 Vice Mayor Meyers Here and Mayor Cummings here and my colleague mayor before you move in just for Catherine and Cynthia star sticks allows you to unmute yourself Oh, okay To mute and unmute. Yeah Yeah Public know that we have been experiencing some technical difficulties, but we're hoping to get through this meeting Smoothly as possible. So please bear with us today as we try to run this meeting with the difficulties we've been experiencing At this point in time, I'd like to see if there's any members of the public who like to speak to us on items that are on our closed session When it's your time to speak you'll hear an announcement that you've been unmuted The time will be set to two minutes and you may hang up once you've commented on your item of interest So at this time we'll open it up to the public if there's any member of the public They'll like to speak to us on items on closed session Please press pardon me mayor. There is a referral to closed session on your open session agenda Now you need a motion to add it to closed session. Oh, thank you council member buyers. I Matthews I Golder I Watkins I vice mayor Meyers America ming hi the motion passes unanimously there. This is Laura. There's a an attendee on the list right now Okay, that's not a panelist. I'm online. Can you hear me? Okay? Great. Yeah, we can hear you now. I Took your word a break Yeah, all council members are participating participating in this meeting remotely and to view today's city council meeting If you wish to comment on an agenda item today Call in at the beginning of the item you were wishing to speak on using the instructions on your screen Please mute your television or streaming device once you call in and listen through your phone Please note that there's a delay in streaming So if you continue to listen on your television or streaming device, you may miss your opportunity to speak When it's time for public comment, please press star 9 on your phone to raise your hand When it's your time to speak during public comment You'll hear an announcement. You've been unmuted the time will then be set to two minutes And you may hang up once you commented on your item of interest. Thank you mayor council member buyers council member buyers. I hear from Here Watkins vice mayor Meyers and mayor coming care like to acknowledge that the land upon which we gather is Unceded territory the omnibus and tribal band comprised of the descendants of indigenous people Taking the mission saying when our community has been so negatively impacted impacted by COVID-19 We're now faced with another crisis After a lightning event on August 15, 2020 Residents have had to evacuate. Yeah Dave King other servers who unfortunately have passed as well and But I do know it's work with right-of-way, which is serves handicapped kids and Art have physical ability so that they would otherwise not be able to get in the ocean much less actually experience the Have the experience of surfing away and so Right away was born on Cal Beach. It's a it's a huge event for the surfing community as well as many many others and Also shared adventures was one of the founding groups and doing this event. So Today Dave was part of the team that really made right-of-way impactful for kids hundreds of kids every year So wanted to recognize him and also just express my condolences to his family and all the people who loved him He certainly was a very big presence in our community and did a lot of really wonderful things Thanks. Thanks mayor coming Thank you There's no further comments from council members. We'll move on to our next problem make the proclamation We also have a Dorothy Frye the United States hot before the Asian Pacific Islander Americans until 1952 African-American and Latino Americans suffered voter suppression 1975 the amendment to the United States Constitution Never gave up the fight for 2020 American citizens continue to fight against voter suppression now therefore I secure by proclaim August 26 2020 100th anniversary The 19th amendment providing for women's suffrage to the Constitution of the United States Honoring the role of the ratification of the 19th amendment the core values of our democracy both in the country and the Santa Cruz City Council I accept this proclamation on behalf of the League of Women Voters of Santa Cruz County As this proclamation proclaims this honors the hundredth anniversary of the passage and ratification of the 19th amendment To the Constitution of the United States for women's suffrage The League of Women Voters founded in 1920 is a non-partisan organization encouraging voters to be informed to register and to vote and the local branch The League was founded in Santa Cruz Over 50 years ago and continues this work today. Thank you very much ago was the right for all women to vote and that we still had to work to receive women of color's right to vote less than you know, nearly and so here we are continuing to have a battle for us to participate in democracy and I want to thank all those who are One raising awareness into continuing to do the good work to ensure that it's happening. So thank you for allowing this moment Thank you Councilor Walker disqualified which I have notified you and the clerk about on item number 22 last item on the agenda and I'll make the appropriate announcement at that time Thank you very much the city council This morning the council met in closed session to consider two items of Discussion Prior to going into closed session the council referred vacant parcels No, no designated as APM 0-0-5-1-5-1-4-8 0-0-5-1-5-1-3-4 and 0-0-5-1 1-5-1-3-5 Which are all located along front street Into closed session received a report from the city attorney's office of an item involving significant exposure to litigation There was no reportable action on that Item 3 the council received a report from its negotiator Bonnie Liskam on An expression of interest on the part in acquiring city-owned properties that were referred to closed session including parcels known as parking lot 11 and a small undeveloped parcel on the corner of Laurel and front streets again APN 0-0-5-1-5-1-4-8-3-4 and 3-5 And directed the staff to obtain an appraisal of those parcels and to return to the council at a future meeting With a report on the appraisal and additional information. There was no other Action discussed or reportable action in closed session. Thank you mayor. I've got the two reports today one on the fire response and I'm going to have a Chief hi Duke and our water directory Rosemary Menard provide updates on on that item and then after they're done with their Presentations, I'm going to do an update on the library mixies project. So with that, I'll turn it over to Chief hi Duke to give an update on the fire response Jason Heidi fire chief for the city of Santa Cruz As you know, we've had a very significant fire Just in our backyard It's been a week-long event and I expected it will continue on The initial phase for the next week or so and then it'll be a month-long process And even though I recognize that the city itself has not been directly impacted We have absolutely been impacted just because of the interconnectedness of our community All of us have loved ones friends families Who have suffered significant loss or have been displaced? And so I want to recognize that when I'm talking about the city itself that this is still an ongoing event and That we need to support the greater community as a whole Bonnie if you could share The map that I sent to you earlier any responses a whole and then I can take questions This incident started and for us City fire department. We were drawn into it very early on Either through Helping Fulton manage this or through the number of people that we assigned to the incident We still have three engines assigned to this incident And we also have a number of overhead positions that we're feeling either in the base camp or And other areas what this map represents is the city of Santa Cruz and a number of the measures that we took When we activated our emergency operation center our EOC working in conjunction with all of our city departments public works parks and rec city managers IT Santa Cruz PD the water department and Really trying to get a handle on what impacts we could prevent and which ones that we needed to be prepared for So if you look at our city map the black lines represent Dozer lines or fire breaks that were put in place by Cal Fire working with their incident management team To prevent the spread of fire from coming from a north to south direction I am happy to say that those are in place, and I don't think they're going to be needed The blue areas represent some of a really critical infrastructure within the city if the fire moved into those areas We wanted to make sure that they did not suffer impacts. Our city landfill is now open again for city use It's not open to the public yet, and then we identified our water distribution And as you know, we not only supply water for the city of Santa Cruz, but also to the greater County of Santa Cruz The UCSC areas on red they decided to Evacuate it was not a county or Santa Cruz City decision They did that within their facilities and then the areas in green represent the areas that we went out in a proactive manner to Talk with the people in those neighborhoods and so that they could harden their homes and by harden I mean take proactive steps to create a sensible space and make it less likely That a fire if it came into this area would impact their homes. We covered a Significant portion of our community and I'm really proud of the collaborative approach that we took with the fire department Santa Cruz PD their volunteers lifeguards cert was a pretty broad coalition And at this time the fire itself is not going to impact our city But it would caution Everyone that we still are in wild land season and so while this incident may not come into the city We still have to get through September and October and all the measures that we took for this incident I think need to be a wake-up call that it's an ongoing effort that we need to continue with And I think that's up for the update I we can stop sharing the map and if you have specific questions. I'm more than happy to answer those Thank you for that presentation. Are there any questions from council members at this time? For the fire chief I just want to say thank you to you and your keen for everybody that went out and educated everybody within the city I think it really put everybody's mind at ease knowing, you know What they can do to prepare Even though the event of the city-wide evacuation or even parts of the city were highly unlikely, but I think That effort, but you know was well received. So thank you Thank you very hard to provide an update as well Good afternoon everyone. Thanks for taking a few minutes to kind of get a quick update about the Status of our water system as you know, many of our facilities are not in town so we've had a really a very interesting week and We continue to be watch watchful of the fire that is in particularly the upper part of the basin So I want to give you a quick update on the status and then the continued risks With the cooperation collaboration of the fire department staff every one of our key facilities in the county both in town and outside town were Investigated and inspected and recommendations were made for Hiredening the the area around those those facilities Clearing to make the more dispensable space and so this is a just one photo of The u4 tank, which is a really key facility over on the west side on Empire grade road that this This work basically happened between about noon on Friday and kind of noon on Sunday Not just here, but a lot of these facilities at our Graham Hill water treatment plant up on Graham Hill Road We did also similar kind of fire break and tree trimming The stuff that you would do in a typical urban wildland interface to create defensible space around your facilities So that you know you can in the fight in the event the fire comes closer You're able to minimize the risk of damage to those really key facilities And I want to sort of talk to you up for a second just about what the kind of risks that have Occurred in this area. So this is a these are photos of five mile HTPE pipeline big plastic pipeline that is from Boulder Creek water system for the San Lorenzo Water system and that area has burned as you probably are aware and this five mile one pipeline is this is What's left of it? You can see it's a melted mass or And it's basically interrupted their ability to bring water Into the system from that source until that pipeline is replaced So we do have a similar pipeline above the ground in our Lydell Watershed which is this is a map of all the watersheds in the county and it's really good because it helps kind of Put things in perspective This is the Lydell watershed, which is really important to us and we are continuing to Protect that watershed have water coming in from that watershed in one some segments of that pipeline are as in the case of the Boulder Creek pipeline Are in fact above ground and are that same kind of material so very vulnerable We also take water from Laguna this this watershed has been impacted we know there's burn area in this watershed and so we'll be watching to Put opportunity to get in there and do damage assessment and then we take water from majors although this particular watershed has been offline since last winter Because there's a major pipeline problem in that area that we haven't been able to Prioritize to get fixed at this point I really want to though talk to you more about the San Lorenzo basin because this is the source of the most of our Supply both our Lachaloman watershed Which is our surface water storage for our peak season and about 45% of our total supply comes from this watershed And I think this map really helps to put that in perspective looking at our At the watershed boundary from our Kate intake at the on River Street about 73,000 acres and About 18% of that watershed has in fact been affected by the burn area So even though we didn't cross over to get into the Lachaloman basin Which has been a blessing and certainly dodging a huge bullet We are not out of the woods with respect to the potential long-term water quality water supply potential impacts associated with the burn area in our watershed and I do want to sort of just talk to you about just for a second just on yesterday What we the the source waters that we had in Lydell from the north coast Lachaloman, San Lorenzo River, Tate Wells that which are at the Across from Coast Palm Station on River Street and then the belt treatment plant and Wells Fully, you know, 70 plus percent of our total supply is at risk can still with this fire because until it's out it's not it's not over for us and This is a lovely picture of our Laguna diversion the before picture we haven't been able to get into the watershed So we don't know what the after picture looks like But we will be doing that very soon, and I'm happy to take your questions Presentation and thank you to all the folks in the water department as well. We've been working so hard during this really difficult time Any council members of questions? Thanks Rosemary for that update Do we are you do you anticipate I mean, how do you plan I so I guess my main concern right is the winner the winner ahead of us which you know based on What we all know can happen in the Santa Cruz Mountains in terms of rain Right. How do you do you I mean? I'm sure that you guys have a contingency sort of operational plan But can you foresee I? Mean kind of what's your projection? I mean if it's mountain, you know, we've got The full burned area above our three intakes on the north coast and then we have the San Lorenzo watershed Not the entirety of the watershed coming into Loch Lomond, but a good part of it coming into Loch Lomond has been burned What can we do to either secure? Federal funds through NRCS or you know What are the kinds of things that we can do as Councilmembers to advocate to try to get some watershed protection and restoration funds on the ground for our just protect our Watershed I think the very first thing is to Bring in the watershed assessment teams and there are both state and federal versions of those and I know that Cal fire is already lined up One of those to come in and start actually doing the damage assessment and we will be working with them obviously to prioritize the watershed lands that affect water supply for our communities For early action. So that's number one. I think number two. I know that They're that the governor and the legislature the Senate actually is looking at some opportunities at California Senate for some funding that would really help to put resources in place for Restoration activities and so I think that there's obviously That's a huge opportunity for us. I think the legislative State Senate is trying to act before the end of this week when they go out of session to see if they can make some progress on that So to the extent that anybody has contact with the folks there I think it would be great for us to reach out and you know, make it known that Restoration funds are going to be really important to us a lot of What we're doing now we started this yesterday We actually have started this before yesterday But we did convene a call with the Waterworks Foundation the Waterworks Research Foundation Which is a real clearinghouse of this kind of research that's been going on for particularly the last 20 years in most of the West Colorado and California big players, but other places as well Looking at the how to deal with the impacts of wildfire on drinking water Systems and resources the most recent work that's come out of this group is focused on some of the distribution system Assets that happen the Santa Rosa and Napa fires had A lot of melting toxic material going down into their You know contaminating their soils and there's a whole set of issues that we dodged because we didn't have the The fire in our in our distribution in our you know water service area and then there's also a number of really great Uh products that have come out over the last several years One I just handed off to my treatment staff this afternoon That really has looked very carefully at what kind of water quality changes will you see Sort of immediately longer term and then how to plan for Adapting your treatment process for that. So these are all things that you know This is a big focus not that we weren't sitting we're sitting on our hands over here, but you know turned our attention to These issues as a high priority Emergency response planning recognizing that you know, we have three or four months to do Any of the things that we can do to get ourselves ready to be able to operate in the event of much higher turbidities much higher uh, total organic carbon coming into the system as a result of the kind of Vellage and debris flows and uh, you know kind of uh flopping off of Uh increased water flows. What have you coming off of the burned areas? Yeah, and I'll just um, so thank you The mayor Cummings and I met with um congressman panetta this morning Um, and we mentioned the need for federal monies to come in through nrcs soil conservation service Anything that could be brought in from epa watershed program. So we just reminded him about Basically that we operate the water system for almost half the population in the county. So um, we did make a plug this morning for Any kind of federal programs that could match any state state monies coming out. So um, thank you and uh Yeah, I don't envy you the next three for much But thank you and thanks thanks to everybody on the water staff and um fire staff to Keep an eye not only on protecting everyone's homes But also the infrastructure that provides our water every day. So thank you for all the work We have a great team the city staff is a great team Yeah, Rick Rogers who's the general manager of the um, the San Lorenzo Valley Water District has requested some assistance With from what's called cal warren. It's the mutual aid sort of a organization to bring someone in to walk that pipeline route for for their system and to um and to Come up with ideas for how to you know replace that in a Kind of the quickest possible way. So that that's certainly going to be their focus I know that they have an intertie Between with scott's valley water district The San Lorenzo Valley does and I know that they uh, I think they started to open that intertie But that's some other issues with it yesterday But I think they're all those kind of you know, sort of mutual aid kind of strategies Also that could potentially bring water back into the boulder creek service area More quickly than even you could bring the facility back online I I know they've had some other facilities damaged as well So that pipeline was just a really good example of something That we have a similar risk to but they obviously got the worst of it so far in the In terms of the impacts to their water system facilities Okay, thank you and martin. I think you had another report Our item to report on your muted by the way. Yes. Yes. Thank you. Um, so just to complete the uh, the fire response So it related item, uh, I too just wanted to uh, well a couple of things one is to note that the fire Incident is not over this much more than that continues to need to happen and While the city is we're out of the uh, the danger with respect to the direct fire impact at this point in time And we're very fortunate that we're able to do that. Um, the city still continues to be a partner and to work on trying to address the That the situation um with our partners. So we'll continue to Um facilitate the use of our sky park property In scott's valley, which is being used as the main operation center for the fire We'll continue to operate the civic auditorium as an evacuation center and We are also working to assist uh businesses to perhaps do pop up businesses In the city those businesses that have been impacted in some of the the fire areas and as well I continue to be a partners with the county and others to try to assist as best we can So I just want to highlight that and there'll be more of those efforts. I'm sure in the coming days and weeks And then finally, I really didn't want to acknowledge and thank the First of all chief hi duke As well as all the city staff from all departments and at all levels who came together upon the activation of our emergency operation center Including actually volunteers And uh retired fire personnel They all deserve a great amount of gratitude for coming in and doing an incredible job of protecting the city And so I just wanted to acknowledge that With that I'll move on to the second item And that is just an update on the library housing mix use project You'll recall that the council provided direction on coming back to uh to you on updates on various uh Threshold Items with respect to that project And so before we start that Marty, I just want um Tell me what's going on with the shelters. Are there weren't that many in the city itself? But there's some kind of report or something. Are they full? Are they starting to empty? Do we need more? Yes, my understanding is that the the county was able to stand up Capacity to about 2,000 evacuees throughout the county from Santa Cruz down to Watsonville But at this time they were at about 1,100 In terms of need and so that actually was trying to scale back some of those As a result but are ready to scale them back up if needed. I think the uh, the issue will be Because you know, the evacuation centers really are not adequate for Even temporary ongoing kinds of sheltering. Um, and so that I think will will have to be the transition to how do we get more temporary ongoing Uh, appropriate types of shelters and I'm sure the discussions will happen about how to do that We had that conversation with the jimmy panetta and whether the uh, the federal government could assist it in that regard But for now, um, this seems to be enough capacity I think a lot of individuals really made use of family and friends throughout the county or All of us know someone who was helped or assisted in one form or another But at this point as I understand the the capacity is is is there Okay, yeah, I guess I was thinking Long term so many people will need rentals family rentals or and uh Yes, because what you hear is still going to be a few weeks maybe for some right people evacuated Semi-temporary uh facilities trailers hotel rooms. Uh, yeah, that's okay. That's exactly right population here in Santa Cruz Great. Thank you. Thank you. And also to point out that the uh, the county has a very very good, uh, website Where you can go and get information on Information resources practically on sheltering. That's just yes. Thank you Comforter Watkins, did you have a question on as you have your handle for this item or was it for the library item? It was for this item. I'll be brief. Yeah I um, I know that we're behind time So I I'll try to be brief because I think this is a really obviously a really big conversation Definitely want to echo the Appreciation and sincere sincere gratitude to everybody who's been working around the clock to protect our city and our county um, I guess my question I guess would be uh, they're wanting to Contribute and give back the city directing folks at this time. I know at one point It was full. Are you directing people to the volunteer center and the community foundation? What's sort of the latest some ways people can contribute and give? Uh, yes, we are, uh, I think directing people to the volunteer center Um, as well as to the the county. Uh, they also have a site on that I don't know if uh, Jason you have any more information on that but but yes, it's uh, to ensure that it's all coordinated with respect to the community foundation with respect to Certainly fundraising and supporting financially and then the volunteer center with respect to volunteering As far as helping directly In different ways that are available Okay, and then I guess my last question is Sadly, this is happening amongst, uh, you know pandemic and we've been sheltering in place and trying not to Mix with other households Is there concern that there are cases as a result of you know, it's it's hard to say although, um, you know It wouldn't necessarily be surprising obviously because you're mixing more people At the extent of it, I think it's again at this point. I think it's difficult to assess I know this has been a considerable effort to try to prevent it. Um, we uh, toured the civic auditorium for example this morning Uh with congressman panetta and they have pretty stringent procedures around Uh social distancing also, you know, they ask you questions about the your health conditions and and try to do as much, uh um, You know filtering and mitigation the the tent there's individual tents to spread out So there's quite a few procedures the capacity is not as high as it could be for example In place to try to mitigate it. Um, so I don't think we have any any clear data on that But that's certainly uh, it has forced individuals to Uh socialize more than they would otherwise, you know, there's people who have to move relatives or with friends Uh, and that sort of thing which makes it more difficult I think we'll find out uh probably in the coming weeks or months. Thank you. Sorry about that. I kind of rushed it towards this one So you'll recall again that the council has provided a option on coming back to you and providing updates on the library housing mix use project and One of the directions that we received was for this meeting which is to return with an update on the rfp and rfq process And so following council direction the economic development department released an rfp request for proposals for an owner's Representative, this is on july 27th The proposals are due back on thursday august 20th and staff is currently reviewing the proposals And is working towards having a contract in place by the first or second week in september And we received a robust response to the rfp and amanda Had been reviewing proposals And interviews should start later this week. So that'll be coming back to you Then as far as the next direction was for uh three months out Which would put us at the second meeting in september for the the next follow-up And that will include uh detail financial information regarding each component of the mix use project A work program and timeline for implementing the affordable housing units library and parking garage To include a public engagement process and thirdly General schematics showing the Integration of the library housing parking and commercial use components. So as I noted We're still in process of getting the owner's rep under contract So we actually may need to be come back to council at the next meeting with some additional context In a request for more time for the above direction So but those are the the steps that will be coming back to you with updates And with that i'm happy and any questions you may have I'd like to pull number seven, which is the emergency ordinance Happens between our council meetings having to do of course with the vendors on beach street. So I'd like to pull that I have uh, this is about the updating the bail schedule And so I read the agenda report and it wasn't entirely clear to me Why the change in 13.04011c? Um In the code there that's in park after hours An increase from 30 to 50 dollars For being in a park after hours citation and i'm i'm just trying to understand why This is included here why we're doing this um and Is this really and uh A move that's going to actually achieve the goal in any way I mean, it's just hard for me to understand. So help me understand what why that's here in addition to the other two, which are Clearly related to the current, uh, kind of emergency situation that we're in this item, um Is one that Uh, if you recall over the past few years, we bring these periodically to the council Sometimes to incorporate new language Uh, or new, um provisions of the municipal code to the bail schedule Other times when we just identify a discrepancy or an issue and this is the the ladder Um in that specifically called out in subsection d of 13.04011 um And so we just um wanted to make it very quickly. I want to follow up I'm not sure how to do this but i'm i'm going to be registering a no vote on that particular piece and Shall I just say that when the time comes? I just I don't I don't agree with that I wouldn't register a no vote on item eight Just yeah, okay. Thanks. Actually coordinating that right now And working also we had some interest in that going before The parks and rec emissions, so we're trying to coordinate with the planning commission and get to council as soon as possible The public review period has closed for that And so we're we're wrapping up those details and um, we anticipate within the next, you know, month and a half um, and probably in september we would go to planning commission and um, as soon as we can schedule it after that Depending on what the direction is from the planning commission. Um, we would schedule it for the city council September planning commission date is september 17 because of that. I'm norah hawkman. I have two comments The first is I hope you all recognize the irony of celebrating Susan d anthony and the hundreds Marking the hundredth anniversary of the women's right to vote, but let's be clear This country is still not past the equal rights amendment Locally, you all have messed with the commission for the prevention of violence against women Kind of shamefully and just today I heard council member mires council member comings and general manager The city manager burnall referred to jimmy panetta as congressman panetta y'all ought to be ashamed of yourself i'm here to speak in opposition to the uh emergency ordinance that was unilaterally issued by The city manager martin burnall We're sending all legal permits and the ability to bend on beach street I cannot understand i'll be for one second because we're we're going to vote that item still hasn't been we're going to pull that item from Consent we'll have an opportunity to comment on that item at that time Did I know that when you just opened the microphone for me to speak? I just said it multiple times if you um would like to comment on that item After we vote on items number 8 through 14 Yeah, i'll second the motion. Thank you mayor council member byers I Matthew I the exception of The change to code 13.04 0.1 1c in the bail schedule revisions I'm registering a no vote on that change voting opposed It's actually consent goes through to item 16. Oh, my apologies Why well many reasons I pulled it but I guess I called martin the city manager right away because We had just so worked on the ordinance And you know making in line with state um policy state law And I thought we did a lot of tweaking that Would sort of resolve some of the issues that we were hearing on a daily basis and certainly from our police department So I was just kind of it just hit me I was surprised and then I know you all know Instantly there's been a lot of pushback on it and uh, just it's worth a conversation So I felt it was worth a conversation to See where we are now. How long is it going to be so many people are depending on it's their income And is there a way that we can work it out with uh to get them back out Earning some money. So anyway that and I know I talked to martin about this. I'm sure he's got some Answers for me. Yeah, at least I'll I'll do a little bit of background and then kind of status as to where we are So in in june we received some concerns From individuals regarding primarily distancing with vendors on beach street um, and I issued an executive order which the council ratified subsequently that Established some social distancing guidelines with respect to using sanitizer wearing masks and keeping distances whereas primarily what the what the Uh conditions that were put in place on beach street again to really Prevent the spread of the of the corona 19 virus or the kovat 19 virus Subsequent to me then And also just to point out to our staff from our code enforcement A division in the planning department worked with the vendors to achieve compliance with that by assisting them with obtaining their business licenses Translation services putting them in contact with the health department to ensure that they had the appropriate permits And then just working with them on a day-to-day basis to ensure that they complied with the distancing requirements There so there's quite a bit of work done early on to work with the vendors to to achieve compliance with the initial executive order subsequent to that In addition Spaces were demarked to Again provide for more guidance and assistance with the social distancing Then subsequent to that we Worked really hard to try to achieve compliance both the Code enforcement and the police department When the code enforcement was not able to be out there and just found it very difficult to do that We continued to receive concerns around social distancing And so as a result of just the the various challenges with Really just a large number of vendors that really want to be in an area that's pretty limited And where you have a lot of interactions there with the with pedestrians or bicyclists and individuals wanting to to sell their goods It became very very difficult to try to also to enforce again given you know the lack of resources to be able to do the 24 seven enforcement and and Just the difficulty in trying to achieve compliance I issued a subsequent executive order to Essentially prohibit the street bending there through october first of this year And part of the idea around that was to try to provide an opportunity to have conversations around how to best achieve trying to Work something out because the city as you know based on state Law, you know, we have an obligation and duty to allow for street bending It's individuals have a right to do that and so our our Responsibility and objective and goal is to try to achieve it in a way that that works for the community Both in terms of the pandemic But also just in general with respect to all the other health and safety aspects around trying to Have all these activities in a very limited space So that was really why the second additional Executive order was issued to do that and then also subsequent to that So we did have community bridges reach out to us And offer to facilitate discussions between the vendors in the city to see if we can come up with A way to to achieve that is there a way we can work with the vendors to create a system Or process in place because even between the vendors it was very competitive We had vendors for example that we're out there very very early and would take up all the spaces And then you had other vendors that weren't able to do that and it became difficult for them to be able to Do what they wanted to do Without the Being out there at three o'clock in the morning and that's what I think so I think there really is a need to kind of sit down with the vendors And with neighboring businesses and others to try to come up with a system that will work Not only just in the pandemic environment Also moving forward because some of these crowding conditions will continue in some of these conflicts I think will continue even post the pandemic period Int insistent with the regulations that the council adopted with the revised ordinance. So that's kind of where we're at The understanding that that community bridges have reached out and we're currently working on scheduling meetings to do that The other thing I'll point out is as a result of the fact that We are obviously not encouraging Tourism right now and we've asked individuals to Who are visiting to leave the county because of the fire As well as you will be looking at closing beaches during the labor day weekend right now. There really isn't the advisable to to encourage You know a lot of business activity in the beach at this point. That's another sort of consideration But it is an opportunity nonetheless to I think to work with the vendors Speed vendors in particular to come up with the with the solution that will work Sort of post this difficult period that we have now and into the future So that's what we're at and I'm happy to answer any questions you may have as well as the planning department and the police department Well, you know, we're really trying that we can you know again that I'm dismayed About the way that this executive order has been used issued and utilized is an understatement But I'll save my comments for afterwards. I'd like to hear from the public. I have questions Um a series of questions first, uh Why it given that the issue was is purportedly about beach street. Why were why was enforcement targeting Vendors also walking on the beaches on the beach. What was how did that play into this because The concern that was expressed Was not really a concern that was You know intended to for the the beach, right? I mean it was about the the the streets there So that's one. I also um uh wondering In terms of the issuing of the order My understanding is and you mentioned martin that it was the There was translation and some other issues were kind of being worked out Yet the order was issued in english only. Why was it not issued in spanish? um and how was it conveyed to the Vendors prior to the enforcement action When they were removed I think those are and then you mentioned the program status or the status of conversations about a program and i'll Talk about that In comments. I'm sorry. I have one other question. Um, why were uh, I understand that people's uh things were confiscated and I um Wondering why that was given that? the um The enforcement was around in fractions And people had not abandoned their their Stuff, but would you like me to answer these questions now or after the public comment? I'm clear about that. I'm happy to do it either way We generally do councilmember questions then public comment Yeah, so first with respect to the beaches, um, we did have concerns at the beaches around bending there as well Um, as far as again being able to maintain social distancing there with with sales And also we had concerns regarding The storage of goods on the intense and supplies on the beach um That was another concern and consideration and also We had because again a big large number of competition of people spend the night and Also trying to again so they could be the first ones there to be able to use the limited spaces So it was all around trying to again Ensure that we had the conditions that didn't provide for The spread of the virus so that that was the rationale for really the entire executive order in in in all the provisions that they're in with respect to the The order the order was issued again in anticipation of Big crowds coming in before the weekend and trying to address it as quickly as we could the first weekend it was issued It was all done First with trying to educate and inform individuals citations weren't issued There were some instances where individuals were Uh are breasted and and their items had to be moved, but it wasn't because of the vending Or violations of the order it had to do with other Uh circumstances and I can ask the police chief to comment on those So with respect to the first weekend, uh, we did have our spanish speaking We do have spanish speaking code enforcement staff that had been out there on a regular basis already Our code enforcement staff was very familiar with many of the vendors just from the initial set of of interactions and from the first Executive order in terms of working with them on an ongoing basis So there's been a quite a bit of interactions already with them relative to The first executive order and so with the second executive order Those relationships were there And the the intent was to communicate it first before doing citations. So that was the approach that was used to Educate inform let them know Before any any sites any sites occurred So I'll let the ambi talk about the confiscation or the confiscated items that happen in the circumstances around those Councilmember brown, I think it's important to know that first of all we spent almost two weeks warning people and talking to them with our spanish speakers down there And for two days we deployed multiple people down on beach boardwalk Talking to people before we started doing enforcement that week including that week And we're told that we were just going to there was going to outweighed us And we can't we couldn't continue to you know staff that permanently. So We also by the way also had the health department come down To look at the hotdog vending and the health department told them that that was not acceptable The way it was done and that was continued also So when it came to confiscating materials, there were two incidents where we took materials from people the first incident The person was arrested and taken to jail for other crimes and We asked people to You know Who related to the individual to it and pick up the stuff and take it and hang on to it Nobody did so after its extended period of time We didn't want to leave the stuff there and have it stolen. So we brought it back with us to the police department for safekeeping only Later that afternoon I came down and watched it be given back to the individuals in our back lot And they got everything back That they that was taken from them that same day The following week when a couple of items were taken I believe was a handful of umbrellas Again, it was a different crime. It wasn't for the uh the uh vending it was for a felony crime And that was taken and pounded as part of the uh as part of evidence so that couple umbrellas were taken and and kept and Whenever the case is disposed of then the property can be given back But it's one of those things where It really felt like there was a lot of effort to be as patient and as As long suffering as possible A couple of follow-up. Thank you for that uh that explanation So a follow-up question, um chief mills you said did I hear that you said that citations had been issued prior to The actions that were taken That was not my understanding from the conversations I had with with vendors or with people who are working with the vendors. Um, so Were there citations issued prior to the The enforcement action that we then heard about Pretty pretty widely. Yeah so As uh mark as the city manager mentioned it was education first Enforcement second so a great deal of education Then I went to an enforcement and we went to do the enforcement The idea was to had to write some citations right there and then release them right there However, the person to be incited wasn't cooperative and wouldn't give us a name So therefore we had to take them Uh to a place where we could verify who they were once that was done. They were released So, um, the idea was to do sites first and then arrest second. Yes to answer your question Thank you. And one more question. I think this might be for you. Um, martin The so I I've also received considerable amount of communication about, uh, asking why The vendors in particular were targeted when there is Uh, a whole lot of other kinds of activity happening in the beach area On the beach with the brick and mortar, uh stores and restaurants that cause crowding and, um, so it appears, uh, selective to be enforcing, uh, with this particular group and, um, Given that they are, um, you know, marginalized, um, primarily immigrant members of the broader community or participants in our community's Economic activity, uh, you know, why how it is that that that was the the focus and while other, um, you know Challenges are continuing to occur without action Okay, sure. Uh, so the Our primary focus is gets complaint based, uh, as far as the responding. Um, and so And we we treat all businesses the same whether street vendors, uh, or whether it's a business So whenever we receive a complaint regarding, uh, violations of the health order We follow up with them and we've had some for some businesses. Uh, and so we follow up with the health officer I've done a number of those myself or we get them and so, uh There really isn't a difference if there's violations in one business or another and in a complainant file Then we'll follow up on it What whether again, whether it's on the beach or whether it's a business of its downtown or on the east side or Really anywhere in the city? In this particular case, obviously the executive order was our own order So the enforcement is our own staff in other cases It depends on whether it's a violation of the county health order which might refer to the Health department and they do follow up with enforcement as well And again, use a similar approach of Informant educating and insight into needed I'm sorry. Mayor Cummings. That's a mistake. I'm waiting for number 19 To comment on. Oh, could you please lawyer? Can you mute me? Sure. Can you mute me? I can come for vendors down there was that the Vendors were not the problem. They were, uh, socially distancing from each other They were all wearing masks. It was the day tripping tourist That seemed to be the problem that they're not wearing masks. They're not socially distancing Um, so why the enforcement was against the people that were following the covet 19 guidelines and Instead of going after the people that were not following the covet 19 guidelines, which are the day tripping tourist um, it just seems somehow Wrong to go after the group that is following the guidelines instead of going after the group that's not following the guidelines and as far as um You know people rushing down there to get a spot In berkeley and also in san francisco the um Cities have Assigned spots. So if you are a street vendor Or even a street musician you have an assigned spot and a time of day that you can be there Maybe working out a system like that will help But I think you know enforcing the rules against the tourist is what needs to happen here not against the vendors Thank you Hi, uh, my name is reggie mysler um And I just want to say I think this executive order should be struck down in 2020-16. This is a racist executive order. It largely bans latinx Uh street vendors who are largely immigrants From operating and contains incredibly offensive untrue claims about vendors Which are racist stereotypes things like they're violent getting in fights intoxicated dirty that they can't follow food regulations I mean this is deeply offensive and very little evidence has proven that this is the case and this comes This order comes shortly after the very public assault of a latina hot dog vendor by white business owner of the falafel hood Chief mills then went on tv to excuse that racist violence suggesting that the hot dog vendor didn't have a permit Uh, this is an area where tourists are constantly congregating not wearing masks on doing volleyball Lines are forming around an ice cream truck literally in the same area that's allowed to operate there And so how is it more pragmatic? To confiscate and arrest confiscate the property of and arrest women and children Then it is to just allow them to operate within state-level standards Many of the vendors aren't even selling food but masks and umbrellas Uh now burnall is saying that he's closing beaches for a weekend. So it doesn't matter. I mean this is unacceptable This isn't public health. This is a racist executive order in support of racist business owners Uh, and so does he get another example of an executive order where many of many Where city manager burnall has worked with santa cruz police to abuse the poor be at homeless or latinx street vendors To the benefit of capitalist class to get brick and mortar businesses at the boardwalk or brick and mortar businesses downtown Um, just yesterday santa cruz police swept two houseless people from the post office citing the city manager's ability to perform executive orders in just a generic sense You know, there were literal protests in the street to support these vendors. There was a During your budget study session Do not author authorizes And fun police. Thank you A few of the statements that andy mills just made regarding the vendors And confiscating their items. I was on the beach as well as several other people to witness The police drove up And I have a video of this and so do the police By their body cams if they were turned on that can be easily seen They did not talk to them. They got out of their they got out of the truck and they started taking all the items Wow And a little baby That's all there was no problems with social distancing. They grabbed all of their items without a discussion And the only reason they released it is after several of us started writing To the to the city attorney martin and andy mills and it was released immediately The second time that you was arrested that was last sunday the second time it was arrested We could go last sunday the second time that you made arrests was on monday The other arrest that you're speaking about andy occurred after Those other vendors got arrested for selling their items. The second arrest was two young Vendors on the beach that the police had to drive back to drive past Two lifeguard stations passing tons of people partying on the beach mostly white Not wearing masks not keeping social distancing And big parties with katala were not no one was around them. They were just walking down the beach Which can be seen on your video and they arrested those two people And all of their items were taken again umbrellas And boogie boards and from community bridges. I'm just calling in about this item We have been also inundated with a lot of community members concerned Um, about the the order and the impact that has on vendors and the ability for them to make a living Um, during this time, we know that a lot of people are struggling To make ends meet and a lot of the folks that are vending are trying to do just that so Our goal is to try to play mediator And have an opportunity for a rampant discussion where vendors and the city council staff can Sit down and set clear expectations About how to make this work, um with the the limitations that we have based on city city spots As well as current conditions based on code so In the following weeks, we have already reached out to several of the vendors. We are still struggling to find all the vendors In order to have a discussion via zoom, but our goal is to get as many people in Zoom room as possible to try to discuss Possible solutions to help address this and to help Um, basically crawl crawl crawl back this executive order In a safe manner, so We're here to help support the city in any way as well as the vendors to try to find a mutual beneficial solution For all of us. So thank you again and hope you are all safe During this uh this time Hi, my name is Madeline and i'm calling in to urge the city council to not approve this executive order It seems very one sided and directed toward a certain group of people who are just trying to make a living You know, we had closed our beaches earlier in the covid pandemic and People just kept coming to the beach anyway and law enforcement Kind of threw up their hams or like this isn't what we signed up for we're not going to enforce this And so the beaches have just been reopened and people have been coming there and they're not really social distancing There's all kinds of people there and around that area the boardwalk area, but now Suddenly there's all this concern About covid and the vendors and I think it's actually been shown that covid transmission in an outdoor area Is not really a huge concern to begin with so It just seems really harsh and unfair and it's interesting that law enforcement is so interested in doing this kind of enforcement when they weren't before That's it. I hope you just Resend this uh executive order. Thanks downtown business owner and I have Witness how the city has gone out of its way to support downtown businesses and showing a lot of care and solicitude For you know us continuing I would like to see the same care and solicitudes shown Toward these vendors who are in a much more precarious position than I will ever be in And I'm I'm so thankful that community bridges has stepped in I wish that that had been the first Step that was taken and we can see how Using police and policing as our first response to a situation only makes things worse And so please reach out for other options first And I also want to make sure that all the council members know The the situation that a lot of these vendors are in if they are part of a Family with mixed immigration status where some members like children may be um In the future eligible for status adjustment If the family has been shown to to use Become a public charge use You know some kind of assistance it may jeopardize their adjustment to permanent immigration status So even the threat of this sort of enforcement from the federal government has made people extremely Fearful to reach out for the assistance that's available So you can see that when you know selling some beach umbrella umbrellas is the only way That your family has to make ends meet You can see why you know people would get emotional when that is threatened And I think also unfortunately we have another case where what the police statements public statements Are at odds with what's going to be shown at video and that's very very sad to see At the Santa Cruz resident Hi, this is Stacey falls and calling in In opposition to this ordinance to this executive order I um You know, I live really close to the beach and that I work near downtown And I've seen all kinds of congregating like Congregating in a way that makes me really uncomfortable I was downtown a couple weeks ago and like somebody without a mask walked by and spit on the sidewalk Right next to where I was standing and I just I mean I I know we have to take precautions in this era And I in particular I'm really trying to social distance and be really cautious But I'm just surprised that we're taking this level of enforcement action When it really seems like there's all kinds of people behaving in extremely unsafe behavior On the beach on beach street downtown near the businesses And it's hard for me not to just see this as kind of a racist attack against You know, mostly latin ex funders And I'm not saying that the police department or the the city manager are racist, but I think like You know, it's easy to target people who have Fewer means who don't have the privilege of owning a brick and mortar business Um, and I just I think we should be taking care of those folks And I was listening to vicki's comments about You know the impact that that something like that like having something on your record can have on your immigration status And I just want to you know, we're a sanctuary city and I wanted to be a city where we're going to work with people I make sure that like Trying to make money during a time and a lot of people are out of work Isn't something that's actually going to get people in trouble with the law Like I just can't believe that the direction we're going So, you know, I'm glad that Community bridges is is going to help out and you know, I heard chief melis day that they were trying to do education But I really just think like we should do education and stop there Like there's no reason to take all kinds of really drastic enforcement actions at this point I wanted to uh talk about my thoughts on this this ordinance and I was actually there when Uh said police came in and uh did their education a quote on quote So the first time they went out there was on thursday And they went to the vendors and told them if you're out here tomorrow We're gonna come by with the truck and take everything on the street. So just kind of getting that information from the vendors and and uh You know, that's not right. That's not right. The order ordinance was not signed And then the next day on friday they came up again without a sign ordinance and That's when they started saying. Oh, you know what? We don't have an ordinance yet. It could be signed in an hour It could be signed in A week, uh, we don't know but this is not and then they come by An hour later with the sign ordinance Um, so to saying that there's a week Of education. That's not not what we have been seeing um And yeah, it's it's not right. It's not right. What's going down? um the ordinance is due to covet and Like everyone has said and have witnessed The vendors out there were weighing their mask had the proper uh hand sanitation And we're taking all the necessary precautions that the city had placed And yeah, it's just not right and to hear that. Oh, there's multiple complaints Or was it one big complaint from the seaside company because this ordinance does go hand in hand with When their drive-in movie was supposed to take place it It ends on october 1st a week after The drive-in movies were supposed to end. So it's just a lot of things about this ordinance Thank you, can you hear me? Yes, good evening. Uh, yes. I want to second I was spending time down with the the vendors and A lot of these uh vendors are indigenous and I believe that this Is directed at them in a very unfair way I don't believe that the communication from Santa Cruz police department was made in a way that respected them and also I feel like Based on what I witnessed there was a lot of aggression Directed at the vendors So I just want to second what most have said I believe that there are smarter ways to go about this. I like the idea of maybe doing a lottery system or a system that where There can be designated spaces for vendors But all together I believe this could have been avoided if the beaches had just been closed If this really was an issue regarding safety for our public health Um, then beaches should have just been closed from the beginning Rather than Santa Cruz targeting There or Santa Cruz PD targeting their Targeting, you know these poor vendors who are there just to make their living So I believe that um the ordinance should be rescinded And there's other things that our city could be spending resources on Thank you. Thank you It's just thank you. This is peter gelblum. I'm calling on behalf of the Santa Cruz chapter of the issue of northern california Um, I urge you council members to not simply be a rubber stamp For the extraordinary powers you gave to the city manager when you declared a state of emergency I urge you to instead exercise your duty as elected officials To review and analyze the order and its enforcement carefully Listen to the public's comments and exercise your authority and the demittable code to not ratify this order This guy has to be done on every executive order, but this one in particular There are many infirmities with the order. I'm going to focus as a as a retired attorney on a couple legal points Although the executive order purports demand vending on main beach and cal beach There are no factual findings in the order to support that ban Again, there are no findings to support the ban The only findings in the order concern people congregating from the sidewalk On beach street, which has limited space that may make adequate social distancing difficult This obviously is not true for the beach which has huge amounts of space There's also no finding at all about vending on the beach The order contains speculation that vendors forced off the beach street sidewalk might move to west cliff or the municipal wharf Where the order claims without evidence that similar space challenges exist But the order doesn't even contain because it cannot similar speculation about the beach If there are no factual findings and support and mr. Condati should confirm this to you the order cannot be legal and must be rejected Second all of the targets of the order as everybody's heard Are mostly for all Latinx the order was issued only in English As far as I know It has not been translated into Spanish so people's property being taken and they're being arrested for violating an order They may not be able to understand. Thank you very much Elaine Edwards, uh, I'm evacuated right now Kind of stressed so I haven't put together quite an eloquent as a statement. Um as many of the other callers today But I'd also like to support the demands to withdraw this executive order immediately the order is blatantly racist And targets of vulnerable members of our community with police violence. I just think Santa Cruz needs to be better than this. Thank you Um, my name is ivy and I'm calling in to basically reiterate what everybody else has said Um, it just seems really odd that the city Uh bends over backwards for restaurants and especially food trucks. Um, and other forms of creative vending or selling of products and food And closing streets downtown setting up a food truck thing on the on west cliff I wish that you guys would put some of the effort that you've put towards those businesses into The vendors. Um, I think that instead of This whole process could have been um, I think dealt with a lot more creatively and a lot And with a lot more thought for the the welfare of the vendors. Um, I would have like to see You guys figure out somewhere where they can bend safely Where they can still capture tourist dollars, which is something that I'm interested in in them doing Um, and uh, I think that This was not the best way to go about this and that uh, the order should be rescinded. Thank you It's nice to hear some strong consensus amongst the community Uh, first, well, I just reiterate what everybody else said and then just add the fact that a lot of these vendors, you know, are some of the most vulnerable people in our, uh, community and they You know, don't necessarily qualify for a lot of the other kinds of aid that has been happening with covid Which means like they are even more dependent on this single source of income to provide for their families and themselves um And then in addition to that or kind of a little bit of a separate issue is the whole issue of the city manager Um, having this kind of complete executive authority and very little accountability to city managers and unelected position There's zero ways for the public to hold that person accountable They make more money than any other Employee in advocacy and they have this executive authority to make decisions Uh, without any kind of deliberation or democratic process and I think that's just a complete shame and really, um Needs to be addressed My name is Cindy Mendoza Lopez and I am Calling it because I spoke directly to chief mill who told me that They would not be throwing out the items there. The last resort was to arrest the street vendors. They would be holding off on, um Removing them from there. They would cite first and that was not how it was done I was very disappointed. I really respect chief mill But when his officers did not conduct in the manner that he expressed was not going to be done It was very disappointed to see Not just this but we're currently in a pandemic where people are struggling to hold jobs either rent or mortgages And by doing this to the most vulnerable population, you're only making conditions worse for them So ones that are first impacted by the pandemic in the first place Please please please listen this order Thank you. This is healthy hill. Um, i'm calling to express my support for rescinding the executive order I live near the beach and I went down to the beaches to meet the vendors And there was very little crowding due to people selling backpacks masks and bracelets I was also told a contradictory contradictory story about measures from the city to engage in good faith discussions with the vendors Um, just to paint the picture that I witnessed there were uh crowded was crowded beach on one side Folks selling handmade crafts on the sidewalk and outside visitors in the hotel and restaurants across the street So I don't see how it's the vendors who are proposing posing a disproportionate risk to our public health when the beaches are still open Similarly, I don't see any brick and mortar businesses on the beach selling masks aside from the vendors So wouldn't we want tourists coming in from out of town to have access to masks if they're going to be flocking to the beach? I can understand concerns about food vending, but it seems inappropriate to ban all forms of vending on beach street in one fell swoop I'm also concerned that these people paid for ven permits to vend on beach street Is there going to be any effort to repay these permits? If the city reports to do everything through a lens of equity An executive order aims at people who are working from sun up to sundown to make it make ends meet during a global pandemic Seems like an unfair move on behalf of the city. I hope you'll consider all the consensus by the community members here in recent this order. Thank you Hello, can you hear me everyone? Yes. Good afternoon Uh, good afternoon. My name is tyree richey. I'm one of the community activists locally in san cruz county I organized a june 19th march and I also wanted to speak on the uh street vendor situation I was just uh brought to my attention by a lot of people from the community have been in support Of the street vendors and I really have alarming concerns concerned the street vendor situation I'm also chiming in what other activists and community members. Uh, this is A global pandemic and the fact that many of people in this proportionate communities mainly black or brown or Just as highly affected in this Sanctuary community are already due to higher rising rents But also the fact that uh, many street vendors are getting discriminated discriminated upon For selling their items in the middle of a pandemic. Um, I've realized that I've been realizing that and also I wanted to ask city Are there any Efforts moving forward to do any rent freezes, uh, which is not already in the efforts to do Any type of actions to really help community members move forward with this pandemic as far as alleviating Payments as far as rent and other payments as well as other issues evolving in the community Um, I feel that the fact that uh, the police department is really criminalizing both the street vendors and recently the homeless Situation really speaks volumes to where about our police funding moving forward I feel that and also while it's our the priorities of our city managers as well as our police department move forward I feel that as community members We truly do support our street vendors and definitely need more changes moving forward. Thank you I have one more person one more speaker There are days when I've been out there and I've seen really good distancing and there's other days when I've been out there And it's been really concerning to me from a public safety perspective And so I can get to and win for the vendors the city and the community as a whole so with that i'll um Councilmember buyers and then councilmember brown Well, first of all, thank you mayor for coming for reaching out to community bridges I'm so familiar with all of their programs which uh, constantly raising money for and uh Uh, they're just wonderful So I want to be sure that they have the resources that we're going to need to To implement something like that. So now I will turn to this city manager With my comment or kind of a question martin do we need to Let's say we agree to ask community bridges to do this and put every resources they need Because I think starting out it's going to be a big deal Do we need a budget adjustment to do that? I assume we're going to be Giving them some money here often and sure they'll want to be paid to do this Or will the budget just without our taking action Uh, there's no need for a budget adjustment. Um, at this time, essentially what we're doing Ralph de mericott who is in my office has been tasked with Leading the effort in terms of getting individuals together. He's actually right now setting up meetings. He's hearing to hear back With respect to dates But I think initially the discussions will evolve around looking at you know, what what can be done to make it work for everyone because there's there's a Uh concerns and issues disinvolving the the vendors themselves being able to operate because Again, there's limited spaces. So how do you have an equitable system of sharing the spaces because for example, we would have one One business entity or one vendor who Would take up all the all the spots and so that's not really fair to the rest of the vendor So they were forced to try to squeeze out space In other places which then made them, you know being violation of the of the order or the distance and requirements. So other operating guidelines or their Locations other ways that they can operate or some system. That's more fair and equitable for the vendors themselves Is that that I think what we would explore uh to avoid complex? Because again, as I noted earlier Vendors do have by law the right to to operate And so it'd be creating conditions parameters that would be Sets that would work for them as well as for anyone that might be impacted in the surrounding area adjacent businesses And I think I've heard from a variety of businesses and residents in the area who I think all acknowledge either the need to Try to come up with something that works for everyone It's sort of reasonable and so I think that's the intent of doing that And we are actively working on getting that going as soon as possible here The venting at the new phenomenon to Santa Cruz We have not really had it in years past in the beach area. We've had it downtown But in the beach area, it's a fairly new thing. So it's not something that quite honestly, we've had to deal with Our experience. So this is our first experience with us And again early on our attempt was to try to facilitate how to work really closely with them to to make it work Unfortunately, it was hard to do. So I think we have an opportunity here to try to make it to make make it work And we'll report to the council on anything that emerges or any need that might come as a result of the discussions Well, um, I think I just understand now you've assigned this to Ralph too Yes, he's facilitating the getting everyone together getting the city staff the appropriate city staff together As well as community bridges. And so that's that's that's started and in place now Just a comment on that because he's a great researcher So I assume he's going to look at other communities because we don't need reinvent A lot of it. I'm sure if we look at successful communities and Although I know Ralph, I bet you'll do that. So that well, it all sounds good. We're we're on it I just hope it doesn't take too long. There's too much too much bureaucracy involved. So we can't Resolve this as quickly as possible That's all my comments the mayor And I just had in terms of next steps moving forward where we need to take a step to allow for this Sure. I mean, obviously, uh, we uh, we need to have those conversations and they've been initiated But certainly the council wishes to provide some some guidance and some direction or to Acknowledge and and ratify that that would be uh, completely acceptable. And yes, I'm going to come from Matthews I'll just start by saying I I agree wholeheartedly with uh, most of the comments that we've heard today and so I won't Give you all a speech reiterating those but I do want to highlight A concern and about the the way that we've prioritized or the city has made the decision to prioritize this kind of enforcement over other Issues that are happening in our community related to this public health crisis And given the fiscal crisis that we are in and are likely to be in for quite some time. It's even more kind of Confusing to me, uh, I um, appreciate the the interest to to engage in some kind of discussion and good faith negotiation to try to make this work Um, and I appreciate community bridges for stepping up I heard from their representatives just now that, uh, we ought to be rescinding this Uh executive order and so I'm going to move that we do that. My motion is to rescind executive order 2020 dash 16 To direct staff to continue work with community bridges and the vendors And to report back to council at the september 8th council meeting and I believe that's it. There we go That's my motion Happy to be on track. Thank you. Um I appreciate the comments, um And the general direction of this Uh, I think it's important to acknowledge that The whole subject of bending street vending sidewalk vending has changed quite a bit in recent years And specifically the issue on the beach arose very quickly um, and It did involve Very tense and contentious Be ashamed of yourself Where that came from Dynamics between and among the vendors as well as some legitimate Issues about food safety and the whole truth on the bike those those were legitimate issues There are other legitimate criticisms of the way it was handled in the moment But um, I think to rescind the emergency order would quickly revert to the kind of Tensions and Contention dynamics that existed previously that were a source of concern My preference would be to ratify the executive order, but also convey the council's Direction um priority direction to staff to Continue the work of community bridges to develop a more structured And equitable system that would accommodate beach area vending So that would be my motion Okay, if we have a motion by council member Matthews I'll second that um, I did have some questions in a comment, but I'll second Councilor Matthews motion as well Why don't we hold your questions council member brown had her hand up? And I'll just say as well that um a program that can be effective and so Um, I think it's important. I know that many other vendors in town That have put on other events have done a lot of that work up front before those events have happened Some of those being the food trucks that we've seen periodically on West cliff the makers mark that we've seen downtown So I think that if we have an opportunity to really work with the vendors first that we can try to mitigate A lot of these concerns that we're hearing in the community and bring back something that's Going to really be effective and benefit the vendors the community. Thank you So in uh, yet more evidence of the Substantial challenges that the public has and weighing in here in this format I have received a message that the last person who had her hand up Uh, did not lower her hand and was unable to speak and so I'd like to reopen the public comment to allow that speaker I think it's the least we can do because who knows how many more people have just not been able to get in Sure. I mean if that person can call back in And if they can press star nine on their phone, I'll let councilmember golder ask her question And if you could do me if i'm wrong, but didn't we learn at our last discussion about this that the majority or there was a Quite a few Of the vendors were from outside the county And just coming into vents My understanding is that you have the vendors that most are from um From other you know other other counties and so given the circumstances that we're in with with Evacuation and and the beaches already being closed across the county Because of the pandemic during labor day weekend. I think it's essential That we Put a pin in it continue the executive order have the discussions and then come back because if these people don't live in the county They shouldn't be coming to santa cruz right now. Anyway, we need the space for our evacuees Past the time, um, I actually have another member that had The live video who wanted to speak as well and we had a lot of problems going on with that We thought we would be able to speak just through video Anyways, um, i'm karin p. I am actually one of the first people that reached out after the hate crime To the exact event very either speak now where it is auctioned about um And created a go from me. Um for the hate crime she had turned her every day since me and A member of indigenous surf club. I've been asked for my friend. You didn't have been there Speaking to vendors advocating getting all the point of view that the three council members are so confused about That apparently no one can advocate for Um, I have so much to speak on this all your concerns. I can answer if we can do a separate zoom meeting um in regards to comments already about these people not being apparently local if they were Due to housing being more um equitable for people. They would be here Unfortunately because of that because of the city not having step rules for locations They do have to sleep sometimes in the cars because this is your livelihood So that's a separate thing itself. They've tried to reach out for housing They've been here for years. They know their crowd and because of livelihood This is why they still come and still suffers racism every day If you were to go to vendors within an hour, you've had a racist yelling out their slurs Local by the way that you're defending. Um anyways, I can turn to everything Um against Cindy Locas the social workers spoke to chief mail about all the claims that Arrests would be the very last resort arrest happened a day after the ordinance Speaking on bilingual Access to the vendors you guys gave only an english version of the ordinance all of the Warnings that they got were threatened by people that they don't trust because They've been getting harassed the whole summer about everything that business is trying to do Yeah, I have a lot to say but um, we recommend be treat Councilmember on that has been widely reported. My motion is absolutely agnostic on that issue. Um It's my understanding that we never tried to have business licenses but Our business licenses in general don't require that people live in Santa Cruz County. They're that's a different issue also So I'll be clear on that But if they're I I agree So my point was that we we know we heard that they were coming in and camping on the beach We think that given the circumstances, it's probably better just to put the pause button on have the discussions now and they I think you're allowing to Sure is to come in and then that doesn't make any This is not a discussion At this point we don't read your point We don't um prohibit people coming into the county where Just the Santa Cruz is asking people not to visit but We don't at this point have that legal authority. So, um, again, my motion is Absolutely equal on that subject and I think reflect a very broad and with our community partners in a way that is equitable culturally sensitive to have a plan that operates without the kind of Tension don't remember Matthew's to restate her motion, but I believe she just did and I got it But this hurt your son her son Your son, sorry. So yeah, it's really awkward. I uh, I I only get about every third word Oh, I had problems today. Is it better now? Pardon, is it better now? That was better. Okay. I'm closer to the computer. I apologize for my Yeah, and I think I heard I think I got the motion. Okay. I sorry. I had the lead for a bit Everyone else clear. Thank you mayor Council member buyers on item number 17 hadn't moved the second reading of the ordinance I just want to comment that I I do find it ironic that we are Doing a second reading on an ordinance intended to conform with a state law that was adopted precisely to try to prevent Uh, discrimination against uh immigrant communities and the vendors, uh, the latinx vendors who are targeted in communities throughout the state of california, but i'm happy to Move the second reading Okay, so we motioned by council member brown Council member golder I'll second that and seconded by council member golder council member buyers. I I Matthew I Nice mayor mires and mayor coming. I did receive comments to that effect as well and given the Given the the fires, um, I think um, and the engagement by the the santa cruz county b guild on this On this item and I met with them early last year Um, and certainly they are very interested in this and have been helpful and supportive and trying to Bring the item forward many of them would like to be here, but they cannot and So I think I'm happy to entertain a motion to continue the item But I'm happy to also have council members ask questions as needed Thank you Member fires matthewson and brown No, I support continuing. I think some of the email we just got right before this meeting Was important. I read it quickly, but I'd like to absorb it. So I Totally appropriate. I think to continue it. So I'm supportive, but Council member matthews brown and then I have a question for the city attorney I'm quite happy to continue. I'm with council member mires met with state speakers on several occasions last year and It's such an interesting field And on the book curry outdated needed work They brought us a lot of resources from other communities I was really grateful given everything on the planning department's plate that they even Got this far. I think they they engaged actively with the beekeepers I was under the impression that you could choose for a largely dissolve when it came to this, I didn't see That there were significant issues to To revisit in detail We did get some very late correspondence. I understand everyone's life. So just not this right now We just take that as a given. This is not urgent the beekeepers have Activitationally and in good faith and I think I would like to have a little bit more discussion In current time with what the issues are can't necessarily guarantee we We get 100% agreement, but I think you know, we're very close and we can do a good job on this That will be a really good outcome for the future And so with those comments, I will move if we continue this to a future date in the religion I think I had made the same motion Yeah, did you want a second Cynthia? You said you would entertain a motion bill. I thought I would Oh, I'm sorry. Did I say entertain? Okay, sorry You can make the motion go for it Sorry, I think rena second second Justin, I think you're um muted. Yeah, I was muted. I just had a question, Tony So we can just continue this item to a future meeting There's no need to table or anything like that No, I don't think there's any need to table it. It's not a time-sensitive item. Um, and so I don't see any issues with that at all Okay We have a motion by council member Matthews second by council member golder and um, I just want to thank in this together and um Obviously, there's been so much When I'm thinking about when it comes back to us I just want us to be cognizant that There's probably bees in the rural parts of our county that have been evacuated with And so maybe not too soon so that we're not, you know And I've almost got given a turtle and a dog yesterday. So like I don't know what kind of Situation people are in but I don't want anyone to be affected but under evacuation long term Yeah, I'll just say this is there noisy with the advanced planning section in the community development planning department So I just would like to take one little brief moment to comment that We were able to do some really great work on this this summer Despite the furlough despite limited staffing because we were so so privileged to have a planning intern this summer Ethan who was able to really take this project on and do the bulk of the research That was necessary a drafting of the code language to get it done. So Um This is Ethan's last week with the city and we are just so grateful that he's been able to be with us and um one of the advantages of zoom is that perhaps he will still be able to join us for this presentation at some point in the future From the east coast, but we have no problem with continuing to Ethan I didn't know with you doing all the work on this and you know when you go for your job interviews in the future And they say tell us something really interesting you did you can point to this Yeah, I just wanted to say thank you as well to Ethan and I know we're kind of running very much behind right now, but If you want to say something right now, it seems like you could Just take a moment if you have anything you want to say since you might not be with us for the the actual hearing Thank you for taking the time today For this item. Sorry to be continued and thank you to sarah and two maps uh, then law defense funding Uh for and everyone else in the event funding team for early Thank you very much Thank you mayor council member aspires Council for deliberation and action the objective standards for multi-family housing Um, this is a project that we are able to undertake because we were successful in pursuing an A grant from the sp2 fund through the state of california. Um I'll just hang on There we go. Okay. I'll just go through some very brief background So the project we're discussing today does still grow out of the city's general plan And our zoning ordinance. Um, I'm just going to cover this very briefly the report in when I was here in may We went through a lot more detail of it. So, um If anyone has questions on the background, you know, I can answer this but I'm just going to spend just a little bit on this right now So to reiterate our general plan created some new land use designation specifically three land use designations related to mixed use development specifically The zoning code that we have in place allows mixed use but does not fully implement the land use pattern that's envisioned by the general plan there was an effort to amend the zoning code to bring it into compliance with the general plan that's the typical course that A jurisdiction goes through and that when a general plan gets updated there was a lot of concerns from the community and Work on that process was on the summer of 2017 and then formally The city council gave direction to staff to cease work on the corridor plan in august of 2019 and to begin a new effort Looking at how to reconcile this difference between the general plan and the zoning ordinance was amended last year To the point where counties are now really only able to apply objective standards for development So those are things that can be measured And um to a mutually agreed upon standard. So height limits back limits You know things that can be measured and defined specifically We are able to apply so long as they don't get in the way of A developer being able to fully execute the planned development capacity of a site The city does not currently have a lot of objective standards in our zoning ordinance We rely a lot on design reviews to determine how buildings look and feel and relate to a street um We're not really able to use those as much now given the change in state law so in october of 2019 we um We applied for and were approved for a grant to Get some funding to help us develop these objective standards when I was here in may Just a few months ago I talked about how we were getting ready to release the rfp or maybe we had just released the rfp and we appropriated the grant fund The total of $310,000 into the city budget, which will allow us to pursue reimbursement for work on this project So over the summer we've been working on our procurement process to get Some really great vendors on board to help us work through this community process to create Zoning standards for multi-family housing and we're so excited today to have um urban planning partners We've selected them. We're really excited about the project. We have two representatives from the firm with us today To answer questions and introduce themselves rfp We really were looking for um several things. We wanted we wanted to see proposals that were technically strong You know really covered all the bases could produce a robust analysis had experience running complicated community processes Um, and we found that with this team urban planning partner strategic economics and inner ethnica um We they really demonstrated their proposal demonstrated Like a pretty nuanced understanding of our community already and more than that also demonstrated that they really have the tools to um engage with our community with all facets of our community And really make sure that those voices Get incorporated into the process and into the product. We liked how their proposal Had a strong community so that the prop so that the feedback we get and the input we get from the community um That they really understand what they're contributing to and how their comments are going to be used and reflected in the final product So that they're really providing the city with useful Feedback and information so that we can really make sure We also were really excited This team Really identified a goal and an interest in ensuring that our outreach is really equitable And they are specifically bringing a social justice and anti racist lens to this work about zoning Which is a piece that has been historically really missing from the process and it's not something that um, you know city planners typically like dig into about the history of zoning and Where it comes from how we came to be that our land use patterns are the way they are today and our building forms are the way they are um And all of those things have a history and all of those things have an impact on our community So we're really excited that this firm seems um Very interested and very capable of including that history and educating the Santa Cruz public on um those factors because they matter in in this work They also have a really strong track record of proven participation tools to ensure that we're reaching all members of our community and that we're not Um, only hearing from the same folks that we hear from all the time I hope we hear from those folks as well folks who really understand our processes And have engaged with them in the past and have that um, you know institutional knowledge and that history that's also important And we want to make sure that we're also hearing from people who maybe haven't understood how to participate Haven't felt like they were empowered to participate in the past Um, and we feel like this is the team to do that scope of work briefly here um Work would kick off pretty immediately in september sort of as soon as we can get set up with the contracting and In voicing we're going to get started because there's a lot to do and we have a grant deadline. So um, the scope of work currently takes us through about november of 2021 based on the um funding source We have to really be finished absolutely no later than january of 2021. I'm sorry 2022 So, you know, we're trying to give ourselves just a little bit of wiggle room there right at the end of the year Which is tough with holidays and stuff. Yeah, would that that deadline unfortunately is um external and not Moveable it's under 180 thousand dollars and the scope of work consists of four primary tasks So they're going to be doing some start off with some information gathering to understand some of the existing conditions and Existing for the lay of the land in the city they're going to focus on developing their community outreach tools and processes um, and then performing that community engagement and having Some feedback loops that ensure that it's barely being successful in in the goals that we've set for it um, and then drafting the objective standards and then lastly Bring those standards to hearings before the planning commission and the city council so, um This poll quote was in the The consultant's proposal and it's taken from comments that the city received during the housing blueprint Out the housing blueprint outreach the housing blueprint subcommittee outreach Says I don't want endless meetings and outreach I just want housing to get built without any fanfare except for the new residents being very excited to move in um And I thought this was a very insightful poll quote for the um for the team to put in their proposal because it really highlights one of the challenges We have done a lot of outreach and a lot of talking about land use patterns and zoning and housing and Santa Cruz and um I think there are a number of constituents in the community that probably look around and feel like it's all talk And it hasn't really generated a change or it hasn't generated the change that they wanted it to generate In fact, maybe has done something different than they were really hoping it would do so, um This is going to be one of the challenges that this process is going to need to kind of grapple with so, um These tasks one and task two would both sort of begin concurrently Um right away in september the consultant would be like gathering information from staff Reviewing our existing planning documents getting their arms around water are existing Standards and where are they they're contained in several different documents throughout the city that govern development um they're going to look at refining that list of potentially affected interests so that it's really focused and targeted and it's a um a list of the constituents that are most important to include and to met and and who's um engagement we really want to be measuring through this process um Then they're going to be Start beginning to analyze the existing conditions. So that includes um looking at the regulations that currently apply to um specifically again those that mixed use High density general plan designation. So as we talked about in January in our report, um You know, there are 91 parcels in the city that carry that designation And only one of those has pursued and received an entitlement to redevelop um, and that was at you know A significantly lower Capacity than the site is planned for in the general plan There may be lots of reasons for that. It may not be a bad thing that that's how that developed and it's important for us to understand Um the reality of development. Um, you know, as we've talked about in some some of the past updates on this Um, there is this question about Uh, is the capacity that's currently planned for in the general plan appropriate? Is it the right answer? Is it feasible? Will it work? So we need to be answering that question with this process. We're going to get a lot of information through this process in terms of identifying that and then being able to um Talk about whether we need to launch a second process to kind of move some of that development capacity around in the city so, um, but getting back to test one and test two, um The include the community engagement will include refinement and then metrics to measure success So where certain groups haven't been represented, you know, they're they're going to be looking at the city demographics and collecting that information um as people engage with the with the program with the um project and if we if we notice any gaps then they have um Specific ideas about how we might create a focus group or do some interviews or really target our engagement outreach to To get those voices in the process and make sure that they're heard and included So task two for community engagement. It begins sort of immediately and it extends all the way through You know the fall the winter And into the spring and the summer of 2021. So that task kind of um carries us through the whole process of working with the community Task three is a task to really define and develop these objective standards. So um These standards are going to be draft based on outreach from the community and really reflect the preferences that the community has expressed during the community engagement um, um, you know part of that community engagement process is really defining community character and and characterizing Exactly what it is about Santa Cruz that we want to see and then measuring that so that we can include those as standards You know, one of the challenges that we are up against right now is that the way the state law is currently drafted Um, we really have very little control. Unfortunately over what gets developed We currently have floor area ratios in the general plan We have height limits and setbacks in the um in the zoning code And that's kind of it. We don't have any standards about materials. We don't have any standards about articulation of building facades um, you know, we don't have any Comments about like window placement or materials or anything like that that really makes a difference in how a building feels And how it contributes to the streetscape and then how people feel Walking past it and interacting with it and having it in their community so um The information that we gather from folks about what they really care about seeing and what they love about their community That's gathered during task two is going to inform Um, the standards that get developed in in task three Additionally, task three is the task where we do that test fit of the existing objective standards and sort of identify If it's even possible to build a 2.75 that they are if it's possible if it's likely um, that's the information that um Would inform staff and then ultimately inform the council about whether it might be um, necessary to look at relocating some of the capacity for the um For housing development to other neighborhoods in the city other than where it's currently planned along water and so Cal So that's going to be a really important task um Let's see. Uh, I also want to mention here Um, there is both there's an optional task about like developing parking supply recommendations um We're not sure right now if that's really going to be necessary or useful staff is working on some other amendments to the parking ordinance sort of as a separate process right now and so That task has been downgraded to optional because we're not sure how necessary it's actually going to be It could turn out that it would be useful And so we do we are interested in maintaining The ability to add that task at a future date should it sort of become obvious that it's going to be really useful and relevant But for now it's optional and not included in the scope um So I do want to mention here tasks. Um, I think it's task 3c Include the tool where the economic development economic consultant would create a tool where members of the public decision-makers staff could kind of play with um, some different objective standards and see how they affect The likelihood of something getting developed So as we adjust height as we adjust floor area ratio as we tweak the number of required parking spaces Like how does that actually affect the likelihood of development and the creation of housing? You know, I think those are those are really important trade-offs to understand and I think sometimes they're quite opaque to the public Sometimes they're opaque to me and I do this for a living and it's You know, some of those things it's sort of remarkable how much a parking space can cost and so Changing the parking ratio just a little bit can have a big impact on the number of spaces the number Of units you can build on a property and then also the cost of those units so, um We're really excited that that kind of a task and that work is going to be included here because it's really going to help All of us understand the choices that we're making and the trade-offs that we're choosing And then finally after, you know Developing these standards refining them ensuring that people understand what they're seeing and that we're getting the right Kind of feedback about how they may need to change Then they would come to public hearings before the planning commission and the city council I would also like to mention ultimately these any changes to our zoning code That come out of this process will have to go to the Unfortunately due to the grant we don't have time for the consultants to be part of that process So we are ensuring that the consultants will be through the process be with us all the way through the process of getting approval and feedback from the city council But then it would be on city staff to process that ordinance amendment through Hearings of the California Coastal Commission a minute talking about the role of the planning commission So both the city council and the planning commission have been interested in how the planning commission could be involved how they could contribute to this process and You know, we really want to ensure both for our sake for their sake that the planning commission Really adds value and contributes in a meaningful way to this process um Given the timeline that we're on Um, we we want to make sure that we are using our time very efficiently with the planning commission so Given the focus on broad and inclusive outreach None of the four proposals we received recommended that we create any kind of community advisory commission um technical advisory committee Anything like that all four of them really said, you know, if your focus is on bringing in new voices A committee is the wrong way to do that. Um, really there are other better ways to do that and I and you know We were surprised that that would be part of the process. You know, we Have used community advisory committees in the past the corridor So, you know, we are kind of trying to learn those lessons about We're hopeful that this process can go and so we're choosing some different tools We are recommending that the planning commission play a very important advisory role in this process We will be bringing them Detailed updates at four key milestones in the process The first one will be pretty soon when we have that community engagement strategy sort of Finalized with the consultants that would be the first point that we would bring something to the planning commission and ask for their feedback And you know any any recommendations they might have to staff and proceed with that and hopefully help us improve it As we start our outreach with the community Um, the second time would be shortly after that We would come back with the results of the test fit of existing standards because like I mentioned That's going to be this important point for um, you know staff planning commission city council is going to weigh in and Take a decision. Are we going to pursue a second project? Are we going to initiate a process to do a general plan amendment and everything that that involves? um You know, what are the results show us about how much benefit we would be likely to get out of engaging in that process So we would really want the planning commission to be involved with that and make a recommendation to the city council about Pursuing that kind of a process or not, you know, I mean really that they're going to have to be involved with that Um, the next time we would come and see them would be as we're visualizing those draft standards So um between you know bullet two and bullet three. There's a lot of community work. That's going to be happening um, and the planning commission As individuals would be able to participate in almost all of that work, you know, they couldn't all five of them attend a live meeting but given that, um, you know, our community outreach is going to have to be very um, Really varied in terms of format given that we aren't going to be able to have large community meetings It's almost an advantage in that the planning commissioners would all be able to participate as individuals in those processes. Um, and We think there's a lot of benefit to that. Uh, so they can see how it's happening with the community and um, you know, sort of hear the feedback live as it happens. Um, and see the results of that and really be involved So and then obviously they would be involved in hearing, um The formal draft standards so they would see the visualization of the draft standards They would provide feedback that would go into that refinement step Where staff and consultants would, you know, tweak those Standards based on all the feedback from the various places. Um, And then develop the final draft that would go into formal hearings and then that would be the planning commission's Final role would to be to make a formal recommendation to the city council about Whether the proposal should be approved and With or without any further amendments recommended by them So with that, um, I would like to introduce Lynette Diaz from urban planning partners Who's here with us today just to take a few moments to introduce herself and her firm Sarah, um, I'm Lynette Diaz. I'm president and founder of urban planning partners And I also have Meredith with me tonight and she is our project manager. I shouldn't say tonight this afternoon and really appreciate This opportunity to be before the council today and To work with the city on this project. It's really a great opportunity in planning And development. It's changing a lot. Um, it's hard to keep up with all the regulation changes and What we can and what we can't do and There's a lot to learn and there's a lot that's changing. And so this is the type of work We really love to do and we're really good at Um, we like working in controversial situations where there's opportunity to learn and educate and inform the process And we were really excited to see that staff Was really open to approaching this and in a different way and you know, I think we're all recognizing that we need to evolve um, our approaches to things and So with that, I'm gonna um They were available for questions. I know you guys have a lot on your agenda, but both Meredith and I are here and look forward to Thank you And very good things recommendation as printed in your staff report is to direct the city manager to execute the contract um In the amount of 179,935 dollars to procure these consultant services We're also asking asking for The city council to authorize the city manager to approve change orders not to exceed $23,300. Again, all of this money would be Provided for by the grant funding that we've received and that 23 Three would be for optional parking tasks that are called out in the scope of work And then number three direct staff to invite the planning commission to significant outreach events and to incorporate regular updates The planning commission into the project schedule So with that we staff and consultants are available for questions presentation. So would you put up that last Slide was at four down this one Down to direct staff to invite them. I'm talking about the planning commission Reminded when I read this here to significant outreach events Now, okay, they go to an outreach event. I mean I'm sorry. It was almost a little insulting to have an invite them to a public meeting, but that's okay At that meeting are they speaking as if they want to stand up and speak and are they speaking as a planning commissioner? Are they speaking as a person? citizen just a plain old So that's what Sure, if you'd answer that one first that would help. Sure. Yeah, absolutely. So um In consulting with the city attorney, um, well, let me back up. So one of the things I'd like to say is that, um The realities of coveted are that um the Outreach process for this project is going to look different than any project we have done before more of it is going to be um Online more of it is going to be in sort of smaller groups. It's going to be outdoors It's going to be via tabling. It's going to be via surveys Um, all of those are community engagement activities Um, if we hold a meeting either in person or online Um, the planning commissioners would be governed by the brown act So, um, they would not be able to you know, we couldn't have a quorum of them all attend that event live Uh, the advantage though is that um, you know, any meetings that we do online It's very easy to record those and make them available through the website So that planning commissioners would still be able to um, you know Participate after the fact gather the information send their comments and provide their feedback And then and in that role they would be participating as individuals as citizens and not as represented not as formal representatives of planning commission You know, isn't uh, maybe there's a question for tony. Oh, hold on. I'm so sorry. I just got to turn this off um Isn't there a way to also The public event. I'm sorry. I don't know how to turn off my phone. Um a public event to Notice the brown act so they could just attend that one public event with all the other people Uh, that they are as commissioners When couldn't that could be done. You could do that. Yes. Okay. All right. That was okay That's right. It would just have to be involved the posting of an agenda and right It wouldn't have to be conducted in the same format as the planning commission meeting But it would have to be noticed But they could attend and they could be there So long as it is agendized a majority. Yeah, yeah Yeah, okay. We would have to agendize and notice uh, right if a majority wanted to attend And then it talks about updates going to the planning commission at key I saw that in the earlier slide one of the tasks of bring key. What was it called? Yeah Leading my update of key milestone um Does an update Just an update or can they totally engage in their opinion good or bad? You may or may not their opinion There's a just Electro in the update Um, so at these key milestones, they would be providing feedback So on the community engagement strategy, they would be advising about whether it was Robots adequate any changes they would recommend Yes, and with the second bullet they would actually even be making a recommendation, I think Well, maybe lee wants to jump in would they be making a recommendation to the city council on that test results of the test fit I would be having that conversation with the council and so we would bring the planning commission's Um recommendations as well as the community feedback that we've heard thus far To the council that's something that the council would want to weigh in on in terms of whether to start up a separate and Parallel process although not linked Entirely in terms of the timing because this has a shorter Deadlines associated with the grant, you know, I'd certainly and I agree with those deadlines I think it's a long it's a long thing. So but but then the last the last one is that they do Receive the whole document and advise the city council Yes, right So they would be providing advice to the city count a recommendation to the city council at two of these points And they would be providing feedback to city staff and consultants at the other two points Oh, I've got other questions. I want to stay on the planning commission. Did this maybe uh City attorney can help me on this. Did the council take a vote on whether the The planning commission should be involved or I don't know what involved meant, but There's something in your the role of the planning commission the city council previously contemplated The planning commission's role Right I don't contemplate. Did we take a vote or did we just speak up? Up I'm not sure I understand the question, but I I can take it So when when we were here in May when I was here with the update about Reconciling the general plan and the zoning ordinance There was a motion made that the planning commission form a subcommittee that motion failed Yeah, okay. That's kind of what I remember didn't really say that in the paragraph, but that's true. Yes, okay Okay, but you know, um because I was on the planning commission for years and I'm not going to go anything of this, but I just want to acknowledge Hold on a second Um, I looked up the purpose of the planning commission in the bylaws And there are eight. I'm sure you know this Lee and you probably know it too far, but there are eight um duties and responsibilities of the planning commission And they shall have the ability. I'm sorry Um as vested by the city got and are required to and then there's eight things are required to None are as but I remember just so often our meetings were just full of working on policy and updating You know, not just hearing project So I I looked at these and I just want to be sure that we're meeting their bylaws because some of them are very Make recommendations on zoning, you know Can't read them all because I have to read all my cell phone. I can't see it anyway, um, I think it's just Being really cognizant Of those responsibilities of the planning commission and I do trust that how are you going forward? You're going to do your best, but I would Hope minimum you would invite them to these key events as planning commissioners. I think would save time I think whether you going and giving them updates anyway, that's Enough on that. Uh I was intrigued by the um, this is for the consultant um Less traditional outreach I would what would that be for instance I mean, we'd all learn Something unless traditional outreach, but maybe the consultant could answer that. Maybe you know what they have in mind question, um we know with public safety concerns and COVID and now the fires and the community unfortunately there's going to be some challenges and so things like if we could Send a meeting in a box to people and have a little workbook for them to do and Put their answers on social media or send it back to us If we could have a little data walk where they go around a neighborhood and see different Things about our economic analysis or our test bits and interact with exhibits We could do sidewalk talking to the neighborhoods just thinking about new ways to reach people since not everyone has the means to engage online and Engaging in person as a lot of obstacles So just thinking outside the box on how to engage our communities Well, thank you. We're all struggling with how to engage under this so But those ideas are excellent. So thanks for elaborating on that If you think about this control look forward to hearing about them or participating. Thanks. I think uh, That's my That's all now. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, thank you for the presentation. Sarah and Urban planning partners. I'm excited to see how this process unfolds I have a question for you about Uh, the kind of trajectory around the corridor planning process as you know and saw in the timeline that Sarah provided. I'm sure you already knew The the council In august of 2019 did uh move to Ensure that the the process For general planning and zoning ordinance changes would Would have as a prior as its highest priorities protecting residential neighborhoods And existing local businesses and also prioritizing affordable housing and so I'm and I um, I'm glad you Reviewed and and included the housing blueprint sub committee Information in your in your proposal I was on that committee and it was in fact during that committee process that we We decided there and we kind of affirmed the idea that we wanted to put Those zoning reconciliations on hold because of all of the community Input community input opposition really so i'm just wondering how you're thinking about that If you could talk about how you Will we'll try to Use that, uh, you know that as an underlying kind of Direction in the work that you're you do Um, sure, so i'll i'll start in the narrative if you have anything to add Feel free to jump in we also feel free to jump in here. Um, so yeah, so we are working with you know holding these principles of Preserving and protecting existing neighborhoods and city businesses as a highest priority um One of the first tasks under community engagement is is Defining and creating metrics for community character. And that's really where I see that Principle being upheld. So what and and this goes back to the focus groups we held in the fall on this topic um You know to be quite frank there was not a lot of consensus about what it meant What a neighborhood was even like number one how what are the boundaries of my neighborhood number two What does it mean to protect a neighborhood? Is that about protecting specific existing structures? Is that about protecting? specific existing current residents or is that about maintaining a demographic feel of my neighborhood People have all different answers to those questions And that is going to be a big part of this community engagement process is answering those Do we care about every local business including Taco Bell? They're local. They you know, they're operating here um Do we want to prioritize certain businesses? What does that mean and how what kind of space do they need? You know, so as we think about this process is going to be largely focused on housing So it is going to have less to do with businesses And to the extent that we are talking about how Mixed use housing happens that's going to happen in the context with some commercial uses. So that is going to be a piece of the conversation um And especially when we talk about how you know, the process of a site might go through as it redeveloped um You know thinking about how our existing businesses might be accommodated through that process whether our existing tools and processes that we have in place are Sufficient to address those concerns or not I mean that's certainly going to be part of the conversation The consultants are really tasked with developing objective standards for multi-family housing. So to the extent that we have existing Um single-family neighborhoods. We're not really talking about them at this point based on the general plan Should we get to a place where we're amending that pattern in the general plan? We might be talking about people's existing single-family neighborhoods um This gets into, you know, what are the boundaries of my neighborhood? Does Soquel drive part of my part of a neighborhood or is it a separate entity? Um, and I think there are a variety of opinions about that in the community I don't think the community is just of one mind about that. Um The sum up That is really going to be the underpinning of a lot of that initial community outreach Defining what these terms mean and how folks want to see them reflected in the final product actually to now Sarah, thank you for the the response. Um, just one question for the consultants. I think this will be for the consultants I'm I was interested to hear about the sort of innovative ways that you're thinking about community engagement and you mentioned chalking and kind of uh getting Neighbors or you know community members out to to kind of look at the the space to sort of envision what Things might look like and I know that story polls are You know often We get a lot of recommendations to use them. We never seem to But I think that they can be a really useful way of understanding what You know, especially when we're talking about higher density and height what that might look like So i'm just wondering if you have you use those in your own Work or would you consider that it seems like it will be coming up in the public input portion of the process Showing different stories of heights or stories as in Yeah, story polls are like physical polls that people put up that sort of outline a building so folks can get a sense of What the perimeter would look like? Yeah, and I have not used us in the context of objective design standards. We've used them frequently on projects You know that are in a design review To evaluate them in the context of Definitely brainstorm that and strategize with staff and think about how that May be helpful and help people visualize the change in vision Compared to what's existing compared to what's adjacent. What would this building look like? How tall would it be? What kind of shade would it cast? What kind of trees might need to be removed where you know So so things like that will definitely be included whether or not it's specifically a physical story poll on a physical property That's something we'll have to think some more about That's helpful. Thank you. I I think that one of the reasons that this comes up Uh, is that you know often when we are looking project specific, uh, you know architectural renderings they tend to Show street views that kind of minimize the potential What the impact on the viewshed might be or you know, so I just want to make sure that we're talking about Tools that allow people to really be able to see what um, you know, what what the changes might entail And then I had another question for you Sarah, but I think I will have to Pull it up in my head from my brain somewhere deep in the back of my My brain for later, so I'll leave it there for now. Thank you. Okay. Yeah, I just um, I just uh Wanted to just make a comment about uh the proposal. I did read through um those materials And I'm just curious uh If you design this process sort of based on how we sort of issued our SP Or is this something you guys have done in other communities of sort of like mine and like concern in terms of You know, I think Santa Cruz we picture ourselves as kind of maintaining this A certain feel in our town, you know And we we like our houses and we like our small businesses and we like trying to maintain our historic buildings or At least the kind of the eclectic kind of you know feel to the community. And so I'm just curious um It's this um, I'm just curious about your proposal and whether or not, you know This is something that's sort of generated out of kind of our desire of of expressing what we wanted or just curious about your comments on that Mary, let me start. Are you want to jump in? I can jump in and you can add on So it was based on a couple of things A largely review of what has been done. So with the housing blueprint subcommittee and the corridors plan But also based on experience working in other small towns and coastal communities and on contentious projects Housing and infrastructure. We do have a lot of experience With active communities and you know when changes coming how How to do place making and place keeping And we also have inter ethnica on our team who has a really great track record of working with diverse communities and um Really doing the research and the partnering to get a different viewpoint in their community engagement process We are very committed to developing a unique approach for each community that we work in and I will say for this we dug Pretty deep and um spent a lot of time strategy Stabilizing and brainstorming with our partners on the project. Um to develop their approach we proposed Yeah, I appreciate I do appreciate the team that you put together and um And the proposal and I I do feel that this will serve our community. Well, this has been Change is always hard and really at you know Everyone is going to look at it from the neighborhood. They're going to look at it from the neighborhood perspective You know, they they know the corner. They've been riding their bike by for 25 years and there's always that fear of change And so I really appreciate um the way that you've approached this in terms of really trying to provide um tangible ways for people to understand what these what the What their options are and what change might look like within, you know, their Scale of what it's like to be in their neighborhood the scale of what it's like to be down You know walking down one of our one of our popular streets. So I appreciate it. Thank you Just in terms of the process if you could speak a little bit more like so the next step Yeah, no problem The first thing we'll be doing is so so executing the contract getting the consultant set up so we can you know pay them for their work Um, and then, you know, the the first thing we're going to do is have a kickoff meeting We're hoping that we'll be able to do that, you know One of the first two weeks in september to really get them going to a download from staff about Um, you know where we are with the project what we know about it what we know about our local communities Handoff, um, you know our the planning documents. They need to review brainstorming about, um That long list of potentially affected interests. I think we had 150 of them on that list built when we came in january Um, uh, we're doing some refinement to that so that we're hitting the most important components, um that are representative of the whole city and also while still bringing it to a Level of that is really going to be able to be accomplished. Um, so we're going to be starting that right away in september and um We will have that, you know that the schedule for the the community engagement strategy is to have that I think like the beginning of november and um the schedule for the The test fit of those couple of sites is like the end of november So, you know, that's going to all of that work is going to start rolling pretty immediately Um, but I think it would be good, you know part of their role helping to inform So the only thing I would say about that is that we are really cognizant of our timeline as I mentioned It's pretty tight. We have about 15 months from today to to complete it um, and so, uh, I you know, we can absolutely consult with a planning commission We can go to them. We can speak with them. Um, and I I would hope that we could also Approve the contract today so that we can get started because we really are on a tight timeline I would just add that one of the first things that we'll be doing is Working on that community outreach strategy And that community outreach strategy is something that we will be bringing to the planning commission sir, do you have a timeline for when that? Would be completed roughly Beginning of november as a current project schedule Is that that would that half would complete sometime in the first half of november? So, you know, we would get it to the planning commission, you know shortly thereafter Oh, that's going to be rolled out Yes, I appreciate the value of the community education early on. I'm not going to put all my comments now Starting this latest discussion about the goal of the planning commission Um, I think being cognizant of the timeline is so important that we actually get the quality project out of this. Um My phone, I'm sorry. Um, very often the city council will give directions We'll go to planning commission or comment the planning commission They correct me back to us and then we hear it again Every time you can be considering the different steps. So I think I understand but our staff is saying and so certainly informing engaging and giving me opportunity comment, but not Not creating a time consuming back support Um, process that the effort should be on community engagement And moving forward with the project. I think this is Very exciting Given that we uh, our level of control over these kind of projects are influence right Limited the good product at the end. It's going to be beneficial. I have one question to comment Uh, when you listed the timeline for the step, I think number five was to develop standards. Do I remember that from the beginning? Uh, task three is developing standards. Yeah for the I mean, I would assume Number six or number five or whatever it is adopted standards. I mean, I covered that one pretty quickly Thank you for that. Yes task four is public hearings So public public hearings, but the goal is we don't just happen week actually Well, we don't want to pre pre-suppose any action by a public hearing body We will be our commitment is to bring it before the planning commission bring some kind of recommendation from them to you Um, Whether it's in a great, you know, a recommendation you agree with will be obviously at your discretion. Yeah Anyway, very excited about the approach you well, I remembered my question But since we've jumped into the fray of discussing Planning commission involvement. I'm going to make a comment So I know a majority of the council members Currently on the council have made clear their opposition to the planning commission having a subcommittee and Moving through a process with the consultants with the planning commission subcommittee the reason I made that motion And I know sara you were awfully polite in the way you framed the How it came up and you know, it was it was uh contemplated. Um, I'm not sure that it really was but Given that, uh, you know, I thought this would be a way that you know And the concerns about timelines it it seemed like having some kind of Subcommittee and I've been involved in many many subcommittees as a council member Those are bodies that can move more nimbly Um Kind of make informal recommendations engage in conversation. And so that was my hope That that that could happen with the consultants rather than going through all the formalities of the back and forth and back and forth And I take I really take issue with this because I don't think it's the council's job to pick and choose When the planning commission is involved depending on whether they like the makeup of the commission or not I'm just going to say that But my question I do remember is If you could I mean I know we're very limited in terms of what objective standards can be and sara you've kind of thrown out a few ideas about what what those might look like in terms of you know materials and other things If you could just say a little bit more about how you're envisioning Like are you going to come up with possible objective standards present them to the community in conversation and get feedback or You know, how will those be developed and You know, it's I just couldn't really tell from the Agenda item, but it's very which is very thorough. Just just a little That would be helpful. Yeah, sure. So I'll talk about it a little bit and then I think I'm going to ask Meredith to sort of fill in The first the first steps about education and then defining that community character understanding like what are the features of structures of Frontages of structures of roadways and public realms that make them feel good to people it's going to help us understand, you know There's really a difference in how people feel between like an eight foot sidewalk and a 15 foot sidewalk And also, you know, what it's different depending on how fast the traffic is on the street And maybe there's a difference between You know what people like to see on mission and what they like to see on sokel Um, you know, and so it's we're going to kind of be that the initial phase is going to be really kind of Parsing that apart like how fine grained are these regulations going to need to be in order to really Reflect the desires of the community and the preferences that folks have And then what are those features that people really care about and I would imagine that varies from one Place to another place, you know, there are um, you know some Some places that are very concerned about architectural style and everything in the in the You know city has to be mission style or at least in the downtown, you know things like that I don't know that Santa Cruz feels that way. I think Santa Cruz has a more eclectic character. Um, I think that's something Folks tend to appreciate and like about our city That you know, including a variety of architectural styles might be, you know, some of that so Getting a sense of what folks like to see that'll be sort of the first step. Um, and then You know combining that with the analysis that we do on the test fit sites and the economic sort of analysis that happens We will start to try and develop a set of standards that we think reflect what the community has said respond to the economic realities of You know development of housing and mixed youth projects um, and then we are going to illustrate those with, um diagrams illustrations photographs of other buildings that are, you know, using these techniques and standards um, and then go to the community and say like Is it right? Did we get it? Um, you know, what needs to change and that's that sort of refining step Um, and the planning commission would be a part of that refining stuff They would get you know, they would participate in this visualization or I mean they would you know We would bring that to them at a hearing and they would you know comment and You know tell us to change x y and z and make mission street match the hotel or whatever they tell They probably wouldn't tell us, you know, and then with that refining and um, you know further input Then that will help us get to the the final stage which then would come back again to the planning commission for hearing in the public and the Sorry city council for that recommendation Meredith would you add anything to that? I I think you did a great job. Thanks, Sarah And I would just Say what we're taking to the community is really trying to get the look and feel of these different scenarios because the average person Can't you know weigh in what they want this set back or that set back? So the visual visualizations will be key And I appreciate your comment also because it is kind of hard to think about what these objective standards will be There are a couple different approaches to them You can just give people a menu of these are acceptable options Or you could do a performance standard as long as you meet this criteria, whatever however way you want to achieve That is okay. There's different typologies or If it's on this type of court or these standards apply So it is very nebulous at this point But um, like Sarah said at that first stage when we hear from the community about What they would like to see that will help us narrow it down and figure out the right way to Visualize it for the community and council and planning commission Thank you Court I think of the eight pages and it is an excellent report. It was very well done and lots of information and I don't know whether The idea of picking up on their coming suggestion At least I think it would be nice if we sent that to the planning commission and sarah you could just This is what was passed by council Here's the information because it's so full of good information that it kind of kicks it off So to me it would kick it off of the planning commission if they had access to this document, you know, it's overdone We've approved it, but I think um, you know, I don't want to involve the comes Some socials don't have to be there you present it maybe Anyway, that's I don't know I'd like to include that in the motion when someone gets around to emotion because it's really really a good document to read I think you were part of the author. I don't know the other person I'm I'm delighted that People are that were that were going to come up with the plan that will help address some of the implicitly racist policies that have been within santa cruz and across, you know, the rest of california in many cases And coastal california is a Is a place where we admittedly need more housing And we need to figure out how to make it more inclusive when we need to think about how do we help? increase the diversity in santa cruz itself um And I'm a little bit worried about having the planning commission have an outside of the role um within This process so that we don't get the same loudest voices on the planning commission To effectively shout down the community So they don't get the same level of representation Um, I understand some of them, you know, they may they may know a lot, but some of these people have also Been the ones to to help down zone and have made it so that we have less political will for Building multi-family housing that can help a lot more people So I would really like to make sure that, you know, everybody thinks about, you know, whether we're we're elevating some people to To a degree that that causes outcomes that end up Hurting hurting a lot of people and so I I'd love for some time to be spent on What the impact of past policy decisions has had on both diversity and displacement? I think that's about it for me. Thank you All right, thank you. I've raised my hand. I have raised my hand for the wrong issue. Um, I yield my time Okay, thank you. Thank you Now is the time please plan and zoning ordinance reconciliation effort on the possible proposal of housing in the near future I think that as far as housing goes within our county, we need to be really urgent for our community members specifically our working class in santa cruz county I feel that we've been doing way to mean proposals for far too long on the housing or rather affordable housing on we had Measures such as measure m that was not passed to kind of help The working class residents in santa cruz county has been many opportunities to really Focus on this issue as far as housing goes But it's been a really lackadaisical issue I feel on the issue of housing because we feel that affordable housing it leaves the eyesore within our community It brings in the wrong crime or it brings in the wrong element, which is ridiculous I feel me personally being under affordable housing Um, it's also as a negative stigma put upon our community members who live under affordable housing Which I feel it needs to be more of and um, if we're going to talk about proposing Uh community outreach the first people group people we need to ask is our community members specifically The people we're talking about earlier street vendors people who are working class citizens And the food industry downtown and as well as other areas in the santa cruz community And um, I feel that more needs to be done and needs to be more urged And I urge our community members to be more diligent and to be more hands on instead of passing the buck to other Outside forces of entities. I feel that first of all we need to have Our community members to be up and foremost within dealing with these issues instead of passing the issue to outside community forces who have no idea about the santa cruz community will all do respect And also we need to Really need to be more urgent and urging these outside forces to bind up so much property in the santa cruz community Walgreens that just shut down It's owned by a private property that is perfect space for affordable housing as well as many other properties in the downtown region So thank you for your time Last four digits You're on the line. Uh, yes, my name is kandace frown and I live on the east side Um, along the so-called corridor. Um, I was very actively involved in the quarter advisory committee And filmed all of it. Um, and I actually have the only recording of it at this point Unfortunately, a lot of that was not properly documented before the advanced planning manager and Other planner left But I think there's a lot of information in that that is very worthwhile looking at because it brought up a lot of issues around the mass density Um, inadequacy of parking and the fact that there's not an existing infrastructure and very narrow parcels Throughout the 36 acres if you included All of different aspects of the parcels designated at that time The other thing I wanted to mention is that with the downtown update plan They did set up a technical advisory committee, which is very successful And they went and they met over a six month period They were very hard working and um, they and I think it was a very effective and efficient process So I think I am very surprised That in a sense this has been politicized by not allowing the planning commission to go through the normal process And um, I think it, um Would be a better process. I also want to mention that the community Um, has a lot of input a great input in in fact the 708 water street affordable housing it for Low income and developmentally disabled was so successful because of the significant input of the community over three major community meetings And it also was because the developer was very open to that feedback And I think everybody's quite happy with that project I also want to mention as a transportation commissioner the transportation issues would be key And I hope they will be brought into that discussion also. Thank you One of the public would like to call in now is the time and you'll be given two minutes to speak on item number 20 I'm happy to um To move the move the recommendation by the staff um, one of the things that I think and I don't think we have to go into all of this right now, but you know as we're looking at um design standards and um thinking about our most recent uh fires, how are we thinking about integrating resilience into those standards and uh our ability to withstand um, you know extreme weather events So I know that uh is a bigger conversation, but I think it's an important one to mention considering what's happening with climate change I just also want to um ensure that as the work also continues that we uh are aware of the health and all policies work that's underway and um also some of the outreach that is currently being uh Conducted by Tiffany Weis-Lest in terms of how to Reach our vulnerable community members through the resilient coast and climate action plan and As well as not trying to over saturate with uh outreach to uh specific community members With various sort of efforts within the city. So how are we sort of you know being synergistic with that? Um, and then lastly, I guess I would just say is how are we building this into our recovery and our processes around engagement as we think about recovery and moving forward. So just sort of trying to make sure that Internally, we're all aware of what's happening and what's underway and how we can have the foresight to To bring forward really good policy that's going to be resilient in the future Um, so with that I'm prepared to move the recommendation and I know that It's so interesting in terms of how to balance uh input and process and I need to have uh various checkpoints along the way In terms of how to engage with our our planning commission as well as um, really keeping a broader understanding of how to outreach to the voices that we have and with that I'm happy to move the recommendation as presented in our agenda report walk and um I will make a couple of comments Emphasizing again, this is about multi-family housing designed to Uh create a better path for uh, I am pleased to see the optimal parking path included as an optional but certainly The parking issues are huge in some areas not so much in others, but I think that will be a necessary component And I would be quite comfortable in the third item if it's agreeable to the maker of motion to add The word and invite planning commission input as the project repeated. It was breaking out So that number three would read direct staff to invite the planning commission to significant outreach events Incorporate regular updates to the planning commission into the project schedule And invite planning commission input as the project progresses being that we would stay on schedule and on staff I just wanted to ask the question so the the change to the Way the in the planning commission might be engaged doesn't seem like it's a substantive change to me But I did want to just go back to the question that council member buyers raised early on about At a minimum Making the Creating the opportunity of these public events for planning commissioners to be there as planning commissioners and publicly notice those meetings I mean, I imagine we're going to be publicly noticing them anyway So I'd like to make sure that happens okay, so saying polo so just as a as part of number three to I'll use the word invite, but it's like like council member buyers said it seems a little insulting but Invite planning commissioners to attend public meetings As members of the planning in their official capacity as members of the planning commission publicly noticed so that Quorum of planning commissioners can attend Is that in addition to or replacing something? No, I think it's in addition to As part of that number three though, it's just a additional if I If I could just say as a seconder, I That seems cumbersome and not really necessary They're specifically called out directing staff to invite planning commissioners to significant outreach events We could just say Including brown act to note potatoes. Yeah. Yeah, that doesn't give us special status, but it just means That was legally any problem with that No, I'll I do have some but I'll uh in the interest of time all Spare you That's it. I have one final comment. I want to make this time to do it We are going into now the first three months or so. Um, it will be carried out for the nine months And we threw out numbers following At least two members of the city council is different at that time So I would also encourage that planning staff Reach out to council candidates and to know this is a big deal And it will be a different council that digest the final report So I would suggest that the candidates are made aware of this And they made aware of the community input everyone's running for housing everyone's running for And they're running for community So that's my own comment. Let the candidates get in on the ground floor on this one Planning commission information explanation and I think even the civil I said that yeah, I'm happy with that timeline. We currently have the front riverfront project It's 175 units across from the Metro pacific station Between metro pacific station in the river on that agenda So that is it's a big projects, but You know, as far as a referral goes um, you know We can just Put these items on there and if if the planning commission chooses to discuss them, they have that opportunity We've got we've got a lot of things lined up for the pc. I think I think we'll get it to them as soon as we can. Yeah, this is more of it Right. Yeah, I think I think early september might be better because late september We've got the wharf and Things moving forward that item you were just discussing. I yeah, I we're going to approve it So they don't need to get it instantly, but I think it's important but also important or yourself Go over it with them or show them the importance of it I wouldn't just say here's the if you get around to read it You may want to discuss it But I think it's important that they're given a presentation on it They're going to be involved for you know this year on it and it's a good document an important document So I think they deserve some introduction to it in You know 15 minutes. That's all that's all councilmember buyer Matthew America ming and I give you a call so we can try to work on your audio. It's really bad Evening council We get the power point up here Presenting on state assembly bill 21 62 AB 2162 Was signed into law in 2018 And it was really to streamline supportive housing Only in zones where multi-family and mixed use development is permitted And supportive housing is defined as 100 affordable to lower income With 25 or 12 units, whichever is greater Dedicated to supportive Housing and services for homeless individuals And part of the streamlining included Making supportive housing as a use by right And use by right really means it does not require a discretionary review like a use permit Also under this bill, it would not require a CEQA process And projects could also receive significant parking reductions if they're located Close to quality transit stops And then finally the state law requires that projects 50 units or fewer Be as be a use by right for a city the size of Santa Cruz But the bill does allow for that limit to be increased As as a city policy And we're here before you today staff recommending that that be increased For three specific projects And those supportive housing projects, the first one is New Way Homes at 115 Coral Street And that's 121 units And it's already been submitted to planning and it's far along in that process And it's already been deemed exempt from CEQA Additionally, the applicants are likely to continue that formal process Including a planning commission meeting and may or may not need this additional streamlining But do wish to stay and be involved if it were to pass The second project is Pacific Station South, which is a city-owned property on Pacific and Front And that's 85 units and includes a non-profit clinic Dientes And that project would be seeking a 100-unit limit But it's currently still only at 85 units as the proposal And this project is especially important in that it's eligible for up to $10 million in competitive state funding If it is deemed a ministerial approval through AB 2162 And the final project is 314 Jesse Street, which is currently a 50-unit proposal And it's still very in a very preliminary and conceptual feasibility analysis stage And it really may stay at 50 units So there would only be two projects going forward With this policy for streamlining those projects And then through this process the city can really decide if design permits should be required And staff recommends that they be required for projects on private property But not for ones on public property And staff wishes to clarify that this would be a requirement for all AB 2162 projects, not just the ones that we're talking about today that might be over 50 units Additionally, all projects, whether they're public or private We would want to have at least one community meeting And for both of those things, those changes are reflected in an updated resolution language That I'll show you at the end of the presentation But as far as the design permit goes The public for a project that's on city-owned property The city is in a position to have a great deal of control over those development outcomes So it's not very necessary for for a design permit on public property But for public for projects on private property A design permit would allow staff to place conditions of approval on the project So long as they don't hinder that development, for instance tree replacement And then finally if a design permit were required for the private property projects Staff recommends that there be an administrative approval process So the design permit process would add some time and cost to the project And it's it's vital to maintain some amount of streamlining through this for these projects So we really feel that the approach to having an administrative approval process Would reduce the cost in processing times for applicants while still offering Community participation and the ability to influence the process And so finally the the benefits of this are really that it you know streamlines and encourages the product production of affordable and supportive housing Which we feel is very important for the community It also helps the city of Santa Cruz achieve lower income affordable housing goals Especially given the focus of this bill on supportive and lower income housing Um, the city of Santa Cruz based on our regional housing needs allocation numbers Really needs more very low income housing In the projects before you Really seek to add those types of units to the city And then finally the the policy is is only for these three projects currently So the effect of this policy is really defined and has a has a specific Has a specific goal to help these three projects So if if any further projects were to come forward to also ask for this additional stream streamlining policy Council could decide so at a later date And so here is the resolution language before you with those with those additional clarifications towards the end highlighting the community engagement process as well as Making sure that the that the requirements for the design permit are for all proposals and not just the ones over 50 units That includes staff presentation. Thank you very much and we'd be happy to answer any questions Thank you very much for that presentation and for bringing this item forward to us at this time While the other council members ask questions first, but I do have a couple questions regarding the The design review process as it relates to so our council member Matthew has been council member fires A couple of points in your Introduction you talked about the pacific station south having the diente clinic located there But I believe that Santa Cruz community health centers is also to be co located there So it's really two different community health clinics I believe I'm correct on that Yes, no Yeah, I've uh, just got a whip here from our economic development housing team that can help with clarifying that Jessica Yeah, that's correct. That's it's the community health center as well as diente. Yeah. Yeah, both clinics and uh, I do want to uh, appreciate you for including the change that there was at the very least the Community meetings about the design. I understand the reason for not requiring a design permit on Project on public land, but to my mind having some Opportunity to engage the public in response and feedback on design was important without flowing down the process I just want to acknowledge that That change Yes, the affordable housing developer is planning to have a community engagement meeting It's just really getting through that Ministerial process to be able to be competitive for the state funding. Yeah Got it. Yeah As it relates to council approval of the designs is that something that was so would these come to council in terms of You know having final approval on the designs of these projects just to ensure that We're going to be responding to the public, you know concern around the design and and we don't have any control on that I'm just kind of curious like How that might impact They would not I though the way it's proposed currently if a project did need a design Permit, it would go through a design process a design review process But that would be approved Administratively through through the planning division If I may add I know for the pacific station project We are planning to reach out to the housing subcommittee that's city A subset of the city council members so they will be actively involved in in You know the city on projects Apologize, I didn't realize my video was off Yeah, hi. Thank you. Jessica. Um, I just was hoping for some clarification I heard a very big number Discussed just now about the pacific station Project, so I just was wondering if you could maybe just give us a quick little update sounds like sounds like a very promising So maybe just a you know, I know it's not part of this agenda per se, but I'm just curious about that Sorry, I'm getting a little big echo Thank you So I we do actually have the affordable housing developers here on the line as well if they want to add in but um Essentially, there's some state housing and community development funding That is called the program is called transit oriented development and The funding had the last time this funding NOFA. Sorry notice the funding availability was issued was back in 2014 They happen the state happened to issue this NOFA Two months ago and happened to be right in the middle of uh, you know city council recess when we had to apply Um, and so we took the bold effort of trying to get an application in Um to to be able to fund the affordable housing component of this project um It's it's up to 10 million. We have our funding request is for 10 million. Um, and it is looking very favorable that we could potentially uh Be able to be awarded this this funding and part of this is if the project is able to utilize the 21 62 Thank you for that clarification. I appreciate it And then council member fires Yeah, thank you. I first I want to say I totally support this I'm thrilled about the potential to get these affordable units built. Um, I mean, this is something that obviously Is uh very important to all of us and I've been working on it diligently It's kind of one of my main focuses here on the council I'm just want to make sure that Uh, I understand so and maybe we can just make sure the the community understands the implications of this And so the council will not determine There won't be a design review process that the council needs to approve But there are places along the way that the council is involved in in these projects Right, I mean we are so what are the I mean, certainly in terms of you know funding any dedicated funding You know dedication of land etc um, but Just just to make sure that it's clear for the public and for all of us what we Um, what role we will play Out since the design review process And I know that could vary but just just a little Explanation of that would be helpful. So ultimately there would be at least one community meeting for those projects on on private property and public property And so for those projects that would be on private property requiring a design Permit it would still go through planning But ultimately there there would that community process And that would still be a time to get feedback from and from anyone in the community including council On on what that design Uh could and should look like And that will certainly go into the the process Is as opportunity for these Projects to come to council You know presentations to come to council where we can provide input Um, and so it's not per se that we were approving or rejecting the project But more along the lines of in addition to those community meetings Is there an opportunity for these products to come to council? Um for discussion and for recommendations for these projects that are over 50 units that we're Looking to add policy on That certainly is a possibility However, we we do want to encourage the streamlining of these as much as possible An additional community or additional council meetings Could add to that timeline and and cost on those applicants The one thing I would add and thank you. I I agree with that in terms of you know The point a large part of this is streamlining the applications And not all of these development applications would even go to The city council in the first place the one for example that Is proposed on coral street Likely is not going to take advantage of this even though we've got it in there You know, we we focused on doing this for the pacific station south and we said hey Maybe these other two projects could benefit as well One of the criteria is public funding that coral street project May not have any public funding in it and they may choose to actually decline any public funding that we provide Because that would trigger prevailing wage Which may cost them more than we would be able to provide to them And so They may not have any public funding and they may want to go through the regular process Which they're well on their way to completing at this point And that would just bring them to the planning commission for a final decision And so depending on the application It may not even trigger a council review and One of the things that we wanted to do as part of this, you know with the streamlining was minimize that timeline and And get these projects moving. So as as matt mentioned that is Doing an administrative approval is one way to save a decent chunk of time in the application processing And I just want to Clarify for my own purposes and I think for others Any project that was going after this kind of Resolution benefit That had the affordable and supportive housing Would not require would would require at least one community meeting The Private project would require a design permit, but that would be Issued at the administrative level not at the city council level And the project on city property would not even require that So basically it's a trade-off between Getting a better rating for access to this state money In return for less control over the design that that's the trade-off for us Which I am willing to make And so I think to the kind of to your point To the extent that council members want to have input Or knowledge of the design issues It seems to me and staff can respond to this that They should just go to the community design And that's That's the trade-off for us. So maybe staff can comment on if I've understood that correctly We we get a better rating if we streamline the process Yes, that's that's correct. Yeah, you hear overview with uh exact Okay, there's no further comment. Oh council member buyers and you're muted by the way The council can pull up things, you know on appeals or They can bring items to the council Let's say I'm you know supportive of this But what if there is a project that's so controversial and it's so prominent Wherever it's going to land can we Pull that to the council for review? That's why we we initially focused on just these three projects. Uh, we feel it provides You're right. That's great feel of control Yes, I'm sorry. I forgot you did As far as projects under 50 units we we already don't have that control because right that's a state requirement Yes, I understand. I forgot about the three great I'm done for the comment. Um, let's move to Public comment on this item. So the members of the public who would like to speak to item 21 AB 2162 affordable supportive housing projects increase in the number of units allowed As a used by right Now's the time to call in Once you've entered the meeting please press star nine on your phone And you will be given two minutes to speak Homelessness and um, I'm really enthusiastic about this idea of streamlining supportive housing projects in the city of Santa Cruz Um, I think at the very least, you know, these three projects are Really something that our community is definitely going to benefit from Um, not going far enough. I'd really like us to streamline more supportive housing projects in the future Um, I I know that uh, the Supportive housing is can be a controversial thing for our community and and we're just not going to get stuff Built and we're not going to solve homelessness for the city of Santa Cruz It will just end up getting delayed and delayed and delayed. I'm also worried that a homelessness point in time count is is um 1200 people counted in 2018, but uh, that didn't account There wasn't a account of anyone in pogo nip at that time and that's done in the middle of the winter And we know typically that we have more people in the summer So I think we could probably say that that we have 1500 people who are experiencing homelessness in the city of Santa Cruz already And we should follow that understate. Yeah, good evening. Uh, jim ramler for the future housing Um, really appreciate your time this evening. I know it's been a a long meeting and um, Especially stressful with everything going on I I just wanted to echo that, um, we are absolutely committed to Engaging with not only the community but also, um, the city. This really is a unique and exciting Project because it is really a partnership. Um, the city is I wanted to mention Also, the you know, the city is retaining the land. There's commercial components that, um, You know, the city will be involved in so I I absolutely am committed to Um engaging the various stakeholders And the city the reality is that, you know, these funding sources that we go after are so, um, oversubscribed and it's so challenging that, um, this is extremely helpful and You know, we're optimistic that we hopefully can, um, get this large piece of funding And I'm happy to answer any other questions that you may have. Thank you Thank you Hey, this is Kyle Kelly. I just want to speak in strong support of streamlining supportive housing and affordable housing And I hope that we can do it for even more projects. Uh, we're we have a severe need here Uh, and affordable housing developers already have to go through quite a bit face quite a bit of opposition Uh, and meanwhile while we wait and we create new process, we're preventing people from getting homes That that otherwise could could be housed much sooner. Thank you Okay, so if you'd like to speak to this item, please press star nine on your phone Uh, you'll be unmuted Uh, and you'll be allowed to have two minutes Port for streamlining the process of affordable housing I've seen affordable housing projects that just get mired in detail But I do want to add a cautionary note and that is I think it's one thing to have, uh, a streamlined process that, um, minimizes City council and community input When it's in relatively Unproblematic areas or areas that are not central to the character of Santa Cruz as a city But it does concern me that, um, the Council would not have Review capacity as a council for the pacific station South project. I think that's a huge difference. That's right on pacific avenue in The heart of the city Highly problematic that city-owned land not, uh, have a design Permit required These are things that really matter to the citizens of Santa Cruz that we have a process where there is review I don't know why city-owned land wouldn't be subjected to the same kind of review process As other kinds of land So it strikes me that, uh, especially with controversial projects This is, uh, just an unfortunate way of failing to develop a consensus about a good project And we want to develop a consensus about a good project. So I'd like to see, uh, pacific station south, uh, Have a full review from the city council and other city-owned, uh Uh, land project Thank you very much for your attention Thank you Further comments from the public. I'm going to bring it back to council for action deliberation Council member mafias Um, I am happy to go ahead and move the recommendation before us I do want to note that we got correspondence from the Santa Cruz community health centers also supporting this Um payment late. So that's just for the record. I think Yeah There you go Um, so with that and just having made that announcement I will go ahead and move that we adopt the the revised resolution Establishing a policy authorizing an increase in the 50 units Use by right limit to a limit of 125 units for one specified project and 100 units For two specified projects of affordable supportive housing Development that complies with requirements set in california state assembly bill 2162 So most of my council member mafias council member brown, I see your hands raised Yeah, second. I'll second that Council member mafias second by council member brown Uh, but um, I think that's that's it. So Um, is there any further discussion from council members? Hearing none. I'd just like to say that Um, I'm excited to see what can come forward with this and I think it'll be an opportunity for us to see how this process Works for bringing it for streamlining these um affordable housing projects And we'll get a sense from this process how we might be able to improve on it moving forward since it's just three projects And with that, I'll call on the clerk to call the vote Thank you. Mayor council member buyers I Matthew I Brown by I um, okay. Thank you. Uh, golder vice mayor mires I And mayor coming We might we might run into an issue with our last item. So we think we might have Council members bleeding, but hopefully we can get to these and get through this one Very quickly Next item on our agenda is authorizing item number 22 authorizing the mayor's response to the santa cruz county school grant area on behalf of the city of santa cruz And presenter is roust america's principal management analyst Hey, good evening. I'm mayor coming then i'm members of the city council roust america principal management analyst and i'm here today to request that council authorize the mayor to respond to the grand jury reports that the council the city council Is required to respond to Each year the civil grand jury issues reports and requires certain agencies and departments to respond In many cases the respondents are part of the head administrators and some other cases The respondent is the agency itself. So this year the grand jury issued 10 reports Out of the 10 seven require responses from the city council And consistent with approach and a process that previous councils have adopted for responding to these reports Council tonight is being requested to authorize the mayor to respond on behalf of the council To the seven published grand jury reports that require responses from the city council Um council also has the option to authorize the mayor to respond to specific reports And have the remaining reports presented at a future council meeting for the full council to discuss as well And for the reports that the mayor is authorized to respond to staff will be there to help um draft some responses For the mayor and we will be submitting it to the grand jury. Um pending the mayor's approval So staff's recommendation tonight is to authorize the mayor to respond to all seven Um of the reports or um for council to provide direction as to which reports Council would like brought back to the full council for discussion council members Vice mayor mires Yeah, I don't have a question. I I would be ready to Make a motion. I think that uh one one report in particular is interest of interest to me to allow um Possibly council members to engage it with staff on some of the um The report outs. I'm particularly um thinking about the report that had to do with the I can't remember the name of it. It's the discord basically that happened last year. Um, I do think that potentially having maybe one council member Uh participate in that um There's there's a lot of us that were involved in some of those situations And I think it would be best if we had sort of an impartial Sort of process around some of those some of those questions that need to be answered So I don't know if the city manager could work With work on that city manager's office. So I'd like to just try to clarify that in a motion at some point. Thank you Well, I just want to I understand The role that we Review these responses and our name right the mayor signs them, but it's it's really our response I think we have an obligation Role to play in them now. Do we need all of them to come back? Um, I would say yes. We should get them all go to them quick read them Yes, yes, yes, um, but I certainly feel There's some serious issues on some of them some serious recommendations And I want to be sure in our Responding that we are going to respond to those recommendations. Yes, we will work on this It's in the works or whatever we do, especially the homeless one and the one on the city Government or whatever what's called Oh what a tangled web we weave and I think it's the name of it No, it's the failure to communicate failure. Oh is that it what's a tangled web one? Somebody remind me what that Is our website the website oh god I don't care for that spot, but the homeless one Yeah, the failure to communicate. I'm sorry I know um for me. I trust Tony is going to respond to the golf course one I think many of the recommendations are probably in the work so but um The homeless one And the failure to communicate for sure That's where I am but uh, we we we really have a role to play and I think it's written in state law, so I I want them to come back before they are sent to the For we get to input in them I would say a grasp of the response not just the final response, but we should have a draft stage only two of them Even though our obligation is to be sure and review all of them Council member Matthews and the council member brown and then I have a couple of comments that like to make and For consideration as well Council member madeline Yeah, I know the staff has been working already on the um responses to quite a few of these and I should say just for the um public information although Seven of these require A response by the city. They're not all directed exclusively at the city. Some of them are about Um issues involving multiple public agencies. So just to clarify that Uh, I generally support the idea of um the mayor Working with the staff on the responses that are already being prepared in draft form um, I would like to uh explicitly direct that the um Council members be invited to contact the mayor and city manager About the specific issues or suggestions or observations that they have I think these are going to be probably um A good variety on some of them probably very little on others Um, but I think that would be a service um as we develop even a working draft If we can all say by I'm trying to pick a date out of the Tap, I think we've all probably read them If we could get our own personal comments to the mayor and city manager by september 4th That gets give them a time to uh Understand the landscape and try and corporate those into the draft Um So that that would be my suggestion moving forward Um and that they feel free to engage other council members as they feel appropriate individually and we're we're aware of the brown act and um Just functionally, I think uh we it it doesn't It doesn't serve as well to have Work in progress draft floating out In the public, I think we should do our best as the as the city and council to come up with Our best efforts at the draft as the as the statement um, I have talked with the city manager about this and also as the mayor and Also, I think to the extent that council members have strong personal Input on these that that they can review the working draft with One on one With the city manager and mayor That's just kind of my take on it so that we get a well fleshed out document ready to submit So I'll just put that forward as a process Just just we'll tell them about Mayor if you want to respond directly to that like I kind of am too but you're welcome to go First if you want to Okay Well, I'll just say quickly that I am not comfortable with Delegating that authority. I think it's inappropriate to expect there and and just unfair to expect the mayor to be responsible for Having, you know, having being the the the council the member of this governing body that Make responds And I think that we all have a responsibility to weigh in I agree But I also think that the public has a right to Be made aware of the type of response that we're going to give The state law state law does require the governing body to respond And if my name is going to be on it, I want to have a chance to see it before it is sent and made and then made public I think that we ought to at a minimum as council member buyers suggest Get provide some direction and then be willing to weigh in individually Along the lines of what council member matthew suggests, but I think they need to come back to us for Approval before they are sent to the grand jury as a response And in particular, I think that the two that that council member buyers pointed out failure to communicate and homelessness There are some really really significant recommendations there and Another reason I don't think it's appropriate for the mayor to kind of be it put in the position of Being the per the individual responding As a representative of this governing body Without any authority to implement any of the recommendations Unilaterally that it ought to be Decision that comes to the council I mean a lot of the the recommendations would need council approval if we were to move forward And so I think it's it's important that we be fully engaged in that process If I may I just want to clarify one one quick item with respect to a council member matthew's Suggested approach. I think uh trouble with brown act issues. What the the way would have to work is that the council members Would provide input to staff regarding any of the reports that they may want to and then we would work with the mayor to Definalize that uh, so that's that's the just to clarify that would be the way to do it without uh, So we would like to connect to him clarify it However, that does not give Council members the ability To approve or not approve of what gets sent if I you know, I can give you my My individual thoughts those go into the mix. They're these are contentious issues There are differences of opinion, and I don't want my voice represented as one voice in that way without having some discussion with my colleagues first If I could I think what I was hearing from Council member matthew's council members and then council member brown It seems like a similar approach and please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think part of that recommendation was that Part of what council member matthew said was you know that if everybody provided input by september 4 Then I can work with staff On this and it sounded like the idea would be to putting something back to council for approval. Good. That's what I want Yeah, okay, great. If that's right. Yeah, no problem. That's great. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah Thank you. Thank you No, that's good. If there's no further comments on this item, I'd like to open up to the public for public comment This is item number 22 on our agenda authorizing the mayor to respond to the santa cruz county civil grand jury on behalf City of santa cruz. If you'd like to comment on this item, please press star nine on your phone And you will be given two minutes to speak on this item. No members of the public would like to comment on this Oh, I lowered my hand Yeah, I'll go ahead and move that we authorize the mayor to respond to the santa cruz county grand jury On behalf of the city of santa cruz building on the draft responses um prepared by staff And um Requesting council to submit their comments and concerns to the city manager by september 4th with the um proposed responses to return to the council for action It was on emotion that was just made That we need to come back at our first meeting in september because some responses Need to be submitted by september 14th But the range is from september 14th to october 1st I think there's some flexibility on that date. I think maybe it would help if we're else would check on that But I understand there really is uh, especially with everything going on I mean fine if we make it that's fine with me, but just You know, just so we know that We'll do that. Um, I I do think it's it's a courtesy to the staff as they're working on this if they hear from us Sooner rather than later So they can be incorporating our our concerns in the in their responses. Yeah, and I would also This doesn't preclude involving other council members consultation with other council members in the responses as long as the brown act Right actions are observed. No, I'm done. Sorry All right with that city clerk to take the roll call Thank you. Can I just confirm that it is to return To submit comments to the city manager by september 4th To return to council at a at another meeting not a specific not the september with the With the proposed responses to return to council For actions council member byers Matthew vice mayor meyers I tend to our for matthews You saw some items. So are you going to turn back? I think I need to make a formal announcement at this point that I need to recuse myself from this because My husband and I own property within 500 feet of the proposed project So I am formally disqualified from participating Does that do it Bonnie? Yes, that works Okay That's fine Yeah, I'll leave Now's the time to call in with time allowed for the public to speak after the after the At the items and heard and there'll also be time allowed for the applicant to speak on this item Count me the next question follow the public public comment And then we'll return to the council for action and deliberation Presenters brian bayne senior planner and the applicant brian rapwell to join us. This is ryan. Can you guys hear me? Yes, okay great and Kind of bring up the Can you guys see the presentation? Yes Great what we're discussing tonight is a project at 101 fuel at one three Cypress plane apartments The preliminary consideration of a proposed general plan amendment local coastal plan amendment and zone change um Here although this is not a typical step in the development reprocess Uh a preliminary consideration hearing has been conducted in the past and it's mainly for larger projects That are accompanied by a proposed legislative action such as the general plan amendment or rezoning So the purpose of this preliminary consideration will be to review the proposed amendment and rezoning for consistency with the general plan policies And to receive input from the public This early consideration provides an opportunity for the council to review the proposed amendments and prior to further significant investment in time And cost by the applicant and city staff required to complete the remaining environmental review and hearing process Additionally, it can save public time. Um, that they would otherwise spend tracking and commenting on the proposal So to give a little background um in fall of 2018 the cypress point owners, um, contacted um the city staff with interest in and uh Adding units to the underutilized open space within their existing 240 unit unit complex However with the general plan designation of lm low medium density the 8.89 acre parcel would will only permit a maximum of 178 units So when the apartment complex was developed in 1971 the general plan designation allowed for a higher density making It legal on conforming under today's general plan designation Um, in addition, there's no inclusion. They were no inclusionary requirements in 1971 So there are currently no de-restricted affordable units within the complex Um through the course of discussions and staff suggestion to maximize affordable housing opportunities The property owners offered to provide an increased level of affordability For favorable consideration of a general plan amendment and rezoning to increase the density on the site At the time of the discussions the proposal was an additional 66 units And the owners had agreed to set aside 20 of the new units um for 80 area area median income at that time the municipal code inclusionary requirement was 10 of the original base density So this was a significant offering of affordable units above and beyond the code requirement In december of 2018 they applied for a pre-app Which the city process to give them an kind of an idea of what was going to be required as part of the formal application And in november 2019 they submitted for the formal application for 100 units And then As part of that formal application a community outreach meeting was held in june of 2020 so the online Community outreach meeting was very well attended by surrounding neighbors to express some concerns with the proposed increase In the density and and the additional units to the complex some of the Some of the Concerns included increased traffic and speeding on felix street negative impacts to neary lagoon Not enough parking on the site which will force tenants to Take up street parking spot zoning Which in turn could set a dangerous precedent for subsequent proposals to increase density in the neighborhood The height location of some of the proposed buildings in relationship to some townhomes that abutted the property tree removals poor management of the complex impacts from construction of the new units on the existing Tenants and also Encouragement to if it were to proceed that an eirv completed for the project In response to some of the concerns expressed by the neighbors the applicants went back to the drawing board and revised the plans And reduced the number of proposed units from 100 to 80 They eliminated the three-story building that was adjacent to the neighboring townhomes Thereby reducing the number of trees to be removed as well as traffic and parking impacts You know through the elimination of 20 units The application is is close to being deemed complete and the city's environmental falton has begun working on the initial study And there's a number of studies that still need to be prepared in order to complete the initial study And make a determination as to whether a neg deck or environmental impact fork should be prepared This is the project site. Uh, as I mentioned is the 8.89 acre site essentially located within the city South of laurel street with portions of the property abutting neary lagoon The property was developed in 1971 with 240 rental apartment units And as I mentioned a general plan density, um Was subsequently reduced at some point after the apartments were constructed And we did some research and we're we believe that was done as part of a general plan update around 1980 So therefore the development is currently legal on conforming from a density standpoint Um, this is a this is a site plan that shows Um, where the proposed buildings. There's as I mentioned 80 new rental apartments proposed Oh, uh, within five buildings. These buildings are essentially Infilled within the existing complex There's no expansion. It's basically there's four buildings that are proposed over what's existing parking um, and then one that Is actually part of There's a pool area here now and they're looking at putting in a new building and then building a new a new pool adjacent to it Here's just a quick elevation of the of the three-story building This is the one that's next to the pool. So this has a lobby leasing offices a fitness center And as I mentioned a new pool will be part of it And then this is an example of some of the carers units that would be built Um over what is currently carports within the the existing parking areas And it's proposing a general plan amendment to change the land use designation from lm, which is low medium density Uh 10 to 20 dwellings vapor to m medium density, which is 20 to 30 and a reasoning from rl to rm To bring the property into general conformance and allow up to 267 units In addition to the new land use designations applicants are proposing a density bonus That would allow the additional 80 units with 14 units that will be affordable to very low income households Which is 60 of ami and two units to low income, which is 80 of ami Based on staff's current analysis at this at this stage in the application review The density bonus law would require 14 units at the very low income level In order for the project to receive its 20 density bonus meaning that the two low income units exceed the affordable Levels that would be required. So they're above and beyond the density bonus requirements preliminary consideration is intended to determine whether council would like staff and the applicant to further proceed With the processing of the legislative act staff is providing analysis of the project for consistency with general plan policies um, you know our general plan When it's adopted is not always something that's set in stone Once adopted there is it does not remain static. So state law does allow up to four general plan amendments per mandatory element per year so while they're not A normal occurrence they they aren't uncommon so most amendments propose a change in land use designation of a particular property and Santa Cruz is currently experiencing high demand for housing with low levels of affordability that are affecting the quality of life of the community Which is a long term implications for maintaining Santa Cruz's diversity Affordable housing for extremely low very low low and moderate income households is of utmost concern right now And affordable housing allows persons of all economic segments to live in the community provide housing for the city's workforce allows integration of families and racial ethnic groups The proposed general plan amendment and zone change to increase the density on the subject property and provides additional rental units specifically low and very low income units Further is the city's affordable housing policies listed in the city's housing element, which I which I have here Subject parcel is located within an area made up of primarily multifamily housing With the lm low medium general plan designation. That's kind of the orangey lighter brown area that you can see there While the abutting properties share the same designation. There are a number of properties in the vicinity that have the medium density designation that they're proposing to Have this includes three fairly large properties that are between 300 and 500 feet away In addition to a grouping of properties approximately two to three blocks from the complex in that chestnut laurel street area So similarly similarly designated properties already exist in the vicinity Seeing as some other general plan policies The project optimizes the use of the parcel by infilling underutilized portions of the site consistent with general plan policies And due to the project The property's location increasing the density would encourage sustainable and healthy lifestyle Given the project spikeable walkable nature due to its close proximity to downtown As well as other recreational amenities in the area such as near lagoon loud nelson center depot park Santa Cruz high school So the site is also in close proximity to public transit stops including the downtown metro center That is a half mile away and as well as other designated high quality transit stops thereby further promoting sustainable transportation use by residents So it's a really essentially located parcel The proposed project promotes social diversity by offering lower priced housing options and achieves a higher degree of accessibility by more efficiently using underutilized land within an existing development The project also provides more housing options in an area where healthier and more environmentally friendly transportation options such as pedestrian bike and transit Are convenient This is especially true given the central location of of the project and its proximity of the downtown And the application's consistency with these policies is the basis for the community development Department support of the proposed project Continuing its application process So here are the options for council this evening. One is Can direct staff to continue processing the application? The second is to deny the application without prejudice The third is to deny the application with prejudice If the council decides to recommend denial Either one two or three It is requested by staff that the council continue the matter to the next council meeting to allow staff time to bring back a resolution Articulating the reasons for the denial So that application Just to be clear cannot be approved tonight at this hearing as we still have environmental review that needs to be completed As well as the process is that we need to go to planning commission first to give a recommendation to city council Um, it should also be noted that should the council direct that the application processing proceed It would be it would no way obligate the council to approve the project in the future So that being said staff's recommendation is that the council consider the information provided in the report Listen to testimony from the public and give direction to staff to continue processing the application And that concludes my report like to allow the applicant to speak to us on this item City council mayor comings. I appreciate the opportunity Uh to discuss our project with you Ryan, thank you for a great summary report And uh, you know based uh, this uh, this will be brief. I know everyone's uh I'm bryder fell. I work for bradik and logan The owner and operator of cypress point apartments Um, you know, there's been some misinformation out there. We are actually based here in the bay area We've owned the assets since 2005 members of the community And in stakeholders, we're not some fly-by-night developer. We uh, we're here long-term holders And you know far from an out-of-state conglomerate that I've seen, you know posed In some of these responses But you know, I need to do we need to do a better job of educating People about the project and do some more community outreach Which we will do Just to be clear is we have on the project since uh, 2005 and basically just get investments Into the development. Some of these upgrades including the common areas the pool pool deck A new gym leasing office And we'd like to continue to do so. I think uh, you know looking at Santa Cruz and the housing crisis that build up the entire bay area and Santa Cruz that's a great opportunity to Sensify an existing project Um, if I can share my screen You can see that Uh, this is the overview Um of the project that you saw from ryan's presentation And uh, you know, we did take some extremely thought into uh developing these 80 units. Uh, you know, we went from 100 to 80 They are developed in the interior Of unfortunately as I'm highlighting here over these card ports of 64 units The amenities building is over here And if you saw what we had previously We eliminated an entire building here that helped shelter lagoons and neighbors. It was a significant source of Contention there from that from the neighbors. Um, we made that change and there was a building here near the lagoon That we removed as well In that, yes, we reduced our project by uh, by 20 units And uh, we also saved a preserved five more uh, heritage trees Um, you know, looking at this is we think we can make some further improvements But again, that that's the project the details um, we're well, uh You know, it is are all We're all just presented to you from ryan You know looking at this stepping back is the general plan right now Uh requires uh, it only allows us to develop 178 units The project today is 240 Uh apartment units and uh, you know top of mind right now, you know a catastrophic event You know something happened with with our project. We could only rebuild Uh 178 apartment homes and uh from that regard We think the general plan should be moving ahead And being amended as we go back and discuss our projects in greater detail to the community That we have that done now. Otherwise, you there's a risk that you know 62 homes, uh, and you know upwards Approximately 100 people will be permanently displaced. Um, so We like consideration of that general plan amendment. Um If we regardless as we move forward with the uh with the project We think it adds significant benefits to the city You know adding 16 affordable Very low income units to an existing project. Um, and the other 64 market rate, uh apartment homes On an existing third and not disrupting any any green fields or other open spaces You know, I think it's a great opportunity And uh from that, I'll uh yield back my time and just ask that we have the opportunity For rebuttal to uh to public comments from council members at this time For either the applicant or the city staff Thank you. I am I'm trying to figure out the math on the proposed changes because you know, I've I've done I've run the numbers a different way and I've got my calculator out and I'm just not understanding how uh, 267 gets So if 267 is what would be allowable with the change then um And 240 units are already there and then we have 27 possible additional units and Even with a 20 density bonus that still doesn't get us to What i'm seeing here would be about 320 With the additional units so I if somebody could help me understand the the math how those numbers are Have been figured it would be that would be helpful It's a couple of brah I can answer that so 267 units would be the increase in density would be the 30 for 8.9 acres so 30 times 8.9 uh would equal 267 mm-hmm And then density bonus on top of that of approximately 20 percent It's due to the 320 units And then at that point we provide you 14 So 14 of those 267 is you know 20 or 5 percent of 267 rounded upwards gets you to the 14 units of affordability of very low income and uh from the get-go We uh, we said 20 percent even when the requirement was all the way down to 10 to honor that we're keeping it under two units The two apartment homes that will be a low income Okay, so just a quick follow-up question. Thank you. Um, so so then the uh interpretation is that existing units can be considered to um to get to the Density bonus amount So the density bonus is applied to all of the units even though most of them are already there And then but it doesn't apply for the affordable unit For the inclusionary units just for a density bonus We're using the the total base, but for the affordable units. You're using the base of the new construction Yeah, the affordable unit for based on what the maximum is allowable for the general plan Good job. Thank you. I'm here from the public. I know that we have council members who may have to leave And so at a minimum they can hear from the public. I think that will be a number of people who Uh called in or who requested additional time representatives from save neary lagoon slash shelter lagoon homeless association chris daggers from the public street group And a list of barns from the seaside cottages hoa and also representative from the Project neary lagoon and libel neighborhoods if you are one of those individuals, please let us know before you speak um Because of the fact that we only see phone numbers and we don't have your names So if you are if you call them to request additional time from one of those groups, please announce Before you comment and for other members of the public now the time if you'd like to comment on this item Now it's time to call in Please press star nine on your phone to raise your hand And for those members of the public who do not request additional time or not approve for additional time You will have two minutes. I want to make it clear. I speak for myself and not on behalf of the hoa And you should know That whoever is speaking on behalf of the hoa They have not been approved to speak on behalf of the hoa because the hoa hasn't approved any speakers All the units in the hoa are either rentals or second homes But runners are not permitted to address our hoa board and there was no polling by our board or residents Or owners prior to making the decision to draft a letter to the city requesting an eir Which is what the board approved to be sent to you From a self-centered personal perspective. I'm ambivalent about the project The main way it might affect me would be advocacy community. I know it's essential that our city be approved Approving projects like that affordable housing was built by a for-profit developer We need inclusionary units in order to fulfill our housing needs and the and the units that come with a density bonus rental project like this Restricted to below 50 area median income are the most underproduced type of housing Santa Cruz needs We're an overwhelmingly white community on the other hand cypress point, which is currently have no deed restricted affordable units Is one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the city cypress point is home to many immigrant families and peoples of color Who may be discriminated against elsewhere in town for having section 8 vouchers? Rental housing brings desperately needed diversity to our community and we have a real opportunity here to increase the diversity of Santa Cruz by allowing more intel rental housing to be built on parking lots My neighbors have plenty of experience using misleading environmental concerns in order to attempt to stop housing development They did that before suing the city in the 80s to stop the 100% affordable neary lagoon Apartments project on chestnut street over concerns about flooding at wetland studies This project within walking distance to downtown and a block from a bus line is the kind of project Santa Cruz should be building More of downtown alone can't fulfill all of our housing needs and my neighborhood is a great place to build more intel units on parking lots I encourage you to approve allow the process to continue Hello, this is Susan Monhipe. Can you hear me? You can hear me. Okay. Thank you I am also a homeowner at shelter lagoon Adjoining the cypress point apartment building structure a complex And I am opposed to the spot rezoning of this parcel for higher density. I think spot rezoning is Poor poor planning on the part of the city I'm an environmental scientist and wildlife biologist and I find that increasing the density on the shores of this unique and rare wetlands urban wetland Site Is inappropriate that the higher density along the shores of the lagoon and the noise From from the construction and from the higher density people living at the site will be detrimental To the habitat and the the nest the ongoing nesting and migratory birds that come through there's 228 different species of birds and Some endangered species such as western pond hurdles that are located at that lagoon I really urge the city council to deny the application With prejudice and just stop the project at this point The construction over the parking islands allows no safe Exit or egress from the buildings When people leave them they step out into traffic And that I think was left off the uh summary agenda that was presented by the developer Um Those are my comments this evening. I really appreciate your consideration. Thank you Yeah, Christina Buchanan, and I am a resident of Cypress Point apartment my statement is My statement is um, I have no faith In the 80 proposed units that will be affordable. I'm actually living in an apartment right now. That's unaffordable And it's was built in 1971 I'm paying 2400 a month including utilities that run nearly 400 I moved here to enjoy the native environment And it is the current management and on top of that the current management is subpar In managing this complex currently I can see every day people moving out of this complex And I understand now why so I need to also mention that This is a A cul-de-sac. There is no exit. There's no egress We are stuck if there is a fire or any kind of emergency We will be in serious trouble The wal-mart location would be perfect Or far better used To add affordable housing Then here in neary Lagoon, I respectfully ask that this be denied this whole thing be denied with prejudice Thank you. The common I'm falling in strong support of this project Um, I think that it is absolutely essential that the city takes building affordable housing seriously and I'm pleased that the council voted to approve the Streamlining by right of affordable housing. I also think that it's great that we are building affordable housing and market rate housing together And yeah, I And From a personal perspective, I support this because as a recent arrival to Santa Cruz I am also facing the issue of affordability and availability of housing And that's not going to get any better unless we build housing So I just want to strongly support and ask that you approve this with a smile. Thank you Good evening council. My name is mike dunham Good evening council. My name is mike dunham. I am an environmental activist. I actually live Not in Santa Cruz. I live further up the peninsula in burling game But I was interested in this project because I wanted for to meet the petition to save near lagoon wildlife refuge And burling game itself has a number of water and coastal based resources that I think are really important to protect So I was very interested in this particular issue Um, that's why I was surprised when I actually looked at the project proposal that it didn't actually seem to do much Uh, directly affecting the lagoon Um, it This project seems to be just building on an existing parking lot Uh, and uh, one of the things I think we've seen as a region Uh, I know Santa Cruz, uh county is suffering right now. Just like my county San Mateo county Is wildfires and the number of people and families that have been pushed into the wildland urban interface Because they can't afford to live in downtown areas that are much less prone to wildfire Uh, I also happened to be at a presentation a few months ago by Governor Gavin Newsom the senior advisor on climate kate gordon Uh, and she said that in california The single best thing you can do to fight climate change is to speak out in support of dense infill housing projects Uh, it's a problem across the state that our downtowns are too Low density that too many people are sort of being pushed into the fringes of regions Because they can't afford to live in downtown because there's so much Demand and so little supply Uh, so I think I suspect you're going to hear a lot of arguments about the environment tonight But uh, it's hard to see how they could possibly outweigh the value Of uh, building up density in walkable bikeable, uh, transit accessible areas That is essential for defeating climate change. I urge you please continue this process project along the process It's essential for the future of our region and for the future of the residents here. Thank you We're watching just to leave at seven. I wasn't sure if there's any Uh, I know in the middle public comment But I wanted to just to give a more watch as an opportunity if you have any comments or questions given that we're Of eight minutes away from seven o'clock if you want if you had any comments you'd like to make Realize I haven't heard all of the public input nor have I heard the response from the developer Um, but I was just sort of sure just instinctually, you know in terms of the spot zoning and The exceptions it doesn't necessarily instinctually feel like the right decisions for me to move forward at this time But I also just want to um put an asterisk by that knowing that I haven't fully heard all elements of the presentation And I apologize for having to tune out early. I will stay until 7 30. Okay. I apologize too. I thought it was seven But yeah, I'll hopefully there'll be more time for discussion Okay, Kyle Kelly. I live not too far from this project Like was echoed before it's really important that we build urban infill I think at a time like this when You know, we have family and friends that are fleeing the mountains And it will continue to get worse the more that we can get people into walkable bikeable communities in Santa Cruz And improve the ability for the workforce that that comes into Santa Cruz to work Now they're coming all the people are coming from Watsonville Hollister all over the place to come and work and we need more opportunities for them We're not going to make things more affordable by not Building it and and the reality is that the main way that we're going to get affordable housing out of these out of these, you know Private for-profit developers is to is to require them and to help them get through on getting those affordable units built Like was noted earlier. We didn't have any we didn't have any permitted and built last year We thankfully have some being permitted this year and I'd like to see more. So I'd like to see this continue on As for the community, I think there's plenty more community engagement that can happen in terms of bike lanes, you know mixed mobility options As well as as a commitment to helping with some of the issues that the community is facing With the current project and and with the the current owners But I would like to see them be able to build on those parking lots and build up a lot more. Thank you And council this cross-segers. I'm speaking on behalf of phoenix street group Okay, and uh, we'll give you um, since you called in for additional time We'll leave you four minutes to speak on behalf of your group. Thank you thank you and um, I see that the previous speakers are not in the neighborhood I believe because Just the way they sound. But anyway, I am for affordable housing Um, I am a member of the local CR com as I am passionate about the environment and spot zoning is not the way to go A specific parcel of land for use in a consultation Totally different from that of the surrounding area for the benefit of the owner of Property and to the detriment of other owners Some other owners around this property aren't going to be able to or they will be able to build up And this will not just be down here, but this right was anchored the entire far west side of santa cruz reaching out to Um entire west side of santa cruz. It's not just this area Um, this area is not in downtown. It is all west side Um, the area of the game encompasses areas that in the general plan One is located in a natural area a natural area according to the general plan page 54 It's a fresh one on the stone page between one center and general plan, which is sensitive habitat It's highly sensitive archaeological site page 21 And it's um, which hopefully if they're doing this they should go to study to see if there are sites there or if they need to have an archaeological archaeological site Right, can you hear me? I'm not in santa cruz, but I am a planning commissioner in the south bay And I want to drop in to say this is precisely the kind of project that we'd love to see more of This project puts housing at the least environmentally destructive place conceivable parking lots The severity of the shortage means that any housing is desperately needed But especially this it's even a density and aesthetic match to the surrounding apartments The fundamental truth of environmentalism is that you can't truly throw anything away because a way isn't a place It's true for people too. If you don't come to the building here The result will be even more unaffordable single-family homes in fire risk zones Where residents will drive more will certainly not bike to downtown And will have a far far greater effect on natural resources than being adjacent to a lagoon A good portion of santa cruz county is literally on fire right now If you don't make room for people to live in the safe parts you're condemning them to the fires This isn't just a great idea. This is a moral imperative. I urge the council to move the application ahead It's quickly and efficiently as possible. Thank you very much. Hi. This is kelsey hill I'm calling to express my opposition to a general plan amendment zone change for the proposed development at neary lagoon I have multiple concerns about this project including the rate of affordability units and environmental impact But at this stage i'm concerned with spot zoning in this application because it undermines the integrity of the community input process on the general plan There's an extensive process to get feedback in the plan in 2012 And the neighbors made it clear that they wanted lesser density in the felix street neighborhood plan than planned for in previous decades So the question on the dios should not be if we can squeeze in more density in this area One that is a wildlife sanctuary and homes for sensitive wetland But should we and is that added density appropriate for this neighborhood? Change on a parcel by parcel basis Concerning as it opens the door to inappropriate developments that prove detrimental to the quality of life in certain pockets of our community We should build affordable density in places where it is appropriate to do so in places that increase the quality of life for residents I don't believe this neighborhood is appropriate for that increase More over an approach that zones to the needs of developers is generally not a good practice And sends a message to our community that their input on the general plan isn't as important I urge the council to resist spot zoning for this project and I thank you for my time Am I am I on now Justin? Yes. Good evening. Oh, hi. Hi. My name is Sandra. I have any I live in shelter lagoon um, I'm one of the one of the Community members that serves as a liaison with the community with the department of public works that oversees the uh, the lagoon every year Uh an extensive um 300 thousand dollar budget to remove tulis and sediment from the lagoon And protect the the wildlife um in the lagoon and the birds the two over 200 species of birds um, I just wanted to give that preliminary because um, the lagoon is very a very sensitive wetland and one of the few remaining coastal wetlands in california and um, as I said before home to 200 species of birds by the way, I'm Representing the save neary lagoon group so thus get four minutes. I don't know if I'll need four minutes, but and I yeah so that's the group I'm representing right now and um Within less than a month we got 3 000 signatures of community members That were completely outraged and vehemently opposed to having uh, this project put adjacent to uh, the lagoon Not only would it be adjacent to the lagoon um with A year and a half of building materials going up and down felix street up and down laurel street building 80 houses While we're trying to overcome a fire Um, and all that will be going on will having trucks building 80 houses down already blocked neary um felix street and and laurel street Um, I I just can't even imagine it before the fire But getting back to the lagoon Once the lagoon and and the environment the the sensitive environment of the loon is is is Affected there's no turning back. There's no creating the lagoon again and the the the The delicate um ecosystem that exists there Um, and let's be clear about this. There's so many points here But let's be really clear because I I hear you talking about affordable housing And and it certainly is important, but it's important to be smart about it And it's important not to have a knee jerk. Oh, you know We're gonna make after this fire the um the developers Like christmas morning, uh because we need more housing. It's not like that. First of all It's 64 units of not affordable housing 64 units of gentrification 64 units where either You know, it's going to be oh, it's going to be market rate Are we going to destroy this whole area of felix street that's already overly dense for 16 affordable units? Is that really a decision that that makes sense? 16 affordable units adjacent to a lagoon cutting down 37 trees 22 of the trees are heritage trees for 16 affordable units This does this does not reflect the the values of the community that lives here Within a month. We've gotten 3 000 signatures So we could get more than that over the months and we really urge you During this crisis time that we're going through that we don't all the community would like to spend Our time and our energy helping the people that have been affected by the fires our friends our neighbors and not arguing about this and And and fighting against this developer who may call himself a bay area developer But while we've been on the phone, I've looked up brattic and logan and I've looked up them Another time and their server was down. I don't know. Maybe they go under another name But there's three google reviews. And I know google reviews is not exactly a legitimate Authority but They're all one star reviews It's a terrible builder and a terrible management And I I urge you not to support this project Can everyone hear me? Yes Hello. Hi, uh, thanks for having the time for us I would like to express my extreme opposition towards this project. I live over on blackburn street and I don't know I've heard two people on this phone call talk about who lives in monoray bay and burling game It's kind of you know, I would really like if the opinions of the people who actually live in this neighborhood were really considered I live the street over from felix street If you walked up and down felix street, you would see currently that there is no parking I have friends that have told me that they have to get cars towed from the front of their driveways Because there's not enough room for them to park their own cars and a lot of those cars are coming from cypress point apartments The developer does not plan to provide additional parking. So that would exacerbate the issue of The already existing issue of traffic and parking. Um Another thing that I think has not been addressed yet is that this area this nearly lagoon area of the lower west side We are in a tsunami hazard zone and as the climate is changing, which it is And as water is rising, we are also at risk for floods for flooding. Um, so we talk about making environmentally Conscious decisions and I am most definitely not opposed to affordable housing and the reconstruction of affordable housing. However Building an area where there is a tsunami risk and flood risk is not smart And it does put human lives at risk. There is only one path of egress for this entire Community adding hundreds of more people to a single apartment complex that are leaving in the case of emergency in dangers human lives So to answer the question of whether you should amend the general plan or the local coastal program is no, you should not um The vast majority of this community opposes this very strongly and um In the midst of a fire cutting down 22 heritage trees is just unthinkable Um, this is already highly highly impacted neighborhood. We do not want this. Believe me. I have gone door to door Thank you Hi, my name's elissa barnes and i'm speaking on behalf of the seaside cottages hoa, so i'm requesting extra time please Okay, so we'll give um elissa barnes four minutes Thank you. So I live on on In the area. I'm part of the hoa The seaside cottages hoa I've lived in sanacruz for 30 years. My family has owned this home on neary street Which is one of the streets that goes off of felix for the last 20 years Our hoa it has nine homes, but there's only 13 privately owned homes on felix street 70 percent that makes for 70 percent of the private homes on felix street felix street already Is massively densely populated in terms of the general outlying neighborhoods We have far too many people in this area right now and we cannot afford to have More people put in as an infill affordable housing is one thing 16 units of Affordable housing compared to the amount of money that this builder and owner will be making is not a good choice So felix is a long straight street and cypress point is at the very end of it That's where getting in and out of that complex would be problematic Natural disaster or issue right now traffic on felix street is very fast and Parking is Completely built up. It's a narrow. It's a fairly narrow street I am strongly opposed to building more units at the cypress point resident area and largely because the cypress point management is not doing a good job of Managing their appointment of their apartments as it is They have an f rating the lowest rating on the rent the online renters forum and When the trees that are lining the small waterway called laurel creeks that goes into the lagoon Fall or limbs break off. They're letting them sit. They're throwing them over the fence into the waterway blocking the waterway They just are not doing a good job of managing the complex that they have and I do not feel that it is a good policy to allow them to have more people in there and to manage more People while they're already having such a Bad, they're not doing a good job to start with Basically our neighborhood is as dense as it can tolerate Walking back and forth to downtown is great, but we do have just incredible foot traffic And as well as car traffic on these streets already I Do not feel that it's a good idea to add more foot traffic at night and weekends the people who are living here are severely impacted This area just has more Um density than any other other areas any other neighborhoods in Santa Cruz Um The community can't afford to lose the 36 trees that they want to cut down 27 of which are heritage trees a natural wetlands Is the kind of thing that people come to Santa Cruz to be around I know we have a housing shortage We are already densely packed into this area I don't think spot rezoning is a good way to go. It just is not supportive of the general plan of our community um We have a beautiful natural area and we need the amount of trees that we have we need every tree Wildlife is being pushed into this area from the fires and I just Don't feel that this is a good project. Please vote no All right. Thank you. Uh, hello I'd like to address two issues that weren't uh previously mentioned in the webinar back in june First is asbestos everyone is vulnerable to asbestos that is especially true during the pandemic The lease reveals asbestos in unit ceilings and outer walls, but the developer still wants to renovate roofs balconies and external walls Uh, there's a possibility that an entire building could be tinted However, I think an environmental review something of that sort Uh should be a requirement since not only are Nearby buildings at risk are asbestos exposure for perhaps Felix Street itself Um, my second issue is uh relocation as the buildings are renovated tenants will supposedly be Relocated to other units But with occupancy already high How do they intend to magically empty units and avoid mass evictions? This project is supposed to take place in 18 months And there are at least three 400 people already living here. The numbers just don't add up Um, it's especially unwise during a pandemic relocating for obvious reasons So my question is If management neglects these apartments, which they already own then why should we trust them with more units? and also can we trust such a business to Properly renovate without exposing tenants to asbestos for issue. I just noticed earlier today I was looking through the agenda packet Uh emails written on august 19th I would like to refer the council members to this packet pages 788 to 816 They're about 15 emails. I've noticed that they're like form emails or uh, fake health And um, I worked at tech before I find it very suspicious and please But management or business would resort to emailing to the council members These sort of form emails. Thank you. Sorry. That's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you very much Speaking. Yes, you are on the line Hello, my name is Kathy Haber and I live A hundred feet from the property line To cypress point and I've lived here for 19 years There are many problems, uh associated with this particular neighborhood um The cypress point apartments apparently does not have a dog policy Other than the fact that they allow every apartment to have two dogs Including the studio apartments There are many dogs there. They bark and bark and bark And because there are openings in the fence Down at the lagoon end where our properties join the city property The residents of cypress point walk through Uh shelter lagoon, which is a private property. It's posted private They walk through all the time with their dogs and just walking through Um, we've posted signs. It does no good at all Um, the dogs pee and poop on everything And I really don't like that. I just would like to say I don't like the neighbors to come into my place with their animals to relieve themselves This is the management of cypress point that these other Speakers have talked about. I went on their website Um last week and discovered that they as of now have 14 vacancies I don't understand why you're saying that we need more apartments at cypress point if right now they have 14 vacancies This neighborhood has a lot of publicly operated Affordable housing at the end of chestnut street. There is a very large public housing project with hundreds of units And immediately to us. There is a senior affordable housing This neighborhood has too many people already. Bye now. I apologize. Hello. My name is Good evening commissioners. My name is sarah ogleby and I am of the bay area And I would just first like to say how disheartened and how saddened I am to hear all of the um hostile folks that are calling and And uh chastising people who are calling in from different parts of the bay area to Express their support for this project. I want to remind folks that um, you know, there is a senate bill 167 It's called the housing accountability act Times is the lack of housing is a critical problem in california that threatens the economic environmental and social quality of life for all californians California housing has become the most expensive in the nation Excessive cost of state housing supply is partially caused by the activities and policies of many local governments that limit the approval of housing Increase the cost of land for housing and requires a high fee of actions paid by creditors of housing And um, you know, also by uh people who live Close to housing projects to who um, are essentially kill them. Um, I would like to speak in favor of this project I've I've come to um become familiar with it. It's walkable to downtown It's a block from the bus line. It creates 16 actual affordable housing units on site converts parking lots into housing It does not just any existing existing residents. You cannot gentrify parking lots. It improves traffic It protects and preserves 121 heritage trees and 44 new native trees will be planted Being just a 15 minute walk from the heart of downtown and a block away from the bus and ucfc It's the perfect place for more people to arrive and contribute to the economy of santa cruz Live car-free lifestyles But while we value tree-filled neighborhoods, removing 22 trees should not be the sole reason to reject unneeded housing development Especially since mature trees can be replaced with young trees resulting in more carbon sequestration Please allow the smart growth project at 101 feel like streets to move forward. Thank you Thank you I've just been listening and I don't have a whole lot to say but um, oh by the name By the way, my name is molly brame and i'm a resident next door to uh, the proposed project I live at shelter lagoon apartments or condos I'm calling because well for one I mean overall, I've heard both sides and I see both sides and I think A lot of good points have been made, but I overall feel like this really just comes down to You know general greed People just want to build more to make more money and they're entitled to that. It's a capitalist society I get all that blah blah blah My question for if anyone is still on the line who is part of this project If they can say how many apartments currently at this location are affordable or for low income residents You know how much what are they doing right now for low income and I don't know if they can answer that Um, and I just I liked what somebody else one of the residents at cypress point had said earlier She pointed out that that they live on a cul-de-sac I never have thought about that we walked by that we walked by there this morning and That is such a concern. I've never thought of before for the the issue of safety and thinking of so many more residents coming in And then I think another call had mentioned, you know wearing the tsunami Zone or such how it's labeled That's that's kind of concerning. I I just hadn't thought about that. But um, yeah, I guess overall I'm I'm in a pose I oppose this project personally So thank you for my thank you for your time and have a nice evening. Thank you. Thank you commissioners for your time I just want to note that uh kershia is with the seara club and um, she Has asked for four minutes. So if she can have four minutes to speak Um, that'd be appreciated. Thanks. Yeah, I um, you received a 14 page analysis of this project Um, it's in depth. We looked at all the documents Um, I have a lot of experience over the years I'm investigating developmental projects in our county and I will give a nimby disclaimer I've lived a stone's throw from this project for 17 years And I just want to say in all my years of environmental activism It's the neighbors that care the most They're the ones who live near this natural space They know the land the nuances We've walked we have walked the lagoon. We know those 36 trees by the way, it's 36 trees And it's 27 are heritage We've measured the trees There are trees with 12 these people calling from the san francisco bay area Or who have been you know paid by the san francisco developer to talk They do not know that those trees are some of them are 12 feet around And they'll be lost permanently And that's even more endearing when we've had a fire That has destroyed thousands of trees nearby We have recently many many more Animals and birds coyotes coming down the creek. We're hearing They are refugees from this fire And it is not I want to respond to mr. Bain. It's not unutilized space Just because the the parking area This was put in before there were general plan restrictions 125 feet one of the building sites Is just 125 feet and it is down Um a down flow it will have run off from I sent you photos From um the parking lot. There's already severe issues about this So we care because we live here. We're connected with the area. We walk it every day It's our it is a backyard and we're proud of that and I think that neighbors should be heard stronger So we do support high density infill This is the crux of the analysis when it follows the appropriate zoning the legislation the general plan But the community took years to develop this was for protection for sustainable development and protecting our sensitive habitat It's what makes santa cruz really special and unique And we definitely oppose putting high density at the end of the street Next to a precious wetland in open space There's too many inconsistencies which have been outlined in this 14 pages. I'll go over a few They do not agree with the general plan The guidelines about open space and sustainable development Um as a fact a planner told me that this development only got in in 1971 that it could never have been built today If we followed our general plan and local coastal program There's a buffer some of the buildings are 13 feet from the creek in the lagoon. That would not be allowed Thank goodness for people like you holding up legislation There's a small margin the closest area to the parking lot is 65 feet So near the goon also if you look at that 2009 local biologists assessment of the area There are 12 endangered species. This is unusual diverse habitat It's one of a few wetlands if someone mentioned before 90 of wetlands in california have been forever lost It has an abundance of threatened and protected species They do not know the difference between the edge of the lagoon And two trees that have been paved around in the parking lot that wildlife is very sensitive If you see in that report to light pollution to human disturbance A year to two years of construction noise will disrupt their nest and And upset us so in some I'm saying please I urge you to vote no and oppose this Look at our detailed analysis of how this does not agree With the community and our values and Thanks for your time. My name is Henry Hooker. I live in Santa Cruz And I'm calling in support of this project Seems to me that at the city of Santa Cruz is serious about Building housing at this for a workforce and affordable housing that this is the place to do it It's near downtown. It's sustainable bikeable walkable and I'm calling to represent actually The 20,000 people who commute into Santa Cruz every day Because there's no place for them to live 12,000 of those people are commuting more than 10 miles And it's contributing to The disaster that we see on highway one morning and evening And this is infill housing. It's on a parking lot on parking lots It's hard to imagine actually A better place to put dense infill housing Which is actually what the Sierra Club is suggesting is key To solving the housing crisis in california Thank you very much. Hi, my name is Morgan Bishop. I'm a Santa Cruz president and and a I'm affiliated with a local homeless services nonprofit And I would just like to say that I think we can all agree that there is Obviously a housing crisis Here in Santa Cruz and I'm in support of this project For this just for the fact that we need more affordable housing And I think that it's the responsibility of the city to take care of the people who live there That would be over 1200 people who are homeless living on our streets And about 78 of those being without any shelter whatsoever And additionally around 80 of those people are Santa Cruz locals and they have been forced to live on the streets because The housing prices have skyrocketed so much that they simply can't afford to live there anymore I recognize what all previous speakers have said I to value our Value our ecosystem And I feel for the people that are saying that it's going to be overcrowded But I think when it comes down to it, we need to solve this housing crisis And we can't just sit back and let 1200 people sleep on the streets every single night um Another point that I would like to make is one of the largest homeless services non-profits In Santa Cruz is housing matters, which actually makes an effort to put Unhoused people into units The fact is is that Those units which aren't available right now from my understanding And so that's why I'm in support of building more units affordable units to House people in our community Thank you Thank you Allow to speak you have two minutes. Hi there So this is chris from philips street group again That's cute. I'm he's cute left over Okay to finish up So parks and open spaces the areas and parks and open spaces it's a tsunami zone It's in a red liquid liquidification zone To finish my previous points and I know philips very well The apartments they rent for $2,400 How many families can afford that it's not affordable people? I don't think so one bedroom in the um document plus fees goes for $2,400 $2,500 This is not affordable. There's not a homeless person I know it is going to be able to afford $2,400 $2,500 a month for one bedroom And so what happens is they fill up these it's mostly students who fill in these apartments with four to six people That's just crazy makes for increased traffic cars, etc. Everybody that comes to school especially students. They bring their cars Here And when they're seeing an unmanagement, please talk to the people In the area in the apartments that live there as far as the complaints that they have and just one side note Cypress Point Apartments is owned by gray star, which is the largest Rental property in the United States of not the world on their website. They say that they are The largest rental leader rental in housing in the world In April they had 32 billion dollars in gross assets In June of 2020 they had six from 93,000 units of apartments in the United States The company was sued for violating consumer protection laws in Los Angeles by gathering extensive personal identifying information about its tenants knowledge or consent and The money from this does not stay locally. It goes out to their headquarters. I'm guessing in Charleston, South Carolina which the attorney general for the state of california issued a travel ban on any type of public dollars or travel being spent in South Carolina because of discriminatory State laws that they have there so I just cancelled to Really just say no to this and kill it. It's bad all the way around Um and thank you for your time You're mine. Yeah, I'll keep this pretty short. Um, thanks for having me and hope you guys are all safe during uh During this time. My name is Aaron. I'm the local resident here. I live in the downtown area Um, I am against the uh the 101 Felix street. Uh cypress point apartment expansion I wanted to touch on a couple of things. Uh, why I'm against that I have actually had a personal experience trying to run from them as I recently moved To tana cruise about a month or two ago and I you know, I Try the rent from them. They had very misleading advertising. I found They had extremely low ratings Their apartments, you know as being a recent college grad their apartments were extremely expensive Um, a lot more than they had led on to believe I created an appointment with them and Found out later that you know, they upcharged by quite a bit Taking a look at their reviews online. You can see clearly what their 1.8 stars on google reviews and 2.0 stars on uh, yes that uh and multiple reviews Talk about them taking advantage of the tenants withholding deposits The rundown apartments they hide costs Uh, a lot of uh, you know, we're talking about this being affordable houses Well with COVID-19 many of their reviews state that there is no leave way with COVID-19 even though that was uh, there's laws passed to uh, to avoid evictions Uh, a lot of people spoke about that the wrong police sent out eviction notices Um, I am pro affordable housing and expansion of housing in tana cruise But I do not think that cypress point Uh management is the one to uh, I don't think they should be uh They should be running, I guess the show but uh, thank you very much. You know, it's nice for having this public question I'm a tenant at service point apartments and I'm against this project because First of all, um, we've had firsthand experiences with the management management. They're very unprofessional They never follow up on your uh, fixed orders around the apartment and I also know someone who scheduled a move out inspection like probably 10 to two weeks ago and uh, The management they just completely flake but they never appeared. There was no email on the phone call. So As we can see they are barely barely struggle. They're they're barely functioning To manage all these apartments and imagine if they add 80 more How bad it will be? Clearly they're not up. They're not up to standard. They're not up to the task and They honestly don't care about the residents or just this neighborhood in general In fact, there is actually a huge branch It's like half a tree that fell on the property of this complex and it's been there for Almost 10 days now So again, it's a fire hazard. They haven't done anything about it. I don't think they even emailed us to be honest So again, I think it's it's a huge It's a huge mistake if we allow type of point to continue with this project as well as The big bother owns them great star. Um, their website is not really helpful. It's really hard to contact them Via phone or email. So I don't I I don't think they really care. They're not invested in this Society this community. So uh, that is why I think they should not be building this In addition, their problems is parking global warming, slummies, all that So I think there are better places around town that can't handle a good scene of Buchanan again And I live in front of the tree that collapsed at Sampras Point And I completely concur with the previous caller The management here is I don't they can't even handle what we have now which is what 240 units? and they want to Take care of An additional 80. Anyway, I know gray star has taken this all over Um, I don't see any improvement in the management of this of this apartment complex And meanwhile, can I interrupt you for one second? We have a dead 3d Can if I can interrupt you for one second Have you already spoken on this item because members of the public only allowed one opportunity to speak and we're trying to Make it through this item so that we can move on to oral communications and Action or action on this item and then oral communication So if you've already spoken, we're going to ask that you please yield your time to other members of the public who haven't spoken yet I yield my time Thank you Shouldn't the deliberation and question be given two minutes Localizing here on the west side and I definitely oppose the I know that in previous meetings they're they're been brought up Issues about the way that they were going to be constructing these units so close together And in terms of the walls between two two units being Just a few feet apart from each other Just due to the fact that they're building right in the parking lot there The issues with with potential fire dangers or if there is an emergency Like like one that we have now, but when the hits closer to home I'm definitely worried about access given that there is it is a cul-de-sac and there is only that one straight out Just in terms of if something if there it does have to be an evacuation anything like that all really big concerns of mine and and I just like to say that Because of those reasons and all the reasons that people have said before I definitely oppose this project. Thank you Thank you. Hey, thank you for taking my call My name is Jane real and I uh live on neary street, which is a small short street between felix and blackburn and um Right next to the uh cypress point apartments and I vehemently oppose this project For all the reasons that you've already heard um, it is It does impact our neighborhood a lot. There's already a lot of traffic. My driveway is always blocked Um by park people who park in live in cypress point. There's not enough parking as is and um You've heard about the parking you've heard about the traffic you've heard about the one way in one way out You've heard about the bad management You've heard about the heritage trees and the wildlife and the lagoon and you've heard about Uh the impact that this is going to have on the neighborhood. I am all for affordable housing I live right across the street from the linda apartment and those are affordable houses There are a lot of section 8 housing and people live there for a long time and they're part of this neighborhood Cypress point has a transient population people do not stay because they cannot afford to stay in those apartments Students come in and they live four or five students to an apartment And then they leave and they leave their trash and when asked why Some apartments were vacant during the summer months and and why they needed more Housing we were told by the developer by the owner that those apartments are paid for people Students from out of town pay for those apartments year round, but they don't live in them So there is empty housing in this neighborhood and we can see the impact in the summer when students are gone There's parking There's less trash around But when they're here and it's full There it's the neighborhood is complete. Thank you for your time. I urge you to vote no Yeah, I know whether they've spoken already Yes, but I wanted to speak for a few tenants who were too afraid to call in for fear of being evicted Is that okay or not? Okay Unfortunately at this moment. I think we Each individual only gets two minutes, but if they can send us Email correspondence, we're happy to put that on the record for those individuals as well Okay, thank you. Thank you. So one thing on the spot Resoning here. We are just changing it back to what it was when we developed the project You know, basically what to confirm what's there now And we need legally conforming at that point You know, there's several things done here. We've had a lot of reports completed And two of those reports are an arborist report And you know the trees that we are removing that will not be able to preserve based on our design All of them were built You know with the project or since the project was developed So just to be clear and then the traffic Impact study that we we completed You know included in the parking analysis and the parking stalls. We are actually adding 48 new stalls And that isn't sufficient for 80 apartment units on on the surface, but we have a parking We counted the parking stalls at 11 p.m on two different nights in mid january Including a weekday and a weekend and there were 76 and 119 stalls And so empty stalls open and those Indicates that we have ample parking And just to be clear. We are not gray star. We we we Again, we've owned the project since 2005 in 2017. We Hired alliance, which is now owned by gray star to help us manage the project institutional management and You know to be clear is you know, we're It's owned by an affiliate to braddock and logan's and we are very much local private capital not wall street Nothing like that. We are here in the bay area been around since 1947 But there was a lot of comments on the property management and I used to have david these venues since 2005 In charge of our property management. Uh, don't want to speak Thank you, brian. Just really quickly Um, if we have owned cypress point apartments since 2005 We've been a member of that community of that real estate community for 15 years Uh, I think we provide a valuable resource to the community That's moderately priced workforce rental housing. That's what cypress point apartments are. There are many apartments in santa cruz That are much more expensive than cypress point We invest and reinvest in the property every year and we try to make it as nice a community as it can be Um, I think cypress point is one of it's not the largest department communities in santa cruz We're desperately needed to save clean rental housing stock is it's certainly needed We've provided that we've provided it for 15 years. We've done our best to be good neighbors in the field street area in fact today during the uh the santa cruz lightning fire Uh, uh crisis that uh that the community is facing we've opened the community to santa santa cruz fire cal fire santa cruz police department evacuees we're working with the santa cruz relief organization growth change organization They're all bringing evacuees to us. We uh, so far with people in four apartments. We have furnished those apartments at our cost People are staying there some in many cases. I'm free of charge for the next week to two weeks while they Figure out what their next steps are We're doing all that we can to help temporary shelter. This is part of being in this community Also like to address a few the comments that have been made by the public attendees here One comment was made by a cypress point resident that she sees people moving out of the community all the time I just like for the council to understand that our apartment community like this Will routinely see 30 to 60 turn over every year that is customary We could bring you national multi housing council Facts and figures people move because they buy homes people move because they get new jobs Family situations change So that is that is not uncommon Turnover occurs here I'd also like to note that we do allow pets at this community. I think by our records. We have 36 units that have animals dogs 54 dogs in total that we have by record We're Majority of apartments in the bay area professionally under management allow pets allow dogs We have dogs here that are also assistance animals And that's outside of our control of what we can what we could or cannot deny in those assistance animals Coming with those residents There's a public piece that provides access to lagoon People that live in the neighborhood walk their dogs through the property into the lagoon and along the lagoon We can't stop them. So it may not just be residents of cypress point That are making their way down the lagoon into the neighboring property That's that's the nature of the public easement there If brian said the property is managed by great start They are the largest management companies in the united states They do a good job. That's why they're the largest management company in the united states. We've owned the property for 15 years If you don't want for years to come Commit to being good neighbors If there are any issues at the property Those should be brought to the property manager and we are committed to following up with any Complaints matters that are that are being addressed That's what we've done for 15 years. It's never perfect. Don't get me wrong. That's this business But we are 100 committed to addressing those those matters Thank you council members who have questions at this time either first Thank you everybody. So I have a couple of questions So one of the callers And actually someone texted me saying that tenants are afraid to speak out for fear of retaliation Have you have you reached out to the tenants that are currently living there regarding the potential of construction? Or how have they been informed that this might be happening? I can address that That that's Absolutely false. There is no threat of addiction to anybody for speaking out They're obviously both state and local laws that that govern How an unlawful detainer process would work and on what grounds? We have to follow all those laws and regulations. We've reached out to the cypress point community about this project And there's No threat of retribution. There are notices posted throughout the community So that that that is 100 false and I again, I'm not I'm not calling anybody a liar. I'd certainly like to hear from that person directly as a follow-up to this Why they feel that way because that that is 100 not true Thank you. And then the other one is um How many do you have like a maximum number of people that can be in like a studio one bedroom? You know, it's it's there are HUD housing urban development HUD guidelines that all housing owners and managers really are Have to follow. So it's two people per bedroom plus one So for example in a one bedroom unit, that would be three people In a two bedroom apartment, that would be five people that that is That's really outside of our control if we were to not allow those three people to live in a one bedroom apartment We could be subject to housing violations, that's a federal law And so from my understanding the ones that are going to be proposed to be built are Studios and one bedroom. What about studios? Um, the studio is two people by HUD guidelines Thank you Yep, I have uh, I have one question for the developer by deed restriction There are not affordable units by that technical definition But again, if if we were to Measure the rents at cypress point today from studios up through two bedrooms Against all of the, you know, class of rental housing in Santa Cruz I think the rents here fit into what would definitely be workforce level rents At times have have apartments rented for Higher or lower depending on the season the time of year Absolutely studios will rent somewhere between 1700 and And 1900 dollars Generally routinely one bedroom apartments will rent 2000 to 2200 dollars typically And two bedroom apartments will rent for 24 to 2600 dollars and again Might be higher than those ranges sometimes it might be lower our general plan roughly 2005 It's finished in 2012 there were over 100 meetings that were public meetings associated with that and um The uh environmental impact report and the general plan was certified after, you know, roughly seven years of the overall process The applicant is close to being The applicant. I'm sorry the application is close to being complete. Tell me why we're here tonight right now the applicant is uh In about to embark on what's a costly endeavor that would be completing the environmental impact okay and And moving forward with that Environmental document whether that's a mitigated negative declaration or an environmental impact report, you know, the what's required Can't be determined until those Documents are complete, but that's a big investment in both Time and money both for the applicant and in time that our staff and our team spends And so this provides the council an opportunity to weigh in and provide feedback On that in advance of that significant Time investment. It's not something that we do for every project, but it's an extra step I I believe the last time it was done was with the lava hea project and And so it's an opportunity for the community to weigh in it's an opportunity for the council to weigh in and Provide direction Thank you. I I want I thought that was it but I didn't know where there was a little bit more to it But it's just the environmental review. Yeah The determination of whatever could be it could be a negative deck not quite as expensive Right not quite as expensive. We don't know yet That's correct and still A fair number of technical reports, you know, regardless of the the process The eir or mnd The reports themselves are expensive and and time consuming. Thank you. Thank you to this project But so it would be affordable in the future because You know, one would one would think that something built in 1971 would actually be Or I'd be happy to so couple of things first I would say the Best way to ensure long-term affordability is to have deed restrictions and With density bonus projects, you're getting deed restrictions at actually lower Levels of affordability typically there are options in which the developer can choose to provide more at higher levels or fewer More affordability more affordable units at I should say a higher number of affordable units at Higher affordability levels. So like 80 percent AMI or fewer affordable units At Deeper affordability levels say 50 percent of area median income in any case whether it's inclusionary or through the density bonus That's the best way or 100 affordable projects that use tax credits and so forth. That's how we're getting long term Affordability, I think, you know, the the state legislative analyst office Has weighed in on this the state has weighed in on it in terms of the housing accountability act I think it's it's clearly known that Throughout the state there is a shortage of housing and that has certainly driven up prices. It's basic economics 101 What is more debatable? I would say And but there are studies supporting this is the fact that if You provide additional housing Then the rate of Increase isn't going to be as high As it otherwise it would be if additional housing isn't produced and you can look to Some towns not too far from here, whether it's, you know, carmel or or los gatos Where there's fewer housing units that are produced and you've got a relatively higher escalation of of housing prices so, you know the the theory and supported by some studies is that By providing additional housing you are still going to get increased costs, but that additional housing actually influences the housing prices by Not having them increase at the rate that they otherwise would if fewer housing units are produced. So, you know, it's theories and You know some specifics in terms of the best thing to do is to de-restrict or get 100 affordable housing projects that are de-restricted but the production of housing Can influence housing costs and There's some examples of that In in local areas comes out of this meeting The applicant can go forward. Is that correct? The council has the opportunity to deny this project outright if if the council chooses to do so we would make the recommendation that We come back at a later meeting with a denial resolution That If you're choosing to do that we would ask that you articulate the reasoning Surrounding that so that we can capture it in that resolution just so that we're Providing that additional information. Well, why did I Think from the beginning I I just know yeah, I know from the presentation was given us tonight that we had those three options But why did I think all along that this was just Give direction to move forward But they didn't get And it wasn't binding To a final vote Correct and that's all it said you do what you do and then when the whole application comes to it Whatever you did in this meeting Is not obligating one to up or down later, but now you're telling me Sitting here tonight. It can actually be denied It can't be denied. It can't be approved and I understand let me let me clarify I'm sorry. It's uh It wasn't entirely clear before If I do want to be clear that if you say let's proceed with the these additional environmental analyses What that did what that does is it doesn't Require that you it doesn't presuppose that you're going to approve the project In four months or however, whatever timeline, you know, you can say proceed now And then you get that information and you can deny it later Right I understand that was that was what we were trying to convey That saying proceed now does not equate to an approval down the road It just says proceed now and we'll see what happens in a few months When we have additional information But now you've added it all because simply Be denied that's correct. You can't say they get Well now there's only five of us. Okay So they have to have a majority still that go forward or they won't go forward There You could you could deny the project I would have to look and see and Tony may be able to help me in terms of five of you How many of you need to vote? In order to deny that Is it a is it a quorum of the people that are there or a quorum of the uh full council? I'd have to take a look at that and Tony may know off the top of his head But I've got this section up here as well. So I'll peruse that Yeah, the rule is somewhat arcane The planning director has recommended that if the council is in favor of denying that you bring back a revelation for council consideration And under california law for general general law city, it would not require a majority of The of the council It's not as clear for charter city um it appears that That revolution could be adopted by a majority of health members present, but I need to do a little bit of research before we Um bring that back to the council for action But to to Tony's point if we're coming back at a future meeting um at that point we would uh Hopefully have six council members present who are able to participate I think um that maybe we can Energy that people have put in to uh both bring this uh question to us and also to comment on the The agenda item Including the pitfalls the the merits But I just want to be clear that that is not what we are Being asked to base our decision upon tonight um Our task here is to make a decision um based on the The um The process I would say the process really I mean environmental considerations I I share those concerns The behavior of the property management company. I too share those concerns, but those are not uh Uh Basis on which we can make a decision about moving forward with a project. We can make a decision about uh Whether or not we as a as a council representing the community uh want to spot up zone Uh a particular neighborhood and um, and I'm not inclined to do that Here, you know, I I think that um The general plan is uh, you know I want to honor the general plan and the decisions that have been made in previous rounds We consistently hear from staff when we're talking about potential general plan changes that it's going to take You know a year and tons of money and tons of staff time and you know, even earlier today on an agenda item around the um Eastside corridors uh Reset Staff said that um, you know, all that it would entail to do a general plan change And now here we are a couple hours later being asked to do just that And so I can't support that. Um, I I want to be clear that I um, absolutely support Uh additional affordable housing and if that means increased density in some places, I you know, I have no problem with that But right now we are not being asked to to really Make a consideration that would lead to a significant contribution in affordable units And so I'm I'm not inclined to support this tonight either I'm just wondering if the developer would be Interested in changing property management companies or exploring that moving forward or Looking at it at all that seems to be a concern from the community I want your comment I think I'm unmuted. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes. Look, I think that we're always Evaluating the performance of the management company and as I said before we're happy to take The feedback constructed feedback um, I've been in this business for 25 years And and and I'm not suggesting I'm an expert but doing this for 25 years Uh, understanding that you can't make everybody happy all the time. You can only try to Uh, I'd love to say that there's a magical lixer of somebody else out there that can make it perfect It doesn't exist. All we can do is take the feedback And try to get better, uh, you know, if if changing management companies meant approving the project um You know, we consider it very swiftly and and Look at alternatives right away, but I I can't guarantee that that makes it better. All right, that's for sure So just for me weighing all of the comments from the public and reading the reports and speaking to people on both sides Um, I'm inclined to let the process continue Have the environmental impact report I'm not a developer. I'm not an expert in um In environmental review, I would like to see, you know, what would happen with the next step. I think Consistently what I've seen living in Santa Cruz Is that projects come forward people say they are for Affordable housing or for housing, but it's always like but not here. And so I think like so many projects are in our repairing corridors or near some Sensitive habitats and then they get shut down because of that And so if we keep thinking like that, we'll never build more housing But people are going to continue to come and I've said this telling blue in the face that the population of Santa Cruz has doubled since I graduated high school, which I know I look young but like it hasn't it's you know, 20 Twice they're I don't even know how many years a long time But either way it's going to continue to go up and we and ninth grade economics taught me that But If we increase the supply Like somebody said with carbels the supply doesn't go up then the cost can't go down So whether it's market rate or whether it's affordable, whatever it is if we increase the supply The cost can potentially go down and even without De-restrictions if there's more housing available There's going to be Less Demand on the Housing that's available. I don't know. I have a hard time stopping it right here without going forward and exploring more What can be done? Well a next step and I could lean on the project manager Ryan Bain if there are specifics but just as by way of example the uh, the project would for example hire a biologist To evaluate the potential impacts associated with the locations of the buildings for example, so long-term things like Would there be lighting impacts on nearby? Habitat and then also short-term things like Would the construction affect nesting birds for example and it would come forth with a series of recommendations mitigation measures that specify here's how you could modify the project Or here's how you could modify the construction to reduce impacts on the environment and Depending on whether or not there would be a significant effect would would dictate whether or not we Have to do an environmental impact report If mitigation measures couldn't draw it couldn't reduce the impact to a less than significant level We would have to do an environmental impact report if it didn't Then there would be the option or excuse me if if all of the mitigation measures Resulted in less than significant impacts and there would be the option to do a mitigated negative declaration So that's just one technical report And ryan could chime in on which ones they've done which ones are still needed And so forth, but that's kind of generally how the process would go from here That those reports I should say Once once that document whether it's an mnd or an eir That document would be circulated for public comment and the public would be given the opportunity to To provide feedback on those technical reports And just the EIRs are for this project. That's kind of very significantly depending on The the number of reports that are necessary If ryan if you can chime in on Some of the specifics about which reports have been done and which reports haven't and then the costs associated with The environmental paths as well as the time that would be needed Yeah, this is ryan. Can you guys hear me? Yep, okay great Yeah, there was a number of reports that have already been completed and supplied to us By the applicant Including archaeological traffic impact analysis actually they've They've revised that a couple of times just based on you know the differences in the number of units they proposed So that's been revised a few times They've done preliminary hydraulic reports sanitary sewer water system reports stormwater reports tree study As well as Reports on some of the road improvements that are being proposed So those are all reports that have been completed and provided to us As part of preparing the initial study Through the preparation of the initial study There were some additional reports that still need to be completed. We determined there needs to be it's called the Cali mod It's the energy report There's further Testing that needs to be done for archaeological but so there needs to be some additional archaeological studies done As well as biological And then also a geologic report. So that was kind of One of the catalysts to this preliminary Consideration is we're kind of at a At a fork in the road where do we move forward and have these additional reports done which are going to be several Tens of thousands of dollars to prepare And then also from that we need to base Do we as lee had mentioned, you know, do we do are there going to be any impacts indicated? And do we do have mitigated negative declaration? Do we do an eir? And there's significant cost involved depending on which direction that goes as well as the time obviously An eir usually takes several months to do We have Public noticing and all this type of thing. So it adds significant time So that was kind of one of the catalysts for this preliminary consideration is before they make some additional significant investment and they have already made investment in the plans and Fees and all those type of things and as well as the reports they've provided So they've already come a long ways and so before they make another additional investment We wanted to hear from the council as to you know from a legislative act standpoint Should they move forward with with these reports and continue the process? And I just ask those questions too just so the public is aware that you know, I think that You know what we've heard tonight and kind of bringing up these issues around zoning if we move forward Tonight that could be people tens of thousands of dollars and so Invested and then it doesn't go I guess my my comments really it's been a little bit hard to track all hit different pieces of it For staff. I guess I have a question How much outreach was has been done? I think this is in the staff report. I'm trying to look at it real quickly I'm just curious about how many Community workshops or community outreach types of activities have happened um either from the initial The initial application or with the denser application With uh with the property owners and the and the and the neighborhood This is ryan van senior planner. Um, we've had the june community outreach meeting and um, I'm trying to remember. I don't remember exactly the scope of the I haven't written down somewhere as to how far we went in terms of noticing but um And then I know the applicant or the owners did reach out and did have some meetings separately with some of the shelter lagoon owners and maybe among other people But that's uh, I think that's the main outreach that we've had other than obviously this uh, This council meeting Okay, thank you um Yeah, I mean I I think that I think what I'm hearing is I I I'm I'm witnessing and also hearing just sort of an overwhelming uh amount of Basically conflict with this project in in this particular neighborhood um And and I I do have concerns about sort of the The spot zoning and the increase Um on the site Um This is um, this neighborhood is already very very dense. Um, I appreciate um You know the perspective of of meeting additional housing however, um You know, I'm a proponent of trying to put that put housing in places that um Potentially not as densely developed. This is that's probably the the most prevalent comment I got from from there as people who contacted me um And so, you know, I'm I'm inclined to to not really support they increase density Um, and I think I'll leave it at that right now. Um It seems Well, I'll leave it at that right now and and continue with council of my colleagues Discussion on the item for a little bit longer Thank you Accounts a member I want to make one more comment and then I have a question about trying to figure out a way forward here um, so Again, we've heard lots of you know opposition. We've heard The supports we've heard, uh, you know lots of reasons why We ought to support or oppose this um I And I have plenty to say about the the potential for you know the supply demand question um in the context of our particular, uh community and the the Kind of hyper speculative environment we are in with our land market Um, but I won't I'll say that for other conversations Um, I just reject that premise that you know, this is going to bring us more affordable housing And and do all these wonderful things that we know we need in our community But I I also just want to say I you know, I the question before us is about whether or not we want to Make a decision that I believe undermines the integrity of the general plan and the general plan process So to me that is uh, you know fundamental and I'm not interested in up zoning and spot up zoning I think it's a bad precedent. Um, I certainly could um You know, uh, can a contribution to affordability is a good reason to Kind of open up that conversation further, but I don't think that's where we're at today um And so I'd like to kind of figure out how to move us along here if we were to Uh Declare it if we say that we we don't support that, um, you know And we have those the two options of rid rejecting Um with prejudice or without prejudice. Um, I I understand that we need to Create findings of fact or whatever that might be for whatever it's called for a resolution Do we need to go through that here tonight? Um, you know, how would that process play out? Uh, just so we can kind of move along here And I don't know that question probably. Yeah. Thank you, Lee Um, should you choose to, um Deny the project we would ask if you're, um, seeking to do so with or without prejudice and then, um, We have based on the comments that we've heard from you all tonight. We would Um, draft a resolution that we would bring back to you that articulates the, uh, comments that we've heard from you And then, um, you could fine tune that that Uh, subsequent meeting should you, uh, choose to do so but, um, you know, there's been a lot of conversation back and forth and we can, um Take a shot at that and you could have the opportunity to wordsmith it or to accept it as written in a future meeting And, uh, customer Sandy have Exactly where I'm at in that is not Um, changing the general plan. Uh, I so Been on the general plan committees and then when we've approved them and, uh, uh, not about to want, um my vote to, uh, change Go forward and change in the general plan. I'm just finding myself. Sorry that only I wish that only had come to us just Change the general plan, of course, you have to say why you're going to change the plan and we need some some sense from this developer work together mine, but Uh, um, for me, I won't be able to support it moving forward. I think it's just a terrible mistake to consider changing our general plan at this time It's even not this time, but change our general plan. I think that the answer to that is that, um, the characterization of denial as with or without prejudice Is really intended to provide the council with an opportunity to provide some feedback as to the circumstances under which it might consider a general plan amendment and, um Even if the council makes a decision today to deny it without prejudice that can't bind a future council mindful of the fact that there's an election in november and Uh, circumstances change, um Which is why you have the ability to amend general plans, um, up to three or four times a year as the planning director said so, um so my recommendation would be that if the council does not favor the general plan amendment, uh, as prevented this evening that you merely direct staff to return with a resolution expressing the council Uh Disapproval of the amendment as proposed Um, I don't think it's necessary to characterize it as an amendment with prejudice or without prejudice but again, um an amendment without prejudice Would would be appropriate if the council were To say okay. Well We're open to the idea but with a few modifications. So what I'm hearing tonight is that the council, um Is not interested in densifying the level of development in that location. And so um, therefore just a resolution of Uh, of denial would be the appropriate, um action for the council to make to say assuming that um You know and based on the comments it seems like that's the direction the council is going Assuming that's the case and that would be my recommendation And I would just add, um, thank you for that clarification tony because, um In the code it specifies that, um When a permit is denied or withdrawn, uh, the application for the same or substantially the same project may be filed, uh, for a period of one year From the date of denial or withdrawal um And it's of no new application may be filed unless the application is denied without prejudice Um, that's that's referring to the application component. And I think you know to tony's point of it's, uh, within the ability of the, uh, council to, um To approve a general plan amendment in the future. Um, this specific section 2404 170 Um references a permit. Uh, so I would uh, agree with tony's interpretation there um that, um It's, um It would just be a denial resolution for the general plan amendment Uh, uh rezoning Yeah, thank you tony It's tony that, you know, I was thrown for a loop at the beginning when it gave us these three options With or without predmigrate or two. I can't remember because I've always thought that the Crux to this whole thing is the general plan amendment then the application So, uh, thanks. That's for my thinking was going and you clarified What I hope and tend to vote or we'll have a motion on this issue. It's just we're dealing with the general plan Thank you Yeah, that's right. And just to remind the council the recommendation is to give direction to staff As to whether or not to continue processing the application Oh, that's a second Recommendation that is the recommendation. So it's not why would they go forward if we if we don't change the general plan The application would be for a general plan amendment. So Oh, I think that's a discretionary action on a part of the city council and so So really the purpose of this meeting is to gauge the council's You know sentiments about whether or not Got it. Okay. Okay. So again just trying to uh, Figure out how we move through this. Um, so as I understand it the the We are not being asked to, uh, reject a proposed general plan local coastal plan And zoning or amendments and then zoning change We're not that's that wouldn't be the appropriate motion to make because that's what I was just about to do But it's sounding like maybe not So we need to the motion would have to be simply to reject the application And I mean, I think that it's worth explaining that maybe that's what comes in the resolution that we get in a follow-up meeting I just want to make sure we're act, you know making the accurate Move here So I'll go and make that motion that we reject the application Uh, we reject continuing to process the application Yeah, I think the the requested direction is to return to the council with a resolution Um Expressing the council's lack of support for continuing to process the application And I would turn to the planning director to just confirm that Yes, and I think what we can do is when we bring back the abba resolution We can specify if it is what it amounts to is the denial of the general plan amendment and the timing so, you know, I think We've gathered what the council has indicated here and uh, you know, you can articulate the motion and We'll come back with the resolution with the the correct language, which I believe will just be an outright denial of the general plan amendment and the Resonning and we'll coordinate with the attorney's office on the appropriate language for that Okay, so I will move that we direct staff to return to council with a resolution uh, rejecting Moving forward with the application and the proposed or the The the general plan, uh, amendments required for that purpose again, I'm sorry. I'm trying to make it clear, but I don't want to We just say resolution Can I maybe Let me try to start articulate that because that was That's all I moved for me Keep talking about the application What what we need is the the general plan and then thank you, lean when you spoke you Were weaving it into what you would bring back. So I think of sure now we just are denying it. I'm denying the general plan Yeah, and everything else follows that Okay, got it. I'm done For the people that are listening and who are in favor of the development or future development When can they get involved in the next planning for the next general plan where they can Speak up about wanting to increase density in different neighborhoods The office of planning and research recommends the general plans are updated once every 10 years I don't know that I'm aware of any jurisdiction that actually updates their general plan every 10 years You know our our last one took seven years to Complete and so, you know, that would be starting over almost when you right after you complete it Uh, but I you know sometime within the next Five to 10 years. Um, we would be looking at Initiating that process However, there are there are things that happen on a regular basis like the objective standards For example, as an opportunity for people to weigh in on the built form in the community. And so That's a big project that we've got going on That we initiated today And it'll be there'll be lots of public engagement opportunities for that and There will also be a Recommendation in front of the council in the coming 45 days That recommends that we expand the boundary of the downtown to the south And we've got a grant opportunity that could Offer $300,000 towards that and we'll be recommending to the council that the The grant be applied towards that so that would be another opportunity For community feedback in relation to Modifying what the general plan currently states And so I just wanted like so for the reason that I'm not going to support you My colleagues denying this I have to say is like so a high school kid. That's 15 so Five to 10 years they'll be 20 25 years old before they can even provide input into the next plan and then Then they can move forward and maybe build some housing by the time they're like in their mid 30s. It just seems like We have an opportunity here. We're developers willing to work with the community There's definitely things that people are Opposed to and I'm not I'm not suggesting that you know, we're approving the project right now. I just think denying it in its infancy is Being kind of critical when we're all saying we need housing and we need affordable housing and even like Mid mid career teacher or a paramedic or a nurse couldn't qualify for our affordable housing so they the income qualified out and so they would need to be looking for market rate housing and so The more affordable housing in a development the less Um, or the more. Yeah, the more the higher the market rate is going to be I mean They have to meet their bottom line. And so I think 20% is a good compromise in a private development and It kind of bums me out to see um us just squashing Moving forward by you know when it could be decade before something like this could come forward again No, I oh, sorry, I spoke Yeah, I just I just want to acknowledge my colleague, um council member colder um in terms of Really how we're we're really You know Santa Cruz Just not is not building up housing for residents. Um We we are continuing to get pressure. Um, I think with with covid A lot of people are going to live differently than they were before Um, every chance we get I think we do have to seriously think about it. I I do just believe that. Um Having this Doing this general plan amendment this general plan change. I just I it it does feel Um, I'm just not in favor of the spot zoning. Um, so I'm pleased that my colleagues are Are looking at this as the motion I just want to make sure I understand this motion does not kill the project all together It just denies the um the requested general plan amendment and changes right now, so This is going to kill the project all together Yeah, it is Yeah, it will kill the project all together. Yeah, and they can't build additional units Without the general plan amendment and the rezoning. So, uh, this action would kill the project Okay, okay. Thank you for that clarification Take a vote on this item and uh, there's a lot of projects They're going to be coming before us and um, I know we're going to be taking. We're making these decisions um, this is just one again that um, you know, it's it's one of the densest community renovations done on the current units there And then we can continue to you know, put more projects in throughout the city And with that and the in essence of time I think we should probably go ahead to deny the application Thank you. Mayor council members by oh sorry Oh, go ahead council member buyers. Hi Matthews is um, just qualified brown colder No, did you say no tins is absent. Um vice mayor buyers I'm going to vote no Regimiles are calling in again. You know, I just wanted to talk kind of generally about affordable housing strategy because I was pleasantly surprised That mayor came brought up very old housing of questionable quality has kept market rate in Santa Cruz and not become affordable over time as market philosophers have argued I'm also very happy to hear city staff admit that deed restriction is the best approach to affordable housing and not increased supply And I feel like we understand this problem. So I guess I'm confused Why the city is relying on inclusionary zoning policies where 80% or more of units are at minimum Unaffordable to 50% of our residents or more than 50% really Um, why is the city not purchasing existing structures and renovating them like struggling motels after loma prieta The city was able to achieve 100 affordable housing by renovating st. George street hotel Uh and palomar in And now during coveted there are dozens of struggling motels hotels and multifamily homes at lower sales values than ever before Um and the cost per unit of buying them and renovating them is far less than market rate subsidy Just last year what not even during coveted an 11 unit motel 123 bixby street sold for 2 million dollars and that per unit cost was 182 thousand dollars where the average sort of Market subsidy is between 350 thousand and 450 thousand per unit. I'm told Um So it just doesn't make sense to me because if you did it this way you wouldn't run into any community opposition at all The structure already exists. There's little or no construction. It's cheaper. It's easier. It's 100 affordable Um, I just would like to know why we aren't focusing on these kinds of projects Uh and building sort of municipal housing really And uh, you know, I'll just throw in the very last bit here that um, We could fund these projects with probably, you know, a yearly amount of 20 of the police budget Uh, and it would be transformational to housing Other member of the public would like to speak to us. I'll call the number that's on your screen now To raise your hand and you will be then unmuted and allowed to comment