Good evening and welcome to the June 18th, 2026 City of Napa regular meeting for the Planning Commission.

I'd like to call this meeting to order and ask Myra to conduct a roll call, please.

Commissioner Masaro.

Present.

Commissioner Shotwell.

Present.

Chair Owen.

Present.

And then I have Commissioner Ebach noted as absent, and then the Vice Chair Myers will be here shortly.

We will now rise for the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

The Planning Commission conducts all meetings in accordance with the Ralph M.

Brown Act and pursuant to the city's rules of order for Planning Commission meetings policy resolution 10.

Staff, are there any changes to the evening's agenda or any supplemental reports?

No updates to tonight's agenda.

Commissioners, are there any proposed changes to this evening's agenda?

All right.

Public comment.

Public comment provides an opportunity for members of the public to directly address the planning commission on items of interest not otherwise noted on the agenda.

Each speaker's comments will be limited to three minutes and will comply with the rules of order for planning commission meetings.

Do we have any members of the public who wish to provide public comment on non-agenda items?

Consent calendar.

These routine items may be approved by a single vote.

However, any member of the public or a commissioner may remove an item for consideration during the public hearing portion of the agenda.

This evening we are reviewing the planning commission regular meeting minutes for June 4th, 2026.

Is there a motion to approve the meeting minutes for the June 4th, 2026 Planning Commission regular meeting?

Oh moved.

Do we have can I second?

All right.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Abstain.

So with two, is that enough to go forward?

Okay, great.

Thank you.

We do not have any consent hearings tonight, so moving on to public hearings.

These are items that are formally presented to the planning commission and provide an opportunity for members of the public to comment.

Applicants or appellants are allowed 10 minutes to present testimony at the beginning of the public hearing, and if needed, five minutes to present rebuttal at the end of the public hearing.

All other speakers will be limited to three minutes.

Tonight we have the following item.

Item 7a, Morimoto Asia entertainment use permit at 790 Main Street.

And we will start with commissioner disclosures.

I spoke with staff.

I'm familiar with the space I have visited many times.

I am a frequent flyer as well.

And we will now hear a report from staff.

Good evening, everybody.

I'll be presenting on the proposed use permit request for Morimoto Asia.

Vince Lee is also here from the applicant team.

He serves as the general manager.

As data, the properties located at 790 Main Street.

This is the southeast corner of Third Street and Main Street within the riverfront complex adjacent to the Napa River.

The site is an existing approximately 6,000 square foot square foot full service restaurant.

It originally opened in 2022.

This request has two parts.

The request for extended hours of operation, allowing the space to remain open till 1 a.m.

on Fridays and Saturdays, and certain holidays, including the Sunday before Memorial Day, the Sunday before Labor Day, Halloween, St.

Patrick's Day, Independence Day, and New Year's Eve.

The second part of the request is for a joint entertainment use, which would allow the operator to host live music, DJs, and other entertainment at the site.

A joint entertainment use is a category within the city's downtown specific plan, and it provides for entertainment as an accessory use.

Less than 50% of the floor plan would be utilized for entertainment purposes.

The primary use of the space would remain as a restaurant.

The city's entertainment overlay district really centers around Main Street.

The site is within the overlay district.

This is the proposed activated floor plan for entertainment.

As you can see, there's a proposed dance floor that would occupy around 21% of the space.

Potential DJ or band would be located in the corner.

The dance floor is adjacent to the main entrance, and there's several entry and exit points to and from the dance floor.

There wouldn't be any crowding concerns.

Just to give some context to the site, as mentioned earlier, the site is within the riverfront complex.

This is a large mixed-use development with ground floor retail and offices and residential units above.

It's worth noting that residential units are only located in the southern portion of the riverfront complex, the portion south of the breezeway dividing the structure.

The applicant has provided a safety and security plan.

They would provide two security guards each night from 9:30 p.m.

till closing.

Security would be responsible for managing occupancy levels, preventing overcrowding, and de-escalating any conflict.

The site also hosts video full video surveillance.

The applicant would have to comply with the noise decibel level limits contained in the downtown specific plan.

This is 67 decibels from the property line of the site, and then 65 decibels from any the property line of any property that's designated for residential use.

This includes the riverfronts residential condominiums and the southern portion of the structure.

For context, 65 decibels is about the noise level of a regular conversation.

Staff reviewed the project against the city's review criteria for cocktail lounges, bars, and commercial recreation.

The application was routed to the police department for review.

They didn't have any concerns.

They asked that the closing time be 1 a.m.

and the applicant agreed.

As a result, staff determined that this would be an appropriate hours of operation for the site.

The police presence along Main Street is pretty significant.

It's being within the entertainment overlay.

There's routine police presence, so there wouldn't be any potential for loitering, especially considering the on-site security that would be provided.

There's adequate site lighting.

The properties at least half a mile from any school.

The property is located near residential uses, but as they have to comply with the noise decibel levels, this didn't create any concerns.

The site does serve alcoholic beverages, but they have complied with all ABC requirements.

The commission would have to make the findings for a use permit, that the proposed use is in accordance with the general plan, and any applicable specific plans like the downtown specific plan, the objectives of the zoning ordinance, and the purposes of the zoning district and overlay districts in which the site is located, that the project would not impact public health safety or welfare or be injurious to properties or improvements in the vicinity, that the project would comply with each applicable provision of the zoning ordinance and any other applicable-specific findings for the proposed use, but there's no additional findings required.

And with that, staff recommends that the planning commission adopt a resolution approving a use permit for a joint entertainment use, allowing an existing restaurant at 790 Main Street to host live and amplified music performances with extended hours until 1 a.m.

And determining that the project would be exempt from CEQA.

Thank you.

Thank you, Paul.

Commissioners, does anybody have any questions for staff?

No.

Would the applicant like to make a presentation?

Yes.

And before that, if we um since Commissioner Myers just showed up disclosures.

I do not have to have any disclosures.

Thank you.

Hello, good evening, everyone.

My name is Vince Light.

I am the regional GM for the Mormonoto brand.

First and foremost, I just want to say thank you for your support for those of you who are familiar with our location as 790 Main Street.

The goal for us is to really be able to provide um entertainment and something different for the public, whether they're visiting or locals here in the downtown NAPA area.

In doing so, we would like to, you know, be able to provide a late night scene, but at the same time ensure that it is completely safe, that it wouldn't affect the city in any negative way.

On top of the information that was provided up there on the screen, uh I've actually included additional information or procedures uh in creating a safe environment for our staff and for our guests.

So whether it's uh providing contacts for uh taxi service, uh the yellow cab locally executive service, depending on the clientele, uh all the way down to you know non-emergency contacts to the Neapolit police department, whether it's um an emergency or non-emergency, and our contact information is readily available, and our plan and our SOP is available to the staff in multiple areas for the late night program.

One being in the back of the house area and one being in the front of the house area.

So it is accessible, uh it is informational, and it's gonna really uh determine uh a safe environment for the community.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any commissioners, any questions for the applicants?

I have one, I just have one question.

Do any of you the other Morimoto Asia or Morimoto um facilities have live entertainment with dancing?

Uh no, not at the ones, not not at the ones in California, but in Hawaii we do.

Oh great.

Thank you.

Um right, thank you.

All right, thank you so much.

I'm gonna open public comment, Mario.

Do we have any public comment cards?

No, I receive them.

Thank you.

Um, all right.

Are there any requests?

Okay, no.

Uh bring it back to the commission then for deliberation.

Should we close public?

Do we have to close public comment if there was no comments?

No.

Okay.

Good to know.

Good to know.

Okay.

Okay, can I get a motion to close public comment?

I'll make a motion to close public comment.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

Public comment is now closed.

All right.

I guess we'll be right back here.

Does anybody have any comments?

Additional comments for this?

No.

Well, the only comment that I have is that I think this that we do need more opportunities for people to dance.

And I think this is going to be a really great fit.

You guys have I I know your crowd because I uh I'm around that area at times very late in the evening.

I happen to work at a you know one a fellow uh like one of your peers right down the street.

I manage special events and and book bands for that venue, and I know that we desperately need danceable places.

So this is I believe a step in the right direction.

A two-step in the right step in the um I only had one uh comment that I spoke to staff about, but I will mention it here because I um I appreciate the fact that you are planning for um people to be outside the front of the business uh with your security staff.

One of the things that always concerns me about late night, um, because I've traveled other places where I've stayed too close to a late night place, is that people spill out um at the odd hours and then they end up making a lot of noise, which is louder than a 65 decibel light conversation.

So what I appreciate is the fact that you're doing that in this in this instance because in the front of your restaurant it has a nice seating area.

You know, that area makes it easy for people to come out and get a breath of fresh air.

So appreciate it.

I hope to um I hope that uh everything goes really well.

I'm I I like the project.

Yeah.

Commissioner Myers, do you have anything to add?

Well, I agree.

I think it's a great project.

Thank you.

I agree as well.

The location is perfect for extending these hours.

Um, I'm excited to have it here in Napa and to eat more of your carriage chicken.

All right, can I get a recommendation?

Okay, um I recommend that the planning commission adopt a resolution approving a use permit authorizing a joint entertainment use, allowing an existing restaurant at 790 Main Street to host live and amplified music performances with extended hours until one o'clock a.m.

And determining that the actions authorized by this resolution are exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act.

Second.

All those in favor?

Aye.

What have I done?

Oh.

Oh, this is my motion.

Yes, I'm not I'm I'm I've I don't know if I've ever made a motion.

Great.

And we had a second.

Yes.

And all those in favor?

I congratulations.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Do we have any administrative reports?

Additional?

No.

Any additional comments by staff or commissioners?

Well, I apologize for being tardy.

That drive from Santa Rosa.

Um I will say I'm so excited that the zoning the draft zoning ordinance came out today.

Um, and if you're out there and you um signed up to get notification, the city's email worked because I got it as a citizen before I got it as a planning commissioner.

So it's great.

Fantastic.

Yes, it is on the city's web page.

So if you go into the government tab, and to the planning division, and then on some of the sub tabs and projects, if you click that and it opens up, you'll hit zoning ordinance update where the zoning ordinance update has been positioned um since kind of the the start of this undertaking.

Um the documents of the public draft.

There will be three documents available to you.

An executive memo, which is intended, although it's seven pages of an executive memo, in comparison, it's supposed to break down this document at a high level and kind of outline some of the changes that are occurring in the individual sections because the draft itself is 474 pages long.

Um both are up on the city's website as well as the draft zoning map.

Do want to clarify there will be um opportunities for public outreach.

City staff will do independent outreach to organizations within the community.

Um we have created a separate email address as a central location to receive public comments to field inquiries, zoning update at city of Napa.org.

But the main public workshop will be Tuesday, July 14th at 5 30 at the Napa Library in the community room.

Um my recommendation both there and the planning commission study session on Thursday, July 16th, 5 30 in the council chambers will be because our consultant will be there.

There will be an agenda where they have opportunity to go more in depth on these changes that are occurring while staff's outreach is to pretty much be um both specific to topics and areas of interest as well as giving opportunity and clarifying details within the draft.

But um, our recommendation will be to attend those public workshops as well.

Um but yeah, we're definitely excited.

It's been quite the undertaking that's tearing from quite the undertaking that was the housing element and quite the undertaking and a receptive feedback that was the general plan update.

So, hopefully, this is this is one portion of implementing that general plan that will have a substantial amount of change within the community that will be seen.

Um, because it is a comprehensive zone ordinance update.

A lot of what's implemented within this effort will be um enforceable for decades to come.

So yeah, definitely excited about it.

Thank you.

Any other comments?

No, it says here the next regularly scheduled.

Do we have one before that?

Yes.

So there's a special meeting on the 30th of June.

Um the pretty substantial project, so continue to track that forecast and the agendas as those get published.

There's some legal ads that have gone out for that.

Um and then on July 2nd, regularly scheduled meeting.

All right, thank you.

Uh this meeting is adjourned.

You made it just in time.