South San Francisco Planning Commission Regular Meeting - June 5, 2025
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South San Francisco Planning Commission Regular Meeting - June 5, 2025
The South San Francisco Planning Commission met on Thursday, June 5, 2025, at 7:00 PM in the Council Chambers at 901 Civic Campus Way. The meeting was called to order with a pledge of allegiance, roll call, and announcements. Commissioners present: Sarah Funes-Ozturk (Chairperson), John Baker, Michele Evans, Norman Faria, and Alex Tzang (listed as Zhang in transcript). Vice Chairperson Aysha Pamukcu and Commissioner Sam Shihadeh were absent. Staff announced the cancellation of the next scheduled meeting on June 19, 2025 (a city holiday).
Consent Calendar
- Item 1: Approval of Minutes from May 15, 2025 Planning Commission – Initially, Commissioner Tzang (Zhang) abstained because he was absent on May 15. After discussion about whether absent commissioners could vote, the chair suggested a re-vote. On the second roll call, Commissioner Tzang again abstained, but the other four commissioners voted yes. The motion passed (4 yes, 1 abstain, 2 absent).
- Item 2: Resolution Finding FY 2025-26 Capital Improvement Program Consistent with General Plan – The commission voted separately on this item. All five present commissioners voted yes. The resolution passed unanimously.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public provided comments on any agenda item. No speaker cards were submitted.
Discussion Items
- Public Hearing: Zoning Text Amendment Regarding Tobacco Use (Item 3) – Chief Planner Adena Friedman presented a staff report on proposed amendments to Title 20 of the South San Francisco Municipal Code. The amendments aim to make minor revisions, corrections, and clarifications to tobacco regulations, and to remove “Hookah Bar/Smoking Lounge” from the Commercial Use Classifications (Section 20.620.040). Key background: San Mateo County’s updated tobacco retail permit ordinance (adopted by the city in March 2025) prohibits the sale of flavored tobacco, including at hookah lounges. The city had previously repealed its own flavored tobacco ordinance. The proposed text amendments clean up out-of-date references, remove the hookah bar/smoking lounge use (which was permitted only in mixed industrial districts with a conditional use permit), and clarify intent consistent with state, county, and city council direction to promote public health. There are currently no hookah bars or smoking lounges in South San Francisco, so no nonconforming uses would be created. The amendments are exempt from CEQA (Guidelines Section 15378). No questions from commissioners. No public testimony.
Key Outcomes
- Vote on Zoning Text Amendment Resolution – Commissioner Baker moved to adopt a resolution recommending that the City Council adopt an ordinance amending Title 20 regarding tobacco regulations. Commissioner Evans seconded. The motion passed unanimously (5 yes, 0 no, 2 absent).
- Vote on CEQA Exemption – Commissioner Baker moved to determine the proposed zoning amendments are exempt from CEQA. Commissioner Evans seconded. The motion passed unanimously (5 yes, 0 no, 2 absent).
- The commission’s recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council for final action.
Meeting Transcript
Provide to provide a comment during the meeting, please fill out our 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 public comments. This meeting of the South San Francisco Planning Commission is hereby called to order. Please stand and join us for the pledge of allegiance. Maybe please have roll call. Yes. Commissioner Baker. Here. Commissioner Evans. Here. Commissioner Faria. Here. Commissioner Zhang. Here. Chairperson Fun is Osturk. Here. Vice Chairperson Palma Ku and Commissioner Shahadi are absent. Are there any changes to the agenda? No changes to the agenda. Are there any items or announcements from staff? Um I have two announcements. The first is that the next planning commission meeting would be held on Thursday, June 19th, which is a city holiday. So we will be sending out a cancellation for that day. It's also my birthday. Happy early birthday. Thanks. And that's all. Thank you so much. Does any member of the public wish to address the commission on an item that is not on the agenda tonight at this time? Please fill out a speaker card and give it to the clerk. At this time, I will ask the clerk if there are any members of the public who would like to provide comments. We've not received any speaker cards. Hearing no speakers, we will move on. Next on the agenda is the disclosure of ex parte communications. If any commissioner has had any communication with applicants, did any site or project visits had interactions with third parties or has any conflicts regarding any item on the agenda, you may not have disclosed them at this time. If you would like to recuse yourself for an item, you can do so at this time. Hearing none, we will move on to the next item. Next on the agenda is the consent calendar. May we have a listing of the consent calendar items? Item number one is consideration and approval of minutes from the May 15th, 2025 planning commission. Item number two is report regarding a resolution finding that the proposed fiscal year 2025-26 capital improvement program is consistent with the city's general plan in accordance with government code section 65401. Item 2A is the resolution. Does any commissioner wish to pull an item from the consent calendar? I thought it should no, but uh I was absent on May 15, so I think I will have to vote uh uh abstain for that one. So uh either we'll do two vote or uh note what I just mentioned. Uh we can do two votes. We do two, yeah, separately. Excellent. We'd like to do that.
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