Pinole City Council
April 22, 2024

1 April 22, 2024
1 2
3 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING
4 PINOLE PLANNING COMMISSION
5 6 April 22, 2024
7 8 THIS MEETING WAS HELD IN A HYBRID FORMAT
9 BOTH IN-PERSON AND ZOOM TELECONFERENCE
10 11
12 A. CALL TO ORDER: 7:02 p.m.
13 14 B. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
15 16 C. LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Before we begin, we would like to acknowledge the 17 Ohlone people, who are the traditional custodians of this land. We pay our respects to 18 the Ohlone elders, past, present and future, who call this place, Ohlone Land, the land 19 that Pinole sits upon, their home. We are proud to continue their tradition of coming 20 together and growing as a community. We thank the Ohlone community for their 21 stewardship and support, and we look forward to strengthening our ties as we continue 22 our relationship of mutual respect and understanding. 23 24 D. ROLL CALL
25 26 Commissioners Present: Banuelos, Bender, Lam-Julian, Martinez, Sandoval, Vice27 Chairperson Menis, Chairperson Benzuly 28 29 Commissioners Absent: None
30 31 Staff Present: David Hanham, Planning Manager
32 Erica Gonzalez, City Attorney’s Office
33 Justin Shiu, Contract Planner
34 35 Vice-Chairperson Menis reported on ex parté communications and stated he had sent out 36 email messages about the meeting to his email list and had a conversation with 37 Commissioner Martinez regarding Item I.
38 39 E. CITIZENS TO BE HEARD
40 41 Anthony Vossbrink, Pinole, reported he and other neighbors had raised concerns in the 42 past, but they had not been addressed by City staff, including the current or former City 43 Manager or the Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Committee (TAPS). The concerns were 44 related to street lights that were not synchronized up and down Pinole Valley Road, around 45 the Fitzgerald Drive and Appian Way Corridor down to San Pablo Avenue. He asked why 46 the street lights from Pinole Valley Road from the Trader Joe’s Shopping Center past 47 Pinole Valley High School could not be placed on a delayed blinking system, with a 48 blinking red-light or yellow calming system late at night to the early morning hours, which 49 studies had shown significantly reduced carbon emissions. 50 2 April 22, 2024
1 Mr. Vossbrink also reported that a number of street lights up and down Pinole Valley Road 2 and San Pablo Avene remained to be either repaired or replaced, an ongoing concern for 3 residents who drove at night and had trouble seeing markers and street signs given that 4 half of the lights were out along the route. While City crews were to be sent out twice a 5 year to check or replace the lights and although residents had raised concerns on 6 numerous occasions, very little has been done. He further questioned why directional 7 signs and reflectors in the median strip could not be placed along San Pablo Avenue and 8 Pinole Valley Road. In addition, the aluminum guard rails along the Pinole Valley Bridge 9 remained to be repaired or replaced.
10 11 Planning Manager David Hanham explained that street light issues were under the 12 purview of the Public Works Department.
13 14 Vice-Chairperson Menis understood that road signage and the details of traffic 15 signalization were under the jurisdiction of the Planning Commission. He asked whether 16 the City’s intersections could be set with blinking red or yellow lights at certain times of the 17 day.
18 19 Mr. Hanham clarified that was outside the jurisdiction of the Planning Commission and 20 lighting issues were under the purview of the Public Works Department. He added that 21 studies would be required to consider modifications to the traffic signals with the lights on 22 an 80/20 operation during peak times, and with two-minute intervals late at night. The 23 concerns could be forwarded to the Public Works Department and raised with the TAPS 24 Committee as well.
25 26 F. MEETING MINUTES
27 28 1. Planning Commission Meeting Minutes from March 25, 2024 29 30 Vice-Chairperson Menis requested a correction to Lines 34 through 37 of Page 5 of the 31 March 25, 2024 Planning Commission meeting minutes, as follows:
32 33 Vice-Chairperson Menis understood the ODDS were trying to get rid of subjective 34 standards, such as compatibility with nearby buildings or a neighborhood style, as 35 examples, and replace them with specific design standards that could be applied and 36 he offered a number of examples
37 38 Commissioner Lam-Julian requested the following corrections:
39 40 Lines 10 through 11 of Page 2, to read:
41 42 She [Commissioner Lam-Julian] added the monthly West County Mayors’ 43 Conference was open to the public and the meetings were rotated between cities in 44 Contra Costa County.
45 46 And Lines 13 through 16 of Page 7, to read:
47 48 Commissioner Lam-Julian reported the City’s Code Enforcement Officer had recently 49 presented a flow chart of the process at Pinole National Night Out. She presented 50 on permits at Pinole Rotary Club, which demystified the process and what the City 3 April 22, 2024
1 did behind the scenes. It was possible that information could be incorporated into the 2 Community Engagement Plan.
3 4 MOTION with a Roll Call vote to approve the Planning Commission Meeting Minutes from 5 March 25, 2024, as amended.
6 7 MOTION: Banuelos SECONDED: Martinez APPROVED: 7-0
8 9 G. PUBLIC HEARINGS: None
10 11 H. OLD BUSINESS: None
12 13 I. NEW BUSINESS
14 15 1. Selection of Chair, Vice-Chair and the Ad-Hoc Planning Commission 16 Subcommittee for 2024/2025
17 18 Mr. Hanham presented the staff report dated April 22, 2024, and asked the Planning 19 Commission to select the Planning Commission Chair, Vice-Chair and select members for 20 the Ad-Hoc Planning Commission Subcommittee for 2024/2025. 21 22 Commissioner Martinez nominated Rafael Menis as the Chair of the Planning Commission 23 for 2024/2025.
24 25 Vice-Chairperson Menis accepted the nomination.
26 27 MOTION with a Roll Call vote to elect Rafael Menis as the Planning Commission 28 Chairperson for 2024/2025.
29 30 MOTION: Martinez SECONDED: Sandoval APPROVED: 7-0 31 32 Chairperson Benzuly was recognized for his tenure as the Planning Commission Chair for 33 2023/2024.
34 35 Newly-elected Chairperson Menis chaired the meeting at this time. He thanked the Planning 36 Commission for the nomination and thanked Chairperson Benzuly for his tenure as Chair. 37 38 Commissioner Banuelos nominated Gabriel Sandoval as the Vice-Chairperson of the 39 Planning Commission for 2024/2025, although Commissioner Sandoval was uncertain he 40 would be able to serve and asked whether there was interest from other Commissioners. 41 42 Commissioner Benzuly welcomed someone new to serve which could provide a learning 43 experience.
44 45 When asked, Commissioner Martinez stated he would be unable to serve given a medical 46 condition requiring a number of doctor appointments, and while grateful deferred to 47 Commissioner Lam-Julian, who stated she could not commit fully to serving as the Vice48 Chairperson given time constraints. 49 50
4 April 22, 2024
1 Mr. Hanham clarified in response to the Chair that the Vice-Chairperson would fill in when 2 the Chair was unavailable, and could also serve on the Planning Commission Ad-Hoc 3 Subcommittee but was not required to do so.
4 5 Chairperson Menis highlighted the duties of the Vice-Chairperson, which he suggested would 6 not involve greater duties beyond being a member of the Planning Commission. 7 8 On the discussion, and assuming no one was able to assume the role, Commissioner 9 Martinez expressed the willingness to serve as the Vice-Chairperson of the Planning 10 Commission for 2024/2025.
11 12 MOTION with a Roll Call vote to elect Frankie Martinez as the Planning Commission Vice13 Chairperson for 2024/2025. 14 15 MOTION: Menis SECONDED: Benzuly APPROVED: 7-0
16 17 Mr. Hanham reiterated the Planning Commission Ad-Hoc Subcommittee would meet 18 sporadically to provide input on Planning Commission-related projects on an as-needed 19 basis and would be comprised of three Commissioners. 20 21 Commissioner Banuelos expressed an interest in serving on the Ad-Hoc Subcommittee. 22 23 Commissioner Sandoval commented that while he would like to serve, he did not have the 24 capacity.
25 26 Commissioner Lam-Julian reiterated she could not dedicate any more time out of her 27 existing schedule.
28 29 Commissioner Bender stated he would like to remain seated on the Ad-Hoc 30 Subcommittee.
31 32 Vice-Chairperson Martinez asked if the group would be agreeable to meet at a later time 33 of day when he could serve since the time of meetings conflicted with his existing 34 schedule.
35 36 Chairperson Menis wanted to continue to serve on the Ad-Hoc Subcommittee. 37 38 Mr. Hanham clarified that only three members could serve on the Ad-Hoc Subcommittee 39 since four members would constitute a quorum.
40 41 Vice-Chairperson Martinez bowed out at this time. 42 43 MOTION with a Roll Call vote to select Commissioners Banuelos, Bender, and Chairperson 44 Menis to serve on the Planning Commission Ad-Hoc Subcommittee for 2024/2025. 45 46 MOTION: Menis SECONDED: Benzuly APPROVED: 7-0
47 48 J. CITY PLANNER’S/COMMISSIONER’S REPORT
49 50
5 April 22, 2024
1 Mr. Hanham provided an update on Pinole Shores II with the applicant having applied to 2 change the dimension of the project from two buildings to one with the same square footage. 3 With respect to Pinole Shores II, he explained that the environmental work continued and 4 staff was waiting for traffic and other studies to be completed. The project was anticipated 5 to be presented to the Planning Commission in the late May/early June timeframe. 6 7 Mr. Hanham added that for the Pinole Vista project, the applicant submitted an application to 8 extend the project for one year and a Lot Line Adjustment (LLA) would be considered by the 9 City Council in the next few months; the developer for the BCRE project was completing work 10 on a project in the City of El Cerrito and would move the crew to start on the Pinole project 11 thereafter; SAHA was moving forward and was on schedule; Vista Woods had corrected 12 some foreman issues, with Phases 1 and 2 fronting San Pablo Avenue almost complete and 13 with the framing for Buildings C and D completed. The Vista Woods project was scheduled 14 to be completed around the end of the year or the beginning of 2025. 15 16 Applications for Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) continued to be submitted; staff continued 17 to work on the Annual General Plan Consistency Report; the City Council Ad-Hoc Municipal 18 Code Update Subcommittee had met to discuss amendments to the Zoning Code; the 19 Planning Commission Ad-Hoc Subcommittee has done exhaustive work on reviewing the 20 Objective Development Design Standards (ODDS), Three Corridors Specific Plan and Old 21 Town Design Guidelines, with staff to make changes to all documents, to be presented to 22 the Planning Commission in the summer and to the City Council in the fall. The Planning 23 Commission Ad-Hoc Subcommittee would be asked to review the Parklet Design Guidelines 24 and the Planning Commission was expected to be busy through the summer and fall. 25 26 Commissioner Lam-Julian asked the status of Nick the Greek, and Mr. Hanham advised the 27 applicant had applied for a business license, which was to be processed this week. 28 29 Vice-Chairperson Martinez reported that Chairperson Menis had previously raised questions 30 about the color scheme for Vista Woods and whether it would be more pronounced when 31 driving by the property. Having recently driven past the property, he found the colors to be 32 very, very muted and not as pronounced. He asked whether the color scheme could be 33 verified to ensure it matched what had been presented and approved by the Planning 34 Commission.
35 36 Mr. Hanham explained that the project was fluid in terms of what was being done, but he 37 would bring the approved color palette to the Planning Commission at its next meeting as a 38 communication item to ensure the color scheme matched what had been approved. He 39 clarified that no final inspections had been done for the interior or exterior of the buildings. 40 41 Chairperson Menis recognized the project was under construction and it could be in the early 42 stages of painting.
43 44 Commissioner Banuelos asked the status of the new 7-Eleven, to which Mr. Hanham 45 reported the project had issues with PG&E and had to underground utilities but he could 46 follow up on the status. He understood the underground work would not affect the building 47 and while the lights were on, the electricity had been on and off due to the underground work 48 which remained to be completed. PG&E would finalize all of that work. 49 50
6 April 22, 2024
1 Commissioner Banuelos also referenced Pinole Shores I, which had a sewer line at the rear 2 of the property that had not been working. He asked whether the sewer line had been 3 addressed as part of the work for Pinole Shores II. He also understood PG&E had a liaison 4 with elected officials, and he had contacted PG&E in the past to get things moving. 5 6 Mr. Hanham reiterated the reason for the delay for the new 7-Eleven and he understood the 7 PG&E liaison had been contacted. As to Pinole Shores II, he would have to review the 8 easements that ran along the property, although he understood the development would 9 improve where it stubbed in and he would have to check with the Public Works Department 10 about the sewer lines to ensure capacity.
11 12 Chairperson Menis asked about the timeline for PG&E to do the underground work, and Mr. 13 Hanham understood the work was ongoing, there were issues, and he could follow-up to 14 learn the status and provide an update to the Planning Commission at the next meeting. 15 16 Chairperson Menis asked the status of Appian Village, and was informed by Mr. Hanham the 17 affordable housing agreement for the project would be presented to the City Council in the 18 next month. The applicant planned to submit a rough grading permit and had building permits 19 and off-site improvements under review with the City prior to issuance of Final Maps. The 20 project was due to be under construction in the fall. 21 22 Commissioner Benzuly found it had been a great experience to serve on the Planning 23 Commission and watch how the landscape of the City of Pinole would change with new 24 development. He thanked City staff and the City Attorney’s Office for keeping him on track 25 and the Planning Commission for its support over the past four years. 26 27 Chairperson Menis thanked Commissioner Benzuly for his service and tenure as Chair and 28 prior years of service on the Planning Commission, and commended his practical skills which 29 would be missed.
30 31 Commissioner Bender also recognized Commissioner Benzuly and thanked him for his 32 service.
33 34 Commissioner Banuelos found Commissioner Benzuly had a good background, had run 35 meetings well, had done an excellent job and wished him good luck and enjoyment of his 36 private time. He would be missed and could be counted on to be sensible and able to get to 37 the heart of the matter with good comments and instruction. 38 39 Vice-Chairperson Martinez recognized Commissioner Benzuly for his leadership during his 40 time on the Planning Commission. He described him as precise and organized while the 41 Planning Commission considered significant projects, and he thanked him for his guidance 42 and ability to see things from a different lens.
43 44 Commissioner Lam-Julian thanked Commissioner Benzuly for his kindness, patience, 45 leadership and emphasized he would be missed.
46 47 Commissioner Sandoval too thanked Commissioner Benzuly for his service to the City of 48 Pinole and repeated the comments of his fellow Commissioners. He thanked him for being 49 a part of the changes in the Planning Commission and agreed he would be missed. 50 7 April 22, 2024
1 Chairperson Menis again highlighted Commissioner Benzuly’s dedication and skill, wished 2 him well and thanked him for his service.
3 4 Commissioner Benzuly thanked the Planning Commission for the comments. 5 6 Vice-Chairperson Martinez reported he had ex-parté communications with resident Sandy 7 Glanz, regarding a number of outstanding permits she had for repairs to one of her homes. 8 He had shared Mr. Hanham’s contact information and asked that she reach out to him directly 9 for guidance.
10 11 PUBLIC COMMENTS OPENED
12 13 Anthony Vossbrink, Pinole, asked staff to provide an update on the 7-Eleven build out, 14 whether 7-Eleven was a co-owner with Union 76, and whether staff had any status updates 15 on a beer and wine liquor license for the business given his understanding 7-Eleven planned 16 to sell beer and wine contrary to information that had been reported by staff to the City Council 17 and Planning Commission, and which should be publicized to the public. He also asked the 18 status of the Safeway build out and commented the City Council had recently approved a 19 moratorium prohibiting the expansion of existing gas stations and the building of new gas 20 stations; however, a gas station had been one of the components of the Safeway project and 21 Safeway stated if it did not get a gas station there would be difficulties getting permits for its 22 project. He also asked staff to clarify whether the City Council action would impact that 23 development or whether an amendment to the moratorium was needed. 24 25 Additionally, Mr. Vossbrink asked for an update on the former Kmart build out, commented a 26 large sign the City had installed in the parking lot had been removed, and asked the status 27 of the Happy Sashimi Restaurant vacancy and what burden the new build outs would place 28 on the Pinole-Hercules Wastewater Treatment Plant.
29 30 PUBLIC COMMENTS CLOSED
31 32 Mr. Hanham reported on his understanding there had been no movement on 7-Eleven’s 33 license with the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC), although Valero had a 34 liquor license for the sale of beer and wine and he would have to check the records to see 35 whether 7-Eleven also planned to sell beer and wine. Union 76 was the new owner of the 36 facility, Valero had moved out and that store may already have a liquor license and there 37 could be only a change of ownership involved, which staff would monitor. 38 39 Mr. Hanham also reported City staff was working with the property owner of the Tara Hills 40 Safeway, the City had installed a fence to prevent unpermitted parking and the property 41 owner was doing their due diligence to secure tenants. He advised that all entitlements for 42 the Pinole Square property had lapsed and as of now Safeway remained operational. For 43 the former Kmart property, now the Pinole Vista site, the applicant was moving forward to 44 extend the project for another year. The signage had been removed by the applicant as part 45 of the original review process.
46 47 In terms of sewer issues, Mr. Hanham explained that the City was broken into two sewer 48 districts; the West County Sewer District and the Pinole-Hercules Wastewater Treatment 49 Plant. He identified the projects that were served by each sewer district and advised at this 50 point in time staff was unaware of any sewer issues with any new build outs. 8 April 22, 2024
1 Mr. Hanham added that when the projects had gone through the entitlement process, they 2 all had the ability to serve letters for sewer service and they could only assume the lines were 3 sufficient to serve the projects. He was otherwise unaware whether a new tenant had been 4 secured for the former Happy Sashimi Restaurant.
5 6 K. COMMUNICATIONS
7 8 Commissioner Lam-Julian reported she had attended several community events to 9 connect with community members, and had participated in Walk and Roll Pinole 2024, 10 with plans for a cleaner and magnified schematic for proposed updates to Tennant 11 Avenue, Fitzgerald Drive, San Pablo Avenue and Appian Way on community preferences. 12 Community input would be sought during the Earth Day celebrations. 13 14 Commissioner Banuelos reported he had recently received a building permit from the City 15 and commented on his understanding the Mayor had received a number of complaints 16 about the timeline for the City’s permit process. He was curious whether the new online 17 system would result in improvements and he urged Commissioners to work with people 18 who could answer questions if the online system was not working. 19 20 Chairperson Menis reported the City had created new job classifications for junior 21 engineers to help with the backlog of permits, which should help to resolve some of the 22 issues.
23 24 Mr. Hanham explained that two Building Technicians were handling all of the processing 25 for the City’s building permits. He acknowledged there had been a huge backlog, with a 26 Permit Technician brought on to resolve the backlog. While there had been some 27 transitions with staff, the new online system was in place and the permit processing 28 timeline had improved. There had also been issues with some of the plans not having 29 been as clean as they should have been, which had added to the timeline for plan checks 30 and multiple third-party plan checkers had been used to review all plans. With the new 31 online system, the hope was to be able to monitor permits in the future, the last component 32 to be implemented as part of the new system, which would further improve the process. 33 34 The Planning Commission discussed the new online permitting system, the challenges of 35 expediting permits in the past and the hope that with the new system, processing of 36 permits would improve. The public was asked to be patient during this time. 37 38 Erica Gonzalez, representing the City Attorney’s Office, when asked by the Chair whether 39 or not the subject discussion was appropriate, explained that as long as the discussion 40 was more about clarification points from the Planning Manager that would not enter into 41 the realm of a full discussion would be acceptable, although back and forth discussion 42 amongst the Commission should be open to the public. 43 44 Chairperson Menis reported the Senior Center would hold its Senior Food Distribution for 45 low-income seniors on April 23, 2024 from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., with applications able to 46 be filed online along with proof of age and residence. In addition, the Community Services 47 Commission would meet on April 24, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. at City Hall. 48 49
50 9 April 22, 2024
1 Mr. Hanham took the opportunity to express his appreciation to Commissioner Benzuly 2 for his service as a member of the Planning Commission, particularly given his background 3 when some of the more significant development projects had been considered by the 4 Planning Commission.
5 6 L. NEXT MEETING
7 8 The next meeting of the Planning Commission to be a Regular Planning Commission 9 Meeting scheduled for May 13, 2024 at 7:00 p.m.
10 11 M. ADJOURNMENT: 8:25 p.m.
12 13 Transcribed by: Edited by:
14 15 Sherri D. Lewis City Staff
16 Transcriber