South San Francisco Planning Commission Meeting - November 22, 2024
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South San Francisco Planning Commission Meeting - November 22, 2024
Note: The agenda and transcript indicate the meeting was held on Thursday, November 21, 2024. The user-provided date of November 22, 2024 is used per instruction, but the actual meeting date is November 21, 2024.
The Planning Commission of South San Francisco convened on November 22, 2024 (per instruction) at 7:00 PM in the Council Chambers at 901 Civic Campus Way. The only substantive action was the appointment of a new member to the Design Review Board (DRB) for a four-year term, following an interview with the sole applicant.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The Commission unanimously approved the minutes from the November 7, 2024, Planning Commission meeting. The vote was 6-0 (Commissioner Tzang recused himself from the later DRB item but voted on the consent calendar).
Public Comments & Testimony
- No speakers came forward for public comment on any agenda item. One written public comment was submitted via the online portal and forwarded to the Commission but was not read aloud.
Discussion Items
- Design Review Board Appointment (Item 2): Staff reported on the recruitment process for a four-year DRB term, noting that the board requires at least two architects and two members in landscape professions. The sole applicant, James Walsinski, a Civil Engineer and long-time South San Francisco resident (since 1991), was interviewed by the Commission. Commissioner Tzang recused himself due to his firm’s potential appearances before the DRB. During the interview, Walsinski discussed his 35 years of construction experience (bridges, buildings, transportation), his familiarity with the DRB process as an owner’s representative, and his views on neighborhood transitions, green space, native plants, traffic, and conflict resolution. Commissioners asked about his design philosophy, ability to handle dissent, and key issues facing South City. Walsinski expressed willingness to voice independent opinions and explained his approach to balancing applicant desires with community impacts. Commissioner Evans reminded him that DRB members must follow municipal code and state laws even when personally disagreeing.
Key Outcomes
- Appointment: The Commission voted 6-0 (with Commissioner Tzang recused) to appoint James Walsinski to the Design Review Board for a four-year term. The motion was made by Commissioner Baker and seconded by Commissioner Evans.
- Administrative Note: Commissioner Tzang requested that future DRB applications be provided in a format that does not cut off applicant responses (the fillable PDF truncated Walsinski’s answers). Staff acknowledged the issue and will investigate alternatives.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening. Welcome to the Thursday, November twenty first, twenty twenty-four meeting of the South San Francisco Planet Commission. This meeting is being held in person at the Library, Parks and Recreation Building Council Chambers. To provide comments during the meeting, please fill out a speaker card and give it to the clerk. You will have three minutes to make your comments. Please note that all commission time limits and rules of decorum will apply to the public comments. This meeting of plan planning commissioners here by call to order. Please join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Commissioner Shahade. Here. Commissioner Evans. Here. Commissioner Pamaku. Here. Commissioner Baker. Okay. Any changes to the agenda? No changes to the agenda. Any comments for m address the commissioner. No comments from staff, no announcements tonight. Thanks. Next on the agenda is disclosure of ex parte communications. If any of the commissioners have had any communication with applicants, did any side or project visits had any interaction with third parties or has any conflicts regarding any items on the agenda, you may disclose them at this time. If you would like to recuse yourself for an item, you can also do that at this time. Hearing none, we'll move on to the next item. Consent calendar. Chair Faria, do you want to ask for public comments? Did I miss that one? Yes. Do we have any public comments? We have not received any speaker cards. We did receive one public comment via the online portal, which I forwarded to the commission, and we will post to the agenda. Okay. Now we'll move on to the consent calendar. Great. We have one item on the consent calendar. Item number one is condition consideration and approval of minutes from the November 7th, 2024 planning commission meeting. So moved. Okay. I have a motion. Any second? Second. Roll call. Chairperson Faria. Yes. Vice Chair Fun is Ostrick. Yes. Commissioner Zhang. Yes. Commissioner Shahade.
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