Good evening.

Welcome to the meeting of the Thursday, April 23rd, 2026.

Um Planning and Design Commission.

Meeting is now called to order.

So I heard that too soon.

Um the clerk please call the role to establish a quorum.

Thank you, Chair.

Commissioners, please unmute Commissioner Lee.

Commissioner Tao.

Here.

Commissioner Naibo.

Sure.

Vice Chair Caden.

Here.

Commissioner Hernandez is absent.

Commissioner Mossis Reed?

Here.

Commissioner Goras?

Here.

Commissioner Ortiz?

Here.

Commissioner Blunt?

Here.

Commissioner Rishke is absent.

Commissioner Thompson's absent.

And Chair Chase.

Do we have a quorum?

Yes.

Okay.

Oh, here, sorry.

Thank you.

We have a quorum.

All right.

Before we begin, I'd like to announce that public hearing item four, uh, an ordinance amending various provisions of Title 17 of the Sacramento City Code relating to off-street bicycle and vehicle parking requirements has been withdrawn from tonight's agenda.

Uh those who wish to speak on remaining items, please turn in a speaker slip before the items begin.

You'll have three minutes to speak once you are called on after the first speaker.

Uh you'll no longer uh be able to uh fill out a split.

I should mention too there's no date uh uh future dates set for the uh uh item four agenda.

Okay, we will now proceed with the uh land acknowledgement.

Follow to the Pledge of Allegiance.

Uh please stand to the original people of this land, the Nissanon people, the Southern Maidu, Valley and Plains Me Walk, Patwin Wintone peoples, and the people of the With Wilton Rancheria, Sacramento, so only federally recognized tribe.

May we acknowledge and honor the native people who came before us and still walk beside us today on these ancestral lands by choosing to gather today in the active practice of acknowledgement and appreciation for Sacramento's indigenous people's history, contributions, and lives.

Thank you.

Please remain standing for the Pledge of Allegiance.

Liberty Justice for all.

All right.

All right, before we proceed, um, I'd like to take a moment to uh introduce the newest uh member of our commission.

Uh please join me in welcoming uh Commissioner Jose Goras Jr.

We're very happy to uh have you on board, Commissioner.

Look forward to working within the commission.

Would you like to introduce yourself?

Hello, everyone, good evening.

Uh Jose Gores Jr., known as Junior.

Um live in the district eight uh district eight in South Sacramento.

Happy to be here transitioning over from measure U, and I'm excited about the work.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner Gores.

We'll now proceed to the recognition of dedication and service for Commissioner Kendra Macius Reed.

Commissioner, on behalf of the entire commission, I want to thank you for your dedicated service to the planning and design commission for all you have done for our city.

At this time, I'd love to open the floor to anyone who would love to share a few final thoughts.

Uh Vice Chair Caden.

Yeah, I just wanted to just thank you for your leadership for all of these years.

You know, I think particularly on the issue of housing.

I think you've been an absolute leader on this commission, and you know, genuinely this is I think a more affordable city because of your your service.

And so we're all just so appreciative, I think, for for your perspective, and and we're gonna miss you, but looking forward to your next chapter.

Thank you, uh Vice Chair.

Um I'd like to say I I've got to miss you too.

Uh you have just been so valuable.

Um I always look forward to your comments when it comes time for you to speak on an item.

Uh you just are so thorough in your analysis uh of a project and uh dig in and you bring valuable insight, and uh it's gonna be sorely missed here.

So but uh as vice chair said, I wish you good good fortune in your future moves here, but thank you very much for your service.

I'd like to present you with a uh certificate, if I may.

Anybody have a camera?

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Uh all right, we'll now proceed to the um well.

Actually, I should ask uh do you want to uh have anything to say, uh Commissioner?

No, not to put your spell.

You know, I I I've been serving for over seven years, so I actually do have a little bit to say.

I will promise you all I will not take too long.

Um I really quickly wanted to say thank you to a couple of people who um for I people who um got me to where I am today.

Uh Alison Joe and former council member Jay Shaneer, who uh originally point appointed me to this seat when it was the former district five, um, and also uh councilmember Rick Jennings who uh represents district seven.

I currently serve and represent district seven, and so I just want to thank him for the opportunity to serve our district.

Um I I want to thank the planning staff.

I think we've can all agree that we have uh a really fantastic planning staff.

You guys are awesome.

The amount of work that you put in is just immeasurable.

Um so I really excited to see um what we continue to do.

I'm still here in the city and I will still be around um watching you do the work, so I'm excited to see that.

Um I really wanted to specifically call out Stacia Cosgrove and Greg Sanlin and Matt Hurdle, who used to be here, but he is still at the city.

Um Matt Hurdle actually used to be um my mentor many moons ago.

Um the three of you have sort of been um mentors to myself and you know the the city I think would be um lost without you.

So thank you and Station, thank you for sitting here with us and managing us through through COVID and you know just through everything.

Um she's traveling for work.

Um she's our most senior commissioner.

Um she's been on the commission for even longer than I have, and um she I just wanted to recognize her contributions.

Um serving as my vice chair when I was the chair of the commission during the COVID-19 pandemic.

That was a very interesting time, I will say.

Um, and really really difficult, but we we got through it together, and I and I think it was she did a great job.

Um, she also served, she set the bar very high on what it meant to be a chair, um, and she served for two terms after that to transition us over um back over to the dais.

So again, I just want to recognize her for that as well.

So thank you all very much.

Thank you for your comments and again, thank you for your service as well.

Uh, you did make a good tag team for sure.

Yeah, anyway, um moving on.

We'll uh we'll now move on to the director's report.

Thank you, Chair.

I have just one staffing update to share with the commission if you hadn't heard um our community development director Tom Pace is retired as of last week.

So as of this week, we're transitioning over to the leadership of our interim director Matt Hurdle, who will um go ahead and take over those reins while the recruitment occurs for permanent replacement.

And that's all I have.

Thank you, Chair.

Yeah.

Thank you, Stacia.

We'll now proceed to the approval of the counter uh consent calendar.

Clerk, are there any members of the public who wish to speak on the consent calendar?

Thank you, Chair.

I have no speaker's lifts for this item.

Thank you.

Are there any commissioners who wish to speak on the consent calendar?

Uh seeing none.

Um is there a motion and a second for approval of the consent calendar?

Oh, I'm sorry, I missed uh vice chair.

No, I was just gonna move the item.

Okay.

Um we have a motion.

Is there a second?

Second motion and a second.

Uh clerk, can you take a the roll?

Thank you, Chair.

Commissioner Lee.

Aye, Commissioner Tao.

Aye, Commissioner Naibo.

Vice Chair Caden.

Aye.

Commissioner Hernandez is absent.

Commissioner Mossis Reed?

Aye.

Commissioner Gors.

Aye.

Commissioner Ortiz?

Aye.

Commissioner Blunt.

Aye.

Commissioner Rushke.

Aye.

Commissioner Thompson is absent.

And Chair Chase.

Aye.

Thank you.

The motion passes.

Thank you.

We'll now proceed with a public hearing calendar.

Uh item two, raising canes at uh Casumnus River Boulevard.

Uh, before staff presents, I'd like to ask if any uh ask the commission if there are any disclosures and or recusals.

Uh Commissioner Caden, was that from before?

Oh uh Commissioner Gores.

Yes, Mr.

Chair.

Uh wait, item two, I'll be recusing myself uh before becoming in the commissioner.

I've had some conversations in the community, and um just for transparency and everything, I'm gonna retire to the anti-woman.

Yep.

Thank you.

Uh Commissioner uh Macius Reed.

Yes, Chair.

I had a conversation with the applicant's representative consistent with the staff report.

Thank you.

Uh Commissioner Breske.

Hey, made a um conversation with the applicant consistent with the staff report.

Commissioner Ortiz.

I too had a conversation with the applicant consistent with the staff report.

Commissioner Tao.

I've also had a conversation with the applicant in consistency with the staff report.

Okay.

And Commissioner Neubo.

And the same for myself.

I also had uh a meeting with the uh applicant.

With that, uh let's proceed with the um uh presentation.

Good evening, Chair, members of the planning design commission.

I am Danny Abbas and the planner for this item.

Uh it is a request to establish a Raising Canes drive-through restaurant at Casumas River Boulevard near Delta Shores Circle South in the Delta Shores planned unit development.

Uh the PUD originally planned a retail pad at this location.

Now proposed as a drive-thru restaurant.

The project requires approval of a conditional use permit in addition to site plan and design review.

The site is immediately adjacent to a residential parcel at the south planned for 232 apartments and existing single unit dwellings at the east.

Staff have heard directly from four homeowners immediately east of the site, including two who submitted letters and two others who spoke at community meetings.

All expressed concern about late night operation and disturbance.

The Delta Shores Community Association also submitted a letter with this concern.

The applicants request a 3 30 a.m.

closing time.

The commission would need to approve any allowed drive-through operating hours beyond 10 p.m.

The 10 p.m.

regulation applies to drive-throughs adjacent to residential uses or zones.

In this case, there are private yards directly behind the required wall at the east and houses approximately 15 feet from the east property line.

The intent of the standard is to protect nearby residences from late night noise nuisance, including noises generated from guests and their vehicles.

Occasional excessive or erratic sound or vibration from car stereo volume and base, engines, amplified exhaust pipes, horns, and et cetera, can be unpleasant and disruptive to surrounding neighbors.

For these reasons and because of the close proximity of neighbors, staff recommend that an approval of the restaurant uphold the 10 p.m.

regulation of drive-through operation hours.

That and staff presentation.

Afterward, both staff and the applicant could be available for any questions.

Thank you.

Good evening, Chair Chase and members of the planning and design commission.

Ryan Hooper with Thatch and Hooper.

Pleased to be here this evening to present the Raising Canes restaurant at Delta Shores.

With me tonight, I have Lu Aaron Foster with Raising Canes, Kelly Agnor with bison permitting, Alex Jewell, noise engineer with Kimley Horn.

Grace Seekman, project manager with Kim Lee Horn, and Leticia Ramirez from our office.

There have been numerous subsequent entitlements.

This project uh area uh was always represented uh envisioned as a regional commercial center with a mix of entertainment, restaurant, service, and hospitality uses because of its logical place next to I-5 and the six-lane Casumis River Boulevard, four-lane Delta Shores Circle.

It's ideal for these types of uses.

To put it in some context, the site uh for the proposed project not only um it also includes the the ARCO station next door, across the street to the north is a called the North Satellite site.

That was specifically planned for auto-oriented uses, including an existing 24-hour um uh operation for a delta uh Taco Bell 7-Eleven and a Chevron station.

Those gas stations operate on a 24-hour basis.

The North site and the South site that we're part of were envisioned as auto-oriented uses to serve the uh the greater region as well as the Delta Shores community.

The project site has always been zone C2.

No rezone has occurred.

This has always been C2.

The proposed project is permitted by right with a use permit.

The project site has been vacant since 2009, despite numerous proposals along the way to develop office built uses, pharmacy, and the like.

None of them have taken root.

The site has sat vacant.

A lot of sites, vacant sites have in the city with people dumping, trespassing, camping, et cetera.

It's been a challenge to keep that clean, and this would provide a great deal of eyes and ears and activate that site, dealing with a lot of those issues.

The project itself is an acre and a quarter.

Provides similar to other raising canes, about 55 to 75 jobs.

The building's 25, 2800 square feet with indoor and outdoor dining opportunities.

Raising Canes is an ever increasing popular restaurant.

The community, the broader community is very excited to have this.

In addition, the project is designed to have dual service lanes, uh, drive-thru lanes in order to ensure that uh customers are able to place their order and get their food and move on in a uh very expeditious manner.

As with every project, our office is involved with community outreach is a critical piece of it.

Um we did some very targeted, narrow outreach to the adjacent neighbors that were referenced by staff.

We have had numerous uh direct in-person meetings with uh with those folks three or four times.

We have answered their questions.

Um we have made significant changes, which I'll detail momentarily.

Um we also met with the Delta Shores Community Association.

Um, and in addition to that, we reached out to the broader Delta Shores and surrounding area.

The issues that um that came up were pretty focused on noise, light um, and um, and hours of operation.

I think it's important as we talk about this to address fact versus fear.

I think that there's um fact the demonstrated in the environmental documents before you that show the project is indeed below the city standards for noise and light and all of that.

But I do very much we understand the neighbors' concerns and they're very legitimate, and we're hopeful that all of the things that we have done to change make modifications to the project will help ameliorate those concerns.

With respect to the specific modifications, after talking to the neighbors, we embarked on an internal effort to plan for a much uh denser and taller landscaping plan, particularly around the east and south property uh lines to uh mitigate the potential impacts to the neighbors.

We have also incorporated into this project what's called automatic voice control.

It's a component of the ordering board that automatically adjusts the sound in order to be below the ambient noise.

Um with respect to landscaping and this this AVC, the automatic voice control.

We determined through our supplemental noise analysis that was commissioned by Kimley Horn that it in fact had up to 12 and a half decibels less impact, um, twelve and a half less decibels below the city's maximum standard.

I'm told by the noise analysis, the engineers that that is a rather substantial decrease, well below the standard.

In addition, out of deference to the neighbors trying to be respectful neighbors, we have eliminated speakers on the east side of the project so that there's no auto, there's no um uh PA or any kind of uh speaker system on the east side.

There's an existing eight-foot masonry wall.

That was put in originally by the Delta Shores project because they knew that there was going to be residential, abutting commercial uses here and wanted to make sure that there was adequate buffering between the uses.

With respect to the lighting, the project meets the city's lighting ordinance.

We have downward facing, downward shielding lights, in addition to the landscape that further buffers any light um concerns.

With respect to noise mitigation, we also are um entering into a noise mitigation plan with the neighbors that does two things.

One, it provides signage to the customers that says, please be respectful of the neighbors, please roll up your window, please turn down your music.

I think to order anyway, you have to turn down you know the volume and to help just you know, I granted it's voluntary, but kind of appealing to people's um uh good side.

Uh we have that, but I think the more prominent feature of this noise mitigation plan is that we will provide the neighbors next door with direct contact and phone number and email for the store manager, as well as a process that identifies uh process whereby the neighbors can you know provide a comment to the manager of the store.

The manager then has to deal with it and then get back to the neighbors and let them know how their concerns were dealt with and resolved.

Additionally, the project has agreed to do a traffic flow plan like a lot of the drive more auto-oriented uses.

Um we have worked with staff here to try and come up with a way through cones and other methods to um help deal with any kind of additional stacking issues that might be um uh creating conflicts um as well as as queuing and spill back into the right-of-way should help mitigate any of those circumstances.

I think the primary issue here is the hours of operation.

Um, as indicated, we we're fortunate to have staff support on this project.

We're very happy about that.

But I have to tell you that much like the last um raising canes that came before you you know earlier this year, the the uh the 10 p.m.

is simply equates to a denial of the project.

The project is not feasible, they can't be competitive with their adjacent neighbors, whether it be the Taco Bell, whether it be raising uh uh Chick-fil-A, or primarily their their number one competitor in and out across the street, all open till 1 30 or later.

As I mentioned to you last time, raising canes was founded by somebody who was trying to fill a need, somebody who is working overnight hours, graveyard shifts, and realized there's no place to eat at those hours.

And I think that really the society's caught up to that that that idea because of the number of sort of uh 24-7 uh operations we have these days, whether they be health care related, other people that work in the the environment there that are seeking a place to eat.

What I did talk to my client about ahead of this hearing was that the 330 request is likely not to um enjoy a lot of support, and what could we do in order to come up with maybe a sweet spot, a compromise on ours?

And so, what we are willing to do, and I'm telling you this uh now officially is that um we would uh claim raising canes would be uh agreeable to the same hours that were approved for the um Natoma site, which was 1 a.m.

on weekdays, 1 30 on weekends.

I think that is fair, it sets them up for success.

Uh the last thing anybody wants is to have this approved and get shuttered because they can't make it with all of their competition being open significantly later hours.

Uh, it's a huge economic detriment to the project, it's a sacrifice, it's not something they want to do, but it's something they understand they need to do in order to be a good neighbor here in particular.

Um, with respect to the the project, as I mentioned, um, you know, this area was designed for this type of lifestyle.

Delta Shores is a regional commercial center.

We uh movie theaters open till midnight and one o'clock in the morning, 24-hour gas stations, a multitude of other restaurants and drive-throughs.

It truly is a lifestyle center, and this project is in keeping with that um uh with that type of um inspiration, and I think we cannot put uh raising canes at a competitive disadvantage to all of the um adjacent drive-thru uses.

It simply does not set them up for success.

With respect to infill, in everybody says they want infill.

We talk about that as a city, we talk about that as a policy, and it's incredibly difficult to do.

It's a lofty goal, but you end up in situations like we have here where you've got neighbors, you've got one little postage size, you know, remnant parcel, and you can't fill it.

There have been numerous proposals for this site over the year, what over the years, whether it be office or uh a 24-hour drive-through pharmacy on the South Satellite site.

It's just it's it's tough to do in fill.

Here we have the long-vacant property.

I think it provides the city with a great opportunity to pursue economic development of the site and activate the site.

Um, we understand and do not diminish the neighbors' concerns.

What I'm here to tell you is we've taken it seriously, we've met with them multiple times, we've made rather significant and costly changes to the project in order to address those concerns.

From an objective standpoint, this project meets all the city standards.

It it it's better it better than beats them.

We're significantly less below the city threshold on noise, which is the critical component here.

Um, and we uh we urge you to approve the project consistent with staff's recommendation with the um modification to the hours of 1 a.m.

weekdays, 1 30 p.m.

a.m.

on on weekends.

So that is my presentation.

I have the whole team here to answer any questions that you may have.

Thank you.

Thank you, Ryan.

Um before we go to commissioners, are there uh members of the public that wish to speak?

Thank you, Chair.

I have five speakers left.

Our first speaker is Garpuri Good evening, members of City Council.

My name is Gurtbreed.

I live at 2011 Gravel Barve, which sits directly behind the proposed Raising Cane development.

Here tonight to formally oppose this project due to significant negative impact it will have on my home and my family, family's quality of life, and our property value.

While I understand the desire of bringing a new business to our city, this specific location is fundamentally incompatible with surrounding neighborhood.

Light pollution, high intensity parking lot lights, and digital uh menu board will shine directly into my backyard and the window disrupting my sleep and my privacy.

Noise pollution, the noise generated by the drive-thru, including car engines, loud speaker, and the customer conversation will disrupt disturb the peace of uh trans quality of our neighborhood, especially during late um hours.

Um particularly worry about the potential of lot music disruptive behavior from customers, which will further exacerbate the noise pollution.

Um concerned about the potential order imiting from the restaurant, which could negatively impact our daily living.

Um cooking and garbage smell is can be unpleasant and even harmful.

Additionally, I am in my research of 17 Raisin Cane locations throughout Northern California, spanning Bay Area, Central Valley, and Sacramento.

I found striking parents this is the only proposed location that would sit directly adjacent to their residential home.

In every other instant, these restaurants are buffered by commercial drones, major intersection, large parking lots.

Choosing to build here would be an unprecedented move that ignores the established standard of keeping high traffic, fast food separated from quite residential living.

A home is the largest residential uh investment most people ever uh entered this the home is the largest investment investment most people ever make.

Introducing uh 24 24 hour or even uh until one o'clock or three 3 a.m.

a restaurant, uh late night commercial operation just fell from my property, will decrease my property value too.

Prospective home buyers seeking a quiet and safety, they do not seek a backyard view of drive-thru.

Um drive-thru lines at midnight.

I urge you to carefully consider the negative impact of this proposed development on my property and the surrounding neighborhood.

I believe there is there is alternative location for this restaurant that would be a more suitable and less disruptive for residents.

Thank you for your time and protecting our neighborhood.

Thank you for your comment.

Our next speaker is RJ.

Good evening, Commissioners.

My name is RJ Jammu.

Um, a couple things about this.

Um, I believe the developer stated that uh this meets the city standards.

If it did, they wouldn't be asking for modification of time.

So obviously, a modification of time is because it doesn't comply with the current city standards.

Second thing, uh, it's allowed to have a decimal level of 55 decibels.

If I was outside my house playing music at 55 decibels after 10 p.m., I would have the cops called on me.

So why can someone in my backyard have a dustball reading of greater than 55 or up to 55?

A couple other things.

Um it was pointed out that there's a gas station, Taco Bell, and other drive-throughs.

Neither of those businesses are directly adjacent to the residential homes.

They're all separate.

There are, you know, during the meeting, it was stated, hey, you have it in and out here.

Well, the in and outs all the way over on the other side where there's no homes next to it.

You can't compare yourself to an in and out when you're building next to our homes.

Um a couple of things is if if this is going to be approved, right?

The biggest thing is it should not exceed 10 p.m.

Because again, if they're saying they're gonna build to the standard that's currently there, then why ask for a modification in time?

The standard is there for a reason is to protect the neighborhood and protect the residents.

Thank you for your comment.

Our next speaker is Stacy.

Good evening.

Planning and design um design commission.

I strongly support Raising Cain.

And Delta Shore and at the this location, but I want to, I want to the drive to the drive-through to stay open until 1 30 a.m.

Raising Cain will share a driveway off Kasuma River, a boulevard with 24 hour AMP, AMPM that is right next door.

As you all know, Delta Shore is the next is next to the Interstate Five.

The later hours makes sense.

Delta Shore is a regional shopping area.

The theater has showings that do not start until 9 30 and 10 p.m.

And Walmart does not close until 11 p.m.

I live in District 8 and know this area very well.

We see the addition of Raising Cain as a benefit.

Please approve with a 1 30 a.m.

drive-thru.

Thank you and thank you, planning staff, for your hard work.

Thank you for your comment.

Our next speaker is Darlene.

Good evening.

Before I begin my formal comments, I want to thank the planning staff for your hard work.

Thank you.

I strongly support this project, but I do have a question for staff.

I represent the hundreds of residents who invested time, not time in hours, weeks, or months, but more than four decades into making 800 acres into what is now called Delta Shores.

Delta Shores is a master planned community, planning that included the participation of dozens of neighborhoods that it spanned the entire city of Sacramento, not just districts 7 and 8.

Tonight I want to provide the commission context for four components before you.

One, the homes located to the east.

Two, the multifamily housing behind the commercial pads on Casumus River Boulevard.

Three, concerns regarding perceived impact, specifically noise for drive-thru services.

The homes that border the commercial parcel on the east are there because the collective wisdom and feedback of city residents put residential housing there.

Moved multifamily housing off Casumas River Boulevard and behind commercial pads because residents did not want another Mac Road.

One of these pads is where Raising Canes is proposed.

Next to a 24-hour AMPM drive-throughs at this location were planned.

Residents also understood that single-family housing lots would border both a commercial pad and multifamily housing that is south of this project.

The number of lots bordering the commercial pads is significantly less than the number of lots bordering the multifamily housing, which has more considerable footprint because it includes more parking, a clubhouse with activities, a pool, and the increased use of municipal services such as trash removal, police, and fire.

The main menu board and speakers are adjacent to the multifamily housing, not the homes.

Dr.

Ernie Lear and the residents from Golf Course Terrace neighborhood, whose homes are immediately adjacent to the Sacramento Executive Airport, provided spirited oversight to the Delta Shores design to limit noise and lighting impacts.

Thank you for your comment.

Your time is now up.

Our next speaker is Raymond.

Evening chair, people in commission.

And I spoke at a lot of the entitlement hearings, including the final council session, drive-throughs have always been a plan for this design, and the residents like me rely on them, especially during the COVID flu season, is fully supported.

Excuse me, this application and staff recommendation except uh except the proposal drive-thru hours.

I do have questions for the staff.

Um what is the city's excessive um what is their generic drive-thru regulations?

Is it uh the 1 a.m.

Monday through Thursday, 1 30 on the weekends?

Um the four area um commission on aging, uh Joyce Whittaker uh advised drive-throughs as a uh essential for this for seniors, residents with limit limited mobility and disabilities and families, the excessive families with small children, uh seniors, family services, staff workers, and all eat past 10 p.m.

And as we was said before, there is a 24 hour AMP next to the site to across the 24 hour uh the commission, the river uh community.

No, excuse me, I messed that up.

Uh Casumas River has go uh must go past the rising raising cane site closed at 10 a.m.

seems unreasonable given the neighborhood business operation hours.

This project is located on a six-lane boulevard that connects into this uh five highway 99 the site less than 10 miles from the interstate of five, so 10 p.m.

closure seems accessible, unreasonable.

Only uh six houses border the property, uh noises for six lane um becauseumas river exceeds uh the uh the standard.

The staff report shows the application meets city north standards at all time, so temper and closure is unwarranted at this time.

Um we do feel that uh the raising canes would be a great um addition to the Delta Shures project, being that they're gonna come and take a some dirt and take it into uh a positive uh use for the community.

So I would really like to have it uh brought aboard as one of the uh residents in the area, and I've worked on this for years, so let's get it done.

Thank you for your time.

Thank you for your comment.

Chair, I have no more speaker slips.

Thank you, Clerk.

Um there um members of the commission that have any questions for staff uh and andor any of the speakers Commissioner Ortiz Thank you.

I guess my question of staff is um a couple questions.

Um the applicant refers to the Nestomas site that we approved in which we allowed extended hours to 1.30, not to the three, well, weekends, not to the 3 a.m.

as requested.

Was the Nathomas site adjacent to housing?

Uh it was adjacent to um uh multi apartments.

Uh uh the commission at this time um uh of the time of the approval considered the fact that there was a significant setback, uh a great distance between where the apartments were actually located on the on the property.

Um yeah.

So I do recall that now, and it was it wasn't single family housing, it was indeed um multifamily.

And it may not be a fair question, but can you um share what the distance was of the multifamily to the drive-thru relative to these single family properties, which look to be abutting immediately adjacent to the drive-thru?

And it may not be a fair question, or if you could need to research and get back, that would be helpful.

I think I should have saw that uh question coming, but from what I do recall, it was approximately I want to say 200 feet at least, 200 feet away.

Of the multifamily project versus this project.

Correct.

And this project is how close?

Well, uh on the up on the other side of the wall is private yard space.

So immediately there's a private yard space, and then uh the homes are about 15 feet from the property line.

So much closer, single family.

So the other question I had, um the applicant is referencing the other fast food drive-throughs in that area.

Are any of those immediately adjacent to single family housing?

Uh no.

Um the air are the Taco Bell is adjacent to uh high density uh residential land that is not yet developed.

Um so when high density like apartment complexes typically for high density residential development, there's uh parking spaces, there's landscaping, there's a drive aisle, there's probably a lot of times like um you know parking spaces on both sides of the drive aisle, a walkway, and so there's uh pretty significant difference in terms of the typical setbacks between uh a multi uh unit residential development and a single single unit residential.

I do appreciate that.

So the distinction here is you have single family versus multifamily, it's much closer to the proposed drive-through than the other projects, not only the one in Atomas, but certainly the ones in the adjacent area this project.

So there is a distinction, and I don't know that um I appreciate the community coming out and speaking in favor of it.

I just don't get a sense of how many of those in favor that live right there in those single family housing units.

And I don't know that's fair to ask you all because you don't know, but if indeed um uh staff has spoken to four of the five uh homeowners that uh well there's there's really four that are completely that share a complete property line, um and all uh staff have spoken with all four of them.

So and can you speak as to what all four of those immediately adjacent property owners, what their position is on on this?

Are they yeah?

All of them have concerns about the the noise and the hours of operation.

Got it.

All right.

I appreciate that because I do want to just make sure we understand that when we compare it to the Natomas site andor other immediately adjacent um drive-throughs, that there are some distinctions here because these are single family, they're immediately backed up to, as I recall, that sound wall.

Um so there is a distinction here versus not only the Natomas but the other immediately adjacent drive-thru projects.

So thank you for clarifying that.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Are there any other commissioners with questions?

Um I do have one.

Um having designed many, many retail projects over my architectural career.

Um, the issues that are before us, light and sound are always you know at top of the list of concerns.

Um light, I know uh we have ordinances that prevent any spillage uh beyond the property line, if if I'm not mistaken.

So I think from a light standpoint, just to let people know, light cannot go outside of the property uh uh here.

My question though is is uh related to sound, and perhaps um that the applicant can address this.

You know, what what for a lot of people don't know what is a 55 decibel uh rating mean and what's low, what's high.

If you mentioned the sound uh consultant was uh noise because that was there.

If I think if we could get a if I could get a you know a perspective uh on that uh noise issue good evening, Mr.

Chairman.

Commissioners, uh for the record, my name is Alex Jewell with Kim Wehorn Consulting.

Yeah, so when you're measuring sound, you're measuring it on a decibel scale, it's a logarithmic scale for for perspective, a conversation of two people standing a few feet apart.

Uh that's typically referenced at about a 60 to a 65 decibel level.

So that that gives you the the sort of comparison of that.

Now when you're measuring sound, it it has for every doubling of distance that you're away from the noise source, you have a decrease in six five to six decibels.

So in these particular cases, you know, the the concern is the drive-through, uh the noise there.

Um when we measure this, the the sound, we're looking at the ambient uh noise levels, and so we did a 24-hour noise uh reading for the site on the uh eastern property line where the the single family residences are.

And so we did a 24 hour noise uh reading for the site on the uh eastern property line where the the single family residences are.

And so the ambient noise level at the project site is 55 decibels.

And so when we when we look at that, uh we we're looking at that, and we also look at the city's noise standard.

And in all cases uh for the project operations, uh the project would be below not only the city's noise ordinance uh limits, but also below the existing ambient noise level.

Okay, yeah, thank you very much for that clarification.

Um again, any other speakers uh commission.

Um that said any any uh commissioners uh anybody gonna make a motion or anyone commissioner Lee.

Yeah, just said a question for staff.

Uh so if you were to approve staff's recommendation, uh the drive-thru would cease operations at 10 p.m.

But the lobby can still open past 10 p.m., right?

Okay.

Um yeah, thank you for clarifying about the Natalmas one uh because I actually I did support that uh that project, uh knowing that there's a wide uh separation between the drive-through and the multi-family.

Obviously, this one, the raising canes would be right next door behind people's backyards.

Uh, and and thanks to the community for for everyone uh submitting letters and comments.

Um appreciate the feedback.

Um I don't have any other questions at this time.

I'll yield my time.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Um I think I'd like to call the applicant up.

We had uh the applicant was looking for three 3 a.m.

uh closure.

Uh 10 a.m.

is uh 10 p.m.

is what's been kicked around.

Um could the applicant comment on what would be acceptable if it was necessary in order to get an approval of the project with hours of operation that is not a death sentence to the project, my client would be willing to um agree to a midnight closing.

That significantly less than what we'd like.

It's it it comes with a lot of pain and it's a lot less than some of our adjacent um competitors, albeit them not next to residential.

So that would be something that we would be willing to uh to entertain.

Thank you, thank you very much.

Um with that, any motion?

Applicants vote.

Can we speak back up?

I'm sorry, applicants vote.

Can we make a comment?

Um as everyone keeps mentioning the gas station is not next door.

Nothing is next door.

17 locations, Northern California.

Look them up on Google Maps, none of them next to a residential neighborhood, none of them.

The other one, 200 feet offset.

So why is this one still 12 o'clock?

Does not work.

If the city ordinance is saying 10 p.m.

10 p.m.

that okay, that's something that could possibly work, but it should not be 12 o'clock.

1:30, 12 o'clock, people are drinking, going to get food, making noise.

It doesn't work right next door to the house.

If you're gonna try to say that you shouldn't about the house knowing there was a residential pad, at that residential pad, you don't know what's gonna be there.

It could be a dentist's office.

It could be like a pizza twist right across the street.

It doesn't have to be something that makes a lot of noise.

You go to any raising canes at 2 a.m.

I've been there before.

It's loud.

Even one o'clock, it's loud.

In and out's loud at one o'clock, but in and out didn't decide to build right next to residential homes, like they're trying to decide.

Commissioner Reschke.

Um, I have a question for the for the um well, first of all, thank you.

Yeah, to all the speakers who came out and shared and to the applicant and and the staff.

Um, this has been really helpful to hear all this.

Um, but for the speakers who who live near the site, are are you um opposed to the project in general or opposed to the extending the hours?

So you're the residents as well, as I mean, right?

So I'm just making sure.

So 10.

The time as long as it's total 10 pm.

As long as it's till 10.

Okay.

Yeah, um, I guess I I'm pretty uncomfortable with extending the hours past the city recommendation.

Um, this is very close to those homes.

Um, probably about 20 feet away.

And um this is a really difficult area for for pedestrians or or someone not using an automobile to get around, and I think this is moving even further in that direction.

Um if you live in one of the houses that are only 20 feet away from this site, it would be a half a mile walk.

I measured it on the map to get there, which is kind of ridiculous if it's right in your backyard, but you have to walk all the way around because there isn't pedestrian connectivity in this area, which isn't the fault of raising canes, and you know, they're they're going with what is in the area.

I I can see that, but um, you know, it's it's like further exacerbating that difficulty.

And then, you know, while they're providing a lot of jobs, it's not like um someone from Sacramento is owning this.

This is an out of state company.

So while this is like hurting our pedestrian um experience, it's just sending money out of state.

And so um, so yeah, it definitely wouldn't want to extend the hours and and I would rather we move away from this type of of development.

Um let's see.

There's also even for a car driver, you know, coming from one of those homes, if they wanted to drive their car here, it's like only a it looks like it's only a right in and write out, so it would be even longer than a half a mile if you live, you know, just 20 feet.

You could throw a baseball to this.

You still couldn't drive there without going probably three quarters of a mile or more.

So um there's just a lot of lack of connectivity here, which again is not raising can't spawn, but um, I think that adding a drive-thru is is definitely exacerbating that.

Thank you.

That's all.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Commissioner Lee.

Yeah, and I just want to uh add more to that as well.

You know, uh Delta Shores, I think that uh that's a wonderful neighborhood into what you don't know what it is now.

Um I grew up not too far from there, and actually I used to play in the in the fields before Delta Schwartz became Delta Shores as a kid.

So I mean I know that area pretty well.

Uh I know that the neighborhood is also um been experiencing issues with car meets, uh a lot of other late night activities as well, and I'm not sure that we want to add more to it with with uh something like this, and obviously, you know, we saw it in the comments here, and we saw it in his task report.

Um you know, there's a lot of concerns about um sleep quality.

Uh you know, I think we I think I mentioned it before in the Thomas Raising Canes project.

You know, we really have to think about the kind of projects that we're approving here.

Um, you know, we got people, children who have school the next morning, uh parents who have to go to work and you know 10 p.m.

is you know bedtime, and so I think that we really need to take that into consideration here.

And I have a question for staff.

Uh you know, when the applicant went into this, I mean they understood that uh by default there's a 10 p.m.

cutoff time for the drive-thru, right?

And they still went ahead with it.

Correct.

Okay.

Um, with that, I'm gonna make a motion to uh approve staff's recommendation.

Um okay, we have a motion.

Uh we have uh Commissioner Caden or Vice Chair Caden.

So yeah, I'll second the motion.

We have a motion and a second.

Um I think I'd like to offer a few comments just from my 40 plus years of planning and architecture experience.

Um I think the the uh the uh items that the applicant has gone through in terms of the noise generation, uh putting that on the south side, which is really will the speaker would be, and the using the uh automated bottom volume control, uh, I think it you know is uh a big plus here.

Plus the fact that really on the west side there will be no noise generation.

Uh I mean on the side, sorry, uh toward the houses there.

Uh just a matter of I guess paying and picking up your food.

Uh no speaker boxes needed.

So uh with that, I I I think again any site is is difficult, and there's there's no perfect site and perfect location for anything, but I but I think I do think this is a a good solution uh to this uh this site.

So I you know I would agree with the the motion and the second.

Um any other comments on the uh the motion and or the second.

If not, um clerk can you take a vote?

Thank you, Chair Commissioners.

Please unmute Commissioner Lee.

I commissioner Tao.

Right, uh Commissioner Nybo, Vice Chair Caden?

Aye, Commissioner Hernandez is absent.

Commissioner Mossis Reed.

Aye.

Commissioner Gores has been recused.

Commissioner Ortiz?

Aye.

Commissioner Blunt.

Aye.

Commissioner Rishke.

Aye.

Commissioner Thompson is absent.

And Chair Chase.

Aye.

Thank you.

The motion passes.

All right.

Thank you.

Okay, the next item on the public hearing.

Um is uh item three.

Uh the backstage cafe and bar.

Uh before staff presents, I'd like to ask commissioners if there's any uh disclosures and/or recusals.

Seeing none, um, let's have the staff uh presentation.

Thank you, Chair, members of the commission.

My name is Carlo Felix, senior planner with community development.

I'm here on behalf of Michael Crampton, who's not able to attend tonight's hearing.

P25-019 is a request for a conditional use permit and site plan and design review to authorize alcohol sales at a new tap room and cafe located at 1812 D Street.

The property is located within the C4 zone and the Central City SPD within the neighborhood with a mix of residential, heavy commercial, and industrial uses.

The applicant proposes to establish a tap room and cafe within an existing 2,600 square foot building currently being utilized as a recording studio.

New awnings and roll-up doors are proposed on the front elevation of the building, and the front parking lot will be converted to an outdoor dining area with seating and landscaping.

The site does not excuse me.

The site does not abut potentially incompatible uses such as schools, parks, and child care centers, but it does abut a multi-unit residential property to the west.

And staff has imposed conditions of approval to address potential noise issues.

Additionally, the police department has also reviewed the proposal as and has imposed conditions related to reducing the potential for crime and safe um safety issues.

Staff recommends approval of the project based on consistency with the cities with city goals and policies, including those related to diverse mix of neighborhoods oriented commercial services, and as conditioned, it is compatible with the neighborhood and will not negatively impact surrounding properties.

That concludes my presentation, and the applicant Dave Herrera is also available and would like to make a brief some brief statements.

Thank you, Carlo.

Uh would the applicant uh wish to speak.

Thank you uh for everything all of you do here on the commission.

Really, really appreciate it and all your dedication here to the city of Sacramento.

Um I was I've been born and raised here in the city of Sacramento.

Um my mother was born and raised in the city of Sacramento.

Um I spend a lot of time here in downtown midtown, so most of my life is dedicated here too.

Um we've owned the building, my wife and I at 1812 D Street since 2018.

We bought it from a local band who owned it for 10 to 12 years uh prior to that.

Um it's been a recording studio since early 2000.

Um and over the last couple years, I mean we make good use of it, but we thought we can make better use of it.

We've had lots of neighbors stop by when I'm outside asking for us to activate the space, the parking lot since it's very quietly used when we go come in and out of the building.

So my wife and I sat back and we said, hey, what can we do here to really activate it and open it up to the public and allow people to know what what we've been doing here over the last many years and how some of the local bands and national bands have recorded here and really just expose it to the public.

So uh we thought since it has an existing bar inside and a lounge um and a recording area for the bands and people who visit, we can open it up and utilize the infrastructure inside um while converting the outdoor parking lot into a beer garden uh into a cafe serving coffee, um focusing on uh beer, um, and also serving wine.

Um we have a brewery right now at 24th in Broadway.

We are newer, but um we find that there are a lot of people that don't drink alcohol, so we offer mocktails, we offer non-alcoholic beers Sierra Nevada Trail Passes, Budweiser Zero is all sorts of other options when we have them available, and we're gonna do the same thing here.

Um right now, when we were talking about hours, uh we're we started our brewery out with Friday, Saturday, Sundays.

Um, and we're doing uh 430 to 8:30 on Fridays.

Uh we did 12 to um 830 on Saturdays and 12 to 730 on Sundays, and we've scaled that back just a little bit to try to adapt to the neighborhood and the patrons that visit our brewery.

So we would be doing the same thing here.

We would um be open and uh based on what type of response we get from the neighborhood, and we would uh we want to cater to those that ride bicycles from the bike trails.

We have a lot of people that visit our brewery that ride bikes, and we allow them to bring the bikes in and park them inside safe locations, and when if it gets too busy, then they obviously lock them up outside.

But we're gonna do the same thing here.

Um we're gonna cater to some of the bike clubs since it's right like two blocks literally from the end of the bike trail there.

Um we're directly across the street from Blue Diamond Almond.

We stare at it, it's a 24-hour manufacturing facility.

Obviously, they're talking about selling it and doing other things.

Um one side of us to the east is Canisel's Auto Body with a large 22-foot concrete wall on the west of us is a seven or eight unit multifamily um apartment complex um separated into two buildings.

Um to the south of us are two warehouses, a print shop and a uh it's an art studio.

That building, I think, just sold recently, and they've converted to an art studio/slash event space.

But we really wanted to activate it and keep the theme on the inside of it as going backstage, and we kind of incorporated that into our brewery um by having a stage, and uh we want to do that here.

Um so you can come in, we have our drum set set up as they normally are.

Um we have microphones, we have some equipment, and the way our studio is laid out is we have uh a glass main engineering room, and when you're sitting at the bar area, you can see into that area with the mixing boards and other things.

So we thought the experience would be different than what anybody else is doing in here in Sacramento.

So we wanted to showcase some of the bands that have recorded there.

We have a piano that a very famous song from a local musicians and bands have it was actually recorded with that piano.

Um so we're gonna highlight that.

Uh we're gonna have some gold stars on the floors with other bands that are from Sacramento that have recorded there to show their successes and really incorporate and ingrain ourselves in with the city and the public.

Um I was concerned about some of the noise with the multifamily tenants next door.

I reached out to Nate Cunningham who owns the building, the new project that he built a couple years ago on the corner 18th Street and D.

And he said he has no problem with it.

Um the the group right next door to us.

Um, I hadn't talked to him, but I heard that he might have some concerns with it, but um we we haven't talked uh directly.

So we did do a sound uh analysis on the property where C4 heavy industrial or zoning, I believe.

But we did a sound analysis because we had concerns about sound and how what can we do personally to help mitigate that?

So if we have some outdoor music, we would face the speakers down and keep it at a decimal level that's comfortable, kind of like the Weatherstone Old School group uh has on 21st Street.

I spend quite a bit of time there in their outdoor beer garden or their outdoor garden.

I love the atmosphere.

I go there with my laptop and work um uh grab lunch or whatever, it's just a great atmosphere.

So we want to have something similar to that here at 1812 D Street.

Um we've also been asked to convert the driveway uh entrance into a curb area, and our thought was to put some bike racks out there and um just give more space for people that are either coming in riding their bikes or if they have large strollers or or something like that.

But um we just are trying to activate that building, it's just it's sits there and it's not doing anything for the public.

So we just asking for your consideration on it.

Thank you.

Uh could I ask you a quick quick question before you go too far?

Um, so there's gonna be indoor uh bar area in addition to the patio uh outside.

Yes, correct.

Okay.

All right.

Thank you.

Um members of the public.

Thank you, Chair.

I have no speakers left for this item.

Okay, thank you.

Um Commissioner Blunt.

Um, yeah, I used to live in this uh area, and one of the things that um troubled me.

Well, two things that troubled me was number one, um, it seemed like there kept being more uh residential uh like multifamily that was popping up and and no uh parking that was going along with those things.

Um but I think that that's part of the deal with Midtown, right?

Like if you're gonna live in Midtown, then that's kind of what you're signing up for.

Uh and it's moving more and more towards that.

Um my other gripe that I had with with that area at the time was that um there wasn't these types of places, right?

There weren't there weren't a lot of places that you could just walk to and and like actually commune with the your neighbors and and have and share share a beer um and get to know people that it's um a place where so much uh awesome history happened um is and it's it was right down the street from me, kind of makes me upset that I didn't get to uh experience it at the time.

Um I'm I'm I'm supportive of this, and I'm I'm making a motion to uh pass it because I I think that this is um great and I want to see it happen.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Uh Commissioner Ortiz, and so we hit we do have a um motion on the floor.

I don't want to get well.

I guess my question was just uh understanding um it is it fair to say that the outdoor area will be essentially fronting the um alley, democracy alley, because I'm I can't see the front of the building, so I'm assuming it will open into and that's that little gated area will be the outdoor you were correct.

Um the building is set back quite a distance, so that area that's behind the gate, which is currently parking, will be the outdoor dining component.

Got it.

Um, and I and I agree um with Commissioner Blunt that it is a pedestrian focused community, and the more we can have activities in the um alleys is a good thing.

Um I believe you said that you were the owner of the project that we already approved next to the original pie company.

Got it.

So you'll brew there and then serve at this site.

Okay.

Thank you for that clarification.

I'm happy to second uh the motion of my colleague.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

So we we have a motion and a second.

Um Vice Chair Caden.

I was gonna do one of those things, but we're yeah, we're good.

I I would just say um had a chance to to check out your uh other establishment on 24th, and it's it's fantastic.

I mean, I think you know, these these types of things, I think you know, when we look at the staff report and it talks about over concentration, it like makes it seem like this is like a potential nuisance, and I think it like people lose sight of the fact that these are amenities, like this is something that's actually generating demand.

This is something we should be encouraging, right?

Like this is a neighborhood that you know you mentioned blue diamond, right?

Who knows what's gonna happen with that site?

But this is you know, uh uh a ton of potential in this part of town, potentially a totally like new node of activity in the city.

And so I think projects like this are what help kind of create demand for that type of thing, so we should be encouraging them.

So thank you.

Thank you, Vice Chair.

Um, I also went by the site today and drove by, and I think uh the area is I think as you mentioned, uh, essentially it's kind of a social desert right now and uh in need of places to to hang out and meet up, and I think that that courtyard out front seems to be uh you know ideal.

Um a quick question.

Uh so is the idea when when that is courtyard is being used, the the garage door would be open and people would uh flow back and forth.

Um yes, that's the idea.

Um depends on weather and just the conditions and if people are outside versus inside, but yes, that would be the idea.

Okay.

I do want to compliment your uh whoever did your work to on the uh the nighttime rendering indicated the lighting in there.

Very well done.

Nice, nice rendering.

Thank you.

Um I too uh support both of the uh the the motion of the second.

So with that said, any other comments?

Uh clerk, can you take a vote?

Thank you, Chair.

Commissioners, please unmute Commissioner Lee.

I Commissioner Tao.

Hi, Commissioner Naibo.

Vice Chair Caden.

Aye.

Commissioner Hernandez is absent.

Commissioner Masasri.

Aye.

Commissioner Goris.

Aye.

Commissioner Ortiz.

Aye.

Commissioner Blunt.

I Commissioner Rishkee.

Hi.

Commissioner Thompson is absent.

And Chair Chase.

Aye.

Thank you.

The motion passes.

Thank you.

I'll look forward to that opening.

Uh we'll now proceed with discussion uh calendar item five, uh 2026 Climate Action and Adaptation Plan Annual Progress Report.

Is there a staff presentation?

Pierce, there it is.

Good evening, Chair and Commissioners.

My name is Laura Teller, and I'm an associate planner from the community development department.

I'm pleased to be here with you this evening to share our second annual climate action and adaptation plan annual progress report.

Before I get started, I want to thank and acknowledge my colleagues who are here with me this evening.

Mick Randall, senior planner from the community development department, Rachel Patton, sustainability manager, Sarah Kalaric, sustainability specialist, and Ariana Hernandez, the Spain sustainability analyst from the Department of Public Works.

This team and many others have contributed immeasurably to both our implementation efforts and the report we're sharing with you this evening.

So I'll start with a quick overview of how our report is structured.

We'll talk across or talk about key progress across major sectors, including buildings, transportation, and water.

I'll also briefly touch on climate trends driving this work and why it's incredibly urgent.

And finally, I'll close with some of the main opportunities and challenges we're facing, and then we'll open it up for questions.

So the CAP annual progress report provides a brief background on the CAP document, including our greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and key climate impacts facing Sacramento.

This report is designed as a snapshot of implementation progress.

The CAP includes 12 greenhouse gas reduction measures supported by 74 specific actions.

It also includes six adaptation goals, supported by 80 actions.

So this is a fairly comprehensive framework.

The report is organized around those measures to track how we're doing.

It is important to note that this is a narrative update.

A more comprehensive quantitative update is planned for 2027 when we initiate work to update the CAP.

So before getting into specific sectors, I want to briefly ground this in what we're seeing locally.

Sacramento is already experiencing more frequent and intense heat waves, increasing drought conditions, and more extreme storm events.

These trends are consistent with global patterns, but they have real local impact, including stress on our energy systems, risks to public health, and damage to infrastructure and the urban forest.

So while much of our CAP focuses on reducing emissions, adaptation is equally important.

We're planning not just for greenhouse gas emission reduction, but also for resilience.

In 2025, we achieved several key milestones in planning efforts that support capital implementation.

We adopted the Urban Forest Plan in June 2025.

We adopted the Streets for People Active Transportation Plan in December 2025.

We also completed the council approved SAC Adapt Transportation Infrastructure Adaptation Plan, which was funded by a Caltrans grant, and participated in collaboration with Sacramento County in the Urban Land Institute Technical Assistance Leadership Exchange Program focused on extreme heat mitigation in September 2025.

These plans are interconnected and guide staff in prioritizing CAP implementation efforts.

The report is organized by CAP Measure, starting with the built environment.

One of the biggest drivers of progress here is SMUD's 2030 zero carbon plan.

In 2025, SMUD made significant progress in advancing utility scale renewable energy, including bringing the 50 megawatt Slowhouse Solar Project online and adding 101 megawatts of wind generation from the Hatchet Ridge wind project in Shasta County.

Since 2021, SMUD has added roughly 440 megawatts of renewable energy and storage with significantly more planned by 2030.

Due to ongoing preemption concerns, the city formally repealed the new building electrification ordinance when we adopted the 2025 California Building Standards Code.

However, we continue to see strong trend toward all electric new construction, and the code update made significant progress in encouraging electric buildings, including a two heat pump baseline for residential buildings.

In 2025, over 80% of new single-family homes and more than 90% of ADUs were built all electric.

Existing buildings are a bit more of a challenge.

Most water heater replacements are still gas to gas, although electrification is gaining some traction.

And 39% of permitted HVAC installations were for heat pumps in 2025.

SMUD continues to provide strong support for electric retrofits in both residential and commercial space.

The photograph on the right shows an electric kitchen retrofit that was completed at the Capital City Elk's Lodge.

Transportation continues to be the largest source of emissions in Sacramento.

We are seeing meaningful progress in the zero emission vehicle space.

In 2025, about 25% of new vehicle sales were zero emission, which, as you can see in the graph on the left, was a significant increase from just a few years ago.

That said, adoption did slow slightly last year due to likely due to the expiration of federal incentives.

The city also completed significant work in the zero emission vehicle sphere, including completing the grant-funded EV blueprint project, which focused on expanding charging infrastructure, increasing EV access in underserved communities, and supporting car share and e-bike lending programs.

In addition to vehicle electrification, we're also investing in infrastructure that supports alternative modes of travel.

The completion of the Del Rio Trail is a major milestone, creating a continuous connection between South Sacramento and downtown.

We also completed Niños Parkway Phase 2, improving access and safety in North Sacramento neighborhoods.

And as I mentioned, the city adopted the Streets for People Active Transportation Plan, which outlines hundreds of miles of future improvements for walking and biking infrastructure.

These improvements are critical for reducing vehicle miles traveled and improving overall mobility.

In the water sector, we're making progress on both conservation and system resilience.

Since 2018, 95 commercial projects have implemented low impact development measures, covering approximately 393 acres across the city.

These features help manage stormwater, reduce runoff, improve groundwater recharge.

The map on the left shows the location of these LID features.

The Department of Utilities Water Conservation Office also administers myriad residential and commercial programs that support citywide water conservation, including grass conversion, irrigation efficiency upgrades, leak inspections, leak repair, water wise house calls, and upgrades to high-efficiency water fixtures.

In addition, over the past two years, the office has been updating the department's water efficiency and conservation plan, which will help the department meet future water demands and achieve citywide targets through refinement of programs and services.

This final draft is under review and is expected to be finalized this year.

As I mentioned, adaptation is also a key component of the CAP.

As climate impacts become more pronounced, uh effect efforts like heat reduction and long-term water supply strategies are becoming increasingly important.

Our goal is to ensure that infrastructure, neighborhoods, and essential services remain safe, reliable, and functional under changing climate conditions.

This is really about protecting public health and maintaining quality of life as conditions evolve.

On the left, you can see some of the efforts of our youth parks and community enrichment department have made to ensure that landscaping in our parks is climate adapted and that there's adequate shade to ensure our park facilities are usable year-round.

On the right, you can see a diagram of the regional water bank, which is a collaborative effort among about 20 local water agencies working through the Regional Water Authority.

It functions as a coordinated system of groundwater wells, pumps, and pipelines that allow water to be stored underground during wet periods and recovered during dry periods.

This approach strengthens regional water reliability and climate resilience by capturing excess surface water when it's available and banking it for use during droughts.

This is especially important given projections of reduced snowpack and more frequent drought conditions.

In water year 2024-25, the region banked about 68,000 acre feet of water, which is nearly 23 billion gallons.

Over time, the system is expected to support up to 65,000 acre feet of recharge and up to 55,000 acre feet of extraction annually.

Achieving our climate goals depends on strong collaboration both within the city and across the region.

Internally, we've built solid coordination across departments, including planning, utilities, public works, the Office of Innovation and Economic Development, and Youth Parks and Community Enrichment.

This alignment allows us to integrate climate action into daily operations and move initiatives forward more effectively.

We also have strong regional collaboration, including electrification, an electrification focused memorandum and memorandum of understanding between the city, Sacramento County, the City of Elk Grove, and SMUD.

This partnership helps us align strategies, share best practices, and scale impact.

We also meet regularly with climate and sustainability staff from jurisdictions across the region, including YOLO and Sacramento counties.

In addition, we contributed to the development of the Capital Region Climate Priorities Plan facilitated by the Sacramento Metro Air District.

Project funding is a significant need for continued progress on CAP implementation.

The city currently relies heavily on competitive grants, which require local matching funds and are subject to shifting state and federal priorities.

Recent changes to federal priorities have already resulted in nearly 11 million dollars in lost or frozen competitively awarded funding.

While many climate solutions like electrification of buildings and electric vehicles have the potential to offer great economic benefits, equitable access to those benefits is not guaranteed.

Meeting our 2030 and 2045 goals will continue to require local funding and ongoing identification of new reliable funding sources to scale this critical work so that all Sacramento residents, particularly those most impacted by climate and economic burdens, can fully share in the benefits of a cleaner, more affordable future.

This concludes my presentation.

I really appreciate the opportunity to share about the progress we've made in 2025.

We have a lot more exciting work in process and are committed to the challenge of addressing the city's greenhouse gas emission to meet our climate goals.

And we're happy to answer any questions you might have.

Thank you.

Thank you, Laura, for a very good presentation.

Are there any questions or comments that I'd like to remind everyone?

This is a review and comment item, so there's no motion.

No, so sorry.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Other speakers, anyone wish to speak on this on the public.

Thank you, Chair.

I have one speaker slip for Rosie.

My apologies.

Hi, um, my name's Rosie Yaquip.

I'm a volunteer with 350 Sacramento, and I was really happy to see the you know the report.

We check it out every year.

I'm part of the electrification team.

Um, is that in 2025, while everyone was talking about inflation in eggs, the thing that actually increased most in price was energy.

And um it that was not evenly split.

This the increase in electricity was five five percent on average nationwide, and for piped gas, it was 11%.

So electrification is not just greenhouse gases, although that's super important, and that's why I'm here.

It's also is an equity issue.

We pay now or we pay later.

And as Laura said, we do need to find ways to make sure that this change happens in a way that is inclusive and it's also happens soon.

It is disappointing to see, you know, that we had to give up the new building electrification, um, because even though the majority of single family homes are are still going, it's about half and half with the multifamily.

And that's disappointing because when I do when I bike around, what I see a lot of is multifamily going up.

So knowing that all those are going to have to be retrofits is something that I think the city should look to ways to address, um, kind of stop that gap because they you know, that's what I see planned in a lot of areas is we want densification, we want multifamily, and we don't want those to have to be retrofits, right?

Um then the other thing I wanted to address is like sure, with um existing building uh electrification, they're gonna be changed.

I'm really happy to see the AC to heat pump ordinances going through this year.

Um, but there are other ways the cities can um facilitate those changes.

Uh, one of which would be providing wave waivers for per for permits for those items, you know, like put it in the utility thing.

Here's your waiver um for for changing out your air conditioner for a heat pump, or here's your fee waiver for doing a heat pump water heater.

Like it makes it like exciting and sexy, like when you get the 50 cents, you know, from Rayleigh's or something like that.

You're yeah, I'm gonna go buy those eggs.

You know, it's the same sort of thing, like the city can actually help to generate some demand here by um and should.

Um the other thing is um we saw that the city increased the number of publicly accessible um electric vehicle charging, and that's going to be really important in the future, but we also need to see a build on that to where more of the streets have accessible um like on-street parking, uh, especially in some of the older areas where you can't even there's no garage, right?

Um, so those issues are things that should be addressed in the future, and and thanks for your time.

Thank you for your comment.

Chair, I have no more speakers.

Okay, thank you, Clerk.

Um Commissioner Goris.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh thank you, uh Ms.

Tuller for your presentation.

Um, this is critical work, as you said.

Um, I want to kind of just focus on a little bit on your presentation with the adaptation.

Uh you said uh about heat reduction at parks, but what about the city?

Um, I really didn't see a component to the tree canopy plan.

There are underserved communities like my community in district eight that we just need trees.

And you know, I really see some of our nonprofits we're kind of leaning in on them to kind of do this work, and I really want to see the city take more of a lead on this.

I know funding's an issue, but we can't rely on our nonprofits that are struggling already.

So that's just my comment.

Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Uh Commissioner Ortiz.

Thank you.

Sorry.

I appreciate the uh presentation.

And I've covered a whole series of the landscape and what I heard is that we have some challenges ahead, and several of those challenges are directly related to changes in federal policy and federal tax incentives.

Um could you go back and sort of give me a bulleted, just very specific uh in and sort of share what those loss of incentives as well as um essentially outright prohibitions of us to move to all electric.

Um could you just highlight federal policy challenges?

And I know you mentioned uh over reliance upon grants, which implies perhaps a loss of federal and state funding.

If you could go through those points and just allow me to zero it, just understand them more fully.

I'd appreciate that.

Yeah, I'll go ahead and uh jump in and start.

Uh Vic Randall, senior planner.

Uh so locally we did have uh conditional award for uh of 10 million dollars for a six-year program to stand up a building performance standards program.

That funding has not come through at this point.

We have not is that state or federal funding?

That's federal.

So that's one of our federal is it at risk or is it just slow?

It uh so this was received in December of 2024, and that funding has not come through yet.

None of the other cities nationally that were hasn't been exactly the funding has not been terminated, but it has not been awarded either.

So uh there's been no agreement with the city at this point.

And that's that's true of other cities around the country that received uh funding through the same program.

So there were uh I would guess maybe about two dozen nationally that received funding to stand building performance standards programs up.

When you say stand-up buildings, what does that mean?

Uh develop a building performance standards program.

Uh so it's it's it's you know involve staffing, it involves uh ordinance development and and um developing the functioning program.

Feel free to jump in if you'd like Laura.

Thank you.

Um and and so that's that's one example.

Uh but generally we've seen climate funding, uh a range of climate funding pulled back.

We've seen um a range of efforts to uh limit the development of uh renewable energy, uh just notably from the federal uh administration.

But I would note that nationally and globally, we are still seeing uh a trend towards renewables with uh the uh so in last year renewables past coal is the leading uh source of electricity globally.

Uh about 99% of new electricity uh produced globally was from renewables in America.

That was about 93%.

So we're seeing this significant trend.

Uh solar is the most affordable and batteries have scaled in really substantial ways over the last few years, which allow us to uh access uh renewables, access solar uh at a relatively low cost once that upfront investment is made.

Um, and then that battery development of battery technology, which last year we saw uh globally a 45% reduction in the cost of batteries, which is helping us to scale in multiple ways at multiple scales at grid scale at the household scale.

Um and so that that's really driving the ability to take that solar then and drive that uh production that production and make it functional into the evening, which helps us to avoid curtailing really uh a lot of solar, which is the case in the spring.

But on that point, and I think that's important.

I appreciate that.

Um what have we lost federal incentives and perhaps tax credits and incentives to be able to further the technology or acquisition of the batteries?

I'm gonna start with a couple of things and then pass it on we've got yeah, totally ton of knowledge here.

So the incentives, like I'd say critically 7,500 per vehicle uh for EVs now gone.

That's gone.

That went away in at the end of September 2025.

So that's a big big loss in that you know, as Laura noted, we've kind of plateaued.

We had it close to 25% in 2024, uh, got above 25% in 2025.

Uh or I'm sorry, 23%, 24%, 25, we've been approaching and kind of plateaued at that 25%.

We'll see what happens going forward.

The reality is it's much cheaper to fuel an EV in Sacramento in smud territory in uh in those parts of California that have more affordable electricity rates, which Sacramento does.

So even without the incentives, we'll see.

Uh there's there's uh the the cost of use DBs have come down quite a bit, so that that can help the market adjust even without those incentives.

Also, we've had a range of incentives uh go away for to support the electrification of of building space and water heating equipment, which has really been critical.

And I'm gonna defer to either of you that want to add to that.

Yeah, and uh thank you, Vic.

I didn't mean to interrupt.

Uh I uh thought the question was gonna come to federal funding that's been taken from the city or revoked, and we did have a million dollars of funding that was terminated.

Um this was not just a conditional award, it was awarded funding.

We'd executed a contract.

We were about um almost a year into execution of that work, and it um was terminated, and we're we've gone through an administrative appeal, we've exhausted that pathway.

Um we are the city is in litigation with the EPA on that, but at this point we are uh executing close out of that project.

And tell me what that one million dollar project was.

What specifically was it?

It was a neighborhood resilience project, kind of multi-pronged, it focused on greening at two different schools in Meadow View, um, kind of comprehensive greening for their campuses, greening along walking routes into those schools, focusing on front yard residential, and then um it also included in-home air filtration and um uh resident comfort and safety measures as a part of that.

I appreciate that level of specificity because I just want us all to kind of really understand.

You know, there was such so many significant um lots of movement in a good way, and and we're we're seeing this money either just in this case, you actually relied upon it, entered in it, incurred expense costs, and now you don't even get to recoup versus something that we're relying upon, but we didn't embark upon.

This pretty devastating.

I mean, it's just I'm just gonna say it's pretty profoundly horrific that we're backtracking so much because our state is so innovative.

Um, thank you for the report.

I don't want to take all the time, but I just think it's important for us to really get a sense of where why there's so much at risk when we're barely making inroads in our state.

Well, we've been progressive, but uh, you know, internationally, so much is is really collapsing.

So I just wanted to get a sense of how much we are in a wait and see mode and hopefully for changes in federal policy.

Um meanwhile, you know, we don't have the luxury of waiting or delaying um all of this work.

But thank you all for that overview and that that report.

I appreciate it.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Commissioner Blunt.

Thank you.

Um I have a question about the well I'd like to learn more about the water bank.

Um yeah, I it's this sounds so is the water bank up and running.

Okay.

Yeah, and I might struggle to speak to some of the specifics.

So Department of Utilities' lead on the city's participation in the water bank.

Uh it's something that we appreciate and think is critically important to the future of the city and the region, and it is a collaborative effort uh of a few dozen uh water agencies, including the city of Sacramento.

Uh and the idea is really just kind of uh amplifying the conjunctive use of of water through our river system.

So when we have high flow years, take the surface water uh and and store that underground and drive that into the aquifers.

And so, and then when we have drought years, you're able to have the water reserve to pull from the aquifers.

Um in all, it just looks like fantastic work.

Uh you know, uh a lot of credit to the regional water authority, um, and to you know, Brett Ewart and the DOU team from the city.

I love that.

So, how long has this been going on?

How long have we had the water bank?

Is it relatively new?

Is it I I want to say about four years?

The water forum going on since 2000.

The the water bank as well for the water forum.

Yeah.

It's okay, product of okay.

So it sounds like it may be 2,000.

Okay, great.

Um, yeah, I um I'm curious about it because um I know that there's a massive um reservoir being proposed, right?

Um uh the sites reservoir and part uh a large portion of the water from for for that reservoir, which is going to be um again huge.

Uh they're looking at Sacramento, and it sounds like Sacramento River, and it sounds like it's it pretty much like exactly the same water that we're using for the water bank.

So I'm just kind of curious whether or not like is that is that an issue that we should be like thinking about or um oh Greg Sandlin, planning director.

I was involved with the water forums uh agreement, which they've just renewed, they're gonna have a signing ceremony, I think.

Uh this week um coming up real soon or the next couple weeks.

Um but uh just in terms of groundwater banking, we're one of the few regions in the state where our groundwater levels are going up.

Um so it's been a real successful uh like fantastic news for the region.

And my understanding of the sites reservoir is it would be filled with excess surface water, um, not diverted so much to where we're it's like a big take from the the water levels, it's more of on a heavy year the excess water would go and go into the reservoir.

Okay, so the water bank water is actually excess groundwater.

Yeah, I'm uh yes, and through the what Vic was describing um by being strategic about um when we pull groundwater and when we need we we pull it when we need it as a region versus when we have a lot of you it's kind of common sense, I would think, but when you have so many water purveyors to get them on board with this approach, um it has helped to increase our our bank of groundwater.

Okay.

I just I don't want us to be in a bad position because like uh you know uh metro water wants to uh make a bunch of money off of Sacramento River waters and and then all of a sudden our rates wind up increasing.

So okay.

Um that's that was my only question, thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Um just a quick question for um either um uh Greg or Vic.

How is the aquifer recharged?

Uh I I think uh if you're looking for the specific mechanism, I don't think I could speak to that.

That would be uh a more technical understanding than I have.

Uh but to Greg's point on our heavier flow years, heavier rain years, you're driving more of that surface water to aquifers to recharge them.

But I'm just curious how it gets down into the aquifer.

Greg, do you know?

I don't know.

Uh I think water generally is as long as we don't have too much permeable surfaces, which is a problem with pain big and whatnot.

Um, a lot of that is just percolation.

Um, yeah, it seeps through sand and gravel into the cannon.

And then there's sort of strategic turning off of groundwater wells during wet times and using the surface water instead that helps the aquifer refill.

Okay.

Thanks, Laura.

Um Commissioner Goros.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Uh sorry, I know uh I don't want to backtrack too much, but I just want to have a quick question regarding the million dollar funding we lost that we lost from the federal government.

What was the name of that project again?

Um, yeah, it was a um environmental justice government to government grant from the EPA, and it was a neighborhood resilience project.

I think Sacramento neighborhood resilience project.

Great.

And is it okay to name the school in Medalview that this effective?

Is that is that okay?

It was two different schools.

I want to say John Sloat Elementary and John Still.

Okay.

Rosa Parks.

Okay.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Um quick comment.

I just want to mention um some years back, my wife and I bought a small industrial building in Midtown.

It was a former Black and Decker repair shop, a concrete block building.

And it was it had a plaque on the outside of one of SMUD's first all electric buildings.

I think it was built in 1971.

Um very proud of that.

And uh when we did have to replace the roof mounted heat pump, it was quite a thing.

Seeing the crane come out and pick up that unit, put it up there.

But uh it was great, great to be in a building like that.

No gas.

So anyway, any other comments?

Uh if not, I want to thank you very much, Laura and everyone for the uh presentation.

Okay, so our next item is um item six, which is a 2040 general plan annual report uh for 2025.

Is there a staff presentation?

Amy, are you presenting all right?

Good evening.

Thank you for your time today, Chair Chase and Commissioners.

My name is Amy Yang, and I am a senior planner with the long-range planning team in the community development department.

Um in this presentation this evening, I'm looking forward to providing a high-level overview of the 2040 general plan annual report for 2025.

Um, we will also be bringing this item to City Council for discussion next week on April 28th.

The 2040 general plan was adopted in February 2024 and provides high-level policy direction for development in the city.

And each year we provide a progress update to the planning design commission as well as city council.

So in this presentation, I'll provide an overview of how the annual report is organized, the thematic framework for the report, a brief overview of the projects we have highlighted, as well as how we have reported on implementing actions, as well as sustainability and equity indicators.

Body of the 2040 general plan annual report spotlights major projects and city initiatives that exemplify the 2040 vision and guiding principles.

Um also um were also highlighted in the CAP annual report, which I think actually underlines the interconnectedness of both plans.

So you'll see some similarities.

Um we then have have appendix A, which provides a copy of the said 2040 vision and guiding principles.

And appendix B of the annual report, there is a table of status updates on the general plan's 79 implementing actions.

Updates are provided in partnership with multiple departments across the city who have key roles in helping to implement these actions.

And finally, in appendix C, we provide updates on the nine sustainability and equity indicators where possible, and which help track the city's progress toward a more sustainable and equitable community.

So the vision for this effort was for Sacramento to be a national model of sustainable and equitable growth and community development.

The vision is bolstered by a series of guiding principles, which can be grouped into six categories.

We have sustainable and responsible growth, resiliency and climate action, safe, equitable, inclusive, and just city, regional economic hub, livability and sense of place, internet interconnected, accessible city.

So the vision and guiding principles were the foundation for the goals, policies, and actions in the 2040 general plan.

Because of this, we have highlighted some exciting city projects that align and support these principles.

The annual report also illustrates how programs and projects across all city departments are very aligned with these visionary principles that aim to create a more sustainable and equitable community.

So starting off with sustainable and responsible growth, this guiding principle focuses on issues such as promoting a compact development pattern, ensuring a broad mix of housing types, and creating a city that is a model of sustainable living.

In this section, we've highlighted a handful of infill development and pro infield development projects, including Channel 24, duplexes on 9th and Broadway, Studio 30, Natomas Fountains Apartments, the Grove at Woodlake, Donnerfield Senior Apartments, and Independence in Natomas.

The resiliency and climate action principle also focuses on issues such as working towards carbon neutrality, addressing environmental hazards, and promoting environmental health and resilience, as well as improving our city's tree canopy and green infrastructure.

In this section, we've highlighted the city's participation in the Urban Land Institute Technical Assistance Panel, which you heard about in Laura's presentation.

The city's efforts to implement low impact development and 95 new development and redevelopment projects between 2018 and 2025.

Water Plus, also known by its full name, Water Plus Treatment Plants Resiliency and Improvement Project, which aims to address the reliability of facilities and meet projected potable water demands.

The draft EIR had gone through public review in 2025 and is anticipated for certification this spring.

Adoption of the Sacramento Urban Forest Plan, which was also highlighted highlighted in the CAP annual report, is also exempt of exemplified by this guiding principle.

The Safe, Equitable, Inclusive, and Just City Guiding Principle focuses on issues such as providing prior prioritizing community resources towards historically disadvantaged communities, responsive public services, and care for the homeless.

In this section, we've highlighted the unveiling of City Start Blueprint, a plan that supports locally tailored equity focused planning and reinforces Sacramento's long-term efforts to promote financial stability for all residents.

The expansion of Roseville Road service campus, which is pictured here, a shelter and service campus for people experiencing homelessness that now includes a total of 196 tiny homes, and the introduction of the Clear Impact Scorecard through an interjurisdictional convening with the intention of tracking advancements in diversity and equity.

The regional economic hub guiding principles focus on issues such as small local businesses, cradle to career pipeline opportunities, and creating a civic and cultural hub.

In this section, we've highlighted Streamline Sacramento, which is an effort in our building division to improve the development approval process with the overarching goal to increase the supply and decrease the cost of housing.

We also have the Business Solutions Center, which is a new resource hub offering free expert guidance, funding opportunities, and data tools to help local small businesses succeed, as well as the small developer incubator program, which is a program to help build capacity of small local developers in Sacramento.

The Livability and Sense of Place Guiding Principle focuses on issues such as pride of place, access to nature, and supporting the local arts community.

In this section, we've highlighted entertainment zones, which was an ordinance that established designated entertainment zones, which aims to support local businesses and economic development and create a festive and event festive event atmosphere.

The creation of new Helvetia Historic District, which actually stems from an earlier project called the African American Experience, which was led by our preservation planning team.

As well as the 2025-2027 Cultural Arts Awards program, which has awarded $950,000 in grants to 72 local nonprofit organizations.

And finally, we have the Interconnected Accessible City Guiding Principle, which focuses on issues such as the connection between Sacramento neighborhoods, multiple multimodal transportation system, and prioritization of safety and human life on the streets.

In this section, we've highlighted streets for people, the city's active transportation plan, which was adopted in 2025, the completion of the Del Rio Trail with the completion of the Del Rio Trail Bridge.

The completion of the Del Rio Trail with the completion of the Del Rio Trail Bridge.

And finally the digital equity program, which distributed 200 uh technology kits to community-based organizations as well as Sacramento State students.

As mentioned earlier, the 2040 general plan includes 79 implementing actions.

The general plan provides specific policy guidance for implementation of plan concepts through its goals, policies, and implementing actions.

This framework establishes a basis for coordinated actions between city departments, the county, and regional agencies.

The implementation chapter lists the major actions to be taken by the city to support the goals of the general plan.

In many areas, the general plan implementation depends on actions of various departments, other agencies, as well as the private sector.

Appendix B of the annual report lists updates for the implementing actions.

Some actions have been completed, such as the adoption of the urban forest plan mentioned earlier.

Some are in progress, such as our update to the zoning code, and some reflect ongoing city programs, such as the Office of Innovation Economic Development's Youth Workforce Experience Program, which continues to implement an action on workforce preparedness.

Just to list a few examples.

So some areas of improvement include the use of public transit and active transportation.

Those have seen a decrease from last year to this year, as well as an increase in renters and homeowners experiencing housing burden.

So more than 38% of their income going towards housing costs.

However, we do have some good news.

Thank you.

Thank you, Amy.

Could I ask you a quick question?

The last slide, next to the last slide you had.

That one?

No.

Oh, I'm not.

Yeah, it's not showing up on my screen.

Um, that one.

Okay.

Um, what would you attribute the uh the increase in the VMT per people going back to the office, uh, commuting more or yeah, um, yeah, that's a really good question.

Um, we work with our partners at SACOG to uh get a calculation for that.

Um, I might have to go back and get an answer for you to see what the experts might say on that.

We may be able to ask that here tonight.

So you have an expert in the room.

Thank you, Amy.

Um other uh comments.

Uh remind everyone of this of your review and comment uh item, so uh no action taken, but uh any other questions or comments before I direct that question back to uh Vice Chair Kid.

Do you have any sense of that why VMT per capita is up?

Yes, I mean I think it's it's it's down relative to 2020.

Right?

Amy is my understanding.

Well, the the calculations that are um the calculations that were provided to us um should be showing a decrease from last year.

Right.

So it's I think it's going down.

Yeah, I mean, I think the larger trend, right, is that the city of Sacramento is well positioned in the region to have lower VMT than the rest of the region because it's where a lot of stuff is and where a lot of people want to go, which is why you know, just to connect the dots, right?

It's so critical, like 59% of our GHG inventory was transportation, and that largely is coming from the fact that people are driving shorter distances.

If we're gonna reduce that, it's coming from people driving shorter distances and then people living in places near transit and that allows them to not use a car for some trips.

So I think we're in a good position to capitalize on that.

And to the extent that it's going down, it's because we're giving people an opportunity to do that.

Yeah.

No, that makes sense.

I was surprised that it was increased or showed an increase.

Um Commissioner Amassius Reed.

Yeah, really excited, of course, to see that Franklin, the Franklin Boulevard Complete Street Project was highlighted because we are almost done with that project.

I'm really excited because I was driving down Franklin a couple of nights ago in the evening, and it was doing exactly what the intended purpose of it was doing, which is slowing down traffic.

Everyone was driving 25 miles, no more than 30 miles per hour.

I mean, it was really exciting to see that as someone who has been working on the boulevard for over six years, trying to get people to slow down and to see accidents every week and you know, just to see the mess that it was.

Um, I'm really really excited to see this project um happen and to almost complete.

Uh I want to see more of these projects, um, obviously.

Um, I know that there's um money is always the issue here.

Um, but I want to say this one more time because I know that when you guys do updates, I I've said this before, but I really think that our commercial corridors are opportunity centers, their opportunity areas for us because there is uh there's so many things that there's so many amenities already existing on the boulevards.

Uh and I think for Franklin in uh in particular, I think one of the things now that we have the right infrastructure in place.

I think one of the things that we're really missing is that density in housing, and so of course, we really want to see more of that.

And I'm excited with the zoning code um updates, you know, really what what can what can happen there in the future.

Um, and so but I I really think you know there's this concept I've talked about before is 15 minute communities, and you know, if you can get to every thing that you need um within 15 minutes, you know, again, reducing VMT emissions.

I think that's that's a real good indicator that you know you're doing great.

And so I think we I would really like us to, you know, as we're going through these general plan updates, really, really try to focus our efforts on you know supporting our commercial corridors and how we can you know get more housing and more infrastructure in place to get to where we want to be.

So thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Yeah, I'd like to come and also have been uh active with the AIA uh local chapter and and promoting trying to promote housing on uh commercial corridors.

So we will continue to do that as well.

You're right, tremendous opportunity.

So uh any other comments or questions from commissioners.

Amy, thank you very much.

And I guess you're not gonna go far here.

Well, Chair, just for the record, we have no speaker slips for this item.

That is okay.

We will now move on to item seven, which is a review of the city's uh fiscal year 26 to 31 capital improvement program or CI for consistency with the 2040 general plan.

Uh Amy All right, no slides for this.

Um good evening again.

I am still Amy Yang.

I still am a senior planner with the long-range planning team, still in the community development department.

Um, so this item pertains to the city's capital improvement program or CIP for short.

Um, this is developed annually by the Department of Finance.

The CIP is the city's five-year financial plan for funding infrastructure and facility needs, and is included as part of the city's proposed budget every year.

Each year as part of the CIP process and in compliance with city code, planning staff receives a list of new CIP projects proposed by our Department of Finance in collaboration with other city departments responsible for facilitating and implementing capital improvement projects.

Planning staff then reviews and evaluates the new projects for consistency with the goals and policies of the general plan, which we're all very well acquainted with now.

Um, since the new projects are added to the CIP every year, the planning and design commission is asked to review staff's analysis and make a finding of consistency on an annual basis.

The CIP was last reviewed by the planning and design commission last spring.

New CIP projects are typically identified by the various city departments through council approved master plans and programming guides, such as the Transportation Priorities Plan and the Park Project Programming Guide.

Since programming guides and other documents that guide capital investments must be consistent with the city's general plan when adopted, this process supports general plan consistency.

This year, as part of the 2026-2031 CIP, there are 12 new capital improvement projects.

One of the 12 is programmatic, serving a wider area of the city, and provides maintenance and improvements for closed city landfills as part of their post-closure maintenance plans to adhere to state regulations and other requirements.

Based on the high level project descriptions provided, staff finds that the proposed projects are in are aligned with the general plan's goals and policies.

A detailed and consistency analysis can be found in attachment two of the staff report.

And based on this analysis, staff is recommending that the planning and design commission pass a motion to approve forwarding to City Council a report on the proposed CIP's consistency with the 2040 general plan.

The budget office will inform council of the commission's consistency finding during council's review and approval of the 2026-2031 CIP on May 12th.

So this concludes my presentation and still happy to take questions.

Thank you, Amy.

Um Clerk, I'm gonna guess since the chamber is empty, but I have to ask are there any manners of the members of the public that wishes to be.

Thank you, Chair.

I have no speakers list for this item.

Thank you.

Um Commissioners, any uh commissioners' questions or comments from the commission.

Or motions.

I'll move the item.

All right, we have a motion.

Uh do we have a second?

Commissioner Blunt.

I'll second.

Okay, we have a motion and a second.

Any discussion on the item?

Clerk, can you take a vote?

Thank you, Chair.

Commissioners, please unmute Commissioner Lee.

Aye.

Commissioner Tao?

Aye.

Commissioner Nybo.

Aye.

Vice Chair Caden.

Aye.

Commissioner Hernandez is absent.

Commissioner Masasri?

Aye.

Commissioner Gors?

Aye.

Commissioner Ortiz?

Aye.

Commissioner Blunt?

Aye.

Commissioner Rishke?

Aye.

Commissioner Thompson is absent.

And Chair Chase.

Aye.

Thank you.

The motion passes.

Thank you.

Um that concludes our actual items on the agenda.

Um, but uh, we have other commissioner comments, ideas or questions.

Commissioner Gores.

Thank you, Mr.

Chair.

Um, I'm sorry, I think I cut your mic off accidentally.

Oh sorry.

I just want to know just uh note for transparency um with the commission that I am the president of the Delta Shores Community Association.

So any items that come before us with Delta Shores, I will be recruiting myself in the future, so I just want to put that out there.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Any other comments from Commissioners, none.

So I'm trying to remember.

Did we have a motion?

Did we have a motion?

Okay.

Um was anybody want to make a motion that this would be forwarded to City.

I'm happy to make a motion to adjourn.

Is that what you're seeking?

Um no, I'm sorry, I'm jumping back to the previous item.

Pardon me.

Um, you don't need a motion for that at all.

Okay.

But thank you very much for offering.

I was justn't sure what you were asking for a motion for.

And again, I'm gonna assume there are no public comments, but need to ask.

Got it.

Thank you, Chair.

I have no speaker slips.

Okay, thank you very much.

Well, and at the uh suggestion of Commissioner Ortiz.

We're adjourned.

Thank you.