Planning commission recommends Plumas Street overlay to bar new vape shops and off‑sale liquor

The Yuba City Planning Commission voted to recommend that the City Council adopt Zoning Code Amendment 25‑01 and Rezone 25‑02 to create an X‑28 Downtown Plumas Street overlay. The proposed overlay would prohibit new tobacco and vape retailers and new retail stores authorized to sell beer, wine, or distilled spirits for off‑premise consumption consistent with California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Type 20 or 21 licenses on designated properties along Plumas Street, Forbes Avenue, Scott Street and Center Street within the downtown Business Improvement District from Calloway Avenue/State Highway 20 to Bridge Street.

Staff described the overlay as a planning tool to place additional use restrictions on a geographically limited area without changing citywide zoning. The draft text provides definitions for smoke shops and vape shops and creates a nonconforming‑use provision so existing businesses may continue operating; under the current nonconforming‑use chapter, a use that ceases operation for one year or more loses its grandfathered status. Staff also noted the proposal was initiated following requests from the Downtown Business Association and the Blue Zones Project, and staff recommended the commission forward a recommendation to city council. Staff cited CEQA Guidelines §15061(b)(3) as the basis for finding the proposal exempt from environmental review because it would limit, not expand, allowable uses.

Public commenters included representatives of the Blue Zones Project and Downtown Business Association, a downtown building owner, and a DBA board member. Marnie Sanders, executive director of the Blue Zones Project and a downtown business‑association board member, said the groups support the overlay, arguing it will help preserve a "welcoming walkable and health focused downtown." Sanders said the overlay would "reinforce a really clear vision for what we want to see on Plymouth [Plumas] Street" and "prioritizes our community well‑being." Shelly Darrow, owner of the building at 731 Plumas (Tea Garden House), opposed the proposal and said, in part, "I think it's a little bit hypocritical to say you can't get a bottle of wine and take it home from this area when we have more bars in that section of town than I think anybody place else." Sandy (surname transcribed as "drowned" in the record), a Downtown Business Association board member and owner of the Happy Viking, said the DBA supports the overlay to protect the district's family‑friendly character and cited break‑ins at a vape shop as an example of harms the overlay seeks to avoid.

County liaison Campbell framed the proposal as consistent with the purpose of zoning and the general plan, saying "that's the entire purpose of a general plan and zoning ordinance to establish uses in any given area within the boundaries of the jurisdiction." Commissioners discussed whether a Type 20 authorization that can allow wine tasting would inadvertently bar desirable wine‑tasting or small‑scale wine retail that also serves food. Staff said such uses often fall under Type 20 classification and would be affected; staff and commissioners discussed the option of forwarding a recommendation to the council to refine definitions (for example, to allow a "wine store" with on‑site food service) but noted any change to nonconforming dormancy periods (currently one year) would require a separate code amendment.

After public comment and discussion the commission voted to recommend the City Council adopt the zoning code amendment and rezoning as presented, forwarding the staff recommendation and environmental determination. The motion carried on a voice vote; the record shows no opposed votes.