[Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] for e [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] w [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] welcome to the city of Bakersville Planning Commission meeting this television broadcast is brought to you by the local cable companies the county of Kern and the City of Bakersfield you can watch the rebroadcast of this meeting Saturday at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday at 10:00 a.m. the agenda for this meeting can be downloaded at www. Bakersfield city. us priding over this evening's meeting chair Daniel ker good evening it's my pleasure to call to order the October 17th 2024 Planning Commission meeting Madam clerk would you please call the role here sorry Vice chair Strickland commissioner Bashir toos commissioner Biddle here commissioner core here commissioner Coman here commissioner Neil here Madame clerk next item please Pledge of Allegiance please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Al to the flag of the United States of America and to theic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you all for attending tonight's Planning Commission meeting this commission provides an opportunity for public participation in the development process throughout the city of Bakersfield the Planning Commission considers a wide variety of projects including subdivision Maps zone changes enal plan amendments and much more when applications are received the city planning division analyzes the request planning staff will present the facts about the project along with their recommendation to the to the commission who will approve an item or make a recommendation as appropriate Madame clerk next item please public statements please note public statements are now received at different times depending on the item I will call on Madam clerk to call for public statements at the approp apprpriate time so please listen carefully for the correct time to speak agenda item 3A public statements does anyone in the audience wish to address the commission regarding items listed on tonight's agenda please note if you are here for item 6A now is not the time to speak you will be given o an opportunity to speak at a later time non-agenda item 3B public statement does anyone in the audience wish to address the commission regarding items not listed on tonight's agenda if so please come forward and state your name seeing no speakers Madame clerk next item [Music] please agenda item four consent calendar items please note all matters listed under the consent items do not require a public hearing and will be enacted by a single motion there will be no separate discussion of set items unless staff or a commissioner request request specific items be discussed and or removed for separate action may I get a motion approving consent item 4 a I'll make a motion thank you commissioner bidd may I have a second I'll second it commissioner Coleman Commissioners please cast your votes motion passes with Vice chair Strickland and commissioner Bashir absent thank you Madame clerk next item please agenda item five consent public hearing items now is the time for consent public hearing items please note I was just asking the clerk to put up the other slide if she would the other slideshow presentation okay very good thank you if the item is not removed by commissioner staff or member of the public the commission will vote on all items in a single motion without further comment if an item is removed it will be placed at the end of the non-consent public hearing items so at this time I would like to open all of the consent public hearing items does any member of the public wish to remove a consent public hearing item seeing no members of the public does any commissioner or staff wish to remove a consent public hearing item seeing no staff or Commissioners at this time the consent public hearing item 5A is now closed may I get a motion to adopt staff's recommendation on the consent public hearing item um incorporating all staff memorandum and revised staff recommendations so moved yeah commissioner Neil and a second from commissioner kman sure all right Commissioners please cast your votes motion passes with Vice chair Strickland and commissioner Bashir toos absent thank you Madame clerk next item please oops agenda item six non-consent public hearing items now is the time for non consent public hearing items before we begin I would like to explain how the hearing will be conducted staff will first give a report then those in favor of the project will have an opportunity to speak those in opport those in opposition to the project will be able to speak after all of those in favor have spoken each side will be given a five minute total time to provide rebuttal comments individual speakers may ask questions during their statements but the questions will not be answered until the public hearing on that item is closed if preferred written comments may be given to the clerk who will provide copies to the commission please remember to be respectful of others participating in the hearing by not repeating the remarks of previous speakers and presenting any new comments or thoughts in a concise and clear way Mr Johnson would you please provide us your staff report yes thank you good evening Commissioners members of the audience this is a request for a conditional use permit to allow a CRV recycling facility within a cow cycle convenience Zone the project site is near the intersection of State routes 99 and 58 more specifically the location is at the northeast corner of Brundage Lane in Myrtle Street the recycling facility is located on a portion of a quarter acre parcel that is currently developed with a liquor store the facility will occupy approximately 750 square ft within the northern portion of the parcel and contain a 176t metal storage container outside this area an additional 100 ft will be used for a portable canopy and table for the reception of recycling materials generator will also be available on site operations are 7 days a week with one employee on site it will be open Monday through Saturday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and Sundays 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. provide background on this recycling operation Cal recycles certified the facility to operate in May 201 24 it is relevant to note that Cal recycle does not require any documentation from the local jurisdiction before certifying a facility in contrast the city always consults with Cal recycle to verify if a proposed facility is located in a cal recycle convenience Zone and I'll provide more information on that later in my presentation in June a conditional use permit application was submitted in August a complaint was filed with city code enforcement in that same month staff met with the operator and representative to get an update on submitting the requested documentation so a hearing could be set to consider the conditional use permit in September the facility ceased operating before 2019 recycling facilities only required a conditional use permit if it was located outside a convenience Zone it was permitted by right and could not be n and could not be denied if it was located within a convenience Zone due to frequent Community complaints with noise odor rodents Aesthetics City Council made a referral in March 2018 for staff to review the permitting of recycling centers proposed amendments were brought to your commission for consideration in September 2018 that would require a conditional use permit for recycling operations in all commercial zones if located within a convenient Zone additionally recycling facilities would continue to be allowed by right if located in an industrial Zone and and within a convenience Zone any recycling facility outside a convenience Zone would be prohibited this was considered by City Council in October 2018 at which time they mandated a conditional use permit in all industrial zones as well with the exception of the M3 or heavy industrial Zone where it would be prohibited no in November 2018 your commission reviewed the changes and city council had their second read and the changes took effect December 2018 The Zone classification alignment in this area is reflective of a time when handdrawn maps and digital Maps did not always sink as shown on the left screenshot the subject parcel is Zone C1 or neighborhood commercial which allows a recycling center with a conditional use permit however the parcel to the north is split zoned where a portion is Zone C1 and R1 or single family in comparison the general plan designation on the right aligns with the parcel lines where the zoning actually should be if the parcel to the North had requested a planning permit staff would have corrected this mapping layer to accurately reflect the zoning boundary however since this eror was not identified until the subject parcel submitted for a planning review staff will recognize that parcel has split zoning so therefore the northern the northern area of this subject site is zoned C1 I point this out for two reasons first if the Zone classification boundary was displayed accurately the recycling operation and metal storage container would not be allowed in the rear yard setback as currently proposed second your commission recently considered the Brundage Lane Focus area as part of as part of the land use Alternatives the preferred alternative was to change this parcel and others along Brundage Lane Corridor to a mixed use designation that designation would continue to allow for a recycling facility with the proper permits in other words if the recycling facility was approved tonight it would not create a conflict with the proposed mixed use designation when applying for a conditional use permit the municipal code requires that the application includes sufficient information to determine whether the proposed project is consistent with the general plan the zoning ordinance and meets the requirements of the California Environmental Quality act the municipal code also allows the planning director to require the submittal of any information necessary to ensure the project can be adequately evaluated for this project staff considered the proximity of sensitive receptors with a single family home approximately 35 ft to the north a fourplex 43 ft to the Northeast and a detached garage located 6 feet from the metal storage container only separated by 6' tall block wall although that is currently a garage the state allows for unimpeded conversion of detached garages to accessory dwelling units all things considered staff requested an odor analysis is and noise analysis to ensure consistency with zoning and environmental regulations when staff met with the op operator and the representative in August they declined to submit these analysis citing cost concerns they were advised that a favorable recommendation could not be provided because the project could not be adequately evaluated a refund of any remaining processing fees was offered if they wanted to withdraw their application they requested the project be set for consideration by the Planning Commission without this additional information the next few slides will describe the CRV program and uh the convenience Zone Bal recycle is the administrating Agency for the CRV program this program includes specific Provisions for supermarkets to provide recycling opportunities within a certain distance of where they sell recycling containers not every store that sells CRV containers is a supermarket a supermarket must have a gross annual sale of $2 million or more among other criteria you see listed there once identified as a supermarket cow recycle establishes a on mile radius known as a convenient Zone within this Zone the supermarket must either redeem CRV containers on site which is not typical for urban supermarkets for the same reasons that the city council had concerns with recycling operations or they can pay an inloop fee or a private recycler certified by Cal recycle can redeem CRV con containers Within in the convenience Zone which is primarily what we see is private recycling operations within the convenience zone for this project the Albertson on brage Lane is the supermarket that establishes the on M convenience Zone within this Zone there is already a recycling operation established on Union Avenue stop and recycle operation was permitted prior to the new ordinance taking effect when it was permitted in 2018 the convenience Zone radius was only a half Mile and the operation was serving the food max Supermarket on Union Avenue when Cal recycle increased the distance to 1 mile in 2023 the Stop and recycle now serves two convenience zones a benefit for recycling operations within a convenience zone are the cow recycle handling fees while only a subsidy and not to be considered an expectation the fee provides an incentive for the convenient Redemption of empty beverage containers only one operator can receive the handling fees and if a second operator opens within the same convenience Zone then no one receives handling fees the current rate Cal recycle pays is approximately $1 for every 86 containers which is an increase from last year where the handling fee was $1 for every 180 containers city council periodically revisits the topic of metal storage containers the last referral was in 2020 where it was determined that the current policy should remain that policy states that placement of metal storage containers except for emergency purposes or in conjunction with construction projects May negatively impact Aesthetics of neighborhoods in which they are placed or discourage investment in permanent improvements in such neighborhoods one of the 14 standards for metal storage containers is that they shall be screened so that they are not visible from public streets there was a memorandum distributed this past Monday bringing attention to how the applicant intends to screen the metal storage containers as shown in the top picture they will use a design similar to The Rot iron fence with screening panels that is currently installed across the street from the recycling center however they are only requesting to install at a height of 6 feet in keeping with the 6ft tall block wall on the property boundary the proposed 6ft screening for the 8ft container leaves two feet visible which is inconsistent with city code based on the approximate 2600t liquor store 13 parking spaces are required and currently provided however there are concerns about parking and site layout as the recycling operation May encroach into the liquor stores parking spaces creating potential safety and traffic issues existing recycling operations that are located in parking lots are typically situated in large commercial Lots not small parking lots with a depth of 37 ft adding the 10 foot X 10ft canopy and the typical creeping of operations into the open area as shown in the pictures of the other local recycling operations it's possible this would start to encroach into parking spaces for the liquor store patrons and possibly the northern access point onto Myrtle Street this is just a picture of the site as it was operating in August of this year two findings are required in order to Grant a conditional use permit the use must be deemed essential or desirable for public convenience or welfare and the use must align with the general plan in consideration of these findings staff took into account multiple aspects of the proposed operation although a second memorandum was prepared for this project transmitting correspondence both in support and opposition to this specific project as part of the comprehensive General Plan update planning staff and its consultant have done extensive public Outreach over the past 3 years regarding what the public believes the city is lacking and what the public wants to see more of in terms of different types of housing commercial uses and Industrial Development the request for more recycling facilities was never raised without the requested odor and noise analysis it is unknown whether there are any impacts on surrounding sensitive receptors or if the project could be designed in a certain way to reduce those potential impacts for example maybe a taller block wall would be necessary to reduce odor and noise there's a potential for negative aesthetic impacts with the mle storage container not concealed from the street view this impact could be further Amplified if the operation extends outside the designated recycling area the parking lot appears to be inadequately sized to support a recycling facility this could lead to internal traffic flow issues or even pedestrian safety concerns with mated curbside recycling this recycling facility may not complement the nearby residential uses more data is needed to determine if the surrounding homeowners and renters primarily use the curbside recycling option or if they gather their CRV containers and would take those two a nearby facility an unwanted side effect on curbside recycling days could be if individuals rumage through the bins looking for CRV containers and leave St leave trash strewn about before walking to the next bin looking for additional containers additionally there's already an existing recycling facility in this convenience Zone that would be impacted by losing their handling fees although a second facility on the opposite side of the convenience Zone which is where the proposed facility is located could benefit recycling efforts the location of the proposed facility facility cannot be supported at this time additionally city council has targeted concerns with recycling operations on surrounding neighborhoods when they revise the municipal code since that time city code enforcement stated there has been a downturn in the number of complaints however they still received calls for the same reasons that city council passed the ordinance most of the calls are associated with the select few habitual violators and recycling operations that open illegally without City approval a common theme is the attractive nuisance of recycling facilities in proximity with the ability to purchase single bottle alcohol sales it is staff's determination that the proposed operation has not demonstrated there will be no negative impacts or potential impacts that could be addressed through project design features or appropriate conditions that would allow the commission to make the recommended findings for approval therefore staff recommends denying the conditional use permit due to insufficient information and potential negative impacts before closing my presentation it is also important to note the applicant was abis of staff's recommendation and chose to have the request considered by your commission I once again and offer assistance from my planning staff to meet with the facility operator and try to identify a more suitable location with that I conclude my presentation and available if there are any questions thank you Mr Johnson the public hearing is now open is there anyone who wishes to speak in favor of the project if so please step to the microphone identify yourself and proceed and can we make it clear that in favor of the project means in favor of establishing a recycling facility and not in favor of staff's recommendation okay in favor of the recycling yes that is very important yep thank you for clarifying please state your name and proceed just like this I think I think so um good morning every oh sorry good afternoon everybody um sorry a long date um here okay I'll start over good evening MERS of the Planning Commission and uh planning uh staff um so my name is Elizabeth Hernandez I am the architect in the project helping Mr uh and Mrs Rivera uh with the uh facility and we are you know here to support it and we know that we've had a long um trial with actually different facilities um in brich area with uh the planning uh uh the planning uh staff and so basically this one um in in this scenario we feel that we have really extensively um tried to abide by everything that uh is per the zoning ordinance per um you know try to appease the planning uh directors and and the planning staff with all the requirements and you know we we knew that we were going into um basically a denial and that's because you know going back to the um requirement for a noise study and a um uh what is the the other noise and odor order study um we got a few quotes from a few companies and they basically do this for big you know commercial new shopping centers um it's a really extensive study it was going to be on the upwards of $20,000 which is you know this is a small little facility you saw it's you know a small operation and in in speaking with um the planning director and uh the planning staff they said that even if we provide this uh study that they would still deny it so it just seemed like it would be one a waste of money but two it's you know for for um for going forward if we had maybe gotten a different answer than we would have actually maybe sought out to do something else with it um and furthermore um the I want to address first the um zoning so this is a C1 Zone which allows uh a uh with a conditional use permit uh a recycling facility and it is unfortunate that there is a you know a slight error in the area lines of the property adjacent to it but regardless of that it would still be allowed in this Zone and we would still have to go through the same process um the only difference is that it would need to be 20 ft from the uh from the fence line it would still be able to go in the in the in this uh particular site so we really feel that that argument is really not substantiated um and if they did decide to convert this garage into a um a uh accessory dwelling unit this is all ifs ifs ifs and you know it's kind of taking away one uh one parcel's right by the if of another parcel so we really feel that that also is part of you know kind of a uh not a not a grounds for denial um another thing with the site accessibility is that this site has two actual entrances and so um it and it has parking if you if you go throughout the the day it's not a very heavily parked area um and so this the the location of our uh facility it's basically out of the you know out of the public eye it's on the corner it's has its own it doesn't have uh inter interfere with any parking so um also we feel that you know that is also not an actual grounds for denial um another another area is the the concern with the shopping carts and the homelessness and um we know that there was a a letter of uh uh of U asking for denial and the the idea that homelessness and drug addiction is you know this is a more societal problem this is not necessarily linked to recycling facilities it's it's a a little Hasty to say that wherever there is a recycling facility you're always going to have a a problem there are many other public areas that this happens throughout our city and this is more something that I feel the city needs to work with the social services to provide more programs for homelessness and for aiding in this this kind of um issues and so um I do want to say that our client um has been really good about addressing uh some of the concerns that might come up up because we have done this a few other times um through us trying to do this through a cup um basically um he put in and if you saw maybe in in the agenda that you have um he has a pest control uh um he has a contract with Western ex exterminator pest control for for them to come into the site and you know basically maintain it he has also done a parking lot maintenance um contract with somebody who comes and wash washes the parking lot um also he has contracted with a shopping uh somebody that's going to pick up the shopping carts if there are any and return them to the um to their respective facilities so basically you know he he has really tried to go up and above for whatever um is needed for a recycling center of um in in a community like this um and I mean for for now thank you for your time and if uh and I appreciate your your uh your recommendation to to to address this and pass this thank you are there any other members of the audience who wish to speak in favor of the project all right good evening um I don't have much to say but um you state your name before I'm sorry my name is adner Alejandro kuas rber and we're basically the developer and like I say I don't have much to say I just want to say that um we've been here before and I just follow your recommendations that you told me that day that the last one couldn't get approved because it was too close to the other place so what basically uh you guys told me that um that I have to go west to find a spot for a recycling place so I just want you to keep that um on mind if it's possible that um I just trying to follow your War you know and that's it thank you thank you are there any other um members of the audience who wish to speak in favor of the project if so um seeing no additional speakers um is there anyone who wishes to speak in opposition to the project if so please step to the microphone identify yourself and proceed and if there are multiple speakers you're welcome to sit in the front row behind the podium just to cue up uh please state your name and proceed my name is Larry Stevens I'm a 50-year resident down the street from this proposed recycling center uh retired School principal uh my thoughts of the item is basically what I've seen in the 50 years and I reside at 2731 Bank Street I'm at the corner as you come down Myrtle the traffic that I've seen just uh foot traffic uh cars parking uh anytime you go down to the liquor store it's you know pandemonium in terms of trying to park or trying for me to get out I usually go all the way down around Bank Street down a to the light to go West on town but uh my thoughts are we all have recycling bins those bins that I put out are gone through every morning about 5:00 a.m. by other folks trying to get the stuff out that I pay for so there are recycling bins that we use that should suffice but my other concern is just the floats them and jets some the homelessness the the the traffic that I've seen in 50 years is quite outlandish uh I had somebody coming out of my garage the other day had a fentel uh episode uh we had to call 911 to take care of her uh yesterday an 8-year-old boy was hit by a car down by Roosevelt School the traffic on bank and Myrtle on any given day is uh ridiculous but I think that in essence for the Planning Commission I agree with their denial of the permit uh I see what's happening in my neighborhood I love my neighborhood my neighbors but when I see the traffic that's coming through foot traffic home lessness the recycling center is not a real gift to the community that I live in and uh I've never spoken in front of a commission before as a speaker but I I appre I appreciate all you do for this city and uh I just want to voice my displeasure thank you so much thank you are there any other members of the audience wishing to speak um in opposition please state your name and pro my name's Keith Lawless uh I filed a complaint with the uh um oh boy code enforcement on this place originally because there were people leaving trash digging through my trash I own four properties that are within 300t of this property and I own commercial property on Brundage Lane this this neighborhood needs help we do not need more more of this type of business we have smoke shops massage parlors liquor stores bars uh 99 Cent Stores we do not need a recycling center these people are going through our trash spreading trash I am in full opposition of of this recycling center opening up at a liquor store that backs up to a residential neighborhood this is C1 zoning and I own C1 zoning on Brundage and they never allowed me to do anything like this and I I would appreciate it being denied thank you any other speakers in opposition please state your name and proceed my name is Joanna Reed I own cricklewood nursery on brundy Jane it would be a block from the recycling center we just in the short time that it's been shut down we have noticed a tremendous change in foot traffic any anything that we can do to keep our customers feeling more comfortable coming into my business I'm in favor of this would not help that this would add to the determine of people coming down into this area to shop at some place that is really a destination shop thank you thank you are there any other speakers in the audience or members of the audience wishing to speak in opposition seeing no additional speakers in opposition does does any commissioner have any questions for the public or staff on this item please uh remember this is time to ask questions and not not express [Music] [Music] opinions commissioner Coan thank you chair keer uh this question is for staff uh and you may have covered it I may have missed it what is the uh normal setback that we would require between that C1 zoning and the residential zoning 20 ft okay and um can you uh put up again what the uh what our what our findings need to be okay thank you I have no further questions thank you commissioner colan are there any other commissioner questions commissioner core um I have a question to the staff is this a standard that uh for any uh recycling facility that we request order or noise um study again each project is considered site specific um an example could be is we permit uh outpatient clinics uh sometimes with an exemption of squa some outpatient clinics we require an environmental impact report um as as you may be aware for various reasons so in this case due to the proximity of the sensitive receptors and our research on other jurisdictions and and potentially impacts to sensitive receptors the odor and the noise were the two biggest complaints that um we've seen and so we did request those studies uh we have another recycling operation that will be coming forward in a month we requested the same of that even though they're more um separated from residential than this one um question to the owner um as you going to lose out on the handling fee being the facility I think we have gone over this topic before for when you were at the other location how are you going to be operating this business then if there's not going to be any handling fee I can I can yes that um do I have to State my name again pleas please yeah what in doubt please State Elizabeth Hernandez um so uh the handling fee is kind of an incentive it's not supposed to be that you rely on this it's meant to be so um whenever a grocery store pops up um that that you know so that you can have a recycling center kind of take care of it so it is something like you get an extra uh percentage like I I forget what the amount is I think they the um they had it in the presentation it's like a a s a percentage of the cents yeah and it's capped it's capped like at $2300 and so once another recycling center goes in in the same area then basically they're not eligible anymore and um again it's this is they still collect uh their the fees they still get paid it's just that they don't get that extra kind of a thing of a bonus for for being the only facility there okay um and as I'm reading the notes this facility was uh working When They seized the operation without permits yes um so so basically we applied um uh Mr Rivera applied for Cal recycle and Cal recycle just gives you you know if it's in a convenience Zone they see all your paperwork is fine and it it complies with them they just give you an operational but you still have to get through a conditional use permit through the city as you can see from the timeline we applied a very long time ago and we've been trying you know submitting all this uh documentation and everything and you know this is his livelihood so he started operating and he shouldn't have um and you know once he got a complaint um then he he stopped uh and waited for for for this commission to hear his case and what's the reason of you choosing just this particular location as Mr Johnson has mentioned in his presentation that city is willing to work with you guys find more suitable location why do you want to be at this so yeah the the city recommended another location which is uh I think it was the corner of um it it's two major streets yeah uh Brundage well it's it's not like you can just pop up a you have to go through Cal Rec cycle and it has to be with an convenience Zone and in speaking with Cal recycle it wasn't really apparent that this was in a convenience Zone and also you have to form a contract not you know you you have a facility and um somebody has to allow it he does he's not the owner of the property he's leasing from from the property owner and so it's not like you can just pop it anywhere you want you have to have an agreement with with with a property owner that's willing to you know go go through this process with you so um so it's not the the recommendation even though it was just um we we thought it was because it's not in uh proximity to a residential Zone but um it's it's really out of the way and we would have you know he would have to actually form an agreement with whoever owns that gas station which is not just easily easily done um it was I think it's the gas yeah uh by the Dollar General store Bren and Oak commissioner are you uh thank you commissioner core uh commissioner Neil next um just as a followup thank you Miss Hernandez um what is do we know maybe this is for staff the distance between the proposed site and brage at Oak I don't know that off the top of my head okay can we can we look that up BL okay all right three blocks according to the audience okay thank you for that um should I keep going um I wanted to ask staff um if staff could say more about um alignment with the general plan as it's been amended um because um because if that's three blocks away and I and I'm not recalling exactly what we did in a previous meeting about the mixed use zones but wouldn't well I'm not I don't want to argue but I'm just saying is that the same at Oak and Brundage is that also going to be mixed use down between there and Myrtle and um Brundage yes we we when we took this in front of city council also um we have the Brundage um Corridor and then um although you may not be aware of it now goes north along Oak so this was not only extended East like the Planning Commission recommended it was extended North along Oak all the way to California uh for mixed use so and and mixed use would allow uh like an mx1 or an MX2 which allows every use in the C1 in C2 so a recy as I kind of alluded to um it a recycling operation is consistent with the mixed use designation that uh we we looked at for our land use Alternatives got it so what you're saying is that not just on the brage corridor but even going north on on on Oak that's a potential site for a project like this I would have to look at the convenient zones but the zoning um and the land use as proposed not implemented yet but as proposed yes that would be appropriate right I wanted to ask staff to pull up the um picture of the front view of the uh project yeah right there and I know there's a garage there do have we heard from that particular property owner okay is that can okay so the applicant is saying yes can you stand up please yes um I think you got this in your package yes um we had signatures for uh 14 people my specific question is was that property owner one of those people yes um so that's Mr Joshua Johnson at 16 Myrtle Street it's um the service or the the first signature okay okay and then there's staff can you pull up another there was an aerial of the neighborhood and it show 40 43 I guess feet away um um a multi- unit property what what was that um multif Family yeah forx what about that property did you get us have we heard from that property owner okay all right um that's those are all my questions thank you thank you commissioner Neil I just had a quick question looking at this presentation slide uh for the applicant um we're seeing a lot of a lot of uncovered recycling storage what does the typical day of operation is recycling consistently held outside the container or is the or is it restricted to the interior of the container how does the business plan or is this because this this arrow that we're seeing shows you know what I what I imagine is recycling storage being kind of out in the open is that how the recycling centers work or is it moved into the [Music] Container you can come to the mic please uh micophone sorry about that um okay and please state your name I think Abner Alejandro kuas rera thank you so hope basically is um as you can see the popup 10 the 10 10 x 10 so you under that 10 um helping the customers with their material once you're done with the customers everything goes um to the side of the container right as you can see in the picture but once um the time has come to close everything that you buy in a day everything goes inside of the container and then every every other day we got to the main company and we enter out all the material so basically the material it just stays in the container less than 24 hours so what we're seeing here which is um material material outside of the container is that in process of being moved or is it yeah that's at the end of the day we have to put that everything inside of the um um container the storage container we not we don't left nothing not tie at the end of the day and then um thank you that's and then my question for staff is um regarding um non-conforming zoning to occupancy is I know downtown has a lot of this where the use that's being used is not at all what it's zoned for and and so um when a structure is being habited for residential are just but it's technically in a C1 Zone basically that adjacency becomes a C1 Zone there's no acceptance of kind of current use I'm sorry chair kater I'm not sure I understand your question so zoning was overlay to this neighborhood it wasn't zoned and then built and so we have a sliver of a commercial parcel that was overlaid onto an existing residence in these older neighborhoods where you have Apartments houses things of a residential nature that were just happen to be zoned not in conformance with their use does the city have any special considerations for the existing history of the site of always being of a residential nature I mean we would allow it as a legal non-conforming use so so for instance when you look at this Slide the Zone classification if if that owner to the north wanted to come in and potentially say I want to convert my garage to an Adu we would look at this map and say well that's odd because this zoning goes right down the middle of your garage as shown here goes right down the middle of your garage um and although we recognize this as a mapping error uh a lot of times and there has been times where we will require them to go through a zone change to um to to correct what may have have been not an error on staff's part the reason we know that this is a mapping error is because when we look at the general plan designation now Zone CL zoning used to be done a lot by hand um we have handdrawn maps and everything and so the window those were ported over to the gis there there's doesn't always align um and so one thing that we would probably do uh after this whether it's approved or denied is we would go back and correct this zoning layer so it doesn't occur again so we don't run into the same issue again but if if there is if there's a house like let's just say that entire property to the north where the single family home was if it was zoned C1 we would allow that used to continue they do have an option for an expansion of a legal non-conforming use where they could request special expansions um but if they wanted to change it from a single family home to a multif family home we would have required them to go through a zone change does that make sense yes it does um and then my question one more question for the applicant is is there a reason a site constraint why the container was pushed to the property line and not closer to the existing commercial [Music] structure uh again my name is adner Alejandro KZ Rivera and then there's not a reason just probably it was better on the other side close to the um liquor store building but that's not a problem if if you like um if you recommended a moving to the other side we can do it without problem we're only asking questions right now but thank you I appreciate the response okay um seeing no additional commissioner questions oh did you do the request Speak oh s right commissioner Biddle I had a question for the applicant um how were these signatures gathered was it door to door were they people that came into the uh again my name is a Alejandra kuas rera and we collect those um signatur by knocking the doors and talking to the neighbors explain uh for what for what those signs are and that's the way we got it thank you commissioner bidd are there any okay and then um I guess I have one more question for staff since we're in the question period how common throughout the city of Bakersfield is it to have multiple recycling centers in the same convenience Zone I I always think of these questions and I should have asked you on Monday but no that's fine that's fine I will say prior to the new ordinance going into effect um if they were in a convenience Zone it was permitted by right so it didn't require conditional use permit it went through a site plan review process and it could not be denied so prior to when this took effect in December 2018 it was probably more common has there been since the ordinance took effect uh we have not brought forward a conditional use permit to add another recycling operation into a convenience Zone other than Mr rera operation thank you for all right seeing uh no additional commissioner questions we will move on to the rebuttal portion of the public hearing um we started with those in favor of the project um so I will open up a reut period for those in favor of the project [Music] um is there anyone who wishes to speak to provide a rebuttal on this item if so please be prepared to step to the podium please note each side will have a 5 minute total time so make your comment succinctly without repeating the remarks of previous speakers to make sure everyone who wishes to speak will have an opportunity to do so um with that I will open the rebal period to those in favor of the project hello again U this is Elizabeth Hernandez um and I think I just want to address the people that are here in opposition and you know regarding the the Homeless Problem issue again I I really want to iterate that that is happening in our city regardless of you know a a a center like this being implemented also I don't want to sorry excuse me I don't want to um forget about the people who actually use the these recycling centers who are not homeless that uh they do you know not every everybody puts their stuff in the blue can and lets it be and taken over by the city there are many people um that in in communities that actually use this as extra income you know that uh they actually like to you know recycle they you still use their blue can for the other stuff that you need to recycle but they like to collect their CRV which is you know part of a fee that you paid when you purchase this these containers so I just want to keep that in mind that you know it's not only I I know that sometimes we get really afraid of the homeless population and you know the drug abuse and everything but that happens throughout our city and it should be addressed in other means than denying you know these types of facilities um because sometimes these are for the general public and there are many people I know many of them that do use the facilities to recycle their actual containers and um and so just wanted to give that you know everybody that thought thank you thank you are there any other rebuttal comments in support okay um seeing none I will now close the rebuttal oh miss King did you say against did you call the people that were against okay yeah I'm closing the in uh in support you said close and I got concern not not the hearing just the uh maybe I should choose a better word I will now move to those who wish to provide rebuttal comments in opposition to the project um please remember this is a 5 minute total time so if you'd like to make rebuttal comments uh I invite you to come to the front row and the clock will begin with our first speaker please state your name again Keith Lawless thank you uh the homeless issue is a huge issue and this is just going to make it worse it's they they go through my trash they spread it I've had two cars stolen um it's like I said this neighborhood needs help we don't need a we do not need any more businesses like this in our neighborhood I've lived there since 1995 I've paid off all my property and I keep fighting this way back since Su Benham was uh city council uh I don't want to move uh I'd like I'd like this thing to be closed out with a denial thank you thank you are there any other speakers providing rebuttal comments uh in opposition to the project again my name is Larry Stevens I reside at the end of Myrtle Street uh Myrtle and bank and the basic issue is like the gentleman said it's just the foot traffic the traffic uh sure homelessness is all over Bakersfield we have more than our share than anyone else trust me uh and the people the safety of those of us that live there that go out our street or take a bin and almost get hit by a car and just the the traffic on Brundage alone as they come down Myrtle or as I spoke before bank and stuff like that it it's not it's a it's a it's an issue that needs to be addressed with the addition of a recycle center down there uh that's just more traffic and that's more uh problems in the neighborhood and I've been there 50 years folks and I can tell you it's it's not easy uh we like the gentleman said we've got a great neighborhood great homes we live where we live but the the addition of this in addition to what's always has gone on is is crazy I mean if you look at a one M uh radius in terms of U homeless and breaking ends and vandalism and cars and things like that U I don't know if staff's done that but it's huge and I I again as a resident please deny this Joanna as a business owner my concern is the traffic going up and down the street from people carrying their bags full of cans or bottles for recycling that just adds to more of the trash and disruption for my business that people will say to me I would feel more comfortable if these people weren't up and down the street um I all I can see is with the recycling center it will cause more people with a gr grocery cart full of cans or a plastic bag over their shoulder going down to the recycling center I just think it's something we don't need in our neighborhood and I've been there 34 years and we haven't had this kind of an issue before thank you thank you all are there any other um speakers wishing to provide rebuttal in opposition seeing no additional uh speakers in opposition I will now close the public hearing and return the item to the commission for comment and action commissioner Coleman thank you chair keer you know the reason that the the council uh requested staff to investigate U these issues was because this is the number one that's the number one complaint that Council people get is these recycle centers and so they really tried to create a guideline that um and try to satisfy the people that had that objected to them but also allowed for the fact that you know we do need them in in some areas for me I have an issue with the uh the proximity to the residential and um the fact that there's already uh recycle center serving that convenience Zone I don't think that putting a recycles I'm I'm looking at the Brundage Lane in total uh and what we want the brage lane Corridor to be in the future and I don't believe that installing a Recycling Center on Brundage uh meets that objective standard that we're setting for that Brundage Lane Corridor um and lastly I don't think that you know the question was whether it was essential or desirable and I don't think it's essential for that we've already established it's not essential because there's another one uh in serving that convenience Zone and it's certainly in my mind not desirable so at some point I would make a motion to accept uh the uh staff's recommendation I'm I'm that's my comments I'm sorry that's okay thank you commissioner Coleman um are there other Commissioners wishing to commissioner Neil I just want to thank um the community members that showed up to speak and also the applicant um for going through this process yet again um and um I'm looking at this and I have a lot of trouble with it because I'm particularly um moved when someone is doing something that's illegal and then they come to the light and they try to go through our processes and they try to still bring their vision for business to light um and do so in accordance with our policies and procedures and so I want to commend the applicant for doing that and going through this process yet again um where I have trouble with this um is number one there's already um another establishment in the same convenience Zone on the same street um on brage is it not on Brundage further down Brundage on Union sorry um and so I have I have trouble with that I do have trouble with the adjacency to the residential property and that's why I asked some questions about if you turned that Co corner on Oak and Brundage where you're not AB buding up against residential property is that a is that a possibility for a different proposal or location I have issues with the fact that you continue to pay fees again every time you try this again um because this is a small business this is not a big business um it's not a established business with 30 something years um and um I have an issue when we favor one type of business over another just because it's always been there um because I have issues with the history of the way we've done business and who we've allowed to participate and not so saying all of that you know I wish I could support your application but I can't okay and I just want to acknowledge your effort to come forward and go through the process I would I would like to recommend that you continue to work with staff because um I do want to see your vision for this Vision come true and and earn the city stamp of approval um but maybe this area that you really want to be in is just not in alignment with the vision for what the city has um and also with the policies you know and the things that the city favors in terms of in hopefully you can put it somewhere where you won't have Neighbors showing up to complain about traffic and TR trash cuz that's a big issue in that area and I know that very very closely digging through trash stealing things parking people running through lights and stop signs and all sorts of things so I know this is very long- winded um but this is one of those issues of the tragedy of the commons where we all have to share property we do um in the past certain people got rights to property and other people didn't but now you know there are objective processes that you can go through but you have to and you've done that you've gone through the process even though you were VI you violated it you've come back through the process I would encourage you to work more closely with staff to try to figure out a better location for the business that's in more of alignment where we're headed as a city um and that's not affecting residential because we have a really big emphasis on residential um housing right now and so anything that really impacts that is very sensitive right so let's try to work around that um and that's pretty much all I have to say I just want to thank you for coming through the process I know it's expensive okay and I I know you spent a lot of money on your architect unless you volunteered um it's it's not it's not cheap and I just want to recognize that thank you commissioner Neil any other commissioner comments I just want to reiterate what commissioner Neil said I do appreciate you coming back and trying it again to work with staff but if you could please work closer with them they are here to give us guidance and to help us not waste money and fees because we don't want to make our money that way we want to make it through our economy getting better um I drove that area today I I went and parked I walked around that street is just too tight and it is just not a good location so I don't want you to walk away thinking we don't want your recycling center we just have to find the right location for this type of business so thank you for your time today and coming back out thank you commissioner Biddle I just want to thank the applicant I want to thank the neighbors that came out I think this is the um yeah I um I remember the applicant I think we were all here not too long ago um talking about a site down the street and um yeah I just um to me I would say in my working with staff they um are very forthright in their recommendations and that they see um I think to me the um as a commissioner I'm not a huge fan of subjective setbacks because I feel like great spaces can be created in small adjacencies when we talk about uses like recycling centers there is a very active there's a very active um presence of potential nuisances be it the presence of trash bringing pest the the smell the noise and to me I think it's um it's the reason a conditional use process exists is um that proof of desirability and that it's really aligning with um the needs of this neighborhood and I I think um I I just think that adjacency to the neighborhood grid of a neighborhood that has held on when its main commercial Corridor with a few exceptions has really struggled um I think to me um as a city we need to be very thoughtful in not just overlaying a zoning that allows use to be um you know someone to come in and just magically transform the corridor but look at ways that we're really saying um we want to support these older neighborhoods and we want to make sure that um that we are not treating this Corridor different than we would treat 21st Street or Grand Island you know that that we are seeing the value of neighborhoods that have that have a strong identity and that have kept together and I think to me um seeing these recycling centers kind of more um like think about the one on Stockdale Highway next to Town and Country or the union that is in the convenience Zone um they all have an adjacency to a neighborhood but they're also a little bit distant from the direct impact of the neighborhood grid of the neighborhood street um and so to me I think that this just um like the the fact that zoning was not very thoughtfully overlaid to this neighborhood and therefore it's commercial to it's commercial adjacent feels a little bit hard to to judge when I'm looking at a looking at the uh site plan and seeing a residential basically AB budding the container and so I I think um yeah I guess to me um the one thing I would like to say is that um I think as staff I think that I appreciate the effort of going of working with staff this application um answered a lot of the questions that we had in the previous site um and so I do would want to encourage that should you go forward in finding that perfect site that staff just be really Earnest to try to find a site that meets this need because I think this is an applicant that um has been very honest that has been very upfront that um you know through letters of support um is trying is meeting the needs of a community it's just weighing those impacts and finding that site that um doesn't put too much of a burden on its adjacent neighbors um so with that um any Commissioners wanting to make the motion yeah I'll if you don't mind uh first of all I wanted to thank uh commissioner Neil and commissioner Biddle and to commissioner K commissioner ker also uh because you guys are much more eloquent than I am and to address the applicant I appr appreciate that uh because it is important that U that the applicant understand that we respect them and and want them to be successful that said um I'm going to make a motion to accept uh staff's uh recommendation uh regarding conditional use permit 24- 0390 U so accept the uh the staff recommendations entirety thank you thank you commissioner Coleman may I have a second I'll second that commissioner Biddle Commissioners please cast your votes and we can a vote Yes is to is staff's recommendation a vote Yes would be to deny the project thank you for that clarification just thought I would clarify yeah we don't do well in double negative so yeah motion passes to deny cup 24-39 with Vice chair Strickland and commissioner Bashir TSH absent thank you madam clerk next item oh do you want to read the please read the appeal y so this is this decision is appealable to city council decisions of the commission are subject to appeal by any person that believes they are adversely affected the appeal must be filed in writing with within 10 days from the date of the commission's decision appeal must be addressed to the city council and include the appellant's interest in relationship to the project identify the decision appealed and address facts and reasons why the commission's decision should not be upheld thank you Mr Johnson now Madam clerk next item please agenda item seven Communications does staff have any communication items uh we we do have meeting me in November we're scheduled for both meetings in November it does appear the first meeting in December will likely be canell um but we do have two meetings with the next one November 7th thank you madam clerk next item please agenda item 8 commission comments does any commissioner have any comments closing remarks oh oh commissioner coming that's right uh I want to recognize some of the students in the uh in the audience tonight from Bakersfield College that came to observe often times we go through these and everything's on consent a calendar and they don't really get to see the process so I hope that you learn something from tonight's uh tonight's uh hearing uh that uh everybody is given an opportunity to speak and we hear all sides before ever making a a decision so thank you for coming tonight the other item I wanted to mention was that excuse me I just came back from California Li of City's uh annual meeting in Long Beach and U I wanted to share this with the other uh other Commissioners because one of the items that I participated in was the resolution committee and we voted on a resolution that the uh League of cities is hoping to uh bring to the state legisl um that has to do with uh the conflicts between what the requirements are for City officials and what the requirements are for State officials for example the requirements of the brown act apply codes of conduct on the method Manner and timing of communications by members of City uh and uh and local governments uh but it does not apply to state officials and so the resolution that is being proposed by the league of cities is to uh propose to the Cal the legislature that the California state legislature shall not enact and and the governor shall not approve any law or regulation that applies solely to elected officials of California cities and counties unless such law or regulation also applies equally to members of the California State Assembly and Senate after reconcil after a Reconciliation process has been completed this prohibition shall not apply to laws or regulations affecting the inherent powers of the legislative branch to adopt matters of Statewide concern and so this is uh likely to be uh ratified tomorrow at the uh closing uh uh meeting of the of the uh Cali League of cities and will be uh you presented to the California legislature it's not binding on them uh but it's a a message to the uh the legislature that you know uh you know do as you say or you know give as you get so I wanted to share share that with you that the league of cities is looking out for uh local cities and uh City officials and by appointment we are officials so that's all I have thank you thank you and thank you for making it back I think wasn't your meeting today thank you for making it back wasn't your meeting today I just at this is hot off the press yeah we just yeah thank you commissioner Coman uh Madame clerk next comment next item please agenda item nine adjournment this meeting is adjourned at 6:46 have a great evening [Music] [Music]