 Okay, we'll reconvene the City Council. We just had a closed session. We'll now reconvene an open session With a study session. Mr. McGlynn. Yes 3.1 progress progressive parking review Kim Nadeau and Ryosa de la Rosa presenting and can I can just confirm to is councilmember combs on the line Great welcome Julie. Good afternoon. I'm waiting for the Projector to work I'm Kim Nadeau parking manager city of Santa Rosa, and I'll be here to give you this Study session reviewing the parking program since the implementation of progressive parking Can we take a little bit of a break? So we're not waiting Technical difficulties over resolved shortly. Sure. We'll temporarily recess this meeting And it looks like we're back He was a professor at UCLA of economics and urban planning He observed that there was a high demand Areas in the downtown where it was difficult to find a place to park and that there was plenty of available parking in garages and some off-street lots His philosophy to best manage parking supply is market-based and related to demand Setting the price at the lowest rate that achieves 85 percent occupancy or one empty space per block Following his visit the city council established as one of its council goals to explore the feasibility of implementing dr. Schupes philosophy also known as progressive parking In 2016 the city hired nelson-nigard to review the city's parking program and occupancy data and made recommendations on Strategies that could be implemented to improve access to these high-demand parking areas and utilize Schupes market-based pricing philosophy In 2017 the council approved new garage and parking meter fees based on demand to better distribute the use of parking through the facilities And to improve access this included establishing two meter pricing zones known as the premium and the value zones Council also authorized the chief financial officer to adjust parking meter rates up or down by no more than 25 cents an hour Not more than every six months to achieve that 85 percent occupancy goal so in 2017 a September of 2017 a low-wage employee discount permit was implemented at the first and seventh street garages Which are offered at half off or $31 a month in November? 2017 we implemented the first hour free at the first and seventh street garages and also lowered the hourly rate to 50 cents an hour to encourage use of those facilities in February 2000 2019 a discount commuter permit was implemented And that is offered at the first street garage which is located next to the transit mall and that permit is also $31 a month and then in August 2019 We implemented free parking at the fifth street and D street garages on Sundays And also implemented matched the free parking on holidays at the meters is matched at the garages as well so in January of 2018 we implemented the value and premium zones and the premium Zone area represents one-third of the parking metered spaces Those rates went up to a dollar fifty an hour and the hours of enforcement were shifted two hours later It used to be 8 a.m. To 6 p.m. And now it's 10 a.m. To 8 p.m. In the Premium area and that was based on the occupancy data that had been collected that showed that there was a strong demand for parking in This premium zone after six o'clock The value zone which again is two-thirds of the parking meters had those enforcement hours Reduced by two hours so it no longer started at 8 a.m. It started at 10 a.m. And it still stops at 6 p.m And the objectives of all this were to make parking easier to find in those high-demand areas to reduce people circling looking for a space in the high-demand areas and to increase and Maintain turnover of spaces in the downtown for people who are running errands and shopping and to provide more options for Residents and visitors coming downtown at different price points and different Time limits so we have places where you can park for all day And then we have shorter-term places where we are hoping that you're gonna be moving along and then we have different price points So this is a map that I'm sure you've all seen before but just to Recap it shows the the blue area is the premium zone the green area represents the value zone and the the lots and garages are also shown on there so looking at the data this graph is comparing 2018 occupancy data peak occupancy data to 2019 and The first half of the year You'll see that the the red peaks which are for 2019 are generally exceeding 2018 the second half of the year You'll see more of the blue or the 2018 peaks being the top peaks but across the board you're seeing that 85% occupancy is Regularly exceeds the 85% occupancy target and you might notice those two drops in May and July those are from Ironman when a lot of the streets are closed and So the spaces aren't available and you won't have occupancy data for that for that time frame Another way to look at the data is by looking at the average occupancy and then we can look at it by hour So here you can clearly see the two peaks of demand that we have We've got the noon hour roughly, you know 11 to 1 and then we've got that that dinner time evening peak of 6 to 8 o'clock and You'll see that in looking at Monday through Friday. There's been a slight drop in 2019 occupancy at that noon hour And that the 6 to 8 o'clock hours is pretty much it's almost identical and then looking at Saturday You see a little drop at the noon hour and then you see a small increase in demand at that 6 to 8 o'clock time frame For parking in the in the premium zone This slide compares the data that we have from 2017 before we implemented the progressive parking and 2019 when we had While we've had progressive parking in place So here you can see that again you see the two peaks and you'll see that The demand at the lunchtime period is higher in 2019 than it was in 2017 and then you see the the same Strong demand from 6 to 8 o'clock, of course, you don't see that in 2017 because paid parking stopped at 6 o'clock and This slide demonstrates why the hours were shifted in The premium zone because you can see that the occupancy in the morning at 9 o'clock a.m. Was only 27% Whereas the occupancy at 7 p.m. Is over 80% and so that was the Thinking behind making the changes based on the Shopee in model is looking at where the demand is and Because the demand wasn't that high in the morning. It didn't make sense to have the paid parking start that early And looking at the value zone You can see that the 2019 peaks are pretty much across the board exceeding the 2018 peaks And that it rarely exceeds 70% and it pretty much it hovers around 65% in the value zone When you look at that data from the hourly perspective 18 and 19 Monday through Friday are almost identical and then you'll see on Saturday as we've seen in improvement Higher utilization of the value zones in on Saturdays In looking at all of the transactions for the whole system this slide shows that parking meter transactions which are shown in that kind of brownish gold color have increased every year and the garage Transactions have dipped slightly although when you put them all together the total transactions Have increased every every year although not dramatically in the last two years. It's been a slow uptick the this slide is looking at just Garage transactions where people pull a ticket so this doesn't include People who have permits and please accept my apology There is a column on the far left that shouldn't be there there that was a cut-and-paste error So ignore that one that says 2.5 million on down. I apologize for that So setting stepping aside from that So what you can see here is that the 7th Street and 1st Street garages have shown an increase in Utilization, which I attribute to the first hour free and the 50 cent an hour rate there and then you see a Drop in daily users at the other three garages, which may Indicate that people who are parking in those three garages Have found it more attractive to go park in the two garages where it's less expensive It could be some other factor, but that's one possibility is why we're seeing that change In looking at garage permit sales You can see here that the 5th Street garage is the workhorse of our downtown as far as employee parking That is the one that's shown in the dark red slash brown. So there's over 600 permits sold in that garage If you look at the 3rd Street garage, which is our smallest garage and you see no change It's because there's only 35 permits available there. There's always a waiting list We were always sold out so that has no fluctuation at all and the other three garages right now We're all in the same ballpark of permit sales around the 350 Range and you see that peak in 2000 that that top line represents the accumulative total permit sales and it peaked in 2016-17 I'm not sure why that there was that uptick there But the general trend of the line is that it's been slowly going up with permit sales. We sell in addition to this we sell Somewhere in the neighborhood of 350 360 permits and lots also so total it's over 2,000 permits that are sold a month In looking at revenue before I talk about this slide I wanted to talk a little about the difference between the parking district in its program and park in the parking enforcement program The parking enforcement program is not reflected on this slide the Parking program is reimbursed by the general fund for the cost to deliver Parking enforcement services and all of the revenue that's generated from citation issuance is deposited to the general fund so For the parking fund it's it's a pass through for us in terms of our cost It's a wash we provide the services were reimbursed by the general fund and it's just a net zero so this slide is looking at the Revenue that's generated by parking user fees and the costs that are associated with maintaining the parking Facilities the assets the lots the garages So I just want to make it clear. This is doesn't include the enforcement side So for the first three fiscal years that you see up here Those are actual numbers. So these are years past and you can see that the budget is structurally sound the revenues exceed the expenditures And for the future years I assumed that revenues would be flat that there wouldn't be any change in in rates and I assumed a 5% annual increase in the cost of Operations and maintenance and so at that track when you get to the out year We could potentially be looking at a structural getting close to a structural deficit We're there to be no changes and that's a long time out and likely there will be changes But the the black line that you see indicates the deferred maintenance that we've identified so we have over well, roughly 20 million dollars of capital improvement projects that have been identified to extend the useful life of the facilities and We have about 8 million dollars in our in reserves in our budget. So the fact that our revenues exceed our operations and maintenance is what allows us to supplement that reserve fund so that we will have the funds available to be able to make these repairs that are necessary to operate the parking program And to put in perspective those those deferred maintenance costs This is showing you that the insured values of the garages is about 90 million dollars Which if you divide that by all the spaces we have is about 30 thousand dollars a space if you were to reconstruct Which is a little low for what the industry Indicates it would cost especially in our area to replace the facilities so it It it's worse the investment of doing the maintenance that's required to extend the useful life of the garages It's way less expensive than it would be to replace them. Oh And another note I wanted to make I've heard from the council that you appreciate Street names for the facilities and are not so fond of the numbers So we're making every effort to to use the the locational names in these presentations that we're giving to you and staff is is working now on identifying Signs and systems and documents that would need to be changed to to make this a broader change So we're working in that direction. We're looking to see how much is involved in doing that So I also looked at comparable cities to see what they were doing with regard to Parking and I have this on two slides So I might flip back and forth because I couldn't fit it all on one But there are several cities who are doing a very similar zone rating program that we're doing Walnut Creek San Mateo San Luis Obispo San Leandro is another one that I found Since I started working on this And then there are also cities that have parking that goes to later hours like Walnut Creek Monterey goes till 8 o'clock at night West Sacramento goes till 10 o'clock at night every day of the week So there's a wide variety of what cities are doing and not just in California, but across the country this Concept that dr. Shoot put out there, you know 15 years ago really seems to be Becoming more of the norm and as has become It's more frequent that that we see that being implemented With regard to enforcement data Approximately eighty eight percent of all of the citations that are issued are appealed and About seven percent of them are issued warnings When you look at the between the six and eight o'clock hours about 21 percent have been the have been issued warnings in that time frame and Did I say I think I just said that wrong 18 percent warnings 21 percent of the total citations that are issued are issued between six and eight o'clock at night and 20 percent of the time of enforcement is I've got to say this the right way we have ten hours of paid enforcement time Two hours of that would be 20 percent of the paid enforcement time in the premium zone so the rate of citations issued is Inline with the number of hours in the day that ticket tickets could be issued less than two percent of all of the transactions that take place in Santa Rosa receive a parking citation and You'll note that more that There's been an increase in citations issued In particular in fiscal year 18 19, which is a year where we added a part-time Parking enforcement officer. We now have three full-time and two part-time parking enforcement officers and they Have quite a bit of territory to cover they work Monday through Saturday They have six residential will now seven residential permit zones to To patrol with the addition of the West End and then there was two additional blocks added to the downtown Residential permit area and we've received a petition gets under review now for another residential permit zone in the olive Park area, so They were having a hard time being able to patrol all of that area, which was why we had requested the addition of a part-time PEO and that accounts for At least part of why you see an increase in citations in that year. Oh And one other thing I wanted to say is that we've I've received feedback that people Still don't Understand that we have paid parking until eight o'clock so we are We issued many many warnings at the beginning of the program But we eased off on that but given the feedback that we've received. We are now issuing warnings Between six and eight o'clock to vehicles who have not received a ticket or a warning before between six and eight o'clock at night So people who don't know will have a freebie and we'll get a warning with and a piece of little Informational piece that lets them know that parking is it in that area goes to eight o'clock So that I'm going to turn it over to Raisa de la Rosa the economic development manager. She's going to talk about sales tax data Yeah, so we thought it would be helpful to give you a little bit of Again sales tax data to go along with your parking data I'm just to get an understanding of where we are what's going on right now in the city So for anyone who saw or read about dr. Thornberg's recent economic forecast. I just want to start by saying That overall Sonoma County's and Santa Rosa's economy is is stable. So we're doing pretty good We're fortunate to have a diverse economy here and our indicators are on the positive side Dr. Thornberg just for what it's worth did call out two key issues that are critical needs for Sonoma County and That is housing at all income levels And our efforts are in the downtown, which I think will be helpful as well as labor shortages We have a 2.7% unemployment rate right now in Santa Rosa Which is affecting a business growth and stability So before I get into the specifics of downtown, I just wanted to start on the broader side With a broader perspective and so looking at this chart This again is specific to the sales tax performance citywide I just want to point out that we do have modest growth But there are two areas where the numbers are down. That's transportation and general retail transportation We have just had historically high levels of new car sales. Those are declining. So that's where you see The bulk of the decline in transportation and then general retail We are down year-over-year for retail, but our trend line going back two and a half years has been on the What I call the positive side of flat But Those in the economic development subcommittee know that for retail. I always say flat is the new up It's an unfortunate reality of where we are with retail But we are we were slightly lower in the first quarter of this year Then we were for the first quarter last year, but we're picking up again between the first and second quarters of this year Which one to push so turning now specifically to courthouse square I'm helped in large part to the very good holiday season. We had in the fourth quarter of 2018 and that was mostly driven by retail the trend line for this graph is is Positive for the path of the two and a half year period shown But that said what is most obvious on this graph is that between the first quarter and second quarter of this year clearly Revenues are down and we're not seeing that typical second-quarter bounce back that we Generally see you know after the first quarter holiday post shopping lull So I wanted to show this slide because it just reiterates that I just selected a few of the shopping destination areas and you can see with the exception of the interestingly Flat or you know, it's a it's a positive line of urban square, but it doesn't fluctuate all other Shopping areas here and then also I looked at the rest of the city They do bounce back up on the second quarter So again in courthouse square. We're seeing that that trend is not continuing specific to the downtown area I was able to date a little bit deeper. I apologize. I don't have grass for for this data But I looked specifically in courthouse square and compared it city-wide for food sales, you know food service and retail so while the trend line for food service revenues city-wide is positive the same data for courthouse square shows a slightly negative trend line so it's Barely negative again. It's like that negative side of flat, but it is negative In the past two years the highest revenues for For restaurants was in the second and third quarters of 2017. So just before the fires, but we have not seen that kind of return in subsequent quarters So for looking also for food sales or restaurants Just for 2019 the first and second quarters and again sales tax data lags by six months So we only have up to the second quarter of this year the trend line There it does show a modest increase, but we are still below Where we would where we were a year ago within that same time period In comparison looking at retail sales city-wide that trend line is also positive with a nice upturn from Q1 and Q2 for this year But for courthouse scores Specifically over the last two years again the trend line is clearly positive However, there is a dramatic decline from the very high Point we had for the fourth quarter fourth quarter of 2018 to the first quarter of 2019 where Higher quarter over quarter for the first quarter however, we are continuing a decline so that 2019 trend line is negative and it is Notable to give some national perspective and restaurant and retail Industry sectors I did do a little bit of research and and we'll say this the restaurant nationwide the restaurant performing performance index Declined to its lowest levels In a year in August However, the expectation index Is positive which is interesting and then for retail the the one thing there were a number of factors That led into the negative decline for restaurants nationwide And is something that sort of mirrors what I've been hearing in discussing the issues in Santa Rosa and that is staffing staff retention Well, it was staff recruitment and retention was identified both locally and nationwide as a critical issue For retail, I will say retail just continues to see Disruption there's a change Change in what consumer demands are and then of course we're seeing as always an increase in online purchasing So those are two Just sort of nationwide perspectives. I will say too We have heard and have been discussing and are sort of leaning into the issue of Downtown and not just the perceptions but the reality of of the negative trend lines As well as you know business Frustrations and so we've been meeting with business owners as well as the downtown action organization Excuse me and the center is a metro chamber So we're looking to in the next couple of weeks. We're hopefully the next a week really come up with a list of programmatic Opportunities that between the three organizations we can really go after we are looking at something more comprehensive than just addressing parking concerns, but looking at marketing. What can we do in terms of? Staffing opportunities and workforce retention Beautification anything that can help address the perceptions of Working and visiting and doing business in the downtown. So we're leaning into that with again the particularly DAO and the metro chamber So to sum up We're seeing that peak occupancies in the premium zone regularly exceeds 85 percent and exceeds 80 percent from 6 p.m To 8 p.m. And we've had some success in changing parking behavior to more underutilized locations in the value zone and the first and seven street garages So we're happy to answer any questions you have and would appreciate any direction that you would like to provide Thank you. Thank you so much for the presentation, and I really appreciate you renaming the parking or giving the locations because you know, I've been with the city almost 35-40 years and I still couldn't figure out the numbers but second Street third Thank you so much for that. So with that bring back to council questions, Mr. Olivares Thank you as relates to your Research with other cities who have moved beyond the six o'clock hour any feedback from the city that we reach out to them to Find out how that's working for them isn't working for them. I Can I can put that on my to-do list? You showed that I just didn't know if there was any other information that came with that other than that They didn't move towards that I've only me going to the California Public Parking Association meetings and Seeing presentations where people are demonstrating that they've had success with it Walnut Creek in particular has been very successful with it, but I don't have it. I don't have any Numbers that I don't know how long they've been in those processes or anything like that Walnut Creek's been probably two years and I would say San Luis Vista might have been Longer than that, but I don't have those statistics at hand. And do we have a way of Honestly predicting forecasting what impact The our goal in increasing housing downtown will have on any of these numbers across the board We haven't we're actually in the midst of a parking study and we're looking at that In relation to downtown stationary specific plan, but we don't have that at this time. Okay, and then one last question as it relates to The progressive parking that we've had now for what a couple years or a little bit year and before What were the impacts to us as far as revenue was it was a move revenue neutral like this is my question No, it was not revenue neutral. It was it was a revenue gain It wasn't intended to be a revenue gain, but it has proven to be where's that so It was January of 2018 that the Progressive parking was implemented and so you can see It looks like it's around four hundred thousand of a bump. Okay. Thank you Mr. Rogers Thank you, Mr. Mayor We did a pilot program last year where we had the free parking in the garages between I think it was Thanksgiving and the end of the year Could you talk a little bit? I'm not sure which one to address the question to what was the impact to? Parking at the time as well as what was the economic impact that we saw quarter over quarter Like I can speak to the parking impact so In terms of revenue we estimate it was around $25,000 in lost revenue and in terms of addition we didn't see an an increase in Transaction data or at least not a substantial increase in in Transaction data for the time it appeared to be in line with What we had seen the year prior in terms of activity and remind me I believe what we still did was we kept the arms down So the people still had to pull the ticket so that we could capture that data even though they weren't paying for it they Correct You know so again the revenues aren't tied to parking. We didn't link that but we did have a Probably the highest well it was the highest quarter in The past two and a half years was in 2018 Q4 so the And it was mostly driven by retail Okay, and have you tried to dig in at all to see why that quarter was particularly better than others well quarter over quarter the quarter prior We did see the typical gain in the fourth quarter, but it was post-fire And so I don't I haven't dug in deeper to see Specifically what happened or what changed To that one okay, and then Kim it as it pertains to the deferred Maintenance that you talked about that that seems to escalate. I know we are also in the process right now of Trying to attract housing that utilizes some of those parking garages that there's the cooperative agreement that's there Can you talk a little bit about how that might impact that deferred maintenance number? Yes, if some of if any one of these parking Locations was determined to be an opportunity site and a developer came forward with a project that was there That meant we no longer, you know would be Looking at doing that deferred maintenance because we would no longer have a facility that would that would change the outlook of that deferred Maintenance line that are there any that are currently in the works are being contemplated that we're on the list I'll I'll leave that one. Sorry. What was it? So do we have any interest in? Housing on some of our garage sites as a partnership in the deferred maintenance Analysis So we have had discussion we have an Ena and one parking lot and then we have We're looking at a garage housing on a garage site as well And we have been in discussion with Kim about the potential well So a requirement at this point on the on the Ena that we have an existence Is that parking is replaced and so we would have a I? Hope this is answering a question. We would have new parking or better parking On the news sites and that would be the expectation if we replace parking both in lots and garages Yeah, so I'm also making an assumption that most of the deferred maintenance is from the garages not from the flat lots So I maybe that's an incorrect assumption. I Would say Little over half is garages, but the lots are in very poor condition So there is quite a bit of our deferred maintenance that is associated with the lots and also with ADA The ADA transition plan in particular just so you know We're looking specifically at the third street garage too, which I think is one of your most expensive needs for Repair well, it's the oldest garage Yeah, so it's going to take the most to extend its useful life and it's also the smallest garage So yeah, so if the city could get that project potentially across the finish line It helps us both on the housing front as well as on the deferred maintenance front Would we just and I don't want to go too far down the rabbit hole But in that sort of an agreement would we still own the operation and maintenance costs or would part of the Ena Be on It's subject to the Ena and the discussion to get us to a DDA got it. Okay Great. Thank you so much. Mr. Javits Thank you, mayor. I just want to expand on what I think the vice mayor was driving at and I believe it's on page 14 That slide with the O&M. Would you mind? Going to it. I don't I apologize. I don't have my iPad in front of me my question here Kim was in 19 and 20 if my memory serves that's when we decided to defer the big slurry seal and I was curious if that is driving that O&M cost right there Excuse me deferred maintenance. I'm sorry. I'm mixing my terms Because it's intriguing to me that we have that all of a sudden going along then all of a sudden in 1920 Here's this new collection of data did the city just start taking Deferred maintenance into account for the first time ever was there a singular event? Oh, I understand. I'm sorry I didn't understand but now I understand so no What I was looking I when I looked backwards Mm-hmm Those are actuals So we it's like when you've looked I didn't put down what our project our actual project expenditures were on Maintenance projects in those three prior years, but the deferred maintenance starts there because that's the that's where we are now That I don't know if that's it sort of does But was that in particular triggered by the slurry seal because no because I remember that was I think a million two or something was a large number and we said we want to wait and see what materializes on the housing front because we don't want to spend 1.2 million to slurry seal this parking lot if it's just going to get demoed and redone next year in two years So I was curious if this is in addition. So that doesn't impact this Okay, my second question is on page 19 and this is probably more geared towards you right so but it's on the sales tax That chart on the left is that city-wide or is that what's what's that? It's city-wide so the gray bars are the performance by the you know by quarter and then The squiggly lines are the specific industry sectors Okay, one thing that that's interesting to me is when you look at 2014 Q2 which would have been you know just starting the climb out of the recession Revenues are I'm guessing seven point eight million there and then if you look at 2019 Q2 Much better economic times It's just over eight million when you generated this snapshot of the sales tax Did you take out the emergency sales tax measure and measure o? I think two sales taxes since then that we passed no, I'm looking at Assistant City Manager McBride, and I don't believe those are taken out. So I if they aren't this is my concern What that suggests to me is that we've seen virtually no change yet possibly even a decline in sales tax city-wide because as You're increasing the tax for capturing more sales tax But the numbers staying flat which would then suggest sales probably decline city-wide is that Do you see what I'm can I ask? Yeah That's beyond me. I'm not sure What I'm seeing potentially and I hope you prove me wrong is that we do not have a very healthy economic climate So you're talking about the measure o that the new measure o that was passed last November So if you remember you see we wouldn't start to see the revenue from that until April at the earliest so when so you remember on an annual basis That's about ten million dollars and we thought we'd see about two million of that in the first fiscal year Which would end at June 30th. So You're you're probably just seeing part of that reflected here, so you're right There might be some masking from that that may be masking some downturn, but Again, I'm not sure that we're picking up all the effects in that yet. You'll you'll see those more in the In the new year, which will which will begin July 1st So when you get third quarter data, that's when you should really start to see the impacts of the measure o that was Okay, and did we pass something in 2014? I thought we passed the tax measure in 2014 too or was that just a re-up of Measure o I can't that was a there was a reauthorization of a quarter since sales tax measures So that there wouldn't be any differentiation that was a continuation. Okay, I Think Chuck you're probably right that if that's if we aren't seeing the full capture of measure o If there is masking it's slight But I just hope that we can really watch that going forward because I mean even you take that out again. This is 2014 Now we're in 2019 vastly different economic circumstance revenues are see our flat miss line Thank You mr. Mayor Miss Nadeau I regularly hear from constituents and small businesses that they're frustrated that Santa Rosa is the only city that has the in the county that has Paid parking. Do you know if other cities within the county are looking into? instituting paid parking The city of Petaluma has this discussion come up on occasion the city of Windsor has recently been I Don't know pondering the idea. I don't know and Heelsburg. I did a study a couple studies on Paid parking and it was recommended. I'm in touch. This isn't Sonoma County, but I've been Reached out to you by Yukaya for advice because they're apparently getting ready to put in parking meters in Yukaya So it is a topic of discussion in other cities, but it's a big lift to go from free parking to paid parking I'm sure it is and this question is more from is de la Rosa I'm curious You know one thing I'm wondering is is it possible for you? We've got the quarter over quarter year over your data. Is it possible to pull out the December 18 data? When we did have some more free free parking last year and compare that to I know December of 2017 is a really I knew that was a really unusual quarter, but maybe December 2016 Yeah, I can talk to our consultants who Managed his data muni services or Avenue and see what they can do. Generally. It's confined to quarters I don't think they can do that and so it's my understanding. I was not on the council when we adopted Progressive parking, but it's my understanding that this is to support the downtown businesses rather than to disrupt them Can you speak to that at all? Who me or Kim I like the reason behind doing this is to make it easier for people to find a place to park and Paid parking is a proven method to encourage people Who are price sensitive to park farther away? the whole reason that a parking meter was ever invented was because merchants were complaining that they're they're Patrons could not find a place to park because their employees were getting there early and parking all day So, I mean that was a whole origin of how paid parking came to be So the purpose of it is to make it easier for people to come down for people to say Oh, I want to go down to dinner downtown Santa Rosa and have a Hive sense of confidence that when they come down and they want to park close to their favorite restaurant on 4th Street That they'd be able to find a place to park instead of driving around in circles trying to find a place to park that that's the Theory behind it. Thank you, and this question is probably more for you Mr. La Rosa is that you know, I'm looking at slide 6 and I and I do see that sometimes we exceed 100% parking Which kind of boggles the mind, but at any rate do we have any Information that you know, I hear a lot of anecdotal information about the 6 to 8 p.m. Parking harming our downtown businesses, but do we have anything beyond? Antidotal information to suggest that this has an impact either positive or negative on our downtown businesses so again, just like you know sales data is like our best form of understanding the performance of businesses and Unfortunately, it not only do they do it by quarter, but they don't sort of indicate Hourly so most of what we rely on is anecdotal at this point Yeah, unfortunately, I don't have more specific data to provide And the last thing is you said that Ms. Nido that this was not intended to generate additional revenue And it has and I'm wondering if there is a statute or a plan how we spend that additional revenue to best benefit the Parking district or if that goes into the general fund it goes to the parking fund and It's it's now designated to help us cover those 20 million dollars worth of deferred maintenance that we have Looking ahead of us. So we're a long ways from filling our coffers to being able to Fund all of those projects in the next few years. So that that's what it would be designated for Thank you to you both Ms. Gomes, do you have any questions? Ms. Nadal for your presentation with lots of good data I'm looking at slide 21. I think this is for Ms. Delarosa Plaza is well below what it was in 2017 during if this is a If you could repeat for me what the national trend is in this area is The national trend that sales are down Right in retail. Yes The national trend is that retail sales are flat and then again in looking at some of the industry reports for restaurants This year Their indicators were were slightly down I do know that as in regards to the center as a plaza Sears for example closed at the end of 2018 I believe it was so that affected it but generally On the whole retail sales are flat nationwide. Thank you for Good data. I have one question. I appreciate that information about the Citations and communities said less than two percent of transactions are cited. How does that compare against industry standards? Oh dear I don't know that would that would be something I did I'd be interested to hear How we compared to other municipalities, so Okay, any other immediate questions? Okay. We have several cards on this First up Eric Frazier followed by Tom Robertson. Thank you very Thank you very much. Mr. Mayor and council members and other general people. I Appreciate you taking the time to listen to my comments. I Submitted some Comments in written form by PDF by email, so I hope they're attached to the study session records Basically, I talked about three different areas of my concerns. One is that overall? I don't think that the parking department represents information in an accurate way that the reports always seem to be lacking and Obfuscated I think the lack of enforcement data specifically skews The perception of what parking really is all about and the driver of revenue a major driver of revenue to the city and also to your consultants and related contractors I Also noted that the parking department has moved away from being accountable to citizens As is apparently the city council from time to time That in fact the city council has given the parking department wide latitude to interpret and create new rules in Order to find ways to increase revenue from the citizenry The parking the progressive parking specifically I have several points The new parking the progressive parking policy very difficult to say I know was discussed before we had states of emergency But you chose not to suspend The introduction of progressive parking when in fact people were in a state of federal emergency That meant people that were coming from other parts of the county that had no paid parking policies Had to understand the labor of our our unique Santa Rosa parking policy That's not derogative or derogatory. I don't know what is and potentially illegal I think the question should be asked of the state attorney whether in fact subjecting additional citizens to Parking enforcement is A form of price gouging. I believe one will find that that may be the case It was also introduced during one of the darkest nights of the year you chose what the middle of January to Introduce what was that six-point font on the parking meters? I Had to assess many of our elders to understand what now they had to make sense of during a state of emergency So they're not subjected to what is that $40 ticket? I don't know again the reports don't really pull forward Those enforcement costs you guys are flying blind When it comes to knowing what citizens and customers Endure when it comes to enforcement The statistics that we sat through today sure $400 profit to parking That's not including the money that comes back Thank You Tom Robertson followed by Bernie Schwartz Mr. Mayor ladies and gentlemen of the council I've been working in developing property in this downtown since 1990 haven't done it much lately, but I'm trying to do a housing project and one thing that my partner and I are very Concerned about is we now have eight restaurants for sale We have just had a restaurant go down at a site that used to be a good solid site How do I explain to institutional investors? Empty storefronts and prominent sites in the downtown now. I can't tell you that this is the responsibility of the parking policy But it's the one thing that you folks can really have an impact on and maybe it's part of it the number of tickets between 2017 and 2018 went up 20 percent 20 percent You get on average by the statistics were decided there 115 parking tickets given every day some proportion of them in the evenings The warning system is a hand wave at it when someone gets a parking ticket here They tend not to come back and it It's true much of the information that you're hearing is anecdotal, but it reaches a certain point There are dozens and dozens of complaints about this from the merchants from their customers from the rest of tours from their patrons At some point it ceases to be anecdotal if it were car if we're if we total them up and let's say they're 87 Complaints and that's a 10 percent increase over last year. I suppose then it would be statistical I mean you can do that sort of thing I Am very very dubious. This is a very small downtown at this side of the downtown East of the freeway, maybe 10 blocks. It has no it's not even remotely comparable to Walnut Creek or any of the other cities Which were mentioned I Was in I was in Albany recently was a much larger downtown block after block on Solano Avenue and side streets They have two hour. I think it's actually an hour and a half Parkment no meters the place was thriving Petaluma is doing very well go down there on a Friday night or on a Wednesday night or we're during the day is doing much better than we are and I don't hear any comparable Statistics with how the economy is at the other cities in this county are doing I would be astounded if any of them pass metered parking based upon just simply the But the various merchants and rest of tours say This has been a bad thing for the downtown and I hear about it all the time I've been hearing complaints about the parking district since 1990 and I it's time for Some thoroughgoing reform the current Amount that the district has in its coffers is $14 million Some of that may be for operations, but $14 million. Thank you very much Thank you, Bernie Schwartz followed by Michael Hyman Good afternoon mayor and council members. I'm Bernie Schwartz. I have California luggage I've been on 4th Street for 39 years the parking district I believe is a lot older than that. It was created by the city and by the businesses for the benefit of the businesses Over that time I've seen a lot of iterations of parking policies And I've experienced the successes and some of the failures We all remember the blue pay-and-display boxes that were on the sidewalks for about five years And they were replaced by our current smart meters There was a real negative perception by the community about those boxes the smart meters were accepted This was an easy thing to experience as a business Right now. I think we're kind of in a perfect storm. There is a general malaise economically and I don't think it's going to get better soon I've seen my numbers and numbers of my neighbors drop double digits Since the beginning of the year in addition The parking perception as being unfriendly has grown for the last two years every time someone gets a ticket They tell ten people pretty soon. They have other choices to make The system is a little bit complicated and I'm a fan of dr. Shoe, but I think where it works in towns is where there is Residential density in the core where you have apartment dwellers that are going to sit on a parking place all night long And so in Berkeley in San Francisco Extended metering seems to help the businesses here. I think it's added to a perception that we are unfriendly and Unfortunately, we also have a perception of being unsafe and so as Part of the business community and the downtown action organization I'm appealing to you to take action to correct this right now while we're in a really fragile state Progressive parking doesn't have to go away. The whole idea of it is that it can be flexible One specific request I'm asking is that you have on the agenda tonight the small business Saturday free garage parking I'm hoping that maybe you'll expand on that action tonight to add holiday garage parking through January 1st We had that last year it helped last year. We desperately need help this year I'm happy to know from economic development that they're going to be working on plans For the holidays before the holidays, hopefully to beautify and promote the downtown But really what we need is a strong statement of support from the council and so I'm hoping you'll Reconsider and quickly act on as soon as you can get it on an agenda a rollback to 6 p.m And let the community know that we are making it easier to come downtown that we are family friendly that we are safe And that you guys have our backs. Thank you very much. Thank you Michael Hyman followed by Kevins Allison Good afternoon mayor Schwedhelm vice mayor Rogers council members. I am Michael Hyman a native saddle rosin Long-time business owner in the downtown as well as a property owner and I appreciate the opportunity To speak to you today on a subject matter that I've talked about ever since I learned how to talk parking Specifically the rollback of the meters in the premium zone from 8 p.m. To 6 p.m We are a downtown in transition Reuniting the square the new hotel and the downtown station area specific plan are all steps in the right direction And we are so grateful for the council support of these plans as they will drastically impact our downtown landscape for the better Here in Santa Rosa, we are unlike the cities in the East Bay Sacramento in the Bay Area We don't have the population living in the downtown nor the other things that we need in order to make the downtown Successful as of yet. It's like someone told me It was like trying to fly a plane while still building it. It's just not gonna fly the goal here is to have people come and enjoy what our downtown has to offer and We have a lot to offer but right now. We also have many empty storefronts and more businesses closing daily The businesses and restaurants in the downtown do not just compete with one another in the downtown They compete with Montgomery Village Cunningtown the strip center stand-alone businesses and other cities in Sonoma County as well like Hillsburg Petaluma and Sonoma not one of these other places charge for parking after six The city of Santa Rosa's downtown is the only place that charges for parking after six Putting us at an unfair disadvantage in competing with others In fact, not one business nor one member of the community Requested parking enforcement after 6 p.m We must remember the downtown is not here for the parking district. The parking district is here for the downtown with the holidays soon upon us We respectfully request and strongly urge the council to place on the council's agenda this parking meter time change From 8 p.m. To 6 p.m. For a vote immediately We are also mindful that the parking district has a budget as well to consider And so we suggest moving the meter start time back from 10 a.m. To 9 a.m. To help balance the budget The downtown is the heart of Santa Rosa Please continue the support you have shown the past and let's keep this heart going. Thank you. Thank you Cadence Allentson followed by Natalie sir sirs though Good afternoon. Thank you guys for taking the time today to talk about this. It's a very important issue to the downtown business owners I'll keep it brief. You all know there's an incredible amount of concern and frustration right now in downtown Parking and several other issues including safety and as Risa said, we're really looking forward to partnering with the city to tackle some of these issues Because we're looking at sales tax data from six months ago The DAO is now reaching out to business owners to collect data on Their current status compared to this time last year and right now the response we're getting is that businesses are down about 14% When we asked those who responded What the pressing issues are to them over 50% list parking is an issue? So I've heard from a lot of the business owners this that this holiday season is going to be the make or break for them And that if they don't succeed, they will likely be closing their stores We've seen the negative impact already on restaurants And we hope that that doesn't continue moving forward into 2020 so Basically, we're we're asking you today to support us support getting free holiday parking in garages over the Weekends and to help with the rollback as soon as possible I think these two changes would really give our community something substantial to begin Looking at and helping to change their attitude and perception of what it's like to come downtown So we hope we can count on your support Thank you. Thank you Natalie Solerzo and followed by Gerald Niveski hi, good afternoon, mr. Mayor and council members My name is Natalie Chalorzo. I'm the co-owner of Russian River Brewing Company at 725 4th Street We've been in business since 2004 and Sawyer's news was our next-door neighbor a lot's changed since those days So I have been tracking sales recently Since we opened in 2004 I have some data in front. I'm sorry I don't have a very articulate presentation for you today I've been dealing with PG&E all day who's gonna shut our power off tomorrow Anyway, another story for another time, but I do have data going back to 2013 So since 2004 our business has been on a very steady incline To 2016 as we all know in 2017 things got a little squirrely With the fires and then ever since then things have been a little bit challenging for us, so So basically just some things I want to point out is that for our Santa Rosa pub sales data alone September was down seven percent over last year October was down 32% Over last year a lot of that is related to the fires even though we were only shut down for one day downtown But our year-to-date sales downtown are down 33% Which is very dramatic for my company granted We can say that our Windsor location has cannibalized some of that business, but not all of that business So there's definitely something else going on. We're seeing a downward trend in fact this past month October of 2019 our sales were lower than they were in October of 2013 so this downward trend for us is definitely not sustainable I can't honestly stand here and tell you that this is related to parking But I can tell you that parking is a factor among many many factors that are contributing to You know wonderful restaurants like Gerard's and many others going out of business Just this year alone and so I think that While the parking data shows an increase in customers parking or at least in parking revenue I I hope that you're hearing the business community say to you that that our numbers do not Correlate with the parking data that our numbers are down But we are seeing less and less people as the days and the months and the years go by and so We're just asking you to help us out with something in the very short term By rolling back the parking hours from 8 o'clock to 6 o'clock as soon as possible Just to help us get through at least the holidays while we address some of the bigger problems that we have in Santa Rosa That are more in the medium and long-term issues such as housing and etc So anyway, that's kind of our appeal to you today my friend Bernie called me the canary in the coal mine once and I am the canary in the coal mine and I am telling you that downtown is having some struggles Thank you. Thank you. Gerard Nubeski followed by Anne Sealy Hello, I again, I'm not very prepared either, but I just want to raise a couple points I Understand the parking revenues and the need for the parking etc. But right now the only data that I See everywhere right now are for lease signs all over downtown Santa Rosa. I don't see those same For lease signs in other cities in Sonoma County In fact, I think their downtowns are thriving and it's hard to get real estate there But there's something telling you about downtown when you can have for lease signing your space for months and nobody wants to come Through the front door checking what's available with the prices. I our sales data is down 40% since last year and We started off with real vigorous Growth and things were great and it's progressively gone down and down and most of our customers that come in site parking They do site homeless issues and safety I For me it takes me from downtown Santa Rosa seven minutes to get to downtown Sebastopol I don't have any parking issues weirdos and a huge choice of restaurants to go to so I think that's Things we need to look at because we're really in competition with a lot of other cities in Sonoma County And we can't compete in this environment. It does not make any sense to me. So that's all just being real brief I just everything else has been already said already. Thank you. Thank you Anne Sealy followed by Peter Rumble Good evening mayor and council and Sealy speaking for concerned citizens for Santa Rosa I'm here to speak a bit of heresy and that is heresy against followers of Donald shoe I am a lover of downtown. I go downtown whenever I have an opportunity and my husband and I attempt to eat It downtown whenever we have a chance but The restaurants are becoming less and less in Lower in number We'll never get the love Europe Restaurant back again, which is sad, but I Just want to offer you some thoughts to do with what you will The change to 8 p.m. Is that destructive one in my mind? Of enforcement till 8 p.m I'm lucky in that my husband drops me off at a restaurant And says I'll go find parking and then I'll join you Most people don't have that the huge investment in courthouse square reunification I'm afraid is being squandered by Parking enforcement policies. I imagined Creating a much more thriving restaurant and small Retail environment and that's not really possible with Meadard parking the way it is now with the competition that does not have Meadard parking I was just a supporter of courthouse square reunification for 25 years and actually Kind of squandered some some political capital in supporting it But i'm afraid it's just going to stay Concrete and grass unless we you make the downtown more available to people I almost didn't come here tonight to speak Except that my co-worker and where I work said and go downtown and tell him I don't go downtown because I don't think it's right to have to pay for parking and get a ticket if i'm a few minutes late So Please deal with this I understand the parking department is doing what they can to deal with difficult problems, but We have made our downtown a less attractive place to go to and that's Unfortunate Thank you, peter rumble followed by asuna shandy Council peter rumble from the santa rosa metro chamber Just to carry on miss cily's comments. You're hearing from a number of Downtown businesses. I wanted to talk a little bit more broadly about citywide perspective And Bernie and tom are absolutely correct. I think we need to be careful what for what problem we're solving In progressive parking as we noted is intended to make parking more easily available more easy to find absolutely That's actually not what business owners have been complaining about for two years It is a perception issue at this point In citywide there is an absolute perception that it is difficult to come downtown difficult for many reasons It's not just parking, but parking is one of those reasons. And it's one that you can act on Through policy decisions. I understand Where they were coming from but from policy decisions your council has also made it even more difficult for some businesses particularly restaurants Through additional costs And now you have an opportunity to actually make it a little bit easier For businesses to operate downtown And you know, I just have to say the comparisons to walnut creek and sandals of bispo You know, if we no offense dug your soya jeweler if we had a tiffany's on the corner and an even marcus and a Nordstrom and you know booming Retail and restaurant sector it progressive parking would be absolutely applicable. Go ahead and charge until 10 We do not have that we have a real meaningful perception issue not just coming downtown, but even working downtown now Uh racy noted that the city staff is beginning to work with the dao and the chamber I would really ask your council's Endorsement of that course of action. I think that we can tackle this collaboratively Through issues that the city can take on issues that the chamber can take on issues that our community can take on To help make things More appealing and perhaps even return to your council with a plan In 60 to 90 days something before the next Council priority setting agenda because we can't wait for that Um, I would ask that your council consider rolling back parking from 8 to 6 p.m. Enforcement of that Ask your council to provide direction to implement a holiday parking program to mirror last year is not just Uh, you know black friday or whatever we want to call it I'd ask your council to also provide direction to begin to consider looking at how to sync up Garage time, uh, free garage time in a way that incentivizes that as well Thank you. I really appreciate your staff in particular making themselves available to the chamber But we need this help now, uh, and we can't wait for another two years Thank you, peter so Johnny followed by steve burlaba Thank you First I want to thank the council and the staff putting together a report to to look at this Um, and I'm going to give you a story. This is uh, yesterday. I have a Two gentlemen visiting from one from la one from indianapolis They wouldn't be downtown if it wasn't for my office and they were when they came last night And we went out to our cleveland avenue location and we started with the With the appetizer and then we drove to downtown for beer bar and to finish for dinner This gentleman from la goes and and we were parking and at seven o'clock. We're putting, um I told my brother let's put money in the meter and he goes Oh, there's parking in santa rosa that is being implemented at 7 p.m. That's kind of crazy So that's somebody who comes from la And lives in a thriving community and there is no After 6 p.m. Charges for parking and more importantly the garage signage at this morning I told him I said if you're parking parking a garage and he didn't find a garage and he ended up getting a ticket So here's somebody who came from out of the community. It's not a big deal $35 is not is that perception issue That peter was pointing out to and the other gentlemen have pointed out to That we are not that thriving downtown yet And we're not walnut creek. I've been to walnut creek many many times And we don't have those businesses that can drive that traffic to our downtown that can allow us to be progressive parking So I really ask the staff and the council to rollbacks six to eight p.m. As soon as possible And then there's still a lot more that needs to be done that we could use our garage parking much more And encourage the employees to be using the garages And and I've seen still in the last many many times in the last year At 6 o'clock at 6 p.m. That third street garage should not be empty But it is because we have not done a good job Of really encouraging those locals and the people who are price sensitive to utilize those garages And I ask that we that you allow the request the staff to work closely with the Oh in the next 60 to 90 days to really come up with the program that allows to To be our parking to serve the current needs While we're still in a transition to build an urban downtown. Thank you. Thank you steve urla Thank you, mr. Mayor and members steve urla bowel with the transportation land use coalition I spent a little time looking at recent video of Dr. Schup's Presentation and he pointed out that in order to sell parking meters in the 1930s It engaged in a little experiment They put parking meters on one side of the street and not on the other side of the street It was very convincing The merchants that were on the parking lot side of the street Found there people were able to come in because there were open parking places People on the other side of the street found that those Parking's places were all occupied by our employees all day long And there was less traffic I suggest that before you consider a rollback That you replicate that experiment here Put paper bags on one side of the street And say parking's free And let the other side continue with the meters and let's see what we have what we actually see My recollection is that the problem before we Engaged in this in the present system Was that the employees were occupying a lot of places and that people couldn't find a place to park Let's see if that situation still exists today The other thing that dr. Schup suggests that we haven't adopted Is that the proceeds of parking meters are returned to source They go back to the merchants For street improvements street furniture Trees cleaning the streets that sort of thing so that the merchants can see That the cost of parking benefits the district I suggest that we can give that strong consideration. Thank you Now you see those are all the cards I have on this item If I can just get clarification for everyone in the chamber here, so whether it's camera's same manager So this is a study session So we're giving feedback to staff if it we took up one of the suggestions that was made by several speakers We rolled it back to eight to six If every council member gives that feedback does staff have the ability to do that Or do we have to re-agendize this item and actually bring it to a vote and have a report item for council? Yeah, this is a study session So an action and direction would would require us to re-agendize the item to bring back to council So if we so because we can't take a vote tonight, we could give general direction But if the unanimous general direction from all seven council members is roll it back They're consulting Yep correction the The chief financial officer who oversees the parking program has the authority to change the hours of operation That's not something that requires council Approval so if you were to provide that direction We wouldn't need to come back to council to do that how having said that however It's not like we can just flip a switch And change all the signs and reprogram all the media I mean there is some timing involved in us being able to make a change like that But it wouldn't require us coming back to council to change the hours. Great. Thank you. That's very helpful And also I would like to bring back to council specifically the downtown Subcommittee because I know there's been a topic of discussion amongst the three members of the subcommittee Is there any Additional information you like the entire council to have about your discussions from the subcommittee? Mr. All there's yeah from my perspective as a chair This has been probably a topic of conversation every meeting that we've ever had in the downtown subcommittee But again, uh, one that hasn't hasn't been able to be resolved And that's why it's come back to us for a study session to present it here to get some clarity and direction from the council to Those that have the authority to make changes Any other member miss lemme Yeah, so this continues to be an issue for our downtown merchants and is of great concern One of the things that you know Have been Considering around this is that if we were to do a rollback on the sixth date that it would be time specific with a specific beginning And end date and that we collect Data around it so that we can continue to support our downtown businesses with information Which is you know, again what we're trying to do here with the parking district So I think what i'm hearing is if there's an instruction we can we can move to implementation There are realities that are in the field right now, so we would have to look at those realities But you could give us the intention Then we'd have to analyze what it would take to make that intention take place So there's authority here, but then there's the field realities that we would have to look And figure out how we would meet the requirements that you put out That's understood. Thank you. Yeah, so my intention would be Clarifying what role we have one type of feedback We'll give and then I'll just we'll go through each of the council members to give that feedback And I what I just want to make sure is clear is I might not be able to provide an answer based on the Conversations floating around me may not be able to provide an answer tonight to how we meet that goal But if you lay out a goal Staff will make every effort to meet whatever goal you lay out. Thank you Ms. Gomes, why don't we start with you? Do you have feedback you would like to provide to staff regarding this topic? Well, again, I want to thank staff for providing the Information and I also want to thank the community that's come out and made comments For small business Saturdays Which I think makes some sense Um, hollywood seem to me that those would could be combined. I I'm guessing That we could try that through january 1st. So I would be supportive of that Suggestion that some of the beautification the Majority of the rest of the council Thank you. Mr. Tillis Thank you, mayor. So I'll I'll start my comments and feedback by saying uh kim and reis of both I want to thank you for the Data that you provided to me. I feel like I definitely had the information to make this decision and it was pretty exhaustive So thanks. I really mean it and kim my comments are not going to be supportive of the progressive Parking program, but I do want to give you credit for taking this concept from council implementing it And and in my opinion doing a pretty good job of it. I just don't necessarily think this is the best thing for right now So what I'm going to suggest is And and I'm basing this off of the data too, right? I think there was two compelling slides that to me kind of said we tried it didn't work Now we need to listen to our business owners because it seems to be having an averse impact on them Excuse me adverse impact on them and that was on one of the pages. I think it was Potentially page 11, but when we we actually saw the meters Increase in their usage and if I recall back the whole point of the progressive parking was to get a greater increase In the garage is to free up the metered spots on 4th street So that doesn't seem to have worked as well as we thought it would also on page 14 Um, oh, I'm sorry that I'm looking at some of my old notes here Anyways, I'll get right to it, but I'm very supportive of rolling back the 6 to 8 p.m I think that we need to do that Now my question to you though is is we we still have an obligation to pay our bills In the parking department and not run at a deficit and I assume every business owner in the audience Understands that concept better than I do Um, what does that mean? We will also be changing from 8 a.m. To 10 a.m. Back because if I'm not mistaken That's how it used to be the mornings We had the time then we rolled back Uh, or we added 6 to 8 and then we rolled back 8 to 10 Are we talking about that? Are we just talking about rolling back 6 to 8? The um request that was received from the DAO was 9 a.m. To 6 p.m And our estimates is that that would result in a revenue decrease of around 400 000 dollars a year And if if you don't mind my clarifying With progressive parking It's it's a good thing if we're seeing meter Transactions going up if they're going up in the value zone. So we're really trying to push people Encourage people to use parking outside of the premium zone And there's two-thirds of the meters are in the value zone that are underutilized So it's not just the garages. It's also the value zone. Okay. Thanks for that clarification So I then I do support rolling back 6 to 8 going from 9 a.m. To 6 p.m Um, I also This free saturday concept now to be clear Are we talking about free saturdays during this study session or is that at a later item? So there's an item on the agenda for small business saturday So that that is already scheduled for consideration on the consent agenda Okay Well one I think I can tie it in here sue if I can't feel free to flag me But I do think that looking at ways in which we can provide more free parking during the weekends is helpful And I would be supportive of Something like that What else do we have here? Oh and one thing I do want to say is And this is kudos to you kim is your ability to through these exclusive negotiating agreements with developers and things like that As they come forward these opportunities looking at master lease Agreements with these types of folks to try to help offset some of these the revenue losses that we'll experience If we did the council decides to move forward With this tonight. So thank you. I do appreciate all your work into this, but I am going to be supporting the nine to six Is planning One quick question before I give my direction. Can you clarify? I'm sorry if I missed it in here What if we were to lose four hundred thousand dollars a year by rolling back the six to eight parking? What what kind of deficit would that put us at? In this current year, I wouldn't project that that will put us at a deficit It'll put us at a place where we aren't able to add to our reserves Which means we won't be able to have funding to do capital improvement projects down the road So that leads me into um my direction, which is if there is a surplus I think that it should go into operations and not into beautification or another Benefit district because this is the parking district and we have a responsibility toward our capital improvements on parking I just have to clarify one thing. Um, so The city center rosa pays 26 of the assessment that funds the dao Parking pays about 80 of that 26. So they um the majority of the city's assessment to the dao is already paid by parking So they are are already assessed sure and that's fine. I just want to make sure that we continue to use our Yes, mr. Mclin. No, that's understood. I think I think to mr. Rosa's point. We're already contributing to a factor that was raised earlier In public comment. So we were just trying to make that clear that that actually is in process Through the assessment district and I do appreciate the clarification. Thank you very much So here's what I am in support of and what I'm not in support of I am in support of holiday parking Meaning some rollbacks similar to what we did last year on saturdays in underutilized garages I am also supportive of a Temporary reprieve on the 68 parking. I know that staff has constraints and I very much respect that It's a lot of work to change this but if it could be done in Q1 and limited to q1 I think that that would serve two purposes one is it would give us a solid data point and reference for Comparing with last year and potentially next year and see if it does make a meaningful difference. Additionally, it would help our businesses Meet their goals of you know Overcoming the the lull that we experience in q1 Um What I am not in favor of is taking away progressive parking I believe that progressive parking is a solid practice and that we haven't had enough time or experience in the city And that we are a growing city and that some of this is growing pains And that we need to have a little bit of patience and that we need to temper Carrots and sticks and make sure that we have enough benefit to keep our downtown Growing and thriving as well as help people to get out of their cars, which is a major priority for me Mr. Sawyer Thank you, mayor. Thank you cam and raiser for your presentation. Um, I think I'm I appreciate your position. I think that you would agree and I think that probably everyone in the chamber That knows about downtown parking Would agree that it is not just parking that is that is there's no one Solution right now to dealing with the loss and revenue Of our downtown, but it is something we can have it immediate control over I remember in in 2009 this these this chamber if I remember it might have impact I remember there was a great deal of conversation about progressive parking as a merchant at the time I was a little concerned That mr. Dr. Schoop was saying that uh parking needed to be It was too cheap on forestry to need to be increased and the higher you make the parking Within reason you'll have turnover and then there will be plenty of people that have lots of places to park And he's probably right and unfortunately, I don't believe we had the luxury right now To continue that implementation a progressive parking. I am in favor of moving it back to six o'clock I'm moving it from nine to six on the holiday parking program. It is going to take a fair amount of marketing and notification of our community that we are changing yet again Our parking program, so I'm hoping that that is is going to be considered highly because we don't want to further confuse Our our customers so if if there is My feeling is that it should be consistent throughout the downtown I mean if we're gonna if if we're going to charge For a particular time at a particular rate on fourth street that we should be doing the same thing on fifth street and third street And so the people don't get fooled But I would you know, I if that's not the direction that everyone wants to go that I can understand that as well Part fourth street probably should be a little more expensive and people can get used to that And I think it's the perception that is really our problem And I look forward to the future when we can actually implement The progressive parking program. I agree with with ann that Anne sealy when she said it's heresy for her to stand up there and talk and speak to the to Reversing that decision that was made or discussed 10 years ago And but it was the The topic of the day and and many many people were in favor of it And there was a lot of conversation about how we really should not be acquiescing to the car But we should really be making it, you know, let's treat them reasonably and kind of get people to Think twice about using a car and think twice about You know paying attention to where they're parking and how much they're paying So It's a long way of saying I agree with my fellow council members I think we really do need to roll it back. Our merchants need help right now It's something we can control. We need to do it this quickly as we possibly can And then we'll see hopefully we will see a change in their in their numbers in the future and But I am in favor of moving forward as quickly as possible. Thank you Mr. All there's Thank you, mayor I was here with john when we had his first discussion related to progressive parking back in what was it? 2009 or so I think is what it was Um, and again, thank you for the update and the history on how we got to where we are today And I think one of the things that we need to keep in mind is when we talk about Is it dr. Schoop dr. Schoop is that we're he was presenting a philosophy Of parking it's I don't believe that it's quite there has been an exact science on how to manage this And I don't believe that we can accurately compare ourselves to other communities because we all have different factors that impact What's going on related to our business community our history in our parking issues? But but I do believe that If our community and our businesses are concerned, so should we And I get what the data says But I think those perceptions are also very strong and sometimes even stronger because I I agree when somebody gets a ticket We tell a lot of people about it. I don't usually brag about the nice shopping experience. I have downtown So I think that's important to understand Um, and and this is a benefit to our community and just like Reuniting corda score was an investment and our intent was to bring more to downtown I think making this change is also an investment because if if our merchants are able to Realize some improvements in their business by Suspending progressive parking indefinitely We have a chance to measure. Maybe that is it. I mean, I know it's part of it I don't know if it's all of it There are different factors that cause a business to go under and I can I get that this could be one And if we have an opportunity to eliminate a barrier, we should take that opportunity We are not in the business of paid parking downtown as a revenue generator from what I understand It's there for a certain purpose So we need to look at that And looking at the of the objectives that we have In why we have it and we talked about making space for ease making spaces easier to find I think we still have work to do in educating people about our garages and what what they can do for us As far as being a more of a benefit than the street parking But that's on all of us to do that's that includes the business community can't just be the city To what extent our business is promoting opportunities for people to park in a downtown by By helping to develop some kind of brochure to give people and educate them That has to again, if we're in it together, we're in it together as well as part of the education It can't just be the city doing that as it relates to reducing congestion again That goes to getting changing people's habits about parking to get into the garages where there's bigger value and prenups and spaces out on the street The increase that can log vitality. I think that could happen perhaps But again, we have to see whether it was the parking issues that were Causing these dips or not And then finally we talked about providing more options to residents and visitors It sounds like the options that they had before is what they prefer So I don't have a problem movement in that direction And again my my decision point here too is in the fact that this is not a revenue generator generator And I should not it needs to be paying for itself over time So my my interest and I know we'll talk about other free stuff later on Again, it's we're in we're in together And I've said this before at our downtown subcommittee meetings that we are partners in the downtown We are part of the downtown and I think it would be to our benefit to To roll this back And see to what extent progressive parking has been an impact on the reduction in sales in the downtown Mr. Vice mayor Thank you, mr. Mayor I'm in a joke a while back death taxes and changes to santa rosa's parking because it does feel like this is a Constant conversation that we're having I think I've had it 14 times in the three years that I've been on council now So it is something that I think the community is beginning to get a little bit Frustrated and confused by so I am looking for a long term for us to find some form of normalcy That people can just fall into a rhythm on and rely on You know, I understand the policy construct extremely well I've spent a lot of time talking to the public about it talking to folks downtown about it I'm highly skeptical that that parking is the reason that we're seeing so many businesses failing But I also know for a fact that the business community downtown has Gone out and taxed themselves to try to make our downtown a vibrant place And I think that it is in our best interest as a city to meet you halfway If that's the request that's coming is to Let you show us whether or not it's having an impact by rolling back from eight o'clock to six o'clock That i'm going to be absolutely supportive of doing that Go out there help us to sell to our downtown that it's a place where people want to go And we'll hopefully do what we can to support you as well on that and what i'm hearing from the council Is enough votes for us to do that rollback I also really did appreciate last year and understanding after the impact of the fire and the cumulative Impact that we're seeing from the de-energization that folks are struggling And so the uh Saturday, which we will be discussing I think is a good step I actually i'm in favor of doing the free saturdays in the garages The same amount of time that we did last year going straight through all of the saturdays up until the city resumes In january, which I think is january 3rd january 4th It's not necessarily on the first but whenever city hall opens back up So I will be supportive of of the rollback from 8 p.m. To 6 p.m. And i'm also supportive of free in the garages on saturdays Thank you for the information. So this has been an interesting conversation I don't know there's many folks in the audience. So I've had this discussion And I'd like to make data driven decisions and a lot of the data shows, you know, excellent presentation from the two I really appreciate that And I also have my own personal experience with parking downtown, which I don't I understand the system So I appreciate someone who's sharing, you know an out-of-town visitor in His experience mine's just been totally different But with that I also believe that The downtown businesses and the city of santa rosa and the city council are on the same page or on the same team So this is more of a relationship type thing Whereas I want everyone to be thinking that we are on the same page We're trying we're in this thing together and right now whether it's blame Due to parking or some of the other conditions I want us to be in a position in the city of santa rosa be known for We will do what needs to be done so that we're in this thing together and no more no finger pointing So with that I'm very supportive of rolling it back to where we were from nine to six The one thing though, I do want to have and I'm committed to it So whether it occurs with me because I know I have a meeting with dao Early next week or with the downtown subcommittee. I do think we need to come up with some common understanding How do we know if what we've done works? We've talked about anecdotal Anecdotal, you know six months from now that's going to be hard for me to swallow So right now before we're in crisis. What are those metrics at the end? You know q1 or q2 and you maybe you and I asked chuck when would we get the data where we can see Does this work? So we do have that long-term strategy and we don't do this each and every year The time to have the discussion is about did it work or didn't it work? It's not when we're in crisis and I'm not suggesting we're in crisis with the amount of businesses coming and going from santa rosa But let's just agree on some metrics so we can focus that discussion Sometime next year not just before the holidays to say yes, it's working or the strategy is actually paid dividends So I really want to encourage those discussions to continue on I'm also supportive of the holiday What we did last year because again, I also think that it's important not to be changing this every year so the The steps that we took last year I think we should be consistent in doing doing again this year because I heard positive feedback regarding those steps So with this I'll go back to staff. Did you get enough consensus or feedback? I think so, but I I did want to clarify one thing. So I I heard support for hours of 9 a.m. To 6 p.m. Which I'm interpreting that that would be at all parking meters both value and premium And we would continue to have our premium and value zones of a dollar and a dollar 50 an hour Changing that does require a council That's a resolution that put that that Rate structure in place, but changing the hours does not require us to come back That's something we have the discretion to do So I just want to make sure I understood correctly what I'm my my mission now is to move as quickly as we can to changing those hours Which is a logistical thing that we need to Deal with but we can do that the feedback not the votes the feedback I heard also didn't mention of changing any of the value or premium spots is just roll back in the hours And I'm seeing nodding heads miss gums is your head nodding So I think that was a yes Was that it then uh, yeah, the the only other thing I want to say is just to reiterate the data point Sales tax data lags six months Um, generally we cannot go Into a deeper dive by month or even more specifically So we'll look at what we can do and then shorter that We of course have the parking data and we'll work and perhaps work through the downtown subcommittee With the downtown action organization and metro chamber on what data we can get Short of that which we have uh and under our control and to rise this point into your point Uh Mayor, um, I think we need to understand what it is We want to do because these data sets are lag Significantly the results and so one of the questions we're going to have for the council is I believe we need to commit to free Saturdays for a longer period of time Say what the metric is for success how we're going to measure that success So we're not in this conversation every holiday season because the Collection of the data does not match the results and unfortunately for all of us in the community October is being a challenge to do real in-depth analysis and get time to get those conversations moving forward So that's one of the things I do want to come back and really get an understanding of where the council's commitment is To that so there we're not struggling and correspondingly what success looks like to keep that offer on the table right Thank you All right, uh, do we need a brief break to set up for the regular council meeting? I think we should take a five minute break. So okay Let's take a five minute break recess. Thank you Welcome to today's regular session of the sander of the city council Madam city clerk announcement of roll call, please Let the record show that all council members are present with councilmember combs teleconferencing from ecuador councilmember combs Can you confirm you are on the line appears the system automatically cuts me off about every two hours? So I will be having to redial at the two hour mark Thank you Thank you for the information Uh closed session Yes, the council met in closed session and discussed items 2.1 and 2.2 and on each of those items gave direction to staff Great. Thank you so much for that We have no proclamations today staff briefings. Mr. City manager. Is there a staff briefing for us tonight? No, there is not Keeping with our city manager. Do you have anything you'd like to report tonight? Yes, I do A red flag warning is in effect from 4 a.m. Tomorrow to 7 a.m. Thursday for the north bay mountains and elevations over a thousand feet With a lack of rain conditions in our area are dry with low humidity However winds are expected in the upper elevations only Due to the forecasted conditions pg&e has announced plans for a public safety power shutoff event That will have impacts to the eastern parts of our community Since this weather event is concentrated to the higher elevations only the footprint of this potential psps is smaller than compared To the most recent shutoff events If implemented the power shutoff will start as early Tomorrow morning as at 7 a.m. And will impact the east side of santa rosa Pg&e anticipates they will be able to announce the all-clear at around 8 a.m. Thursday Which is when the inspection and re-injury energization process could begin Pg&e indicates that this could take up to 24 hours and residents in the impacted area should prepare To be without power for multiple days The current number of customers that are that will be impacted in sonoma county is approximately 40 000 Including just over 12 000 customers within the city limits We estimate this equates to approximately 36 000 santa rosa residents impacted by this potential event public messaging and staff Preparations for the potential shutoff began this past sunday when we learned about pg&e's potential plans today the city Excuse me today the city activated our eoc at about 130 this afternoon and will remain activated until this evening The ec will close overnight and reopen 7 a.m. To 7 p.m. Wednesday The ec will also open thursday with exact timing and staffing still to be determined Depending on the pg&e's plans for restoration Pg&e will open a community resource center for impacted residents in sonoma county at the santa rosa veterans memorial building located at 1351 maple avenue santa rosa the community resource center will open wednesday november 20th From 8 a.m. To 8 p.m. And will remain open daily until power is restored restrooms electronic device charging water blankets heating and cooling will be available City staff are currently determining options for potentially opening a warming shelter overnight wednesday During the power shutoff event more details on that will be available soon To prepare for the weather event additional firefighters will be on duty starting at 8 p.m. Tonight for the latest information on this event residents can Follow the city of santa rosa and sit around set in the city of santa rosa fire department on facebook and twitter Visit the city's emergency web web page at srcity.org Slash emergency or call 2 1 1 Thank you Thank you for the information council. Do you have any questions about that information the city manager just shared? No, thank you Do we have a city attorney report? I have nothing to report this afternoon. Thank you. Great. Thank you council any Abstentions on today's agenda for anyone mr. Tibbet Thank you mayor. Unfortunately. I'll have to abstain from 12.5 in the consent calendar So if that can be taken separate, I'd appreciate it 14.1 15.1 and 15.3 So you said 12.5 14.1 15.1 and 15.3 correct. Great. Thank you any others mr. Sawyer Thank you, mayor. I'll be abstained from 11.1 the minutes of the november 5th meeting as I was not in attendance Thank you and mr. Alvarez. I will also be Upstanding from the approval of the minutes Any others and I will be abstaining from the approval of the minutes also Do you have the votes you need for that item? I think we have four of us left Doing the math Go ahead. Ms. Fleming did you have the abstaining from item 15.3? 15.3 I think we have quarms for all items. Do you have any abstentions mr. Vice mayor? Okay mayors council members reports Um Ms. Gomes, could we start with you please my resignation as a member of the center as a city council My last day will be november 25th 2019 I do want to say it's been a great honor to serve the people of Santa Rosa for the past seven years as a council member And I am grateful for the opportunity to have served our beautiful city And to have made contribution to our civic life I deeply appreciate the many colleagues and friends I have made within city government As well as all the special people who give their time and service to our community I intend to remain involved with Santa Rosa city government as a private citizen and as a resident of Santa Rosa If there is anything I can do to make the transition easier, please let me know It is not my intent to inconvenience anyone by my resignation I do sincerely hope that the wishes of the people of Santa Rosa for a balanced council Will be taken into account in considering my replacement We have made much progress since I joined the council and I am proud of our accomplishments together We've improved open government processes. We've annexed roseland We've improved city sponsored homeless services with a variety of ways including the chat program We've done more for inclusionary housing We've changed a number of directions With the help of our new city manager and city attorney We've implemented district elections We've improved processes with our downtown as we saw just a moment ago with our DAO We've implemented our climate action plan We've improved services including turning street lights back on We've implemented body-worn cameras We've also worked hard on the fire recovery from 2012 and much more We have begun to address jointly with the county the challenges of homelessness and housing services faced by our working poor And if I am to have any legacy, I hope it is that the council will continue To address these critical issues Together in a balanced and compassionate manner I want to thank you very much for your understanding. I'm finding it hard to pass the torch But we are all human beings and sometimes Personal concerns prevail. I have very much loved serving the citizens of santa rosa And I look forward to continuing my involvement as a private citizen Thank you very much mayor Thank you council members combs. I really appreciate your comments. It's been wonderful Sure to see you next to you during this my first year as mayor So We'll go around counseling if you yet want to make any comments because unfortunately council member combs isn't here So we can personally thank her or make any comments But before we get to comments by individual council members Madam city attorney, could you just explain now with what we just heard that last day? Or the resignation effect of november 25th. What is council's next steps to fill the vacancy With a resignation date of november 25th. The council then has 60 days If it chooses to appoint an a successor Otherwise the appointment of the successor would go to a special election It is our intent that we will bring A An item to council on december 3rd The first step is for the council to consider A schedule for the appointment for opening application period for review of the applications And ultimately appointment of a successor. We will bring that calendar to you Again on december 3rd Great. Thank you for that information All right, let's just go around if you have a anything you'd like to report or any comments for council member combs. Mr Alvarez, can we start on your side? Yeah I was trying to think back of Some of your your term here council member combs and I greatly appreciate that I was just thinking back when we started Our own discussions with our committee related to homelessness and now here we are so many years later It continued to expand that but I do want to extend my appreciation for your years of service Even before council, I believe you've served for a number of years on the cab as well So thank you very much and I wish you luck and I wish your husband well. Thank you Mr. Sauer Thank you mayor and thank you, julie for all of your service over these many years It takes a great deal of sacrifice as we all know and You have served your constituency consistently and and with great dedication and I am pleased that you're turning your efforts Inward to take care of yourself and your family and I wish you all the best in the future And in enjoying that part of the world When you're when you are in Ecuador that I have never seen and I'm sure it's a beautiful place to live And I wish you all the best Thank you. Mr. Tews Thank you mayor. Hey julie. It's jack. I just want to Give my sincerest and heartfelt thanks to you for all the time you've put on the council I remember coming up as a young man in this community and the board of public utilities and starting to get engaged in city government And I always really had a deep appreciation for How much care and compassion you brought to the job, you know You use that word compassion and I certainly see it and felt it and then after having the opportunity to serve with you Boy, did I feel it on a number of occasions? and I just think that The legacy you do leave behind is one that is particularly Focused if you will on on the working poor and I hope that this council will continue to Push that forward. I'm sure we will Um, I will miss you on this council. I hope to see you around santa rosa Or in cuenca. I might take you up on that offer to visit you sometime. Um, so really thanks a lot, julie miss phleming It's with a really heavy heart that I say goodbye to you in this capacity julie If it hadn't been for that fate meeting a few years ago, I certainly wouldn't be sitting on the council and your mentorship has Meant a lot to me. I especially appreciate appreciate your Really intense commitment to your constituents and I um I know that that your voice will be missed on our council. All right. Take care Mr. Rice mayor. Thank you, mr. Mayor So I think julie I think you've heard a lot of us talk about your heart And I think that that's really what you're going to be remembered for here on the council But one of the things that I noticed hadn't really made it into the discussion yet And I wanted to bring up was your relentless pursuit for community engagement And I think whether it was on the cab Or whether on the city council, I think there has never been a council member who works so hard to make sure that the voices Of folks who didn't make it to council meetings were heard And I remember hearing and having a discussion with you about what budget season looked like Before or at the beginning of your term and what you were able to transform it into by reaching out to different groups To to folks who felt marginalized and I think that that's going to be a lasting legacy for you I think it's incumbent on the rest of us to fill that void both in Missing your heart, but also missing that community engagement And I know you'll let us know if you think we're falling short of that metric, but just a sincere thank you Yeah, I too Julie want to thank you for all of your efforts because it's kind of odd here I don't know where to look So if we had a Skype, I'd be looking at you Julie But you know, I think I first met you when I was the chief of police and we had a relationship there Then when I joined council, I think both of us surprised each other in the number of common Areas that we had and our agreements were much more than our disagreements And because of your efforts and the perspective you have brought to council I think you have truly made me a better City council person to evaluate things from a different perspective that I didn't have before I was on council So I truly thank you for all of your efforts for the city of santa rosa. You really have made a difference in our community So with that are there any other reports any council member wants to make mr. Vice mayor Thank you, mr. Mayor All before you go on thank you very much. I I'm really grateful and it has been Uh, it's working with each of you. Thank you Thank you Julie Mr. Vice mayor. Yeah, thank you, mr. Mayor First and foremost, I will be appointing jeff nathanson to the arts and public places committee as my replacement as my appointment To it had moved up to winzer. Uh, so unfortunately left this community I also wanted to report out on a couple of different community events that I was able to attend First and foremost was this last sunday. It was the reopening of the snoopy ice arena And it kicked off 50 more years as they said of Celebrating with our community and providing a place for youth to learn how to skate and play hockey and During the the olympics curling if that's your your forte as well So just a huge congratulations to the schultz family. That was a huge lift and had been closed for six months So it was really great to see it back open I had the mayors and council members legislative meeting last week where the discussion was around public safety power shutoffs and That conversation will continue with a discussion and a letter being drafted by the chair That i'll bring back to this council when it's ready With specific impacts to our community and specific asks From our community of the legislature and of the governor as they resume the legislative session this coming january So that'll be an important one for us. I wanted to thank the chief of police I had a chance to stop in as ray did his listening tour And he had west end last week It was really well attended with folks to talk about issues from homelessness to traffic to Literally what they were seeing on their own block and what their neighbors were Having difficulties with in our community. So thank you chief. That was a really well Constructed and well attended event and I understand I think you saw two left That's correct. Uh, throughout the rest of the community. So if you get a chance take a look at that I know it's on facebook And then finally i'll bring to the council's attention that there is the launch of vision zero Which we've talked about a little bit Trying to make sure that we have bicycle and pedestrian safety throughout our community and achieve Zero fatalities that'll be launched on december 3rd as an exercise at snowman county transportation authority I know everybody is watching that closely and then Final thing is just a reminder that from thursday the 28th. That's thanksgiving Through december 1st Through that sunday night smart will be running free throughout our community. So feel free to jump on the train Thank you vice mayor any other mr. Tibbets Thank you, mayor I wanted to bring up a couple of issues relating to downtown that I had some conversations with mr. Rumble last week about and and it's it was interesting because Speaking for myself over the last few weeks. I have not been paying a lot of attention to what's going on downtown What some of the needs are there and beyond parking? I mean as we all know we just address Potentially one of the parking issues that downtown had But apparently there's a lot of other things that I I perceive as being kind of low hanging fruit for example It's apparent we have restrictive ordinances in place that make it very difficult to put up lighting outside your business or decorative art Things like that The ability to increase signage downtown Greater access to host to help deal with some of the issues that exist down there with people experiencing homelessness brighter street lights An additional police police presence downtown And I just thought it might be a good idea for this council to have a study session Just generally on that because looking at the investments that this council has made In old courthouse square just making sure that we kind of keep a sharp focus on that So I bring that to the to the council's attention potentially for a second or i'm i'm not a member of the downtown Action or excuse me a downtown subcommittee. So if there's already work happening and I just am unaware of it I just want to raise it in the public space I know we had a brief conversation about it. I know myself and potentially the city manager have a meeting with the dao on monday Um, and I would also I would be personally interested I'd like to get the information as to what we'll be talking about there But also talk about the talk about this with the chair of the downtown subcommittee Because what I heard you just say it to me in my mind kind of sounds like a subcommittee type item But if it would be better to come to full council I know I want to have the discussion. I'm just not sure what venue is the most appropriate But then what I would propose is uh, mr Mayor when you have your meeting on monday if you and I could touch base perhaps and then and then make a decision about it Because I do get the impression. There's a sense of urgency And I think there would be an appetite for the council to address it as one body versus going through The subcommittee multiple steps, but uh, I don't want to get ahead of that conversation Right mr. Eisenhower. Yeah, and I just want to echo that sentiment that uh, the folks who are on the subcommittee I think have that conversation regularly and I think the rest of us are interested in having it as well at some point Okay Ms. Lemme do you have some comments? I would support mr. Tibbetts Request and I think that what would be uh fruitful would be for after your discussions would be for the downtown subcommittee to host A forum or something of a sort to get input from our our downtown community and business owners and bring it back for a discussion of the full council Yeah, so so if I could ask mr. Tibbetts If you allow me to wait and have my meeting on monday because I can get it on the agenda talk with the city manager Depending upon what those items are and hearing what you said here. It might be more efficient for Me just to assign that and have the discussion with Whomever our new vice mayor is to see where we're going to fit it on the agenda versus having to bring it back To council to talk about do we want to put it on the agenda put it on the agenda or I think we might be more efficient way of doing that Okay Mr. Sorry, sorry, sorry to interrupt. I think it also would be good after your conversations To be able to clarify What is what might be an actually a budget item that might come up that might need to be discussed during our budget review as opposed to Just general items of concern it would be it would really be good to be able to prioritize those those items And I think that that that I think the first place That where that might happen could be the subcommittee But I I would your recommendation Great, thank you. Um, mrs. Lonnie. Do you have some comments? I did I had an opportunity to go to a joint informational session between our Transportation and public works department and the santa rosa junior college around the potential closure of the elliott street To make it a bicycle and pedestrian Corridor and I wanted to thank rob sprinkle and nancy adams and one Other individual whose name is escaping me at the moment as well as dr Chong and his team for uh for collaborating with us on this project Okay, thank you. Um, and I just want to report on two things First last week. I was with one other city staff member at a senior leadership gathering for those across the nation working on ending homelessness um, it was I think a very, um Great opportunity to talk to others across the country who are dealing with some of the same issues that we're dealing with here Some of the different topics that we as a cohort rotated around was leadership capacity momentum funding awkward conversations and conflict navigating politics and community interests Evaluating performance and the value of relationships. So I'll be looping out with a variety of different community stakeholders I'm sure the city staff person will be doing the same, but it was a very healthy Conversation to see that we are not unique in some of the challenges facing our community in regards to homelessness And then this morning. I just want to thank providence st. Joseph's health for Bringing together several different community stakeholders talk about funding related to housing instability and homelessness Fortunately or unfortunately I had to leave early to come to our closed session. I know some city staff was there So I'll be anxious to hear the ultimate report of that We're trying to leverage some of the private dollars along with governmental dollars and others in our community So it's really appreciate the fact that they have brought everyone together Right next on the agenda. We have the election of a vice mayor. So the process we will use I will solicit nominations for the vice vice mayor and then We'll vote and go from there Mr. Olivares Yeah, mr. Mayor. I would nominate councilmember Fleming second All right, so we have councilmember Fleming Nominated and mr. Olivares seconded by our current vice mayor mr. Rogers. Are there any other nominations? Who are you gonna nominate someone else or was there a comment? I thought you were gonna ask me if I was gonna accept the nomination Would you be willing to accept that nomination? Yeah anyone else you want to nominate? Not today All right, no other nominations with that then I will as a presiding officer declare that the Ms. Fleming will be elected vice mayor by unanimous consent. Thank you and congratulations Would you like to make any comments and acceptance speech or anything now? Well when you put it like that, I mean how can I not? Um, I I'm definitely honored. I take that as a badge of support from my my council members and I hope I wish you good health and not too many vacations so that I don't have to do too much But at any rate, um, I look forward to continuing my work for the working families of our community I'm not sure when the last time that there was a mayor or vice mayor who had a child Under 18 living at home, and I think that it's really important to have our voices of people who are working and raising families Here at the table and there's enough work that I will end it at that and we'll get back to it Great. Thank you Alrighty item 11 approval of minutes. I know we have three folks abstaining those of us that can vote Are there any corrections to those minutes? See none will accept them as submitted Mr. McGillian consent now items Yes, uh item 12.1 resolution free garage parking on small business saturday november 30th 2019 item 12.2 resolution professional services agreement with muni services llc for revenue audit and consulting services item 12.3 resolution approval of purchase of four replacement paratransit buses item 12.4 ordinance introductions spinster in rezoning clerical correction 407 south a street assessors parcel number 010 dash 221 dash 016 file number mnp 14 dash 018 Councilor me questions item 12.5. Sorry ordinance adoption second reading ordinance of the Council of the city of santa rosa amending title 20 of the santa rosa city code adding chapter 20 dash 39 objective design standards for streamlined and ministerial residential developments to create objective design standards for streamlined and ministerial residential developments file number Rez 19 dash 019 Sorry about that. That's okay. Council any questions on the consent calendar? I do have one on item 12.3 the four replacement paratransit buses We're not yet to public comment yet eric hold on a second Excuse me mayor. His card is for item 12.2. I believe Right. I have a question Okay So on item 12.3. I didn't see any options for electric vehicles for their paratransit buses Is there a reason for that and or how do we start evaluating Electric buses into the fleet. I know we had a discussion Not with paratransit, but with other buses Great question. Um, thank you for uh, geary coslin transit planner transit division um the time of the application for the grant and uh 2017 There was not an option to purchase electric buses under the uh under the contract options And still currently or there are no paratransit vehicles that have met The federal requirements to use federal money to buy By paratransit vehicles will continue to monitor those those opportunities as you know We have a commitment at the state level to um to meet the uh the ict and and and have full uh all electric uh fixed route buses by 2040 but currently there's no requirement for paratransit vehicles So thank you for that clarification. I do appreciate continuing to look at any opportunity to electrify our fleet I would really appreciate that. So thank you for that. Thank you Okay, we do have one card on this item item 12.2 eric frazier and on consent calendars. You have two minutes Okay, thank you very much. I'll be quick. My questions had to do with the staff report It was unclear whether that cost of this contract is per year or per the life of the contract I wasn't sure if it was a six hundred thousand dollar per year contract Um, I know you can't answer that question, but I'll lay that out there The other concern that I had was one about the uh conflict of interest I'm not sure if this is the same firm that's involved in the parking enforcement aspect of it But I do see in their contract where that they charge a percentage of what they make and I wonder how that In fact doesn't qualify as a conflict of interest What we do see in the parking enforcement area if this is the same firm that's involved in collection of that revenue Is that we see a staff working in concert with their contractors to make sort of rules on the fly that impact How parking fees are collected when they're collected the amount that they're collected Who they're waved for and so on and so forth We actually saw evidence of that tonight During the progressive parking when it was very convenient obviously to to change that up because staff has broad discretion Oversetting these fees. We wonder how that conflict of interest may be exacerbated with the contractors, especially ones that Operate in a front line capacity with tax paying residents Um, thank you. That's my concerns. Thank you And miss combs, did you have any questions on the consent calendar? We were also looking at whether or not the Uh manufacturer Was cooperating with the california standards Um for emissions That's regarding item 12.3 that paratransit bus in the media about fighting the california standards at the federal level Okay, staff is about ready to respond Yeah, maybe the question could be repeated the implementation of the california standards for emissions And i'm wondering if we are Noticing whether we're not the companies we are using to hire To purchase vehicles Our companies that are fighting the california standards for emissions or not I'm unable to answer that question Okay, do you hear that jillie? We may want to look at in the future Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? Miss is nice to hear you've got this item Thank you. I'm going to take it in two parts. Um, I'll move items 12.1 through 12.4 And ask for a second second We have a motion and a second and all of these have got to be voice vote, correct Or roll call vote Okay, roll call vote starting with mayor schwedhelm Yes councilmember chris rogers councilmember combs Yes Vice mayor flemming. Yes Councilmember oliveris. Yes Councilmember soyer. Yes Councilmember tibbetz. Yes That passed unanimously. Thank you Okay, and then i'll move item 12.5 and uh look for a second, please All right. I'm 12.5. We have a motion and a second Roll call, please Mayor schwedhelm He's gone. Yes Uh councilmember rogers Councilmember combs Yes Vice mayor flemming. Yes Councilmember oliveris. Yes Councilmember soyer. All right That passes with six votes and one abstention You know jacks were accusing himself from like four things tonight. This might be entertaining Thank you Uh, do we have any cards for public comment? So we'll take the first 10 cards. We have three minutes per public comment. First up elizabeth nealon followed by caroline watson teal Oh, thank you very much and we'll definitely miss julie um First thing i'd like to mention Are the public phones in the transit mall when the transit mall was redesigned I don't know if it was six years ago seven ten. It wasn't that long ago They put four public telephones in the transit mall after a short time two of them remained out of order for A long period of time and then the company came and took those two away And then they left the other two that fell into disrepair and they took them away Uh at this time, I am only aware of one public telephone in the city of santa rosa Which is inside the lobby of the library? There's also one in front of the petal in the library Which is outside that you can use when the library is closed And there's also one inside the lobby of the sabastopol library And brings me to the the subject of our cell phones safe Uh in our cell phone tower safe and I like the gal that spoke last week about the The cell phone tower in front of montgomery high school. I think that's quite an injustice To the young people that go to that high school The wind events that we have are definitely part of climate change and climate crisis Along with the fact that so many people own cars and drive them mercilessly It seems to me as a person who has not owned a car in about 10 years Oh, that's not completely true. Actually. I was Gifted a truck and I kept it for a year and then I sold it So I did drive it a few times and it was registered to me So anyway, but yeah, I don't choose to own a vehicle like that anymore and um While I was in the hospital. I read this newspaper called slingshot. It's like a Berkeley rag. I think Um and it had an article on climate change in which they Stated that a hundred million tons of co2 are going into The atmosphere on a daily basis I think climate crisis is really really on at our throats um Of course, I do want to mention the war machine that is the largest employer on the planet and also the largest polluter on the planet um I think driving less is critical to humanity's survival And I personally do not trust cell phones, especially with children 23 seconds. Oh my gosh. Well, let's see. Um, what else is on my mind? I'm glad I get to go home. I'm kind of tired Yeah, yeah spending 24 days in the hospital did this really war me out terribly much So thanks for listening. Thank you. Carolyn teal followed by Janice Bradshaw Hi, my name is Carolyn teal Um, I just wanted to come here today to tell you about my experience last sunday where I was attacked by a pit bull rather viciously right next to montgomery high school in the green space and um The dog came out of a homeless encampment I actually was attacked by the pit bull and the small white dog that was also residing there um, I've come to find out that that homeless encampment has been there for At least two years and the dog has been Uh known to animal control to have bitten people before um, I'm an artist and the dog the dog did a real number on my arm and my hand and I had to have surgery and um Still might actually lose function in some of my fingers And I just really wanted to come here today to kind of shed a light on the fact that This in particular this dog had been Re-released back to these people over and over again after biting people And if it had have been a small child or an elderly person or something like that They wouldn't be here a child would be dead. I had to call the ambulance myself Um As I was waiting for the ambulance there was a woman pushing her stroller Along the sidewalk and I just wanted to yell at her that she needed to get out that it wasn't safe And i'm thinking if you can't be safe right next to a high school or you know In a neighborhood It just it kind of boggles my mind and I know that there's no easy answer to What's going on with the encampments? but the The safety measures that aren't being considered for the general population I think is Is really lacking and if anything needs to be done That type of thing needs to be done that that the animals and The welfare of the people around those camps need to be taken into consideration because I really don't feel like I was And I don't feel like the general population was It was pretty horrific and I will be reeling from it for a while And that's my neighborhood and I can't walk around in it now And the women are still actually in the homeless encampment for a little white dog is still there I do know that the pit bull went to the Quarantine, but I haven't at this time found out if it was euthanized. That's what they said they were going to do But you know, what's to stop them from getting another dog? Thank you for your time. Thank you Thank you Hello, my name is Janice Bradshaw, and I'm a concerned homeowner in Santa Rosa And the reason I'm here today is because I am concerned about the additional rollout of hundreds of small cell towers There are thousands of peer reviewed studies that show harm to health including cancer mental problems DNA damage reproductive harm and many others And I'm especially worried about our children. I have two grandchildren, and I'm very worried about their health Children have thinner skulls and smaller bodies. So radiation is absorbed Three to ten times deeper than in an adult We need to be cautious and not roll out more cell towers until independent research proves safety I would like to submit some recent 2019 studies into the public record that show Mental problems like ADD, ADHD, depression, anxiety memory problems, insomnia, violent behavior, suicide, headaches, cognitive impairment reproductive harm Damages sperm disruption of hormones decreases hormones There's also a national talks of ecology program that found clear evidence of cancer There's the bio initiative reports that reference more than 3,800 peer reviewed published studies that show it jeopardizes health So I think we need to be cautious And I think we need to really study these effects before we just Roll them out and some of the studies that I have here There's one that was from september 2019 It's about the mobile phone base station towers settings adjacent to school buildings. They impact on the student's cognitive health There's one here about long-term exposure to electromagnetic radiation that induces stress and anxiety Cognitive neurochemical consequences Radiation that affects amyloid precursor proteins and metabolism There's one here that talks about the male Reproductive harm or disperm and I have one here that shows also about the effect it has on hormone Profiles this study showed a significant decrease in cortisol thyroid hormones And testosterone levels So thank you very much for your time And I appreciate it. Thank you Alan Thomas followed by Alex Crone Thank you, Mayor Schwedhelm Vice mayor Fleming Alan Thomas 306 Boy Street It's it's really hard to follow up and and talk about the issues that santa rosa's Been facing with the folks that sleep outside. I know you like to always call them homeless And your kind of carp launch thing is just to deal with housing issues But you can tell this is not just a housing issue. We've been told time and time again that this population Whatever words you want to attach to them Don't want to seek shelter So it's a little disingenuine when you speak of the issues that the public are having regarding being attacked Public def defecation Having things stolen being intimidated The city park over off of quanta springs road. There's an article on the front page. I can't imagine you didn't see that Well, there's an individual who would normally be like, yeah 20-acre park. That's fantastic We have botchy courts. We're gonna have all these things, but we don't want that Because you People down there the people over here the police department the county the governor they can't protect people And without that protection Everything's getting shut down So you have to broaden your scope. I please ask you Broaden your scope. It's not just about housing It's about Activities that take away from our community on a daily basis year after year after year and it's getting worse and worse The people either fight Like the group can hear citizens for action now or they flee They go to Boise or they go to Arizona or they go to florida. They go to Wherever they go, but they don't stay here I don't want to leave. I like Santa Rosa. I was born here in california. So You know, this is my state, but I feel like it's just literally falling apart And you keep banging the same drum About housing at five hundred thousand dollars a clip to put up a house that just isn't feasible But what's feasible is correcting the behaviors that the people that are living And the people that are creating those behaviors. So please Focus on what the issues are Don't lump it all together and say, well, we'll finally figure it out once everyone's housed Because there's not going to be people here in Santa Rosa that will be able to support all that. So again Like I said, my heart goes out to that woman And I'm sure it touches all of you So whatever you can do to try to just think inside yourself if that was Your daughter and your granddaughter and your wife How that would affect you and how you look at some of these issues. Thank you for your time Thank you, alex crone followed by jennifer la porta Hi, thank you for your time and attention I'm here again in preparation for the december 10th study session on the further installation of 4g 5g Cell phone towers throughout our city. I just want to share some more information with you guys First of all, these towers are not for making voice calls and text messages Okay, there's thousands of watts. It takes a fraction of a walk to cover a city block for voice data That's not what this is about. This is a real estate and power grab for future 5g technology Currently these towers are running 4g 2.1 gigahertz to be precise Very powerful within 1500 feet radius people are being exposed to extremely high levels of microwave radiation But whenever they want they can come and put a phased array 5g antenna on those poles And that's what this is for 5g requires a millimeter waves Millimeter waves they horizon just purchased for lots and lots of money 28 and 39 gigahertz. Okay in order for that frequency to work. They need to have cell phone towers Everywhere within hundreds of feet of each other. That's what this is about Okay, this is about AI and creating a market for future technology like self-driving cars This is an Orwellian society coming true and the buck stops with you guys They have the right as a telephone company and they're going to come incite some 1800s law that they have the right to provide telephone service Fine allow them to do that But they don't have the right to come and put a thousand two thousand three thousand watt antenna To provide video service and all these other things that the telecommunications act and whatever law they're referencing Does not give them the right to do that I'm going to give you guys some important information here into the public record one Is a document from u.s. Government from 1998 a literature review on the biological effects of millimeter wave technology The kind that horizon's going to put come put on these poles because once they have a contract for the pole And their equipment they can do whatever they want to that pole They can put an antenna on Whenever they want they can increase the power as long as it's under the FCC guidelines of 61 Thousand volts per meter, which is established from the 1950s and is irrelevant. I have another document here This is from the navy from the 1970s and there are lots of recent studies This is an important document for people who are in the know This is has over 2000 references. This is what the u.s. Navy knew about the effects of microwave radiation back then Mr. Olivares miss Fleming you reference your kid and your grandkid do yourself a favor read this Okay, please for them for us for your constituents And a few other scientific studies here Specifically on 5g and millimeter waves I hope you guys get a chance to look at these and actually do some research. Thank you Thank you. Jennifer Laporta followed by Kim Schroeder Hi, I'm very concerned about Your plan to install over 100 small cell towers In santa rosa of which 25 have already gone up with inadequate notice to the public The FCC is issued a rulemaking order on march 30th 2018 to expedite the deployment of densified 4g 5g Another advanced wireless facilities what the FCC calls small cell facilities This order exempted all of these 5g facilities from two kinds of previously required review historic preservation review Under the national historic preservation act and environmental review under the national environmental policy act called nipa On august 9th 2019 the u.s. Court of Appeals for the dc circuit Vacated the FCC's rulemaking order. I submit to public record a link to this case The legal effect of vacating the FCC's rule necessarily means that the prior rule was reinstated and any actions taken On the basis of the vacated rule have to be reconsidered under the terms of the prior rule So the prior rule required the FCC to apply nipa to the construction of 5g facilities Consequently, it is not lawful for any such facilities to be constructed without prior nipa review While other actions of congress and the FCC have attempted to circumscribe the city's authority Over the construction of densified 4g 5g facilities in light of the court's decision The city is now within its rights in requiring the sponsors of densified 4g 5g facilities to provide evidence that the FCC Has conducted a nipa review prior to approving any request for construction Moreover in as much as the court's decision vacated the FCC's rule The decision applies nationwide and its effect is not limited to the district of columbia By simply writing a letter to the wireless carriers and their agents declaring all of their wireless Facility applications are incomplete the city Will stop all shot clocks and give the city the time it needs to update its municipal code To provide safer faster and more reliable data connections by doing the following Regulate conditions to preserve the quiet enjoyment of streets in the city to achieve this By writing a local protective ordinance that limits the maximum effective radiated power output from wireless facilities I Can't see how much time I got 21 seconds. Okay um For any fiber optic cables installed in the public rights of way require that the public have access to a junction box At the base of each each facility allowing city residents to directly connect to this fiber optic goodness via wire This is the best choice for routing big data Thank you Kim Schroeder followed by mark mortensen I'm Kim. Good evening council. I'm kim schroeder And last week I spoke as a Montgomery parent concerned about the cell tower in front of our school Montgomery That was a quick three minutes and I just want to add a few things before the upcoming study session um It's the following cities contra costa danville davis mill valley Monterey nap in nevada city oakland orinda palo alto pedaluma San Francisco San Jose sander fell Santa Cruz sabastopol sonoma Kentfield Fairfax Sacramento The list goes on there are many more in northern california and throughout the state In u.s. Working toward and many have already established ordinances to protect our neighborhoods and schools from invasive self cell towers These cities are taking steps to protect their residents And we need our city to do the same our community is very fearful right now With fires we've had and we are resilient. However, people are scared The red flag alerts power outages continue to trigger the ptsd and it's difficult to relax these days The thought of another dangerous threat of high level dense radiation entering homes and schools Is also making people scared not to mention the privacy issues Decline and property value that we'll have We need to give our residents another reason to stay in our great community In talking with friends families neighbors I'm finding that people don't want these in their neighborhoods and schools And they they don't they want the choice small cells are not small. In fact, most people don't even know that this is coming I live in benet valley and polls are contracted to go along summerfield south of howan That entire corridor would be radiating in nearby neighborhoods Including benet valley Montessori preschool I of course am concerned about all neighborhoods in santa rosa and the contracted polls are dispersed throughout I recently learned that some neighborhoods hired attorneys before the first group of small cell cell towers went in almost two years ago They managed to keep towers out of those neighborhoods so far Those who had no idea or couldn't afford attorney got the towers All neighborhoods should be safe in our community regardless of financial status If we really want to be a smart city, we should have safe efficient and more reliable equipment Then so many wireless towers that require electricity Wired internet fiber optic cable is faster safer safer private secure Way more efficient and doesn't have the massive carbon footprint that these so-called small cell towers do I know our city supports fighting the climate crisis and being a green city We want to be a city that attracts and retains businesses But it makes sense to do it in a way that is in our citizens best interests. Thank you. Thank you mark mortensen followed by lisa landers Good evening Good evening mayor. Good evening council. My name is mark mortensen resident of santa rosa And i'm also a member of the santa rosa climate emergency resolution team Um, i'm here to speak in support of the city of santa rosa adopting a strong climate emergency resolution as soon as possible Over 1,000 local governments in 25 countries Including five cities in our in sonoma county have done so Tonight, uh, sabastopol is voting on their climate emergency resolution And as you know, the sonoma county board of supervisors has adopted a climate emergency resolution A robust cer is one that recognizes the latest science Which strongly indicates that getting to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 Is the only way to possibly reduce or prevent catastrophic extreme weather events like we've been seeing The santa rosa cer group has put forth a robust climate emergency resolution and a list of actions That would help santa rosa achieve net zero greenhouse gases By 2030 One of the actions for instance is on the agenda to be voted on later tonight um I ask that the council and staff continue to review the santa rosa cer groups resolution and its list of actions In front of you tonight is a room full of community members Many of whom which are eager And ready to assist their council in their city in taking actions and implementing the solutions That are available to us right now The petitions that i've got here compiled online and on paper Currently around 3000 Ask for the resolution They are an indication of the support For your action and the political will That you can expect going forward Um a quick quote from president x president obama No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations and climate change This was during his state of the union address in 2015 All of us together community members of a great c our community members of a city with great vision Let us not delay in taking the steps necessary To ensure that those future generations that he was talking about Uh live a safe and secure life that they deserve Thank you very much and best wishes to councilmember coombs Thank you lisa landers followed by eric frazier I'm coming on the heels of the dog attack victim. That's also from my neighborhood I want to share this sign if you didn't get a chance to see it because I had firsthand experience with this last week as well I was on yalupa avenue when a hundred pound dog seated on the church Steps at new vintage church took off at a 50 foot offensive move and tackled the cyclist off his bike Who was riding in the street? He then went after the gentleman's dog after he tried to bite the guy on the arm But the guy had a padded jacket so it kind of blocked that The woman who owned the dog appeared to be a transient. She had multiple bags all around her She slowly got up from her spot and sauntered to the scene of the attack I pulled to the next corner to check on his welfare where he was shaking. I've never seen anybody shake like that I said, are you really okay? And so I had dispatch programmed in my phone I had him call santa rosa pd dispatch And talk about the particular particulars of it that it was totally unprovoked this dog chased him down like a rabbit I'm from ranch property. We shoot dogs that act like that We've had many dogs attack our livestock and that was absolutely the way this dog went on the offensive So srpd kicked it over to animal control and told the gentleman unless you're injured You don't need to stay on the scene. So I followed it up with animal control the next day I'm going to describe the woman's demeanor as curt And very unhelpful. I filed the e-file complaint from a witness standpoint with all the particulars I then notified city council with all the particulars of it I then notified board of supervisors with all the particulars because there's overlapping jurisdiction With city and county on different kinds of issues. I see there's a city fine So I followed up again with animal control And I got a message from santa rosa police department saying it wasn't their concern that they referred me back to board of supervisors Who then told me why are you calling us? You should call city council. It's their problem So i'm going to talk about accountability from departments There's a lot of people with a lot of budgets and a lot of people on salary and a lot of people who apparently don't collaborate Unify and talk with each other We should not have to go to these links to file a dog complaint about a dog that's doing this that dog was 100 pounds That's the bike route for all the kids. It would have taken a small kid out. It could have swallowed a kid's head So i'm a little in despair over how everybody works together in in coming up with a solution Um, I did get a call back from goren's office who said well, it's not really our responsibility But i'm going to have animal control call you again anyway Whereas she informed me that they don't take a dog off the street unless it breaks the skin And I said well, what about being a vicious dog? This was obviously on the attack in prey mode She said oh no, that's a whole other thing. So we need to address those dog issues We need to figure out a new way to give people a feeling of safety and get those dogs off the street Thank you Eric Frazier Yes, thank you very much. I appreciate your time today Um, I am very concerned about the comments I'm hearing about the dog attacks and other examples where you guys aren't doing your job quite frankly I think what we see also in sitting through the progressive parking session Is that we have a city now that has Devolved into one that depends on consultants Uh, we are also It's like you guys don't take responsibility for everything for anything You you have consultants that do it for you or you have consultants that support whatever Attitude that you want to bring to the table or the consultancies when they come forward They're going to advise the formation of yet another quasi government agency that's going to pick our pockets You know, I think what also pointed out and it is truly orwellian That here we talked about cooperation and information But when we look from department to department at the reports that are published, they're not auditable They're not correct. They're not complete. Nobody's held responsible. Nobody signs off on these reports What you have is developed a Cropocracy unfortunately that people are going to flee from not only from the dog bites Not only from the lack of ordinance enforcement when it comes to homelessness and and bad behavior But they're going to flee because they can't get a fair deal here You guys are mirror bound To the quasi government you're beholden to them now as we'll see in the cvd formation And you ignore the residents we heard from parking for instance where they have a discounted monthly parking rate at the parking structures That they offer to businesses. Well, they don't offer it to residents Residents that are also starved or have a low income or me whatever criteria that they put out there They're not offered that We have to park in the structure of full cost The other thing that happens is that here we are in various states of emergency and the power of shut off situation continues to linger linger on But yet you use parking enforcement as a revenue driver You can sit there and say oh no parking is not in the business of making money They made 200 000 dollar profit last year from enforcement Millions of dollars flow through enforcement When people have to leave their homes because they are fleeing a state of emergency Or because they're responding to a psps They come into the welcome arms of Santa Rosa, which will give them a parking ticket It was interesting to see that oh geez when the progressive parking was first installed where there was some waivers on those fees I would expect it would have been huge based on the amount of emergencies that we've gone through Thank you very much Okay, those are the first 10 cards if you do want to make comment on items not on the agenda We will open it up on item 17 later an agenda and also just to give update Several speakers were talking about the cell tower discussion that was previously scheduled for today's agenda It's been moved due to the number of events in our community including the public safety power shutoffs And that is on our agenda for a study session on december 10th So with that mr. McLean item 14.1 item 14.1 report third amendment to homeless outreach services team host program agreement housing first fund and risk mitigation for section 8 housing Choice voucher program kelly kijkendall housing and community services manager presenting Good evening mayor schwadhelman members of the council kelly kijkendall with housing and community services I'm the department's homeless services manager and I have with me this evening rebecca lane and she Is a manager with our excuse me housing choice voucher program So I will provide A background on the homeless outreach services team program also referred to as host I'll also go over funding in our contracts for The prior fiscal year and the current fiscal year 2019 2020 talk a bit about the housing first fund the proposed third amendment Before you this evening and then rebecca will cover the council direction we received On september 4th including providing Access to risk mitigation for the housing choice voucher program So the city first sponsored a host program back in august 2015 Host is a street outreach team that engages individuals experiencing homelessness with the goal of bringing them into Services shelter and housing as part of the housing first model Host also operates the mobile bathroom shower trailer known as clean start and as the lead Outreach provider for our encampment team the homeless encampment assistance program council first funded the housing first fund in march of 2018 I'll go into more detail on that program in the next slide Just want to cover briefly the 2018-2019 Accomplishments for the host program. So last year hosts served 334 individuals 171 were sheltered through the program 137 were housed and the housing retention rate is 77 percent So last year council approved a low over a million dollars for the host program 534,000 of that was for the housing first fund That provided for landlord incentives Such as a sign-on bonus and a support hotline A risk mitigation which is an insurance pool or access to an insurance pool if there is For non-payment of rent or excessive damage to a unit and tenant assistance to help with things like Transportation costs to apply for housing Or to help with application and credit check fees as well as housing assistance to so to provide direct assistance for moving costs security deposits short and short term or long-term rental assistance and operational expenses So this boils down to salaries and benefits for specialized staff to support the housing first fund including housing navigators housing locators and housing Stabilization case managers At the end of the last fiscal year there was a balance of 189 $5,500 for the housing first fund and those have rolled over for the current year Catholic charities did draw down the full amount budgeted of the 534 for housing assistance Moving into the current year council approved an additional million dollars for the host contract including the housing first fund We have so far committed 557 350 dollars via a second amendment And catholic charities is rapidly deploying the housing funds Under this year's contract, which brings me forward to you this evening to commit the balance of $443,100 to provide you with some information in terms of Just how quickly catholic charities is deploying the housing funds. They've drawn down as of september 245,000 of the funding budgeted for housing assistance this year And the housing first fund as of september had a balance of 174 thousand dollars. We still have the full hundred thousand budgeted for The risk mitigation a majority of the funding for tenant assistance and some funds have been drawn down for the Excuse me landlord incentives The third amendment before you this evening Is doing two two things where like I said committing the balance of the funds already budgeted for this fiscal year The $443,100 and that includes an additional 350,000 for housing assistance 50,000 for landlord incentives and $43,100 for operational expenses plus an additional $35,000 for support administrative staff support to the housing choice voucher program Which rebecca will cover in the next couple slides. So the total amount being committed this evening Via the third amendment should you approve it is 47 478 thousand $100 Okay, thank you kelly and good evening council members My name is rebecca lane and i'm the manager of the housing choice voucher program for the city of san erosa And i'm here as a follow-up to our last meeting on september 24th when council approved The housing anti-discrimination code That passed on october 1st of 2019 and the adoption was 30 days from that date During that or as a reminder that ordinance bans rental housing discrimination based on source of income Which includes the use of housing choice vouchers, which are issued by the city of san erosa housing authority Similar legislation is also going into effect on january 1st 2020 at the state level under senate bill 329 The council during our presentation on september 24th requested that we parallel The ordinance adoption With immediate access to the existing risk mitigation pool And that's what brings us back here today to jointly present with kelly regarding this host contract amendment council's request was based In the interest to have both the carrots and sticks To address some of the concerns that we heard from owners during our outreach efforts regarding the anti-discrimination ordinance The 35 000 that's being requested tonight would expand access to the existing risk mitigation funds to cover housing choice voucher participants for the risk mitigation The housing authority will continue to explore long-term lost mitigation strategies and other owner incentives Where our interest is to Open this immediate access, which is what council requested And continue to build on the momentum that we have established with our Owner community as well as our participants to find ways to make the housing choice voucher program More successful and optimize the the experience for both landlords and tenants through ways that we can mitigate some of the known challenges for for owners and tenants on the program So in order to support those efforts There we we would plan on coming back future general fund may be requested to support the efforts because the Funds for the housing choice voucher program are limited Statutorily to the payment of the rental assistance and then the administration of the program to cover staffing and Things like that and it does not include Something like owner incentives the other communities that we've spoken with throughout this process Those are the the mitigation And incentive pools are funded through the general fund of the Jurisdictions where those programs exist So again this Request tonight is to open the immediate access to the risk mitigation pool And going forward we'll continue to develop more comprehensive landlord incentive and risk mitigation With that I'll cover the recommendation and we can move into any questions that Thank you that you might have so it is recommended by the housing and community services department that the council by resolution approve a third amendment to grant agreement for the host program with catholic charities in the amount of $478,100 for the continuing administration of a housing first fund This includes landlord incentives risk mitigation tenant assistance and housing assistance To include access to risk mitigation funding for the santa rosa housing authorities section 8 housing choice voucher program Bringing the total amount of the agreement to 1 million 35,450 for fiscal year 2019 2020 And lastly authorize the chief financial officer to appropriate 35,000 from the general fund unassigned reserves To the homeless shelter operation fund for host administration of risk mitigation funding for the housing choice voucher program This concludes our presentation. We'd be happy to answer any questions that you might have Great. Thank you for the presentation Councilmember combs. Do you have any questions? Thank you very much for bringing this to us Council any questions I have Two questions a the risk mitigation fund amount. I see it's 100k. It wasn't tapped into How did we come up with that figure versus what if we made it 50,000 and applied that 50k towards other uses of actually getting people housed The 100,000 is the original amount that council approved with the housing first fund last year 534,000 and so we're keeping it at 100,000. However, there's flexibility within the budget For this program to move money around should we need more for a particular use specifically the housing first fund Right now catholic charities is over budget and housing assistance line item in the The budget as it stands before you approve it this evening And staff has a flexibility to move money around within the budget so long as they don't go over the total budget Great. Thank you. That's very helpful. And can any of these dollars you use for master lease agreements? Contract provides flexibility. So absolutely it's housing assistance So we're looking at short term and long term and also being creative with that So we would certainly consider master leasing So if there are landlords out there that are willing to enter into a master lease agreement with catholic charities or other providers We could use these funds to help realize those. Yes great Okay, any mr. Sawyer Thank you, mayor. I have a question regarding the mitigation fund And it was a concern of many landlords as to the Some of the consequences at times for Being required To move into the program the section 8 program So i'm wondering if there is a if there's room for some more Prescriptive or a little more specificity on how much would be given to landlords that are Are Now potentially and under some circumstances required to Move into the section 8 program certain amounts that are tied to The the risks involved whether and then in time Hopefully those risks will be will not come to fruition and the program will be more will be more embraced That is my hope But in the meantime there are to be able to encourage landlords Is there is there a some room for specificity With these amounts to to help mitigate some of the landlords concerns Thank you council member for that question and yes, that's exactly what we want to do in the long term So we'll continue to work on that. We we've established great relationships with many Owners and representatives that we didn't have before As part of the process of going through the anti-discrimination ordinance and So what we're attempting to do here is to basically You know piggyback for lack of a better word on the immediate access To the the risk mitigation pool that already exists Through the city funds and that's administered by catholic charities So 35 000 will allow catholic charities to expand their Administration of that fund to participants in our housing choice voucher program and in the long term That's where we hope to continue to address Other concerns and get more specific about what our local owner participation incentives will be for the program Are you in receipt of the letter from the north bay association of realtors regarding some recommendations for those mitigations? Yes, yes, and that's one of the the foundations that we're working from. Okay, excellent. Thank you very much Any additional questions miss line? Thank you I do have a couple of questions one is um, so in the last Allotment there was a a surplus of 189 thousand dollars. Was that eventually spent or drawn down? through flexibility and spending to that slide Hold on. So this was the balance of the 534 534 thousand that council approved last year That's rolled over for use this year catholic charities is drawing on that they haven't drawn anything on the risk mitigation fund That's just available Should um, you know should they need it or should a landlord need to access that They are spending down on the landlord incentives and also on the tenant assistance Does that answer your question? It does. Um, I'm wondering if it's consistent with best practices when An organization comes so far away from target Spending what we allot to continue to allot at that rate or to adjust to be more in line with Real spending rather than um projected spending I think the only response I have to that was this this was approved. I believe in March of last year and it took a few months for catholic charities to get the program up and running So it's not You know, it's not a full 12 months that they had access to the 534 thousand I've really seen in the last probably three months or so that they have this program You know well established and they're starting to draw on those funds So is it your belief that they will be able to effectively deploy their funding if we fund them at the level that we did last year? particularly with the um housing assistance Yes at the rate that they're drawing it down We will use that the goal with the risk mitigation is not to draw that down but to have it available for landlords So I don't anticipate seeing a decrease in the risk mitigation funding Unless some landlord draws on those funds I I do anticipate them being able to draw down on the landlord incentives and the tenant assistance And as I mentioned to councilmember schwethelm should we need more from housing for housing assistance? We can draw from these other line items within the budget Can you remind the council and the public what the current balance is on the risk mitigation fund? The current balance as of september as of their last invoice was 174 thousand dollars So you're asking for an additional 35 thousand dollars? These funds rolled over from last year and are available what we're asking for this night tonight is 35 thousand dollars from the general fund Plus councils permission to commit what was already approved as part of the budget For this year So the only piece we're asking for additional funding is the 35 thousand from the general fund to support the housing choice voucher program The balance the funds this evening. I think it's 478 thousand Hold on Excuse me Sorry jump floor inside Here's a breakdown right here So you previously budgeted funds for this year that were approved as part of the budget the 443 100 Plus the 35 thousand is what is in the third amendment this evening. Does that answer your question? It does it does and um, just where i'm going with this is that you know, the council did put forward a request for housing support for our anti-discrimination and i'm curious to know how far 35 thousand dollars can get us. I also am uh Eager to support that effort but also reluctant to give really any amount of money out of our general fund without Knowing the specifics of that type of program and I invite you to come and share that with us Back here or in any other forum. So thank you Mr. Rogers Thank you, mr. Mayor. I just wanted to appreciate. I think it was on slide three somewhere in the beginning You had the retention rate of 77 for the uh for for folks who had received services That's to me a really key number particularly when we're talking to the community about how these dollars are being allocated the Number I would assume but correct me if i'm wrong is from the time of the placement To now or do we have a one year what the retention rate is for one year number? I guess the better way to put it is what's our metric that we're using there to determine the retention We look at we look back at six months and 12 months And there's some overlap between the program years based on when people are entering the program It might cover, you know last year and this year But we do look back six months and 12 months and that's typically what our system of care does Okay, so that 77 is that 12 month look back or a six month look back I'd have to look at the report the 77 percent should be a 12 12 month look back and we're Refining that in the report this year. I'd say each year with this program, you know how started in 2015 We're looking at how it's performing And how we can be better tracking information To you know look at performance management. So we've refined that point for this year as well I really appreciate that I think one of the things that we're all very focused on is how we keep people housed and get people Housed who are not and I think that number is the key one for being able being able to properly evaluate which programs are seeing that type of success Great, okay, we have two cards on this item My hand up. Oh Go ahead miss combs. It's appropriate now. Thank you I do I do have a couple of follow-up questions I'm wondering if we have set An upper limit on payouts for risk mitigation. My understanding is it's not uncommon for cities to set an upper Limit for risk mitigation payouts Have we established anything like that Hello, it's rebecca. Yes, so we uh are going to be following the existing Catholic Charities policy for the risk mitigation funds and there are maximum amounts For claims based on the size of the unit. So it varies from a shared housing situation to at $2,000 to Two plus bedrooms at $10,000 just to confirm that We have folks in place Who are able to tell the difference between ordinary wear and tear? And uh, it's really improper use that would trigger risk mitigation use Yes, again Catholic Charities That's how they administer this fund And so there would be a pre-inspection required of the unit as well as a post inspection and verification that the Damage to the unit Qualifies and is in fact beyond normal wear and tear Well, thank you very much If we needed to move monies for example, if we decided we needed to Increase the amount of tenant assistance. Do we have the flexibility to move monies among these pools? Yes, we do as I mentioned We've done this before for housing assistance And so if there are other areas or a need demonstrated So long as it fits within what council's approved and the budget and doesn't exceed the Total amount approved for the program. We have flexibility Fabulous, thank you very much Okay, we have two cards here first up Alex Colfin followed by Eric Frazier Good evening, mr. Mayor madam vice mayor. Thank you for the opportunity to be here I'm here this evening in support of 14.1, especially The policy relating to access to risk mitigation for those property owners who participate in the section 8 voucher program We certainly appreciate the effort of city staff and the council To have this conversation and these are the types of programs that we fully support and encourage I also would like to mention that this was one of our one of our Three concerns and it's really nice to see When a conversation happens with staff and it happens with city council and here we are talking about it with a possibility of it actually happening So thank you for that I think that builds a certain level of trust that folks can look at and feel confident that this program is something that they can use Additionally I completely understand that the program is in the early stages and I'm certain that there will be an opportunity to have further discussions What would be really helpful is to have a level of clarity of what is exactly available On at what levels So if folks are going to be using the program, they know exactly where they stand So again, I understand that this is early on and I'm sure we'll have discussions And I look forward to working with the city to making sure this this is a successful program As I think it will benefit all of us if it is successful. Thank you for your time Thank you. Alex Eric Frazier Mayor and city council, I appreciate it. I did want to talk about risk mitigation I find that to be a very compelling program and Before I do that though, let me just mention that unfortunately I find the financials and the reporting to really be deficient I think the questions about the risk mitigation fund being an item that's spent down Sort of proves my point. That's a separate item in accounting. It's obviously a risk abatement pool That's only used from time to time The whole point is not to have to use it not to use it not to spend it So, you know, again, here is where the data just does not comply with reasonable standards for accounting, unfortunately Be that as it may I find certainly a silver lining in the risk mitigation pool Mayor you may recall a conversation we had a couple years ago about the importance of risk mitigation funds And how they can be applied and we talked about a different community Denver I believe it was where their risk mitigation fund of about a million dollars is hardly used at all I mean just a couple percentage points of that fund is really called upon And in fact, I think given the millions and millions and millions of dollars That people need to spend on security deposits in the city And the millions of dollars perhaps tens of millions of dollars of those security deposits that are lost through Actions of the landlord in other words just keeping the security deposit not giving them back somebody has to fight in small claims court Oh all sorts of problems I'm sure anybody who's been a renter here had been a tenant here has horror stories about how they've been ripped off on their security deposit And of course there are landlords that are going to have stories about Their risk that needs to be mitigated. I think that it would be an outstanding Opportunity to look at how risk mitigation funds can apply to the broad spectrum of landlord tenant relationships I think that uh, the idea that a tenant has to pay a security deposit is actually quite obsolete in the age of renters insurance for instance that should help mitigate risk for the landlord And it represents again a way to just sort of suck the tenant dry in the city And you guys should be concerned about that. You guys should be concerned About the lowest common denominator in your community And as you are with the with the homeless and with the catholic charities But I have to remind you that the house community is struggling as well This program could be a boon For helping people get in housing when they need it and save their money from unscrupulous Practitioners who'd want to keep that security deposit. Thanks for your time. Appreciate Any additional questions from any council? We'll see none. Mr. Sawyer. I believe you have this item So I'll introduce a resolution of the council the city senator Rosa approving the third amendment to grant agreement for homeless outreach services team program with catholic charities of the diocese of senator Rosa for fiscal year 2019 2020 for the continued operation of a housing first fund to include access to risk mitigation funding For the center was a housing authority section and housing choice voucher program Authorizing the chief financial officer to appropriate 35 000 from the general fund unassigned reserves To the homeless shelter operations fund And delegating authority to the director of housing and community services to execute the third amendment and wait for the reading second Any additional comments from anyone for a vote I just want to thank you for all your efforts and you know, this is you know, as we heard from one speaker today I think we are walking in the talk and we're trying to do everything we can to be as a community together To work on this challenging and housing issues and thank you for their presentation Madam city clerk, could we do a real call vote? Thank you mayor schwedhelm hi councilmember rogers councilmember combs vice mayor phleming our Councilmember ala veris hi councilmember soyer hi That passes with councilmember tidbits abstaining Okay, thank you so much for that presentation Okay, we now have moving to Item 15.1. We have three public hearings to just for members of the audience here. We will listen to or handle Item 15.1 the first public hearing and the council who's been here since one o'clock will be taking a break And then we'll reconvene we may have the results of item 15.1 But we will take a break before hearing item 15.2 and 15.3 So with that mr. City manager item 15.1 public hearing Resolution forming the santa rosa railroad square community benefit district and levying the assessment and connection therewith This item was continued from number fifth 2019 regular meeting Who's raffial? raffial revero economic development specialist presenting living honorable mayor schwaith home and distinguished members of the santa rosa city council buenas noches con sehal combs greetings from santa rosa So the item before you is a consideration as a resolution Of formation, which is the final step in the potential formation Over second community benefit district here in santa rosa under the new cbd ordinance passed in march of 2018 18 which enables these type of assessments The city of santa rosa along with the railroad square association and with the guidance of our cbd consultant expert new city america With a record of forming over 98 community benefit districts throughout the united states Held over a dozen series of meetings throughout the year to discuss the potential formation Of a community benefit district in railroad square these meetings Included property owners as well as business owners members from smart general managers from the three major hotels in the area and most recently the association also had a presentation by city staff members On this on the topic or on the subject of the downtown station area Downtown station area plan which led to a fruitful discussion outlining the benefits of a community benefit district So the first critical test As you know came on september 10th when the property owners were presenting a minimum of 30 percent of the total assessments In the area under consideration For a community benefit district in railroad square needed to submit sign petitions for the resolution of intention to move forward Which then would trigger the ballot process the threshold needed Was met that evening and the council adopted the resolution of intention Clearly that's why we're here tonight So as part of the process of community benefit districts on september 12th 2019 following the approval of the resolution of intention Ballot packets were immediately mailed or on september 12th through property owners of the 95 parcels within the proposed district along Along with instructions and a self-stamped return envelope in essence the district Sorry may be established an assessment assessments levy for the physical year 2019 2020 if a majority of the weighted return ballots vote in favor of Formation Placement making so railroad square interesting place Historical the interest in creating an assessment district stands from the concept of the living of assessments on real estate properties Property within the proposed district to fund physical improvement attract new customers increase business sales And make railroad square a destination for tourists as well as for nearby visitors and local residents The railroad square association has been watching closely how the downtown cvd continues to evolve Within its first year and the success that it's been having Since its formation the concept seemed very interesting and achievable for the railroad square property owners and business owners as well The assessment provides the opportunity to fund maintenance special events and activities and other special benefits within the district Revitalizing the area creating jobs attracting and retaining businesses and reducing crime Santa Rosa Historic railroad square is a great way to define Placementing it is an area that inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces It strengthens it strengthens the connection between Local and and people from outside the area it promotes collaboration urban design and cultural and social identity of the area There are well over a dozen driving restaurants Two iconic coffee shops exclusive boutique shops a major smart train shop a visitor center And a theater playhouse And as of march 2020 we will welcome A new flag hotel in the area with a grand opening of the ac marriott hotel So the values again are tremendous And the values and opportunities are tremendous We talked a little bit about this and uh the september 10th meeting so the proposed railroad square CVD consists of approximately 18 square blocks consisting of 98 92 parcels owned by 58 property owners Including a parcel owned by the city of Santa Rosa The following include The different benefit zones within the proposed railroad square community benefit district Three of the benefit zones are Geographically geographically based the fourth is a land use based reflecting the unique nature Of the residential condominiums through the district and that one is not listed on the uh on the on the uh legend there So zone one the green one is the core are the core properties north of third street from 101 from the 101 freeway On the east and the railroad tracks on on the west To a street on the north Uh Let me highlight that benefit zone one eight will be a reduced cost for office related building square footage You know in if office use is the predominant use for that building zone two and uh the color orange Are the two large hotels south of third street and east of the rail tracks And then uh zone three yellow and yellow The parcels west of railroad tracks north and east of the center of the creek and south of sixth street And then like I said the zone four it's um All residential condos in zones one and three So annual assessments are based upon an allocation of program cost by accessible linear frontage plus lot or Parcell square footage plus accessible Building square footage and in the case of residential condominiums By actual building and unit square footage So current future residential condominium owners are assessed differently since condominiums include actual building square footage that are not necessarily on the ground level Therefore linear frontage and lot size are not relevant to residential condominiums This alternate assessment methodology is created to respond to special needs within the growing district And uh slide that's uh being displayed right now Um talks a little bit about the primary factors we at the last uh meeting We didn't cover this so well So I just wanted to reiterate that the primary factors used to in the determination of the proportional cost to the parcels in the district are linear frontage Lot size or the footprint of the parcel With deductions for lot size that is allocated to private parking for adjacent business or underdeveloped parcels And then building square footage designation for reduced office space Assessments if they are the predominant land use for the building that is being assessed in zone one zone one current and future residential condominiums that will Be constructed within the district And location within one of the three geographic benefits zones of the district. So there they are right there Quickly we also cover this a little bit at the last During the resolution of intention So the total first year assessment, but I'll go through it quickly So the first year assessment revenue in the proposed cvd is calculated to be $31,836,000. There's actually a minor adjustment from the previous presentation Which uh detail a $232,832, there was an adjustment made to one of the lots Reducing it by $996 It is important to know that the special benefits funded by the district will not replace the city's funded general benefits As we can see here in the downtown cvd City staff is working very closely with the DAO staff It's a big collaboration going on again to make improvements to the downtown Area That obligation does not go away. So that's what i'm trying to reiterate The special benefits to parcel owners are over and above those general benefits provided by the city. However In looking at this charge if you take away the 19 percent of program management and administration contingency and reserves then there's 81 percent That will go towards programming obviously the administration costs includes office rent space insurance and all of those items related to the administration of the district Examples of the program include civil sidewalk operations, steam cleaning, beautification, maintenance of existing and new public spaces, private security, maintenance of an attractive appearance to the district district identity marketing and Placemaking would include website development, social media, holiday and seasonal decorations branding of railroad square cbd properties banner program And public art display and connectivity to downtown As well as obviously the smart serving as the gateway to santa rosa And the city's commitment is for the lot Is three thousand three hundred and eighty four dollars a year So on to the Ballot process, which will take place this evening. So in terms of the ballot process Once again, we're looking at a weighted tabulation system Where the weight of the ballot is determined by the amount of each property owner Of each the amount each property owner will be paying Owners with the largest property Properties buildings lot size street frontage and within a specific benefit zone Will be subject to paying more and therefore have their votes count in proportion To what they will pay Unlike the petition process where we had to meet a 30 percent threshold The ballots are actually tabulated the vote is simply counted by the ballots that are returned tonight So there isn't a percentage threshold We're looking for this evening At the close of the public hearing city staff including the acting city clerk As well as the assistant city attorney We'll go to room seven right here at city hall where we will tabulate the ballots So should any property owner be present this evening who has not yet submitted a ballot We have duplicate ballots available and they can do so tonight As such if there is actually a property owner present present who wishes to withdraw their ballot They may also do so this evening The tabulation process is open to the public For and for those who would like to participate and witness the proceeding We ask That the room Is they're going to be sitting in the room for the room to remain silent so that we can clearly hear the tabulations being called If anyone has any question any questions will be available to a system all ballots within Will be considered so if there are any questions about a ballot the intentions of a ballot or a marked up ballot Or any discrepancy on a ballot something that is not clear That validity or question the ballot will be given to the assistant city clerk To the acting city clerk Or the city assistant city attorney and a ruling for interpretation for that ballot will happen at that time When the ballot tabulation is complete the city clerk will report their results to the council And the council will then make a motion And that went over the process. All right, so So this evening It is recommended by the planning and economic development department that the city council by resolution Hold a public hearing to consider Oral and written testimony regarding the formation of a community benefit improvement district Tabulate all assessment ballots return to the city pursuant to procedures set forth in the resolution of intention and If the assessment balloting does not result in the majority protest then approve the resolution forming the senator railroad square community benefit district And levy and collecting of the assessment In connection they're with Thank you Great raffle. Thank you for that presentation. And can you just let everyone know room seven? Is that upstairs straight down? Same level as we're Yes, right out here room seven. So Walk down the ramp and then make a right and there's a planning a signage And the room's at the at the end of the hall. Great. Thank you council any questions on that presentation miss combs CBD for railroad square and I look forward to hearing what the public and the local Property owners have to say Great. Thank you. Okay. This is a public hearing. So I'll open the public hearing. We have a couple cards First up Eric Frazier followed by Jeffrey Smith So I appreciate your indulgence Uh, given what I know about how the city conducts this business and having a chance to review these details I would say that the people that I've consulted stand firmly against The formation of the cvd at this time. There's a number of reasons for that Number one the dao that was formed a couple years ago has just started and already there's some problems that have developed There's problems in that the 12 administration costs that that contract with consultants said we're going to be part of that Is exceeded tremendously estimates have it between 50 and 60 percent Why because the administrative costs of the contractor that you use are not included in the administrative line item Basically your line. It's all sleight of hand The data that supports the performance of the dao is also highly suspect and does not appear to be accurate And therefore the formation should be tabled until you have a better handle on the performance of this dao scheme The formation of the cvd increases the cost for tenants and their customers or assessments are passed on by the property owners To their tenants and the tenants to their customers Uh, this is not the right time to have additional costs put on the shoulders of small businesses and the and the residents It just does not a good time at all. It's not well thought out The city is using the cvd process to subject property owners to pay for these services They already pay through for the municipality the report seems to suggest that this is all cut and dry This is something this is uh sprinkles on the cupcake, but that's not actually what's happening There's been battles ranging about what the city is responsible for as far as costs and what this newly formed dao has to shoulder The city is potentially using its interpretation of voting rights As a property owner to cast votes in favor of the cvd when in fact this appears to be more of a collusion between The city and this quasi government organization known as the chamber of commerce. That should not be allowed Who's interest are you protecting? The city is willing to use defective data to promote the formation of the cvd One example of this comes from the chamber's own Organization called visit santa rosa According to them they claim 61 177 unique visitors go to the california welcome center every year Well that number is a bunch of hooey I mean seriously just stand there for an hour or two You'll find that a couple people go in there get some brochures But there's not nowhere near the 177 people a day that would be necessary to meet those numbers In fact, what it is is the staff walks back and forth by the counter And then those numbers are reported to sonoma county economic development in the state We'll get to the bottom of that, but that's all another reason to give you poets pause But the disasters that we're dealing with and the lack of value creation. This is an ill advised scheme that needs to stop right now Jeffrey smith is jeffrey smith here Seeing no one raise You don't have to fill out a card If you want to make comments on this item to the city council Would you like to please state your name and three minutes? My name is d richardson. I am a property owner in railroad square I've been involved with the association for decades on the borough square association board and i'm a property owner Um And I sort of beg to differ with the prior speaker, but I do want to Let you know that as businesses and property owners We have already gone through an assessment district over 20 years ago When we assessed ourselves to provide parking for our employees under the freeway And in addition we were able to do banners garbage cans Finger lights and provide highway signs things that we could not do as individual volunteer Doors paying members and so we have seen the benefits of an assessment district and we're very excited about what the potential can be um I just want to thank all of you and particularly our city staff who have worked with us To get to this point We really appreciate it. It's going to make a huge difference in railroad square It's a right time to do this. We there's so many things happening with the new station area draft plan And the amount of people coming into railroad square and santa rosa via the train um Our goal is just to create a better Little world and another district in downtown santa rosa that Enhances the charm that we have makes it safe for visitors and for the people who live there And continues to make it attractive place to visit. So we appreciate your help as in the last year and a half And i'm going to be holding my breath for the next Time hour and hope that we have a positive outcome. Thank you Thank you. Would anyone else like to address the council on this item? Thank you. Good evening. My name is uh, mike monague. I'm president of the historic railroad square association I wasn't going to speak but I felt it's important that I do This assessment district was Brought on by me personally I watched how courthouse square or downtown has started theirs and developed it And I know most of you have been very involved with that You see the positives and a little bit of the negatives negatives. I take as a challenge And railroad square we'd like to copy a lot of the things that courthouse square is done But not everything so this mold will be put together by our new board And we hope to share a lot of resources between the two to benefit both sides My family owns a couple of pieces of property in railroad square The dollar amount that's going to be assessed to our personal property is not going to be assessed to our tenants And it's not going to be paid for by our customers Um, and I feel a majority of the property owners are going to do this similar thing It's really not a lot of money to do Much with but it's a great foundation for us to get started Our biggest key In my opinion is to work on grants Either grants that are paid 100 percent or 50 percent or portions The more grants that we can apply for and get For railroad square and even courthouse square The monies will go a lot farther Um, I really appreciate your support. The staff has been incredible Thank you very much. Thank you. Would anyone else like to address the council on this item? That's thank you Seeing no one else arise We'll close the public hearing And at this point, uh, make sure I get the terminology we'll recess this item to tabulate the results Correct. Okay. Correct. And then we'll also recess the council means that council can take a dinner break We'll reconvene in about 15 20 minutes. Thank you Okay, we'll reconvene the city council meeting Tabulated results are not back yet. So mr. McGlynn item 15.2 Item 15.2 public hearing ordinance adoption ordinance of the council of the city of santa rosa Modifying chapter 1 8 dash 3 3 to adopt by reference with local amendments the 2019 california energy code Title 24 part 6 of the building standard codes all electric reach code Jesse oswald chief building official presenting All right. Thank you the item we have before the council this evening is our second reading of the ordinance To adopt the all electric ready Reach code which is essentially the our local amendments to the california energy code So i'm going to go through the presentation much like i did before Just because there's such a high interest in this item and i will truncate it as much as possible and we'll go through questions for me As necessary at the end So back to the background california building standards are published every three years california energy code is one of the 12 parts of this series And it is for both Public private buildings residential and commercial the focus on our ordinance tonight is for residential low-rise Construction which is three stories or below residential construction the california energy code was published in on july 1st of 2019 And that started our work down the actual process of adopting it with our local amendments If adopted the effective data the code will be january 1st january 1st 2020 As i have spoken before the potential for a bit of a delay on the adoption Due to the significant number of reach codes being reviewed by the california energy commission It could be pushed off till february, but they will let me know my goal is to actually have this submitted once it's voted on as early as possible tomorrow So we locally as a jurisdiction Can adopt more stringent requirements from the california energy code if we provide analysis showing that the proposed local amendment amendment Will save more energy than the base code and be cost effective So this this represents the body of the codes the california energy code which we're discussing tonight is Part six of the entire body of codes These measures that are shown here are the Some of the highlights of what will come in the base code This doesn't these are measures that we are going to get from the california energy code Regardless of the outcome of of our amendments The highlights are the lighting efficiencies are increased You will no longer typically see two by four exterior wall construction previous code Would allow it Through certain measures now with these significantly increased insulation values. You'll typically see two by six exterior walls Doors are being addressed for the first time in energy energy efficiency It It is a measure for them to go after something that Nobody it seems like nobody thought to address before and now they're specifically addressing Insulation values for doors The hers is a specific third party inspection quality insulation inspections, which were only Recommended in certain instances. They'll essentially be required in almost every installation of insulation Uh pv photovoltaic are known as solar systems for low rise residential will be essentially required on every new Building and natural gas is not eliminated from the code nor is propane This information was provided by the california energy commission the The cost savings that they have Calculated over a 30 year mortgage is 19 000 dollars the initial Increased cost for construction is 9 500 And here are some of the other Items that are proposed the required photovoltaic increased building envelope requirements indoor air quality and the appliances significantly increase in requirement for efficiencies And here is another depiction of the the requirement for the local jurisdiction to adopt more stringent measures showing that they must be More energy efficient than the the base code and be cost effective All all codes must go through the public process And i'll reach codes What we're talking about today If we were to carry it on through another code cycle We would have to make sure that the state agreed with our findings of energy efficiency over base code and be cost effective So these are the options that we presented to the climate action Subcommittee and clear direction was given to go with the all-electric reach code The other options were the all-electric ready, which essentially required pre-wiring for the eventual Potential upgrade to electric only And then the all-electric favored was a mix That would allow trade-offs to still allow gas appliances installed in in the building But increased efficiencies in other areas of the building Much akin to cal bring tier one efficiencies, which would mean 10 to 20 percent more efficiencies in other either insulation other Other appliances or other other elements such as windows doors and those kinds of things here's our metric tons of carbon dioxide That are shown to be proposed would be Saved over we have the the current code 2016 code Then we have the 2019 code shown with a reduced amount of co2 emissions That's the base code And then 2019 Efficient homes, which are a higher level of efficiency. And then we have the 2019 Electric only being shown with this significant decrease in in co2 emissions So we've spoke of the cost effectiveness requirement before the study was implemented with with throughout the region For use by all jurisdictions if they chose to use it to go down the path of Providing this the state energy commission with the backing to show that it was cost effectiveness And our partners here have been Implement extremely valuable in in this process And here is a summary of the cost savings or cost effectiveness that the state Has accepted and this cost effectiveness study was not specifically targeted to The north bay. This was Averaged over the entire state that way anybody in the state could actually use it. They they addressed and targeted the cost Effect effectiveness study to all climate zones So this overall total Cost savings is six thousand one hundred and seventy one dollars per unit We had discussed at previous study sessions and council meetings about Fire rebuilds and what the effect would be on it The assembly bill 178 was signed by the governor in september that exempts rebuilds for that are in An emergency area declared prior to january 2nd 2020 from having to install photovoltaic solar systems by proxy This has been determined and interpreted that that will exempt any rebuilds from the all electric ready ordinance Because the cost effectiveness studies only addressed All electric homes with photovoltaic systems. They didn't they did not Analyze any any buildings without photovoltaic And that bill sunsets in 2023 So we had significant outreach and input from partners in the community Our building officials Rico redwood empire code officials group have met several times and includes Numerous stakeholders in the the north north bay area several counties and city jurisdictions and townships Our rebuild meetings with our north coast builders exchange have been very valuable in getting the word out on this We have a monthly meeting specifically targeted at the rebuild effort But this this issue came up very specifically and early About to to discuss and get the word out Coffee strong meetings our coffee neighborhood meetings It's been an item of interest at every meeting for the last several months Our redwood empire rebuilders That group typically isn't affected For new build Construction, but I went to the meeting with them in windsor back in october and found that many of those are either Subcontractors that this would directly affect and some of them that actually do new builds So they were very interested and and were appreciative to hear the information and were provided The forum here and there to give feedback We do have our city website that was started to contain all the information that we've discussed the public forums At the src.org backslash all electric. We continue to put more information there Radio interviews press democrat and then a list of the public meetings that we've held over the last six nearly six months So there are 50 cities and counties interested in the electric reach codes And of course we don't have 50 listed here the list continues to grow about those cities and jurisdictions that have actually taken action Of of note for local interest is windsor has actually passed the all electric only reach code So recommend the planning and economic development department recommends that this Santa Rosa city council Adopt an ordinance by reference The 2019 california energy code california code of regulations title 24 part 6 has adopted and amended by the state of california And further amended based on local conditions for use in chapter 18 dash 33 The Santa Rosa city code to modify the Santa Rosa city code to reflect the new model code Oops And apparently you're done. Oh, there we go. I hit the wrong button Alrighty council any questions miss combs start with you Did you have a question we could hear you? I'm sorry. I couldn't get the the mute off I don't have a question. Thank you very much I'm sorry. You said no questions No questions. No questions. No questions. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Rogers. Thank you, mr. Mayor So we talked about some of these issues last time you answered some of these questions But we did receive a fair amount of feedback and it did appear that there was a lot of misinformation that was out there So if you don't mind answering some some questions again for us So first and foremost does this make building cheaper? The increase in initial costs is more for the base code The there is a cost savings by the accepted cost analysis Of six thousand two hundred some dollars In initial construction to for the upgraded reach code So the difference there is Not an overall savings. So for the uh for the study that shows an overall savings Who funded this study? I don't know who funded it, but it was through the California energy commission It was presented through the enter the enter to the energy commission for acceptance. Okay, and adopted at that point For local jurisdictions to use for the justification. Correct. Okay Does this apply to rebuilds in coffee park? It does not At what point should I expect david guin to kick in my door and take my gas stove? If you already have one You will not lose your gas stove Excellent Is there any intention in the near future of us trying to take people's existing gas infrastructure? Not that i'm aware of great. Thank you Any other questions I have a couple first life if you can go to slide eight the yearly per home emissions There you go. Where would uh all electric favored code fit on those bars? So it's the farthest that it's the red red bar Oh favored no favored i'm sorry Would it be in between the last two on the right? It would likely be in between the last two Okay, and then regarding construction going back to propane Any idea how many current santa rosa homes in the city limits of santa rosa have Hard wire like we have natural gas, but it's not natural gas. It's propane. Is that a reality here in the city of santa rosa? I don't have an actual confirmation, but I saw data that showed it was 0.07 percent of households in the city limits have propane And my my belief is through searching some of the old data is that was established prior to natural gas being They were those services were established prior to natural gas being readily available wholesale throughout the city limits So that's hardwired in but even if we go with the all electric reach you can still have your propane barbecue in the backyard You can All right, any other questions All right, this is a public hearing. So I'll open the public hearing has several cards on this item first up Ann Sealy followed by andy farkison Thank you, mayor If I'd known this was coming up right away through the public part, I would have been up here faster And Sealy speaking for concerns citizens for santa rosa Council, please do take this forward step in adding the all electric ready policy There are many good reasons to adopt this And you'll hear more about those from other people i'm sure but there's one that's really important to me Most of california's supply of natural gas comes from the very environmentally destructive process of fracking Something I believe must be reduced or stopped You might think that this is not a big enough market to make a big difference here, but Every little bit helps. So I do hope that you'll pass this This code. Thank you Thank you Andy Ferguson followed by bill howzak Good evening. Is this mic? Okay. I'd like to relate a story Distinguished council members and mr. Mayor a story that I heard last week at the sonoma clean power board meeting by board member okrepki and hopkins They described the fight against the kincaid fire Computer models that were accurately predicting that fire's behavior and path indicated That it was going to burn all the way to the coast Heroic efforts by firefighters and some luck with the wind Saved multiple towns and communities in our county from devastation It's hard not to believe that the fact that the five hottest months of july over the last five years In world history Did not contribute to this problem The only way to slow climate change Is to massively reduce methane emissions from natural gas leaks that come from our aging gas infrastructure As well as the large emissions that occur during natural gas development Doing so along with reducing and stopping other man-made methane emissions Sanctions from landfills and massive industrial animal husbandry must take place To forestall the deadly march of climate change The main point to remember is that methane is only in the atmosphere For about 20 years The carbon dioxide that was put into the air when the first squint steam engine was developed is still there Because methane occupies about 40 percent of the causes of Climate change Taking methane out of the equation will give us time to deal with the carbon dioxide Please pass the resolution as stated Finally, I want to thank the council for taking this issue head on It's a difficult issue But it's one that needs to be addressed and you've done so admirably. Thank you Thank you. Bill. How do you Zach followed by mike turgeon? Bill here No, mike turgeon followed by christine weiss Thank you, mayor and council Last week a vocal part of the community the builders in particular were calling for continuing business as usual However Making some relatively easy changes to business will go a long way toward reducing greenhouse gases And we've made some good strides in that direction Stopping methane's methane emissions by ending the use of natural gas. Of course is why we're here tonight But also reducing and capturing dairy farm and livestock emissions And not putting organic food waste in landfills or all steps that must be taken And we've moved in that direction with the zero waste ordinance, which is we'll be studying again and taking up next year And so the city council should do what we've spent almost a year Putting forward and not shrink from carrying through on our reach code for home new home electrification But in in in addition It's going to be important to educate the public as to why this is necessary For some of the reasons that andy just mentioned To ensure that there's a safe future for santa rosa as well as other communities. Thank you very much Thank you. Christine weiss followed by kevin conway Hold on a second. There you go. You're hi. My name is christine weiss Um, I've been in sonoma county for over 30 years. I grew up in the central valley in the farm belt Watching them build houses upon houses on the best agricultural area because of money It settles me immensely I come to sonoma county Um, I'm 28 years old. I bring my kids here to have a better future I believe that we have had a better future But right now i'm concerned I too I support this Tremendously and at the same time i'm i'm questioning it How are we going to replace what we have in place right now and not And how we prevent future problems I hope that nuclear power is out of the equation If you get rid of all the gas that means more electricity That means the power lines that caught on fire that created this last fire Um, where what are we going to do? I just I just i'm concerned because I want to make sure we're thinking out of the box that we don't make a bigger problem For our future. I have grandkids and I think about it I looked so forward to grandchildren and now i'm thinking what do they have to look forward to I'm an organic gardener. I have been since I was a kid I have my own chickens. I use the fertilizer from my chickens. I use my eggs. They're all organic I create my own mulch and compost pile and doing it for years my whole I have no grass. I have garden I I I hear you but please I implore you to please make sure this is the right answer And I say think out of the box. This is sonoma county We've we've got a lot of great collaboration here But I wonder I hope we're not just following status quo because we all have a great intention and we're all concerned Is it the right direction? I don't think that all electric is the right answer. I don't think that gas is the right answer either How can we even have a full? We want to go solar because I'd love to go solar But there's a big tree behind my house that that shades my yard I'm not educated enough to really figure out how to get solar into my house So that I don't use the gas that I have and the electricity that I have Maybe combining them. Maybe combining stuff so that we use less Of each I don't know. I just I just want people to please think out of the box Think beyond california's decisions because I think there's more And I think we're making a big decision here to go all electric when I think there's more that we can do My father worked for pgd and retired. I watched him set up all of My time is up. I just Please think out of the box and please be open-minded. Thank you Kevin Conway followed by maddie herfield Good evening. Thank you, uh, mayor and council members Uh, thank you for the the full attention and the hard work by the council and the staff Jesse Owens and david you and The work that's gone into having this come before us tonight Over the long course of this campaign for going with this reach code I've heard the argument that we're moving too quickly That we haven't done our homework But as I've said before the scientists have done their homework and the fact is that we should have been phasing out All fossil fuels 40 years ago When scientists first warned us that we had to act in order to avoid runaway climate change As dramatic as it it might sound it's not hyperbole to say that we're facing an imminent threat to our existence Because we are and with all respect to the prior speaker I too have grandchildren And it's it's my concern for them and their future that i'm such a strong supporter of this Reach code Knowing what needs to be done isn't enough being willing to do what needs to be done isn't enough It's only doing what needs to be done that can never be enough And I think pushing the button tonight in support of this reach code is the final step in doing what needs to be done At least as far as this action is concerned And I want to also, uh, thank julie combs for her excellent service to our city and Julie best wishes to you and to your husband for all that's ahead. Thank you Thank you. Maddie Hirschfield followed by richard lane Good evening mayor and council members maddie Hirschfield with the north bay labor council And i'm here to say that the north bay labor council strongly supports this code There's a couple of things so it just while i was waiting for this item to come up I got a text that the pg is turning off all the power in a large swath of sonoma county So i'm sure that's going to be figured out When we get there, but uh, we also would like to see a placeholder if that's the right word for um For a just transition for all the um building Building trades folks that will be out of work Because they depend on other kinds of power So otherwise, we're very very much in favor But we just want to make sure that there's a just transition for those who will be losing jobs and maybe transition into another Thank you Thank you, richard lane followed by Ann jordan Uh before I address the reach codes I just wanted to thank jesse and the council for all the outreach you have all done on all of these issues And my assumption is that none of you ever sleep and so I don't know when you recharge your batteries Um, I spoke at the climate action subcommittee meeting in september and at that time suggested that we needed an alternate energy Storage solution to go along with the reach codes And since then we've now had firsthand experience with the power safety shutdowns and how difficult that reality is And so I ask all of you would you buy an all-electric house now knowing that your energy may be turned off at any time For who knows how long Not a really viable option. I don't know that I would buy an all-electric house now with psps looming tomorrow And I don't know when electricity is going to be turned back on uh to address uh chris roger's comment about the natural gas Uh, no one's going to come in and steal your stove But what's going to happen to the natural gas infrastructure if all we're focused on is electricity We've already seen what 10 years of a lack of maintenance does to a system It's why we're having the fires lack of maintenance So now we stop maintaining the natural gas system in favor of the all-electric and we are looking at a similar problem with natural gas down the line Um, I'm with coffee strong and I've talked to a number of my neighbors Who uh are thinking about leaving sonoma county now because of the fear and the stress And uh the unsupported feeling that they have coming in the face of the psps And so I ask you all to add grid Grid resiliency or micro grids or a program for affordable alternative energy Before passing the reach codes. Otherwise, we just have the reach codes and no alternative to them By having an alternative backup to go with the reach codes Santa rosa would be a model for communities throughout california winds or reach codes no alternative energy program yet So I ask you all take a step back Get some balance and let the neighbors my neighbors feel like they are really being supported In this whole program. We will do all electric. We will give you an alternative electric solution Rather than we're going to take all electric and you're on your own We'll see a mass exodus from sonoma county with just all electric and no alternative. Thank you Thank you and jordan followed by jillie etcho Thank you for letting me speak. I appreciate it. I have to add the previous speaker. I agree. I think that Approaching this in quite such a fast manner is a little premature I would be in favor of the I believe it's called the favored code But this reach code in my opinion I'm just speaking for myself as a citizen who's in touch with the community on facebook and other social media here Um What I hear is people think this is just way going way too fast If I may point out your own staff report says that This is not actually required You're ahead of the curve, which I was always great and wonderful But in this case, I think it's not great to be ahead of the curve because you're getting ahead of yourselves Having gas available in homes is really important as I said I've talked to a lot of people Who lost their electric service during the recent psps that we had But they were still able to cook their food keep their homes warm and have hot water Especially for seniors for people the small children for people who are medically fragile These are really important considerations And that is something that you'll be taking away from people in new housing if you Enact the reach code as opposed to the favored code. I believe it's called favored You'll have to correct me if it's the intermediate code is what i'm talking about um And having gas it's even more important now because on october night Excuse me october 18th npr reported the ceo of pg&e is predicting frequent strategic blackouts for the next 10 years 10 years of blackouts all the time and we're also supposed to sit around huddling in the dark I realize not you know the rest of us but the new people in their new houses They will be sitting there in the dark or going to a hotel or something and that is not going to be cost effective for them You talk about cost effectiveness. That's not it Ah Fine, let's easy to say this is a small thing Um, but it's not this is the beginning beginning of a much bigger change to the code. We all know that Talk about just the new housing But in fact, we're talking about the next step will be It will be all electric for renovations and people you know changing their houses around and stuff and and um That repairs So if your hot water heater goes out at some point probably the next four or five years Guess what you won't be able to get a new gas hot water heater. You will be required to get electric That's all that will be available to you and your costs will go up So that is not cost effective or a lot of people I know people that have waited for 15 20 years to finally get that Beautiful kitchen they want well, they're not going to get a gas stove in that kitchen That's not going to happen either. These are all We're going too fast with this. We need to take a step back watch Berkeley Watch Windsor see how this goes for them. Give it a couple years. Give it three years So the next go round of discussions about this and see what happens because I think there Be a backlash. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Julie etchel followed by david petrits Good evening mayor and city council. Um, thank you for your time this evening My name is julie etchel. I'm a realtor here. I was born in Sonoma county and I'm still here I kind of echo the last two speakers in That the recent power service shutoffs have me very very concerned about what might happen if we move to all electric my grandmother Is in her 80s and her home went to mid 50s overnight when the power shutoffs occurred Tonight it's going to go to I think somewhere in the 40s the next night. It's going to go almost to freezing And if we have all power homes and no gas for furnaces There's no way to heat the home So if if that's really something that you'd like to do Maybe turn off your furnace overnight and see how that feels It's just it seems like it's a little bit too much too soon Um, there might be something like battery backups Um To put into place so that people can have Some way to heat their homes and survive Through these frequent power service shutoffs that we're seeming to come up on with PG&E So anyways, thank you for your time and please consider just taking a small step back from all All power right at this moment. Thank you. Thank you david petrits Followed by chris thompson Yeah, um, thank you 27 48 uh lake few drives santa rosa And um, I would like to express my support for the reach code um, that was standing some of the concerns, but I think that Uh with climate change being as real as it is and as fast as it's coming This is a a good first step and yes, maybe they Maybe as quickly as possible Really institutes and things with battery backup, but I commend you for Taking this first step. Thank you. Thank you chris thompson followed by tom amato Yeah, wait to see my name up there. Hi. Good evening. My name is chris thompson and i'm from the oakmont democratic club I am a senior i've experienced. I don't know how many shutoffs up at oakmont and i'm still here This is bigger than The issues that some people feel are necessary to bring up Against a reach code the reach code is is full of exemptions for people who Would not be appropriate And it's about new building. It's about new Uh structures. We're not talking about the existing structures. I don't understand why people Can't look into the future a little bit and look at our young people who are sitting right down in front of me down there Who's they're gonna live with this This reach code measure does not stop people from having and maintaining mobile propane tanks That can be used for cooking or even operating a generator during a power outage new homes By the existing 2019 code must already right now have solar panels And technology is coming on to the market that will enable solar panels to be used for power without battery backup systems Induction stove top cooking is vastly superior easier and safer Than cooking with natural gas and does not emit the indoor air pollutants nitrous oxide and carbon monoxide Which pose health risks and have now been linked with rising rates of asthma Induction cooking is also far safer Because the stove burners and surrounding environment do not heat up or have any dangerous heat or flame during cooking That can accidentally harm children That are disabled or the elderly Please pass the reach code. Thank you very much Thank you. Tom Amato followed by christine helix From the Oakmont area town and I expect to lose my power the march tomorrow morning But I would buy it all electric house in a heartbeat Probably because I'm thinking about the future generations, not just my own convenience Um natural gas is not the answer natural gas systems in our county are plagued with leaks and faulty equipment gas was turned off to many homes in cloverdale from cloverdale to west county during the recent Kincaid fire and faulty valves and leaks revealed a distribution system Of pipes and valves around a hundred years old in disrepair Trying to fix maintain and upgrade the system promises to be an enormous waste of consumer and public expenditures in the future furthermore natural gas homes unlike Electric homes with solar panels with battery backup will not operate during earthquakes Possibly for several months natural natural gas homes can be disrupted as far as their gas connection Many years ago when the big quake hit in the bay area that some of you might have also lived through I happened to be meeting when the big shakes happened. I happened to be meeting with people in shaky's pizza of all places and One of the things they noticed is how much the city of san jose rock and rolled The more gas we have is not an asset All electric is the way to go and we thank you for your support Thank you. Christine hoax followed by laura niche Christine hoax and I am with uh 350 sonoma So I think to start out by saying that I have a 99 year old mother Who lives in brincon valley and she we've gone through several and we'll go through another power shut off and yes, it gets cold and But to not to pass this reach code now Is not acceptable We it's a it's a crisis. We are in the middle of a climate crisis. We are already experiencing existential threat from this climate crisis From people who have lost their home who are in danger of losing their home in their lives caused by climate and We're going to we're going to be in an age of non sequiturs to get a propane Generator or diesel generator so you can have power during and to continue to use gas when we've When we're having For the power shutoffs because of fires that are being exacerbated by global warming. I mean, it's crazy making So what we have to do is move forward in spite of these Non sequiturs and moving away from fossil fuel infrastructure Which natural gas and fossil and the infrastructure that it takes is the right thing to do now and We can't wait. We have to move forward and we need education and town hall meetings To help answer all these questions that people are so concerned about so we need you to be leaders And to lead with this because now it's the time to do this for the future So, um, please but please let's let's engage the public and and educate everyone about the solutions There are tons of solutions For all of these things that people have had concern about concerned about but going backwards And and not passing this it's not a solution. The solution is to move forward all electric ready Now, thank you. Thank you. Laura niche followed by phil kerr Hi, my name is Laura niche an executive director of 350 bay area, which is a climate change organization And we have an active group here in sonoma county 350 sonoma And i am a santa rosa resident and very pleased that this board is willing to take up this conversation and hopefully brave enough to pass real action to address the climate change problem, so I think it's been pretty clear that our survival really does depend in particular on shutting down The natural gas network. This is the beginning of the process It is again, so this before it's kind of the least we can do To stop extending a distribution network that is causing so much trouble in our atmosphere Um, it is it is quite heartening to hear from our community members deep concern about the public service power shops And I of course agree Um Just as a point of fact 30 about over 30 percent of the homes in the united states And I don't know what the statistic is here in the county are already all electric using outdated technologies Which are more expensive and I think there is some Sometimes it concerns me talking about Our community as if there aren't people a lot of whom are in our low income community. They're already on All electric systems, so we do need to come together and take care of those people that are vulnerable in our community So we're not now we're talking about new homes, which is a slightly different Population that we're that we're directing these comments to These new homes by this code that you're going to adopt tonight will all have solar on their roofs There exists technology today that is very inexpensive Allowing those homes to run their systems during sunlight admittedly on their solar power their solar panels without Having batteries and battery prices are coming down So I think confounding those two problems is not wise and what we need to move swiftly To start shutting down the network and then figure out what the next steps are I'm not sure if we're ever going to have hand-to-hand combat over gas stoves But you know, we are going to keep pushing this agenda and see if we can replace some of the older gas technologies With newer and super efficient all electric technologies Um also in terms of the all electric favorite option and the amount of carbon dioxide that would go into The atmosphere the it wouldn't be a bar in between It would totally depend on how many people replaced gas systems with Electric systems because there would be no strong push to get them to accept that so if you look at the difference You have an opportunity to say four times the amount of co2 going into the atmosphere So thank you very much for your considered deliberation over this issue and we encourage you to pass the all electric reach code Thank you. Phil Kerr followed by Cindy Bishop My name is Phil Kerr. I'm the CEO of city ventures I'm here as a builder a developer and a businessman and when I say next might come as a little bit of a surprise Um, we're the largest Residential builder in california of solar all electric homes We've built over 3 000 solar all electric homes in california They've sold extremely well We're right now the largest. I think largest residential builder in santa rosa And we're pulling permits this week on 238 homes at round barn. There will be solar all electric homes So the future you're talking about is already here. We've been doing it for 10 years And it's not that hard It's not that complicated And it's a better home What we've been building is based off the reason we went to solar all electric was based off three things It's based off livability It's based off cost It's based off safety So in terms of livability, there's been some big changes along the way Induction cooking if you look on consumer reports the top nine stoves are induction Number 10. I think is gas The the future's come in terms of cooking and induction stoves are just better stoves Our buyers that come in they might have a question about gas at first. They use the induction stove I think it's pretty cool last power outage. I have my induction stove And power went out and I thought oh look at the propane stove and I was like I can't burn this inside I was like, oh wait, that's what I was doing before So it's it's it's a better stove the technology's come a long way in terms of Heat pumps in terms of electric hot water heaters all that is what is what has made it possible to build solar all electric homes That are better homes in terms of cost As a builder as a businessman as someone that is doing this for our business to drive returns for our investors The reason we do solar or electric is you pull out the gas infrastructure you save all that cost But more importantly you're not waiting around for pg and e to install a gas meter Which will delay your home closing by a month to two months waiting for that gas meter to be installed We can get rid of the electric meter. That'll be great. We're working on that The homes in uh in uh round barn, uh, we're working with tesla to provide batteries So that there'll be a battery option there as well to provide continuous electricity during a power outage with the solar solar standard Batteries coming as well Last is safety From a fire standpoint when we developed the round barn project. We pulled gas out on purpose Just for the safety of that system not being in there and having gas in the neighborhood As well as air quality and the safety within the home So as a store to the environment but mostly here as a businessman and someone wants to build the best homes Solar or electric is real easy. Thanks. Thank you Cindy bishop Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Thank you council It's time for us to do something And I am in favor of the reach code being passed And i'm grateful that the council's considering passing it like winzer and other cities And i'm also grateful for the comments of everybody including those about educating the public about the different aspects of What's possible to address the concerns that some people raised against passing this I think it will be for cleaner safer homes. I think it's important to Take the measure now not wait and The methane issue is pretty serious and this is a great way to address it. So I'm here not for an organization just as a resident of santa rosa and the planet And I hope you'll pass this. Thank you. Thank you. Guy connor followed by ann Cummings jacko petty Hi, my name is guy connor 1898 been at meadows lane santa rosa I first came to a city council meeting in 1984 In this in this room I was here because I was appalled by some of the things the city council was doing and I wanted to do something about it I'm here tonight for much better reason. I have a happier reason I'm here to thank you each and every one of you for doing something that makes us makes us all proud to be santa rosa thank you Thank you Ann jacko petty followed by miles virgin Yes, I'm ann jacko petty. I'm here from 350 sonoma I'm a retired teacher after 50 years in the classroom and Mother and grandmother So I come with all of these concerns and just can tell you that I have great turnberg's words ringing in my ears as she spoke to the assembled un Why haven't you done something? You must act and I hear That I hear the feeling that I've had from the lack of action I've known about climate change since The late 70s have been working And trying to live simple there was a time, you know when we thought small as beautiful was the way to go And we're very far down the road and we have very little time left so Thank you for doing your due diligence doing the work and coming to the point of actually making a first step That's always the most difficult, isn't it when you're up against people's fear of change and habit But this is what we all have to deal with in our lives. Laura spoke my mind on The energy aspects of this Laura Nash But I would just want to tell everybody that I've done the same. I've made my house all electric My lovely Rot iron stove is now an infrared heater My old gas range Which I thought was better than the old fashion electric stoves But it was polluting my environment. I now Have an induction stove A wonderful stove chop that I got at I got it for three hundred and seventy five dollars over Where what is it the? Place where you can buy used appliances. I couldn't believe it. It's fantastic So the change is positive. Thank you for moving in that direction. I hope this is only a first step Thank you. Miles Bergen followed by Christine Bernd Good evening, Mayor Schwedhelm and members of the council. My name is Miles Bergen. I'm a board member with Sonoma county conservation action I know you guys have been here for a long time today So I'll try to be relatively brief that Sonoma county conservation actually strongly supports the ordinance in the front of you today Because quite frankly climate change is the single biggest crisis that we face in the world's top scientists give us 11 years to keep our global Global temperature warming between one or below one and a half degrees Celsius And here in Sonoma county building energy is nearly one fourth of our county's greenhouse gas emissions And even though we have 11 years we're still waiting for action at the federal level So our local governments should be looking to do what they can in the short term And this ordinance is a great step in the right direction We've already covered cost. We've already covered the carbon emissions and the climate impact of this ordinance I want to touch briefly on on fire safety Natural gas lines create danger in the event of wildfire potentially igniting and spreading fire through our neighborhoods A hazard that an all-electric system doesn't Doesn't create I've also heard a couple things in public comment that I wanted to mention First there's a lot of concern over moving too fast With this ordinance and while I understand these concerns We need to treat treat this climate crisis with the seriousness it deserves We only have 11 years to keep warning warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius Time is our most precious resource here and we have to move fast if we're going to live or leave a livable planet to future generations In terms of gas stoves Gotta say the home I live in has a gas stove and I kind of like it But sacramento mud found that 92 of folks who try electric industrial induction stoves preferred them over gas And all of that comes with no risk of carbon monoxide poisoning from natural gas stoves So for all of these reasons, uh, we would urge you to pass this ordinance today and thank you for your consideration Thank you. Christine bird Followed by sierra downey And I organize with sunrise movements in oma county and I stand in support of the all-electric reach code Because I am deeply concerned about my future Moreover, I am deeply concerned about the future of my three month filled nephew aiding kumar rye Who just lived through his first fire season here in santa rosa where my sister had to take a fire mask A smoke mask and put it over his tiny little face Moreover, I'm deeply concerned for our frontline communities who are disproportionately affected by climate disasters that keep occurring time and time again in our community and As I come of age to begin considering buying a home here in sonoma county My concern is not whether I get a old-fashioned Luxurious gas-fired stove or whether I have an electric stove What I am most concerned about is that you stand before us today and you make a decision for my future The future of sonoma county the future of those that I love And make sure that we do everything possible to cut fossil fuel emissions So what I ask you is whose side are you on? Do you stand? Towards the electric reach code in a livable future Or are you going to stay on the side of polluting out-of-date technologies? Thank you. Thank you Sierra Downey followed by michael kenney Thank you. My name is Sierra Downey and I'm an organizer with the sunrise movement I've lived my entire life here in sonoma county and I've actually often envisioned my future here But that future is becoming more endangered every day I'm 25 years old, but I am already tired I am tired of walking out into a windy warm october night and feeling anxiety squeeze the air from my lungs wondering if tonight's the night for the next fire I am tired of seeing the fabric of my community fray under the pressure of each new blackout No matter how sonoma strong. We are I am tired of watching the CEOs of dirty energy companies Toasting each other while small family businesses and local restaurant owners deal with crippling losses in the face of energy cutoffs But most of all I am tired of complacent politicians bartering away my future for short-term profits I and my compatriots are staring down a future darker than any generation before mine We need clean regenerative energy and the time to act is now You in those seats down there You hold the power to help lift some of that darkness from our future right here in sonoma county I urge you to be on the right side of history Please please reach for that regenerative and equitable future for all of us Reach out your hand and generation green new deal will be there to hold it will be there to take it We are the future And we are watching you Thank you. Thank you michael kennedy followed by steve bird law Hi, uh, my name is michael kennedy I'm here as a member of the climate emergency resolution group in san aroza and also as a member of the sonoma county sunrise movement um hearing some of the comments earlier about this being too fast and being too much is I don't know if it makes me sad or angry, but I stand before you i'm sure as many others with friends and families who lost their homes during the tubs fire in 2017 I also Had um completed my undergrad at chico state. So I have friends and family who lost their homes True to to the campfires in 2018 and i'm someone who was evacuated a few weeks ago during the kinkade fire and so For me and my community What we want from our city council is for you all to demonstrate that you are fully Committed to fighting the climate crisis and Supporting the the all electric reach code is a significant way that you can do that Um, and it's a step in the right direction and it's it's something we need. So That's it. Thank you. Thank you steve bird law followed by amy writer Thank you major swed helmet members um My small contribution to this issue is that One of my first jobs Was riding around chicago in a truck With any other trucks Roaming the city Looking for leaks in gas lines I try to think about the number of years that leaks have been Contributing to what we're dealing with right now And it's more than I really want to think about Gas Does leak it's very hard to keep it Controlled it leaks at every stage of the process This is a small step To deal with a very large problem I commend you for taking it Thank you. Thank you. Amy writer followed by daisy piste lung Good evening. Thank you mayor and council members. I'm amy writer I'm a local energy and sustainability consultant and I heard some Misconceptions that are really common about all electric construction and I just wanted to take a moment and speak to The resiliency issue in light of the very real concern we all feel here in Sonoma county Around the public safety power shutoffs And so one thing in particular again a new construction New appliances don't have pilot lights They have electric ignitions So if you have a new construction project with a furnace, even if it's running off of gas It will not work during a power outage So the technology actually For better or for worse puts us in that situation. The good news is We have a solution. We have many of them in fact And so in addition to that I should point out that Uh We've we've heard some comments about battery storage and storage in general as a potential solution Because all of these these projects will have solar on the ropes. They have the automatic opportunity to really bank that Um an on-site solution. So I encourage any developers in the room to consider that as a feature I imagine that those of us in the Might be in the market of looking for a new home if we could upgrade to a all electric home with a battery backup system So I just I just want you to under to hear kind of Some of the challenges that I've heard Come from the members of the public who are really concerned about this and rightfully so And know that there are some solutions Induction stoves are a really good example. I've heard many times tonight the magnetic technology that's far superior to gas and Is really well accepted within Famous chefs around Around the world really. Um, but just in our backyard. Thomas Keller of the french laundry uses one So this is not new technology It's actually California has been a little bit behind the curve when it comes to all electric homes and i'm excited to see it come here So thank you. Thank you. Daisy pistiline Good evening. My name is daisy pistiline resident of santa rosa and Over many years. I've worked on climate change. I've Been away from santa rosa and engaged on this issue quite deeply and I can say that this is an extremely important step That we are taking not only Because it's important for the health of our communities, but also to set the precedent santa rosa will be among one of the first Cities in the nation to do this and sonoma county has a long history of always leading the way on environmental issues And we can't stop now This is as many have said the crisis facing our globe And we have mandates from the voters of every city in this county from about 10 15 years ago to say we need to move away From emissions and the city is far behind on its climate goals. So this is an important step forward that you can take furthermore Most natural gas 90 of it comes from outside california By getting our power from local solar installations and local battle group producers and getting it from the sun We're getting away from bringing in a commodity that destroys communities I have been in communities in pennsylvania in oklahoma in ohio Where natural gas fracking has destroyed the water supply and has damaged The communities has given cancer and numerous other diseases to people in those communities There's no reason from a climate perspective or from an environmental justice perspective to keep Extracting natural gas from the ground when we have a plentiful endless supply of power that we can get that is clean And when I was a kid growing up, I lived in grenville I remember how great it was to have a gas stove when the floods would come And the electricity would go out But the reality is that when I was a kid There were a lot of things that we did that we no longer do because we recognize that they were bad And I would much rather These days be getting a solar and a battery as that backup generation during the psps Then relying on gas, which A doesn't work when the electric ignition doesn't or the electric pilot doesn't exist B explodes during fires And c is something that I know is damaging this planet and my future on it There is Very little construction happening in santa rosa But what there is should be paving the future paving the pathway to the future for what we need to be doing and It will save money a good friend at so cal Edison was talking to me about this study that they Did along with smud and la dwp that showed that it saved eight to ten thousand dollars per home To get away to get off of gas So really there's no argument against it and all we can do is say Yes This is the future. This is what our community and our health and our planet are all calling for so please vote. Yeah Thank you. Those are all the cards we have this is a public hearing So you don't have to fill out a card if there's anyone else who would like to address the council on this item Please go to one of the podiums up there Seeing no one rise. I'll close the public hearing Council based on any of the comments or questions that were We just heard are there any additional questions for staff that you might have Julie any questions No, thank you and thank you. Thanks to public for coming out and speaking up on this Okay, miss. Let me have this item I do. Thank you very much It is my honor and privilege to move this ordinance Of the city of santa rosa adopting by reference with local amendments the 2019 california energy code including all electric low rise residential code And way further reading of the text We have a motion to second comments. Um, miss combs. Did you want to make any comments before we vote? Okay, mr. Rogers you had comment. Yeah, thank you, mr. Mayor It's no surprise to people who've been watching these discussions that i've been a strong supporter of this And just to be clear to the public because we have seen a lot of concern from folks Based around misinformation There is no credible response to climate change that doesn't include decarbonizing our housing stock It's not a question of will we it's a question of when And I think that's really where we've been trying to get at is there's never going to be a perfect time There's always going to be additional challenges But I will point out that just today the governor put a moratorium on fracking Understanding that there are additional climate challenges that come from the extraction of natural gas and we can do our part as well I think In our subcommittee one of the most interesting and substantive conversations was around Doing the full all electric versus doing the all electric preferred and where we really got an interesting I think philosophical conversation was about the need for individual change versus systemic change And I was joking with john after the last meeting I think of it very much in terms of the ban that government put on cfcs when they started to see the ozone being depleted It is an excellent example of where government intervention was actually able to Stop and now reverse the studies are showing the depletion of our ozone layer for the good of the public Through a systemic change. That's really what we're talking here about here is systemic change We have been offering the all electric We know some people have taken advantage of it But there are misconceptions that are out there that are preventing people from utilizing it I think that this will help a lot. I know it's not perfect But I also feel very strongly that our council can't be paralyzed by fear when it comes to addressing our climate Crisis and I did appreciate the speaker who talked about her nieces. I have two nieces Miriam is for the onus two And I already know that even if we take these steps Their lives are going to be impacted by decades of inaction from other folks as well So I will be moving this forward today. I'm very happy to be moving it forward But I've also been a strong supporter of climate justice from the dais as well We can't continue to move forward if we don't bring people along with us So I do hope that the council will circle back with our partners in labor to make sure that the workers that are in this place do have options as well So that we are moving forward as a community not just moving forward as individuals You know the comments I just want to make oh go ahead miss flaney Thank you, mr. Mayor This is an issue that is close to my heart. I believe that the discussions that we have around convenience are Unfortunate because I think we're really talking about survival And this is a situation where our personal conveniences have to be set aside So that we can survive as a society I I really do answer to the young people of our community And to my daughter who has what she's developing as what she calls her dark look Which is when I do something that crosses her. She's practicing Giving me this look, which is not pleasant. So um as painful as changes It really beats the alternative In this situation. So I want to thank the community for coming out and for us and speaking In in favor of our future as a civilization So thank you Thank you So I just want to comment for those of you that Followed our climate action committee was a two to one vote and I was in favor of the all-electric favored ordinance Because there's that power of choice in the community also in thinking about it The long-range impact and how quickly can immune can a community accept that change In other words a thought was and I've heard some members of the community say that if you give me the choice And I'll be your biggest advocate as we start incorporating these different changes to all electric Using myself an example earlier this year got my electric vehicle. Just today. We're starting the um Solar installation of my house. It doesn't happen overnight I know there's some other colleagues on my council that started with electric cars much earlier than I did But it's that rate of change that we can all accept whereas in the long run. I think it's going to do us much better Excuse me, um, but for me with the compelling reasons and the urgency of this It is no time to delay. I was you know, I missed the last week's vote, but I was impressed that it was unanimous selection And um, um pleased to be able to join uh council. I know we haven't voted yet, but I anticipate it'll be a unanimous Um Direction and that we are taking leaders and not only the north bay as our mission statement is but Hopefully other communities can model what the city of santa rosa is doing not only with our decisions But about the community discussions that we've had that have led us to this point So with that, um madam assistant city clerk Could we do a real call vote, please? Thank you. Mayor schwedhelm. Yes councilmember rogers. Hi councilmember combs Yes vice mayor fleming Yes councilmember ala veras. All right Councilmember soyer. Hi councilmember tidbits That passes unanimously What's nice about that. It was actually unanimous seven zero. We've had other unanimous votes, but we haven't had to seven so Madam city clerk, are we ready to go back to 15.1? councilmember combs, we are just transitioning back to item 15.1 Okay, we will be going back to item 15.1 once our abstaining councilmember is able to leave the chamber Gently And it appears as though he's safely out of the chamber So the city clerk provided me with the following report Report of the protest hearing results again. This is item 15.1 Folks if you could take your conversations out of the chamber, please we still have city business So report of protest hearing results There was not a majority protest meaning that the ballots cast in opposition to the establishment do not exceed those cast in favor When weighed by dollar amount Council may now act to adopt the resolution establishing the downtown santa rosa community benefit district And the levy of assessments on properties within the district I will need a motion and second to proceed with the vote and mr. Oliver's I think it is in your court Excuse me Move a resolution of the council seat of santa rosa forming the santa rosa red road square community benefit district and levy in the assessment In uh connected in connection there with wait for the read the text second We have a motion in a second. Are there any additional comments on this item? Seeing none shall we do a roll call vote, please Thank you mayor schwedhelm. Yes councilmember rogers I councilmember combs vice mayor phleming I councilmember oliveris I councilmember soyer I That passes unanimously with jack tidbits or councilmember tidbits abstaining. Thank you Thank you very much And now if we delay just a bit so we can transition who has to abstain and who shall not abstain We'll get some dinner and clean up if you want if you don't feel like sticking around to clean up Mr. McGlenn item 15.3 Item 15.3 public hearing ordinance introduction ordinance of the council of the city of santa rosa modifying chapter 18-44 in its entirety and subsection b of section 18-04 dot 015 of the santa rosa city code concerning adoption of the 2019 california fire code is amended ordinance of the council of the city of santa rosa modifying chapter 18 to adopt by reference with local amendments the 2019 california building standards code Not including the 2019 california energy code The 2018 international property maintenance code and the national pollutant discharge elimination permit and waste discharge requirements And resolution setting a public hearing for adoption of the ordinances Jesse Oswald and eden heart heartage presenting Okay before us before the council we have Our first reading of the ordinance for the building and fire codes We also have Chief moon here to assist with any technical assistance and input as well So this will look familiar Every three years the codes are adopted local by california The building and fire codes encompass Two general codes that make up the set of 12 This ordinance we're specifically talking about again does not include the california energy code, which we just adopted locally And much like the other codes that we discussed They were adopted in or published in july of the california building standards commission And the effective date will be january 1st 2020 and these codes we don't anticipate a delay like we did with the Potential delay for the energy code Excuse me So the the california building standards are statewide standards for all public and private buildings just like we discussed before And includes the building fire plumbing mechanical electrical energy Disabled access green and other standards and as a note to make sure we're clear This adoption does not include the energy code updated every three years by the building standards commission and They would be mandatory regardless of local amendments to be enforced by local jurisdictions Uh much like we discussed in the other code adoption local jurisdictions may adopt additional amendments based on local or regional topographical climactic or geologic conditions germane to each local entity The uh 2019 was adopted by the state january 1st and published uh july 2019 july 1st We have until january 1st to adopt any additional amendments and Which would be effective the first of january and are effective and enforceable statewide Uh city staff have collaborated internally with other external peer organizations Many of which were identified in the previous code adoption To to be consistent throughout the region Staff had significant outreach again with two city council study sessions various meetings with stakeholders Such as building and fire code officials informed developers contractors and general public And the meetings were held throughout the city all right, so just to continue on the stakeholders that met We had the riko redwood empire building officials that represented marin sonoma mendicino napa county Involved with the development of our building standards in building and fire codes along with All of sonoma county fire authorities fire prevention officers fire marshals chiefs Representing sonoma county fire chiefs association Involved in these as we have in past years. So Very collaborative Involved all the stakeholders did the outreach We've gotten a very little Comment back other than can you send me your ordinance? We'd like to use what you've done That this is just a list of most of the agencies that participated and have in past years as well So some of the examples As it relates to some of the stuff that we've been asked to look into because of our recent wildfires where our our new construction Building standards and how are how are we addressing some of the existing built environment? We've done that and we continue to do that through various processes. We have a cwpp process Which out of that will be a vegetation management ordinance So in in light of that coming on in the future We've added a couple permits so that when those do come online. We have the permits already in the standards to Effect those Ordinances so we have a vegetation management and a fire protection plan permit along with some of the ever emerging Cannabis industry we brought in some nationally recognized standards for men of pa one chapter 38 specifically To help regulate some of those new emerging technologies there As it relates to a lot of the collaborative efforts between the building and fire code officials This is where the most of the work was done and that's your chapter 7a and the home hardening stuff And residential code section r333 essentially chapter 7a in the residential code The code already addresses Fences and connections to structures in the wui area and will require a Noncombustible or limited combustible material to be constructed and attached to the building within the first three feet As all these new homes will be built they'll be sprinklers So the three feet would be the threshold for them substantial remodels And significant additions or remodels in the built environment Um, if they're not required to be sprinkled would have a five foot threshold or what we're calling a ignition-free zone around the house And this is to reduce the amount of combustible material up against the house including fencing connections combustible vegetation Excaping gorilla hair bark, etc. You know those types of fuels that are sitting right up next to the house Based on some of the experiences we had in the most recent tub fire 2017 ember cast was obviously a factor that can continue the spread of the fire So like many agencies Our surrounding county being one of them were moving to an all class A roofing throughout the city Whether you're within the wooly or not And that's to help protect those people not in the wooly from ember cast Being a ignition source And then within the wooly We had wood shingles and wood shakes that you know We found whether they were treated or not were significant fuels in the spread of the fires Okay, one of the other significant Measures that we're bringing forward to be adopted We have discussed over the the past year or so Uh hcd housing and community development the state agency provided some interim emergency housing measures That were available for use and adoption by jurisdictions in 2017 and then in 2018 The hcd proposed that they be permanently included in the code and they have provided those as Appendices for both the residential code and the building code So we're proposing to adopt those in their entirety and these these Measures provide minimum standards that jurisdictions can look to for a wide variety of emergency housing measures from Tents to to other other measures that you normally wouldn't find in a code So it gives us those minimum standards that we can Have something to land on comfortably and provide input and and approvals And so uh next steps And start with our process and then go into the next steps So we did our peer review with numerous agencies fire agencies building agencies And and those entities that we talked about uh rico and our fpo's group Much of the final language hasn't been incorporated into other coded option packages For fire and building agencies throughout the county in the greater bare area And I apologize the slide is incorrect Due to some changes in our our meetings. So tonight being the 19th will be the introduction of the ordinance ordinances for the building and fire codes and then the We're going to be asking for a hearing set for december 3rd So recommendation it is recommended by the fire department and the planning and economic development Development department that the council introduce an ordinance adopting by reference the 2019 edition of the california fire code as adopted and amended by the state of california And further amended based on local conditions for use in chapter 18-44 of the santa rosa city code repeal existing sections not applicable to new codes and Modify the santa rosa city code to reflect the new model code Recommendation To introduce an ordinance adopted by reference with local amendments the 2019 california administrative code 19 california building code 19 california residential code 19 california green uh building standards code 19 california electrical code 19 california mechanical code 19 California plumbing code 19 california historical building code 19 california existing building code 19 california reference standards code in the 2018 international property maintenance code Along with the national pollution discharge elimination permit and waste discharge requirements and Adopt a resolution setting a public hearing for december 3rd for adoption of the ordinances Thank you, mr. Owens Council questions Mr. Rogers Thank you, mr. Mayor. I appreciate the comments about embers being thrown Which is something that we've seen there was a question from the public that I think went to you mr. Moon about loose tan bark And the potential for that being thrown in the wooey was that contemplated at all in this discussion? Whether an outright ban or some way to make that safer in the event that it does get thrown That was brought to our attention at the fire department. We did speak directly with that caller Based on the conditions at the site it was evaluated We did inspect the area that was of concern And our observations did not find there to be any issue with the current condition And the material is actually being applied to different areas within that location And at this point in time as I mentioned we close that matter. Yeah, so pulling back from one specific location My understanding is that you still have that throughout the wooey As a permissible type of landscaping has there been any conversation about potentially Eliminating that option for folks Well, what we looked at for the newer structures and through our conversations in the study sessions We wanted to take the step of the new construction moving forward. We would implement the three to five foot Combustible free zone if you will and that's where we'll see that implemented initially moving down the road We may look at coming forward to council and presenting maybe a retroactive type of Ordinance as we rolled through the cwpp process into A vegetation management ordinance Okay, I appreciate that and I know uh, there was a focus a number of years ago About assisting people and switching to drought tolerant Landscaping perhaps there's an approach that we can do there from the city as well to try to incentivize Existing homes that have that type of landscaping definitely Ms. Combs, do you have any questions? No, thank you. Actually that was uh, an area of concern of mine was the continued use of wood chips So thank you very much for addressing that And I look forward to when it comes back on the Any other questions for staff? Okay, this is a public hearing. So I'll open the public hearing. Do we have any cards filled out? You don't have to fill out a card. Anyone in uniform can come down and talk Seeing none. I'll close the public hearing And mr. Sawyer, I believe you have this item. Thank you, mayor. I have two ordinances. We'll see and a resolution I'd like to introduce an ordinance of the council of the city senator Rosa repealing chapter 18-44 of the existing center Was a city code and adding a new chapter 18-44 adopting by reference with local amendments The 2019 edition of the california fire code and wait for the reading second I have a motion in the second any additional questions Seeing none. Can we do a roll call vote? Mayor schwedhelm. Yes councilmember rogers councilmember combs yes Councilmember flaming or vice mayor flaming will be marked abstain councilmember oliveris. Hi Councilmember Sawyer. Hi Councilmember tippets is marked as stained as well this passed by 502 Thank you Mr. Sawyer continue. Thank you next I'll introduce an ordinance of the council the city center rose up adopting by reference with local amendments the 2019 california administrative code 2019 california building code 2019 california residential code 2019 california electrical code 2019 california mechanical code 2019 california plumbing code 2019 california historical building code 2019 california existing building code 2019 california green building standards code 2019 california reference standards code 2018 international property maintenance code is that correct and the national pollutant discharge elimination permanent waste discharge requirements and wait for the reading second we have a motion and a second rule call vote please Mayor Schwedhelm yes councilmember Rogers hi councilmember combs yes councilmember or vice mayor Fleming will be marked abstain councilmember oliveris hi councilmember Sawyer hi councilmember Tibus will be marked abstain this passes with five five positive good Lord five yeses and two abstentions thank you and finally I introduced the resolution of the council the city center Rosa setting a time and place for public hearing for the proposed adoption by reference of portions of the 2019 California building standards code California code of regulations title 24 and the 2018 international property maintenance code each with local amendments the proposed adoption of the national pollutant discharge elimination in PDES permit and waste discharge requirements and the related repeal of selected sections of the San Rosa City code that are obsolete or no longer relevant and wait for the reading second do we need to specifically mention the date where we're holding this hearing right now okay no but you're welcome to I'm good I want to do a perfect for three of them so that's wonderful all right real call vote Mayor Schwedhelm yes councilmember Rogers hi councilmember combs first let me thank the presenters for the hard work that they've done and continue to do on a outreach on these issues and vote yes vice mayor Fleming will be marked abstain councilmember Oliveras hi councilmember Sawyer hi councilmember Tibbets will be marked abstain this passes with affirmative vote of five zero two okay thank you so much for that presentation a nice job council members Sawyer on reading all those wonderful okay we have no written communications this do we have any cards for public comment a very much of appreciated the opportunity to take part in this council meeting good night good night Julie thank you a couple cards first up Craig Murphy followed by Max Crone it's Craig here no Max Crone no Brenda Gilchrist no Marcy Murphy no Michael Tarani I'm very sad to see that there's a lot of willingness and sometimes even enthusiasm to perform another suite on Joe Radota trail is in addition to the fact that it's not paired with any willingness to provide a public piece of land for people to go on which would then make it seem as if we're going to be doing the same thing that we've always been doing with homeless sweeps we ask people if they'd like a shelter bed or if they'd like to go with Catholic charities and if not then you have to leave or you're under arrest these policies haven't worked in the past there's a there are major trust issues with Catholic charities for people on the trail and there are major problems with shelters that I think you're all aware of people with PTSD people who've been abused in the shelters in the past are unwilling to go there we've heard a lot of complaints from the residents and I think this is a this is a natural result of us not providing places for our homeless people to go to is they go on the trails they go on other pieces of public land where they weren't invited and this can create problems for the residents and there may have been failures to address cases of grievances that the residents had but failures to address those grievances does not justify sweeping everyone from the trail it never has and it is I believe it's it's cruel and unusual I think it's a cruel and unusual practice to provide beds for people that we know they don't want or have them arrested or tell them they to go somewhere where they they don't have any other place to go and I think if we want to prevent ourselves from from violating the 8th Amendment from from from actually carrying out cruel unusual punishment we need a policy that that actually prevents that from happening not just taking oh this this sweep or this sweep did this one violate the 8th Amendment were there enough shelter beds for this sweep or were there enough shelter beds for this sweep we can't even normally find out from Catholic Charities how many shelter beds they have proceeding a sweep that always varies a little bit you know we don't really know it's it can be up or it can be down but we know that there aren't enough shelter beds for the total homeless population in Sonoma County so we need a policy that we need we need practices on place that actually provide people with places that they can go not just judging this sweep or this sweep is this one do we have enough shoulder beds for this week you know that that is that is something that I think would would really actually make that would that would be embodying the ideals that we that we represent and housing is a human right I think it's great that we're reaching out to private landowners but human rights shouldn't depend on the whims of private landowners this needs to be a piece of public land thank you thank you I'd just like to give the council an update on our upcoming psps the number of customers to be impacted within the eastern area Santa Rosa city limits by the p the png power shutoff event has been reduced from PG&E's previous predictions the most recent update from PG&E suggests that the power shutoff could affect approximately 4,800 customers which would be a roughly 15,000 residents in areas within eastern Santa Rosa city limits the shutoff is still expected to begin as early as 7 a.m tomorrow Wednesday November 20th PG&E anticipates the restoration of power will begin on Thursday November 21st around 8 a.m and they have indicated that they will make every effort to restore power by that by Thursday evening a nixle message went out with this information and updates have been posted at all the city of Santa Rosa social media channels next door and city's emergency webpage and I would just like to thank the staff that was working in the EOC assisting in and preparing our community and getting this information out thank you so much I'll make the assumption that's all posted on the city's website that you gave earlier in this meeting great seeing no other items on the agenda meeting adjourned