What Brea Planning Commission is about to decide
The commission meets Tuesday at 6:00 PM, Council Chambers, Brea Civic & Cultural Center, 1 Civic Center Circle. These are pending decisions from the posted agenda — not outcomes. Every item links to the official record.
Source: official agenda (PDF) · Full documents: horizon.agendalink.app
✅ What actually passed (per the adopted minutes): Per the commission’s signed minutes (meeting page; a scanned document, approved “this 28th of July, 2026”), all five commissioners attended. On The Hive Gym (Item 3.A, CUP Nos. 2025-14 and 2026-05), after Assistant Planner Brianna Co’s presentation and commissioners’ questions about the Suite A and Suite B floor plan, the parking analysis, water therapy features and who is responsible for the parking agreement with other tenants — answered by property owner Joe Araiza and staff — the minutes record: “Motion was made by Commissioner Schlotterbeck and seconded by Commissioner Madden. The motion carried 5-0.” The minutes do not state the wording of that motion; staff’s recommendation was approval of both permits. The minutes record no public testimony on the item. The May 12 minutes were approved 4-0-1 (Madden/Schlotterbeck, Vice Chair Gribble abstaining) and the June 23 minutes 4-0-1 (Gribble/Donini, Commissioner Madden abstaining). Adjourned 6:28 p.m.
The headline: It's a light agenda. The one substantive item is a Berry Street fitness studio's request to formally expand into the vacant suite next door — after the city's own Code Enforcement Division caught it operating well beyond the space and headcount limits of its existing permit.
🏋️ A gym's expansion, after a code-enforcement citation
- The Hive Gym wants to add the vacant suite next door. The commission will consider Conditional Use Permit Nos. 2025-14 and 2026-05 for The Hive Gym Health and Fitness Center, at 650 North Berry Street, Suites A and B1, in the Light Industrial (M-1) zone — continued from a June 23, 2026 public hearing that was opened for comment and then pushed to this meeting. The request would let the gym expand from its current Suite A into the adjacent, vacant 3,160-square-foot Suite B1 (previously an industrial/manufacturing tenant), along with a modification of the site's off-street parking requirements. Staff recommends finding the project exempt from CEQA (Class 1, Existing Facilities) and approving both permits. Item 3.A
- The backstory: a 2022 permit the gym allegedly outgrew without approval. The staff report says that in 2022 the commission approved Resolution No. 2022-28 letting the gym operate a fitness studio capped at 945 square feet of instructional area and a maximum of 16 trainers and/or clients, confined to Suite A. Over the past year, the city's Code Enforcement Division received reports of "unpermitted expansion of the existing fitness studio floor plan and operation of an appointment-based, open-gym facility," and found the business in violation of Conditions of Approval #4 and #6 — the occupancy cap and the 945-square-foot floor-area limit. The applicant is listed as Benjamin Lin on behalf of The Hive Gym. Item 3.A
🗳️ Also on the agenda
- Draft minutes from the May 12, 2026 and June 23, 2026 Planning Commission meetings are up for receive-and-file approval. Items 2.A–2.B
- Committee reports and informational/project updates are listed for the commission to receive and file; the agenda gives no further detail on what will be discussed. Items 4.A–4.B
Council Brief summaries are produced from official public records by our automated newsroom and reviewed before publication. Items are described as posted; the commission may amend, continue, or remove items at the meeting. Spot an error? hello@councilbrief.com — we publish corrections.
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