Adjourned Joint City Council & Planning Commission Meeting

CITY OF LOS BANOS ADJOURNED JOINT CITY COUNCIL/ PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES JULY 25, 2018 ACTION MINUTES – These minutes are prepared to depict action taken for agenda items presented to the City Council and Planning Commission. For greater detail of this meeting refer to the electronic media (CD and/or audio) kept as a permanent record. CALL TO ORDER – CITY COUNCIL: Mayor Villalta called the Adjourned Joint City Council/Planning Commission Meeting to order at the hour of 6:03 p.m. CALL TO ORDER – PLANNING COMMISSION: Chairperson Cates called the Adjourned Joint City Council/Planning Commission Meeting to order at the hour of 6:03 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: The pledge of allegiance was led by Police Commander Reyna. ROLL CALL – MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL PRESENT: Mayor Mike Villalta and City Council Members Deborah Lewis and Scott Silveira; Tom Faria, Daronica Johnson-Santos absent. ROLL CALL – MEMBERS OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION PRESENT: Planning Commission Chairperson John Cates and Commissioners David Dees, Brett Jones, Erik Limon, Palmer McCoy, Tom Spada, and Susan Toscano. STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: City Manager Alex Terrazas; City Attorney William A. Vaughn; Police Commander Ray Reyna, Jr.; Community & Economic Development Director Elms; and Planning Technician Sandra Benetti. CONSIDERATION OF APPROVAL OF AGENDA – CITY COUNCIL: Motion by Silveira, seconded by Lewis to approve the agenda as submitted. The motion carried by the affirmative action of all City Council Members present; Faria (arrived at 6:06 p.m.) and Johnson-Santos absent. CONSIDERATION OF APPROVAL OF AGENDA – PLANNING COMMISSION: Motion by Spada, seconded by McCoy to approve the agenda as submitted. The motion carried by the affirmative action of all Planning Commissioners present. PUBLIC FORUM: MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC MAY ADDRESS THE CITY COUNCIL AND PLANNING COMMISSION ON ANY ITEM OF PUBLIC INTEREST THAT IS WITHIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL AND PLANNING COMMISSION; INCLUDING AGENDA AND NON-AGENDA ITEMS. NO ACTION WILL BE TAKEN ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS. SPEAKERS ARE LIMITED TO A FIVE (5) MINUTE PRESENTATION. Planning Commission Chairperson Cates opened the public forum. No one came forward to speak and the public forum was closed. JOINT STUDY SESSION TO DISCUSS PLANNING DESIGN FOR THE REVIEW OF NEW NEIGHBORHOODS. Council Member Faria arrived at 6:06 p.m. Joanna Jansen and Randy Jackson, PlaceWorks, facilitated the study session, which included a PowerPoint presentation. There was discussion among Council Members, Planning Commissioners, staff, and consultants regarding trends in comparison to state and national levels including population change, decrease of household income, single family detached homes being a majority of the type of homes in Los Banos, population aging, how non-family households are growing very rapidly, and how median household income has dropped. There was further discussion among Council Members, Planning Commissioners, staff, and consultants regarding older building industry paradigms versus newer building industry paradigms, understanding the market and building for it, building a more robust community by integrating several different types of neighborhoods, different house designs and floor plans, density and life-style driven site planning, multi-family options, how multi-family houses and downtowns do well when they are tied to each other, Los Banos being a bedroom community, the importance and necessity of the downtown revitalization plan and economic development strategic plan, how Clovis has done a great job integrating historical characteristics into residential development pulled from downtown, Tustin’s Mixed Use Village, and Chino’s Envisioning Chino: Implementing the 2015 General Plan which brings residential housing to the downtown, Mayor Villalta expressed interest in doing a joint City Council & Planning Commission meeting field trip to visit communities within 100 miles if PlaceWorks can facilitate that. Mr. Jackson confirmed PlaceWorks’ involvement and asked the City Council and Planning Commission to think of ways to incorporate policies to help their vision. Mayor Villalta stressed the importance of the Planning Commission and City Council to come together and visit these communities so they can design Los Banos the way they want to, the need to arrange a road trip in the near future to visit these communities, the need to review developments in the pipeline and talk to developers to see if they can be brought up to date, and encouraged everyone to look around town and keep staff informed of anything that needs to be taken care of or fixed for the betterment of Los Banos. Commissioner Spada spoke of his interest in having this kind of forum with Planning Commission and City Council to talk about economic development as well and how that is key to bringing the people and jobs to get our community to where we want it. Commissioner Limon inquired if there is a rail trail plan. City Manager Terrazas responded that the City does have a Rail Corridor Regulating Plan and how it’s worth looking at and revising. Mayor Villalta emphasized the need to schedule this tour and also meet together as one body more often. Commissioner Dees spoke of the Downtown Association holding an envisioning of downtown and how this group should look at that too. Community & Economic Development Director Elms stated that there will be a presentation to City Council on this Downtown Revitalization Plan on September 19th. Mayor Villalta invited the Planning Commission to attend the presentation to City Council on September 19th. Community & Economic Development Director Elms spoke of how the Economic Development Advisory Commission (EDAC) is working on the Economic Development Element of the General Plan. City Manager Terrazas commented that after EDAC does their part, we should have the Planning Commission and City Council have a look at it. Mayor Villalta spoke of how Greg Hostetler, local developer, pledged up to $1 million in matching funds for downtown revitalization at a downtown meeting and how it is important to move forward as one body. Council Member Lewis spoke of how the Downtown Association’s committee is also creating a color palette for downtown buildings and property owners to follow to maintain the uniform historical look and feel and to bring back the vibrancy of downtown. Commissioner Toscano stated that there is a need to work on the entrance to downtown and how having several tow trucks at that entrance does not help bring the ambiance that the downtown wants to provide. Discussion item only; no action taken. ADJOURNMENT – CITY COUNCIL: The meeting was adjourned at the hour of 7:51 p.m. ADJOURNMENT – PLANNING COMMISSION: The meeting was adjourned at the hour of 7:51 p.m. APPROVED: /s/ John Cates John Cates, Planning Commission Chairperson ATTEST: /s/ Sandra Benetti Sandra Benetti, Planning Technician