 Welcome to our 12 30 p.m. Session of the August 14th 2018 meeting of the city council I'd now like to ask the clerk to please call the roll. Thank you mayor councilmember. It's crone here Matthews Chase Brown here norion here vice mayor Watkins here and mayor trousers here and now the clerk would please lead us in the pledge of allegiance Thank you now at this point in the agenda It's an honor to introduce new employees to the city of Santa Cruz And so we'd like to invite up the department heads from to the departments where these employees will be working and the first Person I'd like to invite up is the deputy director of libraries Janice O'Driscoll Good afternoon is my pleasure to introduce Yesenia Camacho Bautista who is our new administrative assistant for the communications team of Library and yesenia has a very important job because she has to know about all of the programs and all of the branches She makes sure they're all accurately on the calendar She keeps the attendance of statistics so we can report to the state how well we're doing and we're doing really well and The other thing the most important thing that she does is she fields all the requests from the public about For information about all the programs So when you walk up to you sitting and you say what's happening? She can really tell you When she's not communicating about the library to the public She's communicating to her sweet little dog a little corgi named Quinn and They're out and about a lot in Santa Cruz and did you know I didn't know That corgis have a meet-up once a month So if you're walking around and you see a gaggle of corgis Yesenia and Quinn are probably among them So please welcome me help Help me welcome. Yesenia to the library. Thank you. Welcome Next I'd like to invite up director of Public Works Mark Dettel Afternoon, it's my pleasure to welcome four new Employees to the Public Works Department Next to me is Emmanuel Ruiz. He's at our new parking facility maintenance assistance It's a new job straight out of high school. We're really happy to have him He's born in Santa Cruz raised here. He lives in Soquel has two dogs and 17 goats Resid is a residential work password experience residential construction painting land and landscaping He went to Oasis High School and he's ready to start Cabrillo College and Let's see sure Building's not here. His dream is to become a construction inspector for the city So we're helping grooming him for that and giving it some experience He likes to work on projects mountain biking dirt biking road biking He boxes he wrestles. He runs lifts weights exercise goes to the beach go to the forest and eat great food So we are really happy to have him join us with the parking division as a facility maintenance assistant so Not to toot my own horn, but on my Instead of going to my graduation Ceremony My boss called me. He said do you want to work this day at the same time of my thing? And I don't want to tell them that was my graduation ceremony So I went instead of my graduation ceremony to my first day. Yeah dedication To show everyone that I was dedicated for the job and really grateful for the job All right. Thank you. Thank you. We're really Next to Emmanuel is Bonnie McCall a new solid waste worker Actually, she's worked for the city before as a solid waste worker up at the landfill now. She's going to be in collections In a permanent position She was born and raised in Santa Cruz and lives in Santa Cruz. She has one son The past work experience besides the city was Napa auto parts and Santa Cruz City schools She went to school at Soquel High and she enjoys older cars spending time with her son and bike riding So, please welcome Bonnie and Next to Bonnie is Ryan Bowers solid waste worker He's he's also in collections. He's born and raised in Watsonville Currently lives in Brookdale has a dog and a cat His past work experience was three years working at a Driscoll's and at six months at Goodyear's He went to Calabasas and then transferred up to SLB high school And when he's not working he likes to work on a 68 Chevy truck and his RC cars and a fun fact is When his dad used to drive at the Watsonville race speedway, he was in the in his pit crew So that was one thing he enjoys And then next to Ryan is Danny Tobias also a solid waste worker and He was born in Santa Cruz and grew up in Watsonville currently lives in Capitola He has four children two boys and two girls And he worked for the parks for the city and the county for over a year and went to Aptos High and He likes to fish and play fantasy football. So please join me in welcoming all of these new public works employees Add more bike trails Welcome. All right Okay, all right. Well at this point after that nice welcome we want to move on to the next item of our agenda and we have Three presentations that are scheduled and I'm really excited about each of them. Um, the first one is um regarding Loneliness, isolation and older adults and I'd like to invite up Mary Howe to give that presentation Good afternoon Santa Cruz City Council members My name is Mary Howe and I'm part of village Santa Cruz Which isn't a physical place but an organization of seniors to connect with and to support each other in various ways with me are Kelly Mercer Leibov the senior programs director at Loudon Nelson Community Center and Tara Ireland who manages the volunteer center's seniors programs The three of us are part of the senior loneliness and isolation solutions work group That formed out of the solution summit last november The summit was an all-day meeting of about a hundred senior service agencies advocates And policy makers who came together To brainstorm solutions to some of the evolving needs in our community Loneliness and isolation isn't just a problem for older adults But there are some common threads as we move through our lives that increase our losses And these losses increase the likelihood that as we age we'll end up isolated and or lonely For those of us who are parents once our kids grow up we lose the connections and engagement associated with our child's school and parent groups When we retire we lose the daily interaction of our coworkers Physical changes can cause barriers hearing loss means that in noisy environments It's work just to carry on a conversation So we stop going to lively restaurants large parties big gatherings where we previously had spent time with our friends and met new people As our vision diminishes we first stop driving at night Which keeps us home after dark We miss the things that used to bring us so much pleasure the theater the symphony dancing Eventually we may need to stop driving entirely the alternatives pose challenges Notice when you're out walking in different neighborhoods the uneven sidewalks or the lack of continuous sidewalks Imagine walking using a walker A cane or a wheelchair Record all the places you drove for one week And then look at a bus schedule and plot out how you would have done that using public transportation We have people losses Our kids often move away Following jobs or because they can't afford to live here Our friends move to be close to their kids We lose our parents our siblings our partners Do you know that studies are finding that only smoking is a greater health risk to older adults than loneliness and isolation Do you know that in santa cruz county the population of those under 60 Is decreasing while the 60 plus population has increased by 49 percent Since 2011 and continues to rise as baby boomers age The challenges around these this demographic shift Often called the silver tsunami Affects our whole community in so many ways The good news is that santa cruz has some strong organizations doing incredible work to connect with seniors And keep them engaged making sure older adults are adding connections Organizations like village santa cruz like the volunteer center of santa cruz county providing opportunities to engage and serve their communities Also with measure d funds Lift line can now offer rides not just to the mills on wheels Luncheons at loud and nelson, but to all the the downtown senior center programs By building on what already works and innovative thinking together. We can turn the silver tsunami into a silver reservoir Bringing isolated elders back into our community to share their time skills knowledge and stories While our work group focus will always be about finding solutions We know that the first step in solving a problem is to understand the problem So for your information and to get you thinking proactively Our group has put together an infographic about senior loneliness and isolation in santa cruz county Thank you so much for listening Thank you And um, if you'd like you please pass those on and uh, bonnie or city clerk will hand them on Are there any questions from the council members? I actually don't have a question. I just wanted to make a comment as the The city's representative to the area agency on aging and the seniors council was the organization that Put this event on and it was so inspiring to be there And i'm so pleased to see the progress that's been made in terms of you know, really coming At the the challenges and and offering solutions. So thank you for all of your work And thank you for the presentation and mary. Thank you for reaching out If there's any future updates, please let us know on your work and how we might get involved in the future Okay, thank you The next presentation is angelica glass and um, angelica You may have read about in the paper um for the street from the heart um She's walked now I think every single neighborhood in the city of santa cruz and made photographs of them Some you may have seen downtown at pete. There was a recent exposition And I think also in the paper just learning about and I thought just thought coming back from the break After having july was parks months I think we need a little bit of neighborhood flavor to kind of bring us back to uh Kind of our our council deliberations. I thought I I didn't extend the invitation so you can tell us about your project and And and what the status is Thank you so much for the opportunity to tell you about something near and dear to my heart I started the project on december 8th 2013 It was a natural extension of my growing practice of taking long walks for exercise and peace of mind I was working in a sometimes heart wrenching job and felt the need to consciously seek out beauty My initial idea was to find something that moved me on each street and take a snapshot Almost immediately I developed an interest in photography There's something that happens when you look at the world frame by frame I began noticing light shadow And reflection in ways I never had I started out walking the length of each street in the city of santa cruz Where I lived where I've lived for nearly 40 years Along the way I talked with a man who was making stunning archery bows Someone who is building a violin Another fashioning crab pots I met a gentleman building a tiny house on the back of his truck A maker of wooden totems Five sisters making fry bread in their garage Collectors of classic cars Treehouse builders a sculptor a painter a ucsc professor Walking along a road in felton. I met a woman who had just celebrated her hundredth birthday. She invited me to tea One day I met a man with whom I talked about photography Weeks later I signed up for a class only to learn that he would be my instructor In the Morrissey area An elderly gentleman showed me an old tree that he had purchased as a tiny sapling He told me this was a true tulip tree He drew down one of the branches and picked this flower for me I don't know his name or his politics Or his marital status. I do know that his simple gesture touched my heart These chants and counters and many others linger well beyond the moment and collectively they represent one of the most meaningful aspects of my project I was recently on vacation in kawaii as I was grilling our dinner I met a guy from Santa Cruz. He told me that he lived in bonny dune then added Well, I live off of bonny dune road, but people don't typically know the side roads As it turns out My photo of his street is of his backyard There are roughly 4100 streets in santa cruz county 556 in the city of santa cruz 118 in the city of capitol a 212 in scott's valley and 411 in watsonville Unincorporated streets number about 2,802 to date. I've walked the length of approximately 3,980 streets in the county In watsonville you can stand at the corner of hope and peace Or at the corner of ingracia and contento In bonny dune you can find yourself at the corner of ice cream grade and candy lane and I ate some skittles there just You know seemed fitting There's a street called milky way Another called harms way. There's fiddlesticks drive jackrabbit ridge buzzard lagoon rocky road fast lane easy street And my favorite pancake ridge Skipped a couple here I find little pop up fruit and vegetable stands all along my walks like this one on beautiful camp joy road I always keep a couple dollars in my pocket for apples These apples were grown and harvested in the skyland area by the very man who planted the orchard decades ago On the day I met him he was picking barrels of apples which he planted which he planned to trade for Trade with a friend for fish that were being caught even as the apples were being picked I see lots of coyotes cedar wax wings black tail deer cotton tails and jackrabbits crafty squirrels A wide variety of butterflies One of the greatest joys of the project has been literally getting down into the mud and observing the life all around us I no longer own a single pair of jeans without dirt stained knees No matter how much I promise myself that I'll stay clean and tidy I come home from nearly every walk with dirt and grass stains sand pouring out of my shoes and clothes soaked from wading into the River to spy on a newt or into the tide pools to find a baby octopus or slopping through the mud to catch up with a tiny frog Newt guarding her eggs in kings creek Like this photograph because in her eyeball you can see the clouds in the sky Ladybugs along the San Lorenzo River Beeline and Felton I've learned to see familiar places and things in a new light sunlight in spider web strands sunset on the lower west side big sky in Watsonville Grave yards Historic buildings like this beauty and auto center drive in Watsonville In the summit area there are hidden train tunnels you can walk through There's an old barn on vinehill road that is the last vestige of what was once magnetic springs a tourist attraction in the late 1800s My partner Ellen joined me for a walk wondrously afternoon walking a few paces ahead of me She casually turned back and said there's a castle And there it was the colorful Venetian and Capitola Another view of the Venetian Older creek in the wee hours. I often go out before sunrise to witness the changing light Sideway surfer at natural bridges Fellow named Philip who flies his kite from a fishing pole to the great delight of west cliff amblers This artist's rendering of the boardwalk after a king's tide. I love how she stores her paint brushes And my photo from the same vantage point One of the many stunning agricultural roads in Watsonville Vibrant fields on the very outskirts of the county I've seen a wonderful array of dwellings in my local travels Trees and fog from bear creek road Forest lake swimming The view from Watsonville's ridge road A small graveyard and apple barn The road flooded during the storms and swallowed up by the wetlands Love seeing creativity expressed through home and garden art and forged tools I've walked alone for the majority of the walks being alone mile after mile has given me a chance to reflect on my life so far To integrate accept and forgive myself and others for challenges I faced and to more fully experience gratitude I've been blessed beyond measure with a life full of good people a wonderful marriage and the best in-laws Healthy children amazing siblings remarkable friendships meaningful work and abundant delicious food All that and I've discovered that there's endless free entertainment And all you have to do is go out your door 24 friends and family members have joined me for one or many walks My son myles and our dog is he joined me for a walk in one of my favorite scott's valley roads catalac drive Joe meets a new friend Jesse and her dog treco I've always adored treco, but he could scarcely give me the time of day until the project started and he was invited on many walks Now he spins in circles every time he sees me And and I got lost briefly on this walk adding to the adventure My brother hamming it up actually I made him pose for me on this rickety old porch such a good sport My friend sandy occasionally announces I have an entire day to walk Music to my ears the photo here was taken on a day when we had walked over 20 miles My friend consuelo has joined me for several walks into Including an early walk along the entire length of bear creek road where we enjoyed stunning views Here nancy and I explore hins mill road stopping for lunch in a field of forget-me-nots along a creek Nancy is readily game for long long walks. She's walked with me from scott's valley to los gatos as has my brother jerry My son kita and my friends melissa and joe No chance of spotting wildlife when melissa and I walked together We have way too much to talk about And can then wildlife can hear us coming from miles away Here we walk the length of urica canyon road This was during the big storms and we ended up having to navigate some fallen tree limbs to get back to the car My friend kirsten feeds a horse on old ranch road Walking in other people's neighborhoods means you get an insider's view here michelle gives me a tour of the mount madonna summit area My friend's daughter runs joyfully down a classic country road as she and her mom introduced me to their neighborhood I love this place Thank you Thank you Hey back to that Just a quick question. So by my count it's about 200 more streets. Uh, I think about 150. Yeah, okay Um, if you're just speaking to the mic, I'm just curious when you might be able to when you plan to finish the project Well, let's see. I think I'm hoping to to finish by the end of the year by december So, yeah, well definitely, you know continue to share the photographs and I really appreciate the senior work Downtown and also reading about in the paper. So thank you for sharing that with us today So from walking neighborhood streets to uh, roller derby So I'd like to invite up the santa cruz roller derby for a presentation I think just about everybody here is Embraced santa cruz roller derby. I think it's become like a fabric to our community I went back recently and looked back at some of my Family photographs and I've seen my kids Age and uh, grow through different seasons with the roller derby So it's really an honor for me to present you on your 10th season this proclamation um, I don't know if you'd like to present first, but I I'd love to hear about what you've been up to and what's in the future And then maybe we'll we'll present the proclamation for you That sounds great. Thank you so much for inviting us to be here today. This is a special honor for us We and are excited every year to get to work with the city of santa cruz to declare Derby girl day and santa cruz and we're honored to be able to share with you a little bit about what we do For the city of santa cruz and how we're representing santa cruz internationally now So we have a few slides to go through to tell you what we're all about And then we have some if there's time we can answer some questions. My name is eileen hill I go by the derby name Sharon de pain I'm a giver not a taker And I have been skating with the santa cruz derby girls since 2010 I play on the harbour hellcats the b team. I also volunteer And serve the league by training skaters as well as Being part of the marketing committee Oh, and in my real life, I am the executive director of the cabrio college foundation Yeah, we always refer to ourselves as our real lives and our derby lives Sometimes you get mixed up because you start answering emails with the wrong name Um, my name is reagan. I'm in I go by shamrock and roller on the santa cruz derby girls And I am a founding member of the league. So I've been with the league for 10 years now Um, I am the captain of the boardwalk bombshells, which is our all-star traveling team And I also play play act as the executive director of the santa cruz derby girls, which is a voted in position by our league members I'm a mother of two in my real life and I work as a television and video producer for my family's company tam communications My name is jennifer mcneill and My derby name is pain generator. I go by pain on the track In my real life I work at ecology action as the product development manager bringing energy efficiency to all of california and the pacific northwest For derby for our league. I am the director of boot camp. So I train New skaters and bring in new league members to help support the growing sport Hi, i'm skirt vonnegut. I'm a jammer for the boardwalk bombshells And on the league. I'm the fundraising director So I run fundraising events and reach out to sponsors and try to get support for our league And in my real life. I'm a writer. Um, I'm finishing up my first science fiction novel Nice So we're just going to introduce a little bit of the history of Roller derby and the background of our league So modern roller derby began in 2001 in austin texas. It quickly spread to well over 1200 leagues worldwide Modern roller derby is played by a set of rules. It's not scripted Which you may have seen in the days of yore when you watched on television the banked track We actually play on a flat track. There are still banked track leagues, but our league is a flat track roller derby league We've seen how the sport has evolved It started as more of a spectacle type of sport with fishnets and tattoos and people coming for that reason and now it has really become a membership of Thousands of serious athletes who train and practice seven days a week on and off the track Our league began in 2009 as the first 501c3 nonprofit full contact flat track roller derby league in santa cruz It was a small group of us that came together and wanted to make roller derby happen in santa cruz We didn't know exactly what we were doing, but we knew we wanted to play roller derby We wanted to hit people we wanted to be athletes And we didn't realize that we were actually creating this huge business and community organization for santa cruz As you said we are celebrating our 10-year anniversary And in these 10 years we have also become a member of the women's flat track derby association Which represents about 400 leagues internationally? And the women's flat track derby association is like it's the governing body Of roller dirt flat track roller derby kind of similar to the nba in basketball So in those 10 years we have seen our numbers fluctuate and we're proud to say that our league has grown to 170 members who are comprised of adult and junior skaters non skating officials on skates officials and announcers and volunteers Who are committed to furthering the sport roller derby in santa cruz for For our community but also worldwide. We are do we talk about this? We're currently ranked 16th in the world, which is a huge deal for our small town and we will talk about that a little bit later The thing about our organization is we're completely volunteer run We also pay to play the sport and to put ourselves through All the pain that we do not only physically but also emotionally and mentally because we all are running this business for all employees of this organization We pay to play dues We pay we pay dues every month and that is how we are able to fund our practice based up in scott's valley And because the skaters are paying to play we're not only putting our money in but our time Because we do work as employees. We all have our jobs on the league as we all express our different jobs But every member of our league has to hold a job and also do volunteer hours Because it's not just about the volunteer time we put into our organization But it's about volunteer hours that we're presenting to the community because we do represent our league as community first driven So pain you're gonna talk a bit about our track pack Yeah So our track pack consists of referees and non skating officials and they really are the people who make it so that we can play the game They keep us safe and they make sure that we all play by the rules We train our referees and our non skating officials They have to know the rule sets So, um, you know, we provide that training to them as well as um, if they're referees They have to be on skates they have to maneuver and keep up with our skaters playing the game when we provide that training through our boot camp as well Our referees not only play for not only Officiate for our league, but they also travel Across the country and even worldwide to support the derby community and officiate for other leagues as well Our Our grom program, this is our junior roller derby program. It's really amazing. We have 66 skaters enrolled right now Ages seven to 17 There's actually kind of three teams. There's the grom shell team, which is our a team traveling team There's the sassies and then there's a brand new program Which is called the gromettes, which is really ages seven to ten and those over ten that are new to skating And it's really to get them introduced to the sport My son is actually part of the gromettes. He's nine. He started last year It's really super fun to watch them at that age Our grom shell team Have Raised in the ranks. They are currently ranked number one Um in the junior roller derby association the national Organization for junior roller derby and um, they won the championships in july in pennsylvania Our juniors really are the future of roller derby We have been lucky enough to have them, you know grow up and become adult skaters as well So as I had mentioned before we are um, I'm on the hell cats, which is the b team And we are set up like a farm structure So when uh people want to join and anybody can join any of you can join if you're interested You can enroll in our boot camp. We show you all the skills to that you need to get started And then once you get past boot camp you are Put into our fresh meat program So we really love the fresh meat because we get to hit and knock them around And then once they graduate from the fresh meat program they go to our c team the sirens and then graduate to our b team Which is where we develop our next All stars who then are our boardwalk bomb shells and who represent santa cruz internationally All right, so our all star team is the boardwalk bomb shells and the bomb the bomb shells Travel across the country We've played teams from almost any state you can think of in the union And um increasingly more so we're becoming um international presence So teams from across the world have come to play us We've played teams from australia canada finland the uk And um teams from all over have come to play us here in in santa cruz or at our facility in scott's valley We hosted our third annual boardwalk empire tournament this past year It was a huge success. Uh, we actually were able to stream it online. So people from all over the world could watch us play And our little team here in santa cruz is making a huge impact worldwide. So as shami said We're ranked 16th now. That's out of 400 teams in the wft da That's our highest ranking we've ever achieved So we're super proud of the work that we've done to get there and super proud of our leadership Which has gotten us there, too And this year we are proud to say that we've been invited to playoffs in acarunia spain. That's a tiny little surfing town just About the north of about north of portugal Super appropriate. That's a tiny little surfing town because we'll put right in So we're excited to see that and um get to represent santa cruz internationally Our first game is going to be against paris roller derby When we beat them we'll be playing Crime city which is malmo sweden And uh as we're and and then angel city from from la we'll see them again And uh as a nonprofit, you know, we're run by volunteers As shammy said we we pay to play And that's why we're asking our community to help us raise money to get to spain So here we have a list of um, you know perks and support levels And the perks for giving our you know, we like to give away fun stuff like game tickets A handwritten limerick written by one of our skaters scdg merchandise and even a skate lesson with the derby girls So uh along with all the things we do for our league as well as training and skating and competing we also Really want to give back to the santa cruz community. So so far in our 10 years. We've donated nearly 40 000 dollars to community organizations Over a thousand volunteer hours And to more than 40 local nonprofit schools and community groups So we would like to participate in beach cleanups river cleanups Blood drives as well as also partnering each year with a featured non-profit. So this year the spca is our featured non-profit We uh work with them to help cross promote what they're doing and their mission We invite them to come to all of our games and they get to parade around some dogs for adoption And then at the end of the season we will award them proceeds from our bouts as well So we're very excited to be able to do that for our community Did you have a question? No, I just was wondering yeah, if you were turning it over to me Not yet We're really proud to also say that we've had a successful adoptions because of the spca being at our games and we um It's one of those things that we feel really proud of that. We're able to give those Animals a forever home. So we're going to talk really quick about how roller derby is played We talked already about it being full contact. We wear safety equipment along with our skates We wear helmets elbow pads wrist guards knee pads and mouth guards Um, and we're just going to show this video because I think this is going to be the best way for you to See how the sport is played and you'll it's going to take you a really long time Anyways, if you came out to our games to understand it because it's still confusing to us but um, it's really fun and exciting and Full of hard hits and I'm going to just keep talking until the video is ready We do play the game in two 30 minute periods and those periods are broken up into jams up to two minutes long For each jam we field four blockers and one jammer. So at any one time there can be up to 10 skaters on the track The jammer. I'll just explain it the jammer has a star on their helmet script is one of our jammers She's the score. She scores the points for the The team that she's playing on And then it's the job of the blockers to keep The posing team blockers to keep her from Scoring points and it's our job to keep to help her get points scored Um and There's all these little details and ways you can get penalties and end up going to what we call the penalty box And the one of the things that we just want to show to every to to the Crowd out here are adoring fans is um, we talk we talk about legal hitting and blocking zones So you guys face that way and we'll face this way Okay, so Sharon I can hit Sharon with my hip my shoulder and um My so my hip there my shoulder here I can hit her in my back if I want to but I don't recommend it But I can only hit Sharon in so many places. I can't cannot hit Sharon in the head I can so I have to hit her from the neck Down and I have to hit her from the middle of the hip up I can't hit her with my elbows or my forearm. So I can't come up turn go like that and knock her over That's our clothes line And no tripping no low blocks and then there's all whole bunch of other ways that you can end up going to the penalty box Not related to making anyone fall down so Yeah, I want to hear so I guess I want to say the best way to probably learn is to go and watch it directly So I'm gonna say this before before I before I read the proclamation I want to really thank you for calling out your volunteer work in the community. I know you as Santa Cruz derby girls even sponsor local sports teams for girls and I think you're Really an outstanding role model for young young girls in the community in sports to see all the different opportunities and activities that are out there So I know my kids have appreciated it and we we appreciate all that you do and for those reasons and more We're dedicating the season for you on your 10th anniversary. So Yeah, and so I'll just say Without going into the the full proclamation I just want to say that um as mayor of the city of santa cruz I hear do I do by proclaim the santa cruz derby girls season and In the city of santa cruz and urge all citizens to celebrate this hardworking and dedicated league of women and men Who bring the sport of roller derby to our city and also to really encourage everyone to come out to the august 25th 2018 bout at the santa cruz auditorium Yes, lastly go celebrate them on their trip to spain and make some donations to make that trip Successful, and i'm going to come down and give this to you and I wish we could all join you to Be out there celebrating honor. Well, thank you and on august 25th We will have a special cameo from maria mayor to razis and we will be honoring him with a special derby name So you can actually see who some of our Former santa cruz city mayors up there and their derby names actually civil servant Also known as sythia matthews was the one who started all of this. So thank you so much Civil servant. I love it And I gave him the skate key to the city too. We got a skate key from from civil Who's civic booty? Policy maker is that Policy maker that's awesome This is red alert over here Yeah, we have we have some flyers here for the game and we'll just leave them here if anybody wants Thank you for your time. I really appreciate it And I just want to say one thing real quickly We had a group of french exchange students around three or four years ago that we hosted took them to a derby girls bout And they it was really funny trying to explain what was going on to them with a language barrier But they had a great time and endeavored to learn more about it after after they left they kept asking questions So I'd be playing them in paris I mean playing they might be playing for the paris roller derby No kidding. I'm gonna be great Thank you guys. Thank you Thank you All right, thanks. Those are those are really wonderful presentations to start the meetings And now I'd like to turn it over and start Our regular meeting have a few announcements and then we'll move on to the agenda Today's meeting is being broadcast live on community television channel 25 and streaming on the city's website at cityofsanicruze.com Jennifer Cameron is our technician this evening and like to thank her for her work throughout the meeting recording this for community television All city council members can be emailed at city council at cityofsanicruze.com If you'd like to communicate with us about an agenda item We'd like to receive your email by monday prior to the meeting at 5 p.m This provides us with an opportunity to review your email included with the rest of our agenda packet Please bear in mind that all items of correspondence with the city and city council constitute public records And are generally subject to disclosure upon request by any member of the public Accordingly if you have sensitive or private information That you do not wish to be made public. You should not include that information in your correspondence Our rules of decorum are on the window ledge to my left It's my job to keep the meeting running without disruption and we ask that you respect your fellow citizens when whether you are inside or outside of the chambers At this time, I'd like to ask if there's any council members if they have any statements of disqualification today Seeing none and assuming councilwoman orion doesn't have one. I'll move on to additions and deletions Are there any additions and deletions? In regards to oral communications oral communications is an opportunity for members of the community to speak to us on items that are not on the agenda Oral communications will generally occur at the conclusion of afternoon business at or around 5 30 p.m But may occur before or after that time At this time, I'd like to call on the city attorney to provide a report on the closed session Thank you. Mayor trazis members of the city council items discussed this afternoon In the courtyard conference room In closed session which began at 11 30 this morning are A a conference with legal counsel with respect to liability claims Those are the claims of eril naja teppern The claim of bigham christiansen and minceloff llc The claim of david turner and the claim of david k myberg. Those are also Item 11 on your consent agenda this afternoon And based on council direction in closed session when you do call your consent calendar There will be a recommendation to defer action on items one That is the heppern claim and four which is the myberg claim secondly the council met with its labor negotiator In a conference with labor negotiators concerning the operating engineers oe three council received a report from The labor negotiator on that matter, but there was no reportable action Lastly there were three items of real property negotiations property at 55 b c and d municipal wharf That is also agenda item 10 on your consent calendar Property at 115 coral street Council received a report and gave direction on that item. No reportable action was taken Lastly the property at 10237 newell creek road ben lomond. That is also item 21 on your consent agenda Thank you, it's my report. Thank you But next I'd like to call on the city manager to provide a presentation Thank you, mayor and council. I'm going to pass out a copy of the presentation here I'm going to do a brief update on The homelessness item I'll start by just giving an update on the more the state and regional Things that would happen in this arena first As everybody is aware of we've The state has allocated some additional funding towards homelessness Which is good news across the state since it's a major issue For our county we're looking at about 9.6 million that would be available to us over the next three years The homeless action partnership, which is comprised of the county and four cities And homeless service providers are is the Structure that's looking at the prioritization and how to assign the the funding and meeting the regional needs for homelessness The applications for those funds are due in october and november of this year And we expect to receive funding by january of 2018 So they'll develop recommendations that will come back and to look at how to allocate those funds regionally the other item at the local level county white level at least is the Approval of the board of supervisors the placement of an affordable housing bond measure Of which in in that proposed Ballot measure includes funding for homelessness in the range of 21 million dollars The idea is to focus on navigation centers both in the north and south county regions Around a motion emergency shelter and also transitional and supportive housing. So that's Again, another major resource to be able to make some improvements particularly in providing housing emergency housing and transitional housing In addition, it proposes money significant monies for housing production and preservation and home ownership And with respect to the city in particular, we would receive about a portion of the The the 119 about 21 million dollars in home in well a portion of the 21 million dollars for homelessness would come out of The would be originally allocated But with respect to the other portions of the funding for housing production and preservation We would receive about 30.5 million dollars that the city would be Have the flexibility and the ability to determine how to use that within those categories The other item I wanted to report on is the winter shelter program as we're coming up on that And so that is also another effort and has been traditionally of the homeless action partnership Again the county in the four cities And working at winter shelter possibilities in conjunction with the transition of the river street camp And the homeless services Polyloft program The operator of the winter shelter again for the last two seasons committed to short-term operations and has fulfilled that promise A new operator and siding needs to be identified. So that is something that we're working on now And the the operator or the winter shelter typically operates for five months providing about a hundred beds Of shelter per night for the wettest and coldest time of the year So that's something that we're working on now to to resolve With respect to the river street camp river street camp is operating as as normal We've had really had that no major Impacts the community and operate it relatively smoothly There's no plans to close the program now in the current authorization that your you have provided us through the end of august This the camp is also funded Through the HAP process where the city contributes 35 percent the county 51 percent And then the city's the scots valley and capitol approximately 13 percent So that is the the new funding model with this interim period of time that it's operating We're currently in the process of evaluating the transition plans and the possibility of extension and the community engagement process Which we talked about doing that before we move forward with any particular approach or plans And we expect to have a full update to you at your august 28th council meeting And then finally I thought I'd give you an update on you know another portion of the City's efforts to improve homelessness and to address homelessness is the downtown streets team and in their work As you know, they're moving into their second year of operation and have expanded into the harvey west neighborhood the county has also contracted with them to Provide expansion into the unincorporated areas of the county They've had a really a great experience and have been pretty successful in making a difference where they've they've worked I've got some information to share about their work. They have several routes Or areas that they covered throughout the the city at downtown the river Wherever walk levy the beach in harvey west with respect to harvey west They actually have four routes one which includes the pogunip and as you can see they've Done quite a bit of work to collect, you know garbage and Needles and in those sorts of things Particularly along the the river walk and in levy The other thing that's important about the downtown streets team is a lot of what they do The core of what they do is really to help individuals after homelessness Obviously the cleaning up is is important But also they strive to address and trying to help people's Situations and circumstances so they you can see here some of the statistics around that in terms of finding Housing or sheltering for individuals or employment And they've done some some pretty good work in that arena as well So with that i'd be happy to answer any questions you may have Any questions council member crown Yeah, I was wondering about the uh the money From the state that we they were anticipating How is that going to be received and who gets to disperse that which which group are we working with the county? Is it a city? Is it the city councils that are? our own community services committee of the council It it goes through as I understand is through the the HAP process which is a regional entity that's comprised of representatives from the various Cities in the county. It also includes a homeless services providers in that Approach obviously we will bring back to council the the various Approaches and recommendations, but the allocation process works through through the HAP Which is the the method that we've used for example for the winter shelter the winter shelters funded in that approach And we have essentially a methodology that we've employed relative to how funding is shared And so in this particular case we'll also look at how to allocate it. That's really dependent on whatever sheltering plan We develop moving forward in terms of the long term Plan for the navigation center and then as well as the interim plan So as we develop these plans and work on what specifically they'll they'll look like Then we'll tie the funding to to make it work for the region And again, this also includes not just For sheltering and needs in north county, but also south county. That's included in the process as well last question You'd mentioned or somebody mentioned something like nine million dollars is what we're talking about up to that and so Do we does the HAP group go out and And look for service providers or do service providers come to the HAP group and apply for these grants funding? It does depend on whatever plans we we we put forward together relative to what Is identified as as the plan and develop as a plan So for example, I anticipate that it will be a combination of investments in permanent facilities as well as temporary facilities whether as we transition into You know tent like structures moving forward and or the acquisition of sites and facilities But that has to be that it has not been determined But that's what I anticipate that the uses would be And it would be determined really by the cities in the county working with the homeless services providers And just to be clear that's the city portion not No, this is a county and this is this is countywide. So that nine million would be like countywide monies Okay, thanks councilmember brown Just a quick question. Given that we have been faced with extension of the river street Camp site. I'm just wondering how we are notifying both People who are staying in the camp and the general public about the extension and also about Some kind of assurance that people will not be displaced before we find secondary transitional site All right Well, what we've committed to do and have done consistently is to Keep the community and the neighborhood engaged of any changes. So for example with the Current extension we reached out to them in advance so that they were the first to to be aware of it as well as to provide input into Any concerns they may have about the such a decision So that'll that'll occur as part of the process and that's been part of the standard procedures there With respect and again the goal is to we'll be we'll be back to council relative to extending that but certainly the goal is to Be able to provide as much shelter capacity and services to the community without creating Displacement that is the goal I'll just make a comment. I you mentioned in your report the placement of the countywide bond measure on the november ballot by the board of supervisor I just want to I congratulate the board Supervisors for doing that in support of the work of, you know, fred keely and former mayor don lane I think that help will help, you know For prove funds some desperately needed housing in in our region not only in the city, but throughout But also I didn't see in there But I had also heard that there's also an additional tax measure that was placed on on the ballot Which will generate for retail sales funds to be used in the city to Address behavioral health issues and mental health and I think that's also an equally important Action that the board took and I'd like to really congratulate the board for that because I think it really Will provide some significant benefit to the city if approved to help address those Those needs right that's correct There are sales tax measure that they placed on the ballot provides some funding to develop a program that would Really address some of the the the high frequency offenders And provide for really intense monitoring And the ability to sort of kind of track and and be able to Balancing or holding individuals accountable In terms of providing public safety support as well as trying to assist individuals So that that would be a critical program that would be Implemented countywide and it would be certainly helpful to the city Are there any other questions or comments? Okay, then we'll move on to the consent agenda First up is the consent agenda. These items are numbers 4 through 21 on our agenda All items will be acted upon in one motion unless an item is pulled by a council member for further discussion We've already had discussion item 11 is going to be pulled from the agenda Because of some changes and we can reflect that in the motion Really an item 20 council member crone contacted me in advance to request that item 20 be pulled Um, are there any other items council members wish to pull from this agenda on council member brown? Yeah, I'd like to pull item eight and I have a quick question on item 13 13 so we'll ask a question on 13 and any others Number seven and 21 And I would I would want to pull 13 because I don't want to you know, I want to I'm going to vote on that Number 21. Whoa, and you said number 13 Yeah, okay, so rather than the question we'll just we'll just And um, I'm going to um pull item number four just for some clarification on the minutes Which I was advised about a clerk to do that to pull it so Um, so we have quite a few um that are pulled and that's numbers Four 11 13 Excuse me four seven eight 11 13 20 and 21 So are there any members of the public that wish to speak on any items other than the ones I just mentioned? Any member of the public that wishes to speak on any item other than the ones I just mentioned See none. I'll bring it back to the council for further deliberation and action I'll move the consent agenda with the exception of those that were named A motion by council member matthews second by council member chase and that is a motion to approve the consent excluding items four seven eight 11 13 20 and 21 All those in favor of that motion. Please say aye. Hi any opposed? Okay, that motion passes unanimously Okay, so we'll start with number four, which I asked to be pulled um based on the city clerk's recommendation This is a minutes from the june 12th city council meeting and just for clarification when we had the the housing recommendations that came back Um, I there was a obviously the full council. Um, there's one no, but the full council supports the work of the housing subcommittee I um, there were some issues in there that I um, I did not support though And that was the elimination of the owner occupancy requirement. I just want to make sure for the record that that was clear I'm open to looking at it, but I did not support that You know staff work to to do that And I like that clear on the record also that you know, there was a direction to look at creating a new housing legislative affairs program And I feel that I wanted to make sure that the legislative affairs program is is improved into the existing legislative affairs work, so we're not creating a new one and then also Requesting clarification on the status of the corridor plan in light of the recent work on downtown projects I mean, I I felt like it was it was a really kind of a comprehensive report And there was a lot to cover, but there was just so much to digest It was difficult to kind of like parse it out into kind of individual discussion I just want to make for the record that that those are Things that I'd want clear in the minutes So Is there any discussion? Well, I'm prepared to move unless you want I was going to ask if there's any member of the public is any member of the public that likes to speak on this side And this is item number four. This was the minutes from the June 12th agenda Seeing none. I'll bring it back to the council and I'll move the Approval of the minutes with the addition for the record of the points that the mayor has spelled out for his His specific stand on the issues. Yeah, and I'll second that. Thank you I just wanted to say that It's quite a lineup of issues there There's a count of about 10 pages of stuff that was passed in that motion So I just call attention to that from the general public and also to the council that there's quite a few things there Thanks. Okay, there's a motion Council member brown. I just have a quick comment there So, uh, yeah, it is a very extensive list and in our in our subcommittee We I think intentionally had some some really Deep discussion about where there may be some disagreements on particular areas that We really tried to craft the language So we were looking at exploring those items coming back So I I imagine that most of this is going to be coming back to us kind of parceled out in In different pieces and we will have an opportunity to weigh in again So hope everybody feels good about that And I know for this particular item you were not present for the vote But did you watch the video or are you gonna okay, so you're you rehabilitated? Thank my colleagues for representing me. I'm sorry. I could be here Okay, so there's a motion in the second on the floor all those in favor. Please say aye. Hi Any opposed? Okay, that motion passes unanimously. Okay. So that was number four So the next item is number seven number seven is the certification of the june 5th 2018 statewide primary election and I'll turn it over council member chrome for your question Thank you very much mayor I just want to once again Point out this is there's a clear mandate here from the people of santa careers that I think want the city council to to to act with in concert really or work with the university in Not moving forward with more growth until they house more students on on campus A much higher percentage of students. I just want to say there was a meeting last night on the west side with the university that took input from West Siders who's 30 people attended that meeting and there was not anybody, you know, most people were You know, yes, we Do not want more growth is what how it was characterized to me as well I think if you look on One of the pages before us, it's not numbered but The you know in the in the election that took place in june I think only representative panetta had a higher percentage of of votes, you know the 76 almost 77 percent Of folks who voted, you know voted To pass measure you and so I just with that in mind I know that when I was talking to the mayor he reminded me that in june we asked Our Staff to you know, how do we move forward on this or what what steps are we going to take and if they're going to come back to us? I just want to again ask the City manager How do we implement the will of the people here? We have 76 percent of the people voted to limit growth of the university This is a you know non-binding sort of initiative But we're getting a sense from The people who live in santa cruz that we need to do something Yes, so yes in june This is on june 26 the council took on this item There was an item before you to it was in the context of the community community Process that the university has entailed relative to their LRDP process currently and so The council took action to direct the mayor to represent the city at an upcoming community advisory committee meeting which did occur And a letter was prepared with the city's position as well as translating the Not translating but Transmitting the the results of measure you as well as the the measure itself And at the meeting there was a pretty thorough presentation that was provided to the members of the committee And university officials were there really clearly representing the city's position again It was provided in writing as well as presented there With some also some facts and data relative to the impact of the university on housing and other and other things In addition to that You know part of what the council direction was to to emphasize really the impacts particularly related to growth Which again was translated at that meeting to the university as well as the The willingness of the council to support local leadership And staff and students and their efforts and again that was also Uh provided to the university The last piece of the the action that council provided was to ask the planning department and legal staff for information on Next steps and timeline in the LRDP LRDP process including what resources might be necessary For the city to represent its interests. So that is uh being worked on now the council asked that this be brought back in August so we're looking at the next council meeting to bring this back So that is the status of the action that council took Thank you. Thank you very much because I just wanted to make good that clarity and I didn't know that I really appreciate that it's going to come back to us in august unless anybody think that This is somehow an attack on the university. I work at the university and I see students suffering in housing with sitting on on floors of classroom Getting elbowed in the face on buses Deciding to walk instead of taking the bus because there's just it's overloaded So there's just so many issues here that students are dealing with and I I feel like um, you know They are I want I want to represent their their interests as well on this council. They are a constituency in this town So thank you mayor. Yeah. Thank you and just just to be clear I mean that was unanimous direction by the council We included a cover letter that went to the LRDP committee and that should be in our packet from that prior meeting There's a strong letter. Thank you. Yeah, and also we have a discussion about that Again coming up, but uh, I appreciate you bringing the point up now And I'll turn it over to the public to see if there's any members who would like to speak to this item Which is item number seven certification of the june 5th 2018 statewide primary election Any members of the public I'll bring it back now. Um, all those in favor of the item before us Please get a motion. I'll make a motion. Um, I'll second it Okay, so motion by council member crone. Yeah seconded by Certify the election results of the past june election. Yeah, thank you and a second by council member matthews Any further discussion all those in favor? Please say aye. Aye Any opposed? Okay, that motion passes unanimously Okay, next next item on the agenda is item number eight from our consent and this is the extension of the city commitment for $750,000 in feet of furloughs and loans for a proposed affordable housing project at 350 ocean street and Council member brown. Did you request that people sure? Yes? I did. Do you have a question? Do you want to well? I have a couple of comments and I got most of my questions answered yesterday But I do have some quests. I'd like to ask a couple more questions So you have the question council member crone. You requested it to be pulled. Do you have a specific um number eight? I think it was council member brown requested to be pulled. Oh, okay. I understood it was a question at first go ahead, please That was on 11 So You know, I've been following this although not as closely as this round since the city got involved in working with the the property Owner at 350 ocean and you know, we kind of I don't want to rehash the story But as we know that that property has been sitting vacant My understanding is that that we've had some serious challenges working with this developer They have not been able to secure low-income housing tax credits in the past. I understand that there's more promising possibilities for this round and or the next round of state low-income housing tax credits And I also understand that the the city In order to grant this extension of the bond is asking for some You know that there be some consequences attached some some strings attached and that the the developer has to comply With those in order to be able to develop the property. I personally think this is another missed opportunity I would like to see the city just purchase this property I don't believe that the developer was willing to do that But we do have rights to do that for particularly a situation where we have blight a developer's failure to Actually pay relocation assistance is my understanding as required by the city So, you know, I'm not feeling particularly good about providing an extension to this developer I understand that there are some Some again some consequences if they don't comply with the terms of the contract So I think it would be worth us all hearing just a little bit more about that Before we make our decision because I really do see this as a potential missed opportunity And if nothing else a three-year delay If the developer isn't able to build in addition the demolition will leave us with You know another hole in the ground Which we've all said we're not particularly fond of you know for extended periods of time So if we could just get a little more information about what the consequences will be what the alternatives might be For for funding should the developer not get The tax credits and I want to thank carol burg for taking time to provide me with some of that information yesterday But I think it would be worth having that just a little more information here now So let me just before you start. Are there any other questions just so we can kind of Frame it. Do you have any other questions also? Yeah, okay. So we'll maybe first Cover those comments that councilman brown made carol and then and then I'll we'll take it from there Carol burrick economic development The action that's being requested is the extension of the The commitment that we've made to the project for 750,000 In a combination of deferred fees and a affordable housing trust fund loan and It really is needed if this project is going to move forward as A low-income housing tax credit project and there is More hope this time around that they will actually do that We did put a limit to the amount of time that this extension would be granted So that it would allow them to apply To have they just applied in july it would allow them to apply next march And then the following july and then if they hadn't gotten the funding by then Then it would trigger another need for another extension before they could apply in the following march So there is a finite period here, but um I'm actually a little bit hopeful just because there are so many there's so few Applications this this funding round the city really does not have the funding available to purchase that site and to actually develop it And and so that's one of the issues So what this action is doing besides extending that is the that so that they can get funding is Providing a connection to an implementation of an action You took last august where you said that you can demolish these buildings Before you get a finalized building permit Under these circumstances and one of them was that they would pay Or put forward some kind of a surety bond For the relocation Fees or relocation units that they would need to provide And there would also be A deed restriction against the property whoever owned it that these units would still be due Against the property. So really this in a way is just an implementation of that with the extension and from a staff perspective Um, it would be a missed opportunity to not give them this extension at this time because of the fact that they might be able to get the funding And then they'd be able to take down the buildings as well, which would improve the community and the safety in that area Have a quick follow-up question because I'm now a little bit more confused than I was The so the the requirement for relocation assistance I mean that window has passed. We're talking about a vacant property. So I'm not sure how we're extending that requirement because They no longer have that, you know, I maybe misspoke. It's replacement housing requirement You had mentioned relocation assistance Yeah, this is for replacement housing. Yeah, the the relocation assistance has passed and they did A less inadequate job, but they did do the replacement housing requirements Okay, there was a follow-up question for from vice mayor Watkins What what approximately is the amount of the gap? What's sort of the funding gap that you mentioned? What are we looking at in terms of dollars there in terms of what they're selling the property for? Well in terms of the gap that is needed to meet the The um the goal Do you know or none? Um I've been told various amounts various years the last amount. I think was like nine million gap Um, there's been seven million gap I mean, it's a substantial gap that they're still facing With the nine percent tax credits. They get a lot closer to Actually building it Um to follow-up question. Yes, councilmember norion. So if we don't provide this fee We don't provide this financing Pretty much the owner could sell To somebody and then the guarantee or just even the chance of this amount of affordable housing Just goes away. Doesn't it? Um, they can sell now. In fact, they have been actually marketing the property I don't think they've been heavily marketing it, but I've been approached by a number of non-profit developers who are we're exploring Developing it but the the cost was too high And and so they can sell it now um The consequences are not providing the extension which is really just giving them a letter saying that the council has voted to extend the money We're not actually providing them with the money Would be that they wouldn't have A local match For a state grant. So essentially they would then not be able to have the state grant of equal amount And they would not be able to claim that there was a local match And applying for the low-income housing tax credit which they have put on their application And it would most likely Make their application Harder to fund if they have a chance of Funding getting it funded it would tank that chance. Okay, so so It's I just wanted to point that out because this is a an incredible opportunity that we don't get A lot to do 100% affordability and so it sounds like this gets us from step a to step b And makes it more likely that this will remain a 100 affordable project Yes, the city is protected here We're not giving any money until there actually is a project that's going to get built And we're the the buildings are to the point where they have to be demolished anyway And we're we would at least be getting a Surely bond that would pay for 50% of that And then we'd also have it recorded on the property that these units would have to be built somewhere To replace the low-income housing. So there's not a lose situation for the city in this And there's potentially a gain because if they got funded then It would actually get built and I just have to say talk about trying to put something together with spit and bubble gum I mean, there's so many moving parts and things that need to be part of this. So thank you for hanging in there with this Um, I will look very forward to seeing these buildings demolished as they've been quite an attractive nuisance for the neighborhood too It looks and we'll have a couple follow-up questions And then we'll get public comment and we'll bring it back for the council deliberation So you have a follow-up question customer brown and it's sort of council member chase. Okay, so can I know you have I was unaware that the last I had heard the The owner was not interested in selling. So this is news to me. Uh, can you tell us what ballpark what the Value of the market land value is I don't know that it the only reason I know is because I've gotten periodically I've gotten feelers from nonprofits who Have been interested in trying to purchase the property. I don't think it's like being heavily marketed But I think that it is simply um, you know an opportunity that the The property owner if if paid the right price he would I'm sure want to Sell it because it has been undeveloped for so long But it's not something that is it's not like on the market out there to everyone. It's just a subtle thing council member chase I just wanted to clarify the Timeline because kind of on the same line of questions that council member brown brought up This is basically one more or less a year from now We could come back and revisit this if the developer doesn't move forward with this and at that point Then um, assuming that the bonds we just the bond measure we just discussed passes Then there would be money available to the city Should the developer be willing to sell at that point or another option the city could have if We wanted to and that was roughly march Are you saying and that we would revisit this if nothing moves forward on that project? Actually, we put a date in in the staff report and I don't remember the exact date It's a it's over a year. It's it allows them to go through Three rounds of tax credit applications and and I mean the with state funding coming out potentially a year from now With potentially more local funding come out coming out there there might be a very changed situation Down the road Okay, new questions from council member crown. Thank you, um, bonnie. I don't know if he can you put up 350 ocean a picture of it From the google. Is it possible? Thank you. Um Just wondering is the 750 uh coming from the affordable housing fund. Is that what you said? That's it's a combination of Fee deferrals and then the gap Uh for the matching funds would be made up with the affordable housing trust fund And I think it was we set aside and have been holding I think about 250 000 for that and the rest would be for deferred Fees So, um, is this a picture of it right here? Is that what you know to be? Um, how much have we ever done an estimate of what it would take to fix up the units that are existing right now before They were boarded up and or even to unboard them Um, what happened over time was deferred maintenance as the developer was waiting He let the buildings go beyond what would be likely to be able to Rehab them and um, I I turned to alex quarry if he has anything to add on this because You know that this was discussed when The developer will said, you know, there are code enforcement people had gone in and said, you know, these need to be red tagged and We said that the They'd been allowed to decline. They hadn't been maintained But they are where they are right now it'd be very difficult to go in and uh kind of a waste of money to go in and rehab these when it really demands to be torn down and build a Better bigger affordable housing project there And we have there was never any estimate of what it would take to do that when they were red tagged Uh, not that I know of and um You know this developer I noticed that he has 110 Uh places that he's doing projects around eight different states. Do you think that we are a priority for him? I mean, how much of a priority are we for him? I I can't really answer that I know that he's held this property a long time And they have continually met with us and tried to Get the project going but I suspect it's not one of their easiest projects um I'm I'm just really concerned I used to live in this neighborhood and uh, you know This is what is you know our Code enforcement. I I mean, I that's what it's done to and it's put, you know, 20 units of housing have been put out of Of commission in the city and now we're talking about scraping these buildings off And they're gonna sit there at least for another year Is that correct at least until next july or maybe And then who knows how long it takes to get the project going as councilmember brown said it could be two years Is that does that sound about right approximate? I can't give an estimate What would be the difference In leaving them there like they are versus scraping them off putting up a chain link fence, uh, which I saw is More beneficial for our community. This is our gateway coming into the As people stream down ocean street coming down to the boardwalk. They head toward the river. This is really close to Broadway and ocean And How is the decision to scrape them off any better than leaving them like they are? What's the argument first for demolishing them? I think you would need to ask the police department that would just have problems there and I have an email from a a resident of me Representing the neighborhood association homeowner's association for Roosevelt terrace behind really supporting Demolition so if you talk to the neighbors you talk to pd Um Most are supportive of at this point in time removing the units and martin may have more he's looking Yeah, our Our experience has been that with vacated Buildings like this that uh that aren't occupied that we tend to have a lot of problems with people breaking in places We'll hide just a lot of illegal activities and it's just much different much more difficult for the police department to To monitor we did require the property owner to do a security plan and have security and a bunch of other Measures to try to keep the area safe But ultimately it's very difficult when you have the vacated buildings to be able to Monitor them in a way that's effective. So that's kind of been Our general experience with the buildings that are like this and the conditions are really bad in there Let me ask excuse me first moment. Um in terms of just common. I've I've received Emails from neighbors in there concerned about the state of the properties and some other issues in regards to safety So, I mean obviously it's not something maybe carol To can answer here, but I appreciate that response. Are there other do you want to join us? Does the city have a responsibility here? Did we help in vacating these premises and now we're saying oh tear them down? I mean it's just like I think that we're partly responsible here as well And that you know having lived in that neighborhood. This is what I hear from people also that they don't we don't really care about their Neighborhood so now we're coming in we've vacated these premises 20 units and now we're going to scrape them off I don't think this is or allow it to be scraped off. Well, let's let's uh, let's take it this way This is an opportunity for questions from the council. Um, what I'd like to do if the council's okay I'll put it back over and I'll ask the public comment to if there's any members of the public that like to speak to that Bring it back and then we can have that deliberation Okay, is there any member of the public that would like to speak to this item on the agenda? This is item number Eight Yep, sure is These are mostly mostly questions and following up on council member browns Comments and crones mr. Crohn's comments I'd like to know the history of this developer. We've heard a little bit about it You know what he's been doing in other states What's been their history here in santa cruz and my particular interest of course is in this Affordable stuff. I mean even if you actually did have a conscientious developer how affordable are these affordable? Apartments, maybe somebody on the council can can answer this question I've asked it before and I've gotten gobbledygook from the staff no offense meant But I'm I'm concerned about real affordability for poor people and for people who are being forced out of santa cruz Because of the rental situation Whether or not the current rental initiative passes And what are the costs to do the eminent domain? Issue, I mean that's been raised by council member brown And I I wonder has a study been specifically done. We got a lot of vague. I don't know from carol here And you know, I I know nothing about this issue except coming here today and hearing these comments, but It seems to me that if you're concerned about the majority of people in santa cruz who are renters For example, you're concerned about are you giving away essentially because you're deferring fees 750,000 That could be otherwise better spent. I know it's not an appropriation But it does involve certainly In a sense a transfer of funding So if it's 110 projects in eight different states, if council member crone is correct Has there been a study done of the reliability of this particular developer? If so, who did it? When was it done? Have you seen the report? And I too sympathize with because I was around when council member crone observed the demolition of the dolphin lee Apartments and creating less Apartments than eventually were demolished And I'm just I'd like to make sure this isn't just a handout to some Wealthy developer without any actual Real housing being presented to those who need it. Thank you. Thank you Any other members of the public that wish to speak to this item number eight? See none, I'll bring it back to the council for further deliberation My last question would be when could we one would be the most optimistic time that we would see this project off the ground and holding the developer feet to the fire What what's next then if they don't? receive the tax credits Of my question optimistic or realistic Okay, realistic either either one. I just think I just want some hope You know, I want to let people know in the neighborhood When something might go in there because I've had more I mean a half a dozen people ask me what's going on with 350 ocean Um, you know in terms of the answer I think there's a gender report kind of outlines that some of those issues in regards to the deadlines I just want to you know, just respond and say Listen, this was a project that was approved as a hundred percent affordable And obviously there's issues coming forward in terms of how we finance a project like that It's also led to concerns from some of the neighbors in regards to some of the issues in the interim how we do that I think we all want to see this project go forward We all want to see it happen immediately, right? But there is a timeline that's going on I think in the interest of the neighbors that have kind of commented in regards to some of the issues in the interim I think this is a responsible thing to do to kind of move forward so that we can pave the way to Make sure that this project is built. So You know, if there's a motion on on the floor I just want to get my question answered She said next march and then the following july then following july what happens then july 2019, right? Yeah, i'll i'll um pose that question to carol burk typically developments will apply for multiple rounds of tax credit funding And july march and july are the two times that nine percent tax credit would be available And so that's why we extended The extension period to allow them to at least apply for those three different for this last july as well as march and july next year So then what happens after july if they don't get the tax credit that's We revisit the situation we just revisited here at the council We would we would revisit it and and i'd like to point out that um as far as vetting the developer This developer came and bought the property Without city participation without talking to the city They purchased the property and so it's not the way we typically would be involved with a developer upfront and we would But they they brought the property to the table and the city has not invested in this project with the exception Of the commitment to match state grant funds So it's not we haven't really been in the position to deny them anything or to Vet them in any way because we haven't really been asked To give them anything except this 750 which is very small amount for 62 units Thank you. There is a cost of calls for service. There's social issues There's there's a cost to our community. So it's not that it's not free Yeah, I understand. Let me just also say one of the speakers Mr. Norse he requested some information on the price and if you could email him because I know we've had in past Council actions we've had listings of what the affordability was for these units If you could just send that you don't need to respond but or make it available Yeah, I can just tell him all of you know, you just maybe send it to him. It's fine. Yeah, thanks Okay, so I'll bring it back I'm prepared to make a motion To support the recommendation before us largely because As others have said 62 units 100 affordable project opportunities don't come At us very often And I think the staff report explained that The opportunities for Funding for this project tax credit is better now than it has been And that the Ability of the developer to get the tax credit funding in part depends if I understand it right on our providing Some degree of local support Just supporting it through the next three rounds with additional state money and hopefully some additional local money I think we have a better Period of opportunity here than we have in the past Um, so for all of those reasons, I'm prepared to support the recommendation understanding if it doesn't play out at the end of these Tax credit cycles, then we revisit it Second there's a motion on the floor by councilman Matthew second by councilmember Naroyan it will be five years by that time and maybe something too good to be true is too good to be true And that because I want the affordable units built. Yes, but I don't know if this developer is going to do that Well, I council member brown Just one more comment So, you know, I really appreciate the comments that councilmember chase made about The ability to revisit you just reminding us that we will have an ability to revisit and councilmember Matthews also mentioned However, uh, I'm concerned to make a decision when you know, we don't even know what the cost might be To buy the property and work with a local non-profit housing developer None of them may be interested because they can't afford the property the purchase of the property You know, we don't know there's a lot that we don't know. We also don't know When this, you know might actually get moving because we have to wait for those state low-income housing tax credit Processes to move through so I remain very concerned about this as a potential missed opportunity In addition to which the the owner of the property could sell it at any time and just say, you know We're just going to sell it and market rate housing gets built there. So we're not really guaranteeing anything with this extension Just want to be clear about that Hey, I think um, I'd like to just say that, you know, this is an opportunity that's been on On the table for some time. It's a place where we do want to just see desperately needed housing built Again, it was approved 100 housing and you know, this is all about how we can kind of help facilitate it to move forward And I think this is a natural step to to support this further project And um, so I am prepared to support the motion on the floor by council member Matthews and seconded by council member neroyan See no further discussion. All those in favor of the motion. Please say aye. Those opposed Okay, that passes with council member crone opposing council member matthews chase brown Neroyan vice mayor walkins and myself supporting the motion so that concludes the discussion on item eight We have a time certain item at 230. I'd like to move on to item 11 Which is a liability filed against the city of santa cruz And if the city attorney would first repeat kind of like the direction from our earlier discussion on the floor, I'd appreciate it Yes, the recommended action here is to By motion rejects the claims of bigham christiansen and minstaff LLC and david turner and to defer action to the august 28th meeting On the claims of hepburn and myberg So moved second. Okay, so we have that on the floor as a motion that's a motion by council Council member crone seconded by council member matthews Um, are there any members of the public that would like to speak to item number 11? This is liability claims filed against the city of santa cruz. Council member or council member robert norse Please sorry, sorry, sorry. No, don't insult me. Yeah, I was gonna I was gonna jump that in. Thank you. Please go ahead. Yeah Okay, um, this is this is the attachment that none of the community has been able to read About this issue and I'm gonna make it a summarize a little bit from it This is a claim by a 24 year old african-american college student uc sc writing his bike home 216 a.m. In the morning, but not wearing a bike helmet Stopped by several caucasian police officers from the scpd for not having a Bicycle tail light and not stopping completely at a stop sign He was too frightened to stop. He said according to his attorney's account There was a complete lack because of the lack of civilian witnesses time of night and perhaps his color I know we're a completely color-free city our police department never discriminates. We all know that right? Officer true blood that's the name of the guy who stopped him and who that this is mentioned in this lawsuit Tempted to physically grab mr. Hepburn according to this account Tempted to hit him broadside with his cruiser at which point he flipped off the officer in essence saying back off back off According to this account According to response to this gesture officer true a true blood accelerated his car rammed the rear tire of Hepburn's bike Causing him to fly forward over his handlebars true blood then jumped on top of Hepburn's body and took him forcibly into custody Didn't charge him with lack of a tail light or feeling to come to complete stop But just resisting or obstructing an officer, which is their catch-all charge when they don't have a charge The da summarily dismissed the charge and the issue is unjustifiable use of deadly force Now there's no time for me really to talk about this in more detail I don't know much about the actual incident I do know that I could not only got this information because I filed a specific request it should be on the agenda It is the claim of the claimants Every claim should be on the city council agenda Bonnie bush has refused to do that. Mayor terrasis has refused to request it Council members crone and brown have refused to document that I want it done I think the community needs to have it done So do it so the next time people can be informed and they can come to the council and talk about it or not Thank you. Thank you, mr. Norse Is there any member of the public that would like to speak to item 11? Liability claims filed against the city of santa cruz and just to clarify the item that mr. Norse spoke to has been deferred This is one Moving consent to reject the claims of bigum christiansen and minstlove and also of mr. Turner And to defer the items of heppern and myberg for a later date If there's any member of the public that like to speak to this item you step up now and this is your last call I lived in the santa cruz area for quite a number of years and uh I moved down to venice beach in los angeles around uh o one for a few years and there was uh One thing that I really like to see down there Was the enforcement of the bike light laws Even in that town which was pretty loosely structured there was uh a real enforcement of the headlight tail light laws and bicycles and I thought that That law enforcement Worked in the best interest of bicycle riders In a lot of ways and made it a lot safer for bicyclists to use their lights. So I don't know anything about the The story that he was discussing. I don't know I know the person involved, but I just want to say I'd like to see police enforcement of bike light laws in this town. I think it would go a great deal in Making a safer place to ride. We've in fact, we're we're actually hold the record for See Pedestrian and bicycle accidents at right now in the state of california We were like the one of the bike wreck capitals of california right now. So that can be Verified be looking looking up online But I would really like to see enforcement of bike light laws in our in our city. Thank you. Thank you. All right This is item 11 with liability claims filed against the city of sanikers There's a motion by council member crone seconded by council member matthews, which rejects the claims of Be bigum christians in the miss law and david turner and defers the items of arrow and the jaw heparin and david myberg Um, is there any further discussion? And we will get the video we have not seen the video yet. I just want to make sure we get that video and see it Yeah, there was a video that was provided And that and that item is going to be available for council member review Any further discussion on this item? Seeing none. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye goes opposed That motion passes unanimously Okay, we'll move on to item 13 again. We have a time certain agenda item at 2 30 p.m So we'll go as far as we can in the presentation here It's item 13 and who pulled this item. You had a question, right? Right, and I pulled it I wanted to know If the neighbors have been noticed about this work that's going to be done by crown castle Putting in wireless canister antennas mounted on city poles And utility poles. Okay, and then what was your question council member brown That was basically my question With the addition of and if so how? Okay, and so the question is what type of notifications were made to neighbors in regards to this project? And if there was notice, how was it? So is there some member of like Okay, assistant director christ schneider Mayor council members christ schneider assistant director public works For the encroachment permit the the neighbors were not noticed They were noticed for the planning commission and zoning administrator hearings For the initial permits which were approved and that history is in the in the staff report And the the mode of the method of Notification remind me again. I don't remember seeing that in the report Um, I believe they do mailings within 300 feet 300. That's correct. That's Thank you mayor That was my question about you 300 feet mailing. How did he did it? Thank you. Thank you and did I answer your question? Council member brown. Okay. Thank you. So I'd like to turn it over to members of the public This is item number 13 encroachment permit for Seven wireless canister antennas mounted on city poles and utility pole and related fiber connections by crown castle Sir, you have two minutes. Hey, my name is douluis. Um, I think that has been extensive research on this The cancer effects of this technology And I think it's really uh deplorable that only uh people within 300 feet are notified about this I think the entire neighborhood within several blocks should be notified of this health hazard It's a very serious problem. It's being covered up By the the telecom corporations are using everything they can to black out information and access about this is very dangerous and Notably a hazard of technology. It's been clearly defined in the world health organization as a class to be carcinogen and there's many documented well funded studies not done by telecom communications that show the the health hazards and the tumor clusters brain tumor clusters are forming wherever these Uh distributed antennas are put throughout our community. So it's basically a technology that's turning our communities into a low level microwave oven so I think that We should definitely be make an effort to Notify the residents in these communities about this very hazardous technology and I think 300 feet is really uh an inexcusable Thank you. Is there any member of the public that wishes to speak to this item number 13? Seeing none, I'll bring it back to the council for further deliberation and action Okay, motion by council member chase second second by council member matthews. Is there any further discussion on this item? Seeing none all those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Hi any opposed. No Okay, that motion passes with council council member crone Voting no council member matthews chase brown and royan vice mayor walk into myself voting In favor So that moves us on to the next item still in our consent item number 20 And so this item was pulled from the consent and um council member crone you requested to be pulled What was the specific question you had on this item? I'd like to hear just a presentation on how um, we're going to spend 7.6 million dollars I thought of something that belongs on the regular agenda Since it's you know a major expenditure and it's also something that Is new I mean we're hiring a bunch of outside people and there's reasons why and I think there's good reasons But I would just maybe like to hear um from the water director Cal the money will be spent. Thank you council member crone and again We have a time certain agenda item at 2 30 p.m. So we might get the presentation go on to the Agenda item 22 and then come back to this for further action just a as reminder Okay, so let me say that we are going to turn it over and both rosemary rinard The water services director and kevin crossley senior professional engineer will kind of answer your questions and present Good afternoon, mayor and council. Thanks for asking for some additional information on this contract amendment this is contract amendment number four to the HDR program management services general agreement that the count the council took action on last december and i'm going to turn this over very quickly to kevin to Who's the sort of our program manager internally who can walk you through this and then we can take your questions fairly brief I hope Good afternoon. Thank you for taking the time to hear us speak about this really important contract kevin crossley senior engineer the water department So the water department has about 350 million dollars worth of projects on the books And it Really touches all aspects of the water system we're teeing up major investments reinvestments and Quite a bit of the water system. We're going to be working on our raw water pipelines our pumps the treatment plan at grand hill road and Bringing some new water supply online over the next 10 years. It's a major generational investment in the water system the last major Improvements made of the water system were really done in the 1950s and early 60s so It's been a long time since the city as a whole has had to think about infrastructure investments in the water system of the scale so recognizing that The department did not have the capacity internally to To manage and oversee the implementation of this scale program We went out for a solicitation HDR was the successful consulting firm that was awarded the program management Contract and so that was brought to council in december of last year In addition to the the master service agreement, which is a five-year contract with an option to renew for an additional five years we Saw your approval for service order one, which is program mobilization activities And there's some bullets of what that entails And then shortly after that we came back in january with two additional contract amendments For a variety of services So this is just a high level summary of the types of things we were doing with a service order one which Really was about getting internally organized and Figuring out how we're going to deliver these projects and setting up the processes to ensure that we go about this work in the most efficient and cost-effective manner Service order two provided for additional design and project management capacity within the department Um, we have really been understaffed Relative to our project management capabilities within the water engineering group We had somebody working less than full-time on managing a 50 million dollar project So we've brought to bear quite a bit of staff resources with this contract that have really bolstered us internally and Allowed us to make significant progress in some of these important projects Uh The third service order, uh provided for Start of planning and preliminary engineering work on our treatment plant. Uh, the plant was constructed in the late 1950s And uh, the last time any major upgrades are made to the plant was in the late 80s prior to most of the significant surface water treatment regulations Federal and state regulations. So it's very old technology and the plant itself is showing its age So what's ahead of us for the next fiscal year? We've packaged quite a bit of work into this contract amendment before you today Uh, we're going to finish off the master planning work at our treatment plant and begin master planning work on the mill creek pipeline This is the pipeline that broke multiple times in the winter 2017 and created a water emergency for the city In addition to that planning work, we're going to um begin or continue to manage the design of a number of very large projects including a 35 million dollar tank replacement project at the grand hill water treatment plant As well as get some important construction projects underway Including that same tank project As you can see from this schedule, uh, we've got a large number of projects to manage over 20 Quite a few of them are in the planning or preliminary engineering phases. So we've got quite a bit of construction teed up Yeah over the next few years So as a councilman crone indicated, this is a 7.7 million dollar contract and How we're paying for that is through the number of projects that we're managing in the water program and The types of services provided really span the entire life cycle of the project from planning through design and construction So there's a real diverse mix of services embedded in this contract amendment And reflective of the the types and phases of where each project's at Thank you, kevin If there um what i'd like to suggest is maybe we see first if there's any members of the public that would like to speak to this item This is item 20. Um, this is the contract amendment for program management services with hc engineering Is there any member of the public that wishes to speak to this item? Okay, i'd like to bring it back to the council then for deliberation and action council member prone. Thank you mayor. Um I'm gonna move this item, but I just wanted to um Have to kind of celebrate our water department that we're spending this money to upgrade the system that people in the future Hopefully will go wow they they were farsighted back then in 2018 19 when they started doing this um I think the council from my conversations individually has great confidence in kevin crossley the engineer and also rosemary minard um, and I but I also will point people to this um presentation In the future when they asked me about their water bills And why water bills have been going up so dramatically I think people should know what they're getting for their money And so they can call on this they can go go to community tv and look at this presentation Look at some of these figures look at what um kevin just said But I appreciate your time here, and I know the mayor wants to move so i'll move this item. I'll second Okay, motion by council member crown second by council member brown I think we're all In favor, and I think if you could have every one of us support the second I would say that this really represents As council member crown said a true investment for the next generation of water infrastructure I wanted to personally thank the water director and also kevin for meeting individually with each of the Each of us to go over these really detailed plans for the future I mean it really takes a lot of Proactive work to lay out a plan like this and to really have it Brought before the council in a way where we can say we are We're putting our commitment to our city's water infrastructure for the future really makes me very proud to Be up here and to have this type of action today Does anyone else want to make any comments? I I actually do. Okay. Yeah When christopher pulled this, I thought where is he going with this? I was very pleased to to have it move because This we have an aging system enormously complex and We each did have an hour long offered one-on-one with the details. It's so impressive So I just want to say what I think we all agree The community as a whole should have enormous confidence and pride in the quality of our water department The service they deliver on a daily basis and the planning deep into the future. So good work to you. Yeah Thank you And just to add, you know, I've been around here like councilmember Matthews also, you know, there's some anxiety here This is a great deal of money and I just wanted to pull this to put it out there I wanted to see the rest of the council and have us make this decision together With us and support our water department. So that's My main reason for doing that. Thank you. I have incredible confidence in the water department of the staff Everything they've done up to this point has just been really kind of laying the groundwork for a really Strong future in terms of our infrastructure and our supply. So I appreciate this action So with the motion on the floor by councilmember crown second and by council member brown Please um all those in favor Hi Any opposed that motion passes unanimously Thank you so much for your support. It means a lot. Yeah, believe it or not. We have one more item on the I think we do it pretty quickly. I just wanted to okay And that was pulled by um council member crown item number 21. This is a newlcreek Project property purchase on the alumni was also in our closed session And I'll and I'll just say that um, if you do you have a specific question or do you just want to make a Just wanted to get a picture of it for the public and also if I don't know if you have a picture of it and um get a sense of what the uses are going to be like why is a city acquiring 20 acres In the watershed, which I personally feel is a great investment But it would be nice to hear why that might be a great investment. Right. Sorry Bonnie, can you help us find we have a couple we have a time certain item at 230. So just right yeah, so um Um, Heidi will try to look for it So the recommendation is to acquire an 18 acre parcel that is immediately adjacent to the downstream Property that the city owns um at newlcreek, uh, so it's right below the dam and came on the market just a couple of months ago and we um We are always trying to expand our ability to Protect our watershed and this was an opportunity for us to acquire this parcel with its lands that will give us the ability to You know add to our watershed holdings and protect our watershed and our source water quality So these are the some of the photos of the house the property on the land there But it also has no creek is immediately Behind this property you can see a photo here And the hillside behind this is about 18 most of the 18 acres in the hillside behind it Is a timber lands that are good for the kinds of Watershed production and protection of source water quality that is so important for a water department That's using these kinds of surface water supplies. So with that, um, we'll take your questions Maybe I'll just first ask is there any member of the public that would like to speak to the side and this is item number 21 Item number 21. Okay, I'll bring it back to the council for deliberation and action. Thanks, and I think it's a great purchase and Really appreciate people are scouting out there to improve our watershed lands and uh, I'm gonna move the item Okay, thank you for the comments council member crone and so motion by council member crone second by council member matthews and again, I'd like to thank the water department for being so proactive and looking Look at this out. It's again, it's part of some of the infrastructure work for our city's future and This is a really kind of really strong step forward. So thank you Um motion by council member crone second by council member matthews. All those in favor, please say I Any opposed that motion passes unanimously you have 30 seconds Yeah, thanks, and that gives enough time for transition. So thank you so much To read the item. Yeah So while we're transitioning I wanted to say thanks, and I know I made it multiple times I don't think we've had some time certain agendas, but I wanted to welcome Mayor lisa gilmore from the city of santa clara who's with us today And while they're setting up their presentation at our june 12th meeting in The city council approved a recommendation to form a charter amendment committee And the action by the council was to explore issues in governance including but not limited to the direct elections Direct elections of the mayor and explore compensation items for council members And per the counts council direction There was a motion by council member crone to make sure that it was involved the community engagement process And that was seconded and approved community members would be included with the charter amendment committee's work Um, the city of santa clara recently went through Their own charter amendment committee And so it was really an opportunity for me to reconnect with mayor gilmore Who I met on a at a conference for the us conference of mayors in washington dc early in the year And I read on their processes and wanted to make sure that The council kind of sees how some other cities handle these types of reviews and kind of just get an idea of What it would look like for our city based on the uh the agenda report That's outlined in how we might educate the public and obtain public comment on how we might proceed in this area So I'd like to again welcome you uh mayor gilmore and also um And please begin Thank you so much and it's a pleasure to be here in santa cruz. It's amazing city of santa clara is so close to santa cruz We don't make it here very often, but when I was here today, I thought why not? I'm gonna stay here for a long time I don't even want to go back But thank you so much for having me and with me today is councilmember teresa o'neill So, uh, teresa has also um, a wonderful source of knowledge since prior to being a council member She also served as a charter review committee member. So she has an enormous background on this So it's it's really a pleasure to be here today. Um, thank you mayor for inviting me I thought I have a packet here. I'm not going to read it word for word But just briefly go over it and at least I'm able to leave you with some information On what we've gone through just recently in the city of santa clara. So in santa clara, we have, um A history This is just the few things i'm going to talk about the history of mayor is a process leading up to the directly elected mayor The three charter review committee, uh That we have um hosted in the last several years A poll that we had recently on having a directly elected mayor and then the benefits and a conclusion So, um, just starting with the history of mayors in the city of santa clara Back in the year, uh, 1968 Up until 1968 the council elected one of its members as a mayor similar to what you're doing now, which is um The rotating process and each each mayor served for a one-year term in the city So back in 1968 the council decided that they wanted to put on the ballot the The option of a directly elected mayor and so um having the mayor elected at large so in 1969 Or 1968 the council meet member put it on the ballot and in 1968 the It passed by the city council on a five to two vote It wasn't unanimous But at that time a five to two vote to put it on the ballot And here was actually the charter amendment for the ballot santa clara is a charter city similar to you We have seven members and um, this was the charter amendment to change the mayor's position from Appointed to elected at large also put in the compensation for the mayor at the time Which was a part-time job at a thousand dollars a month Which up until recently was the compensation for the mayor that lasted almost 50 years at a thousand dollars a month So as as the part-time so not only did they change the the the method of electing the mayor But they also changed the compensation for the mayor and so that um charter amendment did pass And so it did pass and then it became Effective as of january of of 1969 which was interesting It had to be passed by a resolution resolution of the legislator filed with the secretary of state at the time Things have changed there So santa clara has also initiated Three charter review processes and i'll just go through what we've done Two of three of them were all based upon the fact that we were We had the situation of facing a california voter rights act Challenge and so in 2012 11 and 12 the council initiated a charter review process To look at the method on how we uh elect our City council members and mayor in the city of santa clara because we are up until Recently elected at large each council member was elected at large in the city and and the mayor was elected at large in the city So this committee originally held six public notice meetings gathered input from the community And made a recommendation To have the charter Change the Instead of by seat at large elections just an at-large election with the top vote getters Winning the seats also that the city would consider a proportional representation system for implementation if that was available so changing the voting system as well and also The barriers to city council service with in regards to candidate recruitment So really increase our communication out with the community So the council then took that recommendation, but didn't Adopt it and so no changes to our voting system were made at that time in 2011 in 2015 16 the charter review committee was once again Impaneled and the charter review committee was then given Some direction by the city council to take a look at our charter take a look at our voting system But look at other areas of the charter that We may change and look at changing in the in the community So this one was a little bit more extensive and the charter review committee held 12 publicly noticed meetings They didn't have enough time to look at the Voting system in the city and the district system, which was again proposed Based upon a california voter rights lawsuit threat at the time But the charter review committee did come up with four ballot measures for the 2016 election and the first was the setting of salaries for mayor and city council As I mentioned earlier, our mayor was still on $1,000 a month and our council was about 400 to 500 Oh, we've got a raise. Well, we have other committees we serve on too about $700 a month So this would set the mayor at $2,500 a month and $2,000 a month for the city council members And in Santa Clara, we we have our regular council duties. We also own our own electric utility So we serve as the board of directors of our electric utility. We also own our own stadium in Santa Clara So we have the three jobs. It's a lot of work as you as you all appreciate for a part-time job So we also limited the terms of the mayor and city council to two full terms and And they would be lifetime terms on the city council because we had a lot of people The terms were expiring then coming back and running over and over again So the third was filling vacancies in elected office that we would have to fill it by four fifths vote Don't ask me how that four fifths got there. We have seven members. So it's hard to do the math, but we um, we had That and then the most interesting one on here was a protection of parkland and open space We had threats to our u-soccer park our eulahstack natural area. So we uh, there was a charter amendment to Require a two-thirds vote of the people of Santa Clara if any park land was to be changed So measure opq and r all passed in the city of Santa Clara We had a pretty with the 12th meetings. We had a robust public outreach and real Transparency issue on all of this the city council accepted all the charter review committee's recommendations We didn't change anything and um, they all passed and it was a very high turnout election in Santa Clara almost 85 turn out and we had 79 to 89 percent Yes votes on all of these items and so we were very successful with Both the the charter review commission the outreach and and the success of the election So the most recent charter review. We actually Faced the california voter rights act. There was a lawsuit. So we were under You know strict Instructions to really move quickly to come up with a recommended voter strategy for the june 2018 election so the committee which uh, each time that we had a committee process in in Uh appointing the charter review committee Was each council member had a vote and then community members would apply For the charter review committee this particular charter review committee each council member had an appointed represent representative and then we had uh six or seven community representatives, but because We really wanted to move quickly. We accepted all everyone who applied Ended up on the committee. So we we didn't leave anybody out and we were lucky that that it was a really good group But they had to work pretty quickly. They had to work in an area where Santa Clara is about 125,000 people and the uh, the threat on us was to Cut up our city into six districts, which are pretty small for us But Santa Clara is a community that is very diverse throughout the entire community And so we don't have we didn't have any areas of of Minority areas of major minority representation And so we we are so diverse throughout the city There was the charter review committee had a heck of a time trying to come up with districts But they ended up coming up with two districts in Santa Clara a north district and a south district with three Representatives from each district and we ended up putting that on the ballot and the mayor would would remain an out large elected position So that went to um the june 2018 ballot and here was the question on measure a that the council uh that the city uh that the voters elect or or uh agree for two districts and also when available That the city used rank choice voting to allow Candidates in order of choice to determine the winners in the election Our county register of voters was not able to handle rank choice voting at this time But we know in the future they keep telling us at some point they could do that But we said when it was available So uh it went out to the june election and measure a did not pass So um you can see it was a pretty close vote about 800 votes But it didn't pass so the day after measure a didn't pass um the judge in our case Uh went met and decided that Santa Clara because we were an out large Community a voting community the judge said that we um we violated the california voter rights act So he then i'll make a really really long story short, but he imposed six districts on Santa Clara He almost imposed seven he almost took away the elected mayor In Santa Clara to have seven districts. It was very very close But he decided to do the six districts. So um Santa Clara now has for this election we have Two districts up for election that do not have incumbents in those districts and there was mass confusion in our City because nobody knows whose district is up and what that means for us So in in turn we're ending up now like the city of san jose Where they have their elected mayor and all their six districts We have not decided yet as to whether we're going to appeal the decision That's still up for discussion for us, but we have to do that now in in the upcoming election So um one of the things i'm also here to talk about is the directly elected mayor In Santa Clara and during this court battle fair vote, which is a um Uh, it is a a third party They were assisting with the measure a ballot because they're really really in favor of rank choice voting But needless to say they did a poll of Santa Clara residents in this last election And their question was do you think it would be a very good thing? A somewhat good thing a somewhat bad thing or a very bad thing to have the city council Pick the council member to be mayor on the rotating position similar I think to what you're doing now and what we did 50 years ago So our respondents in santa clara reacted More negative negatively to the idea than to any other question a long poll that they had But 79 79 of our residents said it would be a very bad thing to change our elected system to having the city council pick The mayor in the city and 56 of those people said it would be a very bad thing So the idea of losing the separately elected mayor is very unpopular in our community With only 11 percent thinking it was a good idea to To eliminate the directly elected mayor and a strong majority seeing it as a very bad idea Our citizens love to vote in santa clara. We have the directly elected mayor We have a directly elected police chief and we have a directly elected city clerk So and try to take them away. No, no, no not going to happen So, um, I just want to just end a little bit of talking about the directly elected mayor And the benefits that come with a directly elected mayor position First of all, uh, I met your mayor, uh, mayor trazos in the, uh, league of uh, or the mayor's conference back in Washington when I go back next year, I won't see him. I won't know who will Be there. So the relationship that I the reason I'm sitting here today is because I have a relationship and I I did meet him and and it was Very, um, beneficial for us to meet because we can help each other, uh, with with our respective communities But there's a consistent front face and leadership. So in santa claire county It's hard for me to tell you who the mayor of mount view is or Sunnyvale or los gatos or because It's it's year by year. It's a new face. It's a new face But I can tell you who the directly elected mayors are in morgan hill gilroy san jose and others where I see them all the time Um, it allows you to develop relationships with your local state and federal agencies We have a congressman rocana who represents us in in santa clara But I see him all the time and unable to have a really good relationship with him So when I need something for santa claire, he knows exactly who to come to his staff knows exactly who to come to It's it's it's again. It's consistency. It's relationships. It's bringing things back to your your organizations So and it helps when you're trying to oversee long-term goals and Projects when I work with our assemblyman kanson chew He knows that if he doesn't bring money to our el camino reallon santa claire for paving That you know, he's never gonna wherever he sees me. It's gonna happen. I'm gonna have that conversation with him It's just consistency consistency There's also a lot of cost savings from Having multiple oath of office ceremonies preparations changing your stationery every single year after year after year You're constantly changing, but I'm telling you from a practical reason. I I did become mayor is from being a city council member in santa claire And it's taken me I've been mayor for a little over two years And I feel like I am just reaching my stride now in terms of education and An experience and feeling comfortable with what I'm doing to be able to really get things done It takes you a long time to amp up into the position because being a mayor is different than being a council member It's a lot more work. It's a lot more responsibility. There's a lot of more interface with the public And it takes you a while To get moving and to understand your position And so if you're constantly having to change change change You can never hit your full stride because you're you're taking months To figure out what you're doing and then when you can actually get things done and start to implement and work with your community Your term is up. So um, I feel like we have have gotten a lot done There's a definite benefit and at the end Electing a mayor from the city At large by all the voters as opposed to having the council members select your members is the ultimate form of democracy Because the citizens have a vote, you know, they own you you're the face and your particular city is the largest city in your county And so they're going to look to the leader and and they'll love having the directly elected mayor So that's just my unbiased opinion and I'll be here to answer any questions or tress is here too Let me just say before we get into questions, you know, this is a much more scaled down version what you when you faced I know the number of meetings you had and this was really kind of an additional Just a really initial toe dip into looking at um, you know a public engagement portion because we've never Actually that i'm aware of formed a charter review committee that's that's public like this and Correct me if i'm wrong There's there's the history has been usually it's a citizen initiative or the council put something on directly And we have discussion at a council meeting But there's never really been a process where we go out and actually have engagement with the public to see Hey, is this something that the public is interested in uh pursuing? So really this is an opportunity to have a truncated version to look at this and then Um, you know at the end of a certain period of time meetings go and look at it So so my question is would that type of a structure not looking at a full-blown Like recommendation for charter language How long do you think something like this might take just to do an initial outreach to hear from the public? So if you're talking about are you talking about just one item like a directly elected mayor or a specific or districts or whatever If you if you're going to narrow the scope Then you know you're going to need at least three meetings if you narrow the scope if you're just going to open it up Without direction, then you're You're talking more meetings, you know, maybe six to nine depending on the the um The difficulty of the situation or whatever whatever it is we We did both. I mean this last charter review ours was a difficult situation because we were under a court threat So we had to move quickly, but it wasn't an easy topic so But when we let our charter review committee Look and decide where they felt where the community felt the charters should be revised then You're you're talking, you know, nine to ten meetings. So Direction or no direction really is is the key here the benefit of it is that you have a citizen group That's broad based with each mid the way we did it. We each had a representative plus out large representatives by the public So whatever decision they make, you know is For the most part supported by the community. It's community driven and community based So if you're going to go and change your charter and spend money on an election You know upfront that For the most part your community is going to support it So that's a big benefit to to involving the community there And I know there was a a chart that we might have in terms of looking at the scope I don't know if that was provided to you bonnie just to kind of have that for discussion I met with assistant city manager and staff to look at having some Chart that's up so we can make sure that when we have the discussion it's scoped in a certain way So we'll we'll see as that comes up so we can have that discussion. Thank you for that response I appreciate your presentation and thank you and maybe you'll probably get some questions also council member. Thank you So are there any members of the council have questions? Are you first Okay, so thank you for your presentation incredibly helpful Um, I always say that as a council member it's hard to know How we're doing because I haven't been a council member somewhere else So getting information from another municipality is very helpful as we're looking at this Um, so I'm just curious. How do you work with your city manager? I mean, do you have the same system that we have which is kind of the weak mayor strong city manager system? It is the same. It's a city manager form of government Um, the mayor's vote is one out of seven same But the mayor's the spokesperson for the city probably similar to what you're doing right now So it's it's more direct contact with the city manager working very closely with the city manager and the city manager staff It's still the same. Uh, but it's, um Teresa what would you say because you're well, I I think that Would part of what lisa alluded to about having some of that consistent face and so Having talked to like a prior city manager that was in our city briefly And he came from a city where there were five council members and they rotated the mayor's position every nine months Oh my gosh And they had people that had been There they had one person who had been on the city council for 50 years And uh, turn no term limits, right no term limits and um Many of them weren't had and had contested elections And so he says well, I'm not used to having this kind of engagement and the people you know The council members don't say anything until it's their turn to be mayor and then so in terms of um Yes, we still have a strong city manager system But I think what we found in santa claire is by having the directly elected mayor There's a little that consistency there that gives you a little bit of a counterweight You know that's because it's you know because you start to build some experience in dealing Uh more with some of the inner working so um in terms of so in some of our cities now before you had the worry that they The council and the mayor was too influential. Well now sometimes we hear all the city managers too Is really pulling the strings and we don't have enough control So we have felt like by having an elected mayor it gives like I said a little bit of a counterweight And looking at the salaries you're still doesn't appear to be a full-time salary. No, no, we're not we're part-time All right, and that still works even being part-time and having that responsibility as mayor It's I own my own small business. I'm a real estate broker by trade. I have three children and I have the mayor's job Yes, it's takes a toll you can see But but it can be done And because we do not want to take that leap to become full-time politicians it takes it us to a different level One thing that I liked about one of your studies those was looking at How part-time positions are limiting in terms of the type of people who can possibly serve So that really jumped out at me as something for us to consider. I think in our own study And that's why I was curious about how you managed to survive as a part-time mayor even when that's your official title And then do you I'm just curious and this is probably getting into the weeds, but do you have your own staff? It's like exclusively assigned to you we have three that are That are staffed to the mayor and city council all seven of us And they're hopping all the time and so they report to you as No, they report to the city manager, but they work with us, but their ultimate Reporting responsibility is to the city manager Okay, great. Thank you so much again. Very helpful. Thank you Any other questions council member prone? Um real real thank you so much for being here with us. I really appreciate it. Um The uh The modified system you have in place now is is that in place? The the six districts districts, but yes, it is six districts. It's not six districts Only two are up for election in november. Yes, and the mayor's job up in november Why were no council members on the committee? What was that? Was there that did that come up? Um, we wanted to make sure we had hands off that it was really a community-based An organized committee. Uh, we felt that that if we had Council members involved that it we didn't want it to taint the process process at all with our special interests or other gerrymandering of anything So we really had a hands-off approach on it. Did you have former council members and mayors on it? No, no, we didn't but you didn't exclude them too, right? Or no in our last charter review I said everyone that applied one they all won. Yes, your term is a four-year term, right? Four-year term two four-year terms term limits for mayor and you on the council before this this they're directly Yes, yes, and what would you say the relationship is a political question? Maybe a relationship between you and the city manager. How did that change? You said you became the spokesman for the city But sometimes in this city the city manager's office becomes a spokesperson for the city Well, our city manager takes in terms of being the spokesperson our city manager takes a backseat to the mayor But the city manager is right there without all the support You have to work very closely with your city manager when you are the mayor and you do receive a lot of information and But you have to have that close relationship That's the only way it works. You didn't see a change A change I received that relationship between the mayor and the city manager No, no it was in fact, it got stronger. I believe because you're working as a team But again the mayor is the spokesperson for the city And that's what the public wants to see because the mayor is accountable to the city Whereas the city manager is accountable to the city council Real briefly your thoughts on rank choice voting. You said you it did pass but they have they or didn't it didn't pass It didn't pass. And why would you think that would be something to go to? well in in trying to dissect our measure a campaign again, it's it was It lost by very little but the the plaintiffs that were suing us got very involved in the No on a campaign so it was interesting but politics, but Rank choice voting Well, I don't I don't believe we had enough time to educate our electorate on what it was and when they were afraid of it or they didn't understand it they voted no And so it's it's an interesting Concept and I think one that we're probably going to bring back again separately than the districts in santa clara but It needs a lot more education and that's what we have found the key is communication and education And we are doing a really good job of that in santa clara with social media and Next door and all the all the ways that we communicate with our residents high tech and low tech Did the geograph the geography of santa clara the city come up at all because that's that's an issue here east side west side of santa cruise West side historically is overrepresented on this body and east side is underrepresented same with santa clara So we had the two districts north and south We have one representative on the council from the north which is our whole Big huge business area. We have our stadium our convention center our theme park great america We have all the businesses out there. We have and a lot of residents is one council member everyone else is from south side and the number of meeting six we're talking about uh district elections and Also the directly elected mayor and compensation So what would be your best guess on how many meetings we should have because we're we have three that's in our Motion here or the suggestion of the mayor right now I would say a directly if you're just doing directly elected mayor three would probably be sufficient because the first is to get everyone acquainted with what you're doing and Then request from your staff representatives the information you need the second would be Public outreach public hearing discussion about the information that's brought back and the third again Public hearing public outreach and then a recommendation to the city council if you're throwing in districts more things Without are you throwing in an election method to or just districts? That's you know that would probably be another three more meetings Depending how if you throw in the election method or not If you're doing it all together you're talking you could be anywhere from three to three to five or six meetings Thanks. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you. Any other quick council member. Yeah, what time of year? Have these tended to happen All different times of year. I think they were summertime winter time. Yeah, we had different ones. This last one was October or September Through march. Yeah, then we had to convene a redistricting committee the people that was a sub another that's another That decided proposed that what the district should look in less than two weeks The judge imposed less than two weeks to come back with a six district model Yeah, so we work pretty fast. Yeah Yeah We had we had to hire a demographer and all you know Any other questions vice mayor walkins. Thank you for your presentation and for coming to santa cruz I just have a quick clarifying question So the challenge you think with the community was not with the the two districts per se But primarily the lack of information or knowledge around the ranked choice voting Well, and yeah, and there's two schools of thought with us We had many residents that said we don't want to change so they voted no And others that said We want to change but we we don't understand this ranked choice voting And others just thought the whole idea was just bad And then right after that we were in post six districts and to give you an idea of santa claren our population If you're familiar with the city of san joseh that would be like cutting the city of san joseh into 50 council districts That's how small our districts are so you literally could get elected with 2000 votes in a district versus 20,000 or more, which is which would be required. That's how wattenville is The south tour right and men no menlo park is going that way this year Morgan hill and then of course bigger city freemont. They're all going to districts this year councilmember brown I just wanted to revisit councilmember neroyans question about the relationship between city council members and the mayor and staff working Sort of directly or indirectly depending on how you interpret the answer. So I um, so we have Staff in the city manager's office who who really do work with us and as do all the department heads and other staff who help us Understand things to do our job But we do have a process whereby council members can't really Be taking up too much time with specific requests from individual council members. So we do have to deliberate in order to get major Things that will take more than eight hours specifically To dedicate staff time So i'm just wondering if you have something like that how how that works because I could see every councilmember Treating individual staff members as if they're their personal staff and that not really be yes And we've had those council members to have it we treat so The way we worked it now we changed our policy that if you as an individual council member would like to have a major project You know have staff work on a project you have to bring it to our city council meeting under council committees And propose it to the council and if you can get a majority of the council to agree Then we vote on it and send it to the city manager's office. If not then it's It dies because we have Our staff is very very busy And every council member has different ideas about things. So we have you have to get You have to collaborate with your other council members before the larger projects are our Manager undertakes them Side from this presentation, i'm sure we'd love to see that policy. So i'll send a follow-up email on that Yeah, it makes a lot of sense because we had one particular council member that was just demanding every day He's no longer on our council But every day demanding the city manager or city attorney's office going directly to some department heads That shouldn't have happened in the first place then and so we had it was by necessity Last question was um You really believe that it's good to directly elect the mayor Not not just from the council, but from the community Do you have the same feeling about the districts too? About the at-large versus the districts. I mean do you do you really feel like they should be um should be district elections? Or you you're not happy with that i'm Santa claire again They they did select us for the lawsuit I don't think they really understood our community about how diverse we are in our community They they did sue us because of the lack of asian pop representation on our city council And so i'm not sure that the way that the judge imposed the districts on us that we're actually going to elect an asian candidate in fact It disenfranchised a lot of our top asian candidates that didn't live in the two districts that That they put up for election So uh, I will see with the results how it happens But I think ultimately all of our goal was to diversify our city council But I think the way that was imposed may not may not work, but we'll see time will tell Okay, so one more question. Yeah, um, you've just given us a lot to think about here And there are lots of other city experiences league of california cities, etc So I see this is not going to be resolved here. I am curious just in terms of the districts How did you deal with this question if someone's elected is a renter and is elected and then needs to move for whatever purpose do they Lose their seat you have to reside in the district and for santa claire We're seven members like you And we are lenses for the whole city And so now it's a whole different mindset for us when you know that you're responsible for your district and elected In that district. I hope we're hoping the lens doesn't change for the whole city Because that's how we've always operated and we hope yeah things don't change We're a little nervous about that All right Is there any kind of situation where you have a council member loses their apartment or their housing situation and they have to move Is there any like compensation from the city that would keep them there as long as they live? They're on the council because that's you know, you live in a similar housing market that we have here Ours is even I don't know No, that's not happened to us yet Yeah, because we haven't had these specific residency requirements except the city of santa claire Is everybody a homeowner on the council? Well currently and that's been one of the issues somewhat is that our city is over half renters and that's one of them Packholston doesn't own a home. Oh, that's right santa claire. That's right. Yeah, he rents a room rents a room. Yeah Primary residences out of state, but yeah, okay. Yeah, that's another story Loop holes in the election system All right, well, um, thank you and we if you are you okay to stay a little bit while we hear from public and if there's any further questions Okay, so Stay here. Yeah, once you stay there. That's fine. Um, I'd like to at this point ask if there's any member of the public That would like to speak to the side and this item is number 22 establishment of a charter amendment committee and if you would like to speak to the side and please step forward and Say your piece Hello, my name is julian franos stole. I'm the co-chair of the democratic socialist of america. I'm santa Cruz Today we're talking about how we can make city elections more fair and representative of the community And while the charter amendment committee will be looking at district elections I believe they should also look at and strongly consider a multi seat rank choice voting system I believe the benefits of a rank choice, uh system would outweigh the cost of a district system And would be more likely to increase racial and socioeconomic diversity on the council As a ucsc student. I've heard that district elections would mean that the campus would become its own district With its own council representative So my first instinct is to ask who is raising this concern and for what purpose It seems clear to me that this concern is not coming from the thousands of ucsc students Who have time and again demonstrated our desire to be respected members of the community at large And to have interests related to the community at large Some some examples of this are coalitions between student organizers and tenants Or between students and labor as we've seen with AFSCME 3299 Or between students and broader demands for racial justice in the city as we saw with the beach flats garden Our community goes beyond geographic bounds My solidarity as a tenant rests with other tenants in the city My solidarity as a Filipino-american rests with other people of color in the city District elections would silo community organizing and would likely Exacerate temptions between those on on and off campus or between neighborhoods And that's not even to speak of the thousands of ucsc students who would be left out of such a district The rank choice voting gives voters something to vote for it doesn't dilute the latinx population to a small percentage of a district It's shown to increase representation of people of color. It doesn't risk gerrymandering It creates new opportunities for city elections Uh for people who are excluded under the current system With rank choice we can get the representation we need. Thank you Thank you Nick speaker, please Afternoon council council members. My name is Don Iglesias and uh resident of Santa Cruz since 1978, which probably makes me vintage Santa cruiser. I would imagine I I want to commend you for looking at this issue and Considering direct election of the mayor, but also district election I you've heard from Santa Clara And hopefully you'll hear from san jose as well A lot of these issues have been pushed through lawsuits through civil rights issues I but I want to share with you my own perspective. I worked in Santa Cruz city schools for 24 years I was a principal I was assistant superintendent for the school district. It was principal at galt principal at westlake So I know the neighborhoods and the communities of Santa Cruz very very well Over those years and the issues that families face in in our neighborhoods in Santa Cruz After leaving Santa Cruz I became superintendent schools for san jose unified And worked in san jose about 32 33,000 kids adjacent to Santa Clara For eight years worked closely with the mayors of san jose as well. So I have a fairly In my mind fresh perspective on district elections So just a couple things you're probably aware that san jose is A city of district elections and has been since the 1970s as well But also san jose unified as a school district our trustee areas Are also district elected areas of the of the community So in my mind the advantage for council members being district election Format would be one is equal representation From all of the neighborhoods within the city and a strong voice from all of the neighborhoods within the city Am I going too slow wrap it up? We yeah two minutes. Okay. Anyway, we've had good leadership We've had advocacy, but nobody can speak About the issues with the compassion unless you really live in the neighborhood In san jose, I know that the the difference with district elections I it made a difference in the major outcomes and decisions that were made and promoted Yeah, you limited to two minutes, but yeah, thank you. If you have written comments, you could submit them to us Anyway, I hope that you continue to consider district elections. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right next speaker, please Thank you. I'm brett garrett and I care very deeply about election issues So it seems natural to say um that I would be willing to serve on the committee if it's if it's um happening Currently, I don't have any strong opinion about district elections or direct mayoral elections I do have some strong opinions in favor of ranked choice voting. I was very glad to hear that brought up today And also if the committee is given latitude On other issues, I'd be very interested in looking at charter amendments related to better transit and affordable housing Thank you very much. Thank you. Next speaker, please Again before you begin. Is there any other member of the public that would like to speak to this item? Okay, just line up over there that um, I need to line up because we're trying to uh Get to the point to bring it back. So anybody who would like to speak on this, please line up to my left Please go ahead. Hi. My name is and rica. Yeah, I'm the vp of diversity and inclusion UC san jose. I just wanted to say that I strongly support ranked choice voting I also think that um, this whole concept of redistricting the elections and everything like that is kind of suspicious to me. I would like to Uh, have more thought on this subject, especially given that if we were to divide like a lot of areas like live oak and the uc area They it would greatly disenfranchise those communities There are a lot of undocumented people in those communities that don't have the ability to vote I myself am undocumented to have the ability to vote and we need those folks need that support from the uc and in order to be Um, represented in these in these in these areas these spaces like right here um, also for the For the increase in pay like I totally understand that like you need to make it more accessible for people but Um, I think at the end of the day like if council members are voting against other measures that would also make Um living here more accessible Uh, there's an issue with that Because right now like one of the biggest reasons I think why it would be important to to increase salaries is to keep up with the um with the cost of living in this area Um, but I mean it's a similar issue that a lot of people are facing So I think that if if if just like the mayors are getting increases I think we should also be thinking about measures like rank control like other things like that That would also support low income communities in this city Um, yeah, that's it. I just I just want to continue to have uh students In this conversation and I'm going to bring this back to folks and stuff because We are definitely still here and um, we want to be supportive of People that have not been represented in these spaces. Thank you. Thank you Next speaker, please Hi, my name is lin colovan My I think this is a really interesting idea But my main concern is that there's only going to at this proposal there's only two at large city council appointed members And I was thinking there should be more people that are just interested on this Committee more than just appointed by the city council. So that's my main point. Thank you. Thank you Next speaker, please is there um and before you being kim. Is there any other member of the public that would like to speak to this item? Okay, you'll be our last speaker. Thanks Hi, my name is kim salisbury. I live in the city of santa cruz been in the county for about 40 something years I'm I really appreciate santa claire county coming out and for the city council to Coordinate this. I think it's a great idea directly elected mayor and chief of police also One can dream and um I think the district team could be really helpful To have you know, like when there's a situation now We tend to contact everybody on the council because every you know versus maybe somebody in our area that might really know that project I could bring up 350 ocean street. That one's been on the boiler for you know, six years. So I like the idea and And as far as the mayor goes, I think it's really important because that's the position they'd be going for whereas now It tends to be on the highest vote getter and it's pretty random. So I support it and I would love to be on a I like how you included everybody that wanted to be on the charter group I think that that's pretty cool instead of just selected a you know by a few so thanks Thank you All right, see no other Speakers on the side and we'll bring it back and I know there was a little chart that was created because there was an issue of the scope and I met with Members from city manager staff just to say that we can at least look at this to see you know one whether or not there's support right now to Have each of the council members select someone and also elect two at large But also to say this is just really a kind of a first opportunity to hear from the public on it We've never done a public engagement Through this manner where you have the no member no elected would be serving on the committee And I think it's good to say that if we are going to have that discussion We want to make sure that we we hear first of all from the public one About educating them on what this means but also hearing whether or not it's something they want to see us proceed with And so that's kind of where i'm looking at not the full for full-born Review and develop the language but really to make an initial pass of hearing from them So you have The chart that you're bringing up bonnie and i'm doing a little filler conversation And um, I think that um, we should have The ability to talk through you know what that means in terms of the scope here and then look for some sort of council action Let's see a word document because I was hoping that we could you know fill in on the sections Well just to filler, um, what do you think about taking a few more meetings? It seems to me I mean because when you say three then the people we select will have a very short term thing in their mind But then if the group as a whole decides now, I think we need more time And maybe some people are gonna have to drop off because they only limited that to those three meetings kind of thing Well, yeah, you know my thought was that this would be an opportunity to provide a report back To see whether or not there's interest after the committee had you know first an intro meeting and then had Received comment from from the public as public meeting and then If there's you know, obviously this is going to be something that would carry over in the next term So I didn't want to make any um, you know kind of preconceived notion But I think you would hear from the public at that point of how extensive a process They would go forward on looking at any number of these things whether it be the direct elected mayor district elections compensation Or other as as they may be so it's really kind of more of an opportunity to educate the public through this You know to form the committee educate, you know the public about these issues take some Take some public Comment and testimony and see which of these are the ones that the committee members might want to proceed further But not to really kind of make a a formal recommendation By december but just to see hey are these things that have merit to look at as for our city That was my thought Council member matthews. Oh, these are just questions. So you envision the charter amendment committee to do A first blush to fill out its scope Is that what you're no, I look at I look at us giving us and we gave direction at the last meeting to Look at district elections the direct election of the mayor And compensation for council members. There was also a discussion about The idea of rank choice voting and I think some of these things are ones where You would want to have a recommendation of those things to proceed and really come back the council to say how much time Should be spent on these so I look at I envision this where you we would have set up a committee they would be educated on our charter and You know have a public meeting about the discussion about our current process how we elect our mayor and what our Election system is we could narrow it down to just be a discussion about the direct elect of the mayor if that's you know something the council wants to do And then there would be some sort of um, you know Public education would have public meeting and then at a certain point if it's just narrowly focused come back to the council with recommendations on whether or not necessary Well, if I could just continue I'm I'm still not clear on the depth and progression But just a couple of comments. I do think the committee should be larger If it's going to have a a deep Dive into all these issues and come up with a recommendation seven selected Directly members I would like to see committee up to 15. I'm thinking like on the public safety committee something that And and the reason for this is each of us will Will designate someone to be our representative, but I think it's important to step back and you think what's the scope of diversity Geographic age ethnicity life Economic the whole business. What's the diversity professional? What's the diversity that you want on that committee? So that it does have the really best discussion possible and I think You know if we each appoint our own We're kind of not going to know It'll be some version of us presumably But I do think this is a really big deal. So we should have a committee that Accommodates a good deal of diversity in its membership. So that's one. I'd like to see a larger committee We talked we've Added a number of things here. It's not just a direct election of mayor So it seems to me there's going to be a lot more work involved I don't think that they can accomplish this In a meaningful way in the timeframe that's been spelled out here um, I think We will need longer more time to do that work and we talked part of the discussion here was about the work plan and um We are involved in so many we our staff and council members so many Really heavy-duty items right now. And I think this is an important one. This is going to take a lot of staff time to prepare Um, the background material the education of the community and so forth So I think in order to get the best product we have to allow more time for this Um to spin out and uh, realistically if it starts in A schedule so it starts before october and ends in december I mean basically october november this this city is going to be nuts with the election work. So Personally, I think it would make more sense to start this after the first of the year Allow a good deal of time The election experiences behind us and have a larger committee Give it more time work it into the work program So that's kind of where I'm going. I mean, I have my personal opinions about All of these things this isn't the time to say that but I think in order to get the best product out Those are the sorts of things that I would like to to see in the motion I appreciate that. I just think really this is something where we're getting an initial pass And I think we've had several cup subcommittees that have worked pretty efficiently And I'm not looking for a deep dive on getting a formal recommendation that comes back But I am looking at one initiating a public discussion engagement in ways that we haven't done before where we have Each of the council members identify a committee member. So I would Maybe based on your first point ask Maybe one of the members of the charter committee in santa clara council member if you can answer this Is there a certain point when you when you have more than 10 people or you know, it becomes unwieldy to even have a discussion like that Yeah, I can tell you that with the the charter review committee that I was the vice chair of there were like 19 people on it I mean it was incredibly diverse, but at times You do you know, it might have been a little bit too much, but you also you have ironically The the gentleman who was one of the plaintiffs in our lawsuit had been appointed to that original committee and he dropped off Um I think somewhere around like 12 i 12 or 13. I think is kind of a good number And once again if somebody's not there, you know, you still have enough people where you can have a meaningful discussion. So So maybe having more at large, you know appointments by the council have a few more outlaws that are selected by the full council Yeah, that that's we always kept it to the council got each got one member And and there would be people who would be lobbying or you know writing letters to ask to be the that Appointment and then we did have like an open interview process For the other Members one one approach the time when I was on we had like the chamber of commerce and the citizens advisory committee So the council at that time took a few groups that represented key segments of the community and asked them To appoint one of their members and so we so we had that contingent We had the council that was the time it was 19 and then we had at large and and those at large people were interviewed Um in public at a council meeting and answered questions and then the voting and deliberate result So everybody could see who it was and could hear what they had to say Council member chase Um, I'm really excited that we have this item on today because I think it's got some There's just really interesting discussion already happening and I really appreciate the presentation Um I'm I'm of the mind that we should I thought we were just going to have the few things that we Recommended last time but then we heard about today something we didn't even talk about which was term limits So now I feel like that should get added on and rank choice voting came up as well and uh to me I understand why you know the idea to kind of get a sense of it right now But I don't think you can adequately talk about these things without talking about them together because for instance compensation Has to go with the conversation about these other things because one way to do that is actually even to reduce the size of your council Which would so you kind of have to talk about all of them if we're going to talk about any of them And to me that means a longer discussion and so I just don't see how it could happen in the period that's outlined Um, and I would also like to support a larger more diverse group as well So I'm prepared to support this moving forward With the additions that we heard from folks today to also be considered a longer timeline and a larger body And then I'm absolutely behind supporting this. I think it's a great idea All right, wonderful. So one of the things I thought we could do is having this sort of chart to kind of like Narrow the focus and then we could come back with recommendations like for the directly elected mayor I would add in their term limits So that would be one as well as the term those would be two things that would be Considered as well as we have the overarching compensation. So I would say bullet those two if whoever's at the keyboard to include term limits and The issue of So term length and term limits and term length under directly elected mayor to potential subcategories Term limits and term length And then in terms of district election in my opinion in the interest of just even initiate a conversation just saying Proceed or not proceed, you know, just to have a kind of discussion about this in regards to Having an initial meeting with the discussion and seeing if it's something that you know, the community is interested in or not So it's not a full-blowing process where you're redistricting proceed or not proceed Under district elections proceed or not to proceed, you know, that's the kind of potential subcategories and in regards to the Discussion about compensation I think you also need to look at in addition to the compensation, which is the bigger picture Is also look at the size of the council as council member chase mentioned Do you have One a way to fund that do you have fewer council members that are working full time rather than the current status Where we have part-time and so size of the council and full-time part-time So I don't want to get to I don't want to wordsmith this here today for all of us But I'm thinking that your your point about Proceed or not proceed that decision is sort of applies to all of them So, um, you know because and that may be based on, you know, some of the further review that this this committee does So I I almost feel like putting proceed or not proceed on the following in each of those bullets and just have that in each of the boxes Yeah, and then I also agree that under other we I'd like to see ranked choice voting included in the exploration And then I guess other you put down If you could put under there the size and I heard One we have seven directly appointed by the council and then five at large. So be 12 member Mm-hmm For what we're just aren't we deciding that not them? Oh, this is us giving direction on it. This is us trying to frame the scope of this 12 12 member seven because I heard I heard council member Matthew say that she wanted to have a more diverse pool So seven direct with five at large rather than the two which is in this the recommended Recommendation say even eight at large. So you got 15 total. It's always good to have an odd number And then it's more people six at large 13 I would go for that. Okay 13 Well, let's vote on the number at some point. Sure. That's why that's the second column That's what that's there for just I this is kind of based on what we did during the budget to try and narrow it down um So are there any other things that you can that um, you know one you wanted task on Councilmember Narayan, I don't know if this would fit in here, but One thing that really jumped out at me and I'll just repeat it again is Looking at the limitations of who can serve Under our current system and would that change with These potential changes so limitations to how you know, maybe under other You mean like the renter homeowner Right renter homeowner person who works full-time person who's Just how is Having a part-time council getting part-time pay For instance limiting who can be on council Yeah, I saw that there was a discussion in santa clara about looking at how to encourage greater participation in the election process So maybe other encouraging, um, you know participation for Candidates, but that was something that city of santa clara. It looked at I think in their process as well That's one for matthews. I guess this Comp it maybe it falls the question falls under the compensation Frankly unless you're getting up to an actual professional level salary Everyone is serving as public service and at some compromise to their personal life That's a fact. Yeah And and I don't see us Jumping the council salaries up to the level of what you would consider Full-time job. Yeah Got council support. They can well they called it barriers address the barriers to city council service So I I would add on there, um, the Support to support staff basically city manager's office Support staff to council and mayor Yeah All right, so I mean I just I um, I appreciate the conversation And I feel like that in addition to sort of what we're talking about the specifics now I think it would be really, um, it would behoove us to also have some pulling of the community And a really thoughtful process in terms of timeline. We're not under the constraints as santa clara was in terms of legal threat, but um, this is a big deal. We want to do it thoughtfully and mindfully Knowing that we do have so many renters in our community knowing that I think three of our current council members within My term have moved actually. I think while on council. This is a this is a big conversation with a lot to consider Um, so although I think having this kind of outlined in terms of a potential subcommittee scope I I like them that task and having them look at that I just wonder if we want to take a step back and say in the next several months Maybe a subcommittee of the council could get together and think about you know timeline pulling These considerations what the structure would look like an application process, etc Prior to sort of just jumping right in and I'm just because I'm feeling a little bit like whoa This kind of feels like a lot really quick with a lot of other considerations in terms of timeline and changing council members, etc Well, just one quick comment. I would add under district elections Uh, and it's obvious, but just so it's their, uh, number of districts Just so that we are clear that that's a consider so we're not talking about six districts for sure Because I like some of the Discussion that we had from Santa city of santa clara in terms of the question about How quickly we proceed and how we proceed given Mayor trazos you're You're thinking about this being a committee that can come together and Really kind of take some of this on people who are it's obviously going to have to be people who are interested in the topic who have perspectives on it and You know to take a Do a quicker review maybe not that deep dive I actually would like to have some community input from a group like this In order for me to make decisions about how we proceed in the longer term So so i'm not so worried about the you know, this is we're like too much too fast. I think Given the way you have discussed and envisioned it. Um, I i'm comfortable with with moving ahead now That was my sense too as far as not like, you know Going in deep dive, but really kind of do an exploratory and how much more time do you want to invest in the polling and others to see So and then bringing in people council member crone On the time on that thing I I do think we should start very soon. I was wondering if you could say what some More or less approximate timeline when we're starting council member matthews mentioned the first of the year um I like The you know, there's a head of steam now. Um, there's interest maybe, um It would take a month to get you know applicants evaluate them Starting in october november First meeting I you know, I um had met with some city staff and we were talking about you know, what it would look like and I think realistically probably sometime around october You know and towards the end of october and then you know, I frankly if you're not able to have Three meetings, you know, then it's a matter of giving a report out and see how you know, you know What is the feedback we're getting because I've heard from many people they'd like to have this public discussion and engagement So i'm not so firm on like the idea that there's some conclusive You know proof we're going to go forward, but I least like to initiate the process So I'd say sometime by the end of october and then give a status update in december seeing how things are going So I have a question for council member chase you put the um It came out city manager's office support staff. Did you mean council office support staff? What what what did that what does that mean? I meant support for the council, which would be in the city manager's office, but you can Support for council. Yeah Office support for council, so maybe get so Not have city manager there just office support for council Sure They were to report to the city manager. They would be in the city manager's office. It's just Okay, so um, if there's no other top go ahead vice mayor walking not necessarily top But for clarity of the purpose will when they return With what they return with recommendations What what will they specifically be asking the council to do with the information that they Come up with I think we get a status report back from You know the group as far as where they are in december and you know at that point It's it's a report back on you know what they've done I imagine they'll be an introductory meeting public meeting where you educate them about our current process for Direct elect mayor. I think it's not going to be a deep dive on those probably campus compensation But it really kind of opens up the opportunity to have a full public discussion on these issues And then when they come back and say hey, you know, we're looking at these We think we need this this much more time to have this discussion Or we think it'd be really effective to have polling regarding these issues because I think they're beyond the scope of just Having public meetings and hearing from people about where we are That would be something that might be appropriate at that time to come back and say Hey, we've had some limited experience and this is what we're recommending the council do moving forward I think I'll go ahead In terms of what the first stage might be It seems that Whatever group is selected would have to have more than just an orientation to the way we do it here But I think it'd be important to say what are cities throughout california doing? What's their experience? What are the trends? What are the legal suits that are driving district elections? Are they relevant here? I mean there are a whole lot of questions that That don't rely just on our local experience But assimilating at least some kind of common knowledge experience That gives them a basis for saying we want to pursue this one in more interest Not so much this one, etc. So yeah, to me, it's not a quick and dirty orientation Well, you know each each community is definitely unique. I know we cannot compare ourselves to santa claire I was really wanted for illustrative purposes to say this is the process they used to look and I think it's a matter of Hey, how can we better engage with the public to actually have a review of this? It's a little different than maybe how we've done it traditionally where we're you know engaging in hearing from the public and then Informing whether or not we we as a as a city as a council want to proceed With any of these and hearing directly from the public on what their what their views are on on this So I I hear it's about educating It's so would it be sorry just from since I can make sure that I'm clear on terms of what We're ultimately asking them to return back after three meetings It's essentially saying yes We've discussed this and we think that the city council should further pursue more information and community outreach and potential Changes in this way. So there's on these various categories. Yeah, okay, or they could say just for clarification We don't think you should pursue that's right. That would be something they could come back with as well. Yes. Yes And so council member crone just the proceed or not proceed. That's up to us right now whether we're gonna proceed or not proceed I think we're also when they hear public I mean they might say hey, this is like a non-starter right when they're out there people say it's not something that our community wants I think it's also we're giving them direction to talk about but that's one of the Subcategory but they will take up all of these categories. Okay. Yeah, I think we have to decide right? That's what we're going to tribes a group. That's the next one agreed to committee scope So, I mean I've just asked, you know, we kind of have Some guidelines on the size of the the potential committee down below and I'd just like to go down this I mean, maybe we did this for Other items during the budget process. I mean we could say are these things we want to support on As a consensus as a council or if you were opposed, we'll do votes on each one As far as directing the scope of the committee council member chase So term limits and term links. Is that specific to the mayor or is that would that be applicable to all? It's just for the mayor. So should we then also add in addition to that? Do we want to have them discuss term limits or term links for all elected members? That wasn't part of it, but you could put it down in terms of compensation down there term limits for the council I mean probably something you should think about because it impacts the other ones So maybe put that down and compensate size of council and slashed or council terms For clarification on encouraging participation Do we want to specify what that means? For diverse representation or I mean say more with What we're saying meaning by that I know These which one for encouraging participate participation under other I I just I just think it's something where I mean that was a point that council member norion brought up in regards to The discussion about like encouraging more participation to serve on the council and diversity Of diversity. I think we was kind of addressing the barriers, right? So I think just being I mean To be a little bit more specific about what we mean by that So throw it out there as a topic. Yeah, yeah, put it in there. So yeah, that's the thing Encouraged. Yeah, that's it I think it's something where it's kind of open-ended and we could they could you know discuss in terms of participation and encouraging Participation as an elected. I think that's what the whole has an elected official Okay, council member crone. I'm liking the way this is going. I really I would call for a vote. I don't know I know the next group is waiting I hear that um, we're we're about 10 minutes over. I want to just say that um for the agreed committee scope Let's go through the direct elective mayor. Um, is this something as far as the committee that um, people are comfortable with scope Yeah, but term limits fell off of there. We want it in mayor and we want it It's down in compensation. She just moved to down council mayor term limits down at the bottom. Okay I just not a company unless there are any objections. We might we could just if someone wants to make that motion I'm not gonna do where you go ahead. Okay. I would you can do it So, uh, I move that we establish a citizens amendment committee With the following document showing the scope of work with that committee um In terms of timelines though, I do agree that um, this might be something better um To maybe how I mean just the process of picking the folks to sit on it I think I would like to see this happen Perhaps um going into the new year So looking at maybe starting this the committee in um January 2019 Well, that was not the motion I was gonna make so I'll let others ahead if you want to make it. Well, we need a second and or we need there was no second Okay, so You know, I uh would move to establish a charter amendment committee to be comprised of 15 community members with seven selected directly by individual council members um By august 24th 2018 and six at-large city council appointed members through an application letter of interest process Facilitated by the city manager's office. I would love to see some kind of timeline for that Which and I don't think I think august 24th is pretty quick here. So it's totally unworkable. We can you know, I mean, so I would say By council members by rather than august 24th. Sorry. I'm amending already Perhaps uh, september Seventh I don't know what day of the week that is but And two out-large city council or sorry six out-large city council appointed members through an application letter in temp process facilitated by the city manager's office to be completed by Um The end of september said september seven september seventh for the council members selections And but then we're gonna have to if we're all voting on the others We're gonna need up probably a little extra time. So end of september does that seem reasonable So they could people could the committee could start october We have to It depends on how much time you I guess you went for advertising We can we can sort of sketch that out I'm trying to recall for some of the other processes that we've done where we've selected members of some committees It typically takes you know Month to month and a half to go through the whole process And we can schedule a meeting So what we can do is work out a schedule to have it be done as soon as possible I think I think that's kind of what you're interested in doing That's why september 30th seemed to be about six weeks from now And the second bullet second bullet Direct staff to develop a work plan and meeting schedule so that the CAC commences honor before well, so in october With the progress check in with council honor before december 11th 2018 second that And well, I'm sorry We should clarify though that in the scope of work that we want to use this the bullets in this table For consideration I'll second that council member narayan I'm concerned about the timing because one we're going to have a change on city councils so logistically I'm wondering for instance, there are council members here who will appoint folks and then they won't be here After that period of time. So that I'm concerned with I'm also concerned with the workload that staff currently has we've tasked them with Looking with the county and finding new locations for homeless services We've tasked them with implementing the housing blueprint So I just feel like they have a lot on their plate as well And other things that I'd rather have them focus on I want this to be focused on but I don't see this as Extremely timely. I don't see this as something that we we must desperately start working on So that's my concern with not setting a date until after the elections Because I'm just wondering logistically how that would even work extremely Could we put the council mayor turn limits on in the other category? They don't belong in compensation The other thing I was going to say I council member round. I don't know if you noticed in your words you said 15 and then you said six I support the 13 all together six At large and seven council members. I'm not so good at that. Sorry. I was reading the language And the last thing is responding to uh council member neroyan That happens all the time like when I when you get on the council all the commissioners are from past Selected by past council members who are been off the council. So I mean I don't see a problem with that Okay, so let's go. I have there's a motion on the floor in a second Any further discussion? I would like to go for 15 I'd like to have a slightly bigger committee you think of the committees that we've charged with really big stuff like the water supply advisory committee the public safety committee Going back in time. So I think we benefit from having just a slightly bigger group So I'd like to just offer the amendment to make that 15 members with eight at large You know given the um quick timeline that we're asking for folks to get up to speed You know and the comment from our The visitors from from santa clara, you know, I'm I'm worried about having an unwieldy group and you know We as we suggest to the public safety committee. I think it's 11. So I mean, I'm pretty comfortable with sticking to 13 Okay, there's a motion does the I don't know how the seconder of the second so yeah Council member neroyan I would like to hear from staff on their workload and if um, they realistically Think this timeline You know something they can meet uh, I was just checking with staff to see what the the The process wasn't a timeline was when we last did a similar process to where we had to do the applications and This is for the wassak process. We had to uh Have interviews and all that and so the response was about six to eight weeks to get through the appointment process And then the other big question is uh, it's correct. You know, we do have a Pretty heavy workload. And so the other approach we've taken in the past is uh, whether we've used the facilitator So for example with the wassak process, we used a kind of third party facilitator to kind of provide that support So that's another question as to uh, how you want to do that. So um, I think that uh, you know, we could certainly within, you know, six to eight weeks have the appointment process completed for you and to have The that decision made um, and then Uh, I think it would just depend on Uh, you know, we could certainly within we would have to make some adjustments in some of the workload I mean, that's the honest truth. We'd have to uh, go back and and look at uh, with adjustment We can make on some things, but we can generally bring that back to you. Um, and uh, Make those adjustments and make it work for you Thank you, that's what I needed to hear I didn't want to put one more thing on your plate and then um, have us Put other things that I think are a bigger priority You know behind this so thank you Thank you, so go ahead councilman. It seems like we're having discussion before a second No second So that's what I thought but then I heard somebody say no second second. Yeah, I second it I'm motioned by councilman brown second by myself I um, um, you know, so I just if anybody else has comments on the the size of the committee It seems to be the issue that's come up In our discussion, I'd be happy to hear it. I would support larger also I can live with 13 although 15 sounded, you know, we got a lot of different opinions on this And I feel like the more we can get at large perspective. I think is really helpful um, I'm not gonna I if we don't get to 15 Um, I am concerned about you know the points that council members matthews the vice mayor and councilmember norion made about the length I think that there is this is very ambitious to do in a very short period of time I think if we readjust our expectations and know there's not going to be much that comes back to us In december because there's just not going to be enough time to provide adequate information for this committee Regardless of size to digest Then we're not going to get very much in december, but it'll maybe at least give us some Guidelines of where we're where we're headed and know that the vast majority of work is going to happen in the coming year I just want to if I may I just want to really echo the that comment I think that this is a really big topic with a lot of Education required as well as input So if this is simply them returning to give us a pulse on what the community could What the community is feeling and what the council could consider that seems like a real reasonable ask of a small Sort of truncated if you will timeline for a committee to really open up a huge conversation And then knowing that that's their purpose Then I think there's clarity in terms of their expectation and what the expectation of the council is from them and staff And I think councilor brown mentioned that and I'll echo that that is the intent Just to comment on one last thing is that to the point the city manager made about Whether we'd want to facilitate or I feel like up until december We wouldn't have that but that could be something at that point that if the committee comes back with recommendations of We need to do this really robust outreach process and all of that that would be something we'd have to consider at that point Which would have a financial impact? So I think that's something we should not consider until we at least get this first blush from them in december Yeah, and I would just add at that time we could also consider other variations including expansion of the committee size And mayor just another suggestion perhaps for you to consider Given that you've kind of defined the scope today One thing we could do is staff could come back and at your next meeting and maybe put together our work plan That's a little bit more defined so you get a better sense of what it would be again We haven't really delved into You know all of it until today when you've defined the scope. So that's a possibility We can strongly do that for you if you don't get an informational item that'd be great Okay, so is there motion on the floor and a second Journey further discussion He said on 13 or 15 13. Okay. I'm ready to vote. Thanks All those in favor of the motion, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed that motion passes unanimously So thanks for your patience on that and I want to thank you But mayor gilmore and councilmember for coming over from santa clara. Thank you for that presentation. I'm sure we'll remain in touch I'll come down there too You know We're going to take we're going to take a five minute break and resume at four o'clock Welcome back. It's a little after four. Thank you for your patience I appreciate your patience as we went over the last one. We're right now have we're up to item 23 next up on our agenda item and this is um the 1024 soquel avenue appeal of the planning commission's approval of a special use permit and design permit to construct a Three-story mixed use building to include a 1600 ground floor commercial space and 12 apartment units in the cc community commercial zone district This item is an appeal which will be conducted as follows First staff will present their report Second the appellant will have 15 minutes to speak and present evidence in support of their appeal Third opponents or the responding applicant will have 15 minutes to speak and present evidence or responses Then we'll have public comment two minutes per per person Then the appellant will have five minutes to rebut And then last we'll return to the council for deliberation and action So that's going to be the format for this particular item And i'll right now then start with the first task by turning it over to Mike fairy senior planner to begin the process Thanks, mr. Mayor council members Um This project was heard by the planning commission what i'm going to do is summarize my staff report and then take you through some slides And then talk about the public comments a little bit So the planning commission heard this item on uh may 3rd Three people spoke in support of the project four people spoke in opposition of the project The commission discussed the ground floor of the commercial space and modified one of the conditions of approval to Basically to add some windows some fenstration To make the pedestrian Visual access a little greater than was originally proposed and i've got slides that i'll i'll show you all of this on The planning commission also supported a request from the applicant to defer the tif fees until the building was occupied They also recommended that the city council look at considering the tif fees Prior to occupancy and set up at the building permit issuance The municipal code allows that fee to be collected prior to the building permit or at final occupancy however the Fee structure includes government code six two zero zero seven Which allows the collection of residential or commercial tif fees at building permit issuance If the city or agency has adopted a capital improvement program The annual and an annual approval of a tif Program, which is the city's current practice Public works did say that the tif fee Bank if you will will probably Be next to nothing after the highway one Nine interchange project starts so they're encouraging That the tif fee be taken at building permit issuance um after about three hours of Deliberation Back on may third the planning commission unanimously approved the project on may 14th An appeal letter signed by seven people was submitted The appeals based on five items in incomplete audio recording Historic preservation commission review power line location Zoning and general plan sections that were violated regarding the design of the building and general plan and east side business improvement plans That the building Didn't match So the audio recording problem was identified. It was a computer glitch the Appellants were given a full recording and the jet the action agenda had been posted online 48 hours after the hearing The historic preservation commission reviewed the original project plans On april 16th 2008 where they unanimously recommended approval of the design of the building at this site The hbc had no concerns with the modern design of the building Several commissioners pointed out that the architecture was consistent with some of the art deco buildings already existing on soquel avenue And one commissioner actually spoke about the corrugated metal that's in this current design saying that it had been used by previous well-known architects throughout the city The exterior building materials and the same modern approach With the mass and the curved corner element nearest the corner of soquel avenue and kayuga street exist in this project, which i'll be showing you in a second The power line location Which was part of the appeal is twice what the pgne recommends The planning commission unanimously approved the project finding that it was consistent with the general plan and the zoning ordinance And in the discussions section of the staff report I've listed 16 general plan policies that support the project as well as the goals and design recommendations of the east side business improvement plan that supports approval of the project So the project site is About 11,000 square feet. It's on soquel and kayuga In 2008 the planning commission recommended and the city council approved a similar project In terms of the exterior building There was two commercial condominium units and six residential condominium units above so Between that approval and this approval the use the interior of the building has changed The fenstration has changed as a result of that newer use The current proposal is to construct The previously approved three-story mixed-use building With 6,600 square feet of ground floor commercial space Mix of 12 studio and one bedroom apartments within the building The apartments range from about 670 to 760 square feet The application also includes a request for a density bonus The applicant is proposing 10 or one of the units to be designated as a low-income density bonus unit Providing 10 of the allowed units as low-income units allows a density bonus of 20 or two additional units in this case The applicant has not asked for any concessions to the zone district standards So when they do a density bonus they can ask for reduced setbacks or increased height or less landscaping and None of those consensus have Been asked for In exchange the low-income unit will be rent restricted to 60 percent of the AMI the average median income The Uh far for this project is 0.95 and the project will have a density of 46.8 units per acre The design of the building meets all the cc's on district standards It meets the setbacks Meets the parking it meets the height the landscape requirements the open space requirements for a mixed-use project Site plan provides 15 parking spaces that are open and available for the mixed uses The apartment of public works has Well, the applicant is requesting a 10 percent reduction in the required parking and that's based on the mixed use Where office uses generally are eight to five And when those offices close those parking spaces will be available for the residents Public works has reviewed that and recommended approval and the planning commission also Proved that 10 percent reduction So we'll take you through some slides So that's the project site. We've got the grace commons project behind it The vault is on the other side of the street Public parking lot the fire station The zoning in that area is community commercial Across the street is public facility The general plan is a mixed use high density that whole area And the building is going to replace This church the grace united Methodist church. It was about 34 feet in height It was built right up to the sidewalk The proposed building is about four feet higher than this building The previously approved project that went through the city council the historic planning commission Or the historic commission and the city council Is shown here. This was about 35 feet in height Again, this was a different set of uses so the fenstration has changed Reflecting the new uses that are proposed with this project This is the north elevation that its face is so cal And that's the kayuga elevation So it's the same form the building the same kind of exterior materials It's the inside that has changed So this is a shot of the vacant lot. You've got the grace commons behind uh mh can building Um, this is another shot of grace commons from kayuga street three-story building I'm not quite sure how tall this one is And then Three lots to the east. There's a modern design Relatively new residential mixed use project And the kayuga vault A couple of the soquel avenue the rio theater Just where this whole Art deco kind of look I think came from Right across the street the public parking lot and the fire department And then a large office building So this is the current site plan And i'm going to show about Four or five slides of the project that went to the planning commission And then show the applicant's response to some of the comments that the planning commission had So the site plan shows the parking there's 17 spaces 15 are available for that mixed use aspect of the project where you've got a commercial space here That's going to be operating eight to five The residents will go to work The their spaces will become available And when these folks leave when they close the office those parking spaces will become available for the residents as they return There's also two tandem spaces and the applicant has indicated that Those spaces can be rented like for a premium for somebody that has two cars Or maybe somebody that doesn't use their car that often and they want to park it more long term There is a bus pullout that's going to be dedicated. There's a large bulb out on the corner of kayuga and soquel Eight foot sidewalks street trees A common area for the residents They've got 12 class 1 exterior bike racks And each unit has a class 1 bike rack inside of the unit that works on a pulley system So a revised landscape plan that came back to us since the planning commission meeting I think some of the commissioners commented that They would like to see something that sort of grounded the building and made it Appear attached to the ground a little bit more. So we had some landscape boxes put out And I've got some shots of elevations of this And the private patio areas for the outdoor space in this area will be landscaped as well So the ground floor plan just shows the office space the utilities Two one bedroom units on the second and third floors you've got a studio unit One bedroom units all of these guys have their open space on outdoor balconies the ground floor has a patio area And that's the third floor again with the outdoor balconies for the private open space These are the class 1 pulley bike lifts these little areas So this is the west elevation. This is the one that faces grace commons and it's got a more residential field to it It's facing a residential building It's about 35 feet away from the property line And the setback requirements are zero For the cc zone district This is another elevation of the building and again, these are the plans that went to the planning commission You can see the metal exterior the cement different sections of wood paneling This is a view of a long soquel avenue and these are bay windows that have that wood treatment This was the elevation that staff and the planning commission were concerned with this would have been the The frontage where we thought maybe there should be some more connectivity between the pedestrians visual access as they're walking down the sidewalk And again, it's got that curve that goes around the corner That's the kayuga elevation So in response to the comments from the planning commission The architect carried this wood feature down to the ground floor They installed planter boxes on both the frontage and then on the kayuga side They included some down lighting that area and you can see the The planter boxes And they also Develop some perspective plans so that you can see the size of the building compared to the neighboring buildings So this is a shot looking straight down kayuga with a vault across the street And the grace commons behind it And this is a shot from kayuga looking at both of those projects This building actually looks a little bit taller than this building not counting the roof Grace commons The perspective again the grace commons the proposed project in the vault And this is a photo simulation That was completed by the architect and submitted prior to this hearing so the number of emails and letters That I counted and it was kind of confusing because I started getting them from a variety of people But I counted 44 letters that were in favor of the project and 66 letters that were in opposition of the project and two of the emails that I got yesterday one was from the charlie hong kong and one was from did you see those comments one was from the orange snipers who had said that They originally wrote a letter in opposition of the project because They had seen the plans and that was on a neighborhood flyer And that they met with the applicant and went over the actual plans and they said oh, we don't have a problem Or they basically sent those emails yesterday. So I think there's some misinformation out there So as this project Has been reviewed by the planning commission they have found that it's consistent with the general plan the east side business plan The zundistrict standards Um Part of the general plan directs us to foster cooperative Efforts with landowners lending institutions Area residences and businesses towards mixed-use developments This mixed-use project is in an area that has a lot of opportunity for people to walk to stores restaurants entertainment Staff's recommending that the city council deny the appeal Uphold the planning commission's approval of the special use permit and design permit Based on the resolution that's attached to your staff report So I can answer any questions you might have. Thank you, mike. Are there any questions at this time? Councilmember crone The flagpole People are saying that that's sitting. I know a new height limit or something What's that? Is it going to be is it going to be a bunch of um cell tower? No, that was my first question too Now it's an architectural mind think alike. No, no architectural feature. Um, they feel that it Is a significant architectural feature it can be approved over the height limit as part of the special use permit We had findings for approval. I think it's kind of attractive. I think the planning commission Agreed that it was attractive So it is allowed to go over the height limit the building is limited to 40 feet Thanks, and um, what don't I understand about our It's just uh, maybe it's academic at this point, but our affordability thing I thought it was 15 percent and as I understand 15 percent of 10 units would be 1.5 units And then he gets a bonus to get two so it would either be 1.7 units or 1.5 units Why is it just one unit and then he gets a two extra units Because the density bonus just looks at the number of units that would be allowed So it has to be based on the 10 The original 10 units what happens to the 0.5 that we're missing. I think that'd be an in lieu fee And is there an in lieu fee calculated here and They have to come in with their agreement Um, carolberg economic development The ordinance is written that this uh project falls under it rounds up at 0.7 So basically if you have 1.5 you owe one unit and you pay an in lieu Partial in lieu fee of 0.5 you have the option of writing the unit or paying a partial in lieu fee of 0.15 and the way the state density bonus law works is that The base development is 10 units And so that's why we're applying the 15 to 10 units because the two additional units are earned by the density bonus Under the density bonus ordinance by providing 10 of the units affordable at 60 area meeting income and the state law also Does not as a does not allow us to Um separate the inclusionary and the density bonus unit in other words the unit that is an inclusionary unit Can also be the density bonus unit by state law And we originally had in our ordinance that They you couldn't use our inclusionary units for the affordable density bonus units But that was changed by state law and you approved the amendments that are consistent with that So carol so the one would be part of the 0.5 the additional is it paying in lieu fee? That would be an in lieu fee one unit is provided That would be at the lowest affordability level, which is 60 area meeting income And that's the density bonus level, which is lower. Thank you. And so how much is the in lieu fee? Do we know that? No, we would need we'll need to calculate that Okay, but it will be calculated, right? Yes, it's calculated and I appreciate getting the one unit. It's a great thing too council member brown Just would say I have a number of questions about the project and the appeal But I think I'd like to reserve them until after The appellants speak and we have some discussion because I maybe some of them will be answered I'll hold off for now. I think if there's no other question at this point I would prefer that we'll we'll turn it over to the second part where the appellant Will have 15 minutes to speak and present evidence in support of their appeal I don't know if there's a Slides or anything that or should we take down? Just whenever you're ready, we'll Just to clarify the mic the emails was 44 in favor of the project and 66 To uphold the appeal is that be it or 44 to deny the appeal and 66 to uphold the appeal Um You said there was a 44 66 and I just wanted to clarify that 44 people were in favor of the project. So that would be denying the appeal and 66 People were not in favor of the project. So they would want you to support the appeal and deny the project Thank you. Let me just ask because I mean I think this is something where we also had a planning commission meeting on this as well You're just saying since that last meeting. That's the what we've received. No. No, that's in total there Okay. All right. Thanks Okay, whenever you're ready Hopefully you can hear me So thank you to the members of the city council For listening carefully to our appeal regarding the proposed design and special use permit To 10 24 Soquel avenue development Three of us will present on behalf of many on the east side Many have already written letters and those that have come make it That could not come to this postpone appeal date will speak during the public hearing period My name is Candice Brown of East Morrissey and I will speak to the particular design and special use permit concerns Dolores Talbert will speak to the concerns of the local businesses along Soquel Neighborhood community area and Don Norris will speak to the broad concerns of the east side midtown community 10 24 is an iconic Soquel is an iconic location at the corner of a kayuga in Soquel It has historical note as the location of the fondly remembered grace united in Methodist church An iconic building in itself as a classic revival church with notable Marbled stained glass windows and shimmering facade made from crushed abalone The sweeping white corner was part of a once extensive Trolley rail system and therefore kayuga is a wider street The location sits at the heart of the Soquel neighborhood commercial branch of 40 business district And therefore is important as a cornerstone of any future development For those reasons the city council ordinance said the project design had to go first through the historical preservation commission An earlier design in april 2008 not april 2018 as noted in the city council meeting website It was a very different design with pedestrian engagement with proposed commercial spaces Soquel entrances awnings and warm warm or more traditional facade materials The city staff opted to not take the newer design to the historical preservation commission because the designs were so similar But this is not the case as seen in this slide The buildings while each three stories are very different in style retail entrances on Soquel balconies awnings window sizings and placement and especially in facade materials on all floors and roof These are completely different projects and should be treated as such with a renewed review required by the historical preservation commission This business this building design proposed now is a very modern building a vertical corrugated metal From floor to the roof and now they noted a change Since the we made the the appeal Roof line and even on the historical roof mat which is part of the special use permit along with a design element mass Also part of the special use permit Which is not found on the original design The building is asymmetrical in all sides and not in character with adjacent homes and neighborhoods There is no usable open space as 11,000 square foot lot Which is very small has 17 parking spaces for them tandem parking unique to this project Parking is noted on Soquel along with driveway access on Soquel Rather than high quality durable materials throughout the building the building has smaller aluminum windows painted metal doors And corrugated heavy gauge porous metal and composite shake roof There is no significant window trims other than an eight inch piece of wood under the Front larger windows and then you have the awkwardly sweeping corner That fights with the rest of the building for balance with prison like windows on Cayuga and Soquel Architectural landscape details are minimal, which could otherwise add to the visual richness of the project and streetscape The public hearing at the planning commission brought up many issues and displeasure with the design by four of the seven commissioners Some transcript material was provided to the council and there's more There was no context of this building design in the broader context of the fabric of the commercial or neighborhood known for stick Sorry Spanish Mediterranean influence and queens and homes and these pictures were all done within a half block of the location There is no attempt with this design to blend as all the good infill development do With the fabric of the area and especially disappointing as the commercial area is known for its 30s and 40s art modere not art deco by the way a streamline look known for horizontal lines subtle wall edges Fluted elements in some post art deco motifs from the 20s Which would be indicated by vertical Windows are typically ribboned or round and many have a more nautical or streamlined classic look The iconic classic vault building sits across the street from its very modern design And the two would sit together as uncomfortable stepchildren There is so much to inspire the design among a very engaging neighborhood commercial Area that is prospering more and more with retail Many local favorite restaurants and entertainment areas noted recently in sunset magazine Hello, my name is Dolores Solis Talbert and I live In the Area here. Uh, I've been in Santa Cruz since 1969 and have lived on Brathburn Since 1983 I walked to the shops in this area and have been acquainted with many of the shop owners So in talking to them over time they expressed a growing concern about the developments on sokellen water And I'm here to tell you what they're saying and what motivated many to send emails To the city council particularly in regard to this development To preserve the east side neighborhood Character and values the community would like to advance The idea of an architectural design review board both businesses and neighbors are Advocating for a design review board to preserve what is fundamentally important to the east side community tasteful architecture in scale less mass and All in character with the surrounding area the current design Is disappointing to all of us in the neighborhood Both neighborhood residents and store owners were disappointed with the design. They felt quote unquote. We could do better Some described it as an eyesore for the east side business community And feel that this building is not a community benefit to anyone Store owners are extremely concerned about adequate parking in the business district for their customers And look at today's traffic and looking at the future of gridlock in this already gridlocked area Businesses thought there would be retail on the first floor of the building which would promote more shopping in the area As stated in the east side business plan They want a design that integrates not only the look but its use in the community People spoke of sunset magazine article august Of in of the sunset magazine article august of 2017 which praised the look and feel Of our unique small scale beach town The article stated like the boardwalk the strip in and around Soquel avenue keeps things retro modern With spots to have a drink catch a show or find a locally carved skateboard Residents and businesses owners want to protect our unique business areas and our historical cultural landmarks In conclusion, we believe that the city can do better and hope that the leaders of Santa Cruz will agree Thank you Who are we? We are a historic beach community. Why are we here? We want our appeal to be accepted We don't want to stop this project and appreciate the housing it will provide Especially the one affordable unit We know three stories is a huge footprint, but we accept the height and mass due to our extraordinary housing needs We want changes in the design which would enhance this project and help it become Compatible with its neighbors The general plan calls for infill development to be in scale and in character With the existing neighborhood This proposed design looks like an imposing generic commercial office building made of green corrugated metal Nestled among the understated charm of streamlined modern buildings I attended a community meeting in 2015 at galt school. David you were there And we were tasked with visioning for this area We broke into groups and being selected to be the reporter I stated our group wanted to focus on Soquel avenue from moracy to brownsafordy Charmed up. I heard with easels awnings great signage and improvements to the pedestrian experience Preserve and protect our little piece of americana Interestingly and currently the east side is Experiencing a bit of a renaissance Akira lilians are just a few examples of thriving local businesses Neighbors enjoy walking to the many shops and restaurants on Soquel Recently Sunset magazine has featured some of our businesses the crate place Homework childish to name a few and we are now becoming a destination As I walk Soquel I asked a few pedestrians walking to restaurants What they thought of the building after viewing its image doesn't belong A portland natives stated portland was ruined with a lot of Modern buildings and I don't even recognize the place anymore This proposed design is alarming because the east side area improvement plan calls for pedestrian Development on Soquel from moracy to Brant's authority this area was dubbed main street and was encouraged to develop storefront character on the sidewalks Improvements such as welcoming streetscape Interesting materials like wood stucco and tile are called for the area plan states quote More attention should be given to the urban detail and ambiance of an eclectic mix of wood and stucco structures That form an architectural edge to the street Furthermore it states quote the maddock development should respond to the santa cruz setting and character of key architectural features of the district the plan asks quote How does the streetscape? Contribute to encouraging and supporting pedestrian activity Unfortunately This building being 1600 square feet of mixed-use office space on the ground floor Will not engage and vitalize the community. There are blank facades on kayuga and soquel We need larger better quality windows on kayuga Arbor's insets arcades awnings would soften its massive footprint thus supporting pedestrian engagement The project architect assumes a greater burden connecting the facade to the street because parking is in the back And the building is placed on the sidewalk If not mitigated this building will have no connection at all with the business district and neighborhood We need a community design review board so businesses and neighbors can be involved early in the process This design review would have businesses neighbors and architects much like the visioning committee after the earthquake What can be learned from other coastal cities? The board of architectural review of the county of santa barba has many points of concern But I'll speak to a few number one Make sure the height and scale And design of the project is compatible with the surrounding neighborhood Two shapes and massings should be in proportion with other existing structures the same site On the same site and surrounding areas Building materials composition and color on all sides should be in harmony with each other This design can be improved awnings wood stucco better quality and larger windows on kayuga Higher quality materials are demanded for corners as they are a focal point for the community How can we fix this? We have a suggestion with all due respect Number one form an ad hoc committee with two architects from the planning commission plus a contracted city architect To make design modifications two send modifications to the historic preservation commission Three bring this back to the city council for approval. We can do this This building can be improved. It's not too late The soul of a community is like a spark of light Fragile and in need of protection Once destroyed its spirit cannot return We ask you to protect the east side business district and neighborhoods by adopting a design that will be complementary with the existing community I have a quote A nature's culture resides in the hearts and souls of its people That's Mahatma Gandhi Please stand with the east side and protect our historic beach community And the culture of brand Sephardi's main street For future generations by accepting our appeal. Thank you Thank you At this point We have the opportunity to hear from the responding applicant who will have 15 minutes to speak and present evidence and response So please whenever you're ready. Do you have any slides or so? So we'll take a moment to get that going. Thank you All righty. Thank you very much Long day for you guys for sure So I just want to emphasize again that the planning commission approved unanimously this project They spent three hours deliberating the architecture the use the compatibility with the neighborhood We have two architects on the planning commission Who spoke a lot Extensively about these issues. We have civil engineers almost everyone on the planning commission is related to the building industry They concluded this project is consistent with the general plan that it's consistent with the zoning ordinance That is consistent with the east side business district We are not asking for any variances. We're not asking for any exceptions. This is consistent with the current zoning ordinance It's consistent with the general plan It is not relating to the corridor plan Uh, I don't think mike mentioned this but in the past approval of this project back in 2008 I actually showed a four-story version And I was told this is what we want. We need to go up. We need to intensify the corridors Please hold on for the general plan and the zoning to be updated because we are going to do this quickly No laughter intended here. I'm sorry But that was uh, what 10 years ago and we still haven't done that But so I said okay enough of this i'm going to come in with a project that's consistent with the current zoning and that's what this is Um, they put up a slide Excuse me, which showed the eclectic nature of soquel and they use that as an example of the architecture It would be nice to get that up. But we have a lot of those slides also, but it was a composite Very interesting slide had victorian had modern had I use the term art deco. They're using art modern it had uh Right right from the a-frame Derenish initial architecture the red wing shoes architecture. There's everything in between. It's truly eclectic What would have the people at the modern era said about the victorian architecture? Oh, we can't do modern we have to do a victorian because that is what's there We can't use modern materials We cannot do modern design We cannot use modern spatial relationships and windows because the victorians are here Now that argument is an interesting argument and I would say it has some credence if you have established a design Guidelines and design standards that say we want victorian. We want art modern It's not here. Your ordinance doesn't say that it recognizes that this is an eclectic Area with a wide variety of design So the question is I think you have to look at this design and say is it a good design? Will it complement the area and we certainly feel it does the planning commission unanimously felt it did Deep now I need to go to here. Okay, so let's see I use Good, okay, so this is a exhibit that the appellants I think I assume have been circulating I was told by several people that this is what they saw the image on the left is not what we are proposing It's never been what we propose. It's not even close to it Now whether this was intentional or unintentional. I don't know I can't say I do know that several people have told me This is what that was presented to them as if it was my proposal So I have to say I wonder how many people who have signed this petition if I saw that and said that was going in Mine I'd be concerned. That's not what we're proposing. We never did. I don't know where they got that image Maybe they took a photo of the of the slide and it came out in that manner but to put it on a on a slide and drop it on people's door steps and post it on door on Telephone poles and the like is really Kind of irresponsible in my opinion Let's go to the next one So this is another one that they've been putting this was put They trust someone trespassed on my property and put this on the notice sign So I had two folks. I saw that they had written a letter and I kind of knew their businesses and of them and they Mentioned that they had been shown the previous Illustration of the project and these people were the Uh Horse snipers and the Charlie Hong Kong's and both of those people have now retracted their previous statement When I showed them the plans, they both said, you know what this the real plans look good They're not anything like what I've been showing So I think that needs to be considered and and frankly Some kind of sense of responsibility in the part of appellants or people who are objecting to projects to be held to the same standard that we as Project proponents are held to so Clearly this building is going to be taller and bigger than the vault the vault is not the only building we need to be concerned about There are three. There's a three-story 15 units immediately adjacent to this project We are certainly consistent with the mass of that building The Methodist church that they show as an iconic example of architecture was over 34 feet tall That's the same height virtually as this building. We're 39 feet to the point of the roof the peak of the roof Which you will not see from the street So if the mass is a problem The very structure which they are saying is the iconic example Of architecture and should be duplicated But that's not a problem But 34 feet in this context is a problem So maybe they can argue that the architectural details and everything else is a problem But that's a different argument than what they're making Um So anyway, I'm going on too long. I'm going to jump right to the conditions 44 and 45 They talk about the timing of the payment of fees I would like to state that I believe the subcommittee One of the issues you were looking for is to change the timing of fees to be coincident with the impact There's a nexus there a relationship between the timing of payment of fees and the occurrence of the impact So my uh request as I made it to the planning commission I'll make it again to you Is that the fees for the park fees number 44 and condition number 45, which is the traffic improvement fees Are paid at certificate of occupancy when there will be an impact Prior to that that's a burden on me in terms of having to fund that money Come up either capital or loans and to argue that the city's fund is going to be depleted Therefore we need the money. Well, I understand that but I also need the money So I would argue that just because the city needs the money, I mean Uh, we all want what we want and try to get it as soon as we can get it But I think there's a matter of fairness and nexus here that should be considered So I hope that you deny the appeal And uphold the planning commission's unanimous approval And Dennis will talk more about specifically the architecture. Thank you for your time Are you going to speak yet? Oh, okay Mr. Mayor council council members Thank you for this opportunity to Make a presentation on this project. I I think that I I want to sincerely Would you pause for a second Can you just speak into the mic because it's sometimes it's yeah, they're amplifying. Okay. Thank you Go ahead. Okay. Um, I want to thanks. Thank you for the opportunity and I want to sincerely Uh offer my presentation as A window into what I see in other words. I was the one who interpreted The neighborhood. I was the one who created the project originally I was the one that altered it based on changing Situations and changing certain circumstance now. I'm here presenting to you under the circumstances of changing politics too So, um, I don't want to I I would like to stick to the academic side of my design and how I arrived at it I also would like to dispel some misinformation that I feel May have been conveyed in some of the visual Presentations that were circulated And and so I think in all fairness, I'd like to Show you the correct way of doing it and the incorrect way of doing it If as an overview the project is Is unique in that it has this curved surface and it also is an oblique The streets come in at an oblique angle So it doesn't present itself as as most buildings do as square And the fenestration has to deal with that curve. And so I Tried to Create a model in which I could Preview that and I learned a lot about the the building. I learned about the energy efficiency the orientation The each apartment has a view and so therefore each apartment has to be integrated All of those things are considered and integrated into the design before the exterior is designed So we don't I don't go and just get a bunch of pictures put them together and then look What I and you know what my building looks like and then design the inside is the other way around This rendering which is the one that was uh, it's basic the basis of the the flyer shows Something that's impossible to view you have Three different points of view in a in a photograph one is an elevation you cannot see the roof of the building Because it's it's foreshortened by the angle you would have to be in on highway one to see this So that's one thing the other thing is if you notice the The scale of the the adjacent building It is really based on a point of view looking this way And the the picture of the of the uh, vault is looking this way these have been photoshopped together That does not follow the rules of perspective Which is which is was established in the renaissance and we've been using ever since In which there's one point of view for a drawing a two-dimensional drawing Sort of three-dimensional environment. So here you have An actual picture from a location on the corner of Across from from the vault which shows the real scale of the the commons building with the vault The the building is is it has 12 apartments eight of which face the south and relate to the common area And the other four are on the Soquel side and they each have apartment the each apartment has A balcony So it has outdoor space and the two units in the front relate to the street. That is a very urban type of relationship where the building is right up against the sidewalk And maybe we don't have as many of those examples, but certainly It's it's an urban situation that we're going to have to face if we want to increase the density in buildings we have Bay windows is in order to capture the west light It's like a light scoop and it also gives relief to those rooms that are right on the street So the the the view of the of the of the proposal shows the three elements That make up the building and they have from the very beginning There's a lower level which relates to the pedestrian and is is banded by the marquis There's an intermediate level which is relates to the residential at the second floor And then there's a curved cornice with a circular cylindrical Vertical shape that makes the corner of the building You look at if you analyze other buildings Yes, they're different scale and they're different use But there's a horizontal band with windows and the pedestrian level There's a corner element that's vertical and there's This one has a flagpole or a mast The changes that we made after the planning commission we we heard what they said We added more glass to the center. We added the the wood material in order to have the eclectic mix of materials and I'm going to just go through now After after after this slide, I'll show you different Examples of of what I saw Here's a drawing that we did a study that we did in 2008 in which we established This is how I presented it the the the lower level is pedestrian Yes, it had metal awnings because that was more in keeping with the design and the style of the time And it also has the middle section which has the apartment windows and in this case one balcony and then a circular element I preserved some of those things one thing that has changed is that because there's no parking under the building anymore And there are more units The building has become more vertical and it's not as it's not as wide as as this example The the the the awnings and the horizontal marquise along Soquel are at average between 9 and 11 feet The band on my building is 11 feet The top of the windows of the vault is at 11 feet The the fenestration on my building is is approximately 11 feet underneath that band The curvature and some of the motifs of the architecture I have there. Yes, they were intuitive and I can see where someone might not like that But I copied what I saw. I said, oh, there's corrugated siding There's corrugated siding in most of the signage on that street Charlie Hong Kong uses corrugated siding as the backing for their lettering Bay photo uses they have stucco. These are all materials that I didn't invent and the reason that I wanted to use Because it bends beautiful It's seamless so I can have a seamless finish Just to speak in the mic because I can't get you on the court corrugated material is Very suitable for being bent And I have also introduced other materials like it that are transparent perforated corrugated metal So I have this vocabulary of materials which I think work quite well with Um and in keeping I'll just go through quickly. This is a residential side of the building Here's the storefront with the glass in relationship to existing the side entrance The the reason the the windows are small on that side is because it's the east and that's the that's the efficiency apartment And and there's furniture against that wall if we didn't have to have the outdoor space I could have a bay window there So it's a design limitation In closing Here's yeah, yeah, we have to keep it at the time periods But but if you have I mean obviously we we have all the application materials If there's if you want to just wrap it up with a sentence. That's that's fine, but Okay, uh wrap it up With a yeah So here's the existing condition. Yeah, just yeah, we're proposing a uh a mixed use building Yeah, that's okay with apartments. Hey, that's it. I gotta I gotta call it there. Thank you though. Thank you. Okay um Okay, so at this point in the process we are um at the public comment period so Members of the public will have two minutes to speak on this particular project and the uh the um proposed appeal of the planning commission's decision How many of you would like to speak to this item if you could raise your hand and get someone let's get a count It's around six or seven, but people are moving and then putting their hands down Okay, so looks like everybody looks like more than that so looks like 12 So we have two minutes each to speak on this item if um First speaker if you want to step up you'll have two minutes to speak on the side of me I have two minutes public comment Thank you. Thank you. My name is Mara Kelsey I live on Cayuga and walk to all of the east side businesses uh often I uh am speaking because I Am happy to see a building But I do not feel the design is compatible with the east side You've heard a lot about that and Particularly since I walked from Cayuga The Cayuga side is just this mass with these itty bitty windows and Particularly unappealing um I looked at the uh Listen to the comments from the planning commission and uh commissioners fellman Had a number of objections He said there's not one drawing that shows context There is not a site plan that shows buildings next to it across the street There is no rendering that shows those Then he goes on i'm skipping here It's also frustrating as a commissioner to receive drawings like this And to analyze the building at this scale and make comments that are forthcoming And can address the real issues here I don't know if this is a future meeting but we need to set some criteria for showing Site context site sections so forth Especially at the level of a special use permit It would go a long way to having people understand how this building actually sits on the street With such renderings i'm struggling with the massive of the two street elevations. It's just awkward He also comments on the corrugated lining So I would like to just Conclude that I would really appreciate it if you would deny this As it stands take it back. Thank you. Thank you a next speaker. Please. We have two minutes My name is Mary Ann Franks. I've been here a long time. Um, we were able to We were able to listening to recordings of the planning commission meeting approving this project And noted that commissioners had concerns about the design and even the architect of the project had questions and was willing to make changes During the planning commission meeting design questions from the planning commissioners were answered by the architect Dennis Diego With his and john swift's vision and reasoning of course But mr. Diego also included in his statements his willingness to take suggestions and make changes to the design It was surprising that the commissioners did not pursue his offers to make changes. That's the need to appeal to the council Following are some of the comments by mr. Diego in response to the commissioners questioning design elements I think there are ways to improve the building. I would like the opportunity to do that How can I break it up in a different way? I'm open to suggestions There are many elements we tried. I'm open to suggestions I think there are ways to improve the building and I think I would like to have an opportunity to do that But we only have one opportunity to come forward. So that is what we're trying to do tonight And a final telling comment by the architect part of it is we are trying to keep the building from being too expensive So john has tasked me to be very careful about using so i'm practicing restraint by using the small windows The unfinished sentence alluded to keeping expenses down and not using costlier materials such as a more appropriate size windows on the kayuga side So our question is um, it seemed There were some changes made probably because of the out Outflow of other people's comments, but it seems like the commissioners did not spend a lot of time asking for design changes that they were willing to make And we would like to see those happen some of those more of those happen Thank you. Thank you Okay next speaker, please Hi, my name is jameely. I'm a renter in seabright and i'm also a local architect in town Not all of the neighbors in the in the neighborhood are disappointed in the design I for one appreciate its nod to the past its relation to the neighboring buildings and its contribution to a newer more contemporary santa cruise style their response To planning comments of adding planters and down lighting even further enhance the pedestrian experience I would be thrilled to see this building become a part of the urban fabric of my neighborhood It is unfortunate that our local system is set up to allow these kinds of discussions and criticisms so late in this process It seems like the appealing group is using the lack of a design review board to their advantage to attempt to block a project That would create some much needed housing in our community In addition this project will transform an empty dirt lot into a building that contributes to a thriving walkable commercial district Thank you for your consideration in denying this appeal. Thank you next speaker, please i'm dean lundholm Now we have a process for producing buildings And this process was followed in this case. It meets all of the city requirements There are just some people Who don't like it But you know we have a need for housing And if we don't provide For beautiful buildings for buildings that provide for people The state may welcome and do it for us So I urge all of you all of us to Improve this process. It's not working very well now Thank you. Thank you Next speaker, please Mayor council members jillian greenside Well part of the process is the ability to appeal decisions by Boards and commissions. So I think the process is working well I hope you will uphold this appeal and many good points have been made I won't go into them with a short time period. I would like to though address the issue of perspective I found my but it seems to me that in our We're going to have a lot of new buildings in santa cruz And I think it the planning department should take very seriously a requirement That developers architects provide the public with more accurate Renditions of what is being proposed And that was of concern to the planning commission and I would second that I've been following developments for 42 years and I guess we've gone from the seagull view or the birds eye view Where a five story building looks very squat But we're not birds and the latest one is to take a perspective either by putting People in front of the buildings. So a five foot five person Looks about half the size of the building in the background And we saw that in the the slide show all of that affects our eye when I saw the The applicant showing his slides They all have the vault in the foreground with his building in the background And as I watched it, I found my emotional response was who doesn't look that bad That's because of perspective. So the only legitimate perspective Even if it is to have both buildings side by side So you can see the height and every single slide that was shown distorted that view So I'd urge you to consider that as you consider and I hope you will uphold the appeal. Thank you. Thank you next speaker, please Hello there. My name is Craig Rall. I'm a 25 year resident of the east side of santa cruz and I just want to speak in adamant support of the design And the eclectic nature of the east side I think the the app the appellants actually their Demonstration of the photographs were the best defense of the design. It's a it fits in it It works well. It's new and I I also Here to speak on behalf of the people who are not homeowners who are going to live in these rental units And who are not here tonight because they don't have a place to live that they can afford to live in And so anyway, I would urge you to deny the appeal. Thank you very much. Oh, and I just want to say one other thing is dentists Designed that building from the inside out So each of these units have the south facing balconies or at least a majority of them have that south facing balcony And he did take into consideration the people that are going to live here more so than The complaints about the the design etc. So anyway, um, I'm in all Support, thank you. Thank you next speaker, please My name is dr. Lindsay johnson. Um, I own the kayuga vault I purchased it in 2009. I put $300,000 worth of historic renovation into it I tried very hard to really make it a beautiful historic building I have a blue plaque now from the city The historic commission told me it was their favorite project. They'd had at that up to that time And I use local artists to do like the grill work in the front is lmno arts Scott and christie thomas who did some of the stuff around here as well and ann tirman did the mural and I have to say um, I have had not been approached at all and my opinion probably doesn't really matter that much but And you know, I'm not excited of course about cramming that many people into an already overcrowded space But I also just think the building is really unattractive and doesn't seem to fit in with the Quaintness of the east side And I feel like Santa Cruz is really struggling to hold on to things that are original and not have big chain stores and stuff come in so Anyway, um, I just wish that uh, a little more effort could be made into the Exterior design of the building. Um, so I support the appeal is that right? However, however that however that works out. Okay. Thank you next speaker. Please My name is mark ligand. I'm a resident and business owner East side of Santa Cruz on Doyle our office is directly across street from the proposed development Um It seems to me that all due diligence has been done the process seems to be working Not only the design of the developer and also opposition. I think it's time to make this decision Um, I believe the church it's been almost 18 years I've been looking at that empty lot across the street. Is that the right? Is that the right years? Something like that 18 years Uh, it really is time. Uh, we can debate aesthetics We can debate how other people should spend their money and their investments forever and we'll never get anything done Maybe we should just plant a garden in the lot. I don't know jung Probably wouldn't agree that but, uh, seriously, I um, I think we should move on with the project and I uh, I think you should uh Release the thank you. Thank you next speaker. Please Good afternoon. My name is fran get it. Oh, I am a resident of this neighborhood And I want to thank you for the opportunity to hear from all sides. I'll be at a little late in the process My concern. I want you to know that I am in favor of the project in theory I am very my prime concern is In this community is quality affordable High density housing we have a housing crisis here But in the but in this particular project and I am in the neighborhood and I was glad to see a mixed use project I was more hoping for a little more something that was Conducive to local residents being able to contribute to the local economy and something more of a retail or eatery Something that we could enjoy walking to I walk this Area almost every day. It's a great piece of stretch of so Cal all the way from Little beyond Morrissey all the way to Brands of past brands of 40 and I patronize most of those businesses restaurants retail and Entertainment venues. So, uh, I wish there was more affordable units. I wish that State bonus would even Apply more to more affordable units But the design in question for me is it does not fit our character. It's a character issue I was not I'm in favor of the building behind it. It fits into the community beautiful in color and foliage And it's just as high. Yes So I'm glad to Support a design review as mentioned before And the only thing I want to add then is Whoever approved that uh, non-functional felix and mole at the top for height for height's sake Maybe we should ask who thought that was beautiful. Anyway a flagpole would be nice. Thank you. Thank you friend next speaker, please Hi, I'm lynn colvin. Thank you very much for having the opportunity to be here I lived around the corner on pennsylvania avenue and I've lived there for a long time I really think we need affordable housing I think we need more housing. So I Although i'm not crazy about the height of that building. I support that my big concern is parking Um, I don't know how many of you live on the east side and my street is just Jammed with cars and we're around the corner. So My concern is you've got 12 units. You've got what 14 parking spaces or 15. I don't remember but honestly There's going to be a lot more cars on the street and where are they going to go? Because people all have cars. So that's my big concern with this project. I wish there was more affordable housing in it But thank you Next speaker, please Hi, my name is lance sprague. I live across the street at on kayuga street. Um, it's a very clever design. It fits. Um, It makes 15, I mean, uh, 12 really nice units Excuse me, you could pause the time. Oh, sorry if you want to just speak into the microphone. Thank you I think it's a very clever design. I think it works well with the neighborhood I've lived there for 23 years and for about 20 of those years. It's been a dirt lot I'm hoping that you will um, reject the appeal. Thank you Next speaker, please Hi, my name is tim gordon. I live in sea bright and I I am in favor of this project Um, think about architecture is that it's an interpretation And if everyone here had their interpretation shown on that screen, I think that we would have a different interpretation for every person So to say that this project shouldn't be passed because of someone's interpretation of how they Aesthetic should be Is not a good reason Um, there's a whole team tasked with the approval of designs and of this process and it's made it to this point So to stop it here is to say that that team didn't do their job And I don't think that's the right way to to get projects to deal with projects Um, last thing is that this provides housing so If you're to push this project off now, we all know how long it's going to take to get it back The owner has put so much time and money into this to provide housing for people that need it and to To push it off is to tell people that Their housing isn't important So I would I am a in favor of this project and denying the appeal Thank you next speaker, please I'm speaking for rich samsle. Who was I'm I'm speaking for rich samsle. Who's an appellant? Who is an appellant? Okay. Who is an appellant? Yes, um, wait, um, we you could speak on your behalf of yourself Okay, yeah, I'm gonna read this All right. Well All right, um, I know that rich samsle um Did the photograph that's been called inaccurate of the two buildings side by side the vault and the the um The proposed design And he wanted to rebut that inaccuracy and explain how he put it together So you can make whatever statement you like, but it's gonna be your statement. Okay. Can you use the microphone, please? All right You can pull it down From what I know that this was not in an in an inaccurate rendering and that um he and that um actual what was used um was uh actual the actual dimensions provided by the um Architect, but I I really can't speak to that myself. I I can't freeform speak about it. So what I'll say is that um Please support the appeal the design does not work For this area could definitely be improved upon It's okay to me to have a contemporary building That's fine, but at least make it interesting make it Welcoming make it warm not something that looks like it belongs off Highway 101 or 880 Thank you next speaker, please Well, my name is mary nelson. I live on kayuga street. I live cat a corner from the proposed development I am absolutely in favor of this building I want to say too that mr. Swift was very open with the neighbors during many months of Planning and design he held neighborhood meetings. He invited us to see and comment on his design It felt like an incredibly open process to me Um, I think this is going to be a great addition to the neighborhood Um, as others have said we've been living with an empty lot On that corner for a very long time. Um, it would be great to see this. Um, this go forward So, um, I'm absolutely in support of this project Thank you next speaker, please Hi, jane meal longtime residents of the east side and The question is not that there should be a building or not It is a question of how does a new neighborhood building fit to the neighbors So in consideration of that and also having seen, uh, the architect slides and presentation As well as the other pictures I think it is time that we actually get a true sized model That shows what it looks like In proportion to the rest of the buildings so that we all have a better idea right now We're all guessing and I just want to say that the Uh, you know the sign the corrugated signs that you find on the soquel avenue and then put a whole Front of it corrugated on the wall and say it reflects the neighborhood architecture I think that is really a long stretch So softening the building Having a model that we all can look at and know You know what it is would be really beneficial. Thank you very much. Thank you Jane. Thanks. Are there any members of the public that wish to speak to that item this item? Ma'am, are you waiting to speak? Oh, you're waiting for public comment. Okay. Thank you. All right Are there any other members of the public that wishes to speak on this item? I remember 23 Can see none This is an opportunity where we bring it back to the council for deliberation and action And I know there are probably some additional questions Oh, I'm sorry. I skip right over that the appellant has an opportunity The appellant has an opportunity five minutes to rebut my apologies Pardon wait one moment To rebut not add any new information. Yeah, just to clarify This is to rebut not to add new information But to rebut what you've heard in terms of evidence that was presented right So first of all just to clarify Um Most of us who appealed live within Two blocks to nine tenths of a block. So there was this point that Was made to all the business owners that we were out of the area And somehow we didn't shouldn't have an interest in this And we certainly do most of us have lived here for 20 30 40 years When we went to the planning commission, we had no intention of doing anything with this project Until we saw and heard the deliberation and realized The process was still unfinished There were many great comments made There was no at that point it was approved There was no commitment on the part of the architect or the developer to make any changes It wasn't until we actually made the appeal that there was this well We need to do something and so we you know, there was then The attempt to make some changes to the project Um The corrugated metal was called out by multiple people on the commission It goes 40 feet. It also is included on the horizontal mat And it actually accentuates the height in the bulk of the building If you look on soquel, there's no what they call granulations or setbacks Including on the upper floors or insets or there's no inviting element The entrance itself is not inviting and many people thought when we showed it to people along soquel that it was a theater They really didn't know what it was The parking most people mentioned were quite fearful about and There's he mentioned it was 10 percent, but it's actually 30 percent I don't know of any project that I've witnessed that has actually gotten a 30 percent reduction So I just thought I'd point that out and it's in an area where there already is a parking problem And in fact the assistant director of public works, which somebody like Rochelle would appreciate because many people Complain about public works and yet we Were really happily surprised when he actually defended The neighborhood and the impacts and said, you know, you can't take any more parking away So we did really appreciate that the design is Yes modern, but the earlier design if you look at it had very large windows and there were ribbon like And there were many Architectural elements that actually were more in keeping with the area So it did evolve in a way and it devolved if you will Which is unfortunate and part of that probably was expense But many people spoke out about the earlier version of this project and said there were problems In fact, it was a a thread on next door where people were complaining. It was quite ugly And you know, so There was a lot of feedback Indicating that there could be a potential problem And I would say to any developer to pay attention to that because you know, you're basically inviting appeal like this Ultimately the process for these kind of projects is broken This is a very large info project And if you shot At something and expect to get a bullseye every time it's just not going to happen Design is an iterative creative process. There's a lot of characteristics that have to be taken into account simultaneously And there is definitely a need for a design review board. These are a review board of your peers It's not necessarily a broad base of peer people and construction. It's about design and that's what we're talking about today The special use permits even though he said there's no variation in height He actually cleverly puts it into the special use permit The horizontal mat is about three to six feet the mast on it. We actually had no indication what the height was So it could be 10 feet. It could be 15 feet. I don't know There's no indication I'm going to actually turn this over to rich and let him have the final words because he does live within a short distance He worked at the vault and he's lived in the community for a long time to talk about the images. Thank you All right. Thanks for taking this appeal I've heard my thing called grossly distorted. So I wanted to say something My main concern is how the building design interacts with circle avenue in the neighborhood to this end I created an elevation drawing image Uh to sort of uh that shows the true height and width relationships between the buildings Any city planner will confirm the necessity of elevation views So I used john swith's elevation drawings exactly to the dimensions. I measured with a laser meter on circle avenue I didn't take the little c you know the roof off to show that it was Taken at 63 inches above ground and I feel the design of the main entry is out of place for circle avenue And wanted to show its true relationship to the other buildings on circle Uh the uh John swift has used his perspective illusion to create a couple images with 1024 is the more distant building It has helped in One of the placements of a bus from the from another photo because the shadows are different on that That blocks of you are the one-story building farther down soquel Seeing this building would have changed our perception of the height of 1024 Similarly, if we stand opposite 1024 soquel and take a picture toward the vault building his would look very large Thank you. Thank you Okay, that concludes the appellants rebuttal. Um at this point In the discussion we'll bring it back to the council for deliberation and action So council member matthews. I have a couple questions if I could There of the architect if you don't mind Looking at This one here I'll I'll just start saying overall I'm in favor of this project and we'll be prepared to support it to deny the appeal I do have a couple of questions that I want to ask you Looking at this the center portion the curved one is a darker gray Is that a different material or is that just where there's a different angle? I'm just trying to hold on one moment I was hearing some ear motions in the back that people couldn't hear that so I just want to make sure the mics everything's Get okay, so Yeah, so my question is is there a different material on that center vertical part that's Then repeated on the upper one. Am I reading it correctly? That's just what I'm trying to get at No, I'm not from you from your description. I'm not quite sure what you're This section is a different color gray. Is that a different material there? What that is is the is the it's a corrugated railing that's that's perforated so you see through it. It's transparent For this whole all of this stuff. No, that that is the is the is the vertical corrugated panel Oh, okay, and then this here is stucco. So it's different I'm just trying to under the band is uh is a is a Oh, I see this close-up gives me more of a sense of the materials. Okay There again, I was just trying to figure out how to read it Um I'll just make some quick comments in general I actually like the way that whole corner has been treated with the round element. That's a classic Way to treat a big signature corner um, I do Some people mentioned that you had said you had other ideas that you'd like to add to Um, you improve the design change the design I would just like to ask you what those are if they're things you want to add to this And then I'll also add the one area that I could see Could be improved is that kayuga facing facade with a few small windows. I wonder if You did a good job on this. So cal side. You have ideas of how to Give greater interest on that facade. I'd like to answer that. Yeah um part of what happened between the original design and now is uh Energy analysis was applied to the building And so on certain faces of the building I'm trying to economize on heat gain And other problems that in totality of the building will give you an efficient building Therefore the larger openings nobody wants to look at the south side where the large openings are Have an overhang and they face south. So they are beneficially heat gain in the winter And in the summer they're shaded On the east side those are two those those two units are efficiency units The stair the stairs are in right in that in that last segment where the windows are dropped so that when you're walking down the stairs You can actually look out the window in in the land If I make the windows the same as in the apartment Then I will be looking at a wall and the landing will be visible from the street So these are all like this is the inside of the building speaking to us The uh, the other thing that's happening is that those efficiency units Have a large opening and when I say efficiency, there are small apartments that faces south So I needed a wall that We can place furniture against and so it's the floor plan now if if the balcony wasn't required I could put A bay window there and then the bay window would match And so those are the the other thing I want to point out is that I did make additional changes Like for instance In all of the protected areas Is where the wood is so the ceilings in the in the balconies or wood The the sides of the balcony or wood and and and the reasoning there is that we'll be able to maintain it If you put wood on a tall building In five years it looks terrible So then it has to be painted and it's it's a maintenance problem It was not an issue my statement was taken out of context when I said That the windows I was trying to be You know use restraint it wasn't really and someone Construed that to be an economic issue and it's not I appreciate that and um, I do appreciate that you design these to be Really nice livable units from the inside out. I I understand that I I do think it would be good to find some way just on the skin basically Even if it's a swath of the paint or something like that that Again, I I think that uh buildings get modified even after they're built people paint them People make changes and and it doesn't get the scrutiny that this does I understand this is important building and I understand and i'm proud that it's it has a reaction that people think that it's important, but You know there's got to be a way to Improve it but without tearing it apart without saying that it's ugly without saying that in other words There's nothing constructive about destroying someone's work when really all i'm trying to do is Use what I see overall. I'm being open. So i'm i'm open. That's why I told the planning commission architects They took me to task because I didn't have the drawings that I have today And I know you you haven't made changes the process doesn't require it Yeah, because you know these poor people want to see it and I want to show it. We got to do something Um just moving on from there a couple of other comments. I do appreciate that the planters were added Um, I'm a big one for the pedestrian level experience. I like the down lighting I think this is really going to be a great asset to the neighborhood In every respect the uses the way it sits on the On the lot The east side. Soquel is amazingly eclectic and there's so many of these and I like the expression that one person Amazed it's a nod to the past but relates to the future. So My question about the planters. I see them in some drawings both along the building and at the Kind of by the curb and my one concern here and this is really a detail which I don't think has to go in conditions of approval, but if you're going east there And wanting to turn on Soquel I think you need a good sight line. So, you know, you don't want the vegetation to get so high in the planters that You can't see who's coming around the corner. So that that's trivial No, it's actually it's a good point and and I think it was the intent of putting that bulb there To be protective people down because the tendency is this broad curve people come speeding around So that's my only concern there, but in all honesty, I'm Um, I will be prepared to put a motion on the floor To deny the appeal Adopt the resolution that denies the appeal And take it forward for comment Okay, we have some additional I just put the motion on the floor. Okay. You have a motion on the floor to deny the appeal Yeah, okay. Were there any other additions or just I'm going to leave it for that there will be discussion if you know Okay, I'll second this for the purpose of discussion And I have a couple questions in regards to the discussion around the I know at the planning commission There was there was some pretty extensive discussion about the design review process and I know I asked The planning director about it, you know, this is something where we've seen a The planning department review this and go through a lengthy process and we've heard from Neighbors about the idea that hey, you know, how do you get people involved in terms of focusing on the design moving forward? And I want to know what has there anything in the works in terms of how we address this You know this this question about the design review, especially for those that are following the you know following our existing policies Well, you may remember as we were discussing the corridor plan We were discussing a design review process, but that's been put on hold So really there's no discussion right now of a design review process other than what we have and And you know as it was stated, you know, we have to we've had up to three architects on the planning commission We now have two so there is a lot of discussion of design in On the planning commission as well as you know, we do look at on bigger projects bringing in outside designers to help With the planners look at projects as well. I guess for the purposes just of this item I mean does it need to be Combined with the corridor plan or is this something like a separate discrete kind of action where we say hey We'd like to see this as part of our kind of review Well, we're taking it through as what's allowed by code So there was no discussion of a special project process for this because we're we're currently Following what the code says right now No, I understand that I just I I understood from the discussion at the planning commission the kind of there was some interest in some Sort of design review I think they're just discussing in the future as discussions move forward whether with the whether the corridor project or anything else Whether there might be a consideration of some sort of design review process I don't know if that was reflective of the whole commission or just some individual comments Okay, I have a couple of the questions But I know that was just a follow-up on on this in terms of the design of the project and you had a follow-up I was just going to comment on that that was in fact part of the recommendations of the housing blueprint subcommittee Is that there is a very inclusive process of the community in Projects not just in their neighborhoods, but in general and that that is going to be coming back to council before the end of the year I have a couple of questions Do you want to you want your I was just going to ask we're still in the question phase right We're in deliberation and action which includes questions. All right So the first question I have which I is probably for staff. I'm I'm have some confusion about the The parking reduction because I've seen and I can't I just couldn't quite wrap my mind around the What's actually being asked for I've read all of the materials I've you know, I saw 10 parking reduction 20% under the density bonus in the agenda report But then I also saw In the appeal letter Discussion that the developer was had put out there somewhere. I don't know when or where You know for the sake of conversation something like 50% parking reduction. So and there are people who are concerned about the parking So I just want to try to make sure I understand that So that yeah, that was mentioned in the staff report. There's a little table. Um, so The density bonus Requires that we only have one automobile space per unit for a studio or a one bedroom That's about a 20 discount from our normal standard practice Usually a studio or a one bedroom rental unit needs 1.5 parking spaces So That alone was 20 and on top of that they asked for a 10 percent Reduction of required parking based on the mixed-use aspects where the office operates from 8 to 5 So planning staff Recommended approval of that the apartment public works recommended approval of that Further 10 reduction And the planning commission approved that the applicant had also asked that we look at Another 10 reduction where you can substitute additional bicycle parking for a parking space And then another 10 reduction which would have equaled 50 percent in total Where you supply bus passes, let's say for the employees of the office And so neither Public works in order planning staff thought that was a very good idea 30 percent is Somebody else said that That's the most parking reduction that we've ever seen Approved What was my other point I think that's it Okay, and I have a question which is for the developer and perhaps the architect Given the discussion about and and difference of opinion about Which perspective views are accurate? I have uh, you know, I just like to Ask you all why the design simulations that we received in this Very lovely packet of which it was very helpful to help understand what it might look like, but why was there no Simulations showing the view from the opposite direction for going east on soquel Because I think it would be a very different view personally I So as you can tell I've made a BIM model of this building we can view it from any angle and I can do Any view however? um, I run the risk of Showing a view that nobody likes and so what I my concern Yeah, well my concern is Quite frankly is that we don't view buildings the way they're being presented We can't see the entire street in one shot and so By point and showing the vault is that Everything is based on point of view just like everything in this room. It depends on their point of view So if we all agree on a point of view and we all agree what's important Then great i'm happy to provide that and actually I did do a study there it is Showing the view and there you can see that the vault looks a lot smaller But to me the issue is not how big or small the vault is or how big or small the building is the the issue is Does the building address the scale at the pedestrian level? If in fact, I noticed in one of the slides that the applicant the appellant showed They have a picture of the flat iron building That is squashed Now if you stand next to that building it's towering And so how do you how do you get a bill? How do you get an image like that? It's very easy to do in modern day because we have the computer I have Information on how the perspective works I studied it in school And I try to I try to be honest my views are not distorted Thank you Vice mayor Watkins I don't have a question for you all but I have a question for staff Oh, were you I'm sorry. No, I just I just wanted to I wanted to see if mr. Swift had more of a response But if it's covered then okay Vice mayor Watkins, okay, I am I am not an architect So I'll just start by saying that but I was thinking about that side that you brought up Council member Matthews and potentially climbing iv or some sort of green I appreciate that but just to weigh in as another perspective of the subjective view That would be maybe a way to kind of Soften up that side But that just was a last minute thing my my actual Comment that I really wanted to kind of ask staff a little bit about was In terms of the increase in use in the area Impedestrian safety I I was wondering if there is the opportunity to have some of the traffic impact fee go to increasing Sort of the side of the crosswalks there. I live in that area walk in that area and I it is At times not necessarily the safest. They do have those little Flags you can hold as you walk across but if there's going to be more neighbors or potential use of you know some type of Restaurant or some other type of use that will increase a lot of pedestrian Movement through there and we want to ensure the safety and so if we are Going to have a traffic impact fee. Can it be directed to that area so that it can make those improvements? So maybe I'll ask were there any recommendations for Improvements at that intersection as part of this project that public works looked at or is is weighing in on Chris Could you please repeat the question I guess maybe it's not necessarily I'm just I'm wondering if as we start to have more folks Patron that area live in the area or potentially even a restaurant in that area How can we ensure that pedestrian safety? Is taken into consideration particularly if we're imposing traffic impact fees Could they be directed to make sure that happens? Well, we already have hcp grants that cover crossing improvements And so there's a variety of improvements on soquel that include flashing beacons pedestrian activated flashing beacons So we're keep working on that now The traffic impact fees are dedicated to specific intersection improvements Most of the or the largest at this point that we're currently working on that's how we want to nine And we need every cent that we can get in order to continue on that project We've designed the project completed environmental review. We're in the process of acquiring Property for the project and so we're moving forward and then there's another you know quite a few other Fairly expensive projects that will be moving along after that 15 percent of the traffic impact fee goes to Bicycle improvements and five percent to neighborhood improvements near significant development The bicycle improvements a large portion of that was funded funded the aranaculture project And so we're still I could say paying the fund back for that large expenditure The five percent. I'm not sure exactly how much is available there But a significant development project hasn't really been identified. This wouldn't really qualify I think compared to other projects In terms of the significant projects are you saying that that five percent for neighborhood it wouldn't qualify for that You you couldn't use I I it would be up to council to make that decision But I would recommend probably other larger projects that have been in the city some of the hotel projects or The Delaware project, you know areas like that that are you know in proximity to other residential areas But again, it's a council of choice Thanks Councilmember math to that point the bulb out there is a significant pedestrian Safety addition right significant in the crossing it'll slow down Cars that are making and that's funded by the project. Yes. Yeah So I mean in terms of going beyond maybe just the project funding where there's these extra funds that might be used I mean the crosswalk I walked that neighborhood with the with the police chief recently and we walked down to The four dealership and back and I know that particular crosswalk because the configuration of the intersection is one where it makes it a little Challenging there's flags. I think locals put up there to cross and I was wondering like even Stripe restriping it or looking at having some sort of Lighting, I mean Whether it's unfunded, you know at this time it is currently funded It is funded through the h-sip grant. Okay. Okay, so it's there right, okay Thank you councilmember Neuroian and then councilmember crone Oh, I found this discussion really interesting because You know, I've received letters that people say this thing is just the biggest Monstrosity and ugliest thing they've ever seen and then I've received letters that say completely the opposite And both are letters from people who live in the neighborhood You know, so it it's really as a council member It's kind of difficult to take those and decide which one is right and even with design review boards Which I'm interested I'm glad to hear that that's you know part of the housing blueprint One of the many suggestions even with that in place You know someone put up santa barbara as an example I don't like every building looking the same and I don't like every building Being the same color which is kind of what santa barbara's model is or I go visit my family in arizona And every building that's new has to Be very constrained to a specific design standard And every building I think is only allowed to be one of four colors a muted color And honestly after I'm there for a few days I start feeling claustrophobic because everything looks the same So my own personal preference would be a design that allows a variety of architectural styles that are compatible with one another in a variety of colors and so You know just trying to grapple with you know, what's what's nice and what's not is is really You know, I don't I think it's subjective. It's not fact-based necessarily. So It was really interesting to hear how The the person designing this building came to their conclusions that this would fit well within the neighborhood Because I had some questions at the beginning too like why this design why this style? I don't know what this style is called. It wasn't given a name in our I don't think so in our packets I kept trying to look for it. So I'm just curious what this type of design is is called But in regards to the housing that element's really important. We need it Only one person really alluded to who's going to live there And I think that's a really important discussion to have and we are deciding On whether or not to approve a building is you know, who who will end up living there? Who are we building this for and I think we're building it for people who Need rentals and we know that rentals are the number one need in the city of Santa Cruz and small scale rentals So I feel inclined to support this I'm actually excited to see that that lot will get something on it But I think going forward, you know We should have a design review board so many other cities have them So I I would like to see that being considered when the housing blueprints adopted But in my opinion this developer came in and played by all of the rules They you know, they looked at what our requirements were and they built their building according to those requirements And I think to ask them to do something differently in the 11th hour when they follow the rules They're not asking for variances. They actually took the building and it's it's less than what was originally asked for Um, I just can't find a compelling reason right now to vote no for it Okay, we have councilmember crone and then council councilmember brown Thank you. Um Just a few questions the um The appellant, uh, mr. Ferry brought up the april 16 2018 and april 10 2008. What was that about? About the historic oh with the the date marked out. Yeah, I don't know what that was about Yeah, I don't think so So I've got in the staff report that april 16 2008 the hpc unanimously recommended approval and the Slide that they showed I I thought had that date marked out the 2018 or 2008 eight It's my staff report Oh, I think they said they got that from the website. So I don't know what website they were talking about and um This has an architectural design review, uh You know, we're talking about maybe in the future and other committee But um, has it ever taken place on just a project where we send it back and get through or get a city architect Get somebody maybe an architect in the planning commission to sit on that has that ever happened or occurred before? Yeah on the 555 pacific The um The project was approved with a certain palette of materials And when the building permit plans came in some of those were changing and we were kind of going back and forth with The applicants so we created a subcommittee from the planning commission To review the designs that um that they were coming up with these alternative materials So we did that sometimes on a larger project. We will we've got two outside Architects that we hire bob That's bob's last name Yeah, bob odor matt and another local architect. Sometimes we'll have them review plans I'm going to the corrugated roof Um, is that necessary that I guess is like somebody said the garbage can effect or you know, is that What do you what do you think about that? Is that is that something that's necessary on the on the building? Is it just a total just with what it looks like? You know for for looks Let me try to get a shot of it Looks like it's partially serving as an equipment screen But it's definitely mirrors the the corner Of curvature of the building It's a very robust flagpole too Um, what about this windows on kayuga thing? Is it is it possible to put in some some other windows? And I mean Uh painting windows would be interesting but um, you know some real windows because there isn't it is this perspective You know like the way that you're looking at this building You know like that kayuga side if you turn the building around, you know and put the back of it It would make a lot more sense to me as far as what it looks like I I think that was the whole solar Window energy angle that the architect had talked about that was south facing this is east facing So these were the stairwell windows and the position on those eliminates the landing itself and these were High windows on purpose because those were the uh studio units and they needed some wall that they would be able to use for furniture So when you said efficiencies meant studios apartments. Yeah, same thing You know, I did talk with the applicant that if this came up, um, perhaps they could put some sort of awnings over the four residential windows And they could mimic some of the metal that's used in other areas that might you know dress that elevation up a little bit um I know that uh Mr. Spellman I had a Transcript of what he said at the planning commission and said I think the first time we ever saw the building in perspective In context albeit grossly over scale Which isn't very helpful at all to have someone attempt to make a 3d view When it is not in nowhere anywhere near scale He goes on to say Finally, I think the project is really successful on the south elevation and the west elevation You've got more openings. You have the use of balconies to break up the massing It is actually quite elegantly done. I'm just struggling says mr. Spellman with you know what can be done to the front elevations to change that I know you just mentioned the windows. Is there any I mean awnings over the windows or anything else that could be could be done well They again they were looking at the design that um This design And so what was done was they added a whole bank of windows here They did carry the wood down to the front They added the planters and they added lighting over this canopy area So there's the differences right there this whole bank of windows was included the woods hiding was taken down To the first floor the landscaping and then the Downscale lighting Thanks, and I I'm just struck by I think miss mio hit it too. It's like, uh, how does this Fit into the the neighborhood, you know, and what's what's a true size model somebody's talked about having a scale model You know, so you can't you can't really see it next to a lot of the other things I guess and it's you know without It's seemingly distorted, you know, and but we did hear Pretty clearly from the planning commission. It was peter predominantly that we should start asking for perspectives and During this hearing there was none Because I didn't ask for any And since that was done these three perspectives plus this one This one one So one two three four five that produce six perspective drawings. We have an impact. Yeah, okay. Yeah I don't know if uh the maker of the motion he talked about possible There have has been subcommittees that would look at it. Um, is there any chance you would accept a A friendly amendment. I mean this is a project that has met every single requirement of the existing code It meets the general plan. It's gone It's played by the rules completely. It's been approved unanimously by planning commission They've made some modifications, but I don't see this kicking to the level of referring it back to a special design review committee There are you know, people have raised questions about our design review process going forward in the future We can discuss that we've also talked about Um trying to streamline the process so we get the housing we need etc etc That's a whole discussion, but no i'm not willing to add that asked for a friendly amendment um, so I plan to support the motion on the floor, but i'm wondering if you would be amenable to um asking the developer to On that east side facing wall, which I think almost all of us have mentioned something there that can break up What looks pretty Blank and whatever works. I understand that they're designing from the inside out. I think that's very smart I think it's helpful for people who live there But if it's awnings if it's wood if it's something that can break that up I would like that to be included. Okay, so we have Mr. Yes, please mr. Swift. I'm welcome a comment. I'm inclined to add something very general In in that line So I think adding awnings as you suggested is a possibility Um, I think that probably ideally we would Work with staff to develop the awning or some other equal Kind of addition I think would be the way to go and I think we've successfully showed that we did that the last time around those were substantial improvements It's not like we just ignored what the planning commission said you regardless of whether this appeal Happened or not we were doing those things and we did those things so Anyway, that's thank you. I think that's helpful and when I met with some neighbors Some of whom were appellants They actually awnings were suggested because awnings are fairly consistent up and down sokel. So I think that might be a good Solution to that. So I'm satisfied with that if the maker of the motion. So I'll add an additional condition that the Project proponents work with staff to add additional features on the Cayuga side that provide additional interest It could be in any variety of forms awnings materials paint, etc And I'll accept that I think you you might have had in 2008 a plaque to For the church that burned down. Is there any way we could put that back in? Yeah, I mean that was a condition That was in the original 2008 and So doing some kind of commemoration of that original method is church. I think is appropriate and I would do that definitely So do you want to put that as part of the condition that there be some kind of interpretive plaque That designates the the church that was formerly there And I'll accept that so those are those two additional I'll just make the comment I appreciate that discussion and this changes one of the things you know this morning We had this pretty lengthy discussion about a project that had been going on in the planning process for significantly long time that little bit Not as long as this one but one where there was approvals and there was concern about the process here We have a project that's ready to be built and I I hear the design concerns And I I just want to strongly say I support doing some sort of design review But this particular Project followed all the rules and I want to make sure that one we don't like start changing things Midway and I do appreciate these ads to kind of help mitigate some of the impacts. I'll I'll be again voting to Along with the motion Okay, any other additional comments I have the architect just come back up and say I just want to get a sense of from the from the end of the planning during the appeal process was there Has what changes have actually taken place To the building and have you what what you've added and what you're The changes were adding more glass And if you don't mind let's Do this fairly quickly. We got two more big agenda items. Yeah to cover Well, so in this view, uh, it shows The additional wood side the panel siding The additional glass the planners at the edge of the of the building in the in the center And uh, what doesn't show is I also added Wood soffits to the all the balconies. So when you look up you see wood so anywhere that uh, it's accessible So if I'm on the third floor a balcony The walls and the ceiling are wood and that's what you see from below And it also makes it possible to maintain it. It's not way up on the up on the side and one comment about the The vertical elements I could have chosen to make it all white and then it would really be massive So I'm really trying to make an attempt to A break up the scale of the building B create a corner element and the corner element is really More interesting than people give it credit because it is it has a negative space. In other words, it's carved out It's it's a cylinder that has The balconies carved out and that's much better than a flat surface or any other articulation In terms of additional changes We got the planters and the down lighting. Yeah, okay And I'm I'm certainly open to discussing with anybody alternative materials, but I think that they need to be organized in the elements that are already there Okay, I think we need to be finalized. I have a quick comment. Okay I first I appreciate the work that's been and thought that's been been put into getting this project off the ground and in process I I since I've been on the council, I have heard Consistently every project that comes before us. I have heard well the developers followed all the rules They've you know, this is so now this is the end point that we have to Go along with it because they followed all the rules and done they've been good campers but And it's a shame that that is the case that that appellants that this is the only place where Neighbors feel like they can actually get their voice heard. This is the end point and I'm glad that That council member mouth or chase mentioned that we are looking at changing This process and I hope that we take that very seriously In this case, I think you know, we all know the general plan is Open to interpretation. I don't think anybody could deny that it in in and of it in itself It's internally contradictory In this case, I agree with the appellants Perspective, you know their interpretation of the general plan. I also went back and took a look at the east side business area improvement plan and the let me tell you the Images the The designs that we had the hand written Architectural drawings are much different than what we see today just 20 years ago. It was and you know My interpretation of what I I read really Is more in line with what the appellants are telling us so I'm not able to vote to deny the appeal Thank you All right councilmember crown. Oh, so I just wanted to make a A comment about you know councilmember narrating asked who are are we building for and you know, that is that's is the issue here and You know My daughter lives back in Manhattan. She pays 4400 for a three bedroom But all three of the roommates make six figure salaries. What's going to happen here is you're going to get three people Living in each one of these these units and they're going to split the rent It's going to be two thousand eighteen hundred to twenty two hundred rent. They're paying seven eight hundred bucks a piece And you know, that's just what's going on in Santa Cruz. And so I don't think you know This is I don't think all rentals all housing is equal housing I mean that that's why I think we need to hold Go forward on getting more affordable housing and not just any housing because that's that's doing ourselves a disservice Okay, thank you. There's a motion and a second on the floor see no further discussion all those in favor. Please say aye. Aye Those opposed no Okay, the motion passes with councilmember crone and councilmember brown voting no And councilmember marion vice mayor Watkins councilmember matthews and councilmember chase and myself voting to deny the appeal so Thank you for your patience on that And for the really thorough discussion. We just had We have two more major items. But right now we're going to go take up our oral communications I'd like to know Who in the room right now wishes to speak for oral communication at oral communications? I know you do and Mr. Norse requested Four minutes on behalf of huff. So you're speaking on behalf of huff for four minutes Right for an organization. Is there any member anyone else here that wishes to speak during oral communications for any item? Not on the agenda. Okay. You the two speakers four minutes for yeah, that's how you got copied for Oh, yeah, I thought I copied you on it. Yeah. Yeah four minutes. Yeah, yeah You're speaking on behalf of mr. Norse and yourself on behalf of huff. Yes. Okay. Yes. I am If everybody would please calm down, um, we got we still continue in business councilmember noroyan Come up. Okay. Please go ahead May I need some quiet in the room right now? Quiet in the room Okay, thank you. Let's go. Um, we have four minutes. Please go ahead Um, I have a request. I would kind of like to speak to the community Rather than speaking to you. Would that be okay? No, okay Um, you're very pretty. It wasn't anything personal, but what I have to talk about isn't pretty Okay, it's dirty It's unclean And disgusting and I wanted to tell you something that happened to me I used to like coming downtown and shopping It was what I really like to do during my past time. I don't like doing that anymore I was in the river street plaza And I needed to go to the bathroom May I ask you to pause for one moment? Mr. Norse, you were out of the room, but um, I just I understand that um The speaker currently speaking on behalf of huff for the four minutes that covers your your presentation. Is that correct? I understood she she said she's speaking on behalf of huff for four minutes Conscious in action. I'm sorry. I'm new to this Okay, you know How much time do you do you have as a lapsed? Okay, so 52 seconds. So Can I have that back? You have two minutes. Okay. You do you have two minutes total to speak? Okay. I'll do the best I can um I'm also speak I What happened to me and I'll tell you what happened to me is I needed a bathroom And I went to where a bathroom normally was open And I was denied access and I was buying stuff and it was in a store that I'd buy Once a month regularly and I I spend a good deal of money So I was really unhappy and I asked well if you're not open anymore. Where can I go? And they go all the rest of them are closed to the other stores in the um Shopping center the riverside plaza. Can you look at me? Please when I'm talking Thank you. I appreciate that I'm especially talking to you because a young woman At new leaf told me that you were a good guy and that you cared about the homeless She believes in you and I want to believe in you. Okay Anyway, I did not I guess I'm done You could just Give 30 more seconds because of the pause Anyway, I was I there was no bathroom. They told me to go to the rest Restaurant I said I didn't want a restaurant. I wanted a bathroom. So I got in my car and I went home And on my way home I filled my pants It went up my back Down my uh legs Into my private parts feces Okay, and I Was humiliated All over my car And it was very unnecessary when there are bathrooms that could have been open And I was told it was the city that did it and I wanted to I went to lawyers because I wanted to sue somebody Okay, I'm done. Thank you Next speaker, please This is the sign that I hold here from time to time Basically says no more wars for israel on one side And it says israel day 9 11 bolean.com on the other You folks in the past have expressed very young degrees of displeasure at me saying this But um, I've welcomed anybody to debunk anything that I've said so far. Nobody has all I get is um basically name calling and When I'm rudely interrupted by somebody I don't get an extra 30 seconds like the last person did So it's obvious that you guys I think Know very well it is real did 9 11 by now bolean Christopher bolean Is a highly respected highly capable investigative reporter graduated right here ucsc His website is easily accessible bolean.com If anybody doubts anything that I'm saying I welcome you to simply go to that website and see for yourself what the evidence is I maintain that it's highly credible scientific Evidence with a lot of forensic science behind it Can you guys look at me when I'm talking? That goes for you rachel Can you look at me when I'm talking please? No, you can't this is the kind of respect I get when I say something that you people don't want to hear I'm telling you israel did 9 11 and you can look at the evidence at bolean.com People like rachel norroyan knows exactly what I'm talking about and resents me presenting the evidence That's why she behaves the way she does I can I welcome anybody in public like to put your your time's up But I just say this isn't a time to try and antagonize people if you have something she's antagonizing me You guys aren't showing me the respect for your comments, sir. Yeah speaker. We have one speaker coming up Thanks for the 30 seconds. I got any other members of the public that would like to speak on this item Which is any item that's not on the agenda Okay, mr. Norris you contact me in advance and request for a minute. That's correct. Thank you Welcome Okay. Well, this is about bathrooms open bathrooms closed bathrooms and specifically the loudon nelson or london nelson bathrooms as it was originally You know presented by london nelson the x-slave Uh You know this is such a basic elementary thing and it's amazing how basic And and important bathrooms are I mean you show this by for the first time every once every two weeks or Opening the bathroom across the way But they're as developed a policy as all of you well know of closing bathrooms Recent restrictions around community access at loudon nelson include the black fence around the park A patrolling and intruding park ranger a set of rules apparently targeting homeless people using the park involving Property that sits down and if they leave temporarily they property could suddenly be taken That's their sleeping gear and their survival gear And of course this whole policy of the bathrooms excludes community members the disabled the seniors visitors Anybody who needs to walk in and use a bathroom who previously could do so Can now no longer do so Now The previous speaker is part of a group called conscience and action And they're meeting tomorrow all council members are invited to come and attend to one of our meetings That's a meeting of a kind of a coalition of organizations and huff is one of those organizations That's perhaps where this confusion arose about the prior speaker The first issue they took on was a concern about open bathrooms And I want to commend martin brunel for opening the san lorenzo bathrooms finally after a year of closing them I hope they're still open. I assume they still are What are some alternate solutions to the problems supposedly That have required the land the loudon nelson bathrooms to be shut well the concerns of Miss ray who runs the place and carol scurritch who oversees it our overnight campers have set up Camp sites in the area Syringes full and used are found in the parking area restrooms and play yards and human waste has been found there Garbage and the alcoves and planters day campers Individuals yelling profanities vandalism and graffiti and you might think what am I bringing up the bad side for because These are important issues for community members These are important issues for people in neighborhood, but the key issue here is Is the solution worse than the problem that you present and is the real problem having something to do with the perception of Who's to blame here and focusing on poor people outside? you are going to have crap and excrement and urine building up Elsewhere if you don't open bathrooms that they can use You have three porta potties open at night in the downtown area 24 hours That's a step forward, but they some of them don't have wash stations Some of them are not disabled accessible So you're naturally going to get people going where they have to go causing not just resentment against them But a public health hazard and problem the seniors who are at the loudon nelson center have expressed a concern About this issue to me. I circulated a petition there A couple weeks ago That they themselves are being excluded by this code system It's required to get into the bathrooms and the continual changing of a code so that the wrong person doesn't slip in I've seen an elderly person try to get into the bathroom told to go across the police station When she did the police station said oh work our bathrooms are closed try the loudon nelson center She went back to the loudon else center 20 feet down this down the down the hallway she could go into the bathroom But they wouldn't let her use it. She had to go to the depot park to use the bathrooms The cost of the keeping the bathrooms locked and closed in human Decency terms as well as I think financial terms Justifies opening them up and so I encourage you to do that and we're going to be pressing for that Sometimes in some dramatic and not necessarily pleasant ways because we have no choices here. Thank you mr. Norse Okay, oh, you're welcome. Is there any member of the public that wishes to speak at oral communications? This is the final opportunity See none. I'm going to bring it back and we have The first of two of one more. You know, we have two more appeals. So this one and I see uh, Mike fairy up here for round two So, um, I if let me get a gauge on the council. Did we go in or do you want a quick break? Do we quick break before we go on? Let's go. Let's move forward. Okay, um move forward So the next item on the agenda is item number 24 item number 24 Is um, and it's listed as adjacent to 102 woodrow avenue appeal of the planning commission's approval of coastal and design permits to install a bike share hub in the public ride of way adjacent to Woodward woodrow avenue and again like the Yeah, I got a little feedback here. Yeah a little concert Um, this is um, this is something where just like the last appeal I'll go through the process It will be conducted as follow First staff will present a report second the appellant will have 15 minutes to speak and present evidence in support of their appeal Third opponents or the responding applicant will have 15 minutes to speak and present evidence Then we'll have public comment for two minutes Then the appellant will have five minutes to rebut last will return to the council for deliberation and action So at this point we'll turn it over for staff presentation on the report Okay, so we're going to split the presentation Claire's going to kind of update you on the whole bike hub program and then i'm going to discuss the appeal Okay Good evening now. I'm claire fleece. They're a transportation planner um You guys have all heard this numerous times but i'm going to go through some basic overview of the system Just to orient the people in the audience and the people at home We have implemented a 250 bike bike share system in the city of santa crows. There are 27 planned stations One of which is the appeal in front of you today In total 15 stations citywide required parking removal for a total of 28 spaces This is a contract between the city of santa crows and our vendor jump bicycles that we negotiated at no cost to the city And it's part of our overarching go santa crows transportation demand management campaign Helping to get people out of cars reduced congestion and greenhouse gas emissions Today you're seeing the final station before you Um wood uran west cliff it involves removal of two parking spaces to add a 14 bike Bike share station and required a coastal and design permit, which is the appeal in front of you Overall the goals of our bike share program are to provide an additional mobility option to residents employees and visitors in the city of santa crows And to reduce congestion by encouraging bicycle use for short trips around town To identify where we were going to site bike share stations. We went through a thorough community outreach process We had four public meetings. We uh sent letters to adjacent owners We did noticing per our code 300 feet surrounding all proposed station locations This was also reviewed at the transportation public works commission numerous times The downtown commission for those stations that were in downtown And council did see it numerous times as well Additionally any group that requested us to go out and tell them more about our bike share system We went out and talked to them that included numerous numerous groups The bikes are eight speed pedal assist bikes They are class one type e-bike that are allowed on the streets and on multi-use paths including west cliff drive multi-use path They are red in color the seats adjust. They have built-in lights and a built-in lock The stations are um probably seen them around town by now There's one right in front of city hall um pictured on the right here And the one pictured on the left is in front of garfield library. They're gray in color non illuminated no light included And they are essentially just glorified bike parking a little fancier and standard design there They include a sign at each of the stations which includes instructions on how to sign up pricing information Bike safety messaging and a system map They are not illuminated and include no solar component to them You can see this is a picture of the one in front of city hall. You can see that it's it's fairly small in scale It's it's around six feet tall Smaller than some of the vehicles that you see around town Again, here's another image of what an example station looks like that's been installed And just some general overall system stats of what we're seeing on current adoption of the bike share system We've had for the month of june closing out that month. We took over 11 000 trips On average each bike was used 5.84 times per day Compare this to the national average of between one and two and our system is amazingly well utilized The average trip distance that we're seeing is 2.94 miles Uh, this is the length of trip that we think of as replacing car trips. It is too far to walk It's the length of trips that people typically drive So we're really encouraged to see that trips are a little bit longer Leading us to suppose that many of these trips are replacing car trips In total in june alone bike share went over 33 000 miles This is a huge statistic that I hope we can all be really proud of on Not traveling that in vehicles And then another stat that we like to point to is our customer service response time from the jump team Averaged 4.04 hours between when they were contacted and when they were able to re-contact The person who sent in the original question complaint compliment, whatever it was So really really good on customer service response there Another element that I'd like to point out is in july here's our origin destination map The the heat map shows where trips started or ended Something really important to note is that we have a huge concentration of trips in the downtown Leading us to suppose that many people were using this as a Commute to work option or commute to downtown to shop eat meet friends Which is right in line with our goals to reduce car trips around town, especially within our downtown But in addition to that you can see that there are trip origins and destinations throughout every single neighborhood in santa crows Leading us to believe that many people are taking bike share trips to and from home To access many of their daily trips to replace car trips and to increase their mobility around town So the flexible nature of our system that includes both stations and the ability to lock Within town per our municipal code Is something that's really encouraging here and really makes the system Of a great value to both residents and visitors with that i'm going to pass it over to mike So seven of the bike hubs were located in the appealable Coastal zone the one on swanton the one we're discussing tonight over the lighthouse The little parking area on beach street murray street Then over here in your mike fox park So anytime there's a public works project That requires a coastal permit. They're also required to get a design permit So the design permits Issued with the coastal permit has an appeal fee If it's just a coastal permit not attached to a design permit that appeal is free So the appellant in this case paid the appeal fee to have this go from the zoning administrator this project to the planning commission And he appealed The other six of these directly to the coastal commission and the coastal commission will allow You to not expire your administrative process if there's an appeal fee involved you can appeal to them for free so the Planning commission heard the zoning administrators Approval or heard that appeal On may 17th, and they voted uh five to two to deny the appeal Uphold the zoning administrators approval The coastal commission heard the other five appeals on june 6th And they unanimously found that the appeals had no substantial issues. So that means that they're not even going to hear the appeal It didn't rise to a substantial issue. So they weren't going to schedule the appeal hearing Um, mr. Crawford appealed the planning commission's approval and that letter is attached to your staff report of like claire said that the Bike hub is going to be located on the west side of the street It's about 90 feet from the appellants house. It's about 90 feet from bethany creek riparian corridor It's in a paved area that requires no vegetation and removal Does require the removal of two striped parking spaces The appellant states that the That the bike share hub is inconsistent with scp policies about safety Public works did a review of the traffic incidences from 20 2010 to 2014 there was one incident Of a rear-ended vehicle at the intersection here And there was no incidents of bikes or pedestrian injuries during that time Um This would be the location. Um, we actually think that Eliminating a bicycle or a automobile parking which could include our v's And replace it with bicycles that are three to four feet tall will actually enhance this historic plaque And not deter from it. That's part of the appellants letter to you The actual Plan is to install 14 bicycles Claire kind of described what it looks like. So I don't need to go through that The appellant also Talked about an environmental impact report. I'm assuming That should have been done with this project And I listed the different categorical exemptions that this project qualifies for it includes the infill development Like the previous project infill development on a project less than five acres inside Surrounded by urban uses no wildlife habitat value it also qualifies for categorical exemption and that's a minor Alteration to an existing public street There's another categorical exemption that allows for issuances of encroachment permits And then the final Categorical exemption is a placement of minor structures of pertinent to us parking lots such as bike racks So all of those qualify for categorical exemptions in sequa We did receive Quite a bit of email prior to the planning commission's hearing and I have that attached to your staff report And one of those emails Kind of directed me to this website the friends of west cliff drive And so this is a photoshopped Picture that shows 32 bicycles in the space that has 14 spaces available And this was part of an online survey, you know, that was protecting west cliff drive. This was one of the photos that was Showing what the project was going to look like and a lot of these look like they came from From that website So anyways staff is recommending that the city council deny the appeal uphold the planning commission's acknowledgement of the environmental determination And approval of the coastal and the design permit based on the findings listed In your staff report. I did receive one email only concerning this appeal and that was today and it was a About 20 photographs of bicycles, you know, located out on sidewalks and stuff I just assume you guys got that. All right. I think um, what I'd like to do is rather than post questions now we do like we Similarly did in the last item and um go in the next phase which is ask the appellant Um, you have 15 minutes to speak and present evidence and support of your appeal at this time Sure, you don't want to stand up before we get into this Mike just keep going. I really feel for you guys Uh I'm dorinda parker and um, thank you for for hearing our appeal here today Appreciate it. Do you have a power plan? Okay, so thank you for Taking time to hear the appeal This is our second appeal and as mike has has Gone through we have since a bunch of letters on our first appeal, um, you know, we've been Working at this since January, I believe when we were first noticed about this. So, um, it's been a long haul Um, phil crawford and other neighbors have appealed to the city council on the approval of a bike hub It would drone west cliff drive which would house 14 bikes for now To be doubled in the future And what we have heard that 14 bikes for now and it is slated for expansion So that photograph that you hold held up mike That's in light of expansion and then further expansion down the road as we understand it. We read the rfp and the various different Notifications that we got through claire and the program is due for expansion So we wanted to show not just what it's going to look like now with the 14 bikes but with expansion Because as we all know this program is tremendously successful People, um, are really getting a lot of use out of the bikes as claire shared and You know, it's definitely going to be expanded. We're looking forward to that So this is the second bike hub for woodrow avenue with another hub already installed four blocks away on woodrow at garfield library We're asking you as city council to uphold our appeal Denying the approval of permits to install a bike share hub adjacent to 102 woodrow avenue To allow time to study the data being collected from the jump bike program the data such as claire shared To determine a location for this bike hub, which is safe and which provides jump bike accessibility to a maximum number of residents and visitors I want to make it clear that our group of westside neighbors are supporters of the jump bike share program in santa cruz This is not about bike share We believe that the bike share program is a great way for people to get around santa cruz And to enjoy recreational bike riding on the jump e-bikes that are fun to ride And that are easily accessible all over town as she showed the heat map people are renting them all over the place It's you know Great a great way to do those two mile trips as you shared We're asking you today to separate the jump bike program as a whole to put that aside and just To think for a few minutes about something different We want to make it clear that the jump bike programs in asset to santa cruz We're supportive of the program and what it brings to santa cruz. Today. We're here to discuss one Bike hub proposed for woodrow avenue and west cliff drive. That's it We're talking about a bike hub at woodrow avenue and west cliff drive We're not talking about jump bikes not talking about the jump bike program. We're talking about the bike hub The designation of this bike hub on woodrow at west cliff adds another hub to woodrow avenue four blocks away from an existing hub The vendor jump bikes has proposed bike hubs every quarter mile and has selected this particular site However, this is a dockless bike program as claire shared and the success of the program in santa cruz Is partially due to allowing riders to dock anywhere not necessarily just at a bike hub This bike hub may satisfy jump bikes by giving another coastal bike hub to jump bikes the vendor But does this bike hub location really satisfy the santa cruz residents who are regularly using the program Westside neighbors have collected 957 signatures on a petition to object the installation of coastal bike hubs in santa cruz And we shared those with the planning commission and with the city council and with the coastal commission 400 santa cruz neighbors joined our coastal commission appeal as interested parties Stating they do not support coastal bike hub locations Dozens of letters and emails were written to the city council The coastal commission the planning commission When we went to appeal at the coastal commission the coastal commission denied our appeal and told us we needed to go back to the city council They said this is a matter for the city council. This is not a matter for the coastal commission So that's why we're here today, you know, we're doing what the coastal commission told us to do We urge you to uphold this appeal on the grounds of safety This intersection at woodrow and west cliff drive is one of the two most dangerous intersections on west cliff drive Locating a bike hub at this intersection with riders going to and from the hub onto the multi-use pathway is a serious safety issue Statistics quoted by staff just a few minutes ago are misleading Because they state there's been one motor vehicle collision between 2010 and 2014 We've heard that statistic several times in the appeal process The statistics actually are not available for bike only accidents or bike pedestrian accidents at this location So the statistics that you were quoting were from motor vehicle accidents Unfortunately, they don't count bike accidents or bike pedestrian accidents only if a motor vehicle is is involved So any lower west side resident can relate observations of bike as accidents at woodrow and west cliff drive We saw just such a bike accident two weeks ago when a bicyclist was riding on the multi-use pathway downhill Rode out onto west cliff drive at woodrow ran the stop sign and fell hard Was unconscious for a while resulting in a head injury and a trip to the hospital in the ambulance Similar accidents to this one would not have shown up in those statistics Because this bike accident did not involve a car. It was a guy on a bike If and when a jump bike is involved in an accident that results in a head injury or in a death There's a high likelihood of a lawsuit with the city as you know, since this is a city sanctioned program New york times and other media are reporting on city and taxpayer liability for head injuries or deaths For users of city sanctioned bike share programs This is a really good reason for the city of santa cruz to carefully study Bike hub location in light of safety rather than allowing the vendor to select a bike hub location Based on access to sunlight quarter mile span between hub locations and president presence of a nearby bike lane The record for approval of this bike hub location Should reflect some indication of planning for safety on the part of the city rather than establishing a record of dismissal Of safety concerns We're asking you to uphold our appeal allowing more time to study the data available from the jump bike program And to determine a safe location for this last bike hub and to allow accessibility for more users of jump bikes based on the analytics from the jump bike program We urge you to support this appeal on the grounds of saturation This proposed bike hub at woodrow and west cliff drive is four blocks From an existing bike hub at garfield library Members of the transportation committee and the planning commission Express concern that the two installations on the street seemed excessive and that alternative sites should be considered Unlike the previous appeal the planning commission did not unanimously approve this location for the bike hub as mike mentioned two of the commissioners voted no On the coastal locations for the bike hubs because they did not they said they did not fit in With the character that they thought west cliff drive Meant to santa cruisans So we had two of the planning commissioners that voted no and one of the transportation commissioners voted no um The vendors contract with the city for 27 installations can be readily satisfied With the redesignation of this hub at another location such as delaware avenue Which is an existing transportation corridor with access to adequate street parking We realize this causes more work to select another site and go through the process Um to get that site noticed and up and running But we also know that these types of changes to programs that the city are done on a regular basis This is a part of what city staff does Our group of concerned neighbors met with martin burnall a few months ago prior to our first city council appeal And martin stated several times in the conversation that the city is making changes to programs constantly So this is not something that would be different from a normal situation Um, we want to remind you that location of a bike hub has become much less critical As bike rental vendors and cities across the country have recognized that the successful bike share programs are dockless as is the santa cruz program Riders are able to leave the dock the bikes locked up anywhere for the next user And users who are looking to rent a bike They find the nearest available bike via searching on the jump app uber's ceo agrees Stating in a recent nbr interview that dockless bike share is the only way to go for a bike share program And santa cruz's program is dockless. So santa cruz is right in line with you know, the uh, what what's trending on bike share programs Users who are ready to rent a bike Searching on the app are not looking for bike hubs They're looking for the nearest available bike And it can be locked up anywhere near the user ready for the next rider So therefore the net of bike hubs covering the whole city becomes much less important And that is what's critical to the success of the program is keeping the dockless Way of doing things While we understand that the transportation staff has checked all the boxes for approval of these hub sites and met all the criteria City council members have been elected to represent the interests of the people who elected them It's very clear that we and other santa cruz residents support a bike share program as an alternative form of transportation a successful bike share program Will have good planning for safety and bike hub locations where they can serve the most residents and visitors Who desire to use the bike in lieu of a car for getting around town in just the short trips that claire was mentioning The data from the santa cruz program has not been available to the public or To to determine best locations for bike hubs based on actual program usage Now that we are some months into the program some of this data is coming out that claire was sharing a little bit of tonight The data will soon be available for study and that program usage data can help to determine where the bike hubs are needed In locations where the jump bikes can safely enter and exit the roadways We urge you to vote to uphold this appeal To allow more time for study of data collected from the jump bike program in santa cruz and to determine A location for this bike hub which is safe and which provides jump bike accessibility to the maximum numbers of residents and visitors Thank you Thank you Okay, at this time we'll turn it back to the responding applicant Which is the city and you have up to 15 minutes if needed to speak and present evidence Okay, i'll keep it shorter than that. Thank you And i'll just try to go through some of the points that were just raised With regard to the first point about this location being doubled as the system grows We have a five-year contract with jump that does include system expansions The plan for that is not to expand each of the station locations as we have them now But to utilize data from the system as we move towards expansion to drive where that expansion would be Similar to the process we've been through so far each time that we would be proposing a new station That would require an encroachment permit. We would be going through the public process and coming back to you for Granting of that encroachment permit. So I don't see this as being a system that then or this being a location which would be doubled without data showing that it's immensely popular Second and probably most important is the ascitation about safety The data that we pulled does allow for bike only collisions to be shown for pedestrian only actions to be shown And for motor vehicle collisions to be shown The data we use is from the uc-berkeley transportation injury mapping system tims it pulls data from the statewide statewide integrated traffic sweaters Reporting systems statewide integrated traffic reporting system sweaters The most recent available data is 2010 to 2014 the data after that is still provisional And so we don't use that this is the same data source that we use when we go for active transportation planning grants When we do our annual traffic safety report or when we do any other traffic reporting to you It's the same data that the california office of traffic safety uses also when they rank us in their statewide rankings From this data that we pulled there was one collision at this location between 2010 and 2014 That did not involve a bike or a pedestrian. It was a motor vehicle motor vehicle rear end collision The location here Is a great location. It is on our existing bike network. There are complete bike lanes on woodrow avenue There is adequate pedestrian access to this site with a complete sidewalk network as well as the bethany curve Walk pedestrian walkway that's there allowing people to get from the nearby neighborhoods to this location Additionally, probably one of our best multi-use facilities the west cliff drive multi-use path Is directly there allowing people to travel on bikes completely separated from traffic Which is the best practice that we're seeking to move towards more and more as evidence with building the rail trail Safety here, there's there's just no significant safety issue here that can be identified This is one of the better locations that we could identify this location Um with regard to selection of the site and the Assumption that the vendor selected this site It really came through our community process through tabling at open streets tabling a bike to work day hosting two community meetings Having an interactive online map where people from the comfort of their own homes could suggest locations Where they wanted to see bike share and then taking those community-based suggestions out and ground truthing them for Where could a bike show station actually fit? Where we had sufficient right-of-way where we had access to sunlight where we were on the bike lane network And we had pedestrian access those were the elements that really drove the locations of the bike share stations And that's what drove the location of this bike share station Um with regard to the petition with the signatures that was brought up Mike had shown in the presentation the photo that was included with that and um Many people likely reacted to that photo which is not representative of what the proposed bike share hub at this location is um When we went to the california coastal commission on june 6th with the other locations the coastal commission declined to Take up this issue. They said there was no substantial issue Because they didn't find that it was an issue related to the coastal permit or the design permit They actually stated that they were impressed with our process so far And they were excited for the increased coastal access that this program would provide This specific location was not included in the packet But the other five locations that were were the coastal commission declined to take those up With regard to liability the contractor was reviewed by both the risk management department and our city attorney's office And there were no concerns raised there And with regard to saturations and looking at um, how our system is being utilized Our system right now is likely undersized. We are seeing as I showed just under six trips per bike per day when the national average is between one and two Um typically bike share systems take a while to ramp up To their full potential. We're not seeing that we're seeing an immediate ramp up and that's during the summertime before we have The additional ucsc population That's here. We're anticipating usage to continue to increase through september and the fall as as the students are back in session And I would anticipate that We continue to see heavy usage of our bike share station location And then finally with the With the thought that we might not need stations for bike share We have a really interesting hybrid system right now of both having At 27 plans stations in town as well as having a station list model One of the things I hear especially from the older adults in our community about access to bike share is that many of them don't utilize a smartphone Um, it's not them pulling up like I do. I wake up. I'm eating breakfast I'm drinking my coffee and I open the jump app and I see where's the nearest bike I'm going to walk to that bike Many of the people who don't have access to a smartphone who aren't checking Where the bikes are in real time are depending on them being at a station And that's how they plan their trips around bike share They know that there'll be a station at bay in california or in front of city hall Or some of those other locations where they can walk up and access the system So having this hybrid system for us from the outreach that I've done in the community seems to be a really really good fit And it's something that I think is valuable to us Um If you have any further questions specific i'm happy to answer them We'll hold questions until after we finish the Appellants rebuttal at this point in the process This is a public comment period for this item Are there any members of the public that wish to speak to this item on the public comment period? Any other members of the public just to get okay, it looks like four people you may begin you have two minutes. Good afternoon The it hasn't been mentioned that this location is between two Existing stations one is up the street north on woodrow Four blocks and one is east on west cliff drive at the lighthouse, which is about four blocks also Or the equivalent of four blocks So There isn't a compelling need to have this station For ease of access to the bikes The residents have absolutely no the residents of the immediate vicinity of this location Have no need for these bikes. This is to serve to us, which is a very very Good purpose But it is really unnecessary because there are already so many bikes stations That are convenient accessible to the visiting public And there are bicycles scattered all over town There are sometimes they are tied Parking signs sometimes they are tied attached to fences and so on sometimes they're not attached to anything And they're just obstructing the sidewalk It's a fine program, but this particular station is unnecessary. It's redundant There is a lot of opposition for it Do take it into consideration I think it would Be good for you to skip this one. Thank you. Thank you next speaker, please Hi, I'm Brett Garrett. Um, I think there's a tremendous shortage of bicycle parking on west cliff The jump bike rules specify you're supposed to park the bike at a bike At a bike on what's the word? At a bike at a bike place and they really don't exist on west cliff and this would help that quite a bit Um, I will say by my count it's five blocks from this station to the one at Garfield library for you know, whatever that quibble is Um, I just I want to say thank you for supporting the jump bike program Um, two little safety items very quick. Um, google eco helmet. They're cool. They're foldable helmets. They don't exist yet, but they're coming And I wish the bikes would light up at dusk not wait till it's really dark Thank you. Thanks. All right Any other speakers after this? Okay one more speaker, uh, two more speakers I see you and Please go ahead. Good evening. My name is yonica strauss executive director of bike santa cruz county And I am here to ask you to please deny the appeal of this bike share hub um The woodrow station along with the other stations along the coast are critical components to the overall network Because it's it they're at such a highly desirable destination Each station is carefully considered when determining the ideal location and success of the system relies on the stations being close together The station at woodrow and west cliff is the optimal location in the area for several key reasons Woodrow is a safe street for biking and walking already with complete bike lanes and sidewalks Woodrow and west cliff is a stop controlled intersection allowing cyclists and pedestrians to cross The street safely The proposed station is located near a network of safe car free routes for cyclists bethanie curve park and west cliff multi-use paths the proposed location um is Has a high use potential Because it's as I said located on west cliff and because it's visible for potential users Many people use them for the first time because they see they're available Stations are still important in a dockless system Because jump replenishes this the stations that are used most frequently and returns repaired bikes to the field that way Like claire said stations provide a reliable system. So the station in particular is important. Thank you. Thank you Next speaker, please My name is read sir. I'm really pleased that council members get paid by the hour Into the length of this session Can you hold this for a second? There's only job that over time gives you half as much pay At least Two very brief comments one You know, you don't decrease traffic by encouraging people to drive to pick up a bicycle someplace And we have a pretty serious parking problem in that area now anyway busy weekends So anyway, what you're doing is you're encouraging more people to park in that area The other thing is that that I walk on west cliff every day or try to It's only a matter of time until somebody gets seriously hurt Maybe maybe it's already happened. I hope I'm not one that gets hurt, but we know it's we know it's going to happen And we know that by putting a bike stop near That right next to right on the intersection. You are implying encouraging people to ride to ride on west cliff I trust your liability insurance is adequate to cover that the The encouragement that the requirement that jump bike Provide coverage that the city will not protect you probably Against the implied invitation, but that's a legal matter. Good luck Thank you All right, and any other members of the public that would wish to speak to this item Okay, you'll be our last speaker ma'am. You have two minutes Thank you. Good evening, uh I appreciated the remarks earlier about the importance of the appeal process to the public As a forum for us, especially when commercial projects are to be imposed on our residential neighborhoods And it's been a long day for you long day for us I never thought I'd have to feed more than four and a half hours into my meter, but I did So we appreciate your time and your attention and having equal time along with everyone else who came before us on this long agenda I'd like to thank the members of council who responded so courteously to our messages and generosity and meeting with us And mr. Bernal as well To discuss the hubs on woodrow at west cliff. We've had this conversation going Since january As you know Since the rollout We've all seen that bike share is enjoying robust popularity amongst visitors and locals alike Easy pickup easy drop-off the decentralized nature Of this system makes it very convenient for you to use and people are enjoying it and using it and that's great That's the genius of the program is that it is a dockless program In this fluid system bikes are not tied to the hubs. They can be found easily through a simple phone app You have to have a phone to rent a bike You can certainly find a bike with a phone Anywhere in town you can find a bike a couple of bikes are probably parked on your block right now Because the program is dockless the hub locations are much less critical to the program's success As you know woodrow avenue already has a bike stub bike hub, excuse me up at the library stocking 14 bikes Council has heard from hundreds of local residents who oppose a second hub on woodrow Particularly where it flows into one of west cliff's busiest and most congested intersections Two hubs would mean 35 bikes 30 35 bikes launching from woodrow and double that number when the planned expansion occurs So it's within your purview to ask that an alternative hub site be found. You can also delay the decision until the full Metrics are shared with us. We haven't been able to get them. Your time is up. Thank you very much. Thank you Okay, so Is any other member of the public that wishes to speak to this item? Okay, see none. We'll we'll uh I went to give it to the appellant that will have five minutes to rebut those So please you have five minutes and you can you can't add any new information But you can't you know rebut anything that came up that you wish to Okay, thank you, mr. Mayor members of the council Um, just in regards to some of the contentions That have been made By the by the city which also happens to be the applicant With jump bikes jointly here We made a public records Request to get data and information on the usage particularly along the west cliff corridor And uh, we were told there was not available. There's a lot of information that was given out here that We were told was not available. So We can certainly look into that but It is very important to us uh to get more information Particularly on the use along the west cliff pathway As we mentioned before and I think it was uh council member math uses very concerned about the safety somebody who uses that pathway Um and having bikes that can go 20 miles an hour with Some reckless riders and we've got pictures of people doing very reckless things on that pathway with the bikes without helmets um retired assembly member who I spoke to Witnessed someone with a child infant in the basket And a child on the back Riding down the very fast down the pathway all of them with no helmets Now you can't stop people from doing crazy things and the difference between this crazy thing and other people doing it on their own is You're in partnership with them. This is a joint venture with the city And helmets are not being provided training is not being provided and the west cliff pathway Still doesn't have the markings even showing which way you should go So you should not be standing in the middle of the lane looking at the ocean When people are whizzing by on bicycles and all kinds of other things. So What we would like is for you to Accept the appeal denial of the permit And give some time to study this but if you can't do that And don't find your way to doing that We would like you to pause this for six months to give us an opportunity To take a look including taking a look at the vehicle code section which allows you To keep these electric bikes off the pathway and keep them on the roadway Uh, I don't ride that pathway. I have a bike. I just stood the triathlon on sunday here in santa cruise I'm an avid bicyclist I don't go on that pathway. It's too crazy. It's too congested. It's too rude for me to be coming up on people Seniors and others and scaring them and frightening them. It's just not built to have it's a multi pathway But certainly electric bikes It's bad enough with regular bikes But electric bikes that can go 20 miles an hour with some of the crazy things that are being done Councils are certainly consider doing that and if you do consider it while you're considering it would be a good idea Not to just put another station right on the pathway right next to it While you're taking a look at just how dangerous how reckless Canada's thing possibly be so we'd ask you to pause it if you can't do that Then there's a third option and that is approve Uh, denied appeal Conditionally in the condition that you come back in six months at least leave the option of coming back in six months when we have more data And we have taken more of a careful look because there's something really wrong with your statistics One getting 2014 statistics that leaves out the last four years Is very very very bad thing to be looking at We had a head injury the other night I live on that corner and I have seen at least three serious ambulance injuries in that intersection in the last year That I saw when I was home and I'm not there a whole lot so The other thing is that The the color of the bikes I think has been a problem I'm not sure we even been here if the colors had been environmentally compatible Uh, it wouldn't have been a big an issue And I just discovered that the city of new orleans has Uh, 900 of these same bikes jump bikes, but they're all blue. We just pause for one second. Mr. Crawford Um, at this time it's not an opportunity to bring up new information I know the color I've heard when we met that was an issue But this is just really about the placement of the of the station. Okay. It's already interrupt you. It's all right Uh Pause for a second Yeah Get back to where it was Okay, and this term to the liability the contention that there's no liability again, uh, the new york times did an article on The new york times did an article on these Electrified bikes in new york city and they concluded that the vendors all have liability But the most liability was the city of new york so And it's their legal research did an analysis of that and particularly have you do with head injuries and no helmets being Required so thank you. Thank you I'd like to start with just a quick question You know, we heard a little bit and it kind of about the the idea that we're going to get more data And there's going to be consideration of expansion or reallocation You know, I know this is a new program for the city of santa cruz But it exists in many other places. Maybe even other coastal community communities But as a city looking at developing criteria In terms of how we'll look at the the data that we get to determine Okay, this is an appropriate place or this is going to be the process that we're looking at when we or if we were to Assign a new station or even expand the number of bikes that are here in the city Yeah, it's one of the elements that we're looking at we're going to be uh on a regular basis Checking in to see how each of the stations is doing in terms of utilization As well as looking at the ratio of bikes that are returned to a station versus return to a non-station area Moving forward because we do have An electrified bike share system There will need to be a certain proportion of stations remaining in town that we will pursue electrification of in the future To minimize the operational need and make sure that more and more bikes are able to stay fully charged for people to use them So I would anticipate our our system remaining a hybrid system of stations and station lists But we will be monitoring that at regular intervals and we'll come back Let me just ask one more and the mr. Crawford brought up the idea of um, you know looking at the like conditioning approval of this But also coming back so that one if we have information look at what okay, is this an appropriate place for a station? What what are your thoughts on that? Um, I'd hope that we could come back to you in Six months to a year after we have a deeper depth of data with an analysis of all of the stations Not just this one for utilization and then um, because this is a new system and bike shares new to Santa Cruz We'd anticipate that there would be some tweaking So you don't have any issues? I have no issues. Yeah, that's part of our plan already. Okay. Thanks council member brown um, so I have I have thought a lot about this. I want to be really clear that I absolutely support the program I continue to have concerns about the program kind of more broadly with respect to safety and our liability. I um, I appreciate that you all have put a lot of time and thinking into How to indemnify the city and worked with the contractor? But I'm still terribly worried about that coming our way But that being said, I'm this is about a specific site and We have discussed this specific site and other specific sites in the past and I asked a question about alternative sites given the saturation and given the kind of proximity to what I actually do believe is a relatively dangerous intersection and In particular that portion of the path on west cliff because of the the grading, you know the hill up and down so people speed up without You know a battery motorizing their vehicle and I have seen quite a few Accidents there whether or not they've been reported or rose to the level of you know significant injury I can't say but I walk on west cliff. I ride my bicycle on Delaware I find it to be much safer and so I don't understand why we couldn't have been looking at an alternative site Before now before getting to this point of an appeal where the neighbors have felt like they have no other recourse So I would like to make a motion that we delay the decision for this site so not accepting or denying the appeal but Delaying it for six months until we can gather some additional information about usage And ask staff to come back to us with an alternative site on the west side I do believe that could be done within the next six months It could have been done between january and now and we wouldn't be here. So that's my motion See if we get a second Okay, there's a motion by council member brown Second by council member crone. I have a couple questions Oh, let's first be since you were seconded if there's any discussion First before you go questions since we got a motion on the floor Anyone discussion on the motion Council member norion so the the motion is to Uphold the appeal Yes, I pulled their appeal But what was the other part of your motion if you could repeat that again? The motion is I supposed to uphold the appeal pending a report back in six months Regarding alternative locations and and data about usage in that area Thank you for clarification. Okay council member chase Um, I looked through the staff report and I don't see it So if you could remind me in our last discussion about this we did give some direction about What what would come back to us around this particular site? And so I guess I'm trying to understand the process and the timeline of how we got here tonight was Did the Appellant just move forward before we had that data like what was the process? So process wise what you guys have seen is the proposed system map Which then went back to the transportation and public works commission Which they Approved unanimously which we then brought to you in two batches of encroachment permits the first being Non-coastal and the second being coastal This location was not included in that encroachment permit So you did not see it at that time although people did come and speak to it at that meeting despite it not being included This In the interim between transportation public works commission The coastal locations had gone to the zoning administrator Who reviewed the elements that you guys are looking at today? So this is the first time that you've seen these elements of this specific station Other locations that there was more discussion about if I remember correctly Were the swanton location the lighthouse location And the locations near the boardwalk But I'm not sure I remember any specific direction related to this station So I I think I am recollecting that we did give direction related to data and safety I know we had a long conversation about that And so we do anticipate that's going to come back which it is and I think I must be confused that We because I we did spend a fair amount of time talking about this particular site even though that was not presented to us Okay, so that that helps to clarify things for me. Thank you. Okay, and I didn't mean to cut off A questions. I just thought we were first going to talk about the motion that was on the floor So councilmember crown. Do you have any further questions? Just a few Are we is the full complement of jump bikes here? Yes That's 250 correct And so there's actually more docking stations than there are bikes On average for most systems. It's a ratio of two docking stations to each single bike To allow for The ebb and flow of certain stations sometimes they'll all be full sometimes they'll all be empty But two to one seems to be the accepted ratio in the bike share industry So if if there's not a problem, why why do we have to have this station? Why can't we just forgo the station? As the motion is get the data when it comes back And then figure out. Hey, it's not working on west cliff drive Maybe we need to now implement this station, but if we have these other two stations, we have the 250 bikes I thought maybe we were lacking spaces for the bikes themselves So that that's what that's why I'm going to support the motion But I just don't understand why we have to push forward with this when there's so much opposition I think as a council we look like we're responding to the public when we say oh, well, maybe we should rethink this So let's take six months look at the data and figure out Okay, maybe we do need this and we'll be convinced that this station is necessary or not Yeah, two elements to that one the station was developed through the community-based process that we did Was how it has come before you And the second part of that is that we don't have bike parking on west cliff drive We have a significant number of cyclists who are using west cliff drive every day A significant number of people who are riding their bikes to west cliff to then meet friends for a walk Go to the beach etc. And that's why you see right now bikes being locked to the fence all the time We don't have a place for people to lock their bikes And this serves a need not just for a jump, but because we allow all bikes to be locked This also serves as regular bike parking in this area that is highly utilized by cyclists So two wrong answer first is community-based process and the second is the provision of bike parking in the west cliff area It seems like we're still in the community-based process We have a lot of neighbors a bunch of letters coming to us saying don't you know We this might not be the right place. So, I mean, isn't that part of the community process as well Yeah, and that's entirely up to you at this point Yeah, thanks Now let me just say real quick. I appreciate that one this is kind of real-time information about our infrastructure needs in the city Yeah, you know we're using like the jump system as a way to say hey, we need new bike racks here that And you know, we know that we already have Really high mode splits for bikes here in the city and and I do feel like we're under We're under Under infrastructure if we can use that term for like the number of bike facilities that are in that in the city and so Not that we're going to rely on jump to fill that need but also looking at how we kind of find ways to You know install infrastructure appropriate infrastructure to serve the community. I mean, I think that's a kind of an element of this discussion I just want to make sure that as we think about this particular program That there's criteria around how we identify where that those facilities are placed and I know for using information It's not necessarily to to add new bike Bike racks or lockers. It's I think because it it comes with other other amenities You know, we have the bikes there So I just I would personally like to see it before we start like thinking about expansion New new ones. I'm personally and I'll just speak directly to the motion I'd be more comfortable Conditioning the denial of appeal so that we come back and look to say. Hey, if this is something where we merge to To bike racks on Woodrow, right? Because we have already one on in front of the library and we don't need another one down here We we do that by looking at the information and coming up with some criteria to say. Hey, this is appropriate or because we have Existing racks that are installed at lighthouse or down at natural bridges or on Delaware. It may not be necessary. So I That's kind of where I'm at right now So councilmember matthews councilmember brown and then councilmember neroyan a couple of quick questions Regarding requiring the bikes be used on the roadway in my mental image pretty much And see bikes everywhere. They're always in the on the street. Is that the common use of these yes or no or People along west cliff drive utilize on on bike both the path and the roadway In general people use good judgment around what speed they want to go and the directness of their route I'm out on west cliff frequently. I go running there every day at lunch and generally people exercise good behavior I have another quick question that's come up On people complaining that the bikes when they're not at a docking station are frequently blocking sidewalks and I know this has come to you What communications have you had with jump? Is there any I would just think a slap a big sticker on On the basket or something, you know make that a really clear instruction yeah, so we answer this a lot and our municipal code as a city since the 1980s has explicitly allowed bikes to be locked to Pretty much any physical asset except a tree if there is no bicycle parking within 50 feet of that location That's why you see so many bikes that are locked to street signs fences and and other things Sometimes they are blocking the right-of-way and the education that we're doing around that is it says on the city website and jump communicates in their customer service With their customer service personnel Please be considerate when you lock the bike and if you're locking to a street sign or something else Leave the maximum amount of pedestrian room possible Try to lock the bike to the outside of the street sign So it's a learning curve. Also when people lock bikes inappropriately I report them all the time and I ask other people to report them all the time The bike number to support at jumpbikes.com and the time that you saw it That allows jump to contact the most recent user most of the time It's not people who are intentionally trying to behave badly It's people who have never been in a wheelchair or pushed a stroller or thought about getting around in some sort of mobility device And they are oblivious and usually the first time that they are notified by jump Lights the light bulb in their brain and they don't repeat that behavior in the future So there is a learning curve and we are working on education around that but that's been our approach to it so far Captain Robert Brown and then Captain Robert Narayan and just remember we have a motion on the floor right now And directly to the motion and the discussion about that motion I appreciate the direction mayor trousers that you are thinking about going in To try to evaluate to have get additional data in our evaluation of whether or not we Want to keep this site. However, I am very much concerned that once the site is there It you know, it's it's very hard to to take something like that away and I have a feeling You know, and I think mr. Searle mentioned this you know that that particularly for that site People are going to be driving to the location to get on a bike that this is not going to be people who are picking up a bike You know right walking out their door and getting on one of those bikes They have their own bikes most of them and I lived in that neighborhood. So I'm pretty familiar with it um So, you know, I I'm just not sure that that the data usage is just going to tell us we don't need it and You know, so I think the another reason for my interest in having some additional study is Some analysis of what the parking impacts are because what we the other thing we don't have on west cliff is a whole lot of car parking and we're going to be You know just asking for more cars right there There is a just there's better parking options on some of the other streets on the west side Particularly Delaware. I'll just keep saying Delaware so So that's really my You know, you know my thinking about and I appreciate you you're thinking there too The other thing that I wanted to say is that if we have all of this commu this data from this community-based process I'd really like to see it because I haven't seen it. I I there if somebody can show me where Survey respondents actually said we want A jump bike hub or a bike share hub at Woodrow and west cliff or more on west cliff or whatever You know more close really in close proximity to the coast. I'd like to see that That would help me understand the where that we're out there Ryan then vice mayor walk-ins and then councilmember crone Yeah, I think it's really important. I mean, I haven't heard one person up here Say we don't like jump bikes and we see the benefit of it But I do think that this particular area It's a saturation issue with the stations nearby and also this particular station I believe would be used by a lot of tourists in the area The other areas have amenities that are good for people who are visiting like bathrooms Parking this area doesn't have a parking lot or bathrooms. And so that's what makes me give pause to Being willing to uphold the or pause in terms of being willing to support the location I do think there are safety issues involved too I know in the past when I've tried to find safety stats, it's really interesting Where a neighbor will tell me will cars flown into my home for five times coming off this hill in one year And then I hear that there, you know, weren't any accidents recorded Well, single car accidents aren't recorded sometimes and bike accidents aren't so I feel that there's just a lot going on on that corner And so I don't think it's the wisest place for one of these I just want everyone to know though I bought a helmet so I can start using jump bikes because I really love This program and I don't feel that this is about jump bikes It's just about this location and the saturation of that area already And the fact is when I walk on west cliff, I can't do it without someone screaming at me Move on your left on your right And um, you know, that's a reality that exists and if you're not quick on your feet It's you know, sometimes you don't get out of the way in enough time So, uh, I think I'm going to go ahead and agree with the neighbors on this one despite the fact that I am Really enthusiastic supporter of this vice mayor walkins Um, one of the things that when we originally had this item come before us That I really felt as strongly about is how can we be in action while also modifying over time? and I feel that In terms of the safety concerns, there's several locations I think of uh The one off sort of moracy and water in front of santi adaria There's a couple others where you do actually think of safety concerns I don't know if I necessarily say that this stands out to me as one over the other I think we want to ensure the safety of all of our residents and visitors who are using jump bikes No matter where they are The other thing I want to add is that I don't know if I necessarily Agree or know enough about to assume that nobody who's local will use a jump bike at that location Just because frankly if I'm trying to get somewhere faster, I'll actually use a jump bike even if I own Even if I own a bike So I think it's you know, I that's sort of you know presumptuous of us to to assume that That is the case. We just don't know and I think that's part of the whole kind of thing about jump bikes That I sort of get a sense of in this community. I do like the idea of hubs as opposed to individually Kind of scattered. I you know, I think you do I hear the hybrid model But in terms of the kind of location sort of presence of them to have them sort of concentrate it makes sense to me So I mean, I appreciate that concept Clearly have concerns over the helmet usage or people misusing them by doubling up on them And how can we fine tune knowing that it's a new sort of thing for our city And we want to make it better and have a continuous improvement cycle. So that's sort of where I stand on it I'm happy to revisit certain sites But to me, I think it's it's got to be holistic if we're going to really approach it that way And I think that's how I recall the action that we took is saying we do want to monitor the impact over time No matter where it is in our city and how is it affecting our residents our neighbors our visitors And just overall safety of having them in our community. So and how can we improve that? So I'd hate to say that this is something that stands out specifically because I think For me even just knowing all the other locations. I don't know if that's necessarily the case personally So and I but we want to monitor that So I'll go to councilmember crone and then councilmember chase and then And Just to just to pick up what sandy was saying councilmember brown You know, I think that the data when people were saying oh these sites are going to be good I think that those same people are compassionate and community members and when if they Took that survey again, and they heard that there was Concern about certain stations they would say oh, okay. Yeah, we can compromise and put them here in there And not not there maybe so I'm just you know That there's a two two a street that we got the data we got the people saying yes put them these places But they hadn't heard you know any feedback from people who it might be affecting councilmember chase I think what's really unique and really cool about this project is it's challenging our assumptions So we there was you know, we did a lot of outreach. We got a lot of information We put the bikes out there and then We've got more usage than we ever anticipated There's all kinds of things we're learning from this and so I I'm not going to support the motion on the floor I'm much more inclined to support something that the like the mayor put forward because I feel like We absolutely need to be collecting data. We absolutely need to be analyzing it to make decisions not just about this program But about other safety for pedestrians cars all that kind of stuff how it impacts our overall tdm plan So to me I think that this really is challenging some assumptions I think we we actually articulated some assumptions up here that I'm not sure are true Um, and I think this is the way to find out and it doesn't mean that it's not going to go away These are actually really pretty easy to install and uninstall So I think we should for sure look at the data, but I'm not going to support the motion that's on the floor I would I would as I said support something closer to what the mayor suggested And I'm going to bring it back to councilmember brown if you want to just really really quickly Um, you know, I I share The perspective of vice mayor Watkins that there isn't necessarily something unique about this particular Spot this particular location. There are others that maybe have other have safety Concerns that as well The what the reason that I made the motion is because we have an appeal before us about this site I'm not suggesting it's unique. I'm suggesting There are legitimate concerns and data that we were told we would get we have not yet received And so I I just don't even understand how what kind of accountability there's going to be about Getting data that challenges our assumptions and I appreciate your your comment Councilmember chase that, you know, we perhaps and perhaps I more than anyone here have made some assumptions But you know, they're based on a long time of living here and you know, it is based on anecdotal evidence As a social scientist, I appreciate the collection of data I would just like to see some of that data that's being asserted here to us and see some of the data that's been asserted We'll be collected and we'll receive Hey vice mayor Watkins, I was just wondering if you could repeat what your suggestion was Well, my suggestion was that we conditionally deny the appeal so that we look at this within six months to a year, but also And and with an assumption that we'll have criteria to determine whether or not The existence of a site is appropriate there or to even evaluate new sites That's essentially my motion I can't make one but that's what I was thinking Would you be for me? I I appreciated the points that vice mayor Watkins made about the network and the system So I feel like if we're going to evaluate this site, we need to be evaluating all the sites Well, that's it new sites and existing ones. Yeah, that's that's exactly the point So the analysis is happening there the analysis needs to happen system And so you have a framework for when why you would put one there or what it's you know, what you know, what's stationed And you know, I don't know where the votes are But I mean that could be something that you know if this you know Again, I'm gonna I'm not going to support the motion But if the maker of the motion and the seconder would have some language in there You know if it does pass at least to have that criteria for the evaluation of those And then also even I know it's in the works now, but the incentives for drop-offs at the hubs I mean, I think that's in the works, but I mean it's something I feel that's really important I think to people that have talked about this issue. So, I mean Actually, I just want to say I think we're making this much more complex and it really is it's one station It's not going to ruin the jump bike program And it's a station that's in between two other stations that are pretty close Just had to throw that out there. I don't think we need data and tons of studies to work with one neighborhood We have out of all of these stations. We have one left that's been appealed I just don't think it's as complex as we're saying it is No, I hear that I just think it's important to look at this as a context This is a new program and we're trying to figure out, you know, how to best integrate it I'm I'm a big supporter and it's kind of really impressing me how the Success of it is in Santa Cruz and how the city has been working with the vendor and how it's working So I guess I just want to make that point. I'm saying it's it's not just about this appeal It's about how we revisit this and when we look at the the program and whether it's a success or not to the existing residents so I'm sorry. I do have one more question Is there any reason going forward that we couldn't add another site in two months or I mean no, we'll actually There's no reason that we couldn't I mean when you see patterns of use and Yeah, so we just got our first batch of data from jump and we've been going back and forth with them to Present that data in a couple different ways to make sure that we're getting the elements That we want both per our contract and then other things that have come up since then that would be Additionally useful as soon as we Get that in its final form We're planning to release those monthly reports at at the close of each month as we push them out And that would be the data that we use to drive how the system grows and changes over time So there's absolutely no reason that we couldn't change the system in the future It's actually something that I anticipate doing be just an ongoing thing. Well, let me just say I kind of come at this With an open mind. Um, I do like the idea of a good supply along west cliff drive Everybody loves west cliff So my inclination at this point if I understand kind of the direction of your motion is uphold the appeal review the criteria because I know there were very thoughtful criteria and process so We may not have that but there was a reason review the criteria Understand we're getting data on the system's performance Within six months is that kind of an act six to nine months? We get monthly reports and you're considering kind of a global look back Yeah, coming back with an update and then uh six months and also putting out a user survey. Yeah And in the interim we look for additional sites that would serve that west cliff corridor Do you Just a clarification on that. Is there any direction you would like to give on what to look for that would be more Satisfactory than what's in front of you today No, I know you've given this a ton of thought and Delaware Well, okay, okay Not to put a whole nother work program, but Give it another pass. Anyway, that's kind of the direction. I'm thinking on this Okay, well, so then if you're supportive of you know, what's here on the motion We have a motion by council member brown and a second by council member crown To uphold the appeal and have this come back In six months to revisit it with some criteria. Is that what I'm understanding? What I what I wanted to include uphold the appeal An fyi review the criteria to us just so the council understands what went into the selection so far um data on the system As in a six month period The performance and let me just say be open to new sites along west cliff in the interim We call the question To call the question But I think it's not really a friendly Is it a friendly amendment because that's what you was in the motion? I think we it well I think it is because I didn't say anything about being open to new sites along west cliff and that's fine I just want to make sure that that is included We sometimes muddle our motions and then our city clerk is faced with watching this over In order to clarify. So I want to just make sure well Um, I mean, I think it was to uphold the appeal and I think council member math you said it Review the criteria the kite. Yeah first site selection Get data on the performance of the system in six months and be open to additional sites along west cliff You know, I mean I'll be willing to uh to go here just because I'd like to kind of Get to settle but I do want to make sure we don't lose sight of this location I think it's this site should also be included in terms of that that review. So yeah, so I'm I'll if that's the case then I I'm willing just to Support this now and put it to a vote Okay, there's a motion and a second all those in favor. Please say aye. Aye Any opposed? No Okay, that motion passes with council member uh chase In the no council member brown council member noroyan vice mayor Watkins Um council member crone and council member, um, matthews and myself Upholding voting to uphold appeal. Okay. So that's done on that. So the next item is item 25 For our trifecta of appeals And mike fairy is not going to be participating in this one Thank you. Thank you for tonight. Yeah Okay So i'm going to do this one more time one last and final time for tonight This is um item, um number 25 Public right of way adjacent to 200 washington street appeal of the planning commission's approval of a coastal permit To remove two heritage sized trees magnolia and eucalyptus in the public right of way adjacent to 200 washington street Um This again is a public hearing and I just like to briefly go over the process for the public hearing Um, the item will be conducted as follows. First the staff will present their report Second the appellant will have 15 minutes to speak and present evidence in support of their appeal Third the opponents or the responding applicant will have 15 minutes to speak and present evidence We'll then have public comment or each person will have two minutes to speak on the item Then the appellant will have five minutes to rebut not bringing up any new evidence Just uh, you know responding to what's been brought forward Then we'll return to counsel for deliberation action Okay, so those are the kind of framework. So i'll turn it over to staff to give the presentation Hey, are we ready to start? We are okay. Um, so today we're looking um At an appeal of a coastal permit to remove two heritage trees from the public right of way adjacent to 200 washington street This is part of pg&e's community pipeline safety initiative or cpsi It's a project that they're implementing throughout their service area in california The goal is to keep gas pipelines clear of hazards including trees And to maintain access to pipelines This site is located in coastal exclusion zone b of the coastal zone heritage tree removals In this area require a coastal permit if they're mapped for sensitive cultural or natural resources And a heritage size tree is Defined as at least 14 inches in diameter at 54 inches above grade So i'd like to take a moment to clarify that the cpsi project involves removing a number of trees across the city Most of those tree removals were not located in the coastal zone and did not require a coastal permit 11 trees did require a coastal permit of those the scope of today's hearing it includes just one coastal permit to remove two trees Okay, so here's a map of the location of the trees and they're both located on washington street You can see it's just west of center street They are located in the sidewalk In the public right of way The proposal is to remove a 16 inch diameter magnolia tree and a 21 inch diameter eucalyptus tree So pj and e has a set of vegetation standards approved by the cpu c That they abide by to determine whether trees should be removed The standards require tree removal depending on the size of the tree and the distance of the tree from the pipeline So the pipe safety zone of their standard is defined as the area from the edge of the pipe out five feet To the border zone. So basically anything within five feet of the pipe Their standard says that any trees and vegetation of sprouting the line of sight and access to the pipeline Must be removed and are not permitted to be planted in the pipe zone, which is on the pipe safety zone So here we have a couple of pictures of What did what the trees actually look like? Well the bottom part of the tree at least As you can see The yellow lines and then on the right side It's a kind of a faded red line those are markers showing the location of the gas lines So on the left we have the eucalyptus tree on the right we have the magnolia tree As you can see the gas pipeline runs directly under both of the trees So after reviewing A project arborist report PG&E had a private arborist that supported removal of the trees due to their location of the gas pipeline So the city arborist reviewed that she also completed a site visit and Supports removal of the trees to meet PG&E's vegetative standard Okay, so in order to meet requirements for a coastal permit We have to find that the project will protect coastal resources Those include public coastal access public views of the coastline and biological and cultural resources In this case the location of the trees are not located on the coastline So they don't affect coastal access or coastal public views In terms of biological resources there is a potential for migratory nesting birds to nest in the trees Therefore a condition of approval requires Requires the project to meet requirements of the migratory bird treaty act which could include A biologist to do a nesting survey if it's during nesting season The site is located in an area mapped as potentially sensitive for archaeological resources under the general plan An archaeological report for this project found a very low probability of finding archaeological resources However, I do have a condition of approval To require the applicant to stop work and off chance that they find an archaeological resource A coastal policy from our coastal plan policy CD 6.1.2 Requires a minimum of two new trees to be planted for every heritage tree that is removed So we do have a condition of approval requiring Hygiene to complete a replanting plan and Do the replacement plantings to meet this coastal policy In addition the public works department has reviewed the project and supports removal of the trees because it will allow them to Continue an accessible sidewalk in this location So this project started out at the zoning administrator level The zoning administrator had asked the applicant to look at the possibility of rerouting the gas pipeline under washington street Or to do some kind of hand Excavation and root berry installation to protect the pipeline from the trees Information provided by the applicant Show that there are several existing utility lines in the street already And the cost to reroute the pipeline would be rather high at nine thousand dollars per linear foot The city arborists also weighed in on this all the idea of an alternative management technique And her opinion is that given the location of the trees directly over the pipeline Alternative management techniques would be too difficult to perform And would not provide a feasible alternative to removing the trees So the zoning administrator approved the coastal permit on may 16th The project was appealed to the planning commission At the june 21st planning commission meeting the commission denied the appeal and upheld the zoning administrators approval of the coastal permit On july 1st The project was appealed to the city council So the appeal letter brought three main points That raises these three questions you see on the screen Do we need a more intensive tree assessment? How long would it take to reroute the pipeline and can we both keep the trees and have an accessible sidewalk? So i'll go through these questions one by one So the first question is whether we need a more intensive assessment of the trees to determine if they should be removed The appeal letter cites two city policies for this argument coastal policy cd 6.1 Calls for protecting heritage trees when possible and general plan policy Nrc 5.1 says protect and manage tree resources in the urban environment with emphasis on significant inherited trees So the appellant states that the project violates these policies Because pg need to not follow through on a commitment from a letter that they submitted to the city in december last year The commitment was to consider alternative management techniques such as subsurface radar to examine root pipe interactions The appellant asserts that because this subsurface radar was not completed That therefore is no proof that the trees cause a safety issue and therefore the project should not have been approved However, pg needs tree risk analysis model involves several criteria beyond root pipe interactions And those include things like emergency access and the presence of nearby buildings In this case the analysis showed that the location of the trees directly over the pipeline Would it would impede pipeline access in an emergency Whether or not there is any root pipe interaction therefore their pg needs risk analysis model Show that the trees present a safety issue already without needing to study root pipe interactions therefore Completing this investigation with subsurface radar would not change the conclusion that the trees pose a safety issue need to be removed In addition, pg has confirmed that while this subsurface radar option was included in their december first letter to the city It actually is not a federally approved method for managing pipelines. So they couldn't use it anyways Okay Question number two. How long would it take to reroute the pipeline? So How long would it take what would that mean in terms of the risk of keeping the trees above an active pipeline during that process The appellant letter brought up a project in Watsonville that She asserted The construction would estimate about three months to replace a pipeline in Watsonville So the argument there is that the risk from retaining the trees would be minimal During a pipeline rerouting project since the project would take such a short amount of time However, pg and he did submit a pipeline rerouting analysis That stated the process would take at least two to five years From the start of the planning process to the end of construction And during that time the risk would still be present So Watsonville three months actual is two to five years that is considerably longer Um And then in addition the analysis Showed that the project would be about $9,000 per linear foot which would come out to a total cost of at least one and a half million dollars So this just shows that even Without thinking of the type of the timeline just looking at the price. It's it's not a practical solution So the third question is can we both keep the trees and have an accessible sidewalk? Again, the public works department supports the project because it allows completion of an accessible sidewalk The appellant suggests Creating sidewalk bull bouts at this location is a compromise that would allow a sidewalk that goes around the trees And would allow retention of the trees However while creating a sidewalk around the trees Could provide both the trees and an accessible sidewalk It doesn't change the fact that the pipeline runs directly under the trees And it doesn't make pipeline relocation Any more of a practical solution therefore this suggestion unfortunately doesn't provide a solution Of the pipeline the location of the pipeline in relation to that of the trees So in conclusion despite the arguments brought up in the appeal letter The project does meet the findings for approval of the coastal permit Staff recommends a motion to deny the appeal thereby upholding the planning commission's acknowledgement of the environmental Determination and approval of the coastal permit based on the findings listed in the draft resolution and the conditions of approval I like to also take a moment to note that I received two letters Prior to this meeting they were both In opposition to the project and therefore the appeal And this concludes my presentation. I'm available for any questions. Thank you I think we'll again hold questions till the very end of the process So the next item is the opportunity for the appellant to have 15 minutes to speak and present evidence in support of the appeal Audio visual setup here before we start. Thank you. Is that visible? Yeah. Yeah, it is Is missing dinner a new weight loss program? We still have lunch in the back. So we're You're like reading chocolate. Okay. Wait your time's going. So okay. Thank you very much Jillian greenside appellant and gosh I feel this is somewhat of a david and giliath situation So I come I'm not with a slingshot and a stone, but with a love of trees And a history of trying to save trees from overly hasty felling And with the support of many community members These two trees One is a magnolia one is not a eucalyptus. It's commonly called that but it's not it's a corimbia And so I will refer to that as a corimbia. It's proper. No, that's not its latin name It's a different species throughout this so just so you know what it is These trees in pg&e's letter Of memorializing to the the city manager Were pulled out of all of the trees. They were going to remove these and the cantaloupes on melrose street That their commitment was that they would take a much closer look and See if there were alternatives to removal including regular ongoing monitoring and inspection So we're not just talking about the generic old trees have to go in this area and then you can have grasses here They were specially going to pay attention to these Areas of trees because they're so beloved by the community Now I fully understand safety concerns regarding natural gas and other fossil fuels My father was a driller for shell oil in berma asam and ecuador in the 1930s And he scored me in the dangers of oil rig fires and the methods to control them I don't take the safety of first responders likely Many of us though have studied the details of pg&e's community pipeline safety initiative And have found it lacking in plausibility and scientific rigor Other communities have drawn the same conclusions Leading to an eight city legal challenge With similar objections from our own county board of supervisors In contrast the city of santa cruz has never discussed this issue Nor put it on an agenda for public input This tree appeal is the only opportunity for council to evaluate some of the issues involved I'm sure giliath has provided you with uh or overwhelmed you perhaps with a lot of alarmist material Most of which is not relevant to this situation at hand The tragic fire at san bruno had nothing to do with trees The court found that causes included defective pipeline welds And overall criminal negligence on the part of pg&e trees were not involved at all The vast majority of gas pipeline emergencies and this is consistent with all the pg&e literature and pamphlets are from improper digging Whether it's from contractors or members of the public improper digging above the pipelines One might ask how the commercial building at 200 washington street which was built in 1989 was approved by the city Since its foundation was excavated two to three linear feet From the existing gas transmission pipeline, which is three feet underground pg&e cannot produce one incidence of a gas emergency Caused by tree roots or the presence of trees above a gas transmission pipeline Quoting from their own document, which is titled tree root interference threat analysis the final report And I'm quoting a review of publicly available gas transmission incident data O2 to 2013 was completed to determine whether or not tree roots had been identified as root cause Or contributing factor to natural gas pipeline failures And this is what they concluded while this review did not specifically identified tree roots as a direct or contributing cause of pipeline failure There are several reasons for this deficiency including reporting guidelines and reporting forms That's not a very scientific conclusion a scientific analysis would include the variable Perhaps tree roots are not a threat This pipeline safety initiative starts to sound like a solution in terms in search of a problem A conclusion reached by many cities and well-informed members of the public It's easier to remove trees and pass it off as a safety measure than to do the more expensive job of internal pipeline inspections and state-of-the-art shutoff valves I put it to you. Do you know if pg&e has implemented and performed these other safety measures for all gas transmission lines in the city pg&e has failed to live up to its agreement The agreement which was in the letter which was in your packet Quote the agreement was to inspect the pipeline and determine whether And to the extent to which the roots have grown in contact with the pipeline To now say that's not necessary. I feel is going back on their agreement They suggested subsurface radar in their agreement and now when called on to live up to that agreement Are saying it is an unreliable method and not federally approved Leaving that aside There are other methods for determining the depth of tree roots that are quite reliable And I ask that you discuss those other methods with either the city arborist pg&e their own arborist concluded And I quote that a level three assessment would verify root pipe interactions But that level was not performed end of quote Now the reasons given at the last appeal of why that wasn't performed. I felt Were Not convincing we didn't need to do it because we don't need to do it We only needed to do level two That's going back on the agreement they made to do an inspection to see where the roots are She their arborist guessed that the tree roots may be in contact But that is a guess and not an observation Meanwhile, the tree is in full flower Humming with bees and providing beauty and shade Storing carbon and providing us with oxygen The least we can do is weigh this issue carefully before condemning it to death The last hearing it was suggested that the tree's roots would be seeking water in their sun in an irrigated area And thus would tend to head down to the gas transmission line pipeline for the Condensation around the cathodic coating of the steel pipeline three feet underground It was also claimed That since the pipeline is packed with sand that would attract tree roots Which seek an easier medium such as sand in which to grow That was pretty persuasive and I think persuaded the planning commission Unless you know that washington street is built on a river floodplain The west the old western tributary of the sand Lorenzo river and under the top soil It's all sand The water table is high in this area And this is why many downtown businesses basements flood Just give 555 pacific a few years and watch that underground garage flood Also gas steel pipelines are not just packed in sand The specs are very detailed on the materials used and whether it's the base the toe or the backfill It's very clearly spelled out and it's different materials It's not conceivable in this specific context of sandy soil and high water table To assume that the tree roots are headed to the gas pipeline three feet down When as a general statement most tree roots are in the top 18 inches of soil And carimbia do not have invasive roots A staff report concludes That despite any prior agreements or whether the roots are anywhere near the pipeline It doesn't matter since the pipeline is located under the trees and therefore the trees have to go No more investigation under go The claim is that if first responders had to respond to a gas leak or fire at 200 washington street The trees would hinder their response and create a serious risk therefore they've got to go This conclusion ignores Standard operating procedures in the event of a major gas leak or fire The image suggested is of first responders rushing to the site armed with a chainsaw To fell a tree which stands in the way Of safety This is absurd The standard operating procedure for a natural gas transmission pipeline emergency for first responders is and i'm quoting When pipeline is damaged it is critical to identify a safe location upwind and at a safe distance from the leak i'm quoting again Eliminate ignition sources that mean shut off the gas If the gas has not ignited then you have different procedures And do not enter the immediate fire area until the pipeline operator has indicated that it is safe to do so The tree at best is an afterthought when the emergency Is contained and if the pipeline needs repair It's not in the way. It's not going to prevent Fixing the pipe inspections can also be carried out internally And the probable cause of such an unlikely emergency Improper digging and failure to inspect and maintain pipelines in conclusion These particular trees Were to be given special evaluation the local coastal program cd 6.1 Says that trees heritage trees such as these are to be retained when possible and that was the one of the Formal basis for the appeal it is possible and it's not being done Therefore, it's a violation of the local coastal program to recommend removal three choices One inspect the routes to see how deep they are with respect to the pipeline If they are in the top 18 inches Leave and then monitor as PG nea agreed to do If that is not an acceptable choice secondly Request PG nea to relocate the pipeline at their cost. It's a relatively short distance The Watsonville three months was a quote from coastlines PG nea had put a public notice in there that they were doing extensive gas pipeline work in Watsonville They expected to have it finished by the end of fall third choice You notice i'm not giving the fourth choice obviously I think cutting down this tree would be a travesty and it's not necessary So the third choice last choice if you want so you have choices relocate the tree My guess is it would cost about $50,000 Which PG nea can well afford i've looked into this very carefully. You might remember Someone from texas an expert in relocating big trees came to see about relocating that red horse chestnut on broadway It's done every day with modern equipment. You wouldn't you don't have to go down too deep They have incredible shovels. You may have seen pictures of them and tree. They have a 95 success rate in relocating Much bigger trees than this carambia huge trees are relocated. So I think that that would not only give life to the tree It would then address the concerns even though i hope i've shared enough to convince you i think they're not worthy Of destroying the tree it could be one of those win-win situations And the tree could go on living providing beauty shade Storing carbon and oxygen and we could all walk away feeling we had done the right thing Thank you very much. Thank you At this point the responding applicant will have up to 15 minutes to speak and present evidence and My name is darin kline. I am with pacific gas and electric and I work on the community pipeline safety initiative I first was in front of city council when councilwoman mathews was actually in the mayor's chair the golden state warriors had just won their first championship of the decade And we are now in front of you three championships A debacle in cleveland and three championships later And that is what our commitment has always been is that we were going to slowly come to the community Talk with the community Explain what our position is and try to work with everyone We are now towards the end of that process almost three years later four years later Where we are down to a a handful of trees In this instance, I believe that the staff report Speaks for itself. These trees are directly over a gas transmission pipeline It is an issue to have them over the pipeline and we believe that And we believe the staff report is is accurate in what it says I've also brought our pipeline engineer scott fanon. We have our environmentalist vic germany and our customer care christopher long with myself who works in public affairs We're here to answer any questions that you have As it pertains to the staff report or anything else that's been presented to you this evening So thank you Thank you Okay, I can I just question It is it touching the the the pipeline? I mean is the tree is a root touching the pipeline or is it wrapped around the pipeline? We're not exactly sure where the roots are underneath But that's not really the main factor of what we are talking about when it comes to risks The main factor is a concert of 12 different items that come into conflict when it comes to A tree directly over a pipeline So what we do is we create a matrix that assesses all of these things so you have Roots coming in contact with a pipeline you have already roots coming in contact with the pipe You just said you don't know there's roots coming in contact with the pipeline But there is the threat of roots contacting the pipeline There is lightning threats when it comes to a tree that is directly over a pipeline There are several factors that go into What decides what makes a tree? Acceptable over or near a pipeline or not acceptable There has not been a tree that is acceptable over a gas transmission pipeline We are talking about pressures that are over 60 psi. Have you removed all trees over the pipeline? That's what we're in the process of doing Everywhere everywhere in the state of california you've moved every tree over the pipeline. Yes, sir Hey, let's limit the discussion right here to this particular one I know we could go into a lot of different areas. Well, this is the this is the co crux of the matter You know is the tree over the pipe, you know, and I know that I heard that question I just when we start going out like hey I mean if it's something's going on in another part of the state But I just I heard you ask the question About this particular one and I think he gave an answer. He didn't know if it was touching Is there isn't that the issue then? I mean if it's not touching then why are no, that's not the issue We also have the issue of first responder access when tree roots spread out over a pipe You have to dig through those tree roots when you have emergencies and things like that That is an issue. You also have issues with lightning strikes For example in san jose, we had a really tall redwood directly over the pipe Those roots weren't directly touching the line But that was a threat to the pipeline because those roots were near the pipeline We have a lot of different reasons that go into that There is 12 steps that we have talked about in all of our Appeals as we've gone through this process. We have talked about it in front of city council We have talked about it with the public. We've had open houses So it's there are several things that go into it. It's not just one thing And that's what usually gets presented in these cases is that well, it's this one thing is okay And it's like yes, but unfortunately There are 10 other things that aren't would miss greensight say a solution in search of a problem. That's that's what it sounds like That was a statement. I hear I hear your statement. Um, I'd like to make sure if there's any I mean if there's any questions you want to continue, but we can um at this point You have a question go ahead How much is it going to cost to cut this uh tree down? Um, and how does that compare to the option that miss greensights? talked about in terms of saving it Relocating the tree Relocating the tree Is not an option. We have looked into that when we first started doing the problem with the tree roots In the soil around the pipeline. We don't want to disturb the soil So you can't use conventional equipment that you would use to go down and dig a tree out What we do is we flush cut the trees and you will see that in other projects that we've done here We we flush cut and we stump grind just enough Um, we don't want to disturb the soil below where that pipe is we want to keep everything nice and safe So relocating the tree is not an option And then so how much is it costing do you have that figure to act to just to cut the tree down to remove it Cut the tree down and remove it depends on how many crews I have out stuff like that you're talking somewhere between 20 to 50,000 depending on the size of tree and and those kinds of things Thank you Let me ask when you have this because you just the question was asked I just want to be understand the process So what you do is you you cut cut the tree down and you leave the the stump and the roots in Well, what we do is we stump grind it and that way that the the tree doesn't come back Um, and what we do is we leave roots and stuff in the soil and just let that all be packed around the pipeline So we just so what happens? I mean, it's just there's no growth when you have the roots It just dies out. Yeah, okay Okay So I'm going to at this point unless there's any other council question council member questions I'm going to turn it over so we can have our public comment Sir portion of this hearing So at this point members of the public who'd like to speak to this item have two minutes to speak Are there any members of the public that would like to speak on this item? How how many if you could give me just show hands one two three four Okay, so it looks like there four people are going to speak on this item Please sir you you have the floor Just to let you know jillian you're you're the picture's still there It's okay hearing you just go It's a nice picture I'm brett garrett. Um, I mentioned this issue to a couple of neighbors the other day and One of them said to me Earlier today. She said brett you gotta go look at that tree. It's gorgeous. It's magnificent So I did and she's right. It's gorgeous. It's magnificent So I feel very strongly that cutting that tree needs to be a last resort I can't speak to all the technical issues, but It's just a beautiful tree and I would encourage all of you to go look at it before voting to Take it away And I'll just mention one other one other thought that I keep having I maybe I'm crazy, but we're living in a world of climate change and I think most of us Are opposed to fracking and I'm just feeling looking down 10 years We might not want natural gas anymore Um, this could be a temporary problem. It may be everyone's going to upgrade to electric solar Renewable energy and maybe we won't need the gas pipelines anymore. I may be crazy, but I just have that thought sometimes Thank you. Thank you. And if we could just pause jillian. Would you mind taking the picture from the your picture? Please thank you No, just to take it down because it's yours pictured for during the public comment period With thank you Okay, sir You might have to borrow jillian's tape. I think if you it's okay. I can just hold it. Okay My name is paul norcott and I know I'm a senior systems programmer My life involves logic um These trees have been here for 154 years Uh above pipelines and they've never been a problem PG&E made them a problem in 2013 There's over uh 300,000 miles of pipeline transmission pipeline and it's been wrapped or covered by trees For hundreds of years And not having any problems Only until 2013 did PG&E decide that these were a major problem I know darin. I know his arguments Uh, I can counter every single one of his arguments I've seen all of their Literature their literature is not in support of what they do I can tell it to you. I can give you all the information Believe me everything that they have said Almost everything is made up Their information in their particular Reports actually support trees that doesn't tell them that they are Doing bad things This is from earthquake Crees are protective in earthquake uh A pipeline moves And a pipeline this particular pipeline is three feet From the building Thank you, sir. Okay. Yeah Thank you Next speaker, please I'll be very brief because i'm so tired Um, thank you again for your time in the peel. I know that was long My name is canis brown east morsy. I came here to support Chilean because she's been so tireless and supporting our urban trees and I'm really distressed about trees in general because So many trees on the east side are being cut down because properties are being sold To foreign investors. There's one in brands of 40. I know this is a segue But the point is is that we need to save our trees Um foreign investors are buying the property and they just cut down all the trees They don't care about the permits And it goes up without punishment. So every time we have an opportunity to save a tree. I'm here I'm going to make this an issue for me. Um, what I just heard is that there's never been a time Where a tree was a cause of an accident It's like saying your dna. It's like six billion in one chance Well, how much more data do you need to say that this is not a problem? And if that's the case and this is like A non-issue you should honor her appeal. This is a beautiful tree. It's a very unique tree. I went there last night I was like, wow, I was thinking about a lot of stuff and I just really enjoyed that tree So I think it deserves to be at least transplanted if it costs 20 to 50 000 to cut it down And it costs 40 to 50 000 to remove to you know, move it then Let's move it I'm sure there's plenty of great places for that wonderful tree. So thank you for considering that. Thank you You know who I am Jane meal now one of the things that I'm having a little bit of a hard time understanding is The tree is supposed to come down because the roots are on top of the pipeline yet The top of the tree comes down, but the roots remain So why is that? I mean It doesn't make sense to me, but maybe it makes sense to all of you And the other thing is, you know what? We lost the luxury of cutting trees The weather the climate change is definitely telling us We lost that chance of just casually cutting a tree The easy way is not always the best way for the future nor for future generations P&E you would like to make it easy by just cutting trees So they don't have to find alternative ways to You know be sure about safe grass lines So when you think of this, you know, we lost fire Due to fire we lost trees drought PG knees cutting right and left they have another plan the fire plan That will cut even more trees and we're just standing by A tree a mature tree supplies oxidant for four adults you multiply that That means that by not standing up to PG knee you're choking us And I don't know if you really want to do that. Thank you very much Any other members of the public that wishes to speak on this item? Okay, seeing none. We're going to bring it back to you Oh, yeah, we got five. We got we got seen none. We're going to bring it back To the I should get this by now, right? We got sir third a public will have five minutes to There is a problem with this process and it's happened at the last hearings Actually two hearings, which is PG and he says very little They had 15 minutes. What did you hear perhaps a minute and then when you ask questions? They come up and say things. I can't rebut I'm sitting there wanting to rebut because I can in terms of the the content and I can't I think that really is a very poor process Can you pause for a second? Yes, this yeah, just pause the time. This is right now the five minutes I know but just to let you know, you know a council member was asking questions to to the representative from PG knee Um, and generally what we've done today is that we've we've actually waited till the end So it was really that wasn't the process other than that those uh individual questions that were posed But now is opportunity for you to rebut whatever was said But what I'm saying is that that that when when PG knee doesn't kind of come back right now Yeah, yeah, when PG knee doesn't do the honorable thing and present its whole presentation in 15 minutes I can't rebut them But I guarantee that they will come up and give you a all their Presentation when I can no longer respond to it. That's what happened at the two previous hearings And I know it's going to happen tonight and it is very frustrating Anyway, I've said that Well what if and if council member crone had an ask one question We wouldn't have got any content at all from the pg in representative until after my time is over So in the limited bit I had Lightning threat, that's not a criterion in sander cruise You know if there's one clap of thunder its front page on the sentinel the next day, so that doesn't count First responder access. We're not in the middle of a wooded a forest It's washington street two trees They're not supposed to run in with a gas leak. Anyway, I went through that so access is ridiculous and don't um Don't disturb the sort the reason why you can't dig And remove the tree. Well, you know, of course, they will say that But I would ask you if you To not if the if you're going to accept that I would ask that you not Do that tonight But that you give time To get input from the experts to evaluate where the pg knees Statement that you can't dig when the pipe is three feet down to remove a tree Whose roots you will inspect as they said they would and what if the roots are up here? I've seen massive trees Relocated and the root ball they get out is about that deep There's no reason why you couldn't dig And if you don't think the soil is going to be disturbed by killing the tree and leaving the roots to rot Which leaves voids in the soil which will lead to settling of the pipe in different configurations Then this is a self-serving statement So I would ask that that I think from what was said It's obvious we need to see where these roots are to see if there's any issue and evaluate whether it can be relocated So Since I can't respond to anything else that they brought up because they're now going to do it I'll just leave it at that and really hope that you will choose the option of One of those three and relocation and actually to cut down a tree like this Leslie Keed is the expert, but I've seen all the trees in my neighborhood go the last one on my street went this weekend The last heritage tree and it's about two thousand dollars to cut down a tree Their value is much higher than that, but we cut them down left right and center And this will be the next two Victims unless obviously PG knee will have that position You as a council I think need to have a different position And either give it time if you're not sure about the facts being raised here to evaluate them and get more people to weigh in on the possibility of Relocation, but I'd love to see where those roots are because they promise to do that But please do not go for the fourth one which was The easy way out for everybody except the tree and those of us who love it. Thank you Thank you. And actually comes back to the council So we'll come back to the council for deliberation and action at this point That concludes the appellants rebuttal And so we'll leave it for discussion at this time councilmember brown Well, I have a couple of comments But right now I'll just start with a question because I really am having a hard time understanding the Potential the possibility of doing a root study I um, you know, I've read through the materials that we received with our agenda packet In which we were told it's um, it's not feasible to do What was it a subsurface subsurface radar? And then I hear that PG&E even suggested they could do it, but now they can't because it's not a recognized Approach, but they're but now we know there are other ways of doing such a root study And it seems to me we ought to understand those before we make a decision I understand that PG&E is making its decisions based upon expediency I say that with no judgment. That's your job to be cost effective and and get the work done and Provide a level of public safety our duty as public servants as representatives of the general public is to also be concerned with safety and understand what the The issues are and and the extent to which safety is really the issue at hand here versus expediency and Also consider the value for the general public of Of heritage trees of trees in general So I just like a better understanding of why no root study is possible Maybe on that note and I did not notice it. I was reminded that our own city arborist is here less I didn't see it's here back there. Sorry. I didn't mean to not ask you as well But I want to hear from the PG&E too. PG&E can speak up on that You give me just a 30 second history lesson when this program first started five six years ago Um, we did have a very Efficient cost effective approach and that did not work with the communities that we were working with So there was a court case that was brought that never actually ended up in court With the contra costa cities Uh, we sat down with those cities in contra costa and the county of contra costa And we came up with all of these guidelines that included lidar and we said For any community going forward from that point Whatever contra costa agreed to everybody else gets So we at that time we thought lidar was An effective tool or we didn't we actually really didn't know and nobody else really knew at that time This was four or five years ago So We tried some of those studies with lidar. They did not prove to be effective And so when we got to this point with this tree in this particular location Since it is not we actually talked to the federal government in this because with this being a gas transmission pipeline federal law also applies to what goes on with this line They had said to us that they could not conclusively the federal government and all the different pipeline authorities said We could not get an accurate, you know, nobody's proven to get an accurate picture using lidar until the technology improves Maybe you can but right now it's been considered inconclusive So that's part of why when we came here we said we're going to give you everything we've got And at that point we gave the reasoning when it came to the lidar Of it has been proven to be ineffective, but we still are going to give you exactly what we told contra costa We will show you all the facts that we showed that county and those cities and You know, hopefully we can move forward. So that's where the reasoning around The actual tree roots and looking at that kind of structure came from Just really quickly the second part of the question was why no alternative ways of of doing a root study If lidar isn't working Well, we would probably have to expose the pipe. I'm not sure of any other ways But the thing is is when it comes to Trees that are around a pipeline the root study and roots and their interaction with a pipeline Are not the only things that are taken into consideration when it comes to trees threatening a pipe If you were to leave the PG&E territory and went to any other gas pipeline in this country You would not find a tree within 10 feet of that pipeline We are the only company that allows trees within five feet of their pipeline Because california is a different place and northern california is a much different place than the rest of this country And that's why when we came in here and we said that there are A couple hundred trees within five and ten feet of the pipe that we consider a risk to the pipe We said we're going to go through each and every tree over the last three to four year period Looking at all of them And the trees that we found to be a true threat were the ones directly over the pipe And those are the ones that we're coming through and and asking to be removed because of that threat We're keeping other trees that are two to three feet from the pipeline down your streets So for us we feel like this is a good compromise that we have worked with other Uh counties and cities across our territory and worked with the city of santa cruz Saying that this would be a good way to balance the safety issue and keeping as many trees as possible This is not an easy job to have to go to every community and say yes There are some trees that are a threat to the pipeline I I don't like doing it, but I do feel that there is a safety issue And so I can stand in front of you and say these two trees we're talking about are unsafe We would feel much better having them removed and we appreciate how the city has worked with us to go through every single tree And we saved a lot of trees and we appreciate doing that as well You say one more time why you cannot dig the tree out and move it We determined as we were doing this that where the pipeline is when we don't always know how far down the pipeline is All right, sometimes if a pipeline is five to six feet down That actually under our algorithms Could might be considered a safe tree so we don't have to move that tree Um But there are trees that are shallower and the trees along washington are pretty shallow so we don't want to run the risk of Upsetting anything with that soil by trying to dig down to get that root ball even if it's 18 inches So to and and I really don't know What it would be for that specific tree But it would be much better for us to treat everything safe to cut the tree down to be able to Get it down and stump grind the tree so that we can make that area safe and then replace those trees Which we have committed to mitigating for any tree that that we have had to touch in town And we're doing everything we can including providing water for the tree and and other things that are actually above and beyond With the permanent self requires because we want to make sure that the trees You know that the city is in burden with having to water trees and stuff like that So we've been doing everything we can to make sure that we replace trees And that's what this is is a tree replacement program putting them in the right places I have a quick question. How long has that pipeline been there for do you know if you know well The tree did come after the pipeline Right. Any further questions on this? What about the building? When was that building built after the earthquake, right? Same year. Yeah, and they must have dug footings really close to the pipeline too. I mean, they must be like right next to it, right? Yeah, and so under our program we went through and double checked Clearances and distances from the pipeline. We've actually found some buildings too close and we've had to move those buildings Some buildings we've had to take down So depending on by those buildings and then you take them down depends on the situation Most of the places where we've had some of those issues have been on farms Where people have come in and built barns and stuff like that and we did at our cost because we didn't catch it at the time We at our cost went and Paid for those things to be moved because we do believe we did not do a great job There was a lot of stuff going on around trees There was a time when you wanted To have vegetation grow over pipelines because they thought that that meant that people wouldn't dig into the pipeline And so it's just a lot of different methods. We've been really looking at this We're making sure there's a science to it But we wanted to make sure trees could remain and anytime you go to washington dc to talk to the feds They say no trees within 10 feet on either side of the pipe And that wasn't good enough for us because we knew it wasn't good enough for our communities I do have one one other question that I'll take look when you just in other areas where this has taken place We've had to remove a tree and you and you stump grind them. How does that affect the access on the on the sidewalk? It depends. Um, in this case, we would have to replace the sidewalks. So it would be ADA compliant A lot of urban areas such as san francisco and stuff like that We have had to pave over the tree wells and then we would find other areas in the neighborhood to replant trees For the most part We would love to have a sidewalk or a street over our pipeline. That is The best easiest way to keep the pipeline safe keep people from digging in and as well as having that access that we need That's pretty efficient So that's why we weren't surprised to hear that public works was Wanting to make that an ADA compliant sidewalk. Okay Um councilmember matthews quick question the mitigation for tree removal, it's it's two for one replacement and Pledge in this case of $10,000 to the tree fund. Have I is have I got that in total what it is? That's the sum total Well every tree, I mean I So it'd be four new trees plus $10,000 that's as I I don't know So within the letter that Leslie Keedie urban forester So within the letter that pacific gas and electric wrote to martin last december We talked about and we negotiated to have our mitigations consistent with our heritage tree ordinance So every tree that is removed they are Contributing what they would do in the heritage tree ordinance And they would offer mitigation for every tree removed to both the property owner and to the city So in essence, they're double mitigating for every removal that they're doing on City property or even on public property Even if they remove a tree on private property, they're mitigating to us additional for that So we already negotiated that they would mitigate to the public and to the private for any tree removed And then in addition to that mitigation that's consistent with our heritage tree ordinance Since it's difficult to mitigate some of these trees that are very sensitive to our community I asked for a one-time payment additional payment of $10,000 Into the tree fund and that check was deposited directly into the tree fund And that will go towards supporting additional trees to be planted city-wide So the heritage tree ordinance replacement is two new trees for every tree removed and we got that right I'm just trying yeah, so so in outside of the coastal zone It's either three 15 gallons or one 24 inch box tree for every tree removed And then they have to mitigate or they could do 150 and loofy within our policy So they would mitigate both or any of the private trees and the public trees with that mitigation And then in the coastal zone the lcp policy speaks to a two-to-one ratio So for these two trees removed they're going to do four trees remove or four trees planted and We're negotiating that these four trees would actually go Within the vicinity because some of the folks that work in the 200 office building Are upset about the loss of canopy and the shading to their offices And so what we've committed to is installing trees across the street And there are some voids and some small diameter Red buds and other things that we can actually put some Canopy trees over in the city parking area adjacent to the depot field So there would be four trees Going in for the two trees removed Right across the street How long does it take for those trees to grow? They're gonna have shade across the street. Yeah, and so of course it depends what species we plant And if we put in something that was quite large then we could maybe get five to ten feet a year of that growth So if we did sycamores or redwoods or something that was a quick growing notable species that would grow very quickly I think um There is no way to dispute that this tree is exquisite. It's just a beautiful red flowering gum and It's sad that this tree is being removed and with james allen and I are working incredibly hard to save this one That's a similar species over here at this Very expensive building site There are a tree that we lost of a very large number of these trees in the 80s during the freeze There are not very many left in our community and it's some I mean you could say it was heartbreaking to lose this tree So mitigation is somewhat up to my discretion in working with pacific gas and electric and of course any of your input and also input from the community My thought is is that um since these Carimbias or red gums Do really well in this area that perhaps we should put in a couple of carambias across the street to mitigate the loss of this tree And then maybe do a couple of larger scale trees also to get some more instant shade the carambias Probably grow maybe a foot or two feet a year. They're not the quickest growing a plain tree You might be able to get you know three to five feet a year on but it really just depends What the community and what the council and what we as staff Negotiate with pacific gas and electric on this Just to wrap that up, you know better than anyone. I mean they took down all the sycamores by the Playing field. I think if they were the leaves were just Messing up the fields is what I understand in any event Right tree right place. Yeah. Yeah, and those trees grew very quickly. Yeah They were 25 30 feet tall in just a number of years So it really is about species selection and and providing ample water and On the other sites that weren't appealed with these specific gas and electric removals They're actually paying for us to modify our irrigation and our park areas to bring irrigation to the trees So we are really having the ability to promote growth and make the most sustainable conditions for these new trees Okay, so we're at a point of deliberation and action on this item I'll um Council member Matthews. I'll I'll be the bad guy It's a gorgeous tree But I think the fact that it is right smack over the the pipeline Presents a pretty straightforward rationale for the removal We will get a an ADA compliant sidewalk in an area that does have a lot of traffic. There's a steep um mitigation in place so I would say Reluctantly, I will move approval that we Deny the appeal and approve the removal And I'll second that I lost that ask this in terms of the Process have if we ever negotiated just you know additional trees or anything like that in regards to mitigation or just this is our stat our standard standard Our standard under our ordinance There's so 10 000 to the tree fund So on this application, of course, we have the policy of a two-to-one ratio and then we have the 10 000 extra bonus. So The the problem that I see is If we put in more trees to mitigate this and especially in this vicinity we actually will have to remove some smaller trees and That's not quite so heartbreaking because they're two inch diameter red buds, but really any tree removal is up to Emotional triggers the response. Thank you Okay, is there any further discussion on this item? There's a motion and a second All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Those opposed. No, okay the motion passes with council member crone and council member Brown voting no council member matthews council member chaise council member rolling vice member walkins of my myself voting To deny the appeal Okay, that was the third item. I want to thank everybody for their patience I know that was your second round today alex too. So have a good evening. Good night We're going to go on to item number 26 and then when we get to item 27 I'm going to ask that we postpone that to the next meeting But item 26 is the meeting calendar anything to No, nothing to add I should have before I made that comment. I will not be at the next meeting So you're going to have to tell me vice mayor walkins about, you know, what everybody's been doing since the last meeting Okay So There is no update there. We're going to take it to the end Um, and I'm going to say the meeting is adjourned and thanks everybody for your patience on this this meeting Um, I know we had a lot of appeals, but um, I appreciate everybody's patience Good night