CALL TO ORDER:

 

Present:

 

 

Staff Present:

Commissioners BEEKMAN, DAVID, STEELMAN, HESLING and HENLEY

 

 

JENNIFER ALVES, Deputy City Attorney

JEANETTE FABELA, Planning & Building Assistant

ACTION:

Chair Beekman stated he would like to add an item to the agenda regarding a letter that was received from the Hughson Unified School District.  This letter was received after the agenda was posted and needs immediate action.  Commissioner Hesling made a motion to add this item to the agenda; a letter from the Hughson Unified School District which came in on the 14^th of December, prior to the Planning Commission Meeting and needs a response within 30 days.  Since the next Planning Commission meeting is set for January 15^th Commissioner Hesling made a motion to add it to this agenda.  Commissioner Steelman seconds the motion.  Chair Beekman stated he would like this item to be the third item of this agenda.       

HUGHSON UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT

ACTION:

Commissioner Steelman made a motion to approve the Planning Commission Minutes for November 20, 2007.  Commissioner Henley seconds the motion.

PC MINUTE 11/20/07

ACTION:

Planning and Building Assistant, Jeanette Fabela, goes over staff report.  Mrs. Fabela stated that staff recommends a few changes to the conditions in the resolution.  The first change is for condition number five; the city engineer would like the condition to read “Applicant shall agree to be annexed into City Assessment Districts.”  Mrs.  Fabela also stated that staff would like to add a condition that reads, “Applicant shall provide other public improvements as required by the City Standard Plans and City Engineer.”  Commissioner Steelman asked if the applicant had previously been informed of the changes to the conditions.  Mrs. Fabela stated, no, but the applicant and architect are here and available for questions.  Commissioner David asked the applicant if the old fuel pumps had already been removed.  Zeb Kahn, 3990 East Highway Merced, California, who is the applicant, stated that these fuel dispensers are becoming obsolete because the Air Pollution Control District passed a new ordinance requiring the installation of new pumps by 2009.  Commissioner David asked what will become of the old canopy.  Mr. Kahn stated it will stay there for shade and for a brightly lit parking area.  Commissioner Hesling stated his concerns with drainage issues.  Commissioner Steelman asked the applicant how he felt about the condition that will require him to put in curb and gutter.  Commissioner Hesling added that this can increase his budget quite a bit.  Commissioner Hesling suggested postponing this item to the next meeting to allow the applicant to do some research regarding what the total cost of his project will be now that new conditions have been added.  He also would like to add to the conditions that the existing canopy be removed.  Mrs. Fabela stated that the applicant would like to move forward without delays and one option the commission has is to approve the resolution tonight and allow the applicant to research the total cost for his project including the cost for the required conditions.  If the applicant has further concerns he can request this item be placed back on the agenda.  Commissioner Hesling made a motion to approve this item with the following conditions; that the applicant agree to be in the assessment district, that he shall comply with the public improvements per the Hughson Standards with regard to curb, gutter, sidewalk and pave out, and that the applicant also remove the old canopy.  Chair Beekman seconds the motion.        

DESIGN REVIEW 2330 SANTA FE AVE

ACTION:

Jennifer Alves, Deputy City Attorney, gave a brief background regarding this item.  Ms. Alves stated that one option the School District has, in order to expand the property zoned Open Space, is to get a Conditional Use Permit.  On the other property that is zoned Residential, Ms. Alves stated that they can’t get a Use Permit.  She stated that they would have to do an actual General Plan Amendment.  She suggested that if a General Plan Amendment is going to be done for one then you might as well do it all together instead of a Conditional Use Permit for one.  Commissioner Hesling stated that if a General Plan Amendment was done he would like to add a Public Facilities zone which would identify where that school could be placed.  Commissioner Steelman stated she had a concern that they are getting evasive answers from the School District.  Commissioner Henley stated that the proposed parcel is butting up to Samaritan and she has concerns about it.  Ms. Alves stated that when a General Plan Amendment is done noticing will go out and input from Samaritan will be important.  Commissioner David stated she would like to see that they do a new Facilities Master Plan.  Mrs. Fabela stated that staff had a concern with the restrooms they plan to put in; staff wants to make sure that there is the adequate sewer capacity.  She also stated that staff was concerned with the traffic impact.  Ms. Alves stated that a motion needs to be made directing legal staff to draft a letter for Chair Beekman to sign with all of the concerns discussed and to be sent prior to the 30 days.  Commissioner Hesling made this motion.  Commissioner Henley seconds the motion.    

HUSD LETTER

NO ACTION:

Mrs. Fabela goes over the staff report.  She stated that in the hand out titled “Table 1” it shows the average residential densities of city general plans in our vicinity. This table shows the housing density according to planned build out for RHNA numbers and illustrates that we have a lot of multi-family zoned areas in our city.  Commissioner Steelman stated that she would like to come up with a proposal, and bring it before the commissioners, where they have a design contest with incentives for builders to come in with the most attractive high density low income housing possible.  Commissioner Hesling did not like option 4 for the 2008 allocation methodology.  Commissioner Steelman asked if they would like option 1.   Commissioner Hesling stated it would probably be the best option they could deal with based on percentages.    

DRAFT RHNA

NO ACTION:

Commissioner Hesling stated that he thinks that the Commission should look at doing a General Plan Amendment and rezone the Madsen project property and all of the property in that area to industrial.  He also stated that homes currently existing in the industrial area should be identified non-conforming uses.  Commissioner Steelman stated that she agreed, and that area should not be mixed use.  Mrs. Fabela stated that a parcel map was handed out that contains highlighted areas of the Madsen project area and surrounding properties which are currently zoned multi-family.  She stated that if these areas were to be rezoned to Industrial it would take away 108 units from our RHNA numbers and we wouldn’t be able to meet the numbers for R-3.  Mrs. Fabela stated that staff would like for a direction until those RHNA numbers are finalized.  Commissioner Hesling stated that they should look at the densities they could put on other properties such as the Manley and Summers properties and see if we can pick up the 108 units.  Ms. Alves suggested that they should put in a note to Director Thom Clark to see when those RHNA numbers will be finalized and what that means to their overall numbers; assuming they remove the residential zoning in the industrial area.    

GENERAL PLAN AMENDMENT

NO ACTION:

Commissioner Hesling stated this update is a report that has to be made on the General Plan which states where you are at, what you are doing and if the General Plan is meeting the goals and objectives.  Mrs. Alves stated that this report will be due from the Planning Commission to the City Council and needs to be sent to the State by April 1^st.  She stated it should probably come before the Planning Commission in February and to the City Council in March.  Mrs. Fabela stated that some of the items staff would like to address in this update are correcting the map, address new global warming regulations, and issues with the school.  Commissioner Steelman stated that if SP375 is passed then there is going to be requirements for green house gas emission measures; for which there is no current modeling.  She stated it requires the sustainable community plan to be in place.  Chair Beekman stated that he would like to see the year 2015, which is mentioned as the year we are suppose to develop our sphere, changed since this is not going to happen.  He also stated that there has been a lack of compliance in initiating the agriculture buffers and would like to see this being implemented.

GENERAL PLAN YEARLY UPDATE