2014

After nine speakers back it, the Environmental Quality Committee chair calling it the linchpin and single largest item in the climate action plan, and the city attorney explains the limits of the joint powers authority's liability protection, the Council unanimously adopts the ordinance to join Marin Clean Energy and launch community choice aggregation, which a councilmember calls the most important step yet on the climate action plan.

Presenting the draft 2015–2023 housing element, staff note that without a certified element the city would lose about $400,000 a year in Measure J return-to-source funds, and describe new programs including eviction for good cause amid rising rents, financing for affordable housing after the loss of redevelopment and special needs housing. Citing figures that about 30 percent of households earn under $50,000, a councilmember asks that a good-cause eviction ordinance be vetted with active public input, and another asks that rent control be considered too. The Council sends the draft to the state with changes and adopts definitions for transitional and supportive housing.

Speakers ask the Council to support keeping Doctors Medical Center open, saying the state has given $3 million and the hospital is the only cardiac center between Vallejo and Oakland. A resident describes a storm drain on Seaview Avenue overflowing onto neighbors, the Design Review Board presents its storefront guide plan for San Pablo Avenue, Human Rights Month is proclaimed, and the annual liaison assignments are presented.

Colleagues bid farewell to Mayor Pro Tem Rebecca Benassini, who recalls her idea for a reality show called The Fifth Chicken. Gabe Quinto is sworn in and Janet Abelson re-sworn; Abelson reviews her year as mayor, from the San Pablo Avenue specific plan to a ladder truck grant and Measure R's 70 percent, and is thanked by colleagues and AC Transit director Chris Peoples.

Mark Friedman is chosen mayor and Greg Lyman mayor pro tem. Friedman names global warming and poverty as the biggest dangers, pointing to joining MCE, tobacco retailer rules and a higher minimum wage, and promises more efficient meetings.

In a long study session, staff and MCE set out how community choice aggregation works, MCE's power supply and programs, and an analysis showing a net benefit for El Cerrito: joining would cut about 2,500 tons of greenhouse gases a year, more than doubling the community's rate of reduction, at a city cost of about $3,000 thanks to a World Wildlife Fund grant, and would give local control over generation rates while PG&E keeps transmission and distribution. MCE says unbundled renewable certificates were about 18 percent of its supply, and the city attorney explains the limits of the JPA's liability protection.

Eight speakers, among them a former Sierra Club energy chair and the Environmental Quality Committee's chair, support joining. Friedman calls it an idea whose time had come, a councilmember stresses energy democracy and a choice for renters who cannot install solar, another sees low risk among the city's eight JPAs, and members note the EQC's discussions since 2007. The Council agrees without a motion to bring the ordinance back on 16 December and 6 January.

The Council adopts 2015 integrated waste management fees, bringing about 8 percent more revenue, and East Bay Sanitary rates, thanks departing manager Garth Schultz, and approves weekend left-turn limits at I-80 and Central Avenue. The Park and Recreation Commission describes aging parks, worn fields and a school joint use agreement it says does not benefit El Cerrito, with high school field fees up from $38 to $44 an hour; the Tree Committee presents its plans after surveying San Pablo Avenue merchants; and the Art Association's mayor's award goes to Catherine Wolf.

Library manager Liz Ruland presents the county library's new strategic plan, built on a survey, interviews and town halls, with El Cerrito focusing first on teens. Stephen Pray reports the clean water program cut storm drain trash 46 percent against a 40 percent target for 2014, and councilmembers ask about cigarette butts, street sweeping, car washing and coffee cups at a bus stop.

Speakers report on the Madera open space campaign's $61,800 raised and on a BART herbicide spraying on the Ohlone Greenway that city staff got delayed. The Council extends interim San Pablo Avenue specific plan fees by 30 days and urges residents to vote on 4 November, including on Measure R.

In a hearing of nearly five hours, staff trace the San Pablo Avenue specific plan to the 1999 general plan and present its three parts: a form-based code allowing up to 65 feet within a half-mile of each BART station and 55 feet between them, more for affordable housing, with shadow rules protecting neighbors and lower parking minimums; a complete streets plan putting transit and pedestrians first where the street is narrow and adding buffered bike lanes in midtown; and a program EIR studying 1,706 units through 2040. Lyman, who sent staff more than 100 questions, has the record of notice read and the historic records threshold lowered.

About 50 speakers and almost 130 letters divide between cycling, transit, environmental and business supporters and residents, many from the Richmond Annex, objecting to height, traffic, parking, views and notice. Bill Jones urges a decision on a living document, Tom Panis, long skeptical, now embraces the plan, and Al Miller sees a foundation for revenue; Howdy Goudey backs the protected bike lanes but wants stronger shadow rules. Bridges calls seven years of workshops due diligence and says people who want to live by transit self-select, and the Mayor cites a 200-person waiting list for senior housing.

A councilmember's motion for a 45-foot limit in midtown dies without a second, and the Council unanimously certifies the EIR, adopts the plan and general plan amendment, introduces the zoning ordinances, and sets new planning fees with a higher plan maintenance fee of $160 per residential unit. Earlier, Troop 104 marks 75 years, the school district updates the high school stadium, a falls prevention week is proclaimed, and the meeting adjourns in memory of city employees Liz Espadilla and Emory Weed.

A study of restoring a meandering creek at 1715 Elm Street finds the ecological gains muted, an EIR required and about $415,000 in added cost; the restoration consultant says the channel walls were probably built to create level land and finds no sign of instability. Tom Panis, swayed by Lyman's argument, calls the benefits of restoration “tangible and extraordinary”, the neighboring Keystone Montessori asks for continuous air monitoring during construction, and other speakers urge a restored creek or a smaller project. Benassini says housing near BART is itself a strong community benefit, and Bridges says experts called the creek's benefits muted.

The Council denies the appeal and approves the 14-unit project with the historic house leased for community use, four to one with Lyman dissenting, adopting the mitigated negative declaration and introducing the rezoning and development agreement. At Lyman's request it calls the feature an existing historic stone-lined channel rather than a creek, adds conditions for air quality monitoring next to the preschool and a wildlife survey of the channel before work, and has the developer support listing the historic house.

The Council unanimously introduces a smoking pollution protection ordinance banning smoking in parks, on all sidewalks, in commercial areas and in multi-unit housing, striking an exemption for theater despite the city attorney's First Amendment caution; Save The Bay says about 3 billion cigarette butts a year reach the bay, while Howdy Goudey calls the lines arbitrary and inequitable. Eight EC Stars high school interns describe their summer at City Hall, the Wilderness Act's 50th anniversary is proclaimed, Contra Costa Civic Theater's lease is renewed, and about $5.2 million in tax and revenue anticipation notes is approved.

The Council unanimously asks voters on 4 November to extend Measure R, the half-cent sales tax approved in 2010 that raises about $1.4 million a year mostly for police and fire, as a one-cent tax for 12 years, contingent on state legislation, AB 1324, lifting the local cap; the city manager cites the recession, vacancies, lost redevelopment money and reserves near 5 percent. Speakers split between support and concern for seniors, and a former opponent offers conditional support. Friedman calls sales taxes regressive and would prefer reforms such as a split roll for Proposition 13, but supports the measure.

Firefighters and police agree midcontract to pay their full pension contributions, saving about $870,000, and members thank them for averting employee cuts, while SEIU members urge the Council not to impose a further 5 percent concession. Tom Panis faults the draft San Pablo Avenue specific plan for treating historic resources and creeks as advisory, and Howdy Goudey calls community choice energy the biggest, fastest way to cut emissions.

The Council authorizes a Marin Clean Energy membership study funded mostly by a World Wildlife Fund grant, inducts Tom Panis into the Wall of Fame, honors the late John Umamoto, a crime prevention committee member for over 30 years, and proclaims National Night Out. It declares 44 properties weed nuisances, down from 273 found in violation, including 1715 Elm Street, where a speaker urges a public park instead of the proposed development. A liaison reports the school board's vote to name the former Portola school for Korematsu.

With Mayor Abelson absent, the Council adopts the biennial budget 4-0: $41.7 million across all funds in the first year, balanced with reserves closer to five and a half percent but assuming $300,000 from labor talks, and a general fund shortfall of about $100,000 in the second, driven by a $1 million rise in PERS and medical costs. The Financial Advisory Board asks that the budget book state that reserves fall short of the 10 percent policy and that the Council vote separately on its own compensation.

On consent, council members in PERS are to pay the full eight percent, as a speaker understands it, and three school resource officers continue. SEIU's negotiator calls the union's members the lowest paid in the city, and a speaker says 1715 Elm Street lacks the overwhelming public benefit a planned development needs.

The Council hears, in one consolidated hearing, the entitlements and an appeal for 14 condominiums near BART beside the historic 1897 Rodoni house and a stone-lined creek: a general plan amendment, planned development district, 10-year development agreement and use permits. The applicant's architect offers to restore the house to the Secretary of the Interior's standards and donate it, with a daytime pocket park, and the biologist calls the channel “a relatively sterile system” where a wider setback would add minimal benefit. Friedman asks why a 10-year development agreement is needed in the hottest market in years; members ask about frogs, dust and air monitoring, the mansard roof and whether the rock walls are historic.

The appellants, among them Keystone Montessori School families and Howdy Goudey, ask for the 30-foot creek setback, a smaller project, perhaps six units, and more study, calling changes to zoning, the general plan and the creek ordinance “a huge huge deal”; Goudey says the building would shade a neighbor's solar. Keystone presents a petition of 62 families and asks for emissions monitoring near schools. Of fourteen speakers, Tom Panis welcomes the restoration, a Kearney Street resident supports density near BART but objects to the setback's look and the creek treatment, and a former planning commissioner warns of a writ of mandate. The architect says a design with the 30-foot setback would leave room for perhaps the house and one or two homes.

Near midnight the Council closes the hearing and continues deliberation to a special meeting on 23 June. Earlier it opposes AB 2145, which a speaker says would limit community choice aggregation, and proclaims June LGBT Pride Month; members report the first Ohlone Greenway fun run, and the meeting adjourns in memory of former mayor Ernie Del Simone.

Opening a study session on a smoking pollution protection ordinance, staff present about 10 months of research and outreach, saying the city is “a bit behind the curve”. Tenants describe smoke drifting into their apartments: an educator shows a week's butts a 10-year-old in the family collected around their windows, and residents of the Village at Town Center lay towels at their doors. Friends of Five Creeks calls cigarette butts the top item on Coastal Cleanup Day, Americans for Nonsmokers' Rights urges smoke-free housing as in Berkeley and Richmond, the California Apartment Association asks for phase-ins, and the county says its complaint-driven ordinance has needed no citations in about eight years.

Friedman wants “to go from an F to an A plus” with aggressive enforcement; Lyman, saying his views target the community and the environment rather than individual smokers, supports zero smoking in multi-family housing and a separate sales ordinance raising the purchase age to 21; Benassini, who had to shield the family from neighbors' smoke while living in an apartment, backs all of it; and the Mayor wants an “A-Plus City”. The Council directs staff to draft smoke-free rules for parks, open space, commercial areas and all multi-family housing within 12 months, include e-cigarettes and medical marijuana, study residential sidewalks and school perimeters, and bring a separate tobacco sales ordinance.

Staff explain why utility users tax revenue is slipping, from solar exemptions to telephone services untaxed since 2005 court decisions that only voters can fix; a councilmember sees “no big low-hanging fruit”. The Council confirms the landscape and lighting assessment, about $771,000, and storm drain fee collection, honors the Exchange Club's officer of the year, presents the Sundar Shadi garden awards and heritage month proclamations, and approves Tom Panis for the Wall of Fame. Lyman reports RecycleMore still waiting on Richmond.

Youth soccer and baseball leaders tell school district officials that Castro field has been unusable for three seasons and that high school field fees run $38 to $84 an hour, which the soccer club's coaching director calls “abhorrent” after the community helped pay for those facilities; the baseball league, serving 350 to 400 children a year, says the high school bumps league games without notice in breach of the 2006 joint use agreement. Associate Superintendent Bill Fay says “on the record” that Castro will be restored with new turf and irrigation by August, and the district agrees to look at the fees and keep stadium restrooms open to the public.

The district reports on the stadium, Portola and Fairmont projects and its $270 million Measure H, which in El Cerrito would replace portables at Madera Elementary and could bring joint use of the Portola play fields; the community colleges present their $450 million Measure E. Friends of Five Creeks asks for money and mowing that let natives set seed in the Hillside Natural Area, where volunteers have cleared many acres of French broom.

In a capital improvement program study session, staff show 17 active projects, mostly streets because “that's where the grants are”, and $110 million in needs with no funding or timeline, including the library, senior center and public safety building. The Council asks that six new projects, among them Hillside Natural Area stewardship and citywide paths, be considered for the program. Earlier, the Earth Day cleanup collected about 4,300 cigarette butts from San Pablo Avenue, and the Council appoints an Arts and Culture Commission member.

In a budget study session, the city manager traces the deficit to the loss of redevelopment, whose general fund revenue of $1.2 million in 2009-10 is gone, flat property tax, rising pension and medical costs and insurance, notes that added Measure R revenue has tracked public safety spending, and warns that the city does not want to become “a training ground” for bigger police departments. With every approved position filled the budget would burn through reserves, so a $1.7 million gap and options from Friday closures to staff reductions are on the table. Residents at four neighborhood meetings put public health and safety first.

Members back a two-year budget, rebuilding reserves toward 10 percent, higher employee benefit contributions and scenarios for a Measure R renewal; Benassini calls the loss of redevelopment a chronic structural deficit, and the Mayor, finding each percent of reserves costs about $300,000, calls it perhaps the most difficult time since joining the Council. The Financial Advisory Board urges a 15-day cash goal, about $1.1 million, after the auditor's going-concern warning, and staff are directed unanimously along members' comments.

The Council approves conveying the former Tradeway site to Eden Housing for a dollar for 63 affordable senior units, with Tom Panis now supporting it, and adopts a four percent fee increase. The Measure A oversight committee finds compliance 3-2, its chair calling it a “hindsight committee” over $100,000 spent off the streets. East Bay MUD's Andy Katz reports the second driest year on record and a water supply deficiency, with lawn conversion rebates open to yards of any size; Environment California names the city a Solar Champion for permits of about $100 issued in under five days; and the Council proclaims remembrance of the Armenian Genocide.

Seaview Drive and Eureka Avenue neighbors appeal the design of an AT&T antenna node on a utility pole near 7800 Eureka, saying AT&T never proved a coverage gap and the 10-foot extension adds clutter and danger in a slide zone. AT&T says the goal is to fill “a significant gap of in-building 3G and 4G LTE” coverage. Of nine speakers, neighbors ask for street-level coverage data verified by independent consultants, one saying “we don't need them we don't want them.”

With the use permit already final and federal law barring health considerations, the Council can judge only aesthetics, and the Mayor recalls losing local control to the state and federal governments. Lyman, “not very pleased” with the extension, shows models of its clumsy lines against a single taller pole and rewrites the findings; AT&T offers to replace the pole. The Council approves the design 4-0 on condition of a single new pole, with Friedman, who lives within 500 feet, recused. Bridges calls it among the most painful issues the Council faces, since many concerns are beyond its power.

The city's new insurance broker, Keenan & Associates, briefs the Council on the Affordable Care Act: the Cadillac tax from 2018 adds 40 percent of premiums above the thresholds, and the city's PPO is already over. On consent the Council supports bills including SB 1014 on medication take-back, which Al Miller of the Stege Sanitary District backs; a resident lists recent robberies on the Ohlone Greenway, and the Mayor reports Contra Costa mayors' letters on PG&E's plan to clear trees along gas lines. Bridges and Benassini are named to the Wall of Fame subcommittee, and the meeting adjourns in memory of Crime Prevention Committee volunteer John Umamoto.

With the Ohlone Greenway fully reopened after BART's seismic retrofit, staff outline new crossing lights, a Safeway side path, station-area improvements and wayfinding, and the Council unanimously awards a $592,918 contract for a natural area and rain garden at Fairmount Avenue, funded by a 2011 urban greening grant of slightly over $900,000, restoring the north fork of Cerrito Creek with native meadows and a path. Members and speakers press for a staircase down to the Plaza behind Ross, which awaits the shopping center's consent.

A mid-year budget update projects reserves near five percent, explains a Home Depot sales tax tangle with Richmond and the Board of Equalization, and foresees a $1 to $1.5 million gap next year; staff take the budget to neighborhood meetings. Salary savings have fallen to about $140,000 because vacancies drove up overtime.

The Council proclaims Earth Hour, with the City Hall tower darkened and a starlight walk in the Hillside Natural Area, and appoints Nick Arzio to the Crime Prevention Committee. The Mayor reports on a Sacramento hearing on illicit massage parlors, and the waste authority representative says Richmond is voting on a post-collection agreement while the authority reviews its staffing.

Godbe Research's survey of 400 likely voters found 85 percent favorable on city services and 73 percent ready to renew the sales tax that sunsets in 2018, falling to 70.8 after arguments on both sides; local control, funds the state cannot take, led the supporting statements, and a total rate “among the highest in the state” was among the opposing ones. Staff explained that November 2016 was being held for a library bond needing two-thirds, so the renewal should come first. Bridges said the rate was not “outlandish” given rates elsewhere, listing the loss of redevelopment and rising pension and medical costs: “The writing may be on the wall somewhat.” The Council voted unanimously to prepare for a November 2014 measure.

Consultant Kathy Page's update of the 2006 library needs assessment found the building about a third of the size a modern library needs, with visitors up 20 percent, children's program attendance from about 2,000 to 5,000 and only eight computers, “woefully inadequate”; she recommended just over 20,000 square feet on one floor with almost 250 seats and space for people, teens and international languages. Tom Panis proposed a seed library.

Proclaiming Arbor Week, staff described a 2013 inventory of over 10,000 trees, and the Chamber of Commerce raised concerns about street trees. Red Cross Month was proclaimed, the bicycle ordinance was introduced barring sidewalk riding except by officers and juveniles as permitted and limiting stunt riding on city property, and the meeting adjourned in memory of former building official John Conestro.

City Manager Scott Hanin and Assistant City Manager Karen Pinkos described a year in which about 25 staff worked monthly through Jim Collins's 12 questions, each led by a different manager, and posted anonymous ideas for a stop doing list to feed the budget. In an anonymous survey most staff felt the city was not fully facing the brutal facts, whether personnel, budget or CalPERS; Hanin, nearly 13 years in El Cerrito, recalled a mood of “more survival mode” when he arrived, calling talk of greatness “a paradigm shift”. Councilmembers welcomed the common language; Mark Friedman, noting that some of Collins's featured companies went bankrupt or needed bailouts, said: “I'm not a super believer in his work but I'm a super believer in our staff”.

Kiev Smith, describing a crash by a speeding driver who was later found to be intoxicated, asked for speed bumps on Cypress Avenue, and a resident near the high school asked for relief from traffic on Ashbury Avenue. As successor agency the Council approved its obligation schedule and a first repayment schedule for housing fund loans, smaller than first drafted after the Department of Finance sent its method; repayment was capped because, as staff explained, each dollar returned to the housing fund cost the general fund 22 cents that year, “a balancing act”.

Earth Day became Earth season because of the drought, the golf scramble would raise money for the David Hunter Memorial Scholarship Fund, and the Mayor was re-elected chair of WCCTAC; the meeting adjourned to 4 March.

The Council approves applying for up to $250,000 from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund toward the $475,000 purchase of the 8.08-acre Madera property, three parcels that would unite the Hillside Natural Area; the grant requires deed-restricting the entire natural area to public outdoor recreation in perpetuity. Greg Lyman warns that “perpetuity is a very serious word” and that including everything the city owns would leave “almost no opportunity” for other uses; staff say a competitive application would be at risk without it. The motion, approved unanimously, marks the former East Bay MUD pad at the end of Snowden for potential recreation. The open space campaign reports about $30,000 toward its $100,000 pledge.

Supervisor John Gioia, on the hospital's governing board, says Doctors Medical Center, with a payer mix of about 54 percent Medicare and 20 percent Medi-Cal, is losing a little under $2 million a month and will run out of cash by June; it handles about 60 percent of West County's emergency visits. Bridges asks about a standalone emergency room, which Gioia says does not exist in California, and a smaller seismically compliant hospital with San Pablo is being explored.

With Benassini absent after the birth of twins, the city clerk is recognized, the Council accepts an award for the Bay Area's most improved roads, and the annual liaison assignments are approved; a councilmember defends El Cerrito's share of the waste authority's reserves. The Council remembers water aerobics instructor Angela Saridis and adjourns in her memory and that of Ron Ingerman (as captioned), the first Environmental Quality Committee chair.