Huntington Beach Planning Commission Regular Meeting – March 26, 2024
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Huntington Beach Planning Commission Regular Meeting – March 26, 2024
The Huntington Beach Planning Commission held a regular meeting on March 26, 2024, at 6:00 PM in the Council Chambers. The meeting included public comments, two public hearings, approval of consent calendar items, and liaison reports. Key actions included recommending approval of a zoning map amendment for 18 church/school parcels and a zoning text amendment updating eight chapters of the city's zoning ordinance.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of January 23, 2024, Planning Commission Minutes: Approved unanimously (7-0).
- Approval of February 13, 2024, Planning Commission Minutes: Approved 6-0-1 (Commissioner Rodriguez abstained due to absence at that meeting).
Public Comments & Testimony
- Perry Clitheroe urged the city to adopt a compliant housing element to avoid builders' remedy and to focus on transportation improvements along major corridors like Adams Avenue and Beach Boulevard.
- James DeMarco (representing his wife Cheryl DeMarco, an architect) opposed the zoning map amendment (ZMA No. 23-002), raising concerns that the PS (Public Semi-Public) designation could allow uses such as cemeteries, recycling centers, or drug rehabilitation facilities via conditional use permits (CUPs), which he argued are easily granted. He noted that a 50-foot height limit in PS zones could negatively impact surrounding residential properties.
Discussion Items
Zoning Map Amendment No. 23-002 (Mapping Consistency Cleanup – Churches and Schools)
- Staff presented a proposal to rezone 18 parcels (churches and schools) to Public Semi-Public (PS) to match their General Plan designations, as required by California Government Code Section 65860.
- Notices were sent to 4,081 properties (certified mail to owners, regular mail to neighbors). Staff received 13 inquiries and one opposition (from Cheryl DeMarco).
- Commissioners questioned noticing effectiveness (Commissioner Kennedy) and height limits (Commissioner Acosta-Galvan confirmed that within 45 feet of a residential district the max height is 18 feet, otherwise PS allows 50 feet). Staff confirmed that most uses in PS require a CUP, providing future oversight.
- Public speaker James DeMarco reiterated concerns about potential adverse uses and the ease of obtaining CUPs.
- Vote: Motion to approve (with CEQA exemption) passed 6-0-1 (Commissioner Kennedy abstained). The recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council.
Zoning Text Amendment No. 23-002 (Zoning Update)
- Staff proposed amendments to eight chapters of the Huntington Beach Zoning and Subdivision Ordinance (Chapters 203, 210, 211, 212, 218, 230, 231, 241) and Section 2.5 of the Beach & Edinger Corridors Specific Plan (BECSP). Changes included: clarifying definitions, updating fence/wall standards (raising side/rear wall height to 8 feet by right), adding mechanical parking lifts for surplus parking, removing artificial turf from required landscaping, and creating an alternative street improvement path for properties along Beach Boulevard that cannot secure Caltrans dedication.
- Staff noted that removing the landscape planter requirement for public frontages under 10 feet wide would avoid the 18-24 month Caltrans dedication process.
- No public speakers.
- Vote: Motion to approve (with CEQA exemption) passed unanimously (7-0). The recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council.
Key Outcomes
- ZMA No. 23-002: Approved (6-0-1) and sent to City Council for final action.
- ZTA No. 23-002: Approved (7-0) and sent to City Council for final action.
- Consent Calendar: Both sets of minutes approved.
- Liaison Reports:
- Commissioner Pellman reported on the Historic Resource Board meeting: Log Cabin open house on April 20, 2024 (pancake breakfast at 11 AM, Lake Park; Boy Scout Troop 1 fundraiser for roof), tree planting by Tree Society, Friends of Edison Park cleanup on April 7, and next HRB meeting on April 17.
- Commissioner Rodriguez reported on the Design Review Board: Reviewed color and materials for a wall and water filters at city wells near Oakview neighborhood; recommended black fencing and greater height for security.
- Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at approximately 8:15 PM. The next regular meeting is scheduled for April 9, 2024, but no items were anticipated at the time.
Meeting Transcript
Planning Commission meeting to order. Welcome to the March 26th Huntington Beach Planning Commission meeting. While the Planning Commission welcomes public involvement and free speech, it rejects comments from anyone that are discriminatory, defamatory, or otherwise not protected speech. Those comments will not inform nor be considered by the planning commission and may cause maybe cause for the chair to interrupt the speaker. Such comments will not be consented to or otherwise adopted by the planning commission in its discussions and findings for any matter tonight. Thank you. Now for the Pledge of Allegiance, uh Commissioner Acosta Galvez, please stand. Can we have the roll call, please? Yes, certainly. Commissioner Adams is absent. Commissioner Pellman. Here. Vice Chair Kennedy. Here. Chair Twining. Here. Commissioner Wood? Here. Commissioner Rodriguez. Here. And Commissioner Costa Golvine. We have a quorum. All right. Thank you. Now's the time for public comments for the items that are not on the agenda this evening. Do we have any public comments? We do have one public speaker. Perry Clitheroe, please come down to the uh microphones. Okay, good evening, Commissioners. Uh I am here tonight to speak about our recent legal struggles, especially with what happened on Friday and our upcoming trial on Friday in regards to our non-compliant housing element. Uh to quickly dispense the idea that we are going to win, uh, that we are likely to win these lawsuits. Uh going back to the 1890s, California has ruled that cities or charter cities have the right to govern municipal affairs except the state legislature has the right to continue to govern on matters of statewide concern. The Great California housing shortage uh is certainly a matter of state concern, and we are not going to win that lawsuit. I uh it's just not gonna happen. It is a matter of state concern. Um, though I appreciate the energy. Uh builders remedy is going to be used against us, especially with how vocally opposed we've been to them. I feel like there might be some spite involved there, unfortunately, which isn't right, but could happen. Uh builders remedy is of course the free market solution to the Great California housing shortage, uh and it will mean we have no control over where uh upzoning takes place in our city where big new apartment buildings get placed, big new condo uh developments get placed. I don't want to focus on the fear though tonight. Uh what I think is disappointing is that I think we're missing a lot of opportunities to improve this city and quality of life for the residents. Uh specifically on transportation. My whole life congestion and traffic has been a big issue here in Huntington Beach. Um, obviously, we're very built out and very sprawly. Everybody drives. I don't know the statistics, but I'd wager the majority of Huntington Beach residents commute outside of the city limits to go to work and to make a living, and that's without talking about the tourist traffic or school traffic that occurs every day. Uh, if we passed a compliant housing element, we could focus our upzoning on certain thoroughfares that are used heavily every day, such as Adams, where thousands of students travel to OCC. Let's right now they have to choose between the terror of sharing that road while on a bicycle. They have to, or they have to choose the completely unreliable bus system that we have, or they get in their car and they drive, burning fuel down atoms and polluting the air of all those residents and getting in the way of everybody who maybe has to get to the 55 to go to work and doesn't have the bike as an option. On Beach Boulevard, we could take tens of thousands of cars off the road by offering reliable bus service or even a streetcar service like Southern California used to have to help get a lot of that tourist traffic coming down beach uh off our roads, plus we'd have a nice streetcar and bus bus route to Knott's Berry Farm and Anaheim.
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