While California may not be known as the sunshine state since that moniker is Florida's, it is one of the 50 states that has adopted its version of the Sunshine Law or Open Meetings Act.
California's version of that state law comes to us courtesy of the Brown Act, enacted in 1953.
Assemblyman Ralph M. Brown made this law for the general public to know about, attend or participate in any City Council meeting, Planning Commission meeting, or any other local government body's meeting by attending it either in person or by watching via Live T.V/Cable or internet streaming whether watching it live or by video on demand on the towns internet website to be viewed at a later more convenient time. The Brown Act addressed the public's general concerns about informal or undisclosed meetings held by locally elected public officials out of the site of the general public. But what happens when even they (80% of The Towns Council & 100% of The Planning Commissioner Board) need to know what's happening in their Town but because of the lack of communication between the Towns elected and appointed leadership and its own Support Staff they don't know?
Well, I'll tell you what happens, we get a Car Wash that's coming that nobody asked for or knew about except for a few chosen staff members. Now it's getting built at the corner of Dale Evans Parkway and Highway 18. You heard that right, right where the old Agio Real Estate building is, which will be torn down and replaced with another single-use Car Wash facility. But, what's worse is that it's going to be built right next door to our Towns very own Civic Center, which contains our Public Library, Town Hall, and Development Services Building and is within a very short walking distance from our Town's Civic Park and the Target Shopping Center that's right across the street from our Town Hall. Apple Valley's leadership was doing a great job within that area, bringing in new, wanted, and much-needed retail, service, and fast food-type restaurants. Now they're allowing yet another car wash, to which Apple Valley already had 3, to which two are now closed, and one is currently struggling to stay afloat, according to Councilman Cusack.
I'm not against a Car Wash business or having a clean vehicle, but this was not the place to allow it, even if it fits the zoning description of the companies that can occupy that area. I feel uncomfortable having my kids play at a park or go to the public library next door to a business known to attract transients and panhandlers to them. Especially when there is so much more open and unused space in Apple Valley that is farther away from where kids and families congregate, but that is precisely where this Car Wash is getting built, and it will be right next door. The Agio Real Estate building could have sold to any number of complimentary type businesses that could have either taken over the building as it is if held for public sale instead of private, or someone else could have bought it and, after knocking it down, built another type of business that would have served the general public area's needs and wants so much better than this and fit in more with what the general business environment of what this part of Town better represents, so it could truly match up with the Town's motto which is "A Better Way Of Life!".
Now since this was allowed to go unseen or unknown to the general public or most of the Town Council or to any of the Planning Commission Board because their Support Staff has the power to Approve any new business application that fits the general land zoning designation, the Town's General Plan/Building Development Code and square feet building size limit of under 100,000 feet in size. They (The Support Staff) can approve that new business application themselves without informing the Town Council or the Planning Board and without any formal review or approval process needing to get done in the public eye. While it might be too late to do anything about this situation now, as far as the location of where the new car wash is getting built, we can make sure that something like this never happens again.
The Support Staff has the power to approve the types of businesses built in our Town and where and what they will get made next door to, which needs to change. Especially since our Towns elected and appointed leadership doesn't get to have a say so in its approval if that new business building size is under 100,000 feet, which gives way too much-unchecked power to the Town Support Staff with no official notice, obligation or even the need to take it to the Planning Board Commissioners for Approval, and to where the general public would also get a chance to voice their concerns and have a say so. Since only they (The Towns Support Staff) would be privy to that crucial and non-public information since they are not elected or appointed officials, and they don't have to televise their private meetings or business decisions to the public. But what if these new business application decisions got televised like all Planning and Town Council meetings? Then we wouldn't be getting another Car Wash in an area of Town that deserved to be so much more for the people of Apple Valley.
So I humbly suggest that we give the Planning Commissioner Board its power back so that they aren't just a Planning Commission Board in name only and that their Support Staff doesn't circumvent them. All because of a General Amendment/Building Code that gave them (The Support Staff) the power to approve or disapprove of any new business building under 100,000 feet without having to answer to anyone but themselves. Let's make a General Amendment Code Change for the better that does three things;
1) Any business application for a building over 10,000 square feet or more in size should be one that the Planning Commission Board meets on at Town Hall to decide if it gets approved or not and to where and to what it will be next door to. If approved, the Planning Commission Board will get the final say on the buildings' appearance and approval conditions. 2) Any business that needs a C.U.P or S.U.P or Conditional Use Permit or Special Use Permit, regardless of the business application building size, needs to be approved by the Planning Commission Board to make sure that this sort of thing never happens again, irrespective of the size of the businesses building.
3) Except for Industrial Business use, buildings over 20,000 feet in size would also need Planning Commission Board approval.
I believe these three simple Rules made to the Towns General Plan/Building Code using an Amendment Code Change will not only make sure that this sort of thing never happens again in the future but it will also make sure that important things like what's getting built in our Town and Where is known to the general public before it's too late to do anything about it. It will also make sure that not only just a few chosen Staff members know about a new business building getting built before we (The General Public) all do to make sure that the residents and property owners of Apple Valley have a say in what's being built in our Town as well as knowing where and what it's going to make next to going forward. I believe this also benefits the Town's Support Staff going forward so that Staff doesn't get put in the precarious position of looking like they showed favoritism to any one business, person, or entity or Staff getting put in a situation that can be a Conflict of interest between their loyalty to any one individual/company and their duty to serve the Town's best interest.
I believe that we have a more than capable, intelligent, and knowledgeable Planning Commission that not only has the Towns best interest at heart but also can balance that with the ability to do what's right for not only the individual/business entity but for what's suitable for the Town as well. I don't know any of the 5 Planning Commissioners personally. Still, I have watched every Planning Commission and Town Council Meeting in full since December 2021.
From all those meetings I've seen online since that time, they (The Planning Commission) have all intelligently done their job of approving Town Applicants' requests while also balancing those requests with the Town's best interest in mind, along with the fact that they will be doing the Towns business and their jobs in front of the general public's eye, whether in person, live, or by streaming video on demand on the Town's website. Having meetings held in public is precisely why the Brown Act became law in the first place in 1953. Being that the City Council appoints 5 Planning Commissioners, this is also one of the best ways that the City Council can get much-needed information on what's being built in their Town from those same 5 Planning Commissioners that they appointed.
As far as being business-friendly and streamlined, I believe that adding two weeks to a month at most in the scheme of things to get approved by the Planning Commission Board in public view if you have over 10,000 square feet in building size or need a C.U.P or S.U.P is still more than business-friendly being that any building getting built for business is going to take a lot longer than just a few months to be approved and made. Companies of those sizes or particular uses must also be weighed and approved by the Planning Commission in the Town's best interest. In the rare case, a project gets proposed, approved, and announced to the general public but ultimately doesn't happen due to bad economic times or other business-related matters. The Town's people will understand and move on because knowing as opposed to not knowing what is getting built in our Town supersedes any future disappointment of a business not being made after all. Because the only other alternative would be having a business Application approved behind closed doors that nobody knows about because Staff only does the bare legal minimum in notifying only those it must notify by mail in the surrounding area and by posting about it in an outdated newspaper medium by published notice only when required to, which is such an old-fashioned if not archaic way of notifying the public in general of something this important and should also be updated in today's current digital age with social media.
Last but not least, the Planning Commission Board can and should be put to much better use than what it's currently getting used for now, which is just approving small minor items such as a new electric fence approval, a fence height size variance, or residential lot splits and such since they can meet twice a month to discuss these sort of minor issues at Town Hall as well as much more critical business approval items. They should meet and have a say in how our Town gets built because, honestly, how often will a business over 100,000 square feet be built up here anyways? This lack of power renders them almost useless when it comes to new business decisions for new buildings getting built under that size, which they are most certainly not and for which I have nothing but the utmost respect for each. Remember that this is still a very streamlined approval process compared to the City of Victorville's Planning Commission, which have a say on everything coming through for new business building applications regardless of size, according to Apple Valley Commissioner Bob Tinsley.
So let's put our Town's Planning Commission to much better use than having them do under 30- minute or no meetings because they (The Planning Commission) are unnecessary. After all, The Planning Commission gets circumvented by Staff for the more critical business approval decisions under a hundred thousand feet in size and gets left with only the minor ones. Let's give those more significant essential business decisions to the five individuals whose job is to do just that when the Town Council appointed them and who represent our Towns best interest and the individual. Thank You.
Links Below: Are from the Planning Commission Meeting on 5/3/2023, which was a meeting dedicated to Why the Planning Commission did not get notified by Staff of this new Car Wash that's going to get built, and below that is the Town Council Meeting from 05/09/2023 which you can jump to minute 45.30 when Councilman Larry Cusack begins to speak about how he and most of the Town Council were never notified of this new Car Wash coming until it was too late to do anything about it and how in the future this needs to change. https://applevalley.tv/CablecastPublicSite/show/482?site=1 https://applevalley.tv/CablecastPublicSite/show/493?site=1