Planning commissioner blasts city staff over meeting minutes

Mario Guerra called the city’s minutes from the May 15 Planning Commission meeting “misleading.” Photo by Alex Dominguez

DOWNEY — A Downey planning commissioner went off on a city department head Wednesday, unhappy with the way commissioner comments are entered into the record.

During his comments at the Planning Commission meeting, Vice Chair Mario Guerra voiced his displeasure over the way his comments were reflected in the official minutes.

“Tonight, we’re supposed to be voting on the March 6, 2024 minutes of the Planning Commission. They’re still incorrect, and does not paint the context of what [I said],” said Guerra. “It’s still not corrected. I called yesterday and was told that’s the way it’s going to be.”

Guerra’s complaint stems from a March 6 meeting where the Planning Commission approved plans for a 500,000 sq. ft. distribution center located between Hall and Stewart and Gray roads.

Though he voted in favor of the project, Guerra cautioned that it would “change the face of Downey forever,” noting that an anticipated 700,000 trucks would come and go from the facility yearly.

“I don’t want to be a San Bernardino, Inland Empire [or] Riverside,” Guerra said at the time.

However, the minutes of that meeting read that Guerra “stated that he will vote for the project as his concerns have been mitigated,” that “he felt at ease that the project was not re-zoned” and that he “thanked staff for all the hard work.”

Guerra – who first requested that the minutes be rewritten at the May 15 meeting - said the minutes were “not transparent” and “misleading.”

“I am very, very upset that I had to bring it up again, and when I called staff they said they were told by management that they had to change it back that way,” said Guerra. “This is disingenuous at best, and it changed the perception and is misrepresentative of what I said, or what should’ve been.

“I don’t know if the staff or the city want to make it seem like this is a better project and there’s no delusions on it. It’s a terrible project that’s going to change the face of the city, and I wanted it on the record.”

Director of Community Development Irma Huitron apologized to Guerra, calling it an “administrative error,” adding that “staff management did not provide any direction that your comments should not be addressed in tonight’s minutes.”

Guerra later took aim at code enforcement.

“I take exception to some of the heavy-handedness of code enforcement on people that are willing to work with enforcement,” said Guerra. “They want to work with enforcement, and yet we still punish them and still go forward.”