[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.