welcome to the city of Bakersfield 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 pm and Sunday at 10 A.M the agenda for this meeting can be downloaded at www.bakersfieldcity.us presiding over this evening's meeting chair Daniel cater good evening it is my pleasure to call to order the April 20th 2023 Planning Commission meeting Madam clerk would you please call the roll chair cater here Vice chair Bashir Tash here commissioner Biddle commissioner Coleman here commissioner Lomas here commissioner Neal commissioner Wade here please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance the United States 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 General 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 commission who will approve an item or make a recommendation as appropriate Madam clerk next item please 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 non-consent public hearing item 6A this is not the time to speak we will be given opportunity to speak on when that item is called later in the meeting agenda item 3B non-agenda item public statements 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 none Madam clerk next item please all matters listed under the consent items do not require a public hearing and will be enacted by a single motion there'll be no separate discussion of set items unless the staff member or commissioner request specific items be discussed and or removed for separate action may I get a motion approving consent items make a motion commissioner Bashir Tesh do I have a second I'll second commissioner Wade Commissioners please cast your votes motion passes with commissioner Biddle absent thank you madam clerk next item please agenda item five consent public hearings now is the time for consent public hearing items please note there is one item tonight on this portion of the agenda please note if the item is not removed by commissioner staff or member of the public the commission will vote on all items in one motion without further comment If an item is removed it will be placed at the end of the non-conscion the non-consent public hearing items at this time I will open consent public hearing item 5A does any member of the public wish to remove uh consent public hearing item 5A for separate discussion seeing no members of the public does any commissioner or staff wish to remove consent public hearing item 5A seeing no commissioner or staff request at this time consent public hearing item 5A is now closed may get a motion to adopt Stack's recommendation on the consent public hearing item incorporating all staff memorandum and revised staff recommendations make a motion Jinx all right so we have commissioner Bashir Tash with motion commissioner Neal with a second Commissioners please cast your votes motion passes with commissioner Biddle absent thank you madam clerk next item please agenda item six non-consent public hearings now is the time for non-consent public hearing items before we begin I'd like to explain how the process will be conducted staff will first give a report then those in favor of the project will be allowed to speak those in opposition to the project will be able to speak after all of those in favor have spoken each side will be provided 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 be respectful of others participating in the process in by not repeating the remarks of previous speakers and presenting any new comments or thoughts in a concise or clear way Mr Johnson would you please provide us your staff report yes thank you and chair cater Commissioners members of the audience thanks for attending tonight I'd like to ask Luis Ramirez one of our associate planners to come forward and present this case thank you good evening Commissioners my name is Louis Ramirez I'm an associate planner with the city of Bakersfield development service department planning division um agenda item 6A of General plan Amendment zone change number 220125 and plan development review number 22-0403 the applicant is Cornerstone engineering on behalf of the Timothy and Marilyn bonadushi banducci Family Trust the project site is located on 19.96 Gross Acres lot at the southwest corner of Berkshire Road and Ash Road the request for the general plan amendment to change the land use from high medium density residential to high density residential the zone change request is from R2 a limited multiple family dwelling zone two R3 R3 PUD multiple family dwelling planned unit development Zone the plan development review 22-0403 was submitted to permit development of a 336 unit apartment complex totaling 328 890 square feet of residential dwelling the complex include 11 three-story buildings comprised of one to three bedroom apartments indoor amenities include a clubhouse community building and physical fitness building outdoor amenities include a Pool Spa multiple barbecue and picnic air areas and playgrounds the project will provide 700 parking spaces that's comprised of covered uncovered garaged and electric vehicle spaces Landscaping will consist of over 360 trees an environmental study was conducted for the project based on the initial study the determination of the project with mitigation measures would not have a significant effect on the environment a mitigated negative Declaration was prepared and submitted to the state Clearinghouse for review all public noticing requirements were followed one comment letter was received during the circulation by the California Department of toxic substances control responses to that comment letter are provided in the staff report in addition a memo was provided to your commission today pertaining to a comment letter that was received yesterday staff recommends your commission approve the resolutions adopting the mitigated negative declaration the general plan Amendment the zone change and the plan development review and recommend the same to city council that concludes my presentation thank you for your time thank you the public hearing is now open is there anyone in the audience who wishes to speak in favor of the project if so please step the microphone identify yourself and proceed good evening chair cater cater to her staff Cornerstone Engineering also with me tonight is uh Daryl Whitton the project engineer and the groupie properties gentleman Jeremy white and Matt Skelton we also have with us tonight Eris architect Steve Reiger so groupie properties has engaged with the finest Architects landscape designers and Engineers to put forward a well-thought-out plan for this gated 336 unit multi-family apartment development pedestrian access and walkability is strongly represented as well as a long list of amenities proposed I know that a staff planner Louis Ramirez mentioned a few but if you look at all the walkability around we've got Gathering areas for fire pits we've got a dog run we've got two top Lots age appropriate we have yoga areas and Gathering areas and a lot of beautiful Lush landscape so I just wanted to point that out it's a beautiful development the quest of groupie properties is to build Legacy communities of an enduring value this creative approach translates to places people love to live year after year decade after decade we held a neighborhood Outreach meeting on Monday March 20th we expanded the Outreach invitations to 600 feet and included a large section of the existing single-family development to the northeast of our site we sent out 64 letters and four of the adjacent landowners attended being land owners themselves they were impressed with our PUD plan and elevations the neighborhood Outreach did not get a response from any of the single-family residents that are in the vicinity also in attendance was one of the sellers of the property Mr banducci who at the conclusion of our meeting jokingly stated not in my backyard so that broke the ice a little we enjoyed sharing the plans with those Commissioners who managed to fit a meeting into their schedule to introduce the team and the plans we're confident that this higher density precise development plan checks off most if not all of the goals and priority boxes that the city is diligently working toward achieving for the housing element and general plan in summary this is GPA a zone change and PUD and the project provides 336 multi-family units on 17.5 net Acres the engineering team and design team are available to answer any question and it's my honor to introduce the group b properties Jeremy white and Matt Skelton foreign we've been around since uh probably 1966 were a multi-family developer traditionally a single-family home developer we're very active up in Northern California we have a pie plan of approximately uh uh you know six projects um you know over two thousand units and um we uh we haven't developed in in Bakersfield quite some time since the 80s so we're very happy to be coming back down here and um having this this great project so um uh our our president grew up in Bakersfield so it's this Project's actually pretty personal to him he's he's uh he's really happy to see that we're returning to a base field in so many ways so um you know I'm available to to answer any of your questions if you have any um thank you well good questions after uh the public hearing or after everyone has an opportunity to speak are there any other members of the audience wishing to speak in favor of the project if so please step to the microphone identify yourself and proceed good evening Barry Hibbard local real estate guy and work with the gentleman next door that owns the property immediately to the West of this property Joe Moran it's under beach properties and it's exciting to see groupie coming to Bakersfield and for those of you that have not seen their developments they are really spectacular um when I first met Fritz groupie it was when we were dealing with the partnership for the San Joaquin Valley under Governor Schwarzenegger and Mr groupie and I happen to be on the land use committee got to tour a number of his properties as they were usually case studies as far as Best in Class and I sat there and I looked at myself and said how come we don't have this in Bakersfield how does Stockton get this and we don't so it's exciting to see you so guys thanks for coming down um the R3 the density part of the state part of everything else I think we need to watch that and and make sure that we have quality development because some of the R3 developments in Bakersfield haven't turned down as well right when you look around town so I think it's important that we make sure that they are institutional quality investors and developers that are coming to our community to do this because when they go bad they go bad quickly and they never change so keeping it at a high levels uh I think a very important aspect and I think the ability to look at the land that's around it so um Joe to the West attempted to go to R3 and for whatever reason he wasn't allowed to I'm encouraged to see that now people are saying that's okay we did an R2 PUD which gets them to 17 per acre but you can't do this type of development yet with that episodeing so encouraging to see the planning staff finding new Solutions and once again very impressed to see groupie doing a quality project here in Bakersfield thanks thank you are there is are there any other audience members wishing to speak in favor of the project seeing no additional speakers in favor is there anyone who wishes to speak in opposition to the project if so please step to the microphone identify yourself and proceed seeing no speakers in opposition does any commissioner have any questions for the public or staff on this item remember this is not the time to express any opinions on the matter only to ask questions commissioner Coleman my question is for staff I didn't see any elevations in here are we are we only doing the zoning change or are we doing the entire PUD approval tonight or did I just Overlook it on the it is the entire PUD I'd have to pull up I didn't print all the attachments but they did submit elevations and I believe those were included on the link when you access the online version of the staff report but there are elevations included yes if I could answer the question um under PDR resolution which is the plan development uh resolution you'll find them on I believe they begin page page 15 of that document down to page 20. so this is our one and only shot to look at this generally speaking yes I have no further questions thank you are there any other commissioner questions are there any uh commissioner questions or okay seeing no additional commissioner questions and as there were no speakers in opposition to the project I will defer to the City attorney should we proceed to close the public comments yes yes lower battle okay we will forego the rebuttal period as there were no speakers in opposition and at this time I will now close the public hearing on the item and return to the commission for comment and action foreign thank you chair cater um although I hadn't looked at the elevation until just now um I I like the I like the location of the project uh I like us moving to a higher density if I I would like to have some moderate income uh Provisions but it is what it is so uh I I think this is a good project it's a good location for this project all the all the everybody's moving out to that direction anyway so we need to have this kind of this kind of housing thank you commissioner come in commissioner Bashir Tesh I really do like the project I looked at the last project that group a had built here in Bakersfield that was the Edgewater um homes or apartments off of uh I think it's Kroll there's a Camino and uh you know 40 years later they're still you know doing well and the community still looks really good and so I'm excited to see another development like this come into our town I think it serves a pretty diverse purpose as far as what it offers to its residents um and uh so I I I like it I like to see stuff like this coming in so thank you thank you okay um if there are no other additional commissioner comments um I'd just like to give a few comments I did have an opportunity to meet with the development team early in the week and appreciated uh the introduction to the project um echoing my Commissioners I I do appreciate projects that are pushing density and bringing diverse housing types to neighborhoods that don't have a lot of housing options currently um my questions to Stat or mostly staff related and um had a good opportunity to talk to Mr Johnson throughout the week and just wanted I thought it would be good to know um because my my curiosity with these sites is you know we're looking at the a relatively dense project that you know kind of warrants access from all four sides to to the adjacent community and this is um one of those um intersections that's very common in our community where this will be the third inner the third side to be improved and the fourth side remains kind of TBD and you know how we how we do things with roads is we basically put the quadrant you know the improvements of sidewalk full width full build out on development that's kind of adjacent to the halfway point and so I just thought um you know as we start to see more density in Suburban locations um just my question to staff was how we provide realistic accommodations to pedestrian safety access to roads that still have rural characteristics because the parcel across the street is not developed and there's not you know it's not being developed in Tandem and so um in talking to Steph and Mr Johnson could you just kind of explain a little bit about Road improvements and what what will what's plan for this project and then kind of as I do think our conversation was fruitful and productive yes thank you this is uh a zoomed in portion of the intersection of Berkshire and Ash so this this project site will be required to do all the frontage improvements curb gutter sidewalk uh in addition the Ash and Berkshire intersection has been identified by the city that they will come in when I say they the city is planning on coming in and putting in a four-way stop in crosswalks um for on all four sides if the city does not come in by the time that the this development occurs the developer will be required to put in the four-way stop and those crosswalks I do note and thank you chair cater for giving me a call is the track 7213 right now although that has not gone to city council to be finaled and recorded they are moving forward they have dedicated the right-of-way they have Street plans that are in so that will eventually be developed we anticipate fairly soon although that applicant for that track didn't give us a timeline at that time the north side of track some 213 or the South side of Berkshire will be developed with a sidewalk as you can see right now there will be a gap of approximately a thousand feet along that track where there will be no sidewalk there was a question because there's a school at the corner of Mountain Ridge and Berkshire to elementary school I would note that that school is in a separate School District so this site is in Lakeside Union and that school is in Panama Buena Vista so these students will not be going to that school [Music] if you look at it as it relates to Parks or Recreation again there's really no parks to the east so there would be no real reason for foot traffic to go along Berkshire to the east at this point in time we do look at when I say we the city does look at um missing sidewalks and Ada ramps that are within half mile of Bakersfield schools and parks and that's identified in in four different quadrants of the city and this one just for instance the southeast quadrant and so what we look at is if there's pending development on these missing links and if there's pending development then we anticipate that the developer will put that in if there's no pending development then the city prioritizes that for the city to come in and put curb Gutter and sidewalk to fill in that that missing area and so going back to the overview of this you can really see that most all the curb Gutter and sidewalk is in um and that will be put in on the tracks on the left every all those tracks that are identified with the asterisk are still pending city council approval but all the other tracks with the solid lines already have Curb Gunner sidewalk in and so again we anticipate that the four corners of this will have Curb cutter and sidewalk and in a reasonable amount of time does that answer your question yes and I appreciate that I know I um he kind of uh Mr Johnson pulled a surprise on me when the school that was walkable to the project is actually not in the same district as the project so um but I think regardless I mean I I appreciate uh the site plan and the connectivity to sidewalks um and the realistic walking path and I just think as we look at these projects um we need we just need to think of as a city and I appreciate Mr Johnson's brief presentation on how the city is assessing gaps in our pedestrian infrastructure to make sure that our roads are are up to the standard of what we're asking developers to build in our city and so um I thank you for that those are my questions um seeing no additional Commissioners wishing to speak I will ask for a motion from the commission I will make a motion to adopt a staff's recommendation on approval thank you that was commissioner Bashir Tash and seconded by commissioner Neal Commissioners please cast your votes motion passes with commissioner Biddle absent thank you Madam clerk next item please item seven new business Mr Johnson would you please uh provide us your presentation yes thank you and if I could also have commissioner Wade come forward commissioner Wade elected not to apply to be reappointed to the Planning Commission so this will be his last meeting unless we have a special meeting next week which we're looking at doing so a little bit of background um at it was then council member Russell Johnson he appointed commissioner Wade at the council meeting of May 18 2011. and his first meeting was June 2nd 2011 and that's the agenda you can see item e is welcome new member Patrick Wade and then they voted on the minutes and pretty much dismissed and his first planning commissioner that was consisted of Jeff tack Barbara Lomas David Strong Dean haddock Elliot Cushman and Marie tregish and sorry to Mr treygish I couldn't find a photo of him during his tenure he went through 18 different commissioners there were 166 meetings and that does not include surprisingly over 100 meetings that were canceled because of covid lack of a quorum or insufficient projects but to that point there were 887 different projects that were considered during your tenure some of those projects were some were single projects such as this General plan Amendment zone change 2013 went to 11 43 pm quite late last year we had three projects only lasted 12 minutes and that was after starting five minutes late but most projects lasted about an hour to include this one in 2018 that included 19 different projects so we appreciate all the time that you put forward uh to the Planning Commission and making Bakersfield grow the earliest video I could find was 2015 and when I compare that to 2023 I often look to see okay is are there loss of hair is there gray hair into the contrary it almost looks like you gained a little bit of hair also with that I think you became a social media influencer 2015 there were nine views seven of those were mine looking for the perfect picture and then last or earlier this year 147 different views one thing I noticed when I was looking through all the videos is that you seem to always sit in the third chair okay Robert commissioner Lomas is sitting right now and rumor has it the reason you didn't apply is because you were put in that last chair so that'll make us think of how we see sit people and I would say I was most nervous about this presentation because I was like what if he doesn't wear his signature white shirt because if you look at every video he has a white shirt on he's always wearing a white shirt so with that commissioner Wade we thank you for your commitment directing how Bakersfield was developed during the past decade plus two years and we have this plaque in appreciation for Yao sent standing service 2011 to 2023. thank you very much [Applause] well I actually have some comments to maybe I'll save them to the end uh in commissioner and comments period so yeah thank you everybody and thank I'm sure that took a lot of time to put together so I appreciate it just about a week and a half so not too bad that's why I had Lewis present that last project thank you would you prefer Commissioners to give our sentiments to commissioner Wade during commissioner comments or yeah I think so I just have a few really brief comments sounds good you want to move on to the next agenda item 8 Communications perfect so we do have a meeting on May 4th um and then also if you recall there is a city council meeting next Wednesday on the 26th and that is in relationship to the link that I sent previously which is on the housing element that's out for public review so that'll be a presentation to city council you are welcome to attend but that meeting has or that briefing to city council has been moved at 3 30 PM so if you want to attend let me know and we'll make sure that we have seats available for you and that's all I have things thank you madam clerk next item please agenda item 9 commission comments attorney Commissioners have any comments I do okay thank you for being a good neighbor I haven't been on commission just a year almost a year now and um you've been my my neighbor and you've been very kind and I appreciate uh helping me figure out how to go to the restroom call a break and those sort of things so thank you so much I also wanted to say um I would love to attend the meeting on Wednesday I actually had it on calendar but I don't know if I'll if I'll be able to make it at 3 30 but I'll try and I wanted to say Lewis did a great job on the report on the staff report did he write the report for 6A yes he did he did a great job I enjoyed reading his report and I'm excited about this new high density project that's it thanks commissioner Coleman and my comments are for uh commissioner Wade I really appreciate uh your involvement in the commit in the commission I enjoyed meeting with you and kind of getting to how you think about things and it's very interesting so if you haven't got to know Mr Wade do you sure how we should uh but uh but you have had a lot of influence on some of the things that I think about on the commission and I really appreciate your input so congratulations to you and good luck in whatever you do next thank you commissioner Coleman yes commissioner Lomas do you really have to go it's been a long time me and you here long time you don't look any older though it's a little irritating um I do so we'll just move past that but thank you thank you for your service you're a wonderful commissioner and even better human being I'm honored to know you thank you here oh I appreciate you a lot inside and outside of the commission you're a great guy and you serve our community well and uh thank you for just being a young inspiration uh just Paving the way for for uh for for us to get involved more and to motivate us nice commissioner Wade well I'm just going to say per usual commissioner Lomas stole what I was going to say really I one of my favorite things is um like the side by sides of public office when they come in and when they leave and I need to know your philosophy on life your skin care because you do look exactly the same even though it's 12 years later um and so yeah yeah so uh please post that on any publicly available document but I also want to say I don't know what a Bakersfield Planning Commission without commissioner Wade um you've served longer than I have and um your presence is felt your presence will be your will be missed and I really appreciate your perspective um similar to what other Commissioners have stated it's it's very great to know that your impact on this community doesn't stop in this room and I'm excited to see how Bakersfield continues to be better because you're in it and so thank you and uh thank you for bringing your family tonight what an opportunity to get to meet them and uh yeah we uh look forward to seeing more of your impact in our community in a different capacity thank you that those all those were touching remarks they mean a lot to me um and this is sort of community we live in that I've had um associations with many of you before this and I feel like I've grown up here with others that I didn't know beforehand but I mean commissioner Coleman I think I I know you from the State Farm days uh you know I probably met you when I was a kid still actually yeah so um I I do have a few comments a few parting words I figure I've been here for 12 years I I have you know a couple just a couple minutes if you don't mind me getting on a soapbox for a second um it's been one of the great honors of my life to have served the city and more importantly the citizens of Bakersfield these last 12 almost 13 years I'd like to thank councilman Johnson and Parlier for trusting me with disappointment I've served on this commission with some remarkable people and I've learned immensely from them thank you all for that I'd like to particularly thank commissioner Lomas who as the only member of this commission that predates me uh guided me through the early years of my service here and continues to guide the public through very difficult decisions about how their neighborhoods will be affected through City Planning oftentimes I've been um say more come on you know let's let's get to the point quit repeating uh you know people repeating themselves and she has the patience over there she's kind of the the mom of the group or she's like you know let's hear them out this is very important and she has been uh you moderated me quite a bit on this commission so staff has also consistently been professional and I feel that they honestly try to continue the tradition of a city that is one of the fastest growing places in California while still protecting property rights as a parting message to my fellow and future Commissioners I'd like to reflect on the use of our Authority I've been a bit of an outlier over my 12 years here and that I've generally shied away from aggressively intervening in all matter in all matters that have come to this body we as Californians should have learned in the times since early 2020 that the exercise of government power can be well intended and counterproductive at the same time in other words just because we have the power to do something doesn't mean we should the citizens of Bakersfield have entrusted us through the city council to oversee the planning of our community but that doesn't mean that we can take every action in every affair there's a responsibility that comes with the authority granted to us sometimes not to exercise that Authority and let individuals interact unmolested in their own Affairs intervening too much can sometimes lead to stifling of development and the curtailment of freedoms the last comments I'll make today are regarding my profound disappointment at the conditions of my leaving this Commission to be clear I am not leaving willfully I've served the discretion of multiple City councilmen and put years of work and passion into this service so I was surprised when I received a call at the end of last year from the new councilwoman elected in November not only saying that I wouldn't be reappointed but also that she wanted me to step down immediately I was stunned after telling her I wouldn't step down but I would instead fulfill the remainder of my term I asked why this was happening she told me she wanted to appoint someone who shared her perspective since this is our first time ever speaking I asked how she knew what my perspective was I didn't get an answer this is a non-partisan position and I'm not registered with either major political party I have a good reputation in town I hope and I've served the people of Bakersfield loyally and to the best of my abilities over the years so I'm left with an unsettling conclusion this decision was made due to my immutable characteristics my perspective was not defined by my passion for urban planning status as a new father or the content of my character but instead because of characteristics that I have no control over in this era in this country in the state and in the city of Bakersfield we should better than this I hope my fellow Commissioners will warmly greet my successor and guide him or her in passionately serving the citizens of Bakersfield just as I've done for the past 12 years thanks [Applause] [Applause] thank you commissioner with um with that Madam clerk next item please agenda item 10 adjournment this meeting is adjourned at 6 11. foreign