Title
Approve Draft Meeting Minutes - June 9, 2025
Body
DRAFT MINUTES
MEETING OF THE
CITY OF ALAMEDA PLANNING BOARD
MONDAY, JUNE 9, 2025
1. ROLL CALL
The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m.
* Members of the public can participate in person or remotely via Zoom.
Present: Vice President Ariza and Board Members Hom, Ruiz, Wang, Saheba, and Tsou.
Absent: President Cisneros
2. AGENDA CHANGES
None
3. NON-AGENDA PUBLIC COMMENT
None
4. CONSENT CALENDAR
4-A 2025-5089 - Draft Meeting Minutes - May 12, 2025
Minutes can be found:
<https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7405698&GUID=03947332-7AA4-435B-9654-9485B228EA85&FullText=1>.
Board Member Tsou made a motion (*4:55) to approve the May 12th meeting minutes and Board Member Wang seconded the motion. A vote was taken and the motion passed 4-0 with Board Members Ruiz and Hom abstaining due to their absence at the meeting.
4-B 2025-5116 - Draft Meeting Minutes - May 27, 2025
Minutes can be found:
<https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7420114&GUID=DE63DDB2-2B58-4F8A-AF2B-57C204971750&FullText=1>.
There was not a quorum to vote on the minutes. Minutes were carried over to the next meeting.
5. REGULAR AGENDA ITEMS
5-A PLN25-0094 - PLN24-0094- 1310 Central Avenue - Use Permit Amendment - Applicant: Qais Ahmed. Modification of Use Permit PB-12-11 to allow additional operating hours for the existing legal non-conforming gas station as well as sale of packaged foods and non-alcoholic beverages in the existing store. The proposed gas station hours are Monday through Friday from 6:00 A.M. to 10:00 P.M., and Saturday and Sunday from 7:00 A.M. to 8:00 p.m. No change to the operating hours for auto repair services are proposed as part of this application. CEQA Determination: This project is categorically exempt from additional environmental review pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15301 - Existing Facilities.
Brian McGuire, Planner II, introduced (*5:41) this item and gave a presentation. The staff report and attachments can be found at:
<https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7420111&GUID=F5DCA7FF-5E3B-4361-BD57-E75045C732DE&FullText=1>.
The applicant, Qais Ahmed, addressed (*11:24) the board.
Board clarifying questions start at the 13:33-minute mark in the video. Multiple City Staff Members were available to answer questions.
Public Comment for item 5A
Mariusz Krubnik (*18:50) lives across the gas station. He felt that there wasn’t enough time to gather signatures against the extended use and didn’t want the applicants’ signature counted because where were those signatures from. He discussed how this has been an ongoing issue and felt the whole zoning needed to be changed. He felt this was not an appropriate use for a residential zone.
Leland Price (*22:10) lives half a block away. He felt this was inappropriate for the neighborhood. He showed a video of how the area was at 9pm and that the neighborhood was already dealing with a bar nearby that was operating without the correct permits. He did not want to see more noise or light pollution to change the neighborhood. This would be a burden to the neighbors and would negatively affect home values.
Kelly Bartz (*25:29) the territory manager for Marathon Petroleum in Norther California. She was shocked by the limited hours this gas station had and felt the owners were being restricted. She discussed how this was affecting their profits and how this was affecting how they could serve their customers. She discussed all the hard work Qais had done and that he would take care of the neighborhood. She was in favor of this use.
Carol Reidmeyer, Zoom, (*28:27) lives one and a half blocks from the gas station. She felt that the added hours would not affect the area very much and spoke highly of the owners and helpful the staff was. She said it was one of the few places that helped handicap users. She hoped the board would support this use.
Fuad Alkhawlani (*31:04) spoke in support of the applicant and had worked at this gas station. He clarified some past issues.
Catherine Hallgarth (*31:53) discussed how safe she felt getting gas at this location. It was well managed and clean, and she hoped that the extended hours would be approved.
Dorata Krubnik (*33:14) lives across the gas station and how the gas station was closed when she moved in 1996. While she liked the owners, she felt that the gas station’s extended hours would affect her home value and finding renters negatively. She also felt that there were more accidents on the road because of the added cars coming to the area. She was against these extended hours.
Marguerite Jacques (*36:30) worked at this gas station and discussed how they helped their customers and told a story about assisting someone with a mental illness. She felt that the owners were very helpful and apricated the community. She also didn’t like loud music and would tell people to turn it down.
David Saidian (*38:55) discussed how well the gas station served the community and felt that the extended hours would keep the area safe. They served the disabled community and offered a needed service in the area.
Action taken for item 5A
Board discussion start at the 40:10-minute mark in the video.
Board Member Wang made a motion (*51:34) to approve the resolution as is with the condition to silence the videos that accompany the gas pumps. Board Member Ruiz seconded the motion. A vote was taken and the motion passed 5-1 with Board Member Hom voting against.
6. STAFF COMMUNICATIONS
6-A 2025-5114
Planning, Building and Transportation Department Recent Actions and Decisions
Recent actions and decisions can be found at:
<https://alameda.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=7420112&GUID=C900EB88-8E97-4882-B965-680F184F42E3&FullText=1>.
No decision or action was pulled for review.
There were no public comments.
6-B 2025-5115
Oral Report - Future Public Meetings and Upcoming Planning, Building and Transportation Department Projects
Steve Buckley, Planning Services Manager, discussed (*53:02) upcoming agendas. On 6/23 the Aquatic Center would be coming in and on 7/28 there would a residential project at Mariners Square and possibly an update on Short Term Rentals.
There were no public comments.
7. BOARD COMMUNICATIONS
None
8. NON-AGENDA PUBLIC COMMENT
None.
9. ADJOURNMENT
Vice President Ariza adjourned the meeting at 7:56 p.m.
*Refers to the minute mark in the video