Electronic billboard: Shoe City at 1604 South Harbor Blvd, applied for permission to construct an electronic billboard on the property facing the 91 Fwy. The sign will be 14ft tall by 48ft wide. Overall height is 70 ft. Additional conditions include trash enclosure and landscaping. It is expected to generate $75K or 8% of company revenue per yr for the City. Passed 4 to 1 (Carvalho no)

Historical landmark: “D. Pepper House” local landmark 108 at 444 West Malvern Ave, requested that the residential site be declared a historical landmark. Passed unanimously.

Sunrise Village: Shopoff Realty Investments requested the following: A Major Site Plan for a new mixed-use residential and commercial development at the current location of Sunrise Village Shopping Center at Rosecrans and Euclid Ave including 113 residential units (49 single family and 64 townhouse units), and 23,000 sq feet of commercial space; a Tentative Tract Map to create a residential and commercial subdivision with two lots for condominium purposes and three lots for commercial purposes; a Zoning Amendment to change the zoning classification from General Commercial to Planned Residential Development and amend certain standards; and a Development Agreement. Passed unanimously.

Planning Commission public comments :

Save Sunrise Village: Concerned community members where told to limit their speaking time to two minutes instead of the usual alloted three minutes and to not speak unless they had something new to say. Many Save Sunrise Village members spoke against Shopoff Realty’s Pines project a development that would add housing, but take away much needed shopping center for the community. Save Sunrise Village released a statement. See page 4.

Need for Translator: Carol Spoke asked for more time for translators.

Homeless Funds: Curtis Gamble made the point that something is broken in the system that is supposed to be helping the homeless. “The OC 2022 Homeless Count states that the City of Fullerton has over two hundred homeless people living on the streets every night.” He went on to list funds that have been granted to help house the homeless including:

• Legal Aid Society of OC vs City of Fullerton — $1 million.
• 2021: The City received a $2 million grant for homeless services.
• The City received $954,000 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development–HUD.
• Fullerton Navigation Center operated by Illumination Foundation provides 20 shelters for the Fullerton homeless at the cost of $80 per day for a total cost of $584,000 per year of funding from the American Rescue Act Funds.
• On February 23rd, 2022, the City received $4 million in funds to purchase the Navigation Center.
• The city received $1,758,520 in SB 2 funding, which the city must [use to] provide rapid rental housing, rental assistance, and navigation centers, [and] emergency shelter [for the homeless].

“But people are still living on the streets.”

Homeless Housing: Kayla Soto echoed Curtis Gamble’s concerns about the lack of urgency with which the housing needs of homeless people are being addressed in the city. “When it comes to the need for housing, we should identify the root causes. And when we are building housing for very low income people, we want to be sure that their quality of life, their air, their water, their soil, are all clean so that they are developing positive health impacts down the line.”