Open. I always forget that I'm calling the meeting to order and if I could please call on me. Patel commissioner may patel to lead us in the pledge >> to the flag of the united states of america and to the republic for which it stands one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Thank you may the next item on our agenda is our public comment period. And this is the this is an opportunity for members of the public to speak on a topic that is not on our agenda.
do we have any public comment for any items that are not on tonight's agenda? I do not see anyone raising their hand or coming forward so I'm going to close the public comment period which brings us to item four which is the consent calendar on the consent calendar tonight we have one item and that are now that item is the meeting minutes for the july 1st 2026 planning commission meeting.
do we have any public comment on the consent calendar item? I do not see any public comment on this item so I will close that and it looks like commissioner long I will move approval. We have a motion to approve the consent calendar item. I'll second their motion.
we have a second from commissioner corio . All in favor say I. I I >> are there any nos and no no no abstentions so that item carries unanimously. The next item on our agenda tonight is item five a these are public hearing items.
the first item a is the unity council's headstart application and that's for considering adoption of resolution 26 03pc approving use permit amendment minor use permit tree removal and design and site review to expand an existing child care use and this is a continuation item correct from last meeting and I know that I've been asked to mic a public record stating that I have viewed the that meeting the previous meeting in
its entirety. Do I need to ask commissioner vice chair labov if he needs to mic a statement as well? I believe he's prepared to, >> yes. Thank you chair.
I too was absent at the first meeting and have watched the video of the entire agenda item from the prior meeting >> and I believe we had some additional information that was going to be presented or do we not on this item staff is not planning a presentation. We did receive additional correspondence from the applicant but that does not require reopening the public hearing just so it's clear we have open and closed public comment on this item.
however, I did notice that we received a couple of speaker cards and I'm inclined to hear what those members of the public have to say. So I'm looking to my other commissioners. I've seen some nods so I would like to open public comment period back up on this item and I saw two speaker cards on this item. It was for the next item. Oh okay.
so do we have any speaker cards or anyone that wishes to speak on item five a the unity council concord headstart item. All right. There is no public comment on this so I'll close public comment on that item.
and if I remember right from watching the video this item was was continued during discussion by the planning commission. So they were waiting for us, jason, to come back. So at this time I'm bringing it back to the commission for consideration of this item and I see so is there any other consideration? Vice chair long thank you.
chair as I mentioned earlier I watched the video of the prior meeting in its entirety and I remember this project it came to design review board I think it was actually under a prior application. Gosh 1824 months ago or something. It was quite quite some time ago and so I was at the drb meeting.
I looked back through those meeting minutes I didn't I saw you know the setback and the variance was mentioned but it wasn't really there wasn't a lot of detail there. I don't remember for certain because it's been a little while but generally when there's you know a nonconforming setback issue and we don't have a mechanism within our code to deal with that with like a minor exception and it and it rises to a variance level I usually
flag that at drb for the applicant and I usually warn the applicant that those findings are very difficult to mic and sometimes that can affect the design if we're unable to approve a variance. I don't know with certainty that I did that at the rbi. I certainly hope I did.
I kind of see some head nodding so I hope I don't know. I hope I did but I did you know, listen to the applicant's reasoning and thoughts on why the variance should be granted. Yeah I hear them.
you know to a large extent I don't disagree but at the same time the those the way the variance findings and you know read to me I'm unable to support a variance I'm I feel for the applicant I think this is a fantastic project and I want to see it done as soon as possible so you know that's kind of tugging at the other side of me here, you know.
but but again it just kind of comes down to that the findings that we need to mic I just I just can't mic them I do think that you know, I understand all of the constraints on the site but I do think I think you've got a great architect and design firm and I'm sure that they can kind of work within the parameters
to get something that works well still support you know, I'm really hopeful it still supports the same number of of of students and all the programing so yeah I really I hope that you all can kind of get that going really quick if if the commission decides not to support the variance but I
really hope you all can just kind of get back in as soon as possible and you know, adjust things and and move on. But I think the way that staff has set it up is that, you know, we can still approve the project, you can still move forward but you're just going to have to do
some a little massaging of the site plan. So that's my kind of my thinking on this item. Thank you. Vice chair are there any other considerations? All right.
I have a couple I echo vice chair lob in that that it's can be a daunting process to go through the process of expanding like this and what what I remember hearing during the june 17th meeting was that the applicant when they initially looked at the zoning they thought that they knew what the setbacks were and that that's what they were going with.
I know that your working with an architect and I'm not sure if there if there was a me a premade ing with the applicant in their architect to go over those things but generally those things come up a lot earlier than getting this far and coming to us and as vice chair lobb said you know by the by the time it gets to us there are very strict reasons and triggers that would
allow us to consider a variance. With that being said, I agree I don't I don't see that those conditions have been triggered to allow the variance and also in my correspondence with city staff before the meeting I had a question about the use permit and the my understanding is that the current use permit is for up to
42 students. Is that correct? Meredith I believe so. 41 or 40 2 or 1 and the use permit as authored the revised use permit is for a 146 if I believe I remember correctly that one's correct, yes. So >> I took that into consideration as well when I drove by the site.
there's actually quite a lot happening on that site. I went in the morning and I actually drove through the parking lot just to see what the traffic flow was like. So it is a considerable addition of number of people that will be going and that that's why those some of these setbacks are there because when we have basically we don't have
too many people on one site and too big of a building too close to the property lines. So I plan on not going with the variance as well but the other items so essentially I'm I'm I support the way that staff has written the resolution sorry that's all right.
all right so I've had my chance to weigh on this. I open up for a motion, I move the recommended action for this item. Second, I have a motion from and we have a second so if we can have a roll call vote on this please.
commissioner barber I commissioner patel I commissioner corio I vice chair lobb hi chair mr. Tony I motion passes this item passes unanimously. The next item on our agenda is item five b which is the valley motel a conversion to residential.
so due to the fact that I have economic interest in the valley hotel due to the fact that I have an economic interest in the real property which is valley motel at 3590 clayton road because I am a secondary beneficiary I have to recuse myself. Thank you very much.
let the record show that commissioner patel has recused herself from item five b item five b is the valley motel a conversion to residential and we are considering adoption of resolution 26 05pc approving a use permit and design and site review to convert the valley motel into 12 supportive housing units for an initial period of 13 years and 13 multifamily units thereafter and we have a presentation from frank about home foreclosures.
thank you chair mizutani and gaming planning commission staff and members of our public. I'm frank bio, principal planner with the committee development department >> here. Oh I'm sorry >> through the chair if you could hold off on until yes mr. Patel has left the chambers. Thank you. Okay, we are ready. Go ahead, frank.
yeah, like I said, frank a bio principal planner with the development department and the project planner for the valley motel conversion to residential which has submitted a use permit and design and site review application for the planning commission's consideration. This evening. >> I must start off just talking about or providing some information on the project site which is located at 3590 clean road.
the site is zoned or commercial mixed use I'm sorry the general plan is commercial mixed use and the zoning is c-max commercial mixed use that zoning allows for multifamily residential and supportive housing subject to the use permit and that's why the planning commission is considering that application this evening.
the site is a little over a quarter an acre .27 acres to be exact and as you could see here it's located at the corner of clayton road and abilene. All right. >> so the existing site I'm just going over sort of the existing development the one in primary access to the site is off of clayton road as denoted as noted here with the blue arrow
that access driveway leads to a parking lot highlighted there and so that yellow color that has 12 parking spaces and then the existing valley motel is highlighted there and sort of that purplish color.
so that includes the 12 room motel which is along the south property line there, the larger building and then the valley motel office which also serves as the valley motel owner's residence is sorted out smaller building there along bible lane it's going to go over so if you street view photos of the property so you can see the valley motel there in the background and this is a view of just sort of the parking lot
the properties are so improved with some perimeter landscaping and low fencing and of course existing signage for the motel just back up here this is actually a more dated photos. You can see the motel is a different sort of more neutral color.
so this is the more whoops recent photo and the current color scheme of blue and sort of dark blue trim. So I'm going to touch a little bit about the recommendation that the drb made regarding the motel colors. All right. So this table is in your staff report provides the key project milestones leading up to tonight's meeting.
so I'm going to go back to june of 2024 when the council awarded about 70 or $60,000 from our homeless strategic plan for this project to implement our homeless strategic plan by converting the valley motel into supportive housing units about a year later robert cooley is the project architect filed the application on behalf of valley motel ownership.
so that was in may of last year and december of last year we had we held a neighborhood meeting there's about a dozen neighbors that attended the meeting. They had expressed concerns >> primarily to the current motel operations regarding the loitering safety nuisances, crime etc.
and then in march of this year the project was presented to our design review board which recommended approval of the design or the improvements of the project. Some of the board's recommendations from that evening was to require that the motel color be changed to a more neutral color scheme within five years of project approval >> and also to require the replacement of the existing wooden picket fence along the street frontage as well as the
chain link fence between the valley motel property and the property to the west which is a church with a low three foot tall metal picket fence or metal fence.
in april 13th of this year the application the applicant revised their request to include the long term conversion of the motel to multifamily units and including weavers and concessions under state density bonus law. There was also a request to waive or defer our park fees so this is a fee that applies to any residential projects including the conversion of a commercial use to residential and may 23rd the application was deemed complete and then on june 20th >> third we took the fee
deferral request to the city council. They approved that fee deferral request. Essentially they're allowing the applicant to pay the full fee and for annual installment payments. All right. So as I mentioned, the project requires a use permit design a site review.
so again the use permit is to convert the motel to 12 supporting housing units for a period of ten years. I want to note here that hopefully lucian's which is going to operate the supportive housing there leases for ten years and then they have an option for an additional ten years. They also have the first right of refusal to purchase the property if it gets sold.
so we know that at least ten years they will be operating in supportive housing but >> at that at the point where the supportive >> housing goes away it's basically going to transition into 13 round rental units and then the design and site review application is for the building and site improvements that are proposed as part of this
project. Okay. I'm just going to touch a little bit on the supportive housing use again it's going to be operated by hope solutions. They have a presentation this evening. They'll go into a little more detail in terms of what they do, the services they provide, the onsite support services they provide.
>> but the plan is to convert the motel into 12 studio apartments. Their target population are individuals experiencing chronic homelessness. The motel office would be used by hope solution staff to provide their onsite services and programing needs. The facility >> will be staffed by a case manager or property manager that's going to be on site on weekdays from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m.. There will also be a desk clerk that will be onsite from thursday to sunday from 6 p.m. To 2 a.m. And then a resident monitor that is going to be onsite around 15 hours per week again monday from monday through wednesday 6 p.m. To 11 p.m.. All >> right.
and so after the supportive housing use goes away the project would convert into multifamily residential again of 13 rental rental units. Two of the units or 50% of the total number of units would be available to or affordable to very low income households that affordability would be guaranteed for a period of 55 years through an affordable housing agreement with the city.
that agreement would be recorded on the property and because the project is providing these affordable units and also guaranteeing them through for a period of 55 years through this agreement the project qualifies under state density bonus law >> and then as far as the building the site improvements >> again this is under the design and site review
application that you're considering fairly minor improvements are proposed to the site. Those include replacing the existing ac units a bit more more contemporary, more esthetically pleasing air conditioning units there existing security bars on the windows that would be removed they will construct two new trash enclosures improved path of travel >> and as I mentioned
there is a recommendation by the design review board to install a decorative metal fence along the site perimeter and between the site and church property. All right. So I've been mentioning state density bonus last I want to go over what that is.
it's a state law that allows projects that provide affordable housing to request a density bonus incentives or concessions and waivers the a density bonus it's kind of want to touch on what that is. It's just sort of the name implies it's basically an increase above the base density that's allowed. So >> in this case what the applicant is requesting is a 20% density increase from 40 dwelling units to 48 dwelling units.
incentives or concessions is essentially a relief from development standard because it has actually a quantifiable sort of cost savings or cost reduction for the project sort of help facilitate being able to construct a project that include includes affordable housing and then waivers >> are more again exceptions to development code standards because the site is physically
constrained they're not able to comply with the standard. So what the applicant is requesting this evening or I should back up and say that based on the two affordable units that the applicant is proposing which again is 50% of the total number of units, what this project qualifies for under state density bonus law
is up to a 50% density bonus increase here. They're not asking for this much. They're asking for 20% as I mentioned up to a 48 to a density of 40 dwelling units per acre. Three incentives are concessions.
so the incentive for concession that they're requesting is to not install a transitional mason rule that's required along the south and west property line. So as planning commission is of course familiar, these transitional requirements are triggered whenever there is a residential use that abuts a commercial use.
so here you have the motel conversion into residential that abuts the church properties along the south and west and so that's why this masonry wall requirement is would be required under code. Again, that concession is related to not having to take on the cost of that project or exceeding that wall which is sort of the whole purpose of these incentives and concessions interstate density bonus >> law.
and then as far as the waivers >> the applicant is asking for a waiver of our standards regarding covered parking onsite yes parking and open space. I just want to mic a real quick note on covered parking in case you're wondering like hey cover parking seems sort of like a cost reduction ask >> and we put it under waiver because even if the applicant could afford to construct a covered
carport or garage, >> the columns that you would need to sort of support that roof structure would probably cut into the parking dimensions and probably render a number of those parking spaces substandard. And so we feel the impact of that is going to be more than >> if we just had uncovered parking spaces.
so we'd rather have the uncovered parking spaces in less covered parking spaces and the onsite guest parking requirement and that's a total of four guest parking spaces >> that would be required that they're asking to waive >> and then an open space requirement of 200ft of either private or common open space per unit. Okay.
so I understate density bonus law. The city must grant the request unless there's substantial evidence where the city can find that the request will one have in a medical adverse impact. Secondly, that the request violates state or federal federal law and then lastly that the result that the request will not result in identifiable and actual cost reductions.
so that third bullet point is actually specific to the essentially the incentives >> and concessions request >> staff is not does not have any does not have substantial evidence to support any of these findings. And so our position is that the city must grant these state density bonus law requests. All right.
the >> project is also subject to the housing accountability act. So this act applies to any >> project that's defined as a housing development project under this act and that definition is pretty broad because we believe it's one of them.
it's basically any any project that includes all residential units fits under this definition and if the project is meets this definition of a housing development project and it complies with our applicable objective standards then the city must approve the project unless it finds that again based on substantial evidence that the project will result in an admin and medical bill specific adverse impact to the public health or safety and again here staff does not have
substantial evidence to that the project will result in any sort of adverse impact that can be that would not be able to be mitigated. All right. I wanted to just kind of talk about a correction in the staff report and that is the staff report discusses the removal of one glassy privet which is an unprotected tree.
there's actually another tree that's proposed for removal which is a palm tree that's adjacent to the driveway because it's within the driveway visibility triangle there are also a cypress trees and I'm going to forward a little bit to kind of show you this little talk off of this street view.
there are also these cypress trees that are located within these driveway site visibility triangle as well. The applicant would like to keep the cypress trees and staff in support of that just because you know the applicant has an applicant has indicated to us that given their budget they probably don't have the money to plant new trees and so staff position
is we want to keep as many as we can. We've also discussed the the location of these trees within the visibility triangle with our transportation division and they have indicated that they don't think that this is going to be an issue from this driveway. This is a right turn only.
and so as drivers are pulling out of this driveway and making a right, they're looking away from these trees but our transportation division does want to just do one more field check to sort of verify that position.
and if they confirmed that it is not going to pose an issue with the site visibility then those trees can remain if the transportation division is determined that they do need to be removed, then what staff is proposing is the removal.
those trees would be subject to our applicable tree regulations and what staff is requesting is that the planning commission defer their review of their tree removal permit if one is required if these are protected to be reviewed by staff and our urban forester the trees are fairly >> skinny and so it's it's not clear if if oops where did they go they would >> qualify for tree protection. They need to be at least 24in in diameter.
and just kind of eyeballing this, it doesn't look like that they or they may be close to it but it's something that we would need to verify. Okay. It's part >> of your action this evening. We're requesting that the planning commission find that the project is exempt or not. A project under sequoia.
and so we've listed the sections of the school guidelines that the project falls under in terms of an exemption or qualifying for a definition of a project not a project under seek that needs to be analyzed. All right. >> so that concludes my presentation with my recommendation that the planning commission adopt resolution number 20 6-05 approving the use permit and design a site review application for the project.
I'm sorry I need to back up here. I should have mentioned when I was discussing sort of the tree situation and we have a condition of approval that we would like to replace condition of approval number 19 that you have in your staff report.
so I just like to read this in the record so that way if the planning commission approves this project and wants to incorporate this condition they can just refer to what staff has read into the record. And so what this condition of approval would say is that the existing glassy privet along the south property line and palm tree located within the driveway visibility triangle are not protected trees and are to be removed existing cypress
trees within the visibility triangle may remain subject to review by the transportation division for the city where development code section with the development code section that's related to our visibility triangle requirements if the cypress trees must be removed they shall be evaluated for conformance with applicable tree removal regulations by the planning division.
and again we'll work with our arborist, our urban forester on sort of any replacement trees that would be required if it's a protected tree. Yeah. So that concludes my presentation. Happy to answer any questions.
I do want to recognize and appreciate that sergeant montero from the police department is here this evening and in case you have any questions I know you received comments from neighbors concerns related to safety so he's available. So if you want to ask him questions along those lines and of course we have a presentation from hope solutions as well. Thank you. Are there any questions from the commission to mr..
commissioner corio so I thank you for the presentation and the recap. I was able to attend the derby meeting in march when this came about so I'm pretty familiar with it but I do have a question about the transportation reassessment of that triangle.
is that assessment only for vehicles or does it incorporate eight pedestrians as well because looking to the left yeah you'll see vehicles but looking to the right how fast or how quickly will you pick up a pedestrian coming out of that crosswalk onto the sidewalk? Yeah >> they would they would also assess it for visibility of pedestrians as well.
>> and then my second question is in that meeting and the design review board meeting there was some conversation that there was no made mention of laundry facility with the with the hotel conversion and we were told at that meeting that something would be worked out and I just wanted to find out if something was worked out for that.
>> I have not heard of anything additional from that derby meeting as far as a washer dryer but maybe something new that hasn't been shared with me that hope solutions can >> cause it's >> like a weird thing with this hybrid that it's not necessarily interim but it's not necessarily permanent. But on the permanent side there's a requirement for the laundry situation to be resolved.
so I'm just following up just what I recall >> is that there was a question about each unit having individual washer and dryer because I believe there is a shared a washer and dryer for certain type solutions. Can I can confirm that? Okay. Thank you. Those are all my questions. Vice chair lobb thank you, chair.
I actually had a question for police department if you could secure metro so do I. I guess the same question that yes, sir. Good >> evening. Thank you for joining us this evening.
curious if hope solutions the the group that's going to be running this this facility do they do we have any other facilities that they operate in concord not that I can recall off top my head. Okay. I believe they might but it's not something I was I was informed of this yesterday afternoon and I've met with and talked to some people from hope solutions in the past when I first became a in charge of the community
impact unit but after my head I can't recall if what properties I know we have homeless properties or just county assisted homeless all over the city I don't know which ones they run. >> got it. Well maybe we can just kind of talk in general terms for facilities like this.
we we got some some comments from you know, some neighbors that have some concerns and you know, I understand the concerns but just if you could kind of characterize what facilities like this generally how they operate and how they're kind of controlled and and what your experiences with calls for service and impact to, you know, surrounding areas the
three biggest that I can recall from my head there's one at 2400 willa pass road which is the new building that went up that's affordable housing and low income housing. We haven't had a lot of calls for service there but it's only I think six months and use but we have had calls for service there.
we have one across the street from the p.d. I think it's called the rec judd commons and I'm not sure if that's exactly the same as what hope solutions is providing here but it's a lower income assisted housing from my understanding I was able to pull stats for that.
there was in the last two years approximately 100 104 calls for service including one today which are pretty typical typical halls of service and then the next one would be like next step which is a housing solution.
I'm not sure who it's run by something with the county that's housed at the premier inn on concord avenue they have part of the premier inn but not the whole motel which makes it a little difficult to pull stats because we can't differentiate necessarily from them from the hotel.
we do have calls for service there but a lot of those are related to the hotel use not necessarily next step but we have had calls with people housed there by the county and >> so I think the third one that you mentioned that the next step program I think that's probably most similar to hope solutions the calls >> for services there are they significantly higher than the the prior to that you mentioned or know >> they do a pretty good job >> we've we did
we talked to the people that run the site fairly often where we go through and there's a lot of patrol officers and go into premier inn on a regular basis it's a high call volume for us so we're not usually present in and around that area.
they do a pretty good job from my understanding like they have I don't I don't want to speak exactly for them but there's a certain number of incidences where they will then remove people from the hotel from housing so they and people understand that rule.
so they're pretty good about managing themselves and keeping the peace to themselves and not having to call us the calls for service I've been to personally there have been usually mental health type calls where someone has an episode or stops taking their medication and then has an episode and they're forced to call us or a3 to come out and deal with them and try to mitigate the circumstances.
but for the most part that's the main issues. I can't say it's related to next step but we do have issues with people loitering in and around the property on chili's along the way embankment that separates the canal or I'm sorry canal to 42 from the property we have had it could be related the
next step or could just be typical people homeless camping in the embankments which is a problem that caltrans deals with everywhere so I can't really I don't know if they're related or not but we have had those type of calls there. Interesting. Okay. Thank you. I think we've got some other questions from other commissioners for you.
commissioner barbara, did you have a question for sergeant madeira comments? I do have a couple of questions. So though this property is on clayton road and I know that I travel clayton road every day and it seemed like there are often calls for service for issues with homeless people just on on clayton road.
yes so would you quantify or call clayton road one of the areas that you guys have to deal with homeless issues? Yes, very much so all up and down clayton road from you know 242 where it exits in the concord all the way to kirker pass road.
yeah we have calls there related to homeless >> there also seems to be an increase in newhall park as well. I know there was recently a fire. I don't know if that was triggered by either my backyard is newhall park so the fires are often you know I smell the fires first because I hear the chatter and people are here talking and then all of a sudden there's a fire.
it is currently is newhall park considered like a high response area for issues with homeless? It has been funny you mentioned newhall. I was contacted by the city today by parks and recs of some issues they're having. We did not get in contact so I don't know exactly what those issues are.
my unit is aware there is a homeless individual camping in newhall. We found the camp. We have not found the individual. We're following our procedures and state law. We're going to abate it come monday but we have to give them notice before we can abate it and give them certain time to move.
so it will take us probably till next wednesday before we can remove the camp. But we are aware in the past I took over in january of 2025 and newhall was a fairly regular stop for us for in baiting camps people living off street bella or that area in those woods and hills there were lot of homeless camps up there for a while.
>> yeah. Okay. Thank you commissioner barber yeah. I didn't think of a question. How many calls for service do you get at the intersection of babil and clayton road on a on a daily basis? On a >> daily basis? Not a lot I think what would I mean in my 21 years here I have gone to the valley
motel and usually >> some self-initiated stuff dealing with it's a how do I put it? It's one of the cheaper hotels so it attracts more >> of a transitory style living and it's not really what's known as a business hotel like the hilton.
so we've had a lot of calls there over the years but in the last two years the valley motel we only had one specific >> call for service there that I could find a lot of the calls in the clayton babble area are related to the motel six right across the street that has usually in the past had a lot of calls for service.
that's currently the case still as far as I know of yes but I'm not working that >> beat anymore like I used to so I'm not up to date on the exact stats but we do have a fair amount of calls for service there. Thank you very much, sir. I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.
were there additional questions for mr. Beno? I had a couple frank through the chair. Yes, if I could I do have some information relative to the issue of public safety that I just wanted to share for your information I hope solutions has a six unit supportive housing facility in walnut creek that opened I believe
sometime in the last couple of years and so we reached out to city of walnut creek staff to find out if there's been calls for service and other public safety impacts related to that facility since as you know, the same operator and we heard back today that police in walnut creek have not received any
calls for service for that location. So I just wanted to share that that thank you and that the frank that might have been that's why I asked you I know that I had emailed you that question and for the for the consideration of the commissioners I asked frank for others and it goes to similar
to your question in similar conversions where where they have a cluster of housing available for hope solution to administer their programs. I know that in concord there is this might be the first one it sounds like but I know that there are ones in other communities.
so my question was if we could get data on that and so that's I think what aaron was sharing was that we did reach out to walnut creek that does have six six units and that they are reporting that there are no what I'm hearing is that there the level of services about the same or no adverse increase in calls for service.
would that be fair to say at that way? Yeah. I mean there was no there was a church it is still a church so you know I'm not sure what calls were you know happening previous to that use coming in but yeah they've had no calls and then did >> we reach out to any other facilities >> or see
yeah I believe we reached out to pleasant hill as well but I didn't hear back from them. I haven't >> heard back. Yeah okay. And all right that that's all the questions I had for you frank and it sounds like we have a presentation by hope solutions so if we're done with questions for staff did you
have a question here you like sorry. Okay. There are no more questions for staff. I'm going to open up public comment and have the presentation by the applicant. Good afternoon. I'm robert cooley.
I'm the architect of record for this project and on behalf of hope solutions and the landlords they wanted to defer to me so through the you could just raise that so the members of the public are viewing remotely could you I'm robert cooley >> I'm the architect of record for the valley motel home solutions conversion and on behalf of vale of hope solutions they deferred for me to come up and speak first if that's okay with
the board. It's interesting how this project came into my purview. I am mainly a commercial architect and I do accessibility upgrades and exclusively defend area lawsuits for ada and the motel was sued in 2018 for ada violations.
so we made everything fully compliant and everyone was happy and we kept on with our lives and the owners are aging and their family decided that you know, there's this great opportunity with the city funding to partner with a great partner and help solutions and convert this into affordable housing and hopefully into into perpetuity as is sort of the goal.
so there's a ten year lease with an option to renew for another ten and it all kind of hinges on hud funding. Hope solutions also has first right of refusal after the 20 years to purchase the property and that's really why we're not able to commit fully to a 55 year is because we want to retain the value of the property for the sale.
I would like to address some of those concerns that were brought about by those the an individual on behalf of a local hoa. I have their letter here and some of our responses and it's just sort of in lines with what's happened with the process of this is before people get to know the project they don't really know what
it's about and they sort of assume you know the worst and sort of I would to when I took this project on I and I found out more about hope solutions I actually ended up making this my 1% so architects will donate 1% of their fee is pro bono so this is my 1% giving back to
the community is for this project for the last two years to the tune of about $10,000 before getting into the nitty gritty if you guys have actually I just want to check a few boxes and we might come back to these before I get into the concerns.
the picket fence was a recommendation by the design review board. We would like to keep the picket fence. We think it suits the neighborhood and the character that we're trying to drive for is not necessarily one that's fully commercialized.
and you know when I think of picket fences it around more larger commercial structures I think of places like the plan developments in florida where there's multifamily housing and they all have picket fences. There's one place in particular like every single picket in front you know every picket has its own book and every house has a different style picket there is that $760,000 that included operating fences.
so we're talking about the money that the city has already brought for funding for this project. A large portion of that is for operating expenses. So the concerns brought up or were basically four concerns and I'll read each one and then give our response immediate.
the first concern is that there is immediate proximity to amenity school introducing a facility serving chinese adults with documented challenges related to addiction and mental health so close to an elementary school raises serious child safety and welfare concerns for students, parents and staff. So our response is that the facility proposed propose is for individuals who are subjected to background checks.
the current motel is not there will be added eyes on the street for from permanent residents making the children safer because the motel will be converted into permanent housing and be full of residents who have a stake in their community safety.
additionally, the housing program has a high stability and low turnover rates which is what we're getting at in particular with hope solutions which is a top tier hud provider during the most recent completion completed year 98% maintained housing in the program. So what clients move into the converted motel they will be well known home solution staff and will have already achieved stability in that program >> the next concern that was raised was that there is an adjacency to new family oriented residential development.
our 70 unit townhome community represents substantial private investment and concord's housing stock families chose this area for its safety and quality of life which this could this project could undermine.
and if you're not familiar with this letter and who it came from there are entry doors to some of their units right on the sidewalk on clayton road so I can definitely empathize with their concerns and if you have like any type of ring camera and you get those notices you probably know what I'm talking about. So for this project the project and the overall housing program provide real opportunity for people to transition off the streets and out of the shelters making the community with residential entry doors.
oh yeah, the ones that I mentioned on clayton road, the main thoroughfare in particular safer 71% of clients in the program are over age 55. 38% are over age 65 due to ongoing affordability issues for seniors in our community, these community members deserve safety and quality of >> life to the third concern was that
the public safety traffic and quality of life impacts the target population often generates higher calls for service on a small 4.27 acre commercial site with recent staffing concessions, this risks increased disturbances, loitering and strain on local resources near both the school and homes.
so there have been no calls for service as we heard earlier, police, fire or ambulance at the hope solutions facility on the grounds of faith community in walnut creek since the clients first moved in during february 2025 at that location, hope solutions has daytime staffing plus someone on call 24 seven.
they also have security cameras for monitoring their properties and this is a great difference from the frequency of service calls generated by a motel. And then finally property values and neighborhood character. So in response to that we would we would just sort of conclude the project is spending money on improvements that will enhance the property and retain the neighborhood character of the building.
there is minimal impact to the community and if anything it will result in increased property values. That concludes that I have to say I'm welcome to entertain any questions you may have. Thank you. Are there any questions for vice chair lob? Yes. Thank you for your discussion.
appreciate that and it was helpful hearing a little bit about hope solutions operating is the staff phone number that you mentioned is unavailable to the neighbors or you know folks close by I believe so they have like a hotline that anyone can call. Correct.
so our staff certainly will interact with neighbors and mic so that you guys have a hotline that people can call will >> be at will the hope solutions folks be making the presentation because I think we get to answer that ask the question and then we'll be on my okay. Okay. At this point okay.
you want to hold the questions or let's see the other oh, the question you mentioned something about you can't fully commit to the 55 years is that yeah affordable housing well so what we're doing is are committing to >> the 55 years for the the two units instead of 100% of the units is is is basically because if we we're committing to 100% of the units then we wouldn't be as frank frank would probably talk about more of what we would be subjected to through the chair because
supportive and sorry hope solutions during the time that they're operating their supportive housing is providing hundred percent affordable right to folks of very low income. The time that they would be operating the facility would be covered under the 55 year agreement.
that agreement only requires providing two units of very low income but because hope solutions you know, falls under that as well they actually exceed that requirement. Their time would be counted towards that 55 years. Got it. And just to be clear, the the 55 year agreement for the two units would be required and recorded sometime soon before the certificate of occupancy for correct? Yeah.
the 55 year would start when at least two of the units are available for rent or when when those two units when the rent of those units begin begins by qualified households a very low income households.
so >> through the chair it would be recorded prior to the certificate of occupancy so the obligation would be there but the the effective date of when that 55 years starts is what staff is >> addressing. Got it. Got it. Thank you. Commissioner corio hold my question for after the presentation. Right. Thank you. Any more questions for the architect? So I know you mentioned that >> you would be first I'm assuming that hope solutions and his second. Yes.
all right they have a slide show prepared to. Hello I'm bill jones from hope solutions and I'm here to talk a little bit about us and I'm happy to say that we do operate permanent supportive housing in concord. Thank you.
>> so hopefully the >> fact that we're not well known to concord pd means we're doing something right and I'm going to talk a little bit about homelessness in the county, a little bit about us and then I'm going to talk specifically about the program that will be operating at the valley motel once it's converted.
so >> briefly, our mission is to heal the effects of poverty and homelessness by providing permanent housing solutions and vital support services to vulnerable families and individuals. We serve over 4000 people a year within contra costa county.
a little snapshot here the lower 2000 people experiencing homelessness on a given night in our county homelessness actually decreased in 2025 from 2024 based on a focus on permanent housing and increasing permanent housing in our community. We have a shortage of just over 31,000 units of affordable housing in our community and our continuum of care served about 14,000 people in 2020 for and the people who are homeless in our community about 86% of them of the households had at least one >> member with a disabling condition.
about 15% of people first experience homelessness at age 55 or older. Senior homelessness became a pretty serious thing a few years ago in our community and it still is. And about 19% of people report that they're currently fleeing domestic violence.
nearly eight out of ten people who are served by our continuum have lived in contra costa county for at least ten years. So there are people from our community in our community hope solutions is focused on three main pillars we're focused on permanent housing solutions client centered support services and collaborative leadership with our community in order to end the cycle of poverty and homelessness.
and we are as lean as we can possibly be. $0.91 of every dollar goes directly to benefit our clients >> and these are some of the vulnerable people we serve.
we have more than 30 housing programs and just a little bit about our impact. So you know over the course of a year about 80% of the people we serve gain permanent housing. About 96% of our households in homeless prevention keep their housing about 99% of the people in our rapid exit programs gain permanent housing.
people gain health insurance and access to needed health care. People maintain or increase their income in our youth programs 80% growth in reading level 100% of high school seniors graduate and attend college focus on breaking a chain of poverty and homelessness. Okay, the access housing program this is the program that will be serving the converted motel.
so this is a program that serves adult residents with disabilities 64 adult residents and people are placed throughout the county from richmond to antioch. We have 45 units throughout the county, seven currently in concord. We have more services >> in concord than just this program.
but this is one program program is currently served by four case managers and two property managers who provide mobile services throughout the county plus an adult clinician who serves these clients in home on demand mobile services 24 hour on call access. They're a solid team. Their manager is really solid.
I got to say she's been with the organization for a long time >> so most recent contract year that ended 71% of the people we served in this program were age 55 plus I think 38% were 65 plus. So again we're primarily serving older people 76% had chronic health conditions and we're talking medical health conditions and our outcomes 98% maintained housing or transitioned to other permanent housing in the community, 95% maintained or increased their income 100% had health
insurance with linkage to needed care 98% of eligible clients accessed noncash benefits like medicare and medicaid assistance now and then we opened hope village in walnut creek in february 2025.
that was part of an expansion of this program because of outcomes we'd achieved prior had awarded us bonus funding to expand this program >> so >> you already know what we're doing here and we've already talked about the staffing plan. Here it is.
I guess it bled over into our logo here on this thing but I would >> say in terms of the resident monitor we're planning to pay the resident monitor for specific times but we're going to select at least a couple of people >> who are going to be watching things all the time and they're going to tell us what's going on.
people are going to pick >> people who are going to be invested in this property >> . So we have a screening process. I can tell you more about that. Everybody has a lease. It's pretty clear people pay 30% of their income. They have a lisa denim about no crime. They have a lease addendum about no illegal drugs. They have to participate >> in support of services.
they want to participate in student services. They like their case managers. They get they form long term relationships with their case managers, their case managers and property managers are all on the same team. They're all our staff so it's good communication when they partner together when there are lease violations to address them.
so property >> manager gives the feedback case manager gives the support you know additional counseling is available and yeah there is a process someone can lose their housing. It does happen and when that has to happen we do everything we can to get people connected to other services rather than putting them back on the streets.
we do everything we can to get them back into the shelter or back you know, wherever they wherever we can put them that's not >> on the street. That's it. Questions thank you. Are there any questions? Commissioner corio >> I just have one question because it's the one that's been nagging me about the end of the program.
so at ten years should you not renew your lease with the property owner? What has hope solutions done in the past to rehouse the people that will no longer have housing should the program not be continued after that ten years we >> do absolutely everything we can. We don't lose people. We don't spit people out. We don't do that with our staff.
when a program ends we retain our staff. So you know we're in a cycle right now with the federal government and hud funding where things are shaky shall we say. But funding for this is still guaranteed funding for some other programs.
you know, I'm already that that funding change will happen in 2027 if things proceed as they seem to be proceeding. There's a national lawsuit >> so we'll see what will happen. But I'm already talking with program directors and managers about okay, what about this? What about that? We have to get creative. Let's think nobody's coming to save us. We have to figure this out.
we will figure it out and fully capable. I appreciate that I bring it up because it's specifically called out in the homelessness strategic plan that the programs that we fund be sustainable and this seems to be one of those things like like you're saying we're going to have to figure this out a long way that we go but I kind
of was wondering if there was >> an a directors meeting this morning where we were talking about okay, what you know, what kind of options do we have? We need to think about what our options are. Yes, work in progress.
I understand and I just thank you but I've been with this organization for more than 14 years. We don't let people drop. Thank you. I'm committed. Are there any more questions? All right. Thank you very much. And I have open public comment. I believe we have a couple of speakers cards. How many cards do we have, chris? Two. I was going to let you call them because there's only two. All right.
the first card we received tonight was from p k poor side. I get that correct. If you could please come to the podium and you'll have three minutes to speak and you'll see the lights on the podium change colors as you run out of time. Sounds good.
thank you so much for giving me this opportunity to speak and thank you for the gentleman the architect who actually read my comments and least least had a response to them. But I'd like to follow up on those responses and raise one of the more major comment or concerns. So basically I'm going to go by the script.
thank you for the opportunity to comment on the valley motel conversion. We appreciate that the architect has addressed most of our earlier concerns. However we remain deeply concerned about the reduced staffing plan.
unlike the smaller senior focused hope village in walnut creek this project will serve individuals experiencing chronic homelessness with mental illness challenges and drug addiction located near el monte elementary school, the site demands stronger safeguards for neighborhood and child safety. And I'm speaking this kind of on behalf of the 70 homeowners we have. So that's about 100 and over 150 folks. These are entry level new construction homes. So every day I walk into the neighborhood there's plenty of young families with young children strollers.
you know, babies, newborns and a lot are expecting new children. So we have respect fully request that the commission require 24 seven onsite staff coverage or at minimum significant enhanced monitoring during evening and weekend along with the detailed security and operations plan addressing school proximity.
thank you for your time and for prioritizing public safety in this approval. Thank you. Thank you. And the next speaker is robert cooley. Oh, did you have a did you have a comment as a person or have you additional comment as a person? Well, just call for your support for that question. I know it's kind of like wondering yeah.
so the only thing I would say in response to the gentleman is that we have been working with the community. We've had two community meetings besides the one that was required. We had a second one at the church and there are people here that I don't know if they filled out a speaker card or they're going to speak.
there are other members from the community once people understand what hope solutions mission is and what this project is about, they basically turn 180 and support it instead of oppose it. Thank you. Thank you.
are there other members of the public that wish to speak on this item? If you could fill out a blue card and you may come and speak you don't have >> to fill out a blue card but if you could please state your name I >> might give my live in the neighborhood and my concerns are here the upgrades you guys are talking about we're just air conditioning and removing the security bars.
I mean what about fire sprinklers? Safety rules, 88 requirements in those units they take consideration of that. You mind if you'd like to answer that? You may, frank okay. So >> the reason why a valley motel has brought on robert cooley as an architect is to do the required tenant improvements to comply with the building code.
they're actually I believe one of the significant cost items for them is installing sprinklers. But yeah, they will comply with all the building code requirements. I have not mentioned it when they've gone through their improvements and so if I can answer that as far as our design and site review application is just concerned with exterior modifications.
so I was remiss not to mention that of course part of this project there will be extensive renovation of the interior to convert the motel rooms into units and so that is going to be subject to different building code standards to mic them habitable livable spaces as residences so that work will be a part of the project but it's because it's interior it's
not something that that is before the planning commission for their consideration as part of the design and site review application, one >> of the questions the trees you guys are talking about moving why is it a concern once they take over the property instead of take care of it now >> just so
you know we're not allowed we as a commission don't answer specific questions but that's why frank jumped up on the previous one. All right. So I guess as long as it's within your time, that's fine. All right. A car down next week. Thank you. Thank you. And I saw another person.
you have the floor . Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I live on lucky drive right across from the valley motel. My huge concern now is I hear that this family cares about the community so >> unlucky drive we have them in parking walking across the street for prostitution.
we have the drug addicts walking in the neighborhood and now within >> three school distances less than 8/10 of a mile. There's a megan laws resident there and I understand from hope solutions that >> they're not going to allow megan's law. This is very concerning to >> us.
I've already been told by real estate that our property values will go down if they know that the shelter is there. I understand their intent. My concern was also like this gentleman expressed the lack of monitoring and the petition and to reduce the monitoring I understand >> cost but I'm also aware this officer knows this is known as the hourly motel because of the trafficking >> going on there that we've had
to put up with. I live at 1530 lucky drive you have my card. The men have parked there. My daughter sees them. She lives next door. Walk across the street.
so we have a huge commitment and again I understand what's going on and the intent of this program but I'm coming to you of owning >> this property for 77 years >> and my family and I live there now. I moved out of antioch. I've been held at gunpoint three times in my life. I moved out of antioch to >> get away to come back to feel threatened in my own home.
this officer knows that there's always an officer posted at the church next door that just brought that property from laurel ridge because the amount of break ins as well as on lucky drive right by the farmer's market the the folks right there on the corner.
so we have a lot of concern and we come to you they're presenting a good program and we hear they care about the community. That's very hard for us to believe when we see these things going on and we're just hoping that >> hope solutions this was passed without our authorization >> and I understand it's going to move forward but I'm coming to you as a long time property owner and citizen and in concord >>
help us >> put encumbrances around this where we have some protection. I'm 76 years old and I'm afraid >> thank you. And if you and mine stay in your name for the record so we get in the meetings if you would mind. My >> name is carol autry. Thank you. Very literary . Yeah. Thank you very much.
are there any other speakers who would like to speak on this item? All right. With that I'm going to close public comment and bring it back to the commission for consideration.
commissioner corio >> I'm I'm very hopeful for this project because I'm hoping that the people that will be served by hope solutions are of a kind of a different environment. It's going to remove the transient ness that a hotel brings of course and with the monitoring there and and hopefully stability that you'll have the same residents there for the ten years and it won't be such a transient situation at least tackling one portion of that you know that corner there.
so I'm hopeful that that that that will be what comes about because this has an opportunity to be a gem for the city to learn how to provide supportive housing more permanently to people that are suffering homelessness and do it successfully.
so it can be something that could be repeatable and could be very good for our city because we are experiencing a lot of homelessness within the city. So it would be nice to start solving our own our own problems internally.
I will say that I was the person on the design review board that was kind of nit picky about the landscape and it's just because >> I feel like all people deserve to live with dignity and you know the best that we can do with the exterior it's not just for the neighbors. It's that these folks are going through a hard time in their transitioning.
and so, you know, the appearance of the community itself could help be a supportive uplift for the residents that live there. And so that's something that I'm nit picky about but I understand it's a shoestring budget and you know it's not possible but I am in support of the project and and that's all I have to say.
thank you commissioner quail are there any other comments from the commission? Commissioner barber >> this is going to take a while. Buckle up. First of all this is not the first time I've heard about hope solutions and it's not the first time I've heard about other problems in that neighborhood. I live on jones avenue.
I spend a lot of time in el monte center so I know what goes on down there. Talk about how these strategic plan that wasn't just one meeting. That was a series of meetings. The county was there, meals on wheels were there well, almost every charitable organization in the area was there and hope solution was there and the case managers gave presentations and I was
blown away not only by their record but by their enthusiasm. The gentleman that made the presentation from home solutions they're in it for the long run and I feel very confident that it'll be a good thing. It'll be a good thing for the neighborhood because the people will be watched.
the sign that lease they're accountable and you know if you're not accountable and you do do every anything you want but their program is such in my opinion is such that that people want to stay in the program if they get out of the program they want to get back in.
I think it's going to be a real positive for the city now on the cypress trees and you know, I think there's a city ordinance where you know, if you have a certain size bicycle wheel you're not allowed to ride on the sidewalks.
we know everybody rides in the sidewalk but if you have those small wheels you're allowed to ride on the sidewalk and there's no difference between the size of the wheels on a small bike with or without an electric motor and clayton road is very populated with with those type of bikes.
and so I would encourage the transportation department to look at that people come on those bikes from around the corner or the other way it's going to be it's going to be a real it could be it could be a real issue. I don't know what the traffic coming in and out of that motel would be like but it's it's it's very concerning to me. So I hope they do take a look at it.
I'm very supportive of hope solutions when it when because I was at the homeless strategic meetings and everything and council meetings and when I when they first brought up that hotel I'm just like the lady that spoke a while ago not in my backyard I don't need another motel six.
I don't need some of the problems that we've have down there. Those problems are going to stay you know, but I don't think you're going to find that hope solution is going to be a negative that impact to our city.
I think if you if you two years down the line you're going to be you're going to be proud that it was there. As for the 70 units, it was built we heard from the owners there I think there's 17 I don't know how many units are actually sold there but this project there's a lot of state laws involved and a lot of things that we don't have any any control over because the
state law we hear that a lot. Well that building that has 70 units came before this this this organization and it wasn't going to pass it didn't pass well, we were going to reject it 100%. That building was not going to be built.
but there was a there was a state law coming in effect you have a small what is a small lot development that was going to take effect in june. So it was either get them to extend it and not to file their application and so they did.
it took the gentleman about 3 or 4 times coming to the podium and I was the planning commission at the time chair of the planning commission and I sent them back about three times to confer with the architect and finally I got him to postpone it and the impact of that was that it saved the city some money on on having to be denied and then appealed and argue that process.
but with state law it got put in on a project that without state law wouldn't have been built today. So I encourage people to look at what's going on with your neighborhood, look what's going on with state law because it affects us all. That concludes my comment. Thank you. Thank you. Commissioner barber vice chair loeb thank you chair.
I appreciate all the folks that came out this evening and and spoke and when I first saw this item coming I initially thought of commissioner barber who lives close by in that neighborhood and I know he travels back and forth to the shopping center as he mentioned and I was interested to hear, you know, what his thoughts were and he had concerns and
and then I got the public comments in particular one of the letters expressing some concern and before I, I, I wasn't aware of hope solutions and what the program was and what they what they did and some of the details and so I, I sympathized a bit with with the letter that we received and I
could understand some of the concerns that were raised and still do to a certain extent. But I hope that you know the presentation and some more of the details of hope solutions programs give you some some more comfort. They certainly do.
for me I feel like the program that hope solutions is going to be running here is going to be a positive impact compared to what what is there today and happening there today. So I you know I think I think this is going to be a welcome addition to our community. It certainly addresses a an overwhelming need that we have in our community. So I too will be supporting this this item.
thank you, vice chair. I too am also going to be supporting the the application and hopefully everyone I want to thank everyone for coming tonight both staff and members of the public as the commissioner barber said the bringing up penny lane I remember that as well because I remember talking to some of the neighbors.
I remember walking that neighborhood and neighbors coming out to talk to me about this development that was going to go in and how they they were very much against it.
so we're penny lane is I remember talking to people that were against that project and we heard from them but we also felt like we had some as commissioner barbour said there were some issues with the architectural design of that and staying within our lane as a planning commission which can be difficult to do sometimes at least verbally. We did everything we could. We I know we made modifications to to the landscaping and greenspace area. We made modifications to the roads.
we made modifications to the parking to mic that a what we felt would be a better development and so it's interesting to hear people from penny lane coming to speak about a project that now is going to impact them. Maybe I've been on the commission too long.
that being said, you are you also heard that we asked a lot of questions of staff on this one police department do polls and neighboring cities, things like that. And I specifically asked about newhall park because I live a little bit farther away from this motel but I wanted to remind myself that I, I experience issues my neighbors and I have suffered from the homeless people in newhall park
threat of fire. We've had numerous trespassing incidences and as as carol brought up that there's people in in our neighborhood I know in my neighborhood there are megan's law people. There are people on monitor with ankle monitors there that are being watched.
there are there are transitional residences there already in our neighborhood and I have the homeless people right literally literally sleeping along my neighbors and and the fence line that we have with the with the park so that problem is real and it's it's for to me it's it's pretty rare when we have a property owner and a group like home solutions and some funding that come
together to attack that problem and we as a planning commission I mentioned staying within our lane. Our lane is making sure that the projects that come before us meet things like our general plan, some specific plans or codes and in this case we have a homeless action plan and as commissioner barbour
said, a lot of thought was put into that and there have been several city council meetings on that and again thank you for being here. It's through these meetings and through city council meetings where your voice is heard and this is a specific goal in that plan doing a permanent housing for a motel conversion is in our
homeless plan to hopefully alleviate the chronic homelessness that we have in our city especially along clayton road. It's been said many times help solution. They have a proven track record at my church I serve on a mission committee and going all the way back to contra contra costa interfaith housing we've been supporters of hope solutions
and I have been the person that's actually unlocked the door to our sanctuary for some of the fundraising chamber concerts that we've hosted. So that being said, we I feel like we've done more research on this one than we've done on more recent projects as far as pulling other cities, finding other other projects and
getting input on that. So that's why I'm for this. Yeah. Thank you chair mizutani I have a couple of things to added maybe mr. Capri earlier that as well. Two things one is you heard a request from robert cooley, the architect to reconsider the design review board recommendation for the metal picket fence.
they want to keep the white wood picket fence that's at the motel right now. I've discussed this with mr. Cooley staff's position is that we would not support that the chain link fence that's between the motel property and the church would that value it has agreed to change that to the decorative metal fence and
those at some point you have the wood picket fence and the metal fence that's going to sort of be right next to each other and we're just worried about sort of the compatibility of those two looks. Secondly, you have a condition of approval number 19 that we've read into the record.
so if you can reference that condition if you're in agreement with that change. Thank you, frank with the the the fence modification also have to be noted as a condition of approval when the motion is made.
so right now the condition of approval is requiring them to do the metal picket fence all around the perimeter and along and between them in the church property so you wouldn't have to do anything if that's if you want to stick with the design review board recommendation that clear? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. I would comment I have a comment about that. Commissioner barbara go ahead.
yeah, I'm in favor of the middle fence that the wooden picket fence just doesn't and I don't think we I, I don't like the idea at all. I want to I support what the design review board said and I kind of smiled and frank during the the his presentation because I would have I would have asked for a masonry wall between you know as I always do
and he cut me off right in the middle and so yeah so he I'll give you the middle fence on both sides since I can only get the masonry >> now that we know we don't have a masonry fence that I'm open to entertain a motion.
did you want him through the through the chair public comment is closed. Yes. Yeah yeah. Oh yeah. Public comment is closed so you guys can discuss that. I'll pass out after I'd like to move the recommended action with modification to commission condition number 19 as staff read into the record we have a motion. Is there a second? I'll second that motion.
I'm going to call for a roll call vote please. Commissioner barber I commissioner corio I vice chair lub I chair mr. Tony I motion passes unanimously thank you all and again thank you for everyone that spoke on this item. The next item on the agenda is item six commission considerations. Our agenda shows none.
item seven on the agenda is staff reports and announcements. I'm just two brief announcements. One the public works department is aware of the issue with our hvac. I do want to thank commissioners members of the public for bearing with that this evening so that hopefully will be fixed soon.
and secondly, I believe you all had a chance to meet chris valera who has been serving as our clerk tonight. He's an assistant planner with with the department been in that role for about six months now and going forward starting tonight we're going to be having whenever possible chris or another of our staff serving in the clerk role to one provide that valuable service but also
for them to observe how these meetings run and get that valuable experience. Excellent idea and welcome chris. That brings us to item eight commission reports and announcements.
are there any reports and announcements from the commission? I have one one announcement and that would be I attended the trans pac meeting last week and one thing that I thought I would report out is there is going to be a sales tax vote come november for public transit and they're trying to get the word out to all the different communities.
I know I volunteered and so did council member I'll bring her she's she's on that committee as well that if there's opportunities for us to help get the word out at any city of concord events that we would do that but as we all know with the reuse project making sure that we have robust and and have public transit especially bart in our area is going to be very important. So I thought I would share that with everyone.
next is item nine. Future public hearing items nothing's changed since our last meeting on that regard. Next item august 5th meeting is the seven brew coffee drive through. Yes. And as a reminder the august was at the fifth meeting. I will be out of town. That brings us to item ten which is adjournment. We are adjourned.
I don't know