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Fontana planning commission recommends code changes to clarify medical uses, business parks and form-based standards
Summary
The commission unanimously recommended that the city council adopt municipal code amendments to Chapter 30 to add definitions for acute and urgent care, refine business-park and warehouse standards, allow spandrel glass in shopfronts, adjust frontage coverage for narrow lots, and add transitional language for in-process projects.
The Fontana Planning Commission on March 17 voted 5-0 to recommend that the City Council adopt municipal code amendment 26-0001, a city-initiated update to Chapter 30 of the Fontana Municipal Code that would adjust zoning rules for medical uses, business parks and form-based code standards.
Associated Planner Cecily Sessions Goins presented the amendments, saying the city seeks to add clear definitions for "acute care" and "urgent care" so staff and business owners can distinguish permitted uses. "We are looking to add a definition for both acute care and urgent care, which will tie into the changes that we're proposing for medical land uses in the commercial zones," Goins said. Under the change, staff proposed allowing urgent care in C1 and C2 zones while maintaining a prohibition on acute care uses because acute care typically involves more intensive services such as inpatient care or rehabilitation.
Goins said the package also revises the definition of "business parks" to distinguish them from warehouses and clarifies that the screening requirement for loading areas should apply specifically to dock doors and truck courts for warehouses rather than to service-oriented business doors that require visibility. To improve flexibility in the Route 66 gateway subdistricts, staff proposed increasing the maximum front setback for parcels that do not front on Foothill Boulevard, and to help smaller lots meet design standards staff recommended exempting lots 75 feet or less in width from minimum frontage coverage requirements. The amendments would also allow spandrel (non-transparent) glass on shopfront frontage types to preserve the shopfront aesthetic while allowing operational flexibility.
Goins noted staff placed a memo on the dais to restore a standard transitional paragraph: projects already deemed complete under existing standards would continue to be processed under those standards. "The gist of the language is stating that if there are any projects that are in process and that have been deemed complete, under the standards as they stand today, not the new standards, they would be able to continue on with processing," she said.
With no public testimony on the item, Secretary Lozano moved to approve the master case and the municipal code amendment incorporating the memo language; the motion passed unanimously 5-0. The planning commission's recommendation will be forwarded to the City Council for final action and ordinance adoption.
