading towards this wayfinding sign concept yes you hit the nail on the head that's right it works in tandem so the way finding signs throughout the city will direct people that choose to patronize tasting rooms to the local tasting room areas um so they'll be finding the actual businesses through the wave finding sign program and then we're creating an opportunity for businesses to then have on-site signs on their private property um on an A-frame sign that could indicate specials or um retail sales opportunities or tasting events that would be more tailored to the actual business or the uh establishment so then once that wayf finding sign program is developed and it's ready to roll out um I don't see where those are permitted signs in the sign ordinance so would that be another sign ordinance Amendment and come back to us no they're actually there's exceptions for public street signs that are not required to conform to the sign regulations the sign regulations address private property but these would be in the public right away okay commissioner Savage yeah forgive me if I'm just missing it but is there um other than not prohibiting the removable lettering is there anything for the type of material the A-frame needs to be made out of um to get the permit approved no typically they use plastic

nowadays for the A-frame signs and in some instances they'll um apply like a chalk board and use chalk but no it's there's nothing in regards to actual material it just can't be an illuminated sign right also um it'd be remiss for me not to indicate that we received a letter in support from the Vista Chamber of Commerce from the chief executive officer Rachel beld and the letter expresses support for the sign ordinance Amendment and it expresses support for the way finding sign concept that was presented in the Agenda Report very good if there's no questions uh we will open the public hearing I have two speaker slips first Speaker would be Jim Ellis good evening members of the City Planning Commission my name is Jim valis I represent Berk Family Vineyard um really I just have a brief statement I want to say I appreciate the opportunity to speak again on this issue that is vital to the success of small businesses in our community signage for our Winery both temporary and permanent signage is not just helpful it's an essential unlike storefronts on Main Streets that benefit from high visibility and foot traffic businesses in the business park are often set on often set back from main roads making them difficult to fine without clear and effective signage potential customers may not even know we exist every day thousands of cars travel along Sycamore between Melrose and 78 each one represents potential new customers we want them to stop at our Winery we want to talk to them about our wines and hear our story but if they don't know over there um they simply simply just drive by and we lose them to neighboring cities like San Marcos Oceanside carlbad and also um well surrounding neighborhoods so it's not just a loss for us it's also a loss of revenue for the

city um we've been working on this for over a year now and I just want to take this opportunity to thank the city um we sincerely appreciate you listening to the needs of small businesses our Winer uh and businesses within the business park um I'm encouraged to see that temporary and way finding signage is close to becoming a reality your support makes really makes a difference for small businesses and we appreciate your continue efforts to help help succeed um and I also want to thank uh that a great presentation appreciate that and um just as a side note just timing on the way finding science if you can address that that would be great uh we lose business every day uh we're so far back that people in sycore can't even see our building so we rely on signage and with something that's what um we're proposing we really make a difference for our business so with that thank you make sure to visit our Winery thank you very much uh the other speaker slip I have for this item is James bis that's me welcome back oh oh I've got two one that one at same J anyway that's all right any other speakers please come forward if not uh we turn it back to the Planning Commission for discussion seeing no oh I'm sorry commissioner Martin you're looking for input into the wayfinding concept and and actually I don't have any comments related to the proposal for the sign ordinance Amendment fine with that um so once the uh wayf finding concept uh goes into

development clearly some of the things that would be necessary would be a limit on the number of these signs as well as an identification of the locations you know where they would be um permissible or or proposed um and then I just have one other um I guess piece of input um a suggestion not really ask looking to provide Direction but um my question on the wayfinding is uh so we're looking at doing these kinds of emojis and because it's a taxpayer funded uh public benefit and they can't identify individual businesses um but I know when I'm looking for someplace I want to I want to see what the name of it is and so I'm wondering does it have to be a government funded program could we just put it out to the private sector and have an RFP for signed contractors to essentially propose um and develop and build maintain and Lease space on sign kiosks that could then actually have the names of uh these these companies that are providing these these services um that way it's all just private Enterprise no government funds and maybe we could get um a better way of identifying these businesses that are in our community just an idea so it's a good idea and it's a good question and we actually looked into that as well and so there used to be a Brewers Guild specific to Vista that's disbanded and we looked at other communities like tamula for instance where they actually ident identify the wineries and the wineries Co-op to handle that manage that um and so we don't have a structure in place in Vista to manage it um we also had ladder signs historically that were approved and part

of the management and oversight of the business um industry Association and over time they failed to maintain those and they were kind of in disrepair and there was actually one on Melrose a few months ago one of the last ones that we removed and so while if the city does it we cannot necessarily advertise businesses we could put Winery tasting room or we could put Craft brewery tasting room and the Emoji is just an additional little idea of typology but we would definitely say like Winery tasting room or tasting room but we wouldn't use a specific business and we wanted to go down the route of having Private Industry take this on and manage it but there's no want to do that right now so um in light of not having someone to kind of take the lead on that we've actually stepped up and this uh history on this precedes me because I guess this has been a concept in the economic development and Community Development offices for many years it just hasn't really built traction okay commissioner De Jesus I have a couple of comments first of all I applaud staff for coming up with this is I think the way finding uh is is brilliant because I didn't even know it a you know that we had a metery you know and seeing a sign that just that says wineries meeries you know kombucha whatever the case is the aha moment could be for the person that's coming there for a glass of wine that doesn't know we have other things it doesn't have to be site specific and the other so I I fully support that um the other thing as a real estate broker when I have a listing and I have an open house I put signs out but first I put it on the on the MLS which goes onto the internet and the reason I say that is when it's on the internet then somebody can put it in their GPS and they go to

my open house but other agents whose homes might not be of interest to the person coming to my open house sees a sign of their of another house that's open so signage is important you know it helps competition you I have an open house you have an open house I didn't know that one was open so my point is is that signage is important even if it's if it's specific when people are trying to find you and they plug in your address uh in their GPS they're going to find you and the signage is helpful but um your competitor out there with a sign is also going to get some business because they're going to see their sign as well so I'm all for the signage um small business I have two of them if I can get if I can get in front of people any way that I can get in front of them or direct them to my business I I fully support that and thank you to staff for putting this together very good commissioner Savage this is not gonna be the easiest one because I'm just doing a hypothetical here but um I just want to understand more clearly um the Twisted horn I know is one of the businesses that spoke in favor and I know they're two buildings back from Sycamore as we were discussing as we were discussing what James brought up is that traffic on symore being aware of the business um in that that context would the Twisted horn be able to have a sign on the other side of another building towards the main thoroughfare or it does need to stay closer to their business it needs to be on their property immediately in front of their business but that's where the wave finding sign would be out on the corner saying metery down the street then you go down the street then you could see they could have a regular business sign on the building and then they could have an A-frame in front of their business on their private property as well or up to two a frames yeah oh great that was I was just making sure that so yeah so

they work together in tandem right great thank you and also to address that part of the goal here is to avoid a proliferation of A-frame signs everywhere we don't think that the majority of the businesses in these business parks are going to use A-frames but keep in mind that if they do it'd be two per establishment if it's a multi-tenant center they'd have to do a sign program and they'd be limited to one per establishment and again it's on private property it can't be out on the public right away commissioner De Jesus I need to make sure that I go back and say that I my perception and my analogy of the real estate sign is that you guys put it out on every corner and this is I'm I'm hearing now and it makes sense that it's in front of your your business um which is helpful in the business district it's it looks like a lot of commercial um buildings we don't really know is there a restaurant in there you I love the maze that is the business park you can find all sorts of things in there that are retail and um uh breweries and wineries it's fantastic so I I I still stand support of it whether it's on your property or or if it wasn't very good um I actually had a couple comments on this um when I first read it two things kind kind of came to mind first you know small businesses are the back backbone of America so you want to make sure that they all have a a great opportunity to be able to be seen and uh to have people come visit their their locations the second thing that I thought about as I went through it the first time was what about Pro proliferation and uh one of the first things I had to do as a planner was I had to do sign of batement as a as an intern and it was U it was not a real fun thing to do and um you know basic basically once you give a

sign out it's really hard to take that back when you allow a certain number of signs so I I talked to Mr Mr vak at length and um as I went through this I thought there was a a number of things that really I think help to make it work and and Mr vaka kind of covered these but I'll just mention them real quick um number one um they have to be on private property and so um that keeps them off the street where that's where prol eration normally normally occurs and then the other thing was that they have to be used during business hours um and then taken in so I thought those were both uh things uh that would really make make this work and so I will be supportive of it but I was as I told you worried about the proliferation aspect of it any other comments if not I'd be open to a motion commission Jesus I'd like to make make the motion to adopt resolution 2025 recommending city council approval of an ordinance amending the Vista development code 18.52% the way wayfinding sign concept do I have a second commissioner Savage I'll second very good we have a motion in a second you'd cast your votes please do we um need to do this by hand I was trying to give it another chance but it doesn't appear it's working so can I have a hand vote please

okay all those in favor and we have a unanimous vote thank you very much for the staff report greatly appreciate it okay final items uh reports from the Planning Commission I just had one I just uh maybe um if you remember a year ago I said I only wanted to serve as chairman one year and wanted to make sure other people got an opportunity um I would hope that Planning Commission excuse me that staff would would set that on the agenda and for the next uh meeting if possible come on do one more okay uh comments uh from the community development director assistant director or the assistant City attorney no I just want to thank the commission uh was kind of a heavy agenda the marvista spefic pafic plan a pretty hefty document so we appreciate you all reviewing that and then for all your consideration of the sign ordinance update and wave finding concept I'm grateful for that thank you and I also want to thank commissioner John Savage for all his hard work over his last tenure here and also commissioner Don Looney even though he's not here I want to thank them for their service very good um with that we are chairman GRE I have a few items that I'd like to go over if I could please um same as our director vodka I wanted to also thank uh commissioner Savage for the years of dedication being on the commission thank you very much and commissioner Looney as well who's actually uh vacationing in Peru so he should be climbing much Peach as understand at this point uh but he actually also wrote a note uh to the commission that he would like for me to

read to you so uh the note basically reads uh Commissioners since I'm out of town this week I have asked py to read this in my absence I want to take this opportunity this evening to express my appreciation to have worked with each of you over these past several years we have seen Commissioners come and go and it's always a Bittersweet experience when it happens we have an important responsibility to our city and I trust that as new Commissioners come in Miss jolif and Miss Thompson that you would welcome and encourage them to humbly serve our city as you have and will continue to do Charlie thank you for being chair this past year and for leading Us in the way you have and may you continue to step out and serving others Lisa you've got a sharp mind and it's exciting to see how you used it here and have plans to use it for the benefit of others in the coming months Beth who have a quiet you have a quiet Spirit about you and heart of compassion for the city keep that alive clay I appreciate you sitting on the commission and I would encourage you to express your insights on future projects there's wisdom and insight inside that we need to hear Johnny you have the ability to see the big picture as well as the details use that to the best of your ability in future positions bill there's a lot of experience inside that I hope will be expressed over the next few years while being on the commission and I know you will stay the course to each of the planning staff members thank you and I'll miss you seeing you twice a month but we'll look forward working with you on my projects in future weeks thanks again for the opportunity to have served under your leadership Don Looney so I just wanted to read this

very long note I I told Don can you give us the read or digest version but so thank you very very much on behalf of commissioner Don Looney um I also wanted to take the opportunity to uh recognize uh rafy mangasarian our associate planner who presented tonight uh unfortunately for us uh Rafi will be leaving city of Vista he accepted a position as senior planner with the city of insanas and we are sad to see Rafi go um but there you have it congratulations rafie and we'll definitely miss rafie I I remember hiring rafie as an assistant planner and promoter to associate so we'll definitely miss you rafy good job and I wish you best of luck with insanas and you know we'll be in touch I'm sure and I also wanted to recognize uh Z Moralo Romero who's here tonight also uh has helped me and I hired esmaralda to to help us with the commission had done a great job uh but esmaralda also accepted a position with the housing division so she's still with the city she has not leaving the city uh and the housing division so congratulations ismeralda [Applause] and let's see boy I never don't think I have had that many items in one night but bear with me uh tomorrow night is the joint dinner uh the council Planning Commission so I hope you all have RSV peed for the dinner so I hope to see you tomorrow night uh and meeting with the council and our joint dinner every year I'll be giving out a report of last year's activities and last but not least uh looks like we're going to have a meeting on April 15th a couple of items that night and chairman Grim will definitely put uh as you requested the election of the chair and the vice chair that night appreciate that sure and and that is it thank you so much okay we're adjourned wait can I say one thing no too late yeah um sorry I'm kind of new

to all the politics stuff and uh I'm an estimator so we kind of just say what we you know think and uh we just uh look at the details and I forget to do these things but everyone here has been so amazing you guys are such hard workers um Amanda your Clarity has been fantastic SE I just I just want to thank you all I don't have anything as well prepared as Dawn um because of uh who I am but I appreciate you all thank you all so much this has been a great experience thank [Applause] [Music] you okay we are now a Jed h