And I'll read the following statement due to the provision of the governor's executive orders N25-20 and then 29-20, which suspends certain requirements of the Brown Act and the order of the health officer of the County of Sonoma, the shelter in place to minimize the spread of COVID 19.

The planning commissioners will be conducting today's meeting in a virtual setting using Zoom webinar.

Commissioners and staff are participating from a remote locations and or practicing appropriate social distancing.

Members of the public may view and listen to the meeting as noted on the city's website and also as noted on the agenda.

Members of the public wishing to speak during item four public comment may do so by raising their hand and will be given the ability to address the commission.

So with that, um if you could please call roll.

Absolutely so the record reflect that all members of the commission are present with the exceptions of Commissioner Carter and Commissioner Dugen.

Thank you.

Public comments.

So I will I will go ahead and open the public comment portion for any item not included in this meeting's agenda.

If you wish to make a comment via Zoom, please select the raised hand button.

If you're dialing in via telephone, please style star nine to raise your hand.

You will have three minutes.

A countdown timer will appear for the convenience of the speaker and the viewers, and please make sure to unmute yourself when asked to do so.

Um, and then your microphones will be muted at the end of that countdown.

Ms.

Host, do we have any?

We do not have any raised hands at this time, nor are there any um phone messages or emails for this meeting.

Great.

Thank you very much.

So we'll go ahead in to close, go ahead and close the public comment portion and we'll move into planning commissioners' report.

Um and uh we'll read our statement of purpose, which is the planning commission is charged with carrying out the California planning zoning laws in the city of Santa Rosa.

Duties include the implementation of plans, ordinances, and policies relating to land use matters, assisting in writing and implementing the general plan and area plan, holding public hearings and acting on proposed changes to zoning code, map zoning map, general plant, tentative subdivision maps, and undertaking special planning studies as needed.

So with that, we'll move into uh 4.2.

Do we have um is there a subdivision report today?

We do not have any listed today.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um, and uh there's and commissioner Carter is not here today, and he is our waterways uh person, so we won't have any committee reports.

So we'll go ahead and move on to commissioner reports.

Do we have any commissioner reports today?

Okay, well, I would like to mention that uh the centers of mayor awards season is now open.

And if you have somebody you would like to nominate for a merit award, please go to the city's website and fill out the application, or um, if you have questions about that, just let me know.

Okay.

So uh there aren't any other commissioner reports.

We'll go on to department reports.

Ms.

Hartman.

All right.

Good afternoon, everyone.

Um nice to be back in this forum.

So my name is Claire Hartman, I'm the director of planning and economic development, and I'm now your new staff liaison.

Um, so I've been on a bit of a walk about in the last couple of years, but um, it feels great to be back at the commission, and we have a great team.

So I do have a little bit of a report, so I I do look forward to working with the commission.

Uh we are going to be looking at hybrid meetings at some point this year, so we'll get together um and figure out when that's going to work for our team as well as for you.

Um, it's definitely something on our horizon.

Um, and then also looking at uh different opportunities to get feedback from you about how it works, you know, your receipt of the staff packets and uh you know time to do some refreshing so that it uh is efficient, but um gets the information out there, and also some opportunities for training.

So I'm looking forward to those types of things.

Um tonight uh I just want to thank um Eileen Cleary and Kimberly Hoffwood are standing up this meeting today.

Um, really appreciate their ability to fill in um for Michelle Montoya while she is out.

Uh and uh other events that have been very exciting this week, I'd like to uh congratulate Jessica Jones.

She has been appointed our deputy director for planning.

Now, Jessica, as most of you know, she's has 22 years of urban planning experience, 14 with the City of Santa Rosa.

Um, she also did a walkabout over at the town of Windsor, but she's come back.

Um happy to have her as our deputy director and look forward to lots of years ahead with her at the home.

Uh, another uh great announcement for this week for planning in particular is that the city has received the award of excellence for a comprehensive plan in a large jurisdiction for the downtown station area specific plan.

So this award was by the northern chapter of the American Planning Association, but we've also submitted for the state level.

So fingers crossed, we'll get some recognition at the state level.

And of course, I certainly believe that we deserve that type of recognition.

Um, and I do thank the commission for all the work that they put into that plan.