you I call the regular meeting of the Oakley Planning I'm here to thank you. Thank you. 630. I call the regular meeting of the Oakley Planning Commission is called the order. A roll call. Commissioner Marys. Here. Commissioner Craig. Here. I'm Commissioner Price. President. Chair Chico and Verdades are absent tonight. This time we'll rise in the pledge allegiance to the flag. Jimmy. At this time, public comments will be heard on any items not on the agenda. I do not have any speaker cards present to submit a public comment. Please complete a speaker card. It's located out in a lobby. The time limit to speak to the Edgesh, the items on the agenda is three minutes. The time limit is monitored by a timer located in the Front chair seat. When muted, one minute remains on the timer. It will beep once and the light will turn yellow and Reminder to complete the comments before your time. No comment? At this point, we there's no discussion, would someone like to make a motion to approve the consent calendar? A motion to approve the consent calendar. Second. All those in favour? Aye. Aye. Reports from staff members? Yes sir. Good evening. Commissioner's prize from Arizona and creek members of the community I have two announcements to make one is just a reminder that the November planning commission meeting will be held on November 19th The third Tuesday of the month rather than the normal first Tuesday of the month the fifth and that is to That is Because of election day, so we want to try to avoid any conflicts there with folks that may want to make in-person votes on that evening. The second announcement is to let the commission and the community know that as of this morning, MDRR set out an announcement for a community, residential community cleanup. It's a very popular benefit that they provide these citizens of Oakley and that is for a free drop-off for Oakley residents. That's usually about one pickup truck full and they do require that you register prior to visiting, you can register at mdrr.com, that's mdrr.com. The event will be held October 12th from 8 a.m. to 12 noon and the event will be located where it has been located in in current years, previous years, 5400 Neuroly Road. It's the large parcel on the South East corner of Neuroly Road and Main Street. There are some limitations to what can be brought to the facility and as an example of what may not be brought would be any sort of household hazardous waste, e-waste, batteries or construction debris. Their website contains more information. Thank you, and those are all the reports I have. Thank you. Is this time we removed reports from the commission members? I'll just add, I had a chance to go to Heart of Oakley. It was lovely. Very cool to see the grape smashing out there, celebrating our agricultural heritage. So great job to Park Simrac into the city. I have a report from the Transplant Committee. They had a presentation on State Route 239 and what State Route 239 is going to do is connect our highway four all the way over to I-5 and I-580. So what this is, it's in the planning stage right now. It's going to probably be 2028 before any construction starts. And it's going to be a long process because there's a lot of land acquisition that has to take place. But what it will do is when you get toward the VASCO road ties in there'll be a four lane highway that runs from there all the way over to make this connection so that we don't wind up with Evan and drive that Byron Highway and VASCO road all the way over to get over to the state routes. It's was planned by the Contracossa County Transit Authority and there is a real good presentation on their website if you're interested in looking at this. It's been going on for several years where it was approved in state legislature over 15 years ago and it's finally coming for for Rishan now so we look forward to having that happen. Also they're looking at adding bike lanes from Port Chicago Highway to Willow Pass. At this time, if you're going west on Highway 4 and you're riding a bicycle, you have to get on the freeway and ride from Port Chicago Highway to Willow Pass. So it'll be a connection there for that. So that's in one of those things if they did do any freeway expansions. At this time we will move to 7.1 work session. Staff will make a presentation please. Yes, thank you so much commissioners. Give me one moment to get that presentation loaded up thank you for your patience. All right. Thank you again for being so patient. My name is Evan Gorman. I'm Associate Planner for the City of Oakley. And tonight's our work session tonight is Cedarwood Estates, the preliminary general plan amendment application, PA03-24. First we want to lay the land and here tonight we're on the western side of the city, closer to some residential and the freeway. Now for a closer look at the project site, it is in that yellow outline. It is 14.41 acres in area. There you can see the corner of Live Oak Avenue and then Live Oak Avenue and then Neurali Road. And you'll see with the smaller yellow lines that the project site is at currently three parcels ranging in size from about four and a half acres to 5.2 acres. And then along the southern side of the northern parcels you'll see Knox Lane, a private lane that runs down the parcels. Here is a similar view, but with the zoning map. So over on the right-hand side, you'll see the commercial properties and you'll see the yellow are the smaller, lot more dense neighborhoods. Those are P1, those are planned unit development. So custom zoning to make these neighborhoods happen. Then this project site is kind of in the middle of a transition area. So it goes to, it's currently zoned R12, single family residential, 12,000 square feet minimum lot size. Then you have R15, so larger lots, single family residential, 15,000 square foot minimum lot size, and you have those two agricultural properties there along Knox Lane. And so here, just to give you an idea of the land use is going on at the moment. And so most of a lot of that land is developed with homes. And so we have the larger lots with homes on the southern side of this, I apologize, the lower side of this image and then the smaller lots on the upper side of this image. Now tonight we're looking at a work session request. Why a work session? A preliminary work session offers a chance for feedback and community involvement. Because this is a work session, city staff have not conducted a typical review of the conceptual plans. The goal is to get it to the commissions quickly for a lower expense than the actual general plan amendment so we can get feedback on it because as soon as you go into an application process, there's extensive studies involved. And so this is just getting preliminary feedback. Again, the purpose is to simply get feedback on whether there is support for the change in the potential density of residential development on this project site, so changing that density potential. For the specific request tonight, this item is a request to discuss the merits of a potential project to amend the General Plan Land use designation of the project site from residential very low, which it currently is now, to residential low medium, for the purposes of applying for the entitlements to subdivide the property for residential development. So it's changing the allowed density on these parcels. It isn't a specific project. And again, we're just getting feedback here. We're not approving anything or denying anything this evening. Oh, and then finally in the bottom left hand corner there you can see there it is illustrated the existing and the proposed. We do ask that when folks submit these applications that they provide us conceptual plan so you can get an idea of what that would look like. If we go back to this, the residential very low, which it is now, it allows a maximum density of 15 to 34 units on the project site. The proposed residential low medium density, sorry, general planned land use designation, allows for a density of 55 to 80 units on this project site. Here, the applicant has submitted a vesting tentative map as the conceptual plan. It has 60 lots. The plan shows those 60 lots ranging from between 6,100 square feet approximately 10,000 square feet. The conceptual plan includes three additional parcels which we typically see used as drainage facilities. The density of this plan is 4.16 dwelling units per gross acre and it is important to note that this plan is preliminary. Should they, one day, get approval for this general plan, Lanyush Amendment, they don't have to go with this plan. It's just their conceptual plan at this time. All right, with every application we like to provide a staff analysis where we can, we find that when evaluating amendments to the general plan's land use designations, it's important to conduct a comparative review of the land uses and designations of adjacent properties. As development progresses and land use— I apologize—when as development progresses and land use designations change to facilitate that development, we find that pressure can increase on nearby vacant properties to develop or request similar or higher density amendments. We find that it's important to consider the broader implications of such amendments on surrounding properties and their potential to set precedence for other areas. This would potentially leading to more amendment requests. Tonight again, this is only an advisory hearing. There is no process to approve a project because of this work session. The Planning Commission may act in an advisory role to the City Council. Staff is looking to include any Planning Commission consensus direction and minutes from this meeting to the City Council at a future work session that they'll hold. Finally, I'd like to leave you with this slide just for the discussion. Again, this shows the existing and proposed designations. I can answer any questions you may have, and I believe I have the applicant here tonight who is available for questions as well. Yep. And so, thanks for your time. I appreciate it, Commissioner. Any questions? I have more questions for the applicant just talking through the other plan but if we want to stick on this slide if anyone has questions on this slide. I just have a question of bigger I want to hear comments and questions and so on first I just have a bigger picture kind of question. Commissioner Ramirez you said you had a question on a particular slide. Yes so if we can go back to the slide that yes this one thank you. I'm curious just some questions. I think there's a tree line in the top eastern side of it of the project. There's a tree line if the applicant can discuss that, if the applicant's here. And then I was also curious about recreational park space and I know you mentioned drainage if that could be spoken through that be really helpful. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Thank you for letting me speak on this item. I would appreciate the presentation. My name is Louis Parsons. I'm with Discovery Builders. I'll specifically answer your question, Chair of Planning Commissioner Ramirez related to the tree line there are trees around the I guess that's the north and north east perimeter. I would I would assume those tree going through a process, a future entitlement process with the city and regrading that site. I presume most of those trees would be removed as part of that process but then there'd be sort of a mitigation plan for that replanting. I do know those are the eucalyptus trees with the best to deal with. And so I think through an overall development of that side, I would presume with the grading and development, those trees would be removed and there would be a mitigation tree re planting plan. And then as far as drainage those areas that are not allocated as numbered lots, the plan is to have our water quality basins that you have. So those aren't for public recreation. We have done things where we've been able to utilize those water basins and things and put sort of a passive use around them. With this preliminary plan, we haven't proposed doing a park dedication, but again, that would be some sort of back and forth process with staff if they wanted us to incorporate a park or pay fees or produce the combination of both. And then just sort of where we, how we got here, I, again, I think I've uncovered everything really well. We've looked at this, we've owned this land for a long time. But we did, we've actually done a lot of the development surrounding the property to the north and to the east. And when we looked at these pieces of land that we had, we were going, okay, well, what would bring this consistent with what we'd done historically? And so when we look at the land use designation that we've proposed and we fully understand that's city's discretion to approve or amend the general plan land use designation. We looked at doing a lotting plan that would be similar lot size wise and accommodate similar houses that you see to the north and to the east of the site. Then when we looked at our previous layout, we had the road going through. There's various constraints as far as infrastructure. And so we kind of retooled the circulation plan. We have an EVA going out to the east. We also, you know, if those other parcels, those three or four parcels are ever developed in the future, we were planning to just have a road stub to that so you could continue a development pattern. But yeah, I mean we were at a previously the very low density, you know, over the years it just hasn't made a lot of sense to us. Market-wise, we've looked at this, we've revisited a few time outlined in the staff report and you know at this juncture we're trying to, know we own the asset it's not optioned we own it completely and we're figuring out what we can do you know from a business planning standpoint so this is just a proposal to just you know gauge city input your input and then you know deciding what ultimately is the configuration that the city will allow in us, understanding that it is truly up to the city what they want to see, what density they want to see and how they want this developed. So this is again preliminary a concept we're showing. Our logic is to to continue a similar development pattern that you see surrounding the site to the north and to the east. But yeah, I'm here to answer any other questions and really appreciate Evan's thorough presentation and here to listen to the community, listen to the Planning Commission, and really appreciate this opportunity. What happened to the original plan that you'd submitted for 34 houses? It had that in Taliban expired. So why didn't you just re-up that one? economically. I have another question. Thank you for explaining the context around the area and around the site. I appreciate the kind of consistent, chikri drive kind of having these developments. It doesn't seem like it's designed in one in a silo. I'm curious if you could speak to the site sits on the Delta Danza Trail, which is a precious cultural resource here and it connects up to the Oakley Recreation on the canal, right? Oakley Recreation Center. And I'm curious if you've thought about access points or parks there or what that's looked like along that next to that trail. You know, we have, I mean, we know from our development, you know, considering we've done most of the development nearby, what a great attribute that is. And so we haven't looked at just sort of offsite connections or what sort of augmentation we could do, but that's certainly something we could consider and work with city staff on. If that's something, if there is some sort of project need or something to do to connect to that regional amenity, but we haven't gotten that far yet. I think just looking at activating that space and that trail could be an exciting project. I know I agree. All right. Thank you. All right, thank you At this time we have three individuals who requested to speak There is a three-minute time limit for speaking please come up to the front of the And at the microphone and push the button. I'm going to call on you by name. The first one is Shannon Lopez. Michael Tate. You need to push on. This is Michael Tase, I live at 21-23, Michelle Lane. I purchased my home in 2001 from Discovery Builders. At the time we purchased our home, we were told that the wall in front of the house in Michelle Lane would stay there and never be any houses in front of us. It would always be the back, so we did that there. So we bought the home. In 2009, they decided to set the other development with 34 or 35 homes in there. And we spoke with Jackie Sino, which was the owner of the property, and she's part of Discovery Builders, and she told us that that world would stay there, no matter what they did, it would stay there again. When Sino bought the property, actually before that there when the coal is on the property right there, the big white house knocked down. She acts as a city or the developer that she wanted 330 feet of center block wall on the shelf and 600 feet going east west, which would be behind Connie Court. All the e-clips trees are there also, they're heritage trees, so you can't just come knock down a tree. They tried that already and the city got a hold of them last time they were fine for it. But I'm totally against this development. The first one they did, 34, 35 homes, that was a nice development. They're big size homes. They're 15,000 square foot lots. And on Michelle Lane, my home and two other homes are 10,000 square foot lots. Our houses are 32 to 3,300 square feet, the entire area. There are some like us and their purchase by discovery builders. Every time we turn around, we've got to come back and set that house changes. We were here two years ago, I believe it was, when they extended that development, and now here we are again going through the end. In this big one, I've heard, well, since 2009, we've been on and on. I don't know what they want to do. I know what they want to do. I know what they want to do. They want to get more money. And 15,000 square foot lads, you could probably get a million two for their homes out there, at least that much. And it would be an upgraded city. So that's what I like to see. But my biggest concern is wall-right in Michelle Lane. It's been there for 20 years now. I believe it's just stay there. It's something the city owned, the city approved that wall twice already, and now they wanna come and take it down. And I totally against that there. And there's aisles and there's hawks and those euclubed trees also. I could bring you pictures. You guys wanna see that? I got one of my phone, my neighbor took it. And there is a pair of aisles in there, and there's hawks living in those trees also. So I'll look into that before they knock those trees down. So thank you very much for your time, and I hope you take that consideration. Julie Ferrells. Hi, good evening. My name is Julie Fieros. I live at 2401 Knox Lane. My husband and I own 2 1acre parcels on Knox Lane. As you can see by the thick binder, this project has been going on since 2007. So it's been hanging over our heads for 17 years now. That's when Cino purchased the property and proceeded to come in and they cut down 164 trees with no permit they were fined. Since the tentative map expired you can predict that they were going to come back and ask for higher density. They already have two years ago and that was denied by the City Council. Now they're coming in again to rezone and ask for higher density. Let's see. And they also want to double the amount of homes practically that they proposed the first time. They wanted 34 homes. Now they want 60. That's a very small road, nox lane. And I can't even imagine the type of traffic that that's going to create. Right now we have five homes on our street. Can you imagine 60 plus homes? It would be ridiculous. There is a market for larger lot homes. Look at narrowly estates. Those are half-acre parcels, and they are almost sold out. And those homes went for over a million point to dollars. So there is a market for larger lot homes. Let's see. We moved to our property to preserve a little bit of country and quiet, and that's since gone by the wayside with the building of the highway for bypass and the on-ramps. We've been able to wrap our heads around the 34 homes that they proposed. But now we have to turn around and wrap our heads around 60 houses. I was, why do the residents always have to compromise and never the developer? Therefore, I respectfully requesting that the zoning change requested by Discovery Builders be denied. Thank you. Thank you. I do not see more public comments that's forward. Yes, they're out in the hallway. We'll give you a couple minutes. you you you I'm going to go to the next page. I'm going to go to the next page. I'm going to go to the next page. I'm going to go to the next page. I'm going to go to the next page. I'm going to go to the next page. I'm going to go to the next page. I'm going to go to the next page. I'm going to go to the next page. I'm going to go to the next page. I just pushed it. Oh, that's on. Yes, I live. My name is Ron Paris. I live at 19 Laila Court. Then there for 15 years. We've been living with this project and its concept of 34 homes and support the 34 homes if that's what they plan on using that parcel for. We went through numerous workshops and working with Jackie Sino and staff to try to come up with a solution that made sense and matched the zoning that surrounded the property. We haven't really mentioned quail, quail Glen, which is right next to it, which is also a Discovery Builders project. In the zoning, I believe, is our similar zoning, quail Glen is R15. We had discussed that they were going to build something similar to that project that's on Quail Glen. The market is very good for larger homes like that. The best use of zoning I've always been told was when it matches the surrounding community. To put, if I'm not mistaken, I heard 60 to 80 homes on that parcel is what I heard tonight. I think that's what I heard in the planning here. 55 to 85 homes. I wrote it down so I wouldn't miss that. So I'm just kind of, I'm not against somebody that, you know, them to develop the property. I support that. There's some concerns about where it's going to drain, where they're going to stub the drainage for the property, where that infrastructure is going to come from. I have a view of Mount Avala at the back of my home. I'm concerned about that. We pay it a lot of money for the home for us at the time, and they sold that home for a lot of money for the home for us at the time and they sold that home for a lot of money on the next block over from this project. I back right up to this project. So appreciate your consideration. I support a smaller project. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, Mohammad Yad. Good evening. This is Mohamed Javed. I live on 41th and live oak avenue. That's a cornered lot of North Slean and live oak. And I do not spot building this many houses in that development. I can take those 34 lots that they had previously applied for and they were approved. I want to continue with that one but no more than that. And I strongly oppose that because it's going to change the whole traffic concept right there We have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. We have a lot of work to do. comments that were entered electronically those will be entered into the record to go before it to the City Council and I'll call on the commissioners and you have any comments on this project. Well the big concern I have is I'm not seeing how making a change to the general plan as it's presented to us in the existing would benefit the residents of Oakley. I'm not saying curious what I agree with the sentiment that kind of Oakley with our agricultural heritage, with our kind of open space energy to our here growing up here, I would play on the tire swing right next to, right behind on that trail. And I wonder how, because I know there is a vested interest in density, I know that some designs are looking at what do at ADUs or inlaw units in the back of homes look like. And so I wonder what larger lot sizes that are at that 30 range. What does that look like in home that, you know, we see density, but we also see larger lot sizes. Staff, do we have any comments to you that you'd like to summarize at this point? Yes, there were comments. You mean the comments we just heard commissioner price? The ones from the commission. Yes I was hearing a question of the benefit to the community and then a question on what lot sizes would be best for development. Yes thank you for the chance commissioner price. Since no further action is required by. At this meeting is adjourned.