Monterey Planning Commission Meeting - August 12, 2025
Monterey Planning Commission Meeting - August 12, 2025
The Monterey Planning Commission met on August 12, 2025, at 4:00 PM. Chair Bluth presided, with Vice Chair Silva and Commissioners Brassfield, Dawson, and Freeman present. Commissioner Latasa was absent. The meeting covered routine consent items, a continuance request for a daycare project, annual officer appointments, and staff updates.
Consent Calendar
- 2076 North Fremont Street Architectural Review Permit (ARP-250134) – Approval for structural repairs to an existing hotel. Commissioner Silva recused. Vote: 4-0 (Bluth, Brassfield, Dawson, Freeman in favor).
- Minutes of June 10, 2025 – Approved. Commissioner Brassfield did not vote (stated he was not present). Chair Bluth, Vice Chair Silva, Commissioner Dawson, and Commissioner Freeman voted in favor. (4-0, Brassfield not voting).
- Minutes of July 22, 2025 – Approved. Vice Chair Silva abstained. Chair Bluth, Commissioners Brassfield, Dawson, and Freeman voted in favor. (4-0-1).
Public Comments & Testimony
- No public comments were made on items not on the agenda.
Discussion Items
- Garden Road Daycare (LP25-0013, VA25-5) – Applicant requested a continuance to August 26, 2025, for reduced front and side yard setbacks. No public opposition. Commissioner Silva recused. Vote to continue: 4-0 (Bluth, Brassfield, Dawson, Freeman in favor).
- Annual Appointments for Chair and Vice Chair – Confirmed Peter Silva as Chair and Terry Latasa as Vice Chair for the upcoming year. Vote: 5-0 (unanimous).
Other Matters
- Commissioner Dawson requested that minutes from the Historic Preservation Commission’s discussion of 581 Scott Street (the Hellum House) be provided in advance of the item’s return to the Planning Commission.
- Staff provided a planning update: the SB9 ordinance (amendments to Chapters 33 and 38) passed first reading and will go to second reading at the next City Council meeting; a potential application at 611 Lighthouse Avenue is tentatively scheduled for the next meeting.
- A request was made for a presentation on recent CEQA changes at a future meeting.
Key Outcomes
- All consent items and the Garden Road continuance were approved with the above votes.
- The new Chair (Silva) and Vice Chair (Latasa) were confirmed.
- Staff will incorporate requested information (HPC minutes, CEQA update) into future agendas.
Meeting Transcript
Of August is four o'clock. Um Erica, could you please do a roll call for us and let folks know how to get in touch online? Sure. Today we have Chair Bluth. Vice Chair Silva. Here. Commissioner Brassfield. Commissioner Dawson. Yes. And Commissioner Freeman. Here. I can go ahead and oh, I'd like to announce that Commissioner Latasa will be absent. And our staff members present today. We have our planning manager Levi Hill. Principal Planner Fernando Roveri, Principal Planner Christy Sabdo, Senior Associate Planner Chris Schmidt, Senior Associate Planner Matthew Buggert, and myself recording secretary Erica Brera. Information on participating in this meeting and providing public comment, including remotely by Zoom or telephone is on this meeting's agenda, which is online at Monoray.gov forward slash agendas. Remote commenters will be muted until is their turn to speak, and a timer will be shown on the screen. If you're connected on Zoom, the timer is accurate with no delay. In the chamber, we recommend keeping phones and devices muted to prevent audio interference with the meeting. Thank you for participating in your city government. Thank you, Erica. Okay, we'll start with the um consent agenda. Um three items. Um we'll have to do them individually. So why don't we just start with the first one? First, uh sorry, first we'll need to just check with the public if any member of the public has a comment on the consent uh agenda or if anyone member of the public would like to pull an item from consent. Um anybody in the audience like to uh make a comment on the consent agenda or pull an item. Seeing none. Anybody online, Erica? Uh there are no hands raised online. Okay, then let's um we can just do them individually. Um we'll start with the first one. Consider 2076 North Fremont Street architectural review permit. ARP two five zero one three four for structural repairs of existing hotel. Um great, thank you. Um I don't think we need a presentation for it. It was pretty clear on the um packet. Um I'm just gonna uh for the record let uh uh note that commissioner Silva has recused himself in this item and left the room. Okay. Um do we want to just uh do a vote on that item well move to approve. Move to approve okay. We have a bad item. Okay, you're gonna second Mike. You want to second that one? Okay, great. So we have a motion and a second. Erica, could you do a roll call for that, please? Sure. Chair Bluth. Aye.
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