Despite a spirited appeal from the company’s founder, the La Palma City Council, at its April meeting, voted unanimously to uphold the recommendation of staff to refuse a permit for a growing chain of Urgent Care Centers, which hoped to move into a building recently vacated by Chase Bank on La Palma Avenue.
City staff interpreted its zoning code to exclude such use as company executives offered an interpretation of the code that would allow the operation of a Clineva Urgent Care Center in the vacant building.
Clineva Co-founder Doug Conrady told the Council the vacant corner building at that location was perfect for his growing company.
“We’re Orange County-based and in growth mode,” Conrady told the Council. “We have five clinics and are eager to expand and bring our services to this community,” he added.
“We feel this building location former Chase Bank building envelope fits our company profile perfectly,” Conrady told the Council.
In essence, Conrady was appealing to the full Council the interpretation by staff that his business did not meet the city’s code for that location which had been emailed to him earlier.
According to city records, an email from Belinda Deines, the city’s Community Development Manager informed Conrady back in November of 2024 informing Clineva that the proposed project, for the reasons stated, did not totally conform to the city’s zoning codes and planning specs.
“Thank you for the letter and conceptual site plan for the proposed Clineva Urgent Care Center. Based on the site plan (which was proposed for 5298 La Palma Ave.) provided, the proposed use meets the criteria as a medical center/clinic with four or more offices in one building.
“The La Palma Municipal Code Section 44-10 defines a medical center/clinic as “a place for group medical services not involving overnight housing of patients.” In this case, there are five exam rooms and at least four offices,” the email continued.
“As such, the Planned Neighborhood Development (PND) Zoning District prohibits medical centers/clinics. I recommend seeking alternative locations for Clineva within the city in the Office Professional (OP) or Mixed-Use Business (B-1) Zoning Districts,” Deines advises Contradi in the correspondence. At the Council’s April 1 meeting, Conrady told the Council that he’d spent his career in healthcare facilities management, and that Clineva may qualify in his interpretation of the code.
“I thank you for your summary there,” he said, noting “the position we’re taking is the classification of a medical center versus a physician office, which is permitted right for that particular location,” said Deines.
“I tend to live by what’s something called FGI guidelines. It’s what the California Department of Public Health goes by,” said Conrady, “and the definition of a medical center it basically goes along the lines of a hospital, non-ambulatory, 24-hour care service and so forth. I would classify our businesses definitely as a physician office, which is permitted [under the code],” he told the Council.
“We have one physician on site. We have one X-Ray technician and one medical assistant, very similar to a dental practice,” said Conrady.
“I would say, the difference between a doctor’s office and maybe an urgent care is we have extended hours for walk-in services in nights and weekends,” he said. “Sometimes it’s very tough for folks to get an appointment,” the healthcare executive told the Council.
Mayor Pro-tem Nitesh Patel asked Conrady about various aspects of the potential operations of the facility, including details about billing, pharmaceutical concerns even customer acquisition.
“How do you get your patients, are they by appointment or walk-in,” asked Patel.
Conrady said most of Clineva patient load comes from an online portal that allows patients to select their own time. “They go to our app, select the time and walk right in,” he said, noting walk-ins are welcome as well.
Agit Thind, La Palma’s City Attorney, reminded the Council that the application was only being appealed at this meeting.
“Perhaps I could simplify a little bit as well,” said Thind.
“So the Community Development Manager made a determination, right, that this is akin to a medical center or clinic under our code. It has been appealed to all of you the council to decide whether that’s essentially a reasonable interpretation of a code or not,” the city attorney said.
“The City Council is the ultimate authority for what the code means, right? And courts always say that a Council’s determination is entitled to significant deference from a from the court’s perspective,” he added.
“The decision was appealed and all of you can confirm it or say the interpretation of the code was erroneous,” he concluded.
In fact, Deines said at the meeting that not only has the staff agreed that Clineva’s proposal does not meet the code definition, but that the city has already accepted another application for use at the site.
“The Municipal Code land use matrix defines medical offices as physicians, dentists, optometrists, chiropractors and similar practitioners as permitted and medical centers, slash clinics, as four or more offices in one building that are prohibited in the P and D zoning district,” said Deines.
“In the neighborhood commercial zoning district, as highlighted in the chart to the right, staff interprets the municipal code to differentiate the intensification of the two different uses In that a typical doctor’s office would be regularly scheduled appointments and a lesser intensity of activity than an urgent care center that would have,” she said.
“Furthermore, a doctor’s office would be operating during normal business hours, whereas an urgent care, this urgent care proposes to have extended hours every day, seven days a week…located in areas that are immediately adjacent to residential uses,” said Deines, suggesting Clineva seek a location nearer to the hospital and other medical facilities.
“Medical services are exempt from sales tax and are not revenue-generating commercial use for the city,” Deines told the Council.
“Recently, the city also received a business license application for retail use at that location, which has been approved, so staff recommends that the city council uphold the determination that the proposed Clineva Urgent Care Center is a medical center that is express prohibitted” she said.
In the end, the Council thanked Clineva for their interest in the city but voted 5-0 to uphold Deines interpretation of the city’s code and deny the company’s application.
Later the meeting, outgoing City Manager Conal McNamara noted recent vacancies was prompting some “staffing changes” in the city, including the filling of the public works manager’s role.
“With the departure of the past director, we’ve had some staffing changes,” said McNamara. “This is something we’ve been looking at, and rather than go down the path of refilling that position, the staff’s recommendation before you this evening is going to be to have Ms. Deines assume the responsibility over both the Community Development Department and the Public Works department.”
While the city is “actively recruiting” for a number of open positions, said McNamara, he recommended Deines be given a raise to handle management and supervision of both city departments.
“I just want to thank Belinda for her incredible work,” said McNamara, who has accepted a position as City Manager in the nearby City of Whittier.
On a motion by Janet Keo, seconded by Mayor Pro-tem Patel, the Council voted unanimously to accept the staff recommendation and promote Deines to head both major city departments.
According to city officials, Deines salary will be elevated to appropriately reflect her expanded role.
Late Monday, the city announced a special meeting for April 15 where they are expected to hire Michael J. Egan as Interim City Manager and also engage Ralph Anderson & Associates, a recruiting firm, to find a full-time replacement for McNamara.
McNamara, who has been La Palma’s City Manager for the past five years, is expected to assume his new role at Whittier in May.
