ATTACHMENT H
DRAFT PLANNING COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES
MAY 19, 2025
MINUTES
Regular Meeting of the Planning Commission
MONDAY, MAY 19, 2025
City Council Chambers
1 Civic Center Drive, San Marcos, CA 92069
CALL TO ORDER
At 6:30 p.m. Planning Commission Chair Rios called the meeting to order.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Commissioner Rico led the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
ROLL CALL
The Secretary called the roll:
PRESENT: COMMISSIONERS: BARNETT, CAVANAUGH, SAULSBERRY, RIOS, CARROLL, MARCINKO, RICO
ALTERNATE COMMISSIONERS IN AUDIENCE: NONE
ABSENT COMMISSIONERS: KILDOO, NORRIS
Also present were: Planning Division Director Joe Farace; Senior Planner Sean del Solar ; Associate Civil Engineer Brad Holder; Deputy City Attorney Punam Prahalad; Senior Office Specialist Gina Jackson.
ORAL AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS
None
CONSENT CALENDAR
1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES, 04/21/2025
Regular Planning Commission
Monday, May 19, 2025 | Page 2 of 4
2 Action:
COMMISSIONER SAULSBERRY MOVED TO APPROVE CONSENT CALENDAR ITEM #1 AS PRESENTED; SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER RICO. MOTION CARRIED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE.
AYES: COMMISSIONERS: BARNETT, CAVANAUGH, SAULSBERRY, RIOS, MARCINKO, RICO NOES: COMMISSIONERS: NONE
ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: KILDOO, NORRIS
ABSTAIN: COMMISSIONERS: CARROLL
DISCUSSION ITEM
2. Creek Plan Workshop
Consultants Laura Stetson and Steven Davidovas from MIG gave a project update regarding Stormwater, Land Use, and Mobility.
Planning Commissioners Discussions: Thanked MIG for the presentation, listening to the people, and bringing the ideas forward; difference between the proposed plan versus the previously approved plan; timeline goal and funding; concerns with who will be paying for this plan update; advised to make this plan extremely dense to maintain open space; this is a great plan and what will be provided for the bicyclist; support minimizing new crossing across San Marcos Blvd; questions on the natural flow because of the different property owners; asked about existing limit on the building heights to no higher than the tallest building on the CSUSM campus.
MIG response: The creek and bridge, and the general yield of the development, and balance of residential and businesses. What will change are rooftops to support more commercial, which will provide incentives.
The timeframe will proceed at its own pace. The city is pursuing a grant to redo San Marcos Blvd, but the timeframe for that project is unknown. Allow a developer more density so that they can have an open space feature. Workshops will be done to get the public’s feedback on the emerging preferred plan.
Staff response: The difficulty with the current plan is that it doesn’t match the existing property lines. There are also significant floodway issues. City building height limits are unrelated to buildings on the CSUSM campus.
PUBLIC HEARING
3. Project No: SP23-0001, GPA23-0002, R22-0001, SDP23-0003, CUP23-0002 and EIR24-0003 Applicant: Avenue Development Partners, LLC.
Request: A Specific Plan, General Plan Amendment, and Rezone to change the General Plan land use and zoning designations of the 2.44-acre parcel from Public Institutional (PI) to Specific Plan Area (SPA) Regular Planning Commission
Monday, May 19, 2025 | Page 3 of 4
3 to establish the Armorlite Lofts Specific Plan.
Recommendation: Staff recommends for approval to City Council
Senior Planner Sean del Solar: gave staff presentation.
Applicant representative Jason Greminger with CCI: gave applicant presentation.
OPEN PUBLIC COMMENTS
Chase Preciado with Lozeau Drury LLP on behalf of SAFER: expressed environmental concerns with the proposed project site and the impacts to the biological resources.
Planning Commissioners Discussions: Address biological concerns from public speaker; units with ADA accessibility; thanked the applicant for the presentation; bedroom count in the lofts; on street parking when the garages are occupied; bird impacts on windows; accepting the financial numbers in the report; concerns that there are no three bedrooms available; mini dorm control; access towards the back of the property to provide a trail to Palomar College; concerns with single egress and fire department access; like the walkability access of the project; resident incentives for transportation tickets; happy the developer is going to review and address the environmental concerns; we need to do what we can to help the environment; like the affordability of the project and the amenities.
Applicant response: We received a letter from the law firm indicating they reserve the right to respond later, which was done today just before the meeting. We will provide a response as soon as possible addressing their concerns and send to the city for review. Our consultan ts did a thorough environmental study on the site. The property will have elevators, and all the units will be considered ADA accessible. The units will be one story only. 93 one bedrooms with the remainder units being two bedrooms. We are not relying on public street parking, but it is available on Armorlite Drive. Research needs to be done on the windows. Three bedrooms were considered, but with the 27% reduction we had to give up space. Property management will be on site to enforce the rules. There isn’t room to build the trail. We need to develop a Transportation Management Plan, but there will be transit passes available to the residents.
Staff response: The fire plan has been reviewed. The project gate will be conditioned to open when the fire trucks arrive.
Action:
COMMISSIONER SAULSBERRY MOTIONED TO APPROVE PC2 5-5162 FOR EIR24-0003, PC25 -5159 FOR SP23-0001, PC25 -5160 FOR GPA23 -0002, PC25 -5161 FOR R23 -0001, PC25 -5157 FOR SDP23 -0003, & PC25-5158 FOR CUP23-0002 AND SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER CAVANAUGH . MOTION CARRIED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE.
AYES: COMMISSIONERS: BARNETT, CAVANAUGH, SAULSBERRY, RIOS, CARROLL, MARCINKO, RICO
NOES: COMMISSIONERS: NONE
Regular Planning Commission
Monday, May 19, 2025 | Page 4 of 4
4 ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: KILDOO, NORRIS
ABSTAIN: COMMISSIONERS: NONE
CLOSED PUBLIC COMMENTS
PLANNING DIVISION DIRECTOR COMMENTS: There will be a workshop with City Council next Tuesday for the Creek Plan update. There will also be a meeting on June 16 th, but I will not be here. Mr. Nightingale will run that meeting during my absence and this concludes my comments.
PLANNING COMMISSIONERS COMMENTS:
None
ADJOURNMENT
At 8:24 p.m. Chair Rios adjourned the meeting.
______________________________________________
FATIMA RIOS, CHAIRPERSON
CITY OF SAN MARCOS PLANNING COMMISSION
ATTEST:
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GINA JACKSON, SENIOR OFFICE SPECIALIST
CITY OF SAN MARCOS PLANNING COMMISSION