[14:16] Good afternoon. I would like to call to order the special city council meeting.

[14:20] The time is now 4:36. City clerk Dwarte, will you please call

[14:24] the role? Yes, mayor. Council member Romea, present. Council member Ortiz,

[14:29] present. Council member Thrujillo is excused. Mayor Proton Peton, present.

[14:35] And Mayor Sosa, present. Thank you. And uh I take we we have no um speakers

[14:43] public comment. We do not mayor and no written public comment either. Thank

[14:48] you.

[14:55] Is there a motion and a second to close public comment? So move. Second. Sorted

[14:59] by the mayor. We'll move on to uh this is a

[15:03] special meeting. Uh we'll move on to administrative reports. One item on the

[15:09] agenda, uh, consideration of an interim urgency

[15:13] ordinance establishing a 45day moratorium on singlepric overstock

[15:18] discount stores within city limits. that the city council adopt interim urgency

[15:23] ordinance number 25-1528 pursuant to government code

[15:28] section 65858 establishing a 45-day moratorum on

[15:33] the approval commencement establishment relocation or expansion of singlepric

[15:39] overstock discount stores within city limits. City manager Bradley is your

[15:44] staff report. Yes, mayor. If it pleases the council, I'll turn it over to our

[15:47] community development director, Irma Wetron. Thank you, city manager Bradley,

[15:53] mayor and council members. Um we have one item tonight which is a

[15:56] consideration of an interim ordinance uh regarding a discount stores and

[16:01] tonight's presentation will be provided by our contract planner Laurel Rhyr and

[16:06] we have a brief PowerPoint presentation that we'll walk you through that aligns

[16:10] with the content of the staff report provided to you. Thank you.

[16:15] Thank you. Good evening.

[16:28] Uh, good evening council members. Uh, like Irma said, my name is Laurel Rhymer

[16:32] and I will be presenting um the urgency ordinance before

[16:37] you. So, for some background, um, pursuant to government code section

[16:43] 65858, a city may enact an urgency ordinance for the protection of public

[16:47] health, safety, and welfare by pro prohibiting any uses that the city is

[16:52] intending to study within a reasonable period of time. Urgency ordinances

[16:57] require a 445ths vote from the city council, and if approved, they go into

[17:03] effect immediately and will be in effect for 45 days. An urgency ordinance can be

[17:09] extended for an additional 10 months and 15 days, which would then be a a total

[17:13] of one year of an urgency ordinance. Uh so long as there is a public notice, a

[17:18] written uh a public notice, a public hearing, and a written report that

[17:23] describes the measures taken to alleviate the condition conditions that

[17:26] led to the adoption of the urgency ordinance.

[17:30] The Downey Municipal Code has a definition for retail sales new and

[17:35] retail sales youth used, but it does not provide any details within uh those two

[17:41] broad categories. Under the current code,

[17:44] singlepric overstock slash slashdisount stores that are selling new merchandise

[17:50] would be included under the retail sales new category and would be be considered

[17:55] a permitted use in the C1, C2, C3, CM, and MU zones.

[18:02] However, singlepric overstock discount stores often negatively impact an area's

[18:08] economic vibrancy because these stores typically do not uh offer any

[18:13] improvements or minimal improvements to the spaces that they occupy. They

[18:17] frequently attract other bargain retail users and they discourage higher quality

[18:22] retail and commercial uses from locating

[18:28] nearby. For the purposes of the ordinance before you tonight, a

[18:32] singlepric overstock/disount store is defined as a retail store that sells

[18:37] individual items generally obtained through outlet, closeout, discounted,

[18:42] liquidation, or overstock. Uh they are primarily at a discounted price when the

[18:48] low or very low price range, so $10 or less.

[18:52] A singlepric overstock/disount store generally dedicates less than 15% of its

[18:58] shelf space to fresh or frozen foods or produce. They often uh sell an assort

[19:05] and they often sell an assortment of physical goods, products or merchandise

[19:09] directly to the consumer.

[19:16] Singlepric/overstock discount stores may have a profound impact on the public

[19:21] health, safety, general welfare, and quality of life of the surrounding

[19:25] communities. As previously stated, they often negatively impact an area's

[19:30] economic vibrancy because the uses offer minimum or no improvements to the spaces

[19:36] in which they occupy. They often encourage other bargain retailers from

[19:40] locating nearby and they discourage higher quality retail uses from locating

[19:46] nearby. Uh spods typically have lower quality items that end up costing more

[19:52] on a per ounce uh basis. They offer limited access to fresh foods. Uh they

[19:59] also contribute to local resident fear of safety by being a source of trash,

[20:04] loitering, graffiti, uh and theft because they frequently don't have very

[20:08] good security plans. The Downey Municipal Code does

[20:12] not currently define uh SPODS as a permitted as a use at all. So uh it's

[20:19] not permitted by right or conditional use. And there are currently no specific

[20:23] regulations to address some of the concerns uh that staff have related to

[20:28] the public health uh safety or welfare threats posed by

[20:33] SPODS. There's a concern about the proliferation of SPODS that or that

[20:38] there will be a proliferation of SPODS without further regulations um and that

[20:43] this could have a negative impact on the city. Should SPODS continue to be

[20:48] unregulated, such uses or such uh developments could constitute a current

[20:54] and immediate threat to the public health, safety, and welfare. And that

[20:58] such developments could start an irrevocable downward shift in the

[21:02] economic and aesthetic value of the city's commercial

[21:08] areas. Currently, there are 26 stores or discount stores within the city. And of

[21:15] those, eight of them would qualify under the definition that we we said tonight

[21:20] of SPODS and they're listed here. The other uh 16 stores that aren't listed,

[21:26] that doesn't make sense. 18 stores that are listed um would be stores like Ross,

[21:32] Burlington Coat Factory, etc. But those do not fit the definition of a

[21:36] singlepric overstock/discount retail store. So, we are only talking about the

[21:41] very low um and low cost stores such as the ones you see here.

[21:50] staff believes that the continued approval or of entitlements, building

[21:56] permits, and other approvals for new SPODS or the expansion of existing SPODS

[22:02] without further study and further regulations could pose a current and

[22:06] immediate threat to public health, safety, and general welfare. Further

[22:11] regulations are needed to protect the neighborhoods from negative secondary

[22:16] effects caused by the concentration or clustering of these

[22:19] uses. For these reasons, staff is requesting a 45day moratorum on the

[22:25] approval, commencement, establishment, modification, relocation, or expansion

[22:30] of singlepric overstock/disount stores. This will allow staff time to research

[22:36] appropriate regulations. Um, this will This moratorium would explicitly

[22:42] prohibit the issuance of any zoning, land use, discretionary permit, building

[22:46] permit, environmental approval, business license, or any other entitlement uh

[22:51] involving businesses that are defined as spods. During this moratorum, staff

[22:57] intends to study the issues associated with SPODS to determine how they should

[23:02] be defined, how they should be regulated, and how they should be

[23:06] permitted, and also which locations would be most appropriate for them to be

[23:09] located in. Additionally, staff will review the development standards for

[23:14] other surrounding communities to see if any of those make sense for Downey.

[23:22] staff has reviewed the proposed urgency ordinance for compliance with the

[23:26] California Environmental Quality Act and determined that the ordinance is covered

[23:29] by SQA guideline section 15061B3 which is the common sense

[23:35] exemption and that specifically exempts activities that can be seen with

[23:40] certainty to have no possibility for causing a significant effect on the

[23:44] environment. In this case, this ordinance would preclude the approval,

[23:49] commencement, establishment, relocation, or expansion of certain land uses within

[23:53] the city, but it would not be um an a development project.

[24:00] Therefore, staff recommends that the city council adopt urgency interim

[24:05] urgency ordinance number 25-1528 pursuant to government code

[24:10] section 65858 establishing a 45-day moratorum on

[24:15] the approval, commencement, establishment, relocation, or expansion

[24:20] of singlepric overstock/disount stores within city limits. Um, that concludes

[24:25] my presentation. I'm available for any questions.

[24:29] Thank you, Laura, for that detailed report. Uh, do any at this time do any

[24:33] council members have any questions or comments? No questions, mayor. Just uh

[24:37] comment. And again, I think this is important for our community, for our

[24:42] city. Um it is vital that we protect um the the the aesthetics and of course um

[24:50] looking at uh making sure that we protect um

[24:56] from developments that are not in line with what this city and in the vision

[25:02] that we have. Um so I thank you for the report. Um appreciate it.

[25:09] My comment um on this is that I can concur with a lot of you what you said

[25:16] and residents that also have reported a lot of the loitering most of the

[25:19] loitering is around these discount stores. Um there may be a grocery store

[25:24] next door but they're not there. They're at these discount stores for one reason

[25:28] or another. And I think namely like you have mentioned they don't provide the

[25:31] security. they don't have somebody out there monitoring it or telling them that

[25:36] they can't stay and then it is a blight to the neighborhood. It really is and um

[25:40] we have a number of them already. I think some of the uh city feedback with

[25:44] residents is you know we we are getting so many like this. I think a

[25:48] freestanding area might be different than in an area that's attracting a

[25:52] different type of consumer. Correct. All right. Thank you for that. I I just do

[25:56] have one question. you said the difference between the other 20 stores

[26:01] uh and with those eight what's the main difference between those two again?

[26:05] Sure. So one of the specific we go to the actual definition and and during the

[26:12] moratorum should it be adopted we will come up with a solid definition but for

[26:16] the purpose of the the urgency ordinance um the definition would be that they are

[26:23] obtained through the the outlet close out discounted liquidation or overstock.

[26:28] So stores like Ross or Burlington Coat Factory, um Nordstrom Rack, a lot of

[26:34] those fit that definition. So we went even further. Um and it's that very low

[26:41] or low discount price. So the $10 or less, a lot of the stores like a Ross or

[26:47] or you know TJ Maxx wouldn't qualify in that uh sense. Um similarly, they don't

[26:54] offer foods food goods. so that they they would meet that 15% or less of the

[27:00] shelf space. So, it's more of the variety stores um that are very

[27:04] discounted. That's that's what we're looking at. Okay, great. Thank you.

[27:08] There are also some um thrift stores that were on the list of the 26, but

[27:14] again, those because it's that very low discount price, they don't qualify. The

[27:19] thrift stores don't uh fall into that one. Correct. Correct. No, and I echo

[27:24] the same sentiments as my colleagues. I I think we have a a goal and a vision

[27:29] and I think that we want in our community and I think this is a a a good

[27:34] direction of what we want. So, thank you. All right. I make a motion, mayor.

[27:41] I make a motion to um begin this uh moratorum um the the urgency

[27:49] ordinance and establish a 45day moratorum uh on the approval

[27:54] commencement and establishment of these uh single price overstock discount in

[28:00] our city. Okay, we got a motion in a second. Please vote.

[28:10] The motion is approved with council member Thrujillo

[28:14] absent. Thank you, Laura. Okay. Uh, this city council meeting is

[28:20] now adjourned. The time is now 4:50.

Downey City Special Council Meeting - 5/28/2025

Transcript