Planning Commission recommends annexation and pre‑zone for 83.61‑acre Copper Ridge project

The Hanford City Planning Commission voted unanimously on July 28 to recommend approval of amended Annexation 01/1965 and amended Pre‑Zone 13‑24 and to forward the items to the City Council with a recommendation that an application be made to the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) of Kings County. Chair Ham opened the public hearing on the single agenda item concerning the Copper Ridge project and invited a staff presentation and public input.

Staff presented the project as a development of the project site into residential uses and a neighborhood mixed‑use area. In the staff report, planning staff said, verbatim, “Copper Ridge proposed the development of 83.61 acres into a 6 50 unit multi family 300 units and single family 3 50 units residential subdivision and a 5.45 acre neighborhood mixed use site with a planned unit development overlay.” Staff also summarized prior actions, noting that a mitigated negative declaration (MND) was certified by the City Council on 01/20/2026 (MND number identified in the record as 202573) and that the annexation and amended pre‑zone are consistent with General Plan policies LU‑15 and LU‑17.

During the hearing staff reported that the reduced annexation scope has “100% consent of all landowners,” and recommended that the commission adopt a finding of consistency and forward the annexation to the City Council and LAFCO. After public input from an applicant representative, a commissioner moved to find Annexation 165 as amended consistent with the Hanford General Plan and to forward the annexation to City Council with a recommendation that an application be made to LAFCO; the motion was seconded and approved by roll call (unanimous). The commission then moved, seconded and approved Resolution 2026‑13 recommending approval of the amended pre‑zone 13‑24 to the City Council.

No votes against or abstentions were recorded; the clerk called each roll‑call vote and recorded unanimous approval. The commission closed the public hearing following the votes and moved to director remarks.

The commission’s action is a recommendation to the City Council and a LAFCO application is still required before the annexation becomes effective. The hearing record includes staff materials and the certified MND referenced above.