Joint Adjourned City Council & Planning Commission Meeting

CITY OF LOS BANOS ADJOURNED JOINT CITY COUNCIL/ PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES APRIL 27, 2021 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 Faria called the Adjourned Joint City Council/Planning Commission Meeting to order at the hour of 5:31 p.m. CALL TO ORDER – PLANNING COMMISSION: Planning Commission Chairperson Cates called the Adjourned Joint City Council/Planning Commission Meeting to order at the hour of 5:31 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: The pledge of allegiance was led by Acting City Manager Gary Brizzee. ROLL CALL – MEMBERS OF THE CITY COUNCIL PRESENT: Mayor Tom Faria and City Council Members Brett Jones, Kenneth Lambert, Deborah Lewis, and Refugio Llamas. ROLL CALL – MEMBERS OF THE PLANNING COMMISSION PRESENT: Planning Commission Chairperson John Cates and Commissioners Chris Perrecone, Elias Reyes, Rob Robinson, and Katherine Uhley. STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Acting City Manager Gary Brizzee, Community & Economic Development Director Stacy Elms, Planning Technician/Planning Commission Secretary Sandra Benetti, Associate Planner Rudy Luquin, and City Attorney William A. Vaughn. CONSIDERATION OF APPROVAL OF AGENDA – CITY COUNCIL: Motion by Lewis, seconded by Llamas to approve the agenda as submitted. The motion carried by the following roll call vote: AYES: Jones, Lambert, Lewis, Llamas, Faria; NOES: None; ABSENT: None. CONSIDERATION OF APPROVAL OF AGENDA – PLANNING COMMISSION: Motion by Uhley, seconded by Robinson to approve the agenda as submitted. The motion carried by the following roll call vote: AYES: Cates, Perrecone, Reyes, Robinson, Uhley; NOES: None; ABSENT: None. 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. Mayor Faria opened the public forum. Planning Commission Secretary Benetti confirmed that no comment emails were received. Mayor Faria closed the public forum. CONDUCT A JOINT WORKSHOP REGARDING THE GENERAL PLAN LAND USE ELEMENT AND BUSINESS PARK MASTER PLAN. Community & Economic Development Director Elms gave a brief overview and introduced the consultants present. Joanna Jansen and Cliff Lau with PlaceWorks and Matt Kowta with Bay Area Economics were present on the call on behalf of the City’s consultants. Ms. Jansen facilitated the workshop topic regarding the General Plan Land Use Element, which included a PowerPoint presentation, and noted the proposed revisions to the General Plan Land Use Map. There was discussion among Planning Commission and consultants regarding a Pacheco Pioneer Complete Streets Plan community meeting in which a participant had expressed that it was essential to get truck traffic off Pacheco Blvd. and on to Pioneer Rd., and that plan has since been adopted by the City Council so the map being discussed this evening is now in conformance with that plan. Community & Economic Development Director Elms commented that Pioneer Rd. will be an arterial and is intended to get traffic moving east to west, staff does recognize it won’t be a bypass, the intention isn’t to force traffic as a truck route, and staff is now proposing revisions for consistency and accuracy. There was discussion among Council Members and Planning Commissioners regarding the need to have an east to west route on the northside of town as well. Community & Economic Development Director Elms commented that the circulation element of General Plan would address that concern, as it is a high priority plan within General Plan circulation element. There was discussion among Council Members and consultants regarding environmental justice and how this is a concept that calls for all California neighborhoods to be safe and healthy from exposure to pollutions or contaminants, suggestion of moving the sphere of influence boundary north to Henry Miller Rd. to create and protect that greenbelt for the City. Ms. Jansen facilitated the workshop topic regarding the Business Park Master Plan, which included a PowerPoint presentation. There was discussion among Council Members, Planning Commissioners, and consultants regarding the need to leverage the ag-tech industry as we are heavily influenced by the Silicon Valley, branching out to more industries than just agriculture, there is tremendous growth in the Silicon Valley in the dot com industry, many workers pushed out to Los Banos so the workforce is here, and how important it is to consider other types of industry in addition to agriculture as we move forward, concern regarding starting from scratch with a new business park which would create significant upfront investment needs and would add to site costs for prospective tenants, and how the combination of increased distance and costs is a risk factor that the City would be exposed to by creating shovel ready sites at I-5 corridor. Community & Economic Development Director Elms commented that the City was not in the running for a location prior to Amazon locating in Patterson and Tracy, how staff met with an industrial developer after Amazon located in Patterson and Tracy and asked how to get something like that in Los Banos, most important takeaway was that it would have to pencil out for an industrial developer, staff won’t give up planning and will always look for those opportunities. Ms. Jansen stated that this discussion has been very fruitful and noted that existing big ideas carried forward in the General Plan include Airport relocation outside of the planning area, hospital relocation to west of Los Banos Creek, balance of housing with jobs in employment park/industrial/office designations on west side of city, integration of future school sites into new neighborhoods in coordination with Los Banos Unified School District, industrial designation on east side at State Route 152 and San Luis Canal, continue to plan for a future State Route 152 bypass north of town (no new structures in bypass designation), continue to allow existing farming as a permitted use, and asked for City Council and Planning Commission feedback. There was discussion among Planning Commissioners regarding the relocation of the airport and hospital. Community & Economic Development Director Elms commented that the airport relocation is being proposed outside of the planning area, how staff doesn’t want the airport to continue to be in the way of City’s progress and growth, would need to plan for that outside of the planning area so it’s not depicted on the map, this would be southwest of City’s planning area near I-5 in area where there isn’t prime ag land, and commented that the hospital would be located near Merced College in the blue area. There was discussion among Council Members and Planning Commissioners regarding the future bypass on the north side and the need for the addition of a frontage road similar to Pioneer Rd. to direct traffic around town. Community & Economic Development Director Elms commented that there is a plan for a frontage road for local traffic on the existing map and that concept is being carried forward, the restriction of no new structures is due to comments brought up by the Merced County Farm Bureau at a stakeholders meeting, and how farming the land wouldn’t be an issue but building a barn would be counterintuitive so no new building structures would be permitted. There was discussion among Council Members and consultants regarding potential changes to urban growth boundary line and sphere of influence which were addressed at a previous City Council meeting, how that meeting triggered some comments and feedback received from stakeholders who were concerned about potential changes to those boundaries, staff and the consultants will a take careful look at this based on feedback from stakeholders and from the City Council and Planning Commission, will schedule to come back with a revised map that reflects the input that we’ve received for a subsequent discussion to follow up on those ideas and to make decisions regarding what boundaries the City would like to show in the draft general plan which is planned to be published this summer. There was discussion among Council Members and staff regarding a safe and accessible bike/pedestrian route to Merced College, how Measure V funding has been allocated for the Merced College Trail from Badger Flat Rd. to Merced College, how it’s in the design phase currently, and the next phase is construction. Ms. Jansen spoke of the next steps in regards to the include one on one stakeholder meetings in May 2021, City Council meeting to follow up on boundaries in June 2021, draft General Plan in summer 2021, draft EIR in summer 2021, public review period fall 2021, and adoption hearings in late 2021. Discussion item only; no action taken. ADJOURNMENT – PLANNING COMMISSION: Motion by Uhley, seconded by Robinson to adjourn the meeting was adjourned at the hour of 7:21 p.m. The motion carried by the following roll call vote: AYES: Cates, Perrecone, Reyes, Robinson, Uhley; NOES: None; ABSENT: None. ADJOURNMENT – CITY COUNCIL: Motion by Lambert, seconded by Llamas to adjourn meeting was adjourned at the hour of 7:22 p.m. The motion carried by the following roll call vote: AYES: Jones, Lambert, Lewis, Llamas, Faria; NOES: None; ABSENT: None. APPROVED: /s/ John Cates John Cates, Planning Commission Chairperson ATTEST: /s/ Sandra Benetti Sandra Benetti, Planning Commission Secretary