What Fountain Valley’s Planning Commission is about to decide

The Fountain Valley Planning Commission meets Wednesday, October 14, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers, 10200 Slater Avenue, with Zoom participation available for public comment (three minutes per speaker). Three public hearings are scheduled — a van dealership’s stacked storage deck, a luxury-car rental warehouse and an independent-study high school — plus the commission’s annual report to the City Council. These are pending decisions from the posted agenda packet — nothing below has been approved yet. Every item links to the official record.

Source: official agenda packet with staff reports (PDF, 120 pages) · meeting portal · Next regular meeting: December 9, 2026 · Decisions may be appealed to the City Council within 10 calendar days

The headline: staff recommend letting FAM Vans, the commercial van and truck dealer at 10870 Kalama River Avenue, remodel its 34,466-square-foot building and build two levels of vehicle storage on top of it — an 87,255-square-foot parking structure that the Crossings Specific Plan counts as four stories, with room for 263 vans in inventory. The request includes a variance to put no trees or shrubs along the east property line, where Southern California Edison power poles run; the code would require 14 trees there. It is FAM Vans’ third expansion plan since 2021 — per the staff report, two larger approved projects “were never constructed” because of construction costs. Also up: Peacock Rentals, an appointment-only exotic-car rental business (Ferrari, Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce) on Young River Avenue, and Innovation High School, a Learn4Life charter resource center for up to 300 at-risk students in a Newhope Street office suite that also houses a Social Security office — the one item in the packet with a written objection from residents.

🚐 Public hearing: FAM Vans wants to stack van storage above its Kalama River dealership

What the commission is asked to do: adopt Resolution No. 26-16 “adopting a Notice of Exemption in accordance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and approving Development Plan Review 25-01, Conditional Use Permit 1946, and Variance 342 for the remodel of a 34,466 square foot building for vehicle sales, offices, and storage of vehicle inventory and the development of a four-story (three level), 87,255 square foot parking structure for the storage of vehicle inventory, with a variance request to remove the open space requirement along the east property line.” The applicant is TDS Architects & Engineers of Irvine on behalf of property owner FAM Vans. The site is a 2.26-acre (98,543-square-foot) parcel in the Workplace Gateway District of the Crossings Specific Plan. Staff: Principal Planner Steven Ayers. Item 3
The plan: the existing one-story building, its two Kalama River driveways and its 75-foot front setback stay put; two van-storage levels would be built “separate from and above the existing building” on angled structural steel beams, taking the building from 34,466 to 93,693 square feet, per the applicant’s project description letter. Height is 40 feet to the top of the rooftop parking deck; because the ground floor is 23 feet tall, the specific plan’s 12-foot story rule makes a three-level building “technically defined in the CSP as a four-story building.” The site would keep 29 customer and employee parking spaces plus 263 van-storage stalls, a new two-story vaulted sales floor with a glass front and dark gray walls, a vehicle ramp on the east side behind sliding security gates, and a decorative horizontal louver system to screen the upper decks. Repair work would stay at the neighboring 10900 Kalama River property; per the staff report, “No repair or re-conditioning services will be provided at the 10870 Kalama River location.” The applicant lists 11 employees today and 15 projected, open seven days a week. Item 3
Third time around: FAM Vans opened here in 2003 and sells under CUP 1386, approved in 1997. Per the staff report, it won approval in 2021 for a three-story 210,835-square-foot development and in 2023 for a four-story 287,240-square-foot one; “Due to costs of construction, both of these projects were never constructed.” Both were more intense than this one, with service bays, a body shop, spray booth and truck wash the new plan drops. A 2021 variance (VAR 337) already let the building sit 75 feet back from the street instead of the then-maximum 25. Item 3
The variance: the specific plan requires side setbacks, where provided, to be landscaped with “at least one tree per 30 linear feet and one shrub per 5 linear feet.” Staff’s compliance table shows 14 trees required on the east side and 0 provided (17 of 17 on the west side). The applicant says SCE power poles and a maintenance easement along the east line serve properties from Talbert Avenue to the 405 and that “SCE has stated that trees below the power lines create a hazardous situation and it would be too costly and unlikely that the power lines would ever be relocated underground.” The draft resolution adds that the east boundary “adjoins the businesses leased service center property; there is no third-party neighbor impacted by the absence of a landscaping buffer in this location.” Staff also note the project is screened from a traffic impact and VMT analysis: an LSA memo dated September 29, 2026 counts the addition as 3,233 square feet of office and 75,143 square feet of vehicle storage, generating about 129 daily trips (13 in the morning peak, 15 in the evening), against 1,260 daily trips forecast for the 251,917-square-foot expansion studied in 2022. Staff find the project exempt from CEQA under Class 32 (in-fill) and Class 5 (minor alterations in land use limitations). Item 3
Draft conditions and fees: a traffic impact fee under the fee schedule effective July 6, 2026 (commercial $0.88 and industrial $0.36 per square foot) “with an estimated fee of $62,802.08”; a fire development impact fee under Ordinance 1638, “Estimated fee is $10,250.22”; a drainage annexation fee of $3,195.86 per gross acre of new development; and sewer connection, school and sanitation district fees without stated amounts. The operator “shall not display vehicles for sale in the front parking lot located off Kalama River between the street and the building”; no vehicle pricing visible from the street; cameras recording around the clock in the lots and the structure; a new sidewalk with pedestrian lighting on Kalama River; and the approval would expire October 14, 2028 if construction has not begun, with a possible one-year extension by the Planning Director. Item 3

🏎 Public hearing: an exotic-car rental warehouse on Young River Avenue

What the commission is asked to do: adopt Resolution No. 26-14 approving Conditional Use Permit No. 1943 “to open and operate a luxury automobile rental business located at 11240 Young River Ave,” with a CEQA Class 1 (existing facilities) exemption. The applicant is Patrick McDowell of Huntington Beach; the property owner is 11240 Young River LLC. The site is zoned M1 (Manufacturing), where the municipal code requires a CUP for an automobile rental business. Staff: Senior Planner Matt Jenkins. Item 4
The business: per the staff report, Peacock Rentals offers “a distinctive fleet of exotic, luxury, and classic vehicles including brands such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Rolls-Royce, McLaren, Porsche, Bentley, and Mercedes-AMG,” booked online and delivered “door-to-door” to clients across Orange County, Los Angeles and Palm Springs. It would use the existing 10,222-square-foot building — an open warehouse holding about 16 vehicles, two offices and a common area — by appointment only between 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., with two to three employees. The code calls for 13 parking spaces at one per 800 square feet; the lot has 20. No repair, bodywork or dismantling is proposed. Item 4
Draft conditions include: all rental vehicles stored inside the building; “No vehicle offered for rental shall be parked on city streets”; hours limited to 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily (the applicant’s narrative says renters are occasionally met outside office hours but within 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.); no idling; no special events without a temporary use permit; security cameras with video available to police within 24 hours of a request; and three or more sustained police complaints in a year may be grounds for revocation. The permit would lapse October 14, 2027 if not acted on. Item 4

🎓 Public hearing: an independent-study high school next to the Social Security office

What the commission is asked to do: adopt Resolution No. 26-15 approving Conditional Use Permit No. 1941 “to operate a not-for-profit independent study center for at-risk youth in grades 9-12 located at 17075 Newhope St, Suite #100,” at the southwest corner of Newhope Street and Warner Avenue, with a CEQA Class 1 exemption. The applicant is Orange County Workforce Innovation High School, c/o Carina Verdugo, Lancaster; the school is a member of Learn4Life, “a nonprofit network of free, publicly funded alternative schools.” The C1 zone requires a CUP for a specialized school. Staff: Contract Assistant Planner Thomas Carter. Item 5
The program: students aged 14 to 19 would do most coursework at home and come in for weekly one-to-two-hour appointments with a teacher, plus tutoring, small-group instruction and career-technical courses (the letter names culinary arts, cybersecurity and media arts). The school would take a 9,362-square-foot office suite about 200 feet south of the Coastline Community College building, removing walls to create a 2,448-square-foot open classroom with offices, labs and a breakroom. Per the staff report, the applicant anticipates “a maximum enrollment of 300 students within the next 5 years, with a maximum of 64 students on the site at any given time,” 10 teachers at opening growing to 20–30 staff, and an estimated 80% of students arriving by public transit. The applicant’s letter promises a trained security guard on site during all operating hours, 24/7 camera surveillance “that includes AI-powered weapon detection technology” and an Evolve screening system at the entry. Item 5
Parking and neighbors: the code requires 50 spaces for the school (five per classroom, one per 75 square feet of assembly space and a bus loading space per 100 students). The center has 165 stalls (159 standard, 6 ADA), six of them “blocked by a mobile cellphone tower”; with the other tenants — Bella Tran Insurance and Financial Services, Hong Financial Services and the U.S. Social Security Administration in Suite B — staff count a demand of 135, leaving 30 spare. The building was previously owned by the Coast Community College District and was approved as Pelican Center under Precise Plan 451 in 2001. Item 5
The one objection in the packet: an October 2 email from Joseph and Erma Gallegos of Aquamarine Circle, residents since 1988: “A high school consisting of low-performing disadvantage teens entering a building where there’s often a line of senior citizens waiting in a queue outside the front door to enter the Social Security Administration is NOT a good mix. … I do not approve this permit to go forward.” Item 5
Draft conditions include: hours of 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday through Friday; “Loitering shall not be permitted outside the facility”; minors who are not drivers “must be picked up from inside the facility”; a security guard on site during operating hours; no video or arcade games; and a pledge not to let the business “become a ‘hang out’ for truants.” Condition 4 caps enrollment at 300 “with a maximum daily attendance of 145 at any given time,” a different ceiling than the 64 on-site students the staff report describes; the Community Development Director could lower it based on available parking. Item 5

A note on the packet: the FAM Vans staff report says the street facade “Complies with about 33% window openings,” while the applicant’s own letter puts the clear glass at 23%; the agenda describes the variance as both “to landscape setback requirements” and “to remove the open space requirement” along the east line. The vicinity map for Innovation High School is captioned “Conditional Use Permit 1945” (the Que Vida Taqueria case number from September), its site plan lists APN 169-211-52 against the staff report’s 162-211-52, and the tenant list computes 38 parking spaces for the Social Security suite where the staff table uses 37. The annual report gives code enforcement a total of 701 violations on one page and 704 cases handled on another. Council Brief does not resolve these.

📋 New business: the commission’s annual report card to the City Council

What the commission is asked to do: approve the FY 2025–2026 Annual Planning Report, required by Government Code Section 65400(b), and forward it to the City Council. Per the report, the commission reviewed six code amendments, one General Plan amendment and one zoning map amendment during the year, including objective design standards for residential projects (CA 26-03), by-right approval for multifamily projects with 20% or more lower-income units (CA 26-01) and SB 9 lot-split rules (CA 25-05). On March 25, 2026 it declined to recommend GPA 23-01 and ZMA 436, which would have rezoned 8550 Warner Avenue from C1 to R4 high-density residential; the applicant appealed and “the CC denied the appeal and reaffirmed the PC’s denial on June 2, 2026.” Item 6
By the numbers, per the report: the Euclid & Heil project at 16300 Euclid Street — 304 market-rate apartments, 83 senior affordable apartments, 183 townhomes and 36 triplexes, 606 units on 18.09 acres — had its tentative tract map revised on November 12, 2025; 101 accessory dwelling units were finaled during the year; Precise Plan 581 approved an 862-space parking structure for Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center. The Building Division issued 1,889 permits with $61,771,642 in valuations. Against the city’s 2021–2029 housing allocation of 4,839 units, 710 had been built, leaving 4,129 — including 1,166 of 1,307 very-low-income units. Code Enforcement reports a 92% compliance rate, four short-term rentals still operating out of 290 notified since the 2022 ban, and 16 vendor task-force operations that shut down 32 illegal vendors. The report puts the city’s population at 56,596. Item 6

🪑 Also on the agenda

Draft minutes of August 12, 2026, to be received and filed. Per the draft minutes in the packet, with Commissioner Brothers absent, the commission adopted Resolution 26-11 “recommending the City Council approve a Development Agreement between the City of Fountain Valley and Holland Partner Group for the development of the 16800 Magnolia Mixed-Use Project located at 16800 Magnolia Street and 9025-9063 Recreation Circle” — the project approved through Precise Plan 580 on June 11, 2025, with the agreement between the city and Magnolia I Owner, LLC and HPG Magnolia II, LLC. Motion Huebner, second Azcona; ayes Vu, Azcona, James, Huebner, Langer; no noes. Public speakers were Dr. David Franklin and Bill Hunter. The same minutes show the July 8 minutes received on a Huebner/Vu motion with Azcona, James, Huebner and Langer in favor and Vu abstaining, as written. The development agreement itself goes to the City Council; this commission vote was a recommendation. Item 1
Draft minutes of September 9, 2026, to be received and filed. Per the draft minutes, with Brothers and James absent, the commission adopted Resolution 26-12 approving Precise Plan 583 for Chew Chew Dental — “a new ±2,980 square foot building and associated parking lot located at 9080 Talbert Avenue” — and Resolution 26-13 approving Conditional Use Permit 1945 for Que Vida Taqueria, 18517 Brookhurst Street, as a Large Format Restaurant with a Type 47 on-sale general eating place ABC license. Both passed with Vu, Azcona, Huebner and Langer in favor and none opposed, on motions the minutes attribute to “Heubner” with Azcona seconding. Applicant Dr. James Chiu appeared for the dental office; Brian Bradford appeared via Zoom for the taqueria. Item 2
Public comments on non-agenda items, comments from staff and commissioners, and adjournment to December 9, 2026. Unfinished business: none. Per the September 9 minutes, Community Development Director Omar Dadabhoy noted that the Building Industry Association of Orange County is holding its first symposium for planning commissioners in Irvine on October 14 — the same evening as this meeting.
Roll call as printed on the agenda: Vu, Brothers, Azcona, James, Vice-Chair Huebner, Chair Langer. The annual report lists them as Chair Matthew Langer, Vice Chair Rudy Huebner, Kristen Ascona (spelled “Azcona” on the agenda), Cheryl Brothers, Anh Vu and alternate Lisa James.