On December 7, the Fullerton City Council voted to send the proposal back to the planning commission and offered the following direction:

"We also have two other responsibilities here, not just with the property owner. Because I think most of these decisions do rest with the property owner. But in the case where requesting a change in use, a large zoning change, that we do have a responsibility to listen to residents, to listen to all the adjacent property owners and try to take into account what their concerns are, what they see as the best and highest use in their neighborhoods. The second thing that we have to do as a City Council is try to maintain a certain amount of balance throughout our city and make sure we don't become one dimensional in such a way which can really handicap the city in the future. So for that reason, I think that this proposal deserves more consideration at least to make sure that all those questions are adequately answered. I understand that it's very easy and we get a lot of pressure to just rubber stamp things when they're put in front of us. I think there have been some valid questions about process here this evening and objectivity and especially the fast track that this received at our planning commission as well. I for one would be in favor of continuing the examination of this proposal since development here would likely be there for a century or so. And it would negate this from being commercial or any other use than residential for that time frame." Mayor Pro Tem Bruce Whitaker  

"Scale the density way back. I still believe there could be a valid neighborhood commercial site...We're explaining to the applicant we don't like the project as is. Can you fine tune it, preserve as much of the commercial space as you can, tweak the density downward, work on sort of the aesthetic and come back." Councilman Nick Dunlap

We want to THANK each and every single one of you that signed this petition because you made a difference in the decision. The fight is not over! Let's stay united and continue to support small business owners. Together we can keep the City Council accountable to make decisions that are in the best interest of the community and SAVE SUNRISE VILLAGE! 

You can view the public hearing in its entirety on the following link starting at 2:32:32

https://fullerton.granicus.com/player/clip/1365?view_id=2&redirect=true