Okay, the March 5th, 2026 meeting of the Planning Commission is called to order.
Would everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.
Will the Secretary please conduct the roll call?
Yes, Chairperson.
For the record, the following commissioners are present for the meeting at the time of
roll call.
Commissioner Chair Dahada, Vice Chair Mendoza, Commissioner Rich, Commissioner Solis, Commissioner
Tepjulu, Commissioner Naye, and Commissioner Zuber.
All commissioners are present and we have a quorum.
Thank you, Secretary.
The next item on the agenda is announcements.
Mr. Secretary, are there any announcements this evening?
Yes, Chairperson.
I have a few announcements for the Commission this evening.
First, as you may have noticed, we
have a new audio and video system in the council chambers.
And it's the first meeting that we
have using the upgraded system.
So on behalf of staff, we appreciate your patience.
If we run into any technical issues,
I'd like to apologize in advance if we have any hiccups
during the course of the meeting, we'll do our best.
Second, prior to tonight's meeting,
the chair requested that staff provide an update
on development activity in the city
and just to move the agenda along,
I'll plan on making that presentation
under item eight, commissioner reports
at the end of the meeting.
Thirdly, it's been a few months
since the commission last met,
but you may recall that the last time
the commission held a meeting,
The commission took action to recommend
that the council adopt some zoning code amendments
related to tobacco retailing.
So I can report back to the commission
that the council accepted the commission's recommendation
and adopted those amendments
and those updated regulations went to effect
at the beginning of this calendar year.
And then finally, I did wanna highlight
for the commission's knowledge
that there was a particularly interesting presentation
that went to the city council last month on February 17th
that I think could potentially be good information
for the commission, good information for the commission.
The city staff retained an economic development consultant
to share some analysis regarding the economic feasibility
of residential development in the city.
And it was really interesting presentation
and could provide some context for your work
as a planning commissioner
and your decision-making processes.
So following this meeting,
I'll send out a link to the PowerPoint
and the recording the meeting so you can watch the meeting
and the presentation at your own convenience.
That concludes staff announcements for the evening
and back to your chair.
Thank you.
Looking forward to those development activity updates
towards the end of the meeting.
The next item on the agenda is the consent calendar.
There is one item on the consent calendar this evening,
the draft minutes for the planning commission meeting
of October 2nd, 2025.
Would any commissioners like to pull the item
from the consent calendar for corrections?
If not, may I have a motion to approve the consent calendar?
Commissioner Solis?
I'll make the motion.
Can we go one more time here?
Back to you, Commissioner Solis.
I'm gonna click you in the queue.
I think your mic is hot now.
Test.
Yes.
I'll make the motion to approve the consent calendar.
Perfect, thank you.
Do we have a second?
second second perfect it has been moved by Commissioner Solis and seconded by
Vice-chair Mendoza that the consent calendar be approved please vote on your
screens the motion passes seven yeses zero noes zero absences passes
unanimously the next item on the agenda is staff reports and announcements mr.
secretary do we have any staff reports or announcements this evening we do not
the next item on the agenda is public comments the public is invited to make
any comments related to agenda items that are not listed under public
hearings or other items of public interest at this time if you wish to
speak during public comments please fill out a speaker card and hand it to the
administrative assistant and speakers will be invited to speak public comments
are limited to three minutes per person.
If you wish to comment on an item listed
under the public hearings portion of the agenda,
you will have an opportunity to do so
when the item is heard.
Please fill out the speaker card
and hand it to the administrative assistant.
We are now taking public comments.
This is the time when any person may address the board
on matters not listed on this agenda.
Seeing no cards, we will move on
to the next item on the agenda.
The next item on the agenda is presentations.
Mr. Secretary, are there any presentations this evening?
There are no presentations this evening.
Okay, next item on the agenda is public hearings.
Tonight's agenda has one public hearing item
for consideration by the Planning Commission.
If you wish to speak before the Planning Commission,
please submit a speaker card and state your name
and address for the record.
Meetings of the Planning Commission are recorded
and televised, so please speak clearly for the record.
Hearing item is agenda item 7A26103PLN21-0027,
consideration of a resolution approving
a conditional use permit to allow the expansion
of an existing metal recycling facility
at 1091 Doolittle Drive onto two adjacent parcels.
May we please have the staff report?
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Good evening, Chair and Commissioners.
This evening, staff is asking you to consider
a conditional use permit for the expansion
of the Alco Iron and Metal Recycling Facility
at 1091 Doolittle Drive.
Alco Iron and Metals is located near the northerly entrance
to San Leandro, occupying two corners
of the intersection of Doolittle Drive and Davis Street.
Unpaved Eden Road on the north side
of the recycling facility
lies on the north side of the cycling facility
along the Oakland-Museville boundary.
The site and surrounding properties are zoned IG, industrial general, and the general plan
designation is general industrial.
The proposed expansion area, which is shown there in the terracotta, is comprised of two
parcels of one acre each, which are accessible from Eden Road.
So metal recycling has been occurring at this facility since 1953.
The activities there are primarily sorting, staging, and preparation, which includes accepting
materials chopping them shredding them bailing them and the packaging them up for
for shipping to the end user
These activities require conditional use permit and the property lies entirely within airport safety zone number two
So the expansion site is proposed to be graded and covered with steel plates, which are
pretty much the only thing that can withstand the weight of the loaded trucks and it does so a lot better than concrete or asphalt which
get pretty badly damaged by the trucks. A truck scale is planned to be added in
the expansion area which will allow longer queuing on site and it'll take
some of the trucks off of the street as well. The scrap piles which are
highlighted there in yellow are going to be moved from their current locations
onto the expansion area. The fencing that will be ultimately added to the site is
going to comply with the zoning and building codes. So with respect to
aesthetic improvements. The scrap piles as I mentioned are going to be moved
away from Doolittle Drive so they'll be less visible. Currently you can see them
from Davis Street if you're coming over the overcross or overpass and then you
can also see them from adjacent to the site on Doolittle Drive. They're quite
visible. Condition 29 in the resolution number 2 requires that landscaping be
refreshed and maintained in good condition. That's also consistent with
the municipal code. Condition 25 requires that walls and fences comply with the
zoning code. With respect to side access and circulation, moving the scrap piles
and installing a new truck scale away from Doolittle Drive is going to
improve on-site circulation and also on off, excuse me, on-street queuing. So by,
let me back up a little bit here, so by moving the piles off to the west there,
the trucks are going to be able to queue in the areas that currently have scrap
piles will also be parking in that area. So it actually provides a lot of extra
truck stacking. The findings of fact of this project for conditional use
permits are that the location of the use is consistent with the zoning code in
general plan. Of course this this type of a project is consistent with the
zoning code with a conditional use permit and is allowed in the industrial
general general plan designation. The second finding is that the location of
the use and proposed operational conditions will not be detrimental to
public health, safety, or welfare.
And the conditions of approval that have been applied
to this site or that are proposed to be applied
to this project will improve the site and operations
and ensure compliance with the zoning code.
Finally, the proposed use, the final finding
is that the proposed use will not create adverse impacts
on traffic or create demands exceeding the capacity
of public services and facilities that can't be mitigated.
This project is going to improve traffic
on the street right currently we have a lot of queuing
do a little drive, that left turn pocket, we're expecting to see a lot less of that.
So it's not only not going to create adverse impacts, it should improve that situation.
So have the opposite effect. And there really aren't any public services or facilities that
are being impacted by this other than traffic. They're not adding water lines, they're not
adding sewer lines. It's just the traffic issue. We did have a mitigated negative declaration
prepared for this project. It was circulated for comment for 30 days as required by state
law and that period ended the comment period ended on November 24th of 2025.
We received five comments from various agencies. All those comments have been
addressed in the final mitigated negative declaration. It resulted in some
some revisions to the project itself or to the sorry to the document itself not
to the project and a mitigation monitoring and reporting program was
prepared for that as well and that's included those documents are included
with resolution number one.
Yesterday we got a call from Commissioner Rich
who proposed a new condition.
You have that memorandum at your positions
that details this, it's identical to this,
but this is the language.
The idea here is that we'd like to see
a little bit more safety on the site.
And so the applicant will be required
if you adopt this condition to prepare
a operational and safety report on an annual basis
that will be submitted to the city
meets all of these these criteria. So there will be any operational changes
that have occurred during the prior 12 months, a list of any injuries
and fatalities that have occurred at the San Leandro facility, a list of any
CalOSHA citations and the status of any of those citations should they
occur, name and contact information of a professional who's responsible for
reviewing the safety program, and then verification of the completion of the
annual fire and hazardous materials release and training for the staff and
then documentation of any any related inspection. So fire will go out there
annually as well and have a look. So that's the proposed new condition from
Commissioner Rich and with that our recommendation is that you adopt a
resolution adopting the negative, mitigated negative declaration, the
mitigation monitoring reporting program and that you adopt a resolution
approving a conditional use permit to allow the expansion of the existing
metal recycling facility onto two adjacent parcels subject to the recommended
findings of fact and the recommended conditions of approval. With that we are
prepared for any questions you might have and we have here also a number of
staff who can also add anything that I lack the expertise to respond to. Thank
you for that presentation. Does the Commission have any questions for staff?
Okay, order I see first is Commissioner Tabboulu and then Commissioner Zuber,
I'll go to Commissioner tab julu first one second here thank you for the
presentation if you can go back to the site plan and just show the way the
circulation is right now and how that would change with acquisition of the two
new parcels like how do the vehicles like getting in and getting out is it
good question currently let me see if you can see this on you can't currently
there's a driveway on do little drive and they they currently come in in the
circle around it off the site oftentimes via Eden Road. What will happen at this
point is they will come in and come on to the come on the site past the
existing truck scale which is where the smaller circle is in the middle and enter
on to the the two terracotta colored lots and they will exit via Eden Road
them out to do a little drive.
Do they enter on Doolittle and exit on Eden?
OK.
Thank you.
Thank you for the report.
I believe on figure six, it shows the traffic.
And I thought the report said that they
were going to enter on Doolittle and leave on Doolittle.
Is that nice?
I see some people nodding.
And that does, I have a question on that.
On the traffic pattern on Figure Six, there's two locations where the trucks will be crossing
over, right?
So there's two actual intersections within the site where it looks like they cross over.
And that's a question I have.
Do they cross over?
And how will those intersections within the site be handled?
or be someone telling people, hey, you stop, so that the other truck can go by.
That's just what it looks like on the diagram, figure six.
I actually like to have the applicant answer that question.
Because since it's off-site or rather off-street, it's really more on their, how they'll handle
it internally.
Right.
And then to speak towards and thank you, Commissioner rich for, for adding, adding this this answers
a lot of my questions as well.
Adding this condition, I haven't read through it in detail.
But I do have a question, and it's perhaps for Commissioner rich.
this condition add any requirement for the city to monitor the amount of scrap
metal being stored on site and can we add that condition that there that when
that there are someone who comes on site to make sure that they're not going over
the amount of scrap that they're allowed to have because it says there won't be
any additional storage that's a very thorny question and it's one that we
wrestled with quite a bit as we address this project one of the issues with the
project is that it's very it ebbs and flows quite a bit we were looking at you
know ways of sizing the project how do we you know how do we when you issue a
conditional use permit there should be some sort of a trigger that that creates
a need for an amendment to conditional use permit. And one of the things that I was looking
for was something on that line. The problem is that depending upon the season, there might
be more scrap or less scrap construction season gets them more because they'll have demo stuff
coming in and other seasons it's quite a bit less, which is why we landed on the conditions
that are the triggers that are in the staff report. So when they want to expand further,
we think they're going to be expanding their hours or if they're going to be
expanding their product lines? We just didn't have a way of kind of getting
our arms around the quantities easily. So how I think I'm I don't understand then
then how does the landowner understand the limits of their conditional use
permit if the city doesn't know how to get their hands around it. Because
essentially if you start then adding more piles of scrap that now are
moving back towards Doolittle, is anybody monitoring that? We'll be able to see it.
They're gonna be storing on those lots. That's the deal. They were not
going to be storing on these lots. So it will be quite apparent. Ok so there's
there's what you're telling me is there's no way to add a condition here
for monitoring the amount of materials that are being stored on site. We
couldn't think of a way to do it that would allow us I mean maybe on an
annualized basis perhaps but like on a day-to-day basis or season-to-season it
day-to-day yeah it just wasn't you know we did try this pretty thoroughly it
just there was not a good way of getting there from here I think maybe the
applicant can speak to that a little bit more they've got more in-depth knowledge
of the the product but we boy we went around this one quite a bit does the
city of San Leandro inspect other industrial sites for waste and
compliance with conditional use permits we have done that in the past with waste
management mm-hmm okay and they produce a report annually is there any
stipulation that that alco will have to produce a report annually that's in
condition 90 that's been proposed yes okay just one or two more questions the
steel plates just a question on the steel plates and and I understand that
you know, steel is is going to be a lot more durable over time than concrete, but
how do, how is the drainage handled? Are these steel plates just put down? Is
there kind of any kind of remediation for what runoff of where does the
wastewater go? Everything that they handle there is dry, so when they bring
in engines it has to be completely drained of fluids. Well it rains though, so.
It does rain and there is some material of that sort
We do have a stormwater system that well, that's going to be built as part of Eden Road
So it'll be handled through to that and through some swales or to be along that
Okay, the steel plates will be put in place and then there's some type of drainage that will be considered
Yes, the Eden Road is not part of this project, right? But the city is in the process of selling it to yes
I'll just great. Just yeah, it'll be built a city standard
So the improvements of of Eden Road will happen before any of this work happens
Absolutely. Okay, the grading is gonna happen about the same time, but the the rest of the work will happen subsequent, right?
Are there any drawings or renderings of what the fence and the landscaping is going to look like?
We did not receive that that's a condition of approval. Okay, great
And then I think one more question
for staff
Under the general plan conformance. I think it's on page four of five
of
the legislation details
You know it says general plan conformance, and I'm wondering is there a minimum number of required conformance items that usually list
under here
No, there's not okay. I think we are reaching on sense of place
I'm just gonna say that
it would be great to see the things that really apply and when I think of sense of place and people arriving from the
from the Oakland Airport and going down Doolittle I don't think of sense of
place and and so I look forward to seeing the the drawings that come along
with with what this looks like and hope hopefully there's some effort put into
you know it's really the the first thing you see when you enter the city of
San Leandro from the Oakland Airport okay thank you very much appreciate it
Thank you Commissioner Zuber. Moving on to Vice Chair Mendoza. Yes so it looks
like there's not going to be new buildings or added capacity. So I'm just
curious my understanding is that there's been some fires in there like three or
four fires that in the last one might have been in 2018 and also during a
period of eight years three employees died and there was an investigation by
Kyle Osher so I'd like to know maybe by by the applicant if you know what
happened with that investigation what was the results it's still going on and
things like that so that's it. Do we have any additional questions from the
Commission for staff? I just had a few on my end here. Completely appreciate
commissioner rich and condition of approval 90 that was added somewhat of a
piggyback there on vice-chair Mendoza's statements relative to previous events
and things that may have happened on site I think this condition number 90
really gives the city some safeguarding and some assurance that there will be
some QA QC to prevent any sort of those activities from coming up again the
the stormwater system being built out as part of Eden Road. You did clarify that the timing
for the build out of Eden Road would occur prior to the applicant being over to take
over the two parcels that are being proposed as part of this item. Is that spelled out
anywhere in the text in the item that is spelled out already?
Okay. Item number eight. Item number eight. Okay perfect. I do echo Commissioner
Zuber sentiment there that Eden Road that does become a swampland when it
when it rains there is it's horrible trying to drive down that street and for
me at times I frequent that kind of pick and pull pick and parts location down
the road great little hole-in-the-wall location but getting there when it rains
rains is a nightmare. So definitely would love to see those improvements that occur
on Eden Road and get it to a point where that specific business isn't being swamped out
and their interior isn't at a point where they need to vacuum out pools of rainwater
that have just like seeped into their business. So anything that could be done to move that
along would be encouraged. That's all that I have.
along that line. The applicant has been working with that property owner to try
to secure a public utility easement and a construction easement for drainage on
that site. They're still working on that agreement. Perfect, thank you. Okay, with
no other questions for staff, we'll be opening it up to public hearing. I
understand from the Secretary that the applicant during this time frame is
gonna give a brief presentation during the public hearing segment. So we'll
invite the applicant up. I did hear a few questions from the Commission, so this
would be the appropriate time for the Commission. If you had questions for the
applicant, feel free to jump in the queue and I'll ping over to you. Thank you very
much Mr. Chair, members, Guy Houston. I'm an applicant's representative for the
project. I've been only on this project for four years. This all started in 2017
when there was a call from the city saying, hey, can we meet and talk about
Doolittle and how we have traffic stacked up on the road and then the
the aesthetics of the the piles that we've talked about. And so that was the
the start of this. These two parcels became available for purchase. So Alco
purchased and then they made it a formal application for this in 2000 he says 18
but I thought it was 2019 so here we are today. I want to thank staff for getting
us here and you know Cindy Lemare and Eric Engelbart for working very
diligently with us to try to it's a very complicated project when you start
adding in Eden Road and all the things that are going on there. I'll try the
presentation was very good I wish there was a little different visual of what
the site is going to look like with the scales. And it's kind of hard to visualize without
having something to point at. But when the two scales are there, that's, you know, you
say, well, they're just going to put piles on, you know, where they are now. Well, you
won't because there's going to be another additional scale there. So you're going to
be coming in on Doolittle and being weighed on the scale and then going in the back dropping
on the two additional acres, coming back out and then being weighed on the second scale
going out. How it works now is they literally come in, weigh, dump, and then back up onto
the scale again and get weighed again because that's how you can tell, and then they manage
to get out. And so that's a lot of traffic jam, a lot going on there at this point in
time. So we're very sincere in that we're not adding any additional lines of work. The
The only way you can really have more volume is to have an additional line of product that
you're working on.
Our business is to get scrap out of there.
So piles is something that we don't like and it is amazing over a course of 48 or 72 hours
you can see a pile and it's all gone but it's replaced so to be fair.
But the two scale system is going to help immeasurably and then having that stacking
that occurs on certain days, particularly Fridays on Doolittle, is going to be very
much reduced because they can stack up on site. So that's going to be a I wish
we had a visual of that effect. The timing of bringing when we can able to
utilize the two acres. The big condition from from fire is that we have to have
have access from Eden Road for those two acres before we can use the two acres, very reasonable.
So that means we have to complete Eden Road so we can access the two acres and then we
can use the two acres.
So even though these are two separate projects, they are joined at the hip.
And we're working very closely with staff and the Port of Oakland and Caltrans and East
Bay Mudd and everybody else to, we're at the point where we should be able to get and pull
those building permits when the weather gets good probably in April. So all of this is kind
of feathering together and going very well. The steel plates and the drainage another great
impact to this project initially it was on traffic and aesthetics and really it's morphed into really
safety and also environmental. There's a lot of issues out there because the drainage is so poor
And so when Eaton Road is completed, and it's going to be graded so that coming off of those steel plates, just like it would concrete,
it's all going to go into the proper drain and be, you know, professional in the way it's supposed to be.
If you've been a patron of that, of the little car parts place, then you know when it's wet, they literally have one foot of water inside their building.
and we have part of the project is we have it designed such that there's a
drain there and it will connect to the storm system and go out properly so at
least you won't have to bring your your rubber boots to get in and buy
something from them so a lot of work has gone into this but safety environment
traffic aesthetics those are the things that have been the forefront of our
minds in getting this done and we're we're hopefully get this get this going
within the next couple months and we would appreciate your support and I'm
here to answer any questions if I can. Thank you for that. One last thing I will
add is that the the condition that was that was put in we fully support this so
I think this is great this is something very similar that when we went to the
Airport Land Use Commission they asked the same thing you say you're gonna do
it well prove it and so they have asked for the same similar kind of thing the
The airport, they want to know as well so this reporting is not something that we're
afraid of.
We welcome it.
So I think it's a good condition.
Thank you.
Thank you for that.
At this time we'll open up to the commission for questions.
I see Commissioner Rich first in queue.
Thank you for that information.
That was great and thank you staff for that presentation.
I appreciate the additional condition and your willingness to work with us on it.
I think that's great.
I had one question for you, and that is, do you know,
and you may not, do you know if you have a Labor Management
Safety and Health Committee?
I do not believe we have that.
I'm gonna ask if that's something that you might consider
because it is a way to help improve relationships
on the job side about safety,
it helps communication on the job side.
I know there have been some complaints on this job side
and other Alco properties, and I think it might be a way
to mitigate those or eliminate those
with the communication between labor and management
on the job site.
There is a Kalosha regulation, title eight CCR,
section 3203C that describes the duties,
the committee would meet quarterly,
have members of both management and labor on there.
And I think it could be a helpful thing
as Alco moves away from some of the things
that the vice chair was talking about
and into a company that is proud of its safety program,
proud of what it's doing,
and is acknowledged as such for it.
Labor Management Safety Committee Meeting Quarterly.
Is that something you might consider?
I think it's something we can consider.
We like the language that's in the resolution
that says a third-party certified professional
responsible for reviewing these. We have these in place and we're adding them. We
have a fire consultant, we have a safety consultant, and so I would like to see
how this works. I don't see why we need to do something else at this time, but
it's certainly I can bring back to management and we can discuss it. I
appreciate that. The advantage of it is that that information of these reports
is also going to labor on the job site not just a management on it and the way
it appears the situation is happening right now is that labor is having some
concerns and is filing complaints with Cal OSHA which is just
exacerbating the issue with the open serious citations from those other
issues and a way to to get ahead of that to be proactive about it. I've worked in
a general contractor different business that had a Labor Management Safety
committee it was great for us it was really good for us because it helped to
control the rumor mill and people knew where they could get the information the
real information it's a suggestion I'm not gonna I'm not gonna I'm not gonna
make this a condition on top of this I'm requesting a good faith that you
consider it and are looking to that I appreciate that very much thank you
Commissioner rich moving to Commissioner Zuber I just had the one question about
The way the car the way the trucks come in and
The and then they you know, they go back they drop it off and they come back
But there's two points in that path where it looks like there's cross traffic
And is there is there a reference or something I can see I don't believe
Yes, I think figure six it could just be that visually it looks like they cross
yeah, I
Because we go in here. Yeah, I don't
Cindy if I could if I could ask you
sidebar
So that yeah, that's and I forget why can you pull that map back up on here?
Or at least the one
Yeah, I
Can see why
For the record, um, yeah, I guess for the record on Michael Berkowitz COO of alco, okay, so
Okay, so I'll just go over this from the start one more time on the traffic flow currently trucks come in here
They go around this circle go on the scale, right?
So right now and then they go dump whatever pile and then circle back on the scale. So
Currently you have in this whole area you have what we call our light iron pile our heavy iron pile and
all the trucks that are dropping off here and
Dropping off here and also our our trucks which are loading out both from this pound this pile. So you basically have four sets of
Types of business all going on at once over one scale and in a circle
So it just constantly backs up and you know, you get back up here
This right now the current scale is here. It is proposed a second scale is added here
So the traffic flow will be coming in over this scale
So you can have an in scale then you come go to the different piles
Come out over the out scale and out the little so that that's the yeah, so there's so there's not a real cross of
Traffic there. So yeah, these two these two. Yeah, I don't
Yeah, so well then perhaps this exhibit should be updated
For the record at some point and maybe that's during the next approval process, but it's
Doesn't even show the second scale, so I don't know
Yes, what you've drawn here is much yes, it's much safer than what is drawn on the exhibit so
Thank you for the explanation no problem
Any further questions from the Commission?
Vice-chair you might have had a question during the previous segment. Did you want to pose your question now? No
Thank you. Thank you
Go, actually, I'm sorry. I had a few questions if it's okay
Still getting used to going last
So
Maybe maybe it's unknown at this point in time
But your best guess as to when the timing for the Eden Road improvements would be occurring what's what's the range?
yesterday so we are at right now we were trying to pull the permits we have
all of the the East Bay mud Caltrans so the we just finishing up today with the
Port of Oakland they had another condition so lots of easements and this
that and the other but so around the cusp of doing this I would say since now
we're starting in beginning of March that you know April 1 that's always been
our goal because of this the construction season April 1 is when you
can start really working. So we want to pull those permits and start grading and
start working. So the construction time period is likely going to be
ambitiously six months it's going to be nine months and so our our big goal is
that we want to get this going as soon as possible because even though it's
we're in the not even in spring yet the winter is coming and so we want to get
this done before this year in 2026 and haven't buttoned up so that we you know
At the end, it's not a problem.
But it's a six to nine month construction period, nine.
Perfect, okay.
Yeah, that's where I was getting to,
is wanting to get it accomplished
and complete before the next rain season starts.
So, it seems like you guys are on that track.
Okay. Yes.
And then in terms of the equipment circulation
for the two parcels that you guys are taking over,
Will there be a case where the equipment in its circulation
pattern has a need to kind of offset into Eden Road?
Would they have any like cross flow into Eden Road
in order to make their maneuvers that they need to?
Or is it going to be completely confined to within the parcels?
The business plan is going to be confined to the parcels.
Eden Road is going to be used, but it's not
going to be used for the customer public.
There'll be alco metal vehicles and it's going to be used.
But it's not going to be a part of the, right now, people come down Eden and
they kind of come in the side sometimes and on that first driveway.
And so it really is quite chaotic, especially when it gets bad weather.
So, but the plan is that Eden is not going to be the primary source.
It's going to be the reason why the two scales are going to be where they're at is so
that in Undo Little out Undo Little.
OK.
Yeah, I guess my concern is, if there
was a potential for equipment circulating and using Eden
Road as maybe a workaround for maneuvers that
need to be accounted for, the timing of the Eden Road
improvements and the potential interjection of equipment
coming on to Eden Road might just deteriorate
what was just completed, paving, curb, gutter, what have you.
But if you're saying there's not going
any sort of equipment that uses that offshoot for maneuver purposes and
everything's confined? No. Okay. It's it's and we want we all that would do is
delay the the ultimate construction of Eden Road and we don't want that. It's
going to be it's going to be a burden. It's going to be a tough construction
for ourselves as well as the the auto wrecker but we have to do that so that
the integrity of the road is sound and you have you know your property the the
treatment plan at the end which is relying on Eden Road as well so there's
a lot of a lot of moving pieces and benefits to this once we get it all done
perfect thank you appreciate it oh okay sorry we may have another question for
you vice chairman doza yes following over what I mentioned earlier what's the
status of the car, OSHA investigations and fines and things like that. You can
talk about that. I'm really not knowledgeable about, you know, that that
part of what's going on. Obviously, you know, we're here tonight to talk about
the project and there are safety enhancements and improvements that'll
make it a better and safer place for everybody, for customers as well as our
workers and so I don't have knowledge about what the ultimate status is, what I
do know is that these things take sometimes a long time for there's a
final resolution so I don't have any report and I don't think in this forum
it's really appropriate to do that right now. Well you know as part of
the board here I think that the reason I ask is because I do believe that it's
appropriate and it seems that somebody should have at least a general
information about the status of the investigation. I'll have mr. Birkovich
she's more appropriate to answer that question. Okay there there've only been
two incidents in San Leandro the original the first one was in 2017 which
ended up OSHA ended up we settled with OSHA for a general one general violation
And so they did not find it as a serious violation.
And that mainly was because a third party expert found
that it was a third party expert found it
was a third party's fault. And they ended up
that third party and the workers family settled
on a civil case that was outside of OSHA
and outside of Alco and all that sort of stuff.
Although as devastating as it was to us as a company you know we you know and
wish it never happened obviously we felt that it was you know for lack of a
better word not our fault and that there was a third-party at fault in this case
but still the cap and that works so it's still obviously responsible for it the
one that happened last year is you know still very much ongoing case so there's
not much that you know it's been you know those ones OSHA finishes their
first kind of review then they send it to the state to review to make sure
there's nothing above and beyond what OSHA wants to do so that in my
experience from the 2017 one that takes maybe a year or two so right now that's
just a pending investigation that I can't really speak on because it's still
an active investigation but I feel once again you know once it's done and all
the information is out you know I you know I there will causation I think it's
very clear what happened at that point so he's still ongoing absolutely
correct all right thank you yeah no problem thank you guys all right so since that was during the
public hearing section uh feel appropriate to uh ask if there's anyone from the public who wishes
to speak on this item do we have any speaker cards hello everybody good evening i'm emily
grego i'm president and ceo i'm sorry uh let me just make sure i've got the right okay i've got
Two in front of me, Emily Grago,
calling our first speaker up to the stand.
Go ahead.
Sorry about that.
No worries.
Emily Grago, President and CEO
of the San Leandro Chamber of Commerce.
Alco Iron has been a member
of the Chamber of Commerce for several years,
and I can attest to the fact that they've had this vision
for their property in Eden Road for many years
as we took a tour at Alco Iron back in 2018
with our former Mayor, Pauline Cutter,
and they showed us exactly kind of
what they were thinking about,
And so you can see that they've been diligent in this vision
and what they'd like to see accomplished.
So we are here tonight to offer support
that you all support the conditional use permit.
We believe that it will definitely provide
some traffic solutions on Doolittle Drive.
As you said, coming in from Oakland,
all we see is these big rigs right in the middle
of our Doolittle Drive.
So this would be one solution
to allow this expansion of their footprint.
It also means a safer workplace.
They've got more room now on their property
to be able to move around,
and that's a safer experience for workers and for customers.
And there's also gonna be environmental improvements
with preventing flooding in the winter
and dust storms in the summer from Eden Road.
And then, of course, Eden Road will be a functioning street
instead of a big, muddy mess
that nobody uses at this point in time.
So we hope that you will definitely approve
their conditional use permit,
recognize that they've been a longstanding business here
in San Leandro.
They've certainly invested in this community,
invested in their, invested in, through sales tax
and through employment and offering jobs.
So we just certainly hope that you approve
this conditional use permit.
Thank you.
I will now call our second speaker.
That would be Guy Houston to the stand.
That was me.
That was you Guy, that was you.
Thank you, appreciate it.
Can we do it again?
No, we won't replay, it's committed to memory now.
So we'll keep that.
All right, I will now close the public hearing
and bring back the item for discussion by the commission.
Do any commissioners wish to discuss the item?
Commissioner Rich.
There's a lot to like about this project.
Recycling requires recyclers.
Alco is a long-term local San Leandro business.
The project will improve truck queueing, emergency access,
visual quality, all while reducing idling and air pollution.
I did have concerns about safety,
and I believe that the proposed condition 90 addresses those.
So I just want to indicate my support.
Any other commissioners wishing to discuss the item?
If not, do I hear a motion to adopt a resolution?
Commissioner Rich?
I think there's two resolutions,
one for the conditional use permit
and one for the NEGDEC and I move to approve both.
Vice-Chair Mendoza?
I second.
It has been moved by Commissioner Rich
and seconded by Vice-Chair Mendoza
to one, adopt a resolution,
adopting the mitigated negative declaration,
and two, adopt a resolution approving
a conditional use permit to allow the expansion
an existing metal recycling facility at 1091 Doolittle Drive on to two adjacent parcels.
Please cast your vote. The motion passes unanimously. The motion passes unanimously with the additional
condition of 90, condition 90 as presented by condition rich. Commissioner rich. Does
that suffice for the record? Okay. Decisions of the Planning Commission are final unless
appealed to the City Council by filing a form to the City Clerk within 15 days of the date
of this action. The form shall specifically state the reason for the appeal and an appeal
fee is required. Okay. The next item on the agenda is Commission
reports and announcements. Staff mentioned earlier in the agenda that a development activity
update would be provided under this item. Thank you Chair Tejada. Before tonight's meeting
staff did provide the commission with a copy of an updated development activity map and
table which was left at your seat before the meeting. As you may be aware staff maintains
and periodically updates this document for the purpose of providing the public with a
snapshot of major development projects in the city's pipeline. For the commission I
think it may be helpful way to stay informed about what's going on in the
city and provide some context for your work as commissioners in evaluating
projects. This information is available online in the city's development
activity web page. It's www.samieandrew.org slash development activity if anybody is
looking for a quick way to access the site. That page includes a map this map
and table along with other resources including a development opportunities
site map in the city. I would like to just, I'll be brief, but I just want to mention
that the documents specifically focus on larger development projects that have received entitlements
or maybe under construction or have recently completed. It doesn't include smaller additions
or single family, one-off single family homes or building permit applications that may not
you have discretionary approval.
So there may be other development projects in the city
which you may be curious about that are on the map.
And we can certainly provide more information
about those if you'd like to inquire.
If you've seen the document in the past,
and we presented this to the commission before,
you notice that there hasn't been significant wholesale
changes, at least in the past year.
A few, you may notice that a few previously approved projects
have recently been completed,
including the 180-unit central Calum mixed-use project
in downtown with the Grand Floor Sprouts grocery store.
The new Toronto facility at 1919,
Williams was recently completed,
as well as the 18-unit residential development
on Halcyon Drive in the south part of the city.
You can see that there are a few newer projects in the pipeline, amongst them is a potential
large industrial development at the former Levitt site on Alvarado Street which is currently
under review.
And on that note, I do want to note for the commission that some of these projects could
potentially come before you for consideration in the future.
So for tonight, the update is intended to be informational.
And I would just advise the commission
be cautious about discussing those projects
and expressing opinions in this setting
if it has the potential to come back to you at a later date.
And I'll let legal counsel add on if there's anything further
they want to keep Alex once I mentioned.
But I would just like to reiterate
that staff is happy to provide more information
about any of these projects and do a deeper dive
if the commission wants to contact staff on offline
to go into a lot of detail on the project
that you might want to talk about.
So happy to do that, the commission would like,
and I'll leave it open for commissioners
to ask any questions at this time
and conclude my presentation.
Did council have anything to add to that?
No?
opening it up to commissioners for questions. I see Vice Chairman Mendoza
and we'll go over to Commissioner Zuber after that so Vice Chairman Mendoza.
Okay yeah I just wanted to share with my fellow commissioners that I submitted an
application to be considered for the open seat on district two and we're
excited about it going you know going to the process and what's driving that is
my you know interesting issues like you know small businesses housing technology
and just wanted to share that and I'm going to be going to the process I'm
actually very excited about it thank you for that moving to commissioner
Zuber so secretary in regards to the development activity map if we wanted to
get a more detailed update on any of these developments for example the
status it might say on on this document it might say okay well entitlements have
been approved but if we wanted to get more information on you know how much
longer it might be do you have any other updates we can do that offline email you
And then you can provide some more detail
You could definitely you know, definitely do that and staff will provide as much information as you as you need
and we have conversation about it we can have an email about it or
Can whatever the commission may prefer to get that information but we'd happy to assist you if you like more information on the project
Sorry, I can't I couldn't hear you. Oh, I'm sorry. We'd be happy to assist you
Get more information whether it be by email or we can we get to have a discussion at it
Also, okay, and and and then just specifically in regards to Monarch Bay. I think that
This is something that many on this Commission
Worked very hard. I mean, you know, it's been a long time coming and I know that there were some
financial issues with Monarch Bay and
Would it be possible for the staff to provide an updated report?
in a future
Meeting so that that we all feel equally informed of the status of that project
We can certainly talk about what we we can
provide them as you may know there are some ongoing bankruptcy proceedings and so
some information that may be confidential as the city's working on that its position in those proceedings, but
There are certainly some information we could provide and we can work with staff to
Put something together to provide the Commission that would be great much appreciated
And then the last item I have was whether or not there is an update on
There's no one from Public
Works Engineering here tonight
and they'd be best equipped to
answer that question. I don't
think anyone, we have any great
up-to-date information to
provide the commission,
unfortunately.
Okay.
Thank you.
Commissioner Rich.
recently speak that the City Council is going to revisit the inclusionary ordinance and I'm
wondering if you can help me or help us understand where we can find information about the current
inclusionary ordinance including in lieu fees. It would be great if there was information
regarding in lieu payments to date and uses of those in lieu payments and interested in how
are inclusionary zoning and the in lieu fees
compared to neighboring jurisdictions.
Following the meeting, staff can provide a link
to the existing ordinance
and provide some supporting information
about fees collected.
I think that should be something we could provide
fairly easily as far as the project itself
in terms of updating the inclusion ordinance
That is on the city's work plan is something that will kick off.
I believe this, this year we'll kick off efforts on that.
And as part of that we can produce some analysis regarding what other cities do
it have done and what may be best practices in terms of.
No, I appreciate that. I'm not trying to jump the cue on this or anything,
but if there's stuff that's easily, easily available that you can point us to,
I'd appreciate it.
If there's additional resources,
and we can look into that and provide a commission.
Any other updates from the commission?
I just had maybe one request here
for the table, the development activity map.
This is a great tool.
I'm glad that kind of as a commission,
we requested that this be put in place
to keep us in a visible line of sight
with how things are progressing and where things are at.
One thing that I think might help
the status column gives an indication where things are at but it's hard to
really determine how long it's been in that status as an example if I look at
item number 28 that's the abode communities on Washington Avenue I think
that's been discussed for probably dating back five years now but it still
reads as under building building plan review BPR I might have that acronym
and I'm wrong, building permit review.
So if it's still under building permit review,
knowing how long it's been in that status
and or providing a footnote for some of these outliers
as to what's driving it to remain in that status
could go a long way for the public,
at least knowing what's happening there.
We can definitely get some thought to
ways we can enhance the document.
There are a number of projects, as you know,
that have been in the pipeline for some time,
have received approval.
And the commission may recall that we,
that the commission recommended an ordinance
which the council ultimately adopted
which extended the life of entitlements
for another two years to provide additional time
for some of these projects that pencil out
and make economically feasible
to move towards actual construction.
With that being said, I think, just
thinking through your request, we
could easily, for approved projects,
provide the date in which it was approved.
I think the date in which maybe perhaps it moved to a SaaS
where the applicants submitted an application for the building
permit review may be most meaningful in terms
of the scratch, painting a picture of where
the actual application is at.
What gives additional thought as to other enhancements
we could do to describe the status of these projects
a little better?
We'll give some thought.
I appreciate that.
Yeah, exactly what I was looking for
is just ways that we can retool the Excel document
and make it more intuitive and provide
a bit more information for the reader if they're looking at it.
It's kind of a one-stop shop, but giving the additional layer
detail that if this is transparent for the public they would be able to
intuitively see what's happening across the line. Can I also add that if you
access the document on the website there is there's a column for info sheet and
we do we don't have it for all the projects but we do have a separate page
with more information about these projects so that could be opportunity as
well to add on to additional information which without cluttering and making the table kind
of even more difficult to read. So that's another option we'll explore.
Thank you, Secretary. I think you had mentioned earlier in the meeting a economic development
meeting that occurred a couple of weeks back. You were going to be sharing the presentation
from that. I want to say that was the meeting that happened, City Council on February 17th.
Kind of in line with that, the last time that we had economic development here, presenting to the
Planning Commission was at least several months back. I wonder if it would be, if there's an
opportunity that presents itself for a next iteration of the presentation from the economic
development team being brought to the commission just so that we can better understand where
things fall on the economic development front. Yeah I'll bring that request back to the economic
development team to explore further. Another thing they can do is I think since the last time
economic development came to the commission we did adopt a economic development strategy
so it could be another item discussed with the commission. That's great yeah I'm just
reminded of that February 17th meeting and the consultant who presented on
viable options. One of those options being if commercial vacancies reach the
point of critical mass those would then be clear-cut opportunities where the
city could explore mixed-use housing commercial in vacant marketplace
conditions. One location that comes to mind is Greenhouse Market.
and the vacancies there that are kind of going through
turnover to turnover, and to me that seems like
it's a prime candidate for a mixed use setup.
So just really would like to have some more information
from economic development, the ability to get a refresh
on what's happening with their department.
Hate to go another five months without seeing
the commission here, so if there's a presentation
that can fill in that five month gap and it's done so
by economic development, I think that's all for the better.
And the last one for me here is Planning Commission Training
Opportunities.
You and I spoke about this previously, Secretary.
And I know that the window is passed for the training
opportunity in Southern California, which
is being held middle of this month.
That did just kind of trigger questions
in the sense of the next round of training opportunities
that are available, the training budget that's
in place for the Planning Commission.
maybe you can speak to those particulars
and the request from the commission members
if they wanted to pursue any sort of training opportunities,
kind of what are the rules of engagement to do so?
Thank you, Chairperson.
I think it is lesson learned from slice latest experience
that it is important to plan ahead
for trading needs for the commission well in advance
of the major trading opportunity for planning mission,
which is the league of cities,
which is the league of cities,
conference for planning commissioners.
I would encourage the commissioners
to think about attending the,
I think what's been reported back from commissioners
that have gone to the trading
that it's been a very positive and helpful experience
for navigating your role as a planning commissioner.
So I think staff has heard that it provides a lot of value.
So with that being said,
I think I'll reach out to commissioners
with information as I receive it for the upcoming,
for next year's planning commissioner conference
and start to get some interest that we can see
if see what the interest is and what the,
and then start to look into what the budget
could potentially allow in terms of in terms of training.
So we'll do some pulling offline
as we get more information about when that may be
and where that might be and how much that might cost
in terms of budgeting.
Perfect, thank you, Secretary.
that topic next month, or should we have a meeting next month?
Any other comments?
Oh, I see Commissioner Zuber.
Yeah, on that note, I did attend last year,
and I learned a ton, it was great.
I also asked to be added to the League of Cities monthly call.
they seem very amenable to any planner just jumping on the call it's a zoom
call and you can hear all the updates to you know California policies and things
like that so happy to forward that invitation to any of the commissioners
who are interested in joining the call. Thank you for that. Commissioner Zuber
over to Vice Chair Mendoza. Yeah just a quick comment so I've attended two
training by legal California cities before and basically what happened we
got an email letting us know that these training were available and you wanted
to go here's the date and we just replied say yes we want to go and then
so I wonder that's gonna be you know the same and you said you're gonna be
looking into turning opportunities and polling
us.
But before that's what happened.
We just got an email and said, there's this training day
and you want to go?
And we say, yes, I'm interested in going and that was it.
And then we got the hotel over and transportation and stuff.
That's it.
Yeah, those were the good old days, I think.
We've had some discussions regarding that.
So we'll probably table it, Secretary,
until you can come back with the specifics
of the runway that you need from the commission
to put that request out there
for attending any specific training sessions.
And then you can speak to the specifics
of the budget that's in place
and how a commissioner can go about requesting funding
for the budget.
And just adding on if there's a lot of interest
from the commission and budget is limited,
We may have to come back with a discussion about how to equitably allow commissioners
or certain commissioners to attend and or perhaps talk about like alternating attendance.
Any final comments from the commission?
Okay.
Seeing none.
The time is now 8 16.
This meeting is adjourned.