 Good afternoon the hour of 1215 having arrived Santa Cruz the City Council for the meeting of June 13 2023 is in session clerk will call the roll Thank You mayor councilmember of Newsome present Brown here Watkins here Brunner present Member of Calentary Johnson is absent today vice mayor Golder here and Mary Keely here or I'm having been established we'll move on Presiding officers announcements. We have none today statement of disqualification This would be the opportunity for a council member to make a statement of disqualification on any items councilmember Brunner Item number 24 on the public consent Consent public hearings downtown association parking and business improvement area assessments for fiscal year 2024 as that relates to my employment Thank you other statements of disqualification senior none. Thank you very much See if there are additions and deletions to the agenda This bush we have any addition we have nothing thank you City Attorney report on closed session. Good afternoon. Mr. Condati. Good afternoon mayor Ely and members of the city council this afternoon the council met in closed session in the courtyard conference room with a Cal councilmember Calentary Johnson absent At 10 a.m. The following items were discussed It was one item of real property negotiations involving city owned Property of approximately eight point one five acres in the city of scott's valley APN zero two two seven two one zero seven zero eight and zero nine Council received a report from its real property negotiator and gave direction on that item Item two liability claims the claims of Dominique Townsend Michael B. Smith and Janea Kelly We're discussed in closed session. Those are also listed on your consent calendar this afternoon for council action There's one item of significant exposure to litigation involving one potential case Council received a report from the city attorney's office on that matter There were also five pending litigation items Matter entitled city of Santa Cruz versus the Regents of the University of California currently pending in the Santa Cruz County Superior Court Second matter was the Regents of the University of California versus the City of Santa Cruz also currently pending in the Actually that item is pending in the sixth the Pellet District Court of Appeal Item three is the case of Lisa Foster versus the City of Santa Cruz Item four is the case of Robert Fleck versus the City of Santa Cruz in both of those actions the council authorized the city Attorney's office to file cross complaints related to those cases the Details and particulars of the cross complaints will be available to members public on request when the When the cross complaints are filed lastly the city received a report on the case city of Arcada versus specific gas and electric company There was no reportable action on that item Thank you, sir We are on item five. This is a capital investment program presentation. Ms. Cabell Good afternoon afternoon mayor council members Elizabeth Cabell finance director So today we're coming back to Discuss the capital investment program that we continued from the budget hearings back in May to start with I'll go ahead and kind of kick things off as far as the general fund and and how things are looking that we talked a little bit about How we're changing the way we're doing the general fund piece for fiscal year 24 But I'll go into a little bit more detail on that and then each department will be we'll come up to actually talk about their Specific projects for the upcoming year. So this year we talked about what we've done in the past is we have Allocated five million dollars from the general fund over to the CIP fund to support different projects This year for 24 We decided just for one year only to put a pause on that and to give us a chance to really go down and look in a little bit More detail at a lot of the projects or every project if we can And part of the idea being just to have some extra eyes on it But also we're in the middle of doing our long-range financial plan. That's a significant portion of that So we really did try and just let's take a pause for a year Really look at the projects kind of prioritize where they are and plan for the future plan for what we want to do next So in doing that we took into consideration lots of different things as far as where projects are and it's not just about You know the completion or not completion, but we looked at staffing levels Do we have to the departments have adequate staffing to be able to complete the project? Resources have been lots of supply chain issues and things like that So do we are we able to get the materials and supplies that we need? Funding we also asked departments to sort of look at other funding sources If it's a general fund project might there be a grant or another funding source So sort of just really looking at not just the expense side of things But do we have other options for funding that particular project and then again kind of keeping in mind the long-range financial plan? How does it fit into the our long-range goals for the capital investment program? So as far as that process pause prioritize and plan where are we right now we've gone through the process of reviewing the projects It's kind of an ongoing thing, but we've done the first level of looking at all of the projects Projects that are complete. We've closed them and any leftover funds that were in the project We've kind of moved those back over we reallocated those to other projects We've also looked at projects that are maybe got started for whatever reason are not moving forward and the same thing We've gone ahead and kind of freed up that those allocations and reallocated it to projects that are going to move forward and then we asked departments to go through and look at the projects and Make a prioritize things that need to start before the end of the calendar year and those things that can start after the calendar year And so as part of that process where it brings us to today So what we're doing today is we're going to be looking at the projects that are part of that need to start before December 31st group, and then we're also going to be looking at the projects that are The projects that are unfunded and then things that are going to start in December or January of 24 We'll be bringing back at mid-year. So that's sort of the plan for today and moving forward And just to sort of throw some numbers here our CIP program is quite large This encompasses this hundred and fifty million here is everything. It's our general CIP. It's water It's all of our enterprise funds that there's some special revenue funds in there as well So this is what is proposed for fiscal year 24. This does not take into account things that are being carried forward We have lots of projects that are ongoing So our capital investment program is an ongoing multi-year project program So this is really just things that we expect to start in fiscal year 24 And then there will be of the additional things that will carry forward That's it for my piece. So now I will turn it over to Nathan for the public works portion. Good afternoon, Mr. Nguyen Good afternoon mayor council members Nathan Nguyen director of public works. I'm here to go over the CIP capital investment program five-year plan with within public works Next slide Bonnie So within our program we have over 100 projects that really total over about $250 million again our CIP is a five-year plan And so we're including all of those projects roughly about 60 million that is grant funded and we in public works We have nine different Categories so to speak that we overview that we have overview for and so those are listed for you right there on that slide slide Okay, so this is really the kind of the meat and potatoes of what public works does so we put them into three buckets for you For counsel in the mayor here So with regards to construction these are some of the projects that we are seeing that are going to be proposed in construction the fiscal 24 As you can see a rail trail project is currently underway and we plan to have that Complete by end of this year the Colbert project was about 95 percent complete. You guys may have Counseling may have seen that last year. We hope to have that complete by later this Fall When the tides get lower There's also paving projects that have been approved that came have come before counsel you in the mayor in this past year with regards to approval So those are going to be going into construction later this fall And and over the winter there We have some other projects too that we're moving forward that we're really excited about the base tree protected bike lanes That is out to bid we're waiting to getting a contractor to get that started Hopefully we can have that go into construction this fall And then there's a few other projects that are listed on there that are grand funded our highway safety improvement crossing improvement projects That's also out to bid We have a vehicle detection project. That's also out to bid We are waiting on getting a contractor set up for that and of course the big one that We're all waiting to hear for is the Murray Street Bridge retrofit project. We still We are still anticipating taking that out to bid Later this summer and so when we get the permits all in place Staff will bring back to the council and you mayor Approval of moving that project into construction. We'll be working with our also with our partner agencies with regards to the impacts of that project Including RTC in the county as they look at their large projects that are also underway Moving on to the next bucket there is design So of course these aren't all the projects that I mentioned earlier over the 100 that we have an RCIP But these are some of the larger projects that were focused on this upcoming fiscal year You'll see that the wastewater treatment facility has an electrical upgrade project again multi-year Likely at the price tag currently at 40 million and we'll see how that Translates over these next few years as you know prices escalate and as we move forward with past the concept design The downtown pump station approval project that project is Currently underway. We're doing an assessment for that. We applied for a FEMA brick grant for 15 million dollars with a local match of two million dollars on that project Segments eight and nine also currently underway I believe in our last presentation to council on our budget. We mentioned this project as a Priority or we may have missed it as a priority. It's still a priority We are working on this project, of course with the EIR being approved But getting mitigations and permits in place over this next year will be the focus of that project And then the downtown intersection approval project that was brought to council and Last year as far as the striping concept plan we are revisiting that with metro We are trying to work with them as far as trying to make improvements to front street as far as Potentially a dedicated bus lane, you know, we're exploring some additional ideas. So that project most likely will be coming back to Council in the mayor to you later. It's upcoming year. So we're on that to come The down the Swanton Delaware multi-use path project really excited about that project grant funded fully grant funded You know three million dollar project to connect Westcliffe to Delaware and then Delaware all the way out to Long marine lab Schaefer Road with a multi-use path And then we have ongoing sewer and storm drain maintenance projects that we spend roughly about a million dollars on The new projects So this year staff is proposing to bring back the traffic calming program As a pilot program this year Traffic calming has always traditionally been a quite a challenge for staff with regards to funding and resources And so it's something we haven't had in the city for almost 20 years now So we've continued to knock out projects make improvements on our roadways that include traffic calming They're not specifically its own dedicated program. So this year. We're looking at trying to Dedicate some other funds about 75k to see if we can get some streets some traffic calming treatments on some of them some local roads Next project that's being proposed. It's a new project Which is also on your an item and consent later for measure D is the Broadway complete streets project This was brought to us by a lot of the community members We went through the Transportation Public Works Commission And so we had that project added to the measure D five-year plan but in talking and with the community and the Commission we had that out in fiscal 28 But we were able to read readjust some of the projects and move that project into fiscal 26 as well We propose starting that design And then the last two you'll see there is a parking office remal and a food waste preprocessing projects We don't really know the price tag quite yet. We're starting to do the initial analysis on both of those The parking offices comes out of the parking CIP fund So that's the downtown parking enterprise fund and food waste processing would come out of the refuse fund and then Just wanted to highlight a few under or unfunded Projects that we do have on our radar that we are still continuing to work on these are critical infrastructure projects that While we are fighting for construction and even design dollars We know we need to move some of these for tonight I kind of mentioned a couple of them earlier with the electrical upgrade and the head of works project But of course as you can see up there, there's also included the West Coast stabilization and Culver project We'll be embarking upon those later this year as well and then a couple of things that we tied into there is the levy maintenance Mayor council members you may recall and the one we presented the budget Operating budget to you last time we brought up the levy maintenance as a as a focus and a need Towards funding and then you'll see a storm drain Paving project on there on trevathin. We completed the first phase this last year huge success For that neighborhood and that and so we're hoping to look for funds to try to complete that phase This upcoming for upcoming year and then there's the EV charging stations and wharf around about bike lane that are also being Unfunded, but that we hope to work on very soon With that I'll pass it on to parks and rec. Thank you, sir Good afternoon, Mr. Elliott All right, good afternoon mayor and city council members appreciate the opportunity to share the parks and recreation department capital improvement program requests for fiscal year 24 Sort of with a picture of our golf course there Sorry, you can move on. Thank you All right just as far as a CIP snapshot of our active projects wanted to give some context to the city council into the community in terms of What is currently underway? We currently have about $9.4 million worth of CIP projects that are in process You can see how those are divided up on the screen and these two pie charts by both fund source and then by area or amenity within the city park system So a couple things I just wanted to flag here Other relevant details. I think a big chunk almost three million dollars of that nine point four million In current in process projects are related to the site logic Projects so this is in partnership with public works, but oriented toward new ball field lighting at Harvey West Park new solar panels New roof at the Civic Auditorium and new solar panels at the Civic Auditorium as well So a big chunk of that is geared toward really energy efficiency overall On the area and amenity a large proportion of the current investment is going toward our community and regional parks This is to some degree by design as these community and regional parks host the majority or Large proportion of our community members and visitors to Santa Cruz So these are places like Harvey West Park where a lot of this investment is really going another chunk of that is going toward the Civic Auditorium as we mentioned through site logic and to the golf course Some of the facilities of the golf course that have really begun to fail in the past couple years So some really important investment there as part of that on that area and amenity graph I just wanted to highlight that our open spaces in greenways Continue continue to be a sort of perennially Underfunded area within the city park system So we really have very little CIP investment going into our open spaces in greenways through Through our CIP programs. That's something for us to really strategize on and think about moving into future years Next slide. So as far as our fiscal year 24 Funding requests a lot of these here on the screen really the the full slate of these on the screen Our request for appropriations of our parks facilities tax So this along with our quimby fees are part of the the park impact fees That we receive through residential development So the projects here are a breakdown As the part of the request for those parks facilities tax fees so a number Related to Harvey West Park Toward water conservation and irrigation system improvements Into a number of our neighborhood parks as well Including a Riverside Gardens in Sargent Derby. So happy to go into detail on those And answer any questions the council may have so next slide please And in this slide here Rounds out the request for fiscal year 24 our parks facilities security improvements Harvey West Park redesign and that would include the Harvey West pool as well And then some critical infrastructure work at De La Viega Park related to stormwater Issues and management there at De La and so those items we have as TBD on this slide or on the screen here and really that references a variety of funding sources for those projects That's a combination of park facilities tax And general fund CIP or even general fund operating dollars that we might Apply towards some of those projects the Harvey West Park redesign being one where two fifty thousand of that two hundred and fifty thousand is actually already appropriated and is Reflected in our ongoing or in process CIP project. So 50 of that 250 is is already appropriated The last item appears the civic access and safety improvement item This is an item that the city council approved a few weeks ago. Maybe a month or so ago Through CDBG and this is an investment For ADA and safety improvements hand railing and so forth in the civic auditorium So related to access ADA compliance But also there's a degree of both public and staff safety with that with hand railing in the civic auditorium So that one's been approved, but we've put that in the context of the overall CIP slate for 24 and just wanted to also highlight on this slide as far as staff Safety, this has been a big topic staff safety and security The item at the top of the the chart here the parks facilities security improvements is a really critical one to just help reinforce And secure some of our parks facilities Harvey West and elsewhere. So that's really geared toward that and beyond CIP There's a lot that we've included in our operating budget that we shared a couple weeks ago geared toward Security Allied Universal different security companies to assist with Parks and facilities security. So that's separate from CIP But I think a relevant piece to the overall security and safety of our parks and last thing I would just say is in terms of annual investment really the target that we look at in terms of the park system that we have the assets that the city Maintains and owns really that investment on an annual basis that target should be in the range of four to six million dollars So over the past year or so, I think we've done a the city's done a great job that nine point four million active In projects, but kind of a target collectively for the city to look at moving the future years Is that four to six million dollars in CIP investment year over year to really stay on top of the the maintenance needs throughout? parks and rec and Very last thing I would say is related to and actually back to those pie charts There's a section in there related to grants and donations, but this is an area where we engage with our community partners Quite a lot. So recently we've heard from community members Fundraising for Harvey Westpool and so they're aiming to raise 20 to 30 million dollars for the pool Which would be a huge CIP number. That's not reflected here that money hasn't been raised yet But as we come back to the city council in future years Working with our partners the community foundation of Santa Cruz County Friends of parks and recreation others. We hope to bring some of these opportunities through donors And grants to invest in some of these facilities and parks as well. So more to come on that That's it. I'll hand it off to I believe the fire economic development. Thank you, mr. Elliott Procedurally what we'll do is we'll hear each of these presentations then we'll go back When miss Cabell comes back up and we will entertain council questions or comments Good afternoon mayor members of the council. I'm happy to present our fiscal year 24 economic development and housing CIP I'll Just preface by saying we only have two new projects in our CIP this year The downtown alley improvements and tanner a dance and performance building but before we get into them I will say That we do have other ongoing Projects funded in previous years that we're still working on the nature of so many of our projects, you know continue from near to year So Including our three affordable housing mixed-juice projects in the downtown all have funding in the CIP This is largely I'd say our 2011 bonds proceeds sort of really that continuation of the last of that redevelopment funding We also have some major federal grants. They're about 12 different Non-general fund funding sources in our CIP when you look through those for the majority of those projects So happy to answer any questions about those as well So the first project this is leverage funding matching funding that's required as part of our federal grant that we received For from the economic development administration to build a tanner a dance Center and so this is a preliminary design Exterior design of it and we're doing some environmental testing and geo testing that's required and not eligible from the grant funds So this is out of our ed trust fund and the second one ongoing downtown alley improvements We're really excited to have this investment. This is one of the ones that when the redevelopment terminated in 2011-2012 we actually went to council For approved projects and down alley improvements sort of a long-term focus was one of those So we're really excited to be able to move forward and concert with parks and rec this year and really do some some You know much needed beautification and hopefully some place-making as well in the alleys and so this is funded by former RDA bonds and I'll turn it over to the fire department. Thank you. Thank you Chief good afternoon Good afternoon mayor council. Good afternoon. Thanks for the opportunity. So I'll be a brief Unlike last year. We were relatively aggressive in our request for CIP this year much more measured But still critically important and those are based on just facility needs and really The upgrade and updating of those facilities for two important reasons one health and wellness of the workforce and secondary is just to Make sure we're keeping pace with some electrical demands from some of our equipment at one of the stations So specifically fire station number three. We're looking again for about two hundred thousand dollars You know, we're still in the early phases. Those were initial quotes for the equipment at that fire station To replace an existing generator and again based on some of the equipment we have out there air compressors and so forth We have found that we are inadequate in providing enough Energy or electricity for that purpose, but also making sure that if we have a power outage, we can still operate normally So again, we're looking to we're on the initial phases of the purchasing and request for For bid from contractors for that work and looking to start in early 2024 Our station number two again an older station. That's been around Not quite as long as station one down here, but we're looking to expand Out the rear of that station to the tune of about seven hundred fifty thousand dollars Like it says here adding about eighteen hundred square feet of the to the existing fire station And that's really there's some storage components to it But the biggest and most important factor in this request is to provide an area for the fire crews to work out Where they're not they're currently inside of the apparatus bay and as you can imagine with diesel powered engines That becomes complicated and obviously increases the risk for cancer And so it's something that we have been focused on and we're looking to start that work as well early in 2024 for this project and you may recall recall these were proposed last year But in an effort to keep pace with our apparatus replacement needs our fleet had some challenges with Procuring parts and services to maintain our aging fleet so we had to do a mid-year sort of adjustment and Purchase a fire engine with the funds that were previously approved for these two projects So really what we did was flip-flop from 23 to 24 for these So nothing really knew just the timing of them were changed and happy to answer any questions when the time is appropriate on these Thank you. Thank you chief So that concludes the presentation for CIP and staff is here to answer any questions you may have on any projects or anything else Thank you so much. Let me see if there are questions and comments by council members miss Prina Okay, thank you so much for all of the presentations. I had a Question for public works and I wonder if Nathan Nguyen could So if you could Let's see. I don't remember the slide in the future would be helpful to have slide numbers and then I could say slide number five But I'll see if I can From my notes, but there was something about Under design and If you can just summarize again These are what's in process Versus the next slide There's some of the repeat items. So can you just talk about that again? There's additional funding needed So only part of it is currently funded under design and then the rest that's needed So some of those items still have Unfunded dollar amounts is correct. Yeah, that's correct council member Bruner So there are projects that are in their design currently And those are some of the ones that we focused on in that slide that we wanted to definitely daylight with Council members mayor and the public at the same time though some of those projects still need funding to move forward into Construction so we still need funding to implement these Critical projects and so as we kind of identified between the two as could catch that there are projects that lie in both of both In design and still underfunded Okay, thank you for the questions when Parks and Rec, I Wonder if what we might do to expedite this Is if the department heads could come sit in the front row then we're gonna save a little time here Thank you council member your record Thank you Can you talk about under? It was under fund so there was the graph. Yes fund source and area amenity under fund source Under site logic IQ, can you talk a little more about what that? Includes Because I know you you'd mentioned some of it with public works and is that What is that represented in by area and amenity? Yeah, it's a great question. I appreciate that as far as parks and recreation In that component of the site logic work that is geared toward the new ball field lights at Harvey West Park solar installation At the park a new roof on the Civic Auditorium and Solar on the Civic Auditorium roof as well and I believe there are more components of that site logic Project under the public works portfolio and a welcome director when to come up and That answers my question. I just I wanted to be clear that I was understanding. Okay. Thank you. Thank you I will pass it for now Okay, but you want to return to you and Potentially potentially the questions comments miss Brown's recognized. Thank you mayor. Thank you to our presenters It's good to see some really great work happening and I know we have Challenges with our CIP every year and it doesn't kind of seems to be a growing need But to see these really critical projects Getting accomplished and to see the money that's coming in from competitive funding and other sources you're all doing an amazing job of leveraging and and really you know identifying ways to to get our priorities met and I'm I've been thinking since 2018 when I was at that fire station just picturing you all Exercising like almost underneath your fire engines and I'm and the exhaust and the the health risks there And so I've it's been on my mind all this time and I'm so glad to know it's fine. It's happening So I'll just leave the comments there. I have a couple of questions for I think parks it primarily Thank you for your presentation. It's great to see the things that are in It wasn't organized quite in this way, but the design bays in particular related to Harvey West the pool and the The park and so I just wanted to ask if I'm understanding this the 250,000 for the Harvey West redesign is that the intention there to really be looking Broadly at that facility overall as we move as we kind of talked about offline not in the meeting That's what that chunk of money is for so expanding on the Contribution that was made to look at the pool specifically and to really focus on the whole site. Okay Got it and then the other question was on park pathways There's a small amount of money in there glad to see it Is do is that program for particular locations or is that a fund that you are looking at just to Address issues as they arise I'd like to welcome our park superintendent Travis back to speak to some of those details on that on that piece. Thank you Afternoon mayor and council council member Brown. Yeah, the forty thousand dollar pathway improvement project is to address a Known set of tripping hazards and places where we have concrete displacement throughout the park system So that has a specific scope of work already identified for it Thank you, really, thank you for for those improvements. I think that's all for me That's member Watkins. Yes, I'll just echo my comments and appreciation for all your work And I know there's always competitive competing priorities, particularly when it comes to our capital improvement program I Guess my I guess I have a comment I think it's probably really clear with the public works though in terms of the Murray Street bridge and the impacts That's gonna have I'm assuming that's all factored in in terms of timing and I know we've heard concerns from the county in regards to When that is gonna be underway. I don't know if they're likely. There's no perfect time, right, but Do you have any insights into timing when that might be? The team is still working on trying to get the permits in place But we are actively and we do plan on taking it out to bid later this summer And so that's that is our plan and intent if things change will definitely come back to council mayor to give an update on that As far as the actual construction timing though when it actually starts, that's just procuring the contractor There'll be definitely once we have a contractor on board We'll have more details on when the actual physical constructions the impacts to the roadway to transportation system itself Would be and then we'd also again work with our partnering agencies to notify and collaboratively kind of Reuse those impacts because they are gonna be sustained for for you know, likely two years Okay. Yeah, no, I appreciate that and yeah, just as long as we're transparent with our community around what's expected there I guess my other question was at the alleyways and I know Bonnie you mentioned that that's part of our CIP Thoughts and the wave winding etc. But I'm wondering. I know we've talked about parklets and other Opportunities in some of these smaller spaces for recreation, so I'm not sure if it's overlapped with parks and rec But what is your thoughts on that or is that part of the CIP planning also potentially? Yeah, I mean we have a total of what we added on proposed to add on this year and previously We have about 500,000 for the alleyways and we have three alleyways downtown that we're really focused on so Frazier Lewis Lane Pearl Alley and The the one right behind I'm trying to think now no Plaza Lane. Thank you. Thanks So we are looking specifically actually just did a site walk yesterday and looking at lighting improvements And hopefully working with parks and rec comes to an overall, you know general landscaping as well But we're also hoping for some activation. We were looking at opportunities and definitely in Plaza Lane There's an opportunity for some potential outdoor dining in like one area that we were looking specifically if we Could activate we're looking at ways to activate, you know, some of those spaces are quite large particularly in Plaza Lane As you look at that obviously in Frazier Lewis Lane behind Del Williams, you know, there's some space there and during the pandemic we had really successful outdoor dining there You know, so we know that it works And so we're looking at what what is some permanent infrastructure support that we can put in to really help this Successfully move forward. I'm definitely supportive of that I think people choose if they could to go outside and sit outside particularly for dining purposes But also with all of the development happening on front street in terms of a space for kids to play locked, you know Potentially but with play structure that parents could have eyes on them. I think that's a really I've always thought that's an opportunity And so however, that's factored into your your your planning and your consideration. I'd like to make a plug for that Thank you Thank you, I think my first questions are for Nathan Okay, so I have I saw West Cliff on the unfunded but there are some parts that are funded, right? That's correct. We put it under slash unfunded We do expect to receive FHWA grants to make repairs on West Cliff but at the same time we also are preparing for a local match if we're not able to meet the September 23rd deadline date for 100% reimbursement And so we just want to identify that as a as a project where we're saying it's underfunded at the moment That's what I thought but I just wanted to clarify and then my other question for you is in regards to food waste And I know residential and maybe some businesses have larger containers and residential has the little round ones Are those something that the city has to purchase or those something individual businesses have to purchase? I know like the schools have been talking about rolling this out like is that something I Believe the food waste program is something that we're mandated and that we are as residents We are including that into our Refuse rates increase as far as providing those bins for all of our growth commercial and residential Users out there. And so if it's something beyond the city service if we're talking about food waste Purchasing a separate bin and that would be outside the scope of the services that we were providing So but just the car. I'm assuming that the those bins that we got they're not free You had to buy them and so there is there bigger ones that are out at restaurants at this point or this is or That's why I don't I don't know someone's coming. Yeah, I'm gonna ask our operations manager Lupe to come in and answer that question This manager hello mayor and council members. We purchased them already we have containers for residential commercial and Schools as soon as they're ready to participate got it. Okay. Okay, so you've already I just didn't know if that was another thing That we still have to purchase their purchase expensive. Yes. Thank you I did have one question for Tony Elliot and I Didn't know if this is possible When you're looking at Harvey West, is it possible to charge for parking could that money go back to parks? I think it's a I think it's a great question I Think in theory we could I believe and I don't know that we've got our parks planner here I want to say that we've looked at this in the past. It wasn't necessarily received well But I know I can't imagine but I still thought about it I know enough to be dangerous on that, but I think it's worth looking into and reconsidering Yeah, how we can generate revenue revenue there to invest in the park. So I think it's a it's a good idea Thank you for the questions or comments mr. Newsom as record Thank You Mary Kaylee and I you know just want to echo the comments made by council member walk-ins about it's really exciting to see Possible funds Dedicated for downtown alley improvements. I think that'll be great for our downtown businesses and for a community and provide for great spaces For people to eat and enjoy our downtown spaces. So I was excited to see that This printer All good, okay all in Very good. Thank you all so very much for being here. Thank you for your very informative presentations and your good work You're in and you're out. We will see you later in the day when we get around a budget in a moment Thank you all very much for that We're on item six. This is a presentation from the city council's ad hoc budget and revenue committee Some time ago not very long ago the council gave very specific direction to your ad hoc budget and revenue committee regarding assisting the community and taking a look at potential affordable housing revenue stream measures your council's committee consists of council members Newsom Brown and myself and We would like to report back to you You folks gave us a very specific task And that was within a specific period of time Have Used the resources available made available by the council to the subcommittee For conducting a public research Poll regarding voter attitudes concerning draft housing revenue measure Tested out a number of questions around that about what were high-priority issues for the community with regard to affordable housing and homeless capital outlay side of those issues and The results Came back and and we'll discuss them in a little more detail as we move along That was made available to all of the members of the public Not only those who showed up but posted on on our website as we began this effort the Santa Cruz County civil-grand jury also issued a series of reports one of which Is entitled housing our workers essential workers need affordable housing which certainly? Works hand-in-glove with the assessment that this body has made over time that Certainly essential workers do in fact need affordable housing and part of the objective of giving the ad hoc budget revenue committee portfolio to work on this issue was to Was exactly for this purpose identified by by the civil-grand jury The other task that was given to us was to conduct a series of community meetings in which the community would have the opportunity to use the research that the city paid for as a way to think about How to color inside the lines if you will that the poll provides information about the public attitude and priorities and the work of the public in these three meetings is to see how they might be able to How the city can assist the public if the public would wish to? take the initiative and and move along with regard to a Possible funding measure what I'd like to do is turn now to councilmember Brown for a Quick report on our first meeting that took place councilmember, thank you mayor. I want to thank my Colleagues on the budget and revenue committee For participating in this and really a big. Thank you to staff as well for all of the work that you put in Sorry and So so it was I'll say the first meeting was An introduction an overview of the process we brought quite a you know Energetic group of people together showed up for that meeting. I see some head shake nodding people who were there We You know it was an opportunity to Kind of go through some of that overview the need for affordable housing also to There's a slot the next slide I just want to mention to Preview this amazing tool that the city is is now making available which You can where you can track housing affordable housing projects And and see get more information about them. So this is an incredible tool I just want to thank you for making it available It was a great place to kind of bring this out and and I hope that folks will really use it so what we did at that meeting was You know really go over the Kind of a discussion about You know what kind of measure Would we were gonna try to you know people were interested and I guess the community Proposed uses of the funding. So one of the questions was In breakout group everyone in great breakout groups did really great group work It was great to see people from kind of different. I'm just gonna add a little editorial here Different well, you know Interest groups within the county different or within the city different kind of perspectives coming together to have those conversations and a really welcome kind of opportunity there and and then we kind of Just talked about Forecasting for the next meeting that we would have polling information available and begin to refine some of that Conversation I will say that the list that people folks came up with in spite of some Directed questions was robust and You know, so there's a there's a lot that kind of got covered which we won't go into the weeds here But there was it was clear there was a lot of interest in moving forward with something and a lot of really great ideas Coming to the table Some of it was messy, but also very interesting So I'll I'll leave it there and pass it off to councilmember Newsome to talk about the next two meetings Thank you, Mary Keeley and councilmember Brown and thank you for your work I'm on the committee and in these meetings and also I want to thank the staff for all their work that they did putting these Me going they did a really excellent job the second meeting Focus on the details of a potential measure and this meeting began with the presentation of the results from a public opinion poll Conducted on the public's thoughts on a potential measure and the top line Polling results show that around 63 to 65 percent of community support for a measure and support for a measure that includes funding for affordable workforce housing and funding for Infrastructure and housing that addresses homelessness Participants then broken the groups debated on what the top three priorities for proposed measures should be or what they thought the top three Priorities should be and then reported back to the committee their thoughts and then the third and final meeting focused on a Draft measure this meeting began with the presentation of a potential of a draft measure based on feedback from the first two Community meetings and polling research results and legal review and the meeting also included group work this Group work with those in the groups discussing and then recording specific feedback from community members on changes to draft measures including eligible uses accountability specifying affordability levels clarifying support for types of for types of measures and clarifying preferred amounts for levying attacks in the measure Thank you the I believe that it's fair to characterize the When the last meeting third and last meeting was Was conducted at the end of it or during the meeting actually We we took a quick people poll the folks who were there asking if they felt that they were Ready to coalesce behind something or if they feel that more More consultation with each other more meetings might make sense and so The vast majority folks who were at meeting number three said they would like to have a couple of more Community meetings in so far as they felt that progress was being made communication Lines were opening up But that three meetings was not going to be sufficient time for them to to be able to get to go I Following that meeting it was the judgment of the the city attorney that the city has gone now as far as we can go And as far as we can go was incorporated in your original Direction to us so we have now completed that the number of folks At those meetings and subsequently have indicated that they are desirous of Taking this work product from here and continuing to refine it and see if folks who are in fact interested in this can Coalesce behind something over the course of the next little while so in my judgment the city has provided very sufficient resources to Help focus the conversation to assess whether or not the need is there to engage the community in a thoughtful conversation about Potential measures and as I say you will probably hear from folks today who are you the call in or whatever it may be Who are indicating they would like to take this From here and continue to move forward. So this is the completion of the city's formal activity in this Council members may choose individually to participate in other activities that are not formally part of this to Continue with the community's interest in moving something forward. We would be glad to answer questions if you have them Okay, right and Certainly Was so excited That I did want to say that the Out of these meetings the we have a mailing list of 75 people who showed up and Were interested and so, you know, I think that that that was that was really great to see and so the idea that there are folks From among this 75 and and hopefully more joining will We'll try to move something forward is is worth noting as well and So I'll leave it there. Thank you My let me ask if there's anyone with us today who might wish to comment on this item This would be the opportunity to do so. Good afternoon Afternoon from afar I Would like to sincerely from the bottom of my heart Thank me or purely For his farsighted and healing effort to create a community process am I doing this right now? To discuss our extremely challenging Housing crisis in Santa Cruz. I can't tell you how gratifying it was for me Two weeks ago to find myself in that room the police station with people from all across the political spectrum All eager to talk to each other About crafting a citizens initiative. I think those not there Would have been really surprised to see who was sitting at the tables talking to each other people who don't usually talk to each other and I hope I think they would be pleased to see the mix of people and the animated and friendly conversations that were happening I Recalled that Ryan Coonerty wrote an op-ed piece criticizing recent initiatives in Santa Cruz for not Soliciting community input in the development of our initiatives, and it seemed to me that our mayor Mayor Keeley Was trying to correct that problem by soliciting broad community input into the affordable housing initiative The spirit and hopefulness in the room was so palpable that Mayor Keeley as he said offered to extend the meeting later That night and into two more meetings. I left feeling really good about our city Yesterday I found out that that support is not going to be ongoing as we had expected. I was already for the fourth meeting tomorrow night It seems now that the city cannot or will not I'm not sure Support Mayor Keeley's effort to provide ongoing support to this collaborative process. I'm disappointed, but I fear that something I'm afraid that something Positive is being aborted prematurely My only hope now is what Mayor Keeley and others have suggested is that leaders and supporters among all the groups represented at those first three meetings Including both sides in the recent measure. Oh and empty tax battles will step forward Meet together and at least try to continue the process sparked by Mayor Keeley I'm afraid that without this kind of broad spectrum Participation the kind of carefully crafted and bold initiative that might have won support from a majority of community Just won't happen. We need this to happen. We need this process to happen. Thank you. Thank you Miss Bush, do we have anyone online who is going to be commenting on this? So miss career. Good. Good afternoon. We'll start with someone online after miss career Ah I also was inspired and grateful to see the city and the community coming together and having this discussion About raising money to directly address our housing crisis, which we all know is a crisis And I think everybody in our community can agree that we need housing for low through very through moderate Very low through moderate income earners in order for our city to be diverse and inclusive I Went to the community meeting two weeks ago to understand the discussion and the strategies To build a fund that would would be directed to building housing For those that are priced out of one of the least affordable cities in the country as you know If not, maybe the world I can't remember I Learned that the aim was to raise money through a nominal and probable probably agreeable $95 part parcel tax But a zoom participants query about real estate transfer taxes sparked my interest Sandy explained that the staff had run numbers and how much this one-time tax could bring in could bring in based on a Measure that San Jose voters adopted in 2020 San Jose has a graduated tax in place on only sales that exceed two million dollars She said that based on that model Santa Cruz would take in about ten million dollars a year Which didn't mean anything to me because I didn't know what to expect at all And then we were given a chart that showed how much income would come in from the property tax that we were Hoping to put into place and it said a million and a half and as you who are there. No, I was shocked To hit to see the difference and wondered why we weren't aiming for the ten million dollars because we need it And that would leverage a lot more money So I went home and I started doing research which I love to do and I discovered that The current trend in city fundraising is actually Implementing real estate transfer taxes in I don't know if I said California, but in California and in the past few years 20 said 21 cities have actually adopted various forms of it Kind of geared for their own situation But although everybody I spoke to Wanted to raise the larger amount of money Basically the attitude was that it can't happen here can't happen in Santa Cruz That the Santa Cruz Board of Realtors and the group the powerful group Santa Cruz together We have a time timing. Oh, I didn't know it I'm almost done and I slowed down in speaking because I didn't know we had a time so what I've Envisioned a little bit along Barbara's lines, but more specific as we seek ways to move forward to help our friends neighbors Essential workers and unhoused. It's my deepest hope that representatives of these groups Will join with the other groups to read with all the groups to redirect a tiny portion of our real estate boom By devising a modification of what other other cities are doing So that our fund for low-income housing can see greater far greater returns than it would through a parcel tax And that could be you know less than ten, you know could be five million, but it would be a boon Can we work together to arrive at a compromise to support those who work to support our city? Let's make history and show that we can and I just wanted people to mull that over in our community Thank You miss career. Thank you very much Miss push will take the first person online now Yeah, thank you. Good afternoon Hey the creating the bond meeting process so far was mostly a very strange Actually backwards workshop version of what's known as the Delify technique in the reverse of that method the wrong people run The meeting who talked selectively the wrong people asked only their questions and the public It's little time to speak or currently consider was supposed to be a public initiative It's very rushed including little time to consider a nine-page very vague Lawyered up and very fine print initiative that the government gave us after quiet consideration at home My opinion of the city's draft is that it is a well-concealed blank check and no more It's a forever permanently yearly increasing parcel tax capable of generating huge unknown debt obligations for very vaguely described Uses allowing even undefined ones also shocking as it allows the council to change mostly all of it It will later there was no actual voting of the people taken the operative phrases of the fund uses are in accordance with including But not limited to which means maybe this or maybe that or maybe something else undefined Whatever the city wants and ends on the date of a repealing initiative meeting it normally with taxing the increasing amounts forever and Can encumber unrevocable large debts at unknown interest rates All of the uses need better definition by the people as this is a special purpose public initiative act And not just a huge list of vague sales job trojan horse shiny objects, which may or may not get funded It also allows the funds to sponsor further initiatives and not to produce any results just ever hire taxes That 98% of the people will pay to no self-benefit and Regressively the poor will also pay in higher rents due to higher parcel taxes It may very well hurt vastly more people than help those that it is supposed to and the workforce Housing is a sham cover concept because there's no way to prevent for instance foreign or out of state or out of county Students or the better off from being subsidized the what where when and how much for every use is way too big I'm personally not interested in subsidizing indoctrinated Trench and students getting degrees and Marxist sociology Where the minor and man hate feminism going back to the rich daddy suburbs elsewhere to format insurrection Maybe the people need their own lawyer in this one as to the homeless part You haven't anywhere near finished job number one of first finding a fiscally efficient economically sustainable basis of preventing huge unsanctioned encampments, which is Really the only thing everybody agrees on as your very expensive responses so far are running out of money And I understand it's a problem and we need to work on that focusing on that modest Objective that everybody agrees on before asking for an extra endless supply of wealth or money to do the impossible for a city and homelessness in our time The Fed at Staten County are taking this on how can we trust that you will succeed when they have not Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Philip. Thank you for attending the meetings Anyone else with us today wish to come in? Anyone else online? We'll go to the next person online Good afternoon. Good afternoon. This is Jim Weller. Am I being heard? Good afternoon Jim Weller here. Am I being heard? Yes, you are Jim Okay, good, I'm remote and I couldn't tell I too would like to very much thank and appreciate the the initiative of the mayor and the city council members budget committee To facilitate the process that has begun I'm Very favorable towards continuing the process Obviously, we all agree that we need much more funding to support affordable housing and Although the process to date has been Messy one might say and Confusing to some I for one am ready to step up and take part in In a community-based group that carries the process forward and I still think that it's very much worth the effort. I agree with Ms. Carrillo that a Documentary transfer tax increase Could be Extremely useful new source of revenue and Clearly, I've done the analysis myself clearly it would produce something on the order of ten million dollars a year If we charge one percent of the value of each transaction however I'm very concerned about the political prospect of Trying to move forward with that proposal with a documentary transfer tax proposal Because indeed as as Ms. Carrillo said it would attract Fierce opposition from the real estate sector, which would no doubt be extremely well-funded and I'm afraid that if we were to Switch to a proposal along those lines. It would derail the progress. We've already made Port of successful parcel tax So I'd like the documentary transfer tax proposal I'd like to go forward with it in a measured and deliberate way but not now I want to go forward with the the developing parcel tax proposal and Get it done in the way that It has begun So that's all I have to say. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Weller. Ms. Bush anyone else online? That was okay. Tell me when you're ready. Good afternoon Good afternoon, and this is Jane Barr with Eden housing. Thank you for dealing with this issue today I was pleased to attend two of the three meetings. I I'm very proud of the city of Santa Cruz for the work they're doing in housing currently and Look at this as another step forward to serve their population There's possibly going to be a bond at the state level for funding for affordable housing That's great. It may or may not pass But it will still require local gap financing from cities And I look at this bond is as being able to fulfill that and allow the city to move forward with its allocation on the regional housing needs assessment as Outlined in the state and by and big I think it's critical that this move forward and We are totally in support of the city and appreciate the work that the city has been doing and hopefully that the residents of Santa Cruz We'll take up from here on. Thank you Thank you, Ms. Barr Do we have anyone else miss bush? We do tell me when you're ready Thank you. Good afternoon Good afternoon, mr. Mayor and council members. Thank you for taking up this important issue I am very appreciative of the work that you've done up to this point the public opinion poll showed a real appetite on the part of City residents and voters about making something happen the draft work and the overall heavy lifting that your city staff including city attorney and Economic development director was really kind of heroic on short notice So I'm just appreciative of the work that you've all put into this so far It's clear that conversations need to continue You know housing is hard, but we appreciate that you have a good faith Determination to do the best you can and I just want you to know that we are here with you as these important conversations Continue and hopefully we can make progress. I will end with this Housing is hard. I don't have to tell you that Even if a bond passed and raised between two and three million dollars a year That will not solve all of the problems So kind of an all-hands-on-deck all tools in the toolbox Approach is going to be required But this is one important element that can be achieved and I look forward to participating in that process. Thank you Thank you, mr. Golden Grants. Thank you for your participation in the meeting so far. Miss Bush anyone else Okay, the If I could conclude with these comments One I want to take a moment to spend some time on on what the staff did on this Within the bounds of what the law allows the staff was enormously helpful. I'll start with the city manager's office Thank you for the work you did to find a vendor and Structure a public opinion research document that provided very good information for the public the council and others to use your Office was the pointy end of the spear and getting that work done. We're very very much appreciated City Attorney, thank you very much for your repeated drafting efforts as this was moving along Miss Lipscomb and your team. Thank you for the data and information that helped everyone Irrespective of what your information level was everyone got educated and smartened up through that three week process And you were a key to that other members of the city manager's staff Both communications and your deputies were enormously helpful as was Mr. Butler and other city staff who assisted the public in their work during these meetings the there is I will say a a A Strong interest in the community. I suspect council members Newsome and brown have received the kind of feedback I've received in the last week or so, which is We community would like to continue these conversations and we'll take the handoff from here But encouraging us to be involved with them as we we move along in our individual capacities in life So thank you all very very much for this. I think it's a good start I see that mr. Lane and Ms. Johnson have shown up I'm going to go a little bit out of order if you have comments on this item, please feel free We're just wrapping it up right now. So yes, there you go Okay, make a fast run to the dias there Mr. Former mayor sir. Thank you so much for giving me a chance I just rushed down here as soon as I knew that was time, but I didn't get here quick enough Don Lane and I'm part of several affordable housing organizations, but I'm not speaking on behalf of any of those But speaking personally, I've been very involved as many of you know in of trying to find affordable housing Funding solutions for this community for many years and I just want to express my appreciation to the council That you are carrying that forward creating a new opportunity to pursue that and As a just as an individual and as a member of some organizations I will be one of those who will take the handoff With the opportunity you've created and try to move something forward in this community. So it's so important people who are without Affordable housing right now are counting on not just you but all of us in the community to take some serious steps on this We're really Constantly losing people in this community who cannot afford to live here anymore. We need them all here So I just appreciate the work you've done to set this up and I want to keep working with you It makes up happen. Thanks. Thank you, sir This Johnson good afternoon All right. Good afternoon. I'm glad I made it on time. Yeah, but well, thank you for the opportunity to be here I just wanted to take a few minutes to acknowledge you Mayor Keely the city staff and everyone who has put their time and effort into We're putting this bond together. It speaks volumes the invitation to the community to be of support to have a voice and Putting this bond together. I think it speaks volumes of how we want to continue to have the community to grow So I want to commend you and the city staff and the council for Taking that leap because it's a big leap and it was a great leap because I I attended all three of those meetings and I was very pleased with how the community got to come together and to be a voice and To what we put together versus something being told to them So I commend you for that and I too stand here before you affordable housing is so critical in this community And whatever we can do to continue to move this forward You have my support Miss Johnson, thank you so much. Thank you for your good work overall every day on this topic very much You're so very welcome Thank you the Thank you for that miss Brown. I I don't want to prolong this Any longer, but I did want to just I Realized that there were some things that I wanted to say about the interactive map. I was so excited. I just said oh great You know, I'm look at it. Everyone look at it. See what I see So I just I did want to say because it's kind of in response to this question about revenue measure that could bring in more than a parcel tax Which I also support and I'm not going to talk about that here But what I did want to say is that if you go and look at that map or just think about affordable housing that gets built in our community It really illustrates the need for a local revenue source and we have and one of the things that really was emphasized and I know this but it just hit home really clearly at our third meeting that This is really like You know having a small amount of money even if it's it's not enough to do near what we want to see happen It is the critical Money to fill gaps when affordable housing projects are have almost all the funding they need but maybe Need like a little bit more to get it over the finish line So these while a small amount of funding very critical for the city's efforts And I myself have seen in my time on the council projects that have actually come to fruition because we had small Amount of money in our affordable housing trust fund. So I'm all for any and all resources that we can get towards this this need and Want to have the conversation with the community as we move forward Thanks for letting me jump it again. Thank you very much any other comments Please miss Brunner. Thank you. Thank you for that presentation and for the information and the detailed updates As you know to avoid any violation of Brown Act all of us were not involved in in those meetings, but I did pop in for 15 minutes on one of the meetings and Saw a pretty full room, which was encouraging. I I do Want to just quickly ask if the city manager's office and specifically Communications it might be helpful and maybe it's already being thought of and done to have some kind of Conclusion statement to the process thus far for the public. I think there's still Uncertainty and and questions about What the city is doing and not doing can you or won't you or will you? People are confused and so I've happily met with different people who have asked about the process who don't quite understand the legal limitations and I think it's it would be helpful if there was kind of a summary that we could put out for the public to Say hey, this is what we did. This is where we are at and now the community is taking this further and Just kind of some wrap-up right fair enough. Thank you. Be glad to work with the city manager in that regard. Thank you for the questions comments observations very last comment is There's been references made to it's messy. I'm happy. It's messy having had the great honor of Serving in the legislature to represent you there. I'll tell you that's 24-7 every day of the week when you make legislation right laws Or temp to it's designed to be messy. It's not supposed to be neat and orderly It's supposed to be messy. There's lots of points of view There's a lot of people walking in all kinds of information misinformation not enough information too much information All kinds of things points of view lived experience all sorts of things so you put everybody together Shouldn't surprise anybody. It's gonna be a little messy and it might take longer than three public meetings to get to go So be glad to get that piece of information out those of us who've been part of this Want to continue on I certainly do appreciate Mayor Lane and and Andrew Golden Kranz and others who are working began working the next day Among themselves reaching out to the people who were in these community meetings and They are picking up the ball. I'm going to be moving forward. So Here's for striking a blow for messiness I think it's a good idea to be messy because that's how you end up with good product As things get messy to start with and then they get a little more organized as you move through time But thank you to everyone who's been involved in that We are now on item 7 This is a council meeting calendar Miss Bush any items here that we should bring to our attention particularly no no item, okay? alright We are on the consent agenda for those of you unfamiliar with the consent agenda how it works There's a whole group of items items 8 through 23 We will be taking those up on one motion which would approve them all If you have a question or a comment or want the item pulled for more discussion, we can do that I will start with Council members and see if they have an item upon which they'd like to make comment or have an item pulled Way through here working our way through here. Looks like we're good there Let me give the opportunity to the public There is any item that you wish to comment on this would be the time to do so or an item pulled for further consideration You see seen and hearing none. Do we have someone online? Let's go to that person. Good afternoon Yeah, hi, this is Garrett again as to item 14 I would re-iterate that when a judge says you're wrong It means you are wrong for as long as natural gas ban judgments vacate similar ordinances that you continue To plot and end around is disturbing as our statements that the judge's ruling doesn't apply here Which is I guess technically true But it does apply from a potential liability perspective or it would not necessitate this item I don't know. I guess I'll mention it again It's not that important, but I noticed in the item 20 summary you claim to provide for service tax Which I now see are called a virtual Extra curbside service coupons, which are not so virtual going through a phone number or email and refer to pickups of a bag of trash We're up to poor bulky items I'm just saying again This is still an expensive change you made delivering far less service than what we had before We can take four small pick-up loads at greenways or both the items of one pick-up load a trash to the dump ourselves At no cost to transport savings to the city You know and also a savings to ourselves Whatever as to charges for food scrap recycling I still would like the idea that a citizen could opt out of that for a small discount and give their cans back If they come compost all their food scraps in the backyard I Would point out this I guess I'm taking liberties there But I would point out virtually every meeting now has fee increases on it as the city is obsessed with increasing revenue Growing the government in size and expense bigger government smaller citizens instead of also showing us you can also cut costs Maybe you should change the name of the ad hoc budget and revenue subcommittee to the ad hoc budget revenue and expense reduction Subcommittee, they couldn't hurt and might give you some ideas. What you should be doing a name one thing about any item today That cuts expense. I would guess that you cannot and I wonder if the million dollars or so getting the first electric garbage truck Going had anything to do with exploding costs and future cost projections So anyone else online miss bush any further comments on consent Miss Brown, I actually do have a quick question on item 18 if I could yeah Yeah, sorry, I didn't Sooner so I just wanted to ask public works think first. Thank you I know the neighbors are excited about this project happening And we did hear from some folks who were you know saying yes Thank you. We're looking forward to seeing this moving forward, but also we're wondering about The potential to meet it sounded like there were in the past there have been meetings with neighbors in the neary area When this occurs Is that going to happen their way to communicate with the neighbors and other interested parties before the work is done? I can reach out to staff to find out what previous communications have happened with the public and see if we can Replicate that would be great. Thank you For the questions or comments on the consent agenda a motion to approve the consent agenda submitted would be in order There's a motion is there a second second by the vice mayor Debater discussion seen and hearing none the clerk all the roll Councilmember Newsom I Brown I what can I? Brunner Hi vice mayor Golder. Hi and mayor Culey. Hi motion passes and so ordered We are on items 24 and 25 which is the consent public hearing items We will take up items 24 and 25 on the agenda Are there council members who wish to comment? On this item Councilmember Brunner you are recognized I'm wondering if we can separate them out since I've recused myself from item 24 Separate the mount in terms of a motion any item that can be divided shall be divided if requested is I believe the rule on that See us we can okay for the questions comments on the Consent agenda public hearing We're now going to go to the public for any comment on items on item 24 This is the downtown association parking and business improvement area assessments for fiscal year 2024 Is there anyone online who wishes to make comment? Not for 24. No, not for item 24 The correct action here would be for a motion to confirm the resolution By mr. Newsom seconded by miss Brown debate or discussion seen and hearing none the clerk will call the roll Councilmember Newsom aye Brown aye Watkins aye Brunner Oh, she recudes herself by smear golder and Mary Culey passes and so ordered item 25 an expansion technology surcharge Let me ask if there are questions comments by council members Is there anyone on line miss Bush? Let's go to that person first Good afternoon There's four agenda items with the specific intent of jacking the public's wallets on this agenda One wonders if there'll be five next meeting Does anyone know what the city record is for the most single agenda items jacking the public's wallet? I understand sometimes in business there is internal accounting used to allocate actual costs of common core business functions Like it according to separate department actual usages during the year to determine the separate p&l's for the departments This is a little different and that you guess actual usage rates of this software for departments that charge bees Bees somehow you 100 of sign as outside the department's function as a general service we pay for with taxes But you instead assigned to be paid for by permit any permit will do some new departments You propose adding these IT surge charges for are a stretch to simple minds like mine that they can actually use land management Software nobody should actually pay $300,000 for software licenses if the software wasn't worth it I worth it I that normally means that there's such a huge cost savings Which you don't quantify but admit there are considerable cost savings It should offset a portion of the cost of the software Well, 100% of it was worth it. Anyway, that's just neither needing Fewer employees from greater productivity We're offering new previously unavailable services that would generate higher revenue from more new user fees Somehow all of this is totally discounted the entire cost is simply assigned to existing permits as if nothing about permits Benefits the public as a whole such as green building fees We are asked to take your word for it that all these departments like accounting fire parts Public works will actually need and be using land management software Well inspection and code compliance caught my eye and you are correct finds there are to enforce compliance But similar to police infractions nobody expects income from infractions to pay for police and Suppose nobody's ever fine General funds pay for the existence because their existence is for everyone's benefit It is likely you are buying sufficient software licenses for a priority peak command And there could be times when nobody else is using it that other, you know lower priority apartments could use it Essentially for free. It's a stretch for the public to believe all permits need land management software Here's a well, I guess I'll just end it there. Thanks Thank you, sir Anyone else online miss Bush? Anyone who wishes comment on this item matters back before the council Motion is there a motion? Yep. I'll move the item Motion is to approve staff recommendation as presented. There's a motion by Miss Watkins a second by miss Brown debate or discussions in hearing none clerk will call the roll member newson I brown. I I runner I Calentary Johnson vice mayor Golder and Mariculier I motion carries and so ordered. We're on item 26 This is a tree appeal at 233 Union Street We will Proceed through this as follows. We will receive a presentation From miss Keady our urban forester and then we will Provide opportunities for appellants and respondents We will start with miss Keady. Good afternoon Good afternoon miss Keady. Good afternoon. Thank you Leslie Keady urban forester with the city Okay, a bit of background well the recommendation would be is that the city council uphold the parks and recreation Decision to uphold the tree removal and deny the appeal on January 11th of 2023 the applicant dorth raffelli Submitted an application requesting removal of two heritage-sized coast redwoods at 233 Union on February 13th at least Casby and Marvin Lewis filed an appeal of that decision We had a parks and rec commission meeting on the 8th of May and The commission voted to deny the appeal and support the staff recommendation to remove the two trees In addition to my opinion supporting removal of the two trees the applicant has Obtained some additional information in your packet, which is a review from a structural engineer confirming that there is damage to the structural integrity of the building and then To support my arborist opinion there are also two additional arborist opinions that have been Provided in your packet to state that We all as certified arborist believe that there are no valid mitigation measures such as root pruning to protect the structure Since this item was going a bit quicker than we anticipated I don't know if the Applicant is here yet, but I do know that the appellant is here But I'll go ahead and do a PowerPoint for you folks and Let me ask this to we have contact information for for that person who's not here I texted them and told them so it was the realtor is the agent and then the property owner Initially the estimate was at 220 that this would be heard that so you were going a little bit quicker And I don't see them in the Don't look at that clock. It's an hour ahead Okay, he says that he I'm sorry to interrupt just got a text back. He says he's on his way. He'll be here by 2 Let's Press I want to get some advice here. I want to make sure we're doing this, right Would it be better to hold on this for a few minutes or or proceed? I don't want to disadvantage anyone in this process My recommendation would be to take a 10-minute Let's let's do that. We'll just take a few minutes I'm sure would appreciate that and it's all it gives me a chance to regroup to because you folks were going really much quicker than I Anticipated sure, so we will stand in recess until what alleges to be two o'clock Good afternoon Council is back in session after a recess We are on item 26. This is a tree appeal for 233 Union Street We had just begun the staff presentation and we wanted to We recess so that we could have an opportunity or actually all the parties to this You could have an opportunity to get here into council chambers. So Miss Keedy, please continue with your presentation. Thank you Leslie Keedy urban forester. Thank you for accommodating the applicant This is my staff presentation Thank you. That was easy. Okay. This is 233 Union Street appeal of the Parks and Recreation Commission approval of application 23005 to approve to coast redwood trees This would be the first tree that is facing the home located on the west side of the building Staff finding for tree number one the redwood tree is healthy vigorous and of normal size and color The trunk is sound and solid. There are no insects or disease present Continued staff findings number one the tree is causing damage to drain it and drainage problems and flooding of the basement There are roots that are underneath the structure of the home a Biobarrier, which is a root barrier containment Product was installed in the past in an effort to retain the tree and the barrier has been breached and roots are Continuing to damage the home This was prior to the applicant Taking the paving stones or the bricks up so I could actually view the root barrier to see if roots had breached that root barrier and To determine if there were roots that likely were causing damage and flooding in the basement area This is the flooding that was coming into the structure During the winter rains in the basement area for the tree on the west side of the building This is the biobarrier product that was installed and you can see that roots are either going under or through that root Containment device that was installed in the past This would be the tree that is on the east side of the building. This is tree number two Tree number two findings redwood tree is healthy vigorous end of normal size and color the trunk is sound and solid It is co-dominant which means it develops from one brute mass But into two different trunks at approximately 10 feet above grade And when the tree is splitting or divided into two trunks above grade It's considered to be one tree by standard industry definition and there are no insects or disease present on this tree Staff findings continued on tree number two. The tree is in contact with the house The tree has eliminated access to the utility closet and the door cannot be opened all the way for necessary access The tree is in contact with the gas supply line for the home and could represent a hazard The tree has impacted the site drainage system for the home The tree has cracked the interior sheet rock, which has also been repaired at this time And the tree is putting pressure on the exterior siding of the home as the tree is in contact This is the tree in contact with the building This is a closer Image of the tree in contact the first arrow on the top of the screen represents the Contact with the gas supply line for the home The arrow in the middle of the image is showing the pressure that the tree is putting on the siding of the building and The image of the lower arrow is pointing at a clean-out, which is for the drainage system to Convey water around the property and the tree is impacting the drainage system for that structure This is the utility closet That's the max of how that opens and the utility closet is something that hypothetically should be accessible It has I believe the water heater and some other essential infrastructure items for the home Staff findings for both trees number one and two. There are no reasonable mitigation options to save these two trees Mitigation has been attempted in the past on the first tree with a root containment barrier system and That has failed the trees are too close to the home a root pruning without Destabilizing the tree is not possible When you look at ISA or International Society of Arboriculture Findings you look at the diameter of the tree and ideally you want to root prune five times the diameter away from the tree or Three times at a minimum upon arborist approval These trees are virtually in contact with the home the tree on the east more so than the tree on the west But there's no way to root prune to save the structure without taking all the roots off and causing possibly the trees to be destabilized or Removing so much roots that I mean destabilizing obviously is the primary concern But when you're root pruning that close to the trunk it also has adverse health consequences to the tree And then also trees are relatively young in their age in the scheme of redwoods redwoods are very old living trees that might live 2,000 years in nature and They can grow anywhere between you know four feet in diameter and limited urban conditions up to 20 feet in diameter And so really these trees are already causing damage to the structure There's really nowhere for them to continue to increase in diameter and girth So they'll continue to cause damage Structural damage as they increase in diameter Recommendation That the city council uphold the parks and rec commission decision to approve heritage tree permit removal Application 23005 to remove the two coast redwoods as required by the city council resolution And this is the municipal code Resolution as I as staff do my job So in this case these are the findings and in this case Both heritage trees have or are likely to have an adverse effect upon the structural integrity of the building and the utility and Not in this case is there a sidewalk or public or private right of way damaged But there is a private walkway that has been disrupted for the public right away but the real issue here is structural integrity of the building and in your information you'll have report from a structural engineer and Structural integrity is really and I'm not an engineer. I'm an arborist, but Anything that is a structural member of the house would be something that supports the tree or the root supports the home such as roof eaves or joys or the foundation So there's structural opinion from an engineer in your packet as well as two additional Arborist opinions to support the staff recommendation as a certified arborist. Thank you. Thank you, miss Keely This is now the opportunity for Elise Caspi to present Your appeal Good afternoon. Good afternoon, Mayor Keely. I just want to say my co-appellant is Marv Lewis He's going to present first. We're going to share the time and He'll take it away now. If that's okay, my understanding is we have 15 minutes for our presentation. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you Good afternoon So I'm looking to see a PowerPoint on my behalf Thank you, and then we're gonna begin 15 minutes excellent Is there any way I can see it countdown taking place in the side? I'll keep you posted I would like I would like the courtesy if I'd be able to see it so possible since we are granting Mr. Alvarez for his late appearance. I would like also a courtesy in terms of simple request Please show me my time Let's do it on the screen I'm looking for that timer I mean I that is so small Look Excuse me, sir, I'm gonna give you 15 minutes. We're gonna set a timer I'll keep you posted on how you're doing on time You ready to go outstanding. I'm ready to go. Thank you. Mr. Keely. All right, then good afternoon members of the city council Please excuse the Slightly rough departure as we head into this All right I am here today to address the council Regarding the matter of the two coast redwood trees at 233 Union Street Those trees are in the image. They're the two centermost trees to the left of the larger tree a Mother and her two children may be one way to consider the image now I would like to express my deep concern about the staff report Recommending the removal of these trees and I believe it is essential To discuss the potential implications of this decision The heritage tree ordinance holds a significant place in our community Reflecting our commitment to preserving exceptional trees. It is a specific legislation designed to safeguard trees of exceptional value These trees such as the majestic coast redwoods contribute not only to the beauty of our surroundings But also to the overall well-being of our environment Now we the appellants Strongly disagree with the staff report Recommending the denial of the appeal and the removal of the two coast redwood trees at 233 Union Street We firmly believe that the decision fails to adequately Consider the provisions of the heritage tree ordinance The importance of due process and the insights provided by mr. George Berkeley the previous homeowner The heritage tree ordinance outlines the criteria and standards for tree removal permits However, it is crucial to note that the ordinance requires the applicant to establish one or more of the specified findings The staff report does not sufficiently address Whether the applicant has met these requirements the findings asked to be made under the heritage tree ordinance Include adverse effects on the structural integrity of a building health issues of the trees or the inability to accommodate existing heritage trees due to construction projects the report Merely states that the heritage trees are causing damage to the foundation of the house without thoroughly examining Alternative options for mitigation Furthermore the report dismisses the appellants contention that mitigation is possible and necessary to Prevent further damage to the building Elise Caspi the appellant expresses a strong Belief in the value of these two heritage redwood trees to the wildlife the neighborhood and the historical Significance of the area her argument deserves careful attempt Consideration it is essential to remember that the removal of these trees would have a Significant impact on the natural beauty and ecological health of the area Additionally the report fails to address the issue of due process Adequately in effect miss Casby the appellant raised a specific provision of the heritage tree ordinance 9.56 According to the section the director of parks and recreation has the authority to determine mitigation requirements for approved and unapproved alterations damage or removal of heritage tree or heritage shrubs Section 9.5 607 a Outlines the requirement for the director of parks and recreation to consider alternative options for mitigating tree related issues before approving a removal permit This provision Emphasizes the importance of exploring alternative solutions that may help preserve trees and address concerns Rather than resorting to a true tree removal as the primary course of action Miss Casby cited this provision to argue that there are feasible Alternatives to tree removal such as implementing a specialized drainage system as suggested by mr. George Berkeley The previous homeowner with substantive engineering expertise However in the staff report the director's denial of the appeal and the recommended tree removal Did not thoroughly address a leases contention or provide evidence that alternative options were adequately considered The report merely stated that the trees were causing damage to the foundation Without exploring the potential effectiveness of the proposed drainage system or other mitigation measures Furthermore is crucial to address an additional concern raised regarding due process The appellants were not allowed on the property with a structural engineer to assess the alleged damage to the building denying them access to the property prevents them from fully examining the situation and Providing evidence contrary to the staff's claims this this denial of access raises concerns about the fairness and transparency of the decision-making process as It relies on providing an even playing field where all stakeholders can prevent present their evidence and perspectives by addressing this issue we can uphold the Principles of fairness and sure that the decision regarding the removal of the coast redwood trees at 233 Union Street is based on comprehensive and equitable Evaluation Moreover, it is important to consider the insights provided by mr. George Berkeley the previous homeowner who installed The specialized drainage system to the property to address the concerns raised by the tree roots the system has effectively Mitigated the impact of the tree roots on the building and the surrounding area His expertise as an engineer and the success of this drainage system should be taken into account when evaluating the need for tree removal In examining mr. Berkeley's detailed testimony We gained valuable insights into the true cost of the structural integrity issues at 233 Union Street according to his comprehensive account the structural issues Noted are not caused by the redwood trees, but by a failure to maintain the drainage system now Well further note just for the point of just moving along here that The structural engineer suggests specifically that there are mitigation opportunities here such as Just making changes to the basement etc to accommodate those trees So this is not a situation where you're being presented with a no options. We have to cut down those trees those trees can be Situated in such a way relative appropriate mitigation that allows for them not only to continue where they are but to provide an avenue for an enhanced Commercial opportunities within that neighborhood and I will conclude there and allow my Co-compellent here to stand up and further address you Use your time how you wish Let's say use your time how you wish My name is Elise Kazby and you all know me as an activist And I hope that we can start fresh on this issue because I know that sometimes I express views that Are pretty strident and so I'm hoping we can kind of start with a clean slate here and thank you all so much I also want to say thank you to Bonnie and Rosemary Bosley who really helped me and Julia I'm new to this process and they were really really helpful So I just also want to say I submitted a lot of materials to the agenda packet I hope you all have had a chance to read through those because I'm not going to focus as much on those technical aspects I think Marv just covered the legal justifications I Respect miss Keith miss Keedy. I must say Leslie Keedy not Keely Keedy Greatly for her Expertise she's just been a long time urban forester here Really nice person took us on to the property the first day just total professional and I just want to say that because Nevertheless, I I disagree to a large extent with some of her opinion and I want I cannot over stress I cannot say how difficult it was for us to find a structural engineer We had to go through friends connections and when we were very fortunate and lucky to find somebody who was willing to do it We Applied for access to the property and we were denied I just want to emphasize that mayor Keely and vice mayor Golder because There were a number of things that came up through the appeal process that really shows some Faults or maybe habits people have gotten into like not posting the tree appeals I just want to say also Many of us are seeing Logging trucks every time we cross mission sleep street. I cross mission street to come down here I'm downtown a lot. I live up on story. I take the walking path and we see fresh cut red Redwood trees all the time. They're not necessarily coming from downtown obviously, but Seven or something like seven trees were cut recently at galt elementary school They were not noticed by the city. So this is a standard practice. The city is not noticing the trees ours were noticed and we that's how we found out they were Potentially going to be removed, but I just want to say Our appeal was not noticed properly and so Marv went into Tremaine Tremaine head in Jones and told him that and more or less held the city accountable and that resulted in a bunch of Difficulty to inconvenience to set up a meeting to have our appeal heard So I just want to say I'm told by many activists this kind of thing is going on all the time Trees are just cut notices are not put up for appeal hearings So it we found that we were constantly working against the process like wanting to work with it But having difficulty And the biggest one is not being able to get a structural engineer on the property Having said that I want to spend the bulk of the rest of my time just saying I walk through this neighborhood all the time I live up on story, which is just on the west side near the intersection of route one and mission And I take Green Street. I take the very Wide ramp that goes up. I don't know if you all know recon park is behind here This is such a jewel of a neighborhood and the materials I've given you is to try to say these trees are artifacts. Um, they're so beautiful. They're so Large they are large and they're impacting the house. I believe they are in the downtown historic district I really tried yesterday to find a precise map It almost certainly they are but I couldn't quite find a good map. I did give you a map in there. It's from 1959 but the house is definitely listed on Our city website actually it's on the historic wet register there, so I'm just gonna call it that I Just want to say I think that we are right here in the city hall You can see those trees that picture is taken from right out there It's a gorgeous neighborhood. It has immense historic value There are walking paths Green Street the ramp. I just mentioned that takes you up to upper locust There's a steep Stairway behind the town clock that takes you right to Santa Cruz mission historic park We've got the post office, which is historic and has that incredible meet new deal art We are sitting on a gem here and other neighborhoods have been noticed But I don't think this one has and I just want to say that these trees are Immensely important. I don't want to go on and on about climate change But in recent years, I sat in on some classes up at UCSC The impacts that we are going to be experiencing with climate change are scary They're they're very real and they will be happening to our children and their children and trees I've learned as much as they're just just trees really help with Building resilience for climate change. That's all I want to really say on that But what I do want to say is because the site is listed on the historic register because the trees are old They're probably Leslie said between 70 and 80 years old a Doseant who spoke at a previous meeting of the Commission said they might be old growth. I don't I don't Personally know if they're old growth. I Believe that the structural integrity which is a term that I brought out I am the one that really talked about that at these meetings because Structural integrity having at the trees the law that they're citing they need to be Clearly having an adverse effect on the structural integrity of the house. They are not They will in the future and I feel what I'm hoping for is a robust discussion about The trees and their placement in this neighborhood and how we can preserve them And I just want to end by quickly saying one more thing. Sorry about this, but the engineers report for the applicant Gives the recommendation that there are two recommendations. Okay, the second one is prudent protect the existing trees That would require Altering the house now. I believe the realtor wants to cut the trees for a quick sale I've heard that the roots would continue to seek water and structure the foundation Damage the front foundation So I just want to say this properties for sale. We could buy it and The structural engineer who says protect the existing trees. We could alter this house We could purchase it. It could potentially even be a museum It's so close to some of the best shopping on the west coast some of the most interesting and amazing Walking places. It's close to the beach Please consider that we need to more fully discuss not only the value of the trees But the value of the trees and placement with the home and I'll end with one more sentence. We could have a showcase home that Museum or what what you want to call it that shows how houses can be remodeled to provide For growing redwood trees. We're on the alluvial plane next to the cliffs It would be awesome if we could really use this as a geological natural artifact and also a Commercial gem. Thank you so much for listening to this and I deeply appreciate it. Thank you very much This would be the opportunity for Doroth Raffioli to have 15 minutes to speak and provide evidence in support of Your application Good afternoon Good afternoon. I'm Danny Alvarez. I'm the real estate agent and advisor. I'm also a general contractor a Licensed general contractor and this is Sarah Moore and she is part one of the owners Doroth Raffaely is the other owner. He could not attend. He lives in Sebastopol and has the kids today So We I am the realtor who would love a quick sale, but that's not happening these days Because of the market's changing but that said In order for me to sell this property any buyer would be Have to be blind Not to consider what the trees are doing to this house, which is where we started way back in December January when we thought about What are we gonna do to prepare the house for sale? And so we got an inspection report and a pest inspection report and did all the normal things and Then we had all these atmospheric rivers with these the downpour like we haven't seen and The drainage system that she alluded to that we had no knowledge of What it was really all about because Sarah and Doroth bought this property from the bank So there was no disclosures about anything about a system and all of this and that The system is working what the problem was why the water was intruding if you look at the pictures that she showed Was the brick walkway that was put in originally that had a Slope against away from the house was now getting lifted up by this this redwood back into the house we had a Multiple sandbags stacked around this door to prevent that water from coming in and it's still leaked like you saw in that photograph So therein lies the truth of the matter of one side that was an issue so we then Went to and applied to Leslie Keady for the removal because it felt like these two trees the other one is even more Clearly affecting the house. We did hire a structural engineer at great expense to come to the house And do a report that you saw the two options. She gave you is remove the trees or remodel the house now that sounds simple, but to remodel the house for the trees would be a major project including altering the foundations and in in Going inside the house to make room for these trees that are 40 to 60 years old what we heard not 80 to 90 and it doesn't matter that's still infantile in the scope of the redwood tree So Leslie came out she saw it and so when she approved it and She saw the bricks the way they were They went ahead and removed the brick Because the the tree cutter was going to grind the roots down to you have to do that to prevent it from keep growing So we took the bricks out of the way because they have to grind all around it Plus it had lifted up some other wood and so we cleared it all up and that's when we saw The proof in the photograph that you saw the big root going underneath the house That to me and it breached the barrier that was put in With this other gentleman who owned it two owners previous who put the tree guard on Leslie's recommendation That he should do that. God bless him. He tried it didn't work The root you can see clearly in the photograph the root is going underneath the house and the roots about that big So we Moved forward we went to the Commission. I Give credit to the passion that the appellant has for saving trees. I Get it. We are not Anti-tree we are pro our property her property their property and the value of that property And if we are not given the right to do this the value of that property is going to go down because it is now a Real issue that no one is going to really want to take on and That to me Points to the actual damage being caused by these two trees I have a buyer who wants to put an offer in if the trees are removed if they're not she's not interested What does that tell you? So with that said we did after the Commission hearing which went four to three We went hired two more arborist because the argument that she didn't bring up today that she brought in The last time was that it was three trees and the onus for three trees is much more challenging than two trees So we have two other arborists that came in they looked at the trees And you have their reports and they both made a statement to that effect of what's defines a tree The structural engineer was their other argument that what is structural integrity and structural damage? So we did that by hiring a structural engineer to come out and with regards to not allowing Them to see the property it was asked on the last evening prior to the deadline and to It's not her property It's not her house. It's not her tree. It is her house and her tree and She does not have to give her permission To come do anything on her property That's we feel strongly about that That's a right of hers and to ask and like she did she went to file this complaint in the very beginning On the 10th day literally in the 11th hour at 4 30 she filed it She did the same thing trying to get permission to come on the night before And even if she had come to three days earlier, we would have said no There's I asked Leslie do I have to do this do they have to do this and there's no But yes, we told in our email that the city council could go so you could see for yourselves We were clear that you guys had permission to look at these trees I hope you did because if you did see them, I think you would see Clearly these trees are causing damage Inside the house. In fact, I didn't even know this as much until the structural engineer came on the tree As you face it to the left the one that's bulging into the side over the gas line Inside the house you can see the walls getting deflected. It's not straight. It's literally bending Where that tree root is and I hadn't even noticed that before because I never you know Did that look and she did and she's oh, yeah, you can see there's deflection happening right now. It's like So with that I'll let Sarah say just a few words she'd like to Good afternoon. Good afternoon. Thank you so much Yeah, on that note as well with giving them, you know, the appellant's permission to come see the property They had all all blatantly trespassed several times and we're open about it in our first County meeting and They'd seen it plenty without any permission and that was part of my decision, too Anyway, I'm just here to say I just want the law upheld That's all I'm asking for We've paid our taxes diligently we've Put so much into this house all new fencing new painting Interior remodel with respect to its age the whole reason I personally wanted this place and Plus years ago was its historic value being from 1849 it's very very old house and very special and I feel like I've brought it back to life and Honestly had no idea about the issues going on underneath the ground until this all happened And we did maintain the drainage At one point it was having issues and we had it cleaned out and our tenants Would have very good relationship with said we will let you know if there's any more issues It was very obvious when there were issues And everything has been working properly that previous owner George Hamilton never heard a higher hair of him in all these years If you put in this elaborate system, it would have been nice to know that I don't know if it would have fixed this problem, but I'm gonna let the neighbors say a couple words. Thank you so much Good afternoon. I've never done this before this is a little nerve-racking. So my name is Rebecca I love trees totally adore trees. I'm a runner and I run up in the Henry Cal all the time I even know some trees like I have personal names for them But I live next door at 235 Union and I would just I love for those two trees to be taken out they We're worried too about the roots and etc. And the And they're a little messy and all that but I mean I love them and I have that huge oak tree on our property It's gonna help the oak tree grow. I mean there's kind of a win there So I just wanted to put in my two cents that I am all for taking those two trees out. I Think that's it Okay, someone be very clear you you now are completed you have ten you have five more minutes But you're going to now seed that are you going to not use that? Is that right? We're not gonna use it. Okay. Thank you Thank you. Make sure we're clear with each other on that Let me Ask council members if they have questions on this Well, let me then seek public comment on this Application anyone with us today who wishes to make comment on this appeal Is there anyone online who wishes? And miss bush is there anyone online Good afternoon Certainly We're getting some rebuttal time five minutes in a few. Okay. Thank you I just want to say that we're counting on mr. Berkeley to speak during that time So is it okay if he also speaks during public comment? Yes Well, what we'd like to do are you the rebuttal is that Okay, well, let me ask that let me ask you what is your intent with the regard to the five minutes that you've got Okay, my understanding was that not right now, but a little later in the appeal We get five minutes to do a rebuttal and I'm hoping that mr. Berkeley will take three of those five minutes at that time And that's what I'm really asking is you can use that five minutes any way you want But if you're gonna going to ask the gentleman if you're going to give him three of your five minutes That's fine with me do it anyway you want, but that'll be when we'll accept your testimony That's not right now. Correct. That's correct. That's a little later And so I think you ask for public comment And so I guess as we're doing a lot of this talk and we're gonna get to you in just a minute So have a seat. We'll be right with you. Okay, but you had asked for public comment And I think he might also want to make comments as a public member of the public and that's also what I'm just asking Let me see if there are anybody else who wants to make public comment on this Good afternoon Good afternoon, Mayor Keely vice mayor golden council and staff Jillian green site and I attended the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting on this but first of all, let me just say that Obviously, this is a Some may see this very clearly some may see this as Need some more thought so I just want to add a few points For you to consider as you weigh this issue First of all, we are Lou. We are losing a lot of heritage trees. The last time numbers were made public It's about 30 heritage trees a month are cut down with permit many Also unknown without permit and there are very few appeals. I have done a just about a handful in my 40 years of trying to save our big trees and we've lost nearly all of them in my neighborhood and I bring that up because I know the issue is focused on structural integrity if the trees are causing a an adverse effect on the structural integrity of a building and that's why Structural engineer is important and the vote I'm glad that the applicant mentioned that because it isn't mentioned in the staff report The vote was initially a tie and then at the subsequent meeting it was four to three But the three who voted to uphold the appeal Didn't see evidence at that time that there was an impact on the structural integrity That's why I think it was a real shame that the appellant was not allowed to bring a structural Engineer on site. I say that with no disrespect to their structural engineer who I don't know But I know with myself when I was up against the seaside company on a tree on Beach Street and Their structural engineer said it was lifting the foundation of the house. So it was out of plum It went to the Planning Commission because it's in the coastal zone I was the appellant and Mark Macetee Miller who's an engineer who was the chair of the Commission He'd gone and put his level on it. He said there's no sign at all Of it lifting the house. So the point there is that it is important to have structural engineers from both Perspectives because it's sort of known that you know, if you're paying the structural engineer, it's very rare That you don't find Reasons but they need to be counterbalanced. I was at the meeting and did not At all hear any crowing about with Chespersed on the property. So I see times running out. I think that the drainage issue is important I think that The comment about the roots touch you the gas line. I'll just wind up with this Talk to Lee broke or he'll tell you about gas lines are very Flexible and that could be accommodated and the comment was that that is of architectural concern Not structural concern. So didn't have time to go through it all. Thank you. I hope you will consider Those points as you deliberate this difficult issue Thank you. Anyone else three minutes. I'm George Berkeley. I'm the previous owner of Could you move the microphone just a little sorry very good. Thank you. I'm George Berkeley I'm previous owner of 233 Union Street. I installed the drainage system That was not maintained The statement that the drainage system was cleaned out once in 13 years is proof that it wasn't maintained The drainage system needs to be cleaned out Every year and there's two components to the drainage system There's a the surface drainage system and then there's the sub-service drainage system that goes to the base of footing to the foundation But if that drainage system had been maintained properly the house would not have been flooded I designed that system to withstand a hundred year of storm and then mice The engineer gave me specifications for a pump and Double that and then I added more to the specification that even though the water though The bricks are being lifted up and going towards the house the drink the subsurface drainage system It was capable of taking all that water away. It's well over designed. The Santa Cruz could Be washed away and that house would still be there if the drainage system had been me maintained properly Let's see what else the other thing is I did not install the root barrier because my to to to prevent it from Hitting the house I installed the root barrier to prevent the roots from going in to the subsurface French drain chamber to the corrugated pipe and clogging up the drainage system and my civil engineer Specified a filter fabric which I installed but and then so there was no requirement that I put up the bio barrier But I added that instead also the picture in the report from the City urban forester says that the root is penetrating The foundation I went and looked at it and the the root that looks like it's penetrating the foundation Just actually goes right up to the barrier and stops you could put put a sheet of paper between It and and the filter fabric that protects the French drain chambers so that it is not penetrating the house Still has some more time so those those are two incorrect facts that I that the the bio barrier was to protect the foundations through this was to protect the drainage system and that the drain and also the building inspector report says that the GFC I that feeds the sump pump is not So the pump is not getting power According to the report the building inspectors report and I Hesitate to see if you pulled off the cover to the sump chamber I Would expect it to be filled with the debris it should have been cleaned out every year And that's why it backed up into the house not because the drainage the training system is not working Thank you, sir anyone else Who is here in chambers which provide Comment speed the opportunity for Ms. Gatsby for you to This would be your opportunity to provide Clear on the public comments she gets to rebuttal do you do we get a rebuttal to her rebuttal no No, then I have a one public comment The system didn't fail to drain that was not the problem with the water getting in the house That that was not the issue the issue was the bricks lifted up by the tree and the water going in his drainage system works great Tree lifted up bricks came in water went into the house That's what happened. It's caspe. This would be your opportunity Thank you. Well The first thing that I want to say is that I took on the appeal. I was I came to see Julia at three o'clock Before three because I know that the city offices sometimes close at three I was over in the parks and recreation office Long before 330. I was gonna file my appeal right away. I've never filed an appeal before I Was asked by Tremaine head and John's if miss Leslie Keady could come and take me on to the property I said sure I want to see it close up. I Will say that I went To the property many times I went with George to look at the drainage system. It's totally clogged up. It has not been maintained So but I am not a lawbreaker. I Do civil disobedience. I was not doing any civil disobedience. I very much wanted to Abate the law and not trespass. I have been canvassing the neighborhood. So I've been walking by on the sidewalk I've been posting I've been looking at the posted notices and taking pictures all around And I wish I had the skills to really share those pictures with you. I have My respect for people who do these presentations has just gone up logarithmically and I really wish that I could have done that Nevertheless, I've provided you with some pictures and it's nearby if we could if we are able to have a more robust Discussion I would love to do that Leslie did come down. I waited until about four o'clock She went and showed me the property. I wanted to file the appeal because I wanted to get it in on time I absolutely did and one of the reasons that I waited on this by the way is because I was hoping that somebody else would do It I don't have I have never done anything like this before But I got it in on time and the same with all the requests. I've made There's things I need to do better and that I've learned from but I just wanted to say that because I kind of am offended that I'm being accused of trespassing when in fact I would have liked to have gone And and looked at some things, but I did not so the other thing I just want to say is Structural integrity is an incredibly important Concept Miss Keady has picked it up from my appeals to the Parks and Recreation Commission Structural integrity of the house is like the foundation The main beams the walls so that if the house sustains things like hurricanes and earthquakes Hopefully it's strong enough that it's not going to fall It's not the furnace closet where the water heater is by the way Leslie and I were both in there You can open the door you can move the gas line the duff That's between the biggest tree on the east side in the house is substantial It hasn't been the duff is what falls from the trees in the dirt I'm just saying that right now in terms of the law that they are citing the applicant this These trees are not having Adverse effect on the structural in integrity now Unfortunately, the law does say the trees Could be removed if they're likely to and that's where the difficulty is Through my work in canvassing on this issue I was able to contact also not just mr. Berkeley who's was a former jet propulsion expert and installed this Incredible drainage system to the tune of a hundred and twenty five thousand dollars because it's on an alluvial plane If we were to preserve these trees that would work in our favor because the drainage system Discourages the trees from going under the house now the tenant who is there something like eight years? Owns a tea shop nearby. He did not want to be named, but I interviewed him He said the trees are not causing any damage to that house the window frames are old They're broken if you look at the investing the report Inspection report It talks about all these things the tea man lived there with his family He said the water was coming under the front door the gasket he called a gasket was not there The trees are not causing the flooding and that is the point of mr. Berkeley's testimony that the trees are not cutting causing the flooding What I'm asking all to do is to think about this spirit of this law This is like the endangered species act. This is like the clean air act California is one of the only states to have this law But as we are in the climate change era We need to really consider Resilience of our communities. I don't want to scare you up, but it's it's real These trees are an incredible cultural artifact Connections to all the mission sites and the historical sites and the house which is a historical historical Regist on this historical registry go with the trees. They deserve more thoughtful consideration Please give us the time to really consider Taking down these trees. They can be preserved. Thank you very much. Thank you very much anyone else Miss Bush anyone online Thank you All right matters back for the council for questions and actions council members have questions or comments Thank you Okay, let me pull up my notes here I have some questions so In reading there were a lot of documents to read through thank you to everyone who submitted documents and information it was actually quite interesting to read through and understand Here and I think those structural engineers report was exactly what I was Thinking before I dove into the information Remove the trees or remove the the building and that was the result of that structural engineers report essentially There is I'm not a structural engineer so I can only go by the professional Certified reports of the arborists the three different arborists and the structural engineer And the information they're providing There were several statements about The trees do not have impact on the structural integrity From the appellant and the co-appellant the previous owner But there's Report that says it does so I I'm not one to decide What's accurate other than a statement versus a professional opinion and report So I have to go by the data. So I'm just my question is Is This on the appellants, I'm trying I fully agree with our trees and preserving trees. Thank you for You know taking this on and you you mentioned the first time And So my question is I didn't really feel a sense of Data other than opinion and statement on the appellant side to support that the tree was not having structural integrity on the building and So I just want to make sure that There is no no further data that you want to call out that on that other than a statement. I Guess that's my question I'm trying to understand where that data is. I just want to say that if you look at the property if You are on the property if you really look at the property and then the pictures if You talk to the former tenant. He just moved out at the end of February and unless it was the end of January He's very clear that there that there was no flooding in the house until this winter and where it came through I would just say also to bring up the point quickly and then I'll defer to him we we went to some trouble to try to Retain the services of a structural engineer and we were gonna have to do a pro bono a friend of ours Who's been at these hearings knew I was looking and she Was having a conversation with the woman who said Shelley. I am a structural engineer And so that's why we tried to gain access to the property and admittedly it was late in the process But I'm what I'm trying to call into question here in the spirit of the heritage tree ordinance is You know private property is fair It there's boundaries and rights that need to be upheld out of respect for the property and the owner and liability and everything else These this heritage react. I think really requires for it to really have any kind of Effect we need to have reasonable accommodation. I went on the property with Leslie Keattie the urban forester I did not go on the property when George and I looked at the pump. We were outside He took me to the back alley angle alley, which is right over there So I'm gonna defer tomorrow Do you get the answer to your question? Unless you have you can call out supporting data that shows that there is not Yeah, I have to the structural integrity of the building. Yeah, I'll be I'll be very very brief here You know, I agree with you and you're absolutely right They have a structural engineer and there's a professional position on behalf of both the city and the owners We do not have that we have what we do have is the experience of the owner and we have hearsay from the previous tenant now That's an issue, but it says well an issue because it illustrates on an even playing field between people that have a vested interest in living in this community between business owners that surround it the one to experience the opportunity of these trees and the tourists they bring in etc and The owners that are able by nature of the ordinance to essentially Emphasize their position to the disadvantage of people that are the appellants in this case. Thank you. Thank you I have another question And we don't have the structural engineer here to answer any of those further questions, but The claim of the drainage system working great Which was stated by the the realtor and not working great as stated by the former owner and appellant and so again The current owner and the current Realtor if if you could come forward and just Or you're the previous owner I'm the previous owner. I'm the one who stated the drainage systems pump this failure so we do excuse me So I'm hold on just second now. Thank you So the council I just want to ask a question to a specific person. I just want to understand if The drainage not working or working has a direct correlation on The structural impact the impact of the structural integrity of the building So I'll repeat at the time the water was entering the house The drainage system was not clogged. It was working That wasn't backing up out of the drainage system the water that got in the house was because The amount of rain as Sarah Previously had mentioned they had serviced it once in the 13 years. They owned it how and And it worked it never clogged up But the trees had lifted up the brick as the photo showed you and the Amount of rain we were getting which everybody remembers was heavy heavy this December January Was coming towards the house because of the tree roots that had lifted up the bricks Which Leslie showed you in their photograph of before we removed the bricks So this drainage issue is like look over here. This is not the problem the drain is they want to say It's all because of the drainage. It's forget the drainage the bricks got lifted by the tree Tree has a big root. There's a photograph when we pulled the bricks up. Voila big root going right into the under the house photograph You all could have gone by I wished you had because you if you had seen for yourself You would could see very clearly Great, okay, anyway, so the drainage system is Is I don't know why they keep bringing it up like that's the issue. It's not the issue and it has I just want to know Professionally if there's data to support that has no correlation to this Tree and the tree roots and not servicing it If there's a In a professional Well, there's no reason to address the drainage system because no one ever said we're having a problem with the drainage system They want to say we did but there wasn't in our opinion. There was no issue the drainage worked The problem was the bricks had got lifted The amount of rain it this is the first time it's leaked since they owned it Except for the first year they bought it 13 years ago it leaked and the tenant will testify to that whatever But since then and this atmospheric downpour because the amount of volume of rain The house water the water came down and the surface did matter didn't get there wasn't enough time for water to Leach into the under the bricks. It was just sheeting into the house because of the bricks Lifted up from the tree from the tree and that's the that's the proof of the issue of the problem we had and again a repeat we had Probably 15 sandbags up against that door trying to prevent this I want I you know in the reports that I I read through that and I just want to make clear For my understanding that I am informed when making this decision Sure, because it is being brought up and I want and I am not someone who goes and inspects houses and Foundations and tree roots. So I need to rely on their professional reports that and data that's provided That states There's the one issue was the slope Going towards the house. We pulled the bricks up because we thought we were going to be cutting the trees because we got The permission to do so we pulled up the bricks dug down and saw what you also saw That answers my question one last question the the comment or question about Alternatives and the appellant mentioned that Suggested alternatives were not addressed There was mention of a specialized drainage system or other mitigation measures I Don't know what other and there was in my notes Reference to our code 9.5670 a Outlining requirements for parks and rec director to consider alternate options before removal and I just want to clarify with the city attorney if that indeed is a requirement and If that did happen If it is well as I read the reports That the two Arborist reports in the file as well as the engineers report and as I understood the testimony of the city arborist Those alternatives were explored such as root pruning Putting in barriers and we're deemed not feasible. I would also Just based on my reading of the evidence It suggests that the water intrusion into the house is only one of the problems The tree is in physical contact with the side of the house and the foundation and appears to be moving them So I think that's the basis for the The argument in support of the structural integrity Thank you Thank you Ms. Brown's recognized Thank you. So I actually have a question for the applicants the real estate agent and the property owner So I guess I'm I'm so I think councilmember Brunner is is convinced, but I am not convinced based on what I've heard I'm hearing assertions. I I'm hearing conflicting points of view and I have seen the arborist reports and the structural engineer reports I've read those thoroughly. I've I'm around this area all the time. I know the property. Well I've read it all and I guess what I want to ask you is Given that This is you know a question that requires us to make a decision based on evidence And I don't feel like I have enough if you could just explain why You've asserted the property right argument for not allowing an additional inspection with an alternative structural engineer And that's not to say your structural engineer wasn't an expert or is biased But that was your structural engineer you hired for a particular purpose to get rid of these trees And so I'm just wondering aside from that your property, right? Was there a reason to not have that additional? inspection so that we maybe could have a little bit more of that evidence rather than Kind of conflicting what I feel are conflicting assertions. I recognize the drainage is not the only issue But I have heard multiple I'm just gonna explain why I'm asking you to clarify this for me. I heard From the property owner. We didn't even know about the drainage system We would have been doing things about it if we had known I hear you sir saying it's been working just fine as if you knew so, I guess I'm just confused a little bit about you know Where that that's at and I guess I guess again, that's just my context But the real question is why was there any other reason? What are the reasons that you didn't want to have another Engineer look at it. I find that having a range of opinion would help us make a decision and I don't feel Like I have that as a result of that denial So we have three arborist reports. That's a pretty good range. We have one structural engineer Is who's not our it's a public one that we called and We feel like the evidence was plenty. She called on the evening of the 12 o'clock before the deadline next morning to get on the property to do this. This was Something that we had to think about in terms of insurance and who and what and everything else that we had to consider quite honestly There had been a lot of trespassing before and we felt like they had violated The owners they were very upset with them about all the things they had done and this everything about this drain is Is just and they're they're grasping for straws to try to find any way to create any doubt They've done a great job of doing it But the evidence is clear in three arborist reports and one structural engineers report that has two recommendations Either move the house remove the trees So, you know, whose side are you gonna go there on that you want to protect that the tree Then that means we have to move the house and that's not what the ordinance speaks to Okay, so I think you've answered my question It sounds like you you just didn't want to get that it because you feel like you're you didn't have to and you feel Like what was done was sufficient. So you just didn't want I asked if we if there was anything that would that we were having to do that and and Leslie said no, there's no requirement. Okay, so you so you weren't required and we were not required. Okay Gotcha. Thank you. I Thought the evidence was totally overwhelming and that a second structural engineer was unnecessary Honestly having The city arborist come out and have overwhelming evidence was enough to me and also just the fact that just looking at the laws and looking at trees and seeing that it's Likely gonna ruin the house. I mean it already is in my opinion, but just reading the laws it which seemed overwhelming to me and unnecessary and There were like lots of lies and assumptions about us as owners and previous meetings and I just kind of over it Is speaking to the drainage our tenants were very on top of it and We had a constant conversation about to them about it and we said if They said it needs to get cleaned out and we talked to the people who cleaned it out And they said it's working well. No one ever front mentioned a yearly Maintenance no one so the tenant said trust us because we're it's our property, you know, and we had the funds to maintain it you know, we were we are always open to maintaining it that it was never a financial thing and He said trust me I will let you know if it's not working well because it's very obvious when it's not and He even said now that I know how the drainage system works I will work to maintain it and he would constantly be taking stuff out of it and watching it That was our relationship with the drainage system So to the best of our abilities we maintained it and It didn't fail when it leaked There was no backwater coming out of it. The drainage system was working when the water leaked into the house For the questions comments Right motion would be in order. I would like to move the stack recommendation I'm trying to Deny the appeal and uphold the Parks and Recreation Commission's approval of the tree removal application to 3 005 There's motion is there a second I'll second motion a second under discussion Debater discussion on the sign them Thank you. I am Not going to be able to support this motion I am with the three members of the Parks and Rec Commission who had concerns about this I I don't believe that the That a really good faith was effort was made on the part of the property owners who are Making a move that it seems to me as one of expediency To sell a property with minimum impediment and maximum profit. That's your right to do that It's your property, but we also have an ordinance that causes us to make decisions about Trees which are of public benefit to our entire community and the fact that You know, you know We you got the reports that said here's what's going on and there is some I believe some legitimate dispute about that Which could potentially have been in my mind? Resolved had there been other eyes on it not hired by the property owner Who has a very clear interest? That's your right to have that interest, but I believe other interests should also Have access to give us information to make those decisions, so I can't support the denial I would I would support this appeal and Ask for some addition or I would support moving forward To postpone until we get that information and direct that happen as an alternative But I'm not expecting that to Happen to be made as a motion, so I'm just gonna say that and I will be voting no Thank you councilmember Brunner I just wanted to say thank you to our barist Keedy for your information and answering questions and I just want to say in and For me making this decision. It's it's not easy and we we have adopted a climate action plan We are really taking seriously this tree ordinance and You know our green spaces and preserving where we can I do want to Just call out the structural engineers report in really what I'm pulling up my notes one second and What really stood out for me is The options and whether or not that It's Private or selling or what the action of the owners of the property or the building whatever they're doing with it the issue is still there and So in in case of the The professional engineer and the recommendations remove the building or remove the trees in Removing the buildings or part of the building they even mentioned it would require redesign rebuild remodel existing structure Relocate water heaters basement access redesign repair surface drainage reroute gas lines and due to the historic nature of the historic building and the limited lot size and What that require might not be viable and so I think you know We have to take all of the context into consideration and so I will be supporting this denial of the appeal and Thank you everyone for the information and the data The vice mayor is recognized. I just I want to say I appreciate the ordinance I appreciate the appellants and I know That you worked really hard on this and I I also think what I could speak for all of us that we like the spirit of the ordinance We'd like having trees in our town and I appreciate the good work that you constantly do for the city Leslie And I grew up in Vaughanee Dune and I don't think redwood trees are really good next to homes and the house has been here since Would we say 1848 and the trees are only at most 90 years old? I'd rather move the trees in this instance and they're touching the house And so that it's pretty much simple as that the pictures speak for themselves in my opinion Even without having and I did read but even before reading the report Just the pictures alone Sorry there, you know, no one's gonna buy this house A bank might not even lend on this house with the trees where they are I just want to be realistic and so yeah, that's where I'm at Through the question or comment Councilmember Newsome. Thank you. Thank you Lee and I just want to say as well I appreciate the concerns of the appellants for these two coastal redwood trees and as I said these two majestic coastal redwood trees But as councilmember Bruner I said and I'll echo you know the the opinion of four experts who had eyes on the on the property three arborists and a structural engineer was at The trees were impacting the property and with the structure engineer determining that the trees pose an immediate threat to the existing structure And the trees are pushing up against a gas line as well in the home Which is poses a public safety issue for the neighborhood as well. So that is why I support the motion Questions comments Well, we have 272 pages of material on this Appeals been heard by Parks Commission now it's been heard by the full council I Think whether it's an appeal from any decision of anybody that finds its way here or Litigation in a courtroom or everything anything else It's not always the case that everybody Has sort of Equal information that they provide The appellant provided such information as you could gain access to The folks who own the property you have information that that you put together I don't think it's a flaw in the process that somebody might have a structural engineer report and somebody else might not That's not a flaw in the process. That's a that could be a resource issue Available to the appellant versus the other party, but it's not a flaw in the system as I see it If this had less information than the 272 pages of information here and lots of reports Maybe that's a maybe this is a closer call I don't see this as a close call what I see it is that we have a heritage tree ordinance exactly for this reason So that we are very careful as a city when we grant the permit to take a tree down Those no surprised anybody knows where I live. I have a absolutely massively beautiful Heritage tree in my front yard that if it was gone would change not only my yard But would change actually a lot of the neighborhood. It really would And I know we fall deeply in love with our trees as well. We should I don't think this is a capricious act by the property owner G Let me just see how quickly I can take a couple of trees down I think it's much more complicated than that for the property owner I think that the appeal is is a well-reasoned appeal I think you make a good argument a good set of arguments. They're not good enough for me to vote For it for for where you want to go with this I think you made a good you a very good appeal the record is replete with a lot of information in it So I'll be supporting the motion that's on on on the floor at this time of course for the questions or comments clerk I'll call the roll Councilmember in Houston. Hi, Brown. No What can I Bruner hi Councilmember Callentary-Johnson's absent vice mayor Golder. Hi, Mariculee Thank you all very much for being here we are on We just hold for one second here check our Yeah, we are on I am number 27 This is an ordinance of many in select portions of chapter 10.40 of the Santa Cruz municipal code Pertaining to parking over oversized vehicles We'll have a staff presentation And well, thank you miss Keady for your presentation. Thank you. Mr. Butler. Good afternoon, sir Thank you mayor Kealey and council members I'm leave out their director of planning and community development for the city and I've got a brief presentation for you That Bonnie is going to pull up We're talking about some changes to the oversized vehicle ordinance and there are three changes That are under consideration. They're all very minor the first one is related to oversized vehicles parked within a hundred feet of intersections the second is related to Oversize vehicle ordinance implementation you can go ahead to the next slide Bonnie. Thank you Next slide Bonnie The Emergency declarations and the implementation of the ordinance during emergency declarations and the final is related to residential parking permits I'll briefly outline each of those So the council will recall the ordinance that was approved back in 2021 included a provision that Prevented oversized vehicles from parking within a hundred feet of intersections the Coastal Commission when the Coastal permit implementing that ordinance went before them took issue with that provision and their No substantial issue determination was actually modified in response to this so we subsequently withdrew that portion of our permit request and With that we have a coastal permit that does not include the hundred feet from intersection Prohibition and we have an ordinance that includes it so to Reduce any confusion and to not have different rules inside and outside the coastal zone We're just proposing that we eliminate that provision as shown here next slide Second when we drafted this ordinance we were taking into account the CZU fire and we put in a provision that said there may be emergency declarations that necessitate people residing in their vehicles in their oversized vehicles on our public streets and That is is still the case however The council is also aware that we have situations where emergencies do not affect the need to suspend the oversized vehicle ordinance implementation For example right now we are in a declared state of emergency related to the January storms and We're continuing that emergency declaration Because we're looking for FEMA and FHWA the Federal Highway Administration reimbursements and as a result We do not have any Impacts resulting from those storms on the need to have people living in their vehicles in the streets so we're looking at amending that provision to recognize that there are some emergencies where We would want to suspend the implementation of this ordinance But other emergencies that is not the case as is the case with the storms where no individuals were actually displaced so We are proposing that instead of anytime an emergency is in effect that the The oversized vehicle ordinance is not implemented We're proposing that ten days following the initiation of an emergency declaration that the oversized vehicle ordinance is suspended in terms of its enforcement and then The city council or the city manager can evaluate that to see if there is good cause to extend the the termination of the implementation of the enforcement and Finally residential parking permit changes Came to our attention as we began to look at the implementation of the ordinance really in light of the fact that Contractors Could get permits pursuant to the ordinance to park overnight But the way the code was written It would not allow oversized vehicles to get residential Parking permits during the for during the daytime so they could park at night, but not during the day which seemed in Consistent with what the council was intending And that would also be treating parking different in Residential permit parking zones versus non permit parking zones so you could park in oversized vehicle during the day not in a residential permit parking area But you couldn't in that residential permit parking area So we're proposing to modify this and clarify that you can still get a permit for an oversized vehicle in residential permit parking zones But that does not entitle you to that in and of itself does not entitle you to Parking between the hours of midnight and 5 a.m. You still need to get that separate Oversize vehicle parking permit for the midnight to 5 a.m. in order to have your vehicle parked during that time and That concludes the presentation actually one other point that I wanted to make We did coordinate all three of these changes with the California Coastal Commission They had no issues with these it does not affect the coastal permit that they recently approved for the implementation of this ordinance No changes are needed to the coastal permit. And so we're available for any questions that you may have Thank You mr. Butler may ask if there are questions comments mr. Butler Mr. Butler while people might be Teen those up a couple of things. Thank you very much and thank you. I understand there were council members who also assisted at the coastal commission With regard to providing direct testimony. I think we should be thankful and grateful to our Coastal Commissioner from Santa Cruz who Was Paying very very close attention to this issue helped us. I think a great deal in navigating through through the Coastal Commission Process your team was was quite good on this as well And thank you for all the very fine work that you've done on it. Of course. Thank you It's definitely a team effort comments No questions comments. Let me see if they're members of the public who wish to comment on this item Good afternoon Hi joy chandel Decker as you all know, I'm one of the co-founders of Santa Cruz Cares and We've been really involved following Ovo for years and communicating with the Coastal Commission about it and The main concern that we have with this agenda item is that the Coastal Commission Basically in our view said that there needs to be a stakeholder group and that we should be part of it as well as the ACLU and people who are affected by living in their vehicles and so far we have not been contacted to be a part of a stakeholder group and There are changes being made. I understand that the technicality is that the changes are being made to city code Not to the coastal permit, but they they you know, they fit together So if there's something complex happening in city code that relates to Ovo about emergency declarations and only having ten days of Reprieve after an emergency as a stakeholder. I would say that doesn't sound like enough and In terms of the daytime permit and the nighttime permit I understand trying to clean up some stuff that that doesn't quite gel or it contradicts, but again, it seems a little Complex unnecessarily complex to have people who are on the waiting list for a safe parking space to have to get both a daytime residential permit and An Ovo waiting list nighttime midnight to 5 a.m. Permit so as as a person who feels that I should be already a Stakeholder in this process and the communications with On everything about this You know, I would like to see that happen really like now Even when these little sort of cleaning up fiddly things are happening. I believe that is would fulfill the spirit of of cooperation and consensus building around Ovo instead of a kind of continuation of an oppositional and Conflictual thing where we feel like we need to to push back in order to advocate For people we would really much rather cooperate from the beginning Thank you. Good afternoon Hi Reggie here from Santa Cruz Cares Supposed to be one of the stakeholders, but as Joy sort of alluded to this feels like kind of yet another situation where the city is lacking transparency lacking cooperation I understand obviously modifying the daytime that was part of the revised findings at the coastal Commission You guys probably on council haven't been following this to this level of detail, but When the city applied for their coastal permit these changes were not in OVO and These changes except for the daytime removal were not in the coastal permit so we have two changes here regarding the exemption of declaration of state of emergency and The other one about the daytime parking permit which are being made After the permit was granted and then trying to be retroactively Applied to both the city and the coastal zone and the stakeholders Santa Cruz Cares ACLU service providers unhoused Whoever else right we're not brought in to give any feedback Because we would love to make minor changes to OVO if you guys are making minor changes the OVO count us in right I would love to get rid of the detached trailer clause which Hurts blue downtown streets team member Unnecessarily he's not an oversized vehicle or oversized vehicle and he can move it with a bicycle he doesn't get Stuck in an inoperability situation and so You can imagine the frustration That we've gone through this whole process And I'm not going to litigate history here, but obviously like In case you guys don't remember the city was ticketing people for unpermitted coastal parking signs While knowing they were unpermitted for at least the last five years They were towing people off of those signs They then after we got them removed tried to restripe all parking in that area Based on a coastal permit that was not allowed to do that so If I were in your position, I Would either consider as good faith getting rid of the detached trailer clause or Just do the daytime parking restriction change because that's what you committed to in the coastal permit If you want to do more changes, please include the stakeholders do it at a future meeting Just make the process right because it doesn't feel good I'll leave it at that Miss Bush do we have anyone online who is online when you're ready? Good to go. Thank you person online. Good afternoon Okay, we're gonna come back to them. Maybe if they're there anybody else who's with us Should make any comment. We got them again. There you go. Okay. Good afternoon Hi, can you hear me? Yes? Hello? Okay, I'm Robert Morris of Huff living in a vehicle I guess anyone would agree is better than living outside an attempt of living in a tent in the community of tents beat Hiding in the bushes the green belt or an alley or doorway and flight from the police Hundred twenty hundred to 200 people had their tents bulldoze from nine last month, but we are now going backward Now comes the OVO law with the cosmetic amendments There's no place to go. There's no armory tier three parking for most very long waiting list almost twice as long as the number of spaces Ask Evan Morrison the program to a manager gone by Don lots and tier two or a nice fix up to get past the Coastal Commission But the spaces aren't used or usable. Well, how about waivers to stop ticketing until parking spaces magically appear? Do the OVO amendments have any specifics or safeguards? Haven't seen them. We've seen the city's contempt for vehicles on Delaware Schaefer Swanton and nearby St. It's funny no parking at night signs eager para police volunteers led by Debra Elston as Reggie Meiser pointed out falsely ticketed scores If not hundreds over the years this in spite of weak objections from the local Coastal Enforcement Authority We must hold in check city authorities subservient to Westside bigotry and real estate speculators only community power can stop this disastrous bulldoze No general funds to continue this opportunistic storage program no safeguards for the waiver program a broken promise to the Coastal Commission When dwindling COVID funding runs out the answer will still be run them out of town. Which is what the OVO is really all about Thank you. Anyone else online miss bush? Matters back before the council Miss Brunner You a motion maker question Okay, let's do the question first Yeah, so yeah, so my question is So I guess there's a community or a stakeholder group that has been I haven't read all the conditions for with the Coastal Commission, but there's a stakeholder group that is to be involved in the process for Implementing the implementing the ordinance Or maybe you can just explain and then help me understand Where that's at when would people Be contacted to participate in those conversations And just to get a better sense of I mean we're hearing people say we're supposed to be on that committee and nobody called us So just when when might participate in those conversations And we're hearing people say we're supposed to be on that committee and nobody called us So just when when might people get a call and what will they do? Thanks for that question councilmember brown so as part of the coastal permit approval one of the conditions was to bring together a stakeholder group with roughly equal representation of unhoused advocates and those dwelling in vehicles along with On the other side individuals who were proponents of the oversized vehicle ordinance We are coordinating with the coastal commission on the stakeholder group plan and We do anticipate reaching out to the stakeholders within likely a month and the The plan is to have an initial meeting the the condition of approval requires At least four meetings over the course of the year the plan is to have at least one of those meetings At least a couple of weeks in advance of us doing the implementation and ideally a little bit more We're we're still working on the timing. We've got a lot of steps ahead of us before we can implement the ordinance itself and this is one of those steps but Within about a month. I would expect we will have that Coordination with the coastal commission complete and then we'll be reaching out to those stakeholders to schedule that first stakeholder group meeting You're welcome Ask you a quick question Staying in that vein Is is there anything in the agreement? That we have made with the coastal commission Relative to the process you just described Which if we took our action today the coastal commission would look and say Wait a minute. This isn't This isn't the order in which you had agreed to do this We can take this action and still do those other things and be in compliance with the coastal commission's Intent here as well as the letter of what they did in improving our ordinance That's correct. We have coordinated with the coastal commission in advance of this meeting and coastal commission did not have any concerns They also saw that these changes are minor in nature. Thank you very much Ms. Brunner, did you have a question? Were you ready for a motion? Thank you. I I just wanted to make a comment and and Councilmember Brown did ask The question that I was going to comment on and that The stakeholder meetings haven't begun yet and I know that I've been asking as well And city staff has been working closely with Coastal commission and and I just want everyone to know that We're learning as we go as well and kind of relying on coastal commission's direction in terms of these next steps with signage with submitting Outreach plans and all of that in the stakeholder group and meetings And all of that together will hopefully we can all work together and stakeholders being those that have recreational vehicles and those who live in their vehicles and you know Neighbors and and businesses, you know, so there's there's a wide variety of folks who have expressed interest and and we're at this point following coastal commission's Direction, so I'm glad director Butler that you Brought that up because I know I've also answered a couple of those questions as well regarding the stakeholder meetings when will they start and also we were looking geographically As well for representation So not just everyone on the west side, but Everywhere through the coastal commission from the east side to the to the west side Wherever that lies in the city of Santa Cruz the coastal commission stretches a geographical area. So You know looking at much as much as possible into that diverse representation. So we can have transparency in making the best Path forward and my understanding With this is this is to align with the conditions of approval that the coastal commission just Voted on so these tweaks to And updates will align and thank you for working with the coastal Commission on these steps and I hope that we can keep communication And get something out so people who aren't listening or watching here No, maybe we can post something on the bulletin board. I know we have As soon as we know we can let people know so Hopefully some of the groups that are here with us today Hear that and know that as soon as all of that starts coming together. We will be Having having those discussions and working together So with that I would like to make a motion For item number 27 To introduce for publication and ordinance amending select portions of chapter 10.40 Of the santa cruz municipal code along with santa cruz municipal code section 10.41060 pertaining to the parking of oversized vehicles. There's a motion. Is there a second? There's a second by miss Watkins under debate and discussion. May I open on your motion? I have nothing further than what I've already said other than I'm looking forward to the process Going forward and thank you for coming today to Speak and express your desire to partake in that and I think You know you spoke at the coastal commission There were people who spoke at the coastal commission hearing and those were names that were You know considered for the stakeholder groups, and I'm sure there will be more names So looking forward to that hopefully within the next month For the debate or discussion miss brown Let's make a very brief set of comments here. I will not be supporting the motion I do not support this oversized vehicle ordinance. I have been very clear about that And I don't support it for a variety of reasons. I won't go into in detail Some of it is related to the ethics of this and some of it is related to the question of efficacy and I believe that We are the city is spending You know a considerable amount of resources doing a protracted gymnastics routine here to try to Make an ordinance viable Or appear to be viable To to address a problem that we already have tools for we can tow vehicles that are not are not moving There's there's plenty of ordinance on the books. I've stated them all here and I'm not going to do it again But I see this is uh, you know, I think in in the long run And if I'm proved wrong, all right, um, it happens occasionally. I admit But I believe that we are we are just investing a tremendous amount of resources to try to accomplish something One that I disagree with but even if you agreed with it that we're not going to accomplish through this this ordinance and and so Again, I I'd like to you know, and I'll keep watching to see and I'll keep watching how much money we spend To try to make this possible. But at this point, I can't nothing has changed and I can't support The revisions because I don't support the ordinance For the debate or discussion Click we'll call the wrong Members nuisance brown No What can I Brunner I Don't still remember Calentari Johnson absent vice mayor golder. I mayor I Motion passes and still watered. This will be back before For for the consideration readings at a later council meeting We are on item 28 on our regular agenda This is a cooperative retail management business real estate improvement district assessment for the fiscal year 2024 Miss unit. Good afternoon And Miss lipscomb. Good afternoon This is I will be stepping out for this item item number 28 Relates to my employment. Thank you. Thank you councilmember Very close another training Right miss unit You Eric Good afternoon, uh, rebecca unit development manager, um And uh, also staff support for the downtown management corporation. Uh, here with my director bonnie lipscomb as well Uh, so the item today is our cooperative retail management assessment. This is our annual renewal process for The downtown management corporation assessment So just a brief agenda for you. We're going to review the process that we take to renew this every fiscal year The dmc annual plan and then our proposed dmc district expansion So the typical time frame for this, uh, we renew the assessment on the fiscal year each year Because we're proposing some changes to the assessment We did have an additional public notice, uh, 40 45 days in advance of the public hearing scheduled for june 27th Um, today, we're here to adopt the resolution of intention to levy the assessment As well as approve the work plan and an ordinance introduction as well And then following this meeting will do additional public noticing to the dmc assessment payers In preparation for the june 27th public hearing to adopt the The annual assessment So some background on the downtown management corporation and crm assessment. It was established in 1994 as a property improvement district the crm district is Managed by the downtown management corporation Which has board of directors with three property owner representatives three business owner representatives Two city council members, which are currently council members newson and calentary johnson As well as our economic development and housing director as the chief financial officer I Just a brief overview of sort of the work plan of the downtown management corporation Um, they cover four main areas cleaning hospitality outreach and safety The majority of the budget goes towards the downtown ambassador program Uh, which is run through the downtown association. Um, administered by block by block, which is a national, uh, organization that facilitates these programs We also have a another portion of our budget that goes towards the cleaning contract for downtown So pet and human waste removal um, and then the service providers all really coordinate with the different downtown services in terms of uh, Sancre's police department downtown outreach mental health workers And all the various amenities that help to create a safe and welcoming environment in downtown This year we do have some proposed changes to the assessment put forward by the board We've put out to the property owners Proposed increased assessment for the current Payers and then also an expansion of the district to include the properties fronting front street and cedar street To really encompass that whole downtown core Here's a map overview showing the existing district and the proposed expansion So currently the district is serving pacific avenue and the side streets up to cedar in front And so the proposal is to capture the properties along cedar street on both sides and front street on both sides to Really round out that service delivery Uh, especially with the new development that we have coming online So the rates have stayed uh flat over the last decade We don't have a cpi adjustment built into this assessment So that is a proposal going forward is to add that because costs for services have increased and the city's actually been helping to supplement some of that And so being able to bring these assessments to current rates And then plan for that to Keep pace over time going forward And then also with the expanded district and the expanded services. There are just those increased costs that we need to account for So our recommendation for you this afternoon is to approve the fiscal year 23 annual report and 24 plan To adopt the resolution of intention and to adopt a first reading of the ordinance If this increase in expansion, uh, does go into effect based on the ballots that we receive Any questions? Thank you so much other questions by council members Looking good. Okay. Thank you so much. Let me see if they're anybody online or with us today Who wishes to make comment on this item? Ms. Bush, do we have anyone online? We have nobody Matters back I'll move it. I'll move the recommendation. This round moves vice mayor seconds, uh, the staff recommendation one through three on page 28.1 of the council packet Debate or discussion seen and hearing none the clerk will call the roll Councilmember newson. Hi brown. Hi Hi Councilmember brunner at you disqualified herself vice mayor golder. Hi and maryculee. Hi Motion passes and so ordered. Thank you very much for both of you for your good work on this Let me just take a pause for here for a second. I just need to do a quick little bit of consulting So anybody wondering what we were just doing we were huddling to see When we should take our our late afternoon early evening break We do have Quite a bit of work to still do today. So what we will do is we will Go into recess between now and 4 30. We will come back precisely at 4 30 and take up the remainder of our work which consists Of adopting the annual budget and some related activity. So we will stand and recess until 4 30 p.m The hour of 4 30 having arrived and gone We are back from our late afternoon early evening recess We are on item 29.1 and this is the 2024 fiscal year proposed budget miss cabell. Good afternoon again. Good to see you Good afternoon. Elizabeth cabell finance director And we are looking at both 29.1 and 29.2. So we'll do both of them together We had the budget hearings last month two days of presentations and talks. So very little of that today We are all all the directors are here to answer any questions that you may have And then we provided some input on Concerns and issues that were raised during the budget hearing So we sent those out. There's also been a couple of things attached to FYIs So so basically today we're like I said don't really have any sort of big presentation Really just here to answer any questions Any issues any concerns that you have and at the end of that there are three things that we would like to do Next My one slide is adopt the budget Amend the personnel compliment and accept the water Commission's recommendations regarding the water department's operating capital investment program One thing to be aware of on 29.2 the personnel compliment It is correct in the proposed in the budget that you have but in the resolution The on the fire department it says ma it should be pma So that has been corrected. So when it is adopted that will be the correct position But just if you're looking through the resolution it does look yeah It's um, yeah Corrected. So so with that I'll turn it over to you all if there are any questions Comments questions or comments of the staff what we'll do is uh We we did in case there are members of the public wondering chief wire. They're not questions on your Perhaps the most significant item you take action on every year We did that as the gentle lady pointed out. We had two days of such hearings This is our formal action on the budget and reconciliation of various accounts and so on So, uh, don't uh, if you are watching this don't think that we don't have questions about our budget We spent two days with all that. So let me see if there are any clarifying questions or follow-up questions if folks have All right, let me ask if uh, if the public Wishes to comment on this. Uh, let's see Please come on up and while you're coming up Let me check with our clerk and see if we have folks online yet Not yet. Okay. Good evening. How are you sir? I'm well, thanks Mayor keely and members of council. My name is doug angfer I have the honor to work With the water department for the past 10 years or so first on the wassak And now as vice chair of the water commission and as I near The end of my tenure on the commission. Uh, this is the last department budget Although the opportunity to review in this capacity So I wanted to take this opportunity to share some observations regarding progress process and values first progress Over the past decade the organization's culture of continuous improvement has yielded vastly increased organizational capacity as Reflected in the work product you recently reviewed But also in the broad sweep of the department's plans goals and achievements We recently heard there are 30 to 40 ongoing projects right now in the capex program, which is amazing Second as regards process I'm inspired by and proud of the team's work. They pursue their work with clear eyes Integrity and intellectual honesty and review and adjust their assumptions to ensure a realistic view of the budget And the work ahead Finally as regards values in the context of an overarching respect for environmental stewardship The department focuses on delivering high quality safe product reliably affordably and sustainably Aware that they must earn the public's trust every day Mindful of the long lifespan of water infrastructure Their financing strategy attends to generational equities ensuring that costs are borne by those who benefit And finally they develop budget and attendant rates with a genuine concern for ensuring that low and fixed income customers can manage to an affordable cost I'm pleased and proud to have been a small contributor to the process and support the commission's recommendation that council approved this budget Thank you for your time and your service to our community. Don't go anywhere. Thank you for your service. Thank you this is a topic that is Right alongside public safety obviously for a municipal government and people have to be just Not even paying attention to it. They just have the peace of mind to know when they turn that it's all good And and that's no mean feat and we complimented the water director during budget hearings About how the department worked during the presidentially declared disaster when we had the Newell Creek pipe Breaking And sort of fixing the flat tire without stopping the car I mean it just was terribly impressive in in an emergency And the work that the water commission has done over the years and prior to my service on this especially during 2022 Reviewing and sending forth a series of very important and effective public policy issues about how to Deal with our water system going forward in the next few decades Water commission has has done great work in in helping the city See through a pathway to success. So thank you very much for your service on the commission, sir. Well, thank you for that. Thank you Anyone else who is with us today wishes to comment on it on on our budget items miss bush. Do we have anyone online? Matters back before the the body Is there a motion? Yes, I I'll move the budget and personnel compliments A second second lots of seconds Let's go we're going to go with uh We're going to go with miss brunner on the second on that All right, let me see if there are Questions comments observations before we move to a vote Seeing hearing none the clerk will call the roll Okay Councilmember newson Brown I What can I Brunner Hi, and thank you Councilmember calentary johnson is absent vice mayor golder. I marykulu. All right Motion passes and so ordered Thank you this is An important moment every year as we close out one fiscal year and start another one i'll say Only this that this is my obviously my first year sitting in this capacity and hearing a budget budget hearings a couple of days of budget hearings I will reflect on this that this little government Is compared with state government or county government this little government is so darn good It's so darn good You look at any part of it. It's human scale Whether it's the folks that we by councilmanic Organization don't deal with folks, you know down Beyond the first two layers because that belongs to The city manager and the administration, but also just for the first two layers that I deal with it is As good or better than anything i've ever seen in public life How well you work with each other how much you'd like working with each other how the notions of protecting silos and protecting jurisdictions In this little government gives way to cooperation facilitation seeing how The greater good can be advanced and I will say the responses Uh to the questions asked by council members during the budget hearings The questions were intelligent and the responses were equally as intelligent and informative and helpful I I look forward to the next fiscal year Uh, I think that the way That the city management Gave you direction on how to put your individual department budgets together for this coming year There were a lot of ways you could have done that a lot of ways You could have worked on what are the assumptions the planning assumptions going forward the next 12 months I think you made an exceptionally good decision. Mr. City manager with your team about what the framing around the budget would be And thank you all for living within that framework This is uh this I in my judgment. This is the single most important act any city council Takes each year is adopting the annual budget for the upcoming year It I in my view it exemplifies all of your commitments to the finest in public service in public services In integrity the way you approach your work the way you work collaboratively with your subordinates They are not some other class of people They are the people that help make this government work every day, whether it's a fire department or anybody else Any other department of this government. So thank you all so terribly much for Uh, a thoughtful intelligent appropriate budget set budget presentations and assumptions and I think I speak for the council and saying we look very much forward to Working with you in the new fiscal year. Thank you all very very much Did we take the we took 29.1 and 29.2 the action was consolidated. We are finished with that This is the opportunity under oral communication for anyone to address the council on a matter under our jurisdiction But not on today's agenda None of you, please. Thank you Look they're all rising to come talk in oral communication. Sir. Are you here for our communication? I Am I think I'm a little late to the game. I'm new to this. You're good. Come on. Good evening. Good evening Mayor vice mayor council members. Nice to meet you. My name is Sean Williamson. I'm here about agenda item number 20 The resource recovery collection rates increase So let me tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna do we're just gonna have to switch this up a little bit So the way your oral communication works is It's on any item under our jurisdiction not on today's agenda But here's what I'm gonna do because that's sort of the rules for oral communication But since we took this item up before you were here as a courtesy, please make your remarks Thank you. I was watching online and ran down here at that moment, but So I own a small composting business here in Santa Cruz I've been working with other business owners and those involved in Community composting in conjunction with the city's department of resource recovery To help create a more favorable atmosphere. So the businesses like mine and others can help Process the immense amount of organic organic material that gets created here every day We have been advised that collections rate increases are the most opportune time to augment restrictive city code And that is why I'm here today in short We are looking for receptive city council members to help us move towards a model that is at the same time beneficial to the city And its rate pairs local small business And the health of our soil and natural systems here in Santa Cruz If this resonates with anyone we would love to work with you ahead of the hearing on august 8th To come up with some verbiage everyone can agree upon to bring our community composting organizations into the fold to work in harmony with the city To help tackle the ever-growing dilemma and expense that processing organic material in the correct way represents So essentially in layman's terms what we're talking about is businesses being able to contract with other businesses to Process organic material the way the city code is written now. It's not feasible. And so we're looking to hopefully Make a space for businesses such as mine and others Thank you and remind me just so I'm clear you this was on item number 20 21 20 I'm just 20 20. Thank you very much. Yeah resource recovery collection rates increase. Thank you Please There was an offer made Are you have you Sent a message to council members will we see your contact info in our inboxes? Yes Okay, we're working to come up with a proposed verbiage and then start working with you guys We just want to put a face to the name before you see an email So very good time Thank you so much very much appreciated. Have a nice evening, sir Is there a further business to come before us for the business miss bush? anybody online with deep reluctance the vice mayor moves to adjourn and council member Watkins also with deep regret and reluctance second motion non-debatable those in favor signify by saying aye Motion carries